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How can we effectively reduce our carbon footprint?

Over 1,000 scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have some thoughts.

This climate science arm of the United Nations highlights the causes of climate change and how to mitigate it. You can read a digestible version of the IPCC’s latest findings in its 2014 Summary for Policymakers. The next IPCC reports (AR6) should start coming out next year.

The policymaker summary explains that the main human contribution to climate change is the consumption of fossil fuels (i.e., oil, coal, natural gas) for energy. Burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases (GHG), including carbon-based molecules like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, into our atmosphere.

Drilling down a bit (pun intended), The Guardian and climate scientist Richard Heede identified 20 fossil fuel and energy companies responsible for a third of the total carbon emissions since 1965.  Most are government owned.

With much of our carbon emissions coming from huge corporations and government entities, how can any of us make a difference?

Columbia University’s Earth Institute lists broad categories to help you assess your current lifestyle and provides tips to minimize your carbon footprint. How you go green will look different depending on your circumstances. More than anything, reflect on the major ways you contribute to carbon emissions and identify steps you can put into action.

1. Food

o   Consider that vegetarian or vegan life. Purchasing and consuming less meat and dairy means less CO2 and methane from feed production and processing.

2.  Clothing

o   Buy less new and more second-hand clothes. 80lbs of the apparel we each throw away per year produce methane as they decompose in landfills.

3. All purchasing habits

o   Use reusable bags at check out and support environmentally conscious businesses when possible.

4. Home

o   Energy is a large contributor to carbon emissions. Think about how to be energy efficient at home. Swap out incandescent light bulbs for more efficient LEDs. Use less hot water, keep your thermostat a bit higher in summer (or use fans) and slightly lower in winter.

5. Transportation

o   Find greener forms of transportation when you can. This may mean biking or walking more, or using public transportation instead of driving yourself. If you fly a lot for work or pleasure, this is likely the biggest part of your carbon footprint. When you have to fly, go non-stop (landing and takeoff use more fuel) and sit in economy class (more people are transported per flight in economy compared to business class).

6. Carbon offsets

o   Financially support climate protection projects and organizations.

So you make all these lifestyle changes. Then what? The major carbon producers are still massive fossil fuel and energy companies.

7. Political Action

o   Like it or not, we all play a role in getting the policy and law makers to prioritize reducing carbon emissions while moving us toward more sustainable energy solutions. This means voting and getting politically involved at the local and national level to let your representatives know your stance on climate change and carbon emissions.

References:

Taylor, M. & Watts, J. (2019). Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions

IPCC. (2014): Summary for Policymakers. Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx, eds.). United Kingdom and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.  https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf

Cho, R. (2018). The 35 Easiest Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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Why follow the Gregorian Calendar? Are there any good alternatives?

There’s a long history of calendar reforms in the Western world that go roughly from pre-historical lunar-based calendars, to the Roman calendar (still lunar, and very complicated), to the solar-based Julian calendar, which eventually led to what *most* of us follow today, the Gregorian calendar (still solar based!). That’s not even including calendars from non-Western traditions (of which there are tons, some that are still in common modern use).

To throw another layer on top of all that, there are sometimes distinctions made between civil calendars (typically used for civil/official/administrative purposes) and religious calendars (such as the Islamic calendar, which is lunar based). Some countries even use a dual calendar system that incorporates both, such as Saudi Arabia, which didn’t adopt the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes until 2016. Phew, that’s a lot already!

Historical searches for the “perfect” calendar have run into issues integrating lunar-based phenomena, such as the seasons and equinoxes, with solar-based phenomena, such as months. Lunar-based calendars were so popular in pre-history because the moon goes through phases which are easily, physically observable without the use of additional instrumentation; thus, the oldest/traditional holidays are usually based on lunar cycles. Tradition is difficult to break, so in keeping a traditional holiday calendar, it’s impossible to throw out the concepts of months and other lunar-based schematics. However, seasons and equinoxes also have their important traditions, some of which are functionally necessary (such as for planting and harvesting).

And yet, solar-based calculations come with their own issues. The solar (or tropic) year on Earth doesn’t come down to an equal, round number of days, and it varies depending on what you use as points of reference, the calculations you use, and it changes over time (*insert complicated mathematics here*). If the nitty-gritty of all of this fascinates you, you might consider a career in physics and astronomy!

So, what’s the deal behind the Gregorian calendar’s popularity? It’s basically a “close enough” situation that comes down to accuracy and consistency. It improved upon previous iterations of the calendar (which were already pretty accurate to the solar/tropic year) by shortening the average calendar year by 0.0075 days to prevent calendar drift caused by precession of the equinoxes.

What does this mean for alternatives? Leap week calendars seem to be some of the most popular suggestions (as opposed to our current leap year type calendar)- they maintain a whole number of weeks every year, and with every year starting on the same weekday. Some of the most common alternative proposals are based around leap week calendars, most of which are considered perennial calendars. Perennial calendars are based on a solar year, and would keep the same dates, weekdays and other features – some common proposals involve 13 months of 28 days each (International Fixed Calendar, Invariable Calendar, Positivist Calendar). This means that the day of the week that you were born on, would be your birthday every year – great for Saturday birthdays, not so great for Monday ones!

You know my biggest concern with any sort of calendar reform, though? Space travel and aliens, obv. Any calendar that’s based on the Earth’s lunar OR solar cycles will become moot once we get out into the great beyond! Whether it’s extraterrestrials coming here or us moving to other planets, how do we use mutually understandable dates with those populations in the future?

Of course, this is a conundrum that has already been resolved by the galactic experts in Star Wars! The Galactic Standard Calendar was (is?) based around the solar cycle of Coruscant, the capital of the Republic, and thus the most “politically important world in the galaxy.” What does that bode for us Earthlings? TBD. Once we establish interplanetary relationships, it’s anyone’s guess who will be the “big dog in town.” Call me cynical (or maybe just hopeful for better options!) but it would shock (and disappoint) me if we were the most advanced/“civilized” planet out there in the entirety of the cosmos (not to mention it’s very statistically unlikely), so I’ll be betting against an Earth-based standards calendar for the future. Sorry fellow humans! #teamalien

Not buying all the alien talk? My personal “alternative” calendar of choice is a whole lot simpler: give me an advent-style calendar (but year-long!) with treats inside. I have no preference at all what system it follows - lunar, solar, whatevs. What day of the week is it? Who cares! Have some chocolate. 😊

References:

Cohen, E. (2000). Adoption and Reform of the Gregorian Calendar. Math Horizons, 7(3), 5-11. www.jstor.org/stable/25678248

Doggett, L.E. (2012, Oct 14). Calendars. NASA Eclipse. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/calendars.html

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (N.d.) Precession of the Equinoxes. https://www.britannica.com/science/precession-of-the-equinoxes

Galactic Standard Calendar. (n.d.) Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic_Standard_Calendar

NASA Glenn Research Center. (n.d.). Calendar Calculations. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k12/Numbers/Math/Mathematical_Thinking/calendar_calculations.htm

Nothaft, C.P.E. (2018). Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/DUKE008292861

Richards, E. G. (1999). Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History. Oxford University Press. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb4000676

Steel, Duncan. (2000). Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. J. Wiley. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb4325098

Šuráň, J. (1997). The calendar of the future. A world calendar with leap week. Vistas in Astronomy, 41(4), 493–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0083-6656(97)00033-0

Van Buitenen, J.A.B., Bickerman, E.J., et. al. (N.d.). Calendar. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar

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How do dialects form, and how did they form in NC?

