Mister Rogers is kind of a badass...

although he'd probably never refer to himself as one. :)

This made my night...

It's Funny How Things Happen...

After making the decision tonight to slip into my pjs, cuddle up with a book, and go to bed tonight to rise early and do work, I decided to pick up my journal from the summer I spent studying in Paris. I began to read the last few entries and feel compelled to copy word for word my last entry (albeit it very fragmented -- it was hand written). These last few weeks have been tiresome for me, and I have come to realize the excess worrying and emotions that have engulfed my life and, therefore, ability to remain positive about basically everything. Unfortunately, I have seen the manifestations of this negativeness. Therefore, tonight I made the conscious decision to shift my train of thought. And I would never imagine that it would be my own words that would give me the strength I so desperately was seeking. It's quite funny how things happen...


July 2005

So it's my last night here. I don't want to fall asleep. I really feel so sad I'm leaving tomorrow. Being here has been so amazing. Living with this family and taking classes... really feeling at ease in this city has been incredible. I really don't want to fall asleep tonight to wake up and have to leave. The past few days I have really been excited to go home, but now that it's here all I want to do is stay longer. I love this city. I cannot wait to come back. I have learned so much. I couldn't say what all I have learned, bc it is indescribable. I wish so badly that I ha the ability to remember everything I saw, touched, and smelled. Even the stinky Metros. I want to remember the way this house smells. The blind man and his dog T saw almost everyday on my way to IES. The awesome boulangerie sandwiches. Note to self: put hard-boiled eggs on sandwiches. I want to remember the feelings I had when I first saw the Eiffel Tower from the Metro. I want to remember the Rose 9 Euro and Monsieur Miel... and the creme brulee I had. I want to remember the people at IES and the awesome food we had at the farewell lunch... my teachers Sophie and Jeanne. My Franglais. My caramel tea in the mornings. And the morning I dropped the jar of coffee on the floor... how horrible the showers were... the noises throughout the building...my comfy bed...the beauty of Sacre Coeur...the expensive nights out...these mixed emotions...puking in the IES garden after drinking a plastic bottle of wine...being so happy to feel like I bonded with my family one last night or time...walking down the street listening to people speak and how I can understand most of it. Seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle makes you feel giddy...meeting people here...all different types of people...people who I have learned to tolerate and who made me think about myself. And the girls that I have truly become great friends with -- these girls that I can say or do anything with. They have been amazing. I am so lucky to have done this. I kept thinking tonight at I watched the show at the party about how I am so damn luck and there has to be someone up there who really loves me and is giving me days like today that can make me feel this way. I feel like I have it all. And if there comes a time when I'm not like this or do not feel like this I should know and have faith that a day like today will come again...because these amazing days do happen...

Tattooed Under Fire

Tattooed Under Fire is a documentary by UT Prof. Nancy Schiesari that tells reveals the significance of tattoo work for a number of US soldiers before and after their Iraqi deployment. I had the amazing opportunity to work as her GRA (graduate research assistant) last semester on post-production projects for the film project. One of which was a short video profile for the tattoo artist Brannon Grant that can now be seen on the website. If you get the opportunity to see the film, I highly recommend it. It is powerful and portrays an important perspective. Check out the website Tattooed Under Fire and watch my clip! You can find it on the "Video Extras" page.

QuirkyAlone

QuirkAlone may be the outlet and arena I have been looking for. I'd rather not butcher the mission statement of this site, so here's their "About Us" page:


Who We Are

Quirkyalones are people who enjoy being single (but are not opposed to being in a relationship) and prefer being single to dating for the sake of being in a relationship.

Quirkyalone is not anti-love. It is pro-love. It is not anti-dating. It is anti-compulsory dating. We tend to be romantics. We prefer to be single rather than settle. In fact, the core of quirkyalone is the inability to settle. We spend a signficant chunk of our lives single because we hold relationships to a high standard.

Are quirkyalones loners? Not necessarily. Quirkyalones often value friendship very highly. We're often very social people. But we do value occasional solitude. Quirkyalones are often creative and need time alone to allow thoughts to fully form.

