Millennials

Let me begin by stating proudly that I am a millennial student. I may be an anomaly for my generation, but I do not think so. I was in a conference discussion recently and the group of professors began listing the traits of the millennial generation. While some positive attributes were listed, like being tech savvy and passionate about topics, most attributes were taken as negatives. Yes, our parents may be overly involved in our lives and we may be stressed; but look at our role models. We live in a baby boomer centered society and the media focuses on their anxieties and fears. As millennials are so invested in social communities, we see these stresses online and on television. If adults are worried about the economy, so are we. But as they have been through depressions before, we have not. We are not equipped with the historical context to understand our situation, so when we our understandings of the world are berated, it could be because no one has helped us understand the context.
Yes, millennials may have short attention spans, but we can work on it. Yes, multi-tasking may be seen as a negative, but what about serial uni-tasking, as discussed in the section. Is it not a positive thing that we can have multiple focuses in our lives? Won’t that better prepare us for a future of globalized learning and living? Yes, we are impatient because of the immediacy of technology and how we were raised, but couldn’t that be seen as a positive? We are impatient with our situations and the situations of others and will not wait for changes to be made…millennial impatience may be the key to accomplishing many of today’s social justice, intellectual, and human rights tasks.

Flying

When I was younger, Peter Pan was my favorite film...not just the Disney version, but also the Mary Martin one...I always wanted to be able to fly, to explore new places, travel, and see the world...

I have been flying on airplanes since I was 6 months old, and somewhere along the way, I have developed this fear of flying.

I hate the feeling you get before lift-off and the descent. Every moment of turbulence leaves me clinging to my seat, praying to every god I know (and as a student of religion, I know a LOT of gods). On a recent and quite turbulent flight to London, I kept repeating my mantra of "healthy, safe, and happy flight." The person next to me must have thought I was really special.

Being with people I know does not help, as my family will tell you. I don't like being alone, yet I get cranky and annoyed with people talking to me...at the same time, too quiet a trip and eerie feelings take hold.

I hate waiting for planes, I like to be the first one to disembark, I even hate the smell of musk, used air, and vomit...

As I leave today to go to Montreal with my pals Jim and Olivia they should just know this: my normally bubbly personality vanishes and all that will be left of me is a trembling little girl clinging to Olivia's hand...

Halloween

Hello friends!

Topic for today: Halloween.

For your reading pleasure, a poem I wrote in third grade in Ms. Andruchow's class:

On Halloween, the cold crispy air comes

And wild witches go whistling through the winds.

Black cats prowl through the gates,

Children trick or treat

Not knowing what awaits.

Then all of a sudden, the children disappear,

Ghosts come out and have the fun that the children had feared.

Then the ghosts and goblins,

Witches and werewolves,

Black cats and crows,

Circle 'round and 'round,

Till the sun finally rose.

Man, I was brilliant when I was younger: alliteration, imagery...

All gone now.

I love Halloween, the pagentry of vice and mischief-ridden parades, the community of door-opened neighbors, the abundance of sweets leading to a sugar-induced coma for young and old.

I have always loved "dressing up." The concept of becoming someone or something new merely by changing your outfit is a fascinating concept. And while I wear clothing in everyday life as a way to identify and present myself to the world; the concept of acting, or existing as something else is a methodology I will have to employ if I want to become an ethnographer of religion.

But I don't know if I want to do that, or if I want to go on to get the PhD, or if I even can...

So for now, I will put aside my everyday costume of "Religion Masters student" and become Rachel from Glee for this Halloween...

Story Time

I love stories; epic battles, glorious adventures, hilarious antics, heartwarming tales of love...

I think a story can shape our minds, shape our thoughts, remember people, places, things...

I am reading Doniger's Other People's Myths and she describes the ways and reasons people tell mythological tales and classics. She specifically speaks to children's literature and classics like Shakespeare and Homer. Reading has been, and continues to be, a vital aspect of my life, but something I love more is listening to stories. I am one of those crazy people who loves audiobooks. I have listened to the Harry Potter books read by Jim Dale three times
(each)...

This love of listening brought me back to my childhood...my favorite memories of ones where my parents told me tales of adventure, romance, and humor with familiar characters. Yes, I love princesses and dragons and knights in shining armor, but what I love more are stories of my own family and friends and the insights it gave me into my own heritage and humanity...

These stories filled my world with characters I knew; I could imagine my grandmother opening krazy-glue with her teeth and actually gluing her lips together. I could imagine my toddler father discussing with his toddler twin the gorilla they saw in the window. I could imagine my Aunt Michele painting the toilet seat with ketchup and mustard.

As I grew older, I still loved to hear those stories, but I no longer asked mom and dad to "tell me a story," I now requested "the falling out of bed" story, or the "book at the nose" story. Stories became a way to re-live the past for my parents while giving me a chance to "live" it for the first, second (sometimes third) time...

My weakness is a good story...doesn't even have to be good, or real, it just has to be told. People always ask me "what are you going to do with a degree in Religion"

Here's what I want to do: tell stories, listen to stories, understand stories...
That is all we are given, that is all we can grasp...truth may or may not exist, but the concept of stories is forever...

Here is one way I want to do this:

StoryCorps is "an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening"
I want to volunteer/work for them someday...

I listen to these stories on NPR and I feel this sense of connection.
I find myself crying on the drive home or laughing aloud to no one...
I am in a new place, with new friends and co-workers, but stories stay the same...
I may not know all the characters yet, but this is just the beginning...

Olivia...this is for you

O.K. Mote thinks I can add some funny to the blogosphere...I tend to think she is a wee-bit crazy, but here goes...

I'm Steph, (Stephanie to be formal, B.P. to some, Stephie to none). I have a fantastic, wonderful family (include shout-out to Mom, Dad, Dani and hundreds of other relatives here). I am a recent grad of FSU (Go Noles!) and I am currently a graduate student at Miami University of Ohio studying Comparative Religion. No, I am not going to be a minister, nun, rabbi, or theologian. I study American Religious Culture, and as I have yet to find an area of society/culture that does not fit into this category, I study everything.
I am quite obsessed with musicals, Harry Potter, movies, The Office, Disney, Gilmore Girls...I am a Puritanical New Englander who grew up in the South and recently moved to the Midwest Stars Hollow...my vices are soda, sweets, and cursing, although I have been known to use words like "poppycock" and "sugarpops" instead of bullshit or fuck... I am not truly appropriate for children although my tastes resemble that of a 13 year old "tween."
I am Galinda from Wicked, I am a super-organized grad student with exceptional secretarial skills, I am happy-go-lucky, I am always looking on the bright side, I am sunshine, I have been known to turn poop into lemonade, and a recent professor said that the day I stop smiling he will know the Rapture is at hand...
I am NOT flighty, ditsy, or unrealistic: I just think the world needs a little more happiness and positive thinking.
I have superb friends, many of them besties, and I try my hardest to stay in touch while far-away. Perhaps this will give them their daily does of StephBrehm...

steph's first time

you've been blogged!