The study of language is fascinating, and dialects are interesting in particular because of their different sameness. How that different sameness develops—in North Carolina and around the world—is a story with elements unique to time, place, and peoples.

The story beings with human migration. Where people settled, who they were, and how they spoke all have a large influence on dialects (Etter and Lantolf, 2005). Throughout history, new migration patterns have been created and new settlements have formed. As this happens, dialects can change to reflect a shifting population, or they can be erased altogether as the population of a place diminishes. In this way, dialects can tell us a lot about a place’s history (Reaser and Wolfram, 2014).

So, let’s take a look at North Carolina’s story. Wolfram and Reaser (2014) write extensively on what they call “the origin of language diversity in North Carolina.” 12,000 years ago, North Carolina’s linguistic landscape started to be shaped by groups of nomadic Paleo-Indian hunters. These separate groups had little contact. Eventually, some of them created permanent settlements, and the Siouan, Iroquoian, and Algonquin peoples had a presence in North Carolina, each with their own languages. The linguistic imprint of these peoples is felt across North Carolina, as many American Indian words made their way into the dialects associated with the regions they inhabited.

In the 1600s, the English colonized the Carolinas after a failed attempt resulted in the disappearance of a colony, known now as the “Lost Colony.” These new colonizers came from different parts of England, which had their own unique dialects, and from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Classes and regions of England—and their dialects—mixed in the colonies. Later on, the linguistic variation of the colony was broadened with Dutch, German, and Polish settlers, small groups of homesteaders, as well as victims of slavery from Africa. Tobacco and the wealth it generated brought more settles from Europe, and southeastern England in particular. These dialects informed the regional dialect of northeastern North Carolina.

Charleston, South Carolina was another popular colony, attracting settlers from England, France, Scotland, Ireland and Germany. The large population of slaves in the region spoke pidgin and creole English. All of these linguistic influences spread into North Carolina.

In the 1700s, most of North Carolina’s population lived in the eastern part of the state, along the coast. As the 18th century progressed, settlements moved west into the mountains and populated the piedmont. More Europeans from increasingly varied parts of Europe settled at this time, and the slave population increased.

It is these European, African, and American Indian languages and dialects that continue to influence how English is spoken in North Carolina today. The coastal dialects still contain a mix of features from the various English dialects of the colonizers that settled there, the highland dialects are influenced by the large Scots-Irish population that settled there, the Outer Banks was shaped by early English arrivals.

The concentration of dialects in the coastal and mountain areas today are a direct result of the pattern of small groups establishing themselves and being separated by terrain or water, allowing the dialects to strengthen, while the piedmont has always been the part of the state in which dialects mix together and populations shifted more easily, diluting the presence of dialects. This same pattern can be seen today, in which immigrants and people from other states move to the most populous counties of North Carolina in the piedmont, further changing the dialect landscape there. Dialects continue to grow, change, and be replaced as the human story continues both here and across the world.

References:

Etter, S. and Landolf, J. (2005). Probing Question: How did regional accents originate? Available at https://news.psu.edu/story/141216/2005/08/29/research/probing-question-how-did-regional-accents-originate

Reaser, J. and Wolfram, W. (2014). Talkin’ Tar Heel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.

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What does real equality look like? Does it even exist?

When imagining what equality could look like, we usually think of everyone standing on equal ground. And we might think the way to reach this equal ground is by giving everyone the same opportunities and resources, and voila—Equality! Justice! Utopia!

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. After generations of systemic white supremacy, settler colonialism, and capitalism reigning in the United States, we need more than equality. 

 What we need is equity.

Equality, as a method, is making sure that everyone is provided with the same amount and quality of resources. Equity, on the other hand, is tailoring the amount and quality of the resources to match the need. Equity means that those who have been negatively affected the most by racism, colonialism, and capitalism get more resources. On the flip side, those who have benefited from racism, colonialism, and capitalism will get fewer resources. In fact, those who have benefited from racism, colonialism, and patriarchy will probably have to give up some of their resources for equity to become a reality. 

In practice, equity can look like reparations, decolonization, and prison abolition.

Paying reparations is one way to make up for the harm done to groups by those who abused power. For example, Princeton Theological Seminary recently announced it will give $27 million to account for the school’s historic ties to slavery. However, the notion of economic reparations for past injustices and continuing disparities has the potential to be about more than just money. For supporters, a reparations program would aid in helping people imagine and create peaceful futures after centuries of crippling injustice.  Reparations are about helping people imagine and create “peaceful futures” after centuries of death and strife.

Decolonization is the complex and “unsettling” work of acknowledging Indigenous sovereignty and returning stolen land and resources to Indigenous people. As Tuck and Yang write, “Decolonization eliminates settler property rights and settler sovereignty.” Perhaps it is becoming clear that equity might be a tough future to look forward to for those who have historically held power. Equity requires the tearing down of structures that are the foundation of our nation.

Another step toward equity in the United States is prison abolition. Critics contend that the prison system in the United States continues the work of slavery by keeping many Black Americans poor, disenfranchised, and locked up. Advocates of prison abolition argue that money that is spent building jails could be put into education, housing, healthcare, and restorative justice projects. All of these options look more like equity than prisons do.

References:

Cohen, P. (2019). What Reparations for Slavery Might Look Like in 2019. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/economy/reparations-slavery.html.

Dotson, K. (2018). On the way to decolonization in a settler colony: Re-introducing Black feminist identity politics. AlterNative: An international journal of Indigenous peoples, 14(3), 190-199. doi.org/10.1177/1177180118783301.

Kuttner, P. (2016). The problem with that equity vs. equality graphic you’re using. Cultural Organizing. Retrieved from http://culturalorganizing.org/the-problem-with-that-equity-vs-equality-graphic/. 

Roberts, J. & Matz, A. (2014). Prison abolition. In B. A. Arrigo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of criminal justice ethics (Vol. 1, pp. 702-704). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781452274102.n253

Shanahan, E. (2019). $27 million for reparations over slave ties pledged by seminaries. The New York times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/nyregion/princeton-seminary-slavery-reparations.html.

Tuck, E., & Wayne Yang, K. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, educations & society, 1(1), 1-40. Retrieved from https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630/15554.

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Why do you feel and believe that you are inside of a body?

To break down this question, I want to talk about the sixth sense. And no, I’m not talking about the M. Night Shyamalan classic film.

