Monday, March 10, 2008

Processing work

A lot of work these days, punctuated/ ameliorated with listening to the Juno soundtrack.

Yesterday I went to a lecture about writing by playwright Naomi Wallace - I hadn't heard about her before. It was a pretty good lecture, about teaching students to write as an act of transgression. Very Marxist undertones, which made me want to know more about Marxism. I think the lecture and the combination of working a lot contributed.

My academic exposure to Marx was limited to The Communist Manifesto and Hegel, who inspired Marx with the things he wrote about work. The last philosophy paper (maybe the last last paper) I wrote in university was for my Hegel class and titled "Process and Product: Labor, its Fruits, and Our Relationship to Both" and actually included Hegel and Marx (and Levinas).

Now (right now) - yes, I opened the paper to reread it - it's on my computer - and I am half-thinking of going back to school to do my master's in philosophy... Part of what I didn't like about writing for university was the fact that I felt it was in such a bubble - nobody was thinking about this stuff, it's so far removed from most people's lives, and worse, nobody besides my professor and friends was reading it.

I don't know if those things bother me so much now. I'm not sure if I'm really cut out for journalism, if that's what I really want to do. I think (thought) what I want is to write about myself, essays.

I know this isn't very well thought-out... but I'll post it now in the immediacy of the internet and try and actually commit to something clearer later.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Adventures in food

Well, not that adventuresome.

I ran out of After 8 the other day and was feeling low and wanted a (vegan) chocolate fix. So I made a recipe-free chocolate pudding.

Mix peanut butter, cocoa powder, flour and add a little bit of water together in a bowl. Add sliced banana on top if you wish. Eat. I don't think it gets any easier or faster than that. It didn't blow me away taste-wise, but the fastness and easiness outweigh the lack of phenomenal taste. Mind, it's not bad at all.

**

Today I did something I've wanted to do for a really long time: make this fried bread I saw someone making once. Basically you take flour and water and a little salt and fry it like a pancake. I added some rosemary because we have some growing in the garden (isn't that cool?). But it tasted a bit undercooked. So I think next time I'll try and make real bread, with yeast and proofing and an oven.

I'll also aim for pictures next time to document my food.

Occasional art, comics, food, and other things of less interest to the general public.