Generation X, Y, Z...

At work today I was talking to my boss about going on the trip to Kenya to work in the local schools. I went my senior year of high school but haven't been able to go back because it is a two week trip and I can't take two weeks off of college. However, my friend is doing this. The reason she can is because she is taking all online classes but one, so she can do that class while in Kenya. My boss was amazed that between his generation and mine how much technology has become a huge part of our schooling and education.

Generations are very interesting in the fact that every generation has their own identity. The definition of who fits into what generation is not completely understood, but whatever one I am placed in I am apart of the overall identity. For instance the generation that I consider myself to be in is known for being very technologically advanced. My grandpa's generation was known for being very hard workers.

In The Selves we Live By, Reisman talks about how as societies change mostly in size, it creates a social environment that produces a predominant character type that dominate the social scene. This could also have to do with the identity of the generation. The whole generation usually grows up in a similar national environment. This national environment can effect how individuals in the generation see themselves and those around them.

The difference in generation's identities may also have an affect on the negative stereotype the younger generation has. I have heard old people say "All you youngins don't care enough, when I was in college we protested this and that". I think we still are active in our community (maybe not as much, but still) but through a different medium. We unite people and protest over facebook not in the streets in front of Mary Sue's house.

Different identities for different generations is a known subject, however when different generations are compared I never hear about how the national environment has caused one generation to behave like this and another generation to behave like that. I find that very interesting.

Identity of a Soldier

At work over the weekend, I met a young man who was trying to regain truck control and stability as well as work on upper extremity strength in case he was never able to walk again. He was a soldier from Afghanistan, who was blown up. He was only 20 years old. He was telling me that even though he was hurt so badly he has a 60% chance of walking again so he is required to finish. He has three years left.

He was telling me how his whole perspective on the world has changed yet he will be required to be the same person he was before the accident. He was proud to serve his country and his family but now he is anxious about going back and not sure he wants to.

Can identity voluntary change? I don't think we have the ability to say "I want to be smarter and more outgoing". In this case how is the military going to help this soldier so he is ready to go back over seas and have the same fearlessness and pride to be fighting for his country?

I guess I am just confused as to how the military requires this. I am not very knowledgeable about the military and its workings so if anyone knows please let me know. Since meeting him I have become very interested because I don't believe he should have to go back to Afghanistan. Couldn't he just work somewhere in the U.S.?

Why should people with Alzheimer's try to maintain their old identity?

I searched "Alzheimer patients in home care" in Google and this picture was on the first results page. I thought PERFECT!! This is obviously a couple who has got to extend their life together because one of them has Alzheimer's and they are receiving home care. Perfect for my paper. I clicked on the picture and it brought me to the picture along with the article it was posted with.

The article was about Supereme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her husband who have been married for 57 years. Her husband has Alzheimer's and lives in a residential care facility. He has found a new girlfriend in his RCF, yet he is still married to Sandra Day O'Connor. His son is quoted saying his father acts like a teenager in love.

People with Alzheimer's have no choice but to give into the diesease that is taking their memory and messing with their Brian. Sandra Day O'Connor's husband doesn't remember he has a wife but he knows he is in love with this new woman he met.

In my paper I argued for home care not RCFs because it is easier for the person with Alzheimer's to maintain their identity. During my inquiry phase I never encountered any information or questioned myself whether it matters if the person maintains their identity and therotetically their past. I feel like I may be researching a moot point. As long as the person with Alzheiemer's is happy isn't that all that matters?

My roommate actually told me a story about her Mom's Grandma who had Alzheimer's and would forget to put clothes on and would go garden naked or eat dinner on her porch naked. She was so happy though and when someone told her she wasn't wearing clothes she didn't care. My roommate's mother said she had never seen her grandma so happy. I feel like I was just making my argument before out of selfish reasons for being the family of a person with Alzheimer's and not for the person with Alzheimer's.

This must be the week for second guessing. Not only am I second guessing what I am doing with my life and why I'm at Michigan, but also my topic that I have chosen for the semester. My topic is comparing home care to residential care facilities on the topic of identity of Alzheimer's patients. I know I am supposed to say people with Alzheimer's, but really there is only so many times you can type that without going crazy.

During the inquiry phase I was so overwhelmed with the amount of information and I had thought I really picked a great topic. I did, don't get me wrong. However, I am sick of reading, writing, and thinking about home care and RCFs and how they affect someone's identity. Do I even believe what I'm writing? I don't really believe identity is composed of just the environment and interactions one is in. I don't believe one solution solves all. It all depends on something else, nothing is static.

The hardest part for me is trying to make my paper interesting and through provoking when I am not even interested in writing it.

