Rituals of the Nacirema

The body rituals of the Nacirema opened an entire new world for me. It was a bit shocking to see how they treated their bodies for the sake of what they believed. Anything the medicine-men or holy-mouth-men said, the people would immediately do it believing that it was the right thing to do. Its hard to believe that they would enlarge holes in their teeth to put magical materials into it, or gouge out other teeth for that substance. The special woman's rites included having to bake their heads in small ovens for an hour! I cant even imagine how they would go through with that. It was amazing to see how different our cultures are, and even though their rituals are completely weird and gruesome to me, it was interesting to see that, for people part of that culture, it is perfectly normal for them.

Quiet Rage: The Stanford Experiment

To start off, quiet frankly, this video disturbed me a bit. When it began, I tried to understand the concept or goal that the professor was going to. I couldn't see why they would actually put normal people (young men to be exact) through that ordeal for so long. Even though normal prisons at that time were run in the same manner, I thought it was still wrong to put people who knowingly did nothing wrong to deserve that type of treatment. Yes, they did agree to it before the whole process began, and yes, they did get payed, but after a while it got a bit out of control. I know that i wouldn't have been able to go through the ordeal, whether it was to be the guard or the prisoner. Then another thought crossed my mind. Why was it that it was only young men in this experiment? I still have yet to answer my own question. I also realized that the student who was watching the whole process from an office with the professor was female, and she had the same opinion about it as I do. She gave the idea of ending the experiment early, stating that it was wrong to put them through it for so long. Over all, it was an interesting experiment, and even though it seemed wrong to do, it taught an important lesson.

First glimpse...

Who am I, you ask? Good question. I would like to let you know, first hand, that I'm shy and not very good with words. I'm the creative type, with a crazy imagination and a love for life itself. Music, art and movies are an important part of my life. I come from a pretty tight-knit family; one brother and 3 older sisters, and we couldn't be more different. My family and faith are a huge influence in my life. My brother, who is married and has 4 boys with another kid on the way, was like a second father to me while i was growing up. Almost every holiday and birthday our family would get together in someone's house; our grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, sometimes even our pets were brought along. This is a big part of what defines who i am and what i have become. One of my goals in life is to one day become a Film/art director. Someday maybe I'll win an Oscar for best picture of the year. That would be crazy. But for now I stick to getting my degree.