Category: Random

If there’s an award for the most compassionate wall, I’m sure you’d get the award! Though there’s no perfect answer for many things.

Thank you so much! That is the sort of Wall I aspire to be. I don’t know if I can be wise intentionally, but I am thinking of a story about an exchange between a Buddhist monk and his teacher. Perhaps there is something there you can make sense of. https://bit.ly/bc-bowl

That’s so sad! ????? Also, the stay-at-home and self-quarantine thing feels really different when you perceive more distress at home or have to quarantine alone w/o human contacts. E.g. you have no one to hug for a long long long time, which can negatively affect your mental health and immune system!

I’m sorry you’re lonely. Focus on how temporary it is, and keep in touch with people as much as you can through phone or video calls. It’s not a sufficient replacement for in-person contact, but can suffice for short periods. As to how long (and how much) social distancing will be necessary… it’s hard to say. As to high fives and hugs & shoulders, start thinking about a “quaranteam,” a social bubble where you can have some contact: bit.ly/mit-quaranteam.

Btw, is that route really more efficient than flying along the latitude?

Maps are hard, because they’re trying to represent something round as something flat. The shortest distance between two points on a sphere looks like a curve on a flat map. Ship and plane navigators call this the Great Circle Route. Here’s one way to visualize it: https://bit.ly/bc-gcr. Here’s another: https://bit.ly/bc-gcr2 (BTW from 36,000 feet, you’d need eagle-eyes to spot a white polar bear on snow.)

What should I do if at the same time I’m scared of BC because of the scary police. Why is life so hard? Also, don’t you think that’s ironic that the students can feel so afraid of the support and police on campus that they would not go for help even when things happen on campus or that others inappropriately treat them? Don’t you see how this keep confirming her fear that the world is somehow unsafe and beyond help?

? Sigh… Life is hard sometimes, I know. And it’s harder for some than for others. But life can also bring solace and joys that make getting through the rough patches worthwhile. All I can say is that one thing is under your control: believing in your own strength and resilience. I believe in you, and I hope that helps you believe in yourself.

Thanks for asking! My Mom is a sea wall up on the North Shore. She got to spend Mother’s Day at the beach and I’m happy for her, but like so many of us I do miss her so.

Therapists and patients aren’t ethically allowed to have close personal relationships with each other, to prevent therapists from abusing or taking advantage of their patients.

Française, entangling, or of convenience?

Most often called an umlaut (German), sometimes called a diaresis, the two dots indicate either a change in that vowel’s sound (“umlaut” means “about sound”) or the pronunciation of an ordinarily silent letter, such as in “naïve”. Only a few languages (such as Albanian & Tagalog) use two dots over an e. Wikipedia has a great entry on the subject: wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic). I see that your s’s have smiles over them.

Depends on the ratio of liquid to solid. Could also be a salad or a stew.

Aloha! Hola! 你好! नमसते! Salut! Hi!

I do, and BC is a great place to do it. Elsewhere on campus there are lots of fans of Kant and Kierkegaard and Husserl and Aquinas. But you’re asking me. I have a real affection for the pre-Socratic philosophers whose work mostly survives as fragments. It makes them look hyper-focused on one tiny thing. I kinda like Xenophanes, who said that if horses could paint their gods they would paint them as horses.https://bit.ly/bc-horse-gods

I have been friends with this girl for a long time and we always fight. It’s over the silliest things to. I just feel like we fight so much, but I don’t know what I would do without her I mean we might have radon’s bad times but we also have good times and good laughs. What do I do?

It’s ok to have conflicts with friends, and probably not healthy to avoid them at all costs, but if you do fight, you should fight fair. This guide can help you resolve some of the conflict without losing the friendship: bit.ly/FriendsFightFair.

I’m not quite sure what you’re saying is not up to you to decide. There are things in our control, and things not in our control, that’s true. Are you familiar with Reinhold Niebuhr’s serenity prayer? Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I assume the answer is “no”, right? So I guess this means they don’t get to criminalize/punish me with student conduct or the police, or Section me this time, right? You know, if help doesn’t have to hurt, then no one wants to die. If the interaction with PEC comes with a disciplinary action and the threat to be hospitalized in the U.S., this time they won’t get to do anything when I’m not in the country, right? I guess there is a way out of the misery then. 🙂

I’m a boy and I like boys. But I don’t want to, because I always imagine me loving, marrying and having sons with a woman! And I want this future! I want to be a dad and grow them with their mum, the person I love. But I’m attracted to male’s body! And I don’t want to! What can I do?

We each are who we are, contradictions and all. I’m sorry your contradictions are troubling you right now. If it’s any consolation, this wall knows quite a few men with men as partners who are happily raising children, and likewise, women with women as partners doing the same. May you find a path in life that brings you minimal heartbreak and maximal joy.

I tried out any number of instructions in articles and YouTube videos; none of them worked for me. Then I remembered that I am a Wall, with none of the necessary parts for the skill! Most of the information was similar; here are the clearest illustrations I found bit.ly/LoudWhistle

I need human hugs. ???????? Meow meow meow meow meow

You’re halfway though! You can do the thing. I can’t give human hugs, but you have my warmest virtual wall hugs. And affectionate cat noises: purr purr purr ???????

Most everyone’s a little loopy right now, so even if it does I doubt anyone will notice. Watch some movies, play some games, read a book you’ve been meaning to. Be kind to yourself in as many ways as you can. Repeat. It’ll be OK.

Visit the BC Libraries website: library.bc.edu. You’ll see pictures of some of my assistants featured under the “scenes from the library” on the right side, and even more pictures if you scroll down to News and Events. Click on those collages to see two blog entries about staff working during the coronavirus shutdown, with many pictures.