Monthly Archives: September 2014

What does dressing nicely even mean?

The way women dress has been a subject of controversy in many different cultures, religions, etc. Certain religions require complete coverage of all parts of a woman’s body. While Western societies interpret this as a misogynistic cage for women’s clothing, the cultures who practice this trend simply consider it to be respectable, standard, and average.
In India, for example, women tend to dress very conservatively. When I go there in the summer (keep in mind how incredibly close to the equator it is), I have to bring pants and baggy shirts to wear in the streets. Lesser clothing implies many things: a lower caste, a call for attention, and danger. Although castes have been explicitly eradicated from society, the implications still exist there. However, it bothers me how women should not seek attention. This notion is supported by how it is a safety precaution, but could also imply that women deserve no positive attention? So the definition of well dressed is very different for my grandma than it is for me. I completely conform to Indian ideals when I visit, mostly for my safety, but I think it’s completely unfair how women there have to change the way they dress because people will judge otherwise.
This brings me to my Facebook profile. I have to be very careful with what I share with my relatives in India, mostly because they’ll think I’m bringing bad attention to my family name. Here, the idea is that flaunting a body is motivation to stay healthy and fit. Even the jeans that I wear could be considered too tight therefore adding a blemish to my family name, my caste etc. While safety is a valid concern, it frustrates me that men in India can wear quantitatively less clothing and still receive more social acceptance than a woman dressed “properly”. I’m still struggling to decide where I stand on this subject, but experiencing two different cultures has definitely opened my mind. The differences between two cultures can be be boiled down simply to the way people dress. It’s hard to be “worldly” when the mere ideas of beauty, respect and rights are defined so differently but blogs like this one make me reminisce and synthesize these two different ideologies.

Speech do’s and don’ts: Post Speech

The civic artifact speech was kind of a difficult project. First off, the rubric is very subjective because I have no idea what the difference between “average” and “good” is, and therefore didn’t exactly give a standard. Also, it is difficult to give a thoughtful reflection on a certain topic in such a short amount of time, but that way we had no excuse to not memorize the speech considering how short it is.

Elements of speeches which I thought were successful are:

1. Standing in front of the podium
2. Having a memorized speech
3. Powerpoint with picture, no words

I thought it was better when people were more mobile in front of the podium as opposed to stuck behind it. This leads into my second point. Most of those who stood behind the podium did not have the speech memorized and likely had notes or the speech itself typed in front of them and had the podium to hide it. I think only Obama should be allowed to do this… Anyway, I this cue cards should serve the purpose of exactly that: cues. A memorized speech should only require about 3 small notecards with cue words. I also found that powerpoints with many words made the speech more of a presentation as opposed to a speech. I liked when people used only one picture and simply referred to details about it.

Unsuccessful elements I noticed:

1. Adding a casual/non rehearsed tone
2. Tangents
3. Refutes to above successes (standing awkwardly, no memorization, too many ppt slides)

To successfully present a formal speech is a little bit difficult considering one must not sound preachy, but it needs to interact with the audience and not turn into a presentation of a project (like high school). However, in efforts to not make it monotone I and others tried adding a casual tone and it often resulted in um’s and pauses which pretty much hurt us. This also lead to awkward tangents which often times digressed from the question, and with so little time this was a big mistakes. Also, there were examples of people who did not do the successes I listed above, like standing in an awkward spot, printing a speech and literally pasting it onto a notecard, and too many powerpoint slides treating Project 1 like the presentation of an essay as opposed to a discussion of a civic artifact.

Just because I’m not an eagle scout doesn’t mean I can’t go camping.

Firefly
I love the outdoors. I love to camp, kayak, swim in lakes, hike, etc. However, as the title implies, I am not a boy scout and I think the reason I like this kind of adventure and am not high maintenance enough to care about being dirty (as most non eagle scouts are apparently suppose to be), is because of the amount I’ve travelled to India. I’m going to be honest, India is a dirty country considering the amount of people crammed into one space. What is normal here is luxury there, so I am accustomed to adjustment. Also, the travel usually takes about 24 hours, meaning very little sleep, uncomfortable cramps, dehydration because of airplane AC, etc. Again because of the billion people that live there, the drive from the airport to where we stay usually takes about 5 hours when really it’s only 90 miles away and in America that would take an hour and a half. Complications like so make me easily adjusted to grime and for that reason, I have been able to appreciate the outdoors without thinking of the usual distastes people account for outside.
This leads me to my exciting time camping for four days, without shower, in the middle of a grass field with 100,000 other people (probably less prepared than I was) within a 2 mile radius: The Firefly Music festival. I loved camping at this festival because every day I would have to walk two miles back for food, cook it on a propane burner, and sleep next to a tree stump. The creators of the festival only accounted for 80,000 people and this time there were 20,000 more so naturally they cut down a forest to make a “camp ground”. I really enjoyed camping and my site mates did too, but at some points I was who they turned to for direction.
For example, when cooking eggs one morning, I went to change for one minute in a tent having told my camp mates to watch the pan, and came back to the grass on fire. I’m really happy to have gotten the travel experience, not only to experience new cultures but to learn the idea of adjustment, because situations like Firefly are exciting for me and I don’t light the grass on fire. I’m most thankful to appear as a problem solver not because I have solved thousands of problems, but because I’ve experienced many different types.
In Malcolm Gladwells book “Outliers” he says how practicing something 10,000 times will guarantee success. Critical thinking cannot be practiced 10,000 times but is instead acquired through a certain environment, and I’m lucky enough to have been born into that environment. It directed me on how to survive four days in a sea of hippies and even towards my major selection (engineering).

