Late to the Party

I feel a bit late to the party. The blogging party that is. Here it is, already October 2006, and I am only now jumping into the world of sharing my thoughts with whomever will listen. It's not that I've been against blogging, it's just that I've never thought myself a pundit on any one subject. But I was actually inspired to start a blog two nights ago, Friday, when I attended an opening party for the Bodies exhibit here in Seattle. It is a traveling exhibit intended to educate people about the human body. The display was actually quite well-done. But the whole 'launch party' experience was so surreal. It was surreal mostly because I knew the bodies were poor Chinese peasants whose bodies were never claimed at death. The stark contrast was so apparent to me, I was surrounded by wine-drinking, appetizer-eating members of the first-world who were preparing to head upstairs to see the skinless bodies of deceased, skinless Chinese peasants whose bodies were posed in various athletic positions. It was all just too surreal, and I had to put my thoughts down 'on paper' so to speak. I actually put my thoughts down at 2 a.m. that evening (I've included the original text in all its glory below).

As for the title of the blog, I started my life and education as very much a pragmatist. Trained as an economist, I graduated college with a firm belief in market principles and capitalism. It wasn't until I went back for more schooling that I realized everything I had learned in economics 101, so to speak, was footnoted with such comments as "assuming social equality, environmental degradation, third-world exploitation are not factors in measuring well-being." So today, I characterize myself as an idealist with strong pragmatic roots, if that jargon makes any sense.

Thanks for listening. I'm glad to be here at the party.

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I was just at the launch "party" of the Bodies exhibit that will run here in Seattle tomorrow night through December 31st. It was so surreal. The whole time at the exhibit I kept thinking to myself, I should really, finally start a blog. I was standing in this lobby, among young, hip, Seattleites who were drinking wine and eating sirloin slivers off silver platters, preparing to go upstairs to view dead Chinese people who'd had the misfortune of dying with no one to claim their bodies. These formerly living humans were on display, skinless, for all to see. We visitors, invited to the launch, were participating in a wine-drinking "party" of sorts to celebrate dead Chinese people. It was so surreal to be drinking wine and eating spring rolls.