Final Essay: Transitions for a Modern Era

     Transitions for a Modern Era
     100 years ago today the first gas station opened in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. This achievement is far more than just an obscure factoid, it’s a remarkable reminder of how far technology has come in a short time. The birth of mass automotive transportation was exactly one century ago, and we now live in a time of supersonic jets, drone missile strikes, and Facebook. The cultivation of large scale communication and information sharing through the development of radio, telephone, television, the internet, and transportation technologies has ushered in a transitional era of cultural visibility and cross pollination that is resulting in the blurring of traditional ideologies. This, along with a widespread movement toward a more secular, humanist society, is making the concept of established rites of passage irrelevant, while promoting exploration of the Self and construction of individual rites of passage.
     Progress towards becoming a fully actualized human being despite the confusion that stems from not having concrete cultural traditions comes in the form of identity cultivation. This process continues for one’s entire life, but it begins at a very young age. In “The Teening of Childhood” Kay Hymnowitz comments on commerical marketing to children: “The media’s ‘liberation’ of children from adults also has the mischievous effect of binding them more closely to the peer group. In turn, the peer group polices its members’ dress and behavior according to rules set by this unrecognized authority (the media).” Hymnowitz highlights one of the most powerful influences on identity establishment in modern society, which is the influence of advertisement and media in our daily lives. For children in particular, tradition and family bonding have taken a backseat to promotional marketing, which instills a false sense of independence in kids in order to fulfill capitalist ulterior motives. This process causes the bypass of a spectacular period of childhood discovery that defines who we will become, and it is one of the pitfalls of the transitional period we find ourselves in now. With information coming at us from different angles all the time from sources with various agendas, it’s nearly impossible not begin identifying oneself by what is presented to us as desirable everywhere we go. This depersonalization of identity formation will continue, but with time we will better understand the effects of mass marketing and be more able to distance ourselves from its influence on individual development.
     One of the most compelling developments that is spurring the transition from localized culture to globalized culture is the improvement and increased availability of communication technology around the world. With the advent of the Internet the free exchange of ideas from long distance has never been so easy, and for the first time in our history we are able to network cultures from across the globe. This is an incredibly powerful tool, but it is also causing complacency and what Robert Bly calls a “sibling society.” He says: “We see what’s coming out the side view mirror. It seems like intimacy; maybe not intimacy as much as proximity; maybe not proximity as much as sameness. Americans who are 20 years old see others who look like them in Bosnia, Greece, China, France, Brazil, Germany, and Russia, wearing the same jeans, listening to the same music, speaking a universal language that computer literacy demands.” Bly asserts that this sameness and feeling of vital connection to peer groups (“siblings”) that exist elsewhere creates a culture of self-satisfied people who are set in their ways and unable to escape “half-adulthood.” This could be seen as a function of not having established rites of passage, but it is more a crisis personal identity than yearning for cultural structure. In Bly’s example for instance, people from all over the world may be wearing the same clothes and listening to the same music, but that doesn’t mean that you can standardize what it means to become a fully actualized adult for them. Societal rigidity in the form of established rites of passage are no longer effective in preparing people for adulthood because the lines between cultures have been blurred by the dissemination of information on the Internet and other communication mediums.
     We are at the center of a massive shift in the way humanity organizes itself, and such a transitional time comes with difficulties. Much of the social unrest of the last hundred years has stemmed from a communication breakdown during changing times, often with one side taking a more progressive stance and the other side defending what is considered acceptable. As established rites of passage become more irrelevant and self-discovery becomes paramount, conflicts over ideology should become less severe due to a greater level of understanding and open-mindedness that has been promoted by more effective ways of communicating. Society may be suffering some now, but the improvement and increased availability of ways to exchange ideas will result in a much more peaceful, understanding world.
     Holding on to ideas that expect cookie-cutter remedies, the medical industry in the West has failed to adapt to the changing times. Over diagnosis of personality disorders and immoderate prescription of powerful mood-altering drugs has left little room for argument about the value of truly individualized medicine, which is few and far between these days. Melvin Urofsky provides two powerful examples of the depersonalization and down right disrespect that the medical industry can display in “Two Scenes From A Hospital.” Urofsky tells the story of Rocco Musolino who, after suffering a series of heart attacks, was kept alive by machine for 102 days after explicitly stating that he did not want to die that way in his will. His tale is one of doctors playing God and thinking that they always know what’s in a patient’s best interest, which is certainly not the case when they are ignoring precisely what the patient has legally stated they want. Dealing with issues of death causes one to examine what it means to die and feel at peace with death, which will always be different for each individual. Urofsky’s story is sad because Musolino was cheated out of the greatest rite of passage in life: the passage into death. This is an extremely personal journey, and the preparation for leaving the Earthly realm shouldn’t involve doctors telling you what you can and cannot do. Everyone has the right to live a healthful life and die in whatever way is most comfortable to them, but when outside opinions and ideas are introduced the entire situation is no longer a journey of personal transition, but a morbid power grab to impose one individual’s beliefs on another in their weakest moment.
     The value of rites of passage cannot be overstated, but modern times call for modern solutions, and it is clear that the methods of implementation for these rites in the past will no longer work in the digital age. Broad generalizations and conventional wisdom no longer apply in a society where the each individual is valued for the uniqueness and ability to defy convention. This type of society will foster far-reaching cultural growth and result in a period of unprecedented innovation that will align with technology’s rapid evolution to promote a dynamic society unlike anything humanity has ever established before. The progression from the transitional phase we find ourselves in now, and the endgame of a truly globalized culture will not be an easy one. The creation of new communication technology and the movement toward a more humanist society that values individualism and innovation over bland conformism will continue to make established rites of passage irrelevant, until it is an archaic idea all together. Modern society will embrace personality and promote everyone to find their own way, so that together we can overcome the exclusionist ideologies of the past and enter a new era of global culture and mutual respect.

