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02/14/2003 Archived Entry: "Happy Valentine's Day"

On the Political Front:

Later today, UN weapons inspector Hans Blix will deliver a key report on Iraqi compliance.

"The underlying concerns about the use of force - which have kept a debate over Iraq going for months in the UN - could result in a formal and lasting split among major powers. And that, some experts say, could threaten the way the world has collectively addressed security issues for five decades." Meanwhile, journalists from around the world have been told they should be ready to depart for the Middle East next Friday in order to cover "the front."

On the domestic front, the government is creating panic among the public who is rushing out to buy gas masks and to duct tape plastic sheeting around their homes. The Libertarian Party has a good piece on how the heightened terror alert is actually a “Government Incompetence Alert.” It is hysteria.
And the economy still skid downward, with higher gas prices, tumbling stocks, and the flight of foreign investment in the wake of a falling dollar.

On the Personal Front:

Enough...I am tired of hearing myelf sound depressing! It is Valentine's Day. I'm still in love with my husband and -- other than being terrorized by our newest kittens...Larry, Moe, and Curly -- life proceeds remarkably as tho' nothing were happening half-a-world away. Added to this, I have just received the official transfer of ownership of ifeminists.com, complete with all the domain names. The long, arduous process appears to be over. Brad & I are hoping to get the database in place by next week so that I can resume the daily newsfeeds and the weekly e-newsletter, the former being invaluable to my FOX column because scrounging through the news is the source of most of my ideas. Fortunately, I seem to be happiest when I am working -- arguably over-working. One of the questions that haunted me in my 20s was "What is happiness?" Whatever happiness was to me, it did not resemble what I saw in the movies or in most of my acquaintances. For example, many of my happinest moments didn't involve smiling or laughing. They were usually quieter than that...with a book, in good conversation, writing, getting lost in a movie. I finally realized that, for me, happiness meant being intensely interested and involved in something with the caveat that nothing else was "wrong" or distracting (such as having a headache or some anxiety). Today I have to add a factor: Brad has to somewhere in the picture. But, if he is, then that's happiness -- intense interest in life, sharing it with Brad, and being otherwise not in pain. Work is part of that happiness because it is one of two channels into which I direct the energy created by that intense interest. So...ifeminism ahoy!

Best to all,
mac