Wednesday, November 30, 2005

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
woo, more blinkies!
am i wrong to assume that young mr dyke just turned 23! congrats




posted by kate @ 11:28 PM

Rich Meyer on al Jazeera
What great news that Iraqi and Palestinian clerics are backing up CPT. It's an amazing result of their years of work. See especially the quote and photo of Rich Meyer!

I realized this morning that James Loney is the CPTer Landon, Joel, and I corresponded with on Signs of the Times. Let's keep sending hopeful thoughts their way for their quick return to safety.
posted by celestial @ 5:43 PM

Longer BBC article on CPT
There is a nice piece on CPT on the BBC today. I thought it portrayed their efforts quite objectively and respectfully.
posted by Landon @ 3:51 PM

you $@&^*%##!

posted by Landon @ 3:48 PM

As the sun rises in Goshen, another flower blooms
Dude--not Tim Wakefield--Sara Wakefield. Why the hell do you like a team from LA? WTF? At least my Sox represent the working class yo.

Oo, we also stopped in at Great Valu (formerly Mor for Less) and as we were paying decided to ask the cashier why there had been another name change. Come to find out, when there is new ownership, the food has to come from a different warehouse, which in turns requires them to change their name. I don't know why. The cashier has worked their for six years, even before it was Mo Fo Less. She also gave me five pennies so I didn't have to carry around 95 cents in change. She didn't know why they still couldn't afford to use the E on the end of the first word.

Also, I unequivocally deny giving Wenger any welts. That was just a misunderstanding and he's fine. The rest of the evening, I'm less clear on.
posted by Landon @ 3:18 PM

Goshen--the cradle of civilization
Gosh, today is such a beautiful day in wonderful ole' Goshen! I'm enjoying my third cup of coffee with the dear Mr. Bob Ross Histand. Wish you all could be here with us! Yee Haw!

Oh, and good news about my White Sox--they won the fucking world series, hell yeah--but Paul Konerko, our best hitter and a free agent has not signed a deal with another team yet (making the Angels wait and telling Baltimore to go fuck themselves), which is a promising sign that he will be back on the southside of chicago!

post script: I can't believe Wakefield left this amazing neo-messopotamia.
posted by Landon @ 2:54 PM

we'll put a happy little fro right there, yeah right there, and we'll give him a few friends...

posted by Landon @ 2:18 PM

Christian group blames kidnapping of Cdns in Iraq on U.S., British aggression
American and British aggression in Iraq is to blame for the hostage-taking of four pacifists, including two Canadians, who were paraded on international television through al-Jazeera video footage, the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Tuesday.
posted by sasha @ 10:08 AM

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Goodbye Goshen! Hello DC!
I'm moving to DC tomorrow.
weeeeeeeeee!
posted by Sara @ 9:49 PM

CPT workers in Iraq


Here's some more information about the CPT workers.

A confirmation from The Washington Post

Guardian and Independent articles about Norman Kember, a British peace activist. Tim, do you know him?

Al-Jazeera recieved a video from The Swords of Righteousness Brigade showing the hostages. The picture at right is from the video.

I sent an e-mail to CPT offering prayers for the abducted and staff. Doug Pritchard wrote back to thank me--I think he is currently in Iraq--so that means at least he is safe, but I can't imagine what the staff there are going through right now.

This shakes me up, recalling especially the dozens of times I told my family members CPTers had never been kidnapped as I went on a delegation to Colombia. In Colombia, though, armed groups are usually more predictable in their actions. Let's hope these Iraqi insurgents can be convinced their hostages are not tools of the U.S. occupation.
posted by celestial @ 1:19 PM

i was listening to npr this morning instead of waking up and heard them mention that 4 cpters have been abducted in iraq.
posted by kate @ 8:37 AM

Monday, November 28, 2005

Thanks for the help, Kate! Though my existential angst was largely resolved by coming out the door that evening and biking through the snow in Chinatown. Chinatown is beautiful at night if you appreciate it in the abstract, I think, because of all the lights.

