| Okay, maybe the name of this award isn't "Best Italian Student in the Universe Ever," But it's close |
[May. 6th, 2009|04:48 pm] |
Cara Madeleine (con copia alla professoressa Allen),
Come forse saprai, il dipartimento di Languages, Literatures e Linguistics ti ha conferito un premio: “Outstanding Student” in Italiano. Troverai questa menzione nel programma ufficiale di “Commencement” di questo fine settimana. La professoressa Beverly Allen ed io abbiamo un regalo per te che desideriamo consegnarti domenica mattina, prima di Commencement, oppure sabato. Beverly ti contatterà per confermarti il momento preciso.
Beverly ed io teniamo molto ad informarti di questo premio: il riconoscimento meritatissimo ad una ottima studente che ci mancherà!
Con i migliori auguri di ogni felicità futura,
Cordialmente,
Stefano Giannini |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|02:05 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Shins - New Slang | ] |
I feel like a freshman in college again. I knew it wouldn't last. The school thing. And the serious thing.
I want to be able to regain equilibrium and keep it. And I want to be strong enough that I don't get knocked out of it for silly things. |
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| Late. A couple of years late. |
[Apr. 25th, 2009|04:24 pm] |
I'm sorry that I wasn't a good friend, or even a good person when it happened to you. I let my personal biases get in the way of what's right, and I truly regret that.
I care about you as a human being and what happened was really fucked up and I wish that I had known enough to stand up and say it. |
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| I MEAN. YOU GUYS. LIKE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. |
[Mar. 4th, 2009|07:27 pm] |
Seriously. I really cannot convey this enough.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
My joy is out of control.
Okay. I will write real words on this later. I clearly cannot do it right now. |
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| Rihanna |
[Mar. 3rd, 2009|11:30 am] |
Honestly, I've tried to stay as far away from this as possible, because I think it's outrageous and humiliating and I have a lot of respect for her as a musician. But it keeps coming up in Feminist blogs because of how it's talked about in the media. And because of careless and disgusting comments on the parts of several celebrities. And I feel the need to pass this along, from the Yes Means Yes blog. http://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/what-it-doesnt-mean/
What it doesn’t mean.
So, reports are everywhere that Chris Brown and Rihanna are getting back together, or at the very least spent the weekend together at Diddy’s mansion in Miami.
Who knows what’s true about these rumors? Hardly anyone. But for argument’s sake, and because many people are already assuming this is true, let’s discuss what it doesn’t mean if Rihanna takes Chris back:
1. It doesn’t mean she is stupid. Leaving an abusive partner is hard - really, really hard. Some studies have shown that it takes an average woman 4-7 tries before she can leave her abuser for good. Why? Because abusers aren’t transparent assholes all of the time. They can be very manipulative, and most of the time will wear down their partner’s self-esteem quite thoroughly long before they start with the physical violence. They’re also often charming and can be very loving and doting and romantic when they’re not being violent. They can talk real pretty about what they’ve learned, how sorry they are, how they’re going to change, how they can’t change without the help of their wo/man. And of course, we want to believe that we haven’t been so blind in choosing a partner for ourselves. We want to believe we can help. We want to believe that the good in them outweighs the bad. It’s a hard, hard situation. This is a good post about all of these dynamics.
2. It doesn’t mean we should forgive him. Because of all this, even if she does take him back, even if they seem happier than ever together, we shouldn’t forget. We shouldn’t shame her for her choices - when we think we can tell a woman what she should do, we’re not much better than a controlling boyfriend ourselves. But we can still call for justice to be served. He can still be prosecuted even if she doesn’t press charges. We can also continue to hold the media accountable for what they say about this case, to ensure that blame is placed on the proper party - the abuser.
3. It doesn’t mean what he’s alleged to have done is any less horrible. Again, see above. There are a lot of psychological reasons that victims take their abusers back. It doesn’t mean the abuse was any kind of “no big deal.” In fact, it often means it’s an even bigger deal than we thought, and involves psychological abuse as well, which leaves a victim vulnerable when the abuser comes back and tries to make nice.
4. It doesn’t mean she has betrayed any kind of sisterhood. OK, let’s get real clear on this one. Rihanna did not sign up to be any kind of spokesmodel for dating violence. The fact that we even know it was Rihanna is due to her name, and then her photo, being leaked and exploited. Rihanna is a young woman in a really hard situation, trying to figure it out the best she can. She owes us nothing. Her decisions are hers to make, and none of us know what we would do in her shoes - even if we have been through similar things, we haven’t been through her actual life. If we start judging her or blaming her for being a bad role model, the sisterhood has failed her, not the other way around. Got it?
5. It doesn’t mean that if he hurts her again, she deserves it. See number 1 - she is likely in a psychological state that’s hard to understand from the outside. There may seem to her to be a million reasons for her to take him back. Not one of them means that she deserves to be hurt again. No one deserves to be beaten or abused. Ever. By anyone. Period.
That's all. |
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| True or false? |
[Jan. 29th, 2009|10:08 am] |
The thing that bothers Jon Stewart most about the world is Dick Cheney.
Here is my evidence.
YEAH JON!
"The difference there is that we're not calling anyone traitors." |
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| UGH I want to band my head into a wall |
[Nov. 23rd, 2008|01:04 pm] |
This paper is SO slow going. I guess part of the problem is constructing the Italian, but lots of times I can whip out Italian writing better than I can English. I honestly projected being done with it in one day of serious working, 6 hours or so, but it's just not happening. I mean, I do keep getting distracted, but SERIOUSLY. This is my third day in the library on it, and I have 6 pages done... Another problem is that I'm simultaneously researching and writing, which is obviously not a good idea, but every time I think I've decided on a thesis the whole topic gets slippery on me again.
