Urban Acrheology

I recently attended a lecture by Dr. Rebbeca Yamin. Her presentation dealt mainly with the historical excavations in my favorite city, Philadelphia.

"It's like I'm playing in the sandbox," said Yamin as she attempted to explain her job in the dark auditorium filled with student and faculty on lookers alike. But she isn't exactly playing with sand. No, in reality she's dealing with dirt, rock, and human feces, which Yamin playfully refers to as "goo."

The lecture begins the process, the meticulous removal of the aforementioned, layer by layer, inch by inch. As she moved from slide to slide it was apparent that Yamin loved every second of it.
"What are you doing now?" asked a student in the back of the crowd.
It was then, if even for a second, you could see some gleam of eye, some reluctance to answer that only foreshadowed her answer. She's not working in the field currently.

Though I found her presentation compelling, despite her reliance on dishes, it was that moment I found inspiring. I mean, this woman loves her job, "I can't believe they pay me."

But why shouldn't she? She's dealing with important things. She's taking pieces of the past and making them come alive. A dish isn't just a dish. It's a pathway to a person. To a life. No, let me correct myself, to a whole lot of lives. This is history of the undocumented. A Romantic approach to the past. A way imagining our forefathers' generation that isn't based on written document, per say, but rather through the incorporation of the human soul.

"You'd be surprised about what you own says about you," states Yasmin, though taken with a fine grain of salt, and it is true. The market place,and it's spectrum of goods, itself is open and what you choose to buy might not define your life but it can allot an insight to your society, your world.

At times she read her narratives aloud to the crowd. But she wasn't trying to define the well known historical figures of our nation. Instead she writes and learns about the common man: the barber, the priest, the accountant. Instead of focusing on dominant views generally analyzed by dominant political authors she explores the depths of the working class; what did these beliefs, such as federalism and abolitionism, mean to the average man-- history's unsung heroes -- and how did it effect their lives both socially and economically.

These are important ideas. An individual can define history but only if you let them. Archeologists and historians like Yamin are something that the field of history needs. The public needs a perspective with people they can relate to. Kids need to learn about how the political ideals of a time can affect the society of the common man just as much as they need to learn of History's prominent figures. These are the real movers, these are the people who fuel the engine, who pump the blood into the heart of change. They just aren't the face.

No Shave November

November is upon us. This can only mean one thing; Throw away your razors and prepare a month of facial untidiness.

I don't know why but I'm participating in No Shave November and now two into the months, well, I'm rather hairy. The problem is I don't grow my facial hair particularly well and I look like a delinquent.

How people begin to react is different. Some say that I look different. Most say I look terrible. And the select few say it looks good. Needless to say, all of these people are participating in the event.

But I will bear on regardless of my appearance. I stand for a meaning! I'm just not certain what it is. I think, maybe, it's a celebration of unruliness in a world of the clean shaven.

My Mom is happy I would even try. My Dad thinks I look terrible.

"Now I know a disease that these Doctors can’t treat.
You contract on the day you accept all you see
a mirror and a mirror is all it can be. A reflection of something we’re missing.
And language just happened, it was never planned,
and it’s inadequate to describe where I am
in the room of my house where the light has never been
waiting for this day to end.
And these clocks keep unwinding and completely ignore
everything that we hate or adore.
Once the page of a calendar is turned it’s no more.
So tell me then, what was it for? Oh tell me, what was it for?"
"A Scale, A Mirror and those Indifferent Clocks" - Bright Eyes

I have asked before what it means to be free, what does it mean to have progressed, and do we have control? And I have concluded, based on my own rhetoric and rationalities, that we are victims to chaos, to time, to fate. But I am not a pessimist just a realist. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Yet again, Conor Oberst has written a song that encapsulates similar themes. In this song you can almost taste his pain, a struggle derived from knowledge. Scales, clocks, calenders, all arbitrary attempts to understand the world. To explain the unexplainable. Only to come to the realization that you can't understand the world like that because your life becomes, "a reflection of something we're missing."

But again, Oberst points out that you can not just be happy with an unexamined life, "you contract [the 'disease'] on the day you except all you see" and yet again, we come back to the idea of progress. It's a personal voyage not based on empirical rationality but rather an inward struggle over personal ideals. You can change your mind not the world.

I will expand on this in later posts, in the mean time, throw out your calender but remember my birthday.

Super Mario World: Better than Tetris

I have a friend who is almost certain Tetris is better than Super Mario World. He is wrong. SOO WRONG!!!! He tries to associate Tetris with his philosophy on life stating that, "In Tetris, like life, all that you know is what happened in the past, what piece you currently have, and what piece is next."

So my friend is basing his life on a video game and I, Shawn Holton, have come to debunk his beliefs and destroy his hopes and dreams. So let us begin with making some new philosophical movements based on popular video games.

1. The Game: Halo 3
The New Philosophy: Mastercheifianism
Layman's Terms: Kill Little Kids via the internet
The Beliefs: "Mastercheifianism" believes rather strongly that the world is an epic battle between, well just about everyone. Taking the teachings of Hobbes, the natural state of man is WAR, however, we shouldn't try and fight these innate impulses. No instead we should kill everything that moves, as long as its designated a different color than your own. Actually, now that I think of it the "Mastercheifianism" movement is heavily based on racial bias: kill someone who's a different color than you or be killed by them. This is a terrible new movement which is growing in the minds of our country's youth and I blame it on Halo 3.

