Bubble Rants

Music to my ears

2011-05-02T12:04:00.003-04:00

Stephcraig on etsy was kind enough to add one of my favorite pair of earrings (which are also currently on sale!) to her lovely treasury Music to my ears. If you like it, please take the time to check it out; and maybe comment! I'm honored to be included in such a classy assortement of items.

Restaurant review: Flavors of Asia

2011-04-30T16:38:00.003-04:00

So this will be the post where I'm going to completely ignore that I haven't blogged in 'x' amount of time. I've been wanting to get back to it for awhile, then get put off by the fact I haven't in so long.

To start again I'll start out with a restaurant review because I've been going out to eat more (when before I would go over months without it). Now I seem to be around more people who love this activity (going out to eat), and don't mind checking out vegan friendly places. Even though I still seem to be stuck in Buffalo, this reviews about Flavors of Asia which is located in Rochester NY.

Initially I was concerned about their ambiguous menu which didn't mention which dishes had dairy or egg product specifically; just a shady 'vegetarian' section that listed clearly a few oyster dishes under it. Not a good start. A few people in my party told me that they've been here before, and all you have to do is make it clear to the server the items you can't have, and they would direct you to dishes that would work.

That theory was proved correct. I'm used to servers looking exasperated at the list of items I won't consume, but just smiled and nodded his head then brought up the word 'vegan' before I had to. I was assured the pad thai (my #1 choice) was vegan, and so went ahead and ordered it, and the table ordered some steamed edamame as well as an appetizer.

The edamame came with some green tea and both were magnificent. Most of the folks with me had never tried it, but 3 out of 4 of them found a new food they liked. With all of us eating them, there still was about half a bowl left over. Which gives you a little glimpse into how the main meal went, portion wise.

Although it was slightly under seasoned for my taste, it was delicious. The vegetables and rice noodles were cooked perfectly. This (apologetically bad) photo here was taken from my phone after I finished eating it. All in all, there ended up being enough for 5 meals in the one thing I ordered (though the last meal I made a little spinach salad with it). That isn't even including the two huge bowls of white rice that they also gave us, that nobody ended up touching, and didn't bother to bring home.

It was almost good enough for me to wish I was in Rochester more often! Almost.

More free stuff for you to try and win!

2009-07-20T16:34:00.003-04:00

Vegancraftastic is having a give-away for a free copy of The Vegan Scoop by Wheeler del Torro. All you have to do is leave a comment here saying your favorite ice cream flavor! Yum!

Veganetsy give away!

2009-07-04T10:57:00.004-04:00

The fifth Veganetsy team give away has started! All you need to do is head over here and follow the directions! This time it's all about food! Hurry you only have until July 23rd!

The winner gets a great prize bag filled with many great Veganetsy team member's goods, including some of my own!

Earth Day Sale!

2009-04-21T21:26:00.003-04:00

I'm having a bit of an sale on April 22nd!

Everything in my shop is buy 2, get one free (equal or lesser value). You can mix and match bracelets, keychains, bookmarks - anything! Even applies to everything in the sale section discounted 50% or more! Sale starts at midnight, and goes until the 12:01 on the 23rd. I can refund the difference via paypal, or you can just convo me before hand and I'll make a revised listing for you!

Also, there is always free shipping on orders of $25 and over (after discount and before shipping)! The shipping will be refunded to you after your order is complete, or you can convo me the order, and I'll make a seperate listing for you.

Sample me this

2009-04-20T22:53:00.004-04:00

It was like the ultimate countdown for me until the famous vegan sample boxes went on sale. (The only thing that made the wait speed up a bit was taxes being due then also). I was more excited to buy one of these then I am for my birthday. So it is almost unimaginable that this thing could top my expectations.

But it did.

Even the post person realized this box was of great importance, because he rung my bell and made sure it got into my hands; telling me it looked special. Like he could feel the awesome vibes omitting from it.

Like a five year old I ran back inside clutching my box and tore it open without preamble. I was to blinded by my excitement that I didn't even get a picture to put up for everyone. All the hunks of soap and bath soaks released their delicious aromas the second it was opened. I took out a gorgeous hand painted and sewn bag by Holistically Heather and couldn't decide what to look at first! So many awesome creative artists exceeded my expectations that it is almost impossible to pick a favorite. There was magnets, cloth pads, washcloths, temporary 'vegan' tattoos, jewelry, bath teas, wrist bands, soap and LOTS of coupons. I can get dozens of discounts on so much more craft goodies in the weeks to come. Also in a twist of fate, one of my rings that I had sent into for this, that I had missed and ran out of the same beads for; came back to me!

Plus a portion of proceeds go to charity, so all this AND I'm helping others. Get one while they are still there!

The second Veganetsy giveaway!

2009-03-07T18:32:00.005-05:00

The second Veganetsy team giveaway is under way right now!

This time around you pick one item using the 'veganetsy team' search word to find an item starring an animal commonly associated as a food. You can click here to find all the details and enter; all you need is a blogger account.

The prize is a sample pack of veganetsy goods which includes many awesome crafters.

Bike ridding for Farm Sanctuary

2009-03-06T14:29:00.004-05:00

Josh Hooten of Herbivore Clothing, is planning a bike ride of about 600 miles to raise money for Farm Sanctuary. The ride will be taking place the first week in May, and you can support him and Farm Sanctuary by going to first giving. Also from that page, you can link to his blog and find out more, and also find out more about Farm Sanctuary as well.

Peppermint hot cocoa

2009-03-01T11:16:00.007-05:00

This year I once again, majorly failed at stocking up Vitasoy Peppermint Chocolate soymilk, which has arguably the best workings for a hot cup of cocoa. So with one lonely soymilk sitting on my shelf, I decided I would try and recreate my own recipe. The result was awesome, and I think I like it even more then the packaged stuff (gasp). What makes it even better though, is that you can make sure your chocolate is fair trade and ethical. If you don't have coconut milk, you could probably sub out something else creamy like a soy creamer, if you buy those things? Or good old H2O if you get really desperate. I just had some opened in the fridge that I needed to use up.

Peppermint hot chocolate

1/2 cup sugar (I use raw stuff that needs to dissolve, so the instructions are geared towards that)

1/4 cup fair trade baking cocoa (I like equal exchange)

1/8 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon of peppermint flavor extract

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

4 cups soy or almond milk (not the sweetened stuff)

Heat up coconut milk, water, and sugar over medium heat in a saucepan until hot. Add in cocoa and cinnamon, and stir until mixed and boiling. Reduce heat, and add in soy or almond milk and extracts making sure to heat, but not boil again.

Serve with optional soy whip and sprinkles and extra cinnamon.

Makes about 3 big mugs. The extra stores really well in an empty tomato sauce jar. Just shake and re-heat.

Vegan Etsy team give away

2009-02-14T11:55:00.003-05:00

The first of the Vegan Etsy Team give away has started! You can go here to find out all the details, and how to play this round. Winner gets a dog treat cookbook by Emma's K9 Kitchen, and a collar charm from Starrlight Jewelry.

Good luck!

13 scary numbers about Climate Change for the 13th

2009-02-13T11:40:00.005-05:00

Posted from the Environmental Defence Action Fund:

35%
Increase in the global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1992.

388.57 ppm
Average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May 2008, a record high.

541 – 970 ppm
The projected concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 2100 under a business as usual scenario where we don't dramatically reduce global warming emissions.

260 – 280 ppm
Average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before industrial emissions.

50 – 200 years
Length of time carbon dioxide stays in the earth's atmosphere before it is absorbed into carbon sinks.

1000 years
Length of time changes in the earth's surface temperature, rainfall, and sea level will remain even after carbon dioxide emissions are completely stopped.

34%
Percentage that 2008's Arctic seasonal sea ice melt outpaced normal levels.

70%
Increase in the rate of Greenland's ice melt over the last five years.

1.7 days
Number of days earlier seasons are coming than 50 years ago.

1.5 million
Number of acres of forests in Colorado destroyed by the pine beetle, which is better able to survive warmer winters and is wrecking havoc in America's western forests.

$427 million
Amount spent by the oil and coal industries in the first six months of 2008 in political contributions, lobbying expenditures and advertising to oppose climate action.

0
Number of global warming bills passed by the Senate.

0
Number of global warming bills passed by the House.

See here for the full article and sources.

Positive Activism

2009-02-11T20:12:00.005-05:00

As the welfarist movement becomes more sexist and racist with each stunt they pull, perhaps a brief discussion of some positive forms of activism might be worthwhile. Because at the end of the day it's not about how much publicity you can achieve, but how many folks you can get to understand that other beings aren't ours to use, consume, torture, and abuse.

Educate
Yourself first, so you can better help educate others in the future. If you're new to abolition animal rights; I would suggest starting out with Making A Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, by Bob Torres; followed closely with Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation by Gary L. Francione.

Engage in a dialog
With your neighbor, best friend, the person ringing up the vegetable that asked you what it was and how you "use" it. Places NOT for this however, is at a table full of flesh and the like. And have literature on hand to give away for that unplanned conversation you got into because of your 'Animal Liberation' tee-shirt.

Bake and share
Seems silly and easy, but a few dozen cookies and brownies brought into work or a late night study group can work wonders. So many people think that veganism is about "giving up" all these things, and constantly give me this as reasons why they could never be vegan. Showing folks that there's nothing to give up is a great way to positively advocate for veganism.

Leaflet
Even if you just find time to do it an hour every other week, you can reach so much people. And if you bring friends and cookies, it's really not that hard at all. Vegan Outreach has some great ones, or just make your own.

Display info in public areas

The eco-savvy route of leafleting. Any place there is a public board--the library, coffee shop, co-op; put up an eye-catching little flier with information.

Focus on your strengths, and be creative

You know that thing that they teach us in kindergarten; everyone is good at something? Well, it's true, and you can use that to achieve the best form of advocacy. Whether it's painting, writing, baking, talking-- whatever you are good at; think of ways you can convert that into activism.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

2009-02-09T22:08:00.003-05:00

Monday's music of the moment: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Currently I seem to be lost in the punk/alternative style of them. They guitar is awesome, and the lyrics are politically charged perfect lines that could double as poetry. This is one of the few cases where some of the older stuff is just as good as the new. I haven't heard a song I didn't like yet, which is also rare.

Also, if you are into buying it; while I'm usually a big fan of the instant iTunes set-up, if you purchase it from the Touch and Go Records website they donate a portion of the profits to Food not Bombs and Democracy Now!.

The Angel's Share:

Down again-it seems a losing fight
Yet, down again, I sit, to try to write
An open letter to a President
Or melodies to help a girl pay rent
(We saved and saved, only to find them spent).

