Recipes to Ring in the New Year

The New Year is a time for celebration. Either your celebrating that you had a great year and you can't wait for another, or you'r celebrating that your poop of a year is finally over and 2015 is going to give you the chance to do it all over. To all of it I say Hear Hear!

While I don't miss a lot of things about New Orleans and especially it's New Years that often left me on a sidewalk hyperventilating of an anxiety attack, I will say, I miss the food. How I wish I could head over to Elyse's and pull up a chair at her table and feel full of everything.

Tonight, we are going to try to fill this house up on our own. With delicious food, good company, and tasty drinks pulled right out of some New Orlean's favorites.

The menu tonight includes the French 75 which is one of my favorite Champagne drinks, warm crab dip, black eyed peas, and Trout Amandine.

Bon Appetit!

FRENCH 75

The French 75 pays homage to the French 75 artillery weapon from World War I. When the French and American fighter pilots came back from their raids successfully, they drank this cocktail in honor of the artillery weapon’s design.

Makes 1 serving

1¼ ounces Cognac

¼ ounce fresh lemon juice

¼ ounce simple syrup (see Note)

Ice

3 ounces chilled Champagne or other sparkling wine

Combine the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with the Champagne and garnish with the lemon twist. Serve.

Note: Simple syrup could not be simpler. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water and heat over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Do not let boil. Remove from the heat and let cool. Store the simple syrup in a tightly sealed bottle in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

John Besh's :

BLACK-EYED PEAS 

Serves 8

This is such a simple dish, but too often it’s not well executed. The key is to let the peas cook slowly and to give them some love. If they need more water, let them have it. We don’t want the peas to overcook so they explode in the pot; we want them soft enough to burst in your mouth.

¼ cup rendered bacon fat

2 onions, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 pound dried black-eyed peas

1 pound smoked pork jowls or smoked ham hocks

2 bay leaves

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Tabasco

4 cups hot cooked Basic Louisiana Popcorn Rice (page 15)

1. Melt the bacon fat in a large heavy-bottomed pot over moderate heat. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent.

2. Add the black-eyed peas and the pork jowls to the pot, cover with 2 inches cold water, and add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cover the pot.

3. Gently simmer the peas, adding more water as necessary to keep the peas covered by 2 inches, until the peas are soft, about 2 hours. Discard bay leaf. Season with salt, pepper, and Tabasco. Serve over Louisiana Popcorn Rice.

TROUT AMANDINE

Serves 6

In traditonal French cooking, a whole fish would be lightly dredged in flour and cooked in butter. In New Orleans we prefer the skinless trout filet. Properly browning the butter makes all the difference. Don’t rush it; take your time swirling the butter in the pan so that the milk solids brown and give off the signature, nutty aroma that is heightened once you add the almonds. Add the lemon juice and serve while the sauce is still foamy.

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon Basic Creole Spices (page 13)

6 5-7-ounce skinless speckled trout filets

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8 tablespoons butter

½ cup sliced almonds

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1. Put the milk into a wide dish. Put the flour and Creole Spices into another wide dish and stir to combine. Season the fish filets with salt and pepper, dip them into the milk, and dredge in the seasoned flour.

2. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the filets and cook on each side until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a serving platter.

3. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter to the same skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl the skillet over the heat so that the butter melts evenly and cook until the butter turns brownish, 5-7 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the almonds, and cook, stirring gently, until the nuts are toasty brown, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, parsley, and a dash of salt.

4. Spoon the browned butter and almonds over the fish and serve.

WARM CRABMEAT DIP

Recipe courtesy of Mary Ann Meyer.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup minced scallions

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

8 ounces cream cheese

1 pound lump crabmeat, cleaned

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. When butter begins to bubble, add scalions and parsley; cook for 3 minutes, or until scalions are translucent. Add flour and stir to coat vegetables; add milk and cook for 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and stir until blended. Add crabmeat and seasonings, stirring wel; cook over low heat until the crabmeat is hot. Serve in a chaffing dish with warm bread, or serve individualy on slices of toasted baguette.

