Modern myths

When I was little my mom would read me bedtime stories, my favorite was Perseus and Medusa. I used to think that "Clash of Titans" was the best movie ever made, and I almost became a Classics major at UCSB. I always thought Enkidu got screwed and found it funny that every culture seems to have some type of Cinderella story. I've always loved mythology, any type from any region.

So while doing a paper for 290 I found it interesting that many scholars argue that the media are the new myth makers. Myths aren't just fantastic stories from the ancient world, instead they are stories told to help maintain the social order. They don't have to be fiction, instead current mythology explains the unexplainable, brings reasons to events, and helps maintain the status quo.

You can find the main myths in papers and broadcast news all over the country. The article I read mainly looked at the New York Times after September 11. The four main myths used were the end of innocence, the victim, the hero and a foreboding future. The victim could be you if circumstances were different, the hero (emergency workers mainly) have all the best qualities of society and are fearless leaders, in the end of innocence the utopia you once lived in is gone forever and you'll have to get used to a completely different normal, and a foreboding future warns you of strife to come and that this isn't the end of the pain and sacrifice. You see the hero and the victim in news a lot, but the end of innocence and a foreboding future not so often.

The one that I found rather disturbing was a foreboding future. It sets the society up for a future that they know is going to be hard. In the case of 9/11 it warns the reader that tough times are coming, that everyone had to be vigilant, that we had to be careful because an attack could come from anywhere. It got people ready for America to invade Afghanistan. A news paper primed the public for war.

I'm sure it has been done before and will be done again, but I don't know how I feel about that.

The myths that the Times created helped people deal with an act that seemed senseless. It helped them cope with loss, heal and come together as a nation. Mythology gives people a sense of belonging, you can relate to the story, you recognize the archetypes and know what to expect. Mythology isn't dead it's alive and well in journalism.


*Lule, Jack (2002). Myth and terror on the editorial page: The New York Times responds to Sept. 11. 2001.

Speaking of lame, oh wait

I've heard of banning books, and movies but never parts of speech. Apparently Brazil's Federal District Governor Jose Roberto Arruda has banned the use of present participles. Ok he didn't ban them from the entire country just government documents, because of inefficiency. That's great, basically anything ending in 'ing.' I thought our government got bogged down in frivolous pursuits but this wins. good thing Brazil has no other problems to worry about.

Rules of Debate

Seminar classes can sometimes be enjoyable because of the debates they produce. If you like to argue they can be rather enjoyable. But some people don't realize that there are some niceties that must be observed.

Ok when debating someone here are a few of the lamest things you can do:

1. Pull figures out of your ass, yes I could do this too but I’m only saying what I know to be fact, your 89% of randomness fact should be backed up by a source.
2. Don’t start off sentences with “as you know…” it’s manipulative and lame, no I don’t know that that’s why we’re arguing about it (especially if you are using it every other sentence)
3. Use hypothetical situations, if it hasn’t happened don’t try to assume you know what would happen, you can argue what ifs until you die but it doesn’t mean anything.
4. Try to win an argument with volume alone, this should be an intelligent conversation not a shouting match. Being louder does not make you right.
5. Try to form your arguments, they should be coherent, it shouldn’t take you an hour to say no you’re wrong. After two minutes cue the music.
6. Yes we know that you are the most informed person about every single issue, but if you are in a seminar setting you personally don’t have to comment on every single issue, let other people have a say.
7. If race or sex have nothing to do with the issue, don’t bring them up.
8. And the metric system is just plain better.

Congratulations!

I want to send out my congratulations to Jerry Roberts who will be receiving The PEN Society's First Amendment award on November 6th at a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Former editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press, before the meltdown, and current publisher of the Daily Nexxus, UCSB's daily paper. An amazing guy and a wonderful teacher. I took a class with him last fall and really enjoyed it.

So I wanted to say congratulations and good luck with McCaw.

And come to find out the smell of eggs makes both of us think we're in trouble, yeah something in common.

Wow, just wow

So I've done my best bit of procrastinating ever. I admit I'm a procrastinator but I haven't raised it to the fine art that some others have, until today. tomorrow, no wait today I have a miniature literature (ha that rhymes!) review and presentation due in my MCOM 290 class and I still can't even bring myself to read the studies. It's 10 minutes to 3:00 a.m. and I'm fooling around on the Internet. It's almost as if I'm seeing what kind of grade I can get on a shitty paper. And tomorrow, crap no today, I will find out. The presentation has me a little worried, not enough to do anything about it but I guess we'll see how it goes. I should really take this more seriously, technically this is my most important class of the semester. Also least favorite.

I should have just gone back and gotten another bachelor's degree, I love my undergraduate classes.

And why isn't anyone up right now?

