What Could Be Better Than A Tied Game Won By A Half Court Shot? And Of Course I'm Talking About Water Polo.

That game was incredible. Admittedly, we reeked in the first half - it was actually slightly disgraceful. However, after a mildly insulting, extremely verbally aggressive pep talk for the gods from our head coach, we let out the beasts within and rocked out. In the last seconds of the second period of overtime one of our players took a half court shot and we won the game 10 - 9. Hell yes.
However, as amazing as that was, I must say that I feel our sport is under-appreciated. Or at least under-exposed. There is so much hype over american football and baseball in this country that most other sports get lost in the background. I find it different depending on the place I'm in. Canada - hockey/curling, England - football (soccer)/rugby/cricket, Spain - futbol (soccer) etc. What does that say about the culture of each country? Americans love contact sports and testimonies to brute strength (perhaps related to this violent culture we keep talking about?). Canadians also enjoy aggression, but see value in the subtle skills of curling. The English value the physical fitness and patience involved in their sports, as well as toughness.
Any thoughts?

Oh Man - I Saw The Naked Cowboy

Bright Lights Big City New York New York.This weekend I was in New York and Rhode Island visiting schools. I found the differences astounding. I stayed in the Lower East Side in an apartment with a friend of the family. She gave me the history of the neighborhood. In the 50s it was mostly Jewish, then many of the Jewish people moved to Brooklyn, and the area became dominated by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans and others. In that period, the neighborhood became rougher. Now, more Europeans and college students have moved in, and it has become safer once again. I found New York unique in the fact that in just a few blocks, you are in a completely different part of the city. For example, when I went to visit Pratt Institute, I passed the Housing Projects where Jay-Z grew up. A couple blocks later we were surrounded by brownstone apartments and the school was around the corner. The city is massive, but extremely well separated by the mentioned neighborhoods. Providence on the other hand, is a very small city. Trollies run constantly around in circuits and the only thing more pleasant than the weather was the lovely architecture of the buildings. I did see someone getting arrested in Providence, but even that seemed almost pleasant - the cop and arrestee clearly knew each other from a previous encounter and the other cop (waiting in the police car) was making conversation with some people in the street.

We're the Kids of America - Bowling for Columbine (Fear)

There is so much to talk about with this movie, I need to focus on just one topic.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Michael Moore visits the Canadians to demonstrate the trust they have in their community. These people do not lock their doors when they go out, let alone feel the need to own personal handguns. This is in stark contrast to the one town visited where the screen doors are made of iron and could be penetrated by nothing short of a spear. Or the town where it is a law to own a gun. How ridiculous is that?

Another of my favorite parts is when Moore talks to Marilyn Manson. The singer was thought to have some blame by causing the thoughts of the Columbine shooters through his music. This, of course, was the fault of extreme conservatives and is absolutely unbelievable. But it is due to these people's fear of people who are different and strange and the need for a scapegoat.

One Canadian person they interview introduces an interesting idea about how locks confine you into your house in Canada, while in America, they keep everyone else out. He actually says, "well, you must be afraid of your neighbors". I found the latter statement to be dead on. There is so much fear of others in this country or of other people's potential for dangerous activity. Everyone's a suspect. Everyone's to be feared. I find there is a lack of trust between strangers in this country, people just assume the worst. Of course, that is by no means completely unreasonable.

Hip Hip Cheerio!

I love England. I love London. I love the public transportation systems, the food, the weekend markets (, the people, the television commercials, the historical sites, among other more specific things. I love the way tourists panic when the doors of the subway start to close. I used to live in England so I can generally blend into the crowd and I know the customs (swipe your oyster card upon entering and exiting the tube etc.). Other positives are the drinking age (or lack there of) and the diversity of the city.
There are, however, some negatives to life in London. There are a multitude of homeless people - more than I've usually encountered in a city - and at times they can be quite aggressive, though mostly they are willing to help you find your way in exchange for a tip, the subway gets extremely crowded at times, and you need to walk at full speed while dodging thousands of confused people in order to get anywhere. My brother told me once that he liked to pretend he was a CIA agent and that where he was going was more important than anyone else (this coming from a 21 year old was quite hilarious).