I am with you in Rockland

One of my favorite poems is Howl by Allen Ginsburg. I like this poem so much that I keep it in this nook under my dashboard in my car. I was introduced to Allen Ginsburg’s poetry by my friend Michael, the one that I have blogged about before. He recently has been keeping a copy of Howl in is car. The book I have is a collection of poems including Howl. My favorite line from Howl is: “I'm with you in Rockland where we are great writers on the same dreadful typewriter.” It just has always been a line that pops out at me every time I read it. I think it is because that great writers are a slave to the work they do, the same goes for great painters, musicians, or athletes. They love what they do but at the same time they dread it. This line could go for anything, it could go for we are the great football players playing with the same dreadful football. I know that sounds corny, but that the conclusion I have come to after analyzing this song. Another line that I really like is: “ I'm with you in Rockland where we hug and kiss the United States under our bed sheets the United States that coughs all night and won't let us sleep.”

Book Club

As nerdy as these sounds, I have always wanted to start a book club. I was talking to my friends about it and I think that a biweekly book meeting would be really fun. I think two weeks is usually enough time for people to have time to read a book. However, when I feel like I am forced to read a book I am really unmotivated to read it. I blame this on high school required reading. In my junior year, I was forced to read about the delightful puritans in The Scarlet Letter. Without a doubt when someone ask me what is the worst book you ever read, that one come to mind first. It is not that I do not like classics, I like Charles Dickinson. I just was completely bored with it; I hated the way the writing structure was dragging and everything about it. Because I was forced to read that book (because if I didn’t I would of failed the test) I am so unmotivated to read anything assigned. I might try the book club anyway though.

Note from Ashli’s roommate on the subject.*
The Scarlet Letter is the most dry and dull piece of fiction ever written next only in comparison to that damned and insufferable Tale of Two Cities.
Curse and burn these books. Now everyone go read some Kurt Vonnegut and Jack Kerouac and enlighten yourself beyond the standardized structure of your conformist high school education.

I am Still Just a Big Kid

My roommate was just telling me a story about how she thought that her boyfriend my have proposed to her the other night. She said that he had been looking at diamond rings in magazines and she come in the room and he act kind of weird. So, I started thinking about what I would do if my boyfriend would pop out a ring. I really do not know if I say yes or no, because I really love my boyfriend, but I feel that I am too you to get married. I really just not ready to be tied down yet and I do not plan for having kids for another ten years. That is if I decide to have kids at all, because I want to venture the world once I am out of college. I really do not want to be Mrs. June Cleaver and have dinner on the table at six, and greet my husband when he comes home from work. It’s just to me, when I am in my twenties, I think that is still too young to start settling down. It’s different for everyone, because some people do want to have, kids and get married you. I respect that completely, I’m just not ready for that because right now I am just a big kid myself.

South Park

Yes. Yesterday, I was trapped watching South Park. I mean, we all have those moments. In this episode, it was about how the entire United States was out of internet and everyone was freaking out. My favorite line out of the entire show was, “We don’t have the internet to find out why we don’t have the internet.” I mean as much as the show exaggerates situations, I think that if America was out of internet then people would really freak out. I would, because I use the internet as communication, to find news, listen to music, watch Lost, everything. I think that everyone would be angry without it because most people really do use the internet for everything. In the episode, everyone was driving to a valley in California because there was a bar of internet there. Where the internet was, there was a Red Cross camp set up. Everyone could only have about forty seconds of internet. I do not think that a red cross would be set up, if in reality no one had internet. It is just hard to think of how to live with out internet, and that is really sad. I think we can all remember that not even seven or eight years ago, the internet was not used nearly as much as it is now. I guess that shows how we are in a digital revolution, or whatever.

Good Thing Youre Drug Free When Youre Pregnant

It really irritates me when people are so open about be clean after being a junkie. For example, my friend Jacey and I were looking at one our friend’s ex-girlfriends on myspace. She had a default picture of herself and on her hand it said, “Drug Free since 04/16/08. Wow, good for that girl she has been drug free for three days. Also, this girl is pregnant. I am not trying to bash this girl; this is not what this blog is about at all. This is about how people are proud they do drugs. By that girl broadcasting that she has been clean for only three days, she wants people to know that she has obviously been addicted to drugs. It is ridiculous when people think they are cool for doing drugs, I have had friends who have completely screwed up there lives from drugs. I still see some of my friends suffer from it. I have seen someone die because of it, seen people and is still seeing people ruled by a drug. I think that drugs can create an outlet for creativity and other doors; however people have got to learn how to do it in moderation. To close this, I just want to say if you do drugs do not tell the entire world that is something personal.

Why Women Should Rule the World

When I was reading This is Why we Lost to the White Man on AtlanticMonthly.com I saw an advertisement for a book called Why Women Should Rule the World. I was way more excited about that book than anything else I have been for a while. So, I googled a summary for it. The book is by Dee Dee Myers and the main argument in it “Women tend to be better communicators, better listeners, better at forming consensus." I am not as much as a feminist as my friends make me out to be, however I am just fed up with the shit I get from men. I worked at Radioshack for a year, nine out of ten times when a man had a technical question they would ask a male worker rather than me. Not to vain, but I knew more than most of the men I worked with there. Also, once at Radioshack I was the top sales associate in the district for two months for selling cell phones, and all the guys behind my back would say, “It is because she has boobs.” I mean we were all friends and everything, but they were still bias towards me because I was female. Over the summer I read a book call The Average American Male, and it is a memoir written by a man. The book made me dislike men even more because some guys out there are so selfish and giant heart breakers. Now I am going to BookStar to get Why Women Should Rule the World.

This is Why We Lost to the White Man

I would have never expected this article to be about Bill Cosby. Wendy might have told us that in class, but I was late into class when she was talking about. The only way I knew to read this article was because the girl next to me had written on a sheet of paper, blog This is how We Lost to the White Man. So I hope we have to write about it, and even if we do not me really enjoyed the article. I must say that this is the most interesting article, or the one I have enjoyed most the entire semester so far. The article was written very well and grabbed my attention. For example, like describing the audience really grabbed my attention, and also he used the word euphoria. That word is one of my favorite words; and I think that the definition is beautiful and that the word has a clear sound. Anyway, also another striking sentence is that: “Cosby hired the Harvard psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint to make sure that the show never trafficked in stereotypes and that it depicted blacks in a dignified light.” I would have never thought that Bill Cosby would have worked that hard on the show not to have stereotypes on his “gig.” I really admire him for that, this article made me feel dumb because when I think of Bill Cosby I think of The Cosby Show and Kids say the Darnest Things. I never thought of him clenching his fist and saying, “Where are you men?”