I instead mean proprioception. Broadly, proprioception refers to one’s ability to sense bodily position and the cognitive awareness of the body in space. According to a 2012 paper by Uwe Proske and Simon C. Gandevia, proprioception encompasses “the senses of position and movement of our limbs and trunk, the sense of effort, the sense of force, and the sense of heaviness.” In part supported by our other senses, proprioception gives us our sense of our being located in a body.

While the term proprioception has been used since the early 1900s and efforts to study the sense of bodily self have been ongoing since the early 1800s, recent technological advances (especially the MRI) have expanded the potential for research on this topic. Through modern neuroimaging, researchers have found how other sensory inputs (like vision and touch) influence our proprioceptive sense.

A popular experiment commonly referred to as the Rubber Hand Illusion can shed light on how the brain understands the body and how it can be manipulated. To see this in action, you can watch this 2011 video from BBC. Beginning in 1998, researchers have used the following general setup to help us learn how the brain understands its sense of ownership over the body: a participant sits at a table with one hand resting on the table top while the other hand is hidden from his or her view. In some experiments, the hand was placed in a special box under the table. In other scenarios, one hand is placed outside the participant’s view behind a wall on the table. A realistic rubber hand is then placed in the participant’s line of sight, often parallel with the participant’s shoulder. The forearm and wrist of the rubber hand are covered, but the fingers remain visible. The experimenter then often uses paintbrushes to stroke fingers on both the participant’s visible hand and the rubber hand.

The combination of tactile and visual input has multiple effects that have been reproduced in repeated studies. When surveyed, participants often report that they feel what the rubber hand feels, that it feels like the rubber hand is their own, and that their hidden hand does not feel like it belongs to them anymore.

A 2011 variation on the experiment  found that the illusion of ownership of the fake hand could still be induced even when someone’s finger was anaesthetized and passively moved by the experimenter. This showed that muscle receptors activated through movement, and not just skin and visual receptors, heavily influence one’s sense of body ownership.

Questions related to our sense of body ownership have far-reaching implications. Francesca Garbarini seeks to apply proprioceptive research findings to rehabilitation efforts for people who have a distorted sense of body ownership as a result of a stroke or other brain damage.

References:

(10/15/10). The Rubber Hand Illusion - Horizon: Is Seeing Believing? - BBC Two. Retrieved October 28, 2019, from BBC website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk

Bennington-Castro, J. (2013, November 29). Sensing your own body is more complicated than you realize. Retrieved October 28, 2019, from Gizmodo: https://io9.gizmodo.com/sensing-your-own-body-is-more-complicated-than-you-real-1473461740

Proske, U., & Gandevia, S. C. (2012). The Proprioceptive Senses: Their Roles in Signaling Body Shape, Body Position and Movement, and Muscle Force. Physiological Reviews, 92(4), 1651–1697. Retrieved from https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00048.2011

Sample, I. (2016, October 20). “Rubber hand illusion” reveals how the brain understands the body. Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/20/rubber-hand-illusion-reveals-how-the-brain-understands-the-body

Walsh, L. D., Moseley, G. L., Taylor, J. L., & Gandevia, S. C. (2011). Proprioceptive signals contribute to the sense of body ownership. The Journal of physiology, 589(Pt 12), 3009–3021. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.204941

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What are some cool things about libraries that most people don’t know about?

What a great question! Most libraries have some pretty cool things that most people don’t know about, but the nature of the cool things depends on the library. Since we’re at UNC, let’s take a look at some of the cool things about UNC libraries that often fly under the radar!

Stream over movies for free! Don’t have a Netflix account? No problem! The Media Resources Center provides you access to various online streaming platforms, letting you watch over 40,000 films online for free. You can also check out audiobooks and production equipment there.

Get your daily news! It can be hard to keep up with the news when you’re busy with school and work, but UNC Libraries provides free, renewable yearlong passes to the New York Times for students! The New York Times Academic pass gives you access to NYTimes.com and the mobile app, so you can stay informed wherever you go.

Create something awesome! The three research hubs on campus described below are here to help you do the incredible things you want to do while you’re at UNC!

The Kenan Science Library hub has a makerspace equipped with 3D printing and imaging software, sewing machines, modeling and VR design studios, prototyping materials, and more – everything you need to jump-start the next great startup or build an amazing project. It also has coworking spaces to get creative juices flowing.

The Davis Library research hub is the place to go for data visualization, mapping services, statistical software, and digital projects. There are also presentation and working spaces in the hub for all your collaborative research needs.

The Health Sciences Library hub provides health sciences research support, digital health services, impact measurement, and a collaboration center to anyone on campus doing health research.

Get a Clue! Every semester in Wilson Library, a live-action Clue game takes place. Assemble a team and get to know Wilson’s spaces and materials as you search for clues and interrogate suspects for the chance to win awards and prizes!

Learn a new skill! There are a lot of interesting workshops and events across libraries on campus, but here at the Undergraduate Library we have 2 fantastic workshop programs!

Whether you want to find out how to start a podcast, design a T-shirt, or set up a blog, SkillfUL is your chance to learn about – and make the most of – all the awesome technology and software you have access to as a student!

Adulting 101 helps you help yourself be the adult you long to be, with classes focusing on topics such as creating an amazing LinkedIn profile, where to find legit health information, and what credit is.

Explore! This post contains just a sampling of some of the cool things you can do at UNC Libraries. There are many more libraries with many more cool things on campus, so I recommend that you do your own exploring and see what you can find!

References:

Film & Streaming Media: Watch Online. (n.d.). UNC Media Resources Center. Retrieved from https://guides.lib.unc.edu/streaming/stream

New York Times Academic Pass. (n.d.). UNC University Libraries. Retrieved from https://guides.lib.unc.edu/nyt-academic-pass

Makerspace @ KSL. (n.d.). UNC Kenan Science Library. Retrieved from https://library.unc.edu/science/makerspace

Davis Library Research Hub. (n.d.). UNC Davis Library. Retrieved from https://library.unc.edu/data/

Research Hub @ HSL. (n.d.). UNC Health Sciences Library. Retrieved from http://www.hsl.unc.edu/hub

Clue. (n.d.). UNC Wilson Library. Retrieved from https://clue.unc.edu/

University Libraries - Upcoming Events. (n.d.). UNC University Libraries. Retrieved from https://calendar.lib.unc.edu/calendar/unc-libraries/?cid=2998&t=d&d=0000-00-00&cal=2998

SkillfUL Tech Workshops. (n.d.). UNC House Undergraduate Library. Retrieved from https://library.unc.edu/house/workshops/skillful-tech-workshops/

Adulting 101. (n.d.). UNC House Undergraduate Library. Retrieved from https://library.unc.edu/house/workshops/adulting-101/

Library Hours. (n.d.). UNC University Libraries. Retrieved from https://library.unc.edu/hours/

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How do I make the most of my time at UNC?

