Neotraditional Kinship Structure: Making NYC Affordable

I was washing myself in the shower this morning when I finally discovered a way to reconcile my immense love for NYC and my belief in frugality and living within one's means. Living with other people!!

It's quite obvious, isn't it? If the average cost of a studio apartment is $2500 per month, then you can just split it among four or five people to be able to afford it. Of course, then no one has much space, and you'll always be up in everyone else's grill. And this has always been a major turn off to me, especially since I've been with my boyfriend, because who wants to share such a small space with others? It's annoying and uncomfortable.

I do appreciate the values of the Bohemian lifestyle, of living simply and small, but in New York, unless you make more than 100k per year, you really are POOR. But the great thing about living with other people in a small space is that it replaces, in some small way, the vast kinship structures that humans have been accustomed to living in for thousands of years. This is what dawned on me this morning in my rushed shower.

Granted, you must become close to your roommates. They can not be anonymous people who simply come and go from a common dwelling. They have to be or become people you care about, and who take care of each other. Sort of like Friends, but less romantic and more poverty stricken. That way, if you lose your job at the local coffee shop, they can pay for rent themselves until you are able to repay them, with the understanding that you would do the same for them. Not only would this neotraditional kinship structure provide you with a financial safety net in these hard economic times, but it would also provide you with a handful of close fulfilling relationships that could be had in no other circumstances.

It is with this justification that I plan to move to New York, especially if I get into NYU or Columbia. I may look back ten years from now, and realize how wrong I was to be so naive and believe that big city anonymity and hardship could be overcome in such a simple way. But at least I will have tried... and it's much easier when you give yourself an ideological foundation on which to move.

Or if your rich, you can just buy this $50 million loft with a breathtaking view of Central Park... bastards!

Detroit v. New York

Like everyone else, I was royally pissed to hear about the Big Three Execs flying to DC on private jets to beg for money for their failing companies. I am personally vested in GM because my mother, Mama T, works for the company as a laborer. Seeing these rich ass holes flaunting their wealth just proved to me the disgusting degree of the disconnect between the welfare of a company and that of the capitalists who own and run it. It almost seems as though they don't give a shit if their companies fail, because they will still be walking away with hundreds of millions in severance pay.

My mom has seen drastic cuts in insurance coverage, and her pension is now largely her own responsibility (without contribution from the company.) For instance, as a family (of two kids under 6, herself, and me) we are allowed three doctor appointments per year. I went to the doctor recently, thinking that it would be covered by insurance, and later received a bill for $150. The prescription I had was not covered either, and I had to pay $40 per refill.

Thus it feels criminal that GM CEO is enjoying unprecedented (in GM's history) compensation. Shouldn't he be taking cuts like our family has? No one would question his or his family's right to unlimited access to medical care. Hell, no one would question his right to at least five luxury homes, located across the globe in the most beautiful locales. I guess it's too much to ask for him to cut back, sell a couple of those mansions, for the sake of the whole. Instead, the poor folk that break their backs day after day will have to internalize the costs.

That being said, I was listening to NPR today when a story compared this scenario to that of the financial institutions. The reporter pointed out that the latter, New York companies, didn't have to do much work to receive bailout packages. Indeed, they were throwing lavish parties the day after with government monies. The Detroit companies are asking for fractions of the amount received by the New York companies, but the government has been reluctant to grant these funds. While it was outrageous that the CEOs flew in on private jets, and that they were unprepared for the meeting in Congress, why isn't the government rushing to their aid, as it did for the New York financial companies?

It should be said that the financial companies play a perhaps more important role in the functioning of the economy, by providing credit for other sectors. But can we really afford to let the Big Three go broke, especially when we consider the extent to which the Midwest relies on them for employment directly and via complimentary companies? I don't know what the solution is, but I am telling Mama T to start looking for some other employment options, because I definitely don't have room for everyone here in my little Columbus apartment :)

Eating Right Feels Nice!

