tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76236212012-01-13T05:51:41.321-05:00Random thoughts, ideas, and observations from a young social scientist of ecclectic taste: an ongoing ethnography of contemporary America.Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.comBlogger521100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1119965069038949212005-06-28T09:21:00.000-04:002005-06-28T09:24:29.043-04:00

Came back to retrieve an old entry and clean it up for a friend, only to find that my blog is all screwy. How's that for neglect? Posting this to see whether posting something new will shock Blogger into behaving a little better.One of these days I'll post something new here. I promise.

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112112102858641892005-03-29T11:00:00.000-05:002005-03-29T11:01:42.866-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 22 March 2005 at 9:55 a.m.I'm a bit curious about the film Steamboy, which is reviewed over on Wired (review here). I started reading the review and stopped about five paragraphs in, when i read this:It's no MIT dissertation -- Otomo has created a lavish, elaborate piece of entertainment that's quite aware of mainstream audiences. Still, Steamboy takes its

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111958296188222005-03-29T10:58:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:59:18.300-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 18 January 2005 at 12:40 p.m.On Sunday, in a fit of needing to get out of the house, B and i went for a drive.We followed Route 5 from Albany north through Colonie and Niskayuna and Schenectady and Scotia and out toward the old small towns that you never really hear about on the news.We drove past a place called Hoffmans and another place where the sign said

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111898361702182005-03-29T10:56:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:58:18.366-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 3 January 2005 at 12:26 p.m.I'm not one for blathering Happy New Year posts, especially as the holidays this year haven't seemed all that...holiday-like, so i'm just going to skip it and jump to the mundane and gritty existence that is mine.Late last week, B and i ate dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant and were walking back to the car. We were talking as

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111729281574962005-03-29T10:53:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:55:29.286-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 22 December 2004 at 1:52 p.m. Welcome back for more holiday cheer from Circus the Grinch! On today's episode, Circus breaks it all down and wraps up the series for the year. Last in a short series.Sorry for the delay, folks! Work (yes, this grinch has a day job) has been a bit crazy lately. But i'm here and ready to go, and i promise you'll appreciate today's

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111614997815962005-03-29T10:51:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:53:35.000-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 17 December 2004 at 12:00 p.m.Please welcome the return of Circus the Grinch for another installment of this year's holiday observations. Today's program tackles the thorny issue of holiday decorations. Third in a short series.There are about 290 million people in the United States, and about 80% of them identify themselves as Christians, according to sources

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111468454068052005-03-29T10:50:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:51:08.456-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 13 December 2004 at 12:21 p.m.Last week i talked about a theory discussed in Marvin Harris' book Our Kind. Near the end of what was rather a longer entry than i'd hoped it would be, i asked whether his theory still holds for post-industrial societies. (Go back one and read "War and Chauvenism" if this doesn't ring a bell.)I think i was asking the wrong question

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111419621485672005-03-29T10:48:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:50:19.626-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 8 December 2004 at 12:55 p.m.One of the books i'm reading, Our Kind by Marvin Harris, makes a very interesting argument about male chauvenism and warlike societies--that both are products of population pressure. It basically goes like this:Few Resources -> Population PressurePopulation Pressure -> Competition b/n groupsCompetition -> WarWar -> Gender Inequality

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111293597100192005-03-29T10:44:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:48:13.603-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 1 December 2004 at 12:19 p.m.Circus the Grinch back again for yet another installment of holiday moaning. On today's program we'll be talking about the one, the only, the mysterious Santa Claus. Second in a short series.Ho ho ho. Or something like that. I heard a very funny quote this morning that i'd like to share with you before we get into today's topic. It

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112111057174070602005-03-29T10:43:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:44:17.176-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 29 November 2004 at 12:31 p.m.Circus the Grinch here for yet another annual round of holiday glee. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this year's exploration of "the Christmas Season." On today's show, we talk about the season and its native fauna. First in a short series.'Round about October 31, retailers all across our fair land suddenly switch gears from the summer

