Scene

The scene below is what I imagined could have gone into page 174 of The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

The boy looked back at the old man. Slouched down on the ground. Like theyd found him. He was not looking at the boy.

Why did he call himself Eli if thats not his name?

His real name is all he has left. Its why no one else weve met has told us their

name.

I like the way it sounds.

The way what sounds.

Eli.

Eli.

Yes.

Okay.

Does it mean anything?

The name?

Yes. Eli. Or is it just a nice sound?

A long time ago there was someone named Eli. He was pure and good in every

way, but in the end he got in trouble.

He was a good guy?

Yes. He was a good guy.

Then why did he get in trouble?

He didnt discipline his sons enough.

What does that mean?

He didnt punish them enough when they did the wrong thing.

Do you think youre like Eli?

What? How.

Because when I get into trouble or do the wrong thing you dont punish me.

No. I dont think Im like Eli. Im not as pure and good as he was.

But what about me?

What about you.

You dont. . .discipline. . .me.

The boy tested the word, worried to use it incorrectly.

No. I guess not. But the guy who got mad at Eli isnt around anymore.

Who was it?

It doesn’t matter.

The boy couldnt see the old man anymore. The man remembered a time when he might have been stricter with the boy. In his past life. Maybe he should be a stronger parent. The boys curiosity and compassion would kill him when the man was gone. But he couldnt bear it. The boy was the only good in the world and disciplining him would taint that. The boy was the last remainder of the one who got mad at Eli.

AcceptU: New Website and Podcast Explore Gender Identity and Technology

AcceptU is a new outlet for people who are going through Gender Identity problems.

AcceptU describes itself as a community where people can tell their stories about coming out. They hope to make more people who are having a hard time feel comfortable. AcceptU believes that technology has become such a huge part of people's lives, and people get so much more support from others on the internet, than they would have before.  Therefore, the theme of the conversation on AcceptU is how technology helped people in their time of self discovery.

Here is a story from one of the members of the community. When people send in their stories, AcceptU asks them to say their name and what they identify as. They are also asked to say tell how technology has impacted their lives or how it has helped them come out.  The site is in a blog format, so after the administrator(s) have read a story and approved it, it is then posted to the front page of the site.  

The Podcast

AcceptU: The Podcast was started after the founding of AcceptU by two members of the JMAC podcast company who wanted to spread awareness of both the website and the issue it discusses.  Each week they read about another member who shared their story, and talk about it.  They plan on starting to bring the actual members onto the show for interviews soon. Since the podcast is so new, there are still a few things that they need to work out, but they are taking listener feedback and using that to improve.  

If you wish to be featured either on the site or in the podcast, anyone can submit his or her own story through the website’s “Submit” page. Once you submit your story it will be read and reviewed and then the owner of the website will decide if it will go onto the page or not.

Cultural Fabric:

In “The Taming of the Shrew”, honesty and deception play big roles in the relationships between the characters, especially Petruchio and Katherine, as well as Katherine and her father, Baptista.  In the 2012 movie “ Silver Linings Playbook,” honesty and deception are even more important — almost every important thing that happens is rooted in honesty or a lack thereof.  

Pat Solatano, Jr. is a diagnosed bipolar who has just been released from prison following his beating of his wife’s lover.  Tiffany Maxwell is a recovering sex addict whose husband has recently died. While the relationship between Pat Solatano, Jr. and Tiffany Maxwell can be compared to Petruchio and Katherine’s, the genders should be reversed.  In “Shrew,” Petruchio uses very manipulative tactics to eventually end up with Katherine’s love.  Likewise, in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Tiffany manipulates Pat, making him think that her end goal is something completely different from what it is.  In contrast, Pat Solatano is not aware of Tiffany’s goals until almost the end of the movie, while Katherine most likely knows Petruchio’s plans from the beginning.  Both of these stories show that, while manipulation is not always moral, the results can be good for both the manipulator and the manipulated.

Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp, i’faith you are too angry.

Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

Petruchio: My remedy is then to pluck it out.

Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.

Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?  In his tail.

Katherine: In his tongue.

Petruchio: Whose tongue?

Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.

Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?

(Act II, Scene I, 207-214)

In this scene, Petruchio and Katherine are first meeting.  While on the surface they are insulting and trying to intimidate each other, they are also hinting at the physical or sexual attraction between them using innuendos.  This represents deception and manipulation, because they are hiding their true meaning behind clever words.

Pat, Jr. and Tiffany also have a strange first conversation:

    In this scene, Pat and Tiffany are meeting for the first time at Pat’s friend Ronnie’s house.  Pat remarks that Tiffany looks nice, and soon after asks about her dead husband, which spurs an awkward and somewhat hostile conversation between the two.  However, during the conversation, they are both giving each other somewhat heated looks.  When Tiffany leaves the room, she gives Pat a sultry look, implying her unspoken intentions, just like Katherine and Petruchio.

Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented

That you shall be my wife, your dowry ‘greed on,

And will you, nill you, I will marry you…

Here comes your father.  Never make denial.

I must and will have Katherine to my wife.

(Act 2, Scene 1, 261-272)

In this scene, Petruchio has recently spoken to Baptista, Katherine’s father, and gotten his consent to marry her.  This was a very deceptive act, because Katherine thought that her father would at least talk to her before doing such a thing.  This is incredibly dishonest, of both Petruchio and Baptista.  

However, in the long run, this might have been good for Katherine; she ends up seemingly happy and “tamed” at the end of the story.

In this scene, Tiffany shows Pat the envelope that supposedly has a response from Nikki in it, but says that he cannot read it until he nails the dance they are working on.  In the end of the movie, it comes out that Tiffany actually wrote the letter.  This was an incredibly dishonest and pretty manipulative thing to do, but in the end, seemingly caused Pat to fall in love with her.  

Analytical Essay:

Everyone goes through important changes and phases in their lives, whether it be someone very close to them passing away, winning the lottery, or finding “the one”.  All of these things can cause a change in one’s character that greatly affects their view of the world.  In Kevin Powers’s novel The Yellow Birds, the main character, Bartle, goes through one of the most life-changing experiences possible: fighting in a war.  During his service in Afghanistan, he sees himself and many others change in many ways. Many people, when going through or having gone through a big change in their life, may feel like the whole world has changed because their world has changed.

At one point in Bartle’s time abroad, he goes AWOL in Germany, when the troops are waiting to fly back to America.  While he’s away from the base, he goes into a church and has some time alone with his thoughts.  When remembering this moment, he says, “I realized, as I stood there in the church, that there was a sharp distinction between what was remembered, what was told , and what was true. And I didn’t think I’d ever figure out which was which,” (Powers 60).  This is an interesting way of thinking of the human memory, because often times, those three things are seen as the same thing.  Bartle, as he remembers certain events in the war and is talking to the priest in the church, realizes that his mind wants to remember things differently than how they happened.  After he had these traumatic experiences, his view of the world was changed, although he didn’t notice at the time. His changed perspective caused him to believe that things had happened differently than they actually had.

Kevin Powers, when talking in an interview about life in combat compared with civilian life, said, "As human beings, we have the blessing and the curse that we're able to adapt to almost anything. No matter how extreme the circumstances you're in, they become normal,” (Sherr).  The Yellow Birds is written in a way such that one chapter Bartle will be fighting in Al Tafar, Afghanistan, and the next chapter he will be back home in Richmond, Virginia after the war.  The way the book jumps around like this, the reader can see a clearer comparison between his experiences in the war and how they affected him once he was back home.  This quote says that “no matter how extreme the circumstances you’re in, they become normal” (Sherr), meaning that even when Bartle was fighting in Afghanistan, at some point he became so used to it that he felt like that was normal.  The reader notices this once Bartle is back home in Richmond, because he goes out and shoots his gun at the ground to relax; the fact that this action is relaxing instead of stressful or exciting means that he is used to it, and that he believes it is normal in the world he is living in.

