Support for the Stem

Astral Facts, September 2013

Support for the Stem

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Support for the Stem

Culturally it is a social given that education is a major component in any stable society, and much discussion has focused on the roles of the core combinations known as “STEM”: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, as areas of high importance.  The acronym reveals an interesting analogy, for a stem only exists as an extension of some trunk or branch.  To extend that analogy, the obvious trunk and branches are rooted in the fields of the Humanities, for it is there that the basic skills of reading, writing, and critical thinking are fostered and nurtured. also in combination with what goes on in the social environment trunks, these skills grow into the budding STEMs of the science of the natural and external worlds.  Ultimately, the blossoms and fruit that emerge at the end of the STEMs are not created solely by the STEM itself.  The elements of the Humanities and Social Sciences are key factors as well.  The connection between stem and fruit is much more complex than it seems to be, with roots not always recognized.

Last spring, while we on campus were in the throes of finals and graduation, Annie Murphy Paul looked to such roots in her Time Magazine article “Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer” (June 3, 2013).   Paul cites separate research studies from Canada that indicate “individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective.  This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels.”  She also cites research that suggests children who had exposure to literary stories resulted in higher level skills later in life, warning that lack of experience in deep reading-“ slow, immersive, rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity involved in reading” -  puts limitations on intellectual and emotional development of the individual.  As Paul says, “Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the build-in limits of the printed page are uniquely conducive to the deep reading experience.”

Paul also references the studies of psychologist Victor Nell, who found that people slow down during “pleasure” reading, which allows them to contribute to the text with personal experience and opinion combined with reflection and analysis.  Nell says this results in similar emotions and conversations within the mind of the readers “like people falling in love.”  Paul compares this to the distinctions made by literary critic Frank Kermode between “carnal” reading (such as technical or informational reading) and “spiritual” reading (such as considering why the caged bird sings or feeling the frustration of someone obsessed by a white whale), noting that spiritual reading skills become underdeveloped and atrophied when young people become obsessively “attached” to their digital devices, for spiritual reading takes discipline and practice.  Her conclusion is that we are mistaken if we focus on the attempt to “meet kids where they are” by tailoring our teaching around their onscreen habits.  Rather, we need to show them someplace they’ve never been, where deep reading is the logon and password.

Here is the link to the whole article:

http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/03/why-we-should-read-literature/

Then last week on October 3^rd in The New York Times, Pam Bulluck’s article “For Better Social Skills, Scientists Recommend a Little Chekhov” reported on an article from the journal Science regarding the role of “literature” in mental development (and by extension – mental maintenance).   The same article was reprinted locally on the front page of The Seattle Times the next day.  Here is a copy of the abstract from Science:

Abstract:  Understanding others’ mental states is a crucial skill that enables the complex social relationships that characterize human societies. Yet little research has investigated what fosters this skill, which is known as Theory of Mind (ToM), in adults. We present five experiments showing that reading literary fiction led to better performance on tests of affective ToM (experiments 1 to 5) and cognitive ToM (experiments 4 and 5) compared with reading nonfiction (experiments 1), popular fiction (experiments 2 to 5), or nothing at all (experiments 2 and 5). Specifically, these results show that reading literary fiction temporarily enhances ToM. More broadly, they suggest that ToM may be influenced by engagement with works of art.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/10/02/science.1239918.abstract?sid=f192d0cc-1443-4bf1-a043-61410da39519

In her commentary, Bullock quotes Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist who has written extensively about human intelligence, and who was not involved in the research. “That they would have subjects read for three to five minutes and that they would get these results is astonishing.”  Dr. Humphrey, an emeritus professor at Cambridge University’s Darwin College, said he would have expected that reading generally would make people more empathetic and understanding. “But to separate off literary fiction, and to demonstrate that it has different effects from the other forms of reading, is remarkable,” he said.

Others have noted the distinction between literature and “popular fiction.”  Emanuele Castano, a psychology professor involved in the research noted “popular fiction seems to be more focused on the plot …Characters can be interchangeable and usually more stereotypical in the way they are described.”

