The Digital Self

TOPIC: Self

SOURCE: my participation and observation of living in the digital world. Also watching my peers and there use of the digital world. 

RELATION: I will discuss how the digital world is shaping a new generation and changing the “self”.

DESCRIPTION:        

I was trying to think about the effects of the digital age on my generation.   What happens to our sense of self, I wondered, now that we have access to new media and the infinite possibilities of the Internet?  So, I started to notice the amount of time my peers and I spend on social networks.  Many of my friends access the Internet through their cell phones and therefore never have to be “offline”.  They are constantly updated, liking, reblogging, following, and tweeting.  There is almost a certain amount of responsibility people feel toward keeping their “web-self” updated. The image that people create for themselves becomes just as important as their real life self.

Many people today feel lost or amiss when they cannot get online.   Usually it happens when visiting parents, grandparents, or rural friends. On one occasion I asked someone what their Wifi password was and they stared at me blankly for a few seconds, before uttering, “Wifi?”. I just stared back in horror. 

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS:

Our modern day world is becoming digitized. Analogue is becoming a thing of the past, and it will likely die with my parents generation, or my own. It will be seen as something collectible, cool, retro, and unique, but nevertheless, dead. Yes, people still flip through books, buy records, and learn instruments, but for how much longer? Pushing tactile buttons, pulling of levers, and turning of knobs, is about to disappear. Soon the distinction between being online and offline will fade. There will be no offline, and thus, no online. Everything and everyone will be forever connected. If we want to disconnect, we’ll have to painstakingly go out of our way to do so.

For people of my generation there is a certain anxiety that comes over us when we can’t connect. Technology critics usually claim that this anxiety is innately bad, and stems from my generation’s need for instant gratification. But what’s so bad about instant gratification? Should I have to work to find the information I want, or need, when it is conveniently at my fingertips? Shouldn’t information be easy to access?

These are all questions that future generations will face, and the answers will dictate how our world advances in years to come. 

inequality in class registration system.

TOPIC: Inequality

SOURCE: Personal experience with inequality due to my age. Also recent experience with registering for classes for spring semester at HSU. 

RELATION: In the lecture power point we learned that there are many ways which social classes can be classified. "…(social classes) are also classified by gender and age, as well as by standards such as education.” (lecture power point). Also, Robbins speaks of inequality in this week's readings. 

DESCRIPTION: Social inequality exists in many forms. Recently I experienced inequality on a smaller level than most of the social inequalities we are studying in class, however i think it demonstrates how inequality is seen as natural and not questioned by those being oppressed by the inequality. 

I experienced having to be one of the last groups of people to register for spring semester classes. This is not an easy process, and when people have been filling up classes for weeks before you. Making a schedule that works for you with the units and classes you need then becomes stressful.  The way that the university grants access to register for class has to do with putting people into categories and judging them based on certain standards, for example: age and standing in education, as well as participation in sports. Due to the fact that I am a freshman student not playing a sport in college I had to wait to select my classes until all upperclassmen had registered. Before the upperclassmen, football players get first choice at classes. Why is it that we are all college students attending the same university but a student that choices to play football gets free range at the classes before everyone else?

COMMENTARY:

 I feel that this system of granting access to classes is unequal to students. Also, the categories that have been created show that  they are judging based on standards like age and grades, as well as participation in sports . Why is that older more experienced students are getting more time to register? Shouldn't each student have equal access to the classes they are paying to attend? Also, if students must register in a certain order, shouldn't that order be determined not by categories like age? 

Becoming an Adult as a Rite of Passage

TOPIC: Rites of Passage


SOURCE: The personal experience of visiting my family in Reno Nevada and going through the rights of passage to be an adult in my family. 


RELATION: This topic is an example of rites of passage in my family. This relates to our lecture during this week and the readings in Robbins. 



DESCRIPTION:

My great grandparents immigrated to America from the small coastal town of Catolica Italy. My great-great grandfather’s father was a butcher in Italy and to this day in Reno Nevada; my grandfather holds the position of head butcher at a casino. My family holds tight to its Italian roots and traditions. When I was in Reno visiting my family for thanksgiving break, it was the first time I’d been back since I turned eighteen.  Upon arriving as the newest adult in the family, I realized that there were certain rights of passage that I had to go through. First of all I was allowed to help in the kitchen for thanksgiving dinner, while my sister who is sixteen was banned. “Only the adults in the kitchen during turkey time” my grandfather would say.    Getting to help prepare Thanksgiving dinner felt like a right of passage into adult hold for me.  By getting to cook with my grandmother, aunts, and older female cousins, I was being initialized into adulthood in my family.   Like me, my cousin had gone through the same tradition as a right of passage.  Also, my grandmother and aunts would include me in making decisions for the family, small things like what to make for dinner and what car to drive.  I felt that because I got to help with these decisions, I was being shown that I had more respect as well as more responsibility in our family.  I also felt pressure from my family to effectively pass the rights of passage “ceremonies” I was going through. I was expected to step up to responsibility as an adult in the family.  If I pass these tests I get rewarded with the title “adult” and other family perks such as learning family secrets and getting a glass of champagne at Thanksgiving dinner. 

