http://www.burnie.com/church_fight.jpg
Wow. That killed me.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Three In A Row...
Having used the words of others for the last three posts, I've decided to finally add a few words of my own.
This past weekend was epic. It really was a blast in every sense of the word. I'll start at the beginning and see where I end up... So much to tell.
Well, the most noteable part of the weekend was having some cool guests. While in Hong Kong a few weeks back, Mike and I met a couple fun people. In particular a British guy who teaches English in Beijing. His specific VISA requires him to leave the country every thirty days and this month he decided to make the trek to Seoul. So, Nick and his flatmate, Luke came to see the sites and hang out in SK. They arrived late on Thursday night and we immediatly hit the bars with David and Kelly from work. Within a couple hours we met up with other pals and headed over to a giant fish market. The fish market is open 24 hours and it is HUGE. It is a giant warehouse with tanks and tanks of live fish for sale. There were giant shellfish and octopus and every kind of fish imaginable. Some of our Korean friends bought fish and we watched the fisherman actually pulled the fish out of the tank, whacked it on the head to kill it and then take a giant butcher knife and chopped off its head. It was pretty cool to watch. In another part of the fish market was a dining room and we all drank and ate the raw fish. However... there was one really interesting dish. Live octopus. The octopus was about the size of my hand and when I touched it, it moved and wiggled in the dish. I definitly had to try some. I pulled off an arm and it suctioned my tongue and my lip until I started chewing. It didn't have much of a taste, but it was really chewy. I got some good pictures. I'll be sure to post those later. We had such a good time drinking beer and soju that we didn't even realize what time it was until someone said, "Hey, I think the sun has already come up!" We finally left at 7:30 in the morning!
But, that was just the beginning. The next day Kelly, David and I were laughing at how tired and ridiculous we were for staying out so late. None of us had intended to party quite so hard and were each looking forward to going to bed early and recovering. And while David and Kelly were wise enough to follow through and get some sleep, when my Beijing friends called I decided to rally and hit the town again. We visited a bunch of my favorite haunts, but ended up at Seoul Pub where we closed the place down. As the pub cleared out, we bonded with the bartenders who gladly bought us more rounds and let us pick the music. I'm proud to say that I played every 'California' song I could find. California Love. California Girls. Californication. And, when I told him that I liked Jackson Browne he played "Doctor My Eyes" five times that night! Once again, I didn't mean to stay out so late. But, when I got in the cab the sun was just rising. It was a great time!
But, the weekend still wasn't over. Saturday was the semi and final debate rounds for the Korean tv show. So, after sleeping in and recovering from the previous night, I met up with David and we prepared for the debate. The topic of the first round was "Childbirth brings happiness to married couples." We were opposition and argued that their definition of happiness was too vague and naive. We also argued that childbirth and infancy bring incredibly amount of stress and anxiety, so while the experience may be positive overall, happiness is the wrong word to describe the experience. We won the debate so we went to the final round. The final round topic was "We should have a world government in the future." We were pro and made all the predictable arguments about how cooperation will solve problems. The other team suggested that hegemonic powers should solve problems. Obviously that is a pretty pathetic strategy, and we killed them. So, "The Scholars" are the Season 2, Face to Face champions! Hooray! After winning the show we couldn't just go home. We had to celebrate! We had a great time toasting to our good fortune and re-arguing all the debate topics. And, once again, we closed the bar down and went home at 6am.
So, this weekend was pretty jam packed. I can't remember the last time I went home when the sun was rising and I definitly can't remember a time I did it three nights in a row. But, I had a great time and I am glad I sacraficed the sleep.
On a side note... This past weekend has been just part of a series of really fun nights out with friends. A couple weeks ago I wrote my penpal an email explaining how I was very happy, but also very alone. I said that occassional lonliness was the price I pay for independence and freedom. But, these past weeks have somehow answered that "prayer." I've made a great new Navy friend, several new rugby friends and new people have been moving to and visiting Seoul. I suddenly have lots of people to talk to and spend time with. I am incredibly fortunate and have been reminded that the lonliness of independence really is only "occassional."
In short, I'm happy. I'm healthy. I'm energized and refreshed.
This past weekend was epic. It really was a blast in every sense of the word. I'll start at the beginning and see where I end up... So much to tell.
