Topic: Focus

What exactly am I doing?  I was working at Outward Bound South Africa for 3 months.  I left that to travel and begin writing my book.  I worked this summer at a summer camp, mostly to see 2 of my best friends from college, but as it turned out, the summer was mostly about meeting new people, gaining more experience working on a ropes course, and making a dollar or two.  Now, my focus is to finish my book College Daze, to sell it, but most importantly, to make something happen.

In my book, I write about how changing things requires thinking big about ideas, but small about action.  I’m thinking big all the time.  Right now, I need to get back to the smallest level.  Although there are 100′s of things I could and would like to do, the answers for my future are in my past.  I’ve done most of the hard work, I just need to follow-up.

The hard work I was referring to was designing an Outward Bound South Africa course that brings American students to S. Africa for 3 weeks.  Outward Bound is where my future is, wherever in the world I go.  So…to make me feel less like a floater and an anonymous person, I’m adding to my book some stories and educational philosophy of outward bound.  This book, whether it sells or not, I’m hoping will be a marketing tool to the ideas and programs that Outward Bound offers. 

 Life is strange in that you walk in and out of these amazing worlds.  You sometimes forget the things you’ve been able to do.  It’s like, one day, I’m at camp, leading 500 people in a cheer, everyone banging tables and singing, the next day, I’m in a house all by myself in front of a computer screen.  It’s probably one of the most surreal things there is in life.  (If I ever wrote a fiction book, and fiction ain’t my strength, i’d love to start it that way “it’s probably one of the most surreal things there is in life.”) 

ok…i’m good now, back to work

Topic: continuing education

In the last couple of days, I’ve heard from a couple of friends who I haven’t spoken to in a while.  They both told me that they’re enjoying the work they’re doing post-college, and one of the main reasons is that they’re always learning something new.  Majors aside, one of my friends couldn’t stop talking about politics and the books he’s been reading about current events.  It seems without the “need” to choose classes and what to learn, people discover what they “want” to learn, and tend to pursue this type of learning with much more vigor.

Since I’m heading back to Wash U to promote my book, I’m going to start finding out what professors there I can meet up with to help me develop in the areas that i’m interested in, education, our culture, lifestyle, public policy, etc. etc., as well as sit in on some classes that sound interesting, and to get a better feel on how different class environments feel.

I’m also enjoying the conversations that are coming out of having so many foreigners over my house the last few days.  My friend (Dr.) Phil from Sweden noticed a .22 caliber rifle in my dad’s basement (my dad is a target shooter for many years) and commented on an enormous billboard he saw on the highway the other day of a machine gun that read, “coming to a home near you.”  I haven’t seen all of Bowling for Columbine, but I reflected for a minute on how the shootings at Columbing lead Michael Moore to create a movie on how guns are a major problem in America.  While I have been a huge supporter of Moore for his recent books and Fahrenheit 9/11, I question the argument that eliminating guns will eliminate gun violence, in the same way I question the argument that eliminating terrorists will eliminate terrorism.  I believe the problem of both gun violence and terrorism are more fundamental and relate to people as much as weopons, and those are the issues that seem to be ignored.  In the recent magazine edition of “Adbusters,” they describe how the Columbine killers suffered depression and were being popped with anti-depressants.  Guns or no guns, there motivation to kill was fueled by the way society handled them as people, as well as their views of how un-educated most people are.  They were essentially terrorists, and it will take a change in culture as much as a tough stance on guns and terrorists to fix the problem not over the course of a presidency, but over the course of a generation or longer.

Topic: Self-imposed limitations

There’s a million things I can do with my life.  Why did I choose a path that requires me to go 100% alone, writing a book, trying to expose the ills of higher education in America? 

Today, I grew very, very lonely.  I still had one good friend, Ori, an Israeli, over my house.  But, as my other 6 friends left for the airport at 4am, I was suddenly in a mourning period of having my friends stripped away from me.  I forced myself to sleep part of the afternoon away to get past the sorrow that was overwhelming me.  I thought to myself how weak I was for a person who tries to have all the answers in life, but, despite having figured a few things out in my life, I still yearn for human affection, and while I think I’ve done a good thing to not yearn for money, status, and power in my life, I think human affection is not something I will give up looking for.  While I am feeling much better now, I think it’s important to occassionally get depressed, to dwell on the past, and to cry for memories of people and experiences. 

