Digital Story – Rough Draft #2

Throughout my entire life, I never imagined I would be a smoker. The concept completely revolted me. But, day by day, as soon as I entered UMBC, I became to susceptible to the sweet release granted by nicotine. From October 2007 and onward, I have smoked, roughly, a pack of cigarettes a day. Although I know that this habit has serious health consequences, I’ve always fallen back into the mold of smoking after quitting. I feel as if this is due to me cultivating the places I associate with smoking. The 7/11 on Fredrick Road, the Royal Farms on Wilkens, The balcony outside of Chesapeake, my westhill apartment, my Walker apartment, the nook outside of the fine arts building, under my balcony at home, inside my garage, my Dad’s house. These are all places that I intrinsically link with the act of smoking cigarettes and that’s part of the reason I have so much trouble quitting. If I quit, my preservation of these places was for naught. I’ll never go to these places again and never experience the rush of memories and feelings that I’m so accustomed to. If I want to quit, I need to remove these places from my consious and forge new places, new memories, and cultivate something different. Something New.  Why Do I smoke? Because I’m addicted. But I also smoke because it’s a link to my past, it’s a link to good memories and I don’t want to lose those. But I kind of do, because one place is truly like the rest. The 7/11 is like a lot of convience stores, the outside of one building is a lot like the outside of another. The only unique definition I put on these places that cultivates them is my own. But it’s my definition.

Point: Cultivating and Preserving Places is typically a good experience, but for me, its negative.

Word Count: 299

 

The Best equals the Worst

I’ve been incredibly lucky throughout my educational experiences. The defining moment in my educational career wasn’t winning the 2nd grade spelling B or getting into college or that research project targeting hunger in college students, its been my ability to fight deadlines in college with great success (Best) and the cataclysmic failure that surrounds a missed deadline (Worst)

My “best” education experience occurs when I’m able to meet a deadline within minutes of it being due. The rush exhilarates me and like many others, I’m able to produce my best work at deadlines. I say this now, but honestly, I know it’s a lie. I know and understand that editing is such an important process of writing but when I finish a project right before its due, I’m on such a high that I can’t be brought down. I’ve beaten the system. I feel as if I can take on the educational world and the wind is at my back. This has happened many different times over my college career but each time, I learn something new about myself which adds to the process.
On the other hand, my worst educational experience is when I miss my deadline, do poorly on the paper, and am forced to admit defeat. Defeat is such a strong word, but its categorizes my feelings very well. My enemy is the deadline and I lost to it. HE won. HE got the best of me and I only have myself to blame. I full my mind with second guesses and coulda, woulda, shouldas. It’s the worst but its part of the risk I take. I know these educational experiences are very atypical from the “standard” answer but they’ve taught me more about myself and what I’m capable of  than any textbook ever could.

My generation sure is gr8....

Tom Brokaw coined the term the "Greatest Generation" to capture the impact that the cohort who went through both the Great Depression and World War Two. The term "Greatest" shows that this generation made a significant impact on society and paved the way for future generations. My generation, however, is different. Theres nothing "Great" about us and as a whole, we're restless, bored, and without passion. Our society also places a high emphasis on the satirical. Fitting this theme, I think its appropriate to use a play on words and call our generation the "Gr8est Generation". The terms ridiculousness and its mockery of a generation that went through so much goes a long way in showing how cynical my cohort can be.

"Un-style" in the Social Elite

In 2010, the Prime Rib Restaurant, an icon of the Baltimore social elite changed their dress code from "formal" to "business casual". Why does this seemingly meaningless policy change matter? It represents the loss of high culture's force hold on the influence of a formal style in a power institution. It shows that in order to retain a increasingly youthful clientele, they need to act in accordance to the wishes of this culture. In the twenty-first century, youth culture has penetrated high society and dictated a movement away from formalized style and instead subscribes to a belief that casual is better

Today, America is far more relaxed in style and dress "codes" are slowly falling by the way side. No longer do students have to wear dress shirts or dresses to class as they did in the 1960's. This reflects how our culture is changing and how individuals are able to assume a number of different roles. You don't need to dress like you're ready to learn in order to take a class at UMBC just as you don't need to dress like a member of an elite institution in order to attend an elite institution. The lack of a formalized style today is like the changing definition of the American experience. A woman in the 1950's had three career routes. She could be a nurse, a teacher, or a doctor; and her dress reflected that because her options were much more feminine. Today, you can be whatever you want to be and your dress reflects you dressing any way you want to dress. In the classroom setting the way women dress varies from person to person and there are few consistent principles (outside of decency standards). Style barriers have broken down as societal roles have expanded, allowing the casual fashion of youth to infiltrate the rest of society.

Word Count: 309

"Un-style" in the social elite

Recently, a cultural transcendence took place in Baltimore and very few people know about it. It was an event that speaks to how our society is changing in accordance to fashion, style, and culture. What happened? The Prime Rib restaurant, an icon of societal elite and high class, changed its dress code from formal to business casual.  Although it may seem small and meaningless, this change speaks to how our society is adapting to a more casual style to stay afloat and remain pertinent. When a place of business says that the dress code is "formal" it makes a statement. It says that there are standards and you need to abide by them in order to receive our services. But society is changing and standards are being lowered, as evidenced by the switch. The style of our culture, and by effect youth culture, no longer reflects a unified standard but now is dispersed into a lack of a unified style or an "un-style"

On the outside, the comparisons between the style of college students today and the college students of 1968 are sparse. The students of 1968 seemed to dress accordance to a code and whether that code was written or un-written notwithstanding, if you did not follow that code you would be not be in the norm since you're not following those trends. Today, America is far more relaxed in style and dress "codes" are slowly falling by the way side. No longer do students have to wear dress shirts or dresses to class as they did in the 1960's. This reflects how our culture is changing and how individuals are able to assume a number of different roles. You don't need to dress like you're ready to learn in order to take a class at UMBC just as you don't need to dress like a member of an elite institution in order to attend an elite institution. The lack of fashion today is like the changing definition of the American experience. A woman in the 1950's had three career routes. She could be a nurse, a teacher, or a doctor; and her dress reflected that. Today, you can be whatever you want to be and your dress reflects you dressing anyway you want to dress.

In my Mother's footsteps

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Introduction

Nearing graduation, I take this American studies course with a unique perspective.When I signed up for the class, I was looking for something that rounded out my schedule and gave me a credit boost, in addition to fulfilling my general education requirements. As for me, I'm a 21 year old senior who chose to major in "Management of Aging Services" during my time at UMBC – I’m not really sure why I did that. While I don't regret this choice, I'm a little apprehensive as to what it will be like in the "real world" with such a unique major. To me, culture is hard to define. I think its relative to the people defining it and can rapidly change. I don't like to box myself into holes, so I don't really assign myself a culture. However, in terms of place and culture I will say that I was raised all around Baltimore and feel that the culture here has truly allowed myself significant exploration into determining who I am.

Here's a photo of me next to a sign that I saw in Washington DC. This picture sort of reflects my culture I'd say. If you want to know more info about me or would like to see a better representation of the culture I surround my life with check out my tumblog at http://bearclawsrock.tumblr.com/