Umbrellas

So I probably shouldn't be writing this right now given the ridiculous amount of stuff I have to do BUT something has been on my mind.

The past two days here have been DISGUSTING. I'm talking torrential rain and gusty winds. Really bad. Denim sticking to your legs is not fun, I'll tell you that much. The point is these past two days I've had the opportunity to observe people in the rain. Specifically, I've been noticing people and their use of umbrellas. My conclusion: when the rain is THIS bad, and it's THIS windy, DO NOT USE AN UMBRELLA.

Literally every time I walk out of my dorm, within 30 seconds I observe at least two people with up-turned (correct word?) umbrellas struggling to fix them. Then they stop to try to make their umbrellas right again, getting blown around by the rain and soaked by the wind because their umbrellas are no longer functional. I noticed this earlier this year and it was hilarious. But now it's kind of annoying. An umbrella clearly isn't going to do you any good. About 20 minutes ago when I was coming back to my room, someone with a hoopty umbrella was walking around with the wires sticking out of the side. I also passed at least two pathetic broken ones sprawled out in the yard. How sad. But you know what? I don't even feel bad. You should've known better. The umbrella isn't practical in these kinds of conditions. Especially an enormous, unnecessary sized golf umbrella that becomes even heavier than it normally is with the wind. Saw at least three people struggling with those this afternoon. Get it together, boos.

THEN there are those people who, in an attempt to deal with the wind, put their umbrellas facing forward in front of them, making it seem as though they're going into battle and need some sort of shield. Too much! While these people don't end up with broken umbrellas AS often as the others (I have still seen them break from this), the result is what? You guessed it. You can't see in front of you. Let's assume you're walking forward. You can't see where you're walking. I literally witnessed two people who were using this umbrella/shield contraption walk into each other two because neither of them could see what was going on. Imagine if one of these umbrellas had been broken like another and had the wire sticking out of it. Before you knew it, you'd be charged with stabbing someone in Hahvahd yahd.

My point is, if you haven't noticed these things already you should. The second someone stepped out of Annenberg today, his umbrella flipped up. Why put yourself through the trouble of having to fix your umbrella every time you step outside and consequently getting soaked which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place? My advice: buy a good raincoat. I bet the cost of a good raincoat is less than the money one would spend on buying a new umbrella every week. If not for yourself, do this for me. I got some giggles out of observing people and their umbrellas initially, but now the joke is getting old. Buy a raincoat. Leave your umbrella in your closet and if you must use it, don't use it on a day when there's a torrential downpour in addition to really strong winds.

Instead, save it for your next music video.

I sincerely hope this helps those of you in need.

Stay dry!

-JRJ

P.S. Make me feel good about myself and become a 'follower'! (right side) Thanks!

Back to the grind

It's hard to believe it was only a week since I posted my last blog and that I've back at school for an even shorter time. Once I returned, there was no time for farting around like after winter break. It was straight back into classes and what some people would refer to as "the grind". It took me a couple of days but once I reminded myself that the next two weeks were going to be super busy with midterms, and a paper I got my act together and got back to work.

In addition to being sort of out of it just because I had just gotten back from break, a lot of other stuff has been on my mind. For one, HEALTHCARE! WOO! I couldn't be happier that this finally passed and next time someone tries to say Obama isn't doing enough they should think about the fact that he's made history in just over a year despite the fact that his predecessor left him in a seemingly impossible situation to get out of. Respek.

Healthcare: Great. Responses to healthcare: trifilicious. Multiple congressmen were SPIT on by conservatives the day of and after the vote. I don't understand how this is allowed. If a Republican were spit on this would be a HUGE deal. How dare we disrespect the great patriotic congressmen of this country, right? Yet these people were SPIT on and black congressmen, (one of whom was a champion during the civil rights movement in this country) were called the n-word as they walked to work. This really upsets me. The fact that TODAY we still have people who want to rewind and go back to a time when certain groups of people were marginalized concerns me. The fact that the "teabagger" movement is considered a legitimate MOVEMENT. Really?! Despite from trying to draw a historical parallel that DNE (does not exist, calc AB whadddupp?!), these people are refusing to believe that healthcare will benefit them when the majority of them don't have coverage. Healthcare is a good thing. Especially for people who don't have coverage now. I don't see how you can argue the other way. If you get sick it makes sense that you would benefit from some sort of plan that would allow you to get care at a cost that's affordable to you. Right? So why do these people not want healthcare? Why are all these way Right groups coming out with such full force now? WHY in the world would intelligent people vote for a ticket that could've possibly made Sarah Palin president of the United States? I hate to constantly play the race card but if it's all that's in my hand....

