Archive for November, 2003

a little walk down owl weekend lane

Published by
Sarah
November 25, 2003 in growing up. 1 Comment

i’m sorting through papers i inherited from past Student Admissions Council staff directors… and i found the binder for Owl Weekend 1997. this is the owl weekend that i attended as a high school senior… the weekend that convinced me that rice was where i wanted to be.

it is almost eerie to flip through the pages and see the names of “owls” (prospective students) who came that weekend. i took out a few pages with names like seth eatinger, julie edwards, amber garrison, craig harrison, laura balzano, kendall moseley… i saw the names of j.p. slavinsky and margaret van meter (who are now married)… i saw names of people i never knew, who didn’t come to rice, and i wonder what life would have been like if they *had* come.

i get a little shiver when i think about all of us descending upon campus, with little idea of what was to come… and now i look back and i see more than just names, i see paths that were built and shaped at rice, paths that lead to now. and i smile a little secret, slightly wistful smile.

the whole marriage thing

Published by
Sarah
November 19, 2003 in poli not sci. 1 Comment

yesterday i was listening to NPR in my car, and it was all about the high court decision in massachusetts striking down the ban on gay marriages. the program included several clips from legislators (like tom finneran, MA speaker of the house) who are strongly opposed to this decision (and to gay marriage). the opposition kept talking about the “sacred institutition of marriage”, blah blah blah.

i’m not writing this post to discuss the decision, but instead, to shake my head at what a big deal the anti-gay-marriage people are making about the INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE when over half of marriages now end in divorce. i mean, c’mon people!!! is marriage really sacred anymore? i would say, with respect to the general public… NO. why are people making such a big deal about “protecting” something that we, as a population, have already violated, trashed and, basically, mocked?

i’m not trying to sound like my grandmother here, but marriage isn’t really a sacred thing for most people anymore. and this makes me really sad. i don’t feel like going into the reasons why we have so thoroughly fucked up this “sacred institution”, but it makes me mad that certain government officials will hypocritically use the “ideal” of marriage as the basis of their argument against gay marriage. as they froth at the mouth, screaming, “this is what is wrong with society!!”, they unintentionally highlight what really IS wrong with society.

it just leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

thank you, mr. brzezinski

Published by
Sarah
November 18, 2003 in poli not sci. 0 Comments

it is pouring rain again, but this time i’m at home, in my pjs, with a gingerbread candle burning and the promise of sleep very near…

i just read an editorial by zbigniew brzezinksi (whoah), the national security advisor to jimmy carter. i want to post a few striking passages from the article, all of which made me wish with all of my being that mr. brzezinksi was in charge instead of, oh, richard ashcroft or george w. or condi rice…

first of all, this illustration is amazing, unbelievable and sad:

“forty years ago, an important emissary was sent to france by a beleaguered president of the united states. it was during the cuban missile crisis, and the emissary was a tough-minded former secretary of state, dean acheson. his mission was to brief french president charles de gaulle and solicit his support in what could become a nuclear war involving not just the united states and the soviet union but the entire nato alliance and the warsaw pact.� at the end of the briefing, acheson said to de gualle, ‘i would now like to show you the evidence, the photographs that we have of soviet missiles armed with nuclear weapons.’� the french president responded, ‘i do not wish to see the photographs.� the word of the president of the united states is good enough for me.� please tell him that france stands with america.’�

would any foreign leader today react the same way to an american emissary sent abroad to say that country X is armed with weapons of mass destruction that threaten the united states?� it is unlikely.� the recent conduct of u.s. foreign policy, by distorting the threats facing america, has isolated the united states and undermined its credibilty.”

and another excellent point…

“since the tragedy of 9/11, our government has embraced a paranoiac view of the world summarized in a phrase president bush used on sept. 20, 2001:� ‘either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.’� i suspect officials who have adopted the ‘with us or against us’ formulation don’t know its historical origins.� it was used by lenin to attack the social democrats as anti-bolshevik and justify handling them accordingly.� this phrase is part of our policy-makers’ defining focus, summed up by the words ‘war on terorism.’� war on terriorism reflects, in my view, a rather narrow and extremist vision of foreign poicy for a superpower and for a great democracy with geniunely idealistic traditions.”

and one more…

“while america is paramount, it isn’t omnipotent.� we need europe, which shares our values and interests, even if it disagrees with us on specific policies.� but we cannot have a relationship if we only dictate to or threaten those who disagree.� sometimes we may be right.� sometimes they may be right.� but there is something transcendental about shared values that shouldn’t be subordinated to tactical requirements.”

a-men.

take yr freedom

Published by
Sarah
November 17, 2003 in poli not sci. 1 Comment

Freedom
Ignazio Silone

Freedom is not a thing you can receive as a gift. One can be free even under a dictatorship on one simple condition, that is, if one struggles against it. A man who thinks with his own mind and remains uncorrupted is a free man. A man who struggles for what he believes to be right is a free man. You can live in the most democratic country in the world, and if you are lazy, callous, servile, you are not free, in spite of the absence of violence and coercion, you are a slave. Freedom is not a thing that must be begged from others. You must take it for yourself, whatever share you can.

