Kierkegaard is a philosopher.
Yo! Not too bad, only took me a week to make my next entry...
Let's see. I guess it's time for me to give my state of the union address on my stay in Japan.
Or, rather, maybe I'll just outline what my days have been like.
Well, I've been here for over a week now, I guess-- got here Wednesday before last. On Wednesday, I arrived-- safely-- and stayed in that expensive ass hotel adjacent to the airport, Hotel Nikko. Way too expensive, but I did get to Skype my mom and enjoy the TV.
On Thursday, I took my heavy ass luggage with me to Kanazawa. Which was a mess. For one, I barely knew what I was doing-- even though my Japanese should be good enough to get me around and stuff, hell, it should be better than my Chinese, so I should have been able to manage. But I get flustered in new situations if I'm alone[not as much as I used to though, haha] and so going to ticket windows and trying to express where I wanted to go was tiring. And then I missed my transfer. So, I was supposed to arrive at Kanazawa Station at 2 something-- instead, I got there an hour later. Luckily, I ran into Andrew, another classmate from my university, and another student here, Beck, on the train. Talk about coincidence-- they were just coming back from Korea.
My coordinators were worried. Andrew texted-- or rather, emailed...people don't use SMS messages over here--, etc.
And thusly, I got dropped off here. They asked if I wanted dinner. I said I was tired. So I got a tour of the dorm and went to sleep.
Friday. Um. Oh, well, I think Makiko pretty much toured me around for the day-- we got Chinese food for lunch that didn't taste all *that* Chinese, or at least not Chinese in the way that I like it[greasy and cheap], and then Makiko took me to the city hall to get my alien registration pass[necessary, apparently, if you want to get a phone, open a bank account, leave the country-- all of which I want to do]. After that, we went around, looking at a museum, going to the 99yen store[you guessed it-- the equivalent to the 99 cent store!], etc. Pretty chill stuff, riding around with Makiko-san.
And then...it started. My next date with Makiko wasn't until Monday.
Okay, so the undercurrent of all this is that I'm hella disappointed with the entire program. Now, while I suppose I could look at this as a free excursion, this whole "Japan" thing, let's say I don't. Let's say I look at myself as a normal student paying tuition without any financial aid/scholarships, like some of my other Tufts classmates. Um. I'm "paying" 40K a year for you to not pick me up from the airport, put me in a campus far, far removed from the actual city, drop me off in a box-like room, give me a three day orientation, etc. I also feel as if I'm the only one out of the Tufts students who feels this way, which isn't surprising, since they don't really have much to compare it to.
Truth be told, the orientation is a lot better than just...arriving here by yourself, like the non-Tufts students were. But in China, we were babied to the extreme: got picked up by our RD/coordinator at the airport, driven to our dorm, showed around the campus, had access to a dining hall in our dorm[important!], had little help notes of how to order food in Chinese, a month long orientation re-acquainting us with Chinese before our placement tests and touring us around the nearby area/country. The rooms in Japan might be a slight step up-- bigger furniture, a kitchen[though no stove...um]. The bathroom over here is a downgrade though, definitely. The dorm itself is also a downgrade-- in China, we had elevators, straight hallways, people to clean up the halls/take out the trash, a dining hall on the first floor, etc. Taking out the trash here is hella complicated, which I'll get to at another time. It was also just prettier-- this dorm is just cement and cold.
So, coming out of China, I'm pretty disappointed. But it might just be easier to do stuff in China, since everything is so cheap. Mm...cheap.
I really started getting angry starting Friday, though. When I got in Makiko's car, she asked me if I had breakfast. Now, as I'd arrived the day before, and my tour from one of the student advisors did not include restaurants/eateries/whatever, where was this breakfast supposed to be found? Or dinner the night before, for that matter?[Interesting point-- I heard Japanese people don't eat three times a day? I'm not sure, to be honest]
My ignorance only became sharper as I grew hungrier over the weekend. So, I ask a classmate-- what do people do to eat? Cook on their little hotplates. Dining halls are closed. Uhm. How do I get food to cook? Go to Jusco. Where's that? Huh? And he was busy with his girlfriend, so I didn't want to bother him too much.
On Saturday, as I was trying to find Jusco, just after I found the convenience store, I ran into Beck. She's very friendly, Australian, talkative and she was on her way to Juso herself, so I accompanied her.
It was just, like. If there is ONE THING IN THIS WORLD that I have on my mind every other second, it just MIGHT be food. So, the lack thereof can really drive me to do crazy things-- browse white nationalist forums like Stormfront, for example.[That was a trip...] Anyway, when I told Makiko on Monday, "Um, hi, but you keep asking me if I ate breakfast...where do I do this, exactly?" Haha. Apparently, my student tour guide was supposed to show me-- oops.
