Is it just me...

...or was the season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" last night highly disappointing? I felt like it wasn't the up to the caliber of previous season premieres and it certainly didn't do justice to the way the show ended last spring.

Izzie's story line and the dialogue she had to say was atrocious. Her lines reminded me of Meredith's "Choose me. Pick me. Love me." of the first season. My friend who watched it with me said, "There's nothing worse than an fake deer." I added, "Coupled with a crappy child actor!"

And what was that random rant she spit out at George in the stairway? Izzie was like a high school student in a Shakespearean play...she knew where to put the emphasis to make it sound smooth, but she didn't have a clue what she was saying.

I'm going to stick around and see if the writers dig themselves out of this hole. I'm worried that Shonda Rhimes might go the way of "The Boondocks" creator...get so many things cooking that none of them end up tasting good.

Elitist Private Joke

So, I am really pissed off right now and I can't say it anywhere but here.

I'm sitting in my core lecture required of all first year doctoral students. Everyone at Harvard have bent over backwards to console me about my lack of research experience. "Don't worry about it!" they say. "The courses you will take later in the semester will explain it all." However, the professor just threw up all these quantitative symbols and made all these witty jokes. I had NO idea what the hell was so funny.

I finally called him out saying, "So right now, you're just dropping a bunch of inside jokes for stats people."

Ughhhh!

Twenty-First Century Civil Rights March

I just read this article on the New York Times website. It's about the Jena Six: six black teenagers arrested last year on attempted murder charges after they beat a fellow white classmate unconscious. The fight was precipitated by someone hanging nooses from a tree known for being a hangout for white students. Jena, Louisiana is a town of about 3,000 residents and is 85% white. I have no opinion on whether or not the charges were justified; I need to learn more about the case.

However, in the article, many quotes stood out. One of them was President Bush's. His quote slowed the whole flow of the article down. His syntax and inability to form coherent sentences just sounded like he was...an idiot. God, I can't wait till he's gone.

Another quote that stood out was one by Eric Depradine.

“This is the first time something like this has happened for our generation,” said Eric Depradine, 24, a senior at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. “You always heard about it from history books and relatives. This is a chance to experience it for ourselves.”

The thing is...it isn't the first thing like this that has happened in our generation. From being good friends with tuckergurl, I know that civil rights are being violated down racial lines every day in our criminal justice system, our prisons, and in death penalty policies. The re-segregation of our public schools and the disenfranchisement of blacks through redistricting have all happened in Depradine's generation. I guess for Depradine, it's in this case that he feels he can make a difference.

The best quote of the article, however, was by Latese Brown:

“If you can figure out how to make a school yard fight into an attempted murder charge, I’m sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime.”

That's funny because it's true.

I've Been Hit With The H-Bomb

When I got accepted into Harvard, I had a hard time telling people. In casual conversation, I would say, "I'm going to grad school in Boston." Then I would say, "Actually, I'm getting my doctorate in Cambridge." By that time, I sounded like a real douche bag. Ironically, I avoided mentioning Harvard in order to not sound like a douche bag.

Well, now I am not ashamed to say that I go to Harvard, because I feel like I am here by the skin of my teeth. I just finished my first week of classes...I'm already behind in the reading. I have a paper, an assignment and a class presentation due in the next week and a half. One of my classes made me cry...not in the class...because I felt dumb and alone. I don't mind feeling dumb, but I truly felt like I was the only one who didn't know what the hell was going on. Well, maybe I mind feeling dumb a little bit. My ass is being kicked!

The good thing is that my classmates are really supportive, honest and non-competitive. So I'm getting lots of support.

This weekend, I am going to revamp my entire approach to the hundreds of pages of reading that are due every week. I'm actually excited about my new approach to homework. So hopefully, Harvard will have to find another way to beat me to a pulp.

My Indictment of Hollywood's Portrayal of "Good" Fathers

I will begin this by stating that this indictment is not based on solid or thorough research. It is based on only two movies that TM and I recently saw via Netflix. These movies have nothing else in common except for the fact that the fathers are dark-skinned and do some stupid shyt in the name of protecting their family.

The first movie is The Pursuit of Happyness. As we put the DVD in, Summer's words about this movie were forefront in my mind. I shared them with TM and by the end of the film, we were both furious and think Summer is a genius. How dare Chris Gardner?!?!?! How dare he call his wife "weak" because she wants to leave when she was working double shifts for months? How dare he demand that his son stay with him when his wife had family and a job lined up in New York? How dare he have money in the bank for the IRS to levy and didn't use it to pay his rent? How dare he become inspired to be a stockbroker by seeing a Ferrari and justify the decision by saying it's for his family? How dare he not get a part-time job while he was selling those bone-density machines? The movie tried really hard to make Will Smith's character sympathetic and make everyone else the bad guy/girl, but it didn't work. Like Summer, I thought it was a very well-acted film, but ultimately I wasn't buying what it was trying to sell. And I am dying to know what the relationship is between the real Chris Gardner and his son.

