New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New
2013
Student Journal of Nonfiction Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices New Voices
Lander University Greenwood, South Carolina
New Voices is a publication of the College of Arts and Humanities Lander University 320 Stanley Avenue Greenwood, SC 29649 Student Editorial Board: Mary DeLong Amy Strickland Jana Wilson Publicity and Cover Drawing: Brittany Faulkner Design: Dr. Misty Jameson Faculty Advisors: Dr. Amy England Dr. Andy Jameson Dr. Misty Jameson New Voices congratulates Haley Wilson, Winner of the 2013 Dessie Dean Pitts Award newvoices@lander.edu
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Table of Contents
“What Is Bipolar Disorder?” by Haley Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
“Linguistics of Swearing” by Lauren Shiflet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
“Klingon as a Language” by Andrew Dosher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
“Be a Man” by Cody Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
“Montessori Education: A Better Way of Learning” by Jessica Prince . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
“In Case of Emergency, Save Cats First” by Lauren Shiflet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
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What Is Bipolar Disorder? Haley Wilson
Dessie Dean Pitts Award Winner
October 8: I thought of doing this while I was driving, thinking, planning, and singing along to “Girl Anachronism,” the perfect song to match the pace of my thoughts. Ideas rushed through my head as I mentally stamped OK or NO on them to the rhythm of the song. Then I thought of this. If I'm to present a truth creatively without any fictional means to a realistic end, I'll write about my experiences and thoughts, but in different states of myself. I have bipolar disorder. This is a fact more valid and sound than the color of my hair. It's black now; it was red. I was born a blonde. Right now, I'm experiencing a manic state. I feel like I can handle whatever workload comes my way in a single hour. I am grilling steaks for my fiancé and myself tonight; currently I'm debating spices: a little pepper, a little salt, a little creole seasoning, a lot of perfection. I’m trying to remember how many condoms we have left at the house, too, because I know exactly what I want after the steaks. I may spring for a box of Fire and Ice, just because. It’ll be a nice surprise, just like how I surprised him with a $100 set of gaming headphones the last time I was manic. I also have mid-semester assignments to work on, but I’ll find time easily. I am also debating on where I want to live with the man I will be with for the rest of my life. I am thinking about our wedding. It is less than a month away. I am thinking about how many times this computer has autocorrected my typing due to speed and inaccuracy. -3-
Tonight, I might also work on some poetry; it's been such a long time since I've worked on any writing, really. It's a shame when that happens. A story is pulsing through my brain as well; I hope to finish it. It sounds amazing in my head. I may not sleep tonight, so I'm trying to accept that. It's a fact of my mania. It deprives me of sleep but allows me to expend energy more effectively, creating new things, exploring new thoughts and old ones, to be perfectly honest. My brain always seems to cycle back to the same ideas of living abroad and changing the world when I’m manic. However, now I’m trying to fit my fiancé into these ideas. I’ve talked to him about going with me if I were to get a Fulbright scholarship to teach English as a Second Language abroad, possibly in Latvia. He embraced the idea as much as I did; however, it could be his mania acting on his behalf as well. We are both diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and sometimes our manic states are concurrent. This increases the dangers involved since neither of us is able to be the anchor. If we were to have a child, it would be conceived during such a time. How do I know I'm manic right now? Well, I've felt it rising somewhere in me for a day or so. Not an explosion, just a slow but sure pressure, like a tea kettle working its way to a boil, and right now my brain is whistling. I slept terribly last night, yet somehow my energy kept building layer by layer, pushing onwards and upwards to where I am now. In past manic episodes, I have made a dress in approximately three hours, organized an entire house in an evening, written a twelve page essay in two or three hours, driven to Rock Hill and back to take someone to church with me (and repeated the journey that same night to take them back), and other Wonder Woman-esque marvels that seem to break the space-time continuum. I've written this in a total of 10 minutes. This is a sample of my manic state. I'll probably write more later.
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October 9: Dinner was fantastic last night. I've spent today doing laundry. Jesse calls it "nesting" when I get like this. It's really just my mania. I've done about five loads today and finally got caught up on the laundry. It's been piling up for weeks. I've also done a bit more wedding planning—not the best idea when I have grandiose ideas, to be honest. Creative, but grandiose at times. I have entertained the idea of handwriting place cards in calligraphy, but then I thought about my handwriting and regrettably decided against it. I also thought about dressing up our cats as part of the wedding party, but his grandmother told me no. My emotions are running on high about the wedding, but not in a stressful way. When I simply think of the love he and I have, I want to cry. I remember watching him play with a baby, my nephew, the other day. It melted me even more into mush. I'm still mushy. While I’m manic, all these great, mushy emotions just stick around and leave me feeling like a cloud: light, dreamy, and phantasmagorically shifting above all the evils in the world. I don't have much to write about right now. Maybe later. October 10: Today was it. The irritation of mania turning into depression found me, cornered me, and pulled me into the sewers of the thoughts I had been floating over on my cloud of mania. After a day of having a short fuse and being tempted to hunt for the nearest pistol and fit it neatly into my temple, I am forced to break even further. I snapped at my fiancÊ, I snapped at his grandmother, and I snapped off my seatbelt and opened the door of the car while he was driving us home when I found out she may not come to the wedding simply because I asked her to leave the house so we could eat. I was in a rush, I was enraged already, and this sent me over. I tried jumping out of the car, but he grabbed me before I could. I feel like a terrible person. But, after he grabbed me, he pulled over and held me. I apologized for being such a horrible person, for not being perfect all the time and for making everyone mad at me when I slip. He said the -5-
