More Than Just Another Instagrammer?

For the past couple of years people around the world have been sharing photos through the trending app "Instagram". While the app's popularity may not be new news, what is is the popularity that some of its users have gained. One in particular that caught my attention was the "Insta-Gramma". 

As I read more, I learned that the "Insta-Gramma" is an account under the name of grandmabetty33, an 80 year old women from southern Indiana. Grandma Betty's great-grandson set her up an account to document her day to day adventures in the last part of her life. See Grandma Betty has terminal cancer, so her time is running short. It now occurred to me that the popularity of her page came from something more than just an old women taking funny selfies, it came from people's interest in seeing someone laugh their way through a terrible predicament.  

I think that people enjoy seeing other people laugh their way through these situations, because put in these situations themselves, most would hope that they could have such a good demeanor. I know that Americans are known to be resilliant, through many situations, we are the ones who can endure and get through. So, Is the "Insta-Gramma" more than just a funny old women? To me, she is a symbol of American's ability to get through hard times with a smile. The way we have gotten through hurricane recoveries, economic struggles, and even terrorism attacks.  

Nanny Culture: A Racial Trend?

Ellen Jacobs Photography

Driving to school the other day, I saw an interesting site. A "nanny brigade", as my dad, a fellow witness, noted, was crossing the street in route to the local park. A group of about five middle aged women of color were pushing strollers filled with tots. This got me thinking about the nanny culture in America. It seems that in my neighborhood many white families hire either Hispanic or African-American caretakers for their families. I wondered if this was a national trend or a localized phenomenon. I got input on this query by reading "Ms. Melting-pot's" blog post on nannies in America.

The author told a personal story in one of her posts of a time when two of her relatives, one white and one colored, took their newborn niece with them to lunch. The women were approached by a fellow patron of the restaurant: a 3-year old girl. The little girl turned to the colored women and quickly asked "Are you her babysitter." 

What the blogger found interesting, as do I, was the fact that the small child was so used to seeing women of color caring for a child that it comes naturally for her to assume that the colored women was the hired help to the white women, and not the other way around. The author claims that this is due to the "global assumption that women of color are the caretakers of White children." It now seemed to me that this phenomenon existed outside of my community, and this blogger went even further in claiming that this is a global assumption.

         For me, this recalled the movie "The Help." Which looked at the dynamic of African-American nannies in the south during the early 1960's. A similar dynamic which I observed driving to school the other day, "Ms. Melting Pot" observed through a personal experience, and that New York City photographer Ellen Jacobs captured through her recent photo series (one is shown here) "Black Nannies/White Children." 

I would make the argument that as far as locally and nationally, this phenomenon of colored nannies and white children exits, although I am unsure about the global aspect. Do you agree?

Religion or Competition at The Water Cooler?

Wednesday marked the beginning of a religious time in the Christian church called "Lent", a time known to be one of the holiest of the year according to the Christian calendar. During the 40 day span in early spring leading up to Easter, Christians are supposed to "give up" an item in their lives. And while many of the lent participants are devoted Christians, what I find interesting is the amount of participation for the event from the non-religious alike.  A blogger for Metro puts it that "Although part of Christian tradition, religion doesn’t come into it for many these days, with the practice of giving something up for 40 days having evolved into a general office-based will power competition." 

A Jewish friend of mine informed me on her aspirations to go until Easter without eating any chocolate. Despite the deep Christian roots, many non-religious participate in the event, focusing on the time as just another challenge. Like the article mentioned, an "office-based will power competition" is what many see lent to be. As I see it, whoever can really restrain from M&M's or cut back on the coffee for a whopping 40 days has a new thing they can brag about around the water cooler. I suspect there are many other things that people to equip themselves with things to speak on at the "water cooler", such as parents to pushing their children in school and sports for more "bragging material". What other things do you think that Americans put themselves to in spite of better bragging material about their own and their families achievements? Do you agree that Lent has become a time for people to try to do a little something to show up their co-workers?