In popular fiction, said David Comer Kidd, another of the researchers, “really the author is in control, and the reader has a more passive role.” In literary fiction, like Dostoyevsky, “there is no single, overarching authorial voice,” he said. “Each character presents a different version of reality, and they aren’t necessarily reliable. You have to participate as a reader in this dialectic, which is really something you have to do in real life.”

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/?_r=2

Thus, it seems that a healthy STEM really depends on the deep reading that fertilizes the ToM at the root.  If you don’t believe me, ask people such as Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, Dolores Haze, Queequeg, Holden Caulfield, Lucy Honeychurch, Winston Smith, etc.  If you can’t decide between the red pill or the blue pill, ask Nurse Ratched to help you.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

Ruddy Mode of Life

Astral Facts, May 2013

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Ruddy Mode of Life

Back when the Smothers Brothers comedy music was popular, Tommy Smothers played the role of the “goofball” brother and, in that role, he used the phrase “ruddy mode of life” in an interesting Spooneristic^[1] Freudian slip about the “muddy road of life.”  In the past few weeks, I have noticed how “ruddy” the modes of life can be, especially in a Humanities Sciences mode, as content crisscrosses like threads in a DNA sample.

Recently my wife and I had a “date night” but not the stereotypical dinner and movie outing.  (I tried that once before we were married and her comment after the movie was that we had wasted so much time sitting in silence in the theater when we could have been talking to each other.)  Instead, we went to a lecture by Dr. Steven Meyer previewing the content of the soon to be published book, Darwin’s Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record.  This took place at Northwest University in Kirkland, cohosted by The Discovery Institute.  Of course, the stereotypes again jump to mind, for the school is a Christian college associated with the Assembly of God Church and The Discovery Institute is closely connected with the theories of Intelligent Design.   To further set the stage for stereotypes, the presentation was held in the main auditorium at the school – the chapel.

Nonetheless, we didn’t hear any scripture verses.  Meyer gave an overview of Darwin’s theory, including Darwin’s own concerns about “missing links” that he anticipated being further studied, as well as the evidence for the Cambrian Explosion and more recent large fossil discoveries in British Columbia and China which Prof Meyer said all cast a long shadow of doubt over Darwin’s views. 

Meyer noted that such discussion is frequently discussed among the scientific community but avoided in the textbooks and in most schools.  Meyer expressed his wishes for more open dialogue.  He mentioned that when Jun-Yuan Chen,  a paleontologist working on the fossil field finds in China,  lectured in Seattle, he refuted Darwin’s views based upon his research,  Consequently,  he faced strong opposition here in the US, to which he said, “In China we can criticize Darwin, but not the government; in America you can criticize the government, but not Darwin.”

In his preview of the book, Prof Meyer noted a variety of theories being suggested as alternatives to the Darwinian view.  Meyer said he supports the Intelligent Design approach.

Although some in the audience resembled the stereotype of the inflexible fundamentalist kept “pure” by natural and selective inbreeding, primarily the tenor of the folks lining up at the microphone at the end were questions and comments from people identifying themselves as biologists, engineers, physicists, and others involved in scientific and technology fields.  Many of them asked for clarification of complicated aspects, but in an inquisitive rather than antagonist tone, primarily in accord with Dr. Meyer’s views.

Then a few days later, the word came that Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”) hit the news when some people in Texas took offense at the content in his presentation, citing their religious views as the source of protest.  Apparently, the problem hinged on the fact that the light from the moon is reflected light and the offended people in the audience felt Nye was ridiculing their understanding of the biblical reference to the moon being created as a “great light” in the sky.  (Whether they were offended that he was suggesting they were too stupid to realize moonlight is reflected light, or they thought he was he was suggesting religion is stupid is unclear.) 

This latter event has sparked an interesting private discussion amongst the Astro-Facts and Astral-Facts folks, for certainly the Bill Nye episode has put both sides in the greater community up in arms unnecessarily.  Again, the desire has been expressed for more open and “courageous” communication from both sides of the issue.

