Jazzin' It Up

Agricultural dependency on illegal immigrats

2012-02-16T20:58:00.000-06:00

Sign warning illegal immigrants

Whilelooking up the term “illegal immigrant” in the etymology dictionary I found theterm “wet back”, which has come to be another term for illegal immigrants. Itrefers to illegal immigrants swimming past the Rio Grande to get to America.The term “wet back” was so incredibly racist and rude that it reminded me ofdiscrimination and racism or African-Americans, which we are studying in myAmerican Studies class.

So Iwas looking up the term “illegal immigrant” in the etymology dictionary becauseI was reading “Help Wanted” an article by David Eddy, which I read in AmericanFruit Grower, a produce magazine that my parents left on the table. The articlemade the argument that the government’s crack down on illegal immigrants ishurting the produce industry and thus hurting America’s ability to produce itsown food. The article also touched on the injustice of the laws preventing thehiring of illegal immigrants as well as expelled rumors surrounding illegalimmigrants. For example, many believe that immigrants do not pay taxes, but theydo pay taxes and social security under a false name. However most return toMexico and do not retire in America and therefore do not collect socialsecurity. Another rumor is that they are taking jobs away from America who issufferings an enormous unemployment rate, however most jobs in the agricultureindustry have gone unfilled after these laws were enacted. These were the defensesused by the politicians to rally support for these laws, which created a racistsentiments and stereotypes against Mexicans.

Migration patterns of illegal immigrants similar to the migration
patterns of African-Americans in the early 1900's

“’Oneday we will look back on this and say this is almost as bad as the Jim Crowlaws,’” said Gary Paulk a blackberry farm owner who is suffering from the lossof workers, quoted by Eddy. Similar to the Jim Crow laws these state laws are preventing Mexican workers from bringing home money to thier families as well as preventing American farmers from producing food for their nation. Paulk is saying that the state governments are creating these laws outof racism, because in reality implementing guest worker programs would be more beneficialand wouldn’t make cause the decline that is being seen in the agricultureindustry. The government is spending money to crack down on illegal immigration while it fuels America's agricultural industry which is now crumbling because of the loss of labor.

What do you think should be done about illegal immigration?

Racism all gone?

2012-02-12T19:34:00.003-06:00

From the AS Field Trip in the fall

The first use of the word "gentrification" and phrase "white flight" was in 1964 and 1967, respectively. These dates are around the times of the Civil Rights Movement and can hinting at the movements strides towards equal hosing opportunities.

Today, in the Chicago land area, neighborhoods can be categorized by race which is often a result of socioeconomic standings. A quote from the excerpt of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander says "A new race-neutral language was developed for appealing to old racist sentiments, a language accompanied by a political movement that succeeded in putting the vast majority of black back in their place" (Alexander, 40). The phrase "back in their place" suggests a predetermined place for African-American people in the minds of the majority of the population. Whether this thought is a thought that is subconscious or one that is apparent to the thinker is unknown but racist sentiments are apparent in virtually all areas of society.

Part of 14th Place

This is interesting because earlier in the year my American Studies class took a field trip and looked at different neighborhoods in Chicago, which is when I first learned the terms "gentrification" and "white flight". And as I was doing some living this weekend I saw its applications. In many torn down neighborhoods, such as the area around West 14th pl., I saw signs advertising the fact that new buildings were going up and more condos and single family homes were being built. The neighborhood had vacant lots and poor infrastructure but it looked as if it were improving because of the new buildings and families that were moving in. This was a real life example of gentrification to me.

A changing 14th Place

However, on the flip side, I also saw neighborhoods, such as Edgewater, which my mom claimed was an upscale neighborhood back in the day. It had theaters with boarded windows and beautifully crafted buildings that had been closed down as well as many closed small businesses with gates over the windows. This was a real life example of white flight to me.

The sounds of the phrase "white flight" even creates a racial system that puts whites on top. I think that Michelle Alexander's message of an ever present racist sentiment is very apparent in the neighborhoods of Chicago, which suggests that the African-Americans have "their place" in the city which is far from the suburbs of Chicago. Although most of us would like to believe that racism has been defeated on literally all fronts and that it only exists in the minds of racists, there is evidence of segregation and racism in virtually all areas of our society.

What are some other areas where racism can be seen?

Shirt

2012-02-05T21:57:00.003-06:00

The shirt I researched.

A shirt is a garment that every single person in America has worn at some point in his/her life. But how often do we stop to think about our shirt? Where it came from? Who made it? When it was made? Under what conditions was it made? But over the weekend while I was doing some living I was forced to think about that for an assignment in American Studies.

