Ari's LJ

I just wanted come out of my hiatus to post my thoughts on the year and on this remarkable inauguration so I will have a historical record of what I was thinking.

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The Year in Review

2008 was an unusually long year. It doesn’t really end until 12:00pm on January 20th. Finally, with collective relief only matched by our public exuberance, we rid ourselves of the last eight years since George W. Bush took the same oath that Barack H. Obama will take at high noon.

In 2007, we had no stock market nor housing collapse, no attacks in Mumbai, no Sarah Palin, no nominee for either the Democratic or Republican Parties. Cyclone Nargis hadn’t killed thousands in Burma. Fidel Castro still led Cuba, Lehman Brothers was still a respected name, we still didn’t know John Edwards cheated on his wife and Elliot Spitzer wasn’t the butt of our jokes. Proposition 8 hadn’t caused a fury in California. We hadn’t had a fascination with a robot dancing with a fire extinguisher, and we still liked Batman more than the Joker. Here in Massachusetts, State Senator Dianne Wilkerson hadn’t stuffed money up her shirt (at least, as far as we know). And State Senator Marzilli had not knocked people out of the way at a hot-dog stand in Lowell during a police chase after harassing several women.

It was all far more sad than funny, but it was sometimes really, *really* funny. Come to think of it, that same sentiment also sums up Sarah Palin’s Thanksgiving press conference in front of turkeys being slaughtered. Sad, but also really, really funny.

But despite this obsession with the profoundly idiotic and macabre, we also kept hope alive. In early January, Barack Obama lit up the political scene by winning in Iowa. Then Hillary Clinton won in New Hampshire, setting the stage for a long and grueling primary fight. This allowed John King of CNN to play with his really expensive Election-Day gadgets and Wolf Blitzer (of the same station) to talk to holograms of people nobody cares about. Barack’s victory in Iowa drove Hillary to tears, Bill to a bout of “subtle” racism, and Sarah to Saks. (John McCain was left wandering around on a stage somewhere looking for Mr. Puddles.)

During all of this, everybody became a pundit. People everywhere were suddenly “experts” on polls, focus groups, speechwriting, messaging, field operations, fundraising numbers and community organizing.

It is the spirit of those new community organizers which gave me the most hope for the year because 2008 was the year of rejuvenated civic participation on the ground. It was also a year when we took the lessons of the brave new online world and brought it to the next level with an army of online organizers. It was a year when “the grassroots” wasn’t just a catchphrase, but the best way to win—and made people participate in their democracy, to boot.

And those community activists, those who inspired hope in their hometowns, looked up their chain of command to a leader who drew from the best of American history.

I’ve often thought of Obama as a sort of slick online mash-up of some of America’s greatest leaders—a healthy dose of John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln remixed to the beat of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is, of course, more than that. His story represents that this generation—our generation—can make history. The million people who travel to watch history unfold feel, perhaps for the first time, that they are living a life to be read about by posterity.

Sometimes, we over-glorify our predecessors, believing that we aren’t capable of greatness: that we could not have fought for Independence and founded “a nation of laws, not men”; that we could not summon the “better angels of our nature”; that we could not be as brave as the Greatest Generation of the Second World War and have “nothing to fear but fear itself.” But 2008 showed us that we can rise to the occasion. We can be a nation not of our base fears, but of our ferocious aspirations.

I don’t think of Obama as an Adams, a Lincoln or a Roosevelt. But I expect him to do his best and I hope that the grassroots will do their part to face the challenges of the 21st century with passion, honesty, and vigor. Today we move forward into an era of self-confidence and hope in the face of profound challenges. But we face these challenges with a return to our core values: accountability, transparency, freedom of opportunity and equality for all.

I cannot say what’s in store for 2009. Who would have believed 2008? All I know is that at the end of this decade, we can start anew.

I've graduated. The ceremonies were fantastic.

The speakers were fantastic at both my mini-commencements! And, of course, both were run by the flakiest professors possible...

