Filed under: Life
Something I missed out last year because of school…
This year, I’m running the Vie for the Kids 5K race to raise money for CCMC Hem / Onc.
Yep, that’s little Katie Pagano right there -so cute – look at those curls -and so grown up!
Now, I don’t think I need to go into how much this means to me, most of you already know / should already know after reading this blog. And right now, I don’t even think that I can actually write how much this means to me without completely breaking down. So here’s just the basics:
CCMC was my family’s home for my Junior year of high school. CCMC brings a feeling a comfort and calm – even with all of the beeps from the IV machines and the doctors sometimes running around. CCMC reminds me of the strongest feelings I’ve ever had – hope, fear, love, worry. CCMC reminds of crying, laughing, sleeping, hugging, pacing, insomnia, rocking, walking, talking, and waiting.
But most importantly CCMC Hem / Onc saved my brother life. And right now, as he’s heading off to college in the fall , I seriously don’t know what I could have ever done with out him.
Oh great… here come the tears!
So right now, I’m running Vie for the Kids. For Aaron, for Katie, for Tristan, for Lisa, for Ben, for the other Ben, for Laura, for everyone – even those that did not win their battles.
And what I need you to do is donate. Please. Any little bit you have. It’ll go a long way for developing new treatment protocols and ensuring that CCMC MS8 stays the comforting home that cared for my brother and the rest of my family during those long months.
Here’s my donation page. And here’s more about the race.
Thank you!
Filed under: London
Oh the unexpected and expectations:
When I last left you off, it was Saturday.
Sunday instead of heading to St. Paul’s, I made an early trip to Sains to get groceries for the week. The “Amy diet” as Mal calls is consists of romaine lettuce (for Caesar salads at lunch), peppers (for “Amy fajitas”), bananas, strawberries, grapes, mocha mix (couldn’t live without it – well actually I could but you wouldn’t want to be around me!), orange fizzy (diet orange soda), and the best peanut butter in the world – I’m serious about this one, I actually got Mal addicted. But it’s not like you read this blog to find out my weekly grocery list. Sunday afternoon, Mal and I enjoyed some lovely cups of joe at Starbucks where I continued to stay after to write a paper and get through the books I need for my research on another paper. After getting work done, I headed off to explore Hyde Park because the day was so warm and I had finally gotten allergy medicine! It was beautiful. At night, it was off to Byron with Mal and Tulsi for some good old American burgers, french fries, union rings, and milkshakes, with the classic South Ken upper-class twist. At night – it was off to chat with the parents. Big news on that scale (and we’re pulling from the whole week here) – Dad’s doing his business full time, Aaron got a full ride to Bentley and half tuition at BU. Yay!
Monday morning it was back to the grind – working on my research. Then off to class. We had a guest speaker, James Gest from LSE. He was American (California born) and he went into great detail about his PhD research into alienated Muslim youth in England and Spain – very interesting. Then it was onto talking about fascism – yeah, we cover all of the bases here.
Tuesday – Friday it was work. I got more projects on Wednesday during the meeting and also reminded my coworkers how young I was at our meeting. Pete: “Do you remember the American reaction to the famine? It was huge here, it’s big that we’re at 25 years.” Amy: “Pete, I wasn’t born yet.” I also got commended on a job well done by Pete and G, saying that I “can’t leave in a month. We don’t know what we’re going to do without you.” On Friday, Pete let me out of work early – at 2 pm! It was very nice. He and Lo also reminded me to watch out for all of the protesters on Saturday in Hyde Park (G-20 economic protesters) by saying, “Well, if you get arrested, just make sure you give as a call on Tuesday so we know you’re not coming in.”
Tuesday night was stress to the max – housing appointment day. Because our appointment wasn’t until 3pm Boston time (that was 7pm here), I decided to go for a run in Hyde Park to blow off steam – an additional run was taken Wednesday as well! So I know you’re all waiting on pins and needles for my housing decision – well, it was StuV, the first one in a 4-person apartment made of up me, Steph, Jackie, and Alexis (when she gets back from Dublin in the spring). Exactly what we wanted! In even better news – Ciara got accepted into the Geneva program for the fall – congrats Ciara!
Thursday night was the first official meeting of the SAPP E-Board. SAPP – Student Advocates for Progressive Politics – is a new group that the old BU for Barack is turning into. We’re focusing on student involvement in elections, policy advocacy, and voter registration. For next fall, I am the current VP and Voter Registration Director. It’s going to be great – I seriously love all of these people. It was wonderful hearing all of their voices on skype, joking around like old times. Susan Passoni – a candidate for MA State Rep in a special election for North and South Boston also came to speak at our meeting. She’s really quite the inspiring candidate. It’s upsetting that I’m not home to help on her campaign!
