bloodygranuaile | (no subject)

So I'm writing an essay in French that is partially about Jose Bove and the French backlash against corporate agriculture and the subsequent influx of bad food into their country. I know everybody hates the French, but if they're passionate enough about their food to physically dismantle a McDonalds restaurant, then Vive La France. I want to dismantle a McDonalds. :(

In other news, Cheryl owes me a taking-me-out-to-coffee, as I bought her lunch today, and has said we will find a bookstore/cafe sort of place to go to. Yay for religions that center around coffee hour with your minister instead of any sort of dogma.

Also, Keen has told me that Mo is not coming back next year, which leaves a vacancy in the nerd suite--specifically, that Liz needs a roommate--and that I am one of the candidates. I don't know how many other candidates there are, but I feel loved anyway, as while I eat a lot of meals with these people I had not been entirely certain I had moved up from "one of Keen's ten adopted freshmen" to real-person status with anybody but Keen.

So yeah. I have no idea how likely it is that this will actually happen. But it would be nice to have somewhere to live, cos otherwise I have no idea what I'll be doing next year.

I am not involved in any drama at the moment, which has given me greater peace of mind than I have had in quite a while, and a subsequently vastly improved attention span and engagement in my academic work. However, there is a lot of drama going on, and it tends to get talked about in front of me, and I am ignoring it so hard I think I am giving myself headaches. Perhaps I should start going to the library.

I'm halfway through The Return of the Native. I love Thomas Hardy.

That is all.

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Jose Bove's an interesting guy. He reminds me a little bit of a French Ralph Nader, just a bit cooler and less of a jackass.

There were some indications that he was going to run for President of France this year, but it doesn't look like that any more.

*tries to imagine Ralph Nader with an Asterix moustache and fails spectacularly*

Jose Bove for president would have been interesting.

Slightly off-topic: Have you read Jeff Faux' "The Global Class War"?

Like I said, like Ralph Nader, but cooler.

Apparently he is planning on a run for president, and I had gotten my information wrong. He just hasn't officially announced it yet.

I haven't read that, nor does it even sound familiar. Perhaps I should take a look at it?

I'll have to pay attention to that race, then. I hope he does well. The French need to do something to prove they're not completely retarded after the Le Pen business.

"Global Class War" is quite new (which is slightly obnoxious, as it meant no used copies), and it's not very well publicized, because it's not very nice to the people who would be doing the publicizing. We're reading it in conjunction with Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat," which has no real content whatsoever so far. ~~Which is, of course, why that one's a bestseller.~~

At any rate, "Class War" is predominantly about how the governing class works, and how more often than not it works as a class rather than respecting any of the supposed divisions within it (like between Democrats and Republicans), and how this explains things like Bill Clinton pushing through NAFTA and Democrats voting to invade Iraq and other such things that make people go "WTF?" until the media can distract them with something shiny.

I wouldn't recommend buying since you'd have to buy it new and I think it only comes in hardcover, but if you're interested I can lend it to you over spring break. If your spring break overlaps with mine (3.3-3.11).

I'm pretty sure my break's the week after that, but we'd probably be home the weekend of 3.9-3.11 ish, so that might work.