Cult of Personality

Learning your personality type can go a long way to understanding who you are and why you do the things you do. I always knew that I was an introvert. I don't like crowds or crowded places. I don't like to be up front with anything. I don't like public speaking. I am a homebody. I don't always like going out. I am very, very, very quiet (quiet as it is kept!) I have a hand-full of people that I would consider "friend"--I don't usually go out of my way to make new ones. I guess that's why I have the same ones from high school even now and even though we live in four different parts of the country. I could stay home, I would be just fine, no complaints from me. All I need is my cell phone, my laptop, Internet access, and I am good. Most people would call me a "loner." In all actuality, I am a married "loner." I think that it's interesting that I married a person who is the total opposite of what I am. My wife is a talker. There is never a time when our home phone or her cell phone isn't glued to her ear. She is the social butterfly of our relationship. She likes socializing and going out. She doesn't like me saying this, but she is the friend-magnet....She would befriend a stray dog and bring it home if she could. The interesting question is "How does it work out?" I think that I purposely wanted to date or marry someone who was the opposite of who I was. Why? What would it have been like dating another "loner?" (Interesting question!) Possibly, very boring. We probably wouldn't have talked to much. And we would have been home all of the time, just sitting there. And let's not talk about friends. Wouldn't have any to break the silence or the boredom. One word-comedy.

Knowing personality types can make working together with others in the workplace a lot more confortable. Whe co-workers know how each other is, it makes for better relationships. For example, as an introvert, I cannot stand when people put me on the spot. I need time to think and to get my thoughts together. Most times, my reactions is a little cold. If that person knew that, he or she would not barge into my office and put me on the spot or call me out at a meeting. He or she would have allowed me time to think and come back to me. As an introvert, I cannot expect people to just want or need time to think or react. many extroverts in the workplace can think and act on a dime and so I must make concessions for that.

Knowing one's students' personalities would work well too. It would help in how one approaches students, what is said, and the expected response.

Reality Television

In the early 1990s, a new television form, reality television, birthed a promising future. I, like everyone else, was excited about watching television shows that showed people in their "real" environments. For a few years, it was interesting. Now almost 15 years later, reality television has basically taken over the airwaves. Everytime I look around, there is a new reality television show: Real World, The Bachelor, the Bachelorette, Cheaters, Flavor of Love, Making the Band, American Idol, Intervention, Manhunters, College Hill, First 48, House Hunters, How Do I Look?, Top Chef: New York, Real Housewives of Orange County, New York, and now Atlanta, Keisha Cole, Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, I Love New York, Cheaters, Toddlers & Tiaras, Hopkins, Take Home Chef, Clean Sweep, Bringing Baby Home, Double Shot at Love, What Not to Wear, True Life, Made, Save My Bath, Hell's Kitchen, Animal Cops, Designed to Sell, Millionaire Matchmaker, Real Chance of Love, For the Love of Ray J, Trading Spouses, It's Me or the Dog, The Dog Whisperer, Cash Cab, How It's Made, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance?, Dancing with the Stars, The Detonators, Mythbusters, Good Eats, and Man vs. Food. I could go on and on and on.

Reality television is more popular with the television networks because the are cheap to make. One doesn't need to spend a lot of money on writers. All a network needs is film and actors." Remember the strike a year or so ago by the studio writers? A lot of reality television shows replaced the regular scripted shows. And when it was over, the reality television shows were most popular.

Yes We Can; Yes We Did

As the son of babyboomers, I am a part of Generation X. I grew up in a post-Civil Rights era. It was the norm growing up to watch the new footage, "Eyes of the Prize," and other videos that dipicted and cataloged this turbulant time in United States history. I have witnessed our country change, but I never believed that I would see a minority as President of these United States in my lifetime. But as I followed Senator Obama, now President Obama, since 2003, a small flame flickered in my mind. I ultimately believed that he would run and maybe he would get chosen as the Vice Presidential candidate. I thought that Hillary Clinton would have won....That was until Iowa. That night I knew that he would be a serious candidate for president. I liked him because he was a different type of candidate. He didn't play the race card. Now don't get me wrong, when it comes to race, racial equality, and racial justice, you can expect liberal and very vocal ideas. But at the same time, I knew that anyone of color who decided to run for the highest office in the land had to transcend race. He had to walk that fine line and rightfully so.

I think that the election of Barack Obama has done so much to the psyche and morale of an entire race of people. When I look at my history, I realize that I come from a very proud line of people who were taken from their native land, brought thousands of miles away to an unfamiliar place, subjected to all kinds of indignities, but through it all, have been able to