THE DRAFT?!?!? from an email I got from a librarian (you can always trust librarians with the truth)

The Coming Draft - Skills & CombatAnti-war This is a Special Military Draft Alert.In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” and had held a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department. This draft would change the essential mission of the Selective Service and require “virtually every young American,” male and female ages 18–34, to register for the Skills Draft and list all the occupations they are proficient in to fill labor shortages throughout nearly the entire government. If enacted, the Skills Draft proposed in this FOI- recovered document would change America as we know it.The Pentagon is suffering from immediate labor shortages. Recently, the inactive Ready Reserve had to be called up for the first time since the Gulf War to fill 5,600 job shortages in the Armed Forces. DoD said in the recent IRR callup “20% of the call-ups are truck drivers, 12% are supply specialists who can use a computer to track supplies, 10% are Humvee mechanics, 7% are administrative specialists and 6% are combat engineers” (USA Today, August 8, 2004).Although Congress would have to approve new legislation to create a Skills Draft or reinstate the combat draft, Family Circle reported in its July 13 issue that Karl Rove had polled GOP members of Congress in September 2002 to see if they would support the President if he requests reinstatement. The Republicans said they would vote for the draft. They would likely support the new legislation needed to create the Skills Draft. While Bush and the Republicans are of course keeping the return of the draft and the new skills draft as quiet as possible, many anti-draft organizations have recently begun warning of a “Coming New Draft. ”The Issue Paper document was revealed through the Freedom of Information Act by Seattle Post Intelligencer reporter Eric Rosenberg, who wrote a partial explanation of it that was printed May 1, 2004.Rosenberg’s article was edited, however, and some key points about this document were omitted in the published article. What follows is a full explanation of the document.This document is real, having been acknowledged by the DoD and the SSS when they said no action is being taken on it at the present time. However, given the current manpower shortages for certain skills and nurses, if Bush gets back in, expect all the options outlined in the Issue Paper to be implemented by the end of December of this year, and at the least a non-combat skills and medical draft to start next year, if not the male combat draft, ages 18 –25.Despite Rumsfeld saying the draft is not needed, this is the same neo-con administration that has repeatedly lied to and misled the American people. Draft-age youth and their families are left looking at a “long, hard slog” in Iraq (Rumsfeld secret memo), the neo-con plans to invade still more nations, and then having to take Rumsfeld and Cheney’s word not to worry about the draft, that they “are not considering it at this time.”Although official word is that this secret list of options is not being implemented—the Issue Paper options have NOT been rejected and the 6-page proposal is rather sitting in the Pentagon, waiting. In addition, the SSS itself has said that it is “designing procedures” (Seattle PI, May 1, 2004) to implement the skills draft, meaning designing the compliance cards and the data fields needed to keep track of “virtually every young American” and their skills. Acting Director of the SSS Brodsky has also said the Skills Draft is the “top priority” of the Selective Service for 2004.>From the FOI document, we now know that on February 11, 2003, Charles Abell, the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and William Carr, Deputy Undersecretary for Military Personnel Policy, met with Lewis Brodsky, the Acting Director of the Selective Service and some other officials. This is the highest-level meeting you could have about the Selective Service, outside of Rumsfeld and his inner circle. They were there to discuss the urgent “issue paper” now revealed, which starts: “With known shortages of military personnel with certain critical skills, and with the need for the nation to be capable of responding to domestic emergencies as a part of Homeland Security Planning, changes should be made in the Selective Service System’s registration program and primary mission.”Although it would require changes in current draft law, the far-reaching proposal shows how far the Republicans are going to plan and prepare for a huge expansion of the draft. The Issue Paper options include: Change the very mission of the SSS to become a massive conscription service in the War on Terror for the entire government. Conscript men and women in a critical skills non-combat draft up to age 34 with no deferments of any kind, except “essential community service” (like the Medical Draft). Allow a non-combat draft for shortages in critical skills, without calling a combat draft. Fill labor shortages of all kinds throughout not only DoD but the whole government, especially high-paying professionals like computer networking specialist or linguist. Create a massive database of “virtually every young American” ages 18 to 34. This database would be used to draft in war and to recruit in peacetime. State and even local governments would be given