words that no one else has said before. Normally people say, "Oh, it's fine. I forgive you." Or worse, they don't. But he said, "That's what I love about you; you are humble." I broke into tears and gave him the biggest hug I've ever given in my life. I know for a fact he is the man I am supposed to marry, and I am so glad I am marrying him soon. He saved me in more ways than just grabbing me before I jumped, and he doesn't even realize it. My self-loathing would have been enough to kill me. Watching dishes pile up in the sink just added another stab postmortem. Another trash can full, another stab. Another thought about how much my family doesn’t want to even come to the wedding, another fifty stabs. Another thought about how I’m not good enough for my own family to want me and never have been, another hundred stabs. Another thought about how I don’t deserve what happiness I felt during my mania, another 200, allowing everything to return to my self-loathing, to zombify me and kill me again. By the end of the day, all I am normally able to do is cry myself to sleep and hope I won’t get up. I came home to a clean house, something I haven't seen in weeks, and couldn't help but smile. If I had faced all of that alone, I wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't be writing this. I wouldn't be breathing. October 13: I woke up from two terrible nightmares last night. I don't remember what I dream often, but when I do, rest assured that what I remember is never good. Heck, I still remember nightmares I had when I was five just as vividly as I did then. It's awful to not be able to avoid emotional trauma even in my sleep. But, what can be done? I've been cleaning all morning, though it seems like nothing has been done. It's mostly because everything is out of order. Clean, but out of order. A lot of things lose their order in these downward shifts; I don't feel like organizing right now, so the papers will remain scattered across the couch
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and the shoes across the floor. They aren't hurting anything right where they are. I've also been reflecting on words that someone said yesterday. I can't say names. I can't give situations. But, I can give words. When the subject of bipolar disorder is brought up in a public area, it is not wise to joke about it. You are chancing someone around you having bipolar disorder and losing respect for you, just as I lost respect for an entire room. You don't say of a photograph of a famous author, someone with a greater reputation for intelligence than your own, to a roomful of people absorbing your every word as truth, "Yeah, he looks bipolar," upon finding out he had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. You cannot possibly diagnose bipolar disorder by looks. What tipped you off, his nose? Or maybe the curvature of his spine? The pure ignorance of that statement undoes any ounce of intelligence with which I had ever credited you for its regression to such an antiquated belief as physiognomy. Furthermore, you do not comment on the fact that the photograph was taken on a balcony by saying, "I suppose he always hung out on balconies in case he wanted to just tip over and end it all." Even more so, you don’t laugh when someone says something like that. This is wrong and made me uncomfortable being in the same room as all of you. I don’t spend my time on balconies “in case of emergency”; I also look no different from anyone else due to my bipolar disorder alone. I live as normal a life I can, and that’s how none of you were able to say of me, “yeah, she looks bipolar.” That’s why when people find out I have bipolar disorder, they instead say, “I would have never known; you don’t act bipolar.” Ignorant people disappoint me. Of all the things the human mind is capable of, they are doing nothing with theirs. October 24: I've reread my entries, and I myself am amazed at the rapid cycling. Within a week, I jumped from a manic high to a depressive low to a more stable middle ground.
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I've contemplated getting help again, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid of finding a psychiatrist. I'm afraid of taking medication again. I'm afraid of losing who I am. Yes. I have bipolar disorder. It gets hard, but I manage. I live each day with whatever state my mind is in. I enjoy my mania; I do so much work in so little time. The depression is rough. But, it makes me feel whole. I live, not on a middle ground, but on every point on the spectrum of human emotion. This increases my empathy with others. I can imagine their pain because it is likely I have felt it before for far less a cause. Yes, that makes me sensitive. I cry a lot, often for no reason. But you know what? I'm human. No more than you, the reader, are human, but also no less. So, before brainlessly shouting about how the weather is bipolar or how your girlfriend's PMS makes her “so bipolar,� think about what you are saying. Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder, not a phase; I've had it for as long as I could possibly know, leading me to assume from birth. It's not some arbitrary shift or mood swing. It's just not.
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Linguistics of Swearing Lauren Shiflet
English Academic Showcase Winner
My aim in this speech is to show the difference between swearing and other mediums of language and how this unique aspect of any language can shape the way people think. In revealing these differences, the effects of linguistics within a language can be observed. Fuck, along with a variety of its counterpart structures deemed taboo by mainstream society, is the source of much rebuttal and debate. Swearing is powerful; this medium of language has its own history and syntax that is as baffling as its semantics and the neurological effect on its audience. The uses of swear words range far and wide and are difficult to trace. My focus is to show just how different swearing is, and in doing so, to highlight grammatical complexities of our usual, everyday language. I also want to explain why these words matter to our society. So why, then, is swearing taboo, and how is it used in support of linguistic relativity? The first question is one Steven Pinker, a renowned linguist and author, asks in his article “What the F***? On Why We Curse.” In this article he explains a well-remembered use of an expletive from the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, when Bono from U2 was not censored in the broadcast, saying, “This is really really fucking brilliant.” Of course, this exemption from censors enraged certain viewers, causing a bill to be sent before Congress in attempts to “clean the airwaves.” This act called for complete censorship over the words “’shit,’ ‘piss,’ ‘fuck,’ ‘cunt,’ ‘asshole,’ and the phrases ‘cocksucker,’ ‘motherfucker,’ and ‘asshole’ including all other compound and/or hyphenated uses of these words and the various grammatical forms of the words or phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms)” (Pinker 20). Unfortunately for this act, it misspelled multiple words, incorrectly labeled these words as “phrases,” and also completely missed Bono’s use of fucking, which was actually an adverb and not included in the list (Pinker 20). This broad listing of the usage of expletives is just one small reminder to us of just how vast the magnitude is when one considers manners in which to swear. This also shows people’s immensely aggravated response to swearing. Even now, some of you are still a bit bothered by the words listed. But why do we react this way?
