I'm preparing my final papers and studying hard for my neuroscience exam, but I find that I'm asking myself where did the time go? This semester flew by faster than any other semester I've had. It's sad, I'll be leaving Buenos Aires in about a month and this semester will be history, as they say.
I have much to post about--trips, knitting, reflections, photos--however no time right now. Hopefully Saturday when I have no more classes or assignments, I'll have time to start updating things.
¡Chau!
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Rachel Ray Ad
Rachel Ray and Dunkin' Donuts created an ad where Ray is wearing a scarf that is traditionally worn by Arabs. These scarfs are called kaffiyehs. The company has stopped the ad in result of right wing bloggers and commentators saying that the scarf represents characteristics that terrorists harbor. Since when does a scarf--or any other clothing--mean anyone is a terrorist?
It is ridiculous that an ad was removed over this scarf. First off--my friends and family will vouch--I really dislike Rachel Ray's show; in fact if its on the TV I switch it off immediately. I dislike her over-animated and giddy style. Even though I dislike her show, I think there's a niche for her on Food TV and now on daytime television.
I think it is insane that any article of clothing insight's terrorism, or is representative of terrorism when the clothing is usually worn by a collective culture. I mean that would be like saying all blonds are horrible people--that statement makes no sense. Furthermore, I find it ironic that the kaffiyehs scarves are fashionable. They should be since they're beautifully made and have pretty designs on them.
For the Associated Press article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Dunkin-Donuts-Ad-Pulled.html?scp=1&sq=dunkin+donuts&st=nyt
If Ray is a terrorist, then most of my friends are too. All of them seem to have multiple scarves, since its part of popular fashion right now in the US, Europe, and, believe it or not, South America.
Furthermore, I think this demonstrates our misunderstanding of Arab culture more than anything. Part of the reason why they're the fashion now is that the handiwork of these scarves is amazing. In America, we are a nation built by the complex mix of people from all walks of life and all parts of the world. We're supposed to harbor this respect to all of the cultures and integrate them into our unique mixed American identity. We are a country that was born out of varied identities, why would a scarf be a threat now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfMLqHCsEf8&feature=related
This is an excerpt fromt The View talking about it.
I like one of the points that was made on the view about the Holocaust. In Denmark the president during WWII wore a yellow star. Therefore everyone else in the country did, too, which made it impossible for the Nazi's to know who was Jewish and who wasn't. (I don't know the validity of this claim, I want to do some checking). However the point remains, we all should buy these scarves and wear them.
Fellow bloggers, blog about this. Ask people to also encourage wearing the scarves as a sign of cultural unity.
It is ridiculous that an ad was removed over this scarf. First off--my friends and family will vouch--I really dislike Rachel Ray's show; in fact if its on the TV I switch it off immediately. I dislike her over-animated and giddy style. Even though I dislike her show, I think there's a niche for her on Food TV and now on daytime television.
I think it is insane that any article of clothing insight's terrorism, or is representative of terrorism when the clothing is usually worn by a collective culture. I mean that would be like saying all blonds are horrible people--that statement makes no sense. Furthermore, I find it ironic that the kaffiyehs scarves are fashionable. They should be since they're beautifully made and have pretty designs on them.
For the Associated Press article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline
If Ray is a terrorist, then most of my friends are too. All of them seem to have multiple scarves, since its part of popular fashion right now in the US, Europe, and, believe it or not, South America.
Furthermore, I think this demonstrates our misunderstanding of Arab culture more than anything. Part of the reason why they're the fashion now is that the handiwork of these scarves is amazing. In America, we are a nation built by the complex mix of people from all walks of life and all parts of the world. We're supposed to harbor this respect to all of the cultures and integrate them into our unique mixed American identity. We are a country that was born out of varied identities, why would a scarf be a threat now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
This is an excerpt fromt The View talking about it.
I like one of the points that was made on the view about the Holocaust. In Denmark the president during WWII wore a yellow star. Therefore everyone else in the country did, too, which made it impossible for the Nazi's to know who was Jewish and who wasn't. (I don't know the validity of this claim, I want to do some checking). However the point remains, we all should buy these scarves and wear them.
Fellow bloggers, blog about this. Ask people to also encourage wearing the scarves as a sign of cultural unity.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Reflection about México -- 8 Feb 2008
Before leaving the states, I thought it would be important to contextualize my experiences with traveling and studying abroad.
Last year was the first time I was out of the country, and it was exciting! I studied in Cuernavaca, México with Universal for 3.5 weeks and then travelled to México City for a week before returning home.
The experience was quite good for several reasons. After studying Spanish for several years, I feel it really helped me develop a different linguistic and cultural understanding of the people behind the language. You can learn how to translate every word of another language, in fact computers can do this; what separates a fluent person from a computer is that we can go beyond the literal translation and make sense of the cultural metaphor, which is in essence how we communicate.
