Selfishness still gets stuff done

As PTJ stated during class, I was making multiple cynical comments. I actually found it funny because my teacher in high school told me I was the most cynical person he'd ever met. But anyways, I didn't quite have an answer for my comments, but of course right after class what I wanted to say came to me. People work for their self interest. Even when people volunteer, its for their self interest much of the time. For example, someone who volunteers because it makes them "feel better about themselves" is ultimately doing it for his or her own selfish reasons not because the people they're helping are being helped. Another example that's prominent is when people do public service because they have to. When I went to a soup kitchen yesterday (which I did because I had to for Macroeconomics), the people there asked why I had to come. Apparently, not many people come just for their own volition. This idea was sugggested in Habits of the Heart. They talked about how "getting involved" and service certainly has private and public reasons. I feel that the private reasons are more prominant.

Getting back to the class discussion, I don't believe that there's a chance in hell Amerian University is shelling out 35 million dollars a year just to be a good community member. AU must be gaining something from this. Whether its direct gains to the university or gains to the students of the university (which is still benefitting the university itself because we are a large part of it), this incredible financial contribution is not just a nice public act. I remember when it was said that everything President Kerwin did was calculated, this could be another one of those things. Even if the only benefit to AU is to suggest an image of public service to the community, the money is still being given for selfish reasons.

With this being said, AU is helping the community while helping themselves. So even with my cynical views on their selfish reasons for givingthe money, I can't deny that a public service is still being done.

Come On Get Happy

Okay, so I do not want to appear to be out of line or rude, but I do not believe that the way our class discussions regarding our school have been what we as students should be saying about our school. Why are you at this school if you think you are better than it and settling? Yes, I applied to Georgetown as well and was wait listed. Am I settling at American and unhappy that I am here? No. I am not settling- American is an excellent school and let's be honest here. Barely anybody gets into Ivy League schools, and I have not found the work here to be easy at all but rather challenging and time consuming, as it is at any good college. There are people here, possibly even in our class, where American was a reach school for them and they could not be happier to be attending their "dream school." It sounds extremely condescending when it is stated that American is a settling safety school to someone who had possibly worked really hard in high school to get here. I just think that people need to be happier and stop being negative nancies.

On another note, I'm so excited for Halloween! I can't wait to see everyone's costumes!

Blog Post 9

"Modern individualism seems to be producing a way of life that is neither individually nor socially viable, yet a return to traditional forms would be to return to intolerable discrimination and oppression" (Bellah et. al., p. 144).

I believe I understand what Bellah is saying here, that the rise of individualistic thought leads people to abandon traditional values; yet strict adherence to those traditional values squashes individual freedoms, our quintessential American dilemna. Bellah describes this better in the marraige portion of the book than he does in the paragraphs leading to this statement. Take for example, the arguments for a traditional Christian marraige- that seeing your love for someone as an obligation higher than your own personal wants leads to a more secure and fulfulling relationship. I think this has merit, it means you are willing to make sacrifices to make a relationship work. However, I don't want to think that there is an obligation, for example, for the wife to remain at home her whole life.

This conflicts with the lifestyle espoused by Ted Oster in the Values section. Oster believes that he "needs to try everything once" and that there is no good or bad except for what makes you feel good. While this may lead to an open and accepting lifestyle, it also makes your viewpoint extremely black and white- there is no moral gray area that many people want. If something makes you happier, it is autmoatically better, and something that requires to much labor or sacrifice instantly is bad. Oster cannot answer, for example, what would happen to his happy marraige if he met someone who was immediately more pleasing than his wife.

I think that we have are still in the argument section of the book. While Bellah raises interesting questions about American identity here, we still have not seen his idea of solutions to these problems, yet.

I Don't Understand This...

"Modern individualism seems to be producing a way of life that is neither individually nor socially viable, yet a return to traditional forms would be to return to intolerable discrimination and oppression" (144).

Although I am not positive as to what Bellah is saying with this statement, I think he is trying to say that you can't win either way, which is a bit ridiculous. I don't really understand/agree with what he means by "individually viable." Why wouldn't it work for the individual if you are being the individual that you want to be? Also, what would he suggest if neither modern individualism nor a return to tradition would work. Even though I'm slightly confused by this quote, I feel like I really don't agree with it at all, and I think that Bellah needs to be a bit more happier!

Response 9: Well, this sure is a pickle...

