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[14 Sep 2004|12:00pm] |
By Garrison Keillor August 26, 2004
Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships.
They were good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of their party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element. The genial Eisenhower was their man, a genuine American hero of D-Day, who made it OK for reasonable people to vote Republican. He brought the Korean War to a stalemate, produced the Interstate Highway System, declined to rescue the French colonial army in Vietnam, and gave us a period of peace and prosperity, in which (oddly) American arts and letters flourished and higher education burgeoned?and there was a degree of plain decency in the country. Fifties Republicans were giants compared to today's. Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to feel a Christian obligation toward the poor.
( Read more... )
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[22 Aug 2004|10:02am] |
i've rarely had the privilege to be proverbially slapped in the face this much or feel this shitty. but i only have ten days left until the exams, so no time for sentiments i suppose. i finished my summer program yesterday, i'm off to the south of france today to rest and study and hopefully get some sun. the program was incredible. i was taught by the most unbelievably brilliant teachers, truly inspiring, but really hard. yesterday i stood by as my teacher monologued the idiocy that is celine hannah kuklowsky in front of the whole class, and i had nothing to do but shut up and take it. ahh the french. they never have a kind word. ever. ESPECIALLY if you're american. which is fucking ridiculous, cause i don't necessarily think i define the typical middle american stereotype anyway.....fucker. man i miss the days of american hyporcrisy and of getting applauded for my unending mediocrity, those papers and speeches as stale as an old piece of toast.....sigh...
and so with heavy shoulders, i go.
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| AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH |
[02 Jul 2004|03:33am] |
so the verdict is in. i got into this insane political science program this summer, and not just any program, the number one program in france
.... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVVVEEEE IIITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! my mom and i were jumping all over the apartment and screaming at the top of our lungs, when we found out. and although this means nothing to rest of you, this means that i'm a step away from getting into the best political science school in the world, hence on my way to an UNBELIEVABLE, UNCOMPARABLE education and then, from there, i can jump into columbia, brown, yale, whatever in a few years.....AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
aiight, i'm gonna go jump off my balcony now.
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[26 Jun 2004|07:11pm] |
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and so with a new surge of hope, i appear again. i've just passed the first test of a series of excruciating tests i am to pass in the next week. i think it went pretty well actually. although, who the hell knows what that means on the grand scale of things. i think i was sitting next to a bunch of fucking 17 year old Nietzches. in any case, i love what i'm studying. i can't seem to get enough of this. looks like i've found the thing to replace theater....shut up les, you can stuff your disillusionments of me being on a stage again in a sack mister!
and i can't wait to get back to LA. it's been what? 7 months? jesus christ! i should be there the 4th of july, but confirmation of the dates to come. depending on whether i get into these programs or not, will determine the length of my stay in LA....meaning, if i don't get in (highly likely, let me tell you), then i'll be in LA for all of july, maybe a little of august. and if i do get in, well then welcome back to celine's vacation insanity part 2. i'd be there for about a week. hi running to everyone, everywhere, all the time, non-stop. ahh that LA chaos, how i miss it now.
so there's no point to this entry i guess. i just needed to throw my voice out there and pretend it's being heard, even though we all know it just bounces right back.
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[19 Jun 2004|08:12pm] |
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I just came back from a mind blowing kurt elling concert. GOD DAMN do i love this man, jesus. and check out how ridiculously sly he is in the second picture. that's jazz baby. i'd also like to add, we paid 1€ 50 to get in....fools, that isn't even a buck. you just had to pay entrance to the park where the concert took place. sometimes you just got to say, god bless the french (sometimes).
damn.
i must have had 45 different orgasms during that concert.
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| read this and get the fuck out of america |
[26 May 2004|12:47pm] |
There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.
$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan - fiscal year 2004.
The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.
Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.
Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era.
College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.
Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a
shelter and includes women in the draft.
The public has a right to air their opinions about such an important decision.
Please send this on to all the friends, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins that you know. Let your children know too -- it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!
Please also contact your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills -- and contact newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.
