XenoGlossia

"The poverty of our language and the novelty of the theme compel me to coin new words for the purpose"-Lucretius 






I have  had my period of silence from blogging and I am  happy report  to that begun to restart writing . I  had  a big roadblock with maintaining is the schoolwork I have and also I have  had trouble articulating myself through words often.Hopefully these words from forgein lexicons may one day help  us expand the borders of our consciousness.


Bakku-shan(Japanese) -A girl who looks as though she might be  hot from behind but is ugly when seen from the front

Fachidiot (German):- Excessively narrow-minded expert in one field


Wu Wei(Chinese)- Action by Nonaction


Narachastra Prayoga(Sanskrit)-Men who worship their own sexual organs


Agobilles(German): A burglar’s tools.


Squadretta (Italian): A group of prison guards who specialise in beating up inmates.

Frotteur(French)-men who  like to  rub their crotches against the buttocks of women in crowds

Desenrascançoto(Portuguese)-the process of solving a problem and indicated that the solution was fashioned despite a lack of the proper equipment, training, or knowledge.


Pochemuchka(Russian)-a person who asks too many questions


Litost(Czech)-a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery


Wabi (Japanese)- A flawed detail which creates an elegant whole
meraki


Doxa(Greek)-common belief or popular opinion  


Tartle (Scottish)-  to hestitate while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.


Forelsket (Norwegian) The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.

My Experiences, Reflections and Meditations on Round Lake Camp 2010

            

              For almost four weeks, I was away from home at a Jewish sleepaway camp in the Poconos Mountains called Round Lake Camp. It marked my third consecutive and probably last time as a camper at that or any other Summer Camp. Now I have for the most part really enjoyed it with the occasional exception during bad days.

             The camp is unique due to its targeted population of kids with social disabilities. I myself would be included due my Aspergers Syndrome. Coming to this camp quite interesting because I saw all sorts of kids suffering from similar conditions, but their behavior is very individual and unique. It was a reflecting experience for me as an aspie because I came to understand that while I'm my own special oddball, unrelatable to anyone normal or  abnormal yet in the same breath connected to great degree to many of my fellow campers.

I had already made camper friends in previous years like "Eric" and "Rach"so my during duration at the camp was much easier from me. My friend "John" "whom I had meet the previous year" had originally decided not to Round Lake that year, But to my surprise and glee had returned in 2010. I also made new friends like "Daniel". "Steven", "Melinda" and "Tyler". I"m thankful that  joined  thankful that joined Facebook in so I could keep in touch with these amazing people.

         I did some pretty cool shit during  those four weeks. We swam in the lake (which is not  actually round in real life), biked around the camps trails and even went to Dorney Park(!). The Consulars were mostly the UK and Israel. It was refreshing to hear Trans Atlantic opinions of my  Consulars. They  were very nice  and I gained a degree of respect from them.Towards the end of camp, I read news reports  during  morning flagpole announcements. Campers  and Consulars loved  to hear my  anecdotes ranging  from politics  to the Plastic Pizza they serve us for our meals.

           While the majority of my experience were positive, a few were lukewarm and irritable. Sometimes I felt some of the actives we were doing were idiotic. I was reluctant to get  involved them and felt demotivated at certain times. Many kids in the camp and in my Bunk were extremely naughty and annoying. The national pastime of my Bunk 8 was trying to get  certain obnoxious Bunkmates to shut up. One camper's behavior was so horrendous that the Staff decided to kick him out of camp.  These incidents and dilemmas  could be best described as  a " Mind Fuck" as   former camper and friend "Mike" put it. Sometimes  you love RLC with all of your heart while otherdays you want strangle it (figuratively  speaking of course). My mind feels like a  maze  of thought    following a piece of string which in this case is the  pros and cons of my experience.  On one hand we saw "Talladega Nights" for movie night  which was hilarious, but on another movie night  we watched "Alvin  and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (ugh!).

