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Showing posts from January, 2014

Break a Rule

When I left to go back to school for my senior year of college last August, my mom's sage advice was: "Break a rule." Plain and simple. I laughed and told her she was ridiculous - but when I thought about it a little bit, she had a good point. I've always been a rule follower. My mom likes to remind me of when I was little and at a friend's birthday party, the friend's mom had given the partygoers little goody bags to bring into the movie theater instead of paying for popcorn. I was the worst child in the world and started shouting in the lobby of the theater that we're not allowed to bring in outside snacks. Oops. Most recently, my family and I got flu shots at Walgreens and the pharmacist told us we had to wait 10 minutes after the shots before leaving. As my parents stood up to leave, I reminded them that we had to stay for 10 minutes like the lady said. I got weird stares from my parents, which was my cue that I was being a stickler for the rules again

What are you excited about today?

Hi Listserve friends, What are you excited about today? That question wasn't rhetorical. I'd really love to hear your answers. Asking myself that question often leads to a little energy boost, a moment of gratitude, or a conversation. I'd like to learn from the thoughts it sparks for you. If you decide to share with me (and I hope you do), maybe I'll combine all the answers and do something with them. Maybe I won't. But I have no doubt that I'll be inspired. Thanks for opening this email! And thanks for all the stories you've written and read in this community. Thanks for believing we can learn from anyone. Have a great day! Aude Broos audegabroos[AT]gmail.com New York, NY

Boring is Dumb

Sometimes I think I'm not a very interesting person. But that's stupid because everyone's life is interesting and exotic to someone in another part of the world or a very different walk of life. If you think you're boring, try getting out of your head and try talking to someone who isn't you. I'm a 28-year-old lady and I drive to work every day. I work for an online retail company, where I sit at a computer gossiping with my old lady coworkers and listening to music and downing coffee. I've written a minimum of 750 words every day for over 500 days straight. I used to be religious but left my religion and am still navigating family waters about it. I live alone but spend a lot of time with my fella. No kids, no desire for kids. No desire for marriage, necessarily. Someday I'd like to own a dog again. The thing I love most about where I live is the mountains I get to see every day. I care about grammar a stupid amount. These are things about me. Now you d

From the Listserve team

From The Listserve team: Sorry for this disruption in regularly scheduled Listserving, but we need your help. Every Listserve winner receives a message telling them they've won. It outlines the guidelines and some tips to writing a good email. But we wrote that email before we even had 100 people on the list — and we want to mix things up. So it's time to re-write it. This is where you come in. Go to j.mp/listservetips and give us a suggestion you want us to pass along to future winners. We'll rotate in your tips in various winner emails. Buy a bulldozer, The Listserve team

Rational Numbers and the Square Root of 2

I am a mathematician. Please allow me to share with some mathematics which I have found to be both enduringly fascinating and very accessible: I present a discussion on rational numbers and the square root of 2. Rational numbers---or just rationals---are the result of dividing one integer by another. Examples are 1/2, -1/5, and 23/11; perhaps less obvious examples are 1, 2, and 3, as you can always write 1 = 1/1, 2 = 2/1, and 3 = 3/1. Essentially, rationals are all the numbers that can be written as a fraction. Generally, we write rationals in reduced or simplest form. 2/4, for example, can be simplified by dividing the top and bottom of the fraction by 2; thus 2/4 = 1/2. Notice that in reduced form, the top and bottom numbers cannot both be even. If they were, just as in the example of 2/4, you could cancel out the common factor of 2 to find a more-reduced form. Any rational can always be written in reduced form. Rationals have a pleasing property: any basic arithmetic operation (a

Nice Email Thread: But can we work together to help people that need access to healthy food?

