|
|
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
| |
3:08 pm - Immigrants Go From Farms to Jails, and a Climate of Fear Settles In
|
This New York Times article is closely related to the work that the other Cornell Farmworker Program interns and I are doing. (Makes sense, our boss is quoted in it!) I thought I'd share.
Immigrants Go From Farms to Jails, and a Climate of Fear Settles In
By Nina Bernstein
The New York Times
Sunday 24 December 2006
Elba, New York - A cold December rain gusted across fields of cabbage destined for New York City egg rolls, cole slaw and Christmas goose. Ankle-deep in mud, six immigrant farmworkers raced to harvest 120,000 pounds before nightfall, knowing that at dawn they could find immigration agents at their door. ( Read more... )
|
|
|
| Thursday, March 29th, 2007
| |
1:29 am - Check it.
|
Look! Apparently, the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows cover has been unveiled.
http://www.bordersmedia.com/harrypotter/spread.asp
My fellow HP dorks aficionados, what do you think?
current mood: intrigued
current music: Bruce Springsteen, "Meeting Across the River"
|
|
|
| Monday, March 19th, 2007
| |
4:04 pm - Four years
|
Yeah, I could write about war. But I found this poem in the New Yorker (one of the tangential benefits to being home), and it just kicked me in the gut when I read it. So I'll let it say the things I could never say so well.
The Graveyard Shift
I work the graveyard shift in a city of believers
hunched over a steel desk in a cone of light
facing a window with drawn blinds
beyond which the innocents are being slaughtered
in an enormous courtyard against all four walls
firing squads rotating around the clock
while masked men in the watchtowers
keep count in red ink on red pads
simultaneously recording and concealing
the numbers of dead
and nodding with each round of gunfire
mumbling praise to their leader
and his god whose righteousness and mercy
he mirrors while I keep to my work
with bowed head and unblinking eyes
sorting papers affixing stamps
having long ago given up trying
to stop my ears or black out my fear
my face burning not with shame but exhaustion
for I only sleep a few hours a night
and I eat once a day
cold scrapple and rice porridge
like a prisoner myself
in a cell that requires no bar or locks
unable to recognize my own handwriting
even when I've left myself a note
reminding me of who I once was but never
(anymore) what I might have been
which later I crumple and burn
ina standard-issue ashtray
the momentary lick of flame
no more or less remote to me than a star
--Nicholas Christopher
|
|
|
| Thursday, January 25th, 2007
| |
12:37 am - The State of the Union (the Caro remix)
|
Well damn, has it been a while. Basically, the rest of break happened. I spent my last night in State College deliciously, holed up in Julie's dorm room (which is on the same floor that Meg lived on her freshman year, holy crap) and watched Demetri Martin, whom I now adore. Once I got back to Ithaca on the 15th, the rest of winter break consisted of getting up at 1:30 every afternoon, not extricating myself from my pajamas until 3-something, and watching lots of movies. (American Beauty, I have discovered, is a fantastic film, and I loved it. The Godfather? Maybe I should see it again. I didn't really understand the Greatest Movie of All Time accolades.)
Classes started on Monday this week, but that is for another post. Actually, I have so many things for another post(s) sometime, lots of things that wander through my mind as I burrow beneath my 5 blankets trying to sleep in this heat-challenged, 80-year-old house. Dating? Confidence? Impending adulthood? Being asked about my vulva by a complete stranger? Whatever you are interested in me rambling on about. (And hell, even if you're not interested I might just do it anyway. Bet you're intrigued by that last one, though. Heh.)
( For now, the State of the Union. )
EDIT: I'm being adventurous and making this a public entry. Boy oh bloody boy.
|
|
|
| Thursday, November 30th, 2006
| |
5:56 pm - my grandmother's obituary
|
This was up on the Newport Daily News website for 2 days, and now you have to pay to see it. What?! So I am posting it here for my family to see.
