"If you're sick, don't come to class."

         Is this really so complicated, so complex an entreaty, that college students can't comprehend it?
         Today in Education Policy, I found myself sitting in front of a kid with a severe sniffle and a hacking cough. Yet there he was, carrying on lengthy conversations with the girls sitting around him, infecting everyone in the room because for some reason he just knew that his presence in class was too vital, that we'd be horrifically deprived if he didn't come to class and offer his single sentence of not-particularly-insightful criticism of fees for elementary education in developing countries.
         I genuinely would like to know what goes through these people's minds. There are like 300 cases of swine flu on campus right now. Everybody knows somebody who's sick, and everybody who's been lucky enough to avoid it so far is trying to be careful. I certainly am. But what can I do when the contagious have so little respect for the healthy that they fill the classrooms with viruses and the echo of fluid-filled coughs?
         (This sounds like a zombie movie, or a lame speculative fiction. That's what swine flu is: a lame speculative fiction. I speculate that it would not get me published.)
         At one point during the class, after one particularly heinous serious of coughs, I glanced over my shoulder to look at him. No anger, no judgment, just a simple, even look, the kind I could claim was out of sympathy if the need arose. In return, he shot me a death glare that essentially said, "How dare you question my right to infect everyone around me out of pure selfishness for wanting to learn about price discrimination in higher education?"
         Grow up. Stay home and learn how to be a considerate human being...before we all mutate into pig people.
 

         Briefly, a road trip through recent ignorance captured on tape. We set out through the Midwest for today's edition.

"All pornography is homosexual pornography." - Michael Schwartz, chief of staff to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)

         Hey Mike, I just asked the five guys living in my hall, and they said this isn't true. Apparently over half of the pornography out there features one man and one to five emotionally unstable women. But I can see where you might be confused...if all the pornography you watch is homosexual. Shh, I won't tell Coburn.

"I believe in those comebacks." - Rod Blagojevich (D-IL)
But wait, there's more! He concludes by saying, "One more thing. When I say 'comeback,' I'm not necessarily saying I'm going to run for President. You understand that, right?"

         Hey, I have nothing against our Serbian friend making a political comeback. I believe in comebacks, too. But I wonder if he missed the memo that a bunch of Gottis are in prison and the family might be looking for some new fellas...goodfellas.

"Under no certain circumstances will I give the government control over my body and my health care decisions." - Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

         I guess that means she's pro-choice! Oh, wait, is this the same Michele McCarthy Bachmann of the census conspiracy theories and "progressive taxation equals slavery" platform? Oh yes, I remember her spraying her crazy all over the House floor. I guess what she's really saying is that it's okay to give the government control over women's bodies and medical decisions when it comes to something life-changing, like, say, whether or not to have a child, but not when it comes to who fills my allergy prescription. I get it.

         That was exhausting! Thank goodness I'm back in calm, peaceful, politically serene Rhode Island now. Oh wait...

“After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal, the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of David Steele to the post.” - Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington Rhode Island

         Nice. What a passive-aggressive way to hire someone.
 

         Did you guys hear about the kid at Cornell who died from swine flu complications? http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090914/NEWS01/909140369
         I wish they would release whatever underlying/preexisting medical diagnosis he had. I understand his parents' wish for privacy, but as a college student who lives in much the same conditions, with access to similar healthcare, I think I have a compelling interest to know. My mom suggested that his underlying problem was embarrassing, which I have to admit was my first thought, too. But no one would make fun of it or criticize it now. Rather, my interest in knowing is to better understand a possible pandemic that targets my age group.
         I read today that the swine flu has been particularly hard on children with neurological disorders like epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Isn't that unusual? Deaths from seasonal flu are usually related to untreated pneumonia or underlying upper respiratory conditions; neurological problems seem to have no correlation. But for swine flu, there's a strong and deadly correlation. Scientists aren't sure why yet. But I'd love to know. I'm such a nerd, especially when it comes to things that are still being deciphered, still being understood.
         My friend C--- likes to say that in medicine, there's no such thing as truth, only evidence. I wouldn't go so far to say that, but there is an awful lot of conjecture. Just look at what's happening in the swine flu vaccine debate right now. In the 70s, several hundred people developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (which, if you haven't heard of it, is pretty awful) due to reduced testing times, just as is happening now. They say it's safe. It probably is. But still, the idea of eliminating testing just to expedite it scares me more than a little.
         As Lynn McKenzie pointed out several months ago, this flu season is the one to worry about. This is when it comes back stronger, mutates, overlaps with seasonal flu, strains the healthcare system. The CDC has already predicted that young people — you know, like me — are the ones most at risk, due to our general lack of hygiene and complete lack of immunity.
         I'm not worried, or at least, not worried a lot. I follow new developments obsessively and keep very good care of myself. (And others — gave blood today ) I take extra echinacea and vitamins. I eat extra oranges at breakfast. I stay away from sick people, though luckily, people here aren't sick in high numbers yet. But it isn't enough. There's not enough concrete information to go on.
         I just wish we knew more. I suspect everyone does.
 

