Notes on last Thursday's free write:
Maybe the worst of the quarter so far, feeling wise. Lots of people tired, exhausted, or overwhelmed. A number also sick. I hope not with the flu. One person writes, "I feel like shit... I got maybe four hours sleep last night., My roommate woke me up with his constant moaning in his sleep. He needs to find a girlfriend or something." And another, "Today I am feeling very sick, I have a runny nose on one side and a stuffy nose on the other...As I am writing this, it is very difficult to breathe out of my nose, so I have my mouth slightly open as I breathe through my mouth.... I was almost late to class because my housemates woke up late today and were occupying the bathroom, this is the first time this happened this year, and I had to hold my urine right when I woke it and it was a literal pain." A number of people were tired because they have an 8 o'clock before this class, and some were tired just thinking about their day because they have whopping long labs. A few people have trouble with classes especially bio and chem related; a couple reconsidering majors. One student though was feeling great; maybe we should all take yoga as she does. One student indicate that he or she would like to know more about my day because he or she thinks it might be exciting. That was nice, but I can assure you my days are as dull as dirt. This class and meeting with you guys is the most exciting part of them (on Tuesdays and Thursdays).
Notes on paraphrase of paragraph from "The Empty Self."
Most people did a good job of paraphrasing major points of the paragraph: that being roughly that we try to soothe our emptiness through consumer goods. A few noted that this was an illusory solution to what ails us. But surprisingly (to me) no one really hit the main point (for me) of the paragraph. The author seems to feel these illusory solutions are bad because they are illusions and also that they are bad because they distract us from looking for real solutions. Here are the sentences that I am thinking of:
Advertising certainly does not address itself to the political causes of the customer's problems (e.g., alienation and the loss of community); therefore, it must turn to the refuge of what I will refer to as the lifestyle solution. Unable to effect lasting change by developing political solutions to the problems of modem life, advertising must offer an illusory cure.
Well, maybe this is not the central point of the paragraph. I guess I am partly thinking about it because I was watching the inauguration on TV and wondering as I watched, what can politics and politicians do to change our situation, and what would be the things to do that would change it in good ways.