It turns out my shirt was manufactured in Dhaka, Bangladesh in a factory called "That's It". The working conditions are poor and the hours are unreasonably long.This factory has had 200 fires that have killed 600 women in the last six years. The doors were locked, similar to the Triangle Factory fire and (Source : The Dartmouth)

I couldn't believe I was so unaware of the sweatshop labor that made my shirt. I honestly don't remember ever thinking about where my shirt came from or who made it. I had always just assumed that it was done humanely in some sort of safe environment.

That is the problem. We have fixed what we can see. A result of the highly publicized Triangle Factory fire was legislation crafted by President Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. Perkins created the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 which protects American workers therefore the working conditions in America are all safe and humane. (Source: The Dartmouth)

But simply because we cannot see the cruelties overseas does not mean that we should be ignorant and let them slide. It is our duty as fellow human beings to ensure that we are all treated humanely so we should not turn a blind eye simply because it will be easier. This happens a lot in our society but seriously once you are aware of a problem you should fix it not let it continue because you are not directly related to the problem.

What are some other problems that you think have slid by?

Exponential Growth

2012-01-25T21:23:00.000-06:00

An average woman and a model entwined,
displaying the gaps between models and
average women.

The word "growth" is made of two parts, "grow" and "th". The word "grow" comes from the Old English word "growan" and although it was most commonly used to describe plants it means to: "to grow, flourish, increase, develop, get bigger".

Living things grow and get bigger, and naturally human beings grow and get bigger. But according to a video I watched on ABC News, many of today's models are preventing their growth in order to stay thinner and smaller. What is more puzzling to me, is that a model is supposed to be a representation of an average woman however the average model weighs about 23% less than the average woman does. What is even more stunning is that this gap was at 8% about twenty years ago and it has been steadily increasing since and does not show signs of slowing.

This got me to thinking about my American Studies class and our discussion on the "American Dream" which most of my peers had defined as: being more successful than your parents. So growing and becoming more successful is the way to achieve the "American Dream". But then I asked myself: Is every American family line expected to exponentially grow? Ideally this makes no sense but yes, Americans would like to believe that every generation will be better than the next and the monetary growth will never stop.

This idea of exponentially growing is applied all the time among out society, it can be seen in schools, sports and especially modeling. People are always wanting to be smarter and achieve new standards, or faster and break records, or thinner, smaller, and more petite. Companies are always looking to increase their gains year after year and Americans have the expectation that everything will exponentially grow. It is never "ok" to fail, or not continue to grow, that is frowned upon and that is why so much pressure is developed within our schools, businesses, and society. Americans are always looking to further themselves and not doing so is judged with laziness or inability. But nothing can grow exponentially and we should not be expected to further such growth.

Why do you think there is so much pressure on becoming better?

The META-Post: Back to the Beginning

2012-01-08T16:12:00.000-06:00

Meta-, it comes from the Greek preposition or prefix "μετά" (meta-) meaning "in the midst of, in common with, by means of, in pursuit or quest of". Today it is defined as"occurring later than or in succession to" or "later or more highly organized or specialized form of". Therefore this post is a post that is a later thought about posting, more specifically the evolution in my blogging. It is a post about the way I have changed as a blogger, which is another definition of meta-, like in metamorphosis.

My blogging life began with a post about a connection I noticed about an amusement park being named Six Flags Great America and patriotism. Although it had little to do with significant happenings in America and I may have read a little too into it, it was very relate-able and understandable. This theme continues in many of my other blogs. While many of my blogs relate to my own life or the lives of fellow students pretty well they seem to have little connection to significant events in American history. One of the best examples of this would be a post entitled "Enjoy it While it Lasts", it begins with a poem I wrote about myself and then it goes on to talk about "a mantra that parents have often drilled into the children of America". The post is very relate-able but it lacks significant connection to a greater event.

Then, little by little my posts begin to include some sort of statistic or video. Unfortunately though, while these statistics and videos are related to some sort of happening or trend in America they are not related to anything specifically significant. However the real problem is that sometimes these videos or statistics are not different enough from the point I try to make that it doesn't make any sort of legitimate connection.

Since the posts that were related to something other than my own life were sparing the change in my blogging nature is very evident. Beginning with the post titled "An American Snowball", my blogging began to address more specific happenings in America and relate those stories to my own life. The change was due to a conference with my teacher, Mr. Bolos, in which he told me about needing to relate my personal life to larger happenings in American history.For example in "An American Snowball", I related Herman Cain's errors to the fundamental attribution error that most Americans have and the difficulty of accepting responsibility for one's actions. These blogs are stronger because of the connection they make between the life of an average American to a event or news story.

