Musings on Well...Things in Life

The Schiavo case continues to drive the headlines. Enough that it has completely overshadowed the deaths of ten people at the hands of a crazed teenager on the Red Lake reservation. Do I think that the reason this story isn’t getting the play that Schiavo and Columbine cases is racial, as well as the practical reason that Red Lake is 250 miles from the nearest large city, and is on sovereign Chippewa land, and thus difficult to work in. Still the question of how a Native American teen could latch onto these kind of radically awful beliefs is a story that needs to be covered. While I appreciate the moral positions of both Michael Schiavo as well as Terri’s parents, the question of how to protect ourselves and the most vulnerable youth from the most vile forms of hate mongering need to be discussed too.

By the way, I just saw Billy Graham’s daughter Anne on TV. Wow, it looks as if her face had been basted in its own juices for several hours at about 20 minutes a pound. Seriously, I’ve never seen any kind of color like that on a human being, only on a Thanksgiving dinner table. Not that she’s a bad person, I’m not saying she is, I’m just saying that she has an inhuman pigmentation to her skin. If that was makeup, then somebody really needs to be fired at MSNBC, because I learned that I could look orange under lights in high school.

I was thinking about the conversation that John, Bohne, Kopec, Chelsea Sadler and myself had after Cabaret. We were talking a bit about high school, and how it was difficult to have patience with some people just coming out of high school, because they can sometimes still carry the personality front they had to put up in high school. In thinking about it further, I really have to disagree with some of the stuff that was said last night. I appreciate the fact that for seniors, it can sometimes be frustrating to deal with people who are still putting up the front. But its also true that for some of us, many more than would like to admit it, early in our Freshman year of college, found high school to be the most horrific of experiences because, frankly, as Eddie Izzard puts it so well, this is the ugliest time we’ll ever be in our lives. And yet at no point in our lives are we more concerned with our appearance and in being accepted by the kind of people we might not otherwise want to be with at any point of our lives. For those, like me, who spent high school kind of floating between groups, and not really fitting in with anyone, trying to fit in with that top tier of the beautiful and popular people is what you want. I was tolerated by those people, and frankly, part of me wishes I hadn’t gotten to know some of them as well as I did. And obviously, I know I shouldn’t have spent that much time trying to be like them.

On the other side though, for those people who did everything to not fit in, and to try and shut out all of the pain by being disgusted by it, whether that’s how they really feel or not, its hard to shut that off.

I had it easy when I got to Albion, or at least I thought I did. I was so close to home. I would occasionally talk to my old classmates at their new schools, and I could go home and watch the football games, and then return to Albion. When Homecoming came around and I saw a lot of them again, I kind of began to realize how small they made me feel, not out of trying (though a new book says that one in twenty people is really a sociopath, so maybe some of them really did mean to make me feel like crap). Then I got back to school and realized I was the only one making an effort. And then it hit that I really didn't like high school, in fact, the only thing that kept me from being an emotional wreck was trying to just get through the week, week after week, and so I wasn’t looking at what I was actually feeling more than on a day to day basis. It was then I realized that I really was in a place where I had to change and reveal my true self. Luckily for me, I first had supportive hallmates who were able to transition me into college life, rather than the proto-High School life I had been living at Albion. Then I found theater again and made the greatest friends I will ever make in my life.

Not everyone is as lucky as I was, some people need to keep up their fronts longer, the pain might be too deep, or the cynicism too set in to make the transition a smooth one, and so people sometimes keep up the front. But the greatest part of college is that it almost always forces you to be yourself at some point, and so the shell does get cracked. Maybe we needed to think of that a little more sometimes.

Out into the Cool of the Evening- Strolls the Pretender

So, a lot of pretty interesting things going on this weekend. Certainly its been fun to watch the party of state's rights manage to federalize a single dispute between the husband and family of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for several years. To watch the leadership use this woman as a political tool, whether or not they believe in the sanctity of life in this case or not.

I went downtown on Friday looking for work, and I also went to get lunch at the ESPN Zone to watch the tournament. I got there in the second half of the first set of games, and there were lots of people at the bar supporting they're schools, and a lot of people with their brackets out, brackets that were probably fine for a while, until they hit the end of the first set of games Friday night. I must say that there were a few women my age, or slightly older, from NC State who were, as Mr. Tony likes to say, "getting it done". Speaking of that, I saw the SportsCentury on Peggy Fleming last week- Peggy Fleming is definitely still getting it done. I'm sorry, that was my id raising its ugly head for a minute. It’s not more than an occasional visitor, so I have to express it when he comes out.

The games this weekend were pretty fabulous. Courtney, the woman whose house I'm staying in, went to Kansas, and so was a bit disappointed by the result of the Bucknell game. I really enjoyed the Vermont game, because I love those kind of great stories. Luckily, I wasn't able to see much of the game on Sunday, because they were showing other games here, because I probably would have been conflicted. I want to see the conference to do well, but I have no particular interest in seeing State win beyond that, and sense I am a rank sentimentalist, I wanted to see the Catamounts advance. The NC State Wolfpack, and their very attractive alumna, were fabulous in both games, coming back from a big deficit against Charlotte and then upsetting UConn. I really was impressed by them, and of course North Carolina, because they were incredibly dominant in both games.

Right now my plans for the interview are this: drive up to New Hampshire Thursday and spend the night in a hotel, either in town or just outside it, and then to stay with John Sellers on Friday night, at which point I'll probably come home Saturday.

By the way, my XM Channel, On Broadway, carried Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Center on Saturday. It was amazing to listen to, even the roundtable which featured Sondheim, Frank Rich, Joss Whedon and others on Sondheim's effect on popular culture, which of course led to a discussion of "Once More With Feeling..." the greatest Buffy episode I've never seen. By the way, I heard a lot of the songs from Company I wanted to hear, and I got to hear Angela Lansbury doing "A Little Priest", but I didn't hear "Pretty Women", the one song from Sweeney Todd I wanted to hear, but that's okay.

If I may make a suggestion to the play selection committee for next year, and by next year, I mean 2006-2007, the year after some of my favorite men and women graduate, the one that decides the next musical. Keeping in mind that the last two musicals have been a bit heavy, I might suggest something a bit light like, for example, A Year With Frog and Toad, which is about as far from heavy as you can get.

Good luck to everyone on their thesis, as well as the continuing work on Workshops and Trojan Women.

The Best Day Ever

Today is one of the two best days of the year, by many people's reckoning. It's the first day of the tournament. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to follow it, because I've been downtown and at work, but it’s still so much fun to know I can go home tonight and have four games on at around 7:30, even though I'll only have the normal feed.

By the way, Happy Birthday to Ms. Susan Southard, I hope the last year has treated you well and that the new one will bring all sorts of new opportunities as you move closer to finishing at Northridge. Also speaking of Ms. Southard, I want to wish Miss Kraly a good and safe flight, and obviously a fabulously fun spring break in LA. Let Dre and Em run free.

Of course the steroid hearings are going on in Washington today. I really don't see how they accomplish anything, though there is a legitimate public interest in keeping steroids away from young people. Still, to trot out ballplayers, essentially only to bring the attention they'll receive, and then to schedule it on a day most people won't be paying attention anyway is just confusing. None of the players said anything different than you'd expect them to, though apparently Schilling went after Canseco pretty hard, which is great.

I have to say, today is really the weirdest days to be a non-drinker. It is kind of expected on a day like this, especially given the unfortunate stereotype of the people whose patron saint we honor today. But still, tonight usually isn’t the best night to go out to a bar and not expect weird looks when you order coke or water.

I bumped into Kim Shannon yesterday on the way home from work. She's doing well, and I'll see if I can stop by this weekend to catch up with her and a certain Brandon Bartlett Blackburn Dwyer.

There should be more interesting things going on tomorrow, especially as the tournament moves forward, stay safe tonight everyone.

The Ides of March are come

I want to talk about Julius Caesar for a minute, because I don't feel there's enough amateur dramaturgy on the web.

Caesar is Ms. K-M's favorite Shakespeare play. I saw it for the first time at Stratford with the FGRHS Drama Club, and really enjoyed it. I find that it's remarkably simple to understand, and because politics is so fluid, its easy to make the transition out of Roman or period dress and into modern adaptations. Put Antony in a black shirt, and you've got a ready made fascist.

First off, when discussing the play, you have to recognize that it literally ruins Shakespeare for life for many kids, because they are often given the play to read at an age where they don't understand what's going on. I once read a book about Shakespeare that said that this happens because Caesar is the last hold-out of Latin being taught in schools, that kids would read Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, and then read Shakespeare. But they don't teach Latin anymore, yet Caesar remains. Kids aren't able to understand what motivates Brutus, why Cassius is so devious, and how insidious Antony's most famous speech really is. They just watch Marlon Brando on a set and think they understand. (The best plays for young people are either Macbeth, because its rather simple to follow and features witches and curses, and Henry IV, part I, because there's lots of dirty jokes and rebelling against authority.)

When you read Dante, you see that Brutus, for many in medieval Europe held a special place of contempt. He betrayed his friend and ruler. But Shakespeare chose to explore the nobility in Brutus, and gives us two great counterbalances to him. Cassius is motivated not by some great belief in the virtue of the republic, but jealousy and contempt for Caesar himself. Antony, whose speech to the mourning crowds is obviously he best known part of the play, is a conniving political opportunist. (The most interesting part of the scene is this, Brutus has just made a passionate, but reasoned speech to the people defending the Senate's actions, and the crowd reacts in a most irrational way, they want to make Brutus king. Yet Antony does the opposite, and appeals to the very worst in the crowd, and is rewarded with a reasoned response that becomes a vengeful and murderous mob (just ask Cinna the poet). I feel that this is Shakespeare's critique, which Aristotle made as well, of Democracy, because it is always teetering on the edge of mob rule.)

Caesar himself doesn't dominate the play, but the persona does. We know that Caesar is a man because we hear Cassius talk about his near drowning, and we see him worry and do what Calphurnia wants him to do. Only when he's called upon to be "Caesar, destroyer of Pompey, the man who crossed the Rubicon" is he larger than life, or even confident.

Ok, that's it for that.

