I had an interview with my Bishop yesterday. In it he said that I should have a better opinion of myself and go out and date more. Which I guess is true. I should. But how much do I want it to work? If you asked I'd say "a lot." But I don't know if my heart is in it. If I can rise above the fear. I'm not the 6 foot football, prom king guy. And even if that isn't "all" that matters, it's what people pay attention to. I'll admit I fall into the trap as well. It's why when we have discussions on this Mummy always says something about blonde hair. That stuff is very distracting. But in my defense the 2 people I've liked the most had way more in common than gold colored hair follicles. I fell for their personalities just as hard as what they looked like.
What kind of push and faith is it going to take to lift me out of this? I usually keep my mouth shut on issues that involve dating. But I broke my first rule on that today at FHE. No, I didn't ask anyone out on a date. I learned THAT lesson about 2 years ago. I'm good thanks. But we were taking things away that didn't mean as much to us. There was "a beautiful spouse" and about 4 Gospel centered things. So obviously I said to take that one out of the running. All fine and good, but then stupidly, just like me, I added something about probably not getting one anyway so who cares. There was some kind of an uproar of "that's not true etc etc" That's a nice thought, but my "actual reality" versus the "virtual reality" put forward with a large stigma gap in my looking glass self says that it is true. My head knew that I shouldn't say it, but I almost felt like I was being influenced to say it. I'm so used to thinking that way over the last quarter century, I can't at this moment fathom that anyone else would think differently. Sure Bishop Byerly seems to think so, but he is a 40 something year old man, not an attractive young lady. At this point I don't know if the aforementioned outcry was sincere, but I can't really imagine it was. It is what you're supposed to say. And besides imagine what they'd think if I actually asked one of 'em out on a date. If that wasn't such a scary thought it would be an interesting experiment. Oh, God what do you want me to do, and how do you expect me to do it?
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Latin King Goonies vs. 33 Chilean Miners.
There is a lot that I could write about.In the last couple weeks there has been a rash of attacks on people including the mocking of a 7 year old by her neighbors because her dad didn't answer a text message about a party fast enough. Are these people adults? Are they people even? I'd call them animals, but I happen to like dogs, horses, snakes, elephants etc. The term that seems to fit most is slimy devils. Then off course there were the attacks on 3 gay men by a group teens claiming allegiance to the Latin King street gang. Now I do not agree with the practice of homosexuality at all. I'm not going to compromise on that. But nonetheless these people were kidnapped, beaten, sodomized, and basically tortured for hours. If all God asks you to do when you sin is repent fully then these supposed 'human beings' have no right to attack and almost kill innocent civilians no matter how much their lives are at odds with what is right. Because I have some differing opinions with people doesn't give me rights to antagonize them. Non-physical anger has never changed others minds for the better let alone a hours long torture. And the Latin Kings aren't known for their righteousness anyway- think drug dealing and drive-by shootings.
But the story that really caught my attention was the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile. They survived 69 days underground. Despite all the odds against them they made it. At a time when we could have started fighting, moaning, blaming others for their situation they came together and survived. Look at them! Their situation may have looked low, if not hopeless, much of the time. Now look at our lives here in the USA. With the economy and unemployment being at the lowest it has been in years
But the story that really caught my attention was the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile. They survived 69 days underground. Despite all the odds against them they made it. At a time when we could have started fighting, moaning, blaming others for their situation they came together and survived. Look at them! Their situation may have looked low, if not hopeless, much of the time. Now look at our lives here in the USA. With the economy and unemployment being at the lowest it has been in years
Monday, September 27, 2010
500 Frisbee Symbolic Interactionism
And yet another post demonstrating my overarching love for the discipline of sociological theory!
Background: 500 is a game that goes by many names. I will call it 500 because that is what it was referred to when my FHE group played. To play 500 one person throws a frisbee, or some other object like a football, to a group and shouts out a number from 1 to 500. The person who catches the frisbee gets that many points. If the frisbee hits the ground it is considered 'dead' and the points are lost.
