“Papa build the orphanage by hand…Then, as a service to the community, he built a church next door. He and his sons labored for almost a year, using cement, stucco, and wood. It was the first Protestant church on that part of the coast. Once the church was done, Papa realized he orphanage needed modernizing, so he hauled out his ladders and hammers again and began an ambitious construction project behind the original orphanage. This one would be entirely of brick and cement block, with modern bathrooms and dorm rooms throughout. American work crews eagerly joined in, bringing him supplies and fresh-faced youth groups who scrambled up and down Papa’s ladders, slopping cement and banging nails.

On those days, Papa stood watching, his ever-present white helmet bobbing slightly. He gripped either a huge white cup of coffee or a banana.

At the end of the day, he thanked everybody. As soon as they were on the highway back north, he climbed his ladder and undid the work they had done wrong. Often, Papa spent two days fixing angles and rehammering frames. ‘It’s alright,’ he said. ‘The young people need to work. It’s good for them to have work.’”

-Luis Alberto Urrea, in Across the Wire: Life And Hard Times on the Mexican Border.

“Are those people poor?”
“Very poor.”
“Wow, they’re lucky to be on tv. I’m not poor and I haven’t even been on tv!”

-My sister, while watching a documentary about illegal immigrants.

My brain is really disorganized right now. Possibly because I went to sleep worrying about fall arrangements and then I had a dream that at least a couple things had been accomplished in my life, then I woke up and I still hadn’t even put my laundry to dry. I also woke up late, which is always disorienting. So,this is going to be all over the place. I would write it later, but I know I won’t, because I really only write when I shouldn’t be writing. I should be preparing for my day by doing the things that need to get done before I leave for a bike trip this afternoon. But that’s going to wait.

I am hungry, though. So perhaps I will get breakfast first.

…

See? This is why most blogs are stupid. Because they post stupid stuff like that and expect it to be read. Apologies.

…
Hungry. I was hungry, so I ate. Some people sometimes do not do this. For example, there is a hunger strike for Iran going on right now. I don’t know why.

I know the intentions. To draw attention on the whole election and its unthinkable consequences, to hope to inspire the international community into action, to protest the actions of the Iranian government in a peaceful way, etc. All very nice ideas that I generally don’t mind jumping on the bandwagon for.

However.

I don’t see the point of random, unknown Iranians not in Iran doing this. Okay, it’s being led by Iranian intellectuals and  celebrities on the steps of the UN. So, they are  are not random, nor are they unknown. They have a little more clout. If they start dying (which they won’t) or getting seriously ill, the Iranian government might feel a little embarassed.

But they’re not going to start dying. This is a two-day hunger strike.

When Ghandi hunger striked, he was in prison, and he was famous enough so that it would look really, really bad for India to let him die in prison. And there’s this other Indian dude – Bhagat Singh – who hunger striked while in prison for the cause of suitable food and basic hygeinic necessities for prisoners. This makes sense to me. Hunger striking for an issue in another country when you’re no one? That doesn’t speak to me.

…
Last semester I frequently found myself in Harvard Square. At least once a week, there was some sort of protest or vigil for a million-mile-away tragedy. It was like an international parade, one week China, one week Indonesia, one week Korea…Alright. In retrospect, it was very Asia-oriented. That makes sense, there are tons of Asians in the area.

The point? Right, the point. The point is that no matter how big or interesting or well-planned these protests were, they never seemed to have the intended effect. People walked by without turning their heads. One or two police officers, required for such events, wandered lackadaisically. News cameras were never there.

It is so strange to me to live in a place where people can protest without consequence. Good or bad! I guess that’s what everyone wanted and still wants – to be able to share their opinions and speak the truth – but the hurdle of getting people to listen is there now, isn’t it? Sometimes I wonder about free speech. Does it really help, or does it just serve to calm the masses? We can say whatever we want, so we must be powerful and free! We now find ourselves at the level of the government, able to communicate ideas and visions to our compatriots. But is that really good enough?

Perhaps when your government oppresses your speech, you are forced to be more creative with your protests and revolutions. You are forced to think. Most people think less when they talk.

And anyway, the freedom of speech, after all, really only gives you the right to say words…which aren’t worth much. And don’t say they are, because if you’ve ever listened to a politician speak and criticized them for talking all the time, you believe that, too. I hate the double-standard held for politicians and activists about talk being in/significant.

Where am I going with all this? I got sidetracked. All I really wanted to say so far was that I think this “hunger strike” is stupid, and I think protests in Harvard square are pointless. No – that is not all. Those are just the predecessing remarks to what I actually want to talk about.

