Wednesday, June 14, 2006
suggestions anybody?
I am realizing that a lot of the books I have here are either depressing or difficult reads. I'm looking for something easy and fun for a little while, and every book that I have that fits that description I have read about 10 times. I'm having a hard time brainstorming, also. So, basically, does anybody have a suggestion? To recap: not depressing, preferably funny, not too hard (like not theory, etc). Thanks :-)
Monday, June 12, 2006
dreams
I had a dream last night where I was trying to explain my taste in music from a couple of years ago to a musicologist I know and we bonded over the Smashing Pumpkins. Interesting. But two nights ago I had a really awful dream about getting sexually assaulted by one of Anna's co-workers (who is a very nice person and I'm sure would never act like that in the real world). I don't know what's going on in my own head.
I have a job interview or something like it in about half an hour. It's for a vegetarian/vegan cafe near my house, which sounds cool except I think they will want me to work a lot of evenings and weekends. I don't know... I don't mind working some of them, but I need some off too just so I still get to see Anna and have a life that doesn't start at 11 pm. We'll see. I feel really nervous about the whole thing, like either they'll find me lacking and not hire me or they will like me and I'll end up hating the job. Ugh. Jobs.
I have a job interview or something like it in about half an hour. It's for a vegetarian/vegan cafe near my house, which sounds cool except I think they will want me to work a lot of evenings and weekends. I don't know... I don't mind working some of them, but I need some off too just so I still get to see Anna and have a life that doesn't start at 11 pm. We'll see. I feel really nervous about the whole thing, like either they'll find me lacking and not hire me or they will like me and I'll end up hating the job. Ugh. Jobs.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
outlaws
My favorite line from the Craigslist missed connections today (I'm addicted): "OK I'm off to drink a Schlitz and read some Kant. Put that in your cultural category pipe and smoke it." People have been arguing about this guy who asked if any women had ever heard of/had any appreciation of Ingmar Bergman, with most people calling him pretentious and stupid for thinking he was the only one who liked Bergman. Then HE wrote back, calling them all pretentious and himself cultured and merely looking for someone equally so (or something like that). That prompted this response. I'm sure there are some excellent academic essays being written about Craigslist and online communities in general. It's fascinating.
I just finished Kate Bornstein's "Gender Outlaw" for the second time last night. It's funny how much can change in a year... Last year, I was so fucked up just by trying to think about the concept of considering oneself neither man or woman that I think I missed much of the rest of the book. (I'm still fucked up by that concept, but I've also spent a lot more time thinking about it so I was able to focus on the last 2/3 or more of the book a lot more effectively.) Bornstein has some really great thoughts, especially after the first bit which is kind of like an introduction to gender studies/gender thought/whatever. She has some decent ideas (far better than anything I could come up with) for restructuring gender activism to be transgender-inclusive without forcing people into molds, and she makes some awesome connections between things that surprised me a bit (for example, she talks about how S/M, because it deals with acting out power, also is related to acting out gender. I'm not explaining it well, but the way she did it made so much sense to me.) I like her writing because she trys to ask as many questions as possible and not necessarily answer them; I respect that because she says right out that with something that's so fluid and culturally constructed, you all-too-often find out that whatever you thought was stone-cold right is totally not. If you just keep questioning it instead of just making a decision and sticking with it, you're much more fluid and able to adapt.
Anyway, I've gone on too long. Read it sometime if you're interested, I highly recommend it.
I just finished Kate Bornstein's "Gender Outlaw" for the second time last night. It's funny how much can change in a year... Last year, I was so fucked up just by trying to think about the concept of considering oneself neither man or woman that I think I missed much of the rest of the book. (I'm still fucked up by that concept, but I've also spent a lot more time thinking about it so I was able to focus on the last 2/3 or more of the book a lot more effectively.) Bornstein has some really great thoughts, especially after the first bit which is kind of like an introduction to gender studies/gender thought/whatever. She has some decent ideas (far better than anything I could come up with) for restructuring gender activism to be transgender-inclusive without forcing people into molds, and she makes some awesome connections between things that surprised me a bit (for example, she talks about how S/M, because it deals with acting out power, also is related to acting out gender. I'm not explaining it well, but the way she did it made so much sense to me.) I like her writing because she trys to ask as many questions as possible and not necessarily answer them; I respect that because she says right out that with something that's so fluid and culturally constructed, you all-too-often find out that whatever you thought was stone-cold right is totally not. If you just keep questioning it instead of just making a decision and sticking with it, you're much more fluid and able to adapt.
Anyway, I've gone on too long. Read it sometime if you're interested, I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
and another
When I got home on Tuesday and checked the mail, I was surprised to find an application for the National American Miss competition addressed to me. This was confusing not only because I fall outside of the age limits of the competition by a good four years (it's for girls ages 4-20) but because there isn't any way in hell I would ever do something like that even if I was still 16. Me in a pageant? Are you kidding me? The brochure is full of shiny happy teenage girls holding crowns and wearing poofy gowns. I will admit it's kind of fun but weird to imagine myself doing that. Even better, listen to this quote from the website: "The National American Miss pageants are dedicated to celebrating America’s greatness and encouraging its future leaders." That's me all over, huh? I always wonder how they get my name for stuff like this, what they thought sending it to me would accomplish. It seems like for something that has such a specific target audience you wouldn't just mass mail a bunch of people. But what do I know?
Monday, June 05, 2006
a prime piece of bullshit
"Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all."
I guess "all" means something different to him than it does to me. I am not particularly "for" gay marriage, by which I mean that I am as for it as I am for hetero marriage. The whole issue seems to be frequently used like a band-aid approach to fix things like immigration strictures and adoption issues, and frankly I understand the idea of marriage less and less the more I think about it. But to say that everybody's interests are served by denying rights (however gained) to a group of people is such an obvious load of crap.
I guess "all" means something different to him than it does to me. I am not particularly "for" gay marriage, by which I mean that I am as for it as I am for hetero marriage. The whole issue seems to be frequently used like a band-aid approach to fix things like immigration strictures and adoption issues, and frankly I understand the idea of marriage less and less the more I think about it. But to say that everybody's interests are served by denying rights (however gained) to a group of people is such an obvious load of crap.
Friday, June 02, 2006
finally
Today has been rather more traumatic than I anticipated. I'm not going to get into it, suffice to say I didn't make it to postsecret. Instead, I'll use my new (and more expensive than I expected) USB cord to put up some pictures from my camera.
A sunset in Flagstaff.
Someone fishing in Lake Michigan in the middle of winter!
Do they have these ads anywhere else? They have these zombie-eyed children doing regular kid things with this video gam controller or whatever. They creep me out. We actually saw them first as graffiti, on trucks and things, and thought they were a good indictment of fucked-up consumerism. Turns out they were just ads.
The view from the music building student lounge at northwestern.
The tulips in the center of the roundabout by the school.
The lake in the midst of icing over.
I wanted to post a picture of the lake as it is now, but it won't let me. Fucker.
A sunset in Flagstaff.
Someone fishing in Lake Michigan in the middle of winter!
Do they have these ads anywhere else? They have these zombie-eyed children doing regular kid things with this video gam controller or whatever. They creep me out. We actually saw them first as graffiti, on trucks and things, and thought they were a good indictment of fucked-up consumerism. Turns out they were just ads.
The view from the music building student lounge at northwestern.
The tulips in the center of the roundabout by the school.
The lake in the midst of icing over.
I wanted to post a picture of the lake as it is now, but it won't let me. Fucker.
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