Serves 6 to 8

Goal Setting As A Human

As the New Year turns and everyone is setting goals and making resolutions to quit smoking, lose 15 pounds, get a job, write a novel, etc. I just want to remind you that perfection is an idea and does not exist in the real world.

The key to this is knowing what is important and what is not. Don't forsake loving yourself and those around you for any goal, it just won't make you happy.

There is no perfect, there is no destination, there is no arriving, there is only the present. It's ok to plan and make goals, but don't do it to your detriment. You deserve to give yourself loving support no matter what. So forgive yourself, say "good enough!" and move on to the next thing.

Life is too short for some unattainable goal such as perfection.

My new year's resolution is good enough.

Adnon Syed I Believe You

In the last episode of serial, Sarah Koenig finally breaks the wall. In reading the letter that Adnon wrote, I finally understood him. To live with a life sentence for 15 years, making his life inside. But now, serial is bringing this all out into the world again.  For him to be judged. Again.

That's why I say, I believe you. 

When else in society do we have the right to judge someone? Sure, we make our own perceptions and carefully log them away somewhere in our heads, some of us who are considered gossips may talk more about people than others, but in the end it's considered impolite. 

When you become a suspect in any crime all of that flys out the window. Your character and entire life become an object that people feel completely entitled  to dissect and desecrate. 

Why do we do this? 

Like Adnon said, he began to feel like a monster. Why would all these people he had considered friends turn against him? Say so many bad things? Believe that he could do something so horrible and then make more judgements on his character that don't stand up to any scrutiny. 

Maybe you luckily have never experienced this. 

But he came to the same conclusion that I once did. You cannot control people's perceptions of you. They see what they see. 

I believe you because you know this. 

Links for Christmas Future, Past & Present

INTO MIND

With the new year fast upon us, I wanted to share more jewels of thought written by Anuschka over at http://www.into-mind.com 

http://into-mind.com/2014/12/16/your-year-in-review-50-questions-to-help-you-reflect-appreciate-and-get-excited-for-2015/

PACIFIC STANDARD

This is one of my favorite magazines.  As they often tackle a part of what I've been thinking about. This article http://www.psmag.com/navigation/business-economics/what-was-the-job-working-employment-paycheck-benefits-96668/ brings up some interesting ideas of the past and future of identity and it's relationship to our "job."

CHRISTMAS IN SWEDEN

This is my favorite Christmas album. Want some new Christmas songs? This is it. 

http://www.doorsixteen.com/2014/12/16/repost-christmas-in-sweden-4/

Change is Hard but Not the Hardest

I want to try and update this on the more regular. It seems to be something I'm going to need to schedule if it's ever going to happen. I think mostly it has to do with the ever changing nature of my life. It seems as I follow more and more people that I don't know there seems to be a common thread. Take Instagram for instance. I tend to follow the people who own sewing businesses for example and all of them have lived in the same place for years. They take pictures of the same thing after the same thing. Do I tire of it? No, in fact it gives me some of the stability I crave. 

The last time I had a steady house for more than a year was in New Orleans but during those two years I had and lost jobs. I ended and started a relationship. In short my life tends to never stand still. 

Do other's lives change as much as mine? As I watch them they seem to be the same. Is this a secret to being able to create the things you want to make for this world? Why can't I ever stay still? 

As I stare down 2015 it still looks murky. A winding road with no clear path and a lot of changes. Another year unable to really fulfill what I want to make in this world? Is what I want stability at all? I just don't seem to know. 

Internets Good Enough to Look At

Just a little update for all you out there in blog land, slowly stepping into full on fall and I'm loving every minute of it. I can't wait to get settled into our housesit, but until then Ill just be happily cozed up, writing my novel for NANOWRIMO and watching some of these:


GILMORE GIRLS 
on netflix

Oh Gilmore Girls, I somehow was sucked into a show called Gossip Girls and hit a wall with it, how many more times could i watch some people freak out about all the things that happen all the time and no one freaks out about? Sex?! Scandal?! Ugh. Tiring. So I decided on something a little more... wholesome? Enter Gilmore Girls. Maybe a little too much Mother Enmeshment, little Rory not really breaking away and defining herself outside of some really tight parameters, but all in all very interesting and heartwarming. Right up there with my Heartland obsession on the wholesome scale.


