4th Quarter Reflection

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST OVER!

As I look back over my blogs, I have to say I'm shocked at how much of a critical thinker I have become. Towards the beginning of the year, I would find myself sitting in front of my computer, racking my brain for something to write about. As time went on, I found myself jotting down something I thought would be interesting to write about in my notebook, a napkin, or even the back of my hand. I think this reflects itself in my most recent quarter of blogging. For example, in my blog post "A Controversial Decision", I wrote that my mom claimed killing Osama Bin Laden was 'putting him out of his misery'. I distinctly remember jotting this down on a napkin so I remembered to dissect this quote in my blog. In this way, I have become an inspired critical thinker, and I have become better at finding the inspirations for my blog posts from things that truly made me think at the time.
In addition, as I read through my blog posts, I see that I am increasingly trying to analyze symbols this quarter. For example, in my blog post titled "Let There be LIGHT" I analyzed what the use of light in The Great Gatsby symbolized to me. In an earlier post, I might've simply mentioned that I noticed light as a reoccurring theme, and talked about the different places I saw light in.
While my blog posts were not as lengthy, they were more frequent, and I have discovered that I like that style of writing more. I have many ideas, and writing about a lot of them suits me better! :)

Please see Stigma in an Unexpected Place !!

Living the American Dream

As we have been discussing the American dream during class, something didn't sit right with me. Someone mentioned that the American dream must involve the transition from rags to riches, and therefore someone that already starts out rich in the United States simply cannot achieve the American dream.
However, I do not believe that becoming rich is the most defining aspect of the American dream. According to the CBS article titled Who Lives the American Dream, most Americans say 'freedom and opportunity' is the most important aspect of the American dream to them.
I believe that even a poorer person could define themselves as 'living the American dream' as long as they can do what they want and they are free from oppressive rule. To me 'freedom and opportunity' don't necessarily involve money.

Looks are Everything

Today in class, we looked at ads from the 1920s and compared them to ads from today. One particular ad we looked at for Paris Garters (above), made me think of a certain difference between old ads and more recent ad. I noticed that this ad is meant to attract its audience by making people realize what they don't want to be as opposed to what they do. For example, when I look through magazines, the ads I see show beautiful faces and flawless models. These ads cause me to stop by making me think I want to look like that. The ad for Garters is supposed to catch my attention by making me think of what I don't want to look like. I don't see many of those types of ads today. What might this suggest about changing American culture?

Let there be LIGHT

Throughout my reading of The Great Gatsby, I have noticed the reoccuring theme of light. One of the most interesting parts, in my opinion, was when Nick described Gatsby's house on his way home on page 81. He described in detail how Gatsby's house was "lit from tower to cellar," (pg 81). A little later, Gatsby and Nick discussed how Nick would do Gatsby a favor and invite Daisy over for tea the next day. I thought it was interesting that Gatsby lit his house up that way on the day he made an effort to reach out to Daisy. It was as if he was reaching out to her and beckoning to her. Similarly, on page 113, Nick talks about how there was a period of time that the lights "failed to go on" at Gatsby's house, which was a pretty significant and unusual thing. Gatsby said that during that period of time, Daisy was over a lot, which explains why he wouldn't feel the need to light up his house. It is as if Gatsby uses his lights almost as a form of communication to Daisy, and I am curious as to what his use of lights will mean later in the book.

Price or Culture?

I would have never expected something as seemingly basic as train stations to be an indicator of social class. When we talked about this during class, I began to wonder what other typical things could possibly be markers of social class. As I began to brainstorm, the indicators seemed endless. For example, the other day I picked up a magazine at the dentist's office in my area. The magazine had ads for clothes that cost thousands of dollars. In lower income areas, it would seem pointless to have ads, and therefore magazines, like this because no one would be able to afford these things. Similarly, just the type of shampoo and toothpaste someone uses, for example, can be an indicator of social class. However, in the case of magazines and movies, it is not exactly the price that is the deciding factor. It is, in fact, the culture that the product represents.