The second movie we've seen recently is Blood Diamond. This movie was good, but I was always afraid that the filmmakers were enjoying portraying the horrors Africans were inflicting on each other a little too much. I totally dug how unapologetically Leo took on the language; it was fun watching him speak the patois. However...poor Djimon Hounson. Per usual, he played the honorable black person used to teach the lost white soul the path to redemption. He also played the fool! In his path to find his son, his character puts him and Leo's character in danger again and again. All in the name of his family, he makes one mistake after another. He actually started to piss me off.

My conclusion based solely on these films is that Hollywood thinks it's all right for a father to put his family in more peril if he says it's for their betterment. And it's more understandable if you are a black father. I know I am oversimplifying these films, but it's where my head is at the moment.

Ella is City Dog...Straight Up

Yet another reason I love my neighborhood is that there is a run/bike/dog walk path one block from my house. If I so chose, I could use it to get to Concord, MA...which is not close by. Right now, I only use it to get to Medford for my run and to get Ella to meet other dogs.

However, Ella doesn't like it at all. As we approach it, she will actively try to walk in the opposite direction. Since she doesn't ever lead the walk, she always relents. But she only feels comfortable when there are lots of people walking on the path. When we're alone with the trees and the squirrels and the birds, Ella is quite nervous. However, on the way back home, when we walk on the major street with the delis...this area doesn't have bodegas, only delis...and the restaurants and realty offices, she's happy as a clam.

What kind of dog prefers concrete and glass over trees and grass? Mine, apparently.

How I Know I'm Old

I'm addicted to "The Hills." I know it's edited to make Lauren look like "the responsible one," but I really respect her staying sane in the crazy-ass LA that MTV created. I'm completely invested in the outcome of the whole Heidi-Lauren feud.

These facts don't prove I'm old, however. What does is how incredibly transparent Justin/Bobby is. He is the on-again/off-again boyfriend of Adriana. He's hot, I will give him that...though he needs a haircut in the worst way. But I've met and/or dated that guy. He's the guy that says he doesn't believe in labels, which means he doesn't want to commit but still wants to sleep with you. He says he doesn't listen to other people because he doesn't want you to listen to your friends tell you he's a loser. He says he just listens to his heart when he really just listens to his penis.

He's so transparently a jerkoff. It's obvious to anyone who has lived through their late teens/early 20s. He's so predictable, I wonder why MTV decided to let him on the show.

Also, what's up with the long awkward pauses at the end of each scene? I know that the editors chop the conversations up like stir fry vegetables, but what's up with that? Do the producers tell the "reality stars" to just sit and look at each other awkwardly?

What I've Been Thinking About

As you may well imagine, my head has been swarming with stuff. Instead of boring you in my quest to get into classes and figuring out which ones fit my research needs best...which is what I'm in the middle of now...I thought I would share other random thoughts.

• When someone stops caring about their blog, I wonder what's worse: not posting for a long time or continuing to post regularly, just in a half-assed way?

• There is this one blog that I used to love and now just enjoy...I think that's because the blogger is getting a little too big for his/her britches. He/she is sometimes a little annoying.

• So I listen to this great podcast: Keith and the Girl. It very raunchy, but it reminds me of Howard Stern when he wasn't interviewing strippers and getting B-list actresses to show him their tits. They talk about their lives, their relationship (they've been together for five years), their friends, their struggles to "make it." They are really funny and have some hilarious friends...Patrice is my favorite. Anywhoo, sometimes they will read stuff from the news wire and discuss it. I also listen to the podcast edition of Wait,Wait...Don't Tell Me, NPR news quiz show. I do this because it's really funny. What I have often found is that both of these shows reference the same content. It's weird to hear Keith and Chemda's take on the goat sacrifice in the Nepalese airport, and then hear Peter Sagal read a question about it...it's the difference between the Post and the Times.

• I bought an iPhone yesterday. I'm not thrilled about it like I thought I would be. Partly that's because it was a lot of money...though now it's about the cost of any other high-end smartphone. I got the phone not because of any of its cool features, but because Apple is one smart-ass company. If you buy a Mac...which I did...and use iCal...which I do...and want/need to bring your calendar with you to use and edit...which I do...and don't want to spend hours doing computer geek research on how to get another smartphone to read the software...which I don't...then you get an iPhone. I have now become part of the Apple mob. Yup, they own my ass. At least I'm trapped with a damn cool phone and computer and I didn't use a credit card to pay for it! I don't know if you knew this, but not only did they slash the price from $600 to $400, but they have a $300 one as well.

