Rejected
They said,
If you like her, just tell her!
They said,
It’s a good bet she likes you
They said,
And even if she doesn’t
They said,
At least you’ll know.
I said,
I enjoy being with you
I said,
I’d like to see where this goes
I said,
I know it won’t be easy
I said,
But would you like to date me?
She said,
I like you, but
She said,
I’m not sure we click, and
She said,
We don’t live near each other, and
She said,
My interest has a radius, and you are not in it.
And then there was silence
Except for the sound of a heart breaking further
Giving into the pressure of not being nurtured
And indeed I knew
One day a last breath will exit these bones
And I’ll die, older and fatter but just as alone.
Raw
“What is boyfriend material?”
I wonder, the clock chiming three.
Perhaps it’s a slow rocking comfort
Like the waves in the sea;
The warm fuzzy feeeling
Of a hot cup of tea;
Or the wondrous excitement
When one climbs a tree.
A means of endlessly giving,
It may very well be;
But whatever it is,
I’ve been told it’s not me.
Modern Love
Couple at a coffee shop,
texting;
the burning fire of their passion
barely obscured
by the dim glow of their phones.
The Capitalist’s Case for a Single-Payer System
Imagine you work at a company that makes software that tracks the production of widgets. Your software does everything that a widget producer might need, from helping widget-makers gather raw materials for the widgets to ensuring quality widget manufacturing to tracking revenue for the widget production companies.
However, the widget industry has a unique twist. Widget consumers do not pay widget producers directly for their widgets; rather, widget producers give out their widgets on loan to consumers, and the consumers pay Widget Sponsors who ultimately reimburse the widget producers. In fact, widgets aren’t really a consumer good — consumers only ever seek out widgets when they actually need them. Unfortunately, because widgets are very expensive, the Widget Sponsors go to great lengths to make sure that widget producers are only giving widget consumers the widgets that the consumers absolutely need. As a result, Widget Sponsors require rather specific and complex documentation from widget companies regarding precisely which widgets were given to a widget consumer and why.
Even though a widget company often deals with several different Widget Sponsors, widget companies never receive the benefits of competition between the Widget Sponsors. This is because one particular Widget Sponsor is responsible for sponsoring the vast majority of people who most need widgets, an arrangement with which the other Widget Sponsors are perfectly happy given that the consumer base sponsored by the main Widget Sponsor usually needs a large amount of the most expensive widgets. Naturally, this means that the main Widget Sponsor has to shell out considerably more than any of the other Widget Sponsors. Yet, since the main Widget Sponsor represents the majority of widget consumers, this Sponsor concomitantly has the bargaining power with widget companies to nearly single-handedly set the price of widgets. Although the other Widget Sponsors often pay more than the main Widget Sponsor, their reimbursements are never far off from that of the main Widget Sponsor, especially since Widget Sponsors have little incentive to increase their reimbursement rate.
Furthermore, every state runs their own Widget Sponsor to ensure that their poor residents who otherwise cannot afford a Widget Sponsor are sponsored in their time of need. Each state-run Widget Sponsor has its own set of requirements regarding what it requires from a widget company in order for that company to be reimbursed for its widgets. Moreover, these requirements are usually more stringent and comprehensive than a normal Widget Sponsor, as the state-run Widget Sponsors receive a much smaller stipend — if any at all — from their consumer bases than do the other Widget Sponsors.
While a small widget production company may only have to deal with a handful of Widget Sponsors, including just a single state-run Widget Sponsor, your widget software firm is not so lucky. Not only do you have to keep track of the differing regulations amongst the private Widget Sponsors, you also have to know the requirements of 50 different state-run Widget Sponsors if you wish to expand your business nationally. Additionally, each individual widget production company to which you sell your software understandably expects you to tailor your software to account for the reimbursement arrangements they have set up with each Widget Sponsor.
Wouldn’t you rather that there just be a single Widget Sponsor so that you could focus on making the best product possible instead of spending time and resources trying to figure out how to make your software bend over 50 different ways? And don’t you think the widget companies would rather use their revenue to improve their widgets rather than spending significant overhead on negotiating and dealing with a myriad of Widget Sponsors?
The Absurd Economics of Alumni Donations
A month or so ago, my alma mater, Carleton College, sent out this fundraising email to solicit donations from recent graduates for some contribution collection drive they were holding over the weekend. Several alumni reacted very negatively to the email, claiming it was insulting and patronizing. Then, of course, there was a backlash to that backlash, with many others finding the email funny and claiming that the first group was too easily offended. Personally, I thought the email was stupid and unfunny, though not particularly offensive. Yet what does offend me is the College’s insistence on asking students who are barely removed from spending four years at their very expensive institution to give them even more money. Given how much Carleton costs, the notion that recent graduates ought to feel some sort of obligation to donate seems to me ignorant and insulting.