Okay, so now I know that dining halls are open. Great, great, great. Though they close at like 2 pm? Haha.
The weekend is pretty much characterized by my worrying about my next meal. So let's skip that.
What else on Monday. Makiko took me to the Kenrokuen Gardens, which are apparently one of Japan's three special gardens, or something. One is in Okayama, that I went to five years ago when I did my homestay. Didn't realize. We also went to see a castle.
To be honest, as much as this whole "Yay I'm in Asia thing" is pretty fun, the whole touring the historical parks/buildings/whatever bores me really fast. I think it's really just that while I might like the Japanese *language* I'm really not interested in the bowing, or the sushi, or the samurai, or the castles, or the whatever. Maybe I was in high school, but now? Nah. So I felt bad for Makiko, who had to drag an unexcited student around from place to place, though I tried to feign interest. I think all of the other kids here are Japanese majors.
Later that night was fun, however. It was apparently this girl Miki's birthday-- Miki's a student advisor in our dorm. So we all went out to nomihoudai-- which I guess is just a downgrade of an open bar? It's pretty much all you can drink for an hour. Which is a bad thing for me, since that just means I have to get my money's worth.
There were lots of people there though, so I got to meet everyone. "You studied in China!? Wow! Blah blah." Another problem that I need to address at another time is the girl problem that I'm having now. Um. "He's cute."? What do I do about that? And then you want to add me on facebook, where I have myself as interested in men? It's just awkward, I guess. I don't know why I've been having such problems with outness, but that's another entry.
Anyway, after about my third Awamori or so[Awamori is this Okinawan rice liquor-- it's similar to Vodka in alcohol level, but definitely easier to take], some of the kids were bowing out/eating/going for girly drinks. Whatever. The Slovenian girl and I kept going-- she's fun, too bad she's leaving next week.
Anyway, after Nomihoudai, we went a bunch of places-- Karaoke, where I got beer; McDonalds, where I got a burger and made everyone wait for me, apparently; some bar-restaurant place, where I did more shots of whiskey. Man, I was pretty messed up. The funny thing is, while I remember the night for the most part, I don't remember getting back to my room. But when I woke up the next morning, my head was pounding, my computer was in shambles[I usually use my computer from my bed, so I suppose we had a fight...my computer lost, clearly], I was wearing my pajamas, my facebook status said I was in love with someone-who-won't-be-named, etc. Weirdness. I guess that counts as blacking out? Haha.
Okay, so that was Monday. The rest of the week has been pretty calm-- I've just been hanging with people, trying to make friends, etc. I also have been studying a lot. I'm really concerned about what level of Japanese I'm going to take. The lowest level is AA, then it goes B-->C1-->C2-->D-->E-->F. Now, I should be better than my Tufts classmates-- while I started freshman year in Japanese 1, sophomore year I skipped out of two classes and moved into junior year Japanese[Japanese 21, 22], while they were still doing sophomore year Japanese.[Japanese 3, 4] But I'm not sure anymore-- Korey, who did the best on the placement test out of my Tufts classmates, did this intense Middlebury program the summer before and wound up in level C2. They certainly all speak faster than me, but that probably is because they've been here for a good six months already, while I'm still in Chinese mode. I was looking at Korey's textbook, and other than like two or three grammar patterns, I covered all of it back home already.[whether I can still use it properly is a different question, haha] Anyway, like with China, I have these dream goals-- for China, I wanted to get in level 4 Chinese.[Highest level is 6/7; I didn't make it to 4, got into 3.5...BUT I happened to land into the best class ever, so I'm not too disappointed] For Japan, I want to get into level E, since classes over here seem easier. We'll see. Luckily, the placement test is written, so my bad spoken Japanese won't be an indicator of my actual level.
So, that's academics. Um, I went out drinking again with the kids yesterday-- another nomihoudai. Pretty fun. Afterwards, McDonalds-- seems like a staple. Then we just hung out, went to Circle K, which is a nearby 24 hour convenience store. Etc. Wound up in bed like 2 or 3.
And that has pretty much been my Japanese adventure. Nothing too exciting. A few interesting tangentials:
1. People don't sake bomb in Japan!? I was asking about it, and apparently Japanese people don't sake bomb. I was shocked. Another American fraud!?
