Fun Fact #36: Over 1% of the US adult population is behind bars

It's pretty common knowledge that the prison system in the US leaves a lot to be desired. Harsher punishments and sentences mean that the current prison population is at an all time high. A new non-partisan study reports that more than one in 100 adults are behind bars. This new record high makes the US a clear front runner in prison population rates; China, with a far larger population, comes in second. States are spending about $50 billion a year on corrections.

The statistics regarding minorities are even more mind-boggling: "One in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars. For black women ages 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in 355 for white women in the same age group". More than 10% of the young black male population is in prison.

The increased prison population could be attributed to a variety of things, there's no single dominating factor. But, as a future law student, one argument is particularly interesting. The amount of defendants who actually utilize a "true" trial has greatly diminished; most people are not tried in front of a jury of their peers (no matter what Law & Order would like you to believe). Many defendants choose to take the deals offered to them by judges (even if they are innocent) because they fear that turning down an offer would result in harsher sentencing if they're found guilty during a trial. Going to trial is risky; there's no guarantee regarding the outcome. Therefore, more defendants are probably going to prison (even for short amounts of time) than there would be if most defendants chose the trial route. And this could contribute to to the increased incarceration rate that we're now seeing.

The statistics I quoted would be somewhat acceptable if our correction system worked, but, fun fact, it doesn't work. A high percentage of people who come out of prisons just go right back in, it's a sad cycle. The violent and dangerous criminals should obliviously be incarcerated, but what about the non-violent offenders who make up almost half of the prison population? The article suggests that "less-expensive punishments such as community supervision, electronic monitoring and mandatory drug counseling might prove as much or more effective than jail".

I consider myself to be a moderate. I don't believe in letting all the non-violent offenders run free or anything like that because I realize "non-violent" may very well just mean "not caught doing anything violent". But something needs to change and I hope that our new president will be up to helping the states with that task. Spending billions of dollars to imprison someone, let them out, and imprison them again just doesn't seem like the best bet.

Fun Fact #35: A bipartisan ticket is not outside the realm of possibilities

I'm not naive, I don't really think a bipartisan ticket is actually going happen in this election. But it is definitely an intriguing idea that could bring about some major changes. And, as I learned in one of my favorite classes, it's not unheard of.

Abraham Lincoln, one of our country's greatest Presidents, actually had a bipartisan ticket when he ran for re-election in 1864 because the country was so divided by the Civil War. Lincoln was a Republican and he asked his Republican Vice President from his first term, Hannibal Hamlin, to step down and Andrew Jackson, a War Democrat, became his new Vice President. They ran under a new party called the Union Party, a coalition of the War Democrats and the Republicans, and won the election. But no one will really no how a bipartisan presidency would have actually worked since Lincoln was assassinated only a little more than a month after his inauguration in 1865.

Also, in 2004, Kerry unofficially asked McCain to be his running mate for the 2004 elections. McCain declined the offer numerous times because he thought it wasn't a viable option. I personally think a Kerry/McCain ticket would have been pretty powerful.

I don't know how feasible a bipartisan ticket actually is but it could happen. Our country is extremely divided now, though not to the extent of America in 1864, and maybe a bipartisan ticket could pull it together. I just doubt that a bipartisan ticket, in this day and age, would every really come to fruition. But a McCain/Hilary ticket is certainly an intriguing concept.

Fun Fact #34: Guys will never change...

Spoken by two guys in their forties with heavy Pittsburgh (aka Yinzer) accents during a Pittsburgh Penguin's hockey game:

Guy #1: Celine is pretty hot, right?
Guy #2: I guess so...
Guy #1: You know we've almost hooked up a bunch of times?
Guy #2: Almost?
Guy #1: Yeah, almost. I've decided she must be a lesbian.

I love that some people will go through life avoiding the true cause of their problems. In this case, Guy #2 looked like he had recently crawled out of his parents' basement for the first time in months.