Indeed, a quick look into the available information combined with some educated mathematical guesswork reveals that Carleton no more needs my donation than Minnesota needs more snow. In fact, the idea that graduates — particularly recent and often indebted ones — should give financially to “support” the College is downright disingenuous. What follows is a brief investigation into whether alumni donations are at all necessary to the financial health of Carleton. This is an admittedly cursory and imperfect exploration, but I believe it to be quite revealing and convincing nevertheless. Moreover, the information presented here should apply to any U.S. private college; I have picked Carleton because they won’t stop emailing me.
Read more…
Morgen
Die Frühlingssonne geht auf
ein neugeflossendes See.
Sie errinert sich alle:
jedes sich wandelt.
One
I am a moonlit traveler
Walking alongside the highway;
A thousand pairs of eyes,
A thousand separate lives
Pass me by.
Snow Thoughts
What is it about snow that makes everything quiet? Even amongst howling winds, there’s a wonderful muted quality to the world right after a snowstorm has passed through. In fact, it feels like a different world entirely. Despite a massive amount of disruptive material having just been dumped into our environment, everyone seems peaceful and at rest. The slow gait and heavy scarf of a passerby only make her seem more intrepid in these conditions. With relatively few souls about, you can comfortably walk down the middle of the street, flanked only by houses and their inhabitants trying to keep warm. It’s easy to lose yourself in this wondrously serene scene — only the crunch of my footsteps and the piercing sound of a distant voice bring me back to reality.
***
I love how snow makes everyday objects emerge more starkly from their surroundings. It blankets everything, wiping out man-made distinctions like curb and road, and yet I would have never noticed a row of bikes leaning up against a house but for the way the snow perches perfectly undisturbed atop their frames. A blade of grass suddenly stands out from its brethren as it struggles valiantly to emerge from the suffocating blanket thrown over it. Especially at nighttime, a coat of snow layered on the normally drab browns and grays of winter creates a vivid outline that really highlights shapes and contours. In its own unique way, the homogeneous whiteness of snow reveals the incredible heterogeneity of form.
***
There are three types of people who walk around the city the night after a snowstorm. You’re undoubtedly familiar with the classic two: children excited about a day off from school and the opportunity to explore a brand new unbounded playground, and couples very much in love who appreciate the chance for a quiet moment outside and alone together before retiring inside to warm up in each others’ arms. But I think it really takes the silent observation of the third type — my type, the lonely wanderer — to appreciate the simple beauty of the first two.
George’s Folly
Mark Hamill (that’s Luke Skywalker, in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 40 years–and if you don’t know who Luke Skywalker is, we can’t be friends) was a guest on last Thursday’s episode of The Adam Carolla Show, in which he told what I found to be a very revealing anecdote about George Lucas. Hamill said that Lucas was originally unhappy with Anthony Daniels’s voicing of C-3PO as a very straight-laced English butler type of character; according to Hamill, Lucas even went so far as to plan a casting call for someone who would do the voice in the style of a “used car salesman”. Of course, the rest of the cast loved Daniels’s portrayal for the humor it brought to the film and understandably thought Lucas was crazy for wanting anything different. Luckily, Lucas was eventually talked out of replacing Daniels, but I found it fascinating that one of the most iconic characters of the entire Star Wars film series could have, entirely because of Lucas’s vision, turned out very differently—and horribly wrong.
Hamill also told a story about his screen test for the first Star Wars film. Apparently Lucas didn’t really want to discuss the motivation and background behind the character Hamill was to play — Lucas either didn’t care or wasn’t concerned about such things. Personally, as an actor, I find it extremely helpful to know the motivations and drives behind the character I’m trying to play. I’m not sure it’s the most important ingredient in a good acting performance, but knowing why your character is doing what they’re doing certainly helps to ground your performance in some sort of reality. In fact, I think a big reason why the first three Star Wars movies were (and are) so incredibly popular is because the main characters are quite likeable and even relatable, despite constantly having experiences wholly foreign from our own. As one who idolized Lucas and his films growing up, to hear that he was apparently rather distant from (and maybe even opposed to) the qualities that made his films so successful is shocking.
Knowing now these stories about Lucas, perhaps it shouldn’t be such a surprise that the latter three Star Wars movies suffered so much in quality when compared to the first three. With Lucas’s legend and legacy from the original trilogy firmly cemented in history, I doubt anyone would have had the nerve or the credibility to challenge his ideas even when, as with his initial vision for C-3PO, they ought to have been challenged. Indeed, the newer prequel trilogy (unrelated: this will always be confusing) is visually stunning, with imaginative new landscapes that vastly expand upon the universe created by the first three movies. Sadly, the new characters we meet who inhabit this grand place leave much to be desired. I’d argue that the most gorgeous and inventive set pieces in the world are ultimately useless if the characters who occupy them fail to create an emotional connection with the audience. It’s why Avatar deservedly won Best Cinematography and equally deservedly did not win Best Picture.
