“In Tyler We Trust"

                                                            

First rule, you do not talk about fight club.

Second rule, you DO NOT talk about fight club.

Third rule, if someone says “stop”, goes limp, taps out the fight is over.

Fourth rule, only two guys to a fight.

Fifth rule, one fight at a time.

Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes.

Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to.

Eighth rule, if this is your first night at FIGHT CLUB, you HAVE to fight.

            From the first time I saw Fight Club I remembered these simple rules. I had to be about twelve years old at the time and looking back I know I didn’t understand the meaning of the film. To me it was just another badass movie that inspired my friends and I to start own boxing club in our basements during sleepovers. As I grew up so did my love for film, ranging from horrors like Jaws, to epics such as Lord of the Rings, and cult classics like The Big Lebowski, I couldn’t get enough. I loved the stories each movie reveled, in a good movie there is never a dull character each person has their own role in the grand scheme of things. The plot twists and turns and just when you think you have it all figured out, you are blindsided.

            For those of you who have seen Fight Club, directed by David Fincher and based upon Chuck Palahniuk’s story, you know exactly what I mean when I say blindsided. The reason why I chose Fight Club over any other movie in my collection is because Fight Club is my go to movie. The movie that I can watch over and over again with it still never getting old. It is a story that on the surface appears to be purely violence based and savage, but dig a little deeper and you will discover the true meaning behind Fight Club. 

            The book and movie differ in many ways so my focus will be on the movie. Fight Club premiered in 1999, starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. Edward Norton plays the nameless protagonist, some evidence implies his name is Jack so that is how I will refer to him. Jack is “living” a mind-numbingly, lackluster life as an automobile insurance agent. It appears he has no real friends or family and that he replaces this absence with the acquisition of material things. He defines himself by his belonging, always trying to make himself what he thinks he is suppose to be. In this sense his identity is hollow, this materialistic self is not making him complete; and so he can’t sleep.

            Jack’s insomnia and lack of fulfillment in life are direct products of his social isolation. His doctor tells him that his sleeping problem is not a big deal and to check out a local caner support group to see what real suffering is. This sarcastic instruction leads Jack to the support meetings where he experiences the human connection he has been missing. He realizes that he has longed for a place where he can openly express his feelings, even if they are dark or sad in nature. Still he seeks a truth that his job and day-to-day life after not offering.

            Jack meets Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, on one of his many business flights. From their first conversation together Tyler’s powerful confidence and eccentric fashion make him an unforgettable character. Durden is strongly against common culture, and can be considered a nihilist beveling that their generation’s lives are meaningless. Fight Club presents the case that men of today’s society have been diminished to a generation that does nothing itself, rather they are unknowingly content with watching someone else do something.

During one of Jacks first encounters with Tyler, Tyler states “I want you to hit me as hard as you can.” After some slight hesitation Jack does so, right in Tyler’s ear. This initial punch leads to a small brawl and eventually the creation of Fight Club. The physical contact of the fight offered ironic comfort for Jack, much like the support groups only greater. Now he actually felt alive again, he found a reason to live.  

            The differences between Jack and Tyler are vast yet they work together perfectly, this dichotomy is clear in terms of gender identity. Jack is submissive, quite and plain, he never makes the first move and is unsure of everything he does. Tyler on the other hand is bold, confident, and daring, he comes off as an adrenaline junkie with no rhyme or reason. Even the two men’s physical appearances support this division, from Edward Norton’s sensitive voice to Brad Pitt’s chiseled jaw. Not saying that Jack is feminine but he is far from the masculine status of Tyler. Fight Club presents the idea that masculinity has become a brand, a means to sell products to men. In this sense “being a man” means owning the right clothes or car rather than knowing whom you are and what your values truly stand for. This lack of identity is perpetuated by the fact that the majority of the characters here grew up with out a father, without that stable guidance and had to learn masculinity from an outside source.

            “Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

            This is one of my favorite speeches from Tyler, it really shows what a charismatic leader he is. The men in Fight Club are the grey and blue-collar workers, the proletarians.  Because of social stratification the people on top are offered exclusive advantages that keep them on top and cause a strong sense of alienation to the worker due to the reality of their powerlessness. Fight Club is a community of sworn brothers, that together pledge to no longer be alienated. These men create their own social construction of reality, a complete counterculture to the postmodern consumer society, in order to deal with the role strain they experience everyday. However Fight Club, full of brothers transforms into Project Mayhem, comprised of social terrorists.

