Getting back into a cleanse again seems to be a no-brainer, although I didn’t wake up until 10am today. It’s a crappy and gray, cold day – perfect for isolation, eating raw organic fruits and vegetables, and getting down to business and finishing up this thesis. And then there’s the Stephen Hawking paper – I love his plain language, filled with dry humor.
Olympia, in a can
I feel like shit today. It was probably the can of Olympia from Sunday night – it feels like a thick cloud in the front of my brain. I’m taking the next 9 days off to finish all of my homework, and having another cleanse. Why, oh why did I drink beer from a can?
Ready for the Green MBA
All of my materials for entrance into New College’s Green MBA program have been submitted. Maybe Berkeley, eventually – but the New College effort seems so much better right now. I’m a bit disillusioned with the profession of journalism – could I really ever be able to speak the truth to large audiences, or would I become “embedded”? This is going to get worse before it gets better – I feel like escaping, but where on earth would I go?
Another month, another rally
Lindsay from Santa Rosa joined Laura and I for Saturday’s anti-war protest. There wasn’t as much turnout as the February 15th march, but it was still quite sizeable. The parade route was different this time – we marched through the Fillmore to Jefferson Square Park, and sat next to an area with yellow caution tape, which turned out to be a civil disobedience training area. The park is right across the street from a police station, and law enforcement was flanked along the rooftop, videotaping the event.A group of people within the caution tape area informed passerby of civil disobedience training about to commence. Laura and I crossed the barrier with about 40 others. I was nervous, because the yellow tape to me represented a true commitment to doing this, with the knowledge that this was probably being videotaped and photographed. After about 20 minutes in, I thought less and less about the police presence and more and more that I have the legal right to be a part of this training. Have I been that subtlety affected by anti-civil rights legislation?
A very skinny man in his early 30s talked us through and facilitated role playing events in partner form (one person plays a protestor, the other plays an angry commuter trying to get into the building they’re blocking). We did several of these events, and then went through short legal training if one might be arrested (I particularly dug that they’ve committed to my memory a legal hotline number: 415 385-1011).
The second organic dinner at Sutter and Octavia was smaller, but even better. I might start something like this when I move here, but make it more of a potluck so that people don’t have to pay a fee to partake (although what they’ve served is a deal at twice the price). Lindsay, Laura and I ended up at a party for someone who works at Global Exchange. I already have a resume in for a design position there. My fingers, legs, and anything else that can be crossed, is.
Hibernation
People are so in hibernation mode this week. There will be no karaoke on Thursday, for sure. I’m frighteningly busy with homework and freelance – I keep getting jobs, albeit small ones. My friend Julie and I had dinner last night – she’s really excited about a pending hotel gig in Thailand beginning in early July. I’m happy for her, as I know she’s had cabin fever here for a couple of years, and couldn’t wait to play overseas again.
Green MBA at the farm
I rented a car and drove to Santa Rosa to meet with John Stayton, to talk about the Green MBA program at New College’s Santa Rosa campus. We met at his home, the Golden Nectar farm. He was a half-hour late, so his wife showed me around the farm and talked about the projects going on there. When I finally met with John, we spoke about our respective backgrounds and he talked about the program’s offerings. This seems like a great fit – not a degree in journalism from Berkeley, but a wonderful foundation for some long-term plans – and I think that with this acquired knowledge, compounded with my design and political leanings, there could be a lot of potential for me in just a short time.I got a sunburn! Wait’ll the kids in Seattle see this.
Real Time
After class (regretfully, I missed the first hour and what proved to be an amazing video about an alleged race riot at Thurgood Marshall School), I caught up with some politically oriented television. I finally got to see an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” – and it’s better than “Politically Incorrect” ever could have been. It’s much more daring and experimental, and one of two reasons to succumb to HBO, the other being “Da Ali G Show”.
Smoking ban?
A representative from West Seattle is attempting to pass a state law banning all forms of smoking within bars and restaurants. Rather than get attacked by conservatives who say that liberals are taking away smokers’ rights, he’s attacking smoking as a health hazard to the servers/waitstaff who have to soak in the stench all day. I hope this passes – it’s one of the reasons I enjoy going out dancing and singing in San Francisco. The restaurant associations in Washington state say that business will plummet, but I believe it will increase, since people who don’t go to bars and restaurants because of the smoking will now go if that law is implemented.I’m thinking about flying in to San Francisco next weekend a day earlier. I wondered aloud to a friend of mine about how psyched I am when I come back from the Bay Area, all charged up with new ideas and things to create and do as a result of my New College experience and the general outward clashing of ideas prevalent in that city, but that energy dissipates after a few days back in Seattle.
My friend Julie and I went to a vespers night at the Episcopalian church across the street – they have Gregorian chant, and turn off the lights. It’s a nice reprieve from an otherwise hectic few days.
Jim Crow visits the Embarcadero
Yowza! I weigh 182 pounds – I feel so much younger with this 15-pound difference, and much more energetic.While downtown this morning, a Southern tourist asked loudly to his friend “why white people would want to visit SF, when there are so many of those sickly homeless colored people”? I wanted to tell him off (I suspect his name was Jim Crow), but declined. An African-American woman next to me shook her head. Ugh. I had several comebacks prepared in my head later that day to mentally pound him into a stain. Timing, natch.
I finally find my grade report in a filing cabinet down the hall from where the class meets, where I’ve received three A’s and one A-plus! Hooah.
Sakani to ’em!
Sakani! What a fiery orator, and co-author of “Taking It Personally”. She reminds me of why I cherish the weekends at New College – lively discussions accentuated with a variety of fascinating speakers. Tonight I hung out with Laura and a gaggle of her friends at a bar in Noe Valley called the Dubliner, but the real fun was when we all went out to a bar in the Castro called Lucky 13 – it reminded me as a collage of several bars that exist in Seattle, like the Tractor Tavern, Molly Maguire’s, the Comet Tavern. I loved the vibe, and they had a great jukebox. If I take up drinking as a hobby again, that’s where I’d want to practice. And it’s right down the street from the Mint.