Obamarama Abroad

It appears that there has been quite the fanfare for Obama's current trip abroad. He is spending time in the Middle East (including Iraq and Afghanistan) and Europe. As proof of how much stir his trip has caused, all three major American newscasters (Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Brian Williams) have gone abroad to follow Obama on his trip which means that they will broadcast from his location for the duration of the trip. McCain has not been met by any such brigade of prominent newscasters during his trips abroad.

I think this excitement surrounding Obama's trip abroad is a strong signifier that Obama will be popular internationally as president. His global appeal will be a huge asset to his presidency and should be pushed as a strong argument as to why Americans should support him. I believe that Americans tend to underrate the importance of a potential president's global appeal -- in today's ever increasingly global world, it is more important than ever for the American Head of State to be someone well-liked and well-respected (didn't we learn this harsh reality durin the Bush years???). One of the best classes I have taken here at UCLA was a seminar on foreign impressions of America during which we would host a speaker from a different country every week. The speakers often discussed how people from their home countries viewed Americans and our leaders -- a lot of which was negative, but not hopeless. These speakers made me realize how interconnected our world was by how easily they spoke of academic, social, and political situations in areas in all corners of the world. Unfortunately, they also reinforced how little my fellow students and I knew about the world outside our own country and about important it is to have positive dynamics between countries. With what I learned from this class in mind, I placed one's global appeal as a top characteristic priority of whichever candidate I would support. I believe Obama has the potentional to improve our relationships with other nations and command a higher level of respect in the international community, which is necessary in our world of globalization.

As an example of Obama's global appeal, a poll from England showed that Obama is five times as popular as McCain in England. FIVE TIMES!



More about the European mania over Obama http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/german-press-agog-over-obama/index.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1

Award for worst quote ever goes to...

"You know what? I am actually not that much into voting. I think it’s kinda crazy that a woman is running, because I think that women deal with a lot of emotions and menopause and PMS and stuff. Like, I’m so moody all the time, I know I couldn’t be able to run a country, ‘cause I’d be crying one day and yelling at people the next day, ya know?"
- Brooke Hogan

Now, normally, I would never give Brooke Hogan's opinions a second thought, but this quote from her shook me too much to let it slide. I feel lucky enough to have grown up in a time period where I feel few limitations placed on me as a woman, but when I see someone say something so ignorant as what she said, I realize that we still have a ways to go.

First of all, how could you not be into voting? Does she know how rare it is to have a society in which everyone is free to vote and a society in which one's vote is counted in a (fairly) just electoral system? Someone please take her to Zimbabwe or Ukraine -- show her the riots in Zimbabwe over rigged elections or the Ukranian (and opposition party member) politician poisoned... it honestly irks me to an endless extent when people do not realize how revolutionary it is to have the right and the ability to vote.

Second of all, how dare she say that a woman would be an inadequate president! Does she realize that we live in 2008 and not 1950? I honestly believe that if more women were in positions of leadership we would have a more peaceful and progressive world and I would absolutely love it if the United States would get in line with the times and promote more females to such positions of power. I did not believe that Hillary Clinton was the right person for the job this election, but the fact that a female was a serious contender in the presidential race makes me feel elated. Not only did this idiot of a girl say that she thought it was crazy for a woman to be running for president, but she said that it would be strange for a woman to be president because of her moodiness. I do not know a single male who is not also moody -- it's a part of human nature and not related to whether or not you happen to be born a female. It is absurd, embarrassing, and offensive that Brooke Hogan would believe that a woman would be an inferior president because of PMS. I cannot believe that a female would impose that horrible stereotype on someone of her own sex! It is bad enough that mysoginistic (sp?) men propel the rumor that woman are incapable of being in in an authoritative position because they are too emotional or moody but now a rich, priveleged, young woman is saying the same thing... simply infuriating. It just makes me want to work that much harder to prove her and all those as ignorant as her sorely wrong.

