|
***Entry 406***
Friday, February 21, 2003
11:40 a.m.
Misguided Me
[Skip this, if you don't really care about me.]
Although I walked a tiny little bit yesterday, I thought I was recovering. I'm not. My foot is still bruising and I still can't walk. It's Friday--and there are plenty of interesting things to do.
It looks like I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. Maybe I'll start to recover then.
***Entry 405***
Thursday, February 20, 2003
03:37 p.m.
Arbitrary Extravaganza
1. I *walked* to the bathroom today--albeit, I was clutching on to the wall. An improvement, for sure.
2. I've been getting lots of hits from "Zoe Mitchell" searches. My guess, people read this attack on Mintwood, checked the bios, and then did a google search to see if I am real. Well, I'm working on updating the site right now. [Link via Julian]
3. Strangest search leading to this blog so far: Marijuana Gasmasks. Huh?
4. Westminster St. was plowed around 6:45pm last night. Soon, I will be free!
***Entry 404***
Thursday, February 20, 2003
02:47 p.m.
Weekly West Wing Review and/or Returning to Numbers
While the folks over at Gov Exec are on West Wing irony alert, I want to focus this Weekly West Wing Review on the importance of numbers.
As I explained below [***Entry 403***], I'm fascinated by finding pattern in everyday events--and on television. Last night's episode had Will Bailey's numbered interns, rising death rates in Kundu, Sam's campaign in the California 47th CD, tax cut numbers, etc. Why is this interesting? Each of the numbers had a greater significance than a passe observer would grant. Although, most of the interns were named Lauren, they are people. The death rate in Kundu increased by the thousands. The Cali 47th CD is super conservative Orange County. And the tax cut...that's money.
Numbers aren't meaningless. They're just a short cut to a greater understanding.
And a Side Note
Will Bailey earns endless props for his "government, polisci, and econ" comment. The intern earns nominal props for making me laugh with her "London School of Ballet" answer.
***Entry 403***
Thursday, February 20, 2003
02:01 p.m.
Streamlining Knowledge and the Quest for Diligence
Joanne writes about a conversation we had last night in her entry, "Diligent vs. Dilettante." I want to reflect somewhat further on this little dichotomy since Joanne's quest for brevity [ha] has somewhat diluted my argument for diligence.
Even before I hit the decade mark, I was abnormally interested in politics and journalism. Without boring you, I'll say: I knew I was going to be a writer in Second Grade, I knew I was going to be involved in politics by the Fifth Grade. I had all but declared my major by the Eighth Grade.
So, yes, I have found a niche as a media consultant. However, Joanne nominally misrepresents my "streamlined" interests: It's not so much that I only read political theory. [I wouldn't have a steady blog readership or a job outside of academe if that were the case.] It's more that *everything* I read ends up being correlated to political theory.
For example, one of my current clients, the Justice Policy Institute just released a report on cutting corrections costs in Maryland. While working on the report, the researchers held a focus group in one of Maryland's suburban counties. The focus group was given reams of information about corrections and asked to deliberate. Why is this correlated to my interests in political theory? If you have no idea, read [my least fave]Fishkin immediately.
The reality is that, while I'm diligent, it's far more important for me to make connections between disparate things and to understand the incredible pattern of my life.
***Entry 402***
Thursday, February 20, 2003
11:29 a.m.
Quick Update
Sorry for the absence. I don't want to make this blog into a "Zoe's Recovery" blog...so I've avoided writing lately. The important news is that I'm recovering...and I'm working today. I'll be back with the Weekly West Wing Review sometime today.
***Entry 401***
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
04:59 p.m.
The Joy of Bathing and Other Stuck Inside Adventures
Well, I'm still basically immobile. However, even if I hadn't sprained my ankle, I wouldn't be able to go very far in this snow. Westminster St. still hasn't been plowed. [Granted, it is only one block long...and there are higher priority streets to plow...] Periodically, I hear people playing in the snow outside, but given my injury, I'm not interested in joining them.
My major success today has been discovering a method of entering and exiting a bathtub using only one foot. Believe me, it took me *days* to figure out. [And...if you believe that...I'm really in Mexico City right now...ha ha ha...]
My major failure in the last 24 hours was succumbing to the final episode of Joe Millionaire. And making lofty predictions about the final "surprise" such as: "I bet all the women are the millionaries or I bet Zora will give all her money to the nursing home she works at..." Sad, eh?
I guess being snowed in and injured isn't the worst possible thing. It's kind of nice to see how the blogosphere reacts to being snowed in.
Marisa writes about hanging out with *us* housemates. [Personal thanks for bringing me back the vanilla chai and chocolate chip cookie from Sparky's!]
Joanne has been prolifically blogging--albeit, without incessant references to the snow.
And John has admitted that he, too, watched the notorious Joe Millionaire. When Marisa puts up the Saint Zora vs. Satan Sarah asides we were making yesterday night, I'll be sure to let the winter-laden DC blogosphere know all about it.
***Entry 400***
Monday, February 17, 2003
05:07 p.m.
Sad Injured Zoe
Four-hundred entries into the blog...and I have nothing better to say besides: I hate the snow!
