Crowdology: Get a Pen and Paper, Your Test Will Not be Open-Book!
I am an easily frustrated person. I am also creative, charitable, funny (at least I think so), and an animal lover, so don’t hold it against me. There is something about being in the middle of large crowds that turns my mild frustration into pure anxiety and rage. I don’t think I have a phobia, nor social anxiety. Those would both suggest that I develop this feeling for apparently no reason, and I assure you there is a reason! I think I just get worked up over people who don’t know how to act in a social setting. So for those of you who were, perhaps, not taught as a child what is acceptable and unacceptable whilst in a crowd, please take out your college rule and a pencil and jot down some notes. Do it for the rest of us, we beg of you!
Rule #1—On the Road
Road rage is a term we all know and I’m sure have felt (perhaps not acted upon) at one point in our lives. And for me the main cause of this rage is the result of one “driving don’t”: staying in the passing lane. In case you were never told, the far left lane on the highway is reserved for passing slower moving cars in front of you. It is not your own special VIP lane meant for you to drive 5 MPH under the speed limit in. There is a reason there is no one in front of you and a line of cars a mile long behind you. People in the passing lane mean business, and if you are in the way of them getting around the little old lady next to you there might be repercussions. This being said, whipping around the slow mover on the right hand side isn’t going to solve the problem either. Once one car begins this trick, the rest begin to follow, leaving our slow-moving-passing-lane-car stuck in the passing lane. Instead try this trick: creep up within inches of the slow-mover, and when the opportunity comes for the car to get over and let you pass wave your arms frantically (out the window if possible, making a violent pointing motion) until they get the hint. The cars behind you will be forever grateful.
Rule #2—At the Game
Section 1. Seat Kicking
St. Louis is a huge baseball town, and nothing is quite like a night at the ballpark: the open air, the beer in my hand, the crack of the bat hitting the ball…the incessant kicking of my chair?? Nothing is more annoying than someone in your space…anywhere. I don’t need a perpetual tapping on the back of my chair, nor do I want your feet by my shoulder, nor you belongings hitting me in the head. Get you stuff, sit down, and do your best not to touch anyone around you. Simple enough.
Section 2. Seat Stealing
It is common practice at sporting events to buy cheap tickets, and then move down to better empty seats. A polite person would wait until a bit of the game has past to ensure that the patrons processing the tickets to said-good-seat aren’t just running late. But if you are impatient enough to pull for that better seat before the game starts, don’t play like you misread your ticket. If I come down to my seats, I don’t want your excuses. Just tell me you were hoping to get a better seat and you’re sorry. We’ve all done it! And above all, NEVER tell me, “Oh, well someone was in our seats,” while you remain sitting. I don’t care if the Pope himself is sitting in your seats eating Cracker Jacks, get out of my seat! It isn’t musical chairs, it’s a ball game!
Section 3. Leaving/ Returning to Seats
This next section is not just to help you avoid being rude, but in some games (i.e. hockey) it is for your safety. DO NOT leave or return to your seat until there is a break in the game. Not only is it rude to stand up, blocking everyone’s view of an on-going game, but in some games you could get hit with debris from the game. Think before you leave to go tink!
Section 4. Extra Exit Procedure Bonus!
When leaving a sporting event, mobs tend to flock towards the exits. This can be particularly time consuming when there are winding stairs or ramps involved. If this is the case, always veer toward the outside of the crown. When doing down winding stairs or ramps, everyone always huddles toward the turn because there is less distance from level to level. However, all those people crammed together make the process much slower. If you veer to the outside of the turn you might be physically walking a bit farther, but the crowd is more dispersed and you will get out sooner!
Rule #3—At the Amusement Park
Amusement Parks are places of many cultures, as visitors frequently go for a day of fun. Know, first off, that personal space differs from culture to culture—person to person—but amusement parks are hot, people sweat, and I don’t want to smell you, so give the people around you adequate space. When walking around the park, please do not stop mid-walk to admire something. There is a certain flow to the traffic, and you stopping in your tracks right in front of me might end up with you wearing my funnel cake. Just like in driving, pull over to the side before you stop. (This rule is basically translated to any area with a defined walkway: i.e. malls, grocery stores, school hallways).
