God has been singing

for a long, long

time.

God looked at Himself in a mirror

and the world was created.

What do you see when

you look back?

Cuteness Concentrate

So, after several posts of ranting negativity, I've decided something more up-beat is in order.

By following a link to a link to a link, I found these:

AKA, the cutest things ever.

. . . EVER.

I want to learn to make them. I will give them to my children. I will give them to your children.

I will devote myself to spreading happiness, love, cheer, and Star Wars to everyone around the globe.

Which one do you like best? I'm kinda leaning towards Yoda, myself.

A is for Advisors

[EDIT: I finally heard from my advisor shortly after finishing this post. He is redeemed.]

. . . who are supposed to advise.

Really.

I've sent my advisor emails 3 times in the past few weeks with the schedule I want for next semester. I've thought out everything I need to do to graduate on time. All he needs to do is sign on to his little computer and press a button saying okay.

Is that so hard?!


I've emailed. I've called. I've gone by his (empty) office.

If I don't get to register soon, I'll lose out on the classes I want to underclassmen. I'm really not a fan of this part of the semester. I have enough stress writing papers.

Grr.

In other news, I read an article earlier today that said 30% of the greenhouse gases emitted from Argentina come from flatulent cows.

I was going to turn that into propaganda for vegetarianism. Bean plants aren't flatulent. However, beans can cause flatulent humans, and I'm sure 6 billion of those wouldn't be great for the planet, either.

Oh well. I tried.

Isn't it Ironic?

I should be working on the rough draft of a 15-page paper that's due in my Soviet history course tomorrow, but I just can't focus. I'm hoping by writing a little bit about it on here that I can inspire myself to get through the last 7 or 8 pages I need to write by 9:40 tomorrow morning.

. . . I hope.

So what's the paper on?

The Influence of Mirza Sultan-Galiev on the Fate of Central Asia.

It sounds riveting, I know.

Mirza Sultan-Galiev (above) was a leading Bolshevik during the Russian Revolution and the highest-ranking Communist of Muslim Central Asian descent. This gave him a pretty unique perspective on events--which ultimately led to his downfall at the hands of Josef Stalin.

Sultan-Galiev wanted what was best for his people: a pan-Turkic semi-autonomous state within the Soviet Union that would cater to their interests and culture. He was a moderate and an idealist in a world of fanatics and pragmatists.

Fearful that Sultan-Galiev's idea would come to pass, Stalin accused him of colluding with terrorists (false charges) and had him removed from the party and sent to the labor camps. Furthermore, in his paranoia, Stalin committed to the opposite of what Sultan-Galiev had suggested: he divided Central Asia into the "-stans" with which we are familiar today, creating cultural and national divisions that had previously been abstract or non-existent.

So, in sum, because Sultan-Galiev was such a vocal advocate for the unification of his people, he is at least in part responsible for the reactionary policy of Josef Stalin that has insured--almost without a doubt--that a pan-Turkic republic will never exist.

Ergo the title.

Now wasn't that fun? Didn't you enjoy reading that?

Oh well, look at the bright side: even if you didn't, at least you now have a useless piece of Soviet trivia you can throw around to sound smart. :)

The Wall of Hate (and Stupidity)

In the center of campus, a wall has been on display for the past week; it is called "The Wall of Hate."

This wall is made of cinder blocks, each painted individually with a word someone has been called that made them feel discriminated against. Earlier today, the wall was torn down, symbolically representing the destruction of the barriers between people who are different.

Angels sang. Birds chirped. Rainbows appeared in the sky and unicorns danced through fields of daisies while everyone sat in a giant circle singing "Kumbaya."

Yeah.

But in addition to being corny, this wall achieved another, if unintentional, end: it trivialized the problems of real hate and discrimination.

Bricks inscribed with serious slurs like the N word, "Dirty Mexican," "Fag," or "Dyke" were on the wall right next to bricks with polka dot backgrounds and bubble letters reading "Dumb Cheerleader" or "Too Pretty." No joke.

I'm sure that last one hurt a lot.

Discrimination is a real problem for many people. People who have been discriminated against in this country for many years, facing much more difficult issues than being "too pretty."

And--while the intentions of the organizers were probably good--this event did nothing to help our society overcome those barriers and stereotypes . . . it only served to delegitimize them by placing serious problems side-by-side with silly, superficial ones.

Call me a cynic, but that wall only symbolized--if anything--a step backwards.

Le Sigh (Cough-Hack-Wheeze).

Sinuses. Are. The Devil.

Period.

I've been having trouble with these stupid things for almost a month now with hardly any relief. Medicine works for a time--5 days at most--and then poof! my mouth is the only useful orifice in my head.

And it's ruining my focus. I wrote 3-32 as today's date in my notes.

Grr.

Someday, I'm going to live somewhere with a dry, stable climate.


--Insert segue here.--


Has anyone heard much about that new sagging bill in the state's House? How can you make a law about something like that?

Besides, at least in Memphis, that's totally unenforceable. 2/3 of the city would be fined. Daily.

And police officers should have more important things to do. Like eat doughnuts.* Or catch drug traffickers and rapists.

This country is nuts. Revolution starts tomorrow.


*Blogger does not like my spelling of this word. Blogger can deal.