never waste the netherlands!!- my solution for plastic pollution (gov)

 Cira F Garza

Professor Hall

GOVT 2305-023

8 April 2025

 

 

Never Waste Netherlands- A Proposal for the Plastic Problem

 

The Kingdom of the Netherlands. Historically recognized for its scenic fields of pastel tulips and windmills, bicycles cluttering the streets, the gorgeous night sky, and sunsets that make it a memorable ground to visitors and citizens alike. The Dutch Baroque cityscapes, with houses painted. However, what's not associated with the country is its growing plastic pollution. The Netherlands is considered a parliamentary representative democracy, which means they have a decentralized unitary state. The country is ruled under a prime minister; Dick Schoof, who has spoken about climate solutions, as it was an issue of concern when he was elected in June 2024. “All the problems caused by climate change amplify each other. So, climate change is not limited to those countries that are directly affected. In truth, every country is directly affected.” He continues with his solution. “And therein lies the key to our approach: cooperation. Of course, that means committing to the climate targets of the Paris Agreement, the SDG, and the measures we agree on at COP29. It also means using each other’s knowledge and know-how. The Netherlands has a long history of managing water. Today, we use that experience around the world. Schoof is referencing the Rijkswaterstaat or RWS, the executive branch of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, and the regional water authorities. Founded in 1798, they are a wonderful example of what the Dutch government is capable of. “We contribute our expertise on food security and countless other challenges, as they arise.”

 

To some Dutchies, Dick Schoof is not an authentic ally to the environment. Deemed playfully as “Tricky Dick” and “Dick Thunder” the 68-year-old Dutch politician has a mysterious past. He was once a chief spy for the Netherlands Intelligence agency from 1979 to 1985. Alongside criticism that his March 2024, the Dutch Newspaper NRC reported on a recent case involving fake social media accounts being created to snoop on suspects and dismissed the reports. Accountability and Transparency is a strong Value in the Netherlands, so this was not happily received.  

 

In 2024, Schoof canceled his attendance at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. This was a “een vernedering” or, to us, a “humiliation” to Dutch environmental organizations, which have been eagerly awaiting the conference to represent their Wishes for change and solutions. However, according to a Netherlands News article, “The Dutch Prime Minister flew in to Azerbaijan so he can stay in the Netherlands to deal with the fallout from assaults on fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in Amsterdam that authorities condemned as antisemitic”.

 

I contacted a “friend of a friend” resource, originally from Texas, who once lived in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 2015 and 2019 as an international student and work-study through the San Antonio, Trinity University Study Abroad program. Only 5 years prior to her moving in. The Netherlands ranked 20th place globally in their plastic waste generation estimates for 2010. However, it was not remotely close to how high up the United States was on this list. I reached out to her through email with my research inquiries, and she responded thoughtfully and impressively.

 

1.     Has the Netherlands taught you at all about sustainability?

-Yes, like it was common to wear the same outfit like 3 times a week, if it was washed, who cares. But I have to say, the Netherlands is all known for its windmills and bikes but scores horribly on CO2 emissions. There are quite a few great things like bikelanes everywhere and a lot of green surface. I like to tell people, this was them embracing neoliberalism’s version of “sustainability” for a while which is not as effective.

2.     How much were you encouraged to spend money on material items in the Netherlands?

-Depends. Amsterdam for sure, there was this mall we always went to and they’e got the same brand names as we got here. But I shared my Aeropostle with the other girls, they were not afraid to ask me either!

3.     How frequently did you encounter littering?

-hardly ever where I spent most my time, but yep. Downtown Amsterdam is, just like any big city. Castricum and Bergen had plenty. They don’t take care of parking garages, and there were unhoused people and littering happening there, too. Even in the canals, there were plenty of food wrappers caught in the water. That’s the other thing, like most of europe, a lof of stuff is biodegradable disposables but not often. They still use the single-use plastic wrappers and it clogs the water system drainage too.

4.     What was the overall social consensus and attitude around recycling?

-again depends. We had to as required. My host family had bins for glass, cardboard, residual waste, bulky waste, and textile waste, we had to sort everything out, with was just as accepted as a chore as just taking out the trash like we do here.

 

At the time of my resource’s stay in Amsterdam, Mark Rutte was the Dutch Prime Minister from 2010 to 2024. He has been a member of NATO as the 14th secretary since October of 2024. He was aasocated with the Party for freedom and democracy, whereas Dick Schoof, the current prime minister refuses to associate with any party at all.

 

5.     Was there any political discussion on Mark Rutte, the Prime minister at the time you were there studying Social Work?

-Dont remember everything, positive there was. I was only 19-23 but I do remember my host family watching the NOS evening news. They are old people, they watched the news it was cute. Thre was pictures of Mark Rutte on screen and they’d talk about it between them. It’s very “foward” in Amsterdam especially to be plugged in.