Well, the most noteable part of the weekend was having some cool guests. While in Hong Kong a few weeks back, Mike and I met a couple fun people. In particular a British guy who teaches English in Beijing. His specific VISA requires him to leave the country every thirty days and this month he decided to make the trek to Seoul. So, Nick and his flatmate, Luke came to see the sites and hang out in SK. They arrived late on Thursday night and we immediatly hit the bars with David and Kelly from work. Within a couple hours we met up with other pals and headed over to a giant fish market. The fish market is open 24 hours and it is HUGE. It is a giant warehouse with tanks and tanks of live fish for sale. There were giant shellfish and octopus and every kind of fish imaginable. Some of our Korean friends bought fish and we watched the fisherman actually pulled the fish out of the tank, whacked it on the head to kill it and then take a giant butcher knife and chopped off its head. It was pretty cool to watch. In another part of the fish market was a dining room and we all drank and ate the raw fish. However... there was one really interesting dish. Live octopus. The octopus was about the size of my hand and when I touched it, it moved and wiggled in the dish. I definitly had to try some. I pulled off an arm and it suctioned my tongue and my lip until I started chewing. It didn't have much of a taste, but it was really chewy. I got some good pictures. I'll be sure to post those later. We had such a good time drinking beer and soju that we didn't even realize what time it was until someone said, "Hey, I think the sun has already come up!" We finally left at 7:30 in the morning!
But, that was just the beginning. The next day Kelly, David and I were laughing at how tired and ridiculous we were for staying out so late. None of us had intended to party quite so hard and were each looking forward to going to bed early and recovering. And while David and Kelly were wise enough to follow through and get some sleep, when my Beijing friends called I decided to rally and hit the town again. We visited a bunch of my favorite haunts, but ended up at Seoul Pub where we closed the place down. As the pub cleared out, we bonded with the bartenders who gladly bought us more rounds and let us pick the music. I'm proud to say that I played every 'California' song I could find. California Love. California Girls. Californication. And, when I told him that I liked Jackson Browne he played "Doctor My Eyes" five times that night! Once again, I didn't mean to stay out so late. But, when I got in the cab the sun was just rising. It was a great time!
But, the weekend still wasn't over. Saturday was the semi and final debate rounds for the Korean tv show. So, after sleeping in and recovering from the previous night, I met up with David and we prepared for the debate. The topic of the first round was "Childbirth brings happiness to married couples." We were opposition and argued that their definition of happiness was too vague and naive. We also argued that childbirth and infancy bring incredibly amount of stress and anxiety, so while the experience may be positive overall, happiness is the wrong word to describe the experience. We won the debate so we went to the final round. The final round topic was "We should have a world government in the future." We were pro and made all the predictable arguments about how cooperation will solve problems. The other team suggested that hegemonic powers should solve problems. Obviously that is a pretty pathetic strategy, and we killed them. So, "The Scholars" are the Season 2, Face to Face champions! Hooray! After winning the show we couldn't just go home. We had to celebrate! We had a great time toasting to our good fortune and re-arguing all the debate topics. And, once again, we closed the bar down and went home at 6am.
So, this weekend was pretty jam packed. I can't remember the last time I went home when the sun was rising and I definitly can't remember a time I did it three nights in a row. But, I had a great time and I am glad I sacraficed the sleep.
On a side note... This past weekend has been just part of a series of really fun nights out with friends. A couple weeks ago I wrote my penpal an email explaining how I was very happy, but also very alone. I said that occassional lonliness was the price I pay for independence and freedom. But, these past weeks have somehow answered that "prayer." I've made a great new Navy friend, several new rugby friends and new people have been moving to and visiting Seoul. I suddenly have lots of people to talk to and spend time with. I am incredibly fortunate and have been reminded that the lonliness of independence really is only "occassional."
In short, I'm happy. I'm healthy. I'm energized and refreshed.
Dear Sen. Biden...
How To Debate a Girl, and Win
Joe Biden can beat Sarah Palin by pretending she's a man. And that he's not Joe Biden.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Dear Sen. Biden:
You have a problem. In less than a month, you will face off against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a vice-presidential debate in St. Louis, and were you anyone but Joe Biden, it would likely be a rout. Last week, Palin proved herself a charming, confident, and gifted reader of speeches. But that doesn't change the fact that two years ago she was the mayor of a town of 6,000, crusading against dirty books at the local library. You are a six-term senator and chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee. World leaders routinely friend you, unbidden, on Facebook ("Wait … Is this the Angela Merkel?"). World leaders had never heard of Gov. Palin until last Friday.
That's your problem, Joe. Everyone expects you to win the debate, and to trounce her on the substance. But the rules for debating Gov. Palin are different. If you lecture her, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. If you act too smart, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. If you condescend to her, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. So this longtime parliamentary debater (and longer-time female) is going to humbly offer you a few tips on how to debate a girl.
