| mimi ni mgonjwa |
[Sep. 5th, 2007|12:58 pm] |
i am sick. it hurts. feel sorry for me.
melanie and kazzle are nursing me.
i just want to feel okay again.
stupid stupid sickness. |
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| dentist question |
[Jun. 27th, 2007|04:50 pm] |
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i want to get my teeth a proper cleaning before i go to malawi. does anyone have any idea about how much a typical straight up cleaning is (for someone with no insurance)? i thought it was around sixty bucks- does this sound right? (also, i know about the dental school but this isn't an option--- so i mean just a regular old dentist). thanks for any help... |
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| to walk is to lack a place |
[Jun. 27th, 2007|03:50 pm] |
yesterday i walked around downtown for a bit in the sweltering heat. i paused for a bit in rittenhouse square to finish off my iced coffee (p.s. i really love la colombe- they even give you a nice little saucer for your spoon when you order an iced coffee "to go"). i was reading a bit of the decerteau and incidentally, was re-reading the section on Spatial practices. so it was that i was people watching in the park as i read this: the city is "a universe of rented spaces haunted by a nowhere of dreamed of places."
"to walk is to lack a place. it is the indefinite process of being absent and in search of a proper. the moving about that the city multiplies and concentrates makes the city itself an immense social experience of lacking a place."
and so i cataloged a small bit of what was going on around me, yesterday, at around 7p in the park.
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a man, presumably homeless and donning a dirtied white t-shirt that rides up over his distended abdomen, lies just behind a bench where two men clad in pastel colored neckties sit with crossed legs. a man in all black too-tight pants and shirt struggles with two massive golden retrievers, his arms being pulled in different directions as he focuses on cleaning up after one or another of the dogs. near the center of the park, a gaggle of men congregates around a chess board, brows furrowed. two young men, their bodies canvases of tattoo art, laugh with each other on a patch of grass as they spin the shiny wheels of their overturned racing bikes. ----
i am really f-ing hot over here. |
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| cars |
[Jun. 15th, 2007|09:50 am] |
i love nyc.
very much. |
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| tongues |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:24 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | kashmir | ] |
i was thinking today about how the thing beneath the laces of sneakers is called the "tongue." i have not heard anyone refer to the tongue in a long while, but what a funny thing. |
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| everyday life |
[May. 17th, 2007|02:26 pm] |
today at the laundromat i started reading decerteau's the practice of everyday life. no surprise: i am really into it.
i feel happy. |
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| pattern recognition |
[May. 10th, 2007|10:14 am] |
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when one finishes one's major work-hurdle for the semester, one often has time to do such things as scan and contemplate the kinds of targeted ads that pop up in gmail. mostly, i find that the ads that assail me deal with coffee, grants, and africa. however, today's actually got me to click. the link read "Fun, "Drinkable" Ski Poles." Exactly. Unclear. So I found out about these ski poles. |
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| armadillos in yellow |
[May. 5th, 2007|12:41 pm] |
raise your hand if you've ever been run off the sidewalk by one of the university city (and/or) Penn cops on bikes. if you've ever been walking along and come face to face in a game of chicken with not one, but TWO cops having a sunday chat riding bikes ON THE SIDEWALK.
now, in my opinion, it is (sort of) okay to ride one's bike on the sidewalk if, for example, one has forgotten his/her helmet and it is a busy time of day to bike on the street. or maybe if one is balancing two bags of groceries on the handlebars while riding. but it is NOT OKAY to ride on the sidewalk when one is suited up in armor and wearing a helmet like a bright yellow armadillo. there is also something mildly funny about the idea of people who are supposed to be protecting and serving me riding their bikes on the sidewalks, like children whose parents don't let them ride in the streets.
this reminds me of an incident that happened a few weeks ago. another woman and i stopped to help this guy who had a bad fall off his bike near the green line (VERY BAD). he was out of it and disoriented and did not speak english. about ten minutes after we had already flagged down a car to take him to the hospital, and i had been put in charge of taking both the woman's and the hurt man's bikes to lock at the green line, the armadillos in yellow arrived. i thought one would help me navigate taking the two bikes to the green line (a pretty tough task on my own), but no; he only needed me to "tell him what happened" so he could record it as if he'd "responded" and had everything under control. i was tight lipped and annoyed. after a brief chat, he said "okay have a good day" and biked off ON THE SIDEWALK as i struggled to wheel both bikes while carrying two bags. thanks. |
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| extreme cuss words |
[Apr. 24th, 2007|10:52 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | ani difranco | ] |
Hip hop exec Russel Simmons has proposed removing three words from the recording industry (lyrics). These are: "bitch," "ho," and "nigger." It seems that this debate may result in the creation of a commission to impose regulations and things like "symbolic moratoriums" on use of words in song lyrics. I'm interested in the idea of loose regulations, guidelines, and standards, particularly here in the context of a genre that emerged out of innovation, subversion, and (re)-appropriation (at least as I see it, though I would hardly call myself a hip hop aficionado).