access to the names for recruitment and help in emergencies. Create a single-point, all-inclusive database, in which every young person would be forced to send in a “self-declaration” of all of their critical skills, chosen from a long list of occupations like the Armed Forces Specialty Code. The self-declaration is similar to IRS compliance and the filling out and signing of your tax forms. All young people would be required to keep the government updated if they acquired a new skill. SSS Compliance forms will be available at every Post Office. The usual penalties of imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine would apply to all non-registrants. A draft or recruitment could be for any one of the skills you self- declare on the compliance form, not your current or primary skill. This greatly increases your chance of being drafted if you are 18–34. Bring the Medical Draft (HCPDS) up to speed and fully test it through readiness exercises. Reduce induction time from being able to deliver all inductees in 193 days down to just 90 days for skills inductees.This secret paper urges the mission be changed “promptly,” meaning they really need it, it would draft for the Pentagon as well as the enormous Homeland Security branches as well as other government agencies, even state and local!For obvious political reasons, the decision was made by Bush, Cheney and Rove to sit on this 6-page proposal until after the election in November. Yet the SSS was told to go ahead and begin “designing procedures” for the Skills Draft in 2004 and make it their “top priority.” It can be expected that if Bush gets back in, and the DoD and SSS are still asking for the Skills Draft, the “Next Steps” part of the document will be put into action and the most expansive option to change the SSS mission will be rapidly legislated.In the secret planning meeting document, the next steps strongly recommended by SSS Acting Director Brodsky were:1. “Promptly” redefine the SSS Mission to draft men and women up to age 34 for skills, and deliver them within 90 days or sooner to the Department of Defense. Program a massive database to be ready to enter millions of names of those registering their critical skills.2. Expand mission to deliver personnel in skills draft to the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, including FEMA, NSC, Border Patrol, INS, Customs, Corporation for National Service, Public Health Service and other federal, state and local government agencies.3. Form interagency task force to provide Administration with recommendation on this skills draft for the entire DHS and the rest of the government.4. Obtain White House Statement of Administration Policy on the future of the SSS.5. Be prepared to market the skills draft, raising the non-combat age to 34 and the drafting of women to the Armed Services and Appropriations Committee.This proposed expansion of the draft, forcing all people under 35 to register with the SSS, man or woman, is primarily proposed, according to the document, because the cost of providing contract professionals, like computer network specialists, would be “prohibitive.” In this way, the proposed Skills Draft would help preserve Bush’s massive tax cuts for the wealthy by lowering the massive budget deficits.That’s the new Skills Draft and the secret document behind it. But what about the Combat Draft?Selective Service has been registering young men for over twenty years and at any moment the President can go to Congress and ask them to reauthorize conscription for the male combat draft for ages 18–25. It doesn’t take much to imagine a re-elected Bush going to Congress and saying “We cannot cut and run from Iraq or the War on Terror. I need you to reauthorize conscription.”And they would not have to pass a whole new draft law to do it. All that is needed is a “trigger resolution,” which could be passed in the dead of night—and bingo! No debate, no regular bill, just a short resolution passed quickly and the draft for men 18 to 25 is back.That is why the Democratic draft resolution being offered by Rangel and Hollings is totally irrelevant. These are known protest bills and actually propose drafting women for the combat draft, just to make sure they will never see the light of day. Rangel and Hollings offered them to raise the issue and confront Bush. Hollings even said he wouldn’t vote for his own bill!They are not needed—and the press and the Republicans will bring them up as red herrings to distract everyone from what is really going on: the Republicans, and the SSS are quietly, behind the scenes, oiling up the draft machinery—getting ready to reinstate for the Spring of 2005. Taken singly, each of the clues indicating the return and expansion of the draft might seem insignificant but when you add them all up with what the Selective Service is doing to gear up the combat draft, a clear pattern emerges, leading to the inescapable conclusion that a Bush re-election will see not only a Skills Draft, but a return of the Combat Draft as well.What is the proof? The government’s own document, the SSS Performance Plan for Fiscal Year 2004.The Selective Service System, or the SSS, has for decades operated at a low level of readiness. Readiness Exercises are conducted on a multi-year cycle but historically these have been little more than getting draft board volunteers together and going over the procedures of what would happen under reinstatement and training new members every summer. And the draft boards themselves have become 80% vacant over the decades.In the current 5-year cycle of exercises, however, the SSS is clearly ramping up the draft machinery to an unprecedented level.