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS:

 Going through this right of passage into adulthood has been part of my family for generations. The meaning we put to these activities turn them into ceremonies and these ceremonies are what make up the rite of passage. This tradition marks a transition time in my life that is important to my family to celebrate.  

sex in American media

TOPIC: Sex

SOURCE: 

My observations of the advertisements seen in an American magazine. 

Robins-chapter 5, including pg. 120-121and pg. 124. 

RELATION: Sex plays a role in every society. However, the values, and norms surrounding the topic of sex, as well as the manner in which sex is portrayed varies between cultures. The way an individual views sex, is dictated by their surrounding culture. 

DESCRIPTION: Prior to reading the Robins textbook, i was not aware of the major cultural differences that exist around sex. After reading I started to pay attention to sex in the media around me. I was sitting in the health office on campus, so i started flipping through a magazine. When i opened it I was overwhelmed with the amount of sexual ads. The ads seemed to show sex as a tool or a way to get things. They also used sex as a way to get people's attention.  These advertisements were acting as a glimpse into American values. In American culture it is not wrong or looked down upon to have half naked people on billboards for all to see. Many of the ads in the magazine gave the reader the impression that if he/she bought the material goods, they would get sex. The media uses sex as a  "promise" to the public.  This gives a society the idea that they must buy fancy clothes, or perfume in order to get sex or be seen as sexy. 

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: The ads seemed to show sex as a tool or a way to get things. They also used sex as a way to get people's attention.  These advertisements were acting as a glimpse into American values. In American culture it is not wrong or looked down upon to have half naked people on billboards for all to see. However, the effect

Crystalized Magic

TOPIC: Magic

SOURCE: My experience with using stone’s, crystal’s and rock’s energy to get particular outcomes: i.e., luck, strength, love, health, warmth, anxiety relief, etc.This is defined as magic because there is no practical relationship between the energy of crystals and luck or  love.

RELATION: In my observation I have seen magic, as defined in lecture: “[A] practice meant to affect an outcome.” Also I have seen “magic appear where human action alone is ineffective” and “facilitate[es] human control over those dimensions that are otherwise outside of control”(from lecture).
My beliefs about crystal energy have to do with, what was defined in lecture as, “witch craft”: “[A] belief in a life force (essence or energy)”. 



DESCRIPTION: When thinking about how I began using the energy from stones and crystals to get a particular outcome, I could not think of a particular instant. The combination of growing up in a Waldorf (*) private school that encouraged spiritual growth, and having a “hippy” mom may have lead to these beliefs. I always adored being in nature and I collected crystals and stones, along with sticks, leaves and bird’s nest, as a child.  Most of my knowledge about the energy in crystals comes from books that I have collected through out my life. Some were gifts, some bought, some found.  Also, my experience with certain crystals has encouraged the development of my favoritism to certain crystals.  I have met many people in my life that believe in the energy in crystals, and I also know that each individual’s belief varied in some way. In my belief, each crystal has certain energy that brings different outcomes to the individual (similar to the different medicines used in society).  In addition to the crystal having energy, the person also has energy.  This energy can be put into crystals. I always try to put energy into my crystals when I am feeling extremely happy and full of positive energy.  I have a friend that has certain crystals that only she can touch, because she has put all her positive energy into them.  In her belief, another person’s energy would disrupt the energy in the crystal.  To me, as long as people are adding positive energy to my crystals, they are more them welcome to hold them. 

Me, meditating with blue lace agate on my third eye.
It is supposed to open your third eye chakra***. 

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS:
There is no practical reason or proof that a crystal’s energy can change the outcome of something in “real life”, so it is classified as magic. The crystals hold the potential to change things out of human control, so it is "magical".  If everyone in our society used crystals to get the outcomes they wanted, we would function differently.  Imagine if you went to the doctor's for anxiety and instead of prescribing you xanax he gave you lithium quarts** to destress and calm you with its energy. Imagine the changes in society that could come from these beliefs. From what we have learned throughout this semester, I feel that a society's beliefs can influence everything from language to rituals and values. A belief in magical powers of energy crystals could alter the functions of a society.  This would in turn change how humans intersct in that society.  Other societies that we read about use "magical potions" or drugs to get intouch with spirit energy. This belief shaped partsof that society.

quartz. 

* http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/grades1_8.asp

**http://www.healingcrystals.com/Quartz__Lithium_Articles_79.html
***http://howtoopenchakras.com/third-eye-chakra/

Gender communication at a young age

Topic: Gender and Communication

Source: My observations took place during the week my family visited Arcata. 

Relation: Dana lectured on gender and communication this week and we discussed jokes in class that had to do with gender policing and communication.

I observed examples of:

1) gender policing- occurs when we fail to represent the assigned gender. 

2) essentialism- defying someone by a set of characteristics. 

