Johnny Hunt

Dear Followers,


I have anime depression. The journey of the American otaku is an emotional rollercoaster. When you find that a good show you can feel on top of the world, but when the last credit jumps across the top of your computer screen one of several things may happen. You can close your video player window and head over to Facebook to comment on how much you loved or hated the ending, scan the internet on search engines for any thread of information pertaining to a new season, or just slowly realize that there is no more left to watch. What I am experiencing right now is a mix of all three.

This Thanksgiving break left me with so much time that I didn't even know what to do. For some unexplainable reason (probably Jesus), my download speeds were astronomically high this weekend, and I was boosting 2.4 mb/sec downloads day and night. Album after album, show after show, my external hard drive was slowly enjoying a Thanksgiving meal all weekend. As I was searching for more torrents to devour, I came across something very unusual: Higurashi no Eden (Eden of The East). I was fresh out of case of Darker Than Black depression, so anything seemed good and I was soon watching the first episode on my computer.

I loved this show. Seeing as 2010 is one of the worst years for anime in history, I was really glad to pick up this gem on the internet. I would love to talk about a basic premise, but this show is so confusing that I really don't know where to start. Well, here goes nothing. On November 22, 2010, there was ten missile launched at Japan. Because nobody was hurt, the event became known as "Careless Monday." The show picks up some time after, when a mysterious man named Akira Takizawa introduces himself to a Japanese woman named Saki Morimi in Washington DC. The thing is, he is completely naked and appears to have no memory.

Akira soon discovers that his is part of a game involving twelve other contestants who are given ¥10 billion to save Japan. Known as the Seleção, they are each equipped with special cell phones and are able to use the phone operator, Juiz, to fulfill any kind of order for a price. This makes for some very creative scenarios throughout the show, including requests that call for two people to shower together and for a French movie to be delivered to a move theater. However if the money is used up completely or for selfish purposes, the individual will be eliminated.

I won't go any farther with the story. This show is well put together, from start to end. Every scene is carefully crafted, and the wordplay and character designs are unique and believable. A combination of slapstick and highbrow humor give this show a unique feel that is hard to find in the age of cookie-cutter anime. The background art is exceptional. The amount of detail put into each scene is remarkable for an anime, and as you follow the characters through Washington DC, New York City, and Toyosu you really get a feel for each individual location. Everything down to the music just feels right, and the soundtrack boasts one of the best debut bands that I have ever heard (School Food Punishment).

What killed me the most about this series is how short it is. Spanning 11 episodes, the ending of Eden of the East leaves you wanting more and while the two feature films help soften the blow, I can't get over this feeling of emptiness after watching such a beautiful masterpiece. This reflection is obviously biased. My personality meshes extremely well with the type of style adopted in Eden of the East, but most people probably won't see the kind of things that I saw when I watched this show. Whatever. I only wish all terrorists were as slick as Akira Takizawa.


Noblesse Oblige,
Noel

Transformers, Robots In Disguise

Dear Followers,

A Closer Look: Japanese Pepsi Nex Billboard


With the advance of modern technology, visual media has become the predominant mode of advertisement. The average person is bombarded with thousands of visual images every day, and one cannot look around without finding an advertisement in many parts of the world. In this new environment of visual entrapment, we as the viewers need to be able to evaluate the messages behind these images more than ever. As marketing executive Jay Chiat explains in his “Illusions Are Forever,” we need to “come closer to seeking our own truth” or forever be overwhelmed by the constructs of visual media. What follows is a thorough analysis of a single example of this visual media.


Some of us have been lulled into the belief that the less words an advertisement contains, the simpler the advertisement is. The lack of words and presence of a simple visual image convinces us that what we are viewing is a harmless statement, allowing us to lower our natural skepticism “radars”. After all, we can usually easily counter worded arguments, but visual arguments are not so easy to counter. Advertisers take advantage of this natural tendency in order to exploit the full force of the visual argument. The Pepsi Nex advertisement that ran as part of the 2009 Pepsi marketing campaign in Japan is the epitome of this marketing strategy.


The advertisement, consisting of a small amount of text, a large Pepsi Nex canister, and a Japanese female seems plain, enhanced by the white and black color scheme. Right away, the enlarged characters こっち (here) draw the viewer in. Following the natural progression down the connected black end of the period and the side of the Pepsi Nex canister, the viewer passes over the Pepsi logo before ending on the Japanese female on the far right. Nothing special, right? Wrong. The very way that one’s eye follows the advertisement displays the advertiser’s intent to exploit the visual imagery while avoiding the text on the left-hand side. Recognizing simple nuances such as this is key.


Before I discuss the individual strategies used in the advertisement proper, a contextual analysis of the advertisement is in order. A new craze for personal health has grown over the past two decades as new research and movements have spread information concerning the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle. Companies have found lucrative outlets in items like low-calorie food items that masquerade as healthy foods to exploit this new craze. One such item is the zero-calorie soft drink which combines great taste with smart health. Because the ultimate goal of the advertisement, as with any, is to sell Pepsi Nex, PepsiCo makes implicit arguments to suggest that drinkers can enjoy the two advantages mentioned in the previous sentence. They do one heck of a job.


Everything about the Pepsi Nex advertisement suggests a sense of “skinniness.” Every detail, from the text to the pictured female, unconsciously forces the reader to associate Pepsi Nex with this “skinniness” in order for them to accept the health benefits of the soft drink without question. The most obvious use of this technique is demonstrated by the Japanese female on the right-hand side. Everything about her signals this “skinniness,” from her thin legs to her stereotypical hourglass waist. Speaking of hourglass, the enlarged Pepsi Nex canister that she is leaning on shares this characteristic. Notice how a vertical position is emphasized as well. A more subtle argument of “skinniness” is given by the color and text of the advertisement. The use of heavy white space emphasizes a sense of emptiness in parallel with the zero-calorie nature of the drink. The slender Japanese characters that make up the text of the advertisement, when put against this emptiness, are slender, much like the legs of the Japanese female.


This presented “skinniness” is meant to invoke a negative feeling in the viewer, almost an insult, in order to prompt the viewer to buy Pepsi Nex in order to improve themselves. The underlying assumption here is that “skinniness” is something that is desirable. The Japanese female helps exploit and develop these feelings in the viewer. Beautiful females have often accompanied advertisements for good reason: they work. Females feel pale in comparison to this perfect woman with a computer-edited complexion. Playing on the female sense of insecurity, Pepsi Co convinces girls of all ages that by drinking Pepsi Nex they can have the same features as her. For males, the presence of the female invokes sexual feelings of pleasure. By drinking Pepsi Nex, males can engage with females like the one pictured. This dual function helps Pepsi Nex appeal to a vast audience, a key marketing strategy.


However, to stop here would do the advertisement injustice. This advertisement has another layer of appeal that must be discussed. One of PepsiCo’s central advertising techniques is to portray the company as hip and modern. Statistically speaking, soft drinks are more popular among teenagers and young adults. To tap into this selling base PepsiCo takes a few approaches. Once again I will focus first on the female. What is she wearing? She has on a short brown coat, gold dress, and high heel shoes. The use of the color gold suggests that this female is luxurious and wealthy. Secondly, the nature of her clothing is very modern. She is part of the young generation, appealing to hipsters and clubbers alike. Recently I went to a seminar at the University of Minnesota named “The Art of Japan,” where I learned that the Japanese make heavy use of hairstyle to demonstrate emotion in art. No wonder she has such a contemporary and easy-going hairstyle.


Secondly, Pepsi exploits design to demonstrate a sense of “hipness” through what I call contemporary simplicity. Clean-cut characters are very modern and contemporary. The straight lines and design used in the Nex portion of the logo suggest “hipness” as well, resembling the font one might find on a album cover or popular magazine. A black and white color scheme gives the advertisement an overall feeling of cleanness and serves the dual purpose of forming contrast as well. This helps the red and blue Pepsi logo pop out at the viewer when put against the white backdrop and black figures. The logo, a representation of PepsiCo, is portrayed as very lively in itself through the use of active colors. Contrast adds to the feeling of cleanness mentioned before as well by giving everything a definite border line. This helps make the text, Pepsi Nex canister, and Japanese female pop out of the advertisement almost.


I mentioned before that diet soft drinks want to emphasize taste and health benefits. PepsiCo exploits the small amount of text used in the advertisement to send a message about the product itself. The opening line, こっち。 (here), suggests that Pepsi Nex is a new product in Japan, probably introduced overseas from the United States. Many consumers have learned to use new and good as synonyms. After all, the latest products must be the best. Continuing downward, おいしところが、いい。 (but taste is good) emphasizes the taste component we discussed above. By emphasizing the great taste, Pepsi is assuaging the viewer about the quality of the product. This is supported by the text next to the canister. あと味すっきり (clean aftertaste) gives the reader a logical reason for why Pepsi Nex is superior to other diet soft drinks. These are perhaps the only explicit arguments made by the advertisements.


Author Marshall McLuhan, in his “The Medium Is The Message,” discusses how messages are shaped by the conventions of the media on which they are conveyed. The Pepsi Nex advertisement in question was placed on a billboard in a busy Tokyo subway. Subways, because they are located underground, are usually dark places. They are very busy, Tokyo being a special case because of the dense population of Japan. In this context the white backdrop becomes a necessity in order to draw the viewer’s wandering eye to the advertisement. Doesn’t an ice-cold Pepsi Nex sound good after a long and busy day at work?


Rhetoric shapes the way we view the world. Every detail contributes to an argument as a whole. This analysis itself is making an argument. By focusing on a foreign advertisement, I have emphasized the universal nature of marketing rhetoric while demonstrating my belief that multicultural outlooks are desirable. This analysis should serve as a reminder to beware of the visual image as well. What may seem like harmless images are carefully crafted advertising ploys that will play with one’s emotions and shape one’s conceptions of truth before one even recognizes what is happening. As with Transformers, with advertisements there’s more than meets the eye.


Optimus Prime v. Megatron,
Noel

Show Me Your Moves

Dear Followers,


One must take the information presented in the documentary 2 Million Minutes with a grain of salt. The documentary, while presenting several factual arguments regarding the status of American education in relation to the rest of the world, is based on a binary between “Western learning” and “Eastern learning” that reinforces harmful stereotypes. The documentary is meant more as a shock tactic for action than a framework for reform, making claims that we, the US, will lose our competitive edge unless we reform.


The documentary appears to present an objective view on the question of the American educational system. Through the use of hard statistics and a “direct” view into the lives of several high school students, the viewer should have no problem accepting what is presented as the truth. However, 2 Million Minutes is a carefully crafted piece designed for one purpose: to shock the viewer into action in order to reform the American educational system. While created for the ears of educators and professionals, the documentary, whether purposefully or not, makes a demeaning statement about American students that they are provoked to respond to.


The heavy use of biased juxtaposition helps drive home this statement. The nature of film makes this particularly easy by presenting the viewer with imagery that reinforces the binary. Students from the United States are often shown when they are having fun whereas the students from India and China are often shown when they are studying or working. This subtle technique matches the equally subtle and condescending tone of the documentary that makes American students out to be lazy and unmotivated.


This imagery is only reinforced by the heavy appeal to statistics and educational authorities in the documentary. The following are some of the statistics used: 40% of American students do not take science past general biology, American students spend 1,500 hours watching television and 900 hours in the classroom every year, Chinese students spend twice as much time studying than American students, and 60% of PhDs are earned by foreign nationals in the US.


In no way are these statistics comparative. They are merely a statement left to interpretation about a population. Nowhere does the film present similar statistics for Indian and Chinese statistics unless they deliver information that can further be used to degrade American students. To boot, these statistics are generally presented following a negative depiction of American students to deliver a powerful blow. This is demonstrated when the female American and her friends are watching Grey’s Anatomy in lieu of studying.


When presented with this information, we as the viewers are presented with a dilemma. We can choose to accept the “blatant” weaknesses in the American educational system, or we can choose to do something about these weaknesses as described by the film. This decision is produced by the human drive for improvement. However, 2 Million Minutes gives us no method in which to reform the educational system. Perhaps the best part of the documentary is when at the end, each of the educational speakers rephrases the problem. However, all the information presented in the documentary would seem to contradict this rephrasing.


By reinforcing the stereotype that the educational system in America is flawed because of American students themselves, even if unintended, 2 Million Minutes does not address the problem at the heart of the education issue. The problem cannot simply be the students or the whole education system itself, as the very nations that are pulling ahead in the “education race” emulated the American educational system following the Second World War.


Instead, the problem is internal, the result of a practice that has developed in response to the areas of American education that haven’t held up throughout the years. Education in America has always had one fatal flaw: availability. Suburban schools like Wayzata are light-years ahead of urban schools because of funding. Politicians, ignoring the financial problems associated with education, designed a new way to combat the disparity in education: the standardized test.


The standardized test has only fanned the flames. What separates the US educational system from that of any other nation is the great degree of individuality and innovation that our students are exposed to. By giving students the freedom to choose more career paths and placing an emphasis on extracurricular activities which foster an application of skills, the American educational system uniquely offers students the tools for higher education.


With the standardization of education, politicians and educators have ignored the individual nature of learning by superimposing a set of universal standards that all students must live up to in order to progress. This has killed the creative nature of the American educational system by forcing students to excel at subjects that they do not excel at. Not every child is the same. No wonder we are seeing more dropouts than ever in recent years. If we are going to get past this education problem, we are going to need more than a simple criticism of the existing educational system.


P.S. I meant for this rhetorical analysis to be as objective as possible. However, I could not simply stand by and take the arguments made in the documentary as fact.


Falcon Punch,
Noel

Beyond Heaven's Gate

Dear Followers,


DESCRIPTION:


Golden rays from the autumn sunset illuminated the maple-brown leaves that littered the ground in Central Park. Bathed in this golden light, the park was devoid of the hustle and bustle of the city, spare a few passersby on the sidewalks. Squirrels colored with patches of brown and white scavenged the leaves for remnants of Oreos and Smucker’s dropped by park goers. Kevin squinted, crushing his brow into a collection of wrinkles, to watch a nearby squirrel methodologically devour an acorn. The clack of a chess piece striking the limestone board broke him out of his stupor. As he turned back toward the board he was met with a wide smirk. Yasir had, in a single move, put him in check. Shifting his overcoat to protect his neck from the stinging autumn wind, Kevin began to devise a strategy to save himself from this quagmire. This situation was nothing new. From the very first time Kevin had played with Yasir in elementary school, he had always lured him into a false sense of security before skillfully taking his king. Kevin nonchalantly moved his king backwards as Yasir pressed in, disguising the bout of excitement that his shaking hands could not through a steady expression. Reaching over the table, Kevin moved his rook passed an unsuspecting queen. Checkmate. A plethora of emotion, from surprise to happiness, swelled in Yasir’s eyes as he analyzed the sudden loss. He bellowed a deep laugh of acceptance before shuddering and coughing from a brisk autumn breeze. They slowly meandered out of the dark black park benches and headed toward the strip of concrete that would take them back to the retirement home. They would be here tomorrow, no need to pick up the pieces. Side by side, they sauntered down on that empty street agreeing that tonight was a good night for hot cocoa.


COMPARISON/CONTRAST


We can easily view the distinctions between a friend and an enemy. They are on exact opposite sides of the relationship spectrum. However, at what point can we distinguish a friend from an acquaintance? Many have a hard time grasping that as human beings, we have relationships with every other human being on the planet. Some people are strangers to us and some people are family, but we have some type of relationship with them. An acquaintance is essentially a well-known stranger and a friend is essentially a well-known acquaintance. But at what point can we stop viewing somebody as an acquaintance and truly call them a friend? Some will tell you that a friend is merely anybody who is not your enemy. This hinges on the old saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” In a world of complexities however, this is an oversimplification. In a world where we have constructed the “friend” through a set of standard beliefs, this level of analysis would always come short. An acquaintance is a person who one comes into contact with through a compulsory exercise. There is something that is shared between someone and an acquaintance that obliges them to socialize. This is easily seen in the average schoolmate, employee, or team member. When social interaction is limited to the sphere of the obligated event, the relationship will remain at the level of acquaintance. Only when the relationship moves on to something external, a relationship that develops social interaction external to the compulsory meeting, can we describe the relationship as a friendship. These external social interactions can be disguised and improperly external, such as talking over the internet in the pursuit of a common goal or to complete a set of homework. Only when we engage in properly external social interactions can we define another individual as a true friend.


CAUSE/EFFECT


Friendship is merely an outgrowth of the human drive for pleasure. Human beings have an inherent need for pleasure and entertainment. In the modern world, this need has been exacerbated by the constant bombardment of entertainment, in the form of the media: television, cell phones, the internet, videogames. Human beings will always act in order to fulfill this constant desire for pleasure. We are essentially self-serving individuals. Friendship is a mechanism by which human beings can satisfy a mutual need for pleasure. Human beings naturally form relationships with other individuals who can, by themselves or through the development of such situations, deliver an increased amount of pleasure to the original human being. Friendships allow us to add entertainment to our lives through social interaction. Many people misunderstand this tendency. Many will say that we will group with other like minded individuals when we form friendships in order to meet our own natural interests. However, the presence of like-minded individuals is not a prerequisite for the creation of pleasure. This would help explain the phenomenon commonly known as “opposites come together” in which two very distinct individuals form a relationship. The only problem we run into when we observe friendship in this manner is the situations in which people maintain friendships even when they bring about vast amounts of pain. We could infer that the net amount of pleasure gained from these friendships is always positive and thus even the negative aspects leave an individual with more pleasure than they would otherwise have, but in some cases there is more pain then pleasure in maintaining a friendship. Rather, in these cases, human beings cling onto a friendship in anticipation of future pleasure. Even when things seem hopeless, the chance that hanging on may result in a net increase in pleasure is enough for human beings to continue forward. Everything is essentially guided by our quest for pleasure.


DIVISION OF ANALYSIS


Friendship is a mystery. No one friendship is like any other. Friendship can make us feel like we are on top of the world one minute, and down in the dumps the next. However, there are certain tenets that every friendship will likely share.. First of all, friends will have a tendency to desire what is best for one another. The strange thing about friendship is we will often do things to help our friends even when we do not benefit or are hurt in the process. This would seem to go against everything that characterizes human nature, going against the belief that humans will always act in their own self-interest, yet we see this all the time in our daily lives. Next, friends share a sense of sympathy and empathy. Friends can understand one another and share compassion. Feelings can be shared between friends through a so-called invisible link: when somebody is sad their friends are usually sad and when somebody is happy their friends are usually happy. Next, friends share truths with one another. With people who we perceive to be friends we usually open up, allowing our protective borders to come down in order to become closer with them. We speak the truth with our friends in situations where it would be hard to do so if we weren’t in fact disclosing our secrets to our friends. Something unique about a friendship is that real friends do not fear pointing out the perceived faults of one’s counterpart. Next, with friendship comes about an immense amount of trust. Friends feel comfortable around other friends. People are able to express feelings, including those in relation to the other’s actions, without the fear of being judged. Friends are an emotional crutch, helping us up when we feel down. Friendship is a mystery. No one friendship is like any other. Friendship can make us feel like we are on top of the world. Finally, friendship is based on a positive reciprocity, a give and tack relationship between two parties. The above is not an exclusive list but rather a generalization designed to help us understand the overall concept of friendship. To construct a truly representative list would be impossible


ARGUMENT/PERSUASIVE


“A great deal of bravery is needed to stand up to our enemies, but just as much is required to stand up to our friends.” Many of us respect and love our friends. Many of us have taken these feelings to a state in which our friends have become unquestionable, a state of paralysis in which we do not dare to challenge our friends to avoid losing them. However, friendship is based on give and take, a form of positive reciprocity that nothing else can quite match. Because friends open up to one another, friendships present a unique situation for change. In the name of the respect and love that we hold for our friends, we should challenge and point out faults. Because we want the best for our friends, we help them. This does not mean to say that we should impose ourselves onto our friends, but rather through a reciprocal process we should help them and they should help us become more perfect human beings. This process can help us release pent up emotions in a positive and productive manner. When things are on our mind, we can confide in our friends or bring these things to light so that the problem can be resolved. Without this outlet, these feelings of annoyance can go underground and can become more destructive in nature. Friendships will often challenge our moral calculus and place us in situations in which the correct decision is not always so clear. In the same way that friendships can produce positive change, they can also produce negative change. This is what happens when we do not challenge our friends when their actions contradict with our system of beliefs. The best example of this in the modern day is when people take up chemical substance use after their friends. We need to constantly challenge our friends in order to make sure that the people we associate with are appropriate with our own mental and moral configurations.


DEFINITION


Friendship is a type of personal relationship in its simplest form. However, friendship has a range of degrees of intimacy. We can easily identify a friendship between two parties. The strength of this friendship is another question however. There are a plethora of factors that can determine how strong a friendship is, from experience, to shared interests, to common values. We have come up with several labels to describe the strength of a friendship such as “boyfriend” and “best friend.” In the previous example many of you may be confused with my use of the word “boyfriend” to describe a friendship. Understanding friendship as only a positive relationship between two parties is fundamental to reduce the complexity of the study at hand. To emphasize the point made before, there are only varying levels of this positive relationship. Friendship surrounds and overwhelms us every day, but we are trained to only see a select few examples. Under this interpretation, however, friendship becomes something much more than a system of relations between individuals. Friendship becomes a value system. What we hold to have value in terms of a conventional friendship shape what we hold to have value in other terms. For example, we consider such things as honesty and trust as essential to a valuable friendship, and in the same way we value these characteristics in human beings in general. Those humans who exhibit characteristics that make up a valuable friendship become valued members of society in themselves. Because friendship represents a positive force within our lives, we associate its individual tenets to be positive forces of change. Compassion, honesty, and sympathy become essential facets of society. To the point where we shape our society along the lines of a valuable friendship, the importance of friendship becomes apparent. A single focused view of friendship impoverishes us from understanding the overall impact that friendship has on us as individuals and as a whole.


EXAMPLE:


My friend Partha is convinced that friendship is loyalty taken to the extreme, represented when friends never make fun of other friends, when friends are always there for one another, and when friends stick together until the end. Friendship is a very subtle loyalty however, something that we can’t always see at first glance. Whether we see it or not, our true friends show degrees of loyalty all of the time. Even simple things as following us down the hall or going with us to get a snack are signs of loyalty. Perhaps the distinction between the loyalty experienced in friendship and the in your face loyalty experienced in such things as pet ownership is its reciprocal nature. When friends stick together, two individuals are showing loyalty toward one another. These layers of loyalty show themselves most in situations when our friendships are tested. Recently, in second lunch, I saw an example of this loyalty. Yasir was home sick. After a long weekend of debating, he had contracted the flu and decided to stay home and rest. Me and Kevin, knowing nothing of his decision, were devastated. Our daily study hall routine of tickling, joking, and laughing was replaced with a gloomy day of work. What kind of study hall has students doing work? Drudging along the hallway, me and Kevin suddenly figured out that we could call Yasir to find out what happened. We ran to the lunchroom to our table and pulled out a cell phone to call him. As Kevin was talking to him, Dillon and the girl with the red hair started making fun of him for being “pathetic.” Kevin was undeterred, he had to know how Yasir was doing. The other students continued to laugh. Kevin finally reached Yasir and learned that he was sick. With a sigh of relief, Kevin put down his cell phone and went up to go get a lunch. Even when others were making fun of him, Kevin had the integrity to continue calling Yasir on order to find out if he was ok.


PROCESS ANALYSIS


Just as with love, forming friendships happens in stages. Sometimes we make friends instantly, and other times the process takes much longer. Regardless of external factors, the following three steps explain how the process of forming friendships usually happens. The first step is the initial meeting. Two people must come together before a friendship can ever develop. This is often the most important step in the formation of a friendship. How two people are perceived by each other in the first few moments of the meeting can determine the tone of the rest of the friendship. Humans are very judgmental individuals. How we perceive others determines our interactions toward them. But because we usually are never put in situations in which we know that the people who we are meeting will be potential friends, this stage of development is often the most candid. The next stage is the approach. When any one side or the two sides makes an approach to extend the initial meeting, the friendship enters the next stage. This is the most variable part of any friendship. Sometimes things go smoothly and we can reach the next stage fairly quickly, but other times this part is the most frustrating and long. During this stage, a bond of trust is developed between two individuals. This bond will continue to grow as friends become more open with one another in the reciprocal relationship. At this point we start to find common ground. We share and participate in activities with others that we enjoy. Before moving on to the final stage we need to take caution. If we impose a friendship too soon or too late, the results can be disastrous and lead to the pain of rejection. The transition to the last stage is very subtle though, and happens before we usually even know it ourselves. When we start spending genuine time with others we can truly call them our friends.


CLASSIFICATION


What is the meaning of friendship? We will often seek an answer to this question, but yet we can never come up with an adequate answer. Friendship is an amalgamation of complex feelings which may not always be describe in words. However, we don’t need a bunch of words to make us realize the deep meaning of friendship. According to George Elliot, “friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weight thoughts nor measures words.” At first thought, many of us only see friendship as the relationship we share with our social peers. This is the easiest way to classify friendship, because we need not look further than our immediate group of friends to find friendship. Friendship, while often classified in this manner, is best seen as a set of responsibilities. The simplistic view of friendship prevents us from understanding the overarching ways in which friendship impacts and shapes our lives. When two individuals share a strong bond of mutual understanding, respect, and love, the foundation for an everlasting friendship. As the trust between two individuals grows, so does the bond. In an ideal world, the meaning of friendship is to share an unconditional love for each other. The purpose of friendship is to make burdens lighter for our friends and not make them heavier. Beyond this set of responsibilities, we can view this relationship as a value system. What we hold to have value in a conventional friendship shapes what we hold to have value in other forms. For example, we consider such things as honesty and trust as essential to a valuable friendship, and in the same way we value these characteristics in human beings in general. Those humans who exhibit characteristics that make up a valuable friendship become valued members of society in themselves.


NARRATION:


I had fallen. With dust and dirt spreading through the air around me, I slowly opened my eyes only to be blinded by the light of the midmorning sun. My whole body was numb. As I picked my body up with what strength I had left, pieces of grass and dirt fell to the ground. A warm sensation tickled my left arm. Staring down at my elbow, I was met with a collection of blood, lymph, grass, rocks, and skin fragments. To my right, a group of astonished faces stared coldly back at me, and to my left the bent frame of my bicycle wedged into the trunk of an oak tree sent shivers down my spine. I had missed the tree by a few inches, sliding to a halt a few yards past in the thick French grass. The accusing stares of my classmates were enough to paralyze me on the spot, speechless, forced to think up any excuse that would let me escape their judgment. As the tour guide edged them onward to finish out the ride through Versailles, they departed one by one leaving me the handle the mess that I had gotten into. I turned toward my bike and reached down to grab the handle bars when I saw another hand come down and prop the bike up. James had stayed behind to help me. I held back my thanks with an air of nonchalance, not wanting him to perceive my weakness in the situation. Had he perceived any though, his action would have been the same. We were friends, and this is what friends do for one another. James overturned the bike and pulled hard with his hands on the loose chain, through grease and soil, to make the bike ride able once more. Pulling out a bright Kleenex, he carefully wiped my wound to prevent infection and then fashioned a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. With my signal of approval, we each grabbed our bikes and mounted. Together we departed, riding side by side through sunshine, fountains, and lush green gardens.


I Know I Can Kill,
Noel

Bello

Dear Followers,


I am unhappy. Unhappiness is nothing new, but something about today seems like nothing before. I am convinced that the past few years have been nothing but a facade; they have been nothing but a useless undertaking to convince myself that I was happy.


Nothing has happened recently to make me unhappy. This is not me waving the flag after taking a grade-destroying test or me taking a social interaction out of proportion. In fact, today is a call to happiness. The rest of the week is wide open, and Concordia is only the cherry on top.


Instead, I have come to a sudden realization. Living is easy when we know. I have always known. Everything had a place in my world. Every person had a distinct role, every assignment was allocated a position in my schedule, every action was planned. But now, more than ever, I have realized that I never knew, I only thought that I knew.


Who am I? The more I explore this question the more convinced I become that I do not know the answer. 95% of students would be able to tell you what college they want to go to or what career they want to pursue. I can't. The other 5% would be able to tell you at least something that they like to do. I can't.


My whole life has been spent living up to expectations: expectations created by my brother, by stereotypes, by society, and by myself. I was always the over-achiever. I am sick of being the over-achiever. I was always the smart kid. I don't want to be the smart kid. I was always the Indian. I don't want to be the Indian. I have spent so much time trying to meet these expectations that I haven't given thought to what or who I truly am.


Do I like to watch anime? Do I like to debate? Do I like to draw? As much as I want the answers to these questions to be "yes," the truth is, I really don't know. Do I like philosophy? Do I like math and science? Do I like my friends? I don't know and that frightens me.

This summer, I was in Europe on a school trip with several other students.Whenever I feel like this I remember that night in Paris. That night was one of the worst and one of the best nights I have ever had. One moment I was on top of the world, skipping through the city streets of Paris, and then everything came crashing down.


I could not escape a feeling of worthlessness that night. They probably didn't even say anything that night, but the mere thought sent me back to that moment when I was so miserable as a child. I couldn't speak. All my energy was gone. The only thing I could do was sit there and fight back the tears.


I can never escape my weakness for peer judgments. I can easily ignore the judgment of my acquaintances, but ignoring the judgement of my friends is not so easy a feat. The people who I know as friends are intelligent, kind, and unique, and well, I'm not.


I am a egotistic copycat, and really I am straight up mean. Growing up, I was always on center stage. You only have to scroll down to read about the fiend I was in middle school. I don't belong with people like them, people who can put others before themselves.


This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Last year at a debate tournament I had a similar experience. The feeling is always the same. I feel worthless. I feel that I really am a burden to everyone else and that the world would be best without me.


This feeling has only grown with the introduction of X into my life. X has been a greater me than I could have ever been. Anybody would take X over me, the only distinction being my rotten character. X is well-liked, funny, easy going, and has replaced me completely. What am I to do?

I have become incredibly displaced and don't know who my friends truly are. I used to know quite well. My Motorola Razr used to have speed dial numbers for the Friday hangout session regulars. There are no regulars anymore. Everyone has been reduced to a detached acquaintance.


One by one they crumbled away. First he had an obligation to run and couldn't sleepover anymore. Then he got involved with a new crowd and severed all ties beyond the occasional hello. Then he and I never spoke because of school and debate, and we slowly drifted apart. Now I am only a scholar to him as well, not a friend.What about me has changed so much that my regulars have moved on?