You’ve probably heard the saying “college is what you make of it” at some point in your life. That quote may sound like it’s just telling you to work hard, but it’s also telling you that there are infinite customizations on the college experience, and what you choose to do outside of class will give your degree context and meaning.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work hard, but there are ways to work smart that can free up some of your study time for other things. The UNC Learning Center has a whole host of tips and tools dedicated to easing the path to academic success, whether you need help with taking notes or test prep. Some of my favorites are:

1. Get enough sleep

2. Create a positive self-script (easier said than done, but life-changing)

3.  Find a time management system that works for you, whether it’s a planner, Google Calendars, or something else

4.  Don’t be afraid of using office hours or talking to your professor 

5. Get enough sleep

And what are those “other things” you now have time for since you’ve studied so smart, you ask? There are student clubs, for one! With over 800 student organizations here, there’s probably one for you. Joining a club can help you stay in touch with your hobbies (a constant struggle) and make friends outside your major. You could also get involved in your field of study outside the classroom through your department’s events or through undergraduate research. If you want to learn a new skill, UNC Libraries have got you covered! If an internship is what you crave, start your search at University Career Services.

This is all to say that “making the most” of your time at UNC is subjective. Unfortunately, there is no universal combo of clubs and events and classes that unlocks The Ultimate College Experience, but there is definitely a combo (or multiple combos) out there that will unlock the opportunities you want to get or the skills you want to learn. Taking classes that interest you, talking with your professors and other students in your major, and exploring extracurriculars will help you discover what combo is right for your goals.

Good luck, and welcome to UNC!

References:

Tips & Tools. (n.d.). UNC Learning Center. Retrieved from https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/

Discover a Student Organization. (n.d.). UNC Carolina Union. Retrieved from https://carolinaunion.unc.edu/departments/student-life-leadership/student-organizations/discover-student-organization

Find a Research Opportunity. (n.d.). UNC Office for Undergraduate Research. Retrieved from https://our.unc.edu/opportunities-and-courses/find-a-research-opportunity/

Upcoming Events. (n.d.). UNC University Libraries. Retrieved from https://calendar.lib.unc.edu/calendar/unc-libraries/?cid=2998&t=d&d=0000-00-00&cal=2998

Internship Search. (n.d.). UNC University Career Services. Retrieved from https://careers.unc.edu/students/internship-search

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How can I learn to trust myself? How to learn to trust other people?

Trust requires hard and constant work. It’s a process that needs real effort from everyone involved. It can be difficult to trust others because it can be scary, daunting, or potentially dangerous. But figuring out how to trust yourself and others in healthy ways can enrich your life.  

There are countless posts and books and articles out there that will tell you the strategies, tips and tricks to trusting others, but none of those things will work until you first start trusting yourself. Putting trust on others while you do not trust yourself or vice versa can create an uneven and potentially toxic relationship. Trust is a balancing act between all parties involved.  

Trusting yourself can be hard but the steps are simple. There is also no one specific way to learn to trust yourself, so if your journey doesn’t follow a certain order that doesn’t mean that you’re not making progress.  

The most important thing you can do in trusting yourself is to build a relationship with yourself. It means spending time with and by yourself and getting to know what you like or don’t like. It means being kind to yourself by not always critiquing everything you do or building so much pressure against yourself. It means being very honest with yourself and not giving yourself excuses as to why you do or don’t do certain things. It means respecting yourself and not belittling yourself. It means loving yourself and being content with who you are. No one works on these things one time and suddenly they’ve reached their best versions. But striving to do these things as consistently and as often as you can will only help build a positive relationship with yourself. 

Another thing to do as you build a relationship with yourself is to reflect on the things that you are doing, on the decisions you are making, and in the things that you are saying about yourself. Check-in with yourself from time to time. Are you making decisions because of what others are saying or are you making decisions based on what you want or need or based on what others are telling you? If you leave the control of your life on others, you can feel lost.  

Building a relationship with yourself means being tuned into the voice inside of you may be hard to do at first because you don’t know what to listen for, but over time, if you take a moment to think about what you’re doing or saying and figuring out why you’re doing or saying them, your inner voice will get stronger. In turn, you will be able to listen that voice and trust what it tells you.  

Trusting yourself is also about knowing yourself. People don’t trust what they don’t know. So if you know who you are, you can feel secure when you make a decision about taking a class or going out on a date or figuring out what job to apply to. You can feel secure that whatever happens you will be able to take care of yourself because you trust in your abilities and skills.  

Trusting others is an extension of trusting yourself. Trusting others can be trickier because you’re not in control of people’s words, actions, or decisions. Plus, there are bad people out there who will do what they can to manipulate you and your trust to get whatever they want. Even still, despite those people, there are plenty of other good people out there who want nothing but the best for you. It’s being able to gravitate to those people that can help you build a strong support system of people that you can trust with parts of your life.  

As social creatures, we need human interactions. So it can feel scary to feel like you must rely on others. When it comes to trusting others, the same things apply to how you trust yourself. Are the qualities you’re developing to trust yourself being extended to others? If so, are they doing the same in return? Trust is never just a one-way street so if you feel that it’s becoming more and more like that, then perhaps it’s important to reassess your relationship with that person and figure out what the conflict is and why it’s happening.  

If you trust yourself and see those qualities in others, chances are that they are doing the hard work of trusting themselves. They may be good candidates of people to trust. Keep in mind, however, that not all trust is created equally. Nor is it a requirement to trust everyone with the same things. That is ok. People are complex creatures and there may be things where you find yourself trusting someone with something more than you would another person. It's not always the case that they’re untrustworthy people, either. It may be due to your relationship with them. You wouldn’t necessarily trust a classmate with private information the way you would your significant other or your best friend. Perhaps your level of trust is based from experience. Just remember to be mindful of why you’re trusting certain people with certain things and if that’s rooted in something negative, devious, or even petty. Do you not trust them because they continue to flake on you for planned events and not show up? Or do you not trust them because you overheard someone once say that they’re completely unreliable without knowing anything more than that? Get to the reasons why you might not trust someone because you might find that your issues with them might be something more or beyond just trust.

Another important thing about trusting others is that you are not obligated to trust people if you do not want to. Developing your inner voice and trusting yourself can build your understanding of people and their qualities and why you do or do not trust them. Just like not everyone has to be your friend, not everyone has to have your trust.  

Trust is a commitment you take on every single day. It takes work and it takes time but trusting yourself and others can be and is a worthwhile endeavor to having a fuller and better life.

References:

Cirino, E. (n.d.). 6 Tips for Building Trust in Yourself (T. J. Legg, Ed.). Retrieved from Healthline website: https://www.healthline.com/health/trusting-yourself

Ishak, R. (2016, August 11). 11 Ways To Learn How To Trust Others Again, According To Experts. Retrieved from Bustle website: https://www.bustle.com/articles/177783-11-ways-to-learn-how-to-trust-others-again-according-to-experts

Gray, J. (2018, April 21). How I Learned To Trust People Again (& How You Can Too). Retrieved from Jordan Gray Consulting website: https://www.jordangrayconsulting.com/how-to-trust-people-again/

Campbell, K. (n.d.). How I Learned to Trust Others by Learning to Trust Myself. Retrieved from Tiny Buddha - Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives website: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-i-learned-to-trust-others-by-learning-to-trust-myself/

(n.d.). 13 Simple Strategies for Building Trust. Retrieved from Live Your True Story - Authentic Success and Happiness website: https://www.liveyourtruestory.com/13-simple-strategies-for-building-trust-communication/

Image Sources:

https://gph.is/2d54ujK

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https://gph.is/g/4zKNoAE

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How do I handle failure?

