A New Year, A New Look..

Happy New Year to all! I have been wanting to change things for a while, I really wanted three columns, so here it is: different. I'll probably be tweaking it for a couple weeks, but anyway...

Hawaii was great, we are home and I have major jet lag...always fun!

I'm not a big fan of New Years resolutions, but I made one this year. Then I upped the ante. At first I said I was going to read a Dostoevsky novel (which I still plan to do) then I decided I will read one book a week this year. Or maybe it's equivalent, in case I'm swamped with school and can't read one in a week. I'm still working on that aspect.

Anyhow, part of my new layout is the "Books I'm Currently Reading" and if it doesn't change once a week...I might need to be reminded that I should be on a new book. I randomly jot down names of books I want to read in my journal, and so far I have 16, so that's a good start. If they're good, I'll blog about them.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about coffee. My primary stream of thought has been the fact that I have strong convictions about fair trade and seeing farmers in developing countries make a livable wage, yet I still occasionally love a cup of Starbucks. I don't even think it's about the coffee, it's the whole Starbucks atmosphere that I love, especially at Christmas.

The main conclusion that I've come to is this: my convictions are completely worthless it they are not applied to my daily life, in those rubber hits the road moments of wanting my nonfat vanilla latte, then the inevitable guilt about the Nicaraguan farmer at the bottom of that chain who cannot support his family. It would be great to be completely ignorant and continue to drink as much as I want with no guilt, but that ship has sailed. It's funny how once your eyes have been opened to an issue, you can't get them shut again, no matter how hard you might try.

All that said, I've found a lovely independently owned coffee shop in Edmond with some really great Equal Exchange coffee drinks and some lovely employees. I think I've found my study spot for the new semester.

There is also a campaign called "Frankenbucks" that is trying to pressure Starbucks into serving 100% fairly traded coffee. I'm not optimistic about it, but I would love it if it worked!