Something to do

You might remember the rumble my last showcase routine caused. I'm at it again, folks.

Friday night 6/1/07 at Dance World. Tickets are $30 and yes, dinner and the show are included.

Dinner starts at 6:30 and the show starts around 7:15pm. You thought the last one was good. This one is better. It's hawt as the kids say.

Love of Geeky Things

I get my iPod out to go for my walk. I press the button to make it play and it doesn't. It just makes this loud click. Here is the conversation in my head:

"OH NO! My iPod died!!! You can't be broken."
"Oh! Yay! It is broken! I can get a new one, now. Oh.. red nano!"
"Oh. It isn't broken. The battery is dead. Dangit."

New decoration for the dance space...

Upclose of the quote
Originally uploaded by pink-kitty.

appropriate quote for a belly dancer, don't you think?

Team work

On my way in to work today, I was thinking about the competition in January because I saw the nameless guy at the studio this week. The other dancers and I are very supportive of one another, even when we were competing against one another in the same event. When I got off the floor after seriously screwing up my solo, so many folks rushed around me to give me hugs and encouragement.

Everyone cheers for everyone else, except for that one guy. I will leave him nameless; but truth be told, I don't feel all that bad for him...not receiving support. I feel bad for his instructor, because I love her to pieces. But this guy thinks he's apparently God's gift to dance and he's not THAT good. The one time he was in the Advanced Smooth class, he repositioned himself so that he didn't have to dance with me when the lines got jumbled. Because he did that, I was forced to go back to the beginning of the line. The first gentleman said, "But.. weren't you just here?"
"Yes."
"Wait.. uh..."
*PK shifts eyes to other dancer*
"Oh....." he said.

Dude, I'm not sure why M is with you. Maybe you are a nice guy and you treat her well, but I think you are a jerk. And so does everyone else because when you came to class Tuesday night, 2 other women rolled their eyes and said "Great....".

And I'm not sorry that, when you were out during the scholarship event, no one was cheering for you.

No Clemency For Paris Hilton Petition

Paris Hilton has submitted a petition for a pardon to Gov. Schwarzenegger. Stop her! She has spent years ignoring the law and blaming others for her problems.

You know if you got busted for DUI and then without your license, your butt would be in jail.

Sign the No Clemency For Paris Hilton Petition.

UPDATE: Paris's plea for a pardon laughed out of the Governor's Office. Heh.

Old pants

You can fit someone else in there, I think...
Originally uploaded by pink-kitty.

We were cleaning out at the old house this weekend. There was a bag of clothes that I had forgotten to take to Goodwill when I moved out last July. They were big on me then. Now, a year later...

Wow. That was over my shorts. My pedometer was on my hip, too. Dang. I'm shocked.

Eric Volz on CNN

CNN's FIRST interview with Eric, TONIGHT on Anderson Cooper 360 at
10p ET / 9p CT / 8p MT /  7p PT.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/

Tired of Apologizing

Welcome to all-dance-all-the-time here at PK's. I'm going to be sharing some of the more interesting discussions from the International Belly Dance Conference of Canada, the first being from the panel on sex and sexuality in belly dance.

I missed the first part of the discussion but found out that the opening statement was essentially 'belly dance is sexy. Get over it.' And this came from a man.

I think my favorite part of it was Venus saying that she was tired of apologizing for the sensuality that is a part of belly dance. Yes, there are dancers who take it to extremes and even use it as a ruse for prostitution but belly dancers are NOT STRIPPERS. We are NOT PROSTITUTES! She is tired of having to make excuses to non-dancers as to why she pursues this art form because they get squeamish enough with belly dancers because of the costuming and all.

"oh - it's good exercise." "it's a chance to bond with other women."

It is the only dance that is working really hard to be legitimate (admittedly, our own fault as dancers - and another blog post) but have to apologize for being sensual. Dance is a sensual experience - for the viewer as well as the dancer. It is about the body moving to music. Does it have to be erotic? No, it doesn't. But to deny that there is some kind of physical or emotional reaction - joy, sadness, laughter - is plain dumb.

Morocco said it best: The human body moving well is beautiful.

(Aside: on our way back from dinner Saturday night, we walked by some prostitutes but getting the camera out would have been too obvious. We wanted to put their picture in a line up that showed several belly dancers and ask "do you see a difference, because there is one.")

Sulieman, who is of Palestinian origin, talked about the dance from a Middle Eastern man's perspective. He encouraged the dancers in the audience to be flirty but coy. You don't want to just flail it all about on display for everyone. He then talked about the dancers (and this is why foreign dancers are now banned from working in Egypt) who would the dance as a means to find other types of clients (prostitution). He said they were whores. The dancer on the panel sitting next to him said she took issue with that.

