Friday, August 03, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Adamantly Ignorant
How many times a week do you have conversations in which someone is spewing off a slue of facts about something they have very little knowledge about? Treating knowledge as a novelty. You may have known this person your entire life, you may have just met this person yesterday; what you know for sure about him is that he is not a doctor, scholar, or specialist in any way and yet he never seems to stop yammering about every topic from dietary needs to cultural customs in Southeast Asia (even though he's never been there). It seems in fact that the less one actually knows about any one topic, the more one tries to appear to know about every topic under the sun. It's the interesting conundrum of being intellectually curious in a culture of specialists.
If you went to college you most likely received a degree in one particular area of focus and while you are proudly knowledgeable in that one area you do not claim to know more than someone who specialized in a different area. For example, an accountant isn't going to pretend to be a dietitian and a botanist isn't going to pretend to be a journalist. Thus, college grads spend a lot of time out networking in the world trying to get someone who knows something to help in the areas of their life where they are ignorant. However, if perhaps you didn't go to college, or your degree was in something specifically related to liberal arts you didn't come away from that experience with a narrow focus. Instead you came away with the big picture and, for many of us, so broad of a focus that anything seems possible and everything seems pointless. You are smart, but unqualified and the sad truth is that the areas you know something about all have specialists that know more than you do. Thus, you're almost just as bad off, if not worse off, (in a practical sense) than you were before you started school. At least before college your job prospects were minimal and your friends were all in the same boat. After college, all of your friends are getting started with careers and you feel like you should be too, except that you aren't qualified to do anything minus entry-level positions, which may or may not require a degree at all! Now you're just a know it all with an ego and no job prospects. I'm there. It's frustrating. However, not as frustrating as the adamantly ignorant.
The adamantly ignorant are those people who not only aren't qualified to do anything, but have made a lifestyle of not knowing. They are proud of knowing nothing about the world and arrogant about the fact that they still make enough money to drink like obnoxious teenagers and take petty vacations to tourist trap destinations. They don't want to hear information that strays from how they can make more money, who won the sports game last night, or how much you drank last time you went out socially--at least it's this way on the male end. On the female end it's more about how much money you make, how much money your husband makes, and where you bought that, "Gorgeous pair of earrings, I simply must have a pair!" Or another cop-out of sorts, in this humble writer's opinion, is not knowing because you're religious and extraneous information somehow separates you from the meek, "whom are going to one day inherit the Earth." I'll go ahead and say to those people, sorry, acting meek while driving a thirty-thousand dollar car and going to a multi-million dollar church and living in an extraneously large house in the suburbs away from all the real poor people is probably not quite what your spiritual visionary of choice had in mind. Save yourself the embarrassment of hypocrisy and just learn something worth talking about. Anything really. It doesn't have to be astrophysics. Just making an effort to read or engage in American culture on a level deeper than chain stores and fast food gives you some definition as a human being. And you'll feel better about yourself--I promise. Won't even have to take a pill for it.
What gets extremely old in America is striking up an adult conversation and getting no opinions from anyone. I'll take Johnny-know-it-all's misguided opinion over an incredulous look of embarrassed pride any day. This is the look of the adamantly ignorant. A look that says, "I work for a living. I don't have time to know things unrelated to the inventory of my store." I'm sorry friend, but life is short, and your store interests no one but yourself. You're going to have to bring a book to bed tonight if you want anyone's genuine respect. Ego-tripping doesn't count as success. Only in your own head. I write this not to patronize, but to encourage. There are many difficult books with boring plot twists (because they mirror real life) that will teach you something significant about being human. Find them. Read them. There are places that you can visit that will remind you what the word "culture" means. Visit them. There is music and food and drinks that will add texture and richness to your time on the planet. You are not a money-making machine. You're a human. Simplify your life and reallocate your funds. There is beauty in the world beyond the concrete, neon signs, and flashing screens, but you have to make an effort to see it. You don't have to wait until retirement to start living your life. By then you'll be too apathetic to know what you want to do anyway. You'll probably just work to avoid the boredom. I'm not saying don't work--we all need money to be well--I'm saying do these things too. Don't just come home and collapse as it is in our nature to do.
If you went to college you most likely received a degree in one particular area of focus and while you are proudly knowledgeable in that one area you do not claim to know more than someone who specialized in a different area. For example, an accountant isn't going to pretend to be a dietitian and a botanist isn't going to pretend to be a journalist. Thus, college grads spend a lot of time out networking in the world trying to get someone who knows something to help in the areas of their life where they are ignorant. However, if perhaps you didn't go to college, or your degree was in something specifically related to liberal arts you didn't come away from that experience with a narrow focus. Instead you came away with the big picture and, for many of us, so broad of a focus that anything seems possible and everything seems pointless. You are smart, but unqualified and the sad truth is that the areas you know something about all have specialists that know more than you do. Thus, you're almost just as bad off, if not worse off, (in a practical sense) than you were before you started school. At least before college your job prospects were minimal and your friends were all in the same boat. After college, all of your friends are getting started with careers and you feel like you should be too, except that you aren't qualified to do anything minus entry-level positions, which may or may not require a degree at all! Now you're just a know it all with an ego and no job prospects. I'm there. It's frustrating. However, not as frustrating as the adamantly ignorant.