I'm kind of peeved, though, because my supervisor just told me that I have to take on Martise Tillman's case. I think I'm too busy, but I guess she doesn't agree. Hopefully my other cases will become less busy soon.
posted by weiss @ 10:47 PM

Celeste
Hey Celeste, I need your mailing address. Can you e-mail it to david@rossbay.net? Thanks...
posted by dlt @ 9:17 PM

and i mean GAY
some things deserve a blink tag:

this phallice brought to you by godhatesfags.com:

and now: a new gay test from fetus films

wow. now that's GAY.
posted by eric @ 8:14 PM

The form at the bottom of our page has, on one occasion, been used to get a new member. The rest of the time people use it to send messages to some of our members. I receive all of the form submissions and when I get a post aimed at a particular person, I forward the message to that person. Recently, however, I've been getting quite a few comments from robots. These are some of my favorites:

Silko: Hi hunters! This site for you! All for a successful hunt! Now!
John: Hi! How to me to adjust a background of page?
Maria: Hi, why nobody responds me?
Bob:
Vue: Hi, and that all of you today all such not talkative?

posted by meg @ 8:10 AM

Pat Morita dies at 73 Princess was his last film.
posted by meg @ 3:14 PM

i was listening to "living on earth" on npr on the way back from dullas tues night and they were talking about this book "the velocity of honey" and one of the chapters in the book was talking about how like when you were 6 yrs old summers seem to last forever and now it feels much shorter, right? this guy did some math/research/whatever and figured that by the time you're 20 you've already lived half your life. so i mean, the best years are gone man, and all this working crap is going to feel relatively short.
posted by kate @ 11:04 AM

New 'Princess' Teaser

posted by meg @ 10:47 PM

So it's times like these when I'm alone in the office, finishing up some pleadings, when I sit back in my chair, put my hands behind my head, and think "I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life." And then I don't know how I feel about that. Or actually, I don't really know how I feel about having a rest of a life. I mean, I've got twenty-four years down so far, but I could possibly have three times that much to go yet. Do I really want to be a lawyer for all that time? Won't it get boring after a while? Do I really want to do anything for all that time? Won't anything get boring after a while? I suppose I could ride motorcycle a lot, but then, I'm still dead at the end of it.

Blast. Existential angst. Always distracting me from writing my interrogatories and requests for production of documents.
posted by weiss @ 6:21 PM

"If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." - Romans 12:20

Venezuela to Provide Discount Oil to Mass.

By Mark Jewell, Associated Press, Nov 22, 2005

Quincy, Mass. - Thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents will receive discounted home heating oil this winter under an agreement signed Tuesday with Venezuela, whose government is a political adversary of the Bush administration.

The agreement gives President Hugo Chavez's government standing as a provider of heating assistance to poor U.S. residents at a time when U.S. oil companies have been reluctant to do so and Congress has failed to expand aid in response to rising oil prices.

Read full article
posted by celestial @ 3:41 PM

suckers!!!
i was about to be bummed that it finally hit the freezing point here in DC, but then on a whim typed in 46526, and it's snowing. i feel much better now.
hee hee hee hee hee. ha ha ha ha ha. woo hoo hoo. whoa ho ho. ah ha ha. tee hee hee. heh heh heh. hmm hmm hmm. hee hee hee hee hee. i mean. ha ha ha ha ha. woo hoo hoo. whoa ho ho. it's totally going to "snow" here tonight. ah ha ha. tee hee hee. heh heh heh. hmm hmm hmm. which is going to be more like cold rain here. hee hee hee hee hee. ha ha ha ha ha. woo hoo hoo. whoa ho ho. ah ha ha. tee hee hee. heh heh heh. hmm hmm hmm. but that's later. hee hee hee hee hee. ha ha ha ha ha. woo hoo hoo. whoa ho ho. ah ha ha. tee hee hee. heh heh heh. hmm hmm hmm. hee hee hee hee hee. whatever. ha ha ha ha ha. woo hoo hoo. whoa ho ho. ah ha ha. tee hee hee. heh heh heh. hmm hmm hmm. yay.
posted by kate @ 8:06 AM

School of the Americas Vigil

I was feeling somewhat cynical about heading to the School of the Americas vigil again this year, even though Sojourners was paying for me and co-workers to go, hand out magazines, and sign people up for SojoMail.

