Month: November 2013

What Moisturizer Do You Use?

OlayI’ve never been one for makeup and fancy facial products. I mostly use drugstore brands with an occasional Clinique product – if I made eye contact with the saleswoman and guiltily responded to her beckoning finger–  or a Mary Kay something – if a co-worker’s daughter was throwing a party and I couldn’t think of an excuse not to go. Anyway, I was in the drugstore today looking for a moisturizing lotion for my face. You know, just a simple, but decent drugstore moisturizer with a bit more ‘oomph’ for, shall we say, a face with ‘character.’

Off I went for what I thought was going to be a quick errand. Into Rite Aid I marched and into the face-stuff aisle. Suddenly  I was assaulted with a daunting array of products with names like Complete All Day Moisturizer, Active Hydrating Beauty Fluid (fluid??), Age Defying Protective Renewal Lotion, Total Effects Anti-Aging Moisturizer and I had not a clue what they were for nor what I should pick!

Once upon a time, the choices were simple.  Now I guess cosmetic companies are capitalizing on us aging boomers, and I can’t blame them, really. I mean, making money is what it’s all about in our recovering(?) economy.  And the more complicated the products, the more job security for those who have to explain what’s what, right?

I bought my ‘old’ moisturizer only now I give myself double the dose.

A simple life is one of bliss.

Are Minds Turning to Mush?

…“College is increasingly being defined narrowly as job preparation, not as something designed to educate the whole person,” said Pauline Yu, president of the American Council of Learned Societies.

In today’s news feed, I came across this short article:

Is It an Unaffordable Luxury to Major in the Humanities in College?

Here is my unheralded response:

I believe that being able to think is a critical, do-or-die, life essential skill. The kind of thinking I’m talking about comes from the ability to use sound reason to identify and solve problems, enrich life emotionally and aesthetically, and create cultures that stand firm on solid, ethical, thoroughly examined principles. To learn to do this requires more than a college education steeped strictly in a medley of ‘how-to’ courses geared to catapulting students into the well-paying jobs their parents now demand.

Believe it or not, I am not impractical. I have lived through this recession just like everyone else. I have struggled to eek a crumb from the proverbial pie.  Yes, I was a humanities major, both times: English as an undergrad and Liberal Studies for my graduate degree. When I graduated from college, being an English major wasn’t such a bad thing. In fact, it was downright saleable in the worlds of advertising and marketing, which is where I wanted to be and subsequently went.

Ready for a ‘duh’ moment? Things are different today. The economy sucks, society is amok with killing sprees and shootings,  business is rife with scandal and education from the ground up is all about passing tests, not thinking.

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