The authors of Habits of the Heart state that modern individualism is "neither individually nor socially viable, yet a return to traditional forms would be to return to intolerable discrimination and oppression" (Bellah et. al., p. 144). Modern individualism is dangerous because it puts the self over everything else, including the betterment and functionality of society. It would be like today's cliquey Congress; politicians are well-known for looking out for their self interests over compromising to pass effective legislation. If the whole world was this way, then we would live in constant competition with one another and all trust would dissolve. It could parallel realist World Politics, in which anarchy (the lack of a world government) creates a self-help system Anarchy is not a stable social system because people need to be governed by some form or else there is no order. Therefore, the possible future created by modern individualism is not "socially viable". There is no way to be completely individual and be apart of society.

In fact, you can't really escape society. Unless you live in a hovel in godknowswhere middle America, you will always be apart of some form of community. Whatever choice you make in life, whatever niche you put yourself into, you will always connected to other "individuals". For example, let's say you want to be the total indie non-conformist (as my friend was for his Halloween costume today). You really aren't a true non-conformist because there are a bajillion people like you also trying to go against the system. You can't be purely unique because your environment binds you in as well. You may be the only vampire-zombie-indie-ballerina-fruitloops dieting-zionist in New Jersey, but you're IN NEW JERSEY. As we demonstrated in class on last week, there is a "community memory" all New Jerseyans share that no one else could really understand. There was definitely and Us and a Them (us being Jerseyans and them being non-cool people). In fact, creating an Us and Them defines two different societies in and of itself.

Holding onto, or going back to the traditional forms as Habits talks about is definitely hard. Our complex society has created a need for people to go through change. The possibility for different ideas and lifestyles causes conflicts with family members along generation lines. Separation from your parents is necessary to resolve tension and pursue your own goals for self improvement. Getting to the next level of success yields more growth for our country than watching over your parents would. Going back to old traditions is unrealistic because we have already tasted individual freedom, and such a thing cannot just be taken away. We can long for the return to our "roots" but this would lead to the "intolerable discrimination and oppression" mentioned earlier. Take the example of Joe Gorman's town. Homogeneous, small town traditions let the townspeople boycott lower-income housing because it would let in minorities. This is discrimination and oppression at its core.

Personally, I don't find our current state of modern individualism all that bad. Having control oneself is the key to democracy, where the people are the government. Our needs and wants are vitally important, so we should have the freedom to do as we please. Of course, we cannot take this to the extreme. Anarchy is out of the question if we are to have a stable society. As long as we keep modern individualism to a happy medium, society shouldn't fall on its rear end.

The Death of Tribes and the Rise of the American Dream

Starting over is as American as Apple pie but just like pie too much is bad for you. As individuality progresses people pull away from their communities. This is unhealthy. Humans are social animals and as we pull away from those around us we suffer.

When humans were still tribal animals, children didn't leave, they didn't start over. They made their tribes larger, more rich. In the tribal era cultures were less homogenized and groups were more tightly knit. As a result there was greater discrimination. Our engrained fear of what is different from ourselves made discrimination and oppression of those we could.

The advent of the individual is hardly a bad thing. It has allowed great leaps forward in human rights as well as innovation in diverse fields of study. The importance of the individual allowed our civilization to move beyond agrarian based societies. It allowed for increased class mobility in addition to giving us a wider web of interpersonal connections.

Where this individuality and self reinventing becomes unhealthy is when we are so fiercely independent and reinvented that we cut ties with those from our past. The movie Whip It said it best, "You don't give up your old family just because you found a new one."

Dermot Mulroney has more insight than Robert Bellah

In summary, this passage basically said that individuals can't be happy the way they are living now nor can they be happy if they returned to the way they lived in the past. This statement reaked of cynicism. I found this cynicism present in other areas of the book too. Page 108 discussed the utilitarian attitude of love and divorce: "A relationship should give each partner what he or she needs while it lasts, and if the relationship ends, at least both partners will have recevied a reasonable return on their investment." This comparison of a supposedly loving relationship to a business transaction was one of the most cynical things I read.

But getting back to the meaning of the orginal quote, from this cynical perspective the implication is that one cannot be happy with their way of life under any circumstance. This idea is ridiculous. If individuals want to be happy, they'll be happy. If they want to sulk in their own pain, they'll be depressed and unhappy. In the movie The Wedding Date, a woman is still depressed years after being cheated on and dumped by her boyfriend. Her escort, played by Dermot Mulroney, to a wedding explains to her that her unhappiness is her own decision. Once she is ready to move on and be happy with her life, she will be. She has the power to decide the happiness in her life. I think this idea is more relevant to "producing a way of life that is individually and socially viable."

I found the perspective of the "profound impasse" presented in the book quite interesting. It seems ironic that "modern individualism" doesn't seem to blame on the individual for their unhappiness.

Our Parents Reflections

Parents weekend was an interesting ritual to view.

For so long we have merely been add ons to our parents and in our first months of college we work to forge our own identities without them. Parents weekend pushes our old selves into our new world. We are forced to compromise between the people we were and the people we are.

The parents were uncomfortable in our spaces whereas when we return home we are comfortable there. Because we are the ones changing we force those who were used to us as we were (our parents) to adapt to the new person who can do laundry, feed themselves, and operate sans authority. I assume my reaction would be the same as the parents on parents weekend were I to return home only to find that my family had moved.

Reflection 9

I have to admit, before President Kerwin came to speak to us, I was pretty ignorant about AU's history. I was actually schocked when I learned that AU's narrative is not the nacreous one I had assumed since first visiting AU as a senior in high school. While I understand why the university may want its lurid recent past recondite, I personally do not think that is what is right for the school.

Far from making me wary or ashamed to be a part of the community, knowing this about AU's past actually makes me proud. I am proud to see that my school has been able to come so far in what must have been a relatively short period time. I actually feel a stronger connection to AU's community; the growth, and the projected growth, of our school should be something we can rally around, not something we skirt over.

Reflection 9: Fond feastings and.... RIOTS???

This weekend was Parent's Weekend! I got to hang out with my parents and little brother Kevin for 3 days. We saw the Washington monument and I took them around Chinatown. It didn't feel weird seeing them after more than a month. It was quite natural, and enjoyable. I'd been on rocky standing with my parents with junior year, so it was nice having peaceful dinners with them. And they had to rely on me to get around the city. I'm usually the worst person ever with directions, so it was nice to have them trust me.

While I was being fed and doted on this weekend, something really awful happened back at my hometown. Friday was homecoming at my old high school, and a riot happened just after the dance that night. My good friend's sister wasn't there (thank god), but she knew people who were and apparently it was a huge mess. A fight broke out outside the high school. Police stationed at the dance called in back up from 4 other towns. They told the kids still inside the dance to get out, but they just got caught in the riot. Not knowing what else to do apparently, the police decided to MACE THE ENTIRE CROWD of kids and parents. Innocent kids trying to find their siblings and friends got BEATEN WITH NIGHTSTICKS. The most sickening thing, however, is how the press covered the incident. In this online article my boyfriend sent me, there were mentions of "assaults" on police officers, but NOTHING on the treatment of the innocent students. And worse of all were the comments people left about the students of my high school. (link to article below)

When people talk about the travesties of the DC community and the school system, it is very near to my heart coming from a high school with a really bad rep. Like American, my high school hired a revolutionary principal to turn things around in my hometown. Only unlike Mr. Kerwin, our principal left only after 1 year because another school system hired him to be superintendent. I feel like everything is getting worse and worse, especially with my class having graduated. This had never happened before at any of the homecomings I went to. It really upsets me to see my alma mater going down the drain. I think my old high school needs a strategic plan of its own.

Here's the article so you can see what I means : http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091024/NEWS/91024014&s=d&page=1#pluckcomments

Week 8 Reflection - President Kerwin

Upon entering American University, I was set on pursuing a business degree. Ultimately, I planned to work my way to becoming a top executive at a highly ranked company. However when we were talking about how everything President Kerwin says is planned and strategically said, I began to reconsider this plan. A top business executive must practice the same type of care and strategery in his or her talk as President Kerwin does. I much prefer being around people who are honest and relaxed rather than someone who is constantly planning his or her words carefully. I'm still interested in pursuing my major in business but I realize now how important the direction that I take that major is so that I don't end up in a field where a very strategic performance is required.

Reflection 8- President Kerwin's Speech and the Strategic Plan

I must admit that I was a bit surprised as how personable and down-to-earth President Kerwin was. I mean, he is the president of the university, so it is so easy for him to think that he is a big shot, but that was not the impression I got of him at all. I thought his speech was interesting, and I laughed when he started talking about JFK for a brief period of time. My mom’s family moved to the United States while he was in office, and my grandma was OBSESSED with him. She cut out all of the newspaper articles about him and all his pictures in the magazines until she had literally ten scrapbooks all dedicated to him, so I could definitely relate to what President Kerwin was saying regarding ex-president Kennedy’s impact on the Irish.

However, although the Strategic Plan is a good idea and looks great to build up the reputation and prestige of American, it kind of reminded me of when we went to the Navy Yard for Discover DC. Yes, everything sounded great, but is it really going to happen? I mean, this is a bit more realistic than Navy Yard…it is planned to only take ten years whereas the Navy Yard will take thirty years if I remember correctly. Also, how do we know that this will actually happen? Once again, it all sounds great, but I am a bit skeptical to see if everything will be carried out as planned.

Blog Question 8

American University is definitely a type of community, especially if we think back on what defines communities. AU's students are all united by a basic common purpose- to further their education here; we have many other ties as well: we cheer the same sports teams, American University is united under a single leadership which has new and exciting(?) plans for its development. You can tell American University is a community just be listening to conversations around campus.

Person A: I am from the upper part of campus
Person B: I am from the lower part
Person C: I like living in central AU
A and B: There is no central AU, you idiot
Person not from AU: goddamn it, this conversation is stupid

Of course, AU contains many communities within itself: it has its different schools, and we all live in different dorms, and our floor certainly has its own community apart from the rest of the residence hall. However, I do believe optimistically that AU's community is shaped by the people within it. I like to think that we all ended up here because that is where we were meant to end up, and that our strong motivations and beliefs or whatever else brought one to the university shapes the community as a whole, for the better.

Discussion Question 8: Community

What you define a community as all depends on the perspective you're looking at it from. The United States is a community within the world; Washington DC is a community within the United States; and American University is a community within Washington DC.



With that being said, American University is not a community in the sense that we all know each other and are friendly as the nostalgic 1950's idea of a community suggests -- that's obviously not true. With respect to the entire American University campus community, I know practically no one. This is why there are communities within the larger AU community. Each sports team is its own community; fraternities and sororities are their own comunity; and the general education program is its own community. Once you get down to this size of a community, you get more of the feeling where the people are connected. Now, people have to work harder and create situations for this connected community feel. The nostalgic idea of a community is becoming uncommon so that a simple common factor sometimes defines a community whether or not a deeper connection exists. So from the larger perspective, American University is technically a community but doesn't really have a community feeling.

Question 8- Community

In class on Tuesday, my group discussed how there are totally different kind of communities, and it really depends on the situation to label what a community is. We came up with a broad definition of community, which was a group of people who share at least one thing in common. With this definition, yes, AU is a community- we all picked to go to the same school, so we have something in common that we all liked AU.

However, except for in these broader terms, I do not really feel like AU is a community. It could be that we have only been here for a little over two months, but I do not necessarily feel close to students I pass while walking to class who I don't know. It may also be because it is too big to be a community. With about 6,000 students (I think?) there's pretty much no way that you will get to know everyone and feel close to them. But then again, there are schools much much bigger than ours and people still say that they're part of their college community. I feel like that's what really defines a community though- a tight-knit group, so AU contains multiple communities. I think that our UC is a community. If you join a group or sport, you will more than likely feel like you became a part of the certain group's community. Also, because these groups or our UC is much smaller than our student population, which reiterates my idea that a community should be close with each other.

Matryoshka Communities

Communities are defined as groups bound by some uniting factor or commonality. In that sense yes American University is a community just like DC is a community or on an even larger scale America is a community. This is however only the roughest definition of a community.

An enrollment, temporary residency, or citizenship doesn't make a community if that is all we have uniting us. When we looked at bonds in class, even home state was a stronger tie than American University student. It also exhibited an interesting phenomena that tends to go hand in hand with communities. Often we don't fully realize how connected to a community we are until we leave it. In my case, I had always assumed that I was fundamentally different from my southern peers when I lived there but once I left and was out of my culture it became apparent that a great deal of my personality and beliefs were shaped by the community I grew up in.

Common experience is such an important part of making a community that large communities break down into smaller ones. Explorations breaks down into New Jersey people and Not from Jersey.

It also must be taken into consideration that we are new to the American University community. Perhaps with time it will seem more tight knit than it currently does.

More like Dumbdog Obviousaire, am I right?

This week, I drew a blank on what to reflect on- so I decided to write about the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which I saw for the first time yesturday night. I also read an article from the Boston Globe which maintains a firm connection with the movie, "Let us now praise...the cliche." The article is a defense of the cliche, prose's socially awkward relative. Cliche's, the author James Parker argues, are a solid method of communication because they convey meaning clearly, concisely and without undue effort. Parker's writing reminded me of earlier criticism of Slumdog that I had heard well before I had ever watched the movie.

Because I am from New England my friends are all elitists, and elitists love nothing more than criticizing things that more stupider people like. I had heard that, "although the movie was good, the characters are too stereotypical/cliched." Parker and I, I assume, would respond with the same answer: Exactly! Suck on it! (He probably would actually say that in real life, most likely)

The reason that the Slumdog Millionaire story is so powerful is because the characters are painted so clearly and vividly, the young man fighting for his true love, the true love kidnapped by evil, and the evil brother who finds redemption; an obvious, emotionally powerful picture is worth well more than a thousand ambigous, intellectually stimulating words.

Reflection 7: All but PTJ can ignore this post...

I was sick last week, so PTJ let me write this late. I don't think he wanted me to write this a WEEK late, but hey, I was TRYING to write that stinkin ethnography. So let's see if I can remember that far back...

I remember I wasn't in class that Tuesday because of the beginnings of my sickness. I'm still sick today, so that's what, 2 weeks already? At least it's just a cough now. Anyway, I heard that I missed out on an Invisible Man discussion, which is sad because I might have actually contributed. I really liked that book and got really into it. I think it was because it was narrative fiction, and a little closer to our time than good ole Augustine.

On Wednesday we saw the immigration documentary. I had never seen the story of immigration told from that perspective before. I found it very intriguing and eye-opening. I had only heard of the stories of illegal immigrants who came to stay, not the fathers that only wanted to earn some money and then return to their families. I think it's made me rethink immigration a lot. I think we need a specific policy to help migrant workers move between Mexico and the U.S. easier, so we don't get any accidental or forced permanency.

The economist Mary Hansen came to talk to us on Friday. I must say she was a very different kind of speaker. It seemed like she didn't have much planned to say and wanted to answer our questions. She did discuss her research at the end, but it seemed like the presentation was all on us for the bulk of the time. Eventually we gleaned some valuable stuff from her, like how she discovered she wanted to be a economist. I found that story very interesting. I was never one to box myself in with limited options (I have TOO MANY interests) but the ease in which she was able to change her mind on the direction she wanted her life to take eased some of my worries. Through the college application process, I was worried that I was going to pick the wrong school or the wrong major and was doomed to be stuck for life in a career I didn't like. Now I know this doesn't have to be such a big worry as long as I go with my gut, not what other may tell me.

Reflection 8: I waste weekends like college students waste money...

Boy was this fall break was a waste. Sat on my ass and did nothing. NOTHING. It seems like the past year I've been devolving, and now I'm just a lazy pile of unmotivated goo. But alas, the sun is up and I didn't get any sleep tonight. So let's focus on the positive shall we...

The ethnography was interesting... hard to write, but interesting. I had to do my site visits this past week because I was sick last weekend. Turned out not to my advantage because it RAINED the only days I could go. So just sitting and observing a street in Chinatown was tough. I didn't want a soggy notebook. I solved this by popping into a couple of restaurants and huddling under some overhangs. But I felt that everyone I observed was the same, DC people trying to find a good place to eat. Maybe that was the whole point...

Anyways, that assignment took up most of my time (and money). Nothing else really interesting to say. Like I said, I felt like not sleeping last night so I'm not in my usual midset. So I'm going to end this by saying that this week I spent $28 on a hat, drank a lot of McDonalds sweet tea, and spent way too much time looking at the white walls of my room. Oh, and I saw Zombieland!! Great movie! ^_^

Reflection after being home

On Tuesday in class some people were discussing the difference between finding yourself and creating yourself. Some people were saying like your identity and who you are is predetermined and you just have to find it. I disagree. I think that life is about creating yourself. All of the experiences you have and the people you meet play a part in creating who you are. It was amazing to go home after being gone for two months and seeing the people that played a large part in forming who I am. I had too many visits to people to fit in in just one weekend. It made me realize that so many people played a part in forming who I am and impacting my identity.

A country reflection

This will probably kill off any of my remaining cool points but this weekend I discovered the musical stylings of one Taylor Swift and even though ever indie bone in my body is screaming is pain at my affinity for a mainstream artist she is actually very good.

Though her grasp on literature is a bit fuzzy, as seen in Love Story (neither Romeo and Juliet nor The Scarlet letter ended very well) her music shows a maturity that is beyond her teeny-bopper image.

Now this got me thinking about the stereotypes of country music. The first is that it centers around a few central story lines and subjects. (My wife left me, Booze, dogs, hometowns, cowboys or some combination thereof) While it is undeniable that "My wife left me for some cowboy and blew our hometown with my dog because I drink too much" would make a great country song and probably already has. There is more to it than that.

Country remains popular today because it reminds people of their roots. It makes them remember when a man's pride was rooted in his land alongside his crops or a man's honor was something to fight over. Things like this were mostly lost when the population moved from farms to the cities. Music can still remind us that what was left wasn't lost.

HOME!

I am home! It's so surreal being home for the first time in two months. I came home to wet snow on Wednesday. In October? In New York? (And no, I am not upstate as much as some people repeatedly tell me where it snows 24/7! =] )

I thought it was going to feel weird and awkward when I got home, but I surprisingly felt as if I had never left, although I did have to remind myself that I don't need to wear shower shoes in my shower and I didn't have to contemplate how badly I had to use the restroom because I was too lazy to walk all the way down Leonard's hall to go. I finally had steak! That was definitely the high point of being home because for those who don't know I complain how TDR doesn't ever have steak or barely any other type of red meat besides burgers with the occasional roast beef or meatballs at least five times a day. I went to Rockland Bakery, which I will bet my life on that has the best bread, especially rolls, in the WHOLE entire world. I went to the Palisades Mall, as much as I hate it I always find myself there. I did all the things I normally do when home, nothing really has changed, the world didn't stop because I wasn't there. Hopefully now it won't feel weird when I go back to school!

Everyone who I have seen has told me that I look different, but I feel like this is just because I haven't seem then in a while. I don't feel any different. I don't feel like I'm "on my own"- yes I'm not with my parents anymore but there are twenty people surrounding me so I never really feel as if I'm "on my own." I don't feel like I've matured at all or even changed in the least bit. But after all, I have only been at school for two months. I have a little less than four more years to go!

May Hansen's Example

I think that Mary Hansen gave a great presentation last week. Although "doing what you love" has definitely been a theme with many of our speakers, Hansen had a unique way of describing the processes that came with making her life choices. She explained how she could only make her big life decisions, like the adoption of two foster children, after scrutinizing her own beliefs, values and wants. I think that she gave an example for our class as to how we maybe can approach the most difficult decisions in our lives- that who we are and how we feel currently has to be involved the process of decising what we want to be.

Reflecting the past

I really liked the speaker on Friday. She really reminded me of one of my favorite teachers from high school. She turned what would have been an almost painful subject, physics, into a fun class. Similarly our speaker's enthusiasm for her subject that I almost found myself wanting to take micro economics on the off chance that she'd be teaching it.

Teachers liek that really make you who you are. I learned work ethic and physics in that class and I get things done now because my teacher made me get things done then.

Reflection 7

One of the things that I vividly remember from Mary Hanson's presentation on Friday was that she sat down and talked to us in the beginning of her speaking instead of standing in front of the class. I liked that; it made the atmosphere somewhat more relaxed. However, I must admit that I kind of lost interest when she started teaching economics. I never took economics in high school, so when she started explaining a certain aspect of economics that someone had asked about, it went right over my head. I also feel the same way that a lot of my other classmates do about her advice- it is a great idea to explore all of your options but with all the money that our parents are paying, I couldn't imagine telling them I was spending a fifth year here because I was too busy trying out other courses to take classes pertaining to my major.

Reflection

I was very intrigued with what Mary Hanson had to say, but I also don't know if I can really live my life in the way that she suggested. In theory the idea of trying everything and taking classes in lots of different areas seems like a good idea, but its not as easy to put into practice. In order to take classes from all sorts of different areas, you'd have to spend like a year of just exploring classes. With scholarships only lasting four years, its hard to take just a year just exploring classes. Furthermore, I feel as if its emphasized to make sure you're on track for your major so if I'm not taking as many classes, even extra non-required classes for my major, I feel as if I won't be as prepared as other students on the same path as me.

The Invisible Question

Invisibility is not just a question of class or race. When someone lacks direction they seem to drop from view. They float, ghostlike through the world without really impacting anything.

In the book the narrator seems to move from mold to mold without really fitting comfortably into any of them. When he becomes a communist pundit he can't quite comfortably fit into the doctrine and so what shines through to those who hear his speech is the mold not the man within it. Similarly when he becomes a factory worker he is unhappy and unmotivated he is invisible. People only saw a factory worker they did not see the narrator.

Question 7

I feel that the narrator's lack of identity, his special case of invisibility, is almost definitely caused by his status on the racial hierarchy. It seems like the idea of determinism plays a large role in the narrators life- no matter what he does he cannot escape his role as a subservient black man in a white society- even though he himself is obviously equal to all the white men presented in the novel. The narrator cannot forge an identity for himself because of the oppressive, exploitative relationship between white and black americans at the time.

The Vet brings this fact to the narrator on the bus ride north. He ascribes white men the qualities of cruel, unknoweable deities in that they are the "force that pulls you strings." The narrator still doesn't realize that he is trapped in his invisibility when he talks to Emerson's son, and realizes that Bledsoe has betrayed him. Even though the narrator always acted in propriety and tried to do the right thing, all in the hopes of bettering himself- he is trapped by forces beyond his control. Bledsoe only exists as an extension of white racism; he regards the narrator as a tool and discards him when the tool does not function in the way he expected.

Response 7: Is he invisible? Or is he...?

*Disclaimer: I use the word Black in this post not because I’m racist, but because I’ve got many friends back home that say they prefer being called Black to African-American. As my best friend will often tell you, “I’m not from Africa! I’m Guyanese and Jamaican! Hmph!” x) Sorry if I’m not being politically correct by your standards, but my personal experience outweighs my opinion on the social norm of “African-American”. Thank you.

I wasn’t in class on Tuesday (very sorry, I was feeling pretty crappy) but I’ll try to answer the question the best that I can. The narrator’s invisibility in Invisible Man is both racial and general. Being Black is obviously disadvantageous in the narrator’s time and place. Being inferior and unimportant keeps one in the background. There wasn’t an uproar when a bunch of black teenagers were flung into a ring and made to duke it out for survival. You were to keep quiet and keep to yourself. Trueblood is a good example. Even though he raped his own daughter, he generally kept to himself and his farm. The white folk liked this, so they ignored his sin and gave him extra work anyway. The vet is a foil to this. He speaks his mind (from a true illness or not, I don’t know) and is in an insane asylum for it. An articulate white man is praised and thought of in the highest manner. A black man, however, is locked away to keep his words from doing harm. The vet displays the narrator’s invisibility to him and Mr. Norton. At the Golden Day, Mr. Norton tells the vet of his fate with the black college, and the vet tells Mr. Norton, “Poor stumblers, neither of you can see the other. To you he is a mark on the scorecard or your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less – a black amorphous thing.” Mr. Norton does not care for the narrator personally. The narrator is just another example of his accomplishments, a “black amorphous thing” that says he’s done his part in the world. The narrator is invisible as an individual.

However, the narrator’s invisibility is created mostly by his perception of what being Black is. When he travels to New York City, he is baffled at how visible Blacks are in the north. He is stunned by a Black policeman, by the sheer amount of them on the streets. He couldn’t understand how there was a riot of Blacks going on in broad daylight. In Harlem, in New York, blacks were not as ignored. But the narrator chose to stay invisible himself, to keep his white-petting ways. The tactic of appeasing the white men, to staying out of there way was the only way he knew how to act from living in the south. He actually managed to change his visibility when he became involved in the Brotherhood, but even that was sprung upon him and not of his own initial will.

explorations question 7

In The Invisible Man, a member of a subordinate racial or ethnic group is invisible. But members of a superior class can be invisible as well; for example a rich man's housewife who does nothing with her life but sit in her lavish posessions can be invisible. Invisibility is a potential problem for anyone no matter what class you're in.

With that being said, it's much easier to be invisible when you're in a subordinate class. When you're in a subordinate class, people in higher classes don't really view you as a person anyway. This makes being anonymous very easy and invisibility fairly easy.

After the narrator's electroshock therapy, he wrestles around with a multitude of thoughts. The "Who Am I?" (Ellison 242) question comes up frequently and he also mentions "fretting his identity" (Ellison 242). His concluding thought is, "When I discover who I am, I'll be free" (Ellison 243). This is completely applicable to people in general. I think Justin mentioned something similar to this in class. When people don't know what they want to do with their life or are unaware of their life's purpose, they tend to wander around aimlessly without a set purpose or goal. If you're not truly passionate about what you want your life's purpose to be, you just kind of coast...and are invisible. When you let your passsions show, who you are is revealed and you become "visible." Though the narrator was just talking about being free from the hospital and free from the situation, I think that's the overall theme Ellison was getting at.

Reflection 6

I was excited when I learned that we were to watch Children of Men for our latest Wednesday lab; it's one of my favorite movies of all time. Yet although I had always loved the themes of the movie, a bleak, futuristic re-imagining of the nativity, I had never thought about it in the light of the role of identity.

I suppose that any movie about faith and redemption would need to involve exploring a character's identity; tracking the progression of his development from the beginning to the end of the movie. But I think that the movie also has to do greatly with the themes of memory, albeit in a different light then how we have been discussing it. There is no more hope in the world once there are no future generations- there is no point in fighting and dying for others when no one will ever remember it. We get a strong visual as to what would happen if humanity had no more future and no more hope.

Reflection 6: It's All AU's Fault...

I'm an ENFP. An Evil Narcisstic Fornicating Pokemon? No, more like an Enthusiastic Nonsensical Frolicking Panda! xD Just kidding, it’s my Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) type. It basically says that I am an individual of Extroversion (that sounds so weird!), Intuition, Feeling, and Perceiving. The description MBTI gave me was pretty accurate; I’m an imaginative, energetic, persuasive, empathetic people-freak who values harmony compliments. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching in my past 18 years, so I already knew this about myself. What I didn’t know was what on earth I should do for a career. I expected the MBTI test to tell me to be a social worker or actress like they usually do. But instead, the careers on the list turned out to be my dream jobs. Screenwriter, television producer, advising creative director – these are all the jobs I always wanted to do, but didn’t know if I would be good at. According to this test, I would be. You don’t understand how excited I am at the prospect of being most of the top jobs on the list. This has really made me rethink my major, or maybe do a double major. Thank you, Explorations, for helping me answer some of my questions, finally.

The funny thing is I never REALLY chose a major. I was supposed to go in Undecided, but on the Common App, my parents told me to put down International Studies and Communications down as my interests. I had been undecided on which would be a better career path for me. When I got the acceptance letter, it said was in the School of International Studies. I guess American just assigned me the major because it was the first one on my list of interests. I was like, “Oh well, I can always change it later.” I took on the title of SIS student since then, but now I think the School of Communications may be where my future lies. I’m gonna take a communications class next year and see if I like it.

stitching together some crafty reflections

This weekend I went to the Crafty Bastards craft fair. I had a blast, spent way too much of my own money, and got a couple very cool things. I also got to see the mingling of different social groups that in other circumstances would cross a street to avoid each other but I saw little old ladies in floral prints talking to six foot tall medal heads with full sleeves of tattoos. They were even smiling at each other.

such is the power of craft. most everything available there could probably be found cheaper made by an underpaid child laborer form an impoverished country in an Urban Outfiters but there's something about shaking hands with the woman who sewed the garment your buying or baked the cupcake you're eating that makes the extra couple of bucks worth it.

and for the record Urban Outfiters marks up their merchandise so high that you're better off buying stuff at the craft fair (perhaps Target would have been a better example)

MBTI RESULTS!

My stepmom is a psychologist and wanted me to take the MBTI in high school so before I got my results this time, I already had an idea of what I was. With that being said, I was really excited to get my results back this Friday because I wanted to know if my preferences had changed as I've matured.

Both times that I've taken this test, I got an ENFP as my results. I don't remember all of my scores from the first time I took this test, but I do remember my stepmom telling me I scored every single point on the extraversion scale. This time, I only had 13 points in the extraversion scale which is just a moderate extravert.

One thing we talked about in class is how depeneding on the situation, the way we act may be a little different. For example, when some extraverts are in a group of really extraverted people tend to get a little quiet. I think the changing of my environment from high school to college definately affected my level of extravertedness and where I get my energy from. The last two years I was in high school I was basically an only child because all my siblings had moved out. So since I was alone at home a lot, I always wanted to be with people and would focus my attention to other people all the time. However now that I live in a dorm where people are around me constantly, while I still much prefer to be with other people I sometimes just prefer to sit and think more about the "inner world" as the MBTI says. I think this could have affected why I dropped from an extreme extrovert to a moderate extrovert. Overall it was really interesting to revisit this test.

Reflection 6- MBTI Results

The presentation today was definitely my favorite one that we have had so far. Although I liked the other ones as well, I felt as if this was more personal. Rather than hearing about the guest speaker's life, I was finding out more about myself. And I must say I was a bit surprised by some of my results.

My personality type is ISFP (introverting, sensing, feeling, and perceiving). When we were supposed to guess what our results would be, I chose ISTP. I was actually really surprised to see that my results were feeling and not thinking. I normally weigh the pros and cons of each decision that I am faced with and then make what I think is the most rational choice. For example, while choosing which college I was to attend, I made really extensive lists about my top two choices, American and Villanova. After looking over my really cool lists that I had made, I decided that American would be the best choice for me. So I was naturally surprised to see that it told me that I make decisions best on what feels best or feels right. However, I definitely was not surprised that I was labeled as sensing. In order for me to process things, I need to write it over and over again; I do not understand charts or pictures of any abstract concepts of any kind. On my ISFP sheet, it told me that I need to be aware that I become “confused with…theoretical tasks.” While I was reading this, I had an “a-ha!” moment. I currently have a World Politics essay to write that is all about theory, and to be frank I have no clue what I’m doing in it.

However, the majority of my results that described me were definitely true for me. In high school, I definitely had a close group of really close friends rather than many people I wasn’t particularly close with. I hate confrontation, and my results said that I need my life to be “harmonious and tension free.”

I also enjoyed the jobs told me that I should look into pursuing, especially “exotic animal breeder,” “fish and game warden,” and “wilderness adventure leader.” All in all, I found the MBTI results rather helpful. Woohoo!