On loving enemies

I wrote a post for Young Anabaptist Radicals, which I duplicated in my own Footwashing and Four Square.  They're both good blogs, but of course I'd prefer you become an avid follower of the latter.  I personally consider it a good read, but I'm biased.

Follow-up

From: Jones, Stuart D. [SDJones@manchester.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:09 AM
To: Kauffman, Nicolas M
Subject: FW: SuccessNet Student Referral: General Referral

Scary???  You look great!  Very friendly, inviting, and warm picture. ☺  This is what happens when you become a student “model” for the College…we get to use your picture.  So you want a bribe huh?  Hmmmm.   I have no money, Nick!

Stuart

Stuart D. Jones
Dean of Enrollment
604 East College Avenue
North Manchester, IN  46962
800-852-3648
www.manchester.edu

Making the most of student services

SuccessNet

Student Referral

Thank you for your concern and willingness to refer a student to the
SuccessNet team for intervention purposes. In an effort to assist students in working through any problematic issue that may be impeding their success, we will follow up as quickly as possible with the most appropriate person.

Please fill out the following information and click Submit. All fields are required.

Student's first name: Nicolas

Student's last name: Kauffman

Your first name: Nicolas

Your last name: Kauffman

Please describe the identified problem or concern.

There's a scary-looking picture of me on the SuccessNet webpage.

Please describe what has already been done to address the problem and the persons involved.

The presence of a scary-looking picture of me on the SuccessNet webpage seems to imply that I at some point received the services of SuccessNet, and that I am scary. I am fairly certain the first item is untrue, and I have tried not to be that scary.

What, if anything, would you like SuccessNet to do?

Please send a KenapoccoMocha gift card or other bribe to MC Box 388. You can keep the photo up.

Either Stu Jones laughs, or I set a record for earliest community restitution assignment ever.

This was my 2am

I was finishing up some idle chatting via instant messenger about twenty minutes ago when, from outside, there came what I can only describe as a gunshot-like sound. I can only hope it was not that, but I can assure you it was some sort of explosive device, and definitely not a car backfiring. I will forever be mocked for typing "brb" (be right back) before I dove to the floor. If there was someone ending lives in the parking lot next door, then I, a potential witness, was clearly visible at my laptop in the living room, by the light of the lamp next to me.

I reached up and turned off the light, grabbed my computer and quickly made my way upstairs where, once I'd locked my door behind me, I placed my second lifetime 911 call (and the first one that wasn't due to something that was my fault). The operator sounded bored - either she was more confident than I was about things being okay, or she gets way too many calls about gunshots in Indianapolis. After making sure Casey was locked securely in her room (you know, in case someone's looking for witnesses), I went into the front room to watch the police activity.

What a joke. A police cruiser drove by once (maybe twice) without even slowing down, apparently to make sure there wasn't a dead body in the middle of the road. If there were someone dying in the parking lot, they would have gone entirely unnoticed.

I really, really wish the police had been more thorough in this case. Because when it became obvious they weren't going to, it became clear that I had to pick up the slack. I know everyone and his brother is thinking this was really stupid of me, but I went outside to check around. I really, really didn't want to, but I figured if I read about someone getting shot and bleeding to death right outside my house in the paper tomorrow, I'd know it was because I didn't do what I was supposed to do, and then I'd have to feel all guilty and stuff.

I didn't find anything suspicious. But then, I didn't exactly take my time out there (would you?), so I suppose I could still hear tomorrow about how I'm responsible for someone's death.

I'm going to bed.

I know you are but what am I?

As you may or may not have heard, John McCain found himself yesterday unable to tell reporters how many houses he owns. Luckily, Barack Obama's people did some research for him and concluded that he owns seven homes, valued at a total of $13 million. When Obama slammed him on his elitism, his campaign issued this response:

“Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people “cling” to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?

“The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.”

In case you were curious, no, that statement does not in any way address the issue at hand. Nobody is saying Obama is poor, but I think it's pretty rich for the McCain campaign to talk about is wealth: McCain has way more money.

