Sunday, September 25, 2016
Another Year
It's funny seeing all the first year grad students (and undergrads) all happy and excited to be here. It's only time until they have the happiness beat out of them.
Monday, September 12, 2016
The DIY Way
Last week, for the first time, I hemmed a set of curtains. I may have cheated a little bit by using ironing tape instead of sewing the hem, but it gets the job done. I might pat myself on the back and marvel at a new job well done (well, not particularly well done, but a serviceable job nonetheless).
Obviously this isn't about tooting my own horn-hemming curtains isn't particularly difficult. What I am intrigued by is the ebbing of the DIY mentality, where today's young adults seem to possess fewer and fewer handiwork skills (which I had also mentioned with the increase in restaurant spending with the decrease of grocery store spending).
A New York Times Sunday Op-Ed provides some intriguing thoughts, and while I'm not as quick to believe an imminent demise of functional society, it does raise some good points. Many of those "world-changing" ideas exist to create a problem to be solved, and it seems that the primary basis of many of these is the convenience of someone doing something else for you. And of course more time to socialize, which seems to be the only priority outside working hours.
While I understand that we can't do everything and are unable to acquire every skill, the lack of these skills that the previous generation had around the house is quite galling. As the Op-Ed points out, many seek to outsource away "everything their mothers no longer do" to the point that they're completely useless inside the home. This lack of DIY, outside of figuring out how to make someone else do it for you, might also explain why so many seem to have such a hard time putting together IKEA furniture.
News flash: It's not that hard. With a little bit of can-do and some common sense, a lot can be done if only you have the spirit to try.
Obviously this isn't about tooting my own horn-hemming curtains isn't particularly difficult. What I am intrigued by is the ebbing of the DIY mentality, where today's young adults seem to possess fewer and fewer handiwork skills (which I had also mentioned with the increase in restaurant spending with the decrease of grocery store spending).
A New York Times Sunday Op-Ed provides some intriguing thoughts, and while I'm not as quick to believe an imminent demise of functional society, it does raise some good points. Many of those "world-changing" ideas exist to create a problem to be solved, and it seems that the primary basis of many of these is the convenience of someone doing something else for you. And of course more time to socialize, which seems to be the only priority outside working hours.
While I understand that we can't do everything and are unable to acquire every skill, the lack of these skills that the previous generation had around the house is quite galling. As the Op-Ed points out, many seek to outsource away "everything their mothers no longer do" to the point that they're completely useless inside the home. This lack of DIY, outside of figuring out how to make someone else do it for you, might also explain why so many seem to have such a hard time putting together IKEA furniture.
News flash: It's not that hard. With a little bit of can-do and some common sense, a lot can be done if only you have the spirit to try.
Friday, September 2, 2016
Overheard
Overheard at lunch yesterday:
Girl: Having the freedom to do what I want means that I can choose to be outwardly sexual.
Guy: But, that plays right into the patriarchy.
Girl: But isn't feminism all about letting me do what I want to do?
Rinse and repeat for the 10 minutes I was stuck within earshot of them.
Welcome to Seattle, and now a great portion of urban America, where you're free to do whatever you want to do, as long as it fits within the narrow mindset of the hive mind behind movements whose end goals don't actually have anything to do with equality.
Girl: Having the freedom to do what I want means that I can choose to be outwardly sexual.
Guy: But, that plays right into the patriarchy.
Girl: But isn't feminism all about letting me do what I want to do?
Rinse and repeat for the 10 minutes I was stuck within earshot of them.
Welcome to Seattle, and now a great portion of urban America, where you're free to do whatever you want to do, as long as it fits within the narrow mindset of the hive mind behind movements whose end goals don't actually have anything to do with equality.
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