Ich bin ziemlich erschöpft. Ich habe es satt, umzuziehen. Ich habe diese Regierung satt.
Also sitze ich da und male.
I am rather tired. I’m tired of moving. I’m tired of this administration.
So I sit and paint.
Mindlessly
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What topics do you like to discuss?
Jeff Daniel’s Speech -NewsRoom 2012
And [to the conservative panelist] with a straight face, you’re going to tell students that America’s so starspangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.
And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about?! Yosemite?!!!
We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn’t belittle it; it didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
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Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.
Sometimes we all need some time alone and at other times that is the last thing we need. I believe it was Carl Sagan, during an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air, he roughly stated, in a world as beautiful as this it is hard to doubt the existence of a higher being. The number billions do not even sound correct in this context. We used to argue whether human nature is good or bad. We all have our demons, and we may choose how we decide to exercise them. However, there are certain sunbeams that reach this earth, and shine and sparkle just perfectly. It touches our sole. It ignites what is good in us as human beings. Yes, sometimes in a world as beautiful as this, one can still refute the existence of a higher being. Sometimes these things just happen. These things happen completely at random as some fringe lunatics attribute global warming or violence in our society. I hope that something so stunningly beautiful touches us all in one’s lifetime.
Things happen in the course of weeks and days and most of it is clutter and much ado about nothing. Little tangents lead us nowhere. Seemingly, little things happen all the time. They will set off repercussions that will affect everything that comes after and there is little chance of interactions that are epic and life altering. People and paths are interconnected. The little bit of fuel we all use today may alter weather patterns that we cannot fathom at the time. Alternatively, maybe it is happenstance. We all little atoms that collide that form molecules and then life altering changes. However, for the most part most of what we do is trivial and random. It is a religion of sorts. It is a religion where the end game is not the mission. Rather it is whom we affect along the way.
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Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.
Heartbeat
Everything we do in life involves a little bit of risk. For example, every time I go for a run, I’m taking a risk. Simple heredity. Caused me to have a heart attack six years ago. But still, I run still I compete. I wouldn’t have it any other way. That is until the risk gets too big.
It hasn’t so far.
Everyday Conversations
When I’m in a foreign country, I am terrified to start a conversation in the native language. Currently , most of that is in German.
It generally isn’t going to go perfectly, but it is energizing to have tried. It’s simply known as getting out of your comfort zone. I am energized every time I do it.
Here’s a little story of a current risk that I’m taking. It is pretty big. And another of life’s great big adventures
