Newsweek recently launched reality television show, The District (see below) a spoof on the MTV reality show The City (I'd strongly suggest you watch the first sixty seconds or so of The City to contextualize The District; it makes a big difference).
The City features Whitney Pratt, a young blonde leaving all she knows in California to pursue a fashion career in New York City. The District features Barack Obama, leaving all he knows as a Senator in Illinios to pursue a career in Washington D.C. as the United States President.
Each episode is about three minutes long and provides a bubble gum version of the past weeks politics. Footage is created from a mix of news video clips and uses the celebrated Obama impersonator, Iman Crosson (aka Alphacat) for voiceover. Simplifying politics into a popular format can be a useful way to engage and inform a wider audience. That said, the using the rhetoric of the reality TV show is problematic as it’s dominated by one perspective, here, Obama’s. Politics are and need to be a multifaceted subject, their foundation should be a forum of discussion; this is the very basis of democracy. The District undermines the importance of political conversation by streamlining very complex issues into a shallow, one sided image of the current days issues. The episodes comes off as objective, not subjective.
“A goal is a dream with a deadline”. -Keith Ferrazzi, "Never Eat Alone" (A surprisingly motivating book...)
Today
is my first check in for the habit project; the habit I am developing
is writing a rough draft every morning. Though I officially started
Monday and have only been tracking myself for a few days, I’ve learned
three lessons when it comes to developing good habits.
1. Clearly define your goals. Good habits take us closer to our larger goals. In a sense they ground our dreams, forcing us to practice, honor and shape them into ourselves every single day. Identify your goal, write it down, put it in a place you can see it everyday.
2. Boundaries are tremendously important. Think of your habit as your job, you will be fired if you don’t show up and/or don’t do it.
The blogosphere sometimes feels like a really popular but kinda cheesy happy hour spot (in San Francisco: think Americano or Circa). Everybody talks and talks about it like it's the best thing since sliced bread, but you often leave wishing you TVO-d last night's The L Word while thinking, yes, people really are that stupid. Finding useful, well written content in the blogosphere is like shopping for the perfect outfit an hour before the party. When you know what you want and you've got a deadline, you're never going to find it. The blog and shopping Gods just don't work like that.
For example, this past Sunday, I decided I wanted to cook dinner. Cooking dinner means I am not eating cottage cheese while standing in my fridge door or licking big spoonfulls of peanut butter while at my desk. Cooking dinner is a commitment, an activity that requires mental and physical exertion and some serious multitasking. One must study the recipe, turn on ovens and stoves, pull ingredients from cupboards and fridge compartments, use knives, mix things together in different bowels, different pans, under different heats, while setting timers like a mad clock lady, and negotiating verbs like "brown", "broil", and "dice".
Word on the street is that the most successful people are the most habitual people. Habits force you to set boundaries and make choices that honor your goals on a daily basis. Good habits, like eating healthily, practicing your craft, keeping your living space clean, are a form of self-respect.
Forming good habits are hard and require constant self-discipline. Here are three tips that I am using to help me:
1. Identifying the positive value you gain from the task. This can help remind you why you’re having a turkey sandwich instead of pizza or making the bed even though you really don’t feel like it. A task is much easier to repeat each day when you clearly understand it's benefit. So, make a list of why you’re doing it.
For example, I want to a write a rough draft every morning because it:
Stimulates my mind and boosts my sense of self.
Makes for a happier day.
Sets the tone for a productive day.
Absolutely ensures that I will practice writing that day. (My goal is to become a better writer).
Usually means I will write again in the afternoon.
I’ve posted my benefit list over my desk. This reminds me why I am sacrificing sleeping past six, a morning work out, or diving into other projects.
2. Identify What You Will Sacrifice. Life is filled with enticing options and committing to a habit means we must sacrifice. And sacrificing can be a big downer. Here’s a few things one must consistently sacrifice to build daily habits:
Spontaneity. It’s a gorgeous morning but I am not headed to the beach with the pooch or wandering down Fillmore for a coffee. Nope. I am at my desk writing my rough draft.
Laziness and Procrastination. Sorry snooze button and Facebook, I will not be checking in this morning.
I find habitual individuals wildly interesting- "really?? So, every morning you get up, return emails and then go to the gym? Every morning??"... yet have a great deal of trouble sticking to my own.
Habits reflect discipline and commitment to ones goals,
growth and, well, self. One of the reasons for my odd, okay, weird infatuation is because the most habitual people I know are some of the most compelling and successful (see my review of The Creative Habit). When I say successful I am referring to individuals who are
grounded, satisfied, and committed to growing towards some larger goal
that fulfills them each day.
We pick and choose our
experiences. The beauty of habits is that they reflect intentional
choices that add value to our greater self and take us closer to our
goals. Now of course life gets in the away, the dog must go to the vet,
the car needs an oil change, your best friend breaks up with her
boyfriend and needs support. Still, all of these are not ‘musts’ but
conscious choices that reflect your character.
I used to have a thing for Jackson Pollock and his kind. I would sit in museums, trying to look very deep and intellectual and mysterious, trying to think very deep and profound thoughts while waiting for Mr. Pollock or Mr. de Kooning or Mr. Rothko to hit me with an even deeper emotional epiphany that one would expect from, I don’t know, Gandhi or something.
“Oh the power of the profound,” I would muse, “oh the abstract expressionists… a authentic image of human reaction to increasingly chaotic world of the nuclear nineteen fifties family.”
Yes. You are correct. I used to be a professional dilettante. If you know anyone who pays for this service, by all means, send that email on over.
I imagined Pollock as an angsty artistic genius beating out his emotions with paint. I fervently defended his works among those subscribed to the “my five year old could do that” theory of art.
