If you haven't already and plan to, please immerse yourself in the below material and set aside a few days for your hunger study. Remember, keep a log of what you do (or don't) eat and how it affects you. Write a one page essay about the experience using your log/notes. Good luck. Remember, this is a study. If you think it's going to make you sick or hurt you somehow, STOP.
Read the following material for perspectives and advice about hunger and fasting:
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2007/09/20/columnist_wants_to_experience.aspx
Columnist wants to experience real hunger
By Caitlin O'Malley
Do you know what it's like to be hungry?
No, I'm not talking about the kind of hunger you get when you accidentally sleep in, skip breakfast and then sit in the Forum Building, hoping no one can hear your stomach rumbling over that annoying kid's presentation.
Nor am I referring to the kind of hunger that partygoers feel at 2 a.m., when their alcohol-enhanced sense of smell drives them to cut in line at Canyon Pizza with the ferocity of a pack of lions on the hunt.
I'm talking about the type of hunger that keeps you up at night and wakes you up in the morning. I'm talking about the hunger that comes from skipping breakfast because there isn't any food, avoiding lunch in order to save up for dinner and still wondering from where that dinner will come.
I have never been that kind of hungry. But the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 12.6 million U.S. households have experienced this kind of hungry-- known as food insecurity.
In quiet, hidden ways, many people in America are hungry. A few years ago, I worked with a happy-go-lucky, 23-year-old waitress. She worked two jobs and went to beauty school-- all quite energetically. Her family was supportive and close. She looked clean, dressed decently and had an average build. Nothing would indicate that she was poor or hungry -- until I found her crouched down behind the dish-washing station secretly picking through food scraps from customer's plates and shoveling them into her mouth instead of throwing them in the garbage.
In the extra pocket of her apron, she shoved a heaping handful of half-eaten wings and French fries that were already drenched in ketchup.
No wonder she always insisted she wasn't hungry when she worked 10-hour shifts without ordering a snack. There's so much you cannot know about a person, even after years of working with them, living next to them or sitting beside with them in class.
That's part of the reason I became a journalist. I want to know. I'm interested in people. I'd like to know what it's like to live their lives -- the private moments, the small details, the struggles, their secrets, their emotions and their thoughts. Since I can't live 1,000 lives, reading or writing about people is the closest I've ever come to understanding them. But I knew that writing about hunger and feeling hungry was not the same.
So I enlisted the help of some experts at the State College Area Food Bank.
"I do know what it's like to be hungry. If you could imagine when you get slightly hungry, magnify that a thousand fold. Unless you have actually ever been there, you can't really understand. It feels like the world is coming to an end," said Linda Tataliba, the food bank's executive director.
In the 1960s, Tataliba experienced hunger for the first time when her father lost his job one winter. Tataliba and her siblings packed two empty slices of bread as their school lunches and pretended they were eating regular sandwiches.
"The other kids knew," she said. "They made fun."
She also recalled her youngest brother sitting at the kitchen table and crying for food in pain.
At times, flour was one of the only foods her family had access to, and her mother would use it to make dough balls. Tataliba and her older sisters visited food banks for the family because their parents were too proud.
So, how much money do I spend on food per week if I wanted to experience "being hungry" for myself?
"Pay your other bills first and then act like you have nothing left," Tataliba said. Nothing? I was confused. How do I live on nothing?
"Most of the people who come into our food bank have no money left for food," she said.
Obviously, I couldn't go to a food bank and take away from the needy in order to write a column, so I needed a spending limit.
The food shelter can feed one person for a week for about $12.50, so this is the upper limit of my spending range. I'm aiming for $7 to $10.
More advice: No bottled water. No alcohol. No treats. You eat pasta plain if you run out of sauce. No exercise other than walking, no tanning, no going out. This is what you do if it is a matter of survival. No buying personal items. (Tataliba recalled having to borrow items such as soap from her neighbors if she needed them.) No hair cuts. Everything you take for granted is gone.
Next Thursday in my column, I will reveal, as best as I can, my experience of being hungry -- if only for a week.