Sen. Biden, let's be clear. Great Supreme Court oral advocates will tell you that a flawless oral argument will never win a case, but a bad argument can lose one. You have a similar problem. If you engage, fight, bicker, or bluster, you can lose this debate. Think Rick Lazio. So my advice, in a nutshell: Don't lose it.
Your real problem with Palin is not actually going to be her gender. Assuming you don't gaze fixedly at her breasts or ask her to fetch you a coffee, you probably won't do anything truly career wrecking on the sexism front. Your real problem is that Palin is not a serious candidate. I don't mean to suggest that she is not a serious person or even a seriously impressive first-term governor with real potential to shake up national politics. Nor do I want to imply for an instant that Palin is not a serious competitor. I just want to state here what you will be unable to say out loud at the debate: That by every obvious metric—experience, knowledge base, decades of public service, policy experience, understanding of the world—Palin is an unserious candidate for the vice presidency of the United States. And as any college debater will tell you, it's far harder to beat a clumsy opponent than a good one. (That's why you do better in your judiciary committee hearings with John Roberts than with Alberto Gonzales.) But if you even hint that Sarah Palin may be opining on the Israel-Palestinian peace process with something Piper pulled off Wikipedia that morning, you will look like a snotty professor lecturing an undergrad. And if you look like a snotty professor, you will come across as a sexist bully.
There is no easy way to tell you this, Joe Biden, but the surest way for Joe Biden to lose a debate against Sarah Palin is by being Joe Biden. If you are windy, pompous, unctuous, or pushy, you will come across as patronizing and condescending—the guy who puts the "boy" into "old boys' network." If you flirt and smirk and flatter (Did you truly tell an Ohio crowd you thought Palin was "good-looking"? Did you really introduce us to your wife, Jill, by leering that she is "drop-dead gorgeous"?), you're going to sound like the creepy guy in the trench coat at the back of the porn theater. If you can manage to be your warm, amiable self, even if you're going batshit on the inside, you will do fine.
And that's why the best way for you to approach Sarah Palin will be to forget that she is a woman. Tell yourself that she is a machine in 3-inch heels that has been programmed to make you look brutish and aggressive. She will attack, and you will smile. She will make jokes, and you will laugh. Do whatever you need to do—take four Percocet, deploy Zen breathing techniques—to prevent yourself from attacking this woman. And do just as much not to pay attention to her. Even if she pulls out her breast pump during commercials, keep your eyes glazed over on the middle distance. No compliments. Don't say you like her shoes. Just the facts, Joe.
You will need to match Palin point for point in the blue-collar-off. If she invokes her sister's gas station, bring up your cousin's Laundromat. (Try to locate one in the coming days, if you aren't in possession of one already). If she mentions the threshers, you need to see her the threshers and raise her the bailers. If she mentions the Washington media elite that hate her, you can truthfully tell her they've been calling you a blowhard for decades.
Caution: Sarah Palin is funny. And it's the kind of jeering Ann Coulter-funny that's assuredly going to irritate the heck out of you. She'll suggest you are a coward and unpatriotic and also (heh heh) that you are corrupt and dishonest. Keep your poker face. Poker face when she says you plan to raise taxes on the middle class. Poker face when she says she has plans to sell Barack Obama's next celebrity memoir on eBay and give all the money to special-needs children. Don't lunge (a la Lazio). Don't sigh (a la Gore). Don't roll your eyes (a la Where the Wild Things Are) or look longingly into the camera as if to plead "This is the best they could find for me?" Just nod sagely and refute logically. Get off a zinger if you can. ("You're nice enough Sarah" does not constitute a zinger.) But you are not going to beat her at the victim game, or the regular-folks game, or the humor game. You have to beat her on the fact that you are qualified to be a heartbeat from the presidency and that in 10 years she may be, as well.
Take a page from Campbell Brown's book and ask politely (and like you really want to know the answer and not just hear yourself say the question) what she learned while leading the Alaska National Guard into that war against Saskatchewan. But play to your strengths. Know stuff. Say it briefly. Don't accuse her of not knowing things. Just know more. An insanely successful college debate friend told me recently that the way he won against women was by always behaving like they were men.
My senior year in college, I debated in Glasgow, Scotland, against men who all stood up when I entered the room. One guy called me a "little flower" in the quarterfinals. Welshmen asked me to fetch coffee. What I learned from that experience was how deeply glad I was to live in a country where, for the most part, a woman can argue, tell jokes, kick ass, or get her ass kicked, just like a man. In 2008, in St. Louis, against a charming, cocky Alaska governor, that will only be truer. Thank goodness we live in a time and place in which nobody expects you to pull the chair out for your opponent or compliment her brooch, and nobody will be offended if you shake her hand firmly and pound her on national security. My best advice to you for dealing with Gov. Palin? Fight like a man. She will.
