Last day of work, personal ramblings, and linkage

Fact: The Pretentious Ex-Boyfriend, the Perpetual Roommate, and I beat up an old printer of mine with a baseball bat that the PR had "borrowed" from the athletic department in front of the middle school across the street from our apartment one night. It was actually really hard to break pieces off of it, but we made up for it by playing "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" on some tiny speakers. And then we properly disposed of the debris.

Hey kids,

So... this is my last day of work. At my grownup desk job where I occasionally do data entry but mostly just fuck around on the internet while being paid too much money. The last several months of blogging have been a godsend. Seriously. And maybe it has something to do with the fact that I went back on antidepressants right around the same time I got serious about the blog, but I'm just going to go ahead and give the interwebs some credit for keeping me from hating my job too much and letting it completely suck my soul away. But anyhow, I'm going "back to school," as they say. Which makes me feel kind of old. To be able to say that. But I am. Things are going to be a little crazy for the next month, so I highly doubt I'll be able to top July's 50 posts. Anyway, this weekend I'm going on a random trip to Chicago to visit A Certain Someone Who Has Requested to Never Be Mentioned on This Blog (CSWHRNBMTB) and the Perpetual Roommate. I'll be back late Monday probably, so don't cry if there are no posts. Then I will have a few days to get my shit together for the SCANDINAVIAN TOUR I'm taking with the Perpetual Roommate, after which I have to pack and move to Ohio. And start grad school. And pretend to know what I'm doing.

So here's some links to get you through the weekend. Don't miss me too much while I am off galivanting in my newly-unemployed state!

-Amanda posits the idea that if we're going to interpret the Bible and take Christian doctrine literally, it really looks like god is kind of an asshole. He's playing games, trying to keep the upper hand, making sure he's got control of the situation. Luckily The Sexy Gay Jesus is aware of his male privilege and doesn't abuse it. But then again, I'm not trying to date SGJesus, what with him being gay and all. And Jesus. God, who doesn't return your phone calls. (Pandagon)

-Rachel Sklar over at HuffPo's Eat the Press compiled a sweet set of clips showing how Jon Stewart and the Daily Show crew have been all over sleazy Ted Stevens and his craziness and corruption for ages. It's pretty great. Jon Stewart Knew Ted Stevens Was Up to No Good. (Huffington Post)

-Paul Campos has great take on the whole "OMG the kidz is too fat!" moral panic. Not only is it a manufactured "problem," but as always, the pharmaceutical industry is both the instigator and the benefactor. Check it out. The Real Drug War. (Lawyers, Guns and Money)

-Kieran Healy discusses how we deal with douchebags in public places. Like ones who cut in line and expect people's inclination to avoid conflict to outweigh their sense of fairness. I myself tend to go for the resentful passive-aggressive approach to assholes who stand in front of me at concerts when my friends and I were clearly here first, like, since before the opening band, and WHY IS YOUR BOYFRIEND SO GODDAMN TALL?! No I will not take a picture of you!* Anyway, it's interesting how angry those kinds of situations can get you; angrier than all of the great injustices in the world. Because it's immediate. It's blatant. And whatever it is, it's totally not worth them being a dick about it. Norm Enforcement Is Hard, But People Do It Anyway. (Crooked Timber)

-Over at Jezebel, SadieStein really gets to the heart of the "Pretty Girl" phenomenon. As in, some girls are "Pretty Girls," and some girls (who very well may be totally hot themselves) are "Smart Girls" and/or "Funny Girls." Some of us were a little awkward in junior high and spent our time trying to write the most morbid stories or wear the most random item of clothing taken from our parents' old '70s stash in the basement. But you know what, I had a lot of fun. And though I now recognize my inherent hotness, I'm glad I've got other shit going for me. I like to think about how I am an awesome internet blogger and about to be paid to be a graduate student and how the hottest/most popular girl in our seventh grade class married some guy from our hometown a couple of years ago, and they both work at her dad's restaurant chain. Not that I'm gloating. SMALL BUT RELATED TANGENT: I used to date someone who would constantly tell me how hot I was. That's nice, sure. But I definitely felt pressure to maintain it, you know? I'm pretty lazy, so I only took it so far, but if let yourself be valued for attractiveness like that, you start to invest yourself in it too much. And god knows I don't need to think about my appearance any more than I already do, which is too much. Anyway, I think Sadie's hit the nail on the head with her analysis: Pretty Is As Pretty Does: The Middle School Moment. (Jezebel)

My internet presence will be spotty for a bit, but I'll try and dig in when I get the chance. Happy August, everybody! And happy Lauren's Last Day of Work!



*False. I will. I will take a picture of you and your drunk friends, but I'll still be seething over your drunk, view-impairing ass while I do it.

Lucky Wednesday Link Dump!

I've been saving up a number of links, and some of them are kind of related to each other, but mostly not. So this is a hodgepodge of random things I've found/been hanging on to for a while. READ THEM. 1. A while back, Twisty eviscerated a douchebag college writer who was offended that people were trying to get men to stop raping people. Junior English major pooh-poohs anti-violence campaign. (I Blame the Patriarchy) 2. My internet boyfriend Ezra Klein pointed out the obvious flaws in McMaverick's criticism of government-run health care forcing the poor to endure longer waiting periods: "We have a two tiered system in America in which the wealthiest can afford to pay for their own health care and we let the poor die." Oh, yeah. Makes a little waiting list not seem so bad, eh? John McCain and Waiting Times. (Ezra Klein at the American Prospect) 3. The Boozehound Cinephile covered the various levels of hangover in a typically delightful manner. I have to say that I agree that with increased tolerance comes the ability to completely skip level one. Hungover? That's just what I feel like EVERY morning. I had probably a level four a couple months ago, but that was probably the worst one ever. I usually don't vomit both the night before AND several times the next day. My tolerance has been so much higher since then, though, so I feel like I just had to earn it. The Five Levels of Hangover. (Pajiba) 4. I think if you ask a hipster, you will find that these things are not mutually exclusive: Massive Oregon Crowd Came to See The Decemberists, Not Barack Obama!* (Wonkette) 5. One of the most interesting articles I've read in a long, long time is about a documentarian's look at the photos from Abu Ghraib, and his search for someone to assign the blame to. He even recruits a facial-expression expert to help prove a young female soldier was a seeker of justice rather than the monster she came to be seen as in one famously incriminating smiling photo. Seriously, the whole thing is totally worth the read. The Most Curious Thing. (Errol Morris, NYT) 6. And for you Lost cult-ies, some feminist analysis from a fellow obsessed fan: Lost Salon and Open Thread. (Melissa McEwan, Shakesville) 7. LAST ONE. A funny video: Daily Show + jokes about depression = television magic! UPDATE: Welcome to my humble blog, American Prospect readers! *Full disclosure: despite my Obama ambivalence and lack of hipster-identification, I will say that I do love me some Decemberists and have seen some pretty sweet live shows by them.

Quote o' the Day

"If there's anything this president will respond to, it's written criticism." -Rob Riggle of the Daily Show Via Crooks & Liars.

Warren G. Harding: Tragically being stripped of his "Worst President Ever" title by the current administration

They say he was chosen because he "looked presidential." He just looks like an old white guy to me... Oh, right.

Warren "Gamaliel" Harding* used to be considered one of our nation's shittiest presidents. Ohioan Warren G managed to oversee (or more accurately, completely fail to oversee) a ridiculous number of political scandals within his administration in the two years he served as president. Yeah, he was wildly popular pre-Teapot Dome, the first sitting U.S. Senator to be elected president, helped officially end World War I, pardoned socialists, instituted the administration for veteran's affairs, blahblahblah other useful things. But Harding's career really served as a precursor for the newer, trashier brand of politics that emerged in the twentieth century. Some of the campaign tactics, personal and financial shenanigans, and general relaxed attitude toward corruption remind me eerily of some more recent events in our nation's history. I will now make an outline to help you understand our man WG. Ways in which Warren G. Harding helped ruin America: Part I: Personal failings 1. Suffered from occasional bouts with "exhaustion" that caused him to be hospitalized a number of times, beginning in his twenties. Now don't get me wrong, ain't nothing wrong with having a "nervous temperament" or mental illness. Duh. I'm just not sure that a history of institutional treatment for one's nerves isn't something we should maybe consider when choosing a U.S. President. Luckily for Harding, the press was a little crappier at digging up personal information about public figures back then. 2. Not so faithful to his wife. He had a long-standing affair with a woman named Carrie Fulton Phillips. After the Republican Party found out their presidential nominee had this skeleton in his closet, they sent her to Japan and paid her off big-time. Harding's descendants have successfully blocked the public release of the Phillips-Harding love letters until 2023, the 100th anniversary of Warren G's death. I know what I'm marking on my calendar! 3. May have had an illegitimate child** with another other woman. Never been proved, but still. Sleazy! 4. Was actually pretty shitty at public speaking. He insisted on writing his own speeches and made up words. His main platform slogan "A return to normalcy" (in reference to the end of WWI) was considered ridiculous at the time because nobody said "normalcy," they said "normality." But he liked the way it sounded so much that he kept it. What a jackass. H.L. Mencken said that "he writes the worst English that I have ever encountered." And he was, like, a famous writer, so he would know that shit.

