What Do You Do With a BA in English?

Canada and ish

So I was reading up on the latest Democratic primaries (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/05/07/clinton-obama.html) at a Canadian news site, and some Canuck is like, America is one of the most conservative countries in the world!

Some people are so sheltered. That guy needs a hockey puck in the face. I don't think it's worth expounding too much on why America is not one of the most conservative countries in the world (for proof, just Google image "transvestite" and count how many were pics taken in the Village. Then count how many were taken in Riyadh.) but I just have to get this out of my system before I write back to my Canadian penpal/Facebook friend; he doesn't need to be on the receiving end of my twitchy rage.

Right, so, *growls*, *ROARS!*, *takes deep breath*...

A'ight, I'm good.

Well, maybe not. My mum was watching some secret lives of women show last night (if they're on TV, how are they secret, hmm?) about a woman who escaped a polygamist cult and is now trying to rescue her sister and other people. Obviously these cults are very disturbing and make me wish I'd taken up vigilantism, but they're also very confusing. I think someone like me would have been kicked out for being too obnoxious (as least I hope I would have been). I try to understand how people can go along with it; I say, "Oh, it's understandable if that's all they've been taught," but is it that hard to figure out when you're being mistreated? I guess it is. One of the women on the show didn't try to escape until her husband decided to kill their disabled child. It's funny (sad?) that so many people bitch about how unfair life is, that they have to go to work and wear pantyhose or whatever, and others aren't allowed to show affection for their 15 children but never say anything. Of course out in the "real world"/my world, bitching is sort of encouraged; not only being an individual but shoving your individuality in the faces of anyone unlucky enough to be stuck in an elevator next to you is normal. And naturally our environment influences how we act, what aspects of our personalities we display... but I really hope, and think, based on what a pain in the ass I was as a kid, that there might be a fewer polygamist men who are capable of reproducing, had I been born into a cult. And I'd probably be dead by now, but you know... I just like to think I would have taken a few down with me. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, in a Steven Seagal kind of way.

That kind of sounded wrong. Having thoughts like that is probably one of the many reasons I'm almost always single. But let's not get into that.

Yeah, I just hope I would have been brave enough. I know I could have been - it's the would have you never find out. Now I kind of get why my coworker is going to run with/from the bulls in Pamplona this year. Most of us are never tested or required to do what the woman who escaped from the polygamists did, and still does, even with all the death threats she receives. Most of us, like me and I guess my bull running coworker, Kojo, just don't have those kinds of challenges. So Kojo's gonna go throw himself into a stupid situation to find out, I guess, how he can handle it. I suppose it is important to find out what you're capable of.

Meanwhile, I'm like, you stupid idiot, if you're gonna do it you better start training now! And arrive early and memorize the streets and look for things to climb in case you're cornered, OMG!!!

And also meanwhile, I'm working on stories about girls with superpowers and girls who get tossed into other realms and almost get eaten, etc. I don't know how much excitement I want in my life (boring can be good) but after I do the whole serious pay off loan/take GRE/finish grad school thing, I might need to, I dunno, find a mission, so to speak. I don't think I really want to be Batgirl (I don't think...) but there's just too much crap going on in the world and if one can do something about it, one should (of course, one has to pick a thing or two to work on and there are just too many choices... human trafficking, polygamist cults, poverty, illiteracy...). If I were really brave, I'd be like my friend Bethany and go teach English in Cambodia. Well, I'll do something. Really, I will!

After I answer 50 emails and grade 7 more essays.

Labels: society

posted by ariah @ 10:01 AM