Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Halfway Home and Halfway There

Punky - my host cat
I’m apparently terrible at blogging. It’s that simple. I’ve done decently with keeping Twitter and Facebook up to date – but attempting to sit down every night and type up my day feels like an exercise in futility. I like to end my days by completely tuning out for at least an hour before I start to try to sleep – perhaps it’s rooted in my old insomnia conquering tricks. I updated the first weekend after the first four days that I was in Guatemala and by my calculations it has been 23 days (3 weeks) since then. I offer the largest and most sincere apologies. There has been excitement and adventure, but there have also been learning curves and frustrations. I’ll attempt to give a few recaps of the weeks I’ve had – as much as I can – in an attempt to fill my readers in. It honestly doesn’t feel like I am at the halfway mark. Maybe it is due to the Sunday excursions and days in classes, plus the 4 days in Antigua… perhaps the last 4 weeks will drag by as I attempt to cram in as much data collection as I can while simultaneously writing the paper that data is based on.

Spider Monkey
Palm Leaf Graffiti
05/27/14-06/01/14 – We started classes. Two assignments were due this week involving active listening in conversations (while also still note taking) and an observation of the transportation in our towns. Language barriers were ever present during this time. I am able to get around and function in daily tasks including small talk, but high concepts are a pain, especially when the Spanish we learned in school is not exactly the same as the Spanish spoken here. There are some words that aren’t used or understood and there can be misunderstandings leading to a conversation that makes no sense. I am confident in my ability to conduct my research though. It is straight forward and not as tricky as explaining a stomach ache. I am lucky in that the family I am staying with seems to have an abundance of patience. It is hard to carry on a conversation in groups though because as I pause in attempts to find certain words the family carries on a secondary conversation in Kaqchikel. The outsider feeling is very strong while at my local home. I figured that adapting to it will come in time. I believe it was Monday that we went to the nature reserve and walked around a bit. There were old rope (or wire) bridges leading us up into the canopy. We also saw a few little spider monkeys hanging out.There was also some very interesting graffiti in the form of scoring palm leaves (so that the scored portion dies and browns) to leave an inscription. Highly destructive of course, but not less inventive.

Altar to St. Simón (Maximón)
On Saturday I was invited to a town named San Jorge for a hike to various Mayan altars in the mountainside. We hiked up the mountain on paths sometimes no wider than 10 inches. The climb was steep and it was insanely humid. I have no idea how long we had hiked for, but in the end we saw 5 different areas and 6 different altars including the personal one of the Mayan Priest who was taking us on the hike. I was the only one not from San Jorge to join in, but I liked that it felt very private and personal. Our guide performed a small ceremony at each of the altars (except for the last one which was reserved solely for the sick and infirm). The altar to St. Simón (Maximón) was the third one we were taken to. According to our guide, it was a bad day (according to the Mayan astrology) for him and the altar. He called me over and began blessing me and the altar. I caught some of what was said (the parts in Spanish) and when he was done he thanked me and told me that my spirit was open and powerful, and that I was the only one there who had the correct energy to help out. It was a powerful experience. Something I cannot put properly in to words.

On Sunday we took a day trip out to Chichicastenango. It is a town about an hour north of the lake and has one of the biggest markets in the area. It was certainly huge. It reminded me of the huge flea markets back home - the kind that they have out at the fair grounds – except that they were up and down streets in a sectioned off portion of the town. I ended up picking up a gift for myself and something for someone else. I still have a ton of souvenir shopping to do in regards to getting other folks keepsakes. I didn’t carry my camera with me in to Chichi due to not wanting to keep an eye on it. Pictures of the market will be cannibalized from fellow students to give you all a peek at it.

06/02/14-06/08/14
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it rained… and rained… and rained. We had class on Monday and the ride in the morning was fine, but shortly after lunch the outlying area of a tropical storm in the Yucatan began affecting us. It went on for three days. It was so bad that some students were stuck in Panajachel, unable to reach home due to washed out roads and other such disasters. Being cooped up for 72 hours is mind numbing – especially when you are away from home (and all your distractions) and your house isn’t so much of a house as four bedrooms stacked on each other. The “common area” is outside. I read. I read everything that we were required to for the classes. At least I have no more reading (except for what I need to for citations) though I may crack open a fun read I brought along. It did mean that once the rain cleared up I had to crunch in as many assignments as I could to maintain being ahead. I was still sweating about not having received my Fellowship money and that caused no end of sleeplessness. It got taken care of rather quickly – but it was no less frustrating. The week was incredibly uneventful due to the rain, but on Sunday we left for a few days in Antigua as a mini vacation. Frankly, Antigua deserves its own mention here, so…


Lunch at La Cuevita
Sunday - Wow. The entire city is a giant, colonial ruin! I feel like I can’t use words and should just plaster dozens of pictures right here. The first day a group of us made a beeline to grab lunch at a place called “La Cuevita de los Urquizu” and had extremely typical Guatemalan cuisine. Essentially the place has a dozen or so main dishes of meats and/or vegetables in thick sauces and gravies bubbling away in clay pots. You get to pick one (or two smaller portions of different main dishes) and two sides from a large table of nearly 2 dozen side dishes (mainly various types of salads – think beet salad, potato salad, guacamole, etc.) I lovingly referred to it as Guatemalan curry. In a word: amazing. They eat a lot of caldo here, which is essentially something cooked in a broth. It isn’t quite soup or stew, but it is close. Imagine making soup stock and adding in vegetables that are rough chopped like in a stew (except bigger pieces) and then dropping in whole fish or quarters of a chicken and boiling it for a bit. The broth is thin like a soup, the vegetables are large like a stew, and the meat is a large portion (that you generally end up eating with your hands). The thick gravy of a hearty meat based stew was refreshing. Every culture seems to have its own take on stewing meats and vegetables for a hearty, flavorful dish. I’ve been looking for another place that serves these various estofados since getting back from Antigua.
We explored for a bit with not much happening. I did discover that Antigua was home to an Irish pub called “The Snug” and an Irish tavern called “Reilly’s” (it would turn out that there are in fact two “Reilly’s”). I attempted to get people to go check out the pub for dinner because I found it fascinating that an Irish pub was open in Antigua, Guatemala, but we ended up getting side tracked in the adventures. We ended up eating at a place called “Gaia” which specialized in Mediterranean food. We had amazing falafel, hummus and lamb.

These girls wanted a picture. I took one of them photographing us
Monday – The day started by hanging out all morning with other students and walking around town to get to know it better. We ended up splitting off into smaller groups a few times and eventually 3 of us found a small bakery to split a loaf of sourdough bread for a brunch-time snack and to wait out the storm that had rolled in and caught us all unaware (see: without rain gear). We eventually made it back to the hotel for a change of clothes. There is an exciting story of a new friendship forged in the fires of being stung in the neck by a malicious flying insect and me saving the day – but that’s likely one of those corny stories meant for small talk at a party. I ended up with a nice button down shirt during my shopping efforts leading to a welcomed change of pace from the graphic t-shirts I had brought along. Lunch was at a small café called “Y tu Piña Tambien” that served up salads and a sandwich called the grilled cheesus – which is made on a Panini press that has an image of Jesus on it. It came with bacon and was delicious.  I still wanted to check out the pub and was very pleased to walk in and find the owner. I talked with him for a bit and discovered they had only been open for about 6 months. I also learned that on Sundays they do a huge roast beef dinner and use the unsold cuts to make shepherd’s pie for lunch specials on Monday and Tuesday. I was bummed that I had already eaten at the café. We hung out there for a bit getting to know some locals before getting invited to check out a bunch of other places in town. A tour of Antigua by locals: the only answer to that is a resounding ‘yes’. I met at least 30 people, travelers and locals alike, in the tour of the town. Many of the places were hotspots for travelers: restaurants, bars, hostels, and things of that nature. It was a blast.
The arch
Tuesday – I ended up tagging along with fellow students to check out the shops and museums – basically filling in the gaps of the previous day’s tour. The sun was intense and it was certainly out to get us (and make up for the freak storm the day before). The day was slow and with the intensity of the sun, so was I. We got lunch at a small sports bar like place. I ended up with chicken wings and it was a welcome homage to home. We went to Las Capuchinas Convent which is now a museum. I’ve never been in a place such as that before. There is a prayer chamber underground in one section that has perfect resonance to the point of being able to whisper into the wall and someone on the other side being able to hear you perfectly. It reminded me of something from a horror film. We ended up grabbing dinner at a small place called the “Rainbow Café” which had a nice atmosphere as well as a brief performance of some children doing a handkerchief dance (very similar to the one I saw performed at Chatham University’s day dedicated to Chile). We walked around a bit more before I called it a night.

