Run Run Away!

Trying to take a picture of my new running top. I am so happy I finally invested in some quality clothing. It takes a lot for me to spend money on stuff...I tend to think, "T-shirts and shoes that are 7 years old work just fine." And that is true to a point, its not like shoes lose the ability to function as shoes over time. But I've been running at least every other day for a while now and even ran a 5k race so I figured it was time to treat myself to a new pair of shoes and some real running clothes....what a difference!!!

See how they shine!
This should be helpful when I am running at night...

Since when did voting once every four years become enough? How is it that people have come to accept voting as doing their part for democracy? Does anyone really know what a democracy is anymore? I doubt it because if they did, they wouldn’t say, “I voted, I did my part for democracy.”

The definition of democracy is a highly contested issue in political theory but I think we can all agree that one significant characteristic of democracy involves rule of the people, by the people. This means you not only take part in the electing of your fellow country-people to office, but you contribute to the “rule” if you will. In the polity, (Aristotle’s golden version of the democracy…shout out to poly theory nerds…if you are lost replace “polity” with “democracy” and keep reading), majorities and minorities, advocates and other bodies contribute to the political community in many ways to create rule.

It makes me angry to see so many people content with themselves for simply voting because they are not recognizing that voting is only a small part, a mere glimmer of what could be considered “doing their part for democracy.”

It is by this logic that we can say, with kudos to Aristotle, we have an oligarchy. Sure, we elect the few that rule over us, but still, they are few and they rule over us because we think that voting is enough.

Maybe I just love Aristotle and debating, maybe I am trying to be an iconoclast, maybe I am tired of people getting all excited about politics because its hip, because we all want to be cool, because we all want to feel like we can drive our cars and drink our coffee and save some Africans…African kids of course.

Lets do more. Be the change you wish to see in the world, live the life you imagined. Don’t just vote. Vote then hold your elected officials responsible for their actions instead of going back to being politically apathetic for another four years.

I am living the dream, and life is not perfect but the dream was never perfection anyway.

The winter air is cold and grey but I love it. I am most comfortable when curled in a blanket, creating heat with my body and cradling my head in a loved one’s arms. Oh! What a beautiful thing: Body warmth made and shared with someone else!

So here is the imperfect part…I love winter but I have no one to cuddle with!

I am moving moving moving in so many directions and it is so terribly exciting! I am at work and I am responsible, and I am at home and I am a daughter, and I am at the coffee shop and I am an intellectual, and I am at grad school and I am an interviewee, and I am with friends and I am a shoulder and a needer of shoulders, and I am in the future and I am a traveler. I am traveling to the end of the earth, the bottom of the world, the curve of the globe! Mother of all, master of all places everywhere! I am going south south south until I can’t go anymore. Well, not really that far but come on! I am going to Antarctica. I worked my ass off to go to Antarctica and it is all done, I paid for the entire trip. I saved $10,000 in 9 months. I did it!

So here is the imperfect part…I am losing my mind with all if these things and I don’t like my job and I an scared of failing, scared of not getting into grad school, scared of being a crappy friend because I am working and studying that I have little time for anything else. On and on.

Perfection is not the dream. Winter and love and travel are the dream and I am living that dream.