a piece of the game
it's been a hectic month or more. in some ways, it has been a saner experience, but it's still been busy. so this will be the update order this time around.
1. superbowl
2. election primary
3. teaching
4. research
5. babies
6. a song
1. superbowl
i start with the superbowl because it happened tonight. a few people came over to my house--mostly friends of housemates, along with my brother and his friend. we had a good day--some good food, watched a good game, and then played a short game of football in the first annual lotion bowl, under the lights, in the backyard, and it was great. as far as game analysis goes, i was hoping for either a new england blowout or a close game that new england would win (note that this doesn't cover all the options: i didn't think they would win by 14 or anything).
the game was close. new england lost, which was slightly disappointing to me (i emerged as a patriot supporter, mostly because i like their wide receivers). the commercials were solid enough (i liked the fedex pigeon one, budweiser's training montage, and will ferrell's bud light out-takes). i thought that the giant athletic trainer (been there since 1948) sparked the funniest comments at our party. and i definitely don't think that eli manning deserved the mvp even though i find myself impressed by the overall play of the giants. i thought the first two drives eli played well (INT wasn't his fault), and after that, he was definitely nothing special. the play that made the game for them was beyond lucky (just try catching a ball between your hand and your helmet while getting tackled, after eli had three guys pulling him down), not to mention all of the potential turnovers, especially on the last couple drives when just about every single eli throw could have been picked off (and these would have been his fault). in any event, i wanted moss, welker, and belichick to win the superbowl, but i started to like strahan over the last few weeks. my mvp would be the giants' defense, especially tuck.
i have to say i probably watched more nfl games this year than i have in 8-10 years at least because i have next-room-over access to a nice tv. this has been good in some ways, but mostly i could probably handle doing something a little more useful, creative, and/or active with this time (the same could be said for college basketball, and to a lesser degree, the nba). i think it does tell me that making this a little more deliberate would help. on the other hand, i've gotten done with a lot over the last few months, so i'm really not too upset or frustrated.
2. election primary
so it's primary season, and i have a lot of thoughts about the election as so many other people likely do. even though i'm on break right now (and a much needed one at that), i decided not to travel until after the primary here in mn on tuesday. it's a caucus, so it will be a new experience for me. i've had five phone calls from the obama campaign, none from any other democrat, and this morning i had a recorded voice message from the ron paul campaign (too little too late i think).
when the obama people have called me to remind me to caucus, and to ask whom i support, i always say, "well, dennis kucinich, obama, hillary, edwards, and probably a few other people who aren't currently running." they respond, "so who would you vote for, or who do you support specifically?" i respond, "probably obama." they thank me and hang up sooner or later.
regarding republicans... first of all, i think that our country needs a regime change, and the republican candidates can probably make some small claim to this, but i think it's far weaker than the democrats. recently the republicans had control of much of congress, the executive branch, and a lot of influence on the current makeup of the supreme court. this is in addition to the stronger ties of republicans to corporate interests, which i find to have far too much power in the u.s. today, especially multinational corporate conglomerates. this has cascading effects into the corporately controlled media (and journalism is supposed to be the fourth estate). so yeah, i think that the republican/neoconservative group has had far too much power in recent years, and i don't think that they've done a very good job with that power. i think that in almost every way, our country (and from a trickle-down standpoint, my life) is much worse off than it would have been had al gore been president for the last eight years. and i'm willing to live with that.
beyond the regime change argument, i think that the republican candidates are far worse (less intelligent, worse policy plans, corporately controlled, that sort of thing) than the current democrat candidates. many of the things that i would like for our government to do have a better chance of happening with democrats than republicans: strengthening health care, doing something about climate change, dealing with issues of poverty and responding to domestic problems (see katrina, etc.), and improving the economy along with increasing international peace and stability. not a bad list... of the current republican candidates, i would much prefer john mccain than mitt romney because he is more centrist/independent, more intelligent, and would do much better with the above issues. ron paul would shake things up, and in some ways, has circled the spectrum to represent a libertarian version of kucinich. some things he would do would be okay. others would not only upset me, but possibly throw us into a messy international confrontational state.