The adamantly ignorant are those people who not only aren't qualified to do anything, but have made a lifestyle of not knowing. They are proud of knowing nothing about the world and arrogant about the fact that they still make enough money to drink like obnoxious teenagers and take petty vacations to tourist trap destinations. They don't want to hear information that strays from how they can make more money, who won the sports game last night, or how much you drank last time you went out socially--at least it's this way on the male end. On the female end it's more about how much money you make, how much money your husband makes, and where you bought that, "Gorgeous pair of earrings, I simply must have a pair!" Or another cop-out of sorts, in this humble writer's opinion, is not knowing because you're religious and extraneous information somehow separates you from the meek, "whom are going to one day inherit the Earth." I'll go ahead and say to those people, sorry, acting meek while driving a thirty-thousand dollar car and going to a multi-million dollar church and living in an extraneously large house in the suburbs away from all the real poor people is probably not quite what your spiritual visionary of choice had in mind. Save yourself the embarrassment of hypocrisy and just learn something worth talking about. Anything really. It doesn't have to be astrophysics. Just making an effort to read or engage in American culture on a level deeper than chain stores and fast food gives you some definition as a human being. And you'll feel better about yourself--I promise. Won't even have to take a pill for it.
What gets extremely old in America is striking up an adult conversation and getting no opinions from anyone. I'll take Johnny-know-it-all's misguided opinion over an incredulous look of embarrassed pride any day. This is the look of the adamantly ignorant. A look that says, "I work for a living. I don't have time to know things unrelated to the inventory of my store." I'm sorry friend, but life is short, and your store interests no one but yourself. You're going to have to bring a book to bed tonight if you want anyone's genuine respect. Ego-tripping doesn't count as success. Only in your own head. I write this not to patronize, but to encourage. There are many difficult books with boring plot twists (because they mirror real life) that will teach you something significant about being human. Find them. Read them. There are places that you can visit that will remind you what the word "culture" means. Visit them. There is music and food and drinks that will add texture and richness to your time on the planet. You are not a money-making machine. You're a human. Simplify your life and reallocate your funds. There is beauty in the world beyond the concrete, neon signs, and flashing screens, but you have to make an effort to see it. You don't have to wait until retirement to start living your life. By then you'll be too apathetic to know what you want to do anyway. You'll probably just work to avoid the boredom. I'm not saying don't work--we all need money to be well--I'm saying do these things too. Don't just come home and collapse as it is in our nature to do.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Maxed Out
I have a new documentary to promote called, "Maxed Out." It's about both the private and national debt in America and just how serious it has become and how much pressure people are under to pay it back. As most investigative documentaries go, it has certain anti-business, pro-human qualities about it (which is good, but sometimes overly one-sided); portraying Middle American couples as naive and trusting and thus somehow not to be blamed for taking on ridiculous amounts of debt that they will never pay back. What I thought was despicable was the way credit card companies prey on college students (which I've always thought, but again, who didn't get a lecture from their parents on not signing up for credit cards as soon as they turned eighteen? Apparently not everyone), and people already struggling to survive who think someone is throwing them a bone. Don't get me wrong, I think it's absurd how people are making money off of other people's debts, but I'm also a big proponent of education and taking responsibility for one's choices. It seems to be the uneducated who are being preyed upon, which brings up all kinds of other issues about why they are uneducated (some defensible, some not). So, I don't know. Check it out. I'd love to hear what others think. I know we're all at that age where we're starting to recognize exactly what we got ourselves into with student loans and credit cards during school, also with car purchases, new houses, etc. I think a certain amount of debt is fine (I've read the stat 10-15% of one's annual income toward debt is considered manageable), but it's an issue that really requires both feet on the ground. It's a challenge for a lot of people to see their life in dollars and cents; pretty cold and calculating, but real all the same. Take it seriously friends. If you're not going to plan for anything else throughout your entire life, make a plan for your financial situation. It can screw up everything else without a lot of thought.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Reunion (or Ten Things I've Learned Since High School)
Even though my ten year high school reunion is still a year away--and I have my doubts about whether or not I will have much interest in attending this masturbatory tradition--Allison and I will be attending her reunion in a couple of weeks. In planning for this event we've been talking quite a bit about what has actually happened in ten years since we were wee balls of exploding hormones. So, I'd like to dedicate this blog entry to some of the little life lessons I've personally developed in my experience and education. If you would like to post some of your own in the "comments" section. I'd love to hear your opinions as well.
1) If people at your high school reunion tell you that, "You haven't changed a bit," no matter how jovial it sounds, it's not a compliment. If you're not changing, you're not growing.
2) There are certain aspects of life that should be taken for granted as the bare minimum of what you should be doing with your time in the universe. Staying out of prison is no more an accomplishment than taking care of your kids. These are things you're supposed to do. Raise your expectations a little.
3) Sleep an hour less, run an hour more.
4) Read without regard for what it is or how it makes you feel. Read books, read magazines, read web blogs, read newspapers. Your brain is a muscle and while your moral pride might give a shit about what you're putting in there, your synapses just enjoy the exercise--and you're learning about other people at the same time. Crosswords, Sudoku, etc. also work wonders.
5) Just because a person "isn't nice" doesn't mean they don't have something to offer. In a country like ours where everyone has complete freedom to give in to total gluttony, ignorance, and devolve to a knuckle-dragging cave dweller with a large-screen TV those who are pushing themselves in the opposite direction often have to be a little pissy to get their point across.
6) Happiness comes in small doses. For me it's a good cup of coffee, a beautiful view, a challenging hike, an inspiring novel, a well-crafted song, a great work of art,a good conversation, making love, traveling to new places, satirical humor...Appreciate it and let it go. Too much of any one thing will depress you as much as a little of everything will lift you up. And to quote Nietzsche, "I consider everyday wasted in which there has been no dancing."
7) Plan around human nature. It's unavoidable and will save you a lot of time and grief if you spend a little time now studying up on why you and other people act the way we do. If you push yourself too far without doing the things you need to do to refuel you're defeating the entire purpose of working so hard to begin with (which I assume is to make yourself happy).
8) Good beer in small doses, not bad beer in large doses. Bad beer in small doses? Why bother. No beer? Lighten up.
9) Find your calling. Then, ask yourself, "Will this pay the bills? Will this give me a life I can be happy with?" If the answer is even, "Maybe," I'm sorry, but you have to go for it regardless of how this affects your relationships, your values, your geographical location. If the answer is, "Not a chance," congratulations! Go for the money and spend every free second you have on your craft.
10) Take a long view of life. What we have to work with is no more our fault than it is our responsibility. Don't get hung up on what your parent's generation left you with, so much as trying to set your grandkids up for a better life than you've had. Even if you're not having kids, you owe this much to society.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?...Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do...It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-- Marianne Williamson
1) If people at your high school reunion tell you that, "You haven't changed a bit," no matter how jovial it sounds, it's not a compliment. If you're not changing, you're not growing.
2) There are certain aspects of life that should be taken for granted as the bare minimum of what you should be doing with your time in the universe. Staying out of prison is no more an accomplishment than taking care of your kids. These are things you're supposed to do. Raise your expectations a little.
3) Sleep an hour less, run an hour more.
4) Read without regard for what it is or how it makes you feel. Read books, read magazines, read web blogs, read newspapers. Your brain is a muscle and while your moral pride might give a shit about what you're putting in there, your synapses just enjoy the exercise--and you're learning about other people at the same time. Crosswords, Sudoku, etc. also work wonders.
5) Just because a person "isn't nice" doesn't mean they don't have something to offer. In a country like ours where everyone has complete freedom to give in to total gluttony, ignorance, and devolve to a knuckle-dragging cave dweller with a large-screen TV those who are pushing themselves in the opposite direction often have to be a little pissy to get their point across.
6) Happiness comes in small doses. For me it's a good cup of coffee, a beautiful view, a challenging hike, an inspiring novel, a well-crafted song, a great work of art,a good conversation, making love, traveling to new places, satirical humor...Appreciate it and let it go. Too much of any one thing will depress you as much as a little of everything will lift you up. And to quote Nietzsche, "I consider everyday wasted in which there has been no dancing."
7) Plan around human nature. It's unavoidable and will save you a lot of time and grief if you spend a little time now studying up on why you and other people act the way we do. If you push yourself too far without doing the things you need to do to refuel you're defeating the entire purpose of working so hard to begin with (which I assume is to make yourself happy).
8) Good beer in small doses, not bad beer in large doses. Bad beer in small doses? Why bother. No beer? Lighten up.
9) Find your calling. Then, ask yourself, "Will this pay the bills? Will this give me a life I can be happy with?" If the answer is even, "Maybe," I'm sorry, but you have to go for it regardless of how this affects your relationships, your values, your geographical location. If the answer is, "Not a chance," congratulations! Go for the money and spend every free second you have on your craft.
10) Take a long view of life. What we have to work with is no more our fault than it is our responsibility. Don't get hung up on what your parent's generation left you with, so much as trying to set your grandkids up for a better life than you've had. Even if you're not having kids, you owe this much to society.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?...Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do...It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-- Marianne Williamson
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Classism
Who's missed Jeff's socio-political rants this winter? Well I certainly have and since it has been building up in the back of my skull for the last several months it's time to burst the bubble and allow some of that wonderfully disgruntled ooze to pour out here for my good ol' blog compadres. Today's topic is one that is of great interest to me particularly because it's one of the few prejudices I don't just find disturbing, but that I actually find myself in the middle of fairly often. I'm talking about Classism. What is Classism? It's pretty simple really. If you are of one class and you think of people who are of another class as somehow inferior or wrong or lazy or some other negative adjective that makes you feel better about the way you choose to live your life, you are a Classist. This is not too unlike being a racist, or a sexist, or an ageist, except that we are talking specifically about money and the things money does for your life.
For example, let's say Tommy grew up in a blue-collar family. His Dad was an electrician, his mom worked at the local bakery down the street. Because neither of his parents went to college, they didn't know the first thing about saving for Tommy's college education, or helping Tommy to study the things he would need to get into a good college, or alerting Tommy early enough in his adolescence that every grade he gets from freshman year of high school on matters tremendously with regard to what he can be when he grows up. Mom and Dad can't see past blue-collar society, Tommy can't see past blue-collar society. Not only can they not help out, but once they have some money and things aren't going too badly they start to take a certain pride in the fact that they didn't have to go to college to "make it." Tommy inherits this sense of pride and when he actually does go to college everyone there sounds extremely snotty and care-free compared with the struggles he has known his whole life. On top of school being difficult and expensive, it's also embarrassing to be in a culture of people who unintentionally talk about your family as though they are the scum of society.
