it's been almost a week since i've done any academic work and i'm still thinking like a student

What follows is not a rant or lecture, it's a question. Feel free to discuss and share and express
The examples assume a western Christian reader but is not exclusive. In fact, the question is a general question and is not limited to Christmas or Christian traditions. If you have any examples or ideas outside of this season--by all means share them



Cultural diffusion is a term described by Kroeber which describes the movement of a artifact, mentifact or sociofacts from one culture to another. Generally this describes the absorption, adoption, or assimilation of a tradition, value, or symbol by another culture. There are several different mechanisms for diffusion including direct, forced, and indirect. An example of direct would be intermarriage between two distinct cultures which exposes a group to someone they would not otherwise have interacted with. Indirect diffusion is more removed, filtered through a middleman, the Rolling Stones, for example listened to and were inspired by Muddy Waters, who electrified the blues in Chicago after moving from the Mississippi Delta. Then, there is forced diffusion, where one group is forced to accept the ideas and symbols of others.
Modern day Christianity is, in part, due to forced diffusion. While there was some diffusion from pagans who willingly converted, there was also a very large campaign by the medieval church to convert as many as possible. This very expansive religion is not alone in conquering and converting, but for right now, they are our example of cultural diffusion regardless of mechanism. It is Christmas after all.

One of the most interesting lines I hear during this season is that Christmas traditions were stolen from the Pagans. Well, yes and no. The truth is, no one knows for sure where many of these traditions came from. There are many theories and much lore surrounding something as simple as the Christmas tree.
Generally, that particular tradition is traced back to Northern Germany and one story posits that it was actually a disproving of Pagan beliefs while another uses an evergreen as a symbol of Christ’s ever loving life. Yet we see some traditions with the tree that very closely mirror Yule traditions such as the decorating of the tree. Yet, many Pagans would shun cutting down a tree and putting it in your house because it belongs growing outside serving its purpose there. Instead, they would suggest decorating the tree in edibles for the wildlife as an offering.
So what we see here is actually diffusion and evolution of tradition, not theft. We also see intense Christian symbols in the Christmas tree, from the use of an evergreen to the use of lights to the star used as a tree topper. Each of these has long been associated with other Christian symbols. Christ is the light, he is ever present, and the star guided the three kings to his manger.

Placed under this tree are usually gifts, not offerings to a god but tokens of charity, generosity, and love. When children are present, we generally attribute the gifts to Santa.
Santa Clause, also known as Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th century bishop who was known for his charity and kindness. As the stories of Saint Nicholas diffused north from Asia Minor parallels were drawn between him and the Norse figure of Odin. In these cultures, children would set out their shoes filled with treats for Odin’s great steed who he flew in the night with. Those children would be rewarded with tokens from him and so we see this same tradition adopted when we leave milk and cookies for Santa.

As these ideas move from culture to culture we see different variations on this jolly night visitor, each adding or changing small portions of the lore. We could discuss each European nation’s view of Santa Claus for days but the core of the idea is the same: he is a charitable and somewhat mystical visitor who leaves gifts for children who have expressed at least one good deed.

So what does this all mean for you?

No matter how you slice it, these traditions are the blending and convergence of religious ideas and rituals from different cultures, and that’s pretty neat in a way. What Christians experience when celebrating Christmas is the convergence of their faith and of a culture that has unfortunately been largely lost in much the way that many ancient cultures have been lost.

The question, of course, is then is this a preservation or a perversion of the assimilated culture?
Discuss.

I am a college graduate!

Pictures will be up on facebook soon enough once my family gets them to me. I have a few taken with my phone but lol nothing really great.

Ps--if you don't have me on facebook, feel free to add me!
And if you don't have facebook--get one! then add me.


This week was amazing and crazy. I turned in all my work and waited:
4.0 for the semester!

So my overall is a 3.64

I should take the time to figure out what it is in my major but i'm too lazy to lol

The day was great, very busy busy busy and traffic was horrible all day but we ended up in Blur dancing the night away and yes--i was toasty!
We should have taken pictures in the club but it was a real Lady Gaga moment and we all left our phones in the car. None of us had pockets!


So i'm off for the next two weeks! Until the 4th I am off work and of course off school. I'll be out of school until august! Now i just have to finish those grad school applications!

Sunday I slept and lazed around all day. Allllllll day. I needed it and it felt sooooooo good hehehe

Today I am cleaning my house, well more organizing, as for the last month or so i've been so consumed with school work that i've just thrown papers and the lot everywhere.
There's something very relaxing about cleaning as Emily--i get all zen.


For it to be my birthday No really. It's in just a little over a week!

(And for `GeneratingHype to have an amazing wedding to Mr Brody, which i know he will. I have faith that he will see the New Year and, Willing, beyond.)


PS if you're in Austin for New Year's Eve--Let me know! (we have a facebook event ) We're going to hit up the town and enjoy ourselves in kind of a mini meet fashion.


My graduation present from my mother was perhaps one of the most heavy and yet congratulatory ones I've ever gotten.

