English 401.49 Essays, For review only

The personal essay:

Andrew Wood
9-10-10
401.49



“I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash is sort of my theme song. With forty one of the fifty states (most at least three or four times) and Canada under my belt, I’ve seen all sorts of ecosystems, and a lot of what North America has to offer. I have breathed the mountain air, man. And right now I’m crossin’ those deserts bare, man. And man, is it flat. I’m driving our Suburban, with nineteen foot travel trailer in tow, along I-40 through New Mexico. Dad’s riding shotgun, and Mom and Allison sit quietly in the back seat - Mom’s watching one of her silly chick flicks, and Allison is doing something on her laptop. Breakeven by the Script is playing for the hundredth time on "XM 20 on 20", but I don’t know what else to listen to. The desert just keeps rolling by. Have you ever stood among trees so tall they touch the sky, or walked into a lake, laid down, and floated with no effort at all? Have you driven a road which takes you to the sun, or to the gates of hell? This is not my first trip across our country, nor will it be my last. I want everyone I know to behold nature in such majesty as what is preserved in our national parks - it is both humbling and inspiring. No IMAX movie can ever capture the grandeur of Yosemite Falls, or the sequoias. No computer or theater can simulate the heat of Death Valley, or the cold of a glacier fed lake in the Sawtooths. Hopefully I can do this again in a few years after I start paying off college. The road doesn’t waver, it just stretches to the horizon. It’s mesmerizing, staring off into the never ending desert, the sun high above us. I reach over and change the radio to the family-friendly "Laugh USA 151", which greets me with a hearty laugh from Bill Cosby, in an effort to stay focused on the 335 horsepower and 7200 pounds of steel I'm controlling. I've never felt happier than when I'm behind a wheel. So much power under my foot, quite literally. With Mr. Cosby by my side, I continue my journey to the northern horizon as the hours march on.



Finally, some sort of elevation. A mesa is popping up an hour south of Durango, Colorado just off of Colorado Route 550, and our first national park, Mesa Verde, is coming into view. It sounds pretty interesting; a bunch of ancient cave dwelling people carved out an entire civilization in the side of Mesa Verde, complete with cave networks, and I love caves. It should prove to be an interesting experience. But just as fast as the land came up, and my hopes with it, the nameless mesa fades in my rearview mirror, and I am again faced with infinity. My mind drifts back to the past few weeks. We had quite a few adventures, like our bikes falling off the trailer or the cover or our getting stuck for an hour in a herd of bison. But there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, and if you stare at it long enough someday you’ll get there.

I’m snapped out of my thought by a violent vibration and the vvvvvvvvvv of rumble strips.

“ANDREW! PAY ATTENTION!” Dad yells at me.

“I AM PAYING A TTENTION!” I mockingly yell back, being sure to flash a smile for damage control.

Dad glares at me, and I refocus on the road. The hour passes with little excitement, but the elevation change becomes apparent. More green appears, and that green gets taller. More noticeable is the tachometer in the Suburban slowly creeping up above 3000 RPM. The geography is most relevant; what used to be an infinite horizon is slowly being invaded by peaks which I can only assume are the Rocky Mountains. Never in my life have I missed the mightiest of earth’s creations so much. It took us almost a week, but finally we are nearing our first major stop.

I pull the Suburban up to the gate, slowly and methodically maneuvering up to the gate. The extra width on the trailer always makes for an interesting time, because while I don’t want the wheels to run up on the curbing, I also don’t want to need Mr. Fantastic arms to reach the papers the ranger there gives us. The road in is hilly and curvy, no trailers or motor homes allowed. We bring the trailer over to the parking area, disconnect it and raid the cabinets for supplies, and are on our way to the crown jewel of southwest Colorado.

It’s almost 5:00 PM. The park is closing soon, and the tourists are all gone. A few hardcore hikers are returning from day long trips, but overall it’s very quiet. We, too are about to leave, but Mom has found a flower bed and simply must take a few good pictures of it. We stop in the pullout down the road, and she and Allison get out and start walking back to where the brilliant pink and white flowers are scattered about. Dad leans over and changes the radio to The Blend, and Elton John begins melting through the speaker mesh. I sit there for a bit letting Candle in the Wind soak into my being, just looking around, when I see a small pathway. I mutter something about being right back, unbuckle and open my door, and walk slowly over to it. The path is dirt, with trees only slightly taller than I growing up both sides. It winds lazily back and forth, and I let my mind wander with it. About a minute of walking takes me to the end, and a rock outcropping. No fences, no signs. I look out over the farm dotted landscape, and am hit by a wave of peace and serenity. I kneel down in a position I learned from my karate, with my knees spread apart and hands resting loosely on them, feet crossed behind me, and practice my mushin – clearing of the mind – in a way I was never able to before. Inhaling and exhaling, the release of stress tingles in my limbs. I open my eyes to see a hawk swoop down from a cliff to my left, and, knowing that my mom will be quite some time trying to get the picture she wants, take a moment to simply reflect on life. Next year I’m going to college…striking out on my own. I didn’t realize it at the time, but staring off into those Colorado skies was incredibly relevant to my life.

