MAJOR: Sociology 101, Politics 101, Philosophy 101, Copyright Law 101
COURSE:  The role of individuals and governements in shaping society
TIME: Reading this entry should take 5-10min., more if you follow links and take time to reflect, and respond.

ASSIGNMENT: Give examples of what small portions of society looks like in the year 2006.  Explain how government or individuals play a role in shaping the way society looks.  Finally, attempt to ponder whether or not your examples of society demonstrate a healthy society, a sick society, or a society that cannot be judged.  Use any writing style and sources you see fit.

Before I went to college, one of the professions I was considering was journalism.  At the time, there wasn’t anything specific I wanted to write about, but I enjoyed writing, and I was attracted to the sense of prestige that came from having a by-line at the end of an article.  Unfortunately, Wash U. in St Louis did not offer an undergraduate degree in journalism.  For most, the option of pursuing a journalistic career is delayed until after completing 4-years of college.  I often wonder if the logic behind that makes any sense?

Steven Brill, a multi-millionaire who amongst other things, founded Court TV, has recently donated $1 million to Yale to add jouralism classes to its undergaraduate curriculum.  While the dean of Yale’s undergraduate program was quick to note that this was not a journalism major, being that “elite” universities hold the (logical?) belief that vocational training should be secondary to liberal arts learning.  Steven Brill’s program will bring in a professional journalist to teach a course on the subject, as well as bringing in a professional counselor to better guide students into the field of journalism, and will also subsidize those who pursue low-paying careers in journalism.

It’s this last point, that is more interesting to me.  A wealthy individual, using his money to effect the job-making psychology of college students.  With the support of Steven Brill, Yale students with an interest in journalism may pursue that passion, while those undecided or in other majors, may also decide that journalism is the field for them.  Besides the nature of the work, the most important factor in improving the field of journalism by attracting more good journalists into the field, is to make it more lucrative.  In this situation, private philanthropy is pulling the train.

Some notable quotes from the article:

“Alfred E. Guy Jr., director of the Yale College Writing Center, which will include the journalism program, said that besides offering instruction in writing, the program would encourage students to enter journalism at a time that “the whole tone of the culture over the past 20 years has been to denigrate work that doesn’t lead to instant riches.”
[THE ECONOMICS/PSYCHOLOGY OF CHOOSING A JOB]

“Some of Mr. Brill’s former students said they liked the real- world orientation in his class.”
[THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION]

A second topic of sociology that I’ve been brimming with excitement and joy about, is the topic of age in society.  What constitutes “young,” or “old.”  What are the expectations and roles of people of different ages in society?  Or, the most important question in my eyes, “At what age can a person begin to be taken seriously, and to have an impact on society?”

At 24, I sometime feel young.  I feel as though I’m just out of college, just starting my first real job, clearly, it will be some time before I make a splash in the world.  I feel as though the people pulling the strings that create our society are all more powerful, intelligent, and of course, older than myself.

Andrew Jones (not the baseball player), is a 24-year old graduate from UCLA, whose name became known in the national media because of his efforts to pay students to gather information from lectures that demonstrate a liberal-leaning bias that intimidates and silences conservative viewpoints.  UCLA has struck back by accusing Jones of violating school policy by taping lectures for political purposes, and possibly for violating copyright law. 

If you’re in highschool reading this, you might not feel surprised to see a 24yr. old making news.  If you’re in your 30′s, you might be thinking, “jeez…this kid is so young and doing so much,” and, if you’re my age, you’re probably thinking, “I can’t believe someone my age is doing this.” 

This issue of age is interesting to me, because in about 10-20 years, my peer group will have their turn to run things.  Policy makers, judges, business leaders, educators, etc. will all be my peer group.  Already, many professional athletes are my peers.  Those amazing college basketball players I grew up worshiping, are now young kids in my eyes.  But…as a person begins to realize that they will get their turn to make a splash, and as they realize that there’s no age restriction to this, I’d expect more people to take on projects and challenges like Andrew Jones has.

For those of you who read these through till the end, I’ll leave you with a few more thoughts.  I wonder, are Mr. Jones’ efforts to highlight what he views as a flaw in society, the best of efforts?  Don’t they come off a bit sneaky, and accusatory?  Might there be a better way to examine flaws in society, that don’t compromise civil discourse?

For example, part of this story has to do with the efforts of the right-wing conservative David Horowitz, who has tried to promote an Academic Bill of Rights into several states as a law that would prohibit partisan/political education.  The reality, to me, is that there will always be partisan/political education, and legislation will not only fail to solve the problem, but is the wrong method of going about addressing it. 