Ever since I made a change in my style of blogging, the blogs have been stronger but some of them still went back to the old ways, like a blog I wrote titled, "Sheep". But, "Sheep" was another milestone in my blogging because of my decision to add questions to the end of my blog in attempts to encourage discussion, another suggestion made by Mr. Bolos. Unfortunately I never really mastered the concept of an open ended question at the end of my blog until my very last post, but with the help of my teacher Mr. O'Connor. However, for the most part the blogs have been getting better and I honestly feel like they will continue to get better. I think this because of the last blog I wrote titled "Freedom vs. Liberty", which is the strongest of the blogs that I have done this semester. It is the strongest blog because of its analysis of the words freedom and liberty, the connection it makes to class room terminology, the connection it makes to the immigration in America, and the open ended question which allows for further discussion.

In the beginning my blogs struggled to be interesting and connected to American history or happenings however with guidance from my teachers and a different understanding of what blogging really was my posts have gotten better. They aren't superb but now the meet expectations. For a superb blog I think I really must be interested in the topic, as I was while writing "Freedom vs. Liberty", and I must remember that blogging is taking something that interests me and relate it to an American theme and my own life in a unique and interesting way. For the future I think I need to work on finding a way to uniquely connect things and to find topics that I am actually interested in.

Freedom Vs. Liberty

2012-01-03T17:50:00.002-06:00

Today inclass we were looking at a poem by Robert Hayden called "FredrickDouglass". The first line of this poem is:

"When it is finally ours, this freedom, thisliberty, this beautiful "

After reading thisline our class got into a discussion about the difference between freedom andliberty. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines freedom and liberty as"the quality or state of being free". However in class I realizedthat even though they are synonyms they are really different. In myopinion it is very similar to the "big 'T' Truth" and "little't' truth" that we often talk about in American Studies. We defined Truthas the objective, verifiable, scientific truth and truth as the emotional, orspiritual truth.

To me freedom isthe objective, verifiable, and scientific aspect of being free. For example tobe physically released from jail is freedom, or a piece oflegislation that frees enslaved people is freedom not liberty.Freedom comes from the word free and the suffix -dom, free meaning what it doesand "-dom" meaning "state orfact of being", means that freedom is being free in a physical way or beingfree by a fact.

On the other hand,liberty is the freedom of mind and being able to feel, think, and speak freely. It is not the ability to do so granted by legislation or a superior power. It is theability to feel, think, and speak freely, because your mind or spirit is free. Liberty is to be mentally free andto be able to control yourself and whatever you do. Liberty comes from the Latinword "libertatem" meaning "conditionof a freeman". Liberty is being free spiritually because a freeman is factually freed already (freedom) and once that freeman can emotionally feel free then he is liberated.
Also I believe liberty is being spiritually free because the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the spiritual freedom that America offers for immigrants from all over the world. Most of these immigrants were factually free and not enslaved by any sort of legislation in their homelands. However they came to America to experience liberty, the ability to be spiritually free. They wanted to feel free, not just to be factually free.

Which of these is more important to you?
Freedom or Liberty

Sheep

2011-12-11T19:54:00.001-06:00

In American Studies we looked at a Yale commencement speech by William Deresiewicz. In this speech he made a comment on the nature of the students he saw around him. "what I saw around me were great kids who had been trained to be world-class hoop jumpers. Any goal you set them, they could achieve. Any test you gave them, they could pass with flying colors. They were, as one of them put it herself, 'excellent sheep'".
So then my American studies teachers asked our class, "what types of people within our society are the sheeps?".

Sheep has two applicaple definitions of many when defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. A sheep is either "a timid defenseless creature or a timid docile person; especially one easily influenced or led". Niether definition is a particularly positive one.
Using Deresiewicz's description of these "sheep" and pairing it with the Merriam-Webster definition I came to the conclusion that the sheep are the people that are typically in the higher level classes in our school.
I say this because if a sheep is someone that is "easily influenced or led", then those who are in higher level classes or strive to succeed within the system are the sheep. These types of people do whatever they can in order to succeed. They do not rebel, or question authority because they hope to succeed. These are the people that end up dictating the course of America, those in higher level classes end up getting further in our society.
If those people are the sheep and are "easily influenced or led", then what does that mean for America? Why is our system set up to reward those who follow instruction and do not act for themselves?