Vegan Samples

2009-02-08T09:45:00.006-05:00

For any vegan crafters out there, Holistically Heather is putting together a little sample pack full of vegan crafting goodness. It is a great way to promote your work! Check it out :

http://www.vegansamples.blogspot.com/

The Little Black box

2009-02-06T09:52:00.005-05:00

This month The Little Black box went vegan this month and was sponsored by the great Vegan Etsy Team that I'm happy and proud to be a part of. Everything in the box is vegan and eco-friendly and is a fun way to get a bunch of samples of a little bit of everything, which I always love.

Holistically Heather, who is also part of the team wrote a great review that can be found here.

Some of the things I sent in:

^peach and lime aventurine gemstone earrings

^green glass gumdrop bracelet

Support independent vegan crafters! And, broke students who hate waiting tables, in my case.

The Fallout

2008-12-08T20:33:00.002-05:00

Monday's music of the moment: The Fallout

The newest addition to my iPod would have to be a few of this bands songs, particularly from their second album, Dismantlement.

It's pretty straight forward punk; maybe a mix between a slower, less revved up Good Clean Fun and some sloppy Green Day chords, but their lyrics are smart and it's pretty entertaining to listen to. My favorite songs are probably 'Riot Boys' and 'Bread and Freedom'. You can hear some of their stuff here, if you want a bigger listen than what iTunes lets you hear before you buy.

This is me pimping capitalism again (sort of)

2008-12-04T23:32:00.005-05:00

Hopefully there are enough procrastinators around that this post is still somewhat relevant.

As many of the folks I know are likely to buy some sort of holiday card set anyways, I don't feel like directing people to essentially buy from a "better" place is totally out of line. I usually just make my own holiday themed cards around this time of year, but realized quickly my list was going to be too long for that sort of endeavor - so I found a compromise. I give money anyways to a few different environmental organizations, Peaceful Prairie (http://www.peacefulprairie.org/), ect; so I thought I would try to multi-task a bit better.

One of the websites I was at was featuring holiday-ish cards you could buy, with 10% of the profits going directly to charity. Well, honestly those cards were poor, and costly (10 for $15!!!) and I thought for that price it should be a bit more then 10, as I continued to think about it. But a quick goodsearch (www.goodsearch.com for those folks who haven't switched over yet!! It's exactly like searching yahoo! ) latter I had stumbled on http://www.cardsthatgive.org/charities.html which I really ended up liking. They organize everything by category, and have a quick key that shows you how much of the proceeds go directly to charity. I ended up with two different designs from http://www.healthebay.org/ ; and 50 cards for $30, a much better ratio!

^My favorite of the ones I got. Who can resist dolphins? Plus I can sneak in with winter greetings my favorite Finding Nemo quote, "fish are friends- not food". Too bad they didn't have any shark ones. Now I just have to remember to mail them out.

So for anyone who hasn't invested yet in holiday cards, try this out; or just save it for next year.

My etsy shop

2008-06-26T17:30:00.007-04:00

With it being summer, and LSat's being over I found some spare time and so I started selling some jewelry I made. We'll see how that goes for a bit!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5601067

Celebrities are an odd set of people

2008-05-29T09:51:00.003-04:00

So in case somehow in your vegan bubble it escaped your attention (though doubtful)-- Oprah is totally going vegan.

For a month.

Lots of vegans couldn't be happier at this turn of events; but I'm, of course, extremely dissatisfied and practically offended. It would be one thing if there was just the statement that she was going vegan. Fine. That's great. The more the merrier, one down, only billions more people to go.

But for one, there is a deadline, and a pathetically short one at that. If some dude came up to me and said, you know- I'm going to reject sexism for a whole month!, I wouldn't exactly be doing cartwheels. And correspondingly I'm not now. I guess compassion is only good less then ten percent of the year? SO odd.

She isn't doing it to be compassionate anyways, though. It's this "cleansing" thing from a book Kathy Freston wrote that is so hippish, it has me shuddering. Admittedly, I've only seen the offhand soundbite on Ellen or Oprah that other folks have tagged for me, but that has been enough.

Freston was on Ellen explaining the whole book (in ten minutes or less) and she was perfectly complacent with a situation where a person would just pick one day of the week to go meatless ("Meatless Mondays" was her suggestion). I get people sometimes need a starting point, but that is ridiculous. Maybe Mondays will be my meatless day, Tuesdays will totally be all about rejecting racism, Wednesdays will be my super feminist day... you obviously get the picture. It's insane, and other being deserve more then that.

To top it all off, Oprah is making this big production of all that she's giving up, and a lot of the things have nothing to do about veganism. Caffeine, sugar (alright, some types), glutton--nothing to do with veganism. So understandably, it is just confusing the issue even more. My mom called me up, in fact, to tell me I've been doing it wrong all along-Oprah isn't drinking coffee because it's not vegan--and if I've been "cheating" all these years anyways, why won't I enjoy a little ice cream with her? This is me, banging my head against the wall.

Oh! And Pink is standing up for puppies!! Finally, folks are standing up for beings that have no one advocating for them.

Don't even turn the television on anymore

2008-03-12T21:33:00.004-04:00

Objectified flesh covered in dead tortured flesh. Sure sounds sexy to me. Designer Tuleh, who was on America's Next Top Model made sure to mention it was, as he looked at the womyn clothed and surrounded by flesh.

Insert the obvious Carol Adams critique here. Particularly for me, as I looked at the images and heard the (shockingly) sexist and speciest commentary, was the part at the end of The Sexual Politics of Meat where she iterates,

"For women in the patriarchal culture...we have been swallowed and we are the swallowers. We are the consumers and the consumed."

Wrapping yourself in consumable to most flesh certainly drives this point home, literally saying consume me as you would meat.

I keep getting these mailings from Nigel Barker for the last three weeks or so (okay, so really probably the HSUS or some other messed up organization [why am I still on their mailing list?] that pretends to be "for the animals" sometimes--but my e-mail sender totally says it's from Nigel, so...) and I know that these e-mails contain pictures of super cute seals, so of course I looked at them. And they are, SO cute. Like a cold puppy. And I decided to move Nigel up a few points on my cool list because he has this letter that clearly states,

"Like you, I care about animals and I don’t ever want to see them suffer...Each year, hundreds of thousands of defenseless baby seals are brutally clubbed and shot to death for their fur—most of which is exported to Europe.I still remember the first time I saw the shocking images: conscious seal pups impaled on metal hooks and dragged across the ice, wounded seals left to suffer…some baby seals even skinned alive. I vowed then to do everything I could to stop this cruelty."

Replace the seal with another being and fur with flesh and the same thing is happening, only by the billions. So, how is this different again? Shouldn't you be vowing to stop the cruelty to these beings used in this shoot? I don't know how some people's heads don't explode with the disconnect they try to make their minds mold to.

So, I'm obviously not going to show some pictures of flesh on flesh, but I will show a seal pup:

and while you're at it, take a look at this cute cow because s/he is totally worthy of your compassion as well.

Issues with addressing groups

2008-03-11T22:09:00.003-04:00

(This is the post in which I will pretend I haven't neglected my blog). I think it comes off a little they said, then I said, in parts; but bear with me-I'm trying to get on the blogging track:

So, a few instances have popped up recently that has made me think a bit. A fairly new co-worker asked me the other day if I was from "the South". Being confused at the seemingly random question, after answering in the negative I asked her why. Oh. Because I used the word ''y'all" when addressing my table, which was apparently weird if I didn't hail from there. After saying very vaguely that it is my favorite gender neutral address, I was told that they were all ''ladies" and I totally should have totally addressed them as that.

I don't know them, or their gender; so I would never address them in a way that took for granted that. The topic, much to my dismay, gets continued fairly often. Cries of, "you did it again!", and little remarks of how I'm a "crazy vegan (though I struggle to find the relevance of this particular quip-maybe just to further emphasize how crazy I really am?) feminist" gets repeated now, and I just seriously never envisioned this thing as labeling me as such. Is addressing a group with gender neutral language that extreme? Really? How depressing. I think my next dilemma quite possibly enters that category, but even so; I think it's something to at least spend a bit of time thinking about.

I finished a short presentation with a classmate and afterwards the professor exclaimed, "thanks girls, and now I believe you two gentlemen are next?". Okay. Even assuming that the classmate I worked with identified as female, and following presenters identified male--there is no positive or helpful interpretation of that remark. It wasn't "ladies" and "gentlemen" which could have been at equal levels I suppose; it was girls. And a lot of times I think of myself as a kid, sure, (certainly at school sometimes) but this seemed deliberately dismissive; especially when put so closely with identifying two males as the latter.

What really irks me even more, as I've been trying to pin down as I've been thinking about it, is that it all seems unnecessary to me. How is it relevant what gender the presenters were (especially in a situation where all of us are getting a grade)? Is it really important to classify my customers as male or female and address them as such? No.

If at first something fails catastrophically--throw more money at it

2007-11-26T09:25:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone needed another reason to hate zoos:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21919225/

Three polar bears have already died due to Buffalo zoo's neglect. This makes me sick to my stomach that the only folks who have voiced any real concern is PETA. Insert gagging noise here. They make a point to say that this is the first time in five years that they have asked that a zoo be shut down. I should be giving credit for their incompetence now? (But hey, look at how many womyn they've managed to objectify in that time!!)

The Buffalo News had a front page story on it the other day with various people defending the zoo (because the previous article detailing all of the zoo's neglect wasn't received well?), and reasoning that; hey this just means we should be giving them more money! I guess now the continued funding of the Iraq war makes perfect sense.

My slow fingers can't find the link right now, but pretty much the only effort being made is to (a) close down the zoo entirely, or (b) simply move the one remaining polar bear to another, "better" place. Which is oh so eerily reminiscent of the helpfulness of closing down Abu Graib, IE one place of torture, and simply rendering everything to another location.

I especially love how this article makes a point to say:

Fields said the zoo does not report every death to the media because animal
deaths are regular occurrences at a zoo.

Which is perfectly true. Other beings dieing for the sake of humyn entertainment does happen all the time. Every day. Nothing to see here folks, just walk away and return to your lives.

Stop thinking, you!

2007-10-31T18:14:00.000-04:00

I've now seen the H.R. 1955 Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 bill which just passed in the House of Reps in about every internet reading place I like to go to. And, everyone is super shocked, its dubbed the thought crime bill; many understandable references to 1984. Honestly I'm shocked that so many folks are shocked, though. I parted with my first amendment rights with the Patriot Act, just like everyone else. And I watched as the fear that the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act would be used to prosecute peaceful AR activists, become a reality as the SHAC 7 and many other good folks found themselves in jail. Putting a web site up has already got people in trouble, this is hardly anything new. It's an essential dictatorships last lingering leap for finger holds into American law. I'm pretty sure it's only going to get worse. Hell, Gravel can't even go to debates now. I don't even like him, but I want him back. Keep the illusion up for folks that anyone can run for president. I do like though, how now all these ultra republican publications are getting worried about this, and totally seem to think that it is aimed at targeting them. That does get me laughing.