Description: 
My cousin and her two children came to visit me from Reno Nevada. My cousin's daughter, Rogue, is four years old and her son, Axel, is one year old. I spent a week with them, showing them around arcata and Humboldt State University. While watching rogue through out the week, I realized that she was learning to take on  and think according to gender roles. I heard Rogue tell her mother "Look mom, Axel's a girl now" as she put her pink sunglasses on her little brother's head. Rogue often would say things like: "I get the one with flowers because I am a girl" that demonstrated how she was beginning to view material objects as associated with gender. I found it very interesting how often Rogue's decisions were made based on the gender roles she felt she should fit into. 



Commentary: 
Rogue said that Axel was a girl, because of the color of the sunglasses. The color pink has been assigned to females. Rogue was raised in a culture that assigned pink to females, and so she now follows those assignments. This was an example of Rogue defining essentialism. She was defining Axel due to a characteristic; such as the color pink.

Bent to fit American culture.

Topic: Globalization

Source: In lecture we learned that "globalization is the movement of money, ideas, and things toward hegemony". Observation in yoga studios all around the country.

Relation: Yoga is a 5,000 year old traditional spiritual practice from India. However, today yoga is globally known and practiced. As yoga spread across the globe, it drifted from its roots as it met new cultures. Yoga has been localized so much in the western world, that it is now seen as a "physical" practice rather than a "spiritual" practice. The media and the culture that surrounds it localizes yoga as it is globalized.

Description: I have been practicing yoga for four years. My practice grew in a few different studios on the Big Island of Hawaii. Now looking back on it, I had no idea what a big jump I was taking in my spiritual life, just by stepping into a yoga class. I've always felt spiritual, but yoga allowed me to connect with that spiritual being without criticism from society. At first yoga really was just a way to stay in shape for me. This is due to how the media and the public views yoga. In America yoga makes you have a nice butt and strong arms. In India yoga is a tool that gets you closer to enlightenment, its a spiritual experience. In my experience I have always tried to pay attention to the traditions in western yoga that have stayed connected to the traditional world. For instance every yoga class I have attended starts with the whole class chanting the "OM" mantra. This is a traditional chant, that has stayed "alive" through the localization of yoga in America. Also, the symbols that are hung on the wall in yoga studios  are often tied to traditional meanings. For instance, many have the chakra symbols, which are energy centers in the  body. Types of yoga, such as kundalini yoga, target these energy centers. Yoga has spread into different part of American life, including fashion. In America yoga has become fashionable. There are entire websites dedicated to "girls in yoga pants" (girlsinyogapants.com) because it is "sexy" when girls wear yoga pants. Now you don't even have to actually do the yoga to be cool. You can just wear the cute pants :) Yoga is also offered in gyms all across the country. This shows how America sees yoga as a fitness routine.

Commentary: In America there is a health and fitness craze, and yoga has been localized to fit (pardon the pun) to these expectations. Americans want to feel healthy and they are told yoga will do that for them. Yoga classes have become expensive. Not to mention the hundreds of dollars American "yogis" spend on mats and pants and towels and bags all dedicated to their yoga practice. America has changed yoga o fit into their cultural world.







yoga is fashionable: http://girlsinyogapants.com/
Info. on Chakras: http://www.tantrakundalini.com/chakras.htm

Reaching deeper into Reggae

Topic:
Cultural Text

 Source:
My observations of a reggae concert that occurred on campus on September sixth.

Relation:
As discussed in lecture and found in our class readings, a situation can be read as a cultural text. you can take the ideas and symbols and representative actions from a situation and learn  a lot about a given culture.

description:
I walked into the Kate Buchanan room, it was crowded with people ranging from college students to community members, like the guy from ancient arts that had pierced my bellybutton the week before and the girl that plays cello outside every night. i could feel the anticipation of the music from the crowd. they were ready to dance. when the music began there was loud cheering and nearly everyone's shoes were kicked off. slowly the crowd began to move together. heads bobbed up and down to the music; just feeling the rhythm. then individuals began to really dance; picking up their feet and moving their arms through the air. couples swayed together, connecting.  as I was dancing, i started to think about my experience at reggae concerts. i felt that no matter where i was in the world, a reggae concert made me feel at home. Then i began to wonder what it was that made me feel comfortable and safe; i felt spiritual. when i looked around at the crowd, it seemed to me that many people were feeling spiritually connected and moved. The crowd was moving together, following the same rhythm, and bowing our heads to the music, as if we were 'praising the lord'. I looked around and i realized that a lot of the movements that the crowd was engaging in, seemed to be praising the music. everyone was bowing or marching; they were raising their hands into the air and shaking their heads. they were free. At a reggae concert there is no judgement. everyone can worship the music in their one way; with their own dance. reggae brings such positive messages to its listeners, and the crowd embodies these positive "vibes". when the crowd sings in unison: don't worry about a  thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright", that message is felt, and you can see the smiles on all the bowing heads and the power in the raised arms (swaying together). i told my friend after the concert was over, "reggae concerts are my kind of church".


Commentary:
I was able to "read" the reggae concert as a cultural text and go deeper into the meaning of the dances and movements of the crowd. reggae has come to symbolize a religion, and be part of people's culture. The dances symbolize the importance of music in culture. the singing together symbolizes the values of community and "being one".

this link leads you to an NPR story about bob marley and the culture of reggae:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4473734