This has been a strange week.
1. It is not Christmas. Lets stop kidding ourselves. I do not want your holiday music, flyers, or manufactured cheer. Thank you.
2. Why is it so hard to find a decent pair of gloves in this city? My fingers are freezing off.
3. Someone punched me in the face last night without provication while I was walking down 13th street. I was outside the Last Drop! Jeez, right there?! They didn't even do anything - just walked away while I swore at them. I'm still totally perplexed, although a friend of mine thinks someone was filming it for kicks. Odd hobby. At least the dude at the LD gave me a hot chocolate - very motherly.
4. Stairs, apparently, are not a valid method of transportation, according to security at Daffy's. I'm not a fan 0f elevators - they make me feel like a lazy, dumb American. I take the stairs when possible. Problem is, they're not always so easy to find. So, at Daffy's, I asked the security gaurd where I might find a flight. Her response was telling.
"Stairs?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows like I had just asked her to produce a kiwi from her pocket.
"Yes," I said, afraid I would have to explain the concept of a rising system of boxes that could be ascended.
"You wanna take the stairs?"
"Well, yes."
"Why?"
"I thought it might be easier." Elevators are also very annoying, in my opinion.
"Oh, I dunno. It's kinda hard."
Hard? Hard to take the stairs, right, gotcha, lemme wait in line for five minutes so I can take an elevator one flight up. How can you not have a flight of stairs? Has no one ever asked where they are, or desired to take them? Does no one else feel accomplished after they take the stairs instead of the elevator? I must be looney, I must be loosing it.
It's God Bless America Day!
11.06.2008
Today I walked a six-block circle around center city and saw fifteen American flags and one bus with "GOD BLESS AMERICA" blinking in the front. I also spied a flag at least thirty feet high hanging in the lobby of a downtown high rise.
What, praytell, is the point of hanging an American flag in an office building?
Hanging Old Glory in an office building is the equivalent of hanging a poorly done abstract painting in the same place. It says nothing about your organization whatsoever. It says, "We'll, we wanted to say something, but god forbid we put up something that might offend people, so let's go for the most generic, worn-out banner that we can find. Who can disagree with that?"
Well, on one hand, no one. Because it says nothing anymore, and how can you get offended by nothing? On the other hand:
Me. It's generic. It's stupid. It's repetitive and meaningless, like the word "freedom." Things loose their meaning when they're too often repeated, and I'm bored with all of it. If you want to hang something up, hang something interesting. Stop parading garbage in front of my eyes.
What, praytell, is the point of hanging an American flag in an office building?
Hanging Old Glory in an office building is the equivalent of hanging a poorly done abstract painting in the same place. It says nothing about your organization whatsoever. It says, "We'll, we wanted to say something, but god forbid we put up something that might offend people, so let's go for the most generic, worn-out banner that we can find. Who can disagree with that?"
Well, on one hand, no one. Because it says nothing anymore, and how can you get offended by nothing? On the other hand:
Me. It's generic. It's stupid. It's repetitive and meaningless, like the word "freedom." Things loose their meaning when they're too often repeated, and I'm bored with all of it. If you want to hang something up, hang something interesting. Stop parading garbage in front of my eyes.
Salt of the Earth
11.05.2008
Last night, Sen. Barack Obama defeated Sen. John McCain in the climax to the most epic and meaningful election in modern times. Tallying over 330 electoral votes, Sen. Obama won nearly two-thirds of the electoral college's vote for a landslide victory for the first African-American president elect. Here in Philly, we hit Broad St. We do this every time something exciting happens, you see.
This wasn't the Phillies rush-and-riot, but it was so much happier. The joy was tangible, thick in the air, an incredible feeling of lightness circling my head. I was consumed with observation, checking the Obama signs, the chants of "USA!", the spontaneous signing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Patriotism was hot in the air. For the first time in my political life, I could be proud of the man who would be leading the country, and I'm sure that feeling extended outside of me.
I saw Obama speak on the news, give his victory speech, and I nearly cried. This man, this man is capable, intelligent, passionate and understanding. We need massive upheaval in this country, a near revolution, and the only thing strong enough to change the current system is the system itself. Hopefully, Obama will give us that. Hopefully, this man will bring us change, bring us home, bring us back to what we're supposed to be.
When I woke up this morning, I couldn't believe it still. I laid in bed and looked up at my glow-in-the-dark-star covered ceiling, half-grinning and half shaking my head. My mother called me so we could shout over the phone, and told me there was a party in every room at her office. "You've never seen so many happy social sciences people," she told me. I've never seen so many happy Philadelphians. As one woman yelled last night, "This was the best seven days in the history of Philadelphia!"
I don't want to believe this will be good because I'm afraid of being let down again, because I know the government in s a class tool, but like I said before, this feels good. Tomorrow, America just might fall apart, but for once I hope it doesn't.
This wasn't the Phillies rush-and-riot, but it was so much happier. The joy was tangible, thick in the air, an incredible feeling of lightness circling my head. I was consumed with observation, checking the Obama signs, the chants of "USA!", the spontaneous signing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Patriotism was hot in the air. For the first time in my political life, I could be proud of the man who would be leading the country, and I'm sure that feeling extended outside of me.
I saw Obama speak on the news, give his victory speech, and I nearly cried. This man, this man is capable, intelligent, passionate and understanding. We need massive upheaval in this country, a near revolution, and the only thing strong enough to change the current system is the system itself. Hopefully, Obama will give us that. Hopefully, this man will bring us change, bring us home, bring us back to what we're supposed to be.
When I woke up this morning, I couldn't believe it still. I laid in bed and looked up at my glow-in-the-dark-star covered ceiling, half-grinning and half shaking my head. My mother called me so we could shout over the phone, and told me there was a party in every room at her office. "You've never seen so many happy social sciences people," she told me. I've never seen so many happy Philadelphians. As one woman yelled last night, "This was the best seven days in the history of Philadelphia!"
I don't want to believe this will be good because I'm afraid of being let down again, because I know the government in s a class tool, but like I said before, this feels good. Tomorrow, America just might fall apart, but for once I hope it doesn't.
O-B-A-M-A
11.04.2008
I am so excited. Obama is leading the pre-count and looks like the winner for tonight.
The winner? God, it's almost as unbelievable as the Phillies winning the Series. Almost. Maybe some more riots for this big win?
But really, I shouldn't be so excited. I know representational democracy is a sham. I know that government is just a tool for the upper-class to impose its will on the lower class. But something about this election, something about Obama, has me wrapped up in the fool's hope that something could actually change. My life could get better, our lives as Americans could get better. We might finally stop the injustices we commit, as a nation, on a daily basis. Maybe someone can finally get the elite in line, maybe someone will start considering the needs of the other classes.
But it's all just dreaming. Even in the best of times, I'm not sure that could ever happen. But it won't quell the oil greasing my stomach telling me that this, for some reason, is a good thing.
The winner? God, it's almost as unbelievable as the Phillies winning the Series. Almost. Maybe some more riots for this big win?
But really, I shouldn't be so excited. I know representational democracy is a sham. I know that government is just a tool for the upper-class to impose its will on the lower class. But something about this election, something about Obama, has me wrapped up in the fool's hope that something could actually change. My life could get better, our lives as Americans could get better. We might finally stop the injustices we commit, as a nation, on a daily basis. Maybe someone can finally get the elite in line, maybe someone will start considering the needs of the other classes.
But it's all just dreaming. Even in the best of times, I'm not sure that could ever happen. But it won't quell the oil greasing my stomach telling me that this, for some reason, is a good thing.
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