"What else am I supposed to call them? They use the dance to sleep with as many men as possible."

She started in about not using the same terms for men and he waved her off to let Yasmina (the conference organizer) speak. She ran from the back of the room to get to a microphone.

"My boss wants to say something. We have to let her speak."

"I would call them free and happy women," Yasmina said to loud cheers from the audience.

Yes, I am tired of apologizing. I am tired of making excuses about why I dance, whether it is belly or ballroom.

"I do it for health reasons; it's great exercise."
"So I can meet others."
"It's fun."
"So I can connect with my feminine side."

While all of those, and any number of other statements, may be true to varying degrees. They all dance (badum ching) around the topic of sexuality. So does the church (yes, I'm dragging them into this as well because that is really a part of my frustration, too, but I will put that in another post.)

Some of my aggravation comes with the fact that I think society wouldn't want or expect to see a overweight woman comfortable with her body or her sexuality. While I am not completely there yet, I am far more comfortable with myself than a year or two ago. Truth is, I’ve felt like a healthy (thinner) woman trapped in a fat body. I could never get behind the whole fat acceptance/admirers thing. I’m glad that they found what they need but it isn’t for me. I have not finished losing the weight I want to lose but I know I will get to my goal with time and God’s help.

I'm tired of pretending the needs, the wants, the desires aren't there because either society thinks as a fat woman I shouldn't have them or the church thinks as a single woman I need to repress them (and don’t get me started on the idiots that are now saying single people should stay single. Oh for crying out loud – are you trying to drive people away from the church because if that was something I heard from my pastor, I would leave, too) - yes I know that is the human side of the church, not what God says. I am sick of hearing it and I am tired of apologizing for it. It is what it is.

Update on Eric Volz

FRIDAY. 4.27.07

The CNN Anderson Cooper 360 airing of Eric's story on Monday night received such an overwhelming web response (in the top 5 most viewed stories) that they're updating the story with a LIVE call from Anderson Cooper to Maggie (Eric's mom), on this Monday (4/30) night. The show will also include a conversation with a US Embassy spokesperson.

You can see the story at 10p ET / 9p CT / 8p MT / 7p PT. Watch CNN for more information, double-check your local schedule or go to http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/ for current listings.

Tarab

Tarab
Originally uploaded by pink-kitty.

means ecstasy or joy in Arabic. That is the best way in English to describe it. For the dancer, it is the moment when they become one with the music and lose all sense of time and express what the music is saying completely.

For the viewer, you are drawn into that story and shared emotion. Randa Kamal made me weep with this performance of Inta Omri (You are my life). It is a love song. Classic Arab music is poetry. In talking with musicians over the weekend, they really didn't care for the current surge in pop music because it wasn't challenging to play and the lyrics were boring. The poetry was gone.

Belly dancing at its root is improvisational. The music plays and the dancer interprets the mood being played right then. Having a musician (Dr. George Sawa) explain this to me was a huge relief because I have never been a big fan of choreography. I have no problem with having a general plan for a dance but the audience, the location, how I feel will all play a huge role in how I would dance to a particular piece of music. It isn't that if it is a sad song, I would dance it like I just won the lottery but the nuances would be different. Different patterns. So you know "Alf Leyla Wa Leyla" (A 1001 nights) but you don't know this band or how fast they are going to play it. It is not supposed to be the same from day to day. The musicians don't play it exactly the same way each performance - why should the dancer?

For a brief moment Sunday night, I experienced tarab. With the live band and singers, on a packed dance floor, Linda told me to let it go. Use the time to release everything. Put all of my emotions, physical pain, heart and soul into the dance even though no one was watching. Time and space disappeared for a minute. All I heard was the music. No yelling. No wait staff. Nothing. Just the music and the lights. It is nearly impossible to put into words what I felt but I will never forget it. It was not a 'high' like a runner's high or what I've felt before like during showcase, which was a euphoric experience in and of itself. This was different.

Day before travelling adventures

Leaving town is never easy. You might remember Ralph the Mouse. Kitty brought him in the night before I left for vacation. He turned up dead while I was gone.

Well, last night, I tossed some cut up tomato into the disposal. It would go bad before I got back so I thought I should get rid of it.

The garbage disposal whirred, rocked back and forth and then went THUNK.

IT FELL OFF THE SINK!
IT FELL OFF THE SINK!

It is now sitting at the bottom of my kitchen cabinet. Fell.Off. How the crap does a garbage disposal break and fall off a sink?! I hate it. I have had more problems with this thing (which has currently led to a dispute with the builder/warranty/management co).

