The Virgin Suicides

This week's been a difficult one for me. I started reading The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, a best-selling novel about a family of five sisters who all kill themselves over the course of the year. The narrative is written as the group of neighborhood boys try to make sense of the tragedy and uncover the reasons behind their sudden and unexpected suicides.

The book is utterly transfixing, one you legitimately cannot put down. The hardest part is that you know all the Lisbon sisters die, yet you cannot stop hoping the ending will change. Of course, there's always the option to stop reading the book, let them hang in the state they were on page whatever for the rest of eternity. But this is not a book that can be abandoned. That's the thing about a good story; it demands to be read. 

I have a personal connection to this novel because earlier this year my friend Maggie, whom I've known since I was eight, committed suicide. It's strange to think that she's just gone. We had grown apart and I had known vaguely that she had been depressed. She hid it well. I would see her about three times a year and never really suspect that anything was wrong. Or maybe I was in denial. Who knows.... it still hurts on a daily basis. There's an ongoing sense of guilt for not doing anything to help. We were Facebook friends, mutual Twitter and Tumblr followers, etc., but that can't replace personal closeness I suppose. I have her number. I could have called. That's the thing about pain; it demands to be felt. 


Edit: Earlier down the page is a poem Maggie wrote, called "I have all the souls i need." 

The Language of Politics

This week I read more of The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, but that wasn't what captured my attention. 

Following a family fun outing of flu shots, my parents parked me in the Kroger Marketplace cafeteria with my mother's iPad while they went grocery shopping. While perusing the New York Times app, I happened across this article "Gosh Who Talks Like That? Romney Does" and was immediately captivated. If there was any doubt that a linguistics major wasn't the right path for me, it was eviscerated after reading this article. 

The article discusses how Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney's distinct language patterns and colloquialism could be contributing to his inability to connect with voters. The author  states that Romney speaks in "Mittisms." 

 In Romneyspeak, passengers do not get off airplanes, they “disembark.” People do not laugh, they “guffaw.” Criminals do not go to jail, they land in the “big house.” Insults are not hurled, “brickbats” are.

I am admittedly not a Romney supporter, but I was fascinated by how much effect diction and syntax can have on people subconsciously. The fact that Romney legitimately uses the phrase "H-E-double-hockey-sticks" certainly characterizes his personality. 

For Democratic strategists, Mr. Romney’s throwback vocabulary feeds into their portrayal of a man ill-equipped for the mores and challenges of the modern age.  

Aside from the fact that I'm obsessed with the phrase "throwback vocabulary," this well-articulated story caused me to pause and think about my language and language in general. I suppose linguistically we cannot please everyone. It seems good ol' Mittens makes headlines when he describes having "binders full of women" and when he says something as non-scandalous as "golly gee heavens." 

However, in a world of four letter words, Romney does feel out of touch and the idea that his old school vernacular poses an obstacle makes sense. Could Romney adapt? The article insinuates probably not. 

A few acquaintances have tried to drag him linguistically into the 21st century. Mr. Finneran, an admitted serial curser, said that after years of working closely with Mr. Romney, he began to fantasize about provoking him to utter a particularly crude word.

“It got to the point where I started to think that my greatest achievement of all time would be if I somehow or other got him to say the word,” he said.

Once, Mr. Romney seemed on the cusp of fulfilling that wish during a heated discussion. But he caught himself. “And I thought, ‘Oh, God, my closest moment ever,’ ” Mr. Finneran said. “But it’s not going to happen.”

We can dream. 

It's Time

I'm loving this video that a friend showed to me on YouTube a couple months ago that I just rediscovered. It shows this guy, Paul, and his relationship with an unseen person. A montage of little clips, the audience gets a feeling for the strength of the relationship. Eventually it is revealed that the mystery person is another man, but it doesn't matter because we, the audience, are open-minded and the two are clearly in love. It's adorable and evokes such a warm, fuzzy feeling that I immediately want to go snuggle with some teddy bears and drink hot chocolate. Kudos to Australia for this awesome video. Maybe America can follow suit. 

