Expat Aid Workers

I came across this blog today called Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like.  The title is probably a joke on Stuff White People Like and talks about various humanitarian programs.
I've gotten skeptical about charities in the last six months or so.  I've been reading things about them that bothers me and have made some observations about others that I find appalling.  I was saddened, but not surprised, to read this tongue in cheek piece about how aid workers have to live away from the people who probably need the most help.       
I find this entire thing so depressing.  It makes me feel like even if I am compelled to do that right thing, by giving my time or money to an organization, it's being wasted. 

Thirteen Ways of Looking

I found this selection from a poem online called "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Wallace Stevens."  The title, and, as far as I can tell, the poem, is based on a Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."  It's sort of a delightful idea, though I'm not certain it worked out in the first poem.  (Unfortunately, poetry is not like pitching screenplays: execution matters.)  It may be, since I'm reading a selection, that it works better in the whole piece, which I don't have access to.    

Blood, Brain, Jelly

I'm feeling pretty satisfied with myself right now, since I just finished doing some creative writing. 
Although the piece I have produced and worked on over the last three days is only a little over ten pages long, I feel really good about.  It's a solid first draft.  Hell, it's the kind of first draft that looks better than most people's final versions. 
It's fiction, which I haven't had time to write since March, so I'm feeling happy that I wrote something other than poetry.
And I decided to try something new and split the piece up into sections.  One of the sections was titled "Blood, Brain, Jelly," in reference to the things someone had on their shirt.  It's a great title.  
(The stories has two mysteries in it, so it's not that strange of a title.  Just a little quirky.)