The Glimpse Promince of Superstitions In America

"People assume that if they can't explain something in natural terms, then it must be something paranormal." - Sheila Sillery-Walsh

In the opening of Hamlet, it is not the approaching war that frightens soldiers, nor the shift of political power. It is the presence of a spirit that makes people uneasy. All cultures have superstitions relating to death or bad luck. In the United States the number thirteen is viewed with a mixture of fear and mockery. Those who believe in the unluckiness of the number have, what is termed triskaidekaphobia. Some cities have no 13th street and some buildings have no 13th floor as a result. Japan's superstitions closely parallel the American's with the exception that they pertain to the number four (tetraphobia).
The proliferation of television shows pertaining to paranormal events belief in the supposed events has grown. With 42% of Americans believing in ghosts it seems that the progression in scientific understanding has done little to curb the belief in the paranormal. Christopher French, a professor of psychology at the University of London states that,  “The vast majority of us don’t like the idea of our own mortality. Even though we find the idea of ghosts and spirits scary, in a wider context, they provide evidence for the survival of the soul.” (1) In my opinion this rings true. Popular culture centers around the idea that we are "Forever Young"(2). This concentration on youth does little to impede the fear of aging.

1. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/why-do-people-believe-in-ghosts/379072/
2. Ke$ha

Hunger at Home

“The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.”
― Ann Wigmore

As stated by the nonprofit Bread For the World the most direct way to end hunger in the US is with national nutrition programs. While they are in place for low income students, they lack the real nutrients that growing children require. Jell-O passes as fruit, ketchup passes for a vegetable and the remainder of the food is heavily processed and fried. Getting these meals from the government system helps feed people, it does a poor job of doing so.
The least expensive foods are the worst for the human body. For a couple of dollars I can get a burger and soda at a fast food restaurant, but a salad at the same place costs five. Fresh food must be transported with enough speed to give it a couple of weeks of shelf life which, understandably, drives the price up. The more difficult the object is to harvest (Size, growing time, etc.) the more the price goes up, but few chemicals are used. The number of chemicals in a box of cereal is so staggering, it would seem that the chemicals used to make the cereal so long-lasting would be more expensive, but the efficiency of machines made food is far greater than the time it takes to collect and distribute fresh food. If fresh foods were grown and distributed with the same efficiency, they would be affordable to everyone and could be present in all school lunches. However this will not come to pass, until the government chooses to rectify a problem with substantial costs. 

Maus

P.S- Excuse the French in the Pic.

Artie Spigelman spent years working on his work Maus and used every bit of that time to make the details and symbolism as accurate and meaningful as possible. The characters had to be portrayed as animals due in part to the detailed and often violent images that would be unsuitable for many publishers to work with. After to decision to use animals was completed Spigelman had to carefully choose what creature would represent who.
The stereotypical appearance of Jews from Nazi propaganda is part of the reason that mice were chosen to represent the Jewish people. Mice also nibble at food stores, ruining them, the way that Nazi's saw the Jewish people spoiling the Aryan race. Mice were chosen over rats because of the more negative connotation associated with rats- the characters had to be something to root for. The infamous relationship between mice and cats, and cats and dogs was used to showcase the inevitability of the U.S winning WWII. Dogs also represent the Nazi distaste for mixed heritage as dogs are often referred to as "mutts".
The frog was chosen to represent the French because of France's history of consuming frog legs-a food considered undesirable by the rest of Europe. The frog also leaps away and submerges itself whenever danger arises. They can be viewed as cowardly and weak, mirroring the world's view of France's easy defeat. Art's French fiancée was wondering what animal would be used to represent the French, and Art created a historically and biologically symbolic one. The fact that Art used a mouse as Francois indicates that he values her choice to convert to Judaism as more indicative of her personality than her nationality/ethnicity. While he is willing to portray her as a part of the Jewish struggle post Holocaust, he still separates her with her clothing as he himself still wears a vertical stripe on the side of his pants. Instead of wearing vertical stripes on her shirt, she wears horizontal stripes with a scarf tied to the side-a clear reference to her French tires.