After reading Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, I am all about eating healthily. In his work, he attacks the Western diet, one he characterizes as industrialized food like substances. The key is to avoid these processed foods. Indeed, his mantra for healthful eating is

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

The easiest way to do this is

1. Get out of the supermarket. Go to farmers markets and the like for fresh, chemical free foods where you can connect with the people who make your food.

2. If farmers markets aren't available, then try staying on the edges of the market. This is generally where all the fresh produce and whole foods are located. Venturing into the middle of the market exposes oneself to the temptation of sugar and salt processed foods that are fattening and killing us.

I have found that instead of being a hassle, eating this way is exciting and adventurous. You have to be creative to figure out what to do with a squash or an avocado. You also have to spend a bit more money and a lot more time to prepare it. But the satisfaction of working with and tasting real food is more than worth these expenditures.


You can read more about Michael Pollan at his website. Also, the George Mateljan Foundation is a great organization that has lots of recipes using whole foods:

"The George Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization with no commercial influence, which provides this website for you free of charge. We are dedicated to making the world a healthier place by providing you with cutting-edge information about why the World's Healthiest Foods are the key to vibrant health and energy and how you can easily make them a part of your healthy lifestyle."

Henry Kissinger's Realist Diplomacy

First, let me say that I know Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under President Nixon, can be a conservative asshole, and that he is perhaps the staunchest ideologue/ practitioner of Realpolitik. He is wanted in several countries on charges of abetting genocide. Further, His Diplomacy is written in a sometimes sickening supercilious tone.

Diplomacy is nonetheless extremely insightful. The 800 page, 900 pound tome chronicles the art of diplomacy from the seventeenth century to the early nineties post Cold War era. It is really a great history lesson for me to learn about all of these important European and American figures.

It seems the central theme of the book that is recapitulated at each analysis of events is that Realpolitik works, whereas idealism only foments more complicated problems. The heroes of the oeuvre include Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Cardinal Richelieu, Chancellor Bismarck, and even Stalin to a certain extent, all shrewd calculators of their respective countries' national interest. The villains, who were either completely inept or too reliant on concepts such as international law or public opinion to be practical, include Woodrow Wilson, Napoleon III, and Eisenhower.

It is no coincidence that many of the leaders disdained by Kissinger are American. He describes America as the first country to consistently overlook its national interest in the name of law and morality. He credits America's oceanic barriers as the reason for this - European countries never entertained that possibility because a misstep in regards to the national interest most certainly would lead to lost territory.

While Kissinger concedes that WWI was a result of Realpolitik turning in on itself, WWII was definitely a failure of collective security. (a framework in which should any member country be attacked by any aggressor, all countries must come to the aid of victim nation. For instance, NATO is an organization of collective security. While it is unlikely, had Russia attacked a NATO member instead of an aspiring NATO member like Georgia, all NATO countries would have declared war. )

The problem was that France and Great Britain were pretending to adhere to collective security vis a vis Germany, except that Germany crossed many lines before either country actually committed themselves to upholding the principles of collective security; this was the policy of appeasement. The result was exponentially worse than had both countries acted in their national interests, which would have required Great Britain and France to align themselves against Germany at the first breach of the Versailles treaty. Thus, in most circumstances, it is safest to act in one's national interest as opposed to some far flung ideal like collective security or human rights.

I suppose I agree with the guy to a certain extent. The US would exhaust itself it went to war with every country that violated its ideals. Hell, we'd be at war with ourselves. Indeed, Kissinger mentions briefly that where the US rebuked the use of force as an ideal in most circumstances, like the Suez Canal crisis, it had no problem having leaders of unfriendly regimes killed or deposed secretly. Does Panama ring a bell anyone? I guess our ideals only cover what is seen by the public at the time.

The implications of Realpolitik can be frightening though. Kissinger views the War in Iraq as justified by American national interests to secure oil for energy security, though he does have qualms with the way the war was managed after Hussein's regime was toppled.

