Street Battle: Palin vs. Biden

"What we offer is one more chance at life"

Sounds like therapy, but it's only a new wardrobe.

oh my gosh

The doorbell just rang, it was the UPS man with a package for my upstairs neighbor.

I asked him if he needed her to sign, but when he answered, "No, anyone can sign," I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into.

Whenever I think me being a space cadette has reached it's all time high, I surprise myself by taking it to new levels.

After I signed my name he asked me, "And what's your last name?" as if he were hoping to prompt some sort of action. I told him, so I was annoyed when he asked a second time. Right as I was shutting the door and thinking to myself, "Read your freaking tablet UPS man," I came to the realization that he was asking because I only had signed "Molly."

Suddenly I realized that I was the jerk.

The man was probably thinking, "Who do you think you are? Cher? Madonna? and if you're going one-name only don't you think you should pick something more original? I could walk down the street and find dozens of Molly's...okay, maybe not on the street, but definitely at the neighborhood dog pound."

I then proceeded to crack up by myself for about 5 minutes.

In other news, felt a little bit like I was skanking myself for democracy as I waited more than an hour to hear Adam Brody (and Joy Bryant) speak about why they support Obama. As a devout (first 3 seasons) OC fan, it was all worth it for that half a second of intense eye contact that (I think) Adam Brody and I shared.

How exceptional can you be when every major problem you face, from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to gas prices, requires joint action?

Read this article

nostalgic for the glass man

I love that when my friend posted the picture below a few days ago I immediately recognized this man, even after being away for a year.

Unless he's taken his show on the road since I left, I still know which metro stop in Medellin you can get off and watch his act at most days of the week (Parque Berrio).

This crowd seems to be getting the abbreviated version, as he's only stepping on the glass, versus laying in an entire pile of it.

I know you're worried, so was I, but after seeing him do this multiple times I can confirm that he will walk away with some strong pointy glass indentations, but no broken skin.

Here's to me being back in Colombia next summer, anyone know anyone on the Hilldale reviewer's committee?

"Consistency is definitely not the hallmark of the ugly wedge politics on display among the GOP faithful at their national convention"

see that article here

Or for more hilarity, just watch this:



Sarah Palin said: “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”

There's been quite the response from community organizers already, a community I would consider myself to already have (at least part of) my foot in, so this is especially interesting to me.

The top article I link says: "The genius in America does not lie with our mayors, small town or big city, but with our community organizers who teach us collaborative problem-solving, shore up our core religious and governmental institutions, and make sure laws designed to end discrimination, like the Community Reinvestment Act, are enforced by government regulators."

I don't think this should even be an argument about where the genius lies, because it very well may lie in some local governments, but I believe there is also brilliant work being done by community organizers. Either way, good luck getting Palin and McCain to apologize with a petition.

When Obama's campaign started bringing up that he was a "community organizer" in what seemed like an extremely vague way all the time, I was actually wondering at what point it would come back to bite him in the butt. For a good majority of people to say, "What does that even mean?"

Especially since it was three years that he spent in Chicago doing community organizing work, I think it would have been more strategic to state what he was actually doing, instead of making it sound like he'd had a long career in community organizing.

Couldn't it have been equally effective to say he did community organizing work on the south side of Chicago with the Developing Communities Project, setting up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens, in order to allow people to connect to his actual work?

If republicans didn't find the actual work he did interesting or reputable in the least bit, I don't think that the phrase "community organizer" would have won any fans, either.

Maybe they were going for brevity?

Either way, check out this blog for some info on the RNC protest.

New Yorkers are Taking to the Streets

5:43 pm, Friday August 22nd, anywhere and everywhere between the block of 6th and 7th on the cross with 34th St., NYC

Just a few hours previous as I sat on the steps across from Penn Station (waiting for Cynthia and Sydneeeey) I drew the conclusion that either no one in New York works, or that every single citizen of NYC is always working, and they've all managed to land jobs that do require them to wander the streets and don't require business casual work wear.

At 5:43 (actually at 5, when the 43 minutes began that it took to drive one city block) this theory was quickly proven wrong as the streets became triply full, with beyond shoulder to shoulder, foot to heel traffic on the sidewalks. I had gotten out of the car Cynthia was driving to make a sprint for my bus to DC. I did not successfully sprint as there were too many people boxing me out and walking slow...so instead I successfully took a lot of people out, I stopped only for babies. Toddlers=fair game.

You could pick out the true New Yorkers, as they were walking in the actual road upstream, choosing to navigate crazy "I wouldn't try that in my car" taxi drivers, instead of the herds of people on the sidewalks.

Unfortunately our directions to the stop were wrong, and as I ran madly back and forth between 6th and 7th street growing increasingly frustrated I wondered if my inner compass had failed me again (it's been out of working order for a while now/since I was born) 6:00 rolled around, and then past me. When Cynthia could finally park she figured out the stop was actually between 7th and 8th street. I called and they said I could get on the 8:00 bus...which due to traffic didn't actually show up until 9:25, but still, a success.

The most giant man I have ever seen ride a bus before and that I had been waiting next to in line climbed onto the bus first, looked at me (I think anticipating a full bus) and said: "So where do you want to sit? I don't want to sit next to no big dudes."

I said: "Ummmm, did you check out my 5'10" frame and child bearing hips? Because I spotted at least 7 full grown men in line for this bus who are smaller then me, why don't you hit them up?"

Just kidding, I only thought that. What I actually did was mumble something, glance side to side and then sit in the seat behind him. I was happy with my decision as I looked through the seat crack to see him taking up 1.75 of the 2 seats in front of me.

I finally made it to DC, the last stop of my 2 week tour of the east coast where I got to catch up with many friends and family.

It's times like 5:43 pm that make me think I wouldn't ever want to live in NYC...but it's times like just the day before when Cynthia, Arthur, and I walked through Little Colombia in Queens reminiscing (while Sydney simultaneously got pumped up) and drinking postobon manzana, that make me think I do.