P.S: I don't think about any action, or inaction ever, and actually this blog is just random letters that my fingers type from time to time and I'm so a patriot and love our troops. So, you know, I don't and will never do anything this bill says I shouldn't do.

Go smoothie!

2007-10-17T19:33:00.001-04:00

GGSE #2
ingredients:
apple
5 ice cubes
1 cup frozen grapes
banana
2 cups swiss chard
1 cup alfalfa sprouts
1 cup pea springs
2 small kiwis
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon flax seed
.25 cup water

So this one definitely had a taste. It was sweet, and if "refreshing" was a taste, that would be it. Also it felt like little bubbles in my mouth, and I decided I liked a breakfast that did that. It has a slight bite as an after taste, but I think that’s because a few radish sprouts ended up in there. It was sort of green too! Only a murky one with little multi-colored specks in it. But not to shabby getting the color so on track on the second go. It did yield me two coffee mugs full, and by the end of the second one I was sort of getting tired of it and thinking it was a bit sweet.

Fat: 9, Calories: 655, Carbs: 142, Protein: 17, Vitamin A: 49%, E: 78%, K: 1155%, C: 446%, B-6: 126%, Thiamin: 66%, Riboflavin: 58%, Niacin: 42%, Folate: 63%, Iron: 70%, Zinc: 36%, Selenium: 18%, Calcium: 38%, Phosphorus: 58%, Magnesium: 106%

The Big Bang Theory inspired, very practical Great Green Smoothie Experiment

2007-10-16T18:57:00.001-04:00

Recently, because of some of my favorite television shows ending (can you say Gilmore Girls?), and a few old ones I liked ending up not entertaining me this season for whatever reason (Numbers, for one); I've fallen onto a new show that I absolutely love: The Big Bang Theory.

Now, I'm not one to really blog about TV in the past, but it brought me to my newest quest, so an impromptu introduction was needed. The co-op was selling all these greens for unusually cheep price, so I ended up picking up way to many for a normal twenty-two year old to go through left to her own devises. So I was looking at my unusually large amount of chard, kale, dandelion greens, and spinach, watching said show last night trying to incorporate my unusually large collection of greens into dinner with, a...um salad because I'm (1)not too original late at night, (2) generally enjoy salads despite having to constantly answer clichéd remarks about it, (3)figured it was the best way to start making a dent in them (along with chugging down a few quality heirloom tomatoes).

Well Sheldon started a bunch of experiments, and one of them was achieving the best scrambled eggs. Which, eww, but it got me thinking along the lines of kitchen expirements. And, I have a digital camera! One that I haven't fully worked out yet, but what better way to learn. Additionally, I hadn't found any one single green smoothie that I had all the ingredients for or liked all the components, so fueled on by Sheldon, I have decided to pursue The Great Green Smoothie Experiment. Boring for every other person except me.

Ahem, without any further ado:

GGSE #1:
ingredients:
apple
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
banana
1 cup chopped kale
1.5 cup chopped swiss chard
1.5 tablespoons flax seed
dash of nutmeg (why not)
.5 cup soy milk and .25 cup water
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

So, on the positive side: it didn't taste bad. It was also frozen-ish which is how I like my smoothies. And it got rid of some green stuff, but I think I got a bit to happy with the fruit. On the cons: it wasn't green, which was, a huge disappointment. Purple would be a nice description, grey would sort of be more accurate. It didn't really taste like anything, mostly just frozen, however, only faintly like molasses. Maybe if I strained my taste buds a bit of strawberry.

But it was edible, even though I had no clue what I was doing! I just threw stuff into a blender. So, I'm quite satisfied with day one.

I suppose most people if they were not me would be interested in the nutritional information, and this being all "science-y" I guess I'll post an approximation, made by fitday, which is a site I sometimes use when I'm feeling particularly neurotic about nutrients. I'll try posting the pictures when and if I figure out the camera situation.

Calories: 506, Carbs: 109, Fat: 10, Protein: 13, Vitamin A: 132%, B-6: 115%, B-12: 38%, K: 1867%, C: 424%, Thiamin: 48%, Riboflavin: 54%, Calcium: 43%, Niacin: 24%, Folate: 36%, Iron: 64%, Zinc: 23%, Selenium: 15%, Phosphorus: 41%, Magnesium: 85%

Katrina's accomplices?

2007-10-11T06:51:00.000-04:00

I thought, hands down this article would be getting into the failure of the Bush administration, race, class and gender issues...any number of ideas that I'm interested in always reading on. Katrina's accomplices?? I knew the answer to this question...

Unfortunately the author didn't. Instead, he decided to compare a parent leaving their child in a hot car to die; to a parents "decision" not to evacuate. Like folks in the Ninth Ward were like, well, I could save our lives, but I'm just not feeling up to it. He even mentions not having the resources. Only this was answered with, well; saying I'm poor never let parents who leave their children in cars off the hook. Prosecute Katrina victims as well. They lost a child, let's make them "really" pay with some legal consequences.

I'm mind numbingly floored at the inability to grasp class struggles. What it means that the majority(?) of Americans don't understand what it means to live in poverty day in and day out, to not have enough money for dinner or medicine; let alone the finances to back a trip. There was no decision. Folks who were left vulnerable in New Orleans weren't there because they choose it; society and capitalism pushed people there. And this administration did jack shit. How you can analyse the situation and find the victims at fault is really, truly beyond me.

Look at me(!!!): I can talk AR without objectifying womyn!!!

2007-09-19T13:52:00.000-04:00

I'm going to preface this rant for just an unexpected moment with: I like Alicia Silverstone, I do. I like how she talks about veganism on popular shows, when asked for an interview, in a way that doesn't seem defensive, or angry; attributes that I inevitably end up producing whenever I'm trying to talk about it.

But seriously: she made awesome, totally articulate arguments for veganism--with her clothes on.

And I'm not to sure with what taking them off had to do with animal rights, especially in a world where this was done without a catch phrase of, "I'd rather go naked then wear fur" (not that this would make it a particularly better argument, but it would at least be a bit more explainable). Just talking about how awesome "vegetarianism" is, (because even though this is one of the rare times PETA uses a celebrity with a consistent advocacy, for some reason it's conveniently[?] left out and reduced to an advocacy that is still pretty down with exploiting animals) without your clothes (and wet!!! because wet naked is soooo much sexier then just naked alone) may, I suppose, somehow makes steps for AR, but a world where animals have rights, yet womyn are reduced to objects, is still a pretty sucky reality for me.

Though this doing things in actuality for animal rights is still a pretty weak argument for me. Naked womyn and PETA is hardly a new concept, surely the "shock" factor of which they claim this advertisement originally was supposed to do, is gone. Indeed, although it is breaking today, it isn't making any huge headlines (though it did warrant a few seconds on The View, but that was mostly so Elisabeth could tell everyone how not mad she is at Alicia, not to actually discuss veganism).

This isn't going to launch a new discussion of ethical discourse in America; it's just another situation where a womyn is being devalued as a person with ideas and feelings, and made into a sexual object where we can judge her physical attributes more accordingly. The fact that it has Alicia's face on it, the fact that she's a "celebrity", the fact that the ad is talking about vegetarianism is all rendered irrelevant when they're trying to accent her sexual attributes at the forefront. The blurb by the video ad on PETA's website by Alicia seems to be the final stamp on this ("I lost the weight" and "I look better now"), seemingly to advocate not to be vegan for any moral implications, but to use veganism as the method and the way to increase your sexuality, a way you too can render yourself fit to serve a male dominated fantasy.

And that fucking sucks.

I lose stuff too, but it's never really been that bad

2007-08-08T17:35:00.001-04:00

I can appreciate that it is generally difficult to sometimes keep track of things, particularly when you try and move a lot of stuff at once. I seem to have left a souvenir at every hotel I've stayed at (a little gift to the maids, maybe, if you will). But it is 99 percent of the time, little things that didn't really make it too high on my list of priorities. I have a few things that seem valuable to me, so I make it a point to keep track of them. Cell phone? Check. Ipod? Check. Sunny Care Bear flip-flops I found for less then a buck in LA? Check. If I had a gun, or something with the possibility to kill mass people, that would also totally make that list.

So, it really confuses me when it's revealed that, (a) about two hundred thousand things with the potential to kill people are missing, and (b) it takes about two years for this to really be realized. When this first broke, I figured that I must grossly be underestimating how much weapons are being used in the first place. Several different sources are phrasing it as thirty percent though. We don't know where almost a third of our weapons are?? I need to find a word that means even less then incompetent, because this is so far below that word. Incompetent is the word I use to describe the new waitress's ability to effectively clean dishes. I need something greater when I try and conceptualize what not knowing where this many AK-47s are means.

What makes me even more shocked, is that a lot of folks when they talk about how frustrated it makes them, center an anger not at the damage said weapons could, and probably are, doing; but that their tax dollars are being wasted. I think about money fairly often; a lot of people on tight budgets probably do. But it is a new low of the American egotistical psyche to hear about loss weapons in Iraq, and to be worried about their wallet, not about the people who are most likely being shot because we have so much shit over in Iraq, we can't keep track of it.

Youtube debating makes me want to watch the Republican debate

2007-07-26T06:03:00.000-04:00

I thought this was going to be one of those things that I get all excited about, then it turns out phenomenally bad and disappointing (Like when you stay up for days so you can both work and read the entirety of Harry Potter, only for that ending). But I had genuine fun watching the latest instalment of the democratic debates; and what's more I can watch all the replays I want on youtube because they sponsored the whole thing. Or something equivalent-I'm not sure how they really would do that, but I'm fairly certain CNN told me this was a fact several times.

Literally the only negative thing about the whole experience was that my tv guide didn't understand what was going on, and didn't list when and what channel the debate was on, so I literally spent two hours before the debate flipping through all these vaguely looking CNN and fox news channels trying to find it. Luckily, I found it with twenty minutes still left on their countdown--which is another fabulous idea. They had a timer going counting down for the last hour, giving it the anticipation level it justly deserves.

It all started out so spectacularly too, with a Chris from Oregon asking how all the candidates would be any different, with plenty of air quotes to go around. I think I'm officially in the Obama over Clinton camp (but obviously Kucinich over them all) indefinitely. Which I believe is a result of both Clinton looking more politically motivated and sideswiping important issues, and Obama just getting better at saying...the same lines he has been saying. (But really better at it; and seeing as they are good lines anyways...). And it really broke my heart when asked if she would meet with leaders (even and especially ones we are in conflict with) during her first year and office and she gave the most direct 'no' I think I've ever heard her say. Obama on the other hand, said it has been quite a ridiculous policy indeed thinking that we are somehow punishing countries by not talking to them. But, Kucinich is giving reparations for slavery, and its before the primary and he's still in it, so why am I talking about Obama?

