Speech Comm

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

301--family and the sanctity of the sperm

OK, gang. We've talked about our biological families, and we've talked about families in general, along with the problems that face them. I would like you to be aware that where I'm from, people sometimes shun the sanctity of the sperm and the egg...they cast off all biological ties and create their own family. People latch on to others, that's human nature.

Life can be very hard. Without some kind of family structure, people do not thrive.

Why do we need other people? Why are we not solitary creatures? What does it say about this drive that we will dismiss our bloodlines and pick up on people who offer something we need? And most importantly, how do we communicate this? Is it verbal? Physical? Textual or understood, or perhaps chemical?

Discuss.

Comments

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

*brings coffee for CJ, craddling her own possessively*

*as she sits down and listens to CJ start to speak, her eyes widen* She wasn't at the party, no... But you talked to her, didn't you?

*The second she realizes what she did last night is obvious*

Crap

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

[Looks confused] E, is there a problem? You had so many good things to say yesterday, I thought for sure you'd be comfortable talking about family-type social groups...

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

*she looks relieved* Okay, not checked her messages yet. That is good

*smiles weakly* Sorry, Professor... it was a bit of a late night last night.

*thinks for a moment*

Neolithic activities were amongst the first examples of initiating communication between social groups. Different tribes would trade plants and animals.

The formation of casual social groups provides a stepping stone in the start to forming a family group... many people meet their future spouses at university, for example. In that case, woman are genetically attracted to men who they believe will provide them with the strongest offspring.

With the modernization of societies, the number of specialized goups not based on kin, such as, ah, churches or political parties, are increasing.

Social interactions are found in all animals, and we appear to have taken it to the next step, with the evolution of speech. It's been proven that a child learns a great vocabulary as it grows up with the more social interaction it gets, either through its family or in a social group, like a nursery.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Firecracker...I knew you'd have something for me. Tell me about attachment to those groups...like church or party...or perhaps cliques. How does the traditional familial ideal apply to these groups?

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

It's just common sense to attach yourself to people who... who offer somethin' you need. ::shrugs:: Sometimes people just get kinda...kinda thrown together. And it makes more sense to stay with them instead of..of going off on your own because they have somethin' you need, like protection or safe transport or somethin'. And after a while you can't help being like..like a family because you're around each other all the time and experiencing the same dren that they are.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Excellent, Chiana...you're on to something. Shared conflict, a common foe; tell me more. Who benefits from a group coming together and forming a familial bond?

[miss-monochrome.livejournal.com]

Well... the, uh, beings in the group for one. You get support and...and a place to belong. If you're lucky and don't frell everything up you might even gain a real family 'cause you might find the person that...that you're supposed to be with that way. You don't havta go through your life alone.

But, uh, I guess you could say that society could benefit too. Being forced to live with other people, tends to make you less selfish than...than maybe you were before that. Makes you more willing to help other people. And I mean, you get a bunch of beings together, who know each others strengths and weaknesses and all that from cycles of experience, it makes it easy for them to...to work together for somethin'.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

I s it our nature to cooperate, Chiana? In general I mean...I know we do it in the face of a common enemy, but what about on a normal day?

[not-an-ex-demon.livejournal.com]

Anya finds a seat and listens to what the professor has to say. She hopes Jack will show up to class today.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory curls up in the back of the class. Given recent events, she wasn't particularly in the mood to discuss why she needed others.

[http://users.livejournal.com/sydney_bristow_/]

Sydney comes in and takes a seat, thinking about things. "Because alone we'd lose our minds..." she whispers

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

That's so true, Sydney. Lonliness is a kind of insanity. Do you want to add anything else?

[dbiers.livejournal.com]

D'anna frowned a little, "Nothing is solitary, so why should we be? As for forming bonds outside our family, perhaps it's a rite of passage? A declaration of our own personal independence and individuality."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Independence and individuality...excellent, D'anna...run with that. Tell me more.

[dbiers.livejournal.com]

"Adolescent animals break away from their family at some point, through fight or flight, to undergo various life tests before being considered an adult member of their society, whatever it may be." She paused a moment to consider, "perhaps in humans, we do it in order to show our family of origin that we are capable of standing on our own, and therefore able to survive, to forge for ourselves when they are gone."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. Anything else you'd like to add?

[absolutesnark]

Piper wanders into class and takes a seat. She isn't feeling particularly well, so she just listens to the discussion.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

[Is concerned] Piper...you've been down for a while now. Is there anything I can help with? Do you need to go to the clinic?

[absolutesnark]

"Oh, I'm fine, really. Just a little tired is all."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

[Moving close so the rest of the class can't hear] I understand 'tired' more than you know. Why don't you take tomorrow and sleep in. I'll excuse it.

[kimberly-shaw.livejournal.com]

Kimberly takes her seat and listens to the discussion.

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

Veronica thinks about the fact that her father raised her not knowing if she was his biological child or not. And she thinks about the fact that her mother ran off and left them both when things got too hot to handle.

"I don't think there is some deep, philosophical answer to your question, Professor," she says after long contemplation. "I think it's just the way we were made."

[2ls-in-oneill.livejournal.com]

I don't think you choose who becomes your family. One day you have a group of friends you'd do anything for and the next day you realize you'd do anything for them and the thought of anything bad happening to them gives you an actual physical pain.

Communicating it can happen in a lot of different forms but I think it's usually in the small things. Like bringing someone a bowl of food if you know they haven't eaten all day or moving their papers so they don't drool all over their work when they fall asleep on their desk.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

[She blinks at him and looks confused for a second]

Right, Jack...that's actually very astute. Do you want to add anything else?

[2ls-in-oneill.livejournal.com]

Um... All families, whether they're blood or not, will piss each other off sometimes, and just because you aren't related doesn't mean you don't have to forgive them. Even if they do something incredibly stupid or thoughtless.