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2007/09/27/hunger_made_me_appreciate_litt.aspx
Hunger made me appreciate little things
By Caitlin O'Malley
Breakfast at 8 p.m. Four-course meals. Dessert before dinner. Finishing a "family-sized" bag of peanut M&Ms--myself-- in three days. I'm a veritable, 2,000-pound person at heart, trapped inside an average person's body.
So when I vowed this past week to limit my food budget to between $7 and $12.50 to experience real hunger, no one was more skeptical of my ability to do this than me.
As it turns out, I aimed for a narrower spending limit than I intended. My shopping list was: One bag generic spaghetti: 60 cents. A dozen large eggs: $1.29. Generic frosted flakes cereal: $1.69 -- amounting to a grand total of $3.58 for the week.
So, what can you eat spending less than about 50 cents a day? Not much.
Wednesday (post column): Nothing. I ate in the morning before my column started. I went to bed feeling fine.
Thursday: Two sunny-side up eggs, plus half of a chicken wrap, which I got for free at a meeting, I felt light-headed.
Friday: A quarter cup of dry cereal, two ounces of spaghetti. I felt nauseated.
Saturday: Three-quarters of a cup of dry cereal, two ounces of spaghetti. I went to stand up, fell back into my seat.
Sunday: Four ounces of spaghetti. My legs felt like Jello. Stairs were hard.
Monday: One sunny-side-up egg, two ounces of spaghetti. Headache.
Tuesday: Two hard-boiled eggs. My headace worsened.
Wednesday (pre-column): One sunny-side up egg.
I felt sick and tired the entire week. However, I wasn't hungry in the extreme, non-stop, painful way I anticipated.
Don't get me wrong. I repeatedly caught myself walking to my pantry shelf and longingly staring at it for a few minutes, before reluctantly dragging myself away. I dreaded passing McClanahan's and the delicious smells drifting from the Waffle Shop as I walked to class every day.
A few tricks assuaged my hunger. I drank about 30 tall glasses of tap water a day. It helped me feel full and also kept my hands busy when I really wanted to reach for food.
Also, I went to bed earlier than I had in years. Instead of the normal 1 or 2 a.m. bedtime, I hit the sack around 10:30 or 11 p.m.
At the end, agriculture professor Guy Barbato helped analyze my diet. The exact calorie count for the week was 1,300-- about 700 calories less than normal people are recommended to eat in a day. On the lowest day, I ate 82 calories. Protein and fat levels were also drastically low beause the only meat I ate came from half of a chicken wrap that I got from a networking mixer. I never could have afforded it on my budget.
Barbato, who has worked with malnourished people in New York City, said the food-insecure can purchase dried beans and white rice which are cheap but filling. They may also take free packets of condiments from businesses or buy dented, discounted cans.
While I succeeded at eating on less than people would receive from food banks, I didn't have to worry about rent, heat, power, prescriptions and other bills, which cut drastically and unexpectedly into food money. I didn't worry about feeding a family. And, even though it was completely inadequate, $3.58 was the difference between eating meager meals and not eating at all. People spend $3.58 on a drink at Starbucks every day without blinking.
At the State College Food Bank, $3.58 would buy what would normally cost $20 at a grocery store, which is almost enough to feed a family of two for a week. The food banks' purchasing power from the state allows themto buy $5 worth of food for every $1 donation.
They depend on students and volunteers for donations of food items and grocery gift cards. The Trash to Treasure program brings in substantial amounts of food every year. Blue & White Society's Wing Bowl eating contest pits frats, sororities and independents against each other to raise money for the food bank. Also, the food bank is currently recruiting students to help with its annual Crop Walk fundraiser that will take place on Oct. 14.
Today, as I write my column, I am double fisting a cup of coffee and a bottle of water. On the way home, I'll probably stop and pick up some Ben and Jerry's Brownie Batter. From now on, I will count myself lucky for these little experiences and comforts that having money can bring.
Tonight I will go to bed with a full stomach, knowing that someone, somewhere out there is wishing they could do the same.
FOR INFORMATION ON FASTING: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting
MORE INFORMATION ON FASTING TYPES AND ADVICE HOW TO GET THROUGH IT: http://www.falconblanco.com/health/fasting.htm
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
SICK DAY!!!