6.     Were you ever involved with any political action group while living there for 4 years?

-nooo I did not have noo time!!! But my host sister and her partner did talk to me about this group they were in. I asked for you, it was the Friends of the Earth Netherlands. “Milieudefensie” they were in a few more and had to be for some credit in secondary school there, but I thought that would stand out to you.

 

Citations:

·       Schaart, Eline, and Eva Hartog. "Who Is Dick Schoof? 8 Things to Know about the New Dutch PM." Politico, 2024, https://doi.org/07/04/2024. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

·       Knapp, Alex. "Current Climate: Scientists Discover a Cheap Way to Recycle Plastic." Forbes, 2024, https://doi.org/06/13/2024. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

·       Alves, Bruna . "Current Climate: Scientists Discover a Cheap Way to Recycle Plastic." Statistica- Energy and Enviornment, 2024, https://doi.org/08/11/24. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

·       Lobelle, Delphine. "Knowns and Unknows of Plastic Waste Flow in the Netherlands." National Library of Medicine, 2023, https://doi.org/07/6/23. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.

 

what radicalized you? socio-political essay

Radicalization is a process stirred by experience and unrelenting care. Before Grandma Jane died in 2017 she worked for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for those who aren't familiar. Her first case was in 1995, the Oklahoma City Bombing, which remains one of the deadliest acts of domestic terrorism in U.S.. history, taking 168 lives in just an instant. When they called her she was there, prepared to be a shoulder to any grieving parent, with a thick-skinned chest and heart of steel, but a heart nonetheless. She wouldn't ask much more than she needed to because she always understood enough. She didn’t need to Imagine her girls in body bags to care about the victims. She didn’t need to cry to prove her empathy, she just did as she promised and offered shelter, handed out blankets, and noted who and what was still missing. Before working for FEMA, she worked picking up after fire accidents, she recalled entering a nursery, with liquifying cribs, charred teddy bears, and mobiles that looked more like dark, stringy spiderwebs. 

She had a garden in the backyard. She grew lemon, apricot, plum, and peach trees dedicated to each of her grandchildren. I was the plum tree, and she watered them every morning as my aunt’s orange tabby, Tessie, sat at the window and watched. She always wore these big, goofy circle-framed glasses, framing her hazel eyes, and I always drew her with bushy white hair, though she was once a brunette when my Mom and her sisters were little. She smelled like lemons and let me and my brother lick the bowl from the mixer when she made brownies. Tessie hid from me and my cousins but always came when she called. She sounded like a strong, classy Irish lady like she could’ve been an opera singer. One year, I drew her a picture with her mouth in the shape of an O singing and dressed for the church choir. They were always funny, often depicting cats, lots of flowers,, and poorly shaped hearts. 

The kitchen was Coral pink, matching her rosy, patchy skin, like the surface of the water in sunlight, looking like cobblestone as she aged but dulled when she got sick. Grandma Jane was an advocate for natural disaster victims,  my aunt advocated for their public accessibility and my mom cared for the families of incarcerated youth with complicated home lives. Jane was broke after divorcing my grandpa so she understood the multifaceted benefits of Sustainability and supporting the small. She not only helped in the process of picking up debris and decay from the aftershock of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she made friends with the locals and attended funerals just to stand witness to the destruction left by whatever mysterious force decided nature be weaponized. She didn't like to brag, and didn't, like clutter but didn't mind arguing if she thought it could inspire a surprising revelation in self-centered and challenged people.

If Grandma Jane were here today she would be 76, and I Imagine she’d still be out campaigning for local elections however possible, brewing me tea with too much sugar and probably pushing me to study abroad for my Master’s degree. I don't think I ever stood a chance to not become radicalized, I can’t Imagine not caring to any degree other than radically. If she had not died the house would never have been sold, never downgraded to modern millennial grey. I’d still go with her, my mother,, and my aunts to visit her lover’s grave. My Grandpa Ed, who was in a picture holding me the day I was brought home from the hospital, is now framed in my aunt’s house. Now she’s buried beside him, with the many bouquets that have rotted and nourished the soil where they both lie. They were so serious about love, unrelenting care,, and diplomacy, that only sad zombies would consider an unappetizing kind of radical. 

