Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

I'm pretty certain that both my best and worst quality is my ability to keep things in perspective.

Relentless Pursuit for Personal Justice

This man's unfaltering determination and conviction (hrm, cynical play on words?) in the face of staggering adversity and unforgiving odds in truly inspirational.

TMI (Too Much Information)

At this moment, I'm eating something like ONE THIRD of my recommended daily caloric intake in the form of a slice of Godiva Double Chocolate Cheesecake (via B&N, via Starbucks, via The Cheesecake Factory). In New York, vendors are legally obligated to post the caloric value of each item on their menu. This policy, coupled with the mayor's proposal to ban the use of food stamps for purchasing soda, is New York's attempt to combat obesity. I'm going to temporarily cheat on von der Heydon with Barnes & Nobles this break but it is really not the same. Firstly, I embarrassed myself by handing the cashier my credit card and adding, "On Flex, please!" Not fly. Secondly, OMG CHOCOLATE COOKIES ARE 500 CALORIES EACH?!

I have mixed feelings about this policy. On the one hand, it makes sense that we would want to give consumers as much pertinent information about the products they are considering as possible to allow rational and informed decisions. On the other, do we really want to heighten the anxiety of the image-conscious even further? American attitudes towards personal fitness and dietary habits are largely polarized; some are too image-conscious and consistently strive to be underweight rather than of healthy weight to meet the idealized public images of bodily beauty while others either seek food for comfort or thoughtlessly consume too much habitually. There is a definite socioeconomic aspect to the problem, as highlighted by Bloomberg's paternalistic ban on food stamp-funded soda purchases.

It seems ironic that New York, of all states, would impose such stringent policies. Every time I come home from college in North Carolina, I never fail to be struck by the drastic demographic differences between the two states: New York is uncontestedly more culturally diverse and, ah, I've missed fashion! But the population here is also much slimmer than the population in North Carolina, where I can consume an infinite amount of Saladelia cookies (oh God, finals season is almost upon us...) without ever being confronted by a numeric valuation of my compulsion, lack of will power, and the guilt subsequent to consumption. Causality is clearly at play here and the problem is not a single dimensional one but it is always slightly alarming to encounter these friendly, helpful reminders while trying to enjoy a first meal back in the city.

But ultimately, this cheesecake is just worth being fat for, mmm.

Truth in the Interplay between Prose & Poetry

Lately, I find my normally high-strung and caffeinated self deviating towards a much more relaxed lifestyle. While perhaps conducive to my health, this adaptive lifestyle is constantly being confronted by the same demanding deadlines that confronted me at the peak of my productivity. These days, I exercise little restraint in browsing of bookshops and bakeries and in taking time to appreciate beauty, whether in language, fall foliage, or impossibly delectable desserts, knowing I'll need to pull all-nighters later to finish sections of my thesis. Tonight (today?) I am doing both simultaneously and feeling surprisingly sane after being awake for nearly 24 hours...

"They inhabit a world so rich in technology that everything works better, even the people, but no one seems to know exactly why. Parented by proxy, and prescription, and by cable TV, they have achieved the loneliness their elders pursued. They enter their twenties less interested in finding themselves than in finding a way out. Faithless, hopeless, untutored in love, they make babies for the sake of company and kill themselves with unspeakable violence with staggering numbers--suffering from a deficiency in meaning acquired from pop culture, pop psychology, feel-good religion, that tells them don't worry, be happy, take care of yourself and your self-esteem. They stand to inherit, along with the spiritual void their parents have left them, the bill from the card it was all charged to."

The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade

Thomas Lynch

On Locating Voice and Vocational Purpose

"To deeply understand vocation as voice, we must go beyond what is initially visible and audible, to that which has rhythm, movement, and feeling. Voice is not the externalization of sound and words. Literally and metaphorically, voice is not located in the mouth or on the tongue where words are formed. Voice is deeper. Words are only a small expression of that depth...

... Voice is located where breath dies and is born, where what is taken in gives life, where what has served its purpose is released anew. Voice is located at the source of rhythm, the internal drumming of life itself. When the poet Emerson said we walk to the "beat of a different drummer," he was talking about voice, the sense of internal rhythm. We cannot underestimate the enormity of the Genesis stories, and of parallel narratives in many traditions, of how life itself came to be: God breathed into clay. Life was created from the place where breath and earth met, and from that place voice arose. Voice is the essence of being a person.

Where you find that meeting place, the home where heart and lungs gather, where breath meets blood, there you will find voice. When you find your way to that home, there you will find yourself, the unique gift that God has placed on this earth. You will find the place from which your journey begins and to where it returns when the road is confused and hard. This is the deeper sense of vocation."

The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace

John Paul Lederach

Easier said than done, John Paul.

What I Left Behind

The summer was full of too much beauty. I can only temporarily quell my hunger for picturesque sunsets, canine companions, and vast amounts of free time with skinny vanilla lattes and cream cheese brownies. This is clearly not ideal for my physique. I will debrief on the experience (and compensate for a mostly dormant blog) when I have a bit more free time.

Note to Self

Hand-washed laundry is not what's good.