Globalization

     I didn't know much about globalization before starting the soccer book in class, and I still am confused about the term.  But globalization is all around us and creates many positive and negative things. 
     Let us start with the positives right?  I'm glad that it exists because it spreads awareness and teaches people about other customs and cultures that exist around the world.  Globalization helps to prevent ignorance and isolation. 
      On more of a personal level, I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to learn about other cultures so I can better portray characters on stage.  The current show that I am in, I play Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and my character is from Ceylon.  Without globalization, I would not have the great henna tatooing, elborate costuming, or a middle-eastern accent. 
     I am still perplexed with the idea that we have the power to communicate with people in China when we reside in America and this communication tool from over seas is key in globalization. 
     I think it is also a good thing that everyone around the world gets the opportunity to have premium goods from where ever they produce that good the best.  I think the politics aspect of globalization is messy but in general we could politically spread this more so that certain countries could have a better government system.  Dictatorships should be non-existent.

So basically yay globalization...I think Foer is being sort of a downer about the subject.

Sports?

     I think it all started when I was a wee tot playing soccer actually, where the soccer ball was bigger than the kid trying to kick it. That probably began my hatred for soccer, I hate playing the game because I'm quite bad at it and there is just too much running involved but love to watch it :)
     Then I had my softball phase. That lasted for a good chunk of my childhood, and I slowly moved from playing in the outfield and picking the dandelions to playing shortstop for the team. One year we even made it to the championships and got to play at Thillens. Exciting stuff. I remember my mom forcing me to go most of the time but when I got pretty good I was happy I took all those embarressing staged photos and long hot summer practices.
     While I was in softball I was also a little dancer. I eventually stopped the softball for dance. I did jazz, ballet, and was excited to be placed in the JR MOVE GROUP class.
     I participated in all intrumeral sports while in grade school, including cheerleading, basketball, and volleyball. These were all fun and games but at one basketball tournament I broke my finger, very tramatic stuff indeed.
     I played on traveling basketball for a couple of years there in grade school mostly because my tiny catholic school consisted of like twenty girls per grade so everyone played. I spent most of my time warming the bench. I was quite frustrated, I didn't understand how the coaches could have their starters picked for fifth grade basketball. I got sick of that and turned my attention to volleyball.
     Phew, I was quite the athlete wasn't I? Well I'm almost done...
     I focused on volleyball and built up my skills on playing usually right side hitter from 5th grade up until sophmore year. I miss volleyball alot, and occasionally I play with a beach league but I stopped playing for school to focus more on acting and because the team of girls worked quite horribly together.
     I love watching the cubs. I'll also turn on the Olympics. I support my friends and family who play sports. I like to make large annoying posters and attempt at screaming in the stands.

yay for WY basketball season startingggggg

Thankful

     I just love our class too much, I'm thankful for everybody in it for such great converstations and what not...there are a couple that stand out that always seem to make my day in some small way or another though.

The list is what follows:
1. Hannah Ray- Long time friends, she's always got my back. Good side convos during, well not class of course, and I am blessed that she is blessed with a beautiful baby brother, that I can play with all of the time when I come over. Yes the many perks of the mid/ray relationship...
2. Rachel Mertel- She is always giving her leftover food to me and doesn't complain when I leave week's old coffee mugs in her car, she still sends me that text asking if I would like a ride to school. She's pretty great.
3. The dream team, or otherwise known as the Thompson Twins. I mean they are almost famous so I'm pretty thankful that I can one day be like 'omg yeah they were in my philosophy class'.
4. Ashanti- She always has great side comments on movies we are watching or heated debates between Kene and Mr. McCarthy, she keeps me entertained.

YAY FOR THANKSGIVING. TURKEYTURKEYTURKEY

Dear Cormac,

     Your poetic writing brought light to a very dismal plotline.  I enjoyed your novel The Road very much sir and I hope to read more of your works.  If I may ask, what got you thinking along the lines of post- epocalyptic?  Did certain people from your life influence the characters you chose for the novel?  Keeping the epocalyptic theme was a bold choice and gave you loads of freedom.  I will also say that this novel is very different from other novels of its kind by simple things, but these simple things made the book stand out.  The syntax and fluidness then choppy structure, all sylistic elements gave your novel an edge.  At least for me, it felt more personal and less depressing because I heard the characters' voices so strongly.  You do have a way with words.
     I am also curious about your background in poetry.  Being a poet myself, I suspect that you've had some background in it.  I would like to know who are inspirational poets that you admire, for I am always looking for new poets to get my hands on. 
     Also, the different characters with varying sences of hope that you brought into the father and son's journey all had specific meaning and I am still a little unclear with some of them.  I would just love to peek around inside your thoughts and notes while writing and editing this piece.  How long did the process take from start to finish?  I hope you are happy with reactions that you've been getting from the public regarding The Road and I await your upcoming books.

