Whatever Happened to Baby X
So now it’s not Yuppies or Gen X or whatever, it’s Challengers. I’m too old.
18 February 2004
Pink Elephants
As described on Idle Type, these subway map constellations are mapped out on the London Underground in animal shapes, but am I the only one who sees the platypus?
As described on Idle Type, these subway map constellations are mapped out on the London Underground in animal shapes, but am I the only one who sees the platypus?
Why Are We Here
Thomas Friedman’s got an op-ed in the NY Times fantasizing a Tim Russert follow-up interview with John Kerry, describing the potential for Kerry to respond from his perspective as a Vietnam veteran in support of an on-going military presence in Iraq, a situation George II has made necessary for some time to come. Friedman makes a subtle point that I’d actually like to see taken up, one long past implementation: energy conservation as anti-terror methodology. If the U.S. and other western nations would pursue a rational course of conservation and the development of alternative energy sources, the effect would be similar to economic sanctions but without the punitive aspect, as it would take longer for the effects to be fully realized, giving the Islamo-fascist regimes time to reform, that being a valid goal in itself and one that would reduce the effectiveness of Islamist radicalization. A good first step in the U.S. would be to raise the per gallon tax on gasoline, already the lowest in the West. Of course, I admit I say that without even having so much as a driver’s license, but look: Australia’s paying over AU$1.00 per litre. Surely the States could afford a few pennies more.
Thomas Friedman’s got an op-ed in the NY Times fantasizing a Tim Russert follow-up interview with John Kerry, describing the potential for Kerry to respond from his perspective as a Vietnam veteran in support of an on-going military presence in Iraq, a situation George II has made necessary for some time to come. Friedman makes a subtle point that I’d actually like to see taken up, one long past implementation: energy conservation as anti-terror methodology. If the U.S. and other western nations would pursue a rational course of conservation and the development of alternative energy sources, the effect would be similar to economic sanctions but without the punitive aspect, as it would take longer for the effects to be fully realized, giving the Islamo-fascist regimes time to reform, that being a valid goal in itself and one that would reduce the effectiveness of Islamist radicalization. A good first step in the U.S. would be to raise the per gallon tax on gasoline, already the lowest in the West. Of course, I admit I say that without even having so much as a driver’s license, but look: Australia’s paying over AU$1.00 per litre. Surely the States could afford a few pennies more.
17 February 2004
HTML Tricks
Descriptive links with mouse roll-over (see "Community" section). I hate learning new tricks, especially if they require wit. Thanks, Kate.
Descriptive links with mouse roll-over (see "Community" section). I hate learning new tricks, especially if they require wit. Thanks, Kate.
New Voices in the Wilderness
Weblogging continues to be a contagious phenomenon, with Andy Loughlin's Vegas Blog crying out from the desert like the prophets of old. O.k., well, maybe just like a weblogger. I haven't seen much out of Vegas, not since I visited a couple of years ago and had the moisture evaporated off my eyeballs in the heat. This could be fun. Sorry about all the comments, but. Things seemed a little quiet so far. I'm sure they'll pick up.
Weblogging continues to be a contagious phenomenon, with Andy Loughlin's Vegas Blog crying out from the desert like the prophets of old. O.k., well, maybe just like a weblogger. I haven't seen much out of Vegas, not since I visited a couple of years ago and had the moisture evaporated off my eyeballs in the heat. This could be fun. Sorry about all the comments, but. Things seemed a little quiet so far. I'm sure they'll pick up.
16 February 2004
Urban Renewal
Once the Projects were built and the underprivileged housed, these examples of urban blight pretty quickly became festering sores of crime and misery, leading many to propose bulldozers and wrecking balls as the only solution. What had started in altruism ended in ineffective hand-wringing. Chicago has at least moved toward redevelopment, tearing down some of the slums they’d misguidedly built in favor of low-rise, condo-style units, giving residents more of a feel for having a stake in their homes, and it appears to have been a successful strategy thus far. It’s not an easy thing to start, but once begun is half done, as the saying goes. Still, there’s that other adage: measure twice, cut once. Great care needs to be taken, and even more important is foresight. Think before you speak, and certainly before you act. Cities suffering economic and social decay – Detroit is an example that springs to mind – can dig themselves in deep and end up well beyond the kind of reformations that bring them back from the brink. Philadelphia has had its reforms, though, and they’ve been doing good work. Many more cities need much more work. Sydney has its problems, too, and one of them is Redfern, the traditionally Aboriginal suburb. Prior to last week’s dissolution of the South Sydney City Council, that body had relocated its offices into the heart of that suburb, perhaps making its most pointed effort to engage the population there and the people moving in as the property values rose in the kind of tidal boat-raising such economic booms can effect. Still, it’s a touchy subject, and the calamitous relations between the dispossessed Aborigines and the majority population of the city are nothing if not difficult. Potentially, and probably more often than anyone would really like, the situation reflects race-relations at their worst, more gesture of despair than even gesture, let alone effective effort. Last night’s events tell a bad story, but there’s no point in John Brogden making things worse. His remarks represent the worst aspects of Liberal Party politics.
