Reaping the whirlwind
Let's Positive Linking, Hurricane Katrina News Edition!
- FEMA Head Bears Brunt of Katrina Anger. The guy sounds incompetent - dude, how can you not know things are that bad for 24 hours, when Billy Bob and Bobbi Sue Johnson do? Do they not have CNN in FEMA HQ? Also, I hate that Bush calls him "Brownie" in the article. Dude, act professional. It's all fine to have nicknames for your coworkers, but you don't use them to the national media unless you want to come off as a gigantic tardass.
And speaking of the Bushes, I'm not even going to link to Barbara Bush's deeply offensive comment, which basically boiled down to her saying (while touring the Astrodome) "Well, it's been a good experience, because these people were poor anyway and so the Astrodome isn't that much of a hardship for them." WTF? I mean, honestly.
- Holy shit, Newt Gingrich actually said something intelligent and reasonable (from jantalaimon). What next, flying pigs?
That article has a point, though. I mean, New Orleans flooding? Not exactly a surprise. I mean, the place is below sea level. It wasn't a question of if this was going to happen, but when. And frankly, I'm just surprised that as many people obeyed the evac order as there were - it gives me hope that a larger portion of humanity than I thought has at least some self-preservation instinct. As for the people who stayed there, some of them I feel sorry for: the ones who couldn't afford cars, who had to stay to work in hospitals, etc...basically, those who HAD to stay for whatever reason. Those who stayed just because they didn't want to leave their stuff, on the other hand, I have mostly contempt for. (And while they've been a large presence in the news, especially today, I'm hoping they're actually a very small percentage of the whole.) Do they really value their lives so little? I mean, it's one thing for the guy who was totally prepared, with the generator and the canned food and drinking water - he probably won't have too much trouble surviving, though it's still a hella stupid thing to do. But it seems like a lot of these people would just rather die than leave their homes, and while that's their right I don't think they particularly deserve my sympathy.
Anyway, on to more cheerful subjects. Like grad school. (Heh. Ahahaha.)
Oh, in a kind of related segue...this morning my Romantic Lit professor told us something interesting: apparently in the local paper was a short news item about how the governor of Iowa offered people in the Astrodome refuge in Iowa. And a thousand people turned him down. XD
("...Astrodome...Iowa...Astrodome...Iowa...dude, I'll take my chances with the Astrodome.")
Anyway, I've noticed that I've had to change my study habits markedly since I started. I went into this totally thinking that what I did in my undergrad would be fine - I'd do the reading and that was like the maximum that could be expected. I figured it would go pretty much the same for grad school.
...BWAHAHAHAHA! Ahahahaha. Heh. Heh.
Anyway, several weeks later I now find myself sitting down with every scholarly article I have to read and taking copious notes, sometimes reading it over several times. I'm even almost to the point of buying a highlighter and highlighting/making marginal notations in my books. And since I was raised in a family of booklovers and physically recoil in horror at the thought of actually defacing a precious book, that tells you something. XD
Uh, lessee, what else...oh, another bit of advice? Don't ever think to yourself, "Oh, I've got an hour to kill between classes - since I didn't have any lunch, I'll just run over and get an ice cream cone from Whitey's." Because that ice cream cone will inevitably have hot fudge on it (without you asking for it, even) and then it will melt as you're eating it and drip ice cream and hot fudge down your front. And then you'll have to sit through your final class of the day with ice cream stains down the front of your shirt. Not that I'm speaking from personal experience, oh no...
Anyway, I think I may join the LGSA (Latino Graduate Student Association). I was debating getting into it - I was a member of ALAS (Association of Latin American Students) back at UMKC, and while the folks were nice it just wasn't my thing - but now I think I may not be able to avoid it, seeing as how I found out today that the co-president lives in my apartment building. x_x
...Now, if y'all'll excuse me, I have to go read Nietzsche and Heidegger for my lit theory class. (Have I mentioned how sucky it is that I thought I was totally done with philosophy and now here I am back at square one? 'Cause it is. ARGH.)
