Who do you think will win American Idol???
Since I've been out sick, you may comment on virtually anything this week. I want you to stay in the habit of blogging. The requirements for your comment apply to this blog comment just like the usual ones (see the grading rubric).
Comment on anything as frivolous as Idol to as serious as Iraq.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
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The 99 cent fish snacker at KFC. Since they have started this advertisement campaign I have been thrown for a loop and not really sure what to think. KFC has came under fire lately for the use of steroids in their chicken. I'm trying to figure out what these fish that KFC are using look like. Do they pump these fish full of steroids. If they do what would the side-effects be. That's actually not the argument I'm presenting here. What happened to the day when you could go to KFC and your only option was chicken. Not salads, not fish, not burgers on the kids menu (Which I'm not sure is still there) but JUST CHICKEN. While I don't eat fast food anymore, I find that since my commonwealth's name is attached to this international known chain, they should stay true to their roots. Kentucky Fried CHICKEN. Not Kentucky Fried Chicken, and some random fish sandwich. What is going to be the next step in this large tragedy? Are we going to get taco salads from KFC? What about spaghetti and meatballs? Nevertheless I am sure KFC will continue to be the world's largest provider of fried chicken and other fine Kentucky dining. However, I feel that KFC should come clean and admit their defeat in the are of fried fish sandwiches. This, I feel, will secure KFC's place in the world of other overpriced fried food products
I went to a rally at the state capital yesterday for domestic partner benefits. My eyes were opened to so many things. The first thing that I noticed which not a shock in itself was but just caught me off guard is how unprofessional our state men are. Upon arriving I knew that the majority of our state men did not agree with the lobbyists. The theme for the day was 73%, which is the percent of Kentuckians polled who want equality in the work place. The majority of our leaders voted against this though, and I knew this was out of homophobia. I cannot tell you how awkward it is to walk passed a group of senators and hear the word “faggot” in their conversation, right there in the hallway of the capitol building. I also witnessed one reporter come up, shake hands with the senators and hold a brief conversation, however as soon as the reporter walked away, these seemingly professional men mutter “put that in your f-ing paper”. I am appalled at the unprofessional nature of our representatives. I was pleasantly surprised though, there were two ministers speaking out for equality for the homosexual population. I know logically that not all Christians are homophobes, however, that idea never really sat with me. It was nice to hear these middle aged, conservative appearing ministers to say that one day our children will look at us and ask us how we could be so wrong, just as we do with the civil rights issue. I almost cried, one minister stopped performing weddings. He said that he could not in good conscious give marriage certificates to anyone if he could not give them to everyone equally. My opinion on Christians was dramatically altered.
wow! I cannot fathom the experience that "commi_mommy" had. I remember growing up thinking statesmen were the ones who held the most professionalism. I believed they had to be because the represented so many different kinds of people, and if they didn't respect their constituents (no I did not know that word then) how could they be elected? Everyone seems to have to sides of their personality. There is the person you portray in your professional relationships and acquaintancships and there is the person you allow your intimate friends and family to see. But what makes these statesmen believe they can cross the two? They are entitled to their personal opinions of homosexual relationships. However, it is their professional obligation to separate thier personal opinion from the position they hold. It is a mar to integrity to vote against something the majority of your constituents want. It is their job to represent the people, not themselves. What's worse is to be completely unprofessional about it. Namecalling and saracastic remarks such as were heard are simply childish. I'm incredibly appauled. commi_mommy- do you recall which of our statesmen made those remarks? I personally would like to write a letter to them.
My comment is on rape. I was watching the news the other day and they were reporting on a woman who was raped in Masterson Station Park in Lexington. Her car had broken down and she chose to walk home. She had walked a significant part of the way when a man stopped and offered her a ride home. He instead drove her to the park and even though she jumped out of his vehicle and ran, he caught up to her and raped her. The spokeperson for the police department described the situation and then stated..."we cannot require everyone to not take rides from strangers but...". So, he has already blamed the victim for her own rape because she chose to get into the car with a stranger. That really made me angry. I understand that women need to take safety precautions, but why do we live in a society where that is necessary? Why is it that in a moment of crisis the foremost thing on our mind is that we may be raped, beaten or murdered???
Adrienne Rich commented on this in her article "Taken Women Students Seriously". This is a long quote, but it is well worth the read.
"The undermining of self, of a woman's sense of her right to occupy space and walk freely in the world, is deeply relevant to education. The capacity to think independently, to take intellectual risks, to assert ourselves mentally, is inseperable from our physical way of being in the world, our feelings of personal integrity. If it is dangerous for me to walk home late of an evening from the library, because I am a woman and can be raped, how self-possessed, how exuberant can I feel as I sit working in that library? how much of my working energy is drained by the subliminal knowledge that, as a woman, I test my physical right to exist each time I go out alone? Of this knowledge, Susan Griffin has written: '...more than rape itself, the fear of rape permeates our lives. And what does one do from day to day, with this experience, which says, without words and directly to the heart, your existence, your experience, may end at any moment. Your experience may end, and the best defense against this is not to be, to deny being in the body, as a self, to...avert your gaze, make yourself as a presence in the world, less felt'".
I wonder how many men, when their car breaks down, are worried about whether they will be raped, beaten or murdered?
