Blog 36: Personal Story and Hypothetical Situation

Personal:

In the past I have found myself in various situations where I do not understand the different cultural activities orinteractions that are going on around me. For the past few years, I have had one of my best friends as my roommate, we get along on many different levels, but we differ heavily in our cultural values and childhood influences due to our different cultures. He is Chinese and I am a mix of various cultures, mainly Italian, and when we have conversations sometimes I will have to ask him to repeat a word due to his heavy accent on some words.  One of the large diffences between us is in how we speak, we both put stress on different parts of a word and our pronunciation of words is vastly different. Fortunately we are both able to find humor in our differences in speak and have had some amazing stories to tell from simple conversations. One night I decided I would like to pronounce his name correctly and asked him to aid me in saying it correctly. After a few initial failed atemtps we kept at it for four hours straight. His name is spelled Qi and after he would say his name with the correct vowel sounds that were correct for him, I would atempt to day it and he would just smile and say try again. Since I refused to give up and he was laughing at my hopeless situation he said to simply prounce it “Tea” and that would be fine. So to this very day whenever I mention his name to anyone or say it, everyone thinks I am talking about the drink and not my roommate.

Hypotheical:

Imagine that you are sitting in a rom surrounded by people form all sorts of various cultures. They are all having conversations in their native languages and obviously none of them make sense to you. How could you approach any of them and strike up a conversation? There seems to be an innate fear about approaching people of different cultures because we are afraid to look dumb or be embarassed infront of them due to a lack of knowledge about their culture. Both parties are most likely thinking the same thing, that they are unsure of how to approach each other because they are not sure what the other culture deems as an acceptable greeting or conversation starter. Neither wishes to be disrepectful to the other and this creates a situation in which both parties are bound by that fear. This slight cultural boundary fo a simple hello freezes up and prevents all other possible interactions that could take place. There is a simplicity in saying hello and appologizing if you have done anything disrespectful or wrong and ask them to simply tell you more about themselves and their culture. This moment of education can lead to great conversations and good friends, all that needs to be broken is that cultural barrier that stands betweenthe two parties. Once this barrier is broken an exchange of stories and various other conversation topics can take place.

Blog 35: CP Article

After reading two articles on common place, I chose to write about one that had to do with hip hop and how women are degraded to being sex icons in order to sell the music. It made a relevant stance on the subject that the music should not degrade women even though sex sells in our society. Some artists are putting out positive images about women and their disapproval about how it has changed to focusing on the degradation fo women. The music is suppose to be about the inspiration of events in an artist’s life and leave a way for listeners to relate, but with all the songs that are about sex it is difficult for people to connect to the music anymore. Just because a song has a catchy beat doesn't mean that people are relating to the song but more or less simply enjoy the rhythm instead of the message. Music in general has been losing its true purpose to be meaningful and focused almost exclusively on the fact that sex sells in order to increase their album sales. The artists that are putting out the positive messages are the ones that should be encourage keeping writing and improving the image of hip hop and women so that the music can be returned back to its original purpose of communicating and relating to its audience. Hopefully one day hip hop will be able to return back to its meaningful and original roots of allowing its listeners to relate to the feelings and situations that the artists are singing about.

Blog 34: CP Topic

The topic for my Common Place paper is cultural boundaries and how they affection people and communications. The subtle differences in cultures can provide moments of learning or embarrassment depending on the situation. Learning about other cultures allows us to be knowledgeable of acceptable and unacceptable actions between the two different worlds as well as show us how these actions can be perceived so differently. Many things are different between cultures such as holidays that are celebrated or the meaning of certain words; even words can have different meanings across cultural boundaries. I look forward to writing this paper because most people have at least one experience where they can relate to this topic. One example is if you are sitting in a room and two people are speaking to each other using a different language. You have no idea what they are saying and their language sounds like a bunch of strangely arranged syllables that only they can understand. Sometimes a person will assume that they are talking about them because he or she will look at the people holding the conversation strangely and they will look back then continuing talking. This can lead to feeling uncomfortable because the person assumes they are talking about him or herself. Truth is they are probably just puzzled why the person is staring and simply returning to their conversation. Next time you find yourself in a situation like this, just think about how interesting it is that a different language sounds like gibberish to you but the speakers clearly understand it.

