Exhibition dates: 12th November – 6th December 2009

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These are terrific – I want one!
A big thankx to Alex for allowing me to reproduce the images.

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Alex Lukas
‘Untitled’
2009
Acrylic and silk screen on two book pages

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Alex Lukas
‘Untitled’
2009
Acrylic and silk screen on two book pages

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“Glowlab is pleased to present ‘The Eventuality of Daybreak’, a solo exhibition by Alex Lukas featuring a new series of post-apocalyptic urban landscapes that blur the visual boundaries of fiction and reality.

Lukas’ work explores the existence of disaster, be it realized or fictitious, in contemporary society. Hyper-realistic motion pictures and unforgiving news footage depict seemingly identical – and equally riveting – facades of tragedy. The artist recognizes that relentless visual bombardment has resulted in society’s desensitization to the aesthetics of destruction.

For ‘The Eventuality of Daybreak’, Lukas has selected photographic spreads of well-known metropolises from vintage publications and uses them dually as canvas and unlikely subject. Through a deft handling of paint and carefully placed screenprinted passages, the artist pushes these aging illustrations in futuristic contexts. Submerging these cities conceptually and physically, Lukas inundates images of American cities with layers of media representing cataclysmic floods and crippling overgrowth.

Also included in the exhibition are works on paper depicting near-future scenes of devastated landscapes – crumbling infrastructure, overturned trucks and telling signs of human despair. As a counterpoint to the underwater cities, these darkly atmospheric and barren vistas signal devastation through an unsettling sense of absence.

Lukas’ intentional use of dated imagery presented in tandem with contemporary situations forces the viewer to reconcile two differing ideologies of urban space. The artist’s work calls into question society’s collective acceptance of the urban environment as an arena of destruction, once thought unthinkable and now seemingly inevitable.

‘The Eventuality of Daybreak’ is Lukas’ first solo exhibition with Glowlab. Lukas’ work has also been exhibited in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Stockholm and Copenhagen as well as in the pages of Swindle Quarterly, Proximity Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice, The Drama and The New York Times Book Review. Lukas is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives and works in Philadelphia, where he is a member of the artist collective Space 1026.”

Press release on the Glowlab website

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Alex Lukas
‘Untitled’
2009
Acrylic and silk screen on two book pages

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Alex Lukas
‘Untitled’
2009
Acrylic and silk screen on two book pages

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Alex Lukas
‘Untitled’
2009
Acrylic and silk screen on two book pages

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Alex Lukas
‘Untitled’
2009
Acrylic and silk screen on two book pages

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Glowlab
30 Grand Street between Thompson St. and 6th Ave, New York

Gallery hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12-6pm

Glowlab website

Alex Lukas website

These days in Ireland is like living in an aquarium, water dripping, flowing and moving everywhere causing devastation to peoples homes and livelihoods. With lakes, rivers, streams & bogs bursting their banks almost engulfing all in their path.  Puddles dotted everywhere filled with water. With the noise of the constant rain beating on the windows and wind howling around the house, one thinks of those less off who have been affected by this flooding. On the other hand across the miles others are dying daily from a lack of water, the dry drought of the desert lands. Oh how life is dynamic and diverse!  As Rollo May says Courage is not the absence of despair; it is rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair. Spare a thought for those less well off than you today!

This book is a very good suspense/drama. To learn more about this book, and the author, Sondra D. Kelly go to www.createspace.com/3403536. You will love this book.

Fuck the damn whole situation.
Oh my god, my hamster escaped. AND GUESS WHAT? My fucking idiotic brother stepped on it while it was running. Then my hamster twitched and I guess its bones were broken. I cried like crazy until my eyes were red. :’(

Then my mum put the hamster into the cage on the bedding… Next morning(today), I went to check on it. Broke down again… It had the strength to walk to its little house and lie there. It is a fighter. Fighting for its live till the last bit. I’m FUCKING UPSET. URGH! Why must this come to a tragic end?!  Well its alive now but weak and frail. I know it’s suffering so I’m gonna bring it to a vet later, see what they’ll do. FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK! ARGHHH! >:(

My god.. Going to R.I.P: PUP. THE BEST HAMSTER ANYONE COULD’VE HAD. I’m gonna cry my fucking head off. {peace to you}

New Photos Highlight Rainforest Devastation

October 2, 2009

Prince Charles of Britain has been leading a campaign again tropical deforestation; to highlight his efforts to combat environmental issues, North America and Europe have organized photographic exhibitions.

