Podcast #1

Hey, I've started a podcast which can be listened to over here:

https://soundcloud.com/mark-notsofroh/sjws-and-being-offended

Cheers, MarkL

Messages

Hey y’all, hope everything's been good with you. I've just been taking things day by day, as I should. As anyone should really, stressing over 1 day won't make the next one better. Enough pleasantries, time for me to come up with what I'm going to write about on the spot. What? I need to plan it out? Nah this is essentially a conversation, an overdue one at that. Right now I'm listening to The Suburbs by Mr. Little Jeans (Arcade Fire Cover). I recommend you listen to it, that and Hozier. The songs will be posted in the sidebar where you can listen to them as you read this. Also quick shout out to my main man that helps me with late night work: f.lux. What is f.lux? It's a program that essentially makes your computer screen lighter on your eyes as they don't have to strain as hard to focus. You ever notice that blue-ish hue that all smartphone screens seem to have? Well it turns out if you stare at it too long it diminishes your eyesight, who knew? If you spend a lot of time on the computer (which is most of us) then this program is for you. It's available for Windows, Mac, and of course Linux. Onto the post now.

I'm not quite sure what to write about. I wrote a couple letters the other day, 2 that were for my University's Pen-Pal program, and another for a friend in BC. The Pen-Pal program is essentially where, based on a quiz, you get matched up with someone else on campus and are instructed to exchange letters. The program started about 2 months ago and I've only made time to write the letters now. Either the people that are supposed to write to me forgot to write or didn't make time for them as well, but all I know now is that they're sent and I'm hoping they'll get back before exams start.

It's an interesting thing, a letter. Getting one is like logging onto Facebook and seeing the notification setting, which is usually just someone liking one photo or another. Notice I said “like” as in similar and not equal to. Because there is absolutely nothing like getting a handwritten letter in the mail, especially from someone that you care about. The feeling starts when you first write the letter. What do I say? What will she think of this? You don't really know until you try, so once you've scratched out the 6^th greeting you finally write “Hey”.

And then, what to talk about? I'm glad I never knew quite what to say, keeps them on their toes. The weather right now? How you await their reply? But then again, so much is said within the letter without even writing it out. The scratched out handwriting, smudges, fragrances, there's a lot you can read into if you pay enough attention. If you're lucky, sometimes they'll send something inside the letter. Like a doodle they did in class or some flattened origami, or even a bracelet. It's nice to see some sort of a design around the envelope as well, makes it personal. Yeah, letters are nice. Send one.

There was this other time I got a call at around 3-4AM from a girl in another country. Why was she calling me? Technically she wasn't, see I signed up for this thing called “Call in the Night” (callinthenight.com) where you would at random get a call in the middle of the night that connects you to a stranger that has also signed up for the service. It's only available to people in North America, so you get paired up at random with someone in either the United States or Canada.

I got matched up with a woman in her 20's who was in Florida I believe. We tried talking about the dreams we just had but that wasn't really going nowhere so we just talked about our lives and stuff. It was very interesting, connecting with a stranger that I had never known yet we talked until 7am. The call got dropped because of my shitty cell coverage, and once it did I felt a sense of sadness but at the same time I felt satisfied. It remains as the best “night” I ever had that summer and the best wakeup I've had in years. I remember the day's weather as well, the fog rolled in lightly and you could feel it in your nose. I know my description isn't too vivid so bear with me.

The point I'm trying to make is that people are nice to talk to when you find a “different” way to do it. So get to it.

Cheers, MarkL

Opinions.

Question of the day: are you entitled to an opinion?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Kind of, read ahead.


It seems to me as though people are very good at thinking they are right no matter what. "No shit man, that's how people work." Well it goes a bit deeper than that. Using me as an example, I tend to think I am correct a large percent of the time. Sometimes I'll even add what I think is a true fact when really I have no idea what I'm talking about. Why am I one of "those" people? That's a question for my psychiatrists if I ever had any. One tool people like that use to prove their right-eousness is the "we're all entitled to our opinion" scapegoat.

To start off, read this article: http://www.iflscience.com/brain/no-youre-not-entitled-your-opinion

That's basically the gist of this post, I may or may not (worth putting your money on the "not" in the situation) go more in depth or present something new to add to the argument. If you're not going to bother reading that article (which will save you time instead of reading this) then here's a short summary:

You are only entitled to spread whatever opinion you can back up with facts.

There, that's it. Short and simple.

"But..."

No.

"What about...?"

No.