On the other hand, Lucy grew up in a family with a Mom who was a nurse and a Dad who works with computer software, both have graduate degrees and began putting money into a fund for Lucy's college the week after Lucy came home from the hospital. They helped Lucy with her studies her whole life and where they couldn't help they hired someone to tutor her. She was punished more severely for bad grades than for certain misbehaviors that Tommy's parents would have smacked him silly for (literally in some cases). There was never a question of whether or not Lucy would go to college, instead the question was always which one and what she would study there. The possibilities of career and lifestyle were limitless.
So, here's where Classism comes into play. It's not cool on any level for any person to judge another person based on what they do for a living. I do it, you do it, we all do it--we don't always say it out loud, but we do it. The mechanic who starts making jokes about the lawyer who doesn't know the first thing about his car engine, the lawyer who in turn goes back to office mocking the mechanic's bad grammar, even things as subtle as talking plainly in mixed company about things that cost a lot of money as though everyone has one or about how glad you are that you don't have to do the job Tommy is doing. There is a huge gap today between the haves and have nots. What some of my relatives consider pretty typical in terms of lifestyle--flat-screen TVs, Tivo, a couple of cars in the driveway, a cupboard full of groceries--a lot of my close friends could never imagine owning with the jobs they work. So here's some of the variables to consider: The Lucys of the world may end up being the lawyers making fun of some guy's accent or philistine behavior at the Jiffy Lube, but without that guy's help they would never get to work on time. Without Lucy Tommy might loose his shop for fixing the wrong part on a guy's car and getting sued. It's not a pretty world out there and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has friends and family on either side of the social spectrum. It's uncomfortable and tricky for either person to be themselves without treading on the pride of the other. I think being aware that these issues are going on helps the situation all around. Tommy--don't act like a tasteless redneck and try to appreciate that school is not easy no matter how much help you receive. Lucy--stop being a pretentious snot and appreciate how hard other people are working for your comfortable life. In general people, just try to show a little common human decency. You're not that special, no matter who you are.
And that concludes today's lecture on Class...
For example, let's say Tommy grew up in a blue-collar family. His Dad was an electrician, his mom worked at the local bakery down the street. Because neither of his parents went to college, they didn't know the first thing about saving for Tommy's college education, or helping Tommy to study the things he would need to get into a good college, or alerting Tommy early enough in his adolescence that every grade he gets from freshman year of high school on matters tremendously with regard to what he can be when he grows up. Mom and Dad can't see past blue-collar society, Tommy can't see past blue-collar society. Not only can they not help out, but once they have some money and things aren't going too badly they start to take a certain pride in the fact that they didn't have to go to college to "make it." Tommy inherits this sense of pride and when he actually does go to college everyone there sounds extremely snotty and care-free compared with the struggles he has known his whole life. On top of school being difficult and expensive, it's also embarrassing to be in a culture of people who unintentionally talk about your family as though they are the scum of society.
On the other hand, Lucy grew up in a family with a Mom who was a nurse and a Dad who works with computer software, both have graduate degrees and began putting money into a fund for Lucy's college the week after Lucy came home from the hospital. They helped Lucy with her studies her whole life and where they couldn't help they hired someone to tutor her. She was punished more severely for bad grades than for certain misbehaviors that Tommy's parents would have smacked him silly for (literally in some cases). There was never a question of whether or not Lucy would go to college, instead the question was always which one and what she would study there. The possibilities of career and lifestyle were limitless.
So, here's where Classism comes into play. It's not cool on any level for any person to judge another person based on what they do for a living. I do it, you do it, we all do it--we don't always say it out loud, but we do it. The mechanic who starts making jokes about the lawyer who doesn't know the first thing about his car engine, the lawyer who in turn goes back to office mocking the mechanic's bad grammar, even things as subtle as talking plainly in mixed company about things that cost a lot of money as though everyone has one or about how glad you are that you don't have to do the job Tommy is doing. There is a huge gap today between the haves and have nots. What some of my relatives consider pretty typical in terms of lifestyle--flat-screen TVs, Tivo, a couple of cars in the driveway, a cupboard full of groceries--a lot of my close friends could never imagine owning with the jobs they work. So here's some of the variables to consider: The Lucys of the world may end up being the lawyers making fun of some guy's accent or philistine behavior at the Jiffy Lube, but without that guy's help they would never get to work on time. Without Lucy Tommy might loose his shop for fixing the wrong part on a guy's car and getting sued. It's not a pretty world out there and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has friends and family on either side of the social spectrum. It's uncomfortable and tricky for either person to be themselves without treading on the pride of the other. I think being aware that these issues are going on helps the situation all around. Tommy--don't act like a tasteless redneck and try to appreciate that school is not easy no matter how much help you receive. Lucy--stop being a pretentious snot and appreciate how hard other people are working for your comfortable life. In general people, just try to show a little common human decency. You're not that special, no matter who you are.
And that concludes today's lecture on Class...
Monday, May 14, 2007
Listen to Wilco on Prairie Home Companion
Haven't heard of Garrison Keillor or "Prairie Home Companion"? You should be somewhat ashamed and go to this site for a listen some evening instead of watching whatever version of people getting mutilated and beautiful scientists discovering who done it. Also, this particular episode of PHC features music by a band who is possibly one of the only bands in America still making quality music: Wilco. Wilco is also a band you should be somewhat ashamed to not listen to if you have never heard of them. For a generation whose only claim to fame is Kurt Cobain--a drugged-out teenager of a poet who couldn't balance his artistic idealism with a little sense of craft and blew his head off at twenty-seven--Wilco is a breath of fresh air. If you're just getting a listen to this band you might want to start at the beginning with their folksy, rock-n-roll, blues stuff and listen to the progression of depth and musical exploration up to their newest, "Sky Blue Sky." If nothing else you will be blown away by Jeff Tweedy's beautifully heart-wrenching lyrics and astute observations of what it means to be human. So take your laptop to the back porch tonight, pour a glass of wine and enjoy an evening outside with these two American delicacies.
http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/phc/2007/05/12_phc
http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/phc/2007/05/12_phc
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Here We Go Again
Hi friends. I'm not sure that anyone even looks at this anymore since I have failed to keep it up to date this winter, but I'm going to try to get back in the habit writing on here. So much new is happening I don't know where to begin. I'll recap first.