I have some good news. I have my interview scheduled for Good Friday at 2 pm, in Wolfeboro, NH, for the Granite State News. I will be leaving on Thursday, and I have tentative plans to stay the night at John Sellers' apartment and then proceed the rest of the way, through Connecticut and Massachusetts, the next day. We'll see about getting back.

Interesting fact, of the 1200 people or so who have attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge, 2% have survived. Why this is interesting to me, I don't know, maybe it comes from being afraid of heights.

Yup

Jean and John's Thingie

A - AGE: 23
B - BAND LISTENED TO MOST RECENTLY: Foreigner played the last song I heard on XM this morning, so Foreigner
C- CRUSH: Whoever will give me a job. Ruth Riley
D - DOG's NAME: I would name my dog Diogenes if it was a male and Medea if it was female
E - EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: Probaly Laura Jeanine
F - FAVORITE BAND: The Beatles or The Temptations, also Euphonics
G - GUMMY: Worms
H - HOMETOWN: Ann Arbor, A2.
I - INSTRUMENT: I guess my voice, I don't play instruments well.
J - JUICE: Apple, Orange or Pomegranate
K - KIDS: I would hope for two of the same gender. That way, I could name one for my family (for a girl Ruth Janet, for a boy James Willard) and the second could be the fun name (Clytemenestra for the girl and Prometheus for the boy, maybe)
L - LONGEST CAR RIDE: Devil's Tower, Cape Breton.
M - MOM'S NAME: Paula Susan Graham
N - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: One
O - ONE WISH: A job would be fabulous
P - PHOBIA(S): Being buried alive, heights
Q - QUOTE: by me: "This is a fine shower curtain" by another: "If you're out on your bike tonight,as always, do wear white" Tony Kornheiser
R - REASON TO SMILE: I have an interview next week, and 3 days.
S - SEXIEST FEATURE: Chest Hair (hopefully)
T - TIME YOU WAKE UP: Usually just before 8
U - UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I once got into an argument with my great-grandmother about a Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet that had been left at our house on my 6th birthday
V - VEGETABLE YOU HATE: Onions, the greatest plague to ever hit mankind
W - WORST HABIT(S): Taking criticism much too personally
X - X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD: Teeth, head and neck, shoulder, arm
Y - YUCKY FOOD: French Onion soup, see "V"
Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer

Tu n'es rien d'autre que ta vie

Fun stuff has been going on. I found a place to stay, at least for the month, last weekend. I am staying with an older woman and another boarder in her home, which is near Chevy Chase and Rock Creek Park. The best part is, I am only paying utilities at the end of the month, that's it. This is something I like a lot, believe me.

I wanted to talk about something political as well. The privatization of social security appears to be a dead issue now, one of the few times the Bush has made a significant push for something and not had either the republicans crush all opposition to it, like the war in Iraq, or where the Democratic leadership didn't just go along for the ride, like the tax cuts and No Child Left Behind. For the first time in a while, the Democrats in the Senate and House refused to be bullied, and I have to say I'm very impressed with Harry Reid because of that fact. I watched the State of the Union at the Bayne's, while I was still in Fairfax. Bush spent nearly 20% of his speech on his plan, and yet Americans really seem to hate it, if you believe the polls. I, along, I'd wager, with most of the readership of this blog, are among those for whom this bill is supposed to be popular, the young. But I really hate this idea. I really do. I recognize the logic behind it, but still, the numbers do not add up. Bush has promised no benefit cuts, no tax increases for Social Security, and the creation of accounts. But by decreasing the amount of money going into the system, while increasing (and since people are living longer and Boomers are coming to retirement age we pay more benefits) payouts, only means massive borrowing, which will have to be saddled by my generation anyway. In the country's that have tried it, Chile and Britain, it has failed miserably to protect people's retirement, basically, it seems like a back door way to destroy the most stable leg of the retirement stool (the others being personal savings and investments/pension).

A couple of quick sports notes: With the signings of Pollard and Kennedy, the Lions greatly improved their secondary and tight end position, but now, the draft possibilities seem a lot more interesting. A lot of drafts had the team taking either a safety (Thomas Davis of Georgia or Brodney Pool of Oklahoma) or a tight end (Heath Miller of UVa) with the ten. Now, the Lions will probably take the best player who drops to them. Of those possibilities, I really like the idea of them taking Derrick Johnson of Texas, the linebacker (which would move Teddy Lehman inside) or Alex Barron, the tackle out of Florida State (to replace Stockar McDougal and maybe Jeff Backus' LT spot in a few years). None of the defensive ends (Marcus Spears, David Pollack, or Erasmus James) seem to be sure fire talents, Johnson and Barron do. One other football note, the Cardinals (now probably my second favorite team in the NFC) seem to be destined to take Cedric Benson with the seventh pick, thus taking the running back most likely to be a bust. Often, players who get a lot of carries in college don't have much tire tread left on their knees, and seem to flame out.

Rick Ankiel announced today that he will switch permanently to the outfield. This is interesting to me because I was in the KC, watching Game 1 between the Cardinals and Braves in the 2000 NLDS when Ankiel melted down before our very eyes. He threw five wild pitches in an inning, it was seriously one of the damnedest things I had ever seen. I was getting lunch, because that semester I didn't have ant Tuesday or Thursday classes other than choir, which may have been only 3 days a week then, so I may have had nothing. I watched this can't miss prospect hit the backstop again and again, another victim of what ballplayers call "The Thing", which gripped Chuck Knoblauch and Steve Sax, leaves catchers unable to throw the ball back to the pitcher, and pitchers tossing heaters around incredibly wildly. Still, this was the first time Ankiel had experienced it, and seemingly, despite annual stories the last few years about Ankiel working his way back, Ankiel has decided the "Thing" just might be too powerful a force to combat.

I have decided, firmly, that I will start a new play soon. I had been wanting to get a job and be settled first, and hopefully that will coincide with me starting it. I know I need to get a bit further into the realm of a plot and away from autobiography, though I certainly want to use elements of my life in it. I've had to experience a lot since I last wrote a play, and the life experience has given me plenty of ideas, the key is now to try and put them together.

Still working on finding a job, I was able to send out a lot of resumes yesterday, and plan on going into downtown tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Four Days
The kids in DC have had four straight snow days. It's really sad, because there's basically no snow on the ground, or hasn't been for two or three days. So sad that no one can drive in the snow here.

I just wanted to say one more thing about the Cabaret cast. I really admire the way all of you stayed true to doing the musical the way you wanted to do it, and not conforming to the movie or to the way its done before. That's what real art is, doing it the way you want to do it.

Those of you me know that I don't have a great deal of live for the world of high fashion. I tend to view fashion as something that's silly, as I would rather have clothes be comfortable, I prefer function to form. But I thought Project Runway was incredibly fun to watch. If you didn't see any of it, it was a reality show featuring 12 fashion designers that were competing for 3 spots at a show at Olympus Fashion Week. Each week featured a different challenge, from designing a dress from items at the grocery store to designing new postal service uniforms. All the designers were of course outsized characters, as most fashion designers are, and it made for a lot of good viewing in. I had my favorites, especially Austin Scarlett, who had to be one of the most flamboyant characters ever on TV (His picture on the Project Runway website features him in pearls and women's gloves). But he had a really great story. He was never the biggest man in the world, and knowing he was gay early on, he got teased a lot in high school. After he was eliminated, he talked about how hopeful he was that he might have served as a role model for kids who didn't fit in, the way he didn't. Supposedly, the kids at his high school, as a joke, made him prom king. When he showed up, his date, a woman, was wearing a dress that he had made. That's a fabulous story. Austin also served as a model in a pinch, so you can imagine how small he is because the models were all women with tiny tiny waists.
The clothes were almost universally beautiful, but the fun part was watching them being put together, seeing the work that all the designers had to do themselves. It really showed how much of an art clothing design is and I guess you might say that it changed my mind a bit.

Kit Kat
I first want to congratulate the entire cast of Cabaret. It was an incredible show, perhaps the best at Albion in a long while, which I'm sure you all know. I was amazed by all of the talent, especially those of you who I've seen grow up on stage. Really fabulous work to all of you. I've sent notes to a few cast members, and I also sent a note to Starko this morning, both to congratulate him and to send along a note to the entire cast.

Things have been a bit hectic lately. Last week I found out the water damage in the basement of Ingrid and Michele's is rather extensive, and I may not be able to stay there. I've been sleeping downstairs, but also looking for another, cheaper place. One problem I keep running into is that some of the places I see are not in good areas and so I'd rather wait it out a bit longer. Andy Carroll, no relation to the fabulous Alexander Theodore, has been really helpful in letting me know the areas to avoid as well as making suggestions. I did not get as much done on the job search front as I wanted to last week, as I flew home Thursday and worked the other days. The flight is a story itself. I hadn't flown on a plane since I was five, and we visited my aunt Julie (now Jua) in Vancouver, and also went to the World's Fair. That was in 86. Robert still had blonde, curly hair and I was wearing pictures of animals on my sweatshirts. I didn't remember it particularly well, I just remembered looking out the window and seeing how people looked so small. I left downtown at around 12 and took a ride on the Metro to West Falls Church, where I needed to catch a connecting bus to another station, to finally get to the bus to Dulles. Dulles is in Virginia, and for some reason, its almost like the Metro was built away from Dulles. There are three airports in the area, and only one has a Metro stop, National (I refuse to call it by its other name). The other is BWI. I arrived at the connecting station about 15 seconds too late to pick up the connecting bus, and had to wait an hour for the next one, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. When the bus arrived and dropped us off, I had to call my dad to coach me through the process of getting my boarding pass and checking my luggage. Everything went fine, and the flight was good, despite some nervousness on my part upon take-off.

I can't describe how good it was to see the show and to be in Albion to watch it. To see Andy and Mike finishing their careers, which started with Lear, end so beautifully, to see Karen Green take the role of Sally Bowles as her own, and to see those who I hadn't seen in anything since Company perform so well made me so incredibly proud, not just to have seen these actors and actresses grow-up, but to literally see lines of people going outside the Dow to see the show was incredibly gratifying as a former participant. I also was impressed by a lot of other things too, such as Gretel's incredibly frustrating form of doing responses and her inability to think before she says things.

