Thanksgiving Tradition

This Thursday was Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving all!

When dissecting the holiday many people bring up how history got it wrong with the indians and pilgrims having a big, awesome feast.  I think the most interesting part of this holiday are the traditions.  For most other holidays each family has individual traditions, for example every Christmas my family and I drive around with popcorn to see everyone's Christmas lights on display.  But Thanksgiving is a different holiday because the majority have very similar traditions.  The traditional turkey dinner, with stuffing and sweet potatoes, cranberries and gravy.  They all sit around a large, done-up table for at least 45 minutes and go around saying things that they are thankful for.  These are the typical Thanksgiving traditions of the American family.

Until this Thanksgiving my family had followed these traditions to the letter.  We would cook a giant turducken (kind of the same as a turkey but it is a chicken in a duck in a turkey), the table would be all set, we would each go around and say what we are thankful for and then eat till we feel like we will explode.  This year was different.  With my dad's extended family measuring 15 people this year, and spending Christmas at a rented house in New Jersey, the traditional meal was no longer practical.  

When my mother first told me that we would eat Thanksgiving at a restaurant I was shocked.  I thought it ruined the whole 'spirit' of the holiday.  But in actuality it was one of the best Thanksgivings.  When we got to the restaurant we had the choice of the traditional meal, or ordering off of a menu.  To my surprise, my dad and aunt were the only people to order the traditional option.  Everyone else got pasta, steak, soup, or even sushi (my brother actually did get sushi for Thanksgiving)!  When I asked why after dinner, most everyone confessed that they didn't actually like the whole meal of Thanksgiving.  If the Thanksgiving meal isn't one everyone enjoys than why is it continued year after year?  Are traditions a reflection of society or a counter to the typical tastes and practices of modern life?  And if they are the later why do we as a society keep them up?

Preggo

Hey everyone reading my blog! This is an informal post but it would be great if you could check out my brother's movie: Preggo! I think you all will really like it! You can get to it through youtube on the link below (but no pressure I swear)! Thanks!

Click hereto view!

Harry Potter 7

Like a large percentage of New Trier students, I saw Harry Potter 7: Part 1 at midnight on Thursday.  And like a complete nerd I dressed up, but that is not the point of this blog post.  In class these past weeks we are working on connecting the Crucible to a 'perilous times' period in America's history.  We are using civil liberties limitations to connect our war to the witch trials in the crucible.

I am in the group of the Cold War and it was my job to discuss Senator Joe McCarthy (for background information on the senator click here). A word that appeared often in my research was McCarthyism.  This word did not just apply to that specific era in history but is applied whenever there is endorsement of unfair accusation and evidence against a group of people.  I started to think about the connotations of linking to certain events in history.

I noticed during several instances in Harry Potter that the army for the Ministry of Magic wore red armbands.  The movie mentioned how the government wanted a "pure-blood" society, and the government was seen making propaganda posters against the half-blood and 'mud-blood' wizards.  If you haven't already guessed, there is a very clear link to the Nazi government and their soldiers.

This link evoked a strong emotion towards the actions, that would not have been evident without the link.  It gave a tangible connections to previous thoughts and feelings and applied them to this situation.  It told the audience how to think.  The connotations of Nazis is pure evil.  How does this transfer to the view we are told to have of the Ministry?

How do links to real world events strengthen or weaken fictional stories?  How do connotations applied to the events linked affect the way the work is received?

Blogging About Blogging

When I first heard that a major part of our AS class this year was going to be our blog, I was really apprehensive.  First, I am not the most technology driven person- I find it to be a great accomplishment when I get a DVD to actually play on the TV.  Also I didn't watch the news or have any constant flow of outside information.  I told myself that I didn't have time but I really just didn't want to take the effort to check for it.  This lack of following the news early on in the year is reflected in my early blog posts.  In my first three blog posts (Is There Such a Thing as Coincidence, The Means Not the End, and The Most Interesting) I did not reference a single news story.  All of the blog posts were based off of my personal experiences and event. And while this is not an entirely negative blog topic, it severely limited my audience.  As I have written more blogs, I continue to link them to more modern universal issues.  For example my blog post Connotations of Actions talks about the acceptance of gay and lesbians, which is a topic very present in the news today.  

A similarity between my different blog posts is that I always directly relate them to the main topic in class.  I will always write my blog post after looking at my class notes for the week and then finding an article online to support it.  A change to my blog that I would like to see in the future is finding a news topic or article before linking it to class.  By doing that I would be able to widen my topics in my blog and go deeper into our class discussions then just "in class we have been talking a lot about connotations of different words" (Connotations of Actions) or "in class this week we started talking about our interview subjects" (The Most Interesting).  By digging deeper than just the direct topic in class discussions I will be able to address many different topics and have empathy for my readers other than just fellow AS students.