It's been a great winter in Bend. It's such an incredibly beautiful area that it's hard to be in a bad mood for long. I have snow-capped mountains right out the back window of my apartment and everyday I drive to a park and ride and ride a bus up to the ski resort that overlooks an entire range of gorgeous mountains. It is the last month of a long season, so I'll try to be upbeat. Those of you who have worked the seasonal life know how exhausting it can be and although it's fun and usually full of interesting people, by the time the season is winding down you are definitely ready for something stable and tolerable on a day to day basis. Which is what I think we have found in Bellingham.
Allison spent most of the winter applying to graduate programs for a Masters in Couseling and was accepted into her first choice in Bellingham, Washington. We went to visit for her interview a couple weeks ago and loved the school and the area. It's about an hour north of Seattle and an hour south of Vancouver, the campus sits on a hillside with the Puget Sound downhill and mountains with hiking trails on the uphill side of campus. You can walk or bike right out of the parking lot onto mountain trails that will take you all over the area. So, in short, we loved it and we're moving there in month. I've applied to a couple jobs up that way: one as a Residence Hall Director at the University and one with a web-based PR company as an in-house writer. I also have my webpage up and running now (though it's nothing to see just yet) at www.writingyourwrongs.com and will be looking for freelance work this coming year.
My latest writing project idea that I would like to employ your help with is a guide to local coffee cross-country. I'm writing up a proposal for a travel-guide of sorts that will help people traveling on vacation or for business who love coffee as much as I do find local quality shops in the areas they're visiting instead of drinking Star Bucks everywhere they go. They burn their beans, they exploit their farmers, they overuse the land on their plantations and they advertise organic, fair-trade coffee even though they only offer it once a month as a "specialty coffee." And they're the largest whole-saler of coffee in the world. Go somewhere else. They can afford to do a better job and they just won't. They are to good coffee what McDonalds is to a decent meal. It'll all be in the book. However, in order to persuade the publishing companies that this is a book that will sell, I'd like to first start a local coffee blog with reviews of the best coffee shops in your area. It will be coming soon, but if you have an interest in writing a review or providing me with some material to write one that might go in the guide, drop me a line on here or at JeffHardesty@writingyourwrongs.com. I think if I could add a link to this blog in my book proposal and let the publisher see that there is already an interest I would have a better chance at getting a deal. Coffee lovers out there? You interested?
I have some random pictures of this winter that I haven't posted yet, so I'm just going to post them in no particular order. Enjoy! I'd love to hear from people. I feel like I've been so out of touch this winter. This job has really been all-consuming. Between work and trying to get a life in order, I've had very little time for anything but drinking and sleeping otherwise. Let me know what's new.
Much love,
Jeff
It's been a great winter in Bend. It's such an incredibly beautiful area that it's hard to be in a bad mood for long. I have snow-capped mountains right out the back window of my apartment and everyday I drive to a park and ride and ride a bus up to the ski resort that overlooks an entire range of gorgeous mountains. It is the last month of a long season, so I'll try to be upbeat. Those of you who have worked the seasonal life know how exhausting it can be and although it's fun and usually full of interesting people, by the time the season is winding down you are definitely ready for something stable and tolerable on a day to day basis. Which is what I think we have found in Bellingham.
Allison spent most of the winter applying to graduate programs for a Masters in Couseling and was accepted into her first choice in Bellingham, Washington. We went to visit for her interview a couple weeks ago and loved the school and the area. It's about an hour north of Seattle and an hour south of Vancouver, the campus sits on a hillside with the Puget Sound downhill and mountains with hiking trails on the uphill side of campus. You can walk or bike right out of the parking lot onto mountain trails that will take you all over the area. So, in short, we loved it and we're moving there in month. I've applied to a couple jobs up that way: one as a Residence Hall Director at the University and one with a web-based PR company as an in-house writer. I also have my webpage up and running now (though it's nothing to see just yet) at www.writingyourwrongs.com and will be looking for freelance work this coming year.
My latest writing project idea that I would like to employ your help with is a guide to local coffee cross-country. I'm writing up a proposal for a travel-guide of sorts that will help people traveling on vacation or for business who love coffee as much as I do find local quality shops in the areas they're visiting instead of drinking Star Bucks everywhere they go. They burn their beans, they exploit their farmers, they overuse the land on their plantations and they advertise organic, fair-trade coffee even though they only offer it once a month as a "specialty coffee." And they're the largest whole-saler of coffee in the world. Go somewhere else. They can afford to do a better job and they just won't. They are to good coffee what McDonalds is to a decent meal. It'll all be in the book. However, in order to persuade the publishing companies that this is a book that will sell, I'd like to first start a local coffee blog with reviews of the best coffee shops in your area. It will be coming soon, but if you have an interest in writing a review or providing me with some material to write one that might go in the guide, drop me a line on here or at JeffHardesty@writingyourwrongs.com. I think if I could add a link to this blog in my book proposal and let the publisher see that there is already an interest I would have a better chance at getting a deal. Coffee lovers out there? You interested?