Yesterday, during the [not so] grand Westminster vs. 10th St. snow fight, I sustained a terrible injury to my right ankle. I cannot walk. I cannot drive. I'm basically immobile. My main accomplishment today has been crawling down the stairs to the second floor and getting online to type this.
I'm just hoping that this injury goes away so I can get back to my normal life. Until then, if I'm not around much I'm just lying in my bed in pain.
***Entry 399***
Saturday, February 15, 2003
06:23 p.m.
Post-Party Analysis
"To talk about oneself a great deal can also be a means of concealing oneself."
--Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil #169
***Entry 398***
Friday, February 14, 2003
04:01 p.m.
Fear, Fear, Fear...
As if we didn't have *enough* to worry about--you know, duct tape and plastic sheeting style--it's going to snow again. With the absurdity of this administration as evidence, I half expect Bush to state that the immense amounts of snow we've had this year is a somehow related to Saddam Hussein whose somehow related to Osama bin Laden. Snow as terrorism: that's life in the cyclical fear culture.
***Entry 397***
Friday, February 14, 2003
03:16 p.m.
Flashback
If you ever wanted to know what I looked like in high school...my friend Pesha has a nice photo up.
Strangely enough I actually remember when that photo was taken. Kevin, Pesha and I went out for pickin' crabs out in St. Mary's County, Maryland right after we graduated. [So, I lied, sort of...] It was one of those events when I was fully coherent of the fact that my life was about to change dramatically.
Nearly four years later, I feel like that almost daily. I'm not sure if it is a sign of maturing--or a sign that the world just feels so much more fast-paced and hectic. Rather than create an illogical binary--I'll say it's both and much more.
***Entry 396***
Friday, February 14, 2003
12:16 p.m.
Anti-War Poetry
Alan has posted a *tons* of interesting poetry and analysis of the National Day of Poetry Against the War. I'm not usually a big fan of poetry; however, I can appreciate this from Dan Vera's "Place Poem Washington DC"
but even in my stolen dreamtime I cannot afford the illusion of exception
i am not the child outside of Bagdhad with the certainty that fire will rain from the sky
i am not the israeli woman who must constantly remember the location of her children's gasmasks
... and so I cannot mistake this war's
bitter irony, bitter as ash in grave
how the cradle of civilization could be flattened to rubble
... how a superpower can hold its capitol city hostage in war as in peace
i sleep in full solidarity with those that defy the ravings of zealots
and sleep in the gunsights and bombsights of madmen
whether they be honored, martyred or unconstitutionally selected
Touching. Beautiful. Fitting.
And in Other Anti-War News
Adam Eidinger will be on Talk Back Live on CNN at 3pm today.
***Entry 395***
Friday, February 14, 2003
11:14 a.m.
Support Statehood and Medical Marijuana
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, advocates for statehood and medical marijuana will be educating jurors and
rallying at the Federal Courthouse, 3rd and Penn Ave NW at 8am. More than four years ago, DC
voters approved a referendum legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes in the city. However,
this referendum has never been implimented because of Congressional control over DC. This action
is part of the Americans for Safe Access Nationwide Day of Direct Action.
***Entry 394***
Friday, February 14, 2003
09:35 a.m.
V-Day Part-eh
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there. If you are in the Washington, DC area and haven't already made your V-Day plans--I strongly suggest the part-eh at my house! Here are the details:
1. Two kegs of Dominion.
2. Four deejays: DEFCON 1, MOJO JONES, JUNGLE JESSI and SAM
POULIN.
3. Cherry Jello Shooters at midnight.
4. *Plenty* of other exciting things...that shouldn't be named on the blog. :)
THIS PARTY WILL RUN FROM 10PM-4AM THIS FRIDAY NIGHT
special thanks to Matt Patner for the sound system and
Toby Roberts for the decks-
Jill reminded me that Lemur and Vision are cancelled tonight...so there's not much going on.
For directions and other information, email me
***Entry 393***
Thursday, February 13, 2003
02:15 p.m.
Bioterrorism Preparedness
The return of the fear culture--without a real terrorism attack, anthrax or the sniper--is really fear for the sake of enhancing the fear culture. With that in mind, check out the helpful bioterrorism preparedness site brought to you by the highly-competent DC government.
Be sure to check out the *new* section on ricin! The fear culture says: It'll kill you if you don't prepare now.
***Entry 392***
Thursday, February 13, 2003
01:33 p.m.
Weekly West Wing Review
As always, Gov Exec has the interesting details...but I can contribute something to the West Wing discourse...so I continue.
1. The DNC wanted Bartlett to put "The Era of Big Government is over" in his Second State of the Union address? Now, where have I heard that one before...oh wait: one of Clinton's State of the Union addresses. Interesting snipe at Clinton? Maybe...
2. And the critique of "bloodless, compromising foreign policy?" I tend to prefer that to bloody, unilateral foreign policy, but that may be because I'm further to the left than the West Wing.
3. Ahh...Will Bailey was staying in the Holiday Inn. I can't help but see that as *so* cute. Here's the new idealist and foreign policy guru among the Bartlett staff living large. Oh...and I am *so* glad he signed on for good.
