Unchanging

3am. The alarm was ringing. It echoed in my ear as I shifted my eyes in an effort to open them. My dad would move slightly and then suddenly hit the clock to turn off the alarm. He would get out of bed and head to the bathroom. When he was finished, I would reluctantly wrap my arms around my father’s neck as he would carry me to the bathroom next. When my mom and siblings would finish freshening up, we would group up in my parents’ room and line up. We would begin by singing songs, our raspy voices cackling, attempting to harmonize with each other. Then, we would kneel and pray for forgiveness, making empty promises to God of not telling another lie. Afterwards, it would be time to read the first book that had ever meant something to me. ”Jeremiah 29:11 says ‘For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you, plans to do you good…’.” I would listen to my dad read the Bible and sit in awe at the caring voice in all the verses being read. This was the routine that my family and I followed every morning at 3am. Due to time conflictions with everyone’s busy schedules, my mom would get us up every morning to make God the first part of our day. This was the time that I fell in love with God and with reading the Bible. Every morning, there was a new scripture and passage read that would later be discussed and taken in by my 5 year old brain. I soaked it all in and I could never get enough of hearing the stories of Jesus and of those before Him who were used by God. The Bible was not only the book that I was compelled to read but it was the book that changed my life forever.

My life is built on the Bible’s principles. Growing up in a very religious family, scriptures were drilled into my head like a second language. My mom stressed how much God loved us and how vital it was to read the Bible daily because it was the only way we would get to know Him better. Every instruction and word would be learned, understood and applied to my life. Reading the Bible was what I found joy in everyday because there was always something new to learn about the God I served. As I began to grow older, I had read the Bible so many times that scriptures would flow from my lips when asked about certain ones. Soon, my desire to read began to fail. My mom however, pushed my siblings and I to keep reading, saying that there was always something different to learn from reading scripture. Although I knew she was right, I had lost the feeling I used to get when I would read it: the feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction. It began to feel as if I was being forced to read which no longer made it interesting but instead, it felt like a chore on a Saturday morning. I was yearning to feel that desire and drive again to know God and read because I knew the power of the Living Word. As a teen, it wasn’t hard to let distractions and other people take the place of reading the Bible. Although my passion for reading had fell, there was one scripture that I had never forgotten: Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way that they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it”. In every decision I made, this scripture would ring in my head. My faith was a part of me. My faith was me and even though I wasn’t reading, everything I had read stuck with me and I never let it go. Everyday, I strived to base my life on the principles of Jesus and when I fell into sin, I would remember the scripture that said “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us”. Despite my downfall in not reading the Bible as much as I used to, it changed my life and that is something that I will never let go of.

Pursuing Identity

Wherever you go, commercials and advertisements are plastered everywhere, convincing the American people that they need to be better than what they are. Age cream, makeup, weight loss pills, and even clothes are being pushed onto the working class to show them that they won’t be satisfied without them. In Jim Arendt’s display, “Unraveled”, the sculptures Emerging II and Mike portray how consumerism plays a major role in how people portray themselves.

Unraveled, which was made entirely from denim jeans, was created by Jim Arendt to show how the economy affected the lives of many people. The jeans used to create this display were from those who he thought depicted the working class. According to John Berger, the author of Ways of Seeing, publicity is directed towards the working class to promote the desire to become a part of something that we are incapable of actually reaching. This dream and desire drives people to buy certain products. He conveys how insufficient the ideal of being “Americanized” is and how it deprives the American people of their true self. The people Arendt represented in “Unraveled” experience this tension between letting identity be based off of consumerism and being content with their position despite the pressures of the world around them.

Jim Arendt’s sculpture Emerging II was of a person who looked to be in deep agony. The figure was vomiting, with the arms confined and the shoulders wrapped up, taking control away from the upper body. The jeans were also spread out all around the sculpture like a dress. The stress that the sculpture portrayed shows the idea of how American ways can make people sick on the inside. The pressures of wanting to be something that you’re not is evident and hard to avoid in life because they are all around. Being so wrapped up in culture, individuals begin to lose themselves in it. They no longer have control over their own lives because society has taken over their ways of thinking. They are engulfed under all the pressures of wanting to fit into society and be given a name that people will remember, that they don’t think they themselves are good enough. The spread of jeans emphasizes how influential or contagious this idea is in America. The idea of wanting to be a part of something is a universal phenomenon and proves itself in cultures all around the world. Self-identity is a topic that every person questions at least once in their lifetime. This is what Arendt is showing. The working class cannot be completely satisfied because of all of the factors in the workforce, and in everyday life that influences them to want more.

In Jim Arendt’s Mike, the display shows a man who has a cut out of baby in his body. This cutout is where the man’s heart, stomach, ribs and other core parts in the body should be. This shows the instability of the man without all of his real parts. In this display, this man is struggling with his identity as his inner child is missing from his life. Children are open to new ideas and are like sponges who soak up the world around them. However, because this part of him is missing, he is not able to decide for himself who he wants to be. Instead, his ideals are based off the structuralized ideas in society that give no wiggle room of who you can or cannot be. Either you can be a part of the American way or you are an outcast. This deprives people of true happiness in the same way as Berger’s idea of publicity. Publicity deprives the working class of being completely satisfied with simply having a job and this makes them want more than what they already have.

