Something terrible is happening

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

More Little Things, Or Fall Leaves

I live 10 minutes from some of the most beautiful canyons on Planet Earth. Ask me how often I make it up there. On second thought, don't ask me. Just know that I at least took advantage of the splendor this afternoon. I still had my yoga buzz on and I couldn't bear the thought of going home to more Organizational Behavior texts. I turned right back around and went up Emigration Canyon, then up East Canyon to the Milford County line.

You know those moment, every so often, when you stop and think: "Wait. This is me. This is absolutely me, centered, happy, who I'm supposed to be..." I have those moments when I'm behind my camera. I have those moments when I'm alone in nature. I have those moments when I'm volunteering, at a community festival, or sleeping in on a chilly Saturday morning with no agenda bearing down on me. You know those moments, whatever they are for you. I felt such peace up the canyon today and it was the perfect capstone to my yoga buzz.


I sat in the same space for about 20 minutes, completely rapt by the colors and shifting tones of the warm sunset. The difference is subtle, but 20 minutes after the photo above was taken, I snapped the shot below. Can you just taste that sunset? I streaks across the sky like hot buttah.

The Little Things

The ubiquitous "little things" have always been important to me; but during this particular phase of acute stress, the little things aren't simply important to me, they've become absolutely essential. With reference to concurrently tackling a career and full-time grad school, I go through waves of panic, contentment, overwhelming stress, confidence, on and on, blahbity blah. The list of things that need to get done on both fronts is literally endless. I could easily do nothing but work, class, study, work, class, study, rinse, repeat...and many days I do just that. For the sake of sanity, however, the reality of that cycle means I have to make more of an effort, be more intentional, to find pleasure in the little things.

Enter: Yoga. I've been practicing yoga for a decade now, but in those 10 years I've only a few times hit the stride of consistency I'd like. I feel the same way about massage. I need both weekly, if not multiple times each week, but you can guess how often I do either.

Well, I hit a wall today. I hit a wall after drafting an MBA team effectiveness analysis paper. That wall was called: Enough Already. That wall was also called: Business Writing is Soulless and I Can't Take it Anymore. I shut down the computer, gave myself permission to take a break, and went to a 90-minute relax & release class. I cried for a good 20 minutes in the middle there.

Yup. Cried. Don't know why. Apparently as I let myself relax, it wasn't only my muscles that needed to be released. I'm lying on my back in frog pose, looking like I'm either giving birth, having totally rockin' sex, or enduring a pap smear, when I started to cry. The water works continued as I rolled up and over into full child's pose. It wasn't a distracting sob, in fact I doubt anyone even noticed, but as I centered my breath, I couldn't stop the tears.

There's something beautiful about that, but there's also something really disturbing about it. I'm tense to the point that a simple yoga pose tips me off my rocker? Not cool. What this teaches me (again) is that I can't let life get to the point that I hit That Wall before I pay attention to taking care of myself. If I took time for myself more consistently, rather than saving it all up for one enormously cathartic yoga class, maybe the sensation of relaxation wouldn't be so novel.

Work on that.

Proust was a neuroscientist

People who stumble on my blog invariably ask, "Why madeleines? Is it a cooking blog?" Nope. Not in the least. This little ditty will explain the blog title. That little ditty will also explain why this makes me unspeakably happy.

“Marks the arrival of an important new thinker, who finds in the science and the arts wonder and beauty, and with equal confidence says wise and fresh things about both” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Science and Arts combined in one beautiful man who addresses my passion for Proust in moving prose? My head's going to explode. I need to finish grad school tomorrow so I'll actually have time to read this masterpiece.

This video is Jonah talking about his first book, but fascinating stuff nonetheless. It gives you a sense of who he is, which...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jonah Lehrer
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

...in semi-related news: My crush on Jonah Lehrer is evolving to the point of near constant distraction. I want him to whisper "metacognition" in my ear. Like, a lot of times. Gonna pretend I don't see that wedding ring.

Moments

This video "is evidence that the things we see everyday, when carefully framed, can ache with ignored beauty." Ache with ignored beauty? That's the most beautiful phrase I've come across in a long time. Same goes for this video.



