The LA Times carries an op-ed today about the Winter Olympics, complaining (as echoed by Stephen Colbert--note: that link may not stay current) that the US team isn't serious about winning. My first impulse was to dismiss this as more of the "we deserve to be number one no matter what" tripe that I first heard in the "Japan is beating us" 80s.
The author, Kevin Drum, makes two interesting points, though. First, he mentions that snowboarding outfits, with their baggy pants and hanging clothing, aren't exactly engineered to increase speed for what are ostensibly racing events. Second, he points out that one snowboarder is competing with her iPod in her ears, and another lost the gold when she decided, instead of gunning for the win, to make a cute, bad-ass pose at the end of her race.
It occurred to me that this is the generation raised on Little League games in which no one was declared a winner and everyone got a trophy. It's the generation put through the rat-maze of the "self esteem" movement, in which if you couldn't understand basic math, you got promoted to algebra and beyond anyway. (I know--I taught the kids 10 years older than these when I worked at a residential treatment center in the early 90s. They were in Algebra II and couldn't do basic multiplication. But it would have made them feel bad to be flunked, right? Let's not think of how bad they felt once they got to me.)
As a culture, we teach our kids that there is no reason to work or try. Why should the Olympics be any different? In the end, I thought that Drum was probably right to complain. Only it's not the athletes he should be scolding. It's the rest of us.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
In case you thought I was paranoid...
The Nation gives me fodder again today. In an article about Princeton University's conservative beachhead, Max Blumenthal writes:
So--yes--and let's see, we're just 6 years away from the end goal. I'm happy to report that the overthrow seems much farther away than that, at least.
For decades conservatives have viewed America's university system as a dangerous cradle of radicalism. Frank Chodorov, founder of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), was among the first to propose a campaign to assert right-wing influence over universities as a central tactic in the conservative movement's grand strategy.
"What the socialists have done can be undone, if there is a will for it," Chodorov wrote in his 1962 autobiography, Out of Step. "Individualism can be revived by implanting the ideas in the minds of the coming generations.... It is, in short, a fifty-year project."
Under the guidance of former Nixon Treasury Secretary William Simon, who once compared universities to insane asylums, industrial chieftains like John Olin, Harry and Lynde Bradley, and Richard Mellon Scaife bankrolled the fifty-year project, funneling whopping grants to outfits like Accuracy in Academia and ISI. While Accuracy in Academia hyped and, on occasion, manufactured supposed "campus political correctness atrocities," ISI provided a support structure for right-wing academics while grooming a cadre of student activists to, in the group's own words, "battle the radicals and PC types on campuses."
So--yes--and let's see, we're just 6 years away from the end goal. I'm happy to report that the overthrow seems much farther away than that, at least.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Some folks left their brains in San Francisco
Well, I'm back already. Didn't expect this, but I checked SF Gate.com right after I published the last post, and discovered this gem.
Apparently a city near San Bernardino has passed a resolution withholding payment for travel to, or attending workshops held by, San Francisco. The City by the Bay has offended their delicate sensibilities in its government's anti-war stance, and many in Highland (the SB city) see SF as a bunch of freaks that should just be wiped off the face of the earth. Nice.
There's one quote I particularly like:
Apparently a city near San Bernardino has passed a resolution withholding payment for travel to, or attending workshops held by, San Francisco. The City by the Bay has offended their delicate sensibilities in its government's anti-war stance, and many in Highland (the SB city) see SF as a bunch of freaks that should just be wiped off the face of the earth. Nice.
There's one quote I particularly like:
The outspoken McCallon was not willing to cut San Francisco any slack, especially after Sandoval's statement.
"It's a beautiful city," he acknowledged, "but I subscribe that to God, not to anyone up in San Francisco.
Hmmmm. Interesting perspective. The fact that SF is beautiful isn't credited to the foresight of its citizens (and zoning boards), and the fact that much of Red-state Middle America is gross and ugly is totally not its own fault. So if Highland isn't beautiful (I've never been there--but that seems a safe bet), then that's 'cause God decided it should just suck?