Fun Fact #33: I'm terrified my toenail is going to fall off

I was trying to be a "good sport" in December when I decided to embrace the miserable cold and snow that winter brings to Pittsburgh by going skiing. I used a pair a pair of my cousin's old boots and things seemed to be going to well, I mean the boots hurt a little but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

The next morning I woke up to find the toenail on my big toe was throbbing and turning unpleasant colors. I realize this sounds like a pretty mundane "injury" to complain about but now, about three months later, the nail is dark black and feels (and looks) like it's going to fall off. The thought of that happening makes me nauseous.

I've been unable to stop focusing on my "deformed" toenail. I just want the nail off to fall off quickly, but I don't want it to be a surprise. I realize that it almost sounds like I'm discussing giving birth or something. Anyways, one of my newest fears involves taking off my shoe and having my toe nail fall off in the process. I now take my shoes off very carefully...

I'm super impatient and like being in control of things, I'm not into anything unexpected. I was totally the kid who would basically tear their loose tooth out to avoid waiting for it to fall out. I would head to the bathroom the second I felt that my tooth was loose and sit in front of the mirror twisting it until it came out.

I obviously cannot follow the same tactics for my toenail since it would probably lead to excruciating pain, so I just have to wait it out. I realize this is not a very significant event to write about it but it's probably the thing I'm focusing on most. For better or worse, I tend to obsesses about things I have no control over.

UPDATE: My biggest fear came true and I tore my toenail off when I was removing my shoe. I can't even look at my toe without feeling nauseous but I guess it can start healing now.

Fun Fact #32: I guess I'm super "white"

A bunch of my friends have emailed me a link to this blog called Stuff White People Like. I actually think a more appropriate title would be Stuff Upper-Middle Class Liberal Urbanites Like, but I guess Stuff White People Like flows a little better. The blog reads kind of like an instruction manual on how to fit in with "White People"...

There are two ways that one can read the blog and I don't really know how the author means for it to be read. On one hand, one can see it as being racist and mean-spirited toward a particular group of people. On the other hand, one could also read it as something that is offensive and funny at the same time. I personally chose to take the second route, but I have a kind of harsh sense of humor and I tend to find "mean-spirited" things to be funny.

The reason I find this blog humorous is because it has me and basically everyone I know pegged down the most mundane aspects. I was really bored at work yesterday, so I read through all the posts and found myself nodding in agreement to the vast majority of them.

I, like almost everyone else I know, like to pretend that I'm a unique little snowflake but, the fact is, I'm painfully similar to a lot of people in my age group (at least on a superficial level). I really have no problem accepting that fact though. I don't think that a lot of the stuff that "white people" like is really even that bad.

Anyways, these are some of my favorite posts:

#67: Standing Still at Concerts
"They stand still! This is an important part of white concert going as it enables you to focus on the music, and it will prevent drawing excess attention to you. Remember, at a concert everyone is watching you just waiting for you to try to start dancing. Then they will make fun of you."
I totally believe this to be true in my case because my dancing skills, or lack thereof, are just that bad.

#54: Kitchen Gadgets
"...The need to own the holy grail of white kitchens - the kitchen aid stand mixer (right). They will match this mixer to their kitchen’s color scheme and it will make up the focal point. And much like many religious artifacts, it will remain untouched for months and even years, sitting on the counter to be admired as a testament to their lifestyle"
I can truly say that basically every house I ever visited (including my own) had a freaking Kitchen Aid Mixer. Ours was never used but it still sat there proudly. And in college, I remember how everyone oohed and ahhed over those who were lucky enough to have one at such a young age!

#40: Apple Products
"On the surface, you would ask yourself, how is that white people love a multi-billion dollar company with manufacturing plants in China, mass production, and that contributes to global pollution through the manufacture of consumer electronic devices?

Simple answer: Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. They are an exclusive product line only used by every white college student, designer, writer, English teacher, and hipster on the planet."
No comment is really even needed, this is so painfully true. People who have Apple products, and I'm one of them, have a tendency become super elitist about how their products are soooo great and how they can never go back to a PC now.

#35: The Daily Show/The Colbert Report
"White women all consider John Stewart to be the most perfect man on the planet. This is not a debate, it is law."
True.

