Dear Readers of Erinia Jourdanski Semiotician to the Stars:
Don't be a statistic!
I have recently been gorging myself on popular nonfiction titles and then walking around with a grid of statistics in my head, drowning in waves of socio-cultural theory that seem to insert themselves in every conversation or interaction I have. Spending the last week in San Francisco and musing with my friends, and every topic (men, culture, society,the environment, children, work, appearance) seemed to reflect back a certain sense of frustration we all have with our living situations whether it is consumerism, being at war, inequality, relationships, lack of connection, community, no health care, or just general malaise. So-
I think that returning to the United States after my time in Europe and also returning to 'The United States of Suburban Illinois' sort of led me to wonder...what is this place? How does this place work? Why does this suburban America make me uncomfortable? Why do I see disconnect and strange built-in hypocrisy everywhere, and in myself...starting with body vs. mind and nature vs. nurture to city vs. country, individual vs. society. It is just mind boggling to me, yet inspirational. Build a healthy body, a healthy home for the soul and spirit, build healthy homes as a solid structure for the individual in society, build healthy society that has a positive interaction with the environment, plants and animals and other societies. Without a cornerstone it all begins to decay, crumble and distort.
I am one of those Generation X, over educated, ex dot com, boomerang, single people trying to ask some of the questions that have been around for thousands of years...What is a just life? What is a just society? And given the chance to re-create my life from "ground zero post academia" what would I *want* it to look like, feel like, hold dear, evoke, contribute, idealize?
So, being a good, studious, ex-anthropology student, and as I like to call myself, "Glamorous Nerd" I have tried to read my way in and out of these questions.
The books and what I learned.
Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks uses cultural criticism to explain our current cultural confusion. The formula looks like this: 60s liberalism + 80s consumerism = 90s and 2000s Starbucks, REI's, Jamba Juice-esque social consumerism. It is about how idealism and greed met half way and put together some sort of truce that makes both feel ok, but not truly happy. One can't enjoy excess without morality, one can't enjoy freedom without being realistic.
The Unhooked Generation by Jillian Straus (oooh, the truth about why you are still single!) I was a bit embarassed at first to read this book but I actually quite liked it. If you ever get the strange feeling that there is something weird going on in relationships today, and if you are looking for the social/cultural factors for why you feel so dissasociated from others this is a great listing of the factors that create that feeling. (Such as: Speed dating/ Multiple Choice/ Celebrity/ Consumer Culture). This book is sort of a...its not you...its not him...take a serious look at society and how we treat each other type book.
Female Chauvenist Pigs by Ariel Levy talks about how women have taken in aspects of male chauvenist culture whether it is Girls Gone Wild, going to strip clubs, watching pornography, or general "acting like a man" in situations. I have been ummm guilty of a few of these and it took a while for me to realize just how desperate, needy and low our culture is...and how it often feels like an endless tumble to the bottom of the barrel. A very interesting book, valid in its analysis such
as the "inadvertent effects of feminism" which is politically incorrect to discuss, a hot button topic, and definitely one of my favorite fuel for the fire conversations. Up there with Madonna---empowered woman or corporate shill?) Chicken and the egg anyone? Fast food attention, anyone? C'mon, we've all been there, now we all need to grow out of it.
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin. She is an autistic animal behavior expert who posits that many of the aspects of being autistic has helped her to better understand how animals "see" things. Animals, since they do not have language, see in pictures, very much as she says she does. The book delves into social science and biology...you start reading about how to train dogs and build slaughter houses for cows and all of the sudden we are looking at the ramifications of the neocortex on human evolution. Another highly recommended book, for anyone who loves animals or has an autistic person in their life.
Are Men Necessary? by the lovely Maureen Dowd. She's smart, sassy and writing in a man's world. Hello everyone, sexism still exists and stings just as bad on the top. Science, advances in equality, and time have forced men and women to look each other in the eye as both the ultimate partners and ultimate enemies. Gender relations are one of the most fascinating things out there---ask anyone---your parents will tell you "how different it used to be," your friends will tell you how mindboggling it is to date, science tell you that our brains are the same yet different, that one can do math and one can read, that our hormones are making both of us crazy, we are melding together and coming apart at the seams. Truly and endlessly interesting, and accessable for everyone...just go to your local coffee shop and watch.
Don't be a statistic!
I have recently been gorging myself on popular nonfiction titles and then walking around with a grid of statistics in my head, drowning in waves of socio-cultural theory that seem to insert themselves in every conversation or interaction I have. Spending the last week in San Francisco and musing with my friends, and every topic (men, culture, society,the environment, children, work, appearance) seemed to reflect back a certain sense of frustration we all have with our living situations whether it is consumerism, being at war, inequality, relationships, lack of connection, community, no health care, or just general malaise. So-
I think that returning to the United States after my time in Europe and also returning to 'The United States of Suburban Illinois' sort of led me to wonder...what is this place? How does this place work? Why does this suburban America make me uncomfortable? Why do I see disconnect and strange built-in hypocrisy everywhere, and in myself...starting with body vs. mind and nature vs. nurture to city vs. country, individual vs. society. It is just mind boggling to me, yet inspirational. Build a healthy body, a healthy home for the soul and spirit, build healthy homes as a solid structure for the individual in society, build healthy society that has a positive interaction with the environment, plants and animals and other societies. Without a cornerstone it all begins to decay, crumble and distort.
I am one of those Generation X, over educated, ex dot com, boomerang, single people trying to ask some of the questions that have been around for thousands of years...What is a just life? What is a just society? And given the chance to re-create my life from "ground zero post academia" what would I *want* it to look like, feel like, hold dear, evoke, contribute, idealize?
So, being a good, studious, ex-anthropology student, and as I like to call myself, "Glamorous Nerd" I have tried to read my way in and out of these questions.
The books and what I learned.
Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks uses cultural criticism to explain our current cultural confusion. The formula looks like this: 60s liberalism + 80s consumerism = 90s and 2000s Starbucks, REI's, Jamba Juice-esque social consumerism. It is about how idealism and greed met half way and put together some sort of truce that makes both feel ok, but not truly happy. One can't enjoy excess without morality, one can't enjoy freedom without being realistic.
The Unhooked Generation by Jillian Straus (oooh, the truth about why you are still single!) I was a bit embarassed at first to read this book but I actually quite liked it. If you ever get the strange feeling that there is something weird going on in relationships today, and if you are looking for the social/cultural factors for why you feel so dissasociated from others this is a great listing of the factors that create that feeling. (Such as: Speed dating/ Multiple Choice/ Celebrity/ Consumer Culture). This book is sort of a...its not you...its not him...take a serious look at society and how we treat each other type book.
Female Chauvenist Pigs by Ariel Levy talks about how women have taken in aspects of male chauvenist culture whether it is Girls Gone Wild, going to strip clubs, watching pornography, or general "acting like a man" in situations. I have been ummm guilty of a few of these and it took a while for me to realize just how desperate, needy and low our culture is...and how it often feels like an endless tumble to the bottom of the barrel. A very interesting book, valid in its analysis such
as the "inadvertent effects of feminism" which is politically incorrect to discuss, a hot button topic, and definitely one of my favorite fuel for the fire conversations. Up there with Madonna---empowered woman or corporate shill?) Chicken and the egg anyone? Fast food attention, anyone? C'mon, we've all been there, now we all need to grow out of it.
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin. She is an autistic animal behavior expert who posits that many of the aspects of being autistic has helped her to better understand how animals "see" things. Animals, since they do not have language, see in pictures, very much as she says she does. The book delves into social science and biology...you start reading about how to train dogs and build slaughter houses for cows and all of the sudden we are looking at the ramifications of the neocortex on human evolution. Another highly recommended book, for anyone who loves animals or has an autistic person in their life.
Are Men Necessary? by the lovely Maureen Dowd. She's smart, sassy and writing in a man's world. Hello everyone, sexism still exists and stings just as bad on the top. Science, advances in equality, and time have forced men and women to look each other in the eye as both the ultimate partners and ultimate enemies. Gender relations are one of the most fascinating things out there---ask anyone---your parents will tell you "how different it used to be," your friends will tell you how mindboggling it is to date, science tell you that our brains are the same yet different, that one can do math and one can read, that our hormones are making both of us crazy, we are melding together and coming apart at the seams. Truly and endlessly interesting, and accessable for everyone...just go to your local coffee shop and watch.
So what does it all mean? I think that may be a separate posting. Or that I am in the beginning of my education about learning to interpret the world. A semiotician to the stars has fallen to earth, somebody get me David Bowie.
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