We all have, or will, fail at some point whether it be in a professional setting, personal relationship, social scenario, financially, etc. so while it’s clear that failure is inevitable, it’s less clear how we move forward from it.

Like most things in life, we become more adept at handling failure with practice. We’ve all heard sayings like “fall down 9 times, get up 10”, that convey the importance of perseverance and trial and error. Though we may encounter failure in different ways or settings, by not shying away from it we can progressively build a skill set to handle it. We can prepare ourselves for dealing with failure by intentionally exposing ourselves to it in low risk situations like asking for services, such as a free upgrade on a plane, that we know we’ll likely be denied or taking on unfamiliar projects and tasks outside of the workplace.

One of the most powerful ways for dealing with failure or mistakes is to stop seeing it exclusively as a negative thing. It is a popular, and proven, sentiment that failure is a key step in the pursuit of success. There are countless stories of successful celebrities and public figures, such as J.K. Rowling, who would not have produced the works or made the decisions they did if failure had not led (or pushed) them in that direction. Positive re-framing, interpreting a mistake as a positive or even helpful occurrence, has been shown to increase feelings of overall satisfaction in the wake of failure. Possible positive reinterpretations could be that the failure will help you get closer to mastering the skill or that the failure allows for revelations about the project that you wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Another popular remedy for failure is humor. In the field of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs use humor to not only cope with work related stress and failure, but also as a way to make themselves more relatable and charismatic and build on the social connectivity and culture that is inherent in the work. The ability to laugh at yourself is a coveted skill and most popular comedians have built careers around literally laughing at their mistakes and insecurities.

A crucial part of reflecting on failure and its impact on you is to recognize that one mistake does not define you. You experienced success before the failure in question and you will experience success after it as well. Look at the example of President Abraham Lincoln - he experienced failure in business and politics at various points in his life from age 21 to 52 such as losing at least three congressional and senatorial races, and yet he still went on to become one of the most revered Presidents in our nation. Had he seen that first or third failure as synonymous with his overall identity and potential, we wouldn’t know his name today.

In conclusion, there are many ways to handle failure, but they all boil down to not viewing your mistake as the end all or be all and recognizing that you have the ability to make the best of the situation and move forward. In the words of a 12 year old student at the St Joseph's College in the UK after participating in lessons on how to handle failure: 

“It's better to be a coffee bean than a carrot - when you pour boiling water on a carrot it becomes soft and easy to break, but when you pour boiling water on a coffee bean it reacts positively to the change and adapts."

References:

Simmons, R. (n.d.). Everyone Fails. Here’s How to Pick Yourself Back Up. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/guides/working-womans-handbook/how-to-overcome-failure

Rana, Z. (2017, April 6). J.K. Rowling: How to Deal with Failure. Retrieved from Medium website: https://medium.com/personal-growth/j-k-rowling-how-to-deal-with-failure-ff8c7cb0048

Stoeber, J. (2011). Perfectionism and coping with daily failures: positive reframing helps achieve satisfaction at the end of the day. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 24(5), 477–497. Retrieved from https://auth.lib.unc.edu/ezproxy_auth.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=64459528&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Lin, S., Li, J., & Han, R. (2018). Coping Humor of Entrepreneurs: Interaction Between Social Culture and Entrepreneurial Experience. Front. Psychol. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01449/full

Tardanico, S. (2012, September 27). Five Ways To Make Peace With Failure. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/09/27/five-ways-to-make-peace-with-failure/#4fee9c103640

Lessons in how to handle failure. (2014, Nov 26). The Sentinel Retrieved from http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1628091541?accountid=14244

Image Sources:

https://giphy.com/gifs/girl-frustrated-everything-nJGNgimOSMx9K

https://blog.qlik.com/failure-is-our-friend

https://images.app.goo.gl/wPieNxo5vNy81nx59

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Is paper a vegetable?

So, is paper a vegetable? That depends on how you categorize fruits and vegetables! The term vegetable is a culinary term, rather than scientific. Thus, what fits into that category can be slightly arbitrary. Most parts of herbaceous plants that are eaten by humans are considered to be vegetables, although mushrooms (which are classified as fungi) are also considered vegetables by many people. The dictionary definition claims that a vegetable is a “plant cultivated for its edible parts,” or an edible part of a plant.

There are a number of ways to classify different edible things as vegetables. When categories are created by humans, there can be a variety of ways that they choose to create them based upon cultural context. When thinking of vegetable crops, different groups might classify them differently—for example, an academic might think differently than a farmer or than a consumer. Taking all of the different perspectives into account, there are five broad methods for classifying vegetables. Those methods are:

Botanical classification

Classification based on hardiness or temperature

Classification based on plant part used

Classification based on culture

Classification based on lifecycle

Many people accept the first method, botanical classification, as the appropriate method for classifying vegetable crops.  These methods show, however, that you can classify vegetables in a myriad of ways, which is how you get categories like “leafy greens” and “root vegetables” when you are looking through recipes.

So, back to paper—where does it fit into these broad categorizations? There is a condition where people feel compelled to eat paper. People who have a compulsive need to eat non-nutritious substances, or things that are not technically thought of as food (think dirt, hair, glue, or something odd enough to be featured on TLC’s program My Strange Addiction), have what is generally referred to as Pica. People who specifically have a need to eat paper have a condition called xylophagia.

Paper itself is non-toxic, if not actually edible. Non-toxic foods are not really digested, but are more or less safe to eat. Since paper is usually made of cellulose, it’s indigestible. Some paper is treated with chemicals or dyes, which could be harmful to your bodies. While one can eat it, and some people do, paper is not technically part of any food group. Based on general classifications for vegetables that claim they are edible parts of plants, paper is definitely not a vegetable.

Works Cited

The Daily Meal. (2014, March 30). 5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Eat. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-things-you-didnt-know-y_b_5059429

Dhaliwal, Major. (2017). Classification of Vegetable Crops. In Handbook of Vegetable Crops. (pp. 12-17).  Kalyani Publshers. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312583829_Classification_of_Vegetable_Crops

Gowda, M., Patel, B. M., Preeti, S., & Chandrasekar, M. (2014). An unusual case of xylophagia (paper-eating). Industrial psychiatry journal, 23(1), 65–67. doi:10.4103/0972-6748.144972

My Strange Addiction. (2019). TLC. https://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/my-strange-addiction/

N.A. (2019). Vegetable. Science Daily. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/vegetable.htm

N.A. (2018). Pica. National Eating Disorders Association. Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/other/pica

Vegetable. (2016). In Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries (Ed.), The American Heritage (R) dictionary of the English language (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved from http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/hmdictenglang/vegetable/0?institutionId=1724

GIF Sources

https://gph.is/13IK9UX

https://gph.is/2oVdr6F

https://gph.is/2vQPUbz

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How do dogs know that other dogs are dogs too?

