This is a great scene, and a lesson that most people still need to learn. Ironically, it comes from a gay man...
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Freud in Pop
Psychoanalysis is so dead. The academic community collectively scoffs at Freud’s outdated ideas, and, although they are still largely indebted to him since they use him in some bases of theories, we are so over psychoanalysis. Except those of us in literature. We seem to not be able to get past Freud and the triangle he places us in (or that our subconscious places us in?). We, the children of our mother, literary analysis, are always trying to reach an, some, any, understanding of literature, maybe better said, “existence” (whatever vagaries are implied in that) and therefore we must always pass through the law of Freud.
Anyways, it is hard to get away from this. Even if one looks at pop culture, Freud creeps in. He says that we must always live in the symbolic, and while it is not the most comfortable at times, it is the “healthiest”. Therefore, this escape from the symbolic that we are always pursuing can have dangerous consequences. Especially for women. We see women all over trying to get into the “real”, but then neatly inserted back into their role as objects in the symbolic. It’s like we subconsciously can’t get past the idea of a woman who doesn’t live under the law, under the “name of the father” (read: subjected to man’s authority), and we can’t live with the un-comfortableness of a woman living outside the symbolic.
Kate Perry is a great example of this. In two of her most popular songs she is very much pushing traditional ideas of femininity, whose “pushing-the-envelope-ness” can be attested, seeing the controversies these songs caused. She kissed a girl and she liked it. And just as she doesn’t really care if her boyfriend minds it or not, she refuses to be strung along by her hot’n’cold boyfriend. Woman power.
But, really?
So maybe it is her “real” that she wants to kiss a girl. She does it in her video for her song “I kissed a girl.” Even in an age where Bjork, Tatu, Madonna and Britney have all exploited such a move to generate huge publicity, is still a strong gesture. But at the end of the video, she suddenly wakes up, in her bed, where her boyfriend sleeps soundly as she perniciously fantasizes. In “Hot’n’cold,” bride-zillas with smeared make-up terrorize the non-committal boyfriend with bats, the image of his deserted bride haunts him as he looks for escape in raging dance clubs, she finds him in alleys with her posse, even chases after him on a bike. It would seem that finally a woman was the law that this loser could not escape, and that women might achieve the law of the “mother” through which all symbolic experience must be past. In fact, she tries to attribute feminine characteristics to the supposed purveyor of the law, to discredit his masculinity, saying that “you change your mind like a girl changes clothes.” The song becomes an attack on the stability of the “father’s authority.” Alas, with the saying of his name, non-committal man is drawn back to the pretty reality of the church in which his wedding is taking place, where the delightful scene rejoices when this women with smeared makeup is finally subjected to the slavery of marriage, subjected to living her existence under the “name of the father.”
In an almost exact duplicate, Shakira lets all her bottled up female sensuality lose in “Loba”, becoming a sexual prowler who needs to be caged up, all the while encouraging women to find the “she-wolf” in herself to then “let her out and breath.” One can understand the clamor among women for sexual equality, and one would hope that maybe in the 21st century we would have overcome medieval notions of the female lack of libido and Victorian notions of the need to repress it. Unfortunately, even in popular music videos, women who try to escape these notions are always put back into their place. Ironically, to transform into this she-wolf, Shakira has to transverse her own closet, full of the signifiers that we ascribe to traditional femininity and its link to modern consumerism: clothes. The she-wolf is in the closet, behind all those layers of ascribed femininity. Let her loose. Dance on some roof in San Francisco (coincidence that this video is filmed in the American city usually associated with sexual liberty?). But only liberate yourself to the point that, at the end of the movie, you can still slip quietly back into the bed of your sleeping masculine counterpart (lest I employ the terms boyfriend, husband, partner or fuck-buddy wrongly) without disturbing him. In other words, don’t get too far from the symbolic.
Even Lady Gaga, an artist whose supposed sexual liberation is one of her defining characteristics, falls into the trap. In the video for her song “Paparazzi,” Lady Gaga exacts revenge on the boyfriend that pushed her from the balcony, leaving her incapacitated and with the only motivation to go on her future being her revenge. As she calls the police to tell them that she killed her boyfriend, one thinks that finally we will witness the break, and the anchors of Freudianism will fall off, allowing women to finally soar to her rightful place outside the law of the father. “Lady Gaga is Back” proclaims the newspapers in her video, and after overcoming the man, and living outside the symbolic, she is at her epitome, the climax of her career.
But no. She is neatly placed back in her role when she is caught by the police and rightfully punished with a humiliating mug-shot worse than any that her feared paparazzi enemies might have ever captured of her. In fact, her popularity stems from the fact that she is caught and “We love her again” title lines show in newspapers while she is being escorted by policemen back to reality from her frolic into the “real”. Back to the symbolic, out of the real. Coming out from under the symbolic seems impossible, even more so for these women, since the “symbolic” seems to be gendered male.
The moral of the story would seem to be that women should stop trying to escape from their prescribed roles in the symbolic. You are in fact just objects and you always will be.
But then again, Freud is died and we are so over psychoanalysis. Let’s see some women throw him off and let him rest in peace, showing that you can come from out beneath the law of the father.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Living in a Polorized Society
Well, this is what happens and the things we do when we live in a polarized society.
Check this out: A women denies tricker-treaters candy for their or their parents political views. This is just wrong on so many levels. Enjoy!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27488353/
I also have some more of my personal observations on the upcoming seasonal mayhem, but those will come later.
Check this out: A women denies tricker-treaters candy for their or their parents political views. This is just wrong on so many levels. Enjoy!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27488353/
I also have some more of my personal observations on the upcoming seasonal mayhem, but those will come later.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Insert foot in mouth in 3, 2, 1...
So, I know for a long time this has been some kind of bitch session here online, and a lot of it seems to be directed against conservatives, and those of you who have known me for a while understand how my experiences at Concordia really made those fundamentalist, evangelical conservatives form the blunt end of the knife with which conservatism kills almost everything intellectual, but I must take a step back. Although I am hardly ceding to home-schooling inbreeding, fiscal adventures accountable to no one but those who are gaining, and social injustice caused by an implicit "moral and racial" superiority, I realized something.
In a study on Latino Culture (here "latino" refers to those living in the United States of hispanic origin, not just those "dirty mexicans immigrants" that I am sure some of you thought of, and I would mention here that 60% of those of Hispanic descent are actually BORN in the UNITED STATES, some of whose families HAVE LIVED HERE FOR GENERATIONS and who had the unfortunate HAPPENSTANCE OF THE BORDER BEING MOVED OVER THEM IN OUR IMPERIALISTIC ZEAL) and religion, The University of Notre Dame found surprising evidence for children of RELIGIOUS families who fare on pare with other students whose families are less religious. Religiosity in the study was defined by two indicators: how often the family attended church services (those RELIGIOUS families attended 1 a week, and those NOT-SO-RELIGIOUS families were those Easter and Christmas Christians we so disdain) and how much importance was placed on faith within the respondents' personal life.
However, students who came from a RELGIOUS background fared better on standardized tests and received higher grades in, of all academic subjects, SCIENCE.
While the study was only aimed at focusing on the LATINO youth, it is hard to swallow as is. And while maybe breaking the subject into those Catholics and Protestants who identified themselves as RELIGIOUS (side note: in another study by Notre Dame, Hispanic Catholics more identified themselves as Democrats, and those Hispanic Protestants were more comfortable identifying themselves as Republicans, no big surprise there) might enlighten us further into the effect of the family's level of CONSERVATISM on these findings, it is curious that the findings would point to this conclusion. One would think, those durn religious folk: they don't believe in evolution, they think the earth is only 4000 years old, and who knows what they think of binary fusion.
Apparently, a lot more than we think the do.
And while I can give many a reason, keep in mind, to explain what might be the main downfallings of this survey (principaly, that while Protestant education is based on more Calvinistic, Puritan and even Lutheran principles that point to education nurturing faith, an idea which has developed into the "closemindedness" through the many different periods of reformation and splitting of the American Church into numerous denominations which, by definition, requires the acceptance of certain "orthodoxies" and the denial of others, whereas many modern Catholic institutions rely heavily on the Ignatian philosophy of education which depends highly on the study of the sciences and the liberal arts, and where education is seen as a nurturing of the entire person, it follows that Hispanics, being the majority Catholic, would maybe perform better in the sciences not depending on the religiosity of their family, but rather on the simple fact the the "religion" that they chose (or that is imposed upon them) inherently gives them a higher "inclination" or at least a more open attitude towards the studying of the sciences), the findings are still interesting.
Interesting enough that, while though all the personal opinions that I bloated this blog with that seems to strongly show my opposition towards the whole conservative movement, I am admitting that maybe not all conservatives are bad. There is the foot in my mouth. I cant promise it will stay there long, because you are sure so easy to make fun of...
Point your finger and make fun of me too.