What I'm Loving: The Outspoken Sloucher

The Outspoken Sloucher is a witty and snarky blog by one of my fellow Etymology students. The blogger delivers on point critique of a variety of books and topics. It is, as its tagline decrees, "a blog worth blogging about." The most recent post is an evaluation of John Green's latest young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars. This book was like an emotional roller coaster, leaving me alternating between full-on guffawing and openly weeping with the turn of a page. But it's not perfect, and The Outspoken Sloucher is there to acknowledge but not condemn its flaws. 

So mazel tov, Outspoken Sloucher. It's an honor just to be nominated. 

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter is my life. I was and still am obsessed with the series about the boy wizard from Surrey. Harry Potter charmed out the reader buried within me, and I am eternally grateful. J.K. Rowling is my idol, the kind of writer and person I wish I could be. She is, in the truest sense, a story teller. She changed the world for the better and created this vast community and force for good. Despite her success, J.K. never forgot where she came from, choosing to leave her money in Great Britain so that her large portion of taxes will help the Benefits program on which she relied. 

That said, I'm unsure about The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's newest and only non-Potter-verse novel. As opposed to staying up until midnight and purchasing three copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows so that my sister, mother, and I would not have to share, I waited. The book was released in early October. I waited until my birthday on October 8 to get it. Actually, due to some snooping I figured out it was a birthday present earlier in the week, but didn't end up opening it for a few days after my birthday. 

I was putting off reading The Casual Vacancy because I was afraid. What if the magic wasn't there?

That's the problem. The magic isn't there. The book isn't about Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic. It's about the small English town of Pagford and the death of one of its politicians. Granted, I'm nowhere near the finishing the book, it's strange for me. I keep waiting for Dumbledore to appear and save the day. 

The writing is still Rowling's signature style, yet it's more elevated and mature. The shock value of "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH" by the maternal Molly Weasley gives way to flippant uses of "shit" and "fuck" by foul-mouthed Pagford citizens. The spontaneous obscenities are akin to overhearing one's grandfather make an innuendo. 

I'm going to give the rest of the novel a chance, but I know it is doomed to fail. Harry Potter was the pinnacle of my childhood, and no other book will ever compare. It is unfortunate that The Casual Vacancy is forced to try. 

America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

One of the positions on my long list of dream jobs is pun writer for The Daily Show. You know, one of those people who designs the punny segment titles that mock whatever the headline news story is that day? Those little graphics at which pretentious try-hards like me laugh?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is certainly one of my favorite shows on television. It is consistently funny with timely social commentary that is spot-on. If pun writer doesn't work out, I suppose I could settle for correspondent, but I think you have to be funny and a minority to get that job. I think Stewart himself has dibs on the Jewish position. 

This ten-time Emmy winner invigorated my interest in politics and keeps me informed on the failures of today's politicians. I would credit The Daily Show as about 47% responsible for my 5 on the AP Government test. 

In order to prep for the upcoming election and to brag once again that I GET TO VOTE, I read America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction this week. Set up like a textbook, America travels through U.S. history and sheds light on the tenets of American society. 

In "The Judicial Branch: It Rules," I learned how to desegregate a school and how to operate a gavel responsibly and safely. "The Media: Democracy's Valiant Vulgarian" taught me how to identify political bias in today's liberal, bleeding-heart Jew, and gay-run media. 

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves America and loves a laugh. 

50/50 stars.

This American Life: Notes on Camp

I have probably at least fifty episodes of "This American Life" on my computer because I am obsessed. I remember the first time I listened to Ira Glass's soothingly monotonous voice. I was in the car with my parents on a road trip, likely to Chicago or Bloomington. I forget which. Regardless of the destination, we were driving through the scenic Indiana countryside, listening to NPR like the white, liberal family we are. It was Monday, and This American Life came on. 

The title was "Play the Part," centering around people who feel compelled to do crazy things and step outside their comfort zones simply because someone is filming. The first act was Louis Ortiz, an  Obama impersonator. Unemployed for a year, Ortiz shaved off his mustache, suited up, and stumbled into a lucrative new profession. His story was so immensely fascinating to me that, when I got home, I snuck into my sister's room and plundered her "This American Life" official flash drive with 35 hours on it. A longtime follower of the show, my sister supported the program in some way and was rewarded for her efforts. The reward was now being downloaded onto my computer. 

