I am certain that you are all sitting in your expeditionary force units in mad shock and tedious disbelief, all wondering the same thing: How is WEF4 doing? Well sit no longer! WEF4 is here to quell the many fear that you clearly have (judging by the constant barrage of emotive emails, maniac messages, frantic facebook queries and whatnot.) WEF4 is fine. Better even, WEF4 is actually enjoying employment. (Shocks: the Earth stands still.)
Most importantly perhaps is our discussion of squirrels, the beloved beasts of WEF7. They exist here in greater abundance than I have ever seen before. They prance; they tarry; they are the indigenous species of Princeton and most of us have the sense to bow down to them. (this does not apply to the wee rugby lads who like to use their footwear as squirrel pistols, but I digress..) My first week here a young woman was sitting on a bench reading a book and eating an apple. She placed the apple down momentarily to turn a page. FOLLY! In mere moments a squirrel had sprinted from across the grass, pounced on the unprotected apple, and carried it up a tree. Laws of mere mortals - theft - do not apply to gods. The young woman stared in disbelief.
But on to lesser matter, as the gods cannot take all of our time. My employment is brilliant because the kids I’m working with are AWESOME. And the curriculum is super interesting. I never thought I could tire of talking about the community-freedom divide but we have been debating it ad nauseum for so long that at this point even I grow weary! Worry not. Just in the nick of time we’re moving onto capitalism as an economic structure - one of my other favourites :) It’s really nice to be able to teach all of the topics that I actually study and care about instead of only teaching technology or basic rudimentary skills. It has also made me more confident about perhaps pursuing a PhD and going into academia.
Equally awesome are my fellow facilitators and the organization itself. They are all generally liberal - funders and facilitators alike - but firmly believe (and more importantly, it comes out in practice) that young people should be given the critical thinking skills necessary to arrive at their own opinions on any matter, even if that opinion is in contradiction to their own. This comes out in every aspect of our work. It is really liberating to be around people who are opposed to ideology even while clearly subscribing to some forms on a personal level.
On the Youth Advocacy Network front: I’ve finally finished the site, made a facebook page, and invited people to apply. I’ve realized that after taxes my salary for the summer will be somewhat less than I imagined and have thus decided to return to Cameroon myself unless I find an appropriate applicant. If any of you guys know of people who might be interested I am now offering a living stipend and housing as incentive. http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/385991-295/c WEF6 especially, if you have friends out of college who haven’t found anything in the current job climate please send them my way!
Still waiting to hear back from the one real job I applied to… if I get it I will likely to scampering about to find a more qualified applicant for YAN, as I will be able to support it financially to a greater extent.
And with that, WEfers, I am sure you will all sleep better at night
Yes, yes, I know– Weather doesn’t equal climate, but I couldn’t resist. Also, tell that to the crazies the next time there’s a bad hurricane season (or for that matter to Danny Glover the next time there’s an earthquake).
In any case, it’s snowing like crazy again here in DC.
BTW, here are few pictures from last Saturday night after it stopped:
Here’s what it doing right now (Noon today) :
The big difference right now is that the wind is blowing pretty well so it’s starting to pile up against structures, rather than just falling straight down.
I could have put this in the comments of the other post on this topic, but I want to be sure everyone sees it.
We located or at least taken account of several of the items that were missing before.
-Karl’s leather chair was tossed as was the short leather couch in the basement.
-The indoor chaise lounge was delivered to the house– It was in storage with the State Department.
-The wide wooden bookcase was seen in the container that WEF2 stored with BoxCarts Storage company, which we’ll have delivered sometime next week, I think.
-I suspect the black stereo case will be there too, but I’m not sure.
Three further items that we need to locate are 1) the antique brass table lamp that used to be in the family room on the round table next to my leather chair. I thought that had been in the house but I’ll have to ask Daniel about it. And 2) & 3) the two small refrigerators that were downstairs. Anybody know what happened to them? I got my truck back a couple of days ago but still have to take a driving test(!) on Wednesday to get my license and then register the truck after that.
It is of priceless worth to be able to acknowledge that life is innately ludicrous and to respond to the insanity of those around you with laughter and good humor.
