i.am.chabebe

Holy moly, I can’t believe it. I got my blog back!!!! Long story short, I forgot to pay my domain bill and lost it, couldn’t buy it back right away due to some technicality where it had to be available for purchase elsewhere for 45 days, waited it out and now here we are! So lets get to the updates!!

Before the end of the summer I went to a whole bunch of weddings including being a bridesmaid in my friend Amy’s wedding!

Amy’s Wedding!!!

Kristen, Amy, me and Steph

Caroline and Paul’s Wedding!

Wedding Shenanigans

Me with the giants: Ben, Amy me and Kristen

After all the wedding shenanigan fun, I had to say good bye to the summer and hello to a new school year. I was terrified to say the least of having to do it all over again. What if I do worse than last year? What if the kids aren’t as wonderful? What if grad school is more exhausting? What if I can’t get used to my new classroom? What if……..

Well, despite all my worries, things are moving along and going well so far. My schedule is pretty hectic since I teach 3 classes in a row at the end of the day, I have grad school 3 nights a week and I still spend a lot of time planning. The kids are wonderful and my students from last year still visit so I’ve felt very lucky. We were recently tasked with having to plaster our bulletin boards with student work and an obnoxious amount of color. After the most stressful 2 days I managed to throw the most color intense bulletin boards ever. I was one of the few teachers who had an acceptable board according to our principle. I guess I lucked out when only being able to find supplies in all mismatching colors!

Bulletin Boards

In other more serious news, my roommate Ari Spool is running for Mayor of New York City!! She is the smartest person I have ever met. She has an answer to ALL of my questions no matter what the topic. She was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Write-In Brings ‘the Ruckus’Ari Spool knew her New York mayoral campaign was making headway when her Klout score, a measure of social-media influence, rocketed. Her marquee endorsement is John Lurie, the artist and founder of the Lounge Lizards jazz ensemble. Her centerpiece policy is mandating lilac uniforms for the police department.

via Wsj

Check out her awesome website, built by no other than my awesomely talented brother

Ari Spool for NYC Mayorundefined

via Neocities

This is quite possibly the best news out right now.

Tom Morello: ‘Paul Ryan Is the Embodiment of the Machine Our Music Rages Against’ | Music News | Rolling StoneLast week, Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan, the Republican architect of Congress’s radical right-wing budget plan, as his running mate. Ryan has previously cited Rage Against the Machine as one of his favorite bands. Rage guitarist Tom Morello responds in this exclusive op-ed.

via Rollingstone

After spending some time distanced from the political chaos that has been occurring due to this years upcoming election, I am appalled to see where things have ended up. I like to leave my wildly opinionated comments out of my blog but in brief, I agree with everything that Tom Morello writes in the Rolling Stone article above.

And because I grew up listening to and loving Rage Against the Machine, here is one of their very famous songs, Bulls on Parade. Tom Morello showcases his amazing guitar skills.

http://youtu.be/-58-36lSqG4

So I think the following two pictures can explain what I want to write about today:

So as some of you may or may not know, I was born in Ecuador, lived there through my high school years and try to return yearly. I must say this is one of the ballsiest things my country has ever done. This and completely devaluating the currency so badly that they had to change to the dollar. Probably one of the craziest thing I have lived through.

I don’t think Assange should be persecuted by the US for exposing corruption. More power to him for trying to show people the truth. As for his rape allegations, not to undermine the situation but the timing seems a bit suspicious. In any case, Assange is stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy in London under threat of being arrested once he leaves.

The video in the link/article below I think is a good summary of the current situation and what has lead up to this. It’s not very long but very informative.

Assange stuck at Ecuador embassyat this hour, wikileaks founder julian assange remains stuck in london . yesterday, the ecuadorian government granted him asylum. he faces extradition to sweden on sexual misconduct allegations. he’s also the subject of an investigation inside the united states . assange of course published documents that expose corruption and were invoked in the arab spring.

via Msn

It’s has been an interesting day while I am trying to adjust to being surrounded by women and liberal arts majors. It’s nice to be in an environment completely different from engineering but it is taking some adjusting.