Cyncism.

Cynicism is not realistic and tough. It’s unrealistic and kind of cowardly because it means you don’t have to try.

The opposite of creativity is cynicism.

Oh how I hate the internet for making me think twice about everything I say with its out-of-context one-liners. I’m trying to convince myself that though I may think twice about something, the first thought can still be right. But it’s hard. I’m so trained in the ways of open-mindedness that unless I use a lot of mental energy to stop myself, I always end up falling for the next interesting idea. One shouldn’t be “so open-minded your brain falls out.”

Ach, another tangent. Remember, I just woke up.

I never wanted to be a cynic. I never wanted to be that guy – this guy. The one always crushing everyone’s hopes and dreams because it’s not going to work.

In the world of activism, I feel that stupid idealism (that’s right! I said it!) is protected in the same way that disabled people and minorities are in ours. Minorities cannot be rascist, disabled people can do anything you can do and better because they  have so much life experience, and idealists should not, must not be derailed from their plans, because you know, dreamers are so rare and fragile and valuable.

I realize this, and still I don’t want to be that guy. Such is the stigma that I have been taught to associate with cynicism. I mean, I obviously am and that’s fine, but believing that it’s “fine” is a constant struggle, since at the end of the day I do want to do something good for the world.

This is the problem: people don’t like it when you criticize something, but have nothing to offer.

I am just a 20-year old girl, minimally educated about the world around me. If I did have some “better suggestion,” I would inevitably be wrong. I prefer not to waste my time trying to figure things out when I know I can’t. That is not cynism, that is reason. In the same way that I would not attempt to solve some very famous math problem because I wouldn’t know where to start, I would not attempt to solve one of humanity’s great problems because I don’t know where to start.

There are people working on those math problems. These people have (hopefully) spent their lives studying, researching, gathering information and skill, and because of all this, they might have a chance at accomplishing something. The same principles should be held for humanitarian work. Obviously, there will always be geniuses, revolutionaries and exceptions – but most people should recognize that exceptions are…exception. They need to stop believing so much of themselves and get an education.

See? I’m not 100% a cynic. I don’t believe that one shouldn’t try. Just that one should try things that have a chance of working.

Of course, there’s the argument that learning from your mistakes is the only way to really accomplish anything. But I think that’s BS. Learning from other people’s mistakes and successes can be just as fulfilling, and more efficient.

I hate using the word efficient.

So I’ve just spend almost an hour clumsily explaining why nothing will work the way things are going. And now this:

The world has too many people who are happy to discuss why something might not work, and too few who will cheer you on and say, ‘I’m there for you.’

-John Wood, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

(Ugh. Everything I said, judged, condemned and marked by a single nearly-legimate sentence. Again.)

Despite my immense respect of John Wood, I resent this statement. It perpetuates the general belief held by people who care that the world can be seen only two ways: Optomistically or pessimistically. They way it is or the way it should be. People are all cynics or dreamers, and the cynics must be ignored, and the dreamers must be protected.

Whatever happened to pragmatism?

Well, what can I say?

My sister managed to accidentally superglue her eyelashes together today.

First reaction to this potential emergency? “Oh, shoot! What?! How?…Doesn’t matter…Hang on, let me ask google what to do.”

Previous Post

So there’s this article on CNN about the growing success of love hotels in Japan, there are thousands of them, blah blah blah, I don’t think this is really news, Japan’s been doing this for decades…The point is that the article ended with the following:

Whatever the reasons, the hotels have been doing well enough that Mansfield recently went to London, seeking investors to expand.

“The industry has 25,000 hotels, and through our research we’ve worked out that 90 percent of owners have five or fewer hotels,” he said.

That fragmentation is a structural inefficiency in the market, he said, one he would like to help correct.
Oh my God, you mean there’s no single Love Hotel Inc. to pre-package and streamline the products, thus making billions of dollars for a select few?! You mean it’s actually a competitive market?! What a travesty! How inefficient!

I’ve only studied economics at the very basic level, but I think I know enough to know that this kind of mentality just disgusts me. It reminds me of the story, “Poor Little Rich Town” by Kurt Vonnegut. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find it online.

this is what i call a sense of humor:

Me: Hey dad, what’d the doctor say?

Dad: Oh, it’s awful. He says I’m going to end up dead!

This is the first of four questions related to reading that I feel so strongly about and take so much effort to answer every time I’m asked that I’ve decided to write down what I think. You can see the introductory post here.

