today

I heard today that I didn't get accepted into a work program that I applied for. The program would have let me keep my current job, but go work at an international health program overseas for 3 months next summer. I'm disappointed.... I really thought I would get in and had all these plans in my mind for the next year because of it. And now it's not happening and the future feels blank stretching out before me. Now I need an alternate plan, which I suppose is grad school. But I definitely feel discouraged -- if I couldn't get into this program, why would a grad school want me? blech....

I went and sat in my car for a lunch break and googled "dealing with disappointment". Read some good reminders that even the negatives in life can be used positively if you look at it the right way -- as a growing and learning experience, an experience of life.

loaded language

Over the holidays, my family met up in Tucson, Arizona, where we lived from '91 to '96. I can't remember the topic, but something elicited my brother Seth to say, "That's loaded." Mama was about to object when he clarified, "Loaded with meaning, like all language." I thought it was a really interesting point. Language itself is imbued or saturated with meaning. Every word we say or write has nuances, implications, and distinctions of meaning. Words are so detailed and precise....I wish I used them better.

So I was just reading a blog by a Jewish financial advisor who also happens to live in Tucson: http://larrygellman.blogspot.com/. He's been writing a few posts about Bernard Madoff who has stolen a record $50billion from investors. I've liked Gellman's take on it and on the ramifications for Jewish people. This ties into the language discussion because he also links to an article on the need for proportionality in our metaphors: http://blog.beliefnet.com/windowsanddoors/2009/01/madoff-and-adolf---bernie-hitl.html#preview. There is even a blog entirely dedicated to documenting disproportional uses of the Holocaust/Nazis/Hitler in metaphors: http://worsethanhitler.wordpress.com/. His "Primer" gives a good summary, although not necessarily great examples of alternatives. Interesting stuff, but ultimately, wouldn't you also consider the disproportionality of spending your time documenting this?