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[24 May 2004|09:34am] |
well, from what i understand now, i will be in la from june 21rst-ish to july 10th-ish or something. don't have the tickets yet, but i guess i'm just going to kind of spring on you guys here. can't be there for long though, but it will be fun indeed. even though, sean won't be there at all. kill me now. how can i go on without him i ask you??
(vera, you better be around girl)
(and everyone else don't get all mad that i didn't mention your name, i know yall will be around, so quite down now kids. we will definetely see each other.)
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[21 May 2004|04:51pm] |
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so a couple days ago, my sis and i took a train down
to lyon to visit joe, who was touring in a tap show.
had a ripping good time. of course the show was off the
hook and god what a sweetheart this kid is. i absolutely
love him. how brilliant to see him in france. funny that
it made perfect sense though; he fit right in. we spent
the whole night walking around the town, looking for
something open and making complete fools of ourselves.
brilliant stuff kids. brilliant.
 
joe eating salmon pizza that looks just plain wrong at 6am
and in other news, i may come earlier than expected
(although at this point, it's doubtful i'll be coming
at all), but WAY shorter than planned, i mean we
may be talking 10 days tops here. fuck the bullshit.
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[20 May 2004|10:33pm] |
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pigeons
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[22 Apr 2004|10:51pm] |
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and so i've returned from quite a bit of traveling. dilly dallying around the country with my thoughts. nice to get out of this city for a bit, paris tends to give me cabin fever. and my rents are here, which is always a pleasure. they've come for my cousin's wedding. after tomorrow, a russian white trash wedding shall take place...russian musicians, three different types of vodka, and a bunch of loud hilarious ruskies in the house, wearing gold AND silver AND bronze and boas and leopard print blouses all at the same time....wouldn't be surprised if i saw daria slighly mingling through the crowd, or rather, i wish i saw daria mingling through the crowd. in any case, i have a feeling this is a few days i'm far from forgetting.
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[27 Jan 2004|02:40pm] |
it's snowing in paris.
the seine has iced over and the water beneath it swarms like a milky green jungle under glass.
and the air smelt of burnt rubber today, and the french all walked by pretending not to notice the snow falling in their eyes and the salt beneath their boots.
and i got in a fight with two women on the subway today. arrogant bitches. i don't think i've ever used as much guts as i have since i've been here. never even knew i had guts. probably never really needed them until now. the french are like big black women: they're brutually honest and they love to speak their mind.
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[24 Jan 2004|05:02pm] |
well, i just got back from a ridiculously humiliating experience.
my sister and i, realizing there hasn't been food in the fridge for months now, nor toilet paper, decide to go on a monster shopping fest 2004. i mean we're getting ready to blow our dough on everything ever.
so we go in our local monoprix (the french equivalent to vons, i suppose, but better),......(whatever),........(although if you break down the name of the place to its elementary roots, you get "mono", the universal word for "one" looking at it from its latin derivative, and "prix", meaning price, and let me tell you, this isn't like fucking 99 cents store, i mean, nothing is all just one price here).....(aiight whateva).
so we go in look around, buy everything we can get our hands on and even decide to treat ourselves to two fine looking pieces of fish. 12 euros for 2, ehh whatever. for once, we're gonna eat and eat good.
so we get to the cashier, the rather attractive looking guy starts ringing things up, obviously the guy is new as he has to ask for a price check on every fucking thing we have. he even asks how much broccoli is, when clearly, we hadn't bought broccoli, he was ringing up artichokes at the time. so i turn to guy and say, "um, i'm sorry, but that isn't broccoli" and he's like "right....i meant....cabbage ehehe." so meanwhile, allegra's at the atm getting money, he rings everything up. total comes out to be about 60 euros. aiight, i figure we won't be shopping like this for a good year or so, so it don't really matter.