I’m kind of stuck on the book project for a moment, since I’m still spending time with friends from camp.  My ideal scenario would be me getting an hour with the executive director of expeditionary learning outward bound, www.elob.org to explain myself and my ideas.  I haven’t done the networking just yet, but outward bound has both the philosophy and the infrastructure (instructors, money, programs, experience, etc) to create the types of programs I want to create, whether they be gap year programs to help high school graduates mature, or college courses that give students real life skills and adventurous experiences, or even an entire college dedicated to education through experience.  So…i’m a little overwhelmed by the prospect of having the solutions to some or our societies large education and lifestyle problems, but still being a connection or 2 from being able to translate ideas into realities, which is really what my whole book is about.  Patience Dan…patience.

Topic: Looking ahead

So, I drove my Israeli friend Ilan to the airport today.  I just dropped him off, if I actually went into the terminal with him and waited, I definately would have cried my eyes out.  Ilan was different than any friend I’ve ever had, and as he left today with his Israeli girlfriend to Miami, then on to hitchike Central America, I realized that he influenced me.  He affected how I view the world, and I’ll never be able to undo the ideas he gave me.

Ilan showed me what’s possible.  He showed me that there are people who also are consumed with what’s wrong with society, and who spend their lives living and thinking outside of the norm, and as a result, are extremely happy with their lives.  We were discussing my book, and the question came up, if I didn’t spend $120,000 on a college diploma, what would I do with the money.  I reversed the question, and Ilan answered, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”  And as cliche as it sounds, I know he genuinely meant it.  He went on to say, “the more money people have, the more problems they have,” just like the famous rap song with the same lyrics. 

The secret to happiness is held by those who are happy.  All we need to do is listen.  I think that’s what I’ll take away most from Ilan.  Not only don’t we need a lot of money, but money only serves as a distraction.  I asked him, “wouldn’t you go out to fancy restaurants?” and he responded, “I prefer the satisfaction of cooking my own food and having people over my house.  I don’t really like the structure of eating at a restaurant, things are more free at home.”  And it made perfect sense. 

I’ve also realized today, every experience has it’s good and bad sides.  You can find pleasure in life from both rich and poor things.  So, why not work less and enjoy the poor things?  Enjoy having to sleep on friends couches, instead of being lonely in your own apartment.  Enjoy having friends over for an extended dinner where conversations run into the night, instead of one that ends staring at the cost of that extra bottle of wine.  Ilan made me realize not only that I wasn’t alone in my thinking, but, on some level, that i’m right.  I’m right in the argument of “does money matter.”  At least, a person should live without money for some time so that they can understand and appreciate what it is to not have.  Again, the key is balance. 

Oh…and last night I had a dream about Wash U.  I was back on campus, but recognized nothing, and nobody.  Everything had changed, everyone moved on, and I was there, and it was creepy as hell.  I wanted desperately to leave, but, I think, I know I need to be there.  I re-read a journal entry from April that I wrote while instructing an Outward Bound course, and I said from Sept-Nov, I would be promoting my book at Washington U., and somehow, I haven’t strayed much from the course set back then, and so, despite the strong as hell temptation to follow my friends travelling around, I will stay the course.

And…I went to an outdoor store today, and was suddenly reminded of the adventures I’ve had when attached to Outward Bound, and decided that in the next few months, I need to take on a major outdoor expedition, either kayaking, hiking, biking, or who knows what, but maintaining physical shape and spending time in nature are things that are as much a part of me as anything.

9 friends leaving tom., 4 friends arriving, i’m out for the night.

-dan

TOPIC: BOOK PROMOTION

I had an hour-long conversation with my mom about what I’m doing with my life.  I’ve known for a while that she has some concerns about me not having a stable 9-5 job, with a stable salary, apartment, cell phone, etc.  But, for the first time, we actually had a conversation about everything, and that alone, was a very good thing.

One thing I realized is that my mom has been struggling with being able to describe to people what exactly I’m doing.  And I remembered a lesson I learned a year ago when I first tried to convince my parents that going to South Africa was a good idea, that “I need to first understand myself, before I can convince others of what it is I’m doing.”  So, with that philosophy in mind, I had to figure out exactly what I’m doing, so I could help my mom come to grips with the same thing.

So, for the next couple of month, I’m promoting my book, College Daze.  That, basically, is my job, and I actually hope to make some money doing it too.  Giving my mom that, helped her a lot, and she actually began to work from there to understand more of my complex and long-term plans. 

So…i’m now back home in Long Island, with 9 people staying at my house, a few Israelis, Aussies, and a Brit.  It’s a nice transition from camp to still have my good friends with me, although excited to be alone in 2 weeks time to put the finishing touches on my book and get out to St. Louis to begin promoting my book.

