What would you do if you were sitting next to someone in the computer cluster and they were Google searching porn cartoon erotica? Excuse me sir, but this facility is intended for educational purposes only.
Yah. Educating my penis.
[A solid minute of laughter] Me too.
So come to find out, there are a large number of people who don’t know what racism is and have not a clue what the hell white privilege could be.
No, they aren’t gun tottin’, tobacky spittin’, Bush supportin’ [well...possibly] farm types who live out in the country. Nope. They are my classmates.
I’ve seen it in the D.O., Post Standard, and local news, but I don’t know how far the news has spread. I’ll give a brief run down, and let you read the articles for yourself.
Basically, a television show funded by my student fee was being produced for 8 months. The show was loosely based upon the Daily Show, having a news story type format with humorous reports and such. For those 8 months, this show aired. However, unlike the Daily Show, they didn’t air worthwhile, funny, or even slightly educational shows. They aired some of the most racist, sexist, homophobic and degrading material I have ever seen.
In an open forum I attended Wednesday night, students from across the campus voiced their outrage at both the producers of the show and the executive board of the channel. What was most upsetting was that it seemed that the people responsible for it do not regret their actions. It doesn’t even seem they understand what was wrong with their commentary. You can read about the community meeting here.
Tonight, there was a speak out, where members of the community were able to voice their thoughts to not only fellow faculty, staff and students, but the Syracuse community at large. You’ll be able to read about that at the Daily Orange sometime on Friday.
I wrote to the D.O., and they published my letter. I won’t go into it, because you all can just read it and get the idea of what I wanted to say. But I suggest you look at some of the other opinions submitted by students. Some are insightful, and some are upsetting.
This whole situation has truly upset me. To see such horrific scenes of racism in what is supposed to be a prestigious university is startling. Steps are being taken, but it doesn’t change the fact that people are hurt, afraid, and feel unsafe. Things need to change. And it needs to change soon.
If you read my article, you know what I feel people must do. I challenge all of you to do the same. Confront hate. Confront intolerance. Confront those who would do harm to others. It’s as simple as that.
Go out and make a difference.
That’s the worst thing I’ve done while drunk.
Ha! That’s nothing. I once killed a man.
[dead silence all around]
You killed a man?
Well…not a man. A young adult.
[dropped jaws and unblinking eyes]
Guys…I’m kidding.
…Ooh…
My friend Tiffany and I were grabbing a bite to eat at the food court on campus the other day when the news came on. The anchor woman said, and I [loosely] quote, Parts of Syracuse are under a water ban until an unknown time. E. Coli has been found in the water, and residents are advised to boil their water if they wish to drink from the tap. E. Coli is caused by the presence of animal or human waste in the water.
To which Tiffany replied Animal waste? Or human waste? Or both! It doesn’t matter! There’s doo doo in the water! How are we going to shower John?! Rubbing some soap onto yourself saying Yes, this is nice. But no it isn’t. You think you’re getting clean, but oh no! You can’t get clean in doo doo water. Dirty Syracuse.
Yes, you heard correctly. There is poop in my water.
The funny thing is that it isn’t affecting all of Syracuse. Just the side of the city that the University is on. The rest of the city can lay down under their faucet all day, guzzling tap water to their heart’s content without worrying about E. Coli poisoning. I should clarify that poisoning just means lots of diarrhea and other forms of bowel movement maladies.
Either which way, this situation is a double edged sword. On the one hand, I can’t drink any water that isn’t pre-bottled. This means that dining halls can’t serve some drinks, the food court doesn’t have a soda fountain, and some bars can’t make some drinks that involve using a faucet [shitty!]. On the other hand, however, this means I get two bottles of water, paid for by the University, everyday. Wonderful! Aquafina all up in my face. But then again, I can’t shower in that. Or bathe in it. Or clean myself in it at all, in fact. Sure, they say it’s safe to shower in our bathrooms. But then again, they used to think asbestos was a wicked cool idea.
It’s poop, people. And I’m showering in it.
There really is no saving grace in a situation like this. Unless some one I really don’t like were showering and pure, undiluted feces water rained down upon them. That’d be cool, but pretty much would never happen. I mean, there is usually some sort of silver lining in all situations, right? Regardless of how bad the situation is, you can always say Well at least I’ve got my health or Well there’s always tomorrow. We don’t have that. Sure we have tomorrow, but tomorrow is shit. And who knows how long my health will hold out. I’ve got a decent immune system. But it’s never been bombarded with poop before. This is going to be a test of inner strength. And sphincter control. Definitely sphincter control. Because E. Coli apparently gives you the runs.
To tie up this story, I will tell you how my friends and I are handling the caca crisis. We were enjoying a bottle of wine [Reisling] and watching a rerun of this week’s episode of Nip/Tuck. PS I’m hooked now. Anyways, they were talking about The Carver, when all the sudden Tiffany started laughing. It was one of those laughs that starts off real quiet and deep, and just builds up from there. A guttural guffaw, if you will. I looked over, and Kim had begun to laugh, too.
Why are you guys laughing?
Tiffany composed herself long enough to say, before bursting out in laughter again, I washed the wine glasses out in the sink!
So the other day I was browsing Creative Procrastination, one of the sites I visit regularly, and came across this really cool MP3 player that is designed to look like a Pez dispenser. Before I go any further, can I say that whoever thought of that is a genius. This is the mindset I need to get myself in. Combine the new with the old, and you will get things that people will pay wads of moolah for.
Anyways, the MP3 player comes pre-loaded with some random bands, all of which I’ve never heard of before. One of the few bands I could actually find playable songs of was Smoosh. When I first heard them, I thought they played like a very simplified Mates of State. Simple lyrics, simple music, simple sounds. But it all added together to make a pretty nice listening. So I decided to look them up and figure out who they are.
They are fucking 11 and 13 year old sisters. Chloe, 11 years old, plays the drums while her older sister Asya plays the piano slash keyboard while singing. And that is the whole band. They have a record out, have gone on tour, and have even opened for Death Cab For Cutie and played with Rilo Kiley [!!!]. If you check iTunes Music Store, you can even find their CD, She Like Electric, on sale. It is crazy. Crazy crazy prepubescent craziness.
I don’t remember what my life was exactly like when I was between the ages of 11 and 13, but I know for damn certain it didn’t mean making a huge impact upon the musical community or getting praised by Jason McGerr [DCFC]. At their ages, I think I was in 4th and 6th grade. And I was doing the same thing both of those years. Getting made fun of and playing Magic: The Gathering. Maybe the latter caused the former? Hmm…
Anyways, definitely check out Smoosh. You heard it here first. They are going to be big. If at the tender age of 11 and 13 these girls are making as huge of a splash as they are right now, then they will be monopolizing the indie pop world within a decade. Here is an article about them. Here is a music video. Here is one with an interview.
I’m going to go back to feeling like an unaccomplished piece of shit now. Peace.