“Do you know why most survivors of the Holocaust are vegan? It's because they know what it's like to be treated like an animal.”
― Chuck Palahniuk

It's What is in the Inside that Counts

"I often find myself worrying about celebrities. It's an entirely caring thing; it's not like the people who commission those photographs with cruel arrows to go on the covers of the celebrity magazines. The photographs show botched plastic surgery, raging eczema, weight gain and horrible clothes for maximum schadenfreude."
Peter York

"It's what on the inside that counts" is heard everyday in schools across the nation. "It's what's on the inside", we say as we dress ourselves in the latest trends and brands, striving to be the perfect American consumer. The desire to be different, special, is expressed in ways thousands of other people partake in, rendering the uniqueness of the endeavor useless.
Despite campaigns we still judge a book by its cover. The preoccupation with physical appearance has only become stronger with the widespread use of social media. These "ideal" beauty standards are mostly the same with minimal changes in details (hair color, eye color) and affect both genders. These usually involve height (for both, but girls are usually shorter), clear skin, thin (women), muscular (men), and stylish hair. Men and women with an appearance different from the "ideal" are perceived as less powerful than the normal.
Striving for impossible (made possible by photoshop) forces men and women into diets, eating disorders, and a negative self perception. In extreme cases men and women resort to plastic surgery. Plastic has a strong negative connotation- people who go under the knife for cosmetic reasons are seen afterwards as fake, as the common use of plastic indicates.  As people become more Barbie and Ken than human as the obsession with physical appearance takes its toll.

The proliferation of social media feeds us a constant bombardment of what is perfect: appearance, jobs, money and family. The anonymity of the keyboard allows internet user to say whatever they want with little to no repercussions which adds personal commentary to everything online. Some comments are helpful while many are the opposite. At the same time the internet allows connections with others through gaming, chats, and video calls. The intimate connections that can form online outweigh the bad that can come. If you find the right online community, the members can be a structure to rely on. Many argue that it is unhealthy to have so many relationships through the computer, but I believe that having online friends who care is better than having real life friends who don't.

Language Learning

"It's important to me to work in my own language now and then. I love English, but you can never learn to master a foreign language if you're not brought up with it."

Max von Sydow

The American education system makes foreign language learning a requirement for all students. The lessons begin in elementary school and continue well into high school. The memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary lists is aided with the use of flashcards. Quizzes are given and tests are taken with no actual learning occurring. The teaching methods for languages are varied with, generally, little success.
Most kids who take a language class in high school have minimal to no interest in adding bilingual to their repertoire, they take the classes for graduation requirements or college applications. Student have no interest because of the low success rate that stems from poor teaching of the material. However the problem is not with the teachers themselves, it is with the way it is taught. Most bilingual people I have met, grew up being taught two or more languages. The immersion in multiple languages from a young age help connect words to their meanings rendering vocabulary lists useless. The intricacies of pronunciation and grammar are learned through constant communication with people who already have fluency.
Schools in America have the right idea, starting the teaching young, but they lack the immersion and interaction that is needed to learn a language. As the world becomes more interconnected, language knowledge will become increasingly important. Schools in Europe use immersive and interactive teaching techniques with great success, success that I hope will be mirrored by other countries, including ours, in the future.

