emlocke

Category: Real World

  • Was It Supposed to be Worse?

    My mother’s time lapse between telling me sorrowfully about London’s tube terror attacks this morning and saying, “At least when you were in New Zealand, I never once worried,” lasted approximately fifty-three minutes. It was the first thing that crossed my mind; the fact that, in an alternate universe or perhaps under very slightly different circumstances, I could have, would have been living in London this Spring, ridden the subway every day, known friends and a home in that old, imperial city.

    As they continue to update the death toll and injury counts I find myself thinking, at least it isn’t September 11th, with the shower of soot and ashes raining down as if from clouds of fire, blackening the streets as confusion and fear darted across Manhattan. And even then, when mobile phone systems were shut down in case terrorists used phones to set off their bombs, we all knew the unspoken reason: in case there are more traps set. Hidden and waiting for the perfect moment to go off because ‘surprise! It’s not over yet.’ There is the thought, could it have been worse? Was it supposed to be worse? Were the streets of London meant to be swarmed with even more panicked people running for their lives?

    And for the people who did run, for anyone who gasped for fresh air in the smoky arteries of London’s transportation system and wondered if they would be able to escape, it doesn’t get any worse. Every passenger has a new phobia. They will hesitate to cross the gap and flinch when the doors shudder closed. Would-be passengers chill when they realize, “I was supposed to be on that train.”

    It frightens me that we live in a time when there is a “classic Al Qaeda” As if practiced, method terror is just like a barbeque with “classic summer food,” or a cheesy romantic movie with a “classic fairytale ending.”

  • Tom Cruise Knows What Stuff Is Made Of

    Tom Cruise is an actor. How do we know he’s not just acting all crazy and carrying the part with Academy Award caliber emotion and credibility? After all, he’s done the research. He understands the history of psychiatry. That man knows what ritalin is made of. Maybe he’s just been doing all this research to get in character. A character that knows so much about the drugs that he doesn’t believe in that he could probably produce them by hand, he just doesn’t because he disagrees with their uses and purpose in society. Am I being glib?

    Tommy claims to be the sort of person who will research and learn about subjects in order to form an objective and educated opinion. I claim to be the same sort of person. My mom was the first person to mention his inflammatory and insolent remarks about Brooke Shields using anti-depressant drugs and therapy to treat post-partum depression, and she was pretty burned up about it, going so far as to declare a boycott against his new movie (nobody is hurting if she doesn’t go see it – I don’t think my mom has been inside a movie theater since Tom Cruise was married). Then, Brooke’s “War of Words” response came out in the NYT Op-Ed. Feeling like I needed more background information before I could make my judgment, I turned to my ever searching Google and was deluged with articles, blog responses, a boycotting petition and even a free verse frown from Rosie O’Donnell; critical analysis, fans turned away, and 176,000 raised eyebrows came up in the search results.

    Tom Cruise accused Matt Lauer of being glib. The pronunciation of the word glib strikes me as a little bit glib. That’s pretty much how I’m going to remember Tom Cruise for the rest of my life. That crazed look in his eye every time he says “scientology” and the way he furrowed his once Sexiest Man Alive brow when he and the way he laughed gleefully maniacally after looking over at Katie Holmes and saying, “I can’t restrain myself.”

    Please, Tom, do try.

  • Once a Yankee, Always

    In the bathroom this morning, I was making my typical “I am not awake right now” pre-coffee sound effects, and Anna said, “It’s okay,” because she thought I was bemoaning the Yankees’ loss last night, which actually hadn’t occurred to me yet. In my not-quite-even-half-conscious state, however, I was pretty sure she had mumbled “Tolkien,” which would have been very strange because I was on my way to Chaucer.

    As it turns out, Chaucer was cancelled, so Holly and I are in the library catching up on all the work we put off while we faithfully watched the Yankees go down in history all week. And I do mean down. So here we are, slaving away in the atrium…


    The Last Basselope
    Posted by Hello

    I guess I really can’t complain when our assignment is to “write a few lines” about a picture book with great illustrations.