Art.

While I was home at the beginning of summer, I took a trip to the Legion of Honor where they were showcasing a glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly as an advertisement for his exhibit at the de Young. I was there to a Women's Impressionist exhibit which was interesting, but it was the Chihuly piece that stuck in my mind. I posted photos of the piece above. It's called "Sun," which I believe is a fitting name. The piece was amazing -- each branch of glass had a different texture to it. It was intricate, complex, and yet I feel it was very delicate and graceful. I recommend checking out this guy's pieces, I'd love to see a whole exhibit of them...

Those crazy Frenchies

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GsmzNB_eXek
This is a video for a Justice song. I think it's incredibly powerful and hard to watch it's so raw.
What do you think?

City of Lights

It's really hitting me that I am leaving for my home of four months in a little less than a month. My brother took these pictures on his recent trip to Europe during his stop in Paris.

Going to study abroad has always been a part of the list of things I want to do in life and it is surreal that this desire is going to become a reality in a matter of weeks. I am more than excited, I'm anxious. I cannot wait to see what living in a real city is like and on top of that -- a European one! How exotic... I cannot wait to meet people who don't know what it is to wear sandals year-round and who have not spent their whole lives inside the (gorgeous, but limited) confines of California. I'm excited to be challenged, rewarded, and even gracefully disappointed.

Kudos to my brother for these amazing photos of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Can't wait to be there

Every time I get nervous or possibly experience a tinge of regret, I'm going to look at these pictures so that I can remember how lucky I am to be going and how much although I will miss everyone here, it is so necessary to my spiritual, intellectual, and emotional growth to be on my way to the City of Lights.

Art at it's best

The new girl talk album is fantastic and even better -- you can download it & name your price for it.

http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/


I suggest you download it immediately and put it on repeat on your iPod, it doesn't get old.

Words of Wisdom

"We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change."

-- Al Gore

Beating Maureen Dowd to the punch

Two days ago I commented on the New York Time's article about how it is has been hard for comics and TV hosts to satirize Obama and the famed NYT columnist Dowd just commented on it. Although she is obviously so totally behind the times, she also has some good points about the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/opinion/16dowd.html?em&ex=1216440000&en=4cc4b28f35c01242&ei=5087%0A

She puts a different spin on the issue that never crossed my mind. An unfunny Obama presidency would not be so fun... our beloved Colbert and Stewart need fuel for their fires!

Proud to be a Californian.

It's a given that as a California girl through and through, I have a dislike for rain, a taste for flip-flops year round, and the need to be within 10 miles of the ocean. As much as I take it for granted, once in awhile something is brought to my attention that makes me realize how lucky I am to live in the state that I do. Here are two snippets of articles that make me damn proud to be a Cali girl (Play "we got more bounce in California than all yours combined..." in your mind).

1st article:
New York Times 7/17/08
For Pelosi, a Fight Against Offshore Drilling

"Upon entering Congress in 1987, Representative Nancy Pelosi quickly became part of the solid California front against oil drilling along much of the nation’s coast.

The Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 and the steady push to tap the potential reserves off the state’s rugged coast had galvanized Californians and made opposition to offshore drilling part of the political DNA of up-and-coming figures like Ms. Pelosi...

She attributes today’s energy problems to a failure of the Bush administration to develop a comprehensive approach, to its ties to the oil industry and to a mishandling of the economy."

This article describes how my girl Pelosi (first female Speaker of the House and a fellow San Franciscan) has been willing to let her personal opinions on controversial matters be compromised slightly in order to achieve resolution in the House. Offshore drilling is not one of those matters, however. Political leaders from California have been pushing this case for decades and as the top Californian in Washington, Pelosi is in the position of being able to stop a offshore drilling bill from reaching the floor. It seems that with Pelosi in the position she is, the money-hungry Republicans won't be able to get their hands on the limited, possibly out-of-reach oil reserves. I feel better knowing that this California women has all of our best (long-term) interests at heart and wants to pursue more efficient and less damaging means of energy production.



