Society
Pursuing The Arts: Depression & Creative Minds
Depression and writing seem to go hand in hand, at least they do for me. The hardest thing about the arts is pursuing a big picture and personal vision without experiencing discouragement. Read the rest of this entry »
What is a Stereotyped Threat?
Since moving back to Los Angeles from New York, I have found myself scratching my head as I observe humans in the city of Angels the way a cultural anthropologist would. Unfortunately, my experience is that many people belong to clubs. Read the rest of this entry »
An Ego Epidemic: What Happened to Humility?
Some might categorize me as an activist, while others might call me passionate. But those who know me best understand I am a decent and caring individual, one who abhors injustice of any kind. Some people become flaccid when they’re treated unfairly; however, I believe that if you’re disrespected, regardless of who the bully is and no matter how stacked the scales are against you, it is your right to stand up for yourself. But no one owes you anything because people have a right to behave however they want no matter how catty, rude, or downright disrespectful and self-centered or just plain wrong their behavior might be. Read the rest of this entry »
You Cannot Lose. You Either Win or Learn!
From the time that we are in kindergarten or maybe even preschool we are conditioned to keep score. We are introduced to scoreboards, on which we receive stars for doing good, or we lose them for doing bad or at least not good enough. The more stars we obtain, the closer we get to winning some type of prize.
We are ranked from childhood. We have report cards that indicate how well we are doing in our school subjects. By December, we even have Santa Clause to remind us if we’ve been naughty or nice. By the time we are deep into elementary school and junior high, we realize that not only do we have to do well because our grades depend upon them, but we learn the importance of conforming to social and family pressures of perfectionism. Read the rest of this entry »
Lack of Community + Selfishly Independent = Depression
Until 12,000 years ago, approximately 90 percent of human history functioned off of food foraging. Our communities were simple with simple tasks and roles. It seemed the simpler our society, the easier it was to live comfortably in supportive communities where people truly helped each other. Perhaps in communities, relationships are naturally cultivated and nurtured. The more advanced our civilization has evolved, the more competitive and autonomous we’ve all become.
We triple lock our doors, scoff as we wiz by the neighbor with the morning coffee in hand and hope that no one else interrupts our perfectly sculpted routine. Today, especially if you live in big cities, it almost seems impossible to say you live in a real community. Back in the day, we used to be able to knock on our neighbor’s doors to borrow a cup of sugar. We used to wave to familiar friends as we jogged down the street. While some people can genuinely say that they’ve managed to find the best and most friendly community to live in, I’m going to say most people have naturally become more shut off. It’s like the more you crave community, the more it shows that you are weak, needy, and even insecure?! Read the rest of this entry »
Writing With Hope 