Teach Me How to Unplug

We as a modern world have been built around the technology that we possess. Businesses, Education, Sports, everything is about utilizing this advantage we have to get us quicker information and more entertainment.

Business today depends on the qualities of Blackberry phones and Email for quick communication. Education at New Trier uses Blackboard Academic Suite to update students with various homework and notes. Sports use the television along with the internet to satisfy even the most intense sports fans, and as good as this all seems I believe we are overwhelming ourselves with our technology.

I want to focus on the advancement of mobile technology. I see kids in the halls always hooked up to Ipods, and when out of school we are always on our cell phones. we never have down time, because we as a new generation of youth simply don't know how to. We never can find time to be alone because we are always reachable via text, and god forbid any of us ever turn are cell phones off.

It has been scientifically proven that ADD is being diagnosed more often now because of the constant need for entertainment. Also hearing loss is becoming more common due to the amount we use headphones. We don't know how to unplug ourselves, the second we get out of class, or are waiting at the bus stop we put our ear buds in. This simply gives us no time to do higher and superior thinking because our brains are always preoccupied with the music or the cell phones.

The fact that this technology is always reachable any time you want it is not progress because it doesn't let us explore our minds due to the fact that we get bored easily and want to be entertained.

Here is an article about how headphones are causing hearing loss

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/health/09brod.html?_r=1

Highlight, right click, and click on "Search Google For..."

Unecessary "Stuff"

As we approach this holiday season, I see it in a new way due to the ideals I have learned from studying Thoreau. I look at America in a different way, especially the holiday shopping. The sales, and the mayhem all seem so unnecessary when I look at it through the eyes of a transcendentalist.

Something I am getting more and more cognizant of is the immense amount of bad commercials who are trying to target people. They stress how much you need their product, and also how great of a present it would be. Really all of this is not necessary, all we need is the four life necessities: Shelter, Warmth, Food, and Fuel. But I would like to do an experiment...what do you think would happen if I got my family and friends all firewood, a blanket, some ears of corn, and cardboard boxes for shelter. What would happen? I would be hated for the poor effort of gift shopping. Today's society has adjusted to many other things as being "life's necessities" and it really isn't going to change.

It has changed from Shelter, Warmth, Food, and Feul to Ipods, Daimonds, X box's, and designer clothing. Really I don't see are world changing back to bare necessities that Thoreau discovered, and with the rush of the holidays we just need more unnecessary "stuff".

I can't stand the commercials that are being put on the air, I just don't buy it anymore. I don't need any of this stuff. Especially with the holidays every company is trying to get people to shop at their stores, and I can't believe people actually fall for these commercials and say "Wow, those poeple look like they really are in love, so I should go buy that diamond neclace." But it works because people feel like they do need this new stuff even though it is not a necessity. In a Transedentalist world I think it is safe to say that all these stores would be going out of business because they wouldn't fall for their commercials like today society does.

Here I think Jay Leno perfectly portrays that we don't need all this stuff through this Zales daimond commercial.

(Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w-FOfcySkQ

Higlight, then right click and click on "Search Google For..." to watch video

Thoreau Fashion Police

(Today's Fashion Police would not approve of his Kyle Orton neck beard)

Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden, explore many different aspects of society, and try to look at ways we over complicate things. This is shown through his journey in living in the woods for two years to find the bare necessities of life; "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean..."(Walden 72) So he believes that through simplicity man can reach his best state of mind.

One of the things he explores is the clothes we wear, and how the idea of clothing has a way different meaning than what Thoreau discovers. He makes specific claims about clothing when he says, "...the object of clothing is, first, to retain the vital heat, and secondly, in this state of society, to cover nakedness..."(Walden 16) I believe that this was true, but society abandoned this idea centuries ago. I don't like what it has done to some of the youth I see now at my high school, because it has further divided kids into groups. Many kids dress certain ways that I know are not the way they want to dress, but they do it anyway to impress their peers. whether it be different styles, or the way they wear they wear their hats, fashion has been converted into a way to judge people. Although I know it will never be possible to convert all of mankind back into clothes that just satisfy his two necessary principles, I really hate what clothes have done to people, especially the youth, because it has made kids become more self conscience of themselves also. It has gone to the point were kids become uncomfortable if they are wearing something that isn't approved by their peers. I see it everyday, whether it be in a classroom, the halls, or at lunch. Somebody, whether it be a friend of mine or not may walk in, and immediately there may recieve a rude comment of disapproval if they are wearing some piece of attire that "isn't cool". And sadly chances are even if the kid really likes that new hat or shirt, they will never wear it again to school because of the ridicule they received. So because of that I wish that we could return to clothes that satisfy only Thoreau's necessities of heat, and nakedness so that we won't have to deal with the pressures of new fashion and trends.

