In a battle between Mother Nature and the Television, I predict Mother Nature opening a can'o whop-ass on the TV...straight up...without a doubt...

The Lovely Woods:
We walked along the paved path that would lead us to the woods. The sun was out and the wind was running silently around us. We talked about all of the things we had to do, and did this past week. We had just had a lab practical exam that we had both done really well on. Unfortunately that small triumph was easily masked by the realization that in the coming weeks until school ends, practically every week is full of exams, not to mention finals…Our minds raced out loud. Cars passed. The hum of society could still be heard in the open air, and in our thoughts.
Finally we reached the point where the paved path continues on and a path created by the treading of many feet veered off to the right. Right at the opening of the path was a large mud puddle. I suppose I could have made my way around it. That was my first thought…But the little kid in me won, I took off my shoes, rolled up my jeans and casually strolled through the warm muddy water…I have to admit, it was great. I kept my shoes off as we walked further down the path. Barefoot is so much more interesting than wearing shoes. It’s like adding a sixth sense to your repertoire of physical sensation and observation. Every new texture on the ground is a change of scenery for an alternative aspect of your body other than your eyes. As we progressed down the path, our conversation slowed, as did our thoughts. The mud was cool in the shade and warm in the sun. I started to notice the birds more and more and the cars less and less. I could hear the wind more clearly instead of just feeling it. My lungs were wide-awake. My sickness that I had felt earlier seemed to be leaving me with each step.
We came to a spot on the path that crossed a stream. We then proceeded to step off the path and head a little ways away down closer to the stream and farther from the path. I felt like a little kid again. I stepped out onto a rock in the stream, and gingerly proceeded to step into the icy water. The water, although very cold, and quite a shock to the system, was smooth and easily passed around the obstruction my legs had caused in its predetermined path to who knows where. I crossed the stream just for the sake of it. Three bugs on the other side of the stream were playing some form of tag as I arrived on the other side. They didn’t notice my presence and kept on with their daily activities. I stood for a while and then traversed back to the other side of the stream. Once on the other side, I spotted a tree that had made its final resting place lying across the stream. I climbed up onto the tree and out over the river, the water just out of reach of my hands when I let my arms hang. I placed all my trust in this tree. Without it, I’d be bathing in some mighty cold water. I laid there perfectly still and just listened. The sun poked though the branches and small buds on the trees and danced playfully on those leaves laid to rest on the forest floor. A small pine tree sprouted up from a dead looking mass of trees and sticks that had laid claim to one corner of the stream. I first noticed the dead mass of branches. Then I noticed the small pine tree. I then noticed how the lively little pine tree made the whole structure look more alive and less dead. Life gives life to death…if that makes any sense. Then I realized that no matter how dead the mass of branches were, it would still always appear more alive than any man made product, regardless of what it was. A thin silky string of spider’s web connected the small pine tree to another tree outside the stream. I followed the web with my eyes. The web led to the tree. I followed the tree up to one of the branches and noticed a small birds nest. The branch continued out over the stream. There were about three leaves on the branch that had not fallen off. They looked quite out of place amongst the small buds. A strong gust of wind blew causing me to hold on to the tree I was laying on just a little tighter. The wind knocked one of the leaves off. It then fell silently into the river. I stared at the water and followed the leaf until it passed around to where I could no longer see the stream. I noticed that the roots of the tree that let go of the leaf extended out into the water. It was a complete cycle of interconnectedness. I continued to stare at the water. The sun transformed into a cascade of diamonds when as it hit the moving stream. It was mesmerizing. My mind had stopped racing. Thoughts would come into my head, linger for a while and then casually leave to allow contemplative space for the next thought. I felt very at peace in an awake and oddly alert sort of way. It was nice. I closed my eyes for a little while and just listened. Its quite amazing what you can hear when you close your eyes and concentrate. Birds, water, wind, leaves, some other small and unidentifiable creature, your own quiet and rhythmic breathing. My head was resting on my arms, which were crossed and resting on the tree beneath me. I could feel the pulse in my wrist against the tree. I wondered if the tree could feel it too. There was some moss growing on the underside of the tree. I felt it with my hand and noticed the nice contrast where the soft moss met the rough tree bark. I focused my eyes on the whole scene before me and enjoyed it. I looked inward to my thoughts and tried to distinguish between the thoughts, colors, and feelings in my head. The air smelled crisp and clean. I filled my starving lungs with it.