Oops

The main joy of grad school is the obscene amount of reading. Of course it really doesn't help that I tend to wait until the last minute to do my reading every week. This week not only do I have a copious amount of reading but I also have a mini literature review to do and a presentation in class. And yesterday I started to gather all my reading materials together so that I could pile it together and stare at it mournfully before putting it off for another day, when I found that I didn't have the main book that I have to do my presentation on.

Well sure it's half way through the semester and I probably should have purchased all the material for class already but I've been distracted. So I headed down to San Jose to purchase the required $80 book. And come to find out the bookstore closes at 3:00 p.m., it was 3:02. So of course I pounded on the door until someone came by. And then I had to beg and plead and still he wouldn't let me in, and instead went and got his manager.

So I'm waiting outside of the student center, dear god it smells like carnies and death out there, and finally some chick comes out. She looks at me and tells me in her most condescending voice, "I'm sorry but we've already been closed for five minutes."

Shit, what was I thinking? Five minutes! She probably could have written the book I need in such an expansive amount of time. So I have to fight down the sarcasm open the eyes really wide and beg and plead again.

Finally with an audible sigh she lets me in. I run down the stairs to the MCOM section and start searching frantically. I stare at the empty section where my book is supposed to be, it takes a few seconds for reality to process, the book isn't there. As I walk out of the store the chick glares at me so I wave and smile.

I grab my friends and walk over to Robert's books store, which is also closed. I console myself with some nacho fries dipped in yummy fat at Iguanas. I then head to a party and try to forget about the massive F I will receive on Monday.

Sunday rolls around and I decide to check out the library, hoping and praying they can help me out before I'm royally screwed. I get into my car turn the key and nothing happens. Ok not nothing, the tachometer and odometer start shaking like crazy. Wonderful I get out of the car, check the fuses and realize I'm screwed. Another week with Caltrain.

So I steal A's Blazer and head to the library. And nope they don't have the book either, but I was able to find it online for full price. So that kind of blows but at least I can do my assignment after I'm done slacking off. Did I mention I have about 200 pages to read before the library closes?

If you don't want to hear the answer, should you not ask the question? Even if you are asking yourself?

Name Calling

I’m weird, if I get along with someone I’m usually mean to him or her. Not viciously mean but pretty sarcastic. I like arguing, especially with someone that can hold their own; you don’t want to argue with someone if you know it will reduce them to tears.

One of my favorite antagonists was a guy I used to work with, he was a cool guy that was fun to argue with because he always had some random facts, usually gleaned from animal planet, that could shut me up pretty quick. That and he also liked to argue, about everything.

The reason he is my favorite because once when we were sparring, and after some heated words he called me bellicose. It sounds like such a pretty word, almost a compliment, for a second I was flattered. But no, it means hostile and war like.

The use of the word bellicose makes me think of warlike as in Boudica the Celtic queen who led her soldiers against the Romans and killed herself before being caught. I like this because visually I am anything but a warrior. I’m small and clumsy and I put fear into the hearts of nothing.

I’ve always been small, I was picked on in school and sarcasm became my defense. But I never felt that I was a fighter, I felt like I hid behind words, I always felt small.

But for a moment, to a guy who was much bigger than I, I was an adversary on an equal playing field. And I could hold my own.

Itching and books

Third day taking the train. It was a lot more relaxed almost enjoyable, I was able to do my homework on the way there and I didn't have to take the bus back as Chris was kind enough to give me a ride to the station. I grabbed a free Metro and settled down to read while I zipped along. I get about half way when I see a little black dot jumping on my leg. Yep I was getting attacked by fleas.

After twitching in disgust I got up and moved to another seat. It looked clean but now my suspicions were roused. The last half of my journey I spent constantly checking my seat for little invaders and brushing at my arms and legs. I was very happy to get off that train.

After a lovely trip on Caltrain I decided to get a book at Keplar's. The man working behind the counter had multiple items of flair, but I knew I couldn't mention it because he looked so serious. I don't think he'd even get the reference. How is it that a bunch of middle aged men work at a bookstore? And they all seemed so serious, lighten up you work in a book store, that's like my dream job although I'm pretty sure I would soon be fired for fondling the merchandise.

And other things that smell like urine

It’s 9:30 and I’m waiting at the San Jose Caltrain station until 10:30 p.m. for the next train. And I realize how much I miss my car. You would think that growing up with a father who is a bus driver I would have a little bit more appreciation for mass transit. When I was a little girl I always looked forward to take-your-daughter-to-work-days. I would swing on the bars and run up and down the aisles for hours. The passengers would tell me stories and then my dad would take me out to get an ice cream before we went home.