i guess i support obama even though i feel hillary is probably more intelligent or competent, or something (not quite sure how to say it). obama is a better speaker. he's a better leader, with better vision. i think that hillary resembles john kerry more than i would like, from a candidate makeup point of view, certainly not physically. she seems to me to be a good, intelligent senator, and i would certainly support her for president. what she lacks in charisma and speaking ability, she makes up for in intelligence and competence. none of the candidates in either major party has as much international competence as i might like (exceptions being biden, and to a far lesser extent, mccain), but it seems like this is something presidents pick up rather early in their tenure.
i think that obama would have a better chance of beating mccain or romney when it comes to swing voters. for a number of reasons, hillary is a household name and has been able to run on name recognition for the very same reasons that she will have a hard time with swing voters. i'm not sure why people dislike her so much, but here's my theory, and it relates to media undercurrents and simple socialization. during bill clinton's administration, hillary was in the spotlight for two main reasons: her liberal-ness early on (92-94) that included her part in health care and gun legislation; and second, her strange way of handling (or perhaps not handling) the bill clinton sex scandals of their various types. she was in a catch-22 situation, and it's unfortunate that bill put her in that--for her and for him... in my view, had he not had that scandal, he might very easily be considered one of the better presidents we've had, certainly in the last fifty years.
because hillary was talked about by conservative talk radio (rush, hannity, etc.), and because a large number of people listened to this (nowhere close to a majority, but let's say 2-5%, just for the sake of a thought experiment), chances are that any person who knew any conservative people ended up talking about the problems with hillary at some point in their lives, and they realized themselves that some people really hate her, and also that many people would have strong questions about her. this had a social (larger) effect, basically because people knew someone who really had a problem with hillary. this makes her unelectable in their view, and this tendency to question her spread. this is analogous to the point that i try to make to young people who care about the environment, or perhaps don't eat meat: what you need to do is try to make caring about the environment normal to all your relatives and friends, so that even if they don't care too much, they at least recognize that someone they know and care for does care. this has a transitive property of algebra, with perhaps some bit of weakened power.
before continuing, i should say that i really like edwards, and have since 2004. he made my decision difficult, and i really appreciate the populist, help-the-less-lucky people out approach he had. relating this back to football, i have to say that the standard thing i hear about rooting for underdogs in sporting events--all while not working harder to help the less fortunate americans and global citizens--is one of the stupidest and most hypocritical things i've ever heard. it matters so much less whether you cheer for the giants vs. the patriots, or the twins vs. the yankees, than if you make deliberate decisions to help smaller businesses (rather than walmart or target) or vote for candidates that will do the same (edwards' populism, or kucinich's positions come to mind) rather than supporting multinational corporations and the candidates they heavily subsidize (mostly republicans). in other words, i know a lot of populist, somewhat libertarian republicans that i like, but i know very few neo-conservative, corporation-supporting republicans that i like (though there might be a couple who are okay on a personal basis... they just don't have things figured out in a community sense).
in any event, in a perfect world, i would vote for kucinich because i support many of his policies more than those of others (i have a whole theory i should write up about kucinich and the primary season debates... forthcoming). in a slightly less perfect world, i might vote for hillary or obama equally (a toss-up) because hillary has more of some things and obama does better on others. but in the world i'm living in, with my desire to elect someone who will do something about climate change and health care and those types of issues, i want a democrat with the best chance of winning in my uncertain, guesswork view. and right now, that's obama. i think he matches up better against republicans.
3. teaching
teaching a january term class was awesome. though i can't say i like spending january in minnesota, i definitely enjoyed spending time with my students, thinking and talking about issues i find really important. the course was a first and second year history seminar on environmental discourse, and we considered presidential discourse, early and contemporary nature writing, climate change and other crisis rhetoric (which worked quite well with the focus the nation events on campus), and other kinds of discourse and communication (media, academic, physical/material landscapes and stuff, that sort of thing). i had seven students, so there was no place to hide--we all did the readings, did the assignments, and learned a lot together. i was able to give more feedback (quantity and quality) to my students because i didn't have fifty of them, and while it was oftentimes draining and busy, i found it quite worth it, and i think they did also. we took field trips and had guest speakers, got food in the campus cafe and pizza place, and got to know each other pretty well. i also had a couple independent study projects (one on green blogging and the other on animal photojournalism) that went quite well, and my off-campus internship advising didn't require much from me, but i'm looking forward to speaking with my students when they return to campus. there were numerous assignments and activities that i found very interesting, but i have to say that some of my student projects (along with their interview projects) were amazing.
