Flickr: Bongiovanni’s Photostream.

Paul Alexander Thornton.

So as this is my last class-related – but definitely not last – post, I thought I’d summarize some of the things I’ve explored through this blog. In list form, I’ve:

• found some of the oldest living things on earth – plants, unsurprisingly
• been inspired by the gulf of mexico oil spill, octopi, and our beautiful city to paint and draw more
• lived on 21$ a week (sometimes less) for almost a month
• started running on the mountain (I now go at least 3x/week, and can run almost all the way from the gym to the chalet without passing out
• interviewed one of my friends about her experience in a different kind of learning environment
• talked about some of my favorite music, as well as new artists
• learned more about the history of Montreal – through SpacingMontreal (en excellent website), and visiting the McCord museum (which I don’t believe I wrote about here, but was a great experience which I would recommend to anyone visiting the city)
• discussed various topics…simplicity, commuting habits, art education in schools, cats that have twitter, the perception of time in different societies, and what if we decided to be the last human generation on earth
• researched and tried binaural beats (after writing about it on here, I also tried marijuana – which didn’t seem to affect me (I don’t think?), and orgasm – which did work a bit, although that may have been in my head
• went to the United States and explored Burlington, VT – the birthplace of ben&jerrys ice cream, and almost got caught with an unacceptable amount of cheap liquor at the border (Almost – that’s what matters)
• organized a rafting trip with some of my co-workers, which was terrifying, yet incredibly fun

Well, it’s been quite a trip. When I first heard about the blog project, I pictured that I would do one thing that would maybe take a day or two (was thinking of the homelessness example) and not much else. Yet looking back now, it feels like explored so many new things. While I did like doing new things that I wouldn’t otherwise have (Vermont trip, and rafting), what I most enjoyed exploring my thoughts and opinions about different issues deeper than I otherwise would have. While I like to think of myself as someone who does think about things, there was something about verbalizing what was going through my mind – having to put scattered thoughts into a clear and composed message – that made me a lot more aware of what I was actually thinking. So even though social context class is over, that is what I will use this blog for from now on. I hope it wil make me a more conscientious and self-aware person, and maybe it’ll help me find more of a direction in my life?

Oh, the opportunities are endless

(they really REALLY like cows in Vermont)

via Refait on Vimeo.

Carl De Keyzer is a Belgian photographer. I love how there is often one person in his photos who is looking straight into the camera lens, and though who’s eyes you can almost feel the story he is telling.

website

Click to view slideshow.

Potholes

Obviously we have certain parts of our personalities that are more hedonistic and others that focus on the future. Yet I’ve definitely noticed signs of what Zimbardo is talking about. In Bulgaria, for example, dinner was an everyday event lasting between 3 and 6 hours, especially in summer. We would sit down around 7 with a variety of salads and drink rakia for a couple hours. We’d then move on to the actual appetizers – cheese and a lukanka (a salami-type meat). Around 10, the main meal would be served with wine, the consumption of which would last another 2 or 3 hours Finally the meal would be topped off with dessert and we’d sit around the table talking and drinking until late into the night. I was surprised when I found out that most of my Canadian friends rarely even sat down for an hour to have a meal.I look back on those drawn out meals with a certain nostalgia because I know they’re becoming increasingly rare in southern europe as well. Future-centered societies tend to be more “successful”, and have higher GDPs – something the southern cultures aspire to. I always found it interesting just how much Bulgarians looked up to ‘the westerners’ – their hard work ethic, their orderly disciplined lives, their fast-food restaurants, their standardized houses. It is an extreme grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side phenomenon. Everything we had was automatically bad, and everything they had was great. An this in the face of the data showing that a higher GDP is not at all linked with quality of life. We look back wistfully at those long meals with friends and family and the lazy work-days, but at the same time we continue to work ever harder and spend ever-less time with our loved ones in the search of the wester ideal.

Here’s the link to the full talk (40 min): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJybVxUiy2U&feature=channel

Siggi Eggertsson.

But I thought it would be a good activity for several reasons:

1. to get outside Montreal downtown, and to see some of the landscapes of Quebec. The place we went to is Eau Vive, which is located on the Riviere Rouge, about 2 hours north-west of montreal. Driving out was really beautiful – the area is green and hilly, and I felt like we were getting into the footholds of the a mountain…
2. to push my self a bit by doing something  with people who are not in my regular social group. While I met a lot of new people during my first and second years of undergrad, over the past two years I’ve mostly been hanging out with the same group of friends. While I deeply love my friends, I’ve gotten to know them very well, and we seem to often do the same kinds of things every week. Meeting people (and doing new things) gives me a different kind of energy, and I miss having the chance to get to know more diverse personalities on a regular basis. The graduate and post-doc students I work with are all from very different places and backgrounds, and it was great getting to know more about them.
3. to push myself even more, and do something which sounds dangerous (or at the very least – painful), but which may increase my appreciation for nature. Once on the raft, the whole experience wasn’t nearly as scary as I had imagined it to be. True, the waters were rough, and we got completely soaked and fell into the river on several occasions, but the helmets and life-vests they provided us with reassured me. In fact, what was the most fun was falling off the raft and feeling the strength of the river wash me down a bit. Struggling to swim back to the boat with paddle in hand and rapids gushing around you was a hundred times more exhilarating that just sitting passively on the raft!

See below for pictures:

ps. Our guide (the guy in the back) had one of the most awesome beards Ive ever seen..all held together by an elastic. If I had to rate it on this scale (by Matt McInterney, posted earlier), I’d say it’s somewhere in between ‘the philosopher’, ‘the unkempt’, and ‘warewolf’. Probably closest to warewolf.

Dan Attoe is a painter and installation artist Born in Bremerton, Washington in 1975, and lives/works in Portland, Oregon.