To Create is To Destroy

I've recently discovered the greatness that is blackout poetry and I'm kind of in love with it. The whole idea of destruction and subtraction becoming a form of creating is very appealing, and in some ways reminds me of Keri Smith's books. It's been a lazy Saturday, and what do you do when boredom is threatening? Make things, obviously. Most of these poems were created from passages from a horrible book called Are the Kids All Right?, a novel from the 80s about how rock and roll is "evil". It felt good to destroy that batshit crazy propaganda.

A lot of these turned out much darker than I anticipated and the one about divorce has a certain dark humor to it. What's up with that? Maybe I should lay off the Woody Allen movies for a while.

A Lexical Gap

You know that feeling you get when you're looking for a word and it doesn't exist? And words seem like they will never do their subjects justice? There's a word for that-a lacuna, or lexical gap.

I've been reading a lot of memoirs and biographies lately. I'm not sure if this is one step toward the boring, domestic tastes of adults, but I have been getting a lot of insights from these books. I'm currently reading Life Itself by Roger Ebert, which is really amazing.

It's really interesting to me to read about how these well-known people came to be. And I also like to prepare my own answers to my own future interviews. There's no such thing as too much confidence, people.

I love sifting through quotes. I feel like in some way we're all quoting each other and the idea of being made of the stuff of greats (assuming that energy is constantly passing through different states) gets me through those days when it seems like all the consonants and vowels are inadequate. And I guess I really want to leave my own quotes behind as well. One of my favorite people on the planet, John Green, once said,"Sometimes our favourite quotations say more about us than the stories or people we're quoting." I feel like I have way too many quotes to contain on paper. But here are a few that I've recently found that I love. A lot. Also, this video is beautiful and makes me fall in love with writing all over again.

--J.D. Salinger, one of my favorite writers

And lastly my favorite quote, from Alexander Supertramp, whose story has affected me so much

Let It Snow, December!

So it's finally December! Not only does that mean that I'm done with Nanowrimo (which I successfully finished), but it's also now the socially acceptable time of year to be singing Christmas songs.

Since we are currently living on a base with really small housing, my family had to be relatively conservative about the size of our Christmas tree. It was sort of like that one Charlie Brown movie about Christmas where the gang has to get a skimpy little tree. So it goes.

I'm really jazzed about Christmas this year, mainly because we'll be going to New York. I'll be able to live out all those cheesy romantic comedies. Which brings me to the topic of Christmas. Over the course of this past year, I've come to the conclusion that my religious views are secular. That still means I can watch Charlie Brown and decorate the pine tree, right? In my opinion, Christmas is becoming a largely secular holiday. It's becoming less about "the birth of Jesus" and more about just spending time with family and the cycle between giving and receiving. And who doesn't love that?

So whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Chrismakwanzika, enjoy your December. (As well as this perfect picture of James Franco.)

Gratitude and Thanks

My birthday was the day before Thanksgiving. Double alibi for overt sappiness.
November 21st was a pretty grand day, including birthday French toast, cupcakes, and cookies, eating out and watching movies. But moreover I felt the need to give some sort of Oscars-acceptance speech, thanking every person that's ever been in my life. Yes, even the annoying perverts on my bus that are literally the definition of world-suck, because they're the fuel for my short stories and my need to spread awesomeness in the world.
I woke up this morning on the couch after I'd watched a decent amount of John Hughes movies and my dad asked me how old I was. "84," I replied. "I just happen to look really good for my age. Old soul, Dad."
So now I'm listening to the hilarious commentary and advice of Ferris Bueller and trying to make a list of all that I'm thankful for, because at some age you just have to start getting really sentimental about things and people. I can't avoid it anymore. So...
A list of things I'm thankful for: 

-my family and friends, because they can appreciate my unique madness
-movies (Particularly of the comedic and Wes Anderson variety) & movie theaters
-excellent fictional characters
-words
-microwave popcorn
-New York City
-non-condescending adults/teachers
-Coke
-pizza
-music
-coffee
-J.K. Rowling, J.D. Salinger, and John Green for instilling a need to write and be madly in love with the world
And lastly the internet, because I can put my thoughts and endeavors out into the world without making eye contact. Also because I can stay in contact with people that are thousands of miles away.

Okay, I have to go eat lunch before I choke on all the love. Happy Thanksgiving, guys.

Thank you and Don't Forget To Be Awesome.

My Life is a Sitcom, Okay?

I can't remember a time in my childhood where my parents and I weren't watching sitcoms together. My early childhood spanned from the 90s to the early years of the new millenium, so we ended up watching a lot of Friends and Seinfeld at night. I think this early exposure to really excellent TV shows inspired a deep love for film in general.

I can't tell you how close the TV show Friends is to my heart. I know, that sounds really dramatic, but you have no idea how many nights I've spent eating ice creaming and yearning for those years when I'd live in an apartment in NYC with a bunch of quirky people. What's really special about Friends is that it doesn't  in any way romanticize or gloss over what life is like. That's what I love about all sitcoms-they're painting reality in a really sweet and humorous way. Now, I am a complete Chandler. I'm basically convinced that Chandler and I are the same person,"hopeless, awkward, and desperate for love". He's charming, witty, lovable, and goofy. It's a Chandler thing. Somehow my parents still think I'm a Ross.

