Straight out of rubbish

I can't believe it's come to this.

Emails have been flying around with furious energy, heralding the imminent explosion of emotion, and colliding with each other in brilliant showers of confrontational passion.

But now that the initial dust has settled, where do we stand?

Four amazing individuals have been unceremoniously stripped of rank and privilege, and my second family has been declared "dissolved".

I've been in the process of writing a rant since Monday night, but now I can't bring myself to post any of it. Suffice it to say that I'm convinced I don't understand some things (and never will) because I have racked my brain over and over trying to make heads or tails of it... and at the end of the day, all I can tell myself is "...but that's WRONG!"



In lieu of me yelling, here's an excerpt from "Mending Wall", which is all I can do to address all the bullshit that's been flying around.

There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Nescience, none too selective

Tibet.

God god people are retarded. And now Facebook has made it even retardeder. Yes, "retardeder".

Some people like to rant how our generation is lazy and uncaring because we haven't had to fight for things like our parents did. An entire generation banded together to protest the Vietnam War, the Berlin Wall, to fight for the civil rights movement. And have we done? Little, if not nothing.


Well, I disagree.

That link above? It proves we're doing something.

But instead of joining our voices into a battle cry for genuine truth and justice, we are perverting the proud heritage our parents have built by making it into a popularity contest.

How many of those people actually know what the situation in Tibet is like?

Never mind the sensationalized pictures that the mass media likes to bombard our TVs, newspapers, and computer screens with.

How many people truly grasp the argument behind the call for independence?

How many people know the history of the land?

How many people know the Dalai Lama as someone other than that "speaker in the park"?

How many people realize the implications if independence was actually granted, and the gravity of their effects?


If a sampling of the event's wall is any indication, the outlook is dire.


It sickens me to realize that not only do we have to fight against those who seek to deny justice and fairness in the world, but also those who blindly wield their rhetoric in the name of something they don't actually understand.

Survive the foretold aftermath

The odds begin to look even worse.

Right now the only thing that affirms my belief that this war won't happen is the fact that it's an election year. To declare another wholly unnecessary and unjustified (at least to the American people) war would be the GOP shooting itself in the proverbial Republican foot. Or maybe this would be part of a calculated strategy, engineered as a truly divisive campaign topic, as a method of skirting the important domestic issues at hand, and as a method of exploiting fear for votes on November 2nd.

Either way, I pray for the youth of Iran and for development of the world that a brave American soul receives one of the expansion posts in Iran.

My dreams of a traineeship in the United Arab Emirates are looking more daunting and more tantalizing by the minute.

Vicariism in a bottle

I don't think I'll be able to maintain any kind of interest in the primaries anymore, especially since my state is over and done. I've suddenly made the realization that this whole thing is like the previews before the movie... seriously, who cares? When the two candidates are finally selected and finally get to the real meat of their campaign platforms, I'll pay attention again.



Hillary won Florida. I can't say I'm too surprised. And for the record, I'm not calling her by her first name because of some misogynistic agenda. Every time I hear "Clinton" I think of Bill, so this is my way of differentiating between the power couple.



Alas, Edwards is out of the race. He didn't even win South Carolina, his home state. No word yet on who he's endorsing. I'm hoping he gets the Vice President slot when that time comes.

Shanky's on the long road to Kenya. But the long road has also been good to him. Check him out.

I'm so jealous.

Of brambles and brilliance

Barack Obama spoke at the Ebenezer Baptist Church here in Atlanta on Martin Luther King Day yesterday, and his speech was an oasis in an otherwise scorchingly ridiculous pre-election environment. Even though there are subtle hues of politics dusted throughout his words, it feels much less political than everything else that has sprouted from all this presidential fervor.

Maybe it's because it was in a church. Maybe it was the holiday. Maybe it was the intended audience. And maybe it's my own subjective view of it.

I'm not black. I'm not an "African American". Hell, I'm not even Christian. And nevermind what my partisanship is. I was still touched by Obama's exhortations, and it wasn't because I felt guilty of the things he was ranting about. It wasn't because I sympathized with Ashley or identified with the old black man in her discussion circle.