“Here he is. We’ve been waiting for you!” Allison says impatiently.

“I…I lost track of time. Check this place out though! It’s so…chill…” I respond

“Whatever, let’s go. I’m tired.” Allison complains back.

“Andrew! Hurry up!” Dad yells. I love being outnumbered.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” I say, just quietly enough so he probably can’t hear me.

I make my way slowly back up the path, turning back to absorb the vista just one more time. You can see forever. We don’t get those views in New Hampshire very often; there always seems to be a mountain blocking some of that eternity. I tear myself away and climb into the now unfamiliar backseat; Dad wants to take us out of here. I recline, and let the Colorado skies fill me up.

Just a day later we arrive at the Grand Canyon. Miles deep, and over a mile across in some places. The ranger lady we had may have been a bit overexcited about it, but really, it’s incredible. I don’t think Mesa Verde can really compare. Sure, you can see far in Colorado. But the canyon, with this river raging along the bottom, carving ever wider, gouging ever deeper, has a different feel. It’s ancient, but brand new. Always there, but always changing. The mesas are frozen in time, and some day they will be gone through the magic of erosion. We set up camp after searching for the site for almost an hour (the National Park Service is terrible with directions), and just hang out at the site. Sunset’s here are supposed to be awe inspiring, so we kill the afternoon at the trailer and relaxing after our five hour drive and south rim tour. I’m laying on my bottom bunk, stretched out on the sleeping bag, letting the cool air blow through the window. Armor for Sleep comes through my headphones. Life doesn’t get much better than this. I close my eyes and let time pass me by.
I’m awoken with a hand on my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I see the color outside has begun to dim. Allison is standing over me, but I can’t hear her through the headphones. I slide them off my head and onto my neck.

“I said LET’S GO!” she yells. “We’re gonna miss it!”

I hop up out of bed, losing my balance and getting tunnel vision as the blood flow to my head is offset. I stumble into the dinette table, knocking it off kilter, and the open box of Cheez-its goes sailing down the side, over the edge, and gracefully empties itself in the kind of montage that is often seen in slow motion and paired with a classical music score. It’s 8:30, and sunset is in 15 minutes. We pile into the car – the cheesy crackers will have to wait – and my dad takes the wheel. He drives through the campsite at that speed where it’s not quite dangerous, yet not quite safe either. We finally make our way out, and I glance at the dashboard clock. 8:33. It’s growing darker; the automatic headlights have turned themselves on. Coming onto the main road, I see a line of cars going the same way as us, and they aren’t moving very fast. This evening probably won’t end great.
But it is all for naught. Traffic is persistent, and coupled with the full parking lot, we arrive at our lookout as the sun is receding over the horizon. Disappointed, we solemnly walk back to the parking lot. I am unsurprised to find a few amateur stargazers, probably tourists from big cities who came out here to show their kids that stars don’t actually look like helicopters. But as we round a bus I am greeted with a massive parabolic telescope – with a tube almost five feet wide and ten feet long – and a man in a chair, aiming carefully through the viewfinder. He adjusts focus and direction with numerous knobs. I stop my parents to watch. Guy’s this hardcore usually know what’s up.

“What’s good for gazing tonight?” I ask.

“Gonna be a beautiful Mars and Saturn, and the star’s are gonna be great – there’s almost no moon tonight, you see?”

I look up, and indeed, the moon is not yet hinting at its appearance. More telescopes have appeared, and there are all sorts of shapes and sizes. I guess the trip to the lookout will prove to be eventful yet. I peruse the crowd of astronomy geeks, using knowledge from my distant past to refer to a few basic constellations, asking if certain planets are out. Names like Leo, Cassiopia and Orion meet Venus, Mars and Uranus. A few people are letting passerby view the heavens. I go up to one man who’s telescope isn’t the largest there, about three feet across and five or six feet long, but still powerful looking. He’s got to be in his mid sixties and looks like he’s been in the business a while. He’s just got a commanding, “I know exactly what I’m doing” aura. A couple in their twenties are just leaving, so I mosey on up to him.

“Got any good shots tonight?”

