vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Women and Men of 2038
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/01/2038.html
Tuesday, January 22, 2008. Women and Men of 2038. Here are some of the things we settled on, or that I thought of afterwards. We tried really hard to be realistic:. Access to college: both that everyone can attend college and that cost is not a variable that constraints people's college decisions. Less of a wealth gap, both domestically and globally. Lifting the specter of severe enviromentally catastrophe. Societal prioritization of the need to restore clean water, air and ecosystems. The abandonment of...
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Rootlessness and Americanism
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/01/rootlessness-and-americanism.html
Thursday, January 17, 2008. While wandering through old Kyoto, Rachel and I were struck with how alive and universal the sense of ritual seemed to be. It feels as though there is a certain way to be Japanese. When it comes to countries, I'm less divided. I'd much rather live in a country with a plethora of contradicting traditions and identities than a larger, potentially exclusive one. (Even in this, I'm clinging to my own particular idea of American diversity, a part of my own identity.). When we tried...
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Witnessed Courtship in a Maryland Diner
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/01/witnessed-courtship-in-maryland-diner.html
Monday, January 28, 2008. Witnessed Courtship in a Maryland Diner. At one point, she raised her voice and informed him that he should stop trying to paint some radical, and her positions were quite mainstream. They talked about the primary, and Jon speculated that they both liked Obama but one of them was pretending to like Clinton so they could just keep arguing. We made up a lot of things about them and I think we were mostly correct. Have I mentioned just how much I like this city? Soup of the Week.
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Guess Which Amendment is My Favorite
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/02/guess-which-amendment-is-my-favorite.html
Saturday, February 9, 2008. Guess Which Amendment is My Favorite. My senior year, I took a Latin American comparative politics seminar that clued me in on the fact that democratic theory was not, in fact, about which doors to knock on. Nor was it just about elections, period. The emphasis on elections as the hallmark of democracy rather than, say, a deeper democratic society is one reason we are quick to uphold results- people voted, right? Historically, in Mexican elections, voters have a finger inked a...
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Mambo Vipi Kweli, Tanzania?
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/02/mambo-vipi-kweli-tanzania.html
Monday, February 18, 2008. Mambo Vipi Kweli, Tanzania? President Bush has spent the last five days visiting. Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. I'm a little bitter it takes being a lame duck and plummeting approval rankings to get the President to make his second (somewhat promotional) trip to African in eight years, but it's something. The title from the entry comes from the fact I'm actually kind of impressed Bush greeted Tanzanians with the hip "mambo vipi? There's a lot to criticize about PE...
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Soup of the Week
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/01/soup-of-week.html
Thursday, January 17, 2008. Soup of the Week. Dear Senator Leahy,. I appreciate the sentiment, but next time, pls make your endorsements before the primary next door, Jim Douglas-style. Any candidates for the next soup of the week? Rumor has it that someone in the area makes really good butternut squash/apple soup. You should look them up. January 20, 2008 at 4:18 PM. West African Chicken Peanut. January 22, 2008 at 8:36 PM. January 22, 2008 at 9:35 PM. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Soup of the Week.
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Otter Creek and Magritte
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/02/otter-creek-and-magritte.html
Friday, February 29, 2008. Otter Creek and Magritte. Earlier this week, I met some high school friends- and their friends at SAIS- at Brickskeller, a place in DC famous for having over 3,000 beers. There was a temptation to try to show off by ordering Tusker or Efes or Mythos or Kirin, but I decided it was a good rule of thumb not to try to out-worldly future potential career diplomats, and I stuck to Otter Creek. It was also the cheapest thing on the menu. Spin off and then I realized it was different f...
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Crying Wolf in the Shower
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2007/10/crying-wolf-in-shower.html
Tuesday, October 16, 2007. Crying Wolf in the Shower. It's not listed on my resume, but I'm pretty good at squat toilets, if I do say so myself. I'm particularly skilled at using them in a skirt and heels. (This actually makes it easier.) I've also mastered the bucket shower. Therefore, I thought I had the international bathroom situation covered. That was before I got to Japan. My first few showers, I wound up pushing a lot of buttons helplessly and giggling at the shower as it told me lots of things in...
vtargonaut.blogspot.com
Adventures and Misadventures: Obama and Nativism
http://vtargonaut.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-and-nativism.html
Friday, February 29, 2008. I've been reading a lot on the web that it seems the dominant line of attack against Obama in the general election would be to challenge his patriotism and loyalty to the United States, with varying hues. Of sophistication. Hence the dissection of Michelle Obama's 'proud comment' and the circulation of pictures. Of Obama in traditional Somali clothing and the repeat use of his middle name. Over Christmas break, an aunt of mine who lives in Virginia told us that many of her frie...
