ramble through the bronx

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

random stuff from after a low-key christmas get-together thing

Just up at my neighbours' having some nog and red wine as a last-ditch holiday party, before folks head off to visit family. Some folks are then back in town real soon, or heading off to the APA (American Philosophical Association) meeting at the end of December, or whatever. I feel kind of weird that I'm flying home tomorrow and won't be back in NYC until the 11th of January, but I really need to get away and recharge.

I've wondered this before -- what counts as home? If I were still dating Richard, given that he's going to be here all during the holidays, then here would feel like home. At least -- I wouldn't stay in Canada as long. But, at the same time, it still feels like I won't be back for that long - 5 days with my mom, 5 days in Ottawa (hometown!) with the crew there, a week in Toronto with the college friends -- it's not a long time to spend with people who are, in a very real sense, constitutive of who I am today. I think that I was formed a lot more by my university and high school friends than by my grad school friends, no matter how much I've been learning since I got to nyc, and no matter how many of their mannerisms & musical tastes I pick up.

.,.. but who knows?

So lately I've been spending a lot of time lurking on MetaFilter, which I realize all the cool kids started hangin' out on years ago, but whatever. It was strange -- I saw a couple comments by an old friend of mine from Ottawa on there, and emailed him to say hi. Hopefully we'll go for coffee in Ottawa & catch up a bit.

Hm. I've had some wine and am feeling maudlin, and want to ramble on about my feelings, but don't really want anyone to read them, particularly Richard, who is liable to wander over and read this nonsense. Ex-boyfriends kind of take the fun out of a blog. Note to self -- blogs should be friends-only; no boyfriends allowed. (given that they'll always turn into ex-boyfriends).



P.S. added January 2, 2005: apparently maudlin ramblings on blogs have effects, since apparently people do read them, including people mentioned in them... but he says he won't be reading anymore.

So I can come out of the closet with my crush on Justin Timberlake.

No, well, oh well. Anyway. Happy New Year.

jane 1:03 AM [+]

neat!

Check this out:

Pierced Eyeglasses. A brilliant idea. Attaching eyeglasses to a bridge piercing. Fantastic. So subtle. So lovely.

I'm all super-excited about them (not necessarily for me, but as something I'd love to see all over the place, like iPods).

In other news, here's an article about how we all (good lefties, good anti-consumerists, rebels to the end, baby*) can't stop buying things (like me with my new iPod).

Check it out, yo:

---
What american beauty illustrates, with extraordinary clarity, is that rebelling against mass society is not the same thing as rebelling against consumer society. Through his rebellion, Lester goes from being right-angle square to dead cool. This is reflected in his consumption choices. Apart from the new car, he develops a taste for very expensive marijuana—$2,000 an ounce, we are told, and very good. “This is all I ever smoke,” his teenaged dealer assures him. Welcome to the club, where admission is restricted to clients with the most discriminating taste. How is this any different from Frasier and Niles at their wine club?

What we need to see is that consumption is not about conformity, it’s about distinction. People consume in order to set themselves apart from others. To show that they are cooler (Nike shoes), better connected (the latest nightclub), better informed (single-malt Scotch), morally superior (Guatemalan handcrafts), or just plain richer (bmws).

The problem is that all of these comparative preferences generate competitive consumption. “Keeping up with the Joneses,” in today’s world, does not always mean buying a tract home in the suburbs. It means buying a loft downtown, eating at the right restaurants, listening to obscure bands, having a pile of Mountain Equipment Co-op gear and vacationing in Thailand. It doesn’t matter how much people spend on these things, what matters is the competitive structure of the consumption. Once too many people get on the bandwagon, it forces the early adopters to get off, in order to preserve their distinction. This is what generates the cycles of obsolescence and waste that we condemn as “consumerism.”

---

Anyway. Some holiday reading. I really should be working on that paper, shouldn't I?

* Not "rebel to the end" in the sense of a Southern rebel, of course. Far, far from it. Obviously.

jane 11:02 AM [+]

So instead of writing my paper, what am I doing?

OK, so if you haven't taken a look at the Anne Rice Amazon thing by now, you're really missing out. Particularly if you've liked her books in the past. The whole thing is about her having posted a "rebuttal" on Amazon to the readers who trashed her latest book. (Google "anne rice comments amazon" to get the whole story, including her statement about it on her own website).

But the comments by the other readers are what is priceless. For example:

this post from November 3, 2004, written by a 13-year old:

---
Okay, for the controversy, Blood Canticle was an awesome book. For those of you giving it bad ratings, you are so incompetent that you don't understand anything about the book. I've e-mailed Ms. Rice, and to me she seemed disappointed with you people for being so inhumane and unforgiving. I very much agree!

I understand the character of Lestat more than all the other books now. Ms. Rice has really nailed him this time. He exactly as she describes him, arrogant, sophisticated, fun-loving, well-dressed, savvy, hilarious, insane, wanting-to-be-a-saint, chararismatic and smart! If you want the old Lestat back, whatever, go for it. I personally like the hip Lestat better.

However, Ms. Rice is almost at her best in this book. It is deeply detailed, perfectly portrayed, and a sensational hit! I do agree with those you say it isn't right for children. Children are too immature, and they don't understand the concept, just like some of these adults. I myself am thirteen, yet I understand the book completely. So mature a little, then go ahead and re-read this lovely novel.

I've been reading the Chronicles since I was 11, and I'm am totally enamored of Lestat's character. I have also read The Witching Hour, Lasher, Taltos, Pandora, and Vittorio the Vampire. I read at college level, so I know good books when I read them.

The perversion of these attacks personally affect me and all others who are fans of Anne Rice. You insult her, you insult me. Is it not enough that her husband has died, and that she is under enormous pressure from these worthless fiends who write obscene comments about her? Guess not. Why don't you just take a baseball bat to her and work her over a while? That ought to satisfy your cruelty.

