Is the World a Better Place?

(image: Elephant Seal, California- Anne-Marie, 2009)

Word: Pandemic (adj.)- (of a disease) spread over a whole country or world.

Term: Epidemic (noun)- a sudden widespread of an occurrence of a particular undesirable phenomenon

Book: Hungry Planet- (Married Couple) Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio

“As societies around the world grow more affluent, their members are eat more sugar, more refined carbohydrates, more dietary fats. Nutritionalists disagree on the effects of each one, but most believe that the collective impact of this transition is disastrous- producing a global onslaught of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease”(pg 245, Hungry Planet).

“Treating food, plant or animal, which high heat changes it, simplifies it so to speak, so our teeth and gut can deal with it more effectively. In general it transforms organic matter that, when raw, is unpleasant to eat, difficult or impossible to digest, and unhealthy or even deadly into nourishing food. On average chimps spend six hours a day chewing and people (that is to say, members of the cooking species) only one” (52, Essay by Alfred W. Crosby, Hungry Planet).

How does One Diffuse Violence, Revalue Humanity, Forgive, Slowly Progress and Acknowledge the Issues of the Present without Becoming Angry?

(image: Bathroom in South Africa- Anne-Marie, 2007)

“I felt so lame as an American saying that we no longer are a protest nation, and it’s true the government no longer listens to our cries and organizations. So organization must be taken to another level and technology will provide this...I have come to realize that comfort is something that is achieved by the individual first and community second...I like to watch people satisfied with themselves, and unsatisfied with their life situation or see how they view themselves- well off, comfortable, arrogant, greedy? What type of life am I living? Am I ok with being comfortable? What is comfort? Education, a good relationship with your family? What level of comfort does one need to have a good life? Is comfort the same for everyone?

-Notes from my past life, South Africa 2007.

How do you let go of Something Important?

(image: Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina- Anne-Marie, 2007)

Poem: One Art- Elizabeth Bishop

One Art

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something everyday. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, faster:

Places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

-Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident

the art of losing’s not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Can Hope have a Secular, Materialism Overtone?

(image: The Year of Second Hand-Anne-Marie, 2008)

Word: Hope-1. a. A feeling or expectation and desire for a certain thing to happed, b. a person or thing that may help or save someone, c. grounds for believing that something good may happen 2. A feeling of trust

Term: Supply and Demand- the amount of good or service available and the desire of buyers for it considered as factors regulating its price

Book: The White Tiger- Aravind Adiga

“To break the law of his land- to turn bad news into good news- is the entrepreneur’s prerogative” (pg. 32, Munna, Balram Halwai, The White Tiger)

To desire something is often linked to wanting or wishing for something to happen, especially sexually. Hope is also a desire for something to happen, but hope has a “good” overtone- wishing something to happen that will help another. Desire is more about the individuals wish for themselves. No doubt one can desire and therefore demand good things. As an individual do you know where your products come from and why they are produced in that specific country? What does the world have to offer- product wise, and are we demanding well made, fair trade goods or cheapness? Supply and Hope?

Are We all the Same?

(image: Construction Worker, Qingdao, China- Anne-Marie, 2007).

*he was just as intrigued as I

Word: Human-of or characteristic of people as opposed to God or animals or machines, esp. in being susceptible to weakness (Human b. New Oxford American Dictionary).

Term: Structuralism- Complex system of interrelated parts (structuralism, wikipedia).

Article: Los Angeles Times, Obituaries, November 4^th, 2009.

“Claude Levi-Strauss towered over the French intellectual scene and founded the school of thought known as structuralism”(Obituaries, Nov.4^th, 2009, LATIMES)

“Part philosopher, part sociologist, and entirely humanist, he studied tribes in Brazil and North America, concluding that virtually all societies shared a powerful commonalities of behavior and thought, often expressing them in myths” (Obituaries, Nov.4^th, 2009, LATIMES).

“He concluded that primitive peoples were no less intelligent than “Western” civilizations and that their intelligence could be revealed through their myths and other cultural keystones. Those myths, he argued, all tend to provide answers to such universal questions as ‘Who are we?’ and ‘How did we come to be at this place?’” (Obituaries, Nov.4^th, 2009, LATIMES).

