travel hungry, some trees, and peter & the wolf

PART ONE:
i've been in a mood to bouge recently---to get out and go and that nomad spirit will never die in me, i guess. or, at least, my romantization of it certainly won't. i've been listening to music that reminds me of living in italy and looking at information on new zealand working holiday visas (i don't know about you, but a few months' worth of fruit picking and dairy work on the beautiful south island sounds pretty excellent to me). staying in california feels slightly synthetic (as in, purely, anti-organic), as trying the next adventure is a thought brewing constantly. but i think this is good for me, and, for many reasons, it is extremely important that i do stay for some time. i am going to boston in november for work, though, which is lovely and sweet, and i'm looking forward to seeing friends. and perhaps missouri (!! what??) for thanksgiving. dad's planning that trip. whoo boy.

PART TWO:
soooooo, the great majority of the oaks came down today and yesterday on UC Berkeley's campus. nearly two years, that's how long this fight has been going on. when you think about how much money the tree sitters cost the university (which, coupled with the huge budget cuts across the UC system, has been absolutely crippling) and how much effort was put into the campaign, you've got to be absolutely dumbstruck--people streaming to the area to be a part of it, living for nearly two years in a tree, facilitating a ground support system and public relations support system--and all for some trees. ya ya, way at the beginning of this, in October of 2005, i was like many Berkeley students----thinking: "wtf? the university is taking down beautiful, old, native trees for an extremely expensive exercise facility that will only benefit a miniscule percentage of the student population? that's beyond absurd. something has to be done."----but here, in September of 2008, the other side of that rusty coin is visible.

this small population of people has purposefully made a chaotic situation out of something that is not anywhere as important as, say, supporting labor rights on campus (which has got to be seriously impacted because of the tree sitters, who have sucked resources out of the university's coffers) or advocating for immigrants and refugees and for marriage equality (did anyone else have the complete inner explosion i did when the "traditional family values" people were taking over the plaza in front of dwinelle, spouting their nonsense all over the place? can you tell me what gives you the power to restrict a percentage of the population from the legal rights that are due to them? all men are created equal--these are the christian, jewish, muslim words that we can agree upon, AND YET you can sit there and say, "no, never mind, i think (and my opinion is obviously THE opinion) that only me and people like me can have these rights. people not like me, well, there's something wrong with them, and they don't deserve what i call my 'natural rights.'" they ask that their opinion to be applied to everyone, that other people's rights be purposefully infringed upon, all in the name of a completely warped understanding of christian values--can you tell me how on earth you can interpret jesus' words of tolerance as applicable only to certain people and not others???? honestly! the whole thing makes me so angry! but that is a whole other rant within a rant)--these tree sitters could have even devoted themselves infinitely more effectively by tutoring in-need students in local public schools.

so much effort was spent on this that could have been much more needed and appreciated elsewhere. the trees are nearly gone, and there was a huge scene, of extremists and of voyeurs and of people somewhere in the middle, and today i can say that i'm actually just thankful the whole thing is over. it took too much of our time and effort and made a mockery out of activism and the work for positive change. a ridiculous illustration of my point was a man standing with this sign:


you mean to tell me that you're actually making a link between the horrors of the Holocaust and what is happening with the fucking tree sitters? no. i'm sorry, sir, but you are way out of line. this whole shenanigoonery was only activism for the sake of activism, and nothing else.

but enough. enough.

PART THREE:
peter & the wolf! no, not the childhood russian tale! i'm speaking of whimsical, sweet folk!:


listen here: hypehypehype. his voice is so good, lyrics so silly.

this was all far too much information. i'm going now.