I return today after a 50 minute walk to get from class to my apartment. My fingers are about as agile as the three inch layer of ice that seems to be permanently stuck to every sidewalk I disgrace with my presence. As usual I encountered inspiration as I walked with my heads in clouds and partially in a newspaper I picked up.
I would like to return to my original purpose of the blog. To quejarme de todo, or to complain about everything. There is no point in starting in on the university or the city. It would merely be redundant to express that Satan's anus isn't a great place.
Newspapers: The big news that took up the majority of the articles was on the primary. Wisconsin voted yesterday, it is the big event here. It would have to be even bigger in a college town with the multitude of misguided college students who still believe they can change the world, politicians don't lie and that their vote counts. They have yet to learn that Rome wasn't built or destroyed in a day and change is a painstaking process. The sad part of having such repetitive newspapers means they do not cover other and probably more important news. Yesterday Fidel Castro stepped down from power as the president of Cuba. This is a history changing event! This could be a change or removal of the embargo that has been in place for 46 years. The embargo was placed because of that leader and tensions of the time. That time has passed, those tensions are gone and now that leader is out of power; yet this step down from power deserves an inch on the back page while every other page is full of election stories. I know what McCain and Obama's faces look like and know they won the primaries here. Do I need to see a guy in a giant badger costume encouraging a college student to vote, who inevitably is one of the misguided people?
No I do not. Why are we not talking about one of the final threads with a tenacious grip on nearly nonexistent cold war tensions?
To add to this lunacy this is what the Cuban embassy in other countries puts out
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Cinderumpelstiltskin/DSCN1004.jpg
If this isn't evidence of horrid relations between the US and Cuba is, I don't know what is. I read the pamphlet, well as much as I could; it was rather dry. It more or less "quoted" things that Bush said, especially about Cuba. However, I am sure I believe that Bush would have that much to say about a country that was banned from the thoughts of the US public in 1962.
Toasters: Why does the highest setting exist? I think someone must have written a toaster company complaining about how much work it is to push their toast down twice to burn it. Who likes burnt toast anyway? I want to eliminate this from my toaster.
Now back to something a little more serious. I also have a new idea of why Obama supporters tend to be the younger crowd. Take a look at the main word rolling off of his lips. Change. Younger people are notorious for having a revolutionary spirit. People grow conservative once they are older and feel like they have to take care of things (making sure they have money for retirement and a stable place to be). This younger generation (which I am a part of, so I guess I am hypocritical) hasn't met hardship yet. We seem to think that things are terrible and that changing them has to make them better, but abrupt change (revolutions, take a look at Latin America in during their revolutionary era) leads to instability and true hardship.
Much to my dismay, I cannot change minds and will just sit and watch as this change runs us into the ground as have many a failed revolution.
This is a tangent, but I also despise people who wear Che Guevara shirts and express their coolness that way. If you feel that everything is going to hell in a handbasket, I cannot argue you, but only use him as a symbol for the revolutionary spirit. From being a Latin American studies geek I find Che's ideology very belligerent. If you are a hippie looking for revolution you may have chosen the wrong symbol for revolutionary spirit. The aspect that nearly splits my side with laughter is when the suburban middle class US wears Che memorabilia. Unless I am mistaken, these people probably epitomize Che's enemies. He probably wanted them dead.
Do Che shirt wearers support Obama? I wish I knew. It looks like revolutionary spirit doesn't die with the times, it will probably stay in specific age groups.
My hope for Obama is that he can unite a nation and be able to restore some faith in a nation where the president is little more than an easy way to crack a joke. Bush jokes are now becoming easier to make than Michael Jackson jokes. What does this tell you?
Comments (2)
Sorry for just popping in here, just want to say hello! My name is Annika, hope you could visit my site too.
I just love the phrase you have in your entry, "Quejarme de todo...."
Good day!
Annika
i agree. maybe obama will help restore the respect that we've lost. i dont necessarily believe he'll be able to deliver on all his campaign promises..but maybe justhaving him as a representative will help unite people.