“By the mid 1980’s, however, his ideas were being supplanted by those of the so-called post-structuralists who argued that history and experience were far more important than universal laws in shaping human consciousness” (Obituaries, Nov.4^th, 2009, LATIMES).

What does it look like to Loose Everything?

(image: Jesusita Fire Smoke- Anne-Marie, 2009)

*we didn't know things were burning so badly, some of us hadn't evacuated yet

Word: Loss- 1. The act or and instance of losing. 2b. The condition of being deprived or bereaved of something or someone. c. The amount of something lost. 3. The harm or suffering caused by losing or being lost (pg. 1034, The American Heritage dictionary of the English language).

Date: Black Saturday- January 28^th, 2009. One fourth of the Australian state Victoria burns, 173 lives lost.

Article: The New Yorker, October 26^th, 2009

“The six hundred fires that started that day were not just the deadliest that Australia had ever known but among the worst the world has ever seen for decades” (pg. 48, The Inferno by Christine Kenneally, the New Yorker October 26^th, 2009).

“Firefighters described the Black Saturday firestorm as “alive,” and said that its behavior was completely unprecedented. In some area it was apparently cyclonic, coming at them from all sides, burning up a road in one direction and then, minutes later, burning in the opposite direction…the energy from all the fires that day was the equivalent of fifteen hundred Hiroshimas” (pg. 50, The Inferno by Christine Kenneally, the New Yorker October 26^th, 2009).

“Leaving at the last minute is the worst possible strategy. By the time you can see the firewall, you exits may be blocked, and by fleeing your forfeit the heat shield of your home. Often bodies were found between house and car, keys in the ignition.” (pg. 52, The Inferno by Christine Kenneally, the New Yorker October 26^th, 2009).

As the Price of Oil Rises, Moves Toward Democracy Decline in Qatar.

(image: Santa Barbara in January- Anne-Marie, 2009)

Word: Spoiled- 1a. to impair the value or quality of b. To damage irreparably; ruin 2. To impair the completeness, perfection, or unity of; flaw grievously 3. To do harm to the character nature, or attitude of by overindulgence 4. Pamper 5. Decay (pg. 1678, American Heritage of The English Language).

Term: (Economic) Externality: An impact (positive or negative) on anyone not party to a given economic transaction. The participants in an economic transaction do not necessarily bear all of the coasts or reap all of the benefits in the transaction (Externality, Wikipedia)

Book: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

Workers in Qatar have, “eliminated a negative externality, work, while maximizing a desired commodity: leisure time.” (185, Weiner).

“Researchers have found that people who are too busy are happier than those who are not busy enough” (185, Weiner).

Its interesting that pamper and decay mean the same thing according to the American Heritage of The English Language. Spoil is a powerful destructive word, how can we joke about spoiling kids? It ruins them.

What is Globalization? PART II.

(image: Family Dinner Party- Anne-Marie, 2009)

Part II. Food & HOW

Word: Evitable- In a format that can be edited by the user (New Oxford American Dictionary)

Term: Industrialization- The act of developing industries on a wide scale

Book: Hungry Planet: What the World Eats

“The Industrialization- and dehumanization- of American animal farming is a relatively new, evitable, and local phenomenon: no other country raises its food animals quite as intensively or as brutally as we do. Were the walls of our meat industry to become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not long continue to do it this way” (pg 163, Essay by Michael Pollan published 2002).

Children with Type 2 Diabetes, “are the victims of a society that does not seem to care, of an economic structure that makes it cheaper t eat fries than fruit, of the food industry and the mass media luring them to consume what they shouldn’t” (pg. 243 Essay by Francine R. Kaufman, M.D. author of Diabesity, a call to action against he dangers of Diabetes)

KFC is located in 30 countries: 4 North American Countries, 10 European countries, 14 Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Do you choose what you wear or eat, or does the media choose for you?

Do you care?

Do you have time to care?

What is Globalization? PART I.

(image: Los Angeles- Anne-Marie, 2009)

PART I. Fashion & WHY

Word: Totality- The whole of something

Term: Globalization- Flow of information and products increased global systems, coming to think of the world as whole, “totality”

Article: Wall Street Journal Magazine- pg. 15-16, Spring 2009 Issue 3. Edited from Tina Gaudoin’s interview with von Furstenburg.

