What is sidenote?

This post is for all of you who have wondered - what is Sidenote?

Here's how I define the writing tool "sidenote": A few years ago my friend Amulya and I had an epic email chain where we rambled about our relationships and life philosophies.  In the middle of our email, if we had a more interesting idea we'd simply write "sidenote" and take our rambling on a 180.  Sometime these sidenotes would be completely off the wall and only interesting to one of us, but other times it'd turn into the best part of the email.

for some reason beautiful places
produce lots of ideas

And similarly, here's how I define the blog "Sidenote": it's about a lifestyle where it's ok to stop whatever you feel like you should be doing and instead follow random sidenotes, because that sidenote might be more interesting, and interesting is better than important.  

Here's how I reached that conclusion:

During college I read one of my top 3 favorite books ever - Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains.  The short synopsis - biography of Dr. Paul Farmer - who provides American quality healthcare to the destitute poor in rural Haiti.

After reading it I was immediately convinced that this was what I HAD to do with my life.  I started organizing a service trip to Haiti, wrote about Haiti for the school newspaper, blah blah blah - by the end I had became a major social justice advocate at Kenyon, but I was also left burnt out.  

Near the end - I hosted a group conversation called "What is Social Justice?"  It brought together campus leaders to discuss how we ought to live out a life of social justice.  

Here's what I came up with:

"Ask not what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."   - Howard Thurman, civil rights activist

The point was that Kenyon didn't need more people giving money to Haiti, but it did need more people who were really engaged in their lives. 

Since then I've been trying to shape my life to be consistent with that belief - interesting is better than important.  My life is looking less and less like a traditional activist - I have minimal interest in working at homeless clinics, I don't vote in elections, and I'd rather read Bill Simmons or Cell than the New York Times - but I still consider myself an activist.  

i might have analyzed this too much

Thinking that the world can be fixed by simply giving more money to the poor or showing up to church on Sunday is simplistic at best, and counterproductive at worst.  I think there's a truth out there somewhere that could turn the world around, but it's complex and I have no idea how to get there.  I feel like if anyone's ever going to get there it's going to be people who are on fire.  And I think sidenotes are life's way of showing us what we care about.

Uh but anyways, that's what sidenote is.  I might have analyzed this too much.

from ken