What radicalized me? Maybe I just couldn’t sleep well because I was so disturbed by what they do to the babies in Gaza, which led to calling local senators and asking them to consider just thinking about it. They won’t return my calls, not because I’m too radical but because they’re too busy funding Israeli weapons to keep killing those babies in Gaza and polluting their homes. Indirectly of course, because they can’t seem to touch responsibility with a 10-foot pole. Maybe tomorrow, the radicalized will be acknowledged as founders of a brighter future for the babies that make it when the sun comes up at dawn. As for Grandma, I still miss you. Today I stared at a picture from your obituary for almost 10 minutes straight. Mom was no older than 4, seated on a rocking horse and you held my aunt whose head resembled a white anemone. It was the mid-70s and when you were still living in England. If you were still here I would ask you Am I radical, or do I just care about people?

my love was green- short writing practice

writing this reminded me of a nursery rhyme, not very proud of it, but not terrible for not writing for over a week. I've been crazy busy studying for finals, but thank you for reading! and enjoy the winter!

prompt: Employ color symbolism, as did F. Scott Fitzgerald in his classic "The Great Gatsby" where he used colors like white, green, and blue to represent characters or themes occurring the novel. 

My love was green. Guarded while so Generous, to me and to all she knew. It dawned on me. I hardly knew a thing about her despite us being so graciously close. My love found me at the shore of Navagio Beach in Greece. I was alone for the first time in many weeks, a serenity I desperately sought. She approached me, wearing an Emerald suede dress that dragged lazily behind her. Her Hair was damp, her face nude, and her eyes unforgettably viridescent in the light of the Greek sunset. “Sir, would you walk me to my cottage? it’s just down that way.” She pointed between pillars and there on a hill, was a home. I was sitting just grains away from the tide coming in of simmering warm ocean water. My life seemed to dissolve in the acidic belly of the beach. I could effortlessly transfer from man to a liberated sealion. I glanced up at her, trying to mask my mesmerization. “Nobody to accompany you?” I ask. She shook her head. I stood and together we strolled. My love spoke of her Garden, a Garden of Gazania and Goldenrod Daisies, how she nourished them with only the finest water from the Greek Gallows up on the hill, and this she swore guided them to glow supernaturally. My love turned to me, with a gaze green as Jade and offered for me to pick some and bring them to my wife. “I’m not married, Dear.” I told her. Arriving at her cottage she gifted me a basket of green grapes, which I ate on my walk back home. Weeks letter we married at the Ancient Agora of Athens, there I hold the strongest memory of all, the one of her decked in the lacey Gossamer veil, smiling gratefully. I was Glad forever with my girl, before she grew glum. Regrettably my love was gated outside her gnarly disinterest in me. Gloom and Greif eroded what we so suddenly had and suddenly lost. My love disappeared one summer in Navagio, just where we met she surrendered to a discreet misery.  hardly knew a thing about her despite us being so graciously close. My love only return tangled in seamoss and webs of weeds, her once vivacious green gaze, sunken by decay and nibbling algae. I returned her to her Garden and that very night I watched the Gazania and Goldenrod Glow. 

my take on singer's solution to world poverty. what are our moral obligations

update:  Happy belated Halloween!! this was my first Halloween as a freshman in college and I have to say this is the loneliest time of my life, more lonely than the pandemic! but I did have fun with my bsf last night, we went to a vampire-themed party hosted by the secular student society at a neighboring University. hope everyone reading is enjoying fall!

Peter Singer is considered to be a radical activist, and especially for the time in the 70’s when he published his essay “Solution to World Hunger” he’s also written philosophical interpretations supporting animal rights, veganism and wrote, “The Expanding Circle” (1981), which is one of my top 10 favorite novels. I agree with the overall point that we should use our extra money to refrain from Overconsumption of unnecessary goods and use it to help those in need, though I was left with the question; What is our absolute fair share? I believe it depends on how much we already have and whether or not we are in a position to give. We need to know to decide whether we’ve already given enough and how much more we owe to those in need. “When Bob first grasped the dilemma that faced him as he stood by that railway switch, he must have thought how extraordinarily unlucky he was to be placed in a situation in which he must choose between the life of an innocent child and the sacrifice of most of his savings. But he was not unlucky at all. We are all in that situation.” (Singer, pg.5) In Conversations like these I believe that people are quick to blame the government, for example; why should I donate to these organizations when the government should have the finances and resources to help them in the first place? Once you do donate, how do you determine which organizations are more in need than the countless others? Everyone deserves a roof over their head, Everyone deserves a warm meal, Everyone deserves clean air and fresh clothes, and medical treatment to accommodate their needs. But not everyone gets these basic needs met, maybe not a single one of these needs mentioned. Where do we draw the line from needs, worthy of donations to meaningless desires? You could go as far as to justly say that everyone deserves to treat themselves, Everyone deserves to express their gender and sexuality comfortably, and Everyone deserves supportive peer groups but these are not often considered as Immediate and dire necessities as the ones mentioned previously. Why is that? And above all, what are the ethics that support those classifications we’ve situated them in?