“Strategic Objective 1.2: Ensure a mobilization infrastructure of 56 State Headquarters, 442 Area Offices and 1,980 Local Boards are operational within 75 days of an authorized return to conscription.”Tie that to this objective:An annual report providing the results of the implementation of these performance measures will be submitted by March 31, 2005.75 days from March 31, 2005 is about June 15, 2005. According to the 2004 plan, the draft boards will be “operational” then, meaning that they will be set up in 1,980 local offices around the country. If Bush asks for reinstatement on April 1, Congress could pass it that night and the first batch of more than one million 20 year-olds would face the national lottery as soon as that date, June 15, 2005.Here is how the $28 million is being spent according to the official document. Although the Senate rejected the funding request to bump up the SSS budget to $28 million, the SSS says in one paragraph of the Performance Plan that budgets will be “adjusted” to cover the additional cost for 2004:Strategic Goal 1: Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the Manpower Delivery Systems (Projected allocation for FY 2004: $7,942,000)Strategic Goal 2: Improve overall Registration Compliance and Service to the Public (Projected allocation FY 2004: $8,769,000)Strategic Goal 3: Enhance external and internal customer service (Projected allocation for FY 2004: $10 ,624,000)Strategic Goal 4: Enhance the system which guarantees that each conscientious objector is properly classified, placed, and monitored. (Projected allocation for FY 2004: $955,000)In analyzing each of the 2004 goals in detail it is obvious that there are hidden “activation bombshells” in this so-called Performance Plan. Goal number 1 in particular brings the combat induction process up to 95% operational readiness, going so far as to actually hold a mock lottery drawing this year and to issue sample orders to report for the famous medical exam. The document does not reveal the day in 2004 the mock lottery is to be held.In addition, the Medical Draft, or Health Care Personnel Delivery System (HCPDS in the document), is for the first time brought up to full readiness by next year. This draft would take men and women up to age 44 if they are doctors, nurses or one of 60-some medical specialties. No medical deferments allowed. Previous readiness exercises merely went over what would happen with HCPDS and updated the guide. The 2004 plan actually develops a readiness exercise for the Medical Draft that would be conducted next year. Plus HCPDS must be ready to conscript by June, being part of the system.Goal number four is particularly ominous:Strategic Objective 4.1: Ensure a mobilization infrastructure of 48 Alternative Service Offices and 48 Civilian Review Boards are operational within 96 days after notification of a return to induction.Strategic Objective 4.2: Develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Alternative Service Employer Network to specifically identify organizations and associations who can, by law, participate in the Alternative Service Program. This network will provide jobs for ASWs at the local level. Prior to activation, SSS will develop a draft MOU for use when obtaining agreements with qualified employers at the local and national level.For 31 years, the Conscientious Objector system, called the Alternative Service, has lain dormant. The 2004 plan also calls for this to be brought up to speed and to be ready to decide cases and place COs in the Alternative Service by July 6, 2005 (96 days after March 31, 2005). The SSS is even going so far as to draw up the SOPs, the Standard Operating Procedures which identify local employers eligible to receive cheap AS workers and to also draw up the actual MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding the employer must sign to get their CO workers and allow their mandatory attendance to be monitored. This is the last obstacle to be hurdled before the draft could actually be ready for quick activation under the law.In sharp contrast to all this preparation for a Spring 2005 draft by Bush, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry has proposed a military plan that rejects any draft, by adding 20,000 active duty combat soldiers and 20,000 active “reconstruction specialists.” At a Wisconsin high school, Kerry pledged in June, 2004, that the draft would be “absolutely unnecessary.” When asked in April by 130 college editors in a conference call as to whether he would support a draft, John Kerry said unequivocally: “No. No draft” and he has criticized the use of the Guard and Reserve and now the Individual Ready Reserve as a “back-door draft.”Kerry plans to spend an additional $7 billion to strengthen the Volunteer Army in what is essentially a “No-Draft Plan,” Moreover, Kerry is strongly opposed to the neo-con plan revealed in Wes Clark’s book, in which Clark was told by a senior Pentagon official that invasions of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and Somalia are still to come over the next three years.Source: http://www.blatanttruth.org/alert.htm

