I got a girlfriend recently. She's mad cute. That's mainly what's on my mind. The whole sunshine on a cloudy day. Tonight I'm seeing my high school classmate kick off his campaign for state senate for Maryland's 41st district. Tomorrow night I'm seeing Sam Harris in DC with David Frum and Andrew Sullivan, likely to tear Trump a new asshole. And then Saturday I'm off to Palm Desert (78° F) to see my dad for a week, where we're gonna hike San Jacinto mountain. Then school. I'm so fucking excited for school. Constitutional law, macroeconomics, statistics, club gymnastics and soccer. I also joined a speaker series organization last semester and we were able to secure a date for Bryan Caplan to come this February. Life is one big nerdy oyster right now.
I'll write up my thoughts. I was going to see about meeting wasoxygen before the event, like the last time I was in DC for a lecture/talk, but I'll be with my mom and, even though she's a cool lady, I'm not sure wasO wants to meet her. (Miss Nancy: ... so, you two met on the... Internet?) The event seems like it could turn into an anti-Trump bonanza. David Frum and Andrew Sullivan are some of the sharpest, most vocal anti-Trumpers I know. But I seem to recall Sam saying he might try to diversify the evening's subject material. Who knows. Any questions you think I should ask?
That's a hard one. I would love to talk to Harris at length, but I don't know what I would ask him given just one question. Maybe something to the effect of 'How are you able to continue to engage with people who disagree with you so viciously, and still retain peace of mind and a gentle demeanor?' It's one thing to hear him talk abstractly about meditation, or share a story or two about some past experience, but I'm most interested in learning how to safely, or more safely gaze into the abyss.
That's a good one and I agree. I get exasperated and uneasy at even slight misunderstandings of what I say. Wholesale and repeated fabrication and willful misrepresentation... that's gotta be discouraging. I would also ask a methods-based question. Something like how does he practice his delivery? Is it the podcasts, talks, and public conversations themselves that represent his practice? He's incredibly articulate and yet doesn't sacrifice the range or quality of argument. Does he stand on the beach and practice with pebbles in his mouth? #Demosthenes