Synaesthesia

Exiling myself from Blogville

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 01:13:07 GMT

Hello to all you readers,

Thanks for coming by to read this blog. I've appreciated each one of you, but those of you who left me thoughtful comments I appreciated even more.

I wanted to tell you all that after some considerable thought - and dreaded flip-flopping, might I add - I have decided not to continue my blog for another year. As much as I've enjoyed our conversation (and the writing practice), I realize that my schedule is not well-suited to blogging, especially during the academic year. Frankly, I've also occasionally had a hard time coming up with suitable topics. And I've had enough of this Radio software and its occasional flights into buggy terrain.

To my fellow Sloggers: I'll miss you. I promise that I'll come back once in awhile to say hello. Thank you so much for your encouragement!

Best of luck to you all.....here's hoping for regime change. Kerry/Edwards in '04!

~Jennifer

The Green and White Shell Game

Sat, 19 Jun 2004 01:23:00 GMT

I couldn't stay quiet after I heard today's latest announcement: Michigan State University has named Provost Lou Anna Simon as the new president, beginning January, 2005. She'll be replacing M. Peter MacPherson, who I imagine will be shilling for the GOPpers post-retirement.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's nice that they appointed a woman president, and one with a prior relationship to campus. On the other, the ruthless yet half-assed plan for the liberal arts reorganization doesn't leave me with a good feeling. My reliable sources, including Blackie Squirrel and Quackers the Carbo-holic Duck (who are big fans of Lumpy the Mongoose, longtime contributor to Pesky the Rat), are absolutely flabbergasted at the abbreviated search, especially after the "we're having a big search" announcement that came out after MacPherson's commencement announcement. Quackers particularly says that the faculty are either completely befuddled or pissed off. Blackie's rival, Chirpy the Red Squirrel, says that rumors have been circulating for months that this would be the actual outcome, and the liberal arts organization was something to put on her resume so they could point to it as an "accomplishment."

Neat Stuff

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 01:00:32 GMT

Hi all! Popping in briefly to talk about some cool things I did this weekend.

Those of you in the Lansing area interested in art should go check out the Alex Katz exhibit at MSU's Kresge Art Museum. The exhibit itself is hit or miss, with some really good pieces, and some not so good pieces. I think that Night was my favorite. There was something about the translucency of the color that was really impressive, considering the piece was a lithograph. The "Katz and Friends" exhibit in the Words and Pictures Gallery is worth checking out for the cool Red Grooms art.

McSweeney's Quarterly just came out with its 13th issue - devoted mostly to comics! I hadn't heard about it, so I was very excited when I literally stumbled across it yesterday. Chris Ware, author/creator of such beautiful and sad works as Jimmy Corrigan, Quimby the Mouse, and Acme Novelty Library, serves as editor. A lot of big names are in the book - Lynda Barry, art spiegelman, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, Seth, Dan Clowes, and Kaz. Even the "old timers" are well represented - there are Charles Schulz sketches, George Harriman panels, even a reprint of what many consider the first work of comics, Rudolph Toeffler's "Adventures of Obiadiah Oldbuck." For 24 dollars, you get a gorgeous hardcover, a Ware newspaper-style foldout cover, and two separately printed mini-comics - what a deal!

Hard to Explain

Tue, 08 Jun 2004 00:48:59 GMT

Popping back into the blog after an extended absence feels a little strange. I have been strangely unproductive here lately, though in my defense I haven't had a free weekend since I finished class last month. I've got the dreaded blog block too, as I stare at a blank WordPad page (as you can see, I finally learned my lesson about typing directly into the blog). I think I'm just tired, and I'm taking a little break. I'll be back again soon, though I can't promise anything at this point about the long-term reliability of my blogging. I suppose that will have to do with what I decide to do this fall. As always, the future beckons.....

Paperclip Files

Fri, 21 May 2004 23:37:42 GMT

Our poor judgment choices in regards to potential allies leads us to get involved with some shady characters like Chalabi. This is not the first, nor the last, time we'll make such a poor decision. We've been making them for years, as this little tidbit from the National Coalition for History points out:

NARA RELEASE DOCUMENTS US-NAZI COLLABORATION IN PROTECTING WAR
CRIMINALS
On 13 May 2004, hundreds of thousands of pages of FBI, CIA, and other
intelligence records related to Nazi and World War II war crimes were
released under provisions of the Nazi War Crime Disclosure Act of
1998. While over 8 million pages of declassified documents have been
released since 1999, according to NARA sources, the latest installment
of 240,000 pages of FBI records, 419 CIA files on individuals, and
3,000 pages of U.S. Army information "alter our understanding of the
Holocaust and the world of intelligence" before, during, and after
World War II.