When Bartle is back in America and reflecting on his current life, he talks about whether he thinks he and his life are normal.  During this reflection, he says, “The details of the world in which we live are always secondary to the fact that we must live in them,” (Powers 224).  What this means is that humans can never have experiences in life or views of their world without either of those being affected by their own thoughts and feelings.  Bartle is acknowledging this, by saying that even though he feels like his life is normal, he knows that this is partially because of his past experiences and feelings.  If he was completely separated from his past, his thoughts, and his feelings, he would see that this is not normal behavior.  However, there is no way for him to perceive his world outside of his own mind.

Many people who have never fought in a war may feel like there is no way in which they can connect to a soldier.  While it is true that a soldier’s experience is incredibly different from a civilian’s, the fact that a life-changing moment or period in one’s life can change his or her perception of the world is something that applies to everyone.  Whether someone is a civilian who has just had a child, or a soldier who has just lost a close friend in combat, both situations will greatly affect a person.  This is a uniting factor between two different groups of people that should be remembered when civilians connect with soldiers.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print.

Sherr, Lynn. "A Soldier's Story: Returning Home From Iraq." Parade's Community Table.

Parade Publications Inc., 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.

http://communitytable.com/125987/lynnsherr/21-iraq-veteran-kevin-powers-interview-

the-yellow-birds/.

Narrative Essay:

Ugh, I hate everyone.  Why is everyone so annoying?  Wait...are they talking about me right now?

These are just average thoughts I have had sitting in class, on the bus, or pretty much anywhere when I have gone through more depressed periods in my life.  We all have these types of thoughts every now and then, but they were an almost constant occurrence in my head.  Someone walking in front of me would do something mildly annoying and I would berate them in my head, my mood having been ruined by them during the rest of my walk to school.  This negative attitude towards even strangers is just an example of how I viewed the world in this part of my life: annoying, boring, and joyless.

One way in which my perspective on the world and my life was changed is that I became much more paranoid about my friends or people at school talking about me.  It wasn’t because I thought I was so important, I just thought people were talking behind my back, when I left the room or walked down the hall past them.  A few times, I got so worried about it that I actually would ask one friend if another had said anything about me, or if they thought someone didn’t like me.  Always, the answer was something like, “No, why would you think that?” or “No, why would they be talking about you?” and whoever I was asking would look at me funny.  I’m sure that at least once, the person I was asking about found out I had been asking about them, and it probably annoyed them or made them uncomfortable.  At the time, I never thought about that, but now that I am outside of my depressive state of mind, it seems clear that that must have happened.

Another big affect of my depression was boredom and indifference towards the world around me.  Often times, I just wouldn’t bother to make any plans over the weekend, and because I had no plans, I would start on this train of thought that I didn’t have any plans because no one wanted to hang out with me, when in reality it was just because I didn’t ask anyone.  This would cause me to just sit at home all weekend, incredibly bored and often unhappy.  My parents would suggest all sorts of things to do, and to each option I’d say that I “didn’t feel like it” or I would just say no.  At the time, I really didn’t have any interest in any of the things they were suggesting; I would even think to myself, “Why don’t I want to do anything?  All of those things seem so boring.”  At that point in time, I saw the world as very boring, with nothing exciting going on in it.  Again, thinking back, most of the things my parents suggested were pretty interesting, but that just isn’t how I viewed my world.  

Possibly the worst affect my depressed state of mind had on myself and my life was the actual change in my personality.  I was much more negative and rude or mean towards both my parents, my friends, and my boyfriend.  I believed I was behaving normally, but at one point or another, all of the people in my life confronted me about my behavior, and in some cases it was too late to fix the damage I had done without even realizing it.  Even in the cases where my apologies were accepted, I still felt terribly guilty about the feelings I had hurt and the anger and frustration I had caused.  This would send me even deeper into depression.  Once again, in these situations I had believed that I was behaving like my normal self, even though it was obvious later on that I hadn’t been.

