killadelphia

I was at the corner store yesterday evening, and overheard a really hilarious yet horrendous exchange.

A boy (maybe 10 or 11 at most) was there with a friend. He had a BMX bike but since he was just a kid, it was like a regular-sized bike for him. The guy who was working was teasing him, saying that he would buy the bike for $5. The kid said something like, "I'll take that $5 and buy me a toy gun and some toy bullets. And then I'll buy me a real gun and we'll talk."

...hmm.

the worst part of my internship, or why the FCC sucks

Here is a rundown of what I do at Prometheus:
I am an intern with the Full-Power Campaign. The FCC has opened a filing window for full-power non-commercial educational radio licenses, and we are helping groups to apply for them by recommending engineers and lawyers, as well as answering general questions. Basically, I talk on the phone to people across the country.

The filing window is from October 12-19th, which is less than a month away. Applying for an FCC license is far from a simple process - these NCE licenses require a great deal of paperwork, access to funds or at least a strong fundraising strategy, and a shit load of conviction, organization, and single-mindedness in terms of working towards this goal. This is not something that is casual, and there is really no way for somebody to start on this now and succeed in getting a license.

Of course, we still have people who call, asking us to tell them how they can get a radio station. And to have to tell somebody, "I'm sorry, but you can't," is really depressing. There is no good reason why they should not be able to have a radio station - the FCC only opens up filing windows like this once every ten or fifteen years, which leads to mad rush. It is not these peoples' fault that they are only hearing about this opportunity now (although it is their fault if they have known about it for a few months and are only now contacting us - shame on them!).

Anyway, it's a total bummer.

Also, there are some days when I only talk to crazy people - today I had a scientologist and a person from PETA. Last week I had the most excruciating phone call with one of the craziest people I have ever had the opportunity to talk to on the phone but that is all too hard to explain on the internet. Lesson: crazy people LOVE radio.

Lighten up, it's just fashion

I find it very interesting that women who look like this:


design clothing for women who look like this:


This is, of course, neither wrong nor right. It's merely interesting.