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May 13, 2004
Haute Couture And A Hot Trip!
Oh how I wish I could be in London to see the Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the Victoria & Albert Museum. I have always adored Westwood's work from her early punk stuff with Malcolm McLaren to her wonderful platforms and corsets of the 90's. When I was in London in 1995 the V&A Museum had a wonderful retrospective of fashion from 1900 to the present. It is just such an awesome museum I would highly recommend to anyone who is going to be in London to check it out.
In other news at 2:30 a.m. I will be leaving to go to the Bahamas on a cruise for the weekend. I will be chaperoning a school trip but it should still be a lot of fun! I have never been on a cruise so I don't know what to expect, I hope I don't get eaten by stingrays! I will post all about the trip when I get back.
Posted by ahuckle at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2004
An Uneasy Feeling
I read this on Moby's website this morning and was so appalled and disturbed that I decided to copy and paste it here so people who read my site can see what our current government is all about.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE STUDENTS REFUSED ENTRANCE TO BUSH CAMPAIGN STOP
By:
Laura Lonneman (Cincinnati, OH) k02ll01@kzoo.edu (269) 337-5898
Ted Hufstader (Toledo, OH) k02th03@kzoo.edu (269)267-4523
Leah Busch (Cincinnati, OH)
Shanna Barkume (Detroit, MI)
Lisa Dallacqua (Detroit, MI)
Julia VanAusdall (Cincinnati, OH) k02jv01@kzoo.edu (269) 552-5051
In an effort to expose ourselves to the wider spectrum of politics in our country and educate ourselves for the election this coming fall, a group of students from Kalamazoo College obtained tickets and went to see President Bush speak Monday, May 3rd, at Wings Stadium. Our group includes coordinators of a bilingual mentoring program, members of the non-violence student organization, athletes, and work-study employees. On the 3rd of May, we canceled our work-study hours, moved up exams, and missed classes to hear the President speak.
Unfortunately, our group was denied entrance to the event after being identified by members of the Kalamazoo College Republicans (who were volunteering at the event) as "potential threats." Our classmates knew that we were not Bush supporters and that many of us have engaged in non-violent political protest. Because of their suspicion of our political histories and motivation for attending the event, they refused to allow us to enter, and the police forcefully removed us from the site.
In a functional democracy, individuals from all perspectives are involved in debate and discussion so that solid policy can be formed. The way to form solid policy is not to surround oneself with only likeminded citizens, but rather to interact with a wide range of people and opinions. It was in this spirit of open debate that we sought to hear our president speak.
We showed the event organizers our photo IDs and learned that we were on "the list" to attend the event. As we approached, several Kalamazoo College Republican members acted astonished that we had tickets and asked us how we got them. We replied that we had obtained the tickets from the Chamber of Commerce in downtown Kalamazoo.
The Kalamazoo College Republicans then alerted the event security staff about our presence. We waited in line to enter and event security told us that we had been identified as "potential threats" and had to leave. Their excuses were numerous-- they said we failed background checks, that we were planning to protest, and that we were on a Secret Service list of people who were likely to cause a "disturbance." We all demanded to see this "list" and wanted to know who told them this information. They told us "hearsay is enough to be escorted from the premises." The event security proceeded to tell us that we would be arrested if we did not leave immediately.
We remained and again demanded to see this "list," saying that we had never been informed the President's speech was a "private" event and that, as citizens, we merely sought to hear our President speak. We inquired why we were considered "threats." The police arrived, and under the threat of arrest, we allowed them to escort us down the road and out of sight of Wings Stadium.
What is truly frightening about this incident is that we were "blacklisted" by our college peers. Furthermore, we feel misled and misinformed because we had no prior knowledge that the event, for a sitting president, was private and that the Republican event organizers held the right to deny us entry. On our liberal arts campus, which promotes community-building and open political discussion, these acts illustrate a shocking example of a blind loyalty and obedience to the Republican Party and, ultimately, the President. The Republican Party succeeded in socializing these College Republican volunteers to enforce the "blacklisting" and profiling of their own college classmates. Unfortunately, this event highlights a trend towards extreme political polarization and blind party loyalty in the United States-no matter the party affiliation. The same unfounded fear and suspicion that led to "blacklisting" people in the past is starting to become a regular trend once again in our own backyards.'
Posted by ahuckle at 09:06 AM | Comments (1)
May 06, 2004
"New York, New York It's A Wonderful Town..."
So, my trip to New York City last weekend was so awesome! I had a really good time, did a lot of stuff and caught up with people I hadn't seen in a long time. I was thrilled to see my cousin Lily and her husband Bingo, as I don't get to see them very often. Bingo's band Atomic # 76 has a new CD out, you should click the link and check out their website, they are pretty cool. Friday night I got to catch up with my friend Nate who I hadn't seen in years and we caught up with some NYC bars that I hadn't seen in years. The next day I went to my friend Anna's wedding reception at a new restaurant on Avenue of the America's and 8th Street called Gobo. The food was awesome, it was all organic vegetarian and made me want to eat that way forever! They even have organic wine and the best iced tea! I also got to meet alot of Anna's friends who were all very cool and we had the best conversations. After the reception, I met up with my friend Randi from college, and we went shopping (I bought two dress shirts and a tie from Express) and out to eat for sushi at a restaurant called Yaba. The portions were so big I couldn't finish them, which is a shame as I do not get sushi very often. Finally, that evening I went with Lily and Bingo to a club called Opaline in Alphabet City to see our friend Steve's boyfriend's band New Radio, who were excellent! After a small amount of slep, I got up early Sunday morning and caugt the train home. The funniest part is that there was a huge bike race all the way down 6th Avenue,and the cab had to let me off 3 blocks from Penn Station, and as I got to 6th Avenue I had to cross the street and there was a continuous line of bikers, so I had to race across weaving in and out like a live version of the video game Frogger! I thought I was going to get run over or make some biker crash. It was not a great way to start the morning. All in all a great trip!
Posted by ahuckle at 10:41 AM | Comments (2)
May 05, 2004
Rainy Days and Wednesdays....
It is so grey and rainy today, just so oppressive! I has a fabulous time this past weekend in New York City, and I will write more about it hopefully later today when I have more time. I just spent 20 minutes dleting comments off of my blog from porn companies. I wish they could find something better to do with their time than fill up my blog with ads for penis-enlargement pills!
Posted by ahuckle at 10:47 AM | Comments (4)