Not to be confused with this guy.

Part II: All the shit that went down on his watch Subsection A: The 1920 presidential campaign 1. During a deadlocked convention, some "smoke-filled room" (I bet they had a sweet hookah) decided that WG would be a good choice for the Republican nominee. Sketchy. 2. Was subject to rumors that he had secret black ancestors. Good thing America has come such a long way and we totally aren't racist or accuse people of having secret black babies or anything anymore. This is actually not his fault, but you know, whatevs. 3. Was one of the first candidates to receive celebrity endorsements (Hollywood types and famous rich people like Henry Ford). 4. Increase in media exposure: newsreel coverage, election results on the radio, etc. Subsection B: The Harding Administration 1921-23 1. Brought in all his classy pals to run the country. They were known as the "Ohio Gang." I will have to watch out for gangs when I move to Ohio. Especially ones made up of lots of old white guy politicians. 2. Widespread government corruption. Apparently this gang just did whatever the hell they wanted to and Harding had no clue as to what was really going on in his administration. I find this hard to believe. But then again, I have a hard time believing people actually thought he was handsome, but supposedly they did, so I guess maybe I need to put on my 1920s glasses to really understand what they're talking about. 3. TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL. Supposedly Harding was blissfully unaware of what was happening until shortly before his death. If you're too lazy to actually read about it like I am too lazy to really explain it, all you really need to know is: oil, money, loans, money, bribes, money, disappearing records, money. After Congress started investigating, the FBI is said to have broken into the investigators' offices and wiretapped them. Boy am I glad the government doesn't do unconstitutional shit like that anymore! 4. Had a sketchy death. While on some lame countrywide tour, Harding suddenly fell ill. He died a week later, probably from a heart attack. HOWEVER: his wife Florence wouldn't allow an autopsy, so rumors flew about the "real" cause of death. All-around good guy Gaston Means published a book in 1930 that alleged Mrs. Harding was complicit in the poisoning murder of her husband. I support this claim. I think it's a lot more interesting that there was a conspiracy to save Harding's reputation before he arrived back in Washington to the mess of the erupting Teapot Dome Scandal, than that Harding had always suffered from poor health and just got sick and died for no reason. In all, politics has been just as a dirty a business as it is now since AT LEAST 1920. And I think we should all take our hats off to America's Second-Worst President for all his important contributions to our country's legacy. To learn more about Warren G. Harding, check out this reputable source. *This is not a nickname, it's his actual middle name, but it's funny so I put it in quotes. I can do that. I'm a writer. On the internet. **I use the term "illegitimate child" ironically. It's old-fashioned and judgmental, though a hell of a lot better than "love child" (worst. Supremes. song. ever.).

On blogs: In which I discuss why me and the internets are best friends and then borrow heavily from my own grad school essays

Put down that media! Did I say you could touch that?

So, obviously I've given in. I've committed to this blogging thing after probably a year and a half of considering, occasional posting, occasional deleting, and indecision. But just reading blogs wasn't cutting it for me anymore. And besides, I can only update my Facebook profile with the ridiculous stuff I find online so often before it starts to get sad. So: blogging. Working, as I do, in a job with constant internet access and not really enough to do a lot of the time, I found myself becoming more and more involved in the current feminist/progressive blogosphere. I became a politics and news junkie. I actually developed opinions of my own. I honed my views by loading myself up with information and reading the endless commentary of other people with opinions who were willing to put them on the internet. What happened to my apathy? I guess I just applied it to my actual job. Haha.

