In my reading of the Sunday New York Times, I came across this article, which seems appropriate (though sadly) to the Valentine's Day weekend.

Updated classic WWI-era recruitment poster by 'Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops' author Ilona Meagher.

A lot of what I do deals with sadness--war, death, rape, abuse, violence of all kinds.  Some days it wears me down more than others.  Here are some blogs that have the seemingly contradictory yet simultaneous effect of breaking my heart and giving me hope:

• 'Imagine' A World of Peace, Understanding, Tolerance
• PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within
  
• Recall: An Involuntary Soldier's Story

and there are some forum posts that do the same:

After my original dissertation idea was determined to be unfeasible (by myself and my dissertation chair), I found myself struggling to find a topic that still fit the spirit of my work.  Ideally, I would use the dissertation to create a theoretical base for my future study into narrative and trauma.  This, however, is much easier said than done.  The truth is that I don't know how to write a theory without the use of real world applications.  I imagine this has something to do with the way that I value theory as praxis and vice-versa, and, while I am by no means rejecting that belief, it's making this dissertation thing kind of difficult.  So, I'm trying to determine how, given the resources readily available to me, I can make a significant contribution to the

The framework for understanding trauma that I am using in my dissertation defines trauma as the emotional/psychological impact to a person’s psyche as the result of an event, experience or set of experiences that overwhelm those individuals who experience it.

Well, the dissertation is going slowly.  For one thing, after my original idea was shot down and I had a seizure, things got a bit difficult. Now I am procrastinating by obsessing about the web presence of others.  This blog is supposed to be a useful tool, a place to vent and try out new ideas; but it is becoming my albatross.  Still, I'm not ready to give up and I believe in the power of weblogs.  There.  I said it; I'm a blogaphile.

I am happily posting a link to some of the latest news on Yankees.com.  Andy Pettitte will be returning for another year with the Yankees.  It's the best thing to happen to me all day.

News from the BBC indicates that Obama is considering using open source software for government work.  In this economy, that's a fantastic idea.  Think of all the money the government could save by not having to pay licensing fees.  Not to mention the fact that the security is better and open source software is more versatile, adaptable, and let's face it, awesome.

Exciting news from the open source front: OpenOffice will soon be releasing a new suite, which will contain many of the features already available in Pages and Word plus some.  Check out OpenOffice Ninja for more details on specific features.

In her column, "Subject to Debate," Katha Pollitt at The Nation has articulately interrogated both the feminist response to Obama and his actions, some of which (like making Larry Summers director of the National Economic Counsel) seem to be counter to feminist/women's concerns.  Her article is a great example of a balanced inquiry into actions of political figures.  So frequently we only see the attack or the uncritical lauding of political figures.  To read Pollitt's article, click here.