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112109953241663632005-03-29T10:24:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:25:53.246-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 19 November 2004 at 12:15 p.m.Earlier this week, PBS aired a program about Wal-Mart on Frontline--Is Wal-Mart Good for America? I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart; of all the big box companies, this one is my least favorite for a number of reasons. This program actually added reasons to that list.A couple of points made during the program really stood out. First,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112109791871117382005-03-29T10:22:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:23:11.880-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 1 November 2004 at 12:11 p.m.People don't fear demons much anymore. Most folks would say this is a good thing. After all, technology gets closer and closer evey day to proving that there's no such thing, that they're imaginings (or worse yet, delusions)--and really, what good could come of a nation populated entirely by the delusional?(What's that? We're

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1112109545582363342005-03-29T10:17:00.000-05:002005-03-29T10:19:05.586-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 22 October 2004 at 12:06 p.m.Lately i've been thinking about the whole idea of cyberpunk. In many ways over the years, it has gone from being a revolutionary concept around which stories revolved to being a plot device that simply exists as a convenient way of getting the characters from point A to point B.On a related note, one of things i've been thinking

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1106768664583980862005-01-26T14:42:00.000-05:002005-01-26T14:44:24.583-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 15 October 2004 at 12:35 p.m. Way back when we lived in Germany, my parents decided to take advantage of Being In Europe, and took us on a couple of vacations to various Interesting Places. For two of my three years there, we visited Holland. I vividly remember tulips and windmills and people driving like animals on the highway, and a statue of the little boy

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1106768079275392332005-01-26T14:30:00.000-05:002005-01-26T14:34:39.276-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 1 July 2004 at 12:22 p.m. Not too long ago, B's father and i were talking about quantitative versus qualitative research. I was telling him how i'm eager to get back into anthropology, where i can focus more on qualitative and narrative research. He wanted to know why i preferred it to quantitative research, and i started to explain, but the conversation kind

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1106767793430473232005-01-26T14:28:00.000-05:002005-01-26T14:29:53.430-05:00

This entry was originally posted on 17 June 2004 at 12:28 p.m. I've been thinking about language lately. I suppose this has something to do with reading a book that's been translated from Turkish into English where the translator did a fabulous job of maintaining the poetic feel of the original. Or, at least, the poetic feel that i surmise the original must have had, based on the translation.

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1098371378686193782004-10-21T11:08:00.000-04:002004-10-21T11:09:38.686-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 12 April 2004 at 11:03 a.m. Sometimes i think that our downfall as a species is our awareness of evolution. One of the things that seems to separate humans from other animals is a sort of meta-self-awareness and an awareness (if incomplete) of how we fit into the processes that take place all around us. Over centuries, we've come to recognize the role of

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1094222805589522302004-09-03T10:46:00.000-04:002004-09-03T10:46:45.590-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 15 March 2004 at 2:11 p.m. When i was a kid i used to think that there was some quasi-magical point in a person's life when they become an adult--and once they'd reached that point, they'd be confident, secure, and knowledgeable about the world. Over and above that, they'd know their place in life, what they were meant to do, who they were meant to be. If they

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1094143346828325472004-09-02T12:41:00.000-04:002004-09-02T12:42:26.826-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 11 March 2004 at 2:23 p.m. During my junior and senior years of college, i worked the late shift at the convenience store over on Busch Campus. We went through a series of managers while i was there. There was Peter, who was kind of a dreamer and wanted to go to graduate school for philosophy; Rey, who had been in the Navy or Marines (i forget which, but he'd

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1094055373840990322004-09-01T12:14:00.000-04:002004-09-01T12:16:13.840-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 6 February 2004 at 4:20 p.m. Okay, so maybe literary theory can be useful. I say this only because i think it can be useful to use different lenses (Marxist, feminist, capitalist, structuralist, whatever) as a means of interpreting literature. That aspect of it speaks to the relativist in me: it's interesting to look at a text as a certain group would

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093972438898595382004-08-31T13:12:00.000-04:002004-08-31T13:13:58.896-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 5 February 2004 at 5:29 p.m. In the sciences--physical and social alike--the purpose of any theory is to tentatively explain some naturally-occurring phenomenon. In this framework, theories are things that are meant to be tested and either accepted or rejected (as in the physical sciences) or accepted to varying degrees (as in the social sciences). To

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093883204620508812004-08-30T12:25:00.000-04:002004-08-30T12:26:44.620-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 5 February 2004 at 9:42 a.m. According to this article over at Wired, "about three in every 1,000 American preschoolers were on antidepressants in 1995." I'm stunned and saddened by this. I don't understand our culture sometimes. Over the past ten years we've medicated more and more of our population without really understanding the effects of the medication.

