Theresa's Guide to DC

It's spring here in DC, and the tourists are in bloom. It's ridiculous how quickly they've gone from complete dormancy to full bloom. Not that I wasn't aware of it before, but DC is a hot tourist spot, primarily for school groups, old people tour groups, and families. While I understand the attraction of the city and agree that everyone should visit at least once, I find myself a bit fed up with all the tourists. It's a bit difficult to live and work in a city that most of the country views as a vacation spot. So in the spirit of helpfulness, let me offer a few tips that will make life easier for us all.

1. The metro is not a toy. It's a mode of transportation that millions of local people use everyday to get to work and school. Therefore twirling around the poles or not holding on to see if you can maintain balance as the train stops and starts (which you inevitably cannot do) is not a good idea, especially during rush hour. If you really feel the need to do such, try 2pm. Not toomany are on the metro then. Speaking of rush hour, try to avoid it. The trains are crowded enough as it is, and really there's no need to get to the museums that early because they don't open until ten. And definitely do not bring your group of ten, twenty, thirty, or even more onto the metro at rush hour. There is no way you will all be able to stay together. Also, do not step off of the metro and then stop to get oriented. Walk away from the doors, move out of the way, and then orient yourself for however long you want. On the same note, don't stop right when you step onto the metro. Move down the aisle. The people behind you would also like to get on the train. Finally, yes, I know the metro may be new to you, but surely you have seen an escalator before. Use it the way you would any escalator, meaning please stand to the right, allowing those wishing to walk to pass safely on the left.

2. The sidewalks in DC are generally large. That is so they can hold a large amount of traffic, not so you can spread out across the entire thing and then crawl at a snail's pace. Seriously, when is the last time you walked with your family spread out in one big line? You don't do it at home, so why do it here? Some of us are actually trying to get somewhere. I prefer to have the walk from the metro to work take about five minutes, not fifteen, and yes, as spectacular as it is, I don't need to stop and gaze at the Washington monument every day. And if you do decide to stop suddenly and snap a picture and I'm walking right behind you, it makes it difficult for me to stop without running into you...or your million kids who are spread all the way across the sidewalk.

3. There's a lot to see in DC. It wouldn't hurt to do a little research before you set off. For instance, it might be good to look up some info on the Holocaust Museum and realize that we have a timed-ticket admission procedure and only offer a limited number of tickets each day. This means that if you arrive in the afternoon during tourist season there's a good chance we'll be out of tickets. And despite what you may believe, I, nor anyone else at the museum, can make anymore tickets appear, even if you traveled all the way from the moon just to go to the Holocaust Museum. And seriously, if you'd come all the way to DC just to go the Holocaust Museum, I think you would have done your research and gotten to the museum in time to get tickets.

Okay, I'll go ahead and leave it at that for now. Really, I don't want to have to harm you, and I'd love for you to enjoy your trip, just please don't make my life difficult. Thanks in advance.

So Much To Do, So Little Time to Do It

I'm apparently living in a different world than our country's leaders are. The world I live in has genocides happening in Africa, has ever increasing terrorism in the Middle East, has millions of people with inadequate health care, has disturbing acts of teen violence, and the list goes on. I don't mean to be completely negative as the world I live in has many positives, but there are a whole lot of issues that I feel our elected officials have a responsibility to address. Strangely enough but the Schiavo case, steroids in baseball, and my right to travel to Cuba aren't anywhere on my list of things Congress should be investing its time and energy in.

How absolutely ridiculous is it that Congress and the President intervened in the Schiavo case? The case has been heard by numerous courts, and while crazy political maneuverings keep upsetting the decision, the standard court response is that her husband has the right to remove her feeding tube. While I find it terrible that the whole thing has been drug through the legal process so much, that is why we have courts. They exist to hear cases and make judgments based on the laws of our country. Laws that aren't meant to be changed at the whim of some politician, especially any politician who sees changing a law or intervening in a case as a way to win support for him and his party instead of protecting the rights of the people he/she represents. I am disgusted by reports in the paper that say Bush and his Republican chronies see their actions as a way of winning over more conservatives. Excuse me, but this is a woman's life we are talking about. An absolutely defenseless woman should not be manipulated in such a way. It is despicable. I hope the appelate court holds up the ruling and lets Mrs. Schiavo finally go in peace and lets the issue dissipate. It's a terrible situation, but after fifteen years and no signs of improvement, I think it's beyond time. It's a shame that it has come to this. If nothing else, maybe this will inspire more of us to look into living wills and to make our wishes known to all of our close relatives, and not just the ones who we believe would have legal authority, since apparently legal authority can be easily tampered with. As for me, I know that I don't consider a life like the one Mrs. Schiavo has to be a life at all. Sometimes tubes and machines are needed to protect a fragile life and allow the body to regenerate, but if the body doesn't recover after a reasonable amount of time, then it's time to let go. Really, shouldn't quality of life be the most important factor? I know it is for me.

Steroids in baseball. I think it stinks. I think it's terrible to think that the astonishing records of men who played pure games are being broken by men who pump their bodies full of drugs which increase strength. I hate to think that truly talented players can't make it if they don't join in the masses of players padding their stats through their use of steroids. I am angry that the men who tons of children hold up as idols are doing things that every parent tries to warn their children against. But I don't think Congress needs to subpoena players and throw a circus. Major League Baseball needs to handle this situation. While they've neglected it for much too long, they are finally addressing it, and with continued pressure from the public and from within, they will be forced to take a stance on steroids much like the NFL and other professional sports leagues. It's might be our national pasttime, but it's just a game. And I wish Congress would see that most of the world doesn't have much time for games.