And we won't even go into the use of "subscribe"...
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Rocky Mountain highs and lows
What a couple of weeks. We were in Colorado from Feb 9 through 15. A great trip. A little work thrown in, but primarily a real winter getaway. We stayed in Frisco, up in Summit County, just a 15-minute drive from Copper Mountain, where we skiied for 4 days. At first, I thought we were just extra wimpy after getting LA-spoiled by temperate weather; but in fact, our local friends (Sudie, and her boyfriend Tony) were shivering just as much. It was 3 degrees the first day we skiied. Seriously! And the next morning, when we all got up, the car thermometers read -19. It was insanely cold.
Of course, while skiing, the cold was not so noticeable--only going up the lifts did my fingers turn numb inside my heavy-duty, Gore-Tex mittens (with liners and disposable heat-packs tucked in the open space). As long as my hat covered my hair and forehead, goggles covered my eyes, and neck gaiter covered the rest of my face...I was OK! Noah cursed his clothing the first day (yes, literally), and it was understandable. Winter really does encumber.
The 3rd and 4th days were much better. Temps were in the 30s and 40s, which felt downright balmy when we had to walk around the mountain's base. It helped me to remember how I could have felt that Colorado winters were so tolerable, even comfortable. That seems ludicrous every time we complain about 60-degree days. On campus yesterday, for example, every time an exterior door opened, I heard loud laments about how "freezing" it was. I think the high was 58.
We had a terrific time visiting with my Dad and Mark, who came up for most of the time to share the condo and enjoy their own winter getaway. They went snowshoeing, (dog) sledding, skiing, and shopping--the 4 Ss--and it seemed like a lot of fun. I think next time I'll take one day off from skiing (oh, the sore quads!!) and try some of those alternatives. Sudie and Tony snowshoed one day, too, and then skiied with us for two days. Actually, not with me--I was sticking to the easier slopes, as my legs complained loudly every time I tried to carve a turn. But Noah divided his time between them and me, and I think he got more skiing in than any of us. Mark turns out to be quite a good skiier for not having hit the slopes in 15 years. And Dad gave it a try for the first time ever, at 65. Impressive. He looked pretty comfortable during the brief time I watched. Hopefully he'll go again before too long.
Though we all went out to dinner the first night, it was a bit exhausting, and I think none of us was really excited about the noise and crowds of the apres-ski scene in Breckenridge. So we tended to have quieter meals after that--spaghetti and meatballs (fake & real) one night, a sort of scrounge-for-yourself the next. We got to bed at around 8 or 9pm and slept about 12 hours a night. Even so, on our way home, I got the cold that Sudie was battling during the whole trip. She was a trooper; I, less so.
We spent some time in Boulder on both ends (including my time meeting up with folks from CU). On the 14th, Noah and I celebrated our 10th "dating" anniversary. On that date 10 years ago, I showed up at his apartment ready to declare my feelings, and instead stammered in a corner to get him to declare his. It worked out. And how nice that we were back in the same place, 10 years later, for one night only. We had Valentine's Day dinner at Chautauqua Dining Hall, just the two of us--the same place where we had our wedding reception. It was a very nice symmetry and, despite our fatigue, a romantic dinner.
Of course, right afterward, we high-tailed it to Denver, to check into our airport hotel for about 4 hours of sleep before getting on a 6am flight the next morning. I had to teach that next day at 3:30, and we planned our flights to allow for any mishaps. Good thing, as we missed our connection in Phoenix (well, actually we didn't--the airline just said we did--that's a whole 'nother story) and had to spend some stressful hours waiting to catch up with the planning. In the end, I made it to class, delivered two lectures (sore throat and all), and we settled back into our lives very smoothly. I taught my other class on Thursday, taught one makeup class on Friday, and today we have been relaxing.
