Episode 89: "This Is Water"

“But if you’ve really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars-compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff’s necessarily true: The only thing that’s capital-T True is that you get to decide how you’re going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship...”
— David Foster Wallace
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race”-the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.”
— David Foster Wallace

As we prepare to graduate in three days, we felt it appropriate to examine and analyze another commencement address. This time, we chose to look at a well-known speech from our alma mater (Kenyon College) by David Foster Wallace. In this beloved address, often referred to as "This Is Water," Wallace examines the values of a liberal arts education. He emphasizes the mundane, soul-crushing and depressing realities of adult life, the daily battles and chores which face all of us in adulthood. He adds, however, that he feels the value of a liberal arts education lies in how one learns to think. He discusses the conscious choices one can make in perceiving the environment, social situations and the beautiful freedom in pursuing one's own beliefs through critical thought.

David Foster Wallace's commencement address to the Kenyon College Class of 2005.

An edit of the commencement address set to music and footage.

Episode 88: The Soul with No Enemies

“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
— Abraham Lincoln
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
— Winston Churchill

Can you imagine someone without any opponents in life, people who stand in consistent disagreement? If such a person did exist, what would we think of them? This week, we welcome Sam Graf to discuss some ideas surrounding the existence of enemies in our lives. We discuss how we can grow from our relationships with enemies, why and how people identify enemies in their lives and what these relationships of opposition on any scale can teach us about ourselves.

Episode 87: "You Will Only Ever Have Two Choices"

“My father could have been a great comedian but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job and our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”
— Jim Carrey
“Fear is going to be a player in your life. But you get to decide how much. You can spend your whole life, imagining ghosts, worrying about your path to the future. But all there will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions we make in this moment which are based in either love or fear. So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never ask the universe for it.”
— Jim Carrey

As graduation season begins again, we felt it would be worthwhile to analyze and respond to another popular commencement address. This week we're looking at Jim Carrey's speech to the 2014 graduating class of the Maharishi University of Management. In this address, he discusses his belief that our choices are generally based in either fear or love. He encourages the graduates to have faith in themselves, to follow their passions in spite of negativity and doubt. He also promotes feelings of connection and urges them to express both their desires and skills without hesitation.

Jim Carrey's commencement address to the Maharishi University of Management's Class of 2014.

An edit of the commencement address set to music and footage.

Episode 86: Social Implications of Body Hair II

“My hair on my head is praised for being so long and beautiful, but my body hair is seen as ‘disgusting.’ Why? They both grow out of my skin.... If someone is offended or disgusted by my natural body hair, then in all honesty, I’m glad it repels them from my life.”
— Elvira, 18, Los Angeles. TotalBeauty.com

Often incorporated into our daily or regular habits after adolescence, body hair becomes relatively mundane to us. We might notice it on occasion or sculpt it in particular ways, ignore it or pay it close attention. What is its relevance in the ways we treat and view one another, as well as our own bodies? How are certain types of body hair policed in some people and not others? This week, we revisit the topic to explore new avenues of discussion and thought.

Episode 85: How We Teach Sex

“By law, all primary school students in the Netherlands must receive some form of sexuality education. The system allows for flexibility in how it’s taught. But it must address certain core principles — among them, sexual diversity and sexual assertiveness. That means encouraging respect for all sexual preferences and helping students develop skills to protect against sexual coercion, intimidation and abuse. The underlying principle is straightforward: Sexual development is a normal process that all young people experience, and they have the right to frank, trustworthy information on the subject.”
— Saskia de Melker, PBS Newshour, May 27, 2015

Without question, sex plays a huge role in our biological, sociological and personal lives. Some treat it with hesitation, others with curiosity and delight and still others find sex to be taboo and unworthy of discussion. But everyone has the right to understand both their sexual identities and the role sex plays in our society. Given its importance, we wanted to examine how it is taught, both in our country and elsewhere. In our conversation, we tackle some of our biases and linguistic choices when talking about sex, as well as some of the dangers of avoiding the topic in conversation with children and young adults. Not only is the issue significant, it is also highly controversial and as always, we welcome alternative perspectives.