Author Archives: Cynthia Wang

I really didn’t mean to post two abortion-related posts one right after the other, but this one popped up as an interesting news item recently.

A senior at Yale is inseminating herself, then aborting the fetus with abortion drugs multiple times over the course of 9 months.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24513

She says she “hopes it inspires some sort of discourse”, and also says that she’s not using the concept for “shock value”. She claims that she has some “message”.

Really. What’s the message? Hey, let’s make ourselves really sick and show complete disregard for the women who go through the emotional turmoil of choosing to abort a fetus! This’ll be fun! (I would even go as far to say a “disregard for life”, but want to be clear that I do not equate abortion with murder)

It’s no wonder people on both sides of the abortion fence are disgusted by this.

On the pro-lifer’s side, this woman is committing mass murder over and over.

And pro-choice folks are not pro-abortion. As a matter of fact, most of my friends are pro-choice, but given the choice to abort or not, most would choose to not abort. This woman exemplifies what pro-choice is NOT about.

Both sides of the fence value life. Deliberately aborting a fetus for “art’s sake” completely trivializes the immensely difficult and life-changing choice that some women are forced to make. It’s appalling. It’s like making a snuff film – films where people are killed or murdered on film (not because I think abortion in and of itself is like murder, but that the choice in making it needs to be given some weight). That’s not art. That’s disrespect for the issue, and should be condemned.

And seriously…what is the message?

I saw this bumper sticker driving home yesterday:

“I think, therefore, I’m Pro-Life.”

I don’t mean to offend all the pro-lifers out there (just the ones who agree word for word with this statement), but look at it in literal terms. Being pro-life means you have a principle telling you what to do. You’re not thinking, you’re just doing. Talk about ironic.

I’m not making a political statement, I’m just analyzing the phrase as an objective third party.

That being said, I like thinking (actual thinking). And choosing. But hopefully will never be at a point where I am forced to.

I’m still alive. Just not on this blog (or online much).

Just got back from Europe.

Oooh, someone’s at the door offering us chocolate. Hm.

Juliana and I are in Vegas for the weekend – we left this noon-ish, and got here a little after 5.

Oh, Juli needs this to look up restaurants, but I gave Natasha (Juli’s cousin) and Jessica
(Natasha’s friend) alpaca finger puppets.

What matters most are the little things, not the huge gestures. 🙂

“Helloooo Evanston!!”

That got our attention. I thought to myself, this guy’s crazy. But then again, nothing could be worse than the last half-hour of truly painful open-mic performances we had to endure at Kafein while we waited for Dawen’s set to come up.

I was sitting with Emily, Andrew, and Lilian (I think – Lilian, if you weren’t actually there that night, let me know and I’ll amend), sharing a brownie fudge sundae or some other delicious dessert concoction that seemed synonymous with Kafein, I’m sure.

The performer was Scotty Iseri. Five seconds after he started, we realized this wasn’t just any open mic performance, stumbling over words, melodies, and chords. This guy was GOOD. His lyrics are witty and poignant, comical and honest. This guy had a message! We sat entranced for 15 minutes.

I bought his CD afterward – it’s possibly one of the best $7 I’ve ever spent in my life. I listened to the album (a live performance at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival) non-stop all summer, which was the summer of 2004 – right after graduation – and what I’ve always referenced as one of the best and most fun and relaxing times in my life.

Just this week, I popped the album in my car, and that summer came flooding back. Isn’t it funny how music can do that? What did his songs bring back for me? TAing biology aka working 3 hours a day and hanging out with the TA girls. Emily getting me cupcakes and balloons for my birthday – bought in downtown Evanston, and schlepped one mile up to Tech. Following Dawen to every single open mic he played at. Thinking someone was getting physically abused in my apartment when they were actually…ahem…enjoying themselves. Meeting Amber Benson at the Chicago Wizard World Convention – to which Lilian had to drive me, then pick me up, with Chris and Ike in tow. A fudge brownie a la mode melting on the plate and us trying to eat it as quick as possible so it didn’t overflow the plate (we failed). Ravinia. Frantic trip to the ER to find a quick fix for laryngitis. Late night runs to JK Sweets. Running out in the rain, in shorts and a tank top. Running home at 2am after playing Dynasty Warriors at Emily and Andrew’s.

