It’s been two months of Nepal stories on this blog now, and we haven’t even gotten through a week in the country. I guess you all don’t mind though, as I seem to have picked up a good-sized audience for this story. I appreciate it, I really do. It keeps me motivated to keep writing, and spilling my soul into this project.
I had the privilege of finding myself in Seattle this last weekend, visiting a friend who works as an Aerospace Engineer for Boeing. He sits in an office all day, working on wiring diagrams for one specific system on the new 787 Dreamliners. He is a U.S. citizen: white, upper-middle class, as am I.
On the 4th of July, we found ourselves in an Uber, heading to Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Our driver, Fritz, spoke with a heavy accent— my best guess puts it at Ghanaian, but my best guess is only so informed.
He was listening to BBC World on the radio, and we got to talking about the media. The day before there had been a massive terror attack in Baghdad, Iraq. Over 200 people had been killed. Some of you probably heard about that one. One of my friends even changed her profile picture. But how many of you changed your profile picture for Bangladesh? How many of you are wondering, right now, “where the hell IS Bangladesh?” (It’s by India).
Twenty people were killed in an attack on a restaurant in the capital, Dhaka, right before the Baghdad attack. That’s more victims than there were at San Bernardino. Both attacks, in Iraq and Bangladesh, occurred during Ramadan, Islam’s holy month. Most victims were Muslims.
That’s like Christian extremists launching an attack on Rome, during Christmas.
(just realized I forgot to mention, this is the book under discussion)
I don’t hesitate to say that, not one bit.
In only 44 years on this planet, Elon Musk has been involved with five consistently cutting-edge companies: Zip2 (early Internet mapping), PayPal (Early Internet banking), Tesla (modern electric cars), SpaceX (cheap, reusable rockets), and SolarCity (solar power).
Every single one of those sectors has changed the world, or will change the world. Musk is a man who has changed the world in five COMPLETELY DIFFERENT sectors. His efforts will eventually lead towards an emissions-free world, and eventually, a new world altogether.
Amy Schumer’s “Trainwreck” is the funniest movie I have seen in a long time. And I’m not alone; from mom & pop blogs to the big critics, the film is earning accolades left and right. I’m sure it will be a contender for the big end-of-the-year awards.
In the social justice era, people take notice of a comedian like Schumer, and her brand of brave, no-hold barred, body-conscious humor. The edge she honed on her TV show, “Inside Amy Schumer” is cutting sharper than ever in “Trainwreck. Schumer has no problem being totally frank about the problems faced by the ambitious young woman in today’s world.
Schumer’s character sleeps around, drinks, smokes and absolutely hates the idea of family, as represented by her sister’s dopey husband and child (the pair of which show up from time to time, constantly smiling and basically as cartoons).
This is how Schumer, and by extension, the film as a whole, earns the trust of the female millennial audience. Schumer’s character also hates sports, which is ironic, since the movie uses sports as a clever way to appeal to male audiences.
I bought Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit From the Goon Squad” for $1 at a yard sale. The sorority girl who had been the previous owner, apparently, had not deigned it worth bringing home.
Her loss.
“A Visit From the Goon Squad” released in 2010, and eventually won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. The book follows a loosely connected group of characters, jumping through time and place in order to tell a larger story about the arcs of our lives.
thisisyouth 