I have some random pictures of this winter that I haven't posted yet, so I'm just going to post them in no particular order. Enjoy! I'd love to hear from people. I feel like I've been so out of touch this winter. This job has really been all-consuming. Between work and trying to get a life in order, I've had very little time for anything but drinking and sleeping otherwise. Let me know what's new.
Much love,
Jeff
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
My New Business
Great news! I'm starting my own freelancing business called, "Writing Your Wrongs." I'll be doing freelance stories for various publications, editing for businesses and webpages, press releases, and other public relations writing. And of course my oh-so-lucritive true passion, writing fiction. I have met a guy here who has his own advertising business who has done work in almost every form of media imaginable. He has many connections with newspapers and magazines around Oregon and when I told him I was interested in finding some writing work he practically started this business for me. I'm writing a story currently on my good friend and boss Kevin (who hired me at Mt. Bachelor) and the interesting story of how he became a ski coach for the U.S Ski Team and now a top administrator at a ski resort while only having one leg. This new friend of mine is also subcontracting me to write several press releases for clients of his that will go in national publications and has offered to let me write for a local outdoor publication he plans to put out in March. I'm obviously pretty excited about the potential of getting to be my own boss and getting paid for doing what I love, but it's also a little scary to be thrown into this so quickly. I don't know what to say. My confidence lies in my ability to write and I'm just hoping the business end will come with some education and experience. I know I have a few other writer friends out there that read this occationally so if you are interested in doing something similar I'd be happy to send you some links and references for finding freelance work. The greatest part is there's no overhead to start a business like this, you can do it in your free time as much or as little as you like, and you get to write off pretty much everything vaguely related to your office as a business expense. So wish me luck in the upcoming months and if you have good story idea, know of someone opening a new business that needs some PR, or someone who needs a writer or editor send them my way. Thanks!
Oh, I've also had a lot of people ask me what happened with the modeling gig I wrote about a few months back. I'm guessing the guy was a fake. I don't know for sure, but we corresponded for awhile and I kept pressing him to show me a contract before I could fully commit and then I didn't hear from him again. C'est la vie.
Oh, I've also had a lot of people ask me what happened with the modeling gig I wrote about a few months back. I'm guessing the guy was a fake. I don't know for sure, but we corresponded for awhile and I kept pressing him to show me a contract before I could fully commit and then I didn't hear from him again. C'est la vie.
Jesus Camp Review
I was finally able to see the documentary "Jesus Camp" that I had previously posted a trailer to and I have to say it was both sickening and reassuring. I say sickening because I think extremism troubles everyone. The things that were said by some of the kids in this movie and the adults that were teaching them were so far out that I can't imagine anyone not thinking, "Wow, I didn't know these people existed." Things such as, "Harry Potter is a warlock and if he were real he'd go straight to hell!" I just wanted to sit this minister lady down and calmly explain to her that Harry Potter is FICTIONAL (do you know what fiction is little girl? That means he only exists in your imagination. BOO!) and that warlocks are no more real than ghosts, goblins, demons or Satan's bogeymen. It's just madness and I can't help but think that the majority of it comes from sheer boredom. The evangelicals in this movie are so angry and so frustrated with the world and what I really want to know is why they think the world is supposed to be a good place. No one ever said it was. There are parts that are. There are parts that aren't. It's just life. Does that mean don't stand up for what you believe in? No. Does it mean tempering what you believe in with facts and evidence based on modern information? Yes, I think it does.
I say that the movie was reassuring because since this movie was produced much of what these radical evangelicals want moderates and liberals to be afraid of is that they have control of the white house, the congress, and the supreme court and we know this isn't the case anymore. Had I watched this a couple of years ago I may have been a little freaked out. "Could people like this that sit around in their small towns brewing over how horrible the world is really have the discipline to take over powerful parts of our government?" And a few years ago I would have had to look at the situation and say, "Yeah, they're doing it right now." Fortunately, most people (arguably all people) know what is too much and recognize when something that in moderation might be considered beneficial, even inspirational, has gone too far and needs to be cut down to size. I think we've seen this with the delusional decisions Bush has made during his time as president and if anything I think he has given a lot of radical, ugly people a platform to show the country how dangerous religious minds can be when unbalanced by logic, moderation and an open-minded education. The polarization in America has to stop. It can't continue. Liberals cannot divorce themselves from conservatives and visa versa. We're stuck with each other. And anyone who has dealt with group dynamics will tell you that what comes as a result is no more divinely inspired than it is controlled by logic and planning. It's just a dynamic. If our two parties were greens and democrats the country would be decidedly more liberal. If they were moderates and republicans, more conservative, but it's not about right and wrong--not to me. It's simply what has come about by throwing several different groups together in a system where they can't trump each other without risking backlash. Conservatives have been trying to trump liberals for the last thirty years. Now it's going the other way. So let's not get melodramatic about it. Sure it's good to learn about who is hanging out on the fringes of your society, but to watch a film like "Jesus Camp" and come away thinking anything other than here is a group of people who are taking a peaceful philosophy and turning it into an angry political tool is being extreme in a reverse fashion. Hollywood loves to jab at middle America because it doesn't understand why people in this country would choose to live such slow, simplistic lives, and middle America loves to jab back because Hollywood seems so whimsical and petty that they can't grasp why these people don't take life more seriously. I've seen the good and bad of both sides in my travels and I have to say we're all more or less the same when you get outside the little boxes we put each other into. Be a human being. Use your brain. You're not one or the other. You don't have to fit in a category to be normal.