Margaret Sheehan
Margaret (Vega) Sheehan, 83, of 93 Coggeshall Avenue, Newport, RI, died Monday, November 27, 2006 at Newport Hospital, Newport RI surrounded by her family.
Born in New Orleans, LA on August 15, 1923, the Feast of the Assumption, she was the daughter of the late Manuel and Paula (Delery) Vega. She moved to Newport in 1949 to marry Joseph E. Sheehan; they were married on June 20, 1949 and remained married until his death in 1973.
While raising six children, Mrs. Sheehan was the faculty secretary at Salve Regina University for 17 years, retiring in 1985. She was an Oblate of the Benedictines of Jesus Crucified. Mrs. Sheehan attended Loyola University in New Orleans.
She is survived by her sons Peter John Sheehan of Newport, RI, Dennis Paul Sheehan of State College, PA, Thomas Christopher Sheehan of Middletown, RI, Joseph Francis Sheehan and his wife Cynthia of South Kingstown, RI; her daughter Mary Margaret Sheehan and her husband Kevin Weaver of Newport, RI; her sister Dotty McBride of Lafayette, LA; her grandchildren Annie Sheehan, Meg Sheehan, Caroline Sheehan, Grace Weaver, Matthew Sheehan, Kate Weaver, Carly Sheehan and Michael Weaver and one great-grandson Oliver Blackmon.
She was the mother of the late Michael Joseph Sheehan and the sister of the late Manuel Vega and Delery Vega.
Her funeral will be held on Thursday, November 30, 2006, at 9 a.m. from the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in St. Augustin’s Church, Carroll Avenue, Newport. Burial will be in St. Columba’s Cemetary in Middletown.
Calling hours will be on Wednesday, November 29, 2006, from 3-6 p.m. in the Memorial Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Benedictines of Jesus Crucified, Monastery of the Glorious Cross, 61 Burban Drive, Branford, CT 06045 or to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny School, Cluny Convent, Brenton Road, Newport, RI 02840.
Condolences, information and directions available at www.memorialfuneralhome.com
This was something that she wrote to Tom, that was read at the funeral. I really like it, so I'll post it too.
I am not alone for God is always with me.
I am not afraid for God is protecting me.
I am forgiven everything for God is loving me.
I am bearing fruit for God is supporting me.
I will persevere for God is sustaining me.
I am being saved for God is calling me.
|
|
|
| Saturday, June 17th, 2006
| |
3:45 pm - hmmmm. Again.
|
|
I like intriguing things. Like this. Click!
And in other news, I have to go see the neurologist on Monday. Fuck.
current music: Jaspinder Narula, "Woh Bura Maan Gayee"
|
|
|
| Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
| |
11:55 pm - Tell me
|
How does someone you don't know get your attention?
Think about it seriously, don't just say "Stand on their head while they play 'Who Let the Dogs Out' on the kazoo" or something. Wearing a T-shirt with some kind of slogan? Flyers? Word of mouth? Free stuff? Hosting a party or an event?
I want to storm up something big for the Millenium Promise campaign when I get back to school, and I'm brainstorming. So give me some ideas!
current mood: Jeff Sachs, OMG!
current music: Hyannis Sound, "Down in Jamaica"
|
|
|
| Thursday, February 16th, 2006
| |
12:32 am - and you know, I love comments....
|
Please leave me an ANONYMOUS comment with one or more or any:
- a secret
- a crush
- a compliment
- a love note
- a song
- a picture
- a complaint about life
- anything else you want.
Then paste this in your journal for the fun to begin.
current mood:  lonely
current music: Ravel/Eroica Trio, Piano Trio: Passacaille
|
|
|
| Wednesday, January 18th, 2006
| |
1:23 am - Hail to thee our alma mater, hail all hail Cornell!
|
So, in searching for other RateMyProfessor type sites, I came across Answers.com, a site akin to Wikipedia. I found an article on "distinguished Cornell alumni" and.....well. In a few years I'll be joining a group of some very interesting people. Like who, you ask?
