Word

Sabbatical

Hi y'all.

School is starting and so I am taking a sabbatical from blog-land. I should return periodically, but won't have much going on here for at least a month or two.

Until then, you should check out the weblogs listed to the left
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which are infinitely awesome!

love,

~liz

Also

Also, I have been reading Nathan's weblog.

It is very funny, which is good for when you can't talk but laughing is okay:

http://www.nathonius.com

love again,

~liz

Sign Language

Yesterday, I went to the surgeon to have my gums operated on. Today, I can't talk (well, I'm not supposed to).

Also, I am on codine.

I have been talking to Nathan via a funky form of sign-language.

He is very patient.

I love him very much.

Also, it is snowing. I tried to get a picture of it, but I did not want to go outside. So here is a picture of me, instead:

I am thinking about what the picture will look like.

I'll write more clearly when the codine wears off.

loove,

~liz

It's not about you - it's about an ever-advancing civilization

Hi.

Something that free time allows you to do is to think. Quite a bit. And so since we've had a whopping month off of school, I've been thinking a month's worth of free time thoughts.

Which can be bad, since I've a bit of a tendency to stew in my own juices - to become self-critical and then depressed. Not a pretty thing.

Like I've worn the same shirt for four days just because I don't want to change.

Anyhow, last night, Nathan and I were talking about finances and starting a real savings plan, and he suggested that I read this book Created Rich, which is a book written about finances and savings from a Baha'i perspective, which he had been reading (and really likes).

I don't know what it is about money and finances and economics, but I am not interested. Not only am I not interested, I am afraid to think/read/talk about it. I think partially because I am ashamed that I know very little about it but mostly because I feel guilty that:

1. I have a vague conception of what I am supposed to do with money (save),
2. I'd rather spend it instead,
3. I'm embarrassed because I don't have a lot, and
4. I've a history of spending spending spending and then being broke and in debt.

So I don't want to touch that mess with a ten-foot pole.

However, in the course of our discussion last night while discussing the general feeling of guilt that many people have, Nate said to me, "it's not about you - it's about an ever-advancing civilization."

It's true! I was very excited because this not only addressed my fears about money (I actually resolved to get over it and be open to changing my habits) but also other aspects of my life. Think about how you would behave if, before every decision you took, you thought "does this assist in an ever-advancing civilization?" Not only would you feel that you had a part to play in the progression of society, but you would be affecting society in a positive manner!

love,

~liz

Closed

Hey-

Just so you know, I've paused allowing comments for a bit until I can figure out how to get smutters from plastering this site with junk.

love,

~liz

Fresh meat

I almost feel an obligation to follow "Hip Hop Rots Your Brain" with something profound or awesome.

Unfortunately, I only have mundane news - run-of-the-mill, so to speak.

Nathan (my husband) and I went up to Chicago this past weekend to scope out the apartment scene for our upcoming move (Nate is graduating in May and I am sometime soon after that, in sh'allah). Apparantly, the renter's market is pretty open, since the new thing is owning a condo. Beautiful old brownstone and brick apartments with hardwood floors and newly renovated innards are all over the place.

Our exciting find was the neighborhood of Rogers Park, which is on the lake, just south of Evanston (the nothernmost one can be in Chicago proper without spilling over into the suburbs). It is said to be one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the nation (which is surprising, since Chicago is such a segregated city). It's demographic breaks down like this:

30% White (European/American)
30% Black (African/Caribbean)
30% Latino (South/Central American)
10% Other

What a flavourful mix! I am really excited about the prospect of moving there! It has nice tree-lined streets, and is not only diverse in terms of ethnicity, but age as well, with college students, families with children, and older adults. It also has yumma foods, with a variety of ethnic and yumma restaurants as well as a new and awesome Chipotle, which Nathan and I so dearly love.

My glee about the neighborhood is tempered only by a nagging guilt that we could also be living somewhere else - on the west or south side, where so much work is needed to be done. Amid run down highrises and economically depressed businesses there is a segregated worlds in need of social and spiritual upliftment. Nate and I drove around the south side, looking for apartments and trying to catch a feel for the area and it seemed depressing at times. I know that if we choose to move there, it will be more of a test for me - I feel that I fit in more in a diverse area than a segregated one (regardless of the segregation).

In either situation, I would be growing - moving from Urbana to Chicago is a change in the scenery, no doubt. I couldn't say that I would be growing more in one place than in another - the growth would be in different ways.

It's a difficult decision - any thoughts (no guilt trips, please)?

love,

~liz

P.S. The reference to "fresh meat" is to the organic burgers that Nathan and I got at Trader Joe's in Chicago - buffalo!

"HIP HOP ROTS YOUR BRAIN"

This ill-stated message has recently been plastered across billboards in the Urbana-Champaign area where we live. You can tell that I don't like it merely because I put it in quotation marks (which are very often equally ill-used. Some examples from these past two weeks: Merry "Christmas"; Thank you for "not smoking." What do these words mean?) and also because it is stupid. Underneath the message itself is an advertisement for the people who brought said message to the public - the Coalition of Responsible Attentive Parents (or CRAP, as one friend pointed out).

So I have been mulling over a few points of why this message has made me so incensed. I have listed them here in no particular order, but I hope that perhaps, if you agreed with the statment in the first place, you find that it is not entirely a valid one.

1. "Hip Hop" is a pretty vague category. What many unversed in popular music consider "rap," hip hop is in fact the genre of music in which rapping (a form of lyrical conveyance) in included. Others consider rap to be a separate form, but that is neither here nor there for this arguement. The point is, hip hop encompasses a wide range of styles, and an equally wide range of messages. In fact, within modern-day hip hop, there are two main camps: mainstream and conscious (maybe even more, but let's not get too picky here). So to state that ALL varieties of Hip Hop rot one's brain is like saying that ALL white people are blonde.

2. "Rots your brain"? I mean, give me a break. I understand that the message is not that there is a literal rotting of the brain, like one would experience using concaine or herion (why isn't the Coalition of Responsible Attentive Parents concerned with drug use, anyhow, as it has a much more widespread audience than hip hop). That being the case, the phrase "rots your brain" is used in an emotional context, in order to evoke visions of destruction akin to the aforementioned drug use. To say that listening to hip hop is as destructive as shooting heroin is silly, to say the least.

3. The most evocative point, however, is hip hop itself. Turn off the MTV and go out and buy some good hip hop albums, like Blackalicious, KRS1, Talib Kweli, or Lauryn Hill. What you find may surprise you. Instead of half-naked women pouring ridiculously expensive alcohol over their bodies while sitting on Bentleys which are parked next to other scantily-clad women who are gyrating their pelvises into the main character of the video who is draped in jewels that he's rented for the day, you will find conscious and informed lyrics, which promote non-violence, a vegetarian lifestyle, the empowerment of the downtrodden, and living a spiritual life. Go figure. Don't believe everything you see on television.

The fact is, these so-called "Responsible Attentive Parents" are neither responsible nor attentive. If they were the latter, they would look beyond the garbage spewed out by their television sets, and into the heart of hip hop, which is, at its core, an enlightened and progressive realm. If they were the former, they wouldn't be plastering our fair skyline with such slander. They could at least alter the statement to read "Some manifestations of HIP HOP such as those promoted by music television has the potential to ROT YOUR BRAIN."

So let me know about your favourite hip hop - and remember - I AM HIP HOP (and so are you). It's a revolution, baby.

FIN.

love,

~liz