Once the Projects were built and the underprivileged housed, these examples of urban blight pretty quickly became festering sores of crime and misery, leading many to propose bulldozers and wrecking balls as the only solution. What had started in altruism ended in ineffective hand-wringing. Chicago has at least moved toward redevelopment, tearing down some of the slums they’d misguidedly built in favor of low-rise, condo-style units, giving residents more of a feel for having a stake in their homes, and it appears to have been a successful strategy thus far. It’s not an easy thing to start, but once begun is half done, as the saying goes. Still, there’s that other adage: measure twice, cut once. Great care needs to be taken, and even more important is foresight. Think before you speak, and certainly before you act. Cities suffering economic and social decay – Detroit is an example that springs to mind – can dig themselves in deep and end up well beyond the kind of reformations that bring them back from the brink. Philadelphia has had its reforms, though, and they’ve been doing good work. Many more cities need much more work. Sydney has its problems, too, and one of them is Redfern, the traditionally Aboriginal suburb. Prior to last week’s dissolution of the South Sydney City Council, that body had relocated its offices into the heart of that suburb, perhaps making its most pointed effort to engage the population there and the people moving in as the property values rose in the kind of tidal boat-raising such economic booms can effect. Still, it’s a touchy subject, and the calamitous relations between the dispossessed Aborigines and the majority population of the city are nothing if not difficult. Potentially, and probably more often than anyone would really like, the situation reflects race-relations at their worst, more gesture of despair than even gesture, let alone effective effort. Last night’s events tell a bad story, but there’s no point in John Brogden making things worse. His remarks represent the worst aspects of Liberal Party politics.
Wild West Meets East (Beware: long post)
The Europeans who travelled to the New World to start a new life had various motivations: religious freedom, escape from class-based restrictions on status or prosperity, the accumulation of wealth, and so forth. From the very earliest days of settlement, the country was built up into a land of opportunity, but for the most part emigration was restricted from the Old World, so few enough were able to make the trip anyway, not to mention that immigration has never been without restrictions of its own, a condition that began to change as the full scope of the resources available came to be understood. Of the 13 original English colonies, Georgia stayed in the game longest as a settlement purposed toward indentured servitude, but the overall population of what became the U.S. Eastern seaboard was never particularly devoted to being a “dumping ground,” a place where the undesirables of the Empire could be relocated to relieve the homeland of poverty, criminality, and political insurgents, not to mention its responsibilities in those regards. The far reach and daring of the English on the high seas soon provided a place sufficiently removed from commercial traffic to serve these purposes: Australia. Even with the development of high-speed clipper ships, Australia was so far away, that those relocated appear to have been more inclined to maintain their connection to the home isles, and their “administrators” sufficiently empowered to ensure the maintenance of a kind of status quo, even while allowing colonization and exploration to proceed. It also turned out that environmentally the new continent was encouraging of such attitudes, the vast interior being largely inhospitable, forcing the new residents to cling to the outer edges even as they clung to their support lines back up across the equator. There are points of divergence as well as convergence therefore between the two former colonies as their histories have respectively played out ever since. America, settled earlier, and having achieved revolutionary independence, was able to easily tap its natural resources and favored geographical position to grow into a commercial empire of considerable strength. The entrepreneurial spirit that drove its population could upon necessity be engaged in a collective effort that eventually gave it miliary pre-eminence as well. Although Australia followed a similar developmental pattern, its isolation as a western state in the Asian region, its inhospitable interior, and the dominance of Empire over it politically conspired to nurture a culture distinct from Britain’s and from America’s in ways the Australian’s have been contending with for the last hundred years as a matter of psychology to be overcome, a kind of middle-child syndrome. The U.S. struggled with a similar problem for many decades, and still does to some extent, but insofar as it attempts to distinguish itself, to be the first among equals. America seeks to reconcile its composite parts into a whole, to define a culture and achieve the recognition of its parents for its accomplishments, but like any eldest child, those distinctions it wins do not come without some admonishment for being too proud and even some resentment for being too successful. The struggle has, however, produced a remarkable character, worthy of admiration and emulation, and this is evidenced in America’s continuing status as a destination from which to launch oneself into grand dreams and glories. This is the sensibility that drives many millions in the U.S., and they have much to thank that it can be so, not least all those who came before them and that the land itself is so supportive of them. Australia has not been without political will, enterprise, or resources, of course, although a number of factors have together forged a different character from that of the U.S., some of which I’ve already mentioned. Being as remote as Australia has been in its development, confronted with the East as “other,” a condition which by-and-large prevails even now, its settlements encircling a vast, blank desert, the country has been inclined and supported in its inclination to rely on an ever-less tenuous technological while ever-increasingly febrile political connection to the social mores that populated the land in the first place. Non-Anglo immigration was not a source of diversity for Australia for the majority of its early life, World War II putting a final end to that, as it did for much of the rest of the world for that matter. Now, Africa, Asia, South America, Southern and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, as well as the more usual WASPish immigrants of the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain, stream in as best they can. Australia’s immigration policy has always been very strict – I couldn’t have gotten in without having married M. – but that doesn’t stop them, and the society’s liberal core is finally very open indeed to the plight of refugees (despite the Howard government’s disreputable exclusion zones and detention camps). Still, this has all come a bit late here, and the society of