I am a big believer in the idea that we can do far more good working together than working alone. It is why I joined TheListserve and have been inspired by the voices that come across in most the emails. People want to connect. The Listserve is a prime example of this driving force in who we are. It is also why for the bulk of my life, I’ve been dedicated to finding ways to connect people, including bringing movements of people together to create change. Today, I am the lucky random name, able to send you a message as part of the listserve experiment and I want to see if we can do something together. One of the most impactful projects I’ve worked on is PreventObesity.net, an online network of about 3,500 advocacy leaders and more than 300,000 grassroots supporters who are dedicated to taking action to reverse childhood obesity. And right now, PreventObesity.net is running an advocacy campaign I’m really passionate about. I am curious to see if thelistserve readers want even more w

Surprised winner

Like many others who have gone before me, I was surprised to win the Listserve Lottery, and then puzzled and baffled. What would I write about that anyone would want to hear? I'm not a big fan of "rules to live by" or "what I've learned" kind of stories. I am quite a bit older than many of you. I am sometimes technically-challenged when it comes modern devices, although I love my tablet and would give up my TV in a heartbeat rather than my computer. What interests me? I love books and music, and I live surrounded by them. Every room in my house has a book-case and they're all full. Regular culling, although painful, is a necessity. Although I own an E-reader, I just cannot adjust to using it. The feel, look and heft of a book means so much to me. If I go into someone's house and there are no books lying around, it feels sterile and empty. I couldn't imagine living there. I am always accepting recommendations for the next book. The same goes for

I Want To Make Your Portrait

Greetings from Sagada, Philippines. Figures that I'd get my turn (and 48-hour reply window) while on a four-day sojourn. Hi, I'm Mike. I take pictures. Right now I live in New York, but that's going to change later this year, when I begin what will basically be a very long word tour. Along the way, I want to make your portrait. You don't even need to put me up (though it would be totally rad if you did) or anything. Just email me to let me know you're interested and if-slash-when I find myself in your neck of the woods I'll drop you a line. For the sake of sanity I'm going to cap the list to the first 100 responses, though I'll keep everyone's names in case I'm able to open up to more later on. If you'd like to see samples of my work, just visit the domain on my email address (that doesn't count as sharing a link, does it?) Looking forward to meeting all of you! FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a long-view project. I don't expect to start my

Hey look it's my turn. Yikes.

Hey everybody! I don't really have any advice for you (I can almost hear a thousand sighs of relief) so I'll share a story instead. When I was 26, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and it was bad. Tumours everywhere – seriously everywhere. I was admitted to University College Hospital in London for which I am forever grateful. The medical staff were all amazing and knowledgeable and kind and thoughtful. If you ever get a blood disease, I would totally recommend UCH. I'd rate it on Tripadvisor but there's no section for near death experiences. But long story short(ish) – chemo started immediately which started to shrink my tumours including the one in my heart. Which was now hanging on by a thread. To minimise the risk of it detaching, my cardiologist (who had the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen) decided that heart surgery was the answer. Not exactly the news I was hoping for but if you have to hear that your chest is going to be sliced open,

GO BLUE!

When I opened the email that said it was my turn, I spent 30 seconds thinking that whoever won the Listserve lottery had copied the instructional email they received and sent it out to the whole Listserve. I thought it was so clever! I’m a 24-year-old in my first year of law school at the University of Michigan and I love it. I know that ‘love’ is not the most common feeling about law school, but I have no shame. Shout-out to MNOP! If you Google “Michigan Law Reading Room” you can see pictures of Hogwarts. This is where I spend the majority of my time (and where I was when I wrote this email). Some facts about me: - The “interests” section of my resume reads: darts, volleyball, lobster rolls. - I’ve lived in MD, NY, CO, MO, DC and MI. - I’m usually attached to a book (or Kindle). The book that got me into sci-fi a couple of years ago was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. - I watch all 10 seasons of Friends on constant rotation.I would especially love to hear from you if: - You attend(e

Life as I know it

Hi there. Every day I read the listserve and I ponder what it is I would say. And here I am, still wondering. I’m 42, I have 3 sons 21, 19, and 17. I live with my love and my two cats in a home we just bought in Oregon City. We just moved in November and then December 20 I got the flu and haven’t fully bounced back yet, so I feel like our new life, the one starting with buying a home, has not quite started yet. A little about me. In my life I’ve been a photographer, a grief coach, an empowerment coach, I’m a published author (my first fiction will be out in 2014 and I’m so excited!). I’ve published guided journals, a photography book, and a book of poetry so far. I can honestly say though, that this novel has been my life’s work and that writing a novel is like walking up a very tall mountain. It’s hard, it’s challenging, and you ponder giving up more than once. I currently am the Social Media director for an SEO company but am working on moving into freelance social media. I

I'm a citizen of the world.

