Death Brings Life

This week we read a passage about the death of a moth.  It was kind of hard to understand, but the meaning and purpose was very interesting and made me think.  What really intrigued me was her purpose in creating this story.  An observation of a simple moth lead Woolf to the conclusion that death creates value in life.

It's when the moth stops zigzagging and Woolf notices the "rocks, the ploughmen, the horses" outside working when she compares the moth to human beings.  She realizes that what humans and moths have in common are everyday activities that are pointless.  The work that people fill their lives with are all lackluster of true value and meaning, for once they die, all their work will disappear.  Had the workers outside of the window were to suddenly die, everything they had done would go to waste.  The vegetation would continue to grow without regulation until the field no longer looks the same as it was.  This suggests that all the work done my humans lack stability.

However, by the death of the moth, Woolf places value on life. While people live, they aren't able to grasp the concept of value. It is only until things are taken away that they will be truly valued.  Yet people are always threatened by death, we just choose to ignore it. Everyone never considers that the moment they are in could be their last.  Some people never experience their full potential or success, because they pushed it back too far.

Political Correctness doesn't Correct Anything

I kinda forgot what we talked about in class this week with only getting three hours of sleep on the bus to NYC, but I remember picking sides on whether political correctness is good or bad.  Our class concluded that PC is bad.  My argument mainly sided with source A's, about how PC only euphemized dire situations.  This is ultimately bad because prople start to undermine the situation.  This is seen with the countless homeless people on the streets. Its these euphemizations combined with stereotypes that the homeless stay homeless.  For example, calling the homeless "underhoused" doesn't make the situation nicer, it only labels them nicer.  Paired with the misconception that all homeless people spend their money on drugs and alchohol, it's no wonder that homeless people find it so hard to get off the streets.  Like  Kakutani said, "such language ... make[s] it easier to shrug off the setiousness of the situation"(Kakutani 24).

Rise of Technology

A topic similar to the Save the Whale, Screw the Shrimp piece we read is how technology has actually taken over our lives, maybe for the worst.  I won't disagree with this, as I along with the majority are examples of how materialistic society has become.  For most of my day I am looking at a computer or phone screen, mindlessly looking at funny photos or doing my homework.  It has gotten to the point where people depend on such technology.

I remember the days of my youth when free time meant going outside and ringing my neighbors doorbells to ask if they can play. Life was simple back then.  I never had to stay long into the night doing homework, and tests never stressed me out.  The only disappointments that ever came was if no one else could play with me outside.  But when that happened, I would just pick up a book and grab a snack and lay comfortably on the couch.  I had no phone or anything. The online world was nonexistent to me.

Of course technology these days is an essential to certain activities and such, but maybe we need a little less of it.  Maybe our society has become too advanced.

Perspective

We had a huge debate in class on Friday where the class was split between boys and girls on whether men can choose to be unmarked or not.  Generally, the guys leaned more toward not being able to choose, will the girls argues that men's looks are much more flexible.  This made me think.  Is it all just perspective?  Is it just that women care more and notice these small details more?

I think that women just care about this topic more then men do.  I for one, don't really care about my looks, as long as I look how I usually do.  I don't care what others look either. In fact, I probably couldn't even tell if someone wore the same piece of clothing twice in a row.  I don't look for that kind of stuff.  

Also, Stephen the hipster brought up a good point. Class isn't mentioned in the essay.  Tannen thinks that "the men's styles [are] unmarked' (Tannen 553), but what if they are?  Like Stephen said, one may be wearing an Armani suit, while another may be wearing a Kohl's suit.  What if the person wearing the Kohl's suit cannot afford an expensive suit like his coworker? Does that make him marked?  

Another interesting question was brought up at our table.  We were wondering how someone becomes "unmarked".  What are the standards?  How do you judge someone who is thought to be marked when you don't even know the criterion for being unmarked? When so many people wear different styles of clothing it's hard to tell who is unique and who isn't.  The problem with labeling people marked or unmarked is that there is nothing to base them upon.

Esports

On the topic of gendered spaces, I've noticed that esports tend to lean towards males.  Every major professional competitive team is made up of guys.  In fact, all major tournaments over the course of the year only feature the top male teams in the world.  Of course, there are quite a few female teams out there, but their matches don't get streamed or even if they do, barely anyone watches.  Now I'm not as to why this is; it could be because of the skill gap or sexism in general.

Lets take Counter-Strike for example.  In a year, there are about 20 majors hosted around the world. In these tournaments, 16 teams face off coming from various countries.  It should be noted however, that out of 20 tournaments, only one is dedicated to female gaming, and it's host isn't as well known as the others. It was only until 2015 that a female tournament with a prize pool of $30,000 was announced. $30,000 may seem like a lot, but compared to other majors, who have prize pools of up to 1.5 million dollars, it's definitely not.

Only $5K for first????

I've seen some matches played out between female teams, and I do see a slight skill gap.  But those players still are pros and match some of the best players on the well known teams.  Also in my preference, watching the same top teams compete against each other does get boring from time to time.  Many star plays do come out from the top players, but it's kind of at a point where watchers expect highlight moments out of them.  Adding a number of new talents into the mix would definitely make games more interesting.  Hopefully, female gaming will rise in popularity to match that of male gaming.