Cuba. Lind of cigars, communism, and Castro. Yes, Cuba isn't a particularly friendly country as far as the US goes. Neither are North Korea, China, Algeria, Iran, and a slew of other countries with either communist or totalitarian leanings and with strong feelings of dislike for the US. So what's the difference here? Well the difference is that no matter how much you want to, you, as an American citizen, can't travel to Cuba. You can go to any of the others. You might be warned against it, even strongly advised against it, but you won't be stopped. Not true of Cuba. It's the only country in the world that the American government forbids Americans to enter. While always true, lately the penalty has gotten harsh. In the past, the government generally turned its head if you managed to get into Cuba through Mexico or some other gateway. Maybe they'd slap you with a small fine. Now, if they find out you've gone to Cuba, they will hunt you down, prosecute you, and possibly send you to jail for a decade. For what, exactly? Smoking cigars? Seriously, I don't think the United States has any business telling me where I can and cannot travel. I appreciate their warnings. I like being informed of places that might be hostile. But to be outright banned from traveling, especially to a country that while perhaps not friendly to our government isn't really risky for a traveler, disturbs me. Honestly, I have no strong urge to go there at this point, but it bothers me that I can't. It just doesn't make sense. Interestingly, there is one way to be allowed to visit Cuba by the American government: If you go with a religious group, you're allowed to go. Huh? What ever happened to separation of church and state? I had no idea that evangelizing was state-sponsored. Shows how much I know.

Now Where Exactly Is $5.15/hour Enough to Live? (Yes, I do mean in the US)

Thank God I don't make minimum wage. Oh, right, I pretty much do. They just trick me by calling it a stipend and giving it to me in one lump sum without making me report actual hours worked. Okay, well then thank God that I'm not solely dependent on my income to get by, because there is no way that I could do that, and I'm just talking about taking care of me, myself, and I.

The Senate just struck down an initiative to raise minimum wage and made it quite clear that there's not much of a chance of a raise happening during the next two years. It's a shame. The other day I was in a store where they had the federal wage laws posted. I looked over them and realized that it has been over seven years since the minimum wage was raised. In 1996, it was raised to $4.75. In 1997, it was raised to $5.15. It's been that ever since. I remember $5.15, because that was minimum wage the year I first started working. I was lucky...I made more than minimum wage, pulling in a whopping $5.25 an hour. It was fine for me. Back then I was sixteen. I had few expenses. I could put gas in the car for under $1.00 per gallon. But the problem is that while minimum wage has held the same, nothing else has. The cost of gas is approaching $2.15, and may go higher by this summer. It seems like those on minimum wage will now have to work a full day just to fill up their cars. And that's not the only thing that has gone up - rent, groceries, bus fare, just about anything you can think of. Everything is more expensive, so it makes no sense to me that the government thinks people can still get by on a measly salary of $5.15 per hour. That's hardly enough for a sixteen year old to think that working might be worthwhile. But the sad truth is that there are many people well beyond the age of sixteen who are only making minimum wage. These people have to worry about more than gas for their car and money for the weekends. They have to pay rent. They have to pay for health insurance (since most minimum wage jobs don't come it). They have to pay for clothes. They have to make car payments and pay for insurance, maintanence, and gas. They have to buy all their food. And some of them have to pay for all of this not just for themselves, but also for their children. Come on, there's just no way that the minimum wage is a livable wage.

Sure, I know the arguments against raising minimum wage - it will increase inflation or it will cause companies to lay people off - but I don't really believe them. Inflation seems to be increasing just fine on its own and the job market isn't very rosy even with the pathetic minimum wage we currently have. Companies won't lay people off if they actually need those people's help. If they did, they'd just have to pay current employees overtime, and that's way more expensive. Sure, they wouldn't have as many "benefits" to pay for, but most minimum wage jobs don't have any benefits to speak of, and if that was a true concern of the businesses, they'd lay off those people now and save on the benefits.

It's really sad that the men and women who were elected to public office (with the help of many people probably making nothing but minimum wage) and who like to give raises to themselves although they are already making very high salaries and collecting magnificent benefits, don't think that America's lowest income workers deserve a raise. It's not a hand-out. It's a long overdue right for people who work fulltime to earn enough to live. Being paid enough for one's work to maintain a minimum standard of living should not be a privilege, but a right.

Weighted Scales

Just a few days ago I finished reading Shake Hands with the Devil, Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire's account of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At the beginning of February I had heard him speak at the Holocaust Museum. He's an interesting man. A very high-ranking Canadian general who was chosen to "lead" the UN Peacekeeping Force in Rwanda. Obviously a powerful and skilled man. But also very different from the typical (or maybe more accurately, stereotypical) military man, as he is extremely compassionate, very liberal-minded, and quite forward with his emotions. He doesn't hide the fact that he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, the highest ranking soldier in the world to admit to it. Honestly, I'm not sure how someone who lived through what he lived through could not suffer from it. I put "lead" in quotation marks above, because while he was the on-the-ground commander who was responsible for life and death decisions for both UN soldiers and Rwandan civilians, he was constantly having his strings pulled by the UN and in particular by its security council. Never receiving the men, the supply, or the intelligence to do what he needed to do, he, his troops, and the entire country of Rwanda were at the mercy of a bunch of bureacrats who had little, if any, concern for Rwanda.

While I think we all know that where we choose to use our military might has always been dictated by what that country has to offer us, our lack of concern for the world and humanity has never been so clear as it was in Rwanda. By we/us/our, I mean the United States, and I also mean the other powerful first-world nations - Germany, France, Britain, Belgium, etc. The soldiers who made up the UN peacekeeping team in Rwanda were mainly from countries who were not a whole lot better off than Rwanda - Senegal, Ghana, Bangladesh. The Belgians did send some soldiers, and ten of them died in Rwanda, but as representatives of the former colonial power who had set up the entire Hutu/Tutsi division, they weren't really the best choice for a peacekeeping mission. We didn't send troops, because honestly, we didn't care what happened in Rwanda. They had nothing to offer us. In fact, bureaucrats who were sent to evaluate what was going on during the first days of the genocide were so bold as to put into print: "We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here are humans." Yes, just humans. No oil, no honor in battling communism (as the UN's most powerful nations were doing at the time in Yugoslavia). Nothing but people. Having recently suffered the loss of a handful of American lives in Somalia during the "Blackhawk Down" episode, America wasn't willing to risk any of our lives in order to protect the nearly one million Rwandans whose lives were at risk. Our lives were worth more. In fact, much more than you would ever guess. During the last weeks of Dallaire's stay in Rwanda, he received word from Washington that US calculations had indicated that it would take 85,000 Rwandan lives to justify the risking of the life of one American soldier. Apparently my life is worth 85,000 lives. Incredible. And disgusting. The entire population killed during the Rwandan genocide, 850,000 people, was only equivalent to 10 American lives.

