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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2017)
DECEMBER 14, 2017 // 3 SCRATCHPAD Better living through philosophy By ERICK BENGEL COAST WEEKEND E arlier this month, I reconnected with Pro- fessor Prakash Chenjeri, the chair of Southern Oregon University’s philosophy program who, along with chaplain and author Fred Grewe, led a community talk at the Astoria Library about what makes life meaningful. It’s been nearly 10 years since my last class with Chen- jeri, and I told him before the event that although I’d contin- coast ued studying undergrad-level philosophy in Portland, I had ultimately gone into journal- ism. I may have broken the news somewhat ruefully, for there was a time when I gave serious thought to pursuing philosophy as a grad student, when the most important vocation I could imagine involved dismantling dogmas, clarifying concepts and call- ing bull---- from a lectern. Chenjeri reminded me, though, of something he tells his students: Having a INSIDE THIS ISSUE weekend arts & entertainment 4 9 10 COASTAL LIFE A very Flavel Christmas Museum hosts Victorian-style plum pudding and tea COAST WEEKEND EDITOR ERICK BENGEL CALENDAR COORDINATOR REBECCA HERREN CONTRIBUTORS LAURA CHERAU RYAN HUME KATHERINE LACAZE BARBARA LLOYD McMICHAEL PATRICK WEBB HOLIDAY FUN Merrymaking maniacs Carruthers Holiday Bazaar goes down Dec. 17-18 FEATURE Stage presents COLI N MUR PHEY PHOTO DINING Mouth of the Columbia Surfcrest Pizza unafraid of gluttonous ecstasy FURTHER ENJOYMENT MUSIC CALENDAR .....................5 SEE + DO ........................... 12, 13 CROSSWORD ........................... 17 CW MARKETPLACE ......... 18, 19 WORD NERD ........................... 20 BOOKMONGER ........................ 20 To advertise in Coast Weekend, call 503-325-3211 or contact your local sales representative. © 2017 COAST WEEKEND New items for publication consideration must be submitted by 10 a.m. Tuesday, one week and two days before publication. Encore Dance Studio holiday showcase serves as toy drive 14 background in philosophy can help you in almost any field. Whatever career you choose, whatever life you want to live, you benefit from knowing how to unpack ideas, draw distinctions and unearth buried assumptions, and from having the wisdom and humility to recognize when to change your mind. Philosophy, you see, is not simply a body of knowledge but a skill, a practice, an orientation. In my 20s, the philos- ophy classes I enrolled in Find it all online! CoastWeekend.com features full calendar listings, keyword search and easy sharing on social media. TO SUBMIT AN ITEM Phone: 503.325.3211 Ext. 217 or 800.781.3211 Fax: 503.325.6573 E-mail: editor@coastweekend.com Address: P.O.Box 210 • 949 Exchange St. Astoria, OR 97103 Coast Weekend is published every Thursday by the EO Media Group, all rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent of the publisher. Coast Weekend appears weekly in The Daily Astorian and the Chinook Observer. — including the nine I took with Chenjeri — offered a refuge of reason from an unruly, angst-addled inner world. Some of my fondest memories are of daily walks to campus, a backpack full of textbooks and course readings, en route to discuss- ing the philosophies of mind and language, science and religion, political theory and critical thinking, logic and ethics. These dialogues felt vital, urgent and refreshing, as if we had, for an hour or two, stepped into a stream of conversation that had been flowing for millennia, running through topics that touched everything worth caring about. Absorbing a lesson was like installing the latest anti- virus software on my brain, a way of fortifying my mental defenses against suspicious inputs, of quality controlling my convictions. I steadily ditched many seductive beliefs I now find idiotic and embarrassing — DANNY MILLER PHOTO Continued on Page 19 Features Editor Erick Bengel