Tuesday, February 24, 2009
In the Soacc..
..waiting for my "Constructed" images to finish printing. I really can't decide how I feel about them.
It doesn't help that I've got a spastic competitive streak, which this class seems to bring out.
It doesn't help that I've got a spastic competitive streak, which this class seems to bring out.
Monday, February 23, 2009
I Might Need to Get a Wetsuit
... if I'm going to keep running in Seattle.
My run today was a little soggy. :)
My run today was a little soggy. :)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Excellent Decisions all Around
As it turns out, the 3 day weekend which happened a week ago was spectacular. Markus came up, and we got to spend Valentines together. Which was fun. I got to give him the shirt I'd sewn him in person. The shirt was by far the hardest thing I've ever sewn, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it fit him.
I'd also whipped myself up a quick dress, which I wandered around in on Valentines day.
After much deliberation, we finally settled on dinner at Aqua Verde, followed by Slumdog Millionaire at the at the Neptune, as our Valentine's-date. It was fun, and both were excellent choices.
In the middle of all this, 3 of my best guy friends took 3 of my best girlfriends out to dinner (we were there to witness the initial chaos).
We headed downtown for McDonalds, Public Libraries, Public Markets and Flowers on Sunday. All attractions I'd highly recommend.
After all this, pancakes were consumed, Polaroids were taken, and Russian was studied.
I sort of wish it was still last weekend.
I'd also whipped myself up a quick dress, which I wandered around in on Valentines day.
After much deliberation, we finally settled on dinner at Aqua Verde, followed by Slumdog Millionaire at the at the Neptune, as our Valentine's-date. It was fun, and both were excellent choices.
In the middle of all this, 3 of my best guy friends took 3 of my best girlfriends out to dinner (we were there to witness the initial chaos).
We headed downtown for McDonalds, Public Libraries, Public Markets and Flowers on Sunday. All attractions I'd highly recommend.
After all this, pancakes were consumed, Polaroids were taken, and Russian was studied.
I sort of wish it was still last weekend.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Love Love Love
I love sunshine, my Polaroid camera, and my friends.
(Thanks for playing photo in the sun with me this afternoon.)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
My 98¢ Polaroid camera works!
I picked it up last summer, and Markus got me film for Christmas, and I finally got to try it out today! There wasn't much going on though, so I'm saving my other 9 exposures for another day. (:
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Seriously
Cutest photos, or cutest photos ever?
Newborn babies, via a cup of Jo.
Actually, Dubs is pretty freaking cute too.
Newborn babies, via a cup of Jo.
Actually, Dubs is pretty freaking cute too.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Things I like.
Sewing.
Coffee.
Warm sweaters after getting caught in the snow.
Canceled lectures.
Boyfriend visits.
Blind Pilot, Colin Meloy, and Wildsweet Orange.
Coffee.
Warm sweaters after getting caught in the snow.
Canceled lectures.
Boyfriend visits.
Blind Pilot, Colin Meloy, and Wildsweet Orange.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Framed.
We critiqued photograms in Photo today, and my set went over well!
Not surprisingly, they didn't photograph extremely well, but you get the idea?
Not surprisingly, they didn't photograph extremely well, but you get the idea?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Independance
Kelsey went home for the weekend, Kelly went to her grandma's, and Markus isn't getting here until next weekend. I worked Friday night (which means different things on different days, but apparently this weekend it meant solitary confinement), and chose to pass up a Sleepy Eyes of Death concert with the boys Saturday. So I spent a lot of time crafting this weekend.
I sewed my first real project for someone else. Which is actually kind of weird, and definitely different than sewing for yourself. I sent the package home with Kelsey's mom.. so I haven't gotten a reaction yet.
I was on duty Friday night, so I unraveled a second hand sweater, washed and re-balled the yarn (while watching episode after episode of House), and began my absolutely haphazard scarf. It's going to be super long, with all sorts of random stripes.
And then I whipped up a headband today. Kels had bought a really pretty black silky one at Anthro the other day, and I was inspired to give it a shot. I'm really happy with how it came out.. especially since I'm not generally a headband wearer.
