Jamaica

My mother works in the financial aid department of Lincoln Technical Institute, a vocational school specifically suited for students looking to enter the workforce immediately after graduating (or not graduating)...
Put aside for a moment the hackneyed workplace setting of rich old white guys sitting in an office and drinking coffee; in order to fully comprehend the story I'm about to tell, one must understand the social atmosphere at this school. My mother is the minority out of minorities:

Daisy is in her twenties and latino.
Taiwan, her boss, is just a bit older and black.
Alexandria is in her twenties and black.
Most of the staff and students at this school came from a lower-class backgrounds. Some are still from bad neighborhoods and don't have extra money to burn.
My mother is a middle-aged, middle-class white woman who has never known poverty.

Amazingly, my mother gets along quite nicely with the people with whom she works. There's not a scintilla of doubt in her mind: she's happy working at LTI!

So now, a vignette:

Two days ago, a Jamaican man worked as a temporary employee in the financial aid department. Besides from not being able to understand him some of the times, my mom enjoyed working with him. She said he was nice and efficient. She also said "you have a nice thick accent. I'm having trouble understanding it!"

Anyway, the emigrant started explaining how different it is to live here in America and how all of his family was still in Jamaica. He commented on how obsessed jejune people in America are with money and material possessions. He came up with some quite fascinating thoughts, all of which were true.

Far from feeling blasé about this man, my mother studied him quite carefully. In fact, she found that his éclat was extremely moving. After a full day of working with the surprisingly deft neophyte, the only thing she could say was:

“People in Jamaica are so laid back!”
To which her boss automatically responded with:
“You mean because of all that pot they smoke?”

Regardless of this last conversation, the story my mom told me got me thinking about all of the material possessions I have and how people in different parts of the world live with almost nothing. Would I be happy like that? Or would I miss everything I own here in America and be splenetic for the rest of my life? Sure, Mr. Jamaica might have had more here than he had at home but was he really happy? Do people need material possessions to be happy?

Honestly, I don’t think many people do but I find it sad that the only people who feel like they need material possessions are in the United States or Canada or China or all the extremely advanced countries. I have always wanted to travel outside of the US and see what life around the world was like—especially where people live their life in jeopardy every day; my dream is to help a village in Africa or another underdeveloped part of the world, where all they need is water, food and shelter to survive. I think we would all be able to focus a little more on ourselves if we weren’t distracted by material possessions and technology. We would be a little happier, in the long run.

But for now, I’ll keep my MacBook and my blogspot.com…

only two more minutes...

Although school elections seem like harmless democratic processes, do not be fooled by the political paraphernalia telling you to “vote for Jack and ignore Mac” or to “vote for the Jew, it’s the right thing to do!”
Because it is hard to eschew from the campaigns of school elections, they can become pernicious, splitting the once homogeneous social scene into two or more groups (depending on if the independent decides to run…although in the case of school elections I guess this is irrelevant…) and resurrecting schisms between close friends. During election time, honest people become bitter candidates with ostensible slogans displayed on their campaign posters and fastidious students become careless when rushing to get out the vote! They resort to petty quarrels and vulgar gestures and—
Hold up. This seems a little drastic, no? Sure, the presence of a campaign is ubiquitous in any school but they seem quite harmless! Luckily, in our school they are.
In fact, at PV this year, three candidates who ran did so unopposed! However humane this campaign may be, I’m still nervous for the announcement about to be made in two minutes…

OTHELLO!

Now for Othello. Initially, I didn’t think Othello was quite wise but as the tortuous plot thickened, he certainly became...well no, I guess he really didn’t change. Specifically, after he’s bereft at the end of the play, he finds out the truth about the whole debacle and ends up killing himself! (Whoops, did I give anything away?)
On another note, although Othello would not have earned impunity at the end of the play (obviously not, he became a murderer) I do not think it was a smart move for Shakespeare to kill off Othello at the end of the play. After all, in the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s whole plot revolves around the Herculean strength it takes Hester to overcome the public embarrassment. Shouldn’t it be the same for Othello? Isn’t facing the public world and suffering through worldly embarrassment far worse than being put to eternal rest? Or was Shakespeare implying that the most expedient punishment is to burn eternally in hell?
And another thing: At the very end of the play, during the famous cortège-like scene, or the “loading the bed scene” I found it very significant that Cassio did load that same bed. Although debilitated, Cassio remained very much alive. As if to rub it in Othello’s face (even after he’s dead), Shakespeare keeps Cassio alive and makes him the new general of the Venician army. Although the best revenge on Iago occurs when the Venicians pay homage to Cassio. This all happens without any symposium even though in Shakespeare’s milieu, this was quite rare. It’s almost as if Cassio’s livelihood carries on the memory of this tragedy because he is the only surviving main male character of this story.
The tale of Othello is completely based on nepotism, lies, misconceptions and miscommunication. Brilliant as it may be, the fact is that Shakespeare was just embellishing the true a bit: the main themes are timeless. We can relate to Shakespeare’s messages because they are still valid today.

