Open Letter to the People Protesting "The Golden Compass"

Dear Christians:

"The Golden Compass" is a fictional children's book. If you don't think your children are intelligent enough to differentiate between truth and fiction, then don't take them to the movie.

Simple as that.

Me, well, I prefer to give children a little more credit.

Now, here's a three-step plan for accomplishing something with your clearly empty and pathetic lives:

1) Sit down.

2) Shut up.

3) Find something else to expend your righteous indignation on. There's genocide and war and death and poverty and sickness all over the place. I think Jesus would be more concerned with that than with a story about a little girl.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Dark Matter

Guess what...

Trent Lott resigned today. Man, just thinking about it makes me feel all squirmy and happy inside.
My favorite quote from the article:

He was re-elected in 2006 to his fourth Senate term and had rebounded to become the No. 2 Republican this year after his party had lost its majority in the Senate. But in recent months, Mr. Lott, 66, has made no secret of his deepening frustration in the Senate, not only because his party is in the minority but also because an increasingly bitter partisan divide this year has left little use for his skills as a deal-maker.

After the news conference, he said the frustration was not the sole motivation for his decision, but admitted it was a factor. “I’ve switched back and forth six times, and the majority is better,” he said. “I like to get things done.”

You know what, Trent? I like the majority better too. Now if only it would act like one...

Hmm...

It's the one-year mark; In less than 366 days, I'll be figuring out which precinct I need to vote in, and probably blowing off a class to go and cast my vote for the president of the United States. And, not wanting to waste that one vote, I've been thinking about who I'll vote for...for about six months, because I'm young and still easily excited about the prospect of being part of a democracy in action, despite the fact that living in Indiana renders my left-wing vote moot.

So I was, naturally, interested in article a good friend of mine recently posted on Facebook. Here's the full text. My friend's a little left of center and posts some good stuff (check out his blog), so I found it interesting. Basically, it's an article from The Atlantic Monthly detailing why the author, Andrew Sullivan, believes that Obama has a better shot at the White House than any of the other candidates.


He makes some good points, too; read the article for the details. Done? Cool.


My initial reaction was interest. I thought, and still think, that he underestimates the effect of evangelical Christians on the political climate. But I was also struck by the fact that he only mentioned two Democratic candidates, Clinton and Edwards, and Edwards only in passing; he also mentioned only two Republican candidates, Mitt Romney (again, in passing) and Rudy Giuliani.

Thnking about it later, though, I find that I like Obama less after this article. I was already, shall we say, unenthused about his prospects; I'm glad he's waking up the establishment, but as my great-aunt says, nobody named Barack Hussein Obama is going to be elected now and probably not for a long time in this country. Keep in mind that in the 80 years since the women's rights movement, we've had one serious female candidate for president. And even she doesn't have much of a chance, in my estimation.

I could go on and on about why I don't think Obama is the best candidate,and why I don't think he has the best chance at becoming the president. But back to my problem with Obama that resulted from this article: A conservative wants him to be the Democratic candidate. That's it. Call me crazy paranoid, and some people probably will, but I absolutely do not want a candidate that any conservative anything thinks would be good. I don't trust any of them any further than I could throw them. It's all a tactic to draw attention away from candidates that really could be elected and keep supporters of those candidates from voting. It's a theory than can be borne out by any consistent analysis of media coverage.

My vote is going to Edwards. He's intelligent and he cares about the American people. More importantly, he's electable. Basically, he's a more liberal, more progressive Clinton, without the womanizing and with a more likeable wife. I could go into more detail, but I'll save that for another, later post. Suffice it to say that the more I hear about him, the more I like him.

Oh, and incidentally: The other politicians that the conservative author mentioned briefly, Mitt Romney? Well, he's the real front-runner in the Republican campaign. People can talk about Giuliani all they want, but he wasn't a great mayor and he isn't a good candidate, and the party leadership will recognize that. That'll be another post too.

Poetry

I've noticed a lot of people posting poetry on here recently, and I was checking out the Favorite Poem Project website again, so I've got a question for everyone. What IS your favorite poem?

