Ridiculous brain thought of the day:

If I just keep running, this song will come true!

Sometimes when I'm running I tell myself crazy things will happen if I can just keep the momentum going. It's a good way to keep going, but today I took it to a whole new level. I made a new running mix and put Neil Young's "Let's Impeach the President" on it... musically, a terrible song (does anyone else worry that he's about to croak when he sings 'thank god he's cracking down on steroids'?), but lyrically a catchy and inspiring song. This song came on just as I was thinking about walking the rest of the way home, but I started to convince myself that if I could just run the rest of the way home it might just come true--Bush would get impeached--it kept me going, and I made it all the way home.

Started reading Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library: How Postmodern Consumer Capitalism Threatens Democracy, Civil Education and the Public Good by Ed D'Angelo this morning. So far a really interesting read about the future of libraries not as democratic institutions, but as just another institution fueled by and controlled by consumer culture. These concerns are very pertinent as it seems libraries are following more business-oriented practices and models these days. I hope to finish it soon and provide a more thorough review.

Otherwise, the last books I have read have been a Christian/Inspirational title and a Romance, so no reviews for those, as I wouldn't necessarily recommend them.

Got home from work the other night and got sucked into the Independent Lens special on hip hop called Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. The filmmaker, Byron Hurt, focused a lot on issues of hypermasculinity and homophobia/homoeroticism in hip hop culture. I liked his treatment of these subjects because he seemed genuinely interested in exploring the depth of them and looking at larger cultural factors rather than playing the moral blame game that people are so prone to do with hip hop. Highly recommended.

On the media tip, this morning's edition of Making Contact featured a radio documentary called Legacy of Torture about the torturing of Black Panthers in New Orleans in the 70's, coercion of testimony, etc. Very disturbing, but also very pertinent as we hear about these men getting subpoenaed by grand juries today, 30 years later, in connection with the same crimes!