This weekend is Fringe Festival in Minneapolis. Fringe Festival is a celebration of experimental theater, performance art, and multimedia projects at various venues around the city. Later this afternoon, I’m going to a performance called Fragile Lines that is written and directed by a friend of a friend. I have no idea what to expect, but I think it will be interesting. I know that this artist strongly believes in audience participation and I’m curious to see how that’s incorporated into the performance.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but last week NPR did a story on accessible voting technology for people with disabilities. It doesn’t offer much insight on the current debate between those who want a verifiable paper trail and those who want accessible voting booths, but it does provide a good over of how the technology needs to be accessible to people with a range of disabilities.

Ugh. For some reason, I’ve been feeling kind of sleep deprived all week. It probably didn’t help that there were a couple nights when I didn’t get to bed until 12:30 or so. If I had my way, I’d be up until 2 every night and in bed until 10. Why do you think I’m working so hard on this becoming-a-writer thing?

President Bush thinks that intelligent design and evolution should be taught side-by-side in our nation’s science classrooms. I’m surprised he didn’t also advocate teaching that thunder is the result of God bowling. Because, hey, you can’t prove that God isn’t bowling. I love how ID advocates love to call their fantasy a theory, as if that makes their assertions any more credible.
Here’s what I don’t get about fundamentalist Christians. They claim to detest everything Darwin’s theory implies about the origins of human life. But many of them seem to practice a vigorous form of social Darwinism, i.e. if you’re poor, it’s most likely your fault. Or you’re poor because you’re supposed to be poor. At least, that’s what I hear from the mouths of many conservative Christian leaders. Granted, it’s not exactly the same as saying we’re descended from monkeys, but it is definitely a variation on the theory of natural selection.
But if we’re gonna teach ID in biology classes, then I totally think we should give equal time to the-world-is-carried-on-the-back-of-a-giant-turtle theory.

The other night, one of my nurses looked up from her charting and said, “I have no idea what to write about you. You’re so healthy.” Which would probably be news to most of the people I pass on the street. To most of them, I probably look quite ill indeed. Of course, it’s all a matter of perception. Those who know me to some degree know that I’m one of the toughest gimps on the block. Those who don’t may assume that I’m sick or dying or in a great deal of pain, but they probably wouldn’t use the word “healthy” to describe me. The whole concept of health is one that seems to be grounded so deeply in appearance. It’s illustrated in the cliched image of a parent checking a newborn baby for ten fingers and ten toes. But the human capacity to thrive is tremendously adaptable. Even with my tubes and a couple additional orifices in my body, I feel good almost all of the time. And I think that doesn’t jibe with how others see me, at least at first.
I’m going to see a movie at Loring Park with a friend tonight. I don’t think I’ve seen an outdoor movie since I was teenager. Tonight’s forecast is for a warm and humid evening; in other words, perfect weather to be in the park.

To the guy who constructed a mathematical proof as to why you don’t have a girlfriend: the reason you don’t have a girlfriend is because you’re spending all your time at the computer constructing proofs about why you don’t have a girlfriend instead of dealing with the fact that you’re kind of an ass. Now get away from the computer, put on a clean shirt, and go meet some people. And quit being an ass.