With so many varieties of dogs, how is it possible that they can recognize each other? What is keeping a Golden Retriever from chasing after a Toy Yorkshire Terrier with the same fervor with which they seek out squirrels? With over 340 dog breeds recognized worldwide, and 192 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club, there are many varieties of dogs— not to mention our loveable friends who don’t fit into any breed category! Dogs also have the greatest variability of appearance out of any domesticated animals, ranging in weight from 2 pounds to over 200 pounds, and in height from 4 inches to 48 inches. Despite these great differences, studies have shown that they can in fact tell dogs apart from other animals!

There has actually been considerable research into dog cognition and vision, which relates to whether or not they would be able to recognize another of their species. Some findings have proven that different types of dogs perform better on certain visual tasks than others. For example, some dogs are better able to perceive their surroundings depending on eye placement or nose length. A sight-hound, such as a Greyhound or Borzoi, might have far better distance vision than a Pug. Dogs were historically bred for different purposes, so it makes sense that some are better at seeing or smelling, based on what they were bred to do. Regardless of how well they see, scientists have found that dogs can visually differentiate dogs from other animals and species!

In a recent study, scientists took nine dogs and trained them using a clicker and treat rewards in an attempt to determine whether dogs had the capacity of species determination despite how much breeds varied. The nine dogs are pictured below (tag yourself, I’m Bag):

In that study, dogs looked at images on a side-by-side computer display. The dog’s face was next to another creature, which included wild cats, sheep, goats, cows, birds, reptiles, and humans. They did not use wolves or foxes, as even humans have trouble differentiating those species from dogs. They also made sure to include purebred and mixed-bred dogs, as well as dogs from different morphological groups. The researchers compiled 3,000 images of dogs and 3,000 images of non-dogs to use. They used different angles, as well, which can be seen in the image below:

In the study, the dogs consistently were able to pick out the dog over another species. Some of them, like Babel, Bag, Cyane, and Vodka, were able to select dogs very quickly, while Bahia and Cusco were slower. The scientists concluded, however, that different factors could impact the speed with which dogs identified other dogs. Despite the appearances in the images, all dogs were able to distinguish dogs on visuals alone! So while we don’t know how this works, we do have very good proof that dogs can tell other dogs are dogs too by how they look.

No matter the dog, one thing is clear: all doggos are good doggos.

Works Cited

Autier-Dérian, D., Deputte, B.L., Chalvet-Monfray, K. et al. (2013).  Visual discrimination of species in dogs (Canis familiaris). Animal Cognition. 16(4). 637-651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0600-8

Byosiere, SE., Chouinard, P.A., Howell, T.J. et al. (2018). What do dogs (Canis familiaris) see? A review of vision in dogs and implications for cognition research

Psychonomic Bulletin Review. 25(5). 1798-1913. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1404-7

Claiborne Ray, C. (2016, Feb. 15). How does one dog recognize another as a dog? The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/science/how-does-one-dog-recognize-another-as-a-dog.html

Coren, S. (2013, Oct. 8). Do dogs know the difference between dogs and other animals? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201310/do-dogs-know-the-difference-between-dogs-and-other-animals

Hecht, J. (2015, Dec. 29). Do dogs know other dogs are dogs? Scientific American. Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/do-dogs-know-other-dogs-are-dogs/

NA. (N.D.) Dog Breeds. American Kennel Club. Retrieved from https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/page/23/

GIFs and Images

https://giphy.com/gifs/guide-gets-meet-OjknAbFT4X2b6

https://giphy.com/gifs/cage-helps-shepherd-10UGblPjc1Q7Mk

https://giphy.com/gifs/animals-being-jerks-9iiGPmnKa2GZ2

https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10071-013-0600-8/MediaObjects/10071_2013_600_Fig1_HTML.jpg

https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10071-013-0600-8/MediaObjects/10071_2013_600_Fig2_HTML.jpg

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Is it cultural appropriation to have Chinese characters tattooed on your body?

People typically get tattoos for one of two reasons: 1) for the aesthetics, a.k.a. how it will look or 2) because the image or phrase has a significant meaning to the person. The frequently asked question of “what does your tattoo mean?” has become a joke within the tattoo community and members of said community often defend one’s right to get a tattoo without it having a greater meaning. However, this choice does become more complex when it comes to individuals getting tattoos that borrow images or phrases from cultures or identities that they themselves do not belong to.

There is an ongoing debate in the tattoo community, and society at large, about whether or not getting tattoos that borrow from other cultures counts as cultural appropriation or if it’s just a form of appreciation. Some argue that tattooing has a long history of cultural borrowing and the new outrage around culturally appropriative tattoos is a result of a hypersensitive, “social justice warrior” social climate. There is the more practical stance of why would you want to get a tattoo that represents a culture, language, or concept that you yourself don’t understand or have any ties to. The practice of translating character tattoos from Asian languages, most often Chinese and Japanese, has actually become a popular meme online and the subject of blogs and articles. It points out the absurdity of people getting Chinese or Japanese character tattoos for the aesthetic and being led to believe their tattoo means something like “strength” or “peace” when in fact it says something random or non-sensical like “swift-dumb.” Most notably as of late, pop star Ariana Grande got a Japanese character tattooed on her hand thinking it said “7 Rings,” the name of one of her songs, but it actually translates to “barbecue grill.”

In light of these new conversations around the appropriative nature of tattoos using images and concepts from non-Western cultures, some individuals have even gone so far as to have tattoos covered or removed out of shame and a desire to acknowledge the damaging effects of colonialism.

Overall, there’s no definitive stance on whether or not tattoos inspired by aspects of non-Western culture become cultural appropriation when they are tattooed on individuals that do not belong to those cultures or identities. The best approach is to do your research, consider the potential long term consequences of the tattoo such as how its meaning may change or carry different weight over time as social climates change, and, if nothing else, double check the meaning of your desired tattoo if it’s in a language that you yourself don’t understand.

Sources:

Wolfe, Liz. “Your Tattoos Are Problematic.” Reason, Reason Foundation, Mar. 2018, https://reason.com/archives/2018/02/24/your-tattoos-are-problematic.

Christensen, Wendy. “Lost in Translation: Tattoos and Cultural Appropriation.” The Society Pages, The Society Pages, 13 Apr. 2012, https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/04/13/lost-in-translation-tattoos-and-cultural-appropriation/.

Tian. Hanzi Smatter, Blogger, http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2019.

Hall, Ellie, and Kevin Tang. “34 Ridiculous Chinese Character Tattoos Translated.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, Inc, 2 Aug. 2013, https://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/ridiculous-chinese-character-tattoos-translated.

Maicki, Salvatore. “Ariana Grande’s New Japanese Tattoo Translates to ‘Barbecue Grill.’” The Fader, The Fader, Inc., 30 Jan. 2019, https://www.thefader.com/2019/01/30/ariana-grande-japanese-tattoo-translation-7-rings-bbq-grill.