While I will likely never be able to fully relate to the life and experiences of a soldier, I feel that the factor of a distorted reality can apply to both people like me and people from the army.  Like Bartle, I believed that my abnormal behavior was nothing out of the ordinary, even though to others the change was obvious.  The effects of my depression included ruined relationships, lost time, and inaccurate world views.  The effects of Bartle’s return and assimilation back into civilian life were changed relationships, time wasted being angry and depressive, and a distorted view of the world.  This is perhaps the only connection I can make between myself and the character of Bartle.  But it is a strong connection, and a thought-provoking one; a connection that will stay with me as I continue to learn how to connect with others who are different from me.

Music Therapy

Most people today, for better or for worse, know what therapy is—either because they need it or because someone they know does.  Few people think of therapy as being anything except talking to a therapist about one’s feelings and problems, which is called psychotherapy or “talking” therapy.  Less common forms of therapy, such as art and play therapies, offer more engaged and less abstract ways to connect with the same problems.  They use physical and visual tools, such as creating paintings in the case of art therapy (“What Is…?”), and using puppets to represent real life situation in the case of play therapy (“How Does…?”).  Even lesser known than these therapies is music therapy, which uses music in several ways to achieve similar goals as art therapy, play therapy, or psychotherapy.  It is not often heard about in the everyday world, making it at first seem much less professional or official than other forms of therapy.  However, music therapy actually is a well-researched and effective form of therapy.  Although music therapy is not yet widely known, it can be a more effective tool for those who need a more concrete way to connect with their emotions than standard "talking" therapy.

Every music therapist must have completed an accredited program for a Master’s degree in Music Therapy.  Strategies used in music therapy include expressing emotions through playing a variety of instruments, uninterrupted listening sessions of music chosen by the patient, and combined listening and discussion sessions with music chosen by the therapist (“Music Therapy and…”).  One might assume that music therapy is purely used for psychological and emotional problems, as many popular forms of therapy are.  Surprisingly, though, music therapy can be used for physical and social problems as well.  This therapy can be and is used with people of all ages, and on a huge variety of patients.  Some examples of when music therapy is used and who it is used on are people with Alzheimer’s disease (elderly people), young children (as young as two or three years), and people diagnosed on the autism spectrum.  In one type of music therapy session, the patient will use easy

The first acknowledgements of the value of “talking” psychotherapy were in the 1800s (Haggerty), and the first documented instance of music therapy was in 1789 (“History of…”).  However, music had been thought of as potentially healing as early as the writings of Aristotle and Plato (“History of…”).  Talking therapies are pretty much exclusively just what they sound like—talking to a trained professional about one’s problems (“Talking Therapies”).  In contrast, music therapy incorporates both playing music and listening to music, as well as some discussion components.  Talking therapies generally only work with cognitively developed/present people, eliminating both young children and elderly people with severe Alzheimer's disease or similar conditions.  Music therapy, however, can be used in such a way so that it does not require completely developed or healthy minds, opening the range of possible patients greatly.  

A  more specific and concrete example of a group of people who can be helped with music therapy is people diagnosed on the autism spectrum.  In 1995, three scientists tested the effectiveness of music therapy on an autistic three-year-old girl, and her interactions with her mother (Khetrapal 12.).  At the end of the experiment, the little girl showed significant signs of improvement in several social areas, including eye contact with her mother.  When they checked back with her after two years, the improvements had stayed with her.  This sort of case is a combination of both a very young patient and a mentally and socially disabled patient, neither of which could have been helped much by talking therapy.  