I worry about being raped, beaten or murdered every night when I lock my doors before I go to bed.
Rather than a focus on how pathetic this society is that a woman's car can break down and they end up raped, we focus on the fact that in that moment of crisis she wasn't considering the fact that she would be raped. I personally am sick and tired of the way rape is always thrown back on the victim because they didn't make the right choice, wore the wrong clothes, they were drunk, whatever stupid excuse men can come up with for why women get raped.
Janice Clayton
I didn't catch their names, all of senate and the house were there because they were voting on something and they didn't have name badges. The men who were so vulgar were just walking down the hall between sessions. I was appalled at what I'd heard too, and to me it almost seems as if it should be illegal for the representatives to vote yes on a bill that 73% of their people did not want. However, I find it amazing that 73% of Kentuckians think that gays should have equality in the work place, much higher than I expected. I find it a great achievement to have that amount of fairness and openness in the minds of the people. Having that in the government will come with time. As a side note, while we are talking about government you should all watch these movies. As with any documentary you should double check the facts. They do raise good questions and raise some good points.
1. America: Freedom to Fascism
This is about the TRUE fact that their is no law that requires you to pay income tax and the IRS violates Supreme Court rulings.
2. Loose Change
This one is about 911. Some of it is unproven, but most is fact.
Get the popcorn kiddies! Enjoy your weekend!
you can find loose change on youtube.
I could care less about American Idol, because it has become just that to the American public: an idol. This past week people have sat around their TV’s three nights in a row to pay homage to this thing. They worship the idol talents of other people and in the process waste the time they could use to hone their own skills.
I mean I understand that if you are one of the many who only receive the basic television stations in Madison County, because I know for a fact that at times American Idol can be inescapable. Or at least that is short of turning off the TV all together. Just know that I completely sympathize with you. Because when it isn’t FOX actually televising the program, it is NBC’s Extra reporting on it, or the people on CBS joking about it, and God knows we could care less what comes on KET when it’s all fuzzy. But for the rest of you out there ranting on about how well some fro-haired Jack Ozbourne wanna-be look-a-like performed…save it. It’s a moo point.
Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy wasting my time just like the next person. For I only mean to condemn American Idol in the ranting sense, to take up space on the word count. Because I know we all have our guilty pleasures in life, but I am all too glad that that stupid show isn’t one of mine.
erin jo mullen
As I was sitting at a computer a few nights ago waiting for a paper to print, it occurred to me that while there are many blessings to a fast-paced society, it does tend to create some considerable problems as well. Although I consider myself a very patient person, I quickly became annoyed with the sluggishness of the machine that was in fact making life much easier. In hindsight, I thought of how a student at EKU from thirty or forty years ago would’ve been forced to deal with such a writing assignment, and the very thought of drafting an extensive research paper several times over by hand or perhaps typewriter would’ve been pretty miserable, never mind that they also would not have had the benefit of electronic resources that are now available.
Our society has collectively grown accustomed to such conveniences to the extent that it’s nearly inconceivable to imagine daily life without them (for example, the software application that informed me that I had misspelled inconceivable without having to consult a dictionary, which would be difficult since I don’t have a hard copy of it because the good folks at Merriam-Webster have one online). We expect global communication to be instantaneous, our machines to automate the more mundane tasks of life, and our chicken, fish, or whatever the heck they’re serving at KFC now as Jared enlightened us about to be prepared before we order it and for that meal to be fresh and otherwise palatable.
The problem with this mentality is that it doesn’t carry into all facets of life, yet as a society of instant gratification, it IS expected in all facets of life. Particularly in the area of government and the economy, the changes and promises of prosperity that all politicians give during their respective campaigns are the kinds of things that I feel require change on a near-revolutionary scale. These changes would eventually lead to improvement over the long term. Over the short term, however, gains would be rather minimal or perhaps would even be losses. Since politicians are only elected during the short term, it’s no wonder that major change and reform is rather difficult. Even if a politician did choose to pursue measures for the long term growth and development of the nation’s interests, it likely would not have any short term gains, and thus the electorate would replace him or her with someone else who would run on the platform of a new course of action. Obviously, a new course of action with each new Congress can create some considerable problems. Perhaps a seemingly failed element of public policy might work brilliantly if given more time. Perhaps it would not. This is one of the pitfalls of a democratic government. I personally feel that it’s still a much better system than the failed communist states of the twentieth century or the flavor of the month fascist junta leader in South America, but I suppose it could use a little tweaking now and then.
The only thing I can say in defense of American Idol is that it's still equal or better than most other reality shows on network TV.
-Survivor got pretty darn stale after a season or two (A jungle on an island in the south Pacific looks just like an island in Latin America unless you happen to be a biologist that can actually tell the difference between the local flora and fauna).
-Who Wants to be a Millionaire got really old rather quickly. Someone would just sit there for three or four minutes talking to themselves about how they don't know the answer to a question. At least on Jeopardy Trebek just dings 'em if they can't answer the blasted question in five seconds or less.
-Deal or No Deal is a game where people guess numbers and win money. At least with American Idol you have to have some varying degree of musical talent and not just a knack for random chance.
