Sandy Frandy

                In high school, I had a teacher whose name was Mrs. Frander. Her first name was Sandra so naturally, we adopted the name Sandy Frandy. She taught my IB Biology course, a two year, college equivalent course at my school. She was older, perhaps in her early sixties and had white hair and big glasses, very librarian like. But she was still sharp as a tack and one of the wittiest people I have ever met.

                Mrs. Frander was by far my favorite teacher because I could tell she was passionate about what she was doing and she tried really hard to teach us what we needed to know in a fun and hands on way. I’m not a teacher’s pet or anything and in fact, I screwed around a lot in her class, but for some reason she took a liking to my class and ended up being a personal mentor for me. She was extremely influential in my college selection process.

                As I said before, Mrs. Frander was a sharp one and loved our class because we were fun. Since it was right after lunch every day, me and my buddy Austin would always come in late and she would make us tell the whole class why we were late. We came up with some pretty ridiculous stories usually involving a bear in the middle of the road that stole our lunch or something. We would just talk out of our behinds until she cut us off and told us to sit down. Then she would start class with some remark like, “this is why drugs are bad class.”

                On the days where I actually got there early, I would draw fun illustrations on the white board, usually involving whatever we were learning about in class that week. My particular favorite was when the dean was going to observe and I wrote “Welcome to FranderLand” on the board and she didn’t notice till class had begun. That took some ‘splainin.

                I know I probably sound like that really annoying kid in class that everyone hates because nothing gets done but everyone did some similar antics including her. Let me tell you, she got her revenge. She loved hands on learning and loved acting out things with biology skits. For our animal behavior lab she picked me to play a rabbit and I had to act out whatever character trait she named. On this particular occasion, she had my sister’s class across the hall come and watch. Pictures can still be seen on facebook.

                During our human development and reproduction unit, she asked for a volunteer to demonstrate the different stages of childbirth. And by asked for a volunteer, I mean she asked for a volunteer and thanked me for stepping up even though I hadn’t said anything. I think this was right after the incident with the dean. Anyway, I had to lay down on one of the lab tables as a girl from my class acted as my birthing coach… totally awkward.

 I’m not sure how she got away with some of these antics but then again, most teachers would have kicked me out after the first two weeks. I think she only let me and my class get away with it because we put in the work too. I never got below an A in her class and it was not an easy course by any means. The whole class was a really tight-knit group by the end of our two years and it was all thanks to Mrs. Frander and her unique approach to learning.

Backpaking

                One of my closest friends growing up was moving away the summer before our senior year of high school. One day he invited me to go camping with his family. It was sort of our last hurrah before he left so I accepted. That week, we made all the preparations and I was over at his house almost every day to help prepare for the trip.

                We were going to Taylor Lake, Colorado, about a five hour drive away. His parents would be sleeping in their camper but Jake and I, along with his brother and his brother’s friend would be in a tent. I still remember the drive in. It was the wettest summer we have had in years and everything was green. The Lake was full and the river flowing into it was moving quickly. As we descended down the pass to get to the lake valley we looked over the water and the grassy plains surrounding it. To our left was a scene out of a movie with the light pouring over the banks of the water and reflecting off so that it hurt to look at it for too long. To our right were massive peaks still capped with snow even in July, glacial from years of continuous packing. The peaks gave way to hills, and hills to small bluffs which rolled all around the valley. It was the definition of pristine.

                We followed the river upstream on an old dirt road until we found a good spot to set up camp. We knew the park was popular for fishing, camping and ATV riding. Jake’s parents even brought some four wheelers for us to explore on. And that’s what we did the whole first day. An abandoned mining town, Taylor Lake has several abandoned shafts that are fun to look at. Obviously we didn’t explore in them, we were better Boy Scouts than that, but it was fun throwing stuff down them and listening to how far they dropped.

                The whole first night, it rained on the tent. This is one of my favorite sounds in the world and I have never slept better. The next day however, the crowd began to show up. You couldn’t hike for more than ten minutes without being passed by an ATV or another group of campers. Jake and I decided we wanted to make this last trip something to talk about so we went back to our site mid morning and packed up our bags. We had run into a ranger or trail guide earlier in the day and he told us about an old ATV trail that had been washed out because of the rain and was no longer passable except on foot. He said it led to a small lake and no one was camping up there because of the trail.

                We told his parents which direction we were going, grabbed a tent and some sleeping bags along with some matches and a tarp. For food, all we brought was two protein bars, a can of baked beans each, and our fishing poles and we set off. Feeling adventurous, we hiked off the trail, but always keeping it within eyeshot; a technique known as a handrail. We literally just picked a hill and started climbing.

                A few hours in, the trail was still visible but seemed extremely far away because we had climbed so much. Our legs burned from the incline and just over every hill was another one that reached slightly higher. Around dinner time, we had been walking for about six hours and there was no sign of the lake anywhere. The snowcapped peaks were a lot closer, but behind us was nothing but miles and miles of dense forest. We hadn’t seen anyone in hours, we had found the isolation we were looking for.

