"This Is How We Live"

    "This Is How We Live" is an article by Ellen DeGeneres and it is my favorite thing that I've had to read in this class so far this semester.  I expected it to be funny because I don't think it's possible for Ellen not to be, and it sure was.  She poked fun of technologies that we use all the time that really are not essential.  I think that we kind of forget that we don't need them and act as if we do.  Most of the technologies she mentioned, I don't even think about.  But, now that she brought it to my attention, I realize that we don't need a lot of them.  For example, when she talks about how all we do is push buttons, even to open our windows in our cars.  Obviously, we don't need this technology, we are just too lazy to use the old fashioned crank windows.  I appreciated the part where she talks about how technology tortures us.  I agree with everything she said in that part of this article.  I feel like she took my thoughts and put them on paper.  CDs and batteries are impossible to open, while I wonder how light bulbs don't break.  I also have never tried to open scissors, but I've seen them packaged in stores and have thought well how the heck do you open them?!  If you're buying scissors, then you don't have scissors to open them with.  I also thought the part about things that don't need to be easier are getting easier.  Public restrooms are so aggravating now.  Toilets and faucets should be controlled by the people using them, not by a timer.  I also really liked the part about cell phone conversations.  That pretty much describes every cell phone call ever, unless you are sitting in a silent room.  I'm glad that we had to read this article because I found it very entertaining!

Practice Observation

    For my practice observation, I chose to observe the Panera Bread drive thru in Walpole.  The drive thru consists of one person making food, one person taking orders and making barista drinks, one person consolidating the orders, and another on the window cashing out the customers.  That's on a rare good day where there is actually a full staff working.  Usually it ends up being one person making food and one to three people doing everything else,  which is not enough people to make things run smoothly when we are busy.  So, the drive thru ends up only being a couple of people running around all stressed out with twelve minute ticket times. 
    The drive thru can be broken into two groups; the day crew and the night crew.  The morning crew tends to get along better because they are with each other everyday.  There seems to only be one or two people that don't really fit in.  In the morning, you can also count the catering coordinator as drive thru because even though her job is separate from the drive thru, she has to share the same space.  The night crew tends to be a little more dramatic and is split into two groups:  the people who actually work and the high school kids who are pretty much useless.  But, since everybody works so much, coworkers start to be real friends and everybody knows everybody else's business.
    Technology plays a huge role in the drive thru.  First, the technology that is used to make food.  We can't make any of our pastas without the microwave.  We can't heat any of our sandwiches without the panini press.  We also can't keep our soups at a hot enough temperature to be safe to serve without our heated soup wells that are plugged into the wall.  Everything must be kept refrigerated as well.  Next, the barista has to use the blenders to make all of the smoothies and frozen drinks and the espresso machine to make any of the espresso drinks, chai lattes, and hot chocolates.  Lastly, there is a ton of technology involved in taking orders.  We all have to wear a head set to listen and speak to the customers.  Then, we have a computer that we enter the order into.  Then, you send the order which gets sent to the computer screen on the main production line, the drive thru production line, the barista station if there are any drinks, the computer over the consolidation counter, and the computer that is used to cash out customers.  If any of these things stop working, it makes it impossible for the drive thru to run smoothly and efficiently.
    The main goal of this community is to work together to get orders to the customers as quickly as possible.  As long as the technology is all working correctly, it greatly aids the process.

Community (pgs. 94-104)

    The meaning of community has changed.  Community used to be the things that hold people together, but it is now our association with a certain group.  Personally, I like the first definition better because it explains why we are associated with a certain group rather than we just are associated with a group. 
    This reading points out three assumptions about communities that aren't necessarily true.  The first assumption is that they provide us with a sense of stability.  This is not true in every case because they do provide a sense of stability through traditions, but people don't question these traditions because they have always been around.  These traditions could be bad for us and we just don't think anything of it.  These traditions also often put the needs of the group over the needs of individuals.  We should also recognize that some traditions aren't even connected with the original purpose it was supposed it to have.  The next assumption is that communities serve our needs.  This is not always true because your communities doesn't always promote the best things for us.  The last assumption is that communities accept us for who we are.  This is not true because our communities mold us into the people that they want us to be and if we change, we typically find a new group.

Collage

I know that some people had these huge lists of topics to choose from to make their collages, however, my list was very small.  The only two realistic options were to make one about my family or to make one about color guard.  I didn't really want to do family, I mean it's kind of obvious that our families make us who we are, there's not really much of an explanation needed.  However, if you even say color guard, most people don't even know what it is.  Color guard is essentially dance, we just happen to spin rifles, sabres, and flags as well.  I've done color guard since the fifth grade.  It can be the most frustrating thing in the world, but it is also the happiest place sometimes.  When you go to practice, it is the only thing that you have to think about, the rest of the world and your problems just disappear.  It's like you are in a different universe because nothing else matters.  You have your friends that are really like family and all any of you have to think about is what we can do to get better.  It's our common goal when we are all practicing.  Color guard has really become the biggest part of my identity, they're my family and I try to approach obstacles in life the way I would approach a problem at practice.  It has truly made me the person that I am today.

Identity

    I found our discussion in class on Tuesday to be very interesting.  It made me rethink what the meaning of identity really is.  I always thought that a person's identity was truly defined by who the people you know think you are; who you appear to be to the world.  You could be a completely different person depending on the group of people you are around.  For example, in high school I was always the quiet girl who talked to two or three people.  Honestly, classmates probably wondered if I was mute.  But, then I would go to color guard practice and turn into this loud and outgoing person. 
    Now, because of the reading, I realize that your identity is not how you are perceived by the world, but it is really the things that you are born with, your culture, and your personal choices.  The things that your parents decide for you; your name, your religion, the elementary school you attended, etc. are the basis of who you are.  These things all affect how you grow up.  For example, the friends that you made at elementary school were affected by your parents.  They didn't chose your friends for you, but since they decided where you went to school, their decision determined the group of people that you would chose your friends from.  Culture also plays a huge part in identity.  Culture and society gives people an idea of what the "norm" is.  It affects how people act when they want to fit in with the people around them.  Personal choices are probably the biggest component of peoples' identities.  Our personal choices are what make us all unique.  You decide how you dress, what music you listen to, what shows you watch, your friends, etc. and these are things that really identify who we are.  You can redefine your identity just by changing your personal choices.