Dharma & Greg S01E01 Pilot Clip1

In Order to "be free where you are" You Must Understand the Meaning of "True Love"

What is authentic? An emotion that you feel before you relate it to someone else is authentic. Unfortunately, our emotions have become fragmented and fractured over the years causing us to disconnect from each other in interpersonal relationships. We no longer look someone in the eyes when we speak to them. We are too busy texting them or emailing them or facebooking them to even know what they are doing or looking at when they are communicating with us. The eyes are the window to the soul but we don't seem interested in looking that deeply into another person's soul anymore. Due to advancements in technology, we are connecting through the airwaves and not in a heart felt way. There has been a seduction of our social values, our family values and our personal values. We are more concerned with external trappings then internal thoughts. We have become a disposable society where things are discarded before they become old or obsolete or they are locked up somewhere in our house, behind walls, where we don't have or want accessibility to them anymore. This includes our emotions. We have locked them up behind walls also and we have become a prisoner to technology and we must learn to free ourselves, from being so wired up, no matter where we are. Dystopia is becoming a reality. Our current affairs, our current ideologies, our minds and our bodies are in a current state of turmoil. Many people live under extremely poor conditions suffering from deprivation, oppression, terrorism (both internally and externally), domestic violence, abuse, and mental illness. They will never be free unless we work together to do something about all the issues around us. We see the signs but we do nothing. We hear the language yet we have deconstructed its meaning. We don't practice the words anymore. Unless we, society as a whole, make a conscious effort to bring meaning back to the words we say, out loud, to one another, in person, we will never learn how to be free in order to perpetuate true love to the person standing beside us. They cannot feel our compassion unless they are able to stand freely beside us. Compassion is the path to the freedom of true love and unless we succeed in getting back to the path we will no longer be able to guide emotions to the authentic feelings of our hearts.

As a result of "hooking up" on the internet and our cell phones we have plugged into mechanical ideologies and rewired our values and because we have disconnected from human contact, we now have delusions because of the illusions interposing our lives by the mass media. Our culture is significantly influenced by the digital download and the imagery that has emerged from these social databases. Our language is no longer stable and our words have new meanings. In "Cultural Studies" by Chris Barker the symbols of language are explored by Saussure. "For Saussure, a signifying system is constituted by a series of signs that are analyzed in terms of their constituent parts."(Barker 76). "Signs are commonly organized into a sequence that generates meaning through the cultural conventions of their usage within a particular context. Such arrangements are called cultural codes." (Barker 77). There are no cultural codes on the internet and as a result there is a breakdown of language between the parties that are communicating to each other. The sounds may not match the true images of the people who are connecting with us. Language on the internet is premeditated and because of this we now have new fears that have been imposed upon us.We don't know if the person is sincere about what they are writing to us. We have no way of knowing if their love is true or if they are just a predator looking to prey on the weak and innocent. We have lost our freedom because our right to feel safe has been taken away from us. Compassion is lost because our emotions are imprisoned within our walls of apprehension.

One person who is teaching us to reconnect with each other, to free ourselves from our personal restraints and to learn the meaning of compassion so we can obtain true love is Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced "tick not Hon"). He is a Zen Buddhist monk, poet and peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was born in Vietnam and for thirty years he lived in exile in France where he founded the monastic community of Plum Village. We learn, through the language of his books, how to find compassion in our own heart so we are able to win over the hearts of the people we wish to be connected with. According to his books "be free where you are" and "True Love" we must practice mindfulness in order to obtain this goal.

Mindfulness is a practice that can cultivate freedom no matter where you are. It also gives us a deeper insight into ourselves so we may have a better understanding of what love is. The search for freedom is fully expressed and conceptualized in "be free where you are." On October 16, 1999 Thich Nhat Hanh went and spoke to more then one hundred inmates at The Maryland Correctional Institution at Hagerstown. He taught them the practice of mindfulness so they would have the capability to be free inside their prison walls. Their confinement was only external when they embraced the knowledge that helped them let go of their internal confinement. He explained that we all must free ourselves from the prison we live in and we all must learn to dwell outside our prison walls. Our walls are nor only physical but also emotional. They can be walls of hate, fear and anxiety. When we learn to let go of our anx then we are able to be unrestricted and are no longer a slave to our undesirable thoughts. We can then pursue happiness and our spirit can live harmoniously with others.

He brought this new ideology to the inmates so they would learn how to transform and begin to heal mentally. He began by explaining that mindfulness is an energy that is invited in through a breathing routine and must be practiced daily in order to rid ourselves of our negative energy. This gives us relief and enables us to live with joy. We learn to clear our mind to make room for insightfulness so we are able to look deeply inside ourselves. Focus is a key element in this practice as it helps to eliminate distractions to enable us to shed our habit energy. Everything we do we must do mindfully.As a result "if you practice dwelling peacefully in the present moment during the day, being mindful of whatever it is that you are doing,peace will radiate from you, and this will inspire the people around you."(preface-be free where you are). People imitate others and learn by example. When we dwell we learn to be mindful of others and in turn they are mindful of us. There is no room for aggression in our hearts when we are dwelling on compassion, peace, understanding, kindness, beauty and forgiveness.

This is how we begin to find the path of freedom. When we are free from afflictions, anger, and despair we are happy. The feelings of anger can cause us to suffer and destroy us. The ability to take care of our anger is done by bringing attention to our breathing. "To be able to breathe is a miracle. A person on his deathbed cannot breathe freely and soon will stop breathing altogether. But I am alive. I can breathe in and become aware of my in-breath; I can breathe out and and become aware of my out-breath. I smile at my out-breath and I am aware that I am alive. So when you breath in, be aware of your in-breath. When you breathe out, be aware that this is your out-breath. Breathe as a free person"(8). The prison culture went through some immediate changes after this lesson. The prisoners were no longer completely controlled by the individuals from above. They found the reality of freedom through the illusion of something that exists freely to all; air. Breathing teaches us that we are all free because it comes from within, from our core and no can really "take our breath away." It keeps us in the moment and when we remain in the moment we don't have "despair or regrets about the past or fears about the future." (9) We are moving towards being able to offer compassion, which is the highest form of love, and learn to turn away from adversity. Then there is no longer a voice from above and the is no longer an I and another but one voice resonating through each other. "Every moment of our daily lives can be used to cultivate mindfulness-the energy of the Buddha, the Holy Spirit. Where ever the Holy Spirit is, there is understanding, forgiveness and compassion. The energy of mindfulness has the same nature.If you know how to generate this energy, you become truly present, truly alive, and you become capable of understanding. With understanding you become compassionate, and that will change everything."(43-44). I think this gives a new meaning to cultural politics. As a result of his visit, the Maryland Correctional Institution implemented a new meditation program.

In his book "True Love" he teaches that , according to Buddhism, there are four elements to true love. They are Maitri, Karuna< Mudita, and Upekska(1-4). Maitri is the act of loving kindness or benevolence. It is the desire to make someone happy and the ability to bring joy and happiness to a beloved person because even if your intention is to love this person, your love might make him or her suffer. We must be trained to understand the other person by looking deeply at who they are, because if we don't have a deep understanding of who they are, then we cannot love them properly. Understanding is the essence of love. Karuna is compassion and the desire and ability to ease the pain of another. We must again practice deep looking in order to have an understanding of the nature of the other person's in order to help them change. Knowledge and understanding are always at the root of the practice. When we meditate we look deeply into the heart of things. Mudita is joy. Love must have joy or it is not true love. When people make one another suffer and cry it is not really love. Upeksha is equanimity or freedom. In true love you attain freedom and bring freedom to the person you love. Freedom is not only environmental but psychological. Our hearts need room to grow and if we give the other person room to do so then you know your love is real.

Once we have understanding of the other person we must devote time to the other person and we must be there for them in the here and now. The commodity of time and our devotion to the other person, by giving of ourself, with our presence, is all we can ask for from one another.
Meditation teaches us how to share ourselves with the ones we love for life. Through meditation we become one with our mind and body, with each other and with the universe."We must bring about a revolution in our way of living our every day lives, because our happiness, our lives are within ourselves." (11). We are giving signs to the other person that we love them. According to Derrida "we think only in signs and there is no original meaning circulating outside of 'representation.'" (Barker 18).We have formed a new language based on the other person's needs and they in turn react to our actions.

In accordance with this new language there are mantra's that must be recited. The first one is "Dear one, I am here for you" (9) which goes along with recognizing the presence of the other and giving them your attention and time. The second one is"Dear one, I know you are here, and it makes me happy." (14) telling them that not only are you giving of yourself to them but you are happy they are here so you can make yourself available to them. The third mantra is "Dear one, I know that you are there and it makes me very happy." (18), letting them know that you are also happy that they are there for you. The next two mantras are used when the person you love is suffering and when you are suffering. "Dear one, I know you are suffering, that is why I am here for you." (20) and "Dear one, I am suffering, please help." (25). Both indicate your love because you are reaching out to someone for help and you are asking them to reach out to you for help. Pride is not an issue or an obstacle for love. There is no division of sexes in these teachings. Both man and woman are equal with similar wants, desires, and needs. They both are working towards the betterment of the relationship. The language itself has put each individual on an equal playing field.

The words are not new nor is their meaning but how they are placed within the context of the relationship gives them a different power. Their relationship to ideas has caused change. It is like the wind. The wind itself has no sound unless it passes through and around other objects that are putting pressure against the winds path. Wind obtains life, purpose and meaning only from other objects. The rustling sound is heard only because the wind moves through the leaves of the trees. The trees, that become an obstacle to the wind, and block its path, minimize the wind and cause the wind to linger but eventually a new path and a new sound is created. The wind has become a living entity through the illusion of the mind and the mind has personified it to become an interchangeable object. It has human traits. It recreates. The illusion creates emotion. Its existence is validated through the movement of Nature. It gives meaning to other forms of life through its whispers of the hear and now. Our society loves to play with play on words. We thrive on this concept and we can use the psychology of words as a weapon or as a tool for success. Thich Nhat Hanh has used words as a tool for success. He has pulled the "I" out of id and has helped us let go of the ego. Hopefully the sound of the breath he wishes all of us to discover will continue to whisper and echo through our psyche like the wind. We would miss the wind if it didn't continue to whisper through the leaves of the trees and we would miss this analogy if I was unable to put into words my thoughts inspired by his books.

The ideology of the two books has eliminated the ideology of competition. they reject Baudrillard's "System of Objects" but they do employ the techniques of psychological conditioning, which is developed in economic planning. Also, this ideology has been promoted by the mass media:television. This idea of true love was brought to our attention through the romantic comedy "Dharma and Greg" which aired from September 1997 until April 2002. It was about the marriage between Dharma Finkelstein-Montgomery (Jenna Elfman) and Greg Montgomery (Thomas Gibson). Dharma was a free spirited Yoga instructor always looking at the positive side of everything. She was raised by hippie parents and they taught her to find the joy in everyday life. Greg was a conservative lawyer. They got married after their first date. They found a deep understanding and compassion towards one another and viewed he world around them with the same respect. The obstacles they encountered were either as a result of Dharma's anti-establishment parents or Greg's uptight, condescending, materialistic parents. The parents all had to accept the notion that their child married outside of what was typical for them and each set of parents viewed their child as having married "the other."

