You Can Stand Under Your Own Umbrella, Bitch

I’m sure that you all have heard Rihanna’s song “Umbrella” and while I think it is catchy, I haven’t been really obsessed with it. Much like Nelly Furtado’s version of “Crazy” sometimes I think the slowed down covers are better than the originals.Case in point: Scott Simon doing an emo version of Umbrella. Listen and see what you think.

And here is Nelly F. doing Crazy:

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Oh, Little Town of Bloomington

I am leaving Bloomington after one year for a 6 week vacation. This is my good-bye tribute to the town that Whiskers and I now call home.

Yep, one year down and I got to thinking that maybe it is time that I ought to start looking into what this town is really all about. I was looking up the last 4 digits of the zip code here (since when do we have to know that crap? Isn’t it excessive? 12345-5454. Why do we need the dash and 4 more?) and I came across this site that listed all sorts of census information by zip code. I remember talking to people earlier this year about how we had no idea about poverty stats and basic demographic info for Bloomington.

Well, anyway, here is what I found out about B-town as a whole and my part of town in particular.

BLOOMINGTON, IN Demographic Information *
Population: 111,182
White Population: 100,426
Black Population: 3,533
Hispanic Population: 2,163
Asian Population: 4,015
Hawaiian Population:58
Indian Population: 297
Other Population:976
Male Population:54,493
Female Population:56,689
Avg House Value:$88,340.00
Avg Household Income:$25,557.20
Avg Persons Per Household:2.41
Median Age:27.58
Median Age (Male):27.14
Median Age (Female): 28.12

* Demographic data is based on information taken from the 2000 Census

I enjoy the fact that there are precisely 58 Hawaiians in Bloomington. I was just reading about how Spam is HUGE in Hawaii. Oh, Spam, what a crazy concept for meat! Perhaps we could go on an “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” type journey through Bloomington and look up all 58 Hawaiians and John Cougar Mellencamp and check their houses for Spam in order to unlock a mystery. A mystery that is mysterious both in its purpose and outcome. Who is in?

MY ‘HOOD
Population: 24,813
Households per Zip Code: 10,733
Average House Value: $123,400
Avg Income per Household: $24,002
Persons per Household: 2.11
White Population:21,353
Black Population: 783
Hispanic Population: 694
Number of Businesses: 338

So, basically, the property value is higher but average income is lower in my zip code than Bloomington as a whole. Probably because there are so many massive apartment complexes and townhouses for us poor folk to live in. Grad students are single-handedly bringing down the average household income figures for this otherwise tony neighborhood.

Moving on, education statistics:
For population 25 years and over in Bloomington
High school or higher: 91.2%
Bachelor’s degree or higher: 54.8%
Graduate or professional degree: 29.5%
Unemployed: 4.8%
Mean travel time to work: 15.2 minutes

And for the singles:
For population 15 years and over in Bloomington city
Never married: 60.0%
Now married: 28.5%
Separated: 0.5%
Widowed: 3.5%
Divorced: 7.5%

There are 65 registered sex offenders in Bloomington. The ratio of number of residents in Bloomington to the number of sex offenders is 1062 to 1.

But 0 murders between 2003-2005.

The Weather

Bloomington-area historical tornado activity is near Indiana state average. It is 121% greater than the overall U.S. average.

Oh, yeah, and here is a humidity chart because damn, it is humid here.

Source: City Data

Farewell, B-Town. I shall return mid-August to this fair city.

My #1 Crush

I love Anderson Cooper. I am becoming addicted to watching him. I mean, his show. He is so dapper and intelligent and humorous (he totally skewered Paris Hilton last night).

And don’t even tell me that he is gay. I am in complete denial about this possibility because he needs to marry me. He has made no comment about his love life which just means that he hasn’t met me yet.

And even if he is in the closet and eventually comes out, he will still be my #1 crush. Le Sigh.

Sociologists for Dennis Kucinich?

SelectSmart 2008 has revealed that Kucinich is the top-ranked candidate for those who have commented on that post (thanks, Lisa and Jill – I also think that you two are the only people who READ my blog! haha) and is second in my listing. Coincidence? I think not. There must be something about this man that matches so well with the sociological mindset.

