find your own safe place

I just finished re-reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer for the third time. To be completely honest, I half read/ half listened this time around. The book on tape version has the most wonderful narrators and I found the combination of reading/listening to this particular story brought even more depth to the novel.Continue reading “find your own safe place”

cultural assimilation: learning, adapting, or mimicking?

The May 16th copy of New York magazine contained an article, “Paper Tigers” by Wesley Yang, which dealt with 1) the stereotyping of Asians as quiet, placating, and self-effacing, 2) the cultural background for these qualities, 3) the reality and non-reality of this stereotype, and 4) whether or not Asians should adapt to an American culture of assertiveness andContinue reading “cultural assimilation: learning, adapting, or mimicking?”

the song remains the same…and sometimes it changes

“I had a dream. Crazy dream. Anything I wanted to know, anyplace I needed to go…” (Led Zeppelin)  And so the song remains the same. And the dream remains the same. And the dream changes. And thereby so does the song. And so I urge you to think about change and about constants… and about whereContinue reading “the song remains the same…and sometimes it changes”

‘healthy’: the chameleon of self-righteousness

I have food intolerances… not strict allergies which will make me break out into hives or stop breathing when I eat particular foods… but intolerances that make me exhausted, upset, sluggish… that give me headaches, indigestion, acne. When I eat these foods — including corn, dairy, wheat, and sesame — I feel “off” — sad,Continue reading “‘healthy’: the chameleon of self-righteousness”

old home days or reunions of sentimentality

n 1907, James Ball Naylor wrote a poem entitled “Old Home Week” which read as follows: PART I I was sitting in my office, — far above the busy streetWhere the laden barks of business come and go,Where the rushing streams of traffic swirl and mingle as they meetAnd the surging tides of commerce ebbContinue reading “old home days or reunions of sentimentality”