"we have an obligation to listen"

Interesting NY Times Op-Ed that I think is a really important thing to be reminded of every once and a while. It can be really dulling to listen to or read the news because it seems that all you hear about are numbers of deaths and mass atrocities and nuclear testing on top of all that chaos that is your daily life. Or is at least my daily life.

In any case, I definitely know that feeling of giving up on changing the world. Gandhi says to "be the change you wish to see in the world" but there are definitely days when I feel like being that change is impossible. No one's listening anymore. It seems like all this change is just being thrown against a brick wall that's not going anywhere. But all of these issues and scary news events involve real people with real stories and lives and problems. Where has all the empathy gone? Where has all the motivation and action gone? I mean why are we criticizing Sotomayer because she has empathy. When did it become a bad thing? Even if we are talking about the Supreme Court, we're still dealing with people. Not automated answering machines and banking systems.

insanity. (tv quote)

"Were they always this insane?"

"Maybe they were always this insane but it was colder out so they moved more slowly and you couldn’t see the insanity."

irony break.

a new brain.

saw a musical on saturday night as well called a new brain. short version: i thought it was pretty good. long version: the music was great, but the performers were at times lacking - some counting issues, and the lead didn't have great stage presence or a great voice. on the plus side, one of the other main characters had just a great voice and according to a friend who's seen a professional production of it, this guy was pretty close to what it was supposed to be.

sadly i can't find the words to my favorite song from the musical which was "the music still plays on", but i did find the words to another song that i liked "heart and music" - it's hard to get a song from its lyrics because really you're only getting a bit of it but i figure its still worth a try.

MINISTER
Stories of passion
Stories of friendship
and tales of how romance survives

GORDON SCHWINN
I have so many songs

MINISTER
Stories of yes-es
of frogs making messes
and poor unsuccessful and fat people's lives

GORDON SCHWINN
Stories of living
Stories of dying
and ways we can deal with our fear
Stories of horses, parental divorces
and how rich or poor, it's a very small sphere
where we appear

But you gotta have heart and music
Heart and music
Heart and music get along

ENSEMBLE
You gotta have heart and music
You gotta have heart and music
Heart and music make a song

GORDON SCHWINN
If I only had the time
What I would write for your delight

MINISTER
Stories of illness

GORDON SCHWINN
Stories of illness

MINISTER
Songs of improving

GORDON SCHWINN
Songs of improving

ENSEMBLE
And everyone talks about change

GORDON SCHWINN
I have so many songs

ENSEMBLE
Stories of stillness,
of people not moving

GORDON SCHWINN
And throwing out books when things turn out too strange
We rearrange

ENSEMBLE
But you gotta have heart and music
Heart and music
Heart and music get along (you gotta have heart and music)

You gotta have heart and music
You gotta have heart and music
Heart and music make a song

Oh, you gotta have heart and music
You gotta have Heart and music
Heart and music get along

Oh you gotta have heart and music
You gotta
Heart and music make a song

You'll always get along with your heart
With your heart and music

GORDON SCHWINN
Heart and music make

ENSEMBLE
Heart and music make
Heart and music make a song

Heart and music make a song

tripping on feminism.

so had a women's center board retreat today and we went around and talked about how all of us had gotten involved in women's issues etc. which forced me to think about how i had sort of fallen into feminism and gone on that (still continuing) journey. at first i thought it went back to junior year of high school and sitting next to K in mr. g's gender imbalanced econ class. but then i remebered that really it went back to init (bccj leadership initiative) and gender night which had been an infuriating, self-discovery kind of night that was complex and emotional. i wish i remembered it better...what was written, what was said...i just remember shaking.

i realized today that aside from getting into women's issues and feminism because all the inequalities and problems infuriate me, i also got into them because for most of my life, if i was stereotyped, it was as an asian, but never as a woman. which to me is a curious thing that i'm going to have to think about a bit more. (i'll let you know if i come up with anything good).

political identity in northern namibia

ah, great talk. but since it is almost 2 in the morning, this will be only a quick hit and details may or not follow as i have somehow allowed myself to become part of a cosi fan tutte production that will take over my life next week. woohoo.

take back the night

so last wednesday night my college's rape and sexual assault network (RASAN) put on the event take back the night which is a march and protest aimed at bringing greater awareness on rape and sexual assault and creates a safe space for victims and friends of victims to tell their story. i'm really grateful that this college even has a sexual assault and rape hotline because even though thankfully i've never had to use it, it's nice knowing that it's there because even within this bubble of college, rape happens. it happens to and it has happened to members of this campus and knowing that there are people to talk to is something that not many other colleges offer (or at least not to the extent that they should).

it's a powerful thing to walk in a group of people, holding a candle, in complete silence. the thoughts that run through your mind are completely unpredictable but more profound that you could ever imagine.

i was struck by the stories told. both by one brave individual who had been raped over the summer and by numerous others who spoke at the open mic portion. i think it's really important to put a face to the stories. i only wish that people could "take back" more than just this one night. it's such a big issue, it affects so many people, and yet it's still not treated the same way that numerous other equally serious crimes are because there is such a big stigma against it, about consent, about what to do when it happens within a relationship. starting the dialogue, learning how to talk about it. those are important first steps that i'm glad to be able to undertake.

oops.

oops again. i am getting really bad at updating this. i'm trying to think of what has happened over the past couple weeks since i last posted - must have been something but i wonder what it was...midterms? possibly. papers? another possibility. still begs the question of what i've been up to...today had big polisci diplomatic simulation that was 6 hours so i'm glad that's over finally (with the moral of the story being we were not well equipped enough to be doing this and heads of states and obstructionist nations cause huge problems. oh, and not to become a diplomat).

oh. i've thought of what else has been going on and i think i need a whole post for it. so just hold on.