2. I miss China. And Chinese. Desperately. I mean, Japan is whatever, but I wasn't joking when I said I had the best class ever in China. We were amazing, all of us were like BFFs. The Koreans, who dominated the class, were amazing. So were the Japanese. And the Americans, the Euros and everyone else too, of course. In fact, I'm thinking of going back in April, if I can get my alien registration card.[I love, love, love having a stipend from Tufts...haha] My placement test is the 7th, so I figure if I can get my registration card the 1st, then I can fly out immediately and...holla! Each time I go on facebook and see new pictures, or talk to my old classmates on MSN, I just get nostalgic.[Which isn't to say I want to be there forever; China is certainly good in limited doses. The US is still the way to go.]
3. There are gay bars in Kanazawa. As great as straight kids are, really, it's just. Man, straight people can be so boring. I need to figure out how to check out these gay bars.
4. One of my coordinators found out info about my old homestay for me! Wow, throwback. Like, five years ago. Apparently my homestay partner is, like, out of college and has a full time job already. Geez, how depressing. But I'm gonna stop by their house and go to the school on Monday I hope, which should be fun. Very excited; I really liked that family. And apparently there are two kids from my high school as well, though I graduated before they started, so I probably don't know them.
I can't believe 2005 is so...long ago. I'm already about to graduate college...geez.
Alright, I don't do depression. I guess I'm gonna make my way to the dining hall.[I went there for the first time yesterday-- that also deserves a story! I swear, being Black in Asia...it never ends, it never ends, haha]
Later.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Fushigi na Sweet Escape.
The title is a line from Crystal Kay's song, "Sugar Rain."
Three terms to make up for not having any recently:
Tendentious -- having or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one; "a tendentious account of recent elections"
Milquetoast -- sissy: a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
Sturm und Drang -- (the conventional translation is "Storm and Stress"; a more literal translation, however, might be storm and urge, storm and longing, or storm and impulse) is the name of a movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements.
I ran into all of those on MyDD alone. Part of me is really incredulous that I still run into so many English words that I don't know-- it makes the notion of becoming erudite in any other language so forboding. Even after spending years and years reading, I guess you're never really independent of the dictionary. I know that there will always be words that you don't know but I prefer to think I'll never run into them-- that they'll stay in their corner of the unused world and will never bother me. But then they show their ugly prefixes...
But yeah, onto bigger things.
I know, I know-- I should be making a post about life, or the lack thereof, in Japan.[BUZZ! That should be a clue to the negativity and frustration you'll see I have about Japan when I do write my entry.] But I've been up since 5 AM or so, reading news about America and stuff. Stuff about the primaries specifically, of course.
A few things:
Are Americans actually willfully ignorant? I'm not so sure, but I keep hearing this repeated and am pretty sure this meme shapes the narrative to some degree. "Americans are lazy, so dialogue will get us no where." "Other Americans don't care, so obviously we're just going to hear this talking point repeated for the length of the election."
Reallly, though? I just wonder how people draw these conclusions-- I took a Law/Government class in high school and I think I might remember some pie charts about how influential thirty second talking heads and simple advertisements are. But at the time, I don't think I was savvy or invested enough to figure out how accurate these stats were, or if they didn't possibly represent other voter correlations, or who knows. I'm wondering about this meme specifically because it leads to a type of cynicism for inquiry-- "we can't continue to question this, because it will turn into a talking point for them; it will ruin the electability of our candidate; it's not unifying; etc."
This could just be me being naive and running off of Atlas Shrugged, but anything that discourages inquiry and thinking seems categorically immoral. That said, there probably are many facetious memes running around, along with messages crafted to have certain effects, but I disagree with the paternalistic "we don't need to talk about it because other people won't be smart enough to dissect it and figure things out for themselves" attitude.
This was prompted by reading MyDD's coverage of Obama's association with Pastor Wright.[I've long since stopped frequenting DailyKos as much as I used to-- I don't think I can deal with all the spin, even as an Obama supporter] If I were home, my aunt would definitely be living it up and would demand me to defend my candidate. I don't know how exactly I would-- I've known about Wright already. I'm unsure about why the story is only making big waves now, but there were smaller waves in the blogosphere months ago-- he's been related to this man for twenty years.
It might be that Obama really did have a free pass for so long. It might be that it's more profitable to build a candidate up and then have him crash down. I'm sure there are other possibilities.
Anyway, I've been wondering about this line of guilt-by-association for a while now. I was talking to Steven about disavowing the views of one's supporters late one night, that politicians are and should be expected to do all within their power to reject and denounce the view of anyone who might be construed to be a surrogate for their views. "Complicity is immoral." There was a reason for talking about it I think-- at the time, I was saying that McCain's non-endorsement=\= rejection, or whatever it was that Hillary was demanding from Obama when he received Farrakhan's support.[By the by, does anyone know any good sources for news? I've been trying to get access to actual transcripts, or at least things more substantial than one-two line quotes that you might find in articles. Or are those really the only ways people get news-- blogs, articles, tv, radio? Thanks.]