The images at the exhibition vividly portray the dire effects of climate change on South American, African, and Indonesian rainforests. Photographer Daniel Beltra, a world-renowned environment photographer who won the Prince’s Rainforest Project Award this past year, selected 1,000 images of a total of 40,000 to display.

Beltra’s collection of images was targeted on capturing scenes primarilyfrom the Amazon Basin, the Congolese Forest, and Borneo and Sumatra in Asia.

To view some of these images, click on the link above.

-WooJung Kim

We, in North America, call typhoons by another name: hurricanes. Most of us have never lived through one, but we probably know someone who has.

This is the story of a new friend of mine in the Philippines: Al Sabado. Here’s how her story starts:

On September 26, 2009, around 8:28 a.m., I was writing a prayer to the Lord Jesus, telling Him about the rains that many people hoped to be less frequent, now that Christmas season is fast approaching. The conversation was interrupted when my eyes caught a glimpse of what appeared to be damage: our neighbor’s roofing badly needed repair. I hoped not to meddle in other people’s business, but I requested the LORD to grant our neighbor the budget for both the repair and renovation of their home. I was clueless that later on, I would be praying for the same thing not only for our family but also for our neighbors, our city, our country, and other neighboring countries that similarly experienced disasters in overwhelming magnitude.

September 26, Ondoy (also called Ketsana) slammed into the Philippines:

• It dumped the highest rainfall amounts in Manila’s history and caused widespread flooding with raging currents that closed major roads.
• Devastating mudslides caused loss of life.
• Power outages lasted for days.
• At least 246 people were killed in the onslaught; 38 went missing.
• Cell phone, land line, and other forms of communication were lost for days.
• Infrastructure and agriculture were devastated.
• The city of Marikina (where Al lives) was submerged in nearly ten feet of water and tons of knee-deep mud.[1]

Here is Al’s daily journal of the event and devastating aftermath—complete with photos of the increasing destruction and of her dog, Shatzie. Al also realizes that God’s faithfulness and strength were with her throughout.

Then on Oct 2, Al wrote:

Typhoon Ondoy has badly affected our city (Marikina); but our village is fortunate to survive the nearly waist-deep flood that entered and destroyed our homes. I just thank God that my neighbors and every member of my family are alive and safe. I am also grateful that Typhoon Pepeng has changed its course, except that another downpour is expected to hit us again sometime tonight. I pray that the weather gets better; we’re really tired cleaning up the huge mess. My hands are sore, so I’ll say ‘bye’ for now. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. I wish you all well.

During a hurricane and its aftermath, when strength was gone and all she could see was devastation, Al caught a renewed realization that she has a reasonable hope.

“With Jesus Christ I can smile at the storm… / until He takes me home.”

We’ll be okay, Shatzie baby.

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To Comment, please see link above (beneath title).

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“Rob was addicted—to comedy.[1] For twenty years he made a career out of making people laugh, rubbing elbows with stars like Henny Youngman and even Red Skelton.

“Everyone thought Rob was a funny guy. But there was nothing funny about Rob’s drug and alcohol problems. His addictions almost cost him his career—and his life.

I used to tell everybody that it was all part of the business.

“But when Rob almost died from a heroin overdose, that was the beginning of the road that eventually led to the Mission.

“At first, Rob thought, I’m not going to the Mission. I’m not a bum!
Then he took a good, hard look in the mirror. You’re homeless. You can’t stop drinking. Where don’t you qualify?!

“The Mission has helped Rob find lasting sobriety. Even helped him get a job at a neighborhood furniture store between comedy gigs. But most important, it helped him connect with God.

The answers to life are in the Bible. At the Mission, they preach it. Do it. Live it. Share it.
I look around here and see people succeeding. How can I refute that?

“Rob still does stand-up comedy, but now it’s not the most important thing in his life.”

#

Rob found a reasonable hope.

