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noelpinnock1 · 4 years

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“Into the Unknown! – Part I”

Author Noel Pinnock, B.S., M.P.A., C.A., CCC

www.noelpinnock.com

Merriam-Webster (MW) defines “mind,” in the noun tense, as the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and reason. Furthermore, MW defines “set” as to put, lay, or stand (something) in a specified place or position. When you concatenate these words, we arrive at mindset. This compound word is so powerful that it can drive countries as well as individuals, alike, into mass turmoil or elevate them to great prosperity. The interesting thing about mindset is that it vacillates because its nature is predicated on situations and circumstances. We all have internal processes that govern our growth and development. Some may have a fixed mindset; therefore, growth and development can be limited. While others have a learning mindset and adjustments are made along our life’s journey. Whether fixed or learning, a mindset is a set of assumptions, methods, or notations held by one or more people or groups of people and can also be seen as arising out of a person's world view or philosophy of life. Our mindset or logic box is our collection of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and habits (KASH) that often limit our perception and acts as a restriction on objective thought and creative expression. What is in your mindset? What are your views and perspectives that have eroded some of your best intentions with unintended consequences?

In 1972, one of the best-known slogans in public-service was “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” The United Negro College Fund ran this slogan in print, radio, and television as an intentional campaign to close a persistent gap between African Americans and other groups in college completion. They understood then as we know today that in a land that is constantly going through entropy only the learned will survive. We can no longer rest on the scaffold of mediocrity and not take the leap into the unknown.

The animated movie Frozen 2 was a mega-billion dollar hit at the box office and the soundtrack was equally successful on the music charts. One song, most notably, Into the Unknown, aligns with the perspectives of this article, in huge part because we fear what we don’t know, and many don’t ever like asking questions because it will make others believe that we don’t know thus the paradox. Check out the first to verses of the song:

“I can hear you but I won't Some look for trouble while others don't There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day And ignore your whispers which I wish would go away.

You're not a voice, you're just a ringing in my ear And if I heard you, which I don't, I'm spoken for I fear Everyone I've ever loved is here within these walls I'm sorry, secret siren, but I'm blocking out your calls I've had my adventure, I don't need something new I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you”

These words are very powerful for a seminal audience to comprehend but if you dissect its meaning, you will understand the humanistic nature of individuals whose mindset has been hindered or restricted because they don’t want to leave the porch, get out of the boat, or take the leap into the unknown. The unknown is scary and unpredictable. It isn’t something that we are used to. We prefer routine and certainty but as I have always told my staff, certainty is the enemy and uncertainty an ally. Our 10-year old daughter sang this song so much during the Frozen 2’s hey-day that I became so curious that I woke one early Saturday morning to watch it for myself.

The movie’s plot was rich, and it captivated me. Elsa the Snow Queen has an extraordinary gift -- the power to create ice and snow. But no matter how happy she is to be surrounded by the people of Arendelle, Elsa finds herself strangely unsettled. After hearing a mysterious voice call out to her, Elsa travels to the enchanted forests and dark seas beyond her kingdom -- an adventure that soon turns into a journey of self-discovery. Synoptically, Elsa discovers that the voice calling to her was the memory of young Iduna's call; that her powers were given to her by nature because of Iduna's selfless act of saving Agnarr; and that Elsa herself is the fifth spirit who would break the water dam that would save their kingdom.

You see, the voice calling Elsa (like you and me) into the unknown was challenging her mindset and comfort zone. She was doing just fine after Frozen 1 but there was an agitation that persisted and kept her up at night, trepidatious and reluctant to escape from the comfort the has confined her perspectives. We all get comfortable and enjoy what comfort brings. Many people see comfort as an adjective, describing an attribute or something, when, in fact, comfort is a noun.

Comfort enters your home as a guest, remains as your host, and will eventually become your master. Comfort is a silent killer and has been charged with homicides in careers, families, marriages, and almost every place imaginable where growth and development are quintessential factors to success. Our limited KASH affects our ability to create or solve problems in two important ways: it heavily influences the kind of opportunities or problems that we recognize as being important enough to create (opportunities) and/or solve (problems); and it influences the analysis of the potential (opportunities) and cause (problems) and therefore the proper course of action to maximize the opportunities in life or to minimize the duplication of problems that have been solved in our past. What’s the definition of insanity? There, you got it, doing the same thing while expecting different results or better yet…being fearful of entering the unknown.

