Dear inclement weather,

Cut it out, please. (I said please!) I really want to get to L.A. to visit Hallie because I miss her and the amount of vitamin D my body is screaming out for is astronomical. My (probably) SAD would and I would forever be in your debt.

Your truly and respectfully,
Melissa

the politics of notebooks

"at vassar, you take notes. you sit in class and you scribble whatever the professor says, whatever is written on the board, and/or whatever the idiot across the table from you has to say that sounds remotely interesting. for some, note-taking is a way to remember but for others it is merely a way to stave off in-class somnolence. it’s how you take your notes that is most important though… because, let’s be honest, you’ll probably never look at them again. it’s probably a given that whatever you just wrote down will stick if it’s really THAT important (i.e. you think about it when you can’t sleep at night).

here are a few modes of note-taking:
-moleskin: absurdly expensive, kind of “over” when you think about it, and oftentimes too small/not lined. covers easily tear. next please. they are pretty though.

-legal pad: the new moleskin. you don’t give a fuck if your papers end up looking raggedy… writers use legal pads dammit.

-plain notebook in some conservative color: whatever. i’m just here til the teacher says so. maybe i’ll doodle a bit…. woah, look at that cloud. has it been an hour and fifteen minutes yet?

-3 ring binder feat. notebook paper: does anyone use these anymore? hey, 8th grade called… it want’s its trapper keeper back.

-the fancy “enviro-note” variety they sell in the book store: i mean, i have to take notes anyway… i might as well be able to recycle this shit after the fact… but if i BURN this notebook at the end of the year will it emit less toxic fumes?
that’s all."

via Taylor Self

I am pretty sure that goes for all colleges/universities, though the first option is probably more rampant on campuses with a higher concentration of hipsters.

My new favorite blog

From my new favorite blog.

So last night I was thinking

about all of my friends that are getting married/starting families. I was also thinking about how I don't feel like I am ready to get married yet, or have babies, or any of that. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it isn't that I am not ready or not capable of doing these things and doing them well, it's just that I feel like I have so much more living to do before I reach that point.

I want to travel, see the world, and photograph it some more. I want to meet people that challenge me, shape me, break me, and help get me put back together. I want to read until my eyeballs shrivel up and fall out of my head, only for me to dust them off and put them back in again so I can read some more. I want to learn so much it makes my head spin. I want to get so completely lost I think I'll never find my way and then blaze a trail to where I need to be. I want to feel alive, vibrant and, more than anything else, happy.

I wish the best for my friends starting new lives with significant others, and I can't wait 'til I get there, but right now I'm in no hurry.

Huck Finn Everywhere

Recently I was assigned to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for my Young Adult Literature class.

Then I was assigned three articles in the Argumentative Writing class to read for homework, and lo and behold...there was an article about Huck Finn.

Who knew?

I find this article very interesting. Thoughts?

Not What the Greeks Intended

This morning, when I woke up (with my awesome chest cold, strep throat, and fever) I did what I always go...open Firefox and skim Yahoo News before I head over to read my e-mail. I am usually a little over eager to get to my e-mail so I don't sit and read articles until later, but today one article in particular caught my attention.

After reading this, I was dumbfounded. I realize that China may not agree with the position that Cheek has taken on the Darfur issue, but even during the times of the Ancient Olympic Games, the basis was that "armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games".

Shouldn't this be the standard today?

I know the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, I know. Mr. Piro, my English teacher in High School, was set to participate. This boycott has become a dark part of his life, it seems, because he carries the bitterness with him every day of his life. He continues to run and coach girl's cross-country year after year, and I don't know how he does it.

I just feel as if these boycotts and instances of visa revocation are not quite what the Greeks had intended for their games when they began so many years ago. I think they wanted the games to be a time of peace where nations could come together and compete with sheer athleticism and skill, a time where nations come to flex their political muscles and boast their economic superiority. I realize the US is a far cry from the perfect nation, and many would claim that Americans are a bunch of warmongers, and our nation has a history of grudges against China (think Sen. John McCarthy's Red Scare) but the Olympics are supposed to be above all that.

But I guess that would be in an idyllic world, and not the one we live in. Maybe someday.

To Dissuade Flug Frying Pans...

I just read a wonderful article (and by wonderful I mean surprisingly accurate and funny).

Give it a spin and see what you think. I know that I definitely go berserk when a guy tells me to relax when I am worked up. The one that always, always gets me, however, is #3: "It's up to you."

Seriously? It doesn't matter to me whether the other half of this conversation is male or female, when someone tells me this I honestly feel like they want me to choose simply because of their laziness. Is knocking out one possibility that achingly difficult?

I'd argue to the contrary.

I'd feel much better and secure about choosing if I have at least the tiniest bit of input from the other party. I like making sure everyone is included so there is no harboring of resentment for not eating something they wanted.

People do tend to do this sometimes, you know.

So watch out. Here's your fair warning never to tell me "It's up to you."