The show helps bring the books written by Thich Nhat Hanh into some type of social perspective. Their context gives an answer to a believable social problem (Barker 323) and they indicate that they represent the "real world."(323). The show indicates how there is a place for the books in the education of cultural studies through romance in popular culture. The show has made the ideas in the books accessible to a larger, conservative, secular reader. Love has been given an identity and that identity is a routine that comes from neither above but from within. Buddhism, unlike our own teachings, has no duality. We must not suppress one side in favor of another. We learn from the teachings that our values come from our heart and our heart never sleeps. Our heart never takes a break. According to Buddah "There is a world, but there is no birth and there is no death, there is no high and no low, no being and no non being." (True Love-98). These thoughts go against our fundamental belief system.

Nirvana, extinction, is the basis of all being and ingrained in the philosophy of Buddhism. The Buddhists believe that "To be or not to be is not really the question but the true question is, do we have enough concentration, enough practice. to teach the foundation of being, that is Nirvana?" (True Love 101). Let's hope they do because our society needs to stop pulling away from a value system that creates peace and harmony in a globular sense. For every wall that comes down another wall seems to go up... I think the words that need to be uttered from the lips of all people from around the world is, my gift to you is the gift of love.

Works Cited

Barker, Chris, Cultural Studies. London:Sage Publications Ltd. 2008.Print.
Hanh, Thich Nhat.
be free where you are,. Berkeley, Ca.:Parallax. 2002. Print.
True Love. Boston, Massachusetts. :Shambhala Publications,Inc. 1997. Print.





















































































































ronounced "tick not hon"0

Final Thoughts Before the Final Paper-Freudiantextual and Freudianinternetual slips

A few months ago I received a text from someone that was meant for someone else. Then, a few days ago I received an email that was not meant for me. Both were personal in nature. Once they're sent there's no tacking them back and sometimes the people that send them don't even know that they've been sent. There are no safeguards against unwanted advances unless we know how to put those safeguards in place. The technology is there but sometimes the intelligence is not. In my case this is true. I don't know how to protect myself from receiving information that I might not want and sometimes I don't know how to protect my information. This is very dangerous, especially since there are dangerous people in the world. For every step forward we take it seems we are still taking steps backwards. Space is not always the place for me unless I've misplaced something in cyberspace. Then I guess I'm just a space cadet.

I Need More Space To Further Exploit My Face

From 1961- 1966 "Mr. Ed" aired on television. It was a very popular show about a klutzy architect, Wilbur Post (who ever thought that Post would be a post), and his talking horse Mr. Ed. Only Wilbur could hear Mr. Ed speak and he always answered Wilbur's questions about life. Audiences loved Mr. Ed and believed him to be real. He was a voice of the current generation. He was the alter voice of Wilbur. He was an illusion that, for some, became a reality. He invaded and infiltrated households as a result of the modern advancements in technology. There was a psychological edge to the dynamics between the horse and its owner and the characters of the show and the audience. The horse had a psyche and as a result we identified with him. We believed what he said. He was no longer just a horse. The horse and his language signified something. We no longer wanted to hear only, real life, human, television characters give meaning to our lives (this is another psychological problem all its own which will have to be discussed at another time) but we were willing to listen to an animal that itself was playing a character and it was doing something that is not probable. So now we are listening to something that is unbelievable that is from something that is unbelievable.  (this gives me a headache if I think about it too much).

Fast forward to current day. We now have digital media. Isn't there a risk of severe psychological damage to many of the weaker consumers with many more consequences? There are strong predominate types surfing the net in "need" of weaker prey to satisfy their imbalances and impulses and there is no safety net. We are a society where the individual believes what it wants to know and hears what it wants to here because it already has a belief system in place.

We really are controlling to consume here.

Mr. Ed The talking horse

Bob Marley's cultural politics and cultural policy.

Life is an illusion reflected by my voice. Language ads credence to this illusion because it is perpetrated and perpetuating by my voice. Let's destroy the illusion and make it a reality.

"Freedom Time" by Bob Marley suggests a new language in cultural politics must be obtained. His plea resonates echos from the past and, this still current day message, will continue to be valid unless we open our hearts, ears and minds to ideologies that we must teach to our children so their future generations don't make the mistakes of their previous generations. His words:

"got the news from the whispering trees,this is the time when man must be freed, no more burning in vain, all we lose we'll have to gain, get ready children, please, didn't I build the cabin, didn't I plant the corn, didn't my people keep holy, slave to this country, my sermon it was billed for freedom, the good lord said son you're a free man, I'm gonna talk that freedom talk, let me see you walk that freedom walk, when yah gets ready, children please, a tellya, got the news from a whispering tree...

Lauren Hill takes it one step further in her lyrics from "Freedom Time":

Everybody knows that they're guilty
Everybody knows that they've lied
Everybody knows that they're guilty
Resting on their conscious eating their inside
It's freedom, said it's freedom time now
It's freedom, said it's freedom time now
Time to get free, oh give us yourselves up now
It's freedom. said it's freedom time

Both songs want us to take a social action. Their language takes on a range of meanings and these meanings identify issues in our communities.  Unless we exploit the media, in this case music, we can't get "the truth" out there for all to hear. Sometimes exploitation is a good thing.