Our mindset should be challenged. We should have a desire to grow but that’s not innate in us. Physically speaking, our bodies do this on the regular. When we are hot, our bodies don’t sit there and internally combust. No, our bodies respond to the external stimuli by sweating to ensure we don’t overheat and dehydrate in the process. If the hairs in our nose tickle a bit, we sneeze. In other words, our bodies respond to external forces and are not going to be suppressed by anything.

Like our physical nature, our psyche (not psychic) nature, which comprises of our mind, will, and emotions should, like a thermostat, adjust to the external environment to maintain the proper climate in our lives. To do this we must be committed to the foundational premise of continuous learning and development. Without challenging ourselves, we subscribe to an internal newsletter whose content never changes. Imagine that, picking up a magazine and reading the same articles over and over again. Certainly, the cure to insomnia. So, if you want to challenge your mindset and are daring to enter the unknown to discover and unlock your internal talents and gifts, you must evict comfort because comfort is the enemy of change. Not to mention, we must dismiss the notion that nobody likes “change” but a wet baby.

Apostle Paul, whose mindset was drastically change on the Damascus Road, wrote that we are not to be conformed to the ways of the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds or mindset. He realized, like we should, that transformation doesn’t end with age or experience, but it continues daily as we invent and reinvent ourselves. If you can agree with this, then you must establish parameters to keep your mind percolating and hungry for more.

Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926, on her second attempt. 19-year-old Gertrude Ederle swam 21 miles from Dover, England, to Cape Griz-Nez across the English Channel, which separates Great Britain from the northwestern tip of France. On August 6, 1926, Ederle entered the water at Cape Gris-Nez in France at 7:08 a.m. to make her second attempt at the Channel. The water was predictably cold as she started out that morning, but unusually calm. Twice that day, however–at noon and 6 p.m.–Ederle encountered squalls along her route and Burgess urged her to end the swim. Ederle’s father and sister, though, who were riding in the boat along with Burgess, agreed with Ederle that she should stay the course. Ederle’s father had promised her a new roadster at the conclusion of the swim, and for added motivation he called out to her in the water to remind her that the roadster was only hers if she finished. Ederle persevered through storms and heavy swells, and, finally, at 9:04 p.m. after 14 hours and 31 minutes in the water, she reached the English coast, becoming the sixth person and first woman to swim the Channel successfully. Furthermore, she had bettered the previous record by two hours.

Afterwards, Ederle told Alec Rutherford of The New York Times, “I knew it could be done, it had to be done, and I did it.” She went on to say that she was successful the second time around, not because of the incentives outlined by her father but because she possessed a mindset that failure was not an option. She started the journey with intentionality to reaching the English coast. It was in her mind from the beginning even though she felt like giving up and her body became fatigued. She was set on not breaking the record but breaking up the comfort in her mindset that would oftentimes tell her she wasn’t capable, or the feat was impossible.

What has kept you anchored in a position of mediocrity? What has prevented you from going to the next level? I can guarantee you this…that something would be your mind. The richest place on the planet, found in every place across the globe, is the graveyard – filled with so many people who could have, would have, and should have, but for many (not all) were scared to enter the unknown. I am inspired by these words myself, and will likely archive this article because I, like you, will no longer be afraid to enter the unknown, because when we are there, we can unlock some of our life’s greatest experiences and moments. There I say again, let’s #getatit!

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ettadunham · 5 years

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A Buffy rewatch 4x10 Hush

aka Tara Maclay has done nothing wrong ever in her entire life

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is one that I’d easily recommend to first time viewers as their introduction to what Buffy can do - but one where I’m also starting to notice my own fatigue about trying to hyperanalyze the show on this rewatch run. Sometimes you just gotta sit back and take a moment to appreciate the nice things in life. And by nice things, I of course mean Tara.

Hush was nominated for an Emmy for its writing, and that’s significant, because it marks the show’s only Emmy nomination in what people consider to be major categories. I guess it’s also sort of an ironic twist that it’s the episode that lacks any dialogue for most of its run time that gets nominated for best writing, especially on a show that was largely known for creating its own language and voice… But that’s sort of the point. (And it’s the kind of ironic twist that Buffy would certainly appreciate.)