The problem Horowitz and Jones are addressing is a valid one.  On most college campuses, when subjects that touch on politics are taught (history, economics, poli sci, sociology), they are taught with a liberal lean to them.  While Horowitz would have you believe that the problem is that conservative views are not being presented, the reality is that he would prefer the lean to be towards the right.  Ultimately, what needs to be done is to ensure that both sides have their views taught, so students can actually understand what they believe or don’t believe, and why!

In order to improve education, especially with regards to the inherent subjective nature of the social sciences, we need students learning as many views as possible, not just one or two.  The way to do this, I believe, is not through legislation, and not through the courts.  This needs to be done in a more natural, and civil way.  Horowitz and Jones should be organizing “teach-ins” for liberals and conservatives, to be taught side-by-side with the Michael Moore liberals of the world.  Bring in Jon Stewart, and bring in Bill O’Reilly, bring in Maureen Dowd and bring in Ann Coulter. 

Ultimately…to answer the last question, not of this is good or bad, except as it pertains to my views of how society “should” look.  Many people aren’t happy with the world today, and work to “improve” the world, or to make the world closer to “perfection.”  But, I wonder, is there such a thing as a “perfect world?”  I don’t think there can be, or should be.  But, is there such a thing as a “better world,” both for the years that I’m alive, and for the generations to come.  I think there is.

So…my thoughts on society is that society is alright, but could be better.  It’s like going to a new restaurant and trying getting a steak (or a salad for you veggies out there).  Sometimes you lick your lips and say, “This steak was the best,” and sometimes, you eat it and say, “That was actually a bit too much,” or “Could have been cooked a little better.”  Point being, it’s just a steak, it’s just a meal, you eat it, and you try to enjoy it to the best of your abilities. 

Things that appear “important,” I believe are important in the sense that

MAJOR: MEDIA STUDIES 101
COURSE: THE MEDIA AND SOCIETY

ASSIGNMENT:  Demonstrate how the media oftentimes fails to discuss popular, yet alternative views of society.  Describe the issue, your alternative view, and reference an example of how one of the major media organizations failed to recognize the possibility of your view.

For many people, the educational norm has become to attend 12 years of school, followed by 4 years of college.  As the 21st century moves along, the overlap between schooling and schools’ role in society has hit some new bumps.  Amongst the hurdles faced by those involved with educational discussions, is how schools can best prepare young people for the unique 21st century workforce.  As society has evolved from agricultural, to mechanical, to digital, the knowledge and skills necessary for work have also changed.  In order to keep up with the changes of the working world, schools must change too.

Mainstream media has caught on to this topic, as well as our politicians.  They have recognized the difficulties American’s are facing because of new technologies and globalization.  As American jobs get outsourced to countries that can do work for less money, the new American job market demands workers skilled in the math and sciences, say the media and politicians.

What the media fails to recognize, however, is that the math and sciences that they speak of, that which is taught on the K-12 level, is not sufficient to do the math and science necessary to do the professional work that the modern worker will be doing.  While most leaders in the media and politically are quick to recognize that the status quo is not adequate, both have failed to identify exactly what is wrong, and therefore, are off the mark in proposing ideas for what is to be done.

A recent NYT article, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” exemplifies this.  In reaction to this article, I will insert my thoughts in bold throughout:

‘Rising Above the Gathering Storm’

MAJOR: Journalism 101
COURSE: Collaborative & Independent Journalism
DESCRIPTION: The aim of this course is to explore the concept of collaborative and independent journalism.  While traditional news media bring the stories and opinions of select individuals into the public arean, collaborative journalism allows anyone with access to the internet to do this.  We will explor how indendent media work as collective blogs, where no one person is in control, anyone can submit articles and viewpoints, and the public can respond directly and immediately.  Also, we will discuss how collarorative journalism can be harnassed to create an educational media environment, where the purpose is to create dialogue and learning, as opposed to traditional media where the major newspapers, magazines, and tv shows are driven equally by the needs of advertisers, as the needs of the public

ASSIGNMENT: Give an example of collaborative & independent journalism that you have experienced.

After publishing an article on NYC indymedia’s website regarding a music teacher strike, I received the following comment in my xanga comment box from one of those music teachers.  There have also been 8 comments made directly on the indymedia site regarding the article.  Here is the comment I received on this site:

Dan,

As a Midori and Friends teaching artist, I have to give props to you for helping us to create a dialogue about our situation. It is thought provoking, and I can assure you that all involved are learning oodles about labor, greed, communication, etc.

I think Bethany, [another blogger who commented on this particular labor struggle]  is asking some very good questions that reach to the heart of our struggle right now.