American Psyco and Cultural Politics and Cultural Studies

Is American Psyco the result of a hegemonic culture? I think it is. The group of men portrayed in American Psyco are powerful and wish to exercise social leadership and authority over a subordinate group-women. And they allow this to happen. The group of men win because the women give their consent. This is a sad commentary on our society if it is true. Is it?

But what about the movie Invictus? The movie is about Nelson Mandela.  Can there be more then one way to inspire?  Of course there is. One particular scene evoked a lot of emotion for me. It is when Francois meets Nelson Mandela for the first time and Nelson Mandela asks Francois how his ankle is feeling:

Francois: The truth is, Sir, you never really play at 100% no matter what.

Nelson Mandela:  In sports as in life. How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? It is by using the work of others.

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Who does this serve? Who does Nelson Mandela serve? South Africa? No, not just South Africa, everyone, everywhere. The poem, as well as Nelson Mandela touched the hearts and souls of the world.
The movie created the vehicle to bring it home.

Seinfeld-"The Group" and "Our Ultimate Finale"

Our group had "Many Episodes." For me it began with "The Watching of the Seinfeld Shows." Specifically, all of season one, two, three, five, six, some of season seven, eight, and nine and some comments from various special features at the end of the shows. Our group focused on "The Deal", "The Contest", "The Blood","The Maid","The Abstinence","The Mango", "The Beard", "The Invitations", "The Puerto Rican", and some of the finale. As a group we met several times, as well as several of us contacting one another through emails, and analyzed all the Seinfeld material and how it corresponded to the material of the class and then related the information to the functions of our society and more notably to radical romance and popular culture. I reread all the articles by Saussure, Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard, Rivkin and Ryan, Butler, Beauvoir, assigned in class, as well as corresponding details relating to the articles by Saussure and Derrida in our book "Cultural Studies" by Chris Barker book from pages 15 through 86. I then carefully aligned the episodes to the readings and drew a comparison and substantial summary for myself on the ideologies we covered in class as well as some outside resources. I formulated this summary into an outline for the rest of the group. This gave me a more intense enlightenment of language and how it related to our topic. I also reread parts of chapters 9 and 10 in our book "Cultural Studies" by Chris Barker and felt it was very important to focus on the accessibility of television and its global expansion and how we should talk about the media, television, in which Seinfeld is exposed in, and how it is exposed to us and who else it is exposed to. I felt we should not ignore this representation and also the inception of Seinfeld and ultimately the background and response of the market money and viewing audience. Also, I tried to categorize Seinfield and after careful discussions with the group we felt it didn't fall into any of the normal assumptions and as a sitcom the closest we could relate it to was a soap opera. I felt that Seinfeld had an immediacy in its presentation and we all agreed that in most Seinfeld episodes there is an indication that the characters are looking for immediate gratification and that the show builds upon itself. The group then came up with many questions that we each needed to think about and answer. Some questions I came up with as I formulated my opinions about the show were: Does Seinfeld relate to our consumer world?, Does what gets on television is as a result of what someone else deems important and who is that someone?, Is Seinfeld realism or melodrama?, What are the personalities of the characters?(George cheap, Kramer elusive, Elaine struggling for identity, Jerry condescending, judgmental and doesn't like himself as stated in "The Invitations"), Do any of us actually ever think about some of the things the characters talk about but would never say these things out loud?, Is the show about stream of consciousness without a filter? Are these believable social problems?, Does the show push current issues in our face, try to deal with them, and discover that society and life can't really change easily? Are these characters the norm or the other?, Is Seinfeld modern or post modern? Are the nature of the characters something our society readily accepts and is it O.K. to say the things the characters say? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

We then decided that there was so much information that we should break down into sub groups. Rachelle and I decided to tackle the idea of language and radical romance together. We met for several hours and Rachelle broke down the extensive outline, that Jackie had put together and emailed for the benefit of the group, and Rachelle redefined the outline. Rachelle minimized and condensed our group discussions and out of that we created an elaborate outline for our language and radical romance discussion which included Anna's segment on homosexuality. Bre also redefined the outline and condensed and reformed our ideas into an understandable spectrum. Rachelle incorporated information from the McDonald book about sexual desire and pleasure, Jeff made the information cohesive with his stand up routine, and Jackie spent many hours detailing the segments she would show of the show itself so the class would have some basic understanding of our discussion. Patriccia, Jackie, Lanisa, Jeff and Bre spent time deciding weather Seinfeld is modern and post modern. Patriccia, Jackie, Jeff and I met the morning of the class with Rachelle's notes and several ideas from Lanisha and Anna and ya da ya da ya da... a new perspective was born and the rest is Seinfeld history. Not that there's anything wrong with that!!!!!

Does Seinfeld imitate life or does life imitate Seinfeld?

According to the philosophies of Plato, art imitates life where as Aristotle states, life imitates art. According to our popular culture, Seinfeld is a reflection of radical romance which breathes life into our daily existence and is an art form created for the masses. It attaches itself to the philosophies of the philosophers from previous generations. George resonates sounds of Beauvoir, while Elaine echos the words of Saussure and Derrida, Jerry provokes thoughts of Baudrillard and Kramer, well Kramer, he might be an excellent case study for Foucault and Judith Butler's article "Imitation and Gender Insubordination" addresses them all when she states that "there is no "proper" gender."

