Blogging Around

The first blog I commented on was that by Miss Noreen Andersen, long-time friend and impeccable writer. In her blog post, 360 Degrees: Through the Fish Eye Lens, Nonie talks about all the different ways one can look at a simple image, and how by doing so, we experience something we have never seen, which is unexpectedly beautiful and life-changing. My comment is as follows:

Hey Noners! From the minute I met you, you have always written exquisitely, and this is no different. I completely agree; seeing the world from another perspective, from someone else's viewpoint, through a different lens, truly is beautiful. It's kind of like how we all can look at the same glass window and see the same colors, but not the same picture or message. I know that in my lifetime, this has helped me to understand and accept others, which I can easily say has enriched my world. Like you said, looking at something in a way you have never experienced can be absolutely stunning. Stepping out of the corner that we all feel so comfortable in never prompts any emotional growth. Little do we know that our "safe" world is a minuscule, insignificant part of life. With each moment we spend outside of that zone, our perspectives tenfold, and we begin to truly understand things that we would have never acknowledged before. The sad part is that most people don't put forth such an effort to walk in new shoes and subsequently suffer the loss of so much perspective and knowledge that really can change a person. But for those of us who are fortunate enough to find something worthwhile in the search for a new take on things, life seems that much more wonderful, and I can see you are definitely one of those people! Call me overly optimistic, but I believe that even the saddest, most uncomfortable, most unfamiliar of things have a way of turning around, just as long as you're willing enough to look through the right lens.


The second post I commented on was from Minho's blog. In the post entitled Best of Today: Moments, he talks about the "Moments" video watched in class incited the idea of taking the small things of life for granted. He also talks about how as humans we focus on what happened and what has yet to happen, and by doing so we miss perhaps the most important parts of life. My comment is as follows:

This post definitely epitomizes one of the greatest flaws of society - we are so concentrated on that which we cannot change and that which we have yet to regret, we miss perhaps the greatest moments of life. I too plead guilty; I do not truly observe the present around me enough. Consequently, this leads me to believe that life is utterly boring and lackluster, which could not be further from the truth. If we take the time to really just look at what's around us, we capture some of the best parts of life; those which we would never normally acknowledge. I agree with you wholeheartedly. We've been taught our whole existence to look ahead and focus on the future. While although that might sound somewhat inspirational and a great motto to tell yourself once in a while, this thought is much too prevalent. As a sucker for quotes, I must reference the legend John Lennon who said, "Life's what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." This is one of my favorites because it forces me stop and evaluate what I have been missing around me. During all the time I've wasted worrying and stressing over the most insignificant things that I believe to be so significant, I've lost all those completely significant moments that seemingly aren't at all. Life truly is a song composed of little moments, and those we take for granted equate with an incomplete, unfulfilled work of art.

360 Degrees: The Moon

"The Freedom of the Moon" by Robert Frost

I've tried the new moon tilted in the air
Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster
As you might try a jewel in your hair.
I've tried it fine with little breadth of luster,
Alone or in one ornament combining
With one first-water start almost shining.

I put it shining anywhere I please.
By walking slowly on some evening later,
I've pulled it from a crate of crooked trees,
And brought it over glossy water, greater,
And dropped it in, and seen the image wallow,
The color run, all sorts of wonder follow.


There's magic in the moon. It is as if it is attached to an immeasurable amount of leashes that drag it everywhere an individual decides to roam. I love how the Milky Way seemingly corrodes it away with each passing phase. But no matter from what angle or body you see it in, it remains the same.

Sitting on my front stairs in Glenview Illinois I gaze up and envision the moon in its full phase, even though it is partially obscured by hazy cloud. If my aunt were to sit on her front stairs in California she would see the same thing. And if my cousin on the balcony of a suave apartment in New York could take the time to ignore the shining lights of the city and tilt his head up to the sky, he too would the same craters as me.