The following video sums up my second day.

“He believed you can cure racism and hate, literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives.”

“The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off, how can I? Light up the darkness.”

I love Neil deGrasse Tyson for many reasons. Probably the most popular floating all over the internet is:

Originally taken from this awesome explanation of Sir Isaac Newton

…and this is one of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s reactions to it:

Most of all, I love Neil deGrasse Tyson because he is pretty much an ambassador for science. I was very sad to recently find out that many high schools do not even offer physic as a course because it is too tough and students can get enough science credits with other science classes. As an engineer and a science enthusiast, that just BLOWS MY MIND. How can kids not learn physics?? It is the basis of our existence. GRAVITY?? NEWTON’S LAWS?? I MEAN COME ON!!!!

I took this quote from a Q&A with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“Society needs to see science not as a luxury of funding but as a fundamental activity that drives enlightenment, economics, and security. Science agencies should never have to go hat in hand to congress.”

I could use a multitude of harsh words to describe Rush Limbaugh for his comments towards Sandra Fluke but I’ll leave that to the professionals. I must admit I am all for freedom of speech but sometimes being crass isn’t the way to approach something.

Though I have wanted to blog about this topic for quite some time I held out because it just kept on getting more ridiculous. I’ll leave it to Lewis Black to provide his input on the situation as I couldn’t have said it better myself.

http://youtu.be/pvyhLo1PCHw

I am a little bit late on this topic but how is this OK?!?! How is putting drones in the skies throughout the country aligned with our constitution?! How is this country not turning into 1984 word for word?! I mean lets face it, the majority of this country has it’s mind controlled by idiotic reality TV shows, the country is practically run by the privileged elite i.e. like a plutocracy and now we are going to be surveillanced 24/7.

Let’s do some rough math, because we all know how much I LOVE math!

Approximate surface area of the US = 3,794,100 sq. miles

Drones/Sq. Mile = 30,000/3,794,100 = 0.008 drones per square mile

Approximate Size of Connecticut = 5,542 sq. miles

Drones in CT-sized State = 0.008*5542 = 44 Drones

# of Towns in CT = 169

Average Towns per Drone = 169/44 = 3.84 ≈ 4 towns per surveillance drone

It takes about 30 min for me to drive from my house and loop around three other towns before I get back. So yea, imagine a drone just hanging out above your general direction for 24 hours.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you don’t agree with my stance, but I seriously consider this just an outrageous and inconsiderate invasion of privacy and WASTE of tax dollars.

Yesterday I started writing a post about the latest in the Republican candidate race because it’s just impossible to ignore some (most) of the things that come out of these guys mouths.

One particular instance is Rick Santorum’s take on college education. Especially coming from someone who not only obtained an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, but also an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, AND a law degree degree from the Dickinson School of Law. I am glad I didn’t finish writing this post because last night Stephen Colbert talked about precisely that, and more. Take a look yourself.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/409244/february-27-2012/indecision-2012—mitt-romney-s—rick-santorum-s-michigan-campaigns

Oh Governor Malloy, for a state that is already highly deficient in art and a cultural scene, I don’t think cutting $11 million in funding to arts programs in the state of CT is a good idea. I think the mentality that we can sacrifice investment in the arts is ultimately detrimental to both the economy and the social enrichment of the residents.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-arts-funding-cuts-0216-20120215,0,2051086.story

Check out this video. Not exactly about this particular situation but it talks about why art and culture are so important.

They allow us to see something unique

The latest in polls:

All polling data

According to the current republican front runner I am a radical feminist who undermines the traditional family. He then went on to blame his wife saying she co-wrote that part with him. I really hate this guy. I don’t understand how anyone can agree with what he says.