Culturally Aware in 2012, Final Update

I figured a final update on the "Culturally Aware in 2012" challenge was in order.

Wrapping Up 2012

2012 was a rollercoaster year. I don't think I've ever felt more in a year than I have in 2012.

It's sort of frustrating that facebook doesn't sort all the New Year's Eve posts like it does Christmas or Mitt Romney posts (though maybe I'm just looking before it sorts itself, which is very possible). However, in my one-year-old tradition, I'm looking to my feeds to understand how everyone's 2012 went for them.

I might add that social networking is amazing because it is so much information so quickly and with very little filter. It provides a window into the lives of many, many people across the globe. Facebook/Twitter/Instagram provide one with many diverse opinions and some really weird posts, which is great. Here are a few of the posts from my feeds about the end of 2012:

My Evening With Nicholas Kristof

I've been told that it's easy to pick a great person out of a crowd - and perhaps I had even seen a little bit of truth in it - but after 4:00 yesterday afternoon I knew the phrase to be true.

It was an oddly warm December 3rd day, with temperatures staying around seventy Fahrenheit all afternoon. I threw on a tie and walked to the E H Little Library, internally debating the speed at which I should walk with the amount of time I had until the event started. When I made it to the library, I went upstairs to the Davidsonia room - the one adjacent and connected to the Rare Books Room to wait with many other eager colleagues of mine.

When Nick arrived in the room, everyone simultaneously stood up and turned around to face him. The three lovely ladies who escorted him to the room were beaming from ear to ear, expressing on their faces what I knew I was feeling inside.

I'm Thankful for Food

My father is an excellent chef. (I say "chef" rather than "cook" because a cook merely repeats recipes and a chef makes his own.) He's incredible. Everyone loves his cooking.

Anyway, he and I have been cooking together for a while, and he gave me little cooking lessons over the summer to learn little things about cooking - little things that help a ton.

This year for Thanksgiving we tried something new. I decided I wanted to help out with the meal this year and my father obliged. The turkey was his game, but I helped out on everything else.

Africa 2012, Pt. I - subtitled: the greatest trip ever

It's the halfway point of my trip to Southern Africa, and I figured I would offer a quick update of the adventure thus far.

Quick background information about the trip: the trip is through the Davidson Alumni Association, and includes tours in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. The group is comprised of (I think, and will check to be sure) 17 people, including one Davidson guide and one South African guide. The flights to and from Africa are July 14th and July 28th with a day of travel included in each end. 

Oh, the quotes I provide...

Greenstock was a couple of weekends ago, and it was a great success. Here's an article by my friend, Addie, from the Davidsonian. I was interviewed during the event, and a quote was attributed to me in the article. If you're too lazy to read the entire article, here's my quote:

I hope the remainder of your day is great!

Culturally Aware in 2012 Update, April 5

I figured an update on the "Culturally Aware in 2012" challenge was in order.

Would Lincoln Be Elected Today?

This Wednesday night I had the privilege of listening to an amazing speaker. My friends and I ran over to Duke Family Performance Hall and flew up the stairs to get a middle seat on the second level of the theatre, sitting at 6:58pm. We stared ahead or looked down at the crowd below as we waited for the event to begin. At 7:10, Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson was introduced to the crowd. Dr. Jamieson has written a total of 16 books, has been featured on Bill Moyers' show, Washington Post, CBS, and others. An article was written about her this week in the Charlotte Observer, honoring her for her work. She is Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania. She runs a site, FactCheck.org, and a sister/daughter site, FlackCheck.org. Both are very useful tools for thinning out the deceptions and lies inherent in political ad campaigns.

The crux of her political mission is to get the false ads and lies out of political campaigns. One way she does this is through FlackCheck, where there is an option to email your local stations, demanding they only air ads that are factually accurate. Stations can turn down independent ads (those by Super PACs are to be accented here) if the manager of the station is even a little bit worried about the factuality of the ad. Jamieson believes that the advertiser has the responsibility to keep ads factual and the manager has the responsibility to turn away ads if she doubts the credibility of the ad's facts.

