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December 30, 2004
The Power of 1
Today on the Jane Pauley Show (I know, I know), the subject was Whitwell Middle School, a school in rural TN that launched a project around learning about the Holocaust. Whitwell is a small town, the school is only 400 students. The town has no Catholics, no Jews, and school has only 5 black students and one hispanic. One of the teachers went to a conference and heard a Holocaust survivor speak, and realized that he didn't know anything about it, and neither did any of the students or most of the people in Whitwell.
This, is the problem with this country - in my mind at least. Not that people don't know about things like this, but that we who do don't realize that there are actually, truly, people who just don't. They may know things exist, know of them, but they don't have any reason to know the details of what, for some of us, shapes who we are. And these people, who have never had any reason to know this stuff, are good people. With hearts and minds and feelings.
The story follows their choice to learn all the details and the actions that came out of their learning. The principal of the school said the most profound thing she learned from the experience was the power of one. how one person can touch and enrich the lives of so many others through the sharing of knowledge and experience. Amen.
The teacher who started the project talked about the fact that he was born and raised in the same town, and his father (who he said he loved to death) would think nothing of making racial comments and slurs. When the teacher went to college, he had a black roommate who he "loved like a brother" but would think nothing of making racial slurs in front of him. That doing this project had made him think about that experience in a different light and he hoped that he "hadn't hurt him" (the roommate. Clearly, he probably did). The teacher went on, through tears, to say that now that he has two sons, he will never use language like that in front of them, b/c to hear his sons repeat it and know that they learned it from him would be the "worst thing in the world."
Ignorance is bad. It's bad bad bad bad. But sometimes (and yes, not all the time), the ignorance is not on purpose, it's not aggressive, it's not even concious. Once the ignorance has been uncovered, and then ignored, or chosen, then the ass whoopin's may begin. But first, consider giving people a chance, consider that what's common knowledge to you may not even be a part of someone else's world - they may not even know they have the option of letting it in. And that once they do, they may even become an ambassador for change along with you.
Link to the summary of the show on Jane Pauley
Link to the project page on the school's website
Link to the Mirimax documentary page
Posted by nikl at 10:57 AM | Comments (1)
December 29, 2004
La La La Linoleum
That title has JACK to do with anything, except the fact that I have absolutely nothing I have to be doing right now (and I feel like poo), so I'm kinda just hanging out, IMing with Callista, instant e-mailing back and forth with Randy, watching the cat on the end of my bed, and contemplating eventually going to bed soon and getting to sleep until whenever I want tomorrow. Whoo hoo! Oh, and letting random songs pop into my head ("la la la linoleum").
My right wrist really hates the amount of time I spend on the computer.
Public service announcement: Please remember folks, that the web is upon us. When you put stuff out there, you may just feel like you are putting it out into the abyss. But there's this thing called Google, and when you type stuff in, it gathers all that stuff you felt was spread to the wind, and puts it all in one place. Usually with your name attached. Consider yourself warned, though for some it is just too late.
Today I worked a half day. After contemplating trying to convince someone to play 9 with me, I abandoned the effort before I really tried for lunch with my mom at Galleria. Then my dad joined too. After lunch, we all split up again (well, they went home, but in separate cars), and I discovered that you can't exit onto Big Bend going East on 40. After a little detour, I made it to Webster, where I met Dale for coffee. Dale has been here (with his fiance) musical directing Drood @ The Rep (his fiance directed) since Nov. Note to all: whenever you see "Musical Direction by Dale Rieling", go. Unless it's a show you really hate. If you somehow find out that he's done orchestrations or arrangements, go. Even if it's a show you hate.
Tonight my parents and I sat on their bed watching the only working TV left (the movers came today to move all the furniture into 2 rooms so the floor guys can come Monday, and apparently, the cable upstairs doesn't really work). Thankfully, an episode of Lost that I'd missed was on.
And now I'm upstairs, and the cat is (loudly) licking her foot.
That, my friends, is as exciting as it gets today. I guess this is the only type of day that can follow a 2am-er in Edwardsville.
Posted by nikl at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)
It's Possible
I just had a night out - all taking place in Edwardsville, that involved three locations and is going to necessitate Advil before bed.
Steve Gnojewski and T(h)om(as) Harvey, together again, live and in person. Hilarity.
Posted by nikl at 01:25 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2004
Back in the Day
Lord help. When bored, please go to my newsgroup history compliments of Google and prepare for just how much of a theatre dork I was and always will be. Rants on the Tonys, lake of imagination and risk on Broadway, why Garth Drabinsky really was actually a bad ass.
