Spriggin Fliggin
Wow. Spring Fling was even more fun than I remember it. Possibly that's because I don't remember it from last year, but...ah well. It was good. The music was perfect. By the time O.A.R. took the stage, it was dark and everyone was super into it. There was endless crowd surfing. Pretty much everyone got stepped on at some point. But the music just washed over us like honey, warmed by the huddling of the masses. Nothing, nothing on earth can capture that lifted reborn feeling like a saxophone and a guitar making love in the open air. It was amazingly free.

But the best thing about it was the Handsome Dan Mascot Competition earlier in the afternoon. As sorry as we all were to see the late Dan XV (ex-vee) leave for greener pastures, this was a terrific idea for a Flingthing. I didn't get to see who won, but it didn't matter. There were dogs all over Old Campus! One woman tried to get her dog into the contest but it was too late to enter. She made a bit of a scene. Then there was the "Protest Candidate," a black poodlesque creature. It was all-around ridiculous cuteness.

A good day of good play. And now to write away the night.

Finally I Am Productive!
Woot woot! Just finished my English paper...after having seven pages written I still had to spend two entire (and I do mean entire) days on it getting everything to make goddamn sense! I guess that's what I deserve for writing on Waiting For Godot. I mean, my entire arguement is that you can't legitimately interpret Waiting For Godot. That should be the end of the paper right there. Alas, I'm not quite that bold.

Hmm hmm hmm...doctor tomorrow (ha! this morning)...then meeting to talk about energy policy...then lab lab lab...then a sober version of Spring Fling -- the Shins and OAR are coming! And also this beatboxer from the Roots, but I don't care as much about him...then while everyone's passed out I'll write another paper because tomorrow's schedule is even crazier than today's. But funner: FOOT Equipment Day and TUIBsongs and ArchaeoClub feast. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!eeeeeeDietsnapplegonetomyhead....

coherency be damned! I finished a paper so screw you grammar you bitch!

Good moods come from good workouts. Quote from Steve Ilg: "SWEAT=BEADS OF TRANSFORMATION."

love love love it.

Reading Week!
The countdown begins:

Days until all my classwork is over: 15
Number of papers to complete in that time: 2.5
Number of exams to take: 1
Number of Power Point presentations: 1

Days until Spring Fling: 2
Number of inebriating beverages the average Yalie will consume on Spring Fling: 5
Number of hours of lab time my group has scheduled on Spring Fling: 7

Days until I fly home: 24
"Hours" between leaving Yale and actually getting home: 6
Actual hours between leaving Yale and actually getting home: 9
Hours of music on my iPod: 216

:D

Case In Point
From the Associated Press:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi insurgents struck across the country with bomb attacks on Saturday, killing at least 16 people, including an American soldier.

Note to GESO: That American soldier? He was also getting a free education.

So I'm a Flip-Flopper...

Yeah, so about that GESO thing...

I know I seemed pretty up on the Graduate Employees and Students Organization a week ot so ago. Well, now I'm not so convinced any more. I think the problems they're addressing are real and Yale would do well to improve them, but honestly, there are so many more important issues we need to rally support for right now. This really hit home to me when Jesse Jackson came to speak on Thursday. I would think Jesse Jackson would have more important issues to focus on right now than Grad Student rights. If someone went into a 40-year coma during the 1960s and came back to Yale today, they would think "Oh wow! The world's sure gotten better! There must not be any wars or denials of civil rights or global warming or general badness! The only thing we can complain about is that grad students don't have enough money!" I only wish this were the case. Why can't we get this many people up in arms over gay rights? or Yale's energy policy? or involvement in Iraq? The fact that these "activists" can only muster this kind of social movement when it involves their own livelihoods is a little disturbing. And unlike the dining hall workers' strike last year, the GESO strike can't have the power to inspire and keep alive the real labor movement. Their influence is limited to the insulated world af academia. Most people in the labor force cannot relate to spending 4-10 years at Yale for free. I think it's time GESO took some time to think about the larger issues they could be pouring all this energy into, and ask themselves wher e their true priorities lie.

On the other hand, this opinion piece expressed quite well the merits behind GESO's motives. And there is merit. The question is, is it worth the fuss when hundreds of other issues go by unprotested? I just don't know.

The (Neglected) Week In Review
The good:

- I'm going to Peru this summer!
- We are now in the wee hours of Earth Day.
- The sun has shone all week and been warm and the leaves are comingcoming ecstasy and no rain and colors on the trees yescolors and james joyce can eat his heart out

The bad:
-Finals
-Papers
-Presentations
-Organising Earth Week
-Tons more people dying in Iraq while GESO (to whom I've withdrawn my allegiance) whine about their free Yale education.

