"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made of the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed."
-Herman Melville
Burlingame California has a stereotype that most of us are already well aware of; upper class, white, well educated, and safe.
I'm not going to criticize this stereotype, because in this case I am one. I am a white, well educated, upper class women, or basically a typical Burlingame teenager. I don't know much about the world outside my little "Burlingame bubble." My brothers are star baseball athletes, while my dad coaches their team, my mother is a successful lawyer, we go to church every Sunday, and as a kid we went to Tahoe or resorts in the Caribbean, I guess you would label us the "typical" American family. I will fully admit that I know absolutely nothing about the world, and have been mostly sheltered my entire life.
Richmond California was voted the "9th most dangerous city" in 2009. While if you were to google Richmond, the opposite stereotype of Burlingame would appear. Gang violence, Latino, under educated, and of course dangerous.
The thing is, my boyfriend lives there. Unlike me, he happens to break the "stereotype." My boyfriend is French and British, not part of any gang, graduated a year early, and is the most chivalrous boy I have ever had the pleasure to meet. But the part of the stereotype he does meet is that he lives in a very dangerous area.
When I go and hangout with him, I'm not allowed to walk to my car alone and he won't usually let me drop him off at night. The fact that my boyfriend went to the school made famous for the "Richmond High" rape, or has seen a real drive-by is mind baffling. I don't understand all the things he's seen and all the things he's constantly trying to protect me of.
I get a certain look when I tell kids from Burlingame that my boyfriend is from Richmond. It's a mixture of shock, curiosity, and alarm. The fact that someone from Burlingame is dating someone from the "ghetto." I do my best to believe that in this day and age, people aren't going to judge a couple due to where they live. But the looks on certain people's faces tend to tell me differently. Never mind the fact that my family adores him, or that he's fluent in two other languages, or that he's a Buddhist. The culture shock of two such different places, is too much for many people in our area to grasp.
How does this not bother me? Last Sunday, while sitting in front of his house a lot of cars drove by blasting music, almost all were rap or intense hip-hop music. We had been sitting out in front for sometime, when a car drove by blasting something completely different. At the same time my boyfriend and I looked at each other and said "Is that the Smiths?!" It's times like that, that make me realize stereotypes were made to be broken, and there is a reason he's my boyfriend, despite of where he lives.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Et Tu?
"This was the noblest Roman of them all."
Antony paying tribute to the dead Brutus.
Act 5 Scene 3, line 68.
Today while leaving to go out, I told a friend of mine that I was independent and I liked it that way. I got about as far as the driveway when I remembered that I was so independent that I had no way of leaving my house, since I didn't have my car.
If you've read my past blog on my car, Brutus, you know how much he means to me. And if
you haven't read it, then I highly suggest you do, or else this blog won't make much sense.
Well, Brutus has fallen, and just like the Roman Empire which he so skillfully destroyed, I don't know if he will rise again. After getting pulled over for the fifth time for a broken brake light I brought my car into the mechanic shop where he informed me that Brutus' exhaust was broken. Turns out, what he needs to do to fix him is extremely expensive, and I know very well that Brutus has already paid off his worth. So the decision is up to me to pay for him to get fixed.
My friends were all extremely concerned this weekend when it was my mom's brand-new hybrid I was driving, instead of my "classic" Volvo. I explained to them that Brutus was sick and I didn't know when he was coming back. From a couple of them I got gasps, some I got really sad expressions, and when I suggested actually looking at another car, Bryn Thomas actually looked at me and said "No." I guess it's safe to say that they don't see me with any other vehicle.
So when I was explaining to Aly that Brutus might be down for the count, she compared his falling apart, to our group falling apart next year when we go to college. As much as I don't want to think about it, I know that the first step is to admit that you have a problem; and my problem is that this whole "leaving" thing really just isn't doing it for me. I know I was blessed in high school with amazing friends, and now that I'm forced to have to leave them I don't know where I'm going to go from here. To know that when I come back there will be nothing, not even my beat up Volvo and all the memories it holds, to come back to actually hurts.
My group is like a car. With Bryn being the radio with a song always in her head, to Gabby with her sense being the steering wheel leading us, and Aly with all her drive and passion being the engine. I guess Leyla can come to, but she would be more of the funny thing that hangs from the review mirror. And those are just the girls who take AP Lit, there are more. There is Tracy who would have to be the gas petal, who is going to get where ever she wants to go. Only stopped by Julianne, who would be the brakes, always warning us to slow down before we hurt ourselves. There is Valerie and Clara, who make up the worn out seats I'm so familiar with and know me best. And you can't forget Chiara who would be the headlights, because once she sets her sights on something, she knows she will get it. Last but not least is Lauren, who of course is the brake lights, who is in the back laughing at all of us for getting lost.
We work as a unit, and to see us falling apart is scaring me. I know college is inevitable, and I know the future is going to happen no matter what, but either way it's sad knowing that the end to the beginning is approaching. And that without these people helping me along I'm not sure I can do it alone.
I have to have faith in the fact, that the bonds that have held us together, through the good times and the bad are going to be able to overcome distance. I know that we've gone through a lot more then most groups of friends our age have had to go through, and that the fact that we are still "uncomfortably close" speaks volumes on its own. I'm aware that if I ever needed anything that Julianne's house is only 5 minutes away, and that Chiara gives the best back rubs that makes everything better. I know that Leyla can make me laugh no matter what the situation, and that with Aly's positive spin on things I can get through anything. I know that there is always going to be a shoulder to cry on, or someone handing me a tissue to blow my nose. Most of all I know that we started out as girls, but every single one of us has emerged a woman through this high school experience. I love my friends dearly, and I know they have taught me everything I'm going to need to know when I have to face the reality of life. I might not want to go, but I know because of them I am ready.