“If you ask me for my autograph I promise that I’m not gonna be one of those stuck-up kind of famous people cuz you’re helping me out with my feelings of insecurity.”

It’s that season again, where experts and reporters get together to talk about how the latest votes will go, and how that will effect the ultimate vote.

I’m not talking about the Presidential Primaries or General Presidential Election. I’m talking about American Idol.

I was reading this article on MSN about David Archuleta’s hopes of winning American Idol this year, and it felt strangely familiar. Didn’t take me long to figure out that the analysis Andy Dehnart does on Archuleta uses the same strategy and analysis I hear and see time and again on the presidential primaries (and especially on the Democrat side, but minus the mudslinging).

Its focus was on strategy and personal appeal of Archuleta, and provides analysis on the viewers in the Idol world (as having short attention spans, so the fact that Archuleta is peaking right now is not a good thing at all), as well as suggesting Archuleta not perform as well as he is capable of so he can “improve”. True points, such. Why should a singer who’s improved dramatically be lauded when their end point may not be as great as the starting point of a great performer? Thus is the problem with Idol, as the article states. It doesn’t highlight talent, it highlights talented drama queens to keep things interesting.

This makes me sad Danny Noriega was sent home. He would have spiced things up.

All said and done, David Archuleta’s got my vote for the primaries, but let’s see how he does in the general elections.

There are 5 books stacked on my nightstand, three in my backpack, three in my car (recently borrowed from the library), one in front of my computer in my room (Asimov’s “Foundation”), and a few others piled in random places.

I’ve definitely hit that threshold in reading where it seems hopeless to finish all the books I’ve lined up for myself. The good new is a lot of these books are “honor books”, meaning I can return them to the library when I’m done (I’ve given up on buying books – why do it when you can borrow them? Keeps your room from cluttering up and is way more economical – I need to start living like a starving grad student). The bad news is one of the longest books I’m reading (a Martin book) is due back by the end of the month. This one I might end up buying.

So many books…not to mention DVDs to watch, and songs to learn…

I have two phones in my office. One, which I use mainly, has a 2020 extension number. The other one is x2019. For the last two days, the 2019 number has been ringing off the hook. This is because, apart from re-carpeting my office, which has me suffocating in re-carpeting fumes, they apparently tinkered with my phones as well. Now anyone calling for 3002 gets directed to my office.

What strikes me is not necessarily the fact that there are so many calls to Outpatient Surgery (this is to be expected), but that no one listens when you first answer the phone.

I always answer my office phones with “Clinical Care Extenders, this is Cynthia.” Between a very enthusiastic, “This is Rita!” (obviously assuming that I would know who “Rita” is), and “We don’t have your schedule!” (what schedule?!), I’ve concluded that no one actually got the fact that this is the Clinical Care Extender Office. What part of “Clinical Care Extenders” sounds like “Outpatient Surgery”? I’m going to start answering the phones “Hello, if you’re looking for Outpatient Surgery, we’re not it, so stop thinking I have any idea what you’re talking about.”

I think the fumes are getting to my head.

I ran across this youtube site through an acquaintance of mine. I was flabbergasted that such things still existed. Well, on second thought, I can’t say I was surprised, but I guess living in a silo of people who are much more conscientious of propriety (and much better educated in these issues) lulls me into a false sense of security.

This was my response to this acquaintance:

“Just wondering if you and your company realize the second one is INCREDIBLY racist and offensive to the Asian and Asian American communities. It’s horrifically politically incorrect and plays into harmful, negative, and inaccurate stereotypes of people of Asian descent. I obviously realize that filmmakers are entitled to their creative expression, but I’d appreciate if you might mention something to the filmmakers about my sentiments. This is ridiculous and tasteless in its derogatory content and utter lack of consciousness and cultural sensitivity.”

Watch as much as you can of it (I took about 20 seconds of it before vomit threatened to happen and I shut it off), and feel free to vent with me.