My first winter in Norway gave me such an intense Christmasy feeling that no other December can ever compete with it. For the first time I could remember, everyone around me was celebrating Christmas in the same traditional Norwegian way. No one wished me Happy Holidays or made me decorate a paper holiday tree. Instead we sang actual religious songs in class, counted down the days of December before school started and spent most of class time preparing for our end of semester Christmas show. And Christmas was gloriously, definitely white, not "green" which really means gray and brown.

These days, we prepare for exams instead of singing for our parents. And if I use up my Christmasy feeling in mid-October, when it starts to feel cold and drunk people start singing Christmas carols at me when I walk home, then there won't be any left by the time I'm falling asleep over my text books and worrying about having time to buy - let alone affording - Christmas gifts in mid-December.

Starting today, I feel Christmasy without any guilt. Let's hope it lasts.

Desdemona had found Lefty on our kitchen floor, lying next to his overturned coffee cup. She knelt beside him and pressed her ear to his chest. When she heard no heartbeat, she cried out his name. Her wail echoed off the kitchen's hard surfaces: the toaster, the oven, the refrigerator. Finally she collapsed against his chest. In the silence that followed, however, Desdemona felt a strange emotion rising inside her. It spread in the space between her panic and grief. It was like a gas inflating her. Soon her eyes snapped open as she recognized the emotion: it was happiness. Tears were running down her face, she was already berating God for taking her husband from her, but on the other side of these proper emotions was an altogether improper relief. This was it: the worst thing. For the first time in her life my grandmother had nothing to worry about.

Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered in single words. I don't believe in "sadness", "joy," or "regret." Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling. I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." I'd like to show how "intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members" connects with "the hatred of mirrors that begins in middle age." I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered the story, I need them more than ever. I can't just sit back and watch from a distance anymore. From here on in, everything I'll tell you is colored by subjective experience of being part of events.

From Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, (pages 216-217 in the 2003 Bloomsbury paperback edition)

I would definitely prefer that to the Paris system of disconnecting me after 20 minutes.

Via Freakonomics, Adrants and CyrusFarivar.

Related blog posts

• Coffee without a price tag (Part 1)
• Coffee without a price tag (Part 2)
• Must... have... internet... access
• Coffee in Paris 

Norwegian free magazine Spirit predicted the death of blogging way back in October 2005. Back then, podcasting was the new way to communicate. I argued that this is like saying books are over because of books-on-tape.

People read, even if they also listen to the radio and watch television. I believe this is true both online and off. And I believe that Twitter, Facebook and blogging are three very different ways of communicating, and that you don't have to choose one over the other.

This got me thinking about why and how I blog these days, and whether this will change as I write more for actual publications.

Etter halvannen time i kø, sitter jeg i en fullstappet Storsal på Chateau Neuf. Rett utenfor står noen hundre som ikke fikk plass. De følger med på storskjerm. Samtidig ser over 3000 direktesendingen fra Storsalen på internett, og i løpet av kvelden vil ytterligere 19 000 se denne videoen.

Til sammen er vi over 20 000 som får med oss Jonas Gahr Støres foredrag om FN onsdag den 3. september. Hvorfor det?

Jeg vet i hvert fall hvorfor jeg er til stede. Jeg er utsendt av Argument.  Jeg skal notere, og så skal jeg skrive en kommentar av det som blir sagt.

Notatene inkluderer ”Jonas!”, skrevet med et hjerte rundt. 

Dette er skrevet av hun ved siden av meg, som lånte mine skrivesaker for å få utløp for sine følelser.  Jeg skal nemlig være objektiv kommentator – men det er ikke enkelt.

- Alle på Internasjonale Studier har en greie for Jonas, har jeg blitt fortalt av flere på mitt studium. På andre områder krangler vi ”inter”-studentene, men alle er enige om dette: Når vi blir store, skal vi bli Jonas.

Jeg er (studie)programforpliktet til å ha et crush på denne mannen. 

Fjorårets Jonasopptreden på Chateau Neuf fungerte som en peptalk før høstsemesteret. Jonas oppsummerte hva jeg studerte, og oppmøtet bekreftet at tusenvis av andre studenter også synes mitt fagområde er interessant. Det er ikke rart ”inter”-studenter liker den slags. Men hvordan greier Jonas å få forskjellen mellom Sikkerhetsrådet og Generalforsamlingen til å fremstå som underholdning?

