I went to the final lecture in the Cornell summer lecture series tonight. Titled "Sex and the Soul", it was an exploration of researcher/author Donna Freitas's book of the same name. Her interest was piqued when students in one of her classes began to complain about the "hookup culture" that they felt forced to participate in; the resulting study shows that an overwhelming majority of students want genuine relationships - but you'd never guess that by observing an American campus. Freitas also found that students are at a loss to reconcile their spirituality with their sexual attitudes and activities - hardly surprising given our cultural schizophrenia about these aspects of the human psyche.
Freitas didn't exactly miss the boat - she documented exactly what she set out to research - but I think her findings raise questions about spiritual and sexual mores in the broader American culture. Sex is in our faces every day: in song, story, art, advertising, media, and conversation, yet we never talk about the profound emotional and spiritual effect it can have on us. It's generally assumed that organized religion frowns upon sex, but we don't have a conversation about what that actually means or why that's the case...
Leaving us all to stumble around in the dark until we figure out what makes us truly happy.
The culturally sanctioned options (sleep around or get married / evangelize or keep silent about God) aren't making a majority of us happy.* Let's start a conversation about relationships and religion that is open, respectful, and that allows us to explore more fulfilling relationships.
*I mean that these dichotomies can be stifling, not that any of the options are individually unsatisfying.
23 July 2008
05 July 2008
Independence Day
Just a few small anecdotes to report this time around.
Last week I met with Dean Susan Henry of CALS, as a favor to my grandpa. He'd asked me to go introduce myself to her back in March, but I couldn't find time with the end of the semester rapidly approaching. I always had intentions to meet her, but it wasn't until after Grandpa died that I realized that it was the only thing he had ever asked me to do. Dean Henry is intelligent, kind, and quite helpful, and I'm only sorry now that I can't report back to Grandpa.
Dean Henry connected me with a professor in the Applied Economics and Management department, since I was foiled in my attempt to take a prerequisite for a prerequisite for Agricultural and Food Policy (one of this professor's classes). I'll be meeting with him in a couple weeks, and hopefully we'll come up with a plan for me to be able to take the course and/or study ag policy in other ways.
My family had a wonderful low-key family reunion yesterday for the 4th of July. For once we didn't run out of strawberries and I got to have two helpings of strawberry shortcake! We also received our copies of the book that my grandpa wrote about his brother, who turned 90 a few weeks ago. I've never heard much about my great-uncle as a young man, but it turns out that he's had as profound an impact on the community as my grandpa did, albeit in different ways. It was a joy to read, especially since it included letters from each of his children.
My summer continues to go well - it's hard to believe that it's half-over already!
Last week I met with Dean Susan Henry of CALS, as a favor to my grandpa. He'd asked me to go introduce myself to her back in March, but I couldn't find time with the end of the semester rapidly approaching. I always had intentions to meet her, but it wasn't until after Grandpa died that I realized that it was the only thing he had ever asked me to do. Dean Henry is intelligent, kind, and quite helpful, and I'm only sorry now that I can't report back to Grandpa.
Dean Henry connected me with a professor in the Applied Economics and Management department, since I was foiled in my attempt to take a prerequisite for a prerequisite for Agricultural and Food Policy (one of this professor's classes). I'll be meeting with him in a couple weeks, and hopefully we'll come up with a plan for me to be able to take the course and/or study ag policy in other ways.
My family had a wonderful low-key family reunion yesterday for the 4th of July. For once we didn't run out of strawberries and I got to have two helpings of strawberry shortcake! We also received our copies of the book that my grandpa wrote about his brother, who turned 90 a few weeks ago. I've never heard much about my great-uncle as a young man, but it turns out that he's had as profound an impact on the community as my grandpa did, albeit in different ways. It was a joy to read, especially since it included letters from each of his children.
My summer continues to go well - it's hard to believe that it's half-over already!
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