C.P.
Snow distinguished the separation between the Arts and Sciences after spending
time with both scientists and literary intellectuals. At UCLA I commonly hear
about the distinction between North and South Campus. Personally, I took
classes in both the Arts and the Sciences throughout high school. I have taken
a few of each in the short time since I’ve been at UCLA. Although I have yet to
decide which major I will pursue, I hope to spend time on both sides of campus
and identify with both “cultures.” Not just Science major's make contributions to the world, as people like Ghandi and Mandela would have been members of North Campus (Zymet).
One
aspect of my life that has been divided into two cultures is the fact that I am
a Canadian going to school in the US. When meeting new people, it seems to be
the bulk of the conversation and all that they remember about me. I am made fun
of for the phrases I use and my pronunciation of words. I find it difficult to
know my place, because I feel like I don’t truly “fit in” with my American
friends, and now I’m “too American” for my Canadian friends. This is similar to
when C.P. Snow said “For constantly I felt I was moving among two groups” (2).http://www.buzzfeed.com/cylapanin/differences-between-america-and-canada-on-tumblr#.whmYldxRB
Similarly,
I am both a girly-girl and a tomboy. I am a high-level athlete but I also like
to dress up. In society it seems that girls can only pick one. Girly-girls cant
go to the gym because the fear of getting too “muscly.” Athletic girls can’t
wear makeup and dress up because that means they aren’t “true athletes.” I have
friends in the athletic community but also other girlfriends.
I think it is really important to be involved in both cultures, to broaden your horizons. With this, a new culture will be introduced as John Brockman writes in “The Third Culture.”
Citations
Conway, Kate. “Yo, The
Atlantic, “Girly-Girls” Can Play Soccer Too.” xoJane. 2016 XOJANE, 9 Aug, 2013. Web. 03 Apr, 2016.
Eason, Ryan. “Why
North And South Campus Majors Need To Shut Up.” Odyssey. Olympia Media
Group, 10 Apr, 2014. Web. 03 Apr, 2016.
Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “John
Brockman: Matchmaking with science and art.” Wired.co.uk. Conde Nast, 03 Feb, 2011. Web. 03 Apr, 2016.
Panin, Cyla. “17
Hilarious American-Canadian Differences, According To Tumblr.” BuzzFeed. 2016,
BuzzFeed, Inc., 30 Oct, 2015. Web. 03
Apr, 2016.
Zymet, Salim. “Lighter
workload for North Campus students provides flexibility to explore, critically think about real-world issues.” Daily Bruin. 2016 The Daily Bruin, 03 Mar,
2011. Web. 03 Apr, 2016.
Nice post Megan! I hope you can find a major that you enjoy, but allows you to take classes your interested in on both the North and South campuses. It also must be tough coming from Canada to do your studies and be an athlete. I am an athlete also, but I live close by.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your finding the best of all the different cultures in your life!
Wow there must be a lot of athletes in this class! I definitely identify with being a high level athlete and still wanting to dress up. On this campus I feel that there is a completely different culture for athletes and regular students. If I ever show up to class with my backup and not dressed in Adidas, I get strange looks and even comments asking about why I dressed up for class. Best of luck figuring out your major and enjoy UCLA!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading you blog. I agree that our society views girls the way you described it. People judge someone and if they go out of bound on who they should be, it is socially wrong. However, it seems like you are someone who is proud of that. I hope that you keep that up and is able to show the society girls can be who ever they want to be! It is almost like having a label on ourselves and if we do not follow the label is it is something that is wrong. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post Megan! I definitely agree with you about the girly-girl versus tom boy stereotype. Similarly as a ballet dancer, most of society sees ballet as a fun "hobby" because they don't understand that we're also professional athletes. It can be frustrating to be expected to conform to a certain stereotype. I worked on a cool project last year with an activewear brand that chose ballet as one of their professional athlete categories they were sponsoring. So I thought that was a good example of both sides, the ballet world and the sports world, coming together! It is also great for dancers to cross train with swimming and strength training at the gym, while football players gain agility, flexibility, and balance by supplementing with dance training. I could go on about this topic! haha I loved the points you brought up though and I hope you find a major that can balance both! :)
ReplyDelete