As the folks on the Astro side have explained, the “scientific” approach deals with the “reality” of life, where experiments can be conducted to reveal principles that predict outcomes, and it is important to allow situations when these outcomes might not occur, which would then indicate the claim was incorrect - without the potential to disprove, "proof" is suspect.

Unfortunately, this invalidates most Astral-Facts because they don’t exist within the physical realm.  It is difficult to confirm intelligence when it exists (if it does exist, that is).  It’s a real Catch-22 to try to confirm that something outside physical reality is the cause of physical reality when the only allowable evidence is restricted to what is in physical reality.

Then, in the “ruddy mode of life” a horse wandered off up in my hometown of Redmond.  It didn’t return to the stables that evening and the folks searched frantically to find it, but to no avail.   In desperation, they called an “animal communicator” and emailed her a picture of the horse.  While sitting her own home, the “animal communicator” concentrated, “made contact” with the horse, and within three minutes suggested where to look.  Within five minutes, the searchers located the missing horse, trapped in a nearby ravine.

http://mynorthwest.com/874/2284706/Meet-The-Animal-Communicator-Who-Located-a-Lost-Horse-In-Redmond

For some of us this boggles the mind, but for others it stimulates the brain.  Either way, such events can get the blood pumping, so it’s always a good idea to watch for the cross-traffic as we plod along the “ruddy mode of life!”

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

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[1]In case the term is unfamiliar:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism

Singing the Accreditation Blues

Astral Facts, April 2013

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Singing the Accreditation Blues

At the campus where I teach, we are now at a crucial point in the accreditation process.   Whether we want to or not, we are called upon to consider where we are, where we want to be, where we are going, and other such existential issues, especially related to gaps that emerge.  Certainly at the core of all this is a reflection on our purpose of existence, individually and collectively.

When I was teaching overseas (see a previous post for details), I would relax by reading some of the “pleasure” literature not included in my college coursework.   When I read John Updike’s novel The Centaur, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the description of a scene involving George Caldwell, a high school teacher.  His son, Peter, relates an incident when his father had stretched out on the floor in the center aisle of the classroom and shouted out to the students:  “Walk all over me!  You’re going to do it anyhow!”  Certainly the incident resonated with me, teaching in a totally foreign environment, but I also recognized how much many public and private school teachers could understand what the father was experiencing.

It’s been about 40 years since I read that and jotted it down in the list of memorable quotes I always kept handy in those days. 

As I now reflect upon my location in the current accreditation process, the reality is – things don’t seem so different now.  Here are some major components of the student population of the various English classes I teach:

v  The 18-20 year-old-year graduate of a local high school needing academic skills to transfer to a program for a bachelor’s degree elsewhere.

v  The local graduate with strong skills but not able to afford the costs to study elsewhere.

v  The 16-18 year-old high school student in the Running Start program.

v  The more advanced student working on an “Applied Bachelors” degree on this campus.

v  The adult needing retraining after being displaced from the workforce.

v  The adult single parent returning to school after several years away.

v  The “developmental” student who did not acquire many basic skills in the K-12 education system.

v  The military veteran returning to school after several years of service.

v  The immigrant student with limited language skills and cultural knowledge.

v  The international student with strong academic skills from a different cultural system.

v  The international student of affluence with poor or average academic skills from a different cultural system.

The list could go on with many of the students overlapping into several categories based on age, income, ethnicity, experience, etc.  As I consider my “purpose of existence” I cannot help but wonder how I can be the right person for all these students at the same time.  They all need something from me, and they expect me to deliver it.

As a professional educator at the college level, I am grateful to have some leeway in how I structure my courses and select my materials depending on classroom demographics.  On the frontlines of such battles, I appreciate the shared governance that respects my experience, good and bad both, resulting in wisdom and insight into the fulfillment of my sense of purpose.  It is the body of the faculty as a whole, through professional development opportunities, informal discussions, peer observations and feedback, etc. that is my biggest asset as we deal with issues and challenges we face together in partnership with the administration regarding community expectations and demands.  Funding is always an issue in education, and most funding comes with “strings” attached.  Essentially, this is pulling the teacher in still another direction.

