Bandit Culture: Berklee

My school has a culture.  I think every school must have a culture, but I have heard it said that a Berklee student can be spotted easily among a group of students from another college.  

I am not sure I fit into that category.  I love the looks that people take on; how individualistic, yet rock star, yet environmentally conscious, yet not hippie, the people can be.  When I walked down the sidewalk in front of the main building on the first day of school yesterday, I looked around me at the mob of students chatting away, steam rising from their mouths because of the cold weather.  Then I realized that it wasn't steam at all.  They were all smoking.  Typical.

I do not think I dress like an individual (Gap, American Eagle, H&M), nor do I try to be a rock star in my everyday life.  I am not overly environmentally conscious in my personal style choices at all.  And I don't smoke.  

So how do I fit in at this school of rockers/jazzers/blusers to be?  I like to do the same kind of music as many of them.  That technically makes me fit in.  

Berklee's subcultures are divided by what instrument you play and how you play it.  For instance, I would not fit in all that well with singers who primarily sing opera.  We do not share common interests.  A jazz guitarist would probably have some doubts about a metal guitarist.  The only thing that we can all agree on is that we have the right to follow our dreams.  A school full of dreamers.  That's what we are.  

It is pretty incredible that a parent's worst nightmare can turn into an entire community.  "Why not try being a doctor, or a lawyer?  You will starve playing the drums!  How will you support a family?"  At Berklee, we don't worry too much about things like "starving" or "making money" or "doing something respectable."  Of course we all want to make money, but we know it is not a given.  Of course we don't want to starve, but we recognize that there will be times that we just might.  

I suppose having a good understanding of the community helps me to be a part of it.  I do not feel overly removed, but sometimes I step back and wonder how it is that someone like me can fit in.  I fit in because I dreamed I would.

I Am American

Yesterday it brought tears to my eyes to be an American.

Watching the inauguration on a badly lit projection screen in one of my favorite restaurants, I looked at the vast crowd of ant-like people, and I felt so moved by the feeling of unity, that my eyes welled up.  This was far before the speeches and the music, and the poetry.  Before anyone announced anything, all I saw was a crowd.  A group of enthusiastic and hopeful people waiting for the future.  

So many cultures all banded together for this thing we call America, and I would be willing to bet that the words hope and peace were spoken in countless languages throughout the throng.

This is the first time I have ever had enough knowledge and perspective on the world to appreciate the feeling that there is a good president entering office.  Eight years ago I was 13.  At that time politics meant almost nothing to me.  Social issues were nil.  Economy was still just a vocabulary word.  War was something we read about in history books.  I could not vote.  Speeches made me sleepy.  Al Gore was thin.  

Yet, now I am able to make political decisions based on real information and feelings.  Now I feel the need for someone who will speak to my issues.  I know what war can do to the world.  I know what a puppet president can do to national morale.  I have been worn down by the speeches, and the "solutions," and hearing the people around me complain.  That feeling is terrible, and it gives me great hope and inner peace to know that something is going to change, and for the better.  

When I walked outside into the brisk winter air, the sun literally came out from behind the clouds, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  I breathed several.

Subculture: Movie Ruiners

Hi, I am your average movie goer!

"Hi, Average Movie Goer..."

I would say I attend movies relatively frequently, and I have found more and more that there is a growing group of people, that would probably have nothing in common if it weren't for the inherent glue that I call "movie-ruining prowess." They could be anyone, anywhere, and they are ruthless. I have always been fascinated by this facet of society, as I could probably see several of them walking down the road and I wouldn't recognize them if they screamed in my face. Except that I might, because someone who screams in someone's face for no reason must have some prowess at, you guessed it, ruining movies.

The Movie Ruiners go by very few rules, but it seems they do not need more than a few, as it only takes a small amount of irritation to succeed in their apparent mission. The rules are as follows:

1. Sit directly behind me. (not a few rows back, not in front...DIRECTLY BEHIND)
   
2. Say or do something dumb to mess up the experience.
   
3. Say/do it more than once, so that my experience is completely messed up.
   
4. Repeat
   

In the last few months I can remember clearly a few movies experiences that were successfully ruined by one or more citizens of this, shall we say, nation of individuals. The first was when I went to see Iron Man for the first time. The second, during The Dark Knight. The third was just tonight when I saw Gran Torino. For a final bonus, when my boyfriend went to see Wanted, he ran into a fantastic family experience.