Radiohead and the Beach

So in about three weeks I am going to be out of school and driving to Atlanta with my best friend, my boyfriend, and my brother-like figure to see Radiohead. I can not wait; it is going to be such and amazing experience. I have been waiting to see Radiohead for about three years now, and at last I can see them. I almost feel like I will be complete once I see them. After I see Radiohead, we are all driving to Myrtle Beach and staying for a couple of days. I have only been to the beach once, which was on a cross country trip. However, the day we went was a cloudy day, and it was a red flag so I could not even go that far into the water, at all. Hopefully, this will not happen again when I go to the beach. Myrtle Beach is the clearest beach in the country and going there after school gets off is the ideal way to be free. I can not wait to sink my toes into the sand, and run into the waves. I know that sounds really cheesy but it is the truth; that is probably the first thing that I am going to do when I get to the beach. I would go running on the beach, I always thought that would be fun, but I have ran in sand before and it sucks.

Allegory of the Caves

I got an A on my philosophy paper and I am really happy. Now that I know that this paper is not crap I would like to post the part of it about The Allegory of the Caves. This is in The Republic by Plato, and I really do not like Plato’s philosophy that much but I liked this so here it is:
The Allegory of the Caves begins with four people tied up in a horizontal line of chairs facing a wall, and they can not see each other. These people have been looking at nothing but this wall their entire lives, and one day they start to see shadows on this wall. They begin creating theories and discussing what these shadows can be. Eventually, one of the people becomes untied and is blinded by the light. In this story blinded is more along the lines of dazzled; but this person has never seen light so his eyes are not use to it and slowly begins to see. He begins to walk and the cave proceeds to slope upwards, and he sees a low wall. There are people walking back and forth on the wall carrying different man made articles with shining light behind them. This is what is causing the shadows on the walls, because this person realizes that as the people move so do the shadows. He walks past the walls and sees a fire, not a small fire but a big fire like a bonfire. This person comes to think that it is not just the people making the shadows; it is the light from the fire creating the shadows. This person continues up the slope in the cave and sees light from the entrance. This person is overwhelmed by the sun, and blown away by the colors and the shapes that are outside of the cave. He realizes that the sun is allowing him to see everything. He realizes what is in the cave is some fictional story and what is out of the cave is real. After all this joy, this person becomes angry because he has been in a cave his entire life and has not been able to experience the world outside of the cave. Soon he experiences feelings of pity, so he goes back into the cave to get the other prisoners and tells them about the shadows and what is outside the cave. However, the people do not believe him and get angry. Socrates is supposed to be this person in this allegory. He is trying to bring the people to light, which symbolizes knowledge, but they will not allow him to. The shadow images are supposed to represent the categories of imagination, and knowledge is the light.

Championship Game

So, I have not vented my feelings through blog about the game on Monday night. There are two words that give a very good description of how I felt. Very pissed. I worked all Monday night and when we closed( I work at Bed, Bath, and Beyond) the current score would be annouced every five to ten minutes. I got out early at ten thirty and my friend I work with and I drove very fast to Chillis, and caught the tail end of overtime. Everyone in CHillis was angry and yelling at the TV screens. After the game, it was dead silent. This is when I realized that Memphis is a cursed city, because nothing historically good ever happens. What I mean is that the history books always have bad things that Memphis is known for. I mean that besides Elivis, our good food, and St. Jude everything else to think about is the crime rate. However, once I got over my very angry feelings about the final game I was still happy that our team had a great season. I think that what they achieved is something that the city and our school should be very proud of. So Go Tigers!

In Remembrance there is Life

Last night at The Grand Central Station, which use to be train station but now holds events; I worked at an event called In Remembrance there is Life: A Night of Storytelling. This was a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.; he was shot 40 years ago as of yesterday. Many speakers spoke like Jesse Jackson, Dorothy Cotton, Billy Kyles, and many more. I was working there rolling cables for my half-internship kind of deal for WKNO. So, I did not have to do anything during the presentations and so I listened to the speakers. Like most people, I have heard a lot about Mr. King, and I sometimes think I know more about him than I need to know. However, tonight this ceremony really changed my outlook on Martin Luther King. The presentation was divided into four segments: The Early Days, The Turbulent Times, The Final Days, and Legacy. The ceremony was opened in prayer and unity, the audience stood around the tables that they sat in and joined hands. The Early Days open with a slide of pictures of Martin Luther King, some slides of marches, and protest. The speakers for The Early Days were Dorothy Cotton, Wyatt “Tee” Walker, and C.T.

The Early Days

Williams. C.T. Williams spoke first, his most powerful story was when he was telling about how Martin Luther King (I am going to start abbreviating with MLK) C.T., and a few other people were gathered in MLK’s living room. He said that they were all listening to the radio broadcasting news about voting. C.T. had said something like, “We need to do something about us being able to vote,” and MLK replied, “The time is now.” Everyone in the room started to cheer and get really excited, except for MLK who sat still and had a tear in his eye. Wyatt “Tee” Walker said that he knew MLK best for his humor, despite the media calling him unsmiling King. Out of the three speakers in this group, Dorothy Cotton had the best speech. She also mentioned MLK’s sense of humor, and said that the media twisted around the movement’s mood. She said the movement was serious and that many sad things did happen during it; however she said that it brought them together and a lot of it was fun. This proves how the media just twist many things around, and how they use propaganda to make the stories the way they want them to be. She also sang a song with rewritten words of “We can change the World,” to the tune of the song Jacob’s ladder.

The Turbulent Times

The next section was The Turbulent Times, and had a slide presentation just like The Early days. The speakers in this group were Tony Brown, Myrile Evers-Williams, and Clarence Jones. Tony Brown spoke about how he named the march to Washington D.C. the march of Freedom. Also, he was talking about how he thought MLK would be happy once he was famous. Yet, MLK had a physiological depression because he was always in fear of his life and his family’s life. Myrile had a very powerful speech. She said very proudly that she never marched or personally ever talked to MLK, however she used his teachings daily. Her husband was in the NAACP and was shot at their front door step. She said she remembered hearing the car pull up in the drive was, it stop, and then the shot of the gun. Her children crawled to the bathroom grabbing their other sibling as the father told them to incase that incident ever happened. She remembered MLK at her husband’s funeral, and he had a handkerchief wiping his face. Not because he was crying, but because he knew that he also might have his life not last as long as he like to. She told how she would try to vote, and people would ask well how many beans are in this jar or how many bubbles are in this bar of soap. Her story made me disgusted with humanity, because only fifty years ago and still today degrading acts happen like this.