And for the record, this is probably just a waste of time. You people are so wrapped up in yourselves that you care
non-whatsoever for others. You don't even deserve the right to apologize to Ms. Rice. You utterly disgust me.

Also, you attack Ms. Rice herself with comments such as ,"Go mourn your dead husband." or "Good thing she stopped writing." You know what? YOU try dealing with the death of a loved one and stil continuing your career. Anne Rice is writing for a living, so why don't you insult some business owner or a cashier at a store? Hmmm???

You can bite me for all I care! You are pathetic imbeciles just looking for attention! Leave this poor woman alone! Just don't mess with her!

However, it is unfair of me to insult you if I don't even know you that well.(Might want to take THAT hint...) Anyways, I apologize. Blood Canticle was a really great book! It was my favorite of all the Chronicles. It really does hurt me that people would say such nasty things like Ms. Rice didn't write the novel, or she could have done better. I was sorrowful to learn that this was the last of a series I enjoyed so much, but all good things must come to an end. You can't expect the author to live forever, or people to commit to the series.

That being said, I hope this will help reviewers out there to take in what I've said. Thank you for your time to read this, and please think this review over.

P.S. Lestat is not a wuss! He is a brave, compassionate, tortured soul!!!! He is my hero! I LOVE LESTAT!!!!!!

---

Ahh, just a good reminder that precocious reading abilities do not equal good literary discernment. (And I'm not being mean -- I seem to recall myself being much the same at that age, and equally sentimental.... although about Les Miserables.... I think I waited until I was 14 to get into the Anne Rice.

(I particularly enjoyed, so I'll quote it again: "I do agree with those you say it isn't right for children. Children are too immature, and they don't understand the concept, just like some of these adults. I myself am thirteen, yet I understand the book completely. So mature a little, then go ahead and re-read this lovely novel." It's just too good)

jane 10:23 AM [+]

aaarrrggghhh

There is a trolley (trolley on wheels, not a refined Toronto or San Francisco streetcar/cablecar) that is operated by the family owning a nearby pharmacy, which from 9am to 5pm drives circles around my neighbourhood, not only playing Christmas carols, but having an obnoxious goon in a Santa hat sing along to them and exhort everyone else to sing.

I can hear it with the windows shut.

Even worse, since my apartment is a blazing furnace, I have to hear it with the windows open.

Argh.

I have one paper left to write, no desire to write it, no interest in any of this. I just want to come home!

Oh well. Off to proctor an exam later on this afternoon. Maybe I can get some work done before then? I just want to relax, clean and decorate my apartment*, and maybe go to the gym with my iPod.

* For my birthday party on Saturday!

PS - oh, I forgot to mention... the only songs the trolley plays are "Rudolph" and "Feliz Navidad." Somebody end the pain!!

jane 9:45 AM [+]

Sorry for the long hiatus!

I know Heather's going to be reading this to get caught up. Here's everything.

1. I high-passed the Medieval & Modern exams and Distinguished on the Ancient. Yay! I have "grad-student tenure" - they can't kick me out! (well, unless I spend a million years on my dissertation).
   
2. This is my last semester of full-time coursework.
3. I moved. Please contact me if you don't have my new address/phone number/etc. The new apartment is lovely; my roommate and I get along well; there are NO ROACHES.
4. I start teaching in January! Philosophical Ethics, sophomores, Tues & Fri 8.30 - 9.45 am. Yes, truly hideous a time, but not that bad, since I can have office hours immediately afterward & then still have a whole day for getting work done. So this next semester, I am teaching one class and taking one class. Life is good. I just have to come up with a dissertation topic. Ack!
5. Richard dumped me two weeks ago; we're trying to stay friends, so if you create voodoo dolls on my behalf please don't hurt him too badly, or he'll set Jesus on yo' ass. (you gotta watch out for those Christians).
   
6. See #5; despite #1-4, I'm still pretty miserable, so happy thoughts sent my way are welcome.
7. See #5, this and the election are making me think that the world took a seriously wrong course this November, and that we must unite to bring it back on course in some sort of super-hero-time-travel-cosmic-fates kind of way. And merely saying Obama '08 won't cure it. (Obama '12, maybe).*
8. I've taken up waterpolo.
   

So things have been busy, I'm burnt out from school but looking forward to the holidays; I'm not sure exactly when I'll be in various cities (Toronto, Ottawa, wherever) but I'm looking forward to some good friendly relaxing. I'll try to post more. Though I have to churn out a bunch of papers, so who knows?

* Canadians may not yet know who Barack Obama is. Find out.

jane 1:22 PM [+]

For all you public health fans out there...

Here's a report from the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Health at Columbia University called "Global Implications of U.S. Domestic and International Policies on Sexuality" -- basically, Bush's war on condoms and common sense. It's an overview of the last three years of Bush.

I need to stop reading politics for awhile... it's making it dreadfully hard for me to concentrate on Augustine (and no comment about Augustine's views on sex, or domestic relations!)

jane 11:22 AM [+]

More Fun With Etiquette

Here you go, from Snopes.com (the greatest source for checking out urban legends and such like)-- what to do about having forgotten someone's name, and being afraid they'll think ill of you if you admit the fact, or that you'll be embarrassed if you try to fake it:

"Etiquette maven Judith Martin has this bit of advice for those looking to avoid becoming the object of such a come-back:

"'It was on the crumbling page of hundred-year-old etiquette book that Miss Manners came across the solution to that enduring problem of what to say when confronted with a person whose name you know you are expected to know but don't. The answer comes to us from an anonymous Victorian, apparently a Hero of Etiquette but described merely as "a good-natured eccentric." Beaming a jovial smile at a vaguely familiar face, he would inquire in a pleasant, oh-by-the-by tone, "You don't happen to remember your name, do you?" '"

jane 9:55 PM [+]

etiquette

Link for y'all -- Etiquette Hell. Fun!

jane 3:37 PM [+]

some gunshots

Last night, shortly after Richard & I got home from Lynchburg VA, we heard what were most likely about 10 gunshots (though the kids 'round my place have been setting off a bunch of firecrackers lately, so various guesses can be hazarded).