People who need a more concrete way to connect with their feelings and emotions need and deserve the same level of therapeutic attention as everyone else.  Music therapy is one way to achieve social and mental goals with these sorts of patients that are important to their qualities of life.  Most people, don’t go into a therapist’s office knowing how to perfectly express their thoughts and feelings.  But everyone has a natural emotional response to music that can be a powerful way of connecting with unconscious thoughts and worries.  

Works Cited

Haggerty, Jim, M.D. "History of Psychotherapy." Psych Central.com. Psych Central, 30 Jan.

2013. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/history-of-psychotherapy/000115.

"History of Music Therapy." American Music Therapy Association. American Music Therapy

Association, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. http://www.musictherapy.org/about/history/.

"How Does Therapeutic Play Work?" PlayTherapy.org. Play Therapy International, n.d. Web.

06 Oct. 2014. http://www.playtherapy.org/playhowdoestpwork.html.

Khetrapal, Neha. "Why Does Music Therapy Help in Autism?" Empirical Musicology Review 4

(2009): 11-12. Knowledge Bank. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.

https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/36602/EMR000065a_Khetrapal.pdf.

"Music Therapy and Mental Health." American Music Therapy Association, Inc. (n.d.): n. pag.

American Music Therapy Association. American Music Therapy Association. Web. 5

Oct. 2014. http://www.musictherapy.org/assets/1/7/MT_Mental_Health_2006.pdf.

Silverman, Michael J. "Psychiatric Patients' Perception of Music Therapy and Other

Psychoeducational Programming." Journal of Music Therapy 43.2 (2006): 111-19.

Pubmed. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/#folders/0ByDxnS1HotqDNENYdkFsMkJNOE0.

"Talking Therapies." Mental Health.org. Mental Health Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014.

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-a-z/T/talking-therapies/.

"What Is Art Therapy?" ArtTherapy.org. American Art Therapy Association, 2013. Web. 6 Oct.

WEST OF MEMPHIS

When crisis strikes, when something so horrifying happens that we can’t even think about it, often times any explanation for it can make us feel better.  In Amy Berg’s 2012 documentary West of Memphis, we saw the story of the “West Memphis Three” from start to finish, including the police work done during the case and trials.  No matter how you approach the documentary, there is no avoiding the corruption of some of the people involved in the case.  Humans inevitably fear and avoid ambiguity and uncertainty, and this fear is significantly heightened in times of crisis and stress.  When people are afraid, angry, or out of their element, they can be made to believe things that they might not otherwise.  

On the evening of May 5th, 1993, three eight-year-old boys went to ride their bikes, promising to be home by 5:00.  Mark Byers, one of the boys’ stepfather, called the police at 7:00, very worried about the boys’ whereabouts.  Police started searching, and the search became more and more thorough, until on May 6th, at 1:45 pm, the bodies of Stevie Edward Branch, Christopher Mark Byers, and James Michael Moore were found in a drainage ditch nearby.  The last time anyone saw them was at 6:30 on May 5th.  

In the days and weeks following the murders, people in West Memphis and in the news started to speculate, coming up with several explanations for who could have done it, and what their reason could have possibly been.  However, there was one story that really stood out, and also made people feel better, thinking that no normal person could possibly do such a thing.  The one story that really stuck was that the murders had a strong connection to satanic cult rituals.  During the 80s and 90s, many teens became part of the Goth subculture, dressing in dark colors and listening to metal music.  Much like rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, and rap in the 1990s, metal music and goth culture frightened people who were considered “normal.”  In an article published in August 1993 about the connection between “gangsta rap” and real-life violence, Dr. C. DeLores Tucker said, “...gangsta rap encourages vulnerable youngsters to commit horrible acts of violence," just based off of two incidents.  For decades, adults in authority have been extremely afraid and insecure about music’s effect on “youngsters”.  

