"Every moment of one's life, one is growing into more or retreating into less." - Norman Mailer

Friday, February 27, 2009

Proverb of the day

I signed up for this thing online to receive a Spanish proverb a day. It's a nice little bite of Spanish practice in the morning which is a nice way to set the right frame of mind for the day. Sometimes they're sayings; sometimes they're famous quotes; sometimes sincere; sometimes sarcastic. I really liked the one for today, so I thought I'd share it:

Comienza a manifestarse la madurez cuando sentimos que nuestra preocupación es mayor por los demás que por nosotros mismos.
- Albert Einstein


(Translation: "Maturity begins to manifest itself when we feel a greater worry for others than for ourselves.")

If you want to sign up for a proverbio del día, please follow the link to Proverbia.net. You can sign up for free; it's pretty awesome.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

so good to be remembered

Celestial Seasonings usually has good quotes, and this one knocks it out of the park!

"The dreams of childhood...its airy fables, its graceful, beautiful, humane, impossible adornments of the world beyond; so good, to be believed in once, so good to be remembered when outgrown." - Charles Dickens


So true, and this quote has special echoes for me as Thomas and I read Proust. As I watch my niece get older, too, I realize how important children are, and how special a state of mind is childhood.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Regarding poultry in the suburbs. bwahaha

(8) All crowing and non-crowing poultry must be kept on tracts or lots of at least .5 acres or more, unless a tract or lot is on less than .5 acres and only houses five or less non-crowing poultry, and no more than one crowing poultry in accordance with the remainder of this subsection. All crowing and non-crowing poultry shall be kept in a fence or structure of sufficient height and construction to prevent the animal(s) from leaving the owner's property. The fence or structure must be in good repair. All gates or doors to the fence or structure shall fit properly and shall be locked or secured by a latch. Poultry associated with an agricultural use shall not be subject to the restraint requirement as set forth herein.

From the Louisville government ordinance website on Animal Services

In other words, I'm allowed to have 5 hens and a rooster... and my neighbors can just deal with it. Ha ha ha ha.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Bil'in: 4 years of nonviolent resistance

Mass demonstration in the 4th anniversary of the popular struggle in Bilin against the apartheid wall This Friday, Feb 20.

The village of Bilin has long ago become a worldwide symbol of popular struggle against occupation, land theft and racial segregation. Next Friday Feb 20th it will continue four years of continuous popular struggle.

For four years the people of Bilin have been courageously resisting the expansion of settlements on their lands. They refuse to surrender in spite of violent repression of the israeli occupation army (iof) which resulted in hundreds of injuries and arrests. For four years we have been together in Bilin. Together we say no to Apartheid, No to occupation and no to the wall.

This Friday we will demonstrate in Bilin against the wall and implementing the decision of the Israeli supreme court.

Palestinian flag will be carried only.

See you in Bilin next friday

For more information, review:
Abdullah Abu Rahma - Coordinator of the People's Committee Against the Wall and settlement \ Bili'n
0547258210 or 0599107069
e-mail - lumalayan@yahoo.com
http://www.bilin-village.org/

Bil'in habibti

Monday, February 16, 2009

El pueblo unido nunca vencido

Take that, long arm of the state.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

a very interesting website about translation

http://www.traduccionydoblaje.blogspot.com/

Louisville's Lending Practices: How Fair Are They?

Interesting also to note from the NCRC report are some findings about Louisville specifically:

- In "Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN [along with 7 other metro areas,]...Low-to-Middle Income (LMI) Hispanics received a smaller share of high-cost loans, compared to LMI whites." That means Louisville's lending practices aren't discriminatory toward Hispanics, anyway. (In these terms, we are 159th out of 165 metro areas surveyed. Not too shabby!)

- Also, with regard to Middle-to-Upper Income Hispanics versus Whites, we are 170th out of 200 for discriminatory lending, meaning we're in the bottom 30 for discriminating against Hispanics in our lending practices. Go, us! I guess Louisville doesn't discriminate against Hispanics so much. I'm surprised, quite frankly.