Anyway, poking around on the internet today, I found this site, documenting various crimes around the 48th precinct (which includes the Belmont neighbourhood where most of us Fordhamits live) -- note especially that "E 182nd" and "Belmont" are in bold, which means extra crime-tastic. Fun! (Remember I live at E 182 & Belmont)

Although this 2003 one is neat, for being 2 blocks away from my place, whilst I was living there:

"SATURDAY, FEB. 22nd, 10:27 p.m. - A member of the rap group, Wu Tang Clan, was apprehended and placed under arrest. Apparently the perpetrator was found to have been unlawfully impersonating a police officer. Items confiscated included a police shield, a pair of handcuffs, a fake gun and a dagger."

Huzzah.

one brief election note

...Olivia Chow should have won. Grr! Stupid Greens! (Not to berate anyone for voting their conscience, but come on... just look (scroll down for Olivia's bio) at how much she's done & how qualified she is!

jane 1:21 PM [+]

oh yeah! NoRNC!

The Republican National Convention is, of course, happening in New York City at the end of the summer (comps week, actually -- woo hoo!). The brilliant activists around here have come up with a bunch of beautiful posters, that you should look at!

Go here for the posters, and here for general information about what folks are up to with regard to the RNC.

I'm crossing my fingers that this isn't going to be bad. But people are very angry, with good reason.

Anyway, beautiful posters. And also look at Kerry is my Hamster for a deep take as to why anyone should support Kerry.

OK, back to the Confessions...

jane 8:42 PM [+]

Is that a good book?

So I'm sitting at one of the various fast-food Chinese restaurants in my neighbourhood, eating sweet & sour chicken (Yes, I told Richard I would get veggie fried rice, or mixed veggies, but dammit, I broke down) and reading Augustine's Confessions. First Reuben stopped by & we chatted. Then he headed off in search of softserve ice-cream.

A woman and her daughter (prob. about 3 years old) came in to use the bathroom. When they came out, the daughter asked for a can of soda. Her mom said, "No, you can't have that, I don't have the money" and walked out of the store. The daughter opened the fridge & grabbed a soda, calling "Mommy! Mommy!"... then gave up, put the soda back into the fridge, and quietly ran out of the store.

A bunch of teenagers (15-16 years old) came in then -- black Bronx kids, full-on Bronx accents, full-on urban gear. I put down my Confessions and packed up my garbage to throw it out, wiping up the sweet & sour sauce that had dripped onto my table. One of the kids came by me to grab a soda. "Saint... Saint... who is that?" he asked. "Augustine," I replied.
- That looks like an interesting book,
- It is... it's...
- Do you write books? he asked tentatively.
- No... but I read a lot of them... I smiled.
- I want to write books, I want to be a writer.
I didn't really know what to say to that. I think I said something lame, like "You should go for it!" or "Why not!" or something like that. I threw out my garbage, and smiled at him again, told him to take care, and left the store.

I hope he gets to write books. I hope he gets a good education, somehow, here in New York. I hope, that if he writes a book, he's able to find a publisher.

I hope he can always afford a soda.

Man, am I ever lucky to be a graduate student, with a stipend, a tuition waver, and the kind of respectability that makes it easy for me to get additional work here at the library, and the kind of accent-free middle-class accent that means I can phone service agencies and get help when I need it.

I was walking down Fordham Rd the other day & a tall black guy pushed past me, deliberately bumping me, and muttered, "You look like you go to Fordham." I still don't know what to do with that. Or rather, I can construe a number of things.

Anyway. Just some thoughts.

jane 8:05 PM [+]

Sorry I haven't been writing lately

...also known as, Walsh Library, Reference Desk, how may I help you?

I'm writing this from the library, of course, during the last 20 minutes of my shift. Yes! All of you can shake your heads and go, "yes, yes, we saw it all along, jane's working at the library... we knew it... that high school yearbook photo from graduation, where she looks like a librarian, yes, yes, we knew it all along." Yes! Look at me, behind the desk in the Reference Room! I just walked around and turned off monitors and reshelved three books! (From PN 1993-PN 1995, all books about film, huzzah). And I told one woman that the library would be open for another half hour. Yes, that is me. Authority! Ha ha! Just wait 'til I get to tell someone to "shhh!" (Unlikely.... my shift is Wednesday and Thursday nights from 8pm - 11pm -- not too much rowdiness at all... oh, and every other Friday from 9-5pm.. hopefully that will be riveting!)

This is a lovely part-time job to have as I study for comprehensive exams. I got through all of the epistemological sections in Books V and VI of the Republic (the sun, the divided line, opinion vs. belief, that sort of thing), makin' lots of notes in multiple colours with my pretty new pens. I also cruised around the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, lookin' at some of the stuff about middle vs. late dialogues on the Forms. Yes, yes, all very exciting stuff! Woo hoo! This is me, studying for the whole summer!

So, that's about it for now... I could post a bunch of links to philosophy pages I found, but I'm not sure anyone other than the other comps studyin' folks here would find that so interesting, & I'll just talk to them in person. So there.

I'll probably write more, now that I have this little chunk of work to do.

(Oh yes, I'm also working about 5 hours a week for Dr. Tress, still, on the Journal of Neoplatonic Studies... and also stuff for the 2004 Ancient & Medieval Philosophy Conference (the webpage linked to is actually from the 2003 conference, but presumably will be updated at some point). So I'm keeping busy).

Yay! Fun!

OK, done now. Love you all...

jane 10:33 PM [+]

Wow, they changed blogger...

They changed all the layout... craziness.

