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Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Satire
I picked up a book today from the shelf by Ambrose Bierce called "Civil War Stories". Ever the biting satirist, this was where he chose to set his latest stories.
I finished half of the(very short) first story and set the book down. I felt uncomfortable. I couldn't take his distortion of the Union to fit his point, though I couldn't see what that was yet. I started to think and wonder if another war would affect me the same way.
The Union was made up of people who were flawed and, in some cases, just as bigoted as the Confederates. But the soldiers were still heroes who ended slavery and gave or risked their lives in the process.
I tried to think of other wars since the Civil War and blanked for a second. American education concerning history is very Anglocentric. But what wars would be the background for satire? The Ugandan genocide? Only the ones in which we had simply stretched out our hand like superpowers and taken what wasn't ours.
I finished half of the(very short) first story and set the book down. I felt uncomfortable. I couldn't take his distortion of the Union to fit his point, though I couldn't see what that was yet. I started to think and wonder if another war would affect me the same way.
The Union was made up of people who were flawed and, in some cases, just as bigoted as the Confederates. But the soldiers were still heroes who ended slavery and gave or risked their lives in the process.
I tried to think of other wars since the Civil War and blanked for a second. American education concerning history is very Anglocentric. But what wars would be the background for satire? The Ugandan genocide? Only the ones in which we had simply stretched out our hand like superpowers and taken what wasn't ours.
Laughing at Myself
I like the morality in kid's books. The humor, the decisions, and the personalities can all be tiring, but all the books I was fond of as a child preached tolerance, preserving life when able, and creativity. No personal agendas are pushed, like Tolstoy's love of Christianity-the man can write a novel, an exploration of human nature, in every sense of the word, but why did he have to end that one with propaganda? I love adult books, but it's nice having solid ground, so to speak, where these tend to be full of shades of gray. To, also, at least pretend that people can be taken by their better emotions.
I started re-reading this book called "Enchantress from the Stars". It's a kid's book, but it isn't. It reminds me of something I would write in my spare time as fun. It deals with a highly-advanced race posing as enchantresses and magicians on a world in the equivalent of the middle ages when an imperial, newly-interplanetary race starts to take their planet over in the name of their empire.
So many personal universes, so little time. I love reading the great books because of their nature and depth, but exploring someone's raw creative output can be fun, too.
I started re-reading this book called "Enchantress from the Stars". It's a kid's book, but it isn't. It reminds me of something I would write in my spare time as fun. It deals with a highly-advanced race posing as enchantresses and magicians on a world in the equivalent of the middle ages when an imperial, newly-interplanetary race starts to take their planet over in the name of their empire.
So many personal universes, so little time. I love reading the great books because of their nature and depth, but exploring someone's raw creative output can be fun, too.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Hi
I haven't been talking about my life lately because there isn't much to report.
I've been jet lagged. I hung out with Tedrick once; we saw a small chihuahua which was insanely cute. I've been reading a lot of nostalgia books, namely the Animorphs and Jedi Apprentice, because they were really entertaining back in the day. KA Appelgate fails to be five people or, at times, even a decent writer of prose. But what she does accomplish is cool. The Animorphs doesn't sugarcoat the fact that these kids get scarred and changed by war. She explains technological loopholes and takes as much advantage of the fact that aliens are probably not going to be anything like humans, though she at times fails. I suspect she models the Andalites after East-Asian cultures. I see no reason why aliens would be so taken with human passion, though. She tries to integrate science and complex moral lessons and all levels of society.
But it's still not exactly productive in the most conventional sense, though it is in others.
My mom and I went to the mall, where we saw the cheaper Venetian creations selling for cheap prices. Everything else was expensive; moreso, in fact, than in London. It seems like the first new wave of European fashion is hitting the stores, but most of it is not my style. We saw real Venetian and Vatican jewelry for very marked-up prices. Plastic jewelry dangled everywhere. I got sick of the place very fast.
Today I'm going to hang out with Jessica.
