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The “Sunscreen Essay”

06/17/2011 By

Back in 1997, an essay titled Sunscreen or Wear Sunscreen was making the rounds on the Internet. According to the urban legend, it was a commencement address given by Kurt Vonnegut. That turned out not to be the case. It was actually the work of Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. A couple of years later, it was used to create a successful music single by Baz Luhrmann (link below).

So I seriously doubt this will be new to many people (unless, perhaps, you were living in a cave for several years around that time) but because our topic recently has been the summer sun, and since it is graduation season and this would be fitting for a commencement address (even if it never actually was) I thought I’d share it here. Anyway, it’s good advice…and bears repeating. Do you agree?

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Stupefied by the Meaning of Life

02/25/2011 By

Some years ago I managed a travel agency in Santa Fe, NM. Those who have worked with the traveling public can tell you it isn’t always easy. Just ask any airline employee about his or her experiences and be ready for an earful. (Remember that flight attendant recently who couldn’t take it any longer, popped a beer and activated the escape slide?)

Travel is stressful for many people—and it often involves significant amounts of money. Put that all together and it can lead to some pretty bad attitudes when things don’t go exactly right. And it’s the nature of the travel business that things often don’t go exactly right…

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A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit…Zen?

02/22/2011 By

Garth Brooks - Zen Master?

So the whole idea with the Zen story I posted yesterday is that we can’t ever know what the future holds. Sometimes what we think we want, turns out not to be for the best…or vice versa…

And while this is a very Zen concept, the same basic idea is at the heart of some good old mainstream American sayings as well.

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What Would Buddha Do?

02/17/2011 By

Tibetan Dharma Wheel

I’m sure you’ve seen those WWJD bumper stickers (What would Jesus do?). But did you know there’s also a book out there titled What Would Buddha Do? (As well as a spin-off title: What Would Buddha Do at Work?:101 Answers to Workplace Dilemmas. We used it several years ago for some staff development here at CRIZMAC.)

The books are based on the guiding principles of Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths, which Buddha experienced while meditating under the Bodhi tree (as discussed in our post on Nirvana Day).

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The Art of the Possible

01/06/2011 By
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The Tarahumara Indian runners that we talked about earlier are incredible, no doubt. However, they are adults; for yet another inspiring example of redefining impossibility, check out what these kids are capable of! (They’re five years old, by the way.)

Would you have believed this possible?

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Virtual Fireplace Still Fuels a Hot Debate

12/16/2010 By
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On Christmas Eve in 1966, the president of WPIX-TV in New York, Fred Thrower did the unthinkable. For three hours—commercial free—he aired footage of a fire burning in a fireplace. He didn’t have much good programming on tap anyway, so he made the decision to show a close up of a cheery fireplace, complete with Christmas stockings and a flaming Yule log as a “Christmas card” to his viewers, and particularly those apartment dwelling New Yorkers with no fireplaces of their own.

A Virtual Hit

The 17-second segment, shot at Gracie Mansion, was repeated continuously via a looping process, and was accompanied by Christmas music (shown in video clip above, but with new music). It was, according to The New York Times, “the television industry’s first experiment in non-programming.” It was also an immediate hit.  [Read more...]

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Getting Your Just Desserts

12/10/2010 By

I have a little sign posted on my bathroom mirror (right below “The 30 Day Test of Proactivity” from Stephen Covey’s landmark—for me, anyway—book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People). Anyway, I don’t remember where I first came across this saying, but the sign reads:

“We don’t get what we deserve, we get what we settle for.”

What do you think?

Is this True…?  False…?  True, with some caveats, which are…?

Related Posts:

Weighing In on the Virgin of Guadalupe and Other Miracles

On Miracles (Quotations)

Winning Life’s Lottery

Miracle Weight Loss Soup

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Sexy Flowers?

11/12/2010 By

Many art critics and others have suggested that Georgia O’Keeffe’s large flower images are very erotic in nature. Although O’Keeffe herself never admitted to any such intention, it isn’t difficult to imagine why the critics might have reached the conclusion they did (particularly in some cases). What do you think? Are these merely paintings of very enlarged flowers or do you see the images as erotic? And if so, do you think this was O’Keeffe’s intention—either consciously or subconsciously? Or is it something that is simply inherent in the sexual similarities that exist between flowers and humans? Does it matter?

Related Posts:

No Shrinking Violet: Georgia O’Keeffe and the Art of Awareness

On Art and Awareness (Quotations)

Narrated Observation Activity

Getting Close: An Exercise for Art and Life

Flowery Poetry

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Squashed Beliefs? The Legacy of the Great Pumpkin

10/27/2010 By
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Charles Schultz first introduced the unseen character of the Great Pumpkin in his popular comic strip, Peanuts, in 1959. The Great Pumpkin would continue to appear (or rather, pointedly not appear) in comic strips and television specials for many years thereafter. The Great Pumpkin existed primarily in the mind of Linus, who sat in a pumpkin patch every year, adamant in his belief that this would be surely be the year that the Great Pumpkin would finally appear. According to Linus, on Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch he deems the most “sincere,” and then flies through the air delivering toys to all the good little children in the world. Linus also believed that the Great Pumpkin would bypass anyone who doubted his existence. Despite repeated disappointments, and the ridicule of his friends and family, Linus’s faith in the Great Pumpkin never wavered. [Read more...]

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The Story of Your Life

10/14/2010 By

We all do it. Something happens and we sigh, “It’s the story of my life!”

But have you ever really thought about it? What is the story of your life? If you wrote your autobiography, what would you call it?

Erma Bombeck was the queen of catchy titles. Remember If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? Or how about When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It’s Time to Go Home?  And then there’s Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do with It? And Lance Armstrong’s It’s Not About the Bike.

There are some real groaners out there, too. Have you seen: [Read more...]

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