One of the wisest things I’ve heard a young man say came from Jo-jo R. He was talking about confusion and women (which I think are somehow related…), and in an animated, exasperated voice, he said, “First ya’ll “all the women, independent,” now you want a “soldier”–make up ya’ damn mind!”
(For the terminally white, those are both Beyonce references. And also, when I was just googling one of the phrases in that song, I found some other blog post that made the same comparison. But for the record, I know Jo-jo came up with it on his own, and it was at least five years ago that he said it. Also, I doubt he reads blogs. I had a hard time getting him to read much of anything, but he was a great kid).
Anybody read “Blink,” by Malcolm Gladwell? Interesting section on dating and mating. Some researchers asked a group of women who were about to participate in a speed dating thing what they were looking for. Then they compared those details and ideas to the men the women actually spent the most time talking to and were the most interested in after the event. Are you surprised that the two didn’t match? I know at least one of you isn’t.
The season finale of House, (which I LOVE) which I only just saw yesterday because I don’t have tv and I watch it online (8 days after it airs. Can I tell you how pissed I was that the front page of MSN spoiled the episode where Kutner dies?), dealt with right brain/left brain differences and how those hemispheres, considered in isolation, give us completely different pictures of who we are. Our left brain, which is more highly regarded by House and by most people other than artists, handles logic, analysis, and judgement. The right brain is intuitive and emotional and is the side that is more prominent creative people and endeavours.
The episode of House phrased it that our brain tells us two different stories of who we are: The left brain is the side that tells the researchers what kind of guy we’re looking for; the right brain, in many cases, is the one that decides who we make goggly eyes at and (willingly) give our phone numbers to.
Which is who wer really are? Does one side and its whims have more legitimacy than the other? As someone said in the season finale, “If he’s two people, Am I? Are we all?” (Or something like that).
Am I the side that gives the tail up to the dog, or am I the side that tells the dog to take a hike, since I’ve heard that tale before?