The “American” ideal that one cannot be happy unless they have a certain amount of money or a certain product is prominent throughout society. In this economy, it’s not about being yourself but instead about living in an unachievable false reality. Arendt’s displays exemplifies the pressures of wanting to be more than satisfied. Comfort is no longer being comfortable but instead, overly ambitious for something that is out of reach. One thing that Arendt tries to relay is that these American ideals are suffocating the lives of our true selves. Instead of looking for temporary things in Berger’s idea of publicity, we should look more towards eternal things that will exhilarate us and bring life to the person who is really us.

Higher Education Meme

 

What high school students think it is

What society thinks it is

What people who have a higher education think it is

What people who have a higher education think it is

What people who have a higher education think it is

What rich people who made it without higher education think it is

What it should be

The Power of the Impractical

It is said that as a baby, the mind is like a sponge that soaks up the world around it. Children are prone to having an open-mind because they don’t know anything about the “real world” yet. Therefore, logic isn’t a hindrance for their ways of thinking yet. With an open-mind, a person is not confined to anyone’s beliefs but instead, is able to make their own and create ideas that are entirely new. This ability of being free to think outside the box is relayed in “Half an Inch of Water”. In Percival Everett’s “Little Faith”, the author conveys how Sam is short of an open-mind and how this limits his chance to really experience life to the fullest. However, after suffering from two snakebites, he is forced to be receptive to new ways of thinking that make him uncomfortable.

Old Dave Wednesday is the epitome of having an open mind in the story. Being a Native, Indians dwell on the spirituality in nature. This requires flexibility of thoughts as someone who is firm on their beliefs will not accept ideas outside of sound judgement. While talking with Sam one day, Old Dave Wednesday states how “there is nothing wrong with [death]” (4). Humans are usually afraid of death; however, he brings in this new idea that he is accepting that death is a part of life. However, Sam has the expected reaction as he is “not so comfortable with [the] talk” (4). This response is the beginning of showing Sam’s narrowmindedness because he’s ignorant on the subject as his only comment is that everyone dies. Old Dave Wednesday still describes them both as “soul men”. The definition of a soul man is a practical man or one who has the capability to reason. Therefore, Old Dave Wednesday relays his faith in Sam by saying that he has potential for showing reason despite his typical comment on death.

After Sam is bitten by two snakes, being a doctor, his practical response was to get out his first aid kit. However, not feeling any better after drawing out some poison, he begins to “[imagine] that the burning sage might cleanse him” (24). This is the beginning of Sam opening up to new ideas. Not being a spiritual person, Sam wasn’t very fond of churches. However, due to this experience, he begins to pick up Native practices that Old Dave Wednesday would do when he was alive. When sitting by the fire, he is so desperate to feel better that he begins to fan the burning sage towards his body. The nine-year-old deaf girl named Penny that he is with copies what he does. This brings back the idea of how children take in what they see and hear. Sam did not really think that this would work as he laughs at himself. This is the inward battle that Sam struggles with. What he thought he was doing was ridiculous because it was not logical that burning sage could heal. It was not medicine or any remedy that he had known before. However, he still tries it because he has nothing to lose.

When Penny, grabs his hand, Sam sees a young Old Dave Wednesday in the fire and talks to him. He tells Sam that what he is seeing in not a vision. Although he is really dead, Wednesday is assuring him that he is real and alive. This part in the story explains how obtaining an open-mind can make any person alive even if they are physically dead. Although Wednesday dies at ninety-two years old, he is described in the fire as a younger man. This description relays the true nature of a person with an open-mind. Younger people are still trying to figure out who they are, so they open themselves up to new experiences in order to find an identity. They are able to experience life to the fullest because there are no boundaries to their imagination or what they can do. Sam was able to come out of this “vision” with the snakebites not swollen anymore because of a simple touch from a person who had unlocked the secret of a full life, Old Dave Wednesday. It was so powerful that the impossible was made possible just by freeing up a little space for a new idea.

After coming out from the vision, Sam is confused. He is so drawn to logic that it is “unsettling” and “disorienting” that he feels fine after the snakebites (26). After the entire experience, Sam still does not attain an open mind although he is forced to at one point. He fails to believe that the vision has anything to do with his healing as he does not mention it again. He instead, insists on feeling puzzled as to how he could be fine. This shows how experiences may drive people to think about things they never would’ve imagined. However, it is up to them to ignore it like Sam does or to dwell in it like Old Dave Wednesday.