Still, I was just feeling tired after the all-night drive. Until the first current Goshen student I still contact, Bethany Loberg, spotted me and came running to give me a hug. It was great to see all 106 Goshen and Bethany students, even if I recognized 25, and knew the names of 10 (made me feel so old, even though I've only been out of college a year--sheesh.) It excited me to see that they continued the tradition of collaborating with high school students, and they even used the planning CD. Then they got even more creative, and on Saturday night they stayed up folding 1,000 paper cranes, making the wish for the SOA to close.

It was also good times seeing other Goshen oldies: Paul Horst, Marten Beels, Erin Sigler, and Tim W. Shenk. And people I went on a CPT delegation with, as well as full-time CPTers who were in Colombia when I was there.

The Columbus newspaper wrote a favorable article about the events, and SOA Watch put together a slide show.

In final news, I hate how I always get sick after traveling and not sleeping for three days. cough, hack, cough. sniffle.
posted by celestial @ 10:09 AM

Holy kosher earthquake, Batman!
Sharon quits Likud Party

Alisa, I think the shit's going down on Friday night. Talk to Brick House when you get to town for details.
posted by Landon @ 2:21 PM

What? Waht! It is 7:35 in the morning why is there a screaming baby in my house? Go away screaming baby I am trying to sleep?!

I decide: People with babies cannot be my friends.
posted by weiss @ 8:15 AM 0 comments

BBC News
Shoup Blog: now with headlines!
posted by sasha @ 11:27 PM

I love caulk.
Well, at least I can comfort myself by knowing that with age comes experience. Experience in punctuation!!!

In other news, I love caulk. Spent the evening applying rope caulk to various windows and what not. House is much better insulated now, possibly saving hundreds of dollars over the course of the winter.
posted by weiss @ 12:13 AM

i fixed it... i'm just not sure how it got messed up
posted by kate @ 7:38 PM

What have we done?
Talk about a bad influence. After inspiring the creation of The Minds of East Hall, God Bless Kenwood, Branching Out and Explicit Aurora, it was only time that another Shoup House blog should come along.

Question: pat ourselves on the back, or drink to forget that we are old? Maybe both!

ps: Straight from Tool: Gary Glitter's continuing Asian adventures!

pps: Grey CSS background? Can a get a Schrock to testify?
posted by sasha @ 4:27 PM

nooooo
the dark gray sky is pissing snow at me
posted by Sara @ 5:12 PM

Dialectizing is fun! Struth!

Check out shoup in Cockney.

Then dialectize your own favorite pages and phrases.
posted by celestial @ 2:36 PM

please remove the gooooogle ads
posted by kate @ 8:35 AM

my new bicycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nycbikes frame, trexlertown, pa - $200; ahead headset, t-town - $20; sugino 44 tooth bmx cranks, from a guys backpack in pa - $99 (talked down from $100, i sure worked it!); cannondale aluminum fork, brian at city bikes dc, installed with head set and shimano bottom bracket - ~$60 and a reuben for the installation; iro hubs, velocity aerohead rims, built and shipped from iro nyc with pedals, toe cages and straps - ~$275; handle bars and seat post drunkenly ordered over the phone from Dre in fredricksburg, va - $37; shimano dura ace 15t cog - $24, lock ring - $14 and bmx chain - $10, city bikes bethesda; seat from old bike, run over by a taxi cab - rip; bontrager stem and water bottle cage, chain reaction youth bike shop, dc - $6.31; seat clamp, tektro long-reach brake, tektro lever, specialized tires and tubes, city bikes, dc - ~$85; seat clamp, cog and lock ring installed by sean free; chain and head set adjustment at capitol hill bikes free to; brake cable and housing from my dad, installed by me along with the pedals, bottle cage and seat (i'm so talented)! yay. i want a yellow or silver water bottle cage, grips, and a new seat, and i don't like the padal cages either, and i might get slightly wider tires. cool.
posted by kate @ 1:41 AM

Best Breton Proverbs
Big up late-night Wikipedia surfing! Here are the best of Breton's Proverbs.