I have decided to eat a lot of rice. I think it is the key to healthy living. Sylvester Stallone in "Cobra"- Crime is a disease, meet the cure, makes a comment to his partner that you should really try to eat more fish and rice. Since Cobra was probably the best movie ever made, until recently when "Ghostrider" came out (by the way that movie is freakin awesome) I think I will take Stallone's advice to heart. Have you seen the dude? He's like a walking tank, and that's what I want to be. So I'm going to eat more fish and rice.
I have a hangover today that is absolutely like no other. It's almost 4 and I still feel like crap. As a general rule hangovers should never last past two, anything over that and you really over did it the night before. After eating fish and rice a Reno's I enjoyed five beers, two shots of some unknown liquor and a shot of woodford reserve. Then we went and watched Ghostrider and went back to the bar where I had two shots of makers and three beers. After that they cut me off and when I proceeded to tell them what I thought about that, they informed me that I had to leave and that I could do it the easy way or the hard way. I chose the easy because the cop outside had one of those taser thingy's and he wasn't afraid to use it (those things hurt like hell). To relate this to class, I have been told to leave bars before, but this was the first time a woman said "Hey, watch your mouth buddy, you can leave the easy way or the hard way." I was rather humbled.
Well, my wife should be back with some rice anytime so I'll see all you fine people on Tuesday.
Cameron
About once a month, the internet at my apartment decides to stop working. The solution is usually at least a two-hour phone call with a customer service representative who is most likely stationed in India or China or somewhere not near my current location. Well, last Monday it decided to stop working once again, so I decided that I wasn't going to fix it (and there's no danger that my roommates would either). I made this decision just to see how I could function for a week without having the internet at my fingertips 24/7.
Well, obviously I survived the week and obviously I'm online right now (at the library) but this "detox" from the internet turned out fairly interesting. The first day wasn't too bad, since I was on campus and could stop in the computer lab. However, by Tuesday, I felt the "pressure" to check my email, check Facebook, etc. since it'd probably been almost 24 hours (a new record for me). However, since I didn't check my email that morning, I came on to campus for our 446 class, to then find out that it was canceled. So what did I do instead of walking back to my car? I went to the computer lab first, "just in case" I had received something important. (It's as if I'm waiting for some email saying I've won a million dollars.)
Two hours later, as I still sat in the computer lab doing absolutely nothing, I decided that I would only check my email once a day for the next few days-- just to see if I could do it. As crazy as this sounds, it wasn't easy... but I made it to today with only checking it once a day, as compared to 10-15 times.
Does this story have a point? Well, I’m trying to find one. Basically, I’m addicted to the internet. It consumes my life at times. During this past week when I decreased my time spent with it, I actually got quite a bit more work done than perhaps I’ve done all semester. The internet at my apartment still isn’t fixed and may not be until someone else calls to fix it…. How long can I hold out? We’ll see.
Over the weekend I attended a conference in Louisville, it was for the Student Alumni Ambassadors. What I wanted to discuss here was the keynote speaker. We had “Kentucky Joe”, Roger Bingham. Roger appeared on the second edition of Survivor. He came and discussed all about this experiences in the Australian Outback. He talked about everything from the selection process to how the experience changed his life. What I found particularly interesting was how the show changed his life. He spoke about how he played the game straight, meaning he was involved in no alliances and lied to no one. Playing the game straight was very important to him because when he left his job to be on the show, he left a great job as a teacher. He knew that his students would watch the show, which meant they would see how one is changed when it comes to money. Roger’s decision to play clean also rubbed off on Elizabeth as she performed the same way. His major point in his speech was that, if children see how money can change people and how greed can end friendship, they would be likely to believe that is how they too should act. He saw the need for a good role model on TV. Roger commented on noticing that at the time, television shows were growingly worse and worse, as sex and violence became much too prevalent in kids lives through TV. The point of Roger’s speech was that we, as young adults may not realize it but we are role models and we need to pay attention to how we act and what we say, because the younger generation is watching.
I thought he was very inspiring. I watched Survivor that season but had never heard of “Kentucky Joe” before, but I was very impressed with what he had to say.
I went to Huntsville, Al to visit my in-laws. While there I went to the NASA center. My twelve year old had a great time and is now trying to convince me to send him to space camp. Although he has his heart set on being the next crocodile hunter, he is really good with science, hmm maybe he’ll start looking at the stars with more on his mind than being disappointed that it is dark and too close to bedtime.
Growing up, I remember the images on television of a male dominated environment of the mission control and the crew going in space being all men. (Of course it was, there were very few women who wanted to fight the system against men and the ridicule involved, but that is slowly, ever so slowly changing)
There at the NASA center there were many women that were very knowledgeable about many of the exhibits and were taking school groups through tours. They had set up two semi trailers with a model of what inside a rocket was like. There was even a female in a video speaking about what it is like in space and what each compartment through the model was used for. There was a mannequin with a case of bad hair day in a sleeping bag arranged against the wall with Velcro to show how they slept and not float around. My son was grossed out by their restroom facilities. He did think it was cool they could exercise upside down.
I also saw pictures of the people that were involved in building a rocket. Nothing truly can give you a better grasp of the idea of the people involved, better than a picture. Of course, I had an idea it took many, but to actually see photographs of the groups of people in charge of just one part of the electrical unit that controlled the temperature, and oxygen levels. WOW!
