All Mind, No Matter

I mentioned a while back that I was working on a new venture with some friends. Tonight I am proud to say that episode one of our podcast has been published. It is not on iTunes (yet), but you can download it directly from the link at the bottom of the entry.

It is a little rough, considering how green we are at the whole process, but it will improve in the coming weeks.

Linkage: allmind-nomatter.blogspot.com

Reasons to be Thankful

I meant to get this out by Thanksgiving, but the fantastic thing about blogging is that there are no deadlines. Random things I am thankful for this year, in no particular order:

• My friends and family
• My right to publicly disagree with my government
• Being a white 18-34 year old male in America

While I am sure that there are many other specific things I should be mindful of, these things came to mind the quickest. Mainly, I kept coming back to the privileges I have compared to most other people in the world.

This year, my big ticket item to receive for Christmas may be a tablet. But I am on the fence about it. On the one hand, it would be a pleasure to receive something that can so frivolously be used purely for my delight; on the other, I feel a little guilty about receiving something like that when money spent on me could be used to help other people instead.

My family normally makes donations to charities around Christmas. My favorite is a catalog in which you can order animals for families that depend on sustenance farming. I know that even if I receive my shiny, expensive gizmo, we will donate, but what haunts me is the idea that I alone could be preventing us from doing more.

This probably one of those times when my assessment of the situation is skewed. I have a nasty tendency to create obstacles when I have a chance to be happy. The fact is that I am normally okay with getting presents. It is difficult to determine where the line is between what is reasonable and what is selfish, between what is a sensible concern and what is overkill.

I should be thankful that my livelihood does not depend on the outcome, but what if someone else’s does? Why is it so difficult for me to just be thankful that we can afford such luxuries?

In Memoriam

My neighbor died this morning. She was 89.

She was truly like a third grandmother to my sister and me. Whenever we would have family gatherings for holidays or birthdays, we would invite her. She was a part of our lives. But it was not just us who were impacted by her—she was a great-grandmother with a large family.

I am happy that she never had to be placed in assisted living. She defiantly continued to go shopping and carry laundry up and down steep cement stairs on her own. She drove, too—probably better than me. She was fiercely independent.

Her husband died some time ago, but she kept his memory alive in her heart. One time, while I was visiting, she showed me poetry that she wrote every year for him. I wish I could remember it—it was quite beautiful.

She was definitely a feisty one, loving to watch Judge Judy give the smackdown to miscreants and deadbeat parents. One time, a brush-trimming vehicle cleared the banks against the road, but missed the weeds and mowed down her flowers instead. The next day, she put a large sign in place of her garden which read: “THE STATE DID THIS.”

Despite these memories, I do not feel like someone has just died. I did not feel much emotion over my own grandmother’s passing until my cousins and I were up at the coffin, crying together as the grouchy funeral director tried to get us out of the building (it was near the end of business hours). Another reason why I am not overwhelmed may be that this was not a surprise. From the time I heard reports of how she was doing in the hospital, I knew that she might not be long for this world.

My religious sensibilities are often ill-defined, but I sincerely hope that she is in a better place. I take comfort in the thought that whether there is something after death or not, she is no longer suffering.

The Time I Met My Spirit Animal

I have been hypnotized on a handful of occasions by one of my previous psychiatrists. The experience is difficult to explain without a common frame of reference. Perhaps the easiest way to give you a feel for the general sensation is to compare it to dreaming or very being very involved in reading something. I may go into further detail in the future.

                                              

On one of the most vivid occasions, I was instructed to imagine myself at a certain location on the local university campus. (I was nervous about taking college courses as part of a dual enrollment program in my senior year of high school; by picturing myself on the campus, I was to familiarize myself and become calmer in the situation.) I did so, but instead of sticking to the reality of the place, I quickly wandered into a realm of fantasy. I vaguely remember a hippogriff walking between trees in the distance, for example.

The key event that occurred was that I was approached by a serpentine Lindword. Imagine a dragon with a snake-like body, two legs, and no wings. It also had frills on its neck so that it reminded me of an extremely large version of those salamanders with prominent gills. The body was as thick as one of the trees surrounding us, and it moved swiftly. When it was near me, it turned its head to the side so that one large eye was facing me. We gazed into each other for a time, and a strange, deep feeling came over me.

I do not necessarily believe in supernatural spirit guides, but I do believe in psychological archetypes, and spirit animal shows up throughout history. A contemporary example would be the daemons from His Dark Materials—external manifestations of a person’s soul that take the form of an animal which represents them in some way.

What a Lindworm (or a salamander) would say about me, I do not know. Any heraldic significance, while interesting, would not mean as much in this context as my personal feelings towards the creature. Perhaps it is just a fluke of free association in visual form. I know it is ingrained in my subconscious to some degree, as it was a common feature of my doodles at the time, but I do not have any more insight than that.

One (Thousand) More Thing(s)

This happened. Suck it, C/K!

Has Children’s Entertainment become too Adult-Oriented?

