Post #73: The Good Word

If you know me, or you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know I love The O.C. Like really, really love. It's my favorite. Today while I was out walking, we ended up at a garage sale, and there they were. All four seasons of The O.C. I had the first three seasons, but my season one wasn't in super great condition (I bought them second hand) and I didn't have season four. So I bought those two, and the guy gave me a hard time about breaking up the set, and then they tried to remember the name of Seth's girlfriend, they had Ryan's (Marissa) so I said "Summer!" the guys were impressed, and even moreso when I said that Seth named his boat after her. Did I mention I really love this show? So we headed on our way, and I was thinking about it, and I figured I could pass on my copies of the first three seasons, or sell them as a set, and for $1, I'd go back and pick up seasons two and three. So I walked back and the one guy said "Ah, she's back" and laughed and gave some spiel about giving them to my friend and I said "I'll get her sucked in too!" and the other guy said "Yes, share the good word! Spread the gospel of The O.C." It was by far the most glorious thing anyone has ever said to me. I also got Footloose, so I'm excited about that. I want my life to be more like an 80's movie. I want Kevin Bacon to yell "Let's dance!" as glitter rains from the sky. I think that would be cool.
On a more serious note, Memorial Day is Monday, and I would like to take a moment to thank all of our veterans and those currently serving, as well as their families. I also reccomend reading this blog post: https://wdavisonjr.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/remembering-a-friend-on-memorial-day/
"On the stereo, listen as we go, nothing's gonna stop me now." - Phantom Planet ("California" is the theme song for The O.C.)
-D.

Post #72: Finally, Summer!

As of the the thirteenth, I will have finished my first year of college! Yay! It's been a pretty decent year, and I can't wait for next year, mostly because my class lineup is way better than this year's.
Maybe it's because my classes are all lower level, or maybe it's because I took AP classes and I'm pretty good at taking tests, but I just don't feel the pressure some of my classmates are feeling concerning finals week. There are so many kids either sleeping wherever they aren't going to get stepped on or crying. So much crying. Maybe it's just my finals. For Creative Writing, we just had to bring in a poem to read to the class. I performed "Direct Orders" by Anis Mojgani. And I mean performed. I can command a room when I need to. "Direct Orders" has been my favorite ever since Mr. Burge showed it to us my freshman year of high school right before Thanksgiving. Every time I listen to it or read it, I find something new that speaks to me, similar to the way the Schweddy Balls skit on SNL gets funnier every year. I'll admit I had to pause to take a deep breath after I read the line "rock out like your dead grandfather has just come back to take a drive with you in your new car."
With the advent of summer, there also comes the inevitable end of my favorite shows. Gotham ended last week, and it was by far my favorite show this season, followed closely by The Goldbergs. The Chicagos finish up in the next couple of weeks, and I think there's a few more episodes left of The Night Shift (I know, I know, it's bad. But it's so bad it's good. I love it.). This summer's lineup is pretty good. Graceland, Dominion, and The Last Ship come backin the next couple of months, and I'm looking forward to Aquarius on NBC. I also recently started The Following and let me tell you, that show is intense! The season one cliffhanger was crazy! And of course, there's still Masterpiece on PBS. I'm looking forward to Poldark and the WWI medical drama.
The movie lineup for this summer is pretty okay. I saw the latest Avengers movie last week, and it was really good. I want to go see Slow West, Jurrasic World, Pan, Fantastic 4, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Aw yes Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer!). And most of all, I want to go see Mad Max. I am so excited for it! Tom Hardy as Max? I think yes! And one of the trailers had "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requiem!
"When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." - Marcus Aurelius
-D.

Post #71: Criminal Justice, Grantchester, and Getting Fired?

