Married or gay?

Often when I am seen with one of my closest friends by strangers– in photos, at restaurants, whatever– people either think:

a: we are married

or

b: he’s gay.

Option (b) is correct, but I wonder why people always come to these conclusions.

Perhaps they sense the sexlessness of our relationship.

God Is Dead

More media clip madness: from Katrina to Rita, many out there are wondering if God has forsaken us. Has God decided to punish the US? I doubt it– the wealth and good fortune the US and the American people have been blessed with far outways even the horrible destruction of these natural disasters.

But it does remind me of this clip from Kids in the Hall:

On American Imperialism

I don’t know if this counts as fair use, but WTF, here’s another media clip– this one’s just a short clip of part of ’s album Retaliation and it’s a pretty accurate (and hilarious) depiction of American imperialism. To listen: mp3.

I love Dane Cook, by the way. I remember watching him first on his 1998 stand-up special on Comedy Central and he so freakin’ funny. If you haven’t heard his stuff, definitely check out danecook.com and get his latest comedy albums either at his Web site or via iTunes.

Vonnegut

I love Kurt Vonnegut and here’s another example of why I love him.

The best part of this? Vonnegut’s commentary on how good America is at democracy– after 100 years, you have to let your slaves go. After 150 years, you have to let your women vote, etc.

Just as Jon Stewart says about his own life, Vonnegut’s book helped make adolescence just that much more bearable. I’d rather forget the person who introduced me to Vonnegut, but I’ll never forget Vonnegut and his books. I absorbed his books throughout high school and have probably read almost everything he’s ever published. He introduced me to satire and black humor and that you could somehow find a balance between science and religion and that you could find fault with man to the point of utter disappointment and pessimism and yet still be a humanist.

I just picked up his newest book A Man without a Country. More hilarious insight ensues.

In our own backyard

As the drama of Hurricane Katrina continues, I fear that somehow Americans will end up giving more to tsunami victims than those who suffer in our own backyard. I certainly don’t want to say that one person’s suffering is greater than another’s, that we should put value on one person’s life over another, but what does it say about Americans if we fail to help our own countrymen? Isn’t that always how it is? We’ll go through so much and pay so much to adopt an orphaned child from somewhere in Asia or Africa, but we won’t take in and care for the child who lives homeless on our own streets.

But there is one silver lining that I want to take note of: the way the educational community is coming together. Universities, including those I’m directly affiliated with, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon, are coming together to reach out to college students affected by the hurricane and to help make sure that their educations are not severely interrupted. Despite my frequent frustrations, I have to say that a part of me is proud to be part of the higher education community today.

But of course, what about the young children who don’t have homes or food, much less a school to go to today or tomorrow or the next day? How many children will be orphaned and how many dead bodies will continue to be pulled out from the waters? Americans are certainly capable of supporting its citizens– consider the outpouring of support for victims of 9/11. While we may not have terrorists to band against in this circumstance, certainly the suffering and need for help is just as great.

Did I seriously just spend $3.11/gallon on gas today?

Surely there’s a better way to spend my money.

Support the disaster relief fund for victims of Hurricane Katrina