I have a voice and that voice is speaking about radical romance. In speaking about radical romance we must speak about language. Saussure, a Swiss linguist, speaks about structuralism. A structuralist understanding of culture is concerned with a "systems of relations" of an underlying structure (usually language) and the grammar that makes meaning possible. Does Elaine, from the show Seinfeld, live in a culture where there are shared meaning practices? Is Seinfeld a cultural phenomena? What signs does Elaine give and does her meaning only exist in relation to her groups meaning? Language is social and essential. Speaking is individual and accidental. According to Saussure language is not a function of the speaker, it is a product that is passively assimilated by the individual. It never requires premeditation. Speaking is an individual act. Elaine is carving out a place for women by shedding light on the condition when she gets inside the language of the male. She is being defined by "what she puts out there" and what she "puts out there" is being heard by the other male members of her community.

The language of Seinfeld is created by the group. Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer reflect what they perceive to be true and then reflect their ideals onto a larger cultural group. Their "social side of speech" is associated with a concept that is "outside" each individual in the show because it exists as a result of an unwritten contract by the members of, not just the community of their group of 4, but the community at large. We all understand what they are saying and what their meaning is so Seinfeld is a reflection of our society.

Language is concrete, not abstract, according to Saussure and although Seinfeld appears to be abstract, it is not, because we here in the United States have collectively understood and approved what is stated on the show. The language of the show has become a reality, as a result of association through the characters brain functions, because we understand the signs they use to express ideas.

These four characters have created a Seinfeld society with Seinfeld signs and symbols creating not only a social psychology amongst these four characters but a general psychology which is perpetuated through the mass media of television. Television created a cultural convention and our culture works like a language.

In contradiction, Derrida does not follow all the beliefs of Saussure. In relatiion to Seinfeld the show always has a trace of previous articulations. The differences of the characters and their articulations show that meaning is never fixed and their words that they use to express ideas to each other carry echoes and traces of other meanings. The show itself follows some sort of radical pattern and then traces this pattern back to previous language weaving other language in so the viewer picks up on innuendos and we are inundated with subliminal thought from each of the characters and eventually we relate these thoughts to other textual locations.
What appears to be innocuous, the articulation of unstated expectations, is actually an organized set of rules psychologically contracted and organized by the four characters of the show.

In the true meaning of Derrida, Seinfeld is like a postcard that has gone astray. Seinfeld has become the true metaphor for subliminal thought. There is a stream of consciousness conveyed through each character in every episode that we do not allow ourselves to become privy to in everyday life. This in turn is exploited through the mass media of, again, television. Seinfeld reaches many people and generates meanings to others that it is not intended for and who may not understand the concept. The true meaning may be displaced but who are we to say what true meaning is. We understand the character's thoughts but do we apply them to ourselves and our everyday lives?

Oh, one more thing: From Shakespeare's "As You Like It":

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwilling to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow...

Team America

I was a little disturbed at the content when I watched the scene from Team America but I'm hoping because it was just one small scene and it was taken out of context. Although, the first thing i did was ask my daughter if she saw the movie and was quite relieved when she told me she had not.

Herald the Masses

There is mass hysteria, mass destruction, and mass media. Mass media is probably able to do as much harm as the other two. Given its globalization it reaches many people who don't always understand its content and its message may be taken out of context. Sometimes instead of being taken out of context it should be taken out of circulation.

"Knocked Up",is knot a radical romance but a knotted confusion.

The movie "Knocked Up" follows all the traditions of a romantic comedy and possibly follows the form of the old fashioned sex comedy along the lines of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. The two main characters in "Knocked Up" are constantly clashing with each other. They are in conflict and their situation propels the conflict throughout the entire movie. It is a typical, traditional scenario of boy meets girl, boy pursues girl, boy gets girl. The "boy" changes and evolves in order to please "the girl". They resist being a couple but in the end they become what is considered by moral standards "typical."

Is Love A commodity? Is Death Romantic?

The other day I was coming home from school and someone had the phrase FEEL LOVE on the back window of their SUV. This struck me as a little hypersensitive (especially now since I'm taking this class) to the whole idea of love. It refers to love as a consumable product. Is there an idea lingering out there about the consumption of romance? Is love tangible so that you can "feel" it? Can you touch it like a piece of clothing? Does the idea of love being an object that can be embraced then make the idea of death romantic and also tangible?

Response Paper- A rise above all "others"- Condoleeza Rice.

