Month: October 2020

Categories
Ehren Joseph Layne

Opinion – Cruise Ships

I hate pampering. To be more honest,  I abhor it. I feel zero envy towards those who are given everything; I look upon them with only disgust for their complete dependency on the work of others. To never have to clean; to never have to cook; to never have to do your own laundry; it all seems ridiculous to me – the idea of complete and utter dependency. Now,  I can’t lie, I understand the appeal of pampering from a maternal standpoint: most of us ( I would assume) were raised by parents(or a parent) who provided us with all that  we needed; we didn’t have to shop for ourselves, cook for ourselves, or even clean up our own shit. It isn’t until we’ve begun maturation (depending on your socioeconomic class, that is: the richer you are, the less you’ve had to do for yourself , the less you’ve matured,  and vice versa) that we start to feel a sense of independence. Upon maturation, our need for an overseer(our parents or parent) begins to fade, and we desire everything and anything to be done by our own hand. To this extent, I can understand where a desire for pampering comes from: a distant past where you were once treated like a baby because you were one. However, even in older age, there still is the inclination – or want – to be treated like a baby. If you’re 84 years old, senile, and geriatric, I can better wrap my head around why you’d want your “mother” back(I would too if I couldn’t clean up my own shit anymore), but even with that said, pampering still feels so, well, shitty. Take cruise ships, for example: they pamper you to death. I am yet to board a cruise ship myself(as a colored person, I feel terrible watching other colored persons do everything for a majority white cruise ship population) but am acutely aware of how cruise ships advertise themselves and how they treat their customers. Cruise ships offer scenery and a lifestyle unbecoming of most lower and middle class persons; pale blue skies, luxurious meals, bear-ass soft towels, 24/7 neo-slavery, and more. On cruise ships, the more you do nothing for yourself, the more you enjoy everything about the cruise experience. Annual cruise-goers(or whatever they call themselves: Americans) are more like products than anything: their lives are made up by industry executives all for the prospect of monetary gain. The luxury cruise line business model is to supply you with a life that makes them money: by any means necessary they will give you everything, in the hopes that you do nothing, so that they can get more of everything you need to do nothing. Nothing. Fucking nothing. How is nothing so appealing? Having someone constantly in your room, cleaning it for you, venturing close to basically wiping your ass; having someone cut your steak for you, put on your bib for you, and basically pre chew your steak au poivre. Having someone carry around your sweaty towel( which – if you believe in the transitive theory – basically means they were touching your balls), carry around your bags; carry every load in your life , breaking their backs on supporting your bad habits, your worst behaviors, and your insatiable appetite for a maternal love that has been commodified. I abhor pampering, but have an even stronger condemnation of cruise liners, for not only do they pamper to death, they make so much money off of our worst impulses.

Categories
Samuel James Conroy

Confirmation Wallace

Confirmation Progymnasmata

            David Foster Wallace presents a very interesting point throughout his “Supposedly Fun Thing” essay. His style of writing throughout the piece is quite brilliant as he does not try to sound like the typical fancy English writer, instead, he makes it a very direct, un-literary piece. The point is to make the reader understand just how much David Foster Wallace dislikes this cruise ship. His repeated use of the word “despair” and listed out displeasures of the ship give the reader a good idea how Wallace feel about cruise ships and travel as a whole.

Wallace presents his overall feeling of the Nadir (name that he gave to the cruise ship) through the quote, “There’s something about a mass-market Luxury Cruise that’s unbearably sad” (Wallace). He shows his unhappiness through listing all of the things that end up feeling “mandatory” upon the ship. The feeling the Wallace provides is that you are being forced to have fun on cruise ships regardless of if you want to or not, simply because that is what you do on cruise ships, “have fun.” Wallace’s essay is perfectly logical as I experienced the same issues when I was a kid. As I stated in my last writing, I have never been on a cruise ship, but being stuck in the middle of the ocean on a boat where the only thing to do is participate in the “activities” does not seem awfully intriguing. I can personally relate to this when I was young. I never looked forward to going on vacation when I was little because of this exact reason, I always felt out of place and like I was being forced to have fun. If I did not enjoy one of the activities that we did, my parents would get mad at me since they were paying for us to have fun. This concept never made since to me and would make me anxious about going on vacation. Wallace was able to perfectly capture my feelings as a kid on vacation.