“What’s the big deal about reading anyway?”

I feel like this will be the easiest and hardest question to answer. I admit that there are so many right answers that I couldn’t begin to cover them all. I’ve decided to list four that I find particularly important. Also, I should clarify: My intention is to persuade you that reading BOOKS is important, not just having the ability to read, because I think (hope?) that basic skill speaks for itself as far as importance goes.

1. Reading helps with your vocabulary, spelling and writing. Therefore, you are better and communicating and expressing yourself. Communication and self-expression are vital components of relationships, personal well-being and usually success in whatever work you do. You can argue that there are other ways to improve these skills – a test prep book, for example – but reading really internalizes word meanings and sentence structure by giving them context.

2. You learn when you read things. Okay, I know, you also learn things in school, but let’s pretend for a moment you’ve already finished school. For most people, reading is the most accessible way to continue gaining knowledge. It’s nice to be able to talk about a subject you care about but never had time to cover in school in an intelligent way (ie: beyond what’s included in the wikipedia page), and it’s nice to listen to people who know what they’re talking about, too. Also, knowledge is often the basis of action. If you read about a place you hadn’t heard of before, you might consider traveling there. If you read in detail about injustice rather than just hearing two-minute clips on the news, you might be more encouraged to do something about it. If you read about a subject and find you’re passionate about it, you might consider a career change, etc.

3. Remember all those stories in history class about a slave that decided to learn how to read despite it being illegal? Historically, oppressors have tried keeping the masses uneducated so they don’t consider rebelling or fighting for a better life they feel they deserve. The ideas found in books are strong, irreversible and feared. They open your mind and expose you to things you otherwise might have passed by.

But okay, I know, that’s paranoid, right? Our government isn’t trying to do that. They, in fact, MAKE us go to school. So we’re educated. What’s the problem?

The thing is, you aren’t just /educated/ or not – you’re either _thinking_ or not. That’s the key. That’s probably why students are more likely to be activists, why they feel more empowered than the average joe to change things. They are tuned in! People lose their student mindset after college, and I don’t know why.

And if even that seems too far removed from your life to be relevant and therefore make reading seem important, consider how much better you could handle stressful situations if you were exposed to opinions and insights beyond what your friends can provide (let’s face it: your friends are probably your friends because they support you in everything you do and have similar values, meaning you’re just hearing someone else validate what you already know instead of a truly different perspective. Books aren’t afraid to insult, but they won’t judge you either…They just give your brain something new to explore. They make you think! And as I once heard a very wise t-shirt say, “Think! It’s not illegal yet.”

4. The final reason is the one that I find the most important and relevant to you, yes you, on the computer. Reading forces you to concentrate and have sustained thought. For those of you that have forgotten, sustained thought means thinking outside the 140-character box, beyond the self-censorship you unconsciously provide yourself so all of Facebook doesn’t think you are weird in the wrong way, trying to solve problems without asking google or waiting for someone to reply on the note you posted, and actually considering multiple sides of an issue instead of adopting whatever quick-fire opinion the internet is shooting at you and moving on. Remember when people used to sleep on things?

I find it worrying that people are so distracted these days. That somehow, people justify expressing themselves in one sentence or paragraph as Straightforward rather than calling it what it is: lazy. Okay, you, I know what you’re going to say. You may update Twitter and Facebook, but you /also/ think about these things on your own time, and you discuss things with your friends at length outside the realm of comments. That’s fantastic. Great. I’m happy. You give me hope. But sorry, if that’s true, I’m not really talking to or about you. The person I am talking to or about is the person that is ONLY on facebook or twitter and just because they sometimes post thought-provoking quotes or their opinions about the latest news story, they think they are reflecting enough. The person that reads BBC news every morning and considers themselves “informed.” The internet is here to enhance, not to replace, how you learn. It’s just not a good environment for your brain to grow, with everything that’s going on.

You cannot chat and read a book at the same time. You cannot watch a YouTube video and read a book. You can’t do anything while you’re reading a book except…read. And so, your brain goes beyond those intellectual barriers that are so prevalent on the internet. And it does this for hours! Days! For however long it takes you to finish.

I guess this is so important to me because I live to solve problems. Even if you do not live TO solve problems, though, you cannot live without doing so. And in order to solve problems efficiently, you NEED to be able to concentrate and think. These are not skills that will come naturally when it’s necessary – you need practice and strength, both which can be gained from reading (among other things, such as solving math problems for example, but I think reading is more accessible).