A Controversial Decision

The killing of Osama Bin Laden gave my fellow classmates with very different reactions, which left me interested to find out what my parents thought of event.
At dinner last night, my mom shocked me with an angry reaction. She went off, saying how we should've captured him and made him pay for the thousands of lives he took. According to my mom, "killing him was the nicest thing we could have done." I think by this, she meant that Bin Laden had recently been living a less than ideal life, what with him having to hide and him being in poor health. I suppose that my mom thought that by killing him, the US was 'putting him out of his misery'.
While I see where my mom is coming from, I also had to remind her that we would gain absolutely nothing by capturing him. By trying to squeeze information out of Bin Laden, this would clearly lead to torture which is an extremely controversial idea. So what should have been done? Was killing Bin Laden really the only reasonable option?

Stigma in an Unexpected Place

While speculating about the idea of social class in AIS, I was not surprised to hear many of my classmates admit that they believe they belong to the upper class. Not that necessarily all of them fall under the North Shore stereotype, but many of them need to have a pretty high income to afford to go to New Trier.
What interests me is how uncomfortable this subject oftentimes makes me feel; I can tell it makes some of my classmates feel the same way. Our teachers are aware of this discomfort as well, and are frequently reminding us that we don't have to share any information that might make us feel uncomfortable. However, from the class survey results in Mr.Bolos's blog post, I see that nobody from our class thought of themselves as lower class. Yet, there is still discomfort as we talk about our personal social status. This leads me to the conclusion that, while there is undoubtedly stigma in being considered lower class, there also seems to be stigma in being upper class.
Someone mentioned in class that people from the upper class are stereotyped as being snobby, which is probably why some of my classmates are wary to share. However, I don't believe that a fear of being called snobby is all that is causing a great deal of stigma associated with upper class. However, I'm not sure what else could contribute to this. Could it be simply that some of my classmates don't want to make others feel bad? But would it really make others feel bad if no one considered themselves a member of the lower class? Why else could this be such a touchy subject in our class?

Update

Junior theme!!!! Woohooooo!!!!
Research has been going well! I'm currently reading The Invisible Plague, however my reading of The Price of Privelege has taken a momentary halt... The Invisible Plague is helpful because it examines the history of mental illness in the United States all the way back to when the colonies were first established. However, I am wary of some of the statistics I look at. They say that mental illness is on the rise in the United States, but I believe it's impossible to tell if they are just being more frequently reported and treated, since the stigma behind mental illness is slowly decreasing. There is no way for me to know how many Americans really were depressed if they hadn't even told anyone.
Today, I interviewed a social worker that works in the school. It was a successful interview, although it was shorter than I would've liked. She had the opinion that the decrease in stigma was the biggest reaon for the rise in mental illness. I also plan to schedule an interview with someone outside of school. JUNIOR THEME ROOOOCKS!!!

Update

My research has been taking many interesting turns. My why question is "why is mental illness on the rise as America's affluence increases?" I was surprised by how many possible answers there are to this question. For example, I've already stumbled upon the evidence of medicine as the culprit, as well as Western civilization, urbanization, and even over-diagnosing.
In addition, I am reading the Price of Privilege and The Invisible Plague. The Invisible Plague is teaching me a lot about the history of mental illness and its rapid rise in the United States. I am working on getting the movie The Road to Nowhere. I'm making great progress!

See 'Swept Away' for 3rd quarter blog reflection

Update

I had to recently change my junior theme topic. My why question used to be 'Why does depression happen in privileged communities?'. I realized that this would be a tough topic, because the 'depression epidemic' of affluent societies is such a new topic that there is hardly any research on it yet. Also, it is hard to tell if there is a significantly greater amount of depression in affluent areas than in areas with poverty because affluent areas clearly diagnose more often. This seriously skews the results.
My why question is now 'Why is mental illness on the rise as America's affluence increases?". I chose to research mental illness first and wait to see if I have enough information to focus on a more specific disease, such as depression or anxiety. Still, this issue is pretty recent, but I am finding more information than I did before. It is also a challenge to find studies directly relating instances of mental illness to time and increase in wealth.

Junior Theme Update

Contrary to what I've heard, my junior theme research thus far has been interesting! My why question is: Why does depression happen so frequently in privileged areas?
I am currently reading the book The Price of Privilege, and while it is giving me good insight on depression in teenagers from well off families, I still have yet to understand why this happens in adults. Also, I worry that with this topic I will get a lot of scientific information, while I really want to look beyond that and figure out why America's 'spoiled' people suffer so much due to their environment, as opposed to other places in the world.
I am also concerned about how I could look into the past for an answer to my question. Also, how can I be sure that cases of depression aren't just being reported more often now, and that the qualifications of depression haven't changed?
I still need to find more online sources, but I'm off to a great start!

