Homeward Bound

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person around! Believe it or not, I'm heading back up to Alaska for my very favorite month of the year!

What does traveling up to Alaska for the month of June mean? It means that I can be in Alaska for the longest day of the year. It means I can participate in the Anchorage Three Barons Renaissance Festival and the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez. All that aside, it means that I get a lot of time with my friends and family, which I'm forever grateful for! And the best part is that since I'm working for a company in Alaska, I'll actually still be able to work while I'm up there (which my bank account really appreciates!).

My ticket is purchased (thank you mom and dad!), and so it's official--I'm homeward bound!

Deciding what to do with your tax return?

I have a worthy cause :) TBA Theatre just recently found out that TWO of the plays they submitted to the XXXII Annual Samuel French, Inc. Off-Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival have been accepted! How amazing is that? The play festival has been going on for over 30 years, and many of the playwright participants in the past have gone on to become award-winning. So it's a great opportunity! TBA will be bringing two short plays to the festival in New York City.

But here's the thing: TBA Theatre is not a big organization. They are doing well, but this is an unexpected opportunity that has surfaced, and it will cost the company a pretty penny to bring the productions to New York.

So that's where the title of this blog comes into play. Everyone in the United States just passed the tax deadline - and maybe some people are getting a bit of a refund :) And since many of you just got done doing your taxes, maybe you know that donations to non-profit companies are tax deductible :) So if anyone would like to deduct a donation to a charitable organization on next year's taxes, here is a worthy opportunity!

I, personally, am getting a tax return from the state of Minnesota, because they give people who rent a certain amount of what they paid in rent back as a return. Since this was totally unexpected money to me, I'm now pledging it towards TBA! I'll let them know the specific amount, but I think that they will agree, that no matter what the amount, every little bit can help! If you are interested in making a donation, you can contact them directly - just go to the TBA Theatre website for contact information. Another possible way to help could be to donate some of those airline miles you have accrued... just a thought :)

Congratulations TBA Theatre! This is such a wonderful opportunity!

Isn't this always the case?

You know, I lost my watch close to a year ago. I really liked the watch. It wasn't expensive--quite the contrary, it was very cheap! I bought the watch while I was in Turkey at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It was one of the street vendors outside, and I bought it for 5 million lira (close to $5 American). He sized it for my wrist and everything! My other watch had a dead battery, and I had been using my cell phone as a watch in Israel, but while I was in Turkey I decided it would be nice to have a watch on the trip--and heck, for $5, if it only lasted as long as the trip I would be fine!

I actually grew to really like the watch. It fit perfectly, and I liked the look of it a lot. It lasted quite a bit longer than my trip in Turkey. In fact, I still had it when I returned to Alaska, and sometime during that year back in Anchorage I had to have the battery replaced. I went to a jewellers in a department store I was shopping in. It cost $12 for a battery and installment. I thought it was kind of funny that it cost more to put a battery in the watch than it did for the watch in the first place, but then again, I was in a completely different market.

So then, sometime in the last year, I lost the watch. I kept thinking, "oh, it will show up. There's no need for me to get a new watch". "Besides," I added, "as soon as I bought a new watch, the old watch would show up!"

So I waited...an incredibly long time! And no watch showed up. So one day a couple weeks back I was in a department store, and I saw a watch that I thought looked okay. It was reasonably priced, so I decided that enough was enough, that I would finally succumb to buying a new watch.

So... I bet you can see where this is going. Maybe a week and a half pass by with my new watch. It works well. It's a bit of a pain to put on, but overall I'm happy. I then go to adjust my couch cushion. And what do I see wedged up against the wooden frame of my couch? My Turkish watch, of course! Naturally I was quite thrilled and rather amused. But there was no question about which watch I was going to wear--the Turkish watch went right back on my wrist.

So my question is this: Would I have found my watch sooner if I had bought another one earlier? I'm just wondering...

Of Particular Concern

Dear friends,

This article has just been posted on the Baha'i World News Service, and I just started to cry. As you may be aware, I've mentioned in the past some concern in the rise of persecution of Baha'is in Iran. This recent article brings to light that now it seems that children are being persecuted in school. How can something like this be happening now? Have we not learned from the past about persecuting a religious group?


Baha'i schoolchildren in Iran increasingly harrassed and abused by school authorities

NEW YORK, 5 April 2007 (BWNS) -- Baha'i students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, according to recent reports from inside the country.

During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Baha'i students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.

"These new reports that the most vulnerable members of the Iranian Baha'i community -- children and junior youth -- are being harassed, degraded, and, in at least one case, blindfolded and beaten, is an extremely disturbing development," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"The increasing number of such incidents suggests a serious and shameful escalation in the on-going persecution of Iranian Baha'is," said Ms. Dugal. "The fact that school-aged children are being targeted by those who should rightfully hold their trust -- teachers and school administrators -- only makes this latest trend even more ominous."

Ms. Dugal said the Baha'i International Community has been aware of scattered reports of abuse directed at school children but has only recently learned that young Baha'is are now widely being forced to identify their religion -- and are also being insulted, degraded, threatened with expulsion, and, in some cases, summarily dismissed from school.

"They are also being pressured to convert to Islam, required to endure slander of their faith by religious instructors, and being taught and tested on 'Iranian history' in authorized texts that denigrate, distort, and brazenly falsify their religious heritage," said Ms. Dugal. "They are also being repeatedly told that they are not to attempt to teach their religion."

According to Ms. Dugal, one Baha'i has reported that the school-age children of a relative in Kermanshah were called to the front of the classroom, where they were required to listen to insults against the Faith.

"Another student, accepted at an art institute, has been followed by the authorities and on three occasions seized, blindfolded, and beaten," said Ms. Dugal.

"While a few of these may be isolated attacks, the extent and nature of this reprehensible activity has led the Baha'is in Iran to conclude that this is an organized effort," said Ms. Dugal.

Of special concern, she added, was the fact that a high proportion of the attacks against high school students have been against girls.

"While the attacks reported to have taken place in elementary and middle schools were leveled evenly against boys and girls, those at the high-school level targeted girls to a far greater degree: of 76 incidents, 68 were against Baha'i girls," said Ms. Dugal.

The reports of attacks on innocent Baha'i schoolchildren come at a time when a growing number of older Baha'i students seeking to enter Iranian universities have been expelled solely because of their religion.

So far this year, at least 94 college-age Baha'i students have been expelled from institutions of higher education. That figure is up from 70 as reported in late February.

Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, the 300,000-member Iranian Baha'i community has faced ongoing and systematic persecution. In the early 1980s, more than 200 Baha'is were killed, hundreds were imprisoned, and thousands were deprived of jobs and education, solely because of their religious belief.

At the present time, more than 120 Baha'is are out on bail and awaiting trial on false charges, solely because of their religious beliefs and activities. Over the last year, as well, international human rights groups have expressed concern at the Iranian government's efforts to step-up their covert monitoring and identification of Baha'is.