Sincerely,
Dahlia Lithwick
Joe Biden can beat Sarah Palin by pretending she's a man. And that he's not Joe Biden.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Dear Sen. Biden:
You have a problem. In less than a month, you will face off against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a vice-presidential debate in St. Louis, and were you anyone but Joe Biden, it would likely be a rout. Last week, Palin proved herself a charming, confident, and gifted reader of speeches. But that doesn't change the fact that two years ago she was the mayor of a town of 6,000, crusading against dirty books at the local library. You are a six-term senator and chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee. World leaders routinely friend you, unbidden, on Facebook ("Wait … Is this the Angela Merkel?"). World leaders had never heard of Gov. Palin until last Friday.
That's your problem, Joe. Everyone expects you to win the debate, and to trounce her on the substance. But the rules for debating Gov. Palin are different. If you lecture her, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. If you act too smart, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. If you condescend to her, you'll be seen as a sexist bully. So this longtime parliamentary debater (and longer-time female) is going to humbly offer you a few tips on how to debate a girl.
Sen. Biden, let's be clear. Great Supreme Court oral advocates will tell you that a flawless oral argument will never win a case, but a bad argument can lose one. You have a similar problem. If you engage, fight, bicker, or bluster, you can lose this debate. Think Rick Lazio. So my advice, in a nutshell: Don't lose it.
Your real problem with Palin is not actually going to be her gender. Assuming you don't gaze fixedly at her breasts or ask her to fetch you a coffee, you probably won't do anything truly career wrecking on the sexism front. Your real problem is that Palin is not a serious candidate. I don't mean to suggest that she is not a serious person or even a seriously impressive first-term governor with real potential to shake up national politics. Nor do I want to imply for an instant that Palin is not a serious competitor. I just want to state here what you will be unable to say out loud at the debate: That by every obvious metric—experience, knowledge base, decades of public service, policy experience, understanding of the world—Palin is an unserious candidate for the vice presidency of the United States. And as any college debater will tell you, it's far harder to beat a clumsy opponent than a good one. (That's why you do better in your judiciary committee hearings with John Roberts than with Alberto Gonzales.) But if you even hint that Sarah Palin may be opining on the Israel-Palestinian peace process with something Piper pulled off Wikipedia that morning, you will look like a snotty professor lecturing an undergrad. And if you look like a snotty professor, you will come across as a sexist bully.
There is no easy way to tell you this, Joe Biden, but the surest way for Joe Biden to lose a debate against Sarah Palin is by being Joe Biden. If you are windy, pompous, unctuous, or pushy, you will come across as patronizing and condescending—the guy who puts the "boy" into "old boys' network." If you flirt and smirk and flatter (Did you truly tell an Ohio crowd you thought Palin was "good-looking"? Did you really introduce us to your wife, Jill, by leering that she is "drop-dead gorgeous"?), you're going to sound like the creepy guy in the trench coat at the back of the porn theater. If you can manage to be your warm, amiable self, even if you're going batshit on the inside, you will do fine.
And that's why the best way for you to approach Sarah Palin will be to forget that she is a woman. Tell yourself that she is a machine in 3-inch heels that has been programmed to make you look brutish and aggressive. She will attack, and you will smile. She will make jokes, and you will laugh. Do whatever you need to do—take four Percocet, deploy Zen breathing techniques—to prevent yourself from attacking this woman. And do just as much not to pay attention to her. Even if she pulls out her breast pump during commercials, keep your eyes glazed over on the middle distance. No compliments. Don't say you like her shoes. Just the facts, Joe.
You will need to match Palin point for point in the blue-collar-off. If she invokes her sister's gas station, bring up your cousin's Laundromat. (Try to locate one in the coming days, if you aren't in possession of one already). If she mentions the threshers, you need to see her the threshers and raise her the bailers. If she mentions the Washington media elite that hate her, you can truthfully tell her they've been calling you a blowhard for decades.
Caution: Sarah Palin is funny. And it's the kind of jeering Ann Coulter-funny that's assuredly going to irritate the heck out of you. She'll suggest you are a coward and unpatriotic and also (heh heh) that you are corrupt and dishonest. Keep your poker face. Poker face when she says you plan to raise taxes on the middle class. Poker face when she says she has plans to sell Barack Obama's next celebrity memoir on eBay and give all the money to special-needs children. Don't lunge (a la Lazio). Don't sigh (a la Gore). Don't roll your eyes (a la Where the Wild Things Are) or look longingly into the camera as if to plead "This is the best they could find for me?" Just nod sagely and refute logically. Get off a zinger if you can. ("You're nice enough Sarah" does not constitute a zinger.) But you are not going to beat her at the victim game, or the regular-folks game, or the humor game. You have to beat her on the fact that you are qualified to be a heartbeat from the presidency and that in 10 years she may be, as well.