One might question if the world could ever know peace if every government practiced realism. I imagine Kissinger responding that there will never be peace anyway, and not fighting for the sake of not fighting is what led to the disastrous Second World War. Cruel it may be, but thus is the inner workings of a great Jewish mind of the twentieth century.

John McCain... You rich son of a bitch!

Would you consider yourself rich if you had a million dollars? John McCain wouldn't. In fact, you would need to be making five times that figure annually to be one of John McCain's rich. Yeah, that's right, you did not just misread. In order to meet McCain's requirements of rich, you must make $5,000,000 PER YEAR! Make sure you skim over all six zeros in that number again.

Hell, if you're like me, even a tenth of a million represents comfortable wealth, especially if that is your yearly income. Indeed, $150K per annum represents the income of America's richest 5 per cent. Curiously enough, and, in stark contrast to his opponent, Obama's definition of rich is this figure.

I don't know about you all, but I certainly prefer Obama's view. Because if Old John gets into office, all of his rich buddies, or according to him, not so rich buddies will continue to receive unprecedented tax breaks. Just read what his wife manages to save in taxes under Buddy Bush...

"Asking the world's tallest man to set cabinet heights, or the world's strongest man to decide the tension of jar lids, is going to leave you with some pretty tall cabinets and some pretty tightly closed jars. Similarly, asking one of the world's richest men to set your tax policy will end up with a pretty skewed set of policies: Say, a tax plan that gives his wife $370,000 in breaks. Again, nothing weird or malign: Just the naturally skewed perspective of someone who lives on a particular extreme, in this case, the extreme edge of the wealth distribution."

Read the rest of the article at Mother Jones blog.

Let's all hope that Obama's definition of rich will ultimately prevail, for the sake of justice and this country's social fabric. Besides, look how adorable he is the photo below... eating his organic apple and all...

A few Wortschatz

Wortschatz, German for vocabulary (literally word treasures), accurately describes all the new words I've been learning! How erudite of me.


The imperious preacher exhorted the apostate to revert, but the apostate remained intransigent.

1. apostasy
   
2. exhort
   
3. hortatory
   
4. imperious
5. intransigent

I feel so verbally well endowed...

Truth Be Told: Rwanda's Indictment

Kagame, in a sexy oversized leisure blazer, at right.

Aha! Perhaps Rwanda's indictment of senior French officials is not as altruistic as it seems. An IHT article published yesterday suggests that Rwanda's government, which is run by Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front, is distracting international attention away from itself. The International Criminal Tribunal has accused the RPF of killing tens of thousands of Hutus in the aftermath of the genocide. The indictment is more of a political ploy than a legal proceeding. It may also be a response to France's effort to bring Kagame before the UN Tribunal for plotting the plane crash that killed the former Rwandan president, an event that, when it occurred two years ago, set off more violence in the fragile country.

Says Kenneth Roth, president of Human Rights Watch, and a personal hero of mine:

"The timing of this report is no coincidence. At a moment when international pressure to pursue the RPF trials is at its height, this is an effort to change the subject and put the international community on the defensive."

Read the Katrin Bennhold IHT article.

New Vocab

1. mercurial


2. truculence


3. peremptory


4. dilettantish


5. exegesis

Hitler was truculent and imperious in conquest. Up to a certain point, his peremptory nature, while scaring the mercurial former Allies, elicited only dilettantish reference to collective security.

**Most of these words and ideas are courtesy of Henry Kissinger's Diplomacy.

Some Humpday updates

I just returned from a lovely vacation in Chicago. It was fabulous, but I am happy to be back in Cbus. Just in time to find some great reads in the Financial Times and Le Monde.

It looks like international law is going to get a lot more interesting in the coming weeks and months. The Rwandan government has indicted top French officials, including former Prime Minister de Villepin, in the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in the 90s. Further, the Spanish judiciary has determined itself fit to investigate charges of genocide in Tibet against Chinese Communist Party officials. What a brouhaha!

