Annals of Public Policy: Troublemakers: newyorker.com
I love pit bulls. Many of my friends and family try to fight me on this, but I am positive that I will have one once I move into my own place. For those of you who have engaged in conversation with me about them, I often equate pit bull "breed-ism" to racism.
Here is an article I stumbled upon from the New Yorker that describes, how I feel about the issue, almost to a tee. I encourage you all to read it as well (with an open mind!)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Shrinking Bucket List
I have a bucket list; a relatively informal one at that. It's not in writing or anything, but instead remains a list of jumbled ideas in the back of my head that I hope to accomplish someday. To share a couple, I hope to publish something, be it a novel or short story, I want to go to Cooperstown, and I want to read every publicly available piece of writing by JD Salinger. Up until last night, learning to play guitar was on that list as well.
Let me explain.
I went on a date (date #2 with a guy whom I've had classes with the past four years). As we were sitting waiting for the movie to start, we were chatting and I stupidly mentioned how I wish I knew how to play the guitar. Well, just my luck, the guy excitedly informed me that he played the guitar, in fact had three at home, and would love to teach me.
GREAT, I thought. Now I get to look like an idiot. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most musically adept person. While piano was mediocre at best, flute was an utter disaster. And my singing? It's nothing short of atrocious.
As the movie started, I kept my fingers crossed that he'd forget about his offer. Unfortunately, he didn't, and right after the movie ended he suggested we go learn to play. Unable to renege on my initial excitement regarding learning to play the guitar, I agreed to go attempt it.
Needless to say, I did look pretty stupid for a good hour and a half. Almost immediately, I realized guitar playing was not in my future, and I mentally scratched it from the bucket list. Not only are my hands way too small to comfortably play all the chords, but I was unaware how incredibly painful the strings were (the indents on my poor fingers took hours to go away).
So, I unfortunately (yet very decidedly) abandoned my dream of ever playing the guitar. Turns out, it is totally not for me.
The good news though? I now have plenty of time for the other bucket list items!
Let me explain.
I went on a date (date #2 with a guy whom I've had classes with the past four years). As we were sitting waiting for the movie to start, we were chatting and I stupidly mentioned how I wish I knew how to play the guitar. Well, just my luck, the guy excitedly informed me that he played the guitar, in fact had three at home, and would love to teach me.
GREAT, I thought. Now I get to look like an idiot. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most musically adept person. While piano was mediocre at best, flute was an utter disaster. And my singing? It's nothing short of atrocious.
As the movie started, I kept my fingers crossed that he'd forget about his offer. Unfortunately, he didn't, and right after the movie ended he suggested we go learn to play. Unable to renege on my initial excitement regarding learning to play the guitar, I agreed to go attempt it.
Needless to say, I did look pretty stupid for a good hour and a half. Almost immediately, I realized guitar playing was not in my future, and I mentally scratched it from the bucket list. Not only are my hands way too small to comfortably play all the chords, but I was unaware how incredibly painful the strings were (the indents on my poor fingers took hours to go away).
So, I unfortunately (yet very decidedly) abandoned my dream of ever playing the guitar. Turns out, it is totally not for me.
The good news though? I now have plenty of time for the other bucket list items!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Valentine's Day for the Single Ladies of the World
I've never been the hugest Valentine's Day fan. For me, the glamor kind of wore off when the school parties ceased and the 14th became more associated with romance and less to do with unseemly amounts of candy and cartoon cards with funny sayings on them.
Last Valentine's Day I was in a relationship and we did the dinner/flowers/chocolate thing but I honestly can't tell you what the flowers looked like or where we even went to dinner. Pathetically, I'll admit that the highlight of the day last year was watching a documentary on the Discovery Channel; comically titled "Tyrannosaurus Sex". Like the title implies, it pretty much just discussed how dinosaurs mated. The nerd in me found it fascinating.
It was a hard V-day to beat, but this year, I think I beat it.
It started earlier in the week, when my mom started sending me daily Valentine's and an unnecessary, but greatly appreciated, amount of chocolate (which I may or may not have already devoured!) I then got to go to work at my after-school program where we celebrated with cookies, candy and Valentine's themed games.
A couple of hours with some adorable kids put me into fantastic spirits...maybe even TOO good of spirits! While I had planned on studying the night away for my impending individual tax accounting test, a more enticing option surfaced: a date night with my roomie. How could I resist?
So, us two recently single gals headed to the bar...fingers crossed that there was some sort of "scorned, single woman" drink special. Lucky for us, we were greeted with $2.50 margaritas (our favorite drink no less!) After enjoying some fruity, tequila-y goodness, we decided to head to the student union building. As many of you know, we are too cheap to pay for cable and thus have to usually watch our TV shows online a day later. But today we were determined to watch our Monday night guilty pleasure on time. Sure, it meant watching this embarrassingly addictive and trashy reality TV show in the middle of campus amidst hundreds of our peers on the supposed "most romantic" day of the year, but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make.
