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People everywhere are questioning the sanity of the Nacirema who practice soottating.  These folks alter their bodies with a sacred ink that they inject directly into the dermis layer of the skin. There are many reasons why the Nacirema practice this tradition. It stems way back to indigenous tribes, Egyptians, and foreign governments. The soottat was looked upon as a sacred mark and a symbol of pride and respect. In the year's BC, some of the oldest dated soottas can be found. These were used as a way to mark spots on the body that could be beneficial to spiritual and physical healing. In the governments above, the soottat was used as a mark to label human subjects in a mass genocide. In some indigenous nations, it was also a way to showcase accomplishments, including those of the warriors as well as tribal, and paid homage to the spirits and gods that ruled over the lives of many. In these prior generations, the soottats were made painfully with a technique called stick and poke. There are still some Nacirema who view this as the only way to achieve quality work.  Today, most of the Nacirema who receive the sacred ink do it because they feel as if it is important or adds to the quality of their appearance. To many of the Nacirema, they are viewed as beautiful and worth the pain endured to receive them- even using it as a form of therapy. On the other hand, there are many Nacirema who see this practice as taboo and cannot wrap their heads around the reason behind acquiring such an art.

Those of the Nacirema who volunteer their bodies to the sacred practice behave in different ways. Some are incredibly nervous but look most forward to the ritual, while some look forward to the pain with the afterthought that just another physical benefit is added to the body. Some individuals have endured many rituals in the past and look forward to honoring their bodies after all is said and done.

As far as we know, the area these sacred rituals take place in are called soottat spohs. These buildings are extremely clean and well disinfected by maidens whose sole job is to do so. The person who performs these rituals is called a soottat tsitra. The sold job of this individual is to put pen to paper when it really matters. He or she will take all of your brilliant thoughts and ideas towards the ritual and create something extravagant and well-thought-out. They acquire many tools in order to accomplish this task. A sottat booth, clean table or chair, plastic material to keep area clean, cloth to wipe and blot during the ritual, needles in handheld-powered machines, the sacred ink of many colors, jelly or cream meant for needle lubrication, sufficient lighting to perform said task, and papers or tablets to draw out intended designs. All of these components are important due to the nature of the wounds the soottat provides. acquiring all of these components is important and eases the client's worry about cross-contamination or illnesses. The man that I observed for many hours worked on a few soottats throughout our time together, meticulously paying attention to detail so as to not mess anything up for the client receiving the sacred ink. The entire ritual is a process that follows mandatory steps for cleanliness, preparedness, and expected outcomes.

Today the Nacirema hold individuality to an extremely high standard today and these practices considered to be taboo by many, allow these other individuals to express themselves freely. Things like the soottats used to hinder one's ability to find proper work, but the times are changing, and those that consider it taboo still are frequently looked at as closed-minded individuals.

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A picture of the oottat booth set up at a recent convention.

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Challenge One Cont: Soottats in Nacirema

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Challenge One Cont: Soottats in Nacirema

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For my second Challenge, I am choosing the question “what gives you hope?”

I am going to go to a local church in davison and see if I can talk to a youth pastor/ head pastor about this topic. I am not super nervous about this topic because I am pretty good with talking to strangers, and grew up in my middle school years going to a non denominational church. I feel like with these individuals I will truly be able to get a good- in depth answer.

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Ben, who prefers to remain anonymous, is a youth pastor at a local church. He is thirty-five years old  has been in practice for just shy of ten years. Ben’s main goal in life is to spread the word of love and God while trying to make an unforgettable impact and impression on todays youth. When I arrived at the church, I walked in and Ben was the First Gentlemen I ran into. He was incredibly friendly, and greeted me with a smile. I decided to change my question to ask him, and ask him What he felt we needed most in todays world.

Ben’s initial response to my question was “we need love.” I asked him to further elaborate on what he meant by that. To which, he replied “ there is a supreme being- or whatever higher power you believe in- that put us here for a purpose. That purpose is to shine out light, and a pet of that is showing love.” I asked him in what ways did he mean? Hi response- “being compassionate, kind, and caring towards others.” I asked who specifically, he stated “showing love to everything; humans, other species, the earth. No matter what you do, if you approach it with love- everything will be okay.” Furthermore he told me, “love has the power to bring people together despite our differences, it heals wounds and creates unity and understanding among people who are usually so divided, and it just overall makes the world a better place.”

Interviewing Ben, I gathered that he was an incredibly kind hearted individual- the kind you would want to have an impact on todays youth. He loves his God, and believes that there can be good in everyone. He was smiling, and energetic when answering my questions and it further showed me how much he really values the importance of love. Overall, I think Ben’s message of love and kindness is something that we can all learn from and apply in our daily lives. With more love in the world, anything is possible.

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Interviewing a stranger has been a really positive experience for me. I wasn’t initially worried about approaching someone as I am comfortable with talking to people I hardly know. I think going to the local church was a good option for me, because not only did I find someone who could engage in meaningful conversation but I also gained insight into religion and spreading love.

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Three areas that I am most influenced in my personality identity are critical life experience- which both my son influences and my grandmother- political and social values- influenced heavily by my family in the military, including my uncle and stepfather- and my grandmother heavily influences my personality traits. For the necessary life experience, becoming a mother has truly had the most influence on my personal identity. Doing this wheel is a prime example of this due to the fact that I could barely remember what I identified with as a human being before I became Gunnar’s mom. As far as political and social values, I was heavily influenced at a young age by friends and family in the military service when it comes to my views in this department. While I do think that there are good aspects to both sides, I believe that I lean more toward the “right” side of the aisle in my views. And lastly, most of my personality traits come from my sweet grandmother. She taught me to be fearless, handle things with grace and integrity, and stand up for myself when I know things are wrong. These are all values that are at the core of who I am today.