Even though I'm only 18 years old I have a lot of life experience and it's this: travel. What did Albert Einstein, Shakespeare, and Jesus have in common? They traveled. They were citizens of the world. I'm a citizen of the world. I went to film camp. I've read Sartre. I've read thomas pincheon. I've read Ayn Rand. I've been to Italy. I've been to France. I speak French. I've been to Spain. I've been to Kenya. I've backpacked across europe. I've been to China. I prefer tea to coffee. I've been to Greece. I love Greek food. I'm a foodie. I'm always on the lookout for a great little place to get breakfast. Sometimes I go to Barnes and Noble and lose track of the time. The black people I've met, say I have a lot of flavor. I love my macbook. I also love my macbook pro. I drive an ancient volvo that barely starts. And yeah, I paint, no big deal. I think conventional painting rules are stodgy, archaic, to bend the spoon, you hav

A Simple Rant

As a citizen of the world, I get sad from what I see everyday. The biggest fight we have right now, it is definitely ignorance. In the age of (almost) free information, that we have to battle ignorance. This is not funny, because it is a degenerative condition. It is now on almost all layers of society. On western societies it seems to be mostly omnipresent. Self-interest and emotional intelligence, working together, and without the walking cane of knowledge to help them move forward reminds me of an old saying long forgotten: "Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind." People in the last 30 years have slowly changed the natural contracts that exist between us. From parent to child, between lovers , friends or business partners. Things are now heading other ways. The same problem is being solved differently to arrive to different solutions. Its ok. It works anyway. The rant isn't heading that way, diversity is cool, if it remains toleran

Blame it on the Goat!

It was a dark and stormy night, and Francis returned from the bar, fuming. Dust still stuck in her nose from the ride home, those damn animals never learned how to hide in the barn when the thunder cracked. Every time one let out a terrified squeal, Francis felt her temple throb harder and harder. She just wanted them to shut up. Or get back in the barn, but that would be too simple. Around ten o' clock, as she turned her heels to head back inside, a light pitter-patter behind her caught her attention. But the steps were too light to belong to any of the cows. She didn't see what happened next. Lightning cracked, blinding her view. Then the next thing she saw blew her mind... ...now it's your turn to continue the story. Take a little time to be creative. I'll send out a favorite or two to everyone who responds. Happy New Year! Chris Berry BlameItOnTheGoat[AT]gmail.com San Francisco, CA

Damn Air Conditioning

I've had it with my dormitory air conditioning - last night was the last straw. Now that's it’s warm out, some asshole thinks it’s a good idea to keep my room temperature as cold as the tundra of northern Siberia. So I brought this girl back (she's a soft 6) and we start going at it like two lemurs fighting over the last nibble of a fig newton. We rip off each other's clothing and the foreplay continued, but something started to feel wrong. Shivers were sent down my spine and goosebumps lined my body. And then I looked down. She did too. As our eyes met, I could feel the warmth of my cheeks as the redness swept across. Damn, shrinkage had struck yet again. That was just a joke I made as my facebook status a few months ago… Or was it? I go to Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and it couldn’t be the more perfect school for me. It’s warm, the women are beautiful, and the academics are great. Oh, and I also live in the best city in America and the music mecca of t

The Power of Touch

Hello you all. I often see myself being a bit rude when talking. Perhaps is my lack of ability in actually talk directly to someone for more then 5 minutes without forcing myself to think I'm annoying the other person, or maybe it's just this is simply a hard thing for me to do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not that introverted. Give me a bottle of wine and I will be the funniest guy around. But in normal conditions, verbal communication face to face tuns into a big challenge. It's a lot of insecurity and low self-esteem and I'm aware of that, but right now, there's nothing I want to change. Conformity is also something to be beaten. But the bad side of it is not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what I've learned by not being able to hold a conversation that requires emotional levels. There are times - during intense grief or fear, but also in ecstatic moments of joy or love - when only the language of touch can fully express what we feel. Verb

An apology for “Jacks-of-all-trades” of the world.

