9/23 Congratulations mimi. Interviewed for Jinn Magazine (speaking of bemoaning civilization), check it out here.

Tonight, I'm meeting up with an old old friend. The guy I dated the longest --off and on for four years--. Haven't seen him in almost a year, since he moved to California. I'm not nostalgic, but I am remembering my senior year of high school, which was a pretty fun time. Careening around suburban massachusetts in somebody's Dad's car. Going to shows, going to Bickfords for latenight coffee antics. We weren't all straightedge, but we were most of us underage, and coffee served as the social habit that bonded us. That and seeing how many half-and-half containers you could fit in your mouth at once. Anything to disconcert the waitresses and make them laugh. I'm happy to say that we always had decent manners --to this day, nothing bugs me more than people who are rude to those who have to put up with them for tips. (Having waited tables myself by now, I am even more adamant.) Reading the People's History of the United States. helping to organize a teach-in at school --classes called off for a day and guest speakers including Howard Zinn. Minor Threat. Operation Ivy. Fugazi. Einsturzende Neubaten. The Smiths. Billy Bragg. Fugazi. Oh shit I guess I am nostalgic. I knew, even at the time, that we were all lucky as hell.

9/22 It's trite to bemoan the end of civilization. these days, the concept of civilization is best used only sarcastically anyway. but consider these two incidences from TV-land:
1) Flipping channels, landed on that Court TV show long enough to spot John Lydon (that would be formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. He's being taken to court by a temporary tour drummer for breach of contract. Some lady is the judge, she lectures them like a first-grade teacher, they oblige by behaving like first grade boys.
2) Tried to watch some ice-skating last night. A couple did a piece to Led Zeppelin's "A Whole Lotta Love." I watched the whole thing, wondering what messrs. Paige and Plant would think about it. Then again, maybe they love ice skating. I had to turn it off when they did the disco medley --ten or more skaters on the ice, Saturday Night Fever, YMCA and more...

9/21 So I guess the papers are saying that the massacre in Mexico was drugrelated. Although all the authorities are saying its unusual that they would kill the children. Talking with a friend who said it was unusual to hear of such violence in association with marijuana (which is what a couple articles said they meant by "drugs"). I don't know much about that, but I thought it may have had more to do with the class issue. It sounded like a rural area, like these were farmers, peasants. Unmitigated violence against peasants has been along tradition most places, drugs or no drugs. Hmmm. I've read the articles I could find. Very unresolved feelings about it though.

On the recommendation of my American Economic History professor, I've started reading the Wall Street Journal. Can't get into a lot of the business news (although I know that's what we're supposed to be reading), but I'm keeping closer tabs on what's going on in the world. I like it that there are hardly any photographs. Of course, a blurb about Afghani rockets hitting Kabul didn't exactly raise my spirits this morning... but I'd rather know something's happening than not.

9/18 -later in the daywhat is going on here?:
"Eighteen Mexicans were executed at a cattle ranch near Ensenada by gunmen who dragged them from their beds and lined them up to face a firing squad. No motive was immediately apparent. One person survived. The victims included eight children."
This is from the Wall Street Journal today. Somebody tell me if they know any more about it.

9/18 Well i was reading pamie's wonderful and hilarious site, and she threatens to quote The Prophet, by whom I guess she means Kahlil Gibran's book (pamie can correct me if I'm wrong). this always causes me to smile, not because of my opinion of the book (although that could be it), but because I have more funny gossip. Funnier even than my John Silber gossip, which is really just bitchy. This gossip i learned in a class at my high school, from two teachers. Kahlil Gibran went to my high school. Yes he did. I went to a small private high school, originally it was a girls school, a prep school for Radcliffe, then it went co-ed and got really progressive, eventually freaky, until apparently by the 1970's it was a total drugfest. but anyway before that, when there was a Headmistress, Kahlil Gibran went there. And he had an affair with the headmistress. Scandal scandal. A precocious young lad. So I have to smirk whenever I see his stuff mentioned. (Helen Keller went to my high school too. For a while.)

9/17 Did you know that you can become allergic to neosporin? *itch*

9/16 Well my counter broke 1000. Thank you all for visiting. Many of you check in a lot and I'm psyched about that. One of the nicest compliments I've gotten was that I gave someone ammunition for arguing with people about economic issues. that's one of the things I want to do. Econ is a field that excludes morality and conscience, which means it also excludes some aspects of rigorous scholarship (by which i mean dealing with actual evidence, actual populations). It's also a field that many people who are otherwise vocal critics of the status quo tend to avoid. I'm trying to pick holes in its supposedly monolithic structure, sprout weeds in the cracks, point out the faulty structures which have brought systems crashing down.

On that note. I can't find an earlier rant, so maybe i didn't post it. Is anyone else annoyed by the headlines a few weeks ago of Clinton asking Yeltsin to continue to have faith in capitalism and the free market? I mean, their currency FAILED TOTALLY, jerk, what other kind of failure could you be waiting for? Wouldn't you say that's a pretty good indication that an unregulated market is the wrong idea for russia? (besides the fact that nobody anywhere has ever had an unregulated market.) I mean really, how much more obvious could it be than the fact that Russians are relying on BARTER. Um. that's not the sign of a successfully developing economy, okay?

Which reminds me of what i'm enjoying about my American Economic history class. this is important stuff. Good ammunition for arguments. I'm basically getting more backup for my statements in the past: there is no historical evidence of a nation's economy developing *without* substantial intervention by the government. People in the US, especially politicians, are continually ranting about the dangers of big governent. Once again --where are we competitive internationally? Agricultural Science, (Military) Technology, and Medicine. All of which are the most government-subsidized. The prof writes about agriculture. And he backs me up! Not only has the US been the most productive agriculturally of any nation, but every nation (except for germany, whose model of agricultural development ours is based on), comes to the US to study Agricultural Science. How did this happen? Starting at the end of the 1800s, the US invested huge amounts of money in coordinating research and development in agriculture. Through the early 20th century, a huge organization was created, monitoring research, disseminating results and new technology to farms, training farmers in new tech, etc. etc. this is a huge success story for government "interfering" in business. [A counterexample: It didn't happen in railroads (unlike the rest of the industrialized world), which is why our public transportation system is so goddamn backward compared to most.]
This is what happens when you look at history in economics, you find that pronouncements people made just haven't been borne out by the facts. Some pronouncements have NEVER been borne out by facts. So why do people keep pronouncing'em? why indeed.
Isn't it lovely when a course makes you feel sane instead of making you feel crazy? (like this one.)