Hi all,
As I attempt to continue my commitment to my digital writing rag, i struggle to find things to write about because im guessing most people would be bored to tears by me writing about my thesis (and if you arent you should come and finish it for me). Anyways, I just booked my peace corps interview for next week, and I am a little nervous about it. I will have to do an update about how it goes when it happens. I am guessing that this is the first mention I have made of me joining the peace corps so i should probably back up and start from the beginning.
At some point last year, I had the fortune to become both dissillusioned in my future as a phycisist and insired by the ongoing primaries. The former resulted from the realization of two things; one being that if i continued down the road I was on, I would live a fairly stable and content life, something that bored me to tears, and second and possibly more important, that at the end of thge day, I am just not good at physics. Now some out there might argue that I have no faith in myself and that I cant be that bad if I made it out of Reed's program, but I respond to them, there are some people who are awesome at street basketball who have no shot at the NBA. I am one of those (but with physics, I really suck something fierce at basketball). The latter of the above mentioned catagory had more to do with the general tone of the election as opposed to my all around effection for President Elect Barack Obama. Hearing Senators John McCain (whom i still admire), Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama (thats a lot of capitilization) talk about service to the nation really struck a chord in me, and inspired me to go out and join the corps. Anyways, school was really busy, and I was retty involved with the election, so I was tied up for quite a few months. Anyhow, in October I picked up the pace. I will give a more detailed piece on my motivations in the near future. But anywhoo that is that
Monday, January 12, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Let us move on
I admit it, I dropped off the face of the planet. There are two reasons for this, one bad and one less bad:
1. I am convinced no one actually reads this so it doesnt reaaally matter if I update this or not
2. I have been swamped with thesis, schoolwork, TAing, and moving
That said, I apologize to all of my imaginary readers and I am now going to try my best to remain diligent. In the event that anyone out there does look at this on occassion, please leave me a comment once in a while, it really would make my day.
Anyhow, with the election over, it seems somewhat foolish for me to continue to write about politics, but I would like to talk a little bit about my trip to Nevada waaaay after the fact. However, instead of doing one big update, I am going to give a few stories (but not all at once) over the next few days to get me back into the blogging mood.
Our trip started with us leaving vancouver redonculously early in the morning, having been given a ride to the airport by my wonderful mother. The moment we set down we were put on active duty right away registering people at the University of (Northern?) Las Vegas [UNLV] campus. It just so happens that that day was a giant hoobaskank concert put together by some branch of the democratic party (it turns out there are like a gagillian different branches, the DNC, the campaign for change, the Nevada democratic party, the young democrats (or something like that) and so on). The most interesting event of note was that the event was quickly invaded by ACORN registrars who were overly agressive in their voter registration efforts. For example, when I told them that I was out of state and could not in Nevada, they told me that I could change my registration to Nevada, even though that would be highly illegal. I was later told by Roger, the youth boss of the nevada campaign for change to be very skeptical of ACORN registrars (this was 2 weeks before the ACORN scandal broke out).
After the event, we went to watch the Palin/Biden debate at a hookah bar/schwarma place. For the most part people where pretty damn flabergasted to hear the media say that the debate was a 'draw' considering that biden layed down some intellectual whoop ass. After that the girls went to the guest cabin we were staying in, while I went to work on data entry and making voter reg (registration) packages for the next day.
1. I am convinced no one actually reads this so it doesnt reaaally matter if I update this or not
2. I have been swamped with thesis, schoolwork, TAing, and moving
That said, I apologize to all of my imaginary readers and I am now going to try my best to remain diligent. In the event that anyone out there does look at this on occassion, please leave me a comment once in a while, it really would make my day.
Anyhow, with the election over, it seems somewhat foolish for me to continue to write about politics, but I would like to talk a little bit about my trip to Nevada waaaay after the fact. However, instead of doing one big update, I am going to give a few stories (but not all at once) over the next few days to get me back into the blogging mood.
