Who’s with me??

I saw 300 over break. And I didn’t really like it. But it seems from the reviews I’ve seen, and the opinions of my friends, that most people enjoyed it.

Ok, I get that this is based on a comic book, and that it’s going to be a spectacle of a movie. Fine. But does everything have to be so over-the-top? The Spartans in the movie weren’t just good fighters — they’re superhuman. Shields that can stop arrows shot high into the air. The ability to not only stand firm when hordes of Persians rush in on them, but to push them back so quickly, and without getting hurt in the process. They can “AAOOO!” in complete unison, spontaneously and without any cues telling them when to say it. And they can bring down rhinos and elephants with their spears.

And the men are just *so* hetero it’s nauseating. All the posturing, the (figurative) chest-pounding, the testosterone-laden contests of masculinity, the inability to really acknowledge emotional pain other than stoicism or anger, the constant emphasis on honor and strength and glory. Only the evil and debauched Persians deviated from these norms. And the woman (the queen) is basically powerless aside from the men of her society, unless she uses her sexuality to sway them.

Finally, I don’t know about you, but I read a whole lotta war propaganda in this one. The “council” that’s reluctant to send more support for a war that the “king” started. The message that those who oppose are traitors (and a scene in which one was dramatically revealed, to the chants of “Traitor! Traitor!”). The faceless “Persians” using explosives to attack the soldiers of “Sparta.”

Sure, the Spartans *were* fighting a monolithic, technologically advanced empire, and perhaps one might read them as the insurgents. The thought did cross my mind while I watched the movie. But look at who’s white and who’s brown/yellow/black in this movie.

There’s more I want to say, but it’s said much better by these fine people.

I’m back, y’all

Back to classes and I feel excited. This quarter I’m going to do a lot of things differently: I’m going to be responsible about my commitments, be proactive about my career, be diligent with my exercise, and be relentless in my studies (and perfect in my attendance to classes).

Oh, and also I’m conserving water because of the impending drought. That means taking short showers and turning the water off while soaping up, and filling up the sink when washing dishes (rather than letting the water run). What drought, you ask? Check out this story. Scary stuff.

If you want to get serious about saving water (and being energy-efficient with your water use), check out this excellent post on Treehugger. Perhaps I can fill a bucket when I shower and use the greywater to flush the toilet. Just a thought. Yikes, bad idea: bacteria multiply in stored untreated greywater. Maybe I’ll just put a jug in my toilet tank.

UPDATE: Here are some (more practical) tips from the Mono Lake web site.

Brickman’s Models of Helping and Coping

	High responsibility for solution:	Low responsibility for solution:
High responsibility for problem:	Moral model	Enlightenment model
Low responsibility for problem:	Compensatory model	Medical model

As previously promised, here is the model, by Brickman et al. It gives four basic ways people approach solving problems in others (such as alcoholism). The first method, the moral model, has the attitude of, “You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out.” It views people’s problems as being mostly due to laziness, but also has the optimistic view that anyone is able to overcome a problem if they try hard enough. The compensatory model is one of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. Life hands you lemons, make lemonade. The medical model views problems as something that you must rely on others to solve, and that don’t really come with any moral judgments — like getting the flu.

What really resonated with me was his take on the enlightenment model, which the article (like me) has strong sentiments against. This is the model of Alcoholics Anonymous, and to its credit I have to say that it works. However, it is also the model for Christianity today: you are responsible for your sin, but you aren’t strong enough to get yourself out. It never made sense to me. How can you be responsible for a problem you had no control over? On top of that, its main method of change is through a guilty self-appraisal and a submission to others. Here’s what the article says:

What is more serious, the enlightenment model can place great power in the hands of the agents who control what participants believe is their ability to cope with their lives. Converts are asked to repudiate their old, evil ways and to repeatedly perform acts that bear witness to this repudiation (Proudfoot & Shaver, 1975). Under these circumstances enormous power lies in the threat to withdraw access to the new life and send people back to the old.

Life

What a week. I change whenever I get to a new environment, and especially at home.

Tonight my mom asked me to pray with her, us praying for each other. I couldn’t help but feel a little bit moved that she was praying for me, and for our family. I thought, I really wish I were a Christian, so that I could sincerely participate in this with my mother. But then I also thought about life, and about the shitty things that have happened to me and to other people.

Yeah, I know, count your blessings, put things in perspective, etc. But I’m talking about severely emotionally difficult things that happened to me, that I blame my mom and dad for. But I also love them, and it makes me sad that they have this son (me) who can’t be close to them. Especially when they try so hard. I just can’t stand their personalities a lot of the time, and the way they talk to me.

But also I was sad because maybe there is something supernatural out there, or at least something valuable in the church, that I’m missing out on. But too much has happened for me to turn back to religion; I’ve been hurt too deeply.

That’s what I feel.

Oh, Gina. It wasn’t your time.

Gina, Gina, Gina. You were the rocker girl, the rebellious one, and we loved you for it. Sure, there are thousands of teenagers at the mall who dress just like you. But it still feels subversive, especially amid the other contestants and their preppy ensembles. You were one of us — Hot Topic clothes and all.

Anyway, I will be eagerly awaiting next Tuesday, when hopefully Sanjaya’s conscience gets the better of him and he finally confesses to rigging the votes. I will be rooting for Melinda, Blake, Phil, and Jordin (in that order).

Surreal

So, I’ll just skip to the highlights of the end of last week.

Thursday: Physio shelf exam (shelfs are old USMLE section exams that are administered to students before they take the USMLE Step 1 and graded outside of the school). I felt a little better about this one than about my Histology shelf, but only a little, because there were a good 20 questions I didn’t even get to. From the looks of it, no one in the class finished before time was up.

Friday: I had originally planned to go to an old roommate’s birthday dinner at Genghis Cohen, a restaurant in West Hollywood. I was going to carpool with another friend from Norwalk, but he called and said that he would rather drive on his own, in case we want to leave at different times. After that, I really did not feel like going — I would have to spend hours in rush-hour traffic through the busiest parts of L.A., and then go to dinner with a group of people, most of whom I have never met and wouldn’t feel comfortable with. Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting people. But I hate trying to hang out with a group of close friends, whom I have little in common with.

When B. found out I didn’t go, he suggested that