5. Waffle House is the unofficial restaurant of Georgia so you're going to eat there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
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Health Wellness
Thinking About Death, And How It Enriches Life
"I don't know if there's really any salvation, but if we accept death, maybe we can just live."
22 January 2019
107
What is your greatest fear? It is a question my friend Luis asked me a couple months ago, and one that we constantly deal with and think about.
I wasn't sure what it was at the time, but I knew what it wasn't. I don't fear dying as much as some people I do, as much as I probably should. I fear more perpetuating cycles of violence and abuse I have seen in my life, much greater than I do fear death. But this article is about death, and how thinking about it in the face or absence of our fears actually enriches our lives.
I don't want to die, but I do occasionally do think about whether the world would be a better place without me. It's a nagging thought, one I have thought much especially recently, that I have tried to put away as unreasonable. But death is undeniably on the forefront of my mind, now more than ever, in a way that perhaps concerns the people around me. Memento mori is a tattoo I have on my left abdomen: remember that you have to die. And by remembering I have to die, I try to make the most out of life and impart the most impact on others in this life.
But I argue that it's not a bad thing to think about death all the time, because there is a fine distinction between death and wanting to die. I know the protocol for suicidal ideation and making sure someone is safe, but thoughts of death have gone back a long time to the ancient Stoics. William Irvine, a philosophy professor at Wright State University, once wrote that "the Stoics had the insight that the prospect of death can actually make our lives much happier than they would otherwise be."
Irvine argues that instead of neglecting the things we fear and the worst things possible that can happen in our lives, we should, like the Stoics, imagine the worst case scenarios. Paradoxically, that is how we attain happiness, and one the greatest fears in much of our society is death, that we or the people we love are going to die. Happiness lies in much in gratitude, and death inspires gratitude. Stoics pride themselves in this gratitude of knowing and thinking about death, and living with the awareness that we should live with death on the forefront of our minds.
Human societies throughout all of history have invented methods to cope with our awareness of mortality. There is even a theory in social psychology called terror-management theory, in which all human thinking and behavior can be attributed to a fear of death. "Death anxiety" drives people to believe in their self-worth and self-esteem and believe that they are meaningful to the world. Inherently, we feel the deep need to make our marks on the world before we die, so we can manage the terror of living life insignificantly. People do what they do to curb their fear of dying.
Terror-management theory also deals with the sensation of immortality: we do things that immortalize our names and actions. All religion that also guarantees the promise of immortality, in the idea of afterlives, reincarnation, of heaven. But since not everyone is religious, and because for many people, the afterlives can be so distant and far-off, people strive for symbolic immortality. Through family who will carry on the name, or work that will carry on legacy, in the words ofThe Atlantic's Julie Beck, "people cling more intensely to the institutions they're part of, and the worldviews they hold."
Of course, everyone likes to distract themselves from thoughts of death. I know I do. We do things to extend our longevity, such as eating healthier. But these actions only distract us so much: death is always prominent in our unconscious and subconscious minds. People feel most driven to defend their worldviews and cultures in the face of it. In a terror-management study in the book The Worm at the Core, judges were asked how much they would set bail for alleged prostitutes. The standard bail was listed at $50, but judges who were asked to think about death right before setting bail put the bail nine times higher.
"The results show that the judges who thought about their own mortality reacted by trying to do the right thing...they held the law more vigorously than their colleagues who were not reminded of death," author Sheldon Solomon writes.
It seems, then, from these data that thinking about death is not actually a good thing: we stick more closely to our own worldviews and put others down. But that is not the only way people search for symbolic immortality - it is only one of the ways. According to Beck, "looming mortality can also lead people to help others, donate to charity, and want to invest in caring families and relationships." After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011, there were increases in love, hope, gratitude, and spirituality. Unfortunately, fear of Arabs and Muslims also increased significantly after the attacks.
It can be said then that thoughts of death intensifies and reinforces worldviews we already hold. Empathetic people are more likely to forgive others after a reminder that they have to die. Fundamentally religious people are more compassionate after a reminder of death when their values are depicted in a religious context, so values like kindness, empathy, hope, and compassion can be cultivated if we manage the terror of death in a suitable way.