#16: Gifted Children
"The way it works is that white kids that are actually smart are quickly identified as “gifted” and take special classes and eventually end up in college and then law school or med school.

If a white kid gets crappy grades and can’t seem to ever do anything right in school, they are still gifted! How you ask? They are just TOO smart for school. They are too creative, too advanced to care about the trivial minutiae of the day to day operations of school

NEVER under any circumstance imply that their child is less than a genius. The idea that something could come from them and be less than greatness is too much for them to bear."
This is my favorite post because it's so accurate. I still remember the pride in my parents' voices when they were able to announce to their friends that of their children had qualified for California's "Gifted and Talented Education" (or GATE) program. My parents were also fans of the Montessori schools and stuff like that. I don't know what they would have done had one of us failed to be "gifted"...

Once again, I can see why people may be offended by this but I just take it with a grain of salt and see the humor in it. A whole different class of white people have "You Might be a Redneck If..." and "Blue Collar TV'" and they're able to laugh at their stereotypes, so I figure that I should be able to as well.

Fun Fact #31: I can be weirdly sentimental about friendship....

So I spent this most of the past week in Oregon and had an amazing time. Going back to visit Eugene allowed me to reflect on my time in college and I realized how lucky I was to have had such a great college experience.

When I left Oregon for Pittsburgh I was pretty negative about all things Eugene, but now I've come to appreciate Eugene for what it is. It's a little hippie college town and it's probably never going to change. I still never want to live there again, but I did feel a certain sense of nostalgia driving down from Portland when I smelled Springfield's always unique odor (trout?) and saw all the hippies wandering campus the next day.

The best part of my trip to Oregon was seeing all my friends. I felt as though I had never left with most of them. I can readily admit that I was extremely judgmental of a certain organization that I was involved throughout all of last year. But for all the drama that organization has caused, it has also given me some of my closest friendships. And I will be forever grateful for that.

My time in Oregon also allowed for me to realize that there are some friendships aren't worth maintaining. They may have been great friends in the past, but the past is the past. I want my future to go a certain way and there are some people who will never fit into that life. It doesn't mean they're necessarily "bad" people, it just means we have nothing in common anymore. And when that realization is made the only thing really left to do with those "friendships" is be grateful for the memories and move on. It'd be waste of time to try and do anything else.

But on the flip side, there are plenty of other friendships that are worth maintaining. Living across the country from most of my family and friends has taught me that effort is needed to keep one's relationships strong, and I'm willing to put that effort in for those friendships that I consider to be worth that effort.

Thanks to all of those friends whom have stuck with me through my bitchiest and whiniest moments, I'm sure you all know who you are. I hope my friendship is one of those that will continue to be worth the effort as we all continue to grow and change.

Fun Fact #30: Christmas, Larry the Cable Guy, and a drug addict were all aspects of my day

Today has proven to be totally random for me. I saw/heard so many things that I felt were totally worthy of becoming a "fun fact"...

1) I to meeting with a guy about fixing the furnaces at a bunch of properties and his phone went off about 8 times during our hour long meeting. That in itself wouldn't be noteworthy, but his ring tone certainly was. His ring tone was freakin' Larry the Cable Guy chanting "Git 'r done" and other super cool catchphrases at a progressively louder level. And he kept giggling like a child anytime it rung because I guess he just thought it was that funny and cool. Also, he had an iPhone. An iPhone with a Larry the Cable Guy ring tone. The whole thing makes no sense to me.

2) I had to do a walk through of a government subsidized housing unit and the tenant I meant was unlike anyone I've ever talked to. I'm sure this lady was a drug addict, either active or recovering, and she couldn't follow one thought to the next. She'd talk about everything from Winnie-the-Pooh to roof leaks to asshole cops to her lunch plans in a thirty second time span. I had no idea what to say or how to interact with her, so most of my visit was spent in stunned silence. And on top of all that, her apartment was barely furnished and she lived off food stamps, but she had a massive LCD TV and amazing surround sound to go with it.