Everything but love

2011-12-04T20:31:00.001-06:00

In class we’ve been talking about slavery inthe United States and I am learning how much I don’t know about slavery. I havelearned about slavery many times in the past years and still I have beensurprised by different facts and figures. But nevertheless I still thought thatracism and segregation is behind us. Until I read an article I found on myhomepage, Kentucky church bans interracial marriage. This article was talkingabout how a church in Kentucky banned mixed-race marriages and how people inAmerica still have racist feelings and do not believe in equality.

A more broadcasted issue is the debateabout same sex marriages. The similarity between these two subjects is theprejudices people hold towards these couplings and people’s need to intervenewith the love between two people. Americans like to control everythingincluding other people’s lives. They feel that others should be just like them.But most importantly, same sex couplings and mixed-race marriages interferedwith what was the typical idea of the perfect American family. The idea ofradical change towards an unknown frightens people and they feel the need tofix it. Mixed-race couples and homosexual marriages was not the accepted normand went against the idea of a perfect family. Americans feel the need touphold this image and let this image destroy the happiness of others.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’smixed-race marriages slowly became legal, one state at a time. Until the Lovingv. Virginia case which ruled that miscegenationlaws were unconstitutional. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures,states are slowly legalizing same sex marriages and even allowing citizens ofother states to be legally married in those states and granting state-levelspousal rights to these homosexual couples. Just like the mixed-race couplesAmerica is gradually becoming more accepting of homosexual couples and littleby little the “ideal American family” is being altered to fit the large rangeof diversity within America.

Although Americans are controllingand they feel the need to control the lives of others in order for them to fitthe norm, they eventually accept differences. The acceptance of thesedifferences is really what makes America, America. Yes there have been mistakesmade but slowly they are being corrected so that all may be welcome and canenjoy the freedom that each human being is entitled to. Wrongs are correctedand differences are accepted and the diversity and eventual acceptance of it iswhat makes Americans unique.

Life's not always fair

2011-11-30T21:52:00.001-06:00

Iwrite for my school newspaper, the New Trier News, and this week I am writingan article on the debate about online grading. I’ve often found myself havingvery passionate mental rants about the topic of online grading and standardizedtesting, something I am not very good at. With the ACT and SAT prep steadilyunderway for me I have thought about what would happen to me if I did not havea tutor.

Thisraises the issue of the “unstandardize-ness” of standardize testing. The ACTand SAT both already statistically favor students with higher socioeconomicclasses, which I learned from FairTest, an organizations that sets out to make standardize testing equal. Most children with higher socioeconomic classes have the abilityto pay for tutors and test prep specialists, which helps them score higher onstandardized tests. Still there are no rules, or regulations in place toprevent this glitch in the standardize testing system. There have been severalstudies done about this glitch and still no action is being taken to try andcreate equality.

Perhapsno action has been taken because such action to limit tutors would be toodifficult to control. Or because it would put so many people out of jobs, testprep specialist and tutors. But nevertheless no need of parents or students tostrive to find ways to take advantage of the standardize testing systemaddresses the American theme of division.

Americanspromote equality through politics and schools but do we really believe that?Being fair and equal is the mantra we repeat time and time again to children.But as they get older, as they prepare for the real world, that slips away. “Life’snot fair” is repeated more often and children are trained to hold their own incompetition, to fight for themselves as they strive to become better. Americansdon’t want to be equal they want to push and push to become dominant overothers.

Thistheme can be applied to any society but it is most unique to Americans, evidentby the communist hysteria. Communism is a society where everyone is equal andthe society works together to sustain itself. In this society, government,currency, separate nations, and class structure would cease to exist. Americanswere so afraid of communist ideals and launched war because of this fear. TheCold War and the Vietnam conflict are just a few examples. Americans strive fordivision and that is why they fear communism, they want to create a differenceamongst one another in order to separate themselves and create a superior andunique identity for themselves.

Whydo Americans do this? Because they do not want to submit to conformity, theywant to set themselves apart, or “make a name for themselves” as some put it.Basically we as Americans always try and find ways to do things, better becausewe want to be different and don’t want to be like everyone else. We disagreewith equality because we were raised to strive to be the best and to learn that“life’s not always fair”. Interestingly this has a subliminal message that wecan’t always be fair either. We can’t try and help everyone be the best becausewe need to compete against them and be the best. We can’t sit back and be equalor like everyone else because then, we still aren’t the best. We, as Americans,have it hardwired in us that we need to fight to be the best and sometimes thatmeans we can’t “be fair” or equal.

