http://www.npr.org/2012/06/08/154566358/natasha-trethewey-poetrys-always-a-kind-of-faith
Faith. What comes to mind - God/Buddha/Jehovah/etc. and religion? Family? Country?
Poetry. High school English class. Memorization. Shakespeare and incomprehensible words. Blah blah blah. Why should I care? Why does this matter?
I used to not like poetry. I hated analyzing it. I didn't get it. And then I don't know, I started reading it more. First, it was because I had to. Now, it's because I want to. (Funny how that can happen, isn't it?)
I love what Trethewey (new U.S. poet laureate) says about poetry.
"I think poetry's always a kind of faith. It is the kind that I have,"
Trethewey says. "It is what can offer solace and meaning but also ...
allows me to understand these events."
If someone asked me to explain why poetry is relevant today, I think that quote is a fine answer. (Of course, not everyone finds faith in poetry. Sometimes it takes some ice cream or talking to a friend or crying it out or whatever. But I've always been able to find comfort in words.)
There is so much going on in the world today. If you skim newspaper headlines, sometimes it seems like there are only negative things: war, destruction, fires, death. Greed and corruption and people hurting other people. And yet there are still poets. Still artists and dreamers and people trying to live their lives the best way they can.
So here's to faith, and poetry. If you think you don't like poetry, please try reading different types of poetry. I bet you'll find at least a few poems you relate to and love.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
David McCullough, Jr.'s 2012 Commencement Speech
(Full text of the speech: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/commencement-speaker-blasts-students/2012/06/08/gJQATvF1MV_blog.html)
I've always liked reading commencement speeches. There's something sweet in just the very fact of a commencement speech, don't you think? One generation passing on advice and wisdom to the next. Listening to them (at least the ones I've heard in person - I don't remember anything from a single one I've heard), not so much. So I've been reading some lately, and thought I'd post a few quotes I especially liked.
David McCullough, Jr.'s speech made me laugh. I found it funny and witty and true.
If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness. (Second is ice cream… just an fyi) I also hope you’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning. It’s where you go from here that matters.
I love how he mentions wisdom and ice cream in the same breath, pretty much. (Makes me want to go eat some ice cream and read Sophocles.) Plus, I agree whole-heartedly with what he says about what education is for. Honestly, a lot of the things I learned in school I have no idea if/when I'm ever going to need them...but I'm glad I know them. Well, some of them, at least.
And the thing about school and learning is that you keep learning after you're done with school. It's better in some ways, since you can decide to a much larger extent what you want to learn.
I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.
I need to work on this one.
And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it.
Yes, yes, yes.
Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.
Because everyone is.
Along with meaning, I've also been thinking about fulfillment lately. I'd like to figure out how to live a fulfilled life (along with everyone else). And of course it's paradoxical (at least according to McCullough, Jr.): "happens when you're thinking about more important things." It would be, wouldn't it?
I don't think there's any one recipe for living a fulfilled life. But I do think selflessness is (probably) a part of it.
So here's to finding (or at least embarking on a grand quest for) fulfillment and being selfless.
I've always liked reading commencement speeches. There's something sweet in just the very fact of a commencement speech, don't you think? One generation passing on advice and wisdom to the next. Listening to them (at least the ones I've heard in person - I don't remember anything from a single one I've heard), not so much. So I've been reading some lately, and thought I'd post a few quotes I especially liked.
David McCullough, Jr.'s speech made me laugh. I found it funny and witty and true.
If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness. (Second is ice cream… just an fyi) I also hope you’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning. It’s where you go from here that matters.
I love how he mentions wisdom and ice cream in the same breath, pretty much. (Makes me want to go eat some ice cream and read Sophocles.) Plus, I agree whole-heartedly with what he says about what education is for. Honestly, a lot of the things I learned in school I have no idea if/when I'm ever going to need them...but I'm glad I know them. Well, some of them, at least.
And the thing about school and learning is that you keep learning after you're done with school. It's better in some ways, since you can decide to a much larger extent what you want to learn.
I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.
I need to work on this one.
And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it.
Yes, yes, yes.
Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.
Because everyone is.
Along with meaning, I've also been thinking about fulfillment lately. I'd like to figure out how to live a fulfilled life (along with everyone else). And of course it's paradoxical (at least according to McCullough, Jr.): "happens when you're thinking about more important things." It would be, wouldn't it?
I don't think there's any one recipe for living a fulfilled life. But I do think selflessness is (probably) a part of it.
So here's to finding (or at least embarking on a grand quest for) fulfillment and being selfless.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Meaning & "a moment without meaning"
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/06/19/155344057/stars-planets-and-the-meaningless-life
Astronomy is not really something I've taken a great interest in. But something in this article resonated with me.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about meaning. The meaning of life - well, the meaning of my life, in particular. And this article was just plain reassuring.
My favorite quotes from the article: "In a small patch of sky, in a small wedge of space, there are worlds out there right now. There are, most likely many thousands of them. These are places just like here, places where you can stand and look around. These are places with landscapes."
"Thus, for me, anytime I can be lifted from the crushing sense that this is all there is, it's a good thing. Anytime I can be reminded that there is more, so much more, than this mortal coil, it feels like a good thing.
One doesn't have to search the Kepler archive to find that feeling. It can arrive in the form of art, poetry, your kids laughter or just looking up and out. I hope you get a moment to do that today.
May you have a moment without meaning."
Sometimes you need a moment to step back from everything in your life and realize that in the grand scheme of things, whatever you're worried about isn't as big a deal as you're making it. I mean, I am one person out of almost seven billion in the world out of possibly thousands of worlds. It always comes as somewhat of a shock, realizing my own insignificance. (Not in a bad way...sometimes it's reassuring.)
Would it be strange to say that I guess there is more to life than life?
Astronomy is not really something I've taken a great interest in. But something in this article resonated with me.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about meaning. The meaning of life - well, the meaning of my life, in particular. And this article was just plain reassuring.
My favorite quotes from the article: "In a small patch of sky, in a small wedge of space, there are worlds out there right now. There are, most likely many thousands of them. These are places just like here, places where you can stand and look around. These are places with landscapes."
"Thus, for me, anytime I can be lifted from the crushing sense that this is all there is, it's a good thing. Anytime I can be reminded that there is more, so much more, than this mortal coil, it feels like a good thing.
One doesn't have to search the Kepler archive to find that feeling. It can arrive in the form of art, poetry, your kids laughter or just looking up and out. I hope you get a moment to do that today.
May you have a moment without meaning."
Sometimes you need a moment to step back from everything in your life and realize that in the grand scheme of things, whatever you're worried about isn't as big a deal as you're making it. I mean, I am one person out of almost seven billion in the world out of possibly thousands of worlds. It always comes as somewhat of a shock, realizing my own insignificance. (Not in a bad way...sometimes it's reassuring.)
Would it be strange to say that I guess there is more to life than life?
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares Review
Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants #5) by Ann Brashares
This book made me incredibly nostalgic. I remembered being in middle school and high school reading this series, and seeing the movies with friends. (And of course, crying.)
I didn't re-read the other books before reading this one and it's been a few years, but I did remember the characters. I will say there's a completely unexpected twist in the book, but I don't want to give it away. I have mixed feelings overall. I did love this book, but part of me almost wishes Ann Brashares hadn't written it. I felt like she left the characters in a pretty good place in the fourth book. It's always kind of difficult to see fictional characters you're fond of grown up. (Like I could really have done without the epilogue in the last Harry Potter.)
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