The Final Days Part One

The fourth section was called The Final Days (it also had a slide presentation), the speakers in this section were Jesse Jackson, Billy Kyles, and Ben Hooks. All three of these speakers had very strong emotional speeches. Ben Hooks said a very meaningful statement in his speech, he said, “The civil rights movement did not start in the 1950s, the civil rights movement started in 1619.” This really spoke out to me; I never really thought about how many centuries that African Americans were denied privileges and freedom. Jesse Jackson had teary eyes the majority of the time he was talking. My notes that I took for Jesse Jackson are really blurry, but I remember that he mentioned that they MLK and everyone in the movement were in constant terror. I also remember that Jesse Jackson was one of the few speakers that went on stage with out any notes or books. His speech was in his head, and straight from the heart. I think that is why he had tears in his eyes, because everything he said was sincere storytelling. Billy Kyles was my favorite speaker of the evening, he was very articulate and his story gave me the chills. Billy Kyles was with MLK his last hour. Kyles mentioned that he could not believe that it had been forty years since the incident, and it has been a year older than MLK was. MLK was only 39 when he was assassinated. Billy Kyles said that MLK was waving at people below the balcony at the motel, and then Kyles heard a shot. Kyles held bleeding MLK who had been shot in the right side of his neck.

The Final Days

Billy Kyles said, “Forty years ago I did not have any words to explain my feeling about that moment, and I still do not to this day. “ He closed his speech with repeating “Just because the dreamer is dead does not mean that the dream is dead.”
The last section was Legacy and in this section Mayor David Dinkins spoke, and honestly he w a horrible speaker. He ran over his speech time rambling for thirty minutes, and I did not hear him say anything incredibly significant. However, one of the sponsors of the event from Harrahs Casinos spoke briefly. He said that if it was not for the speakers and their friends that were at the ceremony then he would not be were he was today. He said that he remembers his mother coming home crying the night MLK was shot. She was a maid, and the woman she works for made her work at a party she was throwing. This party was celebrating that MLK was dead. This made chills go up my spine, just that people can be so cruel and disgusting. However, when you think about people in the movement, you realize how brave and selfless they were being. These people in the movement were trying to help themselves, but at the same time they knew they would be helping generations to come. Last night I realized that MLK is more than an icon in a history book; I always knew that he did a lot for our country. Yet, last night I realized how much he sacrificed, and how much blood and tears he shed for everyone to have equal rights.

Cherry Picking

The first response I had when I hear about this was the hi-ho cheerio game. The one when you pick cherries off a tree and put them in the bucket and whoever had the most cherries win. When I started to research it, the first thing that I came across that was a cherry picker. According to wikipedia, it is someone that reaches up to pick cherries. Well, that is somewhat obvious. Webster dictionary defines it as selecting the most desirable. So if I apply that to English then it means that you should select the most desirable words or research to what you are writing. That is important because people who read article do not want to read something that is “undesirable.” Undesirable items could be boring information, bad writing, or an article that was not proofread. All of these things are unattractive when reading other people’s work. I looked really hard online to find out what else what cherry picking could mean, but those are the only two real explanations that are remotely interesting. I guess that cherry picking, according to my opinion, could mean a free sense of writing. This is because when I think of cherry pinking I generally think of it as being around cherry trees and just picking cherries and eating them. However, it could mean a limited writing, because some people have to work as cherry pickers; therefore they are limited to that work and it is not free.

Happy Birthday Emily

My friend Emily’s birthday is next Tuesday, and I am to poor to buy her a present so I wrote her a song. I play this on a little chezzy song on the piano, excuse me the keyboard. I like to pretend that it is a nice eight-eight key piano, but it is only forty keys. But, pretending makes it better. Anyway, I thought I share the lyrics:

Happy Birthday Emily
It is your special day.
Today is the day that you turn twenty. (You say twenty with an A sound so it rhymes. I’m not a Dr. Seuss; I’m not that great at rhyming.)
So do something wise with it
Get really wasted
You have a reason to get obliterated.
And no one can tell you no
Because you’re the birthday girl
And today you’ll shine brighter
Than a pretty pearl.
Happy Birthday Emily
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday Emily
And may all your wishes come true.

Of course only virgin margaritas will be served at her birthday party, we do not really drink. I just thought it would be funny in the song. Anyway, I hope that she likes it but I figured it is better than a store bought item. I always like things my friends make me instead of buying me something. This is because something they make can not be bought in stores.

Stacy Sullivan

Stacy Sullivan amazed me just because of all this information she knows about her book and relating to her book. One of the most interesting things she said is when she was talking about how that guy would sell bullets as large as the microphone she was holding. He would transport them on a commercial flight saying they were for this fictional elephant hunting game. That terrifies me that bullets that big can travel on a commercial flight. Honestly, I am not really that interested in what she what she wrote about, but the fact that Stacy is so knowledgeable about it fascinates me. It’s obvious that she has researched every single fact that she is talking about, and she knows exactly what she is talking about. I also think that she is a very brave woman, for researching such dangerous information. I really happy when I heard that The New York Times Magazine was going to cover the cost for Stacy's lawsuit. I can not believe that Keith Odema has sued Steven Spillburg, its funny though in the end Idema was paying Spilburg money. I really that everything works out for her. She gave some good advice saying that if you are going to writing an article and it may risk you getting in a lawsuit then you need to make sure that your company will cover you.

Josh Pager

The next author to speak was Josh Pager, and I enjoyed his reading the most. This surprised me because the only sport’s book that I have ever found remotely interesting was Seabiscuit, and that was hard for me to read too. I felt like I was in story time in Elementary School when he read, because I had to sit on the floor Indian style since there weren’t any seats left. Even though his story was nonfiction it felt like fiction and was interesting. He talked about many things in the story and how they related to that historic baseball game, like The Simpsons, Larry King, and John Steinbeck. He was reading one quote out of the book, and stopped and said, “I cut out the part about and my dead father.” This was interesting because, I realized when writing sometimes you need to edit out offensive or unnecessary pieces. I liked hearing about the part about talking to Bobby Thompson. However, it also made me sad because Bobby had lived his entire life with that lie and finally admitted the truth pretty much on his deathbed. Josh was a good story teller because he had somewhat acted out what Bobby was doing when he was talking to him. He also said that Bobby did cheated but it was because his manager told him too; and so that gives Bobby more pity than being labeled just a liar. During the questions Josh said something very interesting and I loved how he put it, he said, “Sometimes it is good to not know so much about the things you love.” I thought this was neat because he loved baseball, and now he knew about that game and all the secrets about it.

Christine Kenally

The first author that spoke was Christine Kenally, and I really like the phrases she used in her book, The First Word. One of them was the Tarzan meets Jane phase. I thought this was really interesting because it reminds of when you first meet someone that you like and you just want to know everything about them. Also, she was reading something that was along the lines of speaking is little more than letting out air or something like that. I thought that this was a really pretty way of saying this. I think that what she was saying is that people are so use to speaking that it is just like breathing, and that is really true. It was interesting the research that she had to do for this book. It was a lot of research that involved studying anthology, digital evolution, genetics, and linguistics. I thought it was cool how she was comparing our language to monkeys like bonobos. It was also interesting because I just studied that in my anthropology class. Also all three writers either talked about monkeys or anthropology. Kenally talked about both, Josh Pager talked about anthropology, and Stacy Sullivan was talking about the Gorilla troop. Even, though she was not talking about actual gorillas.

