Many Paths; Many Journeys

By the time I signed in here, I'd forgot what I wanted to write. Was it
1) The domestication of women and dogs: similarities and differences?
2) Music as the sound of a generation vs. music as the indoctrination of a generation
3) Sold down the river: New Orleans as the brothel capital of the South--great for music; shitty for women
4) Voluntary slavery
5) The Happy Slave. All that great music.
6) Black and White and all shades in between.
7) Is music a universal language or a reflection of the language of a culture?
8) White Niggers of North America Revisited
9) History vs English Studies. Why you don't have to study history to enjoy it

Material Culture

Instead of investigating artifacts from the past, I propose investigating artifacts in the present. We are in a privileged position; we can see these artifacts in use. For example, say that scholars in future years find an old iPhone. If we assume they can get it to work, they'll find a phone, an iPod, camera, digital recorder and probaby hundreds of ancient apps. But (we hope) people will have stopped walking and driving around with their hands held up to their ears. Only today, could we see the actual impact of the cellphone. In cities, anyway, an alien visitor would probably assume that all North Americans (research note: check use in rural areas) have at least one hand permanently affixed to their ear. It's really too bad Kurt Vonnegut is dead.

Welcome

Like the dinosaurs, educational institutions will eventually become extinct. Already, they have been reduced to sorting machines where different classes of workers mingle and marry. However, as the price of education escalates, few students will have time for social activities. They'll rush in and out to their paying jobs. Universities where students live in residence will become boarding schools where the very rich can park their adolescent children while they go about making the huge sums of money required to maintain their lifestyle. Community colleges will continue to attract the daughters of both rich and poor families, and their underachieving sons. At the end of the day, however, they will question why their sons and daughters are working at Walmart, or as call centre employees. Parents will begin to question whether their 3 year olds should be in school rather than at home. Teachers are teachers. No one can love your child as well as you can. Young women will drop out of the workforce to homeschool their children. Community college students will realize that job skills are best learned on the job. Only the children of the well to do will receive an education in the classic sense. Welcome to the New Dark Ages.