                After downing the protein bars, we decided that if it started to get dark, we would find the first flat place to camp out where we could still see the trail and just find the lake in the morning. Right before the sun began to set behind us, the trees were getting smaller and scarcer. The diminishing light had us both nervous that we wouldn’t be able to set up camp or find firewood so we said we would climb over the next hill and we what we could see. As soon as we reached the top, it was as if the world opened up before us. There was the lake. It was small, only about two hundred yards across at the widest par, but it sat right at the foot of the snow capped peak at tree line as if someone though it would be funny to put a lake way up where all other water is frozen. You should have heard us hootin’ and hollerin’! We had made it. With just enough light left we got the tent up and found some dry wood, which wasn’t so bad since it hadn’t rained up that high in a few days. With the fire burning we sipped our baked beans straight from the can, like free men. They might as well have been a gourmet meal. The next morning, we were not in any hurry to leave, after all, it was all downhill from there. So we plopped ourselves down and cast a line each. And wouldn’t you know it, we each caught some small lake trout. Talk about a feast.

                Eventually, we figured his parents would worry if we weren’t back by dark so we packed up and moved out. We took the washed out trail back- we had already accomplished what we came to do. Our feet moved us lower but our spirits were never higher. We had done it. We found out later the trail was something like 6 miles to the lake but our route was definitely longer because of topography and we gained something like two thousand feet in elevation. It was quite an experience. The perfect send off for my friend, and a great story to tell at dinner that night.

The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife

This, like most other Nick Adam’s stories, is a coming of age tale. Even though Nick isn’t even in the story until the very end, the message of the story is one that every young man must come to grips with eventually.

                In the story, Nick’s father gets into an argument with a guy named Dick over some lumber that Dick accuses Nick’s father of stealing even though it is just driftwood left over from a logging company. Dick tests the Doctor’s patience not only by accusing him but also by intimidating him and calling him “Doc” in a condescending way. Eventually, he is pushed too far and he threatens Dick saying, “If you call me Doc once again, I’ll knock your eye teeth down your throat.” It is obvious Dick is just looking for a fight because he responds with, “Oh, no, you won’t, Doc.”

                Furious, and knowing he was defeated, Nick’s father retreats back up to his house. While in his house, he is further emasculated by his wife who is a “Christian Scientist” and warns him not to cause any trouble with Dick and calling him “dear” in a very emasculating tone repeatedly. It is obvious from their situation and the fact that they sleep in different bedrooms, Nick’s father cannot please his wife and is somewhat under her control.

                Finally, he leaves to go get Nick to come home for dinner but the two take the long way home to see the black squirrels in spite of his instructions. It is clear that Nick is still the one thing he still has control over.

                To me, this story is one I think every man can relate with. It is about the first time you realize your father isn’t perfect. He is just human and makes mistakes just like every other man on earth. Boys grow up revering their fathers. We want to dress like them, look like them, do what they do, and we follow every example they lead by. It reminds me of that song by Rodney Atkins that goes, “I’ve been watching you, Dad, ain’t that cool? I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you…” Although that song portrays a positive father-son relationship, the point is that young boys see their dads as the coolest.

                Obviously, this is not true. As much as we love our fathers, we all have to admit that none of them are perfect. They aren’t the big strong heroes, the I’m-not-afraid-of-anything super men that we see them as when we are kids. This realization is also a tough one to come to grips with.

                I think it is interesting that Hemingway would pair this story, portraying the shortcomings of Nick’s father with Indian Camp where he is portrayed as the hero. In both cases, pride seems to get the best of Nick’s father but he only lives up to it in the first story. The second story is Nick’s realization that his dad is a coward.

Indian Camp

Hemingway’s Nick Adams is an interesting character to read about. The autobiographical connotations of the stories are pretty obvious, but reading some of the stories, they might as well have been stories written for all men. Looking back over my brief twenty years, I can think of a story that relates to almost every one of the Nick Adam’s stories.

                Indian Camp tells the story of a time when Nick, his father, and his uncle go to help an Indian woman giving birth in a nearby camp. Nick’s father is a Doctor and is the only one who is able to keep cool under pressure and who is trained to deliver the baby. The woman was experiencing intense pain and was screaming so loud that the other men of the village left to smoke cigars where they couldn’t hear it. The only man remaining was the woman’s husband who lay on the top bunk of the infirmary because he had an axe wound from a few days earlier.

                Nick’s father really steps up in this situation and begins directing people and giving everyone a role. It is clear he is a talented physician and a strong leader. He, unlike anyone else, is able to just tune out the screaming, saying it doesn’t matter; he doesn’t hear it because it doesn’t matter. Eventually he delivers the baby successfully. A new life has been brought into the world and it is the most natural and beautiful thing in the world and it just happened at the hands of his father. However, when checking on the father in the bunk above everyone, they find he has slit his throat, unable to bear his wife’s agony. Nick, who was brought along to learn a valuable lesson about life ends up experiencing death at a very young age.

                On the way back, Nick’s father is very proud of what he has done and seems unaffected by the death of the man. Nick however is not so easy going. On the way back he asks his father seven questions. Only one of them had to do with birth and life. The other ones are almost all about dying. This is a story about the first time a young boy experiences death. His father is calm and cool and answers all the questions in what seems like a wise and honest way. When asked if dying is hard he says he doesn’t think so but it all depends. The story ends with Nick feeling quite sure he would never die, a strange idea for a young boy who has just had a brush with death to have.

                When I was a boy, I was fortunate enough to never have to witness a death let alone a gruesome suicide first hand like Nick did. However, I remember the first time I was introduced to death. While I was probably a little more desensitized to it than Nick was, it still sparked questions in my mind. I think it is very important for children to ask these questions so they aren’t naïve and for their parents to answer them truthfully so that their children don’t grow up with ideas about important things, like death, that are irrational or wrong.

                This is also a good coming of age story because Nick suddenly learned a new reality although he didn’t feel like he wanted to accept it. Everyone dies. That can be a tough realization for a young person who has known only life so far. But one’s mortality is something everyone must accept eventually.

