The Good Place is a television series that aired for a total of four seasons from 2016 to 2020. In this review, I want to focus on season number one of the series as it is the best season for the relationships between characters being formed. The plot of the show is focused around a group of six characters, four of which ended up passing away on earth, and have moved on to “The Good Place”. After passing away, each character is awakened in “The Good Place”, and is given a life which uses their favorite things, and creates a dream world for the character. Although this is what the creators of the place said, the place was actually created to torture the characters and drive them insane. Each character is put into this so-called “Good Place” and must work together to be sent to the actual good place, rather than being in the bad place. During season one, the characters consisted of a white woman, black man, Indian woman, and hispanic man. This created an intriguing aspect of diversity for the show. The producers were able create a great representation of how people from different backgrounds can work well together towards a common goal. Although they each came from different backgrounds, they were committed to learning about each other during season one, that way they would have a bond. This bond was crucial in order to achieve the goal of getting to the actual good place, and it wouldn’t have been possible without accepting each other for who they are, and having an open mind. I believe that the goal of the producers was to show the audience how working together is the answer to achieving your goals, because if it wasn’t for their commitment to work together during season one, they would have never achieved what they did. Overall, The Good Place is a fantastic television series if you’re looking for entertainment with team building, diversity, and comedy. I strongly recommend it to all of you, as the deeper meaning in the episodes make it a must watch.
Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of Yo….is this. I am your host, Kevin Walsh with the dot number dot 708. And today I’m going to be filling in for Andrew and Tawny. I am so excited because they are on vacation right now. And they appointed me to be the host for the show to talk about some of my ideas and the things that I’ve experienced. So I’m going to talk to you for the next 10 to 12 minutes. And boy, am I excited for this. So first off, I’m going to be talking about two different situations going on in our world, one dealing with racism and one dealing with sexism. So first, let me ask you the question, yo, is this racist? So here’s the situation. I grew up in Upper Arlington, Ohio. And I grew up here and I’ve been here my whole life. I’m living there right now. And I wonder, I’m wondering right now, why my demographic is so Caucasian, I went to high school and it felt like I graduated with about five African Americans, maybe five Indian, maybe five, Asian. And it did not feel like I had a very diverse crowd in my high school. And I was wondering why. And then what’s crazy is I stumbled upon an article actually this year, and it was very interesting. And it said that in 1970, a house in Upper Arlington had a deed that said that the house is not allowed to be sold to anyone of non Caucasian, Caucasian. So this is very interesting and actually blew my mind honestly, because I can’t believe that that is actually something that took place in my dad’s lifetime considering he was born in 1968. The fact that happened while my dad was alive, is actually very horrific for me to hear, especially making me as we talk about this stuff in my humanities class, it definitely makes me even more conscious to really think about how horrible this is. So according to UA archives, over the last 40 years, my City of Upper Arlington has had a population of 92%, Caucasian, which leaves only 7.9% to the minorities. And honestly, I attest a lot of this to the, to the situation with the housing deeds back in 1970. Because back then, I really think that people were not wanting to move to Upper Arlington that were minorities, because of these deeds. And that is definitely very frustrating to me, because I wanted to grow up with people of a diverse background. And I didn’t really get this because of these housing deeds in a city that I am not proud of to say that that actually happened. And I think this is a big part of systemic injustice. Because the City of Upper Arlington actually allowed this like that is horrible to think that the City of Upper Arlington allowed these deeds to take place back in 1970, when my parents were alive, and they were born already. And it’s horrible to see because I do not think that the City of Upper Arlington should be allowed to allow that. And I do not feel proud to live in a city that allows these housing deeds to happen. Obviously, I’m pretty positive. This is not a thing anymore. I’m almost hundred percent sure. But it’s horrible to see that this actually took place in my city. It definitely makes me feel a little less prideful about where I grew up. So when it comes to this situation, it really reminds me of The Leavers by Lisa Ko because the struggles you know, with immigration that come from immigration, I think, with the immigration Lisa Ko, The Leavers kind of relates to the people wanting to come to Upper Arlington, however, they’re not allowed, and they’re not really welcome. You know, it can be very hard to be accepted when you’re coming to a new community. And the fact that that’s tied with where I grew up is definitely very concerning. And very frustrating to me, because, honestly, I wasn’t really as awoken to a lot of these things that happen in my own city. And nowadays, like I started to think about a lot more just because of hearing people talk about this stuff and humanities class and having to write about it and really think about it just really has changed my mindset on all this. And growing up. This relates to my feelings playing for a baseball team on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, I grew up in Upper Arlington, a very Caucasian, very, you know, preppy school, in a sense, people kind of had a certain stigma about us. And when I was trying out for the team, the players had a certain belief about me, they were thinking that I was kind of like a city boy. And they kind of thought that I was someone who couldn’t relate to them and would normally talk down on them. And it’s mainly because most people from Upper Arlington are the first people to make assumptions about them. So my teammates on my team on the outskirts of Ohio, if you guys know Pataskala, Ohio, they judged me because they assumed that I would judge them first. And I know this isn’t really a race thing here. But this is just the whole idea of not really understanding where someone else grew up in and really being supportive of that. And this is the first time I’ve ever felt kind of like not accepted, but it’s in large part because people that come from where I came from, are normally not accepting of them. So this is definitely an experience that I had and really relates to kind of this housing deed thing in the sense that the city of Upper Arlington has always had this situation where we’re super closed off into a bubble. They call it the UA bubble. And it makes sense. They’re super closed off. And going through classes this semester, it’s really showed me how much racism really takes place in our world, like reading through people’s showcases on their diary of systemic and justices. Reading through the showcases, really, really was hard to read at times, because I really did not want to accept the fact that this stuff is real. And this stuff actually takes place. And it’s important for me to understand this stuff. So it’s good that I’m reading it. I’m glad I’m reading it. But at the same time, I just wish this wasn’t stuff I had to read about. Because it’s so unfortunate, even though it is important that I understand it. And it’s great that I, it’s great that I understand it now.