Damien Echols was known by people in his neighborhood as a high school dropout, strange, unpersonable, and antisocial.  Jason Baldwin was a fairly close friend of Damien’s.  They both listened to metal, and Baldwin is even wearing a Metallica shirt in his mugshot.  The third boy in the West Memphis Three was Jessie Misskelley, Jr.–a boy who lived in a trailer park with his father, and whose IQ was 70 or lower.  However, while many people think the three boys were arrested as a result of them all being friends, Misskelley didn’t really know Jason, and only knew a little bit about Damien.  People who knew Jason Baldwin said he was very quiet and easygoing, and they couldn’t even imagine him doing anything like the murder.  Jessie was known as a bit violent, and people thought he was “slow”.

When the West Memphis Three were first arrested, there were people from the neighborhood outside the courthouse yelling “Shoot them!”, “Baby killers!”, and “Devil Worshipers!” When one teen boy from the area was being interviewed by a newscaster, he said, “I was surprised about Jason Baldwin because he’s the quiet one of them all, but...I wasn’t surprised about Jessie Misskelley and...Damien Echols.  ‘Cause I just expected that from them sooner or later.”  Without much evidence or information, people were perfectly content with believing that the three teens committed the murders.  When asked, “On a scale of one to ten, how solid do you think the case is now?” Chief Inspector Gary Gitchell simply responded, “Eleven,” even though the only large piece of evidence they were going off of at the time was Jessie Misskelley’s “confession”.  

The West Memphis and state police conducted a series of interrogations, and asked a number of people questions about the boys in court.  Many people who went to school with Baldwin and Misskelley claimed that they had heard about Baldwin and Echols killing cats and dogs as satanic rituals, and one girl said Echols had invited her to a “satanic cult meeting,” even though people who knew Baldwin and Echols extremely well (family, girlfriends, etc.) said that they never did anything related to the occult.  The police paid no attention to the claims of those close to the boys, but fully believed the claim of Michael Carson, a then 16-year-old juvenile delinquent on several drugs, that Jason Baldwin had told him all about murdering the boys.  

When Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were finally “freed” (but not exonerated), it seems that no one paid attention to or talked about the authorities and officials that wrongly accused the three of the murders, and who then bent the truth about the evidence they found.  It stayed this way, even after DNA evidence of the killer being Terry Hobbs (one of the boys’ stepfather) was found.  This could have been because no one wanted to think or talk about it anymore, or because no one wanted to imagine the possibility of a seemingly “normal” person committing the murders.  

In Joseph Goebbels’ essay “Knowledge and Propaganda” he talks about how world leaders get to the heights of power they get to.  He says, “History proves that the greatest world movements have always developed when their leaders knew how to unify their followers under a short, clear theme.”  The cast of the West Memphis Three can be seen as following this idea, the “short, clear theme” being that the murders were part of a satanic cult ritual.  Even though it might not have been a completely rational conclusion looking back on the case, it was simple, and easy to listen to, making it a successful story.  

Every day, we are surrounded and affected by biases and prejudices, whether we realize it or not.  While these biases can sometimes be bad, it is good just to recognize that they’re there, and try to understand them.  The judicial system in this country would benefit greatly from observing and recognizing these biases.  One of the greatest parts of humans is our ability to feel emotions as strongly and as passionately as we do, but sometimes our emotions can cloud our judgement.  It was only natural for people to be extremely angry and upset about the murders in West Memphis, but they did not realize how distorted their judgment was, and as a result, three teens lost a huge portion of their lives in jail for something they didn’t even do.

The Greatest Country On Earth

(MIN-JUN walks into his small apartment, visibly tired after a day of work.  He sighs, takes off his jacket, and walks over to a small desk in the corner of his room.  He picks up a small, foam, earth-shaped stress ball, and moves it around in his hand.  He walks over to his bed and sits down on the edge of it.  He continues to fiddle with the ball.)