I think I forgot where I was going with this. Essentially where guilt-by-association begins and ends, I guess, because I think that we're supposed to compromise on some things, right? When two people of different faiths get married for example, assuming both parties aren't mutually committed to religious apathy or one party decides to convert. Or I don't know, maybe that's not as good of an example. I guess to draw an extreme case, I think I would be expected to still associate with my mother even if she was an extreme racist or Holocaust denier, for example.[Of course, this is different from Obama having Wright on his spiritual council, or whatever]
My point is, at some point guilt-by-association becomes null. I'm thinking about this now because I'm friends with people who have views I don't support-- "pro-Life"[I put the term in quotes because I believe the term is misleading]/pro-war/pro-gun rights/pro-communism/what have you. Of course, I'm also not a politician running for president and I don't have any of these people working as mouthpieces for me, trying to endorse me for this or that, running fundraisers for me, etc. But at some point compromise plays a part-- for me, I try to make friends with people I disagree with because I want to hear other people's views, because I'm wrong about a lot of things and I usually find out after hearing from other people. Hmm.
The dialogue about all this is, or was, a lot more developed in my head, but I seem to forget it as soon as my fingers touch the keys. Instead, I'm left with intro sentences that were supposed to lead to more thoughts that are no longer there.
I'm also wondering if I believe that idea about being complicit if you don't firmly state your position for or against something. I suppose I just don't remember why this is supposed to be a convincing argument, the whole complicity being wrong idea.
I had other non-Japan topics to discuss but, as is typical with me, I forgot them.
I also wonder what all this politics-stuff means for me-- I know I used to care more about politics in high school and became apathetic in college. The apathy seems to have disappeared during the primaries, especially now that I don't have class. It was the other day, while I was still in America, that I admitted out loud that I would like to be a politician-- especially after talking with my aunt about "compromise" when choosiing politicians, since politics is inevitably filthy and about choosing the lesser of two evils. This is really why I was wondering about my own guilt-by-association-- if I ever did run for politics, how many of my friends could be used against me? Of course, it's a little early.
My admission came from hanging with Perris before I went to Japan. I need to blog about him, I guess, though the edge is off now that we're in different hemispheres.[Right? I assume Japan is not Western Hemisphere, but geography was never my strong suite, ahaha. I guess I just find the idea that the Western Hemisphere is pretty much North and South Americas, with maybe of some Africa and Greenland, while the Eastern Hemisphere is everything else to be partly weird. The Earth is spherical, right? Hmm. Wikipedia time, perhaps.] Anyway, Perris is sort of a weird mix. About 70% Shawn-- nice/funny, but in a different way, from California, vegetarian, half-black/half-white...and something else that I forget. Then there's at least 20% Nakeefa since he's into public policy and has a similar sense of humor, I think. 10% is other, since he's short and relatively forthcoming about his sexual habits? I guess.
Sometimes, like now, I wonder if I'm too truthful in this rag, since I know at least some of the people I discuss or mention possibly read this thing. I think Summer was telling me once about how too much honesty can be a bad thing, or that being so forthcoming about things might show a lack of concern for the feelings of others-- what brought that conversation on was when I was name-dropping in other entry. But I guess I still have trouble wrapping my brain around it-- honesty is such a perfect maxim[Oh Kant, how right you were in this regard] that I can't help worshipping at its altar. I guess that presentation is supposed to be an important part of communication-- that rudeness is not a necessary component of honesty, that there's a proper way to present one's opinion. I guess I just wonder what "rudeness" is, exactly-- it's certainly not an objective thing, and I don't think I've ever come into an entry with an intention to hurt anybody. Maybe? Haha. It's also that the only people I know who might read this thing, I usually have no intention of hurting. So if I've been rude, I'd guess that rudeness can at least be independent of intention.
No rhyme or reason, just me letting some rambling thoughts spill from my head.
Hopefully I'll make my next entry about Japan. I even took pictures!
Later.
Three terms to make up for not having any recently:
Tendentious -- having or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one; "a tendentious account of recent elections"
Milquetoast -- sissy: a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
Sturm und Drang -- (the conventional translation is "Storm and Stress"; a more literal translation, however, might be storm and urge, storm and longing, or storm and impulse) is the name of a movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements.
I ran into all of those on MyDD alone. Part of me is really incredulous that I still run into so many English words that I don't know-- it makes the notion of becoming erudite in any other language so forboding. Even after spending years and years reading, I guess you're never really independent of the dictionary. I know that there will always be words that you don't know but I prefer to think I'll never run into them-- that they'll stay in their corner of the unused world and will never bother me. But then they show their ugly prefixes...