It makes me feel ashamed to think that my country believes that. Yes, I like to think that my life is valuable. In fact, I know it is. But it's no more valuable than the life of someone else. Why should it be otherwise. Because I was born in a wealthy and developed country where I had the opportunity to be educated and to live a rich life, I am automatically a more valuable person? That's absurd. How can we justify this? How can we devalue the Rwandan lives so much? Is it because they are poor, and we are rich? Is it because they are uneducated, and we are educated? Is it because they are black Africa, and we are white America? I just don't understand.

Every person on this earth has value. That is Dallaire's message in this book. Incredibly, despite the absolute lack of humanity that he witnessed (both in watching Rwandans kill Rwandans and in watching as the rest of the world turned its collective head), Dallaire is still hopeful that this world can be a peaceful place. For that to happen, he says that we first must realize that no human is more human than any other human. We are all human. We are all valuable. We all deserve to live a full life. Let that be a lesson to us. In our every day life and in our worldy life. In the way we treat each person we encounter, in the expectations we set for our government and our leaders, in the way we look at the world, let's each remember that every person we meet is a valuable human being. Let's remember that humanity is not reserved for only the educated or the wealthy or the white, but applies to all people in all places. Let's all be human and humane.

So I know it's been a while since I've written, but I've been quite busy. Wedding planning can be quite time-consuming, in case you didn't know. Now that the bridesmaid dress dilemma has finally been solved, perhaps I'll have more free time.

But, I did run across this http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/25/roadkill.candy.ap/index.html today, and I thought it was interesting.

I wonder who gets paid to come up with ideas like this. Because I'd like to meet them and then take over their job. I'm all for being paid to sit around and think my normal crazy thoughts and then have them turned into reality. Funny stuff.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my dad can snag me some and send them my way. Oh, oh even better idea. My mom asked me the other day about "Out of Town Bags" for the wedding. What if I got a big supply of roadkill gummis and put a bag or two in each Out of Town Bag. That would be kind of representative of Kentucky wouldn't it. Yeah, I'm brilliant. Dad...you think you can work on that?

A Few Thoughts on Politics

*Watching the State of the Union address on a big screen HDTV is scary. It's like having W right there with you in your living room. And that's a pretty darn scary thought. But anyhow, has there ever been an instance when the President didn't start his address by saying what great shape the country is in? I mean it doesn't look all that rosy to me, and it doesn't seem that lying is a great way to start a speech in which you are trying to convince people of what you have to say, but what do I know. Did the President say the country was doing well during the Great Depression or the month after Pearl Harbor? I wonder if any President has ever come right out and said something like "Well things aren't really looking so good right now." That would be something.

*Gay marriage? Seriously? W had forty minutes to stand up and tell us his vision for the country, and he thought that bringing up gay marriage was a good use of those forty minutes? I mean, I thought he was just using that to secure all his conservative Christian votes and then he might let it kind of fade. Not that I thought he was for it, but I thought maybe he'd realize this really wasn't the kind of fight the President should be fighting. Oh, but once again I overestimated him. Give him the tiniest benefit of the doubt, and he'll show you right away why you shouldn't do that. I'm not going to get into it, because I'd end up writing a novel, but I can't believe that people actually think a constitutional amendment is what is needed. People like that really need to open their eyes and take a look at their world. And in a related note, what's up with all the "family groups" and "christian groups" opposing cartoons and "no-name calling days" because they include homosexuals. Apparently "family group" is synonymous with "hate group". I must have missed the line in the Bible that says to do unto others as you would have them do unto you..unless they are gay, non-Christians, or you just don't like them.

*So I don't really like that Bush seems eager to add Iran to his list of conquered nations, but seriously, Iran is a scary place. Read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" if you want to get an idea of what it's like without reading a history or politicial science book. Other countries on the scary list include Russia and China. Seriously, I think Russia is trying to rebuild the USSR. And China...well if China wasn't such a damn economic force, we'd hear a lot more about them because they are seriously totalitarian. But I think we're scared of them...and maybe rightfully so.

*I never realized that Virginia was such a scary state. But just recently they approved a new license plate that says something like "Support Traditional Marriage". They are also thinking of approving other license plates that promote good values. Sweet. I love it when the state dictates values. Also, they are about to vote on an ordinance calling for a $50 fine for guys who are "sagging" or girls who wear their jeans low enough that you see their underwear. Okay, I don't really like to see that stuff, but it's absolutely unbelievable that the government thinks it can regulate fashion. Seriously, that is unbelievable. It blows my mind that lawmakers sit around and come up with stuff like that. I was under the impression that we have a lot bigger things to worry about.

Anyhow, those are just a few tidbits from recent political happenings. I hope to return tomorrow with notes on the speech I went to the other day given by Gen. Romeo Dallaire, the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.

Are You Going My Way?

As a little kid, I remember hitching rides from my grandpa. We'd stand at the end of the walk, and as he drove by we'd stick our thumbs out just as he'd taught us and then pile into the car when he slowed down to pick us up. I also remember hearing my dad tell stories about how for fun they used to pull up in front of hitchhikers and then as the hitchhikers got close to reaching the back door of the car, they'd peal off and leave the man standing there. But most of all I remember being told to never, ever, ever under any circumstances actually get into a car with someone I didn't know. Hitchhiking was like a legend. It wasn't something people really did, aside from the scraggly looking couple of men you'd sometimes catch walking up the interstate on-ramp. And I never actually saw anyone pick them up.

But apparently the times are changing. Hitchhiking is now vogue. It is the way to get around DC. But it's not called hitchhiking here...it's called slugging. And it doesn't involve randomly picking a street to walk down and hope that someone picks you up. And you don't even have to stick your thumb out to catch a ride.

