Monday, February 23, 2009

Culture confusion

In my Anthropology class we have been learning a lot about cultures and how they celebrate events and overall just live. I have come to the conclusion that the United States of America is completely mixed up with everything except for maybe weddings. Why is it that we take so much time to plan a wedding, we put our very life into this one day where a man and woman are united, but don't want anything to do with death. Why is death such a sad moment filled with turmoil and despair? Death is the passing over into another place (if that is what you believe) no more pain or having to deal with the ridiculous world we live in. Almost every other culture within the world views death as something beautiful, something special. I talk to so many people who are afraid of living because they are going to die, they stop enjoying life. But we are not meant to live in fear, hiding behind the ever growing thought of possibly dying at that very moment. I wish that Americans would stop and see the beauty in everyday life as well as death itself. There is so much to appreciate in this huge and ever changing world! Just take a moment in the day to find something to smile about, the beauty of the sky, the spring flowers, the vast mountain range. Nature is the cure to fear, within the world we live are spectacular events and sights that can make a person completely forget about their worries. And if you don't have time to look outside and your one of the many popular "couch potatoes" then flip the channel to national geographic or the discovery channel. I'm telling you Plant Earth in will blow your mind.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

What makes the news...

Have you noticed that the news on television is not actually news. It is almost unfathomable the type of information that will make the evening edition news program these days. Sometimes I get lucky and actually learn about something useful, such as the country's plan to fix the economic depravity or about whats going on in the rest of the world. Last night I turned on my television and the first thing to pop up on the news was "MICHAEL PHELPS CAUGHT SMOKING MARIJUANA OUT OF A BONG" oh good gracious no, he has committed an act 95% of Americans do daily, tisk tisk. So I decided to wait until "up next" which of course is not until the end of the the program, to see exactly what has caused such an uproar with this young Olympic athlete. After a long 55 minutes of seeing a car chase, how to get new botox, and what not to eat during your lunch break, which by the way without all this information I don't think I would have made it through my Wednesday, Phelps finally comes on my screen. Now I'm thinking it must have something to do with them taking away his medals for smoking an illegal drug during his meets, or someone is going to sue him for being a bad role model, not even close. The anchor comes on and says something to the effect of " Olympic superstar Michael Phepls caught smoking marijuana out of a bong, the young athlete says he regrets his youthful acts and promises it will never happen again....". That's it. Nothing about how he was caught, who, what, where, when, why. And there we have it, a common American "news special" oh don't worry we'll put information about the millions dying of starvation, the eco system being destroyed, and the fact that were falling into a deppression until next time. That is presuming nothing "important" like a car chase, new ways to look skinny, or star accident comes up first.

Maybe if I go stand on Sunset Blvd. and interpretive dance to celien dion with a poodle I might make the evening news edition. "Crazy Hippie girl dances on the streets of LA" I could be famous.