On grad school and listlessness

I've been feeling exceedingly without direction as of late. I have my projects that I work on, and I have my grading and teaching and whatnot, but increasingly, it feels kind of without purpose. I really just want to be done, but it seems like I'm just running on a treadmill, and that stupid light at the end of the tunnel never gets closer.

I just wish I knew the set of things that I had to do to be done with this stupid degree. And I wish I knew what to do once I have it.

This is why we can't have a democracy

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. I know it's trite to point shit like this out. But 'we don't know him'? Seriously?

Can we save this shit for stories about Katie Holmes? Please?

Mynamar

this is why I was leery of Bush using 'the spread of democracy' as a reason to invade Iraq. It was enraging hearing Bush talk in absolute terms about justifying an invasion of Iraq, but never once saying why he was not invading any of a myraid of other nations in order to 'spread democracy.' As an added bonus, the Myanmar government is directly making an assault on freedom of religion:

Some of the monks reportedly carried small banners that summarized the grievances of the public: “Sufficiency in food, clothing and shelter, national reconciliation, freedom for all political prisoners.”

Wouldn't it be nice to have a moral voice to add to theirs?

My rant against the MPAA

I don't think that the MPAA reflect community values. It tells the masses what is offensive. It creates a set of standards that we expect. The MPAA allows us to know that if we see a nipple during the superbowl, that we should be shocked. When I have seen similar things happen in my life, I have seen maybe some embarassment, maybe some giggling. Never have I seen rage. But the MPAA tells us that nipples are for adults only and therefore, they are bad.*

But it sets a horrible set of standards that are applied with almost no consistency and with almost no attention given to anything logical. The MPAA allows almost any content, so long as you don't use one of George Carlin's seven words to describe that content, or show any nudity. Violence is much, much, much more acceptable than sex, which in turn isn't as bad as female nudity, which is much more acceptable than male nudity. Gay male sex is a horrendous nightmare of disaster. Gay female sex is slightly more acceptable than male nudity.

None of it makes any sense. I would much rateher one of my young nephews accidentally sees a couple having sex than I would that they accidentally witness a murder. I think most people agree with me on that. The MPAA apparently thinks the exact opposite.

That being said, I think that "what about the children!?" is an epithet used most often by the intellectually lazy.

*I realize that the superbowl is a TV incident, but it is the ame general idea, and TV is supervised by a similar, and in fact, tighter, regulatory system ocensorship.

This is the most absurd thing I've ever read

MSN Encarta: Does the Reverse Glass Ceiling Exist?

In fact, the idea of the glass ceiling is such a phenomenon that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formed a "Glass Ceiling" commission in 1991. But what about the men who succeed in what tend to be female-dominated careers, including nursing, travel, marketing, and childcare? Is there such a thing as a reverse glass ceiling for men?

Are you fucking kidding me? See, gals, everything's ok! You might not be able to get that management position, but just remember the poor men that are having trouble rising to be the day manager at KinderCare!! Read the whole article. It is an astounding combination of stereotypes, anecdotal evidence, and an inidcaiton that there is in fact no "reverse glass ceiling" in nursing. At one point, the author even says "his may set off your stereotype alarm, but even Kaiser [female counselor to men in female-dominated fields] admits that men tend to be more logical, rather than emotional, thinkers."

But that doesn't even compare to this golden gem:

he admits that in the PR industry, clients often prefer to work with a woman. "People like to talk to women on the phone--men can sometimes be harsh," he says. "Women can be more fun. They have a much softer way of being more forgiving and open."

So, if my clients are sexist jerks, I should just hire a bunch of party girls to cater to their obnoxious sexism. It's just more fun! And this in no way limits the ability of these women to advance in their careers in the pr industry. They certainly won't be impeded from advancing beyond their fun position to upper management, right? I should just stop reading this crap.

Take an effing stand, dems!

So, apparently, the the Democrats have given up on passing any sort of standards on the nation's voting systems before 2008, thanks to concerns from state and local officials that they won't be able to implement serious reforms before then.

Why is it that the Democrats are unwilling to institute even those reforms that prevent them from getting screwed in elections? Why won't they even fight for empowering individuals, even when it is in their own self interest?

"When I chose to live, there was no joy, it was just a line I crossed"

I'm not one that traditionally deals with alone time very well. I can be a pretty social person, and I really need to be around other people in order to feel actualized.

But perhaps my latest spate of time with myself has been somewhat good for me. It's given me some time to think about the last year and a half and what it's done to and for me. I'm not really sure that I'm in a better place now than I was back then, but I'm certainly sure that I've at least had some time to think about myself and my place in the world, and more importantly, what I want out of love and life. I've realized, more than ever, that I have a personality type that isn't compatible with everything, and that I et myself up for a lot of the victimization that I bitch about constantly (though I rarely phrase it in terms of victimization).

More than anything, though, it's time that I stopped treating the outside world with the gentle, subtle tone that I wish that it would direct toward me. Obviously, the learning curve on the other side of that equation is too steep, and it just leaves me frustrated and lost.

I don't know where I'd be without my music, though.