You know what I have a SUPER beef with? TOMS shoe’s event One Day Without Shoes. If you aren’t familiar, the whole premise is to (for one day) go without wearing shoes to emulate poor people in Africa who can’t afford shoes and have to walk around barefoot to get water, food, etc, etc, so on and so forth. The company wants to use this as a tool to talk about TOMS shoes and encourage people to buy shoes from them (for every one pair bought, the company donates one pair to a needy child without in Africa). It’s a wonderful business model and I have a pair myself…but this day irks me to no end. 

I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to make this a one day thing to ‘care’ about people who are without. It seems that people at my college, Samford, who do this do it to really just talk about themselves and how worldly they are and to get off to the sound of their own voice. It’s almost as bad as when they go to prayer meetings and then go on the quad afterwards and talk about how great they are. 

I’m all for prayer, but you know what helps? Donating money. Organizing an actual fundraiser. Going on missions. Get off your ass in your cool hammock and do something. Sure, I could go on Facebook and ‘like’ the TOMS Facebook page to show people how much I’m aware of situations but I would prefer the old fashioned way of getting my hands dirty. 

You spend mommy and daddy’s money on Costa’s and your sorority stickers to put on the back of your Tahoe but could you imagine what would happen if each person at Samford sacrificed one speciality O’Henry’s coffee a week or that new Vineyard Vines shirt and gave to an organization? It’d be incredible and something that could TRULY change the world in a way that would be unparalleled since, well, TOMS.

Even if people do use TOMS to boast about how much they care, the benefits definitely outweigh the douche factor. Go check them out

[file this post along with pastors who want people to sacrifice something for Lent to emulate Jesus’s sacrifice, people who sleep outside in cardboard boxes FOR ONE NIGHT with their friends and hot chocolate to empathize with homeless people]

Tonight I had the pleasant misfortune of finding a link to this Reddit thread called 51 Hours To Live: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/fy6yz/51_hours_left_to_live/

As usual, I was checking my twitter feed while pulling up to my apartment (shame!) and someone posted it and the basic idea; a man started this thread after making the decision to have a physician-assisted suicide after battling terminal brain cancer and wanted to share his last hours with anyone willing to participate. 

It starts off in what I think is the most powerful way possible. People from all over the world commented and sent their love and even pictures of their surroundings at the then-current hour giving him a world tour from his bed at home.

It is something so sad, so unbelievably sad but at the same time incredibly moving and beautiful in its own way. I won’t say much else about it other than the following question from a reader and his answer. 

Q: What message would you like to give us and the rest of the world?

A: That nothing we have is worth hurting anyone else for. It’s all fleeting people. Stop seeing race, color, sex, religion, etc…They’re all just people, and if you try to love them you won’t lose anything.

Seriously, drop what you’re doing and read. Also, have some tissues ready. 

Usually I reserve this space for politics because that’s what dominates most of my time and ultimately what drives me forward each day because it’s something that is ever changing and, unlike science, the discovery is completely up to human interaction.

We can discover a new element but it’s just that…something already formed. We can only use it (usually) in its current form. In politics something comes up but humans can change it, shape it, form it, and like science, use it to our advantage or disadvantage. We can even create these ideas from nothing at all as if from thin air. 

I’ve decided to use this post as a place to talk about another large part of my life today - my religion. I’ve always viewed Christianity, ironically, as a science. The way the the scripture interacts with history and how that creates a terrifying venn diagram with faith is nothing more than a strong hypothesis in my mind. They overlap in such a way that I am confident in what I believe but always questioning. Looking for more. Searching for more. Talking about it more, and more, and more. 

In my mind, and that of many others, there is nothing wrong with questioning my faith and putting it under a microscope. Up until this past week, my questions have always seemed a little blasphemous as I’m not studying religion actively in college and I don’t have the tools available to find credible sources that mirror my own thoughts. One particular speaker whom I have always found spoke another language than I was Rob Bell. It’s not that I don’t like what he says, truly I do, I just don’t like how he says it. His over-the-top delivery and romanticized speech has always been a turn off of sorts. John Piper linked this past on Twitter an article regarding Rob’s new book, Love Wins (Farewell Rob Bell. http://dsr.gd/fZqmd8). How self-serving, no? 

I’m excited to actually pick up a book on Christianity as I would a book on politics or some lame science fiction as it looks like it may be a fresh take on something that in my life time has been pretty stagnant it seems. Universalism has always been a question on my mind as the God I worship is one of love. I understand what John 3:16 says but it always has left me wondering. 

My parents had a child between my brother and I that was stillborn with Spina Bifida. Because he didn’t have the decision skills to accept Christ does that mean that he’s in hell? Africans deep in tribes who never get to meet a missionary that is spreading the word also have to go to hell because they never had an opportunity to even MEET someone who knows Christ? And what about Moses? Remember him? Devout servant of God but never knew his Son. Surely he has to be in hell according to scripture…right? 

