so here i am with an hour or so to kill, because i woke up way earlier than i needed to, and i shouldn't go back to bed, i've already had coffee, but i don't want to read my homework. nor am i awake enough to do so yet. i'm sure there's something that needs writing--i can think of at least one thing for school, but none of that interests me. personal life is infinitely more interesting right now.
i'm dreading the G20. i just want everyone to go home. any sane resident of Pittsburgh knows that despite whatever "international attention" this may bring to the city, it's just going to be a pain in the ass for the normal people who actually live here and are just trying to go about their lives. i'm sorry, but i can't get behind the protestors because i don't believe they are going to accomplish anything except creating a huge headache for as many people as possible. that said, i also can't get behind the conference, because i don't believe it will accomplish anything either. dinner at Phipps Conservatory? yes, let's get together "important" people from all over the world and show them a bunch of pretty plants that DON'T GROW NATURALLY IN THE U.S.
maybe i'm just cranky because i'm awake.
anyway, i'm done with all non-apartment related obligations at 11:00 AM on thursday, and i've been saying only somewhat jokingly that my plan is to lock myself in. i'm sure i'll get out at least a little bit thursday and friday....i haven't decided why or how yet.
i really need groceries. i ran out of bread. that's when you know the situation is really dire. and really, it's just that i haven't had time to go to the store. i did pick up a loaf of bread, but nothing else.
how much ethernet cable do i have, anyway? i want to move over there....
the answer is, more than enough.
and of course, none of this is the "infinitely more interesting" stuff i want to be writing about. but that's all been written in more appropriate places for the one person who needs to read it.
i can't wait until i have wednesdays off like i'm supposed to. it hasn't happened yet. graduate school, so far, appears to be an exercise in "go where they tell you to go when they tell you to go there. no questions, no complaints." there are parts of town i'd rather be headed into this morning.
i suppose i shouldn't say "that's all been written," because i'm sure there's more to it. there will always be more to it. but for now, nothing seems urgent to communicate, or to purge from my brain via pen. that happens sometimes....i can't count the number of times i've had to Write, my pen almost unable to keep up with the words flowing through it, until everything was completely exhausted--and inevitably, the last thing that comes is something i needed to get to, something i hadn't realized was so important. it's therapeutic. it really is. and i think that's what i mean when i call myself a writer. i need to do it. i would lose my mind if i didn't.
maybe that's the way we know how to label ourselves. what about you would cause you to lose your mind if you didn't have it?
4 comments:
"purge from brain via pen" Yes. Exactly.
My "pen" seems to be my voice and camera these days. These things are fluid.
~B.
lol not the part of this i expected you to comment on!
Haha, I know.
One question did occur to me later: What do you see as the purpose of protesting and how does that differ from the purpose of activism in general?
~B.
the purpose of protesting is to force people to pay attention to your side of the story, whereas the purpose of activism in general is to call attention to it and to persuade people that your side is the right one. yes, protesting is used as a tool of activism, but my problem with it is that so many protesters take it much too far. they perform actions in the name of activism that may actually cause more chaos than whatever they were protesting in the first place. this accomplishes the exact opposite of what is (should be?) intended by activism: it antagonizes people, and then they associate your disruptive, potentially harmful actions with your cause and become less likely to support it. i'm much more likely to listen to someone who engages me in a conversation than someone who throws poop at me on my walk to work--after blocking the road i needed to take to get there, of course.
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