Favorite Quotes

Here are a plethora of some of my favorite quotes-- I will be continually updating it, and adding more quotes! :)


In the end, love always wins. Destroy of mind, destroy of body, but you can not destroy the heart!-> "Fuck You (An Ode to Noone)" by The Smashing Pumpkins "The simplest way that I can understand therapy is that we're born a certain way, we're taught to be something different, and we spend our whole lives trying to unravel it and ultimately align ourselves with who we really are. Life, experiences, traumas -- whatever -- they all add up to make you some altered version of what you are. So there's this battle that goes on between what you are and what you become, and it's been very important for me to unravel what I was taught to be or what I became. and to draw a direct parallel to music -- the closer I get back to being who I really am, the stronger the music gets, because I think what talent I do have is connected to that person, it's not a manipulative process, it's intuitive. You can learn about chords and guitars, but there's a piece of you that makes it individual, and it's been a slow process for me to become whatever it is that I'm supposed to be." -- Billy Corgan "The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death."~ Oscar Wilde "Nothing is true and everything is permitted." "Your basic person wants to talk about material culture, internet culture. I think about God, cats, nature."-- Billy Corgan I can tell u all, that the world is in deep shit and needs some help!!!!!!!!!--> my friend, Drew Don't worry about people from your past-- there's a reason why that they didn't make it to your future! "Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you." -Ovid "Technically, we all are alone."- Billy Corgan Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something. -- H. Jackson Brown, Jr. "Travel the world, traverse the skies Your home is here within my heart"-- Stand Inside Your Love by The Smashing Pumpkins If there is a God I know he likes to rock He likes his loud guitars And he is spiders from Mars.... Because I'm down here throwing stones While you're so far from home "If There Is a God" by The Smashing Pumpkins "Cry, Cry, Cry," by Billy Corgan Cry, cry, cry for the brave and her passioned soldiers Cry for the soul unsheltered from the storm Cry for me, for I've lost my heart Cry for yourself, unlucky to have been born Cry out of anger, but don't cry of despair For the world doesn't cry They don't care "The ideal husband is unmarried"- Oscar Wilde "I know what it feels like to wake up and want to go right back to bed. So anyone who's feeling that way now, I'm down with you. You've got to have faith that it will end, you know."--> Kevin Cadogan "Man Calm down, don't get mad I don't need your sistah (But supposin' she said she loves me) Would you still love her Or would you dismiss her? What is pure? Who is Pure? Is it a European state of being, I'm not sure..." "Fear of the Black Planet" by Public Enemy

Psychology and the Social Sciences

In one of the courses that I am currently taking this semester, Abnormal Psychology (at Mt. Holyoke College-- for those of you that are not familiar with my school, we have a consortium with other neighboring colleges, so we can take courses at the other schools and cross register), I had to write a paper supporting whether or not I agreed with Jane Murphy's article, "Psychiatric Labeling in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Similar kinds of disturbed behavior appear to be labeled abnormal in diverse cultures," on the idea of whether mental illness was universal or not (she criticized realtivism in psychopathology, towards the notion that the behavior considered "crazy," as well as other categories of "mental illness," is different in each culture), specifically on the labeling theory. She did the cross cultural survey between two "Non Western" cultures, the Eskimos of Alaska; and the Yorubas of Nigeria.
Upon initially reading this, I became very excited and enlightened. Why? I am getting so sick of people blaming the west for everything, which includes psychology. Non western cultures and countries are also human like westerners, hence they are also responsible for the atrocities and marginilization that occurs where they are.
(Unfortunatly I am defending the west, since my culture, according to society, has assimilated with white, American mainstream culture-- I personally don't identify as "white" but as Jewish-- and a fuck you to all that want to disagree with me, and tell me that I am not who I am; and much peace, love and respect to those that believe in me! :) )

   As a child and teenager, I was always interested in meeting people who were outcasts in their society, since I always was, always having a lot of trouble fitting in. It really irritated me when I would meet foreginers, and they would all fit in with their own circle; I never saw any of them within their own group being excluded (examples: Summer 2003, when I went to Kutz Camp, and all of the Israelies had their own group-- none of the Israelies seem to be outcasts towards one another-- they all seemed to get along fine; same with the increasing immigrant Albanian population at my high school--they all seemed to be best friends. I remember trying to acquaint myself with them, sometimes eating lunch with them, but all they would do was maybe  introduce me, and then go on speaking Albanian, as if I never existed).

      So from my previous experiences, it made me excited to see a scholarly article on how we are all similar, and how outcasts like myself DO EXIST  in every cutlture.