I also got to see John, which was great because I hadn't seen him since I went to Basically Awesome, and I hadn't talked to him since just after I got here. He seems focused now on finding a job, as well as perfecting his craft, which is good, because you need to pay the bills as well as make art. We, and by we I mean John, Bohne, Chelsea Sadler, and Kopec talked for a really long time after the show, just about the department and a lot of other things. I really missed those kind of talks. I used to have them all the time with Laura and Susan at Porter, or with the two of them, Nick, Andy, Amy, Audrey and Alison over in Burns. Those were really the happiest times I'd had here, and talking like that again was great, though a little bittersweet. With Andy, Bohne and Nick graduating, along with guys like ROb Murdock and Steve Fish, suddenly all that's left of that great young Lear cast will be graduated, and they seemed young when I was in it. Once Karen, Audrey, Stephanie, Stefani, Rachel, Amy Feder and Chelsea Sadler, and all the other juniors graduate next year, my links to the school won't be there physically, which kind of saddens me, as well as giving me a great since of pride to see the men and women they are becoming and have already become.
I also got to see my grandmother Saturday which was great because I hadn't seen her since before I left. She had been in Florida with her sister Norma, and it was good to see her home safe. I got out Sunday morning. My parents woke me up at 4 for my 6 o'clock flight, and I spent most of the rest of the day tired, but it was certainly worth it.
I will blog more about the show(s) tomorrow, both my impressions of Cabaret, and my love for the one show no one probably would ever think I'd like, Project Runway

Hey There, from Chocolate City

Hello everyone. I've now been in Washington for over two weeks, and on the whole its been a lot of fun. Mary's in-laws, the Bayne's have let me stay at their house for the past two weeks, and they really helped me through a lot of the getting here jitters and issues. They really are great people. Right now, I'm at Michele's, who is Mrs. Bayne's sister. I am housesitting until next week, and then I will be staying here with her and her partner, Ingrid.

The last two weeks, looking for a job, have been quite interesting. A couple of days this week I got a bit down, I had what you might call a "crisis of confidence". But Cameo reminded me that it took her a while to find her job, and she had a great many more contacts than I. I have lots of resumes out, both at the Hill, the newspaper, and The Hill, the place. I also have sent out resumes to some think tanks and policy centers. I have also continued sending out resumes to newspapers as well.

Arthur Miller died yesterday. I guess the only thing I can say now is that the last of the three great titans of 20th century American drama is dead. Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill made it all the more difficult for schlubs like me to do anything in their wake, though maybe, just maybe, I'll soon get some inspiration.

I do think I will have something soon, but please keep all of your fingers crossed for me. I'll blog more tomorrow

Hold Up

Ok, so my leaving for Washington is delayed slightly, the place I am staying at isn't ready yet, so I'll be spending at least one more week here, which I will use to put out more resumes. I also IM'ed an old friend, Cameo, one of "my girls" from my class in DC. She's in Washington now, and she's been able to find work there, so I know it can be done.

I have some good news. I finally had a real response to one of my resumes. The Richfield Springs Mercury News, which is a weekly in upstate New York, about 15 minutes from Cooperstown, interviewed me over the phone this morning. The editor seemed impressed, so maybe all those resumes going out will start paying off soon. JournalismJobs.com, which is the web-site I'm using, has an opening in the US Virgin Islands, though maybe that might be too much sun and sand for me.

Other than that, not much to report from here. We had been preparing to leave tomorrow, but that's off now, so I'll just keep working on stuff this week. Good luck to everyone at ACTF and I hope you all got the part in Cabaret you wanted.

I am still Alive (Hooray)

Well, it’s the New Year (thank god). I left Chicago on December 24th, after a very stressful last week at the magazine. We were working on a very big story on "The Great Chicago Families", which made me very appreciative of the fact that America has no landed Aristocracy. Many of the families had confusing lineages, and some of the writers were older and thus less familiar with some of the things the fact checkers need to do their job. For example, web facts simply came from "the Internet" as opposed to specific sites. This was very stressful to deal with, coupled with having to finish up my project and get my things to move out.
That week, I left the Magazine on the 23rd, saying goodbye to as many people as I could. We had had the Christmas party at the Billy Goat the week before, so I got to know people a little better. I did enjoy my time there, though some of it was stressing. The more important thing was that it gave me a lot of experience in a really good setting.
I left Christmas Eve morning, around 10 o'clock. I had stored much of my stuff in the car the night before, and got the last of it in the morning. I said goodbye to my apartment, as both Anthony and Patrick, my roommates, were gone. I headed out on Lake Shore Drive, though before I got on a car got rear ended right next to me, though it was worse for the rear-ender, and as I looked out I said goodbye to the City and to all of the things that had brought me through my 15 months there, my two old buildings, the zoo, the UPS store, The Cheesecake Factory, John's apartment, Tribune Tower, and the UBS building, where OCC is. Still, as the Sears Tower, the Hancock Building and Comiskey Park left my rearview mirror, a significant part was very relieved, because I simply didn't know if I would miss the place at all, or whether I would see it as a very depressing reminder of a time of my life I'd really like have back. Coming up on Indiana and then home made me feel much better, especially with the holidays coming up.
The holidays were enjoyable. I enjoyed our traditional Christmas dinner: filet mignon and crab legs. I also got to see Susan and Adam, along with Laura, for lunch the week after Christmas. I hadn't seen Susan and Adam in forever, and it was incredibly good to see the both of them doing so well and in such good spirits.
I am still doing my time at the studio. The Rose Bowl was great, though I was obviously disappointed. A lot of our callers have been calling for Jim Herrman's (the Defensive Coordinator) head. The defense didn't play well at all, but the offense was great. A lot of Michigan fans, typically, are basically making this out to be the worst loss in Michigan history, which it certainly isn't. It was a great game that Michigan lost by one point, not some huge blowout, like say, the Orange Bowl.

I wanted to let you know that things are going to change for me soon. My Aunt Mary has friends and relatives in DC, and I am headed there for about six weeks to look for work. Obviously, I've always loved DC, and even if I don't get a job in DC, which would be great, it will do something to recharge my batteries after my time in Chicago, which really drained me. I will be updating more often, not that that's difficult. I'll probably be doing some more looking for jobs outside of DC while I'm there, and I've really been tossing around the idea that, once I get set with a job, I would write a play again, just something that I could work on, and see how it goes.

Thanks for being patient everyone, and I hope you all had great holidays.

Appreciation
Unlike last week, I think I've been taking some time this week to appreciate what's been happening for me the last few weeks. I essentially spent the last hour of the Sportsbeat on the air on Friday, which was a really cool experience, because previous to that I'd only been on in short spurts. My parents, of course, thought I did very well, and my uncle, who listens to the station often, called them and told them I did a really good job. I also heard the same from people at the station both right after the show and when I went in for a bit on Saturday. The time at the station has been a really rewarding one for me, and I am sure it will be high atop the list of the things I've done this year, when I compile them, as John did last year.

I also want to post a link so you can read my Marquee stories for Chicago magazine. I didn't write anything this week, as I had more really large projects to work on at work, but the four previous weeks, I have a story, including one on Shakespeare that was the lead on last week's edition. Its been a really fabulous opportunity, both to work at a highly regarded magazine, but also, from a practical sense, to get real clips and give myself more of a shot with potential employers.

I believe Ron Zook's agent owes me commission.

I was surprised, really, by the Kerik withdrawal, because, usually, the GOP is much better at vetting its people than we are. That he would have this skeleton is not surprising, but that it had seemingly not been thought of by anyone who makes decisions regarding Cabinet appointments is scary.

Charlie Weis is a good hire, but not a great one, for Notre Dame. There is some school of thought that says they needed a really big name, and Weis, though highly thought of in NFL circles, is not really that big a name. Now, coaches with NFL experience have seemed to do well in College jobs lately, Pete Carroll especially, but for all of the bluster coming out of this place, you'd think that Rockne had just been resurrected.

Remember, it's not arrogance, it's excellence.

Laughter
When my dad drove me back on Saturday, I moved this weekend and he needed to bring down the van, I was reading a trade paperback I bought a couple of years ago called "The Golden Age". Its about this alternate reality that the superheroes that inhabited the World War II-era of DC Comics were put in. There's a line in it during a conversation between Alan Scott (The Original Green Lantern) and Jonathon Chambers (Johnny Quick) that really stuck with me. Both, in this world, had retired from their super-hero identities and were frustrated with the lack of action in their lives and the new stresses they were encountering in the "civilian" world. Johnny Quick had been a guy who, like nearly all comic book speedsters, basically laughed at life and didn't take anything seriously, that's what happens when you are literally able to run away from problems. The line, which was delivered as exposition, was "Alan looked into Johnny's eyes, and saw how much the laughter's left them." With Karen moving on in her life, which I obviously don't begrudge her, because I want her to be happy, I can't help but think how much the laughter in my eyes, the joy in my life, has gone away in the past nine months, most of which has been my own doing. I talked to Susan on Sunday, and we're trying to see each other when she comes home for Christmas, and that conversation is what got me thinking about this. I wondered whether anyone who hasn't seen me for as long as Susan has would recognize me as the same person.
I'm not the same person, which is the reason I've had such a hard time getting over what happened was not just my being upset about losing Karen, it was because I lost a part of myself as well. And that's only been compounded by my depression, the way I've shut myself off from people and from social situations during the last months. While I am not exactly the most social of people to begin with, the last few months I've been so totally cut off, so obsessed with my own grief that I've lost sight of the rest of my life, that there will be a future for me, even if it isn't with Karen.

It's time for me to get the laughter back.

I'm really disgusted by what Notre Dame did in firing Willingham. Notre Dame is supposed to stand for something, not just be a football factory. Notre Dame is supposed to value its academics, its supposed to be the place that values integrity. And in firing Willingham when they did, and for the reasons they did, they have revealed themselves to be nothing more than a football team with a University attached .

