V for Vendetta

The power of unity is a great and powerful thing. Watching this movie reminded me of this to the extent of missing it. The power of protest is one of the greatest powers of the world.
On Monday, February 14th 2011, something started in Madison, WI. I was lucky enough to be there with all my friends, family and everyone else in the city. Watching this movie reminded me of these thrilling times.
In case you aren't aware of the happenings in Madison during this time, I'll catch you up. Wisconsin's Governor, Scott Walker, was trying to illegally pass the "Wisconsin budget repair bill." This bill was cutting funding for education, teachers, union workers and more. Walker was basically shitting on the heart of Madison, our education system. The Madison Metropolitan School District is, in my opinion, one of the best school districts in the state. Our campus in just on the end of the center of the capital.
Anyway, he was trying to pass this bill that would lower income and retirement funds for almost all the parents of my friends and most of the people living in Madison.
The protests started and people began to unite. There were tons of school walkouts from middle school to high school to people bringing there toddlers to the protests. Everyone had creative and/or meaningful signs and we circled the capital. Then we got inside and occupied the capital square for the next almost year and a half. We started in February 2011 and pushed through the winter after that and through that next summer.

We made history!
We are on Wikipedia! - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Wisconsin_protests
My friends and I were in the heart of it, helping it!
People from around the world... from India and Germany and France, etc.... sent money to Ian's Pizza so the protesters would have food to get through a full day!

For photos of these great times vistit http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-best-protest-signs-at-the-wisconsin-capitol. (Jenny my piano teacher is number 65.)

this scene in the movie is a fair representative of what happened. Some people even had V masks. I wish we had done exactly this, it would have been a great statement.

Costumes

I think I may be a little too excited for Halloween. I never before thought this was possible, but here I am. Dressed in my Autumn Fairy costume, sitting in the house meeting, I am pulling up my new arm warmers (made by me from torn of pieces of the original costume). You would think everyone else would be looking at me weird, and some are, but there are also about 4 other people who are dressed up and more who were before the meeting. There are two huge princess dresses that the two Meg(h)ans are wearing, Brooke as Pebbles, Ella as the evil mother from Tangled and me as a fairy.
So this is where it may be too much, I have 2 different full costumes and 6 total. The whole week is like a Homecoming week, but a Halloween week and I have thought through costumes for each day as well as a group costume for the contest on Saturday. This will be the best Halloween ever, besides the fact that there's no trick-or-treating. For a truly great Halloween/ half birthday, tons of candy would be great.
So gather up all the extra candy you don't want from tric-or-treating and send it up
PEACE,
Kaia

How much I love Jackie

how much I love Jackie
poem by Kaia Rubin

I love Jackie
like bees love those turquoise flowers
like an elementary school kids like good food
I love Jackie
like the trees like the feel of wind against there bark
like Cheese likes Mac and Mac likes Blue
I love Jackie
more than old people like fake teeth
more than silent films like organs
but most of all
I love Jackie like I like writing on my legs and arms with sharpie
actually I really like writing on my legs and arms with sharpie a lot
but it's pretty close

that a poem for you Jackie,
thanks for the idea of what to do on my blog.

English Class

Yesterday was the day my English class became better than any English class at East. We came in and heard the beautiful songs of Jack Johnson. Then Jeff, our teacher, tells us we have to write a paper on a Eddie Vedder song. We all shouted Yeah! and threw our papers in the air as celebration. No that didn't happen, but our assignment was to write about how Eddie Vedder's music relates to Into the Wild. :)

New Kicks

Yesterday, I realized that these sneakers I had since freshman year, weren't dirty yet. You would normally expect a pair of shoes to get dirty in a month or two, but not these. These have stayed neon white and glow in the dark green for over a year. I'm the type of person that doesn't really like white shoes, especially when you can see only your feet when you walk around in the dark. So to fix this problem, I decided to paint them. I sat in the student apartment during the debate last night and painted my shoes with acrylics. At first the designs were all over the place and no one part of the shoe matched another, so I kept painting, and this is what I ended with so far.

If you know anyone who would like to purchase these fine kicks, they are a US size 8.5 and EUR size 40.
Around 50 or 60 dollars is a good min, but I'm up for bargaining.

Going to Denmark

So, as you know, I am going to Denmark next semester, but tuition is expensive. To here more about this amazing experience vistit my fundraising website.
Thanks,
Kaia

http://www.giveforward.com/studyabroadtodenmark?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fb_share_send&utm_campaign=dashboard_supporters&og_action=hug&t=3&fb_ref=389448&fb_source=message

Solos Site

 I was on a beautiful site for solos. The night and day alone was a nice experience filled with reading and sleeping and taking pictures. Though we couldn't wander far, where I could go was wonderful.

