04/06/2021 - Questions 11-15
Question 11: What does the word good mean?
Well, this is a good question! I suppose the definition of good greatly depends on the type of good that one is talking about. To my mind immediately spring two different directions for this question: good as a measure of quality, and good as a measure of morality. I hope to answer both in turn.
As a function of quality, I find it difficult to separate the definition from my time reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In my final year of undergrad, I took a class known as American Road Trips with my favorite history professor. The course was cool in a way only a true nerd can produce. The level of passion, care, and expertise that went into that class astonished me then as it does today. Each week, at the end of the lecture the professor would post a road sign with two options on it. Both were potential lectures for our next meeting, and the class got to decide which exit to take similar to a real road trip. This semester, I prepared my first lecture: a little riff on some writing I had done about the racist foundational film The Birth of a Nation, and its connections to the Reconstruction and Jim Crow era of United States history. That single, fifty-five-minute lecture seemed a herculean task and I spent my entire weekend prepping it, writing it out, and practicing it over and over again. This professor had two ninety-minute lectures ready every week and was prepared to throw one out at the drop of a hat! That's dedication.
Anyways, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance follows a fictitious version of the author as he tours the West Coast on a motorcycle and reflects on his experiences with mental illness. The "cause" or instigator of this illness was his deluded quest as a young academic to discover the true meaning of the word "quality." Funny enough, I can barely remember what conclusion he came to about this if any at all, but the narrative arc of the book has stuck with me ever since. Drawing from his philosophy, with my own thoughts about what makes something of "good quality" I believe it is inextricably linked with the care put into something. If a creator has fundamentally analyzed, devoted time to, and shaped beautifully every facet of their project, the only result is ""good"" quality.
On a moral level, the question becomes a bit more aqueous to me. "Good," in a moral sense can change in a variety of situations. I think in most cases, the Golden Rule is quite succinct at reminding us that to be "good" is to treat others as human in the way that you want to be treated as a human. But, sometimes, the "good" thing to do is not what will make another person happy, but perhaps make them feel valued. That's about as close to a definition that I am willing to get right now, bleary from work as I am.
Question 12: When lounging around the house alone, what is your clothing preference?
Another great question! This one may only be great given its fortuitous relevance to my life, which has been changed recently. I, only about a week ago, came out of the closet as "genderqueer," an umbrella term meaning "I don't know what the fuck to think about my gender, but I know I like subverting the masculinity I have been taught to uphold!" Yesterday's song of the day, "I Am What I Am" from the musical La Cage aux Folles had been ringing in my ears ever since I heard it many years ago, and one day I just reached a breaking point and said: I am what I am. I bought a skirt that day, wore it in front of my roommates, and have been struggling with my identity ever since. All I know is that I definitely love a dress, and I love to feel pretty.
As for lounging around the house, I have traded in my bulky sweatpants for a pair of leggings or tiny shorts that show off my gloriously plain legs, having recently shaved them for the first time. I never really understood the importance of clothing, or comfort more generally, to a person's identity until I bought that first skirt, and I don't want to turn back yet!
Question 13: Is there anything so important to you that without it you would not want to live?
Hmm, this one has me stumped. I would like to imagine that there is something out there that is so essential to who I am as a person that without it I would simply keel over and die. I want some noble passion to strive for. But, I can't think of anything. A roommate of mine responded that without music they would want to die. Music is pretty amazing and has often pulled me through many tough times in my life, but I think that if it disappeared from the universe one day I would not feel quite suicidal. I am excluding people from this response, as the question asks for a thing: but I struggle to think of a single person who I would actually, realistically, choose to die for. It reminds me of the Hamilton quote "If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you die for?" I don't have an answer to that Alex, but perhaps that is a great question to keep considering in this selfish quest to define who I am. Perhaps then, I will have found something worth dying for.
Question 14: What is something you like to do that seems out of the ordinary?
You mean other than wearing dresses that show off my chest hair? One thing I and a small group of friends do on a weekly basis that is a bit strange is to play the game Ace Attorney together. This is a Japanese visual novel about a defense attorney attempting to prove his client's innocence throughout several cases each game. Throw in some wacky hairstyles, spirit mediums, and a fundamental earnestness and you've got the picture. It would not be unordinary to play this game with friends, solving the puzzles and crimes is a good deal of fun with other brains to bounce ideas off. However, we also voice act every line of dialogue, as each of us plays several different characters. It is perhaps the most public nerdiness I engage in on a regular basis, and I have been unfairly shameful about it for years now.
Question 15: Do we possess natural rights?
I do believe, that at our base level as human beings, we do share some universal natural rights, though I find those listed in the Constitution to be bullshit. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Our own government prevents all three of those ideals on a daily basis! But, I do believe that humans have the right to express themselves as they are, so long as that expression does not impede anyone else's personal expression. That sounds super vague because it is, and riddled with logical fallacies and exceptions as well. I also believe that every human has a natural right to their own body: it is theirs and again, so long as their use of it does not impede others intentions with their own bodies, each person has a right to it: in life, death, and everything along the way.
This question is really difficult, as I have found all of these questions today: hopefully tomorrow the words flow a little easier and the questions are not so lofty that I feel like a philosopher for every one.
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