JOAN DIDION DOCUMENTARY

Joan Didion is one of my favorite writers. One of the few people I dream of meeting occasionally. In my dreams she appears as an aunt, that is there to help. Finally, her nephew is making a documentary of her life that looks pretty incredible. It was fully funded in one day. I was not suprised.




STYLE LIKE U

Is a rad mother daughter video series that interviews women about their lives, clothing, and the way that society affects both our choices and the way we feel. I would suggest hunkering down and watching as many of these as you can, they astound and inspire.

By far my favorite has been an interview with artist Lita Albuquerque.

http://stylelikeu.com/profiles-2/closets/lita-albuquerque/

KATE BERLANT

If you don't know watch this now.

New York Comedy Festival
Get More: Watch More Stand-Up.

Into Mind Navigation

As I uprooted my life from New Orleans and stared down an open road, otherwise known as my future, I was a little lost. I knew I needed to let go of a lot of ways in which I had been living and especially where, but I didn’t know what to move towards. I just knew doing what I had always done would get me what I had always gotten.

I felt a deep sense of tired. A tired so tired, I slept 12 hours every night and couldn’t move more than was necessary. Doctors couldn’t diagnose it and I just slept. It was good for my soul. It shook me in necessary ways, and when I finally came around I had re-examined beliefs and found a lot of them no longer mine. This took two years of a lot of playing, sleeping, what I termed “My second teenage hood” and it helped so much.

I really hope I don’t end up going through a “second young adult hood” Now that would be rough! But I am moving away from everything I know (the south) to find expansion in my future. I know that there are few things in this world that help you ask the hard questions. That hold a mirror up to you and also help you navigate it.

INTO MIND, is just one of these resources. Anuschka's well written blog a invaluable resource when planning my clothes for this 3 month long Europe trip. She's also been helping me get through this pretty intense identity crisis. She holds up the guideposts that are the questions I’ve needed to be asked.

On August 5th she is releasing a workbook entitled:

“PERSONAL STYLE & THE PERFECT WARDROBE // A WORKBOOK”

This is what she says about it:
“It’s a one-stop guide that walks you through the entire wardrobe building process, from the first baby steps to the final tweaks. It’s strictly not a read-through-in-one-go-book, but a WORK-book: A very hands-on road map that shows you how to upgrade and overhaul every aspect of your wardrobe step-by-step.”

I’ve found Anuschka’s blog to be more introspective, deeper, and with meaning. More so than i've found in most style books that i've ventured to read. Everyone knows style cant be bought, it must be found, but sometimes you just need help asking the right questions. So if you are looking for what will no doubt be an amazing resource get in on it, it will be 20% off on August 5th and i'll be getting a copy.

Spending a week in Ardmore Ireland

Istanbul tips & tricks

Can we just talk about Istanbul for a minute guys? Maybe you have been to a Muslim country before maybe you haven't. I went for the first time the other week. Let me tell you, it was hard. VERY HARD. and also strange. It was one of the strangest places i've ever been.

The first thing that is so very hard to grasp is the size of it. Istanbul is a city of 23 million people. There is an asian side and a european side which just refers to what side of the Bosporus you are on. The asian side was tall and sprawling. We flew into the cheap airport and it took 1.5 hours just to drive from the airport to the ferry terminal. Then we took a ferry and then we walked across the european side of Istanbul into a crater (i let chris plan this one guys).

Somethings I wish I had know how to do:

1. Pay Phones

You will see these around metro stations **insert photo of animal phones. Unfortunately you can't just put money in these, and you can't just use your credit card. You have to go to the post office or a kiosk and try to somehow communicate that you need a Telefon karti. We bought one for 4 lira so that we could call friends when we were really lost. 

