Turn the Page

After a long several days of studying for tests today, I'm ready for a really good weekend. The big (in length and importance) test I finished at 3:30pm today was quite a tuffy. Added to the rest of the week...ok. Anyone who has ever said that music does not help people through life or said that the appropriate music at the appropriate time does not make life seem a bit less arduous, is, in a word, wrong. After the completion (and I use that term loosely) of my last test today, I walked out into the dim, rawness of the Iowa fall, inserted my headphones, and the first phrase I heard, which is from the first song of the first album by The Streets, was "That's it/Turn the page on the day/Walk away." Before the background hum of the strings enters, I already felt better.
On Tuesday night, Alex and his sister came to Ames and we all went to see a wonderful concert at the M-Shop. The opening band called themselves the Starlight Mints. They were a really creative and inventive sound almost all the way around, that which wasn't was the mundane percussion that could not have been less inventive. Either way, if they come to your town, they are a fun, good act. The headliner was the Mates of State. Yes, the happy couple performed a dynamite set. Part of the reason that they struck me so favorably is the fact that they produce such a full, strong sound out of a drum set, a few keyboards, and two voices. I picked up their newest, Bring it Back, on vinyl and it sounds fantastic. Come listen to it sometime.
Now for the positive out of the aforementioned test. The characterless, cliche that existed in most of the reading assigned for the class have no bearing and I had difficulty finding interest in them, but a few really influential works hit me as strong, worthwhile pieces. Yesterday, I dove into an article that I cannot agree with, but nonetheless I cannot dispute the strength of the argument. It is called The Mainsprings of American Foreign Policy by Hans Morgenthau. Morgenthau argued that the only way in which a state should craft foreign policy is in self-interest. There is nothing in the world between states besides the balance of power. It is realism, which is somewhat of a precursor to the principles of neoconservatism, preemption, etc. For example, according to Morgenthau, if the United States is the hegemonic power in the world, which it is currently, and another power, say China, is beginning to emerge as the next hegemon, it is in America's self interest, moreso, it is the United States' elected officials' responsibility to protect the interest of its people by taking out the threat. Realism neglects human rights, alliances, diplomacy (for the most part), and the order of the world in order to ensure that the people of one's own nation gain economic profit. Sounds familiar... Well, out of this thought we also see the idea of nuclear deterrence, which may work, but honestly, what nation would use nuclear weapons against another with the knowledge of the backlash from the international community.

Everybody should have a gun so nobody gets shot.

There's a lot more to add, but that's for another day. Just one more...if anyone wants a really good read, try the (neo)neoconservative, Francis Fukuyama's new book America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. It's really a great discourse of the way in which neoconservatism started (actually in Trotskyism and Stalinism), what it has done, places that it has gone completely amiss, and where it may go.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

sorry...or your welcome

Hey everybody. Sorry that it's been a long time (which is something that should start out every blog unless you'd rather not have to read some odd thoughts from a red headed, freckled, Chralie-Brownish, boyish man).
July was the last time for me to even recognize that I operated a blog. That's just too long. I want to synopsize my last, oh god, two months without being too long about it. Numbering has worked in the past so let's try it again...
1) I was able to go to Lollapalooza at the begining of August. That was almost too much fun. Here's some pictures of some really cool artists.
*Uncle E. of The Eels, Jack White of the Raconteurs, the wonderful Feist, the Flaming Lips, and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.

2. My very, very good friend, Sarah, was going to be able to have experimental eye surgery at the University of Florida at the beginning of August. Others with different but similar conditions as hers have had drastic improvement or have been completely cured. Unfortunately, budgetary funding in all areas except defense, homeland security, Congressional, and Executive funding to make up for tax cuts for the extremely rich and pay for the current war in Iraq, therefore, Sarah will not be able to have any type of operations or treatments. Another unfortunate part of this happenstance is the fact that Sarah's condition is causing her to progressively lose the little sight that she does have. Frustration does not begin to explain what she and her parents are going through and have conveyed to me. I now know the way in which the Congressional budget and appropriations processes work, so I've been working with Sen. Tom Harkin's speechwriter, Jim Whitmire, in order to get information about the work of the doctors at the University of Florida, the treatments, the condition, and Sarah.

3. I've moved back to Ames and begun school again. This is my senior year. What, exactly, will follow this year is a bit of a jumble floating in the air. I will take the G.R.E. and fill out applications for graduate schools and careers. Despite the unknown, the semester is going well. Classes are going pretty well. I was in front of class on Thursday explaining, according to Irving Janus' theory of Groupthink, the difference between how the Bay of Pigs fisaco and the Cuban Missile Crisis victory. My professor in this class decided to make the points I was making by cutting me off on my way to said points...twice. A bit frustrating, but it has the makings of an interesting class. Then the rest of the classes...........

4. I just turned 22 years old yesterday--Labor Day. Hopefully I haven't made it through a fourth of my life yet, though if I have, I'd be ok with the whole idea. I'm more a student of the idea of quality years than living to 167. The idea of myself as an elderly man in an intriguing. Will my personality change? Will the Earth still exist? Will there be a second coming of a Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed figure? I'm 22. I'm a long way from elderly. I'm going to live in today for today.

Looking forward to...

Great M-Shop schedule, Lots of Cyclone football wins (hopefully not fourth-quarter losses), Fantasy Football!!!!

Speaking of fantasy football, I need everybody to help me name my team this year. Two years ago, my first year, I had the generic "All Ames" name given to my team. Last year I chose "Giggity Giggity". This year is completely open. I don't promise that I will use a suggestion, but I've been drawing a blank for weeks, so let's hear them. Thanks.

*****Solemn promise--I will blog before it reaches the over-six-week mark again. Thanks for reading. You're all wonderful. Peace.