Like wearing Spanx!

I was walking back to my office the other day behind two male students having a very serious conversation.  It went something like this:

Student 1: I've been too busy to do my laundry, so I'm down to my athletic underwear. It's spandex!

Student 2: Oh, yeah, me, too! Heh heh. It's all slippery.  Heh.

S1: Yeah, I don't like it.  It feels weird.

S2: Oh, I don't know- I kind of like it.  I feel like I'm wearing Spanx!

Me: *snork*

Surrounded by all of these 20-somethings I feel very old some days, but there are many other days where I feel like an immature teenager.  These kids crack me up- they remind me of how complex, and yet (in retrospect) how simple life was back in the bubble of college.  I really enjoy them...um, well, I really enjoy laughing at them, actually. 

I wish the women would stop wearing leggings as pants, though.  Not attractive!  Also: if your leggings look like they are made out of rubber, perhaps college is not the right venue for you at this time.  Just a hint!

Ach, well- that's democracy in a time of turmoil and ignorance (i.e. always, in this reactionary country!)  1994 Republican Revolution, anyone?  Remember how well that went for them?  And us?  Ever onward, my friends!

Immigration law in Arizona brought to us by our friendly neighborhood private prison.

This makes me really angry.  It's bad enough that we can't come up with sensible policies for dealing with immigration, but we are now passing anti-immigration laws that benefit private corporations and do nothing to stop illegal immigration.  In fact, history suggests that this law will not have any deterring effect- which makes sense if one considers that it is not actually designed to do anything but bring money into private coffers.  Here is NPR's investigation of the subject.  Gross.  Arizona immigration law

and:Immigration law follow-up

I don't mean to sound naive- I understand the role business plays in policy here in the States quite well.  But this turned even my stomach, cynical as I am.  After discussing this issue with one of my more righty politics friends, who ended up by not believing me, I sent her some quick facts about the economic impact illegal immigrants actually have on this country.  Pretty small in terms of public service use, and a bit larger in terms of paying taxes and buying goods and private services.  It makes sense to be concerned about illegal immigration, but don't do it via ridiculous, unsubstantiated sound bites.  And don't let some corporation looking to make several million bucks provide you with your opinion.

And, because I'm sick of politics right now, I link to this fabulous (and entirely valid) stick-poking at my profession.  I howled when I watched this: So you want to be a political scientist?

I'm a qualitativist, and thus feel somewhat smug about the math bits, since I avoid those for exactly the reasons mentioned here.  But it's hard to be *too* smug because the rest of the thing is entirely accurate.