headlines
9 July, 2009
Alright, one quick complaint. I get the purpose/necessity/ease of headlines. However, one has to wonder, who are the people sitting behind the screens who write them? For example, in today’s news was a tragic accident where a man ran over his wife and and son at a campsite. The two headlines regarding the story on CNN were “SUV runs over wife, son camping in tent” and “Dad runs over campers.” Both of these headlines are erroneous in their own ways. Headline number one evokes a vision of a big SUV running over his own wife and child, smaller versions of himself. The second makes it seem like a man just randomly forged through the wilderness and hit some people enjoying a vacation. Both headlines end up being complete and utter misrepresentations of the story, for it was no simple camping trip in the first place. The man is an Iraq veteran, a husband and a father of two, and they are homeless. Upon leaving the military seven months ago, the man had been unable to find a job. He and his family had been living at the campsite for over a week and were planning to reside there for the rest of the summer. Is there not something strangely familiar about veterans returning from duty only to find themselves on the streets without work nor homes? I’m horrified. Just for what it’s worth, the woman’s injuries were minor and the story reported that the son, though hospitalized was in stable condition as of now.
I wonder if people who write and report on the news become impervious to the sadness that surround them, almost completely unable to feel anything by the ends of their careers. I feel like I would.
So sad.
Last year…a month from now…I was going to Costa Rica. Of everything I felt before I left, nervousness was not present. But now, in just over a month I’m moving 1,100 miles away and going to law school. Now I’m scared out of my mind. I’m pretty sure (actually, absolutely positive) that I’m only demonstrating the outward symptoms of my ongoing fear of commitment. I’m essentially committing myself to my life, for at least three years, but probably a heck of a lot more than that. So whereas I wasn’t a bit scared about a four month vacation from real life, I’m losing my head about what is about to happen. I could spend every night for the next six weeks out on my dock with a six pack and be happy. (Let’s face it, I could be happy with that for a lot longer, given the right company and external stimulation.) I don’t know what it’s like to live further than an hour from the beach. I don’t know what it’s like to be permanently more than a few short hours from my parents whenever I decide to hop in my Nissan and drive home. Heck, I don’t know what life is like without my little Nissan. I’ve lived in this beautiful state for ten years and this time I just don’t know when I’ll be back. Instead of looking down my street at the palm trees lining the road, I’m going to see lights and buildings? Goodness gracious. But at the end of the day, I asked for this and well, it’s time to just go with it.
I really had never heard of this guy, but this song is fantastic, better still is the video.
la luna llena
5 July, 2009
So a few weeks ago I was watching tv with the folks when a commercial for Michigan came on, encouraging tourism. Understandable, their economy in the dismal state that it is, even in comparison with the rest of the country. I mean for years we have seen them for the Carolinas, Florida, California, but in the most recent months these commercials have become more and more plentiful. I didn’t pay much attention to the reasoning behind the commercial because I was so focused on whose voice was doing the voice-over. It was none other than Tim Allen (Tim the tool man Taylor, also from Michigan). I was so proud of my observation that I rewound the commercial two or three times so that I could point it out to both of my parents and receive the congratulations for the very astute listening ear.
Well, then last night my Dad and I were watching something when a commercial for North Dakota came on. Now, North Dakota is the same state that at least up until 2005, you could still receive a free plot of land if you contractually agreed to homestead for at least five years (totally worth it, I think, how bad could the tundra be?). North Dakota is the same state with a total of three Walmarts (again these are 2005 numbers) and the lowest population. And now they’re doing tourism commercials? Who visits North Dakota? I still think they should’ve given them Mt.Rushmore or something, I mean for goodness sakes at least that way the RVs would still go through South Dakota to visit. Poor North Dakota, might as well be Canada. Still, no amount of commercials can allure me. But that free plot of land, now we’re talking. Give me that to go on vacation for a few weeks and I’m there!
I am realizing how terrible I am at flirting. When did it come to this? Have I really become dependent upon social lubricant?
LOOK NEWS HAS STILL BEEN HAPPENING DESPITE THE LOSS OF SO MANY CELEBS!!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6644817.ece
After spending more than half my life in pools, I’ve come to the conclusion that my skin is allergic to chlorine. YES! How very convenient for the lifeguard who has about seven more weeks to work. Fantastic.
On that note, with a very sore back and an empty Miller Light, it is time to call it a night. Note to self, lift with your legs, not your back. Should make for an interesting week at work!
