Hello friends! It’s been a while. As someone who wants to improve their writing, this extended break is exactly what I wanted to avoid, though I was writing a bit for school assignments, job applications, and the like (excuses, excuses). I’m excited to get back into it.
Sparse updates
Life update: since I wrote last, I
had my right hip surgically repaired. This was a long time coming and has consumed a lot of my time/mental headspace, both in the months leading up to the procedure and in the six weeks since. I’ve learned a lot so far: how important consistent exercise is for my mental health, how lucky I am to have supportive people around me, how I (and so many others) take the ability to walk around the block for granted, how wondrous and precise (and expensive) modern surgical techniques are, and soooo much more. I’m back on my feet, grateful for the ability to walk (crutches are less fun than I imagined) but a long ways from running again, which is why I did this in the first place. “To lose patience is to lose the battle.”
finished my Master’s program in Sustainable Food Systems. Haven’t quite reflected too deeply on this one yet, but the two years were incredible. The amazing ideas and people that I was lucky enough to cross paths with changed me in ways that I can feel intensely. At the same time, there are impacts from my time in Boulder that I know I haven’t yet recognized. I often tell people that I feel like I got a degree in unlearning. So many of my assumptions were challenged in the best way, I began a lifelong process of working to embrace complexity and nuance, and I met people that I am hopeful will be friends and mentors for the rest of my Earthly existence.
witnessed the passing of my grandmother—my Yaya. Being together with my mom, dad, sister, and brother in the same room at the moment it happened was an experience beyond words. The “do everything you can to be there for loved ones” life rule holds.
Yaya was who she was. She inhabited herself with ease. She was fiercely independent, operating behind the scenes, moving mountains that we didn’t know existed, and never taking credit. Whether traversing an entire ocean by boat to lay a new foundation for her family or triple checking with the delivery man that there were olives on half the pizza that she had ordered for me and my friends, she enjoyed doing things the right way—even when the right way was uncomfortable. She was consistent not only in principle, but in love, and that consistency, paired with a relentless smile, was contagious in the best way. In some ways, Yaya was discerning. It took time to unearth details about her past, she always had plenty of feedback for priests and politicians, and she once told me over the phone to be careful to who I fully opened my heart. In other ways, Yaya was boundlessly generous. She loved to celebrate big occasions, squeeze my cheeks as often as possible, cherish the very miracle of being together, and bake treats until we didn’t know what to do with all of them. Above all, she had a full understanding of the word commitment: to family, to friends, and to faith in knowing that this life is both long and short, but it’s definitely not the only life we have.
got to reunite with countless lifelong friends at the first Princeton Reunions in three years. This came just a day after the beautiful, brilliant Sierra finally got her Class of 2020 in-person graduation. It’s never too late for ceremony or celebration, and reconnecting with an ever-changing sphere of people that live in my heart was extremely nourishing (even if I left the week feeling nothing short of depleted).
did some other things, but not that much. 2 hours a day on a stationary bike for surgery rehab eats up a day in peculiar ways.
Normal programming
I’ve also gotten back to reading/listening to more non-course-related stuff, especially since surgery, and sharing these resources (and maybe some follow-up thoughts in future posts) is really what these Notes About Nothing are meant for. Here are some things I’ve been into that you may consider checking out or adding to an ever-growing list that you only periodically remember exists:
Book: Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello. This book spoke directly to me. It challenged me in ways that few books have. I got it for $3 off of Thriftbooks and it may well be the best $3 I spend… forever? I loved it—I didn’t agree with certain chunks but in the best ways. Di Mello explicitly states that this is the point: you’re supposed to disagree with certain things—the key is whether you can do it with an open mind. His premise centers on one’s ability to simply observe themselves (“simply” being sort of ironic in today’s world). I will read this again and again and I feel as though it will be a different book each time. Highly recommend. One of my favorite passages:
“When you cut water, the water doesn’t get hurt; when you cut something solid, it breaks. You’ve got solid attitudes inside you; that’s what bumps against nature, that’s where you get hurt, that’s where the pain comes from.”
Book: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers. This is the third book I’ve read by Powers (the first being the now-famous The Overstory), and I can’t get enough of his brilliance. He writes in a way that makes me wonder HOW?? This is one of his earlier novels and it centers on consciousness, who we think we are, and the idea that our brains are really just making a constant best guess at piecing together a reasonable reality for us to interpret. The characters are awesome and the plot comes together in an entertaining and emotional way. I want to see cranes in Nebraska now (you’ll know). A couple of good lines:
“The self was a mob, a drifting, improvised posse. That was the subject of today’s lecture, all the lectures he had given, since meeting his ruined Nebraska meatpacker. No self without self-delusion.”
Movie: Dune!! I watched this movie for the third time a couple of weeks ago after somewhat failing to explain the plot to my parents and deciding they needed to see it for themselves. This movie is everything movies can be in 2022—I can’t begin to imagine the technologies used and it enhances an already-captivating plot. Hans Zimmer was behind the music, so there’s no surprise why it won an Oscar for Best Original Score. I very much want to read the books now. Best part is that there’s more to come, as Dune is a trilogy.
Essay: Charles Eisenstein on Central Bank Digital Currencies. A great look at how the future of money is developing and how we won’t quite get it right if we don’t commit to relationship, community (both place-based and online), and our inherent dependence on one another. Passage that stood out:
“The problem today is not, as the central authorities see it, that too much economic activity lies outside their ability to track and control it. Nor is it as libertarians see it: that individual freedom is eroding away. As in most polarized debates, both sides tacitly accept the very circumstance that generates the conflict to begin with: the erosion of civil society structures that hold people accountable for their actions.”
Essay: Jonathan Haidt on Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid. A clear and well-thought-out breakdown on the role social media has played in fracturing our discourse at multiple levels, from global down to individual interactions. We now waste a ton of time and energy nitpicking issues within issues, attacking and “othering” those we share a lot of common ground with. Rewards go to those who go viral and the outcomes haven’t been great. I don’t agree with everything here, but Haidt does a great job of staying focused on a topic that could lead in hundreds of directions. He offers some solutions as well, which I always like. Passage that stood out:
“These two extreme groups are similar in surprising ways. They are the whitest and richest of the seven groups, which suggests that America is being torn apart by a battle between two subsets of the elite who are not representative of the broader society. What’s more, they are the two groups that show the greatest homogeneity in their moral and political attitudes. This uniformity of opinion, the study’s authors speculate, is likely a result of thought-policing on social media: “Those who express sympathy for the views of opposing groups may experience backlash from their own cohort.” In other words, political extremists don’t just shoot darts at their enemies; they spend a lot of their ammunition targeting dissenters or nuanced thinkers on their own team.”
Musical Group: I was lucky to stumble across a performance by Fleetmac Wood at Princeton Reunions. First, stellar name. Second, super groovy mixes. I made dinner with one of the mixes playing last night and danced a bit too hard in the kitchen. Check them out here!!
Reddit Thread: What is the most interesting statistic you know? Did you know sharks predate trees? Did you know dragonflies have a 95% hunting success rate (the best of any species we know) partly because their optic nerve connects directly to their wings? I spent a little too much time having my mind blown here. Thanks as always, Reddit.
That feels sufficient for now. Each time I do this, I’m like “writing is fun.” Here’s to getting back on the path towards who-knows-what!