One More Thing

From my hundred or so pages of reading today, a little allegory that I hope to keep with me throughout my career:

It is as if, paraphrasing Aaron Antonovsky's (1923-1994) penultimate lament, the study of why some people swim well and others drown when tossed into a river displaces study of who is tossing whom into the current - and what else might be in the water.

("Theories for Social Epidemiology in the 21st Century: An Ecosocial Perspective," Nancy Krieger)

Dilemma

So I have three different opportunities tomorrow to help the Kerry campaign. Opportunity #1 GOTV (Get Out The Vote) with local grassroots group Kerry Win Georgia. #2 Voter registration and more general GOTV with Georgia for Democracy. #3 Phone Banking with a local women's organization. Here's the dilemma part:
1. the Kerry Win Georgia folks are going to a section of Atlanta that, well, frankly, scares me. Of course, this is precisely the type of neighborhood where GOTV efforts are most important and can have the most influence. And the group is well organized and has been going to the surrounding area for weeks now and the primary organizer always checks out the neighborhoods beforehand to make sure we'll be safe and whatnot. The rational part of my brain knows everything will (most likely) be ok. Also, my most recent pledge/resolution/whatever was to be braver, so, really, for my own personal betterment, I should make myself do this. But I'm scared.
2. I have a lot of homework to do this weekend. If I decide before I go to bed tonight that I'm going to do one of the above options, I know I'll get up early enough and get organized and get everything done (as I always do). But, selfishly, I've gotten up by 7 am for the past 6 days and I'd like to sleep a while tomorrow. And I'm a little stressed out about the workload for this weekend and the upcoming weeks, so it would be good to get really on top of things this weekend. On the other hand, as I keep harping, the next 38 days are critical, and the above opportunities are really good, effective ways to practice what I preach. So I keep flipping back and forth between school really should be my top priority right now as my success here will have the most long term impact on my ability to 'do good' (whatever that means) later and longer in life, and the terrifying thought that another four years of this man could have just as long of an impact on my life and really, how much of an influence can a shift in priorities for 38 days have on my academic career? So, yeah, that's what I'm mulling over this evening. Well, that, and these things:

Welcome to the America we now live in - another article about the arrests during the GOP convention. Go read the whole thing, but here's the scariest part:

"Too many New Yorkers were willing to look away," said Norman Siegal, a civil liberties lawyer who is representing Pincus. "We don't lose our rights overnight with a big bang; we lose them incrementally over time."

(emphasis mine)

A particularly excellent Badmash cartoon.

The questions journalists should be asking about Bush's National Guard Service (instead of salivating over Dan Rather and 'memo-gate').

An interesting get out the vote tactic. Carrie, I'm particularly interested in your take on this.

And lastly, a question. I know very little about the details of the electoral college, but I started wondering this the other day, while standing in the shower (where I do my best thinking; I've really got to start keeping some sort of water-proof paper/pencil thing in there) - why is the electoral college all or nothing? If a state has, for example, 15 electoral votes, and 2/3 of that state votes for Bush and 1/3 votes for Kerry, why doesn't that state send 10 votes for Bush and 5 for Kerry? I realize the math never works out that neatly in real life, but just hypothetically speaking, what would happen if the electoral college votes from each state were allocated in a way more representative of the actual popular vote in that state?

Reason 212 why I love going to school here

Below is the e-mail my theory prof sent to me and a few other students, forwarding his wife's summary of the Wilco concert they recently attended. Not only is he cool enough to go to a Wilco concert (last live show before the kid pops out, as he said this morning) but he's also cool enough to be one of the few liberals in this supposedly red state.

... summary of the Wilco show and sparks last night at the Fox. I don't know what planet the rightwing fans are on --- going to see a band that's recorded Woody Guthrie lyrics with Billy Bragg, then acting all surprised the frontman doesn't like Bush? Duh. Good for Jeff Tweedy for not being afraid to upset some fans!

-snip-

So anyway... they sounded great, looked great, and I liked the visual effects they had going on on a big screen behind them. Tweedy was WAY more relaxed, funny, and conversational than he'd been when we last saw them. It was obvious they were having a good time. They played a lot of new stuff, of course, including my fave Handshake Drugs, but also sampled from YHF, Being There, Summerteeth.

What was really kind of scary/disturbing was the political atmosphere. Towards the end of the show, Tweedy asked if everyone was going to vote. Huge cheer. "Are you voting for... Bush?" HUGE resounding cheer. Yikes! Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given that we are in Georgia after all. His immediate response was "That's, uhhh, good to hear." When they came out for an encore he said "You know, last night I made some rather disparaging remarks about Bush, and I got a note after the show telling me that I should really think before I speak. Well, you know what, I have been thinking, for a LONG TIME. Don't give me this bullshit about liberals and Hollywood celebrities and whatever... people have very good reasons for saying what they're saying, and they have EVERY RIGHT TO SAY IT." Then launched into California Stars. Yeah!! Later on, he flashed the peace sign and said "Peace! And peace to all the Republicans in the audience. Oh look, a Republican just flipped me off. Well, that's okay, we can have a dialogue. I'm sure if you get a microphone and a big crowd, you can say whatever you want, too. Or, you could just go see all those great Republican bands."

Haw!!!! I think I love him.
A friend just told me she read on the message board about the political stuff, and a guy who was in the front row said the person who flipped Tweedy the bird walked up, slapped his backstage pass down on the monitor, and stalked off. I hope someone else grabbed that pass!

GREEN DAY LYRICS

"American Idiot"

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.

Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.

yeah.