I'm out of creative gas.

I just realized how long it's been since my last post. I've been channelling my creative energy into the endless pile of lit reviews that I have to do this quarter, so I really don't have a whole lot left to put into blahging.

Spring has been wavering between a cuddly lamb and a giant sasquatch...but today was very lamby. Coltrane and I had an awesome trail run today; with any luck, my legs got a shade or two darker. If anyone's counting, that still leaves the score at blindingly white.

I am pretty blank...so I'm going to go help the boys of our trailer court make a fire pit...

We'll see how that goes.

Guilty books.

Whether it's your facebook profile or polite conversation, the question comes up: "What's your favorite book?" I believe I have fantastic taste in books and have a quick-list of replies always at the ready; the classics (To the Lighthouse, To Kill a Mockingbird), the modern (Lolita, Song of Solomon), and the immortal (Lonesome Dove) are all wonderful indications of one's repertoire of reading. But there is a lie of omission slinking knowingly in the shadows of these literary giants; unoffended and understanding, it lurks as you glibly gloss over its very existence. Every avid reader has one.

It's your guilty pleasure book: trashy, silly, terribly written, or terribly nerdy. But reading it makes hours seem like minutes and leaves you as satisfied as a double-fudge brownie ala mode minus the stomachache.

So why the shame? Why not proudly proclaim just how sugary sweet and satisfying your beloved book actually is? I imagine it's hard to defend something that you know is completely void of substance and originality, so we simply deny its existence in order to savor its value. You know that person who raves about how "amazing" the Twilight books are? Yeah, no one wants to be that guy. I vomited in my mouth a little after the first 15 pages, and if you are the one raving about it, I immediately judge you to have zero taste in books. Sorry, that's just my little slice of judgementalism (I think that should be a real word); to avoid it, don't tell me that you "looooove" Twilight. Meanwhile, I'll keep my guilty book close to my heart and turn to it on that rare rainy Sunday afternoon when I'm alone and unoccupied; and on Monday, I'll be cheerier than you've ever seen me.

Think globally, act locally.

It is a miracle that anyone knows anything about what is going on in the world. The news feeds are heavily concentrated on who shot whom which city, bemoaning the state of the world's economy, what Britneyparismadonnamichelleobama is wearing today, and what father had a years-long incestuous relationship with his daughter. There is a reason for this narrow news: it sells. In an America where Congress and the Administration are tying a noose around the neck of Capitalism, the news is secretly (or not) thriving on it. The left lauds a serious, objective news source, while the right closes their eyes and ears and stomps their feet in frustration that the source is too left-leaning.

The problem is, very few are asking about the enormous voids that are a gaping black hole of no-information. There are real catastrophes in the world today that are invisible to those too self-involved or uneducated to look. Cholera in Zimbabwe, genocide in Sudan, promising treatments for HIV, Syphilis outbreaks in bible towns, malnutrition, suicide, obscene infant mortality rates, disastrous and expensive obesity. Why are these people invisible? Where can you find them?

I believe the first step to finding these abandoned souls is through education. Unfortunately, you have to know how to dig and know how to look for information, otherwise they will remain unacknowledged and disappear right beneath our eyes. Once you find what is really going on around the world, not just the sensationalized stories, it is hard to handle. You can only care about so much before you get burned out. My solution: think globally, act locally.

It's important to keep your finger on the pulse of the world to be able to truly put things in perspective, but you'll never save the planet. Sorry, it's just not going to happen. It can push us to act in our own communities though; be a visible participant in necessary issues and gather the rest of the community to help. Start at home to meet your own needs, because you're no good to anyone else if you don't start there.