On the Cusp

Does anyone else ever feel like they're constantly on the verge of something? Something great, something new, something big, or just something? It's a sense that a larger understanding or achievement is just within one's grasp and yet still out of reach, made even more frustrating by not knowing what it is one should be reaching for.

I can't quantify or explain it because I don't fully know what to make of it. I suppose I have the luxury of pondering what I should be doing in the metaphysical sense instead of the constant worry of what I have to do in the literal sense. It is nevertheless disconcerting to feel that one should be doing something all while having no idea what that thing should be. It's an existential restlessness...

Trying to Get Settled

So I have been back in Michigan for about two weeks now after my summer in New York, and yet I still haven't quite gotten myself settled back into things yet. I had to move out of my old apartment and into my new apartment in only a few short days between returning from Mexico and leaving for New York this spring, and so I came back to an apartment that things had just been hastily piled into. Coupled with the amount of stuff I took to, and therefore had to also bring back from, New York, I had a lot more unpacking and arranging to do than I thought I would. I gave myself one day off between my return and jumping right into training, and clearly that was not enough time. I've now been in training every day, and when I get back in the evening I just don't feel like unpacking. And so, feeling like the space around me is in disarray, I have not spent as much time at ye olde computer, and hence have not haunted the blogosphere since my return.

Well, my living room and office area are now more or less back in order, so now too must follow a return to other routines.

The topic for today's rant: Celebrities should all be deported onto a remote island where they shall be forced into cages and only released when needed.

Seriously, I never cared about the lives of the rich and famous, but now my apathy has transcended into anger. I am so tired of trying to sift through all the entertainment gossip and get to news about important events and issues. I don't think my utter hatred, distrust, and overall loathing of the media is any secret to any who know me or have glanced upon this tiny corner of cyberspace, but while I can't pass up a good opportunity to bash the "Fourth Estate", I also have to begrudgingly admit that it is not entirely their fault. They are only feeding the insatiable monster that is the lowest common denominator of our culture, and in some respects I cannot blame the media for seizing upon the opportunity to make a fortune off of our collective stupidity. Our culture wants to know more about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's relationship, Lindsay Lohan's toxicology report, and Britney Spears' debaucheries more than any intellectual, cultural, or spiritual pursuit.

Would confining all of the supposed celebrities to a remote zoo-like island solve anything? Probably not, but at least it would be a more honest approach without the hassle of a middle-man. Just lock them up in glass Malibu-style habitats and allow for the occasional breeding, and let the voyeurs soak it up. We could still make all the television programs and movies we make now - just let subject _______ out of their cage for the day's shooting schedule and then return them to their captivity at the end of the day.

This rant was partly inspired by the selections from Dana Gioia's speech at Stanford's commencement I found at Tony Woodlief's Sand in the Gears blog, reproduced again here:

"There is an experiment I'd love to conduct. I'd like to survey a cross-section of Americans and ask them how many active NBA players, Major League Baseball players, and American Idol finalists they can name.

Then I'd ask them how many living American poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors, architects, classical musicians, conductors, and composers they can name.

I'd even like to ask how many living American scientists or social thinkers they can name. Fifty years ago, I suspect that along with Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Sandy Koufax, most Americans could have named, at the very least, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Arthur Miller, Thornton Wilder, Georgia O'Keeffe, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Not to mention scientists and thinkers like Linus Pauling, Jonas Salk, Rachel Carson, Margaret Mead, and especially Dr. Alfred Kinsey.

I don't think that Americans were smarter then, but American culture was. Even the mass media placed a greater emphasis on presenting a broad range of human achievement. . .

Our country is dividing into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of its free time sitting at home as passive consumers of electronic entertainment. Even family communication is breaking down as members increasingly spend their time alone, staring at their individual screens.

The other group also uses and enjoys the new technology, but these individuals balance it with a broader range of activities. They go out—to exercise, play sports, volunteer and do charity work at about three times the level of the first group. By every measure they are vastly more active and socially engaged than the first group.

What is the defining difference between passive and active citizens? Curiously, it isn't income, geography, or even education. It depends on whether or not they read for pleasure and participate in the arts. These cultural activities seem to awaken a heightened sense of individual awareness and social responsibility."

I admit that I cannot name any of the contemporary great minds that Gioia would look for, but at least I feel bad about that... I hope I'm wrong, but I almost would believe that many of my fellow citizens revel in their ignorance...