Caesar Chicken with Pearled Couscous

I started Weight Watchers again today, and they have a really neat feature on their website that helps build recipes. So I made this one! (Online on the WW site here).

Ingredients:

	1 breast(s) Chicken, breast, raw, without skin & bone, cut into bite-sized pieces
	2 serving(s) Near East Pearled Couscous - Basil and Herb
	1 medium sweet red pepper(s), chopped
	1 serving(s) Newman's Own Light Caesar

Instructions:

1. Cook the couscous according to package directions.
2. While the couscous is cooking, stir fry chicken breast on medium-high heat in a 12-in skillet with Light Caesar dressing. 
3. When chicken is no longer pink, add chopped peppers (and whatever other veggies you would like). 
4. Reduce heat and cover, simmering about 5 minutes.
5. Serve chicken and peppers on couscous, or as a side!

Fashion's a Stranger

This video sums up how I feel about modern fashion. Whatever most youngsters have around here...I don't got it. And I'm getting kind of fed up with wanting it. More to come on this matter.

Spring is for New Arrivals, Like My First Publication!

I'm pleased to introduce everyone to my first published short story "One New Message," which was published by the nice folks over at 322 Review.

Like Printer's Devil Review, 322 Review features both established and new writers in an online format. Though the Spring 2011 issue doesn't center around any particular theme, the magazine itself likes to explore "the paths of human experience," which is probably why they've chosen U.S. Route 322 as both their logo and their name. Founded by graduate students from Rowan University, 322 Review has just published Issue Eight.

Check them out, won't you? And thanks to everyone for your support!

Thoughts from a Reluctant (New) Freelancer

When the temp job that I kept thinking would turn into a perm job abruptly ended in November, my first panicky thought was, "Unemployment again? Crap." Of course, a natural thought for anyone asked to clean out their desk this afternoon. Now, in fact. While your cup of coffee you just poured is still warm. But in the back of my mind I thought, "Hmm. Can I do it without getting another data entry job?"

A few weeks after I rode the T home with a big bag full of random office supplies (my own, I swear), I contacted Patch Somerville at the suggestion of my amazing freelance writer friend, Kristin Offiler and they offered me a story to cover almost immediately. Then, another friend who I met at Diesel, of all places, hooked me up with a social marketing firm. Suddenly this "no full-time job" thing looked like a distinct possibility. 

So since I started playing the freelance do-si-do, mainly coasting on leftover Christmas money at the moment, I've had some random thoughts. Here they are, in no particular order.

• Six cups on the coffee carafe doesn't actually equal six cups, right? Three at the most. It only fills up my mug twice.
• I love Joel and all, but I'm quite sick of him getting gourmet cooked lunch catered to his office every day while I sit at my desk eating cottage cheese.
• I cashed in my coins at a Coinstar a couple of weeks ago and made the best purchase ever: my very own oscillating, remote-control space heater. It's my new best friend.
• Just because I work at home doesn't mean I'm the de-facto housekeeper. But it does mean that I'm around more often to get annoyed with the state of things. I should start charging my roommates.
• I am running out of Pandora hours quicker than Fat Free Half and Half, and every month think harder about giving them their measly $1. 
• Writing corporate Facebook statuses is kind of like talking to a kindergarten class. And what do you think, kids?
• My evening activities are more precious to me than ever. It's writing group night, you say? THANK GOD, GET ME OUT OF HERE.
• Taking a shower by 11AM is early for me.

And finally...

• I don't think I would like to work at an office for 40 hours a week ever again. 20, maybe. 30 at the most. Maybe. If the pay is good.

And what do you think, kids?

The 21st Century and Relationships Revisited

Last year, I wrote this post about relationships and how we define them in the modern world. This year, I've been thinking about how we might regain friendships, and kindle new relationships, via social media.

A friend was recently contacted by his ex-girlfriend; they broke up almost two years ago. Although he'd emailed her several times about some of the things she left at his house, she'd not responded until a couple of days ago. But it wasn't via email: it was via Facebook friend request.

He was understandably confused. Why now? Why this way? Without knowing why, I knew the answer: because that's the way we get back in touch with people who have left our lives.

It's happened to me several times with people of my past. We'll make a conscious or subconscious choice not to talk for a while, and then out of the blue one day he posts something on my Facebook wall, or comments on my blog. Without addressing him directly, I'll comment back. He'll probably respond. Eventually, one of us will send a message or email to the other, still under the pretense of the blog or Facebook posting subject, but that's really all it takes. Now we're talking again.

I laid this pattern out for my friend, and sure enough, soon after she sent her friend request (and he accepted it), she posted a video on his Facebook wall. He responded with another video, a conversation ensued, and very soon after that she commented on another of his Facebook statuses, this time suggesting that he visit her. He just told me that he's "upping the stakes" by "Liking" her current Facebook status.

It's the same pattern that emerges when we start liking someone new, but don't want to be too forward: we inch into their social media world, make ourselves more known over time, and eventually try to jump the gap into IRL conversations. It's an obvious pattern, but it still works.

Who knows if my friend will visit his ex. Who knows if they will maintain any sort of friendship outside of Facebook or relegate everything to walls and statuses and comments. But my prediction of the evolution of this development is significant, I think, and showed that real patterns of relationship development emerge online. The question is that will these patterns lead to more, significant, offline connection? Or will they simply lead to more excuses to stay inside on Facebook on beautiful days?

Think about how you might have stayed in touch with old flames (or new flames) over the years, if that's your style. Do you think that coming up with patterns like this (and following them) could help us strengthen or rekindle friendships and relationships, or might we just be deepening our dependence on social media and the internet to keep track of our relationships for us?

Public Service Announcement on Dating

So you've been out with a new fella/lady. He/she seems quite nice: a good personality, cute smile, interesting things to say. But it's not the right fit for you. You've given it a couple dates and would rather not take the time out of your busy schedule to meet again to pursue something that doesn't rev your engine.

You must choose, but choose wisely.

Option 1 Easy, but Cruel: Do a Disappearing Act
"..."
Option 2 Moderately Difficult, and Slightly Less Cruel: Notify, but Lie
"I really had a great time tonight Martha, but I'm really just not ready for another relationship since my heart was broken by my last girlfriend who just joined the Peace Corps and is now fighting for truth and justice."
Option 3 Hard, but Humane: Notify with the Truth
"I had a really great time tonight Martha, but your inability to get my jokes really bugs me. We're just not a good fit, I'm sorry."

Since Joel and I have been dating openly, I've been on the giving and receiving end of this choice a few times in the last year. I always consider Options 1 and 2, but always go with 3. It makes my skin crawl to think that I might be hurting someone's feelings, but at the same time I've been hurt by the disappearing act and the dump-and-lie worse.


So as a friendly public service announcement, please consider Option 3. You'll feel better in the long run!

Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth

By now, all of you know that I'm not a religious person. I don't believe in much besides vampires (the non-sparkly kind), zombies (everyone really should be preparing for the apocolypse), fairies, love, goodwill, and chocolate. So in prepping for my fall course on American Mythology, it's been interesting to think about how I am going to approach the topic of faith.

In his series with Bill Moyers (that was turned into the book I am now reading), Joseph Campbell discusses why we should all read myths. He suggests that there's a lack of spirituality in our day-to-day lives, now that we're constantly gaining new information that enriches our brains but not our souls. Normally I would be mentally checking out after a comment like this, but reading on I see that Campbell isn't talking about religion. Myths, he argued, offer "life models," but the problem with major religions now is that they aren't "appropriate to the time in which [we] are living." He goes on to say that the "virtues of the past are the vices of today," and obviously, visa-versa. So what does he argue myths do that religion can't do?

Myths are fluid. Myths give guide-posts for the stages of our lives. Myths teach us lessons that we can apply to problems we are facing. And he wasn't saying that Christianity doesn't do that, he's just suggesting that by taking the myths within the Bible as a hard and fast rulebook for daily life isn't possible anymore, just as it's not possible to follow "rules" of ancient Greece. The Bible doesn't offer much wiggle room, which is why, he claims, many today are turning outward for their sources of stability.

I haven't done much research outside of reading a few chapters of The Power of Myth, but the kind of spirituality Campbell claims we all need is the kind I can get behind. I've always said that I like the basic moral lessons that religion teaches: be kind to your neighbor, don't steal, be humble, etc. And these are archetypal moral lessons we can find in almost all kinds of myths. Buddhism preaches following the Middle Path, and poor Icarus learned this same lesson the hard way. We are constantly trying to avoid melting our own wings by maintainting moderation in television, internet, work, play and yes, sadly, chocolate. I get Campbell's message that we are more stable and grounded when we have model stories to which we can compare our lives and, religious or not, I can appreciate reading myths.

Campbell also asserts that this role of myths can also be filled by novels and other forms of creative writing. I think this means I can assert that literature is my religion. Literature, definitely, is something I can believe in. And this, I think, can be something I teach my freshmen with quite a passion indeed.