Financial Times gems:

1. Free Trade: The key to Britain's food security
2. French government indicted in Rwandan genocide
3. Greenspan's take on the state of the world's finances
4. The consequences of China's weak civil society

Le Monde (en francais)

1. Spanish court to investigate charges of genocide in Tibet against Chinese officials
2. Coup d'etat in Mauritania

10,000 Ohio Jobs Up in the Air Pending DHL and UPS Air Service Consolidation

Oh no! German mail carrier DHL may consolidate their North American air delivery service with UPS. Should that occur, the DHL North American hub, located in Wilmington, Ohio, will be closed. Some 10,000 jobs would be lost!

The issue has become a point of contention between the US and Germany. A possible anti-trust suit may be brought by the US against DHL. Both presidential candidates have voiced their concern over the merger. The State of Ohio and representatives of Ohio are particularly disconcerted. Says Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown:

"They [Wilmington] laid out the welcome mat for DHL by providing more than $400 million in incentives.Workers and their families rightfully feel betrayed by the callous decision made by Deutsche Post. This is a foreign company that frankly hasn't played it straight with us."

Hopefully, this talk will scare DHL from finalizing the deal with UPS. But even if the deal is struck down, what will become of the DHL plant in Wilmington? As the hub of its North American operations, perhaps it is too important to shut down without a way to maintain its share of the US/Canadian markets. Time will tell just how valuable the Wilmington hub truly is.

Read Der Spiegel International's article DHL Hub Closure? by Mark Pitzke.

You're On Your Own Eritrea and Ethiopia: UN Peacekeepers to Depart

War is the likely outcome of the long standing border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia, now that the UN peacekeeping mission has committed to withdrawal. The UN mission was disabled after Eritrea began restricting access to the border. The UN Security council voted unanimously today to end the peacekeeping mission between the two countries. Tomorrow, the end of the mission will be official.

This is an unfortunate outcome to a situation that has been brewing and spewing forth for the last 15 years since Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia. The declaration of independence was interpreted by some as a colonial constructed identity crisis for Eritreans. Prior to Italian occupation of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia and Eritrea) preceding the Second World War, there was not a true Eritrean identity. It is said that the colonial government somehow managed to construct the Eritrean identity, as was the case of ethnic identities in many colonized areas of Africa. 

Regardless of the causes of the split, it severely crippled Ethiopia as it left the country landlocked. And as anyone who has ever taken a class on international economics and economic development knows, a lack of access to the seas translates into a severe handicap for a nation's economy. Perhaps this explains Ethiopia's perpetually stagnant economic performance and lack of development.

 It would be preferable for the mission to maintain the boundary, but it seems that this is no longer possible due  to the lack of cooperation from both sides. Gun shots have already been fired. The only question left is when will the war begin? Read the the AP article on CNN's site.

World Gun Violence

I found this map to be very interesting. Who knew that Mexico has a higher rate of gun death than the US? It is important to note, though, that among the core countries, the US has by far the highest rate of gun deaths. Furthermore, the peripheral countries that are characterized by a higher number of gun deaths are either destabilized by warfare, as is the case in many of the Sub Saharan African countries, or places where mobsters and drug lords operate. Thus, America's position is not as enviable as it might appear.

A Brief Communist Rant

The city dwelling bourgeois demands cheap labor to deliver their fancy lattes and serve as their doorman, but they certainly do not want affordable housing in their neighborhood where those service people might be able to live, as that would be near suicide for property values. Those poor bourgeois. Meanwhile, we non-salaried, minimum wage workers are stuffed miles away from the people we service in unsafe conditions (see Harlem and the Bronx at the service of Manhattanites), so as to not create an eyesore. This arrangement works out quite nicely for the affluent, as they get the service they demand without any low income spillover. Oh to be bourgeois!