Rule #4—In the Grocery Store
There is something about grocery stores that makes folks throw everything they ever learned about being in a social situation out the window. There’s a lot of ground to cover here, so I’ll try to go quick:
- If you can’t handle your children, don’t bring them to the grocery store!
- If you see someone trying to get something out of the area you are clearly blocking with your cart, move it!
- Don’t come barreling out of the aisles like a Mack Truck. There are other shoppers in the store, so stop and make sure your negligent driving isn’t going to kill one.
- If you’re in the “20 Items of Less” lane, you better have 20 items or less.
- Thank the deli lady.
Rule #5—At the Movies
Don’t talk! It’s as simple as that, yet I have been to so many movies that were ruined by a talker. Don’t do it.
That’s all I have for you for now. I don’t want to over-load you. I will try to post more as they become blatantly apparent in my life. OR feel free to comment and leave a “morons in society” pet peeve of your own!
A Man Pointed a Gun at me Today!
Well, not a real gun…he made a gun with he hand, jerked his hand back as if actually feeling the kick-back, and made a “psheeeeewwww!” sound. Oh, and we were driving at 75 MPH down a highway this morning at 6:30am.
Maybe I should back track. I was on my way to work today, coffee in hand, music cranked up, when I got stuck behind a school bus in the fast lane (I mean really, aren’t there laws against this? For the children’s sake of course). It was early, the back seat of my car was filled with boxes so my rear-view vision wasn’t the best. I merged into the next lane (since the right lane was now flying past this bus in the left lane and he seemed to have no intent on moving himself over) and apparently I merged a little too close to the guy behind me. No brakes were slammed, no swerves were needed, I just ended up a little closer to the front end of his car than most would prefer. Opps!
In reaction to this mis-step, the 60-something man in a tattered red convertible (top down, on the highway at 6:30am….driving into a storm. Are we over-compensating for something or just plain stupid?) whips around me, slows down as he approaches me, turns his head (eyes off the road for a good 10 seconds, excellent example of superb driving you’re showing me there, Bub!), and air shoots me!!!
I was astonished. The finger, the kickback, I could even see his mouth make the sound effect. Did this man really want to kill me for changing lanes? I mean I live in the city, and I’ve heard of some pretty pointless shooting, but lane change? I am a good person, sure I’m driving like crap today, but no one is perfect. I AM a good person! I volunteer for charity, I educate middle school youth, I strap a smile on my face and serve tyrants of America food, I bring my boyfriend dinner at work (ok, that was just once), I am a freakin’ saint!! And yet this man wants to write it all off over a traffic move. It seemed like such a little gesture, but it really bothered me the whole way to work. Who would do such a thing, this was someone’s grandpa out on the road threatening drivers, true drivers who might not be at their best, in his mini crimson death mobile.
Five minutes later, and a few miles up, I saw the familiar glowing of red and blue cops lights and I prayed for karma to have this man in cuffs…or at least pulled over for speeding, something that would actually BE worth getting upset over. But, in the end, it wasn’t him. He made a break for it…and I guess he will never know just how good of a person I really am (apart from my half hazard driving).
The Grad School Conspiracy
I am a minority. I am a middle class white woman, but I am a minority in my subcategory…at least I feel like it. I am one of the few middle to upper class 20-somethings I know who is not going to grad school. And if I didn’t feel it necessary as an educator to further my education, I wouldn’t go. I would petition against it and all it has come to stand for.
Why is it that a college degree is not enough anymore? Is it because we are striving to be better, because we were raised in a highly competitive environment in which our parents expected only the very best causing us to cheat, lie, and sometimes consume prescription drugs to get the grade that will satisfy? Or is it that in this time of economic crisis we are putting off “adulthood” and signing up for grad school, as if we were signing up for the army, and therefore making the prestige of having a Master’s degree obsolete?
