Tuesday, December 13, 2005, 05:49 PM
just asked for revisions for an article I submitted a while back, so it looks like I may be joining the ranks of real academics. A geeky little article on the use of GIS mapping in public health planning - it's actually nice to be able to revise it so I can add some things... using Google maps, etc. that are making that type of analysis even more accessible.Monday, December 12, 2005, 02:42 PM - Politics, Friends
I got this request for help from a friend in New Orleans - he's appealing for funds to rebuild a school there - and of course it's the simple local institutions that help create true community, and that must be revivied to ensure that New Orleans residents a home to return to.
;)
Here's their appeal:
The International School of Louisiana (ISL) opened six years ago and with a mission of providing children of all backgrounds a challenging language-immersion (Spanish and French) curriculum with a
focus on global citizenship. Many believed ISL was the best elementary school in New Orleans before Katrina, and its survival is, in a small way, crucial to the city's success.
As the first and only one of three Orleans Parish-based public schools to resume operation after the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, ISL has demonstrated the resilience to reinstate the quality learning environment our children enjoyed before the storms. The job will not be easy, but we have the tools to make it happen: talented, dedicated administrators and faculty, and families devoted to restoring ISL to its former vitality and promise.
Currently, ISL is operating in a small church building west of New Orleans, in Kenner, LA; but we plan to return to Orleans Parish. We are
working with the School Board to obtain a building, but we will need to pay for renovations ourselves.
What ISL needs is money: resources to ensure that the school can afford to make the changes that will be required to move into a larger school
building in the City of New Orleans. The families of ISL have set a goal of $100,000 by December 31st.
If you can help us put those resources together with a contribution of your own, it will go to very good use and will be greatly appreciated.
We're trying to get as many $100 donations as we can, and anything you could give would be a great help.
ISL is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization, and you may contribute securely online by visiting the ISL web page (where can also read more about the school): [/url] http://www.isl-edu.org .
For ongoing updates on Katrina-related issues:
Katrina Action
Thursday, December 8, 2005, 02:08 PM - Politics
Have you read Harold Pinter's Nobel Speech? Good carpet-calling for American militarism. And it's great that he incorporates the historical perspective - reminding us how even when all of the terrible things this country did in Central America were happening, nobody cared -
"Even while it was happening it
wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest."
But I really don't believe it's only that people are unaware; everyone on some level understands what we're doing in Iraq. We exist in a world with a serious lack of empathy. Once some people get all the facts, they change their views - but it's not like our quest for world domination is really under wraps, as much as it's dressed up in 'spreading democracy' - nor has it been many times in our national history. As one learns in public health practice, it takes more than knowledge to change behavior. We all benefit from the spoils, so there's little incentive to raise hell. To return to the beginning of Pinter's speech, things ARE simultaneously true and false - it's part of an internally conflicted reality that we may be both creating democratic change in Iraq while fundamentally destabilizing and damaging Iraqi society.
I think he's wrong here:
"The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable. This does not apply of course to the 40 million people living below the poverty line..."
Because it DOES apply to the poor in the U.S.- we've gotten rid of many of the horrible things that happen to people in most of the world (infant mortality, infectious disease) (which is real positive change) so even people who lack don't have SO much less that they're ready to take on the system. Look at the extreme poor in New Orleans - everyone somehow still had a TV, even if they didn't have a car in which to drive away.
I'm of course glad Pinter made his speech but I think it's the underlying ambiguity of our national project, not just the language used to describe it, that's the issue.
Then again, I'm not a writer...