But its not like I was shocked that their would inconvenience  at camp as  I have  gone to that camp for two years beforehand this one. If these less-to-wished- for experiences taught  me one thing, It would be how to cope  with the shitty  parts of life and try to memories of life. One experience that was  touching my experience with "Steve " on the basketball court. "Steve" was acting a little of it by the  middle of the third  week of Camp. I inquired about this and Steve told me that he was depressed because a couple of months ago,  a couple of his  high  school friends  who were  in a car together were killed in a tragic traffic and  he still felt a little distraught as their anniversary creeped up.   Around that time coincidentally, I found a
Jewish Orthodox   prayerbook dating back to 1944.  It was originally going to buried  with a bunch of other identical prayerbooks in accordance to Jewish customs. However, after some  negations  with the camp
administrators, I was allowed  to keep it due to the the fact they thought it was in good hands. I named the book Issac as it was saved from a most certain demise in the soil. It is very cool book with Prayers and Services for almost every considerable occasion( etc. There is a prayer for the event that a person sees a giant,drawf or  any other oddities in nature). I showed   to my camper friends including "Steve". As the my exit from camp was looming, Steve asked me if I could recite the Jewich mourner's Kaddish in requiem. Although my Hebrew is a bit rusty and it has been years since my Bar Mitzvah, agreed to do it and I preformed it on what I beileve was a Monday on the week of July 29th. I said Kaddish in a Basketball Court on RLC grounds in memory of their involvement in and love of athletics. Based on on his emotions during  and after our miniservices, I get  the impression  that I had done "Steve" favor that I will never be able to fully comprehend. Although I did give the Kaddish  on the exact deathday, I'm sure that their blissful Souls on the  heveanly Astral Plane don't mind.

            Recently I have been leening toward the Idea of me returning to RLC as a  counselor when I;m of proper age.  From my three years there I have  been exposed to so many intresting and beautiful people, places, and things. They include meeting kids with  disabilities  you wouldn't give  two cents  about them in their mentally incapacitated states, but they turn out to be some of the most clever and kindest people I have ever met in 15 years of life. I feel their is so much untapped potential that we on specturum  drawfs all of the normal standerds of human limits and bounds.  I feel of deep connection with these campers and I feel certian duty to help these kids because I can relate to them.  Maybe I could help them under go a Mental   Metamorphosis  and help them to reach a better tommrow. Prehaps  it is naive and unrealistic goal due to my hubris that  one person can succed in something so many have failed; However if weren't for all of my family and teachers that kept fighting for a little boy whom's future was uncertian, I would never be here were I am now. So I will always be dreaming the impossible dream(a nod to you "Rach")with all of my campers Past,Present and Future.

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."


-C. S. Lewis

Confessions of an Egytophile and Why You Should Also Be One

I have a deep love for Ancient Egypt or Kemet as it was called  by its olden inhabitants. Now this is not an obsession that is akin to a four olds obsession with dinosaurs that shall wither away; rather it is more of a fascination with a  magnificent civilization that is so exotic and strange but yet so familiar.


While I feel  that western  society suffers from Egytomania,  I think it also has refused to incorporate the wisdom  that this ancient civilizations possess  in our culture.  Although the common man is familiar with some of the information about Egyptian civilization such as Tutankhamun; he most likely has not heard of the Egyptian philosophical concept of Maat or the fact that the pyramids were not built by slaves but by free peasants. What even ticks me off more is the fact that Egyptian civilization has acted as the cradle for Western Civilization. Yet for reasons that escape me, we refuse to put them in our canon of classical civilizations alongside Greece and Rome. Do scholars really believe that only two civilizations  are  the only pillars of modern heritage  from antiquity?  Are Rome and Greece not tremendously different from one another or  are they just  in a larger zeitgeist category ?


Now by no means am I trying to disrespect or disregarded  these civilizations that I myself have admire, I'm  arguing for my  firm  although some what unorthodox  belief that today's Academia  should allow Ancient Egypt to join the Western Classical canon. Now many scoff at this idea arguing that the only way to impose a certain Culture upon the other is through  brute force like  the Hellenistic Greeks and Imperial Romans. This argument is horribly flawed because the reason why the Legacy of Greece and Rome lives on today is due to the persistence of Renaissance era Romantics  to bring back the splendors Classical Civilization in their own  present and for all coming prosperity. If it were not for men like Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Countless others, Greece and Rome may have become cultural eye candy and its wisdom would have never become solidified in western ( which is similar to Ancient Egypt's status today). Furthermore, as the inhabitants of World become increasingly more connected due to Globalization, Countries  far  and wide are aligning themselves western sphere of influence at a unprecedented number. The influx of hundreds of different cultures and their subsequent liquefaction in great "melting pot" has led to the diverse restaurants, language, religions and entertainment we interact with on a day to day basis. However our discipline of Historiography is extremely elitist in comparison because of the unwavering dogma of how only two European countries created a system of beliefs and values to spans over all seven continents today.


So what should we do? As Egytophile, I will continue to Fight for the glory that this lost world deserves. This could be another of my futile Crusades if you Don't join without your help! Yes! I want you to  help me incorporate Eygptian culture into Todays World.  More Posts on subject are upcoming! Untill next time; Ankh wedja seneb!!!

Upcoming Summer Posts

Sorry that I have not updated my blog. This was due to my mountain of schoolwork and  at that time upcomming finals. Now that summer is here I have plenty of time to focus on upcoming posts:

June 27th,June 28th, or June 29th- Confessions of an Egytophile



July 28-  Reflections on  Camp *

*(Note : I am going to camp for 4 weeks starting on July 1st)

More to come!