Wednesday – We were leaving shortly before 10:00am, and so we spent the morning walking around a bit in an attempt to get some last minute shopping done. I hadn’t found anything that really caught my eye the entire time I was there (besides the shirt I found), which was a bit of a bummer. Some of the things I was interested in were found in fancy jade shops which were clearly meant for higher end tourists, at least as far as the things I was interested in goes (all of the prices were in USD and it was far from inexpensive). With the mini vacation done we headed back to the lake to begin chipping away at the mounds of work that we had in front of us.

06/12/14 – 06/17/14
Thursday was an unwinding day and the first day of the World Cup. How lucky are we to be in Central America during the Cup! I decided to spend my day in Panajachel and to take in the atmosphere of the event. I parked myself at a restaurant for lunch and started taking notes about what was going on. I was honestly surprised at the seeming lack of turnout. I walked up and down the street and while every restaurant had the game on, the average number of people inside watching it was around 5. One small clothing shop even had the game on the radio and played it into the streets. It turns out that most people watch from home or in small groups at tiendas and other such smaller places. It’s a bit different than back home. While I can’t say what watching the Cup at home is like in Guatemala (maybe they have large parties for their favorite teams), the public scene is much smaller than large games in the United States.
This cutie found us as we pulled in to the performance building
Friday was class again. We had a group come in to give a talk about the effects of the Civil War and tell their personal stories. It was incredibly powerful to here the stories of three women who had husbands, fathers, brothers, and cousins slaughtered during the conflict – especially in regards to how it impacted their lives and the choices that we available to them. I won’t get much deeper into it here, but it is easy to forget that this conflict only officially ended 18 years ago. Current political leaders were members of the army that perpetrated the war crimes and are currently affecting policy in the country. It is staggering to think or such a thing – especially when Guatemala has a Democratic process.
The symbol of the organization is the bat
Saturday we were taken to see a group of performers (Sotz'il). They are in the process of turning their project (centered on cultural preservation) in to a series of workshops meant for local and international consumption. They wish to share their culture as a means to preserve it: so that it won’t be forgotten. These groups (made up of smaller groups centered on history, art, music and theatre, etc.) even now have not escaped the Civil War. One of the founders is said to have been assassinated (the evidence points to that rather than a random act of violence as the M.O. fits the bill for what happened to political enemies during the war years) as recently as 2010. They were kind enough to let us take video of the short performance they gave us. I would gladly share it here - but the upload time on the public WiFi I am using is estimated at 3 hours. Sadly, you will have to wait.