But so on to how blogging relates to my proposed course of study in American Studies graduate programs (applications in, fingers crossed): I think it's really an exciting time to be doing any sort of media studies. I'm interested in how the expansion of digital communication and the internet in the recent past has affected how we construct and transmit contemporary folklore (folklore in a broad sense—I’m mostly referring here to what I'd consider cultural narratives, which I really don't feel like defining, so go take a class in the humanities building and get back to me). With the popularity of weblogs comes an increased accessibility to public discourse. Blogging and other new media give more people access to the shaping of public narrative. You only have to listen to the disdain "mainstream" media types express for bloggers and the netroots in general to realize that a fundamental shift in media, information, and access is going on.

People with journalism degrees are no longer the only ones considered qualified to report and analyze current events. There's an egalitarian movement going on right now that moves much faster than traditional newspaper or TV news reporting. We've created a 24-hour news cycle, and the internet is a highly responsive site for commentary and analysis that actually works as quickly as the news is made. A huge variety of people are now publicly interpreting the news. A valuable project would be to look at how the broad viewpoints represented by blogging affect our ideas of what makes up American culture, and how that may begin to change the ways politicians and journalists talk about it. Some of the most comprehensive and insightful analysis of contemporary politics is going on online, among relatively unknown bloggers. I think of the well-documented coverage of the Scooter Libby trial provided by the folks at Firedoglake last year. They were thoroughly covering a story the news networks were underreporting, filling a gap in competent journalism that has been widening over the past decade or so. I'd really like to study how the broadening of sources and analysts influences how stories get told and how it can affect what the story itself is.

I was thinking about this while I read a post by Chez of Deus Ex Malcontent about his sudden firing from CNN for blogging. He talks about how through its reporting, CNN "pays more lip-service to bloggers and their internet realm than any other mainstream media outlet, but in the end that's really all it is—lip-service." Apparently, blogging is a trend that’s popular enough to be covered, but somehow still too unseemly for the network’s own employees to participate in. Chez goes on to say that, “As far as CNN (and to be fair, the mainstream TV press in general) believes, it still sits comfortably at the top of the food chain, unthreatened by any possibility of a major paradigm shift being brought to bear by a horde of little people with laptops and opinions. Although the big networks recognize the need to appeal to bloggers, they don't fear them—and that means they don't respect them.”

I think Chez is right that bloggers aren’t respected by establishment media types, but I do think they are feared. I can’t think of why else otherwise perfectly respectable journalists and politicians would waste their time putting down bloggers (just Google “disdain for bloggers,” and you’ll find plenty of discussion of this phenomenon—written mostly by bloggers!). If we (I can include myself now, I suppose) blogging-types are just a bunch of weird liberal Cheeto-munching geeks hiding in basements, why bother acknowledging us at all? I think corporate TV and print media outlets are terrified of the free-for-all that is the blogosphere. Rupert Murdoch (that hottie pictured above) has yet to figure out how he can buy it, control it, and fit it in his expensively-tailored pocket (Is he well-known as a good dresser? I have no idea, but I assume his clothes are not cheap since I’m pretty sure he owns everything including my right arm by now.).

There’s also the very real issue of political “bias.” CNN implied that Chez was fired not just for writing for non-CNN sources (his own blog and others), but for the content of his writings and how they would reflect on the network. People need to stop listening to the Bernard Goldberg types. Corporate media conglomerates are NOT bastions of liberalism. Any entity that can be described as a “conglomerate” is automatically out of the running for “most progressive point of view.” I don’t think I should have to explain why. And yet, the right-wing media complains that the “mainstream” is too liberal, and the mainstream responds by becoming more and more conservative. (As Stephen Colbert says, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”) The fact is that the evolving political netroots are dominated by liberals and progressives, who have built their online communities in response to their views being at best ignored, and at worst demonized in the mainstream media. I think the powers-that-be resent the blogosphere’s demographics and see their efforts to be heard as an upstart power-grab. “Surely those commie interwebs whippersnappers are up to no good! But in the meantime, we’ll just attempt to mock and discredit them and maybe they’ll go away.”

As Chez concluded:

"CNN fired me, and did it without even a thought to the power that I might wield as an average person with a brain, a computer, and an audience. The mainstream media doesn't believe that new media can embarrass them, hurt them or generally hold them accountable in any way, and they've never been more wrong. I'm suddenly in a position to do all three, and I know now that this is what I've been working toward the last few years of my career."

I do think they're starting to feel threatened. As well they should.

Funny, I didn't used to think he looked like a "Scooter"

www.silverscreentest.com/.../october05.htm news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4353710.stm