       However, once I had read the article, and I had to write an essay on it, and reflect what  her essay was about, along with the crucial points that she made in her article, I became very critical of the methods she went out about the study; the language that she used to describe the other culture, and also, possible behaviors or language that may be viewed as degrading or offensive to the people that she did the studies on (Orientalism).

    First, when she went about doing her research on the Eskimos, she did not interact with the people directly-- is was through key informant information. I feel that it is imperative to work with the people in a study first hand. Knowing the language is a plus, since it will help you understand the people better. Also, when languages get translated through someone else, the maybe mis translated; misinterpreted, or their initial meaning maybe lost (well at least within the case for Lacan! :P). Instead she had someone else translate and do the work for her, which I did not like.

     My professor thought that I was being too critical. For the first time in my life, I had never had a professor or teacher tell me that I was being too critical in a paper. It had always been quite  the converse. At Hampshire, I had too many professors tell the me that I am not being critical enough, especially in the Social Sciences. Some almost to the point of trying to force their critical biases down my throat.

     I had a lengthy conversation with my professor at Mount Holyoke about the paper. Although, I did miss discussing some critical points that Ms. Jane Murphy brought up, such as psychosis, neurosis and and anti-social behavior in American (and possibly Western Society as a whole) via punishment, and compare that to the Eskimos and Yoruba cultures. 

   The professor then brought up how the Eskimo and Yoruba cultures are "primitive." I stopped in my tracks. I knew that calling a certain culture "primitive" can be seen as offensive or degrading (which some social scientists refer to as "Orientalism," coined officially by the late Columbia University Professor, Edward Said). This idea of using the word "primitive" to describe certain cultures, was brought up several times within the last year at Hampshire (I can't remember where I first learned it-- maybe in some of my Social Science courses; maybe during Action Awareness week; maybe during an activism event that  I went to). I didn't want to tell him that I think that what he said was offensive, since I didn't want to be rude, and come off to him as being even more critical and arguementative. 

        I discussed with my advisor at Hampshire (who works in the Social Sciences; spefically in the Political Sciences, with a focus on China), on what my Mount Holyoke Professor had said about describing certain cultures as "primitive." She agreed with me, that that type of language used, and certain methods that Jane Murphy used in her study could be seen as different as Orientalist discourse. Hopefully she will help in re-writing how parts  Jane Murphy's study maybe seen as a Orientalism. 

      But then  I thought about the use of word "primitive."--> Can't it have several meanings? Did my professor mean it in a bad way? I need to be sensitive towards his feelings as well. I imagine that he was just trying to use the word "primitive" to describe these two non-industrialized societies. People coming from a western society may see it as "primitive" since they no longer use those methods of lifestyle in their own society, and have progressed onto something more "advanced," to sustain themselves within their own society/culture. Maybe using the term "primitive" may have some good connotations as well. I like how words can have more than one meaning, and you can use it however which way you like.

     We must also take into that the Yorubas in Nigeria (for example), live in a tropical area, and do not need all of these industrial advances for the most part. They live in a climate that has a lot of natural resources (I don't know enough about Nigerian geography, and what types of plants and crops are native to the land/grow there), but I think that it is safe to say so, and agreeable weather, in which there is no need to devise different machines/structures. (From what I have learned in my history courses, the Industrial Revolution, which began in Manchester, England, during the mid-nineteenth century, was based on trying to get more efficient machines that would help society since they lived in a colder climate;  had far fewer time to grow crops, due to the seasons--> Again, I realize that my arguement towards the Industrial Revolution is a cop out, but this is how I perceive it in a "brief nutshell" as they say).

     I think that we need to understand everyone's arguements and use of language. We need to understand and heed to the feelings and needs of all people.

 On and on, the main arguement  and question that I am trying to postulate from here, is "Are psychologists good researchers in the Social Sciences?" I am asking this, since my advisor (who is a professor in the Social Sciences), said so. I want to see how valid or not this is.

Love 

Stephanie :)

 

Vice President Joe Biden Announces Kareem Dale As Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy

This makes me really happy the Obama administration has done what no other US President has done:

  Appoint a Special Assistant for Disability Policy! :D 

   One of my friends was telling me how Obama is  the first President to address disability rights (If you think about former Presidents that had a disability, like Roosevelt, tried to hide it, and tried to fit into mainstream society as much as possible).