Wow! The past month got away from me, I've been having internet issues, I'm lazy, etc., etc. Okay there are some excuses for why I haven't been blogging. Although, I really have been having internet problems.
School has started back up and my class lineup this semester is a little better than last semester's. I have Anthropology, Core Humanities (which is essentially history and English rolled into one existential package),  Spanish, Creative Writing, and Criminal Justice.
Apparently I am the only person in my CJ class that spent a lot of time over winter break thinking about Criminal Justice, in particular, what exactly Tsarnaev's lawyers were trying to accomplish by filing pretrial motions that wouldn't really do anything besides buy time. Because seriously, no matter where you move the trial, unless you find 12 people who have recently woken up from a coma, you aren't going to find a wholly unbiased jury that's unfamiliar with the case.
I got some strange looks from my classmates. "I spent a lot of time thinking about this!" I said. "I just worked over break." some girl behind me said. I bet she's allowed to watch cop shows in her living room.
I'm not allowed to watch cop shows in the living room, especially CSI, because I sit and mutter about how wrong everything is. You can't just punch something into CODIS and have it spit something back out in 30 seconds. Or I get excited when something happens that I learned about. Last night while watching Backstrom (which is pretty good, actually.), I got excited because one of the people got charged with first degree murder under the Felony Murder rule, which says that if someone dies while you are committing a felony, even if it's not necessarily your fault, you get charged with first degree murder, i.e. if you rob a bank and the teller has a heart attack and dies, or your partner shoots them and they die, it really sucks to be you. Also, please don't commit felonies.
In other TV related news, Downton Abbey is back (yay!) and after Downton is Grantchester! Grantchester has the very cute James Norton, who was on Death Comes to Pemberly a couple of months back. It's a great show. I like solving mysteries!
And now some bad news. I got fired, sort of, from my DJ position at Wolf Pack Radio. But so did 3/4 of all the rest of the DJ's, I think. I say sort of because I am welcome to "help [with] producing programming" but that sounds like a nice way of saying 'come and watch other people do the job you've been turned down for'. I am upset! I am some other things, too, including aware of what libel charges look like.
Because of some agreement with some other "real" radio station, WPR has gone from 60 hours of open studio time per week to 15. There is no Desultory Radio Hour this semester. I'm waiting to see what happens next year. I'm really disappointed. I really enjoyed working with WPR, and I had a blast on my show! Hopefully the formatting will change again next semester year and I will come back.
"There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind." - C.S. Lewis
-D.

Post #70: Some Thoughts On Serial and Gracepoint

If you have not listened to Serial and/or watched Gracepoint, or you are not caught up, please heed this warning: This post contains spoilers.
And also, if you aren't listening to Serial, you totally should.

First off, Serial. Part of me feels empty. I knew there probably wouldn't be an answer, but in spite of this, all I want is answers. I totally sympathized with Sarah Koenig when she said (I'm paraphrasing here) she just wanted to shake the facts out of people. What would Friday and Gannon do? They'd find answers! They'd get to the bottom of it! But, would they?
In my own research on Cpl. Robert Mrowka, all I've been able to find is that I think he married Anna, and that he might have fought in Korea, and that he might have died in 1991. These are all things that I think are facts. The only thing I am really sure about is that he was in the Air Force and he had his tonsils out. It's beyond aggravating! I really want to know what happened! But there is no way for me to fact check anything right now. The all-knowing internet only knows so much.
The other part of me is so excited about Serial because the entire Adnan (That's the ex-boyfriend who was convicted for killing Hae Lee) case made sense to me, in terms of the legal terms and how the criminal justice system works, because of my background as a criminal justice major, which isn't super great, but I have a better understanding than most people. I understood terms and I knew exactly what was going on when they talked to the people from the innocence project. The case against Adnan was a mess. But maybe he did kill her. Maybe he didn't. Maybe it is the serial killer guy. I don't know. But I do know that having the knowledge made Serial that much better for me. It added to my listening experience.
On the other side of the spectrum, the finale of Gracepoint was so disappointing to me. Up until this episode, everything was great. Nothing seemed too far fetched, and I really had no clue who the killer was! I figured the detective's kid had something to do with it, but I figured the priest did it.
But the "twist" was too weird. The husband is a pedophile and the kid did it. Uh, okay. I have yet to watch Broadchurch, so I don't know how they did it, but Gracepoint was janky. They threw out  nine weeks worth of awesome TV and doing really well at keeping everything totally legit as soon as the killer turned out to be the detective's husband.
If you beat the shit out of someone in an interrogating room, your case is going to get thrown out. Even if it is your crazy husband. Even if he did (cover up the) murder of a twelve year old kid he may or may not have been having an inappropriate relationship with. And when she (the detective) and the kids went into hiding (sort of) they definitely would have had at least, at least one police guard. Partially for protection, and partially because they might have info pertinent to the case.And she definitely would not be allowed to wander around the city and hang out in front of the house of the family of the kid who maybe was in an inappropriate relationship with her husband and then was killed by her kid. That just wouldn't fly.
That ruined the show. Little things that just didn't quite work because even the average non-CJ Major viewer would have said 'well, that wouldn't happen like that.'
"I did the best I could with what I knew; now that I know better, I will do better." - Maya Angelou
-D.

