currently reading: philip roth, "the human stain"

"the way it might have ended -- the conclusion against which reality has decisively voted -- was all he could think about. Stunned by how little he'd gotten over her and she's gotten over him, he walked away understanding, as outside his reading in classical Greek drama he'd never had to understand before, how easily life can be one thing rather than another, and how accidentally a destiny is made..."

- Philip Roth, "the human stain"

currently reading: pirsig, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

"he felt that institutions such as schools, churches, governments and political organizations of every sort all tended to direct thoughts for ends other than truth, for the perpetuation of their own functions, and for the control of individuals in service of these functions. he came to see his early failure as a lucky break, an accidental escape from a trap that had been set for him."

- robert m. pirsig, "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance"

the speech they never give

"We are systematically creating races out of things that ought to be a journey. We know that success isn't about simply running faster than everyone else in some predetermined direction. Yet the message we are sending from birth is that if you don't make the traveling soccer team or get into the "right" school, then you will somehow finish life with fewer points than everyone else. That's not right. You'll never read the following obituary: "Bob Smith died yesterday at the age of 74. He finished life in 186th place.""

 Read this. Some excellent advice here, even if you're a few years past your graduation.