amiswaswere

RIP Lévi-Strauss

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:32:31 GMT

http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=1c3e995f50f6ac45f7f231b2fe1e0fa4

I learned a lot from you.

Scratch Gym Membership Off of Budget

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:46:48 GMT

I'm trying this "poor" thing on for size. It's ill fitting. But! The good news is I won't have to spend money on a gym membership. Why? Because SF has hills like they were D cell batteries before a bad storm hit. No lie.

So I'm moseying (that's what those with nowhere to be do) down to the Exploratorium. Why? It's free day (see that poor thing again?) and according to Google maps, it's only 1.2 mi away. That's nothing. Shoot, the day before I'd done 4 mi. Also, there's no public transit that will get me there from where I am; really?

So anyway, I go up a steep hill and I'm like, "Yes! That'll be butter on the way back." Then, all of a sudden I'm doing nothing but down hills! I start to grumble but that's okay. Until I come to this ridiculousness that are these stairs. I'm telliing you, the road stops cuz it's just not safe for a car to go an incline that steep. I kid you not. I snagged this street view from googlemaps to show you the end of the staircase.

No, that horizontal plane is not the street, that is a landing.

So whatever, I'm game. I got this.

I'm passing this gorgeous, clearly expensive ~~houses~~ mansions and thinking of possible ways to get public transporation back up this hill. I mean it was all downhill.

Can you see that body of water in the distance? Barely? Me too. Well I ended up maybe a block or two from there. Awesome sauce.

When I get there, finally, it's gorgeous. Do I have my camera? Of course not. Thank you, Google images.

I go through all of this so as to enjoy the free museum, right? I get there only to find out that there's this 3 hour wait. I have nothing to entertain myself with because I lightened my load before the journey. I knew it'd be a hike but I didn't realize how literal that would be. So I call my dear sister and do a basically one-sided cost-benefit analysis where she essentially let me talk to nyself. Woo both of us having Verizon.

If I didn't dread the journey back, I would have saved myself the call. But I needed to reassure myself that the journey to the 3 hour wait line was worth it. I head back up to from whence I came.

But I decide, ah ha! I'll be clever and take a different street. I find a street that doesn't look as steep and I sally forth. Gradual incline plane better than steep incline plan, no?

All's going well until I encounter this:

Small potatoes, right? WRONG. Guess what that pretty tree is hiding?

Do you see that woman captured by Google street view? See how she's wearing athletic gear? Do you see?? Look at this person captured at the stop of those stairs? Definitely not jeans and a sweater like I was wearing. I see a trend, don't you?

Even though I wasn't appropriately attired, I did in fact make it up the stairs! (Nevermind the people working out on the stairs did a whole 'nother lap while I gasped for breath on a short wall just out of view of this image.) I had to take a break though, because feast your eyes!

I don't think this picutre does it justice. Here's a close up.

Well I eventually made it up those stairs too. I also made it back to my house and out and about again. Nothing major, only about half of a mile round trip. And I couldn't even complain about the hills anymore!

Oh Google street view, you were a life saver in describing this ordeal. If only I'd used you before I decided to "mosey" to this museum.

Oh, well. It's not all bad. I got a good workout from it all and a way to save money on my budget. I'll deem this a success!

On Playing Fast and Loose with Slavery and History

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:50:12 GMT

There I was sitting at the kitchen island eating my Cheerios-inspired cereal and listening to Chris Matthews say outlandish things about the history of slavery in America. And I mean flat out incorrect things about the relative responsibility of the North versus the South, who should be apologizing to whom, and other truly flawed arguments. I was shocked, not from what he was saying (I’d heard it all before), but that he had such free reign to say and propagate patently incorrect statements about American history. His voice reaches far and many do not know any better than to take his statements as gospel.

I was going to flex by newly conferred African American Studies degree but found that the article that first brought the video to my attention already did a wonderful job of correcting Chris Matthews’s mistakes. Instead, I have to address what this video and other recent conversation have been making increasingly apparent. In this post-racial society we find ourselves in, there has been an overwhelming attempt to get rid of my history and by extension my race.

Let it be known, I am not a fan.

Chris Matthews went off on his historically suspect diatribe when discussing the apology issued to African America for slavery and Jim Crow. Personally, I still do not know how to feel about it. Apologies are usually more for the benefit for the issuer than the recipient. An “apology” would never suffice and while this is not intended to be a conversation on reparations, a monetary lump sum would not cut it either. But I digress.

It seems to me that this apology is a way to once and for all shed that albatross that is slavery from around of American race relations. Now correct me if I am wrong, but it was my understanding that the albatross was there for a reason, a form of penance. To be fair, forgiveness does fall under the idea of penance but for some reason this apology does not seem like a sincere hope for forgiveness. Instead, it is ceremonial and symbolic. Nevertheless, if one is to take this apology on good faith that it is seeking forgiveness I shall refer them to Aunt ReRe with some minor edits: “Well I may be willing to forgive you, but I can’t forget.” It seems in this post-racial world you want me to forget as well. Put the albatross back on your neck; penance not met.