I say that the movie was reassuring because since this movie was produced much of what these radical evangelicals want moderates and liberals to be afraid of is that they have control of the white house, the congress, and the supreme court and we know this isn't the case anymore. Had I watched this a couple of years ago I may have been a little freaked out. "Could people like this that sit around in their small towns brewing over how horrible the world is really have the discipline to take over powerful parts of our government?" And a few years ago I would have had to look at the situation and say, "Yeah, they're doing it right now." Fortunately, most people (arguably all people) know what is too much and recognize when something that in moderation might be considered beneficial, even inspirational, has gone too far and needs to be cut down to size. I think we've seen this with the delusional decisions Bush has made during his time as president and if anything I think he has given a lot of radical, ugly people a platform to show the country how dangerous religious minds can be when unbalanced by logic, moderation and an open-minded education. The polarization in America has to stop. It can't continue. Liberals cannot divorce themselves from conservatives and visa versa. We're stuck with each other. And anyone who has dealt with group dynamics will tell you that what comes as a result is no more divinely inspired than it is controlled by logic and planning. It's just a dynamic. If our two parties were greens and democrats the country would be decidedly more liberal. If they were moderates and republicans, more conservative, but it's not about right and wrong--not to me. It's simply what has come about by throwing several different groups together in a system where they can't trump each other without risking backlash. Conservatives have been trying to trump liberals for the last thirty years. Now it's going the other way. So let's not get melodramatic about it. Sure it's good to learn about who is hanging out on the fringes of your society, but to watch a film like "Jesus Camp" and come away thinking anything other than here is a group of people who are taking a peaceful philosophy and turning it into an angry political tool is being extreme in a reverse fashion. Hollywood loves to jab at middle America because it doesn't understand why people in this country would choose to live such slow, simplistic lives, and middle America loves to jab back because Hollywood seems so whimsical and petty that they can't grasp why these people don't take life more seriously. I've seen the good and bad of both sides in my travels and I have to say we're all more or less the same when you get outside the little boxes we put each other into. Be a human being. Use your brain. You're not one or the other. You don't have to fit in a category to be normal.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
MLK Day in the Northwest
It's been a little while since I've written anything, but we're finally moved in and settled here in Bend so I'd like to get back to writing more frequently. One of my favorite things about traveling is getting to see the various colloquialisms that make up the culture of a place. In the U.S. it's particularly interesting because so much of our culture is homogenized. Suburbia in Bend, Oregon is no different from any other city I've ever visited. They have Home Depot and Best Buy and Target like anywhere else, so you have to really speak to the locals to get a feel for what a place is all about. I'm getting worse at picking up on these things as I get older and more content with my views. Where as visiting a new city at age twenty-one was incredibly new and exciting and I was enamored by how different everything was from what I had previously known, now I have other places to compare to--so I've become a little more critical. That is, I can see the pros and cons rather than just blind passion for something new and interesting. It's kind of like dating in that respect. Eventually you start to see the similarities of life no matter where you are (or who you're with) and you start to accept places (and people) for what (who) they are without imposing your own vision on the experience, but at the same time you're more wise to the ways of the world (you're not the naive kid that parks his truck outside a hotel room with all his earthly possessions hidden under a thin tarp in the back to be stolen by homeless vagrants outside of Phoenix. Who does that? Just like you wouldn't give your heart away to any two-bit drunk you meet at the bar).
So with MLK day coming up here comes my one month analysis of racial issues in Bend. Some of what I've experienced here is very similar to other places in the west. The west has this general "cool" feel about it. Even people who are no where close to cool still dress and act the part. For younger people this is just typical behavior. Kids are trying to act cool all over the country, it doesn't matter where you are. But the interesting thing about the west is that even many people who are middle-aged still dress and act in this, "I'm too fucking hip to have a sense of humor about anything, just be cool," sort of manner. It's kind of funny. They get way bent out of shape about things that they really have no idea about. Let's take political correctness for example. First off, there are no black people in Bend...period. I have not seen a single African-American in a month here. Yet, when my ski-students like to yell out, "I'm black, I'm black" as they run for the multi-colored stalls at the ski lifts, or someone says, "Do you do blacks?" (meaning, do you ski black diamond runs) and I chuckle, I get funny looks. For people who grew up in the south or close to the south or anywhere in the Midwest where racial issues are still issues this kind of off-colored (no pun intended) humor is not taken offense to by people on either side. I see this as true equality--black people laugh at white people, white people laugh at black people but they all stay friends and mean no disrespect. In the northwest it's not like this, generally speaking, because minorities are more or less an academic idea. Racism isn't anything these people have ever dealt with so even someone joking ironically about racial issues is in bad taste. Racism is something they learned about in schools and see on Hollywood movies about farm towns in middle America--it doesn't happen a whole lot in Bend. Not like in central Missouri where the people who came to buy our bed before we left told me they were going to, "Jew me down" on the price as though this was just common vernacular for making such a transaction. I'm over uppitiness though. I went through a phase right after college where I took all these new PC ideas to the extreme and wanted the whole world to be this happy little inclusive place where no one's feelings ever get hurt and we all live in peace and harmony. Then I left my pleasant bubble of academia and more or less hated everyone I came in contact with for two years after that. Hating people who hate doesn't help the situation anymore than being radical and uppity about hate issues. Human decency is my new kick. The thing about many of the people I've met who are supposedly the educated protectors of civilization in the U.S. are also some of the biggest assholes I've ever met. They wouldn't throw their best friend a bone if he were starving on their doorstep. "I just don't want the hassle. If I help him now he'll never learn to take care of himself," they'd say. And maybe they'd be right, but they'd still be an asshole.