Right outside of my office, on the corner of 14th & Independence, a line of people forms every evening around 5pm. There are actually a couple of lines, with many of them being lines for buses that run out to suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. There is one line, however, that is different. This is the slug line. This line starts at the fire hydrant and continues down the road. In this line, people who are heading toward Potomac Mills, Virginia and the surrounding area stand and wait for drivers who are also headed in that direction to come by. You see, in order to use the HOV lanes in the area, you have to have 3 people in your car. And with traffic as terrible as it is around here, using the HOV lane can cut your travel time in half. So solo drivers pull up and announce to the first person in line where they are going. That person then passes the information down the line, and the first two people who are going to the same place hop in the car and head home with someone they have possibly never met before. If the driver doesn't get the two people he needs at this stop, he can go on up to another one since there are quite a few of these locations all over town.

To find out more about slugging, you can go to www.slug-lines.com. Here you can find a slugging location near you (both am and pm locations). You can rate slug-lines. You can find out when are the best times to use certain lines. You can check the Lost & Found board to see if that last driver you were with has found the sunglasses you can't seem to locate. And you can learn about the Rules & Etiquette of slugging. Here is a sampling: Slugs don't talk, unless conversation is initiated by the driver. Slugs don't smoke or eat. Slugs don't carry on long cell phone conversations. Both driver and slug say thank you at the beginning and end of the ride. No one offers or requests money. The line doesn't leave a woman standing alone....

Pretty interesting, don't you think? I can't help wondering how it got started and how it ended up so organized. Seriously, how did people first know where to go or how did they decide that getting in the car with a stranger might not be as taboo as their parents made it out to be? I'm tempted to give it a try. Maybe I'll check out the website and find a line that goes my way. At least it would make for an interesting life experience.

How Disturbing

On Friday I was reading CNN online, and I saw the article about the 19 year old Wal-Mart cashier who was forced into her car as she was leaving work at midnight, abducted and later killed. There were a couple of things that were disturbing about the incident to me.

First of all, the man had been wandering around the parking lot for 2 hours, following women and then for some reason or another, giving up on them. 2 hours! And at one point, he was approached by private security guards who talked to him but did nothing. Okay, if someone has been hanging around a parking lot for two hours with no clear purpose, there's something wrong. Whether or not he or she is doing anything else particularly suspicious, there is something odd about someone just hanging out in a parking lot. If nothing else, charge them with loitering and get them out of there. It's even more sketchy when it's way past dark and when the man is following around women. Yes, some of these details probably came to light after the fact, but that he was stopped by security at one point does reveal that there was something a little off about the man. And if for someone reason after talking to the man and deciding not to do anything, would it have been too much for security to have observed him a little more closely? I mean, obviously, they weren't too intimidating or annoying since he hung around and did what he did.

Secondly, and most terrifying, is that this man would, without knowing this woman at all, abduct her and kill her. I know this isn't the only case of it, but any time it happens, I find it extremely disturbing. Any time anyone is killed or assualted, it's terrible. It's wrong. It's unbelievable. But at least sometimes you can see a motive, however wrongheaded it is. A jealous lover, an angry spouse, a deal gone wrong, etc. It's not right. It's not any less terrible for the family and friends of the person killed. But it's something you can detach yourself from...I wouldn't be in an abusive relationship...I wouldn't hang out with those kind of people...I wouldn't be in that situation...It wouldn't happen to me. But something like this is personal because of the fact that it's so impersonal. This girl was working, minding her own business, and then this happens. How scary is it that some people are so messed up that they can just kill for absoluetly no reason other than some unexplained anger or hatred or disturbance? It's something I just can't fathom. Did he wake up that morning and decide he wanted to kill someone? Did he have any idea what he was doing? If he was in the parking lot for 2 plus hours, I have to believe he had some kind of plan. It wasn't random. But what made him pick the woman he did? It's terrifying that there are people like that in the world and that no matter what you do, you are never completely safe from them.

Anyhow, I don't think we should all quit going out alone or cut ourselves off from the world. I've said it many times before...we can't live in fear. And we can't be paranoid. But we can be prepared as best as we can. I don't know the exact details of what happened, and I have no idea what that woman was thinking, but I can't help wondering why she didn't fight back. Please, please, please...if you are ever in a situation like this (God forbid), fight. Don't get in the car. As soon as you do, your chances of survival drop dramatically. Most attackers are looking for an easy victim. If you put up a fight...kick, scream, yell, bite, scratch...they're likely to let you go and get the hell out of there. If it's your car they're trying to get you to get in, throw the keys as far as you can. Even if they have a gun or a knife, fight back. Make them attack you right there in the parking lot. God knows if they're willing to attack you right there, they are definitely not going to hesitate to do it in some isolated place where no one is around to see or help. Your best chance of survival is fighting right then and there. Later on, it might be too late. So think about it, make a plan, know what you would do, because if the situation occurs you might not be able to think straight and will have to rely solely on instinct. It's terrible that we have to do that, but it's a sad fact of our current world. And I'd rather we all be safe.

I think it's going to snow on President Bush's parade. Or at least it's going to be really, really cold. Perhaps that is God's way of expressing his disapproval for Bush or at least for all the money being spent on his inauguration. Or maybe that's just what happens in winter.

Anyhow, tomorrow is the Presidential Inauguration. A day to celebrate "the peaceful transfer of power," according to W himself. Now if we'd elected someone else that might be somewhat true, but I don't think the re-inauguration of Bush really counts as a transfer of power. And how many instances of non-peaceful transfer have there been here in the US anyway? I think Bush has a little too much Iraq on the brain. A little too much Iraq rhetoric at least. I'd be giving him too much credit to say that he actually gives the situation in Iraq that much thought. Or maybe he does these days, since he didn't do the thinking when he should have and now we're in a huge mess. Whatever. I don't want to get into that. What I want to know is how all of this inauguration stuff got so out of hand. When did it become necessary to spend millions of dollars that we don't have just so the man we elected to be President months ago can take his oath of office? It all seems so unnecessary to me. And not just unnecessary, but also embarrassing. We're living in a world that's facing a lot of hardship currently, yet we seem not to have any regard for that. No, I don't think that we should all dress in black and go into mourning until the world's problems are solved, but I do think we ought to have some restraint and make the process at least a bit more subdued than it has been in the past. It's become somewhat of a foreign concept here in America, but we don't always have to make things bigger and more expensive. We don't have to collectively keep up with the Joneses. Just a thought.

