Topic: BIG PLANS FOR DAN

Hey everyone.  I’d like to thank you all for visiting my site.  I’m proud to say I now have some regular viewers on my site, and I’m literally witnessing, as can you all, the development of an open community, where thoughts and inspiration are feeding off each other, and a sort of momentum is developing here in Xanga land. 
I hope you realize this is just the beginning for this site.  Maybe I haven’t given a clear vision, or demonstrated an ability to be more than another person w/ an online journal, but as I look at the other sites on the “featured content list” I realize it’s only a matter of time before this site and others like it become the norm, because this is the perfect forum for passionate minds to get together.

With all that said, I’d like to bring to you my latest development.  I’ve just gotten off the phone with a friend of mine from Baltimore.  He’s having a successful start with a hedge firm there, but most importantly, he’s learning a ton of stuff.  In fact, now that he has some professional experience, he reflects that college did little to prepare him for the real world.  We discussed our college experiences for a while, and decided that would be the project that I’ve been looking for:

A book.  Not a blog.  Not an article.  Not a conversation.  A real live book. 
Topic: Higher education, reflections by students and professors
The mission: I’m hoping to take 6months to a year, starting probably in the fall of ’04, traveling around to different universities in the USA.  Through interviews, observation, and any number of other methods with students, administrators, professors, community members, families, you name it, I hope to figure out approximately at what level our countries colleges and universities are functioning at. 
After assessing the various components that make up the experience, it will be the goal of my book, or a follow-up book, to explore opportunities for raising the bar of college educations for all.

So, this is day #1 of the project.  I can assure you, the nature of the project will change and evolve, but it is a project that must be investigated.  It is also a project, like most projects, that neesd support.  So, hopefully that support will start here, w/ some grassroots discussions, getting deeper in topics, getting deeper in comments, and spreading the word, like some of you have already (thanks again).  OK, time to send out this post, and start thinking about the next.

-Dan

p.s. the skin i’m using isn’t letting me post my box of links, if anyone knows of a skin that does allow that, or how to get than in, i just learned the basic html, but it only shows up on my private page, that’d be great.  thanks.

One day on our Outward Bound trip was a service project to a wildlife shelter.  Here, they take care of injured and sick animals.  They had woodpeckers, hawks, falcons that had been hit by cars, dogs w/ broken legs, flying squirrels, doves, an amazing collection.
Here’s a picture of one of the owls there.

Topic: CHANGING THE WORLD AND OURSELVES

Ok, so I’m an idealist.  I want things to change in the world, but, clearly the world is too big to be changed by ideas alone.  To change others, you need to pursuade them, and to pursuade people, you need to show them the benefits to them of the things you are proposing to the world.

People are more likely to listen, and consider your ideas, if you are kind to them.  Tonight I will watch Bowling for Columbine for the first time, although I’ve heard all about it.  Michael Moore is an idealist, he’s writing books to expose problems that he sees. 

But, in the process of making others look bad, and telling the world these things, is here burning certain bridges in the process?
By criticizing others, are you alienating the people that you want to change?

So much of politics is about why this or that plan is bad for the country. 
Is it possible to promote policy by acknowledging the good in your opponents’ plans, but then presenting your plan on its own merits?
Maybe this is clearer.  Is it possible to promote the good of your plan versus the good of the other plan, instead of the good of your plan, versus the bad of their plan?

I personally think the simple lifestyle, meaning a lifestyle that does not require extravigant spending, buying used things, or non-brand name things, etc. is a lifestyle that allows a person to focus more on their human side, their friends, family, and developing as an intelligent and ethical person.  That is my aim, and it is my own life journey to keep myself on that path which I have chosen. 
I cannot tell people to follow my lead.  It is hard enough to change myself, and stay on my own path, that I cannot demand from people to follow me, nor can I criticize those whose lifestyle’s do not resemble my own in any way.  What I can do, is try to promote my lifestyle in terms of what I do and think about it.  I can share the benefits of it.  I can hope that my ideal school, the type described on the websites www.elob.org and http://www.essentialschools.org/ will grow, and others will catch wind of this, and incorporate their ideas and strategies. 

There is a danger in being an idealist.  When you ignore the practical, you also risk alienating them.  As I walked around a clothing store w/ a family member today, I recognized how my eyes now looked at the outside world through the eyes of an idealist.  Every person I saw revolted me at first.  “Do you really need that pair of boots you’re buying,” I wanted to shout.  But, if I had a job and was making money, I might decide to splurge and treat myself too.  What these people are doing is not wrong.  It’s just their way of life, and our system of democracy and capitalism does give us these choices.