I had heard of him before but had no idea where he was from (Ohio, as it turns out), his biography (thrice married, went from mayor of Cleveland to making $38/year), his position on issues (very progressive) or his politics (he tried to impeach Dick Cheney!). But, as you can tell by the parenthetical answers, I have done some homework.

Official Webpage Kucinich for President 2008

The Real Deal His Wikipedia

I found it interesting that ABC stopped covering his campaign in 2003 because they wanted to focus their resources on covering people who actually might win. And I guess that is a question that I must ask myself. I have to decide if I should support the candidate who most closely reflects my position on issues or the candidate who I agree with less but has a better shot at actually winning. I guess it doesn’t matter at this point, because I have no money to give any potential candidate. Still, the principle…

Anyway, here are some highlights about his platform from Wikipedia.

Creating a single-payer system of universal health carethat provides full coverage for all Americans.
The immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq; replacing them with an international security force.
Guaranteed quality education for all; including free pre-kindergarten and college for all who want it.
Immediate withdrawal from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Repealing the USA Patriot Act
Fostering a world of international cooperation.
Abolishing the death penalty
Environmental renewal and clean energy
Preventing the privatization of social security
Providing full social security benefits at age 65.
Creating a cabinet-level “Department of Peace”
Ratifying the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto protocol
Introducing reforms to bring about instant runoff voting
Protecting a woman’s right to choose while decreasing the number of abortions performed in the U.S.
Ending the war on drugs.
Legalizing same sex marriage
Strengthening gun control

Wowza. All that and he tried to impeach Cheney!
I don’t really see America going his way. But some sociologists might!

My Summer Soundtrack

Today was splendid. I spent the afternoon doing laundry (I have to pack because I leave B-town in 2 days!) and making a soundtrack for the summer and my time in New York. Then, I went to the pool and finished reading Fat: The Anthropology of an Obsession, a book that has several clever anthropological accounts of the way fat is interpreted across class, gender, and race. I will definitely use some of the chapters when I teach my class (one more year!).

The pool was so refreshing in this terrible humidity and I am so happy that I am finally tan. Between not eating sweets, running 4 miles a day, and sweating like crazy, I have dropped over 5 pounds. I feel more healthy and vibrant than I have for a long time.

Things are going so well for me now and I just hope that I will have an amazing time in New York that will provide the healing, emotional emancipation and continued vitality that I need before I come back to Bloomington in mid-August.

And the best way to set the mood for such things is a great soundtrack. I have previously posted song lists of what I listen to when I work out because they are so cheesy and “bad.” The songs below are songs that I really enjoy the lyrics and it is music that I think is “good.” So, if you feel like you are going to miss me, you can download these and think of me.

1. Hey There Delilah — Plain White T’s
2. Smile — Lily Allen
3. Heart of Glass — Blondie
4. More Adventurous — Rilo Kiley
5. Simple Kind Of Life— No Doubt
6. Yellow — Coldplay
7. C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips — OK Go
8. Blankest Year — Nada Surf
9. Take Me Out — Franz Ferdinand
10. Hey, Man! — Nelly Furtado
11. Rehab — Amy Winehouse
12. Requiem for O.M.M.2 — Of Montreal
13. Wait — Get Set Go
14. Could be Anything —The Eames Era
15. Speak Slow — Tegan & Sara
16. Dizzy — Goo Goo Dolls
17. Steady as she Goes —- The Raconteurs
18. Somewhere Only We Know — Keane
19. Reason — Hoobastank
20. Into the Dark — Ben Lee
21. On the Radio — Regina Spektor
22. Miniature Disasters —- KT Tunstall
23. She’ll Make Her Way — Natalie Merchant
24. Long Shot — Aimee Mann
25. Everlong — Foo Fighters
26. White Flag —- Dido

SelectSmart2008

If you answer 25 questions at Select Smart 2008, it will give you a list of potential presidential candidates and how much your positions on issues matches theirs. So far, my personal preference for president is (1) Hillary Clinton (2) Al Gore (3) Barack Obama.