Blog 33: Captains Log

This appears to be one of the final logs made by the captain as these times are nearing an end. There are many journeys that await in the future. If the captain is enabled to make more logs, it will ensure that his knowledge and methods of exploration are passed on to future generations. These logs will act as a tome in which all knowledge is stored within and will continuously be handled down. There are so many things that the captain wishes to pass on to questions that many people ponder. Why do birds walk with a strut or hop about instead of just walking? What makes lizards so skitz when all you want to do it capture them? What do crabs walk sideways? Are they directionally challenged?  How do dogs chasing their tails provide entertainment to humans? Why are puppies or teacup pigs considered cute? How many dominos does it take to build a structurally sound tower? Will there ever be a second season of Firefly? Is there no hope for the Cleveland Browns to win a Super Bowl? There are many more questions that can be answered but alas the captain is growing tired and running out of words to use to drag this out into a paper long enough that will be considered an entire blog so that he can rest and work on the rest of his homework. Also, why is it that his blog from yesterday didn't post when he clearly hit the publish button? This and more will be unraveled in the next CAPTAIN'S LOG! * Queue Epic Music*

Blog 32: Captain's Log

The captain has traveled to the nearest grocery store which happens to be several thousand light years away. This perilous journey had only one purpose and a single object to attain to settle the captain's sick obsession with a crazy food. This single yellow cake filled with the sweet foamy whipped nectar of the gods. On the journey we were forced to take shelter under some rubble of a fallen battle cruiser. The terrain we ran through has droplet like missiles falling from the sky that rang out in fury as they hit the solid debris scattered about. We continued on for day relentlessly, never giving up hope on the beloved idea that one day we would reach our goal. Giants that roamed this land step past us without a single glance or care about our existence below. The crew is tense, we have not eaten in days and we are all getting stir crazy. A few of us have perished from all the dangers that lurk around out here and it seems as if we will never reach our goal. As the day carries on there was a bit of good fortune for us as we happen to stumble upon some edible food.  Finally a gift from the heavens, it appears that our goal has found us as it has fallen from the skies right in front of us. A smaller giant must have been roaming about with it. We can now return home until we receive further orders.

Blog 31: Captain's Log

There is this creature next door that has an incessant yelping noise. I can not tell whether it is a mating call, in pain, or simply trying to be annoying. The creature likes to chase round objects and tends to beg when a larger creature walks by with its meal. This pitiful creature seems dependent on the larger one for food and a majority of its needs. When confused by something it will tend to prop its head sideways and stare until the source of confusion disappears or another event distracts it. It finds chasing its own tail to be amusing although once it bites it, there is a certain uneasiness about the situation. The animal looks shocked that by biting its own tail that some mysterious pain has struck it. Another observation shows that the creature is directionally challenged and indecisive as it runs frantically about unable to choose a direction for minutes at a time. The short attention span of the creature on further exacerbates its situation constantly changing its attention to different events and sounds. It's almost as if the creature has ADD or some type of lack of focus on its main goals. As the days go by the creature repeats these daily routines and actions, while seeming unaware that it experiences déjà vu for its entire existence. Further research will need to be done in order to make any further conclusions on this creature. It is a wonder that it has survived this long. I will work to keep the species alive and keep reporting my findings.

Blog 30: Captain's Log

There appears to be an evergrowing tree outside of my window. Each day I peer out at it and it appears that it is growing taller. The leaves change colors with the seasons and are gone when the cold season arrives. Now that I think about it, there are these tiny creatures that live on the tree and feast on the offspring of my green friend. They are viscous with their taunting squeaks and twitchy behavior. First they knock the young from the branches to what seems to be a almost certain death below on the ground. Then while the offspring are dazed or injured from the fall, they climb down and start digging thier teeth into the offspring repeatedly until their skull has been cracked. These creatures then feast on the inner workings of the offspring if they are hungry in the moment of the hunt or perhaps the more cruel fate is that they will burry their prey alive in the ground for later meals. These poor and unfortunate offspring can not be helped by their mother as the sits and watches in horror, petrified by this cruel act of violence. I ask you all where is the humanity in all of this? These creatures must be stopped as they appear to be on a rampage everyerwhere. Their acts are so cruel that the passerbys often pretend not to notice these savage acts and feastings. Will no one step in to save these poor defenseless offspring? What has the world come to?