As for us moving on the grad school simply because we aren’t confident we’ll get a job in these dire times: I understand that times are tough, but for us as students, putting off the working world is not going to make it better. Transitioning from a college student to a working stiff sucks no matter when you do it. We all have that realization that we no longer belong on the college campus, and yet we feel like we don’t yet belong in the working world. It happens, and you can’t make it disappear forever with another tuition check. Have a little self-confidence and conviction, and stick your neck out for once. Yes, you have been told at every single point in your life exactly what to do…up until now. It’s true that no one can tell you want to be but you, but you have to try. At some point Mom and Dad won’t be around to tell you what to do, so you must venture off on your own now. Make some mistakes, take some crappy jobs, have some bad interviews, and make something of yourself already!!
And for those who feel grad school necessary to excel in your job, I say shame on you universities. I blame the colleges for making graduate admissions a piece of cake, and advertising grad school as something that everyone can take part in. If everyone is doing it, what makes it so special? This trickles down to the working world, who can blame companies for requiring or “highly encouraging” masters degrees when 99% of the people who walk through their doors have a masters? I blame the schools for being greedy, I blame them for making us believe we can afford more higher education as they sky-rocket tuition rates, I blame them for making the working world that much harder for the rest of us. Even in education, sure I plan to get my masters–I feel it’s my responsibility to further my learning and my teacherly self–but do I really need a masters in anything-at-all to teach junior and senior level English? Because we all know it’s not work experience, classroom experience, or life experience that makes someone a good employee…it’s the piece of paper hanging from their wall.
On a side note, my friend Amy has made it clear that I might be harping on the wrong point here. It’s not that I don’t believe in bettering your education, and for many of the goal-setting, high-achieving people I know, grad school is a necessity. My problem is with the universities in themselves, creating a demand for master’s degrees and tarnishing the hard work that actually goes into receiving a BMA in something a little more challenging than underwater basket weaving.
Can’t Ignore the Olympics…Really, no Matter How Hard You Try
A little Olympic rundown if you will. Dedicated to Amanda, the most passionate and enthusiastic Winter Olympic watcher I know!
Lindsey Vonn Wins Gold…and Her Husband is “Impressed”
Lindsey Vonn won gold last night in the women’s downhill…while many other women simply wiped out. She was ecstatic, as she should be. But was it just me, or was her husband seriously unimpressed. I mean, he said, “That was impressive,” but it was in the most monotone voice. And I’m sorry, impressive? Was my 90 mile-an-hour downhill skiing not that impressive to you before? I’m sure he meant well, but if I just won a gold metal after three different women face-planted at 75 MPH on the ice, I’d expect a little more than, “Sweet…that was impressive.” You better believe it was impressive buddy! Don’t patronize me! Just sayin’….
Now You Can Own Norwegian Curling Pants Too!
After the Norwegian curling team took the ice with their Al Czervik (i.e. Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack) inspired curling pants, the pants caused such a Twitter ruckus, the manufacturer immediately put them online here to sell. You’re welcome!
Male Skating, the New “Hot” Sport?
Best Week Ever is one fantastic website to get daily humorous blurb about the ongoing of pop culture. Today they featured this article about this year’s male figure skaters. Has anyone else noticed??
Is Anyone Out There Considering the Great Triumph it is to MAKE it to the Olympics Before They Judge Lindsey Jacobellis…Again?
Lindsey Jacobellis came back to the Winter Olympics this year after a heart-breaking should-have-been-gold-place run last year. Jacobellis led the race, and after hot-dogging her last jump fell into second place for a tarnished silver. This year much media frenzy has been spent on Lindsey’s story: how she will perform, whether she deserves gold or not, how to/not to act when running an Olympic snowboard cross race, and more of the sorts. And on Tuesday night she raced again…coming in fifth and not qualifying for finals. The media went crazy. Read this article Lisa Holmes wrote questioning why one small mistake tarnishes an Olympians career forever—or at least until they make a remarkable “come back” performance and then the media covers that for 3 weeks straight.
Nothing to do With the Olympics, but Good News: Sarah Silverman Can in Fact get Fired up!