Demone, Courtney. “What Do You Do with a Culturally Appropriative Tattoo?” Mashable, Mashable, Inc., 12 Mar. 2016, https://mashable.com/2016/03/12/tattoo-cultural-appropriation/#S2_dIheCXgqG.

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What is the Worst Disease to have?

A quick Google search on the worst disease yields a list of the most fatal afflictions known to humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) cites ischemic heart disease as the primary cause of death in the world. Several psychiatrists have branded schizophrenia as the worst disease affecting mankind owing to its serious cognitive effects and subsequent, physical disability.

It could be argued that an incurable disease resulting in grave disability and early mortality should be termed the worst ever. Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) fits these criteria. Affecting newborns, EB is a disorder of the connective tissue resulting in skin prone to tears with minor trauma. Termed “butterfly babies”, EB victims may be born without skin, or with extremely fragile skin blistering or breaking as easily as butterfly wings. In some cases, internal organs may be affected as well, thereby leading to early death before the age of 30.

However, EB is quite rare with about 19 newborns affected for every 1 million live births. Sepsis, on the other hand, is estimated to affect 300 cases per 100,000. In the United Kingdom (UK), the Nottingham Evening Post named sepsis as “the worst disease ever” following the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence advocating urgent action by doctors for suspected cases. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition, often presenting with symptoms resembling those of septicemia (blood poisoning). It has a tendency to spiral quickly into multiple organ failure if not identified and treated immediately. About 40 percent of severe cases die from the condition, which can be contracted due to common viral, fungal or bacterial infections, such as, the flu.

In the 2017-2018 flu season, 48.8 million people were estimated to have contracted an influenza virus, out of which 22.7 million needed clinical attention. Among these cases, 959,000 required hospitalizations and 79,400 people actually died from influenza. These are the highest numbers in recorded history since the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) epidemic. Despite having a vaccine with an overall effectiveness of about 40 per cent and considered a good match for circulating viruses, a majority of people were unvaccinated. In other words, being vaccinated against the flu would have reduced the need for a person to seek medical care by 40 percent while also working actively against the development of serious complications from the illness (such as sepsis). Hence, the worst disease ever is perhaps one that occurs commonly, may be seemingly harmless but has the potential to lead to life-threatening complications and even death. The worst disease ever then, is one that could have been easily prevented.

References:

(2017, February 9). The Worst Disease You’ve Never Heard of is Just as Common as Cystic Fibrosis and ALS. Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/docview/1866088657/citation/8A2FAB4AA36F4E99PQ/1?accountid=14244

(2017, March 13). Warning over sepsis - “the worst disease ever.” Nottingham Evening Post. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/docview/1876605160/abstract/2E2A4DD647A4B83PQ/1?accountid=14244

Hernandez, S. (2013). The worst disease.  Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 47(6), 499–500. Retrieved from https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/doi/full/10.1177/0004867413491036?utm_source=summon&utm_medium=discovery-provider

Pietrangelo , A., & Holland, K. (2017, September 13). The Top 10 Deadliest Diseases. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.healthline.com/health/top-10-deadliest-diseases

(2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death

(2018, December 18). Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the United States — 2017–2018 influenza season. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm

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Why is no one here writing neat enough to be understood?

Beyond the years of learning and practicing that contribute to a person’s handwriting, there are many other situational or personal factors that can contribute to the style of their handwriting.

According to Polish researcher Jaroslaw Moszczynski, “the appearance of handwriting may be subject to temporary or permanent changes resulting from various external (such as uncomfortable writing position, uncommon writing instrument or substrate, low ambient temperature) and internal (such as the need to write more legibly and clearly, use of certain mannerism, powerful emotional states, tiredness, intoxication by alcohol or drugs, mental illnesses...) factors.” One person can even have wildly different styles of writing depending their mood or environmental conditions. Handwriting styles are also often linked to personality traits so the quick, illegible handwriting of some of the RCOW board questions could be attributed to the author’s impatience or an inclination towards privacy.

In the past 10 or so years, the rise of technology and use of laptops and phones for communication and notetaking has been faulted for the deterioration of handwriting. According to a study in June 2014 that surveyed 2000 British citizens, one in three respondents had not written anything by hand in the previous six months and on average they had not used a writing utensil in the previous 41 days. The removal of cursive writing from Common Core curriculum in the United States is further evidence of the dominance of typing over penmanship. However, there are technological tools such as styluses and touchscreens that allow us to engage with and personalize handwriting without the use of pen and paper. And some argue that handwriting remains more prevalent than we think such as when we fill out forms or create labels or notes for ourselves.

So whether it be that they were in a rush, their personality makes for sloppy handwriting, or they are simply out of practice due to typing most of their notes and assignments, there are many possible explanations for why RCOW questions are penned in a less than legible manner.

References:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073818310156

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/037907389090136M

https://www.rd.com/advice/work-career/handwriting-analysis/

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/jun/01/bad-handwriting-marking-exams

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefits-handwriting-decline-typing

GIFs

https://giphy.com/gifs/writing-nGtOFccLzujug

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Why don't Americans use umbrellas in the rain?

Americans seem to have a funky relationship with umbrellas. Some outsiders and visitors have observed this little phenomenon: they see Americans forgo the umbrella and just trudge through the rain.

In contrast, some East Asian cultures (Japan, for example) practically require an umbrella for rain AND shine. It’s just what people do to protect themselves from the rain and the sun.

So what’s the deal with Americans and umbrellas, then? Don’t they want to get protected from the elements?

While there aren’t any scientific explanations to determine what causes this phenomenon, a handful of social articles and observations in people’s blogs on the internet give way to a few reasons:

1. People don’t want to be inconvenienced and hassled by having to carry umbrellas.

2. People aren’t so bothered by a little rain here and there; if it’s gonna rain, you’re probably gonna get wet!

3. People will just deal with the weather as it comes (sometimes forgetting the umbrella or sometimes just purposefully leaving it).

People in Oregon and Washington (and most of the Pacific North West, really) for their year-long rainy weather, are some of the people who are most notably anti-umbrella. One of the main reasons that Oregonians don’t carry an umbrella is the sheer inconvenience of having to carry it.  People want to keep their hands free, and for a place where there seems to be varying levels of perpetual mist, it’s just too much of a hassle having to worry about it if you’re going to get wet anyway.

Another reason that people have cited for keeping their umbrellas at home is because it’s just rain! If it’s not a hurricane or some torrential downpour, people don’t see the big deal when it comes to getting a little wet. After all, it’s not as if most people are going to be walking in the rain from destination A to destination B for much too long. And if they are, a lot of people prefer to wear raincoats and parkers – again for convenience and to keep their hands free.

Plus, think about the wind! So many people have endured the demise of their umbrellas in the midst of a downpour when it inevitably turns inside out. Sure, there are companies who have created much stronger and sturdier umbrellas that can weather (ha!) the storm, but most people would rather just turn their head away from the rain and keep it moving.

