There has been such good writing in recent years but it's hard to actually compare a whole lot because I didn't have a TV for so long. Here's some of the my recent favorite programs
- Six Feet Under - This is such a well rounded show, it's about a family who runs a funeral home in LA. Despite the setting, it's really not about death but a reflection on every day life.
- OZ - Who wouldn't love a fun jail show in a max. security prison. I'm bummed it's not back until 2003, but there are some reruns in the meantime
- The Sopranos - The season opener is coming in September, looking good.
- The Dennis Miller Show - sure he can be a little bitter about some specifics but damn the man is funny. Check out his show from 1992 if you'd like to be retro.
Now I don't want to get off on a rant here, but after September 11th, freedom of speech in America has become a topic that's touchier than a Vatican summer camp.
Our Founding Fathers were supreme champions of freedom of speech. But we should never forget that Alexander Hamilton was shot over something he said. Because in their infinite wisdom our Founding Fathers also gave us the second amendment, the right to bear arms, which is a reminder that while we can pretty much do and say whatever we want-you better watch it, asshole.
The free-speechers always argue the slippery-slope: if you muzzle free speech, before you know it, we're living in 1984 and Big Brother is picking out our ties. Those seeking to control free speech, on the other hand, argue that if we allow Johnny Soulpatch to burn the flag, before you know it, we're living in "Lord of the Flies" and Piggy is fighting for his life. But there is a middle ground between government rule and mob rule. A place where only those who can make obscure references to literature, art and pop culture on their weekly cable show will be allowed to speak freely. A utopia... if you will.
Our enemies see our diversity of opinion as evidence that we are weak and divided, but it is the very presence of a vibrant marketplace of ideas that ensures our continued survival. That, and the high-tech weapons that can lock in on the glint off a scimitar from five thousand miles away.
As much as I believe that our leaders have followed exactly the right course in wiping out the Taliban assholes who gave safe haven to the murderers of my fellow citizens, I recognize that the dissenters to the war and the verbal defenders of our enemies fulfill a vital function in our democracy. Specifically, they give me somebody to hate whose name I can actually pronounce.
As much as we don't like to admit it, you gotta say, the freedom to bash the U.S. government is a unique and beautiful phenomenon...... When done with a certain degree of panache! I've noticed that in the Middle East when they burn the American Flag, they aren't even using real flags. They are just using flags painted onto sheets. This really pisses me off because there are hard working kids in Taiwan who make our flags who can use every penny they can get.
As a matter of fact, at this point, the only thing that galls me about someone burning the American flag is how unoriginal it is. I mean if you're going to pull the Freedom-of-speech card, don't be a hack, come up with something interesting. Fashion Old Glory into a wisecracking puppet and blister the system with a scathing ventriloquism act, or better yet, drape the flag over your head and desecrate it with a large caliber bullet hole.
Once hotbeds of free speech, college campuses across the country have engaged in an arms race to see who can craft the most restrictive speech code. Years of Political Correctness, binge drinking, and dropping bing cherries out of your ass into a shotglass have bred a backlash now, where anyone who dares to stray outside the conventional school of wisdom is ostracized, slapped with the mark of Cain, and, worst of all, made to forfeit their Student Activity Fee discount to see Dave Mathews jam, and, more importantly, inspire, during Spring Fling on the Quad.
Whatever happened to the notion that college was a place where the best minds in the nation vigorously debated all sides of an issue, while the rest of us went back to the dorm and got laid? Usually by ourselves.
I have no problem with people who respond to what they don't agree with. I enjoy the drama of a toppled podium and the sound of microphone feedback as much as the next guy. What I do have a problem with are the people who fail to see the glaring hypocrisy of screaming the words "shut up" into a bullhorn.
Why should even the most repugnant ideas receive the same freedom of expression as more accepted ones? Because the American system is less a "free marketplace" of ideas than it is a playground. And the best way to dispense with unpopular ideas is to let them roam free, so they can have their asses kicked up and down the jungle gym by the cool ideas.
The ability to be critical of our government is what makes this country great. Thanks to these freedoms, we get the hip irreverence of Art Buchwald, the folksy yet politically incisive song stylings of Mark Russell, and the pun-tastic parodies of The Capital Steps. And it is for these reasons alone, we must squash free speech immediately and become a police state.
We need to let those who repulse us have their say alongside those whose speeches make us rise to our feet in applause. How else will the shiny pearl of wisdom stick out against the black velvet of stupidity? It's better to just let the Ku Klux Klan march through your town than it is to waste your time and money trying to stop them. Instead of challenging their right to free speech, use your energy to point out to your children the irony of the fat guys in the pointy hats and the pee-stained bed sheets, spouting forth all sorts of mono-syllabic eugenic claptrap, and all the while, claiming to be the master race.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Had to chime in with after reading a story about online grocery stores today. I used PinkDot in LA for 8 years and loved it. Can't say what happened when they became PDXQuick but prior to that they had an amazing call center with account history, personalization, recommendations and most importantly people to talk with. Their site really didn't capture that and I only used it once. Webvan on the other hand I've used in Portland for 2 years, first as Homegrocer and then as Webvan. I even got my weekly groceries on Sunday, the day before they shut down.
But let's not get into the grand misconception that
the web is some how a new business model.
It's a new distribution channel period. Isn't that why grocery stores, milk trucks etc. stopped delivering years ago because the profit-margins just weren't there.
