One More Thing Stories and Other Stories: An Unsolicited Review

As the calendar oh so slowly creeps towards break, the thought of what you might do on your plane ride home, or pool side at that as that oh-so-deserved 3 ½ star resort comes to mind. The choice is difficult. You are at an age that reading Twilight in public would be shameful and at a point in the semester that the act of reading might cause your brain to just cease to exist. Given this dilemma, I recommend the book One More Thing, Stories and Other Stories by B.J Novak.

The book is a collection of short stories that are easily digestible, but go to the extent of entertainment within them. Novak, you may remember from, The Office, playing “the temp” Ryan, but what you may not know is that Novak was a lead writer for the show and brings a similar if not greater sense of humor to this collection. And in true Ryan ‘millennial’ fashion, the stories are short enough to keep your Buzzfeed trained brained enticed.

The book uses the concrete parts of lives like the of photos we take of our meals or the entering a breakfast cereal to speak to the bigger less tangible like loneliness or the relationship we have with our parents. All the while keeping you wanting to read more so you can then be so cool for recommending this hilarious book to all your friends.

As with many short story collections, One More Thing has a few stories that follow the absurdist point of view, as in one story entitled, MONSTER: The Roller Coaster, in which a roller coaster is constructed inspired by life. The test riders argue if they liked it’s ups and downs, and how it felt like they were going in circles. The book gets it’s audience thinking about some of the ways we view the world, life and ourselves without getting dark and continuing to make me laugh to myself in public places.

I had the pleasure of listening the NPR recently (yes, I read books AND listen to NPR, sue me) and the program featured readings from One More Thing. This brought the book to life and I was gunning for more readings of the stories I had already read. Check out the readings online at NPR, and you will definitely be hooked on the way Novak is able to capture reality just so.

I will end this review in a similar way to one of Novak’s short stories; the book is “More satisfying than a candy bar, but less satisfying than love”.

One more thing, I finally returned my copy to ODY, go wild.

Classically Classy

In an attempt to take the most productive break from your studies, I would like to recommend the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s to you for your viewing pleasure (available streaming on Netflix). I came to watch recently the film as I have taken to watching “classic” movies over reruns of The Office in hope that I might learn something along the way. In my opinion, when the term “classic” is used often a casually in-group mentality set in. Nobody wants to be the one who says, “What’s that movie even about?” or gasp “I’ve never seen that movie before, what’s the big deal”. But like a good SLU kid, I admit what I don’t know and am open to trying new things.

The film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1968) is based off a book written Truman Capote (Yup, The In Cold Blood guy). The film follows Holly Gologhtly, played by Audrey Hepburn as she lives the life she is not quite sure she is happy with in mid-Manhattan. As I watched, I, the unemployed college student that I am, kept asking, “How does she afford this?”. Without a real job or anyone else seeming to support her, the NYC dose not seem plausible. The film shows some of the different tactics for funding a New York City living, but Holly seems far from being able to balance a budget or real direction for herself. But She makes being a “mess” seem pretty fabulous (and this girl can really network) If it all seems fake, it’s a movie, keep that in mind. The film is filled with real questions for an audience and becomes a beautiful film entirely. A quote from her love interest Paul Varjak, played by George Peppard, speaks to the one of many philosophical ideas of the movie, “You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s going to stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself…No matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

Just like that what you thought was a guilty pleasure chick-flick has sparked deep thought about human agency. This isn’t the only good quote you’ll witness as you watch Breakfast at Tif’s (oh yeah, it’s happening now), but hopefully enough to make sure you stream this “oldie but goodie” to find the others. Soon your wall will be plastered with Audrey Hepburn quotes and you’ll find yourself yelling “CAT!” every time it rains.

As for the whole “Breakfast” part, you’ll never understand and go on living thinking the Tiffany’s in New York has a great egg sandwich if you don’t watch this film. Oh and that song, you’ll finally “get it”. So stop pretending to be someone your not, nodding along when Blair Waldorf says pretty much anything and turn on a true “Classic”.