It's Not Just For Single People

Quirkyalones is a mindset that transcends relationships status. It's a newly articulated set of ideas about being in single and in relationships expressed through a set of vocabulary‹quirkyalone, quirkyslut, and quirkytogether‹that's designed to inspire conversation in a fun, ironic way.

It's a tool for conversation about singledom and relationships in a new era where unmarried households are becoming a majority.

A quirkyalone can also be quirkytogether (quirkyalone in a relationship). A quirkyslut maintains high standards for a romantic relationship, but becomes more flexible for the Saturday (or even Tuesday) night encounter.


(My emphasis added)

Oh! It's websites like these that give me a boost on days when my usually optimistic attitude is running low. Last night, I had quite the epiphany regarding dating...I'm super tired now (and in Chicago needing to sleep to prepare for my conference tomorrow!), but I have the intention of posting more about it within the next couple days. I know I've sworn off blogging about my love life, but my epiphany certainly presents a number of ideas that I feel transcend my love life. For now -- I'm signing out with my results from taking the "Are you QuirkyAlone?" Quiz:


Very quirkyalone:
Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world.


Romancing the world! That's exactly how I'd explain it :)

And so it continues...

A clip from CNN I found on Feministing.com confronts the ways in which the McCain campaign continues to exercise their sexist logic. While I, of course, am not a fan of Sarah Palin and her stance on basically everything, I most certainly am interested in doing what Campbell Brown suggests the McCain campaign should do -- that is to say, FREE SARAH PALIN!



Amen, sister...

Back to Business

My last few posts have basically been "filler" to clog my blog up with something mainly to keep myself in some, although sporadic, rhythm of posting. Because let's face it -- my head has not been set on actively blogging. So much for taking the summer to beef this blogging project up. Oh well. I am finding a trend in my blogging; despite being wrapped up in grad school and all the ridic that it entails, I blog more when I am in the mindset of reading, writing, thinking critically, etc. Not only did I physically take a vacation this summer, my brain, while not taking what I'd call a full vacation for there was no numbing or hard drugs involved, and my knowledge-building energy went to a different, not-so-academic place. Granted my thesis and all things M.I.A. were not far from my mind (hell, she "retired"!), I found myself retreating and gravitating towards books that allowed me to build upon aspects of personal growth that aren't as easily, or at all, tapped into while in grad school. While this past school year I found myself forming so many new ideas that not only made "the personal political" regarding my own identity politics, I leapt and bounded ahead towards an academic career and community, that I could not be more excited to pursue. That being said, this semester I am tapping into a new, yet not completely foreign area of study that has always been on my "to do" or "to read" lists. To further expand upon and perhaps in a sense remedy my immature ideas on feminism, feminist aesthetics, and my self-identification as a strong woman, I am enrolled in two courses (the only courses I am taking this semester) addressing these issues. And, truly, what an exciting time to do it! Hold your breath. I am not going to slide into a rant on Sarah Palin ( but, god, do I want to!!!!). There are multiple reasons I am leaving this ordeal to continue to fester in my brain. So, I can't make any promises regarding future posts. But to squash the ability for thIS post to easily turn in a diatribe on Palin's and McCain's disgusting display of pseudo-feminism and the mainstream media's coverage of it, I am stopping here, for I need to read before my TA class in 30 mins. However, I will leave you all with the notes and letters of other women addressing these oh-so-prevalent issues being discussed: http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

Tell me why, oh why...

Despite this week being the week of the Republican National Convention I am feeling uberly optimistic, and I feel like sharing the wealth :P

My life is gearing up the semester, and I couldn't be more excited! Granted this excitement will more than likely turn into panic, I am looking forward to stomping through this semester and the rest of the school year. Bring on the thesis, coursework, TAship, PhD applications, and conferences! Ok, writing all those tasks out just made me want to retreat back to the summer days of sitting on the couch watching BravoTV for hours on end. But I will persevere! And I'm going to have a great, neurotic time doing it!