XL. 'Tis the Season...

We have once again reached that wonderful season known as Christmastime. This is the time we push our cares to the side, and celebrate life, giving, and good company. Delightful food and music are standard fare. In honor of the season, I present a list of ten songs that brighten my spirits around this time of year.

X. Do You Hear What I Hear?
This Whitney Houston interpretation hits the spot.


IX. Christmas in Hollis
Holiday cheer (hip-hop style!) from Run-DMC.


VIII. Step into Christmas
Elton John.


VII. Santa Baby
The late, great Eartha Kitt.


VI. Do They Know It's Christmas?
I enjoy this song by the Band Aid charity project, although "thank God it's them, instead of you" is a rather curious attitude--especially given the season.


V. The Night Santa Went Crazy
Funny song by "Weird Al".


IV. This Christmas
Donny Hathaway.


III. O Holy Night
I really like this Mahalia Jackson version.


II. Thank God It's Christmas
The inimitable Queen.


I. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
This Darlene Love number is a Christmas legend.

XXXIX. Back for Good

For the past few weeks I've been back in NYC, readjusting to the pace of life here. It's a dramatic departure from the relative desolation of Buffalo, to be sure. But, it's home, and that knowledge is comforting.

I wonder what I'll call the site now that I'm technically no longer "in exile." Whatever developments happen in that area, though, won't take place for some time yet.

XXXVIII. Sanity on ICE

I was just watching a feature story on ABC World News about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Flight Operations Unit, which is charged with the removal of illegal aliens to their countries of origin. According to the story, deportees are flown home aboard commercial-style jetliners, where they get complimentary food and are under the watchful eye of armed guards doubling as flight attendants. And this is done at a cost of approximately $680 each.

So, let me get this straight. The government is frittering away public money on jet flights--half of which are empty--carrying away people who will probably be back within the year? And, this is going on while this same government promotes conservation and wise spending?

XXXVII. A New Beginning

Tomorrow signifies the start of a new era in my life, as I will no longer be in exile.

Tomorrow, I return to my hometown--to all that has been familiar to me my whole life, and away from the place I've been temporarily anchored for the past three years.

Feelings of excitement--as well as uncertainty--ensconce me. But the most important feeling by far is the determination to create a better future.

And so, as one chapter closes, another begins.

See you soon--back from exile!

XXXVI. Just because I can...

In the interest of simply filling up some space before the month ends...
Here's one of the greatest disco songs ever, by George McCrae.

Rock Your Baby

XXXV. No Prob, Bob!

XXXIV. Oh, F___ Me!

Reflecting on my professional life, I realize that it thus far has been a complete disaster.

I have gone from working in a government office, to a library circulation department, to making sandwiches, to washing dishes, to applying for a job scrubbing toilets.

At this rate, in five years I'll be making my living scooping up dog crap.

As it stands right now, I have no job and can't pay my rent.

Earlier on in my life, I simply couldn't fathom what a person could have going on in their life that would drive them to take their own life.

With my increasing desperation, I fear I'm beginning to understand.

XXXIII. Thoughts on the American Election

Barring some spectacular last-minute calamity, Barack Obama will be elected the 44th President of the United States tonight. This event will be the capstone of the near two-year-long wave of excitement that has swept through much of the country.

But that is almost beside the point.

The simple fact is, in the United States of America, voting simply means going through the motions of expressing a personal or cultural preference. The voters aren't truly exercising a choice. The choice was made long before 4th November, 2008.

You see, the way the "democratic" process works in this country is as follows:

• major party organizations receive "requests" from powerful corporations and lobbying groups;
  
• the major party organizations then select the best-groomed conformist that it believes can stir up a strong reaction in the public, either through a "unity" image or by polarizing the public in its favor (note that major-party candidates that have actual grassroots support are always excluded -- see Paul, Ron or Kucinich, Dennis);
  
• they then unleash a torrent of propaganda, through the media outlets with which they share an unhealthily close relationship.
  Characteristic of such messages are the use of empty slogans and drawing distinctions that don't exist. Some examples are, "we will withdraw from Iraq eventually" versus "we need to stay in Iraq until the job is done," and "change we can believe in." The former examples is a logically identical statements, amounting to "we will be in Iraq indefinitely." The latter phrase is entirely meaningless -- what does it mean to believe in change?
  These messages are used to "manufacture" support -- it is quite unlike true popular support, which of course originates within the populace.
  