My Recommended Sci Fi/ Fantasy English Elective.

(This article orginally appeared in The Cheltonian,Volume 85 , Issue 4 )


There are an endless amount of books, and a school can only choose a handful of these to teach.While many books we read in English class are classics that have been celebrated for generations, some are irrelevant and franklyboring.A prime example is The House on Mango Street. It is a vague, cryptic
and somewhat unreadable book with characters more wooden than the love child of Keanu Reeves and Vin Diesel.

As a fan of fantasy, science fiction, and escapist works, I feel we should have a Sci- fi/ Fantasy elective in 11th and 12th English. The following are thought-provoking works for school reading.George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, should be taught. Orwell paints a bleak picture of the future with totalitarianism, big brother, mass surveillance and never-ending wars. Even though 1984 has come and gone, this book is becoming increasingly more relevant to our time than ever before.

We should also read the
fantasy classic The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien. This book not only inspired the Academy Award winning film trilogy, but it deals withawe-inspiring themes such as good versus evil, greed, redemption and righteousness. While incorporating an entire book trilogy into a curriculum is extremely difficult, such an endeavor would pay off.

Students may also enjoy reading the works of the terrific, but little known, horror writer HP Lovecraft. He has been described as“the Poe of the 20th century” and that is a fair comparison. He wrote terrifying short
stories of the dark corners of New England, blasphemous scriptures and nihilistic alien gods that pioneered
true psychological horror.

Despite the artistic medium, Watchmen by Alan Moore, consideredby many to be the greatest comic book ever written, needs to be read. This mind-blowing superhero tale tells of an alternate 1985 where America has won the Vietnam war, Richard Nixon is still president, and the cold war is thawing ever closer to a nuclear apocalypse. Each character has diversepsychological and philosophical
profiles which help add deep moral ambiguity to the story.We can’t let the recent 2009 theatrical adaptation that disappointed many negate the original, great work of literature.

The Gorbachev's Ironic Fate

Poor Gorbachev, all he wanted was to reform his ailing country. Instead his reforms led  to the collapse of
the USSR. Because of those indirect actions, Russia is entering a uncertain future or more recently an "orderly" Putin Russia. Now were is this history shaker  and the one man culture bridge (although I give some credit to Boris Yeltsin) today?  He is apparently Western Captailism's Advertising bitch.


(that's really him)


Elsewhere in Moscow, Lenin is banging his head against his Glass coffin.


Happy Easter or Passover!

Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: Why the Tea Partiers are Drones of the Conservitive Elite

 
When the Tea Party movement first began, I personally thought that it would be short lived. However almost a year later, my worst fears have been realized. Instead of people devolving anger toward the big financial corporations like AIG and Goldman Sachs, they instead place that anger toward the Obama administration which is trying to end this crisis and regulate these Wall Street Fat Cats. Some may point out that Obama himself voted for the 700 billion dollar (and growing) bailout when he was still a Senator in 2008. However I must point out that many experts originally thought that this was the only option at that time and it is interesting to note that a certain right wing guru originally supported the bailouts(more on her later).

But returning to  tea partiers; they have seem to have almost no understanding of issues they seem to be so angry about. They fail to mention that when Bush came into office in 2001, we had budget surplus. By the time Obama entered office, America had a record breaking deficit in hundreds of billions of dollars   that were created under a conservative Presidency and Congress. Yet I never heard a single conservative outcry during the Bush years on out of control spending and yet the Tea Party bashes this president for it. I also the movements opposition to the recently signed healthcare bill to be also absurd. Firstly the non partisan Congressional Budget Office or CBO has done an analysis showing the bill would reduce the deficit by $1.3 trillion over the next 10 years. Secondly, I find it very ironic that while Blue states like Massachusetts have lowest amount of uninsured while Red states like Texas have some of the highest. I think it's a sad analogy to the Tea Party and to many Republicans as a whole. These Tea Partiers may have been constantly been hurt  and bullied by Republican policies, yet  they fight Democrats due to the misinformation mongering of Conservative icons.

I am reminded of Tom Frank's book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" were he also ponders why Kansas; a state that has  a long populist history and was a big supporter of FDR's New Deal became a conservative haven. Today, the traditionally working class overwhelmingly support Republicans whom policies have hurt their communities and made the  rich richer. "Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower." he writes. So when you see a bunch of Tea Partiers whom by most likelihood are aging men and women. Don't  have Contempt for them, but rather sadness. Try to inform them  that the GOP "solution" to our deficit problem will destroy the livelihoods senior citizens like them. I believe that a Tea Partier should not be seen as a liberal's natural enemy, but rather an tragic example of a GOP brainwashed "have not”.