 

Your Binding Freedom

The average person comes in contact with 80,000 people in a lifetime or more depending on an occupation. Whether it’s with objects, animals or each other, humans are forced to rely on interaction for survival. In his article “Only Connect…”, William Cronon touches on what it means to be liberally educated. In the simplest terms, liberally educated people are those who apply the values of their education to their lifestyle. Cronon states that a liberal education is useless if “we forget that its purpose is to nurture human freedom and growth”. That is not only because humans are social at heart, but because their ideas can combine to create something completely new. Furthermore, he implores that “in the act of making us free, [knowledge] also binds us to the communities that gave us our freedom in the first place”. I believe that this is a true statement because people owe it to the community that raised them, to aid them in our “progressive movement”. This paradox surfaces the unanswered question of how liberal education can be binding and whether we should really be bound to society or to ourselves.

Individuals are known to confuse knowledge with being able to do whatever they want because they have the mindset to do so. However, people fail to realize that liberally educated people have the wisdom and the ability to benefit others who cant do it themselves. “With great power comes great responsibility”. Cronon emphasizes this as he states that humans have an obligation to their communities. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to connect with others and share the skills that progresses into a lifestyle. Without going back and teaching communities how to connect, there is no purpose in having a liberal arts education. As a liberally educated person, if one does not feel the urge to relay their knowledge and connect with the environment around them, one is simply “educated”. Being “educated” is being bound to self, whereas being liberally educated is being bound to others and the development of the community. When said to have an education, it is not about making connections with others but is instead about learning how to survive in a “money-hungry” society. This mindset only benefits one person. People who are given the opportunity to be educated have a greater advantage in society as it opens opportunities for jobs and being able to survive in a world where communications are essential for success. Knowledge provides options, and if that knowledge is shared, societies have the chance to grow and prosper together.

As stated by Cronan, this is the ultimate love: Bridging the gap between the freedom of knowledge and community. There’s no better way to give back to society than by teaching it how to work with one another to advance to a new level of thinking. It’s not just about acquiring information but about making it a lifestyle. By helping others grow, liberally educated people continue to grow as well. That is the mindset of a liberally educated individual.

Identity Crisis

First years tend to lose their identity due to the drastic transition from adolescence to adulthood. As students enter college, an immediate question comes to mind: Who do I want to be when I walk through these doors? The thought goes from being a student to being someone who fits in. We enter a world where it’s no longer about fulfilling a plan but about acceptance. Masks begin to form because students accept that their ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are not good enough anymore. The identity of a student can become more recognizable and sustainable by acting on core values, remembering roots, and staying open-minded to change.

Students begin to fail when they believe that they need to be someone different in order for people to accept them. However, when coming to college, students are already shaped into an individual whether it is from religion, politics, or other outside forces. My faith is my life driving force. Throughout my last years in high school and the beginning of college, I began to lose what I had once held so dear. I realized that my beliefs were a huge impact in my life and that without it, I lost focus of who I was. I wasn’t happy, and it made me act different because I had forgotten what my values were. In order to remain confident in my identity, values are necessary to hold on to. It is when we realize the importance of identity that we acquire a sense of self-worth once we transition to the life of a college student.

It’s important to remember where we come from. The personality of a person usually stems from a person’s background. Regardless of our backgrounds, whether good or bad, people should realize that they are here for a reason. We are blessed, we have rights, and we are free to be whoever we want to be. Remembering our roots and where we come from reminds us of those cultural values that not many people around the world get to experience. It’s easy to lose ourselves when we are surrounded by people who forget who they really are. They are influential in their search for placement, showing weakness and insecurity because they’re looking to please the wrong crowd. People should be their own audience. If life was a movie that could be rewatched, many people wouldn’t be satisfied with what they saw. That’s exactly what your background reminds you of. It is you evaluating your life and knowing what needs to remain and what needs to be removed to help better yourself as you move forward.

The phrase goes, “One thing that will remain constant is change.” When I first arrived at Centenary, I was placed in an unfamiliar environment. The most I knew walking into the doors was the career path I wanted to take. Everything else was unclear and had to be figured out overtime. I knew that I wouldn’t adjust overnight. With change, comes adaptation. I first had to realize that there is no way to avoid it. Once I came to that realization, I found myself no longer thinking, how can I steer clear of this situation but instead, how can I grow from it. Having this mindset promotes progression. That progression turns into maturity. That maturity will help a person grow into a better individual. Although changes happen all around, students can stand firm in who they are and wont lose sight of their identity.

My Introductory Post

My name is Gabby and I am currently a first year student at Centenary College of Louisiana. I am a chemistry major, and I aspire to be an anesthesiologist. My goal after my four years here is to go to John Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the main reasons why I decided to come here was because of the high percentage rate of getting into medical school. I know that this college will push me to be a better student and will challenge me. With this challenge comes responsibility and knowing how to manage my time wisely. In high school, I struggled with procrastination and wasn’t very organized. However, acknowledging my goals, I know that I must put that behind me and do what it takes to succeed. I know that it will mean separating myself and putting away all distractions, but I am willing to do so in order to make my goals become a reality.