Swept Away

As some of you may have heard, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, as well as a tsunami has just recently struck Japan. In addition to many lives lost and houses swept away and destroyed, a large explosion also occurred at a power plant as a result of the earthquake, causing deadly exposure to radiation.
As I'm sure it did many others, this earthquake seriously alarmed me. I suppose this is because I have always considered Japan to be an advanced country, and I have always subconsciously considered advanced countries to be invincible. I was proved wrong.
I supposed this is a pretty selfish way to think, but this disaster really makes me worry about the ones I love. We are never safe from Mother Nature.

But can we be? Is it about that time that the world should seriously reconsider building structures and think of new ways to protect ourselves against natural disaster? Or is this simply impossible?

Racial Tokenism

This past week, we have been talking about racial tokenism in class. We were asked whether we thought this was 'bad', and what should be done about it.
To be honest, the idea of racial tokenism being 'bad' made me feel entirely confused. It came about because certain networks were getting criticized for not representing minorities in their shows. Also, TV shows had to start being careful about how they represented certain races.
I am baffled because when minorities are not represented in certain shows, it's a problem. When they are represented in positions that aren't high class, it's a problem. And when they are represented in important positions, it's a problem. What, then, is the solution?
In a perfect world, I would say that directors should choose actors based on how well they play the role, but isn't it also possible that a director's stereotype's will factor in to their decisions, even subconsciously?
I am trying to find a solution to this issue, but I'm just going in circles. WHAT CAN BE DONE?

The Not So Superbowl

On this 'Oh so sacred' Superbowl Sunday, I began to seriously question my fellow Americans. Coming from a completely Polish family, I have always been more interested in watching European sports, such as tennis and soccer, so the Superbowl never meant a great deal to me anyway. Still, I never really minded that it means a great deal to many people. However, while I was at Walker Brothers Pancake House this morning, I noticed a sign saying that Walker Brothers would be closed after 4 o'clock for the Superbowl. Isn't it interesting that Walker Brothers is open on Easter and Thanksgiving Day? This makes me wonder how us Americans are beginning to prioritize. Sports are fun and can be harmless, but some people get extremely intense about this event, to the point where it's dangerous and chaotic. People are encouraged to get drunk, consume large amounts of unhealthy foods, and even gamble. Today is basically considered a holiday. My volleyball practice is even cancelled for the night!
I see skewed prioritizing in many more places. More and more reality TV shows are teaching kids that cars and clothes are more important than family. I am beginning to wonder if America should do more to encourage more positive and realistic prioritizing. Many of us need to come back into touch with our ideals.

Second blog about blogging!!

(SEE TRUTH BLOG)

I have continued to make more interesting observations this semester. I am getting better and better at connecting the world around me to what I had been learning in class, such as in my post PURE luck where I talked about how my driving experience could relate to so-called Holy experiences the Puritans might have gone through. In this way, I have been able to see the way two seemingly unrelatable things relate.
I also have gotten better at attempting to answer my own questions instead of just leaving them out there. Such as in my Truth blog post, I talked about what I considered to be truthful while also leaving it open to my audience.
I believe I am getting better at engaging my audience as well, however I should probably try to incorporate more links and pictures to create even more sympathy for my reader. I also need to blog a little more often!!!

Truth

When we were given our prompt for the final exam, I immediately began grappling with the idea of truth. While it is fairly easy to identify a lie, it is often hard to decide what is truthful. For example, as little kids, my brother would often try to push me down the stairs :( When he succeeded and my mother would angrily ask him if he pushed me, my brother would respond 'she fell'. While this wasn't exactly a lie, I did fall, it still wasn't the whole truth. But could it still be considered truthful?
While thinking about this I remembered a story that I had read during my Freshman year, called The Allegory of the Cave by Plato. In this story some people are chained to the ground and forced to look forward in a cave. A fire is burning behind them, causing shadows to be cast on the wall in front of them. When one man was freed and shown the real world, he came back only to his friend's laughter. They laughed because, to them, the shadows were the real world, because they hadn't ever known anything else. But who are we to say our world is the real world? What if we're just seeing shadows?
This keeps leading me to the conclusion that truth, like so many other things, is relative. What is true to one person could be false to another based on what they know and see every day. Basically, experience shapes all of what a person believes.