Cerebral

I've been very in-my-head this week, so really I have nothing to show The Blog. I do have one or two things to say, though.

For one thing, we have a new president. Watching Obama's inauguration address, I was struck by what a compelling speaker he is. Putting aside the question of what he said and whether or not you agree with him, the man is amazing. He has incredible presence and delivery. A man who can speak like that is a man who can lead. Whether he'll lead us somewhere good remains to be seen. Fingers crossed. (Slate magazine has a new feature that I enjoy; they report on what the president has done that day, and give him points or take them away, and track it with a silly little graphic. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.)

Thinking about Obama's speech brought me to two other lines of thought: One, it reminded me of how disillusioned I was when I learned that presidents have speechwriters. Who's to say if the man speaking really means everything he's saying, when they're someone else's words? How can we ever really know what the president's true feelings on a matter are, when he's giving a speech that someone else wrote? It makes those off-the-cuff moments seem really important.

The other thing I started thinking about is how media has affected presidential elections. There are articles and probably books about how television changed the election process, claiming that many of our finest leaders would never have been elected if they had had to appear on television. It seems plausible to me. It just makes me wonder where things will go from here. And I wonder how the last five or ten elections would have turned out if they hadn't been televised. I'm not really trying to make a statement here, just pondering.

So that's what's been occupying my thoughts this week. Well, that and planning for my Epic Dinner Party on Saturday. Chinese New Year is on Monday, so in keeping with family tradition, I will be cooking a lovely meal for my friends. Of course, I still need to clean like the wind... and do some day-before food prep, like making rice for the fried rice... and check my recipes and see if I can cook any of the meat ahead, to save time... oh, and I need to go to the bank for the lucky money. Good thing I have the morning free to get ready before the party!