Sociology and the Squirrel

Ah college. I won't begin on the cultural norm we've formed that has turned college into HS the sequel(as it irks me too much to keep focus), but I would like to highlight some sociological experiences I had on my college visits over sprin break! Which are just now coming to mind to blog about!

In any case, I studied two things at every college I visited: The quads and the squirrels. On the quadrangles, I payed attention to how many students, what they were up to, etc., while trying to stay sociologically mindful, and I noticed essentially what I notice in a Stevenson common: Like goes with like except sometimes. Now this was interesting because it left other factors up to imagination about why who was with who. Clearly athletes are with athletes, but the dork and the blonde don't seem like a pre-made combination. Nor do the punk rocker and the prep. And then the stereotypes lift! I thought that was interesting at least, to see that personality does play more of a factor than even defining roles at times because while you may carry yourself as a prep, that might not be your master status; and that master status is what brings you your friends. I also kinda did a classroom map of the quad and found that people looking for quiet places to read tended to sit under tree or near buildings, away from all the hub bub that was frisby. These people smiled and all, but seemed less gregarious than the frisbiers who greeted me at every tour and seemed excited to just be playing frisby. Here again the crowd dynamic and the master status bit played a role and I could carry my chin a little higher knowing that was part of the explanation. Now for the squirrels, it was more of a search into the atmosphere of the college, biological and otherwise. Since I don't know the sociology of squirrels, I only watched one at a time, but I looked at things like a healthy coat, healthy weight, no hyper-sensitivty to humans, shiny eyes, etc. Shocking, some schools had no squirrels. These were schools I couldn't imagine attending because CLEARLY something somewhere was off if they could chase squirrels away. Other schools had really fat squirrels with bad fur which hints at maybe dangerous pesticides or unhealthy food/food refuse. The squirrels that seemed healthiest to me were digging up acorns in the gardens, running around trees to play(with me or other squirrels), and seemed happier. Inevitably, squirrels equalled students. Students at schools sans squirrels seemed fake and unnatural, students with unhealthy squirrels seemed cramped or bored and restless, and healthy squirrels meant smiles all around and a happy bounce in the students step from class to class. Long live empiricism!

As a sidenote and partial reply to the UnTV and the undisputed culture of movement we always cover in class, I have returned to my walking meditation now that the weather is more climate. Any of you are welcome to join me one afternoon if you find my neighborhood, it's a very relaxing activity. One doesn't really do it to pay attention to things, in my practice, or to center ones thoughts, but just to breath. And breathing is alot of what gets harder in our world with all the stress we put on ourselves. The basic practice is this: walk at a comfortable pace and inhale deeply, counting how many steps you take as you inhale and take the same number as you exhale. Then slow down your steps, but maintain your breathing and the count. Between 3 and 5 steps is a good number as it is a veeery slooow stroooll and one can really feel a disconnection from the culture of intense motion. Losing this pace is easy, but it's not too hard to keep it either. The trick is to pay attention to things transiently. Look at a rose and keep walking and when the rose is gone you just focus on breathing again. No more rose. It's really a "see what you can see" thing I suppose. So just slow down, and breath. And watch what happens. If at first you're bored that's fine, but eventually it should be a very refreshing experience. So there's squirrels and something to do this spring. Happy walking, comments welcome, and I bid you good night!