Process of Change in America

Change.
It's a word that can have both positive and negative connotations.   Some people don't like change - it is scary, not consistent, and not predictable.  Some people like change - it brings excitement and something new to the table.
What would America be like without change?  Or with more change?  Is America an ever-changing society?

From "What's 'American' About America", by John A. Kouwenhoven:
"Change, or the process of consecutive occurrences, is, we tend to feel, a bewildering and confusing and lonely thing.  All of us, in some moods, feel the 'preference' for the stable over the precarious and uncompleted' which, as John Dewey recognized, tempts philosophers to posit their absolutes.  We talk fondly of the need for roots - as if man were a vegetable, not an animal with legs whose distinction it is that he can move and 'get on with it.'  We would do well to make ourselves more familiar with the idea that the process of development is universal, that it is 'the form and order of nature.'"

Change in America is necessary.  It keeps the economy moving forward and progressing.  It allows our families, friends, lives, neighborhoods to be in a constant cycle.  It is part of our culture.  Change is part of what it is to live in America.

"Our history is the process of motion into and out of cities; of westering and the counter-process of return; of motion up and down the social ladder - a long, complex, and sometimes terrifyingly rapid sequence of consecutive change.  And it is this sequence, and the attitudes and habits and forms which it has bred, to which the term "America" really refers."

Writing and Running: A Comparison

I receive the "Runner's Quote of the Day" from the Runner's World website in my inbox every morning.  I got this one a few days ago, and immediately thought of it in the context of our final papers:

"Like writing, running is so much about mind over matter. There are times when you have to override the discomfort and keep pushing.  That capacity to endure and then prevail is just amazing."

Much like running, writing demands endurance.  But, the difference is between physical endurance and mental endurance.  Furthermore, writing endurance also demands that you have the ability to stop eventually.  To get up and walk away from your work, take a break, and come back later. 

That's the stage I am in write now with my final essay.  I have it completed (9 pages with works cited)...but I have LOTS of editing to do.  I find myself getting frustrated because it's really hard to keep looking at the same pages over and over again, and I feel like my brain just gets so full of the information.  Yet, I know that with my mental endurance, much like the physical endurance of running, this paper will eventually be finished and I will be proud of my work. 

Liberal Arts Education

Before this week, I had never really considered the greatness and rewards of a Liberal Arts Education. I had always thought of it as ho-hum...and maybe even been a little jealous of my friends who didn't have GE's because they were in Engineering School, or Business School.  But, after reading the following as well as the St. Olaf booklet, I think differently.

From L.W. Boe's letter to President Acheson and friends of Macalester College:

"The Liberal Arts college is American to the core, but at the same time has been, more so than any other type of institution, world-wide in its interests and outlook.
In the making of America, in that wonderful chapter which covers the moving of the frontier across the continent, the Christian Liberal Arts college has had its big part.  It was not far behind the hunter and the trapper, a missionary, not only for religion, but for culture in its deepest sense.  It was the bearer of civilization.  Into its halls came the uncouth sons and daughters of the pioneer.  Out of it went a generation of consecrated, Christian leaders that helped shape the character of the nation.  To the pioneer it brought a religious and cultural content and reality and helped shape the instrumentalities and forms that should be the bearers of the civilization he wanted to plant here.  The history of this great Middle West barely covers a hundred years, but brings before our eyes a moving picture of life and action the likes of which no other nation or time can produce.  The pioneer was not only the bearer of civilization.  He had to make and create the machinery for it as well."

So, through a liberal arts education, we become the machinery of America.  We become the machines that keep America functioning as a whole.  I guess the well-roundedness of my education will be a great asset, and will keep my "machine wheels" turning and working throughout my life -- because not only have I learned information, but I have learned HOW to learn -- and I will keep learning my whole life.

On Rolvaag's "Concerning Our Heritage"

As I read through Rolvaag's "Concerning Our Heritage", the repeated message that I continued to hear was about how the Norwegian American's heritage is unique and necessary in American culture, especially their value of higher education.

Rolvaag writes, "This view, that learning improves life and makes it fuller and richer was widespread among our people in heathen times.  They also understood that a life lived in ignorance is impoverished."  This, I think is an American view as well -- for the most part.  Especially at St. Olaf; we wouldn't all be here unless we knew that it will serve us well (and some of us might possibly enjoy it).  One of my firm opinions is that education is a main determinant of one's wealth -- and that the gap in quality of education in America is a core cause of the inequality of wealth in America.

