Why we travel

This article was very deep. The author explains how traveling should be a much more profound and cultural experience than it is for most people. What I got from this writer is that when we travel we are not only supposed to indulge ourselves with the culture that we are traveling too, but to also bring our culture with us. It seems that the basic point of this writing is to get the reader to understand that sometimes going to less fortunate places and experiencing the unknown of cultures, it will only help us to become a better person. It was interesting how he compares traveling to being a child. It is true that when I travel I am much more open to change, and having a open mind lets me learn and experience more. Like a child does, I am open to the unknown and don't seem to really care. When I go to Mexico I always find myself wanting to learn the culture more and more, and not really caring that I do not understand the language all the time. I think if more people viewed traveling as a "love affair" as the author describes, we would probably get so much more out of our vacations. He obviously views traveling as a way to completely learn and feel the atomosphere of which you are in, to see everything even the bad and less fortunate things. This article I believe was more a reading about how to open up your mind and heart to the world around us. While he does speak of physical travel, I think he is more talking about a metephore of traveling outside our normal lives to experience more and help others to experience more as well.

He compares traveling to a love affair several times. Interesting comparison mostly because he is right that when we love good we are so open to learning everything we can about that person. We long to find more out, if we felt this way when we traveled we would see everything for what it is with emotion not just with our eyes. I think the writer wants us to use our felling more than our sight, he seems to think this is the only way to live your life, I think I agree.

The Tourist

In the Excerts for the Tourists by Dean MacCannell I really was able to relate to a lot of what he had to say. I completely agree that tourism has become increasingly materialized and all about making money. I truly feel that when you vacation to a special place it should be because you want to get something out of it. For me that means relaxing, but also it means that I am somehow getting in touch with the culture or history of where I am going. That is the beauty of visiting other locations, you can actually learn something new and add to your experience in life. MacCannell brings up a good point that some tourist attatractions popularity come in waves according to things that happen in society or from word of mouth. I also agree with him when he speaks about how things are so commercialized for instance McDonald's being all around the world. The amount of money that is spent on souvineirs and tours can get to be ridiculous. I was horrified at how often we had added charges, taxes, or just extra fee's when we traveled to Mexico last December. Having just been there 3 years ago I was surprised at home much more or a tourist attraction Mexico had become, and I later found that the prices in that area go up 30% simply because it is prime season when we were there. I think that is terrible, but once again you get out of your travels what you allow yourself to do. We found ways to see the beauty, experience the culture, and enjoy the weather without breaking our pocketbooks everytime we turned around.
I was very interested by his story of the African girl whom was taken back by vending machines in America and how they take the place of people standing there vending the product. Having her prospective can educate us on just how different things are in other places around the world. And how just by buying a soda we are taking for granted the technology we have at our fingertips. It must have been interesting to be there to experience that with her and to explain to her what it was, but also to get her feedback on it as well.
Although sometimes exploited I think tourism is a necessity in some areas. I just wish that sometimes it didn't take from the natural beauty of the locations, and history. Again I think that as a tourist you can get so much from visiting any locations, everywhere has history, culture, and interest in many ways. It is up to the individual themselves to learn from it and broaden your own mind. This essay helped again to see prospectives of others and to remember why we travel in the first place.

The Loss of the Creature

This essay was very interesting, particularly how Walker Percy chooses to show us a different side to how some people view things. I truly believe that you take from an experience or a viewing what you allow yourself. Although Percy brings up a valid point to the experience of discovering something. It is true that only Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, whom actually discovered the Grand Canyon, could truly take pride in the feeling of his discovery. However I do not feel that any other person cannot be breath taken by the beauty of the Grand Canyon. I think the experience is solely up to the person and how they choose to indulge themselves in it. True to what Percy says, one could become bored or feel that they didn't fully experience something. But isn't it true that this person would probably feel that way no matter what? Not because he didn't discover something knew or that the Grand Canyon didn't live up to the postcards he had seen. Most people that go to the Grand Canyon are going to see the immense beauty of it, and even be amazed. Even at age 12 I was breath-taken by it's beauty, and I had seen pictures a hundred times of the Grand Canyon. However I will say that I have a vivid memory of my visit on the second day because there was a rare lunar eclipse that happened before our very eyes. I remember how big of a deal it was, to this day that is my only experience of a lunar eclipse and it happened at the Grand Canyon. So I do understand Percy when he says that sometimes it takes a special experience or discovery to fully feel like you are fulfilled of an experience. However the Grand Canyon was equally as beautiful before and after that lunar eclipse, more memorable, but just as breath taking. I also share his opinion that you truly can be impacted by a place or experience if you whave a desire to share that with someone else. I have been to Mexico several times but have always longed to bring my family or friends there to share the experience with me. Last December my in laws traveled with my family and I to Puerta Vallarta. I enjoyed their happiness and excitement more than being there myself because they too now know the beauty my husband and I have known for years. This essay was very interesting, got me thinking in alternate ways about my experiences and what I took from them. I think this reading will help me to remember to look at things from many angles in order to take away the fullest. I found the ending very strange, not sure I fully understood the ending.

Track 3 #4 Personal Routine

I fully agree with David Greenburger in his radio broadcast about the personal routines of the elderly. Elderly people are extremely habitual, they require consistency, and I believe it helps them to feel safe. Just like when we are children and need a routine, and the comfort of knowing what to expect, we revert back to that same need as elder adults. Although routine is comfortable for people of all ages I have particularly noticed that some elderly people cannot function with out their normal routine. As for my generation of grandparents I think they need this routine because it is a duplication of the simple life they led. In this day and age our lives are far from simple, but my grandparents led simple lives, no computers, no cell phones, no crazy schedules and hectic lives. They worked, made money, and cared for their families. In my experience elderly people today need the simple things in life to be habitual or they feel lost, and confused at times scared. Putting an elderly person in a nursing home completely destroys everything they have grown to know and trust. Mr. Greenburger states that the experience of entering a nursing home is like being on a bus ride and never getting off, how true I believe this analogy to be. So many times these elderly people decline as soon as they enter, they don’t know how to deal with the change, as it is so different from the home they have always known.

