Might as well be a parking lot.

Lower Manhattan will receive more retail space now that the planned International Freedom Center is no longer being planned for the WTC site. I'm not nearly as into the politics and particulars of whether this is for the best in terms of what Lower Manhattan needs, but I wanted to share this quote from the NYT article (registration req'd):

"The International Freedom Center was an obstacle not simply for the families, the first responders and all those who were personally affected by the events of Sept. 11," Ms. Burlingame said in a telephone interview, "but for all Americans who will be coming to the World Trade Center memorial to hear the story of 9/11 and that story only.

As a historian (as well as an American, a lover of peace & liberty, and a general man of letters), I take great offense to this. The story of 11 Sept. 2001 simply cannot be separated from the timespan of world events or the blanket of geopolitics and social issues that surrounds it, nor should it. If there is one thing that history teaches us, it is that no action takes place in a vacuum; events have both precursors and consequences. There was going to be a museum already dedicated solely to what happened that day; that we have lost what may have been an exquisite venue (and perhaps the only one of its kind) to bring about an increased understanding of why and how is to me just a further continuation of the tragedy.

Way more indie.

Than I'll ever be. Via TMN (in side linkie)

On meeting up with somebody you haven't seen in far too long.

Thank you; we really must do it again sometime soon.

PS: Damn you Starbucks. I swear you people are evil.

The end of me.

I'm already in love with the liquid form; now a low-fat, low-sugar popsicle? Starbucks really is going to take over the world; coffee-bloated carcasses with frozen smiles will be laying about the place. Starting first with my own.

This does not bode well.

Three times in the last five hours I've tried to go to sleep, and the one time I succeeded I was promptly called by a fundraiser from the Kansas Order of Police, or what the hell ever. Why was I trying to sleep at 5pm? Because tonight is my first eight-hour, 11pm-7am security shift at Oliver. So here's to becoming a zombie by sunrise. It won't be the first time I've gone 24 hours without sleep; the most recent occasion was a date in KC with a girl whom I stayed up with until 6am, watching three movies and drinking chai as the snow fell.

Aside from work this morning and aborted attempts at sleeping this evening, the rest of the day was rather spectacular. My good (and longest-active) friend, Lori, came in from Hays, as her boyfriend was attending a conference in our fair town. We met up at 11am and went downtown, where we walked around to build up an appetite (and where I ran into Mily on her way to class) before I introduced her to the glorious bounty of Free State. We then went to Borders and looked around, before going to a design shop on 8th St. where I found a most amazing café; it's on the site of the Nova Cyber Cafe, but I'm sure it has a new name (I just don't remember) and it serves food, much of which sounded so very good. I'm going to try to make it there for breakfast this weekend; maybe tomorrow morning after I get off work and do my exercise, unless I'm, you know, actually tired. Afterwards we came to my apartment where I gave her a copy of my Jayhawker, the Annual MMV and we had some of my mom's cookies which she had graciously mailed for me and J&M–oatmeal raisin and peanut butter! Lori and I walked across campus to the union where her boyfriend was at, and we talked for a bit before they went onto KC for a weekend of sightseeing; I do hope they make it to everything they want to see.

Me? I get homework and a weekend of diet and exercise to make up for all of the eating out I've done this week; granted it was all in celebration of something or other (such as mi bicicleta which arrived on Monday and which Jeff generously built for me on Wednesday), but that does not make the calories go away any quicker. And yes, I am acutely aware that I should not be worrying about my weight. Hence the title; see you when I'm awake.

Hahahahahahahaha...

...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

From the rooftops.

Good Night and Good Luck. Paradise Now. These two movies should be shown in every theater in the country for free this fall. The Republic would be the better for it.

Yes it's inspired, but so very creepy..

Marc Jacobs better be an alumnus of Penn State. That is all I have to say. (click on the Spring/Summer 2006 show link)

Beer Volcano.

It's been one of them days; glad to know that some people are out there spreading the truth.

Lee, you know what we said about shooting lightning bolts from our hands?

Honestly, how I am supposed to do homework when I stumble across a headline like this?

Semicolonic.

I *heart* semicolons; everybody else can suck it. See how easy that is!

Mmm, coffee..

Now this is art. Courtesy of things magazine [in side linky].

The greatest week in the history of newspaper redesigns.

A new Sun rises in Baltimore, courtesy of NewsDesigner.com. This confirms it: I am a nerd.

