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Saturday, May 22, 2004
Look, I was going to stop with the links for a bit - mostly if you are alive you are seeing the stuff I would post anyway. But this one just takes my breath away, particularly in the wake of Republican senators demanding that Nancy Pelosi apologize for saying Dubya is incompetent because that "undermines the troops." It turns out she's not the only person whose speech Dubya and his minions are trying to control:A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl [in a poem she wrote and read] of being "un-American" because she criticized the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give substance to its "No child left behind" education policy.
The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her job.
Bill Nevins was suspended for not censoring the poetry of his students. Remember, there is no obscenity to be found in any of the poetry. He was later fired by the principal. And then there's this:Writers and editors who have spent years translating essays, films, poems, scientific articles and books by Iranian, North Korean and Sudanese authors have been warned not to do so by the U.S. Treasury Department under penalty of fine and imprisonment. Publishers and film producers are not allowed to edit works authored by writers in those nations. The Bush administration contends doing so has the effect of trading with the enemy, despite a 1988 law that exempts published materials from sanction under trade rules. This is way worse than mere "incompetence." These people have to be stopped.
posted by jeev |
10:07 AM |
 
Thursday, May 20, 2004
I get up in the morning around 6:30, feed the cats, let the dog outside, get the papers I mostly don't read, make coffee. By 7 or so, I'm sitting down at the computer, logged into the office, and drinking my second cup while I contemplate my day. Occasionally I get up, play with the cats, grab a sandwich, put a load of laundry in, but mostly I'm there, typing away, flying between the (it's sad but true) exhilaration of making the sentences come out right and the futility of writing documents probably no one will ever read. The technical writer's lot in life. Around five, I get up, log off, feed the cats and take the dog to the dog park - she insists, and I just can't disappoint her. I come back, fix supper, watch a little of whatever TIVO has stored up for me, maybe read a bit, and go to bed. And it struck me tonight: this is my life. I have no idea if it's a good life - it's a small one, to be sure, and it's a bit light on the doing for others part of things, but it's mine. And mostly, it suits me. And I wonder what that means.
posted by jeev |
9:14 PM |
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