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Hi everyone. The Pre-Law Society (of which I am a member) is putting on a fashion show on Friday 4/4 (yea, thats this friday) at 8:30pm. I will actually be in the show and its free, so you should all come! Laughing at me is quite welcome and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. The show will be at the McNamara Alumni Center. Please come and support all of us geeks and feel free to stick around after to say hello!
Hope to see some of you all there!!
Today was the march in protest of the war in Iraq on campus being that its the five-year anniversary of the occupation. It was such a cool day! There were awesome speakers and the people were so energetic and passionate. I absoultely loved being there. We started off at Coffman with speakers and chants, then marched from coffman to Pleasant Street to University Avenue to Church Street and ended up at the McNamara Alumni Center. After that we walked over to a military recruiting center and protested there. I was really close to being late to work, but the entire experience was enlightening and so much fun! There were tons of people and it all reminded me how much we need to get out of Iraq and how much passion and anger matters. I always try to be diplomatic or attempt to negotiate with people, but today it was all about being as loud as you can be and grabbing people off the street to come join. Pro-War folks didn't even say anything - they just stared.
All in all, an amazing day! The protest is going to be on the Channel 4, 5, and 11 news. Check it out!!
Today, the Minnesota Daily featured the article, "Group files suit over right to protest at RNC in September." The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War groups filed suit against St. Paul city officials arguing that they were denied their First Amendment rights. "The coalition requested permits to march from the Capitol, around Xcel Energy Center and back," and were denied. After being denied permits, the coalition filed suit and were eventually given a permit to protest at the Capitol. The coalition has not received permits for the rest of their march, which must be approved by the city. "The city has afforded the coalition a conditional permit to protest Sept. 1, the first day of the convention, but provides no march route." This 'maybe' permit doesn't allow the coalition to protest at all. The Capitol is not adequate for protest - the RNC is not even close to there. Tom Walsh, the St. Paul Police Department spokesperson said, "We've done more to protect free speech than any other convention city before us...We're proud of that." Congratulations, St. Paul, you are both hindering First Amendment rights (you know, those really important ones) and disillusioning the public and yourselves about how useless you are being. "Under law, the city has the right to subject protest plans to any 'reasonable security measures' but the protesters have a right to protest 'close to, or near' the convention." What I find incredible here is how the Republicans appear to have full run of the city while protesters are being shooed away to areas where their protest becomes barely visible.
Why are people so homophobic? In an interview with Judith Butler, she mentions those congress members who say that they don't think about homosexuals or have anything to say about them. Yet, when it comes to legislation protecting the GLBT community from discrimination, these people are the first to speak up against the passing of these laws. The truth seems to come through that not only are these members completely preoccupied with homosexuality, but they are absolutely petrified of it. And because they are so scared, they become homophobic.
Does this line of reasoning make sense?