I've been jet lagged. I hung out with Tedrick once; we saw a small chihuahua which was insanely cute. I've been reading a lot of nostalgia books, namely the Animorphs and Jedi Apprentice, because they were really entertaining back in the day. KA Appelgate fails to be five people or, at times, even a decent writer of prose. But what she does accomplish is cool. The Animorphs doesn't sugarcoat the fact that these kids get scarred and changed by war. She explains technological loopholes and takes as much advantage of the fact that aliens are probably not going to be anything like humans, though she at times fails. I suspect she models the Andalites after East-Asian cultures. I see no reason why aliens would be so taken with human passion, though. She tries to integrate science and complex moral lessons and all levels of society.
But it's still not exactly productive in the most conventional sense, though it is in others.
My mom and I went to the mall, where we saw the cheaper Venetian creations selling for cheap prices. Everything else was expensive; moreso, in fact, than in London. It seems like the first new wave of European fashion is hitting the stores, but most of it is not my style. We saw real Venetian and Vatican jewelry for very marked-up prices. Plastic jewelry dangled everywhere. I got sick of the place very fast.
Today I'm going to hang out with Jessica.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Gypsies and Black People
I never got a chance to include this in my trip diary.
On the train in Rome we met Gitanas , Gypsies. Everyone had crowded away from them on train. On the Eurostar we were advised to keep away from them. "Don't trust the Gitanas. They have no fear."
I don't know if gypsies still are masters at theft. It makes me sad, though, to see this alienation of a culture, a people, because of a stereotype. It upsets me to see this discrimination.
Black people are seemingly not integrated in Venice and Florence, for the most part. The only place I ever saw them was at the side of the road selling knock-off bags.
I hate bigotry.
On the train in Rome we met Gitanas , Gypsies. Everyone had crowded away from them on train. On the Eurostar we were advised to keep away from them. "Don't trust the Gitanas. They have no fear."
I don't know if gypsies still are masters at theft. It makes me sad, though, to see this alienation of a culture, a people, because of a stereotype. It upsets me to see this discrimination.
Black people are seemingly not integrated in Venice and Florence, for the most part. The only place I ever saw them was at the side of the road selling knock-off bags.
I hate bigotry.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Mass Murderers
So I was thinking about why people fear killers like Marilyn Manson more than they fear Dick Cheney.
The decisions which Cheney makes lack people screaming for mercy in his neat and polished office. They are a product of military and intelligence interpretation; in other words, they lack a human element. They are also done in the name of "the country", a socially acceptable motive.
However, Manson's crimes are at the personal level, at the exact level which puts a face to the victim and is supposed to trigger compassion. Cheney does not seem like he would stab a person repeatedly in the same cold-blooded manner Manson did. A person without compassion is a person with no place in society.
And a person like that is horribly scary.
The decisions which Cheney makes lack people screaming for mercy in his neat and polished office. They are a product of military and intelligence interpretation; in other words, they lack a human element. They are also done in the name of "the country", a socially acceptable motive.
However, Manson's crimes are at the personal level, at the exact level which puts a face to the victim and is supposed to trigger compassion. Cheney does not seem like he would stab a person repeatedly in the same cold-blooded manner Manson did. A person without compassion is a person with no place in society.
And a person like that is horribly scary.
Sadness
Today, Socks is missing and my heart is broken. Most cats go off to die alone, even if they spent their life running up to the door and having conversations with you. Even on his last day, Socks was meowing to me, but it was a continuous meow, a meow that seemed to beg for his mama, which was part of the reason I was so angry when she came back. By the time we realized how bad he was the vet was closed.
I loved this kitty, and I wanted him to be my personal pussycat one day. He was so dorky but sweet and irresistibly cute.
On Friday the kitties are all going to the vet.
Edit: We found him in the front yard, stretched out in the driveway.
I loved this kitty, and I wanted him to be my personal pussycat one day. He was so dorky but sweet and irresistibly cute.
On Friday the kitties are all going to the vet.
Edit: We found him in the front yard, stretched out in the driveway.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Opinions
I now have a photobucket with 273 pictures from our trip. I'm not done uploading and tranferring, but I hope you enjoy!
