“Self” is a prism of directionless ambiguity, yet it drives us.
We view the world through it, yet fail to understand how that same world shapes it.
“Self” is developed by the same personal and societal forces it is called to interpret.
We cannot perceive the world until we perceive our selves.
I think I have the most beautiful daughter in the world. Just check out this picture from Halloween:
Every chance I get, I tell her she is beautiful. Beth and I constantly ask ourselves, “Honestly, could she get any cuter?” I feel like we were playing Russian Roulette with my looks being in the gene pool, and luckily she turned out pretty good looking (if in 10 years she has a uni-brow and a beard, you know who to blame).
But I will be honest with you, sometimes I worry about her being so beautiful. Will she grow up and be vain? Will she have difficulty understanding inner beauty because she always possessed outer beauty? If (when) her outer beauty fades, will she allow it to bother her?
I ask these questions but at the end of the day I don’t really worry about them. That’s because Mikayla has an amazing personality for a baby. She is content and inquisitive. She would rather smile than cry. She enjoys company and can play alone.
In fact, instead of worrying about her, I have found she has many things she can teach me.
Every new parent comments on how quick their baby grows up. It is true. In 6 months Mikayla has doubled in size and transformed from being a fully dependant infant who couldn’t even keep her head up, to being an inquisitive, alert baby who now eats solid foods and always seems to be in a good mood.
Along the way we have taken a few pictures of her with a stuffed giraffe so we could better appreciate her transformation. (Beth has some earlier shots here.) Here is where we have come from and where we are:
In addition to the giraffe pictures, we have our good friend Dallas Gillaim take some 6-month shots of Mikayla up on the hill at WKU. If you will remember, he also took Mikayla’s newborn pictures.
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Title Screen from "The Trap"
Go ahead… carve out 3 hours from your day. You are going to want to watch this. The following is a three part documentary produced by Adam Curtis and originally aired on the BBC. It follows the philosophical underpinnings that have guided the way we understand the world for the past century and how that has affected everything from foreign policy to personal health to our notion of productivity. The whole series hinges on how we understand the concepts of freedom and liberty. This is quite timely given the political climate of the day and the obvious disconnect between various wings of society. I have embedded a YouTube playlist for each episode so you can watch it through. I have also included notes on each episode… but trust me, you want to watch the whole thing.
Episode 1 – Fuck You Buddy
I am sorry if the title offends you (if it makes things better… I was introduced to this documentary through a seminary class that required we watch it). The title comes from an experiment developed by John Nash (the lead character in A Beautiful Mind) which supposed that the world operated best when people were selfish. This segment details how game theory and other mathematical formulas convinced the world that the best way to view humanity was through a lens of suspicion where all people were obviously in it for themselves and every decision was motivated by self-interest and preservation. This was the dominate mindset in the Cold War Era. When we approach the whole world through a lens of distrust, it is amazing (and unfortunate) how we view society.
Episode 2 – The Lonely Robot
In this episode Curtis continues to explore our desire for society and people to be predictable. Perhaps it is a desire to understand, or perhaps it is a desire to control. He looks at the development of the mental health field and our own understanding of what it means to be “normal.” From here he explores the consequences of a world where everyone strives for an ideal that is, at best, arbitrary. Curtis follows how this emphasis on standards spiraled out of control in a vain attempt to maximize productivity in all sectors… even if the measurements were pure conjecture. These ideas (however flawed) were monumental in ushering in a new understanding of the free market.
Episode 3 – We will Force you to be Free
After exploring the way we view ourselves and human nature, Curtis begins in earnest to explore our ideas of freedom. Specifically he examines the concepts of Negative Liberty and Positive Liberty as made popular by Isaiah Berlin. Negative Liberty is a freedom from coercion while Positive Liberty is the freedom to achieve one’s true potential. The prior has been deemed the “safest” because the later has historically required force and oppression to bring about. However, following the path of negative liberty to its logical conclusions, as governments have done in the West for the past 50 years, results in a society without meaning populated only by selfish automatons. The answer then must be a peaceful pursuance of Positive Liberty.
Adam Curtis has always been known for producing provocative documentaries. I am sure he overstates some items in this program and under reports others. However, this program forces the viewer to examine the way in which they view the world and requires them to acknowledge how their understanding of society affects their interactions with it.
My wife is usually the one who makes posts about recipes, but tonight I cooked up something of my own that was worth posting. We were wanting some hot chocolate and lamenting the fact that all we had was raw cocoa powder and most recipes we found online were fairly complex. So we improvised and things turned out really well. Here is what we came up with.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients into a 1 quart Nalgene bottle (obviously wide-mouth is the way to go) righten the lid and shake. After all ingredients are mixed, unscrew the lid but leave it in place. Microwave for 3-4 minutes until hot. Serve in mugs with marshmallows. Enjoy.
Of course the Nalgene just makes things easier. You could always mix the ingredients in a container of your choosing and serve it however you want.
siSwati Prayer
[UPDATED: 02 November 2011]
Because of our move to Swaziland, Beth and I have been trying to learn the local language of siSwati. Swaziland uses English in business and governmental settings, but siSwati is considered the native tongue. Since only about one million people speak the langauge it has been a bit difficult to find helpful resources. It is hard enough (impossible) to find a local speaker, let alone a teacher or lessons. Thus, we have been looking into online and print resources. I hope this list is helpful for other people who may be in a similar situation trying to learn siSwati.
Basic Information:
The following links give background and general information on the language:
Peace Corp Material:
By far the most current and widely available material comes from the Peace Corp. They provide a pre-departure pack that includes a study manual and accompanying MP3s. I have provided links below.
The above material is the most current, but it is not the most comprehensive. You can also benefit from their older publications.
Print Materials:
Unfortunately, I have not been able to come across a single print resource that effectively pulls together everything you need to learn the language (especially if you are trying to teach yourself.) However, I have found these three books, when used together, provide a great base to build on. I have provided links to the Amazon and Google Books pages so you can get the details on the books (ISBN, book cover, etc.)
I have seen all of these books in Swaziland (Websters in Manzini has all three, CNA in Mbabane and Manzini usually have least couple of them). We were also able to find them online, but we had to search around for them. Besides Amazon (US), here are a couple other places you can look:
Other Resources:
One of the resources I plan to use once our proficiency increases is YouTube. There are several videos posted in siSwati (mostly religious) which will be helpful in practicing comprehension. This one is particularly helpful because it includes English subtitles: Thandiwe
I had the opportunity to talk with a headmaster at a school in Swaziland. I asked him which resources he would recommend and here is what he had to say:
The best book (if you can obtain it) is from the Sebenta National Institute called ‘siSwati Setfu’ translated ‘Our siSwati’ and was a joint venture publication between the Sebenta National Institute and the US Government, under contract no. 79-042-100.
I have not been able to track it down, but if you do, please let me know where.
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Hopefully the above resources will be helpful if you are one of the very few who want to teach yourself siSwati. I will continue to update this post as I find more.