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Uses of Swearing Swearing is an important way of coming to a deeper understanding of what is considered normal language and grammar because its uses and syntax are such a strong exception to what is usual in English. Swearing seems to be as creative as the speaker allows. Rules we follow within everyday speech seem to be ignored within swearing. No one use of swearing is right or wrong, unlike most other mediums of our language. For example, one could easily use the adverbial form of the swear word in “You’re too fucking cool” but could not use another adverb such as very: “You’re too very cool.” That construction seems awkward, and the very seems unnecessary, even redundant. Another common saying is “I don’t give a shit” or “I only had about two shits to give.” Their meanings are something close to that of care, yet even that word does not fit properly in this structure. When someone tells you to “shut the fucking door,” that person does not literally mean to shut the door that is fucking. Fucking here cannot be considered a regular adjective like red or squeaking because, instead of using this word to describe the door itself, it is being used for the purpose of exclamation or emotional charge (Pinker 21). Swear words can also be inserted into the middle of many words, called tmesis, such as “un-fucking-believable” or “ri-goddamn-diculous.” Tmesis is seen very rarely in our language and is almost always used with a swear word or euphemism of one of these words. Unlike practically every other word medium within the English language, expletives possess a use and syntax all their own. These obvious differences in swearing as a medium in language are a clear indication that these words may be much different than other words, not only in their usage, but also in their effect on the mind. They give us a glimpse into the oddities of language as a whole. Neurological Aspect of Swearing To understand this effect, one must first understand how swearing is neurologically processed. Within the right hemisphere is a section of the brain named the basal ganglia. This sector perceives and monitors threats presented, such as when someone begins yelling or a dog snarls. Another section of the brain is the amygdala, a prohibitory sector that controls the behavior output of the brain. These two systems work together to connect perceived threats with undesired behavior in respects of that perception. An example used by Pinker is a monkey whose amygdale has been removed. - 10 -
Although he may be able to learn a new shape such as a triangle, he is unable to connect that shape to its intended warning, such as an electric shock, even after experience has shown that the shape is a forewarning of the shock. Both of these sections, connected to threats and behavioral prohibitions, are stimulated by swearing as well, which explains the generalization that taboo words are linked to negative emotion. This accounts for the surprise and danger one feels of hearing a taboo word and for the inclination to prohibit such language, especially around elders or young children (Pinker 21). Taboo Now that we understand how swearing affects the brain, in centers that also interpret negative emotions, we start to wonder why they affect us in that way. What makes these words, which seem only to be a series of letters strung together like any other word, make us feel emotions and think thoughts considered taboo? The reason is that swear words cannot merely be seen as a scribble on a page or a random noise from someone’s mouth because of the meaning they carry. While preparing this paper, I decided there were words I simply did not feel comfortable referencing, like the “nword,” because there is a history to this word, an attitude and mindset that I do not want to be associated with. Despite my using that word in a purely academic context, the word still holds baggage too heavy for me to carry. This shows us just how personable language becomes to use. Language can bear cultural and social meanings, some that bring us together and others that segregate us in terrible ways. Conclusion In current day arguments, non-linguistic canons are arguing over the issue of political correctness, stating that “whoever controls words controls the world” and that political correctness “is a sinister conspiracy to wash out not just mouths but brains as well,” which seems to hint that thought can be affected by the words we use (Cameron 154). These examples can show, outside of the realm of linguistic studies, how people perceive language as a way to control one’s thoughts or mindset. Taboo words are taboo for a reason; they convey the thoughts and actions which mostly disgust society or are held in high sacredness or regard. Therefore, these words, with meanings sometimes vile to the listener, cannot be taken at face value, but must instead be associated always with their darker meanings (Pinker 23). - 11 -
Works Cited Cameron, Deborah. “Linguistic Relativity: Benjamin Lee Whorf and the Return of the Repressed.” Critical Quarterly 41.2 (1999): 153. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Dec 2012. Pinker, Steven. “What the F***? On Why We Curse.” The Harvard Brain 2008: 20-24+. PDF. 10 Dec 2012.
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Klingon as a Language Andrew Dosher The scientific community has to date come to no consensus about the way in which language was born or the point in human evolution when its birth occurred, nor even the defining point at which a series of complex vocalizations possessed by a developing group of humans or pre-humans could be concretely defined as language. It is understood, however, that language is an ever-evolving phenomenon that grows and develops much in the same way as a living organism, which accounts for the inconsistency in languages and the variance patterns in the rules that govern them. In the past century, the possibilities of linguistic genesis have been fairly explored through the unlikely medium of fiction, particularly in the realms of science-fiction and fantasy, where artificial languages have thrived as a popular way to legitimize fictional cultures and societies by augmenting them with a corresponding language. Some of these are exceedingly complex. The Klingon language of the Star Trek franchise, developed by linguist Marc Okrand, is a good example of this. Thought to be the largest fictional language in existence, Klingon does have a small population of fluent speakers and is advocated by The Klingon Language Institute. But despite all the nuances of this, one of the most complex fictional languages in the world, there are certain ways in which Klingon differs from a real, naturally developed language, despite being deliberately designed with a certain level of authenticity. Also, although it is exceedingly similar to natural languages in some ways, there are certain intrinsic characteristics of natural languages that artificial ones cannot, or at least have not, duplicated, but that does not mean that they can’t, and indeed Klingon, despite its shortcomings, has the potential to grow beyond or obscure those shortcomings that betray its true nature. As Daniel Harvey points out in his essay “Nine Ideas about Language,” “All languages have three major components: a sound system, a vocabulary, and a system of grammar” (6). To understand the intricacies of fictional languages—which is necessary in order to measure them against their realworld counterparts—it is important to note first the constituent characteristics of natural languages. For example, all languages are bound by a set of rules that govern their usage. These provide the consistency necessary for new and complex utterances to be devised, allowing languages - 13 -
