My Obsessions

The Good Men Project

I discovered The Good Men Project and have fallen in love.  This website looks to answer the question "What does it mean to be a good man?"  The website features articles about sex and gender, sports and education, marriage and families.  I think they say it best themselves:

"Guys today are neither the mindless, sex-obsessed buffoons nor the stoic automatons our culture so often makes them out to be. Our community is smart, compassionate, curious, and open-minded; they strive to be good fathers and husbands, citizens and friends, to lead by example at home and in the workplace, and to understand their role in a changing world. The Good Men Project is a place where that happens. We’re glad to have you along for the ride."

I discovered this website from an article called "Why Women Aren't Crazy" by Yashar Ali.  This article is incredible and completely changed the way that I try to treat others and, more importantly, how I treat myself.  I would recommend it to anyone, male and female.  

Some other favorites:

"Unwanted Sex vs. Rape"- explains that difference between Actus reus, a guilty act, and Mens rea, a guilty mind. 

"What Makes Dudes Cry?"- pretty self-explanatory

"Confronting Life"- a really interesting video/ essay arguing against protestors in front of abortion clinics

"Why I Don't Want to Talk About Race" 

Charlieissocoollike

I first discovered Charlie McDonnell from watching his roommate's YouTube video's called "Alex Reads Twilight." This kid is funny, clever, and British.  So great.

Music

Bon Iver, of course

Ryan Gosling's band Dead Man's Bones

String by Young the Giant

Blood- The Middle East

And weirdly enough

Memories from my old phone

Two days before I left for Jordan last August, my sister broke her phone.  I figured because I wasn't going to use mine for four months, I would give it to her.  I went through all my saved texts and photos and emailed them to myself.  Almost six months later, I went through the folder where I saved them.  Most of the texts had been cut off, but I mostly remembered what they said and who they were from.   Some of the texts were from the people who were important to me last summer, but I'm not close with anymore.  It was fun to read the texts and remember how I used to feel about those friendships.  It's just part of being this age.  In six months I'll feel the same way about the people I spend most of my time with now.  On the other hand, some friendships stick.  The people who are the most important in my life, my best friends and family, were there six months ago and will still be there in another six months.


Some gems:

"I hope things work out with him.  He matches your attractiveness level better than the last guy."

"Wait you dont know how to ride a bike?  i promise that im not making fun of you but that is amazing"

"it really funny because some people just cant understand how you could spell things wrong and then there are other people like me how cant figure out how to spell things right"

me-"I'm a horrible person!  I'll be there at 8:15"

friend- "820...where is the horrible person? I want her here with me."

"I just want you to know that i think you're pretty much super amazing!! Hope you're having a great day today:)"

And here is the picture dump

My adorable sister with the husky dog that she drew

A screw that I found in my sandwich on a date last year.  Even though I almost lost some teeth, we got a refund and free dessert, and it turned out to be one of my favorite dates.

Riley doing the chicken dance at a Passover dinner

Charmo in my laundry basket

My desk!

I stole my friend's watch for a week and have been wanting to own a man's watch ever since

My amazing work friends decorated my desk for my birthday with Winnie the Pooh because I was the office baby

Char again

Char with her Ukrainian headdress.  

6/2/12

“Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently,” Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt wrote in the decision. “There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted.”

“All that Proposition 8 accomplished was to take away from same-sex couples the right to be granted marriage licenses and thus legally to use the designation ‘marriage,’ ” the judge wrote, adding, “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gay men and lesbians in California.”


from

My favorite books

Today, I got the chance to read from my two favorite books for a bit.  I love these books so much, and I have for many years.  Because I love them so much, I always want to talk about them, but whenever I try, they sound silly.  Maybe they are, but to me, they are incredible.  The first is called These is My Words.  I love this book because it's different than most love stories.  It's not about a couple falling in love, its about their life together.  It doesn't fit the formulaic rising action, climax, resolution.  It's steady, just like real life.  I think it's an incredible story.

The second is called The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.  I read it for the amazing descriptions of love and loneliness.  Nicole Krauss takes ordinary bits of daily life and makes them beautiful.  Here is one of my absolute favorite parts of the book, called The Birth of Feeling.

Just as there was a first instant when someone rubbed two sticks together to make a spark, there was a first time joy was felt, and a first time for sadness.  For a while, new feelings were being invented all the time.  Desire was born early, as was regret.  When stubbornness was felt for the first time, it started a chain reaction, creating the feeling of resentment on the one hand, and alienation and loneliness on the other… Contrary to logic, the feeling of surprise wasn’t born immediately.  It only came after people had enough time to get used to things as they were.  And when enough time had passed, and someone felt the first feeling of surprise, someone, somewhere else, felt the first pang of nostalgia…

            Having begun to feel, people’s desire to feel grew.  They wanted to feel more, feel deeper, despite how much it sometimes hurt.  People became addicted to feeling.  They struggled to uncover new emotions.  It’s possible that this is how art was born.  New kinds of joy were forged, along with new kinds of sadness: The eternal disappointment of life as it is; the relief of unexpected reprieve; the fear of dying.