June 18, 2006

  • Love

    Last time I went overseas was in 1999.  I decided to take a vacation, against my graduate advisor’s wishes, to visit my grandmother and my great-grandmother.  I’m glad I went, because a few years after my last visit, my grandmother and my great-grandmother died.

    Everytime I go overseas, I am always appreciative of coming back to the United States.  Invariably, whenever I return home, I spend a few weeks pooping out roundworms, and then the diarrhea resolves.  I’ve yet to acquire malaria when going there, but part of that luck may be that my relatives were smart enough to keep me from going to the heavily wooded rural areas.

    I now live in the same state as a supposedly-American “country” singer.  Differences between us include the following:

    • She is white.  I am not white.
    • If she were to go to China, she would be treated royally.  When I visited China, my Hong Kong-born friends were harrassed.  They even had to bribe train station guards to let them leave the country, despite the fact that they had legal passports to travel freely.
    • She is famous.  I am not famous.
    • She hates the way she is treated in America.  I love where I live.

    I suspect North Koreans love where they live too. The following excerpt from a photoblog of North Korea demonstrates this intense, unwavering love for a leader.

    “. . . Me and the Great Leader. You have to make sure photos are taken of the front of the statue only and that the full body is in the shot to avoid causing offence. Our guide actually checked my digital camera after the shot was taken to make sure. . . .”

    (from http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=200578)

    Many people are ragging on a new country song.  I think it’s an okay song.  I’m a little surprised at how it seems to support some of the things she appears to be against.   I post it below so that you can read the lyrics and decide for yourself.

    Not Ready to Make Nice

    Forgive, sounds good
    Forget, I’m not sure I could
    They say time heals everything
    But I’m still waiting

     

    I’m through with doubt
    There’s nothing left for me to figure out
    I’ve paid a price

    And I’ll keep paying

    I’m not ready to make nice
    I’m not ready to back down
    I’m still mad as hell and
    I don’t have time to go round and round and round

    It’s too late to make it right
    I probably wouldn’t if I could
    ‘Cause I’m mad as hell
    Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

    I know you said
    Can’t you just get over it


    It turned my whole world around
    And I kind of like it

    I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
    With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
    It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
    Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger

    And how in the world can the words that I said
    Send somebody so over the edge


    That they’d write me a letter
    Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
    Or my life will be over


    I’m not ready to make nice
    I’m not ready to back down
    I’m still mad as hell and
    I don’t have time to go round and round and round

    It’s too late to make it right
    I probably wouldn’t if I could
    ‘Cause I’m mad as hell
    Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

    I’m not ready to make nice
    I’m not ready to back down
    I’m still mad as hell and
    I don’t have time to go round and round and round

    It’s too late to make it right
    I probably wouldn’t if I could
    ‘Cause I’m mad as hell
    Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should


    Forgive, sounds good
    Forget, I’m not sure I could
    They say time heals everything
    But I’m still waiting

    Let me guess. . . . Natalie Maines feels persecuted. Feelings of persecution are listed in the DSM-IV as one of the criteria for schizophrenia.

    I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for her.

    Well, Ms. Maines, “Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should.”