A life update followed by a rant
Once again I get on the computer and my nomes start overreacting to something (i.e. allergies). Could I be allergic to the internet? I had a whole list of things that I wanted to write about, but unfortunately I've spent so much time thinking about what I wanted to say that now I'm bored with the topics.
Very exciting news--I am now a card carrying member of the Brooklyn Public Library system! Yay! With the card came a card holder that is attached to a fold-up map of all the libraries in Brooklyn. There are three or four within a very easy walking distance. I think I can even take a book out of one branch and return it to a different one. I've been thinking about all the libraries I've belonged to. I got my first library card as soon as I could sign my name (that would be the Montauk library) and took books out under my mom's card long before then. That library started out in a little house and eventually raised enough money to build the current library, which thankfully is much bigger. When my mom first moved to Montauk she had to go two towns over for the nearest library, though I don't remember that library. Obviously next is the Houghton library, which frankly I hated. That's probably because I never took out any books for fun and could never find what I wanted for papers. I got a library card in Santa Fe, though I didn't really go there very much. I think the taint of Houghton lingered on. I didn't get one in Mt. Sinai. Does that explain why I never really felt home there? Or did I never get a card because it didn't feel like home. Anyway... Scott had a card in Mass., but I used it more than he did. That was the first library I had been to with a science fiction section. And now I have a Brooklyn library card (as does Scott).
Besides getting my library card, other highlights of my weekend where: 1. Getting my first mail at my apartment (one letter from Hillary, and two wedding invitations). 2. Going to the Grand Army Plaza farmer's market and buying mushrooms for our first "real" (i.e. sitting at our table) dinner at our apartment. 3. Having a delicious Jamaican veggie patty (same as Jamaican beef patty, but with vegetables) from one of the bakeries near us. Veggie patties are so amazingly delicious. "How delicious?", you ask. Well you'll just have to come visit to find out.
Politics is in the air. Between the state of the economy, which I can't avoid, and the election, which is every where, even a person who doesn't really watch the news (like myself) can't help but be surrounded by it. I used to listen to the news and was a reasonably well informed person. But now it seems like work. Plus it's too depressing. Still, being a bookkeeper and working at a fishing dock, you can't help but worry about the economy. Between the price of fuel and increasing regulations, a lot of fisherman don't think they'll be in business much longer. Today Julia was remarking about some further financial crashes in NYC (which effects us because how long we keep the restaurant open depends on whether people are going to continue coming out here and how much they'll spend). I get so overwhelmed thinking about it. Especially since I really need to start looking for a job in the greater NYC area (I suppose I should just say "NYS", since it really includes Brooklyn and Queens--really I'm just hoping for Brooklyn or Manhattan). Then I think about how the dollar is doing, how we're rapidly losing all of our production type jobs overseas (and how can you call a country economically stable if it isn't able to be self-sustained--which we aren't despite our size and resources), and the shrinking of the middle class (which could be related to the former). I just don't know how I'm supposed to have hope for the future, especially when we're fighting this expensive war and seem to be planning more wars. Ignoring whether one is for or against the war on principle (I would be against and have been from the beginning), if we are going to go to war we should conquer and our nation should profit. We took over a country rich in oil and while some "American owned" companies are making plenty of money, our nation hasn't benefited. And I don't buy that just because the companies are owned by Americans that it is going to benefit us. If we're going to act like imperialists, at least we should reap the benefits of being so. Right now we have the worst of both worlds. My parents have been listing to more and more news, and since they favor more conservative news stations (i.e. Fox News, etc.), I have found myself being reminded again and again how my former ideological teachers have betrayed me. Ideas like economical self-sustainability, sovereignty of nations, and basic isolationism are conservative ideas. Yet I hear arguments for a global economy, we're saying that other nations arming themselves is a reason for us to go to war (even though we have those same arms), and we're increasingly sticking on nose every where. Meanwhile we can't seem to balance our budget and the power and size of the federal government is ever growing at the expense of the states. I even heard the Bush was trying to/did make it illegal for states to have higher standards for organic than the federal government mandates, which is so messed up I can't even begin to talk about it without wanting to scream.
People always say "love it or leave it", and that attitude seems to have gotten worse. But it annoys me to no end. First of all, we're a freakin' democracy, which means we are supposed to change our government if we don't like it. Second, and more importantly, I was born here and my government wasn't. I am the nation, or rather, we are the nation. The government can change form a thousand times and we will still be here. If I love my country won't I want it to be the best that it can be? Isn't love the ability to see in something or someone all the good and potential that is there and passionately desire it's actuality? I begin to lose reason which I hear people say that and really want to resort to violence (another reason not to watch the news).
I really should start paying more attention to the news. I know that it's people like me who are causing this failure in government by failing to stay informed, failing to be outraged when something outrageous happens, and failing to take any action what-so-ever to fix anything. I'm just not sure I'm willing to let that last little bit of faith in humanity fade away. I'm already too cynical. Is it worth it?
