Got to Have it?

       Everyone around me has been talking about the newly released iPhone and how they can get their hands on it. The ones who lucky enough to already own the device are idolized, and those who don't yet have it seem to be making plans for when they will be able to get hold of the hot new technology. According to apple.com, the sales of the device within the first weekend topped 9 million and sales numbers continue to rise.
  Although I will admit, I envy my friends who have the new phone already, I wonder what it is that makes us want this phone so much. Is it really the cool new features? Because as far as I can see, the only features that the new iPhone has that are not available for download on earlier apple devices, are the state of the art fingerprint scanner, and the newly improved camera. So then why does this new device make us so crazed. Personally I think it is because of the title that each iPhone has. The title at the time of the release that tells us that this is what society is going to envy. The title that says if you are among the first ones to own this device, you will be envied and idolized. I still remember the feeling I got of superiority when I got the iPhone 5 the day it came out. Everyone wanted to hold my sleek new gadget, and when my phone would die at a friends house and they would offer me a charger, I boast in my reply that I could not use their old iPhone 4 charger, because the new iPhone came with a brand new type of charger. Now almost a year of that iPhone's arrival, no one asks if they can see my phone, because this iPhone isn't one that is cool anymore, it is the iPhone 5s.
  The unappeasable desire to always have the newest gadget tells us something about our society. It tells us that no matter what we have, we can always have better. No matter what we say, we can always say better. No matter what we do, we can always do better. It seems to me that there is an ongoing unrest imbedded within us that we cannot control.
  Although it sounds bad, I think that this unrest is just what keeps us as a society on our toes, keeps every fall exciting to see what new technology comes out, and gives us something to always work for. If the need to always have the best is imbedded in who we are, the need for always doing our best must be too. A trait that helps us as a society move forward, and helps us be able to invent new things, such as iPhones. So maybe the desire that makes us want the new phone, comes from the desire to get the new phone.  

        The other day in my American Studies class we looked at an excerpt of Studs Terkel's "Division Street America." Although unable to read the book in its entirety, the small excerpt we looked at really stood out to me. Terkel interviews different members of the Chicago community, and hits on themes such as racial and class segregation of different Chicago. In the introduction Studs mentions that there are some wealthy northern suburbs of the city referred to as the "North Shore." Studs mentions how the North Shore suburbs "give or take a token black, are lily white," which is actually scarily true. Having been raised in the area, I was taught to appreciate where I came from, appreciate the school system, and the security and everything else that comes with living here. I had been told from a young age that in parts of the city only a short drive away, people were being shot late at night, and troubles of crime and poverty were taken precedent over the troubles of terrible school systems, and high school dropouts. Unfortunately all of these things are true, and although mayor after mayor tries to change the case, there has been little drastic progress on the situation. I had almost always associated local poverty with the "inner-city" as people refer to it. Yesterday however, I was introduced to a new group of impoverished Chicagoland natives, the Waukegan bulldogs.
After a long day at school my tennis team hit the courts to play the Waukegan bulldogs in a tennis match. Me and my doubles partner felt terrible during our match, when we would hit our softest shot, and the girls across the net would scramble away as if it were going to concuss them. The team looked as if none of them had ever picked up a racket, and the embarrassment their eyes broke my heart. Of corse, I had played them before on previous teams and noticed their lack of proper equipment, and skill, but since reading the Studs Terkel article, it dawned on me that these impoverished people who actually do live in the Chicagoland area, do not receive the attention that the inner city poverty does. I looked more into the numbers and found that according to USA statistics, in 2012 17.90% of Waukegan's population was living below the poverty line. In Chicago 18.45% of families are living below the poverty line. Although there is a difference in the numbers, they are surprisingly close. Never had I realized how poor these people actually were. In my school career we had been so driven to the fact that Chicago inner-city was poor (a sad but true fact) but teachers seemed to have missed another place just as bad about an hour north. Even Stud's Terkel in his "ABC's for non Chicagoans" introduction to his book, discusses the area from the city all the way to Lake Forest, but seems to miss the area only a few suburbs north that is in terrible shape as well. There could be many reasons why people including Studs broadcast the cities conditions but simply miss other poor areas such as Waukegan's. They could not include the area in their reports on purpose to draw more attention the the contrast between the extreme poverty in the city and the extreme wealth in the North Shore, or they could just simply not have any idea that there is crime and poverty happening outside of the inner-city. I feel that these areas should receive more attention and help for their worsening situations. As hard as it is to say it, although the city needs lots of help, there are other places that need it too. And there is a lot of work to do.

 

