Subject: RE: Lookin' for answers and more. . .
From: Raley, Amber (araley@agnesscott.edu)
Date: Thu Sep 20 2001 - 16:06:03 GMT
Tim and other fish,
I am a female student of what I would assume to be around Franny's age. Is
her age ever explicitly mentioned in the book? I am also a student of
psychology so my responses may be influenced by my academic background. Not
too very long ago I had what one might call a spiritual/existential crisis
which was equal parts Albert Camus and J. D. Salinger with a little Tori
Amos thrown in for spice. I received medication for this "depression"
although I never took it for more than a few days at a time (a practice I do
not recommend). I remember asking for help from the very people I am
writing now about what school to attend. I only applied to New York
University and Agnes Scott College (ASC) and after much deliberation and
good words from Tim and Will I chose the small liberal arts college for
women.
I think that my particular school is more challenging than many of the other
schools in the area. Students who have cross registered at Georgia State or
Georgia Tech or even those who have gone on to graduate studies at these
schools or others such as Emory have commented that ASC had a more
challenging curriculum. This may be some bias on my part but I sincerely
believe that I am getting one of the best college educations available.
This is in line with a recent report on NPR that took a critical look at the
US News and World Report top schools list. Although ASC is on some of these
lists I believe it would be higher if variables such as time spent with
professors outside of class and research experience were measured. It may
not mean much to anyone outside the field of psychology but I feel like I
have had experiences at an undergraduate level that many graduate students
fight to achieve. Things like being the first author on my own independent
research paper and presenting that paper at the South Eastern Psychological
Association's annual conference and attending the Society for Industrial
Organizational Psychology's annual conference as well. My current research
will be submitted for publication. None of this is bragging for me, but
rather a testament to the opportunities that have been made available to me.
I like the way my brain has had to stretch and contort to take in and mold
for myself topics like work and family issues from a psychological
perspective.
I consider myself to be somewhat of an anomaly in my generation. Despite my
steady diet of television during my early years I consciously avoided and
ignored television from seventh grade on. I was the nerdy girl who was
always reading a book in class. During my high school years I added music
(primarily independent artists and noncommercial radio) to my "obsession"
with books. I joined this list sometime in 1996 or 1997 and subsequently
added it to my list of acceptable media. Today I am almost totally reliant
on National Public Radio for my news. I look up things online when I want
to know more information in depth. But I don't watch television.
I strongly believe that this practice has preserved my sanity during the
past week. I don't need to see images over and over to know what is going
on in my world. On the other hand I am not an unmovable island. I do
participate in select media and I realize that it does seep into my brain,
my psyche, my subconscious, my collective unconscious, my memory or what
ever you prefer to call it. With this in mind I watch what I watch. I will
actually be watching television regularly for the first time in nine or so
years to do a content analysis of gay and lesbian portrayals on prime time
television. It will be interesting to watch with my hypotheses in mind and
not just for entertainment.
I guess all this is just to say here I am, a woman.
Who does not listen to or like the Brittany Spears and Backstreet Boys of
the world.
Who will watch television only to critique its stereotypical content.
Who is not the slacker some people still perceive my generation to be.
Who does care about what is going on in the world outside of MTV.
Who has spiritual breakdowns over children playing in a puddle.
And who all around lives a life not represented in the mass media.
Forgive this long sometimes angry ramble. It is not directed at anyone much
less anyone on this list. I have lately felt more free to pitch in my
remarks, however scattered. I hope to stimulate further discussion about
this notion of a modern day Franny-like existence. Is it possible? Or have
I slipped into a personal fantasy world? It is difficult for me to tell.
I could live in hope,
Amber
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim O'Connor
To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
Sent: 9/20/2001 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: Lookin' for answers and more. . .
On Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 12:39:39PM -0500, lray wrote:
[Your message came through yesterday, though I haven't had a chance to
respond to it yet.]
> I think for young people today crisis of any kind are amplified and
very
> common, whether they be spiritual, emotional, depression oriented, or
most
> likely a mixture of all of these.
I have long wondered whether today's Franny might be treated by a
therapist who would prescribe whatever antidepressant is popular at
the moment. By no means am I being negative about therapists or about
medicine as treatment; rather, I think it's an interesting change from
what would have been done in the 1950s. (In fact, if JDS were not so
opposed to psychotherapy, I can't help wondering whether the real
Franny might not have ended up on a couch, if Zooey hadn't been able
to reach out to her and get her to find some type of peace.)
> The search for something to "believe" in is
> common for all young people I think, or more generally all people of
all ages.
> Granted, it has been a while since I last read Franny, but it seems to
me that
> she is not just confused about her own spirituality, but about her
life in
> general and that repeating the particular phrase over and over again
(I forget
> it and I do not have my copy with me at school) is her seeking to find
> SOMETHING and that doing so will ease her life, give it purpose, and
she will
> have all the answers, or at least SOMETHING to cling to. That is my
cloudy
> take on it and I am probably reading more into it because of my own
ongoing
> spiritual crisis.
I think she specifically mentions the religious aspect of what is
bothering her; I don't think it's left to us to intuit. But like you,
I'm operating here without having a copy of the text.
> Also, the way she talks about her professors and others seems to be an
echo of
> the disillusionment we hear from Holden about just about everybody =)
That's true. It's a good link from one book to the other.
> Tim wrote:
> "if Franny's story were happening today, and if it were told by a less
ascetic
> writer, how much of a role would television, music, and computer
connections
> play in her life, and would there be enough room left over for her
spiritual
> crisis?"
>
> Unfortunately television plays too much of a part of American culture
(think
> Power Rangers, sitcoms, and the recent "entertainment" provided by the
> terrorist attacks), and music can be as superficial as the next. It
seems
> that a modern day spiritual crisis might very well occur but on a
lower and
> baser ground, as most people including myself do not have the
education Franny
> had.
It does seem as if the education she (and Lane) are getting is somehow
more rigorous than what they would get today. But I may be completely
wrong about that. Can someone who's IN SCHOOL correct me if I'm
mistaken?
> While the background to the crisis might be less sophisticated, the
> crisis' importance is just as important to the individual.
Good point. There's a danger to getting overly analytical, because
one loses sight of the underlying problem.
> been the basis for human contact for centuries. While I think we can
all say
> that online interraction is a worthy form of intelligent contact, can
we also
> say that this interraction is AS worth as traditional forms of contact
and
> does an online community such as this one constitue a "real" community
or
> simply put a different kind of community?
This feels as much like a "real" community as has any I've ever been a
part of. Just a little different, in that most of us don't see each
other (though the ones who do see each other form a strong bond quite
often).
> I would be very interested to hear people's comments on all of this as
I am
> definitely biased towards the internet and think it is ironic that
people call
> someone who spends a lot of time on the internet or the computer as
> "addicted",
I think this is silly. "Obsessed," as can happen, as you point out,
with a book or a TV or a crossword puzzle, is a more apt word.
> OK, so I have done some serous rambling here and I apologize for that
but this
> is something that greatly interests me and maybe something I attempt
to make a
> career of.
Rambling? 8-) Interesting job possibilities.
Thanks for tossing some ideas into the discussion!
--tim
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