Eleven... and 10, and 9, and 8....

The story Eleven by Sandra Cisneros was one of my favorites from this semester. It was so easy to relate to. Everybody has a day where they wish they could cry about something that made them sad, scream and laugh because something made them happy, lash out because something made them angry, or just run to their mother’s arms because they are scared. But we can’t because we have to act our age.

                When Rachel is forced to claim the sweater as her and even worse yet, put it on, she feels like a great wrong has been committed against her. She feels embarrassed because the sweater is so nasty and everyone in the class thinks it’s hers. She feels angry at both her teacher, Mrs. Price, and some of her classmates, Sylvia Saldivar, and Phyllis Lopez. And most of all, she feels sad because today is her birthday and no one is there to stick up for her and she can’t act ten anymore because now she is eleven even though she feels three and wants to be one hundred and two.

                I will be the first to admit, even though I’m twenty, I still have days where I feel five because I just want to cry. Or I feel fifteen because I do something stupid and know I am going to have to pay for it. There are also days when I’m just tired of taking crap from people and I wish I was a lot older because then no one could tell me what to do or that I’m wrong. Much like Mrs. Price, I would be right because that’s just how it works.

                I have to check myself though when I feel like this. Those days when I wish I was older so I can be done with school because my classes are hard or be working so I can make money are a test. I really don’t wish I was older. I really don’t want to trade all those days from this day till then just to be done with a class or have a job or a family because even though I’m having a bad day, my life is still good, it still matters, and I know I don’t want to miss anything. What I got out of the story was that it’s ok to feel all the ages that are inside how old you are, and it’s even ok to show it sometimes. Yes, we have to act our age, but sometimes life just sucks and bad days just happen. At these times we can and should compose ourselves appropriately, but sometimes you just have to act one of your younger ages.

The Lottery

                From the very beginning of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, I felt myself uneasy and tense while reading it. The first page establishes an ominous tone and it is obvious this happy town has a dark feeling. You just know something bad is about to happen.

                One thing that stuck out to me right away was the duality in the story. The children had just been released from school and the freedom weight “uneasy” on their minds. This was odd because I am always ecstatic when school lets out for the summer. The contrast in the names of characters was also kind of odd. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves carry completely different tones.

                The story also gives the reader a feeling that the town is old and bound in its traditions. The black box and Old Man Warner are representative of this. It also says people who wish to progress and do away with certain traditions are “crazy fools.” Even though some people wish to do away with certain rituals, they remain because they have always been around.

                As the story progresses, the characters seem to not think much of this “lottery” they are about to take part in. There are children playing, women gossiping, and one woman just plain forgot that the lottery was that day. Overall it seemed not to be that big of a deal; it was just that thing that people showed up to once a year because they had to.

                When the Hutchinson’s receive the “winning paper” it becomes evident from Tessie’s reaction that this lottery is not one anyone wants to win. They narrow down the names to one person and eventually Tessie is chosen. She becomes hysterical saying that it isn’t fair and it isn’t right. The tension mounts and finally you learn she has been chosen to be stoned to death.

                I can definitely see why Shirley Jackson received so much criticism when she wrote this story in 1948. It was unsettling. I put the anthology down and just said, “Wow, that’s messed up.” The first time I read it. It was also criticized because it challenged tradition and rituals which in our culture and arguably every culture in the world are institutions with a lot of authority. To break the status quo is to rebel and resist. People don’t like that; people don’t like change.

                If there is one thing this story taught me, it is that we need to both individually and as a society, examine the things in our lives we accept without question to be true or right or moral. When we look back at history, there were times where this was absolutely more than necessary. It often resulted in violent change but good change nonetheless. The first example that comes to mind is the institution of slavery. Slavery had been around for centuries if not longer and was brought to this country as early as the first settlers. It was not until the nineteenth century that people started to question how right it was to own another human being. The result of this question was the bloody Civil War, but had it not been fought, we might still have this evil institution around today.

                This story was progressive to say the least and I can see why it made people mad, but it teaches a valuable lesson. For the most part I think tradition is a good thing, but skepticism is essential in today’s ever changing world.

Jack in da Box - Week 6 Conversation Partner

Like usual, I got out of class Friday afternoon and text Khedir to make sure he could still meet. He told me he still wanted to but that he was starving and craving fast food. He asked me if I wanted to go to Jack in the Box with him and said he’d drive. So we went. It was lunch time for Pascal High School and it was really crowded and Khedir is not the loudest guy on earth and that made it especially difficult for him to make his order. I helped him out a little bit and we found a spot to sit. He offered to buy me something but I had just eaten but not wanting to insult him I took him up on an iced tea.

                We got to talking about stuff and I asked him what his favorite fast food place was. He really likes Jack in the Box but not McDonalds. I told him my favorite place was Carl’s Jr. which I doubted he would know about because I’m pretty sure there are like two of them in Texas but surprisingly he had. I told him they used to sponsor some fundraisers we did for my Cross Country team in high school and we were always getting coupons for free burgers which was ironic because we were a Cross Country team. I also made myself vehemently clear that I thought Whataburger was complete poo and hardly qualified as food. Luckily for me, he sided with me on my passionate stance.