Australia grew up more in line with its paternity than did the U.S., again the classic pattern of eldest vs. middle child. Modern Australia moves further away from its European origins and further towards the path taken by the U.S., but having taken these steps more in the post-industrial age, has been able to stand apart from the perceived flaws of that capitalist society to pursue a more egalitarian result. The Menzies and Whitlam governments have done more to create a sustainable socialism than France, Canada, or Britain, while maintaining the economic opportunism characteristic of the best vitalism in the U.S. It’s a very difficult balance to maintain, and various pressures have been brought to bear in this era of globalization that could end in having seriously undermined Australia’s ability to continue in this line (not least is the continued military and economic dominance of the U.S., now thoroughly unbalanced following the end of the Cold War and the “someday all this will be mine” mentality of the present Bush administration), but the country continues to do so, and this is because of the Australian character, forged across its history. These are tough people. They carry with them a spirit similar to that which populated America’s western states, not so much pioneering, though, as homesteading. These are people who land and stick, who fight to hold on and make it work come hail or no water. This has its paradoxes. Australians are committed to the “fair go,” the idea that everyone deserves a chance to make their way in the world, but they can also be strangely taciturn about it, at least until someone comes along who takes things a little too far, who takes advantage – an unfair go, if you will – which sets them out as a “tall poppy” whose head needs shortening. Sometimes this gets taken a bit far, which causes some resentment, Germaine Greer offering a recent example, Robert Hughes as well, and generally a number of others among the intellectual ex-pats. This may not be surprising in the comparison between Australia and the U.S., insofar as the states most like in character to Australia are those of the middle and far west, where the U.S. often exhibits its most conservative character as well as its most desperate strivers, those whose sense of difference drives them to the margins: NY, L.A., etc., where they can, strangely, have less room but more chances. Australia exerts a similar push, but its population is largely already out at the edges, so the noisier ones tend to head overseas. Somehow, Australia being so far “out there” makes it seem that the best place to achieve the most is itself “out there,” so the country as a whole ends up pushing its developmental boundaries socially, culturally, politically, scientifically . . . even while it suffers from a perpetual sense of undeserved inadequacy. I understand this feeling, a middle child myself. Nothing delights me more than the achievements of my older brother, unless its seeing his pride take an occasional licking, but my own success is forever overshadowed by the sense I am never successful enough. I am carried forward with my sibling, even while a chafe to break away on my own. Well, moving to Australia ought to help in that respect, someday.
The Europeans who travelled to the New World to start a new life had various motivations: religious freedom, escape from class-based restrictions on status or prosperity, the accumulation of wealth, and so forth. From the very earliest days of settlement, the country was built up into a land of opportunity, but for the most part emigration was restricted from the Old World, so few enough were able to make the trip anyway, not to mention that immigration has never been without restrictions of its own, a condition that began to change as the full scope of the resources available came to be understood. Of the 13 original English colonies, Georgia stayed in the game longest as a settlement purposed toward indentured servitude, but the overall population of what became the U.S. Eastern seaboard was never particularly devoted to being a “dumping ground,” a place where the undesirables of the Empire could be relocated to relieve the homeland of poverty, criminality, and political insurgents, not to mention its responsibilities in those regards. The far reach and daring of the English on the high seas soon provided a place sufficiently removed from commercial traffic to serve these purposes: Australia. Even with the development of high-speed clipper ships, Australia was so far away, that those relocated appear to have been more inclined to maintain their connection to the home isles, and their “administrators” sufficiently empowered to ensure the maintenance of a kind of status quo, even while allowing colonization and exploration to proceed. It also turned out that environmentally the new continent was encouraging of such attitudes, the vast interior being largely inhospitable, forcing the new residents to cling to the outer edges even as they clung to their support lines back up across the equator. There are points of divergence as well as convergence therefore between the two former colonies as their histories have respectively played out ever since. America, settled earlier, and having achieved revolutionary independence, was able to easily tap its natural resources and favored geographical position to grow into a commercial empire of considerable strength. The entrepreneurial spirit that drove its population could upon necessity be engaged in a collective effort that eventually gave it miliary pre-eminence as well. Although Australia followed a similar developmental pattern, its isolation as a western state in the Asian region, its inhospitable interior, and the dominance of Empire over it politically conspired to nurture a culture distinct from Britain’s and from America’s in ways the Australian’s have been contending with for the last hundred years as a matter of psychology to be overcome, a kind of middle-child syndrome. The U.S. struggled with a similar problem for many decades, and still does to some extent, but insofar as it attempts to distinguish itself, to be the first among equals. America seeks to reconcile its composite parts into a whole, to define a culture and achieve the recognition of its parents for its accomplishments, but like any eldest child, those distinctions it wins do not come without some admonishment for being too proud and even some resentment for being too successful. The struggle has, however, produced a remarkable character, worthy of admiration and emulation, and this is evidenced in America’s continuing status as a destination from which to launch oneself into grand dreams and glories. This is the sensibility that drives many millions in the U.S., and they have much to thank that it can be so, not least all those who came before them and that the land itself is so supportive of them. Australia has not been without political will, enterprise, or resources, of course, although a number of factors have together forged a different character from that of the U.S., some of which I’ve already mentioned. Being as remote as Australia has been in its development, confronted with the East as “other,” a condition which by-and-large prevails even now, its settlements encircling a vast, blank desert, the country has been inclined and supported in its inclination to rely on an ever-less tenuous technological while ever-increasingly febrile political connection to the social mores that populated the land in the first place. Non-Anglo immigration was not a source of diversity for Australia for the majority of its early life, World War II putting a final end to that, as it did for much of the rest of the world for that matter. Now, Africa, Asia, South America, Southern and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, as well as the more usual WASPish immigrants of the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain, stream in as best they can. Australia’s immigration policy has always been very strict – I couldn’t have gotten in without having married M. – but that doesn’t stop them, and the society’s liberal core is finally very open indeed to the plight of refugees (despite the Howard government’s disreputable exclusion zones and detention camps). Still, this has all come a bit late here, and the society of Australia grew up more in line with its paternity than did the U.S., again the classic pattern of eldest vs. middle child. Modern Australia moves further away from its European origins and further towards the path taken by the U.S., but having taken these steps more in the post-industrial age, has been able to stand apart from the perceived flaws of that capitalist society to pursue a more egalitarian result. The Menzies and Whitlam governments have done more to create a sustainable socialism than France, Canada, or Britain, while maintaining the economic opportunism characteristic of the best vitalism in the U.S. It’s a very difficult balance to maintain, and various pressures have been brought to bear in this era of globalization that could end in having seriously undermined Australia’s ability to continue in this line (not least is the continued military and economic dominance of the U.S., now thoroughly unbalanced following the end of the Cold War and the “someday all this will be mine” mentality of the present Bush administration), but the country continues to do so, and this is because of the Australian character, forged across its history. These are tough people. They carry with them a spirit similar to that which populated America’s western states, not so much pioneering, though, as homesteading. These are people who land and stick, who fight to hold on and make it work come hail or no water. This has its paradoxes. Australians are committed to the “fair go,” the idea that everyone deserves a chance to make their way in the world, but they can also be strangely taciturn about it, at least until someone comes along who takes things a little too far, who takes advantage – an unfair go, if you will – which sets them out as a “tall poppy” whose head needs shortening. Sometimes this gets taken a bit far, which causes some resentment, Germaine Greer offering a recent example, Robert Hughes as well, and generally a number of others among the intellectual ex-pats. This may not be surprising in the comparison between Australia and the U.S., insofar as the states most like in character to Australia are those of the middle and far west, where the U.S. often exhibits its most conservative character as well as its most desperate strivers, those whose sense of difference drives them to the margins: NY, L.A., etc., where they can, strangely, have less room but more chances. Australia exerts a similar push, but its population is largely already out at the edges, so the noisier ones tend to head overseas. Somehow, Australia being so far “out there” makes it seem that the best place to achieve the most is itself “out there,” so the country as a whole ends up pushing its developmental boundaries socially, culturally, politically, scientifically . . . even while it suffers from a perpetual sense of undeserved inadequacy. I understand this feeling, a middle child myself. Nothing delights me more than the achievements of my older brother, unless its seeing his pride take an occasional licking, but my own success is forever overshadowed by the sense I am never successful enough. I am carried forward with my sibling, even while a chafe to break away on my own. Well, moving to Australia ought to help in that respect, someday.
Christmas Planning
I read Independent People, by Halldor Laxness, some few years ago and believe it to be one of the most beautiful pieces of (translated, but excellently) writing I’ve ever read. So if anyone’s interested, the latest volume in English is on my list.
I read Independent People, by Halldor Laxness, some few years ago and believe it to be one of the most beautiful pieces of (translated, but excellently) writing I’ve ever read. So if anyone’s interested, the latest volume in English is on my list.
14 February 2004
Pond Life
Having just returned from seeing Big Fish, I’ll agree with Outside Counsel’s assessment of the film. There are two aspects I’d like to address of what made the movie work for me, which I guess amounts to criticism, although it doesn’t feel that way, putting me in line with the television pundits more than I’d like, I suppose. The first thing that struck me was in the father-son relationship, which had its surface “factuality” in the son’s dispute with his father’s fabulism: who is his father, if his stories are unreliable. I don’t buy this entirely, but I’m bringing a bit of baggage with me. My father’s stories were undervalued by me as a child, and he didn’t tell a lot of them, to my recollection, until lately, and now I’m a bit further off in the world than makes hearing the story of his life particularly feasible. M. had the inspiration from her brief talks with Dad to offer him a leather-bound diary one year for his birthday, but I left the movie feeling rather sad, not to mention fairly desperate, at the thought that this might be my best hope of getting his version of events. I’m not sure what else I can do, but I know I need to hear a lot more. Everything so far has been gold: sometimes ore, sometimes refined, sometimes tarnished, but always worth its weight.
After I’d thought about this for a while, it also struck me that this is a particularly American movie, not the way some movies are – horror films are the most peculiarly American; gangsters and westerns quintessential forms, along with musicals – but in that it was expressive of something that in the last hundred years, certainly in the years since the invention of cinema, something that is characteristic, idiosyncratic of America itself: it is a country founded and grown up on the absolute belief in the infinite possibilities of life. America recognizes no boundary to what can be achieved or what might yet happen, and I cannot recall a movie I’ve seen that is so thoroughly in itself expressive of this, Gone with the Wind’s “After all, tomorrow is another day” philosophy notwithstanding. I say this even knowing that I am now living in one of the few places on earth where this sensibility may be equally applied, and once I’m over being homesick right now, I’ll have to give the comparison some time.