How to Surviving Library School

1. Never take it seriously. However, you will still learn a lot.
2. Take off at least one class per semester--drink beer or cook yourself an elaborate meal or take a bath or dance sweaty and naked at a popular club instead. If you go every week, you will drive yourself nuts!
3. Hold your nose and dive into cataloging. Once you understand it, it will be clear. I once spent 12 hours studying cataloging in one day. Ow.
4. Take as many different kinds of classes as possible. I have taken classes in Readers' Advisory, YA Services, Marketing of Libraries, Online Research, Archives & Manuscripts.
5. Before taking classes, ask around. Library students, like librarians, are usually friendly and will offer you advice about classes.
6. Keep up-to-date on what's happening in the library world.
7. Join library associations--most organizations have student rates which are WAY cheaper. ALA is about $25 or $30 (can't remember), and I also belong to SLA, NYLA, and the New York Library Club. Once you graduate, they're a lot more $$$.
8. Learn to love ALA and RLIN and OCLC and MARC and YALSA and etc etc etc. You will soon learn what all of these mean, that is, if you enroll.
9. Get the Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure.
10. Don't worry about shushing--no one does it anymore.
11. If you are white, with glasses, and female, you fit the standard of 99% of librarians. I do not have glasses, but am everything else.
12. If a class is boring, amuse yourself in other ways--write notes, write letters to friends (hi venessa!) in your notebook and mail them, do reading for other classes, day dream, make grocery lists, etc.
13. Librarians are friendly. Ask for help!

i don't know why i thought i could handle two classes plus write my thesis plus stopping dubya from getting selected again. oh yeah, plus get ready for this huge wedding (shoes? updo? an updo in greenpoint? exactly.) oh and i may or may not be going through a breakup of a 5 year relationship (no dates please, i really dont want anyone but the one i have, but if he leaves, we have no future...he may be taking a job in mass-ugh-chew-sits.)

i've been sad lately, and here's how i plan on doing staying strong:
1. spend a lot of time alone. i don't want to be around others when i'm sad.
2. cook. i made lentil soup AND a quiche yesterday (well two actually because something happened when i messed up the recipe.)
3. yoga.
4. run.
5. write.
6. don't talk to other people, or if you do, limit what you need to converse with them about.
7. cry. when it gets really bad, call trish. or melissa or venessa or jessica or my mom, but really, my mom doesn't want to hear it all. she would but then she'll hate trev. my friends get over it quicker.
8. work on thesis.
9. read books in bed. wear long pajamas, hair in a braid. cat is on pillow next to me, just a little lamp on, a cup of tea next to the bed. sleeping cap optional.

how silly this all is. i'm depressed. give me a hug!

oh my god i'm watching movies!

anyone that knows me knows i rarely watch movies. i've been getting into the documentary bandwagon (although i always liked docs, there's really so many terrific ones out lately!) and have watched several movies worth of watching again.

farenheit 9/11
amazing. i hated bush but i didn't realize how hardcore he had betrayed me and other americans. it's insane. sad. angry. wanting to create social change. it's the story of how dubya knew abt 9/11 and his actions. i watched it twice, in the theatres.
twice in the theatres is a world record for me.

the yes men
i cheered for them at the human rights film festival and then watched their film. amazing. it blew me away. i enjoyed it so much i am going to pay to see it this weekend. basically it's the story of these guys who create a wto-look-a-like website www.gatt.org that gets them several invitations to speak as wto reps...and the hilarious results. inspiring for activists.
one at a preview, once (to be) in the theatres.

