Maybe stories are just data with a soul

A 16th-century church built by Spanish colonists has remerged from beneath a reservoir in the south of Mexico. View the stunning photographs below.

Shouts & Murmurs: Mrs. Claus Wants to Do Christmas with Her Family This Year: http://nyr.kr/1fkIAVf

SANTA CLAUS: You know I have to work. We decided this hundreds of years ago. We do Thanksgiving with your family, and I work on Christmas. MRS. CLAUS: I know, but Claire just had the new baby.… SANTA CLAUS: I know she had the baby. He’s on my list and my News Feed is full of her updates about him. MRS. CLAUS: And you want me to miss seeing his eyes light up when he sees his first presents? SANTA CLAUS: Who do you think brings the presents, Camille? I do. Me.

Philip Jenkins “Purple: Study 3 (for Mark Rothko)”

And I mean that title with the utmost of respect.

I’ve been a denizen of this fair[ly crappy] city my entire life, in one way or another.  I spent some time in LA during college, but don’t worry, I got over it.  The one thing, though, that I’ve consistently heard from around the US is that New York is a rude city.

This is, I feel, based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what this place is.  

I’m tired of seeing white people treating poor countries as if they were their very special emotional playground.

Racists travel to under developed countries under the guise of ‘appreciating their culture’ or ‘searching for themselves’ (whatever that means) or any other seemingly thoughtful premise.. They enjoy the ‘exotic’ foods, marvel at the ‘exotic’ landscapes, snap photos (without asking first) of those very ‘exotic’ natives.

They have profound revelations about how in the western world we have much more commodities than necessary, and how these poor rural simpletons are so happy with the little they own, cause they’re blissful savages, much less complex than the average white US citizen. 

Some of them even manage to say utterly disrespectful stuff (e.g.’oh look at these people living in the middle of nowhere’ (cameron diaz) or that ‘they defecate in the woods ‘hunched like animals’ (drew barrymore) and the worst part is, they don’t even seem to realize.