Country Music

I grew up in Weld County, CO, a wonderful place where everything was centrally located. Centrally located around corn that is. I went to school, played sports, and learned to love science adjacent to a field. Common sights around our campus were dirty pickups with stars and bars, while commonly seen in roadside ditches were empty cans of chew and mountain dew. While I was surrounded this concentrated rural community, I never fully became a part of it. I made friends enough to get by, but mostly avoided getting too comfortable with the large families of the town (there were three families that everyone was related to). My largest reluctance was to the music of the town… Country music. I had grown up with the old fashioned type and I always enjoyed it. My dislike was for pop country. The “I chase after women and trucks” songs that encouraged subpar lyrics and a mundane musical composition were indicative of my most hated music genre.  My assumption that all country music was wretched made me incredibly close-minded to the style.

Today I heard an interview with Chris Stapleton that shifted my perception. He spoke about how he writes his music and claimed that if a song takes longer than 2-3 hours to write, it probably isn’t worth finishing. He states that it should be relatively easy and the song should basically write itself. This took me aback because of my bias and I had to rethink my distaste for country music because of how passionate this man was for his art. I realized that his music was his way of life and expression, and it would be wrong of me to toss it aside like some cheap hat.

These experiences, coupled with the privilege walk from class, have made me question some of the ideas I thought I had. I am now struggling with how to shape my beliefs and how best to make them allowable to change.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/01/566792792/chris-stapleton-dives-into-his-archives-for-from-a-room-volume-2

Freedom of Thought

We talked about freedom of thought and freedom of expression and the implications behind those two ideas. During that discussion, I couldn’t help but think of a Kurt Vonnegut story that I had read in high school and promptly forgotten. I looked it up when I got home and it’s titled Harrison Bergeron and I think it played well into our discussion. Here’s a link to it. Harrison Bergeron. There are some other ideas Vonnegut plays with but I think the theme is the same. So I have some questions that we sort of talked about and wanted to hear what other’s had to think about it.

Much like the concept of freedom of speech, freedom of thought means that even “morally bankrupt” ideas and philosophies are allowed, ranging wildly from pedophilia to extremism. No one, for better or for worse, can stop you from thinking whatever is on your mind. In some cases, this has led to awful and repulsive consequences. As a society we’ve progressed and collectively accepted that this is in fact bad and that these thoughts are not normal or healthy and should never be thought. And I think we can all agree (this is a very, very presumptuous statement but for the sake of argument I’ll keep it) that this is good, that these thoughts of pedophilia or Neo-Nazism should be eradicated. But how do we control that? How do we ensure that these thoughts are never thought by another person again? Is it truly freedom of thought?

This is where I hesitate and think of Harrison Bergeron. Who should enforce such a concept? How far are we willing to go to stop such ideas? When the technology arrives should we go through with it? What are your thoughts?

Gilgamesh All Around

Due to my technological difficulties with the blog, you’re going to see a lot of me tonight. Now that I have access there’s no getting rid of me.

The deep reading of Gilgamesh that we completed a few weeks ago as a part of our investigation of shamanism was by far my favorite of the semester. With its simple language and straightforward plot, Gilgamesh is an epic that doesn’t quite feel like one. It is an incredible journey, just like the story of Odysseus and his long journey home, but it felt familiar and less overwhelming. We touched on this briefly in class, but I was fascinated by the universal religious themes in a work dating back to 2100 BC.

The depiction of God/gods is certainly very different in Gilgamesh than is seen in Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others). However, parallels between this work and other religious texts are much more common. The symbol that stood out most obviously to me at first was the appearance of the snake who took eternal life from Gilgamesh. There is an obvious parallel to the snake who convinced Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree, thus taking away man’s innocence. And also a commentary on snakes as deeply misunderstood creatures.

Upon doing a little research, many other ‘modern’ religious undertones as we know them today are present in the work. Enkidu is very similar to Adam, coming from the Earth and running around with his goat friends sans clothing. The prostitute sent to find him is depicted like Eve, the female temptress who spoils his good time. It has also been hypothesized that the ‘flood story,’ present in multiple religions, most certainly comes from Mesopotamian cultures, on account of the similarities between the story of Noah’s ark and Gilgamesh. Most interestingly, Gilgamesh and parts of the Bible are written in similar languages (Hebrew and Akkadian). If language is culture, the similarities are endless. I could write even more extensively on the parallels between Gilgamesh and shamanism, as discussed in class.

