You’ve got to check out Cafe San Diego today. Anurag Kashyap, a junior at Rancho Bernardo High School, is hosting.
I met Anurag in the summer of 2005. I was an intern for the Copley News Service bureau in Washington, D.C., and was assigned to cover the Copley papers’ kids in the Spelling Bee. From the first couple of conversations I had with Anurag, his parents and his English teacher/coach, I knew San Diego had a winner.
He’d been to the national Bee the year before, and had been quizzing and studying online with friends he met there — they called themselves “Speller Nation.” (I even bet my fellow interns, also covering kids from their regions in the Bee, that “my” contestant would win.)
The guy knows what he’s talking about. And he’s asking good questions today, ones that sound like questions asked by the folks I hang out with each month for series like People at Work. Ones that get to the heart of the quandary many San Diegans find themselves in: how to balance house or rent payments, cars, gas, food, and survive (and live a good life) in this place.
Check out a snippet from Anurag’s first post about the “fundamental dilemma that even many adults struggle with”:
Should a guy become a doctor with a huge paycheck or pursue his passion as a ufologist who receives relatively little attention (except on those cool Discovery Channel specials)?
Should people pursue actions like applying for a job based on monetary gratification or love for the vocation? Should a politician really tell us what he or she believes despite a possible negative reaction to such a confession? Should we think and act according to our mind or follow our heart and let our natural impulsivity guide us?
Get thee to the Cafe.