damn it feels good to be an iranian president

"Iran to hit back at US 'kidnaps'" + "US Grants Visa to Iranian president" = say what?

you know, i spend time on the phone all day with people who spend years trying to navigate through ins. usually, if they are 1) a man, 2) from the middle east, their applications are "in review" forever. i am going to start suggesting to people that they start their own "death to america" campaigns and nuclear enrichment programs and throw out a few kidnapping threats. apparently that gets you a visa in days.

though i must admit, i've kind of had a thing for Ahmadinejad ever since that 60 minutes interview. he's kind of fuzzy and smiley and wears the same jackets as my grandfather. i bet he smells really nice. and he writes long, rambling letters to george bush. he writes letters! it's like kruschev all over again! and then he shrugs off everything and decides, "eh, i think i'll go visit the UN tomorrow." now that's the kind of delusion i like to see in my leaders.

and do i need to point out that he's bringing 71 people?

news war

it is no big secret that i am in love with pbs generally, frontline specifically. frontline's newest series "News War" is fantastic. best of all? you can watch all of the episodes online! and the online supplemental info is equally fantastic: interviews, reading lists, great articles, etc. etc. anyways, it's a four-part series, covering everything from the relationship between government & media & the public to confidentiality of sources; from the plame case to google news and non-traditional media outlets. it's been the impetus for my interest in journalism of late, and a valuable watch.

capitalism at its finest

"Chiquita Charged In Terror Investigation" for bananas? are we really that desperate for bananas?

writing

last night adam reminded me how much i used to write. at one point i was writing two, three times a day. we're not talking hemingway here: just writing. over the past year i've really fallen out of that habit. which has turned out to be a bad move. blogs have the tendency to be a bunch of self-indulgent twaddle. but there's something to be said about putting down your thoughts and inviting others to read. it's a small sort of risk, but a risk still. and risk is what i'm craving right now. it's been a rough couple of months. so much so my body has completely rejected me this week. i'm drained. my kitten olive goes in to be spayed tomorrow. she is lying on my chest right now pawing at my face. totally unaware. i am overcome with guilt. like i'm about to turn her over to the mob. i can't look her in the eye. if she comes home tomorrow with one of those cones on her head, my heart might just fall out of my chest. it is a good thing i don't have children at this point, because they would all be wearing lojacks.

whim

my parents are infamous for their whims: a trait i have (begrudgingly) inherited. several years ago, my dad assured us that his new pumpkin-orange ford ranger was his "going to jesus truck." four years, eight cars, three recreational vehicles and one house later, my dad is interviewing for his fourth "retirement job" and I am perusing seventeen different types of graduate programs with unabashed abandon. i'm telling you this in part because i believe (hope) verbalizing that i am conscious of my own flightiness will somehow diminish its recklessness. you know, 'a crazy person never thinks she's crazy' logic. at the same time, you will find me more likely to say "fuck it. i'm 23." now, than ever before. and i consider that one of my new favorite personality traits. this evening marked the beginning of a large west-coast retreat i have been preparing for over the past few months. our speaker tonight graduated from yale law school and spent six years writing about his classmates. luckily for him, his classmates were a group of law students who successfully sued presidents ghw bush and clinton, freeing several hundred HIV-positive haitian political refugees from detention at guantanamo in the early 90s. (they were also on npr this morning fyi: http://kuow.org/programs/weekday.asp). the story itself is fascinating, but i was struck most by one of the attorney's comments that the cornerstone of their success as students was the ability to ignore everyone else's conception of "what is possible." wow. i think our conceptions of "what is possible" oftentimes keep us from "what is ACTUALLY possible," and i'm certainly not immune. which explains why many of my whims remain whims. i am now thinking of seriously pursuing a degree in journalism. and will not rest until i've convinced myself that columbia is possible.