I can't really point to a particular favorite. I like Robert Pinsky and Seamus Heaney, both of whom I've heard read their poetry (which is probably why I like them). I think a lot of songs are poetic, too, so I'm also going to have to include Rufus Wainwright and Bob Dylan as my favorite (and, to my mind, most poetic) songwriters.

The only actual poem I can find right now that I like is one I happened to save to my computer when I found it online. Here it is.

The Improvement
by John Ashbery

Is that where it happens?
Only yesterday when I came back, I had this
diaphanous disaffection for this room, for spaces,
for the whole sky and whatever lies beyond.
I felt the eggplant, then the rhubarb.
Nothing seems strong enough for
this life to manage, that sees beyond
into particles forming some kind of entity—
so we get dressed kindly, crazy at the moment.
A life of afterwords begins.

We never live long enough in our lives
to know what today is like.
Shards, smiling beaches,
abandon us somehow even as we converse with them.
And the leopard is transparent, like iced tea.

I wake up, my face pressed
in the dewy mess of a dream. It mattered,
because of the dream, and because dreams are by nature sad
even when there's a lot of exclaiming and beating
as there was in this one. I want the openness
of the dream turned inside out, exploded
into pieces of meaning by its own unasked questions,
beyond the calculations of heaven. Then the larkspur
would don its own disproportionate weight,
and trees return to the starting gate.
See, our lips bend.

The gods wept

I know it's wrong to dwell on the past. I know that. Al Gore may have won the election, but he isn't president, and I have to accept that and move on.

But when I found this video over at Shakespeare's Sister, I laughed -- then almost cried. And I do not cry easily. It's just so fucking depressing...

Random Link Du Jour

I don't have time to write a real blog entry, unfortunately. But I wanted to post something. So today's Cool Website To Check Out is Pandora. It's online radio with a twist: You specify a song or artist whose sound you like, and they play more music like it. It's a great way to hear new bands, or just more by a band you like. You can add multiple songs or bands to one radio station, or create new ones for every mood. Their program, the "Music Genome Project," does a really good job of analyzing and matching sounds. And it's all free. Check it out. They have a Facebook application, too.

Two Words, Congress: Grow Up.

Okay, believe it or not, I've always been mature for my age. Really. I may act immature sometimes, but that's mostly a screen, because when I'm by myself I very rarely act younger than I am. So immature people annoy me. A lot. I have little to no patience with people that can't act their ages. I'm fine with acting silly or childish, when I'm goofing off with friends. But I don't like people that can't be mature about their relationships, their actions, and anything that really matters.

That said, I will now address the MoveOn.org ad regarding General Petraus's testimony before Congress.

First, I will say that while MoveOn.org, as an organization, tends to be a little strident, I agree with them on most things. This ad wasn't necessarily one of them. The idealist in me wishes that General Petraus, who is clearly an intelligent individual, had been more forthright about the situation in Iraq; however, the realist in me recognizes that if he was, he would no longer have a career in the military, and for the military to be cleaned up -- as it desperately needs, after Rumsfeld -- anybody that's remotely competent will need to stay involved.

However, MoveOn.org was making a point -- and one that somebody had to make. I mean, nobody calling anyone out on anything is how we got into the Iraq quagmire anyway. And under the First Amendment, they're entitled to make that point however they want. I may not agree with their tone, but the fundamental message I got was an important one: People cannot tell the truth to or about this administration without ramifications, and that's not indicative of a healthy government. It certainly isn't indicative of a healthy executive branch.

So when Congress wastes time reprimanding a nonprofit grassroots organization that started with a Web site and which is not really heeded by anyone that doesn't already oppose the war in Iraq, and when President Bush decides to call them names, it just pisses me off. I mean, goddamn. This is the US government we're talking about. They're supposed to be above namecalling and "reprimands." What's next, a time out? What does this accomplish, in the big scheme of things? More importantly, why are they even thinking about this when there are larger issues at hand -- like, oh, say, an amendment that would've given the hard-working servicemen and servicewomen they love taking photos with, more time at home to recuperate from an extremely stressful war?

Honestly. If as many Democrats had voted to overturn that filibuster as voted for that resolution of war to begin with, we might be a step closer to taking care of the people in the armed forces. First they order them over there; then they send more people over there that shouldn't even have to go to begin with (i.e. the National Guard); then they suck in people that thought they'd served their time; then they order more of them over there, extend their tours of duty, and endanger more and more lives; then they won't even guarantee them longer periods of time to rest at home!

So while MoveOn's name-calling might have been immature, it's really about what I'd expect from them. Their purpose is to call officials out on this sort of thing. And the government's purpose is to represent the American people in ways that we can't represent ourselves. We're all very capable of reprimanding MoveOn directly on our own time.

Perhaps the problem is that Congress has too much time on its hands. In that case, here's a to-do list for it:

1) Give the servicemen and servicewomen the time at home that they have earned, 10 times over.
2) End a war that shouldn't even have been started in the first place.
3) Take a good, hard look at the legality of the Bush administration's actions, and start demanding some respect from them. Seriously. They are making you into a national joke, and like all of Bush's jokes, it really isn't funny.
4) GROW UP. MoveOn.org's purpose is to run these sorts of ads. You may not like them, but that doesn't change the fact that they have the right to, and you need to learn to gracefully accept that and...well...move on. No pun intended.

There we go, House and Senate Democrats. Now get back to work.

Invisibility

For some reason -- God only knows why -- I've been thinking a lot about my US Government class. The class I had to take last year. The class that's required for every senior in every school in Indiana, primarily to indoctrinate them into democracy. At least that's my working theory. And in keeping with a class that's required for graduation, nobody really cares about this class. It is simply there. We are given a textbook with an American flag on the cover, printed before the War in Iraq became as much of a quagmire as it is today, and lots of shiny pictures and graphs for the kids who can't read at grade level. I believe there are more pictures of George W. Bush than any of the other presidents, but I never bothered to count. I may borrow one at some point and do so.

My US Government teacher was Mr. Kuhmichel. He is an intimidatingly tall young man whose uncle played football for Notre Dame and who is a bit of a square, albeit a pleasant square who seems to like his students most of the time. Mr. Kuhmichel didn't really expect any of us to care deeply about government, but he did want people to at least think about issues and the processes of government. Most of US Government is a blur of silly charts and debates, which usually found me arguing with Mr. Kuhmichel (in devil's advocate mode) because nobody else cared enough to discuss the news articles he referenced at the beginning of class.

No, I've been thinking about the persuasive papers we had to write at the end of the semester -- towards the end of my senior year. Each student was required to choose an issue and to write a paper persuading people to take a stand and follow a course of action on some major issue relating to politics or the government. At the time, I was interested in the issue of child soldiers in Uganda and the Sudan, as well as the conflicts in general. I still am. I won't go into a lot of detail about it, but I had just worked on an article that involved interviewing five former child soldiers, and it was very intense.

When I wrote the paper, my focus was persuading people that something had to be done, because I had taken an economics class discussing capitalism and communism and felt, and still feel, that many people think that because these conflicts don't directly concern the United States, the US government shouldn't become involved in diplomatic action beyond sanctions. I also feel very strongly that this kind of detachment from other human beings, even those halfway around the world, is very damaging to society as a whole.

Mr. Kuhmichel didn't have many comments for the paper, except at the end. There, he wrote, "Okay, you've convinced me. Now what can I do?" And although I had included some ways for people to become involved, I knew at the time that I wrote the paper that they were incomplete and, well, ineffectual.

So that's what I've been thinking about for about five months. How can we effect change, not just for child soldiers, but for other issues? Writing letters, signing petitions, making phone calls; these are all well and good, but not really effective when you aren't effectively represented. When the Indiana legislature was voting on an amendment to ban gay marriage (which fortunately failed to get the minimum number of votes needed to pass), I signed a petition to several local legislators. I received replies from several, and even a phone call from one. He essentially called to tell me that he believed that homosexuality was a choice, a morally wrong choice, and he would ignore my voice in favor of representing people that hadn't contacted him (although he didn't say the latter part in so many words). I argued with him, knowing that I could not change his mind, and hung up confused and angry. Why would he even bother? I will never vote for him. This only served to solidify my belief that in the present system, representatives are not really representative. They are elected to follow a line, rather than to represent a diverse group of people with different interests and beliefs. They often vote differently than their constituents, even the ones that vote for them, would. So that avenue isn't really a way to get involved in the political process.