I also saw missiles, such as Little John and Honest John that had been deleted from the military inventory. That was different. My son took notice that the missiles were emptied out of their explosive material from the bottom. He said it looked as if there was a very strong and sharp object that cut the metal, much like a knife would open a soda can. Well at least he didn’t want to sit on the missile like on the movie Armageddon.
Unfortunately I didn't get to see everything because I was there on the weekend and there were some exhibits closed down for remodeling. I now have a stronger appreciation for the people involved in exploring the unknown.
Since this week’s reading in Dolan focused on women in local politics and government I thought I’d concentrate my blog for this week on some influential women who’ve been active in local government. In October I attended a conference called NEW Leadership Kentucky where many women involved in Northern Kentucky government spoke and held workshops. During the conference there was a lot of discussion about the limited presence of women in local government positions. In a way I hadn’t ever really thought about women not being as involved as men in local government positions. As a resident of Richmond the last two mayors our city has had have both been female—Ann Durham and Connie Lawson. In the last mayoral election our city had Mayor Lawson won by a landslide of votes. I guess I never realized how scarce women were in some local governments.
During the conference Cincinnati City Council member Lakita Cole discussed what is was like to be one of the only two female Council members. She talked about how the media had nick named her the “bull dog” because of her assertive style of politics. She described herself as a no nonsense official who is very straight forward in her dealings with other policy issues. Ms. Cole also talked about how prior to her election to the city council she worked under the former mayor as an aid. During her time as an aid she said that her wardrobe consisted almost entirely of black. After she was elected Ms. Cole said that some of her colleagues noted that her dark wardrobe may be contributing to her aggressive image and suggested that she add some color. She also noted that her dark wardrobe and assertiveness gained her a sort of masculine image as well. I thought that this was particularly interesting considering our class’ previous discussion of how the media portrays female officials. Ms. Cole said that she had been making attempts to wear pastel colored skirt suits to help improve the media’s image of her. I think it’s very interesting that a male politician can get by with wearing a black suit to every event they ever attend but a woman must wear color or she’s criticized. However, I also understand that men are sometimes labeled “metro-sexual” when they wear pastel colors. In this way I guess the media places standards of how they expect males and females to dress on both sexes.
Another speaker at the conference was Florence Mayor Diane E. Whalen. Mayor Whalen followed in the footsteps of her father who had previously held the position. Mayor Whalen unlike some of the other female candidates we’ve read about did not have reservations about her ability to lead prior to running for office. In a previous chapter Dolan talked about how most female candidates tend to take longer to make the decision to run for office because they typically have lower self confidence than male candidates. Mayor Whalen of course, also had the advantage of a politically active family who supported her. It probably also didn’t hurt that while in office Mayor Whalen’s father was able to attract a great deal of industry to the city which boosted the city’s economy considerably.
The organizer of the conference was former Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls who served as the mayor from 1993 to 1999. Before coming to Office Mrs. Qualls worked with the Northern Kentucky Rape Crisis center and served as the executive director for Women Helping Women, two organizations that provided services to individuals who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Mrs. Qualls now works as a professor at Northern Kentucky University teaching a masters program in public administration and as the director for NEW leadership Kentucky. NEW Leadership is an organization founded at Rutgers University that encourages young women to become active in politics. By teaching young women the ins and outs of running for office and surrounding them with female role-models this organization strives to aid young women in becoming active in government and teaches them how to be successful in doing so.
So as I was watching the Academy Awards tonight I saw Al Gore come out with the ever so handsome Leonardo Decaprio to talk about the issues going on in America. At the end of the little segment between the two, Decaprio goes on the thank Al Gore for being a inspiration in the world and asked him if he had anything further to say. Al Gore comes off as though he wasn’t going to say anything and then says well yes there is something I would like to say to be billion or so viewers that are watching tonight. He pulls a slip of paper from his pocket and starts to say that he is going to officially announce his plans to run for president. Before the poor man could start to talk the music started to sound and they both started to laugh. I thought there for a brief moment that this man was really going to announce that he was running for president. I looked at my brother in disbelief and said “Is this man really going to be running for president?”
Also I must say this even though it has nothing to do with politics. I went to taco bell last night and after I got home I was watching the news on the internet and saw where a taco bell in California was infested with RATS!!! So needless to say they showed the pictures of the rats crawling on everything and honestly this made me almost sick. So yeah the chances of me eating taco bell again are slim to none!
I saw Ghost Rider tonight, with my fiancée tonight, and as nerdy as this blog post is going to sound, it got me thinking about the comic book industry, and the financial state it must be in at this point.
See, ever since around 1993, when DC comics released its “Death of Superman” arc, things have gone downhill, well, no, it was after Superman ‘died’ and was then ‘revived’ that the entire industry began to fall apart. To counteract this problem, there have been only a couple of options. Either stage more huge events in the publisher’s respective universes, or find new ways to make money.
The idea of huge events has been an interesting idea, to say the least, and has worked quite well for DC comics, with their “Infinite Crisis” and “52” lines. Both have made quite a bit of effort into pulling characters like Batman and Superman into the story to make it quite a bit more interesting. Marvel…has attempted the same thing, but to little avail. Their attempt was called “Civil War” and it was done at least decently, until the sub-par ending.