I would like to give some facts from our side of the equation. The issues are many, but here are some key points to start things…

Teaching artists for this organization make less than we did in 1998. We took a 20% pay cut that year, and have remained at that starting salary for seven years.
Judi Linden, our executive director’s salary is currently $135,000 a year. This is up from $100,000 a year ago, that was up from $75,000 two years ago. While she has recieved a pay increase of 33% and 35% respectively, our starting salary remained stagnant. She also receives over $19,000 a year in benefits. Bethany is right that our requested raise must come from somewhere…but it seems hard for Midori and Friends to argue that it doesn’t have the funds.

Regarding the work we do, it’s little more complex and time-consuming than most would think. We actually commute to underpriveleged schools in outlying districts to teach classes (depending on what we teach, the class sizes range from 12 to a full grade school class with more than 30 kids). Last year my school was over an hour away. So by putting in a 4 1/2 hour afternoon, I came away with a little more than $80 (I’ve been around for a couple of years, so my pay is fractionally above the starting wage of $40 a class).

In New York City, $80 doesn’t take you very far.

You’re right though, that, for most of us, this is a part of our puzzle. I don’t expect to pay my (absurdly high) rent with that $80. But as someone with conservatory training, and a Masters Degree in education, I do expect to be paid fairly for the work I do.

I have much more to say about the strike, but I imagine you may have some questions…

~micah

my response:

MAJOR: Journalism 101
COURSE: Independant media

ASSIGNMENT: Find an issue in your daily life to report about.  This should preferably be an issue that is of importance to a number of people.  Write an article that includes both objective facts, as well as your subjective opinion.  When you are finished, publish your article to an independant news agency such as indimedia, and insert a link to your article here…..

The Midori & Friends Foundation, Music Teachers, are on strike.  That’s right, this very morning, January 21st, 2006, as I sit typing this at 10:18AM, about 20 music teachers are standing in front of their offices on the west side of 7th Ave. and 28th St. in New York’s Manhattan, waving signs, and chanting the traditional union chant, “What do we want?”  “Contracts!”  “When do we want them?”  “Now!”

Why would these 20 individuals, who range in age from their mid-20s to mid 40s, make such a scene?  I asked several of them this very question.  “Our executive director, Judi Linden, has been giving herself 35% annual raises.  She’s now making over $135,000 per year?”  I asked them what their grievance was.  “We make only $40 for each class we teach.  Most of us teach only two classes a day.  So, we make $80, and have to pay for travel to the schools.”

I wasn’t sold, so I asked more questions.  “Do you receive health insurance?”  “We do,” they responded, “but it’s complicated.”  At the time, I didn’t follow-up on the details.  I tried to paraphrase their argument, “So you’re upset that you’re only making $40/class?”  They responded,  “Well…we also haven’t received a raise in years.  Our contract expired in June, and our executive director hasn’t been fair in negotiations.  Plus, we are given no retirment benefits.”

I spent some time speaking with a gentleman who was the head of the union, (I forget the number), which reprsents musicians including those who play on Broadway.  I asked, “If these people are so unhappy with their pay, and if there’s other companies that pay more, why don’t they just quit and work for those other companies?”  The union rep responded, “If people did that, wages would become a race to the bottom.  These people would leave, and would be replaced for the same low wages.  The reason why wages are higher at other companies, is because people organized as unions and drove wages up.” 

At that point, they asked me to call Judi Linden.  You can too.  Her number is (212) 767-1300.  Using one of the strikers’ cell phones, I left a message.  I’m not sure I said the smartest things…under the influence of the atmosphere, I took the side of the union and came off a bit hostile to Judi on the message.  I said I believed she was treating these people unfairly, although, I added that I said it would be nice if she could come down and engage in a dialogue.  I began to wonder how the chants of the union would actually play out in persuading (or pressuring?) their boss to negotiate a new contract with them.

After all was said and done, I had to leave to go to work.  The members seemed happy that I stopped to learn about their cause, and that I had made a call to their boss on their behalf. 

The experience left me much to reflect on.  The flier handed to me by the Midori & Friends Foundation Music Teachers notes:

“When an execuvtive director of a not-for-profit agency receives lavish wages and benefits while refusing to pay a fair wage and even denying retirment benefits for its front-line teachers, something is terribly wrong.”

The truth is, very few people in this country receive retirement benefits.  I work for a not-for-profit, and I’m saving for my retirement independantly.  Some lucky but rare individuals receive pensions from their companies, some receive contributions to their retirement plans, but for the vast majority of Americans, saving for retirement involves investing your own money.