And it has been this whole week. On Wednesday (I believe) an article was written for the Harvard Salient (for those of you who don't know, the Salient is the Conservative publication on campus) that called Harvard's new "Ethnic Studies" secondary field "a good example of an academic subject driven entirely by a leftist political agenda". The author stressed the importance of a "conservative" education that included no histories other than those of Western civilization. He essentially calls the accomplishments of all other peoples, namely marginalized groups useless and illegitimate...things that we shouldn't bother learning about. "Americans of color have undoubtedly done some things of note, but their 'encounters' and 'experiences' are not of paramount importance to a university education." What about the "Americans of color" who were the basis for the foundation of the economy of this country back in the day? What about the outstanding accomplishments of black artists and writers despite generations of structural setbacks they had to endure? He LITERALLY says that "Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality" are "useless". USELESS? This is simply untrue. On the most BASIC level...there was a time when women could not vote. Now they can. Should we just ignore that there was a change there? Is that not noteworthy? As far as I'm concerned, a "university education" should not ignore history.

So...what does this mean? If you are not a white, christian, male of Northern European decent, the history of your being is illegitimate. Sorry, I know that might be hard to hear. Now I know some people might be thinking I'm being too harsh. After all, freedom of speech right? What about my freedom to be legitimate and learn about myself and where I come from? To my surprise, there are people out there who believe that I shouldn't have that freedom. How could someone this young hold these views? It doesn't make sense. He wasn't born at a time when "progressive" things weren't being taught which means that he grew up in an environment where he heard these things. It's scary to me that people who hold such regressive beliefs about people and the world, particularly of this country (just because it's closer to home for me) still exist today. WE DO NOT LIVE IN A POST-RACIAL SOCIETY. If anything, people are more vocal about their racist views now because there is so much backlash against Obama anyway, so why not? But hey, they have a voice so what can we who know this stuff is just plain wrong do about it? We have to have a voice too and be just as loud, if not louder. Right now is truly a scary time because the more we progress (black president, healthcare) the more angry and vocal the regressive voices (racist people spitting at congressmen and saying the n-word, teabaggers) will become.

My point is we gotta get back to the grind. There are amazing things happening right now and there's opportunity for so much more. I have a feeling people are going to be talking about this time in the future so I'd like to make some more history while we have the chance and before it's too late. Keep talking to people, write little blog things like this, argue with people, read about what's going on. Get back to the grind. I certainly have. LifeSci 1b and this stuff have been on my mind all week. Oh leh do ih.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLH3XLZirHU

-JRJ

What type uh -ation

Today it was beautiful outside yet again. I went to the reservation for the first time in years and took a pleasant stroll. Occasionally, I would continue the trend that started last night of thinking of words that end in "-ation". Examples: hydration, constipation, education, fermentation, etc. Also, another thing I did a lot of last night...saying "what type uh". This lingo has been used before in situations when weird things when on. But we took it to a whole new level and used it for every possible thing. While this may seem annoying...yeah, it is. But unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that it's really fun to do.

Accumulation.

What type uh randomness?

Do you guys remember the movie the breakfast club? It's so good. And the ending is mad realistic. After spending a day in detention with people who actually weren't in your group of friends or your "crowd", everyone knows that you definitely wouldn't be friends with those people. It would affect your Reputation. It's also interesting to think of what people in high school would correspond to each character. Characterization. Just a thought. A Contemplation.

Anyways, I apologize for not blogging for the past few days. You know how in high school how during summer vacation your sleep schedule changed and then you had to try to gradually (graduation) get back to your normal sleep schedule. Well, that's what I'm trying to do here. When I go back to school on Sunday, I'm definitely not going to be able to do this every day. I will try to every week or so. So don't get too addicted. What type uh dependence would that be.

