Creative Writing

Yesterday I met with Senona and Mirco to firstly organize our „Reader“ for the additional Soziologie course I’ve been taking last semester. As coordinators of the course’s participating student-groups, we supported them in their work to write a term paper as co-lecturers of our professor. While the others were ought to hand in their paper and hold a presentation, the coordinators (Pascal, Steffi, Senona, Mirco and myself) serve as editors of the „Reader“ – a compendium of all useful and well-written term papers in book format.

During this recent editing session, a few passages were written by us to create an interstitial as transition between the different term papers. But in one of those moments of utter boredom, I managed to get my hands on Word’s Synonym/Thesaurus tool and replaced certain words just for the fun of it. Here’s an excerpt of a paragraph as original and synonymized variant – in german:

Original
Im Gegensatz zu der klassischen Darstellung von Märchen werden in den folgenden zwei Themenbereichen moderne Varianten von märchenhaften Erzählungen polarisiert: Die Welt von „Der Herr der Ringe“ als eigenständige pseudo-historische Realität und die mystische Darstellung der auf der Realität basierenden magischen „Harry Potter“-Welt.

Synonymized Variant
Im Zwiespalt zu der althergebrachten Illustration von Dichtungsarten werden in den künftigen zwei Themenbereichen zeitgemäße Deutungen von berauschenden Legenden polarisiert: Der Kosmos von „Der Herr der Ringe“ als nonkonformistische pseudo-epochale Lebenswahrheit und die rätselhafte Veranschaulichung der sich auf der Realität stützenden geisterhaften „Harry Potter“-Welt.

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Course Failure: Statistics

Yesterday, the final grades for Statistics 1 were revealed. To my surprise, about 14 students out of 63 had failed with a 5.0 and 7 more students nearly passed the course with a 4.0. For myself, I can be quite happy about my result, however it was quite shocking for me to see the lack of knowledge preserved within certain people of who I haven’t expected such knowledge gap. Nevermore, quoth the Raven ‚Nevermore‘.

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Course Failure

Those people who’re named „student“ are usually considered to be competitive, flexible, motivated and highly-trained in their skills and soft-skills. I expect a certain level of knowledge if I compare myself with other students who are studying in the same subjects and thematics as I do in my study of International Management. But today I saw the other side of this wonderful „cookie and milk“.

For the cooperational courses provided by the Syddansk Universitet from Denmark, all subscribed guest students are ought to participate in their online blackboard software system which introduces course guidelines, materials and general communication of the lecturers and students. All students were told the special introductory course of 45 minutes was an essential requirement to actively use the blackboard software. But this time was honestly an absolute waste of time – no critic to the student who gave us the information, but critic towards the whole idea which might reside in the minds of the danish department: Students are dumb.

In fact, students are quite capable of self-learning the use of a blackboard software, and I was finished within 5 minutes with the whole introductory course’s topics. But once I was finished, I had to redo my expectations of certain students as I heard that they weren’t capable of knowing both their loginname and password to login to their university’s email account and the blackboard system. You guys are going to study International Management – but I beg you not to touch any laptop before participating in an intelligency test.

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How a morning can start so wrong…

… and turn out to be quite nice! University started on monday, and I haven’t felt it was eligible to push some thrilling articles about the daily student life into this blog. But today (Day 2) seems to turn out quite interesting. After having a long night with multiple fractional times of being awake, Kat woke up at 6:45 am to prepare for her Arbeitspsychologie course while I preferably stayed in bed until approximately 8:00 am. By enjoying the amazing breakfast containing cerials and a cup of chocolate-coffee, I was reading some news and prepared myself for university. While I left the appartment, I met Kat who returned from the course, and she told me straight forward that it didn’t take place at all. Well informed about her progress, I continued my journey to the campus and participated in 10 Minutes of an introductory moment in Sozialwissenschaftliche Methodik 2 before heading back to our institute.

There I felt it was time to consult the secretary of the Institute for Medienmanagement to seek information concerning the applications I sent in during the term break. Good news is – my application has been accepted for the Medienmanagement 2 course and Prof. Dr. Friedrichsen is going to read into all the materials and papers which arrived while he was on vacation.

For now, I’m waiting for Desarollo Regional 2 to start and I’m accompanied by Kat in the Munketoft Caféteria. There’s some time left to read news, blog a little and read into her newest entry.

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Fear in Flensburg

I received an interesting letter via snail mail last friday which officially denied me to participate in the Information Technology 2 course due to the fact that I’m according to their records in the second semester. But this has been a mistake by the Syddansk Universitet which is in cooperation with the University of Flensburg. Since I need this particular course to complete my studies in International Management for the Bachelor of Business Administration, I immediately called their secretary to clarify the fact that I am in the fourth semester. After leaving a message on their answering machine, I received this email today. Thanks! ;)

Dear Mike Oliver Schnoor

Unfortuntately, there has been a mistake!
You are of course enrolled for the course” Information Technology II” for SS05.
I’m sorry for any inconvenience.

