Library Hideout

Without the benefit of a functioning air conditioning system in my dorm, I've taken refuge in the climate-controlled rooms of Butler Undergraduate Library. Thinking that the cool air of the library might help me focus on my studies, I was proven woefully wrong, this blog-post sufficing for evidence. But maybe sounding out some of my thoughts is just what I need to do in order to focus on my studies of the social sciences...

But first I want to tell you about an extremely handy website I just discovered: Posterous! It's basically your online bulletin board, and it's extremely easy to use. Just e-mail something to post@posterous.com and it is instantly uploaded for you. No more complicated logging in and logging out everywhere I need my files. I can't wait to make good use of this site!

Now then, I'm supposed to write this research essay for my prose writing class on the topic of American luxury. The direction I have taken has been dealing with the fantasy of having your every need fulfilled, as seen on luxury cruise ships. Fantasy is clearly a natural human behavior, as described by Tolkien and others, but what makes this fantasy valid? For one, we can talk about escapism(wiki), and the benefits this has for anybody with a stressful life (e.g. all Americans who are daily propelled to work harder by the American desire to earn more and the promise of increased prosperity). Escapism is also useful for people that are in tough situations, like impoverished children in Brooklyn or a degenerate Native American tribe in Alaska (examples from an article by author T.A. Barron). These are compelling reasons why escapist fantasy like a luxury cruise is (in a Utilitarian sense) useful. There is another dynamic with the fantasy that the cruise is presenting, because the cruise experience is not just a fantasy that you or I enjoy, but it is a prepared fantasy that comes complete with its own guide book. I do not think the guide book is problematic, because you are still actively enjoying your fantasy. Thus, all of us with the means to should go enjoy a luxury cruise and forget about this economic recession! (I'm kidding, kind of)

Sources:
Barron, T.A. "We Are What We Imagine." Journal of Youth Services in Libraries: 12(2): 10-12.
Brooks, David. "Why the U.S. Will Always Be Rich." New York Times Magazine: June 9, 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/09/magazine/why-the-us-will-always-be-rich.html.
Mehta, Jigar. "Recap: Fall Fashion Week, New York." New York Times. April 28, 2009. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/20/fashion/1194838010547/recap-fall-fashion-week-new-york.html.
Tolkien, J.R.R. "On Fairy-Stories." Tree & Leaf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965: 3-84.
Wallace, David Foster. "Shipping Out." Harper's: 292(January): 33-56.

A sunny Thursday afternoon

I promise I will talk about something other than the weather, but for now, I'm just amazed at the streak of sunny Thursdays we've had this year. Mother nature seems to understand that at Columbia, Thursday is the new Friday - thanks to the lack of classes on Friday - and thus, it could not be more uplifting to see the streaks emerge through what has otherwise been a cloudy week. And maybe the never-ending weather allegory fits here, as this was a terribly busy and stressful week, but the weekend is looking brighter - literally and figuratively.

Anyhow, I better go play out in the sunshine. I also want to steal a peak at the room I will be living in next year (all by myself :)...

Hello World!

From my dorm room on the 12th floor of Carman Hall, situated on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus, I can usually see the sunset on the Hudson River - beautiful. Today, however, my view is blocked by the storm clouds that have rolled in and terrorized Manhattan with thunder and lightning all evening. This is a not-so-subtle reminder that in just a few weeks I will be returning home to the rainy city and to a pace of life refreshingly slower than what I'm going through now.

The rain in New York is quite different than Seattle. Here, it doesn't rain too often, but when it does, it comes down in buckets. Columbia is locally famous for the treacherous puddles that spring up across campus as the century-old cobblestone floods beneath the perilous drenching from above. This is in stark contrast to the typical Seattle rain that lightly sprinkles your lawn in the morning, and would seem to be the precise reason why the intermittent setting was created for wiper blades.

All of this contemplation of weather was brought upon by reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. In the novel's iconic opening scene, six-year-old James Ramsay's request to go to the lighthouse is denied by his father, who has determined that the trip will be prevented by bad weather. In the first 100 pages, there is a staggering amount of time spent gazing out of the living room window, considering whether the next day's weather will permit the name-sake journey.

All this talk of weather got me thinking about how our perception of weather affects our attitudes and outlook on the future. Just two days ago, it was sunny and 75 here, and everything seemed to be right in the world. Today, however, the rain clouds have come, and with them a sense of (almost) pervading doom. This phenomenon has been generally termed "Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder" by the scientists, and people attempt to counter it by using UV lights that imitate the spectrum of light we would normally see from the sun. I think this is all a bit extreme, but I certainly agree that my spirits are down a bit. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait until Thursday for a chance of sun brakes. Until then, I better get used to the rain -- oh wait, I'm from Seattle.