I wonder how many well-regarded directors really owe their success to a great first idea or a great supporting cast. It’s an interesting chicken-and-egg question whether directors beget or are begotten by success. Do some directors who nail their first few films let their egos and aspirations run wild, ultimately failing to recapture the kernels of truth depicted in their early work? Is it that some directors perennially ride the coattails of an amazing mélange of personalities that they were lucky enough to cook up on celluloid for their debut? A few intriguing case studies come to mind: M. Night Shyamalan’s first couple of movies were critically and popularly acclaimed, but he’s sucked ever since … Pretty much every film Quentin Tarantino has made has been good, but he’s also always worked with an excellent and well-known cast. I certainly don’t mean this as an attack on George Lucas — the man brought me my favorite films ever made, an essential part of my childhood, and a wealth of detailed knowledge about a universe far, far away but very close to my heart. However, it’s worth remembering that artists (and even athletes) too often get lauded or lambasted for feats that are really the culmination of the labor of many pairs of hands. To be sure, there would be no Star Wars without George Lucas; and yet it seems equally true that if Star Wars were just George Lucas, it would not be nearly as loved as it is today.
Yes, Star Wars is perhaps best known for bringing spaceships, lightsabers, aliens, and droids into the imaginations and lexicons of millions of people worldwide. But as Disney prepares to fund Episodes Seven through Kajillion of the Star Wars saga, I hope the filmmakers turn back to the themes that made the original Star Wars so timeless: good & evil, love & friendship, and blowing shit up. All, ironically, very human elements.
Sporting Slurs
For those whose Spanish isn’t fluent, have never seen Scarface or fail at google, Yunel’s eyeblack “TU ERE MARICON” translates to “You’re a faggot”. There are some small Spanish locales where it translates to “pussy” not “faggot” but that’s a very small possibility….”That’s gay”, “You’re gay”, “You’re a fag”, “You’re a faggot” are not acceptable insults in 2012. They are slurs and we need to get rid of them. When our sports heroes proliferate their usage, our progress takes a step back.
The accusation that his statement was “Gay Bashing” and an insult to the Gay community as some have alluded to is a bit much for me. I also found that his three-day suspension was unfair. If Yunel’ comments would have been in English I would definitely not be writing this piece and would also be hounding Yunel as well….in Spanish the word “Maricón” is a frequently used as a person, place or thing as “f–k” is in English.
—Julio Pabon, “Latino Players Not Happy With Yunel Escobar’s Suspension & Fine”
It was not something I intended to be offensive. It was something I just put on the sticker on my face as a joke. There was nothing intentional directed at anyone in particular. I don’t have anything against homosexuals. I have friends who are gay. In reality I’d like to ask for the apologies of all those who have been offended by this.
I wonder what Yunel Escobar’s “friends that are gay” think about his eyeblack message.
I apologize for the long series of pictures and quotes, but there’s a lot of sides to this story and issue that deserve attention (note that the names attributed to each quote are hyperlinks that lead to the sources from which the quotes were pulled). In case you haven’t heard about this story or can’t quite follow what happened based on what’s laid out above, here are the basics. About a week ago, pictures were posted online of Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar wearing eyeblack with the message “TU ERE MARICON” painted on during a game (I first found out when I saw the tweet from @keithlaw pictured above, which links to this photo posted by James G. on Flickr). Obviously, as James G. points out in the quote I’ve pulled from his post, that message can very easily be construed as offensive. Mounting photos and reports of the message worn by Escobar caused MLB to begin an investigation into the incident and soon the pictures were confirmed as authentic. The Toronto Blue Jays, supported by MLB, suspended Escobar for three games and Escobar held a press conference in which he apologized and claimed the message was meant only as a harmless “joke”. So player makes stupid mistake, causes public uproar, and gets punished–end of story, right? Not quite.
A significant number of fans, players, and media members actually defended Escobar, claiming (amongst other things) that Escobar’s message isn’t that bad in the context of language normally used in the clubhouse, or, as in the article by Julio Pabon quoted above, that the word “Maricón” isn’t particularly offensive in a Spanish context. Others, such as the aforementioned Keith Law, thought that the reaction by MLB and the Blue Jays was pathetic and that Escobar deserved a much harsher punishment. I fall squarely in the latter camp.
Two Lincolns 