Hey, I listen to the Olympics, and only watch when something sounds exciting!
THIS does excite me: the other night, on our usual walk around the neighborhood, I could hear the Roosevelt HS crowd cheer (jus' li'l bit, though, the football team had a bad - read losing - night). The cheering reminded me that RHS now has a wonderful Astroturf field, beautiful scoreboard and spiffy, repainted stands. The alumni and a lot of other folks came together to improve the facilities. What pride they - and the students - must now feel!
Here are some photos of the field dedication from the RHS website. As we pass the refurbished field, we share that pride almost enough to want to sit through a football game!
RHS is in upper Makiki, my neighborhood. We are bounded by Punchbowl with the National Cemetery of the Pacific, the H-1 freeway, Maryknoll school. We encompass Papakolea, lofty Makiki Heights to Tantalus, and all the variety of humanity and dwellings above H-1.
Anything that improves my neighborhood makes me feel proud, and better about it, too!
]]>What is the job of the journalist?
I believe it is to report the truth, and I truly appreciate any opportunity to learn truths. Often, the truth is not pretty. Most of us can make a good guess (and probably be correct) about what truths are being kept from us. There is so much of that withholding, paranoia and secrecy going on with the present administration.
On a related issue - the sharing of truths - the NY Times talks about a new book, War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq: A Series of Cases, 2003-2007 by U.S. Army surgeons. In the article, Times writer Donald G. McNeil, Jr. says "this textbook is the first guidebook of new techniques for American battlefield surgeons to be published while the wars it analyzes are still being fought."
Apparently, the truths here were raw enough that censors wanted to do extensive surgical excisions on the book. And this is a TEXTBOOK which not only military surgeons, but CIVILIAN surgeons will benefit from.
Now, here's where they get the Manicured Librarian SERIOUSLY pissed off: "Censors also tried to prevent the book from getting a copyright and the international standard book number letting it be sold commercially, Dr. Lounsbury said."
One of the book's editors had the last word: “There was never any doubt in my mind that the Army would publish this,” he (Dr. Stephen P. Hetz, a retired colonel) said. “It was just a matter of getting around the nitwits.”
Just let the experts DO THEIR JOBS! Let the surgeons "do no h ..]]>
"Sometimes I think I am living in a nightmare. All about me, standards are collapsing, manners are evaporating, people show no respect for themselves." Well, he said it about the movie, "Step Brothers".
From his review, I would say: DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE: your brain cells will die! It is about being mean. I'm not a Pollyanna, but we need more kindness in the world, not less.
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Elsewhere, more madness:
Here's an oxymoron (YOU know, like jumbo SHRIMP) -
How about "hygienic nightingale droppings" for cleansing and lightening, from traditional Japanese beauty care company for geisha, Chidoriya. The description claims you can rest assured this product is free of bacteria! And at $17.99 for one ounce, this is more affordable than Creme de la Mer ($125/oz.)
Except, it's still BIRDSHIT!!!
So, here's what I won't do for love or beauty - or money, for that matter: Botox, liposuction, tummy tuck, face lift, hair dye, and no, no, no nightingale droppings!
]]>If you can pay $1000 for your rice cooker, would you blink at $4000 for your bidet? And it IS more bidet than your ordinary commode! Japanese facilities perform not only the flush and swirl, and warm and wash of bidet, but dispel odors with a fan and play music. They can even sense your coming and going and raise and lower the lid. Fuzzy logic moves into the restroom!
I'd be happy with one that cleaned itself!
Come to think of it, automatic lid-closing is not a bad idea!
]]>Remember the Saturday Night Live skit with Julia Sweeney, where you were kept guessing "Pat's" gender? In real life, in a library where I worked, a member of the staff underwent gender reassignment. Confusing for his/her coworkers, no matter how open-minded we are. Gender so defines us that a shift takes us by surprise, upsets the assumptions we've made. Father, son, nephew, uncle, husband becomes mother, daughter, niece, aunt, wife? Makeup, clothing, hair, jewelry. What is masculine, what is feminine?
More importantly, what restroom does the transgendered choose? How do they feel in the women's restroom? In the men's facility?
Aside: 2 weeks ago, I was in the men's at Macy's in downtown HNL. The line was too, too, long, the pressure was unbearable, and an older woman volunteered to watch the door. A younger woman went in, the coast was clear, and she and I sighed with relief! A man waiting in the doorway looked stunned! Pee and run!!!
I saw this report about Thai schools providing a restroom choice for transgendered: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=12812 Thai culture and society includes them in the workplace, beauty pageants and sports, a more accepting and inclusive attitude than ours.
I include this, as the related links are also very thought-provoking: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/thai-school-opens-transvestite-toilet-for-transgender-students_10062437.html
Our own society merely accepts transgenders superficially. We tolerate their show queen pageants, acknowledge them among our sex workers, but fail to address their needs on the most basic level.
]]>I watched the Charlie Rose interview with documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner and Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and I'm still puzzled.
The film is about Hunter S. Thompson, and it's called Gonzo. I won't be seeing it. I think I already know too much about him. HST invented Gonzo journalism. His work involved making stuff up and writing about it. It was all about drawing attention to himself. Isn't that juvenile delinquent behavior that would normally get you suspended or kicked out of school? Are there current practitioners of this?
And I thought journalism was about being fair, balanced and accurate.
He was about guns, drugs and drama. HST was a doctor who wasn't a doctor and a journalist who wasn't a journalist.
Every clip I've seen of him was like watching a train wreck, and I've seen enough. Do Gibney, Wenner and Carter envy him? Is this a guy thing? What is Johnny Depp, the thinking woman's actor - thinking - by financing the drama of HST's funeral?
Is it like watching Dog Chapman?
Please tell me, what IS the appeal?
]]>I have done things here I would never have been able to do elsewhere. This includes unpacking 200+ boxes of donations and seeing that they were integrated into the collection and linked to our catalog records. I also linked hundreds of purchased titles; this called for learning some cataloging. Remaining staff will continue replacement efforts, as well as resume their normal work.
This operation cannot compare to that of Iraq, where the national library has a much larger task to rebuild - amidst trying to survive the daily dangers and uncertainties of life in Baghdad, and sectarian violence and "disappearances". The director general of the Iraq national library and archives, Saad Eskander, has a clear vision of what his country needs in order to recover and move toward the future. He is doing virtually the same thing we are doing: requesting donations to replace items lost from his collection, and further, those his current patrons need.
"He argues, though, that the historic role of the library as a repository for government and historical documents from many periods and the central location for research into the history of the Iraqi people is being thwarted by institutions in the US. He claims that documents seized by the US military from the Ba'athist ministry of the interior, which were subsequently used to blackmail Saddam's former secret police operatives to work for the occupation, ultimately have been transferred to the US. "These secret police archives belong in Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein's victims and thei ..]]>
First, did this "dramatization" - where CHIPs officers told students their classmates died in a car crash from DUI -achieve the desired results? Isn't high school already stressful and full of enough drama?
If you tell students lies to teach them lessons, what are you REALLY teaching them? That it's OK for teachers, administrators and the police to lie? What happens to trust?
Think of this another way: if all learning in public schools is evaluated and measured, what are the outcomes here? Exactly what have the the students learned from this "lesson"? How do you quantify, much less qualify it?
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Next, coming to my neighborhood mall: It's right in my front yard, so to speak. I'm sure I'll be legging it out the door of Nordie's some day after admiring their huge selection of sunglasses (I do need a new pair) and have this hit me in the eye.
On the face (hahaha) of it, you could learn a lot. Or, is this just too much information? There are questions and controversy surrounding it: The bodies are of persons who "died unidentified or unclaimed by family members", according to the AP article. They have been skinned and polymer plasticized.
Tickets run in the $20 to $30 range. What about the millions of dollars this company is making? Do you want to see this exhibit? Would it make a difference to you if there was a chance that it's your auntie or uncle? Does their end justify the purported "educational value"?
Some believe that the ..]]>