Wordle.net.

I put in this blog in wordle.net. It gives you a "word cloud," which basically means it gives you systematic typographical art.

I love typography-- its brilliant. But that bears no relation to this site, which is probably why I never discuss it here. In any case, I'd be interested in what other people get when they put in their sites as well!

Alright, I was tagged!

I have been tagged by Idiot's Stew of http://idiotsstew.blogspot.com/ The tag requests that I post 8 random facts/habits about myself and tag 8 others in the process as soon as this is posted.

So here we go. Eight random things, and none that have to do with politics, philosophy, or anything I normally write about:

1.) I wear a watch, but still take out my phone when people ask me the time.

2.) I am a registered bone marrow donor as of today.
3.) One of my major pet peeves is when people come into my room without knocking.
4.) On my wall, I have a fabric from Marimekko.
5.) I shoot digitally with an Olympus Evolt 510 and a Nikon Coolpix
6.) I speak primarily English, but know a considerable amount of French and a little Arabic and Spanish. More Arabic than Spanish.
7.) I'm not a carrier of the Sickle Cell Trait
8.) My children include my Black 1st Generation 30GB Zune and my Toshiba Special Edition Satellite Laptop.


I don't really know who to tag, but if you want to do it, go ahead and say I tagged you...

Optimism

Alright, in the election aftermath, I've decided that the best thing to do is proceed with optimism. I think that we're heading in the right way.

What I DO want to do is be critical of the world around me. What I DON'T want to do is be a complete downer. It's not productive.

I'm really through with politics for the week.

In other news, I was shown this little blurb from another friend online. In Defense of the Elite 


Aside from the title (I'm not sure how much defending the elite need considering their position as well, the elite), I think is somewhat interesting blurb (I wouldn't necessarily call it an article)-- there definitely is a difference in the words 'elite' and 'elitist'. Using them interchangeably is not only ignorant but irresponsible.


In fact, I'd be even more interested in reading an article by someone who isn't even a part of the 'elite'. Of course, the way things are, there are few people who aren't part of the 'elite' who are in a position to write a response to the discussion.


Hm, I'm definitely not part of the 'elite,' but I'm not far enough away from it for my opinion to really be as valuable.


But really-- how much do the Elite need defending? Toward whom is this passage aimed? If I were being overly critical, I say its a little defensive, and not simply defending. But I do recognize that the distinction needs to be made between the words. I just harbor an bitterness toward the 'elite' to begin with, I think.

My President is Black

So, Barack is our President Elect (projected, and probably correct).

What this means to me:

• That the youth can indeed have an impact (bodes well for the future).
  
• That various demographics can indeed come together under a common theme.
• People of the United States do indeed want change. Well, a lot of the delegates, that is. 

What this doesn't mean to me:

• That race relations have been perfected. We have a black president, obviously racism is a thing of the past <-- untrue, and the fact that some people think this demonstrates the exact opposite to me.
  
• That there are no more 'excuses' for underachievement-- I've heard this one. People say that because Barack Obama has succeeded, that this simultaneously nulls any argument that it is impossible for some people to do well in this established institution. I wouldn't say that its IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to succeed, but it can certainly be much harder. Barack Obama's story doesn't speak for everyone. His situation isn't the same for me, or anyone else, and just because he can succeed doesn't mean everyone can. That's ignorant, and its usually an argument rich people make to rationalize why they're rich and others aren't.
  

This is a brief post, but honestly, I woke up at 4am to vote, I'm exhausted. I just REALLY want to get an  international point of view.

Voting! Part One

So, this was my first experience voting. My mother is not American, so I'm really one of the first on her side to vote in an American election. Exciting, right?

What did I do... I woke up at 4am and waked to the polls with some other girls from my dorm (Some students decided to camp out in front of the polling places-- thats how long the lines were over here.

While I was waiting in line (polls opened at 7am-- pretty close to on time as well), I thought about some of the people back on campus who couldn't vote, for the dumbest reasons too, and some of the stuff we learned in our voter education class.

Of all the things people have told me, what hit me the hardest was that we should be wary of people trying to take away our vote for different reasons. That we should recheck our polling place, and recheck our forms of ID and definitely re check the clothes we wear (beyond that of general Obama and McCain wear which we all generally knew not to put on for voting).

Few things, in my opinion, are more offensive than someone trying to take away my vote. For me to be a disenfranchised American, who has done NOTHING wrong (in that I mean history breaking the law or something similar), and not be able to choose who leads my country, and thus, my family, is frightening in the least.

To me, telling me I can't vote is similar to saying, that while I'm a citizen, I'm not human enough to be allowed to vote, or for my vote to matter. That's a little dramatic, but then there's, "I don't care about your opinion," and that ones of the most dangerous statements one can make. Even worse is the, "Your opinion doesn't exactly mesh with what I want. And what I want is what is obviously best for everyone." Not that that isn't a common sentiment-- most people think that what they want is whats for the common good. And some people even take it far enough to presume others don't even KNOW whats best for them.

That's a little dicey, really. That is, if you're not a parent or guardian.

But taking away someone's vote is almost saying that. Or there are the situations where its a matter of intelligence and thinking that because someone isn't as formally educated, that they can't possibly understand politics.

If that is true, its because people make it that way, the media and the elitist. Not because politics is inherently hard to understand ( I'm going to come back to that in a later post, I think, because I definitely have a problem with this).

In any case. For the Election Day proceedings, I'll be posting more than once today. We're having a school-wide lock-in, where we can sleep in cafeteria building, and we've put up projection screens which are broadcasting different channels. Its really awesome. So I'll be around, as a member of the Student Government Association that is organizing this.

For me, at least, I figured that it was at least somewhat important that students knew what the goings-on were once they casted their ballot, you know? Its a lot of these peoples' first elections. With this in mind, I thought it was even MORE important.

Tonight, feel free to post with any of your voting experiences, happy or sad. I'm off to the polls at 4 (after our school rally) to hand out water bottles and snack bars for the people in long lines. Its an SSGA initiative that we're attempting. Completely unbiased (it has to be, considering you can't campaign at polls), we plan to hand out various foods to people in those multi-hour long lines-- all of which will be stamped with Your local Student Government Association thanks you for voting!"