Thankful for a Classmate

I am thankful for Nambi Williams. She's the first person I remember liking at ackie orientation five years ago, and, though I wasn't very nice to her for the first couple years, she kept being my friend anyway. So she's great and I'm glad I figured out how to appreciate her before she gave up on me. We're very different people, but I think that ended up being a good thing because it gives us more to talk/argue about. Thanks, Nam.

Into the Wild-Alone

From what I've seen of Into the Wild, I really like it. I missed a lot of school last week, so it isn't much, but this is going off what I do know so far. Chris seems like a weird guy, but in a way I can appreciate. I can relate to him because I also don't see our society how most do, and, though I wouldn't be so extreme as to leave everything behind and go live in the wild, but I definitely wish to get away from this. Siddhartha is strange to me because he spent so much time going between different societies and mentors in his search for enlightenment. His missed out on years of potentially reaching that goal because he was so focused on getting someone to help him get there. If he had spent more time with a smaller group or alone, I think he would have figured it out much sooner.

I think it's important to spend time alone. Maybe its because big groups of people make me kind of nervous, but I just don't think its necessary.

We Still Haven't Figured This Out Yet

There's so much that I personally don't know, that I often forget that most people don't know most things. In general, people are oblivious to the world around them and how it works. So, I'll discuss something that I don't think anyone has an explanation for and kind of pains me to think about too hard. 

When I was 3, I decided I was going to be a doctor. For the next 9 years, I told everyone this and spent a lot of time researching neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinsons. Why, though? I look back at the idea of being a doctor and cringe because it goes against so much of that I believe now. I would hate having to study and spend so many years after undergrad still in school. I understand that people change as they grow up; most students my age will end up majoring in something they never planned on in a few years. But what determines passion? What about a person want to give themselves entirely to something?

Now I want to be a writer, which is generally less logical in the eyes of most people. They get very inconsistent pay and make much less than any doctor, on average. But that's what I want to do with my life. Some people love the idea of teaching, or playing professional sports, or saving lives, and here I am: just wanting to sit around and write stories all day. It's crazy to me. I wish there was an explanation for why people settle into different careers based on what they care deeply for. We haven't figured out where passion comes from and I don't think we ever will.

How do I know what I know?

I think knowledge comes from what we're told our whole lives or have experienced first hand. I know it's cold in Antarctica, though I've never been. I know that it hurts to have your appendix bursts, but it's never happened to me. We know what we are taught, mostly. The other factor is observation. When I burned myself on an iron when I was about two, I learned that irons are hot and heat hurts. I know what pain is because I've experienced it. Outside of experience and what you're told, its impossible to know anything else.

People like to say they know things about the afterlife, things about the world scientists can't explain, etc. To me, that isn't knowledge. I have many beliefs, but I wouldn't dare claim to "know" the meaning of life or anything about the future or most things for that matter. I think it's hard to be sure of anything, really, so people should be careful throwing around the phrase, "I know..."

The Garden State

I interpreted the Garden State as a settlement for a decent existence. Maybe it's my issues with the idea of literal farming, but I just don't think this would be a happy existence. I don't mean I have a problem with working, but having the same role to complete forever would get old pretty quick.

My grandma's back yard has a serious weed problem, so my aunt used to get my sister and I to help her pull them up several times a summer. That was cool until I was about 15, when I got tired of it. To me, there's no point in doing something over and over. Gardens have to be taken care of consistently and I just don't see a future in doing the same thing forever.

Perhaps if I had gone through what Candide and his friends have experienced, I could see the garden state as a good thing. Having lived in the same neighborhood and city my whole life, I can't imagine settling down to one place and responsibility. I want to see the world, work a couple bad jobs, find a great job I love, sleep for days without interruption, and a whole lot more. So I don't think the garden state just would work out for me.

