Aujourd'hui à la carte: a delicious dish of daily life with a side of artistic bits from a Liberal, 22-year-old black American. I'm a student studying microbiology and exploring Christianity. I ♥ intelligent debate, discussions and speaking French. I ♥ philosophy, biology, politics and eating good food. I also ♥ tennis and biking. Here's 
You can’t kill something that’s already dead. Just leave my soul alone…
posted on December 27, 2011
♬♫♪: Wintersleep – “Weighty”
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Reading: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
This year was so incredibly powerful and beautiful. This year was so brutal and breath-taking. This year saw dictators fall and people rise. This year saw mother nature’s wrath and human kind’s limitations. This year saw how cruel people could be. This year saw the birth of the 7th billionth person.
This year my eyes were opened to my own bigotry I have toward Muslims of how I try to simplify their beliefs when I can’t even wrap my head around the religion I’m surrounded by: Christianity. This year my eyes were opened to beginning to see Islam as another viable worldview and not just a misogynistic archaic and hateful religion.
This year my eyes were opened to how much I’ve learned about microbiology & philosophy. This year my eyes were opened to how much I’ve learned about microbiology graduate school culture. This year my eyes were opened to how good I truly have it being in college in the midwest of America. This year, my eyes were opened to how things are more complicated than black and white guidelines. This year my eyes were opened to how much I don’t know.
And so below, here are four excerps of various forms of art that I’ve found powerful or that have spoken to me in some way.
“… And, in fact, we find that the more a cultivated reason applies itself with deliberate purpose to the enjoyment of life and happiness, so much the more does the man fail of true satisfaction. And from this circumstance there arises in many, if they are candid enough to confess it, a certain degree of misology, that is, hatred of reason, especially in the case of those who are most experienced in the use of it, because after calculating all the advantages they derive, I do not say from the invention of all the arts of common luxury, but even from the sciences (which seem to them to be after all only a luxury of the understanding), they find that they have, in fact, only brought more trouble on their shoulders, rather than gained in happiness; and they end by envying, rather than despising, the more common stamp of men who keep closer to the guidance of mere instinct and do not allow their reason much influence on their conduct. ”
→ Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
I got out of bed today. Swear to God I couldn’t see my face. I got out of bed today staring at a ghost, who forgot to float away, didn’t have all that much to say…wouldn’t even tell me his own name. Where’d my body go?
Where oh where’d my body go? Africa or Mexico? Where or where’d my body go? Where’d my body go?
Have you seen my ghost? Staring at the ground? Have you seen my ghost? Sick of those goddamn clouds.
→ ♪♫ Wintersong – “Weighty”
“Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I’ve gone which would not have happened if I had not come. Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each “I,” every one of the now-six-hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude. I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you’ll have to swallow a world.”
→ Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
“No people whose word for “yesterday” is the same as their word for “tomorrow” can be said to have a firm grip on the time.” → Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
4 days until a new year, just some thoughts and questions I’m taking into the new year with me. What is something(s) you learned this year? What is something you’re glad to leave in this year? What’s inspired you this year? Enlighten me 
This year definitely was an interesting year, your post made me remember some things I had even forgotten about. Such as the death of Osama Bin Laden, the fall of dictators. The London Riots, wow, and here I was trying to think of what had happened this year. xD
I hope you have a good new year.
As for something I’ve learned/wish to leave behind? I don’t know, that will take some thinking and considering.
I’m really glad to read that this year has allowed you to open your eyes so much, especially when it comes to Muslims. There were a lot of Muslims at my high school, so I guess I kind of grew up with them (and was friends with them) during my most impressionable years, so I didn’t even realize there were people in this world who didn’t realize they weren’t all extremists and terrorists. At my school, everyone was taken aback when there was something anti-Islam on the news, for example.
I’m having a hard time looking back on my year and trying to find lessons to take away from it or things I would like to leave behind. I had some valuable experiences like working a full-time job and traveling on my own for the first time, but I can’t think of anything entirely profound. It’s definitely been one hell of a year, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2012 will bring!
Every year should be something different. Even if it’s better or not
! It is awesome to have even one more person who’s open minded about other religions in the world. There’s some good in every religion- you just gotta find it. It’s great to know more about what you don’t expect every day! 
! It just shapes you as a better person 
!