Phenology

 

These are pictures from my phenology spot I'm working in for science class.

 

 

 

Beautiful Skies

Last Friday, we went to our English teacher, Jeff's photography show an hour away from Conserve at this little college. Jeff's daughter went to this college and he told us a little about it. It was very pretty and nice. 

The show was amazing. We got Jeff to tell us how he did some of the abstract pictures. There were a few where he put tie-dye shirts behind ice and photographed that, or he put a clear pan with water in it and the tie-dye behind it. He'd then add oil drops and photograph it. It looked like planets in a pail sky.

After we looked at all the pictures, he gave a talk in the little auditorium. He told us stories of his travels along with his experiments with photography. It was very interesting.

On the way up there, there was the most beautiful sky I have ever seen though. It looked like the sky stopped at a wall. The clouds went from grey to yellow and orange and pink and then just stopped, in almost a straight line across the sky. My camera wasn't the best through the window, but I tried to capture the beautiful moment.

Crazy Hair Day

Yesterday was the day everyone dyed their hair. But lets start two days ago when I started my dreads.
I was bored of my hair, which happens about every two months, so I started dreading it. Twist and tear, twist and tear. After school that day, people started saying it looked cool and gave me tips on how to do it for real. I started back-combing and twist-tearing from the left side of my head to the right. I haven't gotten to the right side yet, but I have all of my left side started to a fair point.
A few weeks ago, Mei-Jing and I had bought some red hair dye (for dark hair). If finally came and we planned on doing it Saturday (yesterday). Yesterday was also the day a bunch of people went on a trip to Rhinelander. Bleach and red were bought by some people. So that night there was a huge hair dying party. Now a bunch of us have dyed hair. Kasey dyed her whole head a darker auburn, i dyed my tips a bright red, Mei-Jing got red highlights, Shawn bleached his tips and so did Garret, Kai got a skunk stripe, etc. It was a great time. Garret also got me some old dull sweaters, they're so comfy.
Hope everyone had a great weekend too,
PEACE,
Kaia

Coming Out Day!!

As some of you may know, today is International Coming Out Day. In spirit of this, Garret, Mei-Jing and I and some others, wrote NO H8 on our hands and drew on our arms. You can believe when I say, our arms were covered and only with beautiful drawings. That's all for now I guess. Have a nice night. There's snow up here. Thanks to Mei-Jing for the photo.
PEACE,
Kaia

Autumn Colors!

   The beautiful oranges, yellows and reds of the tress greet me every morning now. The leaves cover the ground as I walk to my classes and are there waiting more me when I get out of school. Danielle and I realized what the multitude of these leaves truly meant: leaf piles. That day during English class, we were outside discussing the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, so generally, Danielle and I dropped our bags and started rolling in the leaves that surrounded us. The rest of the class, including Jeff, joined us in playing in the leaves. Jeff took pictures of us all and eventually we sat to continue our discussion of the book, but this time in much more comfortable conditions.

   Though the leaves were plentiful during English, we didn't stop there. After school we got a hold of a rake, picking up Garret and Kai along the way, and went to the swings. We started raking and in no time there was a pile, that Danielle and I were a large part of, and more leaves kept piling up. Of course everyone knows that if there are lots of leaves, you have to have a leaf war, so we did. I spent as much time as I possibly could outside in the leaves that day. The beauty of it all enthralled me so much I didn't want to leaf.

   While I was in the leaf piles, I didn't have to think about work or stress or anything in the modern world, I just lay there in peace and accepted it. I learned to appreciate the beauty and peace of it.
PEACE,
Kaia

Poi

Kai just got new LED poi today. Mei-Jing and I have been practicing different types of styles, and I was trying the new ones today. The thing about poi is that when they're new, they are very dense and hard, so when you swing them around, they hit you. Normally they don't leave bruises, but because I was using the new ones, it's a possibility I now have bruised legs and a black eye. Oh well, all in a day of learning.

Koolaid!

My roommate and I attempted at dyeing our hair last night. We decided that red and purple Koolaid would be a pride idea, so we mixed them all up with water and conditioner and found out exactly how well it worked. Our fingers are stained red, especially around the nails. The bathroom had red Koolaid mixture splattered all over the floor and counter. We decided, since it looked like we very gruesomely killed someone, we should clean up. I kept my dye in for around 40 minutes and Kasey kept her's in all night and showered in the morning. Neither of ours worked. My nails are still surrounded by red and Kasey's hands are red, but out hair is still the normal color.
If your looking to dye your hair, invest in a $7 box of semi-permanent hair dye and don't bother with Koolaid or Jello.
It was a fun and exciting learning experience. I would never change in that night for anything. The joy of watching New Girl while putting streaks in Kasey's hair without gloves and laughing the whole time, is a memory I'll have forever.

