Liberals Arts United: shedding some guilt

Ugh, it drives me crazy that there are so many articles that are like “social sciences aren’t important” and “literature isn’t important” and always emphasizing STEM STEM STEM!

I totally think STEM is important too. In fact, I wish that I had taken way more STEM classes. I wish I retook calculus in college, and that I’d taken a statistics class. I regret my dismissal of science and my assumption that a greater understanding of science is irrelevant to my life. I wish that I’d taken more basic computer classes in high school, and maybe some handy electives like automotive tech. As a liberal arts major who has struggled off and on with unemployment and underemployment since graduating two years ago, I know very well the value of these “hard skills” and technical knowledge.

But reading between the lines of this recent article continuing the drum beat of STEM STEM STEM, the simple STEM solution is not as simple as it seems. One of the most telling lines is this:

“Hans-Herbert Jagla, executive vice president for human resources at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, said finding workers with both technical skills and people skills was proving more difficult than predicted… [Jagla says,] “In manufacturing, you have to be able to calculate things — and express yourself."”

I have found that despite my “unemployability” as a nearly skill-less, non-technical worker, I actually have invaluable skill set—my people skills and communication skills, particularly interpersonal communication. And where did I get that? From reading books! From taking sociology and psychology classes. From going on “useless and frivolous” study abroad programs. These are some of the things that the social sciences and liberal arts have to offer, and their contributions to the workforce should not be ignored. They have been soundly blasted for nearly a century now as being useless, baseless skills, but that is simply not true. The above article quotes an economist say “It’s better to get a C in chemistry than an A in literature.” This is an awful pithy statement, but it is a frivolous and irresponsible thing to say, especially because it sounds like just the kind of latchkey phrase that a politician would cling to when trying to get rid of liberal art and social sciences and replace them with engineering.

I mean, I love engineers. Some of my best friends of engineers! But the thing is, every engineer thinks that if they and their engineer friends ran the world, everything would be perfect. This is clearly not true, because Herbert Hoover is the only engineer president and everyone agrees that that guy was no good. I don’t deny that engineers are smart and that they have really good, logical answers and solutions to many of todays problems. An engineer would probably make a great VP, actually. But there are many, many other skills that make up the world of useful skills, and as a proponent of the liberal arts, I am tired of their contribution being marginalized.

That being said, I do agree with many of these alarmist STEM articles that it is a growing and worrisome problem that so many jobs are going overseas, not just for the cheaper labor but also because there are just not enough qualified workers  in the US (I think that biggest illustration of this was in This American Life’s Retraction episode, where Ira is talking to the reporter about Apple’s supply chain in China? In the US, it would take 9 months to find all the industrial engineers they need. In China, it only took 15 days—and they were working slow. That’s crazy!!!!). But, I don’t think it is a simple matter of valuing STEM over all the other subjects. I think that this problem reflects definite cultural shifts in America. And culture is an unwieldy, multi-faceted thing that is hard to figure out, solve, define, or change. So we have our work cut out for us. 

And, just as a further disclaimer and caveat, I would never say that all you need are soft skills and a liberal arts background and you are prepared for the job market. That is untrue as well, and anyone who says otherwise does not have your best interest in mind. But to say that liberal arts or social sciences is a death knell for your future professional life is just as wrong as saying that STEM careers are the way to professional fulfillment and jobs for everybody. Both of these assertions only tell part of the story. 

Girls, Girls, Girls

I’ll say it now, first, so you aren’t left wondering: I simultaneously feel jealous, condescending, disdainful, and crushing on Lena Dunham.

Jealous because she grew up in NYC, has had success early on in her twenties, and is on a path that I wish I could follow/parallel but I don’t really know how to do that. Basically, I want (parts of) her life.

Condescending because she is easily dismissed as a stereotype of the millennial generation-brooklyn hipster-liberal arts educated-privileged child set, and oh how I want to dismiss her as such for the sake of making myself feel better about my lack of most of these things.

Crushing because actually, I really admire her talents and feel like in some other dimension where our paths crossed, it is possible that we could have been friends.

I’ve been reading a lot about Girls lately on the interwebs, and I thought I should take a looksee myself before I jumped on one band wagon or another (I was sorely tempted by this bandwagon but ultimately I think I’m joining this one, and I agree totally with this one). Luckily, HBO put the whole first episode on youtube, which is great because who owns a TV?