My favorite part of the blogging process has been the commenting.  I often comment on my peer's blog before I comment on my own.  In the beginning of the year I was very cautious to not disagree with someone or make them feel bad.  Now I feel confident challenging the statements of my classmates and enjoy when they challenge what I have to say.  Commenting also continues a discussion on a topic that not everyone could have time to voice their opinions on in class.

Overall I have really enjoyed blogging.  Although sometimes it is a pain to log on and try to get inspired, more and more often I am getting ideas for blog post in everyday life and without even trying.  Blogging has got me to look at stories with a more critical eye and be wary of what I read and see.

The blog post I would like you to grade is my most current blog post, Creative Liberty or "A Million Little Lies".  It was posted on Sunday, October 24, 2010.

Creative Liberty or "A Million Little Lies"

In class this week we were just assigned a new project.  As excited as we all were (just a little touch of sarcasm- haven't yet mastered the art of an innuendo in the written word), this new project was actually intriguing.  We were told to find specific evidence of differences in Frederick Douglass's three memoirs:  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and finally The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1892).  When reading the three separate excerpts, Dani (my partner) and I were shocked and confused to find that as time went on the narrative edits got more and more detailed.  By the time forty-seven years had past, Douglass's memoir had nearly doubled in size.  And as I have gathered from personal experience, I am pretty sure that people's memories work opposite from that and didn't understand how that could happen.

While talking about the different levels of detail in the memoirs with Dani, I remembered from about seven years ago the book, A Million Little Pieces.  It was a book about James Frey's personal journey dealing with the hardships of overcoming a severe alcohol and drug addiction.  I also remember that it was 'all the rage' and even appeared on Oprah's Book Club.  I also remember the controversy surrounding the book that surfaced later.  After checking to see if his story checked out factually, many (including Oprah) were stunned to find out that many of the experiences vividly described in the memoir were completely fabricated.  James Frey now includes an apology to readers in the first few pages of the book (see Amazon link above).  When I was a young girl I could not understand what would drive someone to do such a thing.  But now that I am older (and somewhat wiser) I believe I understand.  He did it to add a shock element. He did it so his journey would be extreme.  He fabricated all of those hardships in order to seem like a more reliable source.  By exaggerating how bad he had it he made sure that his story would not be one to be looked over.  He wanted it to be a lesson and a warning, he wanted it to make a distinct point and so he fabricated evidence in order to make it unforgettable.
 
Now, I am not saying that Frederick Douglass has fabricated his story in order to make it more believable; I truly believe that the events described in the narrative are actually those of Frederick Douglass.  But what I am unsure about is how much 'creative liberty' Douglass took when fleshing out his memoir.  In the span of forty-seven years much is forgotten yet his narrative nearly doubles in size.  How much is actual memory and how much is exaggeration in order to set the scene or make his point.  How much more willing are authors to add details that they cannot verify themselves in order to prove something?  How does the author's agenda shape their writing?

Connotations of Actions

In class we have been talking a lot about connotations of words.   We have been discussing the difference between whitewashing a house or fence to rid the paint (denotation) or the unification and cover up of something that is embarrassing or looked down upon (connotation).  I started to think about not only connotations of words but actions as well.  When I was checking my email (on AOL) in my news feed an article came up titled Study: Gay Parents More Likely to Have Gay Kids.  This article talks about a recent study to prove whether or not being gay is a nurtured way of life.  It mainly features two men and a women: Walter Shumm, the researcher, Paul Cameron, an strong anti-gay voice in research, and Abbie Goldberg, a psychology professor.  Instead of focusing on the research itself the article focuses mainly on the connotations of doing the research in the first place.  Abbie Goldberg remarks that, "The fundamental problem with this [type of meta-analysis] is such samples tend to be biased".  If the results have a direct relation to the data sample pool, it is possible for the researcher to skew the results in their direction.  The connotations of performing this test with this result imply the researcher is against gay adoption or rights.  The research made me wonder how do connotations of actions differ from connotations of words? And how does the personal aspect of connotations of actions affect the way we view others?  

What is Ideal?

This past weekend my friend and I were bored and so we bought a movie called The Joneses.  It was the story of a 'family' of individuals hired as salesmen for companies.  These people pretended to be the perfect family so that everyone would want what they had.  The group of people never had any problems, were never unsure of themselves and lived life in the most 'ideal' way possible.  Just by being the most flawless family everyone in the neighborhood wanted to be exactly like them.  The whole neighborhood tried to copy this family because they were the epitome of what happiness meant.  The family itself was product placement.
In class this week we started talking about teachers and students.  Mr. Bolos brought up that studies show that teachers believe that the ideal student should be docile.  They believe that the 'ideal' student should be calm, passive and nonthreatening.  This movie and study got me thinking about what ideal means to different people.  In the movie, ideal meant the most money and clothes without any problems or anything that abnormal, and according to Mr Bolos' study the ideal student is very much the same.  Has the capacity to learn and is very generic and calm without being intimidating or rebellious.

