dear britt,

RE: Kitchen Table Wisdom
by Rachel Naomi Remen

this book was not like a date. it was more like a late night trip to smith's when you don't need anything but once you are there you find things that you really need and didn't know it. things like answers and really funny jokes and directions and kindness and a renewed trust in humanity...etc

i.e. i really enjoyed and needed this. Kitchen Table Wisdom is a collection of experiences and stories from the author's life. mostly they tell of the physical and emotional struggle humans face when their lives are threatened. some of them live and some of them die. and it is ok.

quotes:

"when we wear a belief and look at life through it, it is difficult to convince ourselves that what we see is not what is real... according to a talmudic teaching, "we do not see things as they are. we see them as we are."

"The part in us that feels suffering is the same as the part that feels joy."

"and i say to god, 'god, is it ok to loff strangers?' and god says, 'yitzak, vat is dis strangers? you make strangers. i don't make strangers.'"

"it is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to effect the most profound changes in the people around us."

felt really grateful: 8
felt that i could be kinder: 13

so in an effort to feel productive and like i am not an unemployed waste of space i've gotten back into indexing. this is very fun. it's kind of like government data entry but for the Lord instead. you have likely all heard of indexing so i won't go into detail but just know that if you are looking for a way to stop feeling guilty about not doing genealogy- THIS is the answer (just click on volunteer in the bottom right hand corner to get started).

the cover of mistakes were made (below) reminded me of an old divine comedy mormonad.

dear mom,

RE: mistakes were made (but not by me)
by carol tavris and ellion aronson

this book was like a date with two social psychologists who secretly know something very personal about you but they won't say it outrightly because they want you to realize it for yourself- that way you are more ashamed. kind of like when your uncle finds out that you have a crush on a boy and keeps nudging you and winking because he wants you to know that he knows. and if he knows, every one knows.

i.e. it was a'ight. i've read a few other books on this topic and probably learned more from them than from this one. comparable in style to freakonomics, mistakes were made presents a series of examples that illustrate the very human need to be right. it's main focus is on the causes and effects of "disonance" or rather, a misalignment of one's perception of reality and reality as supported by contradicting evidence.

here are some books that do what this book tried to do but better:
the peacegiver
leadership and self-deception

quotes...

"people become more certain they are right about something if they can't undo it."

"we humans are creatures who spend our lives trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd" (albert camus)

"a dog may appear contrite for having been caught peeing on the carpet but she will not try to think up a reason to justify her misbehavior."

wanted to stop reading about child abuse and crooked cops: 9

since logan

ways i have changed since moving to logan
1. i eat white bread
2. i've lost the desire to have pets
3. i listen to bye bye miss american pie at least once a day
4. i have a blog
5. conversations about carpooling are interesting
6. i talk less
7. i use toothpaste

well read

very recently i made a goal to become incredibly well read. i asked my most literary conscious friends and family to help. in exchange for their recommendations i promised that i would write them a letter about each book i finished. hopefully this will serve as a keeping of that promise.

dear katy anderson,

RE: Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

this book was like a date where you watch a ward talent show and then get ice cream and it’s all warm and summer outside and then you find out that your 7^th grade teacher’s husband is MIA in veitnam. but then you go get more ice cream and you don’t even get sick.

i.e. it was good. and mostly happy- which is rare. it paints a pretty accurate picture of seventh grade life- which apparently hasn't changed much from 1967. i especially appreciated the way in which the main character - a nice presbyterian boy named holling - responded to all of the world changing events that happened in the sixties... he noticed them, and knew they were bad but still went on worrying about embarrassing pictures of himself in the town newspaper and cream puffs. that is how it really is because what can you do? you are in seventh grade.

here are some quotes (from shortest to longest) :

“‘we are coming apart,’ my father said'”

“people like to think that if they’re prepared, nothing bad can really happen”

“learn to diagram sentences. It’s rude to roll your eyes. learn everything you can-everything and then use all that you have learned to grow up to be a wise and good man. that is the first thing”

“in the real world , people fall out of love little by little, not all at once. they stop looking at each other. they stop talking. they stop serving lima beans. after walter cronkite is finished, one of them goes for a ride in a ford mustang and the other goes upstairs to the bedroom. And there is a lot of quiet in the house. And late at night, the sounds of sadness creep underneath the bedroom doors and along the dark halls “

Cried: 4

Laughed audibly: 5