Memphis Zoo and Infrastructure

I was searching Channel Five’s news Website trying to figure out why there were blue bands around the trees on East Parkway. For those of you who haven’t seen it, for at least 2 miles there are trees with blue bands wrapped around them on east parkway. On the blue bands are pictures of houses and pictures of children holding hands. I did not find the news report on that, instead I watch a video about how the Memphis Zoo had cut down trees in Overton Park to make room for a new exhibit. This disgusts me that the zoo will cut down historic trees to expand the zoo so that they can make more money. There was an interview with the man that made the decision to cut down the trees and he said that the trees need to be cut down because if infrastructure. There was room need for drainage pipes. I do not like infrastructure at all, and I think that it is a selfish thing that mankind does for himself. Yes, I know that some of it is necessary, but along with urbanization so is very unnecessary. I just hate seeing trees being cut down for an advantage to mankind. The last week of high school I walked into the courtyard, and I expect the five beautiful Oak trees to be standing as always. They were not that day; they were cut down into branches and logs. The National Honor Society Sponsor, she was in charge of our school environmental club too, said it was because they were sick. Later I found out through many different sources, it was because she wanted to remodel the court yard and I find that repulsing.

Vegan Shoes

I recently read that Natalie Potman has a new line of shoes; however they are all animal friendly. That means the there is no animal cruelty in the process of making them. They have been labeled “Vegan Shoes,” and they are 200 dollars and up. That is thing about being a full out vegan, it is very expensive. I was a vegan for about 2 months, and stopped because strictly eating organic, dairy free food was expensive. I did not do it for animal purposes really, even though I do really like animals, but because it is suppose to really good for your body. I have been a vegetarian for 3 years, and it hasn’t been that bad (even though I really miss General Tso Chicken sometimes). As a vegetarian, I can not imagine making sure that everything is animal-friendly. Until I read this article it did not even really cross my mind that animals took part in other products I used like shoes. I really wish I had the money to take that next step, but I really can not shell out 200 dollars for shoes right now. I did find another website with vegan shoes, and they fell around 50 dollars, which is still expensive for me, but they weren’t that cute.

School Parking Sucks

I hate the University of Memphis Parking Situation, because there is never anywhere to park. Unfortunately, I can not afford to buy a very expensive parking pass to a designated area or the parking garage. Those are not even close to my classes, the parking lost close to my classes is the one on southern; and it is cursed because every time I park in it a train comes by and I am really late fore class. Whose brilliant idea was it anyway to build a railroad in-between the parking lot and campus; I just want to say thanks to the genius that came up with that. Yesterday, I parked on the street with a bunch of other cars and got a parking ticket. I think that it is ridiculous that the University of Memphis is so picky where students park, when they can not offer decent parking. Not to mention, all the general parking lots are always full. And sometimes there are not even any parking spots left; the only time I can find good spaces is before eight o’clock and after two. Lucky for me I do not have any classes around those times. I think that Memphis really needs to improve the parking situation for the students (who pay and choose to go there) sakes.

Lately, I'm tired all the time...

I am so tired of being tired all the time. It has become painful to go to class, and then do my homework because I am so tired. It also might be end of the year blues, since there is only about a month left of the semester and I am ready to be free. I love the summer, because you can do whatever you want and everything is carefree. I do have to work, but there is not as much draining metal word involves. I am also tired of being stressed out all the time, it one thing after another constantly. Even on the weekend it does not end because I am terrified what the next week might bring. What the worst is is that I am trapped in my house doing homework, while I should be out enjoying this beautiful day. I could be drawing with chalk, flying a kite, running, painting in the grass, but no I am bound to doing papers, readings, and all those marvelous things. I love school, it is awesome. What makes it even better is that I am not even taking the classes I really want to take, because I stuck in the gen eds still. Sorry about the sarcastic blogs today, I am just pretty angry about many things today.

Good Friday

I do not understand why the entire campus did not cancel class for Good Friday. In High School we would get out of school for that holiday, until spring break fell during the holiday. However, at least there was not any school that day. My Mom got out of work early today, and my Dad did not even have to go to work. I guess because not everyone is a Christian we did not get out of school. It kind of follows under if there was any other religious holiday that school would not let out for it. More than anything, I guess that I just want a break from school I guess. Sadly, that is how most students would look at it anyway. Most would not even observe what Good Friday just look at it as a day is, instead off. Some students may even think that it is a stupid reason for class to be cancelled. There is Easter Sunday to observe and honor what Jesus did for me. At least my work is closed for day so I can go to church, and have a day of rest. That would be nice, because days of rest are rare, even on Sundays when that is supposedly us to be the day of rest.

Day in SPring Bring Break

A while back ago, I blogged about my friend Micheal,and how not being able to come down from Olive Branch to hang out. Well over spring break we finally got to chill, and it was amazing. Micheal and eye are pretty much the same person, we both like the same music, artist, food, and all that jazz. The day he came down, I just had so much fun because all we did was sit in my room and talk. Well, we also played some music. Playing music with him is so much fun because we do not take it seriously we just take it as we go. I think that’s the way most music should be anyway. The day was just so carefree, we made CDs for each other, and listened to old bands. I just wish that we could have more days like that, but it is so hard. Not just because he lives about 30 minutes away, but I am so busy with school, work and my internship-kind of thing. I know in the summer we will get to see each other a lot, but once the summer ends again I am not going to see for a good 4 months. UGH! It just really sucks.

Song Glued in my Head

I’m sticking with you.
‘Cause I’m made out of glue.
Anything that you may do,
I’m gonna do too.

I really like this song, it makes me smile everytime I hear it. The bad thing about it is that it is very catchy and get stuck it my head. I do not really mind having songs stuck in my head, but sometimes it really sucks. For example, once I was taking a math test and the it was some radical problem. I could not think about the equation itself just, I’m sticking with you. That really is not helpful on a test at all because I just stare at my paper like a zombie with a record player rotating in my head. Another thing about having songs stuck in my head is that I’ll sing them out loud. Usaually when my friends are around, and then they start singing it. So then I have the song stuck in my head, plus my friends singing the songs. It’s just a vicous curse sometimes. However, the best ting is finally getting in my car, going home, or put on my headphones to listen to it is the best. It is like finishing a race or something, because I feel victorious that I actually get to listen to the song.

