Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lonely with Ezra Klein and Roger Ebert

We were assigned to read a few blog posts/ articles on loneliness.  "Being 'fully human' online" is an article by Ezra Klein that we read.  He discusses what being 'fully human' means. Some people think that you can't be 'fully human' online. Klein argues that you can.  I agree. Ezra Klein mentions meeting someone on the internet and having a relationship with them over the internet because you can't see them in person all the time.  Some people can't just strike up a conversation (or a meaningful one, anyway) with just anyone.  To people like that, they feel human when they can express themselves over the internet whether it's blogging or chatting with a stranger.  For Jason Rowe, the only place he can feel normal is online.  He doesn't have any physical disabilities when he plays Star Wars Galaxies. I think Klein put a new spin on the internet for many.  It doesn't make us less human all the time.  Sometimes, it's the only place where some of us can feel human.


Roger Ebert wrote two blog posts that we read. The first one we read was"All the Lonely People".  Ebert talks about lonely people being attracted to the internet.  The idea is that the internet allows people to be heard.  They want their opinions to matter to someone at least.  People want to feel useful.  I cannot agree more!  The worst feeling I have ever felt is feeling like I'm not needed.  I need to know that someone, somewhere needs and wants me.  If I can't do anything for someone, no one needs me.  If no one needs me, why bother being.  Ebert says that the most useful purpose of education is to prepare you to keep yourself entertained.  Clearly, education hasn't done anything for me because I'm always bored.  Always.


The second piece by Roger Ebert is "A Meeting of Solitudes".  Roger Ebert points out that the internet isn't the cause. These people would be lonely if the internet hadn't existed.  Maybe even more people would be lonely!  Ebert brings up statistics about child abuse.  He doesn't want us to get stuck on the numbers, but simply wants us to acknowledge the fact that so many lives are ruined from the beginning.  Kids are told how worthless they are.  Kids grow up learning not to trust.  Lack of trust causes isolation.  Also, he tries to apply the functioning of Alcoholics Anonymous to a Lonely People type group.  Would less people be lonely if they could go somewhere and share their thoughts with strangers for an hour?  I agree with Roger Ebert.  It may not help a lot, but they might feel a little better knowing that they had some sort of impact on someone somewhere.


I have felt lonely in my life.  I don't really know what I do to "cure" it though.  Sometimes I write or blog... Doesn't really do much.  I talk to people, but it doesn't help really.  Sometimes, I really just need to be physically close to someone.  Or just in their presence.  The internet is something that helps me round out who I am as a person.  I blog to spread my ideas through the internet. I keep in touch with both of my best friends with use of the internet.  I learn new stuff every day because of the internet.  Overall, I don't think the internet isolates us.  I think that if people have the ability to go out and physically socialize with others, they should, but the internet helps bring us together mentally.


Ebert says, "What do lonely people desire? Companionship. Love. Recognition. Entertainment. Camaraderie. Distraction. Encouragement. Change. Feedback. Someone once said the fundamental reason we get married is because have a universal human need for a witness. All of these are possibilities. But what all lonely people share is a desire not to be -- or at least not to feel -- alone."  I agree completely.  I agree especially with the marriage part.  I am completely obsessed with weddings, but I really value the marriage that comes after too.  My friend asked me the other day why I don't want to sit on the swings.  I told her it was because I hate the feeling of physically being alone almost as much as being mentally alone.  Knowing my obsession with the zodiac, she asked me if all Scorpios were like that.  In fact, most aren't. They need time to themselves.  However, Scorpios generally have a want to come home to someone at the end of the day and feel needed and loved.  That's what marriage would provide for me.  Someone would be a witness to my thoughts, my ideas, my feelings, my life.  They would be their to encourage me or distract me depending on what I needed.  Having that person would make me feel not alone.


I definitely think Ezra Klein and Roger Ebert are on to something here... Well, until next time!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Day O' Quotes!

So... We're continuing on with our Humanity unit in GT! We looked at two quotes, one from John Donne and one from Jean-Paul Sartre. John Donne states that "No man is an island." Personally, I agree with his statement. No man can be an island. No man can afford to be. They may feel they are at times-- I know I have. At the end of the day though, it isn't true. Even for the briefest of the moments when you someone smiles at you or waves a hello. In that moment, you are not an island. There's still a little bridge that connects you to the land mass. The difference is, some people just have a more stable bridge and are more comfortable crossing it. 