• "Truez heb sikour a ra nebeud à vad"
  Translation: "Pity without help does little good"


• "Pelloc'h e vimp marw eged paour"
  Translation: "We will stay longer dead than poor"


• "Bezañ paour n'eo ket pec'hed, gwell eo koulskoude tec'hed"
  Translation: "To be poor is not a sin, it's better to avoid it anyway"


• "Anduriñ so red, med karoud n'eo ket"
  Translation: "To endure is obligatory, but to like is not"


• "Propoc'h eo ur fri bras ewid daou vihan"
  Translation: "It is more becoming to have a large nose than two small ones"

And the best one of them all:

• "Gwell eo karantez leizh an dorn ewid madoù leizh ar forn"
  Translation: "A handful of love is better than an oven full of bread"

On a more sombre note, sorry to hear about the break-in, Tim. Any leads?
posted by sasha @ 1:27 AM

Ick Tim, I am sorry about your laptop. I imagine you had things backed up? Your story and the TV ad for toughbook were both a good reminder that I haven't backed up for a while.

Spent the weekend in Lancaster, Pa., with my family and saw a few friends. My parents moved back to the old house in the country. I noticed that the stand of trees where I could pick blackberries had been cut down to make way for a new road. That annoyed me at first, but later I realized that it greatly improves the view. You just have to see it.

Would like to move back to Lancaster some day, but there are no jobs for me there. Someday maybe I could open a solo practice and take on personal injury and workers comp, but that would have to be ten years down the road.
posted by weiss @ 11:37 PM

congrats to me and my new bike
it's so pretty, i'm so happy! pictures as soon as i can locate my camera again!
in the meantime, here's a picture of me talking to katie 0 on my old bike at a race on 0ct 15
and happy bithday bruce race, a rolling potluck race for his fiftieth!
also, if any of you all had met my pal Rico, he's been in the intensive care unit at washington hospital center since the 4th of NOVEMBER. in a medically induced coma from a head injury. which is really scary. as he'll admit, he's "truly a gentleman." so keep him in your thoughts please.
posted by kate @ 8:57 PM 0 comments

Visitation by a Thug
 
This morning I lay in bed for a while on that point between sleeping and waking. And I had an idea for a poem came to me with the title "Visitation by a Thug."

It started like this:

Last night I was visited by a thug
dressed all in white
save for a red handkerchief
in his pocket

The poem was to continue with the thug saying profund things like one would expect in a poem about the visitation of the Virgin Mary or St. Francis of Assisi. I hand't worked out any exact phrases, but it was going to be something like this:

Their is a hope
That lies deep in the heart
of every being in this world
said the Thug

Or something ironic and incongrous like that. Anyway, it all hinged on the idea that the thug did and said and did things way you would not expect a thug to say and do.

So after thinking about all this for a while, I woke up fully and got out of bed. I ran into Charletta in the hall and she told me she had some bad news. Someone had thrown a brick through the library window and pulled my lap top back out.

Weird, huh? 
posted by Unknown @ 8:07 AM

Regarding a recent blog on Phils Page. Y'all should check out the new blog poll so that phil can know how often his peers use the 'poo.
posted by meg @ 9:06 PM

what did I eat last night?
So last night I dreampt that Stan and I were going to a concert. Being the cheapstake that I am I was wanting to avoid paying a lot of money to go and I realized (not sure how) that the venue was in serious need of cement and that if you took cement to the concert and gave it to them that you would then get a free seat. Sweet, huh? So of course, I bought some cement...and apparently I rented a cement truck because I remember having the cement in the truck, which makes sense, cause how else can you transport a lot of cement?