Movie and Book

"Regarding race or gender or sexuality, one of the great things about art and music is that they can provide people with very little else in common with a similar entry point for discussion, but the discussions still need to happen for life to get more interesting."
-Tunde Adebimpe

Sexuality, while gaining momentum, remains a taboo topic. The differences between gender, sex, and sexual identity are not taught in schools, or spoken about frankly in day to day life. The breaching of the topic is groundbreaking today, but must have been an astonishing topic when Virginia Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway. Post World War was a time where social change was occurring drastically. Fashions changed, drugs and alcohol became more popular, and people became more aware of their sexuality. We clearly saw these changes in America while reading The Great Gatsby. In Mrs. Dalloway we see the world mostly through the eyes of the old rich, people previously flourishing and content in the traditional workings of the world. Richard, Clarissa, Huges, Lady B., and their party guests are resistant to change. Elizabeth represents the youth and the choices that are now offered, yet she lacks the conviction and determination to follow through. The only person who thirsts for change is Elizabeth's tutor. Her anger at being wronged, makes her embrace change and try to force it on her student. Miss Kilman's obsession with her charge is a love that will never be returned. Clarissa's feelings for Sally would never be accepted by society, even though the time spent with Sally was the best in Clarissa's life.

The sexuality of the character's was more obviously depicted in the film version. Whenever a kissing scene between two women occurred the class gasped, and some people even covered their eyes. It may be embarrassing to see racy scenes in a movie with people that may only acquaintances, but I was disappointed by the gap in reactions between a man/woman kissing and two women kissing.  Even though it has been ninety years since Mrs. Dalloway was published, the distance between understanding and accepting different sexual identities seems to have been barley bridged.

The movie does spread awareness about couples of the same gender, it still places those relationships lower than heterosexual ones. Both Kitty and Virginia's friend refuse to acknowledge what happened between them,  a reflection of the opinions of the time. Clarissa is living in modern day New York, but her relationship with Sally is a last resort, a place behind her relationship with Richard.

Beautiful Passage's Meaning

"And so there began a soundless and exquisite passing to and fro through swing doors of aproned white-capped maids, handmaidens not of necessity, but adepts in a mystery or grand deception..." (Woolf 104).

In this passage Woolf uses diction to create a fantasy world that seems magical. With a wave of her hand Lady Burton summons an army of maids to serve lunch. It seems to be magical and "Not paid for" to the eyes of her guests (104). Even though Richard and Clarissa have a cook, she constantly worries about the menu. Here there seems to be no fuss, no frantic movements. Everything is carefully planned and practiced. Lady Burton has been a pillar of polite society since her birth and has had much experience in the area. The illusion of calm is simply that, an illusion.
The illusion is carried to Lady Burton herself. She seems to be in charge and look down on Hugh. Her personal maid, Miss Bush, resents Hugh and his familiarity with her Lady as he insists that she wears the carnations he brought her. Though she resists at first, she wears them enthusiastically when he completes a letter for her. Her one weakness, her lack of writing ability, forces her to bow to a man she sees as beneath her. Her composure breaks, as does the illusion of control over herself and her household.

"

The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."

Malcolm X

Beautiful Passage

"Sally it was who made her feel just how sheltered the life at Bourton was. She knew nothing about sex- nothing about social problems. But Aunt Helena never liked discussions about anything. ... There they sat, hour after hour talking in her bedroom at the top of the house, talking about life, how they were to reform the world." (Woolf 33).

In the passages that first mention Sally, there is a lot of detail. Clarissa remembers how she smoked and ran naked through the halls. She has that spark of personality that allows her to connect with people and open their minds to new ideas. "Cleopatra" by Brian M. Viveros captures what Sally was to Clarissa. The painting is done with oil on canvas and is made so skillfully that it looks like the woman is looking directly at you. Her stare coupled with the head piece of bullets makes her appear to be critical of war. Sally cracks Clarissa's world to see the reality of the world, life and death, happiness and problems. The new reality of the world seems, to Clarissa, like an adventure. 
The red lips and rose are both symbols of femininity and sexual powers, things that Sally possesses that Clarissa has no experience with. Clarissa believes that Sally is worldly enough to teach her about philosophy and literature, the addition of her more intimate experience with Sally can be seen as another lesson of reality.
The woman in the painting is smoking, a habit of Sally's (32). The fighting that occurs in war and in everyday life, is often sever enough to cause people to seek drugs. Sally runs away after she and her parents "quarrel" and may have developed her smoking habit trying to escape from the constant problems at home (33). The habit is noticed by Clarissa and further impresses her.