So keep in mind that Eagle scouts are not the only people who are allowed to love camping.

Education in America

The way Ifem describes school in America is completely correct and exactly what I see it as too. The other day when scheduling classes for next semester, I have already experienced that if I change my major, my schedule will change. Sure, “C’s get degrees” and if I’m in a major and graduate with a degree, I’ll get a job. But why did I have to decide exactly how I’d spend my life a week ago? I don’t know that yet, and I can see why Ifem was disconcerted by how everyone acted while at college.
It seems in Nigeria an education is solely about getting a degree, and because of that, things like class participation and the expenses of college dawned more on her than her peers. Here in America, college is paying for more than just a degree, and is considered to be an adventure of four years most everyone should try to achieve. In Nigeria, Ifem treated University as solely her learning place and nothing more.
Her description compares to PSU and she would probably be more astonished here. The culture in State College is like no other. People are always being social, joining groups (whether Greek life or a math study group), and because there are so many people around, it is clearly evident how much more PSU is than solely an education. For example, something like the day of a football game would surprise Ifem and make her wonder why so much effort and time are spent celebrating a sport, when there are things to be learned, or bills to be paid. I just think in college in America, it takes until perhaps your junior year to understand that in a mere two years you will be living real life. This may have been something Ifem realized too early, or that the idea of leisure was not concurrent with a rigorous education in Nigeria.

Being Stranded in Amsterdam

Amsterdam CanalsI was born in America but both of my parents are from India. I travel there frequently, Marathi was my first language, and I consider myself to be a part of two cultures. This results in a very unique me, meaning some of my experiences sometimes differ from others also born and raised in America. I have realized that because of my experiences with India I was enlightened to how fascinating other cultures of the world are and learning new languages also comes easy to me, which leads me to participating in the French exchange at my school.

After the exchange I came back with 20 euros (France is expensive…) and was flying to India in four days. Having traveled a lot my parents did not mind sending me alone because they appreciate that I have a love for their country despite being born here. However, my dad refused to let me handle my own logistics with the plane ticket, passport, and visas. First off, having moved here and started a new life from scratch, he is pretty confident in his traveling abilities. Second, even though I just got back safe and sound from a trip to France with my friends, he felt it was too much for me to figure out. Therefore, I took what papers and official IDs he gave me and flew to Amsterdam. As soon as I find my next terminal, do some homework, and try boarding the plane, I was denied access. Turns out, my parents gave me an expired Indian visa.

This is my 20th hour awake, and I have to call my parents 3am America time to figure out what to do next. Eventually, my parents were able to book a hotel overseas, with many many phone calls, a trip to the airport basement to find my luggage, and a mile walk with 2 fifty pound suitcases I finally found a place to sleep. However, the story gets better. My paranoid parents decided that a sleep deprived someone who’s navigated the Schipol airport after just traveling home from another European country could not manage to make it to the hotel. Therefore, they requested the manager of the hotel to key into my room and wake me up to ensure I was okay. This was after being awake for 30 hours straight. I was not happy.

In defiance (this may have been a little stupid…), I used those 20 euros, took a train to the city, ate a 9 euro lasagna for dinner, drank some wine, and went to sleep. I don’t think I ever told my parents about that part. Coming from my background though, I never felt this experience to be difficult, because for me it was an adventure. The reason for my passion blog is to point out how some very unusual things or perspectives happen to or upon me because of my background, and this first post sums it up perfectly.

Speeches that make you laugh

Ellen Degeneres’s 2009 commencement speech for Tulane University is one speech I am very happy to have discovered one day. Every time I watch it I start laughing at my computer and it is a great way to forget about all the homework I have to do tonight. She manages to share her story and make a point to stay true to yourself while continuing to make it a light and funny speech. The rhetoric to be humorous is something I think is very difficult to accomplish but she succeeds flawlessly.