Gravel, not to disappoint was as angry as ever, right from the get go; even after humbly thanking his youtube questioner for asking him a question because, "he doesn't get a lot". This was mainly concerning how everybody is getting funding, yes even Obama, from banks, (and well, he's not). I'm also confused how Edwards can say that he's, "on a journey" with an issue, and so therefore doesn't know his personal opinion about it (gay marriage), but he affirms his personal opinions shouldn't reflect policy anyways. Which, 'yeah!', I think; but why then is he answering every other question as per what he believes in?

In all of the funny moments, I think it is tied between the snowman (hmm--I just realized this word is gendered, but I'm not quite sure how to remedy that because snowmyn just looks weird and snowperson seems stupid...) worried about how global warming will affect the little snow...people... and when everybody had to "say a nice thing about the candidate on their left" as a feel-good tacky close to the debate (which, come on, I live for), Kucinich's remark of "hey, I was set up; there is no one to the left of me", was met by an unusually fast and witty reply from Anderson of, "we looked; we couldn't find anyone to the left of you". It doesn't get better then that people.

So I got this shirt now and have totally texted 'peace' to 73223, because that's really all Kucinich wanted to get across the entire debate (the latter, not the shirt-that was totally my idea).

That's okay: I didn't want to be paid the same amount as dudes anyways

2007-06-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

In an America where you can sue a dry cleaner to the tune of 67 million dollars for a lost pair of pants, I'm finding it impossible to conceive that similar retribution has been made virtually impossible for victims of pay discrimination.

180 days to file a claim relating to such an issue is a joke; and the plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter is the personification of this problem, as it took nineteen years before it was realized she was getting paid forty percent less then the lowest paying male supervisor (see this fantastic article).

Justice Ginsburg puts it correctly in her dissent saying, "In our view, the court does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination...Title VII was meant to govern real-world employment practices, and that world is what the court today ignores."

The Grossman and Brake article states, "An employer could pay a woman less than her male counterparts for her entire career, and admit that the reason for doing so is because she is female, as long as the decision to set the discriminatory wage happened at least six months earlier. This rule places untenable burdens on employees and circumvents Title VII's substantive protection against pay discrimination."

Will I ever sue because of a pay discrepancy? Probably not. I like to believe, though, when ever I'm in a tough situation that the law "is on my side" and works most of the time (I know, I know; how I manage to sometimes so romanticize 'the law', even baffles me at this point) . But that romanticism is what gave me the strength to tell my boss' supervisor when I worked at the dinning hall, that they couldn't simply change the names of our foreign exchange students to something "American" because my boss couldn't pronounce their real name, and not think I would get fired. (Oh, the good ole days when I knew nothing about 'big corporation' and the ability of an employer to make you want to leave)

This takes so many steps backwards towards getting the pay gap closed. It's something that makes me struggle to find an area where the law is, in fact, "on my side" when they seem to care about an already rich guys pants over low paying workers trying to get through the every day. Yes, these two cases aren't in a direct competition at all, but the fact that the first case can exist while the second is now shut down, is extremely disheartening.

By a show of hands...

2007-06-05T17:47:00.000-04:00

Ah, more debate. With Kucinach still in the race; does it get any better? It could, probably, if the candidates weren't reduced to having to raise their hand every other question. Come on, asking for a show of hands is something you use to decide who wants to go to the Mexican place to eat verses the Chinese one, not to determine who thinks English should be the official language of the United States, and certainly not to discern candidates concerns about the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.

How frustrating.

But there were a few gem questions like Wolf Blitzer asking seriously, "what would you do with Bill Clinton?", then looking according uncomfortable, uneasily realizing the flaw of the question as he turned to Hillary Clinton to ask the question again. I admit; I'm easily amused, and still in college and fairly young, so I find it perfectly acceptable to laugh at ill phrased questions such as that. So I giggled again when Bidden explained his disagreement to the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy as uniquely as he always manages to with stating about once you're in a hole, your not asking the other guy next to you whether they are gay or not. He meant foxhole, and I'm sure everyone knew it... everyone who has grown up at least.

For a two hour debate without commercials, overall I thought:

there was too much Blitzer talking, especially when he insisted on repeating other folks' questions.
Blitzer referring to everyone else by their title and last name, and referring to Clinton as Hillary for some of the debate was inexcusable.
Gravel was uncomfortably angry the entire time (maybe because he's polling below 1%?), which made me sad and angry because I had totally essentialized all Alaskan folk as basically being cold, but very still very HAPPY versions of hippies (especially with the Men in Trees drama awhile back). So basically, my illusions are shattered; 'plow guy' doesn't exist, and certainly there isn't a sweet and simple Patrick guy waiting for me, and Jack is just a lie. Alaskans are actually apparently even grumpier then we all are.
Obama really doesn't know how to talk about policy. And I got out the line ''we need a po-litical solution, not military one" before he did, so score one for me, but probably minus a lot more for him.
Clinton starting to answer every "if you were president" question with, "when I'm president" was a phenomenal move on her part. Similarly, her stating for everybody involved which questions they will all answer was exceptional. This was a great technique to try and get us not to focus on how she is claiming that, "if she knew then what she knows now" she would not vote for the war, BUT she somehow still contends that she was fully briefed before she voted, and that she knew all the facts.
Bidden impressed me with how he talked about Darfur, and reminding everyone of the urgency to act now ("as we sit here talking, 50,000 will be dead in Darfur"). Similarly, my mouth is still hanging open that Richardson apparently feels intervening with the Beijing Olympics to stop a genocide would be a "disproportionate" action. Seriously??
Kucinich admitting he wouldn't kill Bin Laden if given the opportunity (assassination bad, following laws good), probably lost him any long shot he had in this race, but I admire him (yes, some more) for answering honestly, and for sticking with his principles.

And the best part, what does Kucinich want to do during his first 100 days in office? Aww, "reshape the world for peace". I'm getting images of Sandra Bullock, William Shatner, and Heather Burns explaining her favorite "date".

Hey, the republicans are about to go at it now; we shall see if they will make me laugh or cry more.

I'm not quite sure why my last post is so catastrophically weird and hard to read, but hopefully it will never happen again.

Ode to Dennis Kucinich

2007-05-03T16:19:00.000-04:00

My eagerness and enthusiasm leading up to the first democratic debate ended up to have so many disappointing moments. I like Obama, in the sense I suppose, that I acknowledge it is probably going to be the best outcome I can reasonably hope for. More so then I even like him, is my want to really like him, which I suppose inevitably starts to complicate things. I like what I saw as an honest enthusiasm for the issues he likes to talk about, and especially his work on disclosing the stuff that the government is doing (ie being able to go online and see where exactly tax dollars are spent).

I've never really heard too many long speech segments made by him however, and I was really uncomfortable with too many of his answers for me to want to start giving him my one and only vote that I get in this whole thing. I also didn't like (on a more general note) how the candidates went out of their way to seem like they were agreeing with each other, in an attempt to, I can only fathom, try not to step on other folk's toes too early; but that was supposed to be the point of this whole exercise.

This leads to my secret candidate coming out and saving the day; Dennis Kuchinich. At this point, I'm so biased I almost can't tell people he's number one on my list without smiling. Even pushing aside the awesome work he's done for the AR movement, showing and constantly pointing out the link of how animal cruelty leads to humyn violence, recognizing the crisis our climate is in, and backing up everything he advocates by being vegan, and having a shockingly consistent voting record--breathe, yes, besides all that (the issues that I feel closest too, but understand don't hit very high on other folk's level of importance)-- I think he has an array of innovative and workable answers on many other issues such as immigration, energy, and education.

For anyone silly enough to have missed the action, you can follow along here-
www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-042707-krg-debate_part1.1023b3ba.html

It will please me immensely to put my top problems with the candidates (specifically towards Obama in general, only because he is my next "go to" person, so to speak) in list form, with how Kucunich solved the problem for me:

I am uneasy with how Obama seems to answer questions with "run around the issue" answers that makes no clear articulation where he stands. Or attempts to push the topic to a place where he feels more comfortable, or has more solutions.

MODERATOR:
Senator Obama, on this same topic, what about your view on the decision on partial-birth abortion and your reaction to most of the public agreeing with the court's holding?

OBAMA: You know, I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy...Now, there is a broader issue, though. And that is can we move past some of the debates around which we disagree and can we start talking about the things we do agree on? Reducing teen pregnancy; making it less likely for women to find themselves in the circumstances where they've got to anguish over these decisions.

Those are areas where I think we can all start mobilizing and move forward rather than look backwards.
Verses:

KUCINICH: But the truth of the matter is, it's possible, I believe, to take a course of action where you can get all the people of America in support of a culture of life which includes prenatal care, postnatal care, child care, universal health care, a living wage, all those things that give support to life.

a) Obama's response that we need to talk about abortion in terms of some ridiculously linking teen pregnancy issue where, "we do agree on" is atrocious. Nothing is going to be solved by side stepping to some ground deemed "safe". Debate needs to happen; there needs to be a discussion in which the harms are out in the open, where we are having a conversation about what it means when abortion is "legal" yet inaccessible to too many people, where the teen-age mothers Obama vaguely references are forced to let their fate fall into the hands of their parents, and what waiting 24 hours and listening to a stereo typed and simplified speech about abortion, really gains (personally, still searching for this last one...)
b)I'm not trying to say that Kucinich really scored too many points exactly on this particular point either, but as many have pointed out in examining the debate (talking unfortunately about other people, not him) , he won it by not losing; in this case, not pretending that it's simply a matter of stopping womyn from being in the position to make this decision in the first place.
2. I'm confused as to what Obama is actually proposing in terms of resolving the war.
OBAMA: ...there's no military solution to this. We've got to have a political solution, begin a phased withdrawal, and make certain that we've got benchmarks in place so that the Iraqi people can make a determination about how they want to move forward.
Verses:

MODERATOR: Congressman Kucinich, do you think one can be against the war and yet still fund it?

KUCINICH: No. I think it's inconsistent to tell the American people that you oppose the war and, yet, you continue to vote to fund the war. Because every time you vote to fund the war, you're reauthorizing the war all over again...Furthermore, I don't think that it's sufficient to say that if we had the information at the beginning that we would have voted differently. That information was available to everyone. And, if you made the wrong choice, we're auditioning here for president of the United States. People have to see who had the judgment and the wisdom not to go to war in the first place, and I made the choice not to go to war.

a)What is his political solution? Reading other bits from where he talks about his plan, I've gathered he wants it to obviously end, and there is a bunch of troops being pulled out; but how is troop removal a political solution? According to his web site some troops will remain to "engage in counter-terrorism" ...which sounds suspiciously like what we are doing now, only with a few less people. If he really believes the war is "dumb", why would this still be going on? I am much more ready to listen to Kucinich's 'peacekeepers' without, you know, guns and other weapons that usually make talking harder, to try and resolve things.
3. You've got to be able to defend what you're doing, and why you are doing it; and then stick with it.

MODERATOR:
You've promised in your campaign a new kind of politics, but just this week the Chicago Sun-Times reported on questionable ties you have with a donor who was charged last year for demanding kickbacks on Illinois business deals. Aren't you practicing the very same kind of politics that many of the others on this stage have engaged in?

OBAMA: Well, not all, (emphasis added) we have thousands of donors. This donor engaged in some ethical (sic) behavior and I have denounced it. But I have a track record of bringing people around this new kind of politics, since I was in the state legislature.

Verses:

MODERATOR: "show of hands" question: Do you believe there is such a thing as a global war on terror?Let's try Congressman Kucinich. Why is your hand not up?

KUCINICH: Because the fact of the matter is that the global war on terror has been a pretext for aggressive war. As president of the United States, I intend to take America in a different direction, rejecting war as an instrument of policy, reconnecting with the nations of the world, so that we can address the real issues that affect security all over the globe and affect our security at home: getting rid of all nuclear weapons, the United States participating in the chemical weapons convention, the biological weapons convention, the small arms treaty, the landmine treaty, joining the International Criminal Court, signing the Kyoto climate change treaty.
a)Direct questions need direct answers for me to believe what they are saying. I don't like fancy footwork that aims to distract from what is being discussed.

4. Seriously: Edwards spends $400 on his haircuts?

(even Kucinich couldn't resolve this problem, however)

TV Smith

2007-04-16T15:16:00.000-04:00

Monday's Music of the Moment::: TV Smith

I like music that tells me stuff; I'll be the first to admit that. Particularly stuff that I think and believe I have already cleverly figured out, and more specifically stuff that falls into the anti big government category or anything at all related to the AR movement. The louder, crazier, more confusing, the better really. Because soft, "clouds, love, and butterflies" music as I call it, with perfect lyrics and some pretty person singing it to you can literally be found everywhere, and so no longer interests me. So it almost seems silly to me that I haven't previously run into this band before.

I'll put lyric tid-bits from two of my favorite songs to make up for it.

Sugar Crash:

They spoon it on because they've worked out that
If life tastes sweet, we don't fight back
Sugar crash

Only one Flavor:

This is how it starts up
A slap and a cry
The slaps keep coming
For the rest of your life
And you don't know who to question
And you don't know how to fight
You just hope that by the end
It turns out alright

Oh, Oklahoma (insert heavy sigh with a hug and cup of vegan cocoa)

2007-03-26T14:01:00.000-04:00

I'm probably in poor shape to be attempting to write coherently, but as it was a huge triumph just to make it to Oklahoma because of both personal (i.e; work, school, and generally trying to organize what I'm going to do with my life) and bureaucratic (as in SUNY Buffalo is really not much of a fan of supporting student's interest outside of sports and video game clubs) issues, I simply cannot wait to gush a bit.

In a way it was supper sad because I knew it was my last tournament; my last chance to debate, smile at winning, laugh at dumb cross x questions, feel irrationally (and the occasionally justified)anger at judges when the outcome didn't pop up as expected, and spend countless time waiting for paired rounds while trying to re-hash the entire round with anyone in the vicinity who will listen. It was in all it's entirety a priceless experience though, and somehow worth every single hour of extra shifts, work, and time spent leading into it. I literally couldn't have asked for a better partner to share it with (both as an excellent debater, but also just a phenomenal person), or more enthusiastic for our cause coach (I love you Katie!), or better people in general to be around in every single one of the Rochester folk.

It's also additionally sad because the one thing that Yasin, Shannon, and I originally sat down and set as a goal when we really tried to think about all the things we wanted from the club, never really happened because next year will leave Buffalo without a debate team again as Ben gets to be with a "real" debate team, and I will be off gallivanting in Burlington, and Jeff will be...um...yea.

Even in light of all that, and also the day and a half bus ride there (and then correspondingly, back) that has to be considered; it was without enough sufficient words to describe it. The seven rounds leading into the eighth one, held some of the best and most entertaining debates I have ever been a part of. I also picked up a laptop and was literally in awe of how easy my flow could be organized with a few clicks. My last round of my "career", I guess, as a debater I got to go into with a 4-3 record with the entirely tangible possibility of breaking at nationals (especially after the 1AR ), and that's really all I could have ever asked for.

I genuinely heart policy debate forever.

Monday's Music of the Moment

2006-12-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

Stars

In acknowledgement of finals time, and the need for simple easy to follow rhymes that you can sort of still follow while memorizing the "important" stuff, I'll throw this band out there. I like the sound, the instrumental parts (when you can hear them), and most of the messages that the songs are trying (I think?) to get across; though the second album Set Yourself on Fire is infinitely better then the first (though that's usually the case, isn't it?).

It must be stated for the record, however, I'm desperately looking for some quality emo-like band that doesn't have a song devoted to some broken love affair. Is love and all that jazz important? Sure. Does it need to be in ninety percent of the songs out there? No.

Soft Revolution

And a dream inside our heads

And after changing everything

They couldn't tell we couldn't sing...

And that changes everything

The feminist lurking inside of me

2006-12-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Is more upsetting things happening, or is everything just upsetting me more?

I finished up my philosophy class today; an intro class to logic, something that filled my schedule at 8am three days a week, that I never really had to study for or try real hard because of previous classes taken already addressing the material. It was boring in some parts, in terms of how often the same concept was explained, especially days before tests, and what not, but altogether a pretty easy run. Until today's final.

The last question was detailing how 'Pete' doesn't like to be treated as a child, so therefore he shouldn't treat his wife like one. So I'm going along underlining the premises, as per the directions, and otherwise answering the questions, thinking there are probably a dozen more reasons why this dude shouldn't treat his wife like a child, I come up to the last part: write a counterexample that illustrates a situation where this would not be the case.

Immediately, I shockingly(especially having just diagrammed various other reasons to myself why this would be the case) can't think of anything. Then, as I'm trying just to finish up the test, and tell myself there are plenty of times where I've taken the other side of the argument, and a measly four point question where I do just that, shouldn't be any type of problem for me; I decide that I really don't want to. I don't want to spend any time trying to think up a situation where it would be okay for a guy to treat his wife like a child, because it's not okay. Maybe I'm thinking about this way too much, or not putting the question in context or something; but I feel like that act would always intrinsically be offensive and sexist. And furthermore, (because let's face it, if I'm taking it this far, I might as well go all the way) thirty people thinking about a situation where it would be okay to treat a wife as a child is probably a bad idea. So, just getting more upset really, I just wrote that (not that I didn't want to do the question, though if I hadn't spent the time fuming I probably could have wrote a lot about that too) and that the correct answer is there is no logical example where this would be permissible. And I probably got it wrong, but I feel like the question was wrong also.

I love NYC, and... yes, I think it loves me

2006-12-04T17:24:00.000-05:00

This post is extremely delayed in coming, but the semester ending and having to do essentially "make-up" shifts for work (ie, apparently taking one weekend off a month means you have to be able to work everyone else's shift that can't make it for the next five weeks) has left me extremely busy.

But---the Baruch debate tournament was a giant success for everyone (okay! the two active Buffalo debaters!!) on the UB Debate team, and even most of Rochester's team as well. Even more then the technically successful front (I haven't ever made it to semi-finals...), I just had so much fun. Genuine, all out fun. Something that I really had lost, especially last year, and am still brimming with excitement about, even now, weeks latter. I love the stuff we're talking about, cutting our own evidence, and even, not carrying around tubs (though it does pose a slight problem-one expando can only hold so many crazy liberal vegan bumper stickers...).

And to top the debate portion off-we were in New York City, and a half a mile from the nearest all veg place, and so after the last round I googled the nearest place and set off. I went to Curly's Vegetarian Lunch (http://www.curlyslunch.com/)- and was shell shocked with all of my dining options. Seriously, I forgot what it was like to have legitimate dining options. I get excited when I see hummus on a menu so this... was almost to much to take it. The waitress was clearly annoyed with how long I was taking, but I was determined in my fight not to be rushed. Even with the extra time, I think I made a rash decision and ordered the BBQ seitan meal specifically because it had three vegan hush puppies. Oh, they were well worth it though-the only sad thing is I really forget how I don't really eat meals so much anymore, but rather munch on stuff every other hour. Some carrots here, nuts two hours latter, a banana, then some cous-cous. So of course, after I ate the hush puppies I was depressingly full (even though I had thought I had pre-gamed a bit and not ate anything during the last debate), and only nibbled on the wild rice, chili, and the main course. That did not stop me from ordering some cake and taking everything to go and eating it during the rest of the time in the city (as a side note-chili should not be packaged in with anything--it just turns it the whole meal into a big spicy bean mess--a delicious mess; but a mess).

Even with my solitary adventure that filled my vegan tummy up like it hasn't seen in awhile, I was able to make it to the arranged meeting spot fifteen minutes early (which I neurotically view as on time). And then feel incredibly stupid and akward when the bus came twenty minutes latter and no one else had showed up. As the bus driver opened the door and asked me where everyone was (because I would totally be the one that would posess the info where the entire Rochester folk were), it dawned on me what sort of complete dork I was. Here everyone's out partying in the city after a hard but successful day of de-bates, then there is me; holding my vegan cake and Angela Davis book at the pick up location ten minutes early. What is even maybe a bigger testimate is the fact I still think the entire time was well spent. C'est la vie.

Naked Juice is... safe

2006-09-20T09:39:00.000-04:00

http://www.nakedjuice.com/

While wandering Tops the other day, I found some ridiculously overpriced, but otherwise completely tasty looking bottles of juice proudly declaring themselves free from extra sugar and otherwise unnatural-ness. They only have about five ingredients per bottle, and the only shaddy-ness was the dreaded natural flavors; so I sent them my concerned polite e-mail inquiring whether natural was just fancy talk for animal.

They replied with unusual speed and interest in my question, but I think the funny part is instead of just saying, ''nope, no animal proteins in anything ('cept predictably enough the Protein Zone one)''--they told me it was safe. Aww--safe. I feel like someone has hugged me. I suppose I can even get over the temporary weird feeling of consuming something named Naked Juice for this.

A campaign I can believe in

2006-08-30T20:27:00.000-04:00

I get side tracked whenever I do debate work. Seriously sidetracked. An impossibly smart freshman turned up to cut cards with me today (which I won't, won't, won't keep calling him the New Kid), and I ended up not actually using the computer I was in front of, but talking to him about the topic, and all sorts of debate-ish things--but not actually work, at all. So I still haven't even decided which case I would really like to do, but shockingly just thinking pessimistically about reasons it should stay the same. Go neg.

My class was only thirty minutes, because apparently our teacher is the chief of staff for Marc Coppola, and has readily admitted to us that keeping his job after September 12th is more important then class. Mark one up for honesty, at least. This meant I could go to the library and restart my task of researching and working for debate. So in one of my articles, that was trying to talk about abortion, it mentioned off handedly the Unity08 party. Which I remembered hearing about again only in passing, and decided this was a worthy side track to wander to.

I'm oddly into and for it. While I was (am?) reasonably satisfied with being a democrat, maybe especially so as I was for once in a type of situation where I am not in an abnormally large minority; I really like Unity's stance on politics in general, and on more issues then I ever found in the dem camp. I think it will give me a much more optimistic point of view over the whole procedure, instead of negatively just always thinking that government is corrupt and it does a lot of shady shit, and that it is always going to be that way. Perhaps too optimistic, but I think it will work out. I wish they would bump gun control and gay rights up a little bit in terms of what they view as priorities, but I also think a lot of issues are important.

http://www.unity08.com/

So, to sum everything up for everybody I guess; don't be surprised if you get an email demanding you sign up for the campaign. Hey, I got a free bumper sticker for it.

Make-up for moi?

2006-06-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

This probably pales drastically to what people normally find exciting in life; but it's seriously the best I've managed to do in between waitressing shifts that are very long, but extremely successful on the money front. After hearing enough good things about Zuzu Luxe cosmetics to warrant me buying them, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and try to get back into the attempting to look attractive thing. I have to say, and this is from a former Clinique junkie, that I am quite impressed. They've got all these little samples that are only a buck a piece, so you can find the right color and so forth (and have massive fun playing with a half a dozen eye shadow colors), and run in the reasonable range of what I'm willing to pay in terms of vegan make-up. The only downside I could find is that they don't have any nailpolish, which has probably been what I've been pining for the most.

I celebrated all this with chopping off all my hair, apparently dropping 15 pounds from walking two miles to and from work every day, and insisting on wearing ridiculously oversized sunglass on the way to work to feel even more super-swank. Fan-tastic.

Know what's on your face!!:::
http://www.cosmeticscop.com/learn/dictionary.asp?TYPE=MAIN

Stereo-typed vegan

2006-04-30T20:19:00.000-04:00

Maybe I'm just still moderately bummed out from attending the vegan potluck three hours ago, and feeling like it was one of my worst experiences eating out; or maybe this article is legitimately bad. Seriously though, I was not prepared for the social awkward moment at an event I hadn't even anticipated as being awkward. And maybe that's my problem too; I just need to assume every place that I eat in public is some sort of battle ground where no food is safe. But I really thought it was a friendly, good break from studying event that would not cause me any anxiety (and the need to further procrastinate on my thirty page paper due tomorrow). Not someplace where I would get made fun of for my "obsessiveness" when I looked at the bag the bread originally came in and found out it had honey.

It's not even that I mind that there are things at an event that I can't eat--quite the contrary. I get legitimately excited when I find out there is even one choice that I can eat at a public event, because that means I don't have to go to the back pack for my next meal. I don't expect people to think of every diet that could possibly exist; it's a choice I made, and in no way should it really effect the way the people I associate with choose to live their life. I'm just saying, if you call something vegan--it should actually be that. And I think a group calling itself by that name should really be my best shot at understanding this philosophy; and yet I was so disappointed. I have experience with people insulting my veganism--just not with members of that group, I guess.

Apparently there's some unwritten rule that when you go out to eat, all rules are off; and you should just hope for a vegan meal because you can never be sure what you're going to get. I really don't think it has to be that way at all. I think that you shouldn't just compromise what you believe in because the people sitting around you may look at you funny if you order only a drink, and smile and only participate in the conversation.

Either way it is, my being upset or the article; this blog really hasn't seen me in my "crazy hippy-tree hugging, ingredient checking" vegan mode (that we all just know every vegan has), that I think it's really entitled too. I just hate, and I think a lot of people do, to be tight cast into a role that I don't fit into; but other people think I fit into because they have previous ideas about what a word means. And I really hate negative stereo types for veganism; especially made by people who claim to have all the knowledge, because they tried it once for a couple of weeks; and so therefore, must know everything about the subject.

http://www.slashfood.com/2006/04/26/going-vegan-traveling-while-vegan/

At first, I was really pretty excited about reading this little blip of an article. Veganism while traveling?? That says me all over. I was strangely drawn into anything that the author had to write about. But my difficulty with what was written, despite my intense want to like it, started fairly early.

One: I seriously raise my eyebrow at anyone trying to tell me how impossible it was to find vegan food in Portland, Oregon. I know for a fact it's one of the top five rated veg cities in the United States. You are doing something wrong if you can't find vegan food there.

Two: An offhand comment of how they were prepared for the worst though, because they had brought an apple and bag of pretzels--which obviously can sustain a family for the entire weekend. Do I pack for "the worst"? No shit. Between my paranoia about other people making my food "behind my back" (aka the scary non-veg friendly kitchen), my traveling every other weekend with being on about a thirty dollar a month food budget, and my general distaste for what a big group of people call good vegan food, which I call moodily, "the gross looking stuff with lots of onions and spicy things that's are going to make my mouth hurt"--packing food is like packing my toothbrush. (Which, as a small foot note, I have recently realized is not all that automatic with people; numerously finding myself in a room where there are three other girls, but everyone is asking me for toothpaste--but just to clear up any misunderstandings--I view toothpaste packing as one of the very first things to be put in the bag. Especially seeing as most travel related trips I go to revolve around a lot of speaking.) But I am entirely realistic in my packing, or so I like to believe, and it is not uncommon for half of my luggage to actually be an assortment of food that meets normal nutritional needs. And while I might not be a nutritionist, I do know that an apple and some pretzels even for one person, is not going to get anyone very far. Talking like it would, is just asinine, and any writer trying to give a perspective of what vegans go through when they're traveling, should not further the stereo-types that veganism is synonymous with eating disorder.

Three: Sort of off the last point, but; the obscene reliance on one food, and that one food being a meat substitute. Let's not even get into the discussion of how gardenburger products aren't vegan--lets pretend it's another product that actually is. (Though personally, I love propping up soy substitutes not actually designed for people who don't include meat in their diet, but for people who have realized that eating seven steaks a week sort of raises your cholesterol; or people who like saying now and then,"hey look everyone--I'm eating a vegetarian meal, like it's some exotic delicacy that they don't eat a third of the time, and just never think about it.) Acting like your vegan life would have ended, had it not been for a pre-packaged Kellogg's product is so ridiculously narrow minded, and has no basis in actual fact- but with how other people think vegans live. Honestly? The only soy substitute I've had all month is tofu and soy milk, and if I didn't have that, I would be cooking with a few more pounds of lentils, beans, nuts, and water and wouldn't even think twice. Fake meat really isn't a big turn on, when I know what it's trying to imitate.

Four: Totally unnecessary comments about how you long for a steak. It doesn't even make sense logically. Who exactly is your target audience? (Damn, probably the same people who buy Morningstar to make themselves feel good). I find it hard to believe many meat eating people saw an article about vegan traveling and thought, "holly shit; this was exactly what I was looking for and want to spend my valuable online time reading!". On the other hand, I think a number of people generally interested in veg*nism might have clicked on it to read it. Making comments like this about how hard it is to be vegan for a month, are worse then not putting out any article on it. Without articles that try and give you the facts they've discovered about something they've essentially stuck their big toe into the ocean with, a lot less negative press would be circulating.

To nuke or not to nuke?? Apparently it's a question...

2006-04-11T08:26:00.001-04:00

I saw some of this circulating yesterday, but I was too much in WTF mode to say anything productive and just vent disparagingly about the newest news update.

from:
http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=36124

"one option still on the table is the use of tactical nuclear weapons to ensure
the destruction of well-protected Iranian nuclear facilities. "

This takes eye for an eye justice to new levels. Shit, they have nuclear facilities; how do we get rid of them? I know-- we'll use our nuclear missiles on them. This sounds so counter intuitive and utterly ridiculous, even for this government, that I have to take it with a little skepticism.

Too many people are coming out and saying that this isn't an option they are pursuing, for me to start adding this to my daily worries. Even if it was something they were considering, they aren't going to be dropping any nukes any time soon with about a million statements saying using them would be, ahem... "nuts" (oh Mr. Straw, you're such a tricky linguist).

from:
http://http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/10/hersh.access/index.html?section=cnn_latest

"BLITZER: So your sources have concluded basically that the diplomatic
option as it's going forward is not necessarily going to work?
HERSH: That's the fear. The fear is that we're back to the pre-Iraqi invasion game when we went through the U.N. exercise. The fear is that the White House, there's
some people in the White House who aren't really, no matter what happens
diplomatically, they don't believe Iran's going to give up its ambitions."

Ironic that the word fear appears in every sentence of his answer? I think not. I think this a huge part of the problem. On top of the possible threat of nuclear weapons and the histaria that creates, we have the man who has been the front runner of these reports, adding more baggage to the claim. I feel like all he is saying is: In case you didn't get the message--be afraid. Not only is your government contemplating nukes but some of them want to use them.

Obviously I'm anti this administration. To an obscene degree. Even when I try to say to myself, hey it's not that bad; I find myself being proved wrong. But to say that there are people in the White House who want, and who will, use nuclear weapons on Iran regardless of what Iran does is ridiculous. Even the worst person in the administration, has the knowledge of what sort of public backlash using nukes would create, and they would not create this frivously. If for nothing else, nobody wants bad press, and this would be the epitome of that.

I really had a decent amount of respect for Seymour Hersh's writing and reporting abilities, but these types of answers bother me to no end. I don't think it is helpful at all to start making comparisons between past events and what is happening now, similarly to how I don't think it's cool that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being compared to Hitler (http://www.todayonline.com/articles/111736.asp). No two events are the same and when we start mixing the two different events we start changing what is happening presently. There can not be two Hitlers, and we cannot recreate the political environment pre-Iraqi invasion.

Texas, revisited

2006-04-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

CEDA nats finished up late Wednesday evening; and by late I mean judging clocked in at about one thirty in the morning, and now the debate season is officially over. I was momentarily depressed by all this, no more cutting relation and Sudan updates; but an e-mail by a kid who has been debating for four years have picked my spirits back up. I realize I have received several e-mails to this effect, but this one really sounded promising.

Texas was great again, though the tournament bailed on providing lunches which made my budget unhappy. I had a few decent veggie stirfrys though, along with a trip to a huge natural food store. This thing was huge (see attached picture) and had things I had never even heard of. I got some tofu spring rolls and peanut sauce, and it seriously was one of the best things I have had in awhile. Even without the peanut sauce-- so that just shows you how good it was. I wish our store was that all encompassing.

The outrounds contained some of the best debates I have ever watched, and I'm glad my flows and I didn't miss a moment of it. I enjoyed hearing some of the best debaters in the nation hash out arguments, and I even enjoyed being beaten by a few of them. Generally, they were really nice about it and didn't try to spread us. We just had good debates. Chuck Norris and zombies ended up taking us down in round seven which was extremely unfortunate; especially because I knew about the zombie DA and still didn't make a block to it. Looking back on it I really could have said some pretty clever things. I just should have attacked game theory though. I wasn't really thinking that straight, with our record and The Jeff swirling about in my mind.