Regjeringens nettsider kaller dette en ”FN-redegjørelse” i forbindelse med boken Norske Interesser – Utenrikspolitikk for en globalisert verden. Jonas uttrykker en forsiktig støtte til FN, og han begrunner denne. Han er flink til å snakke, men jeg får ingen ny informasjon. At lille, snille Norge er tjent med at de internasjonale spillereglene følges, og at sterke internasjonale organisasjoner derfor er i vår interesse, er ikke akkurat overraskende.

De som er interessert i FN, lærer ikke noe nytt. Og de som ikke er interessert i FN – hva gjør de her egentlig?

Det er jo hele poenget: Vi er ikke her for foredraget. Vi er her for Jonas. Damen som sniker seg ned til første rad i pausen for å spørre om autografen.”Inter”-gutten som uttaler på vei ut av salen at han er mer forelsket enn noen gang. Jenta på første rad som har oppgitt ”Jonas Gahr Støre, the allmighty” som sin religion på Facebook. De som fysisk slåss om plasser, og de – ok da, vi – som har pakket matpakke og lesestoff og stilt oss i kø. Det er en opptreden for fans. Og man kunne kanskje ønske at Jonas brukte sin superstjernestatus til å si noe litt sterkere enn at FN gjør en helt OK jobb.

Det er likevel noe vakkert over denne situasjonen. Her på Chateau Neuf er helten flink, forsiktig, og kunnskapsrik. I retorikk har jeg lært at politikere som snakker for ”flinkt” - med for mange fremmedord og for få grammatikkfeil – fremstår som lite troverdige hos det norske ”folk flest”. I journalistikk har jeg lært at en spisset, konfliktsentrert sak når et større publikum enn en balansert forklaring.  Jonas bryter reglene. Dermed fortjener han sin heltestatus.

The election is over. As John Scalzi writes, I finally have my brain back.

The short film I worked on two weeks ago starts with my character having a monologue about the upcoming election: "Seriously, when the US election is over, I don't know what I'm going to talk about or even think about. I have become an election geek. My day hasn't started until I've checked the polls and read every article I can find. I've been late for school because I was reading about the election online." Her voice is gradually drowned out by En Vogue and Salt'n'Pepa's "What a Man" as the main character's love interest enters the scene in slow motion (no, seriously). Thing is, that monologue wasn't in the script. I just started talking and that's what came out of my mouth.

The Gender Analyzer only guesses the writer's gender correctly 55% of the time, according to their own poll of people who have used the Analyzer. Even so, I'm really curious as to how the gender is guessed. I mean, my blog is written by a woman, but the domain name belongs to a man, and I've quoted and linked to a lot of men. Even so, I can't understand why my "European bitch" essay about American fashion sense was so very male - thanks to the excerpt from Sarah Turnbull's book, that post was written by two women! Perhaps there is something to Anna's theory in the comments of this post - but if communicating like a guy means I don't say "five minutes" when I mean 45, and I don't say "Nothing's wrong" when I mean "It's all your fault.", then fine. (Really, FINE, and by that I don't mean "shut up").

Fashionistaen forsvant med "Sex og Singelliv", og resepsjonistaen har tatt over. Hun lager melkekaffen sin selv og finner designerskatter på loftet til mormor eller på Fretex.

D2 har ikke lagt ut saken på nettet. Jeg leste artikkelen på resepsjonistjobben min, og jeg fikk lyst til å øve meg på latte art.

"(The 2008 US Presidential Race) has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage — and withstand — political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds.

The size and makeup of the electorate could be changed because of efforts by Democrats to register and turn out new black, Hispanic and young voters. This shift may have long-lasting ramifications for what the parties do to build enduring coalitions, especially if intensive and technologically-driven voter turnout programs succeed in getting more people to the polls."

Update November 10th: What will Obama do with his millions of e-mail addresses?

Update November 12th: Susie's daughter LG (Little Girl) has the answer

"Noen må stå for den harde makten, og denne noen er USA. Dette vet Obama, og han vet også at en demokratisk president ikke kan vise svakhet i utenrikspolitikken dersom han vil bli gjenvalgt. Forskjellene mellom de to kandidatene vil trolig bli mindre i praksis enn på papiret.

(...)

McCain er en erfaren politiker. (...) Det gir ham trygghet til å foreta beslutninger når slike må fattes, mens Obama kan mistenkes for å nedsette en arbeidsgruppe. McCain kan nok være impulsiv og teatralsk, og hans første reaksjon da finanskrisen sprakk var ikke overbevisende. Men selv under dette lavpunktet for McCains lederskap kjempet han tross alt både for å endre den første krisepakken slik at den kunne godtas av et flertall, og ringte rundt for å sanke stemmer, mens Obama trakk seg tilbake og ikke forsøkte å overtale en eneste av sine skeptiske partifeller.