Take a page from Campbell Brown's book and ask politely (and like you really want to know the answer and not just hear yourself say the question) what she learned while leading the Alaska National Guard into that war against Saskatchewan. But play to your strengths. Know stuff. Say it briefly. Don't accuse her of not knowing things. Just know more. An insanely successful college debate friend told me recently that the way he won against women was by always behaving like they were men.
My senior year in college, I debated in Glasgow, Scotland, against men who all stood up when I entered the room. One guy called me a "little flower" in the quarterfinals. Welshmen asked me to fetch coffee. What I learned from that experience was how deeply glad I was to live in a country where, for the most part, a woman can argue, tell jokes, kick ass, or get her ass kicked, just like a man. In 2008, in St. Louis, against a charming, cocky Alaska governor, that will only be truer. Thank goodness we live in a time and place in which nobody expects you to pull the chair out for your opponent or compliment her brooch, and nobody will be offended if you shake her hand firmly and pound her on national security. My best advice to you for dealing with Gov. Palin? Fight like a man. She will.
Sincerely,
Dahlia Lithwick
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Excerpt...
San Francisco Chronicle
Mark Morford
September 3, 2008
Excerpt:
"So, on to the good news: A staggering 40 million Americans watched Obama deliver his spectacular, rain-free speech in Denver. That's more than the opening ceremony of Olympics. More than "American Idol." Half again as much as Kerry or Bush earned for similar speeches from years before and an all-time record for any televised political speech anywhere. What a thing.
And let's recall, for a moment, Obama in Berlin back in July, where nearly a quarter million locals turned up to see a man who wasn't yet even a world leader, but merely a candidate. Recall those stunning images of cheering throngs at the Victory Column, hundreds of thousands of eager, curious foreigners, all there to catch a glimpse not of Mick Jagger or the Pope, not of the Dalai Lama or Brad Pitt, but a brilliant young American senator.
That's not middling celebrity. That's not merely good PR on behalf of Obama's team. That's something else entirely, a world electrified by new possibility. Hell, McCain would be lucky to draw 100 onlookers to the airport Sheraton, and most of those would be EMTs.
Even Bill Clinton, with his effortless charisma and fantastic oratory skill, could never draw like Obama. This man fills stadiums. Electrifies not just Democrats, but entire nations. He has that rarest of political power, the ability to make people want to get out there and feel it, be part of the shift. Bush gave the world hives. McCain gives the world the creeps. Obama gives the world goosebumps. Simple as that.
You gotta admit, amidst all the GOP scandal and meltdown and Obama's revitalizing, meteoric rise to international beacon of change -- a guy who, in Joe Biden's words, has "grabbed the lightning" like no one he's ever seen before -- it's tempting to say even God has abandoned the religious right.
Then again, it's probably far more accurate to say She was never really over there in the first place."
Mark Morford
September 3, 2008
Excerpt:
"So, on to the good news: A staggering 40 million Americans watched Obama deliver his spectacular, rain-free speech in Denver. That's more than the opening ceremony of Olympics. More than "American Idol." Half again as much as Kerry or Bush earned for similar speeches from years before and an all-time record for any televised political speech anywhere. What a thing.
And let's recall, for a moment, Obama in Berlin back in July, where nearly a quarter million locals turned up to see a man who wasn't yet even a world leader, but merely a candidate. Recall those stunning images of cheering throngs at the Victory Column, hundreds of thousands of eager, curious foreigners, all there to catch a glimpse not of Mick Jagger or the Pope, not of the Dalai Lama or Brad Pitt, but a brilliant young American senator.
That's not middling celebrity. That's not merely good PR on behalf of Obama's team. That's something else entirely, a world electrified by new possibility. Hell, McCain would be lucky to draw 100 onlookers to the airport Sheraton, and most of those would be EMTs.
Even Bill Clinton, with his effortless charisma and fantastic oratory skill, could never draw like Obama. This man fills stadiums. Electrifies not just Democrats, but entire nations. He has that rarest of political power, the ability to make people want to get out there and feel it, be part of the shift. Bush gave the world hives. McCain gives the world the creeps. Obama gives the world goosebumps. Simple as that.