IAGO!

Iago. Although some people--cough cough Isabel--think he has a "sexy" name (these are exact quotes, I swear), most people read Othello and hate the character Iago. Most people would say he is a scheming, conniving, evil man who enervates the ingenuous Roderigo and is just one step above a political dissident all because he wants to be general of the Venician army.
Even though these things may be completely true, in my opinion, Iago is quite august. In fact, Iago is quite erudite, knowing so much about the people around him that he can mold them like warm clay in his hands. As evil as he may be, Iago ostracizes Cassio (eventually convincing Roderigo to attempt to murder him) and convinces Roderigo to believe that he will marry Desdemona and that Desdemona will love him back. The false camaraderie between the two characters disillusions Roderigo to such an extent that Iago convinces him that Cassio is the only obstacle between Desdemona and Roderigo. And, as we know, Roderigo isn’t too resilient when he’s hurt. (After all, he did become slightly depressed when he heard news of the Desdemona’s marriage).
Iago’s only foible, strangely, is his lack of a love life. There is question throughout the play if he even sleeps with Emilia, his wife. Is the reader supposed to believe that Iago’s exorbitant price for being unbelievably manipulative is love? What bunkum! How is anyone supposed to believe that? The purest form of motivation in literature, especially Shakespeare, is love! (Ever thought of how the phrase “irrevocably in love” applies to almost every Shakespeare character?)
**stay tuned for next post**

Everyone's a critic.

THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS. A TIME TO REJOICE. A TIME FOR DEFEAT.

But everyone thinks they can make the calls. No matter what sport or racing event that takes place in Vancouver this year, people have this thought that if they are in possession of a remote, they have the power to determine whether the racers or bobsledding teams or cross-country skiers are justified to receive that gold medal they've been working their butts off for.

Hold up. Who gave you the power to decide who gets a medal or not? Obviously, we all know that Apolo Ohno deserves a medal. But who are we to decide if the Yugoslavian from all the way across the world has the perfect ski-flying technique? Or if the Chinese skier, nicknamed "princess" has flawless form? Who are we to rescind the judge's decision?

We're not in the jury room and we need to get over ourselves.

Too many people think that they have the medals in their hands. They think they have the power to decide who gets what award. And do they? Well, just take a look look at them: the choleric viewers are sitting on their leather sofas staring at their flat screen tv's eating cheese puffs and screaming at the tv. Tell me frankly, how does this compare to an actual Olympic judge, with years and years of training and a keen eye for rigid form and slight ?

It doesn't.

The laconic arguments people make to justify why Shaun White should not have won the gold medal this year don't stand a chance against the judges' official marks. He justifiably won that medal, not because viewers with cheese breath were sitting at home cheering for him but because he spent years and years diligently training for these seventeen or so days.

I may sound malcontent, but I think everyone should stop screaming at their tv's and start respecting the judges.

**And congrats to the parvenu who won the silver medal this morning in the biathlon (cross-country skiing and shooting). He was the first Yugoslavian to ever win a silver medal. And he won it because the judges made the call, not anyone else.**

When Pigs Fly...

A whole post on colloquialism. Lucky you! Have you ever noticed the stupid things we say? Not we as in my friends and I, we as in the human race. The whole human race, that is. Not just Americans. Not just Spaniards. Not just people from Norway. Everyone! In no way am I deprecating this behavior (nor do I aim to terminate this all but surreptitious behavior). I am merely noting its overt presence in our busy lives.Ponder for a moment why we might use these expressions...They're usually extremely colorful or imaginative. They paint a picture that. They half-satiate a unquenchable craving, an instinct almost, for adventure. It's simply blissful perfidy in a cruel world...