Now I get out of school around 8:30p.m. catch the 9:00 bus that gets me to the train station two minutes to late to catch the 9:10 train so instead I wait for another hour to catch the last train of the night at 10:30. The other riders are no longer smiling at me and telling me stories; instead everyone avoids eye contact and composes their faces in a carefully blank expression. All I want to do is get home and now I won’t be there till well after 11.

These last few days have killed the joy of public transport for me. It used to be so nice to ride the train into the city knowing I wouldn’t have to worry about parking. But now I will remember this boring night where there are only three other people in the station and they are talking in Spanish so I can’t listen in.

And I’m not so sure that Menlo Park feels like home. I’m not sure what it is but there is something missing there. I like the apartment but, I don’t know, it’s just not the same as Santa Barbara. I feel more connected with San Jose but that’s just because I spend all of my time there. I’m sure that after a few months I’ll like it better.

But I don’t know how long I’ll be there either. I’ve kind of gotten itchy feet, which I know A wont appreciate, although I’ve always had them I’ve just hidden them since I’ve been with A. After school I think I’d like to move to New York and live there for a few years but again A wont go for that. But that’s where all the magazines are. True a writer can write anywhere but to work on a magazine you have to be where that magazine is, very few people can survive off a freelance budget.

Oh the urine thing, mainly that was just the bus on the way over to Caltrain, how does a whole bus smell like pee?

More Bitching

I think I might have taken on a little too much. This semester I've decided to take two grad classes and two undergrad classes. MCOM 290 is going to completely kick my ass. The second day of class the teacher has boxes of paper brought in. Then she basically hands us each two reams of paper and lets us know that including our text books we will reading these as well. Oh joy. I mean other students have told me that this is the worst class I will be taking, but I just never realized how very wrong the class is. I think it will be one of those that as long as I pass without much scarring I will consider myself lucky. Of course if I could plan my time better the class would probably not be that hard. But I haven't even come up with a general idea for my thesis, and I'm supposed to come up with an intelligent question with which to base a thousand (slight exaggeration) page paper on?

And Access magazine is going to be one of those beloved pains. I love the class but it's going to be a large time investment and I think it's going to give me a decent headache. But it should be more than worth it. And yet I'm already scared that it might turn out to be horrible, it's hard to not try and take control of everything. But in the end if I did that it would probably turn out even worse than if I hold myself back and let people do their own jobs.

And now I really should get back to my homework, as painful as it is.

A Good R Movie is Not a Good PG-13 Movie

Ok I'm actually a pretty bug fan of sequels. I like the fact that a new Halloween comes out regularly or that ever 10 years you can expect another Romero movie (please let him live for at least 30 more years). But what makes me angry is when they make a sequel to an action/horror movie that was originally gory and cuss filled and then tone it down to reach a larger audience. Currently I am watching Die Hard and I loved the sequels (ok the second one wasn't that amazing but it still was good times), and the fourth one had so much potential and then they go and make it PG-13. To me that is a slap in the face to the fans who have faithfully watched over the years. Take for example Alien vs. Predator, which could have been awesome but instead they changed it to PG-13 and had the cameras cut away every time they killed someone, Boo!

Productivity at its finest

So today was the day at the magazine where we pick feature articles, and although it started off promising I think it kind of degenerated from there. Mainly we just ran out of time but it felt at the end we were just grabbing at any idea and throwing a writer at it. I guess I shouldn't worry too much as I feel we have a strong six or seven articles and if those work then I wont have to worry about the other ones as much. And that's the other thing that worries me, if we over-book the magazine and all of our authors come through how do we tell some of them that their article got cut? I put a lot of time into mine last semester and I would have been devastated if my editor told me they were no longer going to use it. Although if we have a website we could put them online, which I think they did last year, I'll have to look into that.

The Art of Unpacking

So A and I have been in our new apartment for almost two months. And we've been pretty pathetic in the unpacking department. Although we haven't had many weekends here its still no excuse, the truth of the matter is that we are both just lazy. So the only way we unpack is if someone comes to visit us. Thankfully (kind of) we've had a mad rush of people this month so we're doing better. Though we do still have so many boxes and I'm not sure what is in them or if we need them, because we've been doing pretty well without them so far. And A's parents are coming up tonight so we got a little more done but after tonight we don't have anyone visiting until the middle of October. So I'm pretty sure the unpacking will come to a dead halt after this weekend. But that doesn't mean I want anyone to come visit, I want a few weekends to myself. Of course it would also be nice to have my closet be full of clothes instead of piled high with boxes.

Me not write so pretty one day

So one of the reasons that i started this blog was to write more often and work on my grammar. But now that I'm taking an editing class I find myself fighting against learning what I was so desperately trying to improve. The grammar book is sitting next to me, beckoning me to open it and instead I stare passively at it and write in my blog instead. Oh well I'll try again at a later date.