If you don't know--
In 1989 my family was living in Clear Lake (Houston, for all of you who don't know the area).
The news article is here

The house fire took my grandfather and my older sister, who was seven at the time. My grandmother, my father, my sister and my mother were burned while i sustained the least amount of injury. In fact, i have no scar from that night.

I've written about this previously and so i'll leave the detail at that--the article is really the best account and it's not something my family discusses except to refer to it as 'the fire'.

Everything happens on that time line. there is before the fire and after the fire and nothing else.


Anyway, the gift--
Jewelry is a big thing in my family, my grandmother's side to be exact. My great aunt was a diamond dealer. One of my great uncles was a jeweler and he designed and crafted some really beautiful work.
My sister, Amanda, had this pair of opal earrings with little diamonds. They were child's earrings, very petite.

She wore them all the time, almost constantly.

They survived the fire and now they are in my hands.

I almost cried, and so did she but instead we just had a very long, tight hug.


So--the message:
Christmas is something not even my Christian side of the family looks forward to. It's not a big holiday for us. It's a holiday that we try grit our teeth and get through.
This isn't a unique experience. For many families this is a tough time of year and so i ask you to keep it in mind if you find yourself getting wrapped up in who got who what and how much did they spend or how many gifts are you getting or giving or all of that

If you go christmas shopping, i ask that you do it because you want to give someone you love and care for something that will make them smile.
"It's the thought that counts" shouldn't be said because you don't like what someone got you. It should really be all that counts.

Gifts aren't something you /must/ do. they're not a chore or an obligation.
Don't let yourself be one of those people we all hate at Christmas.

If you do celebrate it, remember, it's a holiday about love, fellowship, joy and good will. Spend time with your family and friends, tell them you love them. Cook with them, laugh with them, make memories. Those last a lot longer than any toy or token.




Keep an eye out for lit updates. I'll tweet and update this journal when I post the CR journal

Tonight will be the first night of Hanukkah! So to all my Jewish friends--Happy Hanukkah, i hope there is good food, good company and good memories made tonight and for the next days






You should be watching #communityrelations. The four of us lit GMs have decided to start utilizing the group to give our lit updates and so we'll be beginning that shortly. If you have something you want promoted please let us know! Don't trust that we'll see it in our message center (and don't be afraid to remind me...lol)
I'll be sure to tweet when I build our first!

View the Update Here




This time next week, I'll be wrapping up at the Political Science honor ceremony. I don't really know what to expect, all I know is that they'll be talking about me and about four other top Poli Sci students.
It's weird. Feels weird. Weird.

Then I'll be enjoying my night and will be waking up in the morning for my graduation.

I uh, I'm not really...it hasn't sunk in yet.

I still have one project to do. One!
And it's writing. So woo! This weekend I'll be buckled down and doing that and turning it in Monday hopefully before midnight. Then I have one final exam on Tuesday night and boom
done

wee!




A whirl wind of work.
Oh and of RLdrama.

Still--it's okay. I'm quite happy and adjusting well.
I have some really amazing people in my life and I'm very lucky happy to have each them.
I can't really even say exactly what they've done for me on so many levels. There simply aren't words

~SulaJean is back in town and last night we sat around for hours catching up.
Missed that girl haha

This Saturday would be Nathan and my sixth anniversary...well, public anniversary. Yes, there are two different ones. We /actually/ got together in mid october. However...yeah, I wasn't claimed for a couple of months.
Anyway--not the point.
The point is...it's awkward and i just wanted to moan a little about it.
And so I have! /moan

Meanwhile!

#Texasdevmeet is holding a meet here in January! I hope to see some of y'all there! I'm so excited and we'll be doing some more promotion and some more planning for it.
It's odd that I never threw parties until i came to dA. I mean never. Like...never.
As in my birthday hasn't had a party with it since i was 7.

Soooooo at some point I decided to throw meets. 0 to 60 in point 0 seconds.
Still learning three years later.
The new group interface is awesome! it's really amazing for meet groups
We're working on expanding! Which will mean smaller and more frequent meets

And then I'm going to move to DC lol



If you are one of my lastFm friends you might have noticed a sharp increase in activity!
This is because when these past couple of weeks I haven't been able to focus on class work because USA has been playing a lot of Law and Order: CI
and I can't say no to detective Goren... Can't!
Can't!
He just sucks me in with his crazy

So anyway--listening to music.
How do I do it?
I get an ear for something and listen to it a million times in a row. If it's a new song to me i will minimally listen to it until i've memorized all the lyrics or can anticipate the next turn (if instrumental)
I don't know why i do this, but it's almost like a ritual for me.

So if I'm not doing that then I'm on shuffle.
So this week I've been doing a little of both.
Here are just a few that I've found myself really taken with in the past month in no particular order:

Sleepyhead--Passion Pit (You know that palm pixi commercial? yeah)

Everything in its right place--Radiohead

Into the mystic-- Van Morrison

Till I get my way--The Black Keys

Mexican Moon-- Concrete Blonde

Teeth--Lady Gaga (recently discovered her and what the hype is about...it's not really my speed normally but there's definitely a time and place for it)

Hands around my Throat-- Death in Vegas

Sunshine-- Handsome Boy Modeling School

How about y'all?








