Week 7: Fahrenheit 451

July 2–6, 2018

This week I cannot say that I have done anything out of the ordinary. I have been working on my research project for the Tech Fellows program, as well as, my research the director of StarterStudio has given me. But at this point, I have wrapped my head around a way I intend to be successful in my twenties. My goals are built on metaphysical examination of self, understanding the direction of the world, and understanding the power of entrepreneurship, creativity, and individuality. I won’t share too much about that, just yet. But, what I will say is that I wish more people focused on actualizing their goals and dreams. Being in this entrepreneurial ecosystem, I have definitely realized a need for more public engagement in the field. As important as it may be, cities will not advocate for this until people see entrepreneurship as a way of realizing their dreams, creating value in their communities, and having considerable financial freedom in an integrated world of globalization and influence.

In other news, this week I was able to have a brilliant conversation with my roommates voicing our concerns a little bit over some cocktails — I felt grown. Stephen brought up that as a white male, he remembers, he was taught about racism only in its most blatant forms. He felt that the failure of whites to acknowledge institutional and micro-aggressive racism was what continued to turn white individuals against thehyper-aware social justice sentiment of today. He also attributed his gay identity as something that helped him understand the issues of racism, as many of the things he has faced as a gay male has been more culturally subtle and institutional. Then, I expressed what concerned me was the environment we were creating for all children and the interconnected experience they would share in society. Being where I am mentally and existentially, even, I felt that our lack of consideration for how children were uniquely indoctrinated and to what degree marginalized children where inconvenienced was of a huge disservice to the future and an issue of social justice. I expressed that it was important that we start protecting the rights of children and being the voice for them, because in my adulthood I have found that so many people base their mindset and goals from the point of when they were a child. Colin then stressed the importance of always evaluating how we can advocate for civil rights in our professions. He said that is the toll everyone most bear. Then as a group we all shared how the oppressive situations were the ones that made us stronger and often times many of our idols who they were today. Then of course, myself being one to stir the pot, asked them how would society grow to be profound beings with out that odyssey? Where would we be without our struggle and was it counter-intuitive of us to want a world of no struggle — especially disproportionate struggle? Without the bad how would we know the good and the difference between moral rectitude and self-righteousness? And how would we recognize cultural practices in a way that did not demean them. Certainly our experiences helped us be open-minded and not small minded, but what about the balance of resources and skills? What was the relationship between small-mindedness and culture?

Then, I expressed the need for compassion, forgiveness, and empathy. Us all being fans of Rupaul’s Drag Race, especially after our hyper-aware conversation, were all able to recognize the classism and other problematic elements of our culture that we often bonded and joke over as a community i.e. how full of herself Michelle Visage was when she said “money was never an excuse.” We came to the conclusion that liberalism and progressiveness were not objectively good positive change. Therefore, we could not evaluate the ignorance of others objectively so long as we were ourselves,ignorantly self-interested. And, so how could we extend and appreciate the ignorance of other cultural groups in a unified way? Patience and forgiveness? Lastly, we agreed that we didn’t like the notion of who has agency to advocate for issues in a world of limited resources and education — we considered it, myself maybe from a lean-startup view point, elitist, classist, nontransferable, and inconsiderate. We agreed that we needed to learn from not only our stories, but each others stories. Moreover, the stories of all our ancestors. And, understand that history does not have to involve the same identity groups to repeat itself. Like for example, the fall of societies and Plato’s Republic. We moved to discussing our appreciation for social change, while highlighting how the lack of intuitive and rational economic discourse in America would unfold and how economic turmoil could jeopardize social change. Oddly enough, when I went to bed that night Fahrenheit 451 was on.