This is the problem in the comic book industry. Its not that people are not willing to spend their money on comics, because people are, and I alone buy around 2-3 issues of comics a week. The problem is that the producers aren’t willing to take a chance and go with a well-written plot anymore, since that might involve killing off a beloved character, or perhaps even making the fans mad. This is…understandable, I suppose, since the fan-base is so terribly small compared to something like American Idol, or House, or even a single actor!
If an actor plays a bad role, well, the people can just attribute it to a bad writer, because its just one movie, or one show. With comic books, you’re stuck with whatever the writer does in the book, and it’s going to affect every little thing afterwards that happens to the respective character, unless its conveniently “ret-conned” or removed, and well…that happens more often than it should in the comic-book industry.
Obviously, this leaves for quite a bit of confusion, and even frustration, from fans and the mildly interested alike. After all, how is the mildly interested supposed to catch up on over 80 years of history if they want to start reading Superman Comics? The sheer volume is impressive and a daunting task!
So what’s the option? Hollywood blockbuster movies that don’t do that well, but at least they cull some interest in superheroes, and even raise the amount of trade paperbacks in the stores. It seems to be the only way to preserve what was once a widely accepted form of media. Part of America’s culture, in fact. One can’t doubt how ingrained heroes like Superman or Batman or even Spiderman and the X-men are ingrained in our pop culture, but at the same time, its practically dying.
Do I have a solution? Nope. It was just something to write about for the blog post.
Well I have to admit I do not watch American Idol. In fact, I have NEVER seen it. Nor do I plan to. The only television I watch is CSI: NY. And that is because that show rocks.
I have not watched any of the Oscars, but I just learned that Jennifer Hudson and Alan Arkin won best supporting. Yay for Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine was great, and he was one of the main reasons! I don't know any other results yet, but I bet Helen Mirren takes best actress. Now if only Scorsese can get that man statue. If he doesn't, I will totally call conspiracy!
Let's see...I am not really good at this random posting stuff, without guidlines I am all over the place...
I have the craziest dreams. I debated whether or not to write it here, for fear everyone would think I am subconsciously unsound. But I do need to fulfill this word count requirement.
Psycho dream #1: At my apartment buliding, someone has been murdered, while she was sunbathing outside. I walk outside, and her body is laying there, dead. Then, she gets up and starts walking towards me. Out of nowhere, her younger brother shows up and she disappears. The brother is acting strange, so I go to my apartment, and shut the door. When I look outside the peephole, he is standing there waiting for me. Turns out, he was the killer, and his parents know, so they all three decide they must kill me so that I won't tell anyone what I know. I am freaking out, because they are trying to bang the door down. They can't, it's too strong, so the father decides to go across the street and buy an ax. He comes back, and begins to chop down my door. When he does, they all come inside, and he says he is going to chop my head off. His wife says he cannot do that, because apparantly their "M.O." is that they slit people's throats. If he cuts my head off completely, it won't fit what they normally do. He goes to swing the ax, and I wake up.
Okay, one crazy dream is enough.
Let's see, what else.
Why do people drive Hummers? This woman came into where I work, and she drove one, and so I decided all of a sudden I wanted to watch "An Inconvenient Truth". I guess the only reason I don't get it is because it doesn't DO anything but help to destroy the environment. You don't look cool. We are not in a situation where we would need to be driving Hummers around for security purposes (yet), so it really seems pointless.
Which brings me to a new topic. The end of the world. I found an article recently outlining the many different ways the world could end. My only disappointment was that Zombies were not included. Because THAT I am completely prepared for. I have an entire game plan, so that when the end of the world comes, should the dead come back to life, I will be ready. Anyway, some of the possible occurences are asteroids, global epidemics, reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, global warming, a global war, and mass insanity. But my favorite was this: "someone wakes up and realizes it was all a dream". Awesome. I quote from the webpage:
"In the fourth century B.C., Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu framed the question in more poetic terms. He described a vivid dream. In it, he was a butterfly who had no awareness of his existence as a person. When he awoke, he asked: 'Was I before Chuang Tzu who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being Chuang Tzu?'"
I don't know, Chuang Tzu, I just don't know.
-Ashley Farmer
GUIDELINES, I spelled guidelines wrong.
I really need to preview my comments before posting them.
I have concluded that my mind is absolutely blank this weekend. After being given the ability to write about anything that I wanted, I have consistently come up with zip! I could write about American Idol, but I really could care less about that show. I prefer to be absorbed in “Lost.” Which after three seasons of that damn show is exactly what anyone who watches it is. I thought about any news sources that I had watched over the weekend, and all I remembered was the same boring things. More about Anna Nicole Smith. Although now it is the economical affects that, she is having on the Bahamas after her death. Tourist are actually unloading from cruise ships and wanting tours of where she lived and the cemetery where she will be buried. Not to sound cold or callus about the recently deceased, but I was unaware that she was that big of a “star” in life. Then I remembered a story about a grandmother that acquitted of murdering her grandchild because she “received messages from God through geese.” Of course, that translates into an insanity plea. Then of course, there are more heart-warming stories about the cruelty that humanity perpetrates on itself. This leads me back to why I would probably have a blank mind. I honestly try to avoid television. If a person was to have no outside contact with the world for a significant amount of time and only watched the news, I am quite positive that they would believe that the world they live in is Hell on Earth.
