Stuck in the Middle

It's been awhile since I have been actually stuck and cannot decide what to write a blog post about. I think it's because my mind hasn't been focused on one issue lately, but been divided into many little thoughts, which has caused a. stress and b. a sense of disorientation. But, now it is finally the weekend so my brain should be able to recuperate a little and then break will be like a gift from God because it has not only been 3 months since I have seen my friends and family, but it has also been three months since I have had a room to myself to sleep in!

I am thankful that I did not have to go through the decision making process that is involved with de- tripling though, but all of this talk about rooms and thus the walls that construct rooms reminds me of the way in which us, as individuals, construct boundaries to create and maintain communities and to define a sense of identity. First of all, I just find it interesting that when I searched "boundaries" on blogger, no one blog talks about them as if they are tangible beings. Like this guy, who talks about boundaries in terms of a rule that the government imposes on its citizens in China about censorship.

And the first site that appeared in my search was actually the policy of Blogger's towards the certain boundaries that one must abide by in order to post on their site. However, I never thought of using the term boundaries in the way that these two sites employ it. I usually think of boundaries as a way to define the differences between what's inside and outside of something. But on those sites the term is used as a synonym for rules.

Concerning the American Indian Museum, I find that the existing Native American people employ boundaries to preserve their culture and maintain their heritage. But, they have also been increasing lenient with these boundaries in that the one exhibit displayed how many Native Americans and African Americans have been increasingly intermarrying. However, this continues to cause a problem for the children of such relationships because, as a video in this exhibit conveyed, these people feel as though on the outside they look African Americans and people assume that is what they are, but on the inside they feel Native American, too. These individuals have consistently had to struggle with these two identities. Strife arises when boundaries get blurred.

Therefore, I do not necessarily think that boundaries are a bad thing because they give people a sense of comfort and security when there is either a physical one blocking individuals from entering into a certain community, or there is an intangible one, like rules that a government creates to maintain order and keep certain people under control. But at the same time, they are bad because they restrict human's basic right to assert themselves physically in another area or vocally towards a certain audience. And thus I again have written a circulatory blog again in that I brought up both sides of the argument and remain confused myself about which side I truly side with. But I guess one does not have to always be extreme in order to state one's opinion since that is what I just did.