It doesn’t seem like there would be much that could offend Sarah Silverman, but apparently fat jokes about women and getting married are the ticket. She speaks avidly about both topics, claiming that we live in a world where overweight men are still loveable men, however overweight women are seen as disgusting. Regarding marriage, she doesn’t see why anyone would do in this day and age but not for the reason you might think. She compares marrying while gay people still can’t is comparable to joining a 1960s country club that still bans Jews and blacks. See more of her interview here.
“Dear John”…aka “The Notebook 2″
I, along with 90% of the “Miley Cyrus nation”, ventured to the movie theaters this past weekend to see, what is being regarded as the next great American love story of our time, Dear John. The theater full of tweens bouncing from seat to seat, screaming at the sight of Channing Tatum’s bare chest was enough to send me home—that and the near constant blue glow that filled the theater, as patrons texted each other throughout the entire movie. No, this, although annoying, I could have overcome had I walked out of the theater feeling I had in fact witnessed the next great American love story.
But I didn’t. Instead, I saw a re-enactment of a previously filmed great American love story—The Notebook. Another novel adapted to film by the same author, Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook is one of those movies every woman loves (and every man shivers in fear when in the presence of). I’m not blaming Sparks here, plenty of movies have been butchered when making the transition from paper to reel (see also: The Lovely Bones), but someone dropped the ball. These are not mere coincidences and quite frankly I did not pay $9 to see a reenactment of a movie I own with worse acting. (Please note, if you’re planning to go see Dear John please stop reading here as I do not want to ruin it for you).
| Dear John | The Notebook |
| 1. Out of sorts guy meets overly friendly, overly ambitious girl. | 1. Out of sorts poor guy meets overly friendly, overly ambitious rich girl. |
| 2. Fall in love in a ridiculously short amount of time. | 2. Ditto |
| 3. Love is blinded by the fact that you are living at the beach and have no real responsibility | 3. Same, except Noah is working pretty hard over at the lumber yard. |
| 4. Guy has single, slightly awkward father—girl wins him over. | 4. Guy has single, not-so-traditional father who girl wins over. |
| 5. There is a fight, guy has to leave so they write. | 5. There is a fight, girl has to leave, so HE writes. |
| 6. Girl can’t take the distance and eventually moves on. | 6. Girl can’t take the loss of her summer love and eventually moves on. |
| 7. Guy is in army. | 7. Guy joins army. |
| 8. Guy becomes incredibly obsessed with the army to keep his mind off the girl. | 8. Same thing, but with the house. |
| 9. Guy’s dad dies. | 9. Guy’s dad dies. |
| 10. Couple reunited for awkward “you moved on but I never really did” dinner | 10. There are literally LINES from this scene in the Notebook that are used in Dear John!! |
Bad acting, lack of aging over a seven-year span, and horrible ending aside (literally, the entire theater shared a collective “That’s it?!” when the movie credits began to roll) I still couldn’t get over the glaring similarities. Insult me with bad plot lines, let me roll my eyes at your poor casting choices (I’m mean really, whose cousin-owed-a-favor was “Tim” anyway? He is in no way believable as a man capable of stealing our leading lady’s heart), but when you spoon feed me exact scenes and lines I have paid to see before…that is where I draw the line.
“It Ain’t Over ’til it’s Over.”~Yogi Berra
Smith Magazine wants to know, can you sum up your life in six words? Easier said than done, right? If you had to pick six words to totally, utterly, and completely describe your life so far, what would they be? Perhaps six single, strong, well thought out words, all epitomizing one of your special attributes. Perhaps a witty phrase you know. Or maybe a metaphor, something that seems so simple but truly goes deeper—possibly even deeper than the reader can think to go. It might be a confession, a release, or a joyous exclamation.