********

i�had an argument with a friend at a party on friday nite, who told me that he only votes when he is strongly opposed to something. WTF?! not only did this incense the poli sci major in me, but it also made me rather depressed. cos i think this is a common sentiment… at least, the idea of “letting the leaders handle it” is a popular feeling in our country. people think that “democracy” lets us off the hook… when, in fact, i think democracy only makes us *more* responsible to fight for our beliefs and struggle to uphold justice and truth (i know i’m not alone here). �it sickens me when i think about what a lazy bastard our country is… a massive, doltish ogre that smashes up any obstacle in its way and seeks only to satisfy its needs… and we just sit and smile and feel lucky to live the American Way.

in other news, it was a nice looong weekend with *two* VIPs:� seth woods and ryan dohoney. it was heavenly to see them both, and too soon to see them go. sigh. weekends like this make me want to run my own b&b so my friends can come and visit and it’s like, my business to host them!

“my life is manifesting my magic”

Published by
Sarah
November 6, 2003 in voyages. 1 Comment

so i’m sitting at this cafe called “fido” in nashville. my new friend christin (who i met at the halloween party last week, see jessicabeck’s page for some stellar polaroids) recommended it to me, and i’m so glad, cos it always has wireless!! woo-hoo!!

except, subtract the woo-hoo (maybe just�”woo”) cos *once again*, i had to fight a Great Battle with my rice laptop to get it to accept the connection. i don’t know why this keeps happening. but, ray and seth eatinger, you guys would be proud. i sat here at my table for about an hour, tinkering with all kinds of things (and growing increasingly tired) and FINALLY, i FIXED IT! nevermind that i have no idea what i did, or if i could do it again, but for tonite, here at fido, i have wireless. yee-haw!

but now that i actually have a freaking connection, i’m kinda tired. i had a long drive today, from lexington to nashville, filled with mysterious fog, dreary rain and a strange side of the road sight: two massive military helicopters (with scary teeth painted on them) surrounded by police cars… literally on the SIDE of the HIGHWAY. with the fog, it was all too x-files-ish…

right now in fido they are playing “in the name of love” by u2 and there’s a woman in the corner who is wailing with bono at the top of her lungs. awesome.

earlier tonite i went to tower records to buy the new shins cd (finally! and it’s so so deliciously wonderful) and asked the pierced cashier girl where i could find some place “cool” to eat. she sent me to cafe coco, which was pretty cool and also quite yummy. i had a cofee drink called “white satin” and�a little sign next to the menu said: “it’s white SATIN, not white SATAN, dumbass”. i think that gives you a good feel for the place.

i sat at a table near a group of 3 women in their late 20’s with dark eyeliner and blood red lipstick and a little boy and a guy with black-lined eyelids. they were gossiping about random folks and at one point i became highly amused by this example of inflamatory words:

mom-of-boy (in�a leopard print jacket: “so, did you guys know she’s dating a guy that’s, like, TEN years younger than her?!”

other girls: “no! you’re kidding! that is unfucking believable! how old is he?”

mom: “he’s, like, 21.”

girl 1: “but isn’t she like, 27?”

mom: “yeah.”

girl 2: “so… that’s like only 6 years. not 10.”

mom: “well whatever, SIX years is STILL a HUGE difference.”

other girls: “yeah, you’re right. that’s unbelievable”.

i don’t know why, but i found this highly amusing. i had to stick my face into my tolkien book to avoid laughing.

ok, so now the girl at the table next to me is telling her friend that apparently, a new alignment of the planets is about to take place, which is why everything is so “unsettled”. she just said, “it’s really something special. it’s like.. astrology. astronmy. this alignment hasn’t happened in 4,000 years…” (the guy looks incredulous). she continues, “we’re going through a shift of consciousness… this symbolizes a gateway to another level of perception, why some people can build projects and others can’t, they respond to the truth.” (the guy starts to argue) she says, “please, PLEASE, just accept me. i don’t want to argue with you. my life is manifesting my magic. real magic. unbelievable magic.”

wow. who knew nashville was so… uh… whack? i mean, magical?

ok, sorry for the random babblings, but i just wanted to give you a sample of my life on the road, cos it’s about to end (at least, for my job). and even though i’ll miss exploring new coffee shops and eavesdropping on enigmatic/dynamic/bizarre conversations… i’ll be so glad to be home. in houston. in my house. in my own bed. and travelers in houston�can go to empire or onion creek and overhear *my* conversations, with *my* friends.

you know, where the magic manifests itself.