• The major parties then present the public with a ballot (featuring their candidates in the most visible spots). With the public fully in the throes of its "manufactured" enthusiasm, they can count on garnering 95 to one hundred percent of the vote between them.

Other candidates--the ones who object to this fixed system--have no recourse. Any complaints by these individuals to state election boards (controlled by the two major parties) are swiftly buried.
If the Democrats and Republicans were corporations their actions would violate anti-trust laws.

But anyway, back to Obama. The campaign that has been presented to us has had at its center the idea of "change." I am admittedly skeptical of this tactic--doesn't every politician claim to be different? How is Obama unique in a political sense?

In the early stages of the campaign, the focus was on Obama being a fresh, young face in the Senate; policy questions were largely avoided. Then, as the nomination process was winding down he was attacked for his association with a South Side, Chicago pastor known for preaching black liberaton theology. Without hesitation, he vehemently denounced black liberation theology, and ultimately abandoned the man whose church he had used for twenty years to build his own political organization. Nearly a month later--after the nomination was all but clinched--the first place he went was the yearly conference of AIPAC, a neoconservative lobbying group which favors attacking Iran. Speaking before the group, he all but grovelled before its agenda. Since being the presumptive nominee he has come out in favor of expanding capital punishment, threatened Pakistan, and voted to give immunity to the telecommunications corporations that violated the rights of Americans by cooperating with illegal wiretapping programs by the federal government.

We've learned, then, since the policy part of Obama's campaign was revealed, that "change" amounts to the demonization of progressive politics, a promise for the expansion of America's violent foreign agenda, reactionary lip service to the "tough-on-crime" movement, and deference to the interests of corporations over those of ordinary people, as well as a healthy dose of backstabbing.

And this is the change that Obama claims we need?
That seems like typical politician behavior to me. It certainly could be descriptive of every U.S. president since at least John F. Kennedy.
America moving further in the direction of dictatorial rule by the corporate-military-industrial complex is certainly nothing I need or want.

The other major party, the Republicans have feebly attempted to pipe their own propaganda through to the public. This year they have had little success generating the "manufactured" support they needed to push John McCain over the top. While their message differed in tone and temperament (not to mention Sarah Palin, but she will soon fade back into obscurity), it was selling the same thing--a corporatist who is beholden to neoliberal and neoconservative interests.

But only Barack Obama or John McCain will win enough votes in enough states to clinch the election.

They are, except in the most outwardly superficial respects, the same candidate.

So I will go to the polls yet again, knowing that I have no choice.

But I do have the ability to state my preference.

So this year, it's between Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and independent Ralph Nader.

I like McKinney for the simple fact that she is unafraid to go up against tall odds, such as being among the early voices decrying election fraud and illegal disenfranchisement and demanding an impartial investigation into the 9/11 attacks.
Ralph Nader's pro-democracy, anti-corporate abuse principles are well-known and unswerving.

Both are a credit to the ideal of freedom that America should aspire to, unlike McCain and Obama--embarrassing statist hacks.

I knew that when the night is done neither one will be president-elect, but that doesn't mean anything to me.

I may not have a real choice, but I most certainly do have a voice.

XXXII. Don't Let It Get Away!

I found this video very disturbing, to say the least.



I'm not sure whether I'm more afraid of the cat, or everyone else in its past.

XXXI. Heya!

Before the month ends without a post, I think I ought to say a few words.

October and autumn are upon us, and the cold weather is not far behind. I suspect that I will be job-hunting very soon, as the window for biking weather closes and I will have to find employment that is more transit-friendly.

I've been slowly getting settled in my place, moving more items in from storage.

The grind of day-to-day living is beginning to get to me, though. I'm thinking about taking a weekend trip to New York City at the end of the month--I definitely need the break.

Don't want to get into the clusterfuck that is American politics right now. The people who will win can't help us, and the people who could help us can't win.

XXX. Update part One

So, here's the story so far:

-- I've moved into a new place, after three years living on UB's campus as a student. Not being a student any longer, I had to find new digs. But, it all eventually worked out.

-- Still washing dishes at the restaurant. Not sure how much longer I can hold up there though. The job is taking a definite toll on my hands, my back and my sanity.

-- I notice that thinking about nearly any aspect of world affairs just flat out depresses me. It seems I just can't find anything to look forward to.