Very exciting news--I am now a card carrying member of the Brooklyn Public Library system! Yay! With the card came a card holder that is attached to a fold-up map of all the libraries in Brooklyn. There are three or four within a very easy walking distance. I think I can even take a book out of one branch and return it to a different one. I've been thinking about all the libraries I've belonged to. I got my first library card as soon as I could sign my name (that would be the Montauk library) and took books out under my mom's card long before then. That library started out in a little house and eventually raised enough money to build the current library, which thankfully is much bigger. When my mom first moved to Montauk she had to go two towns over for the nearest library, though I don't remember that library. Obviously next is the Houghton library, which frankly I hated. That's probably because I never took out any books for fun and could never find what I wanted for papers. I got a library card in Santa Fe, though I didn't really go there very much. I think the taint of Houghton lingered on. I didn't get one in Mt. Sinai. Does that explain why I never really felt home there? Or did I never get a card because it didn't feel like home. Anyway... Scott had a card in Mass., but I used it more than he did. That was the first library I had been to with a science fiction section. And now I have a Brooklyn library card (as does Scott).
Besides getting my library card, other highlights of my weekend where: 1. Getting my first mail at my apartment (one letter from Hillary, and two wedding invitations). 2. Going to the Grand Army Plaza farmer's market and buying mushrooms for our first "real" (i.e. sitting at our table) dinner at our apartment. 3. Having a delicious Jamaican veggie patty (same as Jamaican beef patty, but with vegetables) from one of the bakeries near us. Veggie patties are so amazingly delicious. "How delicious?", you ask. Well you'll just have to come visit to find out.
Politics is in the air. Between the state of the economy, which I can't avoid, and the election, which is every where, even a person who doesn't really watch the news (like myself) can't help but be surrounded by it. I used to listen to the news and was a reasonably well informed person. But now it seems like work. Plus it's too depressing. Still, being a bookkeeper and working at a fishing dock, you can't help but worry about the economy. Between the price of fuel and increasing regulations, a lot of fisherman don't think they'll be in business much longer. Today Julia was remarking about some further financial crashes in NYC (which effects us because how long we keep the restaurant open depends on whether people are going to continue coming out here and how much they'll spend). I get so overwhelmed thinking about it. Especially since I really need to start looking for a job in the greater NYC area (I suppose I should just say "NYS", since it really includes Brooklyn and Queens--really I'm just hoping for Brooklyn or Manhattan). Then I think about how the dollar is doing, how we're rapidly losing all of our production type jobs overseas (and how can you call a country economically stable if it isn't able to be self-sustained--which we aren't despite our size and resources), and the shrinking of the middle class (which could be related to the former). I just don't know how I'm supposed to have hope for the future, especially when we're fighting this expensive war and seem to be planning more wars. Ignoring whether one is for or against the war on principle (I would be against and have been from the beginning), if we are going to go to war we should conquer and our nation should profit. We took over a country rich in oil and while some "American owned" companies are making plenty of money, our nation hasn't benefited. And I don't buy that just because the companies are owned by Americans that it is going to benefit us. If we're going to act like imperialists, at least we should reap the benefits of being so. Right now we have the worst of both worlds. My parents have been listing to more and more news, and since they favor more conservative news stations (i.e. Fox News, etc.), I have found myself being reminded again and again how my former ideological teachers have betrayed me. Ideas like economical self-sustainability, sovereignty of nations, and basic isolationism are conservative ideas. Yet I hear arguments for a global economy, we're saying that other nations arming themselves is a reason for us to go to war (even though we have those same arms), and we're increasingly sticking on nose every where. Meanwhile we can't seem to balance our budget and the power and size of the federal government is ever growing at the expense of the states. I even heard the Bush was trying to/did make it illegal for states to have higher standards for organic than the federal government mandates, which is so messed up I can't even begin to talk about it without wanting to scream.
People always say "love it or leave it", and that attitude seems to have gotten worse. But it annoys me to no end. First of all, we're a freakin' democracy, which means we are supposed to change our government if we don't like it. Second, and more importantly, I was born here and my government wasn't. I am the nation, or rather, we are the nation. The government can change form a thousand times and we will still be here. If I love my country won't I want it to be the best that it can be? Isn't love the ability to see in something or someone all the good and potential that is there and passionately desire it's actuality? I begin to lose reason which I hear people say that and really want to resort to violence (another reason not to watch the news).
I really should start paying more attention to the news. I know that it's people like me who are causing this failure in government by failing to stay informed, failing to be outraged when something outrageous happens, and failing to take any action what-so-ever to fix anything. I'm just not sure I'm willing to let that last little bit of faith in humanity fade away. I'm already too cynical. Is it worth it?