anniversary, zip code

Tuesday was a really really good day. I kicked some serious journalism booty at my magazine internship, because I was trying to restrain myself from reading the email titled "your Teach for America application." But because I was kicking some serious journalism booty, I had to get a press release out of my inbox, and upon doing so read the newest message in my inbox titled "welcome to the 2009 Teach for America: Baltimore Corps."

At this point, I began bouncing up and down in my non-ergonomic chair. At which point I made two very giddy phone calls. At which point I had to calm down and get back to work. But after work, I made more giddy phone calls, which led to finding out my brother is officially not going back to war. Which led to my enjoyment of 2 strawberry margaritas in the company of friends.

And, to top it all off, I found my long lost Chapstick-brand Chapstick. The moisturizing kind, in the blue tube.

so long, farewell

Watching CNN always puts me in a slight state of angst. But tonight, watching any sort of news-based television brought on the same feeling of nostalgia, mixed with regret, with a slight dose of anger. Bush has less than 12 hours left to screw up something else in our country, and he’s done more than a handful of things that make me shake my fist in disapproval: taking aid money away from pro-abortion agencies, No Child Left Behind, bans on stem cell research, a city abandoned and left to the breached levies, and just a general trample on the reputation of politically active Christians.

But on the other hand, I can’t help but think that things could’ve been a lot worse. I honestly don’t really connect the current state of the economy with the Bush administration, at least not directly. Sure, financing a complicated war on two fronts didn’t help the deficit. But a lot of analysts actually blame the crash on Clinton’s policies, and point to more long-term decisions that Bush honestly wouldn’t have had time to make.

And I get a little discouraged that the trade off for a free society is that we not only elect our leaders, but we also feel entitled to criticize their every move. At some level, I don’t believe Bush was sworn in eight years ago and decided, “Hey, I think I want to leave a legacy of the worst approval rating in presidential history.” I look forward to the change, at least in attitude, that will come with tomorrow’s inauguration.

what can I say, I'm a media nerd

I wanted to explain a little bit about the new links on this site. For some of you, this will be inherently boring. But for others, I just wanted to point you in the direction social media is heading:

Del.icio.us: These are links to web pages or articles I have bookmarked on my account under bacon_pages. I will refresh this list hopefully every week or so, and post an archived entry of past links. I email a lot of articles and things to several of you, and this is just a more streamlined way of sharing content I think is interesting or valuable.

Twitter: A sort of mini-blog. The main advantage to this site is your ability to “follow” a person, and their feeds then are displayed on your page. For example, I follow several friends and colleagues, as well as professional organizations such as the Poynter Institute, the New York Times, Whitworth University, and of course The Whitworthian.

LinkedIn: More of a networking site for the professional world. Here you can post a full resume as well as more detailed descriptions of positions you’ve held or projects you’re working on. You can also request recommendations that are then posted on your site. This is a great tool for all of you who currently in the job hunt process.

Flickr: An online photo sharing site. It allows you to search millions of other photos, as well as to upload your own. You can also license your work through creative commons, a sort of copyright that you can specify the limitations and guidelines on. My first account is under bacon_pics, and currently has photos of my house and school buried under an ungodly amount of snow.

Some of these are products of my current Jan Term course, others are sites I’ve had for some time but just never linked anywhere. Take them for what they’re worth, and explore how you might use them yourself.

a rose by any other name

Lately, I've been remembering a lot of smells.

I'll walk into a room or catch a whiff of a passerby and my mind snaps back to whatever association I may have. I was doing an interview last week in a woman’s condo on the west side of town, and the smell inside her home was almost identical to the woman’s home who I stayed with for a week when I was a page in the Washington state House of Representatives my freshman year of high school. I’m sure the similarity was just a shared taste in cleaning products, but then I couldn’t help but notice similarities in the sounds of the house, or the way each of the women carried themselves.

Another is the smell of peach black tea. I just made myself a steaming mug, and cannot help but remember the endless cups of it I drank at Camp Lutherhaven two summers ago. The smell of my house in the Tri-Cities, my old volleyball gear (not as pleasant, but still distinct from other sports or workout gear), James’ detergent, fresh ink on newspaper, old letters, the cars of past boyfriends, nail polish, the nuanced smells to each of my best friend’s tears.

Some are connected to specific conversations in time; others evoke a certain emotion or state of thought. I get frustrated when familiar smells change, or worse, fade altogether. I know it’s sometimes frivolously nostalgic -- my mom will be forever grateful that the volleyball gear is clean and tucked away in my bottom dresser drawer. But what can I say, sometimes we all need a frivolous stroll down memory lane.

I'm not dead

For those of you who rely on this blog as your steady updates about the happenings in my life, my apologies for the lack of updates. Hopefully I saw most of you in person and caught you up. (Alyssa you're next on my visit list. I miss you friend).

I've been into three bookstores in the past week, and am realizing more and more that I'm way behind on my claim to being an avid reader. I've bought 3 books, been given 1, and restrained myself from purchasing about 10. I'm in the middle of Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter, and am investing in it even though so far it's a bit of a chore. I for the most part adhere to a one book policy, meaning I can't be in the middle of more than one pleasure read at a time, and if I am they have to be different genres (a novel and a nonfiction, for example.) I have two Zadie Smith novels in the queue, as well as Anne Lamott's nonfiction about being a writer. Hmm, Jan Term offers so much time...