Luckily, we were able to wrestle the big screen TV away from a group of studying boys just in time. We changed the channel from a college basketball game to- you guessed it- THE BACHELOR.
Sure, we endured some stares. And some laughs. And I'm pretty sure I saw some people point and whisper, "Look at those pathetic girls", but all in all, when the night ended (and Brad FINALLY got rid of Michelle) I couldn't have imagined a more perfect way to spend the day.
Last Valentine's Day I was in a relationship and we did the dinner/flowers/chocolate thing but I honestly can't tell you what the flowers looked like or where we even went to dinner. Pathetically, I'll admit that the highlight of the day last year was watching a documentary on the Discovery Channel; comically titled "Tyrannosaurus Sex". Like the title implies, it pretty much just discussed how dinosaurs mated. The nerd in me found it fascinating.
It was a hard V-day to beat, but this year, I think I beat it.
It started earlier in the week, when my mom started sending me daily Valentine's and an unnecessary, but greatly appreciated, amount of chocolate (which I may or may not have already devoured!) I then got to go to work at my after-school program where we celebrated with cookies, candy and Valentine's themed games.
A couple of hours with some adorable kids put me into fantastic spirits...maybe even TOO good of spirits! While I had planned on studying the night away for my impending individual tax accounting test, a more enticing option surfaced: a date night with my roomie. How could I resist?
So, us two recently single gals headed to the bar...fingers crossed that there was some sort of "scorned, single woman" drink special. Lucky for us, we were greeted with $2.50 margaritas (our favorite drink no less!) After enjoying some fruity, tequila-y goodness, we decided to head to the student union building. As many of you know, we are too cheap to pay for cable and thus have to usually watch our TV shows online a day later. But today we were determined to watch our Monday night guilty pleasure on time. Sure, it meant watching this embarrassingly addictive and trashy reality TV show in the middle of campus amidst hundreds of our peers on the supposed "most romantic" day of the year, but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make.
Luckily, we were able to wrestle the big screen TV away from a group of studying boys just in time. We changed the channel from a college basketball game to- you guessed it- THE BACHELOR.
Sure, we endured some stares. And some laughs. And I'm pretty sure I saw some people point and whisper, "Look at those pathetic girls", but all in all, when the night ended (and Brad FINALLY got rid of Michelle) I couldn't have imagined a more perfect way to spend the day.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Small Town Spooks
This semester at work, we've started a new after-school program about 15 miles outside of town. It's in the tiny town of Albion, and we run the program in their old schoolhouse. Albion itself is an interesting place. Originally, Albion was going to be "the big city" out here, and it is where they were going to build the university. Obviously, plans changed, and though Albion was never as big as other cities in the area, it did enjoy success and had a thriving community. Today, the story is much different. The houses still left standing are run down, and many are replaced with trailers. No businesses operate there, except for a post office. Most of the residents live below the poverty line, and there is a high drug rate (which is the main reason we started a program out there in the first place). The brother of a student we tutor actually just died of an overdose a few months back.
The town is eerie, to say the least. The schoolhouse is terrifying. I've never believed in ghosts, but I have to admit, if I've ever thought a place was potentially haunted, THIS IS IT. There are hallways that lead to nowhere, old safes (that totally remind me of the Lovely Bones) and doors that only open on occasion (and sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can't get into certain rooms. I guess it's the luck of the draw).
But anyways, its creepiness is beautiful, and captivating in an odd kind of way. I love thinking of the history this town has seen, including all the ups and downs. I love thinking of change and adaptation. Anyways, since the city gave me a key to the building, I went out there the other day early, before anyone got there, to take some pictures. As you may have guessed, my heart was beating like crazy the whole time I was there alone. I think I got some pretty good shots though. Take a look!
The town is eerie, to say the least. The schoolhouse is terrifying. I've never believed in ghosts, but I have to admit, if I've ever thought a place was potentially haunted, THIS IS IT. There are hallways that lead to nowhere, old safes (that totally remind me of the Lovely Bones) and doors that only open on occasion (and sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can't get into certain rooms. I guess it's the luck of the draw).
But anyways, its creepiness is beautiful, and captivating in an odd kind of way. I love thinking of the history this town has seen, including all the ups and downs. I love thinking of change and adaptation. Anyways, since the city gave me a key to the building, I went out there the other day early, before anyone got there, to take some pictures. As you may have guessed, my heart was beating like crazy the whole time I was there alone. I think I got some pretty good shots though. Take a look!
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