Categories
Phillip Wade Wilson

The Happiest Place on Earth – Impersonation

As I walk through the gates, I can already smell the scents being blasted onto Main Street USA. The confectionary shops, the sweet aroma, is drifting outside the park and into my nostrils filling me with the childlike wonder of going to the fair. It gives me this nostalgic feeling as if I’ve been here before, of course, I have as it’s my seventh time at Walt Disney World, but I mean it’s sending me to my younger memories, not of this place but others. As I scan my magic band and the mouse ears go from white to bright green, I’m able to enter.

The first thing I spot is these large mascots of famous Disney characters taking photos with all of the park guests. When I stop and think about it, it is so odd we know there are humans, most likely dripping in sweat because the heat index is near 100 degrees F today, inside of these costumes yet we are so excited to give them a hug and refer to them as if they were the real character. Not to mention those who pretend to be the princes and princesses who we can actually see, and while they do give a striking resemblance to the princes and princesses from the films it is still odd we put ourselves in this ‘Disney magic’ that should really be called ‘Disney make-believe’. Nonetheless, these characters, especially when they just pop into restaurants to take pictures with you while you eat, add an extra layer to how unique this theme park is to every other in the entire world.

I have never seen a large amount of trash, more than two ‘unhappy’ workers a day, or even felt unsafe while at the parks. The worst thing about them is the egregious lines that take up most of your day, and yet somehow, we are all ok with waiting 120 minutes for a five-minute ride… I can say in all honesty, I’ve waited in the same 120-minute line back to back. The sheer attention to detail that is present in these parks is my reasoning and my rationalization. While there is always construction going on or something being expanded, I just think about how much better it will be when I come back.

I tried impersonation here because I really the way David Wallace writes. He has this openness in his writing style through tone and diction that doesn’t hold back. He’s willing to tell every detail about something that occurred, even if it makes him look silly or strange. I enjoy the way he detailed his interactions (or lack thereof) with Petra and how he tried to see how they would know when to clean his room. I found this to be such a curious thing to do, but I see why he would do it because I too am fascinated by this process. Reading this part was what pushed me to try impersonation, I think I got some aspects of his writing, but it’s not fully realized yet. I attempted to compare his way of writing to one of the times I went to Walt Disney World two summers ago.

Categories
Catherine Dodd Corona

‘‘Parachute Artists’’ or ‘‘Tourists With Typewriters’’

The Authenticity of Guidebooks

Progymnasmata: Chreia

“In the golden age, writers personally knew the companies’ owners, the companies’ offices were convivial spaces for rest in-between travels and everyone was interested in travel and culture first and money second.”

This is a beautiful point. As travel became more feasible the commercialization of travel also increased. It is a well known concept of the non tourist traveler. The person that wants the local dives and hole in the wall treasures, but in an age of rapid communication that is becoming harder to accomplish. But how can anyone find those places without research. Nowadays that research is tainted with companies paying to put their restaurant or attraction in a travel guide, (regardless Lonely Planet recommendations are still pretty good). It in a way is no longer the only locals dive bar that your cousin found on his trip to London, but that does not mean a tainted brochure is a tainted trip. In ways it is good that money is no longer second. It allows people from more walks of life travel. That being said the aim of this quote is to illustrate the authenticity of older guidebooks and how the connection between writer and companies gave the book/brochure some merit. 

