Even erudite flies get smashed now and then for sounding too ‘school smart’. As one of many AU students not immersed in an academic social sphere, Jason’s ‘Fly on the Wall’ column seeks to aid and abet the success of others in his cohort. We won’t always be understood when we speak of what we are learning in school but we can rest assured that our education still has value.
His lighthearted approach to sociological philosophy stems from conducting field research at bush parties and working his day job reforesting the mountains of BC. Born in the city of Vancouver and raised on a farm in the Fraser Valley and an orchard in the Okanagan, he attained a diploma in Horticulture in the Creston Valley and then returned to school as a Sociology major. Today’s he’s an AU Master’s of Integrated Studies student who spends his spare time enjoying nature walks, snorkeling and reading whatever philosophical and sociological tracts capture his fancy.
Jason is fascinated with the micro-sociological thoughts and interactions that frame and demarcate our experience of daily life as well as the philosophical realm considering essential questions about what it is to be a human. It’s dense brush but Jason seeks answers where murkiness holds sway.
A Few Theoretical Influences: Louis Althusser, Isaac Asimov, Jean Baudrillard, Simone de Beauvoir, Aime Cesaire, Carol Clover, John Cummings, Kurt Cobain, Jacques Derrida, Emile Durkheim, Michel Foucault, Erving Goffman, Antonio Gramsci, Martin Heidegger, Thomas Hobbes, Agnes Martin, Karl Marx, Georg Simmel, Max Weber
A little perspective never hurts; autumn can be a great time to take stock of our lives. As a kid, I’d look over my shoulder this time of year and long for summer’s return. Now that new teachers and schoolwork had lost their vague thrilling pangs (like the sensation of walking barefoot on smooth gravel,… Read more »
Especially in September, when the somber weight of fall falls on our hearts, it helps to position ourselves rationally when we think about the forging forth in our studies. At AU we are bettering our ephemeral essences, but we are also aiding our ambitious drive for a better income and a more stable economic life. … Read more »
September brings apprehension and ambivalence to students of all ages. Whether our classroom days are four or forty years hence the creeping shadows of autumn re-stimulate memories of that dreaded return to school. Our formative years were divided, as if with a paper cutter, every September; a whoosh of a sucking sound vacated our spirits… Read more »
Fill in the blank quiz questions can be a breeze or a bummer. Like multiple choice, they leave little margin for error or ambiguity. There seems to be no room to elaborate or hedge one’s bets by fluffing up an answer to cover as much terrain as feels right. So, with that in mind, inevitably… Read more »
Pop culture gleams with opportunities for sociological analytics. Take the country song “What Was I Thinking” by Dierks Bentley: “I was thinking ‘bout a little white tank top sitting right there in the middle by me I was thinking about a long kiss man just gotta get goin’ with a night like me Well I… Read more »
In This House, A Base and A Superstructure We’re trained, said Althusser, to think simultaneously on two levels—the first cultural, the second economic. This second level is actually the base of the first (as we know when we buy something our heart yearns to possess; it’s our money that does the talking in the end)… Read more »
“It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again” This timeless line from Silence of the Lambs (and its countless attendant memes) may enter our mind clothed in hyperbole as we study on hot summer days. Maybe we have air conditioning and maybe we don’t; sometimes we might eschew A/C… Read more »
What’s in a moment? If it’s a summer moment, there might be wisps of breeze in leaves and abundant sultry heat. Isn’t a moment the ultimate timeless time frame; doesn’t its passing nature transcend ordinary timed context? Measuring time at the best of times is a sticky philosophical proposition: “the measurement of time is puzzling… Read more »
The production of enlightened wisdom is not a matter of putting our names to a simple sign up sheet. The methods we choose yield results proper to their context. The devils we dance with, and classes we register in, make us who we are. To face the unknown and the danger it entails is part… Read more »
Kids often want to play outdoors this time of year and by doing so they set a great example for us as studious summer students. Why not follow their lead; but what to do in the great outdoors? Maybe hop in a canoe! And if a canoe isn’t present, or it’s out in the garage… Read more »