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093624760472922372004-08-27T12:37:00.000-04:002004-08-27T12:39:20.473-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 29 January 2004 at 12:31 p.m. A couple of days ago, i saw someone complain that Haruki Murakami's writing style is too "flat," as though his characters are just going through the motions. Although i disagree with the sentiment, i thought it was a very interesting criticism, as it highlights a tendency among some contemporary authors that i cannot stand: the

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093538225872312302004-08-26T12:34:00.000-04:002004-08-26T12:37:05.873-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 31 December 2003 at 12:17 p.m. I'm a plus sized woman. I have been for my entire adult life. There's really no way around it: with my frame, if i were in perfect shape and rid of any unwanted pounds (hey, you try taking an SSRI for five years without gaining at least thirty pounds), i'd probably still be a size 18. This doesn't bother me. I've always been

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093454176563604732004-08-25T13:13:00.000-04:002004-08-25T13:16:16.563-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 19 December 2003 at 12:45 p.m. Will it ever get to the point where i feel at home somewhere? Will it ever get to the point where i can walk down the street and run into people i've met and feel like i actually know them? I was 17 when my dad retired from the military and took a job in the defense industry. Seventeen. Certainly, i've moved less than many

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093363733156350102004-08-24T12:08:00.000-04:002004-08-24T12:08:53.156-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 17 December 2003 at 12:29 p.m. Childhood is a secret society. I was indoctrinated somewhere around fourth grade. It all began with an origami throwing star--the fault of either Aaron Urschel or a kid named Chad whose last name i forget. You might think of our group as a culture distinct from that of adults, but really we were more of a secret subculture. We

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093278504939772672004-08-23T12:27:00.000-04:002004-08-23T12:28:24.940-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 16 December 2003 at 12:23 p.m. We were in Delaware County, but nowhere near the state of Delaware. The town that was our destination was named for a city in India, though its inhabitants had probably never left the United States. We had come to gather the remains of her belongings. I don't know how long it had been since she was last there, but i suspect it

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1093021567821336072004-08-20T13:01:00.000-04:002004-08-20T13:06:07.820-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 8 December 2003 at 12:00 p.m. Outdated links have been updated and changed. We recently started getting the National Geographic Channel on our cable system. It's a nifty little channel--there are at least two excellent programs that are shown exclusively on it. There's Taboo, which examines interesting rituals across cultures with topics like witchcraft,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092932396549482142004-08-19T12:15:00.000-04:002004-08-19T12:22:43.306-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 8 October 2003 at 1:58 p.m. The irrepressible Scott posted this in my guestbook: "It probably happened a long time ago, in some transition that was so gradual that people barely noticed which way the pendulum was beginning to swing." I think maybe you've nailed your own question. Perhaps using a swinging pendulum as a model for human relations was the thing

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092866179357790052004-08-18T17:54:00.000-04:002004-08-18T17:56:19.356-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 3 October 2003 at 10:33 a.m. When did we stop using human metaphors for computers and start using computer metaphors for humans? It probably happened a long time ago, in some transition that was so gradual that people barely noticed which way the pendulum was beginning to swing. Maybe one or two people noted it with some sense of irony at the time. Maybe a

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092760110618746722004-08-17T12:24:00.000-04:002004-08-17T12:28:30.636-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 9 September 2003 at 4:49 p.m. There's a message board that i've been lurking on for a few weeks now that recently produced a couple of snippets that got the literature/fiction gears to turn in my mind once again. The first one is a quote from Margaret Atwood about her latest book, Oryx and Crake (which i admittedly have not read)--she claims that, rather than

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092673629472742892004-08-16T12:26:00.000-04:002004-08-16T12:27:09.473-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 02 September 2003 at 1:33 p.m. I think i've figured it out--what, in my mind, constitutes "literary" writing--as opposed to mere fiction. It's something that's been plaguing me for months, the kind of thing that makes me scratch my head and ask, "Why is it that Italo Calvino wrote literature, but Isaac Asimov wrote fiction?" And i think i've finally