The Bravery of the Moth

"Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order."

David Gerrold

Of all animals, Virginia Woolf chooses the moth to represent the balance between life and death. The moth is a delicate creature that only emerges with the evening and thrives during the night. The moth's pale coloring is makes a stark contrast to the surrounding dark. The diminutive light of the moth is quickly extinguished in the sea of death the night represents. The narrator moves to help the moth with a "pencil", but changes her mind with the realization that death approaches. The vitality that the moth initially demonstrated as a "bead of pure energy" is lost as he thrashes about in an attempt to correct himself. The loss of body control shows the transition from youth to elderly, and appears quickly to the eyes of a human being. After all we have much longer life spans than any type of insect. Despite this we lack the courage the moth possesses. He fights for life in the darkness in which he lives while people run and hide in homes as night approaches. While we run from the night we also try to come up with plans to thwart death, even for a temporary amount of time. The average human lifespan has increased impressively over the last centaury, but Death remains inevitable. The same darkness that surrounds the moth surrounds us, and we also will die in the same way. 

Personal Accounts

"Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It's about honesty. It's about identity."

Louise Fresco

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/identity.html#BzczYsb4HEdFGQZG.99

Most accounts of immigration we come across in schools are in textbooks. They give historical accounts, an overview, about the reactions of older inhabitants of the area that happen with an increase in an immigrant population. In Fish Cheeks author Amy Tan gives a personal example about the personal events and feelings that happen on the newcomers point of view.
Tan is in love with the "Minster's son" who is "White as Mary" and is worried about his family's reactions to her family's traditional foods and customs (Tan 2). Tan's anxiety is shown in a panicked inner dialogue that criticizes her family and herself. Her description of "Our shabby Chinese Christmas" is a demonstration of the divide between ethnicities (Tan 4).   "Our" is an inclusive possessive, but Tan uses our selectively, only applying to herself and her family. In her mind, her crush and his family are on another spectrum, an impossible distance to cross. Her conviction of the impossibility is challenged when the minster does the unexpected. He "managed a small burp" in response to Tan's father's declaration of traditional Chinese eating etiquette (Tan 29). Tan was only thinking about how rude her culture would seem to those unfamiliar with it, and how no one would close the divide. The shock of the small gesture of acceptance "Stunned (her) into silence for the remainder of the meal" (Tan 30). She had never considered that the white family would be willing to embrace her culture.

Taboo Topic?

“Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.”
― Fred Rogers,       

         Nancy Mairs's reputation as a ""Radical"" writer comes from her willingness to discuss taboo topics(Bedford 13). Her piece Disability shines light onto the stereotypical perceptions of those with disabilities with a focus on the debilitating decrease of confidence that often comes with stranger's reactions. The exposure of disabilities in the media has been gaining in recent years. The television show Glee has a cast that includes characters in wheelchairs or with Down Syndrome. Keeping these characters in the show helps spread awareness about common disabilities, both mental and physical.
        Despite the advancements in public awareness, discussing disabilities and disorders, especially mental disorders, remains controversial. There is little to no learning about disabilities schools, not even in health classes. Autism is one of the most common developmental disorders with more than one in one hundred people affected by it worldwide, yet it is rarely spoken of (The National Autistic Society). Speaking about differences between people is always a risk, but without discussion the differences become a gap that becomes increasingly difficult to cross. Physical disorders will be seen as ordinary with greater ease than their mental counterparts because of the willingness and ability of members to champion their cause in entertainment and academic arenas. A society's treatment of citizens seen as abnormal is a good measure of the willingness of the people to accept and celebrate their difference and lead the way to a brighter future.