The state of the nation was so starkly illuminated that it made me uneasy. It's the same feeling most people get when they're on stage for the first time, or are caught nude in a public place. It was disturbing to realize that what Obama was saying about the black community could also be applied to nearly every other racial minority. The "yellows". The "browns". They all experience the circumstances that he brought up to varying degrees. I had always told myself that race was a non-issue in today's world, but I had been fooling myself. I live in the big cities, the global centers. Most people don't. There's a different culture in Seattle compared to the one here in Atlanta. Different slang, different values, different needs. And I'm not implying that certain folks are more inclined to racism. The point (and overarching implication) is that it's so hard to connect on a real level with every single one of your countrymen. Sometimes the differences and rivalries make it so easy to ignore the similarities and amities. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, and it doesn't mean we shouldn't care.

And that's just race. Nevermind the social classes, cultural identities, and economic demarkation. With so many permutations of American citizens out there, just how easy can we expect the fight against "Divide and Conquer" to be?

"I'm talking about a moral deficit. I'm talking about an empathy deficit. I'm taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny."

Again, I don't know how pertinent this is to election politics. A part of me will always be suspicious of those who seek to capitalize on the unifying power of nationalism. And I will always believe that social change has to start with and within the people. Politics should not be the means for this. The true litmus test for real social change is if adjudication isn't necessary.

Still, it doesn't diminish the anticipation of the warm fuzzies.

Rendered credulous by glee

After the final numbers from New Hampshire came in, Hillary managed to edge out Obama by a few percent, rocketing up from a double digit loss. Not that I support her more than Obama or even Edwards, but that still deserves a "You go, girl!"

I have the most retarded class schedule ever concocted by a Tech alum, and that's saying something. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have class from 8-11am, and then again from 6-7:30pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have class from 9:30-11am and then again from 12-1:30pm. Fridays are the same as Mondays and Wednesdays with the exception of the omission of the night class.

What. The. Fuck.

I guess my T/R schedule isn't that bad.

I promise that I'm going to write about NC some time soon. Trust me. There are a lot of things sitting in my outbox as drafts, and I'm in the process of refining them into something worth posting on the interweb.

Time to jump back into the fray!

Incite our breathless wanderlust

Huckabee pulled ahead in the Iowa caucus. Gag me with a chainsaw.

Resolutions:

1. Less red meat. Less salt. Less sugar.
2. Sleep normally.
3. Express appreciation more frequently. And more ardently.
4. Shake off all forms of codependence.
and 5. Love openly.

Just came back from Canada's NC 2008! AWESOMENESS! More to come later, I promise. But right now I have a mountain of laundry to tackle.

Query the monolith

Being at home as been so boring. I am, alas, without car due to the seasonal rambunctiousness of Florida drivers (someone rear ended my dad) and have been forced to spend the days sequestered in the house. The 'rents need my car to commute to work. I guess it can't be helped.

I've been watching a lot of DVDs, writing a bunch of pensive and brooding blog entries (just you wait until they've all been proofread to perfection) to unleash unto the world, and otherwise occupied with becoming slovenly and unkempt.

Luckily, there's a bunch on my plate for next week. Example? The annual outs and abouts with Andrea, Bo, and Katie. I've missed my dear Andrea quite ravenously.

Reason why Andrea is awesome:

Andrea: "Oh Natey, please forgive me. I didn't buy you a Christmas gift. So just let me pay for the movie ticket or lunch or something."
Me: "Oh you don't have to do that!"
Andrea: "No, no. I insist. I'd feel bad if I didn't."
Me: "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't get you anything either."
*laughter all around*
Me: "So yeah, you really shouldn't feel guilty at all."
Andrea: "Well, when you put it that way..."
Me: "Tell you what. Let's pretend that we both got each other the greeaaatttest gift we could ever ask for. But we were so infinitely gracious and humble that we weren't able to accept them."
Andrea: *laughter* "So basically we both come away empty handed."
Me: "Exactly. And we both get to feel good about ourselves because we gave such wonderful gifts."
Andrea: "*more laughter* "You know, this could work."
Me: "Also, we get the added bonus of good vibes because we turned down our own gifts. It doesn't get much more selfless than that."
Andrea: "Oh Nate, I couldn't have asked for a better gift! Thank you so much!"
Me: "Me too! I've always wanted one of these!"
*hilarity all around*
Andrea: "How awesome are we?"