Competition

Today on CBS a brightly dressed news anchor reported a story about a man who failed at his goal to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a small wicker craft attached to about 300 helium balloons. The man, Jonathan Trappe from Maine, had already flown across the English Channel and over the Alps using his mechanism, but now he wanted to fly across the Atlantic. The story reminded me of the other recent news article about Diana Nyad, the sixty year-old women who swam from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, in attempts to break another record. What is it about these Americans that makes them want to do such risky things just to simply win the pride of achieving a "record" or being the "best". I believe that it is rooted from a young age, in the natural environment that american children grow up in.
The idea that kids need to be the best at something, at least as it seems to be impeded in the values of North Shore culture, starts at a young age. Babysitting this weekend, I talked to eight year old Jimmy about the sports he plays. At the young age of eight, Jimmy could already tell me his life plan in the department of his favorite pastime hockey. "Im going to first make it onto A1 travel this winter, then I'm gunna play a lot and make varsity at New Trier as a freshman, and then go to Michigan on a scholarship and play as a center on the varsity team there all my years at college." Surprised that the kid had more of his life planned out then me, we proceeded watching Spongebob. Then he chimed in, that in order to do this he had to take Will's (his best friends), spot on the team. The idea of such a specific plan, that started with the potent goal to replace his friends spot on the team, really got me thinking. It must be something his parents tell him that makes such a young kid want to say such a thing. Of course, it is completely normal for kids to have big goals, but deeper than that, it seems that in the society we live in, kids are raised to always be thinking about how to be the best, the brightest, and the fastest. World record books are a staple in every household, and game shows, and sports games are recorded on every DVR. It is no wonder that when some of these American kids grow up, they feel the never appeased desire to do such crazy things, just to beat everyone out. In a New York times article titled The Competing Views on Competition, Matt Richtel says "I’ve already done my part to promote the value of competition, almost completely unconsciously. I’ll talk about whether the San Francisco Giants just won their game. He knows that someone is going to be elected president and someone else is not." It is virtually impossible to grow up in our society without having some sort of competitive pressure at one time or another, but maybe, this is what makes our society thrive. The deep imbedded value of competition just might be the thing that gets our society thinking about how to solve the next problem, invent the newest medical device or smart phone. Some may argue that maybe then the discoveries and achievements made by people is simply out of self greed. The idea that they want to be the one who is known as the best scientist, or doctor, or computer programer, or swimmer. However personally I feel that maybe this is what is needed in every society. The idea that everyone wants to be the best, so then even if people do things out of personal greed, they do things that help the society grow as a whole.

America's Best Representatives?

It is hard to have missed Miley Cyrus’s erotic behavior at the VMA’s this summer. Almost everyone has seen the video or heard someone talk about the performance. Widespread controversy has circled regarding it and many concerned parents of American children claim that the performance is setting a terrible example for Miley’s easily influenced young fan base. What many people have not however begun to think about is the bigger picture. The idea that halfway around the world, foreign people are seeing Miley’s performance and getting the impression that this raunchy celebrity, as well as many others, are the best of the best of American citizens.  Everyone knows how hard it is to make it big in Hollywood, so then the ones that do make it big must be our best correct? Well although the logic is sound, it seems to me that these Americans are not the ones that I know and love. While traveling to Spain this summer, I had the pleasure of meeting some long lost friends in the Catalonian countryside. While sitting under their terracotta roof I had the chance to really get to know some young Spaniards. The girls of the family had grown up speaking Catalan, Spanish, and English so it was not hard to communicate. After arriving at the house however, the youngest of the girls Lola, greeted me as if I was some sort of divine being. Grabbing my hand and leading me through the doorway she uttered,

 “So your American! Who do you know that is famous?!”

Although the girl was a bit young and naive, her comment brought up a valid point, people across the world think that our society is made up of these stars, or people trying to be like these stars. They assume that these famous names are the best America can offer, and that everyone else in the states, is just trying to be like these people. Assuming that these people are what all Americans are like, I cannot help but wonder, do they think that these songs really represent our society?

            In a New York times article from right after the VMA’s, Jon Caramanica discusses how Miley is not the only one who seems to be putting bad examples into the press. He discusses other hits from the summer, and summarizes that “these songs are about caress, from the lyrics to the fatty bass lines to the lustless singing. For the most part, they’re adult-oriented records seeping down into the pop universe” (Blowing the Smooth out of the Summer).  Caramanica hits the nail on the head when he accuses not only Miley but many other musicians of releasing songs containing indecent lyrics. It is these lyrics that people see and associate with American culture. What Caramanica seemed to miss however are the performances and music videos that go along with these songs. Even the less obvious suggestive lyrics can be explained through an “X” rated music video just a click away. After all, it was Miley’s performance at the Video Music Awards that sparked the discussion. These videos depict twisted pictures of what real American society is outside of some billionaire’s LA recording studio. Such as the controversial video behind the song We Can’t Stop by Miley Cyrus. That flashes between images of people eating Marshmallows, Spaghetti OH’s, Wonder Bread and French fries, and sexual dancing, and teens drinking and smoking. The two elements being in such close proximity appear that they would make it even easier for foreigners to look on and incorrectly make a correlation between these grotesque stars and everyday Americans.

            There would be no issue if there were to not be a fan base supporting the billion-dollar industry. Which makes us Americans look even worse because we are the ones supporting it. When its all said and done the artist really only wanted the money, and if Miley can make 150 million dollars by age 25 doing what she’s doing, she will.

            Cyrus and Thicke came together at the VMAs and preformed the now infamous show. A show that concerned mother’s worry will influence their daughters, which to me sums up how the American society views these people. Although the mothers sitting on their couch in suburbia shielded their daughters’ eyes, they watched in amazement. Both disgusted and intrigued, and maybe intrigued in the disgust, we support this business unknowingly. We support this crude business by falling for their trap; we fall in head first while watching half-naked Americans make fools of themselves in front of millions. And millions who are ever-judging and making opinion’s at whole of our society based on what they see. But hey, we are the ones who gave Miley two million YouTube hits, so from a screen in Lleida Spain, Miley Cyrus is the best of the Americans, and according to Lola, “Miley and (I) are like neighbors!”