In a study on Latino Culture (here "latino" refers to those living in the United States of hispanic origin, not just those "dirty mexicans immigrants" that I am sure some of you thought of, and I would mention here that 60% of those of Hispanic descent are actually BORN in the UNITED STATES, some of whose families HAVE LIVED HERE FOR GENERATIONS and who had the unfortunate HAPPENSTANCE OF THE BORDER BEING MOVED OVER THEM IN OUR IMPERIALISTIC ZEAL) and religion, The University of Notre Dame found surprising evidence for children of RELIGIOUS families who fare on pare with other students whose families are less religious. Religiosity in the study was defined by two indicators: how often the family attended church services (those RELIGIOUS families attended 1 a week, and those NOT-SO-RELIGIOUS families were those Easter and Christmas Christians we so disdain) and how much importance was placed on faith within the respondents' personal life.
However, students who came from a RELGIOUS background fared better on standardized tests and received higher grades in, of all academic subjects, SCIENCE.
While the study was only aimed at focusing on the LATINO youth, it is hard to swallow as is. And while maybe breaking the subject into those Catholics and Protestants who identified themselves as RELIGIOUS (side note: in another study by Notre Dame, Hispanic Catholics more identified themselves as Democrats, and those Hispanic Protestants were more comfortable identifying themselves as Republicans, no big surprise there) might enlighten us further into the effect of the family's level of CONSERVATISM on these findings, it is curious that the findings would point to this conclusion. One would think, those durn religious folk: they don't believe in evolution, they think the earth is only 4000 years old, and who knows what they think of binary fusion.
Apparently, a lot more than we think the do.
And while I can give many a reason, keep in mind, to explain what might be the main downfallings of this survey (principaly, that while Protestant education is based on more Calvinistic, Puritan and even Lutheran principles that point to education nurturing faith, an idea which has developed into the "closemindedness" through the many different periods of reformation and splitting of the American Church into numerous denominations which, by definition, requires the acceptance of certain "orthodoxies" and the denial of others, whereas many modern Catholic institutions rely heavily on the Ignatian philosophy of education which depends highly on the study of the sciences and the liberal arts, and where education is seen as a nurturing of the entire person, it follows that Hispanics, being the majority Catholic, would maybe perform better in the sciences not depending on the religiosity of their family, but rather on the simple fact the the "religion" that they chose (or that is imposed upon them) inherently gives them a higher "inclination" or at least a more open attitude towards the studying of the sciences), the findings are still interesting.
Interesting enough that, while though all the personal opinions that I bloated this blog with that seems to strongly show my opposition towards the whole conservative movement, I am admitting that maybe not all conservatives are bad. There is the foot in my mouth. I cant promise it will stay there long, because you are sure so easy to make fun of...
Point your finger and make fun of me too.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The End of Greed
So, in his speech tonight, George Bush made repeated references to how a federal bailout would "open up" the financial gears that are clogged right now, and how this would allow banks to get "back on track" with their lending, making it easier once again for "average Americans" to get credit. He also talks about how this credit could then be used to "buy a car, or send your children to college." How white-picket-fence-with-a-stew-boiling-in-the-kitchen American. Only the slightest references to "excess" that in the end are really just "instances of abuse". Nothing wrong at all with the way we think. No, no, that would be unamerican of us to think critically about our culture. No talk of addressing the real problem or encouraging Americans to rethink their way of living which has gotten us into this downward spiral in the first place: greed. In fact, lets just keep encouraging it. After all, can we make any more sweepingly trite generalizations that "Democratic Capitalism is the best system every designed" (at this point I think I was looking for a gun to cap my own ass and then I realized that I am anti-gun, damn it!), and that It (with a capital "i") is what has made us the great country we are just to make us feel better about ourselves even as we lurch towards economic self destruction?
Just come out and say it. We are trying to fix the problem so that credit can keep flowing, and you can keep paying for your Hummer, the 50 gallons of gas per mile that it requires, your five bedroom house, your weekends in the Hamptons and your Rock Star Life Style. Want a new backyard gnome garden? Pass the bill. Want that new hard drive extension that serves as an internet server, plasma TV and herb grower? Lets push through this legislation. Need that frivolous crap that will eventually just end up in your basement or a thrift store? Sign this into effect.
And while I understand that entrepreneurs and business owners DO need that credit, as his righteousness mentioned, what are we going to do about John Doe who is just trying to keep up with the Joneses, and that whose struggle with the coolest, newest and most expensive has become an internalized aspect of his culture? When will we address our over-consumption and frivolousness?
I know this just seems like a ranting rage at this point, and that Chris is on his soapbox about American consumerism once again, but I feel justified. What I have been raving about for years is finally what people are starting to see as the solution. If only we thought about this three years ago, but then again, that's when our newest iPod was more important.
Just come out and say it. We are trying to fix the problem so that credit can keep flowing, and you can keep paying for your Hummer, the 50 gallons of gas per mile that it requires, your five bedroom house, your weekends in the Hamptons and your Rock Star Life Style. Want a new backyard gnome garden? Pass the bill. Want that new hard drive extension that serves as an internet server, plasma TV and herb grower? Lets push through this legislation. Need that frivolous crap that will eventually just end up in your basement or a thrift store? Sign this into effect.
And while I understand that entrepreneurs and business owners DO need that credit, as his righteousness mentioned, what are we going to do about John Doe who is just trying to keep up with the Joneses, and that whose struggle with the coolest, newest and most expensive has become an internalized aspect of his culture? When will we address our over-consumption and frivolousness?
I know this just seems like a ranting rage at this point, and that Chris is on his soapbox about American consumerism once again, but I feel justified. What I have been raving about for years is finally what people are starting to see as the solution. If only we thought about this three years ago, but then again, that's when our newest iPod was more important.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
On Becoming a Robot
So, grad school is setting in. And not in the way I expected at all. With the risk of sounding either incredibly vain, or incredibly insecure, my classes are so disappointing. I say vanity because I can think of no other word to describe the hours I pass sitting in class thinking that I already know about the topic of which the professor who is obviously significantly more educated than I am seems to endlessly droan on about (is that right to put two prepositions in succession, and nonetheless at the end of a sentence?). I say insecurity because it is the only emotion with which I can truely qualify the hours I spend in class thinking that maybe the point of the class which I claim to know so well is so subtly over my head that I am completely missing it.
Insecurity and vanity: the "median" emotion of these is emotion-less-ness, they truly cancel each other out in the mathematics of personal feelings. So, I have become a robot. I exist between not caring about my insufficiently challenging classes because I already know it and the panic that I am not gleaning everything I can from the infinite wisdom that I obviously am not capturing. Emotion-less-ness. Where is the excitement of my youthful ideals of helping break cultural perceptions, of opening the worlds eyes to horizons as of yet inexperienced, of showing the vast marvels that surround us even in our own backyard? How can I reach any of those ideals if I can't get my students to conjugate verbs correctly, let alone show them there is more to Latin America than drugs and tamales.
Where are my youthful ideals? Lost in the nothing-ness of grad school robotics. Where is the desire to make a change, when I don't care if my students don't pass a test, when I lower my standards to the normal bell curve, when I myself don't see the point of teaching something that in 2 weeks, after the chapter test, will be quickly forgotten. How can I interest others in a topic that I vainly dismiss as "already known" or subconsciously ponder as "completely foreign"?
Hearing the Dean of the Graduate School speak about how generations of knowledge are been entrusted to us to perserve and expand once was gratifying. Now it is nothing: what knowledge if I already know it (vanity), or what expansion can I offer if I never understand it (insecurity).
And the question of the hour is brought to light: between this vanity and insecurity, I must ask, "DID I MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION?" The vain side of my brain (I would say this is my right side, logical, egotistical) says, yes and keep showing those bastards how much smarter then them you are and that you wouldn't have as much time to think about this if your classes were challenging. The insecure side, by definition, says, well maybe this is wrong. Existing in the betwixt is my life.
Isolated and emotionless, routines become meaningless and life goes plowing ever on. Where I am in the happening of it all is just quite unknown, for I seem to not be able to carve out my own place, and am just dragged meaninglessly forward, towards some end that I cannot imagine. Indeed, the life of a robot.
Insecurity and vanity: the "median" emotion of these is emotion-less-ness, they truly cancel each other out in the mathematics of personal feelings. So, I have become a robot. I exist between not caring about my insufficiently challenging classes because I already know it and the panic that I am not gleaning everything I can from the infinite wisdom that I obviously am not capturing. Emotion-less-ness. Where is the excitement of my youthful ideals of helping break cultural perceptions, of opening the worlds eyes to horizons as of yet inexperienced, of showing the vast marvels that surround us even in our own backyard? How can I reach any of those ideals if I can't get my students to conjugate verbs correctly, let alone show them there is more to Latin America than drugs and tamales.