- In the study, Louisville was found to be 91st out of 217 metro areas surveyed in cost-disparity with regard to Middle-to-Upper Income Blacks versus Whites. That means we're in the top 50% of discriminatory lenders, so that's not good. However, at least we're not, like, in the top 50.

- Louisville's overall ranking was 105 out of 189 in overall discriminatory mortgage lending. That means we're closer to the "not discriminatory" pole than the "we're discriminatory" pole. So, that's encouraging, I suppose, but clearly, we have a long ways to go.


from the site Encyclopedia Britannica

The Racial Dimension of the Housing Crisis

Whoever says that we are living in a "post-racial" society is completely kidding themselves. Racism exists; it is alive and thriving, and it is our responsibility as lovers of justice to do everything in our power to STOP IT, both in its institutionalized form (seen below) and its informal permutations.

I received info about this from the Anne Braden Institute. It's rather shocking. Here's the summary info:

"Income is no Shield Against Racial Differences in Lending" (banking)
In 2007, NCRC (the National Community Reinvestment Coalition) produced its first "Income is No Shield Against Racial Differences in Lending" report. Similar results to those presented in this [2008] report were observed, including that Low-to-Middle-Income (LMI) African-Americans were twice or more likely to receive high-cost loans as LMI whites in 35.9 percent of the metro areas analyzed. Furthermore, Middle-to-Upper-Income (MUI) African-Americans were twice or more likely than MUI whites to receive high-cost loans in 74.2 percent of the metro areas during 2005.


"Income is no Shield Against Racial Differences in Lending" (mortgages)
Against the backdrop of the risky, high-cost lending practices [which have sparked our international economic crisis], NCRC has observed striking racial disparities.
...
MUI African-Americans were twice or more likely as MUI whites to receive high-cost loans in 71.4 percent of the metro areas examined in this report, while LMI African-Americans were twice or more likely as LMI whites to receive high-cost loans in just 47.3 percent of the metro areas during 2006.


The study also concludes that the following cities show "significant" racial disparities in mortgage loans:

1. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN
3. Huntsville, AL
4. Ann Arbor, MI
5. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
6. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
7. Greenville, NC
8. Philadelphia, PA
9. Essex County, MA
10. Durham, NC
11. Raleigh-Cary, NC
12. Dayton, OH
13. Birmingham-Hoover, AL
14. Fort Wayne, IN
15. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
16. Roanoke, VA
17. Rochester, NY
18. Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
19. Lubbock, TX
20. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI

Here is the full report f you're interested.

Other disturbing info:
According to a 2001 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances:
- the median value of financial assets was $38,500 for whites and $7,200 for minorities in that year
- whites had more than five times the dollar amount of financial assets than their minority counterparts.
- the median home value for whites was $130,000 and $92,000 for minorities in 2001.

The Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances reports that by 2004:
- the median net worth of minorities was only 17.6 percent of that for all other families
- the median net worth for African-Americans was virtually the same ($20,400) as it was in 2001 ($20,300).

NCRC says: "This data supports the fact that steering high-cost loans to underserved borrowers who are qualified for market rate loans not only results in equity stripping, but also contributes to inequalities in wealth."

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

That's total jive

I started subscribing to the OED's "Word of the Day" email service. I figured that while I'm getting a Spanish word of the day, I might as well also be getting an English one. Daily medidations for each part of my brain. Good times. Well, the word of today from the OED is one of my favourites! Interesting to me is that its earliest written use (in the sense of "worthless talk") wasn't until 1932! You KNOW that word was in use in that sense before that. Hard to prove though, seeing as how there wasn't any vernacular radio programming, nor the existence of television (let alone the widespread use of slang on it), or many other ways to record voice. Recordings that do exist are usually song, not speech. Sigh. But, here: enjoy!

jive, n.
(from the OED SECOND EDITION 1989)

slang (orig. U.S.).
(dav) [Origin unknown.]

1. Talk or conversation; spec. talk that is misleading, untrue, empty, or pretentious; hence, anything false, worthless, or unpleasant; vaguely, ‘stuff’; = JAZZ n. 3a.

