American Beauty

 Earlier today I watched a Ted talk on Beauty. It got me thinking what is beauty? And how does beauty affect our American Society? You can watch the video here: https://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty?language=en
What do you think of when you hear the word "Beauty"? Perhaps you dream of a sunny day, with clear blue skies. Maybe you imagine a beach with waves crashing against the sandy coast, or do you think of a baby making her first steps towards you, or even a cat gently purring next to you on a bed. You might even think of a woman with golden blonde hair smiling at you, as she motions for you to follow her into the horizon.
Now, beauty baffles me. I have always found myself being emotionally attached to beautiful forces. You see Beauty, is a strange characteristic  because no matter how often we try to put a standard label on it, we never seem to commonly agree on a definition. We’ve all heard of the expression “Beauty is in the eye’s of the beholder” but what exactly does this mean? 
When I think of beauty being in the eye’s of the beholder, I imagine that we are able to create beauty around us, if our mind desires. A few days ago I was sitting in my glossy, mid-century kitchen staring at the small purple flower that sits peacefully perched on a bookshelf. I thought of the beauty the flower posses. It was given to my loving mother for her birthday many years ago. As I stare into the plant I start going into a deep daydream. I realize it is no longer the small stem it once was. The once puny green stem, now blossoms upwards and opens up to display an array of epic purple colors. As I continue looking at the plant I realize my mind has started shutting out the world of beauty around me. My thoughts have become similar to those of a stressed out American citizen. Everyday I wake up, and work myself to fatigue, in hopes of fulfilling an acceptable role within our working society. The last few years have come and gone at an unbelievable pace. I’ve become obsessed with succeeding— my mind has been trained to crave nothing else. But as I stare into this plant, I realize that I have never had a moment,  to just slow down… and respect the beautiful flowers that have blossomed on top.—{My heart fills up like a balloon} This is my perception of beauty, and though it fits our stereotypical American  perception of beauty, it is ultimately only unique to me.
 Now I could go on for hours about how different perceptions affect the outcome of beauty, but there is an idea that is larger, and places an even greater importance on our idea of beauty.
That idea is passion. Passion is a strong and barely controllable emotion, which turns the most intelligent people into obsessively dedicated creators. Americans are creators, we are makers, and we are doers. And yet we would be none of this if it wasn’t for our passion. Passion is the driving force of ultimate dedication. Without passion we would never be able to accomplish all the wonders we have. In order to view the beauty around our world; a person must have a source of passion to compare the beauty too. Take a painter as an example. A painter has an extraordinary amount of passion for his art, and a unique perception at his art. This is because he is the one who has made it.  His perception combined  with his passion leads into his own unique understanding of beauty.” That understanding is special to the individual for no other person can truly understand his passion. Now, that doesn’t stop others from attempting to understand the artist’s passion. Every person decodes a painting with their own guidelines, after all. Each person views the piece of art in a completely different perspective, as the person tries to apply it into their own unique life, so they too can see beauty. 
“Beauty is in the eye’s of the beholder.”  However, in a more literal sense, our desire for beauty is dictated by a strong necessity for survival. The need for beauty is intertwined with darwin’s theory of Natural selection. Take for example the sight of a rotting fish. Imagine  the smell omitting from the dead creature— Obviously this is anything but a pleasuring sight…We have evolved to understand rotten fish isn’t healthy for our bodies. So what is our reaction when we approach the dead specimen? We become repulsed. A rotting, dead fish is not seen as ‘beautiful’. Now switch gears, and think of a Women’s curvy hips. Men have a ridiculous lust for a woman with good hips, and believe it or not there is an appropriate reason for this. A woman with sturdy hips has a body which is well built to support a child in her womb. Darwin states that Beauty is nature’s way of acting at a distance. The implications are clear—we were born with a desire for beauty. Beauty is not purely based on what our American culture and society have deems as ‘beautiful.’
Rather the foundation of beauty has been located in our brains since we were born. In our evolutionary past beauty was used as a survival tactic, noticing beauty has literally allowed our ancestors to survive. In America, within our modern age, this is still true—beauty assists our survival, because with beauty we accomplish otherwise impossible achievements. These achievements give us a reason to survive and thrive together as a nation. I'd like to borrow a quote from one of my all time favorite movies: American Beauty: Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing all this beauty at once, and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain, and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my life.
 Beauty extends beyond aesthetic appeal. Beauty is being emotionally moved by anything. Beauty is somewhere within ourselves. It is when the object that’s deemed beautiful mirrors the beauty within ourselves, that we find it beautiful. 

