Un-TV

What is so appealing about coming home, sitting at the table, and wasting an hour or two in front of the TV? Have you ever really watched TV? It's the same thing over and over again! Opening credits, intro music, insert plot line here, creative camera angle, voice over, end credits. It's not a productive way to spend your day. Yet, the first thing I do every day when I get home is head for the television. It's not like I don't have more important things to be doing, but it's become cool to watch TV. Everyday we interact with other people and when we run out of real things to say to one another the go to is, "did you see what was on (insert mind numbing TV program name here) last night?!?!?!" We are compelled to watch TV by this false sense accomplishing something. As if now that I've watched Ted and Marshall have a sword fight in their apartment I'm somehow a more intelligent individual....? In actuality, all we do when we watch TV is enter a world that does not exist and remove ourselves from social interaction. You can't talk to someone while they're watching 'their show.' O QUIET; it's back! I want to hear this....ok sorry.

Shaping a Life

In class we've been discussing the metaphor of the growing man. Obviously, the physical growth of a baby into an adult is impressive, but it is an individual's capacity to develop beyond that which is impressive. Over the course of a lifetime, babies mature into functioning members of society. They take in their surroundings and learn from their environment, only to then develop their own unique personality and traits. These characteristics are largely influenced by the company we hold; through socialization, individuals do not necessarily develop new characteristics, but rather ones they have seen others exhibit. It's pretty easy to see this in younger children, but it's interesting to think of the effects of socialization on older individuals. For example, after spending a few hours with another person who laughs or talks in an interesting way, I have caught myself using their speech pattern or imitating their laugh. It's usually noticeable and does not effect my life very much, but it just goes to show that the people around us never stop influencing our lives.

Tuesdays with Maurie-Work

In Tuesdays with Mauri, Mitch's ideals about work are admirable. He is both dedicated and and driven. However, as the movie continues we see the adverse outcomes of his addiction to his work. While most people would agree that being interested in your work is healthy, it becomes apparent that Mitch is so involved in his work that it is ruining his social life. Whereas we begin the movie admiring Mitch, we soon come to realize that he deserves only our pity. Everything Mitch does is deadlines and individual work. Mitch is constantly short on time and seems indefinitely stressed. This seems a lot like the mentality many high schoolers exhibit. If we are so consumed with our studies, and worrying about our studies, what room do we leave ourselves to develop as healthy individuals? Won't our social interactions suffer? Do we want to give up a lifetime friendship for an A? What we really need is to be able to recognize the line; the very narrow division between caring too much and being lazy.

This would be safer blind folded

This past summer I spent 7 weeks in Israel. Aside from the obvious culture shock, one of the most difficult things to learn was that Israeli's are crazy drivers. Stop lights warn you before they turn green so you can prepare to floor it, stop signs are a suggestion, and the turnabout is used to make sure people slow down on turns. People blaze through intersections and mopeds drive in between traffic. Clearly this presents itself as an issue, especially if you need to get the the awesome Italian restaurant across the street. The key to crossing the road is timing. Lights change quickly and you need to cross the street with a sense of purpose. The question arises, would it be easier to just cross anywhere in the street, do I need an intersection? Interestingly, J-walking is severely punished. There's actually quite a large fine because it really is so dangerous to cross the street.