disappointment.

so, i discovered today that my local branch of the public library is loaning out ebooks, which work on both my sony reader and his nook. and i have an account, and an online pin and everything. so i was thinking this is kind of cool, because the actual meatspace branch is pretty tiny, and ugly, and doesn't really have much of a selection.

unfortunately, their fiction ebook section appears to consist solely of harlequin romances. which... i don't know about you, but i don't think i'd read one of them, even if it was free.

i guess it's back to the sony store. foiled again.

happy thanksgiving.

it's snowing.

snow on thanksgiving means rain on christmas. it's my own little superstition.

on the other hand, 2 1/2 lbs of mashed potatoes have been made.

zombie plants.

is it just me, or do brussels sprouts look like little brains?

they are yummy roasted, though. yay fall.

student life.

i have been awake for 24 hours.

uploaded my paper at 5:30 this morning. it's due at noon.

i hate forced drafts. i don't write drafts. the reason i didn't go to sleep last night is because the actual due date for the paper is next tuesday and i totally blanked on the fact that a stupid fucking draft was due today.

hmf.

mid-semester break.

too much thinking.

apple pie has been made.

i even managed not to cut any fingers this time. i should really spring for one of these.

welcome to fall.

it is pretty damn disgusting out.

one bit of weather that i really hate is when it is warm and yet rainy. so you either wear a jacket of some kind and stay dry-ish but swelter, or you get soaked.

seeing as i'll be in class for 6 hours tomorrow, i'm thinking i'll pick the former option, but damn. come on, weather. if it's going to be fall, it might as well start getting cold.

(and then when it gets cold, it's time to snow. take notes.)

yom kippur thoughts.

i broke my fast with hallah and butter (he bought one downtown from a jewish bakery yesterday).

and i was sitting at the table by myself and flipping though the sales flyers that come in the mail, i thought, what's the point of all this stuff compared with the simple pleasure of having bread to eat when you're hungry?

insiders.

i have to say, i am disappointed (as usual) with the evangelical christian response to the idiot in florida who apparently doesn't read his own holy book, much less the quran.

there is no condemnation.

oh, there's a bit of "please don't do this" and "this is a bad decision" but no one in the evangelical christian world is saying, "this is wrong." no one. and this is ridiculous.

the evangelical conservative right in this country has told itself for years that it's a persecuted minority (thank God it's a minority but any claim to persecution could not be much farther from the truth). they've developed this kind of insider protection instinct that is leading them, in this case (and in other cases), to not be able to call out someone on a distinctly unchristian act. christianity in general in the west has forgotten what it really means to be a minority, and the protestant arrogance that disdains the writings of the patristics has led to a skewed image of christianity's interaction with the wider world.

it's not only that, though. it's that our culture in general has developed an incapability to actually condemn or endorse anything. the "bad decision" rhetoric is impotent and ridiculous. yes, it is a bad decision to burn qurans, but even more so, it is an unchristian decision. and the inability of other pastors to call out this guy betrays christianity's own syncretism with modern individualism. one of my favourite quotes recently is from a rabbi who said, "Give me a break. Is there really a point to Rabbinic leadership if it does not come with value judgments?" any spiritual leader, anyone who wishes to think of him- or herself as a spiritual leader could learn from this.

burning qurans is wrong. it is unchristian. the end.

update: i am grateful to a friend for pointing me to this article.

false dichotomies.

i had no intention of creating nearly back-to-back posts about islam, but i read this today and just got so angry.

it was that last section that is making my blood boil:

Despite some hurtful experiences in public, Nadia is content with her decision to wear niqab and says she feels a distinct difference in how men respect her now as opposed to her earlier days of low-cut shirts and formfitting pants.

after a whole fucking column about how the hijab is not about male power over female, guess what: it is. this is just enforcing the virgin-whore dichotomy (otherwise known as "women ain't nothin' but bitches and hos"), as if the only choices of clothing a woman has is either to dress like a slut or to cover everything so they don't distract men and aren't judged by men and don't tempt men. women are only judged by their sexual availability. in this structure, men still have all the power.

when i was a freshman student taking a film course, i thought "the gaze" was feminist bullshit. it's not. the insistance on covering to avoid the male gaze just highlights it all that much more. the hijab doesn't stop men from judging you by your body and appearance, as these women unfortunately found out.

the hijab is not empowering. it keeps the male power structure in place, it enforces it, and it caters to it.

i'm not going to make a statement about wearing it or not. if you want to wear the hijab because it makes you feel closer to god, that's fine. but i reject any argument that it empowers women.

cat5-to-usb converter.

not quite what was expected.