3)It is now Feburary. Christmas has been done for well over a month and even the laziest people have removed their Christmas decorations. Except for this individual, whom I'll refer to as Ultimate Christmas Fan (UCF), whose car was still fully decked out for the season.

Click on the picture to see it larger and in all its full glory...

Please take notice of all the festive details UCF has been so careful to include. There are Christmas light stickers to go along with the giant "Joy" sticker. There's also the terrifying Santa creature who seems to chocking on the license plate. There's a Steelers Christmas flag, which is hard to see, butPittsburgh never forgets about their Steelers. My personal favorite touch is the reindeer antlers that grace the roof of the car!!! I was never able to see the front of the car, but I wouldn't be surprised if UCF had a giant reindeer face painted on the grill or something.

Fun Fact #29: Politics can be utterly confusing

I don't really know what I think should happen with politics. Things are really messed up right now and I cannot imagine anyone coming in and making everything "all better". People talk about the Clinton days as though they were the best times ever, the glory days of our recent political history. But people were complaining and bitching about things then too, politics was just as dirty and fake then as it is now. The Clinton days just look good relative to what Bush has done.

I think the vast majority of Democrats would be more than content with either Obama or Hilary, but I think they're also going to be disappointed. People are expecting huge changes and, as you say Gabe says, that's just not going to happen. Massive changes, the kinds people are are naively demanding and even thinking are going to happen, are way more of a risk than any politician will be willing to take. Big changes can be met with success but they can also be be met with total failure.

People say that Obama is not part of the "political elite" and his presence will shake things up, but I think that's total bullshit. He may not have started as a member of the "elite" but he sure is one now. He's smart and he knows our country wants an "outsider" but that he needs to be an insider to be elected. There's no way the Washington power players would be willing to accept someone like him if he wasn't going to play by their rules. Politics is all about playing the game correctly and Obama has proven to be a master at that with vague statements that provide assurance and hope but no actual promises or plans.

Democrats will get the same outcome with either Hilary or Obama. They'll be happy with finally having a Democrat as president for awhile but soon their hopes for something different will be crushed and they'll realize it's the same as always. Our country goes through cycles; right now we're in a downswing and people will get all excited when the economy inevitably picks up again whoever is in office will be praised and glorified. But our economy will start to falter again and then that person will be vilified.

Also, people seem to think that the President holds more power than he (or she?) actually does. The President is the figurehead of our country, the actual power lies in the cabinet that they pick and the officials that they appoint. And Hilary and Obama will probably be drawing their choices from the same, small pool of Democratic elites.

I would like to see changes, like some form of universal healthcare, but I just don't know how possible they are. The universal health care thing seems to be more of a dream than a reality and I will be amazed if it actually happens. It will take an amazing amount of compromise between all the key political players to even get something feasible on the table.

People often ask me what I would do and how I would change things, but, the truth is, I really have no idea. I don't even know much things can be changed. I don't even know if I like Hilary or Obama better. I really like following politics but it's not because I'm passionate about one candidate or another, I do it because I like watching the "game" that politics have become.

Fun Fact #28: I'd be humilated...

I was watching the news this morning at the gym and there was a report on the obesity epidemic. That in itself is nothing exciting, there's always a report on how Americans are eating themselves to death. This report used the typical footage of obese people walking around and eating, and, as usual, the footage avoided showing their faces to preserve their identity. But people can still recognize themselves and others without seeing a face.

Footage like is always on and I realized that there must be people that are innocently watching the news and then they see an image of their body being shown the represent someone who is morbidly obese. Can you imagine how horrifically depressing that would be?

I'm sure this has happened to quite a few individuals and I actually feel really badly for them. I wonder what their reaction would be?

I googled the term obese to find pictures to go with this post and realized that people could also come across pictures of themselves that way too. I just cannot even fathom what it would feel like to see your body alongside some medical article about obesity. I think I'd be totally and utterly humiliated.

These people must know that they're overweight, but I just don't think they'd be thrilled being with their "anonymous" image being broadcasted during a CNN report on America's gluttony.