Relation.

Tomorrow is a busy day. Have to see a bunch of people and start getting ready to go back to school. I was also going to try to do some work. But. We'll see if that happens. Anyways, continue enjoying this weather.

By the way, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is on as I write this. One of my faves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZPRkkiQEoc

Gnight errybody.

-JRJ

Sun!

Today, in typical break fashion I awoke at 11am and alas, through my windows what did I see? SUN! After days of gloomy grossness there was sun! It was also really warm out. I left my house with just a t-shirt and a sweatshirt on (no pants, obviously) and made sure to wear my Ray Bans. What a great day. Tomorrow's supposed to be nice too, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to take some time tomorrow to "toss a disc around". Hopefully thank lingo was correct. If not, please let me know.

Despite the nice weather, I did have to force myself to do some work for school. trife. Not cool to assign things due the Monday after break....k, I'm over it.

Liii Lopeh educated me today with a couple of interesting statistics that she read about for one of her classes. One was that on average, taller men are more successful. This didn't surprise me. Probably has to do with things like confidence throughout life in general. The second statistic was what got me. Apparently, women who have sex with richer men have more orgasms. I don't really get why this would be the case. Maybe they convince themselves they're happier? Maybe they fake it more often to please their rich lovers? Maybe rich men have gotten with more women and as a result have more experience and are just better. Who knows. Anyone else have any other theories as to why this would be true?

In addition to doing work today, I also took a relaxing nap with my pup by my side. For those of you who have heard me go on my dog shpiel before, feel free to skip over this part. For those of you who haven't, listen up. Dogs are amazing. Especially affectionate dogs. They really have a sense of how you're feeling and they always love you no matter what. If you're having a bad day, they know. And they can cheer you up. Oh, the simple things in life. So I fell asleep facing my puppy for about a half an hour and I woke up and looked out the window. Still sunny! Great day, great day.

The Obama healthcare stuff is still getting talked about and Obama went to Fox (YES, FOX) to talk about it. He is not playing around and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that congress can get their act together and trust him after all this time and hard work he's put into something this important. Again, hopefully we'll get good news soon. The vote should happen by the end of this week.

News I heard today: Tiger Woods coming back to play golf. YAY! SIKE. I know it may be unrealistic/unfair of me to say that his career should be over but I cannot stand him. While there are undoubtedly other athletes who do the disgusting things that he was doing, none of them base their careers off of their composure and clean-cut images to the extent that Tiger did. Also, I watched his apology a few weeks ago and it was PATHETIC. Speaking of pathetic, his wife. Staying with him. Ridiculous. I cannot for the life of me understand it. Yes, he has money, but so does she. She would be fine without him and she doesn't (for that matter, no one does) deserve to stay with someone who cheated on her with almost or over ten women. Disgusting. Also, the kids are young enough now so that they wouldn't get too much crap from other kids or at school, whereas if this happens again later (which I wouldn't be surprised if it did-people don't change all that much), they could run into more problems.

Finally, as I've been writing this I've been flipping back and forth between late night talk shows and have been shocked to find that on all three there have been different forms of racism. With Letterman it was with snoop dog and the way he talks/where he lives/what he eats (buckets of chicken, obviously.....really?), with Leno it was with Gene Hackman imitating Chinese people and the way they speak and act, and with Kimmel it was one of him employees (who is Mexican) acting like he is really stupid and ignorant (He referred to Mardi Gras as Mardi Gracias and compared the parade to Cinco de Mayo. Is it considered child labor if Kimmel has 7 year-olds writing for him? Someone should really do something about that.) But hey, what do I know, right? Apparently this stuff is funny. Nahhhhh doh. It's offensive and stupid. Late night hosts, step ya game up, make a better joke. If I wanted to listen to stupid racist jokes I would watch South Park and Family Guy more often.

Peter Griffin: My black friend talks funny!

Joe: I have no legs!

(pause for laughter)

South Park character 1 (description-small and white): Blacks, ching ching, stupid!

South Park character 2 (description-small and white): Gingers do have souls dammit!