Thus, which do I sacrifice in the quest for the greater good for the greater good?  Are the “problem” students most deserving of the investment to try to help them navigate into the “greater good” of society?  I watch Robin Williams in The Dead Poets Society or Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds and see how much effort goes into just one segment of the population – privileged or unprivileged.  Even when the inspiration comes from “real life”-  what cost does this demand for sacrifice by the teachers as well as their families and personal lives?

As Updike’s George Caldwell has stated, often it is the students themselves who put up major resistance.   In one recent “informal discussion,” a colleague shared about the difficulties in reaching a particularly “distracted” class of students.  This instructor decided to put the question to the students themselves:  Why weren’t they more involved in the course and the class discussions?  What could be changed or improved?  The discussion with one student went something like this:

“You need to make the class more entertaining,” said the student.

The instructor asked for further explanation.

“For example,” explained the student, “on The Daily Show Jon Stewart talks about current events every day, but he makes it entertaining.  You should make our discussions entertaining like he does.”

“Jon Stewart has a staff of writers who prepare all the material for the show!” The teacher replied.

“Yeah,” answered the student.  “It’s really interesting what they do each day.  I hardly ever miss his show.”

“I don’t have a staff of writers who can prepare new material for me everyday.”

“Well, I’m just saying that it would be more interesting for me if you would make the class more entertaining like he does.”

“How am I supposed to do that if I don’t have a staff of writers and I’m the only one to grade papers and teach the class?”

“All I’m saying is you should make it more entertaining.  If you don’t want to listen to my answer, why bother to ask the question in the first place?”

Unfortunately, that’s as much entertainment as I can provide as I sit among the piles of papers while singing the Accreditation Blues, to the tune of the Assessment Blues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZbM_MIz4RM

At least, I'll be able to entertain myself.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

Shades of Gray in a Million Pieces

Astral Facts, February 2013

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Shades of Gray in a Million Pieces

A recent article in the Seattle Times noted that public and private universities in the State of Washington led the nation in the number of Peace Corps Volunteers in the past year.  I was surprised at the number of negative comments posted online in response.  Mostly, the views expressed feelings it was just an indication of lazy and inept people who couldn’t get a “normal” job, so they were volunteering to use public money for their personal pleasure.  Needless to say, not many returned volunteers came forward to confess such “sins.”

All this did bring to my recollection a short piece I had written for one of the “chicken soup” books.  It didn’t quite make the final cut because the editors said it was not “uplifting” enough.  Unfortunately, the final line had been omitted from the copy they had and the omission was not discovered until after the book went to press.   Here it is:

Calm at Storm Center

            “Go ahead, Walter,” Jim told me as he pointed to the three folded slips of paper, “you can choose first.”

            Jim Barker, Ed Ciok, and I were Peace Corps Volunteers in Afghanistan in September 1973, teaching at the Nangrahar Medical University in Jalalabad, where students studied English their first three years.  During the first week on campus we had given them all placement tests and grouped them according to their levels.  We considered calling them sections 1, 2, and 3 or A, B, and C but worried that those grouped as “C” or 3^rd would be upset at those labels.  We decided to call the groups Red, White, and Blue.

            “Go ahead,” Jim repeated, “Whatever color you choose for the first quarter with these third year students, you’ll have a different color for the other two groups.”

            “I’ve got the Blues,” I said after unfolding the furthest away paper I had picked.

            “You sure do,” Jim commented.  Later I wondered how much he understood just how ironic my simple statement really was.  Certainly I had a lot to learn, but I was filled with the volunteer spirit.