There is also emphasis on being more than just Lutheran -- Rolvaag takes a daring move and states that perhaps it is the Norwegian Lutherans who "led the way" in the value of education in America.  He writes, "Just suppose we did! The Lutheran Church has been in America a long time now; still it has not managed to create a seat of learning that is first-rate either in size or influence.  Historically the Lutheran Church ought to be the church of enlightenment par excellence.  Suppose we Norwegian Lutherans really exerted ourselves and led the way, perhaps taking a slightly different path than the one others have trodden before us?  We have the power to do it both financially and intellectually."  I think that St. Olaf wouldn't be St. Olaf if it wasn't founded in Norwegian heritage.  Yes, we'd have the church; yes, we'd be Lutheran.  But we wouldn't have the sweaters, the lutefisk, the immense number of blonde-haired-blue-eyed people.  We wouldn't have the culture that we have.  Both the Norwegian aspect and the Lutheran aspect of St. Olaf's heritage are key in understanding the campus culture.

Finally, I find the St. Olaf's mission statement being conveyed through Rolvaag's words when he writes,
"This desire for knowledge is the aspect of our heritage that we as a people have taken best care of since we became Americans."  Desire for knowledge, taking care of that knowledge, cultivating that knowledge, importance of knowledge.  The combination of American values, Norwegian values, and Lutheran values are what define St. Olaf today.

Paying Attention to Language

I've always thought of writing as a way of expressing myself.  I've always thought of writers and fairly deep people, who engage in writing as a way to reach out to themselves and to others.  For me, I find that often my pen and paper produce words or thoughts that I didn't even know I had; it's almost like magic to me. I write, I feel better, and often I figure out something about myself I never knew before writing.  Writing helps me focus on me; it helps me sit quietly and appreciate the moment of thought and scribbling on paper.

But writing (like music from our discussion yesterday), is more than just about the writer herself.  It's about language.  It's about word choice.  It's about preserving the beauty of words as they are put into sentences to form language.  Language is a way of communicating -- and really, what would writing be without language? Nonexistent?

Robert Bly, a farmer and Norwegian American immigrant wrote in his essay "Norwegian Roots on an American Tree":

"Some people believe that to be a writer is to engage in a moral project.  I think writing has to do primarily with language - with using language precisely and accurately.  And we're all involved with that project.  One of the worst results of the Vietnam war was that it damaged the American language.  The administration began it by insisting that their motives were noble.  Johnson would always quote Lincoln when he was doing something especially despicable.  This double life became national policy.  But if the government insists that it has no shadow at all, then the opposition will accuse them of being nothing but shadow.  I belonged to the left and still do, but our group wasn't any better in its use of language.  Our language for public discussion still has not recovered.  Poetry has to do with paying attention to language."

Poetry has to do with paying attention to language.  Great writing has to do with paying attention to language.  I think of My Antonia, and how beautifully written it is. I think that this is because Cather paid attention to language; she recognized the impact of beautiful language and took advantage of it in her writing.  

Language can be beautiful. Writing can be beautiful.  But only both can be beautiful as long as we pay attention to them. To disregard writing means to disregard language; they work together.  Maybe Bly is getting at a deeper American issue when he says talks about paying attention to language -- maybe we need to pay attention to the language of everyone around us, instead of only the language we know.  Different languages mean different cultures; so if we respect and pay attention to all languages, I believe that we in turn, can respect and pay attention to all cultures. 

Topic Statement for Final Essay

The following is my newly-developed topic statement for my final research essay:

I am going to write my final essay as a journal of 20-year-old Jolene Stien during her sophomore year at St. Olaf, on December 1, 1918.  Jolene is a english major, hoping to become a teacher or even a principal at a grammar school.  She is a white Norwegian and a Lutheran from a fairly wealthy farming family just outside of Minneapolis.  She participates in the St. Olaf Choir and finds ways to play sports with boys even though she is not technically supposed to; she has a lot of spunk and will not let gender constructs get in her way.  Jolene writes her journal as letters to her deceased older brother, Jeremias Stien, who was killed in combat in World War I at age 22 on August 1, 1918 (4 months prior to the current day).  Jeremias was both her brother and her best friend; he had always encouraged her to pursue higher education. However, their mother and father feel differently.  Their parents want Jolene to stay home from college and work on the farm; they had already lost one child and did not want to lose their other.  The journal entry will encompass all of these aspects, as well as touch on the impact of the war on the college, the Christmas Festival concert that Jolene will participate in, the beginning of the winter season on campus, and the development of her gender role on campus. 

Christmas Festival and Social Capital...

I had a flash from the past last night during Christmas Festival rehearsal.  I started thinking about how all of these people from out of state, young and old, travel here to be a part of Christmas Festival.  I thought about how, at the beginning of the year, the majority of the people in choir were strangers to me.  And now, we all hangout outside of choir, we joke together, and we eat meals together.  Then I thought to myself, I'm thinking of social capital from AmCon last semester!  It's funny how the things we learn never truly leave us...

 The link for Christmas festival is below:
http://www.stolaf.edu/christmasfest/

Encourage family and friends to watch it either in the movie theaters or on television! It will be great!