I sometimes wonder about our capacity to accept aliens in the future. If they were of a different genetic build it would perhaps in a strange way be easier than if they were similar to us.
Gaiylee came back today. I was happy to see her and know that she was alive. This was quickly turned when she hit and snarled any of the children that came near her. I felt so angry when Socks, who is sick and throwing up, came to her for comfort and stood there, using his precious energy to wait for his mama's reassurance while she completely ignored him.
I know that's what cats do in most cases, though Mother never did. It's a clause in many parts of the animal kingdom to remember food but not children. Yet I could not suppress my emotions watching her hurt the kids she protected so well to their detriment. Of course there was a practical side; the yard is the kitten's home, and a hostile intruder was not welcome there. She had obviously recently given birth, and I was sympathetic to that. Where or when were a mystery. The kittens in our backyard will be spayed, but there seems to be no way to catch her now, which worries me because of the exponential rates at which animals can reproduce.
How am I? Staving off balancing my social and academic life and reading books I read before. Horribly jetlagged, but functioning.
I sometimes wonder about our capacity to accept aliens in the future. If they were of a different genetic build it would perhaps in a strange way be easier than if they were similar to us.
Gaiylee came back today. I was happy to see her and know that she was alive. This was quickly turned when she hit and snarled any of the children that came near her. I felt so angry when Socks, who is sick and throwing up, came to her for comfort and stood there, using his precious energy to wait for his mama's reassurance while she completely ignored him.
I know that's what cats do in most cases, though Mother never did. It's a clause in many parts of the animal kingdom to remember food but not children. Yet I could not suppress my emotions watching her hurt the kids she protected so well to their detriment. Of course there was a practical side; the yard is the kitten's home, and a hostile intruder was not welcome there. She had obviously recently given birth, and I was sympathetic to that. Where or when were a mystery. The kittens in our backyard will be spayed, but there seems to be no way to catch her now, which worries me because of the exponential rates at which animals can reproduce.
How am I? Staving off balancing my social and academic life and reading books I read before. Horribly jetlagged, but functioning.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Coming Home
Today I was awakened by toy mice pelting onto my bed. My cousin and aunt were so generous and good while hosting us, and I’ll miss them.
We went to Heathrow with a nice taxi driver, a Kurdish man from Turkey whom has been here for 25 years. Hearing his appraisal of the political situation in Turkey, Germany, and England was interesting. He was of course affected by the general racism in Turkey when he was a child, and how even now the right wingers don’t want to give Kurdish people rights. He also stated that Turkey doesn’t want to admit to the Armenian genocide because it will then be forced to take responsibly for it and give Armenians their land back. He talked about how friendly and clean Germany is. I’ve never heard “friendly” used to describe the general mentality of the German people, though he was perhaps talking about the large Turkish population there. He talked about how much more integrated these people are, though I have heard otherwise. I don’t know. I think there are bigots everywhere, and an almost disturbing number, at that. It is true that England seems less enthusiastic about its large immigrant population than from an outsider’s point of view makes sense(and I would be considered part of them). I still love England, though, and do think they have plenty of economic activity going on in their country.
It makes me so angry to hear about us powerful nations coming in and just carving up poorer nations for our own benefit. Imagine that happening to you, your country no longer existing because somebody faraway told you so. You’/d think nobody would accept this outrage, but these same people barely seem to know you’re alive. You try to fight and are labeled terrorists. Can you imagine the helpless rage?
Our first flight was seven hours long. It only took me three hours to beat the first five or six scenarios of Starcraft, and I couldn’t read for long or get motion sick. Get vegetarian food on the plane even if you’re not one; we get served first and our food is usually better. We landed in Boston, angry and tired, ate some food and sat at the gate, waiting for four hours for our connecting flight. I fell asleep almost immediately as we boarded for the entire seven hour flight . Note: Don’t do this type of travel. It’s horrible. I dreamt, at one point, about a rock elemental possessed with a spirit who was transported to another dimension where he couldn’t fly. He kept trying to break whatever the dimension’s hold on him was by trying to fly, but eventually found the cause was a tiny city going under the earth, filled with a rich Adriatic-style culture. However, only the princess was good. The rest of the city was not so good, and they could bind together like ants into a behemoth which he had to fight. I blame this on one of the miniatures in the British museum, which was based on a Chinese story where an official wanders into a beautiful city and marries its princess. She dies and he is turned out for turning to drinking while devastated over her death. He goes back to search for the gate, only to find it was an anthill.