           

            I had arrived in Afghanistan on July 9^th, fresh from graduate studies at Buffalo State College and a year’s internship in cross-cultural education at Lincoln Jr. High in Lackawanna, NY.  Eight days later, on July 17^th while the king was out of the country, his cousin overthrew the government in a bloodless coup.  From that point, the government in general shifted from its slightly pro-Western alignment in favor of Russian involvement.

            Similar political winds had been swirling at our school for some time.  Because of Jalalabad’s strategic position above the entrance to the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, Russia and the US had been competing for political advantage.  One built a dam for flood control; then the other built an irrigation system to use the water.  Then the first built a hydroelectric plant and the second built a modern road between it and Kabul, the capital city.  In this process, the Russians built a large complex to house the workers and specialists brought in to design and build their projects.  When they finished, they built a classroom complex and donated the site to Afghanistan to use as a medical university.  Not to be outdone, the American government arranged for university professors from the US to teach specialized medical subjects at no extra expense to Afghanistan.  These classes were taught in English during the final three years of the schooling, so Peace Corps Volunteers taught English as basic subject during the first three years.

            Ideally, we volunteers are the ones just wanting to lend a helping hand for others in completing tasks without worrying about who gets the credit.  We volunteers may sense some surrounding political struggles, but we idealistically try to stay focused on “the mission” for the benefit of the general population.  Frequently we calmly carry forth in the eye of the hurricane of political and cultural forces swirling around us until suddenly those winds blast us.  Such was my case, and I felt those forces building up from the first day in class.

            My thirty-five “Blues” were a combination of three types: those who had never studied English, those who had studied but had never learned, and those who refused to learn.  With only the first two groups, I probably would have been okay, but the third group, staunchly anti-American, preferred that English should not be a required subject, so they actively sought to sabotage our efforts.  They quickly figured out that “Blue” was the lowest level, and they resented us even more for this stigma.

            With these unhappy saboteurs assembled in my classroom, I stood in front of the group and innocently invested my efforts into their education.

            The first day I distributed the mimeographed texts and introduced myself.  As I was speaking, one student in the third row leapt to his feet.

            “Your honor, I object!”

            This was my introduction to Omar Gul, who essentially objected to everything in class.

            We studied the vocabulary of the circulatory system and did an oral review for the exam.

            “Faisal Ahmed, what is an artery?”

            “Oh, Teacher,” Faisal responded, holding both sides of his head, “the blood!”

            “Yes, what about the blood?”

            “The blood is rushing in my head.  I cannot think!”

            The room erupted in laughter.

            After this, “The blood is rushing in my head” was the frequent answer to many of my questions.

            We also studied the elimination system.

            “Teacher,” asked Speen Gul, a sincere student totally baffled by English vocabulary, “what means ‘eliminate’?”

            “To remove; to make gone.”

            Seeing the blank look still on his face, I dropped a small piece of chalk on the concrete floor.

            “Like this,” I said, crushing it into dust under my foot.

            My foot made a “Squoosh! Squoosh!” in the fine layer of sand which accumulated in the buildings every day.

            “Squoosh! Squoosh!” reverberated through the room as the students imitated my action.

            “Eliminate!” they cried in unison.

            “Squoosh!  Squoosh!”

            I left campus every day feeling like a racquetball that had been bounced off all four walls.  My other students, the first year Whites and second year Reds, were trying to learn.  But I had to start every day with the third year Blues and to them I was nothing more than a permanent substitute teacher for them to play with.  Two years before, when my Blues had been in their first year, the American professors had quit teaching at the school because several of the students at the school had acted in this same way.  The school administrators could not back the professors since many of these students were members of prominent families.  To expel the students would have cost those administrators their careers.  When the professors left, the primary purpose for our teaching English had left with them.  The subversive Blues in my class had their basic anti-American views reinforced by the lack of consequences during the previous two years of disruptive behavior.  They had advanced in spite of failing English every year.  Although the dean had given us a written statement that any student failing English would not be promoted at the end of the year, no one believed it would be enforced.

