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Scrivener21
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Name: Justin
Country: United States
State: California
Birthday: 7/23/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: this would require me having free time, and I elect to sleep instead
Expertise: chemistry & chemical biology (but no longer), liberal-thumping, energy research
Occupation: Research and development
Industry: Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
1/22/2003
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| About a year and a half ago, I started going to weekly meetings of a small group of international students on-campus-- a discussion group where they would share observations and commiserate over challenges in the process of adjusting to the nuances of American culture and society. I represent the American voice, a foil, perhaps, to their caricatures of unsympathetic or insensitive natives, or a sounding board for cultural misunderstandings, of which there are many. While we in the United States are witness to American pop icons crossing-over to foreign markets, and might be under the impression that the rest of the world is slowly drifiting toward a common homogeneity of Americanization, globalization has only heightened the disparities in social cues because the norms of Eastern and Western societies exist in a state of flux. It's hard to imagine how to act in the company of foreigners when they themselves seem to be caught and confused between the two-- a hodgepodge on one-hand of Eastern, conservative, traditional values and the freedoms and candidness typically associated with the West. Whether to behave with the swagger and brashness some would identify as evidently American and expect the same from our foreign counterparts, or not to assume that an American sensitivity has been adopted and treat our H1-visa-carrying friend as a specimen for cultural anthropology.
A Japanese student did a small presentation about two weeks ago about dating in her home country-- the places where people commonly find their significant others. In the ensuing discussion, it was surprising that the issue of dating, even just simple casual dating, quickly became a segue to marriage. Asians in Asian countries, perhaps, are too respectful of their time to waste energy and resources frivolously on someone who was not destined to be a spouse. Most intriguing, however, was the comment that females, after getting married, typically leave the workforce and turn their sights on being a housewife, regardless of the level of education they'd received.
I can only speculate that with the fabric of society that prioritizes family, the issue of raising kids and doing it well takes priority in the household. But are Asian nations denying the economic and financial reality of their aging populations? The elderly are living longer, and with the size of the nuclear family typically shrinking in industrial nations, the burden of responsibility for supporting the elderly falls on fewer shoulders. Is it fiscally responsible, therefore, to expect a family to support the retired and start a family on a single salary?
In the United States, reality has sunk in. Feminism has had its soapbox, and the anti-feminists might deride career women for abandoning their responsibilities to the household, but it's exceedingly rare to hear a conversation between couples where the question "what does your wife do" is not raised with the same gravitas as the question "what does your husband do"? For the financial security of family, rather than pure ambition, it's practically necessary for families to have dual incomes and social acceptability has been stretched to accomodate such reality. In the United States, there are now more women that enter college than men, more women entering law school than men, and the number of women is expected to exceed the number of men in medical school if that threshold hasn't been reached already. Much of which was summarized in my Japanese friend's comment that in the United States, she is capable of enjoying higher status than if she remained in Japan.
And in that regard, the silent progressive truth that may have been taken for granted, brought into relief by a graduate student that didn't want to be expected to become a housewife, was quietly powerful. | | |
| I chuckle at the thought of updating my blog for the first time in over
18 months. Looking back at the date of my last entry, I realize
that it was just around the time of the Presidential debates, which was
followed closely by a giant dose of cynicism as all the idealism and
activism I'd invested while carrying a full load of classes and
research rankled, and I barely scraped it together to finish the term
without a dire admonition from my research adviser. In hindsight,
coming out of that term and making a breakthrough with my parents over
Christmas break '04 was quite eventful. But perhaps in the process of
dealing with some belated coming-of-age issues and growing a bit wiser
and Zen in the process, I've come to lose that activism and sense of
immediacy that made the day-to-day events seem so consequential.
The hills and valleys have been replaced by a single expansive prairie,
seldom punctuated by the bursts of flash and color that could have been
responsible for some great highs or emotional letdowns. And so has the
fairy tale of being a Renaissance Man and juggling 3 or 4 things at
once and hoping to matter in all of them. I think most people have a
dream that they can live several lives in a lifetime, but come to a
realization at some point that they can barely hold a single one
together. And the moment of clarity arrives when the burden of
responsibility ceases to be about oneself, but to others. As we grow
older, and our spheres of influence cross paths with others, our
obligations grow deeper too and the fallacy of existing as an
individual singularity begins to crack. The rewards to the individual
must become secondary to the nurturing of a grander, social body.