XXIX. So, What's the Real Story?

Quite often you hear of people who express doubts about, or dissent from some conventional point of view. Such people are labeled "conspiracy theorists" by rabid defenders of the status quo. This epithet is often uttered quite nastily, as though the person being labeled had just introduced into the room their personal effluvia. It is as if the mere utterance of such a deviation constitutes a transgression against all society.

The thing is, why does the term "conspiracy theorist" have a negative connotation? It merely means one who thinks about conspiracies and where they might exist. The term is completely neutral. Hell, I qualify as a conspiracy theorist--the Kennedy assassination, the drug war, and 9/11 are just a few of the things I regard with suspicion.

It seems people who question conventional notions often find themselves ridiculed and vilified by those who would rather be told what to think and believe.

XXVIII. It's Not Just about the Money...

Something just popped up in my mind, and I have to get it out.

This something is about money. Money--that thing we (in the West, at least) seem to spend our entire lives chasing, and which the vast majority of us will never have enough of.

When someone gets a job that pays more money than their current one, people expect them to be happy.

Everyone hopes to win the lottery jackpot--the prospect of getting lots of free money plus never having to work again will attract many.

But it's all fake.

Money is fake, that is.

In modern American society, instead of exchanging a good for a good, we use money to complete the deal. A long time ago, money was a representation of our country's actual wealth--specifically, of precious metals like gold and silver held by the Treasury. However, in the age of fiat currency, the "value" of money is an arbitrary determination made unilaterally by an institution with dubious links to private business, that the federal government has no real control over. This institution, the Federal Reserve, tinkers with interest rates whenever it feels that doing so would help big business--not to keep the currency in parity with some objective scale.

Money is now a completely imaginary thing, yet it has been elevated to a paramount position over our lives.

All the money chasing going on in our culture has collectively robbed us of the capacity to objectively consider what it actually is we're pursuing.

Money is treated as though it is the sole--or even the most important--economic currency. This is not remotely the case. Economics simply pertain to how we would rather spend our limited resources. Non-monetary considerations, such as pleasure, time, freedom, and stress seem to be largely ignored in the press and by our "representatives" when evaluating the economic state of our country. And I can tell you, nowadays there are plenty of livid, stressed-out, burnt-out Americans of all income levels.

But you probably won't read about it in the Wall Street Journal.

XXVII. ...what "in Exile"?

To explain the origin of the "Gotham in Exile" title, I will first mention that it is not something I just extracted from my rear end.

Gotham is, of course, New York City--the city of my birth and where I grew up (and probably won't return anytime soon due to cost of living).

Exile refers to my state of living outside of the city. I still think of myself as a New Yorker, but am currently located in Western New York. Life is cheaper here, but much less convenient for a non-driver.

Hence, "Gotham in Exile" is a good, brief summary of my outlook, and a good indicator of the tone of the material in this journal.

XXVI. Six! Six! Six!

Well, I've finally done it--my sixth post this month! At last, out of the five-post rut.

On an up note, my slide into perdition has temporarily ended--I now have a job. Washing dishes at a local restaurant. This is definitely not my calling, as I have come to learn with each successive shift.I don't know how much longer I can do this one before I break down physically or mentally. I am currently in the market for different employment--I'd like to have another job lined up before this one blows up.

My current project is getting myself an apartment or room to stay. I have already made a couple of contacts in that regard. Things will definitely get interesting over the next couple of weeks.

XXV. What's a Good Person to Do?

Now, I generally believe cultures should be left to their own devices--to develop as they will, and individual people should be free to move about to cultures that suit them. I'm certainly no-one who favors barging into other countries and telling the people there how they must live. Hell, the events of the past five years in the Middle East illustrate vividly the folly and futility of attempting to force a distant culture to live by one's own norms.

However, there are those occasional events that take aback even the most ardent defender of cultural relativism.

Living in fear: Tanzania's albinos

In Tanzania, 25 albinos have been killed in the past year.

The latest victim was a seven-month-old baby. He was mutilated on the orders of a witchdoctor pedalling the belief that potions made from an albino's legs, hair, hands, and blood can make a person rich.

Sorcery and the occult maintain a strong foothold in this part of the world, especially in the remote rural areas around the fishing and mining regions of Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Learning of such horrendous episodes gives even me the fleeting urge to storm Tanzania and engage in a massive re-education campaign.

Not even taking into account the massive discrimination albinos face in Tanzanian society--the thought of people being maimed to death because of superstitious beliefs--of people needing to bury their murdered relatives in concrete coffins to keep raiders away from what remains of the corpses--triggers an affective response of outright revulsion.
In this context, cultural relativism seems to fall away.

