I was stuck at Pune airport for seven hours, for a two-hour flight to New Delhi. This was not a great way to start my summer break. Anyhow, if that wasn't bad enough, let me recount the conversation I overheard at the airport. I wasn't intentionally listening, although I love to people watch. These three men were standing right in front of me as I browsed the Internet, in search of someone online to keep me sane.
There were two Indian guys and one British guy:
British Guy (BG): So, is your first name Krishnan or is that your surname?
Indian guy 1 (IG1): It's my name.
BG: I never really understand Indian names. So do you have a village name also?
IG1: (inaudible).
BG: I have a middle name, it's actually my dad's name, so I guess it's the same thing.
IG2: Yeah. Names are confusing, especially surnames.
BG: You know in England women are going crazy. Some of them refuse to change their surnames when they get married. Others want to hyphenate them. But could you imagine the constant hyphenating? Names would be so long, they would be like Indian names.
IG 1 and 2 laugh.
BG continues: My wife once brought up that she wanted to hyphenate her name or our children's names. I told her she was crazy. That was the end of that converstaion.
All men laugh. SBT gets up, takes her stuff, and walks away.
I guess he's not a real white guy.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Colo(u)rs
I've done this before and this quiz always intrigues me.
Go on, give it a go and let me know how you do!
 | sbt took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Seeks success, stimulation, and a life full of exp..."
|
Go on, give it a go and let me know how you do!
Monday, April 14, 2008
New Job once again
I've been at the present school for just under a year and sometime last week I got a promotion! I'll still be teaching one class but my main job will be helping the little 'uns get into college. I'm going to be Director of College Guidance starting August 2008. It'll be challenging and intense but I am confident I can do it. If I can't and if I regret it, I'll definitely blog about it!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Women's Issues
I haven't written in a while although I've had so much to say and comment on. As Tuesday was the BIG day for voting in the States this article really stated a lot of what I've been thinking. It is also what I deal with on a regular basis in the classroom for "being a feminist".
Read it and feel free to comment. I'd love to have a discussion.
If you're American, please make an informed choice because your president changes the lives of the entire world. It's a sad fact, but I believe it is true.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author alone, and not those of the Women’s Media Center. As a 501(c)3 organization, the Women’s Media Center does not endorse or support candidates for elected office.
Goodbye To All That (#2) by Robin Morgan
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html
February 2, 2008
“Goodbye To All That” was my (in)famous 1970 essay breaking free from a politics of accommodation especially affecting women (for an online version, see http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago/).
During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women’s movements, I’ve avoided writing another specific “Goodbye . . .” But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and Barack Obama (BO) unfurls. So.
Goodbye to the double standard . . .
—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.
—She’s “ambitious” but he shows “fire in the belly.” (Ever had labor pains?)
—When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.
—Young political Kennedys—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby Jr.—all endorsed Hillary. Senator Ted, age 76, endorsed Obama. If the situation were reversed, pundits would snort “See? Ted and establishment types back her, but the forward-looking generation backs him.” (Personally, I’m unimpressed with Caroline’s longing for the Return of the Fathers. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans have short memories. Me, I still recall Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, and a dead girl named Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.)
Goodbye to the toxic viciousness . . .
Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary’s “thick ankles.” Nixon-trickster Roger Stone’s new Hillary-hating 527 group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (check the capital letters). John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?" with “Excellent question!” Would he have dared reply similarly to “How do we beat the black bastard?” For shame.
Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame.
Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan “If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!” Shame.
Goodbye to Comedy Central’s “Southpark” featuring a storyline in which terrorists secrete a bomb in HRC’s vagina. I refuse to wrench my brain down into the gutter far enough to find a race-based comparison. For shame.
Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that this is funny. This is not “Clinton hating,” not “Hillary hating.” This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?
Goodbye to the news-coverage target-practice . . .
The women’s movement and Media Matters wrung an apology from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for relentless misogynistic comments (www.womensmediacenter.com). But what about NBC’s Tim Russert’s continual sexist asides and his all-white-male panels pontificating on race and gender? Or CNN’s Tony Harris chuckling at “the chromosome thing” while interviewing a woman from The White House Project? And that’s not even mentioning Fox News.
Goodbye to pretending the black community is entirely male and all women are white . . .
Surprise! Women exist in all opinions, pigmentations, ethnicities, abilities, sexual preferences, and ages—not only African American and European American but Latina and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Arab American and—hey, every group, because a group wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t given birth to it. A few non-racist countries may exist—but sexism is everywhere. No matter how many ways a woman breaks free from other discriminations, she remains a female human being in a world still so patriarchal that it’s the “norm.”
So why should all women not be as justly proud of our womanhood and the centuries, even millennia, of struggle that got us this far, as black Americans, women and men, are justly proud of their struggles?
Goodbye to a campaign where he has to pass as white (which whites—especially wealthy ones—adore), while she has to pass as male (which both men and women demanded of her, and then found unforgivable). If she were blackor he were female we wouldn’t be having such problems, and I for one would be in heaven. But at present such a candidate wouldn’t stand a chance—even if she shared Condi Rice’s Bush-defending politics.
I was celebrating the pivotal power at last focused on African American women deciding on which of two candidates to bestow their vote—until a number of Hillary-supporting black feminists told me they’re being called “race traitors.”
So goodbye to conversations about this nation’s deepest scar—slavery—which fail to acknowledge that labor- and sexual-slavery exist today in the U.S. and elsewhere on this planet, and the majority of those enslaved are women.
Women have endured sex/race/ethnic/religious hatred, rape and battery, invasion of spirit and flesh, forced pregnancy; being the majority of the poor, the illiterate, the disabled, of refugees, caregivers, the HIV/AIDS afflicted, the powerless. We have survived invisibility, ridicule, religious fundamentalisms, polygamy, teargas, forced feedings, jails, asylums, sati, purdah, female genital mutilation, witch burnings, stonings, and attempted gynocides. We have tried reason, persuasion, reassurances, and being extra-qualified, only to learn it never was about qualifications after all. We know that at this historical moment women experience the world differently from men—though not all the same as one another—and can govern differently, from Elizabeth Tudor to Michele Bachelet and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
We remember when Shirley Chisholm and Patricia Schroeder ran for this high office and barely got past the gate—they showed too much passion, raised too little cash, were joke fodder. Goodbye to all that. (And goodbye to some feminists so famished for a female president they were even willing to abandon women’s rights in backing Elizabeth Dole.)
Goodbye, goodbye to . . .
—blaming anything Bill Clinton does on Hillary (even including his womanizing like the Kennedy guys—though unlike them, he got reported on). Let’s get real. If he hadn’t campaigned strongly for her everyone would cluck over what that meant. Enough of Bill and Teddy Kennedy locking their alpha male horns while Hillary pays for it.
—an era when parts of the populace feel so disaffected by politics that a comparative lack of knowledge, experience, and skill is actually seen as attractive, when celebrity-culture mania now infects our elections so that it’s “cooler” to glow with marquee charisma than to understand the vast global complexities of power on a nuclear, wounded planet.
—the notion that it’s fun to elect a handsome, cocky president who feels he can learn on the job, goodbye to George W. Bush and the destruction brought by his inexperience, ignorance, and arrogance.
Goodbye to the accusation that HRC acts “entitled” when she’s worked intensely at everything she’s done—including being a nose-to-the-grindstone, first-rate senator from my state.
Goodbye to her being exploited as a Rorschach test by women who reduce her to a blank screen on which they project their own fears, failures, fantasies.
Goodbye to the phrase “polarizing figure” to describe someone who embodies the transitions women have made in the last century and are poised to make in this one. It was the women’s movement that quipped, “We are becoming the men we wanted to marry.” She heard us, and she has.
Goodbye to some women letting history pass by while wringing their hands, because Hillary isn’t as “likeable” as they’ve been warned they must be, or because she didn’t leave him, couldn’t “control” him, kept her family together and raised a smart, sane daughter. (Think of the blame if Chelsea had ever acted in the alcoholic, neurotic manner of the Bush twins!) Goodbye to some women pouting because she didn’t bake cookies or she did, sniping because she learned the rules and then bent or broke them. Grow the hell up. She is not running for Ms.-perfect-pure-queen-icon of the feminist movement. She’s running to be president of the United States.
Goodbye to the shocking American ignorance of our own and other countries’ history. Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir rose through party ranks and war, positioning themselves as proto-male leaders. Almost all other female heads of government so far have been related to men of power—granddaughters, daughters, sisters, wives, widows: Gandhi, Bandaranike, Bhutto, Aquino, Chamorro, Wazed, Macapagal-Arroyo, Johnson Sirleaf, Bachelet, Kirchner, and more. Even in our “land of opportunity,” it’s mostly the first pathway “in” permitted to women: Representatives Doris Matsui and Mary Bono and Sala Burton; Senator Jean Carnahan . . . far too many to list here.
Goodbye to a misrepresented generational divide . . .