Then, the Obama camp (sadly) decided to try to link John McCain to criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Here's the response from the McCain campaign:

“If Barack Obama wants to have a discussion about truly questionable associations, let’s start with his relationship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, at whose home Obama’s political career was reportedly launched. Mr. Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground, a terrorist group responsible for countless bombings against targets including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and numerous police stations, courthouses and banks."

Do these two statements have anything in common?

Answer: yes. Neither one bothers to answer or address the accusation. Instead, McCain chooses the "I know you are but what am I" response, which is in both cases pretty pathetic - especially in the first case, where is own crime is far greater than Senator Obama's.

Can someone please answer a damn question some day?

Getting paid for my writing... sort of

Work Haiku #1
Locked up in this jail.
They say it's an office
but I know better.

Work Haiku #2
You stumble and fall.
I hold my hand out to help.
You throw mud at me.

Work Haiku #5
Tap tap clickity.
Soullessly slaving away,
wanting cheeseburgers.

Work Haiku #10
Tranquility is
a drop of water in a
pool of chocolate.

Work Haiku #12
I hear: ring ring ring
ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
SHE'S NOT AT HER DESK

Busted!

On more than one occasion, Dad has wandered into the den and snorted and Mom and me, sitting there tapping away at our laptops. Dad, I just have one thing to say to you:



When I decide to take a nap, I'm free of the shackles of technology.

Someone my maturity level

I was re-united with my two-year-old honorary nephew tonight. The kid is a blast, and I'd like to think I scored his favorite persons list. After all, he chose me over his parents to walk him across the parking lot every time.

I tried to teach him about 9/11 conspiracy theories using his play blocks. "What happened? Did the government secretly place explosives to compromise the building's integrity and then blame the collapse on an airplane?"

There's at least one picture to come when I can get it from Dalila.

Random thoughts and updates I haven't quite thought of yet

This comment probably doesn't really apply to those of you who read this, except to be something you can identify with, but I just want to point out that most people probably didn't realize that Czechoslovakia isn't a country anymore (and hasn't been since 1992) until John McCain mentioned it and the press slammed him for it. Similarly, I doubt most people knew that Iraq didn't border Pakistan. But when they spell it out on CNN, everyone gets to play geographer and talk about how dumb and out of touch McCain is, using these fresh tidbits of information.

I - we - knew these things already. We appreciated McCain's mistakes before the newscaster went on to tell us why they were mistakes.

I had to zip back through my other blog today and take out a comment that isn't public information. Whoops.

Also, today I went to various elementary schools with Amanda to check in on kids involved in the truancy court, and one of them had me sign in on their "Special Services Staff" sheet. I felt special. I also nearly died about thirteen times.

Two and a half more weeks of work.

I'm making salsa tonight. I just remembered. Also, I think I'm seeing Garrison Keillor at the state fair tonight.

Life is a newspaper

I wanna read it all night long.

If you're interested in people causing massive destruction to each other using technology, check out this New York Times Magazine piece on trolling.

You're embarrassing my movement.

Though I'm fairly certain I never signed up for it, I regularly receive in my inbox the GLN (Gay Liberation Network) news. And while I'm only fairly certain I never signed up for it, I'm entirely certain I asked to be removed from their mailing list. This was followed by a series of ridiculous communication about their difficulties "finding my e-mail address" as expressed in an e-mail to me and inability to get me off the list.

Why, you might ask, did I ask to be removed?

The GLN provides me what are, without much contest, the most hateful messages that appear in my inbox. They attack, slur, name-call and mud-sling those with differing views.

As a self-proclaimed member of the "queer community," I understand how it's very easy to get angry over stuff like this. But slamming people with messages of hate is exactly the sort of thing by which we feel oppressed, so why do we insist on perpetrating it?

Today they're sending me a copy of a petition for the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications to cancel an upcoming ceremony honoring James Dobson. The museum has stated that these choices are politics-blind, which the GLN slams as "calculated to attract right-wing dollars."

Come on. A Chicago institution isn't going to honor James Dobson to attract money.

I'm not a big fan of the guy myself, but I believe in recognizing the good in people and honoring their achievements. Should we turn our back on the good just because of the presence of the bad? I rely pretty heavily on relationships with people who have views different from my own, from co-workers and friends to my very own family.

And I get really frustrated to see that, at times, the most offensive communication is coming from allies to my cause.