Music In My Head

• Joe Jackson — "Cancer"
• Chicago — "Saturday in the Park" (radio-borne earworm)
• Beastie Boys — "Jimmy James"
• Foo Fighters — "Darling Nikki"

  which led me to listen again to

• Prince — Purple Rain (entire album; Prince's version of "Darling Nikki" obliterates all memory of the other version, and this album stands as one of rock's best)

Other Stuff In My Head

Mountains of Europe: Mont Blanc | Matterhorn | Eiger

Climbing Schools: North Carolina | New Hampshire | Colorado

Posted by Me at 21:27 link

When I first read this Onion piece about anger-powered cars, of course I found it hilarious. After today though, I think the concept deserves more study.

My day started well: I woke gently after a good night's sleep full of pleasant dreams, got ready for class very leisurely, put on my red shirt and went to class.

My Economics instructor surprised me again, this time by railing against the American beef, poultry and agriculture industries (steroids, antibiotics, pesticides, GM), against polluters (asthma, cancer) — and even against the Iraq war (he believes the Bush administration acted for economic reasons). He recommended getting our news from NPR and the BBC. I felt deeply satisfied.

My Business instructor continued the good feelings with a lively discussion on ethics. She, and basically the entire class, agreed with me that many (if not most) of the worst problems in our society stem from a basic lack of empathy. The more each of us realizes that we're all in this together, and the more each of us acts accordingly, the happier we'll all be: we need the original Golden Rule (do unto others as you'd have them do unto you), not the newer one (he who has the gold makes the rules).

After class, I cycled home happily in the rain/sleet, enjoyed a delicious, leisurely pasta lunch, then pedalled back to campus for an open-book test in my database class. The situation deteriorated rapidly.

Within the first five minutes, I irretrievably overwrote a record. Twenty minutes of desperate maneuvers (all the king's horses...) didn't change a thing. My temper began to simmer. I finished that section of the exam as best I could. Much of the test hinged on creating a database from scratch. I breezed through most of the work, but then I found myself stumped by instructions that seemed impossible, given what we'd learned so far. I carefully read and re-read the textbook, but didn't find anything of use. I tried F1: much typing, no dice. My temper bubbled. Time ticked down. I typed with reckless abandon, but I couldn't solve the problem. I created a half-assed solution.

Time ran out. My temper steamed. With frustration (mostly) concealed, I asked for the solution after I turned in my test. The instructor was glad to show me. When I saw that the textbook presented the solution as an aside, without giving any details on how to implement it, I felt my temper begin to boil over. I thanked the instructor and walked out.

I wanted to pummel a punching bag with a baseball bat. Instead, when I got outside and saw the rain pouring down, I decided to work it out on the streets.

So, in the heaviest rain we've had for months, in 39° F chill, on the busiest street in town, at five o'clock on Friday, I pedalled for miles and miles. Across downtown, out to the mall, up the biggest hill in town, I worked my legs, my heart, my lungs. Rain from above and puddled water from below soaked every part of me. Traffic tested my nerves and my courage. My legs, my heart, my lungs—and my anger—kept me moving.

I had no destination, but at the top of the hill, I stopped and, as my breathing slowly returned to normal, I realized I didn't feel angry anymore. I felt cold, I felt tired, I felt strong—I felt wet—but my anger and frustration had rolled off me like drops of water. They'd fallen into the gutter at my feet, then had flowed with the runoff into the storm drain; they were carried into the raging stream at the bottom of the hill, which would pour into the river, which would, as always, make its patient way to the sea.

I rode home in the hard, cold rain, fully satisfied with life and the world.

Posted by Me at 22:13 link

Here There Now Then

Wear Red This Friday

The American Heart Association encourages us all to wear red on Friday, February 6, to raise awareness of women's heart health issues. All the cool people will wear red Friday. Hey, why not? Red's a great color anytime, especially in the middle of a drab winter. Besides, it'll help put you in the mood for Valentine's Day, or as we used to call it in high school, V.D.

Weren't we charming?

Music In My Head

• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — "Bad Reputation"
• Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass — "A Taste of Honey"
• The Stranglers — "Golden Brown"
• AC/DC — "Shoot to Thrill"
• Shakira — "Te Dejo Madrid"
• Britney Spears (with Moby) — "Early Mornin'"
• Ray Anthony — "Skokiaan"

The Tongass Forest Needs Your Help

Background

At 17 million acres, the Tongass is the nation's largest. It is the major part of the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. An extraordinary array of fjords, glaciers, forested islands and mountains fill its boundaries. The forest includes groves of towering Sitka spruce, western hemlock and red and yellow cedar. Some of these stands grow to be over 200 feet tall and live as long as 1000 years—millennial groves in the purest sense.

