Are you getting sick from reading?

A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. What if a virus wasn't just some medical term that meant, "you're sick and there really isn't anything to do about it but wait it out." What if a virus was more then that, what if it was something that affected us daily and we didn't even know it. Burroughs thought so and so do I. What he said makes sense. He basically said that the written word is a virus, because it infects you maybe in a good way maybe in a bad way. Some viruses are good, but you never hear about them because people don't really care when they are healthy. What gets the most attention, the books that are stereotypical or the books that make a statement? Usually the books that are stereotypical simply because they are easier, but if you look in the New York Times, that book that tries to make a statement is being criticized and talked about. In both books there is a virus. The virus plants and idea in your head subconsciously and you think about it whether you like it or not. Writing is a form of a virus, yes it is human made, but still a virus. Why not only because it plants an idea in your head, but it spreads. You talk to friends, family, enemies about the things you read and see and that there describes a virus. That small thought can create a change in society, maybe not always but sometimes it can. Just like a virus. A virus can be small and go unnoticed, but when more and more people get it, it can mutate and change and do more harm then good. It can make an entire population die...A written work can do the same thing, maybe not kill an entire population, but it can sure change how a population thinks. Changing how a population views things can do more then just kill a group of people. Change makes a society different, it can transform it for better or worst. Writing and speech making have been the make or breaks in our society. Think back at the great thinkers, Aristotle made a point even up to his death that changed how people think even today, Hitler stood for his beliefs and conquered how much before his end, and Gandhi had his time of peace before he left us. We talk about all three of these men so you can't disagree that a word or written message can't change a society and how it believes in dreams or goals or freedoms. Good or bad, a virus can latch on to you and make some kind of difference.

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Generation

So I was reading another article for class and for some reason it made me think about the generation that I am a part of. We have a lot of titles, my favorite: The Lost Generation. Are we lost or are we just figuring out where we need to begin belonging. What are we to do when the world is slowly going off the deep end? Which way are we supposed to jump? Someone's going to get hurt, its inevitable, but who is that supposed to be? That is what my generation has to decide. It's like figuring out which friend will take the fall and maybe that is the solution. We need to let go a little so that others don't fall so hard. Maybe the generation that I am a part of needs to take a bit of a fall and then stand back up again. Reboot.

All of these science fiction readings and postmodern themes makes me think that rebooting is the best plan of action. If we just start over with past ideas in mind, new beginnings prepared, and a hope to get somewhere positive, I think we can make it. The list that we need to keep in mind though may be short, but its far from easy to follow. To do any of this we have to have an open mind and lately the people of the world have had a difficult time remembering that we are all just humans trying to get by, conflicts get in the way and slow or stop progress. If we could simply see each other as individuals this would help, but we aren't all thinkers like you or myself. It's easy to see the way to fix a problem, but unless you actually try to do it, you really can't say it's easy. It's like going to one of those art exhibits and people go...well I could have done that. Well then why didn't you, why isn't that your name on the little sign? If you don't try and if my generation doesn't try, this world will be screwed. It's not that our job won't be difficult, but it is not even close to impossible. With time and effort and the want to make it better, it could actually be enjoyable. So the post modern world we have created needs to form a new modern society. A society filled with free-thinkers, but not the old free thinkers...we don't need to be hippies to make a difference, we need to be open-minded, well spoken, and hopeful. If we aren't hopeful, if we don't expect more from ourselves then someone else, then we aren't ready. We will not have what it takes to become that saving grace that the world is in dire need of. We need to make the change that makes people stop and think, oh wait maybe they have something here. I'm not talking about Americans, I'm talking about everyone. The people that are the blood of my unique generation need to get on board and figure out what to do. If it takes going down a different road then people would expect, so be it. We need to do something, because being stuck in post-modernism might be fun and great, but it's not working. Style and music is great, but it doesn't change a world. Changing a world is stepping out your door in the morning in higher spirits, its going out and voting, its fighting for rights, its starting small, and working your way up. Other generations did it, we just have to do it differently. We have to find how we need to step out of our doors in the morning, our parents did, our grandparents did too. So now it's on us. It's on us to figure out what's going to be the next step the next page in the epic tale of the people of Earth. The little martians that try desperately to stand out against the magnitude of space and time.