Where are my youthful ideals? Lost in the nothing-ness of grad school robotics. Where is the desire to make a change, when I don't care if my students don't pass a test, when I lower my standards to the normal bell curve, when I myself don't see the point of teaching something that in 2 weeks, after the chapter test, will be quickly forgotten. How can I interest others in a topic that I vainly dismiss as "already known" or subconsciously ponder as "completely foreign"?
Hearing the Dean of the Graduate School speak about how generations of knowledge are been entrusted to us to perserve and expand once was gratifying. Now it is nothing: what knowledge if I already know it (vanity), or what expansion can I offer if I never understand it (insecurity).
And the question of the hour is brought to light: between this vanity and insecurity, I must ask, "DID I MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION?" The vain side of my brain (I would say this is my right side, logical, egotistical) says, yes and keep showing those bastards how much smarter then them you are and that you wouldn't have as much time to think about this if your classes were challenging. The insecure side, by definition, says, well maybe this is wrong. Existing in the betwixt is my life.
Isolated and emotionless, routines become meaningless and life goes plowing ever on. Where I am in the happening of it all is just quite unknown, for I seem to not be able to carve out my own place, and am just dragged meaninglessly forward, towards some end that I cannot imagine. Indeed, the life of a robot.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Welcome back
So, yesterday was a good "Welcome Back" to the United States. One good thing and one not so good thing reflected the somewhat paradoxical opinion I have of being back in the states.
First, it was cold enough that I had to wear a sweater. Now, cold for me is anything below 75, and it was really only 55 in the morning, but that is freezing for me. It was one of those rainy drizzly, cuddle up with a cup of tea kind of days that I havent experienced in almost 4 years. So, thats exactly what I did. Came home, put on some warm pajama pants, curled up with a book (homework, not the most ideal, rainy day reading) and a cup of earl gray. It was wonderful. I know that this whole delight in coldness wont last all that long, since a nebraska winter is upon us and I will be craving anything about 30º, but for now, I will take pleasure in the crisp afternoons of fall.
Second, I recieved the American Community Survey. Its like the pre-census sent out by the Census bureau, and I am "required by law" to fill it out. When I opened the 20 page survey that I hardly have time to fill out, my inner cynic asked, "hum, can't they just tap my phone lines to figure all this out? Wont my library record be illuminating enough for them?" while my good ole American decided to put up with the buracracy of my country and that even though I really dont feel like it, and sometimes wish it weren't so, I am part of the American community.
Not to mention that all these things coincide with my struggle that I feel I am going through about having left Panama. Funny that none of these regrets happened when I had two months off and had time and energy to think them through. Nope. Cultural adjustment hits you when you can least take it. Maybe thats why these two rather frivoulous happeneing stand out as poignant enough to blog about.
So, welcome back. Three months late.
First, it was cold enough that I had to wear a sweater. Now, cold for me is anything below 75, and it was really only 55 in the morning, but that is freezing for me. It was one of those rainy drizzly, cuddle up with a cup of tea kind of days that I havent experienced in almost 4 years. So, thats exactly what I did. Came home, put on some warm pajama pants, curled up with a book (homework, not the most ideal, rainy day reading) and a cup of earl gray. It was wonderful. I know that this whole delight in coldness wont last all that long, since a nebraska winter is upon us and I will be craving anything about 30º, but for now, I will take pleasure in the crisp afternoons of fall.
Second, I recieved the American Community Survey. Its like the pre-census sent out by the Census bureau, and I am "required by law" to fill it out. When I opened the 20 page survey that I hardly have time to fill out, my inner cynic asked, "hum, can't they just tap my phone lines to figure all this out? Wont my library record be illuminating enough for them?" while my good ole American decided to put up with the buracracy of my country and that even though I really dont feel like it, and sometimes wish it weren't so, I am part of the American community.
Not to mention that all these things coincide with my struggle that I feel I am going through about having left Panama. Funny that none of these regrets happened when I had two months off and had time and energy to think them through. Nope. Cultural adjustment hits you when you can least take it. Maybe thats why these two rather frivoulous happeneing stand out as poignant enough to blog about.
So, welcome back. Three months late.
Monday, September 01, 2008
The Glass Cieling
It is frightening. Frightening to think that once again, Americans will be outdone by hideously obvious political maneuvering. In a move that is the epitome of the knee-jerk reaction philosophy of the republican party, McCain picks Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, to run on the GOP ticket. Its the talk of the nation. I call it reactionary because its hard to seperate such a radical choice from the words of Palin's own acceptance speech: "If Hillary can't break the glass ceiling, we republicans can" (my paraphrasing).
In other words, in a move to shatter that glass ceiling, lets pick someone without a penis to not hinder those 18 million cracks in the cieling from becoming voters for us, not considering that just any other creature without a penis will not fit the bill. I mean, becuase the dems cant do it for ya, we will. Well, sort of.
Political anylists are saying that this move heralds feminists teachings and will win over all those bitter dems and independents who are still sore from not having their Hillary, and I am sure that is what McCain in thinking in picking someone as a ticket mate with no national experience. However, if shattering the glass cieling means making Joan Cleaver the next vice president, I doubt, in terms of women's rights, that this so called shattering is what Americans are hoping for.
Unfortunately, many American's won't realize this. They will see her as the figure of triumphant American "exurbanism", as Howard Fineman puts it. They will see her as the loving mother of five, from the fringes of our cities where trimmed lawns are still valued and somehow reflect a neighborly conjuviality, where consumerism is admired if not slightly worshipped, and where the traditional family can live its life far from bustle but close enough to "catch a ballgame". They will see her as provident from a place where social conservatism is not only the norm but the expected way of life. (If you need to know my opinion of this ideologically and geographically stifilling concept, please refer to my other blogs on cookie-cutter suburban life). As Fineman puts it, in ExUrban America, Amercans can get as close to "'Leave it to Beaver'America as most middle-class folks can afford or even find." So seeing "one of their own" as it were, succeed in mainstream politics can be rather affirming and it will be comforting to know that someone like themselves is running the country. Knowing that the vice president wears her pearls and knows what a struggle it is to have dinner on the table when hubby gets home gives them some sort of validation of their own daily lifes (no offense to pearl wearers: I myself find them extremely sexy, nor those who are stay at home moms: I was raised by one).
But it would really be the case of one step forward and three steps back. More like 20 steps back. Instead of presenting a VP canidate that might proffer real change and be committed to real politics, we are thrown into the vortex of bad political maneuvering: I mean, becuase the dems cant do it for ya, we will, sort of. We will give you your woman: a woman who is firmly against abortion, and will work hard to get Roe vs. Wade overturned. All hail the downfall of even the most basic of women's right. Hows that for no more glass ceiling?
Hopefully Americans will realize all this and stick to something that will make this country better, not ask for another 4 years of crap. And after 8 years that have lead us to the position that we are in now, it is hard to think, and frightening to realize, that a small maneuver like this might sway Americans to think that another 4 years wouldn't be crap. Not saying that either candidate is the most prepared for the job, or that promises made from both sides will pull our country out of the hole we have dug ourselves into--better said, that we have been drug into-- but this knee-jerk reaction to have a female VP is more transparent than the glass ceiling it presupposes to shatter. And hopefully Americans will realize that trading a glass ceiling for a brick wall is hardly worth it.
In other words, in a move to shatter that glass ceiling, lets pick someone without a penis to not hinder those 18 million cracks in the cieling from becoming voters for us, not considering that just any other creature without a penis will not fit the bill. I mean, becuase the dems cant do it for ya, we will. Well, sort of.
Political anylists are saying that this move heralds feminists teachings and will win over all those bitter dems and independents who are still sore from not having their Hillary, and I am sure that is what McCain in thinking in picking someone as a ticket mate with no national experience. However, if shattering the glass cieling means making Joan Cleaver the next vice president, I doubt, in terms of women's rights, that this so called shattering is what Americans are hoping for.
Unfortunately, many American's won't realize this. They will see her as the figure of triumphant American "exurbanism", as Howard Fineman puts it. They will see her as the loving mother of five, from the fringes of our cities where trimmed lawns are still valued and somehow reflect a neighborly conjuviality, where consumerism is admired if not slightly worshipped, and where the traditional family can live its life far from bustle but close enough to "catch a ballgame". They will see her as provident from a place where social conservatism is not only the norm but the expected way of life. (If you need to know my opinion of this ideologically and geographically stifilling concept, please refer to my other blogs on cookie-cutter suburban life). As Fineman puts it, in ExUrban America, Amercans can get as close to "'Leave it to Beaver'America as most middle-class folks can afford or even find." So seeing "one of their own" as it were, succeed in mainstream politics can be rather affirming and it will be comforting to know that someone like themselves is running the country. Knowing that the vice president wears her pearls and knows what a struggle it is to have dinner on the table when hubby gets home gives them some sort of validation of their own daily lifes (no offense to pearl wearers: I myself find them extremely sexy, nor those who are stay at home moms: I was raised by one).
