Not What the Greeks Intended

This morning, when I woke up (with my awesome chest cold, strep throat, and fever) I did what I always go...open Firefox and skim Yahoo News before I head over to read my e-mail. I am usually a little over eager to get to my e-mail so I don't sit and read articles until later, but today one article in particular caught my attention.

After reading this, I was dumbfounded. I realize that China may not agree with the position that Cheek has taken on the Darfur issue, but even during the times of the Ancient Olympic Games, the basis was that "armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games".

Shouldn't this be the standard today?

I know the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, I know. Mr. Piro, my English teacher in High School, was set to participate. This boycott has become a dark part of his life, it seems, because he carries the bitterness with him every day of his life. He continues to run and coach girl's cross-country year after year, and I don't know how he does it.

I just feel as if these boycotts and instances of visa revocation are not quite what the Greeks had intended for their games when they began so many years ago. I think they wanted the games to be a time of peace where nations could come together and compete with sheer athleticism and skill, a time where nations come to flex their political muscles and boast their economic superiority. I realize the US is a far cry from the perfect nation, and many would claim that Americans are a bunch of warmongers, and our nation has a history of grudges against China (think Sen. John McCarthy's Red Scare) but the Olympics are supposed to be above all that.

But I guess that would be in an idyllic world, and not the one we live in. Maybe someday.

Words, Wonderful Words

I just finished reading a book of short stories my friend Leah lent me, and I absolutely loved it! It is called Read This and Tell Me What It Says by A. Manette Ansay. There are so many stories that strike a chord with me, and it only makes sense considering they all are supposed to take place in the midwest, hence she was awarded the Great Lakes Book Award.

Here is an excerpt that I found especially wonderful:

The sun began rising; one bloody knuckle peeked over the horizon and the flooded fields took up the color until the land around the house burned wild fire...The south edge of the lawn is still under water, and the fields reflect the sacred underbellies of the apple trees, the harsh coin of the sun rippling between them. A few straggly rows of corn grip the high ground, but for the most part the crop is gone, the season's seed lost to the sky.

Though the language is simple, it is beautiful, and that is what I love so much about writing. The beauty that can be conveyed simply through a few simple, choice words is something that I hope to be able to embody, and help others to do when I become a book editor. Words truly are powerful, though unfortunately their power is lost on most. How sad.

When I Bring my Glitterlimes to the Party People Freak Out!

So my summer at the Journal has been really amazing so far. I thoroughly enjoy the time I spend there doing all sorts of odds and ends, projects, etc. But my favorite thing so far has been the random things that we laugh about and share with each other.

Like this!

Mairead e-mailed this to me in response to a bag of dried Persimmons Rupal and I left for her on her desk. I had typed up a whole bunch of workshop pieces for her, and at the end of the e-mail to which they were attached, I told her to "watch out for those persimmons."

I found this website absolutely hilarious. The fact that anyone would pay $70 for a glitter keylime bracelet is beyond me, but if they have the money for that kind of thing...more power to them. Take a look at the glitter persimmons if you have no idea what they actually look like. They're actually kind of pretty. The picture of the guy modeling the glitter persimmons pin, however...kind of a creepster. I'm just sayin'...

I did, however, find the rings to be cute, as well as the bobby pins. But I don't think I am willing to fork over money for some dried up fruit with glitter on it.

...in fact, I may be able to make something like that myself. I will have to look into it. Possibly project?

J-O-T What?!

I started my internship with the Journal of Ordinary Thought near the University of Chicago campus! Even though I didn't do a whole lot today, I did, however, go through the entire website (twice) because it was just re-done and a bunch of apostrophes were missing, and I needed to check for other things that may be wrong with the site as well. It didn't take too much time, and then I was off to read through the manuscript of the next edition of the journal they're putting out sometime in the very near future! All very exciting (as I am a word nerd of sorts). And to top it off, the three women--Carrie, Rupal, and Mairead--are wonderful. I've never met a group of the most welcoming women in my life. It made me really happy to know they really do want to get to know me, and immerse me into this magazine.

I may have actually made the correct career decision people!

I've always been intrigued as to why certain people gravitate toward certain jobs, and bolt from others. What is it that, early in their lives, made them more prone to deviating one way or another? Is it really just a right brain/left brain thing? Familial influences? Societal? Cultural? A mixture of all of these? Who's to say we aren't destined for a certain career path from the day we are born?

But then there are those (maybe even the vast majority of society) who never truly find that career that fulfills the hopes and dreams they may have possessed sometime during their early lives. In fact, I'd argue that more often than not, our society is filled with individuals who are completely unfulfilled with their current job, but somehow never decide to take that jump and risk everything to find something different. Something better. Is it because of the security? Probably. But is that security really worth a lifetime of unhappiness with your job (which fills up most of your adult life)? Maybe, but this makes me uneasy.

Considering I am just getting my feet wet in the work realm, I don't have enough experience to say. I have a lifetime to figure out these answers, though no matter what, my answers will always differ from another. That's just how life is.

Seeee you later!

As my vacation auto-send e-mail message states:

Hey--

I hate to break it to you, but I am on a short hiatus with the study abroad program until June 7th. I will try to get back to you before then, but if I don't have computer access until then, I apologize.

And yes, I will tell the Irish hello for you.

And never fear, I will tell the Irish hello for all of you who actually tune in here for sure.

...it still hasn't really hit me, but I am tired and thus, it is time for sleep. And to enhance the excitement:

Welcome Home Spring 2009!

I am super excited! Drum roll please...the house I will be living in from Spring 2009(once I return from Spain)-May 2010!!! And there will be much rejoicing. :)

I'm slipping in between you and your big dreams...it's always you in my big dreams, and you tell me that its over...

I just cannot stop listening to this song. It's so beautiful, and it very much summarizes what I have been feeling for the past month and a half since things kind of went sour...sorry I disappeared for so long because of it.