The founders/inventors of: air conditioning, Coors Beer Co., Burger King, the heimlich maneuver, Sallie Mae, Staples, Qualcomm, canola oil, S.C. Johnson & Son, Priceline.com, the Moog syntesizer, Parenting Magazine, the Atkins diet, Head Start preschool, the power nap, 4-H, "Candid Camera," and Palm Pilots;
Presidents, CEOs and former CEOs of: Harley-Davidson, Black and Decker, Chevron, Viacom, Nintendo, Dr. Pepper, Verizon, Oscar Mayer, Ben & Jerry's, Nike, Citigroup, and the RIAA;
People whose names need no explanation, such as: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (along with her husband), Janet Reno, Paul Wolfowitz, Dr. C. Everett Koop, Toni Morrison, Pearl S. Buck, Dr. Spock (OK, he did his residency at Cornell), Carl Sagan, Ann Coulter, E.B. White, Kurt Vonnegut, Bill Maher, Christopher Reeve, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Jimmy Smits;
and: a bunch of astronauts (including the guys who designed one of the Mars rovers) and Nobel laureates, along with some Pulitzer, Academy Award, Emmy, and Olympic gold medal winners;
AND: the guy who wrote the play on which "Casablanca" is based, the most prolific living inventor, an executed serial killer, the first directly elected President of China, the guy after which salmonella is named, and the puppeteer for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Sometimes I still can't believe I got to such a crazy awesome school.
current mood: Impressed McBraggy-Boast
|
|
|
| Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
| |
1:06 am - utterly random question
|
In Lagaan, what's going on when they sing "Mitwa"? As in, which scene is it in? More curious than anything else.
Making this public just because.
current music: U2, "Wire" (although I heard Mitwa 3 times today)
|
|
|
| Tuesday, April 19th, 2005
| |
7:37 am - Today is my birthday!
|
Therefore, you should SPAM me.
current mood: nineteen!
|
|
|
| Tuesday, March 29th, 2005
| |
8:42 pm - oh oh oh I do not know
|
how much I should read about U2 shows/setlists/outfits/stories & quotes, etc.
What's your stance? Pros, cons, tips, advice? I don't know whether it's best to clamp my hands over my eyes or to join in the squee. Goodness knows ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) u2 is going to get about 37 bajillion posts a day now, most of them along the lines of, "OMG I JUST WENT TO THE SHOW LAST NIGHT!!!!! IT WAS SO KEWL THEY PLAYED THIS AND THIS AND THIS AND BONO IS SO HAWT!!!!!1111!1!111"
no I am not making fun of a certain subset of fans at alllllllll.
On another note, this album is absolutely fab and everyone must listen to it.
current mood:  content
current music: The Rising
|
|
|
| Wednesday, March 16th, 2005
| |
10:23 pm - life lessons, maybe
|
In short: had appointment with eye doctors today. After bantering to each other and doing way more talking to my mother than I would have liked (oh, and a nurse with BIG RED NAILS trying to put eye drops in me *shudders*) I was informed that I have to get YAG laser (the kind I got in January) next week. The only thing that will accomplish is to aid more doctors in seeing further into my eye, which is cloudy for some reason that may very well require Real Surgery.
(OK, that wasn't very short.)
Soooooo closing circle in FISH tonight I expressed most of that, along with the general assumption that my thyroid has turned to absolute bollocks, and hinted that hugs would be most excellent. Last time I did that I was having a spectacularly awful time with life and lots of people came to me and gave me hugs. This time.....oh man, not so much. Worse yet, people seemed to forget-- or ignore-- that I wasn't doing so well, in a variety of manners.