You gotta admit, amidst all the GOP scandal and meltdown and Obama's revitalizing, meteoric rise to international beacon of change -- a guy who, in Joe Biden's words, has "grabbed the lightning" like no one he's ever seen before -- it's tempting to say even God has abandoned the religious right.
Then again, it's probably far more accurate to say She was never really over there in the first place."
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Judging Sarah Palin
Editorial
Chicago Tribune
September 2, 2008
This surely wasn't how Sarah Palin intended to tell Americans that, if elected, she’d be not only the first woman to serve as vice president, but also the first grandmother. On Monday, though, Palin disclosed that her not-yet-wed, 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant. That word answered a tide of speculation on Internet blogs that a Palin daughter, and not Palin herself, had given birth to Trig, the family’s Down-syndrome baby; Palin, you see, must have faked a pregnancy to protect the daughter’s reputation.
But Palin's disclosure only prompted new waves of Web speculation: that the governor is a bad mother, that with two babies around she’d be too busy to serve as vice president, that she must have pressured her daughter not to simply have an abortion.
Whew. This rush to judge Sarah Palin—a woman whose name most Americans first heard just four days ago—is breathtaking. No, there has been nothing suspicious about either pregnancy in Palin's family. Time magazine's Nathan Thornburgh reported Monday that in their home town of Wasilla, Alaska, her daughter's situation "was more or less an open secret. And everyone was saying the same thing: The governor's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the father is her boyfriend, and it's really nobody's business beyond that."
Given the withering and deeply personal onslaught she's endured, Gov. Palin may feel like the loneliest woman in America.
She's not. Many families confront the difficult consequences of choices that young people make. Palin says her family will welcome and shelter her grandchild just as they've welcomed and sheltered Trig and her other kids. Judge me not by the situation I've been handed, she’s essentially saying. If you must judge me, judge me by how I try to respond.
That's a message sure to resonate with parents and grandparents who have watched teens in their families make decisions that were irresponsible, or irreversible, or, in the most tragic cases, life-ending or otherwise irredeemable. As one Wasilla resident, a woman who has a son fighting in Iraq and another who survived a head-crushing workplace accident, told the reporter from Time, dealing with life’s real dangers "makes you realize that a thing like a little teenage pregnancy isn't such a big deal. Bristol—and lots of other girls like her out there—are going to be just fine."
We’ll see—which by one measure is unfortunate in its own right: Teenage parenthood is difficult enough in near-anonymity. Imagine how many people will be waiting to judge Bristol Palin, mother. Just as people now are judging Sarah Palin, mother.
Barack Obama is having none of that, threatening to fire any campaign staffer advancing the attacks on Palin’s family. "People’s families are off-limits," he said Monday. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This [situation] has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. You know, my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics."
But, of course, it is. The question is how the rest of us now deal with it: by dismissing Palin as damaged goods—or by giving her the opportunity to impress or disappoint us over the next two months.
We can judge what she has or hasn’t achieved: Her inexperience in foreign affairs, for example, rivals that of John Edwards, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney—three men Americans seriously considered as candidates not for the vice presidency, but the presidency itself.
And we can watch her cope with the same household vicissitudes many parents face.
Judging Sarah Palin will be America’s parlor game from now until Nov. 4. She asked for scrutiny when she agreed to run alongside Republican John McCain. Bring it on. But the rest of us can temper our unfolding discoveries about this would-be vice president with what they tell us about her judgment and character. That’s what matters:
We have seen Obama acknowledge his youthful use of illicit drugs. We have heard John McCain confess that his own immaturity destroyed his first marriage. We have watched Joe Biden’s career suffer from disclosures of plagiarism in law school and in his 1987 campaign for the presidency.
Most Americans who've spent time assessing those personal difficulties have decided that none of these men's pasts disqualifies him to serve as president.
Sarah Palin’s record as governor, and her prospective performance as vice president, are fair game. Her family's struggles are not. If there's a conclusion to be drawn, it's about those sometimes difficult consequences of decisions that young people make. If Gov. Palin helps the rest of us advance that lesson to the teenagers in our lives, she'll deserve our gratitude rather than our sneers.
Chicago Tribune
September 2, 2008
This surely wasn't how Sarah Palin intended to tell Americans that, if elected, she’d be not only the first woman to serve as vice president, but also the first grandmother. On Monday, though, Palin disclosed that her not-yet-wed, 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant. That word answered a tide of speculation on Internet blogs that a Palin daughter, and not Palin herself, had given birth to Trig, the family’s Down-syndrome baby; Palin, you see, must have faked a pregnancy to protect the daughter’s reputation.