is ingratitude the worst moral crime? my interpertation of hume's Is/Ought dilema

 “Of all crimes that human creatures are capable of committing, the most horrid and unnatural is ingratitude, especially when it is committed against parents, and appears in the more flagrant instances of wounds and death.” (Hume, pg.3, paragraph 10) Why Ingratitude? Out of all the despicable things Humans do, Ingratitude may be something all Huamans are at some point, guilty of. I believe what Hume is implying is that out of all the crimes we are capable of committing, A rational person who is aware of their circumstances would find satisfaction in the circumstances they cannot control. Find gratitude, but maybe ingratitude is so bad because out of all the awful situations you could be forced to endure, you still have what you have. You’d then have to wonder, what exactly about ingratitude upsets others? I think it’s the oblivious nature of ingratitude. When people refuse to accept their circumstances can be frustrating. I agree with Hume in many ways. Hume’s Is/Ought problem is very justifiable but also Important. In a world full of unfortunate prejudices and biases that create harmful stereotypes, The Ought/Is Gap is more than crucial to remember. Hume insists that any form of induction (making pre-mature conclusions) is illogical and unjustifiable, but depending on certain circumstances, I think it is logical and justifiable. For example, using hairspray around a lit candle will likely cause a fire. Therefore; avoiding the combination is logical. It may be premature to avoid candles and hairspray altogether but making the premature assumption could save you from a fire. I understand Hume is defining moral arguments, not necessarily technical arguments, but you could replace the example with a complex moral dilemma. It’s also important to separate facts from Moral decisions and beliefs. Facts are independent in what proves them to be true, something Opinions and Morality don’t have which is logistical evidence. Some even argue that statement, like Utilitarianists and Hedonists, who fall under the Natural Law of Morality, but I think Hume sustains the most possible “Moral” results, that hold space for people to look for the gap, that is Hume’s philosophical legacy.

my thoughts on utilitarianism- fall 2024

 Update: GOD I haven’t posted here in so long! I have this unpredictable relationship with myself where I suffer long bouts of unproductivity caused by my fixation to be productive, and my version of productive is writing at least 6 paragraphs a- day, finishing absolutely every assignment and reviewing all material for every one of my classes etc. It gets to be really frustrating because I find myself wishing I was better, though I will never be that kind of “better”. Psychologist Ellen Hendrikson said “We are each our own worst critic” and it is painfully true. Besides that, back in May, I debated whether I wanted to get my Associate’s degree in Journalism or Philosophy. I knew I wanted skills to be a better writer/Journalist but the Idea of Philosophy attracted me, almost more so. I love that (In philosophy) you answer every question with another question, which I quess can be thought-provoking but also obnoxious. Philosophy gets me wondering if there even is a concrete truth to anything. What’s the purpose of believing anything anymore? This can be a troubling process, but to me, it gave me more space to wonder. Ultimately, I decided to Major in Journalism, but luckily I still needed a class for my Social Sciences core. You better, believe I chose Philosophy. Last, week we studied Utilitarianism, Hedonism under the Umbrella of Consequentialism. Below is my piece from the Discussion board, after Reading John Stuart Mill’s 1861 essay on Utilitarianism. Thank you so much, and I hope you keep onboard this ride with me :)

A question I found myself asking a lot while reading John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism is “Why put so much effort into maximizing the pleasure for as many people as possible, if that pleasure they may use may be to minimize the pleasure of other people?” or in other words, how do we know for sure the people around us are deserving of pleasure and happiness? However, this prompts another question, what makes you deserving of pleasure? According to Mill, Everyone deserves pleasure as human beings, because everyone’s Pain and Pleasure count equally. But in that case, does the pain of losing a loved to Cancer equal the pain of losing your car keys? 

However, Mill clarifies in his section titled “Higher and Lower Pleasures” that Pleasure is more than greed, more than over-indulgence of superficial desires. “Human beings have •higher faculties than the animal appetites, and once they become conscious of •them they don’t regard anything as happiness that doesn’t include •their gratification” ( Mill, pg.5 chapter.2) The amount of happy people equates to a happier society, and that is referring to the element of Aggregation when we add up everyone’s well-being, but does that mean well-being is only achieved by generating pleasure in people? And once that pleasure is generated, I disagree that it can necessarily guarantee the well-being of the entire world. I also wonder if we are sacrificing our own sense of well-being and pleasure for others because satisfying a group of people is morally better than just satisfying yourself. Mill touches on this in Chapter 3 “I would add something that may seem paradoxical: namely that in this Present Imperfect condition of the world the conscious ability to do without happiness gives the best prospect of bringing about such happiness as is attainable.” With all things considered, I don’t agree with Mill’s Utilitarianism. However, he altered it to be broader when Bentham intended it to only create a more just legal system and economy for his time. I can get by the intention. I agree with Mill’s definition of Instrumental and Intrinsic value. (I think we can all agree that our family(Intrinsic value) serves a higher purpose than money (Instrumental value). To put it bluntly, I believe Utilitarianism is a naive doctrine in Philosophy. We are unreasonable creatures, we can be inherently selfish and although Utilitarianism attempts at conquering our flaws it fails to tackle the real effect of our consequences. What would make most people happy, may not be best for their overall well-being in the long run.

green eggs and communism- the hidden life of Dr.Suess

 You may hear the common American idol, Dr.Suess, and Imagine a familiar early childhood world, that of the peculiarly- illustrated cats, fish, and bears riding unicycles and bouncing in their father’s distended stomach. If not, then you have to recognize at least a cat standing on two legs wearing a striped top hat and red bowtie, maybe the small orange keeper of trees that innocently defends nature against cruel corporate capitalism, specifically multi-use scarves. You know Dr.Suess. Born Theodore Suess Geisel, on March 4th, 1904. He was always a creator of the bizarre. In his personal life, Dr.Suess met his first wife Helen Palmer while she was studying at Oxford University. Helen was also an author, but as you may Imagine during these times it was easy for the wive’s work to be overshadowed by their Husbands. She wrote a few books including “Do You Know What I’m Going to Do Next Saturday?” and “A Fish Out of Water under her maiden name. Although she was 6 years older than him, they got married in 1927. I just thought it might be interesting to include, Dr.Suess was not all friendly as his writing persona may seem to his young audience. Theodore and Helen had a tumultuous relationship, not all untouched by infidelity.

Geisel published his first work in 1928 in small local magazines and newspaper columns. He was among the artists at the time not taken all that seriously until one day he was enough to Publish his first Children’s book in 1937 “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” which featured the first appearance of that one Blue elephant that I later recognized in “Horton hears a Who!”. After a 27th publisher rejected his first manuscript, Dr. Seuss walked dejectedly along the sidewalks of New York, planning to burn the book in his apartment incinerator. On Madison Avenue, however, he bumped into Dartmouth friend Mike McClintock, who that very morning had started a job as an editor in the Vanguard Press children’s section. Within hours, the men signed a contract, and in 1937 Vanguard Press published “And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” which launched the extraordinary literary career of Dr. Seuss. “If I had been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I’d be in the dry-cleaning business today,” and the rest is history. Dr. Suess became a published Children’s book author by chance or maybe Fate. 

But what is less known about the Beloved Children’s author is his political ideologies and their influence on his art. According to an Article by The Defense Organization on American History “Drew posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. But by 1943, Geisel wanted to do more, so he joined the U.S. Army. He was put in command of the animation department of the 1st Motion Picture Unit, which was created out of the Army Signal Corps- 

And again, in an Article from the BBC they wrote that  Dr. Seuss’s wartime output was “very impressive evidence of cartooning as an art of persuasion”, Spiegelman explains how they “rail against isolationism, racism, and anti-semitism with a conviction and fervor lacking in most other American editorial pages of the period… virtually the only editorial cartoons outside the communist and black press that decried the military’s Jim Crow policies and Charles Lindbergh’s anti-semitism”. Dr. Seuss, he argues, “made these drawings with the fire of honest indignation and anger that fuels all real political art”

By the time World War II ended in late September of 1945, a now 41-year-old Dr.Suess moved on from his political cartoons. The next year in 1946, he was honorably discharged from the Army. He began writing children's books full-time with his wife in La Jolla, California. He published many of his most beloved works, including The Cat in the Hat (1957), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), Green Eggs and Ham (1960) By now, still in his personal life, his wife at the time Helen had gotten sick from Guillain Barre Syndrome, which caused her a lot of pain. This new change, separated the two a lot, and now with Theodore’s growing success, he neglected her often. It’s confirmed in the late 50’s and early 60’s Theodore began an affair with the woman who would eventually become his second wife. Audrey Dimond. Sadly, 

In short, I don’t see a problem with utilizing your talents to spread a political message. Sure, it sounds like a given as a fairly left-minded liberal who agrees with most of Dr.Suess’s beliefs for his time. I still don’t have an issue with it, if it were coming from conservative right-winged artists. It’s done all the time if you think about it. Realizing that a simple, childhood author could have such adult views seems jarring. But alas, every artist no matter what age their audience is, has political beliefs. Whether you agree with them or not, is what defines your reaction to learning of them. Dr.Suess (in my opinion) never pushed his agenda in his children’s books. Perhaps, the closest case was The Lorax (published in 1971) which expressed anti-capitalist ideology and encouraged the audience to mobilize their empathy in protecting the environment and natural resources. But allow me to ask you a question. If you have strong morals you’d like the future generations of children to believe wouldn’t you spread the message in the most digestible method to them?

