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.