The Price of Curiosity

World of wonder, world of magic

World that beckons us to seek

The never experimented before

First we fail, then we are "rewarded"

By the "lovely light," and "enchanted elfin sprite"

Problems solved, by miracles found

Preceded by some "mysterious emanations"

It's the cure, 

For anything and everything

It puts the world to sleep,

It stills everything, 

Its "luminous glow" becomes eternal

It freezes time, controls it

Spins it, and slows it

Till we no longer know, 

Whether we sleep in eternal peace or in agony

Stories to be told,

Of times lost long ago

Stories of glowing vials, of "liquid sunshine"

Stories of hope, littered with desperation

Stories that warn, stories that ward

Stories seen as fiction, and as myth

Stories not heeded, caveats ignored

Fascination floods, and blinds us all

All that the glow stilled

Awaits its turn,

Death is to come, 

Death is to steal,

The glow still rests 

On the faces and arms of six year-olds,

On the lips of women, caught with unfortunate jobs,

On Marie Curie's finger tips, no longer twitching with the anticipation of her discovery

Its "dreamlike beauty" is eternally frozen

Yet alive, waiting for its next host

Death waits at the door, 

With the glow by its side

Waiting for our next flounder,

Waiting for our new desperation,

For our new false hope,

And inevitable ruin

World of plunder, world of tragic

World that renders us weak, 

Profiting from our frailty

First we fail, then we are "rewarded"

By the "lovely light," and "enchanted elfin sprite"

Problems unsolved, by miracles underground

Preceded by some "mysterious emanations"

It's the lure, 

For anything and everything

Stories of glow,

Of times lost long ago

Stories of glowing vials, of "liquid sunshine"

Stories of desperation, littered with false hope

Stories that warn, stories that ward

Stories not heeded, caveats ignored

Fascination floods, and blinds us all

Fascination that we trust, 

More than the fables of the true

Fascination that we follow 

Simply for its hue

Beware of the glow, of the "lovely light" that beckons

Beware of our silent comrades, 

Silenced by their fascination

Beware in your travels to this world anew

Beware, and remember the things to heed

Is the Meaning of Words Black and White?

Sometimes we say what we mean, but more often than not, we don't mean what we say. After all, how many times a day do we say stuff that we don't actually mean?

In a lot of my AP classes, people will say things like "I literally cried for two hours because of this class," which -- given that the classes are APs -- is possible, but not very probable. While it is true that many people use indirect speech to "establish relationships" or out of "ordinary politeness," I would argue that we -- as people from Gen Z -- use it more so to convey the exact meaning of what we truly want to say. Often, we cannot find words to correctly express the way we feel, so we use indirect speech to convey our feelings instead. Think about it, how many internet posts actually say what they mean?

For example, the post from above is not truly calling people that dog-ear pages Satan, but rather expressing its strong dislike for people that participate in that activity. However, by using language that indirectly implies this meaning allows the creator of the post to truly show the viewer what he or she means.

The post above is another perfect example of indirect speech. It provides a metaphoric example to convey what this person feels. Of course they didn't actually start crying and "climb to the top of the Empire State Building singing," but when he or she says this, every single Gen Zer knows exactly what he or she meant. Immediately we all reply with "same" or something of the sort because we understand even though they didn't say exactly what they felt.

The usage of indirect speech is differs in each interaction. What I mean is that when a Gen Zer talks to his/her peers, the examples shown above are used. However, we understand that that usage is reserved for Gen Zers only and will switch to using indirect speech for politeness when speaking to someone from a different generation.

Indirect speech was relevant and useful before 2007 and in 2007 when Steven Pinker wrote "Words Don't Mean What They Mean," before 2007. It continues to be relevant today, although in a slightly different manner and will continue to be relevant in the future. The usage of this speech is the only thing that changes in the sense of what it is used to convey (politeness in 2007 and self-expression today). It will evolve for as long as our language and we ourselves evolve.

Is Politically Correct Truly Correct?

Some people think that simply changing the language, specifically the words we use in our everyday communications, will banish the "racism and hate" in our society today. But changing "women" to "womyn" or "black eye" to "mouse" will change nothing about how people think about their counterparts. In The Word Police, Michiko Kakutani shows her readers how ridiculous the idea of replacing such words is.