Nicole

Defending the Poet

     Yes Bukowski is a tad bit depressing, but nonetheless he speaks a whole lotta truth.  From the beginning in born into this he refers to the state humans are born into, this being a sinful nature.  And all the things he talks about, nobody can really say that the statement is false, for as elevators breaking and political landscapes dissolving are real things that have happened somewhere, not only a perspective.
     Then he speaks about how we are dealing with all of this.  He claims we are dying and being muted by these things, this this, the dinosaur we all are...? Anyway, so we experience these unjust things in our society today and we adapt by, usually, being passive.  Or maybe it is not being passive so much as it is we just do not know how to confront these huge earthly problems, so we fall to becoming mute and blind to them. 
     I also find it very interesting that he writes made inhuman by this.  It struck me. My view of the phrase was to say that most assume deep down all humans are good and programmed to do right, but that our this has changed how we function.  And now, we know how to decieve better than we know how to help out. I partly agree, but I think, all in all, that he leaves most of this piece open to interpretation so anyone can look at it and agree with some part of it.  Towards the end, most would accuse a very extremist outlook but I think that we can still believe in hope in our race while acknowledging the fact that one day trees will die, all vegetation will die along with the other radical things he proclaims.

A Direction the Class Needs

     Dear class- I'm off visiting college, have fun with this one.

     In my opinion, there are many things wrong with our current classes, material taught, etc...but at the same time in the United States we are very fortunate to be recieving such quality education.  So take into account, I say this with gratitude.
     I think about half of my teachers that I have had in the past have shown notable amounts of laziness.  At first, a student might say, thats great...less work for us.  But this is almost never the case.  The teachers don't care about really teaching their students, they are now just working for a dealine, meeting a chapter requirement.  I think students have stopped caring about actually learning and instead focusing on recieving a high letter grade because teachers have crammed more material into their lessons.  We are missing depth in our high school classes.  I want to come out of a class and actually feel like I learned something.  I want to do more assignments in class with the teacher there to answer my questions on brand new material that we're covering...not coming home to loads of homework that I do not fully understand because the material was crammed into a 45 minute class period. I want an end to busy work.  I want my teachers this year to cut some slack in the homework department so I can focus on getting myself into college.
     I believe that if we can cut the bullshit out of the classroom setting, students would be more apt to engage themselves in what is being taught.

THE END

Mother-Daughter, Mother-Son, Father-Daughter, Father-Son

     Mother-daughter relationships, especially through the teen years, can be challenging.  Historically speaking also, they usually are challenging.  I feel like mothers and daughters are either at each other's throats or the best of friends.  Hope for the best, but regardless mothers are supposed to teach the fundametals of being a woman to their daughters.  They are supposed to show compassion, understanding, and independence while supporting their husbands.  It is an important relationship to continue improving on.
     Mother-Son relationships, through my experience, are usually playful ones.  The mother gets to experience raising another gender from her own and it is experimental in the beginning.  A little boy's wants and needs are very different from a girl's perspective.  Even though I don't know a lot about this relationship, I know that it is important for the son to learn about the more emotional side of growing up and listening to his heart, and mothers tend to show more of this than fathers.  But again, sometimes fathers are the more emotional ones, so...

     Father-daughter relationships are special.  The dads usually spoil their little girls and are very protective.  They see their daughters as innocent and fragile and see to it that their job be nuturing her in a manly way.  I think when dads don't know how to emotionally attach to their daughters, that is when the materialistic spoiling comes into play.  The daughter warms the dads heart and believes he can do anything.  Very cute.
     Father and son are meant to be. They get to guy-bond and do things like fishing and have the safe sex talk.  Fathers get to start off their sentences with, "Well, son when I was your age..." Fathers get to teach their sons from experience and the sons have a greater respect for their father because he can relate.

:) yay family

How do I know what I know

     I know what I know from a multitude of sources.  My parents, my classrooms, my senses, books, and the internet have seduced my thinking.  These sources have presented facts that I have incorporated into my personal knowledge. 
     My parents had quite a lot of influence on me in my childhood, as one would assume.  I molded my way of thinking to be like theirs.  But as I grow up, I decide what things I really agree with that my parents have passed on and what I need to explore for myself a little bit more.  My dad especially influences what I think and know, and I am grateful that I have him, after all that is his job.
     The school system has also done a lot to educate this mind of mine.  I didn't question what I learned through grammar school but in high school it is a different story.  I think some required classes are pointless in the real world and some of the statements printed in textbooks I do not agree with.  But school did teach me many things, including how to hypothisize and test things out; they taught a method on discovering why and how you know things and why the subject should be known.
     I also know things from experience.  For example, you cannot touch hot objects without feeling pain and how my perception of love changes.  But then there are our resources like novels and computers that inspire and teach as well.  Beware of the false knowlegde in fantasy books or sites like wikipedia though...

