I’m afraid of Obama groupies. They scare me.

Actually, I’m suspicious of anyone too political on either side. It’s not like I’m pro-McCain either.

But living in Berkeley has made me more conservative, just as a backlash against crazy lefties. When I first got here, I was puzzled that the amount of Young Republicans squelched every other group on campus. Now, I get it. These are kids who will make a lot of money some day. Half of them come from well-off families and are not interested in saving the trees.

(Actually, I have also been pushed to the brink of insanity by the tree issue. Lately, I want them burned to the ground, with or without the tree sitters still in them. I’ve come to hate the tree sitters – most of whom aren’t even Berkeley students – and scream nonsensical things at you as you walk by about unrelated issues like your cell phone, your bourgeois attitude and tree genocide. Um, isn’t there something going on in Darfur you could be protesting instead of the loss of a score of man-planted trees?)

Anyway, tonight the Obama-madness will be at its height. I’m going to stay in, keep my windows drawn and my radio and television off so I don’t have to hear any more nonsense about promises of change or hope. If the Democrats or Republicans did all the things they promised, we’d have no money to pay for them (since no one is really raising taxes). We’ve become, somehow, a nation that wants a lot of something for a little of nothing.

I want a three-party system, but it ain’t likely in my lifetime. These two behemoths are too entrenched and there is too much to lose by breaking away – like campaign money.

At any rate, let it be said that I remain an independent – even when all my Obama-groupie friends come to hate me for asking the wrong questions (which usually involve a concrete definition of ‘change’).

I’m sick of Michael Phelps. Period.

Please, give us a break! I’m so, so over turning on the Olympics or looking at the covers of newspapers to see this man. He hasn’t even returned from Beijing yet, and he’s already played out most of his popular welcome. Why does the media unfailingly drown us in someone’s newfound popularity? Ten weeks ago I had never heard of Michael Phelps and my life was perfectly fine.

Amazingly, I just read a story in the Times about questions over a Chinese unknown winning a women’s swimming race in record time. There are accusations of doping from the Australians. (To be fair, I never met an Aussie in China who didn’t loathe the Chinese, and the accusation came from the woman’s mother. Um, sour grapes anyone?)

But Phelps wins a zillion of the things and no one says a peep about drugs?

In the accusations flying that China allows doping, people seem to have all-but forgotten that Marion Jones is currently watching the Olympics from JAIL. It’s not like the U.S. doesn’t dope.

I’ve been having conversations with friends and acquaintances all week, ruminating over the same question: “Who doesn’t drug?” It’s like we’ve all tacitly agreed to accept the fact of “extra help” because we know it’s not going anywhere. It’s like the kids who cheat on the SATs or have someone else write their college entrance exams. We all know that people do it, we just hope it’s not anyone we know.

Maybe if we weren’t so obsessed with winning at all costs, as a species, then this wouldn’t be such an issue. I read a great article in Vanity Fair (yes, I read fashion rags), all about doping. What struck me was one woman’s assertion that she didn’t want to drug, but it didn’t take her long to realize that she had to in order to compete with the people who did – and do.

Anyway, if I see one more of these pictures, I’m going to hurl. I thought “nice guys” were supposed to finish last, no?

I must be Chinese at heart, because I’m not that impressed either. It’s only swimming, people. He didn’t cure cancer. Or help children. Thus far, he’s spent most of his life inside a pool. Like a goldfish.

God help me to understand those obsessed by sports. I just don’t get it. But, then again, maybe I’m just bitter because I can’t swim at all (true), and I was always picked last for my 8th grade sports teams (mostly true). Maybe those of us who were never “athletic” can’t ever understand the inner workings of those that are.

The Olympics are here! And I’m already over it.

The opening ceremony hasn’t even aired here in the U.S. and I am already bored of the Olympics. Isn’t that terrible? I blame all the media hype.

I blame the fact that for months, all I’ve been seeing everywhere is Olympics, China, China, Olympics, human rights, China, Tibet, Olympics, trade, oil, China, environment, China, Tibet, protests, Olympics, China.

In all my time reading and writing about China, this is the first time that I’ve ever been sick of hearing about China.

I wonder how long it will take before the media onslaught peters out?

When will we stop reading about what the Chinese people eat?

Or how their government tortures people? (Let’s not even go to the easy jab about the practice of waterboarding.)

Or freeing Tibet?

Or protecting Taiwan?

Or how – in a million other ways – the Chinese are simply inferior to us?