Meanings: The numbers don't really 'mean' anything. But when a number is called a group of formerly rational beings starts pushing, running all over, and diving trying to catch a plastic disk. This is what we call competitiveness in Western Cultures. Competitiveness is what gives meaning to the numbers. If no one was competitive in sports then no one would play them.
Previously I said that the players of 500 were only rational prior to seeing the frisbee get thrown. Technically this is not true. According to Symbolic Interactionism we can change our reality to fit into a given situation. So when they see the frisbee in the air they attach a meaning to it knowing that if they catch it enough times then they will 'win' and be able to be the person who throws the frisbee at the group. It is interesting to note that even though the most common numbers called are 100 to 350 in increments of 50 it takes more than the 2 to 5 throws it should for somebody to win. That's what happens when you have a few roommates and cute girls jumping on you when you try and catch the frisbee.
There is some prestige given to someone when they are the thrower. There is no World Series or Super Bowl of 500 so there has to be some other meaning given to getting to 500 points. So when you get it you are allowed to separate yourself from the common rabble (Conflict Theory anyone?) and be the one who throws the frisbee.
Background: 500 is a game that goes by many names. I will call it 500 because that is what it was referred to when my FHE group played. To play 500 one person throws a frisbee, or some other object like a football, to a group and shouts out a number from 1 to 500. The person who catches the frisbee gets that many points. If the frisbee hits the ground it is considered 'dead' and the points are lost.
Meanings: The numbers don't really 'mean' anything. But when a number is called a group of formerly rational beings starts pushing, running all over, and diving trying to catch a plastic disk. This is what we call competitiveness in Western Cultures. Competitiveness is what gives meaning to the numbers. If no one was competitive in sports then no one would play them.
Previously I said that the players of 500 were only rational prior to seeing the frisbee get thrown. Technically this is not true. According to Symbolic Interactionism we can change our reality to fit into a given situation. So when they see the frisbee in the air they attach a meaning to it knowing that if they catch it enough times then they will 'win' and be able to be the person who throws the frisbee at the group. It is interesting to note that even though the most common numbers called are 100 to 350 in increments of 50 it takes more than the 2 to 5 throws it should for somebody to win. That's what happens when you have a few roommates and cute girls jumping on you when you try and catch the frisbee.
There is some prestige given to someone when they are the thrower. There is no World Series or Super Bowl of 500 so there has to be some other meaning given to getting to 500 points. So when you get it you are allowed to separate yourself from the common rabble (Conflict Theory anyone?) and be the one who throws the frisbee.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Privilege and Oppression
Society is broken up into groups. It is only in groups that we know how to act. Think about it. When we are in a new situation what do we do? We look at other people to see how they are acting. Then we do what they are doing. Different groups have a tendency to want to be on the top of the pile, and individual people want to be the leaders of the various groups. The most successful group in a society makes the rules.
Today the ‘White Male Group’ has dominance. White males have set all points of etiquette and appropriate behavior in our society. The dominant theories of Western Society originated with white male thinkers. Politically we have the idea of Freedom as explained by the Founding Fathers. With all due respect to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, what about the Founding Mothers? In passing, Dolly Madison and Martha Washington may be mentioned, but not on the same plane as their husbands and colleagues. Other, perhaps less enjoyable, political systems have also been set up. But men, again, have dominated them. Hitler and Lenin are prime examples. In the past kings always wielded more power than queens did. In scientific escapades the world is quick to laud Galileo, Copernicus, and Darwin. Only with her husband Pierre is Madame Marie Curie ever mentioned as the ‘co-discoverer’ of the x-ray. There are of course myriad examples of the white man being triumphant over other groups because of gender, race, ethnicity, government etc.
But even if one thousand pages of text were given over to examples and complaining about the poor oppressed state of other people in the world. So what is to be done? Should anything be done? After all the western model has worked for thousands of years ever since the ancient Greeks came up with the idea. Of course there have been some low points in our general history like slavery, the Holocaust, the Massacre at Wounded Knee and others. So maybe it would have been better if Eastern thought had prevailed in the world. The Muslim armies or the Mongols under Genghis Khan should have kept going when they had conquered everything east of the Aegean Sea. But there are problems here as well. Interpretations of Islam have produced terror groups like al-Qaeda, and the land of India, while the birth place of the Buddha, also came up with a very strict caste system where if a member of the Brahma caste is touched by the shadow of an undesirable the Brahman goes home and takes a shower to get clean again. Now those are definitely examples that we don’t want to emulate.