Research Paper Reflection

     Research papers have consistently been my least favorite assignments throughout my time in school. I assumed that it was simply because they were “hard,” and required too much effort to ever be enjoyable. While I’m not going to bullshit you and say that this research paper was a walk in the park, but for the first time I feel like I appreciated the challenge rather than resenting it.
      This is almost certainly related to subject that I chose to write about; having something interesting to research makes it a lot easier to find enjoyment writing a paper and feel engaged while doing so. I originally intended on researching South American Ayahuasca ceremonies and writing about that, but I had trouble finding enough reliable research on the topic. Disappointed, I decided something music related was my next best option, and with rites of passage in mind, punk seemed like a natural choice. I found a lot of very cool information about the various facets of punk culture, but connecting it to rites of passage was surprisingly difficult at first. I took the idea of punk as a personal rite of passage and harped on that for a while, but it felt like there was something bigger that I was missing. Punk as a cultural paradigm shift for the West made sense, but justifying it meant a massive amount of research about every aspect of punk and how to relate that to a broader idea of macro individualism.
     Formulating a thesis from there was the biggest challenge of the paper. I had an idea for what I wanted to say, but wording it was tough. After going through a few drafts, I felt like my thesis needed to be more specific, so I directly related the promotion of individualism to the small details of punk culture, such as specific song lyrics, films, clothing, and dance. This allowed me to focus on small scale ideas for the body of the paper,  which I then related to the larger idea of rites of passage in my conclusion and a little bit at the end of each body paragraph to reinforce the relevancy of my points.
     Reflecting on these ideas was actually very enjoyable; I didn’t know a ton about punk prior to this paper, and the constant reflection on these specific examples gave me a great primer in punk ideology. I managed to stick to my thesis relatively well despite having a few moments of revision within the body of my paper to make sure it related to rites of passage as well as I could. It was difficult taking on such a broad topic, but I think that focusing on a few specific examples was the best way of going about it. I consistently found so much material that I wanted to comment on, and I had to rein in my ideas during the reflection on my research because I could have spent hours and hours going through everything I found.
     The writing of it.. Introductions are always the most difficult point in papers for me, and if I don’t have a good intro I cannot feel comfortable writing the paper. I drafted the first paragraph a few times, but the first few attempts made some generalizations and assertions that I didn’t feel comfortable with, so I found that pairing down what I originally had was my best bet. I wrote from what I already knew about the subject, but tried to back up my claims and assertions with cited evidence from the multitude of sources I consulted. The conclusion was also fairly difficult because that’s where I tie my ideas back to rites of passage, and this crucial point required a lot of thought. I remained as general as I could while trying to use my specific examples from the body to reinforce the idea of punk as cultural rite of passage.
     Overall this was a really awesome assignment. I’m being real with you, too. I enjoyed the process of researching this subject (as much as one can enjoy research as a college freshman, I guess), and while the writing of it was trying and difficult at times, I think I came out a stronger writer for it. I also learned a ton about punk rock while knocking out a Lang 120 assignment, so hell ya about that.

