This quote is in reference to Hurrican Gustav, currently a Category 3 storm heading towards the Gulf Coast, but I think it explains a lot about the working class, the less-than-rich...
"Lot of folks around here are gonna make do with what they have, and you won't hear a terrible amount of complaining," he said. "You can't just come in here and expect to hear people fussing about how they don't have nothing. People just be used to not having much, and so you don't even think too hard about it until someone starts asking you questions." -Sidney William
This is not to say I condone attitudes that turn a blind eye to the needs of the less fortunate, that glorify the less wealthy, or that pretend that vast discrepancies in wealth distribution are A-OK. But a lot of people are perfectly content with life and are not angry or bitter because they don't have what other people think they should have.
At the moment, I'm that person...the one who's completely apathetic about politics...who doesn't watch the conventions or get into debates about the candidates. I just can't care anymore because it's true: you can't trust anyone. Why? No matter how awesome a politician may seem, he or she is still a person, subject to all of the failures and weaknesses of any other person, and well, I've met a good number of people in my life and every single person I've ever met is a fuck up in some way. I don't want my government to be run by people; I want it to be run by gods and goddesses, heroes and paladins. But it's never going to happen. Tomorrow, next week, next month, I'll return to my normal sense of realism...my devotion to selecting the lesser of however many evils, my hope in humanity, my drive to champion the democratic process and the importance of the involvement of every single citizen. But right now? Right now I'm that person who just says do whatever the fuck you want with my country because no matter what, life is going to be hard.
"I truly believe that people like myself, who are in a position of entertainers in the limelight, should keep their mouth shut on politics because at the end of the day, I'm good at writing songs and singing. What I'm not educated in is the field of political science. And so for me to be sharing my views and influencing people of who I think they should be voting for ... I think would be very irresponsible on my part."
-Kid Rock
Penelope was actually quite a pleasant surprise. I'm obligated to love Christina Ricci, as her onscreen, adolescent angst corresponded with the budding of my own offscreen angst...but as an adult, she has proven herself to be an inconsistent actress. However, there's something about her huge brown eyes in this movie that make you ignore her rather annoying way of speaking (has her voice gotten higher as she's gotten older?) and fall hopelessly in love with her innocence and spunk. James McAvoy is, as always, beautiful and brilliant as the main love interest, and not surprisingly at all, Reese Witherspoon stands out even in the smallest of roles.
The movie calls itself a modern day fairy tale and like a fairy tale, is a thinly veiled moral lesson, as anyone can see that this hideous pig-faced girl is a hottie and not the monster all of the characters in the film make her out to be. But the film's higher goalss never seem forced or too over-bearing, as the tone is always light and sweet, a necessity if the audience is not to be offended. Consider this a delicious, healthy cupcake, with slightly too sweet frosting.
"john edwards is a chump but bush stole all of our money and killed innocent babies and children and women with it...there's a frickin scandal for ya! and he doesn't even have to answer for it one one hundredth as much as edwards is being assailed for knocking up one slutty showbiz junkie. The media cares more about sneaky sex than about torture death and holocaust."
-Roseanne Barr
All cars in the parking lot are either new or three years old.
The Pastor delegates his preaching and does not preach every Sunday or every service.
When the Pastor retires, they don't have a problem retiring.
No one leaves the choir during the entire service.
There is only one choir.
Choir rehearsal is only once a month, not every week.
There is children's church every Sunday, not once every six months.
There are 52-inch flat screen TV's posted in the sanctuary, which is where announcements are posted and not read audibly.
No afternoon and night service.
You can't tell the pastor's car because everyone drives a nice car.
Women wear less jewelry because they know less means more.
Communion takes 30 minutes, not two hours.
Communion is packaged together and not served in four gold trays.
Babies are not passed around in church; they sit only with their parents.
MEN DRESS IN POLO AND DOCKERS.
