Subjects

The subject appeared irritated at the presentation of a bottle containing her primary needs of sustenance on three different occasions during the course of the day. The subject appeared to chew on the portion of the bottle that is ideally supposed to simulate her food obtaining system. However, the subject did not at any point in time utilize the tool effectively to gain food. We are not left to wonder if the subject is deficient or whether we, the researchers, who immediately provide said sustenance in a familiar format, are at fault.

The subject routinely sleeps in increments of six to nine hours. We've been told that other similarly aged subjects have varying sleep schedules ranging from four to twelve hours. The subject appears to be truncating sleep schedules over the past few days. We are unsure if it is related to the abstention from bottle feeding or a change in the sleeping conditions. The subject now sleeps in a previously unoccupied room while the researchers sleep in a room down the hallway. We've noted that the subject often moves around more frequently in her new abode.

The subject has recently shown an increasing interest in hair, fingers, and noises created by the researchers that simulate bird calls, machine guns, or blasters from Star Wars. We suspect that the subject is either confused by the noises or wondering why we didn't teach a variety of clicking dialects instead of our paltry language.

We as researchers are approaching our wit's end.

Question 2 from the All Souls exam given to Oxford students. Answers from other readers strongly encouraged.

Q: From where does a sense of community come?

Digging people out after snowstorms? Shared political values? Religious values? (particularly in a more conservative context) The suburbs? Low crime rates? Similar socioeconomic statuses? Shared value systems that could be applied in a religious or secular context? Playing in sports leagues together? Picking up trash? People with too much time on there hands?

Query? How big can a community be, in which one can feel a sense of community? Ie, is it possible to feel a sense of community in New York, in D.C.? What is the maximum allowable population in which people feel a sense of community? Nebulous term aside. Is it at all negated in modern society by the seemingly meaningful connections we've formed with our televisions and computers? Can a person function fruitfully and feel a strong sense of community in a strictly online sense? Do we have to redefine community in order to reflect our modern situation? Can a sense of community have a negative connotation? Ie, did members of the SS feel a sense of community or is the term here being purely restricted to a positive sense of community?

I'd argue that a sense of community is generally felt when a person either highly values a particular place or a small group of people that occupy that place. Ie, I will not feel a sense of community about a place that I do not value. Thus, landlords often look for people to own homes rather than rent them because the owners are more apt to feel that the house belongs to them and treat it as such. Note: Most houses belong to the bank that loaned you the money for them.

I'd also argue that contrary to what people generally associate as dividers, age, race etc. That the thing that makes people feel the greatest shared sense of community is socioeconomic status. This, exceptions obviously on the two extremes of the spectrum, similarity in income is often related to things like where you shop and where you eat etc. Thus, a shared socioeconomic status will often create secondary commonalities that people associate with communities.

Community, like many other things in life, is also necessarily fostered by action, which is to say, behaving as though one has a strong sense of community often results in a strong sense of community actually developing. The point is simple, yet true, and perhaps more relevant in our contemporary world. If I pick up trash in my neighborhood, or help a woman dig her car out of the snow I began to believe that I have a stronger sense of community merely by acting in a way that fosters that sense.

Block parties and moderate boozing would probably also foster community.