There and Back Again...

Blogspot, I left you when I left Guilford. It wasn't intentional. Life got crazy after college ended. I have  packed up drove across the country twice since I last updated you. I have made many friends but also lost some since I have last updated you. I have seen some amazing places in this country...and some not so great places since I last updated. I have learned a lot about myself, and also professional skills since I updated. In many ways I have betrayed you by not showing you the love. But I have returned and I hope that you can forgive.

I return to here as I prepare to under take some crazy adventures.  On Monday, I fly out to Denver to campaign for Work For Progress, to get Coloradans to get out and vote for President Obama!  I have no idea what to expect but I am along for the ride. I plan to write and capture what it is like to be part of this process to share with the world.

After that trip, which I will return on November 7th, I believe I am being flown out to Guyana to teach 10 farmers about video production. I am in shock but it should be fun. 

Well world, here we go.

Till we meet again, Global Empire of Love

I can't believe that our class is over. I think the people of our class are amazing. We had an energy that just flowed between us. I have heard from a few people that they feared our IDS not because of what the class entailed, but for the people in the class. I am not exactly sure what they meant by that, but I am glad that they didn't join the class because our class perfect the way it was. From Greg's comedic performances to Matt's firebuilding skills, to Amy/Jane's Ukulele playing, everyone brought their own thing and shared it with the Global Empire of Love. Some of our classmates I had never really known too well before the class started, minus a smile and a hi. But we are now a community. I love and appreciate everyone in this class. For obvious reasons, this class solidified a bond that only one or two of my classes maybe had. I will always remember this class. While we learned a lot in terms of the readings and whatnot, the best things I learned in this class were human relationships and that it will be okay after college. I feel bad for everyone who doesn't take this class, because I think that the discussions we had everyday were important for every college student to have openly. We never masked what is happening after graduation with Ancient Greece, Paris, etc.

Global Empire of Love, I shall always remember you and till our reunion whenever it may be.

"And what it all boils down to is that no one's really got it figured out just yet"

So Sam Morton was amazing. He was probably my favorite speaker that we have had so far. He had such a passion for life and what he does. You could instantly tell that he discovered at a very young age what he wanted to do with his life and that he was able to take advantage of what fell in his lap at any given time.

For the second week in a row, we have had a speaker who had job opportunities fall in their lap and jump at them. I have to hope for job opportunities fall in my lap. It really scares me as I apply for jobs and try figuring out what is next. One of my favorite parts of these trips, is the chance to really talk to my peers about what is next. Some of us are moving to somewhere new and taking a random job while figuring out what is next, others are possibly going to graduate school, while others are moving to follow their dreams in one way or another.

I live in anxiety at the moment, trying to figure out where I will be. I guess I figure that in terms of jobs, I will be okay but I want to know where I am going to be. I have recently found a job that I love to have but the location is less than ideal. So I am starting to be comfortable with the idea of moving somewhere unexpected for a job. I am also becoming comfortable with the idea that life will just be ok. I just got to have faith in how things will turn out.

Tom Risser was a pretty interesting fellow. When watching the video, I saw that he was willing to have fun, but also was just a goofy fellow. I was pleasantly surprised by how he has taken his goofy side and made it productive in the work place. I mean if you just look at his desk, that thing is a serious piece of art. So he could have this boring job of working at a juicer making plant or whatever it actually is, but no, he finds a way to make it exciting and he has a lot of passion for. That is what we all need is passion. A movie I quite enjoyed posed this statement. "You know the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: "Did he have passion?".

I think that we all have to make sure that the answer to this question is yes for our lives. Without passion for what we do, then we just become drudges in the belly of the machine, instead of emperors in the global empire of love. There is a reason why Aaron Fetrow walked away from $90,000 a year, to whatever his pay is now. He didn't have the passion. I am working to find jobs that I have somewhat passion for, because while I know I have to make money, I want to feel accomplish and that sense that I did something for me today. Tom Risser, he defintely does that in the machines he helps create and the artwork he creates. No denying, that he is maybe one of the most creative and passionate speakers we have to date. So I have to give him props for that.

To end, I will share an Alanis Morissette song that reminds me of some of the stuff that are class is dealing with. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGjaaQAvSTA

The Joys of being an Adult Child

My inner child was screaming out at the top of his little lungs last class. I really enjoyed talking about our papers, because I think that having these dialogues are wonderful. Only in a few classes have I been able to discuss the papers and the guidelines and flexibility like this class. It makes it really unique.