                Next I asked him if he finally got his score for the GMAT test back and he said he missed the minimum requirement to get into the MBA program by only a few points and it was mostly due to the English section. This was pretty bad news to hear and I felt bad for him because I know he had been working so hard to prepare for that test and because his English has gotten so much better in just the eight weeks or so that we have been meeting. I asked him what he was going to do and he just said that he was going to retake it again in a few weeks and hope he scores higher. I really hope he does because you can tell just from talking to him that he is an insanely smart guy. It’s just that English is his third language next to Arabic and Somali.

                I asked if there was anything that I or anyone at TCU could do and he said no, he just has to work on English a little bit more, specifically written English. He then asked me about the test I have to take to get into med school. I told him it was called the MCAT but I that I don’t have to take it till next fall. He wanted to know a little more so I told him it has five sections; Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, and a Written English section. It is scored out of 45 points and really anything over a 30 is a decent score.

                We both talked about how dumb it is that so much of your future comes down to standardized tests. But I guess it’s the only way they have to measure people’s aptitudes and knowledge of the subject on the same scale. Still, it is frustrating.

                We chatted for a little while longer while he took down his double cheeseburger and the hit the road. During the drive back, we mostly just complained about Texas drivers. Sorry to anyone reading this who happens to be from the Dallas Ft. Worth area, but nobody knows how to drive here. Khedir maybe wasn’t the best driver on earth but at least I didn’t have to take away his phone like I do for some of my friends before they drive.

                He dropped me off in front of Milton Daniel and I thanked him again for the tea. I told him we would try to meet again but that the next few weeks were crazy busy for me. He felt the same way so we said we’d try. That never really worked out but we still text each other occasionally and I think I’d like to keep in touch with him next semester. I usually see him at the library about once a week anyway so it shouldn’t be that hard. Maybe I’ll take him up on that burger sometime. Until then, I can honestly say I learned a lot from talking to Khedir, who by the way is trying to adopt the name Eric, so if you ever meet him, that might be how he introduces himself. It was interesting to see what a person from another country but educated in the United States thinks of us. They have a very interesting perspective because they have literally been inundated with both cultures and can see the good and the bad in both. This is a valuable resource and not one that should be underestimated in today’s increasingly small world. We are at the forefront of a major shift from national sovereignty to globalization and the unique outlook that people like Khedir have should not be taken for granted.

Khedir et al. Week 5

An hour before we were supposed to meet, Khedir called me and said he was working on a group project with some friends but that I was welcome to come join them and meet some people in his class. We met on the top floor of Rickel where all the English classes are, and he introduced me to his friends that he was working with.

                James was a foreign student from China. He was kind of quiet but I did learn that he was pre-med like me. There were also two other guys from Saudi Arabia named Muhammad and Saied. I didn’t find out too much about them because they were in a different group I think and they were speaking Arabic the whole time… except when their teacher came in the room. There was also a guy there from El Salvador named Sebastian. Sebastian was a very talkative person and it was really cool to meet him. He, Khedir, and I talked for most of the time about all kinds of stuff. We initially started talking about where everyone was from and stuff but I asked Sebastian and he told me it was because his father told him to come. Apparently his father is a business owner in El Salvador and wanted to give the business over to his son one day but he wasn’t going to unless he earned a degree in America and learned English.

                This was interesting to me. I took Spanish for seven years and studied the culture along with the language. It occurred to me that this was probably not a very uncommon thing in the more developed parts of the world. Lots of people in the United States send their children away for school. I am the perfect example. I am not originally from Texas, I just saw coming to TCU as a great opportunity to get a world class education and gain some valuable life experience so that I can grow as a person and be successful later in life with whatever I decide to do. Sebastian was basically doing the same thing but his plan was to return back home eventually to help out his family which I thought was really cool.

                I also noticed both he and Khedir had soccer shirts on that day, so I asked them about it. I know almost nothing about soccer; basically just what I know from playing FIFA. Let me tell you, that is not the case for most people my age almost anywhere else in the world. They are crazy about it. I asked if Sebastian played soccer here or anything and he told me he was on both the club team and the intramural team but his main sport was tennis. It turns out that Sebastian played tennis professionally in El Salvador during and shortly after high school. He thought he was going to play here and actually tried out and made the team. However, he decided to quit because he and one of his coaches did not get along at all. Besides, he told me, he would have been too busy trying to play competitive tennis and traveling with the team and everything.

                We all talked for a long time and I’m not sure how, maybe it was their project, but the last thing I remember talking about was religion. With that many people from that many different places, we had just about all the major religions represented. Most of them were followers of Islam but Sebastian was orthodox Christian or Catholic. They asked me about my beliefs and I told them about my Christian faith and what kind of church I went to and all that kind of stuff. After talking for a little bit Sebastian said, “I don’t know, to me all religions are basically the same. God, or someone, is at the top in heaven and we have to do certain good things to get there when we die.” Everyone in the group kind of nodded in agreement. This immediately reminded me of a book I read over the summer by a Christian author who traveled abroad and met with a group of spiritual leaders from several different major religions. They all essentially agreed the same thing. I told them about the book and the side the author took and recited his argument for them saying that. Basically, they all see God as this perfect being at the top of a mountain. Each path up the mountain is a different religion and each have their differences but all of them lead to the same place. The author of this book however, responded by asking them what they would think if the God at the top of the mountain came down to us. Everyone kind of thought that sounded like a nice idea. He then proceeded to tell them about Jesus.