The Graduate Record Exam: Vocabulary

Casey and I have begun studying for the GRE. We go to our local Barnes & Noble and use one of their Princeton Review study guides. Don't tell B&N! I feel so very incompetent. My vocabulary is especially ignominious. (YAY! New word!) For those of you who are gifted, or whose parents have cultivated in you a grand vocabulary (like my boyfriend), please wipe that supercilious look from your face (YAY! Another!) Below is the first list of words I have compiled. I have decided to divide words into groups based on similar definitions, and maybe sometimes antonyms. The first group of words all have to do with lacking energy or weakness. Some of them I was familiar with. The other words I have just never seen and or used.

1. listless

2. languid

3. lassitude

4. indolent

5. wan

6. supine

Alas, I feel so supine after learning all these new words... the lassitude of a summer afternoon nap is calling...

A $10 Twinkie?

It may sound crazy, but $10 is the true cost of a Twinkie, according to anthropologist Richard Robbins. The cheap price we pay now is due to directly and indirectly subsidized transportation and sugar.  The other $9.85 in externalities that the Twinkie costs is hidden, that is, paid for by society. These hidden costs consist of the aforementioned subsidies in transportation and agriculture, environmental damage from processing and growing sugar, and the damage to our health caused from eating processed foods. Read Robbin's The Political Economy of Twinkies for more information. 

Also, check out The Apple vs. the Twinkie in the Washington Times Editorials. Twinkies are four times cheaper than apples, despite all of the value added required to process the sugar into unrecognizable goo. The author argues that agricultural subsidies, which primarily benefit megafarms, are to blame. The result: Americans' consumption of Twinkies, along with their wasteline, is growing.

Defense Industry Political Contributions

I found an interesting bit of information recently. In the current election cycle, weapons industries, with the exception of Lockheed, are contributing more heavily to Democrats than to Republicans. The figure is that $8.5 million is going to Dems, and $7.8 million going to Republicans. Does anyone know why that is? Assuming most Democrats agree with Obama, then we will not be going to war anytime soon with Iran. Wouldn't it be more lucrative for these industries to invest in the Republicans, since they are the war mongering party? 

Perhaps they feel that Obama is going to have an overwhelming victory over McCain, in which case, all they money they have paid might get them special treatment in Obama's plan to refocus on Afganistan.

In any case, opensecrets.org is a fascinating website. The quantity of dollars that some of these industries contribute is hard to read. For defense spending, go to Open Secrets' defense page. They also have every other kind of political contribution on record!

New York: The Most Expensive City

Will I ever be able to realize my dream of becoming a New Yorker? Probably not... at least not in a financially comfortable way. Read Paying the Price for Living in New York  by Courtney Gross from the Gotham Gazette:

"New Yorkers already pay a high price to live here, and the cost of everything from a subway ride to tap water keeps going up."

Also, check out escapebrooklyn.blogspot.com for the perspective of a woman's plan to escape NYC. It is really well done; I am frankly jealous of her page. She moved to Brooklyn (supposedly the cheap part of New York) years ago, loved it at first, and now realizes she can't get ahead financially, despite a career in nonprofit. It is painful and depressing to read her count out every last penny she spends. Maybe New York isn't for me.... 

America's Culture of Debt

A great explanation of the current conundrum we find ourselves in, and much more logical than my previous posting! America's Culture of Debt in IHT Opinion Page by David Brooks.

The Chagrin of a soon-to-be college grad

In a word, I am DISTRESSED. The US economy is out of control. Our country’s debt is skyrocketing (bought by China Inc.), Americans’ personal debt is following suit to lenders, and what is normally our most valuable asset, our home, is, in some cases, worth half of the mortgage borrowed in its namesake. What with the skyrocketing price of oil, on which the economy has been stupidly founded, we are in real danger of economic disaster on the scale of the Great Depression. The dollar is plummeting in value, while prices continue to soar, in recognition of that fact.

All of this means different things for different people. For the baby boomers (the ones who are not billionaires,) this manifests itself as a shrinking nest egg for retirement. (Perhaps shrinking is too weak – shriveling.) For many corporate CEOs, the economy in its current state is a cash cow. Even when their companies fail, they walk away with millions of dollars in severance. For middle-aged professionals, perhaps they can no longer depend on returning to work tomorrow.

