Mundane Turbulence

Hmm. It just occurred to me that I might’ve thought of obesity in a similar light to the eating disorders related to unhealthy loss of weight in my last post. But would that be unfair? I don’t have any anorexic or particularly obese friends to ask this question…that I know of.

Also, what does it mean that this line of thinking did not originally occur to me?

I’ve wanted to post all day, but I’ve had no idea what about. I’ve had some random thoughts and questions:

Why is it that most women (insofar as I’ve observed), at least in casual conversation, refer sneeringly to other women who have eating disorders (or who they suspect of as much)? This has always troubled me, because aren’t those women suffering from disease? Aren’t they the ones who have succumbed to the fairly unbearable pressure from our culture to be thin and [therefore] pretty? I would think they’d be deserving of sympathy as a product of understanding, or maybe some sort of “gender solidarity.” (Not that I know what that means, exactly.)

Then again, I don’t have sympathy for the meatheads who take human growth hormone under the enormous pressure of being bigger and better than their fellow athletes, which I figure is the only relatable equivalent. But is that lack of gender solidarity a consequence of being at the top of the pecking order (read: white male)? Are those in power necessarily more inclined to cannibalize their comrades?

I really enjoyed typing “cannibalize their comrades,” by the way.

Hmm. This reminds me that I want to lighten up. I enjoy the meanderings of my thoughts, but I feel like maybe my brain is much more serious than my personality (I couldn’t tell ya how that works). I’d probably classify myself as a “smiler” — a “laugher,” even — but when I write, I think I come off as some jerk who takes himself and his opinions far too seriously.

…which I might in actuality be. But I don’t want people to think that.

I don’t want to appear serious — I want to appear approachable! I wonder if this is the tension that all of us hard-nosed northeasterners experience…lord knows we do indeed walk around looking pissed off all the time (c’mon — there’s no denying that looks cool), but I don’t doubt that any one of us would enjoy a random [non-pervy] stranger-hug from time to time (and I know I can get those, but it feels insincere when it’s organized)! Or a smile?

Or, let me speak for myself, at least: CHRISTIAN LIKES SMILES. Maybe other people aren’t so into it?

…this sure is a ramblin’ blog.

I’m sitting in my first class of the semester — called, simply, Conspiracy — right now, listening to the instructor, William Henry Anderson, MD (a medical doctor teaching a class on conspiracy — interesting). He reminds me of my friend Laz’s father, Richard Thompson, in that he speaks in a very measured tone, and seems to think a great deal about what he’s about to say before it comes out.

He is now speaking about global warming, and how those who claim that science is on their side should always be questioned. Naturally, I myself am convinced that the evidence for global warming — which of course comes from those with science on their side — is strong. But when Dr. Anderson speaks in that cadence that I can already tell will be characteristic of his lectures…I feel compelled to re-examine.

Words from a man who can do justice to the sentiment of my last post (the uh…part about Obama, not the stuff about that other guy).

Well…I’ve decided that I’m starting a blog again. The last one I wrote, over on LiveJournal — when I actively maintained it, something like three years ago — would recount my every boring daily experience. This became tiresome, even to me, and I can’t imagine what it was like for anyone else who happened to “check it out.”

I’ve decided that “check it out” should have quotation marks, because I don’t talk like that. I picture it being said with finger-guns a’blazin’. AND I AM NOT THAT GUY. Not yet, at least.

Anyway — so I’ll endeavor to make this blog a little different. I’m keeping the same great title, Mundane Turbulence, because it’s super-awesome, but it’s going to be a little more open-ended in nature. What does that mean exactly? Probably that I’ll be rambling a hell of a lot more…about a hell of a lot less.

Id est:

I’ve decided that if Barack Obama (go donate to his campaign) doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, then I don’t think I’ll ever vote again. Before his win in Iowa, I thought I could go for any Democrat…I prefered Kucinich above them all, and Obama was my #1 real choice, but I thought they were basically all good. Not so anymore.

I used to LOVE Bill Clinton. My friends know that I was formerly of the opinion that sex with him wouldn’t even be gay. But now…well, he’s broken my heart. The shameless campaign of misinformation that Hillary has orchestrated against Obama — in cahoots with Bill, whose gift for acerbic rhetoric had previously been lost on me — has indeed left a most sour taste in my mouth. From spreading lies about Obama’s “muslim” education, to diminishing Martin Luther King’s role in the Civil Rights Movement, to spreading falsehoods about Obama’s pro-choice record, the Clintons have lost all sense of propriety along their warpath to the Whitehouse.

This has of course made Hillary the candidate of cynicism. I’m not sure what she stands for, other than the fact that she seems to vehemently stand against Obama’s “fairy tale” bid for the presidency. But what American doesn’t love a happy ending?

And what does Obama stand for? Hope that the Gen X’ers might clean up what the Baby Boomers left in ruin (i.e. the world). Reconciliation for a country whose racial past has always diminished its moral standing. Wisdom (hey, I’m just quoting Toni Morrison here) in government. The true shame is that he is the Bill Clinton promise fulfilled — lord knows Bill would be piloting Obama’s bandwagon, were his wife not driving her own.

I believe these things about Obama like I believe them about no one else, and I am struck by an overwhelming feeling of apathy and sadness when I imagine his possible loss, even while I now still believe that he can do it.

But if he doesn’t secure the nomination, who else will take up his mantel? This ain’t the 60s…we don’t have Martin Luther Kings and John F Kennedys at the same time anymore. We haven’t had one in 40 years. And if we lose the one we have now, how long will we have to wait until the next?