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Uncategorized

Shipping Out PT2 David Foster Wallace

Shipping Out 2- David Foster Wallace
Progym: Description

David Foster Wallace shows the many luxuries he experienced whilst aboard the Nadir. From the routine newspaper Nadir Daily to the exotic dinners, Wallace makes it sound like a paradise to be on board of a cruise. He talks about the luxury and sense of isolation from the world that is shielded from you whilst cruising, how the cruise ship seems to be its own little planet. However, there still seemed to be a part of the trip that didn’t sit well with Wallace. Although he was surrounded by luxury and entertainment, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat entrapped, like he was missing out on authentic fun. The cruise had all the necessary features for him to find relaxation but in truth, everything seemed so instituted. It was like he had been forced to have fun. After a few days on the boat he starts to notice that the cruise is not all that flawless, it has its imperfections alike everywhere else. Wallace realizes that what he craves is not forced happiness, but rather he would like the chance to be able to thoroughly enjoy a vacation that does not seem obligatory.

Categories
Samuel E Evans

“Shipping Out” by David Foster Wallace, pt. 2

Progym: Impersonation

“Every public surface on the m.v. Nadir that isn’t stainless steel or glass or varnished parquet or dense and good-smelling sauna-type wood is plush blue carpet that never has a chance to accumulate even one flecklet of lint because jumpsuited Third World guys are always at it with Siemens A.G.® vacuums” (45).

I’ve never been on a cruise, but two years ago I went, for the first time, on an all-inclusive resort vacation in the Caribbean. It was one of those package-deals where almost every tiny thing from the flight-in to the flight out is included: bussing, all-you-can-eat meals, two day-trips, four luxury dining experiences, and an endless cascade of mixed drinks.

Our trip set out from Montréal’s Pierre Trudeau Airport, a massive, bustling, disorienting place that I have come to know nearly as well as my city block, and flew on a cramped ultra-budget flight into the tiny airfield of Samaná, Dominican Republic. The airport there was truly tiny, small even compared to the various other minuscule airports I have seen in my life, and our vacation there began promptly with a 3-hour wait at Customs. The line, which completely filled the poorly-ventilated converted hangar and spilled out onto the tarmac near the planes, was a mash of Canadians from our flight, Russians from a Moscow-originating jet that landed immediately after us, and a smattering of Germans and Spaniards. It would turn out that this exact combination of people would inhabit the same resort as us for the following week, and we’d point each other out, either explicitly or through glances across the dining hall that read, “you stood behind me at Customs.”

After finally escaping the airport, we acquired our “Bahia-Principe” wristbands from a smiling resort staff member and piled onto a bus packed with our comrades from the Montréal flight. The 20-minute drive to the resort consisted of hairpin turns through barely-paved roads without a stop sign or traffic light in sight, while resort staff provided enthusiastic commentary in French over a partially-functional sound system. The 90% of riders who understood French seemed to enjoy it very much.

The week at the resort that followed can best be described as amazingly, though enjoyably, uneventful. Each day consisted of some ratio of oversleeping, reading by the pool, overeating, reading on the beach, and sunburn. The nights consisted of scheduled events, various creative beverages, and plenty of people making fools of themselves while trying to navigate the resort’s thousands of staircases in the dark, often while intoxicated. Of our four allotted luxury dining passes, we used three before deciding the other food options were equally oversalted and fattening, but required less hassle.

Besides two included and pre-arranged trips, we hardly left the resort all week. The first, a choppy whale-watching venture, was just about what I expected as someone who doesn’t enjoy boats much. The second was a little more bizarre, as it was sold as a “donkey trip to a spectacular waterfall,” which is already a strange premise. Afterward, I would describe it as “uncooperative donkeys, underwhelming waterfall, very nice beach, acquired souvenir dominos.” Could be better, could be worse, but the staff certainly made sure everything went smoothly.

