Some things

Well it's my first summer spent here in my collegiate residence, Eugene. So far, it has been a marvelous time, excluding the blistering heat. Going for a bike ride intended to refresh onself felt more like pedaling on a stationary exercise bike inside a dry sauna, in front of a hair dryer. But! those times have passed. And now it's prime time to work on projects and dawdling around, noticing things that are worth less than a penny during the academic year.

Around Eugene, telephone poles are the analogue facebook and craigslist, advertising public events, services, things lost and found. Though some people would say that these telephone poles are no more than cut up, dead trees, I would encourage them to look closer. Look at the layers of paper skins that these things still grow! They have faces! They have souls! I wonder if someone could do a cross section on one of these poles to find out how old they are, in respect to the amount of flyers stapled onto them.

Best $5 Ever Spent

A little while back I was privileged enough to experience "The Project", a Brooklyn based ensemble, at the University of Oregon. Originally I picked up on posters advertising the arrival of the beatboxing flute player, but I left the show completely enamored with the group as a whole (not to mention two cd's, autographs, and a how-to manual).

Almost Run Over!

I was almost crushed under the wheels of a small SUV. Here's what happened: This morning I was biking to school as usual. I took a right turn at a green light, in a continuous bike lane. I was watching closely for pedestrians, and suddenly I was jolted by the side of an SUV. I strained against the vehicle to keep upright. I yelled to the driver, but she made no response as she lowered her cell phone and straightened the path of her vehicle.
After pedaling for a few yards I was able to get my head around what just happened. Luckily, I was okay. But it could have been catastrophic. If she didn't run me over with her back wheels, someone else certainly could have; I could have broken an arm on the curb; my bike could have been demolished. Thankfully, it was all the "could have's" that kept me unharmed. They also pushed me into action. She could have sent me to the hospital or an early grave and she didn't even know it.

So with new found resolution in my two skinny wheels I raced after her. I followed her through another right turn and caught up on Alder. As I paced with her passenger window I shouted again. This time she looked over but figured it wasn't important, I guess. So I followed her as she turned left and finally got right up to her driver's window at the next stop sign. I yelled for her to roll it down. I shouted that she drove right into the bike lane a couple turns back and almost flattened me. She needed to be more careful. She needed to watch the bike lane. All she could say was, "Really? I'm sorry."

And isn't that the way it goes.

We have to watch out for one another. It's easy to tune out your surroundings and text while you're driving and listen to music with the windows rolled up, wishing that you couldn't hear the outside world so distinctly as you sped through it. I am not a drone. I am a real person sharing the world and I nearly paid the consequences for someone who wanted to disregard their responsibility and occupy it alone, selfishly. Even though we think we can live in our own comfort-attention bubbles, with iPods and cell phones and earplugs, we can not. It's just not an option. We share the world, and when we forget that, we forget each other. And that does us all great harm.

AWARENESS TEST

Getting It Right This Time

So, it's normal to now say that people have screwed up. We've done a lot of terrible things to each other and to the planet we live on. But, it's also optimistic, and not uncommon, to say we're heading in the right direction. We have the opportunity, and maybe even the foresight, to make better choices in the future, and possibly fix mistakes.

Here is some of my favorite work showcasing this new confident optimism from environmental groups: World Wildlife Foundation, and National Geographic. A step in the right direction for advertising, and the human race.

NatGeo by AmuataLab


WWF "Panda" by Nexus Productions

5 Pieces of Advice

In response to an assignment from Deb Morrison's class I'd like to share what I've learned this term at the University of Oregon:

5 PIECES of ADVICE

FIND 3RD SPACE.
I bummed this term from two great sources: Starbucks and Zach Blank. For Starbucks, this is the place that isn't work, and isn't home. It's the place where you can enjoy transition. For Zach Blank, it wasn't the classroom, and it wasn't his bed. It's the place where he could set up shop and think, while being available to his peers. Make it somewhere people can find you, and it won't bother you to be found.

SAVE TIME.
No matter if it's making coffee while you're getting dressed or doing all your school work at school, saving time means multi-tasking to be an effective worker and creating time for yourself.

DON'T WORK TOO HARD OR YOU WILL GET SICK.
There is a limited amount of time in the day and if it's all for work, then none of it is for you. I learned this the hard way, and hopefully I've learned it for good. You need time to rest and refuel in order to be the lean machine that's expected. Set boundaries.

IF YOU WANT TO GO TO BED IN THE NEXT 15 MINUTES DO NOT GO ONLINE FOR ANY REASON.

READ A BOOK.
Instead of going online to check your favorite blog before bed, read a book. I've recently rediscovered my joy of fiction novels. Right now I love to read books where the main character stresses over four different aspects of his/her life in sentences that end with exclamation points. I can laugh at their chaos and trivialize it compared to my own, which makes me feel better. Books high on my priority list are moderately interesting and relatively unrelated to me. Very recreational and relaxing.