One last thing. This is part of a comment I received in my last entry:

“I love reading, especially when it challenges me…But I can see where there’d be people who satisfy those desires through other mediums like music, movies, or art galleries. or not at all.”

This is an interesting idea. I actually believe other forms of art are fair trades for literature. I think movies are the best source for this, because they’re easy to watch since they’re short, and people are very rarely opposed to giving a movie a chance (a book, on the other hand…). The problem is that almost no one gains anything from these different medias anymore. The vast majority of people are interested in movies that don’t encourage much thought. This isn’t entirely their fault, with the intense marketing and surefire and instant thrills. But the fact stands, that people very rarely watch quality movies. And sure, everyone listens to music, but mostly as a form of entertainment. For those that do appreciate it for what it is, I think it’s a more emotional experience than intellectual. And that’s okay – I think both emotional and intellectual growth is important. Which is why I think for the most part, even people that experience music (rather than just listen to it) are not gaining everything they could from reading. And as for art galleries, I personally find them so crowded and visually overwhelming that it’s difficult for me to concentrate on one piece. That’s my personal experience, but I doubt it’s a unique one. I know there are smaller and more encouraging galleries, but in general I don’t find that people seek them out, or are even very interested in going.

The question that follows, in my mind, is “if you believe other forms of art are ‘fair trades’ for literature, then why do you insist on reading in particular, and not just watching better movies or something?”

The reason that springs to mind is that books force you to sustain and organize your thoughts in a way other mediums don’t. When you listen to a song or even an album, or watch a movie, you are affected for a couple hours, maybe a little more (with the exception, of course, of particularly exceptional examples that stay with you for a long, long time). I believe there’s a lot to be said for thinking about things for the days or weeks that it takes you to read a book. It’s too easy to watch a good movie, go to sleep and forget the feelings and thoughts you had last night. This is true of books as well, actually, but most people don’t read books all in one night. I have a habit of doing so that I’m trying to break because I find that I understand everything a lot better when I’ve had a couple days to mull it over in the back of my mind. Just how retrospect makes everything clearer in real life, it clarifies and internalizes things we learn.

People have been asking me the following alarming questions with increasing frequency lately:

“What’s the big deal about READING anyway?”

(after receiving a longer response than they cared to hear, they say….)

“Okay, fine, I admit SOME books MIGHT have A LITTLE intellectual merit. I’ll just read the summaries on the internet, though,” because they think that’ll shut me up, because apparently people REALLY believe that reading internet summaries instead of books is OK. “What do you mean that’s not good enough? You’re such a perfectionist. Why does it matter as long as I get the point of the story?”

I reply, but am promptly accused of the very serious crime of Reading Fiction, and “What’s the difference between reading fiction and watching TV? You don’t learn anything anyway.”

Which infuriates me to no end. TO NO END. It infuriates me enough to write things in ALL CAPS. That’s how much it infuriates me. FURY. I try to answer without them noticing the smoke rising from my nostrils (no one ever does. weird, huh?) but people just don’t know when to stop:

“Okay, yeah, I guess I do like reading….But none of that classic literature stuff. It’s boring and anyway, it’s only ‘classic’ because a bunch of stuffy academics decided to talk about it in some of their classes. It’s an arbitrary system of merit! There are probably tons of overlooked good books in the world! And anyway, the important thing is that I enjoy what I read, right?”

This discussion always leaves me speechless. At this point, I usually just resign myself to my room, waiting for the world to fade away as everything and everyone becomes less and less substantial. I really thought the answers to these questions were obvious. I thought that people AT LEAST believed reading was important, even if they didn’t choose to act on this belief. But we’re a generation of rebels, aren’t we, questioning all that is sacred in society. Why are we doomed to question all the wrong things? Why literacy and education and civic engagement?! SERIOUSLY.

But I digress.

I am tired of being asked these questions, so I’ve decided to answer them. And the next time someone decides to INFURIATE me, I shall calmly direct them to these notes. Don’t worry, I’m not going to answer them all now, or all at once, because I know people don’t like to read things more than a page long nowadays, because, omg, an email, a text, skip this song, oh, I need to download that episode, oh have you seen this youtube video?, wow look at this really interesting story on digg….

I won’t keep you from your very busy lives. I’ll break this up into manageable chunks for your convenience. Stay tuned.

[I know you'll probably want to start replying/defending now, since it's 4am and what else are you going to do? Feel free to do so, but I won't get into a discussion about any of this until I've actually addressed the question]