jobs

The closest thing I've had to an assembly line job is working at Gallery 37's photography program. It was the summer session of 2009. We had to go out and take pictures of Chicago, for some committee we knew nothing about and knew nothing about us. From obvious things like the lions in front of the Field Museum to trying to find the right neighborhood shots that brought the city to life. The committee's preferences seemed to be always frustratingly vague.

After taking the pictures, we developed them in an old fashioned darkroom, a fairly painstaking process full of trail and error. It could take an hour day's work to attempt to develop one picture properly. Then at the end of the year, we chose from hundreds of photos to a few dozen.

American dream

The American Dream is something that at times seems wonderful, yet elusive, and other times horribly coercive- a fake set of ideals that were never realized and perhaps never will be. Personally, I assume it is starting your own business, having a family, and having money to put them through college. For the country, the Dream is economic, gender, race, sexual, age, and physical equality that would allow any and everybody to get that business and support that family.

Oftentimes, politicians (and those who tumble underneath them) are quick to allude to some mythical Golden Age that no one has ever actually known. There was always discrimination against women and minorities and homosexuals and the disabled (still is), so this golden age only refers to white male farmers or business owners? Because the 70s had Nixon. The 80s had crack and Reagan. But it sure is great rhetoric that works on a lot of people thirsty to wrap their hands around something.

Movies

Ever since moving out into Dekalb, my consumption of new movies has slowed considerably. The only movie I can think of that I've gone to see are Alice in Wonderland and Precious, both with my friend Sasha, both during breaks back home in Chicago, and neither of which I had any intention on seeing until perhaps the day the idea came about.

all the moves I've wanted to see- Kick Ass, Avatar, Greenberg, Where the Wild Things Are, Death at a Funeral, Shutter Island (which I later watched on the computer), I haven't seen. It makes me feel out of touch- I haven't watched more than two minutes of the Oscars this year (Ben Stiller's painful Avatar spoof), because I hadn't seen any of the films except Precious. I haven't been that out of touch, literally, since perhaps 7th grade. Maybe not even then. Oh well. I'll just have to become more vigilant about watching movies on the internet. I mean...going to pay to see them.

Tv shows

I generally stopped watching television a couple of years ago. An older kid I thought was really cool sent me a facebook invite to Turn Off Your TV Week to take a stand against advertising and consumerist culture. So I did (besides that weeks episode of Lost), and never really went back.

I still spend time on the internet, at least six hours a day is a conservative estimate. During this time, I'm aware that I am bombared by way more ads than I would be if I were watching television but still- I simply don't enjoy television anymore.
Besides LOST, which is my favorite show, and is nearing the end of its final season. That is incredibly emotional for me! I will do anything for my LOST. I still have a wealth of knowledge concerning South Park, The Simpsons, the first five seasons of 24...and not much else. Oh! and the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network. That was my haven for the first few years of high school, without a doubt.

atheltics

I grew up in an athletic family. My father played basketball throughout most of his life, as did two of my three brothers (one of which is in the NBA right now). I was on the baseball team as a kid, and played basketball throughout elementary school. I stopped applying myself as much in that area when it came time for high school, but I've always had good hand-eye coordination and the build of an athlete.

I think it's a marvelous thing. Every once in a while, I get bewildered by the fact that, say, Michael Jordan's body and mind would have been created to make him the best basketball player in the world. What if we had never concocted a game where you bounce a ball, and throw it in a hoop? What else could MJ have been the best at?

One could argue that, in fact, the kind of skills and physical prowess someone like Michael Jordan (or Pete Sampras) possess would be much better put to use doing something economically astute like chopping lumber. But who knows? We all deserve leisure time, it gives us the space to find happiness and then it will motivate us to participate in the work force/economy. So thinking it through, the NBA is just as much of a driving factor in productivity and forward-progress as anything else. Though, what we are progressing towards, is a whole other question. WHOAAAA