to continually grow and evolve (Harvey 5). Such evolution is also caused by other more extraneous factors, such as new pronunciations becoming common, particular words and patterns of speech moving in and out of popular speech, or populations becoming isolated, and as a result, developing divergent patterns of speech. In order to create a fictional language that is convincing and as similar as possible to a real one, one must take into account all the aforementioned properties of language. As the largest fictional language in the world, Klingon has done this, and with its base of fluent speakers, it has been growing and evolving as a result both of being spoken by a small but articulate group of people and its advocacy by The Klingon Language Institute (Shoulson). Klingon differs from human languages in a number of respects due to its nature as an “alien language.” This is because of Okrand’s approach and goals for creating Klingon, which involved making it realistic from an actual and an in-universe perspective. Having previously worked on the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Okrand was asked back to create an official language for the following movie in which Klingons were featured prominently. Starting with the brief bits of dialogue devised by actor James Doohan for the first Star Trek movie, Okrand took a phonetic approach by beginning to construct the language grounded in the base phones, or fundamental spoken elements of utterances, of the words Doohan had invented but added more in order to have a enough sounds to have a convincing, natural-sounding language (Okrand). Several factors went into Okrand’s choice of new phonemes: “One was, that according to the script for Star Trek III, Klingon is a guttural language” (Okrand). This is logical, and an important factor for the language, since language is informed by physiology and culture, and Klingons of the Star Trek universe are a fierce and imposing warrior race. Later Okrand further added various cultural affectations and idiosyncrasies that reflect the culture of Klingons according to Star Trek cannon. For example, in keeping with the aggressive, terse nature of Klingons, there are no words for greetings…such words and phrases simply do not exist in Klingon…[and] when two Klingons meet each other,…if anything of an introductory nature is said, it is an expression that can best be translated as What do you want? - 14 -
Unlike most speakers of English, who begin conversations with greetings, inquiries about the state of health of the conversants, and remarks about the weather, Klingons tend to begin conversations by simply stating the main points. (Okrand 10) The guttural sounds of Klingon also reflect their vulgar, animalistic aesthetic. In the consonant descriptions section of the The Klingon Dictionary, Okrand points out that the letter “p” is “always articulated with a strong puff or pop, never laxly. Speakers of English may want to exercise care to avoid discharging saliva while articulating this sound. It should be noted, however, that Klingons do not worry about this” (Okrand 15). In briefly discussing the dialects of Klingon, Okrand says that “the word for forehead, for example, is different in almost every dialect,” which is understandable, if humorous, considering that Klingons’ elaborate, bony foreheads, the most prominent feature that distinguishes them from humans, are different on each individual (11). It is interesting to note that there are some aspects of Klingon that make it “natural,” by virtue of their dissimilarity with real, human languages. In creating Klingon, Okrand noted that “human languages are very patterned,…[but] since Klingon is not a human language, it didn’t have to follow those human language rules” (Okrand). In keeping with this idea, the collection of phonemes Okrand formulated for Klingon was deliberately combined in ways inconsistent with most human languages, and it is in this way that Klingon is “natural”: it adheres to the notion that it belongs to an alien physiology and culture rather than deliberately imitating particular existing languages. This adds, in some sense, a further level of realism, since it reflects the fact that all human languages were formed by arbitrary variables of physiology and culture, often affected by subtle environmental factors. For example, Klingon, like many human languages, features a voiced labiodental fricative, or “v” sound; however, it does not feature a voiceless labiodental fricative, or “f” (the same sound as a “v,” but without voicing, that is, vibrating the vocal chords). This is exceedingly unusual, as virtually all human languages have both sounds or neither, rather than just the one (Okrand). The sentence structure and word order are also contrary to what is typical among human languages. Okrand chose to order his sentences with the object first, then verb, then subject (as opposed to English, which is - 15 -
ordered subject, verb, object) simply because it is the least common word order found in human languages. It is worth noting that Klingon’s “alien” qualities that make it “natural” or “realistic” still do not impose upon its fundamental nature as a language, and though Klingon may be linguistically eccentric, it still has those basic properties shared by all languages as we know them, and indeed it would have to in order to feel and sound genuine. And so as a functioning language, Klingon has undoubtedly developed far beyond anyone’s initial intentions or expectations. Although the origins of human language are still unclear, it can be said with reasonable certainty that language was not invented by a single individual, a fact that separates Klingon from natural languages, but not damningly. Ultimately, Klingon’s mimicry of natural languages is so complete that it would seem to make its origins a moot point. There is only one issue that, pending Klingon’s continued growth and existence, separates it from natural languages. A child’s acquisition of a language is one of the main processes that continues and revitalizes a language. Unless fluent speakers of Klingon teach the language to their children, the logical step towards developing a population of speakers, there will be no truly native speakers of Klingon, and a language without any native speakers cannot truly said to be natural, which is a problem that will ever betray Klingon’s artificial origins. However, teaching Klingon as a native language has been attempted at least once. Fluent Klingon speaker d'Armond Speers tried to raise his son as bilingual in both English and Klingon. Speers’s son quickly became seamlessly fluent in Klingon alongside English, and “‘his pronunciation was excellent and he never confused English words with Klingon words.’” This success belies the “alien” nature of Klingon, since Speers’s son acquired the language as a child would any other language. Nevertheless, Speers’s son became frustrated with the small vocabulary of only about 2,000 words that his father had taught him. For example, for lack of an existing alternative, Speers was forced to refer to a table as “‘thing which is flat,”’ and eventually Speers gave up the effort when his son “‘stopped listening to [him] when [he] spoke in Klingon” (Edwards). In defense of Klingon, this failure, it would seem, was due primarily to the impractically small vocabulary of Klingon at the time. The vocabulary of Klingon has since expanded considerably, and now contains many more practical, mundane words (such as table), but in order for Klingon to become - 16 -
a truly natural language, it would still have to be learned and spoken by children, which would quickly and exponentially make it evolve beyond its current state (Okrent). In terms of the definition of language according to Daniel Harvey, Klingon definitely is a language, containing a sound system, a vocabulary, and a system of grammar, but it is more than these elements alone that make a language. It is their interaction, their synthesis, and their existence as a state of flux, all of which Klingon is only just beginning to apprehend. Nevertheless, if Klingon can continue to grow and someday make the leap from being administered by an organization to a full-fledged language that has a large base of speakers and changes fluidly through its being spoken, then that will be a singular accomplishment, and the Klingon language truly will have gone where no fictional language has gone before.