4. research
my wetlands and climate change research was on a back-burner yet again (got some work done and will be focusing on that for the next couple weeks), and my dissertation research was nonexistent until the last few days (again, more of a focus the next few weeks). i wrote a book review for publication that i'll be submitting tomorrow morning, and i'll be working on my dissertation when i get up tomorrow.
5. babies
friends and family continue to have more and more babies, or at least get pregnant, so i find myself purchasing more and more copies of the book _having faith_ by sandra steingraber. this is one of the books that will be a focal text for my dissertation, so i know it rather well (and have had my students read sections of it in four courses i've taught now). but i just wanted my friends and readers to know that if they are pregnant, thinking about getting pregnant, or know someone else who is, please get this book and have them read it.
i think the experience will be worth their time, and i think it will make the best case possible for why anyone who cares about babies, infants, or the next generation, should also care about their environment, and should make sure that they are electing leaders and making personal decisions that protect the environment, because if you get beyond the word "environment" and all its other connotations, it really is the world around us, our homes, our air, our water, our food, all those things that we depend upon, and that we need to take care of for them. i don't have kids, but there are far too many kids and infants that i care very much for, and sometimes i wonder about the disconnects in our lives: why it's okay for neighbors to frown upon someone who doesn't make their lawn look perfect, or abuses their pets or yells at their children, but we don't have the same social indignation or call to action when someone does something that hurts our air, water, food, or earth generally. or even uses up resources, or despoils things that our children might like to have around, that might make their lives a little better. again, this is a rant, but it's an important one.
6. a song
we've been playing a lot of rock band in our house lately. it's a video game, yes, but it's a very social one, and almost imaginative (we have our own band name and personas), not to mention slightly more active than just thumb action. but it's not the only social dumbed-down musical experiences i've had lately. last night, my housemates and i went to karaoke (for two of us, for the second saturday in a row), and i sang this song (along with let her cry by hootie and the blowfish and take me home country roads by john denver). and the important thing about karaoke is to go all out, to give much more to the song and the experience than might be necessary. but that's what makes things interesting and fun. on a side note, the song below is difficult to sing with karaoke because the first line doesn't have any music cue--it's much easier with a live band where you can sing it, and then everything else can start. i've also been playing more guitar in the last month than i had in four plus years, so it's been fun to get back into it (not that i ever really played much guitar--more bass and keyboards). so that's been good.
as far as this song goes, my early memories of it were from my first year of high school when it was released, and i listened to the mellon collie cds quite a bit. i liked the songs a lot, especially track 1 on the pink cd, the piano one. they stopped near my hometown on the tour also (in sioux falls, sd) which was awesome (got everyone with their arms up in the air yelling, and then told everyone "you can wave your arms all you want, but you're still just rats in a cage"). but i remember my band trip to florida to play in the orange bowl parade, and my chair partner on the bus would sing this song and just scream "what do you GOT" and so we both started yelling that. it was obviously memorable, and now i'm singing it for karaoke. screaming "GOT" as loud as i can. have a pleasant night, or day. take care.
bullet with butterfly wings by the smashing pumpkins
The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
And what do I get, for my pain?
Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
Even though I know - I suppose I'll show
All my cool and cold - like old Job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Now I'm naked, nothing but an animal
But can you fake it, for just one more show?
And what do you want?
I want to change
And what have you got, when you feel the same?
Even though I know - I suppose I'll show
All my cool and cold - like old job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Tell me I'm the only one
Tell me there's no other one
Jesus was the only son, yeah.
