CultureJunkie

Edward Abbey

My friend Dan posted a great quote on his blog recently, which I'd like to share. It's attributed to author and environmentalist Edward Abbey, and it goes like this:

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

As we head into the weekend, get outside and enjoy!

[Source: excerpted from a speech to environmentalists in Missoula, Montana in 1978 and in Colorado, which was published in High Country News in the 1970s or early 1980s under the title "Joy, Shipmates, Joy."]

Dreams

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.

- T. E. Lawrence (a/k/a "Lawrence of Arabia")

Wisdom

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.

--Sandra Carey

New Year, New You

The start of any New Year is typically accompanied by a slew of resolutions. This year is no different, with WNBC/Marist reporting that 43% of Americans intend to make a New Year's resolution (down 1% from last year).

The most common:

• lose weight (17%)
• quit smoking (17%)
• "be a better person" (14%)
• spend less money (11%)

Interestingly, "eat healthier" and "exercise more" were only noted by 5% of the resolution-makers, so I don't know how many of those vowing to "lose weight" will be successful!

It's also interesting to note that the most frequently-cited resolutions are all rather self-serving; take a look at the less frequently noted ones:

• increase family time (3%)
• be kinder to others (2%)
• get closer to God (1%)

While women are more likely to make resolutions (49% vs. 37% men), they are less likely to keep them (56% women vs. 63% men). If you're in the resolution camp and need some motivation, audio-based microblogging tool Utterz let's you record your resolution and get help from others in reaching your goals.

If you can't be bothered with making resolutions, it is also a good time to reflect on the good things in life, and start the year off on a positive note. This Economist article about the state of our nation will certainly get you thinking.

“The American, by nature, is optimistic,” JFK once said. “He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.” Europeans ask, “Why?” Americans ask, “Why not?”

Happy New Year!

Time to be a kid again.

Some words of wisdom from my colleague, Doug:

Remember when you were actually thrilled when it snowed during the holidays?

Remember what it was like to be so excited about the next day that you couldn't get to sleep?

Remember when the little things truly did make you extremely happy?

This holiday, be a kid again. Run around in the snow. Build a snowman. Go ice skating. Go sledding. Forget everything you already know. Be a kid and the holidays will truly be HAPPY.

Happy Holidays!

Modite: Rebecca Thorman

I just came across a remarkable young woman in the blogosphere: Rebecca Thorman of Modite.com. From her MyBlogLog profile:

Modite is...

[Mod-ahyt] ~ Noun.

1) Modern. Urbanite.

2) Yuppie with a social conscience.

At 23 years old, Rebecca is the Executive Director of a young professional organization in Madison, WI, whose mission is to attract and retain young talent and leadership in order to contribute to the regions’ economic, civic, social, and public policy futures.

She also authors Modite.com, a wonderful collection of thoughts, ideas, and experiences related to how Generations X and Y can be more successful in life, love, and work, as well as more valuable contributors to society overall.

Rebecca is a prolific writer, and displays wisdom beyond her years. I especially love these posts:

• My New Job
• Skip Grad School. Life is better with experience.
• Personal branding, accountability, and how to just be yourself already.

Listen up, Ladies Who Launch - if you haven't yet profiled Rebecca, she should be next on your list!

Celebrating Our Accomplishments

A colleague and I recently wrote down the goals for our department so that everyone on our team has a sense of what we are jointly working towards. One of the goals is to recognize and celebrate our accomplishments, because it is easy in the hustle and bustle of everyday life to move from one task to another without stopping and reflecting on what we've completed.

So I was pleased when I received this email from a friend yesterday:

Who said this?

“He who writes the stories defines the culture.”

I love that quote. It's apparently hanging in the office of John Butler, Creative Director at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (via AdPulp), but he doesn't know who originally said it.

Does anyone else?

Instant/Space: Mail Order Decorating

I got my home decorator fix this morning with the February issue of Domino magazine. I love flipping through their articles for inspiration and take Editor Deborah Needleman's philosophy to heart:

"[Homes are] the foundation of our lives - the better they look and function, the happier the lives we carry on inside them. Ideally, our homes are a souce of strength for dealing with the world outside, and a huge relief from it as well."

And here's good news for home owners/renters who'd like some professional decorator advice, but want to get it on a budget:

Designer Betsy Burnham has launched a program called Instant/Space, a mail-order home decorating service where you simply send in photographs of your room(s), along with some design direction (inspirational tear-sheets, favorite colors or periods, etc.) and in return she'll send a box containing a floor plan, furniture suggestions, fabric swatches, paint palettes, and a concept board showing how it might look. She also provides a list of actual items and places to shop, to help you pull it all together.

Burnham's design ideas take about 6 weeks to develop, and prices range from $750 to $1,250 per room; for more information see BurnhamDesign.com.

Marley & Me

Anyone who is a dog owner - or simply a dog lover - should read Marley & Me by John Grogan (and the companion web site). It's a heartwarming story about a man and his dog...or more accurately, a family that includes a dog whose personality and presence are larger than life.

Grogan astutely and comically captures moments that every dog owner will recognize, from shedding and slobbering to unbridled energy and unwavering love. Some of the phrases he used to describe his beloved Yellow Lab could have easily been written for my silly Lulu:

"desperately happy"

"seemingly warped behavior"

with "the attention span of algae and volitility of nitroglycerin"

"darting left-and-right, sniffing, panting, peeing - coughing like a chain smoker as he strained against the leash"

...and the inclination to "love life with a passion not often seen in this world."

As you can see from these excerpts, Grogan is a clever writer and he tells an engaging story about life with Marley; but more valuable than his walks down memory lane are the life lessons he learned from Marley which he shares with his readers:

Never slow down, never look back, live each day with adolescent verve and spunk and curiousity and playfulness. If you think you're still a young pup, then maybe you are, no matter what the calendar says.

It's such a great quote, and with it all the other qualities dogs possess that we humans so often lose sight of: living in the moment, following your heart, finding joy in the simple things, loyalty and devotion.

Here's to the dogs!