Blog 29: Help is Needed

The portion of my paper that I need assistance on is relating my topic to the real world in a non-listing format. My thesis is: The writers of the series Firefly redefine the conventional meaning of family by introducing a group of people that are united for a common cause and functoin as a family, but are not related by blood. I am trying to show that the crew of Serenity functions much like a family does. There are roles that alternate between characters and there is the deep level of connection between the characters, which are two traits of a family. The last point of my paper would be to validate these two traits  between the real world and Firefly in order to convince the reader that these groups could also be considered a “family”. The harder part is that I am finding it hard to think of a reason of why people should care about this message. Should I continue with this thesis or aim for something like “Home is where the heart is” type of thing? Maybe the importance that these groups are considered family is so that people who are away from their families realize that there are actually more “families” they are in just where they are at. Like a college student who is from out of state or another country; there is a sense of home and a group of people that care right where they are much like a family was for their younger years. Well if anyone has any ideas please feel free to post them to help me out. Thanks in advance.

Blog 28: Anything

The beauty of simplicity is often overlooked or taken for granted in life. There are many things that are made up of complex ideas, science and math formulas, and abstract ideas. When all of these are set aside and just the object or idea itself is looked at, a beautiful simplistic idea stands before you. It is nice to just ignore everything around you for a brief moment and appreciate the fluidity of your surroundings and how it functions. At least I find it nice to just go outside on occasion and forget about my life and my day and just stare into the night sky. It can be nice to see the bigger picture in life where the world is part of a single galaxy and you are a person on a planet that exists in one of many different worlds that could be out there. On another note, some of the best places there are to relax, at least for me, are outdoors by a lake, the beach and a wide open field with a full moon and stars. Hopefully, everyone is able to step away every once in a while and just enjoy some time relaxing because it does a world of good when one is feeling overwhelmed. So, be sure to take breaks in order to relax, laugh a little and find ways to have fun. If you can keep refreshed and relaxed it is easier to perform better overall and continually get tasks done without burning yourself out.

Blog 27: Anything

Teamwork is an essential part to succeeding in life. It enables many more things to be accomplished than anything that could be done alone. Many marvels that are built and created are done by a collection of people with unique skills that they use to take the task at hand and achieve their goals. Everything from the medical field to the simplest theoretical ideas are made by a team of people in a factory, research lab or even a classroom. These ideas and collective skills assist each other in managing a problem or an abstract view of something and morphing it into something usable. The people that a team is composed of may or may not get along. The groups with the members that get along tend to have more efficient and high quality work than groups that quarrel or simply don’t get along whatsoever.  There are many times that people find themselves in groups where they do not know the members and before even working together will ask several questions just to learn more about each person. Most people like to build some sort of ground with their group members to feel some sort of connection or simply know more about them.  This curiosity is a common trait that most people have when working with others because there is a need for knowledge for feel some sort of commonality or comfort at some level. Meeting new people really broadens a person’s views since there are so many different people in the world.  So next time you find yourself in a group with people you don’t know, be sure to ask them some questions to learn a little about them. One person who does it encourages others, and a few simple questions can be quite revealing.

Blog 26: Any topic

I guess I will choose a random quote and just write about it. "Live in the moment because the good moments are fleeting." This quote can ring true throughout all of someone’s life, as we often find ourselves not enjoying what is occurring in that moment and are actually worrying about something that will happen in the not near future. If people are unable to live in those moments they become less memorable and eventually fade into the back of the mind. Keep an eye out for opportunities that might arise and offer a memorable moment. Sometimes we overlook the possibilities that can stem from a given situation and possibly regret it later. These memorable moments are the ones that help to define the lives of people because they are the memories that are committed to memory and stored. So next time you are on a vacation, adventure or just an everyday task, possibly look for the fun in the situation or an interesting opportunity. It could give you a great memory and maybe even a funny story. Anyways, good luck to everyone on their English papers and their meetings this week. Halloween is right around the corner as well. Anyone going to be dressing up as anything interesting this year? The best part about Halloween is the fact that horror movies are on all the time, which just happens to be my favorite genre. I am definitely looking for some good werewolf movies this year or at least some decent zombie movies, but we shall see if there is anything good this year as it gets closer to Halloween.

