Browsing Archive: June, 2010

The Myth of Self-Control

Posted by Sarah McCann on Wednesday, June 30, 2010, In : Responsibility 
Every time I go into Target or some other large store where it seems that one can buy anything, I have the compulsion to buy a snack. It seems that every aisle one walks down, one is bombarded with some sort of food like substance that would most likely taste good, but in no way shape or form is good for you. I was in Target yesterday trying to buy paper towels, but the store is being renovated and I couldn't find them anywhere. I was hungry, having come straight from work and I did want a sn...
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The Only Question is: What Can I Do?

Posted by Sarah McCann on Monday, June 21, 2010, In : Responsibility 

The title of today's blog is taken from a book by Walter Mosley called "The Right Mistake." The point in the story where I found the title is one in which Socrates Fortlow, a sixty-year-old ex-con has decided to start a school and has gathered a group of people around a table for food and then an intense discussion. Socrates gathers local people of all races and social statuses and then asks them to think about what they can do. He acknowledges that the world is messed up and that most of the...


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Can We Be Unique Without Needing to be Special?

Posted by Sarah McCann on Thursday, June 17, 2010, In : Power 
Is it human to want to prove that one is better than someone else? Or does this priority come out of living in society? Or living in a society where power is not equal?

I am teaching summer camp this week and yesterday my students asked me to tell the tale of the "Emperor's New Clothes". My version was definitely not exactly what I had been told as a little girl, but it was close. The story came near to some thoughts of my own about being unique versus the need to be special.

I want to differen...
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Awareness of Words

Posted by Sarah McCann on Wednesday, June 9, 2010, In : Communication 
If one does not pay attention to the words that one uses then it becomes very easy to isolate oneself (even if not alone, then within one group of people whom all speak the same). The most extreme case of this is in speaking another language than those that surround you, but communication of another sort is always possible, but some will immediately dismiss a person for speaking that which they do not understand. I am thinking more about language that is understood, but easily drives people a...
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Living in Emergency

Posted by Sarah McCann on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, In : Responsibility 
I saw Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctor's Without Borders while in New York this past weekend. The film follows four volunteer doctors during a tour with MSF (Médecines Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders). This wasn't a film about MSF however, it was a film about the individuals who have decided to serve with MSF. It investigates the reasons behind the decision to go, the pressure of having to practice medicine in extreme circumstances, and how these experiences affect each doctor...
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On Freedom

Posted by Sarah McCann on Thursday, June 3, 2010, In : Responsibility 
I started reading Jean-Luc Nancy's The Experience of Freedom on the beach yesterday. Here are some thoughts I had on the nature of freedom...

Freedom is the actualization of potential. It is not only having the power to act, but the power to represent the self in these actions. Nancy quotes Kant on the subject, "[freedom is] the power to be by means of one's representations the cause of the reality of these same representations." I agree with this statement and believe that our work toward fre...
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This blog will address issues of communication, art, and life from my point of view. It is a means for me to keep writing, thinking critically, and finding meaning in my life and work.