Tell me I'm the chosen one
Jesus was the only son for you
And I still beleive that I cannot be saved
1. superbowl
2. election primary
3. teaching
4. research
5. babies
6. a song
1. superbowl
i start with the superbowl because it happened tonight. a few people came over to my house--mostly friends of housemates, along with my brother and his friend. we had a good day--some good food, watched a good game, and then played a short game of football in the first annual lotion bowl, under the lights, in the backyard, and it was great. as far as game analysis goes, i was hoping for either a new england blowout or a close game that new england would win (note that this doesn't cover all the options: i didn't think they would win by 14 or anything).
the game was close. new england lost, which was slightly disappointing to me (i emerged as a patriot supporter, mostly because i like their wide receivers). the commercials were solid enough (i liked the fedex pigeon one, budweiser's training montage, and will ferrell's bud light out-takes). i thought that the giant athletic trainer (been there since 1948) sparked the funniest comments at our party. and i definitely don't think that eli manning deserved the mvp even though i find myself impressed by the overall play of the giants. i thought the first two drives eli played well (INT wasn't his fault), and after that, he was definitely nothing special. the play that made the game for them was beyond lucky (just try catching a ball between your hand and your helmet while getting tackled, after eli had three guys pulling him down), not to mention all of the potential turnovers, especially on the last couple drives when just about every single eli throw could have been picked off (and these would have been his fault). in any event, i wanted moss, welker, and belichick to win the superbowl, but i started to like strahan over the last few weeks. my mvp would be the giants' defense, especially tuck.
i have to say i probably watched more nfl games this year than i have in 8-10 years at least because i have next-room-over access to a nice tv. this has been good in some ways, but mostly i could probably handle doing something a little more useful, creative, and/or active with this time (the same could be said for college basketball, and to a lesser degree, the nba). i think it does tell me that making this a little more deliberate would help. on the other hand, i've gotten done with a lot over the last few months, so i'm really not too upset or frustrated.
2. election primary
so it's primary season, and i have a lot of thoughts about the election as so many other people likely do. even though i'm on break right now (and a much needed one at that), i decided not to travel until after the primary here in mn on tuesday. it's a caucus, so it will be a new experience for me. i've had five phone calls from the obama campaign, none from any other democrat, and this morning i had a recorded voice message from the ron paul campaign (too little too late i think).
when the obama people have called me to remind me to caucus, and to ask whom i support, i always say, "well, dennis kucinich, obama, hillary, edwards, and probably a few other people who aren't currently running." they respond, "so who would you vote for, or who do you support specifically?" i respond, "probably obama." they thank me and hang up sooner or later.
regarding republicans... first of all, i think that our country needs a regime change, and the republican candidates can probably make some small claim to this, but i think it's far weaker than the democrats. recently the republicans had control of much of congress, the executive branch, and a lot of influence on the current makeup of the supreme court. this is in addition to the stronger ties of republicans to corporate interests, which i find to have far too much power in the u.s. today, especially multinational corporate conglomerates. this has cascading effects into the corporately controlled media (and journalism is supposed to be the fourth estate). so yeah, i think that the republican/neoconservative group has had far too much power in recent years, and i don't think that they've done a very good job with that power. i think that in almost every way, our country (and from a trickle-down standpoint, my life) is much worse off than it would have been had al gore been president for the last eight years. and i'm willing to live with that.
beyond the regime change argument, i think that the republican candidates are far worse (less intelligent, worse policy plans, corporately controlled, that sort of thing) than the current democrat candidates. many of the things that i would like for our government to do have a better chance of happening with democrats than republicans: strengthening health care, doing something about climate change, dealing with issues of poverty and responding to domestic problems (see katrina, etc.), and improving the economy along with increasing international peace and stability. not a bad list... of the current republican candidates, i would much prefer john mccain than mitt romney because he is more centrist/independent, more intelligent, and would do much better with the above issues. ron paul would shake things up, and in some ways, has circled the spectrum to represent a libertarian version of kucinich. some things he would do would be okay. others would not only upset me, but possibly throw us into a messy international confrontational state.