This is insane.

The Guardian, in celebrating today's switch to the Berliner format, is now offering their subscription-based digital edition for free to all users for the next two weeks. Should England win tomorrow in the Ashes, I may wet myself.

I should really be sleeping right now.

But for a (maybe) 12min. nap this morning, I've been up now since 1:30am when I was woken up by a party outside before having to go work at OliHall at 3am, where I was until noon except for an hour off to take said nap and eat breakfast. The sleepiness hasn't struck me yet though, so I've exercised, ate some lunch, watched an episode of Family Guy, talked to Michelle, talked to my parents who are taking it easy this weekend after dad's surgery, and then watched a bit of football with the new neighbors. And now I find this excellent blog post that may not be the last thing I put on here related to Katrina, but I think it's a good capstone piece on the choice now facing America: are we going to take these people at their word ever again?

Inspired.

The biggest design change I have ever seen is happening on Monday. That the Guardian (heretofore referred to as the best English-language newspaper ever) is switching from its current broadsheet size to the Berliner format has been known for quite a while. What wasn't known was how categorical and extreme the redesign would be.

In a word: Inspired. Brilliant. Extraordinary.

This is a make-or-break gambit for the Guardian; while other upmarket papers in Britain have seen substantial gains in readership when they switch down to the tabloid size, this is still seen as a risky move for the Guardian. Why? Because the Berliner is not a size most people are familiar with; there's concern over how it will fit in boxes and on newsstands; and because in a country filled with several national daily papers that are all now tabloid, it might've made sense to remain the one lasting broadsheet (ie: the Wall Street Journal here retaining its 15" width when everybody else is going the USA Today route down down down to 11.5"). Anyway, I think this is a stunning effort across the pond, and I do hope that the Guardian will have a great Ashes headline to mark the new era on Monday.

Some Kansas pride, thank you very much.

Jeff just pointed me to Demockratees, which has some of the best t-shirts I've seen in a while. I may have to make a run on these shirts soon and get into the game; with Dear Leader now at 40% approval rating, this is not the time to rest up.

Bloody brilliant.

Wow, first post from work; how exciting. Um, right. So, with the Ashes entering its end-game at the Oval, and England standing naked in the gaze of history with a chance to beat Australia for the first time in two decades, I took it upon myself to learn the rules of cricket. Which I did for the most part before I read this, which goes beyond cricket to the heart of pretty much everything.

Accountability.

Just to be clear so that everybody is on the same page: holding our leaders accountable for the actions while in office is not a blame game. It is, in fact, the essential and most crucial part of a democratic republic. Yes we must work hard at the rescue and recovery operations on the Gulf Coast and prepare for the rebuilding of New Orleans, but there are quite a few people in this country and in the government who are not piloting helicopters, digging through rubble, identifying bodies or handling logistics at this point in time. Those people are therefore able to ask and investigate questions of 1) who was responsible and 2) why they failed.

Nobody is blaming a hurricane on the president; they are, however, concerned about the state of readiness that he has promised to the nation in regards to a catastrophic event. They are not blaming him for the flooding of New Orleans, which would've likely occured in a reduced state had the levees been completed; they are asking why he felt the need to eat cake and play a guitar while it happened. We are not saying that the president should himself be danging from a helicopter to rescue people; we simply gasp that he would keep said helicopters on the ground for a photo op when the evacuation was in its most harrowing stages.

And this is not even getting to the fact that FEMA Director Brown still has a job. And that Dick Cheney is just now letting us know that he still exists. And that Condoleeza Rice was shoe shopping and taking in a Broadway show while Germany and Canada were offering expert flood rescue assistance, aid that was denied until it became too embarassing and dangerous for us not to.

Any mention of a 'blame game' is quite simply bullshit. Mistakes are allowable if they are quickly remedied and learned from. However, if there is anything we've learned about this Administration, admitting a failure is worse than the failure itself. And that is our tragedy.

Choices.

Vacation:
North America v. South America.
Europe v. Oceania.
Western Hemisphere v. Eastern Hemisphere.
Urban v. outdoor.
Wild experiences v. sublime reflection.
Strangers v. solitary.
Water v. land.
Vancouver v. Patagonia.
Sau Paulo v. Hawai'i.
Kayak v. café.
Museum v. hike.
Sport v. camp.
Spain v. Germany.
Sweden v. Iceland.
Alps v. beach.