But anyhow, I must say that there is one part of this whole Inauguration that I will enjoy, and that is me sleeping in. Tomorrow is a holiday for all federal employees who work in the District, so yay for me. Too bad for you.

...And I Feel Fine

Hurricanes battered Florida all fall. California was hit hard with floods, and the weather there isn't improving with mudslides taking out cities now. Locusts plagued Egypt and other parts of Africa. And the strongest earthquake on record resulted in tsunamis that killed well over a hundred thousand people and left the earth's geography and rotation altered. Is this the apocalypse?

Funny, isn't it, how lots of people talk of the apocalypse, the end of the world, the return of God, etc., but nobody ever really thinks it will happen in their lifetime. Maybe we'll be the ones. Ha Ha.

One Good Thing for Living in DC

I feel like I should write a blog, but I can't really think of much to write. I know that's lame, but right now it's the truth. My mind just won't settling on anything substantial. I could do a Christmas recap or a New Year resolution thing, but I'm not really in the mood for either of those.

So I'll just write a little random thought.
The nice thing about not living in the same city as your family is getting to go home for Christmas. If I lived in Louisville, I'd be in my own place, and I'd wake up on Christmas all alone except for whoever I was living with. And there wouldn't be piles of presents from Santa Claus, and I'd probably be bored and piddle around a lot until it was time to go to wherever I was going for Christmas lunch or dinner. But since I do live out of town, I get to go home to my parent's house for Christmas and act just like a little kid. I get to line up on the stairs in my pjs with my brothers for our morning picture. I get to race downstairs to tons of presents. I get to whoop and holler as I open them up. And I get to play with everyone else's presents. It's fun. I think that even if I move back to Louisville, I'm still going to spend Christmas Eve night at my parents. And I'm going to demand that my brothers do too. I guess it could get a little crowded if we all have kids, but hey, that would be even more fun. Yay for Christmas!

Maybe I Should Host a Call-In Radio Talk Show...Although From the Looks of It Only Family Would Call In

Well, at least it’s good to know that there are people out there reading what I wrote…even if it pisses them off. No, actually I had no intent to piss anyone off, but I did, and so it goes. That’s how opinions work. Some people agree. Some don’t. But gosh, isn’t the great thing about America the fact we’re all free to express them...and then be pissed off by the expression of others’. But while I do stand behind the general premise of what I wrote yesterday…that this proposed biotech lab is a good deal…a great deal…for Louisville, I do want to clear up a few points.

First, I also live in the neighborhood of biotech labs. In fact, I live in the neighborhood of the National Institute of Health…acres and acres of biotech labs. This isn’t a case of well as long as it’s in your neighborhood and not mine. Trust me, I’ve thought about the potential dangers. I’ve thought about the potential of terrorists targeting the nation’s central facility for the research of anything and everything health related. Hell, I leave for work every morning knowing my fiancé is spending his entire day right in the middle of this complex. I’ve thought about contamination…I live with a kid who likes to tell me about how he had blood squirting all over him as he worked on some experiment. But the fact is, he’s safe. The lab’s safe. There aren’t any guarantees regardless and yes, we can do things to safeguard ourselves, but we can’t cower in a corner and quit progressing because of fear. Plus the work that these labs do is much too important to let fear close them. I know, and if you’re reading this blog, I know that you know far too many people who are suffering or have suffered from diseases for which there is currently no cure. I’d rather increase the riskiness of my life by .00001% or whatever in the hopes that their lives will be improved by much more than that.

Secondly, I did not intend for my comments on UL to reflect what I thought about the intelligence or ability of anyone who holds a degree from there. The truth is that the state of Kentucky does not have the type of flagship university it deserves. I would argue that UL has the potential to be that school more than UK does, but I don’t think it currently is. It is no UNC, UVA, UC Berkeley, all also public universities. The University of Louisville has a number of excellent programs, top programs, but overall it ranks, as all rankings of universities will show, as a middle-tier school. The truth is, as I think all of us know, the education you get from any school completely depends on what you put into it. Hell, W went to Yale, a school which is undeniably one of the top schools in the country, but I definitely don’t think of him as a very smart guy, while there are a great many people who have graduated from UL, who I think are extremely intelligent people doing very important things. If you felt personally attacked by my comments on UL, I’m sorry, as that was not the intent at all. My dad went to UL. My brother wants to go there for his Master’s. I obviously respect them and think of them as intelligent. I just don’t think that UL, as an overall institution, has yet lived up to its potential, and I think it would be a shame to strip away an opportunity for it to grow in stature.

And a final point, I did not attribute the adjectives “absurd and ignorant” to the people attending the meeting but to the reasons given for opposition, as reported in the Courier-Journal. I find it encouraging that people make the effort to get informed about the events occurring in their lives. I find it disturbing that people refuse to actually listen to the facts but use their energy to fight a non-battle. Concerns about health and safety are more than justified, but the truth is (and no, not supplied by me or the NIH or Jeff (how he got in this I don’t know), but by an entire history of records on the safety of such government health labs) that these labs are overwhelmingly safe. While there have been terrible health disasters throughout the history of man, it’s important to compare apples to apples here. And no, I nor anyone else, can ever guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen, but no one can ever guarantee that the house you live in won’t burn down with you inside or the car you drive won’t crush you in a crash. We inform ourselves as best as we can, and then make a sound decision. UL isn’t trying to kill anyone. That won’t help their reputation for sure. They’ve done their research. They’ve now shared it with the public. And now we make our judgments. I judge for safe. You can judge it non-safe if you choose, but if so, I’d be interested to hear a pointed argument based on the specifics of this exact lab. Now if anyone wants to oppose it for reasons like property value or traffic or whatnot, they can do that too. They should just be upfront about that being their concern.