Racial Equality on the North Shore

Today is my mother's birthday, which means that I will  frantically attempt to balance my educational obligations, while trying to leave just enough time to celebrate with her. The past hour I have been attempting to start my homework, but find myself constantly spacing out, perhaps I'm feeling anxious because I have no idea what to say in her birthday letter.

 Putting my daily complications aside;  a few minutes ago, I watched a mini documentary recommended to me by my social studies teacher: Todd Maxman. The documentary speaks about the 'North Shore Summer Project', a program held in 1965. The NSSP sparked plenty of controversy within a time period, when white property buyers were still considered 'elite' when compared to black buyers.

You can check out the video here before I go into depth about it: http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/07/23/50-years-later-fair-housing-movement-north-shore-marches

During the documentary I was surprised that housing equality in the North Shore was still a problem in the 1960's. While the time period makes sense, as the hippies didn't take over till the late 60's, I was still confused when I heard this was an issue on the shore. You see, I've always imagined the North Shore being ahead of its time, perhaps in the past the North Shore did not have this infamy. Today, when an outsider travels into our community ( I live in the North shore) they quickly take notice of how modern we live. In the past our buildings were generally on par with the rest of middle class america. Decently sized mid century ranches dotted the landscape (except for Sheridan Road, a street reserved for only the most elite). Within the past forty years, Glencoe, Winnetka Kenilworth, Wilmette, and Northfield have evolved into modern, picturesque utopias. Though the size of our houses has significantly increased, our housing diversity has yet to follow. Generally, today we still live the same we have the same diversity makeup. in the 1960's Glencoe was home to the most Jews in the New Trier township, and remains as such to this day. However what really is surprising, is the fact that the population of blacks in the community has in fact decreased 50% since 1960.

Glencoe, IL (inc. 1869)
Year	Total (and by category)		Foreign Born	Native with foreign parentage	Males per 100 females
1900	1,020		—	—	—
1930	6,295		16.9%	27.0%	82
	5,975	White (94.9%)
	313	Negro (5.0%)
	7	Other (0.1%)
1960	10,472		6.8%	28.2%	88
	9,794	White (93.5%)
	655	Negro (6.3%)
	23	Other races (0.2%)
1990	8,499		7.1%	—	92
	8,000	White (94.1%)
	279	Black (3.3%)
	202	Asian/Pacific Islander (2.4%)
	18	Other race (0.2%)
	77	Hispanic Origin* (0.9%)
2000	8,762		6.5%	—	95
	8,330	White alone (95.1%)
	176	Black or African American alone (2.0%)
	4	American Indian and Alaska Native alone (0.0%)
	147	Asian alone (1.7%)
	23	Some other race alone (0.3%)
	82	Two or more races (0.9%)
	108	Hispanic or Latino* (1.2%)

Chart stolen from http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/518.html

There are many factors which can attribute towards such a significant drop in population of black americans in Glencoe,  however the big idea here is the growing wealth-income gap. Within the past few decades the poor have become less wealthy, while the wealthy have become ultra-wealthy. Now I'm not going to go on a rant about how the 1% are bad, or how the poor need to become wealthier, rather I am making a larger point that diversity is effected by income. In the 1960's people fought for a more diverse North Shore, and yet ironically,  in the case of Glenoce, they received a less diverse community. This brings up a bunch of questions: How did Glencoe, a diversified Jewish and Christian community become generically white? One would expect that after the North Shore Summer Project, the community would comply and gentrify. But it didn't. The most logical reason would have to be that the growing income-gap in America has effected diversity. As an adverse and unexpected effect of Glencoians become 'wealthier' they have in return started rejected improvised citizens, many of whom are black. The truth is blacks can no longer afford to live in Glencoe as they once did. They have pushed out as an indirect consequence of a society separated by income. 

Black Americans are not alone, others too feel their hardship. My own mother and father are Russian jews. Though they are not 'black', they still can relate to the harsh feelings others have given them, simply for being Russian jews. After facing discrimination allover the world, I still ponder how my parents survived in America, and made it to the prosperous northern suburbs of Chicago.  Their journey has been awesome and awe-inspiring to listen too. Now I know exactly what to write on my mom's letter, I will thank her for making it so far in life, even with the challenges she faced.