Casual Contemplation

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...