The dawn of the age of the internet (almost sounded as awkward as "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes") has given a voice to EVERYBODY involved. The internet has no actual age restrictions of any kind which allows anyone to post whatever they want. That might be the most beautiful thing about us as human beings, putting everyone on what is somewhat level ground. That is only true if you don't count internet restrictions that certain governments have put into place (China, UK, Australia, etc.)

This completely erases any need for soapboxing of any kind. You don't have to hand out flyers, yell downtown, or even physically talk to people anymore in order to get your message out. A person that has no public speaking skills can still send their message out in the most effective way possible, as long as they know how to sound persuasive in one way or another. And so now, this gives people two chances to back away from any form of constructive conversation by saying "I'm entitled to my opinion."

If you've surfed Reddit, 4chan, Facebook, Twitter, and any social media outlet then you'd know how good people are at giving their opinions freely. Even right now, I am stating my opinion that stemmed from an article I read. The funniest part about all this is the fact that even though anyone that is able to "Google" something will still say "That's just my opinion" to back out of an argument although they have every single resource at their fingertips that they can use to back their opinion up with facts.

I'm not saying that every opinion stated is automatically void of evidence, no of course not. But more often than not I have encountered conversations that end in "something something my opinion" than in any other way. If you are not able to back up an opinion with something that is remotely true then what is the point of the discussion in the first place? In the end nothing is resolved and nothing is learned from the opinions shared, it just ends up becoming Buzzfeed.

Why I cited Buzzfeed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1EiKys_Uk

Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lni1b3Lw1U&feature=youtu.be

So, moral of the story? Feel free to keep going and discussing things just as you were today because there's nothing wrong with that at all (if you consider right and wrong to be ambiguous and irrelevant). But if you'd like to take a look at a topic critically, then do not hesitate to question an opinion. Just because someone states something does not make it an iron-clad statement. Einstein wasn't even certain when he wrote E=mc2, in fact he expected it to be disproved moments after publishing his papers.

No, you are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to say what you can back up. You are however in the right to state your opinion regardless, it's kind of weird to think about. My Philosophy Prof. told our class that critical thinking has no beginning or an end. It's a skill that you choose to develop and use throughout your life. By questioning the opinions of others you are further building this skill, easier said than done.

Cheers, MarkL

Food | for | thought

Where did I leave off last time? I can't quite remember but i think I'm ok with that. It has been what, a week or so since the last time you heard from me? That's how you can tell Uni is taking its toll on me. Am I suffering? Not yet. Am I sleep deprived? Isn't everyone?

"Art is suffering" - Squidward

That's a legitimate quote, don't even try to debate me over my SpongeBob knowledge. Random thought: people ask me if I want a tattoo of something meaningful. Now I'm starting to think that's something I should take into consideration.

Maybe something classic like this?

 

Perhaps I'll find some pseudo-meaningful symbolism behind it, the dream of every English student. Oh, I just remembered what I wanted to write about today. Yet again I have come prepared, this is very rare so don't get too comfortable.

Highschool level English, specifically North Toronto Collegiate Institute and its approach to English. Experiences may vary, ingest at your own risk. I was taught to believe that a very important part of being an English student is the ability to find and prove a thesis based on the text given to you. This is a very valuable skill actually, to have the drive to read an entire text which can span several pages if not chapters and pull out a thesis or two from it that sums up the piece. But this is not the mark of a good writer, simply a reflection of your ability to analyze a text. Then why are teachers forcing kids to fit a clusterfuck of text into a single sentence?

My professors so far have made it clear that your thesis does not have to take up one single sentence. Here's an example of a slide I got for my Sociology class.

Keep in mind that this is for my Sociology class, so not directly related to English because the nature of this assignment was to do a research paper. But even for my Pre-18th Century Lit class my professor has stated that she wants the thesis to be evident somewhere in the essay. Where you put it, how you introduce it, is all up to you of course. That was not the case however in my English classes back at NT. Here's something that I've probably said before but will say again for emphasis, I failed my English winter exam. The cause of my failure was mostly because I didn't prepare, but the question that could have made me pass but didn't was the question around the thesis of the text we were given to read. I was unable to find the direct thesis that was asked of me, my teacher told us all that the thesis would be "plain to see. It's not too hard to find." Too hard for whom?

Every human being on this planet has a unique experience from the moment of birth to their death. So how could 30 individuals arrive at the same way to capture the thesis written by someone that has had a completely different life compared to mine or anyone else's for that matter. If I am spouting bullshit at any point please let me know because I feel like I'm definitely wrong somewhere. Some people will dismiss this as bullshit, which it might be, because they may or may not believe that it's not that hard to find the central theme of a text regardless of experience. But that's only one aspect of it, because what are we supposed to do with the other significant ideas that pop up throughout the text? Dismiss them completely and forget that they ever existed? There's a reason that on our Beowulf essay outline we were given the option to analyze it from a Feminist lens. That's because someone actually took the time to find significance of Feminism within this several centuries old poem.