“You just don’t understand, ” I’d say channeling my best look of genuine sorrow and perplexity for this obviously misguided intellectual imbecile, “This, this,” I’d stress pointing to the vast painting “is reality, an utter expression of feeling, it’s more real than any realistic painting; it’s the depths below the material.”
(Above: Jackson Pollock's Lavendar Mist, 1950. Not casacade of raw
emotion materialized paint, but a very deliberate, thought out
painting.)
I’d sweep into a dramatic ending, with triumphal look of pity that said, “I am sorry you’re a shallow materialistic sheep that cares more about Britney Spears than politics or the environment or philosophy or world poverty or literature or art or, or, or anything of any true meaning in this world.”
Whipping my head back to the painting, I'd continue working my hardest at thinking deep thoughts and trying not to fidget while awaiting my epiphany about the meaning of life.
Well, you see, my analysis was very wrong. Very, very, very wrong.
My self righteous Pollock fantasies were brutally crushed during a rather grueling class my last semester at Berkeley, taught by one of CAL’s most famous art historians. I was in love with this woman; her lectures sent me on a rocket trip through the artistic solar system.
Anyways, she asks some question about a Pollock painting and I shoot my arm up high in the air, trying my darnedest not to wave it madly and literally bit-ting my tongue to prevent,
“OOOHHHH ME ME ME ME ME ME! PICK ME!!! OVER HERE!! MEEE!” from avalanching out of my mouth.
She looked severely around the room, as she generally did, pierced her eyes on me and with a deep, slow and menacing voice said, “Please, Allese”.
I spouted off some answer about unbounded emotion and feeling and passion and reality that left me sputtering in my own words, keenly aware that now some 100 students and, like my hero professor was staring back at me with wide eyes.
“Uh…. and, and and, yeah, so yeah. Right. So, yeah thus, that’s well that’summ that’s umm it.”
My face flushed in heat and I could see students staring incredulously at me and mentally comparing me to that Miss America contestant that answered,
Human rights became the centerpiece of the Academy Awards last night, as Slumdog
Millionaire and Milk stole the stage, collecting the majority of the golden men.
Where Milk speaks to the struggles of the gay and lesbian community for basic civil liberties, Slumdog shook the American psyche into reality with their high levels of liberty, justice and privilege by depicting the brutal poverty of Mumbai plagued by classism and sexism.
By honoring cinematic achievements deeply invested in widening the scope of the American socio-cultural psyche, the 2009 Academy Awards emphasized the importance of film as an artistic, subversive, and above all, highly politically medium.
Never has their been a more important time. Slumdog well puts America’s alarming unemployment rates, recession and failing economy into perspective. Similarly, the extreme bigotry and intolerance brought out by the passage of Proposition 8 in California, makes a film like Milk and the words of Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn more important than ever.
My next career will build on my values, passions, and general life goals. Subsequently, I am dedicating the next month or so to identifying and grounding myself in these and then carving out a plan of action. This foundation will allow me to make intentional career decisions that are clearly congruent with who I am, the skills I hope to develop and what I hope achieve both short and long term.
At the moment, I am talking to as many ambitious, grounded, successful, passionate, and insightful individuals as possible. I throw around my career, educational, and general life happiness goals, learn about there own, and lap up as much wisdom and advice as possible.
Yesterday, I met with my friend Michelle, an extraordinarily disciplined and insightful woman, who is in her late thirties and has built tremendously successful career. I admire her work ethic, the way she honors her routines, and her sense of perspective and depth about the world around her. Every time I meet with her, I leave motivated, inspired and filled with new ideas. Now, that’s what you want from good friendship!
After our lunch, I came up with this list of features that are essential to what I want out of my career.
The newest chick flick on the block, He’s Just Not That Into You brims with over exaggerated, unrealistic, unflattering portrayals of women. As if to make sure not one negative female stereotype was missed, the film has whopping five leading ladies who all represent some female neurosis that men fear more than the black plague. Please welcome:
Jenine (Jennifer Connelly)- The paranoid, control-freak wife who has no interest in sex. Need I say more?
Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin)- The really dumb chick that never takes a hint. And calls you every hour on the hour. (That such a loveable actress cannot make this painfully annoying character endearing, says mountains about this film… watching her is like hearing nails on a chalk board, over and over and over and over again)
Beth (Jennifer Aniston)- The girlfriend absolutely obsessed with getting the ring.
Mary (Drew Barrymore)- the lovely young lady so hopelessly out of touch with reality she genuinely believes trolling Myspace for dates is a good idea. NOTE: Trolling Myspace is never, ever a good idea.
Anna (Scarlett Johanson)- The temptress. She meets a married man and becomes certain that the stars are in there favor. Positive he will leave his wife to live happily ever after with her, she pursues, flirts, and strips causing Mr. married to question marriage. And cheat on his wife.
Essentially, the film sends the message that all women are obsessive compulsive creatures who’s lives completely revolve around the following: securing a long term relationship, securing a ring, securing a baby, oh and, securing a secret GPS system in your significant others you-know-what.
I took great interest in this article, from Back In Skinny Jeans, one of my favorite blogs, that analyzed the overtly sexual cover of this year’s swimsuit issue. I second Steph’s critique; I can’t say I was overjoyed to see Bar Rafeali, a simply beautiful model, beginning to strip off her nearly transparent bikini to showcase her petunia.
While the the image highlights Rafeali’s stellar physique and features, the stripping steals the spotlight causing the cover to be less a portrait of female beauty and sensuality, and more of an explicit sexual statement. As the focus is bluntly on her sexual goods, and subsequently, less about her, Rafeali moves from autonomous subject (i.e. empowered sensual goddess) to subjugated object (i.e. body of good looking sexual parts). Her averted gaze only accentuates this, emphasizing her as passive and disempowered.