2. Have maps and public transport routes mapped out before hand

You will not find a map to take with you of the metro anywhere, and inside the metro you will have a hard time finding one to look at on the wall. You will not be able to find information about any of the buses that are driving around constantly anywhere either. I think people must just know intrinsically. Lucky enough for us I found an APP. Turkiye transport. Get it, use it.

It will tell you many different ways you can get to where you are going on any of the public transport. I didn't find this until our 3rd day in, but it changed our life. Even if it didn't save my knees soon enough.

3. Taksim is a steep ass hill they got tired of walking up so they built public transport. USE IT.

Don't walk up to Taksim. (use the metro) walk down from Taksim. your welcome.

4. REALLY map out directions on public transport first.

Don't walk across Istanbul to your air bnb room. And when your air bnb person says they wont be there, expect to have to follow around 6 different strangers up and down the block before you find the place and they unlock the door.

5. Cover up in Non-tight clothing.

Don't wear jeans (or anything that shows your butt - or better yet just stand next to some westerners who are showing more than you) in the crowded markets or you may get a turkish massage. (WORST THING EVER)

6. EAT

There are many things to see, but the best thing is to eat. Go to the restaurants that serve ONE thing. They make it really well. Eat Menimen. Eat everything.

Beyond this your guess is as good as mine. I think you could spend your lifetime in Istanbul and still never know what the hell is going on. Do I sound like an American? Going to Istanbul made me much happier to be one.

Packing for 3 months in Europe.

Let me show you something:

That's all my luggage for 3 months this summer.

In preparation for this trip I watched a few YouTube videos of people who packed "light." But they didn't help. 

If these videos didn't help, what did?

A Capsule Wardrobe.

Basically it's making a wardrobe with common colors and a few style proportions so you can make outfits out of all the pieces. I decided to go with a wardrobe palette of Black, White, Grey, Mint, Teal, Red, and Gold. Pretty much my favorite colors, with the neutrals making up the majority and then the mint coming in close second, with teal, red and gold being pops of color in accessories. I can get about 29 different outfits with just 16 pieces of clothing. That does not include my warm layers/cardigans that I brought, or my shoes. So wearing something with sneakers versus ballerinas, vs sandals can also change a look. All in all, its a pretty versatile wardrobe that I think will make it through the summer leaving me feeling fine.

When doing a wardrobe this way you can envision a couple of pieces that would really expand your options instead of just buying things and not being sure how they would work with the rest of your clothes. The only thing or two missing, is one more sundress in a lighter tone, maybe patterned with a cream/white base and a black or mint design. (black would make it more versatile for my capsule collection) and a lighter little cover up, IE cream or white cardigan.

Resources:

I was able to do this by using Coletterie's Wardrobe Architect Series and Into Mind's incredible inspiration and informative writing. I can't recommend these two sites enough if you want to build a capsule wardrobe or are going through a clothing crisis like I was.

If you want to watch a 25 minute video of me waxing poetic about what I brought, what works for me and didn't, then be my guest. In it I talk about style, gypsy style, how important it is to wear skin toned underwear, and how awesome Budapest is, how awesome all the girls here are, and big birds.
Check it out HERE.

Moving away from New Orleans

Our last month or two in New Orleans was about as hectic as anything could be i'd imagine. I had a houseguest, a boyfriend who REALLY DRAGS his feet, and Carnival Season to contend to. If you thought getting anything done in New Orleans was hard already, try doing it during carnival. One example: I ordered the energy company to end my power on the 3rd. What day do you think that actually did? The 10th. Yes, the 10th. They also read my meter wrong and charged me and insane amount on my final bill, but I HAVE ESCAPED.

Our first night here in good old homestead was awesome, we sat by the fire, ate loads of treats, and watched the rest of firefly (my sister got me hooked when we spent the past week with her). There is still snow on the ground and the winds are raging and it is 22 degrees out today, and I am happy. As we were driving up we passed through 80 degree weather. Horribly crazy hot 80 degree weather. I am just happy that its not happening here any time soon.

