Heloise's Letter to Abelard

I think that this letter more tells of the faults of Abelard and Heloise's society than of some great love story. Abelard was ready to give up on Heloise now that he couldn't have relations with her, and sent her off to be a Nun. He didn't write to her or have any contact with her until she read a copy of a letter that he had distributed to tell the tale of his tragic life. Heloise seems upset the Abelard hasn't written to her and I think its pretty horrible that he's made her because a Nun and abandoned her. The fact that this wasn't unusual in the 12th century is troubling. Their tale also shows how much power the church had over people, it seems that the church and its leadership could do basically whatever they wanted. I think the story of Abelard and Heloise is certainly a tale of a tragic relationship, but not a great romance.

Abelard, Peter, and Heloise. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.

Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy

I would consider this letter one of the most important in World History because the back and forth letters from Kennedy to Khrushchev in October of 1962 kept the world from full-scale nuclear war. This letter tells Kennedy that the Soviet Union is pulling the weapons out of Cuba but that the US should refrain from flying over Cuban or Soviet airspace, as a plane could be confused with a nuclear bomber, which would cause retaliation. He mentions that there was an incident a few months ago when a U2 Spy Plane was caught over Soviet airspace and it was blamed on poor weather. Although Khrushchev says he trusts Kennedy, and that there was indeed poor weather, I'm not sure if he actually believes it. Next he says, "A still more dangerous case occurred on 28 October, when one of your reconnaissance planes intruded over Soviet borders in the Chukotka Peninsula area in the north and flew over our territory. The question is, Mr. President: How should we regard this. What is this: A provocation? One of your planes violates our frontier during this anxious time we are both experiencing, when everything has been put into combat readiness. Is it not a fact that an intruding American plane could be easily taken for a nuclear bomber, which might push us to a fateful step? And all the more so since the U.S. Government and Pentagon long ago declared that you are maintaining a continuous nuclear bomber patrol." (Merton 57) This seems to be very threatening to me, but I suppose it was understandable if the US was constantly sending Spy Planes over Russia. Khrushchev claims that they must protect Cuba because there are many Soviet citizens living there, and many threats to them, including pirates. I think he probably just threw pirates in there so he didn't have to say that he wants to protect Cuba from the US. Khrushchev ends by reminding Kennedy that the Soviet people value peace more than anyone, after experiencing the horrors of Hitlers campaign against them.


Merton, Thomas. Cold War Letters. New York: Orbis Books, 2006.

If this ad was around today, the magazine it appeared in, and the coffee company it advertises would have mass demonstrations against them, and would probably be sued for something. I can't even imagine this being a good idea 60 years ago, if they were trying to target women to buy their coffee, I don't think threatening them is the way to go. It's disturbing to me that this ad that clearly suggests that if you don't buy their coffee, your husband will beat you, was tolerated back then. This quite is an obvious example of male chauvinism in 1950's culture.

What I Want My Word to Do Haiku

Get me through English,
I hate touchy-feely crap.
Refrigerator.

Field Journal #10 Stadium Pal

David Sedaris is tasked with writing in the style section for Esquire and decides to write about his quest for a fashion accessory for men. Somehow this leads him to the Stadium Pal with is a catheter that you attach to your calf and member with a self adhesive condom. My favorite line is "while in a sports stadium a 32oz piping hot bag of urine attached to your leg might go unnoticed, but not so in a stuffy airplane. An hour after christening it I smelled like a nursing home."

Field Journal #9 Trapped in the Closet

After bursting into the house, Sylvester begs Bridget and James to put the guns down but they both say no. When Twan suggests he should kill them all, Bridget says she will drop the gun if James doesn't hurt the midget, Big Man, a stripper at a club called "Dixie's." Dixie's is where Big Man met Bridget. After Gwendolyn calls Sylvester to see if everything is okay, James calls Sylvester and Twan "Chuck and Rufus", revealing that he knows them also. Bridget admits that she paid Big Man (who is "blessed," in reference to the fact that he's "well-endowed," or has a large penis) and also says that she even followed James around while he was with Gwen. She then reveals that Big Man, who has once again fainted, is her baby's daddy, which negates her previous excuse of it being "that time of the month."

