"Remember the Sweet Things"

Over the summer, well for me over the past week, I decided to read a book about the life of Ellen Greene. I usually am not one to sit down and find enjoyment out of a non-fiction book, but as I read her book "Remember the Sweet Things", it seemed just like a fiction book. I fell in love with her style of writing, the joy she found in her life, and everything she did to fulfill her life and live on edge.

Growing up in a small town in the northern part of Wisconsin, Ellen set out for Costa Rica to work on her Spanish degree. Since she was young, wild, and free from her christian home life, Ellen was ready to just have fun and part of that started at a club where she met her first husband, Carlos. She learns that she could do so much better and after a three-year's length of marriage she is back in the states. That is just her first stepping stone in life. Going through numerous men, moving her children, and losing jobs, Ellen finally finds happiness.

Back in the United States Ellen found a man that ended up being everything she ever needed. She found optimism and joy out of everything in her life. That's where her list of "Remember the Sweet Things" came from. Every time Marsh would do something nice, or she found something he did to be caring whether with her, family, or friends, she sould write it down. She figured that if you look at the negatives, you can never find the positives, and so from then on she would write down every positive thing about Marsh and when the time was appropriate she would share those memories.

Ellen had a certain edge to her. Marsh and her would just decide to travel, and so they'd pack some bags and hit the road. Sometimes with a plan, sometimes with nothing planned, just a drive and some stops. They lived in China for three years, traveled the world (well almost the whole world) in a boat, and made their life worth living. Ellen would switch up jobs and help teach English in different countries, and Marsh would work or do things at home.

If anyone were to ask me how I would want to live my life, it would be how Ellen had. She had a husband who adored her and shared the same interests as she did. They loved doing things together and had the "ideal" life. Financially they were always doing fine, but never were huge spenders. When complications came, they didn't fret, just went straight to a solution that they compromised on.

This book was a phenomenol read. Sometimes I had to stop and ask myself, "is this honestly a true story?" All the adventures and stories of what they went through seemed unreal. Along with that I couldn't believe how optimistic and up to anything these two people were. They pleased so many people, and gave so much of themselves, but didn't hesitate to meet their own needs as well. Everything they wanted accomplished was done. It was just incredible to see how she can come from having a life of disaster and pulling herself around and finding the best in everything. It's how everyone should find life, because as Ellen later found out you never know how long you'll have with someone.

The Extremely Long, Confusing Reading by Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft states her opinion in a very peculiar way. I have never read anything like it, maybe because if this weren't assigned I would have never picked it up, or even made it past the first sentence. I hardly understood anything she was talking about. Everything she wrote consisted of words that were far beyond my vocabulary and that created for my understanding to be slim to none, not to mention the style of her writing, it was absurd. I felt that she was just rambling on in a seventeenth century tone, and obviously I couldn't quite figure that out either. Though what I did get out of it was a lot of inequality and the superiority of men over women.

While reading, I became quite intrigued about how Wollstonecraft mentioned her views on how women were set about this earth to "please" men. I'm not exactly positive if that was what she was getting to, but from an early quote in the reading, she wrote "Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be beautiful, every thing else is needles, for, at least, twenty years of their lives." What I got out of this is that if women are beautiful and just act the way they have been taught, then they will "earn" the man's protection. To me, I find that ridiculous. I feel that men and women should work together, even if she doesn't act perfectly. Most importantly, a woman should not have to gain a man's protection or knowledge, she should just have it from the start and they should work together. I guess from my perspective, especially being a female, that's the way I'm going to feel.

Wollstonecraft made it a point to acknowledge her views on the inequality of education. In her article she wrote that "man may only have to proceed, not to begin, the important task of learning to think and reason." Where is the idea that women should recieve a good education too? According to her, women only recieve a "disorderly kind of education." They felt that men needed the education and from that, they decided to educate men from infancy. I'm not exactly sure if that's even right, because like I mentioned before I was completely lost in this reading and had no idea what was being said.

From my understanding, Wollstonecraft had numerous points she was stating, maybe could have been stated in less words, but unfortunately she felt what she had wrote was much needed. I thought it was quite repetitive and wordy. Sometimes it's wise to use large words to make your writing seem more sophisticated, but in her case, I personally believe she went over the top. I know that this is probably one of the worst blogs i've written, but it was too much for me. I thought she made some really good points, and obviously had a strong opinion. I'm sure people back in the day, especially women, got a lot out of this article and maybe even used her for inspiration. She seemed to tell people the straight up truth. I'm sure if I were around back then I would have looked up to her for taking this step and speaking her mind. If Mary were still around today, she would be much happier, but i'm sure she would still have some personal opinions she could shout out to the people.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

On any given day if we want to figure out a quick piece of information, it's easy. All most people do is either reach for their laptop or pick up their phones and "Google". We don't use our own knowledge to figure anything out, we rely on the simplest thing, the internet.

Though the internet is very accessible and quick, Carr points out that because of the internet, "our own intelligence flattens into artificial intelligence." I believe that with our society and the new advances, people aren't as willing to dig deep and think hard for their own answers. What we want is for all the answers to be handed to us, and that is what the internet is giving us. A couple of quick clicks with the mouse, thirty seconds of skimming, and the answer is found. Does that mean we are becoming stupid?

I personally don't believe that it is making us stupid. There are still thousands of people out there who are very intelligent and can create things that people from the past never would have come across.Although that is kind of beyond the point, because as I sit here and think about all the small observations Carr has made about people today, I figured out that I am that person. I found myself going back and forth between facebook, itunes, and blogger. Along with that I can't stay focused on long articles or any type of readings. But is that a direct result from google or the internet? I still can't figure that out.

As our society keeps growing and keeps on modernizing, we aren't ever going to reach back to the traditional ways of life. Almost every household will have a computer, a cell phone, or some sort of electronic device that provides us with quick access to information. We may not be as critical of thinkers, because we aren't forced to use our brains as much as people had to in the past. Carr grew up in a unique time because he was able to watch technology advance the way we live our lives. It's so similar to the ways in which the clock changed the world. No one had set times for anything before the clock came around and now it's what we rely on, and that is what the interenet has become, and as Carr puts it perfectly, "it's becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV".

People have become accustomed to the way the internet has provided us with so much, it might not make us any smarter, but along with that I feel it doesn't make us stupid either. It just is a lazy way for anyone to get out of really using their mind. To some people that might mean that we are becoming stupid, but then again it just depends on the way you interpret it. Google is going to be around for a long time, it's not going away and that might just be the problem, but we won't ever know because the way we live is what we have all become accustomed to.