But yeah, onto bigger things.
I know, I know-- I should be making a post about life, or the lack thereof, in Japan.[BUZZ! That should be a clue to the negativity and frustration you'll see I have about Japan when I do write my entry.] But I've been up since 5 AM or so, reading news about America and stuff. Stuff about the primaries specifically, of course.
A few things:
Are Americans actually willfully ignorant? I'm not so sure, but I keep hearing this repeated and am pretty sure this meme shapes the narrative to some degree. "Americans are lazy, so dialogue will get us no where." "Other Americans don't care, so obviously we're just going to hear this talking point repeated for the length of the election."
Reallly, though? I just wonder how people draw these conclusions-- I took a Law/Government class in high school and I think I might remember some pie charts about how influential thirty second talking heads and simple advertisements are. But at the time, I don't think I was savvy or invested enough to figure out how accurate these stats were, or if they didn't possibly represent other voter correlations, or who knows. I'm wondering about this meme specifically because it leads to a type of cynicism for inquiry-- "we can't continue to question this, because it will turn into a talking point for them; it will ruin the electability of our candidate; it's not unifying; etc."
This could just be me being naive and running off of Atlas Shrugged, but anything that discourages inquiry and thinking seems categorically immoral. That said, there probably are many facetious memes running around, along with messages crafted to have certain effects, but I disagree with the paternalistic "we don't need to talk about it because other people won't be smart enough to dissect it and figure things out for themselves" attitude.
This was prompted by reading MyDD's coverage of Obama's association with Pastor Wright.[I've long since stopped frequenting DailyKos as much as I used to-- I don't think I can deal with all the spin, even as an Obama supporter] If I were home, my aunt would definitely be living it up and would demand me to defend my candidate. I don't know how exactly I would-- I've known about Wright already. I'm unsure about why the story is only making big waves now, but there were smaller waves in the blogosphere months ago-- he's been related to this man for twenty years.
It might be that Obama really did have a free pass for so long. It might be that it's more profitable to build a candidate up and then have him crash down. I'm sure there are other possibilities.
Anyway, I've been wondering about this line of guilt-by-association for a while now. I was talking to Steven about disavowing the views of one's supporters late one night, that politicians are and should be expected to do all within their power to reject and denounce the view of anyone who might be construed to be a surrogate for their views. "Complicity is immoral." There was a reason for talking about it I think-- at the time, I was saying that McCain's non-endorsement=\= rejection, or whatever it was that Hillary was demanding from Obama when he received Farrakhan's support.[By the by, does anyone know any good sources for news? I've been trying to get access to actual transcripts, or at least things more substantial than one-two line quotes that you might find in articles. Or are those really the only ways people get news-- blogs, articles, tv, radio? Thanks.]
I think I forgot where I was going with this. Essentially where guilt-by-association begins and ends, I guess, because I think that we're supposed to compromise on some things, right? When two people of different faiths get married for example, assuming both parties aren't mutually committed to religious apathy or one party decides to convert. Or I don't know, maybe that's not as good of an example. I guess to draw an extreme case, I think I would be expected to still associate with my mother even if she was an extreme racist or Holocaust denier, for example.[Of course, this is different from Obama having Wright on his spiritual council, or whatever]
My point is, at some point guilt-by-association becomes null. I'm thinking about this now because I'm friends with people who have views I don't support-- "pro-Life"[I put the term in quotes because I believe the term is misleading]/pro-war/pro-gun rights/pro-communism/what have you. Of course, I'm also not a politician running for president and I don't have any of these people working as mouthpieces for me, trying to endorse me for this or that, running fundraisers for me, etc. But at some point compromise plays a part-- for me, I try to make friends with people I disagree with because I want to hear other people's views, because I'm wrong about a lot of things and I usually find out after hearing from other people. Hmm.
The dialogue about all this is, or was, a lot more developed in my head, but I seem to forget it as soon as my fingers touch the keys. Instead, I'm left with intro sentences that were supposed to lead to more thoughts that are no longer there.
I'm also wondering if I believe that idea about being complicit if you don't firmly state your position for or against something. I suppose I just don't remember why this is supposed to be a convincing argument, the whole complicity being wrong idea.
I had other non-Japan topics to discuss but, as is typical with me, I forgot them.