                It took me a little while to explain that. Most of them had heard of and knew the story of Jesus but they didn’t learn it in the same way I did and didn’t see the birth, atonement, and resurrection in the same way or even as having much significance. I explained to them all about how this was the foundation of the Christian faith and without Jesus, the Son, we could never enter Heaven because of our sin. It’s not a list of works you have to check off a bucket-list before you die, it’s a relationship and God’s grace, and that’s it. Fundamentally, for people who have grown up learning that story in a different way and for people who don’t center their lives around it, it was probably hard to understand, but it was a good exercise in relating to other cultures for me. I honestly could have talked to those guys for hours, I was having a blast, but I finally had to leave. This was by far my favorite meeting yet just because I go to school with these students, live in the same area, use the same buildings, and yet, I would have probably never talked to them had it not been for Khedir.

Conversation Partner Week 4 - 10/28

This was the first time we were able to meet for a while. Khedir was studying for the GMAT test and needed lots of time to work on that. I did run into him at the library a couple times working hard. I think he took it last Friday. I talked to him about it and he said he thought he did well and that he would get the results very soon.  He also said that the hardest part for him was the English portion.

                I got the impression from Khedir that he was worried about his test and how well he did on the English portion. I asked if there were people here at TCU that could help him to do better on the written section and he seemed to think there wasn’t and that it was just going to be a matter of him practicing speaking and writing. I asked if there was anything I could do and he told me it was alright.

                After that I changed the subject to Halloween. It was the Monday following our conversation and I asked him if he had any plans. He said he didn’t really do anything for Halloween, which I guess makes since because he lives off campus and is 35 years old. He asked if I had any plans and I said that I didn’t on the actual day of Halloween because I had a test but that Saturday night I was dressing up as Dr. Neffario from Despicable Me and going with a bunch of friends who were going to be minions and one guy who was going to be Gru. He had no idea what I was talking about so I asked if he celebrated Halloween back at home in Saudi Arabia. Turns out, they don’t. It seems to be a fairly American holiday.

                Anyway, from there the conversation changed to politics as it usually does. What I’m learning about Khedir is that he does not like the media at all. Despite our different opinions about politics, this is one thing we have in common. We talked about it for a while and we both agree the media has its own agenda and doesn’t paint an accurate picture. Bottom line they are trying to sell a story and all too often it gets tied to one political agenda. As a result, people are mislead because they buy into what they see on TV or read on the headlines of newspapers without giving it any thought and they just accept it as true. This leads to uninformed citizens and the results show when we elect corrupt officials to office.

                I asked Khedir what he thought the solution was and he said education. With this, I whole heartedly agree. He said if we educate people on how the world works and the governments of the world interact, people would have a better understanding of what is needed in from our leaders. He said people should also be taught to be more skeptical about what they watch on TV.

                Our conversation wound down, mostly I think because I haven’t been keeping up with current events as well as I would like and so I didn’t have much to say about things going on in the world. Besides, Khedir said he had a lot of studying to do. I really enjoyed talking to Khedir about politics and I think it is great that we can talk without any animosity. It amazed me how well informed he was, too. All in all, it was a good meeting.

Ladie's Home Journal... cuz it's better than news

Ladie’s Home Journal December 1957

                For my last blog post about a magazine issue I chose to write about an issue of Time magazine. This time, I wanted something a little more light-hearted. Ladie’s Home Journal seemed like a good choice. Growing up, my mom got countless issues of Better Homes and Gardens, and Good Housekeeping magazine, and I was just curious to see the kind of things her mother read and maybe passed on to mine. I also thought it would be interesting to see how gender roles have changed in the last fifty to sixty years.

                I selected an issue from December 1957 to see how Christmas was depicted in the 1950’s since it is my favorite holiday. I started off looking at the table of contents and it was immediately apparent who the target audience for the magazine is. In the contents there were two short stories, one of them a holiday story. There were “Special Features” which included a series of articles ranging from Christmas desserts to love and marriage and even an article about mentally ill people in the workplace. “General Features” was more articles about family and household living and included a section of letters from readers. There were also sections entitled “Fashion and Beauty”, “Gardening”, and “Food and Homemaking”.

                I began by flipping through the entire issue and looking at what pictures caught my eye. There were several pictures of various desserts, Christmas dinners, jello molds, and pies. Maybe it’s because I tend to think with my stomach and its 6:30 and I haven’t had dinner yet but I really like this magazine. One advertisement I found particularly intriguing for several reasons was an ad for BarcaLoungers. The picture depicts a man laying on a recliner in front of a Christmas tree and his wife and daughter standing over him admirably. They all have smiles on their faces and the little girl is holding a picket sign that says “Guess who wants you to live forever?” I began to read the ad and apparently 3 out of 4 men say they don’t have a comfortable chair to sit in and this contributes to great stress in the home. Certain words were italicized for emphasis. The chair was apparently designed by scientists and decorated by decorator stylists in order to offer the best looking natural relaxation for a working body. The caption under the picture obviously catered toward women around Christmas time because it said, “So give your husband a BarcaLounger”. The ad then talked about how in as little as fifteen minutes your husband’s bunched up muscles and nerves can be relaxed. This is kind of backward from our thinking today in which we think of a sedentary lifestyle as unhealthy. This ad also assumes a lot of households operate in the same way, which back then, they probably did. The man works all day and wants to come home and relax while the woman cooks and takes care of the kids. Everyone is happy and everyone has a specific role. This is also completely different from today. Lastly it said for a complete brochure and to find the dealer nearest you, to write the manufacturing company. This was obviously a sign of the times. How often do we turn to our computers or smartphones upon seeing something and wanting more information and needing to wait about thirty seconds to have that information, when people back then had to wait a week or more to get it by mail?

