Melissa Dunphy

Remember the clusterfuck of a backlog the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services experienced after they jacked up the price of citizenship last year? Eh, you probably don't, but I sure do, because I became eligible for citizenship three days after the price hike, so not only did I have to pay $700 to apply, I was sure that the insane pile-up of applications directly before me would hold up my application past this November at least.

Apparently, however, publicity over the backlog has caused someone to throw money at the problem, because I just got a letter requesting that I appear for my naturalization interview (and civics exam) on May 30! Assuming I pass, I may be naturalized on the spot, or at the worst, at a swearing in ceremony a few weeks later. Holy shit! I'm going to be a citizen! I'm going to vote! I could make money on the side as a notary! I no longer need to fear deportation every time I get a traffic ticket!

I'm so excited. I'm going to find and buy the cheesiest Americana sweater in the world to wear to the interview. And then, as soon as I get my papers, I'm going to buy and wear this shirt as an expression of my FREE SPEECH AMERICAN VALUES RONPAULRPONPAUL:



In cat news, it turns out Hunter does not have hyperthyroidism or any kind of wacky disease that would show up in her blood work. I am relieved that she won't have to take pills for the rest of her life! But in the meantime, I have to keep shoving diarrhoea pills down her throat twice a day, so she hates me, and there's the prospect of paying more money for more diagnostics down the road if it doesn't clear up.

Labels: cats, immigration, politics

Currently, when I'm not rehearsing with the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, I'm supposedly working on my composition degree. As I think I've mentioned on here in the past, one piece I'm working on is a cantata based on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of Alberto Gonzales.

Because half the reason I'm writing it is that hardly anyone I speak to in the real world seems to know anything whatsoever about Gonzales, it's pretty unashamedly pop neo-Baroque. It's about half-finished; I guess it will be about 40-45 minutes long when it's done. I created the libretto from the actual transcripts, and for shits and giggles, I reversed the genders of all the performers, so every role (Gonzales, Specter, Leahy, etc, who also all double as the chorus) is sung by a soprano or alto, with the exception of Diane Feinstein, who is a tenor. Instrumentation is chamber strings and harpsichord.

Anyway, I had two pieces from the cantata played at a new music concert at my college the other day, and I recorded a rehearsal:

Freedom Overture (har har har, it's a French overture, geddit?)
Aria: "Differently" (Gonzales)

DIFFERENTLY
Text excerpted from US Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, April 19, 2007.

GONZALES: Looking back,
things that I would have done differently?
I should have told him,
And I think he should have --
I should have asked him
I should have told him the factors
that I thought were important for him to consider.
I should have told him,
And I think I would have told him --
I should have told him,
And we should have a list.
I think these are the things --
I think these are the kinds of things, in hindsight,
that I wish would have happened.
I think it's also unfair
(I think it’s all so unfair)
It is clear that we struggled -- not struggled –
Where we made a mistake, clearly -- I think --
is once we said "performance,"
we should have defined that.
Because performance, for me, means lots of things.
It means whether or not you've got leadership skills,
whether or not you've got management skills.
It may mean whether or not
you support the president.
It may mean that you don't have --
that you have a sufficient --
that you have relationships.
And so there are lots of things that fall within
the definition of performance-related.
And I think that we should --
we should have defined what we meant by that.

(This aria comes right before the final chorale of the cantata - "God Bless America" - and is composed of cut up quotes from the hearing -- his stumbles, mostly.)

Anyway, it's just a crappy recording from a rehearsal, but I thought I would put it out there to kick my own arse into finishing it.

Labels: college, music, politics

There is no doubt that American culture is both racist and sexist. I think it's more sexist than racist.

Observe that black men were able to vote in the USA in 1870, almost fifty years before that same right was extended to women by the nineteenth amendment in 1919. It seems plain to me that that same lag is true today, particularly, of course, in considering the campaign race for the Democratic presidential nominee.

The worst tragedy, in my mind, is that the culture of oppression of women is so insidious and pervasive that women do a fine job openly oppressing themselves. On NPR, I have heard vox pops segments in which women claim that the USA shouldn't have a female president - that it gives an impression of weakness on the world stage in a dangerous time. Can you imagine a black person saying that the United States shouldn't have a black president for the same reasons?