Hi everybody in the world! I am Paolo, 37, and I live in Milano, Italy. I am a (brand) designer. I won the Listserve lottery! Yeah! Yeah! (actually I originally missed the mail, but I was given a second chance!) 1. Let’s start with three quotes to set the mood: You are a mashup of what you let into your life. (Austin Kleon) I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. (Pablo Picasso) If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. (Attributed to lots of different people… but, really, who cares about the author...) 2. I’ll share these thoughts: — My goal here is to discuss the subject “Jack of all trades vs. Master of one” attitude (yes: one, not "none") and have your feedback — check wikipedia for “Jack of all trades”. — My curiosity leads me to explore and practice lots of different things (and that is good!). — The same curiosity makes me to swap between things a lot and that *might* be bad

Get your creatives juices flowing for a (fun) little experiment.

A good five years ago I discover these “travelling sketchbooks”. The general idea is that you sign up to a list. Then someone buys a empty sketchbook, sticks the list on the cover, does a drawing/writing on the first page, then sends the book to the second person in the list, who fills the second page and sends it on. I signed up for one of these, but nothing came of it. I waited and waited. But the physical realm is perilous, and I was not surprised to never receive anything. Being a computer geek, I always wondered how I could translate this to the digital medium. Then one day I found out about the listserve. And then bang: the eureka moment. So, this is what I have come up with. I imagine most of you have played the game Word Association. It involves two or more people. A person begins by saying a random word. The second person has to say a word that is associated to that one. The third person has to say a word associated to the second, and so for. The rules basically state that you

The last 200 of 1 000 000

The rain buckets down as I run from street to cafe, through grey skies to a grey interior, stepping sideways into steampunk and smokey steerage. In the month since I was last in here, there have been changes; small soft armchairs replace some of the uprights, a coffee table the kitchen style one at the rear. The wide windowsill and woven sacking snug is still there. It has drip cones strung with tiny lights above, A nod to the season. Yule for you. First to coffee, The point for the risking of tech to weather, for no waterproofing would withstand that for more than a few. A swift aeropress made volcanic-tinged espresso and then, awoken from my street sleep, the same Venezuelan steeped via v60, with va-voom but not so violent. I sniff the smell of grinding, gladly glimpse filter, feel the heat of steam and hear accompanying drip, drop, plip, plop as the grounds move from dry to wet and the water takes on the emulsion, the oils. And. I. Breathe and sip and sigh and bliss is upon me. I ma

Ennui Go

Why keep searching for what you've already found? Brian Littmann brian.listserve[AT]gmail.com Oklahoma

Risk It

Hello Listserve recipients, I hope this message finds you well. I've been receiving and enjoying Listserve emails for quite sometime and believe things happen for a reason. I expected the "It's your turn" email to come at an unexpected time and it did. I am a 27 year old male from Chicago, IL; where I work as a web developer. Most of my days are spent practicing programming and everyday provides a new learning experience. Today's technology continues to advance at a rapid pace and I believe most anything is possible. This email was drafted in Japan; where I'll be celebrating New Year's with a dear friend. I am grateful to be here and wish everyone has a safe and happy new year. I feel like my time is running out for this email; being in a different time zone with limited access to Internet. So I'll end with this advice; embrace yourself and focus on what makes you happy. Loving anything else is easier when you have peace in yourself. The world is ever