Blog 25: Anything

Captain's log: Day 8 without videogames and day 5 without any gas in my quarters. The two worlds that I mentioned before have merged and I can no longer tell the difference. An atempt to fly this morning ended abruptly as I landed face first on the floor. It appears my powers have been sapped using my only weakness, Anglefood Cake, and I can not locate the source of this toxin. My laser vision has ceased working and I know how to heat my food using a microwave. My glory days of flying around shooting lazers out of my eyes is nothing more than a feint memory. Batman and his boy wonder, Robin, continue to taunt me as I now have to walk to everywhere I want to go. I have been reduced to my only super power left being my super credit card swipe which is a very expensive power. It appears to be the only ability that I have left to set me apart from the other ordinary humans. The pineapples in the grocery store stared at me strangely today, I am unaware of their intentions. I believe wish to invade my captains quarters and use it for their now home base in order to atempt world invasion. They are starting with the smaller grocery stores and then spreading out to the larger name brand stores. I have heard rumors of at least one of them invading the ocean and eating some poor unfortunate sponge adn starfish. Last reports of its whereabouts report a missing snail named Gary. I pray that he instead found safe refuge rather than being eaten. I will keep you all posted. Captain's log out.

Writers side note: No drugs or alcohol of any kind were consumed in the making of these Captain's Logs. Just some fun and a lack of sleep and food. :-P

Blog 24: Anything

Captain's log: This is day 7 without any videogames. It has been a long and treacherous journey this week without any visual animated violence. I am finding myself to lack all sanity that I once had due to this outlet and am finding it increasingly hard to distinguish reality from the virtual world. Food has become less of a necessity since my virtual characters do not require food, but I am unable to tell the two worlds still. The gas from apartment has been shut off for 4 days now and hot water seems like nothing more than a pipe dream. My inability to cook food due to a lack of skill is only further amplified due to having no way to heat the food in my apartment. Cold showers are causing shocking mornings that seem to drag on for more than 24 hours themselves. My mouse has turned on me and taken on a life of its own. As I try to get close to the icon I desire to click it, it will taunt me by jumping to a corner of the screen. Negotiations are currently in the process, but I appear to have no leverage in this agreement. The computer has decided to keep trying to restart to update its anti virus software, although I keep denying it, it continues to be persistent. I am unsure of how much longer this battle will last because I am growing increasingly tired. The machines show no signs of fatigue, I fear that the battle will come to an end soon with my defeat being inevitable. I will keep you posted on my status in the next blog. Captain's log out.

Blog 23: Anything

I am deciding to write about my interesting night. It all started with a stressful day and then a series of events that broad sided me right afterwards. I actually think I will write from a more philosophical stand point about how life will always surprise you. It seems that some people enjoy trying to plan every detail of their day and life based on their schedule. In their mind life must run by this schedule without interruption or it will derail their entire day. Once this said person's day begins, they are already in the position to be offset by any catastrophe that interrupts a single minute of that plan. Life never lets anything go according to plan. You can plan every aspect of something such as a wedding and when all seems perfect and the day comes, something still goes wrong or no according to plan. Trying to plan every detail of your life is impossible, it is simple something a person can not control due to the simple fact that not every detail can go perfectly. A single second can decide whether a person is in an accident or narrowly avoids one on the road. If a frame of time as small as a second can alter a situation that could possibly end up a life or death situation, how could one expect to be able to plan anything flawlessly. So there are two options, makes plans and allow room for error or just live in the moment and enjoy riding the wave of life.

Blog 22 Abstract

The writers of the series Firefly redefine the conventional meaning of family by introducing a group of people that are united for a common cause and functoin as a family, but are not related by blood. The definition of a family is a basic social unit consisting of parent and their children, but in current times the meaning of family has shifted to being more loosely defined. There are many groups of people that function like a family like close roommates, support groups, sports fans and GBLT families. The support groups such as the ones for cancer patients provide aid to those people in getting medical treatment and providing long term support for them, so they can continue living happy lives. Each of these different groups is united through a commonality among its members and share a unique bond with each other much like family members. The roar of sports fans in a stadium cheering on their team against a common enemy creates a common cause and unrivaled comradery among the fans. If their team wins they will all celebrate together, if they lose they will mourn together and in the rough times they root their team on to victory. Many people will argue that these groups are not families, however this paper will provide evidence that will prove they are. These groups are united through a unique bond, provide support for each other and help each other function.  The crew of Serenity in the series Firefly support each other and need each other to function much like groups today and function dynamically like a family.

