They

I know I am not the first person to question this particular anomaly in the English language, and it very nearly pains me to know I will not be the last. All the same, I spend many nights awake in bed contemplating the fact that no, I do not know what they say. I want to know who the heck they are, where they came from, and what they want. What if "They" was once a legitimate name? What if this "They" was so influential, his/her name forever embedded itself into our language? Maybe the law enforcement was once referred to as the "they." It could have been a slang term for royal or religious leaders. Regardless of where the phrase and the word itself originated, it has come to represent a positive and negative entity. Most people, very nearly all people use the phrase "you know what they say" without even realizing they said it! They is a collective term so internalized, we do not even care who these things are. What if they are not human or plant? And how would we know?

A Little Humor (Free Entry)

While talking to my mother, I came to a wild realization. Relationships are like bus rides. We ride them to the end of the line, and then we get off and wait for the next one. One can easily become frustrated while waiting. Equally as easily, one might long for a repetition of the previous rout. Some routs are longer and bumpier than others. Greyhounds are like rebounds. Some are cleaner, quieter, and run smoother than the rest, and some run all the way to your final destination. My aunt rode the Chinatown bus from Boston to New York once. It sounded similar to a one night stand, and similarly, the faint heart should not participate. A ten dollar ticket takes you across the east coast. Depending on who is driving, you are not guaranteed to make it out alive. In fact, during the ride, one might regret their decision to board and long to be in a New York cab. Lastly, there is the party bus. Usually a nice time and sometimes ridden with those one actually cares for, the passengers tend to feel relief and comfort upon returning home. Most people eventually tire of riding the bus, especially if they take the same road to the same disappointing destination daily. After careful consideration, test driving, and self evaluation, they purchase and care for a car of their own.

History

In my practical criticism class, we discussed the concept of "New Criticism." Although it is hardly new anymore, it emerged in the thirties, the methods are still practiced. Even though I (as nearly all people) was trained to read in that fashion, two points boggle me. One: everything the reader needs to know about the content of the text is already in the text, whether the author intended it to be or not. Two: historical context may be considered, but should not effect the way the reader interprets the literature. I had a hard time finding these two elements possible, and I am thoroughly impressed by the reasoning behind this science. New critics believe that a text must be strictly read for content and that any moral to the story is irrelevant. They wanted the reader to be wary of history due to the fact that history tends to be distorted through individual perception, and texts possess the ability to actually alter the way events are perceived. Over time entire occurrences can be morphed into something else entirely. The entire concept baffles me, even though I see it all the time. It is the seemingly simple matter of people seeing what they want to see, and projecting that image onto and into something else.