I used to think I was living in the greatest country on Earth.  A “worker’s paradise”, with beautiful monuments, and the finest art.  I used to think that we were ahead.  That our people were more intelligent than the rest of the world, because of what we watch and read – history books, mostly.  I used to think that I would not want to ever be anywhere else but North Korea, that the rest of the world was useless to me.  I did, genuinely, wholeheartedly believe in the legacy of our leaders.  But that was all before I knew anything real about the outside world.  

(Looks up periodically to audience while talking.)

I got this little thing from an American visitor, trying to learn more about our life here.  His efforts were in vain; we did the same thing we do to every foreigner.  I had to “show him around the country,” even though I was only allowed to take him to expensive restaurants and our best monuments–the only part of the real North Korea he saw was out bus windows.  I am sure to most of you, this little toy would be a throwaway, insignificant after a day or two of possession.  But to me, it is a symbol of everything I could know, and everything I help the government to hide.  

Ever since I was a young man of 20, I have been working as a government minder–essentially, this means I am to monitor a foreign visitor at all times when they are visiting our country.  This goes as far as leaving my hotel room’s door open just so I can see if they try to leave.  Originally, I felt honored to be a part of such a wonderful government.  But slowly, over the years, I began to realize how fake our country’s image was.  

While my job does pay well, and helps me to meet interesting people, I can’t help but be reminded every day of the terrible and oppressive conditions that I help to enforce in our country.  I know I might sound like I am complaining, but every day, I must sit with the fact that our country’s citizens think that they are becoming cultured when they go to the library and watch the select few Russian Communist movies and Military Propaganda videos that they are allowed to watch, but they’re about 40 years behind.  If I knew as little as they do, or as little as I used to, I would be completely and wholly devoted to my country.  But knowing that if I leave my job I will most likely lose my apartment, but staying there is just such a cruel betrayal towards my country’s people...it just...it kills me inside.  I feel like our government is a prison, and I’m just another cell door–not significant enough to change anything, but nevertheless helping the central goal of withholding cultural, intellectual, and global information from our people.  Every day I think about it more and more...could this really ever be the greatest country on Earth?

When I’m with my friends at School of Rock, I use an extra set of vocabulary to talk with them about music.  While we all are totally comfortable with casually using the words “key”, “chord progression”, “pinch harmonics”, and “bars” when discussing the songs we’re on, or the songs we are helping each other learn, our musical language may be incomprehensible to people who do not play music.  A few months ago, I was sitting at the dinner table with my parents, and somehow my dad (also a musician) and I started talking about harmonics, and their placement on the neck of the guitar/bass.  Although to us we seemed to be having a common conversation, at one point we turned to my mom, and her only words were, “What in the world are you talking about?”  I think experiences like this have helped me realize how many different “linguistic identities” I have, all based on my environment and who I am with.  If I had been having that same conversation with someone at School of Rock, nobody would have thought twice about it, much less paid any attention to it.  However, as soon as I was removed from the environment of School of Rock and being with my friends there, the nature of the conversation in relation to my surroundings was completely changed.  I have my own identity that goes with my friends at School of Rock, but also connects me with other musicians in general through the language I have the knowledge to use.    

Another “linguistic identity” of mine comes out when I am with my friends in and from school.  While some of our casual vocabulary would be easily understandable by most kids our age, it still would be cryptic to many adults.  I had never even thought of the language I used with my friends as being different from what I used in the rest of my daily life, until I started writing this piece.  This kind of late realization shows how different someone can seem to people in a larger community, when in a small community they are seen as normal, and see themselves as normal.  Two good examples of the kinds of phrases that are used frequently by high school students that may seem to make no sense to adults are “on point” (means something is good) and “out of pocket” (means something/someone is behaving too crazily, and should stop).  When I asked my mom what she thought “on point” and “out of pocket” meant, her responses were, “hit the nail on the head,” and “out of money.”  Although both phrases do mean something to adults like my mom, both mean completely different things to my peers and I.  The identity I use with my peers versus my superiors might be undetectable, if it weren’t for the linguistic differences between the two identities.  

