Thursday, May 15, 2014

Crying Over Chilled Milk


I was walking through a university’s dining hall one day when I decided I would love a tall, chilled glass of chocolate milk to go along with my burger and french fries. Without a second thought, I put some ice cubes into my cup, filled it with delicious chocolate milk, and walked over to the table where my friends were sitting. Once I took my seat, my friends immediately exploded at me for putting ice cubes in my chocolate milk, rambling off something about how it watered down the drink and made it disgusting.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t ice cubes do that in every drink? Ice cubes would still dilute drinks like soda, lemonade, juice, and every other drink ice cubes have been added. So why is it such a bother that I put mine in milk?

Strange American Wedding Traditions and Their Origins


Weddings are a very important tradition in most cultures around the world. Every culture has their own certain spin on the ceremonies, and America sure has some weird ones. The next eight bullet points are some of the most well-known American wedding traditions and why they are the way they are.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Breaking the Chains

Last year my friends and I received an assignment from our Psychology teachers to break a social norm, and see how people would react. Some of our classmates did crazy things like paying for things in the mall with monopoly money, wearing a banana suit to walk around the city, or pouring jugs of milk all over themselves as they walked across the street.

This assignment was without a doubt the most fun assignment I received during my high school tenure, but it also showed me just how judgmental people are. Students were laughed at, glared at, and gawked at. Instead of leaving people to their own business, no matter how strange that business is, my classmates and I were judged and criticized for our crazy stunts.

Some things were as simple as standing in a line backwards. Wearing a heavy winter coat in summer weather. Sitting with strangers and asking them how their day was. Even these simple deviances received dirty glares and rude comments.

Since when did deviating from societal norms warrant scrutiny and criticism?