This is an autumn of controversies.

TC shamelessly capitalized on what happened between Provost Jane Fernandes and the student body. The shirts sold like hotcakes, all 70 in less than an hour—we had to reorder.

Other shirts in the works: IKJ Rockstar...the beauty of it is that it's for both people who love and hate him—the former will see it as genuflective and the latter, tongue-in-cheek—it'll be whatever you want to see...and 1970's vintage style Carl Pramuk, captions: "I used to be cool".

When Provost heard about her shirt, she claimed to be amused and want to buy one, but her office tried to make SBG order students to take off the shirts. SBG declined. IBProvostwasreallypissedbutherPRspecialistadvisedhertoplayitcooland
pretendtolaughatherselfwhilesiccingherproxiesonus.

Another, and more significant, controversy is Ryan's protest. This blog pretty much says it all. I saw his girlfriend on campus today and she said Ryan lost 20 pounds. I'm glad he's eating again because it had occurred to me that he wouldn't last long. A person usually can survive about a month without eating, but cold weather causes humans to burn calories faster to stay warm and Ryan already has a fast metabolism. She said Ryan had to endure a lot of people (mostly parents) coming over to scream at him. But he also got support so that evened things up a bit.

Obese people should try the Hunger Strike Diet sometimes. Less injustice & more hotties in the world.

Ate the big turkey with my parents, my cousin's family, my cousin's aunt and her husband, Will. Will is one interesting fella. The last time I saw him was when my cousin, a friend and I headed to NYC for the 1999 NYE to see the big ball drop. We stayed at Will's apartment. We met him at a Turkish bathhouse where he was a masseure.

His Jewish parents fled Germany in 1938 and settled in China where he spent the first 13 years of his life. He grew up watching heads roll. Back then the Chinese chopped off thieves' hands and murderers' heads in the public. Bells would ring in the town square and people'd flock to watch the spectacle.

Nobody taught him to write or read—he communicated only with homemade signs. Then his family moved to New York City and he finally got some education at PS #47. Now, he talks and acts like a typical jolly grassroots deafie. In addition to wages from kneadin' up stressed out hot babes, he receives $1200 monthly compensation for lifetime from the German government because a Nazi doctor did something to cause his deafness when his mother was pregnant with him.

Had one of my best dinners ever last Sunday. Great company—I'm biased but I think TC has the coolest people of any organization—great food and even greater entertainment.

The TC staff ate out, all expenses-paid, at this Japanese restaurant in Georgetown where dinner was simultaneously food and performance art. We sat around a big flat stove watching the cook perform. We were mesmerized. It was one trippy food theater.

I also finally ate sushi to my heart's content, about $30 worth. The plate was a kalideoscope of different rolls and sushi.

The only thing missing was a nice dessert orgy to hit the spot.

I dreamed that my dad went senile and dyed his hair bright pink. You'd laugh if you knew him. A pretty traditional guy.

Last weekend, I played my first poker game at a full table with fairly high stakes. One player was a card shark, winning about 70% of games. Nevertheless I was playing well and had the highest stack after about 3 hours. Then one guy bitched about having to split soon and kept on going all-in, but everyone'd back down and he'd roll his eyes as he collected the pot. He seemed tired and dying to leave. Then I had a decent, not great, hand and he went all-in. I thought he was trying to throw away the game so I called him. Turned out he had a great hand and suddenly I was crippled. I didn't have patience to slowly work my way back to where I was. Next hand, I went all-in and lost. From a fat stack to nothing in 2 hands.

The VB team has won 16 out of 17, the only loss being to the #2 team in the nation. It captured the CAC title and is heading off to play the first round of NCAA tourney this thursday.

Not bad, considering the team lost its star player early in the season.

May Jesus lift their feet higher and make them spike the ball harder and place the ball squarely on their forearms.

Saw this away message:

"Procrastination is like masturbation. At first, it feels good but in the end you're only screwing yourself."

There was a town hall meeting on campus to discuss what had happened recently. I didn't go but a friend filled me in. Provost turned off a lot of students by bitching at everyone, when only a small number of students were guilty. A few friends and I talked about it.

Maybe it's because I'm jaded with Gally, with a foot out of the door, but my reaction had been mostly 'zzzz'. But Provost's ranting hit a nerve.

-I'm sick of hearing bad behavior being associated with deafness. People knock down goal posts everywhere. Parties get out of control everywhere. Neighbors complain about parties everywhere, and so forth. Black people say one of the worst things about being black is not being seen as unique individuals. I think it's the same thing for deaf people. A few members behave badly and we have to be embarrassed?

-The administration should take SOME of the blame for the Hyatt fiasco. I mean, c'mon. Drunken froshies and a 5-star hotel? ANYWHERE, the same thing would happen. Unlike SBG, they're old enough to see that coming and didn't lift a finger. The same goes for the Hyatt folks—they knew what goes with college students.

-The basic reason for DPS and the police trying so hard to prevent students from taking down the goal posts was safety (you know the story, a U. of Minn. student got killed, blah blah), not destruction of property since they'd be replaced soon anyway. Quite a few students got hurt, all right. By the police, the very people "concerned" about safety.

Off I go.