I believe the President is a position to set the tone for the American people. Yes, the person makes lots of decisions that affect many American people, but they are to be a face of America, some one presentable and representative of us to the rest of the world. This is why I was excited about Obama coming in to replace Dubyah. I don’t doubt W’s integrity or sense of wanting to do good for the American people. I believe that he felt like he was doing many of the right things for us. I do believe, though, he was an embarrassment for the nation in the global media. This seems to have more to do with his accent and his speech, and the reputations that each carry with them, than his ultimate ethos of looking at the world. He would randomly make up words, slur his speech, say “Amurica” instead of “America,” which all built this image of himself that seemed to be uneducated and unknowledgeable. His charisma was lacking.
That is why I was anxious for some one new to come in, and, despite his “lack of experience,” I am happy Obama is in office. He is someone that many people can identify with and look up to. He’s educated, passionate, and, chiefly in my book, eloquent. A respectable representative to the rest of the world who wants to seek out understanding and peace with other nations and not call them names is a good guy in my book. The President’s most powerful tool has to be her or his speech, tone, and grammar. People will listen to what the President have to say and make their judgments based on that, be it the American public, the state of the nation, or the interactions going on in the world. The role a leader is to be a figurehead for us all to look up to and to represent our country tastefully to the rest of the world.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
# 19 – A Global Economic Crisis
Our day in Detroit was something else. With remnants of all the empty parking lots and shopping centers from our first day in Memphis, Detroit seemed to be the hardest hit area of this global economic crisis. Everyone knows that the town has been dying for twenty years or so now. The sheer volume of boarded up homes and businesses was enough to let me know that something was up with the economy. Meeting with the officials in Rossford and talking with certain people involved in different aspects of the automobile industry demonstrated how widespread this economic hit of the recent bankruptcies actually was. Tons of people are out of jobs, people that have worked for years and years are finding themselves completely empty-handed.
As much as this tragedy represents and downturn in the global economy, we see things like the Heidelberg Project that remind us of beauty coming from rundown places. I’m not advocating a vague, meaningless sense of hope in the future, but I am insisting that there is something to be said about the human spirit in the wake of crisis. Taking old vacuum cleaners, shopping carts, doors, and cars and creating artistic expression out of them tells us that we used to live without all of this crap that we apparently need nowadays. These objects have lost their ability to be used and thus their value in their original terms. Their lack of need gives way for a new need and new creativities. The building structures reminded me of the rundown areas of New Orleans, of certain parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn, of Long Beach… and East Nashville.
As much as this tragedy represents and downturn in the global economy, we see things like the Heidelberg Project that remind us of beauty coming from rundown places. I’m not advocating a vague, meaningless sense of hope in the future, but I am insisting that there is something to be said about the human spirit in the wake of crisis. Taking old vacuum cleaners, shopping carts, doors, and cars and creating artistic expression out of them tells us that we used to live without all of this crap that we apparently need nowadays. These objects have lost their ability to be used and thus their value in their original terms. Their lack of need gives way for a new need and new creativities. The building structures reminded me of the rundown areas of New Orleans, of certain parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn, of Long Beach… and East Nashville.
# 18 – “Promote the General Welfare”
This line of the Preamble sets out one of the goals of the government that is, after all, for the people. I’ve seen this take shape in many forms. The first I can think of is providing economic benefits for those that are out and out in terms of their finances. This can be by providing low-income housing, government support checks, food stamps, and other forms of helping people to gain their necessities and get their feet off the ground.
I think the line goes much deeper than this, though. I see it as the government truly working for what is best for all of its people. This is a pretty tough gig as we have grown so much larger as a country. The more people you have, the more opinions, the more needs, and the tougher to please. Promoting the general welfare involves everyone having a voice in the land of argumentation. We see with stories of the Navajo Nation that the government falls short in many ways. However, the goal really seems to be here for everyone to get a slice of the pie, for everyone to progress together. A government outlined to serve its peoples common interest and not itself is a rather beautiful idea, a rather revolutionary one for the time. I return back to the central part of this welfare being the freedom to speak one’s mind and to persuade others to join their cause towards creating a better future.
I’ve seen it at work in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Chicago for the LGBT Movement. I’ve seen it at work, even though it was disturbing, in Portland and Chicago for certain sects of Evangelical Christianity. I saw it in Boston, Charleston, and Williamsburg as people celebrate the past and attempt to keep it alive. The act of free speech being available from the beginning ensures, despite all of the inequalities that exist, that progress towards the general welfare can be made.