My third “linguistic identity” is a good demonstration of a mixture between one I use with peers and one I use with adults––the one I use with my parents.  Parents, if you think about it, hold a very unique place in most teenagers’ lives.  Of course, they are my elders, and they have authority over me.  But I have also lived with them for 15 years, and therefore am more comfortable speaking casually around them than any other authority figure in my life.  Being this comfortable would usually mean using all of the same jargon I use with my peers, but there is also the age gap, bringing with it a vast cultural difference.  While I feel just as comfortable cursing around them as I do around my peers, I wouldn’t use the phrase “out of pocket” in a conversation with my parents, because–as is shown above–it wouldn’t make any sense to them in the context I would use it in.  I think this identity is very important to me, because it has drastically evolved and changed throughout my life along with the level of the language I use, even though I’ve been living with my parents the whole time.  

The last main “linguistic identity” in my life is the one I use when I’m speaking to adults that I’m less comfortable with–teachers, family friends, and people I’ve just recently met.  With them, I never use any of the jargon I do with my friends, and I certainly wouldn’t even consider cursing around them.  Around these adults, I am almost a completely different person, unfortunately one with less character.  Within my friend group, my schtick is being jokingly irritable, which is often really fun.  However, around adults I have just met I will usually have a big smile on my face, and try to politely agree with most of what they say.  When I text my friends, it’s often very informally structured, and most of the time I’m talking about something funny.  However, when I email one of my teachers it is often about something somewhat serious, and I can make myself sound like a graduate student emailing her professor about something.  I always use a more sophisticated vocabulary when communicating with my teachers through emails, though I use a pretty average vocabulary in person.

Thinking about one’s separate “linguistic identities” can really help you realize how well humans are at adapting to different types of situations.  Usually when people think about our abilities to adapt they think of physical evolution and survival instincts, but there is a much faster and everyday type of human adaptation, which you can see through paying attention to those different identities.  Language and identity is an extremely interesting issue, and one that authors and people in general have struggled with for a long time.  Thinking about language as something that directly connects to identity really helped me see another side of the life I live every day.

• Nombre: Naomi Fecher-Davis

• Edad: 14

• Color: morado

• Animales: dos gatos

• Bicicleta/carro: uno bici

• solo ella

• 5 niños

• béisbol, ciclismo, fútbol

• ver la tele / ver películas

• dormitorios : por lo menos cinco

• baños: por lo menos

• enorme casa

• vive en la playa

• cerca de su casa: el transporte público, las escuelas, un centro comercial

• pedidos especiales: Un television grande y internet muy rapido.
  
  
  Se llama Naomi.  Le gusta béisbol, ciclismo, y fútbol. Le gusta casa enorma.Esta casa está en Los Angeles, California. Está Cerca de la playa, el transporte público, las escuelas, y un centro comercial.
  
  

  ¡La casa tiene TODO!

  • La casa es muy grande y moderna.  Es muy elegante y lujoso.  

  • La televisión es muy grande porque Naomi encanta ver la tele y películas.

  • En la casa, hay seis cuartos. Todos tienen una cama, una ventana, una puerta, un tv, y un escritorio.  Esto es para que todo pueden relajar, trabajo en su escritorio y ver la televisión.

  • En la cocina es un estufa y un nevera grande. Dos fregaderos, un lavaplatos y un horno. Hay dos ventanas.

  • En la sala está un sofá y un mesa. Hay dos sillón y un televisión grande

  • El comedor es grande, porque Naomi tiene muchos niños.  Hay una mesa larga, seis sillas, y una araña grandioso.

  • El baños tienen un espejo, una ducha bonita, y un lavamanos.  Es lujoso.

    
    
    Información de contacto
    Avery y Clio
    1800-CLI-Y-AVE
    cfleece@scienceleadership.org