On Knowing What's Going On

There are two ways that people tend to describe me to their friends. First is "He wins everything!" I tend to argue against that one, though having just won the listserve lottery I guess I won't bother this time. Second: "He knows everything that's going on!" This one, I'm ok with. I love going out and finding new things to do, and making other people come with. Life can get boring when you never leave your living room. Anyway, friends moving to new cities have asked for advice on how to find new places and events. Here are some tips: 1) Alt News Weeklies Most midsize-to-large cities will have an Alt Newsweekly or two, those hip newspapers you see in boxes all over the place. They tend to have giant event calendars on their websites. Check them out! The bigger the city, the more silly stuff you'll have to sort through, but it's a good way to see what's going on! Plus, newspapers are great! Read 'em sometimes. [Also, they totally have a to

Slutty witches

Hello there. A friend of mine introduced me to the listserve a few years back, so Zuleyma if you’re still on here: hi, it's Danielle! I’ve decided to talk about the two things most important to me (which also happen to be the two most criticized things about me): witchcraft and feminism. now im almost 100% certain that my use of the terms 'witchcraft' and 'feminism' alone has scared a few people off, but for those of you who remain, thank you. im not here to preach to you all; im just here to share some stuff & make some people more aware of the issues that the vast majority of society likes to pretend don’t exist. sadly, feminists have such a bad rep. Here is how this conversation usually goes: me- are you a feminist? person- oh god no never absolutely not me-well, do you believe women and men should be equal? person- well, of course my friends, if you believe women and men should have equal rights, you are a feminist. Many feel as though women have already a

wangbot

***From the Listserve team: The previous email from Will Wybrow was truncated, so we're re-sending the full email. Our apologies!*** My friend Jamie, I met on Twitter. He was the friend of a friend and we hit it off right away, triggering our friendship groups merging. My friends on Twitter and his friends on Twitter all following each other in a virtual friendship ecosystem, all based on 140-character replies to each other. There comes a point, though, where Twitter stops being useful for the number of people all trying to join in a conversation at once. And after an aborted attempt at linking everything using the hashtag #wangingout (forgive the juvenile dick joke; 2012 was a different era), and being geographically disparate enough to make regular in-person hanging out tricky, we took it old school and set up the IRC channel #wangingout on the Freenode servers. People keep a window open on their PCs during the day and in those little stretches of five-minute downtime everyone ge

wangbot

My friend Jamie, I met on Twitter. He was the friend of a friend and we hit it off right away, triggering our friendship groups merging. My friends on Twitter and his friends on Twitter all following each other in a virtual friendship ecosystem, all based on 140-character replies to each other. There comes a point, though, where Twitter stops being useful for the number of people all trying to join in a conversation at once. And after an aborted attempt at linking everything using the hashtag #wangingout (forgive the juvenile dick joke; 2012 was a different era), and being geographically disparate enough to make regular in-person hanging out tricky, we took it old school and set up the IRC channel #wangingout on the Freenode servers. People keep a window open on their PCs during the day and in those little stretches of five-minute downtime everyone gets between tasks at work, we hang out. And it’s awesome. There have been surges in my IRC use over the years, notably when I was 10 and u

Be aware of your own privilege

The second-worst kind of Listserve email is the kind that only talks about the Listserve, but I'd rather get a little meta than compose the worst kind of Listserve email. You know the one: the samey, glib personal advice column that's some variation on "Eat, Pray, Code," composed just before or after selling all one's possessions in order to backpack through Europe / go to college / deliver a TED talk. All of these emails have something in common, which pushes me to send along my tiny sliver of advice: BE AWARE OF YOUR OWN PRIVILEGE. I'm a well-off white male who can afford to live in one of the greatest places in the world and hold down a steady, semi-inspiring job. Moneyed itinerancy, grad school and motivational speaking aren't for me, but they're all within reach. Since the Listserve flock is self-selected, it makes sense that most of you would share at least some of the same privilege. Just do me a favor: step back for a second and recognize what

Atheism, Health, and Nature

So I got this email 2 days after arriving in China for an Intensive Language program, aka I don't have much time to put into this email. :( Some things I've been thinking about that I would love discussing with people: 1) I'm an atheist, and I have a lot of trouble dealing with the fact that I'm going to die. I was wondering if there were other atheists that had this problem (and overcame it?) who could give me advice! 2) I'm very interested in food/nutrition/health. I'm a vegan, and I love to cook and eat healthy! Its sad that the majority of people eat like crap, and I'd love to brainstorm ways to change this! (I have a vegan/vegetarian food blog by the way so let me know if you want to see it and i'll send you a link!) 3) I struggle a lot with the idea of "what is natural?". I want to be as natural as possible, but couldn't one argue that everything a human does is by definition natural? I really wanted to send some profound email

Where do we begin and where do we end?

