Funny how documentaries can usually be captured by one word--and usually, it's very relevant to what they are about. Funny how that works out huh?
Dirt!
About, as you guessed, the importance of maintaining healthy soil and the productivity hoax that is industrial agriculture.
It starts off cheesy, but has some great quotes and messages. I especially liked the woman who told the story about the hummingbird and the forest on fire.
Recommended, but not as great as Food Inc in terms of getting a message about sustainable agriculture across.
Babies
Fun to watch if you have nothing else to do and just want to spend 90 minutes looking at babies trying to flip themselves over or curiously abusing their family pet.
Dive!
The lives of dumpster divers (people who get their food from the dumpster behind grocery stores) and the oddity that is our food system and American wastefulness in which we throw out perfectly fine food when there are homeless and starving people just a few miles away.
Recommended: fun insight into alternative living
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Being in Character
Family photo- Key West 2012
If you're on the bridge to nowhere, might as well as attempt to fly
falling into the harbor
Gazing into the chief's eyes
Gazing with the chief
Finding Christmas in Florida
Finding Christmas in Florida is very ironic
Penguins on the roof!
Santa LOLZ
Penguins on the roof!
Santa LOLZ
Key West Cemetery
I've caught a cemetery obsession this semester. From my incredible love for New Haven Grove's cemetery to all the types of picturesque, rural, garden, and wild cemeteries in every city and throughout history, they just capture my attention and interest in a way that's both food for thought and food for spirit. New Haven's Grove Cemetery, at the time of its original construction, reflected the same ideals that New Haven was founded upon--orderliness and progressiveness. Most Yale students don't know this, but it's actually the VERY FIRST modern cemetery built in the US. And by "modern," I mean a planned cemetery in which people purchased burial plots before they passed away and families were buried together in a designated spot. The old way, which we can hardly imagine now, was having people being buried haphazardly in the city's the common (in New Haven's case, it would be the New Haven Green).
I've loved cemeteries, but just never realized it until this semester. Some of the most incredible places I've been to have been cemeteries, such as the one in my hometown of Wafangdian, located on a rolling hill near my aunt's farm that they graze goats on. My first time there, my cousin and I picked the fragrant acasia flowers blooming on the summer tree to feed the rabbits when we got back.
I also loved the cemetery I found in Turkey located right next to the 14th century Rumeli Hisari castle. One day after work, I went for a run along the Bosphorous River and it started misting when I got to the castle. When I turned back, I decided to go through the cemetery as oppose to taking the main street. It was full of twists and turns and I found myself lost among the gravestones and dead ends many times. The cemetery was also located on a hill and on clear days, it offered a beautiful view of the turquoise Bosphorous River. However, on that occasion that day, walking through the misty Turkish cemetery alone, I felt like I was meandering through another mystical realm and as if time had somehow sucked its breath and stopped. It was absolutely pure magic. I returned to the cemetery a few times before I finally left, and found solitude, peace, and reflection there when my Grandmother passed away while I was in Turkey.
Anyhoo, in this post, I want to introduce another great cemetery I've found in Key West. It also has structures I've never seen before and is built in the rural style popularized in the early 19th century. It was located unsuspectingly in a neighborhood bordered on all sides by family homes.
The plots were for the most part all separated into family plots, and would expand vertically upwards as the families got bigger and the plot more crowded.
They had a spot cornered off for the Jews and Catholics (New Haven's used to have a spot for the "Colored People," those from "Out of Town", and the "Catholics" too. Segregation even in death was the proper way.
In the Jewish tradition, as I found out, people place stones on the grave as a sign of respect.
I've loved cemeteries, but just never realized it until this semester. Some of the most incredible places I've been to have been cemeteries, such as the one in my hometown of Wafangdian, located on a rolling hill near my aunt's farm that they graze goats on. My first time there, my cousin and I picked the fragrant acasia flowers blooming on the summer tree to feed the rabbits when we got back.
I also loved the cemetery I found in Turkey located right next to the 14th century Rumeli Hisari castle. One day after work, I went for a run along the Bosphorous River and it started misting when I got to the castle. When I turned back, I decided to go through the cemetery as oppose to taking the main street. It was full of twists and turns and I found myself lost among the gravestones and dead ends many times. The cemetery was also located on a hill and on clear days, it offered a beautiful view of the turquoise Bosphorous River. However, on that occasion that day, walking through the misty Turkish cemetery alone, I felt like I was meandering through another mystical realm and as if time had somehow sucked its breath and stopped. It was absolutely pure magic. I returned to the cemetery a few times before I finally left, and found solitude, peace, and reflection there when my Grandmother passed away while I was in Turkey.
Anyhoo, in this post, I want to introduce another great cemetery I've found in Key West. It also has structures I've never seen before and is built in the rural style popularized in the early 19th century. It was located unsuspectingly in a neighborhood bordered on all sides by family homes.
The plots were for the most part all separated into family plots, and would expand vertically upwards as the families got bigger and the plot more crowded.