Maybe men are the problem. We should let women take care of everything. After all people like Joan d’Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, and Margaret Thatcher were very efficient and charismatic leaders. British Queens Elizabeth I and Victoria even had whole ages of Western Civilization and the major architecture of their lives named after them. Does it matter that they were all working with ideas formed by men. What if they came up with a New Women World Order? Gloria Allred and Margaret Sanger ruling the world! AAAAHHHHHH, HELP! But putting them aside what if it was started by more ‘mainstream’ female figures? Personally I don’t think Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, or Sarah Palin would do a good job either.
As I have shown it does not matter what group is in power. The problem is the power itself. Articles we have read in class have talked about how the group in power will do anything to keep their power. If they realize that they have a privilege then they will keep it. But it is through the realizing of the privilege that the privileged group can choose to change the privilege, or use their privilege to bring other groups up.
The Liberal vs. Conservative line that has dominated political thought on power is not going to move us beyond where we are. Liberals say they want to bring down the privileged groups. But they “do” this through increasing the power of Government, Unions, and elite professors thus alienating the smaller oppressed people. By increasing the power of Bureaucracy they dehumanize the problem and lend a boost to the entity of privilege. The Marxist idea of redistribution of wealth only transfers power and privilege from one group to another. Privilege and oppression is not dealt with, only transferred. On the other side of the coin if the first conservatives had been successful in all their aims then all but the privileged few would still live in feudal castles as serfs.
To lessen privilege and get rid of oppression we need to dismantle the power structure. That does not mean total anarchy. Nature abhors a vacuum, and such a power vacuum could quickly be filled with a worse pattern of oppression than what existed before. But a reduction in the power structure is what we need to overcome oppression. A structure of some kind is needed to keep a sense of order. The people who are in this structure, male or female, white or black, will not be there because of privilege but because they have more responsibility. That is how we can overcome oppression. But those in power are not there as a privilege, but as a responsibility to protect those who gave them the position.
Today the ‘White Male Group’ has dominance. White males have set all points of etiquette and appropriate behavior in our society. The dominant theories of Western Society originated with white male thinkers. Politically we have the idea of Freedom as explained by the Founding Fathers. With all due respect to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, what about the Founding Mothers? In passing, Dolly Madison and Martha Washington may be mentioned, but not on the same plane as their husbands and colleagues. Other, perhaps less enjoyable, political systems have also been set up. But men, again, have dominated them. Hitler and Lenin are prime examples. In the past kings always wielded more power than queens did. In scientific escapades the world is quick to laud Galileo, Copernicus, and Darwin. Only with her husband Pierre is Madame Marie Curie ever mentioned as the ‘co-discoverer’ of the x-ray. There are of course myriad examples of the white man being triumphant over other groups because of gender, race, ethnicity, government etc.
But even if one thousand pages of text were given over to examples and complaining about the poor oppressed state of other people in the world. So what is to be done? Should anything be done? After all the western model has worked for thousands of years ever since the ancient Greeks came up with the idea. Of course there have been some low points in our general history like slavery, the Holocaust, the Massacre at Wounded Knee and others. So maybe it would have been better if Eastern thought had prevailed in the world. The Muslim armies or the Mongols under Genghis Khan should have kept going when they had conquered everything east of the Aegean Sea. But there are problems here as well. Interpretations of Islam have produced terror groups like al-Qaeda, and the land of India, while the birth place of the Buddha, also came up with a very strict caste system where if a member of the Brahma caste is touched by the shadow of an undesirable the Brahman goes home and takes a shower to get clean again. Now those are definitely examples that we don’t want to emulate.