No better place to start looking for signs of a mass world than food and clothes. What the world is eating and wearing has changed to be more uniform in the past 50 years. You don’t need Micheal Pollen or Diane von Furstenburg to tell you that, but you do need them to explain to you WHY and HOW it happened.

Diane von Furstenburg is a fashion heavyweight- in her corner lies the wrap dress, and the Design Piracy Prohibition Act. This act copyrights clothing designs. If this bill is passed it may enhance the value of design and stop stores such as H&M from producing clothes right after runway shows.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Magazine von Furstenburg states that, “Designers are not elitists, they have a trade and a skill like any other craftsman. H&M, Topshop and Target are actually giving value to design because they admit they use designers- with or without names. This actually makes it clear that designers are required to create something special. You can’t just copy someone else.”

H&M now has stores in 37 countries: 22 European countries, 9 Middle Eastern countries, and 2 in North American countries. Kuwait boasts 2 stores, while Texas totes zero (http://www.hm.com/gb/storelocator__storelocatorhtml.nhtml).

The rise of H&M is the result of consumer’s desire to look in-style at a low cost. DVF’s Design Piracy Prohibition Act addresses the problem that plagues this concept, “Piracy is just counterfeiting without the label, which actually makes it legal! You see it right now with the Golden Globes and after the Oscars; on TV they say, ‘You don’t need to go buy the Zac Posen dress; you can get the 39.99 version.’"

High fashion with a low price comes at a cost-

originality and craftsmanship.

Do you care about this loss?

What Is Your Escape?

(image: “The 1” California- Anne-Marie, 2009).

In a mad attempt to channel some good thoughts after a trying December I read an absurd amount of Newbery Medal winners. There was no risk of running into a romantic love story. Most Newbery Medal winners were about pets, Grandparents, and West Virginia. Kira-Kira, Out of the Dust, Missing May, Walk Two Moons and Dear Mr. Henshaw are by far my favorites. After 9 months of quick reads I have settled down to more age appropriate books. But it’s always worth it to go back to the classics and escape during messy times of life.

"Read. Read anything. Read the things they say are good for you, and the things they claim are junk. You'll find what you need to find, just read!" -Neil Gaiman

Criss Cross: Lynne Rae Perkins

Kira-Kira: Cynthia Kadahata

A Year Down Yonder: Richard Peck

Bud, Not Buddy: Christopher Paul Curtis

Holes: Louis Sachar

Out of the Dust: Karen Hesse

The View From Saturday: E.L. Konigsburg

The Midwife’s Apprentice: Karen Cushman

Walk Two Moons: Sharon Creech

The Giver: Lois Lowry

Missing May: Cynthia Rylant

Shiloh: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Maniac Magee: Jerry Spinelli

Number the Stars: Lois Lowry

The Whipping Boy: Sid Fleischman

Sarah, Plain and Tall: Patricia MacLachlan

Dear Mr. Henshaw: Beverly Cleary

Jacob Have I loved: Katherine Paterson

The Westing Game: Ellen Raskin

Julie of the Wolves: Jean Craighead George

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: E.L. Konigsburg

I, Juan De Pareja: Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

Shadow of a Bull: Maja Wojciechowska

It’s Like this, Cat: Emily Neville

Island of the Blue Dolphins: Scott O’Dell

The Twenty-One Balloons: William Pene Bois

Is it Possible for one Country to be More “Hopeful” than Another?

(image: Hong Kong- Anne-Marie 2007)

“Hope is Confidence.” 

“the tiered, 88-story Jin Mao Tower; the Shanghai World Financial Center (the second-tallest skyscraper in the world); the distinctive Oriental Pearl Tower (with its three massive columns supporting eleven suspended spheres of varying sizes); the latest addition, Shanghai Center, a supertall skyscraper now under construction..(127 stores).  This is twenty-first-century architecture- often at its best, sometimes at its worst, but never less than audacious (32, Moisi).

“Hope today is about economic and social empowerment, and its chief dwelling place is in the East” (31, Moisi).

Do Certain Countries Grieve or Adapt Better to Change than Others?

