In which Scott gets some tech support by calling Bill Gates
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Minority Report
I'm a white guy. Like a really white guy. Like if it was your first day of school and you were sitting in art class and the teacher asked you to get out your new crayons, and you got all excited because you bought the box of neon crayons instead of normal because you want to be more awesome, and then the teacher said "ok get out the white one" you would reach into said box of neon crayons, and pull out the one that said "Scott" on the side.
So today I got to experience something I have never experienced in my entire life. I was the only white person in a room. Today I was in Cincinnati for the Black and Hispanic Achievers kick off. It is a YMCA program that promotes achievement among Black and Hispanic teens. In my job I'll be doing something similar so I wanted to see how they did things. I have to say that the whole time part of my brain was kind of like "woah you are the only white guy" but the other part was like "um... who cares. It doesn't really matter." And to tell you the truth it didn't matter. But it was a new experience for me.
It did make me think a little about race and how we (well I can only speak for myself) how I think about race. A lot of times we generalize race in weird ways. For example we might say someone is black, but that doesn't tell us about their ancestors. The same goes for Hispanic. We generalize their race into one word but we will talk about our German, English, Irish, Italian ancestors for hours on end. I really think this is wrong. sure someone who is Brazilian has more in common with a Peruvian than say I do, however a Brazilian is not a Peruvian so we shouldn't label them all the same.
I think the error comes from America's own failure to recognize its own culture. People forget that culture is shared based on experience and societies expectations. It doesn't matter what color your skin is, culture is learned not innate. Skin color is innate. While some people hang on to European traditions, for the most part the USA has its own culture. That is why there is such a difference from African Americans and from Africa African Americans. I think that in America race relations could be bettered if we just simply accepted the fact that even though we look different we share a common culture. We need to embrace our own culture if we are to advance as a country. We need to say, we are America and we are all brothers and sisters. Maybe I'm wrong but that would probably make things be a lot better.
So today I got to experience something I have never experienced in my entire life. I was the only white person in a room. Today I was in Cincinnati for the Black and Hispanic Achievers kick off. It is a YMCA program that promotes achievement among Black and Hispanic teens. In my job I'll be doing something similar so I wanted to see how they did things. I have to say that the whole time part of my brain was kind of like "woah you are the only white guy" but the other part was like "um... who cares. It doesn't really matter." And to tell you the truth it didn't matter. But it was a new experience for me.
It did make me think a little about race and how we (well I can only speak for myself) how I think about race. A lot of times we generalize race in weird ways. For example we might say someone is black, but that doesn't tell us about their ancestors. The same goes for Hispanic. We generalize their race into one word but we will talk about our German, English, Irish, Italian ancestors for hours on end. I really think this is wrong. sure someone who is Brazilian has more in common with a Peruvian than say I do, however a Brazilian is not a Peruvian so we shouldn't label them all the same.
I think the error comes from America's own failure to recognize its own culture. People forget that culture is shared based on experience and societies expectations. It doesn't matter what color your skin is, culture is learned not innate. Skin color is innate. While some people hang on to European traditions, for the most part the USA has its own culture. That is why there is such a difference from African Americans and from Africa African Americans. I think that in America race relations could be bettered if we just simply accepted the fact that even though we look different we share a common culture. We need to embrace our own culture if we are to advance as a country. We need to say, we are America and we are all brothers and sisters. Maybe I'm wrong but that would probably make things be a lot better.
Monday, August 24, 2009
This is so profound
Hello Nation of Might! I didn't forget about you! I was just busy moving cross country then starting a new job, then hanging out with my brother who came to town.
But now I'm back. Let the awesomeness of this blog continue on!
Today I'm going to talk about how not profound your thought are (don't worry mine aren't profound either). One facebook the other day someone put their status as "I think we are all just passing time until we die." wow what a deep thought huh... no. Restating the obvious is not profound! Like one time I was working for Home Depot for a couple months and I was talking to my co-worker and he was asking about my employment and I was like "I'm a temp." and he said, "We're all just temps in this world." ooohhhh how awesome. really I never thought about that. I'm going to die someday, but calling me a temp makes me change my perspective and makes life seem more deep. Maybe I should go listen to Phish and smoke weed (these are two typical activities of hippies, who are the most common abusers of the restating-the-obvious-and-passing-it-off-as-profound error).