But for people like me, (or the person I will be at the end of this academic year,) that is, fresh graduates looking to begin their professional lives, the economy is perhaps even more bleak. We are in desperate need for a job to start repaying all the debt we have accumulated over the four to six years we’ve spent in undergrad and graduate schools. We were promised the world… “Get an education, and you can do whatever your heart desires.” Some crock of bullshit that has turned out to be. Lending institutions have taken advantage of our naiveté, cashing in on all those student loans we needed to fund our study abroad that would “pay itself back in a few years.” Yet another lie financial and academic institutions have worked together to propagate.

Unfortunately for us, there are no jobs that can help us pay those loans back. We students, who followed our dreams, pursuing liberal arts degrees with no clear career track like professional degrees, are stuck working in the service sector, or maybe, nonprofit sector, earning barely the minimum wage, and hardly a livable wage. Furthermore, those jobs exist in bulk only in big cities, where the cost of living greatly exceeds what the wages we are offered can sustain.

I suppose all we young people can do is resign ourselves to destitution, and hate our baby boomer parents and grand parents for enjoying higher standards of living than we ever will.

Gay Bashing

>

It is incredible. My boyfriend and I were walking down the streets of the Short North minding our own business, trying to figure out what to do with our selves on a pleasant Friday evening. We were both wearing clothes that would not be considered “normal” for guys, that is, not a loose pair of khaki shorts with an even more ill fitting dress shirt, although neither of our outfits was outrageous.

Nonetheless, as we were making our way to High along Spring, a group of frat guys walked by. I felt physically threatened because there were so many of them, and Spring was absolutely deserted besides us. I braced myself as they walked by. No physical beating occurred, but they yelled “QUEERS” at us once they had walked past us. They didn’t even have the decency to say it to our faces.

As if that were not discouraging enough, as we made our way from Spring down toward Jeni’s Ice Cream on High, a group of macho dudes in a car shouted “FAGS” at us. We both felt angry, and a bit confused.

First, I must say that many gay people are accustomed to this sort of barbaric behavior. I have been called many vicious synonyms of “fag” and “queer” too many times to count. I expect it often times when I am in the Arena District, or in the University District, where classless and uncultivated types tend to abound. But, this is the Short North we are talking about! This is OUR territory. Everyone knows that the Short North is the de facto “Gay” district. As such, we should be able to flaunt around as freely as we desire, in only a rainbow thong if we so choose, without fear of being haggled.

Lately, I have been growing much fonder of Columbus. For instance, I discovered the Olentangy multi-use path, which gave me a newfound respect for the city. But Columbus is still the Mid West, a region notorious for its lack of tolerance, dignity, intelligence, and culture. In New York, where I have had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time, this would never happen. “FAG” as a pejorative insult would never be heard in the streets of Chelsea, the New York counterpart to the Short North (Although “fag” as in “Hey fag” a la Paris Hilton’s “Hey bitch” is quite prevalent.) It is accepted as gay territory. I should also add that I never felt threatened anywhere in Manhattan as I do here in Columbus. As much as I love this city, it is a product of the state of Ohio, and as such, gays can never truly feel at home.

Global Food Crisis

On Wednesday morning, Raj Patel appeared on Open Line with Fred Andrle. He discussed the global food system that connects producers to consumers. He describes it as a singular system that at once starves the poor and fattens the core countries. This is the central theme of his book Stuffed and Starved.

How exactly does the same system manage to overfeed millions while systemically starving a billion people? Patel describes it as simple economics. These days, all food is supplied by a handful of corporations. The goal of any business is to buy low, sell high. For instance, coffee farmers are paid on average a measly seven cents per pound. Nestle buys those beans directly or through a distributor, processes them into instant coffee, and sells it to Northern consumers for $10 per pound. This is a huge profit margin!