On a historical or even spiritual level, it is fascinating to see similarities between religions that many would consider distinct and separate. But I think it says even more about human nature. We focus on our differences, rather than what we have in common. As people, we are so caught up in embodying ourselves as individuals or small groups, that we tend to dismiss the importance of larger, or even global communities. It’s all about perspective, really; and it might be time for ours to shift. Let’s embody the human within each other, not the engineer, the Christian, or the political affiliation. Because below the surface, there are hardly even six degrees of separation. It’s a demanding task, after all, we haven’t had much success thus far. I wonder how the role of engineers could aid this transition. Perhaps through technological augmentation that erases or vastly diminishes differences? Or other technologies that help us to see each other as brothers rather than enemies? How can we find identity in each other, rather than in ourselves?

P.S. I tried really hard to find a quick and easy scholarly article on Abrahamic undertones in Gilgamesh but those requirements proved too stringent, so here’s SparkNotes:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/themes.html

Fighting for Justice in our Increasingly Fatiguing World

It’s a sentiment I’ve read and seen a countless number of times in recent weeks: I’m tired.

Tired of school, tired of the feeling I get in my stomach reading the news every morning, tired of the political turmoil that never seems to end. Sometimes I get so tired that I have to take a break. I’ve deactivated various social media accounts off and on over the past year, trying to give myself a break from the chaos and outrage I feel all too strongly. But at the same time, I recognize this ability to take a break as a form of privilege. At any time, but particularly under the current administration, it is a luxury to be politically apathetic. If you’re able to turn off the TV every once in a while, it is likely that many of the things being discussed don’t directly affect you.

Recent weeks have been particularly frustrating. The stories emerging from women assaulted and harassed by Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., and Matt Lauer have been heartbreaking and disgusting. As a human being alone I am outraged. But as a woman, I am increasingly concerned about the reality of a work force I hope to enter in just one year. It’s an incredibly important national conversation to have, but to be completely honest, I don’t know how many more stories like these my heart can take. I want to help, but sometimes it is overwhelming to figure out where to begin.

My question for you all is, what are small ways in your everyday lives you fight for and promote justice, even when you’re busy, tired, and heartbroken? How can we, especially as scientists and engineers, push forward tirelessly even when the world seems to be falling apart around us?   

Justice and Engineering

I am a strong believer that anyone who goes into Engineering has a little bit of a "save the world" complex. Those who are good at STEM are aware of a the gift that they have for numbers and logical thinking, and with this I think (and hope) that we strive to create a better world through technology. We are the seerers of potential, the wizards, shamans, and priests of the ever growing technological world and we have the amazing ability to craft and cultivate a grander infrastructure of happiness for mankind.
Now at this point it may seem that I am building those who are STEM oriented to be these grand infallible individuals, but my intention is not this at all. I want it to be understood that I truly believe Engineers are the builders of tomorrow and that we hold a tremendous power. What I don't want to be taken away is that I believe we are without fault. I think our greatest fault is actually because we are so logically thinking.
Our logical thinking, along with the way we are taught, leads us to strive heavily to be more and more technologically knowledgeable. We seek out paths that will increase our knowledge of science. We take internships in design to better our resumes. We do research as a job to refine our interests. We code and read science magazines to enhance our understanding. We fill all of our down time with activities to stuff our memory banks with a very specific type of knowledge. Then once we have pushed ourselves to the limits and finally rest, we do so completely. When we rest we wholly shut down our brain because it can't take anymore and we neglect to stretch our other mental muscles.
Now doing all of this is admirable, but in acting this way, we as engineers neglect something. We forget people and how they interplay into what we learn. We forget that the things we build and learn really affect people. We learn grand things in our education, but we don't learn how to best use them to help others. We don't ponder ethical and just ways to wield what we know and I think this is incredibly unfortunate. We lack a rounded education that helps us weld the sciences and humanities.
I'm glad that we ended the class with Justice, because I think that it is one of the greatest bridges between the sciences and humanities. Engineers do not act in bubbels. What they design has direct impacts and if we don't think about justice and humanity, we lose out on being better engineers.