Niagara Bust

Niagara Falls. Wonder of the world. Honeymoon destination. A must see before you die. But is it really, or have people romanticized the greatness of Niagara Falls?

I have always been told about Niagara Falls; it's beauty, and its uniqueness. It is really a very interesting place on earth, and I don't want to take away from that. But when you actually go there, the experience is actually not as great as it is said to be. Of course there is the actual Niagara Falls, but what happens after the five minutes you observe this wonder. "Ok, cool lots of flowing water, now to move on with my life". When you leave the waters side, you instantly notice that you are surrounded by thousands of tourists, and some of the world's tackiest souvenir shops. You may also be bumped as a smiling family moves in for a picture that will supposedly "last forever".

So even though Niagara Falls is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places on earth, it has been romanticized to the point where people percieve it as something better than it really is: a overcrowded, tacky, tourist site.

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