I first saw the video on this site. The filmmaker maintains this site.

Dude.

So my graduate program? Not. Messing. Around. It's a small cohort. It's challenging. It's an incredible amount of work.

And I love it.

And I'm overwhelmed by it.

And I know I made the right decision.

And everything I'm learning is IMMEDIATELY applicable to my life, my passions, and my career.

And my classmates are awesome.

And I have absolutely no social life.

None.

And my professors are pushing us and asking that we grow and keep up.

And I love that.

And I'm so @#$%&!* exhausted.

The End.

Westminster & Sugarhouse

I have really mixed feelings about this. I went to Westminster for my BA, lived on campus at the time, and have lived in Sugarhouse ever since. As a ten year resident of this community, and as an alumni that has strong feelings for/about Westminster, this development is a mixed bag.

(I apologize you have to watch Fox News on this blog)

Public Option Now

It is beyond me, in all seriousness, how people can hear the stories, see the photos, read news articles, follow up with their own research, and still not understand the alarming state of healthcare in this country.

It's immoral to me. Period.

Public Option Now.

If you know your representative in Congress, call/email/tweet her/him. If you would like to call a general line, dial #202-224-3121 and tell them: PUBLIC OPTION NOW.

Dad, cool it with the twitter updates.

Hilarious. It's the interaction between the dad and his son that kills me. My parents are all over social media and it doesn't bother me at all. Still, there's a stroke of genius in this commercial.

Smashburger, are you kidding me?

Dude. Seriously.

So I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Smashburger. Since I don't eat red meat, I wasn't exactly seduced by the hype. Then a promotional mailer came announcing my new Sugarhouse location...and I noticed smashchicken on the menu. Alright, fine. I'm game.

It changed my life. I kid you not. It's tender. It's juicy. It's perfectly seasoned. The melted cheese runneth over. The smashfries are by far the best fries I've had in years. Thin, crispy, seasoned with rosemary and other assorted sprinklings. Oh my.

Though I cannot personally attest to the deliciousness of the beefy smashburgers, my dinner companion assures me they're divine. My word, not his. His words were more along the lines of, "Ooooommmm mmmm gggurrrgh mmmm gaaaahhh mmmm..." or something like that. More or less.

A Community of Engaged Scholars

This past week I had my first session of my first MA Community Leadership class: Exploring Communities. I sort of got a sense of the program's cohort at orientation, but not really. This was, essentially, the first time we were all meeting and had any substantial introduction to each other. As we went around the room describing our "passion issues" and goals for using our degree, I had a fleeting moment of intimidation. These are some seriously sharp, compassionate, inspiring people. We have careers in everything from homeless outreach to public healthcare, from advocates of women's rights to programers of youth arts initiatives. We plan to pursue everything from wilderness camps for adults with disabilities to refugee resettlement, from working abroad with environmental resource groups to starting community gardens in our own neighborhoods of SLC.

I say my intimidation was fleeting because I realized, more and more and we moved around the circle, that I'd come home. I don't mean "come home" only in the sense that once upon a time I earned my BA from Westminster College, although that's part of it. I mean "come home" in the sense that I've been thrust into a community of like-minded people. There's no reason at all for me to be intimidated; these are My People. I love my MBA class, don't get my wrong, it's difficult and it's pushing me and I'm learning a lot; but the contrast between that experience and my MACL course cannot be more stark.

The first thing the MACL students did, before the professors even made it to the classroom, was arrange the tables/chairs into a conversation circle. The professors showed up with hummus, pita, and apples from the downtown farmer's market for our halftime break. The room we meet in is full of different colored chairs, funky modern furniture, and soft lighting. The sterilized mock board room of the MBA class makes perfect sense, but it would never fly for this course. We hadn't been in class an hour before the huge post-its and markers came out and we were told to "draw Utah and it's historical, contemporary, and future social issues." Some people were literal, some people scribbled away with a mess of abstract blobs and colors, then we all engaged in hours of conversation about our world, our politics, our thoughts on Loeb's "Soul of a Citizen"

The MACL class is no less intense than the MBA class, in fact the readings and assignments are just about on par, but it has a completely different feel. And that feeling is home.