Digital memories can’t compare with ‘good ol’ days’

by Liz Spihlman, Alestle Copy Editor

In the back of the basement, in what we call the “junk room,” there are a few boxes full of letters that my great-grandfather sent to my great-grandmother while he was in Germany with the U.S. Army. I have read a select few of them just out of curiosity, and, in doing so, I have experienced a part of his personality I would have never otherwise known.

Grandma kept all of Grandpa’s letters, and I understand why. They signify the strength of their love, and the growth of their relationship. These letters are an everlasting reminder of how things used to be. Grandpa passed away on Dec. 28, and his letters are one of the things we have left to hold onto.

However, my generation doesn’t have such a way to keep memories. Sure, we have photos, but more often than not everything we do is only viewed on a computer. There is no physical evidence of the things that have happened in our lives. When I have children and grandchildren someday, they aren’t going to be able to open up a file and see my meaningful or funny conversations with friends or a significant other. There will be no such “letters” because everything we say nowadays is done so quickly, ineloquently and absentmindedly that it’s not worth saving.

I fear that when I am old I won’t have any physical keepsakes, save a few photos, to remind me of the “good ol’ days.” I love to write and would love to have a box of letters of my own someday, but it seems like a strange dream to have these days. I have tried keeping a memoir, but it gets lost in the shuffle, and I lose days and weeks, and then it seems incomplete.

I understand you can e-mail the same words that you can write on a piece of paper, but there is something about holding that handwritten letter in your hand that is much more satisfying than reading an e-mail. It is a fragile, physical object that you can stash away, post on the fridge or put in a scrapbook; and it will always bring a feeling of nostalgia to whomever stumbles across it.

How will you record your memories – the ones that can’t be photographed?

The Word of Obama and The Word of Bush

by Catherine Klene, Alestle Online Editor

President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union speech Tuesday, and moments after it was over, every news network from CNN to Fox News to the BBC had in-depth analysis… sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. (I don’t care how many magic boards or Twitter followers CNN has, I really don’t think they are relevant to explaining the speech.)

I’m not a political expert, and I won’t pretend to be one.  However, I am a writer, and it’s interesting to note which words are chosen and which audience is trying to be convinced.

Call what follows an amateur political experiment.  I created word clouds of Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech and President George W. Bush’s 2008 State of the Union speech.  (For those who don’t know, word clouds are a computer generated mashup of the most frequently used words in a block of text.  The bigger the word in the cloud, the more frequently it’s used.)

Again, not an expert, nor am I Wolf Blitzer, but feel free to drawn your own conclusions from the word clouds below.

President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address

Obama’s Top 10 Words:

1. American   25
2. You              25
3. Who             25
4. From           23
5. Know           22
6. Economy    22
7. We               22
8. Plan             21
9. Every           20
10. People         19

President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address

Bush’s Top 10 Words:

1. America     30
2. Must           29
3. Congress    27
4. You             26
5. Them          26
6. Year            24
7. New            24
8. Us               22
9. More          22
10. Iraq           21

Shh, don’t say s-e-x! The kids can’t handle it!

by Liz Spihlman, Alestle Copy Editor

As a child, I, and all my classmates, used classroom copies of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary to look up my vocabulary words for school. I only remember what dictionary it was because it was bright pink, and we dreaded getting them out.

Now, as all kids do, sometimes we would come across what we would call “funny” words – the words our parents didn’t like to hear us say, whether we knew what they meant or not. We would giggle to ourselves, maybe show a friend, and go about our work. None of these words, nor their definitions, have scarred me for life or changed the way I grew up.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

However, a California parent feels strongly enough about these words to demand the dictionary – yes, the same Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary – be removed from her child’s school. Her child came across the entry for “oral sex,” leaving her fuming at the kind of filth being provided to our children. Whether the school board decides to throw out the books or not, this request is completely ridiculous and, dare I say, irresponsible.

I am almost positive I came across the same definition, or a similarly questionable one, when I was a child, and, at most, I had a surprised – maybe confused – look on my face. I still went on with my vocabulary words and didn’t think anything of it. Dictionaries aren’t the devil, because knowledge isn’t the devil. Our children are going to learn what oral sex is from a number of locations, one of the most accurate being a dictionary.