The U.S. has been reporting on China much like a big brother playing varsity with a serious problem with his kid brother trying out for the team. Maybe we are worried that our freshman kid brother (who is, by the way, much bigger physically than us) will be better than us. Or that we’ll be benched and have to watch our kid brother getting all the praise and venom that we are used to garnering from the international crowd. Or that we can’t handle the competition.

But doesn’t that just make us all look – well, ridiculous?

Maybe the Olympics will be a turning point for our knowledge about China. And I mean real knowledge, not  knee-jerk reactionary jargon that makes them look bad. They have problems, but they have some good points, too. In all seriousness, I think that we need a better understanding of the Chinese, and this might provide us with an opportunity.

But I doubt it.

We are far more interested in thinking we already know everything we need to know. And vice versa. Which, quite frankly, scares the bejesus out of me. Isn’t this how bad things always start? By a misunderstanding that engenders harsh feelings, which leads to more trouble? (That’s pretty much the way I remember being thrown off the merry-go-round in 3rd grade.)

I don’t think that China is our “enemy”. Nor do I think that they are our “friend”. They are our global cousins, and we don’t seem to like them very much.

They also aren’t the scapegoat that we make them out to be. Or the bogeyman. Or the devil.

Once upon a time, we were the “new money” and Europe hated us. Now Asia is the “new money” and the U.S. hates them. South America and India are just waiting their turn, so that East Asia can hate them. Europe is waiting for it to all revolve again. And Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East remain, to put it politely, screwed.

Biological Threats and Disaster Preparedness

Hi, all.

What have I been doing with my summer, you ask?

Well, it hasn’t been boring.

For those of you who are just visiting this site, you might not know that I am in a PhD program, becoming an ‘expert’ on disease, public health, and China. My topic is avian influenza, focusing in on Southeast Asia and on Guangdong Province in China in particular.

In June, I was in Hong Kong during the latest H5N1 outbreak there. The live chicken stalls were closed, though you could walk through them and buy your pork in adjacent stalls. And no one on the street seemed particularly worried or upset. If you don’t count the authorities and the chicken sellers, no one was that fussed. By the third day of the outbreak, the news was relegated to the 7th page.

So, this past week – and for 8 days – I was in San Diego at the IGCC training program for Public Policy and Biological Threats. It was wonderful and terrifying. Wonderful because so many up-and-coming scientists, policy and politics people, and other social scientists (including myself) are passionate about this topic. Terrifying because we have a long, long way to go before we can call ourselves ‘prepared’ for something to happen.

In other words, there is such a thing as “too much information”. I now know more than does me any good. Except that it has made me more aware and determined to do something with my degree.

When I came home, the first thing I did was to make us purchase a disaster kit from the Red Cross. If you don’t have one – and you live in California – you need to wake up, smell the coffee, and go get yourself one. Or build it yourself.

At the very LEAST, here is what you will need:

1. Food and water for at least 3 days for all members of the household. About 3 gallons per person, per day is recommended, but have at least a gallon jug for each person at the minimum. Food ideally should require no preparation – like ready-to-eat soup or power bars. Don’t forget your pets, if you have any. Have enough food and water for them as well.

2. First-aid kit. Self explanatory. If something goes down, you might have a scrape or two. Ideally, sign up for a first-aid course at the Red Cross, so that you can help your family and others in an emergency. It’s cheap, your work would probably cover it, and it’s a good idea.

3. Flashlight (with extra batteries) and solar-powered radio. You’ll need to see in the dark and hear what’s happening, along with instructions from authorities.

4. A wrench and a screwdriver and a pair of heavy-duty work gloves. For turning off the water, gas and whatever else needs done to secure your house (or what is left of it – sorry, folks). The gloves are important, as most people forget them and in an earthquake there will be a lot of rubble and broken glass.

5. A tent would be great. Just in case you need to shelter in place until help comes.

6. About $300 in cash, plus photocopies of all your IDs. In a disaster, the ATMs won’t be working. And you might not be able to get to your wallet.

This is the bare minimum for a kit. Have it in a seal-able plastic tub, and keep it within easy reach. Like in a hall closet on an exit route.

As for me, I’m also taking the disaster preparedness course at the Red Cross, so that I can volunteer in the next disaster. This course helped me to face my fears of something bad happening. What I have personally learned is that being prepared makes me less nervous and anxious.

Also, I’m giving blood next Monday before the rush on supplies on Veteran’s Day (more accidents happen on holidays). But, then, I’m a saint of perfection, so don’t try to keep up with me.