Never Stop, Never Quit
By Sara Martinez
I approached 2008 with an extremely positive attitude. I made a big apartment move in the summer of 2007-- one that I knew I could barely afford, but would have a worthwhile effect on my overall disposition. I repeated to myself “Change in ’07 means great in ’08” with a feeling that 2008 would be a great year, as long as I made the proper adjustments leading up to it.
At this point, I wouldn’t so much use the word “great” to describe the last 7 months. I tend to have a weird sort of bad luck – unfortunate things happen to me, but things usually work out in the end, and through it all I have my health and my family and a roof over my head. When I think of how quickly this year has gone by, I don’t think in months, but rather in the string of disappointing occurrences. I got full body hives for a week after one day of work on a reality show about trash, followed by somebody in Bucharest hacking into my bank account and pilfering $2,000. Next, a portion of my ceiling fell in, and as I was trying to get that fixed, my refrigerator broke. I got tendonitis in my leg, and to pass my recovery time, I bought Rock Band. It turns out my Playstation is too old for it to work properly. Then, some old fogey rear-ended my mom, totaling her car. What followed was some family drama on my father’s side, and finally, in the middle of July (and in the middle of a long employment drought) my beloved 14 year old cat died.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 08/29 at 09:48 PM
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Non-Fiction •
Eve and Bob: Date #9A
By Eve Sturges
Eve and Bob: The Movie (A Production Meeting) Part 1 of 2
Writer: So I’m thinking, we got this girl, right? Her name is Eve.
Director: Who you got lined up?
Writer: Anyone young, whatever, but she’s got to have spunk. You know, like, uh...what’s her name?
Assistant: Meryl Streep?
Writer: No, someone YOUNG.
Director: Kate Hudson?
Writer: Not that pretty.
Director: Katie Holmes?
Assistant: Not that tall.
Producer: Miley Cyrus.
Writer: Not THAT young. Jeezuz. Anyway, moving on. Okay. So she moves to LA and starts working in a super swanky restaurant. Think like, chandeliers, dim lighting, plastic surgery everywhere. Lots of stars, paparazzi hangin’ around out front. And there’s this DJ, right?
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Posted by The Better Blog on 08/26 at 10:25 PM
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Eve Sturges •
Non-Fiction •
Mi Mero Mole--A traveling girl suspects Aztec ghosts in Mexico City
By Camille Ikalina-Robles
Monday--rain, rain stay for another day.
It’s raining as we pull our luggage over puddles across the uneven concrete. It’s a cool spring rain in the late afternoon in Mexico City, like the 3 p.m. rainstorms I looked forward to every day when I was a kid during the summers I spent in Florida visiting my dad. But it’s not humid, and there is no thunder, just the steady rain in a city high above sea level, tucked in a valley surrounded my mountains.
That valley is the Valley of Anáhuac. Built upon soft land above old pre-hispanic cities, I am convinced the ancient ruins below house the spirits of old Aztec ghosts. Where I walk now is a very modern city, haunted by its own ghosts torn between modernity and the subtle hold of the hands of its past. The marks of old pagan cultures mix with the practices of the prevalent Catholic faith, and the influence of the richer land beyond its northern border is visible through the high fashion store windows. Spain exists here as well, just another ghost.
Noemi, my dear friend whom I met while in Morocco, is traveling with me. We are students and we are broke. But traveling is something that exists deep in our bones, hers from a heritage linked to indigenous Mexico, and me from my roots to the Basque gypsies of northern Spain. So we make the best of it even when we have little money. Our hotel is clean and a nice place to lay your head. It’s got a shower and clean sheets, and it’s only $35 American dollars a night for both of us. It really puts being “broke” into perspective.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 08/24 at 10:24 PM
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Camille Ikalina-Robles •
Non-Fiction •
The Return of the Iron Goddess of Mercy
By Abbey Leroux
I never knew I needed an alter-ego until I saw those words strung together on a tea menu.
Iron Goddess of Mercy.
It was like someone from another dimension was calling out my long-lost name! Who is she? What does she look like? How does she roll? Somehow I knew. Those three powerful words explained it all. She is strong as iron, unlimited in her divine gifts and powers, and yet sweetly understanding and merciful upon all those she encounters—especially the dudes; the dudes who have been less-than-merciful unto her.
For some reason, the dudes are not immediately fond of this name when I reveal it. Some deeply intuitive part of them does just as the Iron Goddess of Mercy would expect: they tremble in fear. They scoff. They look at me like I might be a little bit more dangerous
than my small frame and generally sweet disposition suggests.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 08/21 at 10:18 PM
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Abbey Leroux •
Non-Fiction •
Could The Economic Recession Strengthen the American Community?