OK, So...
In contrast to the admittedly very heavy and dark tone of my post yesterday, I wanted to write about Ron Turner getting fired, and the way the jobs in the Big Ten should be ranked.
Turner's main problem has been simple, as a guy who came in as an offensive coach, he has not developed a quarterback since Kurt Kittner left, which has really been the downfall of the team over the last two years. That, coupled with the poor performance of the present junior and senior classes in general, led to the firing. As far as successors, many of the local commentators have been talking about getting some pro assistants, as well as smaller school coaches like Jack Bicknell of La. Tech or college assistants like Chuck Long. Let me be the first to offer up a possibility: Ron Zook should be the next head coach at Illinois. Zook made a lot of mistakes at Florida, but if he could do one thing, it was recruit like mad. Recruiting was one of the things Ron Guenther said was the reason Turner was gone. Zook will not have the burden of replacing a legend as he did at Florida. He can get the talent to make the team number one in the state again, because right now it clearly is number two to Northwestern, which is on the brink of going to another bowl game. While this might not be the coach some in the media would think, I believe, if you really examine the needs of the University of Illinois, that Zook may just be the best (reasonable) pick for the Illini.

This gets me to thinking: If by some horrific accident, all the Big Ten Coaches needed to be replaced at once, how would you rank the prestige and quality of the jobs:
1. Michigan. If you didn't think I would say this, you're fooling yourself. They have, clearly, one of the top 5 traditions in football (ND, U of M, Alabama, USC, Oklahoma), the ability to recruit nationally and in every state in the Midwest, the knowledge that the fan and alumni base keeps them on TV every week, and one of the top venues in the nation.

2. Ohio State- Much the same as above, though Ohio State is more centered, recruiting wise, on the state of Ohio, which, lucky for them, produces a ton of talent.

3. Penn State- while I acknowledge their current difficulties, the state is simply to talent rich, the tradition of the school to great and their geography, situated nicely between the eastern and western parts of the state and right in the mid-atlantic region, make it a great job.

4. Wisconsin- When one considers where they were before Alvarez, it almost boggles the mind how good they have gotten. The state isn't as talent rich as the others listed above, but they have the ability to get players- especially on defense and at running back to be good for a long time.

5 (TIE) Purdue and Iowa- the only reason I put these schools together is because their recent success is tied so closely with their current coaches. Both schools have tradition, but are also capable of falling on their face if they make a bad hire, or have a couple of bad recruiting classes.

7. Michigan State- Nick Saban left because he found it too hard to be "little brother". State is the only school in the Big Ten with another "Superpower" program not just in the state, but also in the conference. Its a great job in a lot of ways, there's a lot of talent in the state, and MSU has always recruited FLorida better than Michigan, which seems to focus more on Pennsylvania and California, but there is a ton of politics at State that just aren't involved with the Michigan job.

8. Illinois- Good recruiting base in Chicago, but you lack the tradition to capture the imagination of kids.

9. Minnesota- There's only one reason they are this low. The lack of an on-campus facility. They look minor-league when they have to deal with both the Vikings and Twins getting priority at the HHH.

10- Northwestern- You're the great academic school of the conference (And when you have a conference with Schools like Michigan, Wisconsin and Purdue, that's saying something) and you're the only private one. You are in the center of the Chicago area. These things can sometimes hurt you, but you have some natural advantages.

11. Indiana- You're always second fiddle to basketball, always. Hoosier football has never been a big deal in the state, and with both Notre Dame and Purdue, its difficult for IU to gain a foothold in people's consciousness.

Dread
That's what I've been feeling about seeing this day on the calendar. Now its here. Knowing what I might have been celebrating, it hurts tremendously. I know I should be over this at this point, but its just been hard. Its hard to get over something when you really don't want to, and that's been me for the past nine months. I've been stuck. I've let loneliness creep in so much that at night, sometimes, I feel as if I am suffocating on my own grief. This has been my decision. I haven't gone out at night, I haven't made an effort to put myself out there while I am in the city. Part of the reason is because I don't intend on being here much beyond Christmas, when I will be done with classes and my internship. I won't have any ties to keeping me here, and so I've wanted to minimize the ties I have here. Now I don't really have much beyond the people I work with at the magazine and John, and the people at the magazine will be spreading across the country as well. I know I can make the effort, its just that I feel the need to get into a comfort zone, and right now, the city seems crushing. I feel invisible, and, for the most part, I've done a good job of doing this to myself. Its very difficult, I've been finding, to divest myself from what I hoped would come to pass, and to come to grips with reality. Work has been a distraction, but when I don't bring work home with me, I can get into trouble, and it almost seems that it has been happening more as this day approached. I know I need to get over this, maybe I will soon.

The week has certainly been an eventful one. I thought Stern gave out punishments that fit what went on Friday. Artest, everyone knew, was a ticking time bomb. It was Stephen Jackson who just looke dtotally out of character. He went nuclear on Friday, and this from a person who was not involved in the series last year.

Michigan certainly didn't look good on Saturday, but thankfully, Iowa certainly did.

I want to congratulate everyone involved with Quick Change Room. I enjoyed myself a lot. I also want to thank Bohne, Andy and everyone else in their suite for letting me stay the night on Saturday.

The New Alamo
That's what I was worried Fallujah would turn into, especially in the Muslim world. We seem to have done a good job of avoiding that, as well as the other possibility, Fallujah becoming the Arab Masada. Masada, if you didn't know, was Herod's former palace, which was built into an enormous rock/mesa. The Romans laid siege to it for many months following their capture of Jerusalem in the Jewish Rebellion. The remaining Zealots, as well as the Assassins, were held up there, and when it became clear the Romans would take the city, the population inside committed mass suicide. It became a symbol of holding out at all costs, and strength. The general of the Tenth legion said "We have won. We have won a rock."Maybe we still will get that. That's a very scary possibility.

Thank you State, very very much.

Powell quit today. No one is surprised by this, though I must admit, the selection of Rice to replace him is disappointing to me. She has proven herself to be a largely incompetent NSA and so giving her a promotion does not make much sense, but then, this White House has shown itself capable of a lot of things that do not make sense.

If I am out of step with a country that wants to criminalize abortion and legislate against love, then I 'm glad to be out of step with America.

A paper in Florida put out an article today about how much the city vote in some states overwhelms the rest of the state. It was supposed to be an analysis piece, but unfortunately, it makes things seem as if Democrats in cities overwhelm the wishes of the state, because the city somehow don't count as part of the state.

Arafat is gone. I am torn about this, on the one hand he was the most important figure in the last 50 years of Mideast history, because he was the representative of the Palestinian cause, and ultimately made the world aware of their plight to the point that they had to pay attention. On the other, he was a terrorist who convinced his people that terror was the only way to win their freedom. Its odd when you consider how Arafat and the PLO failed to play well in America, how well the IRA, and Arafat's obvious equivalent Gerry Adams, did. Now, there is an obvious constituency for the IRA to appeal to, but still, both groups were terrorists, but one was viewed favorably, while the other did not. Part of it is that Arafat was so obviously and unabashedly militant, with the fatigues and head scarf, while Adams always appeared in a suit. Funny how things like that change our perception.

Just a thought
One of the reasons so many red states voted so overwhelmingly against gay marriage, and why the people there fear gays so much, is that voters in those states probably do not know anyone, personally, who is out, and therefore humanizing. One of the ways we might be able to alleviate this problem is for gay college students, along with their straight friends, to cross the country during the summer and talk to people in these states. Now, these people would obvioulsy have to be extremely brave, as they would have to risk potential Matthew Sheppard-like events in some states, but that's why we include straight friends, people who surprised people could turn to and see someone who is accepting of this person's sexuality, whiuch doesn't mean something is wrong with either of them. They could also go into African-American communities, since the stigma is that much greater among blacks.

Ohio State= Dirty like a landfill

Other than Donald and Goofy, are there any original Disney Cartoon characters in the same league with Warner Brothers?

Watch out for the Black Dog.

Other Stuff

I, like John, have decided to take a break from the election for a bit, instead, I'll just give you a few thoughts on completely immaterial matters.

1. The Michigan-Michigan St. game Saturday was among the great sporting events I've ever seen. The way Michigan St. carried the play, especially before Stanton got hurt, was very surprising, and the performance of their running back was great as well. Braylon Edwards' performance late, though, was among the best late game performances ever. His long reception broke Michigan out of a slump and set up the field goal to make it a 14 point game. His two consecutive touchdown catches were absolutely astonishing, easily just as good as what Larry Fitzgerald did last year. The overtime's were so incredibly nerve-racking, especially because Michigan Mike Hart, who has to be kicking himself for being born the same year as Adrian Peterson. Braylon's touchdown in the third overtime, not too mention Avant's in the second, were just amazing. I really give a lot of credit to Michigan State, who could have just died in the overtime becasue they blew that lead, but agin they didn't. Now we just need them to get back up in two weeks, and beat Wisconsin, sorry John and Karen.

2. As part of fact-checking an article, I happened upon Shula's Steakhouse's 48oz Club, which, as one might guess, is for people who finish their 48oz steak. One guy I found, a Jeff Pallies, seemingly ate three, that's one more than 2, in one day, and potentially at one sitting. That's 144 oz, 9 pounds of meat.

3. I'm starting to look for jobs, so far my interest has been peaked by jobs all across the country, from Idaho, to D.C, to Vermont, to an AP job in Honolulu.

4. Ok, I lied, one last election related thing. I saw the episode of Seinfeld last night where Susan died from licking the toxic envelopes. The "Jerry" plot of the episode, though, reminded me of the election, and what might happen. Jerry's (Republican America) life gets saved by Janeane Garafolo (Bush), who's character is exactly like Jerry in every way. Jerry is smitten, because he's finally found the one he's always been looking for, himself. Kramer (Democrats and liberal America) is freaked out by this and doesn't like Janeane/Bush. Then, Jerry decides to ask Janeane to marry him (re-election). Then, as their sitting at the coffee shop Janeane orders cereal for the third time that day, Jerry realizes how weird it is and regrets it. In the next episode we see the two of them break up, happily, acknowledging that they hate each other. This works in a lot of ways, except we have to live in Bush's America, and we can't break up after one episode.