Maybe men are the problem. We should let women take care of everything. After all people like Joan d’Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, and Margaret Thatcher were very efficient and charismatic leaders. British Queens Elizabeth I and Victoria even had whole ages of Western Civilization and the major architecture of their lives named after them. Does it matter that they were all working with ideas formed by men. What if they came up with a New Women World Order? Gloria Allred and Margaret Sanger ruling the world! AAAAHHHHHH, HELP! But putting them aside what if it was started by more ‘mainstream’ female figures? Personally I don’t think Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, or Sarah Palin would do a good job either.
As I have shown it does not matter what group is in power. The problem is the power itself. Articles we have read in class have talked about how the group in power will do anything to keep their power. If they realize that they have a privilege then they will keep it. But it is through the realizing of the privilege that the privileged group can choose to change the privilege, or use their privilege to bring other groups up.
The Liberal vs. Conservative line that has dominated political thought on power is not going to move us beyond where we are. Liberals say they want to bring down the privileged groups. But they “do” this through increasing the power of Government, Unions, and elite professors thus alienating the smaller oppressed people. By increasing the power of Bureaucracy they dehumanize the problem and lend a boost to the entity of privilege. The Marxist idea of redistribution of wealth only transfers power and privilege from one group to another. Privilege and oppression is not dealt with, only transferred. On the other side of the coin if the first conservatives had been successful in all their aims then all but the privileged few would still live in feudal castles as serfs.
To lessen privilege and get rid of oppression we need to dismantle the power structure. That does not mean total anarchy. Nature abhors a vacuum, and such a power vacuum could quickly be filled with a worse pattern of oppression than what existed before. But a reduction in the power structure is what we need to overcome oppression. A structure of some kind is needed to keep a sense of order. The people who are in this structure, male or female, white or black, will not be there because of privilege but because they have more responsibility. That is how we can overcome oppression. But those in power are not there as a privilege, but as a responsibility to protect those who gave them the position.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The 'vegetable' from Hell
I hate mushrooms. This dislike comes from several different meanings that I have attached to mushrooms. Number one is an awareness that in relation to mushrooms you can’t ask the age old question, “Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” The answer is none of the above. Mushrooms are a type of fungus. Why did anyone even try to eat that? Breaking down the other groups we have animals, plants, and rocks. The animals commonly eaten in Western society are either herbivores like cows and sheep, mixed in with birds like chickens or ducks that are mostly herbivorous while eating some insects. Vegetables and fruits make food from photosynthesis and nutrients from soil. Of course except for salt we usually don’t eat rocks. Then there are mushrooms and other fungi. They ‘feed’ on organic matter like rotting logs, leaf litter, and some species decompose flesh. In other words they eat old dead things. Eating something that was consuming rotting material is definitely not appetizing.
So-called ‘edible’ mushrooms are white. Granted so is cod and haddock, vanilla ice cream, mashed potatoes and milk. But mushrooms are more of a white that reminds me of the pallor of a dead person. They mostly are grown in the dark away from the sun like normal food. Let’s face it carrots, apples, and all ingredients in cheeseburgers need the sun to be raised. Mushrooms could be grown in the depths of Hell if Satan wanted to start up agriculture. Barring the fossil record I have often wondered if mushrooms were put on the earth after the Fall of Adam and Eve to torment man. As nothing died in the Garden of Eden there was no need for decomposers right? Right! Therefore mushrooms are from the Devil.
I have eaten a mushroom before. Well, sort of. In reality I put the mushroom in my mouth. Then the formerly lowly fungi went airborne as I spit it all the way across the dining room. Needless to say my dad was not amused. But I still refused to eat any of the other ones that were on my plate. Grandma saved me by saying I didn’t have to finish them as long as I ate all the steak. Now that is a good trade. When mushrooms are cooked they become very slimy, a warm slug. I don’t think that food should slither down your throat or between your teeth either. Another facet of their texture is the fact that besides the slug like quality they don’t need to be chewed. You press your tongue against a mushroom and it completely disintegrates. That’s what it gets from feeding on decomposing wood. I like food and so I would rather it crunched and gave some resistance to pressure when consumed.