1928 R. FISHER Walls of Jericho 301 Jive, pursuit in love or any device thereof. Usually flattery with intent to win. 1929 T. GORDON Born to Be 236 Jive, a misleading remark. 1932 MUSE & ARLEN Way down South 50 Thus the enamoured customer completed his meal, without ever having taken his eyes off that tantalizing brown, with her suave Birmingham jive. 1935 Swing Music Autumn 55/2 Maybe you think that that is all jive. You are wrong if you do. It is the way I felt about these new records. 1946 MEZZROW & WOLFE Really Blues iii. 37, I used to hear a lot of medical jive. Ibid. 375 Jive n., confusing doubletalk, pretentious conversation, anything false or phony. Jive that makes it drip, clouds that produce rain. 1954 L. ARMSTRONG Satchmo x. 150 There was lots of just plain common shooting and cutting. But..that jive didn't faze me at all. Ibid. xii. 193, I bought a lot of cheap jive at the five and ten cents store to give to the kids. 1956 M. STEARNS Story of Jazz (1957) v. 50 The attitude of several modern jazzmen, born and bred in the South, is striking: ‘This hoodoo jive is nowhere,’ they say, ‘but man, watch out!’ 1960 in P. Oliver Blues fell this Morning vii. 197 I'm evil and mean and funny, so don't come back with that line of jive. 1972 M. J. BOSSE Incident at Naha iii. 152 Maybe some of his Christian sentiments sound corny today, but..he had cut through a lot of the jive of his own time, and he had, like, the balls to fight injustice. 1973 Black World Oct. 36/2 Everything that we do must be aimed toward the total liberation, unification and empowerment of Afrika... Anything short of that is jive.
2. Jazz, esp. a type of fast, lively jazz; ‘swing’.

1928 (title of gramophone record by Cow Cow Davenport) State Street Jive. 1937 New Yorker 17 Apr. 31/3 The music of hot bands..is referred to as swing or jive, of which, in turn, there are several kinds. 1939 San Francisco News Let. 1 Sept. 12/2 Fats Waller..is the King of Jive and gets off some fine stuff. 1946 N. & Q. 13 July 20/1 Mr. Mitchell Parish, the American song-writer,..told me that he uses jive to describe syncopated music played noisily, and (usually) fast, with great emphasis on rhythm. 1959 ‘F. NEWTON’ Jazz Scene i. 12 In Sophiatown and the rest of the South African ghettoes the ‘jive bands’ play what is patently jazz. 1960 Down Beat 9 June 15 Regarding the word jive, Wilson said, it is nothing more than an obsolete slang term for jazz.
b. Lively and uninhibited dancing to dance-music or jazz; spec. ‘jitterbugging’.

1943 Dancing Times Dec. 117/1 The rhythm of the Jive is not an entirely new one. 1957 C. MACINNES City of Spades I. iv. 24 I'll teach you..bop steps, and jive, and all. 1958 Listener 20 Nov. 848/1 Jive and tribal dancing. 1969 H. HORWOOD Newfoundland x. 69 The jive..is still the universal dance of..outport youngsters.
3. A variety of American English associated with the Harlem area of New York; slang used by American Blacks, or by jazz musicians and their followers. Also attrib., as jive talk.

1938 C. CALLOWAY Hi De Ho 16 Jive. 1. Harlemese speech or lingo. 2. To kid along, to blarney, to give a girl a line. 1943 Time 26 July 56/2 A jive-talk glossary that is strictly Dracula has been put out by Parents' Institute. 1944 D. BURLEY (title) Original handbook of Harlem jive. 1944 E. CONRAD in Ibid. 5 Jive is one more contribution of Negro America to the United States. Ibid. 6 Jive talk may have been originally a kind of ‘Pig Latin’ that the slaves talked with each other, a codewhen they were in the presence of whites. 1960 Time & Tide 24 Dec. 1599/2 Jive-talk is nothing new. It goes back at least to the thirties when for the first time a brand of jazz, swing, grew to be a cult. Jive was originally the patois of Harlem, not jazz musicians' slang; but with time the distinction was lost. 1965 Economist 4 Sept. 888/2 Some common American jive~words (nappy, funky) are left out [of the Penguin English Dictionary]. 1971 Black World June 92/2 All the rest of that jive talk about white liberals and Rhett Butler is part of another conversation, Sam. 1971 Melody Maker 13 Nov. 31/1 That is if you forget the usual jive phrases that whittle their way into his conversation. 1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 June 604/4 A narrative tone which frequently coincides with the fast, obscene jive-talk of his characters.
4. Marijuana, or a cigarette containing it.