Works Cited Daniels, Harvey A. “Nine Ideas About Language.� Language Introductory Readings. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. Print. Edwards, Gavin. "Babble On Revisited." WIRED, 1999. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. Okrand, Marc, perf. Marc Okrand on Klingon. Youtube.com. Web. 1 Nov 2012. Okrand, Marc. The Klingon Dictionary. Pocket Books, 1992. Print. Okrent, Arika. "There's No Klingon Word for Hello." Slate, 7 May 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. Shoulson, Mark. "Learn Klingon." The Klingon Language Institute. The Klingon Language Institute. Web. 9 Dec 2012. - 17 -
Be a Man Cody Johnson Why is it that whenever a boy cannot do something he hears that he “needs to be a man”? That does nothing but shame him into believing that he needs to suck it up and get the job done no matter what the cost is. That command will do nothing for him in trying to figure out how to complete the task. But that influence will only make him want to use brute strength and his “manliness” to get the job done. I was raised with that exact same mindset, and it has not worked out for me. Where I am from, being a man is to be rough, stout, insensitive, uncaring, and emotionless—basically a robot. None of these terms should ever be associated with being a man. I was raised to believe that men should always be participating in some kind of sport. Football, baseball, soccer, rugby, lacrosse, hockey, anything that required sweat and hard work was good enough. Sports build character and teach young boys how to work as a team to complete a task. No, they do not. I have played football and baseball since I was five years old, and doing so has taught me very little of teamwork and certainly has not built my character. It has taught me to strap on a helmet and some pads, walk out onto the field, and knock the ever living heck out of anybody that was not on my team. It taught me to have no remorse for my actions. I think my favorite saying from football is that, if you do not hear a bone crack when you tackle someone, then you are not hitting hard enough. Once while playing in a rivalry game, my teammates and I hit someone so hard that it not only broke his leg and tore his ACL, but it also ended his career entirely. As I came off the field, I had a sense of accomplishment for my actions that was aided by the cheers from my coaches, but I couldn’t shake the fact that I had just taken a joy away from somebody that would never be returned to him. My experiences from sports did teach me, though, some other ways to be a man. Football taught me that, if I am hurt, then I should ignore the pain and go back out onto the field. It has also taught me that, if I am too hurt to play, then I am weak and not meant to participate in manly sports such as football or baseball. That is what I have always lived my life by because that idea was implanted into my brain at a young age. When I was twelve years old my biological father once made me hold a wasp nest in my hand while the wasps continuously stung me over and over until they finally - 18 -
left. My hand was swollen to nearly twice its original size, and I was sitting in a puddle of tears. This was his way of shaping me into a man. He thought that the less I was afraid of then the more manly I would become. My stepfather, who adopted me and I consider my true father, is far from that type of man. He knows the true meaning of what it means to be a man. Because of my experiences, I am for the most part emotionless; you will hardly ever see me cry. When something tragic in my life occurs, I just shrug it off and try not to think about it. A man crying is weakness in my eyes. It is not right, but that is what has been implanted into my mind since the day I was born. Pain is nothing but weakness escaping from your body. This is a quote that I have heard all my life and is what I live by. You are allowed to feel pain and accept it. You simply must not show that you are in pain. My biological father, my baseball coaches, and my football coaches gave me this idea over the years. They have shaped me into who I am today. Am I a man? That just depends on your definition. The fact that I have been through adversity many times and somehow found a way to get through it is part of what makes me a man. The fact that I am there for my family and would drop whatever I am doing to help them makes me a man. The fact that I am able to stand up for what I believe in without being pushed around makes me a man. I can build a fire or cook on a grill, but that certainly does not make me a man. I can change a tire or rotate my tires if needed. I can change the oil in my truck and change a head gasket if it is blown. I love hunting deer. I will wake up at four-thirty in the morning just so I can get out and be in the stand before the sun comes up. I can kill a deer, drag it out of the woods, and field dress it myself. I have a truck, a pair of boots, and maybe a camouflage hat or two. Do any of these things make me a man? They certainly should not, but many people believe that these are some of the criteria that fit being a man. A man should have an equal balance in his life. He should be strong and brave, but he should also be nurturing and caring to the people he loves. He should have emotions and be able to show them if he feels that it is necessary. My perception of a man has changed over the years, but the basic characteristics are the same. Hopefully one day men can step out of the shadows of how we used to be and change the image that we have given ourselves. - 19 -
Montessori Education: A Better Way of Learning Jessica Prince Once children reach a certain age, the one question all parents ask themselves is, “where should my child attend school?” There are many effective methods of schooling, each with its own unique approaches to learning. Montessori education is a fairly new method to the United States that has stirred up much controversy. However, despite its differences, the Montessori Method is flourishing in America. Studies have been done over the years in an attempt to discover which system of education is better, Montessori or traditional. There are benefits to each side, but research has shown that Montessori education could be more beneficial than traditional. There are more facets to education than just academic learning; they include self-discipline and motivation, independence, good social health, and getting along with others. Acquiring traits like these can be just as beneficial later in life as receiving quality academic training. Overall, Montessori education is more beneficial than traditional-style education because the Montessori Method instills intrinsic motivation, is individualized, includes peer tutoring, and fosters better prepared, socially healthy, and academically successful students. Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, founded the first Montessori school in Rome in 1907 (Jacobson). Through fifty years of testing new ideas and materials and noting children’s reactions, she developed an entirely different system of education. Her system fully engages children’s natural learning potentials; they learn about themselves, develop selfconfidence, and in turn become life-long-learners (Epstein and Seldin). Today, Montessori schools incorporate Maria Montessori’s findings as well as new discoveries of how learning and development occur. According to Angeline Lillard, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, “Modern research in psychology suggests the Montessori system is much more suited to how children learn and develop than the traditional system is.” The Montessori Method is found in more than 5,000 schools in the United States and in approximately 22,000 schools world-wide in 110 countries (MacDonald). In some schools, these programs range from infant care all the way through high school. It is a fairly new way of learning for our country that is becoming increasingly popular; many parents are now discovering the benefits of giving their child a Montessori education. - 20 -