Part of this whole, "I have a dream" American vision of peace amongst a country of immigrants boils down to basic human decency. Manners. Please and thank you and have a nice day. Even if you don't mean it. It's the social lubricant that keeps things moving in a pleasurable manner when all anyone really wants is to talk about themselves and be left the hell alone to live their life as they please. Engaging people in political, racial, religious discourse has it's time and place--and it isn't in the check-out line at a grocery store. In a college classroom--fine. In a religious institution or political organization--great! But please people, you're not helping by putting on this air of intelligence and chastising people for mocking what they don't understand (that's what blogs are for!). Perhaps they'd like your input. Some people would genuinely like to know if they are saying offensive things. Others would rather you jump off a cliff. The fact of the matter is, not everyone can afford the education and travel that brings with it an open mind and accepting outlook. Some people with very good hearts just don't know that what they are saying is extremely rude and inappropriate. And those people, I promise you, are not going to walk away from a chastising saying to themselves, "Wow, I really get that. I should be more respectful. They're more likely to say, "What a pretentious ass. I shoulda popped him in the nose."
So please try to be civil people and enjoy the long weekend. I will personally be celebrating MLK day by teaching rich white kids how to slide down mountains on really expensive sticks. I hope some of you actually have a more culturally rich experience. Much love, Jeff.
So with MLK day coming up here comes my one month analysis of racial issues in Bend. Some of what I've experienced here is very similar to other places in the west. The west has this general "cool" feel about it. Even people who are no where close to cool still dress and act the part. For younger people this is just typical behavior. Kids are trying to act cool all over the country, it doesn't matter where you are. But the interesting thing about the west is that even many people who are middle-aged still dress and act in this, "I'm too fucking hip to have a sense of humor about anything, just be cool," sort of manner. It's kind of funny. They get way bent out of shape about things that they really have no idea about. Let's take political correctness for example. First off, there are no black people in Bend...period. I have not seen a single African-American in a month here. Yet, when my ski-students like to yell out, "I'm black, I'm black" as they run for the multi-colored stalls at the ski lifts, or someone says, "Do you do blacks?" (meaning, do you ski black diamond runs) and I chuckle, I get funny looks. For people who grew up in the south or close to the south or anywhere in the Midwest where racial issues are still issues this kind of off-colored (no pun intended) humor is not taken offense to by people on either side. I see this as true equality--black people laugh at white people, white people laugh at black people but they all stay friends and mean no disrespect. In the northwest it's not like this, generally speaking, because minorities are more or less an academic idea. Racism isn't anything these people have ever dealt with so even someone joking ironically about racial issues is in bad taste. Racism is something they learned about in schools and see on Hollywood movies about farm towns in middle America--it doesn't happen a whole lot in Bend. Not like in central Missouri where the people who came to buy our bed before we left told me they were going to, "Jew me down" on the price as though this was just common vernacular for making such a transaction. I'm over uppitiness though. I went through a phase right after college where I took all these new PC ideas to the extreme and wanted the whole world to be this happy little inclusive place where no one's feelings ever get hurt and we all live in peace and harmony. Then I left my pleasant bubble of academia and more or less hated everyone I came in contact with for two years after that. Hating people who hate doesn't help the situation anymore than being radical and uppity about hate issues. Human decency is my new kick. The thing about many of the people I've met who are supposedly the educated protectors of civilization in the U.S. are also some of the biggest assholes I've ever met. They wouldn't throw their best friend a bone if he were starving on their doorstep. "I just don't want the hassle. If I help him now he'll never learn to take care of himself," they'd say. And maybe they'd be right, but they'd still be an asshole.
Part of this whole, "I have a dream" American vision of peace amongst a country of immigrants boils down to basic human decency. Manners. Please and thank you and have a nice day. Even if you don't mean it. It's the social lubricant that keeps things moving in a pleasurable manner when all anyone really wants is to talk about themselves and be left the hell alone to live their life as they please. Engaging people in political, racial, religious discourse has it's time and place--and it isn't in the check-out line at a grocery store. In a college classroom--fine. In a religious institution or political organization--great! But please people, you're not helping by putting on this air of intelligence and chastising people for mocking what they don't understand (that's what blogs are for!). Perhaps they'd like your input. Some people would genuinely like to know if they are saying offensive things. Others would rather you jump off a cliff. The fact of the matter is, not everyone can afford the education and travel that brings with it an open mind and accepting outlook. Some people with very good hearts just don't know that what they are saying is extremely rude and inappropriate. And those people, I promise you, are not going to walk away from a chastising saying to themselves, "Wow, I really get that. I should be more respectful. They're more likely to say, "What a pretentious ass. I shoulda popped him in the nose."
So please try to be civil people and enjoy the long weekend. I will personally be celebrating MLK day by teaching rich white kids how to slide down mountains on really expensive sticks. I hope some of you actually have a more culturally rich experience. Much love, Jeff.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
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