culturejam

Published by
Sarah
November 4, 2003 in reading rainbow. 0 Comments

once again, sarah struggles with the shoddy hampton inn internet. oh well, it’s better than nothing (and nothing is what i may have for the next two nights in lexington and nashville, so we’ll see…).

i finished “culturejam” a few days ago and feel like i should just post the entire book cos it’s just so freaking good. but i lack the time and a stable connection. so i’ll post a few gems that hopefully will stick in yr head and shake up yr brain a little…

from the chapter, “the cult you’re in”:

Cult members aren’t really citizens.� The notions of citizenship and nationhood make little sense in this world.� We’re not fathers and mothers and brothers.� We’re consumers.� We care about sneakers, music and Jeeps.� The only Life, Freedom, Wonder ad Joy in our lives are the brands on our supermarket shelves.

Are we happy? Not really. Cults promise a kind of boundless contentment– punctuated by moments of bliss– but never quite deliver on that promise.� They fill the void, but only with a different kind of void.� Disillusionment eventually sets in– or it would if we were allowed to think much about it.� Hence the first commandment of a cult: Thou shalt not think.� Free thinking will break the trance and introduce competing perspectivs.� Which leads to doubt.� Which leads to contemplation of the nearest exit.

Dreams, by definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative.� Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream.� It’s a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities.

What does it mean when a whole culture dreams the same dream?

From the chapter, “The Unofficial History of AmericaTM”

Then came the legal event that would not be understood for decades (and remains baffling today), an event that would change the course of American history.� In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, a dispute over a railbed route, the U.S. Supreme Court deemed that a private corporation was a “natural person” under the U.S. Constitution and therefore entitled to protection under the Bill of Rights.� Suddenly, corporations enjoyed all the rights and sovereignty previously enjoyed only by the people, including the right to free speech.

This 1866 decision ostensibly gave corporations the same powers as private citizens.� But considering their vast financial resources, corporations thereafter actually had far *more* power than any private citizen.� They could defend and exploit their rights and freedoms more vigorously than any individual and therefore they were *more free*…

We, the people, have lost control.� Corporations, these legal fictions we ourselves created two centuries ago, now have more rights, freedoms and powers than we do.� And we accepted this as a normal state of affairs.� We go to corporations on our knees.� *Please* do the right thing, we plead.� *Please* don’t cut down any more ancient forests.� *Please* don’t pollute any more lakes and rives (but please don’t move your factories and jobs offshore either).� *Please* don’t use pornographic images to sell fashion to my kids.� *Please* don’t play governments off against each other to get a better deal.� We’ve spent so much time bowed down in deference, we’ve forgotten how to stand up straight.

The unofficial history of AmericaTM, which continues to be written, is not a story of rugged individualism and heroic personal sacrifice in pursuit of a dream.� It is a story of democracy derailed, of a revolutionary spirit supressed, and of a once-proud people reduced to servitude.

vote vote vote

Published by
Sarah
November 3, 2003 in poli not sci. 1 Comment

i was going to give hampton inn two eprops for having high speed internet (first one since my stay in redwood city, which of course raised high expectations that have been dashed to pieces at every hampton i’ve stayed at since… until now!). BUT… according to the girl at the front desk (who has also never tried indian food), the network is “brand new” and apparently has a few bugs. so i’ve been sitting here with my (rice) laptop, jiggling wires and looking at the same network menu for about half an hour. after much research, i have discovered that there is no rhyme or reason to why the network works or doesn’t work… so i’ll just type as fast as i can and pray that the little red x of death doesn’t show up on my taskbar… zero eprops for you, hampton inn!

i’m currently in louisville, and i spent last night in cincinnati. and it is incredibly warm in ohio. but i’ve heard it’s hotter in houston, so i ain’t complaining.

the urgency of my post stems not from any sort of louisville happenings (nothing much of interest to report, so far) BUT from the ELECTION that is happening in houston TOMORROW (November 4).

if you can vote in houston tomorrow, you better do it or i will be really mad at you, i swear. there are no excuses, people!!! this election is even more important than usual cos of the mayoral race AND the vote on the lightrail!

as a good citizen (and poli sci major) i voted early before i left. in case you care, i voted for bill white for mayor (overall, a good guy even if he is kinda big business) and anise parker for controller (go rice grad!) and peter brown for city council at large (let’s say good-bye to shelly sekula-whatever her new last name is) and NOT for michael berry (dwight boykins instead) and FOR the metro lightrail expansion.

and, if you need further encouragement (besides the fact that i will be mad at you if you don’t vote), it just feels so damn GOOD to actually VOICE your opinions and know that they COUNT… they count even more than they should, actually, since so few people vote. so celebrate the bit of democracy that remains in this country and cast a freaking vote so that maybe, just maybe, smart and decent people can lead houston to a better place.

and make sure you check the times that the polls close, k? (ahem, jesse groh)

 

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