On the contrary, you could argue that it’s inappropriate for Dr Suess to knowingly publish political cartoons while simultaneously publishing Children’s books with the identical nursery rhyme- still poems, and illustration style. Most Dr.Suess books are designed specifically for preschoolers to 4th-grade reading levels. And again, all the time we have issues with what is taught in schools. 

P.S., this may seem completely irrelevant to the conversation. But there is a theory on Reddit about Dr.Suess and the actual material of his children’s books. Coming from r/FanTheories, user GinjaNinja1027 posted

 “All of the Dr. Seuss books are connected, and they all take place in the mind of a boy. This boy lives a boring life; on a boring street with boring parents. These books take place inside the wacky world he imagines while living this boring life. The first book published by Dr. Seuss (To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry St.) has the boy seeing all of these characters and animals passing him on the street he lives on when in reality, all he saw was a horse-drawn carriage. 

This “imagining wacky characters” theme comes up a lot in Dr. Seuss’ subsequent books. “If I Ran the Zoo” tells of him being at the zoo with animals he’d seen before, and imagining all the goofy, non-existent animals that would live in his zoo. “If I Ran The Circus” follows the same theme. In “The Cat in the Hat” the boy and his sister are bored at home with nothing to do, and so he imagines a magical cat that comes and has fun with them. In that book, we find out that the boy has a goldfish, and the book that comes directly after (One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish), imagines all the different types of fish he wants and other funny things everywhere. As the boy grows up, he discovers the ins and outs of life and tailors his imagination to fit the things he learns. He learns how to read (Fox in Sox). He learns about Racism (the Sneeches), environmentalism (the Lorax), and war (the Butter Battle Book). This is him trying to understand these themes through his imagination. The last book published by Dr. Seuss, “Oh The Places You’ll Go!” is about a boy maturing as a person. In the book, he eventually reaches “The Waiting Place, " an allegory for adulthood. He realizes he has matured past his imaginary world and tells himself to let it go. The saga ends with him abandoning this imaginary world in favor of all the fun things he will experience in his real adult life.” I just figured this was a cute way to finish off today's episode.

strange, inarticulate desires

 Cira Flannery Garza

Personal Statement

October 2023

        Strange, Inarticulate Desires

Modernist Writer, Virginia Wolf once said "I have a deeply hidden and inarticulate desire for something beyond the daily life." I resonate with these Ideas, that writers are in touch with the urking to explore the unknown and misunderstood, I understand what Wolf describes as an inarticulate Desire because the Desire is complex in a way that renders it indescribable. In 2020, I began my journalism career at just 13 years old. I first learned the baby steps of conducting research and interpersonal investigations when I joined the Newspaper at my Junior School, which I’d been a member of since 2018. When Lockdown began we started a podcast “The Quarantine Mule'', The mule being our School Mascot. I found pleasure in deciding new topics to discuss, writing about them, and organizing a loose script with my co-hosts and teacher. After 8th grade was over, I made my Podcast, “Sisters by Spirit ''. Originally it was co-hosted by a few close friends, where we led- research-based seminars centered around new concepts we learned. When my friends lost interest in these podcast discussions, I took production into my own hands, renaming it “The Lotus- A podcast for Theoretical Thinkers'' I chose the Lotus flower as a symbol of my research pursuits, centering on Buddhist beliefs that one can rise from murky waters and find pure and enlightening wisdom in the sunshine. My first Solo-episode was “The Science of Dreams'' where I explained the fascinating methods dreams can be used for psychoanalysis and the Chemical process and reaction that creates a dream. Most of the time my writing was fictional, varying from poetry, lyrical pieces, and short stories but I discovered I could be just as creative with how I explained and magnified non-fiction.  Perhaps some have a worth we’ll never know like an obscured price tag buried in their souls only a few have the privilege to unveil. Stanford Psychology professor, Jamil Zaki once said in his Book A War for Kindness; Building empathy in a Fractured World “In his magnum opus, The Nature of Prejudice, Allport reasoned that bigotry often boils down to a lack of acquaintance. Its antidote was just as simple: "Bring people together, and they’ll awaken to their common humanity.” I read this book in the Summer of 2022, my grip on hope struggling that we may be losing universal empathy due to our rapidly progressive age, this book prompted me to take an AP Psychology and Sociology course, which depended on these interests only further, I had a new way of looking at myself, and comprehending the Behaviors and patterns of the people around me. Although My podcast didn't have much attention, I am still very proud of this ongoing project. I look forward to interviewing my friends about thought-provoking subjects, such as Religion, ethics, and Parapsychology. In August of 2023, I became the head of Media in the High School Literary Magazine, a student-led organization where I began managing "Peach Acid- A Literature Podcast" in which the first episode I wrote and hosted was "Shakespeare's Lost Years" featuring another student, whom I interviewed and promoted the latest Magazine theme, accepting submissions. I get giddy each time I identify myself as a "Writer". I'm a linguist, a truth-teller, and a messenger of all forms all of which is mobilized by the Power of Empathy, who knows how I'll lengthen these talents and Interests into professions? 

