The infamous "culture collage"
When I was in Oaxaca, one of our first assignments was to use construction paper and craft supplies to make a "culture collage" about the "culture of our family." After spending the whole afternoon and evening making snide remarks about the project... (I think "culture" is not only overused, but subtly connotes that you can't question anyone else's culture- it's hard to explain, but it's the same thing that bothers me about "multiple intelligences"- just because someone else has a different [culture/intelligence] than you doesn't mean that yours is better.) (And besides, using construction paper to make a show and tell object about your family is *so* kindergarten. I skipped kindergarten.) ...I made a collage of our wood stove.
Most other collages depicted people, or at least complex scenes; mine was the only one with one object. Three of the presentations devolved into crying and hugging. I actually enjoyed hearing the rest of the stories about the families of my fellow students, all of whom I had just met a couple of days before. I probably wouldn't have objected so strongly to the assignment if it was called "tell about your family" rather than "make a culture collage."
Anyway, the wood stove is the perfect symbol of my family, simultaneously embodying cheapness, do-it-yourself spirit, and enforced togetherness (only the living room was warm enough to live in, so we all spent all our time there.) That's what my family is all about.
Unfortunately, I'm not really sure how to live in the 99.99% of American houses that are not heated by woodstoves. It changes the whole social dynamic. The Simmons use almost all of the spaces in their house *except* the living room. It has a TV, but it's really cold, and rather pristine, with no inviting piles of catalogs to look through. So basically, there's nothing to draw me there. Reed actually does his homework upstairs in his bedroom, and I (or his parents) would really have no idea if he was playing Halo instead of doing homework. That's what made me think of this.
Mmm, I can feel my vocabulary returning... I just read two books in two weeks.
posted by karenlikescereal @ 8:51 p. m.
4 Comments:
I like it when you have snow days. I mean I HATE you jealously, but I love that it means there will be at least two, if not three or four posts, to entertain me as I slog through work.
Along the same lines as hating culture and multiple intelligences, we just had this visiting speaker on autism come to campus and during my psych club dinner with her she tried to convince me that being autistic was not "problematic" but rather just "seeing the world from a different perspective."
She went on to tell me that while her 8 year old son can only say 12 short phrases and lacks the ability to dress himself, he can read and comprehend Shakespeare. Reading Shakespeare and seeing the world from a different perspective is apparently supposed to outweigh the fact that this kid will never be self-sufficient. I define this as a problem. She defines this as "different." I think she has definitely blurred the line between objective researcher and fanatic parent.
-Andrea
How does she know he comprehends Shakespeare if he can only say 12 short phrases? "Me want cookie." "To be or not to be."
Apparently he can type well-composed masterpieces but he just can't *talk.* However, if he has severe motor problems that prevent him from doing simple things like zipping up his pants, then I have major doubts about his ability to type. And he only uses one finger which must mean it takes AGES even if he does. One of the psych profs and I think his mom holds his hand and does a little guiding (read: "types FOR him") when he does his Shakespeare responses. It was terrible - I had to be polite and reverant through this whole dinner while she went on and on about the wonder of her amazing son...blah...blah...blah...
I had a similar situation. On my study abroad in Ireland, one of our classes was "Family in Irish Society" and our first class, we were asked to draw a picture of "family" and explain it. I drew a very simple picture; a house (looked like mine) with two parents, and two kids and a dog, all out on the lawn holding hands.... like a stereotypical drawing a child would make about family.. plain and simple.
But everyone else drew all these complex things about their own family, and it practically turned into a therapy session!
My family has issues too, but I wasn't about to share them with a room full of strangers.. it was a CLASS, not a support group.
~Peter
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