But this whole exercise with my mom is probably another book in itself.  It showed me the need for balance in people’s lives.  My mom was looking at other people my age, making $30,000 and living in NYC, and despite their lives being spiritually empty, and even being described by themselves as being dull and purposeless jobs, there is still that sense that, “normal is normal.”  I suddenly feel an even bigger obligation with my book to re-define normal for our culture, because that’s where the real danger is.  Normal education.  Normal jobs.  Normal possessions.

I think what will most help my mom get used to the idea of what i’m doing is these people coming and going at my house.  People who just got out of the Israeli army, and are now heading to Central America to hitchhike there for a few months.  People who just finished high school who are flying to New Orleans tom. just to see if it’s as crazy as it sounds.  My 2 friends from college, and a Swede and Welshman, road tripping west, seeing random places like Indianapalis, Mt. Rushomre, St Louis, Iowa, and finally Denver. 

The problem is, in my suburban town, you won’t see people like me, even if there are others with wander-lust as some say I have.  The problem is, at the college I graduated from, Washington U. in St. Louis, I wasn’t friends with people who want to freelance or become writers or reform education or save the world or live on couches.  The problem is, there is nobody in my family who isn’t either inside an office or a classroom everyday. 

The problem is exposure, which is a problem of media, which is a problem I will in some small way solve with my book.  Exposure to a problem.  Exposure to ideas.  Exposure to solutions.  Exposure to non-normal ways of living, working, and thinking.  Exposure to how you can expose yourself to more thinks.  Exposure to other books for people to read.  Exposure to cultures.  That’s what we lack by doing the normal, by staying in our comfort zones, we lack exposure to other universes that exist right here.

Now that i’m free of camp, i hope to be using xanga a lot more, as this is my #1 method of exposing my ideas and my book to people, so, I once again write to those who sort of know me via this online journal world, and those of you who manage to stumble your way here through people’s links or blog rings, and welcome to dansjournal…

-dan

Topic: A lifelong project

It’s amazing how I can discover my whole world, forget it, and rediscover it again.  It’s 2 hours past curfew, and after discussing outward bound, travel, and life w/ a friend of mine, i popped onto the internet to look into outward bound type stuff.  I’ve forgotten how big and well-established the field i’m in is.  Outdoor education isn’t just camp.  Philosophy, psychology, stuff more complex than years of academia would cover.  and, here’s what i’ve stumbled on…

http://www.wilderdom.com/outwardbound/OutwardBoundFuture.html

“

Outward Bound should be aiming to fuel an educational revolution in the 21^st century

Were Kurt Hahn alive today, I imagine that he would be calling for no less than a complete, innovative overhaul of Outward Bound programs to improve their pervasiveness and relevance to society.  I doubt that he would be happy with the Outward Bound experiment as it stands, although he would be pleased, I think, to see the flourishing of the outdoor education movement more generally.

Where is Hahn’s missionary zeal and spirited leadership action in Outward Bound today?  Nothing short of an educational and social revolution should be OB’s responsibility for the 21st century.  One thing is for sure, Hahn would have created new schemes, for example. 

• 
  

  What if the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound experiment was extended around the world? 

  
  
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  What if an Outward Bound experiential practicum was developed for teachers around the world?

  
  
• 
  

  What if Outward Bound developed a cheap, effective form of programming that could be applied in disadvantaged areas of the world? 

  
  
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  What if Outward Bound extended its programming into areas of international and civil conflict, such as the Play for Peace program, instead of staying within the safety of largely peaceful, affluent countries? ”
  
  WWW.WILDERDOM.COM    A whole new world of thought that i will be reading a lot about in the upcoming months.  I’m so excited to learn again, it’s exciting!!!

Topic: Long-term ideas

I’m 23 now.  In 2-3 years time, I would like to start-up (with the assistance of others with the finances to help) a company that provides programs for students to have an adventure, to educate themselves, to have fun, and to mature and develop personally for a period of time after high school, and before college should they decide to go that route. 

There is currently a market of parents with thousands of dollars to spend to send their children away on programs that they think will give them a leg up in life.  Musiker tours is one example, they charge as much as $3,000+ for 2 week programs that provide students mostly with the attitude that you need to get into the best school possible, and the way to do that is to learn the game of the college admissions program.

My company will attempt to do just the opposite, to provide high school graduates with a meaningful experience that shows them there is more to life than institutionalized education.  That success should be self-defined, rather than status-defined.  Plus, with the amount of money parents are willing to spend, I can send people around the world for considerable periods of time. 