Word

Today on dictionary.com the word of the day is bedizen. I have never heard this word in context. Ever. For those of you, like m e, who did not know what it means, the definition is To dress or adorn in gaudy manner. The word makes me think of really big earings, bangles, and flashy necklace; so basically big jewlry. However, I do not like the word gaudy. I think it has a bad tone to it, and the word really has a neautral connotation. Gaudy can big good if it is stylish, but also gaudy can look tacky. I really am not a critic of words, but I do think some are really pretty and meaningful with out even knowing the definition. Pure is a really good word, it has a nice ring to it. I’m sure everyone knows what pure means, so just by hearing the word it has a clean aura when when people say it. I also really like the word sound, or sounds. I love hearing that word because when I think of sounds I think of joyful noise and happy music. Even though sounds can be scary or terrible sometimes. A word that I really hate is nostalgic. I think it looks ugly, I do not like the meaning of it, and I really do not live saying it.

Lost

Over spring break my boyfriend has gotten me addicted to Lost. I do not know how many of you watch this show, but it is pretty intense. I watched Allias pretty religiously, and J.J. Abrams produced that show and is producing lost. So, when I heard about Lost I knoew it was going to be a good shoe, recently I have been having trouble keeping up with TV shoe. Mainly because I work on the nights when they come on or I forget when they come on. Lost has got me hooked hardcore though, because it really knows how to reach out and grab your curiosity. I just want to know certain things like who are “the others,” what that weird machine is, and why there is a polar bear on a troical island? Normally, I would read spoilers; but this time I want to wait it out because I want to knoe every detail. I have to say that the show is very well written. All the characters are well developed and so is the story. I can not imagine being stranded on an island, espically on an island that has abnormal activites going on. It really does make me think a lot, because it is pretty obvious that something weird is going on when a planne crashes and the surviors do not have any broken bones or anything.Well now I am going to ABC.com to watch lost

Running

I’ve started running again, ever since the weather has been lightening up. It’s amazing how much better my body feels after I excersize.I have always really liked running because it really is a form of meditation for me. Most of the time I can just listen to my ipod and enjoy the beautiful day. Other times it’s a really nice way to hang out with my friends( at least my friends who are not couch potatoes). I think the best thing about running is that it’s an activaty my Dad and I both enjoy. I ran with him for the first time in months the other day, and it was really nice because I do not see him that often. Also, we got to chat and catch up on a few things. I really wish I had the motivation to run early in the morning before class and work; because my body feels so relaxed afterwards. Not to metion, runner’s high is the best ever. The sky concaves in and my entire body is tingling and my mind really doesn’t think about anything at all. Which is really nice because I am always thinking constantly, I guess everyone thinks all the time too. However, it’s nice to take a break from my own mind.

Marie Antoinette

For some reason I have always really liked Marie Antoinette, even though she was a selfish brat of a queen. I am sitting by my window of my apartment and I have this book on Marie Antoinette that I use to prop up the window(because I have a fabulous window that does not hold its self up).Her real name is actually Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen(Wow.) and obvious she is notorious for leaving this world at the guillotine. My mother is French; and she speaks broken Canadian French because she lived on the border of Canada and Maine for nineteen years. When I was little and being greedy or not sharing, she tell me I best be careful before I go out like French Queen Marie Antoinette. I do not think that Marie Antoinette was just greedy, I think she just had a spending problem. She loved spending money on everything, private villages, clothes, furniture, and anything luxurious and expensive. I was reading about her in that book by my window, and it was talking about how Louis Auguste and Marie were not all to blame for being terrible leaders, just that they were not educated properly in comparison to other royalty. Honestly, I do not really like Marie Antoinette because she was royalty and had a lot of money, I just think she was very stylish for that time period and has interesting portraits.

Thank you President Bush

I am sure that everyone has heard about the “Bush Money,” and that every tax payer is getting. I have been pretty confused about it; because I though that every tax payer is getting 600 dollars, but if you only worked part time you only got 300 dollars. I only work part time, so I was expecting to get 300 dollars and was happy to have it. I am aware of the reason we are getting it. It is not because Bush is generous and just want to hand America 600 dollars out of the goodness of his heart. It is not so that people will not hate him as much either. The reason is because it will help our economy, people will get “free” 600 dollars and are likely to spend it, and therefore it goes back into the economy. I think that in end I rather not have it because it will make products go up in price. I was eating lunch with my dad today; and we were talking about it and he said that everyone has the option to return the money back to the government if they do not like Bush. No, I am not a Bush fan at all, however I need the money for my bonnaroo ticket. If I had the money I send that “Bush Money” back with a raging letter attached. Later my Dad told me that every tax payer over the age of 16, gets 600 dollars. So maybe now I should still send that raging letter, with a thank you on the bottom.

Enviroment VS. Goverment

When I was struggling to find the history of air and water pollution for the upcoming research paper I came by a very interesting quote. “ It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment,” quoted by Ansel Adams. Ansel Adams was a photographer, and he enjoyed taking pictures of Yosemite and the western wilderness. This quote really stuck out to me because, I do think that the government is unintentionally destroying America’s environment. I know that urbanization is unavoidable, because people need places to live and grocery stores and all that. I just feel that we don’t need as many strip malls or Walgreens as we have, and that we could save pieces of our environment by cutting back on these things. Also, isn’t that by upgrading our highways every so often that the state gets more money or something like that? I understand, that the highway is already there and the by upgrading it we are not really tearing anymore trees down. However, the machines used and tar laid down add to air pollution. The government does try to help the environment, that’s why we have the EPA and the ride share program. Although, at the same time factories are being built and construction is adding to taking apart the environment.

I met Regina Spektor!! !(yes, you can be jealous)

Yesterday, my boyfriend Alex and I drove to Nashville to see Regina Spektor; and I think amazing is a good word to describe the entire experience, saying that she is extremely talented is an understatement. When she played poor little rich boy; she was playing the piano, playing a chair with a drum stick and singing. All while making it sound incredibly spectacular. When she played fidelity, she stumbled on the keys and started laughing . She was apparently embarrassed that she had messed up, but she just kept on playing. Her last song in the anchor was Samson, and it was more beautiful live than on CD. After the concert, I was dead set on meeting her. After a concert at the Ryman, the artist playing comes out of a door in a back alley. It is not a scary back alley, there are three lively bars and the most you have to fear is the drunk people asking for a lighter. So after an hour, in the freezing cold, with a handful of other fans waiting she finally came out. I had brought my Fidelity sheet music for her to sign. The security guard asked everyone to get in a single file line and have cameras ready. I was the fourth or fifth person in line, and when she got to me she smiled and took the sheet music out of my hand to sign. She was about to sign it , until she started looking at it and asked, “ wait what is this?” I replied back just with my jaw dropped telling her that it was sheet music. She opened the book and just looked at it and said, “ this is so smfancy, where did you get this? I don’t even have one of these.” Then she just looked at me in shock, and smiled. Then I got to take a picture with her. :)



me and regina!

