Masshole

I got back from Boston on Monday from an awesome weekend trip to see my sister.  It was great weather and we just wandered through the city.  Everytime I visit a new city, I can always picture myself living there, and I think Boston is number 2 on the list, just after D.C.

The last few pics are from the North End which was by far my favorite neighborhood.  All the tiny Italian shops, tiny streets, old buildings are so adorable.  We also came across a rowdy game of bocce ball.  The judges were officiating in Italian.

The Good Stuff

I am very happily surprised that the house voted yesterday to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell."  Not only is it astounding that the policy was instituted in the first place, it's unbelievable that it has taken this long to repeal.  It's embarrassing for me to admit, but last summer I had an argument with a friend because I could have sworn it was no longer enforced.  I had just studied the damn thing in my constitutional law class, too! 

It's just unbelievable to me that it's 2010 and Sen. John McCain, a once admirable man and former Presidential nominee can be quoted as saying this in response to the vote.

“I think it’s really going to be really harmful to the morale and battle effectiveness of our military.”

Of course, this man has served in the military with plenty of closeted gays so he would know, right?

Also, remember Alice's girlfriend in the L-word?  The soldier who was investigated for being a lesbian?  Love that show.

The Census Since 1790

RaceBox.org has collected old census questionaires since 1790.  It's pretty interesting to watch it evolve (?).

Campbell Brown Leaves CNN

Campbell Brown recently announced she was leaving her show on CNN.  Her reasoning was unexpected.

"I could have said that I am stepping down to spend more time with my children (which I truly want to do)," Brown said. "Or that I am leaving to pursue other opportunities (which I also truly want to do). But I have never had much tolerance for others' spin, so I can't imagine trying to stomach my own. The simple fact is that not enough people watch my program."

How perfectly simple and honest to admit personal failure.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Rand Paul

I just discovered Ta-Nehisi Coates, a writer for the Atlantic.  While perusing his articles I found one about Rand Paul.  He first quotes Douthat's piece for the NYT.

No ideology survives the collision with real-world politics perfectly intact. General principles have to bend to accommodate the complexities of history, and justice is sometimes better served by compromise than by zealous intellectual consistency.

  I'm really drawn to that statement for some reason.  I guess it's remnants of my political theory class I took.  I hated that we always had to pick one side and run with it way off the edge because anything else would be hypocritical.  I want consistency and I want to be able to have one ideology that fits everything but there's always issues with it that force you to compromise.  According to Douthat's piece it's not hypocritical to concede on certain issues.  But Coates' other article points out that Rand is already inconsistent with libertarianism on drug laws, abortion, and national security.  And yet he's unwilling to do the same with segregation?  Makes ya think.

The Oil Spill Isn't Real

The other day my friend expressed his desire to sail around on a boat.  He would need to stick close to the shoreline though, because he's afraid of the open sea.  I suggested following the coast down to South America when he reminded me how terrible that would be.  BECAUSE OF THE OIL SPILL.  I had forgotten.  Or not forgotten, because it hasn't officially registered in my world view.  Maybe I can't really comprehend it without seeing it.  But my god, it's happening as we speak.  How could I forget?

On Ke$ha, Beiber, nonsense

I sort of actually like Ke$ha. Ha. And not even ironically. Her songs are funny and catchy and not irritating and exhausting like the rest of the junk that gets drilled into our brains. I STILL like Tik-Tok after it's 1,000,000th play. Her lyrics are vapid and dumb but that doesn't make me and my friends vapid and dumb for singing along. It's fun to talk about partying like it's all that matters. Maybe we even superficially wish it was all that matters.  We like to pretend that we can have a glittery boozy 3-day rager too.  But it's mostly pretend.

I felt bad for her when she performed on SNL and no one cheered when she revealed her weird get-up. Evidently, they didn't get it. But I get it! She's weird, and yes, she's trying too hard but I find it endearing. She's also confusingly packaged which I find oddly comforting about the music business. She might also be more intelligent than she lets on (she went to college).

But the Justin Beiber thing? NO. NO to that. I don't get that. That whole thing with the Beiber and the twitter and...it makes me feel like my dead grandmother. I like ignoring it.

A History Lesson

To start with I will link to a story on Slate about how the US gov poisoned alcohol during prohibition and ended up intentionally killing people. Maybe you learned this in high school but you probably didn't.

Let Me Break it Down for You

This is a new way for me to burn through my down time. Reading the NYTimes and Politico all day at work is exhausting. So now I'm going to start writing about things, about people, about people doing things with other people.

Things I am:
Young
Female
A College Graduate
Self Aware

Things I am not:
A Young Female Blogger