Well, that all didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to, but I think I covered the gist of what I wanted to say. The truth is I want the biotech lab to come to Louisville, and I want it to come for selfish reasons. I want it to spur other biotech industry in the hopes that some of it will be related to the type of work that Jeff does, so one day I can move back home and he can find a job there. So yes, selfish, but at the same time not at all. After all, Luh-vul is the city where I want to live, and you stupid, stupid UL grads and supporters are the ones I want to live by. :-)

Anyhow, all I probably did is put a few more bees in a few more bonnets, but I hope not. My original intent was not to offend anyone, and that is still not my intent. In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing all of you soon and being back in Louisville. And as a final suggestion…why don’t some more of you write blogs. You obviously have plenty of interesting and intelligent things to say, and I’m always looking for a new distraction. Just a thought.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I just read an article in the Courier-Journal about how droves of people turned out yesterday to protest the proposed building of a biotech lab at Shelby Campus, and it really annoyed me. As I read it, it became clear that this was just another example of what is wrong with Louisville. Now anyone who knows me knows I love Louisville, but sometimes the people of Louisville really piss me off. I hear Louisvillians complain all the time about how either a) the city gets no respect or b) the city doesn’t provide the right kind of opportunities to lure people to the city. But when the city has a chance to change both of these, the people come out, act like idiots, and keep Louisville right where it is. If we want Louisville to grow and to grow in positive ways that allow the city to keep the identity we love, we have to be open to change. We don’t have to raze everything that has made the city what it is. We don’t have to give up our accents and start pronouncing Louisville with three syllables. We don’t have to be Indianapolis or Nashville or St. Louis. We just have to be Louisville, with its potential recognized.

A biotech lab built with funding by the NIH is big-time for Louisville. It’s national recognition that Louisville has the talent and ability to perform truly important research. It would make the University of Louisville, a so-so university at best, a notch closer to being the kind of university the city deserves. It would bring talented, intelligent people to the community…people who would fall in love with the city we have and perhaps help bring solutions to some of the problems we can’t seem to solve. It would serve as a lure to other businesses which can provide Louisville with the kinds of jobs that many of us who would rather live in Louisville are moving out of state to find.

The reasons that people offered as opposition to the proposed building were absurd and ignorant. The lab would pose no increased health risk or terrorism risk to the city. Labs of this caliber are incredibly safe and secure places. Our health is more likely to be endangered by the crash of a tractor-trailer carrying biohazardous material on I-65 or the air pollution caused by the zillions of cars clogging up our roads because our city has no real interest in high-quality public transportation. The people at this meeting were being sensationalist, with no true idea of what they were talking about. What they’re really afraid of is true change, and it’s a shame. Because Louisville has got to move forward. Staying in the same place at this point is the same as moving backward. If we keep saying no, opportunities are going to quit knocking. And not only will we not gain, but we’ll probably lose a lot of the positive we already have.

Gosh, I Think a Crab Would Look Great On That $46 Piece of Plastic

This Saturday, I got up early to take a little trip. Unfortunately, it wasn't to anywhere exciting, but to the MVA, otherwise known as the DMV. Apparently Maryland is a special place and feels that they need to change the name of their DMV to reflect that. But in reality, the MVA was no different than the DMV. Tons of people sat in molded plastic chairs waiting for their number to flash on the screen overhead so that they could go talk to someone who was either grumpy, inarticulate, or unfamiliar with the English language. My number was 82. I think they were in the 60s when I got there. I didn't think it would take all that long since there were about 15 open stations, but of course, it still took an hour. And then when I finally got up there and was one step from being finished with the whole tedious process, the computers froze. Just my luck. So I got to sit there and sit there and sit there until they came back on. Fortunately, they did come back on and I was able to walk out of the MVA $46 poorer, but with a new driver's license. That's right...$46. It's a freaking piece of plastic folks. That's more than a parking violation costs. That's absurd. And not only is it just a piece of plastic, it's about the ugliest piece of plastic I've ever seen. Not only is there one big horrible picture of me on it, but a little fuzzy copy of this same horrible picture in the corner. And my scribbly signature (who ever thought signing on a screen was a good idea?) is also on there twice, along with my birthdate. Apparently people in Maryland are retarded and need to see everything twice before it makes sense to them. Actually, the stupid factor is confirmed by the picture chosen for the license. It's a crab. A creepy, crawly crab smack in the top right corner of my license. Come on, people. A crab. That's a good one. I mean, I used to think the Kentucky license was ugly, but at least it was interesting. This one is just flat out ugly. No redeeming qualities at all.

So yes, I came home from the MVA a little bit grumpy. I'd had to get up early on a Saturday just to wait around forever before forking over $46 (Mind you, $46 is a significant chunk of my monthly income) for an ugly piece of plastic. Buty it just wasn't all those little inconveniences that made me grumpy, but the fact that I had to turn over my Kentucky license for a Maryland one. It was as if the MVA man threw a little part of me away when he shoved my Kentucky license through the tiny slot of the locked drawer through which nothing can ever be recovered. Sure, I do live in Maryland now and will probably for a few more years, but I don't feel any connection with this place. The only parts of the state I've ever been to are Baltimore and the DC metropolitan area. I have no idea who the governor is. I don't know the state motto or song, and I can't figure out why their state flag looks like it should be waved at a Nascar race. I have no connection to this place, and I don't really have a desire to establish one. I don't feel like anything that happens here actually affects me. Maybe that will change with time. I don't know. But for now, all I know is that there's an imposter in my wallet. It's an ugly little piece of plastic (with a crab on it!) that says I'm from Maryland when I know darn well that I am and always will be from Kentucky.