                One article that I found particularly interesting was the true story of a married couple who was having problems. The article was called “Can this Marriage Be Saved?” It started out with the wife telling her side of the story about how her husband always worked late, came home and complained he was tired, then, the previous Christmas, had arrived home two and a half hours late from his office Christmas party drunk and covered in lipstick. The husband then told his side about how he only worked late because he was trying to provide for his family and that the lipstick at the party was a one time mistake he made when he was drunk. The last segment of the article was by a marriage counselor who explained how he helped the couple and explained where they were at today. He said they managed to work through a lot of their problems by compromising. He would not stay so late at work and she would push dinner back half an hour to allow him to relax when he got home, stuff like that. He also wrote about how the majority of their problems stemmed from insecurities rooted in their childhoods. I thought this article was interesting because it had the premise of a modern day reality television program or radio phone in segment or even self help columns. The problems seemed relevant to today as well; drinking, cheating, a lack of interest, and unhappiness in marriage. The advice the counselor gave also seemed relevant and like it had not changed much. He interpreted their actions objectively and saw each problem for more than just what it was on the surface. He identified the root of the issue and gave the couple concrete steps to take in order to save the marriage. It ended up having a happy ending and it all tied back in to their plans for this coming Christmas (Christmas of 1957). This was real life stuff in this segment and I found myself actively engaged and wanting to read more. It wasn’t until I got to the counselor’s part when I wanted to know what happened next and if they eventually saved the marriage that I realized, this happened over 50 years ago. These people are really old right now if they are even still around. Their children from the article are probably my parents age or older. I wondered where all these people were today and if the couple was still together. It was a pretty surreal experience to think about that.

                Overall, for a Ladie’s magazine, I found the reading experience pretty enjoyable. I was given a great insight into the structure of the typical, middle class, magazine-subscribing home in the late 1950’s. It was definitely geared toward Christmas time which made me wish it was December already and also made me hungry looking at all the pictures of desserts. I would be interested to thumb through some issues of my mom’s magazines back at home to see how the two pair up and how they are different. And who knows, maybe I can convince her to bake something pictured on one of the pages… It can never hurt to ask.  

Conversation Partner meeting 3

Conversation Partner meeting 3 – 10/7/11

                Last Friday was the third official meeting with my conversation partner. I say official because I ran into him at the library sometime in the middle of the week. He was studying for the GMAT still and I for my Ecology test. I happened to be on my out and he on his way in but I had overheard him asking for directions to somewhere to study. I showed him to a quite place up by the music library where I am writing this post now then I took off, telling him I would see him Friday.

                He arrived a little late for our meeting because he was stuck in traffic on the interstate. Marcus, the student from Germany happened to be there again though and we got to talking a little bit. I told him Khedir was stuck in traffic and we started talking about cars. He drives a little Acura but said he always wanted an Audi. He told me he could have gotten a good deal on one but the parts were so expensive he chose the Acura instead. I could relate to this a lot because I drove a BMW. I know what you’re thinking… A BMW, that’s sweet! But it’s a 1992 with about 250,000 miles on it. Good ol’ Black Betty… she is kind of on her last leg. I told him I had put almost more money into repairing it as it was worth in the four years I have owned it and thought he was smart for not choosing the Audi.

                Khedir finally showed up while we were still talking about cars and he told us a little bit about his ride. He said he drives a really cheap car that was really small. I said that was good because he could save a lot on gas and repairs, not like some people who drive really nice, big trucks even though they probably never have to haul anything more than their backpacks or briefcases. They agreed it was stupid and thought guys just did it to look cool.

                We talked for a little bit about school and stuff that was going on. I had just seen Khedir recently so not much was new. We kind of just sat around shooting the breeze for a little bit in Rickel. We talked about sports a little bit; football, baseball, and soccer. We also talked about TCU’s football team and why we each thought they weren’t that good this season. There was one of the new cheerleading posters on the table in front of us and Khedir was slightly intrigued about the whole idea of it. I just explained that they just stand on the sideline and try to get the crown into the game and making lots of noise.

                One of Marcus’ economics professors approached us and Marcus asked him about a test they just had and was trying to figure out when they would be getting grades back and what the class average was. Pretty much all the typical post-test questions. The professor was being very vague and Marcus was getting a little frustrated. After the professor left we talked a little about bad teachers and professors we had in the past and had a couple good laughs. We then talked about fall break plans. They were both staying here, Khedir to study, Marcus to work on his car with a mechanic friend of his. I told them about my plans to go to a hunting ranch which they both thought was cool because they had never been hunting. The conversation wound down, I could tell everyone was tired and ready for the weekend. We never really talked about anything too deep, but just kind of hung out which was nice. Soon enough they both had places to be and I was ready for my traditional Friday nap.

Conversation partner meeting 2

Conversation Partner Meeting 2 – 9/30/11

                This meeting with my conversation partner was really interesting. Before meeting, I thought about some things I wanted to talk to Khedir about. Just in general, I wanted to learn about what Saudi Arabia is like and how the United States is viewed by both the Saudi government and everyday people in his country.

                First we caught up on things that happened since the last time we had met. He was still working toward taking the GMAT test to get in to a business school. I asked how he was studying for it and he said he had a tutor and bought a few test preparation books. I asked him what the hardest part of it was for him and he said the English portion. Nevertheless he was optimistic that he would be able to get a good score.

