'MURICA

Top news stories of the world, according to http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

• There's massive fighting on the Gaza Strip between Israelis and Palestinians
• Iran has 2800 centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons
• Iraq released a militant who is accused of killing US soldiers
• Japan's Prime Minister has decided for parliament elections in mid-December, without the approval of his party, in an attempt to get the political parties to work together
• China has a whole cabinet of new leaders
• There was another explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico
• Over $5,000,000 has been collected for the victims of the Aurora, Colorado massacre 

And what's the top news story in America this week?

• Hostess is going out of business. No more Twinkies.

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Leotards

I've been trying to find a new leotard for months - I know what brand I want and what size I need.  The problem, however, is that leotards come in a small color scale.  Nearly every pattern that isn't animal print or obnoxious is pink. PINK.  Looking at GK Elite's leotards, how is a teen gymnast who doesn't like pink supposed to find a leotard she likes? 
Going through pages and pages of leotards, I've never found one that was less than $70 that I liked (and I'm not spending that much on a leotard, ever).  Between the animal print, America colors, just plain ugly, leotards are one of the hardest things for me to shop for.  
Why does GK Elite, along with other leotard companies within the gymnastics world, insist on the abundance of pink leotards? At the gym where I work, nearly every girl has a pink leotard because that's all she can find - and half of them don't even like pink! I think the abundance of pink leotards will last perpetually because gymnasts aren't willing to stand up to their leotard companies.  Looking at competitive gymnasts, next to no one has a pink leotard representing their team colors, especially the highly competitive gyms. 
The sport of gymnastics is highly stereotyped - girls must be dainty and perfect in order to be successful.  As a sport that's already stereotyped enough, why should we be forced to wear pink leotards, a stereotypically female color? 

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Maharaja

Last night was my first Indian dinner.  I'd never had indian food before, besides some really terrible curry a few summers ago and too spicy vegetable samosas. I didn't really know how it would go, but it was for my best friend's birthday dinner (honestly, I thought I was going to end up going to McDonald's right after for some fries and a sweet potato pie).  She ordered garlic naan bread and vegetable samosas, and they were both delicious, so I was super excited for the main course.  When it came, I could only eat spinach & potato stuff or chickpea stuff with rice - the spinach & potato on top of the rice was so good.  It didn't taste like curry at all, so I had a few spoons of it with my rice.

I decided to look up "Maharaja."  I found that its a Sanskrit word that translates to "great king." When India was colonized by Great Britain, the rulers of its states were known as "Rajas" ("kings"), and those with significant power were given the title "Maharaja."  Before this time, the word "Maharaja" had not really been used.  Great Britain used their power to give specific kings a more regal title to gain their allegiance; Great Britain used the power of language to create allies... and eventually ruined India.

Its amazing how people and culture can be so greatly influenced through language.

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OGD - Obsessive Grades Disorder

It seems like every period someone's asking me questions for their stat class surveys. I've been asked questions from "Which schedule do you like the best?" to "Do you feel like you get enough energy from school lunches?" Today, I was asked questions about classes, grades, and how I spend my time.

Before she started questioning me, she told me that the questions were personal and that I can stop answering them whenever.  This made me a bit weary of the survey, but I knew she needed many people's answers, and if its an invasive survey she won't get any, so I decided to continue.

The first question she asked was what classes I'm taking and what phases they are, and for a copy of my schedule so she could verify my answers.  She started her apologizing (which continued throughout the survey), but I didn't see what the big deal was about my schedule.

Then she asked what grades I had in my classes, and her apologizing increased substantially. I really didn't see what the big deal was - my grades aren't very good, but I really don't see why grades matter. Grades are just a number imposed by someone who thinks they know everything to see how much of their knowledge you share.  Why does society try to give a quantitative number to something so qualitative? We're raised from Kindergarten to try to get an A in everything we do: You didn't color inside the lines? B-; You forgot the "±" sign after you took the square root? B+; you missed a half-note in your recital? C.  Our society, as well as many others around the world, is obsessed with grades, and it does no good for students or the future.  Its easy to procrastinate for a test then cram at the last minute and get an A, but the knowledge is immediately forgotten after the test to make room for the next information to cram.  Why should it matter if everyone in the school has a high GPA, but no one actually retains the knowledge?