Of course I might be a little bitter after understanding more about profit-margins for the grocery industry hit home recently. Webvan was the only dot com I ever bought and now I have a couple thousand $$ worth of education about understanding business models over likability and I loved loved Webvan.
Screw shopping, I didn't have the time or inclination to do that. The only thing I ever went to the store for was the deli, because that was the one thing Webvan lacked. I never got a bruised apple, fatty chicken, spoiled milk. I haven't shopped in a traditional grocery store since I moved to Portland. I tried Netgrocer to begin with but they had such a limited selection and they didn't deliver perishables. I was stoked when Kozmo opened so I could get a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers and a video for my unexpected company in less than 10 minutes. We even had a Portland/Seattle-based company called Mylackey.com. They'd wash cars, pet sit, housekeeping, mow the lawn. Whatever you need they had the service for it.
I'll admit I'm not the "average consumer" but hell I love love love the internet. I've done all my Christmas shopping online for over 4 years, you couldn't twist my arm to deal with store around the holiday, people are insane. I also ship presents back East, so the convenience is wonderful. I've had 2 problems with shopping my whole time online, once a present was delayed and the other time liquor was confiscated by customs in the mid-90's (How would I knew you couldn't ship liquor internationally? Shouldn't the site tell me that?) Once I found about about domestic shipping laws I became wine member at e-vineyard, where I get 2 whites and red every month at my door.
I would definitely buy that test-fridge that sent my shopping list to the store. But then again I'd try just about anything related to technology. If I had my way I'd just a brain chip that downloads my memories and lets me organized them. Let's face it a computer has limited capacity, but a hell of a finder feature. Maybe a one-time download and a re-org of it's contact. I want finger/retina scans so I'm never without my identification. I haven't written a paper check since the early 90's using telephone and then the internet to schedule payments for all bills. I beam people cash/PayPal from my PDA for coffee and I met my fiancee online.
Whew have I ranted enough? I'm just glad that even if it was for a short time I enjoyed the conveniences that many online sites offer. Don't think I would remember my mom's birthday if she hadn't set the reminder on ICQ. BTW Safeway now delivering in my town, ah I'm happy again.
I've definitely come into my own the past few years. I really don't have time for stress and drama so I've continued to make edits until I've become relatively free of both. While I might still have some (hell no one's that lucky) I try and keep them to a minimum.
Really dig living in PDX. Portland is great with a cool music scene, the country's biggest book store, weather and green grass. We've got an airport that's close, metro-rail and trolley cars through downtown along with a lot of smart people. Hesitate to pump it up too much or we might find ourselves with a lot of new settlers in the area. While I have enjoyed the move at the risk of sounding clique - happiness isn't a destination. If you think a place is going to make you happy, you're only part right. It's most important to find it within your self first and then the people/places/things fall in to order.
A few years back I spend some time searching for a destination after realizing I was having a hard time seeing "the bright side". I finally decided that the person who was responsible for making that change was only going to be me. In making that change I decided to be more selfish (it's truly the root of happiness) and make sure I was taken care of up and beyond anything else in my life. That way whatever was going to make happy was then in place and the people that I was surrounded by where going to appreciate me for who I am not what I might be trying to be.
Ok while I might be ranting a bit I find this to be true - if you make an oath that you are going to do all the things in your life for you, that you're going to get your head straight or find the job you want or something else it will work itself out and more. Sure, you still have have your bad days and good days but the roller coaster going to be so many highs and lows anymore. You know being in the middle it's the same distance up or down.
There are a couple of email lists I belong to that are related to women working in technology. As I've seen far too frequently in women/girl-related email groups, a discussion thread was started about men joining the group or subscribing to the email following a question about developing a mission statement for the website which quickly turned into male bashing. Will spare you all the drama in between but wanted to share my thoughts I sent the list about creating a more embracing culture in the group:
I was thinking about unsubscribing today and wanted to share with why. All of the "man" bickering of late had me flashing back to another foundational girl group. One of the main reasons I stopped being a member of (name removed) in LA a few years back was because I thought I was joining a pro-woman group that turned into an anti-man group. Personally I think that's the reason Martin Luther King is remembered far fonder than Louis Farrakhan. It's hard sometimes to be a woman and have to deal with feminists. In their attempts to prove women are just like men, feminists fight to get all women into the labor force and combat -- never mind that not all want to join. Those who prefer stay-at-home motherhood are ridiculed. God created men and women, and, thankfully, he created us different. But he still made us equal.
Have you seen the West Wing episode recently about the ERA's Article 14? It was a discussion about guns, Republicans, ERA etc. and one of the cast was really opposed to it. She went on to say she didn't agree with the ERA because it was redundant. This is what she said:
You know, you insist that government is depraved for not legislating against what we can see on the newsstands or what we can see in an art exhibit or what we can burn in protest or which sex we're allowed to have sex with or a woman's right to choose. But don't you dare try to regulate this deadly weapon I have concealed on me for that would encroach against my freedom. And Democrats believe in freedom of speech unless you want to pray while you're standing in school. And you believe in the freedom of information act except if you want to find out if your 14 year old has had an abortion.
A new amendment we vote on declaring that I am equal under the law to a man? I'm mortified to discover there's reason to believe I wasn't before. I'm a citizen of this country. I'm not a special subset in need of your protection. I do not have to have my rights handed down to me by a bunch of old white men. The same Article 14 that protects you protects me. And I went to law school just to make sure.
There are some great articles on the web about this and I'd encourage you to read them before the next email tirade you launch into.