the corporation
amazing. http://www.filmforum.com here in nyc is showing it. it's amazing and examines the corporation psychologically as if it were a person--and the insane results. very informative and interesting.
once in the theatres

outfoxed
i wanted to see this and finally rented it from photoplay. i got so mad at o'reilly when he's yelling at this guy who is against the war and whose dad died in the wtc--SHUT UP!!! it's insane and you also learn more abt how rBST is so evil. i drink organic milk, you should too!
rented once

the weather underground
in 1969 a group of people broke off fr sds to form the weather men. these people advocated violence to create a revolution. crazy the things they did, but it was really interesting.
rented and watched 1 1/2 times.

any movies to recommend??? let's have a date!

what is an antonym. no, what is a synonym.

how do you do with a breakup or a reunion? how do you deal with a kiss or a fist? what do you do with a cat and a mouse? and how does a thunderstorm with a sunny sky exist? your body when you work in a cold office in the dead humid heat of summertime? what is the purpose of opposites? of dirt roads and a konkrete jungle? of family but a family that lives far? can it all exist, within the same universe?

i'm posting on my blog a lot lately...i don't know, i really like my computer. trev has been away so i'm totally being productive. the house is clean, the laundry hanging, homework being done (some of it), calls returned, cats on diet, bills getting paid..we might break up forever, and then what? i'll be productive but alone..."sad and lonely" as my grandma would say. let's not think about this all, my cat is trying to eat my receipts as my love has not called me back.

a terrific anonymous Salvadoran poem:

I, Like You
Love Life, Life the Sweet Enchantment of
Things, the Celestial Blue Countryside on
January Days.
But My Blood Boils and I Laugh With the
Eyes That Have Known Tears.

What do you do when you really don't like yr job but it's not all that bad but still you've been looking for as long as you work there but everytime you talk about leaving your mom and others say, "But it pays so well! And your boss is so nice, and it's flexible and good to work at during school..." And you just want to scream, "I choose the poverty of a librarian over this crap!"

Welcome to my life.

My friend Kickassica is leaving her corporate job for school. Lucky her. I know that I'm only going to be here till May at most but still I want to escape. I have an interview in a few weeks for a job at a public library--paying less than half of what I make now. (But with benefits, etc.) I don't know what to do.

Why does my job suck?

1. For starters I hate the corporate world.
2. It's located in the Financial District.
3. I am a temp and they refuse to hire me as a perm. This means I don't get health benefits, when I do anything my email is US NY Library Assistant.
4. Even though I was hired as an assistant, at some point my boss decided I'd be a junior librarian, and I started doing research. I think she likes to call me her assistant (her=powerful) but I hate it. I absolutely hate it.
5. I hate photocopying.

So what should I do? Should I escape? Should I run away? Should I suck it up and stay?

disgruntled, part 2

everyone seems unhappy here at work. what does this mean? i don't know. i have to carry a heavy backpack (with all my books for my thesis that i'm returning) to a school in another borough...

you don't want to hear me whine though! (and neither does trevor, but poor boy, he does!)

weather.com lied--there wasn't any rain during the day today either! i would've worn flipflops but instead my dirty pink diesel sneakers.

the state of the world is unsettling. i mean, gwb is prezzie! um, i don't think so!

can someone figure out a way for me to maintain my sanity? thanks, i really appreciate that....

until next time, i'm a tomato lover. my dad grows the best tomatoes, the best, i love sliced cold tomatoes with salt on them.

disgruntled and tired

the semester just started and already i'm tired. my thesis is going to be super time-consuming (that's why it's worth three credits, cherie, duh!) and my head feels heavy. i would like a blanket and a pillow, please. sleep at work.

lately work is back and forth. i'm doing "clips"--you gather all the news from the past month or so on a specific topic or company--i've been doing banks--retail and investment. i know, sounds pretty thrilling but i WANT to do research and honestly, i've been bored to tears lately.

i wish my job was in soho. or it was not in the financial district. and i wish i didn't have to deal with the corporate types. this job is good for now--very good financially--but i'm confused abt my future.

queens and i have an interview--the question is: can i settle for that much less $? (yes as long as trevor doesn't leave me.) can i deal with a longer commute? (not really.) can i do public? (yes as long as i'm not working in a horrid hood.) we'll see.

it's crappy weather--rain all week--although tomorrow it's just supposed to be cloudy. i'm not a duck, i hate rain.

