P r e t t y S k e t c h y

I expect a lot of marriage proposals after I reveal the following information: I have just purchased and begun to read the April 2009 New Yorker magazine. I was seduced by the cover illustrations and the promise of more economic fear mongering and the panicky feeling it will conjure up inside my chest. If you've got some time to kill check out their archived covers, they're pretty awesome.

I couldn't find the cover of the current issue on the Internet so you get a few (okay a lot) of the old ones from the gallery that I liked. I never realized how fabulous their covers are. Kim informs me that the New Yorker is pretty famous for having amazing covers. Shows what I know. I have never read or even really noticed the New Yorker before today.

It seemed kinda terrible to round the corners of The New Yorker so I laid off.

I Heart Obama

So Barack Obama has a blog and due to my current obsession with him and US politics I've been reading it and watching interviews. Since I'm moving there soon it seems like a pretty okay obsession to indulge. If any of you have an hour to spare watch this. It's the first 'Online Town Hall' (I love that name) where he answers questions from American people. I watched the whole thing and it's super interesting. I really hope that all of his lofty ambitions are attainable, he has such good ideas and intentions and I so hope they are ideas that can be carried out.

"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours." - Barack Obama

I am an American after all...

I watched this in bed this morning. Wow, what a speaker. A few things he said brought me to tears which is surprising due to my general lack of patriotism but not so surprising since I am sort of a crier. I thought I'd share a few:

 "We reject as false, the choice between our safety and our ideals."

"Our power alone cannot not protect us, nor does it entitle us to do what we please."

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world. Duties that we do not grudgingly accept but seize gladly. Firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

"God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."

Those are some big words. I really appreciate how honest he is about where America is at. I read in an interview with him where he said something to the effect that after years of lies and citizens not knowing what their government was up to, what America needs is a president that will be honest with his people and not just gloss over the hard stuff. He seems pretty ready to meet the challenges of his new job and I really hope he does well.

Now, breakfast and biking.

It's About Time

Those of you who know me know that despite being a citizen of two countries I am really not into politics. I believe clueless or apathetic could be used to describe where I'm at. I've only ever voted once and I have been feeling lately that I am kind of lame. Enter, this month's Time magazine.

On the cover, two things I like a lot, good art (Shepard Fairey) and Barack Obama (who is, let's face it, kind of a fox). So I bought it and I've been reading it and actually enjoying it. I may have to do it every month, the news is so concise and there's lot of pictures which I appreciate. My ex-roommate and current friend Kerry who possesses a Master's degree in political science is probably crying tears of joy while reading this. She has been trying to get me more involved in things for years. Obama's current plight is fascinating to me, one guy having so much on his shoulders. I might just have to move down there and support him properly...

I have not turned this Time reading thing into a full blown New Year's resolution quite yet, it just seems like something I need to be more involved in. I had totally missed the whole Bush-shoe-head-thing last year and that's just wrong. Current events, who knew.