Let's go example by example. Replacing "women" with "womyn" does not sound different phonetically. So when people use it in their everyday speech, it doesn't change anything to them at all. "But it will when they write." Wrong. When someone writes, nobody sits down to check the spelling of all their words. They just write, and come back for edits later. And when they come back, they are likely to forget that the spelling of "women" has been changed. So who corrects these "spelling errors?" Editors; meaning that the only people who actually use the "correct" spelling of the word add up to be a very small quantity of people compared to the entire population. "We'll just put the correct form of the word into our spell checks then." Yea, that won't work either. Sure, people will see a red squiggly line under the word in question, and will fix its spelling, but they won't give it a second thought. They are not going to sit down to think about why the spelling changed, they will just move on with their lives. So how are we changing sexism by doing this?

To change sexism, or racism, or any type of discrimination, it is necessary to change how people think of their diverse peers. Changing the language simply does not do enough to change people's perspective.

The Black and White Verity of Wonders

Flamingo or No??

"Americans had hunted flamingos to extinction in Florida" but now resurrected them in a plastic medium. In an assortment of colors too! "Sassy pink", "passion pink," "sunset pink," and "bermuda pink." Practically every color -- of pink -- that you could possibly ever want was available. Flamingos on every lawn, in every city, in every state, in every house, in every home.

Not a fan of flamingos? No problem! You can participate in the new trend by buying a pink "washing machine" instead. Or perhaps you would like a pink "car" better? Like Elvis Presley's "pink Cadillac." Still haven't found what you are looking for? Perhaps you would be more interested in renovating your kitchen with a pink "kitchen counter" instead.

If you can name it, it is available in the trendy color pink, anywhere and everywhere you go for your convenience, creds to the plastic pink flamingo. 

Maybe a hot pink is not your first pick. In that case, try a "tangerine, broiling magenta, [or] livid methyl green" instead. Even Benjamin Bugsy and Elvis Presley are on board with the new trend, why aren't you? 

Does a trip to Las Vegas appeal to your desires more? Or perhaps a vacation somewhere else. Not a problem! Take a break from your mundane lives by dipping into this trend. The flamingos are over there too. Try a Flamingo motel, or a Flamingo hotel, or a Flamingo restaurant, or a Flamingo lounge -- you can find them anywhere in the United States of America, so don't worry, you can't miss them!

The Black and White Truth of the School Cafeteria

"The enormous, pungent, and extremely [well-populated]" school cafeteria is filled to the brim with students rushing to quench the hunger of their starving stomachs at around 10:30am. The rush is often less characterized by the eager to participate in the big boiling pot as it is with getting the liberty to eat our "lunches" at 10:30 in the morning. The lunches that the school provides for a small fee. Although your "assigned correspondent" isn't a daily customer here, she can still vouch well for the quality of the endless list of possible lunches. The crouton salads with plentiful dressing, sandwiches and burgers -- with various amounts of moistness in the bread -- of every type, glittering and glistening pizza, and bosco sticks layered with enough cheese to share.

The salads come from a buffet style setup where "you make your own" by putting your trust in the various ingredients whose origins are yet to be determined. The sandwiches and burgers lay pre-made and pre-wrapped in some sort of foil, where they await their next victim. The "victim" must often be extremely attentive at which sandwich he chooses to get because the foil used is the same for all... sucks to be vegetarian in that case. The pizza is a much more straightforward choice to make. Every day, there are three different types placed side by side for you to serve yourself (the serving tool used may or may not have been lying around on the counter before you used it to serve yourself). After you serve yourself some pizza, be careful where you place your napkins, if you accidently let one touch your pizza, it'll come away quite soaked with unknown fluids.

Anyways, enjoy your stay, at the glorious school cafeteria!!

The Black and White Truth of the Abyssers

Hardships change people, often for the better and often for the worse. I've always been one to lean on the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate when it comes to personality. I don't believe that someone's genetics change who their going to become, but rather the environment around them. People aren't born wanting to do good, nor are they born wanting to do evil, all they want is food, water, and sleep as an infant. Society is what shapes them, teaching them the "right" way to live and throws them out if they refuse to follow it.