Internet and Positive Progress

The internet is a wonderful thing, I use it all the time, hey I'm using it now! Anyways I think that it as a whole has been one of the greatest technological advances the world has ever seen. I have access to things and people around the world, not to mention you can learn anything you want with the click of a mouse. Some may argue that the internet is actually making us more stupid. For example there is an article written by Nicholas Carr, and he claims he is now a worse reader due to the internet; "I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle"(Is Google making us stupid?, Nicholas Carr). I would argue that this whole issue comes with what age you are. Take anyone who has gone through their schooling without the internet. They may be used to looking in books, and doing much more deep reading to accomplish many of the things I can do much faster on the internet. So now they feel it hard to adapt to the new way the world works, being the internet. But me, I am growing up on the internet, I have always got my information from there, and I don't see that ever changing. So sadly I think that too many people are living in the past, and need to jump on the band wagon and stop worrying about the way they read.

The internet has been a great technological progress, it is fast, easy, and might I emphasize again, fast. I think it is necessary in todays world to use the internet, because todays society is fast paced. People want answers, and information quick, and I think that the internet is the perfect provider. So when I way the pros and cons of the internet, and if it is actually progress, I obviously think it has been positive progress. This is because I have grown up on the internet, and I personally don't see it affecting the way I read because I really have never had to "deep read" to get my information. I think as time goes on, the internet will grow larger and larger, and maintain the speed and user friendlyness that is necessary for our fast paced society.

Here is Nicholas Carr's Is Google Making us Stupid
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Dependable Declararation

We can derive many of the ideals of the American Revolution from the Declaration of Independence. One of those ideals was that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"(Declaration of Independence). But I strongly disagree that the constitution fulfilled this ideal of the revolution, and actually in attempt to fulfill this ideal it resulted in betraying other ideals. The way this happened is that under the rule of Britain there were distinct classes, such as the nobility and peasants, and power was distributed unfairly. As we
fought for independence we swore to stray away from this class system and create equality: "all men are created equal". But we think of the word "men" today as entailing all races, religions, and genders, but in the constitution it was only going to protect white men. So in doing this it created classes of different power just as in Britain: white men with full rights and protections of the constitution, blacks in slavery, and women in between. So in the attempt for equality, the constitution actually created vast amounts of inequality, thus betraying an ideal of the revolution. luckily through the power of time came American innovators who saw this gap in power thus ratifying amendments in 1865 to end slavery, and the right for women to vote in 1920. Although they were recognized by the constitution as equal, I can still argue that a sense of inequality still exists today that began with the inconsistency between the equality of the revolution and the constitution. But again time brings progress, and I believe that the election of Obama further shows that now all men are equal. And also women in my eyes are respected as much as men in society and at work. So although the ideal of equality was not fulfilled at the time of the constitution, time has brought progress to in my eyes fulfill that ideal today.

Progress

Progress has been a very prevalent word in this years presidential election. I think that it is great progress that we have elected the first non-white male president of the United States. I think that now other races will feel comfortable that they are represented, and also I think it will be refreshing to the world around us to get Bush out of office. It is amazing to think that only half a century ago, blacks were fighting for equality, and now we have an African American at the highest office in our government. That is progress. I think an important event to mark is Obama's acceptance speech. As we look at pictures we see Unity, Pride, and Joy, because what happened this year was not only progress, but I'd argue one of the greatest moments in our country's struggle with racism. It seems now that everyone can forget the past, for we have made it to the next level. "We did it" many said after the Obama victory, we as an american people accomplished something great. Looking into the future I see nothing but progress, an optimism for the future. For although I know racism is still out there, we as a nation have made a statement through electing Barack Obama, that we are Americans regardless of our skin color, gender, or religion. And that although we are all different, we have an uncanny ability to unify, and I believe that this election has proved that ideal of American life.