Good morning, all.
I woke up this morning pretty sick. If you check this blog before leaving for school, please be aware there's no class today.
Notes I would have given through lecture will be forthcoming.
Best,
The (Sick) Master of the Universe
I woke up this morning pretty sick. If you check this blog before leaving for school, please be aware there's no class today.
Notes I would have given through lecture will be forthcoming.
Best,
The (Sick) Master of the Universe
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Field Trip Back On
Hello Minions:
We'll be doing our artistic observations in the Cullen Sculpture Garden next Thursday, March 3. Instead of meeting in our classroom, we'll meet at the garden. It opens at 9:00am, but I'll be there at the normal start time. Be ready to sign in and get started. Keep an eye out for a map next week. Here's the address:
1000 Bissonnet St (Montrose Boulevard), 77005
Sincerely,
The Master of the Universe
We'll be doing our artistic observations in the Cullen Sculpture Garden next Thursday, March 3. Instead of meeting in our classroom, we'll meet at the garden. It opens at 9:00am, but I'll be there at the normal start time. Be ready to sign in and get started. Keep an eye out for a map next week. Here's the address:
1000 Bissonnet St (Montrose Boulevard), 77005
Sincerely,
The Master of the Universe
Prepare for next discussion...
Indigenous Ecuadoran woman humbles US oil giant
by Valeria Pacheco Valeria Pacheco Wed Feb 23, 9:09 am ET
RUMIPAMBA, Ecuador (AFP) – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.
The diminutive grandmother whose modest home sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of the David-and-Goliath case, and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage.
"Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old Aguinda told AFP at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents had become a sad fact of life.
Texaco operated in the area between 1964 and 1990, and was bought in 2001 by Chevron, which inherited Texaco's legal nightmare.
"The demand (for compensation) is going on track," said the ethnic Quechua woman, pointing to a nearby spot marked by spillage from an oil well run by Texaco in the 1970s.
"Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes and soil and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities.
Aguinda said she believes her husband and two of his 10 children died from effects of the pollution, which rights group Amazon Watch says has affected an area the size of the US state of Rhode Island.
Several of her family members "have skin problems, like fungus," Aguinda said as she lifted her granddaughter's foot off the dirt floor to show an outbreak on her leg.
Chevron blames state-run Petroecuador, with which Texaco formed a consortium from 1972 until the US firm departed in 1992, of not doing its part in the clean-up agreed with the state.
"When Texaco came we never thought they would leave behind such damage, never. Then it began to drill a well and set up burn pits," she said, helped in translation by her son William Grefa.
"It changed our life: hunting, fishing, and other food, it's all finished."
She skeptically eyes the ongoing cleanup of a marsh just meters from her house, where workers dressed in oil-stained yellow overalls dredge thick black ooze into suction pipes.
Aguinda said the spill is leftover from a Texaco storage pool which overflowed into the marshes during 1987-1990 operations of the Auca South 1 well about 200 meters (656 feet) from Rumipamba.
Texaco performed operational repairs in the area in the 1990s, and oil extraction continues in the region, according to Grefa.
Six months ago, a dozen workers from Petroecuador, which has managed the concession since 1990, began cleaning up the marshes, reviving bitter memories within the community of the slow-motion disaster.
The company "made arrangements, but they covered everything with sticks and earth and nothing more," said Grefa, a member of the Assembly of People Affected by Texaco, which represents the 30,000 indigenous people in the suit.
The operation has done little to improve conditions, Aguinda said.
"With the cleanup that Texaco left, the air is just unbearable. I can't live above the oil," groaned Aguinda, who grew visibly irritated talking about the disaster.
"If someone comes here from Texaco" he'll get "pepper in his eyes," she winced.
A strong petroleum smell permeates Rumipamba, home to nine families, some of whom complain of headaches. Several areas of Sucumbios are also contaminated, according to the plaintiffs, who argue that merely sinking a shovel into the ground yields a thick layer of crude.
Chevron, which has called the judgment "illegitimate and unenforceable," has asked a judge in Ecuador for clarification of the ruling as it seeks to appeal.
