The night I officially became a liberal

Upon the advice (or misadvice) of a couple of my Democrat friends, I attended a speech last night given by the most infamous Ann Coulter. The crowd was an interesting mix, consisting of probably every conservative on campus (which is a huge minority at St Olaf), and probably considerably less than all liberals and whatnots all packing into revered Boe Chapel (of all places...) and there was much applauding, standing up, booing, cat calling, cussing, and walking out. I still don't even know why the school spent our money on inviting her to speak, when obviously she wouldn't have much of a speech and just stand around insulting everyone who didn't agree with her. What got me aggravated was that she personally insulted several people who lined up to ask questions. I cannot believe she had the gall to say "Liberals don't believe in God," and her response to one of the questioners: "Wanna know how I know you're a liberal? You're wearing a hat!" She sure knows how to talk from her ass.

Alright, venting over. Before last night I wasn't entirely sure if I was truly a liberal (all I knew was that I was anti-Bush), but my lack of patience for someone who refuses to respect the other side's opinion (or even worse, their existence) and that she happened to be conservative, plus a few other factors confirmed my political standpoint.

In other news, this week and next will be [not fun] for me. I have papers, tests, projects, and a whole mountainfull of other stuff I have to do. I'm praying to survive till April 27, when my current load levels off.

The Gates of Heaven

Anytime a person dies, I'm always pretty sad about it, whether or not I ever knew about him or her. But then I tell myself that this person is no longer in pain and is closer to God. I can almost imagine the kind of relief and happiness that Pope John Paul II will have when he enters the gates of heaven. I used to be utterly afraid of death (mostly when I was a punk kid and was too afraid to know any better), but now I've started to understand what a sudden complete lack of pain can be, especially after a period of utter pain.

I watched Finding Forrester last night with a bunch of friends I met just 2 weeks ago, and it was easily the best movie of the options that we had, regardless of whether I'd even heard of some of them. It capped a night of interesting events: running to find a car, making bracelets, and watching a Monty Python short, among other things.

Notes (no pun intended): I finally have my first music composition assignment for class (yay), and I have been unofficially commissioned to write another piece for a soprano solo duet with alto sax (and piano). I have a choir tour coming up next weekend, and I'll get to go home for a night, and perhaps see a few of my home friends as well.