March 2024 Prompts - Part 1
I will get to things I’ve been doing real soon now, but first, here’s the first set of blog prompts from March.
1. Can You Separate Art From the Artist? I wrestle with this. There are definitely people with repugnant ideas who have produced great art. Some of those I can write off as products of their times. So, I guess the answer is mostly a yes.
2. How Do You Know if What You Read Online Is True? I trust certain sources more than others. In general, I have a reasonable idea of what the slant different news sources take tends to be and react accordingly.
3. Do You Always Have Your Phone or Tablet at Your Side? Not always, but often.
4. Is Student Debt Worth It? It depends. I had some smallish student loans, which I needed for survival towards the end of grad school and was able to pay off reasonably quickly. I think the bigger problem is that there are many people who are encouraged to take out loans without a clear understanding of what it would take to pay them off.
5. Are Parents Violating Their Children’s Privacy When They Share Photos and Videos of Them Online? I’m decidedly uncomfortable with how much some parents post about their children’s lives. At the very least, once children are school age, I think parents should ask them for permission.
6. How Important Is It to Have a Driver’s License? It depends on where you live. I also recognize that there are many people who cannot drive for various reasons (including health conditions and the financial impacts of car ownership).
7. How Did You Get To School? From kindergarten through 8th grade, I walked, which was just under a half mile. I took a school bus to high school, which was about 7 miles.
8. How Much Did Your Parents Help With Your Homework? Not very much. The only exception I can think of was some family history sort of assignment.
9. Are You An Optimist? How Full Is Your Glass? I’d say I’m generally optimistic. My cup runneth over.
10. Would Life Be Better Without Time Zones? Life without any time zones would be too confusing. For the most part, I want the sun to rise at about 7 a.m. and set at about 7 p.m.
11. Do You Like Horror Movies? Most horror movies are too gory for my tastes. I can find psychological terror interesting, but, for the most part, I prefer my movies reasonably gore-free.
12. If You Could Time-Travel, Where Would You Go? I think I’d be more inclined to visit the future, rather than the past.
13. What Jobs Are You Most Curious About? I’m curious about how people manage the business aspects of freelancing.
14. What Are Your Favorite Movies Ever? My all time favorite movie is Local Hero for its character-based humor. (Well, okay, also my crush on Peter Riegert.) Some other movies I love are The Visitor, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Vampire’s Kiss.
15. Do You Cook? Yes, though not as much as I used to. Mostly I make big pots of soup and freeze individual portions. Or experiment with various pasta and vegetable dishes.
16. Is ‘Doing Nothing’ a Good Use of Your Time? It can be. Sometimes, I just need some down time. But I end up “doing nothing” because I feel overwhelmed by how much I have to do, and that’s more negative.
17. How Much Self-Control Do You Have? I am reasonably good at not saying things I’m thinking which I know could hurt the person I’m talking to. I’m not always as good at self control when it comes to forcing myself to do certain types of chores.
18. What Is The Most Odd Thing You Have Done to Earn Money? As an undergraduate, I used to make money by reading sentences into a tape recorder for people who were studying natural language processing.
19. What Hobbies Have Been Passed Down in Your Family? My parents were collectors. I never collected stamps (which both of my parents did) but I did collect coins for a while. I also collected dolls and, especially, paper dolls (which I still do.) Aside from that, both of my parents wrote. And my mother taught me to knit. And then there was reading. My father was particularly fond of mysteries.
20. How Comfortable Are You With Lying? I’m not.
21. How Do You Celebrate Spring? Well, there are Jewish holidays associated with springtime (Purim and Pesach, for example). Beyond that, springtime is a good opportunity to indulge in various fresh fruits and vegetables.
22. Are We Being Bad Citizens If We Don’t Keep Up With the News? Nobody can keep up with all the news nowadays, but I think it’s important to keep up with the major national - and local - issues.
