TheListServe Blog

A while ago a friend asked: "What's the purpose of your life?" and I remember replying "to help others" (something which I'm shamefully not doing enough of). Still no satisfactory answer to that question from me yet (hey I'm just 19) but I do have a few stray thoughts, so read on if you would indulge in the naivety of a teen. 1. In "Sophie's World" Gaarder compared the world we live in to a rabbit: "All mortals are born at the very tip of the rabbit's fine hairs, where they are in a position to wonder at the impossibility of the trick. But as they grow older they work themselves ever deeper into the fur. And there they stay. They become so comfortable they never risk crawling back up the fragile hairs again. Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. 'Ladies and gentlemen,' they yell, 'we are floating in space!'. But none of the people down there care. ...

I'm not sure I have anything to say, or wisdom to impart, but I was wondering if you might send me a photo? It can be anything in your life. A pic of your daily commute, a photo from your favorite vacation, a picture you happened to take recently on your phone. I promise not to publish or utilize it in any way. I just want to know what your life is like. Taylor taylor.lorenz[AT]gmail.com Brooklyn, NY

I’m reading a book called “Daily Rituals: How Artists Work” that catalogues the daily habits of famous authors, artists, composers, and so on from the past few centuries. It’s got some helpful tips (e.g. this one courtesy of statesman and turkey enthusiast Ben Franklin: make a list of your goals for the day in the morning; at night, ask yourself what you’ve accomplished) but the most striking commonality among these great minds is that most of them had the luxury to devote their entire lives to what they loved. I’m 25 now and I’ve spent the better part of three years working the kind of meaningless office job that’s conspicuously absent from most stories in that book. I’m not delusional enough to think I’m on par with Beethoven or Shakespeare or somebody, but I think I can do better than an office job. I’ll admit, I’d love to invent the light bulb, but some guy already did it. And we already have the other stuff that people need, like cotton gins and Angry Birds. So for now, all I can ...

This summer, I signed up to do a 30-mile trail race with my girlfriend on the last weekend of October. Both of us wanted to do (and have never done) a marathon, but we weren't interested in running 26.2 miles on pavement, so this was a perfect find. Before we began training, we both got back from Europe; she had been there for the summer working and I visited her in the last 2 weeks. In the last week, we visited a friend of mine from Morocco (and his family) during Ramadan, which consisted of a lot of sitting on couches (to avoid the +100F temperatures) and eating a lot of food (Moroccans are very generous to guests). Feeling uncomfortably full for a week straight and then jumping into long runs again is not fun. It's been a little over a month since then, and training is going really well (we did 20 miles last week!). I didn't realize how much of it is really mental training, not even physical. If you train your body in manageable increments, distances that once seem...

BRRRRIINGGG!!! Stupid alarm… It’s truly a wonder as to how I haven’t thrown my phone out the window… Oh well. Today, I decided to do things differently. Instead of the usual phlegmatic approach to my morning rituals, I whipped out my iPod and practically danced my way to school. I stopped at the market to grab myself some lunch and I noticed the girl in front of me was having difficulty with her credit card. Meanwhile, the bitter cashier pushed her aside and asked that I come and make my purchase. I walked up and said I would be paying for the both of us. The girl next to me looked at me with shock (why would anyone do such a thing?! ;) ) and asked if she could take my info to pay me back. I told her this one was on me; just make sure to pay it forward to someone else in need. She still looked pretty dumbfounded when I left her lol. Later in the afternoon, as I found myself a cozy spot in the library, I learned that I had been selected for the list serve lottery! I always thought of ...

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." - Thoreau I did the Wall Street thing for 6 years before walking out one day and taking a trip around the world. I spent months dreaming about doing it. I kept asking myself, “What would it be like? If not now, when?” After suffering incredible anxiety over the prospect, I mustered up the courage, broke the news to my boss, and walked out of the office without saying a word to anyone. One week later I was on a plane to Corsica. I donated almost all of my possessions except my books. Books are the hardest thing for me to get rid of. My library is a direct reflection of my obsessions at any point in time. One month I was on this film noir binge and suddenly I had a Mickey Spillane section. When I discovered Mad Men, suddenly I had an advertising section. I still have this thing that whenever I see a used bookstore or a street seller I ask if they have any used Kurt Vonnegut books and buy out any Dell paperback editions from the...

