Good morning Krew! The coffee is hot, the grapefruit is fresh, the eggs are over easy, and there is plenty for everybody...
Politics, tennis, television awards shows, Carl Jung's Red Book, Will Ferrell's support of insurance company executives, and elropsych Caractacus. Five of these six have been national news stories in the past few weeks (and one of them will be soon, I just know it!) All of them share at least a couple of things in common. I'm thinking of identity and information.
How we see ourselves, how we see others, the things we all do to create these impressions in ourselves and in others, and what we base all of this on have been much in my thoughts lately.
What does all of this have to do with more and better Democrats? Well, let's see...
Bach, Yo Yo Ma, and Me
For 7 years I have taught high school AP Psychology. Each year on the first day of school, the first thing I did was play Bach's Cello Concerto #1 as performed by Yo Yo Ma. If you'd like, you can play this version to simulate the experience:
I have always asked for students to write down any thoughts or feelings they experienced while listening, either inspired by the music or by life in general. We would then discuss and use these reflections as access points into behaviorism, cognitivism, humanism, etc...
The last day of class every year, I would play the Bach again. But, in between, we would also watch a West Wing episode featuring the piece (If you have the time, Bach begins at 1:38, if not, skip it) .
The Big Questions
That last time, though, I asked different questions. Specifically:
- Who are you?
- How have you changed this year?
- How are you the same?
- Who are you becoming?
For many, these questions are easily answered: "I am elropsych. I have gained 5 pounds. I am fabulous. Rich." For others, they are more complex.
Some Examples
This difference between simplicity and complexity in identity can be observed in popular culture, too. Some recent examples of what I mean:
Politics. Shouting "You lie;" finding comfort in a simple remark instead of engaging in the complexity of an admittedly at-times overwhelming policy debate. Such an event serves to build identity. Those who agree will identify with his outburst, with its rebellious tone, with its very simplicity. Over time, it will become part of their own identity. Everyone does this. I identify with John Stewart instead, for example, partly because I find his humor amusing, but also because there is a part of me that has fun making up my own satirical jabs and fantasizes about being a writer for...well, John Stewart.
Tennis Ms. Williams' outburst at the end of a challenging match may have defined her identity for years to come, and not in a good way. The next match she plays, and especially the next hotly contested match, everyone will be watching to see if she loses her temper. Her anger has become part of her public identity as a result of that event.
Awards Shows I'll let Kanye West's behavior speak for itself for now. Neil Patrick Harris, on the other hand, is a case study in identity and information. From Doogie Howser to Rent to Cabaret's emcee to Starship Troopers to How I Met Your Mother to Tony and Emmy broadcast savior (ratings up 18% and 8%, respectively) his career has been one of redefining identity again and again and again. New York Magazine just published a great article on his identity as a publicly gay leading actor and what that identity means to him and to his audience. Highly recommended!
Politics.2 New York Magazine's current issue cover story, as befitting this diary, is simply titled, Who Is Obama? Read it at risk of getting frustrated. But really, isn't all the gobbledygook about birth certificates, socialism, fascism, Hitler, and The Joker really blatant attempts to define his identity as "different" or "other?" It really does miss the point to get stuck on the internal contradictions of the socialist/fascist accusations. When viewed through an identity/information lens, the only point is to define him as "different," and so anything that sounds "different" is identity-defining information. After all, didn't John Kerry really lose an election when he failed to define his own identity in opposition to the Swift-boat challenge? They defined his identity for him, and poof!
Carl Jung's Red Book A fascinating read that at it's heart is about identity. In this case, the identity of a long dead, yet enormously influential, psychoanalyst through the text his family has kept hidden for decades. A true case study in how identity is defined and then redefined when new information becomes knowable. Also highly recommended.
Will Ferrell I wish his last couple of movies had been as funny as this: <div style="text-align:left;font-size:x-small;margin-top:0;width:512px;">Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell</div>
Caractacus
Identity is a factor in each of these cases. How these people define themselves, how we define ourselves, how we all define each other. In Jung, for example, reading the Red Book may change our opinion of him. In fact, it almost certainly will. He either becomes more known, more understood; or more delusional and potentially schizophrenic (did I mention it is a fascinating read?) But, we change too. Our definitions of our own identities are altered in our consideration of what this means for us, because people tend to either identify with or separate from other people's stories. Just look at Tom Delay. Is he embracing the dance to distract from the indictment? Is he genuinely enjoying the sport for its own sake? What does our reaction to that development tell us about our own sense of who we are? (For a timely discussion of Delay, the dance, and identity, see today's Maureen Dowd!)
I haven't played Yo Yo Ma for any students this year. I left teaching high school at the end of last year to pursue an advanced degree in education. I taught at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Manhattan, and the username should be obvious from that information. However, not teaching there anymore made me feel a little squirmy every time I saw "elropsych" at the top right corner of the screen. A part of me will always be elropsych, but while I will never stop teaching, that just isn't me anymore. It felt like living in the past.
So, there is this lullaby that I have sung to my daughter nearly every night of her life. It is called Hushabye Mountain and comes from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I memorized the dialogue and songs when I was a child, and have frequently enjoyed them ever since. And I really, really looked forward to sharing them with my daughter when the time seemed right.
Written by Ian Fleming, who also named Holly Goodhead, Plenty O'Toole, and Pussy Galore in the James Bond stories, Fleming named the hero-character in Chitty, Caractacus Pott.
Sounds like crackpot. Completely on purpose. He is an inventor whose inventions never quite work as planned. But, he has love in his heart to burn for his children and sings them this absolutely incredible and touching lullaby.
And, me, being about to write a dissertation on a theory of emotion-and-learning that according to many will be crackpot at best, and combined with my singing that song to my daughter every night, Caractacus just "felt" right. It hit me on many levels. The information matched the identity, so to speak.
Conclusions
Yes, there are some.
I designed my use of Yo Yo Ma on purpose, to communicate to my students that there had been a plan all along. That the year they spent with me had a thoughtful structure whose point was well beyond, and far more important than, their scores on any test. However, also built into that structure was chance, the unexpected, and the unpredictable. I never knew who would be in the class. I never knew what new articles, or tv shows, concerts or lectures would pop up that would be useful in making a point, or connecting some theory to those students' lives. So, we all had to be open to experience, to adapt, to be flexible within that plan. Sometimes the plan itself had to change. These are all parts of my identity, and they are symbolized for me in my use of that piece of music at those three points in the school year. So for me, that approach meant something very different than it did to my students. I used it to define myself and my approach to teaching for the entire year as thoughtful and intentional, and to define the identity of my relationship with each of those students. And if any of you saw the season premier of House a few nights ago, you may understand why I have watched it 3 times already, and cried all 3 times. I was profoundly touched by it.
I have explained some of this to my students, but not all of it. Identity is like that. Sometimes the simplest things carry deep meaning.
So, let's ask some simple questions, and hopefully reveal some deep meanings...
- What information is important to you in defining yourself? In defining others?
- What information do we project, or promote, to define ourselves in the minds of others?
- Do Democrats and Republicans act on different kinds of information in forming and projecting identity?
- If so, why is that?
- How does our identity change when we begin a new relationship? When we end one?
- What role does identity play in political behavior like making phone calls to promote candidates or issues, calling or emailing elected representatives to express an opinion on legislation, or volunteering in a campaign office? If I don't see myself as someone who makes such phone calls or emails, what information would I need to change that self-identity into one of active participation?
- How 'bout that Neil Patrick Harris?
- Where did all the bagels go?
And, that poll: