There's No Excuse

So it's the second anniversary of Katrina... which is worth noting and strange. I remember hearing about it at Happy Hour with the CLS kids. Who would have imagined that something associated with $2 margaritas would become such a large part of my life? Wait. Don't answer that. We've been working on a release letter from SHN, which we've decided to delay to emphasize that the anniversary is not the only time to be aware of Katrina issues. So we're releasing it on the second anniversary of Bush's speech in New Orleans on September 15th. So I was reading the speech for material, holy crap is it infuriating. The rhetoric is ridiculous and flat out lying is alarming. Everything is so much clearer retrospect.

The speech is here.

I also went to a talk by Naomi Klein in New Orleans last weekend. It was awesome. Her new book is about disaster capitalism and profiting from tragedy-- but she basically ties everything bad that's happened in past 30ish years with that theme and it's totally cool. I look forward to reading it.

So, here we are, two years out and, as always, the fight continues.

Quote for Thinking About Thinking About Applying For Jobs And Makikng a "Career."

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
~Annie Dillard

Remedial?

So there is this wing of the family that lives in Madison that isn't really related to me... you may have heard me refer to them. Anyway, I just thought of a funny story. These people are really nice, really, really nice. But there's something about them that doesn't quite connect with me. And they really don't seem to totally connect with each other, it's a lot of watching conversations where you know both people are not thinking about/talking about the same thing-- and not really being in the position to say anything. So I was over there last month, they asked me what I was doing this summer, was I taking classes? I said, no, well, I'm working in a clinic at school-- so it's like a job, but I get credit for it. Then they said, "Oh, so it's like a remedial thing?"

Uh no. It's not a "remedial thing." I tried not to be sassy or visibly shocked. Although I did guffaw a bit.

Do I look remedial to you?

Your friend/Subject of your Internet-stalking is One Class Act

My internet has been down for 2 days. I got huffier and huffier with the cable company until this afternoon when I realized they had turned it off because I hadn't paid since June 2. Hmmm... Classy lady right here, I'll tell you.

In other news, it was beef enchiladas day at Federal Correctional Institution: Oxford.

And no one I know, as far as I know, went into the river yesterday. Phew. Of course it would be a nightmare to be the governor of state when something like the 35W bridge collapse happened. It would be an even larger nightmare if you and your cronies had been gutting public services in the name of lowering taxes for years... who is going to be the one to make THAT point? Gosh, Governor Pawlenty, is the lack of maintenance of the bridge at all related to the deteriorating public school system or the fact that the libraries are open 2 days/week? I sure hope not, with the price of gas these days, I need to save all I can on taxes to fill up the old H2.