While women are among the strongest supporters of Hillary Clinton, they are also among her most vehement detractors. I don't buy speculation that this has anything whatsoever to do with her policies. This is an election based on hearts, not heads. And it seems some women's hearts are stuck quite firmly and openly in a subservient position.

God help black women.

I suppose I have fairly "radical" views when it comes to American politics. I come from a country where quality education is cheap or free, people are willing to pay higher taxes for better public services, and socialized health care is the norm. While I may be significantly further left on the political spectrum than the Clintons, I know that sudden "radical" change isn't feasible. When students protested in Beijing in 1989, they didn't achieve any kind of freedom for themselves; in fact, they made their situation far worse as the government tightened controls and further suppressed their rights. The vast majority of the Chinese population today - even the educated students - haven't even seen the pictures of a lone man standing before a tank which are so famous in the West. The real changes that have occurred in China in the last twenty years have been made slowly by liberal progressives within the Communist Party, with minimum chaos and upheaval. It's the same process of change that has occurred in this country, in the opposite political direction, with the rise of the neocons. If we are to reverse this process, it needs to be done slowly, and electing a "centrist" may well be what needs to happen. Even if she's further right than Nixon.

Now you've seen it all - I, the stereotypical Arian Monkey with a penchant for living as quickly as possible, am advocating patience. Am I growing up?

Hopefully I'll live another fifty years and be around to see the day when a female American president will have a chance.

Labels: politics

The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was race to my laptop. As I do every morning. But this morning, I specifically raced to check the Australian election results and YOU LITTLE RIPPER!!

John Howard, the racist, short-sighted bastard whom I clearly recall speaking out against Asian immigrants in the 1980's, has lost. The slightly-right Liberal Party has been replaced with the slightly-left Labor Party (which, in American terms, translates to the liberal party being replaced by the hippy communist unions welfare state liberal party). More than this, John Howard lost his seat, the first PM to do this since 1929.

Kevin Rudd, the new PM speaks fluent Mandarin. In fact he was a diplomat in Stockholm and Beijing for seven years. Diplomat ... you know, as in diplomacy. What is this strange and foreign concept, di-plo-ma-cy?

Rudd also promises to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the USA as the only major country that refuses to sign on. And, hey, maybe it is too late, but at least Australians aren't sticking their head in the sand like so many Americans and refusing to believe in global warming (or evolution, for that matter).

The Labor Party also has a female deputy leader, which may not mean we're quite as progressive as New Zealand or India or Ol' Blighty, but at least we're not as bad as America getting there.

In bizarro (old) news that tells of how removed from Australian politics I have become, I only just found out that the representative for my old seat, Kingsford-Smith, has been Peter Garrett, lead singer of Midnight Oil, for the last three years.

I am completely delighted by all this news.

More so because, having filed for US citizenship in September, I was not allowed to vote in the Australian election (voting in a foreign election would void my citizenship application). This puts me in the surprisingly uncomfortable position of being unable to vote in any election for the first time since I turned 18. Since there is a massive backlog of citizenship applications, I won't be able to vote in the US election next year either (hell, the BCIS haven't even cashed the $675 check I sent them, a sure sign they're in trouble). I sort of feel as though my human rights have been infringed.

In personal news, Mum got out of the psych ward last week. She still sounds a bit high to me, but ... what can I do?

Since I haven't blogged in forever, here are a bunch of links and random trivia.

• I uploaded a few photos from my high school days to Facebook


• Footime™ Page/Score Turner. Want.


• Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device. Also want.


• Yogi Berra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "He picked up his more famous nickname from a friend who said he resembled a Hindu holy man (yogi) they had seen in a movie, whenever Berra sat around with arms and legs crossed waiting to bat, or while looking sad after a losing game. Years later, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi Bear was named after Berra, something Berra did not appreciate after he started being periodically addressed as 'Yogi Bear.'"


• Arlen Specter: My Favorite Republican. I can't remember if I've mentioned this on here, but Arlen Specter is without a doubt my favorite Republican. In my imagination, he once dealt with the Devil, but in a strange twist of fate, the details of which I am still trying to fathom, he was able to win his soul back after a bout with cancer. Now brimming with sense, morality, and conscience, he is devoted to restoring hope and dignity to conservatives everywhere. Respect. And he's funny, too. In a funny old man kinda way.


• The Life and Death of Jesse James - Josh Olson. This is one of the best things I've read on the internet all year. Extra-good if you're a fan of Harlan Ellison.