Candide's Punishments

For the most part, I don't think Candide's punishments suit his crimes. Kissing his cousin wasn't even a crime and he was kicked out of the castle. Then he was beat and tortured and watched Pangloss die all for reasons beyond his control (or just things he didn't know were considered wrong). I think these punishments were obviously ridiculous as a way of  Voltaire pointing out that this is just how the world works sometimes. Bad things happen to people that don't always deserve it.

There is one exception. Candide killed Don Issachar in self defense, so that's okay. However, he does deserve punishment for killing the Grand Inquisitor. He didn't have a good reason to commit this crime and deserved to have to leave Cunegonde.

Modern Gadfly

I think a modern gadfly is comedian Bo Burnham. Personally, I think he's hilarious and not at all annoying, but his comedy does have critical undertones. He has a song called Repeat Stuff in which he makes fun of people like Justin Bieber and One Direction that have meaningless, vague lyrics that trick girls into thinking the song is about them. By the end of the song, everyone at the concert is singing along, repeating whatever he says, so he stands up and does a Nazi salute. I didn't even realize until that moment that he was accusing these artists of brainwashing their listeners. It's funny, but makes also us aware of how media affects us. That was a less vulgar one, but Bo does a great job of criticising famous people (including himself) in his other songs and poetry book.

The Unexamined Life

The Unexamined Life is not one worth living, because you're simply not doing anything with your time. It'd be easy for all of us to just go through the motions of school, get a boring job, and settle down forever. But that's not what life should be about. It's supposed to be fun, happy, and whatever else we desire, but we have to think about who and what we are in order to do so.

I've never really made decisions for myself. My parents made me come to Whitney Young in 7th grade, join almost every program I've been a part of, and I can't even dye my hair until I move out. If I settled for this, I would be miserable. Living an unexamined life is just going along with whatever's going on around you and being okay with it. It took a year and a half, but I eventually realized that I was mad all the time because I was sick of doing whatever other people told me to. Also, I'd been stuck on the idea of being a doctor since I was 3, and never gave it much thought after that. It started to seem like a lot of work, and I was much more interested in staying up late to write stories after my family went to sleep. During the second half of 8th grade, I joined Company and told my parents I wasn't so sure about medical school anymore. It wasn't huge, but I was making my own choices and exploring other options.

Three and a half years later, Company's one of the most important things to me, and I want to study Creative Writing in college. I'm also generally less mad at the world. It's a process that I'm still working on, but I think it's hard to be truly happy until you have complete control over your life. We have to take risks and learn about ourselves. Living an unexamined life will just make you miserable, and everyone deserves better than that.

About Me

     My name is Deja. I like bacon, Wendy's, and music. I have a twin sister, but only don't really like to talk about it, so I won't elaborate. Also, I'm sound chief in Company now, so I've got that going for me.
     First I would like to talk about food. It's really important to me, but I'm very picky about it. As I mentioned above, Wendy's is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Chipotle is fantastic, too, because their steak is empowering. Pizza is always good.
     Ok, but seriously, I really like writing and watching movies. In my perfect world, I'd have a huge house and just sit around and write all day (breaks include napping and watching movies in my home theater). I recently won the Young Playwrights Festival, which means my writing doesn't suck, and people actually think I'm decent. I haven't told many people yet because most people don't think writing is a real job that can support a full, happy life. Whatever. It's what makes me happy, so I'm going to do it.
     Branching off of that (sorry, this may be getting off topic), happiness is a big thing for me. I'm not saying that I'm happy, just that everyone deserves to be. If a guy wants to sit around and design flower bouquets, let him. Or drive an ice cream truck or draw rabbits he sees in the park. It drives me crazy that people could want to stop another's happiness. These thoughts make me empathize a lot. I imagine myself in every situation, and how it'd make me feel. Often, people think I miss the point, but, in actuality, I just seems things from a weird perspective. It makes me cry at almost every movie I see, but perhaps it'll come in handy for philosophy class. I think about everything a little too hard, and (I hope) that's not always bad.
     Okay, so that's an introduction to me. Sorry if I strayed a bit in the middle, but that's how I am in real life anyway, so it makes sense.