The problem arises when farmers of the global South are unable to buy basic foodstuffs to sustain themselves with these low prices. Commodities like coffee have been plummeting in price for decades. Economists would have these farmers farm a different crop to attain natural advantage, but climates suitable for coffee are not suitable for many other crops.

At the same time, the processing required to exact such huge profits enriches our food with sugars and salts. As we all know, sugars and salts are what make us fat and sick (ie cancer). As Patel points out, Americans love to believe that when they enter a supermarket they have every choice in the world. They can buy all different kinds of fruits, vegetables, meats, cereals, and beverages. But they are really choosing between Coke and Pepsi, Frosted Flakes and Coco Puffs, or Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples, none of which is really a choice (or delicious for that matter).

Perhaps most distressing is that this system does not adhere to the democratic principals of this country, or those of the international order. Americans never sat down to decide they wanted to eat fattening, sterile foods, nor did the poor farmers of the South vote to be paid less than a living wage.

There are alternatives though. Eating local is a great way to avoid this system. Visit your local farmers market. The fresh food you buy there is sure to be tastier and healthier. Fair trade is also vital to circumventing this system. It ensures a livable wage to producers, and high quality and social justice to consumers.

What do you think? Do you agree with Raj Patel’s opinion, or does the current system seem to work? Should the burden be placed on consumers to pressure corporations and make their own decisions? Do you feel like you have a choice at the grocery? How does the global food system tie into food borne illnesses? Do you think there is a link between the recent outbreak of E. coli and salmonella and the way our food is handled and distributed in the system? Please leave a comment with you ideas!

Links

Stuffed and Starved
Listen to Fred Andrle interview Raj Patel on Open Line

The Political Western Woman and Her Pantsuit

Women

are finally able to claim their place in the political arena. We have the fabulous Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. Should Bush and Cheney die, she would be president! Of course Hilary Clinton is a political powerhouse, and was the first woman to run in the Democratic primaries for president. Condoleezza Rice is a genius, and our current woman secretary of state, being preceded by Madeleine Albright. On the international scene, Angela Merkel, the first woman chancellor of Germany, was named Forbes most powerful woman. Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, and Margaret Thatcher have all served as the heads of very powerful states. While many of these women have turned out to be more “masculine” in politics than their male counterparts to “make up” for being a woman, this is quite a positive development. Nonetheless, our Western female politicians are caught in a dreadful fashion rut. Unlike Gandhi, who was always seen in beautiful feminine Indian dresses, our female leaders are one note in their boring pant suits.

“But dresses are too feminine for Western politicians,” is the response I get whenever I mention something so sacrilegious in the United States. Well what’s wrong with feminine? Dresses can be powerful, and they are much more interesting than the power suits men wear.

Don’t get me wrong, there are fashionable pantsuits for women. Unfortunately Mrs. Clinton has yet to find one… she apparently only has eyes for Easter egg pastels! Nancy Pelosi is always dressed very stylishly. But would it be that unprofessional to wear a dress?

The real issue here seems to be a much more subtle form of sexism that still exists in our society. It is not OK to be feminine when posted to a position of power. Women have to be dressed like men, but not look so butch as to be a lesbian.

This must change! Women in power should be free to wear a professional dress that makes them feel and look fabulous. We have great examples from Southern Asia in the late Gandhi. We just need to Westernize it to make it relevant here, a task that has never proven difficult for this country.

Change is the theme of the current election. People are fed up with the way this country is run. A strong woman in a good-looking dress could be the catalyst for a long line of changes that need to be made. Call it superficial, but the symbolic power of a woman breaking free from the sexist norm could be the beginning of the next great social revolution!