(reminder: this is HBO. Viewer discretion needed. Meaning, there is a lot of cussing (like middle school) and weird tv sex (like most TV shows and movies! Do people really have sex with that many clothes on? These guys don’t even seem like they are in that much of a hurry, so I don’t get it, why don’t they just take their clothes off. Do they like to do it with their pants around their knees and 70% of the rest of their clothing still on? Is that a thing I don’t know about?))

watch here! http://youtu.be/OrQfvq9RfM0

When i told joel who the main characters were—specifically, that they were all the daughters of famous people from NYC—he was horrified. "this isn't secretly a reality TV show based on their real lives, is it?" Actually it totally is just that, probably.

Considering that Lena and the blond girl and the funny guy basically played these exact same characters in Tiny Furniture, i would say that yes, it is quite possible that this is a reality show, or just as real as the reality shows.

Also, that both this series and Tiny Furniture feature Lena being in relationships with really jerky guys makes me revoke part of that jealousy thing I was talking about. I am not jealous of that at all. I am SO glad that this is not part of my personal twenty-something/privileged millennial life journey.

But, as much as I thought it was pretty enjoyable, reflected pretty realistically what young adult life is like today, and was witty and entertaining, I can’t really like this show all the way. I mean, what is this show even saying? That it is okay to act entitled and not consider the practical dimensions of your life? What is so annoying about Lena’s character and other characters in this show (or at least this one episode) is that they totally disregard the fact that their actions have consequences. That the things we do have consequences, and the choices that we make have consequences, and the lives we want to live have consequences, and we need to figure out what to do with those. I hate that they represent twenty-somethings this way, because it is what everyone says about us, and here they are, proving it on TV.

Also, let’s talk about the portrayal of men. First, Lena’s character’s boyfriend/whatever is such a jerk. SUCH a jerk. I can/could never understand why girls think it is okay for guys to act that way, ever. But…she just goes with it? Ugh. Second, the other main boy character is Brian Williams’ daughter’s boyfriend, who is supposedly this quintessential “nice guy.” Except he is not, he is not a real guy. I have never met anyone like that, and I went to the college with the hands down highest percentage of nice guys in the US. No one is like that. It makes me wonder if Lena and her co-writers have ever actually met someone they could consider a nice guy. Perhaps not. Also, their portrayal of him as the quintessential nice guy just makes the idea of being the “nice guy” even more distasteful to men, which is unfair both to men and to women. I can’t support this gender portrayal on this show.

BUT, I can forgive both of these. Because Lena is a millennial actually writing about her own generation (remember how people from other generations love to write about us and get it wrong and it’s annoying?), and she is a female in the entertainment industry, where only 16% of writers/directors/etc are women and there are horrible portrayals of women on nearly every show.

So hooray for Lena Dunham and her vast potential stretching out before her! Maybe we will meet in THIS dimension and be friends. 

Spam Poetry

Fireworks of riches and emotions. All passions from good luck and a victory
by Pearlie Sutherland, spammer, Francisca.Sutherland@bernds.nl


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Fountain of passions in our casino. Fantastic Jackpots.
by Geneva Dodson, spammer, Jocelyn.Dodson@back2front.ca


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So do not put off that you can make today.


These were sent to one of our work emails, which get spammed all the time. I thought they were unintentionally poetic. 

Only 18 months to go!

Can I just say how excited I am for the new Ender’s Game movie to come out?

I don’t know anything about the kid who is playing Ender, I haven’t seen the movie Hugo yet, but what I am really excited about are these guys.

 Did you see Cowboys and Aliens last year? You should have, it was ridiculous, and Harrison Ford was a-maze-ing!!! He’s just such a badass, and I think he could really own the older-male-actor thing in the coming years. Not in a George Clooney kind of way, but still, he was great in C & A.

And Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham? Well, I hope that will be good, too. Kingsley was awesome in Gandhi, but the last two things I saw him in were War Inc and Prince of Persia. If you haven’t seen these, don’t. Please don’t. They are not worth any amount of your time.

But still, can’t wait.

Internet Addiction Clinic: One Hour Survey

Things that I resisted looking up on the internet in a one hour period:

Is there a complete works of F Scott Fitzgerald boxed set?

The Go Fug Yourself fashion blog

Lyrics for Dispatch’s “The General” and Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” 

(even though I have totally looked up the lyrics to those songs before)

Occupy Wall Street google search

Look at my own facebook wall, look at things I have already posted on facebook before

Scarlett Johanssen Style google search

Wikipedia for Lost in Translation

Baby names--boy names as girl names (like Billie)

Sending Meredith an email, with some pictures from our summer together

Look up embroidery patterns

The name Ursula for a baby name

Vintage Sunglasses

Eye of the Tiger lyrics

Songs that will really pump you up for life! and make you feel awesome!