Acknowledging Dr. Quillen

Thursday morning, the president of Davidson spoke to a committee of the Senate. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is comprised of members of both parties, and was having a hearing on the affordability of education - likely due to Obama's State of the Union promises to make higher education more affordable.

Needless to say, Dr. Quillen was extraordinarily impressive as always. I am so proud to be at the school that I am attending, and even more proud to have such a wonderful woman as my president. My predecessors did a wonderful job finding a new president.

I'm looking forward to Quillen's Monday signing of the Davidson Climate Action Plan and unveiling of the solar panels on Baker. Honestly, I will probably give Dr. Quillen a hug then.

The Artist

It's wonderful to begin the year with a movie as wonderful as this one.

I thoroughly enjoyed all 100 minutes of this silent film. Michel Hazanavicius' masterpiece will hopefully inspire even more directors to create what I believe to be a lost medium - silent film. (Please note that the theatre isn't silent completely, as music plays to set the mood for the movie at times.) The acting fit perfectly to the style of the movie by including large displays of emotion that would seem ridiculous to a current audience in a modern film. Whether these displays were Jean Dujardin's massive smiles and head twitches or Berenice Bejo's silly but adorable dance movies, they seemed effective in making the movie lighthearted where needed, and dramatic elsewhere.

My generation truly missed out on silent films, and that really saddens me. Us kids of the 90's were right at the edge of cassette tapes and kid's cartoons, and technology of media exploded from there. I'm so sad I never got to sit around with friends listening to vinyls like my parents did (though I admit I have listened to Dad's records quite a few times over, mostly in secrecy). I remember VHS tapes, and how awesome they were, but they were quickly replaced with DVD's. I grabbed a VCR from home and several VHS tapes and I've brought them to Davidson, not to be ironic and nostalgic, but to fully enjoy every single movie so much more. The only VHS tapes I can find are classics and they might be damaged such that the entire movie has a slight pink tint, but they are so much more appreciated than the fifty DVD's I buy every year. Rewinding a movie might be a pain, but it reminds me to slow down every now and then between scenes in my life.

I know I've strayed from the topic of The Artist, but the fact that Hazanavicius made a silent film - one popular in the mainstream - after decades of none at all amazes me. I enjoyed myself so much watching the film, and I sincerely hope that more of the style are produced soon since the film has done so well.

Culturally Aware in 2012

My New Year's resolution is to become more culturally aware. I'll admit, this title comes as an attempt to glorify a silly challenge I'm putting myself through in the year.

This year, I want to build my vocabulary and develop my abilities to explore, analyze, and conclude from what I see, hear, and learn. (Be on the lookout for a 101 things in 1001 days sort of deal in the next week or so--I assure you it will appear from somewhere... I just have to sit down and think through what.)

Essentially, I heard my brother talking about participating in the 50 books challenge where participants try to read 50 books before December 31st comes to an end (~a book a week) and decided I wanted to do something like it. Over the past few weeks, though, I've decided that I wanted to change this a little bit to span more than just books. I want to cover stories of people real and not, descriptions of the world near and far, and views I agree and disagree with currently. I want to gain as much as possible from this experience as well. Unfortunately, studies and money might come into conflict with the completion of this challenge but I will try my best to complete it. Here are the challenges:


1. 30 new books in the year
2. 20 new movies in the year
3. 10 new friends in the year (which I must have some interesting story with) Note: if I'm friends but don't have an interesting story, acquisition of a story counts towards this.
4. 10 new museums or art galleries in the year (which I must see at least one full exhibit in)
5. 5 new cities visited in the year (which I must eat in and see something exciting or thrilling in)


I might be editing this list over the next week or so. I will also try to blog my "accomplishments" as they come - book reviews, movie reviews, interesting stories with friends, thoughts on museums, thoughts on cities.

If you are interested in joining me in this challenge, I would love to have you! Please let me know if you are going to participate, and maybe we can do some stuff together. I would love the company.