As for being paid a living wage, I think this also needs to be examined.  To me, the amount an executive director of a not-for-profit is paid has less to do with objective fairness, than to do with the spirit of working for a not-for-profit.  If you work for a company where your main objective is to make profit, I have less qualms with a CEO taking away a big paycheck, than an executive director for a company whose purpose is supposed to be bringing music education into public schools. 

With that said, I think the key issue here is not what the executive director gets paid, but what the workers get paid.  Are they being paid a living wage?  If not, would a redistribution of wages from the executive director to the employees make the situation different?

I want to qualify this article, by noting that my interviews were incomplete, and I in no way mean to end this article as conclusive.  I am hoping to gain more perspecitves.  However, I think being paid $80 for teaching 2 music classes is actually a lot of money!  One striker noted they had a masters and they were very dedicated to teaching kids music…and I said I’d also one day like to have a masters and want to help teach kids, but, the question is, is $40/class a living wage in NYC?  It seems to me, that these teachers should still have free time to do a few other things during the day, including private lessons, that might allow them to make upwards of $100/day.  Maybe not a lot of money, but certainly on par with a great number of NYC employees.  And, if they wanted, they could become NYC public school teachers, where they would receive higher wages and a pension, although as a member of that union they would then have a new employer to have grievances with.

Ultimately, the lesson this bit of investigative journalism taught me, is that beyond wages, the issue of civility is most important.  When people strike, this shows to me that civil communication between employers and employees has broken down.  Hard feeling are created, which could spill over into the actual work being done.

For example, while I worked at Outward Bound, I felt as though I was underpaid.  Making about $65/day, working 24hour days!  Sure, I took the job because I loved the work, but talk about exploited labor!  However, my concern was less that I was being exploited, and had much more to do with the effect of wages on the ability to carry out our not-for-profit mission of improving the lives of people.  With wages that low, Outward Bound is unable to attract and retain many potentially talented and lifelong instructors.  As a result, turnover and burnout is high, and this has an effect on the overall product.

Paying workers high wages is as much a moral/living wage issue, as it is an economic growth issue and community development issue.  When workers don’t have love for their employers or their company, business suffers.  When workers and employers don’t trust each other, well…trust amongst people suffers.  Yesturday, our exec. director called a pub break at 4pm.  Drinks on the boss.  Talk about boosting worker moral!

I appreciate you reading my first attempt as an independant reporter, and as always…

your thoughts?

DUAL MAJOR: Education 101 & Writing 101
COURSE: Writing about testing and traditional schools

ASSIGNMENT: Write a thought provoking essay about traditional schools and testing.  You may have a central argument, or may opt to simply write a reflective piece that does not yet have a central argument. Your aim is to provoke thought, both in yourself and your readers.

It’s funny, I was a political science major, but graduated knowing history on what I’d say was a 5th grade level.  Seriously!  And I obviously passed all my high school social studies classes, and I obviously survived 10 poli sci classes for my major.  What does this tell me?  First, it tells me that it’s possible to get by on life regardless of how much you learned in school.  Also, it tells me that grades are very good at masking what people really know. 

The reason I say that I was at a 5th grade level after college, is because I believe that everything that is taught in h.s. social studies, a 10-year old could handle.  I was at Barnes & Nobles browsing through some of the test prep books for history, and was amazed by how easy it is to pass those things without knowing a thing about history.  Most of the questions are common sense, or simply geared more towards a student’s ability to reason through the question, than to actually know anything about history. 

For example, interpreting basic graphs and charts!  I mean, come on!  That’s a 3rd grade skill they’re testing.  And questions such as, “which of the following statements are opinion rather than fact?”  That’s the least those kids should be able to do.  It’s funny, you can give 50 multiple choice questions, and say that if they get 30 right, they pass and can move to the next grade.  But, you can also go through those questions and weed out the ones that a 3rd grader should know, and ones that are essential for understanding anything about history (not essential for being in a certain grade, for being a certain age, or for most professions, but more importantly, for having the knowledge to be an educated voter).  For example, if you don’t know that capitalism and communism differ in their views on the role of gov’t in helping the people to live fulfilling lives, and you only see the two as good and evil, than you haven’t grasped an essential concept in understanding history and current events (not saying we should hold a kid back if they don’t know what I would describe as “essential knowledge”, because I believe holding a kid back in school has tremendously negative psychological effects on a kid…but because like I said, i graduated from college and have a job, and until recently had very little understanding about what those 2 terms meant).