Assisted Living Vs Nursing Homes

After reading this story about Doreen Sparks I realized a situation like this never even came to thought for me. How terrible to be living in a nice Assisted Living location then is told that you are being evicted due to your increasing medical problems. Having read these reading about nursing homes and the elderly it is so apparent that once being relocated to these places a serious loss of independence takes place. But in Doreen’s case you will have to experience this loss twice, and all the while taking steps down in the process. This seems like such a tough thing to have to do but it is inevitable, if there are standards and rules in Assisted Living places then it is bound to happen due to ageing and medical problems. I feel a huge deal of sadness for these people whom manage to finally make this place a home, only to eventually be uprooted due to medical issues. Again I feel class would play a huge role in this, without the proper money to pay for Assisted Living most elderly people aren’t even given the chance to experience this. However on the other hand if someone who is in a class that can afford such living how difficult it must be to go from your own home, to assisted living, and then to a nursing home all due to illness and aging. Just as the article states, dignity places a huge part in the struggle to accept their aging.

There must be a way to better transition these elderly people since we know this is a problem and bound to happen. The one thing that Assisted Living offers is a home like presence, this helps the transition for newly widowed, or newly ailing people that can no longer take care of themselves. Class or culture should never dictate how one spends the last years of there life. A home like setting should always be an option no matter if it needs to be a nursing home or assisted living. I don’t think that past generations had to make these decisions because today we live in a world of more greed and less empathy for those who need our help.

Nursing Homes Coming up Short

This article was extremely disturbing to me in the fact that nursing homes are lacking in so many areas. Not meeting state mandates, 93% turnover rate, 54% violating federal standards some of which including food preparation! The scary thing is that these are all based on Sonoma County nursing homes, the local places that house our elderly people. If this isn’t the exact opposite of the American Dream I don’t know what is. Once the hard decision is made to have to place your loved one here the last thing on one’s mind should be if they will be properly taken care of. Unfortunetly I think that class has a huge thing to do with this. If everyone could afford to put their loved ones in a beautiful assisted living facility with luxury accommodations they would. But the hard facts remain that when an elderly loved one is at a point where they need assistance there aren’t many choices if you are limited with funds. However this is no excuse for the basic necessities of these locations to not be meeting guidelines. This article states that the main reason for the problems is finding good quality nurses and keeping them employed there. I do not feel that we live in a society that gives enough thought to the elderly, nor do people want to take responsibility to make things better for them. I feel this attitude could be a reason for why it is difficult to keep these nurses around. On the other hand I would find it difficult to work in an environment that holds such low standards; it would be terrible to see that everyday.

This is such a terrible problem today; something must be done to raise the expectations, or the repercussions to these low ratings. Life is difficult enough when you must be forced into a place like this; it is unacceptable that these nursing homes here in California aren’t meeting even the lowest guidelines. With this as problem there is no conceivable way these nursing homes could ever be called anything close to home. I think as our economy has grown weaker we may have cut corners in these facilities, and just in the thought process of how to care for the elderly. We must create a culture that puts more pride into elderly care; it is our duty to make the last years of the elderly life the best it can be. After all we are all headed there, and we will all want that same respect when it comes time for us to experience this type of life.

"Quality of Life in Assisted Living Facilities: Viewpoints of Residents"

It is obvious that the meaning of “Home” in this day for the residents of nursing homes is very lacking. The majority of these elderly people do not consider these places a home, and how could they? In many cases it is much the opposite of home, although they tend to make the best of it, the sadness is very eminent. I think that the American Dream in connections with our homes pretty much dies when you enter a nursing home. It was very sad to me to hear that so many of these elderly people suffer from depression and anxiety, how terrible to live that last few years of your life this way, I think this is pretty much where the American Dream ends for most people. The loss of freedom, the ability to do all things for themselves, and just the sense of loneliness are just a few things that plague these elderly people. I did however find it interesting that the vast majority were all of Caucasian race, women and widowed. I have been told in the past that certain races refuse to put their loved ones in a nursing home. I wonder if culturally this is true. Having visited my grandmother in a nursing home last year I did notice the majority being woman, and white. I have a terrible vision of nursing homes because of those visits to my grandmother. After reading these evaluations, and the facts from the mouths of these elders it only confirms what I saw here in Sonoma County with my own eyes. I was however surprised to hear that when interviewed in the quality of life article 94% of residents were satisfied with the quality of care. However 54% suffered from depression, and in another question 44% were lonely. I think these statistics alone speak very loudly, if 94% of the residents are happy with the care they get but such high numbers still exist about being unhappy it is obvious this lifestyle and surroundings are the cause. Most of the people interviewed expressed happiness that they had private rooms. But again another problem expressed by residents was boredom. I think it would be very difficult as an elderly person to be uprooted, moved, and have your independence taken from you. I would think it would be impossible to call this life home. Although I think most of these people make the best of the situation, they still suffer, and in most cases it accelerates their time left alive. This was a very interesting read for me, I like that the author gave the residents a voice of how they feel about their living conditions. I find it a very sad subject when it comes to having to make the painful choice to put a loved one in a facility like these. I think that elderly people make the best of it by no means it is a place to truly call home, and it is a far cry for the “American Dream” of a white picket fence.