But it would really be the case of one step forward and three steps back. More like 20 steps back. Instead of presenting a VP canidate that might proffer real change and be committed to real politics, we are thrown into the vortex of bad political maneuvering: I mean, becuase the dems cant do it for ya, we will, sort of. We will give you your woman: a woman who is firmly against abortion, and will work hard to get Roe vs. Wade overturned. All hail the downfall of even the most basic of women's right. Hows that for no more glass ceiling?
Hopefully Americans will realize all this and stick to something that will make this country better, not ask for another 4 years of crap. And after 8 years that have lead us to the position that we are in now, it is hard to think, and frightening to realize, that a small maneuver like this might sway Americans to think that another 4 years wouldn't be crap. Not saying that either candidate is the most prepared for the job, or that promises made from both sides will pull our country out of the hole we have dug ourselves into--better said, that we have been drug into-- but this knee-jerk reaction to have a female VP is more transparent than the glass ceiling it presupposes to shatter. And hopefully Americans will realize that trading a glass ceiling for a brick wall is hardly worth it.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Crossing the Red Sea
Moses did it with the help of God and one bad-ass rod...methinks these are the tools necessary for the job, because I sure tried it yesterday and it did not work. That's right, I foolishly tried to make my way about downtown Lincoln yesterday when I didn't realize that the inauguration of Husker football season meant the complete shutdown of everything. But it did. Flags everywhere. Not one person who didn't have some kind of red, black or white in their clothing, on their warpainted faces, or on their big foamy hands. At 10 in the morning I was surprised to find tailgate parties going strong a few blocks from my house (mind you I live about 15 blocks from the stadium), complete with beer gardens that had their own TVs and somehow access to cable. People coming in and out of bars at 12. Everyone making some sort of pilgramage to Vine Street, and culminating the day with the reason on the insanity: Nebraska vs. Western Michigan.
I ask myself why I went out. Having parents who are both Nebraskans, I am not unaccustomed to this sort of Huskers fever. I actually knew that it would be bad. But, also being someone who doesnt really care for sports at all, I guess I was still surprised at how intense it actually was. To what degree the city (read: state, as I beleive the entire state converged on the stadium as if it were the gates to some epherial world) was devoured by red clothed addicts. Its not just a game, its "our tradition" as signs throughout the city claimed. And an inevitable part of life in Nebraska, becuase even the cash register looked at you and instead of saying having a nice day, said, "Have a good time at the game" like it was some presumption that everyone she talked to was going to the game. And while I was questioning who Bo Pelini is, heaven-sent brochures were passed around claiming "the start of a new era" under the new coach, Tom Osborne's heir and savior to the Husker Nation. I am not surprised if at the game the spectators actually got down on their knees, facing the direction of their Mecca, Tom Osborne's office, and observed a moment of silence in commeration of the football god manifested on earth.
And I would bring up the seeming contradiction that it is the football team that is most recognized at our university, which to me is the embodiment of contradiction since the general idea of football (brutes attacking each other) goes against the very idea of a liberal education, but that would be moot. The whole football academic debtate will continue to be a contradiction and me raging about it will never change anything: the university needs it money, the NFL new recruits, and the American public their entertainment manifested in the form of violence. It will always be a contradiction that football players will get their books for free under their scholarships, although it is unlikely that they will read those books, and those who have comitted their lives to the study of said books and along with it have taken upon themselves the shackles of voluntary poverty (aka grad students) are expected to buy the books themselves with the little money with which they are compensated, so why rage about it here? Like I said, moot.
I dont even know who won the game, but will hear echoing in my head forever, "Go Big Red!"
I ask myself why I went out. Having parents who are both Nebraskans, I am not unaccustomed to this sort of Huskers fever. I actually knew that it would be bad. But, also being someone who doesnt really care for sports at all, I guess I was still surprised at how intense it actually was. To what degree the city (read: state, as I beleive the entire state converged on the stadium as if it were the gates to some epherial world) was devoured by red clothed addicts. Its not just a game, its "our tradition" as signs throughout the city claimed. And an inevitable part of life in Nebraska, becuase even the cash register looked at you and instead of saying having a nice day, said, "Have a good time at the game" like it was some presumption that everyone she talked to was going to the game. And while I was questioning who Bo Pelini is, heaven-sent brochures were passed around claiming "the start of a new era" under the new coach, Tom Osborne's heir and savior to the Husker Nation. I am not surprised if at the game the spectators actually got down on their knees, facing the direction of their Mecca, Tom Osborne's office, and observed a moment of silence in commeration of the football god manifested on earth.
And I would bring up the seeming contradiction that it is the football team that is most recognized at our university, which to me is the embodiment of contradiction since the general idea of football (brutes attacking each other) goes against the very idea of a liberal education, but that would be moot. The whole football academic debtate will continue to be a contradiction and me raging about it will never change anything: the university needs it money, the NFL new recruits, and the American public their entertainment manifested in the form of violence. It will always be a contradiction that football players will get their books for free under their scholarships, although it is unlikely that they will read those books, and those who have comitted their lives to the study of said books and along with it have taken upon themselves the shackles of voluntary poverty (aka grad students) are expected to buy the books themselves with the little money with which they are compensated, so why rage about it here? Like I said, moot.
I dont even know who won the game, but will hear echoing in my head forever, "Go Big Red!"
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
We stand in opposition...
Today, in a headline from MSNBC (great source, I know),I read that on the eve of the Olympics, George W. Bush made it very clear, as he always does with those who clash with his fundamentalist doctrines and in his non-intellectual, Neanderthal manner, that the United States stands in "firm opposition" to the way the Chinese Government oppresses its people.
Oh please.
Now, we don't live in a country where outward physical oppression reigns, and as far as I know, Bush isn't such a tyrant that he is killing others (wait a minute...Guantamo?), or at least those who are good, white-blooded Christian, patriotic, gas guzlling, out of control consuming, Bible Belt Americans. Yet, this statement really seems like a highly diplomatic manifestation of the kettle and the pot. You know how that goes. The strongest leaders of fascism are often those who seem normal: Hitler, Mousillini, Franco (we are studying the Spanish Civil War, hence the easy throwback to facism) all seemed, at the time and only for a time, like good people just answering the will of the masses, whose abuse little by little amounted to the control that we have learned corrupts. And the fundamentalism that these leaders used is often terrifyingly similar to the propaganda we are fed daily from the idiots in charge.
So in honor of the spirit of Global Unity and the Olympics (Olympics, Global Unity? HA!) and just to be a ranting liberal, here are some of the injustices of which we (well, at least I) stand in opposition:
We stand in opposition of wiretapping.
We stand in opposition of our government knowing what books we check out from the library.
We stand in opposition of "misinforming" the public.
We stand in opposition of using said misinformation to wage a war.
We stand in opposition of religion being used as another piece in political chess.
We stand in opposition of our sensitivity toward terrorist attacks being abused.
We stand in opposition of a strategic plan that involves killing innocent people.
We stand in opposition of no real solutions.
We stand in opposition of knee jerk reactions that don't solve anything.
We stand in opposition of speeches with words like "misunderestimated".
We stand in opposition of denying our current economic situation.
We stand in opposition of the promotion of our over-consumptive society.
We stand in opposition of our President asking for more oil instead of making real strides.
We stand in opposition of the continual mistreatment of people of other races and creeds.
We stand in opposition of any kind of thinking that comes from Texas.
Maybe I am more irratated than usual about this because I see some of the same things Franco did in his government that are happening to this day in our country, or maybe because our high and mighty thinks he still has the authority to "firmly oppose" oppression with his right hand while he oppresses with his left, or maybe the fact that most people don't seem to understand or admit or even care that the freedoms they hold so dear, cling to and wear on their sleeves are merely illusions. Anyway you look at it, the more I think about it, the more fundamentalist and stupid and unfounded and of its rocker this whole administration looks, and the more stupid most people look for just sitting by and taking it. (Thanks their Bushy, want me to bend over so you can give it to me up the ass again while you ask for another cumshot of oil from Saudi Arabia? (thanks for the imagery Greta)).
And just for the hell of it, nothing like ending a blog rant with a call to stand in opposition of what we see, with a call to enlist in the fight against the jolly green fascist monster (yes, another thing I picked up from the Spanish Civil War, sorry, like I said, its what we are studying).
It says "Friends! Enlist in the Iberian Column. You will reenforce the battle against facism!" And I say the same thing today.
Oh please.
Now, we don't live in a country where outward physical oppression reigns, and as far as I know, Bush isn't such a tyrant that he is killing others (wait a minute...Guantamo?), or at least those who are good, white-blooded Christian, patriotic, gas guzlling, out of control consuming, Bible Belt Americans. Yet, this statement really seems like a highly diplomatic manifestation of the kettle and the pot. You know how that goes. The strongest leaders of fascism are often those who seem normal: Hitler, Mousillini, Franco (we are studying the Spanish Civil War, hence the easy throwback to facism) all seemed, at the time and only for a time, like good people just answering the will of the masses, whose abuse little by little amounted to the control that we have learned corrupts. And the fundamentalism that these leaders used is often terrifyingly similar to the propaganda we are fed daily from the idiots in charge.
