China Celebrates Status As Number One Polluter

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. The Onion: America’s finest news source, indeed!

Tasting Asia in Abilene

 Though social etiquette would advise you to avoid discussing religion and politics over a meal, going as far as to label this action taboo, these rules are quickly discharged when sleep-deprived, overworked and underpaid journalists receive several days of vacation. Whenever given a brief respite from late nights at the newsroom, my slightly eccentric journalism friends celebrate — Asian-style.

Huddled over a kitchen table or seated around Korean-style dining furniture (compliments of the group’s favorite half-Korean), each individual contributes time and labor for his or her dinner. The end result, be it Chinese dumplings, Korean barbeque or coconut Thai curry, has always been as consistently appetizing as it is memorable.

And though I will miss these nights with my dear friends, circumventing responsibility as my house oozed of Beirut music and the aroma of kimchi, the photos suffice, reminding us of a time when covering each other in baking flour was a natural accompaniment to laughter, and when saying goodbye at the evening’s conclusion was simply a prelude to a full week of time spent together.

Because I can’t get enough of Glen and Mar

Surprise Oscar win promotes essence of art

published in the Feb. 22 issue of “The Optimist”

Giving their Academy Award-winning speeches in front of Tinseltown’s finest, two relatively obscure European musicians reminded Hollywood that brilliance is often found in unexpected places.

With two Handycams and a $100- thousand budget, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova starred in what actor Colin Farrell labeled “the little movie that could,” as “Once” successfully won the hearts of moviegoers and music lovers across the Western Hemisphere.

Loosely classified as a modern musical, “Once” tells the story of a Czech woman who finds a friend and “Hoover fixer” in a local Irish street musician. Based in Dublin, the two almost lovers spend the majority of the film making music and challenging each other to become better versions of themselves.

The plot is simple but refreshing, the cinematography raw, and with a musical score that earned this year’s Oscar for “best original song,” “Once” unassumingly oneupped the flashy, unoriginal junk Hollywood so frequently doles out.

I find something courageously inspiring about featuring musicians with no acting experience, rather than A-listers, in a film that is so musical by nature. Inspiring enough at least to wear knee socks scrunched around my ankles for the last two months like “Mar’s” character does throughout the movie. Inspiring enough to feel a sense of pride for Glen and Mar as they performed “Falling Slowly” at Sunday’s Academy Awards and jump up and down screaming shamelessly with my girlfriends after they were announced this year’s winners.

I’m wired to root for the underdog, and Glen and Mar deservingly earned their moment of glory Sunday night. These two not only delivered a heart-warming performance as two struggling individuals, they successfully maintained their integrity as independent musicians and gave the world a phenomenal soundtrack to memorialize this story of redemption.

I’m aware that if the movie industry recurrently produced films as unique and personal as “Once,” they would cease to be embraced with such acclaim. But I’m glad the Academy and the public responded to this particular film openmindedly, promoting the creation of art in its various forms and reminding us that the less conventional paths to achievement are often the most rewarding.

Ode to Jupiter House

Since relocating to Denton from Abilene, I find myself spending a lot of time at my favorite antique store turned coffee shop more commonly referred to in town as Jupiter House. I’ve been a fan of the 24-hour coffee shop since its opening more than six years ago, and the longer I spend time in this place, the more it continues to grow on me. 

I’m a strong believer in finding a second home in the coffee shops I frequent, and Starbucks simply doesn’t cut it. No, the sort of establishment I’m speaking of needs to be a place where you can kick up your feet, a place where you can comfortably sip espresso next to an eclectic looking stranger and lose track of the world going on outside the art-covered walls of your caffeine-promoting refuge. For me, this place is Jupiter House — a business that transcends time and social class while maintaining a local charm that is difficult to come by in an increasingly homogenized culture of rollback prices and super-sized meals. And besides, how many coffee shops sell organic T-shirts, produce the most phenomenal wheat grass smoothie or offer customers a menu full of galaxically labeled beverages.

But more than culture and comfort, I enjoy the company I find at my local oasis, sitting with friends in silence as we chip away at separate tasks, dialoging about the world’s most perplexing issues with an acquaintance, or simply thanking the barista for marketing Fair Trade products — I love it all.

So thank you Jupiter House for standing strong in a sea of coffee franchises that threaten to put an end to all you deem valuable with their ever increasing popularity. But most importantly thank you for culture you promote and the conversations you foster over the tastiest of legally addictive stimulants.