So people end up being molded, to fit the shape they've been told to fit. It's almost as if everyone is thrown into a gorge at birth, and society is above ground watching over that chasm. Except, some people are carefully placed in shallow potholes, and others are thrown into abysses too deep to imagine. The people left in potholes easily climb out and mix in with society and learn its values, implementing those rules into their daily lives. The people stuck in abysses call out for help, for a rope, a ladder, anything; but society simply turns its head the other way. The people in the abysses ask why, and society simply shrugs, and says, "we got out of our own holes on our own, why can't you?"

The pothole people have now become society, and the abyss people turn to waste. The abyss people protest, dig steps into the walls of their pits and try to climb to the ground. But society's eye doesn't miss anything. When the abyssers sleep, society throws pails of water onto the abysser's dirt steps, dissolving every tear and drop of sweat to simple mud. In the morning, society pretends to care, when the abyssers cry in agony, and "offers" to "help," without any intention of really doing so.

So the abyssers become survivors, not truly living, but not having the freedom to die either. Some end up as survivors that live, somehow and still manage to find slivers of hope and fragmented happiness, but some end up as "different [people]," turning against each other to make it through the day.

Stereotypes, The Black and White Truth

This week in class we read "Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?" by Matthias R. Mehl. This article was published to display the results of the experiment that Mehl and his team conducted to see if the stereotype of women being more talkative than men was true or not. Turns out, it isn't true, yet a lot of people assume it's true without second thought.

Stereotypes are just oversimplified labels given to people that society believes to be accurate representations of the people in question. Think about it, how many times have you applied stereotypes to people without realizing it? Have you ever been able to tell how smart someone is just by looking at them? Ever labelled someone as a jock or nerd based on their physique or the number of books they read? Ever seen someone read comics and think they don't care about school? Felt like all guys play video games or that girls never do? Even age groups have stereotypes, but do all teens rebel?

Labeling of any kind, whether it's truthful or not, never helps anyone. It teaches someone that they have certain expectations that they have to live up to because of their race, gender, hobbies, age, or other characteristics that they don't necessarily have any control over. If they can't reach those expectations, they are excluded by society and the people in it. Often, they feel constraints and boundaries that they are not allowed to cross. Sometimes it gets really tough for teens, even adults to cope with. Yet we still continue thinking in stereotypes and raising children to fit them. I mean, how twisted does one have to be to tell a kid to be smart just because they were born into a certain race, or to tell a child that they're a nerd because they read, or dumb because they don't, or that they should or shouldn't play video games because of their gender.

The Black and White Truth of the "Hunch Posture"

Brent Staples, the author of "Just Walk On By," defines the "hunch posture" from his essay as one where women "set their faces on neutral and, with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled." Staples admits that "women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of violence," therefore their "hunch posture" is justified to some extent. 

But perhaps, the cities and states in which Staples experiences this discrimination are more determinant of the perception of Staples than his race and gender. The first city Staples gives an example of is Chicago, a city that was close to a "surrounding ghetto" from which "muggers... occasionally seeped." Maybe this is what led Staples' first victim into a panic frenzy. Another location that labels Staples as a "suspect" is Soho, Manhattan. Manhattan being an undoubtedly crowded place, night walkers should seem to be a daily occurence that are in no way unnatural. However, Soho is a region that consists mainly of high-end stores and art galleries, making it very unnatural to be wandering through its streets in the middle of the night. Central Manhattan on the other hand is occupied by a "near-constant crowd," "[minimizing] the tense one-on-one street encounters," making it very normal to be out on the streets even in the middle of the night. 

In Troy, night walkers are not much of a frequent occurrence, at least as far as I know. Consequently, if Staples were to take a walk in the middle of the night here, the discrimination he might face may be more attributed to his trait of being a night walker than to being a "young black male." 

At the same time, this is not to say that racism is not a major factor in the labeling of a "suspect," but that the level of racism that Staples faces is an effect referable to the views of night walkers of the society in question and how that society "teaches" its residents to view specifically "young black men" on night walks as "suspects."

Does Knowledge Always Abolish Ignorance?

