It's a Mac Thing...You Wouldn't Understand

The events unfolded like this:

With my morning coffee in hand, I was preparing to leave for the day, but first stopped to update my iPod with the latest Slate Magazine podcasts. I plugged it in only to hear a frightening whirrrr of my iPod's hard drive and then see that scary Apple screen where you know it's re-setting or whatever. I was alarmed, yes, but nothing prepared me for what happened next. My iPod got a "dead face" screen!!!! Seriously, there were X's for the eyes and a frown. I panicked, but like all good moms, I only allowed myself a moment before focusing on its recovery. With adrenaline racing, I grabbed it, left the coffee, and pealed out of my apt complex toward the Apple store.

Like a mother with a wounded child, I busted through the double doors with wild eyes and my iPod in my outstretched hands (this was all in slo-mo, of course). The nice Apple people pointed me toward the Genius Bar where the news I'd feared worst came true: my iPod was dead. I stood there, blank, eyes blinking attempting to absorb the shock of it all (soundtrack in my head: "The Scientist" by Coldplay). My "genius" explained that my only real option was to get a new one. A new one???? I was incredulous. Desperate. But this one was like my child! Sure, in the year and a half since I'd purchased it, the Mac wizards had devised newer, flashier and more colorful versions, but mine had been with me to Japan, for goodness sake!

In the end (after breathing through a paper bag repeatedly), I was convinced to participate in the iPod recycling program. The sweet Apple boy at the store attempted to reassure me by explaining that my old iPod would be melted into new iPods and, therefore, would live on. A reincarnation of sorts. I smiled, meekly, and accepted my new, sleek, color-screened iPod with more than a little ambivalence. Now, I can't help but stare at the impostor (still in its box) and think how much my old one would've loved the DC metro rides... Sniff, sniff.

The Washingtonienne

Today I found myself poolside with a trite novel about a twenty-something's scandalous adventures in Washington, DC. After recently learning of my upcoming move to the capital city, a friend recommended it. So far, this book has not required any intellectual acuity or exercising of the mind. It is as indulgent and utterly shallow as its candy-colored cover suggests it should be. I love it.

It dawned on me, while reading, that this is the first time I've picked up a non-school book since last summer. With my thesis now officially behind me and commencement only two weeks away, I've finally had some mental real estate available to consider the new adventures that lay ahead for me. While they do bring with them some sadness--my roots in Columbus run deep--they also promise to exceed my expectations. DC is gonna rock and I can't wait. I might even write a pink paperback of my own... :)

Messianic Complex

So I've been browsing through my extended MySpace network this afternoon (I'm getting pretty desperate for homework distractions) and I've noted that many of my friends (and friends of theirs) list God and/or Jesus among their heroes or people they'd like to meet. I've got Bono. Yep, I've got the man whom Bruce Springsteen declared as having "the most naked messianic complex in all of rock & roll" when he spoke at U2's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last year. So what does this say about me? Believe it or not, it says a lot about my own faith.

Consider the following remarks made by Bono when he spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in D.C. earlier this month:

"Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land, and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash....I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV. Even though I was a believer. Perhaps because I was a believer. I was cynical not about God, but about God's politics."

He then went on to talk about the practice of tithing that occurs in America's churches and how impressed he is that people so freely give 10 percent of their earnings toward God's causes. In this new "family values" -oriented government, where Christian leaders and political leaders are increasingly the same people, Bono challenged our government about tithing. The Bible is quite clear on how Christians should embrace the disadvantaged and disenfranchised members of the world population, yet the political leaders in the most economically abundant country on earth give less than 1 percent of their earnings to aiding poverty in less fortunate countries.

Regardless of what we feel our government is responsible for in terms of foreign aid, and regardless of what anyone thinks about separation of church & state, the fact of the matter is, neo-conservatives seem to be picking and choosing where religion and politics should intersect. Bono, with his piercingly sincere yet rough-around-the-edges approach, is bending the ears of global leaders and daring to challenge them on these important issues. I think it's exactly what Jesus would do---maybe he'd even be one of Jesus' heroes (dodging lightening bolt here). So I say rock on...and sign the One Campaign pledge!

Hey Katie, don't let the door hit you on the way out!

So the world is riveted on the announced departure of Katie Couric from the Today Show, and since I routinely lament her (lack of) contributions to journalism I figured I had to weigh in. While 49-percent of people are sad about it (according to one poll), I for one could not be happier. Granted, I highly doubt Meredith Viera will inspire as many pre-9am expletives from me (it's good to get your heart rate going as early as possible), but anyone who can conduct an interview without acting like a giddy teenager will be preferable to the woman who has spent the past 15 years flirting her way to the top.

A comment by Susan Sarandon on Couric's departure struck me in particular: "It will be great when it's not such a big deal when a woman gets a good job." I'd like to add to that, "It will be even better when women like Katie Couric quit perpetuating the myth that women must behave like bimbos to get those jobs." So I say good-bye to the days of the interviews in which Katie answers her own questions for the joy of hearing herself giggle and good riddance to the unabashed gushing over male celebrities. After all, it's the Today Show, not TRL!!