Wonder Woman

Great history of Wonder Woman in Boston University's Alumni mag, Bostonian. She is based on a real live woman and there is everything one could ask for in a story. Success over odds, family values and ménage à trois. Gosh I would love to have a Wonder Woman costumes...and all her toys.

It ain't easy being idealist. I am facing a crisis of philosophy. In the last week I have taken a verbal lashing from just about every corner, professional, academic and personal regarding my belief in non-violence, fair trade, the purposes of protest and world order. Tonight I have promised myself to write out a list of everything I believe in and see what happens from there.

Great article about a Pakistani man in Pittsburgh. "Customers bring joy to Pakistani store manager".

Try as I might, I can never really seem to get the hang of Nerve. I love sex. I love erotic literature. I love the Internet. And they all come together on Nerve. I even bought a book put out by the editors of the site one day while twiddling away the hours at an airport. But the site, and the book, just don't thrill me like I would think.

Today's article in the New York Times (linking the Yahoo article to be on the safe side) about the couple who started the company is intriquing, though. The couple is now separated and he has his new girlfriend working in the office. It seems like there is still lots of emotion hanging on and I wonder about what it must me like to work there with all this going on in the very same place (the office and his apartment are one and the same). Now I am more interested in keeping up with the site. Ah...a little real life sex opera is better than fiction.

One of today's headlines...

Trade in Honey Is Said to Provide Money and Cover for bin Laden

Title of my graduate studies thesis (still in progress)...Beekeeping in Yemen as Civil Society. I think I may need a spin doctor.

One of my continual haunts in the last weeks has been Postcard Stop, an online shop for postcards. Since I don't have a great selection of views locally and I am afraid to go into Boston (that's another story..don't want to talk publicly about that, though no one reads this anyway), I haven't got as many views to trade. So, I have ordered 100 or so at this shop. From everywhere in the US. Lots of fun picking out the views. One view I picked out was for a joke....The Corn Palace of South Dakota. Well, let me tell you...it isn't really as corny (I heard that groan!) as you might think.

A palace has been there since the late 19th century, though the current structure dates to 1926. It is redecorated every year with a mural made out of corn, grasses, flowers...sort of a Rose Bowl float gone homey. And it is used for community activities and to promote the historic significance of agriculture in the region. I really want to see this place! And I ordered 38 more cards, depicting the palace in many different years.

The things ya learn on the Internet.

In an all out effort to remove myself from the constant barrage of war talk, I have picked up an old hobby...postcard collecting. Oh my goodness! It has changed dramatically in the 8 years or so that I've been away! The Internet makes it much easier to find other collectors. Yahoo clubs have been very good, as much as I hate to admit it. I have come upon many wonderful souls in other countries and here in the US interested in postcard correspondence. Ah...escapism

Got my Cesar Chavez poster today from Shop Different, a now defunct Apple shop. Very cool poster. Can't decide if I want to hang it in my office here at home or at work. Will piss people off in both places, which doesn't bother me in the least.

Will U.S. Remember Global Goodwill?. Article originally appeared in the Toronto Sun today. It has some faults, like I don't think Israel has pledged support for the terrorism coalition (I could be wrong) and Pakistan's support is still iffy in places. However, I do think the point about Americans taming the bloodthirst needs to be heeded. It would be terrible to have us look just as murderous as those cowards who attacked.

I am concerned about the airline industry. Massive layoffs and it looks like this is only the beginning, But on a positive note, give Southwest a nod for somehow managing to not have to lay anyone off so far. And take a look at their Adopt-A-Pilot program. Very cool.

Using this with permission from mememachine. The author also encourages people to make their own infographic. I wish I knew how....

There is a move to archive the sites that have something to do with Sept. 11 at WebArchivist. I haven't investigated it thoroughly and a friend just used the words "voluntary carnivore" after seeing it, but I am going to look into it more tonight and tomorrow.

Another World is Possible

I saw this as a "please don't let there be war" slogan. I like it. Will be investigating it more.

Slovenské telekomunikácie is offering the people of Slovakia free calls to US until Sunday. How incredible is that?! I have heard from lots of my Slovak friends. Thank you Slovenské telekomunikácie!!

In the last 24 hours I have been called everything from insensitive to traitor to monster. All because I am trying to find the "why" to Tuesday's horror. Never once have I excused, justified or otherwise condoned the actions of the cowards who did this thing. People have said it is not the "right time" to look for explanations. We should think only of those who have been directly affected. Some have said that we should be out to get the cowards and, later, if convenient, we can look for reasons. I don't agree with these opinions. While every effort should, and is, made to help survivors, there needs to be an active voice looking for the whys so that this never happens again. And I want the cowards caught as much as anyone, but I do not want revenge to be the primary objective because it will only beget more violence.

And the one person who I thought would support my opinions has failed me.

How can I do anything today but think about the last moments of the lives of so many who got up, went about their usual morning affairs, heading off to work in the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and stood in the lobbies, conference rooms, offices and watched the planes crash into their buildings. And the people on the airplanes...I hope they had no idea, but I don't think that is a going to hold true. None of us will be the same. And I don't want to hear anymore that it is an "attack on freedom." It is an attack that rages against the freedoms we have in this country and others. Until we face terrorism for what it is, the act of powerless, voiceless, hopeless people, it will continue to happen. Make no mistake...this is cowardaice of the most extreme. And when the cowards are caught, and they will be, I want them punished. I don't know how I want them punished and punished is too weak a word. The only way to respond to the cowardice is with its opposite, courage. And we will need lots of that.

Oh very cool. I am glad I decided to just do some hit and run looks at weblogs from the front page of Blogger 'cause I hit Bushwacker and the list of other more serious, political type (and booklover) weblogs is just what I needed to assure myself that I am not there is intelligent life out there and not just all shit-chat. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just need some substance, too. Ewww...a disgusting analogy popped into my head as I was typing but I refuse to allow it to escape my head.

On Sept 29 at 7 a.m. I will be on an airplane heading to Washington D.C. I am very nervous. Not 'cause flying scares me, though six months ago that would have been the reason. I am nervous because there will be 100,000 other people planning to be in approximately the exact same area at the exact same time as me and lots of them are really angry.

The World Bank (more accurately, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will hold their General Meeting that weekend in D.C. I will be joining protesters from all over the world (though mostly the US) in exercising our political voice telling those organizations that they had better come down from Stratos* and start looking at the world from where the world lives. I am not part of any organized protest. I am going on my own. I am going because I want to hear what is said without the mainstream media coloring it with corporate paintbrushes. I am going because I am tired of always saying I want to do something and never actually doing anything but talk. I am going because I need inspiration.

There is a teach-in all day Sat that I will attend and the "permitted event" is a rally on Sunday which is actually billed as "kid friendly." I am not so sure it will be and I wouldn't ever consider bringing a child to something like this, but I am over-cautious on that account. I am concerned about the violence these protests generate. I am not going to be involved in any violence. I abhor it as a total breakdown of intelligence and an illegitimate means of expression. I don't really know what to expect. And it makes me very nervous. Though not nervous enought to not go.

* Credit for Stratos reference to When Corporations Rule the World, David Korten.

Oh how I wish I could be involved somehow with the Science Year project in the UK. It started on 7 September 2001 and runs through August 2002. The Giant Leap got the whole thing off the ground (see photo below). I am going to keep my eye on this just to see what happens with the project. the web site is wonderful. the project is aimed at 7-19 years and "the adults around them." I like that way of looking at it!

Love this photo. Not sure how long the story will be valid, but it is at Giant Leap. More details at Science Year. And I will write more later.