Through the devastating times of my life and the dark tunnels of disappointment and heartache I’m presently walking through, God’s presence has made all the difference. Right now, I could very easily be a bitter, nasty cynic—or dead (I was very suicidal about the age of 19). Instead I have chosen to believe the promises of God through Jesus Christ, and the reality of His life-giving power in my life has made all the difference. I have a God-given life worth living. ~ Christine

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[1] Twin Cities Messenger. Union Gospel Mission. St. Paul, MN. Vol. 7, No. 8. Nov 2009. Pg 4.

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Responding to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ida, government agencies and private enterprises in El Salvador are trying to re-establish communications, utilities, and roads damaged by landslides and flooding in the Central American nation. The Government of El Salvador has made an international call for assistance and aid targeted for the devastated areas of El Salvador.
!!!

Some 37 villages and towns in El Salvador remain isolated by rockslides and debris left behind by the hurricane, which killed some 140 people. Dozens of Salvadorans remain unaccounted for as searchers look through rubble and devastated homes. The San Pedro Lions Club with the help of Reef Radio is conducting a Radio-ton on Saturday, November 14th. Belizeans can respond to the call of our Central American brothers in El Salvador by join in the Radio-ton by making pledges. However, people in Salvador in dire need of essential items as well such as, food, clothes and medication. Kindly bring these to the Lions Den.

Sad news from the local church in El Salvador.  At least 130 people have died in mudslides throughout El Salvador due to heavy rains since the weekend.   Many more have lost their homes.  Specifically, our sister churches in both San Salvador and La Libertad were affected.  La Libertad more so, since it is a coastal city.

This was sent to us from our friend, a GCLA missionary in San Salvador.

 ”Well, as far as I know, the areas that were more effected were areas near rivers and the coast. La Libertad was affected pretty badly.  There are 3 families in the La Libertad church that have lost almost everything. We are working to help them. The San Salvador church is collecting clothes, food, bottled water, and the bare necessities to help with people in need. A major bridge collapsed in La Libertad too.
As for San Salvador, yes there were areas affected-mainly the people who live in sheet metal houses with dirt floors were most effected. The government is helping to provide for the bare necessities also. I have seen in grocery stores-food drives too-so it is a blessing to see the response of El Salvador as a nation also. Thank you for caring for us here in El Salvador. ”

We do care as a church and want to respond to this need.  Stay posted.

Photo credit: Fidel Martinez

Neighbors recover the body of Manuel Segovia after his home was buried by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Ida in La Libertad, El Salvador.

Edgar Romero / AP

Woman witnesses devastation in Verapaz, El Salvador, one of the places the Hurricane flooding hit hardest, killing 130 people.

msnbc

Homes are flooded along Costa del Sol beach in Zacatecoluca, El Salvador.

Hope?! What does slavery have to do with hope?! How does Jehovah expect us to take Him seriously when this is how He treats His own people? Why did He lead them into captivity in Babylon, any way?

In the book of Jeremiah, Jehovah says:

For thus says the LORD, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon,
I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place [home].
“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
“I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.”[1]

God knew their homeland had become an evil place full of prostitution (both forced and willful), extortion, slavery, child sacrifice, murder—the people invented atrocities to satisfy their cravings for power and lusts for more and would only continue their degeneracy into greater wickedness. Evil leads only one direction: to death.

Just as a surgeon must cut through the outer layers of the human body to reach the cancerous tumor within, so the compassionate Jehovah understood what it would take to remove the decay and debilitating power of sin and to restore peace and hope and a future to their civilization—and, like the gentle, skilled hands of the surgeon, Jehovah loved them enough to take the required actions.

Were all of His people totally corrupted by their civilization at the time? Probably not.

Why were the innocent ones, even children and infants, carried away, too? What had they done?[2]

What had my daughter and infant son done to deserve the rejection, devastation, and abandonment of divorce? What has Jillian done that she must now face every day knowing her struggle has no foreseeable end?

Where is the loving, benevolent God? Why do we go through horrific times? Why does He allow devastation into our lives?

to Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

“How can infants who die be saved? What do we say about infants who die before they are old enough to understand and believe the gospel? Here we must say that if such infants are saved, it cannot be on their own merits, or on the basis of their own righteousness or innocence, but it must be entirely on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work and regeneration by the work of the Holy Spirit within them. … However it certainly is possible for God to bring regeneration (that is, new spiritual life) to an infant even before he or she is born. …

“How many infants does God save in this way? Scripture does not tell us, so we simply cannot know. Where Scripture is silent, it is unwise for us to make definitive pronouncements. However, we should recognize that it is God’s frequent pattern throughout Scripture to save the children of those who believe in him. … God’s ordinary pattern, the ‘normal’ or expected way in which he acts, is to bring the [infant] children of believers to himself. With regard to believers’ children who die very young, we have no reason to think that it would be otherwise. (see 2 Sam. 12:23 and Psa. 23:6) … This should be of assurance to all believers who have lost children in their infancy, that they will one day see them again in the glory of the heavenly kingdom.