The hotel was awesome and Iskra and I got a room to ourselves, as we were the only womyn who went. Which has to be weighed as an unfortunate thing, even with the coolness of only two people in one room. So many people from Rochester came, but only one female? Iskra put it all to bad timing and coincidences, but I guess I'm more cynical or paranoid, or something along that lines; because I really don't think it can all be written off by that. Even the final judging panel only had two females. Heavy sigh.

I should probably look into doing all the work I missed over the last week....

Busted in Indiana

2006-03-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

In a semi remarkable turn of circumstances, the University at Buffalo failed to advance to nationals. Now I find this marginally hilarious, seeing how this was the very first year that 'A' team has placed in the top ten during invitationals, and they even placed first in the last two. Then at nationals they don't pull through? Amazing.

I was generally dissatisfied with my liquor store owner persona, but there was a reasonable amount of amusement in the reversed Nathenson criminal profile role. Mainly, just watching the other teams reaction when they found out, and getting crossed, because no body understood it. They kept looking for places to impeach me, and failed miserably. Our little 'C' team managed to pull a very good show, and it ended up being our best tournament all around. (That's supposed to be how UB rolls, I'm not quite sure what 'A' team was up to...)

They attempted to give us food, which ended up to be a disaster, surprisingly. I would have been more satisfied if they didn't try and give us food at all. Then I wouldn't have to fume over the plastic orange go they smeared all over a perfectly good mushroom sandwich that I couldn't have eaten. The whole bag lunch just made me eat so many potato chips (which I never eat, and now I know why) and apples that I nearly got sick. I certainly felt queasy the rest of the day.

Lessons learned Indiana: Salt, oil, soda, and acidy fruit do not sit well together; and karma exists.

The Honesty Box

2006-02-20T17:18:00.000-05:00

Monday's Music of the Moment::: The Honesty Box

In an unusual turn of circumstances, I like the instrumental songs almost as much as the ones with lyrics for this band. My favorite has got to be Cloudburt Forever and I've been doing my homework to it for the last few hours. The lyric construction is simple enough to get caught in your head for hours, and http://www.pahardcore.com has quickly become one of my top five webpages, as I get to make playlists and hear songs for no money whatsoever. The only down side is they have about two songs for every band. Well, beggars can't be choosers...

Point of no return

You pushed to hard, I’m about to break
There’s only so much I can take
There was a time, I’d let it go
Because the highs outweighed the lows

But now it seems, those days are gone
Tell me where did we go wrong?
You will take, no blame at all
Right always comes before a fall

I can’t go on
There’s nothing left
I cannot take another step
You’re on your own
You’ve got to learn
That there’s a point
of no return

I heart Binghamton

2006-02-16T08:45:00.000-05:00

Buffalo debate has always had some crazy times at Binghamton, and even though I was literally the only one from our team representing; it was still amazing. I got to judge for my first time ever, which proved very enjoyable. I hadn't even realized how much fun this could be-- and I got money for it! The best of both worlds. I even got to be on the panel for the final novice debate, which was quite intense. I also didn't realize Bard took their clothes off, which made that another first for me. Nobody yelled at me afterwards about any of my decisions, and I even got this crazy "judging award", so hopefully that's a good sign.

Better still, I had about four rounds off or so, and so have a good number of varsity debates flowed and ready to be looked at to make blocks. I have definitely been slacking on the debate, and focusing on the school part this week, but I figure I have some time over the weekend to muddle together some random cards. Everyone is running topicality is biopolitical. I tried finding stuff on it, but so far, I've hit a cement wall. I'm thinking I could just type up a bunch of analyticals about it anyways. As long as I convince Jeff, or my imaginary partner, to stick to one good one per round, I don't really see it being much of an issue.

The food situation was crazy there as well. The first day everything was vegan, and they even tossed in a dinner of pitas and falafel. There were also these chocolate bars with nuts that I ended up eating three of. Absolutely delicious.

Bush denies genocide in Sudan

2006-02-07T18:47:00.000-05:00

It really shouldn't surprise me any more; but I can't help it.

As violence still displaces Daruris, US decides genocide no longer exist, Eric Reeves ; Feb 4, 2006
http://sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=13913

I literally had to read this article twice in order to fully comprehend. Bush is seriously trying to deny that a genocide is happening in Sudan? They already admitted one was happening.

I am however, happy the first article I found talking about it was by Eric Reeves, who definitely rocks and made this unbelievable statement sit a little better with me. He details how horrendous this denial is and has quality lines like:::

"No amount of expediency on the part of the Bush administration can diminish these realities, or their clear delineation by the language of the Genocide Convention."

Where will that leave Sudan now? Effectually nothing was being done in the status quo, when the US was recognizing that the situation was a genocide. How long is this really going to continue before substantial action is taken?

OneWordSolution

2006-02-06T10:41:00.000-05:00

Monday's music of the moment:::

I've been hopelessly addicted to OneWordSolution as of late. Even though they are far more liberal then what I'm used to listening to (yea okay, this from the girl who can sing a good number of quality David Rovic songs verbatim), I still am finding it more amusing then I probably should. It has a fairly decent beat, although I think it would be ten times more effective if they would slow down on the lyrics. Either way, it definitely goes into the pile of CDs I would by if I had money.

Wasteland
In the distribution of the wealth there's no equality
With a fair share seeming to be a fantasy
Still everybody's looking for the diamond ring
While the fruits of out labor go to feed the king
Everybody's ready for a break in the rain
And everybody's tired from the weight of the chain
It only takes one spark to ignite the flame
For the voice of the people is the power of change.

Fish as... art?

2006-01-30T15:17:00.000-05:00

For my Chinese class we were instructed that we had to visit the museum in the Center for the Arts and write about their China wall display. No problem, I was all over it.

I wandered down there Thursday afternoon and began transcribing random stuff into my notebook about each display to use for my paper latter on. Some of the displays were fairly cool, and I was pleasantly enjoying myself as I dully tried to deduce why I couldn't just be an art major and play with paint all day long.

There was a bed in the corner of the room, and eventually I moseyed over there to investigate. On top of the bed it had a clear mattress with an oxygen tank hooked up to it. Huddled at the top were about three dozen goldfish, all trying to get oxygen from the thin stream being poorly run through. What was even more disturbing, was the paragraph that was describing the exhibit to us uninspired students who can't see art through this medium. It talked all about how the artist had been trying desperately to "get it right" for years, as he forgot frivolous items like oxygen and food and other mundane things. So hundreds of fish died at the sake of his masterpiece.

This is the most disgusting disregard for life as I have ever seen. How does one elucidate to themselves that wasting fish is a legitimate detriment for the sake of expressing their creativity?? On the accompanying paragraph it concluded how daring this was, and such a bold statement. When I got home, I looked it up. This isn't some daring new form of unknown expression; it has been done, tried, expressed, and copied for over a decade. Another moron has the same exact wonderful imaginative thing you do. What creativity and ingenious does that give you?? None. You have the same thing that a person would have if they stole a Van Goug from a museum and brought it to a copier machine. What inspiration. If only we all could evolve to that level.

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2003/0606/local/stories/08local.htm

At least one got shut down. I would totally be on this, but the last day was friday. So at least it's all gone anyways.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/02/15/goldfish.ap/

Gorillas for class

2006-01-25T17:37:00.000-05:00

I'm in a mildly excited state because for one of my classes I get to watch gorillas all semester long. And while I am slightly against the whole caging wild animals in thing/zoo situation, I do feel like Buffalo zoo has taken lots of steps to try and make it a good place. Bah, that sentence still sounds very wrong. Cage is still bad and the only thing I can comfort myself in is that I won't be giving them any money, so at least I'm not financing them. Maybe by observing the zoo for so long and being able to see where and how the keepers interact with them, will make me realize that its not such a bad place. Yea, and maybe if I take a tour of a slaughter house I'll find that humane as well. Insert a heavy sigh here. I'm constantly being attacked with things that are bad, but I cannot change. There is no other option if I want to graduate, and am I really supporting the zoo if I'm not giving them anything? Does my mere presence there really symbolize something and make me a hypocrite??

Dancing Bears of India

The people gathered round, to see the bear perform his dance.
He didn't have a choice you see, he didn't stand a chance.
His muzzle had been pierced with a red hot iron bar.
His owner would make sure he didn't wander very far.

He was captured as a baby with just this thing in mind.
His mother she was slaughtered and her cub was left behind.
He was taken to the city in a cage with iron bars.
He was lonely and was frightened of all the trucks and cars.

They left him in a little cage, tied with a rope and chain.
Then, they made him dance all day out in the sun and rain
They tugged hard on the rope, that was threaded through his nose.
They poked him with a big thick stick, to dance up on his toes.

They pulled his canine teeth out, he couldn't eat his natural food.
They tried to feed him other things but it wasn't any good.
He got sick with malnutrition and was left to die in pain.
The people that would do these things must really be insane.

Copyright Â© 2003 by Maureen Flynn-Smith. All Rights Reserved May be used in unchanged form by avowed Animal Rightists if accompanied by this copyright message.

There are only four females there so I'm doing my paper on the difference between their interaction in the zoo verses the typical female/female relationship and interaction when there is a male present. I'm fairly certain this should keep me relatively entertained throughout the next couple of months. I wish I had a car for moments like these. The bus is really going to get on my nerves after awhile.

2006 China threat kon

2006-01-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

So in my quest to find new relation cards, I find a threat kon one instead. A much more satisfying and exciting phenomenon.

http://www.asianewsnet.net/level3_template1.php?l3sec=8&news_id=51203

It's not the best card in the world, it just says that the way to turn China into a threat is to cast it as one. There is a cute line at the end where it states that China shouldn't be viewed as a threat but as a chance. Awww. I like it. It has really no depth to it though, but I'm super excited it is from 2006. It will take about a half of a second to read, so there really is no harm in throwing it in and smiling to myself as I read 2006.

I even made this little header for it, because I've been cutting a bunch of Sudan cards, that has these little snowflakes on it saying Buffalo. I'm such a dork.

Maybe this will give me the motivation to run it in round again. I didn't run it once the whole Texas Swing, so two tournaments in a row with no threat. Didn't think it was possible. I'm going to rush off to class then type up a few summaries for it...

Speeding and Raleigh in the Carolinas

2006-01-18T12:45:00.000-05:00

Back in Buffalo at last. I never thought I would actually be happy to be home; but there it is. And in true Buffalo fashion it started snowing today. Can't get that down south.

NC ended up going surprisingly smoothly. All my worries about the 24 hour driving experience within 3 days were quite unfounded- I just read and slept the hole time. There was a scary, heart stopping minute where it seemed I was going to be in Jeff's van, but I made it out.