Den andre store fordelen er at han kan samarbeide på tvers av partigrensene, noe han gjentatte ganger har gjort i viktige saker. Det blir ikke minst viktig fordi han kommer til å møte et solid demokratisk flertall i Kongressen, i hvert fall de to første årene, og trolig lenger. Obamas samarbeid over partigrensene er svært begrenset. Tvert imot er hans karriere, med noen få unntak, preget av at han følger partilinjen.

(...)

Jeg tror ikke Obama vil innføre sosialisme i USA, snarere føre USA et par hakk i sosialdemokratisk retning.

Men jeg er enig med McCain: Obama’s not ready. McCain er derimot klar til å bli USAs neste president."

Nils August Andresen, samfunnsredaktør i Minerva, skriver:

"McCain er ingen katastrofe for USA. Han scorer bedre enn Obama på handelspolitikk, får pluss for sin rolle i å kjempe frem ”the surge” i Irak, han får uavgjort i energipolitikken, og scorer bedre enn sitt parti på sivile rettigheter. Og i praktisk politikk vil, som Jan Arild skriver, også forskjellene bli mindre, ikke minst i lys av finanskrisen og dens etterdønninger, som vil tvinge en ny president til å følge en annen kurs enn han ellers ville gjort. Men McCain er heller ikke den personen som kan bringe ny dynamikk inn i mange av de viktigste politiske spørmålene: helseforsikring, utdanningssystemet, sivile rettigheter og en bedre projisering av amerikansk makt og amerikanske verdier globalt.

Både amerikanerne og verden – og forestillingen om den amerikanske drømmen – trenger et USA i bedre balanse enn det er i dag. Etter mitt skjønn innebærer det en president med en annen type temperament enn både Bush og McCain; noen små skritt tilbake mot sentrum med et større fokus på å gi folk grunnleggende trygghet og grunnleggende muligheter; og en tydeligere insistering på sentrale liberale rettsstatsprinsipper. Derfor håper jeg Barack Obama blir valgt til USAs 44. president."

Drunk, and Dangerous, at the Keyboard by Alex Williams
"The experimental program requires any user who enables the function to perform five simple math problems in 60 seconds before sending e-mails between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. on weekends."

Sorry, Dad, I'm voting for Obama by Christopher Buckley
"Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship. And so, for the first time in my life, I’ll be pulling the Democratic lever in November. As the saying goes, God save the United States of America."

The Global Cities Index from Foreign Policy
"The world’s biggest, most interconnected cities help set global agendas, weather transnational dangers, and serve as the hubs of global integration. They are the engines of growth for their countries and the gateways to the resources of their regions. In many ways, the story of globalization is the story of urbanization."

A Six-Pack of Joes from BBC News
"The next president of the United States will not be called Joe, but Joes of various kinds have been all over the news from the campaign trail."

The Comprehensive Argument Against Barack Obama by Guy Benson and Mary Catherine Ham
"As the saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Questions abound: Is this man prepared to be president? Does he hold mainstream values and policy preferences? Who has influenced his thinking, and where does he want to take the country? Has he been honest with the people from whom he seeks votes?"

It's hard out here for a Mom... by Susie from the blog What Was I Thinking?
"So, yea, ever since her third grade teacher had her reading about how messy ejaculating boys are, I’ve tried to screen teacher-recommended books. (...) I guess my somewhat pessimistic view that there is no one who is going to look out for my kid’s well-being the way I do, was reinforced (...) there is nothing in the world more precious to me than her brain (...)"

And in Norwegian...
Om å gjøre det slutt med andre enn kjæresten by VirrVarr
"Når du begynner å date noen, kan du backe ut. Når du begynner å henge ut med noen, har du ingen høflig retrettmulighet."

RealClearPolitics - all the polls, links to articles and blog posts from everywhere. This site was my curriculum when I studied American Presidential Elections in Paris.
CNN's America Votes - facts and background on for example how the election works, CNN's state-by-state predictions, plus of course news articles and video clips.
Monticello Society - election coverage in Norwegian, including poll updates every day (I recommend subscribing by RSS) and comments on the Norwegian media coverage.

From The Economist print edition October 18th-24tg 2008

The Things He Carried by Jeffrey Goldberg
“The whole system is designed to catch stupid terrorists,” Schnei­er told me. (...) “We defend against what the terrorists did last week,” Schnei­er said. He believes that the country would be just as safe as it is today if airport security were rolled back to pre-9/11 levels.

Canadian Immigration Problems
The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly. Canadian border farmers say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.