Anybody Out There?

I often feel like I don’t have enough time to post blogs on here, what with work 50-60 hours a week, spending time with Mark, keeping up to date on my New Yorkers, cooking, reading food blogs, wasting time on Facebook and what not. But, I do, at least, realize that the way I spend my time is a choice. I chose to do the things I do, to spend my time the way I want, and that—for whatever reason—means not spending a lot of time writing on this blog.

I think that part of it is that the things I would like to blog about here usually require a thought-out argument or some sort. There are many, many things that I read or encounter in my day-to-day that I would like to expound on, but somehow it takes just a little more time to make a cogent argument to present to the world than to relate a food/recipe-related story for Recipes For Laughter. Then again, it takes even less time to not blog at all—and considering my back log of  New Yorkers, maybe I shouldn’t even waste my time writing ever.

I can always just lambaste my friends when we hang out about  men winking at women (so subjugating!)  and other such random arguments. Who needs to blog about it anyway?

Still, I always keep  a running list of subjects for further inquiry and for proselytizing people I know. I guess the nice thing about a space like this  is that they don’t argue back (in real time anyway). But, for now, the most interesting thing to me is the pendulum of history. I think people often forget that everything is a cycle.

As a society, we swing to the right, then to the left, then to the right. Whatever moment we are in, it is somewhere inciting a backlash which will soon gain momentum as people become disillusioned with the present. (People are forever disillusioned with the present–maybe the subject of  another blog post?). And that backlash will soon gain a majority position, which will in turn inspire a counter-movement that will slowly enter the mainstream (Obama’s election begets the Tea Party…) and so on and so forth. Such is history.

Nothing is permanent.

I like to think that each action has an equal and opposite reaction. For each step we take towards a world in which bloggers (yes I am criticizing them here, on my blog; yes, I understand that it is ironic) are given preference over established media sources, I at least hope that somewhere people (like me) are outraged that trusted news sources are being demolished by idiotic amateurs. I, for one, do not want to get my news from Joe the Plumber. I think that he may (or may not) have an interesting point of view that may (or may not) be worth sharing with the wider world, but when it comes to knowing what is happening in the world and making some sort of sense of it, I will always and forever turn to the BBC or The New York Times. Everybody is an expert at something, but how is a person to differentiate the rabble from the experts? One has to know that the level of reporting is to be trusted and that experience and credible expertise contributes to a story. That is something that I will always value. (And I think many other people will, too, though it may not currently seem that way.)

It is my hope that as a society we realize that, yes, citizen reporting is a valuable contribution to the narrative, but that it is no substitute for hard news. I am interested, for example, in what Iranian protesters have to tweet, but I also need to know what is going on above ground. What has led up to the current situation, what political and social factors brought about the unrest? How is the Iranian government responding? How is the rest of the world likely to respond?

We are living in an era of change. Technology is advancing faster than anyone can imagine. We are re-negotiating what newspapers are, what news is, what books are and how we consume them. Things aren’t the same as we remember them in the good old days—but, then again, maybe they never were.

Whenever I think about how—to be perfectly honest—fucked (up) our world seems right now, I like to stop and think: What generation DIDN’T think that the world was moving in the wrong direction? When DIDN’T the end seem near? When DIDN’T people think that they were bringing children into a dangerous and frightful world? I have to imagine that for as long as we have existed, the world has seemed, more or less, pretty fucked. I don’t mean to sound like a naysayer, but I like to keep things in perspective. We are no worse off than we have ever been. Every generation feels that the world is a dangerous place, that it is changing too quickly and not always for the better. That is the way it is.

The one small hope that keeps me going is that with each step, each swing of the pendulum, we (hopefully) move slightly forward. That through each swing, we make a little PROGRESS towards a better place for everyone, though it does not always seems that way in the moment.

And all we can do is continue believing in what we believe in. All we can do is to be true to ourselves and our principles, to pass on our strengths and hopes to those who will follow us.

And the rest is up to them.

Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people in the world—those who re-fill the toilet paper dispenser after they use the last (or even next to last!) sheet, and those who leave it empty for the next person to deal with. (There are a few borderline non-re-fillers who like to push the boundaries and leave just enough that they don’t have to re-fill, but not enough for the next person to use.)

As you can imagine, I am a re-filler. In my life I have lived with a number of non-re-fillers and I have to say, it drives me absolutely insane. I haven’t yet figured out why this bothers me so much. It’s like the non-re-fillers are not pulling their weight somehow. Is it that they are inconsiderate? Forgetful? Being the sole, or majority, re-filler in a household starts to feel like you are picking up after people and nobody likes that. You start to become resentful. Over toilet paper.

Sometimes I refuse to re-fill. The empty roll still up there on the dispenser is the last straw and I just can’t do it one more time. I can’t re-fill it. I make a stand, albeit a small and stupidly insignificant one. I’m pretty sure the non-re-fillers  don’t even notice, because they don’t think of these things. They are not at all troubled by the toilet paper roll location like we re-fillers are.

I can wait days. Silent, stoic, non-re-filling days. This does absolutely no good, of course, and I eventually succumb to my strange compulsion to re-fill the toilet paper. The non-re-fillers always win. Always.

Damn.

Hand Soap is the Devil

Ok, not all hand soap. In fact, good old traditional hand soap is quite nice. 1)Warm water 2) soap 3) work soap into a nice lather by thoroughly scrubbing your hands together 4) rinse with warm water. It’s easy. It’s effective. It’s hygienic. The most basic step you can take to keep yourself and the people around you healthy? Wash your hands. But, really wash them. Please.

A few years ago, I went to wash my hands after using the restroom in a public place, let’s say it was the pizza restaurant near my work. I go to dispense a dollop of soap onto my palms and to my complete and utter shock it comes out pre-foamed. This new-fangled soap dispensing technology might impress some people, but not me. Hand soap that comes out pre-foamed seems like a completely American solution to a non-problem. “More people are washing their hands–good! But, how can we make hand washing easier? More convenient? Quicker? How can we turn it into something my corporation can make boat-loads of money selling to people who don’t really need it?”

Washing your hands is a ridiculously important component of public health. The guidelines for washing your hands are specific, yet intuitive. But, the devil’s in the details. You should wash your hands for 15-20 seconds. That’s a long time, but there’s a good reason–it gets the germs off.  Try washing your hands for 20 seconds with hand soap that starts fully lathered. The stuff instantly washes off without a trace.

That’s apparently exactly what some people like about it, though. This random guy with a website, for instance, posted a photo essay extolling the virtues of fancy Dial Complete (only $1.99!). He says, “It feels better, is easier and faster than normal liquid soap. It spreads better and rinses off easier. To make a long story short, I am madly in love with this hand soap. It rules.”

Um, awesome….but, yeah, don’t touch me, thanks.

I’m no germaphobe, either. I just think that washing your hands properly is the least you can do. I think that pre-foamed hand soap lets lazy people think they are washing their hands when they’re not. I just hope that guy never works in the food industry–and that the employees at my pizza restaurant have real soap in the kitchen.