• So here's the thing...I don't think I'm going to be able to keep this blog up. Sitting here this morning and writing this entry has felt really nice. It's feels good to blog. But I don't think I am going to have the time. I feel like it's been weeks since I've written because so much is happening right now, but I don't have time to document it. It frustrates me...and the less stressful emotions I have right now, the better. I don't think I'm finished with this blog like I was with my last one, but maybe it will go on hiatus or something. I'll give you notice when I take my leave...I make it sound like I have a huge readership or something. That's funny.

• I need a job...very soon.

• I think it's hilarious that I've come to Cambridge and become such a bike girl. I swear to you, biking is the fastest way to get from home to school. Faster than the T even. I'm looking at all my nice shoes and fashion boots thinking about how little wear they are going to get. They were New York shoes.
  

There's so much more I'm thinking about...but I got to get ready for school.

I'm Getting Vanity Fair This Month

I stopped subscribing to that magazine a LONG time ago, but every once in a while, it draws me back. It happened with the Africa issue...though ultimately I thought it highly problematic.

And they are doing it again. Apparently, Stephen Colbert is getting an in-depth article written about him in October's issue. I'm very intrigued, namely because this photo makes him strangely sexy to me.

The Sexism of ABC

After three days of very intense orientation, I decided to veg out with some TV. I flipped the channels and found a "Grey's Anatomy" repeat, which reminded me that its season premiere must be coming up. So I went to ABC's website and got distracted by its list of new fall shows.

I was appalled! There are a couple of female ensemble shows and a couple of male ensemble shows. All of them have at least one "star." Yet, the amount of hoopla that the male-dominated shows get totally dwarf the press for the female shows. "Big Shots" has nine commercials and a bunch more interviews and videos; "Carpoolers" has seven. "Women's Murder Club," starring Angie Harmon no less, got one 15-second spot. And "Cashmere Mafia" with Lucy Liu, got no commercials, just some interviews on the red carpet with a body-less interviewer asking some stupid questions.

I can't believe how blatant this unbalance is. Don't tell me that women don't watch TV or don't pay attention to new shows because that is straight up bull doody. Is there another, more logical explanation?

Yo! Raccoons are BIG! Oh, and school has begun.

Last night we had to put the trash out and there were two very large raccoons rummaging through it. They were bold! The trash was out on the curb, right underneath a streetlamp. When a person walked passed, one of them stood up on its hind legs. It was tall...like as tall as Ella on her hind legs! And Ella can reach the kitchen counter when she does that. I'm telling you, my exposure to nature in Somerville is constantly amazing.

So yesterday was my first day of pre-orientation. I'm a bit worried. I came home exhausted...and it's only the pre-orientation. I have to say that my fellow doctoral students are an impressive lot. People who have traveled all over the world, people who have done amazing things. Funny enough, I am the only person in my concentration who actually has professional experience in my concentration. Everyone else has extensive experience, but not in the field they are entering into. I figured everyone would have been Directors of this and that.

It was a good day overall, though the getting-to-know-you games were cheesy. The journey I'm about to partake became real for me and all the advanced doctoral students with whom I spoke made it clear that this totally doable. I realized this morning I was expecting a "Paper Chase"-like introduction to life at Harvard: intense and intimidating. Instead, there was an emphasis on how down to earth everything and everyone is. Perhaps Harvard is suffering from "thou does protest too much," but I'm buying it. I'm sure the faculty will be a lot more hardcore.

I've picked out the courses I want to take and have a meeting scheduled with my advisor. Now I've got to get ready for another day of learning "fun facts" about my colleagues.

And Now It's Moving Day

Boy oh boy! If I wasn't happy about the fact that we moved here so many weeks earlier before...I am now. The streets are clogged with moving vans...both yesterday and today. It's so strange. I'm sure that NYC is going through the same thing, but there are so many more people there, I never noticed. Besides, though I lived near a college, it was a commuter one, so there were a lot less students moving in.

Of course, I could be more acutely aware of this because I am a student myself. It's like that phenomenon when you get a new car, you start seeing your model of car everywhere.

In other news, I haven't seen that woodchuck/groundhog in days. Don't worry, I've been looking! I wonder if it's moved on. Perhaps it's got several bachelor pads. I'll keep you posted. Hmmm...now that I haven't seen it, I miss it.