Less words for better feelings – ain't it just. Sun's out. I see the shadows of tree branches bobbing in the wind outside my window. Still have assignments and other texts to pore over, but for now, things are fine.
Or actually, don't. During one bout of insomnia this past semester, I quickly learned that listening to T.S. Eliot read "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is pretty much the worst way to try falling asleep. Excellent poet, weird vocal mannerisms – Eliot sounds too nervous as he reads, yet too bored at the same time, resulting in a tense recitation which is probably some kind of minor feat all its own.
I listened to the whole poem anyway, though. You stick it out for the good stuff, even when it's mainly about the frustrations of mediocrity, aging, and impotence.
Then, to fall asleep – the sweet canned laughter of the Golden Girls audience.
Trying to read more this semester, and not just for school, but also for the soul (partially in order to cope with the reading for school). Sometimes there's a little overlap. Here are some quotes from the non-assigned reading I've been doing lately, mostly about identity in some form:
"Even after all this, one hardly knows what Sam Spade looked like. But everyone knows what Humphrey Bogart looked like. A reader of unillustrated fiction completes the work in his mind; the reader of a comic book or the viewer of a movie is passive. That is why kids lose a lot when they don't read fiction, even when the movies and television that they watch are aesthetically superior."
- Gaiman v McFarlane, 360 F.3d 644 (7th Cir. 2004)
"Eloise shook Mary Jane's arm. 'I was a nice girl,' she pleaded, 'wasn't I?'"
- J.D. Salinger, "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut", Nine Stories
"From the situation where I now am, I see a scene of ambition beyond all my former suspicions or imagination… Jealousies and rivalries… never stared me in the face in such horrid forms as in the present."
- John Adams, as quoted in David McCullough's John Adams
"Rather, the point is that most people have experienced what might be referred to as compromising moments of identity performance – moments in which a person's performance of identity contradicts some political or social image that person has of herself."
- Devon Carbado & Mitu Gulati, Working Identity, 85 Cornell L. Rev. 1259
A common thread: the disconcerting confrontations of the present.
Dear readers, enjoy a triple shot of "ugh" regarding Texas Representative Betty Brown's desire for easier names from The Asians (Welsh, Russians, etc. excluded):
3. And a nice mix of commentary and a link to a "Betty Brown" easier name generator from Sepia Mutiny.
ETA: Because Americans are apparently incompetent when it comes to pronouncing anything that isn't in Eeeeeeeeeeeeenglish. Or by "Americans," she perhaps just means "Rep. Brown," who apparently forgets about other different, difficult-to-pronounce names. Us Asians, causing trouble for everybody.
I can live with people who are apathetic about anything outside their bubble, but what makes this extra agonizing is that the classy Rep. Brown can't just live in the bubble – she wants to make people outside her bubble conform! She would rather impose her ignorance on others than actually take a few seconds to learn a few new sounds. Certainly, there's no questioning that "Hsieh" or "Jawaharlal" might require a pause or two or an embarrassed "Sorry, could you repeat that or possibly write it down phonetically?", but come on! Give your poll workers a little credit, ma'am. Give America some credit, even. It'll do us Yankees good to get used to the idea that there are, indeed, different people out there.
Starbucks is another matter, though. My friends with "difficult names" are completely fine with giving a "Starbucks name" (e.g. """"Steve"""") for caffeine expediency.
P.S. Tangentially-related to the conformity theme, here's an excellent Japanese cover of "I Wanna Be Like You":
I've never read so much about milk before taking Constitutional Law. We're currently covering the dormant commerce clause (though it's better dubbed the "negative implications of the commerce clause"). A lot of the cases deal with milk – its production, its transportation, and its purity. My observations are only based on the limited sample of edited cases included in our casebook, but it seems like the sanctity/integrity of milk is a matter of great consequence in interstate commerce.
The phrase "pure and wholesome" comes up a lot when the Justices refer to milk. Perhaps it's because of milk as a sign full of potential signifieds – innocence, childhood, nutrition, whiteness (blank, empty, clean), comfort, warmth. Or maybe it's just because so many people drink milk (including the Justices) that, by emphasizing milk as pure and wholesome, they can convince themselves that what they imbibe into their bodies isn't contaminated or tainted in any way. A performative utterance.
The following isn't related to the commerce clause, but it does involve milk:
