Hey, everyone, it's about that time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions, if you're into that sort of thing, as I am. I think it's a good excuse to improve something in your life. The NYR I'm most proud of is my resolution on 1 January 2002 to quit smoking. For eleven years, I smoked about two to five cigarettes per day, but I haven't had so much as a drag in coming up on two years now. Yay me. I think that my resolution for 2004 will be to floss every night without fail. I already floss fairly regularly, but not every single night. I've been doing it nightly for about a week now and am going to continue in 04. Then there is that resolution that I always try to make, that one involving money--not even touching that this year. I'm sticking with the flossing, the one that's more under my control. Floss or die.

Oh, maybe I should throw in an exercise resolution, too--something realistic--three workouts per week?

In my (fantastic) Women's Studies class this semester, we read quite a few pieces on identity politics: basing one's politics on categories that one claims as one's identity, including woman, working-class, lesbian, and so on. Some theorists, most notably Butler and Wendy Brown, critiqued identity politics, in part for their normalizing tendencies. That is to say, some members in the group might not agree with the hegemonic group viewpoint/party line, so they must either keep quiet or leave the group. In a recent essay responding to comments by Harvard University president Lawrence Summers criticizing what he perceives as "anti-Israel" (and, Butler claims, by implication also anti-Semitic) views, Butler describes this kind of normativity at work:

Oh, WOW. Via Invisible Adjunct. Of course Glenn Reynolds has blogged about it umpteen times today, and he thinks we have three options at this point:

(1) Shoot him out of hand. Appealing for a variety of reasons, but not really our style, and obviously we decided against it. (2) Try him for war crimes ourselves. Potentially messy, and perhaps looking a bit imperialistic to some. (3) Turn him over to the Iraqis and let them try him.

Hmmm. I'd read all the blog roundups today if I could, but I'm too busy with a seminar paper. I'm far more interested in what Iraqis have to say than anything. I did go to the English AlJazeera site and was shocked that I was able to view it...anyway, reactions there:

Jalal Talabani, Iraqi Governing Council member and head of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan:

"With the arrest of Saddam the financial resources
feeding terrorists have been destroyed and his arrest will put an end
to terrorist acts in Iraq." 
 
Amar al-Hakim, member of the Central Council of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq:

"The Iraqi nation is happy and the sound of gunfire
indicates the Iraqi's people's joy and happiness. His arrest will put
an end to military and terrorist attacks and the Iraqi nation will
achieve stability. We want Saddam to get what he deserves. I believe he
will be sentenced to hundreds of death sentences at a fair trial
because he's responsible for all the massacres and crimes in
Iraq." 
 
Walid Mubarak, Beirut-based political analyst:

"I think the reaction is going to be positive, but
there are still questions about the occupation of Iraq... I don't think
this will resolve that. But we will have to wait and see how people
will react in Iraq. What I know about their (US) behaviour is that
there have been mistakes. I hope they have learned from their mistakes." 

Yeah, I hope they (we, really, since I'm implicated here--all Americans are) learn, too.

UPDATE: See Charles W. Johnson's brilliant response.

So...I have decided to make more of an effort to keep up with scholarship that is published online. You might have noticed that I've added a block of links to online journals on rhetoric and feminism. I was looking at one of those articles tonight in Genders titled "Curing Boys Don't Cry" by Carol Siegel. Siegel critiques the film for its casting (Teena and Nissen are supposed to be around the same age, but the actors playing them are too far apart in age, making the dynamic less true-to-life), and she critiques representations of masculinity in the film and the choice of a song by The Cure as the film's title--it's somewhat of a misappropriation on Kimberly Peirce's part, Siegel implies, since The Cure is making a different argument about masculinity. Definitely an article Darren would be into.

Lately, I have been thinking about compliments I have received throughout my life that have stuck with me and given me confidence over the years. Here are a few:

• This guy I dated off and on from ages 19 through 25 (we're still friends) said that over the years that he has known me, I've become more and more intense, deep, compelling, intelligent, powerful, what have you. He said that he thought it would continue, and that when I'm an old woman, I'll be magnetic and utterly irresistible. I said, "Will I be like Dr. Walter?"
  
  
  
  (Dr. Elizabeth Walter was the head of the art department at the University of North Alabama--she retired right after I left, but I was lucky enough to have taken two classes with her: History of Photography and Art Theory and Criticism. She was fabulous, confident, a lefty feminist, with this booming voice. Everyone loved her.)
  
  
  
  He said, "Oh, yeah, even better." :-)
• One of my grandmothers, who passed away when I was 19, gave me a book of poetry. The first poem was "The Builders" by Longfellow. She said that the poem reminded her of me. It's kind of an unspecific compliment, but I appreciate the thought.
• My friend Scott said once that my personality has a lot more depth now than when I was in college. I don't know what that says about how I was then--maybe I was a little Paris Hilton or Anna Nicole Smith-like, but anyway, it was nice.
• One of the professors I had at UNA, Lisa Minor, with whom I had taken several classes, told me soon after I graduated with my B.A. that when I was in her sophomore lit survey course, I was already ready for graduate school. :-)

Compliments are very important, at least to me. I need to be better about giving them to other people.

51 of them, in fact.

I'm going to follow Jason's command and post five things I would rather be doing that what I'm doing now, working on my presentation in my genre theory class:

1. Getting a hot-rock massage at a spa.
2. Walking along a beach. I don't care what beach, as long as there aren't very many people around, no garbage, and no dunebuggies.
3. Birdwatching someplace with a comfortable ~60 degree temperature.
4. Exercising--yoga, pilates, weights, stretching. That would feel great.
5. Sleeping, watching movies/sitcoms, vegging out.

Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure:

Includes such gems as:

"Liberals hate America, they hate flag-wavers, they hate abortion opponents, they hate all religions except Islam, post 9/11. Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like Liberals do. They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy, they'd have indoor plumbing by now."


and

"Liberals can't just come out and say they want to take more of our money, kill babies, and discriminate on the basis of race."

[Via Sivacracy.net]