The court last week announced a penalty against Chevron of $8.6 billion with an additional 10 percent for environment management costs.
The plaintiffs, too, plan to appeal, saying the ruling fails to adequately compensate for certain damages and illness. They were seeking more than $27 billion in their suit.
by Valeria Pacheco Valeria Pacheco Wed Feb 23, 9:09 am ET
RUMIPAMBA, Ecuador (AFP) – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.
The diminutive grandmother whose modest home sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of the David-and-Goliath case, and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage.
"Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old Aguinda told AFP at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents had become a sad fact of life.
Texaco operated in the area between 1964 and 1990, and was bought in 2001 by Chevron, which inherited Texaco's legal nightmare.
"The demand (for compensation) is going on track," said the ethnic Quechua woman, pointing to a nearby spot marked by spillage from an oil well run by Texaco in the 1970s.
"Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes and soil and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities.
Aguinda said she believes her husband and two of his 10 children died from effects of the pollution, which rights group Amazon Watch says has affected an area the size of the US state of Rhode Island.
Several of her family members "have skin problems, like fungus," Aguinda said as she lifted her granddaughter's foot off the dirt floor to show an outbreak on her leg.
Chevron blames state-run Petroecuador, with which Texaco formed a consortium from 1972 until the US firm departed in 1992, of not doing its part in the clean-up agreed with the state.
"When Texaco came we never thought they would leave behind such damage, never. Then it began to drill a well and set up burn pits," she said, helped in translation by her son William Grefa.
"It changed our life: hunting, fishing, and other food, it's all finished."
She skeptically eyes the ongoing cleanup of a marsh just meters from her house, where workers dressed in oil-stained yellow overalls dredge thick black ooze into suction pipes.
Aguinda said the spill is leftover from a Texaco storage pool which overflowed into the marshes during 1987-1990 operations of the Auca South 1 well about 200 meters (656 feet) from Rumipamba.
Texaco performed operational repairs in the area in the 1990s, and oil extraction continues in the region, according to Grefa.
Six months ago, a dozen workers from Petroecuador, which has managed the concession since 1990, began cleaning up the marshes, reviving bitter memories within the community of the slow-motion disaster.
The company "made arrangements, but they covered everything with sticks and earth and nothing more," said Grefa, a member of the Assembly of People Affected by Texaco, which represents the 30,000 indigenous people in the suit.
The operation has done little to improve conditions, Aguinda said.
"With the cleanup that Texaco left, the air is just unbearable. I can't live above the oil," groaned Aguinda, who grew visibly irritated talking about the disaster.
"If someone comes here from Texaco" he'll get "pepper in his eyes," she winced.
A strong petroleum smell permeates Rumipamba, home to nine families, some of whom complain of headaches. Several areas of Sucumbios are also contaminated, according to the plaintiffs, who argue that merely sinking a shovel into the ground yields a thick layer of crude.
Chevron, which has called the judgment "illegitimate and unenforceable," has asked a judge in Ecuador for clarification of the ruling as it seeks to appeal.
The court last week announced a penalty against Chevron of $8.6 billion with an additional 10 percent for environment management costs.
The plaintiffs, too, plan to appeal, saying the ruling fails to adequately compensate for certain damages and illness. They were seeking more than $27 billion in their suit.
For class discussion 2/24/2011
Babies in Frontier States Have More Unusual Names
Jeanna Bryner
, LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com Jeanna Bryner
, Livescience Managing Editor
livescience.com Wed Feb 23, 5:15 pm ET
Babies born in newer U.S. states have more distinctive names compared with their counterparts in older regions such as New England, a new study finds.
It turns out, the same values that pushed adventurous individuals into new territories as our country was being populated may still show up in the names their descendants give to babies, a new study finds.
In more recently established states, such as Washington and Oregon, parents tend to choose less common baby names, while parents in "older" areas, such as the original 13 states, go for more popular names.
Frontiers typically have fewer established institutions or infrastructure, and often occupy harsh environments. Early pioneers couldn't rely on others for help in such sparsely populated areas.