The documents demonstrate that U.S. and Allied intelligence services
failed to understand how closely the "Jewish question" was related to
the central goals of the Nazi regime. The records also show how U.S.
banks and financial institutions assisted the Nazis from
1936-41. Along with the declassified materials, NARA has also released
a book entitled "U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis" (National Archives
Trust Fund, ISBN 1-880875-26-8; $24.95; to order call toll-free
866-272-6272) that provides hard documentary evidence of what Cold War
historians have long contended -- that there were close collaborative
relationships established between U.S. government officials and Nazi
intelligence officers who were thought to be useful in the struggle
against the Soviet Union in the post-war era.

FBI documents, for example, show that Bureau director J. Edgar Hoover
resisted taking action against Viorel Trifa, a former officer in the
pro-Hitler Romanian Iron Guard when he immigrated to the United States
in 1950. Also, the CIA recruited former SS officer Otto von Bolschwing
as an agent and for years protected him from war crimes prosecution. At
least five close associates of Adolf Eichmann -- each significant in
the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews from the face of the earth --
became CIA agents in the post-war era, and another 23 war criminals
were approached by the CIA for recruitment. The documents also detail
the role that the United States played in setting up the official
intelligence service of West Germany in the post-war era.

You wouldn't believe some of the people we worked with because we thought we needed them to fight the Russians. Wehrner Von Braun was very essential for the space program you know. The U.S. government worked with Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon! Let Eichmann and several other important officials slip through our fingers. We have no shame.

Political News from the Mitten

Tue, 18 May 2004 00:03:14 GMT

Maybe you've heard about the new poll that shows support for Bush falling in Michigan. According to a poll taken by The Detroit News, "Parsident" Bush's approval ratings have slumped from 63 to 50 percent in the wake of the Iraqi prisoner scandal. Most don't blame him for the scandal though - nor do they blame Rumsfeld - they blame the assorted military personnel involved, from the generals to the lowliest prison guard. (Only 7 percent blame Bush, 6 percent blame Rumsfeld, compared with 30 percent who believed that the individual soldiers were responsible.) This is a huge load of steaming crap! Those of you who are familiar with the administration's Gonzales memo know why. This document allowed military personnel to apply the same level of er...technique in their detainment and torture of Iraqis that they used on Al Quieda. It denied Geneva Convention protections to all prisoners. Besides, it's the military -- the most regimented, top-down, conformist organization in the country.

While we're on the subject of crap, according to the Michigan Senate Democratic Newsletter, Michigan GOP chair Betsy DeVos has apparently gone on record saying that Michigan's workers are paid too much. She advocates that we become a "right to work" state, in which the average salary would plummet to around $5,500 per year. She also thinks that our tax and regulatory structure is too rigid to be competitive. Competitive with what? I don't think she's noticed the giant sucking sound that comes from businesses going overseas to third world countries where they can have outrageously low labor costs and can screw up the environment any way they please. In other GOPper news, a bill allowing 16 and 17 year olds to work up to 24 hours per week during the school year and up to 62 hours during breaks without parental permission just passed the state Senate. Governor Granholm also vetoed some legislation that would have outlawed the setting of local "living wage" ordinances.

Number Twelve Looks Just Like You

Fri, 14 May 2004 00:44:18 GMT

You can't turn around anymore without hearing about plastic surgery in popular culture. There are at least three prime time tv shows all about making people over, including Extreme Makeover (ABC), the revolting The Swan (Fox), and MTV's I Want A Famous Face, in which young adults go under the knife so they can resemble their favorite celebrity.

Will this become more than a passing fad, and veer into dangerous territory?

I was perusing the TV Guide while waiting in line at the grocery store. This week's cover story is all about I Want A Famous Face. Detailed is how much money it would cost someone to look like Britney Spears. The first thing that came to my mind was "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You."

For those of you not familiar with the original Twilight Zone episode, "Number Twelve" deals with a society that forces all of its citizens into physical conformity. In their teenage years, citizens must choose among pre-defined bodies. Since there are no visible differences between each type, say for example, number twelve, people wear name tags to distinguish themselves. The punishment for choosing not to undergo the surgery is execution. The storyline follows a young woman who fights against the surgery. She says, "I may not be pretty like you, but I'm not ugly. And I'm beautiful on the inside."

We are a very sick society. We have become so hung up on physical appearance to the detriment of everything else. As Johnny Lydon once sang, "Develop your body -- but your mind is still a slum."