So in honor of the spirit of Global Unity and the Olympics (Olympics, Global Unity? HA!) and just to be a ranting liberal, here are some of the injustices of which we (well, at least I) stand in opposition:
We stand in opposition of wiretapping.
We stand in opposition of our government knowing what books we check out from the library.
We stand in opposition of "misinforming" the public.
We stand in opposition of using said misinformation to wage a war.
We stand in opposition of religion being used as another piece in political chess.
We stand in opposition of our sensitivity toward terrorist attacks being abused.
We stand in opposition of a strategic plan that involves killing innocent people.
We stand in opposition of no real solutions.
We stand in opposition of knee jerk reactions that don't solve anything.
We stand in opposition of speeches with words like "misunderestimated".
We stand in opposition of denying our current economic situation.
We stand in opposition of the promotion of our over-consumptive society.
We stand in opposition of our President asking for more oil instead of making real strides.
We stand in opposition of the continual mistreatment of people of other races and creeds.
We stand in opposition of any kind of thinking that comes from Texas.
Maybe I am more irratated than usual about this because I see some of the same things Franco did in his government that are happening to this day in our country, or maybe because our high and mighty thinks he still has the authority to "firmly oppose" oppression with his right hand while he oppresses with his left, or maybe the fact that most people don't seem to understand or admit or even care that the freedoms they hold so dear, cling to and wear on their sleeves are merely illusions. Anyway you look at it, the more I think about it, the more fundamentalist and stupid and unfounded and of its rocker this whole administration looks, and the more stupid most people look for just sitting by and taking it. (Thanks their Bushy, want me to bend over so you can give it to me up the ass again while you ask for another cumshot of oil from Saudi Arabia? (thanks for the imagery Greta)).
And just for the hell of it, nothing like ending a blog rant with a call to stand in opposition of what we see, with a call to enlist in the fight against the jolly green fascist monster (yes, another thing I picked up from the Spanish Civil War, sorry, like I said, its what we are studying).
It says "Friends! Enlist in the Iberian Column. You will reenforce the battle against facism!" And I say the same thing today.Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Fremont: Where bigotry can be your next door neighbor
Survive in America? Thats the question. Fremont wants them out. But why should they go? Because we cant move past our bigotry and misconceptions? Becuase they aren't Americans? Check this: Guatamalan Carlos Garcias holds the flag in a show of his affection for his adpotive country.All the tension of the national immigration debate descended on Fremont, NE, yesterday as the town met in its series of three town councils to discuss whether or not the city should enact a ban on renting to and hiring illegal immigrants. I read the headline and just about shit my pants. I mean, I am slowly becoming accustomed to the inexperienced world view that most outside the limits of Lincoln and Omaha seem to cling to with all their force, but honestly: the middle ages are over and Fremont isn't that far outside the limits of what seem to be human decency.
Rundown: a ban was proposed that would severely punish anyone who harbored, hired, or gave housing to illegal aliens. A town split in two. Thankfully, human goodness won out in a debate that I am sure was highly based on misconceptions, with the mayor the city breaking the head-locked 4 to 4 city councilmen in opposition to the ban. The ban would have yanked city licensing and grants to any business that did not participate in an electronic verification of employees immigration status, and fined any landlord that housed illegal immigrants would be fined, as well as initiating a program that would require all renters, regardless of race, to buy a permit of occupancy that would verify their legal eligibility to be in the country.
People from the city lined up and took their turns at the microphone, going back and forth. It is reported that those in support of the ban (of whom it is reported wore t-shirts that said "where's the fence" and toted signs that read "Secure our borders") cited crime, disease and abuse of public assistance as reasons to push the ban through. I was surprised that loss of jobs wasn't on their list because that misconception is about as tenable as their evidence that illegal immigration spreads disease. WTF? Is this the middle ages? We have to be careful not to mix with those mexicans becuase they carry some kind of disease (on an ironic note, read the latest studies that are proving the numbers of Native Americans throughout the continent who surely saw our "great" ancestors as illegal immigrants were much larger than originally thought, and the disease that came from Europe was more anialating than first thought)? Why don't we just build a quarentine on the border and move in our bovine disease inspection headquarters so we can at least detect what diseases they have even when they are trying to get into this "blessed country" illegally. Sound ridiculous? Because it is. But still, people buy into these arguments that reduce humans (and ironically those who are trying to make a "better life" for themselves, a very "american" tenant.) to animals.
Somewhere we got lost in our own insecurities and the need to place blame on something that immigrants become nothing more than intruders who need to go and who threaten our conceptions. Somewhere we turned into bigots.
Clearing the air, please realize that most illegal immigrants work in job that Americans wont take becuase of our sense of WASP entitlement, and that 70% of the agriculutral industry depends on immigrants, and for salaries usually signifcantly less than those that would be paid to Americans. So be careful, Fremont, when you say you want an "illegal-immigrant-free community", because it might mean that you have look at the garden in your own fenced in back yard and secure your own produce to put dinner on the table. It would definatly mean that you would not have the rich cultural and intellectual experience of having others with worldly perspectives in your community, which is even more valuable in a place where most people don't have the means to get that experience themselves.
And maybe there wouldn't be such a high crime rate among immigrants if they were given the chance to become registered, and not just put on the backlog of papers and immigration appointments that is a long as heaven is grand, if there were assimilation programs where they could get plugged into culturally appropriate communities, if they were given some kind of chance and not to relegated to some ghetto where drugs and a life of crime is the only opportunity that awaits them (or heres an idea, if the government would invest in sustainable programs directed towards eliminating the ghettos all together). But that is too much to ask: include them? We want them out of our community, so instead of making it easier for them to become successful and fulfill the dreams for which they most likely came to this country, well, we are going to make it impossible for them to focus on anything other than surviving under the radar.
But above all these misconceptions, what makes me mad is the knee jerk reaction that is so dominant with this fucking government. Our borders need to be secure, WHAM! build a damn wall. Confirm everyone's perception of our bigotry. We need to make sure our national security is in order, WHAM! blow up half the Middle East. Make our absolute intolerance ring throughout the world. We need to make sure Americans can continue to live in their greedy, insatiable live-beyond-your-means lifestyles WHAM! cut interests rates every five months WHAM! make economic stimulis checks WHAM! pass emergency bills to bail out Americans who got in to far in over their heads. Continue to deny that we are a huge repression. We need to become more energy independent WHAM! drill in Alaska. Keep filling up folks, its still there. Continue with your life as normal, without restrictions or stings of regret. And unfortunately, these come from the top and when the people see government and the ignorance it employs to fix its own problems in a way that is only good for itself and for a short time, they too think it is okay to wish immigrants away, and to ask wheres the fence and to beleive that some stupid wall is the key to our security. These knee jerks don't allow for the dialouge that is needed to get anywhere with this complicated issues. In the reign of and absolutist government, its us against them, and the people see that and live that out to the letter: I am sure that some of you have just written this off as some liberal ranting, just what the government does. Its bad, its not for us, therefore it is wrong.
There was a group at Fremont that I think got it right. They passed out flyers that said "Build Fremont's future together". On the nose. Unfortunately, to work together we might need understand what it means to share a lawn with your neighbor, to live without a fence and not just always react knee jerkingly to be secure in our intolerance and our bigotry.I don't think many of us are ready for that, as my dear fellow Nebraskans so eloquently demonstrated.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Adjusment Reflections: On the clock
In his book, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson comments on American efficiency and innefficiency. He raves about how impressed he was to receive free coffee and donuts on a casual trip to the post office, but was baffled by the same post office's inability to deliver mail when a small error in zip codes was committed (which when you think about it, one would wonder how we worked ourselves into dependency on a set of 5 numbers designated to a post office and our ability to think of towns and cities beyond postal codes may be a reflection of American individualism at its core).
The same kind of paradox is my daily life. Getting used to American perceptions of time is quite difficult after years of rooting out pesky habits like checking my watch and arriving on time or even a few minutes early, knowing that no one else would be there. Living on the hora panameña meant always leaving a 15 minute to hour buffer on any kind of meeting, arriving on time was at least 30 minutes after you said you would be there (or calling from your house with no intention of leaving for about 45 minutes and saying that you were on your way).
Not so in America. Buses come on schedule. Efficiency. They only come once every two hours. Inefficiency. Meetings start at the appointed time. Efficient. There is usually 10 to 15 minutes of pointless banter like "How are you?" (this one I can understand) and "Your wife's hemorrhoids?" (this is pushing it). Inefficient. Buildings and homes are torn down to build straighter, more direct roads. Efficiency. Nothing is done to make sure everyone can take advantage of said roads (aka, lower gas prices, easier financing options for those with limited credit, etc.) Inefficient. Work is set out, prioritized and handed out to employees. Efficient. Employees do what they want, in the order they want to do it. Inefficient. We plan our days in PDAs and iPods and Outlook and Palms. Efficient. We spend most of our time synchronizing our webcalanders, PDAs, Laptops, Servers and Personal Intergalactic Satellite Uplinks. Inefficient.