Blog 21: Quote Integration

All too often, people can find themselves stressed out and in a bitter disposition with life, parents and family encourage the individual to keep going, but frineds can offer a unique perspective. Writer Chris Fitinolpoulos explains that many young adults escape the pressure fo parental and social authority by turning to their friends. One day Chris found a saying scrawled across a desk from a bored student that read "All I want is a different view." This simple quote explains one of the unique roles that friends can play in life which is being able to offer a new perspecitve on life when. When a child has no where left to turn, they turn to family and friends for something that help them keep going. Friends act as a support to get through the rough times when family may not be around. For instance, when attending college and family is not nearby, friends are there to act as the individual's support and comrade. In the television series Firefly, Mal and his crew find themselves in grim situations and that appear to have no good way out. However, the crew members help keep each other positive and stick together to fight through these tough situations.  Friends will be there for their fellow comrades through the thick and thin while helping to keep each other a float in times of despair.

I still need to find a better way to tie these quotes in with my paper’s thesis. I can find a message that I like, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to tie it back to my main idea. Does anyone have any suggestions?

My thesis is:

The writers of the series Firefly redefine the conventional meaning of family by introducing a group of people that are united for a common cause and function as a family, but are not actually all related by blood.

Blog 20: Integrated Quotes

There are a vast number of reasons why friends become part of a person's unconventional family. One reason can be clearly understood from a quote by Albert Cammus, "Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk infront of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.", which means that individuals are not often looking to lead or follow, but want someone who will stand next to them to talk and listen. Family members such as parents often try to lead without stopping to listen and talk to their children. The fact that a friend can stand on the same level as another person and listen gives them a unique role that can forge a bond as strong as blood. Friends fill in the roles where authority and societal expectations are left behind and people can speak on a level as equals without the fear of being criticized or judged.  Much like in the episode “Serenity” from Firefly season 1, Mal the captain speaks to the bickering Kaylee and Jayne as a friend rather than an authority figure due to his gentle tone and relaxed body language. Although, Mal is acting in the manner of a friend,  distinct family like traits can be seen in this particular scene. The bickering siblings, Kaylee and Jayne, and Mal breaking up the argument as a father would, then the victorious daughter kissing her father and saying she loves him. These obvious family like traits were present in an interaction among close friends and aids in displaying how friends can become part of a person’s family.

This still needs some work, but it’s a start.

Blog 19: Source 4 A Search Complete?

After hours and hours of digging through useless and irrelevant articles that in no way, shape or form related to my topic. I believe I may have blindly stumbled upon something that can be used as my primary source. In an article titled "Lifelong friends at first sight", the author describes the value of friendship that can be placed above family bonds. This at first to most people would seem to be a very bold statement since sayings like “blood is thicker than water” suggests that family is always priority, but the author delivers some very good points. First he speaks of how his father always discouraged friendship over family bonds because of a war he was in as well as some bad friends from his lifetime. The author goes on to talk about one of his teachers encouraging that everyone get along and be open minded and that she kept her classroom like that all the time. By keeping the classroom this way there were few confrontations and everyone listened to each other. The author of the article is now a teacher and mentions a few good points raised by his own students. One of his students once said to him that friends "allow them to breathe", meaning that the young adults can escape the pressures of parental and social authority by turning to their friends. This allows the freedom to speak their mind and helps the friendship flourish.  The author then mentions a phrase that a student scrawled on a desk that read "All I want is a different view." Friends have a way of offering new point of views on life and situations as well as many wonderful perspectives on life. I look forward to interpreting this article further and applying it to my thesis.

Blog 18: Source 3

This source talks about the pseudo-relationship between humans and family pets, in this case dogs. The dogs are obviously a different species and yet are treated as equal members of the family. Despite the large differences between humans and dogs, many of the dogs are treated as human-like family members. When the owners of the dogs were asked what their dogs meant to them, almost all of the owners called their dogs their child and as a family member. Then most of then answered that the dogs were childlike and even fewer viewed dogs as siblings.  Almost all of the dog owners said that the dogs were pack animals as well. The dogs in these families often joined in on family activities and showed the same traits and respect to their owners as a child would to their parents. Dogs will wait to eat until their owner feeds them and they wait intently while watching their owners to provide the food for them. This is almost a mirror image of how children wait for dinner from a parent each night after school.  The dogs are allowed to roam freely about the house much like a child would, but have some boundaries in the house where they are not allowed to go. Parents will often set boundaries as to where kids can go in the house of their safety or just as a boundary that the parents wish to establish.  Encounters between dogs and humans usually exceed the rules of pack behavior allowing owners to share a family like bond with their pets. This simple example can be used to help explain my thesis because even groups that contain different species are able to forge bonds that are similar to the bonds shared between family members of a family.