(pause for laughter/for audience to make the youtube connection)

Sorry for those who are offended by my hatred of South Park and Family Guy and the fact that Late Night Talk Shows' sometimes make really stupid and racist jokes.

On the BRIGHT side, something we can all agree on is that it was BEAUTIFUL today! Let's all set aside our differences and hope for more sunshine tomorrow! Yayyy!

Happy sunshine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q536JTSe40M

-JRJ

Wonderland

Trat twice in one day today. Always an accomplishment. I also visited school which was nice. Although it was upsetting to see only like four stars on the college board. Whatsup with that? By this time last year we were running to the star board every day to see people's stars even though we already knew where everyone was going. My senior star was probably the most artistic thing I've ever done. The thing is it has to be really good because if it sucks then everyone sees it and knows that you suck at art. So yeah, anyways, it's a big, exciting, deal. The tradition better not die.

Anyways, the more important/most exciting part of my day was seeing Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, do. It was so cool. And I'm saying this even though I was nodding off for the first thirty minutes of the movie. I had a SERIOUS case of the itis after having a delicious tortellini and sundried tomato pesto dish at Trat for just $8.95. (Since when was Monday night pasta night?! Such a pleasant surprise. Trat, you never cease to impress me despite the trifling people who enjoy your food sometimes.)

Sorry for that aside. Back to Wonderland. I want to be friends with all of the characters and watching it just makes you want to believe that that stuff is possible. It's funny how you can still feel like that when you're 19...which is funny because in the movie Alice is 19 too!!!!! Also, the Cheshire cat was just so cool. I think I am most like him because even though he's kind of weird and annoying he always does the right thing for the right people in the end. Something to be proud of? Who cares. I love that dude. His smile is also really cool.

As you can tell, the movie was just really good. Helena Bonham Carter (aka Bellatrix Lestrange) played the bad queen (SO GOOD) and Anne Hathaway played the good one (love her). Johnny Depp was amazing. "What's the hatter with me?" In summary, SEE THE MOVIE. Not everyone loved it as much as I do but you should take my word for it and treat yourself. Also, bring your student I.D. to get a discount if you go to SOPAC. It also helps having an Optimum Rewards card if you go there. Just sayin'. Finally, the 3D glasses they give you are pretty damn fly and you can be a good person and recycle them! I was made fun of for doing this but let me warn you that if you keep them and wear them for too long you can get a headache.

In other news: IT'S STILL RAINING. And I'm still pissed about it. It's supposed to be nicer tomorrow and if it isn't I'm finna come duel.

I'm also finna come duel if Obama's speeches basically begging congress for healthcare don't have a positive effect later this week. It's been a long time coming and Obama and America both deserve this. Hopefully we'll be hearing some good news soon.

And with that, I'm off to bed.

See Alice in Wonderland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCM4JiJ6B2I

-JRJ

Daylight Savings

Dear Weather Gods,

The weather that you have decided to curse New Jersey with for the past couple of days has been, in a word, trifling. Last night after seeing BIG: THE MUSICAL, Kasey Jonelle and I went back to Alex's for an innocent hangout WITHOUT KNOWING WE WOULD HAVE TO SLEEP THERE DUE TO THE FACT THAT AN ENORMOUS TREE FELL ON ONE OF ALEX'S CARS AND BLOCKED THE OTHER ONE FROM GETTING OUT OF HIS DRIVEWAY SO HE COULD NOT TAKE US HOME. The weather was so bad that people couldn't even drive to pick us up. In the morning it was pouring again and it is still drizzling as I write this at 1:30am. Truly miz. Also, I lost an hour of sleep because of Daylight Savings and this for some reason hit me really hard. At Alex's we went to bed at around 1 and I wanted to wake up at 8:45 because I missed my bed (annoying, I know). Instead, I woke up at 9:45. When I got home I slept for two additional hours and still felt exhausted. I guess it's a good thing I don't go to school in a different time zone, because apparently a one hour "SPRING FORWARD" really messes with my biological clock. Those who know me know I need my sleep. Nuff said.