I hope you all have four-year-olds in your life who ask impossible questions twice a minute. I have a nephew. Two weeks ago, while my brother and I drove him to the zoo singing country music at the top of our lungs, my nephew stopped us mid-lyric. "What's free? You said free?" Strapped into a car seat, wearing swim goggles, covered in chocolate, peanut shells, cheddar bunnies, and matchbox cars, my nephew had asked a question so fundamental to all of our daily lives that we often forget it's a question at all. I pulled the "I'm-just-the-aunt" card, and turned to my brother to articulate one of the ideals our nation was founded upon, one of the dreams we are all supposed to hold together. Somehow, with no time to prepare, he boiled down freedom to the perfect level for his son’s current cerebral development. “It’s being able to make choices in your life,” he explained. My nephew processed, nodded, and resumed racing his sticky cars around his sticky seat....

I’m a linguistics grad student/science lover/vlogger/reader of funbooks/inventor of words like “funbook”/overall internet denizen (@nonesuch42). I come from the bleak era of Standardized Testing, but I always enjoyed (or at least tolerated) the writing portions. This was probably because I had one story I liked to tell, and I fit it to the prompt year after year. It’s a story of reckless bravery and adventure. It’s a story of family. It’s a story about the power of nature. Or maybe it’s just about the power of cookies. Most of my dad’s family lives scattered throughout California. Around my dad’s birthday in June, we all went on a camping trip to the Pinnacles. My parents (wisely) brought an RV, the rest of the adults slept in a giant tent, and the four cousins slept in the back of a truck. We heard rustling all night, but thought nothing of it. In the morning we went on a grueling hike. We brought enough snacks, but not nearly enough water. California gets pretty hot and dry in June, ...

At what point do you become that which you are trying to eradicate? This past weekend (9/13), I attended a show by the controversial band Death In June. Douglas Pearce (the sole continuous member) has been accused of being a racist, a Nazi, a fascist, and worse. The fact that he is openly gay, Jewish, and has played sold out shows in Israel is beside the point. I have listened to his music for years. I consider myself on the left end of the political spectrum. I’ve read any number of interviews and clarifications that Pearce has made about his views. I have a graduate degree in philosophy. I have participated in a number of civil rights demonstrations across the country. I can safely say that I find nothing fascist or hateful about him or his music. This is my conclusion. I stand by it. Others only look at surface images of the band, and project their worst fears onto it. Those are their conclusions. I have listened to their arguments, and read their cases. I remain unconvinced. The ...

Hello Listserve-ians, I used to write email for a living for progressive political causes, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share what I've learned about writing emails to large numbers of people. Perhaps these tips will serve you well when you win the Listserve lottery or whenever you find yourself needing to send a clear, compelling email to many people at once. First, have a clear ask. Don't bury the story -- effective emails ask the reader to do something up front. If you want your readers to do something -- and you probably do, otherwise why are you sending mass email? -- let them know clearly what they should do as quickly as possible. If you've typed more than a sentence or two and haven't gotten to your ask, revise your draft and see if you can get it in earlier. And try to have only one ask per email. If you want your readers to do more than one unrelated thing, send them more than one email. Second, use direct, conversational language, and keep it...

Hey there! I would like to invite you to embark on a part experiment part attempt at collaborative art with me that promises to be very interesting: at least for me. Perhaps a little about me before I describe the experiment. I'm a PhD student in Computer Science at the University at Buffalo (if you’re at UB too, holler!). I'm especially interested in languages: their versatility in conveying our intangible and complex emotions, the obscure mists of evolution that mask how they diverged from their common origins and how the nifty anchors of words latch onto our subconscious to offer themselves in times of communicative need. And then there are poets and writers, who create entire worlds from a handful of words: burdening their tiny bodies with convoluted metaphors, animating their abstract skeletons with powerful emotions. Once the connection between the two has been forged, the mere mention of the word brings the emotions simmering back to the surface. That’s where the experim...

Ideally, I would want this email to relate to every person here, in one way or another. My attempt is broken down into three parts. Let me know how I do. Part One: The best thing to learn to cook is gumbo. It is always delicious. Even if its not, throw some hot sauce and butter-loaded rice in there, and it’s delicious. My favorite recipe comes from googling “New Year Sausage and Andoille Gumbo”. Of course, I use whatever meat I have handy, store-bought seasoning, and low-sodium chicken broth. The rice has to be cooked with butter and a bay leaf. And that’s the beauty of gumbo – it’s waiting to be perfected according to you. Go now and cook it. Holler if you need help. Part Two: "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that? When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someo...