Napoleon
I had other thoughts on some of the things I said before. I do not know that we are doing things so badly, we did after all, win 49% of the vote, but obviously something is missing. Slate suggests that we need to start defining issues in moral terms for people, the economy for example. We won when Bill Clinton said he wanted to reward people who worked hard. The President uses small business as code for this. We sort of did this with outsourcing, but we can do it better.

I read Talking Points as well and Josh had a very good point. The very best thing the conservatives do, and have for two generations, is create a religous fervor using outreach from the alternative media and undermining the rest of it, and then using grass roots organizations, think tanks, and others to get their message out, both in their own and in the normal media. We can't just let the machinery of warfare- Americans Coming Together, MoveOn.org, Media Fund, Air America just wither on the vine. We need to start getting behind these things now. We won't be smothered by the conservatives in defeat, we will smother ourselves if not careful, and the machinery we may well need soon will die in its infancy. We must not let that happen. By keeping the machinery we give ourselves a much better chance next time, whoever the candidate is.

BAYH/RICHARDSON '08

What Exactly Happened- Double Dagger

I think myself and probably most of you reading this are in a huge state of depression right now. Obviously, what happened yesterday, given what we wanted to happen, is extremely disappointing, and I'm not just talking about the Senate and House, I half expected that. I just thought that, especially with the early exit polling, combined with the long lines, would mean huge turnout and a Kerry win. I know everyone is disappointed. I am as well. I'm disappointed not in the candidate, I thought Kerry did everything he could, though he made some mistakes. I am disappointed that the youth vote did not turnout in the disproportionate numbers we thought it might, I'm disappointed that turnout itself will not exceed 115 million. If it had gone over that, Kerry probably wins.

I am disappointed for, and in, the country. I think that we had a real opportunity this election to become hopeful again, to choose a fairer and more cooperative path in the world. Instead, we chose fear and intolerance at home and a repudiation of multi-lateralism abroad. Europe and the Middle East have to be shocked at this result. Britain as well. I think they hoped that we would elect the right guy, but we didn't. Hopefully, Bush will try to govern more from the center, but that is a fool's hope. He knows has a larger majority in both houses on Congress, and what he will see as a popular mandate. The Tax cuts for the wealthy will be permanent, as will the shift of the tax burden to the middle class. We may get a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, we may well get a draft, and invasions of Syria, Iran and anywhere else that opposes us. As a nation our willful ignorance of the world will continue. Darfur will only get worse, which we breed more hatred for us in Africa. Barring drastic shifts or unexpectedly brilliant success in Iraq, there will still be chaos there. If I sound pessimistic, its because I am, I'm frustrated that the votes we needed didn't come in, that millions registered and didn't bother to show up. I'm pessimistic about the future of Roe, because with possibly 4 judges leaving the court, 3 of which would be likely backers of Roe (O'Connor and Ginsburg are both not in the best health and Stevens, though healthy, is in his 80's), it would not be surprising to see Republicans use the electoral win to try and overturn it on the bench. Bill Frist used the term "mainstream judges" this morning, and Republicans will try to make that a synonym for destroying the right to choose. I'm pessimistic about losing the promise of stem-cell research, though the initiative in California passed. I'm concerned we will see new laws to discriminate against gays and lesbians across the nation, no matter the stink the Republicans made about Mary Cheney.

Now comes the look at the future. In 2000, we had a very different world and nation, in a lot of ways than we have now. In other ways, it’s the same, bitterly divided nation. Kerry won all but one (maybe two, if Iowa goes to Bush) of Gore's states and picked up New Hampshire. The exit polls showed that Values were the number one deciding factor in Ohio, and were also important in Florida. Its difficult to imagine, barring Americans waking up to find a gay person in each of their households or a sudden and dramatic shift on Abortion, that Democrats will have a hard time winning in 2008 without fielding a candidate who can at least talk about these things. Hillary Clinton, though I love her to death, does not have this ability. She does not possess the ability to communicate with "regular folk" on values. Her husband did. The two men I can think of who do on our side are Evan Bayh of Indiana and Barack Obama. I wouldn't touch John Edwards with a ten-foot pole. He failed to deliver any rural voters, the voters he supposedly was going to get for us, not in droves mind you, but enough to be competitive. Edwards failed this election. Gephardt would have been better, as would Bob Graham. In 2008, Obama will still be just a pup, though he may be a possibility as a Vice-President, Bayh is the man I think should be the standard bearer. He's centrist enough to appeal to Red States, and while we might prefer someone a little closer to our liberal hearts, the rest of us will have to do our best to swallow the pill the DLC will feed us after this election. On the other side, I think of six immediate names, Rudy Giuliani, Jeb, John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, George Pataki and Bill Frist. None, other than maybe McCain are possibilities I like very much, especially, and obviously most of all, Jeb.

We will survive this. We always have. We survived eight years of Reagan and four of Bush 41. We can survive the next 4. We as a party, and the left as a movement can't spend the next two years navel-gazing; we have to decide what went wrong, not think about, but decide what went wrong, and fix it. If we need to be less overtly anti-Bush, so be it, perhaps the sound and fury may have turned off some voters who went the other way. The fight must continue. If we can't win nationally, we need to do the conservatives have done. If you're really pissed and angry, good, you should be, now we have to use that to do more than write placards and march, we need to build a giant grass roots effort, dress rehearsal in 2006, with the show in 2008. Channeling the anger is better than simply being angry and then dropping out of the system.

It won't be fun, but we have to do our best to survive the next four years.

GOTV
Today has been pretty maddening. I was sick with the flu the last two days, and therefore haven't seen a thing on the web or anything since I left home. Obviously, right now, things look like we might be experiencing the heaviest turnout in decades, which is gfreat, no matter who wins.
Still, I , along with most of the people I know, want Kerry to win. The early exit polls, especially in the states like Pennsylvania and Florida have looked good, but I am still nervous. Obviously, I think everyone is. Last night, before going to bed, I saw a short segment on Chicago Tonight, which WTTW puts on every weekday. It featured two panelists of three who were likely to be sympathetic to the GOP cause, and both had iffy feelings. One said that in watching the presidebt speake in New Mexico, that he seemed to see a man who had been given bad news. The other, an editor at the Trib, said that soemone had called him, a friend who worked with Karl Rove, and asked him if he could see any scenarios in which Bush won without winning Florida or Ohio. To be frank, I can't. To offset that, Bush would have to take Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan, and I don't think that is likely to happen.

Still watching different websites has not been good for my psyche. Looking at Salon and Talking Points, I see good news for the President, but when I look at the Corner, which is the blog at the National Review, I see only bad signs, though I suppose that is to be expected.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this turnout possible, you did God's work. Now we just have to hope it goes our way.

The Rock

Wonderful time being had across New England right now. Sysiphus has put the rock at the top of the hill, Tantalus has gotten something to drink. The Red Sox have won. While I admit the series itself was a bit anti-climactic following the Yankee series. 86 years of ghosts and frustrations will take it any way they can get it. If this is a vindication of anyone, its Bill James, because this team, more than any other with the exception of the A's, was put together with Sabermetrics in mind. Guys like Kevin Millar and David Ortiz were cheap, but Boston knew that if they wanted to put together the Sabermetrically perfect team, those would be two guys who could make it happen.

Now everyone's full attention has to turn to another sporting event, well two. One, we all have to root hard for the Packers on Sunday, even though I know a couple people who read this may be doing so anyway. I say this because everytime the Redskins have lost a game before an election, and this goes back almost 70 years, the incumbent party loses. (It also should be pointed out that the last two times the Red Sox won a World Series in an election year, the Democrat won, but the Democrat was Woodrow Wilson). The other is of course, the final race to the pole in the presidential race. Given the topic of discussion this week, and the reporting done by a Minneapolis TV station that you may see being nationally broadcast today, the reports from Iraq and about the missing explosives do not bode well for Bush. This puts him on the defensive in the last week, which I am sure is something he and Karl Rove didn't want to be doing. Meanwhile Kerry's appearing in front of one of the largest crowds in the history of the state of Wisconsin with Bruce Springsteen, just outside Miss Laura Kraly's back window. In addition, you have Rudy Giuliani going off script and, while appearing on behalf of the President, saying “No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?” Bush has spent the last 18 hours saying that Kerry was questioning the Troops, which he wasn't, and then his own surrogate goes on the Today show and actually does blame the troops.
Its going to be a fun, and nerve racking, 5 days.

The Nation
As I watched Game 6 last week, I may have officially become part of Red Sox Nation when I was at the Zone in the ninth inning. The classic shot of Red Sox fans, especially in games 4 and five last week, was of course those people watching the game thru their fingers. That was largely me on Tuesday. During the eighth and ninth I had taken a composite NBA schedule that was available their and nearly wore the ink off by rubbing it together in nervous anticipation. I was awed by what Schilling did, and what he did on Sunday as well. The man obviously has a huge pain threshold and frankly, may be one of the great teammates ever.

I am obviously rooting for the Red Sox, so this weekends two games were great. They do need to get better defensively, obviously, but that will be difficult when they ahve to put Ortiz at first. Manny literally falling all over himself in left certainly doesn't help.

As far as the Yankees are concerned, they just completed what has to be considered one of the freat failures in team sports history. It's not just that they lost 4 straight. They lost 4 straight when it mattered most, and when victory was literally withing the Hammer of God's grasp in the Ninth inning of game 4. My guess is they will go after Beltran, which won't help anything. This is a time when George is letting his ego get the best of him, and is not really looking at the makeup of his team. This team's offense was great, or atleast it was until game 4, but what it needs more than anything is a left handed starter and a reliable left handed reliever.

