Predicting Pandoric behavior

Fact: Nine Days is a band that, while they achieved popularity in 2000 with The Madding Crowd, independently released three albums in the 90's and, in my esteem, is grouped in with my beloved "90's music." They are awesome and true to the spirit of the timeless music of that decade.

Fact: Simple Plan is a dumbass wannabe punk band that, while having some roots as far back as 1993, is clearly a 2000's band. Their music is terrible and has little to no artistic value whatsoever.

Conclusion: Pandora should not play Simple Plan on my Nine Days radio station.

Fact: Every damn time I play my Nine Days radio station, "I'm Just a Kid" plays.

New Conclusion: Pandora may have the technical aspects of intuitive play lists down pat, but it lacks the taste and soul I once gave it credit for having.

Good news.

Obama has the lead again.

The door closed, so I climbed in a window.

The owner of the coffee shop never replied to my query about work, so I got a job at the liquor store. Win!

Double standards, much?

I've kept my constant stream of blazing commentary about Sarah Palin surprisingly absent from my blog. However, I absolutely must post this article, which you absolutely must read. I Googled it and found it re-posted in about 834 thousand places, so I'm just going to assume copyright issues are moot.

This is your Nation on White Privilege
by Tim Wise

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

• White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
• White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
• White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
• White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
• White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
• White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
• White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
• White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
• White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
• White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
• White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
• White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden.
• And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull. For review copies or interview requests, please reply to publicity@softskull.com

How are we to date?

The title of this post is a play on the title of a book by Peter Singer. If you already knew that, we might be compatible.

From time to time, Steve, Micah and I sit around our kitchen table with whiskey & coke (actually, Chill Cola, which is only $0.93/2 liter at Lance's) and have fantastic conversations. Last night, one of our topics was the nature of dating, and how our generation is stupid.

It's not possible to casually date these days, as is reflected on Facebook with the lack of anything between "single" and "in a relationship" (let's ignore "it's complicated" for the moment). One date, sure, but by the time you've gone out two or three times you've got a de facto relationship going, like it or not. Exclusivity is the norm and need not be explicitly established before it is expected.

This might be all well and good for high school, but it doesn't work out in college, and here's why: if dating is really meant to be a way of finding a life partner, dating exclusively is a great way to make sure you get it wrong. When you're buying a car, do you just test trive one model exclusively and then, based on that, decide whether or not you want that car? Well, maybe. But usually it's considered a more informed decision if you've spent some time with several and then gone with the one that really seemed to be best for you.

This isn't to boo-hiss exclusivity altogether, but shouldn't it take a while to get there? Otherwise, you're left with the immense pressure of trying to figure out whether the dating partner you're having a great time with is the "one and only" when you know nothing of what's out there on the field.

"Let's bring it back," said Micah of casual dating. I'm not sure Pirate House has that much authority over social dynamics, but maybe we should try. Otherwise, two of the three of us will probably be divorced by the time we're 35.

Home...?

I made my triumphant return to Manchester on Monday, effectively wasted Tuesday, and started classes (okay, class) today. I've seen many of my old friends and had some great conversations (and a couple good meals) already, but there are so many people I haven't seen, or have only seen briefly.

Coming back to campus after a year abroad is overwhelming. I do not have the time to catch up with everyone at once. I saw a good friend in the admin building today and couldn't even catch up and say hi, because I had so much stuff to do (before you study abroad, ask yourself how much you love mountains of paperwork).

I'm pretty excited about most of the classes I'm taking this semester. Elementary New Testament Greek, the only one I've had so far, is already looking to be way fun. I'm mostly taking it because I promised Dr. Bowman I'd take another course with him after under-performing in the last one, but I'm also pretty emocionado. Then there's Race, Ethnicity and Gender Group Relations; Philosophy of Civilization; Entrepreneurial Thinking; and, of course, Tai Chi. I'm supposed to be arranging a tutorial with Ken Brown, but I haven't managed to track him down yet (actually, I haven't really tried). If I don't, though, I can get it in next semester - I'd just rather have the 12 credit load then instead of now.

On the other hand, the 12-15 split really worked out for me sophomore year... maybe keeping it light while I'm dipping my toes back into the pool isn't such a bad idea.

Then again, course work at Manchester could only be considered a "load" in comparison with the utter joke that was my Mexican academic experience.

Speaking of Mexico, I celebrated my new stack of money ("three stack," to use the argot of my summer students) by sinning a bit at El Mezquite. I know I can't be making a habit of eating out, but I ain't trippin. Mike exchanged a couple phrases of Spanish with the guys at the cash register, so they decided to ask me if I spoke Spanish. Of course I'd wanted nothing more. I told them about my year abroad, and discovered that one of the employees there is from Xalapa! Que frickin chido.

Anyway, there's a lot to get used to here. I was a bit apprehensive about living off campus for what really amounts to my third and final year at Manchester, but now that I'm here I'm glad for the peace and quiet.