Our trip started with us leaving vancouver redonculously early in the morning, having been given a ride to the airport by my wonderful mother. The moment we set down we were put on active duty right away registering people at the University of (Northern?) Las Vegas [UNLV] campus. It just so happens that that day was a giant hoobaskank concert put together by some branch of the democratic party (it turns out there are like a gagillian different branches, the DNC, the campaign for change, the Nevada democratic party, the young democrats (or something like that) and so on). The most interesting event of note was that the event was quickly invaded by ACORN registrars who were overly agressive in their voter registration efforts. For example, when I told them that I was out of state and could not in Nevada, they told me that I could change my registration to Nevada, even though that would be highly illegal. I was later told by Roger, the youth boss of the nevada campaign for change to be very skeptical of ACORN registrars (this was 2 weeks before the ACORN scandal broke out).
After the event, we went to watch the Palin/Biden debate at a hookah bar/schwarma place. For the most part people where pretty damn flabergasted to hear the media say that the debate was a 'draw' considering that biden layed down some intellectual whoop ass. After that the girls went to the guest cabin we were staying in, while I went to work on data entry and making voter reg (registration) packages for the next day.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Boom De Yada
I promise ill do the Nevada thing next... but heres one more little present (I cant get this out of my head and i hope i curse you all with it as well)
Friday, October 10, 2008
An Apology for Our Insensitivity
So I am back from Nevada and the trip was amazing. I will give a massive update on the weekend as i procrastinate thesis work. Until then, let me tide you over with a Quest (Reed college newspaper) written by your truly (and an anonymous contributor) back in '06. This piece originates from a small scandle that was centered around me and the others at the Cool Ass Shirt Kollective after my vision of creating 'Gay Zombies Love Man Meat' shirts was realized. While there was a direct response to the criticisms made by Oren Elrad the president of CASK, I thought that the attacks on the shirt had a valid point, and below is my apology.
We at the Cool Ass Shirt Kollective [CASK] would like to extend a formal apology for any offense that our most recent shirt might have caused you. Upon further consideration, the slogan written upon said shirt, "Gay Zombies Love Man-Meat," was indeed insensitive and did not adequately consider the complex issues that surround depictions of this group in our modern world. Future shirts will be suitably altered to reflect our error, but for now we would like to use the rest of the space provided to convey to you all that the CASK understands the unique challenges that you, the Zombies, face today.
While most people can go through their lives confident that they will be treated fairly and as equals in academia and in the workplace, Zombies cannot. And though none of the members of CASK can count themselves amongst the ranks of the walking dead, we understand how difficult it must be to be a Zombie in day to day life. Though none of us have ever had to face down the indignity of being repeatedly shot by a 12-gauge double-barreled Remington shotgun with a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger, (Available exclusively from S-Mart for 109.95: Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart) while trying to enter the grocery store, you can rest assured that whenever someone unloads buckshot into you, your bullet holes will wound our spirits just as they do your decaying flesh. Sure, we can all take for granted that we can nod our heads in agreement without worry of one of our eyes falling out, but nonetheless we understand your dilemma and will always be there to lend an eyepatch or pair of sunglasses, whichever better matches the mangled rags you're wearing. And we'd be fools to think that the dietary restrictions some of Jewish or Vegan members abide by could even hold a candle to the difficulties of finding a steady supply of tender human flesh. And perhaps more trivially, we can understand how frustrating it must be to shop for a deodorant that adequately masks the overpowering stench of death. We suggest "Ocean Surf," or for the ladies amongst you, "Lilac Breeze," although we remind you that your unique aroma is as God, your thesis advisor, or whatever Voodoo curse or genetically engineered plague made you and that you should bear it with pride.