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| Power to the Gwen, Moderator for the Vice Presidential Debates!!!
I used to think that Jim Lehrer was a great moderator-- he's had a history of serving as the host for a line of presidential debates. And maybe the President and John Kerry bore some of the responsibility for a debate, that, in hindsight was downright comatose compared to the repertoire between Vice President Cheney and Senator Edwards. Gwen's line of questioning was insightful, perspicacious, and just loaded. While the President-elect and John Kerry managed to squeak by Jim lehrer's direct inquiries with little penalty, the evasion that Vice President Cheney and Senator Edwards betrayed on occasion were obvious, and glaringly unappreciated by Gwen on occassion. It was genius
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| Dear California Air Resources Board,
As a member of the scientific community, it is apparent that the dedication alone of scientists and engineers to develop technologies toward curbing global warming pollution(as with any issue that we attempt to address) is inadequate. We rely on policy makers and the public's awareness to provide motivation and support in our endeavors when a solution may appear only many years in the future. Global warming has been in the public consciousness for many years, but reaction without action will do little to improve the potentially disastrous consequences if it is allowed to proceed unabated. Just within California, global warming threatens to melt the Sierra Nevada snowpack prematurely, disrupting water supplies for both farms and the growing urban communities. The future costs of having to import freshwater to relieve the state's thirst would be enormous, in addition to any measures necessary to preserve fragile ecosystems that would be hurt with rising temperatures and changes in climate. While efforts are being made on the scientific research front, we lack the clout to make demands on industries to take preventative measures. What environmentalists and concerned citizens are advocating now is foresight, because it will take decades to reverse the damage precipitated by global warming when its effects are truly tangible.
The proposal to raise standards on allowed tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will set a new benchmark for environmental stewardship, and create the conditions under which automakers will be forced to develop and employ inventive measures toward pollution control. We as Californians, as Americans, as citizens of the world, must pride ourselves on creativity and ingenuity. We cannot allow circumstance, naysayers, or doubt to lower the bar on acceptable pollution output when proven hybrid technologies are commercially available and capable. Necessity, that mother of invention, will find a way to reach the milestones because intelligent policy shaping has demanded as such. With far-sighted, reasonable regulation, California will secure its foothold on leading the fight against global warming. It is with great anticipation that I hope your board will find the June 14th staff proposal crucial to the well-being of our state.
Sincerely,
Justin Ho
graduate student, California Institute of Techonology
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| Sarah Jessica Parker is Fierce, And I Never Use that Word
Gap ads have always been so maddeningly addictive, even when the product is barely a cut above mediocre. The Gap khaki soul ad was my favorite in the circa late-90's. And even if the cords "Mellow yellow" ad would have, in principle, made me roll my eyes in disgust at the teenagers and twenty-somethings that had nothing more constructive to do than lie around disengagedly and croon old 70's 'hits", it had enough scrappiness to make a self-proclaimed un-hip science dork jump up and down for over-priced conspicuous consumption. In summer 2001, when I would take the Muni en route to Redwood City from the Sunset district, I would pass a set of Gap print ads with Joan Allen and Tina Fey, who at the time were pseudo-intellectual-artsy fringe players. That they were on the edge of the mainstream consciousness with their inclusion in Gap ads while retaining their substantive indie cred reaffirmed my good taste and self-satisfied eye for slick. Somehow the Seal, Alanis Morrisette, and Liz Phair promo's didn't strike me as creative enough, or the musicians-don't-sell-out theme was too ironic.
Now that Sex and the City is defunct, the Gap ad is the only way of catching a glimpse of one Ms. parker. Somehow, Gap has taken Carrie out of the Manolo Blohniks and Prada, and accoutred her instead in a pink cardigan without any damage to her 'single and fabulous' aura, even if she is paired in real life with matthew broderick... errrr, Mr. Big. Kudos to Gap for wooing Sarah J, even if I'd otherwise have little respect for propaganda-pushers in advertising.
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