Well, needless to say, I took some artistic license with the specific semantics of our conversation. But still!

Resolution #2: Sleep on a more regular schedule. No more of this sometimes-a-vampire, sometimes-an-alcoholic style of sleeping.
I just thought I'd sneak that one in there.

In other news, I've been feeding the embryonic leftist revolutionary within myself. Here is said fodder. Feel free to check out the provocative article featuring the poor Icelandic woman too.

Man, the distance we've gone in the past 7 years is just staggering. And yet, I think we could probably measure real progress since then with two fingers. Can I get a witness?

Some inane parley

The state of U.S. politics never fails to both amaze and disappoint me at the same time. Check this out:



This is just what I have from Barack's campaign HQ. Keep in mind I also have similar inbox gold from Hillary and John, the other two candidates that I've been following through email subscription. I haven't even bothered with the Republican candidates. With GOP sycophants like Huckabee and Romney lurking about, who knows what kind of rubbish is being disseminated from that side of the spectrum.

Look at some of the subjects there. Less than half of them actually relate to what matters: campaign strategy and tangible tasks that supporters can accomplish. The rest? Shameless plugs for celebrity endorsements and partisan infighting. I understand that a lot of people treat Oprah as some sort of she-God, but nevertheless, that business with her at his much hyped event was simply ridiculous. And don't even get me started on the mudslinging that's been going around. I'm not just upset with those who are accused of it; those who are talking out in self-righteous indignation are really no better in my eyes.

And look! Even an email asking you buy Obama gear, because you have to be a consumer in order to show support! But to be fair, most of these emails end with something along the lines of "Show your support today! Click below to make a campaign contribution!"

...

I guess that's the final word, right? Everything comes down to money, who has it, and how they're spending it.

Alas, monday monday

SC2007 is over. And well, that's enough of that.

And while it was going down, Karl Rove resigned. Sheesh, whudaseen that one coming?

I really don't have much to say, to be honest. And that's odd because my situation right now isn't the result of overstimulation or understimulation. I came off of this long weekend with the perfect amount of experiences to induce the removal of writer's block. But now that I'm sitting here, nothing's coming to me.

What I will say, however, is that it's amazing how your favorite music changes on you and takes on a whole new life when you begin to associate it with specific people. And it's not always on purpose either.

Poise and rapture

I'm so fed up with politics.

There is no right, there is no wrong. However, there is legal and illegal. These are not to be confused with right and wrong, and subsequently moral and immoral.

Party lines are a farce. People hide behind them to push their values onto others and avoid the appearance of zealous righteousness. It is not the right of any politician, no matter what their office is, to assert a blatant moral decision upon others. Law may be derived from morality, but morality cannot be the law. Sadly, we can't seem to realize this in the international arena, much less the domestic arena. It has become a juvenile system of "us" versus "them", not too dissimilar to high school rivalry. You're a conservative, so you must be either a stupid hick or a selfish millionaire. You're a liberal, so you must be a dirty treehugger or a naive intellectual. What the fuck does any of that have to do with anything that matters? No one cares about the good of the whole anymore, just what they think the world ought to be.

I look out across the face of American culture and what it has become, and I see this reflected in almost everything. Is this really who we are? Are we so obsessed with taking sides that we let it permeate the very fabric of our daily lives and allow it to dictate our reactions before we can even think about them?

Money and power. In the end, that's all a politician sees... most of the ones currently in office, at least. Visions of grandeur that defeat the purpose of their job and title always seem to foul it up. Whenever they get elected, you always hear them say how honored they feel to have gotten chosen. But so few of them actually grasp the most important trait they could have: humility. Instead, it's all about keeping their so-called constituents happy. Newsflash for you all: your constituents go beyond those who give you money and who voted for you, and those other people are no less important or deserving of your time. You may have been elected in a ridiculous high school popularity contest set-up, but your position calls for you to unify both sides in effective policy.



I yearn for the day when I fear for my job prospects because my degree is suddenly not useful.