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Cell phone culture: How cultural differences affect mobile use

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/tech/mobile-culture-usage/index.html?iref=allsearch

Though this article is a few weeks old, I've been mulling it over to try to find the right way to phrase my reaction.  At first, everything in the article made sense - why wouldn't Americans be different than other cultures, especially when it comes to cell phone use? But the information at the very end confused me: "Texting was initially slow to take off in America....mobile internet has been slow on the uptake there as digital media tablets are becoming popular ways of going online."  I didn't really understand this part.  I can't even remember when people didn't text: my best friend got a Nokia phone in 5th grade and she could text (though no one else our age had a cell phone).  

The mobile internet comment also confused me.  Nearly everyone has a SmartPhone or an iPhone, or some other phone with internet access; hardly anyone can't go on the internet on their cell phones.  I also don't know that many people who own a tablet - all of our tablets with internet access seem to be relatively new, especially when compared to how long internet has been available on cell phones. The first iPhone came out at the beginning of 2007; the iPad wasn't released until 3 years later in the beginning of 2010 (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.#iPad).  These have been the most popular internet-capable phones and tablets in America and have led the markets, but there was still a large period of time when the iPhone gained popularity and its internet access drew in more consumers.

The majority of the article compare cultures based on how they view cell phone use.  It seems that Italy and Spain are very similar, Japan is the opposite, and America is somewhere in between.  We have a unique view of cell phone use that keeps us in constant communication with each other, and usually disregarding how other people around us feel about our cell phone use in their presence. 

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Ginger Problems

Stereotypes are everywhere and based on everything from ethnicity to accent to style. Some might be true or proven, but most aren't.  Like the stereotype that began a few years ago: gingers don't have souls.

South Park is known for airing controversial episodes with raunchy and racial topics. So when South Park aired its 136th episode in November of 2005, why did it begin a new-wave of thinking towards people with red hair, that gingers don't have souls? Could it be that prior to this episode, there was nothing really against people with red hair? Or people with red hair were still people with souls before this episode? Now, it seems as though everyone has accepted this made-up stereotype.

On a weekly basis, someone makes a comment about my hair, asking if its natural, if its always been this color, if I've ever dyed my hair.  These questions are fine; its when people ask if I have a soul or how many souls I've stolen that week that's annoying (I don't even know where stealing souls comes from).

I was in 5th grade when the episode aired, and that's when I started changing my hair color regularly.  The past few months are the longest I've had my "natural" hair color, and the questioning is still annoying.

Clearly, I have a soul, like everyone else, and no hair color prevents that.

I'm judged based on a false, nonsensical stereotype; and that's why I don't think stereotypes are funny.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Kids

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Music Culture

If you took away school, work, and sleep, music would be my life. Literally. I've spent the past 15 years teaching myself instruments: starting with piano at 2 1/2 years old, then keyboard (totally different from piano), organ, bass guitar, electric/acoustic guitars (yes - I play them differently, too), ukulele, banjo, and violin.  Not only do I love playing music and performing, but I listen to music almost constantly.  From Beethoven to Wiz Khalifa, I have almost every genre on my iPod - and over 8000 songs.

Music is a sacred culture - it isn't based on where you live or what language you speak or what you look like.  Anyone who has taken Spanish has heard Juanes at least 5 billion times.  You might not know that "Tengo La Camisa Negra" is really about Juanes losing his love, not a black shirt, but that doesn't matter: its still a catchy song that nearly everyone loves. Juanes is Colombian, but that doesn't stop Americans, and other people around the world, from listening to his music.  Music has a subculture that spans beyond the normal cultural limits: it goes beyond language, location, population, etc.  This expansion makes it sacred, and shouldn't be a basis for judgement.

So now where do I fit when people judge music? Everyone can look at someone else and assume what music he or she listens to based on what they look like, what they're wearing, and even how they talk.  This might be true sometimes, but where do the people who don't actually have a favorite genre fall? They're still judged to fit into a certain type, and when they not only listen to this music but many others, why is the one judging so flabberghasted?

There's even an eHow as to how to dress based on the music you like

Why are music listeners stereotyped? Are people so desperate to judge each other that they must resort to music type?

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