Anyway, this is a post for the sake of posting. Papers are done. Working on organizing the abstracts received for the upcoming Ancient & Medieval Philosophy Conference (October 2004). Heading to Toronto this weekend.

Everything's still good with the boy...

...who went on his day off to get my guitar fixed, while I was at work... yay!

It's worth the price of listening to "Good night, Irene" every day for the rest of my life.

jane 1:12 PM [+]

joe

I don't have much time, but I couldn't not blog this one... what do y'all think about Joe Clark's comments?

Man, I wish I were home to hear the buzz on this one...

(though I am sad about the leafs)

jane 3:16 PM [+]

How absolutely glorious

Is there anything prettier than:

---
3 Period: Ottawa @ Toronto

1st Period
# 13:41 REMAINING IN THE 1ST PERIOD Toronto Goal - Chad Kilger (1), from Tie Domi at 6:19.
# 12:19 REMAINING IN THE 1ST PERIOD Toronto Goal - Joe Nieuwendyk (4), from Brian Leetch and Alexei Ponikarovsky at 7:41.
# 0:21 REMAINING IN THE 1ST PERIOD Toronto Goal - Joe Nieuwendyk 2 (5), from Bryan McCabe and Nik Antropov at 19:39.
2nd Period
# 19:38 REMAINING IN THE 2ND PERIOD Ottawa Goal - Vaclav Varada (1), from Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa at 0:22.
3rd Period
# 12:01 REMAINING IN THE 3RD PERIOD Toronto Goal - Bryan McCabe (3), from Chad Kilger and Robert Reichel at 7:59.
---

Just listening to the last five minutes of the Leafs - Sens game over www.mojo640.com (which I won't actually link to, since their constant repetition of "Talk Radio for Guys!" annoys me). So exciting! Yay Belfour!

So, here's hoping our beautiful boys can relax & heal enough in time for meeting Philadelphia....

(and that Toronto won't screw up its lead in the next 4 minutes!)

Tie, oh Tie, a holding call at 16.31, a power play for the Sens... go McCabe! Keep on the attack! The announcer just reminded us that there are no guarantees... but surely we've got it, right? come on Toronto... a minute and a half left of the Sens power play... watch out for Chara! 2 minutes left to go of the third period! Belfour saves! watch out! Belfour! McCabe! along the boards but not out! Penalty out in 10 seconds! ok ok ok.... happy singing Toronto fans... hey, no ankle slashing! meanies! We need Bryan in top form for Philly! Of course McCabe wants to stay on, but he must go to the dressing room - behave! Crowd standing & cheering! cheer! cheer! McCabe totally doesn't want to leave - he's just standing there on the way out...

...of course he's no longer my future husband, but he'll always have a warm place in my heart...

What an exciting series! I wish I had a TV with cable! Last minute of play!!!

OK, going to go hug Richard now....

jane 9:37 PM [+]

Souvenir of Canada

There's a new one!

For those who never saw Douglas Coupland's first Souvenir of Canada, read the publisher's blurb. I quote a couple paragraphs:

'Douglas Coupland offers new ways of seeing and experiencing Canada-looking at how it feels to be a Canadian right now and speculating what it might feel like to be a Canadian in the future. From our collective memories, he locates objects like stubbie beer bottles and ookpiks, Kraft dinner and maple walnut ice cream. And with the same unique sensibility, he considers the flq crisis, our relationship with the United States, medicare and the landscape itself.

'In the section humbly titled "Cheese," he writes: "When you assemble them together, foods that feel intuitively Canadian look more like camping trip provisions than actual groceries...Canada is a cold and northern country...from a biological standpoint, it is imperative that Canadians stockpile concentrated forms of sugars, carbohydrates, fats and salt."'


How exciting that there is a second! Huzzah! Yet another book to not quite purchase, but simply read at Chapters while killing some time!

jane 2:05 PM [+]

invitation

Comments on Svend? Questions on why none of the Canadian teams are making it out of the first round in anything less than seven games? Anything? Bueller?

jane 1:30 PM [+]

Richard, the new convert to Maple Leaf Nation

In response to my email "hockey sadness" and link to the CBC coverage of last night's game, Richard wrote:

'I weep with you. In our woe and as we look forward to the next game, may we find some consolation in the words of the Bible: "You made my enemies turn their backs to me, those who hated me, and I destroyed them. They looked, but there was no one to save them; they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. I beat them fine like the dust of the earth, I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets." (2 Samuel 22:41-43) GO LEAFS!'

Ah yes, the zeal of the new convert. How righteous.

(yes, the hockey-and-buffy immersion process is going well... excellent...)

jane 1:29 PM [+]

game seven on tuesday

aaargh!!!

jane 8:47 AM [+]

way to go Belfour!!!

Just finished listening to the game. Way to go Belfour! And way to go Mats! (Megan loves him 'cause his name is plural). Huzzah!!!

jane 9:37 PM [+]

Back in the Bronx

Richard and I got back to the Bronx last night at around 11pm, which was pretty good given I don't think we left Ottawa until 2.30 or thereabouts -- we had brunch in the newly cleaned-up Rockwell's in Merivale Mall (the mall was otherwise closed due to Easter Sunday).

Of course, right now I'm supposed to be working on my poststructuralism paper, which is going to use the case study of residential schools in Canada as a clear example of why Derrida's conception of justice & ethics & stuff is better than Rorty's. But, meh, it's more fun just to post on my blog & check email & all that sort of stuff.

It was fun to be in Canada, even just for the weekend, but it was kind of strange to be there with someone who'd never been to Canada before. I kept feeling that I had something to prove, as if Canada could somehow be totally grasped in one weekend.