The time came for us to return back and complete the television portion of the assignment. I climbed unwillingly off the tree and back onto the mixture of leaves and moss beside the water. I felt an unusual sense of accomplishment and motivation even though I had just spent half an hour lying on a tree branch. We walked back down the same path, my feet giggled at the feeling of the mixture of warm and cool mud. When we reached the end of the path I walked straight into the mud puddle and stood there for a little while. The mud was now very warm, almost bathtub like, as it had been sitting in the sun observing life and collecting heat for the past half hour. I then walked slowly out of the mud puddle and onto the course pavement. I walked a little ways and looked back to notice my fading footprints coming from the muddy path. I felt good, and alive, and not sick anymore. We walked back. I still noticed the birds, and then wind, and the sun, but the sound of cars passing was unfortunately added in to the natural soundtrack of the surrounding world. We walked up to our dorm, and I couldn’t help but notice how dead the building looked compared to the trees, and grass and sticks.


The Boob-Tube:
We sat down and prepared ourselves for an unfortunate uninterrupted thirty minutes of TV watching. The power button on the clicker was pressed and as that tell tale ping of the TV-turning-on-noise entered my ears I thought about how silly the concept of the clicker was. Its not like we are twenty feet away and half to walk a long distance to turn it on. And that was the last thought that entered my head for the next thirty minutes.
We watched a half our of the show America’s Best Dance Crew. Man, was it pointless. On top of watching more commercials in the thirty minutes than actual show, I literally gained nothing from watching it. One could argue that it actually made me dumber. My mind was frighteningly blank. It was like my thoughts had run and hid as soon as the lights of the TV had appeared on the screen. No matter how I tried, I could not entice them out of hiding. My mind would not have it. My eyes didn’t want to blink and my mind didn’t want to think. I was in a weird pseudo-coma like state with my eyes open and my body functioning internally, but I was just not there. I sat there and watched a bunch of people be active and in shape and perform all types of crazy dance moves and flips as I sat there, sedentary…mind and body. It sucked. In and amongst all of the really lame and stupidity-inducing commercials was one for a run to support clean water for the world. It started by telling you how many hospital beds are full due to diseases stemming from a lack of clean water. It then proceeded to tell you about the run taking place to confront this problem and encouraging you, the tv wacher to take part. Then, in the last scene of the commercial the man’s voice said sponsored by Dow. And in very light gray font, the kind that is weirdly thin and thus difficult to read, underneath the logo for the run for clean water, were the words” Sponsored by the Dow Chemical Company.”….Really now? The Dow chemical company is sponsoring a run for clean water…that they are making dirty anyway? Does this make any sense? I think not…You see the commercial and its like, oh well there is a glimmer of hope somewhere. People want to clean up the water for the world that all these companies are destroying. Then the end of the commercial arrives and you see that one of those same companies that is dirt-ifying the world is sponsoring this whole “clean water” movement. Well, way to make the whole thing completely illegitimate and all for not. Dow is going to keep doing what its doing under the guise of “oh we’re environmental, we supported the run for clean water, and gave a menial amount of money that literally wont make a dent in the overall issue, but we’re going to claim we’re saving the environment anyway and people are going to give us a good environmental reputation and believe us because we have some really great PR that is top notch when it comes to blatant lying.” Great. That’s just perfect…Way to go Dow, way to go. But other than that commercial, nothing I watched elicited any kind of emotion out of me other than inescapable, ball and chain, boredom. I kept checking the time to see how much longer I had to sit there and slowly waste away. When I do watch TV, I don’t really sit there and dedicate all of my attention to it. I’m doing other things, getting my laundry, answering email, organizing whatever. I never really dedicate myself to the television. To be honest, it was hard. I didn’t like it. And after we turned it off, I didn’t feel like I wanted to do anything. I just wanted to sit and literally do nothing. My stuffy nose was back and I kind of felt a little agitated for no reason, and just plain lazy. It was not pleasant. Conclusion: I much prefer the woods, hands down, no questions asked, any day of the week, any moment in time, just say the word, I’m there.


Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Chapter 12
I really love the opening quote. Its so true, unfortunate, but true. It should be that this centuries three great politically important developments are the growth of pure democracy, the return of power to the people and the growth of a richer culture and better society as a result of this power shift. The quote on page 202-203 (“He defines propaganda…any conclusion but one.”) is also great. At this present moment, our system of democracy needs a hell of a lot more education than propaganda. This whole PR propaganda thing is completely going against the very fibers of democracy. Whatever happened to of the people, by the people, for the people? When did this whole of the corporation, by the corporation, for the profit crap become okay? In the ideal world, democracy is the system of government where those people being governed and affected by the system are the ones doing the governing. The people are the driving force for all actions, not the profit. And when I say people I mean the fleshy, multi-cellular, eukaryotic organisms who have opposable thumbs and mammary glands and fall under the category of homo sapiens. Not the corporations.
Democracy should have values that stem from the ideas of the individuals. Ideas should not be prepackaged and fed to the individuals. None of this top-down crap. People should “..take an active role in shaping their futures and running their government instead of letting it run them.” I have learned that there is some good PR. But the good PR does not even come close to the canceling out the bad PR and its effects. Media and PR, although they can be used for good, seem to have crossed the line in certain places. Media and PR should never become so influential and engrained in our society that our values and culture start being defined by it. And all this business of “…managers are legally obliged to ignore community welfare…if those needs interfere with profitability” is just very backwards and not okay. The people come first, not the prospect of profit. And until companies learn the value of the real human life, they should not be allowed to operate. As concerned citizens, we must exercise those rights we have as defined by our much previous definition of democracy. We must not stand for any PR/Media bogus that is thrown at us. We must speak the truth and call out the companies in their times of wrong and demand that the correct action be taken. Also, the citizens must somehow find a way to take back what is rightfully theirs in regards to democratic rights, powers, ideals, and values. All of this will take time, but I do believe it is a fight worth fighting. The hope for all of this lies in the hearts of the people not satisfied with just accepting what is sneakily spoon-fed to them. It lies with those people who are shorted by this system and can accurately see the flaws it has. It is up to the people to bring to light for all of society the injustices and issues that surround this whole phenomenon. I have not really discovered my role in making this a reality, but I will continue to search for where I fit in this whole thing. For the moment I will continue to act on the opportunities that arise, such as writing letters to companies and activities of the like. (PS. Neither American Eagle or Abercrombie and Fitch has replied to me yet. I have sent American Eagle my letter eleven times, from different emails and modes of communication, and still nothing. I feel like I might be on their list of people to just straight up avoid. ☺ )


PSA Blog Post:
I feel really good about my groups progress. We have actually finished all of the filming and pretty much all of the editing. All we really have left to do is put it onto a DVD thing and have someone else watch it, and then make any changes are needed after that. Our group has worked very well together. Our concept seems to have stayed pretty on the mark with regards to any changes since the initial brainstorming. Each team member…so Torie and I…have each been responsible for every aspect of the project. We have both filmed, acted, produced, and whatever else there is that goes into making a movie. Hopefully be next class we will have put our PSA onto a DVD and had someone else watch it. That way we have plenty of time to make any needed changes. I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I’m excited to watch everybody’s!!