Category: appreciation

What the appendix does, where cows came from and more—The Wild Life of Our Bodies

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Wild Life of Our Bodies, coverThe moment that made us human in that series of happenings was not the language, the gods, or even the ability to draw Rubenesque women in stone. It was when we decided that when a leopard stalked the cave, we ought to go after it and kill it. When we decided to kill a species not for food or in self-defense, but instead in order to control what lived and what did not live around us, when we did that we were then fully human. From The Wild Life of Our Bodies.

Listening to a recent Science Friday interview with Dr. Rob Dunn, I was enthralled by the discussion of who we share our homes and bodies with on a microscopic level. Yearning to find out more about the variety of relationships we have with other organisms, I got a copy of Dr. Dunn’s book The Wild Life of Our Bodies which is a fascinating collection of stories about the organisms that make us who we are and how they and we have changed each other over time. Continue reading →

The Giddy, Awesome, Exquisite Dorkiness of Ménage à Twang

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currently listening to

After listening to the Weekend Edition piece “Emily Moore On How She Became A Poet”, I was intrigued by Emily’s description of her band‘s music. Several iTunes samples and a couple purchases later, I was grinning and chuckling adolescently, like the whole of my adolescent heritage had been validated with tasteful humor.

My faves:

  • Graduate School
  • Secret Conservative Side
  • Listen Sister, Don’t Date a Hipster
  • I’ll Only Support Your Art for So Long
  • Ldr

Totally Smitten: Paige Turner, you are artistically adorable

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paige turner, licenseWhile in the Harvard Bookstore last week, I spotted Page by Paige and after a couple minutes of browsing knew this was one graphic novel I had to curl up with in bed or in a lounge chair.

The graphic novel takes the form of entries in Paige’s sketchbook which contain almost magical depictions of her thoughts and feelings interspersed with a more traditional narrative structure of sequential panels that follow Paige on her own (in a museum, on the metro) and with her new band of Brooklyn friends (going to open mics, putting smiley face on tulips). The honesty of Paige’s uncertainty is rendered strikingly and poetically by the unique style of this graphic novel.

So far, this is the best graphic novel I’ve read this year!

Whoopie Pie Fridays at Clover

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Clover whoopie pieClover still has the best whoopie pies I’ve ever eaten. The cookie part is soft, sweet and chewy while the filling isn’t too thick or two saccharine—it’s just slightly sugary with a creamy texture.

The folks at Clover only make these on Friday evenings, so you can’t just bag one whenever. But for me, it’s worth the wait and anticipation. A nice treat for the end of a long week.

Pollution isn’t just something we put into the world

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Breasts_front_cover_web Breast-feeding is an ecological act, connecting our bodies to the world in a complex web of give-and-take. The permeability of breasts allowed us to make great advances. Their estrogen sensitivity allows us

to reach puberty at optimal times. When our ancestors migrated and settled in river and costal areas, omega-3–rich diets turned their breast milk into gold, and our brains grew. We recruited, harvested, and bred specialized bacteria for our milk; we collected molecules from the world and from our bodies to manufacture novel sugar and fats to protect our babies. Our special low-protein milk kept us growing slowly, so we could have the longest childhoods on earth and learn everything we could.

Our brains grew so well that eventually we learned how to change the world’s ecology. We couldn’t possibly have guessed that we were changing our breast milk as well. Our nouveau crème no longer serves us as well as it once did. Ironically and tragically, breast milk once propelled our evolution, now it may be impeding it by conveying toxins and quite possibly contributing to infertility and brain and body impairments. For many decades, the formula companies have tried to mimic breast milk, but it is breast milk that now may be approximating formula. That is decidedly depressing.—Florence Williams, Breasts.

Best fortune cookie message ever.

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Well, okay, so far. Yes, I really got this in a fortune cookie.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Having done work in the field of education and being generally interested in tacking problems with people, I’ve certainly found this to often be true.