Having just returned from seeing Big Fish, I’ll agree with Outside Counsel’s assessment of the film. There are two aspects I’d like to address of what made the movie work for me, which I guess amounts to criticism, although it doesn’t feel that way, putting me in line with the television pundits more than I’d like, I suppose. The first thing that struck me was in the father-son relationship, which had its surface “factuality” in the son’s dispute with his father’s fabulism: who is his father, if his stories are unreliable. I don’t buy this entirely, but I’m bringing a bit of baggage with me. My father’s stories were undervalued by me as a child, and he didn’t tell a lot of them, to my recollection, until lately, and now I’m a bit further off in the world than makes hearing the story of his life particularly feasible. M. had the inspiration from her brief talks with Dad to offer him a leather-bound diary one year for his birthday, but I left the movie feeling rather sad, not to mention fairly desperate, at the thought that this might be my best hope of getting his version of events. I’m not sure what else I can do, but I know I need to hear a lot more. Everything so far has been gold: sometimes ore, sometimes refined, sometimes tarnished, but always worth its weight.
After I’d thought about this for a while, it also struck me that this is a particularly American movie, not the way some movies are – horror films are the most peculiarly American; gangsters and westerns quintessential forms, along with musicals – but in that it was expressive of something that in the last hundred years, certainly in the years since the invention of cinema, something that is characteristic, idiosyncratic of America itself: it is a country founded and grown up on the absolute belief in the infinite possibilities of life. America recognizes no boundary to what can be achieved or what might yet happen, and I cannot recall a movie I’ve seen that is so thoroughly in itself expressive of this, Gone with the Wind’s “After all, tomorrow is another day” philosophy notwithstanding. I say this even knowing that I am now living in one of the few places on earth where this sensibility may be equally applied, and once I’m over being homesick right now, I’ll have to give the comparison some time.
13 February 2004
Meltdown
What is it about commuter trains and summer? CityRail is falling apart, and I can’t get a train that isn’t 30 minutes late. Officially, none of the trains I ride are affected, but then I get to the platform to hear that city services trains are “not running in order or according to schedule. Please listen for announcements.” All week, and it’s hotter this week than it’s been at any time all summer, not to mention more humid. The problem appears to have started last year when a rail accident saw a commuter train derail and many people ended up killed or injured. An investigation followed, and there was plenty of blame to go around. State government, CityRail, train drivers (funny, they’re not engineers anymore; I guess that’s so we can call the university-degree-holders by that designation). The drivers were found to be at fault because they engaged in unsafe practices (including some who showed up to work without being able to pass a breath test, and not because they didn’t brush). CityRail was at fault for not managing their people and their equipment better. State government was at fault for not spending enough money to upgrade the system and for allowing CityRail to get away with cutting corners. So what’s happened? Government cracks down on CityRail who cracks down on drivers who then proceed to spit the dummy and go on a work slowdown. Bob Carr has responded to commuters’ frustrations by offering us a free weekly pass (or a free day next month if we aren’t regular commuters), but I’m not satisfied yet. First thing I want to know: if you’re cutting back on the number of trains running, shouldn’t there be more equipment available to run, in which case, why am I riding in un-air conditioned carriages? The workers were out in force today handing out postcards with the phone number of the Transport Minister, Michael Costa, and proclaiming their innocence in all this, but it won’t wash. It almost makes me homesick.
What is it about commuter trains and summer? CityRail is falling apart, and I can’t get a train that isn’t 30 minutes late. Officially, none of the trains I ride are affected, but then I get to the platform to hear that city services trains are “not running in order or according to schedule. Please listen for announcements.” All week, and it’s hotter this week than it’s been at any time all summer, not to mention more humid. The problem appears to have started last year when a rail accident saw a commuter train derail and many people ended up killed or injured. An investigation followed, and there was plenty of blame to go around. State government, CityRail, train drivers (funny, they’re not engineers anymore; I guess that’s so we can call the university-degree-holders by that designation). The drivers were found to be at fault because they engaged in unsafe practices (including some who showed up to work without being able to pass a breath test, and not because they didn’t brush). CityRail was at fault for not managing their people and their equipment better. State government was at fault for not spending enough money to upgrade the system and for allowing CityRail to get away with cutting corners. So what’s happened? Government cracks down on CityRail who cracks down on drivers who then proceed to spit the dummy and go on a work slowdown. Bob Carr has responded to commuters’ frustrations by offering us a free weekly pass (or a free day next month if we aren’t regular commuters), but I’m not satisfied yet. First thing I want to know: if you’re cutting back on the number of trains running, shouldn’t there be more equipment available to run, in which case, why am I riding in un-air conditioned carriages? The workers were out in force today handing out postcards with the phone number of the Transport Minister, Michael Costa, and proclaiming their innocence in all this, but it won’t wash. It almost makes me homesick.
12 February 2004
Anywhere But Here
(Yes, I appropriated the title from Monica Simpson’s novel. Sue me.)
Long Island is in trouble. A new study cites a number of factors contributing to the decline in living standards, but of the factors they cite, I seem to recall seeing every one of them in operation while I was growing up there. Lower pay? Industry was moving out fast, even the military contractors at the height of the Cold War. A decrease in development? Well, once the east end filled up with aging pop stars, Yuppies and the lifestyle purveyors they rely on, what did anyone expect? Even where redevelopment was possible, nobody was investing in it, because there was no percentage in doing so. Main Street died on Long Island, and no attempts at resuscitation were ever successful. What’s the biggest problem: the decline in numbers of a younger generation. It’s getting old and tired out there. The effect is an increased marginalization, a growing discrepancy between rich and poor, as usual coinciding in expression with a disparity in ethnic groups. But the evidence of this trend existed there when I was a kid. The study also cites a “brain drain,” but that’s been going on a long time, too (hey, I got out; I think it’s a sign). The major difference, I suppose, is that now there’s a study, and a sense that something ought to be done, that Long Island can be a case study for other suburban areas around the country. Best of luck, but look at it: it’s an island. A long one, with only one way out. Granted, if you never make it further than NYC, you’ve done well, but you’ve got to make your way to the front of the pack if you don’t want to get left behind.
