I have the coolest friends

July 25, 2007

Well. It’s true that I am working a no-brainer job in an office this summer that I could have done without either of the two degrees I’ve worked so hard for; but do not despair, I have very successful friends, including Jina, who is currently writing for Christian Science Monitor. And because bragging is nothing without data, here’s the beginning of one of her articles …

Cafe confessions: Do they think we can’t hear?

an article by my friend Jina Moore in The Christian Science Monitor

“When George Washington was 16, he copied out 110 “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” from a list the Jesuits had crafted in the 16th century. Many of the rules are irrelevant or obvious in our modern world, admonishing us not to spit into fires or run around half-naked. But one stands out: “Tell not your dreams but to your intimate friend.”

By this standard, I, as an unintentional eavesdropper, am the intimate friend of dozens of people I have never met. On my commute to work, on my walk from the office to lunch, in the cafe near my apartment, people dish. Girlfriends, husbands, husbands’ girlfriends, contracts, health problems, fights. Public, it seems, is the new private.

In fact, very little of our public space sounds the same as it did even 20 years ago. Once upon a time – the memory of which splits Generation X from Y – people walked down the street in relative silence, sans cellphones. Today, we’ve lost our “inside” voices. We meet lawyers, arbitrate divorces, interview for jobs, and strategize about firing our subordinates in places full of witnesses with good hearing. What, Washington might ask, are we thinking?”

Want to read the rest? Of course you do. So click here.

Posted in life by Sarah