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I was having a bad night and I hate going to friends to help cheer me up because it seems selfish and I don't want to risk putting them in a sad/bad mood. So I listened to stand-up comedy. The comedian was making a joke about beliefs in evolution and creation. He said that he didn't believe in evolution for two reasons: (1) "I'm from The South [laughter] and (2) I'm goin' to heaven [more laughter]". Comedy is usually funny because it is rooted in some truth. It got me to think more about the ways that thoughts/beliefs are "pushed" upon us due to our social surroundings. As one of the professors of this course is both spiritual/religious AND from The South, I realized that this topic could be one that hits close to home for many people in the class. We are probably affected by our surroundings more than we realize, just as Professor Dalke's example of Abraham Obama probably had quite an impact on the people who walked past it from day to day.

While I have no comedians to quote in responding to Professor Grobstein's lecture, I can say that I have never before heard that science was not truth. I have always heard of science being truth or the pursuit of the truth. A more subjective view of science makes the entire subject more open for exploration in my mind. Hearing his explanation of science/scientific method as the opening topic in class has made me go into this course with a completely different view of something that always seemed rather closed-off.