All of this talk came from the recent release of the book It All Happened in an Instant, a collection of six word memoirs written by famous writers…and others. This is a follow-up book to the original Not Quite What I Was Planning. These books hardly innovated six-word memoirs (the short and sweet at least). Inspiration Ernest Hemingway wrote his memoir as this: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Here is a sample of a few others that can be found in the book:
Told you I’d be published someday!—Kacie Adams
Insomniac dreamer: a thousand times goodnight.—Elisa Shevitz
I picked passion. Now I’m poor.—Kathleen E. Whitlock
So would you believe me anyway?—James Frey
Found on Craigslist: table, apartment, fiancé.—Becki Lee
After cancer, I became semi-colon.—Anthony R. Cardno
Acting is not all I am.—Molly Ringwald
Shirt: souvenier. Shoes: Walmart. Soul: PRADA.—Astrid Muller
Normal person becomes psychotic on Twitter.—Robin Slick
Alzheimer’s: meeting new people everyday.—Phil Skversky
Yale at 16, downhill from there.—Anita Kawatra
Black in America and loving it.—David Cummings (author notes that this was written before Obama was elected)
Full circle: morgue tech becomes obstetrician.—Andrea Skorenski
It ain’t over til it’s over.—Yogi Berra
**So I want to know, what are your six-word memoirs?? Comment below!**
“It Must be Very Powerful to be a Girl if Everyone is Taught not to be One.”
An interesting and inspirational article from Eve Ensler
CNN.com
* * * * * *
Girl Power Can Save the World
The future is “girl.” Imagine girl is a cell that each of us — boys and girls — are born with. Imagine this girl cell is central to the evolution of our species and an assurance of the continuation of the human race.
Now imagine that a few powerful people, invested in owning this world, understood that the oppression of this cell was key to retaining their power, so they reinterpreted this cell, undermining its value and making us believe that it is weak. They initiated a process to crush, eradicate, annihilate, humiliate, belittle, censor, reduce and kill off the girl cell.
This was called patriarchy.
Imagine girl is a chip in the huge microcosm of our collective consciousness, which is essential to the balance, wisdom and future of humanity.
Imagine that girl is the part of each of us that feels compassion, empathy, passion, intensity, association, relationship, emotion, play, resistance, vulnerability, intuitive intelligence, vision.
Imagine that compassion informs wisdom. That vulnerability is our greatest strength. That emotions have inherent logic and lead to radical saving action.
Now remember that those in power essentially taught us and conditioned us to believe the opposite:
Compassion clouds your thinking.
Vulnerability is weakness.
Emotions are not to be trusted.
Don’t take things personally.
To be a boy means not to be a girl.
To be a man means not to be a girl.
To be strong means not to be a girl.
To be a woman means not to be a girl.
To be a leader means not to be a girl.
It must be very powerful to be a girl if everyone Is taught not to be one.
Having traveled the planet for 12 years, visiting more than 60 countries and living in the rape mines of the world, I have been with girls. I have witnessed their realities.
I have seen girls with knife wounds and cigarette burns, treated like garbage, beaten by their brothers and fathers and boyfriends and mothers, starving themselves to death to look the way they are supposed to look — which is close to invisible.
We are so accustomed to prohibiting girls from being the subjects of their own life that we have turned them into objects: commodities in the marketplace, bodies to be bought and sold and plundered and married off or raped in war. Buying a girl is cheaper than buying a cow in many places.
I have been with boys as well, watched as they have been ridiculed, censored and abused for their tenderness, their doubts, their grief, their need for comfort and protection. I have seen how the tyranny of masculinity has forced boys and then men to cut off their hearts and cast them into a brutal, lonely state of disassociation and isolation.
The state of girl, the condition of girl — in the world and in us — will determine if this species survives.
I believe unleashing the intensity of girl, the outrage of girl, the passion of girl, is the only way to chip away the thick sludge of denial, oppression and indifference that has led to our insane acceptance of a world spinning us toward our end.
What I have witnessed across this planet is the wild natural resiliency, fierceness, grace and nobility of girl.
The girl cell is our greatest resource, a renewable, untapped energy field like the wind. It is there for us, if we activate it and allow it to resist, dare, challenge, feel and connect.
JD Salinger Innovated Punk Ideology
JD Salinger passed away this week at the age of 91. He lived in a New Hampshire farmhouse, where he retreated shortly after the take off of his classic The Catcher in the Rye. A high school classic, The Catcher in the Rye gave us a glimpse of the first true rebellious protagonist.