Spoiler Alter: The mindblowing twist of this story is discovered close to the end, Tyler Durden and Jack are in fact the same person. In spite of Jack’s doctor’s diagnosis, his case of insomnia was dangerous and with a lack of medication it evolved into schizophrenia. Jack’s subconscious created Tyler

“All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.”    - Tyler explains

            But by this point Jack’s alter ego has gone to far with his Project Mayhem and in the end, seeing how he is losing himself to Tyler, Jack puts a gun in his mouth so no more destruction could come from his unconsciousness. With a pull of the trigger and a loud bang, Tyler is gone. But this failed suicide becomes a symbolic murder, and a reawaking of Jack’s true self.

         I am happy with how my final presentation went, I practiced many times to ensure that it would go smoothly and keep to the time limit. This was a fun speech to put together because of how much I enjoy Fight Club, I have analyzed this film every time I watched it and this was an opportunity to final voice my thoughts. This movie is so dense with themes and context that it was hard to narrow down to a 7 minute window but I feel that I accomplished that while give a solid overview of the entire movie. In regards to my progression through the class I learned how important eye contact and adapting your speech to your audience is. Both these tools I utilized for my final presentation and will continue to use in future situations. I enjoyed this class, it had a laid backed atmosphere that allowed my classmates and I to talk about what we are actually interested in. 

Bibliography:

Fight Club. Director David Fincher. Performers Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. 20th Century Fox 1999

Price, Bryan. A Psychological Analysis of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club: How the World of Psychology Applies to this Famous Novel; 2007

Cold Warriors: Buffalos and Wolves

“If the buffalos strategy was full proof there wouldn’t be any wolves.”

                                                                                    -Jeff Turner

Cold Warriors: Buffalos and Wolves take place in Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Canada, a park five times larger than Yellow Stone. Jeff Turner is a wildlife photographer and the creator of this naturally beautiful work.

A wolf pack is at the heart a family, and the “Delta” pack is the core of this documentary. The main focus of Canadian wolves is hunting buffalo to maintain their group health, approximately one buffalo a week will ensure this. With the assistance of a helicopter Turner is able to follow the Delta pack over their daily 30 mile hunting range. The pure instinctual nature of the wolves is a fascinating marvel of nature; wolves must be in peak form to hunt buffalo. The alpha male is the driving force of the pack, the strongest and most brazen, his leadership and intuition ensures his packs survival by providing meat and thus a healthy litter of new pups.   

The transformation of seasons from winter to spring brings about many changes, opportunities, and offspring. With new litters of both wolves and buffalo, each has a new reason to fight harder for survival. Watching the large female wolf scout out the herd’s new calves was like watching a mother at a grocery store; the calmness of both predator and prey was unnerving. The wolves fight to kill the calves to feed their pups, while the buffalo fight the wolves to save their calves, in situations like this it is hard to know who to root for. It is the never ending vicious cycle of nature and a clear example of Darwin’s survival of the fittest.

The pack structure is amazing to watch, from the interactions between the mother and newborn pups to the “teenage” wolves and their alpha male father. The pups truly act like little siblings to their older bothers and sisters, constantly playing and annoying them like in human culture. The alpha male can be compared to human political structure, where the strongest lead because “the people” feel that it is in their best interest. In terms of the Delta pack the white alpha male takes charge of all situations, be it leading a black bear away from the den to heading the hunt.

Nature is a constant struggle to survive, to find sufficient food and reproduce. This struggle is made even harder when our modern human world begins to encroach on their once protected and isolated land. The Alberta Oil Sands, the world’s third largest crude oil reserve is now just upstream of the National Park and the occupants living ranges. The factory emissions, full of air toxins have tripled in the past few years due to the rapid expansion of the industry. The water downstream of the Oil Sands has been recorded containing double the amount of toxic substances then those upstream. These statistics in hand with the industry are expected to double in the next few years, leading to even greater damage to the ecosystem. Measure must be taken to ensure that the delicate balance of nature is not destroyed by the greed of man.  

Why America Should Not Legalize Marijuana

First let me begin by stating that this is not an argument about whether or not marijuana, compared to other drugs is especially dangerous. My partner Kinsey will discuss the health problems in more depth. But after smoking a few joint with friends on the couch the only immediate danger is killing off every last munchie in your house and forgetting to prepare your communications project due the next day.

This debate must focus on whether America needs another easily accessible, commercialized and habit-forming drug in its already overmedicated society.

I can tell you right now, WE DO NOT.

Let us weigh the price of legalization against the detrimental cost to our countries future, our youth.

If marijuana were legal it would greatly increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of children. Items like cigarettes and alcohol are banned from kids, this is because the majority of kids don't exhibit the same reasoning, responsibility, and judgment of an adult, they do not think about long-term health consequences.