A common sound in all language, unfortunately, is ignorance. It is a dissonant sound that is far reaching and resonates throughout our history. Ignorance has many faces and many more listeners. The word itself has a specific definition and a significant meaning with many ramifications. It means lacking knowledge or intelligence, unaware, uninformed and uneducated, yet many of the people who perpetrate this idea are none of these things and stand in the periphery of the very place they wish to condemn. So why do we listen and put up with this sound? We listen because it has assimilated into all aspects of each class of all societies. Woman are subjected to the full throttle of ignorance. Especially women who are double others. Fortunately, there are many people who ignore ignorance and set a high example of what we should follow that it creates change not only in our language but in our culture. According to Ferdinand de Saussure in "Course in General Linguistics," "Language is not a function of the speaker; it is a product that is passively assimilated by the individual. It can be localized in the limited segment of the speaking-circuit where an auditory image becomes associated with a concept." Unless individuals are willing to take a stand within their groups and shout out new meanings for us to hear, which drown out the old sounds of an obsolete language, then the words we invoke to make change will never replace ignorance.
One such individual that ignored ignorance is Condoleezza Rice. She recently wrote a book titled: "Extraordinary, Ordinary People- A Memoir Of Family." She is an inspiration to both her gender and her race. She tells an exceptional story of her family history and the unique circumstances that created an individual who was able to rise up above social constraints associated with "a concept" (Saussure). She was the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State. She was able to accomplish this because her parents strongly believed in education. Her parents grew up in a culture where, "white people had all the power and blacks had none. "The White Man," controlled politics and the economy" (Rice).
Her ancestral journey began in the South amidst animosity and racism in Birmingham, Alabama and Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the early 1920's. Her parents were teenagers during the Great Depression. They refused to idly be controlled by the people who deemed themselves, erroneously, as someone from above. Her parents refused to be obsequious and sought reform and instilled important moral messages, along with strong support systems, to their daughter. The benefits of their actions outweighed the consequences and a mutual respect grew out of the atrocities of discrimination. The differences they had with the dialogue between themselves and their daughter and that of the outside world weighed very heavily on who their daughter was going to become. They measured their words very heavily when speaking in public but used a different ideological language inside their home. Their understanding of "sound images" (Saussure) did not match the current trend. They would not accept the disrespectful words thrown at them and they would not resign themselves to the vernacular that was inferior to their intelligence.
Since the ideas that language represent slowly seep into our subconscious then it must be correct that we cannot willfully alter our ideology without actively seeking out new words to conceptualize our own individual and personal culture. Her parents were able to separate what is social form from what i individual by realizing they had to create ideals within their own community that were distinctive from the world in which they lived. Her grandparents, as well as her parents, did not accept the language of their oppressors and worked within their framework to create a new voice. they visualized a concept and changed a negative connotation by making psychological reversals within their own family structure and extended family network. They demonstrated that, although one class ruled over another, they were not going to be dominated. Their family, as well as future generations, was going to aspire to greatness.
Literature, theatre, movies, the media, and the advancement of technology all have potential to change the world. Not enough emphasis is put on the effects of these cumulative industries and the people who are writing, reading, performing, watching, discovering, and participating in these different forms. The common denominator that all these forms and people have is language. Whether you agree or disagree with the message you are sending of receiving you are still responding to an issue that the language creates. It has a cause and effect forcing us to interact with the issue and we can either choose to ignore the message altogether or respond to the message with change. Either way, the form we use is of little consequence if we do not choose our words wisely.
Works Cited
Rice, Condoleezza. Extraordinary, Ordinary People. A memoir Of Family. New York: Crown
Publishing Group, 2010
Saussure, Ferdinand de. Course in General Linguistics.

Is Sula a scapegoat and is Ajax a scapegrace?

The dictionary definition for scapegoat is one that bears the blame for others. The same dictionary defines scapegrace as an incorrigible rascal. I learned that the word scapegrace exists because when I was looking up the word scapegoat, scapegrace is the word that falls below it. It is the very next definition after the word scapegoat in the dictionary. I know I am repeating myself but I find this to be very interesting and a little ironic and I feel it bears repeating.

Sula-"All the world's a stage and all the people merely players."-Quote or fact?

Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? The Age of Revolution might answer this question, or possibly Sula. At the end of the 18th century there was the French Revolution. The old order needed to change and there was a revolt against the excesses of the King. He was seeking absolute power so the lower orders turned against the aristocracy with increasing violence. At the same time the American Revolution severed England from its prosperous colony and launched a "Radical Experiment" in The New World. These twin revolutions had far reaching consequences. They changed the political order of these two countries and altered how Western Societies thought about themselves with marked effects on cultural institutions and the arts. Enlightenment philosophers emerged who were advocates for new social organizations. Revolutions grew more violent and as a result the Romanticism movement emerged. They created unusual mixtures and had no boundaries between style and form. The face of drama and theatre was changed forever. (Norton Anthology of Drama 54).
This was the beginning of mixing high and low characters and of comedy and tragedy. This is the concept that Radical Romance is drawn from. All writing and language is the response of something from and since the beginning of time. Time moves us forward yet we must be conscious of how we spend that time and who we spend it with or we may be caught up and lost within our past.

Will we ever graduate from "The Graduate?"

Probably not. As long as there are men and women with sexual drives there will always be some form of radical romance. The movie is timeless and the myth prevails.

Julia Kristeva-Language is the symbolic mechanism by which the body can signify itself.

We live in a multitasking, multi media society. We have cocoon immunity. Our level of observation is heightened as a result of the amount of expectations and information thrust upon us. We'd have to be unconscious not to have our consciousness altered. We are on representation overload. We are what we eat, we are judged by how we look and we are told how to behave through language. We read so therefore we become. We learn, because we are told, that we must either identify with our mother or our father. Who am I to say, (language again), that this is not true? I would only be creating more open dialogue. I say, so therefore, it is. We are overwhelmed with words. Do as I say not as I do. What happened to our actions speak louder then words? Is this how Sybil or "The Three Faces Of Eve" came about? We are created through time in conjunction with what we are exposed to.

