Last entry, a shocking personal one!

Freshman year is over. I didn't do well enough to transfer to U of R. I'm stuck at Ithaca for the duration.

This is my fault, I will be the first to admit that I am too young to possibly comprehend what I need to do and when. Unfortunately as time passes I feel like I should know that by now, and that this skill just missed me along the way. Right now I'm worried about even staying in Ithaca, THAT is how bad I did this semester.

I have been able to get work done in the past of course, at the beginning of the year I did it with flying colors. I was the new prize of the History department, and then I died so quickly. When I had my social structure at home I could get by. The excitement of college allowed me to jump into things but once I alienated all those around me (I'm not easy to get along with in the long-term and I have no intention of changing that) and I realized my social structure at home was no longer there to support me I collapsed. I kept falling very slowly, until I rolled off the precipice over finals week. I hope to recover next year, maybe I can still pull off U of R, with its massive history department and my best friend there.

My reform.

I don't hate the blog anymore. Good work, Sterbenk.

I understand, through my own use, the importance of blogs in today's media environment. They provide a truly democratic news source that people can turn to, as well as offer a growing check on the mainstream media outlets. I watched the South Park Mohammed controversy get picked up by the bloggers, and transfer to the mainstream. That was proof enough for me.

What I still dislike is how democratic it can be. The vast size of the internet permits a wide array of opinions, some of which could be dead wrong all the time... like a KKK blog. With all of these varying opinions having no check on their integrity, anyone can simply interpret these blogs as fact and ignore the rest. By selective reading, you can form anopinion that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and feel completely right about it.

So I am neutral on blogs. That is a big step.


I will not keep this blog over the summer, as I will be cutting meat for most of it and won't have time.

Two I forgot, so this entry counts as one and a half.

I forgot to make two blog entries.


The Revolutionary Catechism - The Catechism is the instruction booklet of all who followed Russian anarchist Sergey Nechayev. He is responisble for the beginnings of the violent opposition to the tsar in the late 19th century. He wrote the chilling Catechism that removes the worth of a single human in the name of destruction. There is no end game, only the decimation of "the whole filthy order."

Sergey Nechayev died in prison after being convicted for attempts to murder the tsar. While in prison, someone did succeed in doing so, and it was suspected that he played a part in the planning from behind bars. This man stands alone in Russian history, known only for his desire to ruin, and this chilling document. Here are three of the points made:

1. The revolutionary is a doomed man. He has no personal interests, no business affairs, no emotions, no attachments, no property, and no name. Everything in him is wholly absorbed in the single thought and the single passion for revolution.

8. The revolutionary can have no friendship or attachment, except for those who have proved by their actions that they, like him, are dedicated to revolution. The degree of friendship, devotion and obligation toward such a comrade is determined solely by the degree of his usefulness to the cause of total revolutionary destruction.

13. The revolutionary enters the world of the State, of the privileged classes, of the so-called civilization, and he lives in this world only for the purpose of bringing about its speedy and total destruction. He is not a revolutionary if he has any sympathy for this world. He should not hesitate to destroy any position, any place, or any man in this world. He must hate everyone and everything in it with an equal hatred. All the worse for him if he has any relations with parents, friends, or lovers; he is no longer a revolutionary if he is swayed by these relationships.




Rebels of 1916 by Peter deRosa - Ireland had spent 700 years under English rule, and this attempt to break free of England has gone down as the most famous. They did not win, they did not come close, but it would be the blossoming of Ireland's long-dormant nationalist movement.

The Easter Rising of 1916 was led by a few poets who who knew more about stanzas than street-fighting. No more than one-thousand men, only half of which with guns, held Baile Átha Cliat (Dublin) for one week. The resulting execution of the rebel leaders caused Irish blood to boil, leading to the successfully fought Anglo-Irish war from 1919 to 1921. This book documents the affair from the very beginning, filling in conversations that nobody heard. The author makes note that this story is at times so incredible he has a hard time believing it happened. deRosa writes beautifully in prose so poignant that I wish I was serving under deValera, sniping British soldiers as they tried to cross the street.