Much harder to argue with the right-wingers about intervention, when not
intervening leads to people being hacked to death for ridiculous reasons.

(Man, did I hate typing that.)

XXIV. Round Two...

Yesterday I inaugurated a little writing exercise to help the creative juices flow. It looks like another round of this drill is in order.

Tonight's words: 'grape', 'paper', and 'chain'.

'Grape' brings me back to the fourth and fifth grades. There was this one kid, Christopher S., who would bring grapes for lunch every single day. He also seemed to be snacking on them every other chance he got.

'Paper' is what I often find myself buried under. One of my unfortunate habits involves grabbing every newspaper, magazine, flyer, newsletter, or other printed item, bringing it home, and then putting it down and forgetting about it entirely. I need to stop being such a pack rat, lest one day someone need excavate my living quarters to exhume my festering carcass.

'Chain' reminds me of both the the eagle medallion given to me by my grandfather so many years ago (and which I still have), and the loss of my bicycle several years ago, to theft at the central library in Jamaica, Queens. I had locked it to a traffic signpost right outside the main entrance, and gone inside to do some research. I emerged about two hours later to find it missing. That incident puts me in the ignominious group of folks who have had more than one bike stolen.

XXIII. "These words remind me of..."

The following is a quick exercise, intended to spur on my creative impulses and to get me to write more.

In it, I quickly pick the first three words that come to mind, and just as quickly writing down what these words make me think of.
So, this time the words are 'spell', 'heat', and 'wrinkle'.
---
Ok, so 'spell' bears a noted significance for me...I participated in many spelling bees in my school years, winning my first at age eight. I actually represented my middle school in the annual city-wide tournament for all three years, but was never able to win the whole thing.
The word also invokes a slight ironic twinge within me at the moment, since just mere moments ago while typing this entry I misspelled the word 'exercise' at least three times. My, how things change...

As for 'heat'...1999 in New York City. The hottest goddamn summer I can remember. I don't have any charts or anything of the like, but I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature reached at least 90F each day that summer, and the humidity exceeded 95 percent.

Finally, 'wrinkle'...I hardly (if ever) iron my clothes before leaving the house. However, It is a rare occasion that I find an pernicious crease in my outfit while I am out. Perhaps they are wrinkled when I put them on, but ease out by the time I examine my clothes outside.
Or, maybe it's just that my eyes simply can't pick up wrinkles, and the people I pass in public are secretly having a laugh at my expense.

XXII. Down

Lately I'm finding my motivation low, and my anxiety and depression high. Often the know-it-alls say that you just have to get out there and make do, but sometimes it sounds like "start climbing out of that five-mile trench."

XXI. And Now, in Commemoration of...

AMERICA

1776 - ?

XX. In Before July...

Teleology is the philosophical discipline that pertains to purpose. When I created this journal last December, it was supposedly to give me a place to record my many musings.

Well, it's over six months into the project (including the past seven weeks with nothing whatsoever) and my page sits here, nearly bereft of content.

I posit that as of now, Gotham in Exile is not fulfilling its intended purpose. I think I will have to take a radically different approach to this journal, or it will disappear into a vacuum of disuse and indifference.

On another note, the world lost one of its foremost contemporary social commentators and philosophers last week:

the great George Carlin.

So, in honor of his trip to the Big Electron, I propose a seven-gun salute:

SHIT!!
PISS!!
FUCK!!
CUNT!!
COCKSUCKER!!
MOTHERFUCKER!!
TITS!!

XIX. Thank Goodness for Great Tits!

(image courtesy of the BBC)

XVIII. An Alley Downtown

And now for the inaugural random pic(s) of the day (a category that, while not necessarily daily, will encompass posts of photos I took of things that catch my attention) I bring you...

BLOSSOM ALLEY.

Right in the midst of Downtown Buffalo--mere blocks away from the bustle of the Main Street Metro, bus terminal and financial district--this little alley lies tucked away between Broadway and Huron Street.



The intersection of Blossom with the much busier Broadway, with the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library in the midground.



A view of the alley, facing north.



On Blossom Alley, auto shops, garages, parking, and warehouses exist in harmony in the shadow of the Electric Building.

XVII. Joyless Occasion

I remember the times when I looked forward to my birthday. Another year older--back then, it seemed as though aging was the goal. Nowadays, I actually dread my birthday. 'Tis a mere reminder that yet another year has passed, and I am no closer to actually defining my goal, much less achieving it.

