nader!

yea! rob is voting for nader! i wouldn't normally be so excited about someone splitting the vote, but luckily rob is a cartoon character and it will not impact the real world. as much as i want to see bush out, so would hate for nader to split the vote, i would love to see some real change in our society one day.

amazing night

hello, my friends.

i've been at oxford for three weeks now. enough time to get minimal work done, feel mighty homesick, and lose most of my patience and all of my principals. but tonight my faith in humanity (or maybe just bureaucracy) was renewed. kinda.

instead of going to my one prescribed weekly class (i know, my life is tough), i decided to attend one of the semi-termly "Transatlantic Dialogues in Public Policy" at the american studies institute here. this little dialogue/seminar/lecture was called "housing the homeless".

now, this is all rather run of the mill, i suppose. EXCEPT that it was chaired by a guy called adam sampson, who is the national director of an organisation called shelter, which does all sorts of housing outreach, research, training, campaigning, etc all over the UK. he was joined by terrie alafat, the head of the homelessness and housing support directorate for the UK government, and philip mangano, the director of the US interagency council on homelessness.

now, all this in itself wasn't so amazing. certainly, mr mangano was less than inspiring (he talked a little too much about praying for a solution to homelessness. i zoned out; started thinking about sharks), but terrie was absolutely brilliant. very insightful. the uk is making some very aggressive moves on homelessness and related support services. PLUS...she's a native new englander. an expat. which i thought was fascinating. she did a phd in social policy (or policy generally?) at chicago, and only fell into homelessness stuff after working with local governments in london after she moved here with her husband.

yes. my point: social policy seems like a possibility here, where a strong central government directly controls the funding and service expectations of local governments. with the single-payer healthcare system, people actually get the preventative care they need, and homeless services are handled primarily through local government agencies, making it possible (to a much greater extent than in the US, at least) to measure the incidence and causes of homelessness. the UK woman was very good at describing policies and their effects. the US guy, on the other hand, talked a lot about the importance of the verb "to end" and how bush has pledged to end chronic homelessness by 2013. lots of talking. not much of a plan on how to do it, it seemed. forced to say something nice about him, i will acknowledge that it was in part thanks to him that funding for FQHCs was increased in 2002-03, which in turn made life at old town clinic much easier. but STILL.

anyway, i'm sure i've bored you all to death. i'm really excited, though. it was so nice to talk with people about these things. people don't do that here. which is disappointing. but yeah. ok. weak and confused with hunger. going now. clop clop clop.

love you all,
a.

ps - i'm re-reading biff right now. it's still hilarious.

yoga satchel

yea yoga satchel! what could be better than an incompetent veterinarian and yoga classes?

cost of war

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953

a republican said that! a republican! amazing. i just can't imagine bush even thinking that. or even making the first step toward connecting the concepts.

but really, i pilfered the quote from costofwar.com.

today is my and jack's one year anniversary. he says 'hello' to julie and shannon and 'can't wait to meet you' to bern, greg, and michelle. supposedly we're going someplace fancy for dinner tonight. hurrah.

what else is new? not a lot. i had my first meeting of the year wtih my advisor, so i feel really behind in work. and i keep having "what do i want to do with my life" crises. as i told jules in an email last week, i think my vocation may be to teach anti-war songs to the animals of the forest. in a totally non-'freaky montana anti-government nutbar' sort of way.

in the meantime, i'm content to read articles about fancy beer and stress out about 16th century property rights.

love you all,
a.ho

just because...

just because i love you all, i thought i'd show you this picture that was in the seattle paper:

the jv dream (the potluck dinner)

just a quick hello. it's late and i need to get to bed, but i did want to let you guys know that my roommates and i had a potluck on sunday night. it was very low key, and not very many people came (it was a bit last minute), but tim and gwyneth did come. it was so great to see them and talk jv talk (read: reminisce and gossip). and then we talked community talk with everyone else (both my roommates have lived in intentional communities). it made me miss our amazing dinners. damn we were good cooks.

everything else is going well. i'm slowly settling in and going from very content to a little overwhelmed to not knowing enough people and not having a life. it's a pretty subtle roller coaster. no big dips or loopty loops yet.

hope you all are well. i miss you.

love, jules

the jv dream (the potluck dinner)

just a quick hello. it's late and i need to get to bed, but i did want to let you guys know that my roommates and i had a potluck on sunday night. it was very low key, and not very many people came (it was a bit last minute), but tim and gwyneth did come. it was so great to see them and talk jv talk (read: reminisce and gossip). and then we talked community talk with everyone else (both my roommates have lived in intentional communities). it made me miss our amazing dinners. damn we were good cooks.

everything else is going well. i'm slowly settling in and going from very content to a little overwhelmed to not knowing enough people and not having a life. it's a pretty subtle roller coaster. no big dips or loopty loops yet.

hope you all are well. i miss you.

love, jules

squirrel-errific

hey, y'all...

there's an article in today's new york times entitled If Town Clears Out, It Must Be Squirrel Season.

bern and shannon, i thought you two might find it particularly interesting.

one of the tidbits of comedic gold: '"Excitement rushes through your body when you see a squirrel and you say, 'I've got to shoot it,'" said Alycia McDaniel, the homecoming queen at Pine Prairie High.'

i highly recommend that y'all head over and read it. i'll wait here.

OH! also, i know i've invited julie and bern, but if anyone else wants a google email address (good spam control and 1,000 free megabytes of storage), just give me a holler.

last night as i was falling asleep, having a crisis over what i want to do with my life, i remembered how relaxing nestucca was. maybe they'll run out of jesuits to run it, and i can take over? i wouldn't have to talk to people. i'd be near the ocean. and i'd get to have occasional amusing run-ins with patty mac and other JVC types. just a thought.

love you guys,
bubba.