These factors "select for people who are high in individualism and foster and reward individualistic values such as uniqueness and self-reliance," said lead researcher Michael Varnum of the University of Michigan. "This leads to regional cultures which perpetuate these values, which in turn shape behavioral practices, such as baby naming." [Most Popular Baby Names in History]
Psychologist Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, who studies baby naming, applauds Varnum's study on frontiers and unique baby names, which is detailed in the February 2011 issue of the journal Psychological Science.
"It's a really fascinating illustration of the impact of regional culture on naming choices," said Twenge, author of "The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement" (Free Press, April 2009).
"Even though other people who came later may not have been so individualistic, that culture was set up," Twenge told LiveScience. "That legacy of the frontier is going to live on, and that shows up in baby names."
What names say about culture
The names we choose for our children do often reflect parents' values. "It's a very heartfelt choice and a noncommercial choice of what's important to us," said Laura Wattenberg, author of the book "The Baby Name Wizard" (Three Rivers Press, 2005) and creator of the website BabyNameWizard.com.
Wattenberg's recent research showed that the meaning conveyed by a baby's name (what it tells others about the parents' tastes and background) has surged over the last 25 years as baby names have become more diverse and numerous.
"I'm convinced they're absolutely right in the core data that there's no question that the American frontier is a naming wonderland," Wattenberg told LiveScience. "Sarah Palin, even though she talks about traditional values, she's a perfect representative of frontier naming." Her kids are named Track, Willow, Trig, Bristol and Piper.
Even so, it's not simple to draw a causal connection between the character of a particular state and the naming conventions there. "Leaping from that to the idea that it represents the spirit of independence, I think there are a lot of other factors you need to consider when drawing that conclusion," Wattenberg said.
Baby names moving west
In the new study, Varnum and his University of Michigan colleague Shinobu Kitayama compared the commonness of popular baby names between relatively recently settled regions of the United States and older areas. The team used 2007 baby-name data collected by the Social Security Administration.
In New England states, more babies were given the most popular boys' and girls' names than they were in frontier states – those in the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest.
Statistical analyses showed the longer ago a state had achieved statehood, the more likely it was to have a higher percentage of people with one of the top 10 most popular baby names. The results held even after the researchers accounted for other factors that might impact baby-name choices, including population density, ethnicity of a state and median income.
The following is the study's ranked list of U.S. states where prevalence of common names is lowest (with No. 1 being the most individualistic), based on percentage of babies who had one of the top 10 most popular names of that year.
Boys' names:
1. Hawaii
2. Wyoming
3. Louisiana
4. Idaho
5. Oklahoma
6. Montana
7. Colorado
8. Nebraska
9. Washington
10. Oregon
Girls' names
1. Hawaii
2. New Mexico
3. Mississippi
4. Nevada
5. Georgia
6. Wyoming
7. Arizona
8. Alaska
9. Maryland
10. South Carolina
In contrast, these are the states where common names are most prevalent (with No. 1 being the least individualistic):
Boys' names
1. New Hampshire
2. Rhode Island
3. Connecticut
4. New Jersey
5. Massachusetts
6. West Virginia
7. Maine
8. New York
9. Tennessee
10. Kentucky
Girls' names
1. Maine
2. Vermont
3. New Hampshire
4. Rhode Island
5. West Virginia
6. North Dakota
7. Massachusetts
8. Connecticut
9. Kentucky
10. Iowa
The researchers found a similar naming phenomenon in Canada, where the country's eastern regions (which were settled earlier) — such as Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec — had a higher percentage of babies given popular names than the western, more recently settled regions, including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
However, the link was much stronger for boys' names than for girls', and after the researchers accounted for population density, the effect of eastern or western region on girls' names was negligible.
International study
To see if the same phenomenon held across entire nations, the team looked at baby-name data from 2007 for nine European countries (Austria, Denmark, England, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Sweden), and four frontier countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States).
A similar pattern was found on this front as well, with the newer countries generally sporting more diverse names. In addition, countries that scored higher on an "individualism index" also had fewer babies who were given the most popular names at the time, compared with the countries that scored low on individualism.
But Wattenberg cautioned that the same factors may not be at work since some countries have rules for what parents can name their babies.