Webkinz

I remember a long time ago, roughly when I was in the third grade, Webkinz stuffed animals were all the craze.  I remember being so obsessed with it, I even went online to play the virtual game. I was jealous of everyone who had the new ones or just had more than me.  Even though I had a good amount (like 7 or 8), I always needed more.

Come to think of it I never really knew why I wanted them.  They were just like any other stuffed animals. I guess it's because they were mainstream.  Everyone else had them so I felt the need to also. In this sense, Webkinz are a lot like the Pink Flamingos mentioned in Price's essay.   Just like the flamingos and how they came in an assortment of colors featuring "tangerine, broiling magenta, ... methyl green", Webkinz came in all sorts of animals.  Perhaps the one I was most proud of was my bald eagle.  I remember the day I brought it to school, and receiving many compliments.

Thinking back on it, it really surprises me how easily something can become a fad in our culture.  Silly Bandz is another great example.  I collected those too.  However popular these fads may be, though, they will never last long.  It seems American just gets up and walks to the next craze.

Started From the Bottom Now We Here

My parents first stepped foot in America in 1993 to go to college and find better opportunities.  They decided to settle in Virginia.  From there they attended Old Dominion University, where my mom got her masters and my dad got his doctors degree.  Sometime around 2000, they moved to Michigan and bought their first house , were we live in today.  Now, my dad works as a president for a Chinese Car Company, and my mom works at GM.  We live a middle class life, like many others here in Troy, Michigan, but for my parents, it wasn't always like this.

My dad grew up in Wuhan, which is a little off of the east coast of China. He lived his live not having much money.  Though despite not having money, he found happiness in his hobbies, such as soccer and ping pong.  They were able to buy the necessities such as food, water, heating, etc, but luxuries were out of the picture.

My mother's situation was a little bit worse.  She grew up in Shenyang.
 In the house were my mom and her brother, grandpa, and grandma.  My grandpa was a farmer and my grandma worked in a factory.  Often times, they would go days without meat.  In fact, meat was considered a luxury.  Most of their meals consisted of the produce grandpa harvested from his garden.  Mom was a superb student, achieving top scores in the whole school.  It was this hard work and dedication that led her to meet my father in Wuhan university, where they got together and moved to the U.S.

Hearing their backstories really opened my eye to how lucky I am to be born into such an easy life.  Sure, high school and college may be hard but it will never be comparable to what my mom and dad had to go through.  We may not be rich, but we can easily afford many luxuries, even taking vacations every year to extravagant places.  My wish is that I follow in their footsteps.  My wish is to make them proud.

Back to Ping Pong

After reading Brad Manning essay, "Arm Wresting with My Father", I was reminded of how my mom and I would use to go downstairs and play some ping pong.  We used to play around once a week, and we were very competitive.  There was never no clear winner in our ping pong games.  One day I would win, then the next she would. Some days were off days, and on some days I would be hitting shots as quick as the speed of light.

Ping pong for me was a way to take my mind of things. Forget about homework. Forget about life.  The important thing right then was whether I emerged victorious from the half hour battle.   We would play a best of three, 11 point games.  I remember that even if I lost, it didn't matter, because after ping pong meant ice cream.

Yesterday, I challenged mom to a ping pong match.  Her eyes lit up and replied, "You're on!".  Long story short, I ended up winning, but we both played horribly, our rallies only lasting two or three shots.  The effect was the same though, each of us walking up the stairs out of breath, and grabbing some ice cream after.  After so long I had forgotten the fun of ping pong, so I proposed that from now on we play more often.  She agreed and said that next time she won't go easy on me (As if. I could tell she was just as determined as I was). Just like old times.

Back to Blogging

This weeks topic of disabilities combined with Nancy Mair's essay changed my perspective about the way we humans look at things.  I myself have always regarded disabilities as unnatural, as something that shouldn't exist.  But from reading Mair's essay, I've finally begin to understand the viewpoint of disabled people.

I feel like disabled people are classified differently than others.  I guess it's because society automatically puts a sign on every disabled person demanding the pity of others.  Many times I have felt sympathy for them, but I don't think sympathy is something they want.  Also, the video we watched made me ponder why I've never really payed much attention as to why mannequins all look the same, but it's probably because that is the norm nowadays, using perfect body sculptures to show off pieces of clothing.  However after reading Mair's essay I fully agree that people with disabilities are being deprived "of even the urge toward independence" (Mairs 14).  Especially in the media where stereotypes portray disabled people as weak, and needing constant support. As stated by Mairs, this mindset leads people to experience "a subtle kind of self-alienation not unlike that experienced by other minorities". This is the way of thinking that Mairs, along with many others including myself, want destroyed.  Disable people are just as capable as we are, and probably even more.

To go along with current events, disable people and immigrants are are going through similar treatment due to the situation we are in right now.  Because of President Trump's #MuslimBan that executive ordered just a couple days ago, many Americans including myself are tremendously ashamed.  To think that all Muslims belong to a terrorist organization is outright absurd, and goes against the constitution and American values.  Think about the countless refugees trying to get into America.  People don't just leave home just because they want to, but rather it is usually a dangerous situation in which they want to flee.  In classifying people differently, we lose the very belief we stand by. And what do we trade this value away for? Some measly counterfeit illusion of safety.
#NoBanNoWall

What is the wall even gonna do for us anyway?  Most illegal immigrants aren't even from Mexico, more people are leaving the US for Mexico than the other way around.