The Lottery - Shartrand

I've grown up in the Protestant church. I feel like, presently, I understand a majority of the rituals and practices in my faith. Though when I was younger, the church I went to participated in various Old Testament practices. We would not eat leavened bread (bread with yeast) for a week, which was appropriately called The Days of Unleavened Bread. When I was younger, I did this because I was told to, not because I understood the point. Right now, I am part of a different denomination, and I participate in New Testament practices. These rituals and practices have meaning to me, and to my faith.

All of my younger experiences allow me to see how and why the townspeople in Jackson's story participate in these yearly stoning sessions. They feel like they'll get something out of it, even if that idea is not based in facts, even if they've never really seen the benefits, they just believe eventually they'll understand.

The Lottery - Dan H

I had read this story in middle school and hadn't thought much of it. Back then it left me confused and disturbed. And not much has changed the second time I read it. What is the purpose of stoning a randomly chosen citizen? Is it because the town is too populated for it's resources? Religious purposes? Those are the only reasons I can think of. Otherwise it seems inhumane. I wanna know why??

Rituals

Generally, I do not mindlessly find myself entangled in rituals. Being Jewish I do try my best to fast on Yom Kippur and such, however, I have been taught the meaning behind those actions. I can only think of one instance where I almost religiously find myself trapped within a punishment of repetition. I was no older than nine years old and had been forced to take a trip with my mom, brother, and two of his friends. Now, this trip seemed like an eternity as did most car excursions of my childhood, although I am sure it lasted no longer than ten minutes. I can't remember exactly where it was we were headed, but along the way we passed a grave yard. With the sight of that first headstone, "Jack Rabbit" had been screamed from the backseat. I then turned around; puzzled by this new expression. My brother’s friend then began explaining that every time I see a grave yard I must repeat those two words to ensure the safety of myself and family. Since that day I cannot drive past a grave yard without saying “Jack Rabbit” in my head. Throughout my childhood, I was convinced that every time I avoided death, which seemed to happen rather frequently, it was due to that marvelous phrase I had been taught. Now, I am not a superstitious person, I mean I have a black cat so how could I be, but this habit has never left my side.

The Lottery-Brown

I'd say that i make a lot of sacrifices in hopes of finding good luck on a pretty regular basis. It's hard for me to think about why I may do this, because I don't see myself as a person with an external locus of control, but maybe I am. For example, when I'm snowboarding and I land a trick, I sacrifice trying a new trick because I feel like sticking to that same newly learned trick in hopes of it keeping me from falling for the rest of the day. But it's not only when i am snowboarding, if i go to the mac lab here at school, and find a computer that works good for me one time; I'll try my best to go and use that same computer every time I'm down there. I'm aware that most likely that computer isn't the best, in fact it may even be the farthest away from the printer, but since it worked good for me once, i sacrifice being close to the printer in order to use that computer. I think that even if you don't believe in external forces having control over your actions, you still are willing to make sacrifices in hopes of finding good luck.