Something that’s a little bit subtler about this phenomenon is the “cool” factor of being able to brave the storm. For people in the PNW, seeing someone with an umbrella can show natives of who is from that area and who isn’t. Something a little bit more insidious is this notion of going through the rain without an umbrella can be seen as “tough and masculine” considering the history of umbrellas, by way of parasols, were considered as feminine accessories in years past.

Ultimately, for the people who forget their umbrella or leave home without it, the world doesn’t stop. People will just have to think of much more creative ways of covering themselves, with newspapers or backpacks or plastic bags over their head. Or, they’ll accept their fate from the rain gods.

References:

https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2017/03/do_oregonians_really_hate_umbr.html

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/the-complexities-of-using-an-umbrella-in-new-york-city/

https://bite-japan.com/kako-m/umbrella-e.html

https://blog.willamette.edu/worldnews/2015/02/27/why-don%E2%80%99t-you-americans-wear-socks-and-use-umbrellas/

https://q13fox.com/2017/10/17/we-dont-want-no-stinkin-umbrellas/

https://midnightamane.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/umbrella-culture/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11169323/Why-real-men-dont-use-umbrellas.html

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How can I tell if I am abnormal? Is there such a thing as normal? Or is it just a social construct?

This question takes me back to fourth grade when I realized I was different because I liked reading Harry Potter fanfiction. I’m sure many of us have memories or feelings of not being “normal.” Before we can address if there is indeed a normal, we first need to consider the definition of normal. According to Merriam-Webster normal is, “conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.” Oof, there is a lot to unpack in those eight words. Some questions to think about when seeing this definition: who’s standard are we conforming to? Who decides what is normal? Is conforming really that important? Are certain normals more important than others?

The definition is purposely ambiguous so it can be applied to every sphere of our lives. There is a normal way our body should function according to medicine. There is a concept of a “normal” path that our lives could take, school, get a job, find someone, procreate. The normal in our workplace about how we should act and dress. Even down to our most personal attributes, a normal height, a normal weight, and a normal mental state. We can thank Quetelet, a Belgium astronomer for that particular concept of normal existing today.

There are other places in our world though where the concept of normal is important. For example, it isn’t normal for someone to have a hole in their heart as my Mom did. I am happy doctors were able to tell she had an abnormal heart and that they were able to fix the problem. If doctors didn’t know a normal way a heart should act, doctors would not have realized my Mom needed help. So, the concept of normal is nuanced, it depends on which sphere of life that “normal” exists.

Disregarding normals that exist in the medical world, other concepts of normal are mostly contextual, if anything at all. For example, what is a “norm” in America might not be a norm in Ireland? I know for a fact that is true, this summer when I was in Dublin it seemed like everyone was drinking on the streets, that wouldn’t fly in America because that isn’t normal or even legal. It’s possible to see different norms in workplaces within the same city. Furthering this idea, there is a normal woman’s height for the whole world, but break that down into separate countries the normal height of a woman changes. So in that sense, some norms can be seen as social constructs.

Now to address the more existential side of this question, “am I normal?” Personally, I don’t think there is no such thing as a normal human. Humans are so beautifully diverse. If everyone was always trying to fit in, we wouldn’t have trendsetters. We wouldn’t have people creating new technologies, new stories, new laws. If we didn’t have people breaking from the status quo humanity would be stagnant. You probably aren’t normal, and that’s awesome.

Sources 

(n.d.). Normal. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/normal

Perry, J. (2010, March 11). What is Normal. Retrieved from https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/what-normal

Rose, T. (2016, February 18). How the Idea of a ‘Normal’ Person Got Invented. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/the-invention-of-the-normal-persn/463365/

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Why are boys so complicated?

Truly a question for the ages. Many a person has wondered what is going on with male-identifying individuals. Is it that their brains are wired differently? Actually, research shows that there is no discernible difference between the brains of men and women—different biological tests have been done (looking at hormone levels, as one example), but there is no conclusive evidence that biology is the basis for gender differences and behavior. Many social scientists believe that in accepting biological explanations for gender, the implication is that gender inequality has to continue to exist. Instead, people believe that differences in gendered behavior are related to social and cultural circumstances. Gender, and with it masculinity and femininity, is a social construct that changes over time depending on what cultural norms are established. This impacts how men and women behave, communicate, and interact with each other. Research understands gender to be a marker of social difference, thus ideas of “masculinity” and “femininity” are often reinforced through cultural norms and through economic and social systems.

So, why are boys so complicated? It could have to do with how they communicate and display emotions. Traditionally, emotional control has been a marker of “masculinity,” and something that society uses to show how men and women differentiate. This can result in the conception that men don’t share their true feelings, leading to the creation of books such as What Men Won’t Tell You but Women Need to Know or movies such as the upcoming movie  “What Men Want.” This aspect of masculinity and the expectations set for men to be emotionally withholding or less communicative can contribute to another reason why boys are so complicated, which is the idea of toxic masculinity.

Toxic masculinity is one narrow expression of masculinity, that permeates different aspects of American culture. Toxic masculinity is defined by aggression, sex, status, and violence; strength is the most important, and emotions are seen as weaknesses. The idea that men don’t cry, or that “boys will be boys” stems from toxic conceptions about what manhood means. If most people believe that men are naturally violent or uncommunicative, then men are excused for any consequences for that type of behavior. Toxic masculinity isn’t asserting that all men are violent—in fact, the conversation was started by men to try and consider how certain conceptions about gender had affected their lives. It’s the idea that boys believe they should act in certain ways because of how “manliness” is portrayed by our society.

Boys being complicated probably has to do with the way society constructs ideas regarding masculinity, and how that, in turn, affects the way boys behave, communicate, and display their emotions.

Works Cited

Berkowitz, B., & Gittines, R. (2008). What men won’t tell you but women need to know. New York: Harper.

Clemens, C. (2017, December 21). Say No to “Boys Will Be Boys.” Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/say-no-to-boys-will-be-boys

Clemens, C. (2017, December 7). What We Mean When We Say, “Toxic Masculinity.” Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/what-we-mean-when-we-say-toxic-masculinity

Gough, B. (2018). Contemporary Masculinities: Embodiment, Emotion, and Wellbeing. Leeds, United Kingdom: Palgrave. https://doi-org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/10.1007/978-3-319-78819-7

Halberstam, J. (2014). Gender. In B. Burgett, & G. Hendler (Eds.), Keywords for American cultural studies (2nd ed.). New York, NY: New York University Press. Retrieved from http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/nyupacs/gender/0?institutionId=1724

Kellison, J. (2016). Masculinities. In A. Goldberg (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of lgbtq studies (pp. 746-749). Thousand Oaks,, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483371283.n261

O’Malley, H. (2016, June 27). The Difference Between Toxic Masculinity and Being A Man. Retrieved from https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-difference-between-toxic-masculinity-and-being-a-man-dg/

What Men Want. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7634968/

N.A. (2018). Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401

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