She connects with the students by referencing their graduation parties while also referencing their overcoming of hurricane Katrina. She creates humor by purposely using bad rhetoric by saying things like “In conclusion to my conclusion”. Sometimes, she rationalizes things like “So really what I’m saying is when you’re older you’ll all be gay”, again creating humor. So perhaps the rhetoric she is using is slightly self deprecating by purposely making mistakes.

When sharing her life story, she uses an anecdote and then connects her struggle, a very unique story which normally would not be relatable, to a general piece of advice to tie her speech together as a whole, to not give into peer pressure and understand that their futures will be okay. What makes her speech a success is the combination of humor that references civic events her audience has overcome together and also celebrated together (Katrina, parties). I actually found this while finding inspiration for a commencement speech I could have given, and although I am not as hilarious as Ellen, it was refreshing to watch.

Civic Spaces in “Americanah”

A civic space Ifem is very attached to is her University in Nsukka. She did not treat it as Obinze’s home but rather as her University. I thought it was important that she received her first education alongside Obinze but never defined that space by Obinze. Although he was a large part of her life there she always called Nsukka “University”. She was not only learning academically but she was out of her life at home constricted to her lower income family and could learn a little about herself as well. I think this space served as her “university” not only academically but also because she learned how to be an adult, how much she relied on Obinze, and sometimes the unfortunate realities of life she knew existed at home but something her father tried his hardest to conceal from her. For example, she expected to be in a flowering breadth of knowledge at University but the strikes kept lasting longer and longer interfering with her education. It was not what she expected from her education but accepted it as a reality. I can relate to this in that I did not realize how college is much more than just academics. It is a social game and I am lucky to have my academics so solidly grounded at my University that I only have to worry myself about community involvement. Both Ifem and I realized that a civic space is almost always more than its definition. University is a community in itself and almost always more than simply the academics.

Passion Blog Ideas

My passion blog will be about the perspective of a first generation immigrants’ child. It mostly surrounds how adjustment comes easy to me and will sometimes discuss race and culture. I want to keep it a broad topic because there is a lot I want to write about.

I have about 10 topics for blog posts but eventually they will condense into less as I develop my ideas more. The following are my most developed post ideas:

1. Stranded in Amsterdam
2. The American Invention of Suburbia

The blog post I am most excited to write is about a crazy experience of mine. The most hilarious thing happened to me: I was stranded in Amsterdam alone with 20 euros to spare. My idea behind this post is to explain how the situation was not difficult for me to handle and how ironically I ended up in this situation. The irony is important because it is in conjunction with the subject of this blog: independence and adjustability. This situation is also the most obvious example of how someone who is accustomed to immediate change can react to a situation like this.

My second idea was observed after seeing different cultures around the world and realizing that what most American families live in is not normal as a civic space globally. Suburbia was created after transportation improved and cars were created. I experienced the absence of suburbia in France and India. I also want to briefly discuss how although America is a “melting pot” it is probably the least similar in every day life to most other countries. Perhaps it concerns the American revolution and a non British influence? My blog post will explore these ideas.

Chapter 3 Rhetorical Activities

Question 2:
Consider Jon Stewart’s point about the state of argument in America today. Have you encountered any examples recently of argument-that’s-not-really-argument? How can you tell the theatrical sort of argument from the rhetorically engaged?

I have most definitely encountered examples in my life that illustrate his point exactly. I didn’t quite realize it was a question of rhetoric of why people engage in such contrived/theatrical social engagement until I read this chapter.

First of all, I think it’s really ridiculous how an opinion is not considered a valid addition to an argument. That notion sets us up to make theatrics from argument. One example I have seen on a college campus is the idea of rushing for a fraternity or sorority. The act of recruitment is literally socializing where other parts of rhetoric like proofs and all sorts of communication/expression (body language, manners, clothing) appear to be unique and invented arguments to recruit freshman into their sororities or fraternities but in reality are very theatrical. Today in my mailbox I got a pamphlet about Greek Life. One page shows me pictures of what clothes to wear during rush. The idea behind rush is that those young women who present themselves properly will receive a bid to the best sororities, but it’s all theatrics.

Ironically enough, I can think of a very obvious example of a rhetorically engaged argument that also happens in a college setting in Greek life. Boys are not allowed into fraternity parties and if at all require a “ratio” of girls much higher than the number of boys. Either way, boys who reject this ratio system try their hardest and usually those with successful rhetoric can accomplish the end goal: entering the frat house. It may involve flattery, intelligence about the greek life system, sperrys and a vineyard vines shirt; students with a copia and proper delivery succeed. Often times people who can “cheat the system” like this, or make things progress in ways contrary from popular opinion, are considered manipulative. In reality, they are just using rhetoric.