    So, baseball. I was so excited for the series to go back to New York because it’s just more fun to watch your home team when they’re at home. It is not fun to watch when they are losing. And even less fun when they are cheating (A-Rod, for shame!) and the fans’ behavior is drawing the attention of cops donned in riot gear. At the same time, letting the series go would be so much easier if Boston fans were better winners. The rivalry is fun, but it’s supposed to be about loving your team and having positive spirit, not abuse for the opponent! But go ahead, take it all out on me, have your fun, Red Sox. You earned your moment, for sure. New York will be back. I still heart my boys in pinstripes (especially you, Bernie!)

    Quote of the day: “Oh, chariot, your golden waves are walking down upon this face, Oh, chariot I’m singing out loud” – Gavin DeGraw

  • times like these, i wish i was a political blogger

    just when exploring the professional possibilities of my future gets overwhelming, cnn accidentally broadcasts democratic convention producer don mischer‘s mic and i am introduced to a career that apparently relies very heavily on balloons and confetti. how did i not already know that this sort of occupation was an option? nobody in the career development center ever said anything about balloons and confetti. wait, are there jobs that involve glitter? i can see a bright and lucrative future for myself in the glitter industry.

    don mischer not only gets to be in charge of balloons and confetti, but he gets to say things like, “standby confetti” and “go balloons” and even “bring it!” and he gets to take it all quite seriously. but who wouldn’t? this is the democratic convention! the dems love balloons! and what’s a 100,000 balloons without 1,000 pounds of confetti?

    “go balloons, go balloons, go balloons! i don’t see anything happening. go balloons! go balloons! go balloons! standby confetti. keep coming, balloons. more balloons. bring it- balloons, balloons, balloons! we want balloons, tons of them. bring ’em down. let ’em all come. no confetti. no confetti yet. no confetti.

    all right, go balloons, go balloons. we need more balloons. all balloons! all balloons should be going! come on, guys, let’s move it! jesus! we need more balloons. i want all balloons to go, goddammit. go confetti. go confetti. more confetti. i want more balloons. what’s happening to the balloons? we need more balloons. we need all of them coming down.

    go balloons – balloons? what’s happening balloons? there’s not enough coming down! all balloons, where the hell, there’s nothing falling! what the **** are you guys doing up there? we want more balloons coming down, more balloons. more balloons. more balloons…”

    the rallying powerballad in the background, none other than van halen’s ‘dreams,’ and shots of a post-candicacy-acceptance-speech john kerry shaking hands in the crowd only served to intensify his desperate pleas. no wonder mr. mischer got so worked up. he thought he was starring in the 2004 convention edition of top gun! what a way to wrap up a four-day democratic blitz on boston and the us. my mom is still tearing up over alexandra kerry’s hamster anecdote.

    quote of the day: “balloons? what’s happening balloons?” – don micher’s ‘what-up’ to his red, white & blue balloon homies

  • mission accomplished, or something

    yesterday morning, when i heard that saddam hussein had been captured, it took me a minute to really believe what had gone down while i slept. on the one hand, here is this tyrannical, narcissistic, violent coward in handcuffs, finally. on the other hand, it was a very anti-climactic end to the eight month show-down. even the captain who found hussein in his hole in the ground with his mars bars and his rotting fruit said, “there it was. it wasn’t the blaze of glory we expected.” god bless them for their sacrifices and their bravery, they got lucky. they were on their day off for heaven’s sake.

    and what does this change, really? those soldiers won’t get home for christmas. iraq is still a bedlam of economic and political chaos. international alliances have been jeopardized. the random deaths of american soldiers and the war itself still go without honest justification. confusion and uncertainty reign both iraq and american now that hussein has been dethroned. and osama bin laden, remember him? he still sleeps in his own cave somewhere in afghanistan.

    i guess mr. bush looks pretty good right now. he woke up one white house morning to discover that 600 soldiers (he’ll never know their names) had fulfilled the bush legacy he’d been holding out for since i was in the first grade.

