NPR: Best Music of 2008

Michelle — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:50:43 +0000

NPR listeners submitted what they thought were the best songs of the year, and NPR compiled the results here: NPR Listeners Pick The Year’s Best Music. You can also see the complete poll results.

Maybe I’m just out of touch with pop culture, but I actually hadn’t heard of a fair number of the songs on this list. Or maybe it’s just that I’m one of those annoying people who contentedly listen to the same ten tracks day in and day out. I have a car mix I’ve been cycling through for the past two months or so — just add or subtract a song every now and and…

Oh, and if you need a little holiday fun, here’s a great rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas from the a capella group Straight No Chaser. Nice.

The “Real America”

Michelle — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:42:21 +0000

I think it’s despicable to say that there’s a “real America” and the rest of America. It’s divisive, hateful, and completely against the ideals that America tries to stand for. It’s equally dangerous to say that those people who don’t hold the same social/religious views as you are less “patriotic.” Haven’t any of these people heard of our bill of rights? And logically (gasp, logic?!), if the country is so split over an issue such as abortion, how can one position be any more “un-American” than the other? Are half of US residents therefore not really American? Ridiculous.

So let me begin on the second part of my rant tonight. Alaska. I’ll admit that I didn’t know much about our northernmost state before the start of this election — just assumed that it was a cold yet beautiful, sparsely-populated yet geographically huge state.

I’m not that fond of winter, but I was definitely happy to continue in my naive bliss and assume that Alaskans felt as though they were part of the US despite their detached location. Now I have my doubts.

NPR tonight quoted one Alaskan woman who in response to the Ted Stevens conviction said, “Twelve outsiders trying to pass judgment on our United States senator? I won’t have any part of it,” she said. “That’s like in the days pre-statehood, when outsiders used to pass judgment on us.” Yes, I know this is hardly a significant sample size, but I found her comment utterly shocking. (1) She’s undermining the very basis of our judicial system — the jury system. (2) She’s saying that mainland USA is so completely different from Alaska that it’s impossible for people there to “pass judgment” on a legislator from Alaska (who has, by the way, probably spent more of his life in DC than Alaska). (3) Alaska became a state in 1959… I don’t think many people viewed the trial as a fight against Alaska or its sovereignty. This is about political corruption, not membership to the union.

The Big Persimmon » NPR

NPR: Best Music of 2008

The “Real America”