I think the line goes much deeper than this, though. I see it as the government truly working for what is best for all of its people. This is a pretty tough gig as we have grown so much larger as a country. The more people you have, the more opinions, the more needs, and the tougher to please. Promoting the general welfare involves everyone having a voice in the land of argumentation. We see with stories of the Navajo Nation that the government falls short in many ways. However, the goal really seems to be here for everyone to get a slice of the pie, for everyone to progress together. A government outlined to serve its peoples common interest and not itself is a rather beautiful idea, a rather revolutionary one for the time. I return back to the central part of this welfare being the freedom to speak one’s mind and to persuade others to join their cause towards creating a better future.
I’ve seen it at work in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Chicago for the LGBT Movement. I’ve seen it at work, even though it was disturbing, in Portland and Chicago for certain sects of Evangelical Christianity. I saw it in Boston, Charleston, and Williamsburg as people celebrate the past and attempt to keep it alive. The act of free speech being available from the beginning ensures, despite all of the inequalities that exist, that progress towards the general welfare can be made.
# 17 – Wilderness on this trip
I have seen the wilderness on this trip a few times. Probably the best example I can remember is driving in South Dakota from the Mt. Rushmore area to Crazy Horse and the Lacota Reservation at Pine Ridge. We took a long, winding drive through a large park area and saw a large number of wildlife all around at different times. We ended up being about three or four feet from a huge buffalo, just hanging out eating right next to the road. We also saw a few different groups of deer and wild birds. At the same time, we could see nothing but miles of trees on either side of us. The wilderness resembling this isolation and freedom, like the city in a different form, showed us that there is a lot more going on that we encounter on a daily basis. As we are brushing our teeth in the morning and driving to work, around the bend there can be buffalo walking along feeding with their little ones, little birds hatching from eggs in the tree outside the kitchen window, and ants building a colony just outside the front door. It seems we have been able to pave over the wilderness, to reshape it, to redefine it, but in reality it still exists all around us.
I started out in thinking about this wilderness as some place far, far away from an urban landscape, suburb, or building. This is true, though. The deserts of Arizona and fields of Kansas and the mountains of Colorado do have the sense of wilderness, of animal worlds going on and maintaining themselves outside of much human interaction. But, thinking deeper, I feel like this really happens everywhere, thus mentioning the birds and ants outside (and sometimes inside) our homes. Defining wilderness to me is, like I said, a cycle of animal and plant lives that have the capability of surviving on their own, without human interaction, even though they may encounter us from time to time. That is why I say the wild is all around us. The systems keep going long after we have gone and without a need for us, really.
I started out in thinking about this wilderness as some place far, far away from an urban landscape, suburb, or building. This is true, though. The deserts of Arizona and fields of Kansas and the mountains of Colorado do have the sense of wilderness, of animal worlds going on and maintaining themselves outside of much human interaction. But, thinking deeper, I feel like this really happens everywhere, thus mentioning the birds and ants outside (and sometimes inside) our homes. Defining wilderness to me is, like I said, a cycle of animal and plant lives that have the capability of surviving on their own, without human interaction, even though they may encounter us from time to time. That is why I say the wild is all around us. The systems keep going long after we have gone and without a need for us, really.
# 16 – Dissent in the American Life
One of the most organized times of simultaneous protest and celebration I believe I saw was in Chicago’s Boystown on the eve of Pridefest. A few other students and I ventured over there after having dinner our second evening in Chicago in an attempt to be there and celebrate a bit. The event itself was not an organized protest in the common way you would think of it, though there was a parade going on the next day. Instead, there was really a celebration for everyone around as a form of protest to a country that will not give him or her equal rights. While riding on the L train and walking down a few streets, I picked up random conversations with people as I went, hearing pieces of different biographies, many of whom drove six hours or more to get to Chicago that night.
We all know of the hot topic in America that is the prospect of gay marriage, which has a multitude of different reactions from people, often depending on what area you are in or who you are really talking to. This topic often causes people to pick sides and, thus, causes dissent. I feel like the best thing for communities to do when under fire from mainstream culture is to, well, celebrate with one another. There is work to be done and much is being done to further the cause of LGBT rights. The celebration going on is simultaneously a means for the group to enjoy themselves and a means of protest. It was an incredible experience to go to a few house parties in the Boystown area and to further understand that we all are one in furthering the fight for human rights.
We all know of the hot topic in America that is the prospect of gay marriage, which has a multitude of different reactions from people, often depending on what area you are in or who you are really talking to. This topic often causes people to pick sides and, thus, causes dissent. I feel like the best thing for communities to do when under fire from mainstream culture is to, well, celebrate with one another. There is work to be done and much is being done to further the cause of LGBT rights. The celebration going on is simultaneously a means for the group to enjoy themselves and a means of protest. It was an incredible experience to go to a few house parties in the Boystown area and to further understand that we all are one in furthering the fight for human rights.