Kind regards
Karina Madsen
Syddansk Universitet

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References for Knowledge

To perform their acts in courage and determination of your personal code, all of us are aware of some darker side within ourselves and others. We are aware of the ways of good and evil. The good one as seen in light, and the evil one as seen in dark.

In our modern world, people may never ignore themselves and their enemies – enemies of nature, enemies of society, enemies of small problems, any kind of enemies. However, you may not ignore yourself and your own mistakes and errors. Instead, you must learn from them and realize what you have been doing to gain an awareness to prevent such cause of failures again. Not that it is unavoidable to fail, but it is limiting the chances once you adapt the known knowledge with the unknown one.

To overcome ignorance grants knowledge. Knowledge of all sides of the matters. You see the knowledge, you know it – and you will be able to commit yourself to be able to create peace while knowing your emotions including both good and evil ones. Ignorance is not a bliss.

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Wiser Ignorance

In contrast to history, modern society has included the full rights and acknowledgement of the disabled or handicapped people. The most striking concept to accept and understand these equal members of society can be seen in these paragdims:

1. Don’t use demeaning terminology in dealing with those who have a handicap.
2. Do not help people with a handicap in a deferential manner.
3. Treat people with a handicap in a normal way.
4. Let people with a handicap do things for themselves.
5. Don’t lecture people with a handicap on how they ought to be unless you really know how they are.
6. Put your evaluation priorities on something higher than a physical disability.
7. A person’s personality, character, spiritual acumen, and mental ability are all of more importance than physical prowess.
8. A person with a handicap is first of all a „person“ and needs to be defined that way rather than by a deficiency.

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Ignorant Fools

Ignorance is usually seen as a trait of the people who rather prefer to accept things as they are than changing their world. The simple acceptance often results in blind fools who follow a strong lead. Such ignorance can be a bliss for the people who dominate the ignorant ones. Its not a strength of character, but more of a failure. But a strength of a character is among other criteria the knowledge itself.

What knowledge is will be certainly defined in the next issue, however I want to explain why ignorance leads to failure in reflection of historical events.

Seen historically, the condition of being disabled by nature or accidents has often been viewed as tragic. However, long ago in pre-industrial times, people with disabilities were often not allowed to support themselves or their families. Instead they were seen as social dependents, objects of pity, or in other words a kind of recipients of charity. Through such utmost ignorance and fear of others, of these disabled people, many disabled people typically were seen as beggars or indigents. The terminology of „having a handicap“ itself is said to derive from „cap in hand“. It is revealed as a posture often associated with panhandling.

In early America of the 19th century, society assumed a paternalistic approach toward people with disabilities. A common problem for people with disabilities was a seperation from society in asylums, hospitals, and state schools. Disabled were seen as patients or clients who needed curing with usually no real effect to enhance the life of the disabled. In these institutions, medical professionals and social workers were considered the primary decision-makers, rather than the people with disabilities themselves.

A system with an effect of excluding people with disabilities from the larger society was established. The assumption that people with disabilities needed to be rehabilitated from their „problems“ was usually commonized by people with disabilities in any event. An implied perception of something that was inherently and permanently wrong with them made its way to their minds, and the minds of the whole populace. No room for integration, and later no allowed right for the perpetuation of myths regarding disability and inequality became truth.

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Emotional Response

A human being is a complex creation. To gain a state of control and to handle and most importantly to reason its actions and reactions, each human being has developed its own spectra of emotions which are revealed every moment in their life.

An Emotional Response is the reaction of the body to a situation primarily given by an outer influence such as other individuals, groups, things or entities. But the Emotional Response is only one variant of this spectra of emotions. Emotional Responses consist out of two known procedures called „Grief“ and „Stress Reaction“. In terms of psychology, an Emotional Response is not a psychiatric disorder or depression.

Grief
Definition: Grief is defined through a common, intense and painful reaction to loss, death of a loved one, family member or friend.

Symptoms: The symptoms generally occur immediately, or maybe one month after and up to one year from the time of loss: Numbness, Loneliness, Sadness, Guilt, Shock, Anxiety, Anger, Agitation, Crying, Insomnia, Restlessness, Withdrawal.

Treatment: People may talk about and share feelings with the person, and they must tolerate emotions. To allow enough time to pass this situation is important, and an occasional counseling will overcome this situation. Sometimes a symptomatic or brief use of medication is necessary, too.