Through Hush, Buffy successfully challenges its own tropes and boundaries while maintaining its tone throughout. Quippy dialogues are replaced by visual gags, thanks to acting, editing, and some fantastic musical score choices. This is easily a top 5 episode contender for most of the fandom, and many people’s favorite of the entire show.

That being said, it did bring to the surface my aforementioned critical fatigue thanks to scenes like Xander thinking that Spike killed Anya. The ensuing fight, and the relief upon realizing that Anya is alive is supposed to prove that Xander truly cares about her… and then is immediately undercut as the two very unsubtly leave for a quickie.

I find that I have a much harder time getting into Xander and Anya’s relationship now, but that scene also tells me that the show is aware of how dysfunctional this relationship is still. Much like the swelling romantic music that played during Xander and Cordelia’s early make-out sessions, here, it feels a purposeful exaggeration to lampshade the romanticization of certain tropes.

Needless to say that at the time I interpreted all as romance played straight, but I enjoy discovering the nuance in these stories now. It’s far from being a subversion, and there is very much a genuine relationship build-up happening between the two, but there’s also a level of self-awareness about where they are now, currently.

I’m also still overthinking Buffy’s dream opening. “When I kiss you, it’ll make the sun go down.”

Is this a foreshadowing for Buffy about Riley’s hidden side, and who he is in the dark? Is this referring to how she talked about having a boyfriend in the daylight now, and does this line then mean that after kissing Riley, she’ll have to integrate him into the Slayer part of her life as well? Or is it just about her fully letting go of Angel and how that day has now truly passed?

What does it all mean???

And if the Wicca group is also the Lesbian Alliance that Riley put up the banner for in the other episode (I’m like 99% sure that that was the actual intent here, even if it’s not a textual equivalence), what does it mean that Tara feels uncomfortable expressing herself in that very environment? Is this a social commentary about silencing the most vulnerable in a community of those it’s supposed to represent?

See, this is why my brain is a mush trying to interpret all these themes and metaphors and probably foreshadowing. I need more processing time.

So instead let’s go into a lighter theme: communication.

There’s an obvious thesis here about how language often makes a barrier to communication. As a result, going non-verbal actually helps Buffy and Riley get over their little dance of blabbery, and even Xander and Anya get their groove back because… Actions speak louder than words? I guess?

But admittedly my favorite thing about this concept is that it’s essentially what informs Tara’s entire character. She stutters. She has valuable input, but she either gets ignored and is spoken over, or she’s put on the spot where she has trouble expressing herself.

Think about that. A character that will become an integral part of the series over the next two and a half seasons, and she was written with this specific episode’s themes in mind. That’s kinda neat.

We also see her running away from the Gentlemen, unable to speak, as her frantic knocking and non-verbal cries for help get ignored by the rest of the dormitory. A fellow student in danger who the rest of her peers are too afraid to open their doors for. What if they become victims too? What if she is the monster?

Everyone except Willow. (Fortune favors the brave and all that.) And while individually they’re easy targets, together, combining their powers, they’re strong enough to protect themselves against the threat. A community of two.

And then they have that adorable talk by the end of the episode, and Tara tells Willow that she’s special. Which is Willow’s catnip, so she’s probably already in love.

I was also wondering about Tara looking up Willow’s room in the dorm directory. (Kinda like Spike did Buffy’s in The Initiative? That’s a weird parallel.) She seemed rather convinced that Willow had powers based on a rather short group interaction… but then I also remembered, that Tara’s magic is pretty intuitive. She’ll spot Faith being in Buffy’s body right away later in the season based on her aura, despite never meeting Buffy. So of course she senses that Willow’s like her.

Alright, so it’s a gaydar.

And I’m just so excited that Tara’s here??? In a show that’s full of flawed characters who will each do some questionable shit, Tara is like an actual ray of sunshine who you can always count on to not be terrible. I love her and I can’t be held responsible if I end up talking about her in most of these posts from now on.

You’ve been warned.

(Fun Fact: the first room we see the Gentlemen visiting is Room 118… So I looked it up, and I know you’re wondering it too, but no, Seeing Red is not the 118th episode of the show. It’s the 119th. 118 is Entropy where Tara and Willow get back together. So there’s that.)

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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