A large part of the issue is that people don't readily listen to students, particularly high school. I'm in college now, fortunately, so perhaps that will change, but it's almost dangerous now to become involved in some political activities. Employers cannot legally discriminate on the grounds of sex or race, but there is nothing preventing them from looking at your past activities, and because of the Internet nothing is in the past. This blog itself is probably a bad idea, but I'll keep doing it anyway, posting without any identifying information if I can help it.

If I had more money, I would donate it to organizations. Unfortunately, I'm a poor college student with no job. That will change this summer, but even then a lot of that money will be earmarked for school and expenses.

I help fight global warming by walking, biking and taking a bus, now. However, I can't all the time. I try not to drive too much when I'm at home, not least because I'm a terrible driver, but I don't live within walking distance of anyplace at all and I do have to run errands. And again, if people don't want to believe that global warming exists, they won't. I've been arguing with some people for two or more years about whether it is caused by a second Ice Age or not.

So how can people become involved in a vague conflict, when the government doesn't listen anyway? Voting is an obvious choice, of course. Keep raising awareness of issues like child soldiers through movements like Invisible Children. Join the ACLU and other organizations that work to protect the rights of everyone, not just the few. Then actually do something for those organizations; don't just say you're a member. Go to protests. Let the world know that not everyone is represented by the prominent stubborn people.

And for students, don't just talk the talk. Walk the walk. If you want to make a difference, your future career can be a major contributor. I plan on studying environmental civil or chemical engineering, because I know I can make a difference in the fight against global warming that way. In the few precious years until I graduate, I can keep educating myself on the issues and the science behind it. Then I plan on studying environmental law, or possibly civil liberties law - I'm not really sure which yet, because both are interesting, but one of the two. And then I'm going to take up arms. I'm an intelligent, creative, persuasive individual. I will find a way, whatever way I can, to make a difference. Right now, I'll start by simply knowing and caring about these issues, by informing myself and others. It's all I can really do.

Lord, it's a bitch.

In honor of forthright women, of women who say their minds regardless of whether it will make them popular, of women who enjoy their sexuality...In honor of women with sharp minds and sharper tongues. In honor of women who tell men things they don't want to hear. In honor of Faith, Elizabeth Bennet, Katherine Merteuil, and Beatrice...

I give you the Bitch soundtrack.

You're So Damn Hot - OK Go - OK Go
A Million Ways - OK Go - Oh No
Why Don't You Get A Job? - The Offspring - Greatest Hits
Self Esteem - The Offspring - Greatest Hits
Miss Murder - AFI - December Underground
You Won't See Me - The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Bell Bottom Blues - Derek & The Dominos - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
Gone Daddy Gone - Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Mind Games - John Lennon - Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon
Just Because - John Lennon - Rock 'n' Roll
Black Country Woman - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti [Disc 2]
Smile - Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Knock 'Em Out - Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Littlest Things - Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Are You Down - Lucinda Williams - Essence
Joy - Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Unsuffer Me - Lucinda Williams - West
Come On - Lucinda Williams - West
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye - Marvin Gaye's Greatest
Bad Girl - New York Dolls - New York Dolls
All The Love In The World - Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
Rid Of Me - PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me
She's So Cold - The Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue
Sister Morphine - The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Damned Ladies - Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright
Sad Mood - Sam Cooke - The Man And His Music
Queen Of The Damned - Slipknot and Korn - Unknown album
Whatever Lola Wants (Original Version) - Chiwetel Ejiofor - Kinky Boots Soundtrack
Take Me or Leave Me - Rent: Selections from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No Sleep Tonight - The Faders - Veronica Mars Soundtrack
I Am A Vamp! - Ute Lemper - Berlin Cabaret Songs
Peter, Peter - Ute Lemper - Berlin Cabaret Songs
Genius - Warren Zevon - Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon
Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me? - The White Stripes - De Stijl
I Can't Wait - The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Girls & Boys - Good Charlotte - Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 14
Seether - Veruca Salt - Unknown album