An American Snowball

2011-11-14T18:06:00.001-06:00

With all the buzz going around about presidential candidate Herman Cain conduct, I came across an article written by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post called "The era of not my responsibility". This article began with talking about Cain's attempts to divert attention when his morals were called into question as well as his attempts to blame others for fabricating these so-called, lies about him.

Courtesy of Google Images

This struck an interesting parallel to an earlier blog post that I had written titled "The Stories We Tell Ourselves". In this blog I merely touched on the small-scale ways Americans lay blame one others. However Milbank's article made me think of the repercussions the fundamental attribution error, or the tendency to blame others for problems, produced.

Milbank's article brought the fundamental attribution error's role in the presidential campaigns to my attention. Senator Cain has shifted the blame around from Rick Perry's campaign to Josh Krashaaur and Politico and finally to the Democratic party as a whole. All three of these claims were disproved, worsening Cain's already damaged image.

Many politicians in America's past have been confronted with similar scandals and those who chose to deny it and lay the blame on others in efforts to thwart attention have suffered severe damage to their image. Fortunately, politician s such as David Paterson, are not lost. Paterson was the governor of New York after Governor Spitzer descended from office after accusations of being involved in a prostitution scandal. However Paterson was also linked to prostitution and infidelity. But unlike so many politicians before him, "David Paterson [said] 'Stop bothering people. Here’s the story. And that’s it.'" said Assembly Democratic Speaker Sheldon Silver. Paterson confessed to his mistakes rather than dodging the accusations or putting the blame on others.

So to conclude Cain's dodging is costing him his reputation and Paterson's acceptance of his actions spared further damage to his image, it might have even improved it in someways. Covering up a crime only builds up lies until they snowball out of control, like in Cain's situation. Overcoming the fundamental attribution error and accepting responsibility for one's action though prevents all that and makes a more honest person and eventually a more honest society.

AS Field Trip Recap: Part II

2011-11-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

So this blog is a follow up to my last one. In mylast blog I ended with the question: why do people go out of their way tomask their hateful comments? After thinking about it a little bit Icame to the conclusion that Americans try and mask their hateful commentsbecause they want to play the role of the reluctant hero, a term that has beenused so often in our AS class.

Americans act as ifthey do not want to say these things but it had to be said for the bettermentof the group to whom he/she is talking to. By using phrases such as"No offence, but," or "I hate to say this, but," we paintthe picture that we mean to be selfless, but at the same time honest peoplethat don't normally like to say this. Then we convince ourselves thatwhat comes next is an honest, harmless truth that everyonewould benefit from hearing.

We say that by making a "no offence"statement we will be saving our listeners from making a mistake or being a heroand saying what everyone else is thinking. Masking these offensive comments isa way for people to swoop in and be the hero and say what they feel isthe brutal truth that everyone needs to hear.

Unfortunately though, people do find thatoffensive. And the "no offence" saying does not cover-up any harmfulcomment. People should really consider following the "If you have nothingnice to say don't say it" more often.

AS Field Trip Recap

2011-11-03T22:10:00.001-05:00

So this week my American Studies (AS)class took a field trip. This included going to the Smart Museum and laterwatching the play "ClybournePark" at the Steppenwolf theater.

The play was aboutthe issue of race and how it is not a resolved. The play illustrated the racialtensions within the neighborhood of Clybourne Park and how it affected therelationships within the neighborhood. It depicted the "dance aroundthe topic" of race and how people had things to say but still they triedto avoid offending anybody.

So I drew aconnection to this dance around race while watching "The Big Bang Theory" onCBS this week. In the clip below Sheldon's mother (the woman in red) makes aracist remark about Indians and Leonard (the man with the jacket) corrects herand tells her "We don't say that either". He then goes on to say,"I'll make you a list". This got me thinking about the way thateveryone wants to be politically correct and minimally offensive. If Leonardcould make her a list of things that "we don't say" what does thatsay about the way we treat race?

cropped with SnipSnip

Similar to the to the clip above"Clybourne Park" dealt with similar sticky situations pertaining torace. Nobody wanted to say what they were honestly thinking lest they offendanother, but isn't beating around the bush just as bad? No matter how it isphrased, a hateful comment always be a hateful comment. Saying unpleasant thingswill still offend people no matter the "political correctness"of the language.

So why do peoplego out of their way to mask their hateful comments? Irealize that I've left a lot of questions in this blog so I will tryand come up with more concrete answers to these questions and do a follow upblog as soon as possible.

