doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
Archive for September, 2009
america’s best idea
02 years ago
Some of my earliest memories consist of tall trees, rivers, and the sweet clean scent of a mountain pass. Some of my best memories consist of high mountain lakes, deep canyons, cliffs overlooking oceans and lakes, and the museums of Washington, D.C.
Most of my vacations are ventures into our national parks. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t go to a national park at least once every summer.
Just thinking about recent years visiting the various parks and monuments in Arizona with my niece with cameras in hand makes me wistful for those moments with her in the stunning landscapes set aside for us to ponder the wonders of life.
on rhetoric
02 years ago
No apologies to Aristotle. We can all write “on rhetoric,” can’t we? I mean, we could, if we wanted to. Some of us do. Those of us crazy enough to entertain a PhD in said field; crazy enough to spend an entire day reading assorted writings of Plato and Gorgias and Antiphon.
And speaking of Plato. I was actually cheering him on today. Oh, yes! He made a strong character of Protagoras. One of my all-time favorite speeches in classical Greek speeches that I’ve read so far. Seriously. Finally someone gave it to Socrates good. And Plato wrote it. BEST EVAH.
And that Antiphon. Writing imaginary judicial arguments. Seriously, the boy in the javelin argument wanted to kill himself by running IN FRONT OF A JAVELIN? There must be better ways to die. He killed himself? Oy. Made me laugh out loud at the absurdity of the argument. But it was well done. I give you that (in case you care, 2500 years in the grave).
barefoot exercise
12 years ago
I heard about the three minute fiction contest on NPR. I started to think that this might be a great way to keep my blog up to date. I can surely take 3 minutes to blog about whatever is on my mind, right?
So, here goes (and note that I’m currently writing on a mobile device so it will probably be shorter than those done on my laptop):
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I’m not a hater of exercise. I’m really not. I can happily walk for hours if I’m amused while doing so (photography, audiobooks). What I do have trouble with is footwear.
My arches don’t fit conventional shoes correctly. Regular closed shoes bind my feet in and hurt. They always have. So I tend to exercise barefoot.
I know. Bad, right? It just works better for me. It feels right.
Today I heard about new running shoes that are made to feel like you’re barefoot. I definitely am checking them out.