Another TV show that I really love is The Office. Every character on there is hilarious and I would stand to work in an office if I were able to experience all the farces that these characters do. The parkour scene will always be a favorite of mine as well as the sweet relationship between Jim and Pam throughout the seasons. There are still days when I turn my face to the imaginary camera in my classes when someone says something unbearably stupid, Office-style.

There are always new comedic TV shows that I'm falling in love with: Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, The Mindy Project, amongst others. 

It's funny how many friendships of mine have started over a mutual love for TV shows, which I think is perfect. Great friendships and relations in general start from being able to laugh at the same things. I sometimes think that people want to seal my mouth shut with duct tape simply because of how many times I  make nerdy references (particularly to TV) in one day, but what can I say?

My life is a sitcom. 

Be The Change-TEDxYouth

"TED-ideas worth spreading". 

Through a night of networking with intellectual, bright young adults, listening to the eloquent speeches of high schoolers, and raiding the table of snacks, I had something of an epiphany. I like the word "epiphany"-that moment when an idea strikes you intensely and fiercely-but I don't necessarily believe in it. For me, ideas are things that gradually build up over time, but in this case, I'd never felt an idea hit me with such force.

I've always struggled with the idea of altruism. This is partly because I'm a little cynical and I have a hard time believing that people will do things solely for the benefit of someone besides themselves. Also because there's a certain sort of contempt that the word "altruism" displays. I've never been a fan of that holier-than-thou tone. But as I was listening to these teenagers talk about ways that they wanted to change the world, ways they were changing the world, my thoughts on altruism were changed. Maybe in giving people the things we never got, we can not only better their lives, but enhance our existence. 

I have a hard time talking about these things because of how vulnerable it makes me feel and the amount of sappiness I experience, but when you see someone just as vulnerable-well, I think that's liberating in a way. 

I don't want to get all philosophical here, because that would ensue an awful lot of vulnerability, but listening to those young adults speaking at the Princeton Public Library with such honesty and bareness was inspiring. Not only did it fill me up with that positive zeal that being around so many brilliant people does, but I got to meet so many interesting people! Each voice was so unique and special and I loved every minute of it. I also met a father who was from India who talked about how incredible it was to see the youth eager to change the world. He was always bobbing his head to music and nodded sincerely whenever the speakers talked. Possibly the sweetest person I've ever met. 

At the beginning of the event, we were asked to write down a dream of ours. It could be something small or something really grand, but it needed to be a dream we were committed to making happen. I decided my dream would be to change at least one person's life. Now, that sounds like something you'd read in a self-help book or hear in a rom-com, but I really meant it. I think we're constantly impacting each other, even in the smallest ways. I really love that, the idea that if we can all spread a little positivity, we can change the world. Did you know that one smile can cause the same amount of brain stimulation as eating 2,000 bars of chocolate? Not only that, but smiling is something contagious for humans. In theory, one smile could impact someone's life. 

In conclusion, TEDxYouth was a fantastic experience, what with the endless amount of donut holes and "light snacks" they were serving. We also got to hear an amazing a capella group sing a Regina Spektor song. REGINA SPEKTOR. A snazzy jazz band played for us too. It was perfect and left me feeling inspired and ready to write and have a coffee.

Revolutionary Voices reading

Ronak Trivedi giving his speech

How to Charm Your Teachers

As I've stated before, I'm currently writing a novel, which is scary and fun and chaotic. But mainly fun. Sharing writing is a nerve-wracking endeavor but, just like writing itself, feels so good after the coffee drinking-esque nervousness subsides. So here is a small snippet of chapter seven in my novel which is, as of now, still untitled. Enjoy. Or not. No pressure.

7. How To Charm You Teachers

I don’t know if I’m like, the Hermione Granger of my school or something, but all of my teachers adore me.* Like this morning, I was walking in to get some coffee from Dunkin Donuts and I saw my old tenth grade English teacher, Mr. Smyrna. If I hadn’t seen him, I would’ve made my way to work and sat through another boring day, listlessly checking in books. But when you’ve charmed a teacher and they see you in a coffee shop a year later, you end up staying behind half an hour and chatting with this humorous, unfairly handsome man.
There are a few pointers that I’d like to share with you to get to this point.

• Read books. Lots of them and especially the ones from the classic section. Teachers dig it when their students are lounging during class reading a copy of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Just make sure you've got a twentieth century American classic in hand, otherwise the lounging part is counterproductive.
• Be a respectful, studious wallflower. This one is pretty obvious, I mean, what teacher wants their students drawing caricatures of them and talking about last night’s episode of Jersey Shore in class?
• Even though you want to be respectful and studious and whatnot, you have to learn to walk that fine line between being coquettish and cheeky and being Daniel Tosh. You’ll learn as you go.
• Stay a little while after class and talk to your teacher. It could be a question about the assignment, a remark about how amazing their new haircut looks (although you should use this one sparingly, as they know how to spot out empty compliments which this one mostly likely will be), or a conversation about how wonderful Roger Ebert’s tweets are. Once you engage with your teacher, they’ll know you’re a sweet and saucy intellectual with fine taste that enjoys talking to elders.**
• Finally, be me. It’s that simple. This will one hundred percent guarantee you to win the heart of every teacher you meet. Every. One.

*With the exception of my French teacher. What can I say? French is hard, and she’s an angsty teacher that writes poetry in a notebook that's bigger than her head. And also my freshman history teacher, the one that wore Winne the Pooh sweaters-What do you mean Wikipedia isn’t a reliable source of information?!

**What? This isn’t you? Now would be a great time to fake it if you want that 4.0 GPA, honey.