Wicked History

Tonight I get to see the play Wicked for the very first time. I've known the entire soundtrack for ages, but was never able to see the show. Finally, the day has arrived! In honor of this outing, I'd like to share my favorite Wicked lyric:

A man's called a traitor - or liberator

A rich man's a thief - or philanthropist

Is one a crusader - or ruthless invader?

It's all in which label

Is able to persist

There are precious few at ease

With moral ambiguities

So we act as though they don't exist

As a Humanities major in college, I got to play with the cross over between English, Philosophy and History. But my concentration was History so that was predominately "my area." I've always loved history. Sometimes, knowing your context can impact you in a major way or help you better understand progression. But one thing I always noticed is that "fact" is a somewhat ambiguous creature. Some historians hate when people say that, but whether you like it or not, history is just interpretation of peoples accounts, stories, and opinions. We can pin point events that actually happened, sure. But to be a good historian you have to really consider a lot of different opinions and accounts to get an accurate picture of "what really went down."

Maybe this is why this particular lyric sticks out to me. And really it's the theme of the play, isn't it? Reputation does not always reflect truth. 

(I would be the girl that listens to this soundtrack and comes out thinking about historical accuracy).

This isn't to discount that there are things that are black and white or true and false. Without a doubt there are, and I have very unambiguous beliefs and know why I believe them. But I think that questioning, is a good thing. Not questioning for the sake of questioning, but for the sake of finding truth. The the bottom line is that things in our world are complex. Gloriously complicated.

Marketing Energy

I'm completely exhausted today.

and

I've always been fascinated with the energy drink trend.

9 years ago, energy drinks came into popularity and a huge new market opened up. Since then there have been dozens of popular energy drinks ranging from Red Bull to Monster. There has also been the backlash and general wave of knowledge that energy drinks are not healthy---usually containing tons of caffeine and sugar and often twice the size of a soda. But that didn't stop you from drinking 4 Monsters to stay awake while you wrote that paper, now did it?

Admittedly, I hate Redbull and could never drink anything with as much sugar as a Monster without throwing up. But most of my friends know I've always been borderline addicted to XS Energy drinks, and I've gotten teased about it more than once. But with no sugar, tons of B12, ginseng and other vitamins and hardly any or no caffeine...they can't be that bad for you, right? I'm not going to claim they're ultra healthy because they're still carbonated and not "alive" like juice...but they've always made me feel great. They're the same concept as 5 hour energy...you are more alert but not jittery. But I hate the way 5 hour energy tastes. XS has 15 flavors, most of which are carbonated (but some teas that are not) so it's literally the only energy drink that's relatively healthy and taste good, in my opinion.

At this point I'm probably at risk of sounding like an ad for XS but today I read that XS is the only approved energy drink for the NCAA and felt a twinge of pride. I knew it! Vindication!

If you've never heard of them, well you're not alone. A major food and beverage magazine recently put out an article called "The fastest growing brand you've never heard of" about XS. A quick trip to Wikipedia will show you that in their first year of sales they made $51 million, second year over $72 million, third year over $90 million and the forth year over $120 million. By this point (2006) they were offiically the fastest growing brand and the #2 selling energy drink in America behind Redbull.

So how is it that you've never heard of XS? Because they're not sold in stores, and they're not advertised. Amway Global is the exclusive distributor. Amway is a very polarizing company. You either love them and think they can do no wrong, or you hate them and think they're absolutely evil. So naturally I fall somewhere in the middle because I don't like being forced into extremes. Regardless of how you or I feel about the company, I'm a big fan of the XS products.

Another energy drink that I think is pretty healthy is Vemma. This is yet another company that self-distributes but has a good product.

I think I am a little annoyed that the only energy drinks I like aren't sold in stores and have to be ordered by the case. This makes finding a resource to solve my mid afternoon crash on the fly, very difficult. But I also find the whole phenomenon incredibly interesting. I'm curious to see when the energy drink phase will die out or which brands will survive.