They had a spot cornered off for the Jews and Catholics (New Haven's used to have a spot for the "Colored People," those from "Out of Town", and the "Catholics" too. Segregation even in death was the proper way.
In the Jewish tradition, as I found out, people place stones on the grave as a sign of respect.
Friday, December 30, 2011
A semester
After I switched ownership of my Nikon with my dad, I just kind of stopped posting.
Now that I am writing, I realize that it's harder to write a post when I've been absent for an entire semester. Suddenly, I feel more obligated to post something insightful or significant, as oppose to the mundane delights that made me so happy today like the 茄子和 mom and I made today for lunch (which were pretty bombtastic).
I think this semester was good for me academically and socially. Surrounded by strong friends, I never felt alone or lacking in a support system when I needed it. I even rekindled old friendships and that's made me much happier as well. Being a Freshmen Counselor definitely rushed a maturation process, as I think more often about how my actions can be perceived as oppose to going with whatever I felt like in the moment. I also came to adore the JE Freshmen much more than I expected. At the beginning of the year, a few FroCos and I even talked about how we wished we were in 2015 so we could hang out with the Freshmen not as Freshmen Counselors, but just as friends.
Something else that has happened this past semester, perhaps as a result of being a FroCo or being a senior, I just feel much more at home in the JE community. For one, I am much closer with the JE administration. I have gotten to know Dean Farley and Master Laurans much better and feel reassured by their presence as oppose to nervous around them as I used to be. Being Co-captain in ping pong with Stephen was also great! We not only had great team spirit, but we also won the championships. Because of me (I'd like to think), ping pong has really gotten some respect in JE, and ALL the Freshmen LOVE IT! The greatest words I heard this semester were uttered by a Freshmen who said "It's like being good in Ping Pong is like a pre-req for being in JE." I am almost 100% certain that these words have NEVER been uttered in JE. I finally feel myself truly beloning to the JE community--it's only taken three and a half years, but hey, it sure feels great!
As for my musings, they have been mostly been on sustainable agriculture, it's application in China, and my senior project on the political space for civic participation in the Chinese environmental movement (yeah, it's kind of wordy). As graduation and the "real world" is coming up, I've also begun having discussions about gender roles with close friends. Why is it that women are expected to do more household chores than men when in today's society even when they work the amount of hours at their job as the man? Why does the "second shift" persist today? It's really unfair, and if there is one thing that annoys me more than a sense of injustice and unfairness...well, I will have to think about that one and get back to you.
I have a job at the Office of Sustainability putting together the Return on Investment report for Yale's sustainability initiatives. It gives me a good insight on the kind of projects Yale is currently undertaking and super cool!
Now that I am writing, I realize that it's harder to write a post when I've been absent for an entire semester. Suddenly, I feel more obligated to post something insightful or significant, as oppose to the mundane delights that made me so happy today like the 茄子和 mom and I made today for lunch (which were pretty bombtastic).
I think this semester was good for me academically and socially. Surrounded by strong friends, I never felt alone or lacking in a support system when I needed it. I even rekindled old friendships and that's made me much happier as well. Being a Freshmen Counselor definitely rushed a maturation process, as I think more often about how my actions can be perceived as oppose to going with whatever I felt like in the moment. I also came to adore the JE Freshmen much more than I expected. At the beginning of the year, a few FroCos and I even talked about how we wished we were in 2015 so we could hang out with the Freshmen not as Freshmen Counselors, but just as friends.
Something else that has happened this past semester, perhaps as a result of being a FroCo or being a senior, I just feel much more at home in the JE community. For one, I am much closer with the JE administration. I have gotten to know Dean Farley and Master Laurans much better and feel reassured by their presence as oppose to nervous around them as I used to be. Being Co-captain in ping pong with Stephen was also great! We not only had great team spirit, but we also won the championships. Because of me (I'd like to think), ping pong has really gotten some respect in JE, and ALL the Freshmen LOVE IT! The greatest words I heard this semester were uttered by a Freshmen who said "It's like being good in Ping Pong is like a pre-req for being in JE." I am almost 100% certain that these words have NEVER been uttered in JE. I finally feel myself truly beloning to the JE community--it's only taken three and a half years, but hey, it sure feels great!
As for my musings, they have been mostly been on sustainable agriculture, it's application in China, and my senior project on the political space for civic participation in the Chinese environmental movement (yeah, it's kind of wordy). As graduation and the "real world" is coming up, I've also begun having discussions about gender roles with close friends. Why is it that women are expected to do more household chores than men when in today's society even when they work the amount of hours at their job as the man? Why does the "second shift" persist today? It's really unfair, and if there is one thing that annoys me more than a sense of injustice and unfairness...well, I will have to think about that one and get back to you.
I have a job at the Office of Sustainability putting together the Return on Investment report for Yale's sustainability initiatives. It gives me a good insight on the kind of projects Yale is currently undertaking and super cool!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
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