My boyfriend says that to know me, you have to understand 3 things: I love the beach, I live for Texas Football, and above everything else, I love my Abuela. She is my favorite person in the world. For those of you who don’t know, Abuela is Spanish for grandmother and mine is top notch. When I was five and my favorite movie was Mary Poppins, Abuela promised me to take me to feed the birds at St. Paul’s Cathedral. She did so much more – she took me to Spain, England and France on an almost month long and amazing trip. You couldn't feed the birds anymore at St. Paul's Cathedral, but that didn't slow us down. When I was thirteen, she retired and moved to Austin, where I grew up. I think she knew how much my little brother and I would need her – my parents separated 8 months later and her house, just 2 miles from mine, became a much needed oasis. At 18, I decided to defer college and join AmeriCorps, a decision that wasn’t well received by my parents, but she supported me. ...

Because I love building community and connecting, here are a few things I would love you all to know about: Trash for Peace: Reduce, Reuse, and Rethink the way you look at trash. I volunteer with an awesome nonprofit that creates functional art from trash. We look for ways to reduce consumption. We reuse plastic bottles and other “trash” to create recycle bins, green houses, and more. We encourage people to rethink the concept of trash/waste through creativity and innovation. Google us, “like” us on facebook, or shoot us an email – we love partnering with other organizations! We also post our manuals on our website for free, so please download them and use them in your classroom, organization, or business! Oregon’s Health CO-OP (or any of the other Health CO-OPs nationwide) I have a background in public health, and I’ve always felt like health insurance was a bit of a dirty word. Well finally there is an alternative (sadly, only in some states) starting January 1st! Oregon’s Hea...

I have never been very good at telling stories: I fumble, I slur words, I backtrack. But here I am, winning the chance to write an email to the world, so here is my story:I am living on five dollars a day for reweave (google it!). It all started as a way to fundraise. Donate $1,000 and I’ll live on five dollars a day for a month. What does it mean, exactly? There is no right or wrong way to do this experiment, but I set up rules so I could stay on track. This challenge goes beyond food; transportation, entertainment, and even a new toothbrush are being taken into account. The rules are as follows: I will not go into "debt" with friends (ie. having them pay for something and then I pay them back on October 1st). If I accept something for free it either needs to be donated by an organization, offered for free to everyone, or it needs to be something I would have received for free even prior to this experiment. Rent is not being included in this experiment because that would neg...

Ideally, I would want this email to relate to every person here - in one way or another. My attempt is broken down into three parts. Let me know how I do. Part One: The best thing to learn to cook is gumbo. It is always delicious. Even if its not, throw some hot sauce and butter-loaded rice in there, and it’s delicious. My favorite recipe comes from googling “New Year Sausage and Andoille Gumbo”. Of course, I just use sausage, I just use store-bought seasoning, and I use low-sodium chicken broth. The rice has to be Louisiana-style. And that’s the beauty of gumbo – it’s waiting to be perfected according to you. Go now and cook it. I promise it’s as easy as it looks. Holler if you need help. Part Two: "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that? When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell ...

Hello Listserve: I am considerably older than most of those who have already posted their messages on this site, and thus I have lost most of my armor of idealism . Much of this is due to the experiences I have had working as a Psychologist in Massachusetts mill cities for almost forty years. I feel I have seen almost everything humanity can offer. I no longer question whether something is good or bad; I just see it as fascinating. There is nothing anyone can do that would surprise me any more. Anything my wildest imagination can produce someone out there is doing it, and they are doing it thinking it will bring them happiness or satisfaction. Most of the time it doesn’t. I would give you all advice, because I know, better than Dr. Phil, what you should do with your life, but more than that I know that you wouldn’t listen. That's not how people change. Change has to come through emotional experience. Perhaps in three years you might think ...