But Palin's disclosure only prompted new waves of Web speculation: that the governor is a bad mother, that with two babies around she’d be too busy to serve as vice president, that she must have pressured her daughter not to simply have an abortion.
Whew. This rush to judge Sarah Palin—a woman whose name most Americans first heard just four days ago—is breathtaking. No, there has been nothing suspicious about either pregnancy in Palin's family. Time magazine's Nathan Thornburgh reported Monday that in their home town of Wasilla, Alaska, her daughter's situation "was more or less an open secret. And everyone was saying the same thing: The governor's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the father is her boyfriend, and it's really nobody's business beyond that."
Given the withering and deeply personal onslaught she's endured, Gov. Palin may feel like the loneliest woman in America.
She's not. Many families confront the difficult consequences of choices that young people make. Palin says her family will welcome and shelter her grandchild just as they've welcomed and sheltered Trig and her other kids. Judge me not by the situation I've been handed, she’s essentially saying. If you must judge me, judge me by how I try to respond.
That's a message sure to resonate with parents and grandparents who have watched teens in their families make decisions that were irresponsible, or irreversible, or, in the most tragic cases, life-ending or otherwise irredeemable. As one Wasilla resident, a woman who has a son fighting in Iraq and another who survived a head-crushing workplace accident, told the reporter from Time, dealing with life’s real dangers "makes you realize that a thing like a little teenage pregnancy isn't such a big deal. Bristol—and lots of other girls like her out there—are going to be just fine."
We’ll see—which by one measure is unfortunate in its own right: Teenage parenthood is difficult enough in near-anonymity. Imagine how many people will be waiting to judge Bristol Palin, mother. Just as people now are judging Sarah Palin, mother.
Barack Obama is having none of that, threatening to fire any campaign staffer advancing the attacks on Palin’s family. "People’s families are off-limits," he said Monday. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This [situation] has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. You know, my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics."
But, of course, it is. The question is how the rest of us now deal with it: by dismissing Palin as damaged goods—or by giving her the opportunity to impress or disappoint us over the next two months.
We can judge what she has or hasn’t achieved: Her inexperience in foreign affairs, for example, rivals that of John Edwards, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney—three men Americans seriously considered as candidates not for the vice presidency, but the presidency itself.
And we can watch her cope with the same household vicissitudes many parents face.
Judging Sarah Palin will be America’s parlor game from now until Nov. 4. She asked for scrutiny when she agreed to run alongside Republican John McCain. Bring it on. But the rest of us can temper our unfolding discoveries about this would-be vice president with what they tell us about her judgment and character. That’s what matters:
We have seen Obama acknowledge his youthful use of illicit drugs. We have heard John McCain confess that his own immaturity destroyed his first marriage. We have watched Joe Biden’s career suffer from disclosures of plagiarism in law school and in his 1987 campaign for the presidency.
Most Americans who've spent time assessing those personal difficulties have decided that none of these men's pasts disqualifies him to serve as president.
Sarah Palin’s record as governor, and her prospective performance as vice president, are fair game. Her family's struggles are not. If there's a conclusion to be drawn, it's about those sometimes difficult consequences of decisions that young people make. If Gov. Palin helps the rest of us advance that lesson to the teenagers in our lives, she'll deserve our gratitude rather than our sneers.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Books and Rings...
No news is good news. And I have no real news. Things are fine at work. The weather is cooling and still raining. (My favorite kind of weather.) I'm making new friends who are uber cool. I'm going back on Face to Face, the debate tv show, for the semi-finals on Saturday. And while none of that is very exciting, I am reading some pretty good books.
I'm actually reading about three books at the moment. And I'm trying to branch out from American and British authors. A few weeks back I read a newspaper article that explained that the majority of books that are translated into foreign languages are originally written in English. Therefore, your average English speaker and reader is less likely to read works from foreigner authors because there are fewer foreign authors translated to English. I think this is a huge disappointment. Culture is translated through literature. And while it is always preferable to read literature in its original language, my inability to read other languages makes that impossible. Therefore, I'm trying to settle for the next best option and look for foreign authors translated to English. And recently I think I've found a couple of gems.
The first is called "Piercing" by Ryu Murakami, a highly acclaimed Japanese author. I've only just begun, but the first few chapters gave me the same sick-to-my-stomach sensation that gripped me when I read American Psycho. A successful, young Japanese man is compelled to murder weaker beings. The most vulnerable potential-victim being his own infant daughter who he watches every night with an ice pick in hand. The terrifying premise is obviously quite dark, but it has a truly Dostoevsky feel to it so I'm going to keep reading.