I’m saying 2-3 years because I need to build a network of people over this time, and to build my own credibility.  Again, just an idea, but writing things down tends to help me focus my ideas, and to make me believe they are credible.

Shabbat Shalom everyone, which basically means, have a good, relaxing weekend.

-dan

Topic: Today

This site has bounced up and down.  When i’m able to write daily, i’ve gotten a large number of viewers, but as i’m away, the numbers once again drop to just a few regulars, which i still appreciate.  Anyways…here’s just a normal post that i’m not looking to be thought-provoking, as i still like to use xanga just to share things at random.

Woke up this morning at 4am in the staff lounge after falling asleep watching “The Rock.”  Today was my day off, and last night I decided not to stay overnight at a hotel with a group of staff, because I couldn’t justify spending money on a hotel room when I could stay here for free, even though I have done that on other days off.  I just decided that I need to restrain myself at times from wasteful spending.  Today, some people were going into the nearest city of Binghamton, and it again took a lot of restraint for me to decide to just stay here at camp, and not spend any unecessary money, when I could get food for free here. 

As it turned out, not spending money resulted in me still having an amazing day.  With a mixed group of people, Joe from Wales, (Dr.) Phil from Sweden, Naor from Israel, Naama from Israel, and Sarah from England, we set off for a hike for the afternoon.  The storm clouds fortunately passed, and we began hiking not far from camp, but into areas that in my previous 6 years as a camper and a counselor here, I had never ventured into.  We went through corn fields, ran naked through fields of tall grass (that was a good laugh) hopped through barbed wire fences and through private farms, built a small camp fire, cooked dough on sticks and added delicious Nutella (a chocolate sauce for those of you who haven’t tried its deliciousness), and then we created our own hike back, balancing ourselves across fallen trees, slipping on our faces, taking bites out of sour apples from trees, making seagul sounds from blowing through grass held between our thumbs.  At one point, we walked for about 5min. in complete silence, before anyone realized it.  “It’s so quiet,” said Joe.  “It was!” I yelled back, and we both started laughing.

We came back and lay in the sun by the lake for a while, before catching a quick bite of chili at the dining hall.  We went down to the Cow Palace, the ice cream shop down the road.  I was completely stuffed, but couldn’t resist buying an oreo ice cream shake, and figured it would be easier to consume than ice cream (drinking, versus using a spoon). 

My day off is nearly over.  Today will be our last Friday at camp.  I love Friday’s at camp.  We get our laundry back, and it’s always exciting to see how much clothing actually comes back, as well as to see whether or not my stuff comes back cleaner or dirtier than when it left.  It’s also one of my favorite days because, being a Jewish camp, we celebrate Shabbat.  I’m not a religious person, but Shabbat is a tradition I only celebrate when I am at a camp, and it’s a tradition that even my non-Jewish and foreign friends at camp all love.  We dress up a little nicer, have nicer food at dinner, the counselors dish out all the food which makes me feel like a father, then we conclude the meal with about 20minutes of all out singing and dancing, which is a site you’ll never see outside of camp.  After that we have 45min. or so of Israeli dancing which is always good for a laugh.  Then we generally relax, the staff gets together for some food, or goes to the staff lounge, which has started to suck a bit because most people just gather around the tv and you miss out on the opportunity to just sit and chat. 

On a side note, I really enjoyed the 2hr. block of tv I watched last night on HBO.  Starting with the Ali G show, which I find to be hilarious, then Def Comedy Jam, which is just a line-up of people getting up in front of an audience and just speaking, some of it doesn’t even sound like poetry, but everything has its own rhythm to it, and many of the poets have an amazing passion and strong opinions about society.  My South African friends were pretty impressed by the show, as well as the Bill Maher show, which shows off some intense social debates.  These are the things that remind me that America is a pretty sweet place to live in.  Anyways…the poetry thing had a real underground feel to it, and, after speaking with my Israeli friend Alon, who writes for a magazine in Israel called the “Left Bank,” a left-wing magazine, I’ve really become thirsty to meet more people who are part of the underground culture of America.  The poets, the writers, the free-thinkers, the fun-seekers, the adventure-seekers, the trouble-makers. 