Those were the days, weren't they.
Posted by nikl at 07:10 PM | Comments (2)
December 23, 2004
Apparently, Somebody has Some Sense
Follow-up on the Who's Your Daddy show which is clearly the worst of the Fox reality shows yet.
Lame.
Posted by nikl at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
Intercom Fight!
Reasons I love my new company: Even though we are 75+, there was just a serious All Call throw down. And it just killed me.
Posted by nikl at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
Blackout!
Last night there was a blackout in Edwardsville.
Now, it was a little over a year ago that the big blackout happened in NYC. When that happened, I called my mom, she turned on the news, and she was able to tell me what was going on.
Not so much this time. Wasn't too likely a friend in another city could turn on CNN and the ticket would let them know why the lights were out in Edwardsville. NY1.com was not going to hold the answer,
Hm.
Posted by nikl at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2004
Expialidoooooooshous?
Please go here and watch the TV commercial in the Testimonials section.
Long live the Chicago accent.
Posted by nikl at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2004
Choc-oh, Yeah
Last night I discovered (or was reminded, rather) that not only is there a place to buy Chococat in Edwardsville, the woman who manages the store is a classmate from Montessori School. Hell yes.
Posted by nikl at 10:16 AM | Comments (2)
December 20, 2004
Dude. I am TELLING YOU. There is SO MUCH FUN to be had in the Midwest. No. Seriously.
This weekend, my mom and dad and I travelled to Ann Arbor to be present for my sister's graduation ceremony. She completed her PhD this summer, but this was the first graduation ceremony since her completion. We were all dern proud!
But I digress.
The whole time that Kira and Aaron lived in Ann Arbor, they kept telling me about the hip-hop karaoke place outside Detroit. Saturday night, I got to experience it first hand. And oh, what an experience it was.
a. It is at a Ramada Inn.
b. It is called The Stockyard.
c. There's a club across the hall from The Stockyard, though the name excapes me at this moment, I'm sure it's equally as amazing.
d. There was a suit shop in the Ramada in as well. When we arrived at 11pm, it was open. When we left at 2am, it was still open. They were having a sale, as advertised here:
e. They had every R&B song known to man.
f. They had the characters to sing all of the aforementioned songs.
I'm realizing as I type this, that I really can't explain it to you. I will tell you, however, that I took advantage of this opportunity where I was a. compeltely out of my league by definition and b. never going to see any of these people ever again. I tried a Luther song ("So Amazing") that I'd always wanted to sing that in the end was WAY too low for me. Then I tried "Sweet Thing" which is a song not to be messed with. At all. It kicked my ass. Kira decided it would be a good idea to sing the Whitney /Mariah duet "If You Believe." Luckily the CD was busted and we only got halfway through. Then I decided that I wanted to close out the evening on a song a knew and knew well. Oh yes, you knew it was coming. I did it. I sang "Me and Bobby McGee" at an r&b karaoke bar. 95% of the people in the bar had never heard this song in their entire life. I'm not even going to try to explain the reaction. I'll leave it to your imaginations :).
I also must note that we got the GPS gadget with our rental car. My dad and I are now both on board with the GPS.
Posted by nikl at 03:22 PM | Comments (5)
Bonnie and Clyde?
This morning, on my commute to work, I'm pretty sure I accidentally drove through a movie set. Or maybe they were so descreet that I didn't notice it was a movie set. But there was definitely a scruffy Nick Nolte type driving like a madman with a scruffed up Cherlize Theron type in the passenger seat. They were definitely driving a beat up black boxy car from the early 80's, and they were most definitely swerving in and out of traffic, and absolutely looking over their shoulders and left to right continuously. They came up behind me (like, 2 feet behind me) going a speed higher than 65 (I'm not going to incriminate myself completely) and when I saw them in my rear view mirror, I immediately thought "omg. Don't look at them too long, they are not afraid to shoot you."
Another day on 55/70.
Posted by nikl at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2004
Without Sanctuary
On Saturday, we drove to Detroit and visited the Motown museum, then the African American History Museum.
The AAHM is currently host to the travelling exhibit "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America." We went to the Motown museum first, b/c we knew that Without Sanctuary was going to be heavy. To put it lightly.