pause. sit in your little chair at your computer and pause. read this and then close your eyes. where would you really like to be? now close your eyes.

did you close your eyes? close them! now relax.

me? i'd like to be in a tropical cabin on the beach on my porch or in my porch at my house in greenery--sleeping on a comfy porch futon with my honey and my kitty. then, then i can dream of bigger things. like a good job at an academic library and more $ and getting my novels published and two cats and happily ever after...

so i actually did something today, and it's only 2 pm!!

i got up, swept and mopped the floors, and did all that boring cleaning crap yr lucky if you do once a year. before trev moved in, i'd clean weekly--usually i'd straighten up daily and on sundays or some weekend day, i'd spend a few hours mopping and that sort of thing. so i'm proud i cleaned today. of course, i must admit trev is away.

if he was here, there's no doubt in my mind. we would've slept later, lazed around in bed not doing much of anything, checked my email, etc. so i'm glad i cleaned.

damn, there's all that boring reading i have to do for library school. i'll go over to the greenpoint cafe and drink some blood orange tea and read. how dull.

here's my top ten of things everyone should do in the next month:

1. register to vote.
2. register others to vote. check out the swing states. if you liked farenheit 9/11, visit http://www.michaelmoore.com and read all his stuff, then visit the section on what can i do. there are tons of sites where people are registering people to vote.
3. clean their houses. dust is sucky!
4. make love, not war.
5. get yr pet vaccinated. there's tons of places that provide low or free pet vaccinations. i'm going to the sunday petco extravanganza. poor kitty!
6. follow the news. follow at least one thing in the news so you can talk intelligently about it. hurricane francis? the tradgedy at the russian school? who can't afford the hamptons because they can't even afford to eat? you choose.
7. buy a birthday gift for your friend. now buy yourself a gift because you're so cool!
8. do something totally outrageous. go to the financial district in fishnets with anti-bush pins all over your purse. use food coloring to dye all your food, invite friends over for breakfast, and serve them green oatmeal, purple eggs, red water.
9. do your homework, call your relatives, iron your clothes, and be a good girl.
10. kick out the prezzie bush, and love your fuzzy bush. "my bush is better, it's fuzzy like a sweater! not like that prezzie peter, my bush is simply sweeter!"

that's all folks. have a lovely day! i promise to be updating this blog with increased regularity.

okay i am totally procrastinating at this point. i have to read six chapters plus two articles for class. my stomach hurts. let's see...

wait, i heard a question. what does miss cherie do in a day?

MS. CHERIE!

okay, what does ms. cherie do in a day?

here's what i did today:
630 am: snooze goes off.
730 am: i get out of bad. change into very unsexy running clothes (neon pink spandex shorts and gray sports bra). put on of those "water bottle on a skinny fanny pack type strap" on. put half of a power bar in my pocket.
930 am: no water, no powerbar. i ran all the way to the botanical gardens. eat cantaloupe while standing in front of the fridge. shower.
1030 am: after cereal, go to the bank. there are literally 30 people in front of me. there are two or three tellers. go to the library. b/c of the holiday, it is closed.
1100 am: eat couscous.
1130 am: take the 7 train to 5th ave. go to the verizon store who updates my phone which i doubt will help this problem. (how come my settings have been updated twice already with verizon and never with att or voicestream? what's the deal?) return a pumice stone at the body shop that was defective, and get a new one.
1131 am: the library is closed, the midmanhattan one. curse.
1134 am: get a large smoothie. feel better, but realize i make smoothies better.
12noon: check my email. straighten up the house.
2 pm: decide luna needs some exercise. take the b43 to the park (i'm not walking with that fat thing in a bag on MY shoulder!). some guy tells me all about his dead cat. heshe is freaked out and pees on her leash. good kitty.
230 pm: get peaches. old ladies think luna is so cute. she is clutching onto me like never before. i know she's not being affectionate.
240 pm: luna does not even TRY to go after the pigeons.
3 pm: take the b61 back home. i am filthy because kitty got dirty. take a shower.
320 pm: keep smelling smoke. smoke comes in my winter. i decide the building is on fire. grab my flash drive (my writing!) and am stuffing luna into a bag in the hallway. see my neighbor and tell him i smell smoke. i run outside.
my downstairs neighbor is barbecuing under my window.
330 pm: leave my house for upper west side.
4 pm: see this performance "circus amok." kids like some parts but it's mostly geared towards adults. a lot of antibush jokes! yay! the cheerleaders and i laugh.
6:30 pm: get home. my stomach feels like it's about to explode. try to do work. procrastinate instead.