What if I were the fish that jumped out of the ocean to see my iridescent scales illuminate in the white reflection of the moon on the surface of the water? What if I was the wolf who cried "moon" almost every night? What if I were the satellite practically having a face to face conversation with the moon?

However, this astrological rock is much more than its physical appearance makes it out to be. From ancient times it was emphasized to be spiritually important. The beginnings of religion saw it as a figure to worship in forms of gods and goddesses. Before the 60s, touching it seemed impossible, but somehow we came together set our sights on conquering it and succeeded. On one hemisphere it signals the end of the day, where on the other it signals the early beginning. Yet no matter when or how one sees it, the moon has defied the ends of time and the farthest of distances to remain entirely universal.

Frost's poem emulates its connectivity. It defies time, it defies space, and it defies meaning. I'd like to think that no matter what the moon represents, or from what angle one sees it, its magnetic pull binds us to our history and each other. Maybe I'm a little far-fetched here, and some would probably say that this claim is a stretch, but this is how I see it from where I stand. See, that's what I love about the moon. I'd like to think that no matter who I am, what I am, where I am, how I am, when I look at the cratered rock that orbits the very diverse and distant earth we live on, I am connected to everything.

iMedia: "Society" by Eddie Vedder

Into the Wild is probably one of my favorite movies. Whether its the flawless cinematography, spot-on acting, or oddly inspirational, based-on-a-true-story plot, this movie never ceases to hypnotize. However, it is the hauntingly accurate melody of Eddie Vedder's "Society" that leaves me weaving an endless web of divergent thought.

Society. It's something that molds the way we think, the way we act, the way we look, dress, walk, talk, eat, sleep. It invades our subconscious, whether conscious or unconscious. Inescapable. It is a utopia designed to  feed insiders with false information in order to prevent them from pulling the curtain and finding out that the great Wizard of Oz is nothing but a man.

The story of Into the Wild focuses on how society held in by a materialistic cage. Our human nature is to think that what we want is what need. And what we do have, materialistically, whether it be needed or wanted, affects the way society makes others see us.

"There's those thinking, more-or-less, less is more
But if less is more, how you keeping score?
Means for every point you make, your level drops
Kinda like you're starting from the top
You can't do that..."

These are my favorite lines in the song. Vedder complexly addresses the paradox of less being more, but also more being more. We need to break society's measurement of worth. If we look at one another with a materialistic lens, we are programmed to look down on those who have nothing, those who go against society's idealistic "norm." For every man that goes against the societal concept that having more material equates with being on top, "for every point you make, your level drops." This is society's defense mechanism to protect itself against a threat to its order. Society refuses to allow us to be happy if we do not have quote-unquote "stuff." Should we every make the unthinkable, the intolerable, the blasphemous choice to be content with what we have, to accept that what we want is not what we need, we are to be punished and to punish others.

But how do we fix this? How do we dispose of the notion that material makes us happy? That those who have more are worth more? If we are bound by such a tight rope around our subconscious, how can we escape? I believe we need to to measure worth in terms of one's immeasurable, emotional possessions. We need to start "keeping score" on the basis that less is more in terms of material, and more is more in terms of mental, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and philosophical worth. Those who are blinded by their ultra-thin iPhone 5 or energy-efficient Toyota may have more materialistically, but lack the most valuable measure of worth, and therefor really have nothing. To refuse to allow society to make you who you are, to have immense amounts of spiritual and intellectual knowledge, to live without wanting what you do not need, that is priceless.

Best of Week: Sex vs. Gender

You are born with a sex, but are you really born with a gender? I always believed that 'sex' and 'gender' could be used interchangeably; both defined completely by biological and physical factors. But after thinking it through and discussing the matter in class, gender really means so much more than that; there is a whole other mental and emotional aspect that contributes to one's gender, different than one's sex, that not many people realize.