Goodbye to the so-called spontaneous “Obama Girl” flaunting her bikini-clad ass online—then confessing Oh yeah it wasn’t her idea after all, some guys got her to do it and dictated the clothes, which she said “made me feel like a dork.”
Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they’re not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten thestatus quo), who can’t identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her. Goodbye to women of any age again feeling unworthy, sulking “what if she’s not electable?” or “maybe it’s post-feminism and whoooosh we’re already free.” Let a statement by the magnificent Harriet Tubman stand as reply. When asked how she managed to save hundreds of enslaved African Americans via the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, she replied bitterly, “I could have saved thousands—if only I’d been able to convince them they were slaves.”
I’d rather say a joyful Hello to all the glorious young women who do identifywith Hillary, and all the brave, smart men—of all ethnicities and any age—who get that it’s in their self-interest, too. She’s better qualified. (D’uh.) She’s a high-profile candidate with an enormous grasp of foreign- and domestic-policy nuance, dedication to detail, ability to absorb staggering insult and personal pain while retaining dignity, resolve, even humor, and keep on keeping on. (Also, yes, dammit, let’s hear it for her connections and funding and party-building background, too. Obama was awfully glad about those when she raised dough and campaigned for him to get to the Senate in the first place.)
I’d rather look forward to what a good president he might make in eight years, when his vision and spirit are seasoned by practical know-how—and he’ll be all of 54. Meanwhile, goodbye to turning him into a shining knight when actually he’s an astute, smooth pol with speechwriters who’ve worked with the Kennedys’ own speechwriter-courtier Ted Sorenson. If it’s only about ringing rhetoric, let speechwriters run. But isn’t it about getting the policies we want enacted?
And goodbye to the ageism . . .
How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities and suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it’s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country’s history: the boomer generation—the majority of which is female?
Old woman are the one group that doesn’t grow more conservative with age—and we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Goodbye to going gently into any goodnight any man prescribes for us. We are the women who changed the reality of the United States. And though we never went away, brace yourselves: we’re back!
We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of a family-focused workplace; the women who established rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded the peace and environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; who inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who created women’s studies and Title IX so we all could cheer the WNBA stars and Mia Hamm. We are the women who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.
We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S. voters.
Hillary said she found her own voice in New Hampshire. There’s not a woman alive who, if she’s honest, doesn’t recognize what she means. Then HRC got drowned out by campaign experts, Bill, and media’s obsession with everything Bill.
So listen to her voice:
“For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.
“It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It is a violation of human rights when woman and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide along women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
“Women’s rights are human rights. Among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard.”
That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (look here for the full, stunning speech).
And this voice, age 21, in “Commencement Remarks of Hillary D. Rodham, President of Wellesley College Government Association, Class of 1969.”
“We are, all of us, exploring a world none of us understands. . . . searching for a more immediate, ecstatic, and penetrating mode of living. . . . [for the] integrity, the courage to be whole, living in relation to one another in the full poetry of existence. The struggle for an integrated life existing in an atmosphere of communal trust and respect is one with desperately important political and social consequences. . . . Fear is always with us, but we just don't have time for it.”
She ended with the commitment “to practice, with all the skill of our being: the art of making possible.”
And for decades, she’s been learning how.
So goodbye to Hillary’s second-guessing herself. The real question is deeper than her re-finding her voice. Can we women find ours? Can we do this for ourselves?
“Our President, Ourselves!”
Time is short and the contest tightening. We need to rise in furious energy—as we did when Anita Hill was so vilely treated in the U.S. Senate, as we did when Rosie Jiminez was butchered by an illegal abortion, as we did and do for women globally who are condemned for trying to break through. We need to win, this time. Goodbye to supporting HRC tepidly, with ambivalent caveats and apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, vote.
Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.
As for the “woman thing”?
Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but because I am.
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html
Read it and feel free to comment. I'd love to have a discussion.
If you're American, please make an informed choice because your president changes the lives of the entire world. It's a sad fact, but I believe it is true.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author alone, and not those of the Women’s Media Center. As a 501(c)3 organization, the Women’s Media Center does not endorse or support candidates for elected office.
Goodbye To All That (#2) by Robin Morgan
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html
February 2, 2008
“Goodbye To All That” was my (in)famous 1970 essay breaking free from a politics of accommodation especially affecting women (for an online version, see http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago/).
During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women’s movements, I’ve avoided writing another specific “Goodbye . . .” But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and Barack Obama (BO) unfurls. So.
Goodbye to the double standard . . .
—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.
—She’s “ambitious” but he shows “fire in the belly.” (Ever had labor pains?)
—When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.
—Young political Kennedys—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby Jr.—all endorsed Hillary. Senator Ted, age 76, endorsed Obama. If the situation were reversed, pundits would snort “See? Ted and establishment types back her, but the forward-looking generation backs him.” (Personally, I’m unimpressed with Caroline’s longing for the Return of the Fathers. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans have short memories. Me, I still recall Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, and a dead girl named Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.)
Goodbye to the toxic viciousness . . .
Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary’s “thick ankles.” Nixon-trickster Roger Stone’s new Hillary-hating 527 group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (check the capital letters). John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?" with “Excellent question!” Would he have dared reply similarly to “How do we beat the black bastard?” For shame.
Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame.
Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan “If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!” Shame.
Goodbye to Comedy Central’s “Southpark” featuring a storyline in which terrorists secrete a bomb in HRC’s vagina. I refuse to wrench my brain down into the gutter far enough to find a race-based comparison. For shame.
Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that this is funny. This is not “Clinton hating,” not “Hillary hating.” This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?
Goodbye to the news-coverage target-practice . . .
The women’s movement and Media Matters wrung an apology from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for relentless misogynistic comments (www.womensmediacenter.com). But what about NBC’s Tim Russert’s continual sexist asides and his all-white-male panels pontificating on race and gender? Or CNN’s Tony Harris chuckling at “the chromosome thing” while interviewing a woman from The White House Project? And that’s not even mentioning Fox News.
Goodbye to pretending the black community is entirely male and all women are white . . .
Surprise! Women exist in all opinions, pigmentations, ethnicities, abilities, sexual preferences, and ages—not only African American and European American but Latina and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Arab American and—hey, every group, because a group wouldn’t exist if we hadn’t given birth to it. A few non-racist countries may exist—but sexism is everywhere. No matter how many ways a woman breaks free from other discriminations, she remains a female human being in a world still so patriarchal that it’s the “norm.”
So why should all women not be as justly proud of our womanhood and the centuries, even millennia, of struggle that got us this far, as black Americans, women and men, are justly proud of their struggles?
Goodbye to a campaign where he has to pass as white (which whites—especially wealthy ones—adore), while she has to pass as male (which both men and women demanded of her, and then found unforgivable). If she were blackor he were female we wouldn’t be having such problems, and I for one would be in heaven. But at present such a candidate wouldn’t stand a chance—even if she shared Condi Rice’s Bush-defending politics.
I was celebrating the pivotal power at last focused on African American women deciding on which of two candidates to bestow their vote—until a number of Hillary-supporting black feminists told me they’re being called “race traitors.”
So goodbye to conversations about this nation’s deepest scar—slavery—which fail to acknowledge that labor- and sexual-slavery exist today in the U.S. and elsewhere on this planet, and the majority of those enslaved are women.
Women have endured sex/race/ethnic/religious hatred, rape and battery, invasion of spirit and flesh, forced pregnancy; being the majority of the poor, the illiterate, the disabled, of refugees, caregivers, the HIV/AIDS afflicted, the powerless. We have survived invisibility, ridicule, religious fundamentalisms, polygamy, teargas, forced feedings, jails, asylums, sati, purdah, female genital mutilation, witch burnings, stonings, and attempted gynocides. We have tried reason, persuasion, reassurances, and being extra-qualified, only to learn it never was about qualifications after all. We know that at this historical moment women experience the world differently from men—though not all the same as one another—and can govern differently, from Elizabeth Tudor to Michele Bachelet and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
We remember when Shirley Chisholm and Patricia Schroeder ran for this high office and barely got past the gate—they showed too much passion, raised too little cash, were joke fodder. Goodbye to all that. (And goodbye to some feminists so famished for a female president they were even willing to abandon women’s rights in backing Elizabeth Dole.)
Goodbye, goodbye to . . .
—blaming anything Bill Clinton does on Hillary (even including his womanizing like the Kennedy guys—though unlike them, he got reported on). Let’s get real. If he hadn’t campaigned strongly for her everyone would cluck over what that meant. Enough of Bill and Teddy Kennedy locking their alpha male horns while Hillary pays for it.
—an era when parts of the populace feel so disaffected by politics that a comparative lack of knowledge, experience, and skill is actually seen as attractive, when celebrity-culture mania now infects our elections so that it’s “cooler” to glow with marquee charisma than to understand the vast global complexities of power on a nuclear, wounded planet.
