what in the what the?

You have the right to look ridiculous. Check out this CRAZY nypost article!

"A Bronx judge has thrown out a summons issued against a Bronx man for wearing saggy pants, finding that "the Constitution still leaves some opportunity for people to be foolish if they so desire."

Judge Ruben Franco said that although Julio Martinez may have offended the fashion police with his low-hanging and underwear-exposing pants, his manner of dress didn't deserve a ticket from a cop.

"While most of us may consider it distasteful, and indeed foolish, to wear one's pants so low as to expose the underwear . . . people can dress as they please, wear anything, so long as they do not offend public order and decency," the judge wrote.
ASININE: New Yorkers like this one can wear their pants on the ground and fear only the fashion police -- not the city police.
Robert Kalfus
ASININE: New Yorkers like this one can wear their pants on the ground and fear only the fashion police -- not the city police.

Martinez was given his summons for disorderly conduct on April 20 of last year.

The summons by the unidentified police officer charged that Martinez had acted in a disorderly manner because he had "his pants down below his buttocks exposing underwear [and] potentially showing private parts."

There was no other reason listed for the ticket besides Martinez's pants, and Franco noted: "The issuance of this summons appears to be an attempt by one police officer to show his displeasure with a particular style of dress."

The officer has plenty of company -- the sloppy look has been the subject of derision from people ranging from Bill Cosby to President Obama, and the super-low rider has been banned in numerous towns across the country.

In New York, the boxers-baring look has been the subject of a targeted campaign by state Sen. Eric Adams of Brooklyn, who put up billboards urging youngsters to "Stop the Sag." He has said he doesn't want to criminalize saggy pants -- he just wants youngsters to know it's time to send the fashion trend the way of the legwarmer.

"You can raise your level of respect if you raise your pants," Adams said in a YouTube video.

The judge's decision said the "trend of wearing pants well below the waistline is believed to have its roots in this country's prison system where inmates are issued uniforms which are often too big and the wearing of belts is prohibited due to safety concerns."

While there have been efforts to outlaw the look around the country, Franco wrote, "New York has no such legislation."

That means in Martinez's case, the officer apparently overstepped his bounds by giving him a summons for disorderly conduct.

To meet that standard, the offensive conduct must be "public in nature and must cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to a substantial segment of the public," and there's no evidence the suspect's skivvies set off such a panic, the judge said.

Martinez could not be reached and his Legal Aid lawyer did not return calls for comment. The decision was issued last month."

dareh.gregorian@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/crack_is_back_TBpsdZXuiM1zK9tQIAkmdM#ixzz0vALnjiy8

(http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/crack_is_back_TBpsdZXuiM1zK9tQIAkmdM)

today: san francisco food bank, city search, and VII for dinner.

tensions: the desire to go home mixed with the sadness of my last day with the BARM kids yesterday ("girl, you white as HELL!"), and my last day with so so many people coming up in the next two weeks.

god-things: the book of ephesians. it's great. having the message to read on and off really helps to shake up my own stagnation. sometimes i'm so tired i find myself reading through passages of the bible and just missing it. i'm almost overwhelmed by it and fatigue makes me grope around for something that will smack me around a little till i wake up. the funny little paper back copy of the message that we got at graduation(who knew!) has really been helpful there.

second to last

today my second to last group comes. well, hopefully. i definitely am hosting this week and next week and then there are only four groups on the schedule for my last week here so i don't know if i'm going to be hosting then.

it's funny that this is almost the end. i've been aching for home lately. i think that my sister's visit did it. she was a breath of vermont air and then i see pictures online of fresh earthy picnics and weddings...

now, don't get me wrong. i like it here a lot. oakland has tucked itself into a little place in my heart and will be there for a while. san francisco is fun, and i hope to return, but it hasn't attached itself in the same way. mostly my heart is stuck in the ministry sites. korean corp and little alex, BARM's spunky simon, and the directors are people i've learned so much from: jessica, chrystal, alexa, brother steve, sister marchelle. i know more now about ministry and urban work than i ever thought i would by the end of the summer.

and still, i'm ready to go home. i have a week in vermont before my next adventure. prayer would be nice. i want to utilize my time as best as i can. i'm a little afraid of my next urban adventure. i miss the hills and the lake and walks in the woods. i hope i've made a good choice. i'll have to soak it all in while i'm there for a week.

ok, ten minutes till showtime. i'm ready. i'm in my pink hosting shirt and my green skinny jeans (don't worry, it's tempered with my cozy plaid jacket - it's cold here!) hopefully they're funny and easy going and ready for an adventure!