( For anyone who cares )
In other news, I'm just submitting it for a rough draft to my class for peer review, and I technically don't have to email it until Friday or Saturday because it's due December 1st, but I'm getting it out of the way now so I can physically turn it in tomorrow and deal with my other classes over Thanksgiving. |
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| THE DAY HAS COME |
[Nov. 22nd, 2008|08:42 pm] |
This is your friendly neighborhood reminder to go to drpepper.com tomorrow (starting at 12:01 tonight) for your coupon for a FREE Dr. Pepper! DO IT YAY.
(I couldn't care less that Chinese Democracy is coming out.) |
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| You know what's crazy? |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|12:57 pm] |
I voted (wow, I just had to change that from I'm voting, I can't believe today is finally here!) for Barack Obama because he's the Democratic candidate. I voted for him in the primaries because I thought he had a better shot at the election than Hillary Clinton. I like him, I like his policies, and I like his VP.
This is about all the thoughts I have on Barack Obama, and what you may or may not have noticed is that what's missing is the fact that he's black. It's completely a non-issue in my mind, and it has never really spent much time in my mind as for why it might be an issue for someone.
My dad sent me this email exchange among himself and some of his colleagues who all voted for Obama and all the other democrats BUT instead of doing the lazy thing and checking the box for the straight democratic ticket, they went through and voted for every one individually. (Here I was complaining that on my ballot I didn't have that choice.) The reason why? Because they wanted to be able to check of the Obama/Biden ticket specifically. My dad told me about it on the phone and was trying to convey to me how important this was to him, and it was completely lost on me until I got the email exchange.
From Judy, a well-known liberal subversive
Thanks, David. I just voted. Although I voted the straight Democratic ticket, I voted individually for each candidate so that I could have the thrill of drawing that line for Obama/Biden. As someone who grew up in the segregated south, the enormity of today is overwhelming.
Judy
And from my dad:
I did the same thing! The only thing I worried about was making a mistake on one of those lines. I stood there for at least 30 seconds checking and rechecking!
For me – a suburban kid from the Cincinnati (Appalachia North!) – it’s not quite the same as for a Georgia kid, but not too far different. What I marvel at is the journey out of the insidious, invisible racism of the 1950s and 1960s. I still have a very, very difficult time watching documentaries such as Eyes on the Prize -- not so much because of the brutal and violent extremes of southern racism, but because of the self-satisfied, comfortable racism of broader America. I always feel ashamed of what it took in the 1960s to wake up America. We didn’t have separate drinking fountains in Ohio, but as late as the mid 1960s I worked in restaurants where blacks would only come to the kitchen door to order food because they didn’t feel comfortable walking through the front door. I remember reading the “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail” at 16 or 17 and feeling so conflicted to realize that maybe that wasn’t something “that was only in the south.”
I agree with you completely. There was no way I was going to just mark that ballot and walk out!
Thanks!
dsl
And Judy again
Isn’t this amazing. Judy M., Toby S., Janet D. and Rich H. also did the same thing!!! I wonder how many others felt the need to draw that Obama/Biden line. I just spent my entire women’s history class talking about the significance of this election.
Judy
And Dad
Depending on how things go the rest of the day, maybe we should write a collective op ed. What do you think?
Judy to all the other people named
Hi All,
David has a great idea. We should write a collective op-ed piece about WHY we all deliberately and independently of each other linked the Obama/Biden line rather than voting the straight Democratic ticket.
OH. I see.
I guess that says something for my generation and the changes that have happened since my dad was my age... unless I'm just a twit and that's the reason why I don't think about his race, but I suspect I can't be the only one. |
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| Friends Purge |
[Oct. 15th, 2008|09:52 pm] |
I've already done a bit, but I'm gonna do more.
Reasons for defriending are: we haven't talked in years, you don't ever comment, you don't ever post, OR I just don't read your journal.
If you don't do of these things but I'm think you read anyway, I'll probably keep you (I'm looking at you smileyjess).
If you do read and like this journal and I take you off then just comment and you'll be back on.
And for anyone else, FRIENDS ONLYYY, comment to be added! |
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| Today's million dollar question |
[Jun. 18th, 2008|12:48 pm] |
Poll #1206909 Do you know where you are?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllIf someone were to say to you, "do you know where you are?" would your response be |
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| One word |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|05:40 pm] |
1. Where is your mobile phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? Steve
3. Your hair? curly
4. Your mother? what
5. Your father? what
6. Your favorite thing? sex
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? historian
10. The room you're in? lab
11. Your ex? what
12. Your fear? alone
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
14. Where were you last night? bed
15. What you're not? man
16. Muffins? blueberry
17. One of your wish list items? PhD
18. Where you grew up? Coventry
19. The last thing you did? therapy
20. What are you wearing? leather
21. Your TV? none
22. Your pets? Cocktail
23. Your computer? laptop
24. Your life? salendo
25. Your mood? uncertain
26. Missing someone? STEVE
27. Your car? me
28. Something you're not wearing? dress
29. Favorite store? Promod
30. Your summer? hopeful
31. Like someone? YES
32. Your favorite color? pink
33. When is the last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? Saturday |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 19th, 2008|12:13 am] |
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I wish I could stop being so sensitive. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 9th, 2008|12:20 pm] |
I love Savage Garden.
And if you're female and in between the ages of 19 and 23 and say you don't too, you're lying.
That's all. |
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