"A Memory From Your Lonesome Past"

The weeks fly by but seem to drag at the same time. So busy. Class every Tuesday and Thursday nights, ceaseless working during the day, and weekends that aren't ever nearly long enough.

The classes are progressing okay. We had a debate Thursday night about inclusions (keeping students with LD in the general education classroom), and I totally rocked the debate. "Pwned," as they say in the vernacular.

I got the Martin and the Fender both restrung this afternoon. They sound so nice now. This means that all four (!) guitars I own are tuned up and with (reasonably) new strings (the Epiphone was changed like three or four months ago, but it rarely gets played so the strings are still good).

The temperature dropped down into the forties yesterday, which was fine by me. I like cold weather, you'll remember, and I'm happy to finally see the back of summer...though it's always possible the temperature will climb back up during the week and render me a sweaty, miserable mess. The one downside to the weather change has been that my seasonal allergies seem to be kicking in: I'm stopped up, I have junk in my throat, and I've a bit of a headache. Hopefully all this will pass soon enough.

Current events on Capital Hill do nothing but fill me with rage. The whole Foley case especially really upsets me, in large part because he's trying the Mel Gibson defense: "It was alcohol what made me do it, honest!" he seems to cry. Yeah, he's blaming alcoholism for his sending sexually explicit emails to young teenage pageboys. Folks, pay attention: alcohol doesn't make you do things you wouldn't do otherwise. It may relax your inhibitions, but it does not change the sort of things you think, say, or would be willing to do. It just makes you slightly more likely to think, say, or do them. I don't care if he was drunk off his ass every single time he sent one of those emails, he is still culpable.

Our society lets too many people off the hook because they refuse to take responsibility for their actions. People used to say "the Devil made me do it" or "I was possessed by an evil spirit." Do we believe that some evil spirit inhabited someone's body and made them kill a person? No. But we do something very similiar each time we deny a person's responsibility for his or her actions. "Oh, he couldn't help it, he's alcoholic." Saying that not only negates the guy's responsibility for whatever stupid-ass crap he pulled, it denies his agency and his choice.

Okay, clearly I'm full of too much rage about this. I've a wedding to go to tomorrow (Meg and Bob! Hurray!), so that should be fun. Plus, the reception will be serving barbeque, and I dig me some barbeque.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Thom Yorke, "Atoms for Peace"