A Real Tea Party

Over time, I've developed a very slight obsession with tea. I wouldn't say I'm a tea connoisseur by any means, but I do know details about tea that the average drinker probably doesn't, like black tea will get bitter if steeped in boiling water or in any temperature water for too long, rooibos is supposed to be helpful with combating allergies and chamomile is a natural muscle relaxant (that's why it helps you sleep and relieve tummy aches!). I've found a local tea shop in the Chicago area I like visiting, and it just feels so classy to sit around a pot of tea with friends, discussing the great topics of our current lives. I've even had a tea party here at St. Olaf on the floor of a friend's dorm room. Each person brought their own tea to the "table" and it was a teastravaganza!

I'd guess one of the reasons I started drinking tea was because of the classiness aspect. It's become associated with royalty, in European and Asian cultures. The Japanese tea ceremony is a highly refined art form, and all nobility would drink tea after meals, especially when it was still luxurious. According to MacFarlane this was true, but tea became an integral part of the working class life as well. If sustained laborers through the day, providing that extra boost to stay motivated in less-than-motivating work conditions. It truly became a staple of life; I wonder why that isn't more known. Where in history did we learn to associate it primarily with the upper class instead? Unless it is simply an error in my judgment, which is very possible. A possibility: somewhere along the way we stopped drinking it as frequently, and over time it faded from the commoner's mind but was still imprinted as a luxurious royalty item. Or maybe it's just because I live in America and it just wasn't as big of a deal here.

Either way, I'm far from aristocratic and I still adore the art of tea.

Tea Party... not so much.

Now this is going to be hard for me, because I do not like the tea party. Not a bit. Like, at all. However, there's a trend in America right now claiming that all the tea partiers are crazies going around shooting guns calling everyone socialist Hitlers. Now, there are people that do that. And believing all of them are like that makes the tea party even easier to hate than it already is. But there is a core of people who actually have political ideals represented by the tea party. From what I can understand their main belief is in the control of government. It's sort of like libertarianism, where they believe politics shouldn't too closely intervene in their lives interrupting their "freedoms" and taxes should be much lower than they already are. It's the platform I disagree, and that's why I dislike the party. The added hysteria is just another reason to tack on after the fact (and I definitely think there are a lot more hysterics in the tea party than in other parties, but that is completely my opinion and probably isn't based in any sort of reality). I'm less of a libertarian and more of a Rawlsian, but that's a discussion I'll leave for another day.

Virtue Ethics

I was really excited today during class when I saw all those ethical philosophies on the board, because all I could think about was my ethics class Junior year. I also was dying to explain them all, just because... I dunno, I would have felt cool. On Monday when we first talked about Ben Franklin's approach to being virtuous all I could think about was the bent stick remedy. I suppose I should explain this more.

In Aristotle's virtue ethics he believed that in order to live a virtuous life we must live the "golden mean" between to opposites. Between humbleness and zealousness there was just pride, or between fear and foolhardiness there was bravery. He believed that if you were too humble, for example, you would aim to be as egotistical as you could because you would end up landing at just pride- like if you have a bent stick you bend it past the midway point so it falls short settles there instead.

Benjamin Franklin used this exact method! And by striving to be the absolute maximum virtuous person, he settled on something in the middle; still virtuous, and still human at the same time. I wouldn't say that's a bad place to settle, would you?

The Root Runs Deep

I decided it would be best to respond to DeAne's comment on my previous blog with this post. Basically, I was asked why the American Dream present in Franklin's time doesn't exist today.

I can't say I'm fully qualified to answer that question. My understanding of social changes in America since the 18th century is minimal. However, one trend I can point out is education. With increased knowledge, more and more jobs have been created using new information. Since the 1700's, careers have expanded from simple laborers and clergymen to include options like biomedical engineers, or computer programmers. Because these jobs require a more comprehensive understanding of complex topics, more education is necessary. Because they are more complex, they also offer a higher salary. A person needs a higher salary in order to move up in socioeconomic standing.
The issue comes in when, for most people, educational availability did not increase with the growth of knowledge. Certain populations of our country were never granted higher education due to enslavement or rural location, for example. Now, all-legally-must offered an education, but in poorly managed schools or within circumstances that prevent them from devoting much attention to schoolwork. Sure, they have access to certain low-end jobs, but they don't offer a livable wage, or a wage they can increase their economic standing in.