“Regarding the children of unbelievers who die at a very early age, Scripture is silent. We simply must leave that matter in the hands of God and trust him to be both just and merciful. If they are saved, it will not be on the basis of any merit of their own or any innocence that we might presume that they have. If they are saved, it will be on the basis of Christ’s redeeming work. Salvation is always because of God’s mercy, not because of our merits (see Rom. 9:14-18). Scripture does not allow us to say more than that.” (Bible Doctrine. Zondervan. 1999. 214-8. *emphasis in original work)

LAHORE: Teams of gunmen attacked three law enforcement facilities across the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, paralyzing Pakistan’s cultural
capital, while a car bomb devastated a northwest police station, killing a total of 39 people in an escalating wave of terror in this nuclear-armed US ally.

Another bombing in the northwestern city of Peshawar later in the day wounded five people, further rattling the country.

The bloodshed, aimed at scuttling a planned offensive into the militant heartland along the Afghan border, highlights the militants’ ability to carry out sophisticated strikes on heavily fortified facilities and exposes the failure of the intelligence agencies to adequately infiltrate the extremist cells.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban who have claimed other recent strikes. The attacks Thursday also were the latest to underscore the growing threat to Punjab, the province next to India where the Taliban are believed to have made inroads and linked up with local insurgent outfits.

President Asif Ali Zardari said the bloodshed that has engulfed the nation over the past 11 days would not deter the government from its mission to eliminate the violent extremists, according to a statement on the state-run news agency.

“The enemy has started a guerrilla war,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. “The whole nation should be united against these handful of terrorists, and God willing we will defeat them.”

The wave of violence practically shut down daily life in Lahore. All government offices were ordered shut, the roads were nearly empty, major markets did not open and stores that had been open pulled down their shutters.

The assaults began just after 9 a.m. when a group of gunmen attacked a building housing the Federal Investigation Agency, a law enforcement branch that deals with matters ranging from immigration to terrorism.

“We are under attack,” said Mohammad Riaz, an FIA employee reached inside the building via phone by The Associated Press during the assault. “I can see two people hit, but I do not know who they are.”

The attack lasted about 1 1/2 hours and ended with the death of two attackers, four government employees and a bystander, senior government official Sajjad Bhutta said. Senior police official Chaudhry Shafiq said one of the dead wore a jacket bearing explosives.

Soon after, a second band of gunman raided a police training school in Manawan on the outskirts of the city in a brief attack that killed nine police officers and four militants, according to police and hospital officials. One of the gunmen was killed by police at the compound and the other three blew themselves up.

The facility was hit earlier this year in an attack that sparked an eight-hour standoff with the army that left 12 people dead.

A third team of at least eight gunmen scaled the back wall of an elite police commando training center not far from the airport and attacked the facility, Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore said.

A family barricaded itself in a room in a house, while the attackers stood on the roof, shooting at security forces and throwing grenades, said Lt. Gen. Shafqat Ahmad, the top military official in Lahore.

Two attackers were slain in the gunbattle and three blew themselves up, he said. One police nursing assistant and a civilian also died in the attack, he said.

Television footage showed helicopters in the air over one of the police facilities and paramilitary forces with rifles and bulletproof vests taking cover behind trees outside a wall surrounding the compound. Rana Sanaullah, provincial law minister of Punjab province, said police were trying to take some of the attackers alive so they could get information from them about their militant networks.

Officials have warned that Taliban fighters close to the border are increasingly joining forces with Punjabi militants spread out across the country and foreign al-Qaida operatives, dramatically increasing the dangers to Pakistan. Punjab is Pakistan’s most populous and powerful province, and the Taliban claimed recently that they were activating cells there and elsewhere in the country for assaults.

An official at the provincial Punjab government’s main intelligence agency said they had precise information about expected attacks on security targets and alerted police this week, but the assailants still managed to strike. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the situation.

