h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If I sit down and start writing about what I'm writing, everything starts to fall into place. Make sense? Well, it doesn't to me, either, but that's what I've been doing all day: making sense of the stuff I'm writing. Sometimes everything is just so overwhelming that I have to do something, and this is how I vent. There are other ways that I vent too, including yelling and screaming a lot and eating Haagen-Dazs. Lorrie Moore names the Stages of Grief as Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Haagen-Dazs, Rage. But technically wouldn't it have to be a Cycle of Grief, as we don't actually make much progress going from Anger to Rage? I don't know. But I have eaten Haagen-Dazs during many grieving stages in my life. Right now I'm not grieving, but I'm being very randomly confused and hyper, as I always am when I'm writing and I've practiced violin for three hours. It just started to rain here--all of a sudden I just looked outside and it was wet. Shows exactly how observant I am. Ah, well, I have other talents, such as sticking my tongue up my nose and the capacity for random ear movement. Which just goes to show what a useful person I am. I am the kind of person you'd want in your home. I am the kind of person you'd want working for you. I am the kind of person who should be in a Star Wars movie. I'm sure everyone wants someone who can stick her tongue up her nose. Don't you?

I know I'D want a person who could wiggle their ears and stick their tongue up their nose around MY house! I'd keep them in the top cabinet of my kitchen, where I keep ALL of my appliances.

You would?! Really?! Thank you, thank you. Autographs later, autographs later. Maybe we can discuss hours and payment?

Like most of my apliances, you would require three easy payments of $199.98, and your hours would be whenever I haven't got you shut up in the cabinet with the pasta machine and the icemaker(approximately twice per year).

Really. Three times $199.98. Quite flattering, really! Never thought I was worth so much. Other qualifications: Have written a parody^2 of "American Pie", know a little Welsh, can sing interesting songs like "All you young men near and far, never heed a maiden's calling, never trust a girl with your mother's cow, never let your trousers go...falling down in the green grass, falling down in the green grass, falling down in the green grass..." Also know how to do some *very advanced* things to do with computers like checking my email and word processing. These are very rare talents. Oh, and I can deviate from the cultural norm and am an experience, proficient debator on the meaning of life.

Questions:

1 What is the cultural norm?

2 How is it possible not to deviate from the cultural norm?

3 Do you believe there are people who achieve this throughout their lives?

Huw B

Ah, a timeless question. All three of them, actually.

The first one is one that we try to answer throughout our book (Deviating from the Cultural Norm) by having many different essays with many different points of view. For instance, my friend Ting Ting Fu maintains there is none. I myself maintain that the cultural norm is a psychological state of mind. Not really a place, but a state of being, like equilibrium, only not really since equilibrium is so predictable, etc etc...Anyway. Of course, everyone deviates from the cultural norm in one way: having their own fingerprints. And we all must do some culturally normal things such as wearing clothes. And it's not like I'm one of your classic nonconformists who goes around in black and predicting the end of the world and asking annoying questions that try to be thought-provoking but end up being obnoxious and criticizing everyone else and being depressed. I just don't agree with that.

There really is nothing wrong with being normal; however, there is something wrong if everything you do is to achieve this psychological state of normality. There is also something wrong if everything you do is tailored so as to be totally different from everyone else in the entire world. Look, if you try to do this, you're not going to succeed. Your thumb will laugh at you; it has done this already and hasn't even tried.

Want to hear Ting Ting's (a contributor's) view of it? Email her at [email protected]

Want to hear Anisa's (the coauthor's) point of view? Visit her page (she's Mellow Yellow Cello) and email her at [email protected]

Want to read the book? Tell me.