Anyway, as I'm contemplating the possibility of a question about "state power" tomorrow, I'm thinking about Judith Butler's argument in Excitable Speech that hate speech becomes such only after state power calls it that. With the rise of loosely conceived (often "consensually based") forms of conventions, regulations, and guidelines, where does the state fit in? (For example, the movement to ban landmines resulted in documents and regulations that are powerful but remain unenforceable, in general). Also, the move by the hip hop execs would seem to indicate that these three words constitute hate speech in *any context*. Yeah, I don't know about that. |
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| a good dinner! |
[Apr. 23rd, 2007|07:58 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | khaled | ] |
i just made myself a nice dinner and i'm proud of it. i went to fu wah and bought mushrooms, capers, and garlic. i fried these things in a pan with oil, and added trader joe's yummy sausage. then i mixed it all with sauce and spaghetti.
i know it doesn't sound like much, but for me, that was some real *cooking*. i have learned a small thing or two from watching mel cook.
and it tasted good! |
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| images |
[Apr. 22nd, 2007|01:20 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | belle and sebastian | ] |
the other day for class we read susan sontag's "Regarding the torture of others". today at the gym the televisions were abuzz with discussion of whether or not the media's coverage of the virginia tech shootings was appropriate. then, in line at the green line, the child behind me asked her father about this image on the front cover of today's new york times. she asked what the man in the picture did. her dad said "i don't know, honey. we can't know what he did unless we read the article." she asked why not. he said "do you think we can ever tell why a person is being hurt or abused just by looking at a picture? she said yes.
i had a really nice morning. the best one i've had in a while, possibly. i think i am finally beginning to shed the perpetual anxiety that has dogged me this semester. i am obsessed with the weather, obsessed with petting the two cute puppies that live next door to me, and even more obsessed with the wine tasting i can't wait to go to this afternoon!
enjoy the sun everyone:) |
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| funny |
[Apr. 19th, 2007|02:00 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | bruce springsteen | ] |
today the students in the class i TA for gave their mock World Health Organization Summit regional presentations, in which they proposed recommendations and interventions to improve health status in their assigned regions. one group proposed doing a "women's empowerment" initiative in yemen. now, aside from my extreme unease with the term "empowerment," the funniest thing about this presentation was that the icon for their project was the ANI DIFRANCO righteous babe logo. i pretty much laughed aloud, by myself in the back of the room. |
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| grant! |
[Apr. 18th, 2007|07:42 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | ani | ] |
OMG i got an SSRC grant!
i am *thrilled* with this news. |
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| also: be responsible! |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|04:21 pm] |
i am obsessed with how 'individual responsibility' has come to grip our imaginations.
from an article on wolfowitz's anti-corruption convention:
"This is a moral obligation," he said in a statement. "Recovering even a portion of the stolen assets will help fund development and social programmes, or finance badly-needed infrastructure."
Secretary of State for International Development of the UK Mr Hilary Benn described recovery of stolen assets as a practical problem.
"This initiative is really timely. It's about each of us playing our part," he said.
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also: i would like to play tennis and go camping. |
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| get gender sensitive! |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|03:23 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | track star | ] |
i am putting together images to use in my dissertation research proposal presentation next wednesday. engaged in this task, i arrived at unesco's website which exhibits a significant focus on increasing gender parity. i was particularly struck by the link entitled "get gender sensitive!" the phrase has become common in many international documents. lots of aids interventions, for example, focus on "gender mainstreaming."
now this is all well and good, if a little silly at first sight *except* for the fact that by viewing entrenched cultural attitudes and practices as threats to gender equality or human rights or what have you, we risk diverting attention from 1) the larger structural forces which (re)produce inequality and 2) the way that human rights discourse and practices can serve to re-cycle or exacerbate local resource disparities, status distinctions, and existing inequalities. |
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| on media-tion |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|01:49 am] |
slate.com did a piece on wittgenstein, and i was reading it and this struck me, today:
Philosophy, as we use the word, is a fight against the fascination which forms of expression exert on us.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Blue and Brown Books |
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| on wine(s) |
[Apr. 15th, 2007|12:17 am] |
thanks to mel and cath for taking me out for a fabulous night of wine tasting at vintage. we had a lovely menu of wines and foods, and it was great company.
and the reason we were celebrating: i have money to do my research next year! someone thought it was a good project, and i get to do it and i am so excited!
this uplift is just what i needed prior to taking my oral exams on the 25th. bring it-- |
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| funny |
[Apr. 11th, 2007|11:15 am] |
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i couldn't resist posting this |
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bricoleur311's journal
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