XVI. Ceaseless Parade of Pointless Rubbish

You don't need to worry about the ludicrously high price of oil, which looks to sap more money you don't even have from your bank account.

Don't fret that food is also getting more and more expensive. Hell, eating in a heated house with electricity all at once is overrated anyway.

Trouble not yourself with the enormous national debt, nor the individual debt which is seeing people thrown from their homes by the dozen, the middle class becoming the new poor, and the current poor becoming outcastes.

Never mind that trillions of dollars are circling the drain of an overseas military policy with dubious premises based on scant evidence, which is killing people by the thousand.

Forget all about those piddling little details...they're all hogwash!

You know what the real issues affecting America at this very moment are, though. Don't you?

That's right...MILEY FUCKING CYRUS! This girl's faux-nude photos are what we really need to be talking about! This is what's got American society hanging in the balance!

But that's not the only thing. Let's not forget Barack Obama, who is secretly fronting the presidential campaign of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Of course they share the exact same views. And this Wright fellow is clearly a dangerous radical.

The prophetic theology of the black church during the days of segregation, Jim Crow, lynching, and the separate-but-equal fantasy was a theology of liberation.

It was preached to set African-Americans free from the notion of second-class citizenship, which was the law of the land. And it was practiced to set free misguided and miseducated Americans from the notion that they were actually superior to other Americans based on the color of their skin.

The prophetic theology of the black church in our day is preached to set African-Americans and all other Americans free from the misconceived notion that different means deficient.
[...]
Black preaching is different from European and European-American preaching. It is not deficient; it is just different. It is not bombastic; it is not controversial; it’s different.

The unmitigated nerve of this black separatist! Can't he see that his toxic reverse-racist views are the reason this country is headed for its ruination?

UPDATE: It seems that Barack Obama has come to his senses. He has decided to run for the presidency himself, and has renounced the racist demagogue.



How poised and presidential of Mr. Obama! That's the kind of honor and loyalty we true Americans need in our President!

XV. Hockey's (Almost) Gone, Doldrums On

The second round of the NHL playoffs is sucking...hard. At least the first round had a few competitive series. It seems like the Avs/Rangers/Sharks are well on their way to a swift exit (Montreal is still close enough, for now--it remains to be seen what will happen with them). I only hope that the Conference and Cup Finals series offer something better--ideally tight seven-game battles, but at least no sweeps or five-game blowouts.

Speaking of sports--since my NHL team (the NJ Devils) have been eliminated I find that I can't get enthusiastic about the other sports I like. I have paid little attention to my breathtakingly mediocre Yankees, and I have no interest in the various NFL administrative goings-on typical of this time of year. In a way, though, it's kind of liberating--I'm not wasting strength on worrying about some bunch of millionaires' position in the standings before the season's even half over.

XIV. Journey Onward, My Son

As of yesterday, I have attended my last lecture of the year. Save for submitting two last exams, my undergraduate career is now over.

Six long years and many bumps in the road...all leading up to here.

Now...out into the jungle!

(*gulp*)

XIII. Can't Fight the 'fox

I'm damn tired of these random university computers without Firefox installed. As far as I'm concerned, if a computer doesn't have Firefox installed, it's broken.

XII. Where's Fadlo?

Egad! A full month since the most recent post... it's time to get my rear back in gear. Perhaps the dearth of posting is the result of having done essentially nothing in that time. It seems that I'm beginning to become allergic to the real world.

XI. "President McCain"

Get used to saying it. The results of last night's state primaries pretty much assures this will happen. The Republicans will have eons to prepare for whichever of the Democratic candidates finally emerges--battered and bloodied--probably sometime rather close to the August convention. The supporters of the loser on the Democratic side won't be able to shake the inevitable bad feelings by November, or will lose interest entirely. Alienated non-Republicans will sit the election out, adding up to a McCain victory in a lackluster general election, with paltry turnout in a laughably warped system.

We are screwed.

X. Not Trying to Come Off as an Alarmist, But...

Obama


Putin


Just sayin'...

IX. Meat

My visit today to my university's career fair soberly reminded me of one of the many reasons I fear for my future. The job fair being, in essence, "survival of the fittest" of the thousands of people for the attention of a few employers and jobs, I am clearly in the other. The fair environment is definitely not where I thrive. Too many goddamn people--I couldn't even talk to anybody for the first thirty or so minutes I was there because I was so dizzy. My negative disposition toward people in general looks to cause major friction on my path to (hopefully) success, especially in the fields one can look forward to entering after having graduated with a major in philosophy.

