Newsletter #6

Hello.

By the time you read this, I will have ticked over the halfway mark of the exchange which is pretty crazy to think about. It has just been a total blur, but the really important thing is that in retrospection the time appears very drawn out, the telltale sign of having been fortunate enough to have formed a five years' worth of lifetime memories in the space of a mere months. The point of the semester has well and truly been reached where all potentials have been either actualised or not, and all that is left is to consolidate them as best as possible.

With that said, I'm still keeping an eye out for small new things to experience and try out here. By way of example, yesterday I discovered from another exchange student that there is an outdoor athletics track at the nearby public school that is available for use. I had been dismayed upon arrival here that the Purdue athletics track was only reserved for the collegiate team and had figured up until now that bringing my running spikes along had been a waste. As the weather begins to improve, it would appear that this needn't be the case.

I managed to fly through writing the instalment for this week, partly because it is about half as long as some of the other ones (thankfully), so I really made it a focus to get another 1-2 articles done on different topics, just so that my writing habit doesn't get too firmly entrenched in travel updates. One more week of classes before spring break, and without giving too much away (if the small little group I am travelling with can get everything booked) what we've got planned is going to be very special indeed.

I've condensed two weeks into one reading here, so I'm now at the point of writing in week $x$ about what I did in week $x-1$ which makes things much more easier and recallable, and therefore hopefully more compelling to read.

May you, as always, be happy 😄.

Photos.

Releases.

The first part of a new series I am going to work on where I document each of the aspects of photography/film/editing that I am learning about to further solidify my understanding.

Bullet digest.

A new channel I'm watching... Alex Hormozi on YouTube is one of the great finds I've had on the platform in the last 9-12 months or so. Recommended to me initially I think by Andrew Kirby (another great channel) it's been a fountain of really insightful commentary on how businesses work, entrepreneurship, the pitfalls of hustle culture and many other topics that resonate with me. Plus the guy is absolutely yoked and only wears wife-beaters and denim shorts (plus or minus a flannel) which I find hilariously endearing.

A quote I'm pondering...

“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.”  —  Chögyam Trungpa

A notebook I've been using... The stone paper notebook by Karst. A Christmas gift I received last year, I have been using this as my daily notebook of choice for the past month or so. The paper is made from crushed stone which gives it some useful properties like mild water resistance, tear resistance and of course being more eco-friendly than traditional paper. I the overall writing experience is good, though the downfalls for me are: the paper is a lot thicker and therefore heavier than a traditional notebook and it does not hold fountain pen ink (or any type of gel ink) well at all. My favourite notebook is still the Leuchtturm 1917.

Digressions.

Public displays of philanthropy are a net positive.

• I can't remember who the person in question was (let's say, as I suspect, that it was Mark Zuckerberg) but a while back it was advertised that he made a large donation to a public children's hospital on the west coast.
  • The response from the general public was nothing short of castigation, wondering how someone like this could have the gall to display so openly his generosity in this act.
    • This is the typical attitude towards philanthropy, and emerges I would imagine at least in large part from Christian tradition. Take this from Matthew 6:1-34 as an example (italics mine):
      • “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward...
    • The idea is that any sort of recognition for one's donation must immediately be conflated with a self-serving desire for social applause, however this IMO misses the actual point of all of this.
• I think it is fairly uncontroversial to claim that the end goal of philanthropy is for as much money to be donated as possible (assuming the causes supported are effective and well-intentioned, a whole different tale).
  • It appears obvious then that the thing that maximises donation is not a collective hostility towards those who can afford such large sums but by acknowledging and heralding this generosity.
  • One concern is that public giving is immediately indicative of malicious or selfish intent. It turns out that you can have your cake and eat it too. Consider the Gates Foundation and all it as accomplished. For all the attention this has garnered him, there is no world I would live in where I would take dropping this if it meant we lost the charity along with it.
• People like Gates and Zuckerberg here should serve as motivation for other benefactors to step into the space.
  • Public donation is also easily traceable.
    • When the wealthy donate privately, it really doesn't seem to be for good causes, only towards getting their name slapped on a new library at their alma mater.