2. The Game: Tetris
The New Philosophy: Blockism
Layman's Term: Try and destroy geometric figures.
The Beliefs: Many "Blockists" try to associate their lives with pieces. I don't get it. They would like to think that they can learn from their mistakes and put their lives together like pieces of a puzzle but really their only goal is to eliminate geometrical shapes and get high scores. However, blockism, in its most simplistic form isn't too bad if you are spatially talented but its transition into practical application. Many people go crazy after adopting these doctrines. Example:
these are adamant Blockists. Do you see their craziness?

3. The Game: Super Mario World
The Philosophy: BowserKinappedThePrincess...Againism
Layman's Terms: You are a fat Italian Plumber with a mustache and for some reason your girlfriend keeps getting abducted by some crazy Dinosaur for like the 4th time since you met her. Oh yeah and your brother the janitor is there to help.
The Beliefs: I'll get around to this.

How my writing has changed...

It hasn't really. My writing changes depending on what I am currently reading; Which is terrible when you are reading those elaborate authors who feel as if their writing is much more advance simply because they have the ability to construct sentences fraught with inflated diction and awesome when you read Hemingway because he is all business and for some odd reason you feel as if you should be drinking.

Lately Ive been reading Dilbert, which might explain a lot.

The Process of Writing or the Lack Thereof

The writing process for a profile piece...

Step One! Have something YOU want to write about.
Step Two! Write about it!

Honestly, that's it. Good Luck, have fun, and always make sure you tie your shoes.

But seriously, what more is there than knowing your topic and executing it? If you want to write a profile about someone, just do it. Get what you need to know. I can't give you a step-by-step process because than you won't be writing an article or a "piece" but rather a formula. Do you want your writing to be so mechanical? You do? Oh wow.. I didn't think you'd say yes. Well, that's nice. I guess journalism is quite similar. I mean it all shares the same objective, force people to learn about someone you find interesting!

Actually I made another step...

Step Three! Force people to learn!

Cause and Effect

Recently I read a wonderful blog by my friend Jacob. It's called "Into the great wide open" which is cool cause its the name of a Tom Petty song/cd. Anyhows, I literally stumbled upon it and I read.

He complained about his roommate and his sloppiness. You know what Jake!!!!??!?!?! Some people just can not be clean no matter how hard they try. And you are just sitting around typing about his GENETIC disorder. That's terrible. Where is our culture going when people think they can blog freely about other people's tidiness problems? It simply gives me the shivers.

No but seriously folks, Jake's problem isn't some sort of joke. So stop laughing! He lives in an extremely hostile environment. Here he is, being himself, and all these clothes are just bombarding the room. Hey Jake, did you every think that the couches were cold and wanted some extra linens? Ugh, where is this country going if our furniture has no right to wear clothing? Are we simply uncivilized now a days? Next thing you know there is going to be a furniture revolution and we will have no where to sit or even sleep! But I guess you would like that, wouldn't you Jacob? I tell you folks, if he's not for furniture he's against it.

Blogs Want You! Join the task force!

Hey! You! Start blogging about your ideals!!!!!!!

Blogs are funny. There are sooooooo many blogs that one would have to sift through in order to find anything, and i mean anything, of substance, at least consistently. Oh how I wish Plato had a blog. Oh My Dear Plato, why do you not blog?

Well if Plato had a blog he would probably be all like, "My Blog is what I recall my blog being!" And everyone would be all like, "Woah. That made no sense."

Foolish cretins. Why do you speak of Plato and his illustrious blogging? Feel pity for him because his mentor has died by his own hand!

But If Plato had a blog I guess I would read it. Or I would reach deep inside my psyche and remember it from my former life. Yeah that sounds better.

But no, Blogs can be important. I like mine. It allows me to type freely and if someone stumbles on it and decided to read, that's cool.

I read this book Enders Game over the summer and this little girl and boy changed the world through blogs. It was actually pretty cool. So I guess any blog could change the world if you really wanted to.

Actually blogs are quite useful. My one friend got a job from a magazine to review new heavy metal albums because he posted them on the internet. That's nice. My other friend found this girl's blog that he knew. Now he knows her opinions and he can lay down a little game. Perhaps he will reveal his softer side. Ha. If he only read Plato's blog he'd know all about her already.

Rip Van Wrinkle: Social Revolution versus Personnal Revolution

Recently I have read a very famous short story called "Rip Van Wrinkle" by Washington Irving. It's a very tall tale of a man who falls asleep for twenty years and when he awakes finds he has missed the American Revolution. Yes, he becomes a "free man" which doesn't mean anything to him.

Rip wakes up in a world of social revolution but has not undergone any "revolution" himself. He remains unhindered. He remains the same. But the question is, is that good? Rip doesn't seem to care very much since he no longer has any real worldly responsibilities. No more nagging wife. No more children. He has nothing and is content. He's still asleep or has been his whole life.

Though Rip's contentment is alluring I do not believe this is Irving's intention. Rip is contrasting by the dwarf-like men that he meets in the woods before his long nap. They are solemn little men yet they play a game. As if they are sentenced to a life of unhappiness and their torture is a life of games. They have no responsibilities. They are sleeping yet they are so tired. So tired of their nothingness.

Meanwhile the men of the village are different. They become politicians in a sense, they become citizens of a democracy. They have their own ideas, their own morals, new responsibilities. They seem quite content. They are not merely living a life. They are living their lives. They are free men.

So what? Big deal right? Everyone is happy at the end. Isn't that important? Yes, it is, but what is Irving's message? It's rather ambiguous, perhaps not upon the first reading but definitely after contemplation. While Rip remains static the other characters do not. Some, as a result, die. Others live and live well. They have engaged their responsibilities. They have challenged the task at hand. What is better? Well like I said it remains unknown. They are all "free men" but in different ways