Goodbye to an inspiration!

I don't know what made you feel like we would be better off without you, but you're wrong. It's only a few hours since we heard you wouldn't be around anymore and all we can think about is how much we miss you. I don't know what brings someone to the point of actually ending their own life but it is incredibly tragic. Your smartest and most intuitive friends understand that taking your own life is nothing more than a ploy for attention. The tragedy is inherent in that understanding! So why did you do it? Perhaps you were that unhappy...perhaps you were heartbroken...perhaps the girl you lovrd didn't love you back... perhaps no one wanted to listen to what you had to say. Whichever it was...c'est la vie! Please beat up mj for me!

Last thoughts on Michael Jackson...

I'm beginning to fear that this blog is starting to sound like the incoherent ramblings of a girl experiencing her first period. I should probably correct that by putting an end to the posts about how I feel about my life and where its going and speak more clearly about what I see in the world around me. Michael Jackson died today. An event that not only shut down sources of information that were previously dedicated to more important things, but also brought out a legion of people championing the accomplishments of a man that was, if not fully, at least partially, widely demonized up to the moments before his death. The question isn't, "Was this man a good man?", the question is, "How do we allow ourselves to be so distracted by his passing that the problems we were so concerned about yesterday are suddenly forgotten?". As a wholehearted believer in the importance of the "Fourth Estate", I have to wonder what sort of ideology allows outlets of news who claim to provide the public with the pressing information that they need, to preempt all other potential stories with uninterrupted coverage of the death of one man. A man almost no one was thinking about yesterday. A man who yesterday was merely a misguided pedophile to so many, but somehow today is a hero to any who have the humanity to listen to his story. The reality is he was just a man. A man like any other. No more important than any of the casualties in the Iranian election controversy. No more important than any one of the 9 people that died in a suicide bombing in Baghdad this morning. So why do we care so much more? And, more importantly, why will the outlets we trust to provide us with the "most pressing" news lead with Michael Jackson tomorrow? Perhaps it is a result of an inability to comprehend the value of human life across the borders of nation and class. Perhaps it is because we deify celebrities to a point that obscures all rationality by the admirer and the admired. Whatever the case may be it is paramount to the achievement of empathy and equality that we begin to understand that pain and loss does not know nation or class.

Bears, Beets, and Burkas

The ability to love and speak freely is inherent to the American experience. While it might seem at some times that the United States is falling behind the rest of the world because of their forward thinking attitudes, occasionally something comes along that reveals where our place really is. Perhaps it's our tolerance of free speech that often embarrasses us, but in the end that is all we have to set us apart from other developed nations. The inspiration for this line of reasoning comes from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/22/sarkozy-burqas-are-not-we_n_218920.html

the statement that French president Nicolas Sarkozy made regarding the Muslim burka. Sarkozy, in an attempt to support women's rights, said that they were not welcome in his country. While his motives may have been sincere the only thing worse than telling people what they can do is telling them what they cant. Denying women the ability to express themselves in a way that you think is oppressive only compounds the problem. Part of me thinks that a person who has the charisma to become the leader of a powerful country like France should already know this, and perhaps he does. Either way, the ban of the burka reeks of the same ban of female sexuality that brought the burka in to existence in the first place.

Heartbreak Nick Drake and You -Thanks for the words Mike

I'm kind of lonely now. And it's actually kind of nice. I've spent most of my life being surrounded by people, talking about subjects that were, albeit interesting, preventing me from discovering more of the intricacies of individuality. Moving here was easy for me, and I've met a bunch of really cool people since I've been here. Thats the easy part and the part I knew would happen. What surprised me was how it felt to look at four walls in relative silence and listen to the desires you alone have when no one else is there to hear. The silence is the first place I've ever found confidence in the direction my life should go. No more talk of "the will of god" or the practicality of the situation, only me and what I value to direct me down this path. It is a certainty that I've never experienced before. While loneliness may be part my journey, and running back home would be easy, I wouldn't trade it for anything. We will always have our duck!