just a theory
Thursday, September 25th, 2008i’ve been volunteering at the obama HQ in berkeley this week. basically, i’m conducting an experiment. if i feel i can contribute more by coordinating many people to go to NV (the focus of the office), i will do this rather than give my one body to the cause in NV. by many accounts, nevada’s 5 electoral votes could be deal-makers/breakers. at times i feel very useful and at times i feel like i’m searching for something to do. i’m being patient about getting plugged in. i will resist swing-state-wanderlust for now.
there are many fantastic people giving any hour they can to campaign for obama, often phone-banking to swing states. that is thankless work. my mom in TX was asking about the office and the work there, so i forwarded a link to some pics i found on flickr. she said they looked very “berkeley”. i took a second look, because i was curious to know what she meant. here is the link. i guess it’s the women with no make-up and generally longer hair on the men? yes, TX and CA are different places and the fact that i notice coiffed ladies in TX airports, but don’t notice the “berkeley girls”, tells me a lot. i’m 40 yrs old and no longer wear mascara. i would have NEVER done that at texas tech U. you know what? i like being able to rub my eyes without looking like a racoon!
along those lines: i often observe behavior to identify patterns. every day is an experiment and i learn a ton. while walking around the lake i see cormorants “herding” fish underwater, while pelican’s swim above and eat. wow – working together?! i conduct social experiments about smiling at people as i pass. i think about the neutrality of my experiment’s controls. how might my ingrained biases or assumptions effect the outcome? fascinating! please comment if you do the same or read this and think i’m silly.
my life may not currently have much structure, but i try to keep my brain exercised. now i fear i am failing. i recently had a HUGE brain-failure. when i realized it, i was stunned. i bought a salt and pepper combo. only the size of the holes in the screw-top of each glass container were different and i decided, after trying the salt with the small-holes, that these holes would be better for the pepper. i started to change the contents of the containers and then realized – the containers are identical except for the size of the holes in their screw-tops! i could simply change the tops!! how often in life are there simpler solutions to problems but we don’t realize it? hmmmmm… the containers were in the shape of bears. did i inadvertently anthropomorphise them?
ok – enough. cheers pals.
Peggy Rehm