I also wonder what all this politics-stuff means for me-- I know I used to care more about politics in high school and became apathetic in college. The apathy seems to have disappeared during the primaries, especially now that I don't have class. It was the other day, while I was still in America, that I admitted out loud that I would like to be a politician-- especially after talking with my aunt about "compromise" when choosiing politicians, since politics is inevitably filthy and about choosing the lesser of two evils. This is really why I was wondering about my own guilt-by-association-- if I ever did run for politics, how many of my friends could be used against me? Of course, it's a little early.
My admission came from hanging with Perris before I went to Japan. I need to blog about him, I guess, though the edge is off now that we're in different hemispheres.[Right? I assume Japan is not Western Hemisphere, but geography was never my strong suite, ahaha. I guess I just find the idea that the Western Hemisphere is pretty much North and South Americas, with maybe of some Africa and Greenland, while the Eastern Hemisphere is everything else to be partly weird. The Earth is spherical, right? Hmm. Wikipedia time, perhaps.] Anyway, Perris is sort of a weird mix. About 70% Shawn-- nice/funny, but in a different way, from California, vegetarian, half-black/half-white...and something else that I forget. Then there's at least 20% Nakeefa since he's into public policy and has a similar sense of humor, I think. 10% is other, since he's short and relatively forthcoming about his sexual habits? I guess.
Sometimes, like now, I wonder if I'm too truthful in this rag, since I know at least some of the people I discuss or mention possibly read this thing. I think Summer was telling me once about how too much honesty can be a bad thing, or that being so forthcoming about things might show a lack of concern for the feelings of others-- what brought that conversation on was when I was name-dropping in other entry. But I guess I still have trouble wrapping my brain around it-- honesty is such a perfect maxim[Oh Kant, how right you were in this regard] that I can't help worshipping at its altar. I guess that presentation is supposed to be an important part of communication-- that rudeness is not a necessary component of honesty, that there's a proper way to present one's opinion. I guess I just wonder what "rudeness" is, exactly-- it's certainly not an objective thing, and I don't think I've ever come into an entry with an intention to hurt anybody. Maybe? Haha. It's also that the only people I know who might read this thing, I usually have no intention of hurting. So if I've been rude, I'd guess that rudeness can at least be independent of intention.
No rhyme or reason, just me letting some rambling thoughts spill from my head.
Hopefully I'll make my next entry about Japan. I even took pictures!
Later.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Peaceful Disengage.
So, I'm in Japan!
Man. I'll give the skinny of it all later.[I've been using "skinny" a lot lately]
So, right now, it's 6 AM[it's pretty much American East Coast Time + 13, btw] and I'm playing "Be Careful" by Sparkle and R.Kelly, wondering if I'm the first person to play this song over here. Probably not.
Alright, I should proably at least pretend to unpack.
Later.
Man. I'll give the skinny of it all later.[I've been using "skinny" a lot lately]
So, right now, it's 6 AM[it's pretty much American East Coast Time + 13, btw] and I'm playing "Be Careful" by Sparkle and R.Kelly, wondering if I'm the first person to play this song over here. Probably not.
Alright, I should proably at least pretend to unpack.
Later.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The Run of the Clock.
I wonder if I can make a post in five minutes.
Here's the skinny:
1. My aunt is a Hillary supporter. We got into it for at least an hour today-- it was very heated. "People don't like her because she is a woman. Barack is full of trash. He is not vested in the Black community." And of course the veiled suggestions that I was supporting him because I'm Black.
I love it, love it, love it. I also found out she managed to get my grandmother to vote for Hillary.
2. I'm leaving in two days. I feel as if the atmosphere is getting progressively sadder. I'm ready to get the fuck up out of here.[Home is great, but I feel as if the longer I stay, the longer the wound stays open. I just need to GO and get it over with.] I don't know how I feel. I should be looking forward to this trip but I'm realizing more and more how much I love home. Not Massachusetts, not Tufts, not China, not whatever-- Jersey City, NJ. Hmm.
3. The past few days, I've been called unemotional/callous/what have you way too many times. In fact, I feel as if I feel more than anyone I know-- it's my feelings[along with Catholic school] that give me such a strong need for discipline.
Just to be sure, though, I'm trying to do emo stuff today and watching Tyler Perry movies, seeing if I can cry. Hell might freeze over?
Hmmm. I don't know if I'm over five minutes.
Later.
Here's the skinny:
1. My aunt is a Hillary supporter. We got into it for at least an hour today-- it was very heated. "People don't like her because she is a woman. Barack is full of trash. He is not vested in the Black community." And of course the veiled suggestions that I was supporting him because I'm Black.
I love it, love it, love it. I also found out she managed to get my grandmother to vote for Hillary.
