What is the same about "Twelfth Night" and "Just Add Water"?

To be honest, a connection between “Twelfth Night” and “Just Add Water” is not something that pops immediately into my head. One of the only things I can possibly think of connecting is all the craziness that takes place in each story. I mean nothing is close to normal. In “Just Add Water” we have: meth-dealing teenagers in charge of the town, no fresh food, no grass, crazy wives and illiterate children. Then in “Twelfth Night” we have: girls dressing up as boys, love triangle that turns into a love square, a devious Maria making Malvolio appear crazy, a madman running around in yellow tights, and people marrying people they’ve never met before! I mean what’s happening in these stories are certainly not things we see everyday.

"Animalcules and Other Little Subjects"

In life sometimes it is better to look at something small then the big picture. Maybe a “little subject” holds the larger image. Didn’t we learn that the very first week of this semester in our “small object, BIG SUBJECT” discussion? Mark Smith has interests in something so small it could fit under our fingernails. His interest in Animalcules is not something many enjoy but learning about these bacteria’s is not the sole purpose of his article. The reason for Smith’s satisfaction is simply because he doesn’t need something big, expensive and showing to please him. He is a simple guy who enjoys the smaller things in his life. “For some reason I often feel calm and reassured afterward, perhaps because I realize how much room remains for more.” (Smith, 260) That is exactly it! Everyday while he is exploring these microscopic worlds, he knows that he has yet to discovered everything. I mean how could someone get board of a new excitement everyday! I mean of course Animalcules isn’t for everyone and I know I would be rather board with the topic, but for someone like Mark Smith it is amazing.

I laughed at the thought of his wife’s, nieces and nephew’s reaction because I know that would have probably been the same as mine. However, all of us who aren’t interested in something microscopic are missing the picture as well. “Life fills and overfills the world from puddle to ocean, from dirt clod to mountaintop.” (Smith, 272) Think of it in the sense of “Just Add Water” and “food miles.” Why fill your life with technology and these big electronic toys when something so magical is right under your nose. Little do you know that every time you look down there is a tiny atmosphere and another organism’s world?

George Carlin

Hmm… well that’s a different way to look at it! George Carlin proposes an interesting view on climate change. He suggests that us humans have no competition with the planet. “We have NO control!” Would you verse a football team who has played together since their 2 years old for the super bowl trophy? I mean so what they were little when they started, what could that possibly mean? It means they’ve grown and experienced changes together, they learned and memorized each other’s techniques inside and out. Hell no I wouldn’t verse them! They have no new glitches and new players to decode. They have it ALL figured out. Well that team called “Planet Earth” has been around for billions of years and our team “The Human Race” just started practicing together about 2,000 years ago. Carlin suggests that wee have no shot at that super bowl trophy. He basically believes that since the earth has gone through incredible changes that it will always survive. The problem is, WE might not be able to survive it. That trophy is our survival. Our race is trying to change the earth so that we can be able to remain alive, however, Carlin proposes the idea that maybe we are the fleas the planet needs to get rid of for his own well-being. This is very interesting because I think that he may be right. As I mentioned in my blog about Phelan I also said “we have no control of our planet.” However, I meant that we have no control over what is happening and we should attempt a more aggressive change. Carlin believes that it is basically useless and has no hope that we have a chance at survival. Looking at history, Earth has gotten rid of species before, why not do it again?

"small object" of "just add water"

In “Just Add Water” Nora represents a symbol of hope. Every time Ray has a rough moment in his day he looks at his tin, which holds pictures of Nora. The thought of her makes Ray keep pushing forward. Day by day he tries to cope with all the negative changes around him. When he visits the supermarket where she works, he smiles for those 5 minutes. I mean after all, she is the sole purpose that he never left miserable Trona. Nora gave him faith that Trona still had a bright side and not all of Trona was negative. When they get together he finally realizes that the way their community is living is not acceptable. They should not settle for something terrible when they can push for a better life. For me, the picnic with Nora is one of the turning points. When she makes Ray homemade food he is in awe. She tells him, “You can’t eat canned food your whole life”. Ray questions where she even got the food from and Nora explains how she drove to a different town because a home cooked meal is more important to her. This whole scene symbolizes how Nora does not settle for the worst. She tries to make her day better by using her own effort. Her effort for a better life shows Ray how change needs to happen in Trona. Nora helps push him in that direction.