I camped out in the back, back seat so I got a full row to myself to jump and roll around in. I also only spent $5.40 the whole trip, which is something I think I should be commended on. It was basically all on drinks. Damn hydration-if it wasn't for that...

3 out of the 4 vans also managed to get speeding tickets. Now the real riot is that 2 of those three got it from the same police officer. He basically laughed at us the whole time. After he gave out the ticket he grins at Madelyn and goes, "Any more of y'all comming through? Got me one of these SUNY Buff-alo vans 10 minutes ago."

The trials were held in small classrooms, some of them without tables, and only one judge per room. That messed up the whole thing, making only 4 ballots and 2 chances at placing. I wasn't for it at all. We lost all of them by 2 or 3 and I know we would have grabbed at least one or two ballots had there been another judge in the room. A team ended up winning the whole thing, while B and C had a race for ... last place evidently. I did fairly decently for having to play not one, but 2 new parts.

The best part was the last night when our room decided to go the 45 minute drive to Raleigh. We went to this ultra snazzy jazz restaurant with a live band and cozy coaches and candles. I can't vouch for the food, as I wasn't about to make vegan anything on the fried flesh menu, but I have it on 5 accounts it was fantastic. The ice tea goes on record as the best ever as well.

Classes now seem really dull compared to gallivanting around in the south.

Texas = Spanos and Mexican

2006-01-11T15:49:00.000-05:00

We actually did it; the UB Policy debate team managed to fly itself down to Texas, and back again with minimal difficulty. The flight down was rough, much delays and bad lazy airport workers making our connection from Chicago to Texas almost much longer then planned. Despite the mass amounts of tape and care that went into packing my 48.5 and 47 pound tubs, they tumbled into Fort Lauderdale four hours after Jeff and I did, with various amounts of cracks and weird bruises which probably effected their whole performance at the Texas Swing. Yesss, I'll blame our losses on the airports of the United States.

We were leeches to the grand and wonderful University of Rochester once again, and they put us up in some pretty swanky hotels that blow our previous accommodations out of the water. Anyone remember the 'Knight Motel' in Ohio??? Oh good shady times. We're lucky a stray bullet didn't hit us.

There was certainly no stray bullets zooming around these hotels, with beds I had to jump to get into, Starbucks coffee, two showerheads, and a phone next to the toilet. Whoa, they think of everything. And cable TV. I want it sooo bad. I got to watch what all the cool kids watch all last week. It's amazing what fun a TV can be when it had more then 1 and a half channels. I'm also very pro to this thing called a "hospitality suite", which is stocked with literally every liquid you could possibly desire, no questions asked.

I managed to fail totally at the whole taking pictures thing, and my camera that was given to me over break lays still in my bookbag unwrapped. It of course, continues the problem with film and gelatin, but as I am way to poor to buy a digital camera, and as of yet, each one has been given to me, I can't be totally evil, right?Or is it? Oh dear, I'm a goner. All I wanted was some southern memories. It doesn't even matter though, because I was way too distracted with cutting down cards, making blocks, debating, and TV to process that I had no pictures. So all my pictures I will have to, once again, leech off of Rochester. And Katie has them up already! Score! Why do I always have a backpack on? I think it might be connected to me....

The first tournament was in Denton, and went down without much troubles. We lost a few rough ones, but there was this magical time between Denton and Dallas that blocks were made and cards appeared. It was like having a redo. A redo where we won the same amount of rounds we did the tournament before without the blocks and extra cards. Honestly? Only we could pull that one off. Dallas, which was named "fear and loathing", ended up living up to it's name when pairings went crazy, out rounds didn't have tables to flow on, and judges vote on arguments in cross x... or rather, because of this alternate use situation, on stuff that went down during the other teams prep time...

Everyone who was negative had apparently lost all their folders, and ended up having to go with this community argument that must have been handed out to everyone at the tournament but us, called Spanos. I'm not really pro it at all, the only satisfaction I got was in Dallas when we finally beat it. It took us a tournament though. A very long tournament of trying to run some sort of threat kon/otherization/Orientalism combination of answers that made us forget to pound the case outweighs cards that we've memorized by now. We are suuuch failures. Everyone down there also had a weird affiliation to Mexican foods and at least one car went to one every night. I don't trust Texas' beans. There was this mushroom and spinach masterpiece though that is tied for first with a stir-fry place that had tofu and totally rocked.

It was also confirmed that nobody in Dallas reads. It took an amazing time to try and find a bookstore, and was only accomplished with very sketchy directions Jeff had badgered out from a poor gas station attendant that probably never saw him coming.

All and all, it was an amazing time, and although my ears still haven't popped from the plane and so I can't hear, I'm unbelievably ecstatic about the time down there and can't wait to take home the next tournament we manage to muddle over to. And I really can't wait to drive to North Carolina in 12 hours, a place where my plane landed 16 hours ago in for a lay-over. If I had money- I would so be in a hotel next to the airport in North Carolina already waiting for mock trial to drive all the way down. But unfortunately, I'm broke, and apparently going to have to be bottled up in a van in the very near future with two new parts I just found out about. Fan-tastic.

Dreams of Texas

2005-12-13T19:07:00.000-05:00

UB Policy debate team has somehow managed to set itself up to go to the Texas swing tournament. Jeff and I will officially be representing the good ol' UB. Katie and I haggled/listened to stupid jokes/smiled and nodded our way through SA administrators and maneuvered ourselves two seats on an airplane bound for Dallas. (Its the top dot on the map:::I thought the map might help everybody out and really visualize it for y'all)

Unfortunately we need to miraculously come up with a binder with a random assortment of highly important activities that we have done throughout the semester. They actually froze our budget because we didn't provide them with some picture book of debate doings. This must be the epitome of insanity. It's not like anyone really is going to look at all the hundreds of binders odd clubs at UB have given them. Or they shouldn't. Some real prioritizing needs to be done if they are actually paying someone to do that.

This seriously is going to be a surreal step for us. Our debate team actually on a plane. That should certainly prove interesting. I can't wait to see how I'm going to check in the debate tubs at the airport. That's going to be ridiculous. I can't wait.

The plane leaves at 9:50 on January second and even has a bonus layover for an hour and a half in Chicago. This is very agreeable to me because I think Chicago's airport is strange and I like wandering around it. Maybe we can take crazy pictures of us there. Jeff might not be so pro, but I'm sure I could convince him. We will definitely need pictures though. Hey -- we could even put them in the f***ing SA binder for next semester.

I miss Gelspan

2005-12-08T14:33:00.000-05:00

All the talk about hurricanes and global warming has made me significantly miss last year’s topic. Maybe I’ll find a way to run the ice age disad like army pulled on us just for old times. Or better yet, I wonder if we could just run last years affirmative, and just insist it was 2004/5. It's not like they are going to have any evidence saying otherwise...

Arctic Natives Seek Global Warming Ruling

I still am in a mild state of shock that US policy hasn’t acknowledging global warming yet. It’s ridiculous that we are one of the two countries that hasn’t signed the Kyoto Protocol, and not because of some half way legitimate reason, but because of the economy. I would even feel better if it was because they didn’t believe it was happening, or would have big impacts, or basically any other reason. But limiting emissions by 2012, over the course of six years, is not going to have that significant of an effect. With all the recent environmental activity and such you would think Bush would at least attempt to address the problem.

US/China relations

2005-12-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

I don't know how you can spend weeks in a country trying to work on relations, and come out with them being worse. I thought for sure I would find great new cards for the relations DA saying that since Bush came back from China, relations are at an all time high.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/12/04/editorial/special.html

Apparently that is not the case. Is it 2008 yet because I'm getting really really sick of US politics as of late. Insert heavy sigh here.

"In fact, Sino-Japanese relations are at perhaps
their lowest level since the countries re-established formal diplomatic
relations in 1972. A key reason for this state of affairs is the Japanese
cabinet's strong support for Taiwan, a Japanese colony until the end of World
War II. Bush's trumpeting, while in Japan, Taiwan's democratic evolution and
thriving economy could hardly have gone over well with the Beijing leadership,
although he did reconfirm America's "one China" policy."

Well at least there is a little positive in this:

"Nevertheless, the two-year Japanese ban against
importing U.S. beef was not rescinded, despite Bush's efforts."

As if US wasn't slaughtering enouph, lets add other countries to the supply we have to meet.

The Prids

2005-12-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon a new band, The Prids, and then while checking them out online, found out that they are all vegan. Is there a better combination? Music and veganism. . Now I wish I had money to pick up their Love Zero CD. Why can’t everything be free? Like college…

Some of the songs are instrumental, and so I’ve just been studying in the library with it playing on the computer. I get distracted if there are lyrics. There are huge lines today in the library, and I can see a few of them glaring but music is essential to studying; everyone knows that.

Contact

Of love and all things cold
And do you come in convertible
With the contacts
With the tear ducts
And a longing to destruct
My mind and the rain complains
Offer up you mind to me

Ohio debate

2005-12-05T09:43:00.000-05:00

So, I was all excited about going to John Carroll this weekend. I had a partner that didn’t hate me (score!!) and who would be marginally cooperative. I even did speed drills, which, I mean…. I don’t do. But they proved fairly productive, and now I think I will do them. I made this super e-spec block too, which took me two hours, but there you have it. I got to use it even in one round, which unfortunately, I think was the highlight.

Everything was going great until 12:30 the morning we are leaving when my partner decides to disclose that he’s still in NYC. THANKS YASIN.

But, whatever. I dealt with it. I was marginally terrified about going maverick in varsity, but you have to do, what you have to do. And Buffalo needs to represent.

I gained a Case West partner mid trip, which also ended up meaning we could go JV. You would think this would increase our chances of winning, but then again, funny things can happen. Like losing every round you debate in and only getting a lucky little BYE.

I wouldn’t even be as frustrated, if I knew went wrong in half of the debates. I went to get practice after hearing about Yasin. But we lost on things that weren’t even on my flow as arguments, which I still don’t understand how that is possible. I need to make a threat kon summary that just has threat kon does not equal threat kon, and read it regardless to whether they even answer the K. How you can win on an argument where all you say is that you aren’t making these things up, for 20 seconds, I will never understand.

I feel reasonably bad though because I think we could have really won the second to last round, I just spent to long on their four f***ing T violations. I knew they weren’t even going to go for them, and I knew I should somehow be making a summary where I addressed all the T’s on one flow, but I failed miserably. As it was I spent 5 minutes of prep, trying to put blocks to them and then make up some Boeing DA answers, which, by the way, is my new least favorite disad. My partner loved it, he’s a type of engineering major that is apparently applicable to the argument. It did not, however, produce any answers to this argument. Just an add on that we won, I guess, but the impact was less then what the neg had. .

Live and learn though right?? Who knows. All I know is I should really get back to studying for my politics of gender finale.

Not sure if I should feed my computer addiction

2005-12-05T08:53:00.000-05:00

As if I needed another reason to go online, I decided to create a blog.