…Maybe I am just way too immersed in rhetoric right now.
Today there was a "don’t hate" rally on campus. I watched for about a half hour as people read poetry and gave short speeches. After I left, I heard the construction workers on campus–who are literally fenced into their construction zones and away from the students–sort of jokingly refer to the "gay rally." I said, "Yeah, there have been several attacks on campus. Scary stuff." They were surprised to be overheard, I think, and said, "Do they know who’s doing it?" I said, "Nope," and kept walking to the bus. Not the construction workers necessarily, but the rally itself has left me feeling bad. The president of the university, someone who seems quite popular, went up to talk during the portion when they asked for any comments from the audience. He was about the third person from the audience to talk, and they refused to let him speak. I felt bad about that. They said they weren’t letting administration say anything. Now, I can understand that they wanted the emphasis to be on the students, but I am not comfortable with promoting this kind of silence. I wanted to know what he had to say. He canceled a business trip to be there, after all. He has done more in this past week to address the problem, whereas most universities have careful cover ups, WSU has been very open. I think these are all good moves. I also think it is best to advocate for peace and love than to advocate anti-hate or anti-war. I think a peace and love rally would have felt better. Like I said, the tone felt angry (opposed to loving and supportive), and I was worried that someone was going to shoot up the place. I mean, I just wanted to get out of there. Of course, for the past three years, I lived in a more urban setting where shootings and the threat of shootings was more real than it probably is here.
 seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008322433_apwawsugays1stldwritethru.html

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This has been the best geranium 99 cents can buy. I got this plant at a great nursery on 900 South before I left SLC. I think the location was actually Millcreek. It was only 99 cents, but this little plant has been gorgeous. In the afternoon and evenings, it catches the sun and lights up my kitchen.

David Sedaris on undecided voters: "To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."
www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/10/27/081027sh_shouts_sedaris

Prof today. Said, he’s a reader for three major rhet/comp journals. They have published three articles from this one writer. He said my short piece for class (which he read aloud to me in his office) was better than those pieces being published on the same topic.
I say. Encouragement is the best teaching tool. This was the kind of powerful, believable support he’s been giving me all semester. Bless him.

Do you ever get this? Where you’re working out on an elliptical machine, or treadmill, or stair master, when about 30 seconds, or a minute, or 5 minutes in, you realize you have a deep and profound wedgy to pick. You don’t want to get off the machine because you’ve got all of the settings just the way you like it, and it’s busy so you aren’t 100% sure you’d get another machine if you got off. So, in the middle of the gym, with no way to hide it, you just go ahead and pick that wedgy? Well, that was me today. The good news is that I worked out for the first time in a long time. I’m talking some serious cardio to go along with my yoga four days a week (soon to be 6 days a week). I’ll be teaching classes of my own starting this weekend, so that will add two more classes to my usual schedule. The two new classes also prompted me to get some more cardio. As much as I love yoga and feel that it makes my life much better in many ways, it doesn’t usually give me the strength and cardio I need to stay at my comfortable weight. So, I hit the elliptical machines at the gym. I really liked the facility. They have big screen tvs so I can finally watch all of the trashy evening television I’ve been missing. Since I don’t have tv at home, hopefully this will be just the motivation I need to stay fit.
In other news, I got the flu shot yesterday. I am never sure whether or not I should get it. I’m not completely convinced of the safety of vaccines, but I work with the public so much that it seems like a good idea. So far, my arm is just sore. Now hopefully I won’t get autism.
On that note, one of the great things about UVU is that the buildings are all connected in ways that allowed me to walk all around, in and out of classrooms, and never touch a virus-infested door handle. Here at WSU, the door handles are everywhere: every classroom, every building, every bus, and even the hallways and stairwells have doors! These are the kinds of doors that have handles that have to be turned. I really have to get down and dirty with these door handles if I want to get in–it’s not like the kind you can just back into or push open with your butt. Anyway, I am exercising and washing my hands. Hopefully, that will be enough.
 

I have been unable to maintain my hygiene and get a PhD at the same time. I tore myself away from essay-writing/fooling around on the internet to go to the store to stock up on some essentials and by essentials I mean toilet paper. I was completely out. My outing turned into two stores plus a walk through the mall. It was there that I caught my reflection and made the previously stated observation. My face was bare but for mascara smudges on both eyes. My hair was in a braid from…yesterday? I honestly can’t remember. I wore the jeans I’ve been rocking everyday (without washing) for I don’t know how long. The ensemble was completed with a gray hoodie over a purple t-shirt that, you guessed it, I’ve been wearing since Friday. So, I smell like that, plus the "tester " hand lotion I tried at Bath and Body Works. That’s the reality, people. Love me anyways.

In many ways, it feels like I have been away from Washington for a long time. And yet, it’s like nothing has changed at all. Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi are still battling it out. I don’t really know much about their politics. I’ve listened to two of their debates, but I never get much out of them.
I’ve not been very productive these past few days, which is a problem. I can’t really afford to take breaks like this.
I am making chili in the crockpot. It smells so good, but I don’t think it will be ready for a few more hours. It would have been ready by lunchtime, but I used uncooked beans.

Mom came for a short visit and brought goodies from the garden, so I made a stew in the crockpot–perfect for cold days like these. I just put it together this morning, and it was ready (and smelling delicious) when I got home tonight.

beef (chunked) (very chunked since I am scared of choking after choking incident)
garlic
onion
pearled barley
roma tomatoes
fingerling potatoes
red potato
carrot
(anything else I could think of)

Simmer all day.

"sodomize intolerance"

Whenever I listen to these debates, I always have the feeling that I’ve missed something. To be fair, I don’t get out of yoga and to my radio until about 10-15 minutes in. But, I wonder if that really matters…
I am disturbed by how sorry I feel for John McCain. I am always ready to hate him, but then just want to give him a hug. I think it’s his shaky voice. Of course, I’m sure that hugging John McCain would have me bred and sweating in a Iraqi sweatshop faster than I can spell P-e-t-r-a-e-u-s.