VIII. Super Soundoff

First, although it is a bit late, I just want to mention that I am elated by the result of Sunday's championship game. I'm not a fan of the New York Giants, but I was rooting for them all the way to beat the lousy, no good Pats*. The crushed expressions on the faces of that self-satisfied, entitled bunch said it all. It is interesting to observe the media coverage in the aftermath, considering that before late Sunday night it had basically amounted to incessant, season-long fellatio performed upon "destiny's team" and it's vaunted master, Bill Belichump. America surely caught a glimpse of reality as that sorry, smug, pompous, stinking, cheating motherfucker slithered off the field before the game had even ended. (Oh, did I mention that there's swearing in this journal? Well, now I have.) So, a toast to the Gints--you've saved America from seven more months of Pats* ass-kissing hell.

Speaking of hell, another "super" event has passed this week--the so-called Super Tuesday primary election extravaganza in the United States. This was arranged ostensibly to give more states a say over who will ultimately be nominated for President by each wing of our Big Money Party. So far nothing has been decided on the "D" side, but on the "R" side John McCain is well ahead and is most likely to become the nominee. Meanwhile, I couldn't care less. "Super Tuesday" revealed nothing that wasn't already known before polls opened that morning. It has been obvious for weeks that McCain is the strongest Republican candidate, and that the Democratic race between Clinton and Obama was exceptionally tight.

In the end, though, it will hardly matter who wins the nomination or even the general election. Both the Democratic and Republican "parties" essentially amount to mere cosmetic appellations. Both groups contain individuals who carry a wide range of views. There is, however, one thing that unites them--they're wedded to big, powerful, moneyed interests. They only represent the general public in the sense that they are selected from a ballot submitted by a particular geographical grouping of people. When it comes to sticking up for the little guy versus sucking up to "the man," "the man" will win nearly every time. By the time this process is over, the candidates will not even resemble their supposed demographic bases. President Barack Obama will not represent black issues, any more than President Hillary Clinton will represent women's concerns or President John McCain those of people serving in the military. By Inauguration Day, they will have been fully converted to the gospel of big bucks and unspeakable power.

So, I am officially disenchanted with all of this--all I can do is to try as best I can to ignore the nine months of bullshit that are about to follow, and to actually muster up the enthusiasm to vote in the general election. Admittedly, it will be an uphill battle in the midst of this pointless system. George Carlin's take on American elections is quite right--you'll probably get more utility out of staying home and beating off.

VII. Note to Self

Advice to myself that I really ought to heed more often:

Instead of worrying, why not just DO something?

VI. The Gift that Keeps on Giving?

The Nigerian state of Bauchi has created a department to collect tithes for the poor, mandated by the Sharia law under which the state is governed.

Sharia wealth tax in Nigerian state

The Sharia Commission says it received just over $23,000 (£12,000) from top civil servants and traditional leaders.

Now the commission has started drawing up a list of individuals they believe should be paying Zakat.

They have sent out letters to more than 3,000 people warning if they don't pay the tax to the government this year they could be arrested and jailed for three months, fined, or given 20 lashes.

So, using resources that are already extremely tight to establish another bureaucracy is supposed to put more of those resources in the hands of the poor?

No, it's more likely that the generals will move into nicer digs, and the poor will be even worse off as the better-off have less to share.

But, hey--it's all in the name of religious duty, right? It's all good.

V. Dread

Right now, in what are almost certainly my final weeks as a student, I can say that i am thoroughly spent. I am entirely not ready to enter the real world.

Ugh.

What kinds of jobs are there for cynical, introverted, disaffected young people who can't stand human contact?

IV. King

Perilously stretching the meaning of "few" days, I figure that this is as good a time as any to post. Of course, today is the observation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. Two-thousand-eight, the fortieth anniversary of his death, has seen America make great strides in the direction of Dr. King's dream of a harmonious, integrated society. As I write this there is a good chance that, for the first time, a major political party might choose a black candidate to run under its presidential banner. Sadly, the recent negative discourse surrounding this very subject shows that there is still a long way to go. Regardless of one's skin color, beliefs or culture, the crux of Dr. King's philosophy is that what unifies humanity runs much more deeply than what divides it. The important thing to remember is that we're all in the struggle of life together.

III. Happy New Year!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.