—the notion that it’s fun to elect a handsome, cocky president who feels he can learn on the job, goodbye to George W. Bush and the destruction brought by his inexperience, ignorance, and arrogance.
Goodbye to the accusation that HRC acts “entitled” when she’s worked intensely at everything she’s done—including being a nose-to-the-grindstone, first-rate senator from my state.
Goodbye to her being exploited as a Rorschach test by women who reduce her to a blank screen on which they project their own fears, failures, fantasies.
Goodbye to the phrase “polarizing figure” to describe someone who embodies the transitions women have made in the last century and are poised to make in this one. It was the women’s movement that quipped, “We are becoming the men we wanted to marry.” She heard us, and she has.
Goodbye to some women letting history pass by while wringing their hands, because Hillary isn’t as “likeable” as they’ve been warned they must be, or because she didn’t leave him, couldn’t “control” him, kept her family together and raised a smart, sane daughter. (Think of the blame if Chelsea had ever acted in the alcoholic, neurotic manner of the Bush twins!) Goodbye to some women pouting because she didn’t bake cookies or she did, sniping because she learned the rules and then bent or broke them. Grow the hell up. She is not running for Ms.-perfect-pure-queen-icon of the feminist movement. She’s running to be president of the United States.
Goodbye to the shocking American ignorance of our own and other countries’ history. Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir rose through party ranks and war, positioning themselves as proto-male leaders. Almost all other female heads of government so far have been related to men of power—granddaughters, daughters, sisters, wives, widows: Gandhi, Bandaranike, Bhutto, Aquino, Chamorro, Wazed, Macapagal-Arroyo, Johnson Sirleaf, Bachelet, Kirchner, and more. Even in our “land of opportunity,” it’s mostly the first pathway “in” permitted to women: Representatives Doris Matsui and Mary Bono and Sala Burton; Senator Jean Carnahan . . . far too many to list here.
Goodbye to a misrepresented generational divide . . .
Goodbye to the so-called spontaneous “Obama Girl” flaunting her bikini-clad ass online—then confessing Oh yeah it wasn’t her idea after all, some guys got her to do it and dictated the clothes, which she said “made me feel like a dork.”
Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they’re not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten thestatus quo), who can’t identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her. Goodbye to women of any age again feeling unworthy, sulking “what if she’s not electable?” or “maybe it’s post-feminism and whoooosh we’re already free.” Let a statement by the magnificent Harriet Tubman stand as reply. When asked how she managed to save hundreds of enslaved African Americans via the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, she replied bitterly, “I could have saved thousands—if only I’d been able to convince them they were slaves.”
I’d rather say a joyful Hello to all the glorious young women who do identifywith Hillary, and all the brave, smart men—of all ethnicities and any age—who get that it’s in their self-interest, too. She’s better qualified. (D’uh.) She’s a high-profile candidate with an enormous grasp of foreign- and domestic-policy nuance, dedication to detail, ability to absorb staggering insult and personal pain while retaining dignity, resolve, even humor, and keep on keeping on. (Also, yes, dammit, let’s hear it for her connections and funding and party-building background, too. Obama was awfully glad about those when she raised dough and campaigned for him to get to the Senate in the first place.)
I’d rather look forward to what a good president he might make in eight years, when his vision and spirit are seasoned by practical know-how—and he’ll be all of 54. Meanwhile, goodbye to turning him into a shining knight when actually he’s an astute, smooth pol with speechwriters who’ve worked with the Kennedys’ own speechwriter-courtier Ted Sorenson. If it’s only about ringing rhetoric, let speechwriters run. But isn’t it about getting the policies we want enacted?
And goodbye to the ageism . . .
How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities and suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it’s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country’s history: the boomer generation—the majority of which is female?
Old woman are the one group that doesn’t grow more conservative with age—and we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Goodbye to going gently into any goodnight any man prescribes for us. We are the women who changed the reality of the United States. And though we never went away, brace yourselves: we’re back!
We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of a family-focused workplace; the women who established rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded the peace and environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; who inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who created women’s studies and Title IX so we all could cheer the WNBA stars and Mia Hamm. We are the women who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.
We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S. voters.
Hillary said she found her own voice in New Hampshire. There’s not a woman alive who, if she’s honest, doesn’t recognize what she means. Then HRC got drowned out by campaign experts, Bill, and media’s obsession with everything Bill.
So listen to her voice:
“For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.
“It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It is a violation of human rights when woman and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide along women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
“Women’s rights are human rights. Among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard.”
That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (look here for the full, stunning speech).
And this voice, age 21, in “Commencement Remarks of Hillary D. Rodham, President of Wellesley College Government Association, Class of 1969.”
“We are, all of us, exploring a world none of us understands. . . . searching for a more immediate, ecstatic, and penetrating mode of living. . . . [for the] integrity, the courage to be whole, living in relation to one another in the full poetry of existence. The struggle for an integrated life existing in an atmosphere of communal trust and respect is one with desperately important political and social consequences. . . . Fear is always with us, but we just don't have time for it.”
She ended with the commitment “to practice, with all the skill of our being: the art of making possible.”
And for decades, she’s been learning how.
So goodbye to Hillary’s second-guessing herself. The real question is deeper than her re-finding her voice. Can we women find ours? Can we do this for ourselves?
“Our President, Ourselves!”
Time is short and the contest tightening. We need to rise in furious energy—as we did when Anita Hill was so vilely treated in the U.S. Senate, as we did when Rosie Jiminez was butchered by an illegal abortion, as we did and do for women globally who are condemned for trying to break through. We need to win, this time. Goodbye to supporting HRC tepidly, with ambivalent caveats and apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, vote.
Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.
As for the “woman thing”?
Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but because I am.
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Books
I was tagged by my friend Zen in September. Here's my attempt at filling this out:
Book that changed your life - As a young impressionable 16 year old, I read a whole lot. The one book that really made me think, however, was in fact a play, The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare. I know Shakespearean plays make a lot of people cringe, but they truly delight me.
Book(s) you've read more than once - Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The more I read it, the more I find it new. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I wish I could read Spanish so I could get a taste of the original.
Book you'd take to a deserted island - How to Survive on a Deserted Island ;) Seriously, though, I think I'd be lost without my books.
Book(s) that made you laugh - White Teeth by Zadie Smith, The Inscrutable American by Anurag Mathur and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Book that made you cry - Thomas Hardy novels: The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D'Urbervilles,and Jude the Obscure. Also, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini
Book(s) you wish you had written - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Book you wish had never been written - A true English teacher response (sorry): None; all books add something to our existence.
Book you're currently reading - No one Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Book you've been meaning to read - Too many, but specifically: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Book you've been meaning to finish - The Life of Pi by Yann Martel; I just can't do it!
Book that changed your life - As a young impressionable 16 year old, I read a whole lot. The one book that really made me think, however, was in fact a play, The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare. I know Shakespearean plays make a lot of people cringe, but they truly delight me.
Book(s) you've read more than once - Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The more I read it, the more I find it new. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I wish I could read Spanish so I could get a taste of the original.
Book you'd take to a deserted island - How to Survive on a Deserted Island ;) Seriously, though, I think I'd be lost without my books.
Book(s) that made you laugh - White Teeth by Zadie Smith, The Inscrutable American by Anurag Mathur and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Book that made you cry - Thomas Hardy novels: The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D'Urbervilles,and Jude the Obscure. Also, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini
Book(s) you wish you had written - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Book you wish had never been written - A true English teacher response (sorry): None; all books add something to our existence.
Book you're currently reading - No one Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Book you've been meaning to read - Too many, but specifically: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Book you've been meaning to finish - The Life of Pi by Yann Martel; I just can't do it!
Oh God!
I live 40kms from Pune; campus is on a hill. You'd think that would mean a lot of peace and quiet, right? Wrong. After the festivities of the Nav Ratras when every popular bollywood song was played to the goddesses, the joys (read noise) of diwali begin. Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE diwali; I'm so happy I'm in India for it after so many years. However, it is a festival of LIGHTS not SOUNDS.
Every morning at 4:30a.m. I can hear people from the local village on a loud-speaker, no less, chanting and singing God's praises. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if they could actually carry a note...but alas, God denied them that talent. With all due respect (although this post appears to be laden with disrespect), my grandfather stated, "God isn't deaf. He can hear your thoughts." I wish more people believed that.
If the people in the village want others to think of God early in the morning, guess what? They've succeeded. When I hear the music, I take my pillow and put it over my head and whisper, "Oh God! Not again!"
Every morning at 4:30a.m. I can hear people from the local village on a loud-speaker, no less, chanting and singing God's praises. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if they could actually carry a note...but alas, God denied them that talent. With all due respect (although this post appears to be laden with disrespect), my grandfather stated, "God isn't deaf. He can hear your thoughts." I wish more people believed that.
If the people in the village want others to think of God early in the morning, guess what? They've succeeded. When I hear the music, I take my pillow and put it over my head and whisper, "Oh God! Not again!"