*Side effects include an unhealthy worshipping of Audrey Hepburn, increased consumption of croissants, unrealistic expectations for love, trips to the county jail, an appreciation for the finer things in life and spending your days doing things you have never done before

This article was feature in The Hill News February 20, 2015.

Something to Snack On

We can all appreciate some B&J, Ben and Jerry’s that is. Recently the Vermont based company released a new flavor to keep up with the changing job of Jimmy Fallon (who formerly had “Late-Night Snack”), but as he has taken on a new role, the ice cream is keeping up “The Tonight Dough”. The new flavor is not messing around either with the description reading “chocolate and caramel ice creams with chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter cookie dough and a crunchy chocolate cookie swirl.”

With an addition of with such a fitting puny name is also in line with the company’s values. All the ice cream produced using FairTrade ingredients. This means that all of the ingredient producers are paid fair and market value prices for their good. This means that the sugar, vanilla, or coffee farmers that provide them are being fairly compensated. This is not a required practice by the United States or many of the countries that are providing the materials. For example, the much important cocoa of the new flavor is sourced from the Ivory Coast. The higher prices paid by FairTrade companies allow for the ability for these areas to better the way of life for the people in the area. FairTrade proponents argue that the ability for developing countries to have better lives is more important than increasing revenue for the company.

The company continues to make their ice cream do good by using “Caring Dairy”, which promotes better conditions for dairy farms in all aspects from the cows themselves to the chemicals used on the farm. They do not stop there, the company commits to using cage-free eggs, all non-GMO ingredients, and look to be environmentally responsible in packaging and carbon footprint.

Ben and Jerry’s is an example of a company that makes a profit, but also cares about the world it is doing that in. The founders promote progressive values for their products and business practices. Given “The Tonight Dough”, the company is choosing to give proceeds to SeriousFun Children’s Network. The network supports camps for children with illnesses to have opportunity to grow in confidence and independence.

So as you are looking for a little something to take care of your sweet tooth (and you only gave up candy for Lent) pony up the Flex-Fuel, and don’t let the nutrition facts on the back of that pub’s pint of Ben and Jerry’s stop you. This ice cream is out to change the world and your late night pleasure is someone else’s livelihood or ticket to camp. Grab a spoon; I can’t finish this whole thing myself.

This article appeared in The Hill News on March 2, 2015.

Crime of our Time

There is an epidemic on campus. I know, that’s pretty aggressive in terms of labeling the problem, but I had to get your attention. The epidemic, sitting. Sitting it’s something we rarely even think about. When we think about our fitness, we often assess whether or not we were out and about, went to the gym, or at had to walk the LONG way around the snow bank. But when you start to think about it, ask yourself, how many hours a day am I sitting? Between class time, study time, the oh so enjoyable Dana sitting, the hours start to add up. Don’t forget to add the bed lounging that is what happens when you don’t even have interest in sitting up-right.

“But, I work out, I’m not a couch potato!” And it’s true, no one is calling you lazy, but it important to understand damage being done to your body that is undermining your overall health. Studies have shown that our trips to the gym are not enough, due to the problem being the prolonged sitting time. The average college student sits about 5-6 hours. Here in Canton it hard to stray from the warmth of our campus buildings where sitting is the norm. Both the short-term and long-term affects of sitting are worth your attention, and if you think back to the last time you were enjoying yourself, ask yourself this, were you sitting or standing?

To break out of the ingrained social and personal norms of sitting try to incorporate a few of these tips into your daily:

-Add up the hours you are sitting during a day of classes, this number should scare you into realizing just how much inactivity you are currently engaged in

-Start the habit of taking 5-minute breaks no matter what after one hour of sitting

-When a professor gives a break in a long class, GET UP. Head for the stairs and take a lap, you will likely be able to pay attention better when you return.

-Drink more water, you’ll break up your sitting stints by constantly having to pee

-Create a standing work station in your work, atop a dresser, Grades do not have to be sacrificed for health

-Stand up right now!