I say that you want me to forget for two reasons. One reason is this gross rewriting of history that Chris Matthews, and others, engage in when discussing slavery and American history. I know better than most that history is written in the present. That is an obvious statement but a profound one as well. The past is written by and for the present. It makes us feel better about ourselves and allows the past to be something we have moved on from as a way to make sense to our current world view. Those who blame the South, absolve the North, and glorify Lincoln and the Union army as saviors of African America do so because it makes a complicated and interdependent situation discrete and manageable. It is a fiction and a disservice to those growing up with this historical fiction presented as historical fact. It devolves into a blame game that Chris Matthews was all too eager to play and strips black people of their agency, making us passive characters onto which emancipation was bestowed, similar to how this apology was bestowed upon us to accept and cherish.

The second reason I discern a scheme came to my attention through a recent discussion I read regarding Rhode Island and its attempt to change its name. Evidently there is a motion to shorten Rhode Island’s name and remove the “and Providence Plantations” from its official name. According to the article, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joseph Almeida, argues for the name change on the basis that by removing the name, Rhode Islanders simultaneously acknowledge the fact that slavery existed in Rhode Island and denounce that chapter of history. Your logic, sir, is flawed. History is not there for you to pick and choose what to remember. In fact, by leaving the name as it is, those like Chris Matthews who absolve the North of slavery cannot do so as liberally when it is literally in the name of the state. Those against the name change do not point to this, but to the fact that it indicates the religious tolerance of the state and would ignore a “positive part of history.” Others degrade and derail the entire conversation by inserting monetary inconveniences to the conversation. Money is not the issue; abuse of history is.

These value judgments that encourage line edits of history are not unique to this situation, but they are problematic. Both religious tolerance (which, by the way, only indicates religious intolerance elsewhere and thereby can be negatively connoted) and slavery are a part of Rhode Island’s history as well as America’s. Removing that nominal reminder for the sake of contemporary political correctness ultimately serves a way to forget the past. You must never forget the past. It is, after all, prologue.

Forgetting slavery or treating it as something removed and disgusting is not honoring my ancestors nor bettering my circumstances. I am of the opinion that everything happens for a reason. Therefore, you cannot act as if something that does not agree with your sensibilities did not happen. Slavery did happen. It is our duty to address it, learn from it, and make sure it never happens again. Forgetting it is not the answer and should not even be a part of the question. Political correctness’s army is trying its hardest to make me forget by either blatantly rewriting history or outright striking it from the record. In your good faith, you may not realize that is what you are effectively doing, but I see what you’re doing and I disapprove.

As a good social scientist I agree that race is a social construct. My race, black—African-American for the pc-ers out there—, is largely constructed from our past. If you take that away, you leave us with phenotypical markers of race. No one, especially those historical revisionists and pc-ers , wants to revisit those times when race was a biological fact and I was sub-human. Heed the direction you are heading in when you try to doctor history in a way that suits your needs and undermines the past.

You have to know where you’ve been before you can know where you’re going. We’ve been in some bad places but our progeny must know that. Don’t take that history away from them.

Sadness

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:50:19 GMT

Dear Rafa,

I hope you get well soon. I know this is hard for you, but I believe this was the right decision. Remember, haters will hate. You concentrate on your knee.

Espero que tú sienta mejor, mi cariño

Fuck Soderling.

Sun, 31 May 2009 16:03:21 GMT

Todavía le amo, Rafa.

my last undergraduate paper

Tue, 12 May 2009 02:25:55 GMT

i'm play games. things are so bad i just had some white bread topped with butter and sugar.

i may not graduate.

fml.

Revelations

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:39:28 GMT

I need to take ownership of my authorship. Easier said than done. I've been advised and reviewed so much I don't know what my argument is. It's amazing that some say they can hear my voice, because I can't hear it myself. I think that I need some advice.

How does one take ownership of her authorship with deadlines looming? I haven't the time.

what a good day

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:52:38 GMT

in sports.

Hardcourt? Check.

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:14:33 GMT

ETA: 7-5, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2

26-24

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:20:51 GMT

GO PANTHERS!!!! DID YOU SEE THAT?

This is why I love JAKE and get it Rosario!! GET IT!!

It is literally not possible to get that any closer. We're down 19-24. 4th and 1. There were 2 seconds on the clock. Jake bobbles the ball and STILL connects with Dante Rosario in the endzone. YES!!

This is the Panthers year. That's the first of many W's. Imagine our hotness with Steve Smith in the game!

:D!!!

US Open Semifinal Results

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:10:40 GMT

It's okay Rafa, I still love you.
Rafa, you did well. Don't feel badly. This has been your best play at the US Open. This year you conquered grass; next year, hardcourt.
Moreover, You're still number 1.

Come on Federer; beat that ass tomorrow.
It ain't pettiness, I promise. Murray, I like you, I do. I especially like the fact that you're passionate, 21, and idolized Andre (three things we have in common). Much love to you. However, Federer needs to shut up the naysayers. He hasn't had a Federer year, fine, but he's still had a heck of a year, gold medal included. I wish him well for tomorrow. I will be watching and cheering him on.
Vamos Roger. :P

US Open Semifinal Nadal v Murray

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:25:50 GMT

I can't live like this. Vamos Rafa!

i hate lily stamens.