I was also impressed with William Schneider (Brandeis Class o' '66). He talked a lot about politics, getting involved, and how it is up to our generation to fix the problems our parents created. He even mentioned blogging. Sam Vaghar gave a bombastic speech about social justice. Fischer spoke at the history mini-commencement, and that was wonderful. My dad asked him for his autograph.

The BBQs were really relaxed and I got to have a very nice goodbye with Sabrina. Everything went according to plan - it was mellow, chill, and family oriented. Everything a good graduation should be.

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I've long thought that if I make it to the "real world" and still use LJ that there's a problem. LJ has long felt too "high school" for my tastes. I've had this thing since the 10th grade. Lately, it hasn't really served its function as a good way to keep in touch with old high school friends either. So I am using this as an opportunity to retire my journal. That does not mean I will delete any content or that I won't ever post again. I'm sure that I will come here to make announcements of some sort in case people still read LJ. And I will continue to read your LiveJournals since there are clearly many friends who still do use this medium. All I'm saying is that this is not the right place for me to put the bulk of my content online any longer. I will make a post if I create a new blog to inform you all of that.

So, Good-Bye Cruel World! It's been a great run.

I just got Highest Honors for my thesis. The defense went really, really well. It really was much more of a conversation than anything else, and Professors Jones, Fischer and Hickey thought it was "imaginative."

Interestingly, the defense was held in the room where I had my very first class (pre-midyear) with Prof. Kryder. How full circle is *that*? Prof. Hickey called that the "Alpha and the Omega."

Whew!

So I have my thesis defense this afternoon at 3:30. I'm not really nervous -- if my thesis was truly horrible, I wouldn't have made it this far. I am, however, wondering what to bring... Perhaps a snack for my committee? A new Rolls Royce or three to butter them up?

Got a letter in my mailbox today.

Dear Ari,

I am very pleased to invite you to join the Alpha Epsilon Omicron chapter of Phi Alpha Theta. Phi Alpha Theta is the international honor society in history and Alpha Epsilon Omicron is the Brandeis branch.

Your invitation to membership is based on your grades in history and on your overall GPA, and represents a mark of your distinction in your chosen field of concentration. The names of the members of Phi Alpha Theta are read aloud at the History Department graduation ceremony.

The international initiation fee is $40.00 and our chapter has a local expenses fee of $5.00. These are one-time charges. In return, in addition to your membership documents, you will receive a one year subscription to *The Historian*, the magazine of the society. You will also become eligible for a variety of scholarships and manuscript prizes...[yada yada yada]... Prof. John Schrecker.

First of all, the chapter sounds like the name of a distant star. Alpha Epsilon Omicron of the Phi Alpha Theta system. It's right next to the Dagobah system. I'll ask my Prof. Jones about it.

It's cool to get the honor, I guess. But it feels weird basically paying for an award. I sense a scam.

While we were watching Wright, the U.S. had one of its deadliest months in Iraq. The U.S. military death toll hit a 7 month high.

While we were watching Wright, China still has refused to be shamed for supporting the Sudanese government responsible for the genocide in Darfur and folks are calling on us to be more conciliatory.

While we were watching Wright, Americans reported that health care costs are giving them the squeeze.

While we were watching Wright, we celebrated Earth Day.

It's time to focus on the issues that really matter and Move On.

Obama gets it.

Here is Obama clearly explaining just why the proposed gas tax holiday is idiotic.



Here's what's great about this clip from where I sit.

It's incredibly specific and wonkish. In other words, it actually gives you the statistics why the plan is a bad idea.

But it's clear and understandable. And you can relate to it. (Half a tank of gas?!)

It gives us a soundbyte at the end. "This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election."

It underscores the central premise of his campaign: Washington (and our discourse) is broken.

It underscores his authenticity and honesty. The "cheap" place to get gas in my neighborhood is up to $3.53 9/10. Getting a tax break at the pump sounds pretty good to me. But we need a President who will level with us, and not be afraid to say something that might be Politically Unpopular for fear of losing votes in Indiana.