Back in the day, photographers would make postcards of lynching events, and people would send them to their friends and family, collect them, sell them. Images of men hung from trees, with groups of smiling people around him on the ground. (Some images can be found here. The exhibit had over 100 postcards and related materials. It was indeed heavy, and a bit overwhelming, just bearing witness over and over again to just how cruel humans can be. You could see people as they entered, bracing themselves, not wanting to face it, but knowing they must - to educate themselves, to work through anger, to recognize what happened and to honor the people it happened to. Every time I would want to skip ahead and maybe note read every caption, I felt as though I was insulting the dead man whose life I did not ever so breifly reflect on by reading the caption on his postcard.
The most powerful aspect of the exhibit for me was a movie short they showed. It was about a black man named James Cameron - now in his 80s - who had breifly escaped being hung. Full story told here. The short also interviews the brother of the white man (Claude Deeter) who was killed in the incident that caused the mob. Cameron actually left the crime scene before the murder because he recognized Deeter as a friend. The movie shows Deeter's brother, in present day, meeting James Cameron for the first time. Seeing the forgiveness and peace between these two men, so many years later, was so moving. That these two men, at the center of it all, are moving towards peace with each other, despite the image captured forever of exactly the opposite. The reminder that that's the only way. One person at a time.
Photos from the weekend in Michigan
Posted by nikl at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2004
Um...
How wrong is this!? I think this may be worse than World's Littlest Groom. Truly.
Posted by nikl at 11:42 AM | Comments (1)
Ya' Snooze, You Lose
How bummed am I that I completely missed my opportunity to get photo stamps????
Last night I met Liz and Gabe at Fireside. A bar in downtown Maryville. I can't really explain that to those who don't know my hometown area. But for those who do, I need not explain. I put on clothes that I was sure I would not want to wear for at least a month b/c they were going to be so completely immersed in smoke. In this choise outfit, I was approached by two men. The first was a Fireside regular who overheard me describing Subconscious Boy as your garden variety "dorky white boy." The regular decided I was talking about him and proceeded to make reference to it for the rest of the night. Eventually, he (very politely) asked me to dance (to a slow song). I declined with the help of my girls - thought I kinda felt bad about it. Don't ask.
The second was a long haired artsy looking guy with a nose ring whom I later found out Liz had mistaken for me when he first came in (no, he was not black). He came up and said I looked familiar, did he know me from somewhere. We asked if he went to EHS, to which he replied no. Then he says, "well, I'm a tatoo artist, so I meet a ton of people..." and I was like, "well, I don't have any tatoos..." and he said, "hm. yeah I guess I thought I knew you from work... well, you sure are pretty anyway." Which was sweet. But irrelevant to the situation at hand.
I'll have it known that I resisted Steak 'n Shake on my way home.
When I got home, I apparently smelled so completely of smoke that my mom forbade me to walk back and forth across the room ("pick a seat! Stop moving!").
Posted by nikl at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2004
When Ignorance is on National Television
Are we all watching The Amazing Race? I'm sure we're not all watching it, but for those who are - can you believe the things that came out of Kedra's mouth last night? People like that are the type of people who make this world an evil vile place. Just ignorant, ignorant, ignorant. And sad. People like that should just be laughed at.
Posted by nikl at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
So Silly
http://boyoboy.ignitedminds.com/
and
http://www.adamsandler.com/ - please click on the "Secret" video on the left hand side of the screen.
Posted by nikl at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2004
At Last, My Arm is Complete!
It's finally happened. The DVR has finally been installed at the hizzie. HELLS YES.
AND there's a new Apple Store opening up at the Galleria.
Could life be any more COMPLETE!?!?!??!?!
Posted by nikl at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
And Then It All Went Wrong
This morning my iPod served me up some classic pop - Britney and N'Sync, live at the 1999 Grammy Awards. It so rocked, and it just punctuated the fact that it's been all downhill from there - well, at least for Ms. Spears. Lord help.
Posted by nikl at 01:03 PM | Comments (1)
December 12, 2004
Look, Ma, No Quarters!
I know it's like the third time I've done laundry, but I'm still not over the fact that I don't need quarters. I also don't have to leave my home, or carry my clothing up and down the elevator. I also don't have to rush to make sure I'm down there before someone dumps out my stuff to put theirs in.
It's the little things. And the little things are huge.
Like the fact that my mom's cat is petting me right now. And my dad is making Chili. And the Survivor finale is going to be on all night. And Becky Hoffman played cello @ church this morning.
Posted by nikl at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)
Beat It
James is walking around the house singing "Beat It." And making up parts of the song that never existed.
