{"id":7961,"date":"2017-04-29T00:50:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-29T04:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.rollins.edu\/wpsites\/letters\/?p=7961"},"modified":"2019-07-15T18:11:18","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T18:11:18","slug":"identity-the-infinite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/2017\/04\/29\/identity-the-infinite\/","title":{"rendered":"Identity &#038; The Infinite"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1523\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_15257\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15257\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/479.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15257 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/479-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/479-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/479-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/479.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cindy Sherman, Untitled #479, 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n<p>Is identity something that we are born with, an innate quality of our existence, or is it a malleable, ever changing byproduct of experience? There are some aspects of our being that I would suggest many of us understand as being constants in our life: a particular interest, a general aura, a certain way we deal with problems, etc. Yet, as much as many of us would like to believe that our Identities are constant, reliable facts of our existence, I would venture to suggest quite the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Analogue, Chance, and Memory<\/em> (2011) , Michael Newman\u00a0 presents an idea about the role of memory when interacting with the\u00a0analogue. As he describes it :<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe analogue recording is an index of what it records, a trace that is contingent. Something is an indexical trace when it is produced by\u00a0contact with that\u00a0which it leaves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Our lives and identities are no different. Our identities are indexical traces of every moment we experience, every book we read, every person we love. As a result, we are condemned with an index of a past we cannot eradicate, but blessed with the knowledge that we are not finite beings. Every moment is another chance to take the reigns in deciding who you are and who you will be. This consciousness of knowing we can take responsibilities for the enactment of our identities, is yet another level of condemnation, forcing us to look in the mirror and be fully present as we make our choices .<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMan is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jean Paul Sartre<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1512\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_15258\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15258\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/andrea-gurksy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15258 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/andrea-gurksy-300x170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/andrea-gurksy-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/andrea-gurksy.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15258\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent Store Dyptich II, 2001<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n<p>Being a foreigner abroad tends to make a person hyperaware of who they are. There are few days that pass where something doesn\u2019t stick out as being distinctly Other about myself. This tends to be something distinctly American, like last night when I was\u00a0struck with\u00a0looks of bewilderment as I referred to the \u201csorority squat.\u201d It has forced me into realizing how I speak, dance, think, etc. At times,\u00a0like a deer in headlights, I become paralyzed by the face of reality, stuck where I stand. (I believe some people refer to this as culture shock, perhaps I am wrong.)\u00a0At other times, I laugh it off and keep on truckin\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>While I have been constantly smacked in the face with my own Americanness, these heightened states of awareness make me focus more on the more subtle characteristics of my identity. This especially applies to how I think and how I perform those thoughts, theories, and beliefs. Over time, I\u2019ve\u00a0become more aware of the things that make me great and the things that make me not so great.\u00a0As part of being here, I\u2019ve started to unveil my own prejudices, realize the discrepancies in how I treat some people with more empathy than others. I\u2019ve noticed that I am more susceptible to falling prey to the attractiveness of quickly assigning labels to people and then letting those\u00a0labels define how I engage with them.\u00a0As depressing as that sounds, being more mindful of how I engage with others through this heightened state of awareness has allowed me to work on fixing those parts of my identity that I may feel don\u2019t entirely line up with my beliefs. My consciousness allows me to diagnose my problems and work on healing them.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe Truth Resists Simplicity.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Green<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Juxtaposition and being critical of who we are can be a really beneficial tool, but it can also be a damaging one. The process of critical self awareness should not be a process about shaming. Our differences are what make us unique. Even qualities that we have that we don\u2019t like do not make\u00a0us inherently bad people \u2013 we\u00a0are all much more complex than that. So, should\u00a0you be in this process of trying to reimagine who you are to align better with\u00a0your beliefs, remember\u00a0that you are a person capable of infinite greatness and remember\u00a0to show yourself some empathy.<\/p>\n<p>Until Next Time\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is identity something that we are born with, an innate quality of our existence, or is it a malleable, ever changing byproduct of experience? There are some aspects of our being that I would suggest many of us understand as being constants in our life: a particular interest, a general aura, a certain way we&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15259,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961\/revisions\/15259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}