Future Leader of Some Sort Escapes from UMich Ahead of Schedule
Ann Arbor: Future Leader of Some Sort, Jaya Kalra, has completed commencement activities at the University of Michigan ahead of schedule, poising her for ahead-of-schedule and under-budget completion of world conquest. She has not yet reached the legal drinking age or even come close to it, but nevertheless has completed an undergraduate degree in Sociology with a minor in math, and in the meantime has become an outspoken activist and leader on campus and a leader in her democratic republic of co-op housing. We tremble to speculate what her GPA might be. When she is not being recognized by a Big Ten university for her contributions to civil rights, in her spare time she creates increasingly complex and sophisticated meditations on new media formats, which you can see here.

Although she has only attended university for three years, nevertheless she has had two internships in national organizations. What should her next step be? Since she's a youngest sister, she doesn't need to take a job as a receptionist or data entry clerk to learn humility--she probably overlearned it growing up. She seems to already have an offer for a (paying!) job that will both require responsibility and be something she's interested in and cares about. Damn sight better than me when I graduated. I don't know what her next move should be, but I think I'm going to be paying attention and taking notes: I'll probably learn something.

HAPPY COMMENCEMENT TO JAYA!
- posted by k @ 5:03 PM

 
What's on Yahoo News today?
1. Hurley/Nayar wedding being sued?

• First of all, I am still not entirely clear who this Liz Hurley is and why I should care, even though their wedding over here was highly publicized and I had recently visited Gloucestershire at the time.
  

• Second, I think this is, like the Richard Gere thing, a case of white people being kind of stupid and possibly insensitive in India, but certainly no cause for prosecution, for crying out loud. Does this guy suing them think their English wedding was a model of piousness and restraint? Is he going after the Bachchan/Rai wedding which no doubt will be equally ostentatious?

• Seriously, all you Hindu fundamentalists out there need to give it a rest because you are making India and Hinduism look bad and if you don't watch out you're going to undo all the good that the tech sector and growing middle class are doing, and Richard Dawkins is going to write nasty things about Hinduism in his next book. Please don't make me have to sit through that.
  

2. Governor shopping on $21/week, just like people on food stamps

• Yeah, it's a publicity stunt, but so was Harvey Milk picking up dog poo, right? If he's bringing attention to the fact that people on food stamps are not welfare queens, fine with me.

• I think there have been many weeks when I have done $21 groceries, but if I had to feed anyone but myself on that it would be extremely uncomfortable. If I didn't have 2 papers to write, I might make a detailed list of what I would buy if I only had $21/week for groceries. Fascinating, I know.
  

- posted by k @ 4:31 PM

 
Things I am Looking Forward to This Summer
(I was going to post this the other day when I was in a dark mood, but then I got sleepy and went to bed.)

In no order whatsover except the order I remembered them in:


1. Seeing The Surya, The Jaya, and The Heidi (unranked). And the cats, I suppose.

2. Simpsons movie!

3. Shrek 3

4. Spiderman 3

5. Harry Potter 7! If it comes out at the end of July I am hoping to have my dissertation done by then so that would be a good reward. $5 says Harry is a Horcrux. Bring it.

That is all for now. Yes, I am also looking forward to seeing The Chip and The Billy and everyone else and eating Mexican food and good vegetarian Chinese food again.
- posted by k @ 10:47 AM

 
Protestors in India burn Gere effigies

• Ok, first of all what was he thinking?

• Secondly, I though Shilpa did the best she could with the situation and that her comments were pretty balanced.

• Third, the BJP and Shiv Sena? Are they still around? Geez. They need to get a life and a hobby before someone figures out that fundamentalist movements are often driven by political, mercenary and not ideological pressures. Seriously, I am sure when you get to the bottom of it you will find that Hindu nationalism/fundamentalism comes from the same ugly place as Christian nationalism/fundamentalism and Muslim fundamentalism.

• Fourth in case anyone is not clear on the concept (though I know this probably doesn't apply to anyone who reads this blog) they are misrepresenting Hinduism and making India look bad. Hello! Wake up! India is a secular state! It says so in its constitution! Promiscuity has problems, but condoms help with most (not all) of them! Plus cheek kissing is not promiscuity!

Ok, I feel better now. I think that's all I wanted to say.
- posted by k @ 2:46 PM

 
Blah
Yeah, is overcast here, though in a kind of exciting "will-it-rain-or-not?" Spring way. I am tired and don't want to work, even though I am trying to. So I will tell you a couple of things.

• I neglected to mark it in particular, but about 33 posts ago I had my 300th post to this blog. w00t or something.

• We saw a lot of naked bodies in Paris. They were pretty much either painted or sculpted (um, as in marble, plaster, bronze, etc., not as in sculpted by Jake or whatever). As my lovely and talented girlfriend observed, if we had grown up around all that artistic nudity we'd be over a lot of stuff. You know, stuff about naked bodies that is part of the cultural hang-ups in the US. Like those parents who freaked out when their kids saw Michaelangelo's David (?IIRC)in a museum on a school trip...because it was naked! WTF.

- posted by k @ 2:40 AM

 
Back from Paris

• Beautiful city
• Excellent company
• Good food, including the World's Best Falafel.
• Only problem is a)everybody speaks French there except us and b) good luck getting a cup of tea with milk and any kind of hot drink that costs less than $50.
  

- posted by k @ 2:25 AM