Blog 17: Second Source

I just read an article titled, "Life in the Pack: Of Dogfights ans Social Moralities" by Bryan Zepp Jamieson, which is about how both humans and animals act civally towards one another. He makes the arguement that a common saying such as humans are "above the beast of the fields" is incorrect and gives the example that when one of his dogs was sick, his two cats and the other dog in his household kept the dog comay and groomed him to comfort him. He then says that humans do the same thing and that when another person is sick even those who are not as civil when addressing this person are suddenly respectful and semi-concerned due to our morals. These small but utterly selfless acts suggest kindness and compassoin- behavior that in humans would be considered moral. Then he mentions the case that two wolves that fight for a mate must still hunt together for food if they are to eat, they cannot live without each other. The writer then makes the interesting point that any mamal can form a bond with any other animal such as a Gorilla taking care of a kitten or a pride of lions adopting a goat. This behavior would be seen as moral especially due to the kindness that could be seen behind the action. These actions of reaching out from animals shows that animals are capable of kindness as well and helps to disprove Social Darwinism. This article could possibly be used to show that animals also show family like traits within their packs or herds based on actions such as these.

Blog 16: First Source Article

An article titles "Herding in Humans", by Ramsey M. Raafat, Nick Chater and Chris Frith which talks about the mechanisms and theories behind why humans tend to act as a herd from the Bandwagon to angry mobs. There are two focuses that are specifically mentioned in the article which are (i.) the mechanism of the transmission that propagates a particular thought of behavior from one agent to another and (ii.) the pattern of interactions between agents. The paper continues to talk about models of herding and shows a timeline with all of the progress that has been made on the topic in the field of psychology. Then portions of the article are dedicated to explaining these two main points in great detail. The paper discusses that there is a distinct difference between one on one interactions and any other type of way to receive information as having different influences on a person or group. Then it talks about how social networking can be used to spread this information faster and reach member more people than a one on one interaction. There is a type of herding called rational herding in which earlier models assumed that agents chooses in sequence and are influenced by rational consideration of the observed choices of earlier agents.  This takes on the meaning that people’s thinking is influenced by the events they experienced prior to the given situation which makes sense. The rest of the articles continue to talk about the models and the ways in which herds are formed among humans through these mechanisms.  I found it to be of little use overall although the ideas that were presented were very interesting.

Blog 15: Sources

I hope to conduct research on how groups can take on the traits of a family when they share a close bond with one another. The group members will tend to be more protective and caring of one another. Also, willing to go to any length to protect one another as if the group members are family. Some of their behavior will also show signs of family like behavior such as bickering siblings or an obvious parental role at a given time. Groups do not often display these traits and lack a bond that is strong enough to resemble a familial bond. I plan to search psychology, sociology, and scientific journal and articles in order to obtain more information on this interesting subject. I found a variety of sources thus far, but I plan on finding many more including a few that are from more recent journals and books. These sources will enable me to trace this behavior back from the past to present and make easy comparisons between the real world and my paper. I will have to use more sources in order to find journals of various backgrounds and from all of these sources at once. The recommended one is the library search from the OSU library which allows a search across many fields to obtain results that are hopefully relevant to the chosen keywords. I hope to find that a few of the articles make a clear connection between the groups behavior and family behavior in order to help back up my thesis in a very solid manner. These are 5 sources i found thus far:

Banerjee, Abhijit V. (1992). "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior". Quarterly Journal of Economics 107 (3):

797–817. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/2118364. 1992>. 7 October 2010.

Ottaviani, Marco, and Peter Sorenson. "Herd Behavior and Investment: Comment." American Economic

Review, Vol. 90, No. 3, 695-704. Jun., 2000. 7 October 2010.

Raafat RM, Chater N, Frith C., Herding in humans, Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2009). 7 October 2010.

Rook, Laurens. "An Economic Psychological Approach to Herd Behavior." Journal of Economic Issues

40.1 (2006): 75-95. 7 October 2010.

Wegner, Daniel M. “Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind.” 7 Octorber

2010. <http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wegner/pdfs/Wegner%20Transactive%20Memory.pdf>.

