I guess it's time to buckle down

Even with an iced coffee after work, I got no work done last night; and it's funny how you sometimes need a day off after your vacation. I watched the President's address, but most of what he said washed through me in my fatigue. I will need to read a transcript to absorb it. But the sense I got as I sat on my couch was of an annoyed parent trying to get the children to stop bickering. Clintonesque "reaching across the aisle" but I hope he doesn't reach so far that the whole thing is handed over to the other side like what happened with PRWORA in 1996. I liked the mix of personal stories and statistics. I found myself thinking like an academic in considering what kinds of impressions and impacts the different approaches have in reaching one's audience.

But this is nothing about the content of his speech, which again I must revisit before I can form a real opinion. Yours are welcomed here.

I spent some time yesterday remembering I have a dissertation proposal to start working on. I've not laid any solid groundwork in terms of writing study aims or looking at research designs or even creating a time line for getting these things done. But I have made some important phone calls. I now have a Chair, a Second, and someone with pull who is willing to write a recommendation for me to get a research grant. I also have under my belt some sage advice on how to proceed with a certain someone in the city who may hold the key to me getting the data I need. So now, yeah, actual work has to get done. I guess it's time to buckle down. I must also start seriously attending to the classes I'm teaching. I've already got student papers to read. I think I'll do that today at my day job. :D

I'm feeling remarkably calm about ( other areas of my life )

Anyway, so yeah, for those of you who have asked I did have a good time on my trip. The picture taking with my friend LG was a big part of the fun, and I hope those of you who saw them enjoyed them. Here are a ( few more for you )

I'm eager to see all the D*C photos. Have a happy Thursday, flist.

Behavior, public to private

Someone on my flist (was it rm?) made mention of Wilson's conduct and how that sort of thing would have been met very differently at another time.

Today mysduende sent me a link to this article on the beginning repercussions of Congressman Wilson's heckling. President Obama may seem unflappable and able to coolly let things roll off his back. Sometimes I wonder if it's skill he was forced to hone under the weight of racism. But I digress. I've found it extraordinary how vitriolic and unrelenting the attacks on Obama have been since his election--most notably the continued pursuit of questioning his citizenship but even recently the opposition to him speaking to school children (why was it not said publicly that a good parenting response would be to let your child have the once in a lifetime opportunity and then discuss the content of the speech and what you agree and disagree on and why?). It's one thing to attack ideas, another to make personal attacks. Obama's speech spoke to our nations' leaders and media people's inability to disagree civilly as a nation. Healthy debate has been undermined and replaced with mean-spiritedness, doggedness and unrelenting quest for power that has left some people resentful when they lose. It's like we've got a national personality disorder where any suggestion of not having what you want when you want it leads to wildly disproportionate reactions. Or simple gross immaturity and the unwillingness to step outside oneself to take in other perspectives. You decide.

I don't think this sort of thing is exclusive to this place and time. But I do think this flare up has been veering perilously close to dangerous levels as it spills out into everyday lives. The Southern Poverty Law Center has found that hate groups are exploiting the economic downturn and fears of having a black president. Wilson's remark was an outburst in response to the mention of illegal immigrants. And Obama was saying something Wilson by all accounts should have been agreeing with! But he wasn't listening, he was reacting to a single word. And this is, I think, at the heart of many problems. SO many people just don't listen to each other anymore. (And I am guilty of this too, for the many times I've jumped to conclusions without clarification or been sure I know what someone was going to say instead of letting them say it).

I have no problems with people discussing things like contributive justice, rights of citizenship, the limits of the social contract and the role of government. But he was moved to call Obama a liar and I'm willing to bet it's because of deep seeded hatreds, not the philosophical limits of the social contract, distributive justice or dare I say even the taxpayer limits on beneficence and nonmaleficence (since this is supposedly a debate on health care but is really about insurance companies, competition and the commodification of health care).

I hope that this incident serves a tide turning function to put a cap on the personal attacks. Because I know a heck of a lot of people who need health care, and generally speaking I just want the a$$hattery to STOP. Alas, I think this is a naive hope and this event will have a short shelf life. But hope springs eternal and I am an unrelenting optimist.

And now, I have a samosa begging my attention.