I knew I couldn't last...

It's no secret that I often find myself frustrated with American culture. I don't hate America by any means. I'm definitely a consumer. I love art, entertainment, shopping--I do. And while I frequently question its real benefit, I'm pretty fond of and dependent upon technology. But at times the excessive amount of information, opinion, and consumption is a bit overwhelming. Living in a culture that is often arrogant, self-centered and obsessed with personal happiness to a fault weighs on me. It's almost too much to process. No, it IS too much to fully process. I don't want to take the easy road of accepting it and fitting my worldview into it neatly. But, I don't think I'm capable of staying "informed" on every important subject either.

Okay...here's what's on my mind today. Stewardship.

There are some trends in culture that are very recent...developing only in the last 150 years or so and in some cases they're still unique to our culture present day. It seems like we keep delaying adulthood by years and years and claiming we're incapable of reaching real maturity until we're say...28. That sounds about right for this year. And even then it's a lifestyle choice.

But along with that is this idea that independence equals responsibility. The idea of that bothers me a little bit. Most cultures, even ours, have been community based in the past. Whole multi-generational families living under one roof, depending on each other, depending on their greater community, respecting the leadership of their elders. Is this dead and gone? I mean I enjoy living independently with my husband. It's nice to sit in the quiet of our apartment together and make our own decisions about our lives together. And I know some people would fight with their family constantly if they all lived under the same roof.

But does it really need to be denigrated and looked down upon? It's acceptable to live with your parents if you're in school, if you're single and trying to pay off debt in preparation for your independence, if you're going through a temporary hardship or in the reverse...if your parents are older and you become their primary care giver. But if these aren't the case and if you choose to live as multiple families together, whether it be with your parents, or multiple families in one house of the same age, it's considered pathetic...weird...and sad. But why?

I think we're all aware of how wealthy we are, at least in fact. We've heard the statistics. The majority of the world lives on less than $2 a day. I know that indoor plumbing, heat, a/c, internet, etc. are all luxuries. But in our country they're considered essentials. The cost of living is so high. I often feel poor in comparison to those around me. I know my needs and even wants are met but I still live paycheck to paycheck---depending on that money to pay my bills. Those bills...the ones that are an entire years wage for some people in one months payment. That's just how much it costs to live. We live at a different level of living...but we do live in excess. We also complain about it and constantly want more. Or we accept it and try to give a few bucks here and there to the poor in the world.

My mother once was telling me a story about a friend of hers whose son went to Africa and came back so completely altered that it scared her. He was sleeping on the floor instead of in his bed because he was so bothered by what he saw in whatever third world country he was in. I commented "Well maybe that's a good thing" to which my mother was absolutely appalled and responded "Well he needs to snap out of it. You can't just stop living your life or being normal because of a missions trip." Now, I mean no disrespect to my mother, but I'm not sure there was anything wrong with feeling altered by experiencing the extreme need of others.

I'm not one of those people who thinks your pathetic unless you are constantly giving to causes and the poor and are "aware" of absolutely everything going on in the world. I don't think there is anything wrong with buying a movie or going out to eat. Honestly, the need in the world is overwhelming...and we're incapable of solving it all ourselves. I really can't watch the news without feeling overwhelmed and helpless, so I'm not exactly well informed in general. But I do hope for a different attitude and lifestyle from people. One that has some balance, and some attempt to live less selfish lives.

John Paul and I still have tv, internet, heat, etc. But we are trying to simplify the excess and invest into others too. And back to my original thought....I've often thought about how much more we'd have to give and save if we were sharing the expense of living with others. I don't mean this in a socialistic community way, I just mean family and simplification. What would be so wrong about two or three generations living in the same household, paying a 3rd of the cost of living and banding together with their excess to help others? Why does that have to be looked down upon? What exactly is so wrong about it?

I'm not saying everyone should do this or that it's the right thing to do in a lot of cases. Independence can be a very healthy thing. But you have to admit, its somewhat cultural.