(Yes, I appropriated the title from Monica Simpson’s novel. Sue me.)
Long Island is in trouble. A new study cites a number of factors contributing to the decline in living standards, but of the factors they cite, I seem to recall seeing every one of them in operation while I was growing up there. Lower pay? Industry was moving out fast, even the military contractors at the height of the Cold War. A decrease in development? Well, once the east end filled up with aging pop stars, Yuppies and the lifestyle purveyors they rely on, what did anyone expect? Even where redevelopment was possible, nobody was investing in it, because there was no percentage in doing so. Main Street died on Long Island, and no attempts at resuscitation were ever successful. What’s the biggest problem: the decline in numbers of a younger generation. It’s getting old and tired out there. The effect is an increased marginalization, a growing discrepancy between rich and poor, as usual coinciding in expression with a disparity in ethnic groups. But the evidence of this trend existed there when I was a kid. The study also cites a “brain drain,” but that’s been going on a long time, too (hey, I got out; I think it’s a sign). The major difference, I suppose, is that now there’s a study, and a sense that something ought to be done, that Long Island can be a case study for other suburban areas around the country. Best of luck, but look at it: it’s an island. A long one, with only one way out. Granted, if you never make it further than NYC, you’ve done well, but you’ve got to make your way to the front of the pack if you don’t want to get left behind.
Ignatius of Loyola
The Jesuits are a fascinating group, the only remaining viable church organization left from the Renaissance. They have a deserved reputation as a scholarly order, in addition to the political sensibilities and machinations ascribed to them, so I’m very tempted to head over to the other side of the harbour to hear them discuss the refugee crisis in Australia. The principle of giving everyone a “fair go” is one of the characteristics of Australian society that make it one of the most truly democratic societies on the planet, but short-sighted politicians can get bound up in the need for an immediate response to events, acting against higher principles, such as has happened here and in the States with various laws granting extraordinary powers to the police following September 11. Although I’m sure there are those who would argue otherwise, I’d prefer not to see a return to the fear-mongering of McCarthyism or the re-institutionalization of “White Australia.” Even if I don’t make it to the lecture, then, I’d like to think John Howard or Mark Latham might make the trip.
The Jesuits are a fascinating group, the only remaining viable church organization left from the Renaissance. They have a deserved reputation as a scholarly order, in addition to the political sensibilities and machinations ascribed to them, so I’m very tempted to head over to the other side of the harbour to hear them discuss the refugee crisis in Australia. The principle of giving everyone a “fair go” is one of the characteristics of Australian society that make it one of the most truly democratic societies on the planet, but short-sighted politicians can get bound up in the need for an immediate response to events, acting against higher principles, such as has happened here and in the States with various laws granting extraordinary powers to the police following September 11. Although I’m sure there are those who would argue otherwise, I’d prefer not to see a return to the fear-mongering of McCarthyism or the re-institutionalization of “White Australia.” Even if I don’t make it to the lecture, then, I’d like to think John Howard or Mark Latham might make the trip.
Humane Research Tools
Back in high school we learned Cruelty to Animals. I mean sophomore biology. It involved dissecting “lower order” creatures. There were always those who rejected participation, but now it’s no longer necessary to object: the frog is online and interactive. Honestly, I never learned anything from the exercise I couldn’t have gotten from a lecture and diagrams, so what was the point? Meanwhile, for those of us who are most thoroughly enlightened – or just Hindu – Edward Doughney has invented the spider ladder, a device that let’s the bug do the rescue work for itself. (All links kindly supplied by Troy at Idle Type.)
Back in high school we learned Cruelty to Animals. I mean sophomore biology. It involved dissecting “lower order” creatures. There were always those who rejected participation, but now it’s no longer necessary to object: the frog is online and interactive. Honestly, I never learned anything from the exercise I couldn’t have gotten from a lecture and diagrams, so what was the point? Meanwhile, for those of us who are most thoroughly enlightened – or just Hindu – Edward Doughney has invented the spider ladder, a device that let’s the bug do the rescue work for itself. (All links kindly supplied by Troy at Idle Type.)
USA Patriot in Action
Is the grand jury investigation of the Catholic Peace Ministry a result of John Ashcroft being anti-papist or anti-terrorist? (From The Daily Kos, via the Famous Buffalo Blogger.)
Is the grand jury investigation of the Catholic Peace Ministry a result of John Ashcroft being anti-papist or anti-terrorist? (From The Daily Kos, via the Famous Buffalo Blogger.)
10 February 2004
Presentation Preparation
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:28-34)
It’s my new context, I suppose, that makes me think this way (nothing to do with tricks for speaking in front of an audience), but I’ll be leading a reluctant group for over 4 hours in “process mapping.” What have I got prepared? The opening prayer.