So moving on to our next question. This one is interesting for me to talk about as a huge NFL fan. And we’re at the halfway point of the NFL season, I’m really enjoying the NFL season so far. And it’s kind of interesting to think about some situations that involve like injustices in the NFL in an entertainment industry. So my favorite entertainment industry, and I spend a lot of my time I run social media on it. And this is a really important topic to me. So let me ask the question, Yo, is this sexism? So currently, in the NFL, there are only three women who hold positions directly involved with on field operations on the football field. So there are only two team personnel employees that are women, are female. And there’s only one woman referee in the NFL, and the first full time referee came in 2015. And her name is Sarah Thomas. And I actually see her a lot. And I actually love when I get to watch the NFL games that have her on the field, because I’m just a huge supporter of seeing her out there. And it’s not that it’s funny, because I’ve actually been watching games with people in the past, and they’re like, oh, wow, there’s a woman on the field. And I’m like, Yeah, there is. And that’s awesome. Because we need that I want a woman on every single game. There’s like four referees per game on the field. So why can’t at least one be a female? Why can’t least one be a woman? This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And I actually love when I’m watching a game that actually has her on the field, because I want more of her on the field. And she’s super inspiring to a lot of the women that watch football nowadays. But the question is, is this lack of women represented the NFL systemic injustice? And honestly, I do believe so. And this is because the NFL was founded in 1920. So 100 years ago, they just celebrated their 100 year anniversary. And guys, it took very long to get women involved into this, it took a very long time. And that’s very concerning. I understand that, over the history of America, this took time in general. But there’s been plenty of time ever since I was born to really get this involvement happening. And the fact that when I was born, there still wasn’t this stuff. And there still wasn’t women really involved in the NFL. It’s kind of crazy, and they’re getting really late to the action, and they need to really keep moving it forward. So what’s interesting is that the average owner, the average age of an owner in the NFL, is actually 68. And I think this is their systemic injustice by the owners against women. I honestly think as you can tell, it’s a very high age of owners, which makes sense, more of like, the wealthier people are older people, because they have more time to build up their wealth, which makes sense. But also there are only two owners of color. So there continues to be domination by technically old white men, and they’re going to be super, super big on what they believe and what they grew up in. Like, when you have the average age of a 68 year old owner, they’re going to have these beliefs that they grew up in, and it’s gonna be a lot harder for them to really get women and get people of color involved in operations around the league, because this is not what they grew up in. And they’re definitely okay with just having a lot of white men involved at the NFL. So one subtle thing that I picked up on, though during the semester was kind of the effect of your environment, on your beliefs. The fact that the people you surround yourself with and the ideas that you’re surrounding yourself with really have a strong influence on who you are and the beliefs you have. So for example, me taking a humanities class, I think is a good environment to surround myself with, because it’s surrounding myself with people in these discussions and things of that nature, that really bring in the idea of needing to really fight against these injustices of racism and sexism, and all of those things. So surrounding myself with people that really believe in the same type of things is super important. And I’m really happy that even if I find myself in situations that are with different minded people, my humanities class can always bring me back to what I believe in. Old NFL owners, as I said, like the old NFL owners grew up in different times. So they’re going to surround themselves with similar minded people, other old people, white men, just people with the mindsets that aren’t, you know, revolving and changing and adapting to our current times. And as a big NFL Fan I’m super concerned for the future of the league when it comes to support from women. I think that the NFL needs women involved and needs women fans and considering half of our population is women. And it’s super concerning, because I know for a fact that the NFL needs to last because I’m a super big fan of the NFL. But for it to last, it’s important to make everyone feel included and make our society feel super engaged in the NFL and make everyone come together, enjoy football, have complete representation from everywhere, really diversify. And I think that this act of systemic injustice against women needs to change. The NFL is doing a better job maybe right now to move forward. But they need to really ramp this up a lot faster because I’m sorry, but three women with on field operations is super concerning to me. And I hope this concerns you guys too. And it’s something guys pay attention to when you’re watching the NFL games. But guys, I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode I was so happy to fill in, for Andrew and Tawny today. I hope I was able to really help you guys out and really open up your mind to some of these ideas. I always love getting on here and talking about these ideas and my opinions and hopefully I was able to open your mind and really get you thinking about these problems that we have and how we can fix them and things you should be looking out for in your day to day life. I hope you guys enjoyed this one and I’ll see you guys in the next episode.