- FEMA Head Bears Brunt of Katrina Anger. The guy sounds incompetent - dude, how can you not know things are that bad for 24 hours, when Billy Bob and Bobbi Sue Johnson do? Do they not have CNN in FEMA HQ? Also, I hate that Bush calls him "Brownie" in the article. Dude, act professional. It's all fine to have nicknames for your coworkers, but you don't use them to the national media unless you want to come off as a gigantic tardass.
And speaking of the Bushes, I'm not even going to link to Barbara Bush's deeply offensive comment, which basically boiled down to her saying (while touring the Astrodome) "Well, it's been a good experience, because these people were poor anyway and so the Astrodome isn't that much of a hardship for them." WTF? I mean, honestly.
- Holy shit, Newt Gingrich actually said something intelligent and reasonable (from jantalaimon). What next, flying pigs?
That article has a point, though. I mean, New Orleans flooding? Not exactly a surprise. I mean, the place is below sea level. It wasn't a question of if this was going to happen, but when. And frankly, I'm just surprised that as many people obeyed the evac order as there were - it gives me hope that a larger portion of humanity than I thought has at least some self-preservation instinct. As for the people who stayed there, some of them I feel sorry for: the ones who couldn't afford cars, who had to stay to work in hospitals, etc...basically, those who HAD to stay for whatever reason. Those who stayed just because they didn't want to leave their stuff, on the other hand, I have mostly contempt for. (And while they've been a large presence in the news, especially today, I'm hoping they're actually a very small percentage of the whole.) Do they really value their lives so little? I mean, it's one thing for the guy who was totally prepared, with the generator and the canned food and drinking water - he probably won't have too much trouble surviving, though it's still a hella stupid thing to do. But it seems like a lot of these people would just rather die than leave their homes, and while that's their right I don't think they particularly deserve my sympathy.
Anyway, on to more cheerful subjects. Like grad school. (Heh. Ahahaha.)
Oh, in a kind of related segue...this morning my Romantic Lit professor told us something interesting: apparently in the local paper was a short news item about how the governor of Iowa offered people in the Astrodome refuge in Iowa. And a thousand people turned him down. XD
("...Astrodome...Iowa...Astrodome...Iowa...dude, I'll take my chances with the Astrodome.")
Anyway, I've noticed that I've had to change my study habits markedly since I started. I went into this totally thinking that what I did in my undergrad would be fine - I'd do the reading and that was like the maximum that could be expected. I figured it would go pretty much the same for grad school.
...BWAHAHAHAHA! Ahahahaha. Heh. Heh.
Anyway, several weeks later I now find myself sitting down with every scholarly article I have to read and taking copious notes, sometimes reading it over several times. I'm even almost to the point of buying a highlighter and highlighting/making marginal notations in my books. And since I was raised in a family of booklovers and physically recoil in horror at the thought of actually defacing a precious book, that tells you something. XD
Uh, lessee, what else...oh, another bit of advice? Don't ever think to yourself, "Oh, I've got an hour to kill between classes - since I didn't have any lunch, I'll just run over and get an ice cream cone from Whitey's." Because that ice cream cone will inevitably have hot fudge on it (without you asking for it, even) and then it will melt as you're eating it and drip ice cream and hot fudge down your front. And then you'll have to sit through your final class of the day with ice cream stains down the front of your shirt. Not that I'm speaking from personal experience, oh no...
Anyway, I think I may join the LGSA (Latino Graduate Student Association). I was debating getting into it - I was a member of ALAS (Association of Latin American Students) back at UMKC, and while the folks were nice it just wasn't my thing - but now I think I may not be able to avoid it, seeing as how I found out today that the co-president lives in my apartment building. x_x
...Now, if y'all'll excuse me, I have to go read Nietzsche and Heidegger for my lit theory class. (Have I mentioned how sucky it is that I thought I was totally done with philosophy and now here I am back at square one? 'Cause it is. ARGH.)