I am no longer called up to go to Chipotle. I am no longer invited to play Halo with the guys. I am no longer in on the inner workings of the social web. And when I am, the invite is one of obligation, not genuine want. Now I sit in confusion, wondering what went wrong.


The same thoughts ran through my mind as I trudged up the steps of Gustave's Tower, running ahead so I wouldn't have to look at the other students. Stubbornness is a hard burden. When things go like they did that night, you can never find the words to say to make everything all right again.


Bending over to catch my breath, I slowly moved over to the railing. In front of my lay the city of Paris, one of the most beautiful collections of lights and movement that I had ever witnessed at night. I leaned over the handrail and phased out all the sounds of happy tourists gawking around me.


I had almost entered a trance when through the crowd I heard somebody yell, "Cerca! Guardare a questo!" Spinning around I was face to face with an old Italian woman who was looking me straight in the eyes. I nearly fell over the railing.

Surely she had mistaken me for somebody in my group. As discreetly as I could, I quickly spun around and pretended to mind my own business. Suddenly, she grabbed me and was up on the railing with me, looking out at the city below.


I looked away and avoided eye contact. She let out a deep laugh that shook throughout her whole body. She turned to me and whispered a single word: "Sorriso." Analyzing my puzzled face, she quickly stepped back and used her two fingers to sketch a Cheshire Cat smile across her lips.


"Nonna! Cosa stai facendo?" She turned toward the crowd, responding to her daughter with a simple, "Provenienti." She let out one last chuckle, sent a wink my way, and disappeared into the crowd. Leaning back on the rail, I stood speechless.


Below me I could hear the voices of my fellow classmates as they reached the lower level of the observation deck. I quickly turned and disappeared into the crowd to wait until they had passed before returning to my post. How could she have seen through my so easily? With a single word she had taken all my frustrations, crumpled them up into a ball, and threw them away.


Today I am unhappy. I don't know what to expect and I don't know what is happening now. I will continue to force myself to live up to expectations. People will continue to judge me. None of that means anything anymore. I have something to smile about now, and that's all I really care about.


Sorriso,
Noel

We Fly Like Paper Get High Like Planes

Dear Followers,


The American educational system has been the topic of debate for many years as cracks in the system have been discovered. The most recent crack comes in the form of global comparison, as hacks from around the globe comment on how the US is failing behind in the race for education. The new leaders in the educational race are India and China as thousands of dazzling statistics from surveys will not cease to support. These surveys in themselves are vastly decontextualized and inconclusive because they are based on distinct measures of intelligence. My problem with these surveys, however, is another problem.


This perception of American educational decline has sparked a plethora of proposals and congressional bills to keep the Americans in the race. One does not have to look far back to remember the No Child Left Behind passed under the Bush Administration. Congressmen and anxious parents have come up with the idea that standardized testing and government subsidies for schools will help a complex problem like education, however these measures only compound the problem. Why? Because they operate within the framework of the educational framework in the first place.

At this point many readers will be dissuaded from continuing onward with this proposal. Any action that works within the established educational framework is acceptable, but any notion of overcoming this framework or even mention of the framework at all are rejected on sport because they are “radical” ideas. Because education has been the framework of learning for hundreds of years, the very way we have come to know the world is through a lens of this educational framework. At the point where education shapes our very epistemology, there is no shock that anything outside of the framework would come as “radical.”


However, I beg the reader to continue. You need not agree with my ideas, and you may in fact have ideas of your own, but you will never get many chances like this one to explore the underlying nature of education and how you and your ideas interact and mesh with the system. In the event that this proposal forces you to evaluate information in a foreign manner then I have succeeded in my ultimate aim. Forcing you to step outside of the system in order to evaluate its assumptions puts you one step closer to overcoming them.


Let me start with an analysis of education. In the US education was developed with the creation of the new republic following the Revolutionary War of 1776. Founded on the Greek ideals of civic duty, the new nation depended on the good will of its citizenry to succeed. Thus, the goal of public education was, and is, to create an educated citizenry for participation in the republic. As the concept of education progressed through the ages, the purpose of the educational system transitioned from this idea of the citizenry to the idea of the individual. Education is now thought of as an “individual” process in which each student has something distinct to take from the educational system for personal use and improvement.


This individualization of education inevitably led to the creation of the grade. In a world where education was no longer for the good of the common people but for the improvement and advancement of the individual, an overarching sense of competition is fostered. The main tool for evaluation is comparison. All measurements are relative, meaning measurements only have relevance when they are juxtaposed. They mean nothing absent this juxtaposition. Thus the new tool for evaluation in education turned outward, forcing teachers to compare every student in order to “measure” achievement.

While this form of measurement may have been inevitable, the institution of the grade was not. The only way to quantify achievement was through the establishment of a uniform measure for all students, allowing teachers to “evaluate” individual progress. Such a tool is only necessary in a world where the primary motive in education is the improvement of the individual. The classic F to A grading system soon became ingrained in American education.


The concept of a grading system is supremely dehumanizing. To reduce the complex entity of the student down into a measurable and subjective single digit is to erase everything that makes up that student. The prioritization of the measure destroys the value of everything that makes us human. Things like character, scholarship, intelligence, actions, and relationships become secondary to what teachers perceive as the only “accurate” measure of achievement. When we reduce complex students, we undermine everything they stand for and are deprived of a real understanding of who they are. This has completely depersonalized education to the point where we believe every student can learn in the same manner.


Modern institutions have only exacerbated this problem. The modern public school, jam packed with thousands of students, has become so unmanageable to a depersonalized approach is the only feasible option. Teachers can no longer give individual focus to students but instead need to group them all together in order to get any learning done at all. Imagine, a teacher at Wayzata High School with four blocks of 30 students each developing an individual study plan for every student!


Secondly, the concept of selective education has served to completely dehumanize the student and to destroy the way every student views themselves. In a world where universities and colleges will only select a limited amount of individuals, the sense of competition is pushed to the extreme. This has led to the introduction of superfluous “measures” of achievement that help colleges quickly understand prospective students. Queue in the standardized test. Regardless of the fact that school curriculums are vastly distinct throughout the nation, policy makers have the notion that bombarding students with an endless amount of random and disjointed factoids will prove that educational systems are working. This will be addressed in a later passage in this proposal.