Friday afternoon, I finally had time to relax and run my errands. First off to 43 Harrington to return books. Then Sains for snacks. And the post office to finally mail the postcards to my family. Friday night, Mal, Markey and I went to Gloucester Arms for some drinks – mixed that is. It was really fun. We ended up seeing our old pub quiz team – what was his name again? And we saw the girl that was hitting on Mike in Imperial back in February. Earlier in the week I saw the Greek and then another day I saw the Swede, so it was a complete blast from the past of a week. We also got hit on by some guys, probably in their early 50s. They’re older than my dad, seriously now! One of them was also really shy – it was pretty funny.
Saturday Markey and I went up to High St. Ken for our usual Saturday lunch of tostadas at Whole Foods. Then it was off to Orange and Tesco. We then decided to go to the movies. When we arrived, we realized that Monsters vs. Aliens was playing and it was in 3D – so, we had to go to that one. Dreamworks animation is amazing itself, but pair it with 3D and it’s wonderful. After the movie, it was off to Ben’s to get some mmmm good cookies. Then to the Natural History Museum. We did the blue section – dinosaurs and mammals. The dinos were extremely cool – I don’t think I’ve seen dinosaur bones since going to the Peabody Museum in 3rd grade for Challenge. Seriously amazing. The large blue whale was also quite the site!
Saturday night it was off to Nandos for dinner – hottt chicken sandwich and chips with Nando’s sauce anyone? Then down to Fulham (well, Old Brompton Road) to get a couple of drinks with Mike, Andrew, Mark, and Markey. The cider at the place we went to was absolutely amazing and their variety of beers was pretty good too.
Saturday night, the rest of the world finally caught up with the US – daylight savings time!
Sunday morning it was up early – we thought we were going to see the changing of the guard at 10 – leave at 9. Too bad it was really at 11:30! Andrew let us know and we ended up just leaving at 10:30 instead. The changing of the guard ceremony was packed around Buckingham Palace. After we watched for a little while, we headed off to St. James’s Palace (where Prince Charles – or Charlard as Mal calls him – and Camila live) to see the real guards – you know, the classic English guards. We saw them walk back to their posts, stand with the sentries, get read their duties, and then the sentries leaving. It was pretty cool. After watching, it was off to Whitehall – past Trafalgar – to get some lunch at a pub. Fish and chips for me! And now, we’ve just gotten back from Sainsbury’s. Finished watching the Oxford – Cambridge boat race on TV, Oxford won. And now, I’m probably going to take a little nap.
Until next time…
The Student Voter Act was reintroduced in the House today – the same day as the official start of SAPP, we’ll take this as a good sign.
Here’s SAVE’s press release:
Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, and Steven LaTourette, R-OH, along with the Student Association for Voter Empowerment and distinguished guests will hold a press conference to discuss the impact this legislation will have to expand the right to vote to more Americans…
Barriers in the voter registration process are the most commonly cited reason that young people (18-29 years old) do not participate in elections. According to a study by CIRCLE, a combined 32% of 18-29 year olds did not vote because of uncertainties, confusion, or difficulties in registering. Similarly, a report from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics noted that nonvoting youth are “more likely [than any other group] to cite registration mistakes or a lack of registration knowledge as a reason why they did not vote.”
In response to the current problems with voter registration, The legislation will require all colleges and universities that receive federal funds to provide their students with an opportunity to register to vote as they enroll in classes. The Student VOTER Act builds off the successful model of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and like Department of Motor Vehicles, will designate colleges as “voter registration agencies.
Here’s what the bill does:
Student Voter Opportunity To Encourage Registration Act of 2008 or the Student VOTER Act of 2008 – Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to designate federally-funded institutions of higher education as agencies for the registration of voters in federal elections. Requires such schools to provide mail voter registration application forms to students registering to enroll in their courses.
Do you have any ideas about how to increase voter registration on college campuses? – Make a comment, let me know!
Filed under: London
Caterer – British for lunch lady.
Pretty nice, wish the US would pick this one up!
Filed under: London
Email from my boss:
Hello! Hope you had a good weekend. Attached is the content for the Facebook thingummyjigummy.Please give me a ring if none of this makes any senseThanks!Pete
Filed under: Life
From Time’s “Class Pictures”:
I knew something was wrong with this, with young, innocent children being sick in the way they were, and I wished I could take their pain and suffering from them. From then on, I look at people with a different outlook, and I see how ignorant many people are from events like that, and it lifts me to a new level of understanding.