Murphy 1

September 19, 2010
Dr. Wexler
English 313
Sandy Murphy
Ethnography

On Friday, September 17, 2010 at 10A.M. I took a tour of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. The tour was given by Elizabeth Daly. Elizabeth is the Vice President for Development and Communications for Chrysalis. Chrysalis is a nonprofit organization changing lives through jobs. It is dedicated to helping economically disadvantaged and homeless individuals become self-sufficient through employment opportunities.
Part I-My observations:
I drove around and looked for parking and finally found the parking lot which has several security gates and only one way in or out. The streets are quiet.
Offices at:
516 South Main Street
Los Angeles, Ca. 90013
The office is very busy. We walked through the front door and there is a desk with a receptionist greeting people and instructing them to sign in. She is wearing a tea shirt, jeans and sneakers. Casual atmosphere. Open environment. No security. No metal detectors. At least 30 people inside the room. People are coming and going constantly. People are very relaxed and comfortable with the surroundings. They seem like they feel at home and there is no pressure to leave. Room is old but clean.
The room is divided up into four areas but it is still one big open space. The areas consist of:
Front desk, with couches,chairs, coffee table. Social sitting area. Cubicles for telephone and computer use (6), separate cubicle area for computer use (10), long table with chairs to fill out paperwork.
Doesn’t feel like a social service agency. Every spot is filled.
Mostly men. Most wearing sweatshirts, tee shirts, jeans or sweat pants. Some wearing caps. One man is sitting in a chair by the front door. He is alone. He is wearing a black zip up sweat jacket, white tee shirt, black jeans, Nike hat, white sneakers. He is intensely looking around and mumbling to himself quietly. He is probably in his early 60’s. 3 men and 1 woman sitting on 2 black leather couches. 1 man reading the Los Angeles Times. They are all talking to each other. Woman wearing blue sweat suit with white tee shirt with sneakers. She is in her 50’s. The man sitting next to her is also wearing sweat clothes. He could possible be her son. He looks like he is in his early 30's. The man reading the newspaper is in his late 60’s and is wearing a well worn but clean suit. The other two men on the other couch are in sweat clothes also and are in their late 50’s.
2 woman in cubicles on phones wearing sweat clothes. One man sitting at computer is wearing black suit pants, a starched white collared shirt, and a tie. He is very well groomed and well dressed and is in his thirties. Most people in the room are 50 and older.
Wall of fame:
Pictures of many people who have gotten jobs. They are all smiling. Mostly men and most in their 50’s.
Resource Wall:
Applications for various things and a Master Application to list your job history, like a resume’.
Man ringing bell. He just got a job. He talks about his background and about the job. Another man rings bell. He talks about both also.
Everyone in room gathers around to listen and claps for each man. It was joyous. Lots of support. Genuine happiness. We all experience his gratification and his sense of dignity.
Money management class:
Board : written needs/wants $1200. The need column has: bills: rent/utilities, transp., clothing. Food: cook/store brands, food that stretches. Wants column: Nothing
5 men: I in his sixties, 2 in their late fifties, 1 in his late 30’s, 1 in his late 20’s
2 women: both in their 40’s. All seem to be enjoying the class. Talking and laughing with each other. All wearing tee shirts, jeans or sweat clothes.
Outside walking around Skid Row:
Main street to Alameda (most densely populated), 5th and Los Angeles, Wall St. and 5th, 6th and Western, San Pedro and 6th- 8 block radius
Streets have very little garbage. They were just washed so they are still wet.
Elizabeth carries a Chrysalis folder. There are 6 of us:
Elizabeth and Jessica-Employees
Sandy (me), Lisa, Janet, Gina and Carol.
Mostly homeless. People approach us and when they see the Chrysalis folder they are positive and talk to us but don’t bother us. Most people walking alone. One man carrying garbage bag w/his stuff. There is a man sitting on the curb with his cane next to him. He is sprawled out watching cars go by. He has bags filled with his things all around him. Woman w/small child walking and singing loudly. Most men wearing baseball caps.
Stores, restaurant, bar open for business. They are empty. Police car w/2 policemen arresting a man in his 20’s. Man possibly selling prescription drugs to another man from a clear plastic zip lock bag.
Police station in a 4 squared block. Built like a fortress.
Several buildings that were hotels are now low income housing.
LAMP building, permanent housing, where the soloist lived. Bldg is pink.
Outdoor toilets-3- which allow usage for 20 minutes. A city maintenance employee is cleaning the toilets.
Walk by San Julian Park. Almost all men. Most sitting around playing checkers. Most 50 or older scattered with younger men. Tables have table cloths and umbrellas. Well dressed man walking out of park. We walk by a guy stoned out of his head in his thirties lying on the ground, in front of the park, giving what looks like crack cocaine to another guy who is also lying on the ground.
A man sitting on a barrel with a woman sitting in his lap. Three shopping carts filled with clothes and various items covered with a tarp behind them and blankets all around them. Further up the street a shopping cart filled with similar stuff and blankets on the ground. Two dogs on the blankets chained to the shopping carts. The dogs are scruffy and thin. Homeless men and women (more men) walking by and petting the dogs. There are no children.
We walk 3 blocks away from Skid Row to a coffee house and the contrast is inconceivable.
There is now a cocoon.
We morph @400 Main Street-In the indoor/outdoor coffee house:
Inside: Small. 15 two- seater tables. Bar area w/ 4 stools to purchase coffee, wine, juice, tea, pastries, milk.
Outside: 6 two seater tables, railing.
Posters and postcards all over the walls and counters and windows advertising art exhibitions, readings, concerts, plays, receptions and fund raisers, Thai Cultural Day. One specific which caught my eye:
Join us in the underworld Sneaky Wietzsche theatrical Exploration and Musical experience for the senses where revelry is sanctioned and curiosity is forever charmed.
Saturday 9P.M.-799 Towne Ave-Downtown
Inside:
Girl sitting alone reading and drinking coffee and eating egg salad. Taking notes from her book, dressed casual, nice. She appears to be a student. She is wearing ear phones.
Guy sitting alone, drinking coffee, reading newspaper. Dressed well. Also appears to be a student. Bopping to the music airing through the speakers of the coffee house. Texting on his cell phone.
Outside:
Two woman, both sitting alone, both casually dressed, but nice, sometimes talking to each other. One woman is sitting with two dogs. They are well groomed and well behaved. At another table two woman drinking coffee and at another table two men eating and talking and going over notes. They are in their thirties.
There is a man standing by the curb, casually leaning on a parking meter, talking on what looks like a blackberry. He is wearing, what looks like a Tommy Bahamas shirt, dress shorts (capri in length), black leather loafers, a watch, and a straw chapeau.
Two couples come inside. They look like parents and children. Males dressed in dress shirts and ties and women wearing dresses. All wearing jewelry. They pull two tables together and order food and drinks.
Part II- My Analysis
Sometimes I am glad that I am “An Other”. Would someone be able to write a romantic comedy or a portrayal about radical romance from what I saw today.I think they could. The relationships on skid row were not traditional or typical but they are still relationships. Who’s to say that it is not a culture within it’s own domain. Maybe some of the people on skid row can cross over. It would be very possible for the people on the bottom (skid row) to flip and become one of the people on the top (coffee shop) given the right circumstances. The organization that took me on the tour gives homeless and disadvantaged people the tools to “make the switch”. Our society, through television, movies, plays and novels is becoming socially conscious and understanding that our culture is split and must be pieced back together or we will ultimately destroy ourselves. The seperation between the two is expansive even though they are in close proximity of each other.
Metaphorically, we went through a morphogenesis when we finished our tour and crossed over to the other side. Our society is constantly crossing over. We suffer from escapism and estrange ourselves from the situation just like Woody Allen does in "Play It Again Sam."
The male domination of man vs. woman had a reverse osmosis for me today. Since there are so many men that monopolize the work force there are more that will suffer the Humpty Dumpty syndrome. Today I saw that when man falls he falls hard and he falls over and over again.
Thank goodness we are finally creating organizations to piece him back together again. According to Rivkin and Ryan from "The Politics of Culture," our society is based on a culture where one class dominates the other. The organization Chrysalis helps people to emancipate and does not emasculate an individual. Our culture has a tendency to encapsulate and ensheathe that which we wish to ignore, but through enlightenment, we are forcing the people from the top to transcend and engage with the people from the bottom. Before, as a result of profit, the upper class engaged and reacted to the actions of "the others" (the lower class) for their own benefit. They needed to use the lower class as a work force. Now, as a result of common ideology, the upper class has embraced the concept of "non-profit." They are allowing the less fortunate to be who they are and not pre-empt what they want them to be by allowing disadvantage people to move in a different direction. The upper class is doing this without looking for personal gain. They can no longer encapsulate this other world to protect their own. They are changing their morphology.
I was a little nervous at the prospect of viewing the facilities. I thought it was going to be dangerous to walk around with a small group of women. My perspective has changed drastically. The effect the homeless people had on me was staggering. Our society suffers isolationism but there is hope as long as there are visionaries who are willing to walk the route.