Take for example two particular events from the trip. First La día de la Virgen Guadalupe, or Day of the (Patron saint) Virgin Guadelupe. Virgin Guadalupe became the patron saint after a miracle was formed. This is perhaps one of the most spiritual holy days for Mexicans. Most Mexicans go to mass on this day, prepare special foods, and put rose petals on the graves of loved ones.
Another example is the tradition of Las Posadas. Posadas is a great tradition I also learned about in High School Spanish. The weeks before Christmas each local parish and/or street (depending on the town/city) reinacts Mary and Joseph's sojourn to Bethlehem. In many parishes, its a special honor for a the girl in the town to be chosen as Mary. This celebration becomes a social celebration for the town block. The young and old come out together and join the Posadas parade, followed by the ceremonial breaking of the piñata and drinking poncho. (Poncho is a hot cider-like drink with spices, fruit and sugar cane in it.) This is another example of how the Mexican community comes together as a group or family for celebrations.
For both of these examples, I recall learning about this holiday when I was in my High School spanish class (taught by on of my favorite HS teachers Sra. Shuey). She always included culture in the study of language. Even though I was aware of the holidays and could tell you a lot about them, I never was able to "understand" their full purposes before I experienced them.
I think this gets at the heart to why it is good to study abroad: Books can only teach you so much about a given topic, what we each need to learn something fully is to experience the world. This changed my perspective on the world, I process the world through a different lense.
I think it also taught me another valuable lesson about respecting other people's lives. I think all cultures to some extent are centered on our lives and our way of life. While this can be helpful, I think we need to push beyond our culture and push towards a cultural understanding of acceptance of difference. We may be have different cultural identities such as American, Mexican, Argentine, or Nepalese, or different religions, but at the end of the day we're all humans. We're all on this planet together. At the risk of sounding like a bleeding heart (which I probably am), we need learn about each other, understand our differences and similarities, and accept every person for their own unique characteristics we each bring to the world. If we could do this, the world would look very different.
As I challenge myself to engage in another cultures social quirks head-on, I challenge us all to acknowledge the differences between us and celebrate them. After all, if we were all the same, this nation--and world--would be boring.
Last year was the first time I was out of the country, and it was exciting! I studied in Cuernavaca, México with Universal for 3.5 weeks and then travelled to México City for a week before returning home.
The experience was quite good for several reasons. After studying Spanish for several years, I feel it really helped me develop a different linguistic and cultural understanding of the people behind the language. You can learn how to translate every word of another language, in fact computers can do this; what separates a fluent person from a computer is that we can go beyond the literal translation and make sense of the cultural metaphor, which is in essence how we communicate.
Take for example two particular events from the trip. First La día de la Virgen Guadalupe, or Day of the (Patron saint) Virgin Guadelupe. Virgin Guadalupe became the patron saint after a miracle was formed. This is perhaps one of the most spiritual holy days for Mexicans. Most Mexicans go to mass on this day, prepare special foods, and put rose petals on the graves of loved ones.
Another example is the tradition of Las Posadas. Posadas is a great tradition I also learned about in High School Spanish. The weeks before Christmas each local parish and/or street (depending on the town/city) reinacts Mary and Joseph's sojourn to Bethlehem. In many parishes, its a special honor for a the girl in the town to be chosen as Mary. This celebration becomes a social celebration for the town block. The young and old come out together and join the Posadas parade, followed by the ceremonial breaking of the piñata and drinking poncho. (Poncho is a hot cider-like drink with spices, fruit and sugar cane in it.) This is another example of how the Mexican community comes together as a group or family for celebrations.
For both of these examples, I recall learning about this holiday when I was in my High School spanish class (taught by on of my favorite HS teachers Sra. Shuey). She always included culture in the study of language. Even though I was aware of the holidays and could tell you a lot about them, I never was able to "understand" their full purposes before I experienced them.
I think this gets at the heart to why it is good to study abroad: Books can only teach you so much about a given topic, what we each need to learn something fully is to experience the world. This changed my perspective on the world, I process the world through a different lense.
I think it also taught me another valuable lesson about respecting other people's lives. I think all cultures to some extent are centered on our lives and our way of life. While this can be helpful, I think we need to push beyond our culture and push towards a cultural understanding of acceptance of difference. We may be have different cultural identities such as American, Mexican, Argentine, or Nepalese, or different religions, but at the end of the day we're all humans. We're all on this planet together. At the risk of sounding like a bleeding heart (which I probably am), we need learn about each other, understand our differences and similarities, and accept every person for their own unique characteristics we each bring to the world. If we could do this, the world would look very different.
As I challenge myself to engage in another cultures social quirks head-on, I challenge us all to acknowledge the differences between us and celebrate them. After all, if we were all the same, this nation--and world--would be boring.
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