I first discovered Noah Cicero in June of 2007. Discovered isn’t the right word, of course, since Noah Cicero had been Noah Cicero for quite some time by that point, but, at the time, Noah was brand new to me. And while it might be the case that, since then, I’ve read every single one of his blog posts and all the books of his I could get my hands on, Noah still remains new to me every time I read something of his. Consistently, over the years, he’s continued to produce inventive and insightful content that’s kept me both a fan and an ardent promoter.
Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Books?!
I swung by the Rutgers Library late at night. The reading rooms were open but the books were fenced off, which means that it wasn’t a library any more. If I can’t check out books, the place is as much of a library as MacDonald’s or Sears.
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Worries
My mother’s worries frustrate, puzzle, and amuse me. She thinks that side effects are more likely than the medicine actually working, which means that pharmacies are stocked with diarrhea pills that might make your headache go away. Meanwhile, she puts her faith in the natural. When I feel sick, she tells me to take oregano and garlic. I tell her, “I’m a person not a pizza!”
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Be Prepared
If someone found out I wrote jokes and then told me to tell them one, I’d say, “Knock knock.” “Who’s there?” “Demanding.” “Demanding who?” “Demanding that I tell you a joke is inappropriate.”
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State of the Blog Address
I’ve been mulling over the solution oriented journalism route that I had envisioned for myself and have decided against it. In the course of conducting research, I’ve realized, first off, that there’s plenty of people besides myself that are not only aware of the problem of problem-oriented journalism but plenty of people also willing to do something about it. Good for them. And good for me! That means I don’t have to worry about journalism, not that I ought to have been worrying about it before. See, I’d been concerned because I felt that not enough was being done–not just journalistically but in general as well–about anything that struck me as problematic about the world. But the more I read, the more I saw how much really was being done. It made me feel good. Literally. I felt happy. As opposed to how regular journalism often makes me feel, which is negative.
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Q and A with Pastor Josh
One Pastor Q and A wasn’t enough for me, so I got in touch with Pastor Josh, who is a Methodist, and exchanged some emails. This time around, my aim was to talk more about the role of religion in one’s life rather than the philosophy that one’s religion entails. Philosophy, I think, is often talked about in a manner that entails abstracting away from the role that it plays in the life of he or she who expresses the philosophy. This, I think, can lead to people take a reductionist approach when it comes to how they think or feel about adherents of any given philosophy, especially a philosophy one finds disagreeable. Pastor Josh, however, doesn’t strike me as disagreeable. In fact, I’d say he’s delightful!
Filed under Blog, Interviews
Q and A From President McCormick’s 8th Annual Address
As you may have read last week, Rutgers did not want to post the Q and A following President McCormick’s Annual Address, which prompted me to get a copy of the DVD myself via OPRA. I am now posting the video of the Q. I am in the midst of transcribing the Q and A, but since that’s taking a while I will post that at a later time.
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Conversation Starters For A Trip to Ireland
What’s that whole beef with England about?
It’s not as dark here as in Angela’s Ashes; lot less grimy too. Not as green as I expected either though.
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Rutgers: Turn off the Dark
I wasn’t around the day of the president’s 8th annual state of the school address last year, but from what I heard it was pretty exciting as far as annual addresses go. Besides the DREAM ACT protest during the speech (which entailed a number of students asking questions related to the proposed legislation and then walking out), participants in the forum also caused what sounded like quite a stir. I heard that the football team gets put up at the Hyatt Hotel before home games, that one student asked what was being done about crime on campus and McCormick asked him for advice, and another student claimed to have been sexually harassed by a TA, which lead the president to give out his personal email address. Juicy stuff!
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Laughable Truth Identification!
For a while, I was seemingly unable to make jokes. It’s as though something were missing and I’d forgotten what made things funny. It took a lot of thinkin’ for me to figure it out, but eventually I got it: saying something is funny is what makes it funny. And, methinks, what usually makes people say something is funny laughter.
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