Posted by nikl at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2004
The 5th Annual cookie Decorating Party
The Cookie Decorating party survived its relocation from the East Coast with flying colors. Photos here >
Posted by nikl at 06:41 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2004
HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW!?!?!
Posted by nikl at 04:49 PM | Comments (1)
December 07, 2004
Return of the Killer Raccoon
It was horrible.
The wildlife guy came and set out a large and a small trap for the raccoon on the back porch after Monday night's incident.
When I got home tonight, I started the baking madness that is this week. My dad and I were both in the kitchen, I at the stove, and he at the computer. After an hour or so, we started to hear this banging noise on the porch. We dismissed it, then we heard it again. We went into the family room to look out the glass doors to see what the ruckus was about (again, with the ruckus). We turn on the porch light, to see... A GIANT RACCOON, doing its damndest to get at a small squirrel, TRAPPED INSIDE THE SMALL CAGE. The cage is wired to the gutter, but the raccoon wants to take it off into the night.
We bang on the glass to scare the raccoon away, but he's unphased. My dad insists that what will scare it away is to OPEN THE DOOR. WHAT? We argue about this, and he convinces me he's not going to open it, just act like he's opening it. Ok. He turns the lever, and to his credit, it moves away from the squirrel in the cage - at which point I see a PIECE OF THE SQUIRREL'S TAIL on the ground.
There is much discussion about what to do, did the raccoon really leave the porch (no, it was just hiding behind the chimney, waiting to come back), can we let the squirrel out, will it try to kill us if we do, and on and on.
Out of compassion for the poor trapped squirrel, I convince my dad to call the wildlife people to see how to let him out. The wildlife guy reminds us that maybe it's the squirrel getting in at night (um, NO, the thing getting in is capable of RIPPING 2x4's into pieces), and to just put out some marshmallows in the big cage so when it comes back, it will be lured.
So, after much fear that the raccoon hadn't really left the porch (and my dad standing at the far door, with just his hand out the door, tossing marshmallows towards the cage), I ran out and placed some marshmallows actually inside the trap. I really wanted to move the squirrel to safety, but we decided to just let it be.
When my mom came home and saw the piece of the squirrel's tail on the ground, she couldn't leave it out there for the Raccoon to come back and finish the job. So we got some wire cutters, disconnected the trap from the gutter, and used a broom handle to move the squirrel inside the screened in porch. After it was done, we were worried that the raccoon would rip away the screen to get to the squirrel, which was now no longer attached to the gutter, and carry it off into the night. So a couple hours later, we moved the cage to the far back corner of the screened in porch, in the shadows. And we prayed.
The next morning, the screened porch was intact, and I moved the squirrel back to the front of the porch where it could be seen by the wildlife people when they came to "relocate" it. Oh, and the raccoon had managed to get ALL of the marshmallows without tripping the trap. Evil.
Damn raccoons.
Posted by nikl at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2004
More Reasons to Be Glad I Moved
Tonight I bought beer. Not a six pack. But two 12 packs and a 20 pack. All bottles.
This transaction, for the first time in 9 years, did not involve:
- Having to borrow a rolling cart from the neighbor upstairs
- Wheeling said cart through the street, through rain and/or snow
- Getting said cart up 7 steps
or
- Making multiple trips to the store
- carrying beer 4 blocks
nor ultimately
- Throwing out most of the food in the fridge to accomodate said beer
- Waiting until an hour before the party to buy said beer because there is food in the fridge and the beer has to go directly in the tub
- Buying 10 bags of ice to keep the beer cold in said tub
- Having to shower after cleaning/setting up but before buying the beer to make way for said beer
All I did was
- Put beer in cart
- Move beer from cart to trunk
- Move beer from trunk to (completely separate basement) fridge
Hell yes.
Posted by nikl at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
Attack of the Killer... Raccoons
This summer my parents had a raccoon issue so disturbing that I won't go into it here. I will say that it included needing to cut a hole in the wall in order to rescue crying baby raccoons, and I will also say that the raccoons did NOT get into the house.
Ever since I moved home, I've thought that I've heard noises above me, but I just thought it was the house settling, or one of the cats upstair somewhere I couldn't see them, or the tree outside my window or something. I asked my parents if the raccoons could be above my room and they were pretty sure that there was no way in and that there wasn't enough space up there. Well, last week, I was awakened at 2am to something trying to work it's way in - or out. Who knows. The next night, 4am, same thing - something YANKING and SCRAPING and PULLING. My mom happened to be up with a caughing fit, so she came up and heard it too. She called the wildlife guy the next morning.
