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11 September 2008
05 September 2008
I left my first year textbooks at Joey and Liz's before I went to Masset. Yesterday, I borrowed a CanCart to bring my books back to campus (CanCarts look like this and it was about 75% full):
Anywho...
Friend 1: Wow, they really do try to weed you out in first year science!
Friend 2: Do YOU have the upper body strength to be in science?!
Anywho...
Friend 1: Wow, they really do try to weed you out in first year science!
Friend 2: Do YOU have the upper body strength to be in science?!
31 August 2008
29 August 2008
Resolutions for a New Term
- Stop being so judgmental
- Really listen
- Make time to appreciate great literature
- Type properly
And you know, get good grades, actually do the pre-reading, etc.
07 August 2008
"how are you?"
One of the best things about being back home is the change in the value people place on their relationships. People shamelessly want to spend time with each other. Nobody here chooses "maybe attending" (fuck you facebook). Everyone is in everyone else's space all the time. Yes, it's somewhat invasive. Yes, it's dramatic, but in my community, we genuinely care about each other and get to know our neighbors.
No one rushes in Masset. A quick trip to the store for milk can easily turn in to an hour-long chat. People choose to spend time together on a whim. Dropping by unannounced produces no discomfort for anyone involved. I feel like when someone stops me in the street and asks me how I'm doing, whatever I answer actually matters.
At work, however, things are entirely different. I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up but I do know that whatever I end up doing, I won't do it wearing a name tag. I work a relatively menial job that requires a lot of interaction with the general public. Consequently, this means that I get asked "How are you?" about once every 3 minutes, but this time no one cares about the answers. Every time I respond, "I'm fine thank-you, how are you doing?" but feel silly doing so because I don't really care what they answer either. It's a waste of time and energy. I wondered recently what would happen if I started questions I actually wanted to hear answers to.
Do you feel like you're part of a community?
Can you tell my why you're monogamous?
Do you like your siblings?
Are your parents still alive?
What has made you happy today?
What can you be passionate about, more than anything in the world?
I doubt I'd get any responses and the credit union isn't the best place for a nice chat so instead, can I please ask one thing of you? Please only ask "how are you?" or "how's it going" if you care what the answers are. I'll try my best to do the same. Deal?
No one rushes in Masset. A quick trip to the store for milk can easily turn in to an hour-long chat. People choose to spend time together on a whim. Dropping by unannounced produces no discomfort for anyone involved. I feel like when someone stops me in the street and asks me how I'm doing, whatever I answer actually matters.
At work, however, things are entirely different. I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up but I do know that whatever I end up doing, I won't do it wearing a name tag. I work a relatively menial job that requires a lot of interaction with the general public. Consequently, this means that I get asked "How are you?" about once every 3 minutes, but this time no one cares about the answers. Every time I respond, "I'm fine thank-you, how are you doing?" but feel silly doing so because I don't really care what they answer either. It's a waste of time and energy. I wondered recently what would happen if I started questions I actually wanted to hear answers to.
Do you feel like you're part of a community?
Can you tell my why you're monogamous?
Do you like your siblings?
Are your parents still alive?
What has made you happy today?
What can you be passionate about, more than anything in the world?
I doubt I'd get any responses and the credit union isn't the best place for a nice chat so instead, can I please ask one thing of you? Please only ask "how are you?" or "how's it going" if you care what the answers are. I'll try my best to do the same. Deal?
04 August 2008
and breakfast
I'm sure you've all heard me gush about Celine's Have Cake, Will Travel. Celine's started a new blog, and breakfast, "a mish-mash of all things that make life a treat" that you should check out; it's lovely! I nabbed the image below from and breakfast to give you a taste of the pleasures that await you when you check out the site [here].
03 August 2008
Thoughts on Brave New World
I'm glad that Wendy talked me into reading Brave New World or rather, just handed me a copy and went "borrow this". In any case, that worked out nicely and I'm glad I've finally read it.
While I was reading Nineteen Eighty-Four, Anthem, Never Let Me Go, and A Handmaid's Tale I was left with a feeling throughout the whole novel that everything seemed inherently wrong. They made for fun reads because everything seemed so outlandish. What was truly striking about Brave New World was that things weren't so black and white so I was forced to connect what I was reading directly to the world I live in. As a reader I couldn't conveniently condemn everything as immoral because I think:
These are all values that would be perfectly acceptable to have in BNW society. I'm not saying that there weren't parts of BNW that were disturbing. Much of it was.
Throughout the entire novel, I found myself questioning whether or not the people raised in BNW's society could truly be happy. I've been conditioned to believe that I need to experience pain and suffering to truly live but if I hadn't grown up with this belief, could I be happy as an oblivious Gamma if I'd been conditioned differently? What seemed to be lacking was passion, but I don't think you can have passion in an obnoxiously carefree, healthy, happy (?) society. I guess from this I can take the idea that we musn't devalue art. Art captures passion and feeling. It drives people. It can be breathtaking. I can't imagine a world without it. Surrounded by science elitists, I find that I can forget this too easily. But then science in the pure, beautiful way I know it doesn't really exist in BNW either.
While I was reading Nineteen Eighty-Four, Anthem, Never Let Me Go, and A Handmaid's Tale I was left with a feeling throughout the whole novel that everything seemed inherently wrong. They made for fun reads because everything seemed so outlandish. What was truly striking about Brave New World was that things weren't so black and white so I was forced to connect what I was reading directly to the world I live in. As a reader I couldn't conveniently condemn everything as immoral because I think:
- hedonism is perfectly okay as long as it's not at someone else's expense
- monogamy is overrated
- we musn't make such a fuss about death because what can you do about it, really?
These are all values that would be perfectly acceptable to have in BNW society. I'm not saying that there weren't parts of BNW that were disturbing. Much of it was.
Throughout the entire novel, I found myself questioning whether or not the people raised in BNW's society could truly be happy. I've been conditioned to believe that I need to experience pain and suffering to truly live but if I hadn't grown up with this belief, could I be happy as an oblivious Gamma if I'd been conditioned differently? What seemed to be lacking was passion, but I don't think you can have passion in an obnoxiously carefree, healthy, happy (?) society. I guess from this I can take the idea that we musn't devalue art. Art captures passion and feeling. It drives people. It can be breathtaking. I can't imagine a world without it. Surrounded by science elitists, I find that I can forget this too easily. But then science in the pure, beautiful way I know it doesn't really exist in BNW either.
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