    i still love you, america. peace.

    quote of the day: “ladies and gentleman, we got him.” – l. paul bremer

  • public service announcements

    in 2002, the bush administration made america the first country to withhold funding from the united nations population fund for reasons that had nothing to do with budgeting issues. unfpa is a global organization that supports family planning, reproductive health, std education and prevention and women’s protection programs in 140 countries, and has raised over 6 billion dollars since 1969. congress had already planned to contribute 34 million us dollars, an estimated 12.5% of unfpa’s financial resources, before president bush chose to eliminate that funding because he believes that unfpa would have used that money to help fund coercive abortion in china. (unfpa maintains that it does not support abortion as an acceptable method of family planning.) in response, 34 million friends, which aims to match congress’s initial funding promise by collecting $1 donations from 34 million people, was founded. within it’s first month, unfpa received more than $50,000 through 34 million friends, and today the organization has brought in $1,416,138.98 thanks to contributions from individuals, business groups, college campuses, churches, and private & public foundations.

    something fishy is an innovative eating disorder support resource. in loving memory is a touching memorial wall where friends and family can submit personal tributes to the memory of those lost to struggles with eating disorders, “but not forgotten.” they sponsor frequent live chats on various related subjects and an active forum community with discussion boards promoting education, self discovery, motivation and support for members (registration is free). something fishy even provides a member-only-access list of participants who have submitted their aim or icq contact info so that members can interact real-time whenever they want or need to.

    for questions about relationships, contraception, std’s, anything to do with s-e-x, turn to sex etc. the balance between articles and stories by members of the teen editorial board and research and facts from online sexuality and health experts who provide honest and accurate information makes sex etc a non-threatening, approachable resource for teens. a seasonally published newsletter of the same name is available through the site. website features include a glossary of terms, including slang, and “ask the experts,” where users can submit their personal questions via e-mail and receive comprehensive and precise answers, usually within a few days. not-2-late.com is another valuable resource from princeton’s office of population research and the association of reproductive health professionals. not only does it provide information about various types of contraception, it provides a listing of birth control resources searchable by location.

    whether you think they’re clever or weird or witty or just graphic addicts, they’re still exposing the truth about the tobacco industry. they’re currently running with this crazyworld theme. crazyworld is a somewhat deranged looking amusement park where a somewhat deranged looking ringmaster stuns the crowd with cigarette and tobacco facts including “unlike food & drug companies, tobacco companies are not required to include a list of ingredients on their packaging,” “secondhand smoke kills about 53,000 Americans a year,” and “in 1989, millions of cases of imported fruit were banned after a small amount of cyanide was found in just two grapes. there’s 33 times more cyanide in a single cigarette than was found in those two grapes.” welcome to crazy [kah-rrraaazy] world.

    not powered by anti-gun activism as many critics believe, the million mom march is an ongoing campaign for gun control. currently one of their major projects is a petition to renew the ban on assault weapons like ak-47’s and uzi’s. since 1994, it has been illegal to manufacture and sell new models and the national institute for justice has found that the volume of legal tracing requests for assault weapons has declined. but if the ban expires in 2004, rapid-fire assault weapons will be back on the market. one of the biggest concerns is that police officers will be defenseless against criminals who battle with these military-style weapons, which can fire up to six bullets every second. you can help support the cause by signing the petition. the nra has contrubuted millions of dollars to political campaigning in the last decade, and now they want the bush administration and congress to return the favor by supporting their side. celebrities like britney spears, missy elliot, lenny kravitz and jerry seinfeld are all on the nra’s blacklist of anti-gun individuals, and now you can be, too! you can also help by supporting candidates for the 2004 presidential election who support gun control, like john kerry and richard gephardt. the million mom march also supports legislation that requires waiting periods and background checks for all individuals purchasing handguns and the ask campaign which encourages parents to ask whether or not there is a gun where their children play.

    quote of the day: “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – margaret mead to the 34 million friends campaign

    love always, em locke