I look forward to having time and space and calmness. I look forward to Joining the YMCA.

The things i miss most are:

Lady Grey and Royal St Gimlets at the Joint. <3 forever.="" p="">

O'Keeffe & finding my own Ghost Ranch

The final days of my New Orleans are here. After this it will only be other's images, other's stories, and none of my own. It is a great relief, because others seem to see it in a bit better light than I can muster. I have learned so many things living here for the last five years, but the largest one is my need to find my own ghost ranch.

Georgia O'Keefe said painting was like walking on a knife, that she would do it all again if she could, and that if you fall off at least she spent her time doing something that she liked. She lived in a place called Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, New Mexico where she spent her life painting after her husband died.

She went there to seek the privacy and solitary time that she needed.

In the past few years I have realized just how at home I feel in the great expanses of empty western desert. How alive and expansive, if I only remember to lotion. And a lot of it is because of not being surrounded by people but being able to really have quiet, and dark.

I often say that I do not feel culturally American. That I wish I lived in Europe with its socialism and train systems. I have never lived in the entire life holding quiet of the American west and I have never lived in the hive of Europe. So in truth I don’t really know.

I can only guess, postulate and wonder until I do it.

That was the premise on which I came here. I wanted to “make a living” sewing. I really thought I would be able to work with friends, be a part of the “vibrant” or fringe art “scene” here. Unfortunately people who were better friends within that group (and less qualified) were asked to costume design for those productions while I worked for movies and lifeless smaller theater companies. Oops! C’est La Vie!

No matter what I tried, the jobs seemed to spiral down into more and more lifelessness and this thing I once loved, turned into something I loathed.

The lesson here, that I am trying to take away is that, if you cannot maintain artistic control you lose your sense of love for your art. I didn’t even know I was an artist until I watched the 7 up series on Netflix. Do yourself a favor, watch it. It’s incredible. I didn’t even know I did art until I watched a random group of people grow up without an importance on art.
I realized then that I have been surrounded by it my entire life and that I had became blind to it.

For Christmas I gifted Chris a set of 32 color paint set, and in the past week when I have felt particularly bad, I have pulled out the paints and been soothed by the process.

As I seek my next home and hopefully my own Ghost ranch I hope I will hold onto that knowledge of what soothes and helps when things seem sad and become slowly solvent.


Thankyou Georgia O’Keeffe.

Walt Whitman and New Orleans Goodbye

It is almost as if i have already left.
I have quietly emptied my life of the
things that make a day.


Uncle Walt says it best:

The past and present wilt—I have fill'd them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?
Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?


Walt Whitman: Song of Myself, Part 51 

A 167 year old Sourdough Starter and Recipes from One Man's Wilderness

A couple of months ago I sent away for Carl Griffith 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough. (Send away for yours too, it only costs a stamp!) We started it with no problems and have been keeping it alive in the refrigerator where we feed it once a week because we only bake with it that often.

This past week we ran into some problems and it didn't revive and make a loaf like normal, so we decided to pull it out for a couple of days, feed it daily, and resuscitate it. The benefit of this is more sourdough.

Besides the fact that I had a foray into sourdough baking when i was 17, (one of the few years in my life where i was stable with a sane kitchen) I hadn't really thought about it even though i was stable again with a sane kitchen (Really, the 2nd time in my life, with my mom being a hoarder and then me moving around into punk house after punk house in my 20s). 

What brought it back was One Man's Wilderness, by Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Preonneke.

This book is basically one man's journals from his first year or two of living in the back country of Alaska. He went on to stay and lived there from 1967 through 1998. The journals are a very basic outline of what he did everyday, one of them keeping his sourdough alive because the man lived off of sourdough flapjacks and biscuits.