The dense old-growth of the Tongass provides vital habitat for fish—five species of salmon alone—and wildlife, including grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, Sitka black-tailed deer, bald eagles and northern goshawks.

The Tongass has suffered destruction commensurate with its size. Over a million acres of pristine forest have been lost to industrial logging and development on the Tongass since the 1950s. Approximately 70 percent of the biggest and best trees, which sustain the remarkable wildlife on this forest, has been clearcut. 5000 miles of roads have been gouged through it.

The Bush Administration is intent on logging what is left of the biggest and best trees, the biological heart of the Tongass. Removing the Tongass from the protections of the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001 is the essential first step in that scheme. The Forest Service has already scheduled approximately 50 timber projects in Tongass roadless areas. Logging these remaining portions of the best habitat in one of the last coastal temperate rainforests will seriously compromise wildlife on the forest and undermine one of the greatest wilderness resources in our nation.

How You Can Help

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) are organizing congressional opposition to these disastrous logging plans. And they need our help! Please contact your Members of Congress today. Tell them how much you value the Tongass and its wildness, and how outraged you are by the Bush Administration's roadless decision. Urge your senators to sign on to Sen. Boxer's letter and your representative to sign on to Rep. DeLauro's letter from the House.

You can take immediate action at
http://ga1.org/ct/4p1Vnp61wp5H/Tongass

Why Can't Johnny Find Carmen Sandiego?

My uneasy "truce" with this instructor continues. I did speak up when he presented what I considered a flawed argument in favor of international trade, namely that savings from lower prices more than make up for lost jobs.

His argument hinged on the impressive-looking numbers he chalked up on the board. "Suppose 200,000 Americans lose their jobs due to offshoring, each averaging $20,000 annual pay. How much have they lost?" He did the arithmetic very slowly, moving the zeros around before announcing that the total was $4 billion. Then he said, "Suppose each of 290 million Americans saves just $50 a year due to lower prices made possible by international trade." Again he "struggled" with the arithmetic. "14.5 billion dollars," he finally said. "Which of these should we give our attention to?"

I suggested it would be prudent to consider both figures, and that his model didn't take into account a third factor, namely the downward pressure on American wages. "Suppose 100 million average workers make just 25¢ less each hour due to competition from foreign workers. They'd each lose [I paused] about $500 each year — that'd be [pause] over 50 billion dollars total. Wouldn't it be prudent to consider that, too?"

He denied that American wages were declining. I countered that "real wages" (i.e. wages adjusted for inflation) had in fact declined significantly, and, with the exception of the late-90s expansion, steadily, over the last 30 years; also that American workers' living standards had similarly declined.

He didn't have an answer Monday, but I have a feeling he'll have one tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have a feeling many of my classmates still won't be able to identify Brazil, India or China on a world map. Perhaps needless to say, no one else in class participated in the discussion on the effects of international trade.

I've seen the future, folks, and it doesn't look terribly bright.

Posted by Me at 23:22 link

Six More Weeks of Winter

My dad's humor vein tilted heavily toward the corny. Every Groundhog Day, he feasted on sausage. Get it? Sausage? Ground hog. Every frickin' year. I miss him.

Cold rain's falling here, its un-winterlike gurgle lulling me to sleep, as it washes away the last of our snow, maybe the last snow of the year. Or not. Six weeks can last a long time.

Music In My Head:

• Celia Cruz — "Rie y Llora"
• ZZ Top — "Cheap Sunglasses"
• Janet Jackson — "All For You" (yeah, I know)
• Juan Luis Guerra y 440 — "Quisiera Ser un Pez"
• One Minute Silence — "A More Violent Approach"
• REM — "Everybody Hurts"
• Jerry Garcia and David Grisman — "Grateful Dawg"
• Philip Glass — "Building" (from Einstein on the Beach)
• Elvis Costello and the Attractions — "Green Shirt" (thanks, Kent; I don't think I'll ever get this one out of my head!)
• NRBQ — "Rocket In My Pocket"

Patriots 32, Panthers 29

Congratulations also to CNN, for airing the MoveOn.org ad, "Child's Pay." I stayed tuned to CNN almost continuously from just before 8:10pm until they played the commercial around 8:40. From what I did see of CBS's halftime show, I'd say I didn't miss much!

One year ago today, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, taking the lives of seven extraordinary people. My sadness only increased reading about the astronauts, as I realized how much I'd missed not knowing about them when they were alive. Especially touching, the story of Kalpana Chawla seems to me the classic American story; she came to this country for opportunity, and gave back much more than she got, much more probably than she ever imagined.

Posted by Me at 23:37 link