23. What Possessions Does Your Family Treasure? I have a few pieces of jewelry that I consider family heirlooms. In particular, I love a necklace that my great-grandmother allegedly bought in China, though I have no evidence that, despite family lore, she actually ever went to Shanghai.
24. Do Your Friends on Social Media All Have the Same Political Opinions You Do? I have some Facebook friends who have opinions that are extremely different from mine. A few of them are (somewhat distant) relatives, while others are people I grew up with. I mostly try to avoid responding to them.
25. Are Paper Books Better Than E-Books? I prefer paper books, but I understand why people who prefer e-books do so.
26. What Makes You Happy? Being around interesting people, listening to good music, going to live entertainment (storytelling, theatre, concerts), walking, traveling,
27. Is Childhood Today Too Risk-Free? I think children live more structured and organized lives than we did back in my day, but I think it’s more a question of there being different risks now than there were umpty-ump years ago.
28. What Do You Know About Your Family’s History? Since I’m a genealogist, I know a fair amount about my family’s history. But I still have plenty of unanswered questions and some significant brick walls. It’s still exciting when I find new pieces of evidence - and when I meet previously unknown relatives.
29. What Kind of Tourist Are You? I like to try to understand cultures different from my own. Typically, when I go somewhere new to me, I try to see what are considered the major attractions, but I also seek out lesser known places. If I hear about a local festival, I am likely to try to go to it. I’m reasonably flexible about food and can handle some less comfortable transportation options and/or accommodations if necessary.
30. What Foods Bring Up Special Memories for You? My family always went out for birthdays and the person whose birthday it was got to choose where we’d go. I particularly liked going to Palace of Wong, a Chinee restaurant a few towns away from where we lived. Other food memories are some of the traditional Passover seder foods, e.g. matzoh ball soup and chopped liver, falafel for Shabbat lunch at summer camp, and chocolate cream pie from Custom Bakers.
31. What Is the Role of Religion or Spirituality in Your Life? This is somewhat complicated. In short, I like feeling connected to the past generations of my family. And that’s a bit tricky given the synagogues near where I live.
1. Can You Separate Art From the Artist? I wrestle with this. There are definitely people with repugnant ideas who have produced great art. Some of those I can write off as products of their times. So, I guess the answer is mostly a yes.
2. How Do You Know if What You Read Online Is True? I trust certain sources more than others. In general, I have a reasonable idea of what the slant different news sources take tends to be and react accordingly.
3. Do You Always Have Your Phone or Tablet at Your Side? Not always, but often.
4. Is Student Debt Worth It? It depends. I had some smallish student loans, which I needed for survival towards the end of grad school and was able to pay off reasonably quickly. I think the bigger problem is that there are many people who are encouraged to take out loans without a clear understanding of what it would take to pay them off.
5. Are Parents Violating Their Children’s Privacy When They Share Photos and Videos of Them Online? I’m decidedly uncomfortable with how much some parents post about their children’s lives. At the very least, once children are school age, I think parents should ask them for permission.
6. How Important Is It to Have a Driver’s License? It depends on where you live. I also recognize that there are many people who cannot drive for various reasons (including health conditions and the financial impacts of car ownership).
7. How Did You Get To School? From kindergarten through 8th grade, I walked, which was just under a half mile. I took a school bus to high school, which was about 7 miles.
8. How Much Did Your Parents Help With Your Homework? Not very much. The only exception I can think of was some family history sort of assignment.
9. Are You An Optimist? How Full Is Your Glass? I’d say I’m generally optimistic. My cup runneth over.
10. Would Life Be Better Without Time Zones? Life without any time zones would be too confusing. For the most part, I want the sun to rise at about 7 a.m. and set at about 7 p.m.
11. Do You Like Horror Movies? Most horror movies are too gory for my tastes. I can find psychological terror interesting, but, for the most part, I prefer my movies reasonably gore-free.
12. If You Could Time-Travel, Where Would You Go? I think I’d be more inclined to visit the future, rather than the past.
