Walden and No TV

I have actually been reading Walden, but it's taking me a while to get through. This is not due to its content, as I find the thoughts of Thoreau to be incredible, but the silence is killing me. I miss the television for the background noise it provides. Something about it makes me feel surrounded by people, even though they are fake people. For example, as many of my friends know, I took to spending basically every evening with Criminal Minds when I first got back to Kalamazoo after Christmas. For those of you who don't know, my roommate moved during Christmas break, so I am living alone for the first time. I was alone over the summer while she was on internship, but I knew she was coming back. This is longer and altogether different. I have now replaced Criminal Minds with a new favorite podcast...The Thomas Jefferson Hour. A fellow portrays Thomas Jefferson. What more could I ask for, right? So one day I was listening to my latest download of the show and iTunes asked if I wanted to download all and I thought "yeah sure". I slicked this command and then found that it was downloading some 249 episodes dating back to like 2006! I couldn't figure out how to stop so I just went with it. Anywho I now listen to The Thomas Jefferson while working on my thesis, cleaning, cooking, falling asleep....it's most definitely replaced Criminal Minds as my new 'friend," especially since I have no television. You really don't know how much you depend on it until you don't have it. Craziness. I can't watch Netflix while I thesis (yes I turned it into a verb) because that would have to be on my computer. So, anyways, so break the silence I listen to podcasts instead of reading, but that is not to say that I'm not reading. I spent a good portion of my Sunday morning reading instead of watching some kind of Anthony Bourdain marathon or something...

Onto Walden. Thoreau seems to be speaking to my soul right now. It's not that I wish to leave the modernized world and to live with only the minimal shelter, clothes, and belongings. I enjoy my clothes, home, movies, books, art, etc. They all represent me. I feel this is where Thoreau falls short in his first section of Walden, entitled 'Economy'. He speaks about how people spend all of their lives striving to obtain homes, clothes, etc., and thus spend all of their time working and not experiencing life. I get that. I have recently realized that if I go right into a PhD program I will be entering in a life in which I have very little choice of where I move from now until, I'm too old to care. I should be dedicated enough to history to be okay with this. I will get my PhD. I will then go wherever the job offer is. That seems so depressing, doesn't it? What kind of control do I then have? I must say that watching 'Eat, Pray, Love' also stimulated this feeling, but Walden was the original. I will spend my life toiling wherever I am told, because I need to make a living. I could, however, live as a bum and read history books. But what could I actually aspire to be, then? Thoreau totally gets this. But, I do like my copies of Raphael's 'School of Athens' and Boticelli's 'Primavera' which I have on my wall. I love my argyle! I like having a home which provides me with an oven and a shower. I know that Thoreau may say that I only like these things because society tells me to, but, believe me, most people my age don't love Renaissance art and argyle cardigans. These are pieces of my personality which would be missing were I to build a primitive shelter in the woods. So, my dear Thoreau, you raise many good points and Walden's first chapter provides a great opportunity for introspection.

I am nowhere near finished with the book. I will keep reading and keep posting. Keep it real, friends.

The Goal

So, in order to save money and expand my horizons, I recently got rid of my cable. I did, of course, subscribe to Netflix in order to help with my lack of my mind-numbing entertainment, but I'm still hoping that I will be a bit choosier about what I commit myself to watching. I am also intending to accomplish more thesis work this way. I won't turn on the television and exclaim "Oh my God! There's a *insert the title of any television show* marathon today and I really have nowhere to be. Come here doggie, let's snuggle!" I really have wasted a lot of time watching television. I also use it to help me fall asleep, which I know is bad for you, and as background noise, which often took over as my primary activity depending on what was on. Anywho, I'm hoping that will all change and there will be a Sam Revolution! I could be setting my sights too high, but I'm optimistic about this! It's like a delayed New Year's Resolution. Besides, spring seems like the more appropriate time to make changes anyways. Who wants to start life anew when the five inches of snow that were on the ground the day before are still there. I digress.

Now, onto the project. I want to try to read for two hours every night-ish (let's not get too carried away at first) for fun. I always complain that during school I don't have time to read for fun, but the fact is that once I'm done with my school work I'd rather vegetate in front of the television than to spend more time in a book, even though I love to read. Then, when holidays come around I spend my time reading pop books like Dan Brown and vampire smut. Consequently, I own books like Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, The Last of the Mohicans, Sherlock Holmes, etc., which I have never read or have only read parts of. So, my goal with this two hours a night of reading is to finally commit myself to reading a bunch of this classic literature I am often embarrassed to admit that I've never read. What can I say? My high school kind of sucked when it came to reading this stuff. So, my goal is to post maybe once a week-ish or however often I am compelled to reflect upon what I'm reading. Perhaps this will keep me on track.



Book 1: My first book, inspired largely by the beautiful spring weather today, is Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Today was a day that made me want to sit outside and think. Additionally, my favorite literary era (in theory, because, as we've discussed, I've never completely read a bunch of these books) is the American Romantic period and I often lump the Transcendentalists in there with Cooper, Hawthorne and the like. So, I'm excited and ready to get reading! On my mark...get set...GO!