Final Paper - Cool

Introduction:  “…No one counts until they’re dead…” (Closed Captioned. Fugazi. End Hits.  Dischord. 1998) Life, death it’s all one big mystery to us.  People say that we are here on this planet to find our purpose in life and to make something of our lives and we use this as an excuse for our actions.  But I really don’t think that’s the reason anymore, I think we don’t know what to do so we follow whatever seems logical for what fits us.  We use the maps we are given to help guide us to what we believe our destinations should be.    This starts the beginning of building our own subway line and the beginning of our own games of Jenga.    In actuality though they are not our own they are just a version of someone else’s and in the early days of our lives we don’t think twice about it.  However as we grow and develop we begin to question our existence more than we did when we were babies and toddlers.  We start to see that in order to have meaning or purpose in life we must proof ourselves to our audiences so we give ourselves the label of being an individual.  We try to stand out from the crowd and be recognized.  At the end of it all though how can one person stand out when everyone is doing the same exact thing?  We then begin to realize that maybe the life we have been leading is wasting our time on this planet because we are not being true to ourselves.  If deep down we know there is no true self then what are we doing?  How can we change ourselves so drastically if we have lived our whole lives up to this point a certain way?  This is when life and death gets a lot more confusing than we ever realized.  Cool changes as frequently as people change, making it a never-ending game.  We are aware that no one will ever win; yet we continue to play it. 

Argument 1: In this day and age social networking and the Internet seem to play a huge role in the obsession of being cool.  More specifically the website Facebook, practically all of the teens I know are members and use the website daily.  It is a way to stay up to date with your audience, your peers, your “friends” or whatever you want to call it.  I came to the conclusion that you basically have multiple worlds that you experience each day.  Your school world, your family world and your cyber space world.  The difference between the three is that your school and family world is given to you, you don’t have a choice about whom you surround yourself with. However with the cyber space world you can select and create a “perfect” world, you can be surrounded with whomever you want and the decisions are up to you.  In 9^th grade whenever I would meet someone I would most likely friend them on Facebook so that I could be opened to their door and they could be opened to mine.  I regret being so up front with my friend requests because if by any chance I run into one of my Facebook “friends” it becomes awkward because I don’t really know them yet I have full access to observing their life and vise versa. About a month ago one of my classmates Russell posted this really interesting article on Facebook: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/do-you-spend-too-much-time-on-facebook/ After reading it I was so blown away by the truth of the article I decided to deactivate my own Facebook.  Something that struck me to be so bizarre was while I was going through the steps of deactivating it, it seemed as if Facebook was trying to convince me not to.  It showed pictures of my Facebook friends and myself and kept repeating the sentence " _______ will miss you".  As if once you are not friends with someone on Facebook you just are not friends in general anymore.  Then I had to click on exactly why I was leaving the Facebook Network and for each option they had an excuse of how to possibly still be a member but not leave.  Essentially though I deactivated it for maybe 3 or 4 days.  I felt so much happier and I felt like I had a lot more time but I didn't know what to do.  I was so used to this routine of constantly staying updated with others and Facebook stalking people I didn’t even know!  I wasted hours looking at pictures of people I was never going to really have a real friendship with, and in some cases envy them!  The whole idea of this website was disturbing and a complete waste of time.  After deactivating it I came to realize I never sat down and took time to care about myself.   Unfortunately though Facebook is like a drug once you become addicted it’s hard to quit, and I couldn’t live without it so I’m right back on it.  I wish I could function without it but I felt so detached from this world I had created, and the thought of knowing things are still going on even after I am gone scares me.  We use Facebook as a way to constantly stay updated on what’s in and what’s out, I guess the only solution is if Facebook was just deleted in general, the chances of that happening though are very slim.   Facebook is just one aspect of the game we play. 

Argument 2:  Something that you could say is cool right now is tattoos, I personally do not see the point in them but maybe I am just out of the loop for this aspect.  I interviewed one of my friends who already has a tattoo and I thought her response was very typical but at the same time intriguing. I asked her why she decided to get a tattoo and she said: For my mom because she has lupus and the butterfly is the symbol for it. I asked if she thought it had a strong message and added more to her as a person, she said: Yes it does, it represents the support and love I have for my mother. Plus I designed it so no one else in the world has the same one. Which adds to my individuality.  Although I think her message is very symbolic and meaningful, why does she need to stamp it on herself for the rest of her life? Yes it makes her a little bit different than the next person but think about how many people get tattoos a day. Regardless of their possible differences there is not just one person in the world with a tattoo. I think it definitely adds to the arch type she decides to live her life as. Something I notice about Ariel is that since she has got her tattoo she usually wears clothing that allows on lookers to see it. It is essentially adding a spotlight to that one part of her body to give her ultimate attention. As people we find ourselves as curious thinkers, making a statement like this intrigues people to ask questions. So is it really about the message or the attention you might get for that one moment in time? I think the message gives the tattoo a better purpose it adds meaning and gives us the illusion that is significant. I saw the tattoo that Miley Cyrus decided to get:http://assets.heavy.com/post_assets/2009/12/1013/1260471450_miley-cyrus-tattoo-picture.jpg I mean I understand that her friend died from Cystic Fibrosis but with all the money she is earning wouldn't it be more helpful to donate to the organization verses basically advertising them?  Its worse than wearing a shirt with a logo every time she goes swimming she will be a swimming, sun bathing, walking billboard.  That tattoo is going to be stamped on her for the rest of her life!  It doesn't make her a hero or a better person it makes her look like she needs attention.  The attention of her tattoo takes away from why she really got and makes people question her even more.  In a couple of years the fad of tattoos will go out of style and all of these people will be stuck in the mud.

Argument 3: We use “happiness” as a way to escape reality, this than allows us to forget our suffering for that moment. By doing this we distract ourselves for what we all know is coming next. I think this universe and this world is just like the game Jenga. For those who have never heard of this it is the game it is where you have a tower of wood blocks and you have to pull ones from the bottom out one by one and keep stacking them on top of each other. If the tower falls the game is over. Just like Jenga I think humans represent the wooden blocks and the tower represents the world. We are all here together for that brief moment in time and although we hate to admit it we all need each other to survive. Every move we make and every moment we live has an affect on the other 6,706,993,152 people on this planet. Just like in the game we try to move forward to get closer and closer to the top of things. While doing this though sometimes we suffer and loose loved ones, family members friends. This than makes us feel incomplete and we loose our sense of “happiness”. For just like our lifespan is brief so is our happiness. Initially I thought that when the tower fell it meant your life was over but now I almost feel as though when the tower falls it is reality screaming at you and telling you to make a change. It is as if it is a warning that however you are living isn’t right and to get your act together.  But what is right?  Most people wont ever really know.  In The Death of Ivan Ilych there was a line in the beginning of the story that caught my attention when he had passed and people were at his wake.  “The expression on the face said that what was necessary had been accomplished, and accomplished rightly.  Besides this there was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living.” (Page 97)  Essentially I think Ivan at the end of his life came to realize the mistake he had made.  I think the accomplishment was closure to meaning.  Maybe as we become closer to death we realize our waste of energy and time on things that have no significance.  Maybe the look on Ivan’s face is suppose to help guide the living since we still have time to make a change. 

Alternative Point of View: I think as humans we are constantly concerned about what happens next because we follow the direction and context of our scripts.  We hardly ever have time to live in the moment because we are constantly preparing for our next scene. In all honesty I have no idea what my main destinations are and goals are at this point.  I want to be able to see the whole world though because I think that when you stay trapped inside a bubble you have no idea what’s going on outside.  I think people are fascinating and there are really so many different kinds of people out there.  That are all equally as interesting and all have different stories.  I don’t think one person is better than another because we are all just as confused as the next person.  There are however people out there who are a little less confused because they have less distraction and more time to be thankful.  In 7th grade I went to an island called Elthura in the Bahamas.  I remember driving and looking out the window seeing tin shacks, those were people’s homes.  I think seeing something like that makes you understand how fortunate you really are.  Although maybe their homes were not mansions and they didn’t have expensive cars everyone on the island seemed so much happier than anyone I had ever met.  They didn’t feel as though they had nothing because they were aware that they had something and I think that is meaning.  This kind of meaning is not something you can buy and I think that’s what confuses us the most.    I think unfortunately though we are far more concerned about appearance more than anything else.  In the Frontline episode they talked about the Mook and the Midriff characters, it basically describes a superficial male and a superficial female.  We buy everything that fits these characters and put on a certain role to fulfill these characters.  We waste hour after hour on being someone who practically funds this concept of cool but at the end we feel so empty.  The answers we search so hard to find come so much easier to those who are not wasting all of this time.  Maybe the only way to escape this endless tunnel is to start living just like the people on the Island of Elthura further more like the rest of the people on this planet.  Our lifestyles our so different than the way most people live and although we can't eliminate everything just by making small changes in our daily routines eventually maybe larger changes will be made.  If not for us specifically for future generations because by looking at the state of this planet we are not in the greatest of shape currently.  

Conclusion: All of these small components make up the concept of coolness.  They fuel the drive and momentum to be something none of us are.  We are all just performers in the end it feels as if there is something up their mocking us all and laughing at the fact that we can be so oblivious to our obvious mistakes.  We are so puzzled and so confused about what is true and what is false.  I am almost sure the answer is right in front of us but distraction takes over to the point where we don’t have time to pick up on it.  We have become so consumed with keeping up with our peers, style and our cookie cutter appearances  because thats what we are told to do, I really don't think it is our fault.  However I’m tired of wasting my life because I know that I am, I wish there was a way to change my life but unfortunately I have a feeling its too late.  We have become brain washed by something out there and there is no turning back.  So maybe we don’t have a choice of the game we are playing and we are well aware there is no winner because in the end we will all be gone and it will be as if we were never even here.

HW 36

Hi Mohammed,

I think your thesis doesn’t exactly flow but I see a start to a good idea.  If I were to reword it I think I would say: The emptiness that many of us experience is a result of our over thinking and constant performing of cool.  I think your main idea is a little unclear, it seems that your arguments are very broad but there is no conclusion to any of it or any tying together.  I think your three main points are the obsession cool, the love of attention and tattoos.  I think if you used my thesis your three arguments would help prove your point. I hope that helps…

In my HW 34 I quoted the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, I think one paragraph of this assignment has a tie into your point: "I wonder how they feel about themselves..." (Gwendolyn Brooks) I was surprised when she said that line I was expecting her to say something along the lines of, I wonder if they think they are cool for not going to school... I think the way she decided to put it however makes a whole lot more sense to finding the purpose of cool.  Having high self-esteem is something we all want and I think that when someone has it his or her appearance and personality seems a whole lot stronger.  However even the most confident person to us may seem like they know exactly what they are doing and are positive about themselves but may have a completely different idea of themselves then what appears to an onlooker.  It seems as if most people for their whole lives try to find their purpose for being here, and so we observe all of the things around us.  One of them being other people, we have this whole idea that by looking at other people we will find the answer.  But in reality we all are so different so I don't think we are looking in the right places.  I think the reason why so many people are alike is because we observe hundreds of people every day and we pick up on traits that appear to be making the person happy.  Just as Gwendolyn Brooks was trying to say, what drives them to do the things they do...  if they can do it can't I do it too?

I think a couple of things that could make your paper stronger are, 1. Check your spelling and grammar throughout the whole paper (spell check on Microsoft word) 2. Organize your paragraphs better; make an introduction, which will include your thesis at the end.  Also create a conclusion to sum up all your ideas. 3.  Your first body paragraph seems a lot stronger than your 2^nd and 3^rd, try using the 1^st paragraph as a sample to help the other two. 3. I think to make your paragraphs stronger you need some evidence to help back up your points.

Hope all of this is useful, let me know if you have any questions about what I posted.

Hi Amon,

From reading your paper I believe that your main idea is clothes and tattoos can only take you so far.  In order to completely satisfy our arch type we must purchase certain things both removal and non-removal.  I like your thesis but maybe this could work as well: Coolness gives off the illusion that we are much cooler than we really are and creates a sense of being individual when in reality we are all just followers.  Sorry if that might not make sense just let me know if you want something different. 

From my HW 29, which as relation to your idea on individuality: “There is no solution to discovering cool you force cool to move on to the next thing.”  It’s a never-ending cycle that we continue to allow to repeat itself because we don’t have the self-control to stop it.  It seems as if we like the media in a weird way, that without them we wouldn’t be able to function.  Is it the fact that we are afraid to be ourselves so we constantly need the “advice” from those who know best?  However for a person who hasn’t necessarily caught on to this it isn’t what will look best on you or what will help you be a better person all around, it’s the product that will sell the best.  Then there is also the idea of being an “individual” the truth is no one is.  There isn’t one person in the world that is far different from the rest of us.  We are all just copies of one another.  Although we hate to admit it, in reality it’s the truth.  So when we find one person cool I am sure there is someone out there who is just like them, does this mean they are both cool or does that make them both uncool?  I think attention is nice as long as it is positive but it seems that most of the time attention is usually negative.  Do we do all of this to be happier people?  If the attention we receive is negative how can we be happy?  Corporations are funding us with the right attire to satisfy the arch type we live up too.  So in a way we are both doing each other favors we give them money they give us “happiness”.

I think a couple of things I would change are 1. You do use your brother as evidence but maybe a direct quote from him? 2. I think you are getting at something really great in your conclusion but maybe you can elaborate on “endless alternation” 3. I like what you are saying for your opening sentence but it seems a tad bit unclear, however that might just be me…

If you have any questions let me know, good start though! 

 

HW 35

    “…No one counts until they’re dead…” (Closed Captioned. Fugazi. End Hits.  Dischord. 1998) Life, death it’s all one big mystery to us.  People say that we are here on this planet to find our purpose in life and to make something of our lives and we use this as an excuse for our actions.  But I really don’t think that’s the reason anymore, I think we don’t know what to do so we follow whatever seems logical for what fits us.  We use the maps we are given to help guide us to what we believe our destinations should be.    This starts the beginning of building our own subway line and the beginning of our own games of Jenga.    In actuality though they are not our own they are just a version of someone else’s and in the early days of our lives we don’t think twice about it.  However as we grow and develop we begin to question our existence more than we did when we were babies and toddlers.  We start to see that in order to have meaning or purpose in life we must proof ourselves to our audiences so we give ourselves the label of being an individual.  We try to stand out from the crowd and be recognized.  At the end of it all though how can one person stand out when everyone is doing the same exact thing?  We then begin to realize that maybe the life we have been leading is wasting our time on this planet because we are not being true to ourselves.  If deep down we know there is no true self then what are we doing?  How can we change ourselves so drastically if we have lived our whole lives up to this point a certain way?  This is when life and death gets a lot more confusing than we ever realized.  Cool changes as frequently as people change, making it a never-ending game.  We are aware that no one will ever win; yet we continue to play it. 

            In this day and age social networking and the Internet seem to play a huge role in the obsession of being cool.  More specifically the website Facebook, practically all of the teens I know are members and use the website daily.  It is a way to stay up to date with your audience, your peers, your “friends” or whatever you want to call it.  I came to the conclusion that you basically have multiple worlds that you experience each day.  Your school world, your family world and your cyber space world.  The difference between the three is that your school and family world is given to you, you don’t have a choice about whom you surround yourself with.  However with the cyber space world you can select and create a “perfect” world, you can be surrounded with whomever you want and the decisions are up to you.  In 9^th grade whenever I would meet someone I would most likely friend them on Facebook so that I could be opened to their door and they could be opened to mine.  I regret being so up front with my friend requests because if by any chance I run into one of my Facebook “friends” it becomes awkward because I don’t really know them yet I have full access to observing their life and vise versa.  About a month ago one of my classmates Russell posted this really interesting article on Facebook: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/do-you-spend-too-much-time-on-facebook/ After reading it I was so blown away by the truth of the article I decided to deactivate my own Facebook.  Something that struck me to be so bizarre was while I was going through the steps of deactivating it, it seemed as if Facebook was trying to convince me not to.  It showed pictures of my Facebook friends and myself and kept repeating the sentence " _______ will miss you".  As if once you are not friends with someone on Facebook you just are not friends in general anymore.  Then I had to click on exactly why I was leaving the Facebook Network and for each option they had an excuse of how to possibly still be a member but not leave.  Essentially though I deactivated it for maybe 3 or 4 days.  I felt so much happier and I felt like I had a lot more time but I didn't know what to do.  I was so used to this routine of constantly staying updated with others and Facebook stalking people I didn’t even know!  I wasted hours looking at pictures of people I was never going to really have a real friendship with, and in some cases envy them!  The whole idea of this website was disturbing and a complete waste of time.  After deactivating it I came to realize I never sat down and took time to care about myself.   Unfortunately though Facebook is like a drug once you become addicted it’s hard to quit, and I couldn’t live without it so I’m right back on it.  I wish I could function without it but I felt so detached from this world I had created, and the thought of knowing things are still going on even after I am gone scares me.  We use Facebook as a way to constantly stay updated on what’s in and what’s out, I guess the only solution is if Facebook was just deleted in general, the chances of that happening though are very slim.   Facebook is just one aspect of the game we play. 

            Something that you could say is cool right now is tattoos, I personally do not see the point in them but maybe I am just out of the loop for this aspect.  I interviewed one of my friends who already has a tattoo and I thought her response was very typical but at the same time intriguing. I asked her why she decided to get a tattoo and she said: For my mom because she has lupus and the butterfly is the symbol for it. I asked if she thought it had a strong message and added more to her as a person, she said: Yes it does, it represents the support and love I have for my mother. Plus I designed it so no one else in the world has the same one. Which adds to my individuality.  Although I think her message is very symbolic and meaningful, why does she need to stamp it on herself for the rest of her life? Yes it makes her a little bit different than the next person but think about how many people get tattoos a day. Regardless of their possible differences there is not just one person in the world with a tattoo. I think it definitely adds to the arch type she decides to live her life as. Something I notice about Ariel is that since she has got her tattoo she usually wears clothing that allows on lookers to see it. It is essentially adding a spotlight to that one part of her body to give her ultimate attention. As people we find ourselves as curious thinkers, making a statement like this intrigues people to ask questions. So is it really about the message or the attention you might get for that one moment in time? I think the message gives the tattoo a better purpose it adds meaning and gives us the illusion that is significant. I saw the tattoo that Miley Cyrus decided to get: http://assets.heavy.com/post_assets/2009/12/1013/1260471450_miley-cyrus-tattoo-picture.jpg I mean I understand that her friend died from Cystic Fibrosis but with all the money she is earning wouldn't it be more helpful to donate to the organization verses basically advertising them?  Its worse than wearing a shirt with a logo every time she goes swimming she will be a swimming, sun bathing, walking billboard.  That tattoo is going to be stamped on her for the rest of her life!  It doesn't make her a hero or a better person it makes her look like she needs attention.  The attention of her tattoo takes away from why she really got and makes people question her even more.  In a couple of years the fad of tattoos will go out of style and all of these people will be stuck in the mud.

            We use “happiness” as a way to escape reality, this than allows us to forget our suffering for that moment. By doing this we distract ourselves for what we all know is coming next. I think this universe and this world is just like the game Jenga. For those who have never heard of this it is the game it is where you have a tower of wood blocks and you have to pull ones from the bottom out one by one and keep stacking them on top of each other. If the tower falls the game is over. Just like Jenga I think humans represent the wooden blocks and the tower represents the world. We are all here together for that brief moment in time and although we hate to admit it we all need each other to survive. Every move we make and every moment we live has an affect on the other 6,706,993,152 people on this planet. Just like in the game we try to move forward to get closer and closer to the top of things. While doing this though sometimes we suffer and loose loved ones, family members friends. This than makes us feel incomplete and we loose our sense of “happiness”. For just like our lifespan is brief so is our happiness.  Initially I thought that when the tower fell it meant your life was over but now I almost feel as though when the tower falls it is reality screaming at you and telling you to make a change. It is as if it is a warning that however you are living isn’t right and to get your act together.  But what is right?  Most people wont ever really know.  In The Death of Ivan Ilych there was a line in the beginning of the story that caught my attention when he had passed and people were at his wake.  “The expression on the face said that what was necessary had been accomplished, and accomplished rightly.  Besides this there was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living.” (Page 97)  Essentially I think Ivan at the end of his life came to realize the mistake he had made.  I think the accomplishment was closure to meaning.  Maybe as we become closer to death we realize our waste of energy and time on things that have no significance.  Maybe the look on Ivan’s face is suppose to help guide the living since we still have time to make a change. 

            I think as humans we are constantly concerned about what happens next because we follow the direction and context of our scripts.  We hardly ever have time to live in the moment because we are constantly preparing for our next scene. In all honesty I have no idea what my main destinations are and goals are at this point.  I want to be able to see the whole world though because I think that when you stay trapped inside a bubble you have no idea what’s going on outside.  I think people are fascinating and there are really so many different kinds of people out there.  That are all equally as interesting and all have different stories.  I don’t think one person is better than another because we are all just as confused as the next person.  There are however people out there who are a little less confused because they have less distraction and more time to be thankful.  In 7th grade I went to an island called Elthura in the Bahamas.  I remember driving and looking out the window seeing tin shacks, those were people’s homes.  I think seeing something like that makes you understand how fortunate you really are.  Although maybe their homes were not mansions and they didn’t have expensive cars everyone on the island seemed so much happier than anyone I had ever met.  They didn’t feel as though they had nothing because they were aware that they had something and I think that is meaning.  This kind of meaning is not something you can buy and I think that’s what confuses us the most.    I think unfortunately though we are far more concerned about appearance more than anything else.  In the Frontline episode they talked about the Mook and the Midriff characters, it basically describes a superficial male and a superficial female.  We buy everything that fits these characters and put on a certain role to fulfill these characters.  We waste hour after hour on being someone who practically funds this concept of cool but at the end we feel so empty.  The answers we search so hard to find come so much easier to those who are not wasting all of this time. 

            All of these small components make up the concept of coolness.  They fuel the drive and momentum to be something none of us are.  We are all just performers in the end it feels as if there is something up their mocking us all and laughing at the fact that we can be so oblivious to our obvious mistakes.  We are so puzzled and so confused about what is true and what is false.  I am almost sure the answer is right in front of us but distraction takes over to the point where we don’t have time to pick up on it.  I’m tired of wasting my life because I know that I am, I wish there was a way to change my life but unfortunately I have a feeling its too late.  We have become brain washed by something out there and there is no turning back.  So maybe we don’t have a choice of the game we are playing and we are well aware there is no winner because in the end we will all be gone and it will be as if we were never even here.  

HW 34

"I wonder how they feel about themselves..." (Gwendolyn Brooks) I was surprised when she said that line I was expecting her to say something along the lines of, I wonder if they think they are cool for not going to school... I think the way she decided to put it however makes a whole lot more sense to finding the purpose of cool.  Having high self esteem is something we all want and I think that when someone has it their appearance and personality seems a whole lot stronger.  However even the most confident person to us may seem like they know exactly what they are doing and are positive about themselves but may have a completely different idea of themselves then what appears to an onlooker.  It seems as if most people for their whole lives try to find their purpose for being here, and so we observe all of the things around us.

One of them being other people, we have this whole idea that by looking at other people we will find the answer.  But in reality we all are so different so I don't think we are looking in the right places.  I think the reason why so many people are alike is because we observe hundreds of people every day and we pick up on traits that appear to be making the person happy.  Just as Gwendolyn Brooks was trying to say, what drives them to do the things they do...  if they can do it can't I do it too?

Today in class we were talking about maps and as much as we all have our own maps I think most peoples over lap and intertwine.  Then I started thinking about subway maps and subway routes.  We all have a different line because not one person is the same person but some of our lines have very similar ways of moving and getting to our destination.  We know that if we follow the path that people who have similar lives to us also follow we will end up just like them.  The reason why I think most people continue the same route as the people similar around them is because when we ask ourselves how they feel about themselves the answer is probably normal and satisfied.  Andy was talking about the young boy who his father tried to put on a different subway line and although it seemed to be leading him to a better destination in the future in the present it wasn't normal for the life he lived in.  The reason why there are so many lines is because different people accept different things and setting plays a huge role.  This is then why there really is no solid concrete answer to what cool is because how can you pinpoint something that has so many different lines and destinations within it.  

For some people however I think their guardians and parents play a huge role in making sure their daughter or son makes the right decision in which path they decide to follow.  For some reason when I think of this idea I think of stage moms.  Mothers who seem to be more into performing and being in the spotlight then their own child.  These mothers push their children to be something that their child might not necessarily really want.  It seems like they are reliving a dream they had and it didn't work out.  A babies mind is like a sponge, babies are not born with the ability to think for themselves and understand the difference between right and wrong, that's where parents come in.  They set up a lifestyle for a baby so that they will be normal yet satisfied.  From my own observation it seems as if parents take their own paths take out all the regrets and all the things they didn't like and make a better and more advanced path for their child.  However just because you are related to someone it does not mean you want to lead a similar life to them... but it is harder to change a path once you are in it because right from the start you have always lived a certain way.  Socially if you were to live any other way you wouldn't be accepted.  I think parents fear their child not fitting in and although they probably won't admit that it seems accurate.  Most people think being accepted means you are automatically happy, and at the end of the day that's what parents want for their children.  

As much as this might not even seem physically possible I think the only way to escape this way of living is getting off the path completely.  If you have no set destination and you just live in the moment maybe the whole concept of trying would demolish.  I think we focus so much on what is going to happen next and what already happened that when we are in the moment we don't realize what is going on.  If we are aware of the mistakes we make then we probably will make them a couple more times and then won't ever again but if you just sit there and are not fully alive in the moment how can you have any sense of reality?  People reflect and reminisce but there is a difference between remembering and living, things are not as clear when you look back on the past.  So maybe the only way to find your own sense of inner peace and "happiness" is to be for the moment and take the step forward your gut feeling tells you verses a map already laid out for you.  

HW 33

Thesis: We're stuck in a culture of celebrity worship, status obsession, and pervasive mediocrity and meaninglessness. Frankly, a truly heroic life and abundant attention from others won't be available to 98% of people - since almost all of us are trapped in meaningless jobs in a meaningless rat race watching meaningless TV shows. Facebook friends, unique tattoos, new apps on your iPhone, clothes from a hip store with semi-nude workers, vacations to exotic places, and a big screen TV provide some relief from what would otherwise be a grey hopeless misery.  (We use these illusions to help distract ourselves from the reality we all face everyday.) 

^ I like the way you wrote this and it sums up my direct take on this unit.  I added the part in parenthesises but I don't know if it is necessary.  

Body Paragraph I: Russell posted this interesting article on Facebook:

 http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/do-you-spend-too-much-time-on-facebook/  After reading it I was so blown away by the truth of the article I decided to deactivate my own Facebook.  Something that struck me to be so bizarre was while I was going through the steps of deactivating it, it seemed as if Facebook was trying to convince me not to.  It showed pictures of me and my Facebook friends and kept repeating the sentence " _______ will miss you".  As if once you are not friends with someone on Facebook you just are not friends in general anymore.  Then I had to click on exactly why I was leaving the Facebook Network and for each option they had an excuse of how to possibly still be a member but not leave.  Essentially though I deactivated it for maybe 3 or 4 days.  I felt so much happier and I felt like I had a lot more time but I didn't know what to do.  I was so used to this routine of constantly staying updated with others and never sitting down and taking the time to care about myself.  Unfortunately I couldn't handle it and I got my Facebook back...Hopefully soon I will be able to quit again but it is so much harder than just pressing delete.  

Body Paragraph II: During this unit I have come to much better terms with my strong disagreement for tattoos, I want to incorporate my HW 32 and HW 31.  Both an interview I had with one of my friends who decided to become part of this way of life and my own ideas on the pointless thing people choose to do to there bodies.  

Body Paragraph III: I want to explore even more our cultures idea of looking up to celebrities hence thinking we need the latest fancy phones, fancy places to travel and the macho TVs.  I am going to try and incorporate the book The Death of Ivan Ilych which I think is a very important book because it makes it extremely clear to people today that this whole idea of trends has been going on for a while.  Which I would like to tie into the idea of death and my own philosophy of the Jenga game.  That maybe our actions are caused by what we believe our outcomes will be based on the people surrounding us.  

Body Paragraph IIII: Lastly for my Body Paragraphs I am going to discuss the very large difference between our own culture and another countries.  How I feel as though the one thing we are looking for: why are we on this planet?  is far more closer to them then it will ever to be us.  Use examples from the Frontline episode: The midriff and the mook. 

Conclusion: Sum up all Body Paragraphs and relate back to thesis.  

HW 32

In my other  post on tattoos I interviewed my friend Ariel and I now conclude that her response is a very typical answer for one sporting a tattoo.  People with tattoos seem to be kinds of people with a lot of excuses.  They get a tattoo because they truly believe it will be make them different but in reality they end up having to proof themselves more to their peers.  What comes along with a tattoo is a lot more than the pain of getting it and the permanent mark of it all of the questionable whys...I believe that people usually question things because they don't understand the purpose of things.  So the attention people assume comes along with getting a tattoo isn't going to be positive.  When I see a tattoo that looks questionable I usually ask the person so why did you get that?  The response usually is blah blah significant blah blah meaningful blah blah I did it for ______ blah blah.  My initial thought is usually they are definitely going to regret that when they are 90 years old.  I don't see them as cooler just because they are oh so very brave and had needles stuck in them I think it looks pointless.

  

I saw the tattoo that Miley Cyrus just got...wow what a joke.  I mean I understand that her friend died from Cystic Fibrosis but with all the money she is earning wouldn't it be more helpful to donate to the organization verses basically advertising them?  Its worse than wearing a shirt with a logo every time she goes swimming she will be a swimming, sun bathing, walking billboard.  That tattoo is going to be stamped on her for the rest of her life!  It doesn't make her a hero or a better person it makes her look like she needs attention.  The attention of her tattoo takes away from why she really got and makes people question her even more.  This also gives the message out to girls who are probably around the ages of 10 - 12 that tattoos are cool and then they beg their parents to become part of this group of people who believe in tattoos.

  

This whole idea of advertising is just like the concept from the digital unit, we are such a consumer based nation, everything we do is because of something we bought.  We buy our way into everything and buy our way out of everything.  There are a lot of people who buy someone to give them tattoos and then buy another person to remove it.  If someone wants an image on there body use a permanent marker, at least it will come off if you decide 24 hours later when you realize how much you hate it.  I don't think by not having a tattoo it makes someone cooler or uncooler I don't even think about it.  I'm not like wow they don't have a tattoo LOSER! NEVER TALK TO THEM! Or even with people that have tattoos although I may not agree with their decision on purchasing a stamp it doesn't change my opinion of them.  They are just another person who is trying to be a little different than the rest and in reality we are all secretly doing the same thing.  

The Death of Ivan Ilych

 

Please discuss and analyze any other aspects of the book, of your choice, that relates to our sense of lostness, the source of our lostness, and our attempts to either cover up or fill that emptiness through heroic life and/or the approval of others.

            After I finished reading the short story I felt as if this world has little hope left.  It seems as though before a world of forward culture and easier access to gaining information to fulfilling our arch types people still lived the way we do today.   If in the 1800’s people led lives not for themselves but for the approval of their audiences what will it be like in 100 years from now?  I think at the pace we are going now people won’t know what to do with their selves.  We are such a confused species we have no idea why we are here yet we feel as though we do have a purpose.  However we are destroying the earth, that doesn’t seem like a logical purpose to me? 

            Ivan Ilych in the earlier days of his life seemed to think that the way he lived was pretty close to perfection.  After he met his wife and fell madly in love with her he still seemed “happy”, it wasn’t in till she became pregnant that they started not to see eye to eye.  This made him frustrated, he wanted to appear a certain way and yet parts of the appearance were lacking.  All he seemed to care about was making a high salary so that his arch type would stand up to those around him.  Even his wife seemed to be concerned about the amount of money her husband was making; they both thought it was the key to happiness.  Something that I found interesting was when he had begun a new job and had to move to a new home the way he decorated his home to impress.  Even though most of the things in his home were antiques he wanted to be able to look just like the person next door.  It didn’t matter if deep down inside this wasn’t really making him happy as long as what appeared to the eye looked happy that was all that mattered. 

            There was a line in the beginning of the story that caught my attention when he had passed and people were at his wake.  “The expression on the face said that what was necessary had been accomplished, and accomplished rightly.  Besides this there was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living.” (Page 97)  Essentially I think Ivan at the end of his life came to realize the mistake he had made.  I think the accomplishment was closure to meaning.  Maybe as we become closer to death we realize our waste of energy and time on things that have no significance.  Maybe the look on Ivan’s face is suppose to help guide the living since we still have time to make a change. 

 

Ivan, as almost all of us, bases his efforts in life on the map provided by his culture. The culture values "the easy, agreeable, gay and always decorous [ ...] life, approved of by society and regarded by himself as natural." What map has been provided by your family, subculture, culture? What are the main destinations and goals and plans in your life? What should the tone of your life be, according to the map you've been provided?

            We forget most of our lives the importance of turning on our facet.  We forget most of our lives that there are many people on this planet who have to find water, find food, and make shelter.  Those are the kind of people who I believe are closer to finding inner meaning.  Compared to this countries culture most people do not live the way we do.  The pressure of our culture seems to corrupt any sense of true meaning because we are all just clones.  We are all taught to think alike, dress alike, live alike.  Unlike people who actual touch the soil of the planet and feel the earth underneath them for most of our own lives finding perfection distracts us.  We waste hours envying someone or something that isn’t our own reality.   We forgot how lucky we really are and feel sorry for ourselves.  We should really be looking around and realizing how fortunate we are. 

            I think our culture has set up a map for our whole lives: birth, communication, school, good college, get degrees, get a good job, make money, get married, have babies (cycle repeats for babies), live long enough to see grandchildren, death.  That’s the way most people live, doesn’t ever mention anything about being happy or making a difference in the world.  As long as we keep this cycle going the more money can be accumulated for this country to remain wealthy.  So that we stay on top because apparently being the best and having the most makes you a better person…unfortunately as time goes on this will just get worse and worse.  Why do we fight wars, bomb other countries, what’s the purpose?  I’m tired of the government making excuses it’s the fact that we are such confused and afraid human beings that we feel the need to rule because without that sense of authority we are nothing. 

            In all honesty I have no idea what my main destinations are and goals are at this point.  I want to be able to see the whole world though because I think that when you stay trapped inside a bubble you have no idea what’s going on outside.  I think people are fascinating and there are really so many different kinds of people out there.  That are all equally as interesting and all have different stories.  I don’t think one person is better than another because we are all just as confused as the next person.  There are however people out there who are a little less confused because they have less distraction and more time to be thankful.  In 7^th grade I went to an island called Elthura in the Bahamas.  I remember driving and looking out the window seeing tin shacks, those were people’s homes.  I think seeing something like that makes you understand how fortunate you really are.  Although maybe their homes were not mansions and they didn’t have expensive cars everyone on the island seemed so much happier than anyone I had ever met.  They didn’t feel as though they had nothing because they were aware that they had something and I think that is meaning.  This kind of meaning is not something you can buy and I think that’s what confuses us the most.