Halloween, Hip Hop, and History

Drummed up a nice alliterative title to compensate for the lack of posts this weekend on Monday. Hopefully that makes up for all the abandonment issues all my readers have.

Halloween was GOOD. As previously stated, I planned to go as a unicorn, but when the all white long johns fell through and all that was available was red (for free...thanks to Katie from crew) I had to adapt. Solution: Thing One and Thing Two costumes with the Joe Marinelli. I was helped by the fact that the spirit shop sells perfect wigs for the costumes that will also be worn during basketball season (first game is Friday!). I was going to bring my camera but as you will see I didn't exactly have pockets to carry it in. Other costume highlights included: another set of Thing One and Thing Twos, Rod from Hot Rod, The Pope (fitting at a Catholic school), a whole rookery of penguins, and (the best part) NOT ONE SARAH PALIN!

Halloween was followed by an 8 am wake up to be at the boathouse by 9 to take the dock out of the water for the winter and clean of all the boats. Months of sitting in the Milwaukee River had made our launches (the motor boat the coach uses) DISGUSTING and it took several hours with high powered chemicals to scrub the grime off. That fun was followed by a good natured game of two-hand touch/"aggressive" two-hand touch football on the Quad with the 17th floor guys (plus a few others). Which brings me to Saturday night and ATMOSPHERE.

I went with Katie, Maggie, and Elise to see the man from Minnesota that makes all the people go crazy. For those of you not in the know, Atmosphere is a hip-hop group from Minneapolis that I like...a lot. He played a great show (4.5 hours with two opening acts!) and the energy in the theater was amazing. The only downside was the gigantic, thoroughly drunk man that kept shoving everyone and making an ass of himself (sorry for the language) until we got security to kick him out of the stage area. I returned to the room, legs and back completely dead to watch an episode or two of Battlestar Galactica (let the nerd jokes begin) on my computer.

To complete the trifecta promised in the title I now come to History. Dr. McMahon is officially the coolest professor ever. Monday and today have been B-E-A-UTIFUL; temps in the 60s and 70s without a cloud in the sky. McMahon according moved our history lecture outside to the garden-plaza-fountain area in front of St. Joan of Arc Chapel. There is something really cool about learning about the Hundred Years' War and Joan of Arc while sitting in the sun in front of a church she actually prayed at during that time. Probably one of the most surreal "Marquette Experiences" I've had to far."

But before I get too excited about my history class, another Marquette Experience starts on Saturday. BASKETBALL SEASON! I will be at the Bradley Center, ticket in hand, at one o'clock to watch the 16th ranked Marquette Golden Eagles take on...(drum roll)...the Colorado State-Peublo...um....whatever they are. We have a cupcake out of conference schedule, but it will still be fun to put on my wig and indulge in some good old fashioned school spirit (after all, no football here to care about).

More posts to follow. Time to go take a nap (6 am crew practice today = yuck)



One Lost out.

The Obligatory Poltical Diatribe and more Fun!

Phew...Wednesday has come as a major relief. Spent the whole day yesterday either in class or cloistered in the library working on my sizable stack of reading and work to do. I never though I'd be so excited to go to crew today- it will be nice just to get outside and be active for a bit.

As a former Senator Stevens supporter, I feel the need to offer my two cents on the verdict in a forum that isn't moderated by facebook status comments. As many of you know, I interned with the Senator this summer, which only added to my tremendous respect for the man. He told me to my face that he was innocent; and I fully believed him. I had no reason not to and 50 years of public service that told me he was telling the truth. Unfortunately, sometimes people disappoint. I stood by him all through his trial, but told myself that if he was found guilty, I would not continue to support him. Well, that has happened now, and thus, I took my name off his campaign list.

Yes, I know. He is maintaining his innocence and appealing the verdict all while running for another Senate term. Perhaps he is right; perhaps the prosecution really did unfairly throw the trial (they certainly did a terrible job, regardless of the verdict) and maybe he was wrongly convicted. At this point however, the rational side of me says that he just got too powerful and thought he could get away with this. He was wrong. I am upset about this case, not only because he has disappointed me, but also because I think there were elements of a witch hunt going on. Plenty of politicians have inappropriate relationships with special interest (cough, Obama and McCain, cough) and yet, for some reason, they chose to go after one of the Senate's most controversial, but also respected, figures. I will continue to feel that he was unfairly, not unjustly, targeted until I see the Justice Department seriously investigate other high ranking members of Congress. Ted Stevens is not the only one DOJ...Alaska does not have a monopoly on corrupt politics.

In other news, Sarah Palin continues to be utterly embarrassing to the state. I honestly don't think McCain will be elected at this point and when Sarah comes back to Alaska, I think she will find that her approval ratings are down. She may not even be reelected as Governor, let alone to a higher political office. Long story short, Alaska politics are somewhat disappointing right now...at least Ethan Burkowitz is there to keep me excited.

Tonight I get a break from politics when I go to the History Honor Society's screening and discussion of the historical classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Should be a really fun event. I will bring the camera just in case, but expect at least a text recap tomorrow.

To all you Free Spirits: COMMENT MORE! Read Kelley's blog and all the other ones linked into the little network and provide feedback. It makes our day to know that someone is reading all this.