I sewed my first real project for someone else. Which is actually kind of weird, and definitely different than sewing for yourself. I sent the package home with Kelsey's mom.. so I haven't gotten a reaction yet.
I was on duty Friday night, so I unraveled a second hand sweater, washed and re-balled the yarn (while watching episode after episode of House), and began my absolutely haphazard scarf. It's going to be super long, with all sorts of random stripes.
And then I whipped up a headband today. Kels had bought a really pretty black silky one at Anthro the other day, and I was inspired to give it a shot. I'm really happy with how it came out.. especially since I'm not generally a headband wearer.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
I'm waging war with this right now.
I'm making pretty steady progress.. but I've never been so intimidated by questions in my life. (The mid term is tomorrow, and we'll be told which 3 to answer when we get to class.) I can't wait for it to be over.
Mid-Term Examination
Political Science 441
Government and Politics of Russia
February 5, 2009
Please answer three of the questions below, as assigned by your instructor.
1. The Russian political economy that emerged from the middle of the 16th century was a function of Russia’s history, geography, and other factors. It has been referred to as selective modernization, a focusing of state resources on a narrower band of sectors of the economy essential for survival. The political economy of selective modernization has had deep impact on Russia’s politics, economy, and culture ever since. Describe the basic features of selective modernization and its impact on Russian economics and politics in 1) the tsarist period; 2) the Soviet period; and 3) the post-Soviet period. Has Russia’s predominant political economy changed over time? If so, how?
2. Vladimir Lenin predicted in his revolutionary tract State and Revolution that the class domination by capitalists of the state would give way to socialist democracy, whereby workers and peasants would eventually be able to administer the state without class struggle and exploitation and usher in an all-around flowering of human beings in a genuine democratic system. Yet just a few years after State and Revolution was written, the world’s first socialist state, the Soviet Union, had become a one-party dictatorship with methods of coercion even more extensive than that of tsarist autocracy. Why did this happen? Given Lenin’s political psychology and strategy in achieving power, was the loss of democracy promised by the Bolshevik Revolution inevitable?
3. Joseph Stalin’s intense mobilization of Russian economics, politics, and society succeeded at great human cost in industrializing Russia and eventually making it a global superpower. Yet by the late 1970’s and particularly in the early 1980s, the extensive economic development strategies of Soviet state socialism had lost their dynamism. The Soviet economy was again falling behind the West in terms of intensive post-industrial economic strategies based on innovation and new technologies to promote growth. Discuss how the reform policies of Mikhail Gorbachev (glasnost and perestroika) attempted to deal with Soviet economic stagnation. Why were they ultimately not successful?
4. The fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 did not bring with it sustainable liberal political institutions in the post-Soviet period, with meaningful checks and balances between branches of government, political parties that represented broad sectors of society, and an effective federalism between Russian central authorities and its regional and ethnically-defined political counterparts. Why didn’t this happen? What were the historical as well as contemporary conditions that kept it from happening? Would you say that the managed democracy and rule by law described by former President and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin represents a tactical or fundamental change in Russian political practices when compared with the Soviet period?
5. Political scientists Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe Schmitter have argued that in any transition from authoritarian or totalitarian rule, the founding election is a crucial stage of political development in the new society being formed from revolution. Such an election establishes the institutional frameworks of political contestation, and the basis for democratic participation; it frames the menu of electoral preferences as well as patterns of voting behavior and it legitimizes new political regimes. Discuss the elections of 1991-1996 in terms of key elections held in Russia during this period. Did such elections prevent old or new non-democratic forms from returning? If not, why not? What would it take to reverse the current authoritarian trends away that appear to undermine responsive political institutions?
6. Russian national identity for nearly five hundred years has been embedded in a strategy to the outside world that embraced territorial expansion, a special role for Russia in the international world, a militarized state, and resource investments heavily tilted toward defense and heavy industry that could meet essential security needs as defined by the political leadership. Yeltsin and his supporters sought to reverse this national identity for one based on liberal principles of free markets, far-greater civil liberties, and non-interventionism in foreign affairs. This newly stated national identity was fiercely contested by Yeltsin’s opponents in the 1990’s, not always consistently pursued by Yeltsin himself and beginning in the year 2000 a corporatism of sorts as defined by “Putin’s Plan.” If national identity is defined as timeless criteria of what constitutes a nation and its ideals, can we say that the Russian people and its leadership actually have a national identity at this point in their history?