Greco-Roman Architecture in Xela
Sunday was spent at the FuentesGeorginas near Quetzaltenango (Xela). This is a small park type of area with natural hot springs that you can swim in. I would be lying if I said it was not amazing. The water is full of minerals and after being in there for the length of a long, hot bath back home I emerged feeling clean and refreshed. The stay was all too short though and it wasn’t long before we were eating lunch and back on the road. We made a pit stop in Xela to walk around the town, get a small snack and take some pictures. I’d like to explore there more at some point – if I ever find myself back in Guatemala – though it was no match for Antigua in my mind. I ended up getting incredibly car sick on this trip. It was only slight on the way there, but the way back had me reeling. I haven’t been motion sick in many years, more than a decade in fact, and it was very intense. I came home, had to explain to my host family that I wasn’t feeling well, why I wasn’t feeling well, that I was unable to stomach dinner and simply wanted to sleep. They become extremely panicked thinking that I was super sick and should see a doctor (mainly because I didn’t want to eat) and after letting them know that one of the directors knew I wasn’t feeling well and that I didn’t need a doctor (but agreeing to see one if I still felt sick in the morning) seemed to calm them enough that I was allowed to go to bed. I was of course roused at 5:30am the next day to be checked on and delivered breakfast to my room. I drank the mug of milk (so it didn’t spoil), but left the plantain on my desk until I caught a few more hours of sleep. The communication barriers for things like that become a bit frustrating at times – why I can’t eat as much as they assume (or have experienced with former students) Americans can, if I am feeling slightly under the weather or have an upset stomach from too much heat or not enough water (and how hot coffee is not the fix for something like that for me), and other such daily things or approaches to daily routine. While I know I am communicating and being understood it seems there are forces of habit and culture getting in the way.


I spent Monday and Tuesday working on IRB stuff, updating this, and planning out how I am tackling the next two weeks (while I wait on approvals to start the research). I’m still sweating the IRB mainly because of time constraints, but I have my fingers crossed. I’m keeping high spirits that things will work out.

Until next time, readers!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Bienvenidos Guatemala



Airport in Guatemala City
I made it to Guatemala safely and as of Sunday, I have been living with a family in a village on Lago de Atitlán . I must admit the entire thing has been a bit over whelming. The vast amount of visual and aural stimulation takes some getting used to. Luckily, the town I am in is small, so it is hard to get lost without wandering out of town and the family that I am with is very nice. Before I get into the present, I’ll back up to Friday morning and start from the beginning.

I didn’t sleep much Thursday night. In fact, I slept for only 2 or 3 hours between when I was done packing, (or rather, when I was sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, which was around the 30th time I check my bags) and needing to leave for the airport. The process of getting to my gate was painless. The TSA people were direct, but pleasant and I found where I needed to be without a problem. It was a quick flight to Houston (we even got in early) where I had a brief layover before I left for Guatemala.

My room in Guatemala City
Not Pollos Hermanos

DAY 1: Our first night was spent in Ciudad de Guatemala in a small hotel. We went out to lunch at a local fast food chain called Pollo Comperos that does a few different takes on chicken (fried, buffalo wings, sandwiches, etc.) before a few of us walked around the mall next door and then the city itself. All eyes were on us at the restaurant and the mall. Some people even took pictures with their phones. It is a weird feeling to have that much attention on you because you are an outsider. It turns out that crossing the street in Guatemala City is like playing life sized Frogger; you have to wait for the right moment and be quick as there is a distinct lack of crosswalks. It seems like there is an abundance of car exhaust in the air, though I’m not sure if that is due to the number of vehicles, no emissions regulations, or a combination of both.

Dinner was had at a pizza place called Vesuvio where we were served pizzas by the meter. It turns out there is a social work program here as well as an anthropology program. All in all we total 44 students. A few of us explored more after dinner (most of the students went to bed early) before going to hang out on the roof of our hotel to talk and get to know one another. We met two local men who talked and joked with us for a while. It made for immediate practice of the language. I also received a nickname (Baby Face) because “no tienes pelo de la cara!!” It was a ton of fun.
Sadly, I didn´t get a photo of my new friend, Kevin James de Guatemala (His name was Omar)


Restraunt in Tecpan
Day 2: We woke up early and had a small breakfast of fruit, deli meat/cheese, bread, peanut butter and hazelnut spread before loading up in to vans for the 2 hours drive to Tecpan for lunch. We went to a small resort type of place (I guess people rent out small cabin like structures and stay there) with small bits of seemingly randomness. For instance there was a play area for children, including structures in the shape and size of actual giraffes and elephants, as well as a small zoo area with sheep, pigs, a rabbit, dogs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and a fox. After lunch we jumped back in the vans to head off to Lago de Atitlán .