The ugly:
-The new Pope.

The Vatican't

Things I don't like about Pope Benedict XVI:

1. He's conservative. I suppose this goes without saying; who honestly thought they were going to pick a radical Cardinal? Are there any radical Cardinals?

2. No, but I mean really conservative. Since 1981, his post as Cardinal was "overseeing Church doctrine and punishing those who go astray (AP)." In fact, he helped turn Catholics against Kerry last fall.

I hereby blame thee, brave new Pope
For the reelection of a Dope.

3. He picked a bad name. Unlike the last Pope, there are no Beatles in his name. There are eggs and traitors in his name. I like eggs. Traitors...not so much.

4. He picked a bad number. I guess that comes with the name. I can look at "II" and know it means "two." When I see "XVI," I have to stop and think a bit. I'm just not a math person, and I doubt all that many devout Catholics are either. I think I'll just go ahead and say it "Ex-Vee-Eye." I used to do that with Louis the Fourteenth. Louis Ex-Eye-Vee. Then I got to college...

5. He is German. I was hoping they would pick someone from the developing world. I'm not really sure why; it's not like Catholicism is developing. Ouch, I'm going to get slammed for that...oh wait, no one reads this!

6. Um, not to be bitter, but...IkindofwantedtobePope.

Roses and Thorns
A rose to both congressional houses of my darling home away from homestate, Connecticut, for passing a bill that would legalize civil unions for homosexual couples.

A thorn to the House, who approved an amendment to said bill redefining marriage as between a man and a woman.

A rose to almond tea with milk.

A thorn to boring salad dressings.

A rose to running in the 58 degree sunny air.

A thorn to falling hard on my knees upon the concrete (ow).

A rose to Salman Rushdie, making my week suitably fantastical, profound and ostentatious.

A thorn to final exams that aren't during exam week.

A rose to Steven Syverud for winning the YCC Presidency.

A thorn to the YCC election posters covering every inch of the campus.

A rose to roses.

A thorn to thorns.

How very meta.

Sick, Sick, Sick!
This is the sickest thing I've ever seen, ever.
Ana's Underground Grotto

Particularly revolting is the Background/Philosophy page

Apparently this is not a unique website:articles have been written about this "movement."

It's just sick.

GESOld, Finally.
Now Playing: Chopin
During the last week of classes, GESO, the Graduate Employees and Students Organization, will go on strike in hopes of getting recognition as a union by the administration. Here I have a confession to make. For a long time, despite my "Very Liberal" tag on TheFacebook.com, I was skeptical of GESO. In general, I think unions are good and Yale's administration is kind of stingy, but to me the concept of a union for graduate students struck me as...well, odd. These people come to Yale to climb up the ladder of academia, they get paid, and they complain because they have to teach? Teaching is an essential component of becoming an academic -- it's not only the grad students who have to juggle teaching with their own research; junior faculty members have it even harder in this publish-or-perish world. I couldn't make myself feel sorry for these TAs. Sure, they're overworked, but so are we undergrads. Work is the price of a Yale education, and GESO organizers seemed a bit -- dare I say it? -- ungrateful.

However, much to the relief of my leftist conscience, I have seen the real reasons why grad students feel they need a union, and they are good ones. Some of them are mentioned by this YDN guest columnist, and others were articulated rather movingly by my Anthro TA this morning. A few that seem particularly legitimate to me are:

1. The children of grad students receive no healthcare from the university, putting many of them on welfare programs.

It's true that having kids when you're a student seems kind of dumb. On the other hand, most people don't finish their grad studies until they're 30, by which time many women have had children or are at least thinking about it.

2. After four years, TAs get dramatic stipend cuts.

So the more teaching experience you have, the less you get paid - how counterintuitive is that? Clearly the motivation is purely cost-cutting on the part of the school. And unlike undergrads, grad students aren't expected to finish in four years. For a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Yale, the average completion time is eight or nine.

3. Due to disturbing trends in university hiring practices, it is getting harder and harder for new Ph.D.s to find positions. Fewer full professor positions are available; instead, a university will hire four adjuncts or post-docs for one-year contracts for the price of one professor. These adjuncts work just has hard as any other academic for much cheaper.

To me this is the most resonant point of all. Assuming my life continues on its current trajectory, I will devote the entirety of my youth to grad school, and if I can't get a job when I come out, I will feel cheated. I know that's how many grad students here and at other leading universities feel. To curb this problem, the universities have to commit to education and fairness over sheer economy in their hiring.

You can learn more about GESO's history and goals here, at their website.