now this is where it gets bad. allegra suddenly runs up to me and goes "aiight so how much money you got?" "about 1 euro, you?" "ok, i have about 30...um...ok don't panic, but there's no more money left in the account." now, at this point, there's a huge line forming behind us, and well, the french don't seem to appreciate the subtle pleasures of having to wait in line behind a couple of broke-ass teens for a relatively long period of time. so i turn to the guy, not even able to look him in the eye, i'm blushing as fuck, humiliated like a motherfucker, and say "um.....so....we have a bit of a problem here." the guy calls his manager, the whole line is getting antsy, we start returning everything we possibly could, i'm trying to slip the 12 dollar fish pass the ringer thing, but the manager catches me..we have to keep the fucking thing. so this takes a while, people are starting to yell shit, throwing potatoes at us, getting into fights, the security guard is punching people out, soon the crowd starts tipping over the cash register, they're breaking windows, lighting merchandise on fire. i mean, all hell breaks loose.
so finally allegra and i after practically getting rid of everything we had, run out of the place, red as lobsters with toilet paper, artichokes, and 2 pieces of fucking 12 euro fish.
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[20 Jan 2004|01:23pm] |
you know i've been studying like hell for finals, trying to find some sort of merit in myself, and so here i am, studying all these unbelievable ideologies of dramatists of the early 1800s who absolutely revolutionized theater at the time. and i can't help but think "jesus, at that time, the US was just trying to get it's shit together. trying to create some sort of a civilization, and meanwhile in europe, after centuries of battles and conflicts and plagues and different forms of government, people are trying to break new barriers in art." and you know i've always been a ardent believer in the fact that most of our problems in the United States are based on our age factor. we're too young to know what's good or bad for us. we just don't have enough experience under our belt. not enough of those "no no, don't do that. i've been there and it ain't pretty" moments. (well that and the fact that we're run by psychotic money-hungry bastards, but that's all relative, isn't it?) so we fuck around, until we figure shit out. and yes, despite the fact that we may be one of the dominant world powers (although, at the moment, the stature is questionable due to our current state of affairs), we still are too young to really have anything to say. i mean, who the fuck are we to want to run the rest of the world? i think the older, more experienced countries (all of europe, africa, asia blah blah blah), should stand up and put the US back in its place...like "no son, hush. you're wrong, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. just sit there and eat your lollipop and don't bother the grown-ups."
i mean, am i right here people or what?
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| so i got an upgrade |
[14 Jan 2004|03:03pm] |
so on top of my other job responsibilities at the theater company i work at, i officially received an upgrade of two additional tasks last night: sound board op and bodyguard.
yes my friends, you heard right. last night i became the bitch bodyguard of the joint. so tight. but please, allow me to elaborate.
now you see, last night we had a guy play named danny bhoy, not bad, not that great either. anyway, half way through the show, a group of really loud people walk in and sit down in front of the stage, totally disrupting the show. (turns out, the 3 of them were completely trashed...go figure right?) so one woman in particular, proceeds to dialog freely with danny while he's doing his shtick. now for the first 5 minutes, it's funny. but after that the woman wouldn't shut up. she was so fucking loud, insulting people, basically thinking you could freely exchange conversation with the guy standing on stage with a light on him and a mic in his hand. like that what's he's there for. anyway, it got to a point where people were yelling at her, and the comedian got all emotional and crap. at one point, the audience counted to 3 and yelled "shut the fuck up!" at the top of their lungs. fucking hilarious stuff. so during intermission, danny tells us that when he can't stand her shit anymore he'll say "i surrender" into the mic, and heather and i would have the arduous task of kicking her ass out.
so during the second set, heather and i are sitting at the edge of our seats, praying to hear the words "i surrender".
i started provoking her to talk and stuff just so we could kick her out....like coming up to her, asking if she wanted more to drink and pretending like i couldn't hear what she wanted so that she'd be yelling the order at me. anyway, at one point, heather has to leave for like 5 minutes to get keys or something, and as she's gone, i hear them, the glorious words, "i surrender". i jumped up and headed right for the bitch. i go up to her and go "listen honey. there are 2 ways you can get out of here: alone, or with me." and she got all pissed off, and the audience was cheering me on. finally i dragged her out of her seat and kicked her out. and as i walk back into the room, the crowd is going wild, screaming "celine!!!! it's her!!!!!!!". they pick me up on their shoulders, crowd surf me to the stage, panties are being thrown at me by the hundreds, and it was all rock'n roll from there. i'm signing autographs, making speeches, telling of my experience, flash photography, red carpets, coming out dinners, hollywood, life magazine...ahh the glamor of it all. it was quite a fucking night my friends.
