embracing the good in life

This one is easy for me. The "good" in my life is my son, Avery (he is a year and a half). I try to embrace and cherish the time I have with him as much as I can, though I wish I had more time to spend with him. It is amazing to watch him learn and grow, and he almost does something every single day that surprises me. Last week, he learned how to turn a doorknob to open a door. He is also building his vocabulary, new words of recent include "ball" and "eat." When it was still warm outside, we told him we were going swimming, and he said "bath," like he knew the swimming pool would be like a bathtub. Today, he actually called me from the house phone (we have speed-dial, but still). I can't get enough. I wish I had the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom, but I have to work and finish school, and then move on with my career. When I come home late at night, sometimes Avery is still awake and I get to play with him or read him a bedtime story. We all hang out around the house and play outside on the weekends, when work or homework doesn't interfere. But time with him is precious, and so I try to cherish it as much as I can while still keeping my head on straight about school and the other responsibilities that I have to devote time to.

the Epicurean "dot coms"

One of the major themes of my research paper will be how today's American capitalist society has construed the original Epicurean meaning of "pleasure" to include lavish meals and wine. The major dot coms - Epicurius.com and Epicurean.com, focus on gourmet meals and wines, which they claim are simple to prepare but draw upon elegant and rare ingredients in their recipes. This is in major contrast to what Epicurus meant by "pleasure as the absence of pain." One of my sources lays it all out quite clearly: The Hedonism of Epicurus:
An Ancient Philosophy of Ethics, Pleasure, and Pain
© Lisa Keele Read more: http://philosophy.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_hedonism_of_epicurus#ixzz0TvZs8y8G

In her section about food, Lisa Keele restates that Epicurean philosophy focuses on the concept of pleasure as absence of pain. She goes on to use the example of hunger as a physical pain. Given that, any food of choice will end the physical pain once you've eaten it. However, she uses the examples of chocolate cake and oatmeal to make her point. Many sweet lovers would choose the chocolate cake to alleviate their hunger, but this goes beyond the mere "absence of pain" that Epicurus was referring to. The oatmeal, on the other hand, also accomplishes this goal while being more healthful for the body, cheap to afford, easy to prepare, and able to alleviate hunger for a longer period of time--which makes this the more "Epicurean" choice. The chocolate cake would be more expensive, harder to obtain and prepare, and would cause or add to health problems through obesity and tooth decay (adding more pain), while only removing the pain of hunger for a short time.

Taking another perspective, I see how it could be argued a different way. Epicurious.com tries to offer selections that are easy to prepare with ingredients that some may already have on-hand. Stressing about "what's for dinner" and trying to prepare a healthy family meal with everyone's busy, conflicting schedules can definitely be a "pain" that many parents face today. Many of the meals are classified as "simple breakfasts," "healthy lunches," and "fast dinners," which I'm sure alleviates the stress on many moms (and dads) who have trouble deciding how to feed their families, thus bringing pleasure when their spouses and wives sit down to a nice, yet easily prepared meal. But I'm not so sure that Epicurus would agree with that...