So we have a pet turtle, my boyfriend and I. His name is Hot Rod. He lives in an aquarium on our table. He has a good life. A rock to sit on, a heat lamp (or, as I like to call it, his sunshine), and a heater thing that looks like a curling iron and that he likes to lay on.
Sadly though, about a month ago, our dear Hot Rod got really really sick. The poor thing. He wasn't swimming up to eat his turtle pellets and he was just laying in the sun gasping for air.
So my boyfriend and I discussed what we were going to do. Here he is, a $12 turtle, and we have to decide whether to take him to a vet that will likely cost 6 times the cost of a new turtle.
But Hot Rod was near and dear to our hearts. So my boyfriend put Hot Rod into a little container and drove him to an exotic pet vet. For $112 we found out that our dear little turtle had a virus and also wasn't being fed right.
So now our turtle is a bit of an obsession. He gets turtle pellets part of the day, mustard greens another, and mealworms (I don't deal with those), too.
Oh, and the sadest thing was that we had to give little Hot Rod antibiotic shots.
But he's all well now. He swims around, eats well, and he's gained some weight and grown into his shell.
We are the best turtle owners ever.
this is totally late--my car wouldn't start, and i've been stranded in berea. suck. anyway:
When I look at the world, I see it as it is. I am not an unrealistic person who sees only flowers and daffodils where suffering and evil exist. However, I see how the world could be. I see such intrinsic goods, such potential for beauty and love in humanity. We have this gift for feeling the abstract, for taking what is intangible and unknown to the beasts, and actually feeling it, even to the point that we would die for it. We have the unique ability to empathize, to reflect on the situation of others and to put ourselves in their place, to feel their pain, to feel compassion. No other creature on earth can boast such a claim. And that compassion is our only saving grace. We have so royally fucked over our planet and each other, so terribly have we destroyed what is seen by so many as a divine gift, our duty and honor to be the care takers of the world, that without this saving grace I would deem our species a plague upon the planet, unworthy of our gift of higher intellect and capacity for reason.
However, we do have the ability to love. And not just romantic love, which I argue is often self serving and egotistical (I love him/her because of the way he/she makes ME FEEL, which is actually lacking in any sort of intrinsic quality in the partner which would inspire feelings of love and awe and devotion based on who that person is, regardless if he/she was still in a relationship, returned the feelings, was romantic towards/considerate towards, etc etc the person who is "in love." But that's a rant for another day).
What we have in addition to romantic love (both the false, self serving kind and the true kind in which two people become so emotionally and mentally intertwined that they bond on what seems to be a cellular level, and it becomes inconceivable that they should ever part, for they are bound to one another on such deep and spiritual levels of connectivity and mutual understanding of one another and the world and the universe that to lose one would be in essence to lose the self), we also have the capacity to love humankind as a whole. I realize that this is largely underdeveloped in modern society, and indeed even purposely suppressed by those who stand to make a profit at the expense of others and from the indifference of those in a position to stop that exploitation and inhumanity. However, it lives in us all, even if lying dormant under mountains of stuff and glittery distractions and advertisements and daily petty dramas. It is there, waiting to be unleashed and to heal the world.
Surely we feel compassion and empathy toward our family members. But in essence are we not all blood relatives? Are we not all part of one, extended family? Is it not pure chance that you or I were born into the lives we have been born into, and not born into brothels or child prostitution or extreme poverty or starvation? Is it so hard to see that person as your likeness, as someone who could be you? Someone whose pain it is in your power to stop? Yes, we can only do so much as individuals, but together we can begin a healing process to mend the terrible wounds we have caused to humanity and potentially save one another from the sure doom we face.
That doom can only arrive with the indifference of good people, who will sit comfortably and idly by while those in power send those without further into the miserable squalor and degradation of poverty, slavery, starvation, and suffering until it consumes us all.
"And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up for me."
alright. brace yourselves for a bonified bleeding heart:
I sometimes feel like I am too sensitive. I feel like everything, the world, the people in it, affect me too much. I feel sometimes that I am so swollen with emotion, with sorrow or joy or despair or hope, that I'm just going to bust and flood the world. I feel the bad ones more though. I feel a deep, overwhelming sense of sorrow at the thought of someone losing a loved one, of someone watching someone dear to them die, of someone who is hungry, of someone who is alone. Of someone who buries their child. Of someone who is so impoverished they cannot feed their family. I feel the pangs of suffering most severely. And it's not even my suffering, or any particular person that I know of. It's just suffering in general. I absorb so much of what is around me, it's like I'm hypersensitive or something. I feel EVERYTHING, and threefold. I watched an interview with a man in Louisiana today. He works at the emergency care center at New Orleans, and the man who runs the emergency program had his mother in a nursing home in Louisiana. Every day, she would call him, and say "are you comin son? is somebody comin to get me?" and he would tell her "yes mama, somebody's comin. They're comin on Tuesday. They're comin on Wednesday. They're comin on Thursday. They're comin on Friday." She drowned Friday night. The man telling the story barely knew the man of whom he spoke, didn't even know the mother he lost. Yet there he was, a grown man, sobbing, trying to tell the story on the air, and barely able to get out the words for all his grief. I found myself crying uncontrollably, so completely moved by the sorrow this man felt for his fellow man, and sorrowed myself for the loss felt by the man he spoke of. There is so much hate in the world, so much anger, and there is no room for it. With all the suffering in the world, with all the wonderment and good that can come of human emotion, to teach a child to hate is a sin against humanity. So much delineation, so much separating ourselves from others, so much saying that their pain is their pain alone, because they are different from me, separate from me. It may be unfortunate, but it is THEIR pain, not MY pain, so I need not concern myself. There is so much impartiality. So much disconnect. I am not a part of that. Sometimes I wish I were, but never really and truly. It is what I feel that makes me human. That makes me who I am. I would take pain over impartiality any day. Sometimes I see or hear something, and I am so deeply saddened, I literally feel my heart clench up in my chest and writhe within me. I finally understood why people associate the heart with human emotion. For me, it is where my body feels the physical reality of my emotion. I sometimes just sit and weep for the pain in the world. I weep for it now.