The American Frog

2011-10-23T12:01:00.004-05:00

cropped with SnipSnip

I really don't know how I came around tothinking about TheInconvenient Truth but I definitely enjoyed it,especially the part about the frog (shown below). So this inspired me towrite about the nature of Americans' abilities to respond to conflict.

As shown in the video, the frog doesn’tmove until there is an evident danger. Why is that? Why can’t it sense thecoming of danger and hop out while it still can? Why is it dependent on anoutside force to save it?

The frog has a procrastinating naturewhich causes it to delay action until it is absolutely necessary. Americans areprocrastinators. We wait until we need to do something before we do it, oruntil someone tells us to do it.

Why do we do this? Because in the back of ourminds we always tell ourselves, “There is plenty of time to do that later, it’sok we’ll get to that in just a tiny bit”. More often than not we really don’thave that much time, but we keep telling ourselves that until it is painfullyobvious that we’ve run out of time.

A situation like this has played out on a more national level in America. Americans did not read the signs of the coming economic decline and told themselves "It's ok, we have more pressing issues at the moments, we'll get around to that in just a bit". However we kept saying that until it became the most pressing issue and the nation spiraled into seemingly irreparable debt. Now that we've finally become aware of the severity of the situation we are scrambling for a way to get out. But why couldn't we have taken care of this while it was still a smaller problem? It's because of our lack of awareness and our incredible procrastination.

The Stories Our Friends Tell Us

2011-10-15T23:15:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of Google Images

Continuing in my series, I decided toinvestigate the stories that our friends tell us. I was inspired to write thisblog because in the past week I've been observing the behavior among myfriends. Girls like to hear compliments. They purposely insult themselves in order to hearcompliments about themselves, or also known as "fishing for compliments".

In the example of a group of girls, a girlwill say “My outfit is just so gross” in hope of eliciting responses such as “No it’snot, you’re so pretty and the outfit is incredibly trendy” from her friends. Thisresponse will reassure the girl that her friends accept her choice, thus making her more confident knowing that she now has a niche.

I then expanded my thinking to a greatersubject: Americans. Everyone likes to hear good things about themselves. It isso vain the way people purposely undermine themselves in order to gain sympathyor acceptance from others. In fact, this is why people “fish for compliments”.They want to know that they are accepted in a group or by a society. They insult themselvesawaiting reassurance from their peers so that they may continue their pursuitswith more confidence since they are now within accepted societal norms.

But why must we be accepted by others tocontinue doing "our own thing”? Why do Americans, especially, rely on the consentof others on their every action? Although individuality is valued there isalways this push towards normality. Normality is accepted, individuality iscoveted, but oddity is shunned.

In order to avoid being rejected from societymost attempt to be individual within normal limits because those who are too “edgy”walk a fine line between true individuality and oddity. Americans strive foracceptance from their peers because we fear doing the “wrong things” and beingshunned for being odd. Ejection from a group would be devastating for any Americans which is why there is the unnecessary, constant consultant of peers on the multitude of dilemmas in every American life.

The Stories Our Parents Tell Us

2011-10-09T21:02:00.000-05:00

Following my train of thought from last week, this week’s blog is about the stories that our parents tell us when we were younger and how that affects our lives today. In particular I wanted to talk about homeless people.

Seemingly random and unrelated, homeless people bring up a distinct memory from my booster seat days. I would sit in the car and my mother would tell me, “Do you see all those people living on the street? They have no homes and do you know how they got there?” I’d look out the window and see all the homeless people and then shake my head, because as a six year old the thought of people living without homes was inconceivable. Then my mother would go on, “Well, they were all too lazy and didn’t get good grades in school, so they couldn’t go to college or get a good job. And because they didn’t have a good job they couldn’t make money to buy a house, so they have to sleep in boxes in the street.”

I was absolutely stunned, and tremendously frightened. I did NOT want to sleep in a box on the street, so I needed to work hard and get good grades, or else. And I believed this story for an extremely long time, and while there is some validity to the story I realized there was also an enormous amount of prejudice. Dubbing people lazy or stupid is not only incredibly hurtful but also ignorant.

Homeless people are often perceived as the people who didn’t try hard enough or were too stupid. However none of the images produced are made with consideration to each of the individual circumstances. Sure there may be some that were “too lazy” or stupid but of these Americans are living there own dream just like you and me. They may be where they are now as a temporary solution to a cruel trick of fate. The American dream is all about hard work and a little bit of luck, so maybe these Americans missed their luck this time around.

