Using Your Imagination

As I've said in previous blogs, as a child, I was a Barbie girl, all the way. I even have collectible Barbies that I couldn't play with and that I just had on pedestals on my bookshelves. No joke. But when I played with my Barbies was when my imagine ran wild. I didn't play with only my Barbies. Oh no. Like many other little girls, I was also obsessed with horses. I took horseback riding lessons my entire childhood and still love it to this day. So when I played with my Barbies, I also played with my toy horses. Did you know that the two go perfectly together? Barbies fit perfectly on plastic horses. There was one Barbie in particular who always got to ride a horse because she was a ballerina Barbie, so her knees were bendable, making it easier for me to make her ride a horse. At my childhood peak, I probably had as many horses as I did Barbies. Which is a lot. My horses and Barbies had all kinds of adventures together. Sometimes I would send them back in time and pretend my Barbies were the Tudors and of course, my horses would play a huge part in their royal processions. And, as any good child would, I made my horses talk. Not to the Barbies, but to each other. And just because I was playing with one didn't mean I had to play with the other. Sometimes I just played horses, sometimes I just played Barbies. But those hours of my childhood were definitely some of the most imaginative and creative.

I've been sitting here for about 15 minutes trying to come up with how I have creatively solved a problem in the recent past. The only thing that is coming to mind happened last week, and it's not especially creative, but it worked. I have a tendency to always be the person who does dishes in my apartment just because I hate to see them sitting around and taking up the sink. However, this doesn't mean that I should always be the one to do the dishes, especially when they're not mine. So I didn't do the dishes last week. I let them accumulate and as they did, I would put coffe grounds in some of the cups that were soaking. I even added a little vinegar and some other stuff I found in the fridge to the mix. When my roommates smelled the dishes that had been sitting there for almost a WEEK and saw all the stuff in/on them, they totally freaked out. They thought the dishes were getting moldy and they HATED the smell. The dishes were immeidately done. And now they do their own dishes more. A little conniving, I know, but also creative. And it got the job done.

The first thing that came to mind of a superhero thinking on their feet was an example from the "Superman: Earth One" that we read. The villain lets slip that the only thing that can harm his almsot indestructible ship is Kryptonian metal. When the spaceship that Superman crash landed in as a baby comes to his aide soon after, he realizes what it is made of, and commands it to go through the enemy ship. It punctures a hole through one side of the larger ship and zips out the other side of the ship with barely a scratch. This ultimately leads to Superman defeating the villian, of course. But he thought on his feet and used his aircraft the way it could best serve him. Of course Superman is always going to win the day, but it's more fun to read when he does it in a quirky or interesting way.

Fiction Suits & Friendship

As I was walking along on my merry way one beautiful fall afternoon, I spied a little boy who was about to ride his bike into dense traffic on Broadway. Just as I began to yell and run for him, a blur zoomed across the street and in less than half a second the boy was safely on the opposite sidewalk, with no other than the Flash standing next to him. I hurried across the street to ask the little boy if he knew where he lived so I could walk him home, but was abrutly stopped by the Flash. He angrily inquired if I was in charge of the boy and before I could respond, launched into a lecture on responsibility! I let him finish and then told him that I was only a passerby, as outraged as he to see such a small child trying to cross such a busy street on his own. The Flash profusely apologized for assuming the worst of me and I told him that in his line of work, it was understandable. He had a pained look on his face as he told me how he wished he didn't always have to assume the worst, and how there was a time when he didn't. He remarked that society and the world had changed much since his creation and that he didn't know if it was for the better. Then he seemed to come out of his thoughtfulness and told me that no matter what, he would always be around to help protect the world. I told him that every small act countss for something. He smiled and bent down to give the little boy a quick lecture in road safety and then he was gone. I walked the little boy back to his house and made my way back to campus, wondering who the Flash was busy saving now.

After class on Friday, I went back to my apartment and my roommate Ashley was there. She is one of my closest friends on campus and she made moving back to Monmouth this semester a lot easier for me. I had a rough couple weeks when this semester first started because after studying abroad in Italy last semester, Monmouth seemed like a joke. But I pushed through and I owe a lot to Ashley. She kept me entertained and laughing all the time. I can never be in the same room with her without being ridiuclous and constantly laughing. So after class on Friday when she was in our apartment, I sat down and told her about class and thanked her for being there for me during my transition period. She will never know how truly grateful I am, but I expressed it as best as I could. She was really surprised at my thanking her and expressing how much I love and appreciate her friendship because in her mind, she was doing what any good, normal friend should do. It made me feel amazing to actually sit down with her and tell her all those things because our friendship is the farthest thing from serious as you can get. We went to Moline together on Friday afternoon and I treated her to Starbucks, to make my thanks that much more succint. It was a good day.

Superheroes in Pop Culture

Growing up, I never really paid any attention to superheroes. I was involved in my own world of Barbies, everything and anything that was pink and wearing dresses 24/7. I had no siblings, male or female, to lure me into the world of superheroes and my parents aren't big into them either. Sure, I noticed when boys on the playground and later in junior high and such were wearing superhero apparel, but I never gave it a second thought. Now that I'm older I realize how HUGE superheroes are in today's culture.

