• Happiness Is Not Lost

    Truth Often in the current American culture, we are on a set pursuit of happiness — always looking to find happiness like it’s a lost dog or something.  We’re searching so hard that we don’t realize happiness is not an object that will suddenly drop into our lap one day.  It is something we decide all day, every day. I believe one reason why we are on the constant pursuit of happiness instead of making a conscious choice to be happy everyday is due to our cultural obsession with convenience. The Internet, fast food, cell phones and especially a general lack of patience are some examples of how Americans are obsessed with convenience. The world  moves fast and so should we. Convenience means now and that goes for happiness too.…

  • Prep Your Garden for Winter and Plant Garlic!

    I absolutely LOVE garlic. If I didn’t know better, I’d try putting it on my ice cream. There are many things garlic LOVES, too! For instance, garlic loves to increase our blood flow. It naturally increases our body’s supply of hydrogen sulfide, which aids in lowering cholesterol levels. And on that note, I should mention that due to a history of high cholesterol in my family, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol at the age of 21. You should always be aware of your cholesterol levels, which can be abnormal even if you appear healthy. Changing my diet along with a healthy meditation and yoga practice has allowed me to maintain a healthy cholesterol level without medication. I also eat a ton of garlic, sometimes raw with a teaspoon of…

  • No One’s Watching But ME

    People are strange. I’m even weirder. I used to constantly question myself. I’d ask myself if this was ok to wear . . . . . .if this was okay to say . . . . . if this was acceptable to society. It wasn’t until recently that I finally woke up one day and thought to myself, “who gives a shit”. No one is really watching but ME. Adjusting to college is hard and strange and totally out of your comfort zone. All my life I’ve begged for freedom and now that I have it I don’t even know how to use it. There is just this enormous space to fill everyday with a million and one choices. It’s crazy and it can feel pretty overwhelming. When I was…

  • Murder Mouth: Life, Death and Dinner

    This past weekend I saw Murder Mouth at the Adventure Film Festival here in Boulder. I have to say it was the adventure that resonated with me the most. Follow the wildly endearing and expressive, Madeleine Parry (21 year old Writer and Director!) as she challenges herself to fathom the taste murder… ~Chelsea   “You can’t eat a steak without killing the cow. Madeleine loves her Greek family’s traditional lamb souvlaki but her friends claim that meat is murder. Well, Maddie’s never killed anything bigger than a spider, so she decides to reconnect the animal and the meal or never eat meat again. After talking to the people who slaughter animals for their livelihood Maddie is encouraged to do it herself, but, even if she can kill an animal, will…

  • Mason Jars for Storage

    I am obsessed with mason jars, especially for food storage. Putting dried food in mason jars not only looks neat but it’s much more organized. And not only is it more sustainable to use glass, studies have shown that the chemicals and toxins in plastics may lead to significant health issues. Using glass is literally better for your health! Below I have listed a few genius ways to use mason jars, which I found on this website— which lists many more. Leftovers – Perfect for soups or stews, grains like rice, chopped veggies, scrambled eggs… endless possibilities. Mason jar meal – You can put anything that you were about to put in a plastic container, in a mason jar instead. Click here to see an example of a meal made…

  • The Simplest, Good for You, and Oh So Delicious Breakfast

    I’m taking over this Flavorful Friday to tell you about something that has changed my life these last few weeks…refrigerator oatmeal. Prepare a couple of these around dinner time and have a grab-n-go breakfast for the next couple of mornings! 1/4 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt 1/3 cup Almond Milk Whatever you would like to add (organic chocolate chips always recommended) I add fruit such as blueberries, strawberries and pineapple, along with ground flax seed and fiber. Lately I have been adding a little cooked pumpkin and pumpkin spice. And honey. Add all of the ingredients in a small mason jar. Stir and/or shake it up and pop it in the fridge. Don’t forget your spoon in the morning! Love, Chelsea P.S. For a winter treat,…

  • Specialization vs Meaning — What is Education Really About?

    “Meaninglessness inhibits fullness of life and is therefore equivalent to illness. Meaning makes a great many things endurable – perhaps everything.” Carl Jung There has been much written on the impact of specialization in academia. Certainly, it is well documented that modern culture requires specialization. We see this in all disciplines and we recognize the difficulty of connecting all of the abstracted dots. My own field, sociology, with its emphasis on the social construction of reality and deconstruction of thought has certainly led the pack when it comes to denying a unified perspective capable of offering meaning to the masses. And, of course, when education becomes an instrument for individual careerism, it no longer inspires students in broad sweeping terms. In my mind, education should be about ideas and connection.…

  • The Healthy Microwave

    Happy fall everybody! I hope you’re all doing fantastically and taking extra good care of yourselves during the change of season. Eating healthy, going to bed early, and adequate exercise are always important, but are crucial this time of year! I wanted to share with you this little secret, which really shouldn’t be a secret at all…so please, spread the word! The only reason I call it a secret is because I’ve never heard of anyone else doing it before. So here it is! The HEALTHY microwave! Yes…healthy! Several years back, my parents had both their mothers and my uncle living with them. My mom and step dad would go away often for business, and out of concern for their two mothers, they had to come up with an easy…

  • Democracy or Corporatocracy? Why History Proves Protesting Works

    As regular readers already know, I’m the food contributor for Tuning the Student Mind. Most of my posts involve tasty recipes that fill the mind, body and soul with delight and nourishment. Today I’m going to come at you from another maybe unexpected angle. Let’s talk politics for a few, because you should all know about this! About a week ago I read President Obama’s commencement speech given to the women of Barnard College, class of 2012. In his commencement address, Obama urged women graduates to look to the history of social struggle in the United States for inspiration. Obama recalled pivotal protesting moments in history, and how they positively changed life for present and future generations. He said: [Watch here – start at 28:37] “The trajectory of this country should…

  • It’s US Constitution Day! Watch this

    CCS student Andrew Stafanik gives a glimpse inside the American Occupy Movement and its unwritten future and potential. This video was finished in May of 2012 and is being featured in the “Art & Activism: Performing Citizenship” event presented by the College for Creative Studies this evening. Andrew took Molly’s class, Consciousness, Creativity and Identity in the Winter semester of 2011.