We’re only going to see more testing, not less, in the years to come.  If I end up having kids, the reality is they’re going to be tested (a good 10 years away, but coming soon).  However, I’m starting to shy away from the usual crowd of people who are yelling, “testing is bad,” or “testing is harmful to children.”  Why do I not fully buy into those mainstream arguments?  Because I think testing can be harmful only if the other important elements of education and learning are missing.  For example, if a kid at age 10 is already reading the New York Times (I’ve met them, there’s nothing freakish about it), and with proper guidance they’re being shown how to understand and figure out things they don’t know, than that kid can probably take a social studies test, and get an 85+ (I think very few adults would ace the very same tests their kids are subjected to), The kid also wouldn’t stress a bit about the test because the content would be easy to them, and because testing is just one of many challenges this kid has faced, and after the hour or two, they would go back to learning again.

The bar for passing tests, I believe, is actually quite low.  I’m not saying I support testing, nor do I support efforts to “raise the bar,” by encouraging more testing.  I also don’t believe it’s necessarily right to base school funding on testing alone as the federal law of No Child Left Behind does, or to give students the false and I believe damaging impression that test scores are significant for future “success” in life. (except again, for gaining access to scholarship money or acceptance into a school that values grades highly).  But, while I am critical of testing, I do believe the problems aren’t ncecessarily just the tests themselves, but the instruction surrounding them. 

From what I’ve read and heard, the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound schools, which don’t give tests to their students or grades, and instead have students do tremendous presentations and keep portfolios, and give students individual written evaluations to monitor their learning and to set furhter learning goals…and that don’t have individual and unrelated subjects like math, science, history, and English, but rather pursue project/problem based integrative and experiential learning, still produces better results than traditional schools when the students are ultimately subjected to mandatory state and federal exams. 

I met a principal at one of these schools, the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning in Denver, Colorado, who said they don’t teach for the test.  Nor do they worry or stress about the test (although they realize doing well on tests is important in terms of receiving gov’t funding and in terms of public opinion).  These schools, these “progressive” schools that most of us never grew up in and have little-to-no exposure to from our peers or in the media, know that their system of education will naturally prepare kids better for the real challenges in life, including those pesky little tests.

your thougts?

Major: Education
Class Title: Alternatives to majors and minors in American colleges and univerisites

Major: Writing
Class Title: Writing blogs for social change 

Major: Psychology
Class Title: Journaling as a form of personal growth

I’m not sure what I want to write today, but I’m in the mood to change the mood of this site.  My last few posts were just trying out some new ideas….I’m always coming up w/ new ideas that last from anywhere from 1min. to a year or so.  But, always creating ideas.

This past weekend was extraordinary.  An 8-mile run, some good conversations with friends and strangers, the NYC travel expo w/ over 500 travel companies, re-connecting with some people from the Outward Bound community, an entire Monday in my pajamas to commemorate the life of MLK, some wonderful articles in the NYT magazine, a documentary about Amish kids gone wild, some more big thoughts about education and life, and some more stepping back from the emotions that big thoughts breed.

While on the John, where most great thoughts of mine occur, it dawned on me w/ new clarity how silly the idea of “majors” and “minors” are in college.  If I were to create a college from only my imagination, and with the goal of doing something that made the most sense for teachers, students, and society, it would be question based learning.  It would also be a ”practical use” school.  For each subject, you might put the words, “the practical use of,” before it…so you get “The practical applications of psychology 101″ or “Practical use of business 101…” 

Example classes that professors might teach / discussion that professors might facilitate:

Sociology – understanding the causes of our society’s great problems, including poverty, public health (AIDS, nutrition, malaria, mental health), war, and others.  Will discuss solutions, and new ideas to these problems.

Education – understand the purpose of education and schools, the problems with the current system, and how to imporve it

Business - understanding money, different ways of making money, saving money, budgeting money.  Understanding problems people encounter with money, and learning how to live a financially secure life.

Philosophy - understand the great philosophical challenges of today, such as finding meaning in life.  Understanding philosophers, past and present, and how they may be used to help us develop our own personal philosophies.

Psychology – understanding the conditions which lead to happiness and depression.  Learning about people who are in need of psychological help (such as the 1million Japanese known as “hikikomori,” who lock themselves in their rooms for years because of a fear of failure or a sense of hopelessness in life), and how we might help them.

Biology – understanding how our bodies work so that we may take better care of them.  Issues to be covered include exercise, diet, and the role of psychology in biological health, as well as the role of biology in psychological health.  Also, learning about new developments in medicine.

Engineering – will understand how to repair common forms of technology such as computers, cars, home appliances (toilets, heat, broken doors or windows, lights).  Will also help those who are interested to understand how to develop and create their own engineering ideas.

Law – will understand the law as it affects us.  This includes tax law, dealings with the police, and understanding our basic freedoms.  Those interested in law as a profession will pursue law that meets their professional needs.