It's Not Charlie Brown's Tree

Today Jeff and I went and got our Christmas tree. We went to a farm and wandered through rows and rows of trees, examining the trees from all angles, discarding trees that from far away looked perfect but which exhibited flaws like bare spots and odd growth patterns upon closer inspection, and debating the merits of the five or six different types of trees growing on the farm. Jeff originally wanted a small tree. He thought that we didn't have enough stuff to decorate a big tree with and that we didn't have enough space for a big one. I let him think that I agreed with that theory, but I was after a big one all along. I mean, who wants a Charlie Brown tree?

It's been well over a decade since I last went Christmas tree shopping. Heck it might be closer to a decade and a half. I'm not sure. Mom, when was that? As a small child, my family always travelled down to the Hay Market to pick out a tree. I remember wandering through the aisles with each of us picking out our favorites. I remember always picking out a tree that was much too big for our house as my favorite. I didn't have much of a sense of proportion then. I still don't really. But mostly what I remember is the smell. The wonderful undeniably Christmas-y smell of fresh pine trees. That's what I missed most when we switched to fake Christmas trees. When it was determined that it was the tree which was leading to all of my brother's holiday illnesses, we had to switch. I wasn't very happy about that, but it wasn't my decision. Since then, I've come to peace with it. Hey, it's a lot less messy. (Until today, I had forgotten how many needles live trees like to leave on the floor.) But I must say that I've already forgiven the tree for its mess, because it looks beautiful and smells divine.

So as I'm sure you all guessed, I got the tree I wanted. It's a white pine that touches the ceiling and has a hearty diameter to go with it. We bought lights yesterday (multi-colored ones, because I like they way they look when you squinch up your eyes and stare at it and can see nothing but light), and we stocked up on some ornaments today (to go with the ones that Jeff claimed from his mom while we were in Seattle for Thanksgiving and the ones I will be claiming at home over Christmas). And we have a gorgeous tree skirt that my mom made for me, which looks very much like the one we have at home and makes the tree look and feel just right. So this evening we combined the tree, the lights, the ornaments, and the skirt to make a masterpiece in the corner of our living room. A few other Christmas decorations throughout the house give the place a nice holiday feel.

Hope everyone else is starting to get into the season too. It's hard not to enjoy it. And if you find yourself not feeling quite as jolly as you should be, go into the room with your Christmas tree, turn out the lights, and squinch up your eyes. If you don't feel Christmas-y then, than you're just one big Scrooge.

Hotel Rwanda

I’ve noticed that there’s starting to be a glut of advertising for movies that are coming out this holiday season. Before you start making a list of must-see movies, let me suggest one that you might overlook. It’s called Hotel Rwanda, and it will be released nationwide on December 22. As a guest of the USHMM, Jeff and I went and saw the director’s premiere on Tuesday evening, and I now feel compelled to let you know about this movie.

Falling just under two hours in length, this movie completely captured my attention (which if you know me well, you know that that is a difficult thing to do). Without being documentary-like at all, it maintains the historical accuracy that is so often lacking in films about historical incidents. Without being preachy, it makes you question your values and actions. Without being sentimental, it makes you feel that there is good and hope in our world.

The film focuses on the Rwandan genocide of 1994 in which 800,000 people lost their lives in just over 100 days. But more specifically, it focuses on one man, Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle), and his courageous efforts, which resulted in the salvation of 1268 lives. Paul, a Hutu manager of a Belgian hotel, is married to a Tutsi woman with whom he has four children. When the Hutus begin to massacre the Tutsis, Paul takes action to not only save the lives of his family, but also the lives of thousands of other people he doesn’t know, putting his own life on the line. While other Hutus turned on family and friends, creating one of the worst bloodbaths of the past half-century, he refuses the command to kill or be killed, and uses cunning, courage, and a bit of luck to prove that one person can make a difference. I’m not going to tell you more about the plot, because you have to go see this movie. While it does not shy away from the horrors of this brutal genocide, the movie contains no gratuitous violence, and much of the violence is implied…you think you see it, but you don’t.

What is spectacular about this movie is the range of thoughts and emotions it evokes without ever making any outright moves to tell you how to feel. One of the most powerful emotions for me was the shame that I felt at being part of a culture that turned its back on this genocide. When all it would have taken was the police force of a middle-size city to stop the murders, we refused to send any help and instead pulled out any forces we had there. Whether subconsciously or not, we (not just America, but the entire western world) said that the lives of these 800,000 people had no value to us. We looked at Africa and saw a distant, perhaps even “barbaric” land that had nothing to offer us. Unlike other wars, which we like to say we fight for “humanitarian” purposes, this one would have been a truly humanitarian fight. There would be no rewards in oil or power. There would only be the reward of peace and life. And apparently for us this was not enough. Like the journalist in the movie said, we watched it on TV, said how awful it was, and then went right back to our dinners. We were completely void of the empathy that is needed to make this world a more humane place. As humans, we must care about what happens to other humans, whether they are our friends and family or are people thousands of miles away who we do not know. They are still humans. They have the same kinds of feelings as us, the same kinds of hopes, and the same kinds of fears. It is our duty to speak up for them when they can’t speak up for themselves. One day we may need someone to speak up for us. After the Holocaust, we promised “Never Again.” But time after time, we break that promise. Rwanda. Bosnia. Yugoslavia. Darfur. Will we ever actually learn that it takes more than words. We have to have actions.

Thankfully, there are people who do take action. In Rwanda, there were a few UN Peacekeepers who refused to give up. There were some Red Cross workers who refused to leave. And there was Paul. His story is amazing. It overcomes you with emotion. It makes you wonder if you would have the same courage if you were in the same situation. It reminds you never to underestimate the power of one person to change things. It gives you a reason to hope that things will change, that people will change, that the world will change. And it inspires you to take action.

I don’t know exactly what to do. It’s a bit overwhelming. But I know I can’t just sit quietly, a hermit in my own immediate world, while so many people in the world are suffering. At the premiere, Paul Rusesabagina himself was there to talk and answer questions after the movie. He was an ordinary man, someone you’d pass on the street without never noticing. But what he did was extraordinary. He’s proof of what we all can be.

