Where It All Began

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in New York on January 30, 1982. He was born to two very wealthy families, through which he had the luxury of meeting President Grover Cleveland, becoming conversant in German and French, and attending boarding school in Massachusetts. Needless to say, his success was not coincidental.

As much as today's political and activist climate is wary of privilege, we actually see Roosevelt as a giver- a face of welfare. So although many would look at FDR's past as an unfair advantage, his good works offset that disapproval. In fact, his Christian boarding school emphasized serving the less fortunate. An altruistic man with resources--what more can we ask for?

Unsurprisingly this President went to Harvard, during which his distant cousin Theodore Roosevelt became President. He's truly a man of connections. Not only did he become influenced by Teddy Roosevelt, but he was also influenced by Teddy's niece! In fact, FDR got married to his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. Despite the common belief about their relationship, word got out that Franklin had several affairs. I guess he was just too good to be true.

A misleading marriage

Comments

Pick Your Poison

Would you rather find out that your significant other is cheating on you or never find out? Though very far away and presumably irrelevant to your and my current circumstances, this question raises an issue that's not so far from what we know: Is ignorance really bliss? Sure, I typically respond to the opening question by selecting the latter choice of oblivion as I imagine the pain and hassle it entails, but after I contemplate and fight my instinct, I choose the wiser option. The more daunting one. I choose to pop the bubble of ignorance and learn the truth. Let's break it down. Your significant other is cheating on you. This action may be a result of a few reasons, the major being dissatisfaction in the relationship and/or sole disloyalty and a lack of integrity. A cheater is prone to cheating more than once, and if one continues it may just be a sign of bad character. Do you really want to be with someone who isn't committed to you? Someone who doesn't find satisfa...

Welcome Back

Every meeting, email, or letter begins with a greeting. "Good morning," "hello," or "dear *recipient.*" Only once an opening has been made can the intent of communication be addressed. However, though unnecessary in content, such polite phrases serve to transition and maintain friendly relations beyond just solemn work. In Korean, the staple greeting comparable to "hi" or "hello," literally means, how are you? However, no one interprets it that way or responds to the question. Despite not staying true to its meaning, it is a necessary means of easing into the meat of a conversation. Very isolated from the other employees, I often found myself asking for favors or questions at work without saying "hi" or "how are you" first. I noticed I was disrupting their work and disregarding their existence as a person and instead only seeing them as a source of inquiry. By bypassing any greeting, any conversation becomes too a...

The Fiction of Eye Contact

This picture makes me so uncomfortable. While it's eye-opening to find reason behind the normalities of point of view in film, the eye-level shot appears far from normal in my eyes. Is it the purple suit? The hands crossed? Or the specific positioning of the viewer on a table that makes me so uneasy? It's probably a combination of my suspicions, but I've decided that to its core, it's the eye contact that creates my discomfort. Most of these types of shots never reach the extent of eye contact. Instead, the similarity in levels creates a feeling of similarity shared by the character and viewer. There is no power disparity, no difference in viewpoint. Look at Forrest Gump and this eye-level shot (note that he's not looking at you). But once eye contact comes into play, the connection is too strong. Of course, any good producer will aim to form a connection for an audience to a film. However, there's comfort in a screen lying between a film and its viewer. It...

Thoughts Behind...

Search This Blog