First of all, check out the band Mideau. They are new and amazing. I’m a fan. Google MideauMusic. Now, before I start my message, relax. Whenever I get the Listserv, I’m in midday mode. My face is tense, my shoulders are scrunched, my breathing is short. Maybe this isn’t you. But if it is. Relax. Take a moment and a deep breath. ------ The combination of anonymity, a fleeting power to amplify my voice, and a word limit to simplify it makes me feel both safe and significant for today. I can open up to strangers. I can say something important. I can say the most important thing—if I could only realize and articulate it within 48-hours. But it’s the first weeks of my PhD. So I cant. And in the absence of Best, [though I don’t believe there is one], I leave you something good: “In the center of [the city called] Fedora, that gray stone metropolis, stands a metal building with a crystal globe in every room. Looking into each globe, you see a blue city, the model of a different Fedora. These...

My son introduced me to Listserve recently. On being a "winner" he said keep it short and sweet. Thousands will read. Yikes!! Here goes: Why can children laugh 300 to 400 times in a day while adults laugh only 4- 15 times? What have we lost or misplaced? I am at that point in my life where approaching the big six 0 has had me reorganizing priorities, possessions, people, time. It has meant the downsizing, discarding, minimizing of work and stuff. It has meant simplifying activities and relationships. It has given me more time to read, travel, and discover new things. To reconnect with friends and family. This increased quality of life, way outweighs the decrease in income. My latest discovery is Laughter Yoga. Anyone try it or belong to a club? I was watching Wavy Gravy on PBS was fascinated by his life and personality and intrigued by Laughing Yoga. So I checked it out. It is exhausting. It is embarrassing. It is forced. I started with 2 minutes and slowly worked myself up...

It turns out getting pregnant isn’t as easy as it looks. My wife and I have been trying to conceive for over five years, suffering one miscarriage and month after month of letdowns and discouragements. Turns out we both bring our own specific biological issues that, when combined, compound the problem. While I’m well aware that we are not the first couple to grapple with infertility and conception issues, this is one of those things where knowing you’re not alone isn’t always the most comforting thought. Add to that the staggering amount of tips, suggestions, medical information, etc., it can get downright frustrating. When things don’t work as they should, be it electronics, automobiles, or my reproductive system, it drives me crazy! There’s no real peace in the knowledge that there’s nothing I can really do to cause my body to produce the correct amount of sperm. There are options, of course, with adoption or in vitro fertilization leading the pack. We’re not opposed to either, a...

I just finish my college and i need a new project to work with. Next year i'm going to New Zeland and I already got my visa, just saving money for the trip, so, nothing more to do about that. Before April next year i have to do something productive. And i need your ideas. Just send me an e-mail with your suggestion. I'm thinking about develop a Smartphone App, but don't know what (I studied IT on college) Jonatah Benatti benattijs[AT]gmail.com Horizontina, RS, Brazil PS: Sorry by my english, never been out of Brazil. PS2: If you're from NZ and want to help me find a good place to live and study in NZ, send me an e-mail too.

G’day, my name is Marc Bruce, 28 and I was born in Sydney, Australia. I recently moved to Helsingborg, Sweden. Some may say that was a terrible mistake but I like the cold. My career has revolved around IT Support but I’ve also worked abroad as a Camp Counselor (MN, USA) & Volunteer English teacher (Xi’an, China). Here are a short series of notes that I would like to share with you all. The types of people I enjoy: The go-getters, the wild ones, the spontaneous, the courageous and the brave, the thinkers and the doers, the optimists and the non-conformists and above all else - the ones that know themselves. OTP22: Cryptography, Svalbard & Dead Drops: Almost a year to this day I started working with a small team to try and solve the mystery behind OTP22. OTP22 is an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep its MO a secret. We still do not fully know what it is all about. The latest dead drop is in Bulgaria at location 42.0552, 25.5927, if you a...

Hello Listserve! I'm writing this from Reykjavik, Iceland. I arrived here from NYC yesterday, and leave for Paris tomorrow. I'm from San Francisco, originally. I am 25. (not relevant at all to the content of my message, but a little background info is always fun..) A few things: 1) The world is small. We have so many experiences/emotions in common. Think about that the next time you feel alone - you're not. 2) Be good to your family. Your time with them is not guaranteed. But when it ends - remember, its not the number of years, it's the quality of those years. (rest in peace dad, 4/17/13, I still miss you - and my heart and thoughts goes out to those who are or have been affected by any type of cancer. You are cared for!) 3) Go easy on yourself. It's your first time through this life.;) 4) Whatever it is - you'll be ok. I promise. :) With lots of jetlag and love, Sarah sjh812.listerv[AT]gmail.com Reykjavik, Iceland PS - message me Paris travel tips! I've ne...

