Halloween November 4, 2008

When my friend Mel Corrigan and I decided to get together for Halloween, we were unsure what to do. We fell back on the “let’s go to Blockbuster and rent a movie” option. After an hour of debating what movie to watch, we came out with Shaun of the Dead and Pushing Daisies–neither of which are of the nightmarish variety. The root of our argument came mostly from my aversion to horror films and the fact that I refused to make an exception, even for Halloween.

My thoughts are these: why do we create movies that are intended to make us feel fearful? Most of us in America do not fear for our lives at an immediate level. Of course there are exceptions, but on an overall level we don’t. We have faced tragedies, such as September 11th and there is violence in general, but we do not live in the middle of a war zone. We do not fear road-side bombs when we drive down the highway, wonder if our homes will be reduced to rubble, or if our family members have been persecuted for their opinions, race, or gender.

No, our society is not completely peaceful, but it is moreso than many. What is it about our nature that compells us to experience fear, pain, or horror? Is that not the underlying thing that we want from violent or scary movies and video games? Why do we feel the need to create more horror, even fictional, when there is so much suffering, fear, oppression, and pain in other areas of the world? Isn’t what is happening out there scary enough?

Miniature Demons at the Renaissance Faire October 17, 2008

This was an interesting weekend for me. I went to the Renaissance Faire with several of my friends. We all had a great time. However, things didn’t start to get really interesting until we were leaving. My mom came to pick us all up around 6:30. She decided that we should all stop off at Casa De Fruta itself and get something to eat. Once inside the parking lot, my mom spotted three tiny four week old abandoned kittens. They were huddled next to a rusty trashcan near the entrance to the parking lot. I don’t know how long they had been there, but they were starving. My mom went into the store and bought a small container of milk. One of my mom’s friends says: Never feed cats, because once you do, you’ll never get rid of them. We discovered the truth in this. We ended up taking them home with us in a box.

An hour and a half later, we got them home. The milk had definitely not been enough to satisfy them. The tortoise-shell was so hungry that I thought that she would eat my entire hand (which was larger than she was) trying to get to the chicken that I was offering her. I began calling her Demon, hence the name of this blog. The grey male would growl while eating in a vain attempt to keep the other kittens at bay. I later discovered that all three of them could be tame and sweet when they weren’t starving to death. The female was renamed Felicity. The two others were both male: Bobby (mom thought he looked like a miniature bobcat. He was the smallest of the three) and Shadow (he was blue grey…it seemed appropriate). After lots of kitten food and a bath for all of them in the kitchen sink, the kittens were ready to go to their foster home to await permanent adoption.

There actually is a point to the blog besides to show how I am such a nice person that I rescue abandoned possibly disease ridden kittens from parking lots. As time progressed, it became obvious that these kittens were quite tame. They had obciously had contact with humans during their time before being rescued. It didn’t take me very long to become very concerned with the welfare of these kittens. While I was at the SPCA trying to determine whether they could do anything for the kittens (they were willing to take them, but they were not old enough to adopt, which means that they would either be sent back to Hollister or euthanized…neither of which made me happy), one of the women behind the counter told me how lucky these kittens were to have been found by me. On first thought, I would think that anyone would do what I had done. Yet as I thought about it more, I began to think that the woman might have had a point. As a result, this week I have been pondering the nature of human morality. Three abandoned kittens are certainly not the extent of the world’s suffering. People who that that these kittens could survive without their help simply walked by. They would have no idea how sweet and loving these hungry kittens could be if someone gave them the time of day. Does not every act of giving produce something worthwhile? How would this world be different if people stopped to view the world around them? If they could realize how much good they could do with even the slightest bit of effort on their parts?

The Rubik’s Cube and Philosophy September 10, 2008

On Sunday, I found a Rubik’s Cube on the desk of my mom’s home office. I don’t know how it got there or why I picked it up. For some reason it caught my eye. I was in a hurry to get to church–as usual, I had slept too long and was going to be late. I put it in my purse and rushed out the door. By the time I got home, I had forgotten it completely. When I emptied my purse and rediscovered the conundrum several hours later, I decided that I was going to solve it. I was not going to wait. I would not give up. I spent the next four and a half hours perusing such sites as the Rubik’s cube website and youtube.com in search of a mentor to help me in my quest. After coming oh so close to the end and having to start over in frustration four times, I managed to solve the stupid thing. I was (and still am) quite proud of myself. I had made it to the top of the mountain and the view from that vista was quite superb. What was I do to now? Well mix it up and solve it again of course! This time I used a slightly different method. I found a website (http://www.wrongway.org/cgi-bin/cube/cubexcgiin?!sel-6) that allowed me to input the current configuration on my cube and it would spit out the moves that would allow me to solve it. I didn’t look at the cube, but rather just followed the directions without looking at the cube. When I finished about a minute later, I was shocked to look down and see a solved cube in my hands. Rather than ecstasy, I felt disappointment. The view from my sunny vista became bland and uninteresting, the most obvious feature being the gigantic oil stained helipad right smack in the middle of it. Only the most experienced need use my trail now. My once pristine mountaintop paradise had been polluted by the incoming multitudes. How could I feel achievement after expending next to no effort?

One thing that I believe with all my heart is that life requires a full spectrum to be interesting. You can’t feel true happiness unless you have felt sadness; no light without dark; no goodness without evil. The second time I solved the cube had not been satisfying because there was no challenge whatsoever; I hadn’t even looked at it during the process. How could I derive the slightest satisfaction from something that had presented me no hardships? We work at things that challenge us or give us pleasure, not things that are easy or uninteresting. As humans, our time here on this earth is limited; every moment is precious. We should not try to fill our lives with pointless ventures that take as little time as possible, but rather slow down and take the time that it takes to derive true enjoyment from our lives.

Urbanization and the Woodpecker September 15, 2008

The idea for this blog formed in my head on Thursday. I had just missed the green light to turn onto York Road from Highway 68. However, my mood was brightened when I saw 4 red headed woodpeckers storing their acorns into the pedestrian walk/stop light. At first, I couldn’t figure out what they were doing. The woodpecker species that lives in this area is (in my opinion) slightly absurd looking. (I think it’s the eyes and fact that they can’t stand like a typical bird that bothers me.)

Having taken Envi-Sci (Environmental Science) with Ms. Kiest my sophomore year, I was already aware of the trials faced by wildlife in urbanized areas. The fact that some kinds of wildlife were being forced to learn to live in urban ideas is not news to me, nor should it be to most people. What I found interesting was that these four birds were more in favor of using a product of urbanization rather than the natural alternative. These birds were using a blend of natural and manufactured products in their lives. They do not have to ability to protest the replacement of their trees with light posts, but simply have to make do with what they have. There are those among humankind who just plod through life, doing nothing to change the world around them unless it has a direct and immediate impact upon them. They only differ from the woodpeckers in that they have the ability to make changes but chose not to.