(Here we see pictures at Obama rally, and the pictures represent unity, and optimism for the future)

To experience the Joy and Unity of that night at Grant Park click here for Obama's acceptance speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

Extrinsic Motivation Won't Work in the Long Run

I think that the grading and level systems of new trier are very just, and have underlying meanings. the person who wants to be challenged will take the higher course and hopefully be intrinsically satisfied. but the problem is because the school is so competitive, many students focus on grades, and not the values that you would learn in the classroom. many students want to get the best grade they possibly can, with the least amount of work. So, I think that if the school were to abandon the current weighting system, many people would try to go in the two levels so that they would not have to work as hard and receive the same grade as a person in a four level. But I think I have a solution to this problem. although many students are extrinsically motivated because they want to get into a good school. but what will happen when they get a really good GPA, and because they haven't really learned, they do poorly on the ACT, or maybe even in their college classes. That is why I recommend that everyone in eighth grade who is to be enrolled in New Trier takes a test to see what levels they have to be in, and the levels that they score on the will be the levels they take at New Trier, that way people not only will have to work hard, but they will be in the right level, and the idea that people will enroll in two level classes just for GPA will be impossible.

Pragmatic New Trier

As much as I would love to live in the la la land that the idealist thinkers live in, due to my school I have developed into a very pragmatic thinker. I think this way because my life is based off a series of rules or what you can or can't do. And in these rules, when one is broken, there are consequences. So the all the things I do or say I have to think in reality what will be the outcome of this action. That is why I can't just let everything go, and dream, because I am also in a very competitive situation in my school. I need to stay realistic in my education and in my sports, or I surely will be surpassed by other students who are competing for my spot. As for later in my life I feel that this is stage one, of many ways to think. due to the competitiveness of my education, and the rules set before me I have to stay realistic, but after I pass this first stage, and I prove to my peers and to myself that I am accomplished, that I will be able to be a more idealistic thinker.

Less power is more power to the people

In the event of a perilous situation, it will never be necessary under any conditions, for us to give significantly more power to the president. I think with the whole situation he is making more enemies for the US. what are all these countries going to think of the US when we finally send all the prisoners home. they will hate our guts even more. I found an interesting article that said that they were tortured over there. it is one thing to have not trial and be stuck there, but to be tortured in short intervals of time is too much for me to handle. there better be a lot of terrorists in Guantanamo, and Bush by keeping them better be saving thousands of lives, for that would be the ultimate goal, but it is just bad because we as a country are getting a bad rep, for the actions of a president who has found a loophole, and is arguing to stay in the loophole with a very flaky argument, that "Guantanamo isn't technically part of the Us". well of course it's not, but still being part of the US's property it abides under the laws of the US constitution.

to check out an article about the innocent prisoners who returned home, check out this link:

highlight the url, right click and select the "search google for..." icon--
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/14/guantanamo.afghanistan

Perilous Similarities

As I in my American Studies class am studying perilous times, so far we have studied two. The Salem witch trials, and the Great Depression. As I thought of these two parts in history I couldn't help but thinking of the quote "History repeats itself", as do perilous times. There are many comparisons when it comes to the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare that crossed the nation shortly after World War II. Simple connections may be that in both there is a heightened sense of suspicion, even on their neighbors. And going with that in both there are rapid accusations made, even if there is no legitimate evidence except your suspicions. Another being that both these times occured right after a period where he country was unstable, one being when the country just formed, and the other after the second world war. but even more thought provoking is the similarities in the authority figures, whether it be with the court or the government. There is a strong similarity in the court room, the fact that much of the evidence wasn't cold, hard evidence. One set of evidence was based on the madness of a group of afflicted little girls, and in the 1950's they would present a claim of evidence, but then say that for national security purposes labeled it as "Top Secret", thus being indeed unpresentable for evidence.
Another two time periods that support the quote mentioned above, is that of the Great Depression and the Great Credit Crunch we are experiencing in our economy today. Keep in mind in no way is what we are experiencing now as bad as the Great Depression, I don't want to compare the actual logistics of them both, but the similarity in trying to find solutions that will help the people. This being FDR's "New Deal" that would contribute to the main goal of providing jobs for the unemployed, and to recover the economy from the Great Depression. A similar bill was passed in Congress only a few days ago in providing seven hundred billion dollars in relief. In both perilous times they are striving towards the same goal. I think that as there are bad times in the past and present, and that there will be bad times in the future, in perilous situations there will be many similarities in the people, and the authority figures.

