Blog Post 4 Jerry Rogan

     There was a lot of variation in terms of subjects with the past few readings, which I found interesting. I drew some different things from each of the videos and readings. For Adventures in Depression I think that the slide at the end reminded of that feeling or thought I think most people have maybe come to when feeling depressed and that is that if there isn't a point or purpose really for living than there's not anything to stop the world from being your oyster, at least from that point of view. I'm glad that the story ended on that happy note.

    From the How to Ruin Anything Video I liked hearing about the genre of towns that he was describing from out in the Midwest. Those really dusty and relatively empty towns with very few people always have that sense of isolation and emptiness that kind of envelop you if you're walking around their main street or somewhere like that. I think that seeing as how you mostly see old people in these kinds of towns that maybe the residents prefer the peace and quiet the way old people do and don't really mind if some of the shops are owner-less and the town itself is not "up-to-date". My dad grew up in a town like that in Wisconsin and he once told me about how he knew by college he wouldn't be living his whole life in his hometown. Seeing those kinds of towns from the outside it does give the sense that for a young person it wouldn't be that exciting and certainly if excitement is what you want you wouldn't find it there. 

    I also liked the Jaed Coffin Ted Talk, that subject is something I have put more thought into over the last couple of years myself. I agree with him that what it means to be an American isn't as surface-level as just being born in the country. I think what it means to be an American is as deep as wondering what it means to be Japanese, or German, or from anywhere else. What I've found from living in other countries, and then moving to America when I was 17, was that for Americans' that question is kind of harder to find an answer too. I think that what it means to be from "x" or "y" all has to do with culture. Culture imbues morals, senses of what justice is, how to perceive work and life, many important things which influence how people are raised and what they believe in and ultimately creates a common theme amongst a civilization which, when comparing nations to nations, leads to very visible differences between those nations. A nation has to have culture and it also has to have it's people feel a sense of unity under their nation. It's no different with America but I think that the answer isn't as clear as it should be - not that it is an easy question, even writing this I can tell that there is just a lot to say regarding that question.