The second quote is from Jean-Paul Satre says that "Hell is other people." These quotes aren't exactly opposite, but they do have different feelings toward humans. I actually agree with this quote too. Sometimes people can be excrutiatingly difficult to deal with, but that doesn't mean we're alone. The reason we know that other people can be Hell is because we have to deal with them. Personally, I think I get annoyed with other people because I could never see myself making some of the decisions that they make. It's hard to remember that people are brought up differently and think differently. That doesn't change the fact that they feel like Hell sometimes.

On the same topic of loneliness and happiness, I found a quote from Naomi Campbell. She says, "Anger is a manifestation of a deeper issue... and that, for me, is based on insecurity, self-esteem and loneliness." Talk about the story of my life... I've learned to control my anger well, but when I do express alllllll of my rage, it's safe to say that I am no short of
the Devil's daughter. If I stop to think about it though, most of my insecurities are feeding my anger. Maybe if everyone stopped thinking that they need to be a certain way, maybe we'd all have less anger issues. Also, if I felt less lonely sometimes, maybe I would be less angry sometimes. If I was less angry, I wouldn't push people away as much. But I'm still lonely and angry and that just makes me lonely all over again. It's a never-ending viscious cycle.


The next quote I found is about happiness. I don't know the source, but they state that "happiness is like jam. You can't spread even a little without getting some on yourself." I agree. Often, I forget about finding happiness for myself. Instead, I try to help my friend. When she finally succeeds in whatever she's doing, I smile. Helping her be happy makes me happy. When she tells me she's happy, I feel relieved and that makes me happy as well. So I guess happiness is like jam. Sweet and you can't not get some on yourself.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Life in a Day

In class, we watched a movie called "life in a Day." The movie was a collage of video clips that were sent in from all over the world on July 24, 2010. This movie is something to add to a time capsule so that generations to come can see what happened in so many different parts of the world all in one day.

There were a lot of memorable scenes in this movie. For one, the scenes with the young boy who polishes shoes were unforgettable. Also, I loved the scene where the old couple was renewing their vows. They were old, but still in love, and had such a wonderful sense of humor! Another one of the most memorable scenes was with the bicyclist when he talked about where he was from. He told us he was from Korea but that North and South didn't matter. I don't know why that part gave me so much hope, but it did.

A lot of this movie sparked positive emotions. I think the moment that made me the happiest, however, was when the boy came out to his grandmother. As I was watching it, I remember holding my breath, waiting for the grandmother's response. And when he smiled with relief, I remember squealing on the inside because of how happy I was for him. I know many people don't agree with gay rights, and I know there are plenty of homophobic people out there, but if a grandmother can except her grandson, why can't anyone else? Change is tough, I know that, but that woman let change happen. No one lost anything. She mostly just gained another member to her family. That part made me so happy.

Even though there were plenty of positive emotions in the movie, there were also some negative ones. I think the part that caused the most negative emotion was when the man from Afghanistan was talking about what he feared most. He mentions that no one leaves the house expecting to come home again. This part broke my heart a little. I know I'm a violent person and all, but I honestly hate the thought of people living in such a violent place that they can't expect to go to work and come back home. I hate thinking that a man's wife constantly worries if she'll have a husband at the end of the night. I hate thinking that a man's kids constantly wonder if they'll still have a father. I hate that those are the reasons that no one can move forward. There's always a sword their waiting to cut anyone who speaks out down.

Before we watched this film, our teacher asked us, "What does it meant to be human?" Almost the majority of us agreed that we were nothing more than an evolved species. I still partly agree, but I think there's more to us than that. I think we are different from all other animals because we can extend love to more than just our tribe or our kin. I know that there are exceptions, but mostly, it's true. A large portion of being human is being smarter and having thumbs. Of course, an important part is our physical make up. Have you ever stopped to wonder why your fingers bend the way they do? Or the way we stand on two feet that are connected to legs that bend back at the knees and can pivot at the hip. It truly is fascinating. Also, we talked a lot about evolving in class. It's true that we're more evolved than all other species, but I think the other thing is that we evolve within ourselves faster. Stop to think about how far we've come. Blacks are equal to whites. Women have rights. There's more democracy in the world. Every day we move forward. And even though we move forward, we don't give up all our culture. The film had soooooooo many different people. That's what being human is. Moving forward together without leaving leaving our uniqueness behind.

It's kind of tough to point out patterns of humanity throughout the movie because, like I said, all the cultures and people were so different. I think I can name three though... One: Everyone has something to love. Even though the actual thing changed, everyone had something. Two: Everyone has something to fear. I think our fears are part of what makes us. People say to be fearless, but I disagree. Fearless makes you foolish. Have fears but have the courage to overcome them. Which leads me to three: Everyone has their way of coping with life. Some people worked hard. Others cried. Some smiled and tried to work through it. In the end though, everyone was trying to do whatever they could to live their life.