Often I'll tell people that I'm from Canada, & then specify that I'm from Ontario (generally I just say Toronto, no offense to Ottawa, since more Americans know where it is). What's amusing is what will come next. "Oh, Canada's beautiful, I was in Vancouver once." Or, "Canada's lovely, they're really nice in Banff." Or, "My wife and I were once in Nova Scotia, it was incredibly beautiful." Obviously all of these places are geographically quite distinct. And it's kind of people to greet my Canadianness with a general affirmation of the beauty of the country -- I'm not offended at all, obviously, just amused. I've never been to Banff or Cape Breton Island, and I've only been to Vancouver once, and yet I then feel the need to affirm their statement.

"Oh you'll love NYC," this woman on the Greyhound bus once said to me, as I was heading to the Big Apple for the very first time "It's just like downtown Canada... all the big buildings...." She'd been to Toronto, once, for Caribana.

I guess Americans travelling through Europe may feel the same way. "I'm from the US." "Oh, New York, that must be exciting." I've had Americans complain that all Europeans seem to think about with regard to the US is LA and NYC, and maybe a little hint of Texas -- the Midwest, for instance, seems to entirely slip below the radar. And I'm learning more and more about the possible virtues of the South...

Anyway.

So Richard and I were wandering around Montreal, and all I wanted was for everything to be perfect. I wanted "Canadianness" to radiate from the ground and the skies, to enthrall and seduce him into loving "Canada." But how is that possible? Every place is just one place... nowhere else in Canada is just like Montreal (geographically or attitudinally), so why did Montreal matter so much? Similarly with Ottawa.

I guess that's why we have CBC and Tim Horton's. Our small, possibly hopeless, attempt to encapsule all of Canada, and to express it in unity. (Though of course I realize that the West doesn't have as many Tim's, and that there's a longstanding dispute about whether the CBC is too Ontario-centric...)

Is driving along 40/417 from Montreal to Ottawa while listening to Ottawa-Toronto playoff hockey on the radio somehow paradigmatic of a Canadian experience?

Is having vinegar on fries?

Anyway.

Go Leafs go.

jane 1:50 PM [+]

the true north strong & free vs. the land of the brave

Alternet has an article about Americans wanting to move to Canada. It's not especially deep - nothing anyone doesn't already know, is likely. It closes with the (pretty good) advice to Americans to stay in the US & fight the good fight (although if you live in Canada you can still vote against the evildoers by proxy voting or absentee ballots or whatever).

Anyway, I'm taking the new boy up to Canada* this weekend - going to Montreal & Ottawa. Should be good times. He's never been before... I wonder what he'll think?

---
* Since I still don't drive, actually, he's taking me -- as in, it's his car & he'll be driving. But dammit, I'll be giving directions.**

** They're really easy directions. 87 North. Keep going. Cross border. Road changes name. Keep going. Cross bridge. Ta-da! Montreal.

jane 6:05 PM [+]

google ad up top

How on earth did google 'look' at my blog and decide that a link to the republication national convention was appropriate?

oh dear.

oh deary dear.

huh.

jane 6:01 PM [+]

in other (hockey) news

You just gotta love the title of this CBC article about Saturday's Leafs - Sens game: "Leafs crush Sens; Battle of Ontario fizzles". yee-haw!

So, Toronto - Ottawa in the first round - what to expect?

Ah, I love playoffs... finally the chance to watch some of the games without cable (ABC broadcasts the Saturday afternoon games... baseball and basketball get all the other broadcast times... stupid US! you'd think, with 2 broadcast region teams in the playoffs, more of the games would be accessible? ah well... maybe I'll just have to get ESPN for the next couple months)

I miss the CBC.

jane 11:28 AM [+]

this won't be a long post

I have piles of things to do. Like taxes. Yes, taxes. I should do those, shouldn't I? (Deadline here in the US is April 15th... my mom says Canada's is April 30th, so hopefully I'm not yet doomed)...

but there's wonderful news, which I've pretty much probably told many of you, but it may as well be blogged, especially as the last entry was all about that boy who never called...

there's a new boy. And he does call. huzzah!! Oh, it's all very sudden and crazy and wonderful.

jane 11:22 AM [+]

oh, and the moral of the story was...

So, about that boy.

He never called.

Two of my friends said to call him -- "Hey, what have you got to lose?" So I did, & asked him out to coffee, & we made coffee plans, & meanwhile chatted on the phone for over an hour -- maybe an hour and a half or so? Fun. I thought he was maybe a bit flaky, but generally enjoyable.

So I went to the coffee date, which was a bit out of my way, but not too much. I did cancel a standing dinner date with a girlfriend (we have a "if we're not doing anything on Tuesday, we'll have dinner" plan; cancelling it was no big deal given the prospect of a date with a boy -- but I did have other things to do had there been no coffee date. right?)

Actually, I should mention that before the coffee date I stopped into Grassroots for a beer & ended up in a good conversation with a woman at the bar about Carol Gilligan. So I left a good conversation in order to go for this coffee date.

And I should also mention that the coffee date was just going to be brief anyway, as it was for 6pm & I had my New School class at 8. Right? OK.

So the boy shows up at 6.05pm (not bad). I say, "Hey, can I get you a coffee?" He says "Actually, no -- I tried to call you today, but I lost your number. You see, I just really have trouble saying 'No' on the phone. I'm ... I'm not interested."

"OK... " I stammered, "alright, whatever... take care"

"OK," he smiles [creep!], and heads off.

GRRR!! Showed up in person just to tell me he's not interested. Wastes my time. Creepy creeperton.

So the moral of the story is... if the boy doesn't call, don't bother calling. (I guess).

It's either that, or don't trust actors.

Something like that.... (this all went down last week.)

Meanwhile our grad student conference went well, much wine was drunk, and there may even have been very light flirting on the Friday night at the Tinker with (of course) a Canadian. But from Oakville, so ya gotta watch out for that. Anyway, I'll probably never see him again, and his paper, while having Hegel in the title, didn't really deal with Hegel at all. What a waste.

jane 3:38 PM [+]

in case any of you are wondering what I've been wondering about lately

Here's some stuff that was going to turn into a paper, until I realized it was too general a rant. But still, it outlines the kinds of worries I've had lately. (Ah, the fun of being in philosophy -- worrying about this is work!)