“Yes indeed sir, got a B-E-A-utiful shot of Saturn and all her glory” he spews out with a southern drawl the likes of which I had never heard.

“Mind if I take a look?”

“Naw, sure, go right ahead.”

I peer into the telescope and see…nothing. I move myself up and down, left and right, and then I see it. That sand colored sphere, rings tilted down at about a 45 degree angle. I look around and can make out a couple moons traveling across, spackling the giant ball of swirling gases with black shadows. I can clearly make out the outer and inner rings, a stripe of black emptiness dividing them. The swirls of orange on the lighter background…I felt small looking at the canyon a few hundred feet behind me, never mind something almost ten times the size of the earth.

“Can you see it?” the man asks.

“It’s…beautiful…” I slowly remark. And I thought the Grand Canyon was big. The third largest object in our solar system, and I was looking at it. But what about what’s behind it? Hundreds of stars create the background on which Saturn lies. Back in Colorado, across Oklahoma, across New Mexico and Arizona, it was all flat. We say “you can see forever”. But you can’t see forever; the Earth curves out of your view. The atmosphere distorts your vision, bending light and blocking it. The darkest depths of the universe lay behind Saturn, behind Pluto. Some of them are so far away that the light hasn’t even reached us yet. But someday it will.

I know this one is leaning a bit to far to the biased side, but do you think the facts are here to back it up?

______________________________________________________



One of the latest advances in surgical techniques has been laparoscopy, the medical term for a minimally invasive procedure. Many issues which used to require days or weeks in a hospital, such as the common disease appendicitis, can now be treated as an outpatient procedure, rarely requiring more than an overnight stay for observation. And according to the Associated Press, in an article by Verena Dobnik, “Researchers found that doctors who spent at least three hours a week playing video games made about 37% fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task 27% faster than their counterparts who did not play.” So who would you want to be your surgeon?

Surgery isn’t the only place we see the benefits of videogames. According to an article in the Boston Globe by Emily Anthes, “Fast-paced, action-packed video games have been shown, in separate studies, to boost visual acuity, spatial perception, and the ability to pick out objects in a scene.” This translates to better reaction skills, better multitasking, and most relevant to modern society, better driving skills. As an avid player, I’ve seen firsthand the effects of playing racing games, puzzle games, and even the ever-controversial first and third person shooter genres. Even spending 15-30 minutes a day playing something as simple as Tetris can help keep your mind stimulated and in shape. However, when you’re playing Call of Duty, Halo or other titles in online competition, the stakes are raised. You need to be able to focus on eight or more players at any given time, know what they’re doing, react to that, and react instantly to any change in the field of play, be it an explosion, a moving vehicle, or the very ground you’re standing on rearranging itself. But mentioning the word shooter or discussing how your favorite gun in Call of Duty is the M249 with Heartbeat Sensor in today’s world can spark intense debate and controversy, and unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened.

Video games have long been subject to intense dispute. First brought to popularity in the 1980s with titles like Pong and Pac Man, the industry has grown exponentially into a multi-billion dollar, cross-media business. Dozens of startup developers appear every year, hoping to make it big, but like any developing trade many of them fall just as fast. Some, such as Infinity Ward (creators of Call of Duty), Bungie (responsible for the Halo franchise) or Bioware (creators of Mass Effect and the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, among others ) go on to become legends. The industry directly employs more than 32,000 in 34 US states, over 120,000 indirectly, and thousands more outside of the US, most notably Japan (Siwek). Video games aren’t just for kids, either. The Electronic Software Association reports that since 1999, video game players over 50 have risen from nine percent to 26 percent in 2010. With the aforementioned mental benefits (reactionary skills, multitasking, and more) coupled with a new activity the entire family can enjoy in the comfort of their own home, what’s not to like?

Infamous among the gaming industry, disbarred Florida lawyer John “Jack” Thompson has long been a critic of video games. He was discharged from the Florida Bar in July 2008 on the grounds of inappropriate conduct, making false statements in court and making reproachful and humiliating statements in regard to his opponents. For many years prior to disbarment, however, he actively challenged violence in videogames, often falsely citing it as the cause of school shootings including those at Heath High School, one of his first cases, and Columbine. The Heath lawsuit sought $33 million in damages against various producers of video games, pornographic websites and the movie The Basketball Diaries. It was thrown out on the basis that the claim was not legally recognizable, and that the shooter – Michael Carneal – had acted unpredictably to the defendants.