The thing that is hardest is that the afterlife isn’t up to me and that’s what I have to keep in mind. I’m not saying I don’t believe in hell, I’m not saying I do; here are my insecurities laid out on the table, though. What I’m saying is that I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that the God of love that I believe in, the one that believes in me, is truly a God of love. I’m not an authority on any of these matters, but I hope Rob gives me something more to think on to keep this inner dialogue open and ever-changing. 

Regardless of what happens in the end, I do believe in the title of the book and think it’s a great phrase to live by - Love Wins.

From cnn.com breaking news:

San Francisco approves health guidelines for meals with toys

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that requires meals sold with toys not to exceed ceilings for calories, fat, sugar, and sodium. The meamust also contain a half a cup of fruit and at least three-quarters of a cup of fruits or vegetables.

Sponsored by Supervisor Eric Mar, the legislation passed with a final vote of 8 to 3. It takes effect December 1, 2011.

I’m not really sure what to think of this, honestly. We have the largest number of obese children in history, throughout the world, and it’s growing at an incredibly rapid rate. Does that mean the government is allowed to step in and tell businesses how they should operate even further than the already standard food preparation, etc. guidelines

Many comments I’ve already seen before the ordinance was passed was about parent responsibility and that it should be up to them what the kids are allowed to eat; afterall, these are children of a young age who still eat happy meals instead of their ‘big boy/big girl meals.’ And that’s true! It is up to the parents to provide food as one of the basic necessities for living to their children. It’s infringing on their rights to purchase what they want…right?

Let’s put this in to a health perspective, shall we? Heart disease is the number one killer in the nation. That’s fact. Things that contribute to this include smoking, inactive lifestyle, and one of the most important risks - a poor diet. Habits are formed early on in childhood and are carried over in to adulthood! If we teach children now that eating french fries and hamburgers regularly is a good thing then it’ll carry over to being a teenager, young adult, adulthood and then maybe passed on to their kids.

But should it be up to a city to create an ordinance banning the sell of food and requiring them to sell a different, healthier food? I’m not sold yet on making them sell a particular healthier alternative but I’m definitely for making them limit the amount of unhealthy additives. We’re already banning the sell of different additives in other products to children, aren’t we? Alcohol in beverages. Cigarettes. Sex in movies. These are all impressionable things that kids, IN MY OPINION, shouldn’t be exposed to and should wait until they’re an appropriate age to buy, consume, watch, etc. 

The main underlying point is that we shouldn’t completely ban french fries and hamburgers. They were two of my best friends growing up, ya know…until I ate them. There’s no reason we shouldn’t make food healthy if we can, and maybe an ordinance is the way to go!  I don’t see a giant ass corporation doing it themselves and I certainly don’t see where we’ve implemented a written test to see if people are qualified to have children. Maybe that should be the next thing we do…

(re)found this article that expresses exactly how I feel about my life/music sometimes. It captures the essence of how I found Discovery and it changed every part of my musical standards and feelings…and then how everyone else made it a fad and almost ruined them for me. I hope Tron: Legacy doesn’t (re)introduce them to everyone. I like having them…mine. You can find the original post here 

http://www.cinemablend.com/music/Rant-Th ink-You-re-Down-With-Daft-Punk-9940.html

By: Jessica Grabert

“Once upon a time, I was a dancer. Tap, jazz, ballet; I moved in whirlwinds. I can remember the first time Daft Punk reached into my ten year-old pop culture-oriented bubble with the song “One More Time” and I was hooked. Daft Punk taught me to feel idealistic and high before I was aware these things existed. And, God, the music made me dance, smiling all the while because the rhythms were so perfect they didn’t require thought, only spontaneity, only desire. I come from a world that survives in its own bubble of blue-collar work and country music. To be deviant there is to listen to heavy metal. It’s as if the anger in the metal and the inauthentic sadness in the country kept people in their pointless place. The first time music had me feeling free from this dejected state was with Daft Punk and, man, was the release incredible. 

You like Daft Punk? Saw them at Lollapalooza last year, did you? I bet it was awesome, like so cool, way better even than a Dave Mathews band concert and maybe even the Incubus concert you attended in seventh grade. You may have taken ecstasy; you may have danced; someone may have handed you a copy of Alive 2007 and you may have played it for your friends. 

Fuck that noise. I remember back in the fall, after I’d missed Daft Punk’s U.S. tour, after the summer closed and the few remaining leaves dallied in the treetops, I finally bought a copy of Alive 2007 . The energy was just as I’d remembered; quicker paced maybe, but the world is growing more quickly paced all the time. I’d wake up in the morning and throw the album on and the music would release energy just as efficient as a shot of caffeine. But I hadn’t been at Lollapalooza and the music was not nearly as awe-inspiring or like a life-reaffirming orgasm asDiscovery and Homework had been. 