    It is about time that America realizes that it's ok to be who we are, and us people with "disabilities" should always be proud of who we are and smiling! :)

Blessings 

Stephanie 

Vice President Joe Biden Announces Kareem Dale As Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2009

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES KAREEM DALE AS SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR DISABILITY POLICY

First Time a President has had a Special Assistant Focused Exclusively on Disability Policy

BOISE, ID – Vice President Joe Biden today announced Kareem Dale as Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. The Vice President, who was leading a Presidential Delegation at the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise, Idaho, made the announcement during a stop at the Special Olympics’ Healthy Athletes Event, a worldwide program in which athletes receive a variety of health screenings and services.

"The commitment that the President and I have to Special Olympics and people with disabilities is deep and abiding. And we are backing up those words with real action at the White House,"said Vice President Biden.  "This is our first step to ensure that we have a strong advocate for people with disabilities at the highest levels of our Administration."

Dale, who is partially blind, will have direct access to the President in this role and he will coordinate the Administration’s efforts to see that people with disabilities are on a level playing field with all Americans.

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Dale previously served as the National Disability Director for the Obama for America campaign.  He also served on the Arts Policy Committee and the Disability Policy Committee for then-Senator Obama. 

Dale graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor's degree in Advertising in May 1995.  He received his JD/MBA in May 1999 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating Cum Laude. While attending law school, Dale was also active in community service, including serving as president of two organizations, the Black Law Students' Association and Open Forum.

Nerd Love

   "Nerd Love"

    by Stephanie Chase 

Nerd Love

Everything was clear, even without me glasses

Time was running out for me.

Minutes tearing into ‘em seconds

Seconds almost ready to explode

For I never experienced such a love ever!

I have searched all the ends of the earth, only to be with you.

I wait on the hard cement

Forlorn, hoping, waiting forever, anxious

The only thing that exists in me

Is the serenity of a fine young lad that I just met

Your impression was the greatest, never had I ever met

Such soft, pale skin; robust at ye cheeks

The most pale green eyes

The only sea that I had ever seen be green

But beautiful, I felt I was sucked into him.

I have searched all the ends of the earth, only to be with you.

A miracle!

It must have been a gift from G-D, the heavens above

For all of a sudden, I see ye walking merrily

 Alas,

The love! Laughing 

Noting the beauties of nature, as ye chuckle at some squirrels playing together

I have searched all the ends of the earth, only to be with you.

I wear my cute smile.

I try to wave, but I don’t know if ye see me, or I’m too shy.

My ride comes, and ye are vanished forever.

I am falling down a cliff, stumbling, losing everything that I gained

To find you

I am back to where I started

Only hoping to find you through the forest of my awkwardness

And spontaneity of life.

I have searched the ends of the earth, only to be with you.

My pensive thoughts and lements for the dead mouse (it is a Very Short Story!)

A trail of blood covered the ground. My eyes followed each droplet until it came to this object. I jumped. Lying on the smoothly, paved, creme- colored sidewalk laid a dead mouse. My intial instict would be to run away,  but instead I remained where I was. Myeyes focused on the dead corpse.

       The mouse's tail was shaped like a spiral noodle. I wondered if its tail was ever straight. I  continued to investigate it. I then thought to myself, "More animals and insects  die than people do per day. When a person dies, a few people show up at their funeral to honor them for the things that they have done; but when an animal dies, an innocent, little mouse, no one stops to lament, honor or remember the mouse at all. The world does not care. I then realized that I must mourn for this mouse if no one else would.

     An autumn breeze blew, as the mouse's tail rattled. I attempted to look even more closely than I had ever, trying to contemplate over what it must be like to be a mouse. What was its soul like? Another breeze blew. I realized that I had to be on my way to visit Kim. I blew a kiss to the mouse, which swayed into the breeze.

Saudi Arabia appoints first female minister

This is probably some of the best news that I have heard all day! :)

I really hope that she will be an inspiration for ALL WOMEN EVERYWHERE! :)



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/saudi-cabinet-woman-min...

Saudi Arabia appoints first female minister
BY Julian Borger




An expert on girls' education became Saudi Arabia's first woman minister on Saturday as part of a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle by King Abdullah that swept aside several bastions of ultra-conservatism.

Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez, a US-educated former teacher, was made deputy education minister in charge of a new department for female students, a significant breakthrough in a country where women are not allowed to drive.

"This is an honour not only for me but for all Saudi women. In the presence of a comprehensive operational team, I believe I'll be able to face challenges and create positive change," she told Arab News. Fayez said she would study the state of girls' education in Saudi Arabia before commenting on the task before her.