The next is equally dark, titled "I Have The Right To Destroy Myself" by Young-Ha Kim. I'm especially drawn to the nameless narrator of the book. Set in Seoul, the narrator guides the reader through a tragic and complicated love story while glorifying suicide. And the presentation of the story is incredibly compelling. Some characters have names, some simply are distinguished by letters and professions. I'll be sure to write more as I turn more pages.
The last book I'm reading, and the one I am closest to finishing is called "Anansi Boys" by the English author Neil Gaiman. It is fantastic! It revolves around two brother, one of whom is an American god. Gaiman has created an entire mythical world based on a combination of Greek, Roman, Chinese and Native American mythology. It's fascinating to see an entirely unique fictional culture derived from non-fictional traditions. I'm thoroughly enjoying the book.
Now that I have actually taken the time to describe these books, I'm realizing that I seem to have developed a dark, disturbing trend. I should mention that my literary choices aren't always so severe. I recently read the entire David Sedaris collection and laughed so hard I almost stopped breathing. I highly recommend his "Naked." I also indulged in "Possible Side Effects" by Augusten Burroughs who was equally hilarious, though slightly more depressing. And of course, my reading selections aren't always so lengthy. I'm more than happy to settle for the incredibly sexy and slightly vulgar word-smithing of my favorite columnist, Mark Morford. (www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford) Read it. You'll love it. Or at least lust for it.
Alright. For the two and half people who actually read this blog, feel free to add your reading recommendations.
Ah... and before I forget! Huge shout out to my best friend who is GETTING MARRIED! That's right, her Air Force guy popped the question! I guess giving up California and moving to Texas was worth it. (If you've seen the ring, then you definitely know it was worth it!) And with the engagement I'm finally giving up on the idea that she'll ditch her guy and come hang out with me in Seoul! Congrats Cynthia and Demetri!
I'm actually reading about three books at the moment. And I'm trying to branch out from American and British authors. A few weeks back I read a newspaper article that explained that the majority of books that are translated into foreign languages are originally written in English. Therefore, your average English speaker and reader is less likely to read works from foreigner authors because there are fewer foreign authors translated to English. I think this is a huge disappointment. Culture is translated through literature. And while it is always preferable to read literature in its original language, my inability to read other languages makes that impossible. Therefore, I'm trying to settle for the next best option and look for foreign authors translated to English. And recently I think I've found a couple of gems.
The first is called "Piercing" by Ryu Murakami, a highly acclaimed Japanese author. I've only just begun, but the first few chapters gave me the same sick-to-my-stomach sensation that gripped me when I read American Psycho. A successful, young Japanese man is compelled to murder weaker beings. The most vulnerable potential-victim being his own infant daughter who he watches every night with an ice pick in hand. The terrifying premise is obviously quite dark, but it has a truly Dostoevsky feel to it so I'm going to keep reading.
The next is equally dark, titled "I Have The Right To Destroy Myself" by Young-Ha Kim. I'm especially drawn to the nameless narrator of the book. Set in Seoul, the narrator guides the reader through a tragic and complicated love story while glorifying suicide. And the presentation of the story is incredibly compelling. Some characters have names, some simply are distinguished by letters and professions. I'll be sure to write more as I turn more pages.
The last book I'm reading, and the one I am closest to finishing is called "Anansi Boys" by the English author Neil Gaiman. It is fantastic! It revolves around two brother, one of whom is an American god. Gaiman has created an entire mythical world based on a combination of Greek, Roman, Chinese and Native American mythology. It's fascinating to see an entirely unique fictional culture derived from non-fictional traditions. I'm thoroughly enjoying the book.
Now that I have actually taken the time to describe these books, I'm realizing that I seem to have developed a dark, disturbing trend. I should mention that my literary choices aren't always so severe. I recently read the entire David Sedaris collection and laughed so hard I almost stopped breathing. I highly recommend his "Naked." I also indulged in "Possible Side Effects" by Augusten Burroughs who was equally hilarious, though slightly more depressing. And of course, my reading selections aren't always so lengthy. I'm more than happy to settle for the incredibly sexy and slightly vulgar word-smithing of my favorite columnist, Mark Morford. (www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford) Read it. You'll love it. Or at least lust for it.
Alright. For the two and half people who actually read this blog, feel free to add your reading recommendations.
Ah... and before I forget! Huge shout out to my best friend who is GETTING MARRIED! That's right, her Air Force guy popped the question! I guess giving up California and moving to Texas was worth it. (If you've seen the ring, then you definitely know it was worth it!) And with the engagement I'm finally giving up on the idea that she'll ditch her guy and come hang out with me in Seoul! Congrats Cynthia and Demetri!
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