Goals

Source: Life observations

Commentary:

Coming into the school year, I was so excited to tell everyone my goal for being here: I am going to work for an international Christian non-profit when I graduate. While this is still my goal for my future, I seem to have lost sight of that with the jumble of daily like here at college. The irony is that my goal is to change and impact the lives of people other than myself and the things that have been distracting me have all been about my personal life.


We all have goals that we are striving for in life. Some desire to help others, and some strive for personal advancement. Whatever that personal goal may be, the fact that we all have them is a great point of unity. Just like an actor may ask his or her director, "whats my motivation?" We must ask ourselves the same question. Our motivation and tactics for achieving that motivation define who we are.


During this time of year especially, I think it is important to refocus the lenses through which we are viewing life. We are in the final week of the semester, and the final month of the year; there is no better time.



Earl Nightingale said this:    

“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.” Think about it

 

Identity

Source: http://www.shortlist.com/shortlists/10-banned-books

Commentary:

     I recently came across an article naming the top ten banned books. The article gave a quick synopsis of the book, and the reasons each book was banned.  While reading through this article, I realized that over half of the books were banned because the author was honest about society today, and that was seen as unfit for the public to read. For example the book The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was banned for its descriptions of the poor in America. The descriptions in the book are not meant to be offensive or unfair, but HONEST. Some of the other books were banned for explicit content, religious slurs, but most often it is for the book's criticism of society. Now what does this have to do with the concept of identity? Well....
    The fact that these books (along with countless others) shows that we as a society like to keep to our social norm. We do not like to hear, see, or think about the parts of society that make us unique, the parts that make each person an individual. The author's actions of writing the books in its self is an expression of this identity, and it is repressed as much as possible. Years later we have come to see these books as works of art and great literary accomplishment, but it has taken us awhile to get over the shock. One book in particular, American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis caught my interest. The book follows the story and dissects the identity of a  serial killer who appears to be an average member of society. This subject is very interesting because it shows how one person can have such a split identity: one that society accepts, and one that is rejects. The identity that we choose to put forward depends on the company we are in. Had the main character, Patrick Bateman, showed his true identity to the public, he would have been "banned" just like the books on the list. As soon as I read about this book, I went to amazon and read more about it and then promptly pushed "add to cart". I anxious to read this book and see how Patrick reacts and behaves within society. For now, here is a sneak peak for me (and you):


" I stare into a thin, weblike crack above the urinal's handle and think to myself that if I were to disappear into that crack, say somehow miniaturize and slip into it, the odds are good that no one would notice I was gone. No...one....would...care. In fact some, if they noticed my absense, might feel an odd, indefinable sense of relief. This is true: the world is better off with some people gone. Our lives are not all interconnected. That theory is a crock. Some people truly do not need to be here."


-Brett Easton Ellis


Think about it

Family and Identity

Source: Renee Montes, member of the Yurok tribe

Commentary:

     When I first thought about personal identity, family, and rituals all combined I thought of the Native Americans and how they are given a second name to signify their coming of age and understanding of culture. I discussed this matter with my close friend Renee Montes, who is a registered and active member of the Yurok tribe. When she was 12 years old, her father asked for a naming ceremony to determine her spirit and personality; she was given the name Turtle Warrior. This ritual creates a strong tie to both her family and her tribe as well as giving Renee a strong personal identity. Tribe names are not given until later in life because they are specific to the member and are based on their personality and spirit guides. Renee's father (Chief) saw that Renee had over come many things, even at that young age, and was a warrior. He gave her the name turtle because she has a strong outter shell and carries others on her back; yet she is a sensative creature and can be hurt easily if wronged. Most importantly she was named after Turtle Island, what the Natives call the United States. Turtle Island means home to the Yurok; to her father, anywhere Renee is, that is home.

      Renee's story truly moved me; the meaning and love that went into her name is so apparent. As Americans, the most meaning we give to a name is naming one after a family member. I think the idea of waiting until the person has developed a personality is a beautiful idea.