What is the purpose of ethical philosophy? If, as Marx says, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it,” then where can we get to with meta-ethics and normative ethics? Would Bush and Cheney be convinced by Kantian argument that the wealthy are not the only ones who require aid, corporations not the only persons requiring welfare? Would Ashcroft be swayed by a Levinasian plea for the Other, if that Other happened to be an Arab-American calling for legal representation? Did the joint plea, by Derrida and Habermas, for peace in the face of the US-British war in Iraq, do any good, regardless of the philosophical interest of the two working so closely together on a common project (differance and universalist discourse, united for peace and justice; so like the common banner of anarchists, feminists, environmentalists, unionists, religious leaders, and socialists united against the FTAA, the WTO, the IMF, and other organizations and schemes with menacing acronyms)? Despite a great number of academics who spoke out forcefully against the war (or, at the very least, against the urgency that saw no utility in continued inspections), and summoned lovely arguments rooted in lovely theory, the leaders of the enlightened Anglo-American West went ahead to war. “It is little wonder, then,” writes Mark Lilla in Harper’s [May 2003, p.89], “that the ‘Plea’ of Professors Habermas and Derrida met with such a tepid response in the European press and has since had no discernible influence on public debate over foreign policy.” According to Lilla, Europeans have been less likely during recent years to grant their intellectuals the “priestly function” of issuing commands and exhortations. It is uncertain how recently North Americans have done so. We are still witnessing the backlash against identity politics and “political correctness,” and the case for corporate responsibility and business ethics is always made in business terms, according to the bottom line, and the positive P.R. and fewer lawsuits to be gained therein (“Doing Well By Doing Good” is the mantra of corporate ethics consultants), rather than from any philosopher’s call for a rethinking of capitalist values.

Currently, the battle seems to be to convince our leaders to follow the values that they claim to profess; to actually live up to the liberal humanism enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to obey the laws of the Geneva Conventions and the hodgepodge of international law that, while still in its shaky infancy, seems to be the best thing we’ve got so far. We don’t need Derrida, Foucault, Habermas, or Rorty to get us there; Kant and Western legal tradition still suffices.

But does this liberal humanism and legal tradition actually correctly encompass the potential for human communal life? There are so many other possibilities, so many other ways of seeing human beings. Care ethicists, moral phenomenologists, and relational theorists in law all criticize the atomistic picture of humans presented by liberalism and traditional legal theory. While we, in our active political life, call for human rights, it is our duty as philosophers to envision and develop alternate theories, possibly truer, possibly more useful, possibly more humane.

jane 3:24 PM [+]

A "Scary" Quest for You!

I want to know the origin of the term "scare-quotes." Why? Are they scary? Why are they called that?

This is what I've come up with so far, from googling:

Someone had the same question as I did, but the discussion seems to have petered out unprofitably.

Similarly, here, too, was a discussion on the origin of the term, which quickly became a discussion of the usefulness, relevance, or propriety of the scare-quotes themselves.

The OED had no entry for scare-quotes, but luckily Wikipedia did . (Wikipedia is god, most of the time).

This article discourages them, whereas this article simply discusses whether they should have one stroke (') or two (").

The closest I came to an actual answer was this article on Suck.com, which stated:

"Yet the term isn't mentioned in The New York Times' heavy-duty instruction manual, nor in The Washington Post Deskbook on Style; not in the slim volume the Associated Press puts out or The Chicago Manual of Style or any of the various MLA guides. Even dictionaries ignore it. Neither Webster's nor Random House admits the term into its pages, although Random House tells us that a "scarehead" is "a headline in exceptionally large type" and that it's also known as a "screamer." It dates from around 1885, and it's good to at least find out that "scarehead" and "screamer" are synonyms. In no volume of the Barnhart Dictionary Companion — an instrument so thorough it sees fit to include not only "soccer mom" but "soccer dad" — do we find an entry for "scare quotes." Only online at dictionary.com and dict.org, products of Princeton University's WorldNet, can a definition for "scare quote" — singular — be found: A scare quote is the use of quotation marks to indicate that it is not the author's preferred terminology."

Anyway.

If any of you find the answer, I'll tell you why Rhode Island.


ps...

happy birthday heather.
and i hear melanie has wicked amazing news. congratulations!! (not that any little birds told me what it was)

jane 12:07 AM [+]

You must remember this...

... a kiss is just a kiss....

On Monday night... no, wait, I'll do this properly. On Monday afternoon,* I was in a wretched mood. Just wretched. Anxious, distracted, unable to focus on philosophy, going round and round in my head about being a useless human being, that I'd alienated all my friends, etc., etc. That sort of thing. More, of course, a product of insufficient vegetables and exercise rather than real psychological trauma, but, still, unpleasant.

The one thing I thought in Particular was that it had been a long time since any one looked at me, you know, as a hetersexual-non-celibate-man or a homosexual-non-celibate woman looks at a woman. It had been a long time since I'd been able to be flirtatious with anyone, a long time since there'd been any cause for fun innuendo. Basically, a long time since that whole part of myself had in any way shape or form been operative. I'd been a walking-talking-drinking-sexless-automaton. (Or so I thought, in my Monday mood).

Then, of course, plans were arrived at to go down to The Living Room to hear some music, after which there were plans to head over to Arlene's Grocery for Punk Rock Heavy Metal Karaoke Night. My mood, of course, improved with good company and good music (Josh Thomas's friend Dawn Kinnard, who was great). Oh, and red wine never hurts either.

So, after two glasses of wine, I noticed a Cute Boy sitting at a table by himself listening to the second band, Ursa Minor. I asked my companions, "Should I be bold?" "Yes," they said, "yes you should be bold." "I will be bold," said I.

