Kirsha Frye-Matte

Change the World, Change Your Life: Discover Your Life Purpose Through Service

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Change the World, Change Your Life materialized as the author, Angela Perkey, reflected on how to help others find personal and community connections through donating one’s time. In her formative years, Perkey’s parents instilled in her the importance of volunteering and making a time commitment to help others. Thus, she spent time volunteering in various ways, and the most memorable volunteer experience to her was when she spent time painting the toenails of elderly women in a senior center.

Although she knew that she was providing companionship, she wasn’t wholly invested in the experience. As she got older, she realized she wanted to find volunteer experiences that matched her passions and interests, as well as find an opportunity to volunteer where her talents could be most utilized. Perkey discovered in college that she wanted to form an organization where students could apply for grants to fund their own service projects, and from this, Students Serve, Perkey’s nonprofit, was formed.

In Change the World, Change Your Life, Perkey advocates on how to find a type of giving that matches with one’s goals in life. At one point in the book, Perkey points out that, in reality, most organizations have failed because they have not succeeded in what they have aimed to do, such as eradicating hunger or providing an equal education for all students. Her brashness is a way to emphasize the fact that there are multiple problems which need solving and that maybe we are the ones to solve them.

Perkey also wants her readers to realize that we should be selective in choosing where we give our money and spend our time; in other words, we should think about what a volunteer opportunity is going to do for us as well as what we will be doing for the organization. Will we be happier as a result of the time we spend volunteering? Will we come home invigorated, so that our positive energy is felt by those around us? Perkey points out that only when we feel that we are making worthwhile contributions to our society will we be truly spurred on to continue our efforts, and only then will we be able to really help the causes to which we are dedicated. Furthermore, she creates many guiding questions which are meant to help her readers find the volunteer opportunities that will be the most fulfilling and rewarding, and have the most impact on those we are serving.

If an individual is not already volunteering her or his time to an organization, there are probably a plethora of reasons why she or he will start this important work in the future and not today. I have wanted to volunteer for years, yet my work and home schedule always seemed so hectic, and I couldn’t imagine fitting volunteering into my schedule. Then I had kids, and I wasn’t sure what service opportunities were available for families to do with their children. After starting Perkey’s book, I made a call to a local Meals on Wheels organization. I asked them if I could volunteer with my children, and sure enough, the following week I started taking meals to senior citizens in my town with my four year old and seven month old in tow.

That was a month ago, and now I am wholeheartedly enjoying spending a few hours each week volunteering due to Perkey’s straightforward guidance and gentle prodding to take action sooner rather than later. Any book that can motivate people to take action should be shared, and I’ll happily recommend this to anyone who is looking for a way to become involved in her or his community.

Written by: Kirsha Frye-Matte, July 6th 2010

Big Dreams Little Tokyo: A Half Japanese Comedy

admin — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:30:00 +0000

Directed by David Boyle

Brainwave

Big Dreams Little Tokyo is written by, directed by and stars David Boyle, who plays the character of Boyd, an awkward American who speaks perfect Japanese. Boyd is a well-dressed young man who claims to be a businessman, yet his most successful business only has one client. The relationship that subtly develops between Boyd and Mai, a nurse and his only English student, is the most enjoyable aspect of the movie. Here is where the movie’s delicate pacing shines: the shy glances between the two characters, the dates disguised as English lessons and the quiet slide towards one another as they sit on a rock, and later on a bench at a business meeting. Boyd is an individual who overcompensates for everything, and finally Mai allows him to ease into real conversation as she listens to his stories and gives him time to come into his real identity.

The only negative aspect of the film is that the humor is often too blatant, which doesn’t fit with the understated tone of the movie and takes away from some of the more subtle, comedic moments. Big Dreams Little Tokyo has a strong mix of quick, MTV-esque cuts and edits paired with long, contemplative shots, which show Boyle's knowledge and understanding of contemporary independent filmmaking. This cohesive dichotomy of editing commented on the film’s narrative of displaced cultural identity.

Boyd isn’t who he appears to be, and many of the Japanese people that he meets don’t want him to speak Japanese or bow to them, they want to shake hands and speak English. We discover that Boyd often enters the store Murakami Books to sell his own book, and later the owner chases him out of the store shouting, “No matter how many times you bow when you speak, you will never be Japanese.”

The issues of cultural and personal identity come to a head in the character of Jerome. Jerome is the archetypal, lazy roommate who - to reference the original Odd Couple - is the upbeat Oscar to Boyd’s Felix, and he poetically explains the complications of cultural identity while he deconstructs a piece of sushi that turns out to be a California roll, which was made by a Mexican chef.

This movie centers around cultural identity and the nuances of language, thus the subtitles take on a larger role in this film than they usually do. The filmmaker uses the subtitles not only as a tool to help us understand the language, but also as a comedic device, giving us an insight to the inside jokes that we as viewers share with Boyd. This film makes us aware of language in its many forms: its musicality, its written form, the intonations that exist from one speaker to another and how our self-confidence is often dependent on our grasp of language.

Written by: Kirsha Frye-Matte, July 10th 2007

The Ten Minute Activist

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:32:00 +0000

By The Mission Collective

Nation Books

The Ten Minute Activist provides a dense, insightful education into what one individual can do, or not do, to live in a more environmentally conscious manner. It is not written in a preachy or condescending manner; instead, its authors, five individuals jointly known as The Mission Collective, have written a witty and approachable text. What, you ask, are some of the issues that are discussed in The Ten Minute Activist? Here is a short sampling the smorgasbord of topics in the text: how your daily routines and product use impact the earth; suggestions for sharing resources with friends and neighbors; and ways to slow down and appreciate your food and your surroundings.

The text is interspersed with illustrations by Lloyd Dangle, which are frightening because of the frankness of their message. Another compelling aspect of the book is its references to websites, books and phone numbers so that readers can take action or further research any of the topics in the text. The Ten Minute Activist is written in a laid-back, approachable style, while still packing oodles of essential information into its pages. This book is necessary reading for individuals who want to start to tread more lightly upon the earth, and for individuals who have been living in an environmentally conscientious manner for years. After owning this text for only a couple of weeks, nearly half of its pages are earmarked so I can return to the information to reread chapters or to follow the writers’ recommendations on where to do additional research on a particular subject. The Ten Minute Activist is a book that is not only praiseworthy and ambitious in its own right, but also leads its readers in other directions, thus helping its readers to gain a broad, well educated perspective on the issues facing our environment.

Written by: Kirsha Frye-Matte, April 11th 2007