Bryce Canyon

I walked around here a couple weeks ago.

Past Magazine Article

This is blast from the past, found it on my computer the other day and thought it would be good to share old news. It's a bit painful at times, but that's just how the past is. I wrote part of this article for an on-line magazine connected with an organization called sustainable style foundation. My boss/teacher gave me an A- for dress...becuase you were wondering about that dumb picture of me with a poloroid camera.


Hello from Seattle! My name is Anne-Marie and I used to be an intern at the Sustainable Style Foundation for 10 lovely weeks. Now I am a sustainable warrior with a passion for traveling and learning about the world. I am currently a student and Seattle Pacific University in my last 8 weeks of school! Freedom!!! This Christmas break I took a trip across the West Caribbean on a program through the University of Virginia called Seminar at Sea. For anyone who has heard of Semester at Sea, (100 days around the world that’s going towards your degree, hopefully!) Seminar at Sea is a 10 day program that includes lectures, professional artists, dance instructors and musicians aboard to teach and add to your experience at sea.

Before I entered each country I listened to lectures about specific social movements such as that of the Zapatistas in Mexico, natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef of Belize, and the rich history of Maya culture in the Yucatan Peninsula. This was no ordinary cruise. The food was not good, I didn’t get a tan, and each day was steeped in knowledge.

To start out Seminar at Sea I docked the M.V. explorer in the Bahamas. For half a day my family and I road around Paradise Island on little scooters checking out old ruins near Nassau and Atlantis, a new building that is made to look like old ruins. Atlantis simply out of control. Too many people, pink, and designer purses. I have to admit that I was very impressed by the football field length walkway of windows displaying giant gliding manta rays.


Did you know that there were an estimated 40,000 native Indians before Christopher Columbus discovered the Bahamas (in 1492)? In 1517 because of disease, hardships, and the arrival of the Europeans they were practically non-existent.

Did you know that Christopher Columbus died of syphilis?

The Panama Canal was incredible, the huge moving cargo city of ships are made specifically for the Panama Canal. It usually takes about 10 hours to go through all the locks. All of the payments to pass through the canal are done win U.S. cash, with charges depending on the size of the ship. A little sail boat will only cost its captain about 20 dollars. The ship in this picture paid 243,000 American dollars right then and there to go through the Panama Canal! It’s kind of maddening to think where all this money is going from the Panama Canal. Colon Panama was not the ideal family fun environment; you could tell that crack cocaine has impacted the community of Colon in a major way. While in Panama I got to learn about the many issues with U.S. involvement in Panama dating back to Teddy Roosevelt and Bush Sr.’s hand in civil disputes. I am always amazed by how much I do not know, especially when I travel.

We docked in Belize on Boxing Day, so the country was quite. My family and I snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef of Belize which is filled with really impressive colors and visibility. When taking an informal tour of Belize City my brother and I keep noticing gaggles of boys by the road side throwing rocks into the trees. Curious about this common site we asked our taxi driver what they were doing. Our taxi diver pulled over to the side of the road and pointed out several bright orange iguanas soaking up the sun high in the trees. Apparently these orange iguanas taste like chicken.

After visiting 3 countries in 3 days our ship needed to take a couple days at sea to get to our next destination. These days were some of the most rocky I had ever experienced. Grandmas attached to their walkers were flying across the hallways, elevators were shut down and mobility was near impossible. With the exception of the 14 foot swells the trip was great. But I could not help but feel way too privileged to be on such an excursion. Looking back at the faces I encountered across the Caribbean I wonder what they were thinking when they saw me. Am I someone who is making light of their boredom, lying down under their palm trees, eating their food and drinking their beer? I am not a mind reader, but at times I would meet someone’s gaze and see them thinking, “why her and not me? Why am I not visiting your land, eating your food and drinking your beer?”

I Wish I had an IPhone

Can One Really Study Happiness?

Ongoing thoughts about happiness, pulled from a journal a few months ago...

I am more interested it what prevents happiness. Is it the same thing that prevents us from emotional progress- the inability to come to terms with parts of ourselves, parts of our past?

Joan Didion wrote of wandering through grief so eloquently:
“it was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding the event that prevented me from truly believing it had happened, absorbing it, incorporating it, getting past it” (4, Didion)

So how do we acknowledge the past and separate ourselves from it? This question seems like the difference between joy and happiness.

Happiness is a form of subjective well-being- an interpretation that is dependent on the event that person is surrounded by, as well as an inborn equilibrium or "core effect". If the situation is good, than the person will be happy- because they perceive their current situation as good.

Joy is usually reserved for elated sense of being that is detectable by other people, one could be in a situation that is not good- and this “joy” seems to come from “no where” or something deep and profound. Joy does not rely on the interpretation of the surrounding, it comes from God and a deep personal connection to the things that are “good”. Joy is much more dependent on one’s relationship with goodness, than daily interactions.

Thinks I've Been Thinking About and Quotes

"Freedom isn't free"

How do you measure freedom?

I feel like surveys are the Internet dating of qualitative work- you get to know people in this strange very impersonal way. You can’t read their body language, but you can read their deepest thoughts of self.

Can a good location lead to a happier life? What is good design, and what can it do for our well-being?

“The reason that looks so good is because it was obviously really good at its job”

“I like things that have a purpose, but also to have a sculptural element to them”
-The research behind and the idea of Pung Su, implemented by Hyundai.

What is comfort? The ability to choose? A healthy body?

“One reason that childhood vaccinations is widespread in every country that can afford to sustain such a program is because the public benefits of a population free of say, polio, far out weight the social costs of allowing diseases to run rampant or of making vaccination optimal, or available to those who choose to pay”

“If left to the markets fewer lives would be saved”

“The whole trend of modern medicine and surgery is in the direction of prevention, or if its arrest in the earliest stage possible, and with this object in view, in cases of general or infectious disease provision has been made for the voluntary treatment and isolation of such cases as cannot be treated at home, or for the compulsory treatment of such cases as are a danger to the community; but the same facilities are not granted in cases of the disease of the mind”

What is "The Church"?

(Christchurch, South Island New Zealand)

"Churches in warehouses are more fundamental and conservative, whereas churches in beautiful traditional buildings tend to be more liberal. Stay away from churches in warehouses."

-Heather and Phil

Are there Countries that Lack Culture?

Word: Culture- “that which individuals, groups, and societies produce and acquire in order to function effectively.”

Culture codes- the way people identify themselves, relate to others, ascribe meaning. Culture is the way we construct meaning.



Perhaps slot machines in a gas station are a sign that parts America lack culture?