In the foreground is a ballcourt


The social workers went ahead to Panajachel (jokingly referred to as Gringotenango due to the high number of white expatriates and tourists that live and visit there) immediately, while the anthropologists were treated to a visit to Iximche (Ish-im-CHE). The ruins of Iximche were amazing and I honestly have no way to describe them or the feeling of being in a place like that, so pictures will have to suffice. On our way out we talked to an indigenous woman who had a small table dedicated to Mayan astrology. Using our birthdays (with the help of a book of course) she told us (some of us at least as there were almost 20 students) about the associated colors and elements that correlated with the symbol. It turns out I am Aj (Ah-h), the armadillo.  

Two hours later we were in Panajachel and in our hotel. It would have been wise to nap, but I was still running on adrenaline and decided to go for a walk with some fellow students. We stopped at a small bakery and bought pan as a snack. It was sweet and crumbly like cornbread. We eventually get to the shore of the lake and met up with a few other students. We talked for a while then decided to play hacky sack. It didn’t take long for a group to form up around us to stare at the gringos kicking around a small ball filled with sand. None of us seemed to mind. In fact, the point was to be out in the community and have our faces seen – after all it wouldn’t be the first time we would have to be out and about. Eventually a few kids joined our circle and began playing with us.

At hotel Kachiquel in Panajachel

This lasted until it became too dark to see the ball and we had to leave for dinner. After dinner (and a meeting) we went off to explore again. A huge procession of Católicos came down the street carrying a statue of a religious figure. A fellow student told us that they were still in their Easter celebration. The street was filled with incense smoke, singing, and occasional firecrackers. We eventually all went back to the hotel and made our way to the roof (again) to hang out and talk. This time we had many more people with us (mostly anthropologists, but a few social workers came to hang with us as well) and stayed up talking until one of the people who worked at the hotel came and told us he had to lock up the roof, so we had to leave. Most people went to bed at that point, but I went out for a walk with a fellow student to see what Panajechjel was like at night. I have never seen streets so empty outside of science fiction movies centered on futuristic dystopias or the apocalypse. There was nothing around. The same street that was flooded with market stalls, bright colors and people selling goods had transformed into smooth brick facades and near absolute silence. A few hundred feet up the road we found a taco stand and a few hundred feet after that a second one. We eventually heard music and followed it to a small, local bar that was packed with people and a live band playing rock music. Everyone was dancing and having a good time and no one seemed to notice us or care that we were there. After an hour of such adventure we called it a night and went to bed.

Day 3: Sunday started off early again with a breakfast tipicos at the place we had dinner. Eggs, frijoles, fruit, queso blanco, and toast filled us up before we had to load into a van to get down to the docks (for ease of transporting all of the luggage) to load up on a lancha to begin dropping us at our various villages.
Es un volcán
Some students are staying near the lake and took vans to get to their destinations but for the rest of us that are living in villages on the lake we were treated to a boat ride. I was last to get dropped off (though I am closest to Panajachel) and so I was able to see the entirety of the lake including the 4 volcanoes that dotted the area. I met my host family and was led to the house. The house is up a series of steep alley steps… very steep. Luckily I don’t have to walk up them often – twice a day at most – because my work takes me in to town for extended periods. The worst part was lugging the water cooler sized container of agua pura up the stairs and in to my room (which is on the second floor, up to flights of steep stairs!), but I could frankly use the exercise. Though mi familia laughs at me every time I come home because I am panting do due a combination of the exertion and the thinner air (I’m quite far about sea level) often asking me ‘¿tú estás consado?’