I started thinking about Brett and how she is getting her masters or PHD in rhetoric. That made me feel a little better (no offense Brett) because my topic could be a lot worse (rhetoric) and I could have to read, write, think, eat, breath it for a few years. Now I know that I probably don't want to work in a RCF or as a home care aide.

After my convincing paper is in on Wednesday and my physics exam is over on Thursday. I am relaxing.

Connections

In class on Wednesday I started talking to Andrew. We figured out that we had graduated from the same high school, Pioneer. It was a funny realization because we both felt bad because we hadn't known each other before this class. As it turns out though we didn't even go there during the same time. He graduated in 2006 and I graduated in 2007 but I only went to Pioneer for my senior year (2006-2007). However, his Dad happens to be one of the most well known people at Pioneer. The swim coach. Pioneer is known for always having amazing aquatics programs. Although I only went to Pioneer I heard of Dennis Hill and how amazing he was.

The point of this story was, I love finding connections with people. Even if the connection is small such as we have the same major or we have a mutual friend. I believe it changes the way we perceive the other person. It changes the situation the two people are interacting in, usually for the better but not always. Thats one of the reasons I love this class. Don't get me wrong I am not a fan of writing or rhetoric but brett allows us to find connections not only with each other but in our work. We never have to write about something that doesn't interest us because we got to pick our subjects. But our small groups give us the time to connect to each other.

Just a thought I had during class on Wednesday.

Heritage and Identity

There was an article in the Week magazine a long time ago about this guy who was suing the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey for a suspension from school because during a cultural diversity class he claimed he was a white African-American. Both his fellow students and his professor found it offensive that he would call himself African-American when he was white. However, he was born in Mozambique and change his citizenship to the U.S. when he was older.

I don't know how the law suit ended up but I can just assume that the student won. Or let me rephrase that, I hope the student won.

I don't call myself Scottish-American so why do we label black people as African-American. They may not have even been born in Africa but their parents were. Doesn't that make them just American?

This happens not only to black people. But also people of Asian and Latin descent. If someone is Asian we call them Asian-American even though they were born in the U.S. Because we see them as different than just American do they feel like allegiance towards the U.S.? Do they even feel American?

I just thought this was an interesting article. Let me know what you think.

Conflicting Identities

Over fall break I went to Ithaca, NY to visit my boyfriend Bryan. My train leaves Toledo at 3:50am and since my parents live in Ann Arbor my Dad always drives me. When returning to Ann Arbor my train gets in at 6:00 am and my Dad comes back to pick me up. This trip was a little unexpected because I wasn't planning on going but I have been planning on going to Ithaca for Halloween.

On the way back from Toledo this morning with my Dad, who is a very calm and humerus guy, I brought up our ideas for Halloween costumes. I tell my dad the ideas, Toy Story characters, Mariachi Band, and an Old Lady and all of her cats, and all of a sudden he goes. YOU WILL NOT GO BACK FOR HALLOWEEN. YOUR IDENTITY AS A GIRLFRIEND IS OUTWEIGHING YOUR IDENTITY AND RESPONSIBILITY AS A STUDENT AND I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS. The last time I heard my dad yell at me was when I was in middle school and he was using words I didn't even know the meaning to and I just laughed and he started laughing and life was good. So, taking up a similar strategy I just started laughing. Needless to say that didn't go over well and I was told if I was going to ever go back to Ithaca I had to find my own transportation to and from Toledo because he was no longer going to condone me visiting him all the time (All the time being this was my first time this semester).

After thinking about this all day I started feeling guilty about wanting to be with my boyfriend. I have decided though that my identities have not changed. I have always been a student and continue to be a student and I have been a girlfriend and will (hopefully) continue to be a girlfriend. I think what my dad meant to say was my priorities in my identity have rearranged.

I have never been a fan of school but doing well in school has always been a huge deal to me. I used to cry if I got B's and I didn't get my first B until my second semester of my freshman year of college. The more I live and learn the more I think that school means less and less to me. Unfortunately it is the only way to get where I want to go (I want to be a doctor). My first couple of years I studied all the time and never really did anything fun with friends I was never that happy of a person either.

Being happy is a huge thing for me. At the beginning of this year I decided I was going to purposefully do things that I love and enjoy. One of them may be that its okay to get a B in a class if that means that I have more time to enjoy my friends or boyfriend. I don't want to get to the point where I feel like dropping my student identity completely but I think it is natural and okay to prioritize my identities depending my life. Being a student my life is in constant flux, which may mean my identities are in constant flux as well. As of right now my identity as a girlfriend is super important to me and it makes me happy to be with him so I am going to go visit him for Halloween but this doesn't mean that I don't still strongly care about school or that being a student isn't who I am anymore.