Some colloquial expressions you have probably heard in everyday speech:

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!

Could you now? Really? A horse? For breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Do tell.

I'm just pulling your leg.

In Spanish, this phrase is "I'm just taking your hair." Go figure.

This comes from old crime-ridden London where criminals used to trip victims with a wire that pulled on the victim's leg so they could steal from the person while he was on the floor.

Not the sharpest crayon in the box, are we now?

I have yet to say this to someone...I love this expression though

Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

The most polite way of saying you're wasting my food. And the very opposite of "you're fat."

You eat like a bird.

My sister gets this a lot. Me, not so much...

Hold your horses!

What's with the horses?

You're driving me up a wall!

I got this from my mom a lot when I was younger.

He's lost his marbles.

...and where have they gone?

What's the matter, cat got your tongue?

Ouch. That sounds painful.

Just like two peas in a pod.

You can be eaten? Oh, never mind.

Look what the cat dragged in.

Dude, I think she just called you a mouse!

and to end it off...

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

This one actually came from the 1800s when beds were made out of hay and little insects called bed bugs crawled around in the hay and sucked people's blood when they slept. Hope your not reading this before bed!

Anyway, to fix this dilemma and force the human race to cede this cryptic language, I prescribe a large dose of do-absolutely-nothing. Why suggest a moratorium on something that makes our day-to-day life more ebullient? Don't you think they add a little zest to our monotonous routines? I mean, heck, they make us happy as clams! (By the way, clams spend their whole life under sandy muck only to be dug up by human beings and boiled alive. Remind me, if you will,

why clams are so happy?)

**websites used in this post:

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/phrase-finder/phrase66

Would you rather...

Hot or cold? Soup or ice cream? Heat or AC?

There's always a choice between winter or summer where we live. But what about places that are one season practically all

year round? And what about those cynical people who claim they would be happiest if they lived in Florida or Vermont?

How dare they say such a thing!! Don't they know how many people would love to live in a place with more than one season? Nevertheless, four seasons?! How do they know they won't get tired of the same weather day after day after day?! Be gone with them!

I'm totally kidding, folks, I am one of those people. Were you credulous enough to believe I would discriminate against people who have a predilection for one season over the others? Do you really think that would be of paramount importance to me? That I would want to eradicate those who love one season in particular?

Call me aloof if you will but personally I know I would be happier if it snowed almost every day of the year. I prefer winter. Although I'm always castigated by summer-lovers, I am stoic in front of nay-sayers. Avoiding superciliousness, I make my arguments clear to people who dismiss me as unhinged. Wary of cajoling summer-lovers, I stand by my quixotic belief that I would be in a complete state of bliss...in Alaska.

My preference for winter primarily stems from my infatuation with snow. Yes. Infatuation. I. Love.

Snow. I can't get enough of it! The way the trees look right after the snow falls, the way each snowflake is different from every other snowflake, the crisp, fresh smell of the air right after it snows, the noiseless sound of a gentle snowfall. I love everything about it.

But that's not all.

Even when it isn't snowing, I still love winter. Meandering through the park on a cold Sunday in January really clears the inane, superfluous thoughts from my head. Although spring might provide the opportune weather for a bike ride and fall the ideal time for pumpkin picking, nothing beats a cold walk in the park with the dog.

Besides snow and weather and the obvious aspects associated with winter, there's one more thing that makes winter special. Holidays.

Christmas, Hanukah, kwanzaa, ramadan, winter solstice, whatever it may be, holidays are the best winter events. Forget the winter Olympics, ignore the snow tubing, and put aside the hot cocoa (although that stuff's heartwarming too). Winter holidays bring together families and let's remember what's important here: friends and family and celebrating all the good times in life, whether they be big or small. Winter holidays, no matter which one(s) you celebrate, bring family and friends together in the warmest of environments (double entendre intended).

So whether you are convinced I am a behemoth for loving winter, you've heard my reasons and probably found my argumentative flaws.

Now, I leave you to decide: winter? Summer? Vermont? Florida? Or plain ol' Jersey?