2nd article courtesy of Evan O'Donnell.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7494640.stm
This one is short and a good, light-hearted read. Gotta love San Francisco...

Amazing Trailer.

The pineapple express trailer is a classic in my opinion. The movie looks like it's going to be hilarious and I think the use of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" in the trailer is absolutely perfect. The song is my summer anthem -- you can often find me walking around Westwood listening to it on my iPod complete with me shooting invisible guns in the air and mostly likely scaring passerbys -- and I am so happy that it found its way on to this trailer.

Here's a youtube video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYg2EJLJids

Enjoy.

I'm ashamed of McCain.

To keep with the political theme of today, I just saw that McCain spoke out against gay adoption. Nothing makes me angrier than this topic. It makes me so heated and passionate (in hatred of McCain and his ignorant cronies) that I realize why I love politics and why it is so important for all of us to constantly educate ourselves so that we can realize that McCain is saying this and to realize that voting for him is voting for this! Outlawing gay adoption has zero logistical support in my opinion. Having a mother and a father does not guarantee a happy, healthy childhood and therefore having two fathers or two mothers would in no way ensure some sort of detrimental upbringing for a child in question. These two homosexual would receive the gift and joy of parenthood and give the gift of a healthy, supportive upbringing to the child. 

This is one more reminder why Obama needs to win this November!

Darfur News

In other, more sobering news, the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashi, was accused by the International Criminal Court of the crime of directing genocide in his nation. This seems to me the first, concrete and legitimate step towards halting the destructive behavior in this region by an international organization with some accolades. Although the International Criminal Court is considered somewhat of a fluff organization given that it has no legimitacy in the international system (mostly thanks to the US's lack of willingess to hand over jurisdiction to the ICC), I still think that this is a huge, positive step in the right direction in the fight to right the situation in Darfur. It is also a step towards international organizations having more legitimacy in the national conversation. I think that the ICC's step to publicly reprimand the president of Darfur will place shame on the shoulders of the UN because the UN has taken no significant measures to end the genocide and yet it is looked to as the closest institution we have to a world government. As easy as it is look with disregard at the UN for not doing what the ICC has now tried to do, it is a mistake to criticize the UN for not taking action. The UN was not built to single-handedly take action. It is a foundation/structure through which the great powers could efficiently pool resources to run international affairs in their favor. Therefore, when the UN fails to impede the horrific act of genocide occurring in Sudan, it is really us that are to blame. Our government and those of other great powers such as China (who still does business with a lot of Sudanese companies) should be held responsible for the not taking action because the great powers have failed to put pressure on the Sudanese government to make the atrocity stop. Nonetheless, this post is not a rant, it is a somber celebration -- here's to the ICC for making a strong (though I would assume mostly symbolic) move towards ending the genocide and here's to hoping it draws enough attention to the issue to pressure the Great Powers to follow suit. 

Great article

I found this article today from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/us/politics/15humor.html?em&ex=1216267200&en=eb5806c4fae3982b&ei=5087%0A.

I found it hilarious as it quoted from some of my favorite talk show hosts, but also interesting in a social context. Growing up in the Bush era, our president has been the butt of many, many, many jokes in popular culture and has been a figure that few have come to respect in this sense. As this article mentions, however, Obama is a figure that the mainstream pop culture has not been able to poke fun at (or is it just that they are so under his spell they have no desire to?). Not only do talk show hosts and pundits not have a particular characteristic or trait of Obama's to harp on, if they do find something to make fun, they'll likely be faced with the sound of crickets as audiences will show resistance to Obama-based humor. Will this lack of satire of Obama be a temporary situation until he makes a misstep or reveals an imperfect side to him? Or is Obama's spell over America and their talk show hosts going to take him into his inevitable presidential term(s)? And if the latter is the case, will his time as president redefine the sense of respect pop culture and comedians pay to the person in the oval office? I know that on a personal level this election has so far heightened my interest and respect for national politics that 8 years with Dubya had worn down significantly. As I'm sure anyone who knows the slightest bit about politics would know, this election seems to have brought many thought-provoking questions to the attention of mainstream America and I believe that in the end, we will be redefined as a nation no matter who is in the Oval Office January of 2009. (But God help me, it better be Obama)