i guess i support obama even though i feel hillary is probably more intelligent or competent, or something (not quite sure how to say it). obama is a better speaker. he's a better leader, with better vision. i think that hillary resembles john kerry more than i would like, from a candidate makeup point of view, certainly not physically. she seems to me to be a good, intelligent senator, and i would certainly support her for president. what she lacks in charisma and speaking ability, she makes up for in intelligence and competence. none of the candidates in either major party has as much international competence as i might like (exceptions being biden, and to a far lesser extent, mccain), but it seems like this is something presidents pick up rather early in their tenure.
i think that obama would have a better chance of beating mccain or romney when it comes to swing voters. for a number of reasons, hillary is a household name and has been able to run on name recognition for the very same reasons that she will have a hard time with swing voters. i'm not sure why people dislike her so much, but here's my theory, and it relates to media undercurrents and simple socialization. during bill clinton's administration, hillary was in the spotlight for two main reasons: her liberal-ness early on (92-94) that included her part in health care and gun legislation; and second, her strange way of handling (or perhaps not handling) the bill clinton sex scandals of their various types. she was in a catch-22 situation, and it's unfortunate that bill put her in that--for her and for him... in my view, had he not had that scandal, he might very easily be considered one of the better presidents we've had, certainly in the last fifty years.
because hillary was talked about by conservative talk radio (rush, hannity, etc.), and because a large number of people listened to this (nowhere close to a majority, but let's say 2-5%, just for the sake of a thought experiment), chances are that any person who knew any conservative people ended up talking about the problems with hillary at some point in their lives, and they realized themselves that some people really hate her, and also that many people would have strong questions about her. this had a social (larger) effect, basically because people knew someone who really had a problem with hillary. this makes her unelectable in their view, and this tendency to question her spread. this is analogous to the point that i try to make to young people who care about the environment, or perhaps don't eat meat: what you need to do is try to make caring about the environment normal to all your relatives and friends, so that even if they don't care too much, they at least recognize that someone they know and care for does care. this has a transitive property of algebra, with perhaps some bit of weakened power.
before continuing, i should say that i really like edwards, and have since 2004. he made my decision difficult, and i really appreciate the populist, help-the-less-lucky people out approach he had. relating this back to football, i have to say that the standard thing i hear about rooting for underdogs in sporting events--all while not working harder to help the less fortunate americans and global citizens--is one of the stupidest and most hypocritical things i've ever heard. it matters so much less whether you cheer for the giants vs. the patriots, or the twins vs. the yankees, than if you make deliberate decisions to help smaller businesses (rather than walmart or target) or vote for candidates that will do the same (edwards' populism, or kucinich's positions come to mind) rather than supporting multinational corporations and the candidates they heavily subsidize (mostly republicans). in other words, i know a lot of populist, somewhat libertarian republicans that i like, but i know very few neo-conservative, corporation-supporting republicans that i like (though there might be a couple who are okay on a personal basis... they just don't have things figured out in a community sense).
in any event, in a perfect world, i would vote for kucinich because i support many of his policies more than those of others (i have a whole theory i should write up about kucinich and the primary season debates... forthcoming). in a slightly less perfect world, i might vote for hillary or obama equally (a toss-up) because hillary has more of some things and obama does better on others. but in the world i'm living in, with my desire to elect someone who will do something about climate change and health care and those types of issues, i want a democrat with the best chance of winning in my uncertain, guesswork view. and right now, that's obama. i think he matches up better against republicans.
3. teaching
teaching a january term class was awesome. though i can't say i like spending january in minnesota, i definitely enjoyed spending time with my students, thinking and talking about issues i find really important. the course was a first and second year history seminar on environmental discourse, and we considered presidential discourse, early and contemporary nature writing, climate change and other crisis rhetoric (which worked quite well with the focus the nation events on campus), and other kinds of discourse and communication (media, academic, physical/material landscapes and stuff, that sort of thing). i had seven students, so there was no place to hide--we all did the readings, did the assignments, and learned a lot together. i was able to give more feedback (quantity and quality) to my students because i didn't have fifty of them, and while it was oftentimes draining and busy, i found it quite worth it, and i think they did also. we took field trips and had guest speakers, got food in the campus cafe and pizza place, and got to know each other pretty well. i also had a couple independent study projects (one on green blogging and the other on animal photojournalism) that went quite well, and my off-campus internship advising didn't require much from me, but i'm looking forward to speaking with my students when they return to campus. there were numerous assignments and activities that i found very interesting, but i have to say that some of my student projects (along with their interview projects) were amazing.