But let's back up to the horrid statement that we are all just "passing time until we die." what a horrible thought. is that all life is to you? just passing time? That statement really got under my skin because, yes ultimately we are on this earth for a finite amount of time, that will yes pass, but if you ask me and you want my opinion (which you do because you are reading this) Life is so much more than passing time. Poets, artists, musicians know this. We don't listen to songs to pass time, we listen to songs to set our souls free. We look at art and read books and climb mountains not because we have nothing better to do, we do it because we want to live. And in those experiences we fill our lives with meaning. and in your work (hopefully) you find a job that fulfills you, and gives your life meaning.
I climbed a mountain once, I stood at 14,031 feet and stretched my arms out over the world below and let loose a barbaric yawp deep from my being. Do that once in your life and tell me you are just "passing time." Win at a sporting event, fall in love, get your heart broken, listen to a great song, hear a child laugh, jump in a pile of leaves, or just have a beer with a close friend. Do just one of those things and tell me you are just passing the time until you die. There is something more to life, there is something more to this world than just existing. As William Shakespeare put it "All the world is a stage and we are players on that stage. The powerful plays goes on that you may contribute a verse" (well he didn't say exactly that but close is good enough for me (just like in slow dancing)).
Anyway that is what life is about. It is a powerful play, and you may contribute a verse. You have the chance to write history, to do great things to move mountains! So don't just "pass the time" go live in this amazing world! As for me I'm about to go play video games... what did you think I was going to do something profound? Life is like a video game, even if you win it still ends (oh so profound).
Keep on rocking in the free world
But now I'm back. Let the awesomeness of this blog continue on!
Today I'm going to talk about how not profound your thought are (don't worry mine aren't profound either). One facebook the other day someone put their status as "I think we are all just passing time until we die." wow what a deep thought huh... no. Restating the obvious is not profound! Like one time I was working for Home Depot for a couple months and I was talking to my co-worker and he was asking about my employment and I was like "I'm a temp." and he said, "We're all just temps in this world." ooohhhh how awesome. really I never thought about that. I'm going to die someday, but calling me a temp makes me change my perspective and makes life seem more deep. Maybe I should go listen to Phish and smoke weed (these are two typical activities of hippies, who are the most common abusers of the restating-the-obvious-and-passing-it-off-as-profound error).
But let's back up to the horrid statement that we are all just "passing time until we die." what a horrible thought. is that all life is to you? just passing time? That statement really got under my skin because, yes ultimately we are on this earth for a finite amount of time, that will yes pass, but if you ask me and you want my opinion (which you do because you are reading this) Life is so much more than passing time. Poets, artists, musicians know this. We don't listen to songs to pass time, we listen to songs to set our souls free. We look at art and read books and climb mountains not because we have nothing better to do, we do it because we want to live. And in those experiences we fill our lives with meaning. and in your work (hopefully) you find a job that fulfills you, and gives your life meaning.
I climbed a mountain once, I stood at 14,031 feet and stretched my arms out over the world below and let loose a barbaric yawp deep from my being. Do that once in your life and tell me you are just "passing time." Win at a sporting event, fall in love, get your heart broken, listen to a great song, hear a child laugh, jump in a pile of leaves, or just have a beer with a close friend. Do just one of those things and tell me you are just passing the time until you die. There is something more to life, there is something more to this world than just existing. As William Shakespeare put it "All the world is a stage and we are players on that stage. The powerful plays goes on that you may contribute a verse" (well he didn't say exactly that but close is good enough for me (just like in slow dancing)).
Anyway that is what life is about. It is a powerful play, and you may contribute a verse. You have the chance to write history, to do great things to move mountains! So don't just "pass the time" go live in this amazing world! As for me I'm about to go play video games... what did you think I was going to do something profound? Life is like a video game, even if you win it still ends (oh so profound).
Keep on rocking in the free world
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