Las bombas
After I was shown my room we ate lunch (pollo con salsa y tortillas) and tried talking a bit. I went over basics – ages, hobbies, asking about what various sections of the town were – but also why there was tons of music blasting through the town. It turns out that the church was celebrating not only mass, but its anniversary. That night I was treated to fireworks at nearly eye level. It was a cool way to spend a first night. We had dinner (a dish of spaghetti and frijoles). I also got to try atol, or at least what my family is calling atol. It was a warm beverage made up of boiled tortillas and black beans. It was think like porridge, not terrible in flavor, but very heavy. I was given this before dinner. I was difficult to finish my meal because I was already full from the atol. I learned s few Kachiquel words that I will not risk writing here until I am certain of their spelling, but there is a particular phrase used around meals – or at least it seems specific to meals – it is pronounced (MAH-tee-O-sh) and I am told that it is ‘igual de gracias’ though I am sure the meaning is more intricate than that. I spent the remainder of the evening playing games on my laptop with the youngest son (who is 14 and is very excited to play ‘jugeos de computador’).

I feel bad sometimes because the communication barrier is getting in the way of good conversation. I’m unsure often what to talk about or if I have a subject to bring up I fumble through the words often resulting in blank stares until I cobble together unconjugated (or incorrectly conjugated) verbs and pantomime. I do okay most times and the family is very patient, but I know that sometimes they understand something different than what I meant to say. I worry about mistranslating something and causing offense, but the practice is good when I can get it. They have taken to pointing things out (the simplest things as you would when you teach a child to speak) and giving me the Spanish word (and sometimes even the Kachiquel word). I have to remember to constantly carry my libreta on me, so that I can scribble down words as they come up. The mother and grandfather even attempt small talk at times. It is part of the learning experience and I’m having fun with it, though I know eventually I’ll have my small bout of homesickness or days that it will be more frustrating than not. There are no other students in my community, but luckily every Sunday is a special outing and we do have various meetings from time to time. I do miss home, but this experience has already been life changing for me after only a few days.

Monday, May 19, 2014

The Leaving of Cleveland

Obligatory Selfie
In a little more than three days (80 hours or so) I'll be sitting on a plane headed for Houston to catch a connecting flight to Guatemala City to begin, what is arguably, the most epic undertaking I have ever had the pleasure of tackling. For anyone who doesn't know why I'm taking this trip I'll explain.

I'm a graduate student at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I am enrolled in their Master of Sustainability program. Part of the graduate school experience is making a contribution to your field. This is usually in the form of a thesis that is proposed, defended and then presented as a requirement for graduating. So, what does an anthropologist who is studying sustainability do for a thesis? In this case he teams up with an Ethnographic field school (NCSU's Summer Field School in Guatemala) as a means to do research. I was awarded the Falk School of Sustainability Summer Fellowship (a hearty thank you to the fellowship committee, who I hope is following this blog) in order to do this research.

I will be using this blog to talk about my experiences in the highlands of Guatemala, around Lake Atitlán and (what I can) about the research I am doing. I'll be staying in a town called Santa Catarina Palopó with a family I am very excited to meet.

I will also attempt to utilize Twitter for random thoughts (and photos!) when I can. You can follow me @AnthroSouth (widget to the left of this post) or with #ScholarDo. Feel free to leave comments and/or questions here or on Twitter and follow me as I make my way through this experience!


Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Me-Me Generation

Communication through Memes

Question 1: What is a meme?

A meme is a basic cultural ideal or symbol that can be transmitted from person to person. Memes have always surrounded us in the forms of catchphrases, clichés, and anything to describe a non-literal cultural ideal.


Question 2: How is that different than an internet meme?