And then I forgot about it for a few months. In June, I was stumbling around on my iTunes library, searching for something to listen to. To my delight, I had 35 episodes of This American Life waiting for me. I selected "Notes on Camp" and pressed play. 

What made this episode particularly special for me was that I was packing for camp as I listened to it. A proud member of the special few with a "cult-like, mystical connection" to summer camps. I was preparing for a nine-week stay at Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Indiana. This camp had been my home-away-from-home for the past ten years, and, after over a year away, I was itching to return. Camp instilled me with self-confidence and perspective and introduced me to my best friends in the whole world. 

As I listened, I realized that I wasn't so special. Evidently the ineffable experience I had at GUCI could be and was being replicated at hundreds of camps across the world. The daunting challenges of climbing towers, silly songs and traditions, even Israeli military training could be found at these other camps. Albeit disappointed, I continued to listen and simultaneously stuff as many white v-neck undershirts as I could into my trusty Rubbermaid tub. The program just reinforced what I'd been saying all along. It's the people that make the experience. 

This American Life reiterates that claim. America is about the people who make up her, and this enthralling radio program/podcast focuses on the hoi polloi who have interesting stories to tell but no platform on which to do so. 

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

"If animals were more like us, if mice kept pets and toads could cuss, if dogs had wives and chipmunks dated, sheep sat still and meditated, then in the forest, field, and dairy, you might find this bestiary, read by storks, by rats and kitties, skimmed by cows with milk-stained titties. 'I found this book to be most droll,' might quip the bear, the owl, the mole. Others, though, would be more coarse. 'Bull,' could say the pig and horse. As to the scribe, they'd quote the hen: 'Trust me, he's no La Fontaine.'"

 This sarcastic poem welcomes all readers to David Sedaris's latest collection of essays Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. It's no secret that David Sedaris is one of my all-time favorite authors. Despite hundreds of re-readings, I still laugh until I cry whenever I read When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Every holiday season I find myself recounting the tale of "Six to Eight Black Men" or that career-making essay about Sedaris's time working as a Santaland elf. As someone who's literary voice tends to verge on snarky, I am forever indebted to Sedaris. He is my hero. 

That said, I was not particularly astounded by Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. The stories were chuckle-worthy, sure, but not what I was used to from Sedaris. The idea of personifying animals was funny but grew tired as the book went on. Sometimes it felt like Sedaris was unsure of which human characteristics and how many to assign to each animal. I had a lot of questions, which detracted from my reading experience. 

If one has the time, I would instead recommend reading a short essay from Sedaris's collection Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim about how Sedaris and his longtime boyfriend Hugh, amid an intense apartment search, visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. This daring essay finds humor in a dark situation that most writers are too afraid to touch. 

Every Day

I wake up. 

Immediately I have to figure out who I am. It's not just the body--opening my eyes and discovering whether the skin on my arm is light or dark, whether my hair is long or short, whether I'm fat or thin, boy or girl, scarred or smooth. The body is the easiest thing to adjust to, if you're used to waking up in a new one each morning. It's the life, the context of the body, that can be hard to grasp. 

Every day I am someone else. I am myself--I know I am myself--but I am also someone else. 

It has always been like this. 

This week I took a break from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay to begin David Levithan's new novel Every Day. I learned about this book from Entertainment Weekly; intrigued by its original concept, something rare these days, I knew I wanted to give it a try. I really enjoyed one of Levithan's other novels, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which he co-authored with John Green, the author of my absolute favorite book Looking for Alaska. I also saw the movie based on Levithan's book Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. So, I trust Levithan as an author.

I was not disappointed.

The book centers around A, who wakes up in a new body every day. This shift is routine for A, who is easily able to access the memories of his host. He has mastered the charade, with most of the host's friends and family never noticing the difference. A is fine with his/her life, until he/she meets Rhiannon. Suddenly A wishes to have his own body, so that he could be with Rhiannon, with whom he feels he is in love. Each chapter begins with A gathering his/her bearings, figuring out who he/she is, and how far away he/she is from Rhiannon. A is willing to break all of his/her rules to be closer to her.

This quick read is impossible to put down. It may not be high literature, but I highly recommend it for the sheer power of the story.

 

 

 

i have all the souls i need - by maggie harry

i have all the souls i need

sunrise places its hand over night’s mouth, softly but firmly, saying hush now, it’s time to end—the mother telling the son that maybe he should take a deep breath.

flowers can speak, but they won’t. they’re far, far too bashful. at the dinner party, all flowers do is whisper to one another: you sure do look beautiful today, my love. i smile because if i listen closely enough, i can hear them. ... 

grass is a fighter. he is yanked on and pulled apart, but just keeps coming back stronger. he is there for me when i am nervous on my first date, in the park, where he selflessly allows me to peel him away to occupy my shaking hands.

a tree is a writer at heart. the tree gives me shade and a piece of fruit and a pencil for me to dream up stories with and paper to be marked upon. the way a tree will always know what i need and the way a tree will always give it to me.

dirt waits and sees if i liked the movie first, before telling me if she did. i am raining, dirt will turn to mud for me.

i curse snow, but he stands his ground. i respect that. snow may be difficult, but he’s the one who gives me the nod of approval when i step onto him in my far too large galoshes instead of uggs like all the other girls.

as hard as she tries, rain will never be able to smile. the best i can do for her is dance with her and yell out to her “you are loved!”

i have all the souls i need and i couldn’t ask for them if i tried, because even the wildest imaginations cannot dream up the wonders souls like those possess. —Maggie Harry

On the Shelf: Week 5

READING:
I'm still reading Kavalier and Clay. I really enjoy the book, but it's slow going. I'm considering taking a break and coming back to it. So in this week's section, Samuel Klayman-- Sammy Clay-- is having some pretty serious daddy issues. His father, the one who mercilessly abandoned Sammy and his mother, has reappeared with his dreams of vaudeville dashed. The so-called "Mighty Molecule" quickly longs to be back on the circuit performances instead of at home with his stereotypical-nagging wife and child. In a strangely confusing and sweaty scene located in a sauna, Sammy begs the Mighty Molecule to take him with when he leaves. So of course, his father leaves without a word, abandoning Sammy once again. The concept of leaving and returning seems to be a running (no pun intended) theme throughout the beginning of the book. 

WATCHING:
I recently began watching The New Normal, a comedy about a gay couple trying to have a baby via the help of a blonde, peppy surrogate from the makers of Glee, American Horror Story, and Nip/Tuck. I'm liking the show so far, with its "everybody love everybody" message and bubble-gum sweetness; however, I'm concerned for the longevity of the storyline. True, there's no shortage of shows about parents with kids and I've no doubt it will continue to be comical, yet sometimes the show borders on being preachy. I think it's safe to say everyone watching this show supports marriage equality and LGBTQ rights. We don't need the afterschool special each week. 

On the Shelf: Week 4

I'm still reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and likely will be for awhile considering the novel's length. The chapter I'm currently reading details the two main characters, Joe and Sam, as they attempt to create a superhero character for their first comic book. They run through a list of ideas and struggle to find anything original. 

They began to go through the rolls of the animal kingdom, concentrating naturally on the predators: Catman, Wolfman, the Owl, the Panther, the Black Bear. They considered the primates: the Monkey, Gorillaman, the Gibbon, the Ape, the Mandrill with his multicolored wonder ass that he used to bedazzle opponents.

 "Be serious," Joe chided again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Look, forget animals. Everybody's going to be thinking of animals. In two months, I'm telling you, by the time our guy hits the stands, there's going to be guys running around dressed like every damn animals in the zoo. Birds. Bugs. Underwater guys. And I'll bet you anything there's going to be five guys who are really strong, and invulnerable, and can fly." 

To be honest, I have very little knowledge of the workings of the comic book world. The only comic book/graphic novel I've ever read is Watchmen. The only super hero movies I've seen are Watchmen (that was an awkward one to explain to my parents), The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. I liked the Batman movies but evidently not enough to watch the entire trilogy. According to the back of the book, the superhero they eventually come up with is called "The Escapist," which sounds pretty impressive. Guess I'll have to keep reading. 

On the Shelf: Week 3

READING:
This week I finished Superfreakonomics and began the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. This highly-original and fast paced novel chronicles the lives of two Jewish cousins, one American and one Czech, during the times of World War II. I'm not very far into the novel yet, but it's already drastically different from the glut of other Holocaust/WWII book I've read. I'm excited to see what happens next. I've spent most of my time this week reading articles from The New York Times Magazine. I took a nostalgia tour through main package stories of yore and found a fastinating yet harrowing article entitled "Greg Ousley Is Sorry for Killing His Parents. Is That Enough?" This thought-provoking question forces one to ponder whether our justice system is really, in a word, just. Should a grown man still be paying the price for mistakes he made as a teenager? 

MUSIC:
I hate the song "Wonderwall" by Oasis with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. This overplayed tune has somehow become the anthem of teenagers suffering from what one might dub "first world problems." Somehow, "Wonderwall" seems to be the only song people can play on acoustic guitar. If you ask any white guy with a guitar to play a song that he doesn't know, nine times out of ten he'll reply with, "No, but I know how to play 'Wonderwall.'" The songwriters don't even know what a Wonderwall is! This past weekend I was forced to endure two awful, off-tune renditions of that horrid cacophony that has the nerve to call itself music. I should have gotten some sort of medal. 

"Ithaca" by C.P. Cavafy

When you set out for Ithaca
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaca always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don’t in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to give you wealth.
Ithaca gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn’t anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca hasn’t deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you’ll have understood what these Ithacas mean. 

On the Shelf: Week 2

READING: 
I have to be honest, there was not a lot of time to read this week. From late night pasteups to  copious assignments from my other classes, reading for Etymology unfortunately fell by the wayside. I still read, albeit from the same book as last week, Superfreakonomics. I realized something: I was not as interested in it as last week. There was a twenty page passage about how to stop hurricanes, which should have been interesting given events of late. I zoned out until I got to the passage:

Myhrvold recalls watching the British science-fiction TV show Dr. Who when he was young: "The Doctor introduces himself to someone, who says, 'Doctor? Are you some kind of scientist?' And he says, 'Sir, I am every kind of scientist.' And I was like, Yes! Yes! That is what I want to be: every kind of scientist!"

First of all, it's Doctor Who, not Dr. Who. This British cult-classic is a show about the last of the Time Lords who travels through time and space in a police box called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). It is NOT a medical show. Ignoring this glaring error, I started to think about the character of The Doctor. He's so unbelievably passionate about everything he does and is completely dedicated to the good of others. He's a genius who uses his expertise in, well, everything, to defeat evil aliens and save humans or the extraterrestrial-of-the-week. And, in a way, that's what Dubner and Levitt, the authors of Superfreakonomics, are trying to accomplish. While they only have a small sliver of expertise, they are trying to enlighten the world around them and inspire the American populace to think and notice, which I think is pretty noble. 

WATCHING:
Continuing on with my Doctor Who-obsession, I've been counting down the days until the next series begins on September 1. Each day this week BBC and BBCamerica have been releasing mini-episodes collectively called Pond Life, chronicling companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams' married life, attempting to live normally with the Doctor popping in and out. The clips are disappointingly short but are still fun and fast paced. Their whimsical nature contrasts some of the show's darker plotlines. 

FOLLOWING:
There's this great Tumblr called I Love Charts, which is just a collection of funny, culturally-relevant charts. They track amount of milkshakes brought to the yard by one's milkshake, the spread of Walmarts across the country, and word clouds of usage-frequency at the Republican National Convention. Updated constantly throughout the day, this blog makes statistics fun and depicts ways to use numbers and figures to tell a story, kind of like the Feltron report. 

On the Shelf: LongReads

It's no secret that I love journalism; I'm a third-generation reporter. Due to a lot of free time during the school day, I quickly exhaust my allotted number of free articles from The New York Times. It wasn't hard to convince my father to pay for the online subscription so that my sister, mother, and I could get our fix. 

Some time during AP Stats I started reading From Bible-Belt Pastor to Atheist Leader and read as inconspicuously could I manage. When I finally finished the article during Etymology, I had to take a few moments to process. 

I, too, have "come out" as an atheist in recent years, so I was intrigued by how his spiritual journey was both similar and different to my own. Jerry DeWitt discovered his passion for religion, in his case evangelical Christianity, during a church retreat. DeWitt became entrenched in his religion, forgoing college to become a travelling preacher throughout the Bible Belt. One day he found he just could not pray. I wouldn't say I was ever deeply religious, but I was raised in Sunday School to believe in G-d, obey the Ten Commandments, etc. I attended religious summer camp where I met some of my best friends in the world (I say in the world because they span time zones and borders). One of the tenants of Reform Judaism is the freedom to ask questions. I had always been taught that it was okay to question G-d and the Torah, though I'm sure my non-belief was not the intended effect. 

