nuevo ano

i am in cozumel ringing in the new year. un nuevo ano aqui.

i am not going to get into my resolutions here, partially because i cannot find the apostrophe key to make contractions.

things i like to take pictures of

1. mopeds in foreign countries
2. graffiti in foreign languages
3. airports in foreign countries
4. neon things anywhere

this is...

in fair verona, where we lay our scene.

this is...

madrid's airport. even their airports are cooler than ours.

call me ice cube

because i'd have to say, today was a good day.

home

at some point in the last two weeks, i feel settled. i live here now.

company of theives

i saw a band last night. it was their second show ever outside the coffee shop circuit.

the lead singer was one part bjork, one part karen o, one part fiona apple, all star.

she has "it," whatever "it" is. they are going to be famous.

lessons learned are hard to teach.

1) everyone has really, really bad days at work (unless you are an heiress, ahem, dad, ahem). lots of people, on occasion, cry at work. but if you cry at work a lot, you become the lady who cries at work. and that label sticks.

2) your personal life can fuck your shit up. and you can bring that to work. but snowballing, starting with a small problem (say, forgetting to do something minor) and always somehow having it wind up being about something major (say, everything that's ever gone wrong is ultimately connected to a fault in your childhood) cannot become business as usual. that's why god made personal days. what do you think he did on the seventh day?

i figured out both of these things at my first job. i don't know if i can teach them to someone at theirs.

litigious

so, i was whining at lunch about the one neighbor on each street who seems totally oblivious to the idea of shoveling the sidewalk. the explanation that was given amazed me, but it made sense in the context of our litigious society.

if you shovel your walk and someone slips and falls, they can sue. you are liable for the poor shoveling job.

if you don't shovel your walk and allow it to become an ice capade's dream, slick and smooth, you can't be sued. the ice is seen as an act of god.

so, negligence here is the legally safe option.

i'm shocked only one of my neighbors opted out.

thursday and friday

thursday i bought two bags of sand, a shovel, and a scraper.

thursday i was convinced i'd have a snow day.

thursday i reviewed the emergency phone chain since i'm important now and am more of an emergency tree branch than root.

friday i wore ugg boots, and not as a fashion statement.

friday i learned how to heat a lock and key using a butane lighter.

friday i realized city schools don't get snow days very often.

the prisoner's dilemma

I've decided to start an ethics program in my class after a series of ridiculously selfish and community-destroying incidents. Every Monday they get the "Ethical Question" of the week. They have till Friday to write a one page response. This week was Week 1. The goal: to get them to think about the cost/benefit of acting selfless or selfish and how trusting others impacts that cost/benefit.

I have them the Prisoner's Dilemma, a fairly well-known question used to gauge ethical development. Here's the scenario:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and having separated them, visit each of them and offer the same deal: If you confess and your accomplice remains silent, he gets the full 10-year sentence and you go free. If you both stay silent, all we can do is give you both 6 months for a minor charge. If you both confess, you each get 5 years.

Each prisoner individually reasons like this: Either my accomplice confessed or he did not. If he did, and I remain silent, I get 10 years, while if I confess I only get 5. If he remained silent, then by confessing I go free, while by remaining silent I get 6 months.

Imagine you are one of the prisoners. What would you do? Why? What would influence your decisions?

Maybe I'll post each week's question?