The question now, is what other choices to we have to our American culture, year 2003?  I’ve found my other choices in travel, the outdoors, and writing.  In future topics I’ll probably explore these further, but I just wanted to highlight how we should not try to banish choices.  Just as we were free to choose our culture, we should be free to choose alternatives.  So, hoo-ray for choices, now let’s start the campaing.

-Dan

 www.russellsymons.co.uk

PICTURE OF THE DAY:

This is a picture taken from the bouldering hut at the Table Rock base camp, N.C.
I haven’t even re-read my earlier rant.  All I know is that it is a product of being home and unproductive.  This picture is a reminder of the types of things I was doing.  I realize that when I’m doing things like this, I’m not spending as much time contemplating what I should do with my life, BECAUSE I AM DOING MY LIFE.  So, 4 days till I leave from South Africa, and a whole new world of ideas will spring forth.

Topic: Re-examining the issues

I’ve now received feedback from two people, that has revealed some holes in my vision of how people should live.  It is feedback I welcome, since it is the only way I can grow.
Firstly, I was warned about what I do with this site, since I’m writing things that could haunt me in the future, who knows what could happen. 
So, this is a mini disclaimer: The views on this site are mostly the result of my observations, currently as a 22 year-old living in the year 2003.  I acknowledge that my views are not facts, and I have had little contact w/ some of the issues I am talking about.  I am not an expert on depression, or public schools, or education, or economics.  I am interested in all of these topics, and am acknowledging here my own ignorance.  I don’t know much about them, but I know what I’ve seen, and some people will support my views, others will challenge it.  As this develops, hopefully myself and everyone reading this will learn a little more, and seek a more thorough and deeper understanding of each other and ourselves.

So, trying to summarize some of my views, and re-open them for discussion:

I don’t want or expect people to live in the woods.  I personally like the outdoors, so that’s my thing.  In fact, I’d prefer if people didn’t all live in the woods, because then it would be crowded, although I think it’d be great if more people gave it a shot.

I want people to reach their full potential.  I’m not exactly sure what that means.  But that’s my overall vision for everyone.

Question: We do certain things in life to achieve certain other things.  Means to and end.  Are certain ends more justified than others.  If someone wants to work a job so they can be rich, and those riches make them happy, doesn’t that person have every right?

Possible answer: If we want future generations to live in a “better” world than ours, with better being a very vague term, we need to live lives that are not simply for our benefit, but for the greater good of society.

Question: How do you measure how much good you are doing to society?  You can hand someone a burger and feel you’re helping the society, just the same as you can be a lawyer or doctor, and be criticized for your actions.

Possible answer: Nothing in life matters anyways, so do what you want.

Question: That can’t work or we’d all kill each other.  So we set up societal norms.

Statement: In the grand scheme of things, we’re all just trying to figure out this life thing together.  Do what you feel is right, i’ll do what i feel is right.

Question: What if what i feel is right is telling other people that what they’re doing is wrong?

Answer: I’m being judgemental and have no grounds to do so. 

Solution: I will no longer give advice.  I’ve actually learned this lesson before.  All I can do is do and write about what i’ve done.  You can explain what you’ve done, and if people like it, they may follow, if not, they’ll continue to live their lives.  After all, I’ve learned my life lessons from myself, and I still can’t understand them, so why should I be giving life lessons to other people.

Or: Maybe I should give advice.  I have seen both the metaphorical and literal mountain.  It’s pretty good when you’re up top, you can see a whole lot.  Maybe it is my responsibility to get people to the top of the mountain, or, maybe to tell them what it looks like at the top of the mountain.  By that I mean my Outward Bound experience.  I experienced friendship, learning, adventure, community, all at the same time.  A wonderful and intense experience that I have not encountered, nor have I met someone who has encountered the same experience in regular American culture.

Oh, aren’t train of thoughts amusing, I hope people can follow this.

Topic: GREAT IDEAS THAT COME FROM ABROAD

When I came back from my junior year abroad, a semester in London, England, I realized just how many amazing and different things there are to be exposed to. 