Turns out DeWitt and I are among millions of other freethinkers who have become disillusioned by religion. 

Alas, his lack of faith had some extreme negative effects on his personal relationships. DeWitt lost his job, became written off as a "Satanist" by his beloved community, and divorced by his wife. Unlike DeWitt, I was not alone. My father, sister, and brother expressed that they shared my beliefs-- or rather, non-beliefs. During a discussion about the concept of miracles, I learned that over half of my Sunday School class was comprised of atheists. Even during philosophical conversations at my Jewish summer camp, my atheism was embraced and my questions encouraged. 

Of course, one can find anything on the internet. Through various atheism-related tumblrs and r/atheism on Reddit, I was able to find like-minded individuals with whom to discuss, just like DeWitt. There are scores of people out there unhindered by religion. Perhaps my views are controversial and taboo, but that's how you know they're important enough to care about. Albeit unfortunate that DeWitt has lost so much, he has been liberated. There were some great quotes in this articles, but one especially stood out to me. 

"Religion does a lot of good, especially the loving kind, like at Grace Church," he said. "I know people who went to a more liberal kind of Christianity and were happy with that. The problem is, for me, there was a process involved in moving from Pentecostalism to a more liberal theology, like Grace Church. What makes me different is that process didn't stop, and it took me all the way. In the end, I couldn't help feeling that all religion, even the most loving kind, is just a speed bump in the progress of the human race." 

On the Shelf: Week 1

READING: I’m in the middle of SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. This smorgasbord of facts and figures is a follow up to their 2005 bestseller Freakonomics. The economist and journalist set out to answer questions you didn’t know you needed to ask. Each chapter plays out like an intense television drama. A question is posed, various side stories play out that make the reader wonder how they’re related, and eventually all is revealed because everything is connected or something like that. The chapters I’ve read so far have included shark attacks, prostitutes, and murder; so basically it’s literary Law and Order. I’ve learned that’s basically what the field of economics: law and order, which are dictated by incentives.

                "People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, one of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of unintended consequences. This applies to schoolteachers and Realtors and crack dealers as well as expectant mothers, sumo wrestlers, bagel salesmen, and the Ku Klux Klan."

LISTENING: The other day I decided to revisit my trusty Sufjan Stevens Pandora station, whereupon I was introduced to "Memories and Dust" by Josh Pyle. I’d never heard of him or the song before, but I automatically went to YouTube to listen to the lighthearted strumming several hundred more times. The old-fashioned acoustic sound brought me back to being on the porch at camp, swinging on a hammock, and singing along while my friend Jon played "Opportunity" by Pete Murray on the guitar. To me, that song evokes such a sense of family and community that I am immediately homesick for my home away from home.

FOLLOWING: As an avid reader of TIME magazine, I always anticipate the penultimate page, the one that features a witty column from the Sultan of Snark ™ himself, Joel Stein. His Twitter feed @thejoelstein is a miniature version of that column with constant funny updates on his family or current events. His tweet calling for Mitt Romney to release his Netflix queue had me laughing for half an hour.

EATING: I was proud to embrace my heritage by eating couscous and hummus. Then I realized our main course was shrimp. Close enough. 

take a look... inside a book... reading rainbow

When it comes to reading, I don’t discriminate. I’ll read fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. I’ll read classics and fan fiction, memoirs and graphic novels. If the story has an interesting plot and is well-written, I’ll read it. But that doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy it. I’m a stubborn reader; though I can usually tell within the first 50 pages whether or not I’ll like a book, I can’t let it go unfinished. Books I truly love, books that make me think and question, will be read multiple times until the pages are ripping from constant turning and the cover is ratty beyond recognition.

In etymology class, I look forward to having time for silent reading again. Too long has it been since I last had time to read for fun. I will attempt to read many a book from a variety of genres and use this opportunity to explore different writing styles and points of view. Hopefully this experience will encourage me to make time to read once the semester has ended.