We then waited for the Flyaway bus and took a taxi home from Van Nuys. Everyone, exhausted, threw themselves in bed, only to find out they couldn’t sleep. The kittens were also really happy to see us, and there was purring involved. I ate some Indian food and locked Clingy inside, upon which he went a bit crazy and we let him out again.
So that is the end of what seems to have been a very pleasant dream. Last night I dreamt that I visited a large, old cathedral by my house, and was frustrated to wake up and realize that I couldn’t anymore. I’m glad to be back home with Snuggles, who keeps meowing for huggup, and the kittens, who aren’t letting us out of their sight, and my books and capability to work, though. It’s like coming back to reality, which is also a little scary. Time to get down to business.
We went to Heathrow with a nice taxi driver, a Kurdish man from Turkey whom has been here for 25 years. Hearing his appraisal of the political situation in Turkey, Germany, and England was interesting. He was of course affected by the general racism in Turkey when he was a child, and how even now the right wingers don’t want to give Kurdish people rights. He also stated that Turkey doesn’t want to admit to the Armenian genocide because it will then be forced to take responsibly for it and give Armenians their land back. He talked about how friendly and clean Germany is. I’ve never heard “friendly” used to describe the general mentality of the German people, though he was perhaps talking about the large Turkish population there. He talked about how much more integrated these people are, though I have heard otherwise. I don’t know. I think there are bigots everywhere, and an almost disturbing number, at that. It is true that England seems less enthusiastic about its large immigrant population than from an outsider’s point of view makes sense(and I would be considered part of them). I still love England, though, and do think they have plenty of economic activity going on in their country.
It makes me so angry to hear about us powerful nations coming in and just carving up poorer nations for our own benefit. Imagine that happening to you, your country no longer existing because somebody faraway told you so. You’/d think nobody would accept this outrage, but these same people barely seem to know you’re alive. You try to fight and are labeled terrorists. Can you imagine the helpless rage?
Our first flight was seven hours long. It only took me three hours to beat the first five or six scenarios of Starcraft, and I couldn’t read for long or get motion sick. Get vegetarian food on the plane even if you’re not one; we get served first and our food is usually better. We landed in Boston, angry and tired, ate some food and sat at the gate, waiting for four hours for our connecting flight. I fell asleep almost immediately as we boarded for the entire seven hour flight . Note: Don’t do this type of travel. It’s horrible. I dreamt, at one point, about a rock elemental possessed with a spirit who was transported to another dimension where he couldn’t fly. He kept trying to break whatever the dimension’s hold on him was by trying to fly, but eventually found the cause was a tiny city going under the earth, filled with a rich Adriatic-style culture. However, only the princess was good. The rest of the city was not so good, and they could bind together like ants into a behemoth which he had to fight. I blame this on one of the miniatures in the British museum, which was based on a Chinese story where an official wanders into a beautiful city and marries its princess. She dies and he is turned out for turning to drinking while devastated over her death. He goes back to search for the gate, only to find it was an anthill.
We then waited for the Flyaway bus and took a taxi home from Van Nuys. Everyone, exhausted, threw themselves in bed, only to find out they couldn’t sleep. The kittens were also really happy to see us, and there was purring involved. I ate some Indian food and locked Clingy inside, upon which he went a bit crazy and we let him out again.
So that is the end of what seems to have been a very pleasant dream. Last night I dreamt that I visited a large, old cathedral by my house, and was frustrated to wake up and realize that I couldn’t anymore. I’m glad to be back home with Snuggles, who keeps meowing for huggup, and the kittens, who aren’t letting us out of their sight, and my books and capability to work, though. It’s like coming back to reality, which is also a little scary. Time to get down to business.
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