But I not only weep for the pain. Sometimes, when I see or hear something that I connect with, that inspires me or gives me hope, or something that strikes me at my very core in a way that rips me heart open because I UNDERSTAND, I cry. Not a weep for a loss or for a pain, but for the joy of sharing something with another human being. For the joy of that little girl on her father's chest and the comfort they hold for one another. For the joy of a man holding a woman, or even of a man holding a man. For the joy of human unity and of the subtle but oh so powerfully beautiful ways in which it is illuminated. I want to have children. I want very much to have children, so that I can raise them to FEEL. Raise them to absorb the world, to soak it up until they are as swollen with love and sadness and hope and joy as their mother was and still will be. I want them to feel what I feel. To see the world and the suffering in it, and to recognize the things that should change. And I want to give them the courage and the hope they need to change the things they can, and the solace they need for the things they cannot change. I want them to feel, to swell so full of emotion that they are completely unable to sit idly by and watch their fellow humans suffer needlessly. The will never be impartial, never be dead to the transcendent humanity that unites us all with one other. Compassion, empathy, unity, these are the only things that will save us. Love will save us all.
Well, I wasn't able to write on the blog until now because I have been in between the hospital and the baseball field. As you probably know, I am the shortstop for this wonderful University and I had to be there for our first games this weekend. We went 3-1 and are looking good this year! I spent the night in the hospital Thursday night which happend to be my 21st birthday. I was not drinking, unfortunately. I came down with a stomach virus and got dehydrated. It was not very good. I was on sleeping pills all weekend except for during our games which are all a blur. Anyway, that is why I couldn't write until now. American Idol is great until it gets serious. I like watching the terrible people go and then Simon saying how brutal they are. By the way, a great movie that I was watching right before World War 3 erupted in my stomach was "The Departed". Great movie, and a very twisted ending. I highly recomend it. Well, Spring Break is coming up and I have to go with my baseball team to Bradenton in Florida which sucks because it is on the Gulf Coast and the waves suck over there. The Atlantic where I am from is where the best waves are, just in case anyone enjoys surfing. Anyway, I have ran out of rediculous subjects to talk about, thanks for reading, and sorry again for this being late.
Tyler Barnett
Ok, so I wrote on here like 4 days ago, a huge post about women presidents... that apparently didn't show up. So here it is again. I'm really annoyed because for once I did it on time (and missed going to financial aid because I got carried away) and it didn't even post. I hate technology.
While sitting in Geography, something interesting passed in conversation, extremely applicable to this class: Chile’s president is a woman. I also found that in Ireland during the 1997-elections, 5 candidates were female and there was only one token male candidate finishing a distant last. That struck me as rather odd, initially, since most of South America has been under dictatorial, predominantly male control, but it came to light that much in South America is changing, including their views on women in politics. After a little research, I found that there are 8 women presidents, dispersed rather diversely across the world. Chile, Finland, Ireland, Israel (Acting), Latvia, Liberia, The Philippines and Switzerland all have female Presidents while countless other women hold places of power as monarchs or Prime Ministers (you can find the list of current women in power here http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/Current-Women-Leaders.htm )
So what about the US? Obviously, Europe, South America, and even Africa have had females in positions of power, but why not the US. After a little more digging, and a lot of counting I found that 24 women have run for president since 2000. The only two names I recognized were Elizabeth Dole and Carol Mosley Braun. I find this interesting after our conversation in class about how women would win if they would just run. But this seems to say that there is a lot more to that equation. Like that voters in the US pay little attention to independent candidates, which is the ticket under which many women run. Even those who were up for one of the two big parties were looked at only briefly, and had neither the means nor the support to sustain a successful campaign.
So maybe we are looking in the box a little too much, thinking that there is something inherent in the male-female interface that prohibits women from reaching places of power, rather than the fact that we live in a priggish, male-dominated society that seems to think women are incapable of leading. Even though Queen Elizabeth has been at it for more than 50 years now… But she doesn’t count. Or the other female monarchs. Or the other 8 female presidents. Or the countless Prime Ministers. Or Vice Presidents. Those are just blurbs. A passing fad.
So my family is trying to sell my grandmothers house. We found a buyer but they have a list of things they would like done to the house. My dad and I think that if we fix these issues then we should just tack the amount to fix them on to the asking price for the house. I think if they have enough money to buy the house, they should be able to cough up the money to fix what they want. If they have a problem with it, they can take a walk.