I loved the setting that our class had before the edible schoolyard. The second meadows provided a beautiful fog that made me really excited inside. I loved sharing some wonderful quotes with the class. I loved quotes so much and I was really interested in what my classmates had to say and thought about them in terms of the class. I think that we focused a little too much on the "ecstasy of grief" though it is an important thing to discuss.

I loved discussing the food stuff. I know that some of my peers care a lot about the food that they eat while others less so. I am willing to admit that I am in the middle. I am getting more aware and observant about what I am putting in my body. These readings and videos have made me even more aware of what I am putting in. I know that money shouldn't be as a big of a factor according to the readings but for me it is. I don't have as much access to the farmer's market as I would like at the moment. But when I move on from this place, it is part of my goal to eat healthier. So I am starting to make movements, it will be a process but one of my most important goals.

I loved the edible schoolyard. I wish I had that learned about what they taught this during my elementary school years. I am really interested now to grow and eat my own products. While I did have a garden growing up, but Katrina did a great job engaging us and teaching us in the same way that she teaches her kids. I loved learning how a seed became a plant. I loved learning that pea greens are DELICIOUS and ADDICTING! I could learn so much from being a little kid there. But I am an almost 23 year old man. :( Maybe I can find a way to learn all these things in wherever I live after Guilford.

I loved and I know that many (if not all) of my classmates did too the fact that we could run around the museum and play like children. We escaped all the stress that existed just a mere two or three hours ago, when we discussed the final paper. Who would have thought that? We ran around pretending to be police officers, firemen, postmen, etc. And it was wonderful and engaging. We became creative in the ways that we played with the toys. We took our adult consciences and our child intuition of play and combined them. That was an amazing realization to me. It isn't very often that as 21-23 year olds that we are able to have this combination of mindsets. I know now that my youngest cousin is 10, I can not play with him on the same level. He is trying to become more mature. So I have to wait till I am father, uncle or have friends with young children until I can combine my wisdom with my inclination to play.

I loved Kat's path to where she got to where she is. Being a recent college graduate, it was really refreshing. I am applying all over the country but I am also realizing that something may fall in my lap and I should seriously consider it. If a friend suggested a job, like Gabriela did to Kat, I would be dumb not to consider it. I also am planning to buy a board to turn into a vision board after college. I would buy one now, but I can't afford to get more stuff when I am strapped for space but its on my list of things.

After every class, I fall more and more in love with the class and what we do. I can't wait for this weekend.

Thoughts on Disciplines and Food

I am so thankful that we had the discussion in class about the readings. It made me feel much more comfortable about it. When reading about science, I just got anxious and uncomfortable. So I was glad I was not alone in this uncomfortableness. Talking through the readings, made it much more accessible to me. I thought it was really interesting to also sit in the car with Matt, Ellee, and Riley on the way to the house. Hearing Ellee and Riley, as science majors, talk about how they never realized how difficult science can be for some people, made me think about my own disciplines. While my Latin American studies major doesn't seem to inaccessible being that it is an IDS major, my English major does. There are a lot of people who don't like reading books, my sister included. I don't understand how people can be like that but they are. Also people who read books don't necessarily read books in the same way I do. I read them in somewhat analytically, from my years of practice, in many ways that a scientist reads a biology article and probably dissect it. Last semester in my English capstone, Lauren, Rena and I among others, tried to master the book House of Leaves. Many of my friends, English majors and not, feared this book. But I took it head on. In the same way, I feared science classes, but some of my live for them. So I think the readings from last week, while difficult especially Kuhn and his “The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions,” I was better able to understand Stuart Kauffman's Breaking the Galilean Spell.

Michael Pollan is a pretty interesting fellow. I do have to agree that with some of the Slate review says about his book. I am actually interested into what he said considering when I tried watching the documentary Food Inc. I somewhat play the ignorant fool when eating. I am starting to eat healthier. But it is hard to be incredible detail about what goes in your food. I plan to eliminate gluten from my diet but it will be a slow and difficult process. Right now, without a car and time to research non gluten meals/food, its hard to quit it but it is on my plan to do it. His second talk reminded me a lot of certain parts of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

I don't think that I will be able to kill my own food but I hope to one day have a garden that I grow vegetables in and eat them. I am grad he is drawing attention the fact that we may eat organic food, but where it comes is also important. Some of it is imported, which cost energy. Lyle Estill talked about similar issues in his talk. 17% of our fossil fuel goes to our food process which is outstanding, as well as we eat four tons of carbon a year.

