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October 16, 2004
Ho Hum
I forgot to mention yesterday that I LOVED the lecture by Christian Azar. In fact, I think it was my favorite lecture of the entire program. Part of my enjoyment was that I felt he stayed away from hawking a particular ideological philosophy--relying instead upon the science of sustainability. When our other professors speak, I often feel like I'm being sold a package deal--you want sustainability, you sign over your soul to the TNS framework. But maybe that's just my natural inclination to question any idea that generates "true believers".
I spent today relaxing and recuperating from a long week. I realized that the state of my skin was horrific, and finally broke out the serious lotion. No more ashy legs for me! Once I had slathered on some Body Shop stuff (look how I support community trade AND good-looking skin!), I noticed how much warmer I was. I wonder if there is some connection between dry skin and the ability to retain heat...at any rate, I was able to enjoy my afternoon with fewer layers of clothing than normal.
This evening, I met with members of my small group to discuss potential topics for our next class project. The difficulty is that we are supposed to work in groups of 4 on a project that might potentially apply to out thesis. This project is due in 2 weeks, so there isn't a lot of time to do substantive research, but at the same time, there are a lot of resources in our common backgrounds. To complicate matters, one member of our group is out of town for the weekend, so we were limited in our ability to make concensus decisions. So we just had a good brainstorming session and have much to think about for Monday, when we'll meet again.
I found out that in 2 months, Kungsmarksvagen will get composting! Of course, with any luck I'll be in another apartment by then, but still, it is very gratifying to learn that the "ghetto" of Karlskrona can be environmentally conscious too.
I finished The Robber Bride yesterday, which I thoroughly enjoyed. As my friend Elizabeth puts it:
"...what I loved about the Robber Bride is that it really shows all the good and bad things about power dynamics and relationships between women. I thought it was very refreshing."
Here are two passages that struck me as particularly poignant:
Charis herself gave up Christianity a long time ago. For one thing, the Bible is full of meat: animals being sacrificed, lambs, bullocks, doves. Cain was right to offer up the vegetables, God was wrong to refuse them. And there's too much blood: people in the Bible are always having their blood spilled, blood on their hands, their blood licked up by dogs. There are too many slaughters, too much suffering, too many tears.
And another:
It is jealosy. Roz is so jealous that she can't think straight. Some nights she cries with rage, others with sorrow. She walks around in a red fog of anger, in a gray mist of self-pity, and she hates herself for both. She calls on her stubbornness, her will to fight, but who exactly is her enemy?
Boy have I been there.
And now, it's time to clean my room. I'm sitting on my bed typing, because my desk has grown into a heap of clothes, papers, and dishes. Not sustainable at all. Tsk, tsk.