Just because someone is educated, does it mean that they are not ignorant. Ignorance is not automatically banished by education or knowledge. Education and knowledge only provide a pathway away from ignorance, but whether we choose to walk it or not is often our choice. In "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," Percy goes to one of the best schools in the world, yet follows his father into the mountain, straight to his death. If education and knowledge were able to banish ignorance, Percy would've seen that if they blew up the mountain above them, they would be buried alive. But he doesn't. He has the education and knowledge to know enough about why that is a bad idea, yet he remains ignorant. So why do we say that education and knowledge are the best ways to fight ignorance?

Knowledge and education help us see and maybe understand why certain things in the world are the way they are, but people can't be forced to use it. For example, Percy followed his father into the mountain, possibly knowing what might happen to them, yet he didn't say anything because the risk of giving up his life was worth it if it meant that there was a chance of saving their wealth from the aviators. However, I believe that Percy remained oblivious to the possible consequences on purpose because he thought he knew what he was doing. 

Ignorance occurs and spreads when people think that they are knowledgeable about something, when they truly know nothing. 

Journey to the Past

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

          -The Great Gatsby (p180)

The straightforward, black and white reality of this quote is that we often try to propel ourselves into the past or try to make the past our present. The truth is we turn back to our past because we know its outcome. We don't usually think of how we can change our present through our future, but rather how we could've changed our present through our past. For example, when I receive a test back, and look through the questions I got wrong, I see the mistakes that I could've avoided, not how I can prevent them in the future. 

So often we get stuck thinking about the things that we could've improved that we stop working to change the future that will soon be our present. Even being aware that I look back at the past often, I cannot stop myself from doing so. It has become a reflex that we revert to all the time. And so we keep moving backward into the past without glancing to the future that awaits us.

We have to train ourselves, push ourselves, and override the default setting of our brains to be able to move forward and change our future. We are all humans. We make the impossible possible, so why can't we seem to move our heads out of our pasts? Why can't we seem to change the boats direction towards the future? 

High school girls learn the art of automobile mechanics. Left to right: Grace Hurd, Evelyn Harrison, and Corinna DiJiulian, with Grace Wagner (under car), at Central High, Wash. D.C.

This picture was taken in 1927, during the modernist movement. This was a time period right after the first World War where social norms were challenged and redefined. Women were in work fields that had been traditionally male-dominated, and wanted to stay in those fields. When the men had left to fight in the war, the women had taken responsibility for the labor that needed to be done and the jobs that needed to be filled. As a result, after the war, women were still in these fields, still doing labor, and wanted to continue. World War I ended in 1918, and this picture shows four high school girls working on an automobile. When the war ended, the girls were likely about nine years old, not old enough to have been working in work fields during the war. They aren't the women that had been in male-dominated work fields and wanted to stay, they are women that wanted in on the jobs. They are interested to learn and are actively trying to seek an education in the field so that they can work as new employees in these fields.

Another thing aspect of this photo that I found intriguing was the title. The title clearly lists the names of every girl in the picture. Many photos we see of women in history are unnamed, unless the woman is famous. However, the names of the girls in this photo are not ones well-known through history, yet are specifically mentioned. This shows that the photographer willingly acknowledged the people in this photo as people in real training of the arts, showing us that the photograph was not staged, that it was legitimate.

How Do /You/ Fly?

We're humans. And if you ask most people if we can fly, they will say no. Humans are too heavy, humans don't have wings, our bone structure doesn't allow it, etc.. There is simply no way to leap and to be able to take flight, as a human. But must it be that way? There is no literal way to fly, but can we not take flight like Pilate? What stops us from flying the way she did "without ever leaving the ground" (Morrison 337)? Could it be our white peacock strut, or maybe the lust for gold. 

Sometimes, it is our greed for material objects or vanity, and sometimes it is the rush with which we live life. We don't take a lot of time to stop and appreciate the little things in life, or even the things that matter to us the most. Pilate never had much, yet always treated everyone with hospitality and always made everyone seem welcome at her house. She never hesitated to lend a helping hand even if she was in need of one herself. She spent time with her family, and appreciated the things she did have. She lived life as it came, and without fear of what others may think of her. She never lusted for gold, and never strutted. She didn't have to abandon her family or her life to be free. She simply never allowed herself to be constrained into a cage, and therefore, never had to break free. 

We have the choice, of whether we allow ourselves to be constrained or not. We simply have to acknowledge it, and make the right choice for ourselves.