So Stan picks me up in his car and we head off to the concert. The streets are crowded and I think we were in a city somewhere in a foreign country with very non-descript scenery. Suddenly, I remember the cement. I guess I was having second thoughts as to whether or not the deal was serious. Go figure. So I'm like, "hey, does the venue at the concert need cement?" And Stan's like, "Yeah, I think they need a lot of it." I'm like, "Shit, I bought all this cement and I left it back at my place (in the cement truck, remember--dammit, I'm a total dumbass in my dream!)." Stan's worried we're going to have to go back and we've driven for quite a while and it's slow going because of the crowds. It was a dumb point for me to remember. I should have remembered earlier. Dammit. "I paid like $50 for it." Which is really stupid because the whole fucking point of getting the cement was to avoid paying a lot for the concert. Shit. I'm such a dumbass!

Then we arrive at the venue and are looking for parking. The lot is mostly concrete. Could've used more cement I suppose. The end.

So, what the hell? I don't think I've ever had a more random, pointless dream in my life. I did see a cement truck today.
posted by Landon @ 11:27 PM

Save Student Aid
I tried to send an e-mail to the PAX list-serv the other day and it bounced--I guess the address on the Web site is wrong, and since I don't have a GC on-line account anymore I can't get the real one. Can someone in Goshen post the message below to PAX for me? And post the PAX list-serv address on the blog. Thanks Goshenites!


"The House of Representatives will vote TODAY on the federal budget, which is poised to cut over $14 BILLION in federal student aid funding.

Call your representatives and any other moderate republicans you can think of IMMEDIATELY and tell them to STOP THE RAID ON STUDENT AID by voting against the Budget Reconciliation Bill. Call 1-800-574-4243 and give your zip code or the name of the representative to connect to your representative. Then get your friends and family to call too.

Here's an example of what you can say: "I'm calling to urge the representative to oppose the Raid on Student Aid, which would cut 14.3 billion from the federal student aid programs. These cuts could cost the average student borrower up to $5,800 in additional interest payments. Thank you!"

Please forward this to anyone else you know and any other list-servs you are on."

from MaryPIRG Student Chapters
posted by celestial @ 3:19 PM

Hummer Accessory Trumpet Horn Upgrade from Clown Car Factory Horn
Hummer Accessory Trumpet Horn Upgrade from Clown Car Factory Horn
posted by kate @ 10:39 PM 0 comments

I heart NJ Transit
so thi beats yesterdays story:

After we wrapped today I hopped on a train up to 42nd street to the bus terminals, then I called my friend nikki to tell her I was on my way to the bus to alert her that I would soon need a ride from the bus stop to her condo. So I get on the right bus (goood for me, the 195 leaving at 9:40) and I get off the bus at the right stop (good for me, the alwood shopping place) and I notice my pocket has opened up and my plastic money holder thing is falling out.
FUCK!
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
I my cell phone is gone. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I can't call nikki, I don't know her number, I could use the payphone, I have quarters but dammit she's polish and her real name isn't anywhere close nikki. i can't call the operator. what do i do whaddoidowhaddoidowhaddoido. ook I know another bus comes in an hour, maybe I could beg them to take me back to nyc where I could.... sleep at the terminal? or catch a bus to dc, or maybe wait for the 195 to come back or find a friend, dammit all my numbers are in my cellphone, umm, well, ok, I'll wait till midnight to see if a bus comes and them panic and you know what, maybe nikki will wonder where i am and come looking for me, I told her where I was, she'd probably come by midnight, don't panic till midnight. but what if the bus comes before nikki... should I get on the bus or should I wait and hope to see if nikki comes. fuuuuucccckkkkk. freaking ahhhhhhhhhhhh. ok, payphone. directory assistance, maybe they can put me in touch with nj transit and then I'll figure something out.

