Housekeeping

Two Things:

The first, if you are in Boston you should definitely check out the Motion Graphics Fest this weekend. I'm particularly psyched about the Realtime Performance Showcase on Friday night at the Brattle. We're also going, on John's behest, to the Installation Showcase at the Axiom (you have to scroll down to see that one). The Axiom is just down the road from where I live, attached to the Green St. Stop.

John wants to submit his installation to the MG Fest in Austin, which, if he got in, would be a tremendous streak of serendipity because my friend's wedding will also be in Texas, about a week later, and we were planning to take a trip there anyway.

The second thing is this article in adbusters: The Politics of Youth. I'm not sure I catch what Hardt is tossing in the first half, but I do agree with this bit:

You know, the quality of one’s enemy has something to do with making one more or less intelligent. And I think that struggling against Bush made us stupid. Because we had to struggle against the most obvious of things: against torture, against the occupation in Iraq. I hope that we don’t have to struggle against these in the years to come. My hope for the Obama presidency is that we will be able to focus on struggles that really designate a better world. That does not mean utopian aspirations for the Obama presidency, but rather utopian aspirations for the kind of struggles that can be born under, and sometimes against, an Obama administration.

That rings a bell with me, certainly. Being pitted against a creature so utterly irrational as Bush made us all frustrated, and it made us all scared. Our president wasn't listening, and didn't care, and more than likely has a case of early onset dementia, and that freaked everyone out, because people were dying for him. We dealt with this for eight years. It's like the 2000 elections were the big bang of the racing gun, amidst all the struggle and scandle we saw something ugly leap out of the gate. So sure I got angry. Everyone did, our words didn't work so we tried volume instead. Now people on the right were shocked at our behavior in the most recent elections, shocked at how viciously we maligned miss Palin. Well, it's easy to play it cool - or at least to pretend - when you're on top, much harder when you're afraid. (and god! the thought of that woman!)

Now, I may not agree completely with Bama, but I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that at the very least, it's reassuring to know that he listens. I believe (not without a suspicious eye, but I believe) he genuinely wants what's best for the country, and in being that kind of president, he releases us from the anger. We don't need our brute strength anymore, we can use our reason. And isn't that nice?

I've been thinking a lot lately about Obama's new Faith Based Outreach program. It makes me squint my eyes. Thinking too a lot about the case of that lesbian who was fired (for religious reasons) from a Baptist non-profit which, incidentally, received federal funding. I believe quite strongly in separation of church and state, to the extent that it usually trumps all of my other beliefs. I think it's one of the best things in our constitution. But this particular situation is really tricky, as is the FBO program. And, of course, it's way more than I'm able to talk about tonight, when I should be sleeping an hour ago before I have work tomorrow. Eek!