Life:
Teaching v. publishing.
Coaching v. editing.
Devil I know v. Devil I don't.
MA now v. MA later.
NYU v. Simon Fraser.
GRE v. no GRE.
Magazines v. yearbooks.
Writing v. photography.
Internship v. school.


This is not funny.

In pictures.

I'm normally not one to keep banging the drum on something, but this must be understood.

Literally all the time.

I just listened to FolkAlley.com on my iTunes for the past six and a half hours. Even when I was taking my nap at 7pm. Awesome.

What if?

The latest post by my good friend, Lee, whom I have the utmost respect for, deserves all of the pairs of eyes that can read it. I won't add anything that I didn't in his comments, except to say: what if terrorists had bombed the levees along Lake Ponchartrain and flooded a New Orleans that wasn't evacuated? If I was capable of shuddering even more after this week, it would be at that thought.

Is it possible?

I went out with Michelle last night to get some coffee (or in her case, some piña colada mix) at Java Break, and while discussing my recent propensity for an organic lifestyle, she asked if I'm becoming a hippie. This took me aback at the time, but thinking about it today I started to worry. Indeed, I do spend more and more time in the natural foods aisles at the store, and I've been eying these particular Nike Considered boots; but I've also been looking at getting a scooter for wherever I move to after Lawrence, I've been buying New Belgium beer due to their impressive environmental record, I've had a recent kick for wanting to go outdoors and be one with nature, and I've been listening to FolkAlley.com nonstop. Am I really becoming a hippie? I knew Chipotle would come back to bite me in the ass someday.

Averting their eyes.

Again, CAP provides the most comprehensive overview of the issues facing us with the aftermath of Katrina. Atrios is also on fire, and for good reason. If some people aren't and I mean impeached when all of this is said and done, then I have no more faith in the Republic.

Ri-goddamn-diculous.

This posting by Kevin Drum and the continued fine efforts by the Center for American Progress are incredible, if only because they further illustrate the point that must be made crystal clear: the people in charge of our national government are completely and totally incapable of either understanding reality or making action. I believe we may be at the point of criminal incompetance.

To be expected.

The scope of the events of the past week in New Orleans are beyond my abilities to properly accumulate or reflect upon here, so I'll point you to a couple of my favorite blogs who are assessing on what I know best: the political ramifications. This is by no means to reduce the utter devastation and chaos of that region: we are hearing reports of dead people in the streets, women giving their babies to federal officials because they can't get out, no water, no food, certainly no electricity. Those are the things that need to be taken care of; what I mean to write just a few sentences about is how effectively that is being done.

Which is not at all effectively, and unlike previous events, we know exactly why that happened. Some will say that this is no time to be politicizing the disaster, or to be pointing fingers. I say fuck you. This is a city that lies below sea level, next to the sea. It has faced many potential calamaties before. Every level of government knew what could and would happen should one of the most powerful storms of recorded history strike New Orleans. What President Bush said this morning is a lie, and he damn well knows it too. FEMA had response plans ready to go at the beginning of the decade, but we know what became of that.

This is much too jumbled to be a good post, and for that I apologise, so for now I'll just say this: this needs to be politicized. This is indeed the very essence of a political matter. People are dead and dying, a city is in ruins, and the person who could've done something about it was eating cake and playing a guitar while New Orleans was nearly swept out to sea. The nature of his response is beyond shocking; it is now expected.

The people of Louisana would've liked to have had their National Guard on hand this past week; they would've liked some federal money to have gone towards finishing the levee system; they would've liked for more helicopters to be available for rescue and recovery operations. In these respects and many many more their leadership has failed the most basic test of any legitimate government. But you wouldn't know that from the conservative commentators among us, whose absurdities you can find on Eschaton and Washington Monthly and Daily Kos, to name a few, who claim that the people who were left in New Orleans in large part deserved their fate because they didn't leave. That they were poor, had no means of transportation, or no means to sustain themselves outside the city is not deserving of relief, only scorn. That they are taking bread and water because the government is not providing it after five days is still 'looting' to these pundits. Can't these people respect private property?! Can't they just die?!

My heart goes out to every single person in Lousiana and Missisippi, and to everybody that is affected by their troubles, and I wish beyond anything else that I had the capacity to help relieve this tragedy. But that's in the hands of the people who refuse to be destroyed by this, who will refuse to let a city like New Orleans remain submerged. A nation will have their back.