History – will understand the role of history in making sense of life today, and will come to see the deeds and misdeeds of all societies throughout time, so that we may be better able to recognize them in our own.

your thoughts?

Topic: Dansjournal Life-Coaching Inc. is open for business!!!!

I realize I’ve been posting a lot recently, faster than people may get a chance to read and comment.  But I recently came a cross a website for a service to help people cure their anxiety/depression problems.  The product was a series of cd’s and readings, along with some basic life coaching from staff over the telephone.  No therapy or medications needed, just pure self-help…The cost was about $450!

Having done a decent amount of thinking, reading, and discussion about the topic of mental well-being, and having done a bit of informal coaching to people on the side, I’ve decided I’d like to announce my intentions to jump into the life-coaching marketplace.

Simply put, life-coaching is about helping people overcome their negative hangups in life, and achieve those things that bring them bliss.  Using the tools of journaling and conversation, in about 3mos. I should be able to provide clear results, and in, well…let’s just say 6mos., I should be able to get someone to the point where they’re good to go on their own, doing well mentally through a good chunk of their lives.  Through journaling, I can help people see more clearly how they “think” and “perceive” things, and through conversation, whether online or in person, I can help someone better understand their journaling, and to also share further thoughts.  Ultimately, I aim to get people to the point where they feel truly satisfied with their lives and the direction their lives are heading (although I cannot help anyone gain complete control of their lives…because ultimately, there’s too many factors that will always be beyond our control in life).

Now…life coaching is a strange thing, because to be a coach you have to truly want to help someone, but at the same time there’s this inherent tension because the client is paying the coach money for something that could be gained for $1.50 in late fees to a public library, or for free with a conversation with a close-friend who can help someone talk through their problems.  Selling this kind of service to many people for a cost of more than $1, I believe, reduces somewhat the relationship between the “coach” and the “client”. 

That’s why I’m thinking of selling my service for a one-time fee of $1.  That’s right…I will help people, and also talk to them like normal human beings, and at some point, any point really, I ask that that person send me $1.  Cash or check.  Just a simple $1 to say, “Dan, this is to recognize that you have coached me and I am willing to give up $1 in exchange for that service.”

What is my thinking behind this?  Mostly so I can gain practical experience running a business, which will be easy since my expenses are none.  My goals are to develop myself personally from the experience, and to gain credibility for future endeavors by gaining “clients.”  The $1 is mostly to gain some credibility.  

So…I’m gonna ponder this more and sharpen this up…but in the meantime, if anyone reading this is experiencing a bit of a lull in life, struggling to make or meet goals, or feels as though they could use a little life-pep talk along with some practical tools that I’ve found useful in my own life, please contact me for a free-consultation…If you’re satisfied, we’ll continue services at no extra-charge, except for a $1-fee to be paid at your convenience…

…OR, with the option of waving the fee entirely

…OR, simply making a donation to my new business.  Cash, food, beer, crafts, space on your couch, reciprocal coaching or advice, or any other form of creative payment are also welcome.

For further information, please e-mail me at dan_lilienthal@yahoo.com

-Dan Lilienthal
Founder and CEO of Dansjournal Life Coaching, Inc.

Topic: Crime & Punishment….Behavior in society

Just finished reading an interesting article in the NYT about a Minnesota judge, Judge Amundson, who was convicted of misusing $400,000 worth of funds from a trust that was for a handicapped woman, to fill his house with marble, pianos, scultures, and more.  He was sentenced to 69mos. in prison.

There was no doubt about Amundon’s guilt…what was in doubt was how to punish him.  The judge tried to argue that he suffered from bi-polar disorder, but that argument was shot down based on Amundson’s own rulings that severely restricted psychological factors as mitigating factors in sentencing.  The prosecution also used another argument that Amundson had once used, arguing that the punishment should be longer if the victim was someone vulnerable, which in this case, it was.

It’s interesting to see here how subjective and arbitrary law can be.  The standard by which Amundson was judged, was in part the standard by which he ruled.  It turned out that his previously harsh sentencing’s were a factor in his receiving a harsher sentence…which begs the question, if Amundson had been more sympathetic in his sentencings while a judge, would the prosecution have been more sympathetic to him?  Is that how the law is supposed to work?

The judge in Amundon’s case said that Amundson had been drunk on power, that he was not acting out of depression, but out of a sense of entitlement.  We see again how human the legal system is.  One person making a decision about a person’s intent.  What was the True intent, or the True psychological motivations for Amundson to steal?  Can anyone ever know the true psychological state of another person…an expert or the individual themselves?