For instance, Denmark has a baby-naming rule list translated as the List over Personal Names. If a desired name is not on the list, a family can submit a written application to get consent from the Personal Names Committee under the auspices of the Danish Language Council. Names that aren't considered "personal names," including nicknames and "names, which can be feared to be a burden to the bearer," cannot expect to be approved, the committee states on its website.
Sweden, Hungary, Norway and other countries also have baby-naming laws.
"The idea of attributing a difference to some basic character when in fact, in one case, there are legal limits and in another case there aren't – they are not fundamentally comparable," Wattenberg told LiveScience.
Wattenberg said while she wasn't criticizing the study, she was pointing out that there could be other reasons behind some of the findings, particularly the international ones. For instance, she has found maternal age impacts baby names, where moms from urban, more affluent areas tend to choose more traditional names, which correlates with them waiting until they're older to have children. [Today's American Moms Older, More Educated]
More unique baby names now
Twenge said she saw a connection between her own work and the regional and demographic patterns in names found by Varnum.
Rather than looking at the popularity of common names across regions, Twenge studied the trend over time. It turns out, compared with decades ago, parents these days are choosing more unusual names for kids, which could suggest an emphasis on uniqueness and individualism.
Twenge's latest research, detailed in the January 2010 issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, revealed that about 40 percent of boys received one of the 10 most common names in the 1880s, while now fewer than 10 percent do. For girls, the percentage of those with a name in the top 10 dropped from 25 percent in about 1945 to 8 percent in 2007.
Jeanna Bryner
, LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com Jeanna Bryner
, Livescience Managing Editor
livescience.com Wed Feb 23, 5:15 pm ET
Babies born in newer U.S. states have more distinctive names compared with their counterparts in older regions such as New England, a new study finds.
It turns out, the same values that pushed adventurous individuals into new territories as our country was being populated may still show up in the names their descendants give to babies, a new study finds.
In more recently established states, such as Washington and Oregon, parents tend to choose less common baby names, while parents in "older" areas, such as the original 13 states, go for more popular names.
Frontiers typically have fewer established institutions or infrastructure, and often occupy harsh environments. Early pioneers couldn't rely on others for help in such sparsely populated areas.
These factors "select for people who are high in individualism and foster and reward individualistic values such as uniqueness and self-reliance," said lead researcher Michael Varnum of the University of Michigan. "This leads to regional cultures which perpetuate these values, which in turn shape behavioral practices, such as baby naming." [Most Popular Baby Names in History]
Psychologist Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, who studies baby naming, applauds Varnum's study on frontiers and unique baby names, which is detailed in the February 2011 issue of the journal Psychological Science.
"It's a really fascinating illustration of the impact of regional culture on naming choices," said Twenge, author of "The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement" (Free Press, April 2009).
"Even though other people who came later may not have been so individualistic, that culture was set up," Twenge told LiveScience. "That legacy of the frontier is going to live on, and that shows up in baby names."
What names say about culture
The names we choose for our children do often reflect parents' values. "It's a very heartfelt choice and a noncommercial choice of what's important to us," said Laura Wattenberg, author of the book "The Baby Name Wizard" (Three Rivers Press, 2005) and creator of the website BabyNameWizard.com.
Wattenberg's recent research showed that the meaning conveyed by a baby's name (what it tells others about the parents' tastes and background) has surged over the last 25 years as baby names have become more diverse and numerous.
"I'm convinced they're absolutely right in the core data that there's no question that the American frontier is a naming wonderland," Wattenberg told LiveScience. "Sarah Palin, even though she talks about traditional values, she's a perfect representative of frontier naming." Her kids are named Track, Willow, Trig, Bristol and Piper.
Even so, it's not simple to draw a causal connection between the character of a particular state and the naming conventions there. "Leaping from that to the idea that it represents the spirit of independence, I think there are a lot of other factors you need to consider when drawing that conclusion," Wattenberg said.
Baby names moving west
In the new study, Varnum and his University of Michigan colleague Shinobu Kitayama compared the commonness of popular baby names between relatively recently settled regions of the United States and older areas. The team used 2007 baby-name data collected by the Social Security Administration.