no need to be mean :(

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about my roommates getting a kitten. Tonight I was catching up on reading comments to my blogs, and when I read one comment that really offend me. Someone posted a comment implying that I was stupid because I thought the two cats would fight all the time. The aggressive comment said, “your not that smart for even thinking that acts (I suppose he meant to put cats?) are going to fight like that what you going to do stat an underground cat fight operation?” At first, I was just going to brush it off; but at the end of the comment he wrote, “I can not stand stupid people how did you get in college.” I do not mind engaging in arguments but, I was really hurt that whoever this person is called me stupid and made me feel that I was not worthy of college. Just because someone go to college does not mean that they are a genius, they are just trying to gain an education so they can do something in this world. I think that people who “can not stand stupid people” need to get a grip and realize that they are going to have to deal with “stupid people” their entire life. Amelia Earhart volunteered as a nurse instead of going to college; does that mean she was stupid because she did not go to get an education? How about this for an argument, what makes a person stupid? Is it someone that does not have an extensive vocabulary or a scholarship or someone who does not have a 4.0? I am sorry that kittens make me happy, and that’s why I blogged on it. Now I am going to go wallow in my idiocy and play with my roommate’s new kitten, because she does not care if I am “stupid.”

Regina Spektor

I got new sheet music today. This is really exciting to me, because I usually use my money on other things and don’t have time to play. I got fidelity by Regina Spektor, because I get to see her next Wednesday. I am so excited because her show has been postponed twice, but this time I really get to see her this time. She’s playing at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and after the show at the Ryman if you wait sometimes you can meet the musicians playing. So if it’s not too sold I might try this out. I have tried to wait for the artist before, like when I saw Bright Eyes. However, when the lead singer, Conor Oberst, walked outside an escalade was waiting for him. He just ran in the car, with security guards around him and rode off. I do not know if Regina will do this or not, I guess I will just have to wait and see. Even if I do not get to meet her, I will be content because I finally got to see her show. More than anything, I hope she will play her song Samson, because that is my favorite. I sure she will, because many her fans really like that song too.

Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
He told me i was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors and the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright

Robert Frost Quote

I read the quote on the main blog, "We come to college to get over our little mindedness." Honestly, I am not on good terms with college. When I first came to college I was so excited because I felt that I was actually going to learn something, more than the redundant lesson plans in high school. Lately I feel that I really am not learning anything that will apply to what I will do in the future. I do love learning, I love my evolutionary anthropology class, and I really like how we broke down that sentence in English because it showed me that if a writer uses certain words then they can persuade people to think a certain way without them even knowing it. However, some of my classes like physics; I do not care at all about. I do not like learning about the sciences required at all, they bore me. However, I have noticed that I do think a different way, when deciding on a topic I really think about it before I decide I like it or do not like it. I really can weigh out my options, and I think with a broader mindset more than just having one side to it.
Word Count: 208

Laura Flynn

Yesterday, I went to see Laura Flynn at Rhodes College. When she introduced it was mentioned that she spent a lot of time in Haiti and that all of her friends were surprised that she did not write about her experiences there. Instead she wrote a book about her mother’s mental illness. When Laura Flynn came up to speak she said that she was going to read a chapter out of her book that gave a pretty good overlook at what it was about. She gave a little information on the book before she read so that the audience there could understand where in the book she was coming from. She said that at the part of the chapter she was reading that her family lived in San Francisco and that her family was still together. When Laura started to read the chapter, she read about how her mother would sit in chair in the midst of a cluttered room. The part that I liked most about the chapter was that she wrote how her mother was observing a humming bird outside of the window, then she continued to read about her mother’s thought process in that chair. After, she finished reading that portion of the chapter, it ended with as she looked at the humming bird. I really like the strategy she used with the humming bird; because she explained so much information about her mother but all of that thought process took place while watching a humming bird for a few minutes. Some of the sentences she wrote were very pretty, for example (this sentence isn’t verbatim) “she would look at the trees, to the branches, and then to the needles.” I really liked this sentence, because she gave really great detail, and broke down what her mother was thinking.

Laura Flynn: Part 2

After Laura Flynn read the chapter, she asked if anyone had any question. The first question asked by a mid aged man was how did she know what her mother thought, and if she had interviewed her for the book. Laura Flynn said that she did not interview her mother and just had to enter her perspective. Also, that most of it is based of her memory, and that she did ask other people who knew who and her family what they remembered. Laura said a very interesting quote that intrigued me more than the book, she said, “Memory is imperfect.” I really loved that she said that; because it is true that you will never really remember exactly everything in life even if you take pictures and write everything down. Another question was asked by a college student, she asked if her mother knew about the book. Laura told her that her mother did not even have the slightest idea that the book was written. Mainly because apparently that her mother’s condition has worsened, however she told the audience that they would have to read the book to find out more information about that question. I think that it was very brave and it had to be really hard for Laura to write that book, and think that alone is worth reading the book.

Not Having TV isn't that Bad.

Ever since the storm from a few weeks ago, we have not had a televison. It got fried in a power surge. Honestly, it is not that bad, Television for the most part really is sucking the life out of America. Yesterday, a few of my friends came over, and usally we watch TV and talk. However, we did not a have TV this time, so we just talked amongst ourselves. It was raining and so then we did not want to go outside, or drive anywhere. Instead we played rummy, and played some instruments. In all, it was actually a really fun afternoon, because we did not have to TV the entertain us we had to entertain ourselves. I do not know if our TV is ever going to get fixed, because it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one. Unfortunatly right now my roommate and I realy do not want to fork out the money to get a new one. So for a while, I guess its going to us entertaining ourselves. I do not think it will be too bad because I can read and paint and enjoy life with out the media.

Still if anyone knows anything about fixing TVs, let me know because I do miss watching movies.

Tiger Lily

My roommate’s boyfriend is getting her a kitty, and I am really excited because I love kittens. I have a kitten; almost a cat now, and her name is Tiger Lily. The thing with Tiger Lily is that she thinks that she is a human. She sleeps with me at night, and she sleeps under the blankets and her little cat head sticking out from the covers. If I take the covers off her she just looks at me, and then goes back into the covers. I really like Tiger Lily though; she is the first pet I have ever had. She is a lover, she likes to sit on peoples laps and she will not move until that person moves. However, I hope that Ashley’s kitty will not give Tiger Lily any bad habits. My roommate said that she is going to train her cat to be a fighter, and lovers and fighters have trouble getting along. However, Tiger Lily does like killing bugs; but she doesn’t know she’s killing them, she just thinks their playing with her. Maybe it won’t be too bad because maybe Tiger Lily needs a playmate. Also, maybe she will realize that she is a cat not a human. I’m anxious to see what the new cat looks like, Tiger Lily looks like a grey and black cat with white socks. One of my friends said that I should name her socks, but I thought Tiger Lily was appropriate because she is a tiger at heart.