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Pink Martini
I was at a co-worker's place the other night. We were drinking some wine and telling drunk stories so he appropriately played, "Hey Eugene" by Pink Martini for me. The song tickled me pink (hahaha, pun totally intended).
Saturday, August 18, 2007
I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!!!
God I missed the Internet. I'm in India, but not completely settled in because my stuff arrives by ship mid-September. I've been on the lovely campus now for almost a month. I've traveled to the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Nasik, and seen a lot in Pune itself.
I went on a waterfall hike. I'm such a city girl! I was bruised and unable to move for days! It was hilarious. I've attended two yoga sessions. I've been invited over by returning faculty. The students are friendly too.
However, all said and done I miss my friends and family. I miss nightlife. Note to self: must make friends to hang out with in the city.
I'm so used to moving, that I don't really miss NYC per se or the town that I lived in. I miss my network. It gets harder and harder to make friends the older I get. There are a few new faculty members here and as in all situations, new people bond. So that's great.
I'll try and update regularly.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Leave of Absence
My parents arrive a week from today. I am so excited about their visit. The school year is coming to an end and I couldn't be busier! I will not have much time to post becasue I will be packing for my upcoming move to India. There is so much that needs to be taken care of. You may hear from me before I am in India...but if not, I'll be saying namaste very soon.
It is still so unreal to me...the time is approaching so quickly.
I'll post when I can.
Thank you for reading!
Take care!
It is still so unreal to me...the time is approaching so quickly.
I'll post when I can.
Thank you for reading!
Take care!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
"Speare" 4eva
Like a lot of other people, I think Shakespeare will always be relevant. The Bard discusses basic human desires, needs, and experiences. No matter how technologically savvy we get as a species, we are still basically the same inside.
I came across this article and would like to archive it for my reference.
I'll also cut and paste it, just in case the link no longer works in the future!
Video game aims to hook children on Shakespeare
By Martin Roberts
Mon Apr 30, 8:41 AM ET
TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Children typically spend hours in front of a computer so a Canadian university has decided to introduce them to Shakespeare with a video game.
While zapping enemy spaceships players have to help recover the stolen text of Romeo and Juliet by memorizing lines from the famous play, learning facts about Shakespeare's life and devising synonyms and homonyms for parts of the text.
"The game is a way to capitalize on the time that kids spend on computers," said Professor Daniel Fischlin who headed the team at the University of Guelph in Ontario that developed the game called "Speare."
"I don't know of another medium that has seven-year-olds spouting Shakespeare," Fischlin added in response to charges the game might trivialize learning.
The game was launched earlier this week to coincide with the anniversary of Shakespeare's death after two years and C$50,000 ($44,800) spent developing it.
Fischlin, who tested it on more than 100 grade 6 students, plans to publish his findings in an academic journal. The game is currently available online from a company set up by the university.
"Speare" contains a link to a database about Shakespeare called Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare that was developed by the university as an educational resource.
The site has lesson plans for teachers, video interviews and e-books of the Bard's plays. It provided the inspiration for the game when professors realized the site's multimedia features were accessed mainly by young people.
Fischlin, who is applying for a patent, said he knows of no other video game linked to a similar online resource.
Ieva Mikelsons, a 12-year-old student at the King George Public School in Guelph, tested the game while it was being developed. She said it taught her more about Shakespeare than books used by her older sister.
"Some of my grade 8 friends have just been learning from a book, and they say this is a more hands-on approach, and they learn more because it's fun," she said.
Image from: www.zencast.com
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Where are you from?
It is such a banal question. Yet whenever I meet new people I cringe at the inquiry. Where do I come from? Funny answer: my mother. Simple answer: India. But I feel the response is inadequate. It does not define me as I think the answer should. Where someone is from, is supposed to help other people understand a new acquaintance. Trying to find a succinct definition of myself leaves me struggling.
I was born in India, lived there for a few years, lived in England for a few, lived in Hong Kong for several years, moved back to India for a few, and I've lived in the States now for a few years. This is the background that defines me and to some extent (minus the US part, defines my sisters). We have friends all over the world. We have travelled through most of the world too. We're not afraid to move to another country. We're able to adapt to different cultures and lifestyles. My sisters, friends, and I fall under a category termed 'TCK'. This stands for "Third Culture Kids" (Yes. I do realise I am not a child anymore!). TCK "refers to someone who [as a child] has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and his or her own birth culture, into a third culture."
TCKs are amalgamations of various cultures. They can speak many languages, (curse in several), understand the customs of people that do not belong to their culture, religion, or race. TCKs have also, generally, tried food from all over the world. TCKs are able to break the boundaries that nation states form.
Why do people fight or go to war? The main reason is fear of the unknown. When people from all over the world live and learn together, understanding is created. So if Indians and Pakistanis, Israelis and Palestinians, Hutus and Tutsis, Catholics and Protestants, North Koreans and South Koreans, White Americans and Black Americans, Spaniards and Basques and so on and so forth around the world, went to school together, the globe would be a better and more peaceful place to live. It is so cliche, hippie, bleeding-heart liberal, and beauty pageantesqe, but my most fervent desire is for world peace and the end of discrimination.
From all my travels I've discovered that although our food, language, music, and religion may be different, we're all basically the same. Please, hold back that stunned emotion! This is why my favorite Shakespearean plays are Othello and The Merchant of Venice. Is our world drastically different from Othello’s or Shylock’s? Sadly, it’s not. Something needs to be done to change the discrimination, hatred, and violence that has occurred around the world since the beginning of time and continues to date.
Help change the world. You don’t have to save a cheerleader but you do have to travel. (People are trying to make flying less damaging to the environment). Explore the world for yourself. You won’t regret it (even if you do get Delhi belly). Get off the tourist-beaten path, absorb the culture of the country you're visiting. If you can afford to, help others experience the privilege. When people from all walks of life can travel all around the world, the global village will no longer be virtual, it will be real.
At my current school if someone has been there for ten or more years one is dubbed a 'lifer'. I can't even imagine what that is like. I think I will always have this need to travel and discover. I may not be a "lifer" or a Jersey girl, but my time in NJ is now an indelible part of my life. It is a new ingredient to add to the "where are you from?" answer. I will cherish the friendships I've formed here and I hope I'll see you during your travels.
I was born in India, lived there for a few years, lived in England for a few, lived in Hong Kong for several years, moved back to India for a few, and I've lived in the States now for a few years. This is the background that defines me and to some extent (minus the US part, defines my sisters). We have friends all over the world. We have travelled through most of the world too. We're not afraid to move to another country. We're able to adapt to different cultures and lifestyles. My sisters, friends, and I fall under a category termed 'TCK'. This stands for "Third Culture Kids" (Yes. I do realise I am not a child anymore!). TCK "refers to someone who [as a child] has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and his or her own birth culture, into a third culture."
TCKs are amalgamations of various cultures. They can speak many languages, (curse in several), understand the customs of people that do not belong to their culture, religion, or race. TCKs have also, generally, tried food from all over the world. TCKs are able to break the boundaries that nation states form.
Why do people fight or go to war? The main reason is fear of the unknown. When people from all over the world live and learn together, understanding is created. So if Indians and Pakistanis, Israelis and Palestinians, Hutus and Tutsis, Catholics and Protestants, North Koreans and South Koreans, White Americans and Black Americans, Spaniards and Basques and so on and so forth around the world, went to school together, the globe would be a better and more peaceful place to live. It is so cliche, hippie, bleeding-heart liberal, and beauty pageantesqe, but my most fervent desire is for world peace and the end of discrimination.
From all my travels I've discovered that although our food, language, music, and religion may be different, we're all basically the same. Please, hold back that stunned emotion! This is why my favorite Shakespearean plays are Othello and The Merchant of Venice. Is our world drastically different from Othello’s or Shylock’s? Sadly, it’s not. Something needs to be done to change the discrimination, hatred, and violence that has occurred around the world since the beginning of time and continues to date.
Help change the world. You don’t have to save a cheerleader but you do have to travel. (People are trying to make flying less damaging to the environment). Explore the world for yourself. You won’t regret it (even if you do get Delhi belly). Get off the tourist-beaten path, absorb the culture of the country you're visiting. If you can afford to, help others experience the privilege. When people from all walks of life can travel all around the world, the global village will no longer be virtual, it will be real.
At my current school if someone has been there for ten or more years one is dubbed a 'lifer'. I can't even imagine what that is like. I think I will always have this need to travel and discover. I may not be a "lifer" or a Jersey girl, but my time in NJ is now an indelible part of my life. It is a new ingredient to add to the "where are you from?" answer. I will cherish the friendships I've formed here and I hope I'll see you during your travels.
Favourite Things
After reading Zen's post on guilty pleasures, I got thinking about things I like to do, but cannot do and do not do on a regular basis. Not all of these are guilty pleasures...then again...maybe they are. Who am I kidding?!