Another ambiguous American attribute (yeah for alliteration!).
The same kind of paradox is my daily life. Getting used to American perceptions of time is quite difficult after years of rooting out pesky habits like checking my watch and arriving on time or even a few minutes early, knowing that no one else would be there. Living on the hora panameña meant always leaving a 15 minute to hour buffer on any kind of meeting, arriving on time was at least 30 minutes after you said you would be there (or calling from your house with no intention of leaving for about 45 minutes and saying that you were on your way).
Not so in America. Buses come on schedule. Efficiency. They only come once every two hours. Inefficiency. Meetings start at the appointed time. Efficient. There is usually 10 to 15 minutes of pointless banter like "How are you?" (this one I can understand) and "Your wife's hemorrhoids?" (this is pushing it). Inefficient. Buildings and homes are torn down to build straighter, more direct roads. Efficiency. Nothing is done to make sure everyone can take advantage of said roads (aka, lower gas prices, easier financing options for those with limited credit, etc.) Inefficient. Work is set out, prioritized and handed out to employees. Efficient. Employees do what they want, in the order they want to do it. Inefficient. We plan our days in PDAs and iPods and Outlook and Palms. Efficient. We spend most of our time synchronizing our webcalanders, PDAs, Laptops, Servers and Personal Intergalactic Satellite Uplinks. Inefficient.
Another ambiguous American attribute (yeah for alliteration!).
Monday, July 07, 2008
Adjustment Reflections: America Walking
In his book, I am a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson dispares about how, in a situation where he could have walked from one store to a store just 50 meters away, the design of the area he was in actually prevented him from walking, and made driving a necessity, and how American's today consider walking the movement their heel makes when pressing down the gas pedal.
As a recent arrival from Panama, I am used to the gasps and looks of horror when people find out I walked home from my job every night. It is much the same here, when people find out that I live in the land of wide roads and asphalt pavement and do not have a car.
Some people ask how I survive, and I will admit there are some sacrifices, however these are compeltely outweighed by the benefits. Trips to Wal-Mart become highly coveted, but there is no dealing with living in suburb hell, with its cookie cutter neighborhood, carpeted houses (think about it: carpet is just disgusting...how many people's hair and skin cells and just general grossness has been ground into that shit?) and perfectly manicured lawns and five-mile drives to the nearest anything. And while taking public transportation is often seeing the "underbelly of American society", as a friend put it, surviving on foot, bike, and bus has this satisfying, self-sustaining boho kind of feel to it. You get to see certain people every day in their daily lives and ponder why they always sit with their head cocked to one side, or what unseen ventures they attend to every day when they get off at 27th and Superior. You get to see nature in its elements, exercise and feel like some Sierra Club member in the midst of raging traffic.
With all these benefits why do Americans drive everywhere? Are we lazy? Well, yes. But, deeper, it just shows the idea that luxury is commonplace here. To think that over 80% of the worlds vehicles are in this country, the fact that dishwashers come standard, and its not hard to see why we think that we shouldn't be exposed to any work or conditions that is unnecessary or gratuitous. So we have our fridges automatically dispense ice, cell phones dail numbers at the command of our voice, and cars carry us two to three blocks. All these are examples of things that, when considered, would not take a great deal of work or exertion on our parts. Walking to the TV to change the channel isn't a big a curse as we make it out to be. But they are the luxuries that we live with. And don't separate us from our luxuries. We might meet new people, see new things, become healthier, have a more positive outlook and overall generate less waste.
But here I sit, raving about the benefits of living a simple life while I am soaked, bread is soggy and my groceries are inundated because I had to walk home ten blocks in the pouring rain. Be careful what you ask for, I guess!
As a recent arrival from Panama, I am used to the gasps and looks of horror when people find out I walked home from my job every night. It is much the same here, when people find out that I live in the land of wide roads and asphalt pavement and do not have a car.
Some people ask how I survive, and I will admit there are some sacrifices, however these are compeltely outweighed by the benefits. Trips to Wal-Mart become highly coveted, but there is no dealing with living in suburb hell, with its cookie cutter neighborhood, carpeted houses (think about it: carpet is just disgusting...how many people's hair and skin cells and just general grossness has been ground into that shit?) and perfectly manicured lawns and five-mile drives to the nearest anything. And while taking public transportation is often seeing the "underbelly of American society", as a friend put it, surviving on foot, bike, and bus has this satisfying, self-sustaining boho kind of feel to it. You get to see certain people every day in their daily lives and ponder why they always sit with their head cocked to one side, or what unseen ventures they attend to every day when they get off at 27th and Superior. You get to see nature in its elements, exercise and feel like some Sierra Club member in the midst of raging traffic.
With all these benefits why do Americans drive everywhere? Are we lazy? Well, yes. But, deeper, it just shows the idea that luxury is commonplace here. To think that over 80% of the worlds vehicles are in this country, the fact that dishwashers come standard, and its not hard to see why we think that we shouldn't be exposed to any work or conditions that is unnecessary or gratuitous. So we have our fridges automatically dispense ice, cell phones dail numbers at the command of our voice, and cars carry us two to three blocks. All these are examples of things that, when considered, would not take a great deal of work or exertion on our parts. Walking to the TV to change the channel isn't a big a curse as we make it out to be. But they are the luxuries that we live with. And don't separate us from our luxuries. We might meet new people, see new things, become healthier, have a more positive outlook and overall generate less waste.
But here I sit, raving about the benefits of living a simple life while I am soaked, bread is soggy and my groceries are inundated because I had to walk home ten blocks in the pouring rain. Be careful what you ask for, I guess!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Adjustment Reflections: I just want a hamburger
In his book, I am a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson relays the store about how, when he first arrived, going to restaurants was quite a shock for him. I have been there.
I have gone to a few nice restaurants since I have been back, and for me, used to my solitary, into the fast food restaurant and out to be devouring food in front of the TV in five minutes routine of dining, I was excited to go out and actually sit at a sit-down restaurant. Arriving at the restaurant, apparently ever staff person whose path you cross was under military orders to greet you with their best Cheshire-cat grin, with at least three or four people adamantly welcoming you, apparently from their ears because their mouths were cranked open in so big a false grin that talking seemed entirely too laborious a task, if not an impossible one. Sitting down, the server whisks a jar of water to your table with the cheer a midwife must feel when delivering a new born baby to its mother's arms. After the ten minute obligatory introductions (Hello, my name is Jane and I am originally from Boston, but I came here to test my luck in the firefly catching industry, but decided that I needed some kind of education first, so I took this job to help offset the costs of my classes, living expenses and firefly catching equipment, because the university doesn't offer competitive scholarships in our department, and I will be your waiter tonight...), I just wanted to cut her off and order my hamburger before she even got the chance to ramble off tonight's specials and ask if this was my first time in the restaurant, what profession I dedicated my life to (what would have happened if I said truthfully, "unemployed") , if I had ever vacationed in Tahiti and to inform me that the kitchen staff would be around shortly to take requests of which traditional Irish jig I would like them to preform. When I do end her mid-sentence, she just smiles and says, "Ok, just a hamburger" and eventually accepts, smiling none the less, that I am a social inept, incapable of sharing anything about myself.
And even on the street, people seem to take an unhealthy interest in others' lives. People on the bus know at least one other rider and ask questions like "How's Rita, your second cousin twice removed?" One bus rider asked me what I had bought at Wal-Mart and looked confused when I didn't offer a show-and-tell.
It's all done with a smile, and I know that it is just a part of our culture, especially here in the Midwest, but sometimes I just want to catch them off-guard by saying "homicidal" when they smile at me in that "how are you?" questioning sort of way, and other times I want to put a sign on my book that says "I am reading this uninteresting article with a look of enthrallment so that you don't ask every detail of my life while we ride on this bus¨ just to get it across that if you don't really care to know (which you don't), don't ask. So pervasive is this attitude of ask-but-don't-really-care that even at my job, as I was editing a "Hello Handbook", a guide of sorts on American culture and academia in general that we offer for new international students at the University, I come across a tip that says (and I quote): "In the United States, people often say, 'Hi, How are you?' or 'How are you doing?' This is a polite phrase, like saying 'Hello' and is usually not meant as a question in which you would tell them all of your feelings for the day."
And I understand that people do genuinely want to hear "fine" and genuinely introduce themselves because it is more familiar, but I just want a hamburger. This familiarity leads to a feeling of warmth and June Cleaver-ish happiness, but it also leads to the falseness that many Americans have bought into that life always has to be happy, or at least happy enough that you want to share it with others, this falseness that covers anything bad. This is why it frustrates me. It's AMERICAN KITCH!!!
