vers l'avenir

Alas, near a month has passed since I last blogged. I am terribly apologetic for this. Jacob and I are both thirving on my antique laptop which is often senile, trying to sound like a tiny NASA shuttle about to take off into the atmosphere. Jacob's laptop is hors de service until a Windows XP CD is sent to restore his system. Forewarning: try to avoid downloading and installing Windows Service Pack 3 as it has brought a good reported amount of PC users to their knees. This is my explanation for having not written in so long.

A week ago, I received a call from the Accounting Office at UMLV. The woman on the other end of the line informed me I was incorrectly paid for the last month and I should stop by their office to pick up a check for the missing 400 euros. This was a nice surprise, of course. However, I certainly hope this kind of 'forgetting' won't happen in the future in regards to my salary. The reason I hadn't realized my salary check was significantly off from the amount it should have been is because I am a fonctionnaire, i.e. a civil servant paid by the French Government, therefore, my contract doesn't actually detail anything regarding pay. It only assigns me a number which corresponds to le indice brut (mine is 304). This index is a government scale for all fonctionnaire jobs. Anyone who is a lectrice like me has the same number, even if they have more training or education according to discussions with my co-workers. For future French foncitionnaires, I recommend using this website to calculate how much you'll actually get paid because heaven knows no one will directly tell you. It even calculates your pay after taxes. http://www.snesup.fr/docs/memo/traitements_calcul.html

I attended The 26th International Film Festival of the Environment earlier today. I watched two movies: "Addicted to Plastic" and "Bigger, Stronger, Faster". Luckily for me, there were both in VO (version originale) with French subtitles. They were both poignant, well-researched films, however, the latter portrayed many things about America which made me red with embarrassment. I slid a bit further down into my seat when the writer/director Chris Bell had conversations with steroid-taking gym rats who could only repeat "dedication to God, country, and the fame of body-building" to any of his questions. Or the scene when he interviews his Californian Senator, who continues to look past the camera and ask the same questions to his aide, who then responds, informing him at one point that the legal drinking age is 21, not 18.

The days after the election, I announced Obama as the president-elect to each section of my students which was met with a hearty applause each time. After the best organized, most grassroots based (and one of the most costly) presidential campaigns, I'm feeling the post-victory depression which The Onion spoke about, though perhaps not to such a severe degree. America voted and Obama won. Despite all hopeful imaginings of change, I did not wake up the next day to a world lacking of disparities between the classes nor racism between people. What's next? I suppose I ought to be patient until January 20th, but I do hope the idea of renewed citizenship and hope which elected Obama in the first place does not cloud over the fact that participating in the government does not mean following an ideologue. It means continuing to keep a watcful eye on our leaders. I also would like to see all the grassroots organizations which sprang up out of American soil be maintained as organizations to empower people and keep them involved in the ongoing grassroots politics of which the United States is in such need.

I found the recent news articles talking about the 63 question application for future federal employees in the coming Obama administration rather unsettling. Take a moment to read through it and you'll find you basically have to state everything about you, even include diaries you may have kept. Would my diaries I kept during high school, full of rampant hormones, cause embarrassment to myself, my family, or the president-elect? You betcha! Most controversial activities? Perhaps canvassing in South Dakota against the abortion ban among other seemingly socialist clothing and banners made at Crafternoons. According to the questionnaire, it seems a good idea to apply before you have a mortgage or a spouse, so on that account I'm fine. I understand the reason for such a detailed application is to eradicate as much self-interest from politics as possible, but it still rubs me the wrong way somehow. Good luck to anyone who submits such an application.

Current reading: "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn
Most recently watched films: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (surprisingly, the first Woody Allen film I've ever seen), "Jean de Florette", "Manon de Sources" (amazing duology that is pure French cinema), and "No Country for Old Men"
Current music: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust by Saul Williams. I couldn't believe he released this album over a year ago, Radiohead 'In Rainbows' style, and no one told me. I serendipitously happened upon it.