13. What Jobs Are You Most Curious About? I’m curious about how people manage the business aspects of freelancing.
14. What Are Your Favorite Movies Ever? My all time favorite movie is Local Hero for its character-based humor. (Well, okay, also my crush on Peter Riegert.) Some other movies I love are The Visitor, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Vampire’s Kiss.
15. Do You Cook? Yes, though not as much as I used to. Mostly I make big pots of soup and freeze individual portions. Or experiment with various pasta and vegetable dishes.
16. Is ‘Doing Nothing’ a Good Use of Your Time? It can be. Sometimes, I just need some down time. But I end up “doing nothing” because I feel overwhelmed by how much I have to do, and that’s more negative.
17. How Much Self-Control Do You Have? I am reasonably good at not saying things I’m thinking which I know could hurt the person I’m talking to. I’m not always as good at self control when it comes to forcing myself to do certain types of chores.
18. What Is The Most Odd Thing You Have Done to Earn Money? As an undergraduate, I used to make money by reading sentences into a tape recorder for people who were studying natural language processing.
19. What Hobbies Have Been Passed Down in Your Family? My parents were collectors. I never collected stamps (which both of my parents did) but I did collect coins for a while. I also collected dolls and, especially, paper dolls (which I still do.) Aside from that, both of my parents wrote. And my mother taught me to knit. And then there was reading. My father was particularly fond of mysteries.
20. How Comfortable Are You With Lying? I’m not.
21. How Do You Celebrate Spring? Well, there are Jewish holidays associated with springtime (Purim and Pesach, for example). Beyond that, springtime is a good opportunity to indulge in various fresh fruits and vegetables.
22. Are We Being Bad Citizens If We Don’t Keep Up With the News? Nobody can keep up with all the news nowadays, but I think it’s important to keep up with the major national - and local - issues.
23. What Possessions Does Your Family Treasure? I have a few pieces of jewelry that I consider family heirlooms. In particular, I love a necklace that my great-grandmother allegedly bought in China, though I have no evidence that, despite family lore, she actually ever went to Shanghai.
24. Do Your Friends on Social Media All Have the Same Political Opinions You Do? I have some Facebook friends who have opinions that are extremely different from mine. A few of them are (somewhat distant) relatives, while others are people I grew up with. I mostly try to avoid responding to them.
25. Are Paper Books Better Than E-Books? I prefer paper books, but I understand why people who prefer e-books do so.
26. What Makes You Happy? Being around interesting people, listening to good music, going to live entertainment (storytelling, theatre, concerts), walking, traveling,
27. Is Childhood Today Too Risk-Free? I think children live more structured and organized lives than we did back in my day, but I think it’s more a question of there being different risks now than there were umpty-ump years ago.
28. What Do You Know About Your Family’s History? Since I’m a genealogist, I know a fair amount about my family’s history. But I still have plenty of unanswered questions and some significant brick walls. It’s still exciting when I find new pieces of evidence - and when I meet previously unknown relatives.
29. What Kind of Tourist Are You? I like to try to understand cultures different from my own. Typically, when I go somewhere new to me, I try to see what are considered the major attractions, but I also seek out lesser known places. If I hear about a local festival, I am likely to try to go to it. I’m reasonably flexible about food and can handle some less comfortable transportation options and/or accommodations if necessary.
30. What Foods Bring Up Special Memories for You? My family always went out for birthdays and the person whose birthday it was got to choose where we’d go. I particularly liked going to Palace of Wong, a Chinee restaurant a few towns away from where we lived. Other food memories are some of the traditional Passover seder foods, e.g. matzoh ball soup and chopped liver, falafel for Shabbat lunch at summer camp, and chocolate cream pie from Custom Bakers.
31. What Is the Role of Religion or Spirituality in Your Life? This is somewhat complicated. In short, I like feeling connected to the past generations of my family. And that’s a bit tricky given the synagogues near where I live.