Has Facebook overtaken the blog?

Perhaps, yes. Since it seems like everyone I know is on Facebook, such as my uncles and grandmother, the audience of this blog has a variety of ways with which to keep in touch.

But the long-form nature of blogging is preferable to someone like myself, so I need to get back on the blogging train, or blogging car, or whichever.

So what's been on the brain over the past few weeks. . .

Gay Marriage and the president.
It's fair to say that I've been "for" gay marriage since 1996, when Hawaii's Supreme Court briefly indicated that equal protection required it, and Congress quickly passed the Defense of Marriage Act, with the hearty endorsement of Democrats like President Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Biden, and a ton of other folks. Even Paul Wellstone, rest his soul, voted for the thing. So the say that supporting DOMA was mainstream would be an understatement. I think there was some legitimate concern that the Hawaiian Supreme Court shoudn't decide marriage policy for the other 49 states, which was fair, and also the desire to codify that the federal government wouldn't recognize any gay marriages, which was bullshit.

Anyhow, as a kid in 1996 when DOMA was passed I thought it was (a) mean, and (b) bullshit.

So 16 years later I'm very happy to see a Democratic president get on the right side of this issue. It's a big deal. Another reason I'm very happy to have this president.

One note: There's a lot of concern about his "leave it to the states" position. I think this is less about allowing states to BAN gay marriage as it is about allowing other states to ALLOW gay marriage. State by state, bit by bit, the tide is turning. Every state that has gay marriage is showing by example that gay marriages are stabilizing, healthy, conservative institutions. The president is an incrementalist by nature, so I think his federalist position is more about preserving gains than about slowing progress and protecting bigoted states.

Anyhow. If you told me Barack would: Stop a recession in its tracks, pass Obamacare, kill bin Laden, and come out for gay marriage, I'd have said you were talking about a fantasy liberal.


I've been spending a lot of time talking with my middle eastern teenage students lately about the politics and conditions of their home countries. Most are from a tiny village in Palestine near Ramallah, a few from Jordan, and a couple scattered in Syria and the UAR. There political views are certainly more extreme than is considered polite in America, but it's understandable. They are teenagers, first of all, which doesn't lend itself to thoughtful moderation. They really hate Israel, which is also fair, because most of them literally live under an occupation by soldiers that aren't known for being gentle.

I've come around to the idea that the best way to get a two-state solution is a unilateral Israeli pullout from the West Bank, with some land swaps to make up for the settlements, and a position that any rocket attacks will be met with brutal bombardment of population centers. Netanyahu could say something like "We're out of here, it's all yours. Enjoy your new state. Every rocked fired from the West Bank will be met by a hundred missiles right back. Don't test us."

Seizing the moral high ground by withdrawing unilaterally would give Israel more security than it's current situation. At least I think so.

Well, I'm off to fish with seventh graders. Adios.

Avengers Assemble!

On Earth Day, Disney wanted to promote something of theirs. To thank us at work for giving them a space to do that, they sent us a ton of passes to see The Avengers, which is the (second) biggest movie of this upcoming summer season.

Thus, a motley crew of co-workers and friends went last night to see it. Ben, Cal, Cass, Allison, Mike, and from work Tim, Sully, Liz, and Angela.

There was a huuuuuge line of people trying to see it, and we luckily were there in time to get in. Cal, Cass, Allison, and Mike kinda/sorta had to jump the line to get in, but that's ok, because I was there saving their spot, I say.

That's Ben and Tim up top. It is a 3-D movie, hence the goofy glasses. Not too bad, actually. Ben is the Hulk, Tim is Thor.

Short Review: It was good! The action scenes aren't too great, because you've got "immoveable force vs. unstoppable object" fights like Thor against Iron Man, which can't really have a winner.

The best parts of where the hero's are arguing with each other --- the dialogue is pretty snappy here, and keeps things going along. Captain America is the true believer, Iron Man is a wisecracking cynic, Hulk just wants to not freak out, and Thor wants to beat up his brother, the evil Loki.

