What Is “The Mitochondria”?

Dear Followers, Boy do I wish I had signed up for Science Bowl earlier in high school. Yesterday was my first and last Science Bowl competition ever. Held within the Macalester University campus, yesterday’s competition featured many grueling round of head-to-head science trivia action. The topics consisted of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth & Space, and Energy, no doubt an inserted form of implicit propaganda from the Department of Energy to convince the future generation of the importance of alternative energy sources. Sigh. Regardless, each round featured a diverse spread of questions. I only found one or two similar questions across the approximately 10 rounds we participated in. The reason why I joined Science Bowl is simple: it was fun. The competition was no different. With...

Kate Will Never Be A K Debater

Dear Followers, It’s a weird feeling, walking away from what presumably is my last debate tournament. I had always imagined my last debate would be full of ridiculous shenanigans, with me having the freedom to run arguments as I pleased in one final round. But alas, the 2NR was the Security K. In a way, I guess that qualifies as ridiculous shenanigans. At least I gave a half decent 1AR for once. And hey, we picked up a ballot against a K. I can remember when I first joined what had been described to me as Mrs. Sarff’s academic cult. I was a sophomore and I didn’t want anything to do with debate. All I wanted to do was put in some work, collect some awards, and apply to some Ivy League school. Thankfully, as a member of the debate team, I never really won any awards. No, instead I gained...

Vertigo: Falling As A Symbolic And Thematic Function

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological rollercoaster, Vertigo, is one of many defining works of his career. Featuring James Steward as John “Scottie” Ferguson, a retired detective plagued by acrophobia, Vertigo is masterfully crafted, replete with subtle motifs in every frame. After Galvin Elster asks Scottie to shadow his wife, Madeleine Elster, whom he believes to be possessed, Scottie finds himself smack dab in the middle of an elaborate murder plot. With a bit of cinematographic magic, Hitchcock projects Scottie’s feelings of confusion onto the audience. Through the use of intentional symbolism, Hitchcock drives home messages concerning the instability of identity, reality, and infatuation with a connecting feeling of literal vertigo. Many...

A-Music Week 8

Dear Followers, When I began doing somewhat weekly (more like one every two weeks) A-Week posts, I never knew how handy the name I had selected would be. Indeed, the ambiguous A gives me the freedom of sharing not only my favorite Asian music, but my favorite American music as well. Although, in all honesty, it may be somewhat presumptuous to claim that some of the music which gets played in America is genuinely American. Perhaps songs in English would be a more appropriate category. Who knows. Like another great band, The Script, the band I am sharing with you today hails from Ireland: Two Door Cinema Club. I first became acquainted with Two Door Cinema Club when I was searching the song selection iTunes had recommended for me a few months...

Spirited Away: The Insufficiency of Modern Capitalism Part III

CAPITALIST WEALTH AS AN INSUFFICIENT MEANS OF FINDING HAPPINESS What is ironic about the Yuya, as a modern portrait of capitalist society, is how the vulnerability of the manager is exposed as much as the vulnerability of the workforce and consumers. Even with all of her power, Yubaba’s position is a fragile one, dependent on the labor of her lower class workers and the continuous function of the Yuya. Yubaba must assume a role of inferiority when she greets the flamboyant spirits who frequent the Yuya as well. Indeed, consumers represent the beginning point of power within capitalistic society. However, in Spirited Away, even consumers are not safe from the dangers of unchecked consumption. Chihiro’s parents serve as the film’s classic...

Spirited Away: The Insufficiency of Western Capitalism Part II

THE YUYA AS A MODERN CAPITALIST SOCIETY The Yuya is a unique portrait of modern capitalist society. A reevaluation of the power dynamic described above between Yubaba and her workers reveals a heavily class-oriented hierarchy. Yubaba, a bourgeoisie manager of capital, hires low-class workers who are effectively her slaves in a rigid socioeconomic pyramid. While her workers labor in the floors below, Yubaba fills out paperwork and manages finances in her office, clad in a dress not suited for physical labor. Kamajii, a man who works the underground boiler system for the Yuya, even introduces himself to Chihiro in an early scene as “a slave to the boiler that heats the bath.” Surrounded by buzzing mechanical beasts, Kamajii, his six arms...

Spirited Away: The Insufficiency of Western Capitalism Part I

Contrary to popular opinion, animation is not limited to mind-numbing, simplistic narratives which only serve as a source of entertainment for young children. Indeed, animation can be an incredibly expressive artistic medium. Renowned Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s recent masterpiece, Spirited Away, is one such animated movie which showcases the medium’s hidden potential to subconsciously or consciously shape our epistemological outlooks. After all, the manipulation of the viewer’s thought process via a stylized experience is the apex of any artistic medium. Spirited Away follows a young ten year-old girl named Chihiro Ogino as her family moves to a new neighborhood. Chihiro soon finds herself abandoned in a world of spirits and monsters...