Steven Heine, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), says that death is a threat to our understandings of the world and how our assumptions about it works. When faced with mortality, we turn to other things to make sense of life. Death is not solvable, and something we can never resolve. But is that a bad thing? Think about if life were to never end - wouldn't it eventually lose meaning? The scarcity principle explains this phenomenon: the less we have of something, the more we value it.
But we don't live like life is finite. We don't live every day like it's our last. Laura King, a psychology professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia, says that "everybody always says life is too short, but it's really long. It's really,really long. Old people who know they are going to die soon live more in the present and forgive more.
I am speaking in paradoxes, and in many traditions, but E.M. Foster perhaps puts it best: "I don't know if there's really any salvation, but if we accept death, maybe we can just live."
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Entertainment
Poetry On Odyssey: Ding Dong Dead, Part 2
He shrieked and quickened his stride, for he saw the remains of his friends who had died.
29 October 2018
83
This is the second and final part of "Ding Dong Dead." In this part, the story explores what happens to the Scarecrow and Tin Man after they kill Dorothy. I hope you enjoyed reading this two-part series as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy Halloween!
The End?
Walking along the yellow brick road
the tin man and scarecrow hopped like two toads.
With a heart in his chest and a brain in his head,
and Dorothy behind on the side road now dead.
"I bid thee goodbye, my straw-stuffed friend.
We'll part ways now but we will meet again."
And as they parted, they skipped and they hummed
But little did they know what was yet to come.
Mad
Walking along the yellow brick road
the scarecrow skipped and hopped like a toad.
Until he stopped and went to the side
for Dorothy's voice was stirring inside.
"Hello, Scarecrow. Long time no see?
I know what you and Tin did to me.
You beat me, killed me, all for my brain
and now I'll slowly drive you insane.
It'll be fun with me by your side all the time!
Don't try to run, you know you can't hide.
Just you and me, till death, do us part.
You think this is bad? Just wait 'till I start.
I'll whisper your sin so you never forget.
You'll come to wish that we'd never met.
I'll take control of your actions and thoughts.
You'll no longer be you. I'm taking your spot!
So dance my straw puppet, as of now you're my slave.
It's no fun for me if so early you cave.
Fight me, delight me, the rest of your life—
forever a captive of this inner strife.
The scarecrow now had a mad look in his eyes.
Escape was futile, but he knew he must try.
He fell to the ground, his skull raging in pain
and he reached in his head and tore out his brain.
Heartbeat
Walking along the yellow brick road
the Tin Man skipped and hopped like a toad.
Until he stopped and went to the side
for the pain in his chest was raging inside
He clutched his hand right over his heart.
Long did he wait for the aching to part.
But Dorothy's heart once pure as gold,
revenge had turned so dark and stone-cold.
"Oh, what is this agony raging inside
that wears and tears my soul?" he cried.
He closed his eyes and channeled his strength,
but the torment he felt was still much at length.
The burning he felt grew hotter and then
he stumbled and fell right over his head.
Laying down helpless he tried giving a call
for anyone out there who might help him at all.
"I'm sorry!" we wailed as the tears now streamed.
"I can't take the pain, it's too much!" he screamed.
His newfound emotions were now running wild,
uncontrollably raging like that of a child.
He could not comprehend the guilt that he felt
for when he was tin, he knew nothing heartfelt.
It ate him away so slow and so patient,
his chest throbbed in sorrow and he could hardly take it.
His metal got hot as he started to sweat
for the torment he faced was not quite done yet.
The heart beat faster with more loudness until
his eyes glazed over, and his body grew still.
The Lion
Walking along the yellow brick road
the cowardly lion happily strode.
Until he shrieked and quickened his stride
for he saw the remains of his friends who had died.
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Entertainment
Poetry On Odyssey: Ding Dong Dead
Dorothy skipped and hopped like a toad, her two friends stopped and went to the side, discussing their plan for her quiet demise.
22 October 2018
57
I loved the story of "The Wizard of Oz" growing up and in honor of Halloween coming up, I thought I would put a creepy little twist on the classic tale. The rhyming gives it a children's book-vibe, but this is definitely not a story I would recommend reading to a toddler... unless you want to scar them for life, maybe. This is a two-part collection of poems, the second of which I will be releasing next week. Enjoy!
The Scarecrow
Walking along the yellow brick road
Dorothy skipped and hopped like a toad
until she stopped and went to the side
to hear a desperate scarecrow man cry.
"Oh please!" he wailed, screaming aloud.
"Someone please get me back onto the ground!"
Then Dorothy ran to help the poor man
and together they got his feet back on the land.
"Are you alright?" she questioned in fright.
His eyes moved fast from the left to the right.
"Oh yes," he said with tears flowing down
and his coarse straw lips turned into a frown.
"For years I tried to be free from restrain
but I was not blessed with having a brain.
If so, I might've found a way to get down
to join all the munchkins back in the town."
A thought then popped into Dorothy's head
remembering what the North Witch had once said.
"The Wizard of Oz is who you require
to fill your most pressing, desperate desire.
I'll take you there and we'll get what we need
so just follow behind while I take the lead!"
His expression soon turned from sad to gay
and together they both went on their way.
The Tin Man
Walking along the yellow brick road
the scarecrow and Dorothy happily strode
until they stopped and went to the side
to hear the wails of a lone Tin Man's cry.
"What's wrong?" they asked, approaching the man
and gave him some oil from an old rusted can.
Through creaky sobs, he showed them his chest
and then he proceeded to tell them the rest
"What I lack is a soul and some love
and so long I've prayed to the heavens above.
I'm structured and strong, and I've got some real smarts,
but what I crave most is the warmth of a heart."
The scarecrow and Dorothy looked at each other.
Surely they'd be able to take on another.
"Come with us," she said "we'll help fix your flaw.
We know of a wizard who can help us all."
And soon all three were back on the road,
singing and skipping and hopping like toads.
But with burning desire, they could hardly take it
and the tin man and scarecrow soon grew impatient.
Dorothy Must Die
Walking along the yellow brick road
Dorothy skipped and hopped like a toad
her two friends stopped and went to the side,
discussing their plan for her quiet demise.
"Are you thinking what I am?" The tin man had said.
The scarecrow looked lost, scratching his head.
"The girl has a heart and a brain!" Tin exclaimed.
"The two things we most desperately wish to gain!
Dorothy is one of the purest of souls
Why settle for silver, when you can have gold?
The Wizard is fake, and everyone knows
he's just an old man putting on magic shows!"
They looked at each other and smiled a smirk
and in both their eyes a new evil did lurk.
They caught up with her, not making a sound
then bashed her head hard and she fell to the ground.
Not yet knocked out, she let out a scream,
"Why do you do this? We're on the same team!"
She struggled to crawl on her hands and her knees
as the two were approaching with increasing speed.
Soon she was cornered, her back on a tree.
The crack in her head was starting to bleed.
They beat her with fists of metal and straw
until she was no longer breathing at all.
They ripped out her motionless heart and her brain
and looked back down at the gory remains.
Laughing they smiled, both dancing with joy
for an end had come to their successful ploy.
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Swoon
You Can Never Go Back To Who You Were Before You Were Cheated On
A slideshow of what they did, what it must have looked like, begins to play on loop behind your eyes.
21 September 2018
630
Immediately, the thought of it becomes unbearable. It constricts the brain, depriving it of oxygenated happiness until slowly your joyful loving memories begin to blackout in your head. That's when it begins. Like the lights dimming in a theater, once all else fades, a slideshow of what they did, what it must have looked like, begins to play on loop behind your eyes. Every bite of the lower lip, every euphorically strained facial expression, every second of decadent ecstasy.
As other thoughts begin to seep back in and the lights go back up, every scene ignites like gunpowder in the back of your skull. It isn't just sadness anymore, it's pain that burns your mind and radiates through every nerve in your fragile body. The smoke clears and you can think about other things again, but the inferno has left the ashes imprinted on the inside of your eyelids. Every time you close your eyes, you see it all again.