                A little ways into our conversation in Rickel, another student sat down with his laptop and some coffee next to us but spilled his coffee. Khedir and I got some paper towels from the bathroom and helped him mop it up. We all got to talking and it turned out, Marcus, the guy with the coffee was actually from Germany and was here to go to school also. Suddenly there were three different cultures represented in our conversation. Khedir seemed pretty interested in Germany and Marcus liked to hear about Colorado. We talked about how different all three places are from Texas. Khedir said he liked Texas because it was hot like he was used to back home. Marcus and I both agreed the heat was unbearable this year and that we both preferred the snow. I don’t think Khedir had ever seen snow before.

                I tried to move the conversation to understanding Saudi Arabia more and their opinions on the U.S. Khedir said we are viewed with a lot of respect both from the government and from the people of his country because we are a powerful nation and a valuable trade ally. I brought up the subject of oil and Khedir said he didn’t think we were that dependent on Saudi Arabia’s oil but rather, we imported more from our neighbors closer to home. Then we started talking a little bit about social issues. It is so different here than from Saudi Arabia because in our country we get to vote on issues and usually have the freedom to choose from a variety of options in the social sector. In Saudi Arabia, a single party state at best, the government picks for you and people don’t have nearly as much of a voice. We used the example of healthcare. Khedir said in the U.S. we have good healthcare, lots of doctors, and the best equipment. That is not the case in many places in Saudi Arabia, except in the big cities. We talked about how healthcare was a big national debate right now and that some people really want more government control over healthcare. Khedir thought this was weird because we have the best healthcare in the world. Marcus also said that government run healthcare is what he had back in Germany and the system was increasingly bankrupt and it was hard to find good doctors. I thought this was all really interesting as a pre-med student and a minor in political science. The social side of medicine is not one I really get to think about a lot in my classes so it was neat to hear some other perspectives.

                Eventually, Marcus had to get to class and Khedir said he had to get going too so we said goodbye. I wished him luck on the GMAT prep and he was off. It was about an hour and a half conversation but it felt like twenty minutes. It was great having Marcus there too.

A Sign of the Time(s)

I’m not exactly a big fan of reading magazines. The only time I ever do is when I am in a long line at the grocery store, stuck in a waiting room, or for some light bathroom reading. I usually reach for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated or ESPN magazine or occasionally Highlights for the corny jokes but sometimes I’m drawn in by Time. When I think of Time magazine, I automatically see the red-bordered cover with a close up of some important politician, celebrity, or scientist. The captions are always about some recent discovery, hot-topic debate, or international issue that grabs my interest immediately. When flipping through an issue, it seems that 50% of the pages are dedicated to ads. Those hard hitting, provocative articles are broken up haphazardly by images and captions trying to sell me cologne or a Lexus.

When I opened up the issue from November 4^th, 1929, it was like a completely different magazine. It felt like flipping through a newspaper rather than a magazine. All of the images were in black and white and the headlines, subheadings and text were all formatted the same and organized in uniform columns. The larger images that caught my eye first were all advertisements. I chose this issue because I thought it would be interesting to read one of the first issues to come out after the Stock Market crash of October 1929. Surprisingly, not much was written about the event in the National Affairs section. The only things remotely related to it were an article about a $100,000,000 loan for the National Farmers’ Grain Corporation and an argument about tariffs on things such as industrial Calcium Carbide, Casein (skim milk), and other industrial chemicals. A larger portion of this section was dedicated to issues pertaining to President Hoover and his rain-soaked tour through the Midwest. It also talked about his appointment of Assistant Secretary Walter Hope. This was obviously a controversial move because the rest of the article was about opposition he faced from different party officials and interest groups. He retaliated by saying it was his responsibility to make appointments and not the responsibility of anyone else. He alluded to a statement he wrote regarding the issue that he characterized as “no idle gesture.” This was very interesting to read because it reminded me of politics today. There is always one group of people that is going to be unhappy with the decisions made by people in power. I thought President Hoover’s response was a little more aggressive than what many politicians could get away with today. It seems today, politicians always try to justify their decisions and if it causes too much of a fuss, they simply undo them to please their followers and ultimately gain support. Hoover basically said, “That’s great you disagree, too bad it’s not your job to worry about it. The success of the party rests in good government, not patronage.”

Another article I found interesting was an article about two men that were arrested by secret service agents in an incident involving President Hoover. The two men had parked their car on railroad tracks in hopes of collecting damages from the rail company. Unfortunately for them, the train was transporting the President of the United States that day and came to a stop before hitting the vehicle. This article dated the issue for many reasons. First, the president would never travel on any form of public transportation today, let alone a train. You will never see Obama jump on a Frontier Airlines red eye while touring the country. Secondly, the two men who were arrested happened to be Black, but the article used the term “negroes.” That vernacular has not been accepted since the Civil Rights movement and any news article today with that term in it would be attacked for being racist the minute it was printed.

One article did address the Stock Market crash in the business and finance section. The Article was entitled Bankers v. Panic. The article started out by explaining where two or three Wall Street big wigs were the day of the crash, citing one that was honeymooning in Honolulu. In narrative fashion, the article set the scene of the New York Stock Exchange on that day saying, “For so many months so many people had saved money and borrowed money and borrowed on their borrowings to possess themselves of the little pieces of paper by virtue of which they became partners in U.S. Industry. Now they were trying to get rid of them even more frantically than they had tried to get them.” It then talked about specific companies whose stocks dropped from 190 points to around 50 in two days. Some companies went up however, and sounded familiar because they are still around today. These included General Electric, Montgomery Ward, and AT&T. It mentioned also that it was so frantic because even with a large amount of shares for sale, you still have to have someone to buy them but confidence was so low, no one wanted to. This all sounded strangely familiar to the recession that began in 2008. Irresponsible borrowing, companies not managing money well, and a sudden lack in confidence on both a domestic and international scale led to a sharp drop in our nation’s economy. A select few companies survived because they were “bailed out” but even more failed. The scale of money lost was very indicative of the time period in which this issue was written. It mentioned losses on the scale of tens of millions of dollars, in the recession of 2008, billions of dollars were lost in some instances. And the national debt spiked by trillions.