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:28-34)
It’s my new context, I suppose, that makes me think this way (nothing to do with tricks for speaking in front of an audience), but I’ll be leading a reluctant group for over 4 hours in “process mapping.” What have I got prepared? The opening prayer.
09 February 2004
On the Job
I’ve completed three weeks at my new job and thought I’d make a bit of an assessment of the experience so far. (Actually, Mom wanted to know, and specific questions she had led me to the idea that this might be interesting.) First, the work here is very much the same as what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years, but I do and have been facing increasing levels of “professionalism” in the conduct of selecting, installing, and supporting a Human Resources Information System. This has required me to learn new business techniques – negotiations with IT and Finance, project planning, process mapping – and new business philosophies – Human Resources vs. Personnel, Enterprise Resource Planning vs. “my, what a big database you have,” etc. This has been accomplished by changing jobs. When I left the law firm and re-entered a corporate environment, I entered a realm where I was accountable to vast numbers of people – executives, staff, and shareholders - and where what I did was fully visible to the organization for its effect on the bottom line but recognized as well for its contribution to the effective operation of the company overall, instead of an office where nobody knew what I did but since they were fully devoted to achieving partnership status and thereafter to grinding every speck of money they could out of the firm’s income it had to be costing them a sailboat. We used project plans and we wrote technical specifications and we talked about process change. Then I came to Australia and the company formerly known as Chubb (o.k., yes, they still are, but now they’re just a subsidiary of UTC), and the game was at a whole new level, with flow charts and interactive learning tools and consultants and much, much more. And now I’m with the Catholics in the closer reaches of Sydney’s outer west, and the game is being played at a new level, both higher and lower at the same time. In some respects, it’s like going back to the law firm, in others it’s more like my days at Scholastic, although I’m expected to bring what I learned from playing with the big boys at Chubb to the project here. Finally, in a little added twist, it is a religious-based organization, much as my very first job was, at the American Bible Society. (I used to joke that I’d started in publishing, moved to IT, then to HR, and then combined my experience, but that was when I thought I’d be at Scholastic for years to come. Nevertheless, the joke still works – I started with the Bible, then IT, HR, IT & HR, and now IT, HR, & Jesus.) What’s the real difference between the Catholic Education Office and previous jobs (including the Bible Society)? First, there are prayers. Not all the time, mind you, but there weren’t any at the Bible Society (too sectarian) and everybody else was, well, non-denominational. When we have a meeting, there is always a prayer to lead off, and it is always antiphonal. Sometimes there’s a hymn, too, although the last one turned out to also be the recent Rugby Union World Cup theme song, too, which caused a bit of tittering among the footie fans. This is quite a change for me, as it’s been some time since I was a participatory Catholic. There’s good-natured joking about it sometimes, and I’m not the only one more roaming than Roman, so it doesn’t cause any particular stress. There is also a chapel and a brief service on Thursday mornings for those who would like to attend. I’ve seen the chapel but not the services; there’s a big evening Mass in March out in Blacktown to welcome all the new staff in the office and the schools, and I’m expected to attend, and that will be sufficient, I think. There are also small displays at all the entrances: an illustrated bible or (when I was interviewed) an Advent wreath, and there are portraits of the Madonna and Child everywhere you look, not to mention the crucifixes, luckily not of the extreme gore variety. An interesting factor particularly present in my interactions from within the Human Resources department is the focus on “pastoral care.” Because much of the office staff come from within the schools or are otherwise affiliated with the Church as a community of believers, there is a significant focus on making work here part of one’s spiritual life, that your faith as a Catholic should be enhanced. An example of this is the elimination of the standard 3-month probation period. Most companies give themselves this escape clause, although it’s probably unnecessary in some measure, so that a hiring decision can be unmade before it costs too much (agency placements generally have to complete 90 days before the fee is payable). Not here, because it would go against the office’s pastoral commitment to its employees. I think they’re being silly about this, especially since nearly all the staff are employed under a contract anyway, which doesn’t seem particularly expressive of the pastoral duty, does it? Never mind, these things don’t bother me or change what I’m here to do particularly. Besides, I like very much being able to use Bible verses and lessons from the catechism in conversation and have people around who get the joke. It’s not every day you work in a place where you can refer to cakes and snacks brought into the office as an “occasion of sin” and get a laugh instead of a blank look.