Our Meaning

Humans purpose for their lives = to communicate and express themselves while finding ways to give their love...let me break it down for ya.

It is key to be able to say what you need to say...John Mayer would agree.  Throughout our lives, we need to learn the appropriate ways to communicate with all ages because these skills will serve their purpose...this purpose being getting what you want from effectively communicating. This process involves actively listening as well as speaking your mind.  We can always improve our communication skills. Another important part is knowing when to communicate and when is not the right time.

As many people would claim that they are so un-creative, I totally believe we were created to express ourselves.  Creativity comes in all sorts of ways through almost any activity, and we all need to find the things that we can preform in and let our inner selves out into the world.  It betters our health.

And love, well it's all we need, if it comes down to it.  Everyone needs someone to care about, and someone to inspire and motivate them.  We are so much happier when we are loving someone, and getting that same love in return.  The love we seek is the closest thing to perfect that we will ever experience in our lives on this earth, and with that I hope we all can experience these things.

Aw :)

God in 2010

     'Under God' is still in the pledge.  'In God we trust' is still on the dollar bill.  Lady Gaga even thanked God when accepting her many awards.  God is incorporated in our American culture, but I think it has become more of a convenience than actual strong rooted belief.
     Don't get me wrong, there are many Christians in our society today that are all gung-ho for God, but I think the majority of Americans fling the word God around like it is nothing.  Using the Lord's name in vain is so common nowadays, for example. 
     I also think that people now acknowledge God because they don't want to come off boastful.  They do not want to give all the credit to themselves and appear cocky, so they nonchalantly point to a 'higher being'.  We have lost the significance of a God in modern society for our selfishness...seems like we're losing the importance of various things for our selfish wants.
     God used to be so incredibly valued throughout history.  Like remember when people were being burned at the stake for not following the orders of their priests?  That was one extreme but I feel as if we are now approaching the other extreme.
     To further prove my point, there have recently been heated debates about taking God out of the pledge of allegiance.  Something that has been the same throughout history, I'll go as far as saying the backbone of our nation, was going to change because we are simply forgetting the intangible God.

Candide's Punishments

     Was Candide deserving of the brutal things that were done to him?  My first instinct is to say, of course not, nobody deserves the skin coming off ones body...lets be real.  And obviously Voltaire was going for satirical, blown out of proportion, worst case senarios here but if we are talking literally, nobody wants that to happen to anyone.  It is just so sad, not to mention gruesome. 

     But on the other hand, what if this shocking punishment is what it took to snap Candide into the reality of the world?  Was he too sheltered?  Would he have been ignorant without a life-changer like this? Having read more of the book, and observing that he still is trying to cling to a part of Pangloss' philosophy means that this event didn't change his thinking drastically.  But then again it seems as though he goes through multiple tragedies everyday after leaving his home, so...

     Then we could look at it from a different angle.  Were the people whipping him in the right to be doing so?  I'm sure that if we were living in the novel, that group would have some really justifiable reasons to do so, some would be so convinced that this is what needed to be done.  So do they deserve to stand up for what they believe in, as violent as that makes it?  I guess I'm keeping in mind the time period and everything...

     Me, being the compassionate person that I am, was happy when someone came to Candide's rescue.  But I am open to debating over the issue simply because currently in the novel I think Candide is a little too dumb and he needs to be shook; it's time for him to get out of bed.

Modern Day Socrates

Ok so my dad is the modern day Socrates...he may be a closet Socrates but none the less. HES MY SOCRATES ANYWAY.  You know, always testing and questioning what I believe...

The pops has had quite a long journey to figure out what he truly believes in and I don't think he will ever stop asking questions.  He was very confused as a young lad and had to discover many things to find out what is really important to him. 

Now, whenever he has an important decision to make, he uses his own form of the scientific method...but lets call his the "salesman for God" method. Let me explain...

He would first consult God, because after many life experiences and not to mention his faith, God has proved Himself to be real in his own life.  Then after a prayer sesh, he would go about the decision making process much like a salesperson might.  He often shares his tactics with me, and they are quite helpful indeed.