So why do Americans judge one another? We judge one another and to try and separate ourselves. In this case my mother was trying to remind me of the separation between me and the homeless man. She wanted me to know that I could not be like them that I didn’t belong there and I had to do everything I could to keep myself from ever being there. Americans love division. This is evident in our classes, neighborhoods, and professions. We judge in order to divide.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

2011-10-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

Rowing Erg
Courtesy of Google Images

An ongoing American Studies discussion has been about “the stories we tell ourselves” and I thought a lot about it, especially during rowing practices. I realized some reoccurring patterns, between the stories I told myself, and my performance.

For example, if I did a piece (a specific workout usually dictated by time or distance) on Monday, on the erg (an indoor rowing machine) and I did better than expected or better than most of my teammates, then I would tell myself, “Wow I am a fabulous rower, a better rower than all these people, evident by my results on the erg”. However if on Tuesday, I did badly on a piece I would most likely think, “Wow, today was a bad day. I got very little sleep last night and I had a looming cold all day”. Now whether or not that was true, I would still tell myself that just to make myself feel better. Of course I couldn't possibly be the reason for my own failure because, I am that fabulous rower that pulled so well on Monday and beat the rest and there is no possible way that on Tuesday I could have done so poorly, unless some uncontrollable factor came into play.

These observations lead me to think about all the times I have made excuses for my own shortcomings. Why I couldn’t perform better on that piece, why my test grades weren’t higher, why I couldn’t finish my homework at a reasonable hour. I came to realize that most of the time; these types of things are my own fault, not the world’s fault. This is both a lesson in growing up and a theme that, in America particularly, seems to be forgotten by too many of the world’s adults.

Why “in America particularly” you may ask? This trait is commonly found in Americans because we believe that we cannot possibly be the reason for failure. It is always someone or something else. We can’t be held responsible for failure because America is the land of success and as Americans we do not fail. Americans blame one another or god or nature or even the weather, because those are all outside, uncontrollable forces. But we never look to ourselves.

Yet it is the people that do look to themselves and do blame themselves, that succeed. They succeed because after failure, instead of blaming others or the weather, they look at themselves and take responsibility for the failure. They find the reason for failing and then they find a way to fix it and a better way to operate for next time. Ironically these are the people that make America the land of success.

Hollywood Endings

2011-09-24T15:18:00.000-05:00

So this past weekend I watched, what I would consider one of the greatest movies, Pride and Prejudice (2005 version with Kiera Knightley). The book is also fabulous and I absolutely love the story. Not only does it accurately illustrate the complexities of the female mind but it also hints at the evolution of the female status in society. This lead me to think about the intangible concept of love.

In Pride and Prejudice the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, struggles to break through the boundaries of English society. She rejects marriage proposals, which at the time were primarily made based on social and economic status. And she tries to find love, which she eventually finds in the very proud Mr. Darcy. But what does it mean to "find love"?

In some countries, arranged marriages are the norm and love is unearthed from the pairings. But in America, we all go out looking for true love. We are repulsed by the idea of allowing money and standings to determine who we end up with, and we look down on other countries for their practice of arranged marriages. Divorce rates in America are about 40-50%, which is relatively high in comparison to countries such as India with a .11% divorce rate, Japan with 27%, or Singapore with 10%. (Statistics from www.divorcestatistics.org/).

In other countries, children are brought up knowing that they will be in an arranged marriage. Not only does this make them more accepting of the concept, but also more prepared for the different range of personalities they can expect. On the other hand in America, we, encouraged by media and entertainment, look down at societies with this practice and are convinced that love will guide us to find our soul mate. We are taught to be ourselves and to be independent; therefore, we are less tolerant of others, leading to higher divorce rates. Hollywood tells us that there will be someone who is perfect for us, and this makes us less willing to compromise. So should we really keep waiting and dreaming for the perfect Hollywood ending?

"Enjoy it While it Lasts"

2011-09-15T20:56:00.000-05:00

I was, I am, I will be
I used to sing out loud but now I sing in my head.
I used to think I was the best but now I need to beat the best.
I used to sit and dream but now I multi-task.
I used to play in the mud but now I strive to keep clean.
I used to be afraid of waiters but now I can ask for anything.

Now I am afraid but one day I will be fearless.
Now I think I can't, but one day I will be unstoppable.
Now I resent my mother but one day I will be as strong and beautiful as she is.

This is the poem I wrote in American Studies today. We constructed poems based on two formats, the "I used to ... but now I..." and the "Now I ... but one day I..." formats. These poems illustrated who we were and how we re-told our stories, and re-created ourselves from our memories. We were asked to read some lines that we were exceptionally proud of. Many of the lines that were read dealt with different extremes of the American philosophy.