In New England states, more babies were given the most popular boys' and girls' names than they were in frontier states – those in the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest.
Statistical analyses showed the longer ago a state had achieved statehood, the more likely it was to have a higher percentage of people with one of the top 10 most popular baby names. The results held even after the researchers accounted for other factors that might impact baby-name choices, including population density, ethnicity of a state and median income.
The following is the study's ranked list of U.S. states where prevalence of common names is lowest (with No. 1 being the most individualistic), based on percentage of babies who had one of the top 10 most popular names of that year.
Boys' names:
1. Hawaii
2. Wyoming
3. Louisiana
4. Idaho
5. Oklahoma
6. Montana
7. Colorado
8. Nebraska
9. Washington
10. Oregon
Girls' names
1. Hawaii
2. New Mexico
3. Mississippi
4. Nevada
5. Georgia
6. Wyoming
7. Arizona
8. Alaska
9. Maryland
10. South Carolina
In contrast, these are the states where common names are most prevalent (with No. 1 being the least individualistic):
Boys' names
1. New Hampshire
2. Rhode Island
3. Connecticut
4. New Jersey
5. Massachusetts
6. West Virginia
7. Maine
8. New York
9. Tennessee
10. Kentucky
Girls' names
1. Maine
2. Vermont
3. New Hampshire
4. Rhode Island
5. West Virginia
6. North Dakota
7. Massachusetts
8. Connecticut
9. Kentucky
10. Iowa
The researchers found a similar naming phenomenon in Canada, where the country's eastern regions (which were settled earlier) — such as Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec — had a higher percentage of babies given popular names than the western, more recently settled regions, including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
However, the link was much stronger for boys' names than for girls', and after the researchers accounted for population density, the effect of eastern or western region on girls' names was negligible.
International study
To see if the same phenomenon held across entire nations, the team looked at baby-name data from 2007 for nine European countries (Austria, Denmark, England, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Sweden), and four frontier countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States).
A similar pattern was found on this front as well, with the newer countries generally sporting more diverse names. In addition, countries that scored higher on an "individualism index" also had fewer babies who were given the most popular names at the time, compared with the countries that scored low on individualism.
But Wattenberg cautioned that the same factors may not be at work since some countries have rules for what parents can name their babies.
For instance, Denmark has a baby-naming rule list translated as the List over Personal Names. If a desired name is not on the list, a family can submit a written application to get consent from the Personal Names Committee under the auspices of the Danish Language Council. Names that aren't considered "personal names," including nicknames and "names, which can be feared to be a burden to the bearer," cannot expect to be approved, the committee states on its website.
Sweden, Hungary, Norway and other countries also have baby-naming laws.
"The idea of attributing a difference to some basic character when in fact, in one case, there are legal limits and in another case there aren't – they are not fundamentally comparable," Wattenberg told LiveScience.
Wattenberg said while she wasn't criticizing the study, she was pointing out that there could be other reasons behind some of the findings, particularly the international ones. For instance, she has found maternal age impacts baby names, where moms from urban, more affluent areas tend to choose more traditional names, which correlates with them waiting until they're older to have children. [Today's American Moms Older, More Educated]
More unique baby names now
Twenge said she saw a connection between her own work and the regional and demographic patterns in names found by Varnum.
Rather than looking at the popularity of common names across regions, Twenge studied the trend over time. It turns out, compared with decades ago, parents these days are choosing more unusual names for kids, which could suggest an emphasis on uniqueness and individualism.
Twenge's latest research, detailed in the January 2010 issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, revealed that about 40 percent of boys received one of the 10 most common names in the 1880s, while now fewer than 10 percent do. For girls, the percentage of those with a name in the top 10 dropped from 25 percent in about 1945 to 8 percent in 2007.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Participation Credit: the meanings behind words
Please define (using an unabridged scholarly dictionary/encyclopedia) and discuss your thoughts about the following words and what they imply:
wight
black
white
colored
n*****/negro
wight
black
white
colored
n*****/negro
Don't forget...
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the extra credit event! Check the last post for specifics. Hope to see you guys there. :)
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