So in class we talked about the gift giving. It's that time for santa, christmas, and gifts. I love the holiday season, but always freaking out about gift giving. It's always a shitty situation. One thing we didn't talk about in class is the awkward "Oh, you got me something? shit now i have to get you something". that has happened to me so many times amongst me and my friends. I only really get close friends gifts, but sometimes other friends who i am not so close with get me gifts as well. I never anticipate for it and therefore I have to rush to get them something... usually on sale and last minute. It's never something that I like to do. I like to put thought into my gifts, not get it because someone else got me something.
Another thing that stresses me out about gift giving is the idea of if the person likes it or not. Between me and my family, we are always honest and say "ook i like this" or "ok, no i don't like this". It makes things so much easier, and there is no front that a person has to put on. The person doesn't have to hide their true feelings and wonder "what the hell am i gonna do with this?"
For this christmas my mom is trying a new approach to the idea of gifts. My niece and nephew are both under the age of 10, and this year my mom really wants to show them what it means to give, especially during the holidays. My mom is going to donate money on behalf of my niece and nephew for charity. I feel like that is genuinely the idea of gift giving. Isn't that what the holiday season is for? It's about others. I feel like just giving a gift is not thoughtful mostly. you just feel obligated to get the person something. But for my mom's idea, you are really taking thought into someone's life and giving them an opportunity to share in the holiday spirit. my mom is trying to instill in my family that's it's not always about the materialistic things. The holiday spirits are about compassion and selflessness in such a joyous season. I like this idea. I think this is the true meaning of the holiday season.
Thursday
Speaker comes to talk about King Corn
The producers of King Corn came to talk to class today. When we were talking and discussing the movie, it was really interesting and made a huge impact on the way I viewed food. It’s so easy to just pick things off the shelves, and never look at what is going into your food. After talking about this, I went grocery shopping and made a conscious effort to try and buy things organic or without high fructose corn syrup or any processed soy beans. What I have found is that it is easy to find these things, but it is also hard at the same time. Soy beans are now taking the place of corn. I found it in almost 10 things I was about to buy. It’s a little harder to find and more expensive to buy organic things, but I feel the change will be healthier. This may be the reason that a lot of people are obese. People are not conscious of the foods we eat, and do not know what is going into our foods. This is kinda scary and I think we need to know and make a change in order to be healthy.
King Corn
King Corn is an independent film talking about the effects of corn, and the American consumption of corn. Corn is one of the highest consumed commodities in America. This is because of the process of corn into ethanol, high fructose corn syrup, etc. 90 million acres of corn is produced in America today. This was an interesting film showing the effects. It’s something that America doesn’t think about. We just consume the product without thinking. It will be interesting to see what the producers will have to say on Wednesday.
Black Friday - DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING
Well, today was the day after thanksgiving, BLACK FRIDAY! Black Friday is also a predictability. Every day after Thanksgiving, there is always sales, sales, sales. People buy Christmas presents because things are half price, full price, or whatever. It’s funny how much this has become part of American culture. People will wait outside of walmart or any store to get their hands on the products before it is sold out. MASS AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR HOURS ON END TO GET TO JUST ONE STORE! Malls are always packed, there are always long lines in stores, it's CRAZY! But this has also become something that is dangerous. People die over these things. I dunno. It’s a great day because of the sales, but people become so obsessed and crazy, it’s hard to deal with sometimes.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is such a great time of year. I feel like if people didn’t have it, people would be super upset. This is a tradition that is always happening, on the date, same time every year. This goes back to predictability. People always expect turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, pumpkin pie, and stuffing. It’s at almost every thanksgiving dinner, no matter where you are. Thanksgiving is such a festive time, and a lot of people say it’s their favorite. It’s for one reason, and one reason only. It’s not always for family (which I find surprising). It’s the one day that people can indulge in food, and eat copious amounts at a time. People can put their diets away (or not) and reach a state of paralysis. It’s a fantastic holiday. No School, lots of food, and always good company. Who wouldn’t want a holiday like that?
False Self Revisited
In a lot of ways we like to look at ourselves in a positive light. However, when it comes to friends, we like to lower ourselves in order to fit in. People will dumb themselves down in order to not cause conflict with their group of friends and themselves. Kids don’t like to be over achievers. Instead they want to seem like everyone else. I don’t understand this. In contrast, I feel that my group of friends did not do this. We never really spoke about grades, or how well we did, but we always said “oh I did good” or “oh I did bad” or whatever. I feel that in high school, it is especially important to fit in and look cool. If you “over-achieve” you are outcast. If you don’t try hard you may disappoint yourself or your family, maybe even your teachers. People also see success as a form of guilt. I find this way of thinking to be odd. However, this causes jealousy. I know within my own family, people are jealous of other people because they have nice things. Instead of just being happy for them, people try to create competition. For what? For recognition? Honestly to me that is stupidity. Either way, it is always a cycle in our society. People always want to do things to fit in. Over exceeding in things is not something that is part of the plan.
Projects
So we have final projects and at first we were going to do the effects of r&b music through out class and culture. However, it’s a big project and 15 minutes might not be enough time. In class we have never talked about the military as an institution. The military has a huge presence in Hawaii, and has had a negative effect on the land on the Hawaiian people. It would be interesting to look at that. I am from Hawaii so I know a lot of the information, but I know there are some things that I do not know. Hawaii is never looked at in a lot of ways. I feel that sometimes Hawaii is the ignored state of the United States. Why did the United States want us anyways? Well the truth of the matter is land and trade. A lot of people never know the history of Hawaii and the struggle that the people have to go through. I think this would be an interesting subject to bring to light, and inform the class and the social, economic, and cultural struggles that Hawaiian People and the land have had to endure.
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