How Did I Become The Conservative In The Room?

Since I live in the heart of liberal Washington, most classes were cancelled so everyone could watch the inauguration. If you didn't get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend you follow this link to watch it at hulu.com. I was on campus at the Center for Education, Equity, and Diversity watching it with quite a few people from the Education department. After President Obama took the Oath of Office, half the people in the room breathed an audible sigh of relief and someone even said "We got our country back." This made me a little angry. We never 'lost' our country. We weren't invaded; our government wasn't overthrown. Yes, we had a government that overstepped its bounds, that pushed, if not exceeded, the limits of their power and mandate, that took a lot of actions with which a lot of people disagreed. It wasn't the place or time, but I was tempted to ask what exactly this person did to express their displeasure with the decision-making over the past 8 years. Did they contact their Congressional representatives? Did they write to the White House to make themselves heard? Did they get involved with movements or organizations to join their voices with others? I am guessing that they, like me, did nothing more than complain to like-minded individuals. I was against going into Iraq from the beginning, but all I did was complain loudly to people who would listen about why I thought it was a bad idea. I didn't write to my Congressional representatives, I didn't get involved with any movements or groups, I just sat around complaining. Which means I am just as culpable for the mess that we are in as those who supported the invasion. We didn't 'lose' our country to some enemy, we sat by and let a few people mold the country to fit their idea of what it should be. We haven't 'got our country back' either. We simply have an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and become actively involved in the shaping of our nation's future. I think that was what President Obama was saying today - we have to work to realize America's potential. We can't afford not to be actively involved in building the future of our nation. We are already paying the price of too many years of inactivity, self-involvement, and insularity. We can't sit back and expect anything to change if we aren't willing to work to make that change. President Obama can't change anything if we aren't willing to make our wishes, our ideas, our opinions known and aren't willing to work hard to make sure the best ideas and plans come to fruition. We have a willing President, now we need to be willing.

In Which I Weep For The Future

I was grumpy Friday afternoon and in general not enjoying being back in school. So I succumbed to the months-long temptation to buy the Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary DVD whilst picking up necessities at Costco. While watching it with my friend, Flower Child, we happened upon an extra that rendered us speechless and not in a good way. I could write a rambling diatribe about why this makes me weep for the future, but I'm tired and still have many things to do this evening. Instead I will let you, dear readers, draw your own conclusions.

You Know You Are Old When

. . . the actor chosen to be the 11th Doctor for Doctor Who is younger than you are. The Doctor should never be younger than I am! I'm sure the new actor will be great, but I think David Tennant will always be MY Doctor. Those obsessed with the show like I now am (Hi Saxon!) will surely understand this response to the passing of the torch. The rest of you probably have little to no idea what I am talking about.

Winter Can Bite Me

Today I was supposed to fly back to Bellingham and start getting everything ready to start school on Tuesday. Unfortunately my second flight in a week was cancelled. NOT. A. FAN. Now my dad and I have drive back to the airport and try again tomorrow. Hopefully it will not be snowing in Seattle again and I can get home to my car, apartment and wonderful bed.

How I Would Recommend Spending New Year's Eve

For Christmas I received a set that included Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen. My dad and I opted to have an Ocean's marathon for New Year's Eve. We took a quick break before midnight to watch the ball drop in Time's Square. I must say that being curled up in a warm blanket watching these movies, regardless of whether you prefer Brad Pitt, George Clooney, or Matt Damon, it is a great way to spend 6 hours on a cold winter's night. Hope you all had lovely evenings yourselves and are not too worn out by last night's festivities!