J'Espere

I was very disappointed to hear that the Federal Supreme Court ruled to abolish partial -birth abortion. At least in states that "wanted" to do it. Meaning most of the Bible Belt, and beyond that I'm sure a lot of other places. They wrote that they were trying to protect women from "making a choice that could cause...loss of esteem". Part of the reason I'm shocked this went through is that there is nothing that can cause "loss of esteem" faster than a woman carrying to term a baby with birth defects, a woman wanting to get an abortion and being refused, or a woman who is bringing into the world a baby that is not wanted. Right wing supporters suggest alternatives- adoption is one of the suggestions. I have a suggestion for them- why don't they put their money where their mouth is and adopt a child. After checking the current Trends in Foster Care today, there are somewhere around 800,000 children currently in foster care (2005).Of these, only 5

or I may as well be. There was a duststorm on campus today. Really. I was coming from behind our planetarium and watched as several very clean, preppy kids, were hit with waves of dust that must be common out west. But shouldn't be here. This drought is slowly changing the landscape of where I live. Trees that are hundred of years old are dying out, being lost. The Lake has sunk to a level we weren't aware was optional. It's like living in Sahara Africa. Crazy how dry this place is. And, unbelievably, people are having to be told not to drop their cigarettes in the woods or fling them out of car windows. Because they will inevitably catch something on fire. I feel like I'm living in a time bomb. It's the only time I've ever seen this place disappointed that a tropical storm didn't hit. What's most significant about all of this, of course, is the Global Warming that's obviously affecting it. I hate when people say "How can we be sure?" J

I remember seeing some of Blake's work at a gallery once. Lush colors on busy screens. It was too much for me to take in. So I left. Then, last night I happened to pick up a copy of New York Magazine's Fashion, and there was a long, detailed article about the deaths of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake. There are several things I found really interesting about this. One, that it was a double suicide and yet not done together. Two, that they chose completely different ways of ending their lives. Three, that they spent the last twelve years together and yet he had no clue that she was planning on killing herself. The idea of a double suicide is not uncommon in literature of history. Probably the first couple that most people think of is Romeo and Juliet, whose love affair led them to their deaths. And then there are Tristan and Isolde, in which Tristan is mortally wounded and Isolde feels compelled to follow him rather than live without him. From medieval times forward, this is