A juxtapostion is when you place two things side by side for the purposes of compare and contrast, and boy was this movie full of them! I think there were so many that I can't actually name specific examples. Mostly, the juxtapostions focused on putting third world and first world clips one right after the other. Oh! The one I can name happened at the end of the movie. It went from the girl sitting in her car at night in the middle of the store to this bright screen with the snail or whatever it was on that ball. The contrast between the lighting was ridiculous. I don't know. I guess that sudden change in color did something to the way I took in the movie as a whole. It was like this last stand that said, "It will get better. It will work out. Have hope. Hold on to it."

Honestly, this movie is one of my favorites. I just wish it was longer! So many people from so many parts of the world were involved. It completely changed my outlook on people. Even the negative parts helped me see humans in a different light. Don't get me wrong, I can still be very pessimistic, but I think I've started realizing that it isn't all bad. It was amazing to see what was going on on the other side of the world. It was shocking to see horrors going on as we were sitting there, drinking our coffee. It was wonderful to listen to the fears of others that made them so much like us. This film was brilliantly put together. I kind of hope they do this again... I would definitely recommend this to everyone! It was such an inspiring movie.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I'm Back!

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I'm back! I've actually moved on to GT2 and we're, obviously, doing different things. We've started a unit on dreams! It's a pretty awesome unit :) So far, we've learned about four different theories. Of course, there's the Father of Psychology, Sigmund Freud. His theories basically revolved around sex. He thought that everyone was born evil and they had to be taught to suppress their urges of violence and sexual desire. When we dream, their urges would flood up from our unconscious mind. Carl Jung used to work with Freud, but he eventually split because he thought that dreams had more to do with restoring psychological balance than wish fulfillment or symbols to cover up negative urges.  Alfred Adler, like Jung, used to work with Freud until he decided that sex wasn't the main priority of the mind. Adler thought that dreaming was used to problem solve. The last major theory we studied was one belonging to John Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley. They believed that dreams had no meaning. Everything was biological. Dreams are just your brain trying to make sense of pulses of energy. Personally, I hate that theory. It takes the fun out of dreams.

Although you're not supposed to, I've diagnosed a dream of mine. The dream was pretty intense. I was at a young leaders type conference. My friend Navya was in it and my friend Damien was in it except Damien looked like Damon from Vampire Diaries (Ian Somerhalder).  We were in the room and I think we were dismissed and when I walked out of the room, I was facing the other side of the hallway, but a little section was a field.  It looked like wheat and there was a girl tending to it.  I went over to her and she told me it was revane.  Revane is a plant in Vampire Diaries that is toxic to vampires.
Then, we were outside and my group was broken into teams.  Navi, D and I were put in one team.  We were making a chart. I think we were plotting supply of something because I got an image of a zig-zagging line that was generally decreasing. Something in me old me it was supply, but I don't know what the supply was of.
Then, out of no where, we were getting ready to play 3-vs-3 basketball. We were on an outdoor court and it was kinda really dark...
Anyhow, I remember taking a shot or two and then I ended up in the store. There was revane again. And that girl was there. She said something about vampire and the next thing I knew, I had a gun in my hand.  It looked like the air rifle I used in India. I was up and down the aisles when someone saw me. I guess getting see with a gun in public doesn't change the reaction just because you're dreaming it... Anyway, my gun was gone and I started running. I don't remember the rest of that dream too clearly.
Things to be noted: Before I went to to sleep, I watched an episode of Vampire Diaries, talked to Damien, and spent the day practicing with my swords.
Oh yeah! And somewhere in my dream, I watched D walk away and remember thinking or whispering under my breath, "Wait. I wanted a hug..."
From my dream, I knew the scene with D made me feel rejected and abandoned. I can definitely see those emotions being present in my waking life. Also, I'm not sure if the vampires are a result of me watching Vampire Diaries before going to sleep, or if they are symbolic of sexual urges. Also, I think I woke up feeling guilty because of my unconscious attraction towards D. I think the gun is symbolic of my violent urges. I'm not gonna lie, I have plenty. I think being chased at the end happened for the same reason it does in all of my dreams I have many dreams of being chased). I think I'm either in constant fear of something, trying to run away from myself, or perhaps me running is a symbol to hide my inferiority. Maybe I constantly try to act tough and find out that I'm actually nothing tough at all. Maybe me running is my cowardice. Or maybe, I'm running because I'm just done dealing with things. I'm tired of everyday life, but I never seem to be able to run to where life isn't boring. Man... No wonder you shouldn't dissect your own dreams. Regardless of whether I'm honest with myself or not, I find that I don't really like the answer...