Summertime

I think that summertime is the epitome of the saying "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Don't you agree? I've had some of my best memories during summer, such as body surfing at dusk in Cape Cod, beach days at Stinson, parties outside on warm nights, and some of the worst -- boring nights where a Law & Order SUV marathon becomes my only entertainment, the lack of phone calls from friends traveling all over the world while you work in your boring 9-5 job. But now that I am entering in my third year as a college student, summer has taken on a whole new meaning. Summer is now pretty awkward. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the lack of nightly homework, the daily grind of manuevering around a packed campus, or sweating in the LA sun as you sprint to your 9 am French class that you are late to every day, but I feel that it is a transition period that one is unable to become accustomed to. A summer in college is a hodgepodge of the old, current, and future that allows for ample reminiscing, dreaming, and musing.

Going home reminds me of all I miss, don't remember, realize that I in fact do remember, and don't miss at all of my past life before college. The drive to your old high school feels like trying on old pair of jeans that snugs your body in all the right places and is worn in just so, but also has a huge tear in the crotch that you discover once you put them on and is also the cause for putting them aside in the first place. On the way to Redwood, I realize just how many times I have made that drive and how comforting it feels to head over there. Circling the parking lot, I remember being asked out for prom, sprinting out to my car to be the first one out to lunch, and drudging over to the track to run the dreaded mile in my horrid PE uniform. I also remember dragging my tired ass out to my car after a boring, non-stimulating day of school, hiding my head to avoid eye contact with my male obsession of the week (the height of my awkward stage), and the times when I sat in my car staring at the ominous Mt. Tam wondering what else was out there beyond the confines of good ol' Marin County.

Heading over to the town mall also brings the good with the bad. It's most recent structural facelift reminds me exactly why I was glad to leave home -- the superficiality of a state-of-the-art shopping mall and the glamazons that roam it aren't at the top of my list of sights to see. It also the place I had one of my first jobs, one of the first places I drove my car to once I (finally) passed my driver's test, I purchased my first bikini, bought my senior prom dress, and had countless conversations with some of the best people in my life. A trip back to the mall during the summer brings interactions with the good, bad, past, and present. For, a trip to the mall now means that I will most likely encounter five supremely awkward people whom I only deemed awkward once I graduated, moved my ass out of Marin, and gained the realization that we share nothing in common, revealed way too much about each other at high school parties, and have no desire to now mend our stale friendship. But, on the other hand, one gets to see the people we have know for 12 years and for whom only a trip to college could make me realize the dynamics of their sparkling personalities. Of course, it is also a given that a trip to the mall entails running into some of the many people from Marin I have met in college. It is oddly comforting to see them in the setting of one's hometown -- reminding you that share the same roots and that college is only one phase of one's life and that your relationships with the people you meet at school do not have be confined to the boundaries of UCLA and Westwood.
I hate to sound dramatic, but now you know why a simple act such as a trip to the mall beings on such a mix of emotions and memories. Goddamn, it can be tiring to go home!

Being back at school now, I have not escaped this feeling that "summer is weird." It is the first time that I am at UCLA in a new context and the first time that I am away from home in a new context. It is truly a departure -- I did not have to leave home, I chose to in order to do something other than school. In fact, I came to LA to live here this summer. I could have taken summer classes or worked at home, but I consciously chose to come down to LA and it sure makes me feel old/independent/somewhat scared. Times are changing and studying abroad will only accelerate these changes. Now that will be interesting...