It is of inestimablely more worth to be able to acknowlege that this means everything you do and say is also inherently laughable and respond accordingly.
We’ve had most of the stuff delivered that was salvageable to the rental house, but we could use some help on reconciling the list that was salvaged with the list of items that were destroyed. There are some items that I don’t recognize from the description, so even though they didn’t get delivered, I don’t know if they were in the house when we had the fire or not. We want to make sure nothing is missing and unaccounted for. The following is a short list of furniture in that category and I’d like all of us to look at it and tell me what you know about each of them. Some may be in West Virginia, some may have been put in storage by WEF2, and some may have been thrown out. It would be particularly helpful if the person who actually took, stored, or threw out to let us know so we could be sure. I’ll get into the storage soon, and WEF5 and I will have to go to West Virginia in the near future and see what’s there.
WEF5 and WEF6 have seen what’s there so if they think of some other items that we’re not sure about, please add them to that list.
Here’s the list
1) WEF5’s really beat up old leather chair that he brought back from Gould.
2) The short leather couch that was in the basement.
3) The light-colored indoor chaise lounge that was in WEF2’s office on the second floor.
4) The large wide wooden bookcase which was (when I left for Baghdad and before we put up the walls around the laundry room) in the basement against the wall on the opposite end from where the TV was, underneath the circular fluorescent light.
5) The small cabinet on wheels (black) for stereo components. we didn’t have any stereo equipment in it but we did have some record albums (if you can remember what they are) in it. It was also in the basement next to the bookcase listed above.
Please respond to this post even if you don’t have any information on these items, so I know you’ve seen it.
Warning: Parental Advisory– the following contains some images of a graphic nature that may not be suitable for fans of stuffed horses.
First things first:
Yes Mountain Lion and Tigie made it.
Alas, Horsie did not .
I’m still pretty busy with adjusters and contractors, but I thought I’d take the time to provide some photos that WEF5 took of the WEF Headquarters DC. Stand by for future posts asking for WEFers’ assistance with some questions about what was in the house at the time of the fire so we can figure out exactly what was lost.
Here’s the front door:
the other side, inside the foyer:
The foyer ceiling, looking back at the closet:
The front room wall, looking forward:
Front room ceiling:
Another view of front room ceiling:
The mantle in the dining room looked like it did pretty well:
But the window in the dining room did not:
Dining room ceiling:
the stairs and banister look ok:
Wall of Mom’s office/Terry’s room:
Same room, other wall towards the hallway:
Attic, looking forward from the top of the staircase– This is the small room:
Attic, looking through the “wall” into the larger room., at the forward corner of the house. Note where we lost some of the brick fire wall:
Another view of the larger room, showing the wall dividing the living area from the storage area:
Looking into the storage area:
Basement, not sure exactly where:
Basement ceiling:
Basement ceiling, again:
If you’re depressed about our house, just look at the one next door where the fire started:
Or even better, the back of that house. Not much left:
Finally, on a more positive note, here’s the rental house in Arlington we moved into today.
Just in case any of you hadn’t heard, the house in DC was involved in a fire around 1:30am last night when the house next door (the “drug dealers’ place”) apparently suffered an explosion (gas? arson? meth lab?) that resulted in a fire that pretty much destroyed that house. Our house and the house on the other side also caught fire.
WEF5 is fine, and got out with not much more than his cell phone. He was taken in by David across the street, and has since been able to get back into the house to get some clothes, his wallet, and other necessary stuff. Aunts Terry and Mary Jane are coming in tomorrow and we’ve arranged for WEF5 to stay at the same hotel with them for a few days.
Here’s a couple of pictures of the house taken by David after the fire was pretty much out and the smoke had cleared. Apparently the house where it started is toast inside. It’s difficult to say what the damage is to out house, but WEF5 says it looks like the attic at least is pretty much gone (this is unconfirmed), and the second floor may have been affected as well. You can see the windows are gone there where they hosed things down.
Certainly, there is at least extensive water damage throughout, with about three inches of standing water in the basement. No telling how that affected the plaster and hardwood floors on the other levels.
