21 Questions

TITLE: Its My Birthday!

TOPIC: Self

SOURCE: My thoughts and conversations the weeks leading up to my 21st birthday as I go about my daily life at home, work, and school.

RELATION: The Robbins textbook describes identity as a construction of culture and multifaceted view of self. This interacts with positive and negative views of the same self.

DESCRIPTION: I am one of the first of my friends to turn 21. Last month I had a roomie turn 21 and he literally went crazy. He started drinking every day because he now could and engaged in self destructive behavior that literally led to a shift in the chemical balance in his brain. He was so confused about who he was and what he was doing here. I didn't ge why his twenty first birthday was so pivotal to his identity that achieving this milestone so greatly altered his state of mind.

Tomorrow is my twenty first birthday and now I know a lot of what he felt. It's scary getting old. I feel like I have been waiting all my life to reach this age and now its all downhill. In conversations, I was really excited up until recently. As the date looms, I have been getting increasingly uneasy. Others keep telling me they can't wait till I can buy them beer and alcohol. I felt like I was too young for anything and now it's not an important date at all. This is so odd because I never realized my age was so connected to my identity. Even a couple months difference can drastically change how a person perceives their self. The ability to legally buy alcohol and go clubbing is not as important as it once was. Give me my youth back!

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: Aspects of our lives affect our identity without us ever realizing it. In the space of a month I have gone from a confident and excited youthful self to anxiously awaiting old age. You never realize the different integral parts of our identity until you are confronted with great change. 

Society affects our perception of self in crazy ways. We don't realize the media feeds us that we are inadequate due to our age. Our inability to buy alcohol make us think we can not have fun. I never realized that until I could buy alcohol that it isn't that fun after all. And I haven't even had my birthday yet.

The "S" word

TOPIC: Sex


SOURCE: An uncomfortable conversation between an acquaintance and myself in my living room last night around eleven at night. This was our first meeting in many months and she was talking my ear off. This acquaintance is a bit lost on social norms and taboos at times so this conversation shouldn't have come so much as a shock to me.


RELATION: As illustrated in Chapter 5 of our Robinson textbook, cultures do not agree on sexual norms. The traditional Chinese cultural norm viewed sex as a tool for creating male heirs while the other two cultures described in the chapter enjoyed sex and viewed it as not even necessarily directly related to procreation. This conversation I was unfortunately a participant in is an example of one viewpoint of American sexual standards that led me to ponder American sexual standards in general. 
 

DESCRIPTION: I like to think I'm a friendly laid-back kind of a person, but there are some people that really test my tolerance levels. One acquaintance, let's nickname her "A" for the sake of anonymity, is one of those people. As a result, I have done my best not to spend too much time alone with her. This has worked out pretty well for me the last couple of months due to the fact I'm ridiculously busy with school and I literally haven't seen this girl since January. Yesterday, this all ended when she appeared at my house with one of my room mates and baking supplies. They had decided to make cherry pies for the house. Now don't get me wrong, A is really quite nice. She doesn't mean to be annoying or embarrassing, it's just a part of who she is. At times, she really goes out of her way to be a sweet and caring friend. When that happens you momentarily forget why you avoid her and don't invite her over more often. But then she opens her mouth and ruins it.
It all started with a joke she found on facebook or some other trendy website she likes going on. Something along the lines of "My girlfriend thinks I'm being a little cocky, well I can show her a little cocky! Wait...". I laughed a little bit for this one, it was about the hundredth she had read us, but somehow she felt I reacted more strongly to this one than the rest and posted in on my boyfriends facebook profile. I felt this was odd, but aside from protesting I couldn't very well hack her account. When my boyfriend came back from work he laughed it off and made a joke about threesomes, including an open invitation to me and A. A proceeded to further this joke by adding all the things she wanted to do with us, graphically. I was put off by this, maybe I'm just not sexually expressive or experimental because the thought of a threesome just sounds like a lot of work and is awkward to me. My boyfriend, who would love nothing better than to say yes to her proposals, even seemed a little out of his element by this time and made some comment about me probably not being comfortable with that. Then A bursts out "You know, that's how I always wanted to lose my virginity, in a three-way. Oh my god, I forgot to tell you Sarah! I finally lost my virginity." Thank you, A. I did not want to know that. Then she proceeded to try and tell me every detail. I really do mean every detail, this girl has no filter. Despite the fact I clearly did not want to hear about her sexual milestone, I now know quite a bit about it, except for the guys name or who he is.




COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: 
I know this sounds odd, but I only care about the sex lives of people I don't know. Honestly though, a lot of us are that way. We read tabloids and watch tv shows chronicling the sexual exploits of celebrities and fictional characters but one mention of our neighbors, coworkers, or parents having sex can turn us red with embarrassment in five seconds flat. Sex talk is very much taboo in our social parameters, talked about in whispers behind closed doors. The media, however, glorifies it. 
My parents are severely strict followers of the Christian faith. We never talked about sex in my family. Ever. My father said things like "Never let a boy touch your 'no no place' " and "Cover your 'tata's' or you'll look like your cousin". What does that even mean to a five year old? My mother never even attempted to breach this topic until I came back from college and she abruptly started sharing stories of old flames and thirty year old gossip. It was terribly awkward and I was not equipped to handle that kind of exchange. Clearly, as my conversation with A shows, I am still very uncomfortable talking about sex. 

21 Jump Street

 How They Were In High School

How They Were in High School Undercover

TITLE: Watching a Movie Because it Starred Channing "Sex God" Tatum  
 
TOPIC: Interpretive Drift

SOURCE: Yesterday at 9pm at the Broadway Cinema in Eureka, I and three friends watched this hilarious movie. Laughter rang through out the relatively packed theater as the audience identified with the story which ironically details two men as they undergo interpretive drift and come to realize the affects of it is messing with their friendship.

RELATION: The movie synopsis is
"In the action-comedy 21 Jump Street, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are more than ready to leave their adolescent problems behind. Joining the police force and the secret Jump Street unit, they use their youthful appearances to go undercover in a local high school. As they trade in their guns and badges for backpacks, Schmidt and Jenko risk their lives to investigate a violent and dangerous drug ring. But they find that high school is nothing like they left it just a few years earlier - and neither expects that they will have to confront the terror and anxiety of being a teenager again and all the issues they thought they had left behind."
The movie is about them adjusting to the new culture of high schoolers which demonstrates “the slow, often unacknowledged shift in someone’s manner of interpreting events as he or she becomes involved with a particular activity.” RR Chapter 4 p. 94-95


DESCRIPTION: My friend Monica had been begging me to go see the movie Mirror Mirror for a couple of weeks now and I was pretty game to watch it. However, my boyfriend and our friend Tyler didn't share Monica's sentiments and we ended up seeing 21 Jump Street instead. I was looking forward to it because I love Channing Tatum and I have been itching to see a good comedy. We got our tickets, popcorn, and extra large ICEE and hightailed it to the theater where there was a bit of a crowd already. We sat near the front and waited for the Previews to come on. I have often found that Previews are more entertaining than movies, and more often than not better than the actual movies they advertise. The Previews were so good it got me pumped for the movie and I was not disappointed. The movie was amazing. Channing Tatum was ever handsome but Dave Franco even gave him a run for my heart. But what bugged me was how during the entire movie I would recognize cultural anthropology terms. One that kept coming up for this movie was "interpretive drift". As the movie progressed, the characters played by Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill begin morphing into high school stereotypes to match their respective classes and social circles.This goes unacknowledged until the climatic point of the movie where it causes severe conflict in their relationship.


COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: The movie was a classic case study of interpretive drift used for entertainment purposes. Through my experience in Cultural Anthropology I can now identify this. As a result of this movie, I can see how this applies in my life as well. In high school I underwent interpretive drift. I started out a little book worm. Then I joined Color Guard and became a bit of a band geek. I began to observe the world differently and act differently. I like to think for the better because I gained a lot of confidence and interpersonal skills. But then college created an entirely new view of the world for me and I underwent interpretive drift again. 

Humboldt Humor

TOPIC: Humor

SOURCE: Talking to my new roomies and my boyfriend any given day of the week at any hour, conversation often turns to weed. There is a lot of terminology that I still do not understand from over a year of living here in Humboldt, this includes weed related humor. I realized recently during one of their conversations at the house with their stoner friends over, that although I live with some of them and empathize on a lot of things, because I don't smoke I perceive some of their humor strangely.

RELATION: Humor, differs among cultures in relation with how they perceive the world and the way their language is structured. The Humboldt weed culture is a subset of the Humboldt culture and as a member of the general public I dont understand the intricacies, especially on humor, of weed culture.

DESCRIPTION:

I have heard about weed and what you experience as a user of weed. However I don't do it so I just have an abstract idea from conversations with stoners. To add to my confusion is the fact I don't grasp half of the terminology pertaining to weed. I mean... I know what the munchies are! But I don't get why "everything is better with hash on top" (hahaha). Nor why someone "stinks like bong water" (hahahaha). Comments like "Mary Jane and Molly are my only mistresses" is a mystery to me. These are just random quotes that I remember off the top of my head, not even what they found the funniest. It might have to do with them being high and finding everything funny. It might have to do with a shared experience they routinely experience together. 

Something I noticed is they find recounting stories of stupid things they do high are highly amusing and share the same stories over and over again to each other. When high, laughing and giggling is not an unusual side affect. Something so simple as misplaced lighter can provide the humorous fodder for an entire hour of pothead conversation. This is a culture I don't understand,  but I am somewhat engrossed in.

COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: Although people from all backgrounds of life smoke weed, becoming a part of this culture via experience, separate them from the whole. An aspect of this is humor. As a member of the culture who hasn't experienced this, I don't see their humor. I don't appreciate things so simplistically as they do. As a nonuser, the concept of me smoking apparently is hilarious. I seriously don't understand at all. At all.

Uninstalling Skype

Topic: Globalization

Source: Decision I made last night around 8pm in my nice cozy bed when my computer was going crazy.

Relation: Staying connected with loved ones no matter where you are in the world, an example of globalization.

Description: After five years of very unfaithful service, my laptop threatened to die on me once again last night. I checked my hard drive and there was barely a byte left to spare so it was time to make some tough decisions. Which programs did I want to uninstall? I finally decided to uninstall skype. This program enables you, once downloaded, to go online and have video conversation with other people who have installed skype on their computer. They have new interactive services as well now such as international calling online, online voicemail, and video chat gaming. The main gimmick for this software is its global versatility in personal and business aspects of life.
Skype is actually kind of what got me through my freshman year of college. The summer before I left for Humboldt, my friends and I all installed skype and promised each other to use it often. I missed my friends terribly all my first year and even with a slow connection, I at least got to see their dear faces. I also had no cell or landline service at this time so I bought the three month phone service and called my family and friends from my computer for just fifteen dollars. But this year, I'm awfully busy and much more secure with my surroundings so I have hardly used skype at all. And as I said, with a bad connection and an old computer, I couldn't fully enjoy skype. I have a cell phone and a boyfriend whose computer and internet service is far superior to mine with skype installed. It was time to move on, and with a heavy heart I clicked "ok" to uninstall my dear friend.

Commentary/Analysis: There was a time when people didn't like moving away from family and friends because it was difficult to travel back and stay in touch. One could always resort to letter writing of course, but that's not quite the same. However, in a global age, we have found new ways to accommodate and even promote long distance relationships and socializing. We have facebook, cellphones, laptops, and skype to keep us always connected wherever we go. Whether away on business in China or backpacking in Wyoming, you can still talk to your fiance in Brazil. That's where globalization has taken us as a society, everywhere.

Football Fanatacism

 

Topic: Cultural Text (American Football)

Source: Conversation in the car of my friend as we drive to the mall concerning the Super Bowl Friday around 4pm.

Relation: We identify with this sport because it exemplifies our idea of attaining the American dream (aka success) via self denial, hard work, and perseverance. However, the conversation drifted more towards the idea that the Super Bowl is becoming a fixed event which I feel reflects American success as well. Also the obsession is gender specific in targeting.

Description: I was with a couple of girl friends of mine and we happened to hear a Super Bowl related commercial. It mentioned shopping for Super Bowl party food to please your special hubby. This set our conversation going in a similar path. I mentioned I didn't care nor know who was in the game.
Out of the three girls present, I had the least interest. There was Thalia who didn't really care but had an opinion and Andrianna who is a die hard Giants fan. Thalia's boyfriend in a football fanatic but doesn't ever seem to stick to one team. He bets on every single game almost religiously on the most mundane and strange things. I didn't even know they dump different color Gatorade on the winning coach every year. I actually didn't know they dumped Gatorade on anyone...
The response to my neutral statement concerning the outcome of the game was greeted with flat out indignation. How could I pretend to be a red blooded American and not know the point spread of every NFL team? Thalia burst out laughing, she actually felt very similar to me but was afraid of her boyfriends reaction. I declared I had never even hear of any of the teams playing. I only knew two California teams and the Minnesota Vikings because my father felt his nordic roots very strongly. At this point, Thalia chimed in that her boyfriend felt the whole season is rigged by the owners ahead of time. Now I'm not sure of the technical planning needed to pull that off, but I felt that it was very probable. Andrianna could not help but interject that HER team was amazing and HER team had fought its way to the top and that was why HER team was at the Super Bowl. If she had actually watched a game, I probably would have given her claim some thought. But the whole thing really got me thinking about the American obsession with football and how I and my female friends really didn't care but the guys in our life were bemoaning and calling foul over the whole preceedings.

Commentary/Analysis: If the American dream, and an NFL ring, can be achieved purely by hard work, determination, and sacrifice then I'm wondering why women are excluded from this. I know a lot of hard working and martyr like moms and wife's out there who do not earn the recognition or life style they deserve. From a football perspective, women only participate in the half time show or in cheer leading. I recently learned the average NFL cheer leader earns $50 a game. That is absolutely pitiful compared to the salary of the football players. The labor and dedication devoted to cheer leading and football playing in the NFL are equal if not more strenuous for those who perform cheer yet the women don't even earn a percentage of what the men earn.
I think football is kind of boring. Give me beach volleyball any day but I can't even figure out the point system for football. Most girls I know are like me, oblivious to the charms it holds on our men. The girls I know who do understand and like football, show it off like its a big deal. They almost over embellish their ardor for the game as if that will make guys notice them more. I don't know why, but you always hear those girls proclaiming their knowledge when a guy is conveniently close or interested.