I am officially done with my thesis. Twas the longest thing I ever did write. I have a 10 page bibliography. I am exhausted. It wasn't really as bad as I griped about, in retrospect.

Pamphleteer in the Blogosphere:
The Stamp Act Crisis, Blogs, and the American Polemical Tradition

Ari Fertig

April 30, 2008

A senior thesis, submitted to the History Department of Brandeis University, in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Arts degree.

Also: my dedication is cheesy, and needs work.

The Dalai Lama is ordering a hot dog. He says to the vendor:

"Make me one with everything."

He gets his hot dog, then gives the vendor 5 bucks, but doesn't get
anything back.

"Hey" says his holiness, "Where's my change?"

"Change comes from within," says the vendor.

This election is gonna be fun:

Much has been written about the overall decrepitude of our national media. Our newspapers are crumbling before our very eyes. Even our national networks cannot seem to rid themselves of right-wing attacks on our candidates. Frank Rich of the New York Times has quite an excellent piece on the debate in the other day's New York Times which also goes a bit more in depth, basically summing up all that is wrong with our discourse in recent weeks. Now Senator Clinton says that if Israel is attacked, she will totally "obliterate" Iran.

There have been good moments during this campaign. Senator Obama, who I support in this race, attempted to use the controversy over his pastor Jeremiah Wright to elevate our discussion about race in America with his now famous "A More Perfect Union" speech. But his attempts to elevate that discourse have failed, and his campaign has not been able to deliver on his promise of an elevated discourse. To some degree, I wonder how well he would do if the media and his opponent's campaigns actually did start talking to the nation like we're a country of adults. I do believe that his campaign is predicated on the fact that our national conversation has turned into a shouting match, so he can rail against that. But that is why I support him: because we need to raise the standard of debate in this country desperately.

In 2006, far before I supported Obama, I wrote:

We have set the bar so low that the nation has tripped over it. I dream, actually dream, of a great debate full of new ideas, great diction and vision.

When I wrote that, I was frustrated because I felt that both the media had dropped the ball when it came to talking about poverty in America after the devastation of Katrina. I have, at points, called it the "shortest war on poverty the world has ever seen." Today, I am frustrated because we are talking about lapel pins and a trip to Bosnia. We're not talking about how to get out of Iraq outside of the usual talking points. We're not talking about the fact that the highest members of the Bush Administration sat at a conference table to discuss how to torture people. We're not having that great discussion about race in America; we're not bridging any divides nor making any new points. We are not talking any longer about the shock of the Global Climate Crisis, but instead of how shocking it was that Senator Clinton took a shot of Crown Royal.

What is happening to us?

When I talk to people about this, I generally hear the same few points.

The media is corrupt.

People are apathetic, so they don't demand better.

The 24 hour news-cycle has tampered with how we run campaigns.

People actually care about these issues - that is, people *do* want to know whether Obama loves the flag or Clinton lied about her Bosnia trip because it speaks to their character.

Those might be legitimate concerns, and I'm not here to say that any of those are right or wrong. But whatever the causes are, we've got to fix it, and fix it soon. Too much is at stake.

It is getting increasingly difficult not to vomit based on the profound weirdness of how we select our leaders.

Thank you. Good gravy.

Did he just say he's seen this *several times*?

I love Red Sox fans.

When I go to a diner, I usually just have a coffee and water with my meal. (Favorite diner breakfast food: eggs over easy, wheat toast, corn beef hash and some breakfast potatoes.) Thanks to the profound weirdness of our news media, I now know that Obama likes to have orange juice. And apparently, that's a bad thing.



What do you drink when you go to a diner?

YouTube! Bring me a dancing walrus! Chop Chop!

I'm now on twitter. Do any of you use Twitter? If so, why? I don't really get it so far, to be honest. Why would you care if I'm currently drinking coffee or mowing my lawn? This video tried to explain it, but I don't have time to find you all.



I much preferred their explanation of zombies.