West Seventh Freelance

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  • Children, Poverty, Education, Hope- and Smiles

    children3In a certain section of the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (population 3,384,569) live the poorest of the poor. Families are relegated to living among the city’s trash dumps, many begging for a living, to put food on the table. Organizations like The Berhan Yehun Project Ethiopia seek to aid the children of these families through education, medical care, food and school supplies; offering hope for a different future.

    The Minnesota Connection

    AzebAzeb Gebretsadik, a Social Worker at The West Seventh Community Center in St. Paul, MN, left Addis Ababa at 17 with her father and four sisters. They packed their belongings and within a few weeks were on their way to Nairobi, where they lived for 18 months before making the long journey to Minnesota.

    Azeb knows there are many ways to give back to the people of Ethiopia, in particular the children. One day, she would like to establish a primary and secondary school in her native country. For now, she strives to meet smaller goals through her church Action Group (Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Minnesota) – raising funds for school supplies for children in need– not unlike The Berhan Yehun Project.

    If you would like to join Azeb on the first step of her journey to help some kids in  one small community within Addis Ababa, visit Azeb’s wchildren2ebpage on Crowd Rise: http://www.crowdrise.com/azebgebretsadik#projects

    Once child reached may light an entire community…and the ripples upon the water are eternal.

  • Sunday Walk

    Snow Person Melt
    Snow Person Melt

    Due to circumstance, I tend to spend quite a bit of time on my own these days. Today, with temperatures above 40, I decided to get out and see what was happening in the neighborhood.

    I am happy to report– the sidewalks are clearing and lots of smiles are on the faces of people who are out and about. My neighbor, Scott, was tending to the ritual of clearing ice and snow off his roof. Enjoy my view!

    Today's reading
    Today’s reading

  • Something new for 2014…

    chair shadow_edited-2http://midnightpoetryandbooks.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/january-11-2014/

  • Weekly Photo Challenge: Window

    What a difference a week makes...
    What a difference a week makes…potting shed window thermometer revisited

    http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/photo-challenge-window/

  • Daily Prompt: Heroic

    Five meant

    Mark was still alive and barely grown,

    Just 17

    A musical feast…

    A traveling wonder to one so young as I

    Just a little sister

    Who adored the hero man/boy who

    Taught me to color inside and outside the lines and yell, loud.

    And spun me about by the arms and legs, faster, FASTER, FASTER

    Until mother would emerge at the back door, yelling, ‘you’ll dislocate her arms…”

    I am still five, at the heart of it.

    You are still my hero.

     

     

     

    http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/daily-prompt-hero/

  • Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

    sparkle ball found
    The triumphant return of the red sparkle toy

  • Minnesota Driver’s License Renewal and the Cat Toy

    cat toy birth certificateThe four-year ritual is upon me, renewal of my Minnesota state driver’s license. I turn a whopping 56 in February (but don’t feel, or act, a day over… well– it’s all relative, I suppose :-)).

    As I suited up (long underwear, scarves, double mittens) and went to jam my foot in my right insulated boot, I felt something I had not noticed yesterday. A round, red, sparkly cat toy! Bagheera’s favorite! Long-lost, apparently since the boots were worn last winter. Looking for him, I could see he was already dead to the world, buried under a quilt. Play-time would have to wait.

    The birth certificate

    This year I go to the DMV armed with my birth certificate. At some point I became “Chris Louise…” on my license. The dreaded nickname– ‘Chris’; the name that causes airport security to look me over thrice because it does not match the name on the ticket; the name to which Chris Alfieri ( a BOY) and I both responded when the teacher called upon us (to our mutual horror) in the 3rd grade.

    Happy endings

    The woman at the DMV was lovely, my name is now amended and Bagheera is, once again, in possession of the fave toy. My boot fits better, too.

  • Weekly Photo Challenge: Beginning (and beginning…and…)

    Christine plugs WordPress
    Christine plugs WordPress

    …and in the beginning (of the mid-life career change) is more shameless self-promotion!

    http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/photo-challenge-beginning/

  • Breakfast at The North Pole

    garden shed readingIt is already old news. Minnesota, and much of the upper Midwest, is really in the deep freeze. With the backyard thermometer reading -20 (Fahrenheit), I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to visit The North Pole – restaurant, that is, in Newport, MN, a few miles outside of St. Paul.

    Bertie Mary North VickyMary North and her husband David  (pharmacist/ owner of the attached drugstore) are proud to be the third generation of Norths to operate the family business– in the present location since 1952. Once a general pharmacy with soda fountain for patrons, the restaurant business became an entity in its own right in 1958. The North’s son Brian serves as Manager, while daughter Tricia is a pharmacist, working with her dad.

    The North Pole is a community hub; a place for regulars to meet and enjoy a home-cooked meal. Mary knows many by name– and the frequency with which they visit.

    Dawn Plessel and family
    Dawn Plessel and family

    This morning, budding novelist, Dawn Plessel, was having breakfast with her husband and son. “I often come here to work on my book…it is half-way done!”

    My friend Holly, who was with me, shared that places like The North Pole are central to the life of small towns and communities. Growing up in the rural Midwest, she recalled a café that was the heartbeat of her hometown. “Everybody watched out for each other…”

    The North Pole, Newport, MN
    Christine
    David North Tricia North
    The garden shed thermometer
    Bertie Mary North Vicky
    Friendly faces Bertie
    Dawn Plessel and family
    Holly
    Christine plugs WordPress

  • Domino’s Pizza™ and M Go Blue

    bo-schembechlerWhen I was 20 and a grad student at the University of Michigan, I worked as a Domino’s Pizza™ ‘phone girl’. Seriously. It was safer in the shop that delivering to drunken frat boys.

    Memories of this job popped into my head as a new Domino’s commercial sped by on the TV screen just now. It is ‘football Sunday’. I don’t usually watch football, but I am alternating between a great book (more about that later), baking– and the pre-game show…while temps hover around -10 outside.

    But I digress.

    Flash back to 1981:

    “Domino’s Pizza, may I take your order please?”

    “Yeah, hey, we’re havin’ a group over at Beau’s and need 25 pies…”

    I took the order and went to rally a driver for the delivery. Mayhem ensued.

    “Jesus girl, do you know whose order you just took??!!”

    “The one for 25…”

    The manager cut me off. “Call the number back and make sure it’s on the up-and-up.”

    It was.

    (Beau Schembechler coached football at Michigan from 1969 to 1989 (he infamously turned down a $3 million offer from Texas A&M in 1982). He began his tenure as head coach at Michigan with a rallying cry to his players: “Those who stay will be champions.”) Wikipedia

    The new ad suggests that it is best to place your order online; calling in is just a bumbling process. Ha!

    BIG mistake Domino’s.

    M Go BLUE!