Today for a birthday present my brother took me into the city to see the play "Race". It was really interesting. I'll try giving a brief synopsis. Basically it's about these two male lawyers who share a practice, one is white, the other is black. They also have a young, black, female law clerk who works for them. A rich white male who has been accused of raping a black woman comes to these lawyers and wants them to defend him. After some deliberation and mistakes made by the law clerk (ask or see it if you want specifics, but this isn't that important), they end up taking the case. The law clerk says that she thinks he is guilty from the start, but the lawyers find holes in some of the statements that suggest to them that their client might be innocent and that they might have a case. Throughout the play, more things reveal themselves about this client that indicate that he is clearly a racist. But the case is about rape...so is this relevant? One of the many questions that the play asked was should this be more relevant because the alleged victim was a black woman? I struggle with this. Part of me wants to say no...it shouldn't...as lawyers these men should be able to focus solely on the case at hand. Not the larger, underlying issues. The black lawyer is actually able to do this, something that was clearly easier for him than for the black female law clerk. On the other hand, I don't really think you can remove race from the situation, or at least if I were in the situation, I certainly wouldn't be able to.

By the end of the play, the law clerk basically sells out the lawyers' case to the prosecution and the client confesses that he is guilty of rape. This is where I had some problems with the play. It seemed like all of the characters represented different extremes and that the outcome was almost too predictable. I feel like the play would've been more controversial if we didn't find out that the client was guilty. This way, the touchy subject of race in the case would be at the VERY center of the controversy. Here's the thing. By the end of the play all of the characters were talking about how they had prejudices. The black law clerk confessed that she had thought the client was guilty from the beginning because he was white and he was accused of raping a black woman. She herself is a black woman so this would obviously be a very personal situation for her. But if her prejudices hold true at the end, how effective is the play? We already know that stereotypes can sometimes be true, but I think the more important question to ask would be to what extent should we let stereotypes influence our views about people? The end of the play as it is simply proves that stereotypes can be true and doesn't delve into the latter question. Also my brother and I were saying at the end that had we been in the law clerk's position we would've just peaced out and been like "this is too hard for me to deal with, sorry, bye!!". The other thing is is that the law clerk wasn't acting professionally in the sense that she went behind the lawyers' backs and talked to the prosecution, but on the other hand, she was doing her job by making sure that the victim was brought justice. I'm still up in the air about this and would love to hear other people's thoughts.

One thing that I thought was VERY realistic and good about the play was the character of the accused client. As more and more things were revealed to the lawyers about the fact that he was clearly a racist, he kept stressing that he wanted to confess these things to the press and publicly apologize (not necessarily about the rape itself) because he wanted to try to show people that he wasn't racist (also keep in mind part of the reason the client wanted to go to this firm in the first place is because they had a black and a white attorney). I think this is really realistic. Race such a risky thing to talk about that the second white people feel like they might behave in a questionable way they feel like they have to apologize for it and that they have something to feel guilty about. The thing is, if you're feeling that guilt and having those doubts, especially to the extent that this character was, I think this is a clear indication that you are in fact, racist. The way this character struggled with that throughout the play was definitely realistic and I'm glad the play touched upon it.

As for the rest of the play, again, I'm still not really sure how I feel about it, but I'd definitely like to hear what other people have to say about it because it certainly makes you think.

After the play and dinner at Los Tapatios with the fam, I came home and slept for about two more hours (Damn it, Daylight Savings).

More reuniting was done in the infamous Goldstein basement, where there was obviously much laughter.

However, on a totally different note, we also talked about the recent suicides at Cornell. I hadn't realized there were three this month. I think it's really unfortunate that this has been a problem for so many years and that it only continues to get worse. I can't imagine the kind of pressure these kids must be under in addition to feeling so isolated that they have to result to suicide. Even though I wish that firmer action was taken sooner to prevent Cornell from being known for its high suicide rate, I trust that now there will be more resources available to students who need help. Also, Carolyn was there this past weekend for Matty Gruber's Bar Mitzvah and she mentioned that there are now security guards by the bridges where the suicides usually happen. I really hope this problem stops soon, I'd hate to hear about more instances like this. ALSO, apparently after the kids commit suicide their parents have to continue paying tuition for the rest of the year. SERIOUSLY?! I found that unbelievable and really unsympathetic.

On that note, I think I'll go to bed now. I'm sure I have more sleep in me since Daylight Savings really seems to be taking a serious toll on my body. Rest up everyone, and keep praying to the Weather Gods to end this atrocious weather.