There is A LOT of confessing in the 48 part epic that is Trapped in the closet.

Field Journal #8 Gizmodo

http://gizmodo.com/343348/confessions-the-meanest-thing-gizmodo-did-at-ces

Gizmodo is a fairly popular website that covers technology related news. Recently at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) they snuck a "TV-B-Gone" into the event with them and wrecked complete havoc. They turned off TVs during important presentations, and even turned off one whole giant wall of TVs. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was fired due to a presentation being ruined. Confessing their actions with this video was probably a bad move by them because they have been permanently banned from CES, the biggest event in tech of the year.

Field Journal #7 Celebrity Drug Confessions

http://www.celebguru.org/entry/top-20-celebrity-drug-confessions/

Some of the confessions were kind of shocking like Angelina Jolie saying "I hate heroin because I've been fascinated by it. I'm not immune, but I won't do it now, at all." But I agree whole-heartedly with her boyfriend Brad Pitt "If someone wants to do drugs as long as he or she isn't corrupting minors or driving under the influence or endangering others, shouldn't a person have that right?" The most disturbing confession came from Keith Richards (surprise, surprise) "The strangest thing I’ve tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn’t have cared."

Field Journal #6 Gay Pastor

After the whole Ted Haggard fiasco yet another Evangelical Preacher has come out as a closet homosexual. "I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the 32- minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. "... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away." I always find these confessions extremely amusing because of the ridiculous hypocrisy of the D-bags. To bash gays and try make it okay for other people to openly hate gays for 28 years then come out as gay yourself is pretty insane.

Field Journal #5 Joran van der Sloot Confession

This has been a big story on the news lately, this confession finally reveals what happened to Natalee Holloway. Van der Sloot claims that he was stoned when he said everything and that he was just telling the dude what he wanted to hear, but I think that its probably all true. I feel a little bad for him because he said she just started shaking and then wouldn't wake up, but I don't understand why he dumped the body into the ocean instead of just calling for help, I don't think he would have gotten into any trouble if his story is true. But, its possible put something in her drink and accidentally killed her and is now avoiding punishment.

Field Journal #4 Cheating

Being the nerd that I am I play a lot of video games, one in particular, Counter-strike. Counter-strike is well known for is serious competition with tournaments help all around the world with up to a million dollars in prize money. Well I'm on a fairly serious Counter-strike team and we have been playing together, pretty much daily for almost 3 years. We participate in an amateur league where we do fairly well but aren't top tier. Well about a year ago one of my teammates decided to quit the team and when he did he admitted that he had been cheating the whole time he played with us. This stunned us as cheating in Counter-strike is the worst sin you can possibly commit. None of us talk to him anymore and I feel a little bad about it because he probably cheated because he was afraid of performing poorly, and didn't want us to bench him.

Field Journal #3 Circuit City

http://consumerist.com/consumer/tender-my-resignation/27-confessions-of-a-former-circuit-city-worker-267566.php

This guy is revealing how Circuit City works, and some things to look out for when you shop there. He is writing this anonymously after he quit and it makes me wonder why he didn't write it sooner. Some of the things they do to customers are horrible, and would really get to my conscience.

Field Journal #2 Corey the Aussie

This kid is freaking awesome. He threw a party when his parents were out of town and 500 people turned up and there was $20,000 in damages. At first he says he's sorry but then when the interviewer starts pressing him he starts getting angry and he refuses to take off his sunglasses. He says he is avoiding his parents and in a video two weeks later the tv crew finds his on the beach, where he has been hiding from his parents. Eventually he will have to fess up to his parents, but he's trying to have as much fun as possible first.

Field Journal #1 Radio Confession

I was listening to talk radio last week and the host asked people to call in and reveal what their kids have found that has embarrassed them. It was interesting that everyone who called in sounded in their 40s or 50s and said their kid found handcuffs, costumes, etc and none of them used their real name. I'm never going in my parents room anymore.