Damn full moon.
Happy Birthday Brandon Anthony.
Oh and Happy Independence Day, too!
Although I didn’t particularly enjoy the entire piece, I do love the sentiment presented in this Op-Ed today in the Times. (Behind the Facade, Bob Herbert) An excerpt describing the mindset of the 80’s and continuing to today:
“All kinds of restraints were coming off. It was almost as if the adults had gone into hiding. The deregulation that we were told would be great for the economy was being applied to the culture as a whole. Women could be treated as sex objects again as misogyny, hardly limited to hip-hop, went mainstream. (Have you looked at network television lately, or listened to the radio?) Astonishing numbers of men abandoned their children with impunity. Most of the nation seemed fine with the idea of going to war without a draft and without raising taxes.
In many ways we descended as a society into a fantasyland, trying to leave the limits and consequences and obligations of the real world behind. Politicians stopped talking about the poor. We built up staggering amounts of debt and called it an economic boom. We shipped jobs overseas by the millions without ever thinking seriously about how to replace them. We let New Orleans drown.
Jackson was the perfect star for the era, the embodiment of fantasy gone wild. He tried to carve himself up into another person, but, of course, there was the same Michael Jackson underneath — talented but psychologically disabled to the point where he was a danger to himself and others.
Reality is unforgiving. There is no escape.”
I just want to fix this place. Speaking of fixing, though, S. Palin resigns? Is it too much to hope that this means the end of her crazy stint in politics. Somehow I don’t think so. I swear I will move away, post J.D., to a country far, far away and not come back IF (and WHEN?) she runs for president. I pinky promise.
Great song:
Damn WOWY at the bar last night. My green eyes escaped to a place far from the crowded table where I sat. I can’t help but wonder how long it will last.
When I was about nine, I remember a strong, flirty summer wind blowing a monarch butterfly onto the deck just outside our house. He didn’t fly away though, so I gingerly picked him up to see what was the matter. The problem was that one of his wings had been damaged, almost broken in two (doubtlessly a result of the wind). I thought I could save him so I took him inside, got a bit of scotch tape from my mom’s desk and took him into my room. There, I placed a piece of tape (that I tore longways to make it thinner) on each side of the break. The wing stood up and looked healthy. Just as any good surgeon would do, I kept him overnight to ensure his safe and full recovery. I brought in lots of the outside world in the form of grass, leaves and flowers, to make him feel more at home. I kept him in a little basket, and never thought twice about the fact that he hadn’t tried to fly out.
The next day I took him back outside, ready for discharge. I put my hands up, with him cradled inside and he flew away. It was unimportant at the time that the wind was again blowing as it had the day before. My mind did not for one second think that perhaps it was the gust of wind and not the butterfly’s ability or desire to fly that took him from the deck back to the skies. I was happy and proud that I had saved him. My mom laughs about the story, recalling how silly I was to think that plastic tape would repair a delicate orange and black wing of the monarch.
I’d like to think she’s wrong, if for no other reason than he got one more (albeit it simulated) flight before his short life came to an end.
today the troops pulled out of iraq? did anyone see much about this on the news? personally what i got from today was al franken’s win and michael jackson’s will.
hm.
Brother leaves tomorrow. The stress of it all is compounding onto mom. I will miss him, though he claims to be able to contact us whenever he wants to from one of four different phones, so we will see. So odd to think that he will be 20 on Saturday but that he’s leaving in the name of his ‘country’ before then. As a teenager, essentially.
On Sunday I peered into the freezer to find a bag of frozen ‘Grands’ cinnamon rolls. Already pre-baked and iced, just waiting to be popped into the oven before consumption. In cases such as these, all I can really do is say, are you kidding me? We went from slaving away for hours to make the dough, filling and icing for cinnamon rolls, to the kind that you roll out of a can but still must ice, to pre-made/pre-baked, frozen versions of the original. There is something very wrong with things like that in this world, and I don’t like it, not one little bit. So my response? I started my homemade whiskey bread pudding this afternoon, which is now soaking overnight in the good-ole-fashioned deliciousness that will be finished tomorrow.
I must reiterate here how very much I dislike the idea behind towing. What I dislike more, though, is the tow man telling the people whose car he just towed that if they would have parked across the street there wouldn’t have been a problem. Thanks buddy, thanks a lot for the advice.