In his first reshuffle since assuming the throne in 2005, King Abdullah also replaced two powerful enemies of reform, the chief of the Saudi religious police, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith, and the country's most senior judge, Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan. Ghaith, who runs the commission for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, known as the mutawa, which enforces bans on alcohol and drugs, has gained a reputation for brutality. Luhaydan ruled last year that it was permissible to kill owners of satellite television channels broadcasting "immoral" programmes. Several other hardline judges were sacked as part of a challenge against the kingdom's hardline religious establishment.

The grand Ulema commission, an influential grouping of religious scholars, will be reconfigured and opened to moderate clerics, breaking the grip of the ultra-conservatives.

King Abdullah also appointed a new head of a 150-seat consultative body, the Shura council, and replaced his ministers of education, health, justice and information.

Abdul Aziz al-Khoja, the new information minister, said: "The most important thing is that the kingdom's voice should reach the entire world, convey the message of peace and stability and portray the kingdom's stance of moderation, tolerance and flexibility."

He told the Saudi Gazette he was open to debate with the country's journalists and intellectuals, adding: "I welcome their opinions and suggestions because they constitute the pillar of the Saudi media and represent the shining face of the country within and outside the kingdom."

The reshuffle was broadly welcomed in the Saudi press, with the Saudi Gazette calling it a "boost for reform" and al-Hayat describing the changes as "bold reform".

Saudi schools have long been criticised as breeding grounds for extremism, and the monarchy's western allies are likely to claim the reshuffle as a sign that the kingdom has the capacity to reform itself.

"This is the true start of the promises of reform," said Jamal Khashoggi, editor of al-Watan newspaper. "They bring not only new blood, but also new ideas."

I feel the excitement and the revolution that Chavez is making.
Granted, I don't know enough about him, but from what I have read, he seems to be "by the people, for the people."
I know this is a stupid question, but did Venezuela just have an election?
(My knowledge is limited, but I have a great hunger and thirst to learn more about Latin America-- a continent that I hope to explore someday, and it looks pretty promising in the forseeable future! :) ).

Blessings

Stephanie

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/17/hugo-chavez-venezuela-referendum

Victorious Chávez promises action on crime and services as he sets sights on ruling beyond 2030

Hugo Chávez has vowed to advance his "Bolivarian revolution" after winning a referendum to abolish presidential term limits, boosting his ambition to rule Venezuela for decades.

The president declared a renewed mandate for his effort to transform the Opec country into a socialist state fused with the spirit of Simón Bolívar, South America's 19th century liberator.

"Those who voted yes today voted for socialism, for revolution," Chávez told cheering supporters outside the presidential palace in Caracas on Sunday night.

Electoral authorities said 54% of voters in Sunday's referendum backed a constitutional amendment allowing indefinite re-election, with 46% rejecting it - a margin of almost 1 million voters.

Chávez, 54 and a decade in power, signalled he will run again when his term ends in 2013. He has spoken of ruling beyond 2030. Unlike previous ideology-infused victory addresses, his speech on Sunday promised improved governance - a concession to complaints about crime, uncollected rubbish and creaking public services.

"We must revise everything we have done in previous years, we have to start rectifying, adjusting, strengthening. If we reinforce what we have already done, then starting next year we will be in a much better position to open new horizons."

The opposition accepted defeat, but complained that the president had hijacked state resources and hobbled the no campaign. "It was David against Goliath, and Goliath won," said Leopoldo López, an opposition leader.

One of the first to congratulate Chávez was his mentor, Fidel Castro, who from his sickbed in Cuba commended a victory that was "impossible to measure". Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras and other regional allies also congratulated Chávez.

The EU commission "noted" the result, but conservative members of the European parliament accused Chávez of eroding democracy. A Spanish MEP, Luis Herrero, was expelled from Caracas last week after he called him a dictator and questioned the referendum's fairness.

The US made no immediate comment but the Obama administration will be dismayed that a fierce critic of Washington "imperialism" has been emboldened.

Celebrating government supporters in red T-shirts filled the streets of Caracas, but the rapture may ebb if tumbling oil revenues squeeze spending on social programmes, which have bolstered the president's popularity.

Some analysts predict stagflation and devaluation of the bolívar currency ... the kind of grim cycle that undid previous Venezuelan leaders. "With plummeting revenues and widespread dissatisfaction with government performance, Chávez will be far from invincible," said Michael Shifter, of the Inter-American Dialogue thinktank.

The government said it had enough reserves to tide Venezuela over until oil prices recovered.