However, Obama came up as being the best match for me. And the fact that even he was 17% deficient just goes to show that I am too liberal for any candidates out there. Here are the results:

1. Theoretical Ideal Candidate (100%)
2. Barack Obama (83%)
3. Dennis Kucinich (80%)
4. Alan Augustson (76%)
5. Hillary Clinton (73%)
6. Joseph Biden (73%)
7. Wesley Clark (71%)
8. John Edwards (70%)
9. Al Gore (69%)
10. Christopher Dodd (68%)
11. Bill Richardson (59%)
12. Mike Gravel (57%)
13. Elaine Brown (54%)
14. Ron Paul (43%)
15. Kent McManigal (37%)
16. Rudolph Giuliani (35%)
17. Mike Huckabee (29%)
18. John McCain (28%)
19. Tommy Thompson (25%)
20. Mitt Romney (22%)
21. Sam Brownback (16%)
22. Chuck Hagel (15%)
23. Fred Thompson (15%)
24. Jim Gilmore (14%)
25. Tom Tancredo (14%)
26. Newt Gingrich (13%)

Where I’ve Been: The Whole Wide World

My Visited Countries

I find it interesting that I have managed to get myself to places like Nicaragua and Thailand, but I’ve still never set foot in Canada or Mexico.

My biggest objective is to hit up new continents. Africa and South America top the list on that front.

I have decided that I will be leaving the country to travel before my 24th birthday. And it will be to a continent that I have never been to yet.

Where I’ve Been: The US of A

My Visited US StatesWow, I really need to go out West.

And also Tennessee to provide more cohesion to this map. I also cannot believe that I still have never been to Chicago.

A Beautiful Day for a Neighbor

Today has been a very blah day. I felt so exhausted and lethargic. We had our last book club meeting and went to Uptown Cafe to celebrate. I got the potato omelette which is my favorite, but I was so full and tired that it wasn’t one of my better eating experiences there. I came home and read and fell asleep for a couple hours.

When I woke up, I heard a bunch of people talking outside of my apartment building. People have been moving in and out over the past couple weeks so I thought maybe I was getting new neighbors. I decided to go to Wendy’s to get a Frosty because my apartment is stuffy and even though I still wasn’t hungry, I was suddenly craving something sweet – which is kind of disappointing because I have not been eating sweets lately and hoped that I had finally conquered my sweet tooth in favor of salty things. But whatever.

So I went outside and realized that pretty much all of the people who live in my building were standing out there talking. It was really awkward because I was going to have to walk through their crowd in order to get to my car and I don’t know them very well. Apparently, they were talking to a new couple who had just moved in on the first floor.

That’s right, I said couple. Just what my building needs – more cohabitators. I swear “Z” must stand for cats and couples. I can’t get to my car without tripping over them.

This means that the other single girl who lived below me moved out and now it’s only me and the blind woman who live alone.

Awesome.

So I smiled and said “excuse me” and the friendly woman of the perfect couple who put out christmas trees and eat dinner on their porch said that I should join the conversation since I am “a neighbor too.” I love that I have lived here a year and finally I have attained chat-worthy neighbor status.

I told them my name and shook everyone’s hands except for Blind Mary because that might have been awkward.

Then nice lady of the nice couple (as opposed to artsy lady of the artsy couple or new lady of the new couple) then asked me, “So what do you do?” A harmless enough question, although I think there was a little more than average curiosity in the tone. And this is because I suspect that nice couple suspects that I am a high end escort because they always catch me leaving my house wearing the strangest outfits. I can’t help it that my cohort has a thing for theme parties!

I told them why I am here and they seemed adequately impressed and put at ease. Then, as we always do, in the three or so conversation I have had in total with people in my building, we talked about my cat. “Ah, yes, the fluffy old one.” I just hope Whiskers wasn’t eavesdropping. The nerve! Clearly, Whiskers is not old. She is mature. The neighbor did invite Whiskers to come over to play with her cats sometime. I, on the other hand, did not get any such invitations.

But it’s a start. It was a neighborly day in the beauty wood. I just wish that my neighbors weren’t so encoupled.

Extra-meat, please

Vegetarianism
is the first turning away from life,
because life lives on lives.
Vegetarians are just eating
something that can’t run away.

–Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion