[A "first person" piece I wrote for a writing course, amended from an old blog entry.]
We’ve all heard it, the standard money-won’t-buy-you-happiness argument—that amassing wealth only begets a desire for more (the “hedonic treadmill” concept); that working too hard and too long creates stress and stifles relationships; and that doing what you love is most [...]
Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Money, Maximization, and The Mature Life
Posted in Culture, Miscellaneous Commentary on November 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Senior Slump Syllabus
Posted in Culture, Miscellaneous Commentary on September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m slumping in school. I’m burned out. Tired of classes. Bored in lectures. I have some general requirements left, but I can’t take them now. I’ll save them for next semester. This is a regrouping period — a time I need to take classes I’m inspired by regardless of academic need.
Here are the courses I’m taking. [...]
The Color of Sacrifice: Pebble Mine and Red Gold
Posted in Business and Markets, Culture, Law and Economics, Politics, tagged Alaska, Anglo American, ANWR, John Shively, Mining, Northern Dynasty, Pebble Mine on August 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
At its root, the conflict over Pebble Mine is one of human nature. It’s a battle of now versus later; instant wealth versus delayed gratification; greed versus prudence. At issue is man’s respect for the natural world by which he is sustained; man’s power to harness the pearls of the planet for his own needs and his own desires; and the treatment of the gift bestowed upon man and his transformation of it, for better or poorer, for the re-wrapping, and re-bestowment, of that gift upon the generations of men who will follow.
U Chic at U Penn
Posted in Culture, Internet and Technology, Law and Economics on August 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Up until now, Penn freshmen have started their college careers by reading a book and then discussing it – an orientation activity meant to pique the mind and unify the class. This year, incoming students will look at, study, and discuss a painting for the “reading project.” People don’t read anymore — I’ve written [...]
The Hustle of Urban Nightlife
Posted in Culture, Miscellaneous Commentary on July 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
This post is adapted from a letter I wrote to Penn sociology professor David Grazian. It’s basically a review of his book On the Make: The Hustle of Urban Nightlife, but I was too lazy to change it into a different format. Here’s a description of the work:
It’s nighttime in [Philadelphia] and everybody’s working a [...]
Sexuality & Selfhood
Posted in Culture on July 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In the August GQ, there’s a picture of Marisa Miller, a model regarded as one of the most beautiful and sexually potent women on the planet. She’s playing naked in a bubbly bathtub, with some suds placed on those parts you’ll never see. Of the shoot, she says: “I thought messing around in the bathtub [...]
Meb Keflezighi: A Profile
Posted in Culture, Miscellaneous Commentary on November 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
[Rough draft of a profile for a writing class.]
Mebrahtom Keflezighi can cut the mile run in four minutes and fifty five seconds flat—and then repeat it twenty five more times without rest. You might grant Keflezighi the title of the best American distance runner and marathoner in a generation, if not ever. Assuming, that is, [...]
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