Visual Reflection

My candle burns at both ends;

   It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

   It gives a lovely light!

-Edna St. Vincent Milay

Somehow Relevant Quote

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

But I don't, I don't know what that will be
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

What's my name, what's my station, oh, just tell me what I should do
I don't need to be kind to the armies of night that would do such injustice to you
Or bow down and be grateful and say "sure, take all that you see"
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls and determine my future for me

Memoria Excerpt

I

I think it was the absurdity of it that first caught my attention: an infant greedily reaching toward a dollar bill on a fishhook. But after stopping to give it a second look the layers of meaning began to unfold for me. The child's vacant stare told the tale of someone misplaced, lost, expected to chase the unattainable and be grateful for the opportunity. Tales I knew. Tales I had been living ever since my parents split up. So much came from that diminutive piece of cover art, which was made even more extraordinary considering its location amongst the sea of bright colors and images that constituted the CD isle at Super Target. I was there to spend my own money on music for the first time, and there seemed no better purchase than this one, with the naked baby and wavy black letters spelling "Nevermind" in the left corner.

Personal Narrative: "Memoria"

“Memoria” I think it was the absurdity of it that first caught my attention: an infant greedily reaching toward a dollar bill on a fishhook. But after stopping to give it a second look the layers of meaning began to unfold for me. The child's vacant stare told the tale of someone misplaced, lost, expected to chase the unattainable and be grateful for the opportunity. Tales I knew. Tales I had been living ever since my parents split up. So much came from that diminutive piece of cover art, which was made more extraordinary considering its location amongst the sea of bright colors and images that constituted the CD isle at Super Target. I was there to spend my own money on music for the first time, and there seemed no better purchase than this one, with the naked baby and wavy black letters spelling "Nevermind" in the left corner. I insisted on listening to my new CD on the car ride back home, but to my disappointment the first two tracks didn't immediately jump out to me. I skipped past to track three, which the liner notes told me was called "Come As You Are." I recognized the washy intro guitar lick and quickly realized that I had heard this song before; it was one of the songs my sister Emily would play in her room. She always played her music loud, but she made sure that this one in particular shook the entire second floor every time it came on. We were very close as kids, but she'd been having a really hard time since my parents got divorced earlier that year, and she didn't try to hide how she felt. I remember going to the hospital with my dad to pick her up one day and being so confused by why someone would want to shave their wrists, and more so, how they could cut themselves so badly in the process. She was very obviously upset, and that confused me because I still didn't know what to do with my own feelings. I was only eight, and my sadness had manifested itself in anxiety and depression that would continue well into my adolescent years. Having never felt this way before, though, I kept my feelings bottled up, hidden from everyone, the exact opposite of the approach my sister had taken. Naturally I was worried about her, and when I heard this song that she loved so much, I felt a new appreciation for what she was going through. It was my only link to her in a time when she alienated herself from everyone in my family. Even the repeated chorus lyric "Memoria" sounded like "Emily" to my young ears, and it being followed by "And I swear that I don't have a gun" made the song all the more poignant. This initial emotional connection set the tone for the entire album as I began to dig through it, confident that I had just discovered something important. After a day or so of only listening to "Come As You Are" I decided to go back and give track one a try. I was originally put off by the loud intro section and didn't give the song a chance past the fifteen-second mark, but once I listened further, I was entranced. The quiet part that followed the intro really excited me, even though the lyrics didn't make a damn bit of sense. Kurt Cobain's disaffected yowl was unlike anything I'd ever heard; his dynamic range, going from quite mumbles to blood curdling, passionate screaming, was awe inspiring for an eight year old kid who grew up on the Spice Girls. This was a harder edged sound than I was used to, but it had enough pop charm to still get stuck in my head. The song was called "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and for the first time in my life just hearing the song didn't feel like enough. I wanted to play the song. My mom had found a guitar at work, and after a week of futzing around trying to tune the thing, I finally managed to wrap my little hands around the chords for the intro. I was so excited and proud, emotions I hadn't felt in months. I practiced that intro part for a long time trying to get it right, and then worked on the simple, two note verse section. It seemed easy enough that I could go a little further and even try to sing while I played. This proved much more difficult than I thought, but it got me started playing guitar and singing, and today playing music and writing songs is the most important aspect of my life and my greatest passion. Nearly everything I do involves music in some way, and I don't know if that'd be the case if I hadn't discovered Nevermind. Every single song on this record affected me in different, highly significant ways, but the album closer "Something In The Way" was by far the most relevant and moving during this period of my life. The depression that had started after my parents split up was very inwardly focused; I blamed myself for a lot of what happened and I had really low self-esteem because of it. I developed pretty serious abandonment issues, making it hard to "share" friends with other people and causing a lot of personal turmoil and anxiety. "Something In The Way" is Kurt Cobain's semi-autobiographical account of someone living under a bridge, surviving off of what he can catch and the "drippings from (his) ceiling." While I was obviously not living under a bridge or catching my own food, I had become despondent and felt completely alone. I used escapism through video games to avoid dealing with my emotions and let them fester for years. They didn't go away as I had hoped they would which caused my adolescent years to be a bit hellish, but even worse, it stunted my emotional development in a way that made it difficult to ever let people know how I really felt. All along though, I listened to this song and felt a kindred spirit in the subject; I've always been able to perfectly picture myself underneath that bridge with him, holding on to what little pleasure that I have while trying to confront the daunting troubles before me. This all sounds a little melodramatic, but never in my life has an album affected me as much as Nevermind. It helped me through one of the hardest times of my life and introduced me to music as a serious art form. Never before had I appreciated songs like I did after hearing that record for the first time, and from there I developed a lifelong love and passion for everything musical. Through finding Nirvana I discovered countless other bands and artist who have shaped me as a person and made me who I am today. I will never forget the lasting effect Nevermind has had on me, and I know that it has affected many others in their own unique ways. Such is the power of music!