Gnight!

-JRJ

P.S. There is a facebook group called "Call me Mr. Facebook, I can make your grades drop"...I found this hilarious and really clever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha80ZaecGkQ

HOME

Hello everyone. So I've decided to start blogging. About what? My really interesting life. Why? Because I feel like it. Who knows how long this will last. I'm warning you now, if I get lazy and stop updating after about three weeks don't be surprised. I quit piano two separate times because I didn't like practicing. When I was 12 or 13 I bought myself an acoustic guitar because I convinced myself I wanted to play it. Two months later I quit. You get the idea.

Anyways, I'm home on my spring break now from school. The last few weeks in Cambridge were pretty ridiculous between midterms, papers, and housing. For those of you who don't know, Harvard has a residential housing system where you get placed into a house to live in for your remaining three years. They bang on your door at about 8:30am screaming and hugging you. It's pretty cool and my friends and I got the house that was ranked #1 out of 12 by students so we were pretty souped. If you want to know more about it just ask me but I don't feel like going into detail here.

So I got home last night and was presented with a belated birthday cake (ice cream, from carvel...obviously) and gifts. Among other things I got a cardigan and a v-neck t-shirt. I'm excited to try out these new styles since I never really wear either.

This morning went to the JCC with my fam. (First time I had been to a gym in about a month, whoops 0_o) As my Dad put it "A family who exercises together stays together...and eats dessert together." *snaps*

I then made my first trip of my break to Trat with Alexander Seth Miller. There was a girl wearing a light pink sweatshirt with SL,UT on it. I think the point was to rep a part of Utah but regardless....KWA?! Girls, do not wear sweatshirts that say "SLUT" on them. I thought this was a fairly standard rule for girls and women, but apparently not. What might be less obvious is that saying things like "LOVE YA, SLUT!" and "U SUCK, BITCH!" to your girlfriends is not cute. Grow up and learn to start respecting yourselves, please. Alex and I were very vocal about our opinion of the sweatshirt and Alex made sure to laugh really loudly and say "SHE THINK SHE LOOK CUTE". If I had to make a prediction I would say that this trife mug was making a trip to Trat from Millburn, NJ. MILLBURN, STAY OUT.

Tonight I'm returning to the halls of CHS to see "Big: The Musical". Every time I think about this I laugh. How could "Big", the movie where Tom Hanks turns into a grown up (aka old school male version of 13 going on 30 be careful watchu wish fo type thing) be a musical?!!? Needless to say I am SO excited. Few things make me happier than seeing CHS musicals because I can't be in them. In high school I was notorious for hanging out with/being obsessed with people in the musical because I could never be in it. In college I've already managed to spend a night with the Harvard Opportunes because I'm obsessed with a capella, yet can't sing. That being said, for anyone from home who's reading this, I'm finna go to the city this break and do some karaoke. Oh leh do ih. Also, I need to find some places to do that in Boston. Maybe if I sing a lot my voice will improve. You know what they say [about everything except singing]....practice makes puuurrrrfect!

Two more quick things:

1) I'm not a fan of GaGa's new video. I feel like her style of making songs that she knows will be popular and then making videos that are obscure and weird is going to get really old really quickly. Parts about it were cool, I liked the dancing, but some things were absolutely ridiculous and unecessary. No need for her to be naked. No need for the creepy dialogue between her and B other than to make everyone uncomfortable. No need for them to kill everyone in that diner. No need for the idea "To Be Continued", as it said at the end of the video. Who knows, my opinion on both her "Paparazzi" and "Bad Romance" videos has changed, as has my initial opinion on her. But as of now, she's doing way too much.

http://www.ladygaga.com/player/default.aspx?meid=5599

2) A VIDEO YOU MUST SEE IS "NEIGHBORS KNOW MY NAME"-Trey Songz. Nuff said.

http://www.treysongz.com/video/neighbors-know-my-name-1/

Alright, this is an introductory post for what I hope will be a project of mine that continues.

Also, this weather is legitimately awful and needs to stop asap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47HCjB3Plc

Your fave SL,UT,

JRJ