"Two Oil Barrels"
From a series of posters for an Oberlin mini-course on oil and the Middle East
It's once again sunny and freezing, but that's all right, because I'll be on true vacation in about 24 hours.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, gearing up to set automatic vacation response to "on" on Gmail.
I's a frosty morning here in Obieland, where only the brave, strong, or stupid stay for spring break.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, a little of all three.
Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse, from the New York Times.
I'm watching men being set on fire and being run down by police vans. I'm watching reporters being beaten to the ground and hearing reports of them being stabbed.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, thoughts going out to the Egyptian people and those who would try to tell their story.
Did you know that the 7th Circuit Court has a style guide (h/t Sam Glover at the Lawyerist)? Apparently lawyers have been using sans-sarif fonts as body text, and the 7th Circuit wasn't going to have that. Two questions: (1) Is this a perfect example of judicial activism (first abortion, then school prayer, and now Helvetica!)? (2) Since when did lawyers become graphic designers?
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, snowed in and pondering the typographic tyranny of the courts.
Photograph by Ed Ou for the New York Times.
It's a cold morning in Northeast Ohio, and maybe a cold day in hell; the New York Times headline this morning: Islamists Support Secular Leader
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, wondering if this means the U.S. Government will finally throw its support behind the ousting of Egypt's strongman, Mubarak.
Photo by John Moore for Time magazine.
Scripture tells us that, one day, man shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, hoping that day comes soon.
And now for the most despicable thing I've read in a long time (reposting in total a post from Digby's Hullabaloo):
The Closet Is Healthy For Gays And Other Living Things
This speaks for itself:
[I]t was not a juvenile prank that killed the unfortunate Mr. Clementi even though it served as the proximate trigger for his lethal actions. If anyone other than Mr. Clementi should be blamed for his suicide, it is those who repeatedly encouraged him to behave in a way that would fill him with such guilt, remorse, and shame.
And the reason he feels remorse, guilt and shame, of course, is because bigots and bullies torture them for being who they are. But that's the way God intended it, I guess. Stay in the closet where a gay person can feel good about themselves.
The post is called "gay rights killed Clementi" by the way.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, thoroughly disgusted.
In happier news, I have a new post up at Oberlin Blogs, here.
Somehow, though, I'm still utterly disgusted.
It's a pretty hellish day here in Oberlin. I'm dealing with the cold that will not die, and the rain and cold is doing nothing to help.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, wishing I didn't have to leave my warm and comfy apartment.
From Caldwell Tanner's "What if Superheroes Were Hipsters?" (here)
A rainy morning looks to be turning into a beautiful day. Did I mention I'm an ObieTalk hero (note: not mentioned by name and just made fun of). Suck it, ObieTalk, you'll pry my coffee mugs from my cold, dead hands.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, defiant till the end.
You're looking at the day's to do list (note: I redacted a few things). Everything looks fine until you get over to MHST 235, where you see listening assignments spread across ten different CDs. Two questions: (1) Why does the Con Library only let you take out two of these CDs at a time? (2) Is it really that hard to put these up online?
Look, I'm all for doing lots of listening in Music History; seriously, I'm more than happy to pull out a score and dig into listening assignments. But only being able to take out two at a time because you and everyone you know is trying to do the same assignment while you sit in the Con Library listening booth, wishing you were someplace less loud and with fewer people bro-fiving their bffs.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, waiting for the day that professors just put damn their assignments online.
Meena Hasan
Tiger (2010)
Ink and Acrylic on Fabric, 18" x 45"
From her website, here.
It's a miserable day here in Oberlin. Fortunately, I'll be too busy filling out forms to notice.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, trying to navigate the labyrinthine passages of Oberlin's bureaucracy.
As a certified* writing associate for a first-year seminar, I have to dress up for class today.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, wearing a tie.
*Well, I took a course.
It's the first day of classes, which is something on which I'm choosing not to focus. Instead, let me point to the always funny Bill in Portland Maine:
I'll take a sizable amount of outrage at the ban-enacters and modern-day DADT supporters with me to my grave. If they had allowed me to serve, I would've killed 500 Taliban assholes with nothing more than a sharp stick, captured Osama bin Laden with a rolled-up newspaper, and peeled potatoes faster than any other corporal in the U.S. military's history. I say this with 98% certainty.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, firmly ignoring impending doom.
I've got some things to say, I'm just not sure how to say them yet.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, at a loss for words.
Eliza Koch
I'm back in Oberlin, which means summer is almost over.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, and that name is once again true.
"The Earth together with the Moon, as seen from the Messenger spacecraft to Mercury, May 2010."
Via Warren Ellis, via Bruce Sterling
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- For students entering college this fall, e-mail is too slow, phones have never had cords and the computers they played with as kids are now in museums.
The Class of 2014 thinks of Clint Eastwood more as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry urging punks to "go ahead, make my day." Few incoming freshmen know how to write in cursive or have ever worn a wristwatch.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, discovering gray hairs.
On the docket: A Morning Update, Scott Pilgrem, and much, much more.
Don't touch that dial, Oberliner promises to be the place to be all day today.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner comin' at you from temperate Murderopolis.
Robert Hass was on to something when he said (and I paraphrased), "In this, all the old thinking resembled the new thinking." Apparently, in 1910, Robert Slass predicted a device called "the wireless telegraph" that would serve as a telephone, ring or vibrate, allow people to see images of things far away, and send music and images to each other, among other things (h/t Tyler Cowen)."
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, and the future is now.
Did you know that John Steinbeck wrote a "translation" of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur? I didn't, but it sure is good.
This is Ich Bin Ein Oberliner, surprised that John Steinbeck could have been a great fantasy writer.
NB: There's a new post up at Oberlin Blogs. It's long, has no pictures, is about Oberlin newspapers, and is therefore exactly the opposite of what my bosses encourage me to write. Sorry guys. Also, it's kind of maudlin. Enjoy!