I walked past his seat, leaned over and asked if he wanted a drink, and he (looking somewhat surprised), said sure.

I bought two glasses of wine, came back, put one on his table, he gestured for me to sit down, I did so, conversation was struck up.

Lovely!

We ended up grabbing a slice of pizza after leaving The Living Room, and he even came out to the Karaoke (now that's style). We stayed at Arlene's Grocery for a bit (and both danced! wa-hey!), then walked out, exchanged numbers, and went our separate ways.

Oh, and we kissed. In public. At Arlene's. On the street. It was kinda fun.

Y'all know me -- I never do this sort of thing! So I discovered how easy this all is. And fun! Did I say fun? There's no reason to shut off my flirtatious side. When I'm feeling surrounded by Jesuits and married men, there really ARE places to go. It's not hopeless.

Anyway, in answer to (presumably somewhere in your head) your questions, no, of course he hasn't called, but really, isn't that the point? One lovely little interlude of fun. Hey, if he ever calls, that'll be neat, but really, the kiss, the one night, the one act -- that was enough.

So fun is to be had in NYC, and not everyone is a Jesuit.

Thank you, the end.


* Post-laundry-with-Ana, which was reasonably lovely, for being laundry.

jane 9:23 PM [+]

Is the Nunavut government as Inuk as it could be?

The CBC has an interesting article on the current state of the Nunavut legislature (their elections were held yesterday).

Here's an excerpt:

'In the chamber, there are attempts to bring the best of Inuit culture to government. The speaker sits at the front, the seats of the MLAs placed in a circle before him. It's consensus government here. Like in the Northwest Territories, there are no political parties. Behind the MLAs is another row of seats. They are for elders.

'Nunavut's first senior justice of the peace, Alexina Kublu, says Inuit were expecting elders to play an important role in the Nunavut legislature. The seats are there for them, she says, but they are rarely used.

'"Elders don't like to be just a ceremonial role," Kublu says. "They do not want to be equated with the mace. Whenever elders are present they want to feel that they've been invited to attend an occasion because they're able to bring in worthwhile input."'


Doesn't that sort of highlight the problem? The whole idea of a set government seems to involve some set stable ceremonial & static elements, which maybe doesn't translate so well. I don't know.

Meanwhile, the CBC also pointed out that "Kelvin Ng had to find proper footwear for his budget speech, something that reflected the serious message he had to give his fellow MLAs. So when the finance minister stood up in Nunavut's house last March, he wore kamiik. And not even new ones. The used pair of seal-skin boots symbolized what he wanted to tell the house. Money was going to get tight, so it was time to be frugal and sensible." This article explains Nunavut's budget issues, which are incredibly serious. Also -- remember the population pyramids we had to draw in OAC World Issues? [insert other high school civics-type class here] -- there are population pyramids provided for Canada as a whole and for Nunavut. Nunavut's are strongly pyramid in shape -- just like a "third world nation" (if I were Derrida I would put that phrase sous rature, but I make do with quotes... where did the expression scare quotes come from?).

The CBC writes:
'While the territory makes up more than one-fifth of the Canadian landmass, there are only about 30,000 Nunavumiut, spread over 25 communities ranging in population from a few dozen to the largest, Iqaluit, at 6,000.

'And the needs of those people are huge. A look at a population-age graph tells the story: while the country as a whole has a baby-boom bulge in the middle of the graph, with fewer younger and older people, Nunavut's graph is a pyramid: fully 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 25.

'There is massive unemployment in Nunavut, 80 per cent or higher in some communities. And with the population boom comes a desperate need for new schools, training, and jobs. Municipal governments need water systems, sewage treatment plants, roads and arenas. Vast amounts of money go to health care. Then there are the social problems; alcholism, depression, violent crime, and suicide. People need help, support, and programs.'

For now, Nunavut's only source of revenue is the federal government, which has to be convinced to free up extra money. While Nunavut has natural resources that could be exploited, they (according to the CBC article, though I wasn't clear precisely why this is the case) would not receive direct revenues therein. (I guess it's their status as a territory, that forbids them that autonomy over federally-mandated natural resources?)

Remind me to continue reading up on this. Nunavut is fascinating because they're trying to do things differently, but still within the constraints of the Canadian system. I'm really intrigued by what's possible, as well as frustrated about the problems. I doubt Nunavut really needs a philosophy professor to lecture them on Hegel, but... I wonder how hard it would be to learn Inuk?


and just in case you wanted this

The CBC also wants you to have Nunacom, an Inuk font for PC or Macintosh. So go ahead & download.

Also, (whew!) here's the link to Rick Mercer's Monday Report take on the Nunavut elections. Alas but I have never been able yet to enjoy this show, being stuck in Yankeeland. But a video is posted. And a picture. Mmm, Rick Mercer...

jane 11:50 AM [+]

beware of television!!!

This is a very odd story, that Neil Gaiman brought up on his blog. His post captures the pure weirdness of this, but basically what has happened is that a panel of 5 people (whose identities have not been officially disclosed, though one was discovered) were put together to get rid of close-captioning for about 200 programs that somehow do not live up to new "rules" for establishing which programs get close-captioning -- these new "rules," of course, are also not disclosed. Secret panel, secret rules. Furthermore, the panelists didn't even know what they were responsible for -- the Palm Beach article stated: '"They apparently used a panel of five individuals and then made the censorship decisions based on the individuals' recommendations," Mr. Brick says. "We have found the identity of one of the panelists. This individual tells us that he never knew he was on such a panel and that his views would be used for censorship. No panel was convened. The five panelists were contacted individually and separately."'