The Lottery - Derfu

As far as sacrifices go, I can admit that I find it quite fanciful to sacrifice virgins in anticipation of apocalyptic rapture, but in a way it is also confusing. The reason for identifying virgins as sacrificial victims for such an effect escapes me, as the things are in no way related. In fact, I would suppose, given my current and expanding understanding of the ways of sacrificial ritual, that to honor with an entity more experienced with others in any and/or all ways will create greater connection via collective, so virgins seem to be the least apt by that ticket of the bunch. Furthermore, most of them are quite young, and ineffective for the process because of their limited repertoire of experiences that may occur over very long intervals, and which are quite elusive to those not accustomed, i.e. unadapted people and those adapted in the wrong ways.
"The Lottery," methinks, has very much more focus on ideas of civil obligations, duties to the state that must be done for it to succeed, but which are often unexplained in that consequence, and disparities that come about as a result of a society's failings, but are nevertheless considered "just." Should a vagabond in the gutters be caused to suffer for the delight and prosperity of achievers? Or should that very vagrant be treated to ritual indulgence at cost of the others? Let alone, these things are wild and inherently unequal. Fixed, their inequality is just as vast, but assigned an illusory regularity that makes them easier to decipher with a fixed perspective, but harder from a universal sight. Such security makes peace in faith, but danger in contemplation sometimes, and conscience. Sacrifices sometimes are so forcible and pointless, but often for the same purposes as any of the self. In general, I think people scarcely understand the effect of their actions before they commit them, and that may have something to do with certain misallocations of superstition (such as the specific of throwing salt when paprika was supposed to work just as well by early many, or a crux that only signifies position, or the inordinate misunderstanding of the truth of grimalkin, who have absolutely nothing to do with malicious magic favor, generally only a kind of indifference wrought from eternities of experience outside of feeble human life).

The Lottery - Kalweit

I have grown up participating in lent since i can remember, for my family it was a tradition that took place before Easter. For lent, my brother and i were forced to choose something to give up for lent, usually some sort of food or candy. Although it was not a life changing or drastic commitment, it reinforced the idea of religion being an everyday aspect of someone's life. For me the only reason that i took part of it was cause my mother told me to, i really did not have a choice. Once i got older it was taken so seriously, and the pressure from my mother had declined. It had turned into an event that my brother and I would look at as a betting competition. It was a time where I would give up something that i truly did not need, but I still do not know why I didn't think twice about participating in it.

The Lottery-Larsen

I also am not a religious person. However, I am very superstitious. For example, you won't ever find me spilling salt. However if I do, you can be certain that some salt is going to be thrown over my left shoulder. I wonder why I am like this, but honestly I don't know. Maybe it's because my parents are like this. So in a sense maybe me being superstitious is kind of like a religion. Religious views such as christianity are passed down in famalies, so why not superstitious views? I don't want my life to be unlucky, so that is why I take the necessary steps to avoid envoking bad luck. After all, what harm could come of trying to avoid bad luck?

The Lottery

I am also not a religious person, but I used to believe in christianity. The only reason for this was because my mom made me attend church and take part in lent. I wasn't properly educated on the religion, and it led to me doing things that I didnt believe in, or was ignorant about. Now, I dont have many rituals that affect my day to day life, but I am a believer in karma. I believe in karma because that was part of how my dad raised me. Believing in karma has made me more of a grounded person, and has helped me become empathetic in some ways. And it still holds through to this day. I think once someone establishes a certain ritual, it is hard to break especially if was part of how you were raised by your family. 

The Lottery- Pagano

I am not religious, so there are few ritualistic acts that I partake in. Although everybody does some sort of ritualistic act every day. For example, every time I comment on something good and I don't want the opposite to happen, I knock on wood. But why do I do this? I guess my answer to that would be 'why not?'. If people believe that because I said "wow what a beautiful day", it is going to rain, and the only thing to prevent this from happening is to knock on wood, then why not give it a try? What harm could it do to knock on wood? When I was trying to think of a way to explain what it is that would make me knock on wood, it took me a long time to figure out what to say. It made me wonder why it is exactly that I feel the need to knock on wood. "Why not?" is the only answer I can come up with. Or maybe just because my parents do it, and I've been doing it for most of my life.

The Lottery and Community

Can you identify any ritualistic acts (e.g. fasting for Lent/Passover/Ramadan)you perform without examining the reasons for or the consequences of your behavior? What motivates you?
If not...
Do you do anything such as make sacrifices to ensure good luck?
What set of beliefs motivates the sacrifice?