Blog 14 Episode 1: Serenity of Firefly Season 1

The writers of the series Firefly redefine the conventional meaning of family by introducing a group of people that are united for a common cause and  function as a family, but are not actually all related by blood. In the first episode of Firefly called “Serenity”, the captain of the ship, Mal, has decided to allow passengers to board the ship to be transported to a nearby destination in order to make money. Kaylee is ecstatic about the prospect of meeting new and interesting people. She continues to ramble about how excited she is about the chance to meet and talk to the potential passengers. Jayne expresses his annoyance with Kaylee’s cheerfulness when he asks Mal, “Can you stop her from being cheerful please?.” Mal then smugly responds, “I don’t believe there is a power in the verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Sometimes you just want to duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” Kaylee walks up to Mal and leans in and kisses him on the cheek. Kaylee then smiles and says, “I love my captain.” causing Mal to look at Jayne and smile. This scene portrays a very common family scenario in which Jayne and Kaylee appear to be brother and sister that enjoy antagonizing each other and Mal appears to play a fatherly role as he squelches the mini squabble. The fact that Kaylee then walks up to the captain and kisses him on the cheek and says she love her captain would be the same action a sister who had won the confrontation These family like characteristics are apparent throughout the entire season of Firefly, where the crew will appear to take on the traits of a family without assigned roles.

Blog 13 Episode 13 of Firefly Season 1

In Episode 13: Heart of Gold of Firefly season 1, the crew of Serenity chooses to help a friend of Inara’s named Mandy and her whore house. They are being bullied by a townsman who keeps using their services and trying to get one of them pregnant because his wife cannot bear children. The crew chooses to help them and fight off the head townsman.  This episode is full of messages of both love and a group that is like a family. Mal falls in love in this episode with Mandy and lies with her the night before the big fight. Several lives are taken during the fight and among them was Mandy. Mal is deeply upset by Mandy’s death and because Mal laid with her Inara is hurt and chooses to leave the Serenity just when Mal was about to announce his feelings for her. This helps to show that love is a two edged blade that can help to protect or hurt others. Love is never clean and complications usually arise which causes it to be two sided. The rest of the episode points to the theme of pack mentality where both groups protect each other. The combine to take on a larger “pack” in order to defeat their enemy. They fight together, watch over each other and care for one another. This repeating theme resonates throughout the entire season thus far and will continue to be predominating. This episode is extremely revealing in all the relationships that are viable on the Serenity such as Zoe and Wash wanting a child and Zoe will not take no for an answer. Kaylee dropping obvious hints to Simon that she wants him to admit his feelings for her and that she likes him. Then the obvious relationship and feelings laying in wait between Mal and Inara.

Episode 12 Firefly Season 1

In Episode 12: The Message of Firefly season 1, the corpse of an old army friend is shipped to Mal and Zoe with a recording that requests their assistance in getting their friend’s body home to his parents. It turns out that he isn’t really dead and is shipping illegal organs inside his body. The entire crew is endangered as a federal marshal attacks the ship and threatens to shoot them if they do not give the body up. Their friend Tracey turns on them because he assumes that the crew is going to hand him over and he takes Kaylee hostage. Zoe and Mal are forced to shoot him and he subsequently dies from those injuries after the feds are scared off from being out of their jurisdiction. The entire crew is put in danger by this old war buddy and the crew will not stand for it. Mal and Zoe are willing to shoot an old war buddy before letting anyone in their crew be in danger. When the fed ship is dropping bombs around the area where the Serenity is parked the crew decides to allow the feds to board before they will let their crew be stranded in the cold for Tracey. While Kaylee is being held hostage the Zoe, Mal and Jayne surround him and Mal shoots him a second time. Everyone in the crew worked together in order to keep the group safe because it is their family. Even the old bonds of a war comrade could not break the bond the crew has together and they show that by the way they protected each other. At the very end of the episode Kaylee holds Simons hand showing that even though Simon can be socially awkward, she still accepts him despite their squabbles. The events of this episode further reveal that the crew of the firefly operates under the general outlines of pack mentality which is doing whatever it take to protect the group and make decisions that benefit the entire group. A saying in this episode illustrates this idea and it is, “If you cant walk crawl. If you can’t crawl, then get someone to carry you.” No one is left behind and everyone will ensure that no one is forgotten.

