bristlecone pine
in journal
hello!
my spring break has sprung and i’m pleased as a peach! i went to sleep last night at like 9 pm and woke up at 9 am this morning – wow, twelve hours of sleep! i had the craziest and most vivid dreams but i remember being pretty happy with them, and satisfied, even while i was sleeping, that i could sleep so much i had time to dream! today i don’t have to go in to work till 1 pm, since i usually have my archives class in the morning. it feels so luxurious to just have nothing at all to do till 12:30 and it’s not event he weekend.
first of all, listening to democracy now! this morning, i heard about bush’s jokes wednesday night about finding weapons of mass destruction. totally tasteless and inapprorpriate and not even that funny sounding. see this article for more info.
then i heard that condoleeza rice was going to appear before the 9/11 special hearing committee, but only in private and not under oath. the new york times writes, “Ms. Rice told commissioners that White House officials had told her she should not testify under oath. While the panel requires officials appearing in public to testify under oath, there is no such requirement for those testifying in private.” now if that isn’t the stupidist excuse, i don’t know what it. yuck
the senate passed the “unborn victims of violence act” yesterday. this bill would recognize an unborn baby as a victim when killed or injured, such as in the laci peterson case. the bill doesn’t specify at what stage of pregnancy a baby is considered a baby, but rather uses the term “child in utero” which could apply to a baby one week before birth and just as easily a just-fertilized egg. now, with the bill passsed in both the senate and the house, the bill goes to bush who of course is sure to sign it. i don’t think an abortion is anything a woman would ever be really happy about. i know i wouldn’t. this bill is reminding me of margaret atwood’s the handmaid tale</a> where the pregnant woman’s only reason for exsitence is to bear babies. impossible our society could end up like that? i’m not so sure..
check out the astronomy picture of the day, as put out by nasa. yesterday’s was beautiful! wednesday’s was very cool, too, as it was a panoramic view of mars as taken by the ‘opportunity’. i keep forgetting that they actually have established that there was water on mars not that long ago, enough to create oceans! crazy and just exciting. but also, seeing wedneday’s photo, a little sad to look at what the oceans are now, just sand and no life. is that what the earth is headed towards?
recently stumbled onto witness, a site that is all about using video as an important tool for supporting amd gaining human rights. though really flashy, and financed in part by the reebok foundation, the site has lots of quality (and quicktime) videos from all over the world.
also, for librarians or librarian-wanna-bes, the newest issue of information for social change was released and available for downloading. there’s articles about cuban libraries, the wto, gats and libraries, and more. check it out.
i just got tickets to go home for easter weekend ~ i’m so exicted! i haven’t been home since christmas and though not that long, dagnammit, i’ve got a three month old nephew that is growing by leaps and bounds, besides which my niece rileigh can’t forget about her aunt viva. it’s going to very very fun..
happy weekend to everyone, and enjoy your well-deserved weekend,
~ andrea
p.s. with the weather so beautiful, i’ve been itching to go out and walk around in some beauty. tomorrow i think i might go (with vacya, hopefully) to a park and just wander for a few hours. any suggestions for right around los angeles? while looking on the web, i came across this page which all about the ancient bristlecone pine, which with one speicimen at 4,676 years old, are the oldest living things on earth. reminds me of ents for some reason..
