Pierce, the Baking Comunistic Anarchist? Whaaaaaat? Oh, nevermind.

So I left of the last entry saying I want to be a baker.

Person: "Why?"

Me: "You have a silly name. I want to be a baker because I love making food and there's something so fundamental yet complex about bread. It's simple yet difficult. Flour, water, yeast, salt. And yet there's a plethora of varieties and degrees of quality. In it's essence, like many things, bread is life. It's a learned process, that you may never entirely perfect but you strive to anyway. It sustains. There's room for creativity yet there's that way it's always been done. Less philosophically speaking, I want to do something that makes people happy, that is a product of my own labor, that allows me to create, that allows me to own my own business."

Person: Oh ok, that's cool. I'm gonna go change my name now, bye!

So I've been baking and reading up on it and trying my best at beginning the never-ending learning process. I love it. One of my new favorite joys in life is kneading a piece of dough. Che bella! I've been trying to get a job here with one of the bakeries and I've even offered to volunteer or apprentice if they don't have actual openings. So far no luck here, but there's a bakery in Bend called "baked." that I have a chance to apprentice at this coming winter break. If you haven't been there I highly recommend it. It's owned by a guy named Gordon who opened it about a year ago I believe. He's a super nice guy and is basically living my dream. I can't wait to get back home and start some hardcore learning.

Here's baked.'s facebook link http://es-la.fbjs.facebook.com/bakedinbend

If anyone has any requests of breads they'd like me to make for them, I'm willing to give it a shot. I don't claim to be an amazing baker yet, but I wanna try things as much as I can. Anyway, I'm super excited to start this adventure of many.

I also left off last entry talking about vocation. Coincidentally I've been reading a bit of Marx and some anarchist pieces in my Social and Political philosophy class so I wanted to follow up on that. It's rather interesting what the communist and anarchist movements actually claim themselves to be and how they are predominantly received or carried out in reality. They are strikingly similar philosophies and have very valuable intentions and core beliefs. I don't really wish to get into their major social doctrines but there were sections in each of the pieces I read that really spoke to me. Both stress a decentralization of state power, which I've always been a fan of, but in terms of labor they have what I feel are words of wisdom. Each stress the problem with the current form of labor. The form in which we are generally cogs in a means of production. The worker is rarely attached to his/her work, but simply does it for the monetary worth of it. Trading time for money essentially. Both Marx and Goldman (the anarchist writer I read) find this highly problematic. As do I. That's not to say that everyone is subjected to what they call "estrangement" of labor, but a majority accept this trade of time for money as inevitable. Rather than provide one's own means, society generally provides an abundance for all and accept what is given to them unwittingly. There is therefore no attachment to their own labor or income. The complete opposite of VOCATION. Particularly in anarchist society, the ideal is a culture in which you produce what you need and do what you want because you are connected to your labor. Now, I don't claim that this sort of society is realistically possible for everyone in our current state, but I feel that this goal of vocation and providing for oneself is goal to at least strive for. And this is also not to say I'm an anarchist or communist, but these concepts have at their core an entrepreneurial spirit of life and work that I find highly appealing. This concept of self-reliance (also explored by Emerson) is one I've always associated with but we often live in a culture of total societal-reliance. And I'll leave this topic for my next post. But in the end, I do see problems with current society. A culture that allows themselves to trade time for money with no care as to what, why, and how they produce and receive. I don't mean to say that any group or culture is "wrong" or "stupid" or anything negative, but that they are simply caught up in a snowball of...well I'm not sure what kind of snowball, but an evolved and seemingly misguided state of self comprehension. I apologize for this dense rant, and I promise lighter, less philosophical subjects to come.

Next entry will include: Self-reliance/gardening/travel/something light.

And to lighten this entry up I offer you the gift of amusing drawings.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/page/2/

Abbiate un buon giorno!

Welcome/Intro/College/Life/Vocation

I was sitting in class the other day thinking about the plethora of thoughts and philosophies I have floating in my head. And I came to the conclusion that these things usually exist either as some small unnoticed action or just stroll happily in the bustle of my brain. And this conclusion lead me to the conclusion that I could make these things accessible both to future Pierce and present people who have any interest in peeking into my brain. Consequently I'm creating this blog of things I find interesting, things I'm pondering, or anything else that I'm trying to make sense of; this will not necessarily be a blog about my day to day life. If this blog has a thesis, it's that last sentence. So I'll be writing on here from time to time when the mood strikes (I just used two idioms back to back....deal with it). And I don't want anyone to feel any obligation to reading this blog as it seems is often the case. If it interests you and you read it, that's great, if not that's equally fine too. Both for my own and your sake I'll try to keep my entries concise.

Now for the first entry.

Topic of today: College

I've recently become a victim of what I'm calling "mid-college crisis." This disease consists of a variety of symptoms including: lack of interest in current classwork, lack of motivation in said courses, and a general feeling of "Why am I here again?" The first two have mainly been a result of required courses, but the third one is hitting me harder than ever before. Why AM I here if I don't want a profession in the thing I'm studying? It's been feeling like such a restrictive space rather than the door-opening label I've always attached to it. There're so many things I want to do and getting a piece of paper saying I'm certified to do this or that is not high on my list...my bucket list as Morgan Freeman might call it. That's not to say I think college is a waste of time. It's a great experience and learning is always valuable. But I want to do more than analyze literature (which I've done since 6th grade) and memorize what, to me, is often useless information. I want to DO. To CREATE. To MAKE. I can do that in some courses; I see learning a language and creative writing in this light, but I still have to wade through the rest of my classes to get to these.

We all have those classes we deal wit, but I think a majority are studying the thing they know, or at least think they know, they want to be "when they grow up." So they get through these with that promise of a steady job. It's a valid goal to get that degree and get a job and there's nothing wrong with that. But I find myself perhaps part of a minority that doesn't want a job but a VOCATION (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vocation). And so I'm going to finish college and have that degree because the experience is worthwhile, but I'm not going to let my degree tell me what I'm going to "be". I've always seen that question as poor reinforcement: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" As though your job determines what you are. I'm going to find what comes naturally--what I love--and BE and do that. And I'll find a way for that thing to make money and I'll be successful. It's not a question of "I might" or "hopefully" but I WILL because it's my only life and I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible. So despite the tribulations of what can feel like a waste of time, I'll enjoy college while I'm here and grow and learn and pursue my current inspiration: baking. I want to be a baker. I'll pick up that topic next time I sit down to write. Hope someone found something of interest in this first entry. At the very least It was helpful to me, so whatever :). Until next time, ciao!