            As the quarter progressed, these disrupting blues would bring pinecones into class and throw them around the room when my back was turned.  They regularly took books away from the more serious students or stole homework assignments when others weren’t looking and turned them in as their own.  I would scold them or send them out of class, and they would act chagrined for a time, but it soon started up again.

            Several nights a week some of us Peace Corps Volunteers would have dinner together and discuss the challenges of the cultural adjustments and our missions.  They were always amazed at the stories of the goings on at our school, but my tales of the third year Blues kept them spell bound.  They consoled me and encouraged me not to give up, as had the Peace Corps Volunteer the year before.  Still, they were anxious to hear the latest events each time we met.

            Things reached the breaking point in November.

            As I was writing new vocabulary on the chalkboard one morning, I heard a different kind of snickering going on behind me.

            “What is it now?” I wondered as I quickly turned around and saw a flicker of bright light.

            “Omar Gul!” I shouted as I approached him, “Show me what you have in your hand!”

            As he showed me the pocket mirror he had been using to reflect the sunlight onto my back, in the corner of my eye I saw Ghulam snatch Ramatallah’s assignment paper from his book.

            “Out!” I sad to Omar Gul, pointing to the door.

            “But Teacher!  The blood is rushing in my head!”

            “Out!” I repeated, still pointing at the door.

            “Out! Out!” the students chorused.

            “Squoosh!  Squoosh!  Eliminate!  Squoosh!  Squoosh!” they chanted with lips and feet.

            Omar Gul slowly swaggered out the door.

            I then pointed to Ghulam and the door.

            “You too!  Return the paper.  Out!”

            “Out!  Out!” came the chorus.

            “Squoosh!  Squoosh!  Eliminate!  Squoosh!  Squoosh”

            Once the squooshes had died down and a sense of order had settled on the class, I resumed writing the vocabulary.  With the next word, a spotlight appeared on my hand and then into the space where I was writing.  Omar Gul had climbed on a large rock outside the high classroom windows and was using his mirror to highlight the words as I was writing them.  I had no choice but to ignore this and just keep writing as the light danced across my hand and the chalkboard.

            The bottom of the windows started at about six feet above the concrete floor.  The students seated in the front rows could not see outside, but the floor was sloped, theater style, for the rows in back to see (the room had about 120 seats), and several students ran up the aisles to the back of the room to look out and see where Omar Gul was.  Just as this commotion began, a large boulder, about the size of a basketball, came in through the open window near the front row of seats.

            “Clomp!” went the boulder, and “Clomp, clomp, clomp” as it bounced and rolled across the concrete floor, kicking up clouds of dust along the way.

            I stood at the front of the room, the chalk still in my hand, dumbfounded by the scene unfolding before me.  Six or seven students had run to the back of the room to see what was happening.  Another milling gang of eight or ten students had pounced on the boulder and were hoisting it back out the window, hoping to drop it back on Ghulam’s head.  Four students were violently throwing pinecones at each other.  Someone had stolen Ramatallah’s homework again and he was struggling to get it back.  Three students were running to the door on the opposite side of the room to go outside.

            As I stood there, only one thought was running through my mind:

            “They will never believe this at dinner tonight.  I need to remember every detail to make the story as accurate as possible!”

            As I stood there calmly taking it all in, Speen Gul came up to me.

            “I take Omar Gul for you,” he said, turning his back to the others while opening up a pocket knife with an eight-inch blade.

            “That’s not necessary,” I said while noting this detail for the evening’s report.  “Just sit in your seat and wait.”

            “I must go, “ he said, looking at the three students going out the door.  “He takes your honor.  You are Teacher!”

            “It’s okay.  He is the one who has lost honor.  Thank you for your offer.”

            Speen Gul reluctantly returned to his seat.  After about ten minutes, Omar Gul and Ghulam had scampered off, so the remaining students also returned to their seats and we finished the lesson.

            The next day Omar Gul and Ghulam were back in class, but I had become an observer instead of a participant.  The class was no longer “fun” for Omar Gul and his friends; they sullenly sat in class or skipped all together and we spent the quarter exploring the digestive system and navigating the alimentary canal until Jim took over in winter quarter.