Thinking about those numerous times I have had to fill out my information, can the question of "What gender are you?" simply be answered with an 'M' or an 'F'? Or should there be two questions, asking my gender along with my sex? I feel as though describing one's gender can not be answered in one word, considering that psychologically, we all have a little bit of the other gender in ourselves. Women are said to have a more emotional and sensitive brain, while men are more analytical and structural. Does this mean that because my sex is female, I cannot be logical? We are constantly labeled as one way or the other, male or female, and although we usually identify ourselves this way, the black and white distinction leads people to choose between one or the other on the basis that we cannot be a compilation of both.

This gray area, so to speak, is often overlooked. For example, the referenced Native American author spoke about how his qualities of being sensitive or emotional - deemed feminine characteristics - often lead people to jump to the conclusion that he must be gay, because there was no possible way he could be deep and straight at the same time. I feel as though some people have a hard time accepting that a male can be a little feminine, or a female can be a bit masculine, and because the distinction between sex and gender is widely unknown, we are often forced to make a sometimes incorrect deduction or assumption on one's gender because of their "un-sexly" characteristics.

I now believe that one's gender is based on their identity, not the physicality of the body they were born in. Society makes us think that we must act or be a certain way based on our sex, but our gender is not that simple. A man who cries or wears his hair long does not make him gay. A female who likes to play sports or build things does not make her gay. The fact that we even acknowledge these distinctions and let them alter our opinions is unnecessary. Acknowledging the difference between 'sex' and 'gender' has taught me not to be quick to judge someone because they act a certain way or not to expect anything from someone based on how society defines their sex. These incorrect assumptions that many make ultimately stem from the simplistic labeling of 'male' and 'female' that we choose to use to define those around us. Until we as a society accepts the gray area, we will continue to live in a world of black and white.

Captured Thought: Taking Time Into Your Own Hands

"They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
- Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

As a self-declared optimist I am naturally obligated to believe that even in the most opaque, smoggy, and dreary of rooms there is a light that is waiting to be turned on. I am constantly under the impression, no matter how far-fetched or - if I dare say the "i" word - impossible things may be, there is always a way to achieve our goals. But in addition to being an optimist, as self-diagnosed introvert, who loves to do beyond my fair share of meditation and internal reflection, I have come to the conclusion that we must always take matters into our own hands in order for change to be successful.

As humans, and even more so, as Americans, we tend to believe that things will be handed to us clean and dusted with a pristine red bow as long as we just let life take its course. But what if I said life doesn't have a pre-made course? What if in reality we don't walk a path already made for us and accept every curveball, fastball, breaking ball, or change up on the basis that "time heals all wounds." I believe we are the authors of our own stories. We think that life has a way of untangling itself with time, and maybe it does, but not without ourselves acting as the catalyst.

Paradoxically I must presently travel to the past and reference a previously read section of Orlando where Orlando spent much time thinking, but only a moment acting.

"...time when he is thinking becomes inordinately long; time when he is doing becomes inordinately short" (72).

This quote prompted the question, why are we given seemingly eons upon eons to think, but nanoseconds to act? If we truly seek change, why does it seem we are given so little time to achieve it? My answer to this would be that time spent doing and prompting that desired change may be brief, but these decisions we make to change have a immeasurable lifetime of consequences. Orlando spent what seemed like centuries in his own head questioning and concluding, pondering and answering. Even though he was evolving mentally, nothing truly changed until he declared and made the conscious choice to no longer write to please anyone but himself. When he literally put in on paper and started to write freely, he had changed, and it was not time that had forced him to do so.

As the extremely wise, universally loved, and uncontroversial Yoko Ono said, "Time is a concept that humans created." I believe this holds true. As much as I believe and tell myself that everything will be okay with time, I know that this is only true because I have made, are making, and will make the choice to change. It is foolish to believe that the light in the previously mentioned room will turn itself on as long as I wait patiently for it to appear. It is not the wait that brings the solution, but the conscious decisions to take action and flip the switch in our own dungeons that heal our wounds.

Venice Beach, August, 2012