(long fight with payhone, can't get ahold of an operator, how the hell do these things work. no luck}
go back to the street, pace, unsuccesfully run after a bus going the other way, spill contents of bag.
go back to payhone. curse the quarters.

several more trips to the street and back to the phones.

its about 10 minutes after I was dropped off now. panic ensues and I call 911. after I calm donwn the operator figures out that I'm stranded and calls me a cab. I wait some more, now I'm waiting for a bus (uncertain fate), nikki (uncertain arrival) and a taxi (not that I know where nikki lives or anything). walk in circles. panic.I need to get in touch with nikki. I decide to call kate. maybe she can find nikki's number by finding the number for babar and then she could call him and he could give her nikki's number. yeah! so I call kate, tell her the situation and then the taxi and a cop show up. I talk to the cop and panic again. I don't know where she lives!! or her number or her name. I know she lives in a condo near a bar called dickies.
dingos?
yeah, dingos.
hop in the car, I know exactly where that is.
sweet!
what kind of car does she drive
a black suv
whats the make
i don't know, but it's huge and has a truck bed thing
ok' we'll see if the car is at the condos
(we arrive)
what building is she in
I don't know
is that her black suv
no, not that one either, not that one, thats not it, nope nope. TAHT'S IT!! SHE'S HERE. SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! I jump out and find her name in the directory and she lets me in.
yay!!!!!!
I win!
I didn't have to sleep in a parkinglot!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by meg @ 2:06 AM

I knew she liked moss.
While reading the new Savage Love on the Onion's AV Club, I started to get this edgy, guilty feeling. Then a Mennonite from my past appeared and caught me eyeing the guy with a pie: Sarah Amstutz! But maybe it's just my imagination.

posted by julia @ 9:41 PM

Dear sir/madam,
I am Mr Adams Morgan,we are a group of business men who deal on
raw materials eg cocoa,rubber etc and some ancient art works,we export them
into canada and America. We are searching for representativeswho can help us
establish a medium of getting to our costumers
overthere as well as making payments through you to us and earn 10% of every
payment made through you to us.Subject to your satisfaction you will be
given the opportunity to negotiate your mode of which we will pay for your
services as our representative.If you are interested,please fill in
the blank spaces below:

1.Your Full Names......................

2.Your Full Contact Address.....................

3.State/Country.....................................

4.phone number........................................

5.Cell Phone number.......................

6.fax number........................................

7.Age................

8.Occupertion....


Thanks
Mr Adams Morgan
ceo.


So, is this like a joke or something? For those of you not in DC, Adams-Morgan is a neighborhood near my house.
posted by weiss @ 10:34 AM

Good news from Ireland
The second trial for the Pitstop Plowshares 5 collapsed yesterday upon the revelation that the judge had attended President Bush's inauguration in 2000 and been invited in 2004. Since Bush was indirectly implicated in the trial, the judge was apparently forced to dismiss the jury and declare a mistrial. This is an impressive example of how the Plowshares movement continues to push the envelope in confronting the military machine and the criminals behind it.

But this isn't just a theoretical case for me. Over the past year I've gotten to Ciaron O'Reilly, one of the defendants, through my involvement with the London Catholic worker here in London. I also helped organise a fundraiser and solidarity evening here in London two weeks ago at the start of the trial. It's an exciting movement to be able to support and feel a part of in some way.

You can read the original account of their action on the Peace News website.

Update

You can see a video of interviews with Ciaron and another defendent on Indymedia: http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/7592.php
posted by Unknown @ 5:16 AM

lost in new jersey
so I get off this sci-fi shoot in new york and I'm supposehd to stay at the first AD's house (from the last shoot) who lives in new jersey. Well I finally find the bus that takes me to cliffton and I'm supposed to call her when I get there. But my cell phone runs out of battery so I'm in the middle of New jersey and she doesn't know where I am ani I don't know where I am!! so I chew my fingernails down to nubbins and freak out so I get off at a place that still has an open sign at midnight, charge my phone, call her, explain where I am and she picks me up at this cheques-into-cash place. Then we go out (because bars are aopen till 2 here) and I buy her a lot of drinks because I feel really bad about making her drive all over nj to find me and I got wasted myself at the bar aond then I blogged about it. voila! now I'm going to bed.
posted by meg @ 2:00 AM

Vivre le Québec périphérique!