By Ted Grudin
Of course no one’s too excited about a $5 gallon of gas (unless you happen to be pro-environment like me) or the loss of jobs that results from the impending recession in the United States of America.
But one thing I will say in its favor is that it builds character. Hardships and struggles challenge us to make it without the usual padding and ease. In other words, instead of driving across town, you may just decide you have to take public transit. Instead of flying to Moscow for your vacation, you may consider going camping 60 miles away from where you live, or staying at a friend’s cabin. Instead of eating out at that fancy restaurant, you may stay home and cook those potatoes and leeks that the previous owner of your house had planted in your backyard. Instead of moving far away from your family, you may just decide to stay near, or you may even live with your parents longer (this is quite the norm in some countries, and I see nothing wrong with it as long as it is done right).
I will not go as far as to say that whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. No, I don’t believe such a fallacy. It simply isn’t true - if you eat ten pounds of laundry detergent and survive, you surely will not be stronger.
But, I will say that these impending economic hardships in our country may just bring our communities closer together - they may make us face our communities in ways we have never done before. And it may strengthen both our communities and our culture.
Of course I am not saying that this would be easy, but what true growth is ever easy?
Posted by The Better Blog on 08/19 at 08:54 AM
Filed under:
Ted Grudin •
Non-Fiction •
Fred’s Kitchen : Summer Iced Tea
By Frederik Jacobs
INGREDIENTS
for approx. 1.5 litres
4-5 x tea bags of your tea of choice (red fruit tea used here)
4 tbs acacia honey
seasonal berries and fruits
mint sprig
PREPARATION
Place the tea bags in a jug and pore 0.5l boiling water over them
Add the honey to the tea and stir well that the honey dissolves
Let the tea bags soak in the hot water for approx. 15 minutes (depending on the tea. Certain teas have the tendency to go bitter after a certain amount of time in the water). Then remove tea bags
Place the jug in the fridge and let it cool for at least 5 hours
To serve place a few ice cubes in a glass and garnish with the seasonal berries and fruits. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Posted by The Better Blog on 08/18 at 08:28 PM
Filed under:
Frederik Jacobs •
Non-Fiction •
Eve and Bob: Date #XXX
By Eve Sturges
(Author’s note: Let’s get real. I am a single mom! I date, but I don’t date THAT much. I have begun to interview friends, and collect some incredible stories, which I’ll have to use once in a while. This is one of them. So, written by me, still, but experienced by someone else. It only seemed fair to disclaim the awesome experience below. Capiche? )
PART 1.
Bob hikes really fast, really good. I mean, he is here for some serious fitness, and I am realizing this is the WORST idea for a date ever. I start to wonder if he knows CPR. I start to worry that I smell, and then I know I smell, and I start to worry if he knows. I am sweating everywhere, and the tips of my hair are starting to curl against all the product I’ve put in to keep it strait.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 08/15 at 12:07 AM
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Eve Sturges •
Non-Fiction •
Prague Sketches
By Slaven Svetinovic
I spent the last fall and winter in Prague. How it came about is not a big surprise: books have been written about twentysomethings quitting corporate jobs to teach and backpack around Europe, and I certainly do not want to add another story to the tired cliché. Yet as someone born behind the Iron Curtain, and having a sense of pride about it, I felt that there was a greater force guiding my return than your average mid-twenties existential crisis and a few thousand dollars in the bank.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 08/04 at 08:15 PM
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Non-Fiction •
Eve & Bob: Date #7 b
By Eve Sturges
Excuse My Cynicism
Well, it finally happened.
Wait, let me listen to it again.
(3:45 minutes later) Yes. It’s me. Undeniably.
On my long list of dreams, squished somewhere between becoming a firefighter and kissing James McAvoy, sits some sort of misty fantasy about a hot boy writing songs about me.