Thompson has filed dozens of other cases, even going so far as to write a letter to developer Midway demanding they cease and desist selling the game Mortal Kombat: Armageddon because the character creation software can be used to generate his likeness by specifically altering a set of facial features and manipulating the character’s hair. This is also around the time that he initiated a one man war against the latest creation of Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, Bully. Rockstar Games are the minds behind the well known Grand Theft Auto and Midnight Club series, along with others, often push the boundaries of what social norms are for videogames. I see nothing wrong with this, because if no one pushes those boundaries, how will they ever move? Thompson did not attack Bully for violent content, which was in a short supply (as a fifteen year old student at a private school, weapons besides a rubber band slingshot are hard to come by), but the fact that if the player gains enough respect among his school’s cliques he gains access to one student from each group to pursue a romantic relationship with. Not wanting to leave anyone out, Rockstar makes it possible to woo boys from some cliques. Thompson is quoted as saying, “We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your ‘Teen’ rating now.” The game did, in fact, retain its teen rating, and if that qualifies as sexual content, I would like to know what he thinks of the end of almost every Disney princess movie.

For some more background information on Bully, the game doesn’t star the traditional bully character. Yes, he gets into several fistfights, but in the end of the game he saves the headmaster of the school, Bullworth Academy, from a sociopathic student named Gary, who he personally turns over to the police. The Grand Theft Auto series presents similar takes on this story telling mechanic, only on a citywide scale. With the freedom to choose your own path, most players will do what they cannot in real life and break dozens of laws, from various traffic violations to injuring and killing federal agents. The little known truth is that you can play the game completely to the finish as a perfectly law abiding citizen, and as you break more laws, the heavier the police (and sometimes military) will come down upon you. Rockstar doesn’t sell this game requiring players to make all the illegal and morally incorrect choices, it simply presents this an option. Matthew Orona, community writer for the website Bitmob, wrote an article detailing his son's experience with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. His four year old son. Surely this man was out of his mind? Letting such a young and impressionable child beat prostitutes, deal drugs, and run over pedestrians? However, none of these came to pass. Upon approaching a car stopped at a red light, Orona suggests to his son to take the car; he blatantly refuses, "stating that the car was already owned by the person driving it". After wandering the city for some time, he finds a car that is unoccupied and begins driving around the city, not like a maniac, but stopping at intersections, staying in his lane, and following most rules of the road. He then requests to try and "get the bad guys", at which point Orona activates the "Vigilante Missions". Orona's son then spends his time arresting criminals, taking people to the hospital, and putting out fires across the city. Where's the controversy in that? Orona closes his article by stating that, "He didn't avoid these things because I told him he couldn't try them. It just never occurred to him to commit these acts. " It's games that feature options like this that are growing ever more popular among many developers, including Bioware.

Bioware’s Mass Effect games are renowned for their incredible story, each requiring over 30 hours of game play time to fully complete, and having played them both I can vouch for both the story and the most interesting aspect, Bioware’s conversation mechanic. Each time your character, Commander Shepard, is given the chance to speak to someone - which is incredibly often - you are presented with a "conversation wheel". This features up to five options to propel the conversation in any different direction. Some of these are colored blue or red, for Paragon - usually defined by good moral standards, self sacrifice and honor - and Renegade, respectively. The more a player responds as Paragon or Renegade, the more their demeanor changes. Squad mates will react differently, certain missions will close or become available, and several key story points are decided by how you have built your own character. This can really help teach kids about right and wrong; being a Renegade can often present you with short term gain, but it certainly isn't the best way to make friends. For people who have social awkwardness and aren't the best at making these decisions, trial runs in videogames with realistic AI reactions can be important - but more than that, they add another layer of realism.
It may sound like a stretch, but playing a variety of games can help slow the onslaught of aging, and the mental degeneration that comes with it. New devices like the Wii, Microsoft's Kinect and the PlayStation Move are getting gamers up and off the sofa, trying to relieve the stereotype that gamers are lazy and unwilling to participate in physical activity. As a Kinect owner, I can say that I am very excited to see what this technology brings around. Even with the game that shipped, I'm jumping around and using almost 40 square feet of my dorm - the majority of the room - to play some games. Sure, you can play Wii Sports on the couch, but where's the fun in that?

Fun is one of the key words in the videogame industry. Every major press conference I've seen, from presentations at the dying Tokyo Game Show to the world renowned annual Electronic Entertainment Exposition (or E3, for short), focus not just on how their game is innovative in mechanics or the software running it, but they tell you why it's fun. That's why these were invented - it's why all games were invented. Games develop real life skills in ways that make it fun to the learner. Chess and checkers help people plan ahead, strategize, and multitask, and so videogames follow suit, with a few bonuses to boot. So if you haven't played one yet, go pick up a controller and see what you're missing out on.