Geeky Chic

First, the Public:

One of the theories that I’ve heard to explain the rise of anti-Western extremism and violence in the Mideast is the fact that these countries have large numbers of unmarried men, who have no hope of gaining enough wealth to have a wife.  Thus, they turn to politics or terrorism to channel their energies.  I came across this book review  from the Chronicle of Higher Education that discusses how this danger also applies to China and India.  The authors of the two books warn that the skewed male-to-female sex ratios in these already overpopulated countries will create a huge mass of uncontent, unmarried men who who militarize and invade other countries. The only real solution is for people to have daughters, but the article posits that individual couples are too selfish to do this.  So, prepare to lock up your daughters, before the Huns invade.

Now, the Private:

I am remarkably content right now.  Despite being in finals period, I am downright happy.  The weight of the 3L paper has been lifted off of me, I have a spiffy new haircut (bangs!), I’m going back to SF soon, spring is here, I actually love being 26 (seems like the perfect age), everyone around me seems to be doing well, and of course, I have Finch.  I guess I should enjoy this while it lasts.

Cambell’s issuing a 4-pack collectors set of Tomato soup cans inspired by Andy Warhol’s famous soup cans.  Everyone rejoice!

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On a completely unrelated note, the last great book that I read was The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon, and I can’t get this line out of my head, “Solace is in the fabric of sweatshirts.”

If you catch me on IM, and I haven’t finished my 3L paper, then you should do me a favor, and WARN ME.  I can’t procrastinate.

I was nearly stuck in Fresno overnight on Friday.

I swore like a MoFo at the Fresno-Yosemite International Airport.

I boot and rallied on Friday night.

I yawned during any event involving male strippers.

I had to share a fold-out bed.

I found potential roommates in the Castro for later this summer.

I boot and rallied again on Saturday night.

I changed my pr()n name.

I felt the wind rush through my hair while watching the city’s lights twinkle.

I was a trooper.

I dressed like a generic Asian girl.

I didn’t gamble.

I think that I lost weight between my metabolism and the booting.

I had tunnel vision.

I spanked friends and strangers alike.

I bet the interior rocks, but I have to agree with this SF Chronicle reviewer, the new downtown Apple flagship store is spectacularly ugly.  Though, I must admit that it’s an improvement over the days, where it was bank that had bums who used the doorway as a urinal.

Today, I attendeded a panel discussion on the life on Justice Thurgood Marshall that was part of the law school’s bigger celebration of the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.  The panelists were all HLS faculty members who had clerked for Marshall (amazingly 1/8th of our faculty clerked for Marshall).  The first speaker, Professor Brewer talked about Marshall’s difficult decision as the attorney in Brown to use the study that compared the attitudes on race held by black students who attended Southern segregated schools with those who attended Northern integrated schools.  What surprised me was that the data actually wasn’t that clear — it was murky and showed that the southern black children were more likely to accept the black doll.

This amazes me a little, because despite being taught Brown in Con Law, when I think of the case, I immediately conjure up scenes from a made-for-TV movie about the case that I watched in 7th grade.  I still have the images in my head of the Southern kid picking the white doll, when asked which one was the pretty one.  I’m still imbued with the idea that Chief Justice Earl Warren was a hero, who wanted no dissent on the decision.  In the movie, he approaches Justice Frankfurter, and gives him some speech about the similarities between blacks and jews, to convert Franfurter to the cause.

The only reason that I bring this up, is because I know this is Hollywood’s re-telling of the Brown story.  There are probably a lot of inaccuracies that I consumed.  Yet, this TV movie is what lingers in my head, when I think about the case.  It’s scary to think that there’s some other kid out there, with the Hollywood version of Pearl Harbor lodged in her head.

I’m supposed to be past the “It-Bag” phase — conspicuous consumption was so yesterday.  I mean the last purse that I picked up was a translucent yellow purse that sold for $12.00.  But still, every now and then, a new designer bag catches my eye:

“D’trick Bag”

Hm, I guess that I’m in a political mood this week.  Something else that I’m ticked off about, California’s Gropenfuhrer announced last month that he wants U.C. enrollment cut by 10% for the entering class — that’s 3,200 spots.  Perhaps he can coldly propose this because his kids have the Kennedy family legacy to Ivy League schools and he has the wallet to pay for it.

This will probably go through — California made its deal with the devil, in terms of selling out education long ago with Prop. 13.