Having gone on a wide variety of vacations, and this being my fourth to the Caribbean, I would say that going to a resort has to be one of the weirdest. Resorts are among the most idealized facets of the imagined American vacation, though I can’t personally say they are my brand of holiday. I had almost no access to the outside world during that week, and I mean that in multiple respects: I hardly left the premises, and I had no outside communication at all. The latter was quite relaxing, apart from receiving multiple angry voicemails from my boss upon returning to cell service back in Montréal.

As for not seeing what lay beyond our little view of the bay and the town waterfront, I felt somewhat shortchanged. I was able to go for runs in town for the first half of the week, but I reconsidered this decision after I required two local gentlemen to scare off several stray dogs who began chasing me. Still, I felt the vacation was not real, almost an illusion by being holed up in our little castle by the sea. This may be where my view of the ideal vacation differs from the norm. I would greatly prefer, for instance,  my previous trip to Jamaica, which provided both relaxing hours on the beach and wild backcountry escapades and spicy street food. A resort, while not quite as secluded and ultra-luxury as a cruise, still seems not the thing for me.

Categories
Paula I Arraiza

Being “Pampered to Death”

Type of Progym: Thesis or Theme

Wallace constantly mentions how people go on cruises to relax or get away from their busy lifestyles. His experience in the Nadir was nothing less than this, from the steward leaving a mint every time she made his bed to having someone carry his own bag for him. Certainly, the cruise’s advertisement for pampering seems to live up to its word. However, do we really want to be “pampered to death”, in Wallace’s own words, or is this just what we are made to believe we should want?

When reading about Wallace’s experience, it’s easy to think “who wouldn’t want to experience all of that?” It definitely sounds amazing to have someone,

“bring you a lobster- as well as a second and even a third lobster with methamphetaminic speed but also incline over you with gleaming claw-cracker and surgical fork arid dismantle it for you, sparing you the green goopy work that’s the only remotely rigorous thing about lobster.”

After all, we constantly find ourselves wanting to relax and recharge for a while after having a stressful period of time. The best way to do so always seems to be the most extravagant and luxurious one, since it will give us everything we want and more. It’s definitely an offer you can’t pass on.

However, we don’t really need all of these luxury and people doing everything for us to be able to relax. Getting away from the stress of your life doesn’t need to be something so exaggerated, sometimes a fun staycation can do the trick. There’s not really a need to be “pampered to death” in order to unwind. While it would definitely be nice to have all the luxury of the Nadir, there’s no need to be crowded with lobsters and extra towels to have a good time away from everything. There’s still beauty in the simple things, such as taking a few hours in the day to reconnect with yourself and forget about the world around you.

The cruise’s goal is to sell you an experience that makes you want to come back. However, just as Wallace experienced, it’s easy to keep wanting something even better once you’re already there.

“After a few days of delight and then adjustment on the Nadir, the Pamper-swaddled part of me that WANTS is now back, and with a vengeance. By Wednesday, I’m acutely conscious of the fact that the A.C. vent in my cabin hisses (..).”

The pampering and relaxation we experience become a momentary solution, quickly making us wish we had something better and even more relaxing. Therefore, not allowing us to reach peak tranquility and making us want even more than what we already have. Since technically nothing can be perfect, we become stuck in this loop of wanting more and more forever, never being truly satisfied.

 

 

Categories
Simona Barca

Shipping Out

In this article, Wallace uses the rustic and corpse-like imagery of the ship to compare and contrast it to the lively and fun-stuffed activities aboard the ship. He uses this in a way that compares the decay of the vessel itself to the oncoming decay of its passengers, but which is intentionally trying to be overlooked by the busyness and fun-stuffed activities on the ship. On board the ship, the crowd is concerned about “not titivation but titillation; not hard work but hard play…The hard-play option promises not a transcendence of death dread so much as just drowning it out.” He compares the participants’ decay to that of the ship but, while they are both in decay, the participants try to drown it out by occupying their time with activities that will take their mind off of it and will make them think that maybe, just maybe, their prime has not passed them. That are somehow not in the same position as the rusting and decaying ship they are standing on.