1938 Call-Bulletin (San Francisco) 19 Mar., The cigarettes are variously called sticks, reefers, tea gyves, Mary Anns and goofy butts. 1952 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. 25 So Diane smoked jive, pod, and tea. 1955 U.S. Senate Hearings (1956) VIII. 4168 ‘Sticks’, ‘reefers’, ‘jive sticks’. 1963 ‘D. RUTHERFORD’ Creeping Flesh ii. 124 ‘Jive’ originally meant marijuana. 1972 Lancet 16 Sept. 565/1 She was convinced that only in the institution could she ‘make it without jive’, for she invariably used heroin whenever she was sent home.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Obsessed, of late, with these

Thanks, Luke and Kelly, for your "Best of 2008" mix. These are some of my current favourites (although there are 3 discs to choose from, so there's a lot more future favourites on the way!

"Dance wiv me" by Dizzie Rascal (featuring Calvin Harris) (a rather interesting music video, mostly because it's a lot tamer than most American hip-hop videos)

and

"Blind" by Hercules & Love Affair

Go check em out, but be warned, the videos are not great. The music makes up for it, though.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

25 cosas

Yes. I am doing it. Because I like to talk about myself (who doesn't?). And because I like reading what people are writing when they do it for themselves. So here it goes:

- It's always necessary to explain to people how I came to be married to the person I'm married to. I have to translate, or people don't understand. And even then... Sigh. In a related note, My husband is the best man I know.

- I hate the health care system in the United States, as I think it's immoral to commodify a human right, which the right to health and medical care is.

- Jacqueline has affected my language more than anyone else I know, including Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, and my parents.

- I am seriously in love with language and words, spoken or written. I always have been.

- I really like being a Louisvillian. I realize that many people feel differently and think that Louisville is a black hole/vortex from which one cannot excape, but that is not my experience. It is a good place to live.

- I have NO tolerance for pedants or poseurs.

- I think the job I would be best at is travel writer. Or homemaker. One of the two. I also fantasize about having a farm, or being a radio personality.

- My sister is my best friend and my other half, in many ways.

- I have severely conflicting feelings about universities and the academic life. Better to participate in the rat race, or reject it all together? Neither seems a very fruitful idea.

- It is great to know many people. I have a lot of friends, for which I am grateful. My general feeling about whether or not to love another person is, "Of course I will love you...unless you give me a compelling reason not to." Or, better said, "In each person, I find the fleeting suggestion of something beautiful and swear eternal friendship with that" (George Santayana). Some days I am better at this than others, since in my passion I sometimes hold grudges.

- I like to write sounds as if they were words. Onomatopoeia, and all that. Sigh. Ach. Grr argh.

- My interior life is of utmost importance to me. You cannot take away what I would more willingly part with... except my [interior] life.

- I've gotten into this rut where I talk too much about myself (hence the list) and don't listen enough to other people. I lament it.

- Thanks to Joe, I now rate movies on a scale of "stim-tasticness."

- I decided to like my cats.

- Cooking is one of my favourite things to do, along with laughing, reading aloud with my husband, making love, and travelling.

- Anthropology saved my life.

- I dream about Ireland.

- I have this problem where I can't stop buying books.

- I think I'm a commie.

- I like things that don't require electricity. (That being said, some of my favourite things def require electricity. The internet and hot tea, for example.) Some of my recent favourites in the off-the-grid column include: my wind up alarm clock, Proust, my antique bedroom furniture, open fires, and my clothesline. I can't wait to set up the outside one. Bring on the springtime.