Critical Analysis: Letting It Out

Letting It Out: The Effect of Music Therapy on Bereaved Young People . Music is an undeniably powerful emotional tool; whether conscious of it or not, humans have been producing sounds as an expression of their most intimate feelings for thousands of years. Given the ubiquity of music in daily societal life, it’s possible to lose sight of its profound ability to affect human emotions on a deep, personal level. In her article “Tipping The Scales: A Substantive Theory On The Value Of Group Music Therapy For Supporting Grieving Teenagers,” Katrina McFerran details her study on the effects of group music therapy with bereaved teenagers. McFerran witnessed the dramatic benefits music therapy could bestow on grieving teens first hand. After spending years working with young people who lost loved ones to cancer, she felt that further research was required to ensure that her therapy provided the creative support the teens needed (McFerran 2). The studies she conducted, detailed within the article, provide compelling evidence for the positive effect music therapy can have on the psychological welfare of grieving teens. This particular study is quite interesting due to its adherence to a systematic methodology known as grounded theory, in which the first step of the scientific process is data collection and a theory is extrapolated later on based upon the observations (Strauss qtd. In McFerran, 2010, p.14). McFerran’s assertion that this is the best method for evaluating the potential effects of music therapy on the teens is sound given the qualitative nature of the study and the fact that the grounded theory approach allows for objective data gathering, without the bias of an expected result. Instead of a preliminary hypothesis McFerran poses the question “What is the experience of group music therapy for these six younger bereaved adolescents?” (McFerran 2) which is open-ended, allowing for any potential outcome rather than searching for one in particular. She continues to expand upon her original question until, after all the data is collected and organized, she proposes her theory: “Bereaved teenagers feel better if they have opportunities for fun and creative expression of their grief alongside their peers” (McFerran 22). Her process of moving from a vague original question to a directly focused theory is an incredibly effective structure for developing an impartial theory based solely on the data collection. McFerran’s study was conducted using two groups of students at an Australian middle school. Group one had a majority of male students with an average age of 14, while group two had a majority of girl students with an average age of 13. McFerran employs three methods of music therapy with each group: improvisation, song sharing, and song writing. “Group one did not engage in the improvisation, while group two embraced the idea of playing together on instruments and performed themed improvisations based on emotions such as ‘Calm,’ ‘Sad,’ ‘Angry’” (McFerran 11). This instance affirms McFerran’s decision to structure the study so two-sidedly, highlighting the divergent opinions of the different groups. The contrasting opinions, characterized by group one’s refusal to try the improvisation, demonstrate that all music therapy approaches will not work every time, and in some cases a specific activity can be beneficial to one group, while frustrating and counter intuitive to another. On the other hand, both groups welcomed song sharing and “discussion of preferred songs was lively and passionate, with each individual actively nominating significant songs” (McFerran 12). Interestingly, a CD of “grief songs” was compiled by the therapist and made available to both groups, which used them as reference points during music selection. This is one of the only potential biasing factors in McFerran’s study, and it is unclear if this had any influential effect on the subjects. According to McFerran, song writing seemed to have the most grief processing potential for the groups, and although there was an initial lack of focus, once the group decided to write a song, they stayed with the chosen topic all the way through musical development (McFerran12). Group sessions after song writing were more comfortable, with greater participation and openness. Beyond these experiments, McFerran also interviews the students in small groups and utilizes many references to past studies and relevant literature to support her interpretation of the data. Katrina McFerran is a senior lecturer at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Her study is intended to reach a scholarly audience of music educators, researchers, and psychologists. Given its publication in Qualitative Inquiries in Music Therapy the study could reach a larger audience of healthcare specialists and therapists as well. The article was published in 2010, which makes sense because music therapy is a fairly new field. McFerran’s style is key when talking about how she addresses her audience. McFerran’s tone is very calculated; she assures reliability with an in-depth statistical analysis of her study, addressing any potential flaws or areas that could be improved. There isn’t much in the way of vivid language, but what the study lacks in imagery it makes up for in specificity and detail. McFerran says “I do not believe that music therapists apply techniques in a prescriptive way, instead drawing on their professional knowledge in creative and improvised ways that belies their slightly rebellious personalities, with one study of music therapists identifying traits very similar to rock musicians,” (McFerran 23). This is telling of her tone given that she is working with teenagers, who would find a rock star comparison to be very engaging. She writes in a way that is clear and academic, yet she uses simple metaphors and turns of phrase to make her ideas more relevant and understandable for a wider audience. McFerran’s study pertains to the field of psychology, therapy, and healthcare and it follows that her work would be formatted as a typical research study in a scientific field. She goes through the process of collecting data and narrowing her results down through axial coding to get a better sense of what the information meant (McFerran 16). Using grounded theory, McFerran moves from her general questions about the potential benefits of music therapy on these teens, to her data gathering, then on to the establishment of a theory based on the data. McFerran’s results provide evidence that music therapy can benefit grieving teens. Upon reviewing the personal and group interviews with the teenagers, it is clear that the music therapy had been beneficial to almost all of the teens. While every approach didn’t work perfectly, some aspect of the therapy was helpful to all of the teens involved in the study. These results gives credibility to the idea that music therapy will become more widely implemented form of healthy coping for those grieving the loss of a loved one