Categories
Lucas Enrique Fernandez Uncategorized

Shipping Out Pt 2

Vituperation (Over-Pampering):

Too much of a bad thing, something poisonous for example, is bad. However, too much of a good thing, like sugar for example, can be equally as bad. All in all an excess of anything can end up spoiling it. In the case of over-pampering this is especially true. Pampering can be defined as being afforded every bit of comfort, attention, and care one needs. This steps into the realm of over-pampering when people begin paying too MUCH attention, leaving you things you do not need or doing things you do not want because it is what they believe to be a universally “kind” thing to do. David Foster Wallace captures the essence of this dilemma in Shipping Out when one of the porters offers to take his luggage to his room for him, which was a polite thing to do but not what Wallace wanted.

I am putting this guy, who barely speaks English, in a terrible kind of sedulous service double bind, a paradox of pampering: The Passenger’s Always Right versus Never Let a Passenger Carry His Own Bag

This situation, and the mess that follows, perfectly sums up how over-pampering is a lose-lose situation for both the pamperer and the pamperee. The pamperer is liable to get yelled at by his superiors for not following the proper extent of care (too much care) but he is also not supposed to go against the pamperee’s wishes for that too would be unacceptable. The pamperee also loses since they are held up from their original task to argue with the pamperer that they are overstepping their bounds. Wallace also later has to hear from a Greek member of the crew how the porter was chewed out, guilting him when it wasn’t even his fault. In the end, I believe that at resorts and cruiselines instilling the expectation that you need to overpamper your guests puts unnecessary stress and pressure on everyone involved. All this causes is a unbearable sense of despair where things are taken out of your control.

Categories
Nathan Ryan Reeves

Shipping out

“Shipping Out” was one of the most fun things I have read in a while that is related to any kind of vacation. Maybe it was because I had been on a cruise once before and felt the same vibes from the text, or maybe it was just entertaining to me. One thing that I’ll praise the author for is that he didn’t stick to one lane in terms of writing about the cruise. Going from his joys to people being depressed brings the tone from happy and joyful, to somber. Truthfully, I think that what he had said in most of his story was accurate since I had experienced it with other people when I had gone on a cruise (the only one I’ve ever been on).

“The universal topic of discussion is “Why Are You Here” Nobody uses the word “pamper” or “luxury.” The word that gets used over and over is “relax.” Everybody characterizes the upcoming week as either a long-put-off reward or a last-ditch effort to salvage sanity…”

This stood out because it had felt real when looking back at my trip, I felt that groups of people were there have fun and getaway, but you could tell who had been a regular traveler since they didn’t care too much for what was happening during the whole things. I had asked people how many cruises ships they have been on, and some were as low as their first time and as high as 6 times in a row. The ones who did not care could be compared to Mona in the text.

“Mona is eighteen. Her grandparents have been taking her on a Luxury Cruise every spring since she was five. Mona always sleeps through both breakfast and lunch and spends all night at the Scorpio Disco and in the Mayfair, Casino playing the slots…”

This brings me back to the question that Wallace had written which was, why are you here. It could be to relax; it could be that it is an occurrence and it then does not feel like a relaxing time. The people that do want to be there will be there for a fun time and take their time seriously. If not, it could lead to a few different outcomes that can make or break a vacation for some. I had talked about this topic with other friends and they too have seen the similarities to Wallace’s experience.

This article touched upon many different themes and topics that could be talked about, but I rather touch upon the concept of the “why”. Why do we go on trips or expeditions? The word relax is overused and is used to describe the week of salvation, when the trip or week could be nothing from salvation if you don’t consider your experience as a joyful experience. I end this off by asking, is this cruise ship experience something that is in our control, does the number of times we experience a trip make it less meaningful, or has capitalism and life blocked our ability to enjoy these kinds of trips?