The house means a lot to my family and I. My grandmother was like my second mother, she picked me up from school, took care of me when I was sick and my mother was at work. My grandmother meant the world to me. And this stupid family asking ridiculous demands to replace the entire roof or replace all the windows because they are "rotted". It hurts, and someone like that, I just can’t deal with, if you aren’t completely happy with this house than quit teasing my family into thinking you want the house. The new buyers want to close on Thursday. We still aren’t done with packing and it’s hard for my parents with me at Eastern and my sister and brother-in-law living in Dayton, OH. With the house being in Louisville, its hard for me and my sister to find time to get home and help, this whole thing just stresses my family out. I just want it to end. People make me mad. This is my random ramblings.
Since we have a free discussion this week I thought I would let everyone in on a little pet project I have going here on campus. For those of you that do not know, there is a terrible genocide that is occurring this very minute in Darfur Sudan. So far there have been close to 400,000 people killed and over 2 million that have lost their homes and been displaced. The reason for the genocide is race; the Arab Africans are killing the Black Africans because they believe they are inferior to them and they are willing to do anything to take their land. If men venture away from their villages then they are slaughtered and the women are systematically raped. They are not raped for sexual reasons; they are raped because it is a tool that promotes fear and suffering.
The part where we, as a university, come in is very complicated. First of all, there are many companies and corporations that operate in Sudan, despite its horrendous human rights record and on-going genocide. Some of these companies are Schlumberger, PetroChina, SinoPec, and Rolls-Royce. These companies provide no services for the people that are being massacred in Darfur, they are simply auto manufacturers, oil corporations, and energy companies. They only help the government of Sudan and those that are perpetrating the crimes. In some cases, they directly aid the genocide since they provide security for state plants, build roads and infrastructure, etc. that makes it easier for the government in Khartoum to perpetrate the genocide.
Across the world from Sudan sits Eastern Kentucky University, which has over $40,000,000.00 invested in endowment funds alone. These funds are diversified across a multitude of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and is managed “out of house” by the EKU Foundation. However, some of Eastern’s own financial interests could be investing in the companies that are conducting business in Sudan. So I am underway on a Sudan divestment project that would use EKU’s financial influence to sway the companies to do something about the genocide in Darfur. If we, as a university, are invested in these corporations, then we can tell them we are unhappy with the genocide in Sudan and ask them to use their influence to sway the policies of the NIF government in Khartoum. If the companies do not accept our demands after 3 months then we divest from them, or in other words pull our money out of their company. We check back with them a year later to see if they have improved any of their business practices, and if they have then we reinvest, if not then we tell them why we withdrew our money. This is a lengthy process but it has worked extremely well in the past with Sudan and divestment techniques were one of the main reasons South Africa ended Apartheid. So over the past month or so, I have been working with SGA and the Financial Affairs office to divest Eastern from Sudan. The administration has been a little hesitant to help with this issue, I believe because they do not want to look bad or lose out on financial gains. Overall, however, I believe the process is moving along and I think we will divest within the next year. I do encourage all of you to investigate this process yourself and the Darfur genocide. There is a lot of power that we hold individually and our efforts really can make a difference. So if any of you all would like to be involved in the divestment process please let me know.
As I logged in today to do my week 7 blog post, I quickly realized that I didn’t do week 6. (I suck, I know) I assumed we just wouldn’t have one since there was no class. I have been out of town for the past four days visiting my brother and some friends in Columbus. The weekend went as usual, had fun with the friends, and ended up fighting with my brother.
As we sat over empty bottles of beer in a local bar we started discussing politics as usual. And as usual, we ended up fighting. What you have to understand, is basicly my brother and I are the same person; except he’s 39 and I’m 22. We have the same political ideologies, attitude and thought processes. Expect for one schema… racism. He grew up in Detroit during the race riots and lived in the ghetto where he was the only white kid on the block. Me, not so much. In simple terms, I’m a hippie and I love everyone, everywhere. This is where we disagree. As I try to explain to him different perspectives and try to logically lay everything out for him, the madder he gets.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I don’t understand how two people can be so left wing on certain issues, and then hold a completely opposite stance in life on other issues.
markett aray
As I logged in today to do my week 7 blog post, I quickly realized that I didn’t do week 6. (I suck, I know) I assumed we just wouldn’t have one since there was no class. I have been out of town for the past four days visiting my brother and some friends in Columbus. The weekend went as usual, had fun with the friends, and ended up fighting with my brother.
As we sat over empty bottles of beer in a local bar we started discussing politics as usual. And as usual, we ended up fighting. What you have to understand, is basicly my brother and I are the same person; except he’s 39 and I’m 22. We have the same political ideologies, attitude and thought processes. Expect for one schema… racism. He grew up in Detroit during the race riots and lived in the ghetto where he was the only white kid on the block. Me, not so much. In simple terms, I’m a hippie and I love everyone, everywhere. This is where we disagree. As I try to explain to him different perspectives and try to logically lay everything out for him, the madder he gets.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I don’t understand how two people can be so left wing on certain issues, and then hold a completely opposite stance in life on other issues.
marketta ray
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