Their undeveloped bodies are not equipped to handle the intake of these substances. This is even truer of the chemicals found in marijuana. Developing brains and bodies can be dealt serious blows by the use of marijuana. People, any time you make something legal, you increase the accessibility to children. All too often kids and teenagers get their hands on alcohol or cigarettes. We CAN NOT let the same thing happen with marijuana.

I’d bet we have all heard the age-old health class line “Kids marijuana is a gateway drug which leads to harder, more dangerous highs”, whether you took this warning to heart is irrelevant the statistics show its truth.

 One study found that kids 12 to 17 years old, who use marijuana during this developmental stage are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than kids who did not use pot, in addition 60% of the kids who smoke pot before the age of 15 move on to cocaine later in life. Furthermore Yale conducted a similar study, which can be found in the Journal of Adolescent Health, showing that alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana use is associated with an increased probability of men, 18 to 25 abusing prescription drugs. For women of the age, only marijuana use is linked with a higher likelihood of prescription drug abuse.

Since Holland has made cannabis legal, not only has marijuana use increased but Heroin use has tripled in that same time frame. Plain and simple marijuana is a gateway drug, and this gateway should not be legal to use.

When discussing the legalization of marijuana, a valuable comparison can be made to gambling. Once the government became a beneficiary of legal gambling they began to encouraged and promote gambling, overlooking it as a problem behavior.

Legalized gambling has not reduced illegal gambling in the United States; in fact, it has only increased. Legal gambling comes with taxes and is regulated while illegal gambling is not. Legal gambling sets the stage for illegal gambling just the way legal marijuana would set the stage for illegal marijuana trafficking to thrive. The gambling precedent suggests strongly that illegal drug suppliers would flourish by selling more potent and tax-free marijuana products outside of the legal market.

Legalization of marijuana for either medical or general employ would increase marijuana use rather than reduce it and this would lead to increased rates of addiction and long term use among youth and adults. Laws and regulations are made to protect the wellbeing of its people, legalizing marijuana contradicts this preconception, damaging our public health and setting back the progress of our nation.

Reducing marijuana use is essential to improving the nation’s health, education, and productivity. 

                                                                 

       Ever since a child my parents have told me that I should become a lawyer, that my perseverance and passion to argue was relentless. I had a lot of fun preparing and presenting this debate, even though I am for the legalization of marijuana. The research I did opened my eyes to a collection of facts and statics that I have found shocking, and made me think twice about daily smoking. Reflecting back I should have prepared a more solid conclusion rather than a slue of negative cannabis facts, however I feel that Kinsey and I built a strong case. I wish we were able to vote before and after the debate because I truly believe my side swayed the majority of the audience. 

      In terms of my up and coming presentation I plan on focusing again on my passion, the great outdoors. I am currently doing research on the Monkey Wrench Gang and history of the national parks. 

The Great Outdoors

Hello there, my name is Mark F. Costello the Third but ever since a baby I’ve been called Mac. I was born and raised in Saratoga Springs, New York an area rich in natural beauty and full of health, history and horses. I take great pride in my hometown and love living so close to the pristine Adirondack Mountains, where many of my most precious memories stem from.

“The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.” a quote from my favorite book Into the Wild

Ever since I was a child I have been exploring the great outdoors with my family, many nights spent camping on Lake George. I started Boy Scouts young and I believe this was one of the best decisions my parents have made for me. The scouts trained me in all aspects of outdoor living and wilderness survival. As well my scout masters taught me rules and moral laws to live by, I took them to heart and growing up I always remembered a scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent, and my troop added thankful to the end.

Each of my scout leaders were true gentlemen, real role models and that’s how I plan to live the rest of my life and eventually teach my kids. Nowadays there is sometimes a negative stigma associated with Scouting, I remember when I was young some of my friends were called “losers” or “gay” for being a scout. I admit as a kid I did think some of the ceremonies we lame, and dressing up in the full scout get up wasn’t my favorite but those weren’t the reasons why I stuck with it.

I kept with it for the adventure, for the white water rafting, the 50-mile hikes, the 70-mile canoe trips and most of all for the summit views. When you defeat a 10,000 foot mountain there is no better feeling of accomplishment then standing on the edge and seeing the land for thousands of miles in all directions, feeling the cool constant breeze dry the sweat from your face as the close sun keeps you warm and realizing just how small you are in this huge world. I bet any skier, snowboarder or hiker in the room will agree that this view does the mind and body good, and everyone should experience a summit view at least once.

I was awarded the seven-year rounder when I was 16 meaning I went camping at least once every month for seven years in a row. Living in the mountains is second nature to me and I prefer it to any city. Actually I hate being in a crowded city for more than an afternoon. Now I travel all over the northeast with my friends, finding the most beautiful spots we can and making them ours just for a few nights, then leaving without a trace.

                        Thank you