(image: TsingHua University, Beijing- Anne-Marie 2007)

Word: Hybrid- The combination of two or more different things, aimed at achieving a particular goal”(Wikipedia, “Hybrid”).

Term: Hypercathected- From classical theory; the state in which a neurone is overfilled with psychic energy and therefore disturbs psychic equilibrium which, when expressed, appears as neurotic fixations (APP Glossary, nashville-psychoanalytic.org).  To become obsessed with old memories, the act of getting sucked into a “vortex” of thought.  (AM interpretation).

Book:  The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

“Each single one of the memories and expectations in which the libido is bound to the object is brought up and hypercathected, and detachment of the libido (physic energy- personal development, desires) accomplished in respect of it….It is remarkable that this painful unpleasure is taken as a matter of course by us” (Freud explaining the work of grief, 133, Didion)- This separation makes it had to progress b/c one is constantly being sucked into an in-depth thought process.  Have you ever spend a morning trying to get out of bed, but you cannot because you are being completely bombarded by memories of a deceased loved one or former boyfriend/girlfriend?  This is the act of grieving. 

“The hybrid nature of Asian identity seems much more adaptive to a world in conflict, and therefore more beneficial, than the relative homogeneity we find in the Western world…in the west we tend to see ourselves as central, we are more challenged and even destabilized in our core identity tan Asians are.  They manage to remain themselves while becoming us” (21, Moisi).  

Is it Possible to Map Emotions?

(image: Tokyo- Anne-Marie 2007)

Word: Emotion- A state of mental agitation or disturbance (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2. Emotion).  

Term: Geographer- “Geographers study the spatial and temporal distribution of phenomena, processes and features as well as the interaction of humans and their environment.  As space and place affect a variety of topics such as economics, health, climate, plants, and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary” (What is Environmental Geography, Anyway?, Hayes-Bohanan, James). 

Book: Geopolitics of Emotion: How Cultures of Fear Humiliation, and Hope are reshaping the World by Dominque Moisi

“Is it possible to see actual patterns of behavior that help explain what is happening on the world stage?...Such a mapping involves bringing together elements as diverse as surveys of public opinion (how people feel about themselves, their present, and their future), the statement of political leaders, and cultural productions such as movies, plays, and books” (16, Moisi).

“Architecture is particularly significant, for it reflects the way a society dedicates itself in space at a given time” (16, Moisi).

"Conflicts about land, security, prosperity and sovereignty can also be charged with emotion" (17, Moisi). 

 

Why does Creativity Thrive in Some Parts of the World and Not in Others?

(image: Rueters, theage.com.au- Emily Kngwarreye) 

Word: Aesthetics- Critical reflection of art, culture, and nature (Encyclopedia of Aesthetics Review, Tom Riedel).

Term: Human Geography- a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with man made surroundings that provide a setting for human activity, as well as causes and consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity on the Earth’s surface (straight up wikipedia).

Book: Passing Strange and Wonderful by Dr. Yi-Fu Tuan

“In general the richer the environment, the denser the human population, and the more ceremonial exchanges and commerce that occurs there, the more likely it is to have a wealth of art” (Yi-Fu Tuan, 121). 

A “distinctive trait of Aboriginal art is the importance of the multi-modal performance…contemporary rituals of any scope require the service of not just one or two but several aesthetic skills” (Yi-Fu Tuan, 125).

"Every person, place constellation, wind, cloud, plant, animal, fish, clan, dance and song in between has a value."- Australian Aboriginal curator Djon Mudine 

"This is my country, this is me."- Emily Kngwarreye, Artist

Spent: $104.28- Cell Phone Bill

Finding Simplicity isn't that Simple

Just a simple start to a simple blog.  The message is simple.  The coffee you bought at 8:35 today matters.  The book you read from 12:32-1:05, before you were interrupted by a phone call, matters.  Why did you buy that?  Why did you read that?  Live simply, so you can thrive.  Remember.  Record.  Reflect.  How DO we live simply?  LOOK FOR PATTERNS.

Word: Simple- “1. Having or composed of only one thing, element or part.  See synonyms at pure.  3.  Being without additions or modifications (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).”

I completely dismiss the idea that simple is “2. easy,”