2. I'm leaving in two days. I feel as if the atmosphere is getting progressively sadder. I'm ready to get the fuck up out of here.[Home is great, but I feel as if the longer I stay, the longer the wound stays open. I just need to GO and get it over with.] I don't know how I feel. I should be looking forward to this trip but I'm realizing more and more how much I love home. Not Massachusetts, not Tufts, not China, not whatever-- Jersey City, NJ. Hmm.
3. The past few days, I've been called unemotional/callous/what have you way too many times. In fact, I feel as if I feel more than anyone I know-- it's my feelings[along with Catholic school] that give me such a strong need for discipline.
Just to be sure, though, I'm trying to do emo stuff today and watching Tyler Perry movies, seeing if I can cry. Hell might freeze over?
Hmmm. I don't know if I'm over five minutes.
Later.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Discoveries in Spring Time.
So, was running a search for sex shops in Jersey City[I was curious! And I've never really been in a sex shop...well, maybe once] and I discovered this forum. It's for Jersey City residents to discuss Jersey City-- a brief scan makes me think that most of the posters are people who've recently moved here. I'm considering posting there and invite everyone else who lives here to do the same.
One thread that caught me in particular was this one. Especially because of the opening post:
"Recently there has begun to be a large group of young men in long white t-shirts who hang out on the corner across from my building. Trust me they are not up to any good. Have called JCPD non-emergency number a few times to report possible gang and or drug activity and have gotten little if any response. Wondering if anyone has any ideas or can help me find the right political route to go to address this issue."
It just reminded me of the old television show Bewitched, when Samantha's vigilante housewife/neighbor would stay perched near the windows, watching for suspicious activity. haha.
I sometimes wonder if it's only me that hears the sixties in their arguments, if it's just me thinking that this sort of hyper-concerned preemptive watchfulness generally runs contrary to this innonent-until-proven-guilty idea that this country prides itself for.[In a lot of ways, it reminds me of The War on Terror/The War on Drugs on the part of the national government]
Of course, I get the concern-- you've now bought property in this place called Jersey City. You are committed, protective of your little condo in my hometown. So protective that you'll go to any lengths to get rid of anyone without the most Wall Street-like aspirations.
I get it, I get it.
I also love the suggestions to just take justice into their own hands and shoot up the "no good gang members"/urban kids wearing white shirts[they must be up to something! they're outside...socializing!]. Note to self: don't wear a white shirt, especially a shirt any size above XL.
The topic is two years old though, so maybe ideas have changed.
Ugh, this is the type of thing that makes me so, so, so exhausted and want to escape America.
One thread that caught me in particular was this one. Especially because of the opening post:
"Recently there has begun to be a large group of young men in long white t-shirts who hang out on the corner across from my building. Trust me they are not up to any good. Have called JCPD non-emergency number a few times to report possible gang and or drug activity and have gotten little if any response. Wondering if anyone has any ideas or can help me find the right political route to go to address this issue."
It just reminded me of the old television show Bewitched, when Samantha's vigilante housewife/neighbor would stay perched near the windows, watching for suspicious activity. haha.
I sometimes wonder if it's only me that hears the sixties in their arguments, if it's just me thinking that this sort of hyper-concerned preemptive watchfulness generally runs contrary to this innonent-until-proven-guilty idea that this country prides itself for.[In a lot of ways, it reminds me of The War on Terror/The War on Drugs on the part of the national government]
Of course, I get the concern-- you've now bought property in this place called Jersey City. You are committed, protective of your little condo in my hometown. So protective that you'll go to any lengths to get rid of anyone without the most Wall Street-like aspirations.
I get it, I get it.
I also love the suggestions to just take justice into their own hands and shoot up the "no good gang members"/urban kids wearing white shirts[they must be up to something! they're outside...socializing!]. Note to self: don't wear a white shirt, especially a shirt any size above XL.
The topic is two years old though, so maybe ideas have changed.
Ugh, this is the type of thing that makes me so, so, so exhausted and want to escape America.
"Do you know who I am?"
Okay, so I know I've been on roll with semilegitimate posts about the primaries, but...
This entry is about why I love my friends. At Tufts, I have a few really, really close friends-- Meghan is one of them; we'll be living together next year. This is a gem from a little while ago. Disclaimer: Meghan's drunk, I'm sleepy, and the IMs don't necessarily reflect the views of either parfticipant...but they generally do. Also, excuse the misspellings, excessive laughing, all that.
Also, my computer is still on Chinese time[I go to Japan on Tuesday, so...I didnm't see the point of changing my clock]; the timestamps may say 3 pm, but it's actually 2 am or so because of the time difference.
Just, as a quick rule, subtract 1 from Chinese time and reverse the PM/AM.[So, in this case, 3 PM - 1 = 2pm, flipped pm/am = 2 am]
ETA: That was inappropriate. Sorry, but the IM has now been taken down.