It is all too easy to focus on the struggles Zombies face while ignoring the lessons that we can learn from them. When we first penned "Gay Zombies Love Man-Meat," we intended it as an Unlife-affirming reminder of one of the passions of the Zombie community. It is clear from the furor that has resulted that this slogan, though certainly true, failed to convey the flexibility and open-mindedness of the shambling dead. Most people will go through life shackled with the ability to love only one type of meat, cruelly prevented by their instincts and cultural traditions from exploring the pleasures that the other type might provide. Zombies, on the other hand, have broken free of the bonds of gender and have embraced a pan-cannibalistic world view that treats ALL humans as equally savory. And so while it is true that "Gay Zombies Love Man-Meat," to ignore their love of Woman-Meat does a great disservice to their enlightened culture of equality. Perhaps a better shirt would have borne the slogan "All Zombies Love All Meat," but alas, hindsight is always 20-20.
When asked about the shirt, recently made thesis zombie, Michael Salk responded, tersely, “Braaaaaaains [sic]” showing obvious offence at the lack of intellectual credit attributed to those of the `differently living', and the living-centric, over-rationalized discourse of hegemonic phallogo-materialism.
We at CASK dream of future where such misunderstandings never happen and humans and Zombies can live in peaceful coexistence. And though our present society has yet to cast away its prejudices like the medieval relics that they are, you can always count on us to think of you not as unholy, disgusting monsters but rather as unholy, disgusting friends. So the next time you're swarming out of a small town graveyard or being shipped to Iraq so we can get out before the midterm elections, think of us at CASK and know that we're on your side. True, as you lamented, "PC" may be dead at Reed. We can only hope that our words will pave the way to a Reed College where death is seen as just another way of living.
We at the Cool Ass Shirt Kollective [CASK] would like to extend a formal apology for any offense that our most recent shirt might have caused you. Upon further consideration, the slogan written upon said shirt, "Gay Zombies Love Man-Meat," was indeed insensitive and did not adequately consider the complex issues that surround depictions of this group in our modern world. Future shirts will be suitably altered to reflect our error, but for now we would like to use the rest of the space provided to convey to you all that the CASK understands the unique challenges that you, the Zombies, face today.
While most people can go through their lives confident that they will be treated fairly and as equals in academia and in the workplace, Zombies cannot. And though none of the members of CASK can count themselves amongst the ranks of the walking dead, we understand how difficult it must be to be a Zombie in day to day life. Though none of us have ever had to face down the indignity of being repeatedly shot by a 12-gauge double-barreled Remington shotgun with a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger, (Available exclusively from S-Mart for 109.95: Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart) while trying to enter the grocery store, you can rest assured that whenever someone unloads buckshot into you, your bullet holes will wound our spirits just as they do your decaying flesh. Sure, we can all take for granted that we can nod our heads in agreement without worry of one of our eyes falling out, but nonetheless we understand your dilemma and will always be there to lend an eyepatch or pair of sunglasses, whichever better matches the mangled rags you're wearing. And we'd be fools to think that the dietary restrictions some of Jewish or Vegan members abide by could even hold a candle to the difficulties of finding a steady supply of tender human flesh. And perhaps more trivially, we can understand how frustrating it must be to shop for a deodorant that adequately masks the overpowering stench of death. We suggest "Ocean Surf," or for the ladies amongst you, "Lilac Breeze," although we remind you that your unique aroma is as God, your thesis advisor, or whatever Voodoo curse or genetically engineered plague made you and that you should bear it with pride.
It is all too easy to focus on the struggles Zombies face while ignoring the lessons that we can learn from them. When we first penned "Gay Zombies Love Man-Meat," we intended it as an Unlife-affirming reminder of one of the passions of the Zombie community. It is clear from the furor that has resulted that this slogan, though certainly true, failed to convey the flexibility and open-mindedness of the shambling dead. Most people will go through life shackled with the ability to love only one type of meat, cruelly prevented by their instincts and cultural traditions from exploring the pleasures that the other type might provide. Zombies, on the other hand, have broken free of the bonds of gender and have embraced a pan-cannibalistic world view that treats ALL humans as equally savory. And so while it is true that "Gay Zombies Love Man-Meat," to ignore their love of Woman-Meat does a great disservice to their enlightened culture of equality. Perhaps a better shirt would have borne the slogan "All Zombies Love All Meat," but alas, hindsight is always 20-20.
