Sunday, December 21, 2008

Reflections on POP 205


The last four months have been interesting, to say the least. Perhaps I’ll recount the many wonderful adventures that occurred during that time, but not now. I discovered some rather humorous asides in the margins of my Survey of Popular Culture notes: which proved distracting while studying. You see, I’m not like the majority of individuals in the world. I actually enjoy learning things. Shocking? I know. Take a moment to gather yourself. I’ll wait… So instead of just taking the barebones, slide by with a C minus, kind of notes, I write down everything (especially if its amusing). So here are some of the seemingly random observations/facts garnered from a particularly provocative course.

· There’s a girl sitting close to the front whose, no joke, holding her hair back with a ribbon tied up in a bow. Really honey? It’s large enough to catch my attention from the middle of this sizeable auditorium. You look like you’re in grade school.

· Apparently 5th grade social studies books, about our country, begin page one with The Pledge of Allegiance and a picture of George W. Bush… gross.

· T-shirt Logic, taken from a girl two rows in front of me: Keep it simple! Do it well! Do it often! Someone is really excited about mediocrity.

· Ronald Reagan once pointed to a homeless man on the street and said something to the effect of, “Look at that man exercising his right to freedom.” Wow.

· Farmers and factory workers are different.

· Professor Kuwahara share secret of good grades: read assigned material once before class, once after, and again before the test. “Try it. If it doesn’t work, don’t do it again.”

· The Cat in the Hat was found too fun for education by the Iowa educators who commissioned it.

· There is a cute blonde who, out of boredom, seems to be spinning a half full water bottle on its cap. To what end? One can not say for sure.

· I tend to prefer politically correct terms over their counterparts: illegal immigrants versus non-documented aliens, guess which is which.

· I’ve found a new phrase that grates my very being: Cracker-barrel Philosopher.

· The ratio of men to women in this class is a little less than 1:6. One of these girls is keeping busy during the lecture by coloring in a Beauty and the Beast coloring book. I wonder what the ratio of freshmen to upperclassmen is.

· McDonalds is at the top of the fast-food hierarchy. It is followed by Burger King, whose total gross can barely average to 50% of what McDonalds generates. Who knew?

· The city of Detroit may have taken extreme and shady measures to insure the automobiles became the national standard for transportation.

· George Washington was a gold digger? He married the older Martha for the money. Also, Abraham Lincoln kept his pornography collection in the White House. Yeah, you read that right.

· Jim Morrison was a very interesting guy.

· Popular media started the cooptation of Rap music by mentioning, every chance they got, that the Beastie Boys were Jewish (which meant safe and white). Unbelievable.

· Look up the failed television cop drama/musical Cop Rock for a good long laugh.