Tonight, Cartoon Network airs the half-hour season premiere of Adventure Time. I love this show, especially in light of the crazy bananas they pulled a few weeks ago in the previous season’s finale. But I find myself wondering sometimes, how much do kids enjoy it?

I know it is a success, but I do not know how those numbers break down in terms of demographics—how much of its viewership is made up of teenagers and adults? I know in the case of Spongebob Squarepants, a significant chunk of viewers are adults—and not just parents watching with their children. The same was the case with Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series, The Legend of Korra.

In fact, a quick perusal of the internet will reveal legions of children’s show fans who are able to vote. (Off the top of my head, TVTropes and Tumblr are hubs of fandom activity.)

Why do we, the older audience, love these shows? In the case of Adventure Time, I would argue the very adult elements are one of the key attractions. This leaves me wondering how much kids really get out of it. It is difficult for me to imagine anyone under the age of 14 or 15 finding Regular Show entertaining.

To an extent, I have to ignore a large component of most of children’s entertainment to ask these questions: the sense of fun and wonder. To watch Adventure Time is to be transported to a world of bright pallets and problems that at their worst can still often be dealt with by a little boy kicking and punching them. And this I think is universally enjoyable to all ages.

I also think that I should consider the appeal of layered entertainment. Pixar films and Harry Potter have demonstrated that it is possible to tell a story that is enjoyable on a base, surface level, while providing more thought-provoking entertainment upon closer inspection.

So the answer is no, then? I mean, the wonderment and the layers must invalidate my rhetorical, click-bait title, right? I do not know; I still cannot imagine children finding the episode of Regular Show revolving around a VHS tape humorous. For one, they might ask, what the hell is a VHS?

What do kids love more than hipster video store clerks?

I do not know exactly what I am trying to say in this post. Something about children’s entertainment no longer being entertaining for its intended audience as it caters ever more to grown-ups. Not that that is a bad thing.

A Clean Slate

My room is now clean for the first time in a few months. It may be cluttered and unorganized, but I can see the floor. It is amazing the difference a change in your surroundings can make to your mental state. I now feel so relaxed in my room that I was content to literally curl up on my bed like a cat and take a nap today. I squandered a few hours, but it felt nice. So I guess the time is not totally wasted.

Cute cats seem to be driving traffic to C/K's blog. And I steal everything from him. EVERYTHING!

I now also have a space to work. My desk previously held a pillow, a pile of loose papers, and a tube of toothpaste; those items are still stacked haphazardly in the vicinity, but I can use my desk. It is a sort of architect/artist’s desk with a surface that can be adjusted at an angle. I have it at what my eyeball estimates to be 20-30 degrees. This way, my laptop can be arranged at what is theoretically a more ergonomic position and it will be more difficult to pile things on the desk. Then again, I compensated before by placing things on that pillow to create a level area.

I have sort of failed NaNoWriMo, but I am okay with that. After all, I can go for it at any time. I am still stuck between stories to write, though, which is frustrating. However, I know I still have the passion to write: while having coffee with a friend, I launched into synopses and explanations for my current rotation of stories, enthusiastically sharing details and proudly displaying a map I created in GIMP. I just need to give my one story some direction to continue it. I have also tried immersing myself in my materials for an older story. While I know what I want out of that one, I have a couple of issues with the plot. Either way, the solution, as always, is to power through.

Potpourri II

The person I talked about in my previous post does not, in fact support gay marriage. But she nearly does. Or does not. Her’s is a complicated viewpoint.

I did not carve any pumpkins this year. Partly this was laziness, but another contributing factor was that several houses have been vandalized in my neighborhood. Our mailbox was smashed and the reprobates even broke into our neighbors’ house. As such, I feared for the safety of any jack-o-lanterns I might painstakingly carve.

Also, a third thing.

Puzzling Opposition

I am currently working on a persuasive speech on gay marriage for my Effective Speech class, and I am reminded of a bizarre argument I heard in that class.

(Since I shared my blog in class, there is a chance that the person I am writing about is reading this. In this case, know that I am not trying to make fun of you or be mean spirited.)

The argument was made by a woman who, despite being a political conservative, is okay with gay marriage. She confessed that she believes gay people are born that way, so to discriminate against them does not make sense.

But then she admitted that she is against gay couples adopting children. And her reason was… well, here it is: children of gay couples face ridicule; therefore, to spare them from this mistreatment, gay people should not be allowed to adopt at all.

To me, there is an inherent flaw in the logic of this argument. The source of this discrimination is not the actual adoption; it is society’s reaction to it. The thing to do is not prevent adoption, but teach tolerance.

Let me put it this way: before racial integration was common, it was a fair bet that any black student attending a previously whites-only school would face much difficulty and hardship. Using the logic of this person’s argument, the solution is to never integrate schools.

(I actually kind of hope she is reading this, as I wanted to explain this to her, but I do not know how to broach the topic without being a sanctimonious asshole.)