Casual Contemplation

In A Measure of Restraint , Chet Raymo calls attention to the potential dangers of "the unexamined quest for knowledge", citing the story behind Radium. While we have much more knowledge about radioactivity than we did then, the current scientific excitement and concern is all about DNA. Nearly everything in our supermarkets is genetically modified or contains GMO ingredients. Supporters say that genetic modification allows plants to repel insects, eliminating the need for harmful pesticides, or that it lets food to be grown in places where it normally couldn't, helping to solve world hunger. Opponents argue that while it sounds good, messing with nature may have unforeseen consequences later. Some scientists are trying to extend human lifespan or even try to make humans immortal. Again, it sounds wonderful - how great would it be to get to know your great-great-grandparents in person? But there is always another side. If people are living longer, will the earth be ab...

One of the most important tools that politicians used in the past and still do today is to relate to their audience. By telling anecdotes and providing occasional glimpses into their personal lives, they attempt to shift the public's view of them from someone of a high, powerful position to someone who shares their joys, their tears and their struggles. In a way, politicians humanize themselves in this manner. Take President Trump, for example. Much of his popularity was due to the fact that he was not a politician, but a businessman, by profession. The people wanted change, and he had a different background than other politicians, which played out well for him. Every Trump supporter said the same thing: "He is the change America needs." He told the story of his success (the infamous "small loan of a million dollars") and this resonated with the public.  This strategy was especially used by President Obama during his campaign as well as his presidency. He so...

The debate about establishing an official language in the States has been going on for a long time. English only? Or Spanish too? Should we have an official language at all? Truly, this topic has two parts. The first part is, should we even have an official language? I think we  should. It makes sense to have a common and unifying language with which everyone can communicate, and which one must know how to speak upon becoming a citizen. Some people think it's racist, like Krauthammer pointed out, but having an official language doesn't mean other languages are any less, or that anyone is restricted to speaking only that language - it just means that to be naturalized into the country, one must know how to speak and understand it. Most immigrants end up learning the language anyway - how else are they going to communicate in this country? - so making it official just gives more incentive to learn it. So we have established that English should be made the official language....

Language is defined as "the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way".  Basically, it's how we communicate. The way we use language shows a lot about who we are.  Steven Pinker talks about how we use language to allude to what we want to say instead of saying things directly. A lot of it is just common politeness, something that I had never though about as being "indirect" before. While he does exaggerate (I don't think anyone would  really say "If you could pass the salt, that would be awesome"), he makes a valid point. Very often we use language in a way that benefits us, my including and omitting certain words or phrases. How many times have you written a short email which should take less than 5 minutes to write, but ends up taking 20 because you keep editing it and rewording things? I do that all the time. I can recall a specific example of what Pinker would c...

I visited the Great Smoky Mountains National park in winter break two years ago, en route to Florida. It was an amazing place, saturated with breathtaking natural beauty. The stream of mountains and trees with leaves of various hues were filled with life, like they were the very veins of the earth, a small area of land untouched by the plague of industrialization. The pinks, yellows and blues of the blossoms; the reds, oranges and browns of the leaves; the green pine trees, all against a background of a white blanket of snow, made the place seem like a painting, a visualization, something that only happens in movies - but it was real , and it was, at some point, what the entire continent looked like before the year of 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Currently, the paradise on earth is protected by the government. Soon, though, it too will be destroyed, used to make 293.4 square miles more of houses, schools, malls, corporate offices, factories....and no one will remember or...

Everybody seems to think that the more wealth one gets, the happier they will be.The ability to buy a fancy car and the latest iPhone equates to ultimate bliss, right? It sounds outrageous - and it is - but deep down, we all believe so. Eighner contradicts this in his essay on his life of "Dumpster diving".  He owns no tangible items other than the clothes on his back and his dog, but he is happy. In fact, he avoids taking anything from the dumpster he doesn't need. Even though he has close to nothing, he "hardly picks up a thing without envisioning the time [he] will cast it away". He has intangible things, though, such as a companion (Lizbeth). He therefore has a "healthy state of mind". Contrast this to what may the exact opposite situation: celebrities. They own big fancy mansions with every tangible thing they could ever want, and the money to buy anythi ng beyond that. They live a life of luxury. But how many celebrities have we heard of w...

