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cladius

Not the Average American Criticism

This past week we read "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner. She cleverly disguised American culture in an Indian tribe in order to satirize and poke fun at American practices and tendencies. She makes fun of every house's "personal shrine", the medicine men, and oral health in order to highlight and make fun of these daily practices that we, as Americans, place so much emphasis on. Why does she do this? I cannot understand what is so funny about brushing out teeth or using the bathroom to get ready for the day. She writes about it like she is above the daily morning rituals almost every American practices. I could understand her satirizing Americans rolling around in big suvs, eating McDonalds, and shooting guns. But something like dutifully maintaining your body doesn't seem like the greatest thing to make fun of. This attack on oral hygiene causes one to speculate why Miner does so. Could it be that she doesn't believe it is necessary to visit the dentist or brush her teeth? or maybe they are so perfect she thinks they don't need to be cleaned. Whatever reason, it is odd as most Americans take care of their teeth and consider it a basic health priority and it is not even a known stereotype that Americans are obsessed with their teeth so I think that Horace Miner kind of missed the mark on this one.

Two Birthdays

This week we read "Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa" by Eric Sedaris. In it, Sedaris describes his normal life in America as well as his partner's exotic and unusual childhood growing up in various African nations. In it he talks about how jealous he was of Hugh because compared to his own life, it was very interesting. Sedaris envied the life of Hugh because it was foreign to him even though Hugh's childhood had many drawbacks Sedaris was unaware of as a child. As humans, we always want what we don't or cannot have. We are able to see the positive aspects of something and look past everything else. For example, this might sound really stupid...because it is. When I was younger, I used to think my friends with divorced parents had the life. They had two of everything: Christmas, birthday, house, bedroom, you name it, there was one from the mom and one from the dad. I thought that children of divorce were the luckiest kids alive because everthing was duplicated at each of their parents houses. I was able to look at only the very small cool part of having two birthdays and forget the daily struggle of dealing with separated parents. I wanted two birthdays and I was jealous of them but now I know that children of divorce would much rather trade in one of their birthdays for a stable household. We foolishly want what we don't have without seeing the struggles and hardships people like Hugh or children of divorce experience everyday.

Bad Science

This week we read "A Measure of Restraint" by Chet Raymo. He talks about how science can be successful and beneficial to society. However, it must must be practiced with caution and regulation as science can be very destructive. He used examples like Radium, Cesium, and possibly gene splicing to illustrate the negative consequences of scientific discovery. In my opinion, science is great. I agreee with Raymo that innovation is beneficial to society but must be done with caution. Another example of science gone wrong is the creation of ecstasy. Originally, German chemist Anton Köllisch created the drug as a by-product for a drug that helped stop abnormal bleeding in 1913. It was largely ignored for about 50 years until its recreational use became popular and is still a very popular, yet dangerous drug today. Science is constantly changing the way we live. Oftentimes it benefits society like the creation of the personal computer or the influenza vaccine but it can also cause great damage to society like the accidental creation of ecstasy. Even though it is believed that we, as humans, have come a long way from where we began in terms of technological innovation and it is believed that something like the common consumption of radium could never happen because smarter than that, I believe that science is more powerful than ever and any mistake or accident that happens now could permanently damage humanity.

Womens' Gains

Once upon a time there was a maldistribution of power between the sexes; females had less power and authority in society compared to men. Only men were allowed to vote and were seen as the superior gender. Women were seen as male property and dependent of men. This is not how a few people saw it, rather everyone in American society. Today, however, this is not the case. Women, while not having achieved total social and political equality, have made great gains and are nearly equal to men. This did not happen by itself, however. Through the use of powerful rhetoric in speeches and demonstrations by female suffrage activists like Florence Kelley, women eventually gained the right to vote among other social and political improvements. In addition to gaining the right to vote, women also greatly impacted society in the early 20th century with the enactment of the 18th amendment which outlawed the sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol in the United States. Women claimed that their husbands were violently drunk all too frequently and were tired of dealing with them as they were seeing pink elephants. This power in dealing with America's alcohol problem in addition to gaining the right to vote gave America a strong and firm message: Women deserve respect and are to be taken seriously in society and government. A clever tactic to gaining the support and votes of men was citing the words of Jesus Christ in The Bible as many men respected the Bible and supported the movement.

