Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in tanyahp's LiveJournal:

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Monday, July 13th, 2009
4:41 pm	First-Person Shooter Disease (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
12:12 am	Books 25. Let Your Life Speak: Listening For the Voice of Vocation by Parker J Palmer. Been feeling a bit "at sea" lately, so I thought this might help me find some direction. I like Palmer's style: He doesn't pound you with the Religion like many other self-help book authors. He's Quaker, and I think that is reflected in his approach. Athiests and Agnostics can also enjoy this book, if they are, like me, feeling on shaky ground about their current and/or chosen profession. To summarize the reading I've done this year: ( Read more... ) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
3:06 pm	Studs Terkel, would that we had listened “That there are some who were untouched or, indeed, did rather well isn’t exactly news. This has been true of all disasters. The great many were wounded, in one manner or another. It left upon them an ‘invisible scar’….The suddenly-idle hands blamed themselves, rather than society. True, there were hunger marches and protestations to City Hall and Washington, but the millions experienced a private kind of shame when the pink slip came. No matter that others suffered the same fate, the inner voice whispered, ‘I’m a failure.’” From Hard Times recorded by Studs Terkel (Comment on this)
11:53 am	Dragon Egg I have an Egg! Not sure how this works. I think you are supposed to click on it? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
11:46 am	Feelin' good. Am full of bacon and eggs. You? (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
7:52 pm	Books and Quotes 24. Moab is My Washpot by Stephen Fry. Glorious book. Read it. ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
8:21 am	Baltimore I'm still having a good time in Baltimore. Martin is a sweetie. He is rewiring my brain with endless episodes of the Wire. Had dinner with Tania and Rob last night, which was fun. I'd never had Lebanese food before, but I've had hummus, tabouli, and pita and so the experience wasn't too different from other Middle-Eastern dining experiences. The wine was yum and the Lebanese doughnuts were likewise tasty. The company, of course, was wonderful. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
12:26 pm	Shameful Confession of the Week Part of me wants to keep reading this book just so I can tack it up on my LJ like an antelope head over the fireplace of a 1920's big-game hunter. (it really is a good book...just there are so many books that are also good...and I am lazy and starting to wonder where all my reading is "getting me"...which is a dreadful thing to wonder.) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
8:15 am	Book 23. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. This is the story of one man, Doctor Paul Farmer, who makes great changes in the practice of preventing TB in poor communities world wide, and has a life-long commitment to the people of Haiti. His organization, Partners in Health (PIH) is committed to providing preferential treatment options for the poor. They are pretty awesome, and Dr. Paul Farmer is pretty much a saint. Enthused with the spirit of this biography, I decided to contribute to the micro-lending industry (thanks, Muhammad Yunus!) by lending to Kiva.org, a very fine organization that disburses your money to whomever you wish among the needy via a variety of micro-lending institutions. I've lent to two women in Sudan who are trying to start/expand their own businesses. Visit their site, it is cool! (Comment on this)
Monday, June 29th, 2009
2:39 pm	Jena 6 The Jena 6 Trial has concluded. However, only a naive person would think that this is the end of the problems in Jena. Still, a better outcome was achieved than I had expected at the beginning of the trials. Our Justice System still needs an overhaul. (Comment on this)
9:29 am	Had a bit of a fever and a headache last night. Took an aspirin and slept. Am feeling better today. Wonder what it was all about? Also, saw Up w/ Martin. It was good! I loved the dog jokes, and there seemed to be more in it than is noticeable on first viewing: this is definitely one I will watch again. (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
2:53 pm	Reading 22. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. I saw the film by Orson Welles (with Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead, Anne Baxter, all the Greats) a few years ago. The ending didn't satisfy me, it seemed so abrupt. The book was a bit more satisfying, for all the reasons that books can be more satisfying, but the ending still felt rushed. Also, I kept hearing the passages read in the voice of Orson Welles, which, really, wasn't terribly unpleasant but nonetheless was a bit disconcerting. I don't think it's possible to really judge a book on its own merits if you've seen the film beforehand - it tends to limit the imagination. It's funny to think that this book was written almost 100 years ago. Some of it feels like that, feels ancient, and other parts of it feel...fresh. The human parts, the parts where people act like people with fear, rage, jealousy, love and the rest, are somewhat timeless. The things about which they feel these feelings? Those pass away. And really, that's what Booth Tarkington meant to leave as the impression, only I don't think he realized as many things would pass away, and be irreversibly altered, as have been since 1910. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
12:27 pm	Book So I don't forget: Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya. Good book! Takes place in India during the colonial period. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