So go see the movie when it opens on December 22. And take action to make the world a better place. I’ll keep you posted on ways I find to make sure your voice is heard by more people than those you eat dinner with …on making sure that “Never Again” is more than just a fashionable catchphrase, but a reality.

Beavers in the News

This one is for my brothers.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/15/beaver.bucks.ap/index.html

I promise to do a real post soon. Life is busy.

Remember When He Said He Was A Uniter?

In yesterday’s speech in which Bush laid out his plans for our country’s future (or lack there of), he said, and I quote: “I’ll reach out to everyone who shares our goals.”

Is that really considered reaching out? For some reason, I thought reaching out meant going beyond your circle and attempting to bring other people into it. How, I wonder, is this going to help bring the country or the world together? Considering that a little less than 50% of the country and probably about 95% of the world doesn’t share his goals, exactly who is he planning to reach out to?

It’s already starting. We’re in for four more years of the same “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” politics, of the alienation of once strong allies, and of the deepening of the divide in America. Being President of the USA means representing all people, even those who didn’t vote for you. It’s not like being CEO of a company. You can’t fire me from America because I’m not on board with your policies. You have to find a way to incorporate me. Or at least I thought you did. But lately I’ve noticed that apparently a lot of the things I think are wrong, so hell what do I know.

That’s My Future You Just Flushed Down The Toilet

I’m not surprised. But I am disappointed. Honestly, America, I had higher hopes for you. I thought that maybe you were better than that. Please, do tell me what inspired an ungodly amount of you to vote for Bush. What made you rally behind a man who has led us down one slippery slope after another for the past four years? Didn’t your parents ever tell you that just because one of your friends thinks jumping off a bridge is a good idea that you don’t have to do it too?

Really, I just don’t see what led you to do this. Was it the moronic grin and stupid faces he makes on prime time television? Is it the way he says nuculer instead of nuclear? Was it the fear and terror instilled in you by his sidekick Dick? Was it because you like being unemployed? Did training the foreigners who are taking over your job make you feel like you were having an international experience? Do you have some twisted illness that makes you enjoy being hated? Please, someone explain it to me, because I just don’t get it.

Exit polls show that over 20% of the people who voted said that their number one concern when deciding who to vote for was “moral issues.” And of these 20+%, the overwhelming majority voted for Bush. I don’t understand. Unless of course invoking God’s name every time you speak makes you moral. What, I ask, is moral about fighting a war that goes against every principal of the just war theory? What is moral about outsourcing jobs so that people here don’t have them and people abroad end up working for terrible wages in terrible conditions? What is moral about favoring the wealthy over the poor, about supporting unethical big businesses who leave their employees penniless? What is moral about the death penalty or the support of constitutional amendments that deny people basic human rights? Really, people, if morals are your concern, Bush isn’t your man. And if Bush is your man, be honest with yourself and don’t say that it’s about morals.

Yesterday we had the chance to stand up and say that we think America is a better place than Bush has made it and that we as Americans deserve better than what Bush has given us. We could have said that international cooperation is better than a “don’t mess with me or I’ll kick your ass” attitude. We could have said that the welfare of all people is more important than our own personal wealth. We could have said that what we want isn’t a second home in a vacation hotspot but a safe and secure home for every person. We could have said that war should be the last option and not the first. We could have said that love shouldn’t be restricted or dictated but rather given openly and freely even to those whose lifestyles we don’t always understand or agree with. But we didn’t.

We didn’t vote with our heads, but with our pocketbooks and our prayer books. We didn’t vote with our hopes, but with our fears. We didn’t stand up and say what needed to be said.

I’m afraid we’re going to regret it.

History, Don't Fail Me Now...

All signs are pointing to a Kerry win on Tuesday, according to some of the most pertinent historical statistics out there. For one, every time the Red Sox have been in the World Series during a presidential election year, the democratic nominee has won. Being that the Red Sox even managed to win this year, it seems that the odds should be even more in the favor of the Democrats. Additionally, the Redskins have been a consistent predictor of the presidential election. If they win their final home game before the election, the incumbent wins. If they lose, the challenger wins. Well today was that game, and the Redskins lost to the Packers, so it's looking good for Kerry. Please, history, don't fail this time.

Now for some random thoughts from the past week and half. Yes, I haven't been a great blogger lately.

--When I went through airport security in Louisville on the way back to DC last Tuesday, the guy at the metal detector looked at my boarding pass and commented, "Well that's different. You're the first Mary There I've ever had." I looked at him, and said, "It's Mary Theresa. They cut off the last two letters." Yeah, Mary There. Come on. I know people give their kids some strange names, but really, you actually thought that might be someone's name???

--I took the GRE this morning. Being an English major and planning to apply to History programs, I didn't really care so much for the Math section and did little to prepare for it. But lo and behold, guess which part I did the best on. Yeah, fortunately I did well on both parts, so it's not really a big deal, but it was a bit odd that I would score better on the math section. Not sure what that says. Maybe I should have stayed with science??

--I despise the fact that we just changed the clocks. The sun will now set before I even leave work. Ugh. That's disgusting. I hate winter. It makes me lazy and grumpy. I am convinced that I have SAD. I need to cut back the hours I work, so I get to spend some time in the sun each day. Think that will fly?

--Jeff and I finally have a couch. It is a big, red, beautiful, comfy couch. Seriously, it looks really nice in the room and is quite spacious. So feel free to visit now. We won't make you sleep on the floor.

--We have had no trick-or-treaters. It's sad. Living in a condo complex, I didn't really expect them to come in droves, but I thought we might have a few. But alas, no, all the candy is still sitting in a bowl by the door. Guess Jeff and I will just have to suck it up and eat it all. Man, life is hard.

--Wedding planning is hard. It makes my head hurt. There are way too many things to think about, and each thing has a million alternatives that have to be weighed. My dad said it would be okay with him if we just eloped. I think he was joking, but seriously it would be a whole lot easier. Just joking, I want the whole deal...I just wish it were easier to make happen.

Anyhow, Happy Halloween to one and all. Hope you got lots of treats and no tricks.