         She's right. Enough is enough.
         This has been a big deal here in RI, because (1) people are idiots and (2) everything's unionized. (Are these things related? Probably.) I mean everything. There was a movement about ten years ago to unionize the teaching assistants at Brown, which, luckily, failed, but it was beyond ridiculous. TAs are students, mostly graduate students, and they are paid to be TAs by the university they attend. They teach maybe an hour a week, plus two more for office hours and a variable amount for grading papers. Let's estimate this: five hours a week? Six? Maybe ten, maximum, during midterms and finals?
         For this undergraduates are paid $885 per semester, plus a $100 raise each semester, regardless of aptitude or teaching skill. Graduate students are paid slightly more, based mostly on grant work and the value of stipends from other sources. But according to the local teachers' union, this isn't enough. They're teaching, after all. They clearly need a union to start some collective bargaining with their university.
         I wish I made $15 an hour, but you don't see me crying to the good ol' boys.
         Anyway, union power here is out of hand, mostly because everyone in the legislature is intimidated by union heads and terrified of losing campaign seed money. As such, no one has been willing to admit that, like, furloughs are necessary sometimes. Which they undeniably are here.
         Fact: the Rhode Island government currently doesn't have enough money to pay its workers. This wasn't unavoidable (see "incompetence in handling previous years' budgets") but there's nothing to be done about that now. The state has already maxed out its borrowing — isn't that pathetic? a state has maxed out its credit — so it has to cut spending. No one seems willing to acknowledge that there are only two ways to balance a budget: raising taxes and cutting spending. Raising taxes: check. Yours truly will soon be subject to an "out of state student tax," which I must pay because, well, I am an out-of-state student, and my university can't be taxed due to its federal nonprofit status. Sales tax increase: check, but ineffective, since RI's unemployment rate is so high and consumer spending is so low. Income tax increase: currently being debated, but again, high unemployment and bankruptcy rates. Sorry, RI. Looks like you'll have to go with the dreaded "cut spending" option.
         Horror of horrors! There's so much waste in this state, particularly kickbacks, but there's apparently nothing left to cut. Unions have been bitching about their contracts since long before anyone proposed furloughs, saying that unionized employees should be protected at all costs. Including, apparently, the cost of running the state.
         I don't like layoffs either, and yes, I'd prefer to let people keep their jobs at current pay, no furloughs, no cuts. But that isn't an option anymore. And part of the reason is that unions artificially inflate wages to the point that the state can't afford to run basic operations. Did you know that in Providence, a part-time DMV employee starts at $24/hour? Starts. You can imagine what unionized veterans are making.
         I really hope, for the sake of the employees involved, that the state and the unions can work out some sort of compromise. But maybe both parties should realize that artificially inflated wages, plus yearly increases at double the cost of living increase, aren't sustainable, and sometimes it'll have to be corrected by a dreaded furlough.
         I guess what I'm trying to say is this: people are struggling right now. State employers are too. It may seem as though the government has an endless stream of money, seeing as they can just print more (cough, inflation) whenever they want, but fiscal policy doesn't really work that way. Payroll checks aren't cut on hope and change alone. So the government needs to give, and unions do too.
         Would you all be deathly bored if I wrote a post on fiscal policy? Ha.

 

Seriously, how long has it been since I entered the Cramp? Too long.

1597287

Nine Lives  [18+] The nephilim live nine times. Some just want to die. by Lorien

         People think I have it together. It's almost laughable. There is a direct relationship between how far I am into the semester and how little I can manage to accomplish.

Things I didn't do today:
         Laundry, dishes, dusting.
         Finish the rewrite of RM's first ten pages. Or, like, work at all on the rewrite.
         Read for writing meeting.
         Figure out Murky Depths' submission guidelines.
         Edit the final draft of the first column.
         Water my mom's plants.
         Go to the library for Criminal Justice System books.
         Get folders and notebooks for school.
         Ask when, exactly, my elusive Russian class will actually be scheduled.

Things I did do today:
         Bake a pie.

Mmm. Day well spent.
 

Today I got an email from James Carville, via the Democratic Governors Association email list. (How did I get on this list? Ugh.) He writes,