Winter is the Worst

I am so tired of winter, because it is dragging me down. Today is one of those days that where the weather is so nice, but tomorrow it will be cold again. I am so unmotivated during the winter and never go outside because it is too cold. I miss being able to go outside to paint, play frisbee, go running, go to the park, or go on walks. I love those activities, because that’s what makes spring, summer, and the beginning of fall so great. I can be free outside and enjoy the world, but during the winter all I can do is curl in some blankets and think wish it was warm. All of my friends are the same way, they all hate the cold so they recluse in warm houses. Also, I don’t have very many winter clothes, because I like sun dresses and cute shirts. So that is what I buy when I go shopping; I don’t like wearing tights or legging and I really hate gloves. I loathe gloves, but I wear then because I do not like cold hands. Gloves are so tedious because you have to take them off when you get inside, also it is hard to text message with them on and I can not operate my ipod while wearing gloves. Not to mention, I go through about three pairs of gloves every winter because they are hard to keep track of. Hopefully soon the trees will start blooming and I can wear my sun dresses again.

Bands I'll Never See :(

In addition to seeing Across the Universe again, I started to think about how amazing it would have been to see The Beatles live. Not when they were the boy band singing She Loves You, but when they wrote I am the Walrus, Come Together, and those songs. Actually, there are a lot of musicians I would like to see live that I never will be able to see. Here are the top five of those musician’s: 1. Jimi Hendrix, 2. The Beatles, 3. The Smiths, 4. Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. I would want to see Jimi Hendrix the most because the man created a revolution in the music industry because of his guitar. His concerts would be unbelievable; I mean he played the guitar with his teeth. The Beatles concerts are just unimaginable, just because their lyrics are so original. For example, their song, Let it Be, can apply to anything. The Smiths are having always been one of my favorite bands. Their song, Big Mouth Strikes Again, makes me laugh because the lyrics are a bit sarcastic. The song starts out, sweetness I was only joking when I said I like to smash every tooth in your head. Not to mention his has a great voice and the song, Asleep, is a very pretty song. I have a live performance of White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane; her voice is mesmerizing and seeing them at Woodstock would have been incredible. Janis Joplin is the first person I listen to when I am angry at how boys are heartbreakers. It makes me feel better listening to her at those times.

They Make Thier Way Across the Universe

Yesterday I got Across the Universe for Valentines Day. I’m not even going to get started on how Valentines is a ridiculous holiday; because it forces the people in relationships to buy stuff for one another and people who are not in a relationship to feel terrible about them. Anyway, I got that movie and was very excited because I think the film was very well done. My friend got the soundtrack before the movie came out in theatres, and when we listened to it we both felt like all the songs had been butchered. I felt that John Lennon must be turning in his grave; I was so disappointed I almost didn’t see the movie. However, I went to see it anyways and the film was amazing. Seeing the remixed songs actually to video was so interesting. I was really excited they put the song Strawberry Fields Forever in the movie, because that is my favorite Beatle’s song. I also thought it was a cool scene with the strawberries nailed to a canvas, and when the strawberries were falling from the skies like bombs. The best song the film portrayed was I want you when max goes into the military office and Uncle Sam comes out of a poster with his finger pointed at him saying, “I want you.” Later when the lyrics get to, she’s so heavy; the soldiers to be are carrying the statue of liberty on their shoulder. I thought that was so neat that the screenplay writers came up with that part, because it fit with the song and the story of the film so well.

"get out the vote"

The phrase, “get the vote out, “reminds me of extremely involved republicans or democrats. My best friend’s parents are proud democrats and when elections come around, the air is filled with political talk. The only shirts they wear during a political seasons are shirts like, “you bet your sweet ass I’m a democrat.” They wear these shirts so they can create conversation about voting and would be the better president in office. Now that I can vote, they constantly ask me, “Who are you voting for, if you do not know make up your, because you have to vote.” I agree with the essay that as an American I am not obligated to vote, it is a privilege and I have the right to take advantage of that privilege or not to.
The phrase, “get the vote out,” is aimed at the young voters, who are new to being able to vote. Just by saying this phrase it makes the young voters excited that they are now old enough to vote. I remember in the previous election on MTV many commercials would air saying, “rock the vote.” That is the exact same words as “get the vote out,” but in a newer more appealing way. In magazines you would see celebrities wearing t-shirts that read, “Rock the vote.” These celebrities knew that by themselves supporting the political season their fans, generally younger people, would be inspired to vote.
Personally, I wanted to vote for the primaries, but I still hadn’t gathered enough information by that time to know who should have the honor of going the next round. I do think that if a person is going to vote that they need to have enough reasoning to support why they are voting for that candidate. Last election, when I was still in high school, we were holding a mock election. After the mock election, my teacher asked a few students who they would vote for and why. One of the girls spoke and said, “I voted for George W. Bush, because he’s cuter of the two.” I was appalled, because looks isn’t what our country needs to be run by. It scares me to think that some people are going into that voting booth with that kind of mentality. I defiantly agree with the essay that it is better to vote with reasoning or just to not vote at all.
Also, in the mock election mentioned above, one of the students shared that he also voted for Bush because his parents were. That is also not a valid reasoning for voting for a certain candidate. A person is responsible to vote for themselves, not a family member or a friend. The argument in this essay is that you shouldn’t be ashamed if you do not vote. The essay mentions that non- voters are just as smart as voters, and it is true. Many people who vote sometimes think that the people who do not vote are dumb because they are not smart enough to understand politics. In fact, I think, that it is the exact opposite because the non-voter most likely just felt that neither candidates should be in office. Voting should not be pressured because it is that person’s choice if they want to or not, regardless if the person paid attention to the political season or if they did not even know who was running for office.
This is a very controversial essay for the year 1955 especially that the author used phrases like, “concluded that Candidate Jones was a boob.” By the look of the essay, the font and the setup of the pages, I could tell that it wasn’t a recent piece. However, once I started to dig into the material, I felt that I was reading something out of a weekly magazine. The fact is that considering this was published fifty years ago and that then and now people are still pressure votes shows a strong social mindset. The mindset is people in politic or involved in politics will do anything to get the candidate they want to be in office to win. Some people will not pressure votes, but most of the time these people will tell you it is your duty as an American citizen to vote. This was talked about in the essay, how it is a “duty” to vote. Well I think that it is my duty to hold on to my rights, and if I want to vote I should do it at my own will and not be pressured into it.
Word Count:762

Southern State

Bright Eyes is one of my favorite bands, not because of their sound but their lyrics. The lyrics sung are so powerful, and in every song each lyrics are just as strong as the next. One of my favorite songs is southern state. Some of the lyrics are like so:

You’re sleeping that southern state,
But the bars are filled with people you can’t hate
And try as you try you still can’t relate to them
You drink that whiskey down
As they ask you are you who say you are?
The fact we can’t tell makes us like you even more.