As I have shown mushrooms are unfit for human consumption. If beetles and mice want to eat them then they can go ahead, but higher forms of life have no reason to place them on the menu.
So-called ‘edible’ mushrooms are white. Granted so is cod and haddock, vanilla ice cream, mashed potatoes and milk. But mushrooms are more of a white that reminds me of the pallor of a dead person. They mostly are grown in the dark away from the sun like normal food. Let’s face it carrots, apples, and all ingredients in cheeseburgers need the sun to be raised. Mushrooms could be grown in the depths of Hell if Satan wanted to start up agriculture. Barring the fossil record I have often wondered if mushrooms were put on the earth after the Fall of Adam and Eve to torment man. As nothing died in the Garden of Eden there was no need for decomposers right? Right! Therefore mushrooms are from the Devil.
I have eaten a mushroom before. Well, sort of. In reality I put the mushroom in my mouth. Then the formerly lowly fungi went airborne as I spit it all the way across the dining room. Needless to say my dad was not amused. But I still refused to eat any of the other ones that were on my plate. Grandma saved me by saying I didn’t have to finish them as long as I ate all the steak. Now that is a good trade. When mushrooms are cooked they become very slimy, a warm slug. I don’t think that food should slither down your throat or between your teeth either. Another facet of their texture is the fact that besides the slug like quality they don’t need to be chewed. You press your tongue against a mushroom and it completely disintegrates. That’s what it gets from feeding on decomposing wood. I like food and so I would rather it crunched and gave some resistance to pressure when consumed.
As I have shown mushrooms are unfit for human consumption. If beetles and mice want to eat them then they can go ahead, but higher forms of life have no reason to place them on the menu.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
California Summer
One thing about this summer-- it has been very cool. This weekend has been rather warm, but generally it has been breezy and around 75 in the sunshine state. I haven't really done anything for myself. I had tentative plans to hang out with a couple friends I went to high school with, but those plans didn't pan out. It would have been nice to since both of the friends I had plans with are beyond gorgeous, but no worries. I have had lunch or dinner with Dad and Judy a couple times at various places- Martha's 22 St. Grill on the Strand, Redondo Beach Brewing Company (no, I didn't have a drink), Good Stuff, and The Blue Butterfly in El Segundo.
Anneli did a show. I saw it four times. It is called "The Drowsy Chaperone." And it is SO FUNNY, just as long as you don't get offended easily." Music, Mayhem and a gay wedding!" "Four couples getting married at once? Yep, that's how they do it in Utah!" "I have something to say about that scene, and yes I HAVE BEEN DRINKING. HICKUP!" Just some of the best lines. A SMALL snippet of what the show has to offer. And if you do get offended easily, well, lighten up and go see it.
BOOM!
Oh, don't worry I just wanted to make sound effects
Anneli did a show. I saw it four times. It is called "The Drowsy Chaperone." And it is SO FUNNY, just as long as you don't get offended easily." Music, Mayhem and a gay wedding!" "Four couples getting married at once? Yep, that's how they do it in Utah!" "I have something to say about that scene, and yes I HAVE BEEN DRINKING. HICKUP!" Just some of the best lines. A SMALL snippet of what the show has to offer. And if you do get offended easily, well, lighten up and go see it.
BOOM!
Oh, don't worry I just wanted to make sound effects
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sociological impact on BYU-Idaho Dating
My apologies, I am getting all of the angst and disgust filled posts out of the way before I move on to more important other subjects. My roommates and I are planning a day trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming and one of my roommates suggested that we all invite someone to come with us. So I asked someone if they wanted to go and she said it sounded like a lot of fun, but that she was going out of town this weekend. That of course is all fine and dandy. She can do whatever she feels like doing. Today as I was walking home from my class I was her walking holding some guys hand. Now let me make this very clear- the fact that she has a boyfriend is not a problem either. That's great. But saying, "Oh I'm sorry, I'd really like to but I'm going to be out of town." makes it sound like I have a chance to ask her out later. If she has a boyfriend obviously I can't, so just say that you are taken and move on. I won't die i promise!