Learning Letter and Contact Zone

My personal contact zone is the waiting area of my psychiatrist, and this is for multiple reasons. All of those who are waiting in the doctors office could be doing much more entertaining with their time, yet they sit in awkward leather chairs while reading magazines that do not interest them. My parents are spending hundreds of dollars for me to talk to some guy that prescribes me medication that supposedly solves my problems, but i just don't understand it. I talk to the guy and he gets paid like its his job to take your money. Many patients feel the same way as i do, and this often brings frustration and aggravation. People who see a doctor can verily range, and in the waiting room this is can be proven. Everyone there is unhappy about spending their money, delaying their daily lives, and having to display extremely private information to a person who they have not known for all too long. Personally i hate the whole process if you could not tell by now, but everyone there is in the same position as i am, and have them same feelings as i do. Although our lives can be extremely different, patients feel the same frustration, aggravation, and pain that all the rest do. For this reason, i believe that my doctors office is a personal contact zone.

Contact Zone

I believe that there are many contact zones that we can find ourselves in throughout the day, but one of the most unpredictable contact zones i can think of is on the city bus. I know there was already a previous post about the bus station being a contact zone, but i feel like the bus just takes that contact zone to the next level. I have never really rode a city bus until i came up here to college. I've only really rode the bus several times, but out of those several times each time I have came into contact with some pretty diverse people. As said before, Burlington is a sort of "melting pot" of people, so you can imagine being on the bus theres a good chance your going to encounter some different people than you are used to. Bus's are especially intense contact zones because they are so close quartered, and you cant really choose who sits next to you. A good example of this is a time when i was on the bus in the fall. There were several college girls sitting down, and a homeless man came onto the bus and sat right across from them facing them. I had my headphones on during this time, but i was sitting in a place where i could see both the homeless man and group of girls. The man was making some kind of loud remarks, which in return made the group of girls laugh and giggle. This whole situation within the contact zone made the girls uncomfortable, and the only way for them to get over that was by laughing. To me this was just a great example of how much of a contact zone a bus can really be.

Contact Zone - Lockspur

The variety of interactions apparent and available via internet connection is grandiose and potentially unmanageable in exposure. Every global demographic is represented online, from the insecure teenager who posts about how much they hate their friends, to the middle aged business tech whose work load is just strenuous enough to distract them from Tetris and email for forty-five minutes a day, and the always lovable Nigerian prince willing to dump thousands or millions of dollars into anyone's bank account who will give him access. This is how I was exposed to the diversity of the world last week, when Prince Firfanirgus of the magical land of Ethiopia contacted me with an OMGURGENTPLZPLZREEDEPRONZXXXPLOSION message regarding his overseas fortune, and how I was necessary to preserve it. After giving the Prince all of my bank account information, my social security number, all identification and contact regards, and a superfluous notation of all of my dreams, aspirations, fears, and valued persons, I awaited my vast incoming subsidy. I still await, Dr. Prince Firfanirgus Pedurgus. I have been very patient, and that is wearing thin. I appreciate no toying, royalty swine. Moreover, this exposure taught me never to trust supposed medically recognised Ethiopian Princes in the future, as Ethiopia is primarily a parliamentary legislation in central structure.
My point is: all understanding a person could ever find necessary of an extranational group is there. I learned everything I need to know about Ethiopia from Prince Firfanirgus, and all about the history of Islam states from Vakhlalaka Bakbabaganoush bik Dirkata from the Antiliberty Salvation Front. Any more study is a waste of my time, as all that is necessary for the kind of precious "empathy" created by real "interaction" from different "perspectives" can easily be infered via email bound financial matters and amateur reporting from high school students in Taiwan. Besides, their "perspectives" are stupid, and mine are cooler. Scarf that, Doctors and Princes of far East Africa.

Contact Zones

As a way of encouraging you to respond to each other, please post a response to any one of the postings or my comments and offer your ideas.

For example, consider Ted's thinking about athletes.
Can you identify a space where athletes of varying cultures would meet for a common purpose and inevitably clash and grapple?

You may want to respond to one of the discussions about zones in Burlington.
Where and why do cultures meet?