Of course, you didn't actually see any of it. It's all just what your psyche, in the fragile state it's in, imagines it to have been like. You would think that helps, not actually having seen it, but it doesn't. It doesn't give you the certainty of fact, the assurance of exactly how it happened as observed. No, now since you're left to recreate the scenes in your mind, the ash impressions on your eyelids are exaggerated. You assume that every single thing that could have happened to make it worse, did. You fill in spaces unnecessarily, adding dreadful detail that may or may not be correct (though you are convinced it is) everywhere you can.
It's only a matter of time before you start examining and over-examining every single detail of both your relationship and what happened.
Were they willing to do this to you the whole time you were dating? Remember that day early on? When you drove through the October mist, windows down and music blaring as you both screamed the lyrics to your favorite songs through the cool damp night?
That first time you said those dreaded three words once the beat faded and you pulled up to the house just giggling and smiling at each other, then you kissed under the stars? Did that mean anything to them at all? Did they really love you back then? Do they love you now? They keep saying they do.
How could they love you? How could anyone? You're unlovable. You're not good enough, you will never be enough for them. That's why they did what they did. At least, that's what you keep telling yourself. It's what keeps ringing through your ears in the recreated tone of their voice. Even as the months pass or sometimes even years, the words will still reverberate off the prison cell bars of your skull.
You'll only be convinced of it more and more as time passes and you find yourself still single. Your confidence after what happened will be nothing more than the gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe, constantly getting crushed again and again by their full weight. You'll become convinced that nobody will ever love you again, that you have nothing to love, that nobody would ever conceivably want to be in a relationship with you ever again.
And then someone does. They're sweet, they're caring, and most importantly, they make you happy. Things progress just as they normally would, only with one difference. You still bare the scar of being cheated on. You'll find yourself, early on at least, questioning if this new person in your life really means what they say and if you can trust them. You'll start drawing comparisons between their words and actions and that of your former partner. You'll find it hard to trust again. You'll find it hard to love again.
Now, everything I've written so far may not be certain. Of course, this sort of thing varies from person to person and no one account of being cheated on is true to the experiences of everyone that has ever been cheated on. This next part though, this is the only part that I can say with near absolute certainty, will happen eventually for anyone who has gone through having a partner cheat on them:
This new person will prove your fears to be wrong. They will love you, and you will allow yourself to love them. They will be trustworthy, they will be respectful, and the last thing that they would ever want to do is hurt you. Their affection will cleanse the ash marks on the back of your eyelids and mute the hissing voice in your head. In due time, they will make the pain of your last heartbreak disappear, until one day it all just becomes like a distant nightmare to you. One that they have woken you up from.
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Entertainment
The Vincent Van Gogh X Vans Museum Collection Is Everything
You'll cut your ear off when you hear about this new art and fashion collab.
31 August 2018
51
Someone once said, "the Earth without 'art' is just 'eh'." And the same goes for fashion.
Constantly, designers and creative directors are being inspired by works of art or architecture and taking that inspiration and sewing it into a single outfit composition which in turn creates a cohesive seasonal line.
This has been happening with both high end and contemporary brands who have teamed up with some iconic artists and their artworks to produce the perfect clothing items for a museum- and runway-goers. These collaborations include the Calvin Klein X Andy Warhol Collection, the Louis Vuitton Masters collection, Vans' rainbow Dallas Clayton shoes, and Prada's "Survival Utopia" by Christophe Chemin shirt. All have been noteworthy articles of clothing that satisfy the materialistic yet meaningful and deep side in all of us.
Now, Vans is doing their own impression of a certain famous impressionist: Vincent van Gogh.
Along with Mac Miller's new album Swimming, and the Astroworld by Travis Scott, this artsy merchandise is due to hit stores on August 3rd. I don't have enough body parts to buy, listen and wear all of the great things dropping Friday!
The Vans x Van Gogh collection has been based off four iconic Van Gogh paintings: Skull, Almond Blossom, Sunflowers, and his self-portrait. The prints will be made in various products such as jumpers, jackets, tees, and of course, Vans footwear. All proceeds acquired from the 'Off The Wall' merchandise will be given to the Van Gogh museum so people will be able to see the artwork 'on the wall' years after.
Fun fact: Van Gogh never made any dough when he was alive, so the least you could do is buy some pitty sneakers, right?
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