Night Blurbs

This will be somewhat short, thus the title "Night Blurbs." Here's just a few things that caught my attention today:

1. Don't be afraid to be confident in yourself. If you know you're right, or you're good at it, speak up with humility. I was given a huge compliment (and a cup of coffee, sweet elixir of life) because I spoke up. SO exciting! Note, humility is key here.

2. Texas lawmakers are arguing on whether or not we should have southern checkpoints on vehicles going into Mexico. Officers would check for guns, drugs, and cash. They're arguing on whether or not we have the funds to do this considering we are cutting money left and right in our budget from critical areas, aka education. I am huge fan of the idea of southern checkpoints. Think about it:
     A. We have people coming across our border, using our education and public infrastructure, because of the drug wars in Mexico.
     B. We are losing officers internationally in Mexico due to drug violence in northern Mexico. In the Fort Worth Star Telegram the article directly underneath the one outlining the proposed bills about the checkpoints was about the $5 million award offered for the arrest of the men responsible for the killing of two special agents. C'mon now. The whole "it doesn't matter to us" doesn't apply here.
     C. We can't just be the international watchdog for our own personal interest in Mexico and look to be the liberator in countries like Libya. There needs to be a more defined plan for U.S. foreign policy. Either we are self-serving or we are the watchdogs of justice. Either bark or get off the porch.

3. Billy Collins was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003. His work is fabulous and I had the great privilege of meeting him tonight at TCU.
     A. I love my school.
     B. He's the bomb.
     C. His new book "Horoscopes for the Dead" releases next week.
      D. I got to hear poems from it. Let's just say I know where my next $15 is going. It was fabulous, go check it out and allow yourself to be humored by his sonnets. It's not the "what was the poet TRYING to say" blah blah. It's the "hey, here's what I'm saying" literal. LOVE.

4. On the topic of the arts, Britney Spears. Yes, she's made 6,976,567,896,567,890 comebacks but goodness I still believe she is fabulous. Her new CD is purely club hits and I can't wait to dance to them all. Not the cleanest CD in terms of subtlety but fun nonetheless.

5. Honesty. Goodness. This is the hardest abstraction to figuratively wrestle with this. It's one of those things that when used it's more beautiful and the lack of it is a monster. Thank you for being honest.

Night!