On the surface, tourism seems completely harmless; if anything, it benefits the economy of the country being visited. Right? This was true at one point, when less people were traveling. But the number of tourists has gone up in the past several decades, from 25 million to 1.1  billion, and this has created mass tourism - tens of thousands of tourists visiting popular destinations, much to the dismay of local residents who feel as  though their residential neighborhoods are turning into amusement parks. Locals often feel like these herds of tourists are unaware of the fact that they are supposed to be there to experience a different culture. Hence, in places that are perpetually saturated with tourists, the tourists' behavior seeps into local culture and becomes a part of it, instead of the other way around.In this way these mass tourists are "spoil[ing]...the very unspoiledness [they] are there to experience" (Wallace).  This result is not paid attention to becaus...

Once upon a time , married women were always unhappy. They always had to do housework and take care of their children and spouse - who often was the biggest baby of all - and were expected to do so happily. Today , though, things are different. We, as a society, have accomplished full equality between the sexes. So now, I want a husband.  I want a husband to take care of me. By "me", of course, I mean my every desire too. I want a husband who knows what I want at the moment without me having to speak. I want a husband who will get me everything I want when I want it, and surprise me with gifts every so often, too. And if every one of my friends' husbands are buying them gifts, I want a husband who will buy me the same thing, but better. If all my friends are going to Africa to play with elephants for Valentine's, my husband better bring me some pink elephants right to my house. Bonus points if my husband brings a couple blue zebras with him too.  I want a husba...

A few years ago, I had to dress business formal to go somewhere, and I had no idea what to wear. The few times I had to "dress up" for a presentation in school or something, I managed to fly by wearing dark jeans with flats (and still do), but that wouldn't do this time. I remember thinking how guys had it so easy - the classic black dress pants, white shirt and black tie work for any situation, with or without a coat. But I was lost. Dress? Skirt? Slacks? Blazer or not? Help??? I think that what makes women marked and not men is that women have many more options. If we ignore colour, in a formal setting a man can typically only wear a suit, where a woman could wear a dress or a skirt or slacks or a suit.....A man in a suit shows nothing about him, because he has no other typical options. But a woman wearing a dress means that she chose to wear a dress over other options, so it "marks" her.  The example that Tannen uses similar to this is about the titles on...

This was in Pakistan. The seven of us were squeezed into the car and were going to visit a relative who lived out of the city. When we were almost there we took a detour to look for a shop to buy some sweets. This would be totally normal in the city, but here, in a more rural area, our car stood out in a place where people almost exclusively use bikes and motorcycles as their means of transport. As with any public place in Pakistan, there were some beggars standing idly here and there. When they saw us park, however, they slowly started moving towards us. Soon a young woman started knocking on the window. We pretended not to notice her for a while, but eventually my uncle pulled out 10 rupees and gave it to her. What happened next was interesting. We had, unknowingly, altered public space simply by being in a car and then giving some change to a woman in need. The woman thanked us and walked away - towards two younger girls. She nudged them and pointed in our direction, then walked of...

vase or two faces? (Sorry about the font - I don't know why but I can't make it bigger.) Our perceptions and opinions about something can be drastically different from the reality. We forget that our perception of something may not be true, that there are many different angles to everything and we can only see one. We always feel entitled to establish our own perceptions about something and treat those perceptions as fact, even if we aren't able to fully understand the situation. The disabled mannequins, which were created in Sweden for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, were met with a variety of responses from the public. Most of the viewers looked at the mannequins with what looked like confusion or displeasure. My interpretation was that they believed that the mannequins made this way would offend people with disabilities and make them upset. This was the public's perception - that disabled people would feel that they were being mocked by su...

Usually I think about what to write on my blog for a while and then find the time to sit down and put it all together. This weekend was really busy, so this is just a string of thoughts about satire. I love irony. Other figurative devices are easy to create - similes, metaphors, alliteration and the like. But creating irony takes a little more thought and effort. It could be something obvious or it could be something that you only see when you take a step back and look at the big picture. I think that's why I appreciate it so much in readings. It's not just in literature, though - it happens in real life too. Just google "irony", hit images, and try not to laugh. Since satire is often developed through irony,  I have to say I'm enjoying the pieces we've been reading so far. Discussing them in class was interesting. Especially the articles we presented from The Onion. However, analyzing satire is difficult. I think that's because often the author (sat...