Anyways…it’s 12:27, have to sign in before 12:30.  Tom. is Friday!!! And Sat. night is Campstock, where I will be singing Blind Melon’s, “No Rain,” in front of camp, my singing debut.  Then, most likely, Sat. night will begin Color War, 3 days of intense fun, hard work, and laughs, as the camp gets split into 2 teams, red and blue, and goes all out competing in all sorts of activities.  Another camp thing that can’t be experienced through writing, only experience.

g’night

-dan

Topic: Reasons for me to be optimistic

Just watched the Bill Maher episode w/ Michael Moore on it…starting to believe that we’re entering a new age of political awareness, and I’m growing confident that Bush will be voted out, and that Michael Moore, a college dropout who wrote a few books, and made a movie, will be largely responsible for that happening.

I’ve sold 30 copies of my book “College Daze” so far at camp, and I’m growing pretty confident that I will meet my goal of selling 500 copies over the next few months.  I’m growing pretty confident that once I get one or two important people to support my project, we will begin to see programs popping up all over the place that will result in a better educated, more motivated, more adventurous, fun-going, and happier culture.

In about 7 days I will be done with summer camp.  I will have a paycheck that will enable me to live and travel the US and Canada for about 3 months.  This will allow me to live in the real world, to be at Washington University in St. Louis for one of the presidential debates, to visit a few other universities to discuss my book and my ideas, and to contact book publishers about either having them help in marketing and selling my book, or to assist me in writing a second book.

I started this site in November 2003, and it’s now about 9 months later, and I feel like i’ve accomplished so much.  I attribute nothing to luck, to fate, etc., but to a simple mindset of what life is all about, and about how one should treat it.  On Outward Bound courses, part of their educational model is to put students in challenging situations, where they will either succumb, cope, or thrive.  It’s usually pretty obvious what stage people are in.  OB exists to be a metaphor for life, and as such, life is just a giant set of challenges, albeit (i’ve never actually used that word before, hope it makes sense here) an undefined set of challenges, but the same 3 stages occur.  You can either succumb, cope, or thrive in life.  We generally focus on the first two.  Depression would be people succumbing to the various challenges of life.  Coping is harder to define, but is basically a going through the motions type of approach.  It’s an approach described in the book “Tuesday’s With Morrie,” where people keep themselves occupied with a zillion different things, work, food, money, job, gym, but never take a step back to conemplate what the point of it all is, at least, not until they’re old and dying.  Then, there’s thriving.  And in the same way that it used to be ugly to consider oneself a liberal, it probably sounds ugly for me to say, “I’m thriving in life.”  It’s like putting salt in other people’s wounds, but that’s not what i want.  I think all people should honestly love every second of life, there jobs, school, relationships, everything.  And all it really comes down to is mindset and personal philosophy of life, and that’s what I hope to continue to spell out in a clearer manner for people, and that’s what I hope to promote through the creation of educational programs that help people realize what it means to thrive in life, versus simply coping, or, sadly, succumbing to the challenges of life.  And, part of thriving in life means being optimistic, and as I started this all of with, right now is an optimistic time to be alive.  It’s not only an optimistic time because of the opportunities available to us, but it’s an optimistic time to be alive because change in our culture is happening right now.  As Michael Moore put it, it’s suddenly cool to be political, where as 4 years ago it was cool to be apathetic.  Change has occured without us really noticing, without any crazy revolution, and it will continue to change for the better.

As always, comments, both postive and constructive are welcome.

-Dan

Just got back from Hershey Park.  Rides and chocolate.  The perfect combination.  Only 9 more days of camp!!!

Still developing a marketing strategy for my book.  Planning to be in St. Louis for orientation and the first week of classes.  Trying to design a course around my book, obviously an unofficial and therefor free class, but a class where students will basically get to discuss some of the issues I bring up in my book, as well as to take on some experiential education activities such as:

investigate college policies (tuition, purpose of college, what defines a course, what defines credit)
research non-traditional jobs and lifestyles
create service projects
explore st. louis
weekend road trips
organizing social activities w/ professors and faculty
self-publish there own books (possibly put together a collection of students’ experiences on this non-traditional course)

I’ll be living comfortably on my old roommates couch for about a month, depending on how things go.  Hopefully make a dollar or two on the book, but mostly just looking to have others help spread my ideas.  Also, hoping to have this course be a pilot that schools can take up as a for-credit thing, so students can pay and receive credits for learning not just what is offered inside the classroom, but learning whatever they possibly can outside the classroom.  This is a model of a course I would also like to expand to abroad situations, as I have already gotten a go-ahead to run a course like this in South Africa which would include many awesome outdoor activities.  But…till now, I’m still working on the drawing board.  We’re about a month away from a 100% finished book, and getting back some real-world feedback on this project.

-dan