That is the beauty of language/text, anything and everything can be found within it if looked deep enough. This also reminds me of an article I read not too long ago and I think you all should too: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/12/05/document-the-symbolism-survey/

I'm starting to believe that like Art, the subject of English as it is taught in any matter has infinite routes to go into. Whether it's finding connections using symbolism, theme, structure, etc. The point is that any argument can be made with the right amount of valid evidence. So why hasn't my education been centered around that instead? Only in the last year of highschool was I genuinely asked to find any thesis and back it up with evidence. Sure there were little moments where I was given creative license in some assignments, but why isn't that taught from day 1? Why all this emphasis on squeezing an ungodly amount of information into 1 sentence that the teacher expects you to find within 5 minutes of finishing the text?

Any opinion that I've stated up here is up to debate and I hope that I find plenty holes with it in the coming days. I was fuming a couple days ago as I realized that none of this symbolism bullshit ever mattered because anything can be a symbol for anything as long as you find the deep enough connection. So why was I tearing my hair out senior year as I realized that I'd never amount to anything so as long as I pursued the study of the English language? Food for thought.

Food

for

thought.

Cheers, MarkL

Impacts

Hello everyone,

I'm not entirely aware of who my audience is anymore because of the move I've recently made. If you're still not aware, this is my new blog - ta da! - spread the word. Have the rules changed as a result? I won't attempt to censor myself in any way, no need to fret! Will the quality improve? I sure hope so considering the fact that I'm back at this, hopefully on a steady path now. I'm not sure what else I can answer at this point, you'll just have to keep reading to find out I guess. Yes it is going to be a fuckton of text, don't forget I'm the one that had to write it all out at some point.

Recently (10 minutes ago as of when I wrote this) I (had what I like to call) a conversation (but really I talked too much as per usual because I had too much to keep inside) with an old friend. I had a (sober) thought at the beginning of this weekend. What I'm about to say isn't the thought itself, but it's connected (you'll see why soon enough, and no these brackets won't stop). For a very long time, like anyone else, I've been asked "What do you intend to do with your life?". It's a very loaded question that I find changes meaning as the years go by. But ultimately the answer has been somewhat consistent with my core values and understanding of the world, as limited as it is, and I'd like to change the world. Before the moments of my death I'd like to be a part of something that changes the world somehow and I am able to see that change before my eyes. Talk about a tall order, coming from a kid who failed his English exam in the winter and can't seem to get his lazy ass to the gym.

But that thought had to have come from somewhere. It has come from the same place the thoughts like it before have come. This hasn't been my 1st moment of clarity, but it feels overly repetitive at this point. My friend however tells me that I am wrong in thinking that's a bad thing, that everyone gets those thoughts from time to time. This reminds me of the quote "Don't compare everyone's highlight reel to your behind the scenes." said by that guy at that one place that one time etc. I can think of 3 direct moments of clarity that have gone on to impact me on a level I had never imagined.

The 1st was the day my brother showed me the Dub FX video and I never saw music the same way again. From that day on I had to get myself writing about anything and everything, and I loved every moment of it. All the shitty lines about how tough it was being 14 (having your crush ignore you in the hall was a death sentence basically) was an amazing process. Thinking of rhymes in the shower and then scrambling to write them down without even bothering to dry my hair, carrying my notebook anywhere and everywhere I went. Sure, I wasn't exactly a Mozart of the English language. But I seemed to love it and I saw that I was getting better, sometimes people would like my stuff as well and that was nice to hear. It was a way for me to push myself based on my own ability, and I grew as a result.

The 2nd time was when I decided to pursue dance. I don't remember the exact day but I remember stumbling upon a YouTube video of the Jabbawockeez and their first routine for ABDC (America's Best Dance Crew). I was astonished that people were able to move in those spectacular ways all because of practice. So I asked myself "why can't I do that?" Because really, why the hell not? And what followed was the most reasonable reaction to the pursuit of dance. Lessons in my room on styles/routines, whenever a new dance craze popped up I learned it ASAP (all the cool kids knew how to Jerk and Dougie back in the day) and so it evolved into a passion.