Bob is that hot boy. (Surfing 365/year at 5 am does a body good.) Bob is funny (dry humor that makes me hurt inside.) Bob writes excellent songs that he sings with a gravelly voice, and plays on his guitar. He is sort of the quiet type, but fills the silence with his music, often picking up and playing in sort of random intervals throughout the day and night.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/31 at 09:00 AM
Filed under:
Eve Sturges •
Non-Fiction •
Blame it on the Children
By Sara Martinez
I’ve always found it odd when people (usually ones attempting to make some “moral point") rally behind the cry, “Think of the children!!” It’s odd because it’s not like we are advocating for some minority group. We’ve all been kids, and when I was one, I was certainly not aware of anyone thinking of me. Generation after generation, people “think of the children!!” in an attempt to shield them from the immoral sins that lie in wait, ready to seduce them. Sometimes, best intentions are at heart—the desire to protect a group that will soon take over the reigns of the world. But, children should really always be in our thoughts and actions subconsciously, in that we should care about what happens to this world in everything that we do, not just in things that could possibly relate to children. I don’t agree that “think of the children!!” should be shouted out every time a moral debate or issue of ‘decency’ comes up, especially because it mostly seems to be something that people use as an excuse to hide behind.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/29 at 08:15 PM
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Non-Fiction •
Making Life Better with Rachel
By Rachel Seldin
So Saturday night you went out, took some great pictures. Now you have to upload them to your computer (oFoto, Facebook, MySpace and every other virtual site around) to only then be able to look at your photos when you’re nerding out at your computer. Whatever happened to printing them out, calling your friend’s “doubles” and putting them in picture frames around your room, showing off how cool you are? Well I’m about to give you a great reason to re-release the hardcopy of the photograph.
With this Do-It-Yourself Hanging Picture Frame project, you will want to show off the hot people you know and the places you go!
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/25 at 09:00 AM
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Rachel Seldin •
Non-Fiction •
Eve & Bob: Date #ABC’s
By Eve Sturges
Conversations About Life and Love with Lily, age 4
Listening to “Drunk” by Rose Polenzani.
Lily: What’s this song about?
Me: Um, well, she’s singing about a boy who hurt her feelings.
Lily: Why?
Me: He lied, and that wasn’t nice.
Lily: Why?
Me: Um, I don’t know.
Lily: Well, maybe he just didn’t want to marry her.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/24 at 08:48 PM
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Eve Sturges •
Non-Fiction •
The Immigration Speech I’ve been Waiting For
By Aaron Leroux
In the rapacious tempest that is the presidential election this year I have, only rarely, heard any mention of immigration. I’ve been hoping against hope to hear Barack Obama give some magnificent speech about how immigration is the in the DNA of this country and we must not run from what has made us who we are. I’ve been dreading John McCain prattling on about the wall to end all walls being built to keep “those people” out. Some pimply young republican will name it. And it will forever be referred to, without irony, as: “The Freedom Wall.” But alas… hardly a peep from either candidate. So I’ve written an immigration speech. Consider it a template on which facts, figures, policy ideas, and personal biography can be glued. I offer this speech freely and equally to any and all candidates running for any level of public office...who read The Better Blog. It is my hope that it will be plagiarized ad infinitum, and that I never be given any credit whatsoever for it.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/22 at 08:00 AM
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Non-Fiction •
I finally got all my CDs organized
By Paul Barrett
It took about five tries, but I finally got my CDs organized by color. I know this isn’t the most original idea ever—there’s this and this, and then my friend Zach organizes his books by color, too. These are all books, though, is the key. I’ve never heard of anyone organizing CDs by color, so as far as I know I’m the first one to do it. Anyway, the reason it took me so long is basically I just didn’t really think it out beforehand, like there were some things I didn’t consider. I started out with white at the top, so that was super easy. My plan after that was since several CDs were very, very light yellow, I’d have the whites start to gather hue, and I’d shift subtly from white to yellow, and then I’d proceed logically from yellow to orange, orange to red, red to purple, purple to blue, blue to green, green to black. This, though, didn’t really take into account the fact that within each of these hues there’s also a variance in value, which basically kills any possibility of an aesthetically pleasing gradient, trust me. What you get is a hideous light-yellow to bright-yellow to orange to light-orange to pink to red to dark-red etc., and basically you’re just all over the place. In short it just wasn’t working out, but that didn’t stop me. NB I tried something else in-between this attempt and my third/final attempt but I can’t remember what it was. So let’s just say it didn’t work out, either. OK so it took me three tries, not five.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/17 at 09:00 AM
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Paul Barrett •
Non-Fiction •
Eve & Bob: Date #4b
By Eve Sturges
I feel like an orphan in Grand Central Station. That isn’t meant to be a metaphor; I really am in Grand Central Station. And I felt like how an orphan must feel, waiting for those special people to take them home, love them and care for them, feed them. Buy them a puppy.
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Posted by The Better Blog on 07/16 at 08:48 PM
Filed under:
Eve Sturges •
Non-Fiction •