- I am slow on the uptake. I need a lot of time to process internally. This includes everything from emotional confrontation to homework.

- I wish I had more time to read.

- I think my brain gelled last year.

- I live in a cuckoo clock.

Mr. Spencer Goes to Washington

A sweet little 3 minute video from U of L's Student Government Association. It's a little snapshot of Rudy Spencer's experience at the inauguration. Rudy Spencer is an Honors student at UofL (why I am acquainted with him); he is also the student body president at UofL. It was nice that they made this video, because it was a personal way for me to understand what people experienced in DC that day. I watched it on CNN, but it's different when someone you know tells about being there.

True dat, horoscope

Remember, Clare, that you can only remain queen of the forest as long as the other animals around you are in support of your personality and leadership abilities. Avoid mutiny by taking care of the people in your world, instead of simply trying to rule their lives. Gain respect from others with kind words and a sensitive attitude, instead of by enforcing harsh rules and regulations that restrict and aggravate.

from astrocenter.com

Monday, February 02, 2009

GAZA and the US media filter

Can you please help spread the word about this?

A week ago Sunday CBS 60 Minutes aired an awesome story to millions of viewers exposing Israeli apartheid and mistreatment against Palestinians. This a rare narrative to find on American television.

CBS is now under attack by anti-Arab/anti-Muslim groups for showing the truth. We must praise CBS, the reporter and producer for their courage and encourage them to remain steadfast.

Please do the right thing, WATCH THE VIDEO (below) AND SEND A THANK YOU EMAIL TO CBS 60 MINUTES NOW.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH & SEND NOTE: http://tinyurl.com/dctzsk

It will take less than 30 seconds and 1-click.

Thank you. It means a lot.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Best-dressed at the Superbowl

A BUNCH OF AWESOME
Doritos -- crystal ball
Unexpected and pulled off to perfect effect. The only problem with this ad is the "bump" at the end. They should not have gone to the "groin injury" place. Always a mistake.


Hulu -- mushy brain
"Because we're aliens. And that's how we roll." Alec Baldwin is fucking SMOOTH. Great commercial all around! Even the CG effects are allright.


Sprint Roadies
The only mark against this ad is that it is for Sprint, a lame company. This ad is hand and shoulders above their previous ads!!! It's unbelievable! Way to pull off a Hail Mary, Sprint.


PASSABLY AMUSING
Pepsi: Bob Dylan and Wyclef Jean
An interesting trip down nostalgia lane, without being exploitative, which is something Coca-Cola always falls into. It hit the right tone--except for maybe equating Wyclef with Bob Dylan, because while Wyclef is cool, he's not on par with Dylan.


Bud Light with Conan O'Brien
Pretty funny, mostly because Conan is always willing to take one for the team.


Diet Pepsi--"Men can take anything."
Kinda a bit much, but it's that little bump at the end that saves it.


Teleflora
It's funny 'cause it's true.


NOT OKAY WITH ME
GoDaddy.com -- WHY is that ok.
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55738/super-bowl-xliii-ads-godaddycom-shower

everything 3-D
Lame and gimmicky.

NBC's Monday night commercial with all the characters in the different shows lipsyncing.
STOOPID and contrived.

MacGruber -- Pepsuber
MacGruber wasn't a funny skit even before it became a Pepsi commercial... and becoming a shill for Pepsi did NOT improve its entertainment value, to say the least. http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55730/super-bowl-xliii-ads-pepsi-pepsuber

Bud Light -- meeting
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55736/super-bowl-xliii-ads-bud-light-meeting

Language & Gender in Film

I'm taking a class on Language and Gender this semester, and for the final paper I've been approved to write on the general topic of stereotypical and non-stereotypical language use by gender in film. I'm thinking of seeing if this film might be interesting to include in my research. If anyone's seen it and can comment on it, please let me know. I was going to focus on the intersection of class and gender in the construction of female sexual identity and in-group out-group speech as it intersects with class (Mean Girls and Clueless being principal interests in that endeavor), but I may be more interested in the production of femininity and masculinity through the depiction of transgendered people in film. Hmm....


more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_on_Pluto_(film)