[Shoupers & FOAS: This is what I do for my development class. If you want to learn a bit about the Québec independence movement you might find it interesting, otherwise just skip it. Also, things are going well with the M.Sc. Nursing (we've moved from newborns to elderly), I met somebody in class and am making out a lot (thanks, Rob) and my family continues to rock it as hard as we can. Misha & Rebecca say hi to all. Tom is well in Botswana. Life is still good. Cheers!]

INTRO

So Immanuel Wallerstein's "Modern World System" article was just about the most boring article ever -- the first time I read it. However, when I picked it up and re-read it this morning I suddenly found it not only interesting but possibly also relevant to current events. So I thought I'd share.

PERIPHERAL AREAS

Wallerstein talks about peripheral areas as having "low degrees of autonomy". Of course, he's thinking of sixteenth-century European states, but his masterfully vague language makes it possible to apply his words to whatever situation you have in mind. And in mind I have the progression of ideas supporting Québec's quest for sovereignty.

QUÉBEC

Québec nationalists, in their 70's heyday, were quite different from the Boisclairs and Marois of today. They were intellectuals, not politicians, and were driven by their passion for ideas and equality, not merely power. They took two of Wallerstein's interesting ideas -- that of national identity as construct and of class self-consciousness as conflict-dependent -- and merged them, creating a national consciousness based around not language, the facile fallback of today's politicians, but based rather on the emerging consciousness of the québecois people as a class-defined entity. When they railed against Canadian oppression it was not linguistic but economic oppression that they had in mind. Cultural oppression was seen as a symptom of the real disease: Canadian (i.e. British) imperialism. The social instituions founded at that time (CÉGEP, SAAQ, Hydro-Québec, Université de Québec, Fonds de placements, etc.) all have as goal the equalization of Québec society. Québec saw itself as a peripheral area of Canada, and worked hard to assert its de facto -- while working towards the ultimate goal of de jure -- sovereignty.

Nationalist leaders in the new millennium, such as the authors of the recent "Manifeste pour un Québec lucide" document, see sovereignty as a possible steppingstone on their way to transcending the nation-state and realizing Québec's potential on the playing field of the world system. They have moved beyond Wallerstein's ideas of periphery -- possibly because it is now one of the most powerful and autonomous provinces in the Canadian confederacy -- and are now ready to take on the global class. They have kept the traditional idea of independence as their ideological basis, however, illustrating Wallerstein's note that "nothing emerges and evolves as quickly as a 'tradition' when the need presents itself." In fact, it is interesting to note that 11 of the 13 authors of the new manifesto hail from the business community.

CONCLUSION

Where are the new margins? Yesterday four young protesters were arrested for throwing Molotov cocktalks and setting structures on fire in the middle of a busy downtown street during last Friday's demonstrations. This wasn't in some Parisian suburb, but on Sainte-Catherine street. In broad daylight. They were protesting in solidarity with the Argentinian people also in the street against the FTAA and the summit of the Americas. The new periphery is now made up of those who, like the Bouchards of Québec, see globalization as the new black of the 21st century but are worried, like Stiglitz, about its implementation and the goals of the structures guiding it. Happy the nation whose people has not forgotten how to rebel.
posted by sasha @ 2:27 PM

Think you know your European Cities?
Check out my new PARBLOB quiz over at DeviantArt with photos from Paris, Agde, Rome, Barcelona, London, Omagh and Birmingham.
posted by Unknown @ 7:49 PM

pimp your ride
So I was working in Shipshewana this afternoon (which might as well be called Yoderville because of Yoder Department Store, Yoder Mart, Yoder Meats, Yoder's Cheese Shoppe, Yoder Popcorn, and Yoderlicious) planting trees. And I'm working, trying to cut off some of the burlap bag around the base of the pine tree and I hear clip clop clip clop. No big deal. Keep working. But I also hear boom-sh-boom boom-sh-boom-sh-boom boom. No big deal. Keep working. But the sounds stay together. ??? You may know where I'm going with this...Stop working and look up, the back wall of the dude's buggy is all subwoofers. Easily the best thing I've ever seen in Shipshewana. Just need some spinning rims.