Eric Volz update

Today marks a monumental step in our fight to Free Eric V. The court in Rivas, Nicaragua has forwarded Eric's case file to the Appellate court. In accordance with Nicaraguan law, the Appellate Court may take up to 6 days to hold the formal hearing; the verdict follows within 5 days of the Hearing.

Now is our time as a community of supporters to take action. We are going to start a 6 day campaign as we await the decision of the Court – a campaign we are calling the FREE ERIC V. Avalanche

We must have as many people as possible with their eyes turned toward this case as we go through the appeal process. As a community of supporters, we must demand justice and will not stop until we bring him home.

Day 1 of the Avalanche is today. The first step? Alerting everyone about the appeal. Contact your friends and fellow supporters of Eric; tell them it has begun!

Please check the MySpace page for bulletins every morning this week. Thank you again for your continued support.

(from the Free Eric Volz mail list)

Thinking Blogger Awards

Oh yay! I won something! I never win anything. I'd like to thank.... blah blah *music plays*

The real deal: Kathy T - thank you!

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. I thought it would be appropriate to include them with the meme.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

My four nominees:

1) Miss O'Hara. Our friendship is proof that one does not need to be face to face all the time in order to participate in the significant events of each other's lives. We had been talking in IM for months and months before we met. And the second time we met was when I flew to Detroit for her bridal shower. It was a hoot at her wedding to tell people that we met online and in person only twice. The looks were priceless.

Beyond that, she is amazing, thoughtful, stylish, intelligent and almost as crazy as me.

2) Blake Wylie. When he's blogging that is. Like I can say much. He has a very unique (in a good way) take on things. Good humor and insightful analysis. Blake goes for the best dressed man in the blogosphere and one of my favorite gun lovin' (almost, sort of) libertarian. That whole Fred Thompson thing I think disqualifies him. Hee. And I miss his videoblogs.

3) Digital Cowboy. Mark is one of my best friends. His posts on religion push me to search the Bible for more answers. And don't forget the poker. At least it isn't all poker all the time.

4) Chris Wage. I know. Shock! Chris and I likely agree on very little but he does make me think and he's a dang fine photographer.

And since there were a number of choices for 5 (most of them already nominated by other people) and I spent 6 days working on this post, I'm stopping at 4.

Case Study

When I did my Masters in Higher Education Administration, we used case studies to come up with solutions to problems facing colleges. Were our solutions similar, worse, or better than what actually occurred?

The shooting at Virginia Tech is about to become a case study in crisis management and response. In the coming days and weeks, there will be alot of criticism and analysis of the school's actions following the first shooting. People always say "you didn't do enough" in hindsight.

What is "enough?"

If you are an administrator at a time like this, there is NOTHING you can do to win (I don't mean win like the Sharks did last night - boo). Nothing. You are screwed no matter what you do. It is too much; it isn't enough. You aren't giving enough information. You are talking too much. If the university had cancelled classes and no further incident took place, there would have been hissy fits that the administration over-reacted. I guarantee it.

A large number of students commute to the campus and probably don't check their email first thing when they get up so they may not have gotten anything sent before 9:30am, approximate time of the email notifying students of the dorm shooting.

It took time to get the RA's up and moving. They went from door to door in the dorms, encouraging people to stay inside and away from windows. When the first shooting happened, they had no indication that a second spree would take place. I believe they focused their attention properly: on the dorms to keep those people safe.

Now, when did the university and police know the male victim in the room was not the shooter (assuming they thought murder/suicide and he shot her then himself)? That is where some quibbling can come in. I read one article that said witnesses at the scene told them the shooter fled the scene.

If they knew, say, at 8:30 that the shooter was loose and didn't do something at that point, then there is some room for questioning the school's response. I'm not sure what could have been done - I think it might have been a logistics nightmare to get security/police in all buildings. As the Vol Abroad noted in the NiT comments, college campus are porous. People come in and out from a variety of places. It would be nearly impossible to lock it completely down.

Virginia Tech is a large campus. I can't imagine what it would take to get something like that to happen at Vanderbilt given its size. Perhaps the email should have gone out earlier to cancel classes given they knew the shooter was at large.

The next question about warning signs will be what did the university do for the student in an attempt to prevent this. Well, a school can have the best counselors and psychological assistance programs in the world and if the student doesn't voluntarily walk through the door for assistance, there is nothing that we in administration can do.

Or are you going to suggest we force people go in for treatment?