Life

A Quote

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

Joseph Campbell quotes

New America

Influenced by Bob Perelman

We live in a country that has no identity.
It stands alone but stands up for itself.
The weather changes and transforms from state to state.
It never let's you know what is coming.
A vast land of every culture and every race, without its own.
Survival is among the workaholics of the middle class, the bums who live off the government, and the rich who started with money.
A well oiled machine.
They say it is always the right time for change.
But who will start it?
I'd rather be in American then anywhere else
Why?
Because we provided for ourselves through every historical event that through us for a loop.
The hope is that it continues.
America should judge others less while helping itself for more.
We do right, but we don't get credit.
We do wrong, and we never see the end of it.
Cities that have connected our world to the rest of reality.
Technology that could bring us into the future.
The young minds to take us there.
The young minds waiting to be told what to do.
The young minds who have given up on the old and have already started working.
Remember your mind keeps you alive.
Don't let it be lost.
Think of the generations to come.
What will they have if we mess up?
We mustn't stop to think.
But we must remember to breath.
Never have a day to yourself until you realize you need one.
Don't become wired in to long or you will lose yourself.
Get work done, play later.
But remember you can only do as much as you choose to dream.

America is a great state, but we have to remember no matter what even if we aren't actually here, if we don't do something to change the world we live in, it will be destroyed. We will have committed suicide to a race of "intelligent" beings.

Chemical Contract

So in the book, The Medium is in the Massage, we learn that the society is really based off of the “current” source of information and how that source of information is transmitted to us. At one time it was from one person to another, next it was written and sent, then it was printed and sent, later it was heard over a radio, followed by being broadcast on television, which was then followed by being broadcast on television in color, and today it is shot through a cyberspace to people all across the globe.
Each time our brains transmit information they have changed their chemistry to transmit the information in a way we, humans, can understand. We do it without realizing it. Language is something that links us to other people and without it we would see ourselves as the trees see themselves or what we think a tree might see itself as; just a tree creating energy and living and dying. Language keeps us connected and gives us a false hope that we aren’t insane that we have a deeper purpose for being alive. That’s what Marshall McLuhan was saying to me. So to stay connected with all the forms of transmission we have to do something extra as individuals. To stay connected we have to build a brain that can switch from one chemical to the other without a second thought.
We have to stay connected to the people we love by actually talking to them face to face, which I think we have slowly lost because other forms of communication are so much “easier”. The thing about face to face is you actually see the person you are talking to. You know how are they feeling because you can hear their voice, you can see how they are holding their hands, you can see their eyebrows move, and you can see how their eyes smile or frown. It is the only way that you can actually grasp everything the person is trying to “transmit” to you. So actually facing people is one big step individuals need to take if they are really going to practice what McLuhan preaches.
Kids need to start being kids again and adults need to let them do that. Your kid is probably more likely to want to get into Harvard if they do it themselves. If they get to jump in the leaves as a kid and work up to being that stellar student they were meant to grow into instead of becoming an adult at age four. If the television set was turned off for a period of time in a kid’s life, they may learn how to be a kid instead of being transformed into an adult who keeps their thoughts and feelings to themselves.
We need to be listeners. That radio may help you do that. Get it out. If we learn to use our ears as they were meant to be used maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult to sit down and listen to a friend or teacher talk about something because you won’t need to be distracted by eighteen things popping up in front of your face each with a different sound and color. In this time everyone wants every sense entertained at once.
Why can’t we just do one thing at a time? College students wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed if they realized they only need to do one thing at a time. Well if it was practiced in the home, then the school, then the job maybe it wouldn’t be so unacceptable for your child to be only doing their school work or only doing one sport or club instead of fifteen. We need to re-teach our brains that it is okay to think about one thing at once instead of five. But we have to teach it because it can’t do it alone. The only thing that must be said is that life gets busy. It is inevitable, so what do we do about that? We take it one step at a time. We need to stop focusing so much about everything around us and think about the things that are most important to us and go with it.
Take each day at a time and fill each hour with living. Humans have a tendency to feel as though they don’t have enough time to live, so instead of doing everything half and get brainwashed by the media, do the things one need to be done and two the things that make you happy, for that is all we can do. We have one life and what happens in it is what we make of it. It’s a clique thing to say, but unless you actually listen to what is being said you will pass by your own life without realizing you did in fact live.

