GET INFORMED

I was on the subway over the weekend. And this kid – probably sixteen but I really have no idea – was eating a burger from McD's. And I guess he didn't like the bun. So, naturally, he full-on tossed it onto the subway tracks. Instead of, you know, the trash can next to him. Which was empty. [READ MORE]

Shortest post ever.

You know. We all say that personalities matter to us a lot when we choose the people we become romantically involved with. And I'm sure it does, to a point. But we all know that there's some physical attraction involved in some way. However that manages to manifest itself, however you define the word "physical". [READ MORE]

So, I moved to Harlem in early May. And school was still in session for young kids, of course, so didn't notice this until a month or so later, when it got real hot, and I would come home from the gym or work every day to see the kids playing in the fire hydrant. Now, it's a waste of water and it's plain dangerous to be running around in the street, but I went about my business and they didn't wet me. [READ MORE]

I've touched on this before, but one of the things I think that can drag people down without them realizing it is peoples' tendency to place themselves in echo chambers and live their lives amongst people who look, act, and think like them. Not everyone has the option to do this, and of course, the more money and power you have, the more you can select who you fraternize with, but we all do this to some degree. We join organizations that we feel reflect our views, we see movies and watch TV shows that lean the same way we do, we, um, join eating clubs full of people like us. To some degree, this isn't really a bad thing. It's comforting to exist in a space that we can consider an extension of ourselves. And the exact opposite isn't necessarily better. You won't see me hanging out at Klan rallies trying to “experience” what they're like. [READ MORE]

For those of you who don't know, the "oppression olympics" are, essentially, when various oppressed groups discuss (or, more often, argue about) who has had it worse. Is it women, LGBTQ folks, blacks, Native Americans, Jews? And there's no definitive answer so we all just end up mad when it happens. [READ MORE]

I remember, senior year, reading an article in the Daily Prince and, after vomiting from its Princeyness, shaking my head at the unsurprisingly shortsighted conclusion reached by the author, whose name was Brandon something-or-other. In the piece, he talked about how he longed for a return to “traditional” American mores, a move back to the way things were in the 1950s. And as silly as his piece was, he is hardly the only person to express this view. There's an entire goddamn magazine devoted to “The Good Old Days.” Seriously. [READ MORE]

You know, I was having a conversation with someone today, and we got to talking about the subway, which, as I was saying, is clearly dirty and smelly, but I suppose I will take that over having to take a taxi home twice a weekend, or any night after 11:30 (esp in a city much much larger than Daegu). As our discussion spiraled into the cost-benefits of having a cleaner system – I remember asking if she would personally like to pay the approximate cost of 8 late night cab rides per month in order to keep it clean ($160ish, depending), and she said yes, which goes to show you either how cheap I am or how silly she was being – we got into a side-chat about the homeless situation around the city, which, while slightly less egregious than before, could use a lot of work. [READ MORE]

I ask you folks, on the day after my country turned 234, what patriotism means to you.

To me, there are a lot of things I know it's not.

I know it's not the same as nationalism. Loving (and we can talk about what that word means, too) doesn't require putting down others. When I say I love my family, I don't mean that I consider other people worse. Similarly, I really don't think there are good, bad, best, worst, countries. And as I've said several times, I feel no particular bond with an Alaskan merely because of our shared passport (though I could certainly feel one for any number of other reasons) moreso than I would with a Brit or a Korean. [READ MORE]

Here’s an interesting, if not altogether unsurprising, graphic I found over on Sociological Images.

You should read it yourself, but the gist is that people were asked about how much planning went into their first child, and 47% said “it just happened.” The graphic delves deeper into what those 47% said when asked more specific questions. [READ MORE]

So in rock, paper, scissors, scissors cuts paper (yes it does), rock crushes scissors (would this really work?), and paper covers rock (logic fail). Leaving aside the utter ridiculousness of the childhood game, I’d like to apply it to what I was talking about last week with my brief encounter with the white supremacist on the subway. (If you didn’t read last week’s note, click back to “On The A Train.” But most of you read it, I figure.) [READ MORE]