I firmly believe that if we reformed our educational system, the American dream that once existed would blossom into existence once again.

Any further causal questions I cannot answer; my knowledge on the matter is not deep enough.

Franklin's American Dream

There is one reoccuring definition of the American dream. It has evolved since the foundation of America, but more or less it has always been around. It's the idea that should you work hard enough and commit yourself, you may move up in socioeconomic standing. In the past, people came to America expecting it to be a place where they could find new beginnings. It's been the dream of new Americans for decades, and for a while it held true to this image, like in the case of Benjamin Franlkin.

Franklin started in middle class. He was the youngest son, with siblings all working at a relatively early age. He was able to receive some education, but not fully complete it. Yet, he was still able to accomplish a multitude of things. He educated himself, worked hard at the job he was put into, saught out new opportunities. With hard work and conviction he was able to work himself into notereirity in politics, science and literature. He sure moved up, as any American who works hard is theorhetically able to do.

But how true is this image? I would say that in our modern world it's pretty much false. But that's something I've complained about enough already. No doubt it'll continue to come up.

Save us from the Shopocalypse!

This here is reverend Billy, who I mentioned in class yesterday. It's kind of hard to sum him up, but with a few words I'd say guerrilla gospel protesting. Reverend Billy is a character leading the church of stop shopping, devoted to "...supporting and advocating for sustainable consumption, encouraging and advocating for strong local economies, and defending the first amendment and public space." He takes a gospel choir to various establishments, including places like Walmart, Starbucks, or Disneyland, delivers a sermon on the evils of over consumption, sings a song and then is usually ushered away by the police. He challenges people to buy locally (as to support mom and pop stores), not to buy more than they need, to know where their products come from and to not replace gifts that could be heartfelt with ones that are expensive.

Now a lot of people believe he's crazy, and in a way he is. He's excessive because it draws attention and is better at getting the message across, if you don't immediately look away. I think anyone is more likely to watch a man making a fool of himself with a pretty good sounding choir behind him than a man on a box yelling on a street corner (another place where the beauty of art supplements a message of social justice... interesting). It's another person asking us to be aware of our habbits as Americans and how they influence other Americans and people around us,

The Roots of a Weed

I'm about to go on another rant about being upset with America's values (a common theme amongst my blog posts) so if you'd rather not listen click back now.

Now that that disclaimer's out of the way, I would like to announce that I've found the roots of one of our countries main problems; consumerism! Perhaps it's excessive to say that I discovered it alone, and that it is the sole root. Butler on page 154 suggests that Americans from the start imported plenty of European products. Was it ncessary? Probably not. But they rellied on luxuries from their home instead of compeltely distancing themselves, and comepletely detaching themselves from the consumerist attitude they came from.

That is one of the roots.

The other one exists within the American Dream. I was in a class called Justice Seminar last year, which I've probably talked about before. It was addressing social justice issues and we spent a lot of time on the evolution and devolution of the American Dream. The American dream, in theory, suggests that anyone may move up from their socioeconomic level by tightening their bootstraps and working hard. Cullen suggests that this upward mobility was fully available to early colonists, and was pioneered by Benjamin Franklin. Over time this has faded into nothing but an ideal. Socioeconomic levels have been concreted and harder to move about. It is the devolution of the American dream.

Hm, maybe that doesn't fit into my root metaphor. Oh well, I like it anyway.

Inventory Time

I kind of did this by looking around my side of the bedroom. I don't know how I managed to fit so much stuff into such a small dorm room space. The strangest part is if we're talking necessities, I don't need most of this to live.

2 chairs
I Winter jacket
3 sweatshirts
2 backpacks
1 Messenger bag
Nighthawks Poster
5 headed lamp
Desk with top
Alarm clock
Photos
500GB Hard drive
Sigg Water Bottle
Laptop (charger)
Cell Phone (charger)
Change Cup with change
Many books
Sentimental stuff (Bumper stickers, post cards, paintings)
Quote Jar
12 Xbox games
7 DVDs (2 movies, rest plays)
Sheet music
Trunk
Printer
Boots (Cowboy and Winter)
Stuffed Animals (Buddha, pig, dog)
Fridge
Plenty of food (Pop tarts, ritz bits, nutella, peanut butter, etc)
British Poster
Buddha Poster
Beehive Design Collective Poster
Two Plants (Silvester & Regina)
Chips
Clothes!
    4 Dressy Shirts
    3 Ties and a Bow Tie
    5 Pairs of Jeans
    5 Pairs of Shoes
    2 Pairs of Sandals
    Socks and Underwear
    Lots of Tshirts
    Shorts... They’re away now
    3 pairs of Khakis
3 Empty boxes
5 Cups
4 Mugs
3 Plates
Silverware
Cables for Electronics
Laundry Supplies (Tide, Stain Remover, Dryer Sheets, Hamper, Basket)
Paper Towels
5 Towels
2 Sets of Sheets
5 Pillows and
Plenty of Plastic Bags
Mattress Pad
iPod
Office Supplies (Stamps, Paper Clips, Pencils, Pens, Scissors, Post-its, etc)
Pills
Hole Punch
CDs
Hardcore Supplies (Ductape, Screwdrivers)
Sketchbooks
Reams of Paper
Lightbulbs
Hot Water Maker