The ads were very interesting in this issue as well. Today’s magazine ads usually consist of a well designed image of either a product or a person and it is always picture perfect. The cars in adds are always shiny and new (even the trucks driving through mud hauling two tons of rock) and the people are always attractive models or celebrities that do not accurately represent the target audience at all. The ads in this issue almost looked like articles to me. I am used to the majority of the ad consisting of a visually striking image and a few words then a company logo or slogan. These ads were made up of a smaller picture and then a lot of words, almost a half page in some cases. The words were almost like a complete product description and even talked about the cost of the product and why it was better than certain competitors.

One of the funnier ads I found was an ad for Listerine shaving cream. The headline said “Your beard equals one hair 5/8 inch thick.” It then proceeded to give you the math. It explained how thick an individual whisker is, and how many square inches of hair are on your face which is why dermatologists recommend “before you scrape, lubricate!” It then broke down the cost by dividing the cost of one bottle by the number of uses you get out of it and how long it will last you. The majority of the ads were obviously targeting men. There were several ads for shaving cream which were very different from today’s in which some good looking guy with his shirt off is shaving. These showed average, everyday, balding men using the shaving cream. There were several ads about industrial advances and energy and gas companies. Investment companies also advertised a lot too, which I thought was interesting in light of the stock market crash. All of the pictures, whether it was a picture in an ad or featured in an article, were of men. The only pictures of women were in the “Movies” and “Theater” section, probably to cater to a largely male audience. Some things never change. In the back there were several pages of classified ads for everything from cruise trips to dental cream. These were fun to read because some of the science behind new products that at that time were state of the art is now outdated.

Overall, the issue was very interesting to read. Time lived up to its name in capturing the events going on in that era. It depicted a world that to me was remarkably similar to ours today, just a few decades behind. Some central themes I saw were progress in industry, political conflicts, and personal entitlement. As a national magazine written in a time when national pride was relatively high, many pages were dedicated to pointing out just how much our society was advancing in every industry. Also, on the heels of WWI and during prohibition, the political arena was pretty heated. This is really similar to today except that we face different issues such as War, rising fuel costs, and a whole bunch of social issues. All the ads also carried the undertone that said, “but this, because you owe it to yourself.” That’s also a fairly ubiquitous message in today’s ads. To me the differences in this issue and one you might find today were all superficial; format, technology, advertising techniques, etc. Although these things are a sign of the times”  it showed me that some things are timeless.

Conversation Partner week 1

Last Friday, September 16^th, I met with my conversation partner for the first time. His name was Khadir and he was from Saudi Arabia. When I first started talking to him, I had a little trouble understanding him through his accent, but like anything I got used to it and I was surprised at how good his English actually was. One of the first things I learned about Khadir was that he was 35 years old although he did not look it. He commented saying he has been told he looks younger all the time and that Americans grow up faster. I asked what he meant and he said that American men especially were physically bigger than the men from Saudi Arabia and tended to have more muscle. I thought this was funny because we were meeting in Rickel and countless people on their way to or from a workout had walked by.

After this, the conversation turned to school. I told Khadir about why I chose to come to TCU which is not really that exciting of a story. When I asked him, he said he earned his bachelor’s degree in Business from a University in Saudi Arabia and he came here to improve his English so he could apply to an MBA program. He said he has been here for almost two years now which was impressive because of how good his English was. I asked him if he missed home and if he planned on going back and he said, “Yes, all my family is there and that is my country. I miss it a lot.” I was surprised when he said this not because I doubted he would miss home but rather I think I just had an assumption that everyone that comes to America is trying to make a new life for themselves or get away from some living situation that was not great. I think this is a little indicative of some of the arrogance we can have as Americans. It never occurred to me that while the United States may offer Khadir some great opportunities, his heart was still loyal to his country.

Khadir also wanted to know a little bit about where I was from and what brought me to Texas. I told him all about Colorado and the kinds of things I liked to do there. Also surprising was that he knew people going to school in Ft. Collins because apparently they have a large exchange program with Saudi students from the area he was from. I thought this was great because it showed that Universities seeking to diversify their student body as well as make a reaching impact in the world is a national trend, not just an isolated incident. We then talked about skiing which he had never done and wildlife in Colorado.  The talk turned to Texas and I told him I liked everything about it but the heat, which Khadir said he didn’t have a problem with. I noticed he had a soccer jersey on and we started talking about sports. With my knowledge of soccer limited to what I learn when I play FIFA, I asked if he liked American Football. He said he did, but he still liked playing and watching soccer more.

Talking with Khadir was a great experience. I learned a lot about where he is from and about his life. Beyond that however, I had my eyes opened about some of the attitudes I had about international students that in my opinion reflect our assumptions and arrogance as a nation. I look forward to meeting with him again this week. I plan on going in to our conversation this week with more of a plan. I would really love to get a glimpse of my country through his eyes if possible by seeing what he thinks of certain things and how the United States, Texas, and even TCU are perceived to him and to his country.