Scriptures and bible verses are posted on the FLAT SCREENS IN THE SANCTUARY.
Caucasians know the difference between winter white and summer white.
Mothers feed their kids FRUIT, GRAINS, AND ANIMAL CRACKERS before service.
80% of the congregation wears real furs in the winter and don't walk in service late to show them off.
IT TAKES TWO DEACONS TO COUNT $10,000+ in offering.
There's only one offering.
95% of the congregation is married.
The Average Black Church:
Service starts at 11 a.m., but 50% of the members arrive at 12:45 p.m.
All the cars in the parking lot have been freshly washed.
The pastor doesn't come out until 45 minutes after service has started.
Only 30% of the choir is on time.
The choir discusses ten minutes over which song to sing.
The choir sings the song, but the musician doesn't know how to play it.
The parents whip the kids during worship.
The audience has to help the announcement clerk pronounce the words on the church bulletin.
Two of the church deacons have gold teeth or NO teeth!!!!!
The members socialize and speak during the tithes and offering.
When church is over, no one discusses the pastor's message: they just compliment each other's outfits and hair.
Members pay $20, but stand there waiting for $18 in change back.
The single women give each other signals when a handsome guest minister is invited.
You find notes after church that say:
'That's not her hair,' 'Who is that baby daddy?' 'He need to sit down,' 'What you fix for dinner?' 'I know she ain't got that on,' 'Let me borrow $1 for offering'
It takes eight deacons two hours to count $400.
There is a slot on the tithe envelope marked 'Building Fund.'
That afternoon service is either: Choir Day, Usher Day, or Men and Women's Day (don't forget Youth Day, Education Day, Pastor's Aide Day, Hospitality Day, New Member Day, Church Anniversary Day, Pastor's Anniversary Day, and Revival).
The Pastor's car has either a rag top or rims.
The women have on expensive heels, but have house shoes in their bags.
You see more than five people pass someone gum or a peppermint.
Someone will feed a baby Cheetos, sugar cookies, crackers, or vanilla wafers in the sanctuary.
Men will have on suits in the color of bright yellow, lime green, hot pink, sky blue, and candy apple red with shoes to match.
People will have a $80 Bible, but will have to look in the table of contents to find the text of the pastor's message.
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
I was going to write this a couple of weeks ago...when it became obvious the National Enquirer was in fact not bullshit. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Because somewhere, deep down, I wanted it to not be true. Ok, it was not so deep down. I still want it to not be true.
When the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, my thoughts were: that's fucked up. He's an asshole. He shouldn't have lied. I don't care what happens in his private life, though, as long as he does his job. So why is this different for me? Because I was actually stupid enough to believe in John Edwards as a person and a politician. How often does that happen? How often do we have 100% decent people working hard and making strides in politics? A part of me needed to believe that someone in Washington could make a difference...and live with the same idealism they spit at the public. To walk the walk, so to speak.
The thing is, most politicians are self-centered, self-important, slicksters. But I truly believe that any person who pursues politics with any sort of sincerity must realize that he or she now has obligations to his or her constituents...examples to set in lifestyle that reflect one's political agendas. This means sacrificing selfish desires, just as parents have to do, just as couples have to do. Sure, people make mistakes, and I am not judging Edwards for his mistake. I am just disappointed that he could not look in the face of temptation and walk away for the sake of the American people, if not for the sake of his family who should have been enough.
Also, the lack of coverage of this by the media prior to Edwards' confession is very suspicious. See:
This is a place of found art and inane thoughts, home to bullshit and pearls. Here, I wax philosophical about politics and feminism and Christianity and love and life and art and try to save you from my ignorance by sharing pieces of this world that I have found to be beautiful or simply entertaining. The Methods of Mediocrity are the ways in which we find confidence in our own limitations and beauty in the most mundane and boring.
UseYourKitchen - Coming soon. This will be a site about cooking healthily on a budget, from the perspective and experiences of people who actually have to do it!
