I read a very interesting article about Carlos Santana yesterday while sifting through the newspaper in search of fun things to do this upcoming Spring. Santana has always been one of my favorite musical artists, but I just never knew very much about his background. It's always reassuring in these crazy, unsettling times to find someone that shares your beliefs, even if it IS someone you'll never meet and have a meaningful conversation with. Presented for your consideration: “ . . . we all need a serious healing right now, from a vibration of anger and fear and over-the-top patriotism. I think humanity should have a higher priority than any nation.”

You know, if I hadn't been born at the tail end of the hippy heyday, I'd SWEAR that I had been a hippy in a former life. As it is, some of my friends tell me I was obviously born a few years too late.

Reading the article also made me realize that I still haven't gotten the new album Shaman. I'm going to have to rectify that error very soon.

Also, a special thanks to Kim for linking my little web journal on her own personal blog. As soon as I figure out how to link in that manner, I'll return the favor.

Oh yeah, and here is my political statement for today. I don't think it's any secret that I have absolutely no use for Dubya and his policies. This is taken from a translation of a song by Pakistani rock group Junoon (translation obtained from the Junoon Rox website because, shocked as I'm sure you are, I do not speak Urdu).

-- From "Dharti Kay Khuda"
They are cruel, unconcerned whether we live or die
Whatever cruelty they thrust upon us, we bear
All they want is that we remain loyal to them
And that we kneel before and fear them

A friend of mine recently compared writing statements of purpose for law school to online dating. She says that folks are given limited space to outline their best qualities in order to "sell themselves." Now, I don't know about online dating (I'm too chicken to try it -- I'm afraid I'll wind up in a steel drum, the victim of the next John Edward Robinson), but I do know that writing a statement of purpose for graduate school is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I sweated and toiled over those things for days, and it seems I didn't do a very good job. So far, of three schools to which I applied, I have received two rejection letters. So, I'll be spending the summer reworking those statements and trying to turn on the charm with other faculty members at other schools, all in an attempt to gain a coveted position in a PhD program. Yes, I'm going to try, try again, mostly because I want to and partly because I have another friend who said she'd forge new apps for me if she had to. I'm not sure if my pals are just that confident in me, or if they are just ready to get rid of me. :-)

Thanks to reading my friend Kim's blog for months to keep up-to-date on the happenings in her life halfway across the country, I've decided to be lazy and try keeping my journal in this format. Sure seems like it could be easier than HTMLing everything by hand and reshuffling my archives every month. I'm going to need an easy way to do this, because I have a feeling that I'm going to need a forum in which to vent my frustrations. My BP is already tending to be a little high, and recent world events are definitely not going to help.

For those of you who have been reading my musings via my webpage, don't worry -- it's all still there.