WISDOM
OF THE SAGES
EPISODE V: SPRING 2017
EPISODE V: SPRING 2017
Hello
People of the World;
Here
we are in the merry old month of May! Spring has sprung, I guess. I mean,
whatever the weather, I am very sure that it will some how, surprise you to no
end with its ever-changing patterns. You know, be the weather.
Still,
May is commonly associated with Mother’s Day and remembrances. It becomes a
month for reflection, both personal and national. I miss my mom and dad, is
what I’m saying. There does not pass a day that I do not think of them for five
minutes at least. Anyways.
All
right, let’s get going:
1:[ MY TALKS WITH BONN: This is a “new item
series” for WOS, wherein I recount these special talks I have with my Bonnie as
we amble around the landscape. This time I asked her a question: “How long
would we live without clocks?”
Have
you ever noticed everything but watches and clocks tell time? We have a clock
on almost everything now days. It reminds me, once again, of Neil Postman’s
book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” where he writes about how mankind, due to the
invention of the clock, became time-keepers, then time-savers, now,
Time-servers. How everything we do is at the service of “saving time”, of
hurrying, hurrying, hurrying. Which begged the question from me to Bonnie, “How
long would we live without clocks?”
Imagine
had we not had clocks at all? The days would be measured differently; we would
sleep when we are tired, we would work when we felt like it, or needed
something done. What would our monetary system look like? I mean, how would we
pay anybody if we did not measure labor by time? I mean, how would we look at our 'wasted time'? Would we suddenly not care about how much effort we put into something and felt that we did the work when we felt it was the right moment to as well as the right thing to do? Think about that.
Ancient
civilizations told time using sundials, etc, but Native Americans always knew
it was winter because, well, it snowed. Time passes whether or not we keep
track of it. Meaning, would there be such a thing as “time”, if we did not
create something to measure it? We would all be living simply in the present
moment, at all times. Imagine that…
2:[ MY TALKS WITH CHARK-ATTACK: Another “new item
series”, this time covering all the cool discussions I have with my little
girl, whom I will call Chark-Attack. One day, as she was driving us to pick up
some ingredients for a recipe, she suddenly asked, “What does being “Woke” even
mean?” Then, before I could answer, asks,
“And, why do we use it to exclude others?”
The
concept of being “woke” is a rather new one in vernacular, but I believe is
akin to being “enlightened” about issues of the times. She is correct, we do
use such a label to keep a separation between “Us” and “Them.” It is an easy
thing to answer – we use it to exclude others because we will always maintain
our prejudices and biases. It is that simple….
3:[ The Quality of Movies: I remember when it was
a big deal for an actor to push to work in a film of integrity, now, all the acting
artists seem to all be falling into these roles in comic book and action films:
ie. Cate Blanchett. There was a time when she was considered on of the great
actresses of the times, making deep and interesting roles, and you would only
see her in dramatic roles that garnered awards-attention. Now, she plays a
villain in a Thor movie.
I
have been viewing older films from getting a functional television and am
struck at how many movies many of my favorite actors have been in and it
reminds me that of the times, these films were considered to be big, quality
films. Every film released was an event in which audiences wanted to see their
favorite actors in. Now days, we simply want to be entertained with crappy
movies that we will forget after a couple of weeks and they will dribble onto
home video less than two months later. Movies are a mass-produced product now,
visual fidget spinners for the short-attention spanned. Seriously, at some
point, we will only see dramatic great Michael Fassbender in lowly, forgettable,
sci fi actioner-whoops, “Assassin’s Creed” happened.
4:[ Man, I had this great thought that I was
going to add to this month’s edition. It came to me while I was watching
YouTube and searching the Internet. I think it has something to do with the
previous item about the quality of films that today’s stars waning. I think if
I begin writing this item that it would somehow return to my mind. I think it
was another idea similar to the first item about how would we live without a
particular thing. I think it is a riff from my UWP class as well. Shoot. Okay,
now I remember: yeah, it doesn’t seem as grand now. It is the next item….
5:[ So, a few days ago, someone on Facebook
posted an older article about how scientists could not find where a noise was
coming from and 17 years later, they discover that it is their own kitchen
microwave oven. People posted on and got great pleasure pointing out the
fallibility of science, without reading the article. According to this 2015Slate article, which recounted the story from 2003, it was a noise they could
not trace with the equipment they had at the time, the late 1980’s, and when
they finally upgraded in 2003, they had to wait to trace the noise due to it
being so intermittent. But it turned out that the kitchen door was not fully
closed for a couple of hours at night as staff quickly warmed their nightly
meals. Once they figure it out, they were satisfied to have figured it out. I
mean, sure, people laugh, but it goes to show you that scientists will not quit
searching for the truth until they figure it the fuck out!
6:[ Through attending all of these Native
American symposia, I have come up with a Native American Version of Jordan
Peele’s “Get Out” titled “Get It”. It is a story about a Native American man
who meets his suburban princess’ parents and they knock him out and transfuse
his blood into the highest bidder so that they can acquire blood quantum, sort
of “White Liberal Vampires”, who then use it to gain authority over Native
issues and culture. The title comes from all the attendees shaking their heads
at the Native speakers as if saying, “Yeah, I get it. Now I can pat myself on
the back for how bad I feel about how Natives were treated." They
specifically pick Native men to siphon blood from. Why? Because, as in real
life, the liberal mindset does not care at all about Native and Indigenous
women.
7:[ So recently, I attended the high school and
college graduations of my two little girls. Man, I feel old. I remember when
they were just little tiny tots running around being happy about the little
things we take for granted – new sunglasses, an amusement park visit, a dollar
store toy. Now, they are off making their marks on the world. They high school
graduation of my Chark-Attack is hitting me especially hard, as she is such a
special person to me. Here is how awesome she is. She got me a gift, “for
Father’s Day”, a DVD of “Logan”, which her mother says reminds her of the two
of us. What a touching thing. But man, I feel old….
8:[ This month also marked possibly my very last
“Native Americans in Media” Class at the University of Wisconsin Parkside. I
was told that due to a budgetary anomaly, I was able to return to teach the
class for the spring semester. They students were great and many of them we are
able to figure out the purpose of the final project I assign, well ahead of
their presentations. I felt pretty proud. Sure, there was a student whose
negative opinion of Natives will never be changed because of their privilege.
They are allowed to have their opinion. I never beat them up over it or have it
influence my grading for them. They will use the concept I taught them to
enforce their opinions. But they have to know that their opinions can be wrong,
because, they are, after all, opinions. Anyways, I do not think I will be back
to teach there again. As much as I enjoy teaching student about Native
Americans in Media and about Media Literacy and Critical Thinking, I think I
left a good class behind this time….
9:[ Man, being poor as I am, I think I must be
developing this horrible reputation at the coffee shops that I frequent as a
“Bad Tipper”. I am sorry that sometimes I do not have the cash or change to
drop in the can, or have extra money in the bank to add a tip on the touch
screen at the point of purchase. Sometimes, when the baristas see that I have
not left a tip on the iPad register, they give me the side-eye, or, when I
cannot drop a bill into the ca, they grumble every time I come up to the
register. Sorry, baristas, I am poor and sometimes I need an iced tea, or hot
chocolate…
That
is it for this month, nothing really new to pass on. Life has been plodding
along and I have been hit with some difficulties but I am trying to get through
them. Nothing to worry about. It will not stop me from writing my thoughts for
you month to month.
As
always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here.
I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I
write here and I will see you in a month.
Until
next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to
control everything really are.”
2017
Ernest M Whiteman III
