Today was a good day

See above. Really amazingly good day today. I went into Amsterdam with Enrica for some shopping and food before her concert and it was fabulous. I spent money on clothes that look good on me (which is always a feat given my strange dimensions) and I didn't fail the paper that I was worried about. Quite the opposite in fact. So awesomeness was today.

And I have been thinking a lot recently about politics and Madison. Every time I read an opinion article in a newspaper, I am struck by the broad generalizations on all sides of the political spectrum. People use the same words to talk about completely different things. Anything that anyone who claims to belong to one group says is then applied to the group as a whole. I think that maybe I am mellowing in my age because I have strong opinions about issues that are relevant in the political arena, but I do not expect anyone else to agree with me on all of the fronts. I have reasons for my beliefs and it angers me that so many people lump me with a group that does not accurately present how I personally feel about things. All the while, complaining that they are being discriminated against as a minority, a conservative in the liberal bubble of Madison! I guess that, while I feel strongly about my political beliefs and I tend to be friends with people who hold similar beliefs, I don't see how it is a productive use of energy to be so hateful all the time, so broad and unable or unwilling to admit that each of them, they that write the hateful articles and sentiments, are doing exactly what they are accusing those who do not agree with them of doing. And it is horribly frustrating that nothing that anyone says or does will ever be able to pierce the "you can't say anything to me because you are a dirty democrat/republican/socialist/libertarian/etc and obviously hate me on principle" armor.

I don't know if I am making any sense. How democrat of me.

-B