The first reason that a Montessori education is more beneficial than traditional education is that Montessori instills intrinsic motivation in a child. This means that the child receives pleasure and satisfaction from completing a task or learning something new. According to Lillard, “Montessori is a model of the child as a motivated doer who learns through self-instigated actions on the environment.” Motivation comes from inside rather than from receiving any external awards. External awards such as candy or stickers might motivate children to learn while they are young, but this eventually fades with age. Tying extrinsic rewards to an activity negatively impacts motivation when the reward is withdrawn (Lillard). Therefore, it is important to instill self-motivation in a child while he or she is young so that, as the child ages, she will continue to learn due to an inward drive for new knowledge. The third principle of Montessori education is that people learn better when they are interested in what they are learning (Lillard). Children need to develop a love of learning, and they should be allowed to pursue their own interests (Jacobson). The job of a Montessori teacher is not to bombard children with facts but to create a learning environment that engages and interests the child. This will make a child a life-long learner (Lillard). Furthermore, Montessori education offers an individualized form of learning for each student. According to Lillard, “Traditional schools are modeled on factories and the children as blank slates.” In other words, they view every child as virtually the same. Montessori education recognizes that every child is different and individualizes its program. Children are allowed to work at their own pace. Paul Epstein and Tim Seldin, authors of The Montessori Way, suggest that “Gifted children are allowed to do schoolwork of higher grade levels without having to skip a grade or feel emotionally out of place” (235). Also, some children require more time to grasp a subject than their peers. Montessori gives these students that extra time they need. A third advantage of Montessori education is peer tutoring. A Montessori classroom is mixed-age with a two-to-three year age span. Children benefit by learning from each other. In a classroom with three different ages, if a child doesn’t understand a concept, most likely another child in the classroom will. According to Epstein and Seldin, “Younger students have the stimulation of older students who benefit from serving as role models” (230). Also, working in the same classroom for two or three years builds a stronger sense of community within the classroom. - 21 -
Moreover, Montessori education fosters children who are better prepared for higher-level learning. In a study conducted at Craig Montessori Elementary School, in Milwaukee, the scores on a series of tests were compared to those of similar children at other schools. Linda Jacobson, author of “Taming Montessori,” states, “On several measures of school readiness, such as letter and word recognition, word-decoding ability, and ability to solve math problems, five-year-olds in the Montessori school scored higher than those who attended other schools.” In the same study, the children were given a “false belief” test, which determines how well children recognize subjective and objective statements. Developing this skill is a “landmark achievement in social cognition.” Eighty percent of the Montessori students passed compared with only fifty percent of the control group (Jacobson). The same children also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success (Lillard). Also, in a study in Karnes, Illinois, fewer Montessori children were retained a grade or dropped out of school (Lillard). The Montessori Method is very effective in young learners and equips them with the necessary concepts and values to make them successful throughout their whole learning career and later on in life. Montessori education also fosters socially healthier children. Montessori students are generally better behaved than traditional students. In the study conducted at Craig Montessori Elementary School, among the twelve-year olds, in behavioral and social measures, the students were more likely to choose “positive assertive responses” dealing with unpleasant situations (Lillard). They also demonstrated a greater sense of fairness and justice. They were more likely to be involved in “shared peer play,” be involved in less rough play, and displayed a greater sense of community (Jacobson). In a study done by researchers Kevin Rathunde and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Montessori students reported more positive perceptions of their teachers and school environment and more often perceived their classmates as friends. Children benefit from the Montessori Method by becoming more socially healthy and mature than children from traditional schools. Additionally, Montessori education fosters academically successful students. In the study at Craig Montessori Elementary School, among the twelve-year-olds, Montessori children produced more creative and sophistically structured essays (Lillard). In a study at Goddard Montessori - 22 -
School in Maryland, in 2006, fifty-three percent of eighth graders in the district scored at the proficient level or above in reading, compared with seventy-one percent at Goddard (Jacobson). In math, thirty-five percent of the district’s eighth grades scored proficient or higher, compared with eightsix percent at Goddard (Jacobson). Children who participated in the study at Milwaukee Montessori schools from preschool to fifth grade scored significantly higher on standardized tests such as the ACT in science and math than did matched controls (Lillard). Montessori education does not always produce more academically successful students than traditional education, but research shows it is a very effective method of learning. Despite this perceived effectiveness, a number of educational specialists oppose the practices of the Montessori program. There have been problems in some of the variables in the studies that have been conducted so far that might make one refute the findings. For example, the sample of students chosen was relatively small and few classrooms were involved. Also, the samples are self-selected, which means parental influence could be a factor in the outcomes of these studies (Lillard). Research is mainly shortterm, and it is difficult to tell if the effects are long-lasting (Lillard). One could argue that more studies need to be done in order to prove that one education system is superior to the other. Some Montessori schools do not stick to the true Montessori curriculum (Lillard). Any school can call itself “Montessori,” but some schools are not actually accredited, and some teachers are not properly certified (MacDonald). However, it is the parents’ responsibility to research and make sure that the school they are sending their child to is of good quality and meets Montessori standards prior to the child’s enrollment. Montessori does not follow a predictable time table because children learn at their own pace; this conflicts with governmental laws stating children must be tested and show progress annually. Many Montessori programs have had difficulties adjusting their curriculums to these laws, but progress is being made (MacDonald). It may take a Montessori child longer than the expected time to read or write because he learns at his own pace, but once a child grasps the concept on his own, it is of much greater value to him (Lillard). Thus far research has not shown which method results in higher academic test scores, but it has proven Montessori fosters academic skills that are equal or superior to those fostered by traditional schooling (Lillard). Despite opposing views, the studies done thus far have produced only positive outcomes for Montessori education. - 23 -
Montessori education is a very beneficial form of schooling that not only produces academically successful, but also self-motivated, socially healthy, and better-prepared students. Children do not go to school just to grow mentally; they also go to make friends, learn how to get along with others, and learn about themselves and grow spiritually. Montessori education creates a learning environment that promotes this growth and development. Some will argue that this does not make Montessori a better way of learning than traditional schooling because society today emphasizes academic growth in education. The educational system is focused on testing, feeding children facts, and expecting them to retain them until test time. Montessori understands that this is not an effective way of teaching a child and expecting him to learn. Montessori individualizes its method for each and every student; it sees all students as unique and different and as requiring a different method of learning. The Montessori Method takes a child and makes him more independent, instills a love of learning, and promotes ideas and values that make him better prepared for his future. Further research is required to prove which education system is actually superior, Montessori or traditional, and debate on the subject continues throughout many school districts today. Our nation has used the traditional-style method of teaching ever since our country’s birth, and it has proven very effective. However, this does not mean that it is the only effective method. We need to embrace this new, increasingly popular style of learning. It has been used for a century throughout many countries in the Western Hemisphere and has proven to be very effective. As the movement enters its second century, experts see its ideas and insight on education and how a child learns as possibly influencing school reform in K-through-twelve schools in America (MacDonald). The Montessori program shows that it is not only academics that are important in school but also social and spiritual learning and growth. Many parents are growing to realize that, in the long run, their children will benefit more from receiving a Montessori education because they know that it help a child become a more compassionate, selfmotivated, and productive member of society, as well as a life-long learner.