I know for the next several days, we’ll all remember stuff that was in the attic and is most likely gone, including boxes of WEFers who had left stuff in the attic, as well as WEF4’s bedroom furniture and associated stuff. For me, the worst is virtually all of my books- You remember that I had put them all in bookcases up there. Of course, it’s important to remember how lucky we are that no one was hurt. Property can usually be replaced, and even if it can’t, it’s only property.
Fortunately WEF2 decided last year to pay for pretty much the most complete coverage available, so that’s a good thing.
We’ll probably be getting set up in an apartment or other lodging by the insurance company when we get back to DC after Christmas. WEF2 will likely be returning with us for a week or so to make sure the insurance company is properly energized. Of course as you can imagine everything is up in the air except for our vacation, which will go on as scheduled (WEF2 and I are leaving Baghdad on Thursday, me for the last time).
Somehow the fire found it’s way on to UTube- the video was apparently taken from the other side of 14th street:
It is I. WEF4. I have returned to the clan only to find it silent. Where, dear WEFers, is the humour? The philosophy? The arguments, battles, wars and horse-drawn carriages? News of the wee wilderbaby is scant. As is news of trials, tribulations and triumphant victories. I demand news of the WEF people! But worry not, you will not go gentle into that good night without a torch to guide you. I AM THE TORCH!!!
As you may know WEF4 now resides in the small town of Buea, Cameroon. I am in the process of making a poster that will explain how I feel about buea. It will look something like this:
CAMEROON
TAXI
CARWASH
DINNER
I think it will sell.
Documentaries for Change is going well - I have a class of six girls that meet twice a week. They are super awesome. We have had two sessions thus far and they were all on time, attentive and excited. When I told them our Saturday classes wouldn’t start until November they were visibly (and vocally) disappointed. It was adorable. The paperwork has proven more difficult. I have obtained permission to exist from the Ministry of Culture but am yet to formally register the NGO here. The man I spoke with suggested I not do this until the NGO had grown some but I would hate for volunteers to get in trouble here while I am not around so I think I certainly must make it official before moving onto the next stage.
The small children here all yell “white man, white man” in their squeaky little child voices. I have been instructed to yell back “black man, black man” but cannot bring myself to do it.
The documentary on micro-finance has been slower to start than the video classes. Jess still had quite a bit to do before she was ready to do case studies -which is where the stories will best come through. We have finally finalized the list of women we’d like to do case studies with and will hopefully be starting to film next week. Even just imagining the editing job I’m going to have to deal with makes my head spin.
There are fewer ex-pats here than there were in other places I’ve lived in Africa. There is a strong peace corps contingency. Aside from that there are a few people nearby working as engineers, a couple of guys who started an IT company about an hour out (they may be able to do my footageshare project on the cheap, fingers crossed) and a lovely South African woman who is married to a Cameroonian and owns a very Western-style restaurant near the beach - which is about an hour away. There are also a few people working at the Wildlife Center. I have not yet had a chance to visit but they raise and rehabilitate apes.
I tried to surf. Epic fail.
I know everyone is a bit concerned that I will never work again and end up defaulting on my loans and living on the streets so to put you at ease I have been applying to jobs. I still want to take the internship in Ireland if I get it, but if I do not there are other options so worry not. Still looking for work in Iraq/Afganistan so if you see anything where I will NOT be stuck on a compound let me know…
I am taking French classes at the language center and trying to learn Cameroonian Pidgeon. It will take time but I am confident that both will be more successful than my surfing endeavor.
“The real mystery of things is not what they are, but that they are.”
I don’t want to scandalize anyone - but for some time now, I’d say almost two years, I’ve not felt something I’ve felt my entire life, ever since being a little boy who looked up into the night sky and saw the stars and thought and felt, “God exists.” I still have faith in God’s existence. I still know, in a sense, that God exists. But how do I feel? That intution, that feeling, and even my reasons, have somehow left me. It is very odd. Because I have memories of those feelings and reasons, but I no longer really have that feeling or think those reasons. I have memories of my logical reasons for believing - but these memories are old, dusty, and have little daily impact except that I know that I once proved God’s existence to myself as a settled matter. But this reasoning isn’t at the ‘tip of my mind’, so to speak. The settled matter remained settled, but somehow forgotten. It is just a memory of sorts. And so I find myself praying, asking God to guide me, and I find him saying - ‘return to the beginning, to the stars, to the reasons that you had in the first place, to seeking me with your whole heart and whole mind’.