Still, I think that it might be worth it to pay for the exhaust though, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to let Brutus fall...
Antony paying tribute to the dead Brutus.
Act 5 Scene 3, line 68.
Today while leaving to go out, I told a friend of mine that I was independent and I liked it that way. I got about as far as the driveway when I remembered that I was so independent that I had no way of leaving my house, since I didn't have my car.
If you've read my past blog on my car, Brutus, you know how much he means to me. And if
you haven't read it, then I highly suggest you do, or else this blog won't make much sense.
Well, Brutus has fallen, and just like the Roman Empire which he so skillfully destroyed, I don't know if he will rise again. After getting pulled over for the fifth time for a broken brake light I brought my car into the mechanic shop where he informed me that Brutus' exhaust was broken. Turns out, what he needs to do to fix him is extremely expensive, and I know very well that Brutus has already paid off his worth. So the decision is up to me to pay for him to get fixed.
My friends were all extremely concerned this weekend when it was my mom's brand-new hybrid I was driving, instead of my "classic" Volvo. I explained to them that Brutus was sick and I didn't know when he was coming back. From a couple of them I got gasps, some I got really sad expressions, and when I suggested actually looking at another car, Bryn Thomas actually looked at me and said "No." I guess it's safe to say that they don't see me with any other vehicle.
So when I was explaining to Aly that Brutus might be down for the count, she compared his falling apart, to our group falling apart next year when we go to college. As much as I don't want to think about it, I know that the first step is to admit that you have a problem; and my problem is that this whole "leaving" thing really just isn't doing it for me. I know I was blessed in high school with amazing friends, and now that I'm forced to have to leave them I don't know where I'm going to go from here. To know that when I come back there will be nothing, not even my beat up Volvo and all the memories it holds, to come back to actually hurts.
My group is like a car. With Bryn being the radio with a song always in her head, to Gabby with her sense being the steering wheel leading us, and Aly with all her drive and passion being the engine. I guess Leyla can come to, but she would be more of the funny thing that hangs from the review mirror. And those are just the girls who take AP Lit, there are more. There is Tracy who would have to be the gas petal, who is going to get where ever she wants to go. Only stopped by Julianne, who would be the brakes, always warning us to slow down before we hurt ourselves. There is Valerie and Clara, who make up the worn out seats I'm so familiar with and know me best. And you can't forget Chiara who would be the headlights, because once she sets her sights on something, she knows she will get it. Last but not least is Lauren, who of course is the brake lights, who is in the back laughing at all of us for getting lost.
We work as a unit, and to see us falling apart is scaring me. I know college is inevitable, and I know the future is going to happen no matter what, but either way it's sad knowing that the end to the beginning is approaching. And that without these people helping me along I'm not sure I can do it alone.
I have to have faith in the fact, that the bonds that have held us together, through the good times and the bad are going to be able to overcome distance. I know that we've gone through a lot more then most groups of friends our age have had to go through, and that the fact that we are still "uncomfortably close" speaks volumes on its own. I'm aware that if I ever needed anything that Julianne's house is only 5 minutes away, and that Chiara gives the best back rubs that makes everything better. I know that Leyla can make me laugh no matter what the situation, and that with Aly's positive spin on things I can get through anything. I know that there is always going to be a shoulder to cry on, or someone handing me a tissue to blow my nose. Most of all I know that we started out as girls, but every single one of us has emerged a woman through this high school experience. I love my friends dearly, and I know they have taught me everything I'm going to need to know when I have to face the reality of life. I might not want to go, but I know because of them I am ready.
Still, I think that it might be worth it to pay for the exhaust though, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to let Brutus fall...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Existentialism
"The question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I, or the others crazy?"
-Albert Einstein
There are no complex characters in Existentialism literature; only the complex questions: Who are we? and Why are we here? Character's primarily in Existential literature, are simplified, so simple in fact that they become complex through the idea that you have no idea why they exist.
In The Stranger by Albert Camus has a main character who is so simple that he can't figure out why he killed an Arab. The entire book the man does simplistic things like, eat sleep and talk. Camus portrays the main character so simplistically that the reader is left to wonder why he is even a character at all, and what is his point in the world.
The same theme holds true for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The entire book circles around the theme that the two characters don't know why they have been placed in Hamlet. The characters themselves aren't that developed, and can't even remember who they are and which one is which. The idea that they keep coming back to is why do they exist, and what is their purpose.
Existtentialism has really opened my eyes in asking these questions. Good literature, and this type especially, gets you to thinking about the bigger picture. Why are we here? What is our purpose? And do we want to do more then just exist. Through existentialism I have started asking, and applying these questions to my everyday life.
-Albert Einstein
There are no complex characters in Existentialism literature; only the complex questions: Who are we? and Why are we here? Character's primarily in Existential literature, are simplified, so simple in fact that they become complex through the idea that you have no idea why they exist.
In The Stranger by Albert Camus has a main character who is so simple that he can't figure out why he killed an Arab. The entire book the man does simplistic things like, eat sleep and talk. Camus portrays the main character so simplistically that the reader is left to wonder why he is even a character at all, and what is his point in the world.
The same theme holds true for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The entire book circles around the theme that the two characters don't know why they have been placed in Hamlet. The characters themselves aren't that developed, and can't even remember who they are and which one is which. The idea that they keep coming back to is why do they exist, and what is their purpose.
Existtentialism has really opened my eyes in asking these questions. Good literature, and this type especially, gets you to thinking about the bigger picture. Why are we here? What is our purpose? And do we want to do more then just exist. Through existentialism I have started asking, and applying these questions to my everyday life.
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