Everyone, check out this article: “Motor vehicles bureau sick of the clock.” Personally, I’m not sure I want to watch the people I’ll be driving with instead of the clock. Ignorance really is bliss.

As a liberal arts major, I hear a lot of jokes about how valuable my English degree is going to be when I graduate. (”I’m a liberal arts major. Do you want fries with that?” says one radio blurb.) In fact, when I tell people that I am an English major, the general response seems to be “what are you going to do with that?” The fact of the matter is that the liberal arts seem to be viewed as a great route to poverty. However, this past weekend, I read an article in the paper that got me thinking about the usefulness of the liberal arts in today’s world.
The article discussed how there was a tendency, particularly in public education, to focus on the sciences and mathematics to the exclusion of the liberal arts. I think that this is an accurate assessment, traceable to the “space race” in the late 50’s and early 60’s. During that time period, there was a massive emphasis on mathematics and the sciences in public education in order to create a new generation of researchers who would push the US past the Soviets, thus winning the space race and beating the Soviets out in a game of technological one-upmanship that would continue for several more decades. Needless to say, the generation who grew up during this time period invented the computer chip, the internet, and other devices that we have come to depend on.
I think, though, that the pendulum is starting to swing the other direction. Much of the work that used to be done by engineers and scientists is now done by supercomputers with greater speed and accuracy than any human could do. “Left brain” functions such as calculation and logic are being rendered increasingly unnecessary by today’s computing power, which leads me to my point.
In today’s business world, the real money is in creative, visionary leadership. Those who understand people and can creatively address their needs, giving those around them the same vision, are the big successes. In addition, more and more of business is interpersonal. The ability to relate to and work with people is key. Communications skills are no longer an option. These are things that no formula can explain and no equation can solve.
Within the liberal arts, on the other hand, we have thousands of years of humanity’s attempts to understand humanity through words, pictures, and music. As we soak in these centuries of collective wisdom, we discover people. We begin to understand people. And this understanding is worth a lot in today’s marketplace, to say nothing of the intrinsic personal value. The liberal arts also teach communications skills. The ability to convey thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly and accurately is a major focus of a liberal arts education. These skills are invaluable in the business world, for what good is even the most brilliant idea if nobody else can comprehend it?
In conclusion, I think it would be wise if educational institutions, public or otherwise would put more focus on the liberal arts when planning the core curriculum. I think this would present a step in the right direction to changing prevailing attitudes, and provide us with the next generation of business leaders and visionaries. In addition, I personally would appreciate a return of culture and the arts to our mainstream society.

311 with special guests Unwritten Law and Papa Roach were in town last night, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend, courtesy of my friend Kat. Unwritten Law opened the concert with some songs from their new album Here’s to the Mourning along with a smattering of tracks from their previous albums. Although it was fun to hear some of my favorite Unwritten Law songs (”Seeing Red”, “Save Me”) the band was actually pretty disappointing. I got the feeling that they wanted to be off the stage as quickly as the concertgoers wanted them off. It didn’t help that the setting sun was shining straight into their eyes while they played. In any case, I was sorry that they didn’t play better. They were followed by Papa Roach, and although I don’t generally care for his music, he put on a great show. He had a lot of energy, and the previously lethargic crowd started to get excited. Ultimately, however, the crowd was there to see 311, which became obvious as soon as the band hit the stage. It was such a change that I wondered where all the people had suddenly come from. They played to an electrified crowd, and by the end of it all, we were nearly breathless. It was easy to see why the fans had come for 311 and 311 alone: There was a creativity and an energy to their music that was lacking in the other bands, to say nothing for the impressive showmanship they exhibited. They played several songs from their new upcoming album Don’t Tread on Me due out on the 16th of this month, including at least one world premier performance. They also put in a nice mix of previous hits, like “Down”, “Amber”, “Beautiful Disaster”, and “Come Original.” In the end, it was 311’s show, and to quote Kat, “If you weren’t a fan before, you will be now.”

Visit 311’s website to hear tracks of the new album here.

The name of the site says it all. It’s presumptuous, I know, but those who know me (and I assume that pretty much everybody who gets around to reading this site knows me,) can definitely see that this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I plan on sharing many of my gripes, observations, musings, mockings, arguments, and things that I think are generally humorous on this site. I might even deign to put something insightful on here every once in a while, although I don’t want to do that too often for fear that it will ruin my image. In any case, I hope that everyone, including myself, will enjoy this.