Episode 11 of Firefly

In Episode 11: Trash of Firefly season 1, the crew of the Serenity comes across Mrs. Reynolds again. This time she has a job that can score a lot of money and needs the crew’s help to do it. Mal and Mrs. Reynolds sneak into Durham Heimer’s house in order to steal a priceless artifact that was one of the first laser pistols around. The entire crew does not trust Mrs. Reynolds but, they still take the job because Mal wants the job. Mal sets up a backup plan incase Mrs. Reynolds double crosses him and has Inara beat them all to the drop site. This ended up being a good idea because Mrs. Reynolds dupes them and goes for the artifact herself after getting it to the drop site. Since the crew works so well together they were able to set up a backup plan and execute it flawlessly. The crew played Mrs. Reynolds and kept each other safe while getting a nice pay day from the job. This again ties into the fact that the crew can work together flawlessly due to their ability to planning, communication and protecting each other. The crew makes decisions based on what is in the best interest of the group and makes alternate plans incase something goes wrong to keep everyone safe. Mal forces Simon and Rivers to stay in their bunk because he does not want Mrs. Reynolds to find out who they are and potentially try to turn them in for bounty. This is another action that is in the best interest of the entire group because it lessens the danger of having Mrs. Reynolds on board Serenity. While Jayne is laying on Simon’s operating table from being knocked out from being shocked, Simon says, “Now we could circle each other and growl or sleep with one eye open, but that thought wearies me. I don’t care what you’ve done, I don’t care what you’re planning on doing, but I am trusting you and I think you should do the same.” Simon and Rivers have an idea that Jayne tried to sell them off in Ariel, but he decides to tell Jayne that he will trust him and that Jayne should do the same in order to keep the group functioning properly and keep the dynamics of the group in check.

Episode 10: War Stories

In Episode 10: War Stories, Mal and Wash find themselves in the hands of the criminal mastermind Nishka. They are subject to torture and are in need of a rescue mission. The entire crew of the Serenity band together to invade Nishka's space station and retrieve their stolen comrades. A gun fight rages on inside of the space station and the crew members are retrieved. This is a very brief summary of a much more in-depth story line. The significant message that can be taken from this episode is best put by Wash who said, "Haven't you ever heard of no man left behind?.” From the previous episode 9, the crew is like a family and willing to do anything for each other and in this episode the crew displays exactly how far they are willing to go for one another. The crew charges into a mission that could have ended in almost certain death to everyone with their guns blazing in order to save Mal. This selfless action made by the entire crew to save one of their own shows that they truly will go to any length to take care of each other even if the situation presents certain death. They are willing to face the odds and if not succeed, at least they went down trying. The crew is not willing to take any loss and is extremely protective and caring towards each other. The fact that their emotions display an idea of a pack mentality causes their group to work very well together and function fluidly.

Episode 9: Ariel

   In Episode 9: Ariel of Firefly, Jayne turns on the crew and tries to trade Simon and Rivers over to the Feds for the bounty being offered for them. His plans go askew and the Feds capture Jayne, Simon and Rivers. Fortunately, they are able to break out and Mal and Zoe get them all safely back to the ship. Mal already knows what Jayne had done because the plan was suppose to go very smoothly, but Jayne, Simon and Rivers were 10 minutes late. Mal knocks Jayne out with a wrench because no one else knows what Jayne has done and puts him in the hatch area that leads outside. When Jayne wakes up he finds himself in the hatch with a two way radio with Mal on the other one. He opens the hatch and force Jayne to confess to his crime against the crew and Mal says this line: "You turn on anyone in my crew, you turn on me" and "Next time you decide to stab me in my back, have the guts to do it to my face."
  These two quotes really hit home for me. The fact that Mal considers everyone on the ship his crew and that betraying or hurting any one of them is that same as betraying him. This pack mentality is what makes the strongest bond between people and the most effective team. Mal is protective of his crew as if they are his family and he will not all any harm to fall upon them especially from a betrayal in the group. This answers a few questions as to how far Mal is willing to go to protect his crew, he is willing to kill anyone who would cause them harm even if the betrayal is from someone within the crew. Mal requires that everyone in his crew to be loyal to him and to one another regardless of personal differences. If someone betrays anyone on his crew, Mal takes it personally as if it was done directly to him. When Mal tells Jayne that the next time he thinks about betray him to do it to his face, he is showing that he is disgusted and will not tolerate any sort of crime against anyone on the ship. This will probably be the episode I choose to do my paper on. I am highly interested in how groups function through pack mentality.