searching for the ineffable
There’s free wireless at the car dealership. This is particularly convenient given that I’m here for 3-4 hours, they said. It’s amazing what a change of scene can do: sitting here on cushy chairs, with hubbub all around and Regis and Whatsername on the plasma screen about 12 feet away… and I’m being productive. I mean, except for writing this. But, like, getting work done.
Ah, the post-human present.
Check out this children’s story, called “It’s Just a Plant.” I think it addresses marijuana prohibition pretty well, despite (as someone elsewhere pointed out) a bit of racial profiling that I’d rather not see there.
For the history of marijuana prohibition, here’s a good historical account. The rest of the FAQ is a pretty interesting read, too. Disclaimer at the top of the FAQ notwithstanding, I know that it has been translated into several languages, and I do not know of any document more detailed. If you do, by all means let me know; I’d love to read it.
Edit: Oh, heh. Read also what people are saying about the book, as well as the author’s response to a Congressional attack of “It’s Just a Plant.”
As I just wrote on IM, “You know you’re an academic when, case #254: you’re STUCK IN YOUR OFFICE on a SUNDAY because the door latch is broken.” Totally serious. I can’t even get to my printout! Aaaaaaiiie!
Someone from Facilities is supposedly on their way over. In the meantime, an update.
Elliott, the car I’d had for eight years, has bit it. A stupid accident of the sort that… you just stand there and laugh. Who woulda known that going at ten miles per hour could crumple up the hood and front to the point where the car would be pronounced totaled?
Well, it happened. Nobody was hurt, thank goodness. They’ve taken the car away. We have a rental, and have purchased another car – although we won’t have it for a few more days. A Honda Fit. It’s supremely odd to have bought a new-new car, but given available options and our needs, this was the prudent thing to do.
I’m full of nervous energy. The project is two months and a bit away from conclusion. There are at least three papers to write before then, and it would be good if they didn’t suck. And then the dissertation, which I cannot WAIT for, but which will undoubtedly bring procrastination demons with it. It’s like the boss level in a video game: slay the procrastination demons (who look suspiciously like those wraith guys from Mordor), get to the golden cup – or the degree, as it happens.
It’ll All Be Fine. Now, if only my brain could turn into a brain again… *pokes the mushy puddle with a stick*
*mushy puddle EATS the stick*
Ack.
Hey, you know what I’ve discovered? Stephen King isn’t all that bad. I have practically swallowed up the first two books of the Dark Tower series, which is not so much horror as dark-fantasy-meets-pulp. Its protagonist is a gunslinger named Roland. I’m happy to report that yes, he does in fact have enough qualities to be That Roland, and so reading King is officially dissertation work. iWin!
Now I am freed by way of Facilities’ help over the phone. Time to go where the internet isn’t, and make another attempt at writing a certain proposal.
You would’ve been 69 years old today. Instead, you’re five and a half years gone.
So many things on my mind, but the one that keeps surprising me – you’re an inspiration. You’ve taught me, by example, what to do – and what not to do.
Perhaps I’ve grown into how our relationship had changed, how my understanding of you had changed, in those last few years. I used to do things despite you and your stubborn will (that’s what you get for passing on your genes), but now I do them to honor you. Ironically enough, you still wouldn’t approve of some key choices I’ve made. But that doesn’t matter, it would still be nice to share them with you, and argue until we’re hoarse and it’s way past bedtime.
You are the reason I want to believe in the possibility of meeting you again someday.
Jewish lore says (or so I’ve heard, anyway) that the living are allowed to summon the dead for a year after death, whenever, to help with the grieving process; and that then it’s time to let them go where they will. Wherever else you might be, you’re in my blood, and I can summon that part of you whenever I damn well please. Happy birthday.
Am just now reading ‘Plain Talk About Plain Speech,’ an article in a recent Inside Higher Ed. This, this is what gives me hope that I may survive in academe. Few things turn me off more about my chosen field than unnecessary jargon. Well, one thing maybe: its unnecessary overvaluation.
If I can continue treating academic speech as, you know, every other form of speech (perhaps of a slightly different register) and still contribute to Knowledge Work(tm), that will rule. If not… well, then I won’t last, and the issue will be irrelevant.
But the reason you might want to read the article is that it’s damn funny.
Welcome, Sylvana Campbell Gruesz, daughter of Colleen and Carl! A big one she is, 9lb 3oz. Born last night by c-section for positioning reasons, mom and baby seem to be doing fine so far. I hope to see them soon, perhaps even today.
Dance the dance with us, baby. We’ve been waiting for you.
(I was thinking of diminuitives to her name last night. Sylvana – Syl – Sylly!)
Toasted fennel seeds, left over from yesterday because what you actually meant to toast was cumin. By themselves, nothing else.
Big blog updates, what? So many things I keep meaning to write about, and they just never get written down. Have to start again somewhere.
Oh, all right. Here’s some content: Y: The Last Man is a great graphic-novel (you know, comic book) series. Well written, intriguing in its treatment of gender, beautifully drawn.
Today Albert Hofmann, the chemist who first synthesized LSD (and took it, back on Bicycle Day, 1943) turns 100 years old.
I can think of few scientists who changed the Western world as much as he did during the 20th century while managing to create nothing destructive. Thank you for the insight, for the tools, for the kindness and courage, Dr. Hofmann.
Check out this symposium being held in Basel, Switzerland in his honor.
2006 has been decidedly a mixed bag so far. An extended family visit was emotionally draining, despite its many shining moments. Driving home through sleet was about as much fun as it sounds, and when we got home we were so exhausted that there was immediately a vicious fight and subsequent bad feelings lasting well over half an hour.
…I’m pretty lucky, huh? E. and I have our problems, and it’s been a difficult couple of weeks, and there are issues to work on, but I have never experienced a long-term relationship in which love truly does conquer all. Quickly, even.
Today, I am sick; mostly, it seems, from allergies to Aki the Cat Who Charmed The World (Including His Catsitter). Muscle pain too, though, so it might still be a cold caught from Tesher the Nephew Who Couldn’t Stop Coughing (But Who Is Still Charming As Hell). See lucky, above: Ethan has been cleaning the house for the past hour or so, while I’m sequestered in the living room.
But none of this matters. Yesterday, Rhode Island became the eleventh state in the Union with a medical marijuana law on the books. The bill was first passed last summer, and in his infinite scientific good judgment, Governor Carcieri vetoed it immediately. State Senate overrode his veto a while back; yesterday, the House did the same. HELL YES. Finally.
The document can be found here. It provides the opportunity to use marijuana for medical purposes, and protections that go therewith, to patients suffering from AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and other debilitating diseases. Here are some excerpts:
Modern medical research has discovered beneficial uses for marijuana in treating or alleviating pain, nausea and other symptoms associated with certain debilitating medical conditions, as found by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in March 1999 […]
According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ninety-nine (99) out of every one hundred (100) marijuana arrests in the United States are made under state law, rather than under federal law. Consequently, changing state law will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marijuana.[…]
States are not required to enforce federal law or prosecute people for engaging in activities prohibited by federal law. Therefore, compliance with this chapter does not put the state of Rhode Island in violation of federal law. […]
Boo yah. The distinction between medical and non-medical use is made loud and clear, and the lawmakers were careful not to include any politically inflammatory language regarding the war on drugs in general. Damaging and senseless as the marijuana prohibition has been in general over the past… oh, eight decades or so, this isn’t the place to fight it. The point is, people in Rhode Island who spend their days in pain and misery can now alleviate that pain without being considered criminals when no other pain reliever works.
Thank you, Rhode Island legislature. This step toward sanity is courageous in the current political climate.