This entry is about why I love my friends. At Tufts, I have a few really, really close friends-- Meghan is one of them; we'll be living together next year. This is a gem from a little while ago. Disclaimer: Meghan's drunk, I'm sleepy, and the IMs don't necessarily reflect the views of either parfticipant...but they generally do. Also, excuse the misspellings, excessive laughing, all that.
Also, my computer is still on Chinese time[I go to Japan on Tuesday, so...I didnm't see the point of changing my clock]; the timestamps may say 3 pm, but it's actually 2 am or so because of the time difference.
Just, as a quick rule, subtract 1 from Chinese time and reverse the PM/AM.[So, in this case, 3 PM - 1 = 2pm, flipped pm/am = 2 am]
ETA: That was inappropriate. Sorry, but the IM has now been taken down.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Hip Hop and Obama are now BFFs.
In case the Will.I.Am video didn't convince you. Russell Simmons is giving his endorsement to Obama, apparently.
From the article:
Turn on the radio station. There are a whole lot of songs that use the same language ... We've been permitting it in our homes, and in our schools and on iPods ... If it's not good for Don Imus, I don't know why it's good for us. If we don't like other people to degrade us, why are we degrading ourselves?"
Mr. Simmons did not agree that the two were comparable.
"People who are angry, uneducated and come from tremendous struggle, they have poetic license and they say things that offend you," Simmons said. "You have to talk about the conditions that create those kinds of lyrics. When you are talking about a privileged man who has a mainstream vehicle and mainstream support, and is on a radio station like that, you have to deal with them differently."
[+/-] Obama had told the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus that "we've got to admit to ourselves, that it was not the first time that we heard the word 'ho.'[See more.]
From an artistic standpoint, I can understand where Russell Simmons is coming from-- black people taking curse words and slurs and making their use more commonplace might be reflective of a sort of trend Black people have made in America.
I can't say I know the context to both statements-- what the question being asked to Obama was[if it were more than just, "What is your reaction to the controversy surrounding Don Imus?"] and I also don't know if Simmons was responding to Obama's quote directly[though it seems as if it was].
I do think that Simmons is ignoring the main point of Obama's statement, though-- that we have been using these words to degrade ourselves for way too long. I've heard the arguments contrary-- that words only have power when you let them, that words can be transformed. But, last I heard, n---a still meant a n---a.
In order to have poetic/creative license, you have to have consciousness-- the awareness of the transformation you're making, of the rules you're breaking, of the new norms. you're creating. And I feel like a lot of black people are just unconscious.
But this also might be an overly academic way of looking at it. So many people use these words that should be hurtful, and I guess part of me is wondering if so many people can be so wrong?
[Of course they can. The same thing happened in Galileo's time.]
Thoughts appreciated, of course.
From the article:
Turn on the radio station. There are a whole lot of songs that use the same language ... We've been permitting it in our homes, and in our schools and on iPods ... If it's not good for Don Imus, I don't know why it's good for us. If we don't like other people to degrade us, why are we degrading ourselves?"
Mr. Simmons did not agree that the two were comparable.
"People who are angry, uneducated and come from tremendous struggle, they have poetic license and they say things that offend you," Simmons said. "You have to talk about the conditions that create those kinds of lyrics. When you are talking about a privileged man who has a mainstream vehicle and mainstream support, and is on a radio station like that, you have to deal with them differently."
[+/-] Obama had told the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus that "we've got to admit to ourselves, that it was not the first time that we heard the word 'ho.'[See more.]
From an artistic standpoint, I can understand where Russell Simmons is coming from-- black people taking curse words and slurs and making their use more commonplace might be reflective of a sort of trend Black people have made in America.
I can't say I know the context to both statements-- what the question being asked to Obama was[if it were more than just, "What is your reaction to the controversy surrounding Don Imus?"] and I also don't know if Simmons was responding to Obama's quote directly[though it seems as if it was].
I do think that Simmons is ignoring the main point of Obama's statement, though-- that we have been using these words to degrade ourselves for way too long. I've heard the arguments contrary-- that words only have power when you let them, that words can be transformed. But, last I heard, n---a still meant a n---a.
In order to have poetic/creative license, you have to have consciousness-- the awareness of the transformation you're making, of the rules you're breaking, of the new norms. you're creating. And I feel like a lot of black people are just unconscious.
But this also might be an overly academic way of looking at it. So many people use these words that should be hurtful, and I guess part of me is wondering if so many people can be so wrong?
[Of course they can. The same thing happened in Galileo's time.]
Thoughts appreciated, of course.
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