Dread

Just when it couldn't get any scarier, this:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too.

We're scared.

Grammar School

After handing back scripts that my students were asked to submit for their media course, one student who's never had me as an instructor before was surprised to find her sheet covered in furious corrections and other marks from my green inkpen.

"What is this, grammar school?" she asked. God forbid I would correct her punctuation mistakes.

So when she brought the assignment forward at the end of class, and asked me if all those commas I was asking for were necessary, I explained that she's writing for other people to read and to perform from. I took the script from her and read a couple of lines as she wrote originally wrote them, without essential commas needed for natural pauses. She made a face at how odd it sounded, of course. Then I read the same sentences with the commas (and therefore pauses) inserted.

"Oh, okay."

Glue Factory

I was driving back into town this evening for a work-related event, and was surprised to see something new for this small city: police on a horse! It's been awhile since I've seen equestrian-powered law enforcement, not since I lived in the (relatively) big city.

The horse is used to patrol the recently developed park areas along the river, so it makes a lot of sense in terms of mobility. And I'm sure an officer on a horse is more intimidating to riverside ne'er-do-wells than one on a mere bicycle (we've got a few bike cops on campus).

It struck me that one whimsical solution to the climate crisis would be a return to riding horses to get around. Instead of growing more corn for biofuels, we'll just grow more corn for more horses. The only emissions problem? Methane.

The (Mud)gates Open

Now that the Palin bump is over, the season is about to get a whole lot uglier.

I think either McCain will go after his opponent on abortion, where Obama's state Senate record is perceived as being vulnerable (thanks to these ridiculous bills that are designed to either bait Democrats or slowly erode Roe v. Wade) and an "out-of-touch liberal" (even though the majority of Americans are pro-choice)... or we'll see a resurgence of the Rev. Wright and "secret Muslim" strategies and viral campaigns.

So, either Obama will be portrayed to "hard working" whites in the Rust Belt and West as the "most liberal member of the Senate" or as the *hushed tone* "scary black candidate."

At least the race results in some pretty funny web ads from obsure sites of ill repute. I can't wait to see how sleazier these get...


I especially love the "who's more likely" ad. So ridiciously wonderful.

Separation Anxiety

I've always been a big believer in being mobile, being opening to moving to new places. Wanting to live in one city/town your whole life seemed so perverse and backwards.

Having actually moved out of state of couple times now, I sympathize with those I didn't understand. Leaving a place you've become accustomed to, and uprooting ties with people you actually relate to, it's all pretty melancholy. After moving the first time, I went through a sentimental phase of missing my hometown. Awhile back, I started missing Michigan. And now, I'm already getting melancholy thinking about what comes next... But that's still a ways off. Just being sentimental. :P

I have learned the value of maintaining old relationships and staying in touch with good friends. I'm still eager to live in new places, but I think someday, when my wife and I find a place we can call home, I'll be a settled townie like all the rest.

Undertow

In the past year of acclimating to life in the South, I've noted that it's not so much the expected, immediate things that are different about living here. It's the subtle, quiet differences that can be surprisingly odd.

A colleague noted that when blacks and whites in American talk about race, they talk across each other. They're communicating in different spaces in the bandwidth. On a similar note, what's struck me about the enthusiastic response Sarah Palin has received among the culturally conservative base, is that it's something very implicit about her that makes the evangelical demographic so excited. It's something unspoken, understood.

I find myself wondering if the things that separate us, that create distance between red and blue America, or the North and the South, North America and South America, etc. etc. , are not the salient issues we think about dividing us (affirmative action, abortion, war), but rather more hidden differences in the way we think.

Because no matter how much separate cultures, civilizations, or ideologies may differ over issues of the day, perhaps what really produces cultural disagreements are the fundamental, hard-to-name ways in which we process information, and our collective experiences that we use to frame that information.

Getting through to others, and listening to their needs and expectations. I'm getting frustrated with it this month. Because it really requires a willingness to rethink all premises.

Americans Can Opinions Overseas (And You Can, Too!)

Is that a verbatim quote?

V is for Victory

I had the good fortune of being able to borrow at camera from work yesterday. I haven't sat down to learn how to properly operate it yet, as you can tell from the focus ahead, but driving home yesterday, I was glad I had a camera sitting next to me, ready to go. I'm trying to compete with a blogging colleague who is a keen observer of bumper stickers and license places.


Mostly, what I saw was just so odd that I had to snap a couple shots. I think I was fascinated first by the homemade aesthetic, and secondly by the sheer cockiness and self promotion involved.


Even though this guy obviously wants attention, I feel a little bad for picking on him now. I think he saw me driving behind him with a large SLR to my face. Because after he turned, he pulled far, far ahead of me by speeding... 65 in a 45. Guess I scared the poor, paranoid fellow. But again, why would you put that on your rear, then?