Helllllo again readers, aka Mom, Dad… I know it’s been a while, but despite unemployment for the greater part of my absence, I managed to carry on a fairly busy life in limbo. With this said, I’ve decided it’s time to get back on track, and the best way I can think of to accomplish this is to reflect back on the past 3 months with a Top 10 List of “Things I Wish I had Blogged About.”
ctual physical move from DC to 
s at a trattoria in Florence. I don’t know his name, but our eyes met and it was categorically and absolutely Love. There is certainly something to be said for ephemeral moments. 2- I am guaranteed a spot in heaven after visiting no less than 1 million churches, chapels, basilicas, and cathedrals before even stepping foot in Vatican City. 3- With the beauty of each location comes a new addition to the infamous “Lost Items List.” Note: Pittsburgh International Airport keeps their lost and found inventory for 60 days.
y birthday, it was already a pretty fine day in and of itself, but adding a Steelers' Victory against Brett Favre (of all people!) and the Minnesota Vikings made it near the top of my 2009 moments. It wasn’t just the win (and ability to mock Brett Favre in person) that made this day ideal; Katey Clark is THE best person to attend a Pittsburgh sporting event with, the weather was impeccable, and my hangover subsided upon entry to Heinz Field. The beauty of Keyaron Fox's game winning interception even made getting pummeled (quite literally) by self-tackling and tumbling yinzers exciting. Naturally, the 70 year old men in the row in front of us may beg to differ…
on low was most likely the Steelers’ loss to the Cleveland Browns (though we had a few to choose from). Having been raised in the Burgh, I was brought up to despise the Browns. As a result of their pitiful circumstances for the greater part of my football watching life, however, they have ironically become the ONLY team in the AFC North that I don’t hate. With this said, I have feared a loss to them on only a few very rare occasions...One of these junctures taking place on December 10, 2009, when the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the then 1 and 11 Cleveland Browns (13-6).
Life in Pittsburgh is great! Basically, I hangout with friends and drink beer. From time to time, I'll hit up a museum or go for a run, but for the most part you can find me in front of a TV watching hockey, football, or really bad tv shows about vampires. Apparently... my life hasn't changed at all.
staying up all night, ignoring your bank account balance while spending money you don't have on lavish things (booze) you don't need(yes, I need booze!). Ignorance is bliss! Sadly though, all good things must come to an end. Now I have a job and am starting grad school- sleeping all day is a thing of the past...But the whole ignoring your bank account technique is still working out quite well for me (errrr).
So I'm not gonna lie....this particular posting is most definitely a procrastination technique. It's currently 11:39 PM, and tomorrow is my last day at work!! (yessssssss!!!!) As you would expect, it just wouldn't be right if my job didn't suck until the very bitter end, so I should be doing work right now. (If you can call plugging meaningless numbers into a spreadsheet that will most likely sit on a share drive and never be looked at again "work." Or maybe that is the DEFINITION of "work.") As I'm sure you've noticed, the news has been quite interesting and incraziable lately, so I am going to take a moment to share my thoughts on a few particularly fascinating happenings around the world. I feel this will undoubtedly benefit my brain significantly more than the useless data inputting I should be doing. (Yes, I made "incraziable" up- great word, right?)I will preface by saying that I am pretty liberal, so while my intention is not to insult anyone, there is bound to be some liberal bias soon to follow. That said, feel free to stop reading here if you'd like (assuming anyone's actually reading this).
This past Saturday, in an attempt to ignore my terrible cold, I ventured into the streets of DC. Apart from my head feeling like an oversized water balloon ready to burst at any moment, it was a very lovely day. Unfortunately (for all of us), there was also one other fairly large problem. The streets were swarming with what I will refer to as Tea Partiers. This brings us to “Things I will Miss About DC” #2: The Protests.
I’m not entirely sure why I’ll miss them. They cause traffic and confusion in the city, not to mention the Metro. I very rarely encounter them and have only ever attended one by accident. Even then, I was mostly just an onlooker. Regardless, they help pull me out of the pit of apathy where I so often find myself (being a twenty something living in post-Bush America). Also, they can be pretty funny. Loooooots of characters…
As I wandered through DC on Saturday, my friend and I found ourselves knee deep in a protest on Capitol Hill and the Mall organized by the Tea Party Movement, which opposes President Obama’s Health Care Reform. [Note: I have made an honest effort to learn about the various bills in Congress, but it hasn’t been easy. I can’t imagine that with the constant misinformation and fear mongering being spread across the country it’s easy for the average American to become truly informed on this issue at all. Factcheck.org helps dispel some myths though – I have included a link. Take a look.] My intention is not to get into a health care debate, and make no mistake; I have absolutely no doubt that, while I did not see any, there must have been a few very intelligent and well informed people at this gathering. I did, however, encounter several people who can only be described as stupid. I would try to come up with a more descriptive adjective, but it would be wasted on these people. And unfortunately in this country, stupid people are very opinionated...and loud. The more I walked through the crowds, the more I realized how helpful a quick lesson from my 6th grade Social Studies teacher, Miss Blanning, would be. I will not be making any actual attempt to contact Miss Blanning, but I will take a moment to cite Mr. Webster and define for us all the below terms.
so·cial·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
fas·cism
Pronunciation: \ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi-\
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
com·mu·nism
Pronunciation: \ˈkäm-yə-ˌni-zəm, -yü-\
1 a : a theory advocating elimination of private property b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed2 capitalized a : a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b : a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production c : a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably
Czar Variant(s): also tsar or tzar \ˈzär, ˈ(t)sär\ 1 : emperor; specifically : the ruler of Russia until the 1917 revolution 2 : one having great power or authority
My initial intention was to stop at the definitions and let everyone figure my point out on their own, but after watching the above video I got a little fired up; so I’m going to take an extra minute to give my two cents regarding this little Social Studies lesson. Unless things have changed significantly since last November, I’m pretty sure Obama was elected by a rather large majority. Sorry, if you were on the ass end of that stick, America. I know how it feels; I was there for 8 years. Also, seeing as he’s not Russian, I’m thinking it’s nearly impossible for him to actually be a Czar. (At least, I don’t thiiink he’s Russian…ask Ann Coulter. She’ll know for sure. Or Sarah Palin, since she can see Russia from her house.) In regards to the health care bills in committee, they do not eliminate the private option and do not create a fully government funded option either; so whether you agree with them or not, you really can’t call them socialist bills, can you? Don’t get me wrong, if we could, I’d totally be into it. Although, Medicare IS fully funded and administrated by the goverment, so I guess every president since Harry Truman has been a socialist. As for calling Obama a fascist…c’mon. I think Mr. President likes his private property just as much as the next person. And let’s not fool ourselves…If he were a fascist, especially when considering his majority support in Congress, I don’t think my friend’s Labradoodle would even be allowed to march on Washington without major consequences. I find it so interesting that even after the Census Bureau's report on the failure of the Bush Administration, people are still so incredibly petrified by the thought of change.
My proposal to the American People - Let's be real for a tiny second and calm the fuck down. Stop getting your information from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News; instead, try reading a book. And for christ's sake, stop calling Obama a Czar or Emperor, King…whatever. We all know there’s only one King in American and that’s Jesus.
(Oh! One last thing…lay off the Joker. He's too good for politics.)