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Works Cited Epstein, Paul, and Tim Seldin. The Montessori Way. Terra Ceia: The Montessori Foundation, 2006. Print. Jacobson, Linda. “Taming Montessori.” Education Week 26.27 (2007): 3032. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Sept. 2012. Lillard, Angeline. "Montessori Education Provides Better Outcomes than Traditional Methods, Study Indicates." Eurekalert. AAAS, 28 Sep 2006. Web. 14 Sep 2012. Lillard, Angeline S. Montessori: The Science behind the Genius. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print. MacDonald, G. Jeffrey. “Montessori Looks Back—and Ahead.” USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Sept. 2012. Rathunde, Kevin, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. "The Social Context of Middle School: Teachers, Friends, and Activities in Montessori and Traditional School Environments." Elementary School Journal 106.1 (2005): 5979. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Sept. 2012.
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In Case of Emergency, Save Cats First Lauren Shiflet Driving, like any other day down the long winding roads towards my home. Driving down the long dark strip covered in the bright green canopy of the overgrown oak trees. The muddy brown pond appears to my right, and the houses begin to come into view on my left. I turn the steering wheel and ride up the hill, as I have done for the last seventeen years. But something is different. Fleets of trucks. Armies of dumpsters. Trash trucks lining the street and blocking my small brown house. The pink flamingos that fluttered in the yard to my right were no longer visible. The chickens my neighbor to the left secretly owned were silent. The children who are always in the front yard of the Krugers’ house were nowhere to be seen. I could hear my dogs barking nervously. People of the neighborhood were perched on the porches and squinting out of windows to watch the commotion. The source of the hubbub seemed to flow from the house across from mine, or at least that is where the concentration of trucks and movement was greatest. It was the feline house, as we liked to call it. In its prime, this had been the home of dozens of cats, maybe more, lurking on the premise, but now their numbers had diminished. They climbed on the roof; they lurked under the dilapidated holes forming in the side of the house; they hid under the cars in the neighborhood, swatting at legs as people walked by. In the mornings, we always found cat tracks lining the windows and hoods of our cars, and at night we heard the lot of them fighting. On the house, the window of the kitchen had a sticker that said, “In case of emergency, save cats first.” Cats had ruled the lot since I was a young child, but this swarm was new to me. I pulled into the driveway and slowly removed myself from the car with as much apathy as I could muster. As a nosey neighbor, the last thing I wanted to appear as was nosey. As I walked to my door, I spied the multitude of people between the gaps of the trucks carrying cameras and wearing contamination masks. I increased my pace. Once inside, I googled everything I could think of. Nothing resulted. My mind raced with the possibilities.
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As a small child, I had assumed they were crazy—three plump ladies who all looked the same. I could only tell them apart from their haircuts. They were like their cats, forming into one entity, one universal being, one similar person; there were cats, and there were Ms. Felines, and that was all we knew. Like their cats, you were never sure which one of the ladies you were looking at, but you knew they came from the same place. They used to yell at the kids for playing in the creek behind their house. They would always have a recycling bin filled to the brim with soda cans and empty 12-pack boxes every Thursday for pick up. At least they recycled. Honeysuckles grew up the side of the home that was visible to the road, and the cats scaled these vines on particularly boring days. The ladies owned one minivan that was driven by all three of them. On the window it said, “Zero to bitch in .5 secs!” It had only been a few months ago when some changes had occurred. The old walls facing the road were painted a lighter, whiter color, setting a stark contrast to the dark brown the house had been before. The weeds that grew high around the cement picnic table and bird baths had been chopped down but left in the yard to die away slowly. The garage that was once filled with the mew of cats hiding under old lawnmowers and golf clubs grew quieter. As a busy student, I had failed to notice the slow decrease in the feline population. I had noticed the changes in the house’s appearance, but took no interest in it. I no longer saw the three cat madames, and I no longer noticed their car leaving or coming. I did not care to take the time to interpret the behavior. This all began to collect in my mind as I watched from my window. I stepped outside of the house and pretended to check on a small cluster of garden that had just sprung forward. A few daffodils told me spring was close. I glanced over at the trucks to see some workers outside the perimeter. The men were taking a smoking break. One of them, tall and slender with black medium-length hair, stood leaning against the back of the truck casually. He reminded me of a man who would sometimes come over to the feline house. He drove a beat up blue car that sputtered when he cranked it. He would usually stand outside chatting with one of the cat madames, smoking a cigarette that smelled funny to us kids whose parents “never smoked those ones that smelled like skunks.” One day there was more yelling than usual, and the man drove away, his car wheezing in - 27 -
distress. I never saw him visit after that, but I did notice the cat madame whom he had often visited standing in the same spot where he would park his car, smoking alone. I walked toward the workers slowly, trying not to bring too much attention to myself. I tripped. The men’s heads snapped up and glared at me with judgmental looks. I was still 20 yards away. I stood back up and continued my approach, suffering the awkward moments. I walked over to the two men, not sure where to start. I gave a nervous laugh. "Hi," I mumbled. "Hello," replied the dark haired one, taking a long drag. “So, what is going on over here? I've never seen this many vehicles on my road." I hoped they would spill into a long explanation, for I was truly curious. "Well, we're cleaning this house," he said with a nod towards my neighbors’ home. I stood waiting for more. I glanced over at the house, with its new renovations. So many good things had happened on the outside. Its rough exterior had been painted over, covering the patches of chipped wood and sun-fading, but at a closer look, the surface of the house was still damaged, just covered up. The cats had disappeared from the outside, but I still spied buckets of cat food on the porch. "And the cameras?" "Oh, well, this is a show." I half expected Ashton Kutcher to jump out. A show? A show? I quickly scanned over every show I could think of in my head. I was still clueless. "What show?" I asked as he puffed a large cloud of smoke my way. "Hoarders" he replied. I was still baffled, especially since I first took him to say, “Whores.”