And so I begin again, by asking myself, does God exist? I feel that I still have faith - I still choose to follow God, even as I grope numb and blind. I have not turned from him, though I no longer perceive him as I once did. So I turn my thoughts and my heart again to this vital question - does God exist? Not in the sense of questioning his existence, but in the sense of - where are you, why are you, how are you, who are you?
I think that this will become a series of posts about my renewed search for God. Does it seem absurd to search for something you already know exists? Well, think about losing your car keys. You know the keys exist. You know you need the car to get where you’re going. You even know what the keys look like. But for your life, you can’t remember where those keys are. You can’t find them. You’ve kind of stopped looking for them. You ponder the idea that they are lost forever. But no. They are here somewhere. They are simply misplaced. And so too is my conviction in God’s existence - my subjective feelings and reasons that believe in his existence. I know he exists. I still follow him. But I want to see him again like I used to - dare I say, almost face-to-face.
Follow me on this journey if you like! I’ll be examining every possible argument, and do my best to formulate my own reasons and ideas. I’m not out to convince anyone but myself. Please don’t hesitate to leave your best criticisms and insights - I want to leave no stone unturned. I hope we can all further our pursuit of truth together, even if we end up (mostly likely) disagreeing sharply.
Just reading the newspaper this morning, and realizing how much trouble America is in. Does anyone even disagree anymore - whether we are liberal, conservative, or whatever, it seems like we can all agree that things are getting worse and don’t look to be getting better anytime soon.
So my question for the WEF minions is this - at root, why are things going so wrong with America (and with the world). I mean not only politically, not only economically, but also socially and culturally. The whole deal. If you can isolate one thing, what is it? My answer is in the comments.
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question . . . [Utilitarianism] enjoins and requires the cultivation of the love of virtue up to the greatest strength possible, as being above all things important to the general happiness.”
-John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
After reading some of Mill’s work, I find myself much more appreciative of utilitarianism. Although I’ve only read portions of this theory, I think, perhaps, that the essence of this ethical system has been popularly misrepresented as, “the ends justify the means”. The proponents of utilitarianism might have well ended up at that conclusion, but the central point of utilitarianism seems to involve something else: general and particular happiness as the end of existence. Mill proves that every human pursues happiness as their end. Mill counters the argument of animalistic hedonism by pointing out that human beings are capable of greater pleasures due to their “superior faculties”. The more virtuous one is, he reasons, the more capacity one has for greater happiness. Pigs can be happy, in other words, but not as happy as a human being. Because utilitarianism says that we should all promote as much happiness in the world as possible, that means promoting the capacity of men and women to be even more happy than they already are. This is done by training in “noble character” and “virtue”.
Nice idea in theory, but even Mill admits that most men give up on noble character and virtue for the sake of bodily health and material power. Further, he conflates happiness with feelings rather than following Saint Aquinas’ contention that happiness is what perfects us as human beings - what is truly good for us. Ultimate happiness, then, isn’t ultimate feelings of pleasure, but an ultimate ‘good’, a treasure that we possess and that perfects us. Pleasure, of course, follows from having attained such a good. But happiness is distinct from pleasure.
Because Mill is unwilling to make this distinction, he never really defines what are the highest pleasures. He only says that those with superior faculties are those who are most capable of judging what are the highest pleasures. When utilitarianism hits the masses - those without ’superior’ faculties, let us say, it becomes an ethics of pigs and fools. Utilitarianism works well with the virtuous, because they already know what is good for them. The failure of Mill to account for what is good or not doesn’t affect those who already know what is good. But for the rest of us, those who struggle to find happiness, who never seem to know where happiness comes from, utilitarianism ends up reinforcing our deluded ideas of what makes us ‘happy’ - in other words, whatever mud we happen to be laying in, feeling quite pleasurable in. Utilitarianism couldn’t handle the onslaught of subjectivism and relativism, where one could claim that happiness, as a feeling of pleasure, is equal in both pigs and saints. Poor Mill! If only he hadn’t disconnected what makes us happy from what is truly good for us! But then you run into questions that lead smack right into meaning and essence - what does it mean to be a human being? Are we mere carbon machines, evolved out of goo randomly? Or are we designed by a source that stands outside of time and space - a source that is not only reason itself, but love itself?