I’ve completed three weeks at my new job and thought I’d make a bit of an assessment of the experience so far. (Actually, Mom wanted to know, and specific questions she had led me to the idea that this might be interesting.) First, the work here is very much the same as what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years, but I do and have been facing increasing levels of “professionalism” in the conduct of selecting, installing, and supporting a Human Resources Information System. This has required me to learn new business techniques – negotiations with IT and Finance, project planning, process mapping – and new business philosophies – Human Resources vs. Personnel, Enterprise Resource Planning vs. “my, what a big database you have,” etc. This has been accomplished by changing jobs. When I left the law firm and re-entered a corporate environment, I entered a realm where I was accountable to vast numbers of people – executives, staff, and shareholders - and where what I did was fully visible to the organization for its effect on the bottom line but recognized as well for its contribution to the effective operation of the company overall, instead of an office where nobody knew what I did but since they were fully devoted to achieving partnership status and thereafter to grinding every speck of money they could out of the firm’s income it had to be costing them a sailboat. We used project plans and we wrote technical specifications and we talked about process change. Then I came to Australia and the company formerly known as Chubb (o.k., yes, they still are, but now they’re just a subsidiary of UTC), and the game was at a whole new level, with flow charts and interactive learning tools and consultants and much, much more. And now I’m with the Catholics in the closer reaches of Sydney’s outer west, and the game is being played at a new level, both higher and lower at the same time. In some respects, it’s like going back to the law firm, in others it’s more like my days at Scholastic, although I’m expected to bring what I learned from playing with the big boys at Chubb to the project here. Finally, in a little added twist, it is a religious-based organization, much as my very first job was, at the American Bible Society. (I used to joke that I’d started in publishing, moved to IT, then to HR, and then combined my experience, but that was when I thought I’d be at Scholastic for years to come. Nevertheless, the joke still works – I started with the Bible, then IT, HR, IT & HR, and now IT, HR, & Jesus.) What’s the real difference between the Catholic Education Office and previous jobs (including the Bible Society)? First, there are prayers. Not all the time, mind you, but there weren’t any at the Bible Society (too sectarian) and everybody else was, well, non-denominational. When we have a meeting, there is always a prayer to lead off, and it is always antiphonal. Sometimes there’s a hymn, too, although the last one turned out to also be the recent Rugby Union World Cup theme song, too, which caused a bit of tittering among the footie fans. This is quite a change for me, as it’s been some time since I was a participatory Catholic. There’s good-natured joking about it sometimes, and I’m not the only one more roaming than Roman, so it doesn’t cause any particular stress. There is also a chapel and a brief service on Thursday mornings for those who would like to attend. I’ve seen the chapel but not the services; there’s a big evening Mass in March out in Blacktown to welcome all the new staff in the office and the schools, and I’m expected to attend, and that will be sufficient, I think. There are also small displays at all the entrances: an illustrated bible or (when I was interviewed) an Advent wreath, and there are portraits of the Madonna and Child everywhere you look, not to mention the crucifixes, luckily not of the extreme gore variety. An interesting factor particularly present in my interactions from within the Human Resources department is the focus on “pastoral care.” Because much of the office staff come from within the schools or are otherwise affiliated with the Church as a community of believers, there is a significant focus on making work here part of one’s spiritual life, that your faith as a Catholic should be enhanced. An example of this is the elimination of the standard 3-month probation period. Most companies give themselves this escape clause, although it’s probably unnecessary in some measure, so that a hiring decision can be unmade before it costs too much (agency placements generally have to complete 90 days before the fee is payable). Not here, because it would go against the office’s pastoral commitment to its employees. I think they’re being silly about this, especially since nearly all the staff are employed under a contract anyway, which doesn’t seem particularly expressive of the pastoral duty, does it? Never mind, these things don’t bother me or change what I’m here to do particularly. Besides, I like very much being able to use Bible verses and lessons from the catechism in conversation and have people around who get the joke. It’s not every day you work in a place where you can refer to cakes and snacks brought into the office as an “occasion of sin” and get a laugh instead of a blank look.
06 February 2004
Literature and Diaspora
African literature is a subject that’s had considerable interest for me for many years now, and every now and then a new book or a new author will turn up, although it’s more usual to find only the usual shelf contents or nothing at all. Nigerian author, Chris Abani, who is new to me, has turned up in the news because one of his books has finally been published in the U.S., although he’s been serially imprisoned and exiled since the 1980’s for his activities as a writer. Nigeria has a long post-colonial literary tradition, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka being the most notable of those with a visible presence outside their continent, Achebe because Things Fall Apart is on pretty much every high school or college freshman introduction to literature syllabus in the U.S., and Soyinka because he won the Nobel. It’s very good to see someone else getting notice – and getting published – although I do wish there was more notice taken sometimes. Ayi Kwei Armah from Ghana, Ngugi Wa Thiongo from Kenya, Mongo Beti from Cameroon . . . there are a host of others, some more or less notable, but most only published in France or England and then only in marginal press runs, limiting their availability. The “African Writers Series” published by Heinemann is a resource worth reviewing for anyone who’s interested.
African literature is a subject that’s had considerable interest for me for many years now, and every now and then a new book or a new author will turn up, although it’s more usual to find only the usual shelf contents or nothing at all. Nigerian author, Chris Abani, who is new to me, has turned up in the news because one of his books has finally been published in the U.S., although he’s been serially imprisoned and exiled since the 1980’s for his activities as a writer. Nigeria has a long post-colonial literary tradition, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka being the most notable of those with a visible presence outside their continent, Achebe because Things Fall Apart is on pretty much every high school or college freshman introduction to literature syllabus in the U.S., and Soyinka because he won the Nobel. It’s very good to see someone else getting notice – and getting published – although I do wish there was more notice taken sometimes. Ayi Kwei Armah from Ghana, Ngugi Wa Thiongo from Kenya, Mongo Beti from Cameroon . . . there are a host of others, some more or less notable, but most only published in France or England and then only in marginal press runs, limiting their availability. The “African Writers Series” published by Heinemann is a resource worth reviewing for anyone who’s interested.
05 February 2004
Holy Super Lawsuit!
It?s hardly worth posting about the claim that DC and Marvel own the trademark on the word "superhero." I?d really like to see that enforced.
(Editorial Note: I meant superhero™.)
It?s hardly worth posting about the claim that DC and Marvel own the trademark on the word "superhero." I?d really like to see that enforced.
(Editorial Note: I meant superhero™.)
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