THE DAY
A very gray morning, entirely socked in.
Drank coffee, and then spent entirely too much time fretting over an article about my alma mater. Without getting into too much gory detail, suffice to say that the college, like many others, is besieged by lists of mostly absurd student demands. Reading that list as well as a New York Times piece regarding–of all things–students’ upset over what they considered to be the college’s dining services appropriation of ethnic foods–yeah, I know, it just gets more and more ridiculous–I found myself getting really fed up and thoroughly disgusted with these privileged kids’ whinging and the college’s apology. Apology? For making crappy sushi? Are you serious? Tina Fey is right; we’ve become a nation of apologists to a culture of victimization.
Anyway . . . don’t get me started. I got pissed and dashed off a letter to the alumni development office and pointed out that exposing them–and by extension, these privileged whining children who have no concept of just how fortunate they are–to U.S. currency, with its preferential treatment of white males, purported rapists, slaveholders, drunks, and Southern sympathizers would be just too culturally insensitive.
To whit: don’t look for a donation from me this year. If ever again.
Safe spaces on campus because kids feel “traumatized” by a speech? Given by a visiting scholar? What, you were traumatized by an idea? Seriously?
A friend of mine, discussing a similar situation at UVA, said it best: “I want the school to say no to cultural competency classes that are victimization indoctrination programs. If cultural competency looks like something Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell support, then I’m favorable. My take is that unless your ancestors walked into the US across the land bridge covering the culturally-insensitively named Bering Strait, you don’t get to claim anointed righteous indignation. Do you and I get to claim similar status because our relatives one generation removed had numbers tattooed on their forearms? My sister’s father-in-law was in KL Plaschow and went to see the movie Schindler’s List with his friends from the camp who were literally on Schindler’s List. Every one of my father’s relatives in Europe when the war started was killed. All of them. How many cultural reparation affirmative action points do I get? Is it more or less than the kids of Syrian refugees?”
Anyway…so I spent time doing that this morning when I probably should’ve been writing. Got a late start but then kept powering for several hours until I had to stop and zip out to the gym for my 90 minutes and strength training.
Here’s what I’ll say about this revamp of this particular character: this is taking a really weird turn I would not have ever foreseen. I like it, but it does slow me down because I’ll do stuff one day, sleep on it, then wake up and think, Shit, I really should do THIS. So it feels like it’s taking forever–but that’s my impatience talking again. I should relax and let the weirdness come through. Sort of reminds me of what a pro writer said not too long ago in talking about how spiders mate (in this very strange fashion): Our aliens aren’t alien enough.
I get it. So I’m trying to relax and let the weird out.
Ran into a neighbor at the gym. Nice fellow, and pretty interesting; hadn’t met him before though I’ve met his wife. Turns out that he reads the blog on occasion and so he commented on the fact that I’m having a hard time. He seemed very understanding, too, which was nice–and here’s a funny bit: when we were talking about the fog today and how grey and weird the mountain can be when you’re socked in, he said something to the effect that this is why there are bridges in places like San Francisco: so you can jump.
I suggested a light box 😉 But a nice guy. Liked chatting with him.
WRITING OUT LOUD
GHOST IN THE MACHINE (I’m thinking that this won’t be the title now; don’t ask me what it will be, tho’. This will do for now.)
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500
Day 3: 3011 Day 13: 1000
Day 4: 2652. Day 14: 3700
Day 5: 3210 Day 15: 5630
Day 6: 3450 Day 16: 1060
Day 7: 0 Day 17: 130
Day 8: 2756 Day 18: 0
Day 9: 4580 Day 19: 3000
Day 10: 2670 Day 20: 2600
Blog Post: 1020
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What I’m Watching:
Finishing up Fargo. Should be done by tomorrow or, more likely, the day after since I know that I’m swimming tomorrow (and the front part of the day is going to be a bust because I have to take the car in for service and then I just must go to the Social Security office. I just must. I got to get a new card if I want a new driver’s license. Sucks because it will be SUCH a waste of my time. I’m still tempted to punt and wait until the book is done. Might just do that; I want to write.)
Then…I don’t know. I’ve got to see what’s in my cue, but I think I’ve got a couple series, maybe a movie. I was actually thinking of trying SHOWTIME for a month, seeing if I can get back into HOMELAND (which got so completely old after Season 2; I skipped 3, watched the first episode of 4, and bailed). But there are other series out there: A Young Doctor’s Notebook; Black Mirror; Southcliffe; Bloodlines. This all reminds me of an NPR piece I heard a while back: there’s almost too much TV. OTOH, since I only watch when I exercise, it means I’ve got a lot of choice for a very long time.
Now if they would only put Season 3 of The Americans and 6 of Justified up on Prime.
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What I’m Reading:
An anthology for which I’m going to pitch a story. Have an idea. Now have to read a bit more, flesh out the idea, send in the proposal. Then it’s back to the mountain of books teetering on my to-read pile. And I used to be so good at reading multiple books at any one time.
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What I’m Listening to:
Still perking along with Let Me In.