Moonlight Mile

I really don't know why I stay up far too late, doing things that aren't even necessary in the daytime. It's somewhat mysoginistic. I have a bitch of a headache right now, and I've been exhausted for most of the day. I nearly fell asleep in one class today and would've taken a nap during one of my breaks, but was afraid I'd oversleep like I did this morning. But it is now 1:56 a.m., and I am still awake. I am listening to music on YouTube because I am too exhausted to get up and get my iPod out of my purse, which is a grand total of two feet away.

I would like nothing better than to be unconscious for the next eight hours, which is about how long I will be able to sleep, but I cannot bring myself to stand up, walk down the hall, remove my contacts, brush my teeth, wash my face, and climb into my bed, despite how appealing that plan sounds to my aching muscles and slightly unfocused eyes.

I think some of it has to do with my thought process at 1:59 in the morning. For some reason, I turn existentialist and philosopher in the wee hours of the morning. I can follow very long trains of thought better then and pretty much every epiphany I've ever had (not that there have been a lot) occured sometime between 1:00 and 3:00 in the morning. If I'm writing a paper, I get more done then than I do at any other time. I'm more focused and more easily distracted then than I am at any other time and I get more pissed off and more elated then than I do any other time. And I don't know why.

But I can't stop listening to The Rolling Stones and Placebo and I think I can feel every single heartbeat in the dorm. I'm lonely and, at the same time, completely complete unto myself. I miss something or someone I wouldn't recognize if I saw it dancing in the street. I love humanity more than I can bring myself to when I'm conscious enough to recognize its actions and I've never used drugs, have no idea what they feel like, but if this is anything like it then I think I'll pass. Insomnia's cheaper.

Fun fact: Apparently going without sleep for about 36 hours or so is equivalent to having a blood alcohol content of .1 percent. Having experienced 36 hours of sleeplessness but not having been drunk, I cannot confirm this. However, I don't recommend the sleeplessness.

I am now almost falling asleep on the keyboard and am exerting my will on my arms and legs. Bonne nuit, mes amis. Je veux dormir.

One small step...

It's different being at college.

You expect life to be somewhat different. That's par for the course. You're in a new place with a (possibly) drastically different atmosphere from your high school, or town, or whatever. You may be living away from home for the first time; you may be sharing living space with a complete stranger, figuring out the complex little dance of coexistence that has to be mastered to prevent one or both of you from going postal. You learn to deal.

I'm not even sure how I expected life to change; I only know that I thought it would be. And it is. I've attended four classes so far; my first, chemistry, was as large as my graduating class. My second, calculus, was like a rerun of high school -- we did some very basic review and I was bored out of my skull, but I don't foresee any problems. My French teacher speaks nothing but French and I think that class is going to be a real challenge, which is nice. And life is different. But it all feels a little unreal still. It's so much like my freshman year of high school -- I remember the panic, the sheer unwavering constant apprehensiveness about meeting new people, seeing different kinds of people, wondering how to behave. It's so familiar it's almost terrifying, but comforting at the same time; at least it is familiar.

I'll adjust. I know I will. It's just that last time, it took me two or three years to assimilate. I cringe now at the memory of who I was for a while, out of sheer desperation to fit in somewhere. I'm done with that. I want to meet new people, but I don't really want to redefine myself -- and at the same time I do. It's hard to explain. I'm jealous of people who don't have a lot of people from their old school here, because it's hard to really find out who you are when there are people who know who you were in high school and already have expectations of you.