4. research
my wetlands and climate change research was on a back-burner yet again (got some work done and will be focusing on that for the next couple weeks), and my dissertation research was nonexistent until the last few days (again, more of a focus the next few weeks). i wrote a book review for publication that i'll be submitting tomorrow morning, and i'll be working on my dissertation when i get up tomorrow.
5. babies
friends and family continue to have more and more babies, or at least get pregnant, so i find myself purchasing more and more copies of the book _having faith_ by sandra steingraber. this is one of the books that will be a focal text for my dissertation, so i know it rather well (and have had my students read sections of it in four courses i've taught now). but i just wanted my friends and readers to know that if they are pregnant, thinking about getting pregnant, or know someone else who is, please get this book and have them read it.
i think the experience will be worth their time, and i think it will make the best case possible for why anyone who cares about babies, infants, or the next generation, should also care about their environment, and should make sure that they are electing leaders and making personal decisions that protect the environment, because if you get beyond the word "environment" and all its other connotations, it really is the world around us, our homes, our air, our water, our food, all those things that we depend upon, and that we need to take care of for them. i don't have kids, but there are far too many kids and infants that i care very much for, and sometimes i wonder about the disconnects in our lives: why it's okay for neighbors to frown upon someone who doesn't make their lawn look perfect, or abuses their pets or yells at their children, but we don't have the same social indignation or call to action when someone does something that hurts our air, water, food, or earth generally. or even uses up resources, or despoils things that our children might like to have around, that might make their lives a little better. again, this is a rant, but it's an important one.
6. a song
we've been playing a lot of rock band in our house lately. it's a video game, yes, but it's a very social one, and almost imaginative (we have our own band name and personas), not to mention slightly more active than just thumb action. but it's not the only social dumbed-down musical experiences i've had lately. last night, my housemates and i went to karaoke (for two of us, for the second saturday in a row), and i sang this song (along with let her cry by hootie and the blowfish and take me home country roads by john denver). and the important thing about karaoke is to go all out, to give much more to the song and the experience than might be necessary. but that's what makes things interesting and fun. on a side note, the song below is difficult to sing with karaoke because the first line doesn't have any music cue--it's much easier with a live band where you can sing it, and then everything else can start. i've also been playing more guitar in the last month than i had in four plus years, so it's been fun to get back into it (not that i ever really played much guitar--more bass and keyboards). so that's been good.
as far as this song goes, my early memories of it were from my first year of high school when it was released, and i listened to the mellon collie cds quite a bit. i liked the songs a lot, especially track 1 on the pink cd, the piano one. they stopped near my hometown on the tour also (in sioux falls, sd) which was awesome (got everyone with their arms up in the air yelling, and then told everyone "you can wave your arms all you want, but you're still just rats in a cage"). but i remember my band trip to florida to play in the orange bowl parade, and my chair partner on the bus would sing this song and just scream "what do you GOT" and so we both started yelling that. it was obviously memorable, and now i'm singing it for karaoke. screaming "GOT" as loud as i can. have a pleasant night, or day. take care.
bullet with butterfly wings by the smashing pumpkins
The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
And what do I get, for my pain?
Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
Even though I know - I suppose I'll show
All my cool and cold - like old Job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Now I'm naked, nothing but an animal
But can you fake it, for just one more show?
And what do you want?
I want to change
And what have you got, when you feel the same?
Even though I know - I suppose I'll show
All my cool and cold - like old job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Tell me I'm the only one
Tell me there's no other one
Jesus was the only son, yeah.
Tell me I'm the chosen one
Jesus was the only son for you
And I still beleive that I cannot be saved
posted by Brett Werner at
10:39 PM
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