Horse race stuff is interesting: The Gallup poll was at something like 9 points for Bush last week, and now its at 5. The Washington Post tracking poll now gives Kerry a slight edge. From state to state though, things are not as encouraging. The Zogby polls showed Bush gains in a lot of battlegrounds, which there is not much time to reverse. Still, the story about the munitions dump, coupled with the gaffe from the Hannity interview may hurt Bush yet

Wow

I didn't get a ton of sleep yesterday. I stayed up to watch the whole Red Sox- Yankee game, plus in the morning, a car parked near my apartment was having "alarm trouble", meaning it was going off for about thirty seconds for every minute. That pretty much sucked, I have to say.One word about the series. I don't blame Terry Francone. Schilling's ankle was far worse than they obviously expected. The relief pitching all simutaneously melting down in game three is not his fault either. The one move I really fault him for is staying with Mark Bellhorn for so long. I realize that Pokey is not exactly Ryne Sandberg at the plate at second, but he's far closer to Bill Mazeroski defensively, certainly more than Bellhorn. At least two plays last night would almost certainly have been made by Reese, plus a few that were not even attempted at the Stadium. Bellhorn has not produced offensively, so why not improve the defense? Of course, if Bellhorn gets a big hit tonight, I will be the first to agree that I am a moron.

If the Yankees are Pedro's daddy, does that make Bill Mueller Mariano Rivera's?

Rmember, before any potentially Democratic voters get despondent, particularly with the Gallup poll, remember that Gallup showed Bush with a 13% lead last time, on Oct. 26.Now, Gore did not exactly run a terrible campaign, but he didn't run one good enough to make up a 13 point gap in a week and a half either. Besides, if by the weekend the tracking polls show movement to Kerry, then will all the pundits say the race is Kerry's?

I agree with a lot of what John said about the Packers, though they certainly didn't seem to need anything yesterday as the crushed the Lions. I agree that Slowik needs to go. The defense is a gimmick, and gimmicks typically don't work for very long. Right now they are either blitzing everyone or blitzing no one, putting everybody in coverage. There has to be a happy medium. THe secondary is obvoiusly the issue. Darren Sharper has looked like he's been playing in sand so far this year, and the corners are young and need the safety help, and he's not providing it. I would say that they need to invest their next first round pick in either a defensive end, possibly David Pollack or Marcus Spears, or perhaps someone bigger like Dan Cody. Put Kampman and KGB on one side, becasue Kampman is much better against the run, and get KGB going on third down. If none of those ends are available, or they don't want to reach, I would take a safety, and moe Sharper to strong. Keep Bubba Franks. Take the heir to Favre in the Second round, someone like Dan Orlovsky of UConn, Kyle Orton of Purdue, David Greene of Georgia or Alex Smith of Utah. The big names like Andrew Walter, and potentially Leinart and Rogers will be gone already anyway. They also should look at drafting another corner, or adding Depth at DT and along the O-line.

The Lions need to add another defensive end opposite James Hall, since it has become obvious that Kalimba Edwards is not going to be a big time player. They also may need a safety badly, because both their safety's are old and slow. Shazor would look good, but if they end up drafting really low in the first round, I would hope they would take David Baas out of Michigan to play Left Guard.

The Grand Slam

I felt, watching the debate last night, that John Kerry beat President Bush. Granted, I myself am not an objective viewer, but I found Kerry to be both incredibly human, in talking about his mother and in talking about his faith, while simultaneously having a significantly greater grasp of the nuts and bolts of the domestic issues than the President. In listening to the reactions of the people at MSNBC, which have genearally been to the right of everyone else, meaning they went hard saying Cheney won last week and some said Bush won on Friday, and I got the impression that they felt it was a draw, which I think goes for Kerry. He had the momentum, and I think showed very interesting parts of himself. Bush was persona #3, the frat boy with faith, the one Al Gore faced in 2000, not the smirking monkey of #1 or Yosemite Sam we saw in #2. A couple of thoughts on other things:

I've really been surprised by the indignation with which Republicans have gone after Kerry for bringing up Mary Cheney during the question about Homosexuality as a choice. John Kerry did not "out" Mary Cheney. Mary Cheney was onstage at Case Western Reserve last week with her partner, people who follow this race know she is gay. I think Kerry was simply using her as a real life example, especially of someone who might be conflicted because of a conservative upbringing. Check out Andrew Sullivan, a gay man himself, for his thoughts on the subject.

Josh Marshall, as well as David Frum of Washington Monthly, pointed out something very interesting about the Osama Bin Laden quote the President used in 2002 and denied saying last night. Its not that he either lied or forgot that is interesting, instead its the emphasis on the fact that since the Taliban was gone, there was no reason to worry about Bin Laden. In IR at Albion, we learned all about the differences between state and non-state actors. Republicans like Bush, and perhaps the Neo-Cons in the Pentagon and at State seem to believe that states, and only states matter. NSA's- Non-State Actors don't. Bin Laden, without the support of the Taliban, was no longer important, Bush seems to have been thinking. Well, its very possible Al-Qaeda was responsible for the bombing in the Sinai last weekend, that they were responsible for Madrid, and may or may not be plotting something here. Obviously, NSAs do matter. The insurgency in Iraq, whether being carried out by Baath loyalists, foriegn terrorists or simple home-grown guerillas, is proof the NSAs matter. The first question last night was whether our children (meaning people of my generation) and our grandchildren will be safer in the future. The only real way to do that, in my estiamtion, is to acknowledge that the era of states as the only actors in the world are over. This also does explain why Iraq became the focus of the administration so quickly. They needed a state to go after, and Iraq seemed the logical choice. So what if we're engaged in a war against religous extremists, let's attack a secular Muslim state, while the Mullahs brutally rule over Iran, and Saudi royal money flows into Wahabbist schools? The Iraqi's just made an easy target because Saddam had been so arrogantly flaunting the world for a decade.

Fun stuff. Anyone in the Ann Arbor area, stop by Scorekeepers at 310 W. MAynard, across from Borders, tomorrow for the radio show. I actually hit my lock last week, bringing my record to a scintillating 1-5.

Tonight

Ok, so I haven't posted in a week, and I'm sorry, various computer problems kept me from updating Monday and Saturday, so here I am today.

Tonight is the last great event of the campaign, or at least, scheduled event in the campaign. Looking at various tracking polls, especially Slate's election scorecard, this is getting extremely tight as we come down to the wire. The Slate site had neither candidate winning enough for Election, Bush at 270 and Kerry at 268. Ohio and Wisconsin were put in the Kerry column. Still, right now this is all sound and fury. If Kerry wins tonight, decisively or not, he probably wins the election, especially since all the talk over Thursday and Friday, and then going into Sunday morning, will be about how he's won every debate and has massive momentum. That the momentum thing is true is obvious, Bush's rather sizable lead of a few weeks ago has evaporated in nearly every poll. Bush needs a decisive win tonight in order to give himself the appearance of a momentum shift, but because of the moderator format, I don't know that he can get it, short of an enormous Kerry gaffe with no such gaffe on his own part. Both debates last week seem to have crystallized in people's minds as either, a draw in the case of the Veeps, or a slight Kerry win, if you believe the polls now coming in from Gallup and other organizations.

What I find curious right now is who both campaigns seem to be targeting. Bush is rallying the base right now, which may or may not be a sound strategy at this point. By all indications, turnout is going to be very heavy, which traditionally favors Democrats, perhaps the President wants to see if he can't change that paradigm. Kerry seems to be focusing his messages squarely to the undecided voters, hoping to get them in his column now, as opposed to remaining undecided, obviously. It seems that he's been doing a good job of that the last two weeks, so he perhaps should keep it up. I don't know that playing to his own base is really needed at this point either, they seem incredibly motivated.

I think the Red Sox win tonight, thanks primarily to the little man Pedro has now.

I know John will think I'm wrong, but I think the key to stopping the slide of the Packers might come this off-season. The Board of Directors needs to go to Mike Sherman and say "You either relinquish the GM job, or you're fired". With the McKenzie fiasco, the inability to find a competent backup QB, and the rather abymal drafts of the post-Wolf era (save Nick Barnett and Javon Walker), Mike Sherman the GM has failed Mike Sherman- Head Coach immensely. I would use the second rounder thay got from the Saint's for a QB, since, unless Leinart or Rogers come out, there arren't likely to be a lot of QB's in the first. Either that, or sign Drew Brees.

Anticipation
Ok, so I can't tell you what I think about what will happen tonight. I have read a lot of articles suggesting that this format does not fit Edwards style, and I agree with that. The question, though is will it matter. Dick Cheney is the Administration. He is the living embodiment of all this administration is. Extraordinarily partisan and secretive, ruthless beyond anything we've seen from President's not from Whittier College. I don't know if Cheney is the real puppet master or not. I think we on the left underestimate just how smart and how involved Bush really is. Still, Cheney is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most powerful Vice-President in the modern era, and probably ever. Edwards is going into this battle with six years of experience in Government. He is on the short end of the gravitas stick here. But still, I feel that his skills as an orator are such that he can cut into Bush/Cheney, and make the appeal that way, by talking about Haliburton, by bringing up Valerie Plame, and then Haliburton again. It will be exciting to watch.

The playoffs have opened and it is good. I expect both of the teams that won today to be victorious in their series. I am very interested in the way the Twins compete tonight, a lot of people have picked them in this series, despite a lack of success against the Yankees. If Santana is lights out tonight, wow, good stuff.

Kakistocracy
The Vice Presidential debate comes tomorrow. A lot of people remarked, in the days following Edwards' nomination, how interesting a contrast would come in the debate, with Dick Cheney, the dour CEO, against Edwards, the sunny trial lawyer. The important reason the debate will be interesting is the contrast in the jobs of the two men. CEOs and Trial lawyers live in different worlds, and when they collide, you often see extremely interesting debates and conversations. I would expect the same tomorrow. Cheney is incredibly well versed, and his demeanor, well his demeanor is one that conveys seriousness all the time. Edwards is almost Clintonian in his ability to connect with the common man. That's why the Republicans did not want a town hall debate here. Instead, we again have a sit down format, as we did last time.

The polls, predictably, have narrowed a great deal. The shocking shift, is of course, the Newsweek poll, which showed an 11 point Bush lead after the Republican convention, and a 2 point Kerry lead now. While not all that is a result of the debate, a lot of it is simple attrition in the last month. Still its obvious the debate has changed a lot of people's mines about John Kerry. The trick is now to at least get a draw in the next two debates, enough so that momentum does not shift back to the President. After today, there are 29 days til the election. One debate Friday, plus another the following Thursday, and then the final furlong, to use a horse racing term. Its getting into nitty-gritty time. Everyone needs to do what they can, especially in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa, to get Kerry elected. At this point, its difficult to see a landslide for anyone, this is where the ground game becomes important.