Authors such as James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway had created rebellious characters before, but it was Salinger’s Holden Caulfield that we can credit for every authority questioning, phony hating, hell raising protagonist that consumes the movies today. Characters like Jim Stark (James Dean) in Rebel Without a Cause, Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and practically the entire cast of Dead Poets’ Society can thank Holden for their inspiration.
Before Holden Caulfield there was no “adolescence”—we were simply thought to move from children to adulthood without question or concern. People didn’t ask questions, they didn’t second guess, they didn’t call the fakes of the world out, and they didn’t question authority—they simply conformed to society. Adolescent angst never existed (meaning not in the media or in entertainment) before Salinger introduced us to Holden.
Salinger predicted the disposition of the baby boomer generation before they even existed. But was it the attitude of American youth shifting while Salinger introduced his nonconforming character, or was the shift made because the boomers grew up with characters that didn’t conform?
JD Salinger never sold the rights to The Catcher in the Rye and was appalled at the idea of a movie being made out of his novel. Many believe he retreated to New Hampshire to get away from the probing media. As America was being introduced to what would be a mainstream character stereotype, Salinger refused to sell out.
So to all you indie kids and punk rock fans who pat yourselves on the back for not conforming to society…it turns out you did. Teen rebellion and angst was introduced long ago…and the kicker is you probably tuned out your teacher as she told you about your trendsetter. So your little act isn’t fooling anyone. The only true “punk” who was an original rebel, entirely unique and never sold out to “the man” was Holden Caulfield (a.k.a. JD Salinger). Something to think about.
The 80s Called, They Want Their Movies Back!
Is it just me or have the 1980s been running ramped in 2010? I just had a conversation over fried jalapeno poppers last night with my friend who is a merchandiser for Macy’s. “It is out of control,” she says. “When you walk through the junior’s section it’s literally like you went back in time.” And fashion isn’t the only place we’re seeing the 80s revival. 1980s classic tv show Star Trek was remade as a movie in 2009 and actually faired pretty well. Many directors took that as a cue: the 80s were back in a big bad way on the big screen, and the long list of movies being remade for 2010 is a bit ludicrous:
- Avatar’s Sam Worthington will be playing Harry Hamlin March 26 in Clash of the Titans.
- Michael Douglas is back as Gordon Gekko, freshly out of jail in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, set to release April 23rd.
- Freddy Krueger will be plaguing your nightmares again as Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach of Watchmen) stars in A Nightmare on Elm Street coming out May 7th.
- Jackie Chan is set to play Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid remake. Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s son) will play “Daniel Son”…not sure if they’ll really use the name Daniel again, but it’s coming out June 18.
- Joe Carnahan (director of Smokin’ Aces) is directing the revamped version of The A-Team starring Liam Neeson as Hannibal, Bradley Cooper as Face, and Sharlto Copley as Murdock. The movie is set to release July 30th.
- Talks of releasing a remake of Short Circuit in 2011 and Ghostbusters in 2012 have also been reported.
So why the sudden nostalgia? Clearly the big wigs in Hollywood see us taking the bait, take Batman for example. We have been rewarding Hollywood for reusing the same characters and plot lines for decades now through Batman! The whole franchise that we know now started as a simple comic, then evolved to a TV Show (BAM!), later to a movie, and then the franchise really begin as merchandisers were cashing in on the Batman name. Then Chris Nolan came around when we were all but “Batmaned-out,” and released a “different, darker Batman” with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (which is still one of the highest grossing movies of all time). And we bought into it again. Al Deakin of Space Doctors consultancy explains it like this: “The children who grew up watching big, pre-irony 1980s movies—where all was black and white, good was good and evil was evil, before Tarantino and Soderbergh came and blurred the lines—are now the directors and studio bosses, and they’re making the movies they used to watch. Even Avatar is—effects aside—basically a 1980s movie, a simplistic tale from not particularly paranoid times.”