As of late,  he has been trying this thing where he models himself off the Christian teaching of evangelism.  This requires him to maybe step out of his comfort zone and reach out to somebody in the work place...

But the tricky thing when the whole religion thing comes into play is that you can't just start asking people why they believe what they do and then proceed to say no, actually my religion is correct.  One has to start with a personal testimony, as my dad says, just to present the different idea of Christian beliefs so the person feels comfortable. So he knows what he believes and can share that with anyone, but at the same time respects and knows how it is questioning religion or a god in general.

He really gets my mind churning when he poses questions or occasionally will give me the inspirational book to read, it makes me wonder about the deep questions of purpose in my life...so he is my Socrates.

The Unexamined Life Not Worth Living?

Ah, good old Socrates.  He always knew what he was talking about. He was the founding father of Philosophy for a reason people. 

Now when I first read the quote, I knew it sounded really familiar.  It sounded good in my ears and it read well on the page to me.  It was like a phrase that unlocked this door to a great memory of my childhood or something...I can't exactly put my finger on what that was but I smiled when it was referred to in class.  I even got that fill in the blank question right on our first quiz...

And for the record, I totally agree with the man.  We need to have an ongoing thought process about what we're all doing with our lives.  We should be examining, if you will, what we want.  Our wants are always changing and sometimes I gotta do whats right for me and only me.  I think when we take time to question things and dig deeper into reasoning why we do what we do, we do find more happiness eventually.  But believe me, sometimes the more you think about stuff, the more depressing it can get (like thinking about the boyfriend and I not going to the same school, I've been doing a lot of that lately..frowny face) but I also believe that you can tune your thoughts to the positive side and improve the situation, or at least get through it.

I actually stayed up at my camp (YMCA Camp PInewood..home away from home) for a whole extra week just because I desperately needed some me-time at the end of the summer.  After not having 5 minutes to yourself for a month because of constantly having to be with campers is exhausting...so anyway I chilled at camp when like only me and a few other year round staff were there and I thought.  That's what I did.  I thought about the summer and at first it was too much to handle.  It was so sad thinking about the mistakes I had made and what kind of person that made me.  But that time gave me the opportunity to sort things out and really reflect upon some of the shit I had been keeping at the back of my mind. 

So it was cool to have the quote directly relate to something that just happened... :)
Just don't stress yourself out when thinking about your life, because there are always gonna be questions that you'll never be able to answer.

Euology

God we're gonna miss her...that Nicole Middleton, whatta girl.

She passed last Friday from falling off of a rooftop at around midnight thirty.  Lets just say that party ended in a bang. But it was the police who came a bangin to break up the party, most of the teenagers had no idea Nicole had fallen, their red cups still in hand.  Rumor is she was pushed.


Now lets touch on her short life, shall we?  She was a cute little kid, dealing with her parents divorce at a young age but keeping a smile on her face.  Playing dress up and going to day care where she hated her daily swimming lessons.  Playing tricks on her parents, like pretending to run away, for example, while leaving a note and hiding behind the couch.  Her favorite month was October because it was her birthday month and she absolutely loved hosting her annual Halloween dress-up birthday parties where bobbing for apples was tradition. She wasn't challenged at her small ass Catholic grade school but enjoyed the games of kickball at lunch and occasionally alter serving.  She dealt with crazy stomach problems and had surgery on her ear but after that has been blessed with good health.  High school was the best time of her life.  She enjoyed the company of her friends, played volleyball, was a member of clubs and what not, but no matter what season, you could always find her on the stage.  She grew up fast and drew from her life experiences of crazy boyfriends, friends with problems, money issues, just being a teenager in the city... and put these into her characters.  She struggled with her acting dreams but she'll now always be on the big screens of our hearts.

Aw.

 Nicole was an athlete, and won many intramural tournaments. She is also a published writer. Her favorite style was either poetry or short narratives...writing made her incredibly happy and now that she is gone she wanted all of her journals to be read by family and friends. OH AND MOST IMPORTANTLY SHE WAS AN HONOR ROLL STUDENT AT WHITNEY M. YOUNG.  Not Whitney. Not Young. WHITNEY M. YOUNG.

...just to clarify.

Anyway, Nicole was such a loving person, probably had the biggest heart and best smile outta anyone I know.  She wants to be remembered by her mix cds that she loved to pass out, her great camp care packages, and that raspy smokers voice that we all love.  Every time one of her friends sit down at a lunch table and go, "I have so much food in front of me," they can think about how if Nicole was next to them, they'd only have about half of their packed lunch left for the rest would already be in her tummy...and then they will be missing her and her charming mooching qualities.

She will be dearly missed.