: About Me

I took the long road to pursuing a degree in Landscape Architecture. Along the way, I made pit stops as a jeweler, welder, massage therapist, and vagabond.

When I am not writing or gardening, I am involved in philanthropic work aimed at increasing environmental and social awareness, often involving travel to places that make most people a little uneasy.

I recently spent a few months doing disaster research in southeast Asia, and am eager to get back there on a more permanent basis.

I'm not convinced that we get another chance at this life thing, so I'm out to do what I think is important to the best of my abilities.

Make hay while the sun shines, I say!

My passion is ...

language and travel

I know too much about ...

global issues

My parents always told me ...

not to be afraid

My childhood ambition ...

to be the girl on the flying trapeze

My favorite memory ...

climbing a mountain in the Sri Lankan highlands

Why I write ...

to maintain a relatively high level of sanity

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

crickets announcing the arrival of spring

My first job ...

I got with a fake ID, dishwashing in a restaurant

My best moment ...

when I am dancing, or public speaking

My inspiration ...

all of my predecessors who made my life possible

Society & Lifestyle > North American Culture Consumption culture in today's America

8 of 10

America is not addicted to oil, it is addicted to everything. We want everything, we want it now, and by God, we want a lot of it! The level of consumption in America is, in short, grotesque. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think a primary culprit is the fact that we have been fed a steady diet of advertisement and illusion for the past half century. Additionally, our adoption of capitalism coupled with an overly active credit policy has led to a complete lack of rational though pattern being applied to consumption. Most people are shocked when they discover that ad executives a...

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