We All Want What We Can't Have

            I'll be honest in saying that I don't know what this story is about or why in the world Louise Erdrich decided to write a story revolving around skunks. Perhaps my urban/suburban upbringing hinders me from truly grasping the longing for nature Erdrich rambled about for seven complete pages or perhaps I'm just trapped in a summer-induced lethargy, but either way, this story was beyond me. One portion of the story that did pique my interest, however, was the part about obstacles and desire.
            I guess I never realized how true the old saying "we want what we can't have" really is until I read this story. Everything Erdrich (or at least her character in this story) does is driven by some sort of unobtainable desire. Some sort of desire such as a job opportunity that was unobtainable in North Dakota must have driven her to leave her hometown and go to New Hampshire, but then as soon as she was 1500 miles away, she longed for everything she used to have. Her homesick desire drives her to find comfort in the woods of New Hampshire, and for a while, she was content. As soon as she came across the fence, however, she was no longer content. She had to get to the other side and feel the bark of the pines, not just look at them from afar.
           Many people would see this want-what-you-can't-have type of motivation as a negative thing. We use it to describe ignorant children more often than not, but it is prevalent in all our lives. Yesterday, I was watching How I Met Your Mother on TV, and in that episode, there was a perfect example of this attitude. Two of the main characters , Ted and Barney, are both ex's of another main character named Robin. Both had gotten over their relationships with her until she found a new boyfriend. Suddenly, they both realized they still had feelings for her and that they wanted her back. It was only when she became unavailable that they realized this. I realize that TV may not be the best source for an intellectual point, but this sort of stuff does happen even in small day-to-day occurrences that we don't even think about. It's perfectly natural, and I don't think it always has to be a bad thing.
           We remember people for the challenges or obstacles they have overcome. If everyone was content with what they had, no changes would be made, and the world would not be what it is today. Slaves desired freedom, which at the time seemed impossible, but through a long history of resistance against obstacles of persecution, they improved their lives significantly. This is prevalent in the story as well. In her dream Erdrich  describes the fence as impermeable, but once the desire to go beyond the fence sets in, she describes the fence as permeable, and she easily passes through.

Two Contrasting Opinions

          In the Talk of the Town, John Updike and Susan Sontag clearly have two different ways of viewing the carnage of September 11th. John Updike viewed the whole scenario as an inevitable risk and price of freedom without acknowledging any possible causes. In his eyes, it was a fluke, and despite the catastrophe's biting reality, America is still strong and immune to blame.
          Susan Sontag, on the other hand, had a much bolder opinion. She believes that the government is largely to blame: it was our "cowardly" bombing of Iraq and inadequacy of intelligence that brought about the attack rather than random consequence of freedom. She also blames the government of lying to the public by toning down their involvement in bringing about the tragedy and their failures in stopping it. They hide the complete reality from us and don't give us all the facts.
          I agree more with Susan. I feel like the government always tries to make themselves look good and at the very least hides information from us (I'm sure they straight-out lie to us as well). My question, therefore, is how can we be a truly functional democracy if the government keeps us from being an informed public? Politicians are constantly trying to sway public opinion their way instead of worrying about helping or fixing America, and to do this, they lie. Isn't it our duty to depose those who forfeit the democracy our country was founded on?

Me and My Interests

          School, although undoubtedly more work than leisure, has become my primary interest, which is sad I know, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it to be true. I dedicate myself fully for the eight hours we are forced to be there, and I find I spend even more time than necessary on work outside of school. I even enjoy it many times. The fact that I'm taking four more AP classes senior is evidence enough of this. If you think your fourth quarter is bad, this is mine: AP Physis, AP Calculus, AP Composition, and French 5.  I pride myself on doing well and working hard, but I'm starting to think I might've gotten in over my head.
         Anyway, when I'm not too busy being a nerd, I turn to the more geeky side of me and play endless amounts of video games, RPG's in particular. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge each one poses, and I can't get enough of the sometimes-mindless carnage. On a more peaceful, but equally geeky, note I also am quite interested in fantasy novels. I've read my fair share in the past, but I seem to read less and less the deeper I go into high school. Who knows, maybe this class will change that. Among my favorite books are the Bartimaeus, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Inheritance, and Wheel of Time and series. Oh, and there's also the Shannara series and the Great Tree of Avalon series. They're all good, check them out sometime.
        I've already listed my favorite books, but my favorite movie may be just as hard to pinpoint. I like almost any decent action-adventure movie. I love marvel comic book based superhero movies, and I like more fantasy-based themes like in Harry Potter, but I think the Pirates of the Caribbean might be my favorite. The first one is the best, and they've all gone downhill since then. I'm mad that I still haven't seen the fourth one, but I'm sure I'll get around to it soon.. I didn't have very high expectations for it, but all the reviews I've heard have been surprisingly good. 
        As far my post-high school plans go, I intend to go to the UW Madison and major in Biochemistry or a related field. Right now I'm working in a lab at the UW as a special student through an internship sort of thing. The department is called biomolecular chemistry, and oddly enough, the head researcher there is Zach Denu's father, John Denu. So far it's sort of just been a recap of biotechnology class, but I hope to be doing some original research of my own later on in the summer. On side note, I was just reading an article before writing this blog titled A Coupled Fluorescent Assay for Histone Methyltransferases. That's a mouth-full, and trust me, it doesn't get any better from there. This could be a long summer...
        I've never really considered going anywhere besides Madison, and I can't imagine going anywhere far away. I guess I'm not very ambitious, so I'm not too desperate to escape my home. The fact is that I quite enjoy my life, and I don't desire any drastic change.