Assumptions

This week we read and discussed "Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples. He discussed his own personal experiences with the common stereotype of the violent black man. In his situation, his "victims" reacted to his presence as if Staples was a felon just because of his skin color and choice of clothes. They assumed that he was a criminal even though they knew nothing about him. Even though some of us think we would never react like this, we make assumptions everyday. We assume that the jocks aren't smart. We assume that every student of Asian descent is a genius, or that every Native American is an unambitious alcoholic. Oftentimes, we make these assumptions without even thinking. These stereotypes become so ingrained in our heads that it comes automatic to look at someones outward appearance and assume all sorts of things without knowing anything about them. Sometimes these assumptions are correct and sometimes they are false. My personal opinion is that making assumptions is a shortcut, or an excuse to not getting to know someone on a deeper level than their appearance. So next time before you automatically assume something negative about someone, try to get to know the person well enough to make the assumption.

power shift

This past week we read "Arm Wrestling with My Father" by Brad Manning. This story got me thinking about life, from being a small, helpless baby, all the way to adulthood when you care for your parents. I really enjoyed this story as I found out that I can relate very closely to it. My father had his third back surgery in the past 5 years just over a month ago. This has left him weak, in pain, and irritable. He is getting older and is not as strong and physically fit as he once was in his youth. Seeing him in the hospital bed after surgery was a realization for me that my parents aren't invincible and they feel the effects of aging just like everyone else. This opened my eyes as I was the kid who always thought my parents were like teflon, not being affected by anything. It is very easy I suppose to just ignore this and be the ignorant child that still holds on to the misconception that your parents are invincible. However, seeing something like my dad after back surgery shows me the circle of life and the shift of power from them to me. To make things clear, I am not saying that now all of the sudden I am in charge of our whole family; but, I am not going to be the little kid forever and sometime within the future, my generation will take over and make decisions for the whole family. This realization is not necessarily a good or bad thing, just a process of life that has happened since the existence of humanity.

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Crossing the River meant so much more than that

It meant securing liberty from the British

and providing for a bright and optimistic future

for millions of Americans two centuries later

No one ever said it was easy

looking out at the freezing river

speckled with blocks of jagged ice

reflecting the winter sun

and taking in the smell of the cool dry salty Chesapeake air

as the freezing mist shot onto your face like needles 

It would have been very easy to tell the General to look for someone else to help cross the river

and save yourself from exposure to the freezing winter air

but the call of freedom carries much more weight than a day's comfort

So as they set out to cross the Delaware

hearing the semi frozen waves crashing uneasily against the small wooden row boat

they were not thinking about themselves

but rather the millions of Americans 

who can now taste the very freedom George and his partners fought for

when they Crossed the Delaware

its almost over

This past week every junior went to their homeroom to receive their scheduling cards for senior year. Receiving these cards makes us realize that our high school experience will be over before we know it. I can remember the counselors visiting middle school and handing out our freshman scheduling cards and thinking high school would never end. Now, after scheduling our classes for senior year, there is a realization that this high school experience does not last as long as we thought it would. I always thought that it would last so long I would be aching to get out. But now, I remember the first day of freshman year like it was yesterday. I now realize that you can't just buy these years back and that its important to make the most out of them because they are a very special four years of my life. Even though its almost over, I can still look back at these past three years with content and satisfaction. I have managed to keep my grades at a near 4.0, joined many clubs and organizations, played sports, met great friends, been to awesome parties, and formed great relationships with teachers who are passionate about what they do. So instead of looking back with regret, look back with contentment and look to the future with just as much excitement as you did in 8th grade looking forward to high school.

nobodys perfect

This week we read Disability by Nancy Mairs. Reading this story showed me something. In the story, Nancy describes her struggles with MS. She tells us that her disease does not define her and that she is a normal human being. No human is perfect. Everyone has something a little different about them than everyone else. Sometimes it can be a big deal, other times not. For example, I have a bad back. It sometimes causes me pain and I know not everyone else has back pains. I get over it and try to not let it limit my life as much as I can. I'm sure everyone reading this can think of something you know you have that is just a little different than everyone else. The important thing is that these disabilities, whether quite minor like back pains, or quite serious like MS do not define us and prohibit us from enjoying life. Having something unique about you is not a bad thing. Everyone has something about them that differentiates them from the other 7 billion people on this Earth. It is important to not beat yourself up about it and instead embrace it as a part of being human.