Category Archives: rhetorical question

allegro maestoso

By xtina | Published: November 7, 2008

Each of my grandmothers endured many hardships that I will never have to face. One of these challenges is the burden of compulsory pregnancy. My grandmothers each had 7+ pregnancies resulting in 17 births. In most cases, the amount of time between births was less than 15 months, in some cases it was less than [...]

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San Diego’s water is safe and healthy to drink for most people*

By xtina | Published: October 17, 2007

Living in a semi-arid land like San Diego has made me conscious of potable water as a precious and scarce natural resource. Growing up in NorCal, I remember drinking water from the faucet or even the hose without a second thought. Since we moved to San Diego 17 years ago and finding the drinking water [...]

Also posted in casawex, commentary, consumption, xtina | 1 Comment

Like a vegetarian with a leather couch

By xtina | Published: October 4, 2007

It’s easy to revile smokers. Their pastime results in dirty air and unhealthy symptoms as well as environmental degradation. Like the overweight or the poor, they are easy targets for feelings of superiority in the observer. Here in San Diego we visit a lot of parks in our ongoing efforts to make sure the kidlet [...]

Also posted in commentary, culture, xtina | 1 Comment

Into a world of dreams and nightmares

By xtina | Published: August 7, 2007

About 4 weeks ago, a writer named Theresa Duncan reportedly killed herself in New York. She had a blog of some acclaim that until her death she updated daily. Her death was not widely reported even by by NY and LA papers and blogs — she’d recently moved from Venice Beach to the East Village [...]

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By xtina | Published: May 4, 2007

Think you are free? Think again.

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odd things are afoot at the villa straylight

By xtina | Published: December 9, 2006

Every year for the last twenty years or so I read Neuromancer by William Gibson at least once a year. I remember being 13, going on 14, when I came home to a paper grocery bag full of books. Our family friend, Jeff McDaniels, had heard that I liked to read a lot and he [...]

Also posted in commentary, linkage, personal, xtina | 1 Comment

Oubliette. Oblige. Obliterate.

By xtina | Published: November 20, 2006

Words. Words are powerful. Words are imaginary and yet…wherever they are, there you are. I watch my son become indoctrinated by our language and I mourn for the self that disappears each day, the self beyond words that is so difficult to grasp as an adult. I know verbal language helps us incorporate into the [...]

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we’ll see you again

By xtina | Published: November 14, 2006

This posting every day is tiring me out. You see I write for work as well. Letters, executive communication, press releases, project descriptions, &tc. So although I love words, both ingesting and excreting, I do sometimes feel speechless when faced with a blank page, blinking cursor or no. My work voice can be very pompous [...]

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Don’t ask, don’t tell

By xtina | Published: November 5, 2006

Oopers, someone forgot a key ingredient for a good time in the desert: a good attitude. Sometimes I get so fixated on the plan that when plans get haywire, so do I. So when things started out on that note — I made some stupid comments and felt sheepish about them — I got all [...]

Also posted in casawex, commentary, culture, personal | 4 Comments

You said we were make believe and I thought you said ‘maple leaves’*

By xtina | Published: September 22, 2006

The internets is so funny. Sometimes I experience meta-jealousy about the cool lives that peoples lead. I think of my quotidian struggles that revolve around developmental milestones, diapers, and spills. Then a writer who makes interesting cultural commentaries on life, the universe, and everything makes a little err and I swoop in via email with [...]

Also posted in commentary, propaganda, public spectacle, xtina | 2 Comments

Don’t ask, don’t tell: Is Alberto Gonzales an Alien?

By xtina | Published: July 31, 2006

GONZALES: I understand why they come. I think all Americans would understand why someone would come to this country, which is the greatest country in the world, is because they want a better life for themselves and a better future for their children. So obviously, yes, I understand why they want to come to the [...]

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Fun with Infographics!

By spider | Published: July 21, 2006

From The Independent [via kottke], the answer to the question “Which countries support the immediate ceasefire in the Middle East demanded by the UN and which do not?

Also posted in peace, politics, propaganda | 1 Comment