It was a very fun movie, and well-directed, not surprisingly, by Joss Whedon.

You only give me your funny paper

Not true, of course. A bunch of you gave me much more than your funny paper.

 I  VERY much appreciate everyone who contributed to my big Groupon fundraising campaign for work. We brought in $2,430 in donations, plus $1,000 in matching from Com Ed, plus a grand that Groupon gave us, so we totaled $4,430 for my program. Not bad, not bad at all.

During Earth Day, we had some great success as well. 700 people came to Humboldt Park to clean up and mulch the trees, and I got on the CBS local news talking about trees and other assorted nonsense. While I was working, Kristin got me two tickets to see Bruuuuuuce at Wrigley Field in September. On the field, in front of the stage! The best spot in the house! Man, I am pumped. I really like outdoor shows, and I especially like Wrigley Field. But who to go with? Hmmmm. . . .

And to top it off, Disney sent us (at work) a load of passes for a special advance screening of The Avengers this Wednesday.

This week is going well.

Be awesome. Buy this today.

My job is taking kids on field trips, where we hike, fish, clean up beaches, and learn about nature.

This stuff costs money. Lots of money.

But this week, Groupon is running a campaign for us. Each $10 'voucher' purchased sponsors 1 kid to take a field trip with me. Every $300 pays for an entire classroom (this is done by buying 30 vouchers, if anyone's feeling wealthy :))

Check it out! The promo picture is some handsome guy, working with young students on a beach.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/grs-friends-of-the-parks




All donations are very, very appreciated. And tax deductible!

SCOTUS

Well Javier, the carpenter, is working in the other room, and it's a bit too early for us to head to downtown for work, so Kristin and I are just killing time on our respective computers. It's always slightly awkward to be in the house when someone is doing work for you ----- internet installation, plumber, carpenter, I always feel lazy for dicking around on the computer when a tradesman is doing work in the house. Even though I realize that's the entire point of hiring someone to do a task that I cannot do.

I haven't weighed in on the 'Obamacare' arguments at the Supreme Court, so here goes: If they decide that the mandate is unconstitutional, it's not that big of a shocker. Thomas, Scalia, Alito, and to an extent Roberts have been true believers in the Federalist Society school of thought for a long, long time, and probably see themselves as able to finally knock back some of the Warren/Burger courts' massive overreach (as they see it).
And I don't really have a problem with that, honestly. They're on the Supreme Court. They get to decide what's what now, and stare decisis isn't exactly going to get in the way of stopping Leviathan-esque tyranny (as they see it).

I can respect that. Segregation had been precedent for 58 years before Brown was decided. Roe was inspired by (I think) Griswold, which was all of 8 years old, not exactly longstanding precedent.
If a Justice sees a law as unconstitutional, I don't expect them to say "Well, this is awful, but you know, stare decisis, so. . ."

I can, however, easily see Kennedy wanting to strip the mandate but keep the rest of the law, which then Roberts sees as too complicated, so they decide to uphold the mandate, and it goes 6-3 across the board.

(Mind you, the whole third day argument about Medicaid expansion being coercive is complete horseshit. Overturning THAT would make me fly off the handle.)

Anyhow, have a great Tuesday!

Don't shave so fast or Kyan will get upset

We had to get up earlier than usual today because the carpenters from The FixIt Company were coming. They are a "100% Woman-Owned Company," and I've had two hour-long sit-downs with the founder and owner, Linda. She is a very sweet lady, and I'm glad that we have hired her company. Hopefully they will do great work.

They are putting up a lot of drywall, and also doing a lot of small bits of patching and finishing around the stairs area. Linda had taken a brief look at it to give us our price quote, but the fellows this morning were pretty comprehensive so they know exactly what to do.

Once this work is all done by these guys, I will prime/paint it while Kristin is in San Diego at her work conference, and then we'll have it looking great, with only the actual finish wood on the stairs themselves to be completed at a future date to be determined.

I was thinking today how this is the fourth contractor we've had work on our house (plus Ken's work, and Heschel and Ryan's help with some small projects), but it doesn't seem like we've been doing that much. I guess that is a good thing to be able to make improvements bit-by-bit.

We had a whirlwind weekend, with Bethany's wedding shower Saturday morning followed by her bachelorette party on Saturday night. I stayed on-call in case I was needed to drive the girls anywhere, but they took cabs around. Yesterday we had some tasty Kristin-made pancakes for breakfast, then took Abby to the train station, came home for an hour, then took Beth to Midway.
Driving a lot these past few days!

Then, of course, we're heading to Tulsa for Easter weekend. Thankfully we've got plenty of music for the Corolla.

The constant in these busy days? Watching many, many episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Good lord man, this show is great.

Bring on your Wrecking Ball

Holy goodness, is it nice outside this week! I'm about to go out back and work on a grant proposal from my lawnchair. That sounds about right.

I've gotten progressively worse at blogging. I wish I hadn't. I just seem to have less to type these days, but just as much to say.

We recently had a big fun construction/renovation project at home. Ken and Gale (Kristin's folks) and my dad came here for a long weekend, and we ripped out the whole staircase and wall separating the foyer from the bathroom. Then we constructed a new staircase, much roomier and safer than the previous.
When I say "we" I mean Ken did all of the brain work, planning out what needed to be done and designing the new stairs. Dad and I were grunts, cutting boards and whatnot, and Gale and Kristin were the true backbone of the operation, getting the lumber, taking care of our messes, cooking delicious meals and all of the essential things.

We're very excited that we now have a staircase that is not insanely narrow and steep. We're getting bids on some drywall and trim work, and hopefully will have our frames all nice and walled up soon. It will look great.

We are super-lucky to have such great parents who do stuff like this for us. They are wonderful.

Last Saturday we went to see Abby's play, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She had the role of Lucy, which is a big, physical comedy role. She really knocked it out of the park! There was no mistaking that she was by far the most talented person on stage ---- she was funny, she sang in character, she was all Lucy all the time. Very, very impressive.

So here's some new Bruce for you. The first is a great gospel track, "Rocky Ground," that is divisive in that some people loathe it and some people can't stop listening to it. I happen to love it. Some hardcore Bruce fans are shocked that there's a rap solo on it, but I think it's all for the best.
The second track is a stomper, "Death To My Hometown," that I also love. It's very Celtic-styled, with a certain 1860s feel, but clearly aimed at the vampires at Goldman, Lehman, etc.




Rocky Ground




Death To My Hometown




As you know, I await the arrival of a new Springsteen record with great joy and anticipation. In October 2007, I ripped open my copy of Magic, and listened to it every day, multiple times, for a few weeks.
In early 2009, I did the same for my copy of Working On a Dream, and was immediately disheartened. I tried to get into it, but it just didn't take. A few of the songs could stand on their own, but the album had nothing to tie them together. They were mostly loose ends compiled into an album. And a lot of the loose ends were no good.

So it was with an anxious set of ears that, early Tuesday, I popped my CD of Wrecking Ball into the stereo, turned it up to 11, and began to listen.

It's really something. It still sounds like a Springsteen album, but different. It's timeless stories of anger, greed, hope, and redemption, done in a folky, New Orleans, Civil War style, mixed with samples, electronic drums, and loads of gospel.


I especially appreciate the linkage of struggles from the Civil War to fighting against robber barons to civil rights to the modern-day immigrants struggles. Bruce does a good job stringing these together throughout the album, creating a very historically-conscious sense that these things have happened before, and they're happening now, and they'll keep happening, and we need to keep fighting.

Goodness, what else is going on? Work is going very well, I'm probably enjoying it more now than at any time since I've had my job. I've been bringing in more grant money, getting more comfortable at piping up on any issue, and generally being myself more than I have before. My boss seems to appreciate this, so I guess I'll keep doing it.

Ok, enough for now. Take care!