My favorite Diary of Systemic Injustices I wanted to expand on was writing about the demographic of my high school class. I graduated from Upper Arlington High School in 2019 which is located in a suburb about ten minutes from the Ohio State campus. Growing up I spent most of my time with classmates that looked like myself when it came to skin tone (white). I recently stumbled across an article that stated back in 1970, many deeds of homes in Upper Arlington did not allow “non-caucasian” people to purchase the homes. This was very surprising to me because I never thought there were actual barriers of entry to living in Upper Arlington until now. During my research, I was shocked to see that the first home accused of having a deed restricting purchases by minorities was actually on a one minute drive from my house!
This is systemic injustice because the City of Upper Arlington allowed these deeds to discriminate against non-caucasians. A cutout from a 1971 newspaper talked about the first time charges were filed against the Thompson family owning the home shown in the photo.
According to the UA-Archives over the last 40 years, the city of Upper Arlington has had a population of 92.1% caucasian, leaving only 7.9% as minorities. This is very concerning and is likely due to these house deeds discrimination. Although I would assume these systemic injustices are not in place today, the minority races are likely to avoid living in Upper Arlington due to its history. When relating this event of systemic injustice to something from class, the first thing that comes to mind is actually our current unit about The Leavers by Lisa Ko. I believe these relate because The Leavers is highly connected to immigration and the struggles that come from it. This act by the Thompson family put minorities including immigrants at a disadvantage in the city of Upper Arlington and added to the narrative written by Lisa Ko in The Leavers. Overall, this systemic injustice has had an impact on me because I was not able to experience a greater diversity of classmates while in school K-12 because my hometown made the barrier of entry harder for people who don’t look like myself. I am hopeful my city can continue to grow its minority population for the future of Upper Arlington students.
Works Cited:
A Case of Race, 29 Oct. 2011, www.unshovelingthepast.com/2011/10/case-of-race.html.
In my Week 9 Context Research Presentation, I wanted to take a deep dive into the neurological condition Synesthesia to give you a better understanding for relation to The Leavers. Knowing more about this will hopefully increase your understanding to make better connections while you read.
So first off, what is Synesthesia? Well Synesthesia has the broad based definition of a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses. There are many different types of Synesthesia, the most popular being grapheme–color synesthesia. This is when someone associates letters with colors. For example you may see the letter “R” and associate it with the color orange. With it being the most popular, you can expect this type of synesthesia to be found in more than one percent of the population. This was surprising to me as if you are attending a 100 person lecture at Ohio State, you can expect there to be one person around you with this on average. Although that is the most popular type, Deming has something different called chromesthesia which is the association of sounds to colors. For example, someone may associate the color pink with the sound of a doorbell. But as you could expect, sometimes an extensive amount of sounds can cause overstimulation which could be found in noisy dance clubs, or sports arenas. An interesting thing I read is that oftentimes people who were born with chromesthesia “grow up assuming that everyone has the same visual responses to sounds as they do, and are shocked when they discover this is not so” (Palmer). With the odds of having this being 1 in 3,000, I could make an assumption that likely no one or only one person reading this associates sounds with colors so it’s interesting to think that we would be viewed as the odd ones out.
First of all, I don’t believe that understanding Synesthesia is very crucial to the plot of the story however it’s important because it’s a way Ko subtly provides the readers with more description of who Deming is. He comes across as weird to others, so the idea of him associating sounds with colors makes him even more of an outlier. An experience Deming had with chromesthesia was shown in Chapter 3 when Ko wrote, “He heard melodies in everything, and with them saw colors, his body gravitating to rhythm the way a plant arched up to the light”. It is so interesting reading this because normally a writer would write this to show expression in a character however we would know that the character can’t actually see colors. However with Deming, Ko is able to write about this experience for Deming, and he is actually experiencing what only 1 in 3,000 people experience.
Sources:
Audicus on Oct 8, 2014. “Hearing Colors and Seeing Sound.” Audicus, 5 May 2020, www.audicus.com/hearing-colors-and-seeing-sound/.
“Chromesthesia: Feeling Music in Colours.” VICE, www.vice.com/en/article/rjqwzg/youneedtohearthis-chromesthesia-feeling-music-in-colours.
Palmer, Stephen E. “What Color Is This Song? – Issue 26: Color.” Nautilus, 16 July 2015, nautil.us/issue/26/color/what-color-is-this-song.