So I won the listserve lottery just after moving across the country. Here is a short version of the story. This summer my husband and I quit our jobs and moved from the Midwest to the Northwest. I'd been missing mountains something terrible during my 16 year tenure in the flatlands, and this year the time was right for us to make the move. In some ways the plan was taking shape over the last several years, but really came into focus the last 12-18 months. We did not have jobs waiting for us, at least not in the traditional sense. But we no longer want to have jobs be the primary driver in deciding where we live and when we could travel. Our goal is to cultivate location independent sources of income (we do still need income.. there is no trust fund we can fall back on). Before we quit our jobs we cultivated freelance consulting work that would give us a foundation to build on and we worked to have at least a years worth of comfortable living expenses in our savings account. Our lon...

As someone who grew up from South-East Asia, I was lucky to have spent my young adulthood in the US. I learned a lot about who I am and who I want to be and how to accomplish it. As an example, I had to learn to live alone the first time while in a foreign country, and I learned that I really really hate washing the toilet but I love doing my own dishes. As a gamer (zerg rush anyone?) as well as someone with an engineering mindset, I knew what I had to do to get what I want. To minimize all the things that I hate to do or don't need in order to maximize my resources to do what I want. We as humans have long passed the capacity to be able to sustain our most important needs for survival but society is very good, too good in fact, in making us think we need more, and more. It works for me because I want to be an entrepreneur. Many of you who are reading are probably in the same boat. Every penny that I make goes to my savings or the nearest liquid investment. Having a house just mean...

I often get irked by minor hassles: Speeding and parking tickets. Car trouble. Cancelled flights. Stomach flus. Rude people. Spotty cell phone coverage. Getting ripped off. These are all little things, and usually the products of my own creation, but they make me mad anyway. It helps to put things in perspective. I think about my lucky breaks and near misses. When I was 12, two friends and I trespassed on private property to explore a cave, and an man standing in the field fired a shotgun at us. He was far enough away that the shot bounced off our skin. If he'd been closer we could have been injured or worse. In college I was walking at night with a friend and a car pulled up and the passenger pointed a pistol at us. Idiotically, I walked up to him and asked him what kind of gun it was. He was so nonplussed that he told me the make and model of his pistol and then ordered the driver to drive away. Another time I was driving with friends in my car in Boulder, Colorado. This was 1982...

I don't know if you ever heard about Bitcoin. But it will change everything. It's not "money". It's not only a "payment system". It's the idea. Idea of giving the power back to people. Thank you, listserve. Have a good time everyone! Maciej Ziolkowski nor.we.stern[AT]gmail.com Bydgoszcz, Poland

Have you ever been in a room of people that all felt like friends and community, even though you didn't know their name?I have. And it has been happening over and over again for the last three days. There is this giant, nerdy convention happening in Seattle right now. PAX Prime. Maybe you've heard of it? Anyway, it's a place for fans to learn about new games (video, computer, board, etc.) and meet creators and hang out with each other. It's loads of fun. My dark secret? I hate the comic that inspires this convention. Penny Arcade features some of the most annoying characters that have said some terribly misogynistic things in the past. Things that fanboys (and maybe fangirls) like to hash over and over again. And yet, I still support the community. This might make me the worst feminist ever, but I believe the Penny Arcade folks atone for their terribleness by hosting cool events like PAX and their charity that gives video games to kids in hospitals. If you also happen t...

There is so much I want to tell you. I want to tell you about love. I wish people were less scared to say “I love you” because more people need to hear that they are loved. I want to tell you about traveling and how it should be pursued early and often. I want to tell you about writing and how you should not fear your own words or thoughts, even though I will censor myself as I write this. I want to tell you about my life, my work, my dreams. I want to inspire you. I want to make you laugh. But today, I am not feeling light. Summer, my favorite season, is nearly over. Acorns are falling. Some leaves are beginning to brown on their branches. Change is in the air. It’s the first day of second grade for my oldest son, an occasion that is both joyous and melancholy. I got up earlier than usual today, made breakfast, got him and his brother dressed in new clothes. They goofed off while I took photos of them standing by the flowering crepe myrtle in front of our house. The younger brother—ag...