I think that the Movie Ruiners are an unnecessary facet of society, and therefore I propose a few rules that might cancel out a certain amount of them.

1. DO NOT point a lazer pointer at Robert Downey Jr.'s face. You will get comments like this: "Somebody find this guy so I can stick my dick in him!" (Iron Man)
   
2. DO NOT whine loudly about "that b****" while Heath Ledger is making his fancy entrance as the Joker. There will be death. (The Dark Knight)
   
3. DO NOT talk about how bad you think the acting is at the climax of a movie, lest you ruin other people's willful suspension of disbelief. ("I know there must be SOME good Asian actors...") (Gran Torino)
   
4. DO NOT BRING YOUR BABY! Babies don't get it. They cry. People don't like your baby. This is demonstrated by the following quote, "Get that f***ing baby out of here!!"
   

RDJ hates you So does Batman

Clint is not amused

Did you really pay $10.25 to come to the movies and bother people? Last I checked, you can bother people for free on the streets, and you will probably get the same reaction.

Bandit Culture: Family Snatching and the Wonders of Guinness

One of my hobbies is stealing people's families.  Or just adding on to my own.

My best friend knows well of this.  I am well acquainted with much of her extended family, and her immediate family has practically provided a second home for me over the seven or so years that we have known each other.  

Her younger brother sees me as family, and he goes to the same college as me now.  I am facebook friends with her uncle.  I have been given scotch by her aunt.  It is difficult to imagine my life without that family, and therefore I believe in some ways I have successfully stolen her culture and filed it away with the rest of the collection.  

It was because of her family that I first realized the power of the Irish alcohol tolerance.  I mean, my god!  My first and last names have traveled from the great land of Ire (heh) but I had no idea that I was shirking on an all important duty to drink myself stupid with large groups of friends and listen to music from my childhood.  

I have since then become friends with several other Irish-Americans, and this pattern seems to hold true.  And now that I have this information, I have no choice, but to act like I have always had this information and as if this is a part of my world, just as much as anyone else.  

-"Yeah, I'm Irish!  I mean, look at my name!!  Duh!"

-"But, you don't really...drink."

-"Sure I do!  I love wine!"

-"*sigh*"

And then I started to test my tolerance.  Shot by shot.  To the point where I realized that the people who were vomiting in piles around me had consumed the same amount of alcohol as me, and I was holding them over toilets, and listening to their insane ramblings, wondering how they even got to that point.  

The only time I have ever been completely smashed, I remembered everything the next day, and realized that mixing beer and rum and coke was a bad idea.  And what's more, there was no insane rambling.  There was deep conversation.  There were plans for the future.  And, yes, there were Irish ballads, thanks to the band at the pub.  

That was my first experience feeling the blood running through my veins, and seeing a small part of the culture from which my family derives.  I have also realized that I prefer to watch second hand in many cases, because despite the compulsion to do what my countrymen do, I was not raised that way, and it is in no way a part of my nature.  I would rather sip my Castle Rock Pinot Noir any day. *mmmm*

Subculture: "We do it because the TV told us to"

Living in such a vibrant city, as Boston, I tend to run into some delightfully colorful characters even on my commute home. I do not drive. I take the ever popular Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority right to my front door. Each day is like opening a new present when I step through the doors of the clean and fragrant Green Line train. So you can imagine my excitement when, on my way home from work late at night, a group of inebriated, apparently underage, people burst through the doors and positioned themselves around me, and my Asian friend (of the blog I'm Asian, Your Not).

This is a commonplace sighting on the MBTA (or the T as we affectionately call it), so I was not at all surprised. I think my friend's comment summed up the whole experience for me.

"If they vomit on me, I am going to vomit right back."