What, What, What are you doing?

Dear Neil Young,
I understand you're an artist trying to make poetic lyrics for a song. But what, what, what are you doing? You're crossing all these lines and all it's accomplishing is the convolution of your point. I understand you're trying to connect nature with the Native Americans, but the aurora borealis can't be seen in anywhere in the continental US. I don't mean to crush your creative spirit, but at least try to get some accuracies right? Tepees are a plains Indians thing; Pocahontas wouldn't live in one. Also, I'll bet my bottom dollar that she never saw a buffalo. Maybe your overall message is supposed to go into the general native American experience, but at least title your song differently then, mk?

Love, Michael Enich
PS- Marlon Brando, what?

Life Bottenecking

It's kind of funny that we get the assignment to look at images of Pocahontas the day after I go to Beehive Design Collective and during the time we should be thinking about classes for next semester. Since highschool I've wanted to take an Art History class, simply because I love art but have never been particularly skilled at producing it. An art history class would provide that vital link between the beauty of a painting with the social constructs of the time, which I love observing. In my intro to theater design class we just did a project on the Gothic/late medieval period. My section was on historical, economic and social context. Seeing the connections between papal power and the vertical lines in a church, or the economic revolution reflected in the the clothes of people in paintings satisfied the side of me that loves synthesizing. In short, I'm obssessed with whether art follows life or life follows art.
The one question is answered for me though; no art history I classes are offered next semester. But, as you can see in my last post, Beehive Design Collective was an example where art is reflective of the time, this time deliberately to effectively convey a social issue.

All of this was simply rambling on how all the events are sort of coming together. It's a metaphorical bottleneck!

But I already have my overarching post for the week, so this must be reigned into the Pocahontas images we saw. What's most interesting about these images is how much the painters' perspective usually effected the piece. In Sully's Pocahontas  she maintains none of her Native American heritage, but is garbed in a western dress and put into a European portrait pose. The worst part is we have no way to tell how accurate this portrait is! And now I'm wondering what a Native American "pose" would be... How could we be more true to her character? How much of these portraits, tainted with western eyes influenced the current image of Pocahontas? Is it a bad thing that they have the artists' skew? Hopefully we can talk about this in class tomorrow.

Beehive Design Collective

The Beehive Design Collective is a group of artists, activists and researchers based in Maine. Together they live and do art based in social justice. They spend a great amount of time researching an issue, finding out every facet of it from community viewpoints to the western impacts. They've zeroed on 3 major issues so far including the free trade zones, the Columbian drug war and coal mining. The image you see above is the Coal Mining one, focusing specifically on the effects on Appalachia. Just the sheer scope is astounding! If you can see the detail, the animal metaphors reflect the history and culture of Appalachia, the corporate takeover and hijacking of the land, and the grassroots movement.
I'm fascinated by their artistic process. They go through such detail in their research, interviewing so many people and finding out the truth behind the issues they asses. I love when art is used as a tool to promote learning. It morphs a beautiful medium into a useful tool to promote awareness; it takes something aesthetic and turns it into something practical. Also, getting into a community and really trying to understand their perspective, and to contrast it with your own to produce such a wonderful art. It's inspiring!

Wild Animals

I was reading through White's "A True Picture", and there was something bothering me the whole time. It was his tone. Throughout the entire narrative it was if he was describing wild animals in their natural habitat. He observed every detail as if he were watching chimpanzees. The only emotional details he included would be to scorn the native population for valuing copper, or building boats differently than normal, or for not believing in the same one and only God. As it is a report for the queen I could understand, but I don't know... something about it irked me. It's as if by observation they seek to distance themselves. I know they did come in real contact with them, but observing every detail to interactions is no way to begin a friendship.