I kind of want to go back to being a loner for a while, if only because it's so much simpler. I only really feel like myself when I'm completely alone; I almost always feel like I'm acting, being judged, when I'm around others. And I am, even if they aren't doing it deliberately. I know they are, because I'm doing it myself to them. I don't judge people's actions; I don't pretend to know what they should or shouldn't do, but there's a different kind of judgement that simply involves getting to know them. It's not bad; it's all a very complex part of human relationships. But you're lucky to meet five people in this lifetime that you don't do it to and that don't do it to you; they are the only people you will feel completely comfortable around, no matter what, and they are very rare. You might call them soul mates, but I think it's a little deeper and more complicated than that. It's more like a perfect understanding of each other's characters and personalities. It's very intense. So far, I only have that kind of perfect connection with two or three of my blood relatives. So I tend to avoid human company sometimes. It's not antisocial. It's just a comfort thing.

Until next week.

Yeah, oh, I am a scientist

I'm gonna be updating this a lot more for a few weeks, since it's summer and I don't have a job or any gainful employment. I know, I know, I suck, but that's not the point. The point is that I need something to do.

So here goes. Today's gainful employment:

Summer reading recommendations:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The last J.K. Rowling book. It's derivative and all that, but frankly, I have all the others, so I'll buy this one and read it just so I know how the series ends.
Lots of Dorothy Sayers books. Mystery novels with humor and a bit of bite. You have to have a certain frame of reference to get some of the jokes and things. They're old mysteries, like 1920s-30s-40s old, so they're better than most. Sayers's main protagonists are Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, and both are likeable and entertaining.
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. This is actually cheating, since I started on it before school let out, but I do need to finish it.
Lord of the Flies, William Golding. Izaak has to read it. I might as well.
Some classics, namely Of Mice and Men and, oh, whatever else I can find. I never did quite finish Moby Dick (Nathaniel Hawthorne, better reading than The Scarlet Letter) or Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen in a Gothier mood). Also, I need to get over my hatred of all things Brontë and reading Wuthering Heights and whatever else I can be bothered to track down. I am NOT, however, re-reading Jane Eyre. I detest that heroine.
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut.
Catch-22, Joseph Heller. Okay, this is cheating too since I already read it, but I love this book.
Nickeled and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich. Because I just can't get enough social outrage.
The Truth (with jokes), by Al Franken. Because I just can't get enough of Al Franken.
Also, I might re-read The Bone Woman, by Clea Koff. We'll see how it goes.


Summer listening recommendations:
The radio. Specifically, NPR. More specifically, the BBC radio segments, This American Life, and Fresh Air. You just can't beat free, informative, and mind-blowing.
Welcome to the Monkey House, The Dandy Warhols. Slightly trippy, spacy, techno-y alternative rock with a lot of synthesizer. Very relaxing. Gotta love it.
Your New Favourite Band, The Hives. Loud, enthusiastic, unabashed Swedish punk rockers. This is my favorite album of theirs, although Tyrannosaurus Hives is good too. This one has better instrumentals, I think.
Icky Thump, The White Stripes. Hasn't been released yet, technically, but soon...soon. And I'm psyched. It's supposed to be a return to their earlier sound, which is all for the better. Get Behind Me Satan left a lot to be desired. Their earlier albums -- White Blood Cells, The White Stripes, and the much maligned but still marvelous De Stijl -- are my favorites. They're bringing it back, baby; blues and indy rock all in one.
With Teeth, Nine Inch Nails. Normally I'm not a fan of techno metal, really, but these guys are good at what they do.
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, Modest Mouse. Good alternative rock. Don't why I like them -- I just do.
Waiting For My Rocket To Come, Jason Mraz. Lay off me. It's chill.

More later. Feel free to make suggestions. I want to hear some Mars Volta and more Killers over the summer too, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm so glad Blogger made formatting easier.

I was apathetic. Now, the apathy is mostly dead. I just have to keep from having massive mood swings (Bored/irritable to happy/unfocused to concentrated/forward-looking) for the next 15 days.
I should probably add that this is my debut post on the new blog. I'm liking it so far. It's kind of...shiny. Only not really. I just said "Shiny" because ever since they used it as slang for "cool" in Firefly I've used it too. Damn you, Brandon, for messing with my frames of reference again. Damn you to hell...the good hell, with lots of good music and every Rocky Horror Picture Show star in the history of the stage version.
I miss Rocky...