For example in line two of my poem, I illustrated the need to be the best not only is it an emotion I've struggled to understand but, this is an extremely American value. As a kid I could play to play, not play to win. Sure I'd play and think I was the best, but whether or not I really was didn't really matter as long as I was entertained. But as I grew older, not only is being the best important but if you aren't the best then you didn't try hard enough. That's a mantra that parents have often drilled into the children of America.

Another thing my parents have tried to encourage is not wasting time. Children are allowed to day dream and fantasize. However as they grow older they're forced to live in reality, in constant worry for what's to come. Americans frown upon any minute that is "wasted" not planning for tomorrow or doing something else that is productive.

My overall conclusion was that Americans value their childhood. We value our childhood because it allowed them to have fun and think they were the best with out having to push to be the best. We value our childhood because we could live for today, not plan for tomorrow. We value our childhood because it allowed us to live a calmer, slower, less stressful life that is unique to America and perhaps adds to it's ever busy mentality. So kids, enjoy it while it lasts.

Nosy or Informed?

2011-09-11T10:43:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of Google Images

Similar to last week's blog I was inspired again by my American Studies class' discussion. Shocker, I know, seeing as this blog is for my American Studies class. In class we were analysing a chapter from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden". In this chapter he claims that "all news, as it is called, is gossip" (Thoreau, 69). So this week I decided to evaluate what Americans consider "news-worthy" and why we consider these things "news-worthy". I began to answer my questions by exploring the New York Times current, international news page. I saw things like Protest of Thousands in Cairo Turns Violent, Russia Identifies Defect in Rocket That Crashed, and Nigeria: 9 Killed in Attack on Village in Plateau State. All of these things would be considered "news-worthy" to Americans but why do we consider these things "news-worthy"? Why do we need to know about protests in Cairo turn violent, or what Russia identified in a crashed rocket, or even the details on deaths in Nigeria? At first I wanted to defend the position of the need for news because I am addicted to news and knowing things. But after much mental wresting I came to the realization that, people really do not need to know all these things. People don't even need to know some of the things on theNew York Times' national news page such as, Texas: Progress Made Against Wildfire. After thinking about the benefits of knowing these things I came to the conclusion that there really aren't benefits to knowing that nine people were killed in a village attack in Nigeria or that progress has been made on a wildfire in Texas. People don't really need to know any of these things and it just distracts them from their own lives. We consider things "news-worthy" when they can quench our curiosity, if they're interesting enough or bizarre enough. Anything out of the ordinary has the potential to be news or it could also be considered gossip. Why we consider these things "news-worthy" is probably because of our need to always know, to always be informed, to always be in the loop. Spontaneity is not the norm in our culture, our culture is riddled with scheduals, routines, plans, and maps. Everthing is planned out so that we can always predict and be informed. That is why we value gossip and news so much, because it keeps us informed it keeps us mentally prepared for everything. That distraction hinders our personal developments and growth as people. Since we as Americans value news for informing us about everything else we fail to improve our own faults and lives because we are so busy worrying about everything else.

A Big Drop in Nationalism?

2011-09-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Google Images

As summer comes to a close I was reminded of the adventures I had embarked on this break, while sitting in my American Studies class. My teacher had briefly mentioned Six Flags Great America and it got me thinking, what does naming an amusement park "Six Flags Great America" say about the way we view ourselves and our nation?

Taken from my past trips to the park I came to realize that, aside from perhaps the Southwest Territory Region and the American Eagle roller coaster, there is very little in the park that actually pertains to America. With this in mind I began to analyze what was in the park. All I could think of was cartoons, roller coasters, fast food vendors, and carnival games. Is this what we want to represent our nation? The replacement of American related attractions with more fanatical attractions suggests the depreciation of patriotism in favor of entertainment.

Courtesy of Google Images

Naming an amusement park "Six Flags Great America" almost degrades the majesty of the American nation. It creates an image of Americans just being fun-loving, careless people. It brings up the question of whether we as Americans, allow ourselves to neglect our country in order to experience more pleasure in our lifestyles. I believe that we do. Given the recent economic and foreign downfalls America has experienced, Americans no longer feel a surging sense of nationalism. Therefore naming an amusment park that reflects the less positive aspects of our lifestyles after our nation does not matter. We do not intentionally try and, in a way, disgrace our nation but we just feel quite as proud of America as we once did. It all boils down to the fact that we are experiencing a loss of nationalism. We just do not care as much about our nationalism anymore and instead care more about our own enjoyment. In a wrap we have chosen rollercoasters and fastfood vendors over nationalism.