Buying Into Our Culture

The world as I see it or at least from the western view is a pretty messed up place.  In a macro view of things I see too much consumption and competition.   These two things lead to some of the worst attributes in the human condition.  We think that if we consume more products that one: Our economy will be in a better shape for it, and two: What ever we buy will make us happy. These are fallacies that lead to greed.  Competition to be the best, drives us to try to one up our competition and leave them in the dust, this is survival of the fittest. We think that since this happens in the animal world that it's ok to do it in the human world.  But what we don't see is the compassion that types of animals give to one another and even the democratic process that happens when groups of the same type of animals get together. Showing compassion and co-operation are two virtues that indigenous people held very high. things like competition, and consumption were things that were looked down upon. I guess it was best said by Morrie Schwarts in the novel Tuesdays With Morrie, "The culture we have does not make us feel good about ourselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it." To me our culture is just something I just don't by into.

Slaughter House Five

For my individual "wild card" book I read Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut, published by Dial Press. Kurt Vonnegut was considered on of the great american writers of his time. His first book he published was The Sirens of Titan in 1959. Mr. Vonnegut was know in his writing for his black humor and sarcastic wit in his writing. Mr. Vonnegut Died in 2007.  Slaughter House Five was set towards the end of World War II where we Fallow the Main character named Billy Pilgram. Billy is a tall lanky kid from Ilium, New York.  Billy is enlisted in the U.S. Army as a chaplains assistant, and oblivious to his surroundings. Billy winds up being separated form his chaplain and falls in with a batch if irregulars that were separated from their own units during the battle of the Bulge in the forests of Arden.

As Mr.Vonnegut tells the story we discover that Billy Pilgram is a time and space traveler.  With the blink of an eye billy travels from the forest of Arden of WWII to the world of Tralfamadoria, where Billy was abducted by Tralfamadorians. Billy goes in and out of time travel as well.
 I happen to think that the story is an anti war book. The time travel that the main character goes through reminds me of someone with back then was called combat fatigue or what we now know as PTSD. the flash backs that the main character goes through are classic signs of PTSD. I highly recommend this book and will probably read more books by Kurt Vonnegut.

Dick's lake

Paths protruding past pines.
Wind burnt, worn, wise with no concept of time.
For I marvel at these majestic mountains,
sitting soundly on stones of shale,
soul seemingly satisfied.

Tempting trail triggers titillation to go.
Pushing past the pass.
Down down down to Dick's lake we go.
finally finished and famished for the day.

Memorable meal made of Miso under
fire's flickering flame.
Tuckered out time to turn in!

They're Not Shoes! They're sandles!

                 These are adds out of Outside magazine. The claim is that the product are not shoes but sandals.  They look like shoes, feel like shoes, but guess what? They aren't. the hook is celebrity. All the folks in these adds are professional surfers, skateboarders, and skiers. These sandals are are marketed  for people that like to be outside and seek adventure.

                 I should know I actually bought a pair! They are pretty comfortable and go with quit a few of things in my closet. I usually wear them when I go down to the coffee house or just want to chill out out my house. Even though they are made on the cheap, they are still comfortable.

A starving feelin.

Since I finished Slaughter House Five I've had this hunger feeling in my head.  I want to satisfy this hunger so I found myself in Copperfields looking for something to satisfy my hunger. I don't think I've had this feeling of wanting to read so badly before. let's face it I read everyday. Im constantly bombarded by the Internet, cell phones, advertising, but none of that in gauges my brain like these past few novels.  I guess I could call it a thirst for wanting more. More reading, more conversations, more education, more writing, and more engagement!

Slaughter House Five

So I just got done reading Slaughter House Five last night. It was very vivid. Billy Pilgrim is totally a poster child for PTSD.  Now to figure out what to read next.........Hmmmmmm.

The Giver

So I was assigned to read the novel "The Giver" by Lois Lowery.  I have to be honest, when I first started to read the story I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Then just a few days ago I came home around seven in the evening and fell a sleep on my couch. I woke up around ten p.m. I knew that I wasn't going to get any sleep that night because of my late night nap, so I decided to read "The Giver" again. I was hooked! I didn't end up going to sleep till about one in the morning.  I finished the book the next day.  I really enjoyed this book, I found the build up to Jonas's twelve ceremony very interesting. To find out that he had the most honorable job out all his friends was pretty cool as well. But even though Jonas had the most honorable job as Receiver of Memories, it would change him and I think that it changes him for the better.