Works Cited

Barker, Chris, eds. Cultural Studies: Theory & Practice. 3rd edition. London: Sage Publications
Ltd,2008,.Print.

"Play It Again Sam (1972)-IMDb." The Internetmovie Database (IMDb).web.19 Sept.2010.

We Consume To Control

There seems to be a pattern developing in popular culture, specifically in the area of the romantic comedy, pertaining to radical romance and reality. The pattern is consumption. We consume to control. In the movie, "Play It Again Sam", with Woody Allen there is a scene where Woody Allen is getting ready for a date and repeatedly aligns himself with consumer products. Our culture makes us believe that if we use certain items we can "get the girl" or "get the guy". One such product at the time the movie was made was a men's after shave called Canoe. The commercial's catch phrase was "Do you Canoe?"
The commercial conjured up images of a man applying Canoe after shave lotion to his face and women coming out of the woodwork chasing him because they had to be with him. The commercial had very strong sexual overtones. The last scene of the commercial was two women hanging on the man's shoulders after he splashed Canoe on his face. The commercial implies that culture is anything that makes us think and then moves us towards change.

"The Wizard and I"

In resonse to Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex"-"Another" Can Become "The Other" When Woman is No Other in the End.

The word man is part of woman but there is nothing that is part of man. Wo (is) man. He is incomplete. He is one syllable. To him we must bemoan. He can never carry an- other and he will always be alone. He will never be a part of anything. Woman will always be a part of the whole. Woman holds his extra bone.

Entourage

Things haven't changed much in the last fifty years: Entourage.

Or maybe they have: Mad Men

Culture shock, the cultural revolution, and have culture will travel.

The implication from "The Politics of Culture" is during the 60's and 70's we went through a cultural revolution. A non conformist group fights against a conformist group. The non conformist group is fighting against the establishment. Society experienced culture shock. Out of this movement freedom of expression emerged. It manifested itself in literature, dress, television, movies, music, dance and social encounters. Your culture is who you are, what you know, when you arrive, where you live and why you left in the first place. Sometimes you might even consider how you got there. Cultural makes us think and move towards change. Culture is a noun, an adverb and an adjective. A person may be cultured. A person may have a cultural experience or live amongst a culture. Cult is part of the word culture. A large part of society that is devoted to a specific type of behavior and continually reinforces it through mass media and appearance will ultimately create a culture that others will participate in. Culture is constantly changing and moving back and forth and up and down and going round and round. It's continuation is circular. The socioeconomic group that has the strongest message at that particular moment will have the greatest influence on where our culture travels to and how it defines us.