I am not a mother, but I am the sister of an 8-year-old and I would much rather have her stumble across, even look up, the definition for oral sex rather than ask a friend or Google it. The world is a scary place, but the dictionary is not the enemy.

Famous lasting words

by Kenneth Long, Alestle Editor in Chief

Kenneth Long

Today I read a long list of famous last words.  Presidents, poets, boxers, generals, all giving their final quote before they knowingly or unknowingly died.  It made me think about how much we say in a lifetime.

When we speak, it’s to communicate with others most of the time. Why talk out loud? I guess for prayer or a chant it has its advantages when said out loud to oneself. But the number of words we say must be staggering.  Picture, if you can, every word you ever said trailed behind you in a long chain of words. How far it must stretch!

But how many of those words were said out of anger? Or love? Jealousy, avarice, deceit, lust, any emotion possible… But those last words, they’re the ones that really matter.

The coup de grace of a human life. The stinger of a long crescendo in the world.  The veritable cherry on the sundae of this existence. How lucky it must be to choose what your last words are.

I mean, there’s no way of knowing when you’ll go. But if Beethoven’s last words of “Friends applaud, the comedy is finished,” weren’t without a forethought, then lucky him.

Likewise, Henry David Thoreau’s last words were “Moose…Indian.” Unless those were his ushers into whatever afterlife exists, it falls a little flat.
Whatever a person’s last words are — whether they have some deep meaning or they come from the unknown darkness that clouds a dying man — they resonate. Not only do they resonate in the death-filled room, but in the hearts of any who hear these parting words.

They echo in the corners the dead man filled, whispering their last song, whether it be dirge or requiem. Those final words… they can matter more than what a man has ever said.

I suppose it’s morbid to have some last words prepared before death begins to loom over your head. Better prepared than not, I suppose.
Could I get out my final thoughts before I die? Hopefully. Otherwise, it could just be a death gurgle of nonsense. Then again, people have made great careers out of extended death gurgles of nonsense.

But, of course, we can’t all be Rush Limbaugh.

Defeating the “N-word” is a day-to-day battle

Kenneth Long

by Kenneth Long, Alestle Editor-in-chief

Some words go without saying. For the “N-word,” it’s necessary to abbreviate it to prevent controversy. You’d think we’d be past using the word.

We’re not.

My experiences with the “N-word” have been few and far between. Growing up in Staunton, a southern Illinois town of almost 5,000 people, we had about 2.5 black people in the town, according to census data. While there were only a couple (and — apparently — a half) in town, those who had lived in Staunton grew up with almost no actual experience living with anyone who wasn’t white.
Though raised in Staunton, I was born in Bloomington, a town with more cultural diversity. I grew up in the Head Start program, in which the majority of children enrolled was black. I also went to the a public school with a more diverse background for two years.

Moving to Staunton, we lived in a town where teenagers would drive their muddy Ford 500s to school with a Confederate flag in the back, despite their Illinois heritages, a state that was never a part of the Confederacy. Camo and cut-off shirts with a John Deere hat could be just as stylish as American Eagle in certain groups.  Calling somebody the “N-word” for doing something foolish, dumb or distasteful might get a look, but not much else. Some students may say something, but unless a teacher overheard, it largely went without any disapproving word.

Anytime I hear somebody use the word, it makes me wonder why it was necessary to say it. The word is like asbestos. At one time, it was acceptable to use asbestos in every building, much like the use of the “N-word.” It had an intended use. While asbestos was to prevent flames, the “N-word” now causes fiery anger, the remnant of the oppression of a people.

We know the negative effects of asbestos and have stopped using it. Any time it shows up, we take the utmost precaution. The “N-word” should be handled just as carefully. Both cause a cancer. While asbestos is physical, the “N-word” is a cancerous cell that spread like wildfire in our history, causing irreversible damage.

The “N-word” is dangerous because it is hidden. While asbestos lines the framework of buildings people use everyday, the “N-word” lines our culture, our music, our lips and our thoughts. The best way to deal with it is to not panic. Ripping it out kicks up more toxins, more hate. Deal with it day-to-day.

But don’t let it sit and fester. The “N-word” that some say has lost its power to repress and demean is like a landmine buried under brush, just waiting to explode.