"How We Evolve"

Our species really does not realize what we are doing to our environment, our world and ourselves! Phelan’s fear that humans are self-inflicting extinction is a fear that all humans should be aware of. Thinking about “Just Add Water”, other articles we have read and now this one, I have come to the conclusion that everything such as pollution, climate change and evolution starts off slow but once it ignites going its hard to put out the fire. Throughout this article Phelan talks about how evolution and genes have changed blah, blah, blah. That really isn’t the important part. When I got to Ehrlich’s quote on the last page that’s when I realized “Woah, now this is important!” “The fate of our civilization, and maybe our species, may be determined by the next five generations. So I don’t really give a shit what’s happening to our genetic evolution.” (202)

In combining Erlich’s and Phelan’s ideas, I understand where I want this article to take me. Over the past few days, I have realized that we have no control over what is going on in our planet. Everyday all of us are destroying it more and more. The ozone layer started to disappear slowly from human abuse throughout thousands of years but the more we pollute the air the faster our ozone layer is going to decay. That is where we can compare evolution. Evolution started very slowly then took off which Phelan believes eventually led us to the human race. Our genes mutate themselves in regards to our change in environment. For example, people that live in colder climates may grow more hair because their body recognizes that they need more warmth. Erlich doesn’t “give a shit” about this though because he believes that our change in our environment is happening to fast for our genes to even grasp and then eventually mutate for our well-being. I agree. We don’t have enough time for our body to take control and save us from this world we are destroying. If we physically don’t do something about it the future generations are… well, screwed. We need to be like Ray! Although our environment has changed so fast around us that we haven’t had time to accept or realize what took place, we need to now be like Ray and realize! In my mind think in 3 R’s. Be like Ray, Realize, Reconstruct!

"The Effects of Climate Change"

Have you ever thought about how you are personally effecting the climate change? How about, how your negative contribution to the climate change causes deaths of other civilians? Are the people in our “wasteful, limitlessness, creative destructive” society responsible for those deaths because we didn’t take a stand to change our environment for the better? I honestly have never felt so guilty. In John Broome’s article, he proposes ethical questions regarding climate control. Some believe that we should focus on today and worry only about now, while others argue that future lives are important and that we need to take a stand now to save them. Recently, this past year I have been bothered by all the natural disasters that have taken place and killed hundreds. The earthquakes, hurricanes, storms, blizzards have all been extreme. I don’t know if I am just becoming more aware of them because I am getting older or are they happening more frequently? Many people argue that these natural disasters cannot be controlled because it is Mother Nature and that’s why they are called “natural”. However, after reading this article my mind is thinking how much are these disasters really “natural”, has our society and past generations destroyed the climate so much that all this is happening now, and if we don’t do anything to slow down the climate change is it just going to get worse? I know all the questions I am suggesting have nothing to do with the money market piece of this article. However, after Broome’s article this is all my mind can think of.

In regards to the money market, I have come to the conclusion that our generation is selfish. I personally do not think people in today’s world would give up the luxuries of their lives in order to prevent something that may or may not happen. I don’t think people’s ethical judgments are intentionally negative, however, that is the way it looks. John Broome answered that for us in his fourth paragraph. “Sometimes you cannot avoid harming someone, and sometimes you may do it accidentally without realizing it.” (12) But now if I don’t do something to change my personal contribution to greenhouse gases I have this thought in my mind that I am responsible for a death of another person in the future because of my selfishness. Maybe Broome is right; maybe we just don’t truly believe that we are harming our world THAT bad. If economists did something without the people’s consent regarding money percentages, I think that would be the only way change would happen. I personally don’t think our materialistic society would be willing to just give up things they’ve had every day. Maybe it just needs to be snatched out from under us.

For me, blogging is a writing experience that I feel...

For me, blogging is a writing experience that I feel double sided about. One day I won’t mind it and then other days I despise it. Is there a need to constantly re-write every little thing so other people can read it. I actually hated blogging at first because I was afraid for other classmates to read my writing. But then I got kind of used to it and I enjoy the comments from others. When the comments are personal it takes away the whole “school” mindset and blogging becomes more enjoyable. I despise answering questions and writing Abstracts about the readings. However, it does help keep your memory about what you just read and it also helps to read other peers blogs so you can get their intake on the readings. In a way they are beneficial so I guess that’s why sometimes I don’t mind them. But the times I despise them it is because there just time consuming and inconvenient. My feelings about blogs are very double sided. I am not sure why some days I really just hate them. Right now I am feeling the hatred.