"The human body completely changes the matter it is made of roughly every 8 weeks, through metabolism, replication and repair. Yet, you're still you --with all your memories, your personality. If scientists insist on chasing particles, they will follow them right through an organism and miss the organism entirely." —Robert Rosen The quote above has captivated me for awhile now. Simply put, each of us feels as if we're more than just our parts. It seems as if somehow (somewhere?) we emerge from the cosmic soup of trillions of cells that comprise the human body. But there is another possibility -- that our autonomy as thinking, feeling entities is a private illusion we tell ourselves. Not only are there countless microcosms -- of tissues, microbes, and molecules -- in each of us but we, in turn, are parts of larger societies -- of families, nations, and planetary ecosystems. As human beings, we may feel and act as if we are autonomous creatures but what if we consider t

Go west

It figures. I've been on this list for well over a year and always figured I'd have the perfect thing to say when the time came, yet here I sit not having a clue. At one point I had thought about writing about myself, how I grew up in suburban Oklahoma and moved to Los Angeles after high school nearly 14 years ago to study film and writing at USC, but instead (and wisely) went into digital publishing and have had a good deal of success there. But that seemed self-indulgent. At another point, I wanted to write about Los Angeles, and how it is both distinctly cruel and benevolent. Just when the traffic has you entertaining nearly constant thoughts of suicide or the most perverse yet ostentatious form vehicular manslaughter, you find yourself headed toward the coast alone on Mulholland one summer evening just after sunset with the windows open and the wind carrying the sweet earthy scent of chaparral and sage, a Joe Frank monologue on the radio, and you realize that anything and e

Drunken Nights, Discovering Africa and Good Music

Three random things that are worthwile - I'll keep it short. 400 words, let’s go! Some of the best things tend to happen in the grey area between the fine line of what's wrong and what's right. In that sense, drunken nights are a symbol for this tension. I honestly believe happiness is defined by the experience of contrasts: know the down, appreciate the up. In about a week, I’m changing my uncluttered life in the Netherlands for a unique field research project in the outskirts of Zambia. Nation states are the building blocks of our modern world order. Successful ones exercise profound influence on the course of world history: international organizations consist of states, multinational companies are still subject to state law, and every citizen is formally part of a state. Failed ones are the black holes of this world – many of today’s problems, ranging from poverty to transnational criminality, are relatable to a malfunctioning state. However, this was not obvious a few

Listservers, Teach My Students!

I teach English as a Second Language to junior high school students in a small rural town in Japan that is populated mainly by rice fields. I have amazing students, but 99% of them have never been outside Japan. They’ve only seen other parts of the world through TV or the Internet. I'd like for them to see some snapshots of life around the world in a way that (literally) speaks to them personally. And with the power of The Listserve, I have an opportunity to make that happen. I hope you'll help me. I want to collect short video messages from you, introducing a slice of your life in whatever place you live. It could be a local custom or festival that you're participating in, you could introduce the work that you do, or a hobby. Or it could be as simple as showing us an interesting place in your town, or a local food. It’s up to you. It doesn't need to be long or complicated, and it doesn't need to be edited. Just a quick video that you shot with your cell ph

Lost girl, born on Wednesday

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. -Albert Einstein Pilgrim. Artist. Explorer. Lover. Lost. Looking for a tiger. Seeking that which has always been and lies within: absolute freedom. I enjoy exploring near and far, within and without and seeing what adventures arise along the way. This particular lost phase of the last year has been more of a struggle, living in a place where I have been based for 10 years, broken-hearted, feeling mostly disconnected, occasionally overwhelmed and too tired. I dance. I unravel