gravity's rainbow

Interview!

sarcozona — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:18:22 +0000

I’ve got a scholarship interview tomorrow. Any money I get at this point will reduce my loans for the semester, which would be wonderful. I’m a little nervous and very worried that I’m going to have a migraine.

Yikes!

***UPDATE***

I got it!

What I’ve noticed

sarcozona — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:52:14 +0000

The US government conducted a huge raid for illegal immigrants in Postville, Iowa. They haven’t explained why some are being deported and others are being jailed. Wives of the arrested men have been fitted with leg monitoring bracelets and basically been told “You can’t work, you can’t leave and can’t stay.” The local Roman Catholic church is now caring for the women. A priest responds to the situation:

He said he understands that the people arrested were illegal, but he said they were also desperate.

“This was their last option. They would not have chosen this as their first option. They wanted to feed their families. Scripture tells us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give shelter to the shelterless. If you and your family were starving, what would you do?” [via holographicme]

Russia’s not playing nice with Georgia. [via 3QD]

Helen Boyd interviews Monica Canfield-Lenfest. Includes my new favorite word: queerspawn.

A moving post on teaching. I want to be a good teacher someday, but I’ve got a very long way to go.

When their high school refused to let them organize, the Okeechobee, FL Gay-Straight Alliance asked the ACLU for help. They’ve won the case. Notably, the decision requires the school board to “take into account the well-being of its non-heterosexual students.”

My first ESA meeting!

sarcozona — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:48:26 +0000

This summer, I went to the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting in Milwaukee. After spending most of my summer at KBS near the small town of Hickory Corners, it was nice to be in a city for a few days.

The conference was great. I learned a lot of ecology, met tons of cool scientists (including the incredible Aspiring Ecologist) who gave me great ideas for my research, explored the best used bookstore I’ve ever seen, went swing dancing, and made up for two months without Thai food.

Back to the music

sarcozona — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:41:58 +0000

I haven’t done a weekly top 5 since June, and I’m not planning on doing one today. Hopefully you’ve all still managed to find good music. Just in case you’re having trouble, though, here’s a song I really love.

Vacation’s over

sarcozona — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:42:09 +0000

I lived at the Kellogg Biological Station for most of this summer. It’s wonderful to be home, but living on a lake wasn’t all bad.

“It’s natural”

sarcozona — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:36:32 +0000

From Helen Boyd’s She’s Not the Man I Married.

I find it amusing that people find excuses for their bad behavior by pointing to residual cavemen genes, since I thought the whole point of civilization was to maybe get past our most basic urges, or at least indulge them responsibly.

Wondering what to do with your life?

sarcozona — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:19:38 +0000

From The Life of the Cosmos by Lee Smolin.

[T]he fact that general relativity and the quantum are not yet united means that we have no single picture of what the world is that we can believe in. When a child asks, What is the world, we literally have nothing to tell her.

Sexism

sarcozona — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:29:10 +0000

From Helen Boyd’s She’s Not the Man I Married.

the first time it occurred to me that my mother wasn’t just my mom or Mrs. My Dad, but actually had a first name, astonished me. I remember feeling shocked by the realization that my mother was a person, like me, and not just someone who’d been invented or come into being as a result of my father’s need for a wife or my and my siblings’ need for a mother.

DKNY Ballari

sarcozona — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:35:36 +0000

I went to a conference where I needed to look somewhat professional, but I needed to be able to walk several miles and stand for several hours. So, I went shopping for a pair of black flats. I tried three brands of shoes that were relatively cheap - $30 to $60. Even though they all had reviews praising their comfort, I was uncomfortable in all of them. Then I found these. More expensive, but worth every penny. They were so comfortable that I wore them even when I didn’t have to look nice.

Elephant, spaceship, whatever

sarcozona — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:23:30 +0000

My housemate, Jane, is a wonderful artist and has this strange idea that everyone around her is some sort of artist, too. She hung up a large piece of paper in our kitchen and insists that visitors add something. I showed it to my brother who is staying with us this week:

Me: I added the elephant.

My brother: What elephant?

Me: THIS elephant.

My brother: Oh. I thought that was a spaceship.