Editorial Argument

For my Editorial I went to the most recent New York Times newspaper. It is titled One Last Chance for Energy published September 28, 2008 only one day ago from this blog post. The author makes the claim in the first paragraph by saying that the congress has made no progress in the energy policy, and indeed they have gone backwards. I think that the authors purpose is very important to the perilous times we are in concerning the environment, and through strong and specific evidence. The author takes a very logical approach to her argument, basically pointing out how the disagreements in Congress are leading to our country's demise. The author also makes it seem ethical, that it is right to notice these problems and act, rather than look the other way. She almost made me feel as a reader that I should get up and do something about it, and through this it made me trust the author which seems exactly what she is trying to get across. The author uses very interesting logic, she points out the problem, then shows a possible solution that one side of congress come up with, but then shows how the other side contradicts it, thus showing the never ending cycle that ultimately leads to nothing getting solved. It is a very interesting way to look at it, because it shows that we have good ideas of how to fix these problems, but it is a matter of everyone agreeing on a solution. For me as a just the reader it makes me feel that the government needs to figure out a solution that satisfies both chambers of congress but it is obviously easier said than done. overall, I liked the argument, it made me think, it appealed to a good audience being the average reader, and strives towards a good purpose in solving the world's energy problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/opinion/29mon2.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

City on a Hill Once Again

We have been studying the early Puritans who were the first immigrants to the New World, and through this I have learned the many ideals of their lifestyles. Along with with their belief of predestination, and their duty to be the shining city upon a hill, I could not help but wondering if there were any Puritans left?
As I thought of this question, I have pre-existing knowledge that Puritanism was just one branch of the christian faith, and that along with many of the branches there aren't many people left believing in the less popular religion. I also know that through the first chapter of The American Dream by Jim Cullen, that as the generations past the new generations were less and less like their ancestors in strength of faith. But, as concrete as this information is it seems that there obviously has to be some full bread Puritans still in the United States. After research there are some articles which show that there are some people out in United States that are still Puritans. but through my research I came up with a new question, what would Puritan Society do to our Modern Society? The economy? etc... Well to do this I think that I will take the Puritan values and relate them to modern day issues. First off America may be losing its way as a world leader, and I think I speak for all of us when we say we are always striving for the best. I think that with the Puritan sense of dedication to thier dream of being a model for the rest of the world, we need to rededicate ourselves to this notion of being the "city on top of a hill", something that Senator McCain and Obama have referenced in the future if elected president. Another part of the Puritan state is following a strict social norm. This I think would ruin something great in our society, something that defines us as people, our individualism. Not only our individualism but our great skill of having many individuals coming together to become a community. So the Puritan Society would have negative and positive effects on Modern day issues, but I think the most important is as we elect a new leader of our country we have to consider rededicating ourselves to the idea of being the "city on a hill" for the rest of the world once again.

Searching for Native American Music

As i was doing my homework i did my normal routine, ya know, do a little homework then go on facebook, then a little more, then go on itunes. So I was on Itunes and I thought it might be interesting to type "Native Americans" into the search bar on the top right of the screen and see what would come up. I was thinking of Coyote Springs in the novel Reservation Blues, and to see if any bands like them had made it big and onto Itunes. But to my surprise I did not see one band like them. In fact I don't even think any of the songs were by any legitamit artists. The things that came up were song titles like "Native American Flute I, II, and III" all sounding strangly the same. As I scrolled further down the page, I came to realize that the song titles were pretty much the same but changed to "Native Amerian Flute I and drums" with the same flute sound with a soft "indian like" drum kit in the background.
This got me thinking, what if there really are no bands like Coyote Springs. Even though they are a fictional band I think they bring a very important sound to the world's music library, and that they are a voice that needs to be heard. I have read the book and it has taught me the hardships of a Contemporary Native American, and the view point of the native american narrative that needs to be told to the world. It just got me thinking, that we need to experience Indian culture to understand thier problems and to help them, and a perfect way to do this is to listen to their music.

First Post 9/3/08

this is the first post