Art

"Art is the thing having to do only with itself - the product of a successful attempt to make a work of art. Unfortunately, there are no examples of art, nor good reasons to think that it will ever exist. (Everything that has been made has been made with a purpose, everything with an end that exists outside that thing i.e., I want to sell this, or I want this to make me famous and loved, or I want this to make me whole, or worse,I want this to make others whole.) And yet we continue to write, paint, sculpt, and compose. Is this foolish of us?"
- Everything is Illuminated

pain

this came in a random newsletter i got today:

"How do you deal with pain? I eat. My pain is all in my gut, where it doesn't belong, instead of in my heart, where it does belong.

Can we open our hearts to the pain? Can we embrace the beauty of our pain? Can we just allow ourselves to FEEL it? To "Be" with it? I think that's all we have to do, to deal with it, is to just be with it for a while. Not wallow in it. But let it tell us its messages, listen to it, and then more easily let it go."

it's an interesting thought. how do you deal with pain? i think that the author is right, there is beauty in pain, even pain that is so yucky you don't want to think about it at all.

beauty that has come out of pain in my life almost always manifests itself in relationships. i am always amazed by the people that are placed in my way who need to know about my pain in order to share their own. in order to help i need to embrace that it happened, right? i need to know it is there and "be" with it.

interesting. thoughts?

in other notes, as some of you know i am "off" this week. i don't have a group...but i do have work (yay 5am shower duty every day!).

Here are a few interesting things:
this beautiful blog let me know of a plan to make a wonderfully interesting bridge!

it's Jazz Age Dance Party week on The Sartorialst (scroll down for some lovely photos)

I am reading two (TWO!) splendid books. check them out:

Everything is Illuminated

The Peace Maker

i also JUST finished THIS book which you ALL absolutely positively MUST read!

keep in touch!

sunshine on a cloudy day

the bay has been cold and cloudy for the past few days. layers and hot tea have been in order. sometimes, although i love the bay, i feel like i've missed out on summer. we had a c-c-c-cold winter in massachusets and then spring in mass and ca, and then...more spring? it's hard to not want a little bit of the heat wave that a lot of you are getting.

my sister arrived on friday. safe and sound and weirded out by actually being in ca. we rode the BART (why is it SO expensive?), ate vegan food in the mission and then...then...WENT TO SEE WICKED!

friday afternoon, after conversing for a while with my 'rents i decided to go for it. they're covering her ticket for graduation and with $50 nose bleed seats it wasn't that bad. and it was beautiful. i'll leave it at that.

we also were in the very front row and got waved at by the young conductor. aside from my nerves about getting home late (waltzing down broakway in oak-town at 11:30pm), everything was wonderful ("simply wonderful - i love it so much it's part of my name!").

yesterday was santa cruz, green on-sale odwalla smoothies, and "babay mama" (watch it!).

today: church at 9, a 2-mile stroll to the health food store for E to locate some iron (she's feeling anemic), my meeting at 2, and then moving to harbor house where my group with arrive at 5. i'm glad to be moving back, although our new room arrangement here at BACC is simply splendid.

before i begin i need to explode a little: MY SISTER IS COMING TO VISIT ON FRIDAY! she will be here for 10 days and will, i hope, have a wonderful time exploring my fair cities. due to the nature of my job, i will only be able to be with her during the weekends, on Wednesday night, and every night for dinner (sad). i've got some wonderful stuff planned though!

today i begin a new group. from rocky mountain colorado, they are loud, funny mountain people. their leader, S, is hilarious. he has been on 7 CSM trips, but this is the first trip for most of his students. they range from 14 - 18 years old and there are two 19-year-old leaders. this is my first group that i've hosted all by my self. it's just me and my group of 13. control-freak that i am, i'm actually excited to be the boss of everyone (suprise!).

today we are going to St. Vincent De Paul's Dining Room and then to Berkley to do an activity called Meet a Need.

Prayers for safety still in oakland.