Despite their reach and influence, the nation’s feared spy agencies have failed to stop the bloody attacks plaguing the country.

Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with Stratfor, a US-based global intelligence firm, said Pakistan needed to penetrate more militant groups and intercept conversations to prevent attacks, but the task was complicated in a country so big and populous.

“The militants are able to exploit certain things on the ground, like the anti-American sentiment, which is not just in society — it’s also in the military,” he added.

In the Taliban-riddled northwest, meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded next to a police station in the Saddar area of Kohat, collapsing half the building and killing 11 people — three police officers and eight civilians — Kohat police chief Abdullah Khan said.

Early Thursday evening, a bomb planted in a car outside a home in the Gulshan Rehman area of Peshawar city exploded, city police chief Ijaz Khan said. A nearby school was closed at the time. Local police official Aalam Sher said five wounded people were hospitalized.

Footage shown on local TV showed people who appeared to be teenagers being put into ambulances. The damaged vehicle was flipped on its side and jutted out of what appeared to be a garage. Piles of bricks littered the nearby roads.

The US has encouraged Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan, where US troops are bogged down in an increasingly difficult war. It has carried out a slew of its own missile strikes in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt over the past year, killing several top militants including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

One suspected US missile strike killed four people overnight Thursday when it hit a compound in an area in North Waziristan tribal region where members of the militant network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani are believed to operate, two intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Pakistan formally protests the missile strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but many analysts believe it has a secret deal with the US allowing them.

The militants have claimed credit for a wave of attacks that began with an October 5 strike on the UN food agency in Islamabad and included a siege of the army’s headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that left 23 people dead.

The Taliban have warned Pakistan to stop pursuing them in military operations.

The Pakistani army has given no time frame for its expected offensive in South Waziristan tribal region, but has reportedly already sent two divisions totaling 28,000 men and blockaded the area.

Fearing the looming offensive, about 200,000 people have fled South Waziristan since August, moving in with relatives or renting homes in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan areas, a local government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Well it’s been 1 week and 3 and a half days that I’ve been without any data on my phone. I received an update finally from T-Mobile yesterday via text message that everything had been lost permanently. I don’t think I’m being harsh when I say that T-Mobile sucks.

I understand that these things happen. Technology, as great and convenient as it is, is not the most stable thing and has been known to fail and have glitches since the computer was invented. But the way that T-Mobile dealt with it’s loyal customers was where they failed:

• First, without knowing exactly what was going on, tech people/customer service reps over at T-Mobile were advising sidekick users to try restarting their phone or remove their battery to fix the problem. Unfortunately, if you did this, you permanently lost all of your data. T-Mobile now has made it very clear that whatever you do, do not remove the battery or let your phone die, because the system is still unstable and you will continue to lose everything any time your phone restarts.
• Second, the Sidekick phone and data service (powered by Microsoft) is supposed to be backed up continually. That is one of the perks to having this phone. Even if  I threw my phone into a pool in a moment of passionate anger (or something),  all that data on my phone is SUPPOSED to be backed up somewhere in the data-sphere on some huge Microsoft server. This is what was promised to us when we first bought our phones and this is also included in our $20/mo. that we pay for our data services.  In fact, sometimes my data would disappear, only to be returned to me 10 minutes later, fully restored. I could also log-in from any other sidekick or a computer (on T-Mobiles website) with my username and password and have instant access to everything on my phone.
• Third, I called customer service Friday night that my data was lost to ask what was going on. The customer service rep told me my data would in fact be restored between 10pm and 12am of that night. Well, it wasn’t. Making promises you can’t keep? Not very smart. It just made me more mad that they weren’t being up front with me. T-Mobile also promised an update on Monday, the 12th, which left sidekick customers constantly checking the web site all day to find no update. They finally made a quick, lousy, unclear, update late Monday night that left people with even more questions. They stated that they were giving SOME customers who lost data  a $100 gift card to T-Mobile…in about 2 weeks. Wait…what?! You’re telling me that I have to wait 2 weeks to have any compensation from T-Mobile if I even qualify…ANOTHER 2 weeks without a functioning phone…no thank you. In 2 weeks, I’ll have an iPhone. This “compensation” is pretty much a big slap in the face to Sidekick users.
• Fourth, I felt that I shouldn’t have to pay my phone bill this month seeing as all the trouble this has cost me. This whole data outage had particularly bad timing as I was traveling the weekend it happened. With no internet service to email anyone, and no phone numbers to contact anyone, I could really only talk to about 2 people. T-Mobile continually refused to credit my account for a full month’s bill. They just told me to be patient and my contacts would finally be restored. Well I waited and waited, and called every day to get updates and they just told me to keep waiting and that they understand what I’m going through (highly unlikely as everyone I talked was NOT a sidekick user). When I talked to one supervisor, he told me, “This is the biggest thing to happen to T-Mobile. It feels like a hurricane has hit us, complete devastation here.”

