danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

I’ve got to hand it to Miriam: she called the Republican primary race for John McCain last summer when his campaign was at its nadir; today his nomination seems assured.  I remember saying to her at the time that his operation was in disarray, and he was polling in the low single digits.  But she had a simple rationalization for why she felt he’d rebound, and she was right.

Meanwhile, I continue to be pleased with Barack Obama’s success versus Hillary Clinton.  As I have said before, I don’t dislike Senator Clinton personally, and I acknowledge that she’s intelligent and capable.  But in a national election against someone as admirable as Senator McCain, she’s a guaranteed loser.  Indeed, the surest way for Democrats to wrestle defeat from the jaws of victory would be to nominate Hillary Clinton.  The reason I am not surprised by her recent losses is that, whereas Obama continues to draw voters with his message, Clinton, by virtue of her status as a known commodity, has a built-in peak of support.  People know her well.  Those who like her are already on her side, and are going to vote for her.  But they make up no more than about 45% of registered Democrats in most states.  She’d never do better than that nationally against a Republican challenger like John McCain.  I know dyed-in-the-wool liberals who would vote for McCain before Clinton.

Obama, on the other hand, continues to increase his level of support, and I think stands a much better chance against McCain.  First, Obama has credibility on the Iraq issue.  He opposed it from the beginning, even before he was a U.S. senator.  John McCain can certainly be respected for walking the walk on Iraq: he has children in the military who have been to Iraq, so he isn’t the typical Republican chicken hawk à la Romney, Giuliani, and everyone else in the House and Senate, plus the president and vice-president.  For that he deserves our attention when speaking about the war.  But it doesn’t make him right, and I think selling voters on his position will be difficult, especially since we’ve been in Iraq longer than we fought in WWII.  And while McCain is certainly a cut above the crooked Republican scum in Congress–people like Tom Delay who took pride in their criminal behavior–I sense that Americans’ distaste for the party that so warmly embraces that ethic has reached the tipping point.

Finally, I am not buying the “America isn’t ready” warnings against Obama.  There is no denying that there are racists in the United States.  But much the same way I think it’s pointless for Democrats to try and court the NRA crowd, so, too, do I think it makes little sense to worry about the bigots.  They wouldn’t vote for a Democrat anyway, white or black.

Filed under: Current Events, Politics, Rantings on February 13th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I genuinely enjoy the atmosphere on campus, which is good because I am here six days a week. There is always something or other going on, and sometimes it’s the little things that are the most interesting and amusing.

For example, as I am leaving class several days a week there will be someone in Century Tower giving a carillon recital. Often the pieces are obscure or unidentifiable, but sometimes they are quite well known. Today, for instance, upon walking out into Turlington Plaza, I instantly recognized the familiar Promenade theme from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition coming from the bells in the tower. It was being played quite poorly, but I smiled nevertheless, since it’s a great piece, and the student was making an effort.

Filed under: Music, Musings, School on February 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

I am really proud of Mrs. Hill. She joined a group of girls in town who are putting together a roller derby league, and in the process made many new friends, refined her skating skills, and had a lot of fun. The Gainesville Roller Rebels are this city’s first derby team, and in starting their operation from the ground up they have been keeping themselves very busy. Not only do they practice two days each week, but they hold business meetings on a regular basis, and have now held a benefit rock show and–just today–a fundraising rummage sale. For Miriam these mean either staying up super late on a work night, or waking up super early on a weekend morning.

I have met the other roller girls a few times now, and they all seem pretty nice. And, in addition to being tough enough to skate fast for an hour straight while crashing into each other, they all have active lives outside the rink. Don’t misjudge them because they have tattoos and piercings: these girls are teachers, law students, business owners, and many are mothers, too.

Last Tuesday night they held a rock show/benefit at The Atlantic downtown. Most of the girls were there in their skates and brand new team shirts with their numbers and derby names on the back. Several bands played and the girls raffled off a bunch of prizes, some of which were pretty sweet. I didn’t win anything, but I came close. I was glad that they raised a goodly sum of money. And, again today they raised more at their yard sale. So, huzzah Gainesville Roller Rebels!

Filed under: Gainesville, General, Sports on February 9th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Meet my new friend, Meguiar’s Scratch X. It is a product that removes swirls and small scratches in car paint, but also does it’s magic on guitar finishes, as I discovered last week.

I am in the process of building–i.e., putting together–a Fender ’52 AVRI Telecaster, a classic guitar played by everyone everywhere for more than fifty years. Mine has a stunning butterscotch blonde finish on the ash body (actually from a ’52 Hotrod Tele), and is finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. This is apparently a much moodier, less forgiving finish than the poly used on almost all instruments these days. If not properly cared for, nitro cracks and crazes and will melt if exposed to silicone-based materials. This is ironic, because many guitar stands have soft foam upon which an instrument sits or leans, and this foam eats the nitro finish.

A couple weeks ago I bought a neck on eBay which had come off a ’52 AVRI Tele, which the seller described as having hardly been played, but with light finish wear on the back. These American made necks typically sell for well over $500 in perfect condition, so I snapped this one up without getting into too much detail over the particularities of the neck’s imperfections. When it arrived I was disappointed to find that, at some point, the back of the neck had been lightly sanded to make the glossy finish satin, which many guitarists prefer. I like glossy better, or else I would have opted to buy a ’52 Hotrod Tele neck, which, in addition to better frets and radius, comes with a satin back.

So, dismayed at the lack of gloss on my newly arrived neck, I sought answers. I found a forum in which fellow Telecaster fans had recommended Meguiar’s Scratch X, so I thought I’d give it a shot, and if it didn’t work, I’d just sell the neck and make my money back. I put a drop on a folded over square of flannel–I cut out the pockets of some old pajamas–and rubbed it into a small area of the dull-looking portion of the neck. Using moderate pressure for about thirty seconds, at which point the liquid–about the consistency of shampoo–became slightly pasty. Then I wiped it off with a clean rag, and, wonder of wonders, the neck looks and feels brand new.

So, after about an hour I had shined up the whole neck, front and back–being extra careful around the Fender decal–and am extremely pleased. So, if you have anything in your life that isn’t as shiny as you want it to be, use Scratch X; it did exactly what I wanted it to do, and without any complicated trickery.

Filed under: General, Popular Music, Technology on February 4th, 2008 | No Comments »

I enjoy the leisurely writing I do for this webpage, combining pictures and text to document my life and hates.  There is no pressure and nothing at stake.

The same cannot be said for schoolwork, which is scrutinized and rated, and which is vastly more time consuming than any other type of writing I do, particularly when it involves expostulating on a subject about which I feel I have little insight, namely mercantilism vs. free trade, commodity fetishism, etc.

Filed under: School, Website on February 3rd, 2008 | 2 Comments »