At this point, I lost interest in Daft Punk, right around the same time the whole wide world seemed to find them again. Soon, I noticed people getting fratty to Alive 2007 . My younger sister and her friends were even down with the album. Then, Kanye West fucking wrote a song featuring Daft Punk. It’s hard to explain exactly how this made me feel. Alright, sometimes when I listen to music, I’ll play something repeatedly in one sitting or in one day or over a period of several months—until it becomes nearly impossible to play further. Alive 2007 became like this. Everywhere I went, someone irritating was talking about how fucking cool he or she found Alive 2007 . As quickly as it takes to bong a beer, Daft Punk became the “it” of the party scene, alongside such staples as “Crank Dat” or “Doin Time.” It made me feel as if half of the universe went to see them this past summer. 

Yeah, I get it. I missed the concert of a lifetime, bä, bä, bä. But don’t tell me how “fun” Daft Punk is or how “cool” they were live. Their music is so much more than a go-big-or-go-home party. Daft Punk is about being ten and wearing a tutu to the grocery store because it’s your favorite piece of clothing. Daft Punk is about taking your first shot of everclear and making out with someone in the back of a pick-up truck. Daft punk is spinning on merry-go-rounds, running along the highway, lighting firecrackers, sleeping under the stars, burning bridges and building new ones, drinking soda pop from a glass bottle, and dancing under spotlights for the first time. Daft Punk is perfect for packing a bowl the first time since high school, lighting it slowly and falling in love with the world all over again. I’m tired of something so incendiary being played off as a commonplace trend. Maybe it’s great that Daft Punk’s music is again finding its way into everyone’s repertoire; but, it doesn’t feel fucking great. It feels like Cinderella was allowed to dress up, go to the ball, and even lose her glass slipper—all in order for the shoe to fit her ugly stepsister instead. ”

I thought about taking a bag of Sun Chips to class today but realized the second I picked it up that unless I had gone to a class of deaf students that this would be impossible. The new Sun Chips bag is made of a new material that sounds like it has been forged from 1 million lightning bolts all striking in one place. Sure, it’s 100% compostable. That’s neat. But, in Alabama? Find me 3 people with their own compost pile and I’ll buy you the noisiest bag of chips you can find for life.

I bought them a couple days ago and was snacking on some last night while studying at the apartment when my roommate told me that the advertisement for its ability to break down in nature almost encouraged people to litter. While he was joking, he made me think of a discussion I’ve been having for the past four years with anyone who will listen.

Are you familiar with the needle exchange program? I first learned about it while studying abroad 4 years ago and it is basically this: 1) Drug user brings in dirty needle to needle exchange site, 2) User exchanges dirty needle for clean needle, 3) User is offered counseling about drug use/quitting/safety habits, etc. It’s an incredible program designed to minimize disease transmission from needle sharing. The main argument I’ve been hearing is that it encourages drug use.

Really? The biggest obstacle between an impressionable teenager and a drug-addled junkie is the availability of needles? No way. Not even close. We talked with some ex-users and all of them agreed the biggest hurdle was the decision to get addicted to a known dangerous drug and the ability to stick themselves with a needle regularly to get their fix. Not to mention the illegality and the whole issue of getting the drugs themselves. Maybe their argument would hold water if it were a cocaine-exchange program.

“Welcome to the Cocaine Exchange Program, how may I help you?”

“Oh, I’m all out of cocaine…”

“Well, go ahead!” *cues ‘Walking on Sunshine’ while customer shops*

I imagine that’s how it would go. And sure, free cocaine would make even the cleanest of kids (or adults) curious. But the fact of the matter is that the program encourages safe practice and does not advocate hard drug use. 

If we really want our kids to stay away from drugs, be a good parent. Don’t let your kids run wild and limit the amount of absolute garbage the TV and movie industry pumps in to them. There’s only so much a parent can do, sure, but I’m already seeing people my age with young kids let them do whatever they want. 

I guess all I want to really say is that the needle exchange program promotes first time drug users in the same way that 100% compostable bags encourages first time litterers. It just doesn’t.

I hate that “Respect” is a cliche song to even mention now. It used to be a legitimate song, right? Obviously I’m too young to remember. Anyway, let’s go ahead and get down to business!

You know what I HATE? When people tell you, “we need to talk.” Roughly translated (freetranslation.com) this means, “hey. you screwed up and I want you to know that I know but you’ll have to feel crappy until I’m ready to talk about it.” That is incredibly disrespectful to anyone regardless of the situation and I urge any of you who read this to stray from this tactic no matter how wronged you think you are.

But you know what sucks even more? When someone says, “we need to talk” and they’re the ones who screwed up. Recently I got a text message saying that but, naturally, I thought I was the one who hurt this person in a negative way and began to worry frantically. After talking for a while I finally said that I was going to call this person and straighten things out. Well. She pulled the switcheroo on me and let me know that she had spent the night at my old fraternity house with the one guy I told her I was worried about.

The kicker is that she said she still ‘adored’ me. 

This left me with two final thoughts. 1) What a bullshit phrase to use after you’ve ruined a relationship. 2) Adoration is awesome but the whole lack of respect thing is a deal breaker.

Minutes after my last blog post CNN reported the Quran burning has been cancelled.

I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s all because of what I wrote.