“If I were a white girl”

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by Colette Davidson • 10/21/08 • What if Sarah Palin were black?&nbsp

This whole Sarah Palin business is getting out of control. First she’s walking onstage alongside The Maverick with her pack of five children, including her unwed, pregnant teenage daughter, and now she’s making appearances as a comedy spectacle on Saturday Night Live. What’s next? A strip tease for Gordon Brown? I wouldn’t put it past her, honestly. She has already had more than a handshake from Pakistani President Asif Zardari, who could hardly keep his salami in his sandwich upon their first meeting.
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Pakistan: The other shoe to drop?

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by Colette Davidson • 10/16/08 • Call it a premonition, but I think the Republican party just dropped its bomb. Today, the AP announced that another suspected U.S. led missile strike was carried out on Pakistan in an area known to harbor Al Qaeda and other terrorists. Since August, the U.S. has purportedly been involved with nearly a dozen similar attacks, all of which it neither confirms nor denies. Is today’s bomb any different from the others or could this be a ploy to instill confidence in the U.S. Continue Reading

Give me liberty or give me…?

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by Colette Davidson • 10/3/08 • What does it take to get a girl excited these days? I’m feeling so seriously jaded.

Call me ungrateful, a cynic, a snob. Maybe I am. But the more I see of the world, the more it looks the same.

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Fear of flying: Lucky—but not proud—to be an American

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by Colette Davidson • 9/23/08 • It ain’t easy being a world traveler these days. First came the “no liquids” rule, where expensive perfume and body lotion got dumped into the garbage by the gallons. Then, passports with magnetic strips became obligatory for all non-American travelers. And before we knew what had hit us, children were getting stopped at security for sharing their names with a terrorist, praying Imams were causing planes to ground, and if you just happened to be Asian, African or, God forbid, Middle Eastern, you could consider yourself effectively strip-searched.

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Are you feeling good-on-paper?

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by Colette Davidson • 9/21/08 • Picture the scene: you’re sitting at an outdoor cafe, gabbing with your girls, when the inevitable question comes up – “So, when are you going to start dating someone?” You pick up your coffee up with a sly smile and mutter, “I am.” Immediately, questions start flying: What’s his name? What does he do? Where’s he from? And the old stand-by, “How old is he?”

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Avoiding conversation, the Western way

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by Colette Davidson • 9/16/08 • Ever been stuck on a plane next a Chatty Cathy who couldn’t be hushed, not even after blatantly stuffing your iPod headphones in your ears? Or how about that talker on the end of the phone line—otherwise known as your best friend—who won’t stop going on about her new boyfriend? Now there are a wealth of Web sites and products available not to help deal with uncomfortable conversations, but to avoid them altogether.

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Landmark Center goes around the world in five Sundays

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Even if you don’t have the funds to jump on a plane bound for Russia, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out on a plate of quality Beef Stroganoff or a set of nesting dolls. Beginning on January 20 and continuing for five Sundays until April 27, St. Paul’s Landmark Center will present Urban Expedition 2008—now in its fourth year. A chance to have fun and learn about the many countries in our world, Urban Expedition allows families to enjoy world food, music, dance and culture without crossing the Minnesota border. Russia is first on the list, with Ethiopia, Guatemala, Great Britain and Thailand to follow. Continue Reading

Birthday candles for kidnapped girl

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Ajak Achiek Mading turned two years old on Monday, January 14. Her birthday cake of white frosting and multicolored candy stars stood poised, stuck with a large #2 candle, ready to be blown out. The only thing missing from the celebration was Ajak. At the State Capitol, supporters of the Save Yar Campaign joined together to wish Ajak a happy birthday on Monday, even though her whereabouts remain unknown. After Ajak and her three year-old sister Yar were kidnapped from their home in South Sudan on October 3, 2007, their St. Continue Reading

Citizenship delayed … indefinitely

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The heated national debate over immigration largely ignores the plight of long-time, documented immigrants whose citizenship applications are stalled in bureaucratic limbo. The cancellation of naturalization ceremonies in St. Paul in October and November is one symptom of the administrative meltdown that has left applicants waiting in line with no end in sight. The number of immigrants applying to become naturalized citizens has increased steadily since 2004. (Naturalization is the process of becoming a U.S. citizen for anyone who is not a citizen by birth.) In 2006, 702,589 people became naturalized U.S. citizens, a 16% rise since 2005. Continue Reading