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[11 Jan 2004|02:48pm] |
everything is chaos right now. everything, everywhere, i find chaos looking me in the eye and i'm sort of turning with it, running with the chaos for the lack of knowing what else to do and the lack of strength to fight it.
i found out the other night that one of my dearest friends has recently become a coke addict, and i can't get it out of my mind. and so once again, i jump up and get dressed to be the knight in shining armor.
enter the savior.
but this time, there's an entire ocean and a malfunctioning phone standing between us, i can't get a hold of her, and it's her birthday today..she's going to be 18.
there she must be, blowing out her candles by snorting up the flame.
and when did coke become an acceptable thing to do anyway? when did the line become blurry between the completely terrifying concept and the normal occurrence for a 17 year old to fall into? i guess i just didn't get the memo.
and the night i found out about all this, i sat with a boy i grew up with, antoine medgevand:
cathechism, carpool, first communion, the whole nine.
and we sat there reminiscing about life before all this and it was so odd sitting there, basking in our memories, because no matter how much we think we've grown, the truth of the matter is, we were still the exact same kids sitting and talking as we did when we were 10. it was such an odd sensation, a truly lovely evening, although, the aftermath of the excessive drinking and horrendous drinking combinations wasn't the loveliest thing ever, (try rum and cider in the same cup, it's fucking vomit).
and so i guess now, i'm trying to find some sort of a settling closing to this jumble of random thoughts, but as usual, nothing is ever settled in my mind, in my thoughts, nothing is ever certain and hence nothing is going to be resolved now kiddies. maybe things are better this way, always left on a lingering question mark...perhaps? maybe?
as an old lover of mine once said in a heinously sexy british accent:
"always leave them wanting more."
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[04 Jan 2004|05:06am] |
and so slowly but surely, i've crawled back to the solitude of the cotton fields of my apartment. odd waking up to all this loneliness, i feel as though at any moment my mother is going to walk in telling me to get out of bed. sort of sorry she doesn't for once.
i've slept 18 hours today, not including the unending plane ride over here. i was sitting next to a fat bald man, whom i've (i believe) appropriately baptized "The most boring man in the world". he spent the entire plane trip staring at the back of the seat in front of him, occasionally snapping his fingers. and i'm sitting there the whole time thinking "well, maybe he's on coke or something, and seeing all these worlds unravel before him that are ungraspable to the simple laymen sitting to his left, or perhaps he's a musical genius, and during this 12 hour plane ride, he heard an entire symphony blast through his blood." but then i decided, people are rarely that exciting, so i stuck to the original nickname.
and i got kicked off a bus in the middle of nowhere on my way over to my place. i didn't have enough for bus fair. this is how i got fucking greeted into this beloved country of mine. i was looking around at people, begging for 1€50, but no one even looked my way. so my suitcases and myself got kicked out into the 5 degree weather at 5 o'clock in the morning.
and the whole day i was in sean's arms, or at least i dreamt it, and when i woke up i felt the remnants of my smile and the coldness of my bed.
and i wonder what to do now. i want to run away again. i can't even begin to digest the thought of studying again. maybe i won't. maybe i'll move to scotland, go to new york, go back to laugh with you guys in LA right now, or at least watch your faces glow again. but until i muster up the dough to do that, i'm off to buy some bread knowing that
things are rarely as lovely as they are when i'm with you guys in LA.
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[17 Dec 2003|09:22pm] |
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UNO
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[16 Dec 2003|02:22pm] |
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DEUX
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[15 Dec 2003|08:16pm] |
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TROIS
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