Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. - George Washington

I’m not normally one to quote the founding fathers unless it’s early July or a political cocktail party where most people don’t realize what a randy fellow Ben Franklin really was, in his day; but I really liked this quote, especially after what’s been going on lately. This goes along with something that Camus says in his Notebooks about friendship and expectations—but I’ll get there in due time.

I’ve been learning German quickly as possible through the Pimsleur Method. It’s slow but steady going. My professor tried to talk me out of it, though, when he heard that I was starting from scratch with this and I got near-fluency on Spanish lo these many moons ago. I may end up having to do Spanish for my foreign language, but I’d rather just learn that on my own time as need dictates: German is the über-tongue, pun intended.

Incidentally, here is a nice list of the “[1] Best German Films for German-Learners“. Also, an entire series of freely-streamable (but not freely-downloadable) television-based German lessons [2] here. (”Fokus Deutsch” is a classroom method, book not included on the website.)

A parting thought. Is the alienation we feel in America, the sociological WASP problem (i.e., single white male Protestants are the most likely demographic to commit suicide—need I look into Orthodoxy? ), and the general anomie people tend to experience with capitalism—is all of this being addressed by Eastern thought? I have a feeling that what’s pushing most of my peers to dabble in Buddhism (Zen, Theravadan, or otherwise) instead of straight, all-American atheism or some such, is at least the illusion of communion with others, a community atmosphere, a collectivist mindset. Your thoughts?

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. - George Washington

I’m not normally one to quote the founding fathers unless it’s early July or a political cocktail party where most people don’t realize what a randy fellow Ben Franklin really was, in his day; but I really liked this quote, especially after what’s been going on lately. This goes along with something that Camus says in his Notebooks about friendship and expectations—but I’ll get there in due time.

I’ve been learning German quickly as possible through the Pimsleur Method. It’s slow but steady going. My professor tried to talk me out of it, though, when he heard that I was starting from scratch with this and I got near-fluency on Spanish lo these many moons ago. I may end up having to do Spanish for my foreign language, but I’d rather just learn that on my own time as need dictates: German is the über-tongue, pun intended.

Incidentally, here is a nice list of the “[3] Best German Films for German-Learners“. Also, an entire series of freely-streamable (but not freely-downloadable) television-based German lessons [4] here. (”Fokus Deutsch” is a classroom method, book not included on the website.)

A parting thought. Is the alienation we feel in America, the sociological WASP problem (i.e., single white male Protestants are the most likely demographic to commit suicide—need I look into Orthodoxy? ), and the general anomie people tend to experience with capitalism—is all of this being addressed by Eastern thought? I have a feeling that what’s pushing most of my peers to dabble in Buddhism (Zen, Theravadan, or otherwise) instead of straight, all-American atheism or some such, is at least the illusion of communion with others, a community atmosphere, a collectivist mindset. Your thoughts?