I'd Better Not See Alaska From My House

What I'm Listening To: The Rent is Too Damn High Speech

From the drumbeats outside my lovely abode on State Street; to the tumultuous school closings both at the grade school, high school, and university level; to the thousands of protesters young and old clogging the streets; to CNN, BBC, MSNBC and countless others making the fight to “kill the bill” a national and international issue–it’s been an interesting week for Madison, WI.

I’m utterly exhausted from it. And it’s only going to get worse because Madison, Wis. is about to go from having Jesse Jackson to… Sarah Palin??? From my discourse, it should be unequivocally clear that I am a Democrat and proud of it. Frankly, I can’t stand being in the same country much less the same city as the gun-toting, brash governor of Alaska who is taking it upon herself to tell union people that unions are taking advantage of them. Some are comparing this struggle to Egypt; I wouldn’t go so far as to do that.
To try to explain the situation in non-biased manner, I think that it isn’t wrong to attempt to fix spending because WI is in debt. It’s a perfectly legitimate concern. I can even understand some of the measures proposed, except when it comes to collective bargaining. I’m sure that the 40,000 people that traveled from all over the state of Wis. are upset about that hitch in the bill as well.

To be honest, I’m getting to the point where I am unconcerned. I don’t care that this is making national news and international news, I simply want things to get back to normal so that I don’t have to fight through mountains of people to get to class, where I go to hopefully get a degree from this university, and so that I don’t have to be concerned about my future. People are becoming frantic and when this bill passes on Tuesday, it’s only going to get worse. More unrest will come, and none of the press, good or bad, will end up being good.

Oh, and if you would like to read through the 144 pg bill to understand what this post is even referring to, if you haven’t been tuned into the news lately, be my guest.

O Alexandria, Alexandria

What I'm Listening To: (not) the Black Eyed Peas horrendous Superbowl halftime show

My attention is riveted on my namesake this week as Egypt is ravaged with war-torn indecision. The oppressed will always find a way to overcome a system to find their freedom. However; at what cost will this Egyptian government finally right itself? Many people know the background story to this jarring tale of a country fighting against a corrupt police system and 30-year regime from President Mubarak. I'm interested in whether the United States was justified in cautiously cutting ties with Egypt for the sake of maintaining control for our own purposes or if it were simply wrong.
I'm not trying to criticize our cabinet; this is coming from a person who just fully acquainted herself with the situation. The break with Egypt was the most recent step made, and it's intriguing to think about where diplomacy will go from here. The United States could take the approach that it always does in its need to police the world and bring democracy everywhere. I appreciate democracy and enjoy democracy, but to be perfectly honest, democracy isn't for everyone. This need to bring everyone into the light of democracy possibly stems from the fact that maybe the United States is at fault for manipulating countries, and is trying to make amends because we know that we have messed up. Yes, Sec. of State Hilary, when you say that it's too fragile for Mubarak to step down because it could ruin the transition to democracy, who says that Egypt needs democracy? They don't need totalitarianism, but there is nothing set that demands that they need democracy. They probably could care less about democracy and that is what this whole issue is about in the first place. Ties with the United States did nothing for them so our country should just let them be. But of course, things are not so simple and every single event is tied to every other where the slightest shift in policy could blow up a country (literally). They just want freedom and to be left alone. This is not the time for Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick Ideology This is time to figure out how WikiLeaks is getting all of the classified information from the higher ups and placing it out for all the world to see and to what extent the Internet block is affecting Egyptians. But only more WikiLeaks hacking and Egyptian bloggers will tell.

Men Don't Cry in Egypt

What I'm Listening To: Pop-NSYNC

...I mean they don't cry in general. Alyssa Milano (Phoebe from Charmed--watch it!) tweeted this a week ago and it intrigued me. I know, I'm really late, but I wanted to post about it anyway. Oh, and disclaimer, my posts are going to become slightly more journalistic (hopefully) because I'm supposed to be staying up on current events--which I am horrible at--for my journalism class.

The post basically detailed the five situations in which guys are allowed to cry. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Technically, society stigmatizes crying in general as a sign of weakness. I've bought into it yes. If we were to examine this further, there are a couple of downfalls to crying. There are only a few people who can do it and get away with looking cute. It makes your sinuses start to run and then you can't breathe (or at least I can't right after doing it), your eyes get red, your voice gets whiny, and you sound absolutely incomprehensible while crying. However, guys can be sensitive without crying. There is a limit, but the question is, should there be a limit to the amount that men are able to cry? Interesting concept. I'm not sure. I'm in the camp where men should not be afraid to cry when necessary, but there is a line. Somewhere. It's hidden and very thin, but there somewhere.

Egypt-oh boy. I've only heard/seen snippets and pieces (sad I know, yes it's all over the internet) and I am determined to fully educate myself by tomorrow. However, it seems sad that people are revolting because their government seems Americanized to them. Go figure. And the police are joining in as well. When you have the police on your side in a revolt, it's a guaranteed foot in the door. Obviously, this is a really simplified and blase view of the whole situation, and why I seriously need to educate myself more. But to be fair, I'm most likely going to be doing something in PR and not in Journalism...