Category Archives: Uncategorized

Marseilles at Night

I think this might be the coolest thing ever.

Lazy Sunday: 13 April 2014

Despite Field Day being my least favorite day of the year in grade school, I’m voluntarily attending one today. If you’re luckier than me and spending this time in of doors and not playing Capture the Flag, enjoy some fancy reading materials.

  • AN ANIMATED JOHNNY CASH INTERVIEW. He talks about his sideburns, touring life, and being ordained by God to sing “Ring of Fire.” PBS is the best.
  • “What would you keep children for? So they can get you water on your deathbed?” Stay weird, Human Barbie, stay weird.
  • SURPRISE! Tons of famous landmarks are in the middle of large cities. But no, for real, I had no idea the Pyramids of Giza looked like this, or that Stonehenge was part of the commute for some folks.
  • Southerners: It’s not that we’re sorry, it’s that we’re sorry we got caught.
  • We actually want to date ourselves.
  • No, really.
  • Being kayak-jacked is the hell I never knew I feared the most.
  • Would anyone like to go treasure hunting with me? This is a real question. My contact info is in the About tab.
  • Treat yourself to a decent towel.
  • Here’s a visual guide to the best style of coffee to drink in each country. I can vouch for a couple, but now I just want to go to Asia to try all these odd combos I hadn’t previously considered.

You Should Know How to Do This: Be Healthy

For the last six or so weeks, I’ve been obsessed- obsessed- with my health (“to the surprise of absolutely no one,” says my roommate. “I bet you also love to read advice columns.” He’s on to me.). I’ve been thinking about it constantly. I’ve been blessed to have great health, but preventative medicine is the best medicine, or so I heard on NPR. There’s so much conflicting information out there and it makes me feel like I may as well keep doing what I’m doing, because hey, that’s not going badly, or at least not yet. I consulted with a variety of friends in the medical field about how to take care of myself- a pharmacist, someone who works in insurance, two nurses, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, a surgeon, a physical therapist, a medical journalist, and three doctors- and got a ton of information. It inspired me to take stock of my habits and practices, get my family’s complete medical records, and do some research about what options are available for me for care. It’s helping me to sleep better at night, and so I wanted to pass that along to you.

You KNOW she flosses like nine times a day.

You KNOW she flosses like nine times a day.

There’s stuff you can control, stuff you can’t control, and stuff we don’t know one way or the other, but hey, doesn’t hurt to have all the information, right? Continue reading

What Our World Lacks, We Lack

I think Sommer Browning is one of the most talented young poets writing, and I know I am being a Bad Feminist, but she’s also super pretty, which doesn’t even seem fair, because COME ON HER POEMS ARE REALLY GOOD TOO. Anyway, we follow each other on Twitter and I think she’s a riot.

What We Have

The earth’s crust
is like a cooking pancake
in a black iron skillet, exceptinstead of sitting on the stove
it shoots around the kitchen.
It’s amazing how sturdy it feels

on top, in our dim museums.
With just enough light to make out
a why, a what, and a how.

Ignoring how much we ignore,
like fish living in underground lakes ignore
ignoring their eyes to ignore the dark.

How desperate life is to live
that it shapes itself so readily to the world,
so that what our world lacks, we lack.

Lazy Sunday: 6 April 2014

Good morrow, dear readers. Please enjoy these reading materials I have procured for your benefit.

  • To the surprise of absolutely no one who has ever been told “I’ll call you.”
  • Selfies: The dandy we deserve.
  • Heaven’s Gate designed some really ugly websites.
  • And directly after that, I offer you what’s wrong with Vice, a site I avoid unless someone sends me something. This could be more broadly titled “what’s wrong with people” but VICE is a good sample.
  • I’ve started taking the idea of scheduling really seriously, so some of these ideas may come in handy for time saving. You get so much more time to do stuff you love when you plan your ish.
  • Oooh, a lost pilot story! I love early days of aviation mishaps.
  • My friend Eliza is now writing for Cosmo, so assume anything hilarious coming out of there is her. Here, we’ve got some Game of Thrones sex tips for ya.
  • Billions of average people can together make a good decision. Should we all register for this?
  • Some thoughts on this week’s Fort Hood shootings.
  • A 25-year-old Jon Hamm on a dating game show.
Video

Okra, and a slow boil, and things that cannot be taught

My buddy Kevin reading just one of his many wonderful food poems. If you haven’t read his work, do yourself a favor and check out any of his books and/or anthologized work.

Take a Step Out of Your House

Today, the first day of National Poetry Month, I reaped the ultimate reward of the used book collector. I opened up this dogeared Rilke traslation and out fluttered someone’s efforts. I haven’t read it yet, but I desperately want it to be good. I’m going to share a poem with you every day, and I think this is a good one to start with. So many people think they don’t “get” poetry, but take Ol Rainer’s advice on this one, and take a walk out of your comfort zone.

Image

 

The Way In

Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Robert Bly

 

Whoever you are, some evening take a step

out of your house, which you know so well.

Enormous space is near, your house lies where it begins,

whoever you are.

Your eyes find it hard to tear themselves

from the sloping threshold, but with your eyes

slowly, slowly, lift one black tree

up, so it stands against the sky: skinny, alone.

With that you have made the world. The world is immense

and like a word that is still growing in the silence.

In the same moment that your will grasps it,

your eyes, feeling its subtlety, will leave it.