"The Case for Contamination" Appiah

After reading Appiah's article I could not help but realize the effects of Globalization. Truth be told, I never really sat down and thought about the subject much until the article. It was not until after that I had realized how Globalization has caused International societies across the globe to establish a creative closeness.

Major Corporations were the first to come to my mind. In an attempt to make sure their "product" goes global, Corporations have gone multinational, setting up shop all over the world.

For example, McDonalds. A fast food chain that started in middle America some many years ago can now be seen all over the world. With certain tweaks and changes to the menu such as the Indian Maharaja Mac, which is a lamb or chicken substitute to the Big Mac. (Hindu people don't eat beef) or the option to have Beer with your meal in Germany. ''Micky D's'' is one of the largest fast food chains in the world. Along with products and economics, cultures are freely congregating and mixing ideas at a rate that has rapidly increased over recent years.

With a freedom to adapt and take in ideas from other countries and mix match what we already have, I feel that greater opportunities will present themselves in a world that was once upon a time, very Black and White, limiting individuals to what they could and could not do.

Not so intellectual mistake

Working in the beauty service industry, the first incident to come to mind has to do with work. I currently work at a waxing salon as a receptionist, answering phone calls from clients making appointments, or in some cases inquiring about the services we offer. One day, we had a caller ask about some pricing for a bikini wax. We had separate pricing for men and women, and I gave this very feminine caller the womens prices. Pleased with our reasonable prices, Jamie made and appointment for 2:00 that day. Some women have unisex names, Taylor, Francis, you catch my drift?

Well when 2:00 came and Jamie walked in for their appointment, she was definitely a he. Now how in the world was I going to tell this Jamie that I gave him the women price without offending him? Very intellectual .

Wasn't my secret to tell...

Just recently I was informed by my very close childhood friend that he has cancer. We briefly spoke about chemo and treatments before he started to feel very tired. Right as I was leaving him to rest, he made sure to tell me, "Don't tell your cousin". Now, any other request would have been fine. I had no desire to tell his secret to anyone, however my cousin and I are very close, and she just happens to be his ex girlfriend. Because he was at the doctor so often and unknown to us, going through chemo every 2 weeks, we hadn't heard from him much and she had just asked about him. As soon as he told me his situation, she was the first to come to mind. Any other time, I might have felt empowerment knowing that I was the one he had chosen to tell, but this time around, I felt pure guilt. Best friend or my cousin? he had his own reason for not telling her which I agreed with completely, and it was then that I realized there was no reason to rush and tell her.

He has since told her, and luckily she wasn't upset to find that I knew before her. Clearly, the situation was not one to be envious of.

A walk in Gab's shoes...

Gabriel, a self proclaimed "computer geek", and I, the one my family loves to call the "social butterfly" were asked to switch places for 48 hours. As soon as we began interviewing each other, I knew I was in for trouble. Gabriel never listens to the radio, spends most of the day on the internet, but only 20 minutes on facebook. And worst of all, never watches tv.
Because I am a devoted "Keeping up with the Kardashians" viewer and the season finale was on Sunday night, I decided to start on Monday. Because Im in school for the entire day, it was hard to really see the difference. Tuesday, I spend my mornings at home before a 7 hour shift at work. I referred back my interview notes, and realized Gabriel is a music lover. I'd neglected my ipod in the past months so 4-5 hours updating my music would be fun. Because I was so busy looking up music and ripping all of my cd's I didnt even have the time to watch tv or check my facebook. Thanks to Gabriel I had about 24 notifications waiting for me and now need a larger memory for my ipod. Thanks Gab!! :D

News Blackout

After being asked to do a 48 hour news blackout, I must admit, I was the least bit apprehensive. I figured, just dont watch the news, and no newspaper assignments for the week, thats simple. Little did I know, I was in for a rude awakening. I woke up on the first day of my attempt, washed my face, brushed my teeth, ate something... then went to check my email, yahoo news. Hmm, ok facebook... status's and posts all over the place. Blackberry, twitter updates. Seriously? Immediately, I was fully aware that not only was this going to be a very long 48 hours, but completely blocking out all news was going to be damn near impossible.
I took the extra time to help my brother plan his wedding, do some homework, and work. But even at work, clients were practically yelling news at me. Did you hear this? Did you see this? I realized that news is not only what you see on tv, or read, but even the foolish things like, "Brad and Angelina decide they want to adopt a hatian baby to save their relationship" was considered news. I dont want to say that I failed at this attempt, but after 24 hours of the loudest silence, day 2 I had to at least turn on my radio while I drove. ::sigh::

Why do we write things down?

"If you ink it, you think it". The average human brain capacity ranges from 1 to 1000 terabytes. 1 to 1000 is a big difference. If you fall within that population containing 1, you more than likely cant remember a thing. However, if you write things down, your brain doesn't have to work as hard. Because the Human Brain is hardly reliable in every situation, writing things down is the safest way to avoid the wide variety of interpretations of truth and reality. External support is by far, in my opinion, the best reliance. Besides for documentation purposes and records, writing things down is both helpful and a stress reliever. If you write things down, such as your shopping list, or an itinerary, your brain can take in more information, resulting in a less stressful mind. The importance of writing things down is a clearer mind!!