I don’t know anything in specific that sticks out from what I’ve learned. I suppose, things can change within 3 months of any given moment. Never expect the unexpected or something. But I am glad that marching season’s over for my school
! And inspiration… Seeing how the freshmen in band screwed their life over by getting into relationships inspired me to step up and disapprove of it :P.
Take care(:
Beautiful insights Claire! You just made me appreciate 2011 more despite me hating it. A lot of good things have happened to me and to other people and a lot of crazy things happened to. One must look at the other to appreciate life. Must stop looking at myself for a while. haha!
It’s just so crazy what people would do for religion right? Doesn’t matter Christians or Muslims. I guess what 9/11 really did leave an imprint on people’s lives that’s why people are still so afraid… and so -ist. I like how respect goes in the Muslim culture but how did their idealism let them push through with suicide bombing, etc? That’s just what gets me though but since you have studied Muslim culture, you could say something about this? I can’t really say much since I haven’t really studied their culture a lot. Just know a few things
AGAIN a new music find! Thank you dear! I can’t find your spotify on facebook D8 oh dear!
Love that Salman Rushdie quote! You should try reading C. S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. It’s a philosophical and theological book and a retelling of Psyche and Cupid in the POV of Psyche’s sister. Really interesting and moving read. Gosh I haven’t read much Lewis’ books but this book is really wonderful!
“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself is the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?”
CHEERS!
WHOAH LAYOUT CHANGE!! RIGHT AFTER I COMMENTED! lol amazing! LOVE THE NEW LAYOUT DEAR!
I love the new layout, just wanted to say. The blue is bright but calming, and it’s not too blinding either!
It’s a good thing you can realise how much you didn’t know and how much you’ve learned. In that, you’ve also realised where you’ve gone wrong and how you’ve come to realise that.
I’m pretty interested in religion but I try not to judge. Some religions are unusual to me but I don’t know absolutely everything about them. And I also watched a documentary on how Christianity evolved from Judaism… that, also something I didn’t know. There’s so much to learn in the world, so much to open our eyes to.
It’s been a pretty crazy year but overall I look at it positively. Many good things happened and I’m thankful for those. I try not to think about the bad things.
Making separate thumbnails is such a pain in the butt so I honestly don’t blame you. xD I used to offer stock images on my website and making thumbnails was soooo annoying. I have a photoblog where I just resize all photos to about 600×400 and post it that size. Haha.
In 2012 I’m going to be doing postgrad study, but I’m going to be working as well. In Australia postgrad course classes are usually held at night because they’re designed for people who work full time. So I can still work during the day
It seems like this year has been a huge eye-opener for you, and I’m glad that you are handling it well. Truly, this year has been an eye-opener for the whole world, and it has hard to predict what will happen next. I hope that religious people in the world, especially the American Christians who seem to hate the Muslims and the Muslims who seem to hate the Christians (because they’re causing trouble for everyone else), realize that they worship the same God, the God of Abraham in different ways. History gives such a great perspective to current events sometimes.
I grew up in a community that was almost all white. Occasionally, we had a black kid, but they were few in number where I live. As a result, everyone seemed to ignore the fact that the black kid was black and treated him well – and there were no racial lines really drawn. I don’t know if that’s the ideal, and I don’t know how current white/black lines are in communities unlike where I grew up, but I am glad that society has improved since the 60s.
You’re young enough that you can still say that you have a lifetime ahead of you, and there will be a lot coming up for you. I wish you the best, and good luck on graduate admissions! Happy New Year!
Hey Claire! I am SO sorry but this comment is very irrelevant. I just wanted to give you the link to my new site (this is Mimi of DR.com btw). It’s http://www.alittlequirky.com. My friends and I have neglected it, but I’m gonna do better soon lol. I promise to come back to leave a proper comment but I gotta get back to my graduate essays! Hope to hear from you soon!
I believe in God but I also believe that one should try to be accepting of and respectful towards the religious (and cultural or traditional) beliefs of others as long as they do not go against our morals as human beings.
2011 has been amazing for me because I learned so much, too. This year I’ve also seen how cruel humans can be (not that I’ve not seen this for the last few years but it was just so clear to me this year) and it was precisely this that got me to champion two animal-related causes.
This year formal education ends for me and though I will miss it some day but for now I’m glad to leave it.
Hope 2012 will be an even better year for you.