So why do we buy in? Why do we go to movies with plots and characters we’ve seen before? Why do we waste our money on seeing current actors play these 80s characters we knew and loved, and yet never-quite live up to their legacy? Why not encourage individuality in the movies, a few more twists in the plot and twisted characters? More Tarantinos and Soderberghs? The Head of Cambridge Strategy Centre, Gareth Coombs, has this opinion:
For about 15 years after it ended, the 1980s was the decade everyone was a bit ashamed of. It was an example of just how wrong you could get everything: greed, plodding music, shoulder pads, terrible hair and a huge crash. In the booms of the 1990s and the Noughties, we were all doing well and thinking we were green and ethical, and were pleased with ourselves. Then we stepped off the cliff, and now we’re thinking, were the 1980s so bad? Compared to now, they were practically years of certainty, with ideas on right and left, and a sense we were aiming for a future. These days, it feels like the best we can do is survive. So we’re getting quite nostalgic for those days of conviction and faith.
And all this time I thought it was just me who felt the pains of remembering a time when all was good, when we my generation was too naive to see the troubles on the world. Here I was, thinking that all that’s plaguing our society now isn’t anything that new, I’m just old enough to understand the consequences and repercussions of our actions as a whole. But it looks like I was wrong–and so I too revert to the 80s and 90s, a time when all that mattered was after school TV, hair crimpers, and neon socks. I pull off the side pony (slightly modified to fit my adulthood), I went to the “80s Prom” themed party, and I watch Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire.
Thoughts?
A Word on Haiti and How to Help
It’s been quite a while, but I’m back…mostly because I have been so moved, so disturbed, and so heart-broken over the events in Haiti that I can think of nothing to do but write. And yet nothing I put on paper seems to capture the event, nothing I write hasn’t been written before, and nothing I say won’t have tinge of “cliché” hanging off the end of it.
But I write anyway…
The happenings and the distress of Haiti has rocked me to my core. Remembering the faces of the Haitian immigrant pre-teens I taught in Orlando last year, I wonder into their living rooms and see broken families: families in denial, in distress, families who don’t have answers. I think of past catastrophes—9-11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 tsunami that rocked the Indonesian island of Sumatra—and the struggle the survivors face to simply get everyday necessities. I see the faces of families huddled together on rooftops waving white flags to get a helicopters attention—they’ve been there for days without food or water. Now I see the same families trapped in a city of rubble, clutching their last belongings and, if they’re lucky, a surviving family member. Children lay in make-shift tents outside hospitals for fear that the hospital walls will crumble down on them. Child and adult alike grimace as their wounds are sutured without an anesthetic. Passersby use hands and rags to cover their faces, guarding it from the ghastly smell of decaying bodies—only three days old, but the smell lingers, soon to become unbearable. They rummage through the rubble to find anything to help them survive—water, food, tarps. Some drag bodies to make-shift morgues—an old parking lot. They are brought on old doors and plywood—a far cry from the ancient kings carried in the same fashion, whose chairs were raised over the shoulders of four strong men. Some are even dragged by rope to get them to a final resting place. While others can’t deal with the burden and leave their dead behind, any open area they can find. The discarded bodies never receiving their Last Rites.
I remember a city buzzing with questions: where is he? Is she ok? How will I find them? The site of a national disaster restored into a site of hope as pictures of missing family and friends dangle from the fence. They flap in the wind, trying to get the attention of family members passing by. I see now women folded over, overcome with such grief after learning their parent had past. Men frantically searching for their wife, their child, their brother. Web sites pop up with pages upon pages of pictures, like a modern day milk carton: “Have you seen me?” Families broken, families repaired, and families who must face the most agonizing truth of all.
I remember being glued to the television, wondering why bad things happen to good people. I remember seeing the Red Cross plead for donations, our presidents ensure aid, and the people around me ask: what can I do? Aid is trickling in to Haiti, slowly but surely, and many are getting fed up. Disaster relief needs to be swift and immediate—if Brian Williams is carrying a water bottle down the streets of Port-au-Prince, why can we not get water to the victims? However, I understand this is far easier said than done.
Regardless, fellow human beings need help and we should run to their aid. They need help now, and furthermore they will need continuing help to rebuild. If you wish to help this website has a long list of possible venues through which to do so.