Of mine that have been on my mind lately (yeah it's a little self indulgence )

Wait wait wait--BEST THING EVER:
`ndifference is back!
BACK!
If you haven't welcomed him back yet, get to it!

NaNo is OVER! well in a few hours

How did it go for you? Share your horror stories or triumphs with me!

PS since tomorrow is Dec 1st that means it's Litmas time again and we have something a little different in store for y'all this year. Normally we hold contests and the lot but this year we've decided to leave the contests to HQ and hold a project instead.

Read more about Litmas 2009 here
+heart and spread the word! I'll be starting features as soon as I get entries!




I didn't mean to disappear for five days, I promise. Nope. Sure didn't but it just worked out that internet time wasn't in the cards for me.
I spent some time with family and friends that I hadn't seen in a while including some that pretty darned special to me.
I also played with `PinkyMcCoversong's cats! Turkleton likes me! okay so it took some bribing but yes! i got many kitten loves

Anyway, we had a crazy good time just catching up and relaxing and moving around MILLIONS OF BOOKS.
Seriously I'm so jealous of Emily's library...it's HUGE!
not to mention the cuddling...oh yes, there was cuddling.
and much giggling and cutting up with some of you experienced
(ps everyone should go give `lemontea a hug)

So what's left?

The semester is rapidly coming to a close. Rapidly rapidly. I have left to do:
--5 page paper (due Dec 15th)
--geomorph project (due Dec 4th)
--Travel Journal (30ish thousand words, dec 17th)

and of course final exams and then grad school applications and essays.
BUT! Letters of recommendations are in the hands of the people who have agreed to recommend me to my schools.
so, WOO!

Oh yeah and I need to figure out what I'm going to use for an academic writing sample. I've a few things to choose from.

So, i'll be busy until the 19th when I graduate!

(PS if you're in the Houston area Dec 19th, let me know and join ~SulaJean and I as we hit up the town)



Tomorrow is Dec 1st, World AIDS Day. Snuck up on us eh?
This year the theme is Universal Access and Human Rights

Many of you know how important HIV/AIDS awareness is to me, but if you don't let's review a little:
For the past two and a half years I've been an advocate of HIV prevention, detection and treatment as well as a defendant of rights of those who are HIV positive.
It has been my goal to help stop the spread of this disease to the point that I, last year, spearheaded a program to offer testing during class time in the mandatory the freshman health class on my campus. This is the first year it's been in place

Every year millions of people around the world are infected or discover their status. No matter where they live they face stigma, hardship, and mounting medical bills. I'd like to do what I can to reduce the impact of HIV on those who are infected and prevent the future spread of the virus.

Domestically or globally, this is an illness that needs to be stopped for innumerable reasons ranging from the political and economic to those of human rights.

But aside from all of that--
Watching this illness over take someone you love, someone close to you, watching them being robbed slowly of their time...well, it infuriates me and makes me want to fight it with every shred of my being.


I invite you today to share stories of how HIV has impacted your life or the life of someone you love.

This year I will be walking again the Houston AIDS Foundation 5k charity walk. My goal will be $1000, and for the past two years I have been lucky enough to reach this goal, I hope I can do the same again this year.
To do that, I need your help!

If you would like to donate and help me out (even just a couple of bucks!) please go here and made a donation!

Daily Lit Deviation Contest for prose fiction
Trite and True, Part I: Cliche
Trite and True, Part II: Originality
Thanksgiving Note Project 2009
Blitzkrieg Overview: The American Romantics
All Hallow's Literature Contest RESULTS!
From Scripts to Flicks - EXTENSION!!




Because I feel loved.



Friends are fantastic and wonderful things to have. People who you can count on for a kind word, a honest assurance, a simple hug--it's very amazing.


So, that being said--
Life is still nuts lol
I really need to work on some classes and get a handle on them, i need to make headway on my applications.
I will, I am. This weekend will be very busy and I will be welcoming it

Next week will be Thanksgiving week. I'll be gone from Wednesday morning until who knows depending on who i go visit. Family is nuts, you know?


So--Thanksgiving, time to give thanks.

This year I am thankful for:
Good friends--see above, reminding me how to live, to live, to feel beautiful and confident.
Good mentors-- Callaway, Carter, Strait, Baldwin, Netoff have all bolstered, influenced, inspired, and motivated me intellectually.
Good doctors--Finding my mom's cancer before it spread
the Mississippi Delta-- because it's an amazing place that gave me millions of memories
The #Texasdevmeet crew and their uncanny ability to make me smile. Each one of you are so very awesome in your own way and i suppose this falls under the whole friends category but still-you're a breed apart.
My apartment--oh dear god my apartment. I LOVE my apartment.
My gym--stress relief is found here so readily
My muse-- i feel so damn lucky to have it
deviantArt --for the second year in a row helping me raise over 1000$ for the Houston AIDS Foundation
All of you-- for being cool, cool cats in all things
chocolate, tea, coffee, redbull, fruit, cheese, cookies, greek yogurt, honey, beef, and all things yummy
My heart--that it is still open, warm, and happy

so, what are you thankful for?
Tell me, tell me