So here is my ambiguous ending, with no exortations, no rants, no positive encouragement, no clear opinions. I don't want to say that I have caved in and can comfortably smile, nod my head or say "hey" to every passer-by, but I don't want to discredit some people's genuine cheerfullness as cultural falsity. So in good adjusting fashion, I will end with that I just want a hamburger. As to my opinion, I will keep that to myself and you will just have to smile and accept it.
I have gone to a few nice restaurants since I have been back, and for me, used to my solitary, into the fast food restaurant and out to be devouring food in front of the TV in five minutes routine of dining, I was excited to go out and actually sit at a sit-down restaurant. Arriving at the restaurant, apparently ever staff person whose path you cross was under military orders to greet you with their best Cheshire-cat grin, with at least three or four people adamantly welcoming you, apparently from their ears because their mouths were cranked open in so big a false grin that talking seemed entirely too laborious a task, if not an impossible one. Sitting down, the server whisks a jar of water to your table with the cheer a midwife must feel when delivering a new born baby to its mother's arms. After the ten minute obligatory introductions (Hello, my name is Jane and I am originally from Boston, but I came here to test my luck in the firefly catching industry, but decided that I needed some kind of education first, so I took this job to help offset the costs of my classes, living expenses and firefly catching equipment, because the university doesn't offer competitive scholarships in our department, and I will be your waiter tonight...), I just wanted to cut her off and order my hamburger before she even got the chance to ramble off tonight's specials and ask if this was my first time in the restaurant, what profession I dedicated my life to (what would have happened if I said truthfully, "unemployed") , if I had ever vacationed in Tahiti and to inform me that the kitchen staff would be around shortly to take requests of which traditional Irish jig I would like them to preform. When I do end her mid-sentence, she just smiles and says, "Ok, just a hamburger" and eventually accepts, smiling none the less, that I am a social inept, incapable of sharing anything about myself.
And even on the street, people seem to take an unhealthy interest in others' lives. People on the bus know at least one other rider and ask questions like "How's Rita, your second cousin twice removed?" One bus rider asked me what I had bought at Wal-Mart and looked confused when I didn't offer a show-and-tell.
It's all done with a smile, and I know that it is just a part of our culture, especially here in the Midwest, but sometimes I just want to catch them off-guard by saying "homicidal" when they smile at me in that "how are you?" questioning sort of way, and other times I want to put a sign on my book that says "I am reading this uninteresting article with a look of enthrallment so that you don't ask every detail of my life while we ride on this bus¨ just to get it across that if you don't really care to know (which you don't), don't ask. So pervasive is this attitude of ask-but-don't-really-care that even at my job, as I was editing a "Hello Handbook", a guide of sorts on American culture and academia in general that we offer for new international students at the University, I come across a tip that says (and I quote): "In the United States, people often say, 'Hi, How are you?' or 'How are you doing?' This is a polite phrase, like saying 'Hello' and is usually not meant as a question in which you would tell them all of your feelings for the day."
And I understand that people do genuinely want to hear "fine" and genuinely introduce themselves because it is more familiar, but I just want a hamburger. This familiarity leads to a feeling of warmth and June Cleaver-ish happiness, but it also leads to the falseness that many Americans have bought into that life always has to be happy, or at least happy enough that you want to share it with others, this falseness that covers anything bad. This is why it frustrates me. It's AMERICAN KITCH!!!
So here is my ambiguous ending, with no exortations, no rants, no positive encouragement, no clear opinions. I don't want to say that I have caved in and can comfortably smile, nod my head or say "hey" to every passer-by, but I don't want to discredit some people's genuine cheerfullness as cultural falsity. So in good adjusting fashion, I will end with that I just want a hamburger. As to my opinion, I will keep that to myself and you will just have to smile and accept it.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Adjustment Reflections: Junk Food Attitude
In his book, I am a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson raves about his excitement of the junk food he found available for pure ravishment when he returned from England. Having spent more than twenty years abroad, frozen pizzas, hot pockets, and smore flavored pop-tarts were all novelties for him. He ate it all, and at once, becuase it what everyone was doing and was the greatest thing.
I experienced the same when I came back from Panama, only with a modern twist. The junk food that so ravaged Bryson's digestive system (the temptation of so many new pleasures was just too much to resist) has now been replaced by the exact opposite: one runs the aisles of stores lined with "healthy options", "lite choices" and "energy booster that will taste good and still help get rid of that pesky cellulite". Flavored water now comes in "lite" and I wouldn't be surprised to hear someone say, "honey, this isn't low-fat toilet paper." Even McDonalds, not known or even meant to be slightly, the least bit, in the smallest fashion "healthy", now offers lite salad dressings, and salads that I don't even think most grazing animals would find appetizing. After much hustle and bustle to "healthen" their image, it would be no surprise to find that happy meal toy options now include two free hours of personal training, an appointment with Bob Greene, Oprah's miracle worker, or a entry ticket in a drawing for a treadmill (or more approriatly some more modern contraption that is a more effective calorie burner than those treadmills that are so 1990s.)
Not that these healthy options get to me. The thing is the attitude behind it. Are all these healthy options any healthier anyways? I mean, grocery stores fill their shelves with healthy options, but really, aren't they still frozen dinners? And Tyson's organic chicken breasts are still bigger than my head, and I don't think there are such things as Philistine chickens. Even Bob Green seems to have plumped up and changed his rhetoric to "its not how you look but how you feel." And lite water? I didn't think water had calories, but we have figured out not only how to pump it full of them, but then how to reduce all those calories to make it healthier than before, but still not as good as the real thing.
But disdain the person who buys regular soda. I mean, really, don't you know that soda is bad for your health. At least you are only coating your teeth with fake sugar when you drink lite soda. And you won't say it, but you know you judge that person who has the audacity to super size a combo or eats a chocolate bar for a snack, while you eat your power bars or Healthy Choice Devils Food Cake Cookies that has passed through just as many assembly lines.
And it doesn't stop at food. Stamp something "eco-friendly" and consumers will eat it up, even though the fraction ounce of plastic that was in the bottle is just pushed into the plastic celophane wrap around your Sam's Club cube of bottled water. Put "fair trade" on a bag of coffee and people will be willing to pay an extra three or four dollars on top of already-starbucks-highly-overpriced coffee, when the person who really made that cup of coffee will still just be making $3 a month.
I guess all this ruminating about junk food has just lead me to hope that people would make some real change, or at least not live in this lip-service to honorable causes just because they are the fad. Don't say your green because you bought the most expensive made-of-self-sustaining-cork coffee table. Don't say your healthy because you ate a lite Banquet dinner. Don't say you exercise because you walk to the car every morning and after work. Turn off your lights and your computer when you aren't home. Grow your own produce. Walk down the block.
And most of all, don't listen to those fad mongers telling you what to do to be green or to be healthy. :)
I experienced the same when I came back from Panama, only with a modern twist. The junk food that so ravaged Bryson's digestive system (the temptation of so many new pleasures was just too much to resist) has now been replaced by the exact opposite: one runs the aisles of stores lined with "healthy options", "lite choices" and "energy booster that will taste good and still help get rid of that pesky cellulite". Flavored water now comes in "lite" and I wouldn't be surprised to hear someone say, "honey, this isn't low-fat toilet paper." Even McDonalds, not known or even meant to be slightly, the least bit, in the smallest fashion "healthy", now offers lite salad dressings, and salads that I don't even think most grazing animals would find appetizing. After much hustle and bustle to "healthen" their image, it would be no surprise to find that happy meal toy options now include two free hours of personal training, an appointment with Bob Greene, Oprah's miracle worker, or a entry ticket in a drawing for a treadmill (or more approriatly some more modern contraption that is a more effective calorie burner than those treadmills that are so 1990s.)
Not that these healthy options get to me. The thing is the attitude behind it. Are all these healthy options any healthier anyways? I mean, grocery stores fill their shelves with healthy options, but really, aren't they still frozen dinners? And Tyson's organic chicken breasts are still bigger than my head, and I don't think there are such things as Philistine chickens. Even Bob Green seems to have plumped up and changed his rhetoric to "its not how you look but how you feel." And lite water? I didn't think water had calories, but we have figured out not only how to pump it full of them, but then how to reduce all those calories to make it healthier than before, but still not as good as the real thing.
But disdain the person who buys regular soda. I mean, really, don't you know that soda is bad for your health. At least you are only coating your teeth with fake sugar when you drink lite soda. And you won't say it, but you know you judge that person who has the audacity to super size a combo or eats a chocolate bar for a snack, while you eat your power bars or Healthy Choice Devils Food Cake Cookies that has passed through just as many assembly lines.
And it doesn't stop at food. Stamp something "eco-friendly" and consumers will eat it up, even though the fraction ounce of plastic that was in the bottle is just pushed into the plastic celophane wrap around your Sam's Club cube of bottled water. Put "fair trade" on a bag of coffee and people will be willing to pay an extra three or four dollars on top of already-starbucks-highly-overpriced coffee, when the person who really made that cup of coffee will still just be making $3 a month.