As I’ve been writing recently, I believe that what makes each person unique is how they imagine and perceive the world to be, which is based on each individual’s life experiences.  When it comes to right and wrong, legal and illegal, everyone brings a slightly different set of eyes to the issue.  I don’t believe that any individual can be described as “good,” or “bad,” nor do I believe that any individual is capable of making that sort of moral judgement upon another individual.  I do believe, however, that we, as a society, can judge a person’s actions to be right or wrong, but the person committing those actions I still believe to be neutral throughout their lifetimes. 

The reason, I believe, that neutral individuals think, say, and act in ways that can be generally accepted as “good, ” or “bad,” has to do with the internal logic and perceptions of the individual.  In the case of Amundson, as for most people, I believe their misdeeds stem purely from their life experiences, and I believe that they are just as capable of acting good or bad in the future, depending on how society, in this case being the criminial justice system, is able to affect their perceptions of reality.

Was the judge right in saying that Amundson was drunk on power, not depressed or bi-polar, and acting out of a sense of entitlement?  Was the prosecution right in saying that Amundson was simply greedy and needed the money to afford an extravagant lifestyle?  Maybe.  If they were right, then do we show no sympathy to the guilty, or do we attempt to understand why a person might come to be that way, in an effort to rehabilitate them so that they may contribute positively to society in the fugure?  Or maybe the judge and prosecution were wrong, and Amundson was actually acting out of a sense, as he put it, that his public life as a judge was getting to be too much, and he was looking to get caught and have it all come crashing down.  If that’s the case, should we feel sympathetic to Amundson, or should we once again remain neutral in judging the individual, and instead try to get to the root of understanding of why he thought and acted as he did?  Shouldn’t the primary goal of the criminal justice system be to best help the accused to find their unique way to live positively within society?

While in jail, Amundson realized how cruel the penal system can be.  How little focus there is on rehab.  How an 18yr. old can spend the next 18yrs. of their life being essentially raised and influenced by the other inmates and corrections officers, without the support of any family or friends. 

So…what are your thoughts on any of this?  On the penal system, and on how we judge those who commit “wrongs,” “misdeeds” or “illegal acts?”  What are your thoughts on being sympathetic, unsympathetic, or neutral towards “criminals,” or those who have failed in the eyes of society?

Topic: A quick blog assessment

I struggle oftentimes with deciding what to write on this blog.  I currently don’t have specific goals or purposes for this blog, and I guess I’ll use this post to address that.

Writing for myself isn’t my goal…I have personal journals for that.  I’ve also accepted that I’m not writing to a set-audience…in fact, I know close to nothing about my audience.  Depending on the post, I may gain a reader for life, or ensure that someone never re-visits this site. 

Recently…I’ve been using xanga to reach people and their ideas.  Slowly building virtual relationships that I’ve learned can be quickly translated into real and tangible friendships.

Sometimes, I think this blog is practice for something bigger I hope to achieve.  I’ve managed to persevere at this for 2+ years now, and while my thoughts have developed immensely, I’m still addressing the core issues that I began with.  Primarily, addressing issues related to education, mental health, lifestyle, and society.  By staying true and consistant to those themes, I’ve put together a wealth of writing that people can one day look back on.

In time, I hope to have a massive reader base, who come to this site as one of several central places to discuss matters related to the themes I just described.  I hope to reach a point where I can have an idea, and be able to write with the knowledge that parents, children, students, workers, foreigners, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and a whole wide-range of groups will be immediately access my idea and be able to transform it in some way. 

For example…I’d love to write on this blog, “This summer…we’re organizing a massive picnic in Central Park to celebrate leisure a good friggin’ time, and as part of a political movement to make our society more leisure centered,” and in an instant I’d have credible people who could give me feedback and work towards organizing such an event.

So…I guess I’ll just continue to write whatever I’ve been writing.  For those reading this now, I’m open to feedback on what I might write about, and in what style.  Ultimately…writing is secondary to human contact, and that’s another area I’m using to build community.  I just discovered my book had a brief write-up in the Alternative Education Resource Organization’s magazine, and I’m trying to read as much as possible about current educational issues, and finding the key players.  So…I can only expect things to grow slowly w/ time, and while I may benefit from random events, I hope to find deliberate ways to grow.

I’ve been struggling to reconcile my energy for creating something, and my need to control that energy in a way that maintains balance in my life.  I’ve recently grown interested by words…and in my next post, I think I’ll explore the several words such as: “create” ”creative” “image” “imagine” “imaginary.”

To give a rought draft of my thoughts, I feel as much of life is imagined through our minds, and we work to imagine, or create meaning, in our lives.  The differences between any two people are how they imagine, or conceive (giving birth to images?), of the world outside of themselves. 