# 15 – Art in Chicago
We did not have a chance to see “American Windows” in Chicago, but I did get a chance to take a moment at the Art Institute in front of the famous Gaugin piece on urban isolation in early 20th century France. The painting had a long series of assorted figures in a park overlooking a river, all of the people shown as really nondescript and more as shapes. Many of them all had different variations of the same sort of dress, with the same sort of weak toned colors. All were facing the same direction as well, not necessarily one another. This demonstrated sort of the isolation that characterizes the modern world and the urban landscape in particular. As people encounter more and more other people in the streets, on the Internet, and on the phone, the response, as many urban theorists point out, is to be more reserved, more isolated, a bit more independent. This sometimes comes off as being smug or not caring about others, but really I feel like it’s just necessary and a means of comfort with the self, relieving yourself of the small town expectation of chit chatting with every passerby, often out of only that expectation and not actual caring about that person.
I also hopped downstairs to the photography exhibit and saw a few original documentary pieces from some of my heroes of early documentary work. Many of them visually described the urban landscape of the 1920s, picking up on some of these same themes of western isolation of one’s personal life. They also dealt with the estrangement one finds in the horrors of child labor and immigrant tenements. Altogether, there was this theme weaving about of the world began to change forever. Not necessarily for the worse or the better, but it had definitely changed. The building structures we see have become more important and more involved in our lives. And there are more of them. Media (books, television, etc.) we are interacting with nearly every conscious moment of the day. The human mind has expanded and changed for forever with these introductions, possibly in a sense of impending isolation. That seems to be the point of these artists.
I also hopped downstairs to the photography exhibit and saw a few original documentary pieces from some of my heroes of early documentary work. Many of them visually described the urban landscape of the 1920s, picking up on some of these same themes of western isolation of one’s personal life. They also dealt with the estrangement one finds in the horrors of child labor and immigrant tenements. Altogether, there was this theme weaving about of the world began to change forever. Not necessarily for the worse or the better, but it had definitely changed. The building structures we see have become more important and more involved in our lives. And there are more of them. Media (books, television, etc.) we are interacting with nearly every conscious moment of the day. The human mind has expanded and changed for forever with these introductions, possibly in a sense of impending isolation. That seems to be the point of these artists.
# 14 – Encountering capitalism on our trip
Let me see here. I need to discuss a time on our trip where I have encountered capitalism. I’d have to say that we encountered this beast nearly every single day. It was lessened a bit as we were in the national parks, since we were hanging out more in nature. The exception here is at the Grand Canyon, where we ran into a grocery store to get some food. However, about the half of the store was laden with anything and everything you could imagine having the Grand Canyon logo on it. From caps to shot glasses to DVDs to junior park ranger vests, nearly anything you want to show that you have been there was available for you to buy.
This leads me into how I have encountered capitalism on my travels in America. In an earlier blog on Disneyland and Los Angeles, I mentioned Baudrillard’s talk of hyperreality in light of our “consumer society,” with, well, a gift shop at every corner. The thing is this is true. We started Day 1 in Nashville by looking through the Ryman Auditorium, with its Elvis garb, as well as a slue of print and tourist stores all around Broadway. We saw this in Memphis at Graceland, the Clinton Library in Little Rock, the UFO Museum in Roswell, and the Statue of Liberty in New York. The commoditization of the landmarks in the form of miniatures and shot glasses was enough to show us the face of capitalism. Even in the Washington, D.C. Metro stations, there were advertisements for a nearby water park containing statues of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington with floaties and sunscreen on their noses mingling with happy little white kids pummeling down a waterslide. We experienced capitalism in a multitude of ways, but it was chiefly shown in the gift shops we encountered in nearly every place.
This leads me into how I have encountered capitalism on my travels in America. In an earlier blog on Disneyland and Los Angeles, I mentioned Baudrillard’s talk of hyperreality in light of our “consumer society,” with, well, a gift shop at every corner. The thing is this is true. We started Day 1 in Nashville by looking through the Ryman Auditorium, with its Elvis garb, as well as a slue of print and tourist stores all around Broadway. We saw this in Memphis at Graceland, the Clinton Library in Little Rock, the UFO Museum in Roswell, and the Statue of Liberty in New York. The commoditization of the landmarks in the form of miniatures and shot glasses was enough to show us the face of capitalism. Even in the Washington, D.C. Metro stations, there were advertisements for a nearby water park containing statues of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington with floaties and sunscreen on their noses mingling with happy little white kids pummeling down a waterslide. We experienced capitalism in a multitude of ways, but it was chiefly shown in the gift shops we encountered in nearly every place.
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