"merely unnatural"- excerpt from my NOVELLA! "the grey welkin"

 Shadow puppets come first and then,

 A mist conceals the landscape. Still, with a looming greyness ahead, you keep forward the wide path, encouraged by a consistent longing in the pit of your intestines but growing with a surprising sense of familiarity. 

With each step a sound sets in of water flowing hitting a low surface. It starts ringing like a shower stream hitting the drain and intensifies to be a downpour current. You halt; surprised the fog lifts to reveal a decline of earth that travels down to a steamy pond, so clear it reflects an iridescent sky. 

The steam continues to lift and to your left, a thin body of water thickens and follows the drops forming a waterfall. The wholeness of this beauty burns the skin, just as it too cleanses it. You dive into this deep bath below the ground. 

When you sink to the floor the vision above you is a sea of crystal but just at the surface lays the expired body of a dove with its wings surrendered its corpse is upright towards the grey sky, you turn away for a second and then emerge at the surface but instead of a deceased bird. 

My head through your eyes is an oddly shaped curvey size is assembled with an assortment of multidimensional geometric shapes that find each other like magnets as it is done the obscured figure approaches you with my kneecaps just at the surface of the pond, now suddenly smaller than me with my nude image draped in a sheer cape of brine and foam at the hem.

 My movements are gentle but merely unnatural. I’m suddenly at the height of a bell tower, the once-dead bird that fell from somewhere in the clouds is a lifelike being, only familiar life with a thin association. You wake again, the shadow puppets wash away

I was still there "negative spaces" jabberwocky submission #2 poem

I was there

Somewhere, sleeping in time

Waiting for you to pick up on the other line

Haggard Hollow Houses

Along thin paper roads

Even when morning announces

We’ll be up, catching toads

I was still there

Rolling in the lawn

If it’s a race, you’ll beat me at it

Shy as a fawn

Quick as a rabbit

I was there

When the storm came through

Shut every window, hide in the tub

It’s too bad how spring always flew

I was still there

When you swallowed the mud

Collapsed are the lungs

Long days of silence

Cold water runs

Baby’s breath, violets

I was there

We bury the innocence

Here a child lies

Your mother, how she cries

I was still there

Empty is your space

The periwinkle haze

Absent in your thoughts

I miss you when december rots

feminine idols throughout literary history- WOMEN's history month

 The Month of March is Women's History Month, originating as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress passed joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. In today's episode, we will examine Jane Austen's presence in feminine literature and 2 other writers who paved the way for modern female authors and artists. 

Jane Austen is a very celebrated 19th-century female author, who chose once-provocative and taboo subjects to dissect and poke fun at, such as marriage, traditional western Gender roles, and the high class, she helped represent the feminist perspective, which was incredibly rare for her time. In the pantheon of literary giants, Jane Austen occupies a singular place as a champion of the feminine perspective. Austen paved the way for subsequent generations of female authors to assert their voices in the literary landscape through her nuanced portrayals of women and incisive critique of patriarchal norms. Her enduring legacy serves as a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the human condition and advocate for social change.

Jane Austen is a unique author because her novels are told in the third person by an omniscient narrator who has access to the thoughts and feelings of the characters. She makes use of minimal description, but instead focuses on the speech and action of her characters – if you open one of her novels at random and look at the page, you’ll see how much dialogue there is, making them feel like you too are in the room with the characters and you grow to understand them personally. 

Many believe Austen was one of the first authors to use what we now call “Free Indirect Speech” a literary technique in which the narrator’s voice shares with us the words, thoughts or feelings of the characters, without telling us that this is what they are doing. This means that the character’s thoughts or words slip into the third-person narrative, subtly shifting the perspective from that of the narrator to that of the character. It’s almost as though the narrator is the character for a moment, but they’re not – they’re still the narrator. 

Despite their limitations, Austen's heroines, particularly Elizabeth Bennet, demonstrate resilience, intelligence, and independence of thought. Elizabeth refuses to conform to societal norms by marrying for financial security alone and instead seeks a partner who respects her intellect and values. This portrayal of female agency was groundbreaking and continues to resonate with modern readers.

