Monday, November 4, 2013

I'd be ashamed to spend this much observing a day that encourages thankfulness.

c0 Williams-Sonoma turkey email from 2013-10-31
Click to enlarge: Williams-Sonoma turkey email from 2013-10-31

One would have to be mighty thankful to spend $75-$170 on a turkey (plus $10 shipping). I’d be ashamed to celebrate my bounty by spending that much on a day I should be mindful of how little others have.

How can anyone build a business model around pecuniary gluttony? (An affliction in which a person can’t enjoy their food without spending too much for it. I just made that up, but I think it’s real.)

I realize too there are scales of bounty and I probably fall right in the middle. I have no concept of what it’s like to be hungry on Thanksgiving Day. As someone who has plenty, I work at understanding want.

[2013-10-31]

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c0 Prof Bill Vande Kopple

RIP Bill Vande Kopple

Yesterday I found out that a former professor of mine died recently. Professor Vande Kopple introduced me to linguistics, which interests me still, but which I could not turn into a career.

Had I stayed in the classroom and with language, I think things would have been much different, though I would have been, alas, an unremarkable linguist.

Prof Vande Koppel had an imposing frame but gentle presence. I looked forward to every moment I had in his classroom.

Calvin College page remembering Prof Vande Kopple >


[2013-10-23]



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