"I uncovered the sourdough starter, dumped two-thirds of it into a bowl, put three heaping teaspoons of flour back into the starter jar, added some lukewarm water, stirred and capped it. If i did this every time, the starter would go on forever.

To the starter bowl i added five tablespoons of flour, three tablespoons of sugar, and half a cup of dry milk, mixing it all together with a wooden spoon. I dribbled in lukewarm water until the batter was thin. Then I covered the bowl with a pan. The mixture would work itself into hotcake batter by morning.

The next morning was "Time now for the finishing touches to the sourdough starter. As I uncovered it I could smell the fermentation. I gave it a good stirring, then sprinkled half a teaspoonful of baking soda on top, scattered a pinch of salt, and dripped in a tablespoon of bacon fat. When these additions were gently folded into the batter it seemed to come alive. I let it site for a minute... then i dropped one wooden spoonful of batter, hissing onto the skillet. When bubbles appear all over, its time to flip...

Before doing the dishes, I readied the makings of sourdough biscuits. These would be a must for each day's supper. The recipe is the same as for hotcakes, but thicker, a dough that is baked."

Look at his flapjacks and rolls! Lovely!

We like to use this recipe when making biscuits, that are like fluffy tasty rolls:

A Crisis of Ignorance

I've been spending my morning reading about Buckminster Fuller. I could not believe how amazing of a man he was. I never thought to read about him but lately i've been really inspired by Kevin Kelly and while reading about the whole earth catalog, which I have only once gazed upon, I was squirreled away into a wiki rabbit hole and came upon Buckminster Fuller. 

In his young adult life, up until 35 he worked in meat packing plants and as a machinist. He was very poor and at one point he contemplated suicide to leave a life insurance policy to his wife and child. Instead of suicide he had a moment of great clarity:

"From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.^{[8]" x} Fuller stated that this experience led to a profound re-examination of his life. He ultimately chose to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity."^{[9] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller}

His first child died due to cold and drafty houses and thus began his research into geodesic domes and sustainability and using "waste" as resources. 

It's also been surprising to find the connections between his life and the ones that have shaped mine. Mostly having to do with his time at the Black Mountain College, and it's influence on many universities, one of them being New College of Florida, my alma mater.

The equally amazing thing I really garnered in reading about his life is his theories about connection and humans, and utopia needing everyone and being non exclusive. It seems strange that some of the things that would spurn from his ideas were ones that just didn't seem to work, ie Drop City, but also that it seems that many of his foresights are indeed coming into being and as i hope for the future, will involve renewable energies.

I think this lends itself to some of my obsession with the tiny houses and has to do with the idea that we could all live off grid and sustainably without sacrificing health, warmth, and knowledge.  Many of them contain composting toilets and solar panels that power the entire house. They also fit in with the way that society is becoming more mobile. 

Water source is the one thing you have to rely on outside of your home. And it is of course of dire concern as the future follows a path lined out by Big Business and Families like the Bush family who seem to have their future interests in it squirreled away: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/23/mainsection.tomphillips especially as fracking grows in the USA poisoning more and more of our pure water sources. 

The thing is, Bucky was an optimist. "Fuller was a pioneer in thinking globally, and he explored principles of energy and material efficiency in the fields of architecture, engineering and design.^[25][26] He cited François de Chardenedes' opinion that petroleum, from the standpoint of its replacement cost out of our current energy "budget" (essentially, the net incoming solar flux), had cost nature "over a million dollars" per U.S. gallon (US$300,000 per litre) to produce. From this point of view, its use as a transportation fuel by people commuting to work represents a huge net loss compared to their earnings.^[27] An encapsulation quotation of his views might be, "There is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance."^{[28][29][30]" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller}

^{A crisis of Ignorance is about the most well put statement on the everlasting condition of humankind. Even when people think they are not, they are.} 

^{Which brings me back to my favorite song by Justin Hinds:}

The greatest thing is to know, that what you don't know you don't know.

Here's to the future and stop ignoring with our ignorance but instead become aware and able to understand dichotomies and the grey matter that is our lives. 2014!