Post by Allyson Pendergrass on Nov 10, 2014 20:44:23 GMT -5
New York University,
College of Arts and Science
5 Washington Square N, New York, NY 10003, United States
10:02 AM, November 11th 2014
Today was an exciting day.
Two weeks ago, Allyson had been approached by the Head Psychology Lecturer at the New York University with a one-off lecture offer. She could hardly believe herself. NYU was one of the worlds top universities for Psychology – better than Berkeley in fact. She felt honored without much thought accepted with a profound, 'yes'.
The lecture in hand was to revolve around people with abilities. She had thought long and hard about how she could tie that in to her specialist field.
Though Allyson extensively studied Psychology whilst at Berkeley, she primarily focused on Cognitive & Perceptual Psychology and Clinical Psychology. The latter came in especially handy for her career choice: being able to perceive and understand a persons reasoning behind their distress and emotional state was paramount to being a psychotherapist. Her role at both Lux Aeterna and at her small firm required her to understand and study how people processed and stored the information they were given, as well as why they acted the way they did. It was an involved practice. A practice, Allyson thought, was most rewarding.
Despite her studies, Allyson was worried about how to deliver her lecture in a manner which would not put her career at jeopardy. She could hardly announce to the world that she worked for a top secret organisation and neither could she lie and say all of her clients were specials. Truth be told, a lot of clients at her firm were not. So, Allyson quickly came to the decision that she would take the lecture on from a sociological standpoint.
How have people with abilities shaped our behavior and more fundamentally, changed the way we act as a society?
A simple question to answer. Perhaps not one so easily understood.
So there she was: stood in front of a projector screen, looking out to a room full of hundreds of eager students – some of which she could sense had abilities – waiting to commence her lecture. She was wearing a rather formal suit that consisted of a white pinstriped blouse and matching black knee-length skirt. She looked over the crowd and smiled, holding the mouse pointer in her hands.
“Before I begin, I'm going to ask you all a very simple question,” Allyson gestured to the screen behind her, “How have those with abilities – or Specials as some have taken to calling them – altered the way in which we behave as a society?”
A female in the crowd spoke, “That's not simple.”
Allyson gave off a very visible laugh and nodded, “True. It isn't. We have to take a very objective view on the matter. Which is a hard thing to do,” She clicked her pointer and a second slide popped up. On the slide was a sentence and Allyson grinned at herself. The lecture had been very thoroughly thought out:
Humans are subjective.
“We as a social species have opinions. I'm not going to sugar-coat it, we're all very much opinionated. Some of us like the color blue – others don't. That's just how we are.” The Psychotherapist walked across the lecturers stage and gestured at the crowd, “You all have opinions, don't you? But the lecture today is not about whether or not you like blue,” She clicked, showing a blue slide, “It's about abilities. My aim today is to come to an agreement as to how -- if at all -- Specials have changed society.”
Center stage and Allyson inhaled, “Because I believe, without a doubt, people with abilities have very much altered the societal ladder. However, they remain integrated. Why?”
Allyson exhaled and a buzzing noise crackled in her ears, the metallic taste of blood flooding her mouth. Within moments, a milky cloud burst within her pupil and her eyes became as white as snow. She was focusing on a special; absorbing all information about their ability.
The room was silent for fifteen seconds as Allysons' ability took hold. And on the sixteenth second, the white dissipated from her eyes and Allyson swallowed.
“Because we're all hiding in plain sight.” She said, “Social Psychology aims to provide an answer to the question why? Why do we do this? Why do we need a computer? Why does society exist?” Another click, “And most importantly – at least for today – why have abilities shaped what society has become?”
Allyson dropped to the edge of the stage and sat down, looking over the crowd, “Now – can anybody answer my question?”