I could go on and on about how bad Microsoft/Danger has failed by not backing up or testing their backups and how T-Mobile has failed it’s loyal customers by handling this situation in the worst way possible…but I’m done talking about it.  I’m just going to sit and wait for that class-action lawsuit to be filed (FYI: mention of said lawsuit on the T-Mobile sidekick forum will probably get you blocked from it: If you can’t take the heat, T-Mobile, then don’t fail your customers), switch my service to AT&T and buy an iPhone, send out one of those annoying “I lost my numbers!” Facebook events to all my friends, and slowly try to rebuild my contact book. Good riddance.

In typical dyslexic fashion, I learned how to drop into a wave on a surfboard before I could trust myself to swim the length of a pool. It was only after I had been surfing for about five years that my friend Kapeka lured me out beyond the breakers down in Baja Mexico and taught me the basics of swimming. Between all of the paddling and praying that my surfboard leash wouldn’t break, I had developed strength that translated naturally into swimming but I didn’t know this. Before Kapeka’s lessons, if my leash had snapped, leaving me stranded in the waves without the flotation of my board, there is a good chance I would have been in big trouble. While I would not recommend this approach to anyone, the process taught me some invaluable lessons about myself. It also gave me a healthy respect for the ocean’s power.

When I watch movies that contain scenes with waves like The Perfect Storm or  Castaway, there is a hollowing out in my bones, a tightening in my muscles. My lungs gather air and my heart pounds. My body has memorized the ocean and its moods and can summon the visceral experience with very little effort. I understand why my children respond with awe and fear like it is some world-swallowing beast. Because it is. It is beautiful and somehow full of relationship yet terribly impersonal.

I have watched men punch at it in rage and there is nothing that screams ‘impotent’ more than a muscular man try to pick a fight with a wave. I have felt that same frustration, the battering to the sense of self that happens when the ocean picks you up in its teeth and shakes you around. And, I have paddled out again and again, hoping to climb onto the back of all that power. To rest on its calm surface.

In my previous blog I wrote about my dream of the flood, a wall of water moving across the earth. I didn’t make much more of it other than the fact that dreams of water always involve me confronting fears. And by the next day I could easily summarize those fears. Dan had lost his job. I was facing the stress of an unwritten thesis and novel hanging over my head and with a third baby on the way, it was a no brainer as to why I was dreaming about a wall of water threatening to drown me. Most days it feels like I am learning to surf before I can swim. It wasn’t until two days later, as I drove home trying to decide whether or not to pick up my children from daycare and head to higher ground, that the connection between my dream and the tsunami warning in New Zealand hit me.

As we watch the images on television of the devastation in Samoa, as the death toll rises and people we know report about friends who have lost family, I can’t help but imagine what it must have been like. I can feel the water pulling away from the reef. I can hear its roar as it returns. It is not difficult for me to summon the impact of its force. The pressure of my lungs losing air, of my body being swept from solid ground, being slammed against things, pulled apart like a rag doll.  What I can not imagine is having the ocean take my children, my loved ones, and surviving it. I can not imagine the powerlessness of having my babies torn from me. I can not imagine continuing to breathe in their absence.

It does not prevent the restless anxiety of my mind, but it reminds me how easily the most important things can be swept away. It reminds me to hold on to those things and let the other things go. My prayers are with the people  in Samoa who can now only hold those things in their hearts.

Tracy Reines, Director of the International Response Center, provides a weekend update of American Red Cross relief operations in the Asia Pacific region. Ongoing recovery efforts continue in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Samoa and American Samoa as a major typhoon, earthquakes and a tsunami ravaged the area this week.