"A strong sense of identity gives a man the idea he can do no wrong; too little acomplishes the same"
   Djuna Barnes


Think about it

Speech Acts

Source:  Borderline by Jeanette Farr
                             http://www.10-minute-plays.com/dramas/borderline.html

Relation: RR: Chapter 4 Language and Thought

Commentary:
   
               Recently, I saw a short play by Jeanette Farr entitled Borderline. I have included a link to a copy of the play online, its short, funny and a good read if you are interested. The plot of this play focuses on miscommunications caused by language barriers. Miguel is an apparent white drug/sex dealer and Mykal is an illegal immigrant looking for a job. The trouble starts when Mykal asks for a job he can do with his hands and Miguel assumes Mykal is looking for sex. While this sets up a hilarious situation for the audience, it exemplifies speech acts in our society and how different meanings are placed on a word. While Mykal thought he was totally innocent in asking for a job, he was not aware of the different meanings of the word. This type of giving different meanings to innocent phrases has also become popular in today's society with the familiar "thats what she said" jokes. Made famous by the NBC comedy The Office, these jokes take normal phrases and put them in a sexual context.  For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRV2NQKPGIs. These jokes "work" because of the shock value and twisting of our words. We aren't intending to say something inappropriate and when someone says "that's what she said", the joke is on us.


To end, I have two quotes for you:

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
Henry Ward Beecher



And...

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
E. B. White



Think about it! 

Calories

Source: life observations


Relation: RR Ch 2

Commentary:

      A calorie is simply a unit of energy; specifically two units of heat energy. In hunter-gatherer societies, about ten calories of human energy are expanded for every one calorie of food harvested. In "modern" society, only one calorie of human energy is needed to produce 210 calories of food. (RR pg 36). However, the amount of non-human energy that is needed to produce food in our modern society is multiplied enormously. Although it takes less physical labor to farm acres of corn or wheat, the fuel and raw materials that are used make up and exceed the physical labor energy. We see our modern farming techniques as "easier" because we do not have to depend fully on what nature provides; we can alter nature until she produces the desired product.
      The same technique of altering the system is seem time and time again in history. For example there is a growing laziness with students in our country. Instead of doing our homework as it is assigned, we will look for any possible way to make it easier. We spend ten times more energy looking up the answer on Google rather than just looking in our notebooks. Instead of writing our own essays, we will spend time and money buying one online. Students may initially think that less thinking is involved if we just cheat our way through our homework, when the time and energy it takes to do so could be more effectively applied to actually DOING the work.
     We as people are never satisfied with the product placed in front of us. We instinctively need to find a problem, and then find a solution. There was nothing wrong with the hunter-gatherer way of life. Their life was in fact very effective, what changed is the access to new technology. There is nothing wrong with the amount of homework students are assigned, what has changed it the access to new technology.




Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.  ~Thomas Edison



Think about it

Title: Women's Work

Source: recent media portrayals 

Relation:  "Whose Counting?"

Commentary: For generations, a woman's place has been the home. With a few exceptions, she is expected to stay at home and care for her children, family, cook and clean, and be happy to do it. For some women, this is truly enough and is what they love to do. Even if this is their passion, however, we somehow look down on them. They are still seen as "unemployed" and do not contribute to to the GDP. Recent media has idealized this life with such shows like "Mad Men". The glamorous life of the sixties housewife whose sole joy is pleasing her family. While this is a dramatic show and of course, there is drama and problems that disrupt the daily pleasantries, for the most part the women stays at home and the man goes to work in the city. At work, the men smoke and drink and only occasionally do real work, such as go to dinner with clients. The women care for the children all day and most importantly, have dinner on the table when the men get home. For most Americans, this is a glamorous life! We would love to be the perfect sixties family. Men feel the need to provide and women love to be provided for. We see this example but yet Don (the main character of the show) admits that without his wife (Betty), he would be nothing. Betty supports Don emotionally just as much as he supports her financially. Even though this recognition takes place verbally, there is no social reward. American society to this day holds mens' work outside the home as superior to a woman's work in the home. 





Cast of "Man Men" illustrating the separation of the genders.


And to end, a quote from the show itself! Don is trying to figure out how to advertise to women while his college Roger Sterling gets drunk at the bar...

Don Draper: Let me ask you something, what do woman want?
Roger Sterling: Who cares?





Think about it...