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092414593242939882004-08-13T12:28:00.000-04:002004-08-13T12:29:53.243-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 20 August 2003 at 12:25 p.m. The United States, as a country, has a long history of individualism and rebellion. It was founded in the spirit of anti-imperialism; the revolution itself, in retrospect, seems much like a thumbing of the nose at the British Empire. There are countless examples of this American style of individualism. Our history and folktales

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092331395859017822004-08-12T13:21:00.000-04:002004-08-12T13:23:15.860-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 22 July 2003 at 12:54 p.m. Yesterday one of my coworkers and i were upstairs in the CJ department, delivering new computers to a couple of our PIs. On the way back down to our office, i noticed several book covers posted on a bulletin board in the main hallway. One of the covers was for Acting Out: Maladaptive Behavior in Confinement. I haven't read the book,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092241623381079352004-08-11T12:26:00.000-04:002004-08-11T12:27:03.380-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 18 July 2003 at 11:03 a.m. Outside, the air is cool; each breath brings with it the scent of rain on the horizon. Clouds threatening thunder hang in the sky, but have yet to unleash their arsenal. I love days like these. Magical days, perfect for scouring ancient libraries for obscure books full of secrets. Sometimes when i walk into a library or a bookstore,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092155802105115362004-08-10T12:35:00.000-04:002004-08-10T12:36:42.106-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 7 July 2003 at 11:15 a.m. Once upon a time, Hare challenged Tortoise to a race. See, Hare was an arrogant egomaniac who owned a new car that was very shiny and very fast, while Tortoise was a humble and down-to-earth type who owned an old car that was very sensible and not quite so fast. Hare knew this about Tortoise so he figured the race was in the bag...if

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1092076880454945052004-08-09T14:39:00.000-04:002004-08-09T14:41:20.493-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 15 June 2003 at 12:13 p.m. Yesterday there was a gay pride parade here in Albany. It wasn't huge, but it was larger than i expected. It started out at the bottom of Hamilton Street in Center Square, moved across the neighborhood via upper Swan Street, then turned up State Street (which is one-way in the other direction), and headed into Washington Park. I

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1091810534376964162004-08-06T12:41:00.000-04:002004-08-06T12:42:14.376-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 29 May 2003 at 12:18 p.m. When i was in fourth grade, my class was subjected to a practice called "the hot seat." It consisted of one student being chosen at random (or maybe it was alphabetically, i don't remember) to sit on a stool (the hot seat) at the front of the classroom, facing the chalkboard so as not to see the other students. Then the rest of the

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1091724545157437712004-08-05T12:39:00.000-04:002004-08-06T12:42:47.056-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 20 May 2003 at 1:03 p.m. Inactive links have been removed. I just finished reading Ivoryshell's most recent entry (Ranting: On music and the theatre (movie theater included)). It's really good. If you haven't read it, read it now, because i'm going to be as unoriginal as ever and do something that Future Problem Solving groups call "piggybacking." In the

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1091640158054284172004-08-04T13:11:00.000-04:002004-08-04T13:22:38.053-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 13 May 2003 at 1:25 p.m. The author's note that appears in the original was removed and some minor edits were made, but the remainder of the text is unchanged. Two of my closest friends are atheists. One of them studied English and, later, design/communications, and worked out a strictly logical moral code by which to live. The other studied music and biology,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1091557432530595702004-08-03T14:20:00.000-04:002004-08-03T14:23:52.530-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 1 April 2003 at 4:11 p.m. In my last journal entry, i mentioned that i'm reading a book called Visions by Michio Kaku. Now, since the title of that book could refer to lots of things--including things like certain kinds of spirtuality, UFOs, and the results of hallucinogenic drugs--i thought i ought to clarify it a little. Michio Kaku is a theoretical

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1091463285008635412004-08-02T12:13:00.000-04:002004-08-02T12:14:45.010-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 12 March 2003 at 8:02 p.m. Occasionally i meet people who don't read for fun. Not even nonfiction. This boggles my mind. I don't want to sound effete or anything, but i just don't get it. There are so many great books out there. What's not to be gained by sinking into one for the odd twenty minutes here or there? It seems wrong, somehow. I've heard arguments