Look up events on facebook

Look up easy guitar chords

Google Elna Baker

Is Fight Club on netflix streaming?

Periodically, I will delete all the browsers off my laptop and not have the internet at all. Then, when something inside yourself whispers, "you must look up a recipe for yellow coconut curry RIGHT NOW, it is very important," you can't do it. You just have to squirm awkwardly until the itch you can't scratch goes away. This is very hard. This is why it is an addiction. 

A couple weeks ago, I decided to write down all the things that i felt compelled to look up in a one hour period when I didn't have a browser and it was impossible. This list is what I got. It made it appallingly obvious that a) nothing i feel compelled to do online is urgent in the least and b) does this list say something about my subconscious/what i truly care about? fashion, and baby names, and blah? uggghhh i don't want to be that person uggghhhh. In either case, writing this list helped me to realize I want to change my internet habits.

Adbusters

I first saw adbusters in the airport when I was 19. I was stranded in Newark for what was to be a 7 hour delay. I was part of a study abroad group of 70 coming back from 2 months in Israel. It was a trip about 4 weeks too long. Not because of the country or the traveling or missing the US, but because of the students I was with. Nice people, all of them. I had no personal grudges. They were the picture of typical mormon kids, squeaky clean and well meaning and no secret agendas except for good clean fun. So it was kind of hard to put my finger on why I couldn’t stand being with them any longer. A little too much conformity, a little too much blatant consumerism, a little too many examples of assumed cultural supremacy, and i felt like they had all been gnawing at me the whole time. That extra 7 hours of time with them in the airport seemed like a 10 year sentence against me. I couldn’t stand it anymore and I wandered the airport stores and lounges alone.

Adbuster’s cover featured several marines carrying what looked like another soldier, probably dead, with the American flag draped over him. A quote sprawled over the front: “War is the force that gives us meaning.” It was obviously, blatantly subversive. Perfect. I had been trying for 2 months to be subtly subversive, and I needed to finally be out in the open. A magazine that was anti-war, that took itself seriously (too seriously), that openly spoke of the problems in our society. Blatantly anarchist and anti-corporate. This is something that I could wave in the face of my fellow students and say “Hey! I am different than you!” Which they already knew, which they already suspected. But I was just as desperate as they were to put me in a category. Just how was I different from them, exactly? And why?

I had personally connected with very few of the students. And I questioned the sincerity of the few I’d connected with. One I connected with because we were both the obvious outsiders. One because she was my roommate, and hey, I was a social creature after all--spending that much time with any person who isn’t totally hostile leads to some kind of connection. One I connected with because we both had an interest in journalism and were a little too intense for other people. I have not kept in touch with any of them. 

Like I said before, none of these people on study abroad were mean or bad or cruel, or even unfriendly. They tried hard to welcome me and i tried to fit in, but it just wasn’t working. But being truly nice, they even found ways to disguise that. “You’re so independent, Gini,” or “you are someone who does their own thing and doesn’t care what others think. I wish I could be like that, I admired you.” I was told these things so much over the 2 months I lived with these 70 students, I wondered if they had sent around a group email or had a secret meeting to coordinate how as a single body they should handle the strange, serious, freshman girl that was somehow outside the norm.

Anyway. I would have been attracted to any magazine that addressed war and peace, as that had been something of an intellectual hobby for several years already, and would only intensify as college went on. But it was a good time in my life and my psychological history for subversive magazines. I don’t want to make too big a deal out of it, because it’s not tragic and it’s something that I’m changing gradual, but I’ve always been in the ‘outsider’ position. Outside of popular groups, outside of the mainstream of thought. I still don’t know if other people put me there or if I put myself there. Probably both.

Adbusters lit the spark behind OWS, did you know that? You probably know that by now. 

Advice that I am trying to follow

"One, I would take some classes at the UCB. Two, the secret to the success of The State was we never waited for anyone to ask us to do anything, or for anyone’s approval to do anything. We just fucking did stuff. We were shooting all the time, writing all the time. We would put up a live show every couple of months. We were aggressive. If you wait around for an opportunity to come up, it’s not coming. It isn’t, ever. Opportunities are not coming. The only opportunities that are coming are the ones you create. Otherwise you are just waiting around. "

Thomas Lennon’s advice for people who want to break into sketch comedy.

Not that I want to do sketch comedy, but you know. Other stuff.