6 Word Memoirs

INCIDENT:
Smith Magazine is an online magazine dedicated to storytelling and in particular personal narrative. One year ago they challenged their readership to write their life story in six words. This idea was based on the account that Hemingway supposedly wrote a story in six words - “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” The result is poignant, inspiring, hilarious, humbling, and everything that you would expect from a life story.

MORAL:
Looking forward to whatever is coming.

"Like Hope, But Different"

INCIDENT:
There has been a video circulating on the internet of a song and video inspired by Obama's "Yes, We Can" speech. Obama delivered this speech the night of the New Hampshire primary. It is compelling. So will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas took the inspirational message and created the following video:



This morning, a parody of the will.i.am "Yes We Can" video showed up on YouTube about John McCain. It is fantastic. You should also check it out:



MORAL:
It is a real stark contrast. And it is clear we need change. We need people in office who can see beyond the "business as usual" of Capital Hill. But whoever is your candidate in November, please get out and vote. Have a voice.

UPDATE (02/12/08): Go over to Cayenne & Carob for a hilarious video comparing Hilary Clinton and Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon's character from the movie Election).

Who is telling the truth?

INCIDENT:
In today's very partisan political climate it is incredibly hard to find any truth from under all of that spin. This is part of the reason why I usually get my news from NPR or from international news outlets (somehow I think it is less skewed). So you can imagine how excited I was to read about a nonpartisan, nonprofit website that tries "to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."

So a little background... for Christmas my good friends gave me a subscription to an excellent magazine called GOOD. You should all really check it out. 100% of your subscription goes to a GOOD nonprofit partner of your choice. How cool is that?! But I digress... So in the March/April 2008 issue of GOOD they talk about truth in politics and feature the website FactCheck.org. There is no advertising on the site. They are not backed by any political party. It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which does not accept funding from "business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals."

MORAL:
The internet is great, isn't it? We can question the credibility of our politicians without doing any of the tedious legwork. Plus with more websites and organizations like FactCheck.org, politicians need to be careful with what they put out in the world. Big brother is watching. Ha! But does this mean that politicians will all of a sudden be straight with us? Probably not completely. I mean I can't imagine that happening considering the complexity of the issues and the fact that everyone wants to portray themselves as good. But hopefully some of the blatant lies will be uncovered. And we won't have to be subjected to 4-8 years of the same.

Surviving

INCIDENT:
PostSecret is one of my favorite community-based art projects (Your Art Here is another favorite). There has been a lot of press, books, and even an All-American Rejects video on this art project. What is so great about PostSecret is that it makes art accessible. Some people do not think that they can be creative or artistic, but projects like PostSecret redefine the publics conception of what art can be. I have always believed that one’s perspective is crucial to the appreciation of art. And in the simplicity of the concept for this project, we find a complex outcome - life, death, happiness, and great sadness, but also humanity, hope, and faith.

Frank Warren, who is the founder of PostSecret, said at a recent lecture that "the children the world almost break become the adults who save it." I think you need to let that marinate a bit.

MORAL:
The inherent nature of our society with its freedom of choice as individuals leads to a spectrum of emotion and experience. And while children perhaps have somewhat less control over their lives they certainly are not immune to the highs and lows that the world holds for them. Those that do make it through life's experiences have a different perspective on life. Perhaps it is an urgency... maybe it is a clearer purpose... I am not sure what it is. But if you ever met anyone who has gone through anything major in their life, you have seen it. And it is inspiring.

UPDATE (02/08/08): Be inspired.

Why I don't get any work done...

INCIDENT:

UPDATE (07/31/08): Since I think this image was taken off the world wide web, I'll just explain what it contained. It was a cartoon of a nerdy guy dressed in a V-neck sweater vest, khaki pants and wearing glasses on the right side of the image. Above him were the words "Research Paper." On the left hand side of the image was a girl in a bikini with a birthday cake. Godzilla is standing behind her as airplanes are whizzing by his head. Above them were the words "The Internet."

MORAL:
The internet is incredibly addicting and distracting. It's an infinite source to feed my procrastination tendencies. I am thinking that I should probably regulate my internet use, but now is it really realistic to quit cold turkey? I think not.