The list includes: food, drink, sport, travel, history, sites, language, diversity, gap years

IDEA: Another business idea.  Open up a restaurant in America, that serves food from abroad.  Crepes and belgium waffles in the morning, tapas during the day, kabobs, falafel, fish and chips, Irish Stew, paella, Italian pizza and pasta, etc. for dinner.  Beers from around the world on tap, Guinness, Carling, Carlsberg, Munich beers served by the liter w/ pretzels, etc. Danish pastries for dessert.  The place would be attached to the hostel I wrote about in a previous idea, so people could take a siesta during the day.  It would also show all international soccer games, and the people working there would all have fun accents and say things like, “Try the beef stew, it’s quite nice,” and “Would you like another pint of bitter?” 
 IMAGES BROUGHT TO YOU FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Anyways…according to an article by Mortimer Zuckerman, the editor-in-chief of us news & world reports, Europeans take off about six to seven weeks a year.  Americans average about 10.2 DAYS of vacation each year.  Americans spend only 4.3 nights of vacation away from home, down from 6 nights 25 years ago.  About 40% of Americans put in 50-hour workweeks.  We work about 3 weeks more a year than the Japanese.

In the article titled, “All work and no play,” the author tries to argue (and I’m not sure how he can be serious) that “Americans tend to work longer hours because, by and large, they enjoy itwhile many Europeans do not.”

Could America still be an economic superpower if we worked less?
Is there a min./max./optimum amount of work input that results in max. output?
If the numbers are true regarding working hours, which work culture do you prefer?
Any other thoughts on the amount of work we do, versus time to play?

A gap year is part of English, South African, and Australian culture.  This is a year off from high school, usually dedicated to solo traveling.

Would America benefit from gap years?
Could American culture incorporate gap years in the near future?
Any other thoughts on gap years and traveling?

There’s a sport many Americans have never seen called soccer (football for you foreigners).  Part of its allure is international competition, as well as continuous play, uninterupted by commercials.  A 90-min. game takes 90min., while a 60min. American football game takes 180min.

Anyone besides my college roommate and I follow the sport?

Topic: “YOU SAID IT”

Since most people see only the main page, and not other people’s comments and feedback, I’m going to start posting stuff that you guys come up with, because my site is worthless w/out people providing encouragement, criticism, and unique perspectives.

“it should be compulsory for all citizens to spend a certain amount of time in the bush and realise how small their lives are and yet how precious.” – enfant_terrible

“I’m steering my raft stronger than ever right now. But that’s only because the river took me someplace I never expected, and knocked my raft right over. Sometimes a bit of cold water is required to get you steering.”-  lettersat3am

“People have to learn to think freely, to find an authentic existence outside of the mill or the cubicle, and this involves turning off the idiot-box and connecting with the real world. Until people can do that, as long as they remain hypnotized by reality tv and funny insurance commercials, they’re going to be just cattle, herded from pasture to pasture to slaughter.

But you get stuck with your job and your family and you say, “no I’m free” and the next thing you know you’ve got credit card debt and mortgage payments and you’re not so free anymore, but you’re overweight and comfortable. Its normal living, herd living, status quo living, nihilistic consumerist living, that kills us.” – ganryu

“so now i feel like i’m up shit creek with no paddle and headed towards a nasty waterfall that leads to sharp rocks which is where i will land and bleed to death.” – beachypanda

“check out the musical Don Quixote. It’s a 50′s or 60′s musical with cheesy parts all through it but all masculinity and bravado aside, it is very pertinent even today. Cervantes wrote Don quixote while in prison and the theme asks the question “is it better to live in reality as a pragmatist or to live in a dream as an idealist?”. Without the dreamers what would our society accomplish in it’s state of complacency?” – Gonnamakeit

Topic: HOW DID YOU GET WHERE YOU ARE, AND WHAT’S IS LIKE?

See if you can follow this generic life metaphor .  We are in constant movement down a river, going through different stretches at every moment.  Everyone is on their own river, there’s virtually an infinite number of paths to take on the river, although some stretches of river may look similar to others. 
Most of your young life, you’re just sitting in a raft, floating uncontrollably downstream.  Gradually, you gain more equipmant and have more ability to steer your boat as you choose.  As you come into adulthood, you are paddling for the most part by yourself, managing your own way through calm and rapid waters.
THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG/BETTER OR WORSE PATHS.
The lives we live are all subjective with regards to that kind of criteria.  However, there are more challenging and easier routes.  There are more traveled and less traveled routes.  There are more dangerous and safer routes.  The list goes on.

