What I’m Reading: The Big Short by Michael Lewis

Stop 2 on my exploration of Lewis’ work is The Big Short. When I first saw the film version, I was absolutely struck by the characters. Now that I’m reading the source material, it’s clear to see how Lewis’ depiction became the anchor the movie was built on. For those unfamiliar, The Big Short focuses on the observant and daring few who discovered and profited from the housing market crash of 2008. Through the lens of these characters, Lewis can string a narrative that terrifies and informs readers, meanwhile damming the ignorance and greed of the financial institutions that lead us, blindly, into the crisis. If the complexity of the real estate market seems like a tough entry point, don’t worry. Lewis does well in keeping the reader on track, giving them all the information they need to keep up in the story of these characters. I highly recommend this book if you have even a passing interest in the movie or learning more about the 2008 crisis.

What I Accomplished: Putting Up This Website, Unfinished

I was nervous about making this website live. It’s far from done, and there’s still a lot I’d like to figure out. In the end, however, I found myself spending more and more of my free time working on the website and than drafting the pieces for the site (hopefully to be up soon). Some call this “Insecurity work,” the work before the real work. The work that never ends. It’s a dangerous trap of creativity. With this in mind, I decided the website was ready enough and decided to get back to the work I really enjoy. The rest will come with time.

What I’m Struggling With: Giving It a Fair Shot

This week I’m back for my final semester of college, and as with every other student coming back from their holidays, I’m getting a bit tired of it. Though perhaps its a little more justified this time around. For me, I figured out how the system worked a long time ago, and since then, I’ve more or less coasted on it, focusing on what I deemed essential and checking the boxes on the rest. The downside, however, is that once you understand how to game it all, you stop paying attention. Now, however, at the end of my formal education, I realize that maybe it deserves a fair shot. I’m not claiming that formal education is the best it could be, or that I’ve destroyed my education, I have plenty of issues with the system. But I also haven’t done myself any favors in closing myself off from it. Taking my education into my own hands with reading and personal study has made me realize that the best lessons are found in the most unexpected places. Sometimes entirely unintended. By closing myself off from classes, assuming I didn’t need them, or worse thinking I was above them, ignored this fact. So, for the first time in a long time, I’m attempting to give my classes a fair shot, swallow my pride, and see if anything’s there. Maybe I will have been right all along, and I will just have proven it to myself. Or perhaps I’ll find something new to share. I guess I’ll have to open up and see.

A Quote I’m Thinking About:

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Shakespeare Hamlet II.ii

I’ve been involved with Hamlet more ways and times than I can count. Until now, this line had never been more than a point of analysis in class. But now, after a deep dive into philosophy, I can’t seem to get it out of my head. More and more, this encompasses what I want to see from myself, what I am working towards. This idea of equanimity is perhaps the loftiest goal we can all strive for. 

The TED Talk I Fell In Love With: The Gospel of Doubt – Casey Gerald

Gut-wrenching and beautiful with just the right amount of humor. Gerald has an incredible way of connecting you with his story, stringing you into his life of beliefs as if you had always had them yourself. The sentiment, though rooted in loss and darkness, has stayed with me. I think Gerald, in his idea od humble doubt, has found the words to say something that I have struggled to put together for a long time.