But of course after she said she was; "leaving town" I asked a few other people, not in person and of course not at the same time, and they have completely ignored me. I have a new word for you. It is a short English word that is used when you don't want to do something: NO. Two letters. One syllable. But girls at BYU-Idaho seem to be afraid to use this simplest of English words so they don't offend anyone. I realize that this is not entirely their fault. The socialization of Mormon girls requires that if they are asked on a date they should say yes unless they are in fear of their lives or chastity. Good moral idea. But if they just plain don't want to go for their own reasons they feel that they have to make up an excuse or not respond otherwise they may make it sound like they are afraid I'd jack them up or something. I'm not going to so they have to get creative on excuses. I think the socialization of BYU-Idaho females has messed them up in terms of complete honesty. I don't think this is entirely their fault, and am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but really if I ask you out and you don't want to go just say no and we can still be friends instead of ignoring me and then I always wonder when you're going to do it again.
But of course after she said she was; "leaving town" I asked a few other people, not in person and of course not at the same time, and they have completely ignored me. I have a new word for you. It is a short English word that is used when you don't want to do something: NO. Two letters. One syllable. But girls at BYU-Idaho seem to be afraid to use this simplest of English words so they don't offend anyone. I realize that this is not entirely their fault. The socialization of Mormon girls requires that if they are asked on a date they should say yes unless they are in fear of their lives or chastity. Good moral idea. But if they just plain don't want to go for their own reasons they feel that they have to make up an excuse or not respond otherwise they may make it sound like they are afraid I'd jack them up or something. I'm not going to so they have to get creative on excuses. I think the socialization of BYU-Idaho females has messed them up in terms of complete honesty. I don't think this is entirely their fault, and am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but really if I ask you out and you don't want to go just say no and we can still be friends instead of ignoring me and then I always wonder when you're going to do it again.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Beginning of my Blogosphere
Blogosphere- That makes me think of the former Governor of Illinois. I can't spell his name, but you know the one- apparently he was obsessed with his hair, and he tried to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat after Obama was elected as President.
Do people usually start these things by talking about themselves? Well I am. Not because I'm vain (I hope not anyway) but because I kind of feel like it, this is MY blog, and I don't know what else to write about. So: Boom! Cue the cannons and the band. Here is my BLOG.
What do you want to know? Random facts? Sure why not.
I am always open to invites to eat food. Ok, that is probably pretty boring. hmm, oh I used the word "pretty" in that sentence. I usually have a thing for short blondes. I guess that would describe about 90% of the girls I've "liked." But not all of them. There have been a few exceptions. Come on I can't be totally predictable. I don't "like" anyone right now, which I consider a major blessing because I do not do well with the whole dating thing. I think it has to do at least partly with being such an introvert, a trait I alternately get annoyed with and enjoy. I mean, I see all the loud social people getting noticed and everyone acts like they are great, but some of the extreme extroverts I have known that were absolutely obnoxious are not who I would want to be like. So I guess I'll just have to be who I am and see what happens. Yippee. Ok, enough about that for now.
Do people usually start these things by talking about themselves? Well I am. Not because I'm vain (I hope not anyway) but because I kind of feel like it, this is MY blog, and I don't know what else to write about. So: Boom! Cue the cannons and the band. Here is my BLOG.
What do you want to know? Random facts? Sure why not.
I am always open to invites to eat food. Ok, that is probably pretty boring. hmm, oh I used the word "pretty" in that sentence. I usually have a thing for short blondes. I guess that would describe about 90% of the girls I've "liked." But not all of them. There have been a few exceptions. Come on I can't be totally predictable. I don't "like" anyone right now, which I consider a major blessing because I do not do well with the whole dating thing. I think it has to do at least partly with being such an introvert, a trait I alternately get annoyed with and enjoy. I mean, I see all the loud social people getting noticed and everyone acts like they are great, but some of the extreme extroverts I have known that were absolutely obnoxious are not who I would want to be like. So I guess I'll just have to be who I am and see what happens. Yippee. Ok, enough about that for now.
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