Moving back, when this sense of competition is pushed to the extreme, students themselves begin to look at the grade as the only measure of their own identity. Students become so stressed out in maintaining the top grade level because to do otherwise would be to underplay who they are as an individual. You have no doubt seen how students will gripe and complain to get every point they can. You have no right to blame students. In a framework where all importance is placed on the grade, the grade takes a metaphysical position of all-importance and thus students have a right to try and protect theirs.


Now you may be asking, what is the alternative to a grade? I will have to agree that while grades are fundamentally wrong, there is no denying that the system is quick and easy. All dehumanizing practices are. The alternative is not a new system to replace the grade but rather a new system to replace the framework of education. Because of the way education is constructed right now, try to change the use of grades would be pointless. Yes, even in education we must first remove the system to bring about real change. Only then can there be space for an alternative that focuses and evaluates each student individually through personalized and contextualized achievement. This way we can measure children by WHAT they do, not HOW they do.


Many will not be sold on this abuse alone. They will reason that the educational advantages of the current educational system would outweigh any risk of dehumanization. This is where they are wrong. As the system continues to advance, we are losing knowledge, not the other way around. Before I go into the reasons for this phenomenon, let me emphasize that when these arguments hold true our only option is to change. In a world of student abuse and a drop in education there is no reason to continue pressing onward with the educational framework.


Many of you may be confused with my claim that the educational system is in fact uneducational. My understanding of this has come through a synthesis of personal experience and research, taking from Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves To Death.” The way that school curriculums are set up in the modern world lend to the accumulation of pointless information. Just as the growth of a television culture has led to the diminishment of relevant information as everything is taken out of context, education is increasingly taking everything out of context to fit the new busy world of information.

Education, as any other institution, is shaped by the media. To the point where the media shapes our understanding of the world, the media shapes our institutions as well. Information in the modern world has taken precedent over understanding. The new emphasis is on the accumulation of information, not the understanding of information. Students and teachers are duped into believing that having more information is the best way to learn.


All in the sake of management, teachers have moved from an interactive and intuitive style of teaching to a redundant and detached style of teaching. This has given birth to the “plug-and-chug” process in which students are loaded with busy work and assignments that allow them to plow through every day with the conception that they are learning. After all, they are doing work.


What these exercises do is build up the arsenal of unrelated facts in the mind of the student. The student does not get an understanding of how these facts work together because this type of detached work rewards those who plow through and not those who step back and analyze information. After all, grades and scores are based on answering the most right, not answering the most best.


The collection of information wouldn’t seem very appealing if the public could easily see through its utility. Thus, we have developed the institution of the test. When information is framed in anticipation of the test, everything is given a “purpose.” This false sense of purpose is enough to assuage the masses into the conception that everything they learn is “useful.” Thus students don’t feel the “chug-and-plug” of the everyday and they continue unaware through school. Relevance and contextual information do not mean anything. They aren’t on the test after all.

We are no longer trained to become ideal citizens, but ideal collections of information. Students, look at your every day classes. With everything that you are learning in school, how much can really be applied to the real world? I am not saying that knowledge is useless, but irrelevant knowledge is useless. Rather, knowledge for the sake of knowledge is useless. School needs to be more focused on application instead of the accumulation of facts.


I will stop there. Everyone needs to rant every now and then.


Come Around Here I Make Them All Day,
Noel

Simple And Clean Is The Way Your Making Me Feel

Dear Followers,

These days, finding spare time has become a daunting task. There is always another test, another thing to focus on, and frankly I am starting to get sick of the everyday routine I have adopted. This weekend I have decided to neglect my work and relax as a therapy of sorts. The results have been profound; not only do I feel rejuvenated, but I had the chance to complete an introspective analysis with my extra time.

I was listening to "Simple And Clean" by Utada Hikaru when I decided to take a moment and reevaluate myself as an individual. This song serves as a link to my childhood years, serving as a tool of remembrance. You could not comprehend the amount of time I have spent listening to this song or its many versions. Recently I have started listening to the "Unison Mix." Details can be found on my Facebook page.

If you were to ask, a majority of people would say that they treasured the time spent as a child. I detest my childhood. My childhood is a collection of insecurity, conformity, and malice. I rejected everything that made me who I am in order to be more like everybody else. I turned away from my love of drawing. I turned away from Japanese animation. I turned away from my religion and the Indian community, an action that haunts me today.

I really started to look back to Middle School. I was a demon in Middle School. I was so overcome with the need to fit in that I did things that I regret. I stole, I cheated, I lied. During my freshman year in high school I decided that I did not like myself and what I had done. One day I decided to do something to change that fact. Since that day I have spent every morning asking myself what I can do to improve myself as an individual.

I soon realized how immutable the character is. You cannot simply change overnight. Everybody will tell you this over and over again, but you really have no idea how true the statement is until you try to do so. You would not believe how frustrating and self-defeating trying to change yourself is. As I fought my inner evils I only came to realize that there were more flaws that I had not seen before. I became so focused on my negatives that I even entered a state of depression and extreme anxiety.

One of the first things I wanted to change is my sociability. I am, and always have been, a reclusive person. Perhaps because I was so used to just listening to my brother I failed to develop social skills. In fact, when my brother left for college I became more reclusive, a fact that my parents can support. Sometimes I crave social interaction, but many times I like to just be alone. Groups are not something I do well; I prefer to interact with one or two individuals at most.

Many of you may not realize that I have trouble talking to others and keeping up conversations. I can never get my thoughts together just right and always say something wrong. Because of this, I rely on slapstick humor and harsh sarcasm to force others to do the talking in the form of reactions; conversation outside of this realm is hard for me to conduct. Because of this mechanism however, I often appear pretentious, and many times others feel as though I do not care about them when I really do.

These thoughts led me to start evaluating my basis of action. If I could sum up the purpose of my life in one sentence, it would be to do what nobody else has. I thrive on distinction. In many ways this is another outgrowth of my relationship with my brother. Because my brother is a remarkable individual (regardless of what I say at times, he is the person I respect the most), he is always leaving a shadow behind for me to stand in. I do not want to be "Shray's brother," I want to be "Naveen."

My drive toward individuality is the basis for all of my action today. I always look to do what nobody else is doing. If everybody is taking notes on paper I will pull out my laptop. If all of my friends are on the ground I will stand up. If everybody is ordering one thing I will order another. These unconscious actions are what make me an individual.