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People think living/working on a college campus is a safe environment. It isn't. Everything that happens in the wider world happens here. Incidents on campus are magnified because of that perception. Several years ago, an expelled student shot the Dean and others at Appalachia State University. An angry parent called and threatened me several weeks ago. It was serious enough that I called security in anticipation of his arrival to carry it out. Unfortunately, I am not permitted to carry on campus or else I could defend myself against such threats. Fortunately, he did not fly down to "take care of things."

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I originally had a long rant about why the foreign press is involved and why it is none of their business, but I took that out mainly because I still don't care for the French. And Iran condemning the shootings like it was our own government that did it? Yeah. Whatever. I could also go on and on about gun control, but other people can argue that better than I can so I will stay out of it.

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bridgett has some excellent thoughts about the stress of being on campus/in school in April. And I'm guessing the same bridgett has more spot on comments at Kat's blog on depression among foreign students. I would take her assessment of professional programs (engineering, etc) one step further to say that colleges should look at them long and hard as well as the surrounding support systems.

A friend of mine from undergrad was a physics major. She hated the program but loved what she was studying. There was no support - do or die culture. It isn't about the feminization of the hard sciences. If we expect the university to act as in loco parentis (in place of the parents) then make sure students are fully aware of ALL services available to them - not just when the Muncie Mart is open.

Give faculty, RA's, TA's, and staff that have regular student contact (not all staff positions deal with students) training on how to recognize depression and the appropriate information to help direct students to treatment. Full blown courses on psychology aren't necessary. We don't need to get into the business of treatment. A couple of hours spent in a meeting with the Director of Campus Counseling ought to be enough so that we as staff know what to look for in the students we work with on a daily basis. In defense of my own place of employment, we do have such a talk each fall during faculty orientation.

Given the size of the programs at many schools and lack of training for faculty and staff in recognizing warning signs of depression, it is an absolute wonder more incidents like what happened at Virginia Tech don't happen more often. Thank God they don't.

Vox Day is also correct in either one of his post or somewhere in the comments thread about what happened that the live coverage of the shooting and for days on end will be nothing more than violence porn.

Big ol fight

And so did everyone else
Originally uploaded by pink-kitty.

Jordin Tootoo and others beating each other silly. That's the stuff people come to hockey games to see.

GO PREDS!!!!!!

See the rest of the photos here.

A place for all your Bo-staff makin' needs

can be found in Sylvan Heights or where ever he said it is.

I love mes some Craigslist. Thanks to Elena for forwarding it to me.

Scrapple in the corner

Scrapple in the corner
Originally uploaded by pink-kitty.

Duke Diva and I went to the Predators game tonight. It was awesome. The other fans were great. The off-ice stuff wasn't as bad as the last time. The first (and only) game I went to *cough* years ago, there was so much stuff going on... the game was secondary.

Maybe because this is the playoffs, things are different.

See all the photos here.

Can't wait for Friday!

My friend, Kat

has been served by J.L. Kirk Associates with a letter to take down posts about her experience with their company.

Actually, Brittney at NiT has a very nice roundup of the whole saga. Saves me from trying to hunt everything down again because I'm sure I missed something.

In PK's opinion, you have no right to free speech anymore. It's on paper - that whole First Amendment thing. But to protect it takes time and money. The crappy a$$ thing is that JL Kirk has more money and more resources than Kat (who SHOULD BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT HAPPENED TO HER AND WHAT SHE THOUGHT ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE WITHOUT FEAR OF BEING SUED).

Free speech is for those that can afford it.

Today, liberty died a little more. (/end melodramatic effect)

UPDATE: Evil Glenn (from the days of the War) has picked up the story. As a law professor, he does have some knowledge on the subject of free speech in the digital frontier.

UPDATE 2: I would like to remind JL Kirk Associates that the blogosphere took out John Kerry (Swiftboat Vets anyone?) and Dan Rather (fake memos). I'm sure the story will be picked up in the old school media as well as float around the internet for a while. The internets is nearly forever, ya know. Oops. You thought threatening Kat would stop it? No. It's just started. Just because Kat may be forced to take it down, doesn't mean that others won't keep it.

UPDATE 3: Newscoma is keeping a master list of bloggers writing on this story. My favorites are Bob Krumm (SERIOUS google juice) and Bill Hobbs. They should definately be read.

UPDATE 4: Bob's post made the front page of Fark.com. Read the thread here. Oh... the linky goodness.

I am a bad friend

A very bad friend.

I completely missed the birthday of one of my best friends, the former Miss O'Hara. And her husband.

No excuse. I am a dolt and I hurt her. I am sorry, sweetie.

Serious Time Waster

I feel the need - the need for Pink Kitty!

source: The Surrealist Movie Quote Generator