It's 12:30 and I find myself easily distracted right now. Instead of doing my homework or going to sleep I find myself watching 'Sin City,' gratuitous violence helps relax me (I have issues). I sit here thinking that the Oscars need a few more categories like best action or comedy, not that 'Sin City' would win for either but it's late and I'm tired so my mind wanders. Anyways for those of us that really don't give a shit about gay cowboys eating pudding or people kissing in the rain, adding a few more categories for best action sequence or best fight would possibly make me want to watch it. Ok it wouldn't but still those actors should get some recognition for fun movies and not just the mellow dramatic crap that is normally nominated. Although I do want to add this caveat: I have horrible taste in movies.

And I'm Back

Well I'm proud of myself as I didn't take a whole year to republish, instead I only took 7 months. Thankfully I don't believe anyone reads this so I'm ok.

I'm at my second semester at SJSU and it looks to be an interesting one. I'm pretty sure I'm taking on too much but oh well. Not only am I taking two grad classes (and 290 looks to be a right bitch(not the teacher, the class)), but I'm also working on the magazine which should suck up the rest of my time. On top of that the editor called from SMDJ so I started that up again. At least I'm not working (ok occasionally but nothing definite).

Tonight instead of doing my homework I am checking out my snazzy new printer, the HP5280 all -in-one. Which so far is pretty neat, I've been scanning in old pictures and they seem to be coming out decently. I wish their photo edit had more functionality but I can do serious edits in photo shop. And I must say wow I was a little picture crazy in college and I always slightly possessed in pictures.

Cold SB

Its been freezing in SB, literally, I kid you not. It gets down into the twenties at night. Now I know that anyone from out of state scoffs at temperatures in the twenties, commenting that they walk around with shorts on at those temperatures, that it seems almost balmy. But I am used to a certain type of temperature and what I've been getting lately is definitely not it.

And as its my last week in SB it seems that we are eating out more often than not. Which I love eating out, but lately I've noticed a rather evil trend in restaurants. As I walk in from the freezing cold I notice that its not that much warmer in the restaurants, looking around I notice that most of the patrons have their coats on. As a service based industry this seems a little messed up, shouldn't they be trying to make the customer more comfortable, or do they figure a slightly cold patron won't linger over their tiramisu? Restaurants are supposed to be warm and cozy, a welcoming environment where one can relax and enjoy their meal. Instead I sit their trying not to spill on the scarf that I am required to wear. Is it just that not enough people are complaining about it, can the managers not see the preponderance of jackets, or am I the only one that is cold and everyone else just enjoys wearing parkas to dinner?

Work Appropriateness or Lack Thereof

Ok so I've been working as a temp here in the beautiful Santa Barbara area for about four oh so fun months. The jobs have been boring, and lame but they pay me enough that I can get by (which isn't as easy as it should be in this pretty little beach town). Anyways recently I started at a new place, mainly just filing and scanning stuff. I'm pretty sure that my brain atrophies a little bit from non use everyday. Well I was sitting at my desk (a desk that was vacated because the man is sick and no one is really sure if he's returning or not, and apparently he was a pretty big slob so its also a mess) and I needed some post-it notes, so I started looking through the desk. Well I open one draw and what do I find but four catalogs of porn! I quickly shut the door and giggle to myself, and of course call up A and tell him what I found. I don't want to tell anyone because the poor guy id sick and I don't want him to get into trouble, but it also seems really icky to be there at work. I'm all for porn but it seems like its more of an at home activity, not appropriate for work.

Its Official

I'm going back to school. I start on January 24th as the newest academic at San Jose State University home of the Spartans. Which is kind of funny because in the 6th grade we did this whole Greece thingy and we divided up into different city states and I was part of Sparta, I gave myself the name Calliope and good times were had by all. Anyways back to now, I'm going to be getting a Masters of Mass Communication in Journalism, so hopefully this blog will be a bit better written in the months to come. And if not well then I just blew a shit load of money.

Public Drunkenness and Tests

Many moons ago A and I got together with some college friends, headed over to one of two of this town's Irish pubs and paid to be publicly humiliated. We had fun, we had some beers, and we got reminded how stupid we really were (damn you public school!). This went on for awhile until the announcer lady quit and was replaced by annoying announcer lady, and we decided not to return.

Fast forward a few years and now a English pub and you have us once again attending another Quiz Night. Maybe we've learned in these years or the questions weren't as "pulled out of the ass" but we did pretty well. We didn't win but I think we had a solid showing, our worst round being 4 out of 10. All in all I had a great time and we've scheduled to go again in 2 weeks. I mean its tests with alcohol, pure genius!