For example, my desire to promote more alternative schools…is that similar to an artists’ desire to paint a landscape?  Is political idealism merely a creative expression of how to ”paint” metaphorically speaking, a society?  I’ve also often been drawn to the idea of making a documentary to better communicate or visualize my thoughts to other people.  Perhaps my interest there is to create something as a small piece of painting a bigger canvas of cultural change.

Creation, or being creative, is something we all possess as a quality.  It’s the process of organizing our thoughts in unique ways to make other thoughts, decisions, and actions.  People can be creative with words as in joke-telling, actions as in dancing, sound as in music. 

These thoughts are bringing me back to a book that caught my attention once about lateral thinking, by Edward de Bono, which was a book about not only how to achieve creative thinking as a practical thinking tool, but how to use those thinking tools to create new ideas to create a better society.  And if you think my writing is sometimes out there, this guy did it first!  He presented tons of ideas, and I think he was able to achieve some by building real-world connections.

The Time magazine article on creativity also noted that most people are mystified by people who have developed creative ideas.  What the article notes is that those people, Einstein, the Wright Brothers, Darwin, were people who failed in their thoughts many times before hitting one that worked.  The article also noted that creative thinkers almost always build on their thoughts from others.

Create meaning
Meaning is creative
Create
Hmmm….

thoughts?

Topic: terms that are important and funny

mystification – confusion resulting from failure to understand
                        – a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought                               and behavior; “a confusion of impressions”

demystify – make less mysterious or remove the mystery from

mist – something that dims or conceals.
          - a haze before the eyes that blurs the vision.

Sometimes in my writing, I go a bit overboard with idealist zeal, to the point that I offend even myself.  Even when I write things like, “I want to improve happiness around the world,” I flinch, because I feel as though I’m taking things seriously, which is a condition, I believe, of unhappiness.

To me, comedy is one of the greatest tools human beings have at their disposal.  The life that we cannot laugh at, is a life not worth living…how does that sound?  If we can’t laugh at our own finiteness, our own faults, mistakes, misdeeds…our warts and pimples, our limps and scars.  If we can’t make fun of the Hitlers and Martin Luther King’s of the world, where does that leave us?

In an effort to reduce my educational sunk costs (read last post for my thoughts on sunk costs), I picked up one of the few books I didn’t sell-back in college.  It’s not a book I read, just a book I spend a lot of money on and didn’t think it was right to accept $5 for it, when I knew the college would then sell it to some other unsuspecting college student for a considerable amount more. 

The book was for an argumentation writing course I took…and in the opening chapter they “argue,” what the purpose of argumentation is.  They say it’s not to win-or-lose, as in a debate, but to engage in discussion in order to better understand others, to persuade others when appropriate, and to work together to reach best solutions.  The talk a bit about the Greek philosophers like Socrates, and the idea of an absolute, Truth, with a capital T.  The writers argue that their is no Truth in life because human beings are subjective in their viewpoints.  What the writers did support, and this is an idea I also believe in, is that through argumentation we can come to better understand our own views and values, and work towards “improving” society.

The 3 words I chose at the beginning of this post, are words that I believe are important in clarifying our view and values, and in “improving” society.  They’re also words that are funny, becaues wanting to “improve” society is a pretty funny thing.  Why is it funny?  Well…i’ll leave the jokes to you guys.  But, the idea again is that there’s no cure better for existential dread, or depressed idealism, than a shot of laughter.

But…the words demystification, and mystification, have struck me…because that’s what so much of life is.  I used to be mystified by “grown-ups,” and the “adult-world,” based on so much “confusion of impressions,” and the feeling that life was “mysterious.”  And, I don’t believe my process of demystification of this world have come this now becuase I’m 24, 2+ years removed from college, and 6mos.+ into a grown-up desk-job.  I don’t believe experience alone accounts for a person’s ability to see through the mist, to see through the haze before our metaphoric eyes which blurs our ability to see reality a bit more clearly. 

I want to turn this post now over to you, and ask…in what ways do you see yourself/society, as plagued by mystification?  In what ways has the mist gotten thicker, and in what ways has it cleared?  And…if you have any good jokes, please share…

-dan

p.s. This movie I just watched, a documentary I found on Netflix called “The Gleaners and I,” it’s about people who live off the leftovers of others.  It covers the homeless and hungry who stoop down to pick leftover potatoes or cabbage from after harvests, or those who dumpster dive and discover fresh meals and technology to repair.  Thought provoking…and stirring an idea in me to make a documentary of my own one day…