4. "Liberalism with a grenade launcher" = The Bartlett Doctrine? Yi. I'm not a big fan of what gets described by the press as "liberalism" these days and the "grenade launcher" hmmm... I guess, it beats war for oil any day.
5. A preview of next week: I don't usually do this, but Sam Seaborn is back! It's funny how little I miss his character with Will Bailey on board these days.
***Entry 391***
Thursday, February 13, 2003
01:03 p.m.
Patriot Act Part 2
Via the Shirts Off mailing list, here is the text of what is being called Patriot Act Part 2. Scary stuff...Read it and weep.
***Entry 390***
Thursday, February 13, 2003
10:03 a.m.
Update on Bolivia
Martin sent me this information via email.
WAIT, itīs POLICE REPRESSION, not a coup dīetat.
The police went on strike, and the students and the people were mad because of tax increases and etc, so without security they tied to overtake the government palace and seemed like they managed to do it,or at least they got very close.
So the government sent the military to the streets to repress the protests... itīs repression, not coup dīetat, sorry.
And...Andrew [also in Mexico] sent me this AP story on Bolivia.
It's great to have friends that keep me aware of what's going on in the world outside of the theatre of the absurd [that is: American foreign news coverage...War, War, War, Terrorism, Terrorism, Iraq...and plastic sheeting and duct tape.]
***Entry 389***
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
06:15 p.m.
Postanarchy?
I just joined this list on Poststructuralist Anarchism. I don't know...it could be interesting.
***Entry 388***
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
05:16 p.m.
Civil War in Bolivia
Martin, the Mintwood Latin American Media Consultant just sent me an email from Out from the Shadows drug policy conference I've been working on. [I know, I don't talk about the job often enough...]
Anyhow...Martin sent me an email saying that La Paz, Bolivia is like a war zone. It's apparently a coup d'etat. And the only information I have on it right now is in Spanish or Portuguese. [Update: Here's a story in English.] Here are some photos: 1, 2. 3
To my Bolivian indymedia colleagues: Be Safe. You really are telling a story that no one else is reporting.
***Entry 387***
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
02:03 p.m.
Fun, Fun, Fun
Friendster.com is the coolest recent thing. When you sign up...and you connect with your friends...you get connected through all of their friends. Your "personal network" expands dramatically whenever someone new joins up who is somehow associated with you.
It's fascinating. It's intreguing. It's taking my time away from the blog. What can I say...the fact that I'm connected to over 3000 people in less than a day--amazes me.
***Entry 386***
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
03:17 p.m.
Shockingly Innovative Tactics
[Via Chuck O.] This morning some "hardcore" activists locked-down at entrance to the Holland Tunnel. The photos included in this link show the police breaking the group up.
First thoughts: *damn* this is an *incredibly* intense direct action. Second thoughts: ohh...the commuters. Third thoughts: Doesn't bode well for this weekend's already unpermitted marches. Yi.
***Entry 385***
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
10:32 a.m.
Incomplete Thoughts on Identity Politics
I've been absent for a while because I've been reading Seyla Benhabib's The Claims of Culture. I am in no way ready to write a review, but it has gotten me thinking about writing a larger piece about identity politics and the contemporary left. I've become painfully aware that identity politics are under intense scrutiny these days...and rightfully so. Here's some examples of other things I have been reading on this subject.
"The Politics of Imagination by columnist Paula Martinac, argues that gay people need to move beyond identity politics and work toward creatively seeking out those with whom we can form constructive political relationships, not just relying on people who look like us or share our cultural experiences, sexuality, or political affiliation. What's important about this observation is that it has very little to do with the author's own sexuality--and everything to do with moving on. Identity politics are stagnant, old news, and ineffective when looking to build feasible alternatives to issues like the brewing War on Iraq.
This analysis is similar to one printed in the Outlook section of the Post last Sunday. In this essay, Michael Kazin argues that the anti-war/anti-corporate globalization left has alienated themselves from potential supporters because of "anti-Americanism." That observation is incompletely justified by conflating "anti-Americanism" with identity politics. Kazin writes: For such activists, fierce love for one's identity group -- whether black, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay or lesbian -- often seems morally superior to devotion to a nation that long tolerated that group's exclusion or abuse. And, in personal experience with practitioners of identity politics that certainly appears to be the case.
However, the real problem is not the anti-Americanism of the left--it's the focus on identity politics altogether. As this thread [hint: go to "hid/wait a minute" and subsequent postings] shows, the DC IMC has been attempting to rid the newswire of "personal attacks." Personal attacks in my mind are ones related to the background of an individual. That is, using an individual's gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc...as a basis for "discrediting" their argument. As I state in my posts to that list--this is of course, a completely unacceptable approach to a writer's work.
And, why does this experience related to the larger identity politics problem? If I declare that I am against the War on Iraq because I'm a woman, a city dweller, a middle-class over-educated snob that is just as ridiculous as someone criticizing me for being a woman, a city dweller, a middle-class over-educated snob. When I state it, it's identity politics. When another states it back at me, it's a personal attack. Neither is acceptable. Neither will make the left a "progressive" force.
Expect more on this subject later.
|