Both of these moments were very significant for me, but the unfortunate thing is that I have dropped them for an extended amount of time. As stated previously, these moments of clarity are temporary if they are dismissed. The only way that they will stick is if words are put into actions and further into habits. Yet again I am at these crossroads where I have a choice in front of me: continue down my path of plateau or pursue something different. If you're anything of a super-sleuth you'll be able to tell which one was chosen by the time the next post comes out. Oh and the 3rd time I had a moment of clarity? I'd like to think that the moment passed 45 minutes ago when I began writing this post but I'm not certain enough to say that's true. Maybe it'll come at 3AM in the middle of January or maybe this is my last moment. I sure hope it's the first one, I love me some Eggnog in the middle of the night. In all seriousness though (uh oh time to be an adult) I'd like to make sure that these moments pass with a feeling of satisfaction, that I had done enough up until this point to achieve what is to be achieved tomorrow. University ought to be fun, 4th week and I'm already thinking internally. Post dedicated to Seth because he took the time to let me vent out some thoughts I had, thnx bud.

Cheers, MarkL

P.S. Can't believe I forgot the most integral part of the post. The idea that I had that extended from the 2 moments I listed above is the following - Since I'd like to change the world someday, maybe the best way to start change is first become the change. I mean, if you'd like to make a certain impression on the world you have to embody that impression and live by it. The people that do help this world tend to embody the exact conditions and aspects that they brought onto the world. It worked for them, so why not me? Why.....not?

Whatever happened to Pay it Forward?

In the 21^st century social media is now more than simply a way to connect with old friends and colleagues, it is now one of the largest contributors to social trends. These trends have ranged from entertaining – Harlem Shake, awareness raising – ALS ice bucket challenge, and just plain stupid – Neknominations.

The Neknominations caused quite a stir both on social media and off. Once nominated you had to find a way to top the previous challenger’s Neknomination. This of course led to nominees performing the challenge in escalating circumstances, drinking stronger beverages and doing more crazy stunts either during or after consuming their beverage. As a result at least 5 deaths were reported in the United Kingdom and Ireland alone.

Neknominations became a craze overnight and it wasn’t stopping anytime soon once it caught hold in highschools all around. I could never understand why students as young as 16 would pose risk to themselves simply for a stunt that wouldn’t be relevant in 5 years. Weren’t we taught at the beginning of highschool to be cautious of what we post online in fear of background checks by future employers?

I remember going to curling practice one evening and hearing that someone on the team had just done their Neknomination. They were in no state to go onto the ice that day, but that didn’t seem to stop them from doing just that. While some students sat on the sidelines and watched the circus unfold, I was terrified that a serious injury was bound to occur as he stepped on the ice. If this had been the case the coach in charge of our supervision could have possibly lost his job because he wasn’t aware that a student had shown up to practice intoxicated. And to think that should be a concern on his part in this day and age to me is appalling.

As the Neknominations died down in the social media world, another challenge stemmed directly from it: Feed the Deed. This was the polar opposite of Neknominations in a way because now participants had to film themselves performing a random act of kindness for a stranger and nominate friends and family to do the same.

I do not question the need for a Pay-it-Forward’esque challenge but rather the need for it to be filmed. Is it really a necessity to show others how kind you are on film? What would be the motivation behind your actions in the first place, the fact that you actually want to commit an act of kindness or just be a part of the trend? The unique thing about social media is that often times people don’t have to ask each other that question because it’s now socially acceptable to do the latter without being judged. And I find that tragic.

The reason being, if #FeedtheDeed had never gone viral then imagine how many acts of kindness would have never occured in the first place? And what is truly important then, the intention behind the action or the action itself? Unfortunately this way of thinking is quickly dropped once the topic of fitting in comes into conversation. It’s as if the 2 go hand in hand for today’s youth: willingly participating in possibly dangerous or exploitive activities just to be a part of it all.

Sometimes the original idea of a social trend just becomes watered down and is used as yet another method to seek attention. A prime example of this would be the ongoing ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It started as a way to educate people about the effects of ALS because the momentary feeling of ice on your skin is what ALS patients go through for years on end. It’s unfortunate that it has now turned into a way for people to simply challenge each other just for the sake of being a part of it.

Although the argument can be made that the “campaign” has raised mass amounts of awareness for the cause, many are unaware why the challenge requires an ice bucket in the first place. I doubt that many of the participants would go the extra mile to donate more than simply money or a 20 seconds video and instead put time to volunteer for the cause.

Social media has proven to be an amazing marketing tool for those willing to compromise their morals for attention. But even with that in mind it has managed to mould the generations to come, whether or not the change has been positive will be revealed in the coming years. All I can say for now is that careful attention has to be paid when actions are justified by the allure of attention instead of what is truly right or wrong.

Cheers, MarkL