• Many Eyes: word tree visualization of Gonzales' testimony


• This article makes a big deal abut the number of American cities on the "most unaffordable" list. I think the number of Australian cities is more remarkable. Having lived in Sydney, I could almost take on San Francisco (except for the earthquakes).


• Apparently the guy who played Omar, the baddest superhero motherfucker on The Wire, is Saul Williams' brother.


• No Sanctuary - Tanner (Melissa Dunphy) dispels the shadows near the church ruins.


• Interactive map of Philadelphia shootings


• Sean C. Adams has a website


• The other day, I saw my cello teacher conduct Helen Keller: the Ballet. The music was great.


• Jackson Pollock. Wonderful diversion. Really, it's not what you think; go there.


• Toychestra: crazy music.

Labels: politics

Last night, Matt and I went to our local PA Wine and Spirits store to grab some grog. I saw a sign at the cash register announcing that some merlot was half-price at $9.99, "the lowest price in the US!" because of Pennsylvania's bulk "purchasing power." Pennsylvania has some pretty odd alcohol laws in comparison with other states. The state itself purchases all the alcohol that is distributed in Pennsylvania and then sells it at state-owned bottle shops. This enables the state to not only reap some pretty amazing profits, but apparently keep prices low.

Gosh, I thought, as I stared at the sign. That precisely how the Australian prescription drug system works. Wouldn't it be marvelous if we could apply the method of price reduction that Pennsylvania uses in relation to alcohol distribution to bring down the crippling cost of health care?

But, you know, socialized medicine is an impossible concept for America.

• Thank you for taking our News IQ quiz. You correctly answered 9 of the 9 possible questions along with approximately 4% of the public. You did better than 96% of the general public.


• Wiimote 'theremin'

Labels: politics

Christ. I leave my motherland for a few years -- a blink of an eye, really -- and things go to shit. My father (biological, not my late stepdad, obviously) is in court over something really sordid, and his wife is calling around looking for money to cover costs. My mum received a phone call.

I know my father's wife meant well, but come on. Don't call my mum. She has enough issues, one of which is being easily upset because she has a fucking terrible case of bipolar disorder that lands her in psych wards once every year or two (and whenever Matt comes to Australia). She's trying to get her life together with Trevor. Don't bother her. I think I'm more disgruntled that they tried to drag her into it than I am about the sordid stuff itself.

Add to that good friends who are (or have been) getting mixed up in a drug scene they really should be fucking smart enough to avoid. For fuck's sake. How old are we all again? Maybe I'm just mad because I'm on the other side of the world so everything I know is filtered over 10,000 miles of cable and gloss. But even if I were there, there's fuck all I'd be able do about it. People get off drugs in their own time. I'm not anyone's mother - and none of us should need mothers.

Then, this morning, I wake up to this:

Is this some sort of joke by the gay community or something? This can't be real. I mean, these aren't real Australians, right? They're American plants or Scientologists or something, aren't they? Please?

The following proliferation of links has been brought to you by the fact I just realized BlogThis is finally working with Blogger Beta.

• Igudesman and Joo - I am completely in love with these guys after seeing Rachmaninov Had Big Hands on YouTube. They need to come to the USA so I can express my adulation in person with a ticket purchase.


• ALIEN VS. PREDATOR MOVIE PLUSHES


• Catster: the cat lovers community to share pictures, stories, and information. Here are my cats!


• Music from Mario, performed via hand farts.


• Tridentine Latin Mass - Plymouth Meeting, PA. We are just learning about chant in Music History, and my professor mentioned that he thought there might be a monastery in Paoli. I couldn't find that, but I did find a church sort-of nearby that does traditional Latin Masses. I want to go! Come on, they have a guide to black square notation on their website. That's pretty cool.


• So You Want to Write A Fugue? My composition prof told me about this a while back, and it came up in conversation again yesterday. That was good enough for me. I bought the sheet music online, and as soon as it arrives, I'm going to tackle it with some friends from school.


• George Takei on Tim Hardaway homophobic rant. George Takei is the fucking man.

Labels: politics, psychobabble

Matt requested I do this:

• Halloween @ WebLinc (Matt's workplace) - Matt's daytime Halloween costume.


• If for some reason I weren't at college, I would write a novel this month.


• My cello teacher's website is up,though there are still a couple of things I need to add.

Labels: politics