i'll probably actually do my homework later. my friend was supposed to come over today but i don't think i'm up for anything. brown rice please. and water.

plenty of water!

why i am so mad right now

Police and Protesters Spar a Last Time, Over the Peace

September 4, 2004
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD and MICHAEL WILSON



Police and protesters are engaged in one last dispute - this
time, over why the demonstrations outside the convention
ended up relatively tame.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/04/politics/campaign/04protests.html?ex=1095339312&ei=1&en=ba2af72921cb8ecd


Okay so the above article is such BULLSHIT!!! I can't believe the NY Times totally lied like that. One of my friends (a cheerleader) was arrested and the stories she told...I almost cried. Cops tightening plastic handcuffs after someone complained that they were too tight and the hands turning BLACK. people fainting. medication denied. phone calls, lawyers denied. bathrooms denied. food and water denied. crowded conditions. the people were kept in a former bus garage and there was oil all over the floor and probably asbetos in the air. Sugar cane, who has asthma, had trouble breathing and was denied her inhaler.

For more of the truth, email me cheriecat at aol dot com That is such BS.

a gigantic apology

i know i have totally neglected doing this blog over the past month and a half, but here's a bunch of reasons why. (oh yeah and please note, i feel so ill as i'm writing this and keep having to run away from my computer. i have cramps and a stomach ache and this feeling that won't let me do the BORING reading i have for school!)

1. I am in school. This summer I suffered through a treachorous "Archives & Manuscripts" class which would have been wonderful had the teacher been able to teach. She looked down at us, and talked constantly of Long Island. I grew up there but...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! If you are interested in going to library school, Queens College has a cheap program: http://www.qc.edu
2. MY TRUE LOVE MOVED BACK TO NEW YORK!
3. MY TRUE LOVE GOT A JOB OFFER IN MASSACHUSSETTS! (Hopefully if all works out well with this one job, then he will be here, yay!)
4. I have somewhat but not totally been writing. My writing partner, Venessa sends me edited drafts, which has really helped. Don't worry, my novel (one of them) will be coming out one of these days. In the future, I will be posting more of my writing to http://www.worldofcherie.blogspot.com You should check often.
5. My sister moved to Wisconsin. I drove out there with her. I really hate Pennsylvania, also Ohio and Indiana and Illinois. Driving in a car crammed with stuff where you barely can fit in--not fun.
6. I worked. My job is the same. Bleh. I like some things (like the $) but honestly, I need out. I have an interview for less than half of what I'm making at the end of the month--we'll see.
7. Radical cheerleading! I will post something separate about the RNC protests but for the past three months we have been having practice once a week, cheering at various events, sometimes cheering throughout the streets in our "Happy Hour Cheertime." Very fun. Exhausting, too, though. http://www.nycradicalcheerleaders.org
8. I am in the NYC marathon this year and have not been regularly lately--bad girl. This marathon is gonna kick my ass for real! Today I ran for two hours. I'm tired. If you want to start running check out http://www.runnersworld.com
9. Being part of a rad project called Radical Reference. Librarians offering reference on the street to activists. Check us out on http://www.radicalreference.info

Have a wonderful day and don't get as busy as me. This fall I'll be busy with:

1. Training for the marathon.
2. Taking two classes--Online Retrieval and Young Adult Reader Services, as well as writing my thesis (on the topic of Alternative Libraries) which is worth three credits.
3. Working. Trying to find a better job.
4. Trying to write and work on inputting all the edits Venessa recommended.
5. Going with the cheerleaders to various states to register votes and cheer. We are going to PA next weekend (or VA if that falls through) and possibly some of us (probably not me) to Colorado. WE NEED TO GET DUBYA OUTTA OFFICE!