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:06:10 GMT

that pollen is a stain like none other.

I need...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:25:22 GMT

...a spoon.

I'm sitting here in an InTown Suites (ugh) with cereal, soup, applesauce and no spoon. Great.

HE WON!!

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:08:39 GMT

My boo Rafa-- although he don't know that yet seeing as we have yet to meet--just won is first gold medal against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez. It was a lovely match won in straight sets: 6-3, 7-6, 6-3. Tomorrow he becomes number one in the world. Life is good. Tennis is great. I'm looking forward to the US Open.

on a bit of a more unfortunate note, Blake lost his match to Djokovic. but to end on a positive, Federer did get a gold in doubles as did the Williams sisters

Oh yes, and Usain Bolt is INCREDIBLE and Michael Phelps is unreal

I hope the judges don't play USA in gymnastics, that's all I'm going to say on that matter.

HELL. YEAH.

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:02:27 GMT

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_hd_swb_hl_l0194

Beastin' it

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:54:35 GMT

Say what? Finished that 20 page paper in like 26 hours time and got more than 20 pages? Kinda gangsta, not gonna lie.

Know what else I'm not gonna do? Not gonna edit it. I am TIRED of this paper. I'll call it a draft, how about that.

Thesis, pft (jk i know that'll be harder)

SBfSB

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:47:41 GMT

Let it be known that I am claiming Caleb, Frank, and Ephraim. I can share Benjamin and Adam. The other two are free to whomever.

My sister, bless her heart, thinks she has the stop light. I mean, she can have the green (that is Adam) but other than that, her stop light is proving to be quite dangerous. Maybe Clemson colors work better, hmm?

But on a related note: There is NO OTHER swagger like that Pontipee Swagger™. Get on their level.

Everything I need to know...

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:54:09 GMT

...I learned from Star Wars.

Brilliant breakdown of the 2008 Presidential Field

Forreal, though.

The Disembodied Self

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:51:11 GMT

I seasoned lurker (cicrca AOL 2.0) I initally created this journal to conduct field research for a class. The assignment was to conduct virtual ethongraphy. Perfect opportunity to make my leisure my work, right? So while I tried to do ethnographic work on fans and fandom, I didn't really get much enough for that particular paper, tho the topic still interests me. Instead, I wrote about the significance of the visual, particularly the icon, in the disembodied virtual world.

But anyhow, since I have this journal that so far has zero posts and I got the paper back, I figured I'd post parts of the paper and see if anybody finds it interesting....

Cyberspace is an interesting site for research in that it is very constructed reality where isolated individuals harness varying degrees of control. Social interactions on the internet may have roots in the physical world of its participants (Kendall 1998), but it is also a space that has specific manifestations of social interaction. Because of the particularity of virtual social interaction, many issues and aspects offer interesting avenues of exploration for the virtual ethnographer. Cyberspace lends itself to being a space where individuals use the visual to convey messages about themselves. Because of its emphasis on the visual, cyberspace’s social interactions manifest themselves in the visual and graphical.

One of the more interesting questions virtual ethnography is how individuals represent their disembodied selves. Nearly complete obscurity of absolute candidness and the range between are options when creating an internet self. It is true that the self is constructed, but that does not necessarily lead to insincerity or apathy about that construction. Avenues of representation include the individual’s own website, those who he or she is friends with, the graphics used as visual representation, as well as what an individual says or does not and how he goes about doing so. Those more active engagers in cyberspace have used these spaces and others to construct a more fully realized online self than those who do not. While few in my research explicitly discussed representation, many actions revealed how representation was a tacit concern.
(...)

The embodiment of an individual in an icon raises interesting questions about what embodiment means in cyberspace. More than the visual signals of clothing in the physical world, icons for userpics speak volumes about an individual in the general as well as in the specific posts in which they are used. The variety and flexibility of icons gives them this significance. On the one hand, an icon is a very deliberate visual signifier of an individual that, while usually not of the person, acts as a part of the message an individual is trying to convey. On the other hand, the ability to switch icons at a whim and the commoditization of icons take away a degree of individuality on the cyberspace. In a community post, several people could have the same icon which none of them made. In the next post chronologically, each of those members could use a different icon from the previous and from each other. The flexibility of the visual representation speaks to the flexibility of representation online. Just as one chooses which icon to use, one chooses how to construct the self on the internet. While this ability to easily and repeatedly (re)construct the individual is particular to cyberspace, there are many crossovers from the physical world to the cyber one. The highly systematized practices of credit and social capital surrounding icon makers show that the concerns over status and social capital do not stay on this side of the keyboard. While monetary compensation is not involved, the practice of compensation remains and has been adapted to the given space. This distance and intimacy with the real world shapes how social interactions in a more general sense occur in cyberspace; for it is how one chooses to embody the disembodied self that affects how one interacts with her cyber-neighbors.