What route are you on?
Did the current bring you there, or did you steer yourself where you are?
Is that where you want to be?
Do you have no idea what I’m talking about?

Topic: HOW BAD ARE SOME PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

“the kids are good, but the city is wacky and ask the teachers to do ridiculous things.  They want every teacher to strictly follow these guidelines in reading and math, and totally change overnight how they have been teaching for a long time.
 Our bulletin boards have to be a certain way, they constantly ask us to do something with less then a days notice, and it cannot be done in that time.” – NYC school teacher

My mom is a highschool math teacher.  She now has to read a story for 5min. of every class, to in some way promote literacy, since most kids who enter her high school can’t read.  Half her kids cut her classes.  They’re not bad kids, she says, they’re just dumb.  They’ve been pushed through, and don’t know how to do basic arithmatic that’s required for her class.  Now, they have changed the curriculums, but that isn’t changing anything.  They’re making kids do more group work, but we all know kids goof off in groups, or one kid does all the work. 

Sooner or later, 5 years, 10 years, we’ll hit a critical point.  We’ll need a “paradigm shift,” a term I picked up in some college class.  We’ll have to look at the problem as a larger problem that will require larger solutions than making a high school classroom, “look like a 5th grade classroom.”

Topic: A cause for all – having fun, learning about the world, pushing your limits

Dancing acrosss the icy cold Linville River, w/ 50+ packs on.  You do not want to fall in!!!This took place on our group’s 3-day solo at the end of our Outward Bound course.  Our group planned our route, our food, where to camp, when to rise in the morning, how fast to hike.  We dealt with blisters, fatigue, group issues, intense bonding, extreme laughter.  This was the ultimate in learning about ourselves, our group, having fun, being free, experiential learning, beautiful sites, physical challenges.  And when we got back, we all had to run 13 miles.  At times we pushed ourselves.  At times we pushed others.  Now, I’m pushing all of you out there reading this. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  If people can’t break free and fight for the simple freedoms in life, having fun, doing things for themselves, not being a prisoner to work and jobs, then we can never expect people to band together on political issues.  Let’s face it, people have too much to deal w/ in their own lives, too much drama going on, to worry about the global drama of the war in Iraq, poverty, education, the environment.  To actually do something about those issues, people first have to give up the rat-race, give up the pursuit of a safe, secure, “normal,” “traditional,” American way of life.

So, let’s start off and be goofy a little, since if we can’t laugh a little, we’ll all go mad.  Let’s share stories, jokes, successes, put ourselves at ease, instead of diving our heads into a wall trying to figure out why so many people who want to change the world, are stuck trying to unite with their online journals?

Ann Marie has formally agreed to join forces w/ yours truly.  More drivers wanted.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Hanging out on the ropes course, Table Rock Base Camp, North Carolina OB School

Topic: DEPRESSION IN AMERICA

This came off the blog of attollo.  Someone else came up w/ the phrase, the 20 something breakdown.  I didn’t know how to describe it myself, but this comes pretty close.

“The nihilistic attollo is beginning to awaken again.  I have these phases you see.  But I’m pretty sure that I’m insignificant and don’t really matter much to anyone, except maybe my dog.  That’s why I write here.  Who really cares about what I say?  I merely scream into the void. My friends exist, but I don’t have the time on my hands to be the friend to them that I should be.  I bitch and moan a lot, fight impossible battles, and live an asinine life.  I don’t listen enough.  I see entirely too much.  I think too much.  I go emotionally numb at the worst of times, and have it thrown in my face time and time again.  I lack religious faith, I don’t follow the status quo.  I drink too much, I don’t eat healthy foods the majority of the time, if I remember to eat at all.  I need to get in shape, but I’m too lazy to do so.  I should probably clean my house a little, but once again:  too lazy.  I chase pipe dreams, and lack passion.  I don’t understand the most simple parts of the culture I live in.  I’ll die alone and miserable.  I’m only slightly depressed, that too comes in phases.  I’m poor, but you can have my stuff if it will make you happy.  After all it is your happiness that is most important to me.  If I can inspire someone, or make them laugh, then I’ve done my part.  I don’t want money, you can have mine.  It’s just paper and metal after all.  Did I mention I drink too much?  I drink alone too.  I probably have a problem there.  I watch cartoons, and read philosophical texts.  I enjoy dwelling in dorkdom.  I cry myself to sleep at night.  But attollo, you have to be strong.  I’m sick of being strong.  I’m weak and pathetic.  Deal with it.  My entire family doesn’t understand me.  They don’t know why I want to read all the time, and write long essays on things.  They don’t understand why I’m not married and having kids.  I’m pathetic that’s why.  Maybe someday they’ll read this and finally begin to understand.  I have trouble speaking with people, I murder words.  I don’t write well either.  Through out school, until college, I focused on math and science.  My parents want me to go to med school, but medicine isn’t about helping people anymore, it’s about owning a bigger Lexus.  See what I mean about seeing too much?  I’ve managed to fool people into thinking I’m intelligent, the truth is I’m as dumb as the common rock. I HATE MY OWN MIND.  And I hate me.  So, end your subscriptions to my site, and let me dwell in my own existential hell.  Damn your eyes!”