Wednesday, December 7, 2005, 06:11 PM - Sex, Politics
I don't know many republicans. I've had a couple of contrarian science-guy libertarians in my black book, maybe. But I met this man the other week, and of course because I was in SF I had no reason to suspect. Now I've made out with him (more than once, post-disclosure) and I'm having to ponder the previously unimaginable question of what one would do if one actually LIKED making out with a Republican. Is it morally indefensible? Just plan foolish? Apparently I am determined to truly test the limits of my romantic idealism. I know Leslie comes from a happpy, mixed (sane/insane) marriage, though it's always seemed like an untenable arrangement to me. Let's not forget that the last person I dated had the most impeccable political credentials and yet was a selfish nightmare...so perhaps a paradoxical response is just what's called for? Saturday, December 3, 2005, 11:24 PM - Dancing
I swear last night on Mighty's dance floor I saw ironic, detached postmodernism crumble with the bootyshaking bliss of a few hundred multiracial SF club kids. Now we just need a few artists from this generation that can conjure up the same kind of love and soul. Wouldn't THAT be wonderful?;)
Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 07:14 PM - Politics
CLEMENCY DENIED: Well, not a surprise after the tone of debate this weekend, but still a disappointment and a lost opportunity. Idealistic me thought clemency could still be about mercy or redemption not 'the facts of the case' and political calculus. The courts decided the facts; this should have been a moral decision, not a pragmatic one - not that I should expect much morality from our governor...read his denial of clemency here.
And, um, where were the Jesse and Joan and all those other protestors two weeks ago, when it might have made a difference?
Update: Mark Leno has introduced a bill (AB 1121) The California Moratorium on Executions Act that would halt Tookie's execution while the new bipartisan Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice consdiers problems in CA's death penalty system. Please do all you can to support the bill. More info at: ACLU Northern California Death Penalty Project
Saturday I went to San Quentin for a protest of the upcoming (mid-December) execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips and now transformed into a peacemaking children's book author. Snoop showed up and spoke briefly about how meeting with Tookie had made him change the way he thought about his influence on young people - sadly I don't think they talked about feminism and his impact on young women, but even a little modulation of the gangster ethos from one of its most prolific hiphop practitioners could make some positive change...
Either way, we shouldn't be killing anyone in San Quentin. Check out the Save Tookie website and write to Arnold requesting clemency.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 02:52 PM - Sex
Innocent voluptuousness? It just sums me up, doesn't it? That was a comment on the Song of Songs on Forum this morning- it's not often that I consider the similarities between the bible and myself. Despite repeated romantic disappointments and dramas I seem to always float dreamily back up to the surface of the ocean of optimism. Must be the same mechanism that allows me to maintain some faith in the inherent goodness of people despite being painfully aware of the horrors that surround us. Why I still take rides from strangers in a world with white phosphorous is beyond me. A strong arguement for temperament and some hardwired brain functions, I fear. But to whom can a sunny atheist give thanks for her happy disposition?Thursday, November 24, 2005, 01:46 PM - Travels
On Monday I decided to indulge my more impulsive side; on Tuesday afternoon I was arriving at Puerto Vallarta, accepting a ride from a charming expat, and walking the beach in Sayulita for all of 20 minutes until I found Alice and crew. It's very fun to be the surprise guest at a Mexican birthday extravaganza. And I do appreciate the flexibility my life affords...and a good fish taco.;)
Monday, November 21, 2005, 04:42 PM
So after suspiciously loitering around the Trannyshack pageant waiting for Kiki's arrival, I ended up at STORM, a benefit for Katrina victims and the latest in a string of cocktail/ shopping/ hipster events. I'm really disturbed that shopping is becoming intrinsic to so much of our social interactions - it's starting to fulfill the function that social meals do in some circles - a means by which our interpersonal communication can be structured in a way that feels fun and supportive. Clearly this event was the best possible reason for such a drink-spilling, clothes-trying-on event - a good cause, local designers - lots of people who I seek out for my fashion fixes. But social communication is necessarily disjunct when conducted in between dollops of attention given to cute t-shirts, bad art, and runway models. I get worried that in 5 years we'll all have lost the ability to have a conversation on one subject that lasts for more than 5 minutes and doesn't include a popular culture reference or the exchange of a credit card. Friday, November 18, 2005, 06:46 PM - Technology
because I don't really like taking pictures. Now other people do it for me. Here's one of how the sunset looked the other night while I was running around Bernal Hill. Too bad no one was looking the other way to see the full moon emerging from the hot pink clouds. 
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