The Case for a Higher Gas Tax

I recently began working at WOSU on Open Line, screening callers and maintaining the webpage. It is a lot of fun! Today, we had an open forum where people just call in to talk about what's on their mind. Many callers were very concerned with the rising price of gas. With demand for crude oil skyrocketing due to growing demand from the developing world, not to mention shameless speculation on Wall Street , the price of gas is not likely to plateau any time soon. Within this context, raising taxes on gas seems out of the question for most people. Perhaps the most convincing argument against raising taxes on gas in the US is the lack of alternatives, namely, people have to drive to get around. Taxes, the story goes, are only going to hurt the poor. I would like to respond to that claim.

Many of you know that in most parts of the world, especially Europe, gas is selling for well over $8 per gallon. Why the difference from the US? European governments figure that aside from the cost of gas, driving incurs many other costs. There are steep costs associated with motor vehicle accidents, congestion, infrastructure construction and maintenance, pollution, etc. They heavily tax gasoline to ensure that the people who are causing these externalities and using the roadways are the ones who are paying for it. It turns out that $8 per gallon is the true cost of driving in Europe. In the US, where taxes on gasoline are very low, the government is subsidizing gasoline. This has been part of larger policy failure that has led us to our current conundrum, where we are fuel dependent. The problem arises when the cost of gasoline rises, and the government's subsidy is no longer apparent. Americans are penny pinching, and do not want to pay more for gas. They reminisce of the days when gas was only $2 per gallon.

But Americans need to wake up. Those days are over, and life is going to be getting much more difficult. We have spent the last fifty years creating a car centric society that is desperately dependent on cheap oil. The economy is in danger of collapse because we can no longer cheaply transport goods. A steep tax on gasoline, as part of a broader policy initiative to ween us off oil, is not only smart but necessary. That policy should also include encouraging high density city living and expanding public transportation facilities.

What about the poor? Firstly, a majority of America's poor live in urban areas, namely urban centers. Many of them have no choice but to use public transportation anyway. They will not feel directly the hike in gas prices. Second, no one should be getting a free ride in regards to driving. If someone cannot afford the true cost of driving, which would take into account accidents, pollution, infrastructure, and the like, they should not be driving. That may put some people, like the rural and working poor in difficult situations, but ultimately, they will have to move closer to work or to some place that has access to public transport, which is the desired effect.

The most important advantage of the gas tax is that it will force people to stop wasting gas. You are going to think twice about driving a block to see your friend when gas is $8 per gallon. You may decide to bike to work, which would make you healthy and happy. In the end, the gas tax may just be the cure to many of America's most urgent maladies and chagrins.

Hipsters

I thought a few of you would find this amusing. If you ever wondered what a hipster was, this site has it covered with 56 definitions. I especially liked #1:

"Listens to bands that you have never heard of. Has hairstyle that can only be described as "complicated." (Most likely achieved by a minimum of one week not washing it.) Probably tattooed. Maybe gay. Definitely cooler than you. Reads Black Book, Nylon, and the Styles section of the New York Times. Drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon. Often. Complains. Always denies being a hipster. Hates the word. Probably living off parents money - and spends a great deal of it to look like they don't have any. Has friends and/or self cut hair. Dyes it frequently (black, white-blonde, etc. and until scalp bleeds). Has a closet full of clothing but usually wears same three things OVER AND OVER (most likely very tight black pants, scarf, and ironic tee-shirt). Chips off nail polish artfully after $50 manicure. Sleeps with everyone and talks about it at great volume in crowded coffee shops. Addicted to coffee, cigarettes (Parliaments, Kamel Reds, Lucky Strikes, etc.), and possibly cocaine. Claims to be in a band. Rehearsals consist of choosing outfits for next show and drinking PBR. Always on the list. Majors or majored in art, writing, or queer studies. Name-drops. May go by "Penny Lane," "Eleanor Rigby," etc. when drunk. On PBR. Which is usually.


I am not a fucking hipster! (sweeps bangs to side dramatically and takes a swig of PBR)

by 'Penny Rigby' "

Doesn't it all make sense now? Read more at urban dictionary. 

Disclaimer: I have immense respect for hipsters' originality and general coolness. The only reason I am poking fun is I am just not hip enough to be a hipster... :(