The word meme has been appropriated and redefined for contemporary internet culture. An internet meme is an idea, style, or action, generally based on mimicry that is spread from person to person via the internet. Memes are not always mocking or malicious in nature, in fact memes have spread everything from fads and trends (remember planking?) to helping to spread social awareness. The meme is the ultimate example of visual communication to date. Why? Decreased attention spans in the populace for information absorption (The Guardian does a nice article on the subject here.)

Visual communication is important. There is no doubt that words are effective, but the age old epitaph that a picture is worth one-thousand of them isn’t just a clever turn of phrase. There is a reason that the television replaced the radio and the camera phone replaced the phone. Social and visual media are becoming increasingly accessible to the general public and the technology to utilize photo and video for communication is present on a device most adults (and even children) carry every moment of the day. Images are eye catching. A person is more drawn to the sight of a flower than a written, or even spoken, description of one. Even now as you are reading this section of the article I am willing to bet that you keep getting distracted by Xzibit telling you about how I’m using visual communication in this piece. Some will claim that the advance in technology and an increasingly digitally dependent society is ruining discourse and the art of the argument and is therefore leading us down a dangerous path of self-reinforced ignorance. Why should I waste my time with rhetoric when I can have a witty phrase on a funny picture convey my thoughts so succinctly?

 As an avid internet user I have seen the use of memes to bring humor with a simple joke, or pop culture twist. I have seen memes used to spread a quick thought on a pressing issue in such a way that would make you think and want to investigate into the issue further (albeit, not many). I have also seen it used to spread very negative messages (there are tons in the theist vs. atheist and liberal vs. conservative arenas). The last of these is often one of the largest portions of meme communication on the internet.
  
So, how effective is it to spread an idea with an image and a quick one liner?

 Let’s look at an example.
So this is effective criticism, right? I would argue that it is, if you are the target audience for the message. If you are actually supporters of the subject, you instantly feel defensive and as if your beliefs are under attack. 

Whereas something like this may cause you to stop and think.


Are these effective? Are they appropriate or politically correct in any way? The internet is this massive morally grey zone of information. The only thing for sure is that memes catch a persons attention.

Why are memes important to the future of communication?

Memes give people a framework to speak their minds. Even though technology for visual communication is becoming easier to use and more accessible to the public, it is still in the realm of “new”. Even though it is easily accessible there is still the smallest bit of anxiety in the general public over visual communication; we all know we want to join in on it, but we aren't always sure how. That's why the internet is flooded with "selfies", pictures of food, pictures of cats, and memes. The meme gives pre-generated images and accepted guidelines for how to construct the message (“Not sure if”, “Brace yourselves”, etc.) lending to a bit of alleviated anxiety. There are even several websites that serve to make these memes by the user simply searching for the image and typing their message into the boxes provided.

How effective are memes?

We all know what the following image means and what comes next. How do we know? We've all seen the commercials on television and have that image committed to memory. Simply by showing the image and alluding to what is said in the commercial we instantly convey information (albeit in a slightly humorous way).

Can memes be lazy argumentation? Yes, but plenty of argumentation can be lazy or ill informed. Can they be effective communication tools? If constructed properly they can. Each meme should be judged on individual merit and the idea of visual communication, no matter the form, should be supported and embraced as a whole.









Memes constructed from Memegenerator.net


Delisle, Dave. Would you like to know more?. 24 September 2011. http://davesgeekyideas.com/?attachment_id=2979. Wed. 7 November 2013.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

We Didn't Start the Fire

However, our ancestors did learn to control it. 

            Fire is a vital component of human developmental history; so vital in fact that it is often seen as the foundation of human civilization. That really depends on the definition of civilization that is being used though since evidence suggests human control of fire dates as far back as 1.7 million years ago. To put that into perspective, anatomically modern humans started appearing approximately 195,000 years ago. That means that control of fire was mastered by some of our earliest ancestors.
You’ll notice that I haven’t referenced humans as having invented fire and that is because we did not. Fire was solely in the realm of natural occurrence until much later when humans figured out how to create it. Our earliest ancestors would have discovered the applications for fire (the misconception is that we discovered the thing rather than its applications) before they figured out how to generate it themselves. In fact many of our earliest ancestors likely figured out a way to carry fire with them in one way or another before figuring our how to produce it themselves.