When asked about the shirt, recently made thesis zombie, Michael Salk responded, tersely, “Braaaaaaains [sic]” showing obvious offence at the lack of intellectual credit attributed to those of the `differently living', and the living-centric, over-rationalized discourse of hegemonic phallogo-materialism.
We at CASK dream of future where such misunderstandings never happen and humans and Zombies can live in peaceful coexistence. And though our present society has yet to cast away its prejudices like the medieval relics that they are, you can always count on us to think of you not as unholy, disgusting monsters but rather as unholy, disgusting friends. So the next time you're swarming out of a small town graveyard or being shipped to Iraq so we can get out before the midterm elections, think of us at CASK and know that we're on your side. True, as you lamented, "PC" may be dead at Reed. We can only hope that our words will pave the way to a Reed College where death is seen as just another way of living.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Regent Rigmarole
For those of you who dont know, UBC has several theological schools attached to it. These include Corpus Christy, Vancouver School of Theology, and Regent College. Regent has an extremely large American student population, so was the site of our most recent voter registration drive. Now a school of theology might not seem to be the best Obama recruiting ground, and if this were in the United States, that might even be true. However the theologians here for the most part have a very progressive outlook, and as I was surprised to find out, don't vote on their faith. This came as a slight disappointment, as I spent a few hours last night reading up
on Obama's view on faith, as well as the details of Palin's anachronistic interpretation of Paul, and McCain's overly simplistic view of Christianity. We got our foot in the door from one of our members, James (as shown with his beautiful and patriotic daughter), who was working the election booth for the Regent first year representatives next to us. This was my seventh day tabling for the Obama campaign, and I can say without a doubt that this was by far the busiest I have seen it. In a period of about one hour, we had over 25 people register. In total we registered 32 people, almost all of them either leaning towards Obama, or (far more often) extremely excited to vote for him. For most of the time, it was so busy that we actually had to expand to nearby tables, which I claimed in the typical way recognized by international law; by placing an American flag on them. There was one unfortunate moment, when someone came who was quite irate that we had an Obama banner across our table. Apparently he was under the impression that voter registration had to be completely non partisan. However, by that point the table was so crowded that people couldn't actually see it anyhow, so I saw no harm in taking it down.Ending on the typical happy note that I like to, I now get to introduce to you all the first two UBC Obamanauts, two wonderful women that will be accompanying me to Las Vegas next week to help campaign for Obama, Bridget (left), and Julia (right). I figure I
should let them do it in their own words, so without further delay here they are;Hi, my name is Julia Hoffman, I am 19 years old, and a second year at UBC. I plan to be a geography major, in the new environmental sustainability BA program (a mixture of environmental and humanistic/political geography). I'm from Santa Fe, NM. One of my main concerns is global warming and the environment. Considering the United States emits about 25 percent of the world greenhouse gases, despite being only 5 percent of the world population, things really need to change, and fast. Aside from agreeing with just about everything that Barack Obama stands for, I'm particularly passionate about his policies to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and other Co2(+)-emitting energy sources that cause air pollution and global warming. Studying and living in Canada, I feel isolated from the hustle and bustle going on this election season. I believe that this is a crucial election which could define the way in which the United States is viewed by the rest of the world as well as the course of action in the environment, and I want to help in any way that I can. I recently heard (and don't quote me on this) that those who are only now registering to vote plan to vote for Obama. If that's the case then I plan to register as many people as I possibly can in the short time that I'll be campaigning.
Hi, my name is Bridget Ehrman-Solberg and I am a 19 year old second year student at UBC interested in studying International Relations. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and continued to live there until the end of high school. Having grown up throughout the Clinton years, I felt and saw the transition into the Bush administration. I am thoroughly fed up with how our country has negatively changed internationally and in our own economy. Barack Obama sends a message of positive change that I believe will allow our country to meet its full potential both at home and on an international level. I am excited to say that this will be the first election that I will cast a vote, not only because I know have a voice that can be heard but because of who I get to vote for.
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