Fancy Friday/ Funky Sock Friday

Today was Fancy Friday and Funky Sock Friday at Conserve. It also happens to be Perspective Student Day, so you can see why we picked today to dress up. Not many people dresses up in formal wear, but the majority of everyone else had tall colorful socks on. From  left to right: Ella, Kai, Russ, Chase, and Zeki. Zeki is not only formal but also sporting some nice funky socks. Kai got my Doctor Who bow-tie and Ella's rocking the layer look.

 I've got my tall heart socks all the way to mid-thigh. Teahelan, Paige, Ana and most of the girls have nice stripy socks. The colors are many, the designs plentiful, and the prospective students confused and amused. Mission successful!

Denmark!

Checking my email, reading through all the boring, average, everyday mail when, BAM!, there it is. The one email I have been waiting for since I heard  of Youth for Understanding.

At the beginning of this last summer I was researching semester abroad opportunities. I came across a lot of different places, but I really liked a few. I applied for a couple after researching them more, and one of them was YFU. Almost 5 months later I get this email. And oh what a good email it is.

It says:

"To whom this may concern We hereby confirm that Kaia Rubin... will be an exchange student on Youth for Understanding's program to Denmark..."

I didn't even read the rest of the letter till a whole 6 minutes later, I just sat there staring at the screen and biting my knuckles so I wouldn't squeal.

This was an exciting moment for me. People say that in this day and age you have to hold on to the small pleasures in life. This email is the smallest part of the year to come, but it gave the most pleasure to read here and now.

watch out Elaine house: Loon wing is moving up

Loon wing has finally gotten it's rep figured out. Last night, Kate and I decorated our wing with as many Halloween decorations as we could possibly find, and fit. Most of the decorations consisted of lights and cobwebs. Our new Halloween theme was the talk of Elaine house that night.
We have moved up in the rankings from the wing that never did anything to the wing that had become the essence of Halloween.
With Halloween coming up, the great Cathy had put a box of decorations in the student apartment for the wings to use. When Kate and I found out, we ran and grabbed as much as we could. We spent the next 2 hours decorating the wing. It got so good by the end that people started gathering in our wing to see the new and improved Loons. This was a new experience for us since we had never had people come to our wing for more than 2 minutes at a time. It was great fun to decorate it and get to experience it with everyone. Thanks to everyone who liked it, Kate and I appreciate it a ton.

Happy Birthdays are in order!

In the last two days it has been Zeki and Mei-Jing's birthdays.
I want to give a shout out to them as two very awesome people.
At lunch on the day of their birthdays, Zeki chose the ever popular cheese-head hat and Mei-Jing, the day before, chose the very fine bear hat.
soooooooo.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEKI! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEI-JING!
I love you both, you are both such amazing and funny people. Have a great birthday!

Exploration Week!

 The first day of exploration week was one of few really nice days. The wilderness surrounded us with birds, tracks, trees and clear waters.

 Our first portage was short in comparison to the ones to come later in the week. There was one where we carried the canoes with some of the packs in them across the small strip of land. The longest one was on the second day and then again coming back. It took taking two trips for each person and carrying the canoes to get across to the next lake.

Aaron and Russel go through the first portage in good spirits and we all succeed in continuing that way through the week. We all were so excited to be out in the wild that we didn't dell much on the bad weather or uncomfortable living. We had what we brought and that's all we needed.

 The scenery in the portages was amazing. There was so much wilderness, untouched by man. It seemed to grow in a more natural and wild way.

This is Paige carrying her packs.

Gwen is happy to start the trip.

   At our first camp site we found lots of different animal tracks. There was deer, raccoon, birds, and maybe even a coyote. All the tracks washed away with the rain the next morning.

 

Though it rained and hailed the whole week, we had tons of fun. Aaron's shoe melted down in the fire till there was nothing left to see, while my water shoes also melted a little bit on the side. Gwen made shoes out of plastic bags duct taped over her flats. The fire would be roaring every morning during breakfast and every night after dinner. All of our wet shoes, socks and bandannas dried quickly over the fire. We roasted socks on sticks like marshmallows. On the last night we went on a gorgeous night paddle, with the moon clear above us.

After the night paddle I wrote in my journal by firelight:

"The blue of my pants and yellow of my life jacket, fade to a grey, matching the tone of my jacket till it was all the same. The water looked like a black oasis, that when putting your hand in seems as if your hand would never come out again. And the temperature of the water was so perfect that when your hand got wet, you could barely tell. The clouds looked like the sky, lit by the crescent moon. And the sky was so black, but had the stars, and the clouds did not. This was the only way you could tell which was which. The silence fills your mind and you think of nothing but of how beautiful it is."