Update... coming soon

Well it has been a long while now since I've last written and a lot has happened since then!

Some highlights from my personal life:

• I baked my first cake for Mehdi's 27th birthday

 It was VERY yummy! Good

job to me!

• I danced on stage for the first time in 6 years

Okay, so I'm obviously not on stage in this one,

it's a group pic of all the girls who performed Jai Ho

• Katie, my college roommate, got ENGAGED! Finally! Thus, the planning begins for what will amount to my second trip to the U.S. within about 3 months... what a shame!

• The Red Wings are currently tied 1-1 in the first round of the playoffs with the Pheonix Cyotes, winning last night's game 7-4 with a hat trick from Henrik Zetterberg. I'm a HUGE ice hockey fan, and the spring (also known as hockey playoff season) is probably the time I miss home the most, especially because the Wings have been in the Stanley Cup finals the past two years!

Zetterberg, my hero!

Now some highlights from my non-personal life:

• Health reform was passed in the U.S. Hooray! (I have my frustrations with what was a very watered-down bill, but at least it's something!)
• Lori Gottleib published her book Marry Him, which was a follow-up to an article that she wrote in the Atlantic Magazine in 2008 and a shit-storm ensued amongst feminist and anti-feminist (among whom Lori counts herself) bloggers, writers, commentators, etc.
• The website wikileaks published 'top-secret- footage of the killing of 2 Reuters employees and about a dozen other civilians in Iraq during the surge in 2007, which has lead to much (but certainly not enough) discussion about modern warfare, U.S. military protocol, the mental state of soldiers, and reckless killing. 
• Justice John Paul Stevens has announced that he will retire from the Supreme Court this year. Get ready for an interesting summer of another confirmation process... I really don't envy the Obama administration at this point. With teabaggers continuing their trademark anti-reality rhetoric, they have got their work cut out for them.
• The Catholic Church continues to do damage control following continuing pedophile sex scandals, and it is emerging that the Pope is implicated in the cover-ups. Shameful and disgusting are two words that come to mind, but those are really just euphemisms for what I actually mean.
• The Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, declared April 'Confederate History Month' and in his statement didn't mention slavery. As Dr. Venus Nicolino said: 'File under: You've Got to be Fucking Kidding Me'
• The UK has held its first of the Leader Debates heading into the general election on May 6. There was a pretty clear consensus amongst the press and polls that Nick Clegg won the first of them. This was sort of my expectation, but he performed incredibly well and made all of us Lib Dems well proud. Three cheers for Nick!
• Flights in Europe have all been grounded for nearly 48 hours now due to volcanic ash released by an erupting volcano in Iceland. Planet 1, Global warming 0 

So, the non-personal events basically amount to what is my writing-list for the next couple weeks. At the moment I don't have much to write about the SCOTUS nominations, so that might get cut or bumped, but it's a pretty major event worth mentioning. The whole volcanic ash situation probably won't get any more face time either (unless I find some interesting commentary), but again, worth mentioning for it's hilarity.

My first post of substance, however, will be looking at the current political rhetoric, branding, and its effects... something I've been working on for a while but have yet to really finish up - so this is my kicking myself into gear!

Stay tuned!