I could not get into the rest of the readings, at all. Hopefully our discussion tomorrow will help clear up some confusion.

One Breath

Last Saturday the Viking Choir sang in the Family Weekend concert, and if I do say so myself it was fantastic!
I'll have to give a little background on my vocal experience for this to make a lot of sense. I was told I had a good voice after I auditioned for the musical spring of my Junior year. I started taking voice lessons then and even tried auditioning for music majors at some schools. At St. Olaf I wasn't accepted, probably because I hadn't had any legitimate choir experience or music theory training and couldn't tell you where middle C on a piano is. So when I auditioned for Viking I was a little worried, but luckily I made it. And I am so happy that I did.
Being in a choir is just so fantastic! Together you make a wall of marvelous sound. The community is great and supports each other; if I loose my part I listen to the basses around me, or if I'm looking to have dinner I could have it with any of the other 93 guys and I'm sure all of them would be glad to join me. Besides loving the wonderful sound on Sunday, there was one moment where the entire choir took a deep breath at the same time, and you could hear the air moving into all of our lungs. It moved me, and was marvelous.

The Puritans talked about times in nature when we see fantastic splendor of God. In that moment in choir, I saw a moment of beauty in the universe. I felt free to continue producing harmonious sound. It was awesome, in the old sense of the word.

Columbia

Groseclose's article on symbols, specifically what we read about Columbia, make them come off almost as if they're organic. Depending on their environment and who they interact with they change and over time can even evolve into completely new identities. In Columbia's case, she started as a Native American woman warrior, representing the wild perception of all the Americas from before they were explored. Her fierce nature embodied the fear of the those still in Europe. As more people came over the fear of the wild dwindled slightly, and as that fear waned Colubmia become more westernized, more slender, beautiful, and delicate. Instead of a symbol of intense ferocity she represented one of liberty. While that is still a noble ideal, she lost the edge she had before. All that remained of her intensity were the feathers, remnants of a symbol long changed.
The fact that she had Native American feathers shows the fascination that Americans had with the early inhabitants of this land. To many back then they represented a fierce spirit that many Americans harbored within themselves, and may have brought to America to unleash to fight for freedom. It's all part of a symbolic cycle we all participate in without even realizing it.

Symbiosis

It was interesting to read Anella's article after discussing the value Puritans place on landscape. While both seemed to appreciate nature, each did so in different ways. The Puritans looked at nature with awe and splendor as a representation of God within our world. They took a spectator's perspective, just appreciating it from a distance. The Pueblos, on the other hand, appreciated nature by completely wrapping themselves into it and making it a part of their way of life. Their housing was built in symbiosis with their landscape, each aspect incorporating something from the world around them, such as the river that divided one settlement in half or the orientation towards a specific set of mountains. I was particularly interested in the town plazas aspect. Traditional western plazas close themselves off to nature, becoming a part of the city and enclosing those around them. It ignored the nature around them and maybe that's what eventually put them in their spectator position. Perhaps if we took the perspective of the Pueblos, completely open to nature and used as a space for gathering, we would have a better perspective on nature right now. Maybe the concept of sustainability would have traveled down through our generations, and being concerned about environmentalism would be engraved in our habits, not forced as it is now.

Home

Isn't is crazy to think we've been here for four weeks now? For four weeks we've slept in beds that weren't our own, waited in caf lines that wrap around the salad bar in Stav, and heard the echoing chimes while sitting in Adirondack chairs on the lawn. Through clubs and dorm dance parties we're all grown together into a wonderful community. In our readings this week we talked about landscape, and Lane in particular would discuss the idea of finding place, and not being lost in space. This place houses so many wonderful people and grants us so many opportunities... to me it seems like the perfect balance. Almost anyone here, on our microcity on a hill, will smile back if you smile at them walking to Buntrock. Any of the desk workers I've met at Hoyme are always willing to have a conversation, even if it's over something like my laundry. At the same time, we are free to explore the world at large! Our college adventure began and now we can go wander into the wilderness of the natural lands or serve the Northfield community. We can study abroad, throwing ourselves into a new place, knowing we can come back here and be just as happy as we were before. We have a new base from which we are free to explore the wilds of the world. This balance is what Lane says Americans long for; I'm blessed to have found it.