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1090857352516012622004-07-26T11:53:00.000-04:002004-07-26T11:55:52.516-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 10 February 2003 at 12:15 p.m. When will the waif aesthetic die? While i was in Boston on Saturday, my girlfriend took me to the Gap so she could look for some clothes for work. Now, i'm well-proportioned but stocky (read: built like a small linebacker), and i don't think i've ever been able to fit into any of the Gap's clothes. This doesn't bother me much,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1090597780710897572004-07-23T11:43:00.000-04:002004-07-23T11:49:40.710-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 14 January 2003 at 2:20 p.m. Outdated links have been removed and replaced with updated ones. That National Science Foundation/Department of Commerce report on NBIC technology has inspired an entire conference dedicated to exploiting the possibilities of these scientific frontiers. As always, our money-driven economy is inviting academics to attend for the

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1090520753900093052004-07-22T14:24:00.000-04:002004-07-22T14:26:39.163-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 7 January 2003 at 3:42 p.m. It has been edited to correct a minor grammatical error. There's been a bit of talk about therapy lately among some of my acquaintances. This is my fault in part, but it's caused me to think more closely about my experiences as a psychiatric patient. Here are things i can honestly say: 1. Had i not been nagged to see a

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1090436249554475302004-07-21T14:55:00.000-04:002004-08-03T14:25:35.846-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 31 December 2002 at 12:14 p.m. This is a slightly abridged version of the original. Last night, while reading Marcel Möring's In Babylon (which is, so far, absolutely brilliant), i came across a passage in which the character Uncle Herman describes something called 'cultural entropy.' I nearly dropped the book when i read it--when i attended BU for graduate

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1090350346170779332004-07-20T15:03:00.000-04:002004-07-21T14:58:48.256-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 3 December 2002 at 1:21 p.m. Lately i've been having these days where i want to surf the Web, but i can't think of anything offhand that interests me and that would have a good chance of turning up a viable hit or two on a search engine. Look up something like "truth," "reality," or "existence" on MSN or Google, and, chances are, the first fifty sites that

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1090249600459281702004-07-19T11:01:00.000-04:002004-08-03T14:26:43.800-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 2 August 2002 at 2:24 p.m. This is a slightly abridged version of the original. The night before last i went to ManRay in Cambridge with my friend mpr. It was a Wednesday night, which meant that all the 18+ goth types in the area were there by about 11 PM. ManRay is an interesting place: two nights a week are devoted to either the goth crowd or the fetish/

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1089987495257885062004-07-16T10:12:00.000-04:002004-07-21T14:59:56.416-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 30 June 2002 at 9:55 a.m. This entry has been edited and slightly abridged. Here's something that's been on my mind the last few days: the idea of something being unnatural. At work one night one of the other servers was explaining her views on dairy and meat products (of which she partakes neither), and she said something that piqued my curiosity. It was

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1089905215407360502004-07-15T11:24:00.000-04:002004-07-21T15:00:13.736-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 2 January 2002 at 4:08 p.m. Wow. Wow, wow wow. I just had my first class of the quarter--Gender and Justice--and it was excellent. I think there are about eight students in the class, two of which are undergrads, and one of which is a Ph.D. student from another department (and the only male student). Most people might be turned off by the idea of a gender

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1089835285714024542004-07-14T15:58:00.000-04:002004-07-21T15:01:44.176-04:00

This entry was originally posted on 2 December 2001 at 12:10 p.m. Interesting day yesterday. My day off. Went to see Harry Potter again (just as good the second time around!), but all sorts of strange things happened before and after the movie. I had gotten off the train at Charles/MGH to take a few photos of the Charles Street Prison, which, i'm sad to say, is being demolished. After that,

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7623621.post-1089753788688984642004-07-13T17:22:00.000-04:002004-07-14T10:10:59.350-04:00

Welcome to my new blog! If you're already familiar with my blogging, it's good to see you again. And if you're not, i hope you'll stick around for a while. The first batch of entries here will consist of several older entries from my original blog over at Diaryland. These entries are the ones of which i'm proudest. For the time being, i'll be using this space as a place to post my "best-of,"

Circushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08921085933491782498noreply@blogger.com1