All posts by ariah

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Personal Mission Statements and Goals

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Mindy and I talked over some Goals we had written a little over a year ago. It was an encouraging activity because we were able to reflect on the progress we had made in the past year. We also talked about ways that our goals have changed or had become more specific.
The discussion really encouraged us both to write our goals and place them in a prominent place for us to be continually reminded of. I’ve mentioned before that through college I had my goals posted next to my desk and they where essential in my making my time at college successful and fulfilling.

I like simple so I’ve summarized my life goals in this way:

ACT. LOVE. LIVE.

I desire to carry out my beliefs in through my actions. I firmly believe unconditional, sacrificial love is what we were created for. Living in community is essential.
Sorry I can’t give more profound or clear descriptions of my goals.

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Commuter USA: what our lives are becoming.

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I ran across this article while looking at something else on Newsweek and some of the statistics and stories shocked me. “The Long and Grinding Road” is all about the great rise in commuting that has been happening in our country, even while gas prices go up.

As we’re pushed to the edge of civilization by runaway home prices and a longing for wide-open spaces, the daily rat race is turning into a marathon. “Extreme commuters” who travel more than 90 minutes to work, one way, are the fastest-growing group of commuters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

They give some other reasons behind the rise in commuting, but more shocking then that was all the acknowledgements of how taxing and harmful the long commutes are:

Robert Putnam, author of “Bowling Alone,” found that every 10 minutes added to your commute decreases by 10 percent the time you dedicate to your family and community.

The result of all these drivers behaving badly: more crashes. A federal study released last week found that 80 percent of crashes are caused by “driver inattention,” up from a previous estimate of 25 percent.

The longer the commute, the more likely the commuter will suffer bouts of road rage, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and ulcers, says Dr. John H. Casada, a specialist in road stress. And Georgia Tech researchers found that every 30 minutes spent driving increases your risk of becoming obese by 3 percent.

Drivers today eat an average of 32 meals a year in their car, according to the researcher NPD Group. And one in four restaurant meals is now ordered from the car.

And then they go into all the new advances that fast food, car manufacturers and others are making to appeal to your commuting needs.
I took the brief survey Newsweek has about my commute and found the over all results surprising. 50% of the people surveyed spend over $40 a week on commuting cost. 65% of those surveyed commute over 15 miles (I think that’s one way) and spend over 30 minutes in their car. I guess I spend about the same amount of time on my bike, so maybe I’ve got to watch out for some of these things too.

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Red Bike, Blue Bike, community bikes, sharing bikes.

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In 1999 and for sometime before and after that there was and I believe still is a successful community bike sharing program in my hometown of Madison, WI. It was called the Red Bikes Project and consisted of a bunch of bikes painted entirely red placed for people to use through out the downtown.

I love the community bike program, and I think it would be such a wonderful thing to do here in Nashville, especially with the possiblity of folks using them year-round.

I’ve just heard from a couple of Bike Co-ops in the area, and I’m beginning to think this could become a real possibility out here.

(More bike projects)

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The problem with those t-shirts

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I’ve mentioned demeaning t-shirts in the past, but I figured it was worth another mention. Shirts like the one here are becoming more and more prevalent, at least it seems that way from the number of online stores selling them and ads on sites. Fortunately I haven’t seen many people wearing the sort of demeaning and derogatory shirts I’ve seen mentioned in blogs online.
The terribly sad thing is these shirts target teenagers, youngins right at that age where they are developing their perceptions of themselves and all that. Here we are allowing them to be shaped and reinforced by t-shirts that embrace sad stereotypes and oppressive roles we’ve worked so hard to overcome. We are putting shackles on our own feet now.

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Starting over: GTD and other organizing strategies

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I realized last night, the best way to start applying a new system is to just start completely over. I really don’t have anything so pressing that I’m going to be in big trouble if I forget it, nor is there anything I won’t be able to find if I tuck it away for the moment.
That said I cleared out all my old notecards, papers, etc. I’ve stuck three index cards in my pocket labelled: Next Actions, Projects, @waiting (and a NOTES card too). I’m hoping to take the advice of the GTD system in a sort of dumbed down format and simply focus on putting single actions I can take on the Next Action card and list anything that takes more then one step on the Projects card.

I’ll let you know how the system goes.

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This is my journal

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I know I’ve mentioned this multiple times before, but I felt the need to say it again to remind myself. I really started this blog to serve as a place for me to share my thoughts with others, but mainly as an open notebook, not a polished presentation.
This might be better titled “Ariah’s Notebook,” but in a sense that is what this is all about. “Trying to Follow” is about my attempt to follow the truthes that I believe are right (I should probably write a few post explaining that title a little more).
So here is to more writing. More open thinking, more vulnerability. Please be kind.

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Many uses for vacant campuses

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Passing through Vanderbilt’s fairly vacant campus tonight, Mindy pointed out how sad it was that all these dormitories and other buildings sit pretty much vacant for about three months out of the year. At the same time, plenty of folks spend the nights out on the streets with no where to lay their head. The Fine brainstorm ensued and here where some thoughts the brilliant Mindy produced…

Imagine a three month rehabilitation center set up on vacant university campuses each summer. That is a good amount of time to offer a sort of detox and rehab program for a number of folks. It’d also be ample time to help diagnose mental health concerns and provide plans of care for those in need. Something like this could easily be supported by current students serving as interns and having an opportunity to gain some hands on real life experience related to their field of interest.

Another idea was to set up a three month summer education program for and put together by both students and community members (particularly those in need of living spaces). Imagine being part of a three month summer school that offered classes, workshops, discussion groups and more put together by college professors, students, homeless and formerly homeless persons, and a great many other people. Imagine living in a dorm with that sort of array of people and backgrounds. Imagine breaking bread together with folks from the other side of the tracks. Unfortunately, current colleges don’t seem to provide this, but what about the opportunity to offer these sorts of things on empty college campuses in the summer.

This is me thinking out loud.
What are your thoughts?

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A lull in writing

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Sorry I haven’t written much in the past few weeks. It seems like this is a time I should be writing the most, but my mind is sort of in limbo at the moment.
We are trying to figure out where we will be living next month and that’s sort of occupying the majority of my brain at the moment, leaving little room to sit for any period of time and type intelligibly.

Also on my mind:

My parent’s business
The Eikon Project
A possible web design job (side job)
All kinds of ideas for work
Living in Community
Reading and writing (see they are at the bottom of the list)

I hate to keep on setting up false expectations, but hopefully August will bring far more regular writing and a lot more regularity in podcasting (with a community focus). I’ll still be writing, just no guarantees on how many post will show up on this site.

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A new favorite podcast: Addicted to Race

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The women of New Demographic and bloggers of Mixed Media Watch, have a podcast that I find extremely interesting: Addicted to Race.
Jen and Carmen co-host the show which discusses our obsession with race and provides thoughtful commentary on many race-related issues in our society. They discuss big news events as well as personal stories and I appreciate their balance in it all as well.

It bothers me to no end when folks try to ignore racism or try to belittle the effects of race. “Race” is only a social construct one might argue, but regardless it has a profound affect on the way people view one another and they way they are treated in our world.

I don’t necessarily agree with Jen and Carmen’s perspective all the time on the show, but who am I to argue with them. It’s good to learn and try to understand a different perspective.

I’m going to need to chime in and ask them a few questions sometime. I was pretty shocked at the lack of discussion of race at the event I went to last weekend, so I’ll be discussing that later.

For now, take a moment and listen to the latest episode of Addicted To Race.