It Gets Better

So this week I was thinking about all these tragic deaths. Maybe you don't know what is going on currently, but a couple of young kids in their teens have been ending their lives because of bullying. Bullying seems to be a common problem when ignorant people are scared of something. It's horrible to think that fear could be the end of a typically accepting race. Humans can usually be peaceful if they understand something. And when something that can't really be explained arises then bad things end up happening. That's just cause and effect people...

We need to start standing behind these young people because you can't always be strong enough to do it yourself. We all need help if we admit it and have a place to admit it that is accepting. Why can't we be accepting even if we don't understand how to? It's easy just be there. Be someone that will listen and cut the person that is dealing with difficult stuff like their sexual orientation some slack. They need a break. It breaks my heart to see these young people hurting themselves simply because they don't think they have a place to go. They should have a place to go because everyone should have a safe place to go. Not because they are different, because they really aren't. I know I'm no different then the next block down the hall. I'm openly gay and I know what's like to feel unattached from society. I used to call myself not normal and it took me a long time to come out even to my closest friend, my sister. I knew she would accept me, but even with that confidence in the back of my head I thought, maybe she wouldn't. She did though. I wrote it down on a piece of paper while we were hanging out in her room one day when I was in ninth grade. She didn't say anything. She wrote me a letter right there and then explaining that there were things that I need to think about, but what was more important no matter who I was she would love me. She always had. She told me in that letter that times were going to be hard, but they wouldn't be impossible and she said that the best thing was to not think about being GAY. It's probably the best advice I have ever received. Because that's exactly it, if you are who you are you shouldn't have to think about it or decide, because being you isn't a choice its a reality. It's an amazing reality because there is NO ONE like YOU. You are beautiful. I hope that you find someone to feel yourself around because excepting yourself alone can be really hard, but never impossible.

If you feel like you have no one then there are places to go and people to talk to that may have no relation to you that will help you. That will want to help you. Remember though that helping you doesn't mean you have a disorder that needs to be rid of no they want to help you be YOU. There are help lines for just talking if you can't do face to face. There are may options so don't think you are alone. Because it does get better. I'm in the period of transformation from good to bad. It's hard and slow at times, but there will be good days too. You just have to see it through the darkest days, because those are the times that stick with you, but you have to try and rid yourself of those times. I do that every day and my friends my family that I have created helps me do that. For example, I was having a low day and my best friend realized it. He had just gotten out of the shower and he turned on I Love You Always by Donna Lewis. He started doing a strip tease and wasn't paying attention and almost lost his towel. I never laughed so hard in my life. It made my day brighter, and whenever I'm upset I think of times like that. Try to find things in your day that do that too! It helps no matter how silly it sounds.

Now that ending your life isn't a solution it is just an action. It opens peoples eyes sometimes, but its better to make a stand and fight (peacefully) for what you deserve. Because they will notice you more if you stand up next to them. Show you aren't afraid as they are. I love you all whoever reads this, you are worth it, you deserve the best life, and you are beautiful. That message goes out to anyone, Labels don't matter, you do!

Map=Life

What if life were really set up like a map? Would things change if people knew that the lives they lead were simply formulas set up prior to them even existing? Or would they simply pretend that their lives were perfectly normal? Or have we already done that? Well we can't assume any of these things and to be completely honest I wouldn't have the answers to the half of it, but truly what if our lives were like a map. Would that make you think differently?

I feel like at some point you would just accept the fact that at least everything is scheduled. You wouldn't have to worry about making opinions because they would already be created for you. If a war was going on, everyone would be told: where to go, what to do, and when to die. The people of power couldn't scare the general population simply because you would already know what was going to happen, the problem would be: you wouldn't be able to stop it from happening. If you couldn't stop it then why get upset when something terrible happens. That's what happens when society really ends up in a dark place. If it gets so bad that people just give up and that's why we have "thinkers". Without them the general population would have given up ages ago. But if it were true life would be really boring, but what would the radicals of that world be like?

If the game of life was like a map the radicals would be fiercer then they are in this life. Why? Well if we all believed there was nothing to be done, nothing to change on our own, they would try to see reason and see if that were actually the case. They would end up persuading groups of people to think for themselves, to mess up the map.

Messing up the map is what every "group of thinkers" has done since forever. Look back at all the people who stood up for what they believed in. We may indeed have a society that was created off the ideas of a map, but in the end we all teach ourselves that there is something better out there. So maybe this whole map idea isn't so insane. Maybe it's how life really is, but we choose to follow the crowd or step out of line and make up our own minds.