Kibble had his first stay at a kennel. He came back a bit shell-shocked, but intact. He has also settled back into his life, and has remembered our family relationships and our affection for him with no trouble. Once Noah gave him a bath and made him bearable to smell (kennels do lead to stench, don't they?), he's been a joy to cuddle.
That's it for now. No politics or philosophy today, just the update. More soon, I hope.
Of course, while skiing, the cold was not so noticeable--only going up the lifts did my fingers turn numb inside my heavy-duty, Gore-Tex mittens (with liners and disposable heat-packs tucked in the open space). As long as my hat covered my hair and forehead, goggles covered my eyes, and neck gaiter covered the rest of my face...I was OK! Noah cursed his clothing the first day (yes, literally), and it was understandable. Winter really does encumber.
The 3rd and 4th days were much better. Temps were in the 30s and 40s, which felt downright balmy when we had to walk around the mountain's base. It helped me to remember how I could have felt that Colorado winters were so tolerable, even comfortable. That seems ludicrous every time we complain about 60-degree days. On campus yesterday, for example, every time an exterior door opened, I heard loud laments about how "freezing" it was. I think the high was 58.
We had a terrific time visiting with my Dad and Mark, who came up for most of the time to share the condo and enjoy their own winter getaway. They went snowshoeing, (dog) sledding, skiing, and shopping--the 4 Ss--and it seemed like a lot of fun. I think next time I'll take one day off from skiing (oh, the sore quads!!) and try some of those alternatives. Sudie and Tony snowshoed one day, too, and then skiied with us for two days. Actually, not with me--I was sticking to the easier slopes, as my legs complained loudly every time I tried to carve a turn. But Noah divided his time between them and me, and I think he got more skiing in than any of us. Mark turns out to be quite a good skiier for not having hit the slopes in 15 years. And Dad gave it a try for the first time ever, at 65. Impressive. He looked pretty comfortable during the brief time I watched. Hopefully he'll go again before too long.
Though we all went out to dinner the first night, it was a bit exhausting, and I think none of us was really excited about the noise and crowds of the apres-ski scene in Breckenridge. So we tended to have quieter meals after that--spaghetti and meatballs (fake & real) one night, a sort of scrounge-for-yourself the next. We got to bed at around 8 or 9pm and slept about 12 hours a night. Even so, on our way home, I got the cold that Sudie was battling during the whole trip. She was a trooper; I, less so.
We spent some time in Boulder on both ends (including my time meeting up with folks from CU). On the 14th, Noah and I celebrated our 10th "dating" anniversary. On that date 10 years ago, I showed up at his apartment ready to declare my feelings, and instead stammered in a corner to get him to declare his. It worked out. And how nice that we were back in the same place, 10 years later, for one night only. We had Valentine's Day dinner at Chautauqua Dining Hall, just the two of us--the same place where we had our wedding reception. It was a very nice symmetry and, despite our fatigue, a romantic dinner.
Of course, right afterward, we high-tailed it to Denver, to check into our airport hotel for about 4 hours of sleep before getting on a 6am flight the next morning. I had to teach that next day at 3:30, and we planned our flights to allow for any mishaps. Good thing, as we missed our connection in Phoenix (well, actually we didn't--the airline just said we did--that's a whole 'nother story) and had to spend some stressful hours waiting to catch up with the planning. In the end, I made it to class, delivered two lectures (sore throat and all), and we settled back into our lives very smoothly. I taught my other class on Thursday, taught one makeup class on Friday, and today we have been relaxing.
Kibble had his first stay at a kennel. He came back a bit shell-shocked, but intact. He has also settled back into his life, and has remembered our family relationships and our affection for him with no trouble. Once Noah gave him a bath and made him bearable to smell (kennels do lead to stench, don't they?), he's been a joy to cuddle.
That's it for now. No politics or philosophy today, just the update. More soon, I hope.
Friday, February 03, 2006
And another birthday...
My dad's birthday was yesterday. Happy birthday, Dad! Hope it was a great 65!
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