posted by Landon @ 5:09 PM

HELL YEAH MOTHAFUKAAAAAAS!!!!!!!!
guess who's on IMDB?? woot woot!!

nm1692576!! aka: Meg Schrock

ok, so it's not super impressive yet. but just you wait.
posted by meg @ 4:59 PM

OMG!!
only 2 more weeks!!!!

posted by meg @ 3:37 PM

today i...
cooked eggs and beans,
called for an application to work at elcona country club,
took a shower,
framed a window,
played guitar,
and went to game night.

yesterday i...
cooked eggs and cheese
successfully fixed my digital camera,
bought bread,
celebrated accomplishment with hot chocolate at the brew,
called mcc,
started a fire,
went to wine and cheese,
had one glass of yellow tail,
felt buzz,
went home. alone. in the dark. on my bike. named bethsheba.

tomorrow i will...
ride my bike,
buy eggs,
play guitar,
start a fire,
write,
woo,
sleep.
posted by joel @ 5:42 PM

Yeah Meg, I think people are just that stupid. Your post stuck out even to me as ridiculous when I was browsing the ads, even before I got to the paragraph I recognized as a quote from your post. Lots of people at this law school will dump out resumes, so I don't know why similarlystupid people wouldn't exist in other kinds of work as well.

But tell us, are you going to post their pictures? At least somewhere else so we can look at them?
posted by weiss @ 3:56 PM

Am I a jerk or are some people just really stupid

So I was procrastinating on a few projects a few days ago and killing time by browsing through best of cragslist. I like the sarcastic MCs and the farcical memos/open letters, they're usually pretty witty. I came across an open letter to a fruit fly and decided I should make something equally ridiculous. So I made a fake posting for a cast and crew call in DC. I was tired of all the posts in tfr looking for hot mammas or crews willing to work for a free meal. My post actually included this paragraph:

Please be prepared for night exteriors in the dead of winter, 18 hour days, crappy crafty, cold and late meals, short turn-around, ridiculously huge lighting set-ups, broken equipment, students pretending to be dept keys, terrible scheduling, no money, and no fun. Must love filmmaking.

I guess that is a party for some people because I actually got some responses. Thanks for the headshots Olivia, Handry and Catherine. And another thanks to Wally, Angela, Kendrick, and Xavier who want to be part of the crew and Al who wants to do the score (position not advertised). Berry offered up a sweet 35mm camera package which is super nice and would be fun to use. If only I were actually shooting something.

Am I an ass? I thought people would find it funny! I didn't even post when we were shooting or give any credentials for the director. I'm happy that most of the cover letters were canned and no one spent too much time on it. I still feel bad. Should I report it as a scam? I wanted it to be nominated for a best of craigslist because I thought other novice filmmakers would find it funny. I guess people are more desperate than I thought. Sigh.

In other news

I did some research and found out that the kid that's been hanging around the Princess set is none other than the infamous FAN 3. Geez oh man, I wish I could keep up with pop culture or I would have known I was in the presence of a teenage rapper-goddess.

Also, I was almost cast to play a 17 year old 'friend of jan' (I escaped that, fortunately) and two days later the continuity person said I looked "36 or 37 maybe." Not sure what to make of all this.
posted by meg @ 1:37 PM

Trivia Question of the Day
Have you ever noticed how Bush's posse refer to the religious right? For example todays New York Daily News says:

White House spinners were trumpeting Alito's nomination as the beginning of the end of Bush's political free fall. "We're back in business with the base," crowed one handler.

Q:What other famous group of fundamentalists goes by the same name?

P.S. Is it just me or do the terms spinners and handlers signal a gradual shift in the media's view of the Bush administration?
posted by Unknown @ 5:44 AM