Stress Reaction
Definition: A Stress Reaction is known as the „normal“ reaction to a disaster, trauma or highly stressful life event.

Symptoms: The symptoms occur immediately after the event and may continue for a period of time, too: Disbelief and shock, Irritability and anger, Sadness, Feeling powerless, Feeling indecisive, Crying, Headaches or stomach problems, Difficulty sleeping.

Treatment: One must alleviate emotional distress, and be able to promote problem-solving techniques in order to help the person. When the individual gains comfortable feelings, it should continue to get back into „usual routine“. However, to seek counseling is helping, too.

Another form of an Emotional Response is a rather understandable method of reacting to an influence to the individual. For example, various colors evoke certain reactions in viewers. Nevertheless these reactions are culturally specific. Nearly in most western countries, brides often wear a white gown as a symbol for purity and widows wear black as a symbol of their sorrow and mourning. However brides wear black in many asian cultures. Colors seen as influence to the individual are leading to a response of the individual, which is known as Emotional Response. The individual who is experiencing the color will be in a moment of pertained emotion. It may be excitable or sensational in a personal defined degree as an emotional nature will lead to a reaction to the input given. The following list will give general examples for the most known colors:

Red – danger, stop, negative, excitement, hot
Dark Blue – stable, calming, trustworthy, mature
Light Blue – youthful, masculine, cool
Green – growth, positive, organic, go, comforting
White – pure, clean, honest
Black – serious, heavy, death
Gray – integrity, neutral, cool, mature
Brown – wholesome, organic, unpretentious
Yellow – emotional, positive, caution
Gold – conservative, stable, elegant
Orange – emotional, positive, organic
Purple – youthful, contemporary, royal
Pink – youthful, feminine, warm
Pastels – youthful, soft, feminine, sensitive
Metallic – elegant, lasting, wealthy

Even today, I lack to see a realistically drawn Emotional Response in movies, books or theatre as how it is described in detail through psychiatry. I beg to differ that any author of major scope has been able to represent the state of deepest „Grief“ or „Stress Reaction“ to a reader, except scientific reports or documentations concerning patients and their behavior under psychiatric and medical treatment. Nevertheless, an Emotional Response on the level of sudden input requiring a sudden output is seen in almost every movie or book. As an audience requires interesting stories, most authors prefer to include common behavior and expand this situation to fit the circumstances of an Emotional Response. A main character may react differently to the set situation as the audience would. The author will achieve the interesting moments which concerns with the audience’s own personal situation, while the audience itself is allowed to understand its own mistakes or the faults of the main character as a lecture to the individual.

As you can see, the understanding of an Emotional Response requires a definition of the terminology. To expand this in most details is fairly possible, but would completely out-leap the given task to compile a small summary. I do not believe the outcome of a situation is important, to where things could have been handled better as they have failed or been a failure itself. Compared to the result, the lecture drawn from the result is the most important key to understand. In my experience, there is no movie, book or anything else that is comparable to my personal expectations to an Emotional Response. The ways of „Grief“ and „Stress Reaction“ are too complex to manifest within a story, and the original input-output setting of an Emotional Response is fairly legit but usually done incomplete to grant me resolve.

In concern of my personal acting, an emotional response drawn by most individuals is not necessarily compatible to me. I have learned that emotions are functional. Emotions can range from a silence hymn to an outburst of rage. To cover these personal feelings, its Emotional Responses and emotions in general means to understand me, and react with more control than other beings may do in their life.
Most people cannot conduct nor want to understand this as I proclaim myself as an emotional soothed being while acting with others. As one has created an understanding my personal Code, the thin line will be created from „no emotion“ to be full of emotions as the key towards emotional existence is peace. Peace itself is known to be a state of tranquility or quiet. This peace may be the result of freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions, and a state of harmony in personal relations. Why am I able to do this, act in this way, and be it? Because I choose to, and because I am. But even if there is a moment of achievement through this objective ability, I know that I do indeed fail. It is the way I choose.

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Redirection

I’ve been kept busy with University and life. Probably I’m in the need of a small break from the blogging until I’m finished with the economy simulacion for our Desarollo Regional 3 course and the entire Organizational Psychology test. Earlier today I was reading through the material for OP just to notice I was working on the wrong sheets for last semester’s course. I knew it sounded too similar and too easy to be true. Unfortunately, I noticed it too late and became sick of the whole psychology matter. I sometimes wish these subjects weren’t as important for future managers as the University suggests. In a few minutes I’m off to my sweet lady to spend the evening with her. Let’s see what both of us can make of it… since she’s going to write her Information Technology 1 test tomorrow and I’m going to learn further materials for the OP test. I’m curious on the near future’s developments of my life.

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