A Dude's Guide. . . to everything

Sibling Rivalry, or, My Sister Was Annoying

I was reading in Charlotte Parent about a new study by some researchers at North Carolina State University. Oddly enough, the study found that siblings feel rivalry with each other. Imagine that. All right, I’m being facetious, but only a little. In the study, fifth- and sixth-grade students were asked what made them jealous of their sibling. While there were four main issues that seemed to cause jealousy, I think it can all boil down to fairness, or a lack thereof.

Young-ish dudes and dudettes are obsessed with fairness. That is, they only want to do the least they can do, while also getting the most they can of anything. Okay, sure, so do we all. However, at those young ages kids have a more difficult time overcoming their desires in those areas. Also, I think kids have a harder time understanding that fair does not mean equal.

For instance, if you’ve got a 15-year-old and you ask her to carry a large suitcase on a trip, it might be fair to ask your eight-year-old to carry a much smaller bag. However, your older dudette sure wouldn’t see it that way. She has the heavier suitcase so it’s not fair that the younger dude has a lighter one that is, to him, an equivalent effort.

So now that I’ve been bloviating about that, let me assure you my sister really was annoying. And got treated much better by our parents. I was, of course, perfect.

More tomorrow.

– Richard

I Like Modern Art, or Richard’s Feeling Generous

A couple of months ago, my middle dude went to New York City with his school band. One of his favorite events was the trip to MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art. He loved it and, you know, I actually find it a lot of fun myself.

See, the thing about modern art is that it challenges you to abandon your preconceptions of what art actually is. Once you can get your head around the idea that art isn’t just sculpture and pigments on canvas, it opens up whole new vistas of perception. Pretentious enough?

So, yeah, I like modern art. Most of it. Still not sure if that was a restroom or an installation.

– Richard

Barry’s Feeling Cranky, or: If I Can Make It, It’s Not Art

Modern art sucks. Taking lint from your dryer and hot gluing it together to make a ball should NEVER be considered valuable.

The Museum of Modern Art in NYC is a complete waste of money, and most importantly, time. I went there once and it took me longer jump ahead in line by going through the coffee shop entrance than it took to get through that piece of junk. I’ve seen better in the garbage dump.

- Barry