This may be completely subjective, but: I think when a person is struggling with a larger-than-normal problem, the best way to approach it is to act normal, but not ignore it. It means something to say I'm thinking about you, I'm here for you, I hope things will be OK. But normal life is not health problems, or death, or losing a job, or whatever. Normal life is losing your homework, worrying about a track meet, or complaining about canker sores. I think with most people you don't have to never talk about that stuff-- but just.....don't act like it's the Most Important Thing Evah. And let people know you're keeping them in your thoughts and prayers. Because I was missing some of that tonight, and it hurt.
On a completely unrelated note, before I forget I must say happy belated birthday to the poshest bassist ever, Adam Clayton. Here's to the hottest 45-year-old around! (For now, that is. heeeee)
current mood:  blah, still. What fun.
|
|
|
| Saturday, November 6th, 2004
| |
11:11 pm - READ ME NOW ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE A PENNSYLVANIAN! DO IT!
|
Yeah, so the idea of doing work has pretty much gone out the window. :Þ That being said, there is something very important going on Monday. This is what I said in an email to GSA people about it:
Man, I hope everyone gets this email on time. On Monday, discriminatory legislation will be presented to the PA State Senate. Here's an email we got from ALLIES:
Take Action Now! SB 296 can Move to the Floor on Monday,
November 8!
>
> In May, Senate Bill 296 and its amendments were put on hold until
> November 8.
> The legislature is returning to Harrisburg on Monday and we need
you,
> your
> friends, family and colleagues to call your state
representatives and
> ask them
> to vote against the Birmelin and McNaughten Amendments and any
other
> anti-LGBT,
> anti-family legislation.
>
> The proposed Birmelin amendment would expand the state's Defense
of
> Marriage Act (DOMA) by prohibiting civil unions, domestic
partnerships
> or
> recognition of any relationship other than heterosexual marriage
in
> Pennsylvania.
>
> The McNaughten Amendment would prevent the state and contractors
doing
> business with the state from offering domestic partner benefits
> including health
> care and pension benefits. We have held off these amendments
twice due
> to the
> number of calls and letters. We need your help again!
>
> Don't delay...Act now! Please call the following reps. and ask
that
> they oppose
> these very mean-spirited and discriminatory amendments. Please
pass
> the word
> along to all your friends and family who would be willing to
speak out
> against
> bigotry here in Pennsylvania.
>
> Contact the following:
>
> Representative Kerry A. Benninghoff at (717) 783-1918
> Representative Lynn B. Herman at (717) 783-8594
> Senator Jake Corman at (717) 783-1377
>
> ***Also...if you would like to contact your own
representative/senator
> from your
> home address, but don't know there phone number...please visit
> http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm to
look them up. It's very
> important
> that they hear from people so they know the citizens of this
state do
> not
> support bigotry and discrimination!
>
> Thanks everyone for all you have done and continue to do to
advance
> the cause of
> equality.
PLEASE, I cannot urge you enough- call these numbers. Repeatedly. Whether they're Republicans or Democrats, or somewhere in between (or completely off the spectrum), I've heard SO many people voice their disagreement with the ten states that have banned same-sex marriage. We can't let Pennsylvania fall into this trap, guys. Take action! I mean it!
(And if you're too afraid to call your representative, I'm not ashamed to say that you're really pitiful. It's a good skill to have in life. Learn it.)
with one ear connected to the phone,
Caroline
I think that says it all. Call Sunday. Call Monday morining. Leave messages if you can't get through. We can't lose faith in what some have called "the cool swing state." It just takes a couple minutes, guys. CALL.
current mood: the potential to be enraged
current music: No more Yahweh. Sadness.
|
|
|
| Sunday, October 31st, 2004
| |
9:13 pm - *tosses confetti.....or possibly dead leaves because they're EVERYWHERE*
|
I saw Stomp! on Tuesday, which is this group that does percussion and performance art with everyday objects- brooms, trash cans, etc. etc. And I sat there and marveled to myself, "DAMN, percussionists are sexy." So happy 43rd to the undeniably sexiest one of all!
Who is, of course, Larry Mullen Jr.