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For my social identity, the three parts I have been heavily influenced by would-be class, ethnicity, and physical appearance. With class, I am most influenced by my coworkers, whom I spend the majority of my waking hours with. Working in a factory has provided a decent income to raise my son with, but has also taught me many things as far as whom I want to be, and what I want to do with my life. For instance, I am thirty years old, with ten and a half years in at my company, and I am choosing to go to school for something that I know I will make less money doing but will make me happier in the long wrong. Being middle class has been a really tough task for me. I grew up with parents who were always well off but made sure I knew I had to work for what I truly wanted in life. It can be frustrating at times because they make way more than I do, and still expect me to afford what they can afford on two incomes- on just my one. For ethnicity, being Native American has always been something that has really stuck with me. I was raised by strong women who taught me my heritage and procreated with someone whose family finds it just as important, and who can pass tradition and teachings down to my son. I believe this is a strong part of my social identity. Physical appearance-wise- I am heavily tattooed. 90% of what I have tattooed on my body means something to me. I believe that art is a wonderful way to express yourself, and It is an important part of social identity.

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The areas I have chosen to reflect on have all in some way contributed to how I have been culturally influenced in my life. The way I raise my son, the way I represent myself. How I carry myself In my day-to-day tasks are all things that I have learned from my “elder influences” if you would. These have all had a positive influence on my life. Whether the positivity has been one I have found from a good experience, or what I have turned a negative outcome into being.

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The Amazon Alexa
3/27/2023

The piece of technology that I have chosen to forego the next two days is the Amazon Alexa. I rely heavily on these devices (more than I thought I had originally) and was impacted pretty significantly by it. I live in a two floor home, with my son and myself. We have two Alexa’s for the bedrooms, one for the upstairs bathroom, and one in the kitchen. I use this device daily as an alarm clock- which also reads out the weather for the day (if I’m not hitting snooze the whole time.) The Alexa also helps keep time when I am cooking in the kitchen, if my son wants five more minutes of play time before bed, and has a drop in feature that allows me to call into his room if he’s upstairs playing to check in on him.

I woke up today, to my phone alarm. I was incredibly nervous going to bed last night without my Alexa alarm set . I used to not wake up to my phone alarms, resulting in me being tardy for work on occasion. So when my Alexa didn’t go off (I unplugged them all the night before,) it shocked me awake a little. I got out of bed, checked my phone for the weather, and dressed myself and got ready for the rest of the day. My usual news podcast I listen to in the morning was available on my cell phone, so I let that play while I got ready. I typically have Alexa play something for my puppies who are kenneled when I go to work, and instead opted to turn the TV on for them, so they had some background noise while I was away from home. Once my son and I arrived home from work, I manually had to turn the tv off instead of saying “Alexa off” to turn off the program they had listened to all day long. My son went to his room to play with his hot wheels ramp while I did some laundry and decided what to make for dinner. Instead of calling into his room with the Alexa, I had to yell up stairs to get his attention once dinner was prepared. Instead of night sleep sounds that we play for him to fall asleep to at night, I laid in bed with him for awhile and sang him a lullaby and rubbed his back until he went to sleep, I quite enjoyed this task. I am a single mom, and have a house to take care of. Which I usually do once he’s fast asleep or in bed. But it was nice to take a break and just enjoy my time getting him to sleep for the night. Something I may be more mindful of in the future. Instead of having my Alexa set an alarm for me to wake up for work, I double checked my cell phone alarms, and went to sleep. I think overall, I was surprised how inconvenient it was to not have my Alexa plugged in. I rely on it heavily. I feel like not having it forced me to be more involved- which is a good thing.

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Day 2: The Amazon Alexa

3/28/2023

I woke up today slightly panicked due to hitting snooze on my phone alarm too many times. I ended up being late for work, and took my time getting ready this morning. Gunnar and I enjoyed breakfast together (something that typically only happens on the weekends) and took our time getting to school and work for the day. While this can be seen as a negative, I was greatful to spend a few early morning hours with my son before he left for school for the day- and then to his dads house for the night. Before we left, I again left the tv on something for background noise for the puppies and walked about of the house to start my day. When I arrived home later on, I grew slightly frustrated when I had forgotten I unplugged the Alexa and tried to turn the tv off saying “Alexa off.” Once I had realized why it wouldn’t shut off I kind of laughed at myself. I sat down to do homework for my other classes, and then got up to prepare dinner. I decided this day to bake cookies as well. So when I went to ask Alexa to set the bake time timer, she didn’t answer. I remembered to set one on my phone, but not until I realized it was already baking for a few minutes. When I went to the bathroom to take a bath later that night, I had forgotten that my Alexa was not plugged in, and had to listen to my audible book via my phone instead. And when I got ready for sleep, I had to triple check my alarms so I was not late for work for the second day in a row.

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Overall, I think the benefits when my son is home are greater than the loss of convenience. Not to say that I am not present when he is home, but it forced me to interact with him more face to face instead of making a simple call on the Alexa device. I truly valued putting him to sleep at night, and I believe if I took this challenge further and didn’t use my Alexa devices anymore that I would enjoy more of this time with him. There is always tomorrow when it comes to chores or other tasks that may seem important at the time but are so insignificant in the long run. I think the overall benefit of getting rid of this technology would be the forced interaction with people face to face. The slightly less beneficial aspects of this task is the convenience. As a busy mom, I always have many things to do. And being able to just talk out loud and have an alarm, or a timer set is super convenient. Even making lists for me of things to do and get done is a convenient aspect of having these devices in my home. Purging this technology for two days was both beneficial and mildly eye opening to how much I rely on it.

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I chose to not participate in challenge Five, as the requirements were too vague and I did not get approval for a single idea I proposed to you, with no flexibility.