Is there a definition of ideal that is universal to all people and situations?  Is the ideal person also the least variable and abnormal?  If this is true, how does our society reflect what is desired?

Social Barriers

When reading the prologue of the Studs Turkel book "Division Street" we talked about natural and conscious barriers.  We learned about the barriers around Hyde Park in Chicago and talked about how those barriers were made with a purpose, dealing both with class and poverty.  When I was looking for inspiration for tonight's blog post (while checking my email) I saw an interesting video highlighted in AOL news.  Here is the link Divorce Advertisement.

It is basically a Florida commercial advertising a divorce lawyer.  I was shocked when I saw this.  I was shocked about the abruptness of the commercial itself but I was mostly shocked that had a never seen a commercial for a divorce lawyer before.  And then I realized I had never seen ads for many socially taboo organizations.  I had never seen a commercial for an abortion clinic and had never seen any ads for a funeral home.  There are many aspects about these topics that would go against what we see as normal and acceptable topics.  The social structure of the American society itself acts as a conscious barrier against out of the ordinary or taboo topics.  Just like the city planners made a premeditated and planned decision to separate Hyde Park from the rest of the neighborhood, the ads that the public are privy to are consciously determined by the American society and what they consider to be acceptable topics.

The Most Interesting

In class this past week we starting talking about our interview subjects.  We talked about how the best subjects are those who will keep talking- especially in story form.  And although Mr. Bolos and O'Connor made it clear that everyone has a story, the main topic on my mind and I am sure many other students was, "How do we find someone who is interesting enough to interview?".  I got bogged down in who I would choose.  I looked for war veterans, people who had experienced disaster and those who had an obvious definitive moment.  I was sure that the best stories would be the most drastic.  I didn't stop to think that the most obvious stories might not be the most interesting.  Although the story itself might be fascinating, the tone of the interview could be very impersonal.  For someone who has repeatedly been asked about a time in their life might lose that personal connection which comes with discovering unrehearsed emotions.  I was so sure that the best interview would involve a dramatic tale that I forgot that the best stories are those that provide a personal connection.
Do we as a people define how interesting people are by their experiences?  In all magazines the interviews revolve around those who are famous for being in movies, breaking records and changing lives on a drastic level.  But I believe some of the most interesting stories, that provide the most accurate outlook on personal life, do not come from the extra-ordinary people in this world.  They come from the personal stories of those who are unrehearsed.

The Means Not the End

This past week in AS we were talking about how to ask questions without true answers.  Our teacher Mr. O'Connor said, "A question with a correct answer isn't a question worth asking".  From years of experience I knew what he meant.  When I was younger and very stubborn (the latter hasn't changed much) I never understood why when doing math problems the teacher was so insistent on showing work.  I believed that if I got the answer then the rest of the problem was irrelevant.  I didn't understand that the answer was not the important part of the question.  The concept and the decisions and actions that brought me to that conclusion were more important.   The teacher didn't care if x= -3 or 2; how I went about factoring the original problem was what concerned them.  I thought that the means to and end were irrelevant but they were the actual problem itself.  And (I kind of hate myself for linking it to this, but it makes sense) maybe the cheesy pop song 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus (or  Hannah Montana) actually had a point.  The answer is not the solution, it is the getting there that answers the question.

Is There Such A Thing As Coincidence?

The idea of forensics science has always fascinated me.  The interest stemming early from Law and Order marathons with my mom and transferring to CSI seasons for Christmas, the whole idea of the work was incredibly interesting.  And to not get creeped out or think I am entirely morbid, the gruesome and creepy deaths were not the reason the show held so much intrigue.  The reason that those shows kept me watching was that the way the scientists pieced together the puzzle of someone's life was all so simple and clean.  Everything that the person owned had meaning to who they were. Every single object helped get the team one step closer to solving the mystery.  There were no random artifacts that the people owned, nothing ambiguous or pointless, it all made sense.  

A common line heard in these shows, usually right before a dramatic commercial break is, "I don't believe in coincidences".  The majority of the time it is uttered by the main brooding character as he finally puts the murder all together.  The characters in the show never have objects or friends just to have them.  On television there is no coincidence.  But I believe that real life is another story.

In American Studies, our first assignment was to work in groups to write a biography on the life and death of a teacher we had never known.  Through various artifacts and interviews we had to piece together an entire man's life.  Most of the objects at our disposal were very useful.  An ad for another member of a band, a CD, and a student ID card all helped us figure out our late teacher.  But many of the artifacts were misleading.  A rubber mouth didn't mean that Mr. Bolos was a dentist, it didn't mean that it meant something to his family, unpredictably the mouth was just there- belonging to a speech therapist friend, having nothing to do with Mr. Bolos.  

Not everything people own means something important to them.  I believe that there are coincidences and in order to properly find information about some one's life, one needs to be able to except that people have things or do things just because.  

My First Post

Hello anyone reading my blog.  This is my first blog post ever so this is my initiation into the world of online composition notebooks.  Good luck to me and enjoy!