( and one more for good luck )
|
|
|
| Tuesday, October 12th, 2004
| |
11:23 pm
|
THE ULTIMATE SILENCE
October 12, 1998
Six years ago today, Matthew Shepard was murdered for being homosexual.
What will you do to end the silence?
Click here to post this on your own page or weblog
It feels good to know that I, and many of my friends, are making a difference. Let's all make more of a difference, though, shall we?
current mood:  thoughtful
|
|
|
| Monday, October 11th, 2004
| |
11:27 am
|
Happy National Coming Out Day! *throws rainbow confetti* I emerge as an ally. :D
And, on a more serious note, may Christopher Reeve rest in peace, and may his family be in everyone's thoughts and prayers.
|
|
|
| Sunday, August 22nd, 2004
| |
10:16 pm - *pimps*
|
For those who didn't see it in the U2 community, ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) palinurus has created the Vertigo Remix here: http://users.adelphia.net/~destra96/u2.mp3. So YAY.
Also YAY-worthy: went to Joann's yesterday and bought the pattern and fabric for zee first prom dress for Formalities. Not YAY-worthy: having to special order 2 fabrics, and then being $20 short and having to ask my mother to drive over and bail me out. Eeeeep.
The good thing is that hopefully school can pay for all of my expenses, considering this is a graduation project. Good goodness, I'm a senior. Part of that still feels very...unreal.
But hey! August 27, 2004 is now being called FRODAY. And its mascot shall be a black hobbit bassist. With a 'fro, of course. And why? Because spacklegeek and I say so, dammit. Nyah!
current music: dude, a song from freakin Kal Ho Naa Ho! <3 Bollywood.
|
|
|
| Sunday, August 8th, 2004
| |
2:49 am
|
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the wonderful Edgelet/Mr. the Edge/Reg/the Edge/the object of my fangirling/EDGE! *gloms to him even though we are separated by an ocean and he doesn't even know me, dammit*
*cough* Anyway. In 4.5 hours I am leaving for Rhode Island to visit my dad's side of the family; won't be back until late on Thursday. All of you! Stop writing or I shall have to positively wade through my friends list to catch up.
For now, though, I'd like to leave you with a few thoughts:
Eating pizza at 2:30 in the morning is (fattening) goodness.
The incredible beauty of "Heartland" is all thanks to Edge. I had suspected this before, but now it is definitely true. Both his guitar and backing vocals are just.......meltworthy. *more love to the amazing talented dorky handsome incredible 43-years-young demigod Edge!*
( And finally.....flying poetry! (cut for length, of course) )
Bleck, I'm so glad I get heaps of time in the car to sleep tomorrow. *yawns* *stretches* *goes off to pack* *but not without blowing goofy fangirly kisses to Edge first*
current mood:  overeating dorky fangirlish
current music: "Will the Night" by.....somebody. I forget.
|
|
|
| Saturday, July 24th, 2004
| |
11:27 pm - We cannot ignore Sudan any longer.
|
Stop what you're doing. Right now. I mean it, drop everything and pay attention. Despite what the government would like (you) to believe, Sudanese people are being slaughtered by the thousands in a GENOCIDAL crisis. If you don't know much about what's going on, I implore you to read this article written by my friend Andre Axver:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/axver/212240.html
Educate yourself about what's going on, and then take action! PLEASE take time to write to your government officials. Stop debating exactly how homoerotic the Kerry/Edwards campaign is, or whom Cheney will tell next to go f&#$ him/herself, fun as it may be. Let those in power know that we MUST take this seriously and help NOW. The head of the United States Agency for International Development has warned, "If nothing changes, we will have a million casualties. If things improve, we can get it down to about three hundred thousand deaths."
ONE MILLION. Think of the outrageous, gut-wrenching enormity of that. And if you don't do anything- if you just read this and move on to the next item on your agenda- if you forget about and deny the monstrosities in Sudan- then you are a sick bastard and I pity you for your ignorance and apathy.
current mood: upset
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