            A week later, I found an anonymous note pushed under my office door.  “Mr. Lowe, Thank you for laboring and efforting for us.”

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

In the Fish Bowl: Super!

Astral Facts, January 2013
Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

In the Fish Bowl: Super!

Every year around this time, people get excited about the Super Bowl coming up on the weekend.  Many of us are anticipating the commercials even more than the actual game, for those advertisers are usually the ones considered to be at the cutting edge of public trends and values.  The advertising mantra is “sell the sizzle, not the steak,” so the trend is to align their product image with the direction of the public leanings. 

While some may say “business ethics” is an oxymoron, this brings up the debate over the definition of ethics itself.  Certainly, the corporate goal is to earn money; thus, they provide the public what most people want, while piggybacking their product as a component of the “good” life, associated with the reality of life, and/or a pathway to happiness.  The important thing is to give the customers what they want.  Often, this means identifying and reinforcing any bias or prejudice held by the target audience.

 For example, consider the Lays potato chips commercial from the 1998 Super Bowl with Michael J. Fox and Bryan Cranston, where a police officer is willing to reveal the “secrets” of his radar gun and accept the bribe of some delicious potato chips to have with his sandwich.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA8OKNUGwlk

Of course, the purpose is to entertain, but the underlying message is that police officers are corrupt and the decision to enforce the law or not is entirely arbitrary.  Since the product sells, the commercial must be good!  Certainly, the intention is not to undermine nor mock the authority of law enforcement officers!   Officer - police thyself!

A few years ago, Orkin ran a commercial that showed a woman standing on a chair.  All the viewers could see were the legs to the feet below the hem of the “business” skirt ending just above the knees.  She was obviously a businesswoman and a briefcase was on the hardwood floor near the chair, where a small cockroach was running around on the floor near the chair legs.  Viewers could hear the woman, obviously on the phone calling Orkin, starting to become hysterical because she could not leave the house with the bug between her and the door, and she didn’t want to be late for an important meeting. 

Not able to identify the critter (“I’m not a bugologist!”), she can only desperately plead for assistance as soon as possible.  The commercial ended with a view of the Orkin Man with his arms crossed (a la Superman with his cape flapping in the wind) ever ready to come to the rescue.

I only saw that commercial one time.  It was quickly yanked from the air (and hasn’t even re-emerged on YouTube as far as I know!).

During the holiday break, I watched the Orange Bowl football game – Oops!- it was the Discover Card Orange Bowl game.  One commercial break showed a woman on the phone to the Discover Card call center because she had let her husband handle the bill paying and he had missed their recent payment. 

The woman at the other end of the line says “I’ve got one like that, too.” 

However, they have the kind of card that allows “forgiveness,” so they won’t have a late charge. 

“Is your husband off the hook?” she asks. 

“No!” says the wife.  “Last week I sent him out for milk and he came home with a puppy!”  [Obviously not housebroken, as in the background the husband rushes out carrying the puppy while repeating “Hold it!”] 

The lady in the call center says, “Forgiveness is a wonderful thing!” to which the wife clicks her tongue – obviously not in this case. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBYWCULMUfI

Of course, the subtle intended message is probably that the large corporate entity is more forgiving than the typical human, but the overtly not so subtle message is that males are goofs who can’t be trusted to perform simple tasks like paying bills and handling simple chores.

Imagine if the commercial roles were reversed and the husband calls in because his ditzy wife forgot to pay the bills and the male answering the phone says “I’ve got one of those, too”! 

Then, what if the husband says, “I sent her out last week to get a pizza and she came home with a box of kittens!”

 I suspect any such concept was yanked before it left the drawing board – even faster than the Orkin commercial!

So this weekend, I’m looking forward to watching events from New Orleans to see how the males get beat up again – in between the segments of the game.

After all, it’s what the public wants to see, so that’s what is delivered; just like at school, where the students are the customers, and we try to provide only the stuff they want.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.