Freeganism and Straw Bale Houses

This interview with a freegan, someone who dumpster-dives for his subsistence, is fascinating! This line was especially interesting: "The Whole Foods dumpster in La Jolla is a good example of this [dumpsters being locked up]—its trash is securely locked tight. I think it's ironic that a green company perpetuates this green façade in the front of the store and a different stance in its back alley." (Thanks, Richard.)

my straw bale dream home :)

I've also been thinking a lot about the possibility of someday building a straw bale house. I got the idea from Hannah's organic farming sister and brother-in-law a couple years ago. They're supposed to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Maybe I'll just end up in a grass hut in Africa, where it'd be warm in the summer and warm in the non-existent winter--close enough. :)

The last few weeks

Between studying for the GRE (I'm taking it Monday!), visiting Grandpa in OH, and finishing the semester at Greenville Tech with a bang :), I've been listening to Stella's jingle bell collar, admiring the winter night sky, taking a night run with Ellen, watching biographies on Bill Gates and Confucius, visiting Jacqueline/going to the Nutcracker in Atlanta, and hardly being able to wait to see Hannah again! Thanksgiving this year was lovely--all the sisters together, plus a few "adopted" family members (ie: international kids from Greenville Tech plus Layla). I'm looking forward to the third week of Advent, starting tomorrow, and wishing I'd made myself an advent calendar with little chocolates and a Bible verse for every day of the season. Maybe next year.

Some pictures:

My new, short bangs
our front yard
Thanksgiving
Grandma and Grandpa receiving communion

Neatorama

I LOVE stuff like this! The 25 Most Important Questions in the History of the Universe

Waking from a 19-year coma to find communism over in Poland

I've just been thinking about this guy lately:

YouTube video

BBC article

And, I love his quote: "What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning," said Mr Grzebski."I've got nothing to complain about."

Patch Adams

I just watched the movie "Patch Adams" for the first time--really cool story. Here's some good advice from the real Patch Adams (my favorites: #3, #5, #8, #9):

Patch's 10 Everyday Actions to Help Heal Society

1. Pick up all the trash in an area in your hometown; be its guardian. Tell others about it.
2. Be friendly to everyone at all times; experiment outrageously.
3. Offer a shoulder or foot rub in any environment.
4. Always speak up for justice, no matter how much it costs.
5. Go once a week on a "house call" to a nursing home to cheer people up as a friend.
6. Turn off your TV and become interesting. Perform yourself.
7. Consider being silly in public. Sing out loud. Wear funny stuff.
8. Find ways to need a whole lot less money; share beyond belief.
9. Have potlucks frequently, with neighbors, co-workers, strangers. Work toward living in extended families.
10. Take your vacations in your own hometown and spend the money working on projects there that help build community.

Obama and McCain on Global Poverty

Click here to compare their views.

Wheat Field With Ravens

My dad just found out he won second place in a poetry contest hosted by the South Carolina Writers Workshop. Congratulations, Dad!

Here it is:


Wheat Field With Ravens

The path from left,
brown and green, is his,
Vincent's path, dipping forward,
then back, up the middle, a field
of yellow wheat cut in two.
The storm about to fall
dark above the bright wheat,
lit, not by sun,
but by Vincent, a year
before the end. Vincent's
light, with ravens suddenly
starting, as if hearing
the single pistol shot followed
in six months by another,
younger brother Theo's,
leaving canvases scattered,
all but one unsold,
and us as heirs.


JC Raff
6-6-08/6-21-08