Style Points...Going Old School
I really want to blog on two things tonight. First is obvious, the debate, second, well, that really doesn't matter in the larger scheme of things, but I think its interesting.

I listened to the whole debate. I came home from Chicago, and at about 7 eastern time, after I had grabbed dinner, I started listening to Hardball on MSNBC on my radio. Most everyone agreed that Kerry had to win , or at least be good enough to slow Bush's momentum. Most everyone seemed to agree that it had to be Kerry's night, or else it was basically over.

As the debate came on at nine I really wanted to listen for the way each person was speaking, to see how much substance they were conveying. One person on MSNBC said before the debate that he felt that Kerry needed to avoid speaking in long drawn out paragraphs and be more down to earth. I don't know that he did that, but then, I don't believe he really needed to do that. I felt, especially early on, as Kerry was speaking in these very articulate and obviously knowledgeable statements, that he was hitting on major points that connected with people. He knew what he was talking about on every issue, and it showed. The president, early on, and this continued throughout, kept fumbling for words, or worse, taking empty pauses that he was unable to occupy with a facial expression that could win him support (I should mention that I've been watching a lot of the post-debate stuff on all the networks, yes, including a little bit on FOX News when nothing else its on, or the other 2 cable networks are just putting on spin people. I thought that the analysis afterwards was right on. Kerry did win. He did not deliver a knockout, but then he didn't have to, he just needed to close the gap effectively, and I think that we'll see in the next few days, as all the Sunday shows put out there new polls, that the gap between Kerry and Bush will tighten, perhaps significantly.
A couple more points on the debate; Kerry looked far more Presidential than Bush did. Its amazing what happens when that seal is gone. Kerry was ram-rod straight throughout, Bush slouched. Bush looked annoyed, pensive or simply like he didn't want to be there in a lot of the shots I saw. Kerry didn't have any obvious Al Gore type of moments, where he was sighing during Bush's responses. He made notes, he smiled, he looked as if he was enjoying himself, but also as if he knew he was, at least for tonight, the better man. The radio test, which is, minus the cameras, I felt that Kerry won purely on substance, and on style. He was far more articulate, and far more substantive than Bush, especially towards the end. Someone on the post-show on MSNBC said that he felt like Bush had come with 35 minutes of material for a 90 minute debate, which I felt was accurate. I think that tonight, providing that Kerry has another really good showing next Friday in the second debate, served notice to the American people that John Kerry is someone capable of leading the war, and that he is worthy of the office. (By the way, The Daily Show grabbed this, but did anyone notice when Bush referred the Al-Qaida as 'a group of folks' . I think they might go beyond that.

The second thing has to do with getting baseball back in DC. I think its great. Major League Baseball's sad and shameful ownership of the Expos will be over soon, as will the fact that DC hasn't had a team in 33 years. Two points about this, a lot of folks, especially the Northern Virginia people keep saying that Washington lost baseball twice. That's not quite accurate. Both times the Senators left, in 1960 for Minnesota, and in 1971 for Arlington, TX, the owners simply got a ton of money to get them there, it wasn't that attendance was bad or anything. Second, they're doing a great thing by putting the new stadium in the Southeast part of the city, which really is the worst part of town. It should push economic development and be a big boost for the area. RFK is within a short Metro ride from downtown, and a really good temporary stadium, too. As for the name, I really like the idea of Mayor Williams' of calling the team the Grays, after the team from Washington that one 9 Negro League titles. The other names I like, as I heard them on PTI today, are the Generals and the Nationals, Federals works the same way. I think maybe they should leave the Senators in the past, besides, they want to make a point that they have no Senators, no voting power in Congress. I have my own suggestion, the Washington Power, that way, members of the team would be "Power players".

That is lame.

Happy Birthday Robert, and also, happy birthday, belatedly, to Karen.

Big Bads
I talked with Coach Hanlon on Friday about the difference between good and bad Michigan fans, suffice to say, I've never seen him as mad as when I even brought up the subject. This certainly makes life easier for me when I write my story for Dave coming up. I have my own thoughts as, well but I'll save those for later. On a weird note, we lost the transmitter right after I got to the studio, and we literally did an hour at Scorekeeper's while we weren't transmitting very well, just for the people at the bar.
We got maybe 6 calls after a big Michigan win on Saturday, very disappointing.
It was my grandmother'sbirthday Saturday, I hadn't seen her in a while. it seems that she's doing ok, but obviously there is a big hole there, one that will always be there. My parents and the rest of my family have done a wonderful job of doing what is best for her and keeping things relatively normal.
I am really looking forward to the debate this week. Both parties have been practicing teh bigotry of lowered expectations in the last week. This race is not over, it really isn't. This week, becasue it is the first debate, and becasue it will focus on foreign policy, which is the heart of this campaign, it is John Kerry's opportunity to close the rapidly decreasing gap with the president. Remember, there is no presidential seal on that platform Thursday, Kerry gets even with Bush on that fact alone. We have two men who have never lost a one-on-one debate. I think Kerry will win, but the 'wingers will spin it that since Bush spun to thoughts together, he held his own. Kerry doesn't need to crush Bush, he just needs to start pulling even. Remember, there are two significant political truths to remember: 1- In races involving an incumbent, late undecideds almost always break to the challenger, 2- Kerry is traditionally a great "Closer" to speak in horse racing terms.
To John- My friend, I realize these aren't great times right now, and I know that you're frustrated with nearly everything in your life. Just remember, there's a lot of people in this world who love you, who can give, and want to give you the support you need. Whatever you want me to do, I can do my friend.

M

Ok, so it has been a while, but not for lack of things happening. Last Saturday we got a lot of rather odd calls, given the rather odd game Michigan played. These games seem to happen to Michigan a lot, especially after losses, they struggle, but find a way to win, you know they will, but you can't help but be nervous.

On Sunday, Robert and I set off early, as we had to pick up Meghan and then make our way back to Chicago. We had a bad patch of traffic on our way out to Indiana, and then I had to take Robert back to school, which adds like 40 minutes to the total trip. Meghan and I made it back fine, I dropped her off, and then went back to my place.

Monday was my very, very long orientation at the Trib. I was there, literally all day, when really, just an hour or 45 minutes with an HR Person would have done it. It really got tedious. I then had class, and hopefully I'll be starting to do a couple of articles at the Torch soon.

Tuesday and Wednesday sort of blend together at work, because I was assigned a really big task right away. I had to verify the numbers on this enormous chart the magazine is running, and physically adding everything together took time. My fellow interns seem nice. One looks a lot like Jean. My dad came out Tuesday night, as he had to supervise the deconstruction of his companies booth at the Tool Show. We had Mexican, which was really good, but not quite Lopez good. I am trying to eat a bit healthier, so my lunches at work are changing. At OCC, I basically just ate fast food everyday. At the Trib, I am trying those Naked Food Juices. I liked the first two I had this week, plus, it cuts down on how much I pay for lunch.

Today I left work early, becasue they didn't have a ton for me to do. I had to track down a couple of books at the Harold Washington Library, one I couldn't find, the other, I couldn't check out. On the way home, my car had some problems, though I think some of that has to do with the amount of traffic there was as I left Chicago. I may take it down to the repair shop my Dad uses. If they think it might be serious, well, things might need to change.

All in all, its been a very hectic and interesting week. I like where I work, and they days seem to fly by. Still, I feel a bit disconnected from the city. I haven't talked to John in forever, and class just seems off. Maybe part of me stays in Ann Arbor every week, while still another part is looking for what is to come ahead, after I finish in December. I hope it works out, obviously.

Equivalency

Today was mainly me doing two things- checking in as to how much my ticket would cost, and then going to work at the station. My ticket will cost me 175 bucks, but thankfully I was able to give myself an extension on it until next month. Money is tight right now, especially because I just had to pay for my registration, which was $126. I just need to pay rent for the one month though, and then I'll be fine, especially once my refund comes from Roosevelt.
My thoughts have slowly been turning towards what I wasn't to do, or more accurately, where I want to go after I finish in December. Its not really all that silly, considering that I really should be starting to put together resumes and a portfolio for people. My mom told me that my Uncle Rob knows someone at the Los Angeles Times, which I think would be a lot of fun. Obviously there would be a great change of scenery, but I actually have more friends in LA (Susan, Colleen, Alex, Adam) than in Chicago (John). Besides, it might be fun to do something different. Besides, what I really want to do is be in DC again, because that's where I feel I am most at home intellectually and spiritually right now. Maybe that will change, maybe I'll enjoy my time at Chicago Magazine enough that I will want to stay. Maybe I'll want to work here at home, either in print or radio. We'll see. But right now I have options, and for the first time in forever, I am actually feeling a little bit happy about it.

I've decided what I need to do about something else too...

Better By You, Better Than Me
Ok, here's the quick rundown of the last few days.

Thursday- Last Day at OCC. Not really a tearful goodbye, but I was glad for the experience of working there, and obviously, for the money and steady job it provided. I got out of work at 1, went down for my drug screening, and then headed home. I stopped in Albion along the way to see who I could see. I ended up making a night of it. I stayed for the rehearsal of The Country Wife, featuring Andy Groggel, Michael Joseph Bohne, Audrey Coleman, and Karen Green, with Stephanie Mann as SM and Chelsea Sadler as ASM. Bohne then invited me to attend Euphonics rehearsal. Suffice to say, I was very proud of the way they sounded. Obviously, all the work that the founding members put in, especially those night in the first semester when we worked on Crazy Love for two months are being paid back ten-fold.

Friday- Went out to the bar again. I met Andy Mignery, who is married to Anna Fisher, who I went to High School with, see my reunion post. The turnout at the bar wasn't that great. I got eviscerated in NCAA 2005 by a guy named Archie, who came last week too. After the show I went out to Albion, where I got to hang out with some of the people who still knew me, plus I was able to see my nephew for the first time in months.