Post #69: Letters and Cards

So on my radio show for today (December 3rd), I read aloud some letters and cards on air. They are all from WWII and written to Cpl. Robert T. Mrowka. This post will be comprised of photos of the holiday cards. I hope to do some research a little later in the week about Cpl. Mrowka and his sweetheart Anna Buchbinder.

The December 13th, 1943 card from Marie.

The December 13, 1943 card from Anna.

The December 13, 1944 card from Marie.

The December 14th, 1944 card from Anna.

The December 14, 1944 card from Mr. and Mrs. William Horey.

The extremely sweet December 14, 1944 card from Ernie and Kathryn Wetzel.

This is on the inside of the card.

The envelope of the Christmas Eve letter from Anna.

The card sent by Cpl. Mrowka's father in February 1945.

Post #68: Thanksgiving, William Shatner, and Career Goals

Wow. November sure got away from me. It's almost time for my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving! Huzzah! Turkey and mayo sandwiches here I come.

 I registered for all my classes for the next semester, and I have one 8am class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But that's okay, because I get to take a creative writing class next semester, too.

There's nothing real big to report here, life's been quiet. Lots of school. It's been cold. I always forget how cold it gets, and then November rolls around, and I wake up, and it's sub-freezing outside. BRRR! I wore the mittens I made today, but I was still cold and miserable. 

I've been working on Christmas gifts for my family and friends, and I gave my mom the sweater I knitted her for her birthday last week. It turned out fabulous.
Over the weekend, I went to our local Comic-Con with my sister, and among other things, I talked to William Shatner (and a room of 500+ people) about my desire to be a police officer. I asked William Shatner if people had told him stories about being inspired to pursue careers in science, technology, and aeronautics because of Star Trek the way Adam-12 inspired me to explore criminal justice. He asked what I wanted to do, and I said I'd like to be a cop, and he asked why. I hmmed and hawed for a few seconds, and then I admitted that I had a politically correct answer and an honest answer. He asked for the honest answer and I said (with an awful lot of pride and confidence I might add) that being a police officer was the closest I was going to get to joining the justice league, and I obviously can't be Dick Grayson (which, along with being in a movie where I get to be Matt Damon's kid, and being a princess, is my life goal), I can sure be a cop, and that's the next best thing.
I was answered by uproarious applause and cheering. I have never received such positive reinforcement for saying I want to be a cop. An older gentleman came up to me and said "I was a cop for 35 years, and you know who inspired me? The Lone Ranger," Usually people ask me why I don't want to be a lawyer. On person has even asked me what I'm going to do when I get  *miming kicking*  out of the police academy. This really happened. But on Saturday, that did not happen. No one assumed I wouldn't even make it through the academy, or if they did, they did not say it to my face. They just cheered. Everyone should have that happen at least once when they share their goals. It's nice to know people are with you, and not doubting you. (Mom, you don't count. You're my mom. Sorry)
Shatner ended up telling us all what inspired him to be an actor, which wasn't what I asked, but that's okay. I also won art from Jimmie Robinson with writing from Steven Grant! I'm really excited about that.
Because thanksgiving is on Thursday, I'd like to take a moment to say I am thankful for my family, my friends, and those who are on the front lines keeping us safe. This includes veterans  and those currently serving, fire fighters, EMTs and paramedics,  and police officers. We often forget how important they are until we need their services.
"If you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings." - Count Your Blessings
-D.

Post #67: Fun-sized Post

Today's post is fun-sized, because I am trying to finish up some English homework. Hopefully there will be a full-sized post later in the week.
Where did the year go? It's November all of a sudden, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
My Halloween was swell. I settled on Black Canary, and no one got it, so there's that. But I had fun dressing up, so that's all that counts.

I also discovered that there is a spanish version of "The Monster Mash"

"When you stop doing things for fun, you might as well be dead." - Ernest Hemingway
-D.