"When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favourite things, and then I don't feel so bad":
1. Reading Cosmo, People, Stardust
2. Whipped cream from the can
3. Watching hours of trash TV
4. Movie marathons
5. Wearing expensive make-up
6. Talking endlessly on the phone
7. Spending the whole day surfing the net
8. Not leaving my apartment..avoiding all responsibilities
9. Buying cute outfits for my niece
10. Coffee or Dulce de Leche ice-cream.
"When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favourite things, and then I don't feel so bad":
1. Reading Cosmo, People, Stardust
2. Whipped cream from the can
3. Watching hours of trash TV
4. Movie marathons
5. Wearing expensive make-up
6. Talking endlessly on the phone
7. Spending the whole day surfing the net
8. Not leaving my apartment..avoiding all responsibilities
9. Buying cute outfits for my niece
10. Coffee or Dulce de Leche ice-cream.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Geretty Gate
I can't believe we're in the 21st Century and the Indian courts are adding another frivolous case to the system. Sheesh!The Shilpa Shetty, Richard Gere incident (which I have termed Geretty, you like?)hurt someone's sentiments? Are you kidding me?
You know what hurts my sensibilities? People not talking about sex and/or affection in India. The country needs to be educated on sex, AIDS, and homosexuality. Who do I file a complaint with for that? Who can I sue to get publicity for that? The law-makers need to look at our outdated laws, concentrate on issues that will help Indians, and really do all they can to keep stupidity out of the court rooms.
Someone please tell me where to sign up for a committee for that!
You know what hurts my sensibilities? People not talking about sex and/or affection in India. The country needs to be educated on sex, AIDS, and homosexuality. Who do I file a complaint with for that? Who can I sue to get publicity for that? The law-makers need to look at our outdated laws, concentrate on issues that will help Indians, and really do all they can to keep stupidity out of the court rooms.
Someone please tell me where to sign up for a committee for that!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Rampage, Reaction, and Race
The Virgina Tech shooting has shocked the world. Students, faculty, and staff could not stop talking about the incident at work today. With more details just coming out about this sad event, people are dealing with the tragedy online. There are several groups on Facebook right now lashing out at the shooter and blaming immigration and Asians.
This knee-jerk racist reaction never fails to upset me. If the perpetrator was Arab/Muslim/Black/Mexican/Female/Other Immigrant there would have been another set of issues raised. However, if it was a white man, would the world suddenly turn against that group? No. The main concern then would be to find out why the incident took place. That should be the heart of the matter and individuals should not focus on race/gender/immigration status.
Other points for serious consideration: gun laws and why violent situations in schools and colleges occur more in the United States than in other countries. If these topics are discussed/explored and dealt with, then maybe schools and universities -the beginning of the rest of someone's life- can be safe havens again for all of us.
As a community and nation recovers, I hope the powers that be, and those that individuals believe in, bring peace, comfort, and love to those most dearly affected by the incident.
This knee-jerk racist reaction never fails to upset me. If the perpetrator was Arab/Muslim/Black/Mexican/Female/Other Immigrant there would have been another set of issues raised. However, if it was a white man, would the world suddenly turn against that group? No. The main concern then would be to find out why the incident took place. That should be the heart of the matter and individuals should not focus on race/gender/immigration status.
Other points for serious consideration: gun laws and why violent situations in schools and colleges occur more in the United States than in other countries. If these topics are discussed/explored and dealt with, then maybe schools and universities -the beginning of the rest of someone's life- can be safe havens again for all of us.
As a community and nation recovers, I hope the powers that be, and those that individuals believe in, bring peace, comfort, and love to those most dearly affected by the incident.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Children Are Our Future
A woman at work was accepting an award for "great teaching" and she quoted Whitney Houston. Now the "Greatest Love of All" was a very popular song in its day but Houston has been through a whole lot since then. Does quoting her to young, impressionable minds, in some way condone her drug use? Are we now teaching children that "crack is whack"? Are we letting them know that spousal abuse is OK?
Anyhow, this song was quoted once more at a charity auction raising money for CRY. and it really annoyed me again. What is the song's real point? That is an issue for another day. However, I will say something about the future of America.
I love my students; they are interesting, fun, and curious. At times though, I am stunned by things that come out of their mouths:
"Racism does not exist in the world anymore."
"What is so significant about Maya Angelou's life? Why do we read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? Does she really think she is all that?"
-This after we read Night, another autobiography. None of my students questioned the need for that book to be written.
More statements?
"Women are not discriminated against anymore."
In the same class, same day, a young boy of 15 says, "The rest of the world will laugh at us if we have a woman President."
Begin sarcasm-Yes, dear! Of course 'backward' nations in Asia and Africa will be shocked by a woman President. Nations that have elected women leaders will not be pleased with America. It would most certainly be a sad state of affairs. End sarcasm.
With the recent outrage at Imus's statement -which was both racist and sexist, I have come to the conclusion children really do need to be "taught well" to "lead the way."
At home, at school, through media, children really need to be aware of the things that go on in the world around them. It's easy to think, "I'm not racist, I have friends of a different race," and "I'm not sexist, my mother works;" yet what makes someone unprejudiced? Can we be unprejudiced? Don't we all have our biases? Do some suppress their ideas, are others more educated? What really goes on? I believe it is about exposure and education.
I had a teacher in HK that stated, "I don't see colour in humans." After I did some research I realised he wasn't colour-blind. Then I was vexed. It's kind of like a man stating, "I don't see gender."
I would like someone to see my colour: to acknowledge it, accept it, and deal with it. Does it define me? In some respects, yes it does; in other respects, it shouldn't.
We know that race and gender are still significant polarizers not only in the political arena but in every day life. Why else would there be a raging debate in the United States about the democratic presidential candidates -Clinton and Obama?
Racism and sexism. The mistrust of women and black men. All too evident in Shakespeare's Othello. As we read the play in class, it's interesting to see students realise how much the world hasn't changed. Hopefully, if we keep teaching them, not just in the classroom, but in all areas of their lives, there will be a real change in the world.
To end on a lighter note, I love the Reduced Shakespeare Company, check out the Othello rap.
Anyhow, this song was quoted once more at a charity auction raising money for CRY. and it really annoyed me again. What is the song's real point? That is an issue for another day. However, I will say something about the future of America.
I love my students; they are interesting, fun, and curious. At times though, I am stunned by things that come out of their mouths:
"Racism does not exist in the world anymore."
"What is so significant about Maya Angelou's life? Why do we read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? Does she really think she is all that?"
-This after we read Night, another autobiography. None of my students questioned the need for that book to be written.
More statements?
"Women are not discriminated against anymore."
In the same class, same day, a young boy of 15 says, "The rest of the world will laugh at us if we have a woman President."
Begin sarcasm-Yes, dear! Of course 'backward' nations in Asia and Africa will be shocked by a woman President. Nations that have elected women leaders will not be pleased with America. It would most certainly be a sad state of affairs. End sarcasm.
With the recent outrage at Imus's statement -which was both racist and sexist, I have come to the conclusion children really do need to be "taught well" to "lead the way."
At home, at school, through media, children really need to be aware of the things that go on in the world around them. It's easy to think, "I'm not racist, I have friends of a different race," and "I'm not sexist, my mother works;" yet what makes someone unprejudiced? Can we be unprejudiced? Don't we all have our biases? Do some suppress their ideas, are others more educated? What really goes on? I believe it is about exposure and education.
I had a teacher in HK that stated, "I don't see colour in humans." After I did some research I realised he wasn't colour-blind. Then I was vexed. It's kind of like a man stating, "I don't see gender."
I would like someone to see my colour: to acknowledge it, accept it, and deal with it. Does it define me? In some respects, yes it does; in other respects, it shouldn't.
We know that race and gender are still significant polarizers not only in the political arena but in every day life. Why else would there be a raging debate in the United States about the democratic presidential candidates -Clinton and Obama?
Racism and sexism. The mistrust of women and black men. All too evident in Shakespeare's Othello. As we read the play in class, it's interesting to see students realise how much the world hasn't changed. Hopefully, if we keep teaching them, not just in the classroom, but in all areas of their lives, there will be a real change in the world.
To end on a lighter note, I love the Reduced Shakespeare Company, check out the Othello rap.
Friday, April 6, 2007
A Celebration!
I saw Company last night with Zen: it was a fun day and night. We started the day with massages, lunch, and manicures and finished it up with dinner and a show. Company was interesting. I got home around 1am from the city and then spoke with one of my oldest friends, JC (we've known each other since we were 7!) in HK. She's getting married!
She went to Delhi for a few weeks, met this guy, and they're getting married in October! I'm so happy for her! And so another one bites the dust! However, I'd say the number of married people I know are less than the ones that are single. What is it about married people that always wants to set up their single friends?
It's difficult to get back into the dating game after a relationship ends. I've found I have to state, "I'm not gay" on numerous occasions to explain my single status. I also have to somehow prove that there is nothing wrong with me! But then again, maybe there is something wrong with me. Am I unwilling to settle? I'd say I have my list of "must haves" and "can't stands" and then there are other things that I am willing to compromise on.
Compromise though, is it the same as settling? No one is perfect and everyone in the world knows I'm not either. But what is it about being with someone? What is it? Fear of being alone? I've found myself and so many people I know really change when they are involved in a relationship. The logical side of me knows that that is bound to happen to some extent; but what really gets me is when people compromise on what they really stood for: politics etc. But am I insulting all the married people I know? Am I claiming something about them that I don't really comprehend?
Can people change? hell yeah! Do people grow? Of course they do...but there is something that gets stifled too, in numerous relationships.
Although there are those relationships which I have seen with my own two eyes that just ooze love and respect for one another: my sisters and their husbands and my best friend, MR and her husband, TL. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have that one day also. I sincerely hope JC and her fiancee have that relationship too.
As the show was all about the single vs married, I found two scenes in Company really relevant to me:
1.Bobby asks a friend to marry him just so other people will stop talking about them being single.
2. Bobby wonders if he had let the one he was supposed to marry, go.
I've thought about both. But in the end I know I have not been in the right relationship. But then again... :)
Being single opens up a whole different world. I don't need a relationship to complete me. I'd like to end with some advice: Life is too short. Whether you're single or married, don't judge. Simply, enjoy the ride and make the most of it.
I end with apt U2 lyrics:
A Celebration
Shake! Shake!
Don't go
I believe in a celebration
I believe you set me free
I believe you can lose this chains
I believe you can dance with me
Dance with me
Shake! Shake!
Shake! Shake!
I believe in the third world war
I believe in the atomic bomb
I believe in the powers that be
But they won't overpower me
And, and you can go there too
And, and you can go go go go
Shake! Shake!
Shake! Shake!
And we don't have the time
And everything goes 'round and 'round
And we don't have the time
To watch the world go tumbling down
Go! Go!
I believe in the bells of Christ's Church
Ringing for this land
I believe in the cells of Mount Joy
Doesn't understand
And, and you can go there too
And, and you can go go go go
I believe in the walls of Jericho (And you...)
I believe they're coming down (Can go there too)
I belive in this city's children (And you... )
I believe the trumpet's sound (can go go go go)
And you can go there too
And you can go go go go...
I believe in what I'm doing
What am I doing here...
She went to Delhi for a few weeks, met this guy, and they're getting married in October! I'm so happy for her! And so another one bites the dust! However, I'd say the number of married people I know are less than the ones that are single. What is it about married people that always wants to set up their single friends?
It's difficult to get back into the dating game after a relationship ends. I've found I have to state, "I'm not gay" on numerous occasions to explain my single status. I also have to somehow prove that there is nothing wrong with me! But then again, maybe there is something wrong with me. Am I unwilling to settle? I'd say I have my list of "must haves" and "can't stands" and then there are other things that I am willing to compromise on.
Compromise though, is it the same as settling? No one is perfect and everyone in the world knows I'm not either. But what is it about being with someone? What is it? Fear of being alone? I've found myself and so many people I know really change when they are involved in a relationship. The logical side of me knows that that is bound to happen to some extent; but what really gets me is when people compromise on what they really stood for: politics etc. But am I insulting all the married people I know? Am I claiming something about them that I don't really comprehend?
Can people change? hell yeah! Do people grow? Of course they do...but there is something that gets stifled too, in numerous relationships.
Although there are those relationships which I have seen with my own two eyes that just ooze love and respect for one another: my sisters and their husbands and my best friend, MR and her husband, TL. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have that one day also. I sincerely hope JC and her fiancee have that relationship too.
As the show was all about the single vs married, I found two scenes in Company really relevant to me:
1.Bobby asks a friend to marry him just so other people will stop talking about them being single.
2. Bobby wonders if he had let the one he was supposed to marry, go.
I've thought about both. But in the end I know I have not been in the right relationship. But then again... :)
Being single opens up a whole different world. I don't need a relationship to complete me. I'd like to end with some advice: Life is too short. Whether you're single or married, don't judge. Simply, enjoy the ride and make the most of it.
I end with apt U2 lyrics:
A Celebration
Shake! Shake!
Don't go
I believe in a celebration
I believe you set me free
I believe you can lose this chains
I believe you can dance with me
Dance with me
Shake! Shake!
Shake! Shake!
I believe in the third world war
I believe in the atomic bomb
I believe in the powers that be
But they won't overpower me
And, and you can go there too
And, and you can go go go go
Shake! Shake!
Shake! Shake!
And we don't have the time
And everything goes 'round and 'round
And we don't have the time
To watch the world go tumbling down
Go! Go!
I believe in the bells of Christ's Church
Ringing for this land
I believe in the cells of Mount Joy
Doesn't understand
And, and you can go there too
And, and you can go go go go
I believe in the walls of Jericho (And you...)
I believe they're coming down (Can go there too)
I belive in this city's children (And you... )
I believe the trumpet's sound (can go go go go)
And you can go there too
And you can go go go go...
I believe in what I'm doing
What am I doing here...
Friday, March 30, 2007
Rejoice!
For about three years I've been contemplating a vegan diet. I gave up milk almost a year ago; now I only drink soya and use soya for tea and cereal. I, however, love paneer, cheese, Indian dessers, and ice-cream. But, I've realized that I hardly ever indulge in ice-cream, kheer, ras-malai etc. However, if I was to be vegan I would never be able to eat another Indian dessert again. I also love cheese: cheese on toast, cheese and crackers, cheese and pineapples, cheddar, and mozzarella; I'd never be able to eat those things again. I hope, slowly but surely, to give these up. My biggest concern? India and my family.
Now, India is a vegetarian's paradise, but everything is cooked in ghee or has ghee put on top of it (as in rotis). After I accepted the job offer I had concerns that I wouldn't ever have any sort of milk again. Jyotsna very nicely responded to my queries and let me know that soya milk and soya products were readily available in India. So while I'm by myself, I should be O.K. Rejoice!
Going home, may be another matter all together. I really don't anticipate a lot of difficulties though; my mum is a quasi-vegan: she doesn't eat any type of cheese or paneer, but she drinks her milk and eats khoya desserts. I'm going to keep my quasi-vegan diet up as much as possible and introduce new aspects to the diet a bit at a time.
I'm not making any grand promises to be vegan, mind you. I know that would mean I could never drink a beer or an alcoholic beverage again! But, then again, that might not be so bad, after all. If you see me out and I drink a beer or I eat some cheese, don't gloat. I'm just trying this for myself...just for me.
Now, India is a vegetarian's paradise, but everything is cooked in ghee or has ghee put on top of it (as in rotis). After I accepted the job offer I had concerns that I wouldn't ever have any sort of milk again. Jyotsna very nicely responded to my queries and let me know that soya milk and soya products were readily available in India. So while I'm by myself, I should be O.K. Rejoice!
Going home, may be another matter all together. I really don't anticipate a lot of difficulties though; my mum is a quasi-vegan: she doesn't eat any type of cheese or paneer, but she drinks her milk and eats khoya desserts. I'm going to keep my quasi-vegan diet up as much as possible and introduce new aspects to the diet a bit at a time.
I'm not making any grand promises to be vegan, mind you. I know that would mean I could never drink a beer or an alcoholic beverage again! But, then again, that might not be so bad, after all. If you see me out and I drink a beer or I eat some cheese, don't gloat. I'm just trying this for myself...just for me.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
And the Beers have it...
I wouldn't call myself a beer aficionado, but I do have discerning taste. The Bud Light real men of genius commercials are great, but the beer itself? With all due respect to Anheuser-Busch: No thank you. So I found the following interesting article on from the Guardian on the popularity of beer, on a link from a really cool blog
I'm going to grab myself a Sam Adams. Here's the article just in case the link doesn't work. Enjoy!
Cheers!
It's official: beer is the most popular beverage on the planet. As a photography exhibition opens in celebration, Roger Protz takes us on a guided tour of pale ales and pilsners - and nominates the best beer in the world
Roger Protz
Wednesday March 28, 2007
Guardian
Beer is the drink of the moment. Indeed, the photography exhibition The World of Beer: An International Language follows a survey by international marketing analysts AC Nielsen that found that beer is the world's favourite beverage, followed by soft drinks, then wine. Sales are surging, especially in countries such as China and Russia, where supplies were restricted for decades.
China
By the end of the decade, China is expected to overtake the US as the world's biggest producer of beer. Consumption grew by 88% between 1995 and 2000. Since the liberalisation of the economy, global brewers have descended on this vast market and either built new plants or taken stakes in existing ones. Anheuser-Busch, America's biggest brewer, has a 30% stake in China's oldest and best-known producer, Tsingtao ("ching-tow"). Germans built the brewery in 1903 and also planted hops in the area; China today is the third biggest hop- producing country in the world.
It is thought there are some 850 breweries in China and more in the pipeline as the likes of Carlsberg, Foster's, Guinness, Heineken and Scottish & Newcastle muscle in. These global brewers are concentrating on urban areas, where 70% of the population is under 35: young people consider beer to be a sign of western sophistication. With the exception of Guinness, global brewers concentrate on pale lagers with little bitterness and with rice added as a cheap adjunct to barley malt. Tsingtao is widely exported, as is Swan Lager from Shanghai.
Czech Republic
Bohemia, a region of the modern Czech Republic, has two claims to beery fame. The Czechs drink more beer per head than even the neighbouring Germans (293 pints or 166 litres a year compared with 253 pints/144 litres in Germany: the Brits are eighth in the bibulous Premier League), and the first golden lager beer was created in the region. In 1842, the new Burghers' or Citizens' Brewery in Pilsen produced beer made by the cold maturation system - known as lager, from the German for store place - developed in Bavaria.
Bavarian lagers were dark while the beer from Pilsen was an enticing pale gold and took the world by storm. Soon brewers throughout the world were reproducing the new style dubbed Pilsner, Pilsener or just Pils for short. In a bid to maintain its claim to the origins of the style, the Burghers' Brewery changed its name to Pilsner Urquell, which means Original Source Pilsner. It has a toasted malt and pungent hop character.
The quality of Czech beer was legendary but it was rarely drunk by westerners during the cold war. The communists maintained some 70 breweries but global brewers rushed to pick up cheap, privatised companies as soon as they could. SABMiller owns Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Kozel, while InBev has bought Prague Breweries, whose best-known brand is Staropramen (Old Spring). The superb Budweiser Budvar is another widely exported Czech beer. It has a rich toasted malt, vanilla and spritzy hop character and is still state-owned: the government wants to keep it out of the clutches of its American namesake.
The United States
The country is currently enjoying a revolution in craft brewing with more than 1,300 "micro" breweries. Their sales grew by 16% last year and they now enjoy a market share of more than 10%. Many of these "micros" are extremely big by British standards: Sierra Nevada in Chico, California, for example, produces 800,000 barrels a year. Its Pale Ale and India Pale Ale are sold in Britain.
Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s destroyed a brewing industry with a rich heritage of British and German-style beers. Only a handful of giants, led by Anheuser-Busch with Budweiser, saturated the vast market afterwards with thin and insipid interpretations of lager. The label on a bottle of Bud, for example, announces it is brewed from the finest rice, barley malt and hops. Rice is tasteless and sums up the beer. Other giant breweries use large amounts of cheap corn.
In 1965, a beer aficionado named Fritz Maytag bought the ailing Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco and fired the first shots in the second American revolution. The success of his beers encouraged others to open small commercial plants. Some were enthusiastic followers of the Campaign for Real Ale in Britain; others of German descent have fashioned lagers of such quality they should bring a blush to Budweiser's cheeks. Today the likes of Brooklyn Brewery in New York City, Pike and Redhook in Seattle, Rogue in Newport, Oregon, and Samuel Adams in Boston are a power in the land. And Goose Island IPA from Chicago, on sale in Britain, may just be the best beer in the world.
India
While some Indian states ban alcohol, the country's indigenous breweries range from the far north in the Simla hills to Bangalore and Hyderabad in the south. The main brewing groups are Mohan Meakin and United Breweries. Mohan Meakin was India's first commercial brewery, established in the 1820s by an Englishman, Edward Dyer. Its main brands today are Lion and Golden Eagle lagers. United Breweries, another major producer, is best known for Kingfisher, brewed under licence in England and the mainstay of many Indian restaurants. Cobra Lager is nominally based in Bangalore but the brand was founded in England in 1989 by a Cambridge graduate, Karan Bilimoria, and is brewed in Bedford by Charles Wells. All Indian lagers tend to be malty and sweet with little hop character.
India's main claim to bibulous fame is the style known as India Pale Ale, the beer that refreshed the Raj. It was first brewed in London at the end of the 18th century but was seized on by big brewers such as Bass in Burton-on-Trent who were looking for new markets. The style was heavy in alcohol and hops to help withstand a three-month sea journey to Bombay and Calcutta. By the end of the 19th century, IPA was replaced in India by German brewers with their lager technology.
South America
A great brewing continent. Bavaria of Colombia, along with Modelo and Moctezuma in Mexico and Polar in Venezuela are among the world's biggest producers, while Ambev of Brazil has merged with Interbrew of Belgium to form the undisputed world's number one, InBev.
The Spanish built breweries in the lands they conquered, though the modern influence is German and lager-style beers abound. But long before the Europeans arrived, Aztecs and Mayans made beers - some rudimentary, some surprisingly sophisticated - using corn. A black beer called Xingu, made commercially in Brazil and exported to the US, is based on an ancient style made in the Upper Amazon.
In Mexico another European influence can be seen in such beers as Dos Equis and Negra Modelo, dark lagers based on a style known as "Austrian red". They reflect the period when Mexico was part of the Austrian empire and are brewed with dark malts that give them a fine chocolate, roast and spicy character.
Most South American lagers tend to be undistinguished refreshers but Bohemia from Mexico, Brahma from Rio de Janeiro and Tipo Pilsen from Venezuela are excellent examples of the Pilsener style, with good malt, vanilla and hop notes.
· Roger Protz edits the Good Beer Guide. His most recent book is 300 Beers To Try Before You Die (Camra Books). The World of Beer: a Universal Language runs from tomorrow until April 29 at the Proud Galleries, London. Entry free.
proud.co.uk
I'm going to grab myself a Sam Adams. Here's the article just in case the link doesn't work. Enjoy!
Cheers!
It's official: beer is the most popular beverage on the planet. As a photography exhibition opens in celebration, Roger Protz takes us on a guided tour of pale ales and pilsners - and nominates the best beer in the world
Roger Protz
Wednesday March 28, 2007
Guardian
Beer is the drink of the moment. Indeed, the photography exhibition The World of Beer: An International Language follows a survey by international marketing analysts AC Nielsen that found that beer is the world's favourite beverage, followed by soft drinks, then wine. Sales are surging, especially in countries such as China and Russia, where supplies were restricted for decades.
China
By the end of the decade, China is expected to overtake the US as the world's biggest producer of beer. Consumption grew by 88% between 1995 and 2000. Since the liberalisation of the economy, global brewers have descended on this vast market and either built new plants or taken stakes in existing ones. Anheuser-Busch, America's biggest brewer, has a 30% stake in China's oldest and best-known producer, Tsingtao ("ching-tow"). Germans built the brewery in 1903 and also planted hops in the area; China today is the third biggest hop- producing country in the world.
It is thought there are some 850 breweries in China and more in the pipeline as the likes of Carlsberg, Foster's, Guinness, Heineken and Scottish & Newcastle muscle in. These global brewers are concentrating on urban areas, where 70% of the population is under 35: young people consider beer to be a sign of western sophistication. With the exception of Guinness, global brewers concentrate on pale lagers with little bitterness and with rice added as a cheap adjunct to barley malt. Tsingtao is widely exported, as is Swan Lager from Shanghai.
Czech Republic
Bohemia, a region of the modern Czech Republic, has two claims to beery fame. The Czechs drink more beer per head than even the neighbouring Germans (293 pints or 166 litres a year compared with 253 pints/144 litres in Germany: the Brits are eighth in the bibulous Premier League), and the first golden lager beer was created in the region. In 1842, the new Burghers' or Citizens' Brewery in Pilsen produced beer made by the cold maturation system - known as lager, from the German for store place - developed in Bavaria.
Bavarian lagers were dark while the beer from Pilsen was an enticing pale gold and took the world by storm. Soon brewers throughout the world were reproducing the new style dubbed Pilsner, Pilsener or just Pils for short. In a bid to maintain its claim to the origins of the style, the Burghers' Brewery changed its name to Pilsner Urquell, which means Original Source Pilsner. It has a toasted malt and pungent hop character.
The quality of Czech beer was legendary but it was rarely drunk by westerners during the cold war. The communists maintained some 70 breweries but global brewers rushed to pick up cheap, privatised companies as soon as they could. SABMiller owns Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Kozel, while InBev has bought Prague Breweries, whose best-known brand is Staropramen (Old Spring). The superb Budweiser Budvar is another widely exported Czech beer. It has a rich toasted malt, vanilla and spritzy hop character and is still state-owned: the government wants to keep it out of the clutches of its American namesake.
The United States
The country is currently enjoying a revolution in craft brewing with more than 1,300 "micro" breweries. Their sales grew by 16% last year and they now enjoy a market share of more than 10%. Many of these "micros" are extremely big by British standards: Sierra Nevada in Chico, California, for example, produces 800,000 barrels a year. Its Pale Ale and India Pale Ale are sold in Britain.
Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s destroyed a brewing industry with a rich heritage of British and German-style beers. Only a handful of giants, led by Anheuser-Busch with Budweiser, saturated the vast market afterwards with thin and insipid interpretations of lager. The label on a bottle of Bud, for example, announces it is brewed from the finest rice, barley malt and hops. Rice is tasteless and sums up the beer. Other giant breweries use large amounts of cheap corn.
In 1965, a beer aficionado named Fritz Maytag bought the ailing Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco and fired the first shots in the second American revolution. The success of his beers encouraged others to open small commercial plants. Some were enthusiastic followers of the Campaign for Real Ale in Britain; others of German descent have fashioned lagers of such quality they should bring a blush to Budweiser's cheeks. Today the likes of Brooklyn Brewery in New York City, Pike and Redhook in Seattle, Rogue in Newport, Oregon, and Samuel Adams in Boston are a power in the land. And Goose Island IPA from Chicago, on sale in Britain, may just be the best beer in the world.
India
While some Indian states ban alcohol, the country's indigenous breweries range from the far north in the Simla hills to Bangalore and Hyderabad in the south. The main brewing groups are Mohan Meakin and United Breweries. Mohan Meakin was India's first commercial brewery, established in the 1820s by an Englishman, Edward Dyer. Its main brands today are Lion and Golden Eagle lagers. United Breweries, another major producer, is best known for Kingfisher, brewed under licence in England and the mainstay of many Indian restaurants. Cobra Lager is nominally based in Bangalore but the brand was founded in England in 1989 by a Cambridge graduate, Karan Bilimoria, and is brewed in Bedford by Charles Wells. All Indian lagers tend to be malty and sweet with little hop character.
India's main claim to bibulous fame is the style known as India Pale Ale, the beer that refreshed the Raj. It was first brewed in London at the end of the 18th century but was seized on by big brewers such as Bass in Burton-on-Trent who were looking for new markets. The style was heavy in alcohol and hops to help withstand a three-month sea journey to Bombay and Calcutta. By the end of the 19th century, IPA was replaced in India by German brewers with their lager technology.
South America
A great brewing continent. Bavaria of Colombia, along with Modelo and Moctezuma in Mexico and Polar in Venezuela are among the world's biggest producers, while Ambev of Brazil has merged with Interbrew of Belgium to form the undisputed world's number one, InBev.
The Spanish built breweries in the lands they conquered, though the modern influence is German and lager-style beers abound. But long before the Europeans arrived, Aztecs and Mayans made beers - some rudimentary, some surprisingly sophisticated - using corn. A black beer called Xingu, made commercially in Brazil and exported to the US, is based on an ancient style made in the Upper Amazon.
In Mexico another European influence can be seen in such beers as Dos Equis and Negra Modelo, dark lagers based on a style known as "Austrian red". They reflect the period when Mexico was part of the Austrian empire and are brewed with dark malts that give them a fine chocolate, roast and spicy character.
Most South American lagers tend to be undistinguished refreshers but Bohemia from Mexico, Brahma from Rio de Janeiro and Tipo Pilsen from Venezuela are excellent examples of the Pilsener style, with good malt, vanilla and hop notes.
· Roger Protz edits the Good Beer Guide. His most recent book is 300 Beers To Try Before You Die (Camra Books). The World of Beer: a Universal Language runs from tomorrow until April 29 at the Proud Galleries, London. Entry free.
proud.co.uk
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Desire
As I waited for a phone call last night, I turned on the T.V. and saw a preview for a new show, The Great American Dream Vote. I was, to say the least, a little upset by the premise. It drastically opened up the dichotomy of rich vs. poor for me, of needs vs. wants. It is a show, like so many out there, about desires.
I am sure it is extremely difficult for the 22-year old young man who is balding; is it anything compared to the individual starving on the street near the balding man's town or anywhere else in the world? Granted, that just because the bald young man is not starving physically, does not mean he is not emotionally starved. And so, in comes T.V., the American vote, and 15-minutes of fame to help this young man, who is so embarrassed of his balding head.
In relation to the suffering around the world, these people on the show really should have nothing to complain about. They need one of those purple bracelets. I probably do too, because I'm complaining about the show and the individuals on it! I do have a little criticism of the "complaint-free world" though (ironic, right?). If people did not complain there would not have been an end to slavery, women's emancipation, or independence for former colonial nations. Are those different kinds of complaints, though? I hope 'not complaining' does not somehow translate into 'not thinking.' I hope the organisation just desires individuals to be grateful and to combat negativity.
Back to the show. Like the individuals on the show, I have my own selfish desires: Be rich and travel all around the world. Would I go on T.V. to make that happen, I'd like to say, no. I'm pretty sure I'd say no. However, would I go on T.V. to fulfill my non-selfish desires? Hell, yeah! Would a show like that run successfully anywhere in the world, I'm guessing, no.
My non-selfish desires? They are a lot like the UN Millennium Goals. In fact, they are the UN Millenium Goals: The eradication of poverty, the end of illiteracy, the actual and true belief that individuals of race, color, religion, gender, and nationality are really alike. At my current school, we've been trying to do a lot to help the global community. I know at the new school, in India, I will have more opportunities to help. I hope I can see some of these UN goals achieved in my life-time. That is my greatest desire.
I am sure it is extremely difficult for the 22-year old young man who is balding; is it anything compared to the individual starving on the street near the balding man's town or anywhere else in the world? Granted, that just because the bald young man is not starving physically, does not mean he is not emotionally starved. And so, in comes T.V., the American vote, and 15-minutes of fame to help this young man, who is so embarrassed of his balding head.
In relation to the suffering around the world, these people on the show really should have nothing to complain about. They need one of those purple bracelets. I probably do too, because I'm complaining about the show and the individuals on it! I do have a little criticism of the "complaint-free world" though (ironic, right?). If people did not complain there would not have been an end to slavery, women's emancipation, or independence for former colonial nations. Are those different kinds of complaints, though? I hope 'not complaining' does not somehow translate into 'not thinking.' I hope the organisation just desires individuals to be grateful and to combat negativity.
Back to the show. Like the individuals on the show, I have my own selfish desires: Be rich and travel all around the world. Would I go on T.V. to make that happen, I'd like to say, no. I'm pretty sure I'd say no. However, would I go on T.V. to fulfill my non-selfish desires? Hell, yeah! Would a show like that run successfully anywhere in the world, I'm guessing, no.
My non-selfish desires? They are a lot like the UN Millennium Goals. In fact, they are the UN Millenium Goals: The eradication of poverty, the end of illiteracy, the actual and true belief that individuals of race, color, religion, gender, and nationality are really alike. At my current school, we've been trying to do a lot to help the global community. I know at the new school, in India, I will have more opportunities to help. I hope I can see some of these UN goals achieved in my life-time. That is my greatest desire.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Crazy Cricket
It's a sad, sad state of affairs in the cricket world right now with Bob Woolmer's death and the exit of Pakistan and India from the World Cup. I can't even imagine what is going on in the sub-continent right now!
I spoke to my students about the demolition of Dhoni's house and the way some fans throw their T.V.s out of their windows and die of heart attacks when India loses. One of my students stated, "Americans are too materialistic to do that to their T.V.s!"
Why this hysteria surrounding cricket wins and losses? Indian cricket players are demi-gods to the Indian fans; when they don't perform, Indian fans are quick to forget that these players are only human, not demi-gods.
But the cricket fans aren't, for the most part, crazed individuals. When I was in Delhi, I saw the India-Pakistan test match at Feroz Shah Kotla. The individuals in the stands knew their cricket, stats, and trivia. It was impressive.
Then what happens when India loses? Is it disappointment? Is it a feeling of personal loss? Is it the money lost on bets? India is a developing nation and cricket is the one sport, on the international circuit, that India actually performs well in. So when the cricket team loses, it's a sense of loss for the Indian fans. A loss of pride, for a nation that deeply values honour and pride. It is a loss of hope, when all the Indian common man and woman really has to survive is hope.
But suffice it to say, cricket is really a crazy sport.
I spoke to my students about the demolition of Dhoni's house and the way some fans throw their T.V.s out of their windows and die of heart attacks when India loses. One of my students stated, "Americans are too materialistic to do that to their T.V.s!"
Why this hysteria surrounding cricket wins and losses? Indian cricket players are demi-gods to the Indian fans; when they don't perform, Indian fans are quick to forget that these players are only human, not demi-gods.
But the cricket fans aren't, for the most part, crazed individuals. When I was in Delhi, I saw the India-Pakistan test match at Feroz Shah Kotla. The individuals in the stands knew their cricket, stats, and trivia. It was impressive.
Then what happens when India loses? Is it disappointment? Is it a feeling of personal loss? Is it the money lost on bets? India is a developing nation and cricket is the one sport, on the international circuit, that India actually performs well in. So when the cricket team loses, it's a sense of loss for the Indian fans. A loss of pride, for a nation that deeply values honour and pride. It is a loss of hope, when all the Indian common man and woman really has to survive is hope.
But suffice it to say, cricket is really a crazy sport.
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