Saturday- Ok, so this is where the bad stuff happens. As I leave for the studio, I get pulled over by the Sherriff's. My registration expired, and I haven't fixed that yet, so I got pulled over and ticketed. I got to the studio right after Notre Dame's first touchdown, and the same nervous feeling came over me as it did when I watched the Oregon and Iowa games at Karen's last fall. Turned out I was right to have that feeling. We started getting calls in the 4th quarter from people saying Lloyd should be fired, and that he was too conservative. The last part was probably true, but the first part, well, that's for idiots. During the post-game manned the phones, which was akin to manning a suicide hotline. While the network post-game show was on, and then when our own show came on, we got a ton of calls form people who, when they couldn't put their frustrations on the air, aired them to me. I tried to be call, but probably just ended up being condescending, but then, I learned a long time ago not to get upset over things I can't control, obviously some people didn't get the memo.

Sunday- My parents met me in Jackson, as they were returning from Chicago where the tool show was. Also, thank you to them for putting my apartment together. We ate and then they sent me off. I left just in time to hear the Lions game, and basically heard the whole thing, minus the last 2 minutes, on the radio, either the Lions Network, or the Bears' one. I was surprised the Lions won, in that nearly everything they did to beat the Bears, forcing turnovers, blocking the kick, usually happens, to them. I have really been surprised by, and sort of angered with, the treatment of David Terrell by the media the last few days. People are dwelling on the taunting penalty he got in the 3rd, and then forgetting that he caught 5 balls for 126 yards. He was the Bears only real receiving threat most of the game. I think that maybe they all want to perpetuate the idea that he's an underachiever, to the point they are actually downplaying him playing so well.

Monday- Not much today, I went to class, which was ok, and then came home. To day I;m going to go to the Marlins-Expos game at the Cell, seats are general Admission for $15, I'm trying to decide whether to sit behind home plate, or try to get a bleacher seat, thus giving me a better opportunity to catch a home run. The Lions just lost Rogers for the year, but because of Roy Williams and Tai Streets, should still be ok. I was really impressed by the Packers last night, but not really surprised by the way they won. Their line is one of the two best in football, along with Kansas City, and they handled the Panthers D-Line well. I'm not so sure how the defensive strategy of blitzing all the time will work in the long run. I don't know that without Mike McKenzie, they have the corners necessary to shut-down big plays.

I will blog about the last few days tomorrow, just take this as me telling you I'm still alive.

Hitting the Fan
Tonight is the interview with Ben Barnes, former Texas Lt. Governor, that I told you about last week. His interview with Dan Rather will be part of a larger package about George Bush's National Guard Service that runs on 60 Minutes. We also had the release of additional documents yesterday, saying that Bush did indeed have a large gap in service, and that he missed a medical exam he needed to keep his Pilot's certification. He said in 2000 that this was because the plane he flew was obsolete, but the plane's continued in operation for more than a year. The Boston Globe details that Bush reneged on Commitments to continue with Gaurd training, but was not punished for it, on two occasions. He also said that he would join a unit in Massachuesetts that he never joined.

The Kitty Kelly profle of the Bush family comes out in a couple of weeks, too. She alleges that while his father was president, W did Blow at Camp David. I don't know if this is true, though presumably, Ms. Kelly has enough evedence that she could win a lible case.

I'll be watching tonight. I have to get my drug screening tomorrow after work, then I'll be on my way home. I am planning on stopping in Albion on the way back, figuring I'll be just in time for people to be at the Theatre, so I'll stop by and he who I see.

Fighting
I haven't received my things from the Tribune yet, they sent me forms via email today, and they said they are sending me form so I could get a necessary drug test.

I am a bit torn as to what to do for an important thing coming up, I know I want to do something though.

I talked to Susan on Sunday, it was really good to talk to her, as we haven't been able to connect with each other for a really long time. Its good to know that she and Laura are doing so well in the Theatre work. Its also good to know that Colleen is doing well and that Adam, despite a setback, is going to be fine.

Kerry seems to be fighting back, which is good. I read a Newsweek article online that lacked about the tension in the campaign recently, because Mary Beth Cahill, his campaign manager, made a big mistake regarding the Swift Boat Vets, thinking it would blow over and the Kerry needn't concern himself with it. This, combined with a lot of other things, contributed to a bad August. Now the question is, can Kerry, a man who's best when his back is against the wall, and is among the finest closers in politics, get momentum back before and after the debates? He is a skilled debater, and Bush is unlike anyone he's faced. The Republicans won't be able to do what they did last time, which was lower the expectations so much that if Bush forms a complete sentence it's a great accomplishment. He's the President, he has to show a grip on policy.

Zig-Zag
The above refers to "Democrat" Zell Miller and the vitriolic and demagogic speech he gave last Wednesday. Zell has a propensity for switching positions and if you read Joe Conason in Salon, which is linked to the right, you'll find he also has a refined ability to stab his allies in the back. This was Zell Twelve years ago, the man who introduced Bill Clinton before his nomination. Zell is a lot of things. He was a segregationist. What he is now is the last of a breed. He's the last Dixiecrat, about the only one who has stayed in the party after most, Trent Lott, Phil Gramm, Fred Thompson left the party, or died like Strom Thurmond and George Wallace. Zell says the Democratic party has left him and the values he represents. I say, good for the Democratic party. By the way, when Zell got appointed to the Senate, he called a John Kerry "a true American hero".

The Republicans are what they are, incredibly disingenuous and hypocritical. They tell us that John Kerry attacks George Bush at every opportunity. Yet George Bush's name was barely mentioned at the Democratic convention. Republicans went after John Kerry's patriotism at their convention and all but said that he'd be the greatest disaster in the history of the nation if elected. Meanwhile, record deficits, huge increases in the cost of health care and the loss of over a million jobs, with far less paying ones substituted in their place, the Bush record, doesn't get talked about. Republicans are the first to charge the Democrats with playing class warfare, but no one stirs up more resentment and ill feeling on class than Republicans, and in a far more insidious way. They turn people against the defenseless, the poor. I don't think anyone would argue, other than the really radical left, the people who call veterans "baby killers", who don't represent 99.9% of liberals, would say that the War in Afghanistan was unjustified, and that its good Saddam is gone. I disagreed with the Iraq war, but when I met a veteran at my class reunion I thanked him, because Lord knows I wouldn't go. That being said, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, we are, at best, struggling to win the peace. I believe John Kerry would do a better job than what has been done, and I think that his time in Vietnam, however brief it was, makes him, by definition better able to understand what happens in combat than men who have never heard a shot fired in anger.

The last Two days have been pretty interesting. I went down to TKA on Friday at around 1. Me, Dennis and Mike went out for the remote broadcast at Scorekeepers, which was the same bar I went two a week and a half earlier with my reunion. I basically just hung up banners for the radio station. I didn't really do much else. But I did get to meet more people from the station, as well as meet some of the callers/listeners who came out. Next week, if I go back on the remote, should be a lot more crowded, because it will be Notre Dame week, as opposed to Miami of Ohio.

Yesterday, I went down to the studio at halftime of the Michigan game, to prepare for the post game show. I must say, listening to the product of the post game show, as I had for a really long time, and actually seeing it done, the amount of effort by so many people is absolutely amazing. Me and three other people worked to get callers and stats, put together the highlight show, and to edit and put together press conference tape. I should say, in fairness that I had the easiest job, answering phones and getting stats. The other people have been there a lot longer than I have and do a great job.

I have to say that last night, along with Thursday, have really made me appreciate the importance of quality kickers in football. Northwestern lost in 2 overtimes because their kicker went 1 for 6 on Field Goals. At the Albion game yesterday, Butler's kicker missed 2 extra points and a chip-shot field goal. And last night, Oregon State was denied an upset of LSU because their kicker missed three extra points. It was painful to watch his reaction because I know that he had to feel so guilty about losing his team the game.

As far as the Michigan game is concerned, the defense looked tremendous. If I had my way, and assuming that his injury was real and not just some creation of Lloyd's to fool Miami, Matt Guttierez should start next week at Notre Dame. I just have this weird feeling that we are seeing Brady vs. Henson again, as people don't seem to count time within the program as experience and just want to see the Golden Boy with the Golden Arm. I would advise those people to remember how wrong they were before. There was no way then, and no way now, that Henson was the better QB, despite the accolades.

I know there are Notre Dame fans who read this blog, and suffice it to say, I don't know that next week is going to be very pretty. I don't mean that to be mean, there just looks to be, after watching Michigan and Notre Dame yesterday, a real difference in the physical talent level of the two teams. Notre Dame will play very hard next week, as they always do. They could summon enough to beat Michigan. But it also wouldn't surprise me if it got real ugly, real quick.

Timing
Today, thankfully, has been a bit of a break from the stresses of the last few days. I haven't done a ton, I had a project earlier in the day for work but I finished it in about 45 minutes, so since then I've been doing nothing. Which is fine by me. I decided I'm going to go out to the Sprint Store tonight and then just look for a parking space, rather than waiting tomorrow and then going home. I need to write a pitch for my Journalism Project for Tomorrow.

I haven't kept as close a tabs on the Republican convention as I did the Dems. Part of this is stress and part of it is that nominating conventions of incumbents are incredibly boring, even more than those of challengers. I did, however, see a bit of the twins' "speech" last night. The speech that one site, probably only half-jokingly, said might have lost the Republicans the election. They came off as arrogant WASPS and spoiled rich girls with absolutely no direction and no desire to find it. And by the way, anyone who says they're hot is an idiot. They're not. Jenna looks like a female version of her father, which is just bad to think about. Barbara looks exactly like 10-15 girls currently at any high school in America. Chelsea they certainly are not, and they certainly don't seem to have the same head on their shoulders as Alexandra and Vanessa. By the way, I saw that they were booed at the VMA's Sunday. I know part of this may have been the crowd not wanting to hear political messages or being pro-Bush, but I also have another thought. While the two of them are both attractive, they aren't their step-brothers, who, and I say this as a heterosexual male, are both jaw-droppingly handsome.

By the way, watch 60 minutes next week. After the Woodward interview, there was extensive coverage on the aftermath for a week and a half. Next week, 60 Minutes will have an interview with the man who got Bush into the National Guard, and now says he is ashamed that he did.