I love this verse because it just reminds me that some people will just take you for your company not who you are. Some times, there are people who I want to hate but can’t, just because I won’t let myself. Also, I don’t feel like I relate to a lot of people and that we are just on two levels of understanding. Another strong verse that I like more than the one’s above is:

Now your give advice
Like you had the right to use a word like love.
No it’s a navigable term, what said is not heard,
So it’s different then for everyone.

I feel it’s so true that love is a very touchy word; I don’t feel it should be slung around like another word. The word love can evoke so many feelings, like I think it’s silly when people are like I love cheeseburgers. Do you want to spend the rest of your life with that cheese burger? Also as it says in the song, love is different for everyone.

Mississippi Law

I was watching on the news that in Mississippi a law was in consideration that obese people would not be allowed in restaurants. I was disgusted; it was so inconsiderate and disgusting. Sometimes, “obese” people can’t help their size, because they could have a health issue. I did get to actually watch the news report on this so I don’t know the reasoning for the law. So I am assuming that it is for two main reasons. One, the state has a theory that this will help them loose weight; or two, there has been complaints from one minded snobs that they don’t want to look at “obese” people while they eat. This is at the point where people just need to accept people for who they are. I am talking about all aspects of accepting like accepting their skin color, their personality, and their size. People are people, and if god loves everyone then we should love everyone too. I know that gluteny is a sin, but god is incharge of forgiving them not us. Once my dad told me that he was eating at a buffet for lunch, and at the table beside him there was a very large man with five or six “happy plates” beside him. According to the story after his seventh, the man reclined back in the booth, rested for five minutes and then got two more plates. Maybe that’s some other aspect that restaurants don’t want “obese people” eating their food. I don’t understand how they will enforce this law, are they going to have a scale and weigh everyone that comes to eat?

Alex's Birthday

My boyfriend’s birthday is coming up; it’s the day before Valentines Day. I finally came up with a plan of what to do for him. I didn’t really want to just give him a box with a gift in it. Therefore, I made an adventure for him. First we are going to seize the clay, seize the clay is where you pick a clay pot and paint it. I still hoping that he likes this, I know he likes to paint because we use to paint all the time together before we both got really busy with school and work. This way at seize the clay we can finally have a time to be together and paint. After this I am going to take him to Café 1912 to eat and he can finally order an alcoholic beverage, because it’s his 21st birthday. Then, I am going to take him to see The Wedding Singer at the Orpheum, because he loves plays. I wish Adam Sandler was at the show on Broadway, but I’m just going to have to see what the shows like without him. Finally, I am going to say well lets go chill at my apartment for the night, and once we get home a bunch of our friends will be there for a surprise party. My roommate, Ashley, is going to make him a homemade chocolate cake and fondue. I hope he likes it, because for my birthday he got me third row from the stage Bob Dylan tickets.

Tornados

Due to the weather, my roommate and I finally just got our power back. We are still freezing, and select outlets work. The outlets in her room, my room, and the dinning room don’t work. There was a power surge on Tuesday and a bunch of our lights are busted and our TVs won’t work. I remember on Tuesday that I heard a lot of noise outside my apartment so I went down stairs to see what it was and all of the residents in the apartments were outside. I live in only an eight apartment complex, and we all finally got to meet each other. At one point we highly considered having a cook out, because my neighbor Josh had a grill and we figure all our food would spoil if we left it in the fridge. However, it was about 1:00 in the morning and we were all tired. I don’t mind not having a TV, and I can live without a computer; but living without power is the worst. It was cold and my cat would try to knock over the candles. Ashley, my roommate, and I had to eat out the last few days since we couldn’t use to stove either. So I tried authentic Ethiopian food for the first time, and I did like it mostly because I could eat with my hands. There was a poster in the restaurant of a very pretty girl with necklaces and at the bottom it said, “13 days of sunshine.” I want 13 days of sunshine and NO tornados!

Hilary Clinton

Every time I even hear Hilary Clinton speech, I tune her out. For some reason I just don’t like her as a candidate. This is strange because I thought Bill Clinton was a good president, but other people and I have to remember she’s not Bill Clinton. I’ve tune her out so much I really haven’t heard her recent speeches or political views, and so I’m pretty much in the in the dark on where she stands. I know that like Obama she is really focused on our schools; not only is she would want to make improvements with K-12, but make college more affordable as well. As a college student that means a lot to me, because without my scholarship I wouldn’t be able to afford college. Hilary is also focused on women’s rights; for example women only make seventy-seven cents to every dollar they earn. That is also really important to me because I understand that women have progressed over the years but at times are still treated poorly., Still for some reason, I still just don’t like Hilary. Not to mention I think her chances of getting into office are very slim, because all the sexist men will not vote for her. Even men that aren’t sexist, I doubt they will vote for her. Isn’t it strange that we call all the other candidates by their last name, except Hilary? I guess by calling her by her first name we don’t confuse her for her husband.

Memphis in the Movies

In a blog labeled The Gates of Memphis, I found a post regarding Memphis as one of the top places to live, work, and make movies. When they talk about movies, naturally they are referring to local movies. I’ve watched some local films and documentaries, and in most cases they are so interesting and powerful. This is because that the filmmakers and everyone involved with the film is so dedicated to it and the environment it is in. These movies are so artistic and I am very impressed with them. Lately, I’ve watch a local documentary about a boy who lived her and when he came announced to his parent’s he was gay they sent him off to an anti-gay camp. This film made me really think about it because, this was something that was going on within our city limits. I use to be in a film class, and when making any kind of news clip or film; it is very hard to make the scenery look good. I’m not saying Memphis is just entirely ugly, but it’s much easier to film in a place like California or Hawaii because the natural sun makes terrific lighting. That is why I was so surprised by this blog, this shows me that these film makers are really talented because they take what they use what they can in Memphis, and still make a good film. The mind is the most powerful equipment in making a film because it holds creativity and beauty. Anyone with that can work in any kind of environment.

Go Tigers!

Under the commentaries blog, I found a blog talking about how the University of Memphis is number one in the nation for basketball. I really am not a big basketball fan, however watching a Memphis Tiger’s game is intense. I’ve never been to one, but when March Madness last year I happened to worked at Radioshack in the mall. If you’ve never been to Radioshack, then let me inform you we had a good portion of the wall dedicated to ten or eleven big HDTV screens. When a Memphis game came on, managers, customers, and security officers all piled in making the store packed. It was like being at the