I had been noticing more and more, but what really hit the fact home was something I saw this weekend. I was with my roommates at Shopko and we were perusing the Valentine's section for fun and I picked up some of the bulk Valentine's that you used to buy in elementary school and distribute to everyone in your class. What was different about these was that they were Captain America themed. And right next to them were Spiderman ones. And next to them Ironman and Batman. And so on. There were nearly as many superhero Valentine options as there were pink princess options. And it hit me. Superheroes are a BIG deal. This class has made me begin to realize that more and more too, but now everywhere I go, I see superheroes in our popular culture. People get superhero tattoos, wear superhero shirts, name their children after superheroes (Nicholas Cage), and write songs about them. Look anywhere and there are bound to be references to superheroes. It just never fails to amaze me how our culture has latched onto the idea of superheroes and has never let go. The past ten years have seen at least a dozen new superhero movies. They have lasted for over seven decades and I'm curious to see what the future holds for them and how much longer they will be such a driving force behind pop culture.

Secret Identities vs. Real Identities

Although we view superheroes as inhuman, nothing could be more human than the idea of a secret identity. All people act a different way depending on the situations they are in, myself included. While superheroes put on a mask or a costume to hide their true identities, we make hide certain facets or quirks of our personality too not appear in a bad light or to not give too much about our character away. There are any number of reasons why people have a secret identity and everyone has different reasons for having a secret identity.

In my own case, there are many situations I am placed in where I have to play down my personality. I am an extremely outgoing, loud, and blunt person. I've learned over the years that this can be intimidating and a little too overpowering for people when they first meet me, so when I meet a person for the first time, I am somewhat reserved and quiet. Only when I am comfortable around a person and know that I'm not going to scare them can I be my excessively honest, sarcastic self. In some ways you could say that humans have multiple secret identities because that is how I act when I meet someone new, but in a different situation, I may act differently. I have absolutely no problem speaking my mind and disagreeing with someone, but around my family, I have to put this in check. Not at all with my parents, but definitely with my grandparents. One set of my grandparents are extremely religious and if they ever heard half the things that came out of my mouth, they would be mortified. There is also a level of respect that comes into play when I am around because I may disagree with them on something, but I might not say so just because it would be rude or they wouldn't approve of it. I wish I could be more of myself around my grandparents sometimes, but they are from a different time and hole different beliefs, so I've always understood that I need to whip out my secret identity when I am visiting them.

Superheroes hide their real identities to protect themselves and the ones they love. In the case of average people, they do it for the same reasons. People never want to reveal too much of themselves, for fear of getting hurt, so by putting on a secret identity, they protect themselves from ridicule and other things. Humans also protect their loved ones by putting on secret identities, from seeing a part of themselves that their relatives wouldn't like or from discovering a secret habit. No matter what the case, everyone has a secret identity.

Batman & Me

           Being new to the world of superheroes, I do not know if I am quite ready to claim any of them as a favorite yet. If I had to pick one, even though Superman is the dominating character in the comic’s world to non-comic readers, it would be Batman. I have always admired him for his ability to be considered a superhero and to do everything he does, all without having any actual powers. Sure, he is trained for combat and has enough money to fund any kind of gadget he could ever want or need. Nevertheless, he is without superpowers and in my mind as a child, I believed that this made him better than all other superheroes. I still think that.           The first time I remember realizing that Batman did not have any true super powers, I was watching a football game with my parents. Now, when I say watching, I mean screaming at the TV, throwing chips, the whole deal. We are diehard Green Bay Packers fans in my family and I’m sure the people in our neighborhood think we’re absolutely nuts. I’ve just come to accept it. When I was in elementary school, the Packers had a player with many tattoos, who on this particular Sunday was being asked by the ESPN commentator why he had one of the Batman symbol. He was a receiver and he explained that he idolized Batman because he was a superhero with no superpowers and that he identified with that because he had no superpowers, but was able to make amazing plays every week on the football field. Before I heard him say that, I had never given Batman a second thought. Superheroes had little influence in my world, which was full of ballet class and Barbie dolls, but my little kid self agreed with the football player. How cool was it that Batman had no powers, but still kicked butt all over Gotham? So cool! Then when I was older and the Christian Bale Batman movies started being released, I started liking Batman even more. Now he was attractive too? I was all in. Now that I’m older and have seen all the Batman movies, I realize that while some of his methods are unconventional, that Batman always does the right thing. I try to live my life like this. I may not always come off as the nicest person or Miss Congeniality, but I always try to do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing means hurting someone’s feelings or being brutally honest. In all issues that have arisen in my adult life so far though, I have always tried to do the right thing, not just for me, but for the people involved as well. That is something I strongly associate with Batman.
            I know next to nothing about superheroes, which is part of the reason why I took this class. By the end of it, I can even see having a new favorite superhero. But Batman taught me a good life lesson and I have a personal connection with him and a good memory from my childhood. I will always love Batman.