So, last night, probably within 30 minutes of my falling asleep, I'm awakened by a ruckus. As I'm coming out of sleep, I can't tell where it's coming from, but it's definitely IN the house. I get up, put some clothes on, and cautiously make my way to my sister's side of the floor, where I'm pretty sure it's coming from - all the time with visions of a giant, clawed raccoon jumping into my face. Scarlet comes prancing across the room towards me, and I see that the shade on my sister's widow is moving - whew. Scarlet was just playing or got caught in it. No raccoon. I pick her up, ask if she's trying to give me a heart attack, and them go back to bed.
As SOON as I turn the lights out, the ruckus resumes. WTF!?!?! So, I get up and put clothes back on, and turn on ALL the lights, go over to the window and pull the shade up high enough that Scarlet won't be able to get tangled up in it and there outside the window, is a big ass raccoon, staring at me. It's calmly walking from one end of the window to the other, sniffing, and looking for a way in. I make a sudden movement towards it and it just stares at me, unmoved. I got downstairs to turn the outside lights on, and as I walk through the entry way see a raccoon running down the middle of the street. My still half asleep brain is convinced that The Are Coming and we're being overrun.
I suppose the lights did the trick, b/c when I go back up, he's gone. I hope the wilderness guy comes today though. For pete's sake.
Posted by nikl at 09:57 AM | Comments (3)
Cigarette Man
The Cigarette Man story, as told by Kay Daly, just killed me. Dead.
Posted by nikl at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2004
Cat in a Box
Merry Christmas. It's a cat.
Posted by nikl at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2004
More Gateway Magic
Thank God for the Gateway Center - really.
Posted by nikl at 12:27 AM | Comments (2)
December 03, 2004
It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know
Or something.
I will begin by saying that the Karaoke contest was most definitely one of the most hilarious experiences of my entire life. For a while I thought my blog entry about it was going to have to be that I couldn't even bring myself to process it.
We got a call on Thursday evening, letting us know that we needed to be there by 6:45. Beth and I headed over at 6 to scope out a table (we got a great one) and ordered margaritas bigger than our heads.
It was a frenzy of madness. People were coming and saving seats for 20 of their closest friends (while b/c we asked like idiots, we weren' allowed to save seats for our 8), the judges were arriving, there were sign up sheets to be signed and songs to turn in. Much craziness. And every 5 minutes, Motown would get on the mike and say "welcome to Zapatas Mexican Restaurant. We're not having regular karaoke tonight, because of The Contest. Again, if you are here for The Contest, please come up to the front and see Margarita here at the judges table. There's a lot of competition here tonight, and they are going to bring what that have, and if it's meant to be, get PAID."
By 7pm, the place was more packed than I've ever seen it.
The Contest went as such: The five judges (one named Jesus and one named Margarita among them) were to score contestants on performance, audience reaction and voice. Each of the 20 contestants got a warm up song, then, in the same order, performed their contest song. We started around 7pm and were finish by about 10:45. Then we waiting 25 minutes while the judges did their magic.
Now, I can't really explain to you what happened, and you kinda had to be there to fully grasp it - had to have sat through all 20 contestants. But we can't really figure out what the judges were really scoring on. We're thinking that the three scoring categories were actually code words for other things, and we can't quite figure out what those things were.
Needless to say, neither of us placed (but neither did the girl with a really good voice who had both her songs memorized and had 20+ friends cheering for her the whole time - but neither did Motown's sister-in-law), but it was definitely one of the most hilarious nights of my life.
Long live Mix-Cin music, Motown, and Zapatas.
Posted by nikl at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
December 01, 2004
Making Up Is The Best Part
Scarlet and I just made up. How do I know? B/c she just barged into the bathroom (which she always does and has refrained from doing for the last two days) and insisted I pet her by pawing my leg and meowing.
:)
Posted by nikl at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
The Spammed Fight Back
This is kinda hot. A screensaver that slams registered spam reffered sites within 5% of their server copacity. Sweet.
Posted by nikl at 01:33 PM | Comments (1)
Monster Thick Burger
After days of wussing out, Matt and Mike finally made the plunge and had the new Hardee's for lunch today.
Posted by nikl at 10:29 AM | Comments (2)
You Need To Be Ready
Tiffany Evans (previous post) has released a single
. I re-watched her Star Search clips, and beside her voice being insane (and remembering her saying she wanted to "be an obstetrician - because I like delivering babies"), I was reminded that Naomi Judd is perhaps the most hilarious entity on this earth.
Posted by nikl at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)