In this entry, I am going to attempt to fulfill one of their wishes: (said in drunk girl who thinks she's sexy voice) "Guys, I am going to write about all of this in my journal, and it is going to be legendary, lolz lolz." Legendary maybe. How proud you must be.

Here is a list of things that they said that we just couldn't believe:

- "I'm only seventeen....and that makes you sixteen, and you fifteen, and you fourteen..."

- "What does cliche mean?" (answer: Youth is wasted on the young.)

- "She can suck all of our dicks." (said by a girl)

- "Sorry my mom doesn't give me money because I dropped out of high school." (It's a vicious cycle)

And then this guy fell on me:

 

And afterwards he said this:

"Guys, I'm so embarassing. Everyone just saw my batman underwear! And if they didn't then they just heard about it. WHAT UP."  (!!!!!!)

This is a subculture I like to call "We do it because the TV told us to." On TV there is very little mention of teenagers having normal happy lives that don't include running rampant and doing everything that people over the age of thirty tell them not to. In fact it is all just the opposite.

Now, I am not about to go on a rant about TV and how it is messing up today's youth, and all shows should be banned, because people kissing implies that they are going to have sex later, and a dirty look is just as good as a gunshot. I was always one to know the difference between entertainment and real life. In entertainment (for those who don't know...and I know you are out there) everything is taken to the extreme, because no one wants to watch the rainbow filled story of a perfectly balanced teenager doing exactly what he/she should do to be healthy and happy. BORING. WE NEED PAIN TO BE ENTERTAINED. This does not mean that you have to inflict it upon yourself and others in real life once you leave the warmth of your living room. Grow up. Please! At least...eventually.

The Birth of An Idea

I come from a long line of people. Some of those people are forgotten or lost. Some of them could have been made up. When I count out the number of countries my ancestors come from, I am astonished that I don't speak in five languages, cook in three, or drink in ten. Some people are Asian-Americans. Some are African-Americans...and so on. I am Irish, French, German, Swiss, Scottish, Native-American. I am, what you might call, a mutt. A mongrel. A twist in the chain.

This is a very common thing among Americans, from what I understand. Too many people decided to breed with other types of people, and then I came out, and rather than try to keep up with all of the traditions that go along with the countries I descend from, my family found it easier to keep up with none of them.

It wasn't until very recently that I became aware of this. I am a very happy person, and I love my family. I have no problems with how I was raised what-so-ever. But when the people I am surrounded by started coming to me with this jive about "Filipino traditions," and "Good Ole Irish drinking" I started to realize that instead of nodding along, I was giving more of a blank stare. *blink blink*

After that point I made it my business to steal as much information about other people's cultures as possible, which has helped me arrive at this current fascination, nay, obsession, with analyzing why people do things they way the do based on cultures and subcultures.

Now, a culture, at least in this blog, usually implies a set of practices that have been carefully laid down in tradition. A subculture, from this point forward, will be a set of labels that I make up for the sake of analysis.

-For instance: "Stacie's family celebrates Hanukkah by lighting candles and saying prayers for eight nights." This is an example of a cultural practice.

-For another example, "Stacie's family celebrates the New Year by shooting as many squirrels as they can find and allowing themselves to make a corresponding number of wishes for their futures." This example, I find to be subcultural. In other words, a set of rules for life that were completely made up by a few individuals, but that they still find to be essential for living a full life.

There are times, these days, where I am more fascinated by the subcultures that I discover, than the cultures that are right in front of my eyes. This is probably because it is funnier to see the weird things that people come up with on their own, than the weird things people do out of decades, or centuries of prompting. Throughout this blog, I will be naming, and therefore giving validation to, many groups of people, that might otherwise seem unnecessary. This is mostly because I would want others to do the same for me. I will also be comparing my lack of a culture to already set traditions that have been passed down, in order to make myself seem like I could fit in just as well as anyone else.

Here is the truth. I will never be Black, or Asian, or Jewish. But I live with one of each of these people, and therefore I will fight to the death my right to pretend. To the death, I say.