• Feminist Perspective Authors from each generation

1. Gregorian Era (1714- 1837)/ Regency Era (1811-1820) 

This literary era takes place mostly in the UK when the British still had significant power over the United States. The period of publication was sandwiched between the Victorian era, with its strict classicism, The Georgian poets were, by the strictest definition, those whose works appeared in a series of five anthologies named Georgian Poetry but in the context of today’s episode it did include some of the same elements such as Heteronormative Romance, Marriage and Family Buildings, hedonism (or the pursuit of self-pleasure and indulgence, the reference of sins or immoralities and sentimentality

• Jane Austen, Mary Shelly,  Anastasia Eristavi-Khoshtaria, Kato Mikeladze

2. American Romanticism- Victorian Era (1833- 1869)

After achieving independence from Britain in 1776, Americans lacked a true literary and cultural tradition of their own, so they designed Romanticism to feature elements of Emotion, Idealized Nature, Individuality, Spirituality, the awe of nature. In the Gregorian era, Marriage and Romance was a very popular theme but in the later decades of Romanticism, it idealized the world around us and our environment more than the people. 

• Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth Barret Bronte, Annie Bessant, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Gertrude Blood

3. Edwardian Period- Modernism (1900-1914)

With the death of Queen Victoria, a new period of literary accomplishment began. The period is marked by a celebration of British nationalism and imperialism and a condemnation of it, but in the US, this was deemed as Moderninsm, which was most known for it’s Experimentalism, Formalism, Loss and grief, Absurdity and Similar to the Romanticism, Multiple Perspectives which was very daring at the time. 

• Evangeline Holland, Beatrix Potter, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Gertrude Stein, Marianne Moore, Djuna Barnes

4. Lost Generation (1917-1930) Harlem Renaissance (1919- 1937)

The Theme was introduced by Author Gertrude Stein and other authors who came of age during World War 1, this was a time of very heavy political propaganda and anxiety and paranoia among citizens that the enemy would attack at random.  are themes connected to war and its consequences, the radical change of writing style, and the cynical perspective on life. Their 'break from the past' happened not only in the topic they explored but in the form they used and then bordered on the Tragedy of the Great Depression.

• Zelda Fitzgerald, Slyvia Beach, Jean Rhys

1. Contemporary/ Southern Gothic (1935-1969)

The word refers to both poetry and prose, where prose includes works of fiction such as novels and novellas, essays, and dramatic works. Typical characteristics of the contemporary period include reality-based stories with strong characters and a believable story. Settings usually keep to the current or modern era, so futuristic and science fiction novels are rarely included in this category for example these might include novels that sound like diary entries and more life-like narratives. Southern Gothic is described more as a theme than a movement, a sub-genre of fiction that is dignified by its storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing, or eccentric characters who may be involved in taboo situations, and witchy elements

Flannery O'Connor, Nina Fedorova, Mary Ellen Chase, Willa Cather

6.  Beats/ Confessional Poetry, Black Arts movement (1962-1977)

The four key characteristics of the Beats generation are intimate and controversial subject matters, the use of the first-person point of view, autobiographical experiences, and the careful use of craftsmanship. The Civil Rights Movement played a large role in this era, influencing African Americans to bring their perspective into the literary movement, which is still very popular today in Celebrating Black Women. Confessional poetry however is known for describing intense psychological or spiritual experiences. 

Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, Carolyn Cassadey, Hettie Jones,

Bonnie Bremer, Patti Smith, Elise Cowen

5. Postmodernism (1979- 1993)

The notable literary devices of postmodern literature are paradox, unreliable narrators, unrealistic narratives, parody and dark humor. Most postmodern literature also rejects the idea of a single theme or meaning, choosing instead to have many meanings or forgo theme entirely, this was coming from the Disco Era, post-Vietnam war and the early stages of the Techonological revolution of the mid 1980’s in Industrial America. This rejection of theme and meaning is often because many of its authors and artists fail to see a singular meaning in the broken, disastrous world around them. Instead, it often enjoys poking fun at those who try to find meaning themselves

June Jordan, Kathy Acker, Isabell Allende, Margaret Atwood,

Giannina Braschi, Mary Caponegro and Amanda Vail

6. Metamodernism (1996-now)

The prefix meta is a term of Greek origin and means “after, between, beyond” That is Metamodernism is a movement that emerged and covered the period after Postmodernism. This is the societal revolution most familiar to us, where taboo subjects are more comfortably discussed and digested and the new generations challenge fundamental societal norms we’ve been used to for many generations. Metamodernism is serious and sincere, it oscillates from one polarity to another, between diametrically opposed ideas, like enthusiasm and irony, naivety and knowingness, totality and fragmentation, bright and plain, and so on, whereas Postmodernism is playful, insincere, unsteady and ironic.