7:43 pm	Books! 19. Inside the Mormon Mind by Elizabeth T. Tice. Somewhat interesting sociological account of Mormonism. Ultimately, I would've rather read her dissertation. Didn't tell me much that I didn't already know, but she did draw heavily from Kanter's Commitment and Community, which I read in college, so her drawing on social theory with which I am familiar was cool and made me think of my own possible-sometime-in-the-far-future-dissertation (heh). 20. The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy. I heart Maeve Binchy. She is my vacation/plane/feel-good reading. Worked her magic again with this one, although it did not contain so many happy endings as some of her other "menageries". 21. One For the Morning Glory by John Barnes. Oh em gee, why have I not read John Barnes before? He is fantastic! I love his use of the English language, such fun, so witty. Give me another like this one any day. All for now. Baltimore is still a kick. Been walking in the neighborhoods where HBO's The Wire is meant to be set. Kinda sketch. It's 'cause I was looking for Edgar Allan Poe's house and got a little lost. Worth the lostness, however, 'cause now I feel like I have mad street cred (yeah, ha, right.) Anyway, Baltimore is cool yet muggy today. The piano is still in tune. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
9:36 am	More blatherings from Baltimore Maybe it's that I'm on vacation, but the pace seems very leisurely here. I definitely saw more frantic behavior in Los Angeles, people rushing all the day. Here, people stroll. Or perhaps it's just that it's a weekday and all the rushing people are in offices? Anyway, the pace is mellow. There is certainly an East Coast ethos that is different from the West. I tend to use my "indoor voice" more frequently out here, whereas back in L.A. I find I'm constantly shouting. Maybe that's because I work with Middle-Schoolers? I think it is that way in general, but someone ought to do a study measuring the decibel levels in people from different regions. You could make a PhD outta that kind of stuff. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 15th, 2009
11:59 am	First Impressions Baltimore is lovely and green. Went wandering around this morning (without my camera, though, so pictures will have to wait. Or never be posted, as per usual.) Visited the Enoch Pratt Library and picked up a transit map. Nice, I liked the ceilings and the paintings. Also, my impression wandering around Mt Vernon: lots of red brick and columns. I'd somehow forgotten how much red brick there is out here! It surprises me each visit. The Angeleno in me keeps going "oh, man, what if there's an earthquake? Is that to code?" Also, basements! And stairs you walk up to get to the front door! Also, hills. You walk up a street, and suddenly there is an interesting view. Clearly I am not in Kansas anymore. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
6:57 pm	I am in Baltimore! (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
8:46 pm	More books! In keeping with the theme of outcasts, walk-aways from cults, and the like, here is my most recent reading: 17. Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon by Marjorie Kellogg. A sad, good book in the vein of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers. Written in 1968, it definitely has the feel of the flower-child movement in its tone and subject matter, but nonetheless a moving work that somewhat transcends its era. It's fiction, and I recommend it as a YA novel, although clearly it was intended for both young people and adults. 18. Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels by Hella Winston. Although I was never so naive as to think that cults didn't exist in Judaism, it was refreshing to have to confront the bias of my background in this account of Hasidic minorities living in New York, specifically, the minority within the minority who choose to leave. Hella Winston does a good job of creating a neutral tone in her writing, but sometimes I wish she would stop using the first person and let the exHasids speak for themselves. I'd have preferred a sociological work along the lines of Studs Terkel's Work to Hella's account of her own interactions with the people, but on the other hand, Hella's own voice is key to understanding how she was equally a biased participant in her research (an "interactive" model which I think is predominant in sociological literature today: No one is a neutral observer.) The accounts of how and why people left are often as harrowing as anything Carolyn Jessop or Steven Hassan have described. In truth, I am glad that I was not raised in a strictly observant Hasidic sect. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
7:03 pm	Awesome chemistry video! http://www.chemistry-blog.com/category/chemistry-videos/ (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
10:26 pm	Books and Heroes Rear Admiral Michelle Howard was in charge of rescuing Captain Phillips of the Maersk Alabama from the Somali Pirates. She did her job, and did it well. I wonder why her name was never mentioned in the news? She is one of the unsung HOC (heroes of color) in my book. Also, another book! 16. Daughter of the Saints: Growing up in Polygamy by Dorothy Allred Solomon. This is what one might call a "fair and balanced" account of polygamy in the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Her prose style is personal and her story is compelling; She delves into the history of polygamy in her family, and brings the reader chapters that seem like dark intimate jewels of her life and the lives of her ancestors. The book weaves her own story in with the narratives of her mothers, brothers and sisters, and father, Rulon Allred, who was ultimately murdered by a rival sect of fundamentalists. This book gives the reader much more than a sensational account of polygamy and does not leave one with a sense of utter horror and despair; she puts human faces on the members of her family, and so it is easier to understand why one might be attracted to polygamy, and why one would persist living The Principle or, like the author, choose to leave it. (2 Comments |Comment on this)