Since we received a request for more pictures, here’s the flyer that went out to announce WEF1&2’s Anniversary Party at the Embassy :
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WEF6 will recognize the picture on the flyer as one she took during our cruise last March.
The Anniversary Party was a lot of fun and we got a pretty good crowd that came out. Here’s a picture of us near the end of the night with some of the more die-hard partiers:
Here we are just today at the Rasheed Hotel. It’s easier for Iraqis to enter here rather than the Green Zone proper so it’s where we meet a lot of our Iraqi contacts
This is the latest from The Wildermuth Game-Works. By the way, there is now an open-invitation to join The Wildermuth Game-Works. It is a worker-owned worker-run venture. We currently need both human and financial resources to make our first official game a reality. We need artists, playtesters, storytellers, marketers, and production staff. But on to the real show - Picture It! Read the rest of this entry »
Modern culture resists any connection between morality and happiness, and tends to equate happiness with bodily pleasures and psychological delights.To suggest that goodness, or virtuous living, leads to true happiness, is to suggest a return to the “dark ages” of medieval ignorance.While ancient man knew limits to the insatiable appetite of the senses, modern man, armed with science, technology, and material domination of the world, seems to have broken through such limits.It now seems possible to sate the senses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, living in a virtual world of digital media and psychoactive chemicals.The senses, far feeling limited an unsatisfied, are now overwhelmed.Where is the value of virtuous living when goodness is relative, when justice is democratic, when emotions are synthesized, when problems are solved with a pill?The value comes from the fact that human nature really does have limits, that human happiness does reside in an objectively ordered good.The foundational (”cardinal”) virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude provide the habitual disposition and unlimited capacity to know this true good of the human person and to passionately seek it.
Man is a creature of habit.What we do forms who we are.The cardinal virtues form us into excellent human beings.Just as Michael Jordan is an excellent basketball player (through practice) some men and women are excellent human beings through the practice of virtue, by which they become “virtuosos” of humanity.The four cardinal virtues perfect four different aspects of the human person:prudence perfects the judgments of evaluation (practical intellect), justice perfects the freedom of the will (rational appetite), temperance perfects the emotions that provoke (concupiscible passions), and fortitude perfects the emotions that sustain (irascible passions).Upon these virtues does the happiness of man ‘hinge’, “for a good life consists in good deeds” and “the entire structure of good works is built on four virtues” (Summa I-II, 57, 5 & I-II, 61, 1) Read the rest of this entry »
I am dying. Once again, alien factions have taken residence in my throat. They are green, but too small for me to make out their shape. There are many of them. They group together in a cohesive blob to escape attack and their ousting. I can’t tell whether their cohesion is due to alien mind togetherness or some alien cohesion chemicals, but these factions do have cohesion. That much I know for certain.
They have been accompanied by waxy ears, a miserable cold and (my favorite) major sinus headaches. But worry not, WEFers, I called the NHS and they think that I am at low risk for swine flu. Though they are the NHS, so I am uncertain as to how much faith I should place in their assessment.
This, of course, all started the day before my final exam.
So. Final count: One exam with crazy clock (which I now suspect was being controlled by aliens) and one exam under siege by alien forces. My luck astounds me.
I can’t help but wonder if this is actually the point of the British system. Perhaps they want to put students under the pressure they think they will feel in the real world. If so, I have failed miserably. When the clock went mad I entered a state of panic instead of just asking what time it was. Then my body failed me.
Regardless of my clear failure I don’t think that this type of pressure is at all prevalent in the real world. When do nine hours spaced out over three weeks ever determine the results of a year of hard work?
I am pretty disappointed in myself regardless. I didn’t fail, but it didn’t go particularly well either. I guess I just have to move on to the dissertation regardless and hope that my one good exam grade alongside a good thesis grade will dig me out of this academic hole. And that the aliens get bored and move elsewhere…
