I am often struck with inspiration in unusual ways. Watching one of my favorite shows, America's Test Kitchen, on WTTW is a great example of this when an interesting corollary between the culinary world and the world crossed me. When the segment of the show called 'Equipment Corner' aired, it was revisiting a past comparison test of the best blenders
Social Contract
This is Water
“The most obvious important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about,” opens David Foster Wallace in his commencement speech given to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College in Ohio. In this contemporary society, we are inundated by mediums to express our individuality- television has created a market placing captivatingly quirky characters at the top of entertainment, social media gives all with the means to access the World Wide Web a space to stand up, loudly professing, “Look at me, I’m important.” Blogging crystallizes this idea of self-centeredness where people are free to share thoughts, express ideas, and stand out from the rest.
What Do You Do?
Preempting nearly every conversation with someone I meet the question comes up. It is inevitable. And asking this is like chartering a plane to the sun just to ask if its surface is hot. It’s pointless, it does not matter. Nonetheless, a lull in conversation leads to, “What do you do?” The meaning is universal. Perhaps asking this is the animal instinct showcasing itself as a way to judge the opponent, to see where on the pecking order each fall.
What We Know
Oppression is present throughout the world. Its occurrence might be more openly admitted in the developing world- extreme poverty, destitution, lack of resources, high prevalence of disease and premature death, but human struggle in the worst forms takes place in every crevice of our lives. Apply a little effort and you will uncover someone being exploited for sex, forced to work in horrid conditions for little or no pay, or coerced into something that turns out to be anything but the anticipated, placing them in unimaginable positions.
The Art of Travel
Traveling, the art of connecting with people of other cultures, dismantles my sense of personal awareness. Their problems, concerns, joys, and happiness create a feeling that each person is not a singular individual, rather, we stand on planet Earth together with each separate action affecting everyone else.