So what has been cut out? Scooby-doo, a bunch of sports programming, Law & Order, all sorts of stuff. There's a statement by the National Association of the Deaf, which states: "Most if not all of the censored shows are in fact educational and informative. These include reruns of family favorites such as “Bewitched” and modern shows such as “Law & Order.” “Disney Monthly Original Children’s Movies” and “Pokemon” cartoons, fixtures in today’s youth culture, are also being censored. Virtually all sports programming has been censored, isolating deaf and hard of hearing students of all ages, not only in the classroom, but within the family, at the school lunch table, and on the playground. The censorship of these shows not only prevents deaf and hard of hearing children from watching shows that help them learn about the trends, culture, and society around them, censorship also prevents deaf and hard of hearing parents from making informed decisions on appropriate programming for their children."


The Palm Beach article closes thusly, as will I:

'The NAD is lobbying Congress to change the policy. Some networks and sponsors are stepping in and providing captions for some of the "inappropriate" shows. But the government's dismissive treatment of 28 million Americans defies words.

'"We are outraged the department has taken paternalistic steps to exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals," Mr. Brick says. "Such censorship is offensive and insulting."'

jane 11:22 AM [+]

The Joint Terrorism Task Force strikes again!

I'll assume y'all have heard of this, but if not, here and here and here is some information about how the FBI has subpoenaed Drake University in Des Moines for information on anti-war protestors for the purposes of a Grand Jury investigation.

To quote Brian Terrell, Executive Director of the Catholic Peace Ministry, Des Moines, Iowa, one of the groups with members served with a subpoena, 'The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond "possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa."' (from Isebrand Dot Com, but also reprinted in other locations, including Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World blog, above which is a beautiful picture of "The Amazing Shrinking President").

Don't we all feel very safe now? The peaceniks won't get us! ho ho!

Meanwhile, Abdulkareem Khadr, a 14 year old Canadian boy whose family moved with him to Pakistan about five years ago, who was paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet, and whose three brothers are suspected Al Qaida members (he has a 17 year old brother in Gitmo), is probably not eligible for OHIP benefits ("it's doubtful"). The Canadian government says that it's up to the family to get him back to Canada, and they'll only consider assistance when sources of private funding are exhausted. (See Yahoo news -- "No help for 14-year old son of Al-Qaida suspect paralysed in firefight").

Still meanwhile, we got a paragraph of Can-con in a US report on terrorism! woo hoo! All I can say is, compare the Globe & Mail's version, which makes Ottawa sound dangerous! and sketchy! and a veritable web of intrigue! to the CBC's version, which wryly notes that the Ottawa references are all in one paragraph of a 90 page report, and points out that "There are no details of what the alleged "landmark" targets in Ottawa were or how the plot was foiled." So basically, Ottawa's more or less still the same old place. (Unless it's now suddenly located in South America, as the title of the report -- "Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of South America" -- seems to indicate. yay warm!)

Don't they know Montreal is where the action is?

and for those who keep losing track

The CBC has a beautiful online explanation of the whole NHL - NHLPA labour dispute, here.

My future husband, Bryan McCabe, of course has put his foot in his mouth by saying (as quoted right on the main page of aforementioned site), "The bottom line is, if they want a hard [salary] cap, we'll sit out for the rest of our lives." I don't know, Bryan, that's hardly fair. Or at least you could have said it better. Why don't you fly out to New York and we can discuss this over a beer?

(of course, alas, the closest the Leafs are coming to NYC for the rest of the season is bloody Philadelphia, a whole 3 hours drive away... and if the next season gets cancelled due to labour issues, I'll be quite unhappy. Damnitall.)

jane 10:57 AM [+]

philosophy plague

So the downfall of having a bunch of sociable philosophy grad students who like hanging out together in the department, if that department has no air circulation, is that viruses travel like hyperexcitable sparrows. My goodness, I think we're (almost) all sick.

(sniffle sniffle, pass the kleenex).

jane 12:00 PM [+]

...and just to be geeky

Here is a photo-gallery of philosophers, several of whom are heroes of mine, several of whom are not. Interestingly, the professor for my Tuesday night class at the New School has a lovely picture up. The class is crazy -- 80 students or so! A couple from Fordham (yay, me & Eoin, with Adam sitting in), a few from NYU, one from SUNY Stoney Brook, one from Yale, that sort of thing. It's quite good so far -- I've long liked Critchley's book, Ethics of Deconstruction, on Levinas and Derrida. He's quite clear while lecturing.

The photo of Nancy Fraser, whose work I also admire (and whose course at the New School this fall I really wanted to take, but alas could not), is exactly what I want to look like if I'm ever a hotshot philosopher.

and now for something completely different

For those who were disappointed at the small amount of Eowyn-Faramir goodness in the Return of the King movie, this fanfic site will make you feel a bit better. Emyn Arnen is of course where Faramir and Eowyn reign after the events in LOTR, as Faramir is Prince of Ithilien (all newly evil-free, huzzah).

oh, where did the hours go?

just a quick shout-out to Grassroots Tavern on St. Marks in the East Village, and the two cute men playing darts while I lacked the courage to smile or say hi. Curses!

jane 1:10 AM [+]

I'm sorry, so sorry

sorry about the two months of absence.... all I can say is papers, and then being away back in Canada, glorious Canada, for two and a half weeks, and then fear, tinged with weariness, tinged with drunkenness, tinged with a general lack of things to write.

Lack of things to write? Really? With all the excitement going on, of Maher Arar, and the Democratic primaries, and the Leafs being on and off their game, and the third Lord of the Rings movie?

Well, maybe not. Maybe not a lack of things to write, but a disinclination to write them. So many people are far better at the writing than I. But I'll get back to it. I'm taking some great courses this semester, and I'm sure my mind will be a-racin'.

In the meanwhile -- hey, Canadians, I'm curious. What have you been hearin' up north about the primaries? It's quite interesting being in the midst of it, for the first time. And I'll get the comments back to workin'. If they seem sketchy, email me & I'll post yer comments.

And I'm obsessed with the Albanian spinach pies at Tony & Tina's on Arthur Ave. yum!

jane 12:40 AM [+]