Mid-Term Examination
Political Science 441
Government and Politics of Russia
February 5, 2009
Please answer three of the questions below, as assigned by your instructor.
1. The Russian political economy that emerged from the middle of the 16th century was a function of Russia’s history, geography, and other factors. It has been referred to as selective modernization, a focusing of state resources on a narrower band of sectors of the economy essential for survival. The political economy of selective modernization has had deep impact on Russia’s politics, economy, and culture ever since. Describe the basic features of selective modernization and its impact on Russian economics and politics in 1) the tsarist period; 2) the Soviet period; and 3) the post-Soviet period. Has Russia’s predominant political economy changed over time? If so, how?
2. Vladimir Lenin predicted in his revolutionary tract State and Revolution that the class domination by capitalists of the state would give way to socialist democracy, whereby workers and peasants would eventually be able to administer the state without class struggle and exploitation and usher in an all-around flowering of human beings in a genuine democratic system. Yet just a few years after State and Revolution was written, the world’s first socialist state, the Soviet Union, had become a one-party dictatorship with methods of coercion even more extensive than that of tsarist autocracy. Why did this happen? Given Lenin’s political psychology and strategy in achieving power, was the loss of democracy promised by the Bolshevik Revolution inevitable?
3. Joseph Stalin’s intense mobilization of Russian economics, politics, and society succeeded at great human cost in industrializing Russia and eventually making it a global superpower. Yet by the late 1970’s and particularly in the early 1980s, the extensive economic development strategies of Soviet state socialism had lost their dynamism. The Soviet economy was again falling behind the West in terms of intensive post-industrial economic strategies based on innovation and new technologies to promote growth. Discuss how the reform policies of Mikhail Gorbachev (glasnost and perestroika) attempted to deal with Soviet economic stagnation. Why were they ultimately not successful?
4. The fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 did not bring with it sustainable liberal political institutions in the post-Soviet period, with meaningful checks and balances between branches of government, political parties that represented broad sectors of society, and an effective federalism between Russian central authorities and its regional and ethnically-defined political counterparts. Why didn’t this happen? What were the historical as well as contemporary conditions that kept it from happening? Would you say that the managed democracy and rule by law described by former President and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin represents a tactical or fundamental change in Russian political practices when compared with the Soviet period?
5. Political scientists Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe Schmitter have argued that in any transition from authoritarian or totalitarian rule, the founding election is a crucial stage of political development in the new society being formed from revolution. Such an election establishes the institutional frameworks of political contestation, and the basis for democratic participation; it frames the menu of electoral preferences as well as patterns of voting behavior and it legitimizes new political regimes. Discuss the elections of 1991-1996 in terms of key elections held in Russia during this period. Did such elections prevent old or new non-democratic forms from returning? If not, why not? What would it take to reverse the current authoritarian trends away that appear to undermine responsive political institutions?
6. Russian national identity for nearly five hundred years has been embedded in a strategy to the outside world that embraced territorial expansion, a special role for Russia in the international world, a militarized state, and resource investments heavily tilted toward defense and heavy industry that could meet essential security needs as defined by the political leadership. Yeltsin and his supporters sought to reverse this national identity for one based on liberal principles of free markets, far-greater civil liberties, and non-interventionism in foreign affairs. This newly stated national identity was fiercely contested by Yeltsin’s opponents in the 1990’s, not always consistently pursued by Yeltsin himself and beginning in the year 2000 a corporatism of sorts as defined by “Putin’s Plan.” If national identity is defined as timeless criteria of what constitutes a nation and its ideals, can we say that the Russian people and its leadership actually have a national identity at this point in their history?
Monday, February 2, 2009
I'm 1 and 1 on new things.
1. I love the dark room. Love love love it. A few of my tester photograms from this morning are up up on my wall now.
2. The Joann's in Ballard is no good. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind, but I'm still unhappy about it.
2. The Joann's in Ballard is no good. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind, but I'm still unhappy about it.
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