I’ve never met someone from another country who is depressed in the way that the word gets thrown around here.  There’s a new commercial on tv for Zoloft, which tries to describe the medical causes of depression, by showing 2 cartoon nerve cells that “for some unknown reason, have something wrong with them.”  Depression may or not be a medical disease, I don’t know enough to make an opinion on that, but what we all know is that it is a social disease as well.
The symptoms of depression are social.  In the commercial, they are described as, “anxiety, nervousness, feeling like you’re all alone, feeling like everybody is judging you.”  You can argue the causes and cures are medical if you want, but this illness has some big difference from cancer, diabetes, and the common cold. 
So, what does Dan think is the cause of depression in America?   Hmmmm…I’d have to say the environment and culture that people live in.  I recently had a friend mention they think they’re manic depressive.  The situation is they are unemployed, living at home, and feels like they have no support system.  Another person who I will not name feels like crying at night because their job is so unsatisfying, and takes up so much of their time.  They can’t do any of the things they want to do.  There’s no time for friends, the gym, or themselves.  Work exhausts them.  Another friend of mine has been diagnosed as clinically depressed for quite a while.  Their depression goes hand-in-hand with their feelings of worthlessness, that everything they do is wrong.  Essentially, they have low self-esteem.  Their depression makes them want to be alone.  Their being alone though, increases their depression.
So, most people I have had contact with who suffer from some amount of depression, have given their explanations for their illness in normal, social descriptions, not in terms of medical diagnoses.  I am in no way eliminating the possibility that certain people are medically predisposed to get depression, however, many who have suffer from it, suffer from problems that are a result of financial, social, and other societal struggles.
I also believe the social aspect of depression is the leading cause.  By that, I mean a lack of human interaction leads to loneliness in many people.  I have heard from several people who, since college, have found themselves to be alone a lot more than they have been used to for 4 years.  Suddenly, everyone is wrapped up in their own lives.  The apartment becomes a place to kill time between days, no longer the social gathering that dorm life is. 
IDEA: From time to time, I’ll come up with ideas that I probably won’t be able to touch for a while, but maybe someday or someone else will jump on it. 
Hostels in America for college graduates.  Most people who have been abroad will agree, the hostel is an amazing experience.  Why?  Because you’re constantly meeting new people, and there’s always someone to spend time with, always something to do.  Many hostels also have a bar right there, so you don’t need to go looking for fun elsewhere.  Why else to people love hostels?  They’re cheap.  What you sacrafice in personal space, you gain in sanity.

The whole purpose of my blog, is to promote a better life, a more fun life, a more enjoyable life.  Along with this, I believe, will be the decrease in those who would consider themselves to be depressed.

Enough theory and philosophizing, though.  I want to always leave my readers with something practical they can do, to follow the way of life I am promoting, and to possibly help those with depression, help themselves to live without their disease.

AT THE END OF EVERY DAY, WRITE DOWN YOUR HI OF THE DAY, AND WRITE DOWN YOUR LOW OF THE DAY.

This is an activity I did at my summer camp, which campers completely loved, and I see one camper who actually posts his hi/low of the day as his away message.  Get a small notebook, a pen, and all you need is a minimum of 1min. of your day to spare.  Then, reflect and recall your day, instead of letting it quickly pass into the next.  Recall something good that happened to you and write it down.  Realize your day couldn’t have been 100% awful.  Recall something bad that happend that day and write it down.  Now it’s just something on a piece of paper, not as big as it was in your head.