I guess all this ruminating about junk food has just lead me to hope that people would make some real change, or at least not live in this lip-service to honorable causes just because they are the fad. Don't say your green because you bought the most expensive made-of-self-sustaining-cork coffee table. Don't say your healthy because you ate a lite Banquet dinner. Don't say you exercise because you walk to the car every morning and after work. Turn off your lights and your computer when you aren't home. Grow your own produce. Walk down the block.
And most of all, don't listen to those fad mongers telling you what to do to be green or to be healthy. :)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Adjustment Reflections: The Introduction
So, I haven't really gone through any big culture shock (see previous blogs for my fretful diagnosis of this situation.) I think I am coming to the conclusion that maybe it is the small things that are my adjustment, and that having definite future goals in mind help the desperation that I think come unfolding with cultural adjustment to a minimum.
But, I did pick up a book that I think I need to reflect on that is really making this adjustment something pleasant and enjoyable. I remember a friend had read "I'm A Stranger Here Myself" when she returned from living abroad, and decided to pick it up and read it myself.
Never a better move in my life. Bill Bryson comically puts every situation that has left me standing dumbfounded or shocked, as he writes about some of the absurdities of American culture that he himself stumbled upon upon returning from twenty years living abroad. It makes my own mouth-hanging-open-in-shock-disgust-or-just-plain-bewilderment perspective on American culture not only seem relevant, but something universal that travelers have felt and lived through upon "going home again". He wrote all these "notes on returning to America" for a British newspaper, and his opinion column style writing is easy to digest, quick and to the point, and filled with the wit a columnist needs to keep his job.
I have chuckeld aloud while I identify with lacking the correct, current lingo, nodded in agreement with the description of glorious junk food that we hate but secretly missed, and have had my inklings about why no one walks anywhere confirmed. I have laughed at the same response I have urged to give over exuberant waitresses, asked the same questions about the efficiency of my government, and wondered about the inutility of cupholders and dashboard trays.
So, in the next few days I want to make some reflections about the book, the things Bryson says, and the things that I agree with, the things that I can relate too, and my own extrapolations of Brysons newpaper columns. From food to fitness, transportation to the miracle of dishwashers, Bryson's book has confirmed that my lunacy is not unfounded, my transition normal,that I am not the only one who has returned critical of the culture I once called my own, and that others have gone through this as well.
So stay tuned to Chris' observations. Or as Bryson's wife says, "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch, Bitch." Hopefully in a respectful, somewaht humorous way.
But, I did pick up a book that I think I need to reflect on that is really making this adjustment something pleasant and enjoyable. I remember a friend had read "I'm A Stranger Here Myself" when she returned from living abroad, and decided to pick it up and read it myself.
Never a better move in my life. Bill Bryson comically puts every situation that has left me standing dumbfounded or shocked, as he writes about some of the absurdities of American culture that he himself stumbled upon upon returning from twenty years living abroad. It makes my own mouth-hanging-open-in-shock-disgust-or-just-plain-bewilderment perspective on American culture not only seem relevant, but something universal that travelers have felt and lived through upon "going home again". He wrote all these "notes on returning to America" for a British newspaper, and his opinion column style writing is easy to digest, quick and to the point, and filled with the wit a columnist needs to keep his job.
I have chuckeld aloud while I identify with lacking the correct, current lingo, nodded in agreement with the description of glorious junk food that we hate but secretly missed, and have had my inklings about why no one walks anywhere confirmed. I have laughed at the same response I have urged to give over exuberant waitresses, asked the same questions about the efficiency of my government, and wondered about the inutility of cupholders and dashboard trays.
So, in the next few days I want to make some reflections about the book, the things Bryson says, and the things that I agree with, the things that I can relate too, and my own extrapolations of Brysons newpaper columns. From food to fitness, transportation to the miracle of dishwashers, Bryson's book has confirmed that my lunacy is not unfounded, my transition normal,that I am not the only one who has returned critical of the culture I once called my own, and that others have gone through this as well.
So stay tuned to Chris' observations. Or as Bryson's wife says, "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch, Bitch." Hopefully in a respectful, somewaht humorous way.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Welcome David!
David,
We have been so anxious to meet you. Nine months anxious. And true to your character, your were born when you wanted to be born, not when everyone hoped you would. (Yes, its true, I was routing for a May 15th birth so that I could hold you once before I left, but alas.)
After knowing how active you are even from five months, its a surprise to see you quiet in this picture. I hope that you give your mommy and daddy more rest than you gave them while you decided to compete in the Uteuran Olympic Games, with your summer-saults and your wild antics.
We are so happy to have you here, and your Tio Chris loves you so much and cant wait to meet you. Dont grow up too fast...I cant visit Panamá that often and I want you to be just as precious when I meet you for the first time as you are now.
Welcome to the world where everyone loves you.
Love,
Tio Chris
Sweating the Small Things
So, it has been almost a month since I am back in the states, and the thing is: I don't really feel this huge jolt of culture shock that I was expecting. After weeks of preparing myself for the jolt of "re-entry", I must say I am a little disappointed. No big break downs, no onslaughts of unforeseen panic attacks, and no need for my brown paper bag that I so wisely tucked into my back pocket for those emergency hyperventilation moments.
What's wrong with me? At first, I thought it might be that I was running around like an idiot trying to do basic things like finding a place to live and getting a job worked out. And while I am happy to say that both have been accomplished, and that I even secured early enrollment to grad school, I am sad to say that after the chicken-dash-y-ness that was the first two weeks that I was back, no large cultural adjustment has yet to hit me over the head or put me out of commission for at least a good couple days.
Am I soul-less? Did my time in Panama really not mean anything? Is this feeling of eternal vacation in the States ever going to pass? Am I going to feel sad anytime soon? Did Dr Suess write a book about how I am going to steal Christmas this year? Do I have a heart?
Or was re-entry just overblown? I mean it could be that it was overstated to avoid any big catastrophes like breaking down when there are ten zillion type of baked beans to choose from.
One thing that has caught my attention has been all the small things. The Roads are huge. Cars stop and kindly wave you along your way as you utilize crosswalks. Said Crosswalks are visible and lights even tell you when its time to cross. Waiters say hi when you sit at a table. Police officers seem to do something.
And while all these things are apparently pleasant, I find myself asking "why doesn't that waiter just throw our food on the table, or slam the bill down in the middle of our conversation?" and "why are people so considerate?" Most importantly I ask "WHY IS EVERYTHING SO FAKE?"
So cultural adjustment, here I come. I will try to smile when random strangers say Hi, and I will try to get used to not having to check 70 bazillion times to cross the street without getting pulverized, and I will try not to let the little things freak me out. Oh, couldn't I just get depressed and get over it in a couple days? Why do all these little things keep drawing out my cultural adjustment?
Damn it. I just want to be depressed. I just want to go through all the re-entry that "normal people" go through. None of this small shit.
What's wrong with me? At first, I thought it might be that I was running around like an idiot trying to do basic things like finding a place to live and getting a job worked out. And while I am happy to say that both have been accomplished, and that I even secured early enrollment to grad school, I am sad to say that after the chicken-dash-y-ness that was the first two weeks that I was back, no large cultural adjustment has yet to hit me over the head or put me out of commission for at least a good couple days.
Am I soul-less? Did my time in Panama really not mean anything? Is this feeling of eternal vacation in the States ever going to pass? Am I going to feel sad anytime soon? Did Dr Suess write a book about how I am going to steal Christmas this year? Do I have a heart?
Or was re-entry just overblown? I mean it could be that it was overstated to avoid any big catastrophes like breaking down when there are ten zillion type of baked beans to choose from.
One thing that has caught my attention has been all the small things. The Roads are huge. Cars stop and kindly wave you along your way as you utilize crosswalks. Said Crosswalks are visible and lights even tell you when its time to cross. Waiters say hi when you sit at a table. Police officers seem to do something.
And while all these things are apparently pleasant, I find myself asking "why doesn't that waiter just throw our food on the table, or slam the bill down in the middle of our conversation?" and "why are people so considerate?" Most importantly I ask "WHY IS EVERYTHING SO FAKE?"
So cultural adjustment, here I come. I will try to smile when random strangers say Hi, and I will try to get used to not having to check 70 bazillion times to cross the street without getting pulverized, and I will try not to let the little things freak me out. Oh, couldn't I just get depressed and get over it in a couple days? Why do all these little things keep drawing out my cultural adjustment?
Damn it. I just want to be depressed. I just want to go through all the re-entry that "normal people" go through. None of this small shit.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The end...
Its all sinking in. Today is my last day of work. I dont think it had all hit yet until this morning when I realized that my access to the internet as of tommorow is NILCH! I will be internet-cafe-ing it up for the next two weeks. I cant beleive that I only have 15 days in Panama! I hope to blog while I am still in Panama, but if not, I will write states-side!
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