Why is fire vital to humanity? 

It falls in to the same realm as the projectile point and clothing; the things that have allowed humanity to develop and use our big brains in order to better conquer our environment and spread farther (and more successfully) than any other species. Mastering fire gave our ancestors an incredible survival advantage. It allowed foods to be cooked. Cooking can destroy harmful toxins, but most importantly cooking (especially cooking meat) acts as a precursor to digestion.Just as human saliva and chewing helps to break down food for ease of digestion and nutrient absorption, the act of cooking also gives the benefit of helping to break down proteins. Not only does this mean that our ancestors saved energy in chewing and digesting, the food did not need to stay in the gut as long leading to the eventual reduction of overall gut size (over many generations of course) and as such all that extra energy went in to building a bigger brain. You know how you sometimes sit around a campfire, or even the dinner table, thinking and conversing rather than trying to chew for extended lengths of time? Our ancestors did the same thing.
            Fire is also a source of heat and light. Even early humans were able to utilize fire to stay warm and expand in to inhospitable climates. It also provided a tool to ward off the dark (a primal fear of the dark is common to humanity due to our poor visual acuity in low-light conditions) and other animals. The comfort that fire provides has persisted over thousands of generations and as such has become ingrained in the human psyche, so much in fact that it also has a beneficial psychological effect especially in extreme situations.
            Unfortunately humans are so good at inventing and making our lives easier that the skills to control fire have fallen quickly to the wayside in the last century. The control of and eventually generation of a fire was a vital tool for a large portion of human history, but due to the convenience and ease of natural gas and electric heating in homes and a prevalence for urban based lifestyles these skills sets are rarely needed. Who cares though, right? We have something better than that now. Right? Due to an increased awareness of this urban based sedentary more people have begun making time for the wide, wild world. Thousands of people people visit state parks and take day hikes, and are generally ill equipped for such activities feeling so superior to the environment that they think they are prepared when in reality they are not.
"Look what I have created! I have made fire!"
 In 2012 over 1,000 people needed wilderness rescuing in Oregon alone and 155 people die annually in National Parks. Since we have forgotten how dangerous wilderness can be and what skills and items are needed to be prepared to survive should we get lost or get in to some sort of trouble, what are we to do? 

Should people just stay away from the outdoors? 
The reality is that education is required. It’s something that a million years ago would have been ingrained as a child. We need to make up for that cultural designation as non-vital information by taking wilderness survival training classes, even if it is only basic first aid and what to carry with you besides your camelback and power bars. Countless schools have popped up around the country dedicated to such training.  Hiking clearly marked and established trails in your local parks is unlikely to be fraught with peril, but if you plan on hiking larger parks or especially if you plan to forge your own paths in any park a bit of education and forethought can go a long way.
If you are interested in some survival techniques and are from the Pittsburgh area I urge you to check in to True North Wilderness Survival School, founded by Erik Kulick.

Would you like to know more?

Sources:
Adler, Jerry

Miller, Kenneth
2013    “Archaeologists Find Earliest Evidence of Humans Cooking With Fire”. Discover. 12 April 2013. http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/09-archaeologists-find-earliest-evidence-of-humans-cooking-with-fire#.UlyM5FDij74. April 2013.

Roebroeks, Wil and Paola Villa
2011    “On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe”, PNAS, 108:13.


Images:
Beyer, Dirk. A Campfire. 1 September 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Campfire_4213.jpg. Web. 17 October 2013.

Castaway. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Twentieth Centurt Fox Film Corporation, 2000.

True North Wilderness Survival School Logo. https://www.facebook.com/exploretruenorth. Web. 17 October 2013.