today was a politically charged day. from the aftermath of obama’s announcing a troop surge in afghanistan, to the stupak amendment protests in DC, to the rejection of the gay marriage bill in the NY state sentate, it took everything in my power to not just send a mass email to everyone in my office and ask them to sit in a circle with me so that we could share our politically charged feelings.  seriously.

so it was interesting that today this incredibly awesome site, who lives here?, came across my desk.  the site essentially breaks nyc’s boroughs down by neighborhood, and shows the percent of extremely low income, very low income, low income, moderate income, middle income, and high income families in the area.  it also breaks down the percent of families in the area that can afford a 1 BR, 2 BR, or 3 BR apartment at a certain cost.  the most fascinating part for me, however, was the average income in each area.

go a couple blocks north of what is considered the upper west side, and by the time you hit harlem, the average income plummets from $168,000 to $33,000 a year.  something similar takes place when you move east from greenwich village to the lower each side: the average income falls from $141,000 to $36,000 a year.  it was also fascinating to look at the average income of entire boroughs.  the fact that the average income in the bronx is $36,000 is frankly just disturbing.  what i would love to see is the racial breakdown and education level in those neighborhoods, as well.

overall, a really amazing use of interactive technology to make some stunning, and certainly politically charged points.

two things of most importance this AM:

keep devouring cold-eze. don’t let up.
find mitten/gloves. it has gotten COLD.

one thing of greater or equal importance:

tilt-shift photography. no, those aren’t miniatures. those scenes are REAL.

sometimes i take it for granted that i pass around/receive links every day.  it’s become such a big part of how i interact with others and how they interact with me.

and a link can be anything from hilarious, heart-warming, infuriating, fascinating, or heart-wrenching, and i respond in kind.  what’s truly amazing about links is that we never used to be able to evoke such sudden emotions before, unless we were sharing a story orally and were in the physical presence of the person (or caught them over the phone/in a letter).

what we’re essentially doing with each link is sharing a story with someone that touched us in a certain way, and we’re able to do it far more often than pre-internet and with people terribly physically far from us.  and i think that’s pretty great.

three today ran the scale of adorably heart-warming, fascinating, and just awesome:

1.  two wonderful sesame street clips:  1, and 2.

2.  shark c-section!

3.  choose your own adventure.

/end.

link costume BOUGHT.  there’s this great woman on ebay that hand-makes link costumes.  how ridiculous is that?

i just need to conjure a sword and shield and elf ears.  OH YEAHH.

i’ve come to the realization that since i was carmen sandiago last year and i’m being link this year, i’ll be left with increasing less Bad-Ass Cartoons I’ve Admired to try my hand at on halloween.

whatever.  we’re going for broke here.

start bracing yourself for halloween 2010: captain planet.  anyone want to be a planeteer?

i am going to be link from zelda for halloween. (!!!)

is it strange to BE the individual that you always had a big crush on? is it weirder that that individual isn’t real?

my only hope is that i can pull it off as bad-assedly as this guy.