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"What?" I repeated. This time, the men looked at each other warily and back at me. My ignorance towards their jobs was obviously insulting. "The A&E show Hoarders. It comes on Monday nights at 10," he answered before returning his cigarette to his mouth. "Oh right, right," I added, trying to cover my unfortunate mistake. “Hoarders,� I repeated. "I've heard of it. Sure." I continued rambling. The men nodded and looked towards the ground with that. And so did I. What was there left to say? A few moments passed in this same silence. I did not even say bye; I just walked back quickly to my house. Weeks later when the show finally premiered, every family on the block and in the small gossiping town was sure to tune in. The cluttered, filthy state of their abode was unnerving. Boxes and bags were piled feet high on all sides, leaving only a narrow walking path to the rooms. Most rooms were inaccessible. The toes of the women were bruised and knotted from being broken so many times on random things obstructing their path. The cats that were no longer seen were kept inside, a total of ten. Although most had been removed, ten still remained. Cat feces covered the floors and air vents. The cats scaled the walls and jumped from one tower of boxes to the next. The cat madames also had an extreme obsession with stuffed animals, which they each collected in the hundreds. They numbered the stuffed animals into the thousands collectively. Stuffed animals took over the main living areas and the beds and tables and the shelves. Between each stuffed animal was more stuff crammed in between. That was the most unsettling part. The stuff. The sheer, unequalable and insurmountable amount of stuff that filled every inch, every nook, every corner. They bought stuff every day, and they kept stuff every day. Innumerous amounts of it went in, but barely more than a box full of recyclables came out. If something went missing, they just bought another one so that there were duplicates and triplicates and quadruplicates and no end in sight. Of course, by the time this episode aired, people had been talking, swapping one nugget of information for another. Every new person you spoke to had a different side, a new piece to add to the puzzle. One of the three women had grown ill and required an ambulance, as the other two were unable to carry - 29 -
her out. When EMTs arrived, they could not reach her and immediately called the Department of Social Services to report such an inhabitable situation. If the feline house was not cleaned up, it would be condemned, and they would be separated. This was the reason for all the recent remodeling. This is why they attempted to paint over the cracks in the walls outside and chop down the weeds that covered the trash littering their lawn. I watched the screen as the array of stuffed animals, big and small, were being carted into dump trucks. The cat madames clung to the animals, begging to keep just one. One in particular begged the men to go back into the trucks to find special stuffed animals or toys that she could keep. I had never realized what that house was. I lived in what I had thought was a normal neighborhood. But now society was telling me that there was an outcast within it that had broken some sacred unwritten rule. How had culture so completely controlled this woman? Society had advertised to her and sucked her into all these objects of envy, these mainstream consumer treasures. They enticed her to these “necessities�; they made her a normal part of society by buying these items. But once she had bought too many, she now became a burden. She had become ostracized and labeled with a mental disorder, and society took everything away. She had owned her cats, and she had bought her stuffed animals, but now they were both gone. A tear trickled down her cheek as the organizational expert on the show slowly coaxed the stuffed bear out of her grasp. The ladies cried about the condition of their home and whether the cats would be okay with this drastic change. They had taken so long to get used to the hordes of items that the ladies were afraid this new change would be too much. They cried about the mess, and then they cried about the clean. Each one cried over her items being discarded and then carelessly threw away the others’ belongings. We watched as they ran in circles and moved the boxes of stuff to new locations, barely making any difference. Their tears fell, and their stuff moved, and I realized that that was all there was for them: an endless cycle of buying and moving and hoarding. The house was not fully cleaned. After two days, the crew packed up, moved on, and left the feline house. They also left the question hanging over the entire community whether all the work was wasted.
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A year or two later, no one had really seen much of the Ms. Felines. Their car would come and go, but no one heard any news. We had hoped their house had improved over the time since the incident or that maybe the cleanup, which was never finished on the show, could have been accomplished afterwards. No one had seen them, and no one had asked, so it was hard to say what had happened. Hoarding is a psychological disorder, according to modern day psychologists. We all understood it was not an easily overcome disorder, but like typical nosey neighbors, we hoped for the best in public and speculated the worst in private. My father came home one day from the store, shaking his head, twitching his lips in solemn pity. He seemed disappointed, but not surprised. I asked him what he had seen. He described seeing the elder Ms. Feline, struggling with her bags as she loaded the buggy-full into the van. He, being a typical southern gentleman, walked over to help his neighbor. All he saw in the cart were bags full of stuffed animals and diet sodas. I imagine the house isn’t much different than before. They made some progress on the show, but what did it really matter if they were just going to buy more stuff? Why hadn’t they taught them how to control it? Why had they just cleaned and left them alone? Every day that I drive by, I can imagine the pillars of boxes, swaying with every bump, the clamor of cats scurrying through obstacles, and the lonely women, sitting among their stuff.
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New Voices is published with the financial support of the Lander University College of Arts and Humanities and the Department of English and Foreign Languages.
The editors would especially like to thank Dean RenĂŠe Love and Dr. Jeffrey Baggett for their encouragement and assistance.
The rest of the editorial staff would also like to thank Amy Strickland for her years of dedicated service and to congratulate her on completion of her degree.
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