However, I could never get rid of my never-ending need to conform. Although today I have reduced the hold that conformity has on me, I have not broken free completely. I continue to join others in common activities. I continue to adopt tastes and disinclinations based on those of my peers. I continue to culturally conform to the standards of teenage society. To break free completely would be "social-suicide," and I would probably go mad.

In this society of conformity, I have been given the label of "intellectual." I detest this label. Everybody associates the intellectual with somebody who is naturally gifted, somebody who does not need to work to accomplish great deeds. This is not an appropriate label for somebody as myself. I have no "exceptional" intellectual capabilities. I am somebody who relies on stress to perform well, somebody who works long into the night to make sure that I am always performing at the top level.

This is not a sign of a "genius." If I were truly a "genius" I would have no need to work so hard because things would naturally come to me. They don't. What this label has done is to change the very basis of my nature. I have to work harder to maintain my label. Can you imagine, the "intellectual" receiving a B on an APUSH test? I don't want to work to appease my peers, but there is nothing I can do about it.

Not only has the label forced me to DO, it has forced me to NOT DO. I have nearly all but given up drawing. Because people don't view me as "the artistic person," there is no societal label that I need to maintain, no societal motivation for me to succeed. My drawing skill has atrophied as a result and I no longer see myself resuming any time soon. I am not saying that societal pressure is the only reason I want to succeed in anything, but I recognize that it plays a large role.

With that closing thought, I will end this introspection. I feel confident publishing this here because of the very fact that close to nobody reads this blog. If anything this was a good way to put my thoughts into words so that I can use this as a tool of measurement sometime down the road. Who knows, maybe things will never change and I will be unable to change the aspects of my character that I detest. Either way, the future doesn't scare me at all.

Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning,
Noel

Breadcrumb Trail

Dear Followers,


"The Acts Of Hansel and Gretel" - King James Bible:


1. In that time of old, the woodcutter and his wife of Kassal begat the young Hansel and Gretel
2. And then, when the youths were born in Kassal of Germany, behold, there came a great famine upon the village
3. And it came to pass that the wife, overtaketh by devils, resolved to abandon them in the woods to stave an early death
4. The woodcutter, her husband, just a man, and not willing to disagree with the good judgment of his spouse, was minded to agree with her plans
5. When Hansel heard these developments, he was troubled, and Gretel with him
6. And Hansel turned and spake upon Gretel, Thou must collect the pebbles on that far side of the home
7. And when the youths had gathered outside, they set to collect all the white pebbles their pockets would permit
8. Thrown then into the deep forest, they became lost, waiting from daybreak to dusk for the moon’s illumination to light the holy pebbles toward home
9. But the children of the household shall be cast out once more: there shall be weeping and the withholding of pebble and provision
10. And young Hansel, beset with fear and exhaustion, would be brought to loot a loaf of bread from that pantry
11. But behold, the breadcrumbs the young Hansel left behind had been for naught by the vice of the ravenous birds
12. When the youths had then lost the way, hearts which were sad became joyful at the sight of the small abode
13. And when they were come to the other side of the abode, there met them one possessed with devils so that no many might pass by that way
14. Hansel spake unto the witch, Let us enter thy abode lest we perish outside
15. Seeing about her two meals, the witch commandeth to not cast them, but instead to enslave Gretel and encage Hansel
16. And great adversity came onto the youths, having that which is cruel and unjust
17. The witch, beset by devilish glutton, would subject young Hansel to regular feasts to expand his girth
18. And, behold, the bone with which young Hansel overcame his doom through trickery and false pretense onto the witch
19. But now at the twelfth hour, the witch could hold no more, exceedingly wroth in anticipation of a two-fold meal
20. And the witch spake unto Gretel, See, I have need of you to check the stove
21. And Gretel did not as the witch commandeth of her, so did she not
22. And when young Gretel proved incompetent, the witch became positioned in front of the stove in example
23. Young Gretel cast her into the fire, to remain a damned soul in unabsolved sin for evermore
24. The youths then fell upon a vast treasure of every which jewel and coin in her sleeping room, filling each pocket with the scrupulous wealth
25. Having a path home illuminated by God’s grace, they reach that household of the woodcutter of Kassal
26. By delivery of justice, by which the mother had departed to the depths of hell, the youths bathed in harmony with a loving father

“Report: Local Woodcutter Reunited With Kidnapped Children”- The Associated Press


Oct 14, 10:46 PM EDT


KASSAL, Germany (AP) – A local woodcutter was reunited with his children this Monday when they reached home after having been kidnapped for 4 months.


The children, Hansel and Gretel, had planned on finding a way back home when sent into the woods by leaving a trail of breadcrumbs behind them. However, when birds ate the crumbs the two were lost in the forest.


The kidnapper, a blind elderly woman residing in the forest, had lured the lost children into her home before locking Hansel into an iron cage and forcing Gretel to become her slave.


“She would feed me every day, trying to fatten me up,” Hansel told us today in an interview. “If I hadn’t used a bone to convince her that I was too thin to eat, I probably wouldn’t be here today.”


Hansel went on to explain that the woman eventually decided to eat him and his sister, “be he fat or lean.” At this time the children managed to escape from their kidnapper.


The details of the children’s escape are unknown at this point. Authorities have found no trace of the kidnapper, and Hansel and Gretel refused to discuss their escape when we interviewed them.


“Gretel has been quiet through the whole investigation,” said Engelbert Humperdinck, member of the Kassal Police Department. “I almost get the feeling that she is hiding something that she doesn’t want us to know.”


Father Adolf could not be happier.


“I am just glad they are back safe and sound,” said the woodcutter. “I had been lamenting the loss of my children since the day my wife had sent them into the woods.”


This recent story draws attention to the increasing problem of negligent mothers in the region. A recent study released by the Brothers Grimm Institute showed that 67% of mothers in Kassal have abandoned their children in the past 5 years.


“These figures show a correlation with the recent famine in the region,” said Jacob Grimm, the institute co-founder. “This could be more of a case of desperation than negligence on the part of mothers in Kassal.”


Jacob Grimm and the institute plan to continue studying the issue and present their new findings at the German National Symposium on Parenting this fall.


© 2010 The Associated Press


Be He Fat Or Thin,
Noel