Pay It Forward exchange

I've finally decided to participate in the Pay it Forward Exchange.

From Aurora at Foxy Art Studio:

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. This exchange---which is going around the net craft blogs right now--- is based on the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return,---just passing the kindness on---with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness pass on their own act of kindness. Thus starts a "PIF"... which continues on...and on..and on... You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 3 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU--the recipient--- have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. To play, you MUST leave me your e-mail address or some way to contact you so I can send you your gift, and your blog URL. thanks!

So the first three people to reply will get a small handmade gift from me (type of gift and time of being sent TBD), but you have to promise to put the same promise on your own blog. Any takers?

On the margins of pop culture

I know that, in many ways, I'm shaped by my culture. I participate in its rituals. I embrace many of the core cultural values. I eat the native foods. But somehow, in the last few years, I've noticed that I live outside of mainstream popular culture -- or at least, on its margins. Every couple of weeks, something happens that reminds me of this fact: My students make some reference I don't understand, or I see the cover of a magazine at the checkout and don't recognize the names being bandied about. Of course, I interact with pop culture, but I do so very selectively, which means that I miss many of the widespread trends.

I've never seen an episode of American Idol, Project Runway, or the Sopranos. Heck, we don't even get cable, which is surely an anomaly in the U.S. at this point, and now I don't even watch regular broadcast TV except through DVDs.

I don't read "women's" magazines (except in waiting rooms, when I've forgotten a book). When I do flip through them, I feel as though I'm reading about a foreign culture -- who are these people who are supposedly famous? Do people really care about the latest fashions? And while we're on the subject of fashion, why do the models all look so unhappy? Is there some rule that fashion models are forbidden to smile? They all look serious, or empty, or angry -- what is the deal? Is it just that they're hungry?

I see relatively few movies. I joke with people when they ask me whether I've seen this or that movie that they should just assume I haven't seen it, since that is the most common answer. I do see movies, but just few of them, and often years after they were in theaters.

I don't follow the gossip news about celebrities, so unless the news hits NPR or the front page of the Washington Post, I'm usually clueless. It seems like many people have a better sense of what is going on in the life of celebrities than I do -- I did hear about what's-her-name's recent teen pregnancy, but I would have totally missed the story about Ellen Degeneres' dog except that it was on the NPR quiz show (and don't ask me the details, because I've already forgotten them).

And so on . . .

So does this make me an alien in my own land? How much of American culture is represented by this mainstream popular culture? Are most people participating in the pop culture, or is that just an over-generalization perpetuated by the media hype?

Amusing

What I have been amused by lately has been This American Life , on NPR:

I was just listening to an old episode of This American Life and heard Sarah Vowell's discussion of how people keep (inappropriately) comparing themselves to Rosa Parks. You can read the essay online --- You, Sir, are No Rosa Parks -- or listen to it on streaming audio at This American Life (it's the third act of that podcast, starting around minute 47).

Another, howlingly funny essay by David Sedaris, discussing the cultural and linguistic challenges of describing Easter in France, can be found as the final act in The Angels Want to Wear My Red Suit . Between David Sedaris and David Rakoff, I can be amused for hours. It is totally worth hearing David Sedaris' Live at Carnegie Hall performance, if only for the "Six to Eight Black Men" and "Stadium Pal" essays, which still make me giggle when I hear them.

I love NPR.

Edit: You can hear David Sedaris' "Six to Eight Black Men" on This American Life -- it's the second act, starting around minute 25.

What not to crochet

These freaky bunny suits are not on my wish list, and they may be another example of What Not To Crochet.

Clive Wearing

An interview and brief discussion of the case of Clive Wearing, who has severe anterograde amnesia as a result of viral encephalitis that caused brain damage. He can't remember anything for more than about 30 seconds or so -- the only constants in his life are his love for his wife, Deborah, and his music. It's both sad and sweet all at the same time.

Free rice word game

Prove your brilliance and feed the hungry. Plus, it's so addictive!

Music video of the week

My new favorite song -- Bollywood rocks!

Can I get away with this?

Unique grading system. . . I like it!

What do you do with "found time"?

Your meeting has been postponed; your client just canceled; it's a snow day. . . In short, a day that had previously been all booked up is now gloriously, splendidly free.

What do you do with this "found time"?

Do you decide to make some progress on that big project you've been working on? Or spend the day playing? Maybe you read that trashy novel you just bought. Do you rest, recuperate, and nap? Maybe you take the day to pamper yourself. Or possibly, you just fritter away the day with no plan or purpose and wonder where the day went at the end.

I love found time. It feels so liberating to have a vista of uncommitted, unscheduled time open up in front of me. I often feel positively giddy. (This is probably a sign that I am over-scheduled and over-committed, but holding that aside. . .) I feel that found time deserves special activities -- something unusual, something I wouldn't ordinarily do or that I haven't had time to do. Sometimes I recuperate and take a guilt-free nap. Sometimes I play in my fiber studio. Sometimes I get a chunk of work done on an ongoing project and feel virtuously productive.

Tonight, my gig canceled, and I cleaned a room that I haven't had time to clean for a while. So I feel virtuous, and I have a sparkly clean room now!

One man's YMCA

Get ready to dance . . .