Cara Craig was a pretty awesome girl. I love hearing her history about how she got to where she is. Her very nontraditional method through college to get to her very nontraditional career all seemed very logical but I am glad we got to share the class with her.

Struggle

So I want to say that the five minute teaching sessions make me love our IDS even more. I feel like that an important aspect of this class, like FYE is to bond as a unit and get to know each other. We learned, or attempted to learn a song, a dance, a whistle, kick our tongues and a bit of Italian. I feel this class makes sense at Guilford and part of the reason why I was drawn to this fabulous school. I grow closer and closer to the people who I share at least four hours a week with. These people bring energy and excitement to the readings and experiences that our class go through. Replace any of us with someone else, and who knows what the class would be like. It would not be the same, we all bring ourselves out through the readings. I am super excited for our trip to the beach. I feel like we will have some great bonding experiences, building doredagos and whatnot.

Thomas Kuhn seems like an interesting fellow. It seems interesting his argument about how science works. I mean it makes sense that science goes through evolutions and paradigm shifts. I am rather confused about the reading a bit. I am hoping that some of my classmates can help me better understand the readings. It went a bit over my head, unfortunately.

Again, as a man of little science, I was kind of confused by Kaufman. But I did enjoy when he said that
"Reason itself has finally led us to see the inadequacy of reason. We must therefore reunite our full humanity. We must see ourselves whole, living in a creative world we can never fully know. The Enlightenment’s reliance on reason is too narrow a view of how we flourish or flounder. It is important to the Western Hebraic-Hellenic tradition that the ancient Greeks relied preeminently on reason to seek, with Plato, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. The ancient Jews, living with their God, relied more broadly on their full humanity."

I think that this is a very good discussion evolution of the modern thought with science and religion coming to conflict with the example of how Galileo was punished for his findings in a strict Christianity setting. Kaufman brings in an interesting point about how they should have separation and that we deserve to have a special place for the God(s). I kind of understand his points more than I did Kuhn. But not easily. I hope and will probably learn a lot from my peers on the manner.

Kiss the Messenger

In my FYE, I was fortunate to have been introduced to the wonderful world of Wendell Berry’s mind. We read most if not his entire book, Another Turn of the Crank, under the trees in the woods. It was really informative, and helped me better understand the mentality of what I would later recognize as Guilford’s values. He puts a major emphasize on staying local, like Guilford does. He sees it as a great way for to make a sustainable economy. I saw the correlation between what he was writing and how the Greenleaf functioned as a co-op. So as I was first introduced into his principles and ideas, I was being introduced to an idea of where Guilford’s principles here and lie.

I really enjoy and appreciate how passionate Berry is about the issue of localization. He is able to give the movement, though he would not enjoy me using that word, a lot of force by arguing in numerous fashions all the benefits for the cause. I do believe that buying locally and organically are great things and I am really glad that Meriwether Godsey does it but at the same time there has to be needs for some kind of the movement because not all produce is capable of growing in every region. Also, in the current supermarkets and stores, the price differential between local organic foods and the generic corporate versions is enough that most people can’t afford or don’t want to spend the money on them. As a student, I know that I do try to buy more local and organic products but there are times where it is like a three-dollar differences. So, in the goal of getting more to buy and support local, there must be a way to get the prices down. It is the same reason people go to McDonald’s, instead of a healthier alternative.

His essay about buying a computer is a very interesting one. It made me feel slightly guilty about reading his works on a computer and writing a response. Buy at least I am writing my response in daylight. Berry is a lucky man that he could not write any better or easier with a computer than with a pencil in hand. I am not gifted in this way and thus I am envious of him. My handwriting is horrible, so typing everything is always my priority. Since this essay was written in 1987 before computers became super mainstream like they are now. I wonder if he wrote an update of this essay what he would say now. Computers are everywhere and almost to avoid. Would he be able to make through life in the same way he was capable of in 1987?