When Mrs. Valentino said this is a book that doesn't make sense until the very end, she wasn't kidding. Throughout the story it constantly seems as though things cannot possibly get weirder, and yet they do. After reading chapters 12 and 13, however, it seems as though things are finally starting to come together. It's happening really fast, though, so I thought I'd recap here, to make more sense out of it all.  In chapter 12, Milkman has discovered that the song the children are singing is actually the story of his family. Solomon and Ryna were Milkman's great-grandparents. They had " twenty-one children, the last one Jake " - Jake being Milkman's grandfather, the first Macon Dead. My interpretation of the lines "[Solomon] left that baby in a white man's house ... Heddy took him to a red man's house " is that when Solomon " whirled about and touched the sun " (escaped slavery), baby Jake was left with the sl...

In class, we discussed two black stereotypes. The first was that blacks can't swim/don't like water. The other was the "Mammy" figure of a nice old (and often obese) black lady who loves taking care of white children and especially loves to cook for them; Aunt Jemima being one example. For my blog I decided to research on some more stereotypes about black people. We are all familiar with the common black stereotypes still used today in movies and other areas which often depict black people as more violent/criminal, swearing more and lacking self control. They are also portrayed as being less educated and more athletic. Less common are stereotypes about the kinds of food that black people enjoy. Fried chicken comes to mind, but blacks are also associated with being especially fond of watermelons and waffles.  But there are many archetypal stereotypes which were very widespread during the 19th and 20th century. Variations of these figures were often used as charact...

 The idea of names - of people, places and things - is a compelling one. Naming something gives it meaning, significance and individuality, and indicates that the person who assigned the name has power. Knowing this, the characters in Song of Solomon came up with their own name for what was officially Mains Avenue, and why the whites  attempted to make sure "that 'Doctor Street' was never used in any official capacity," depriving the "Southside residents" even of the small liberty of naming their own street (5). Our names are one of the most basic pieces of our identity and who we are. A person's name always has a story behind it, and holds generations of family history. My first name - Iman - means faith in Arabic. It's a very common Muslim name, with many spelling variations (all different ways of transliterating the Arabic word). My mom said she knew what she wanted to name me since the very beginning; she picked it because she loved the mean...

Earlier this week, I was reading an article about a note that recently sold for over $1 million. The note was from Albert Einstein to a Japanese mail deliverer, given in place of a tip. It consisted of two snippets of life advice, one of them being "a calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness." If only Einstein met Gatsby and put that through his head. Gatsby spent his whole life working towards one goal - Daisy. He participated in illegal activities to gain enough wealth to make himself socially acceptable for her. He threw giant parties all the time in the hopes that some day she would show up to one of them. And he purposefully selected his house "so that Daisy would be just across the bay" (78). In the end, all his efforts were fruitless; in a way, his entire life went to waste. He lived here, though.  Despite the fact that he had so much wealth, consistent with the materialistic ideals ...

Everyone is assigned an individuality at birth. Our names, our parents' names, our ancestry, our race - all these factors and more are bundled up in a permanent, unalterable package and handed to us, a package which we carry around our whole lives, whether we like its contents or not. As we walk through the journey that is life, we build another package for ourselves, adding and subtracting whatever we choose. Its contents are always changing; it's a fully customizable  set. Together, these packages make up our identity - both who we are and who we want to be.  Now let us switch gears...Once upon a time there was a man living in the 1920s. The package he was assigned at birth stated that he was James Gatz, son of "shiftless and unsuccessful farm people", and hence he was destined to be a poor man (98). He didn't like this. So he built another package for himself, in which, among other things, he added a medal from "Montenegro" for "Valour Ext...

Why does Art Spiegelman choose to represent Jews as mice? The reason for this is that Jews were literally depicted as mice, representing that they were "vermin", in many Nazi propaganda posters.  " Rats: Destroy them " The chapter title pages stem from this sort of Nazi propaganda and are heavily symbolic. The above image is Chapter 6 of volume I. On the poster, the rat is depicted as having the face of a Jew. What appears to be a crumpled piece of paper lies beside the rat, to further emphasize how unimportant and filthy the Jews were thought to be. On the cover page, two mice (Vladeck and Anja) are standing in a literal mouse trap. This is the chapter in which Vladeck and Anja are deceived by the smugglers, which is what the trap represents. While the images are very different, there are similarities. The beam of light in the background of the cover page resembles the piece of paper on the poster.  Both images' title text looks somewhat similar i...

A few weeks ago we were talking about This is Water and how “there is no experience you’ve had that you are not at the absolute center of”. We talked about how everybody experiences life from their own perspective and puts themself at the center as the protagonist. We want to talk about how an event affected us , even if we were not the ones most greatly affected. This concept reappears in the secondary storyline of Maus , about the relationship between Art and Vladeck. Throughout the story we see that both of them are greatly affected by the Holocaust, but they were both affected in drastically different ways. As much as they try, neither could ever understand how the other was affected.   Vladeck was affected directly in the obvious way - he was a victim. Actually being alive and experiencing the Holocaust firsthand is something that no one could ever sympathize with. Art was affected indirectly, with something like survivor’s guilt. He feels “ some kind of guilt about ...

I chose to analyze page 155 from Chapter 6, entitled Mouse Trap . In this scene, Vladeck is "trapped" by the Polish smugglers who betray him. The letter from Abraham, Mandelbaum's nephew, is almost like the "cheese" used to attract the mice to the trap. In the second panel, the train gives off a feeling of looming dread through the stripes, which reappear several times throughout the story.The stripes go in different directions on different parts of the train. This, along with the windows and doors depicted as black holes. make the train almost look like a prison.  The inside of the train, depicted in the third panel, looks even more like a prison. At first glance it looks like the German officers are looking into prison cells. The left side, where the Polish man is sitting, is solid white, but the right side is covered with stripes. The fourth panel appears as if it is an offshoot of the third one, as if when the officer in the third panel turned to his ...

When we think of freedom, we think of it’s literal definition, which, as defined by Google Dictionary, is “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint”. Freedom to us means being able to do what we wish and not being under the command of someone else. To David Foster Wallace, however, freedom is something else. In This is Water he describes “the really important kind of freedom” as “[involving] attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over”. According to him, “That is real freedom” (5). Wallace describes freedom as living consciously and being aware of what’s going on around us. He describes freedom as having the ability to deter from our innate self-centeredness and having a mindset of empathy.  At first, I disagreed with Wallace. I agreed that living consciously, being aware of your surroundings, sacrificing and having empathy are ...

Government is something that people are always talking about, be it the news anchors on TV or Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show or, in this case, Mr. Henry David Thoreau in his essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience . His long and dense piece can be summarized in two sentences: A) “That government is best which governs not at all” (Thoreau 1) and B) Always disregard authority and, whenever the opportunity presents itself, be a rebel.   In Thoreau’s case, what he did made sense. He refused to pay taxes because he knew that his money was being used to fight a war that he disagreed with, and consequently he went to jail for it until someone payed his taxes for him. He rebelled because he disagreed with something the government was doing. But then he wrote a 16-page essay about how the entire government system sucks and is completely unnecessary. Which I completely disagree with. Having a government is imperative. How else will a country and its citizens remain in order, and be s...

During the week, we talked a lot about memorials, and how they were effective in representing the lost. Throughout this discussion, what fascinated me was how detailed memorials are, and how every aspect of them, from location to materials used, is purposefully chosen. For instance, In Postcards from the Trenches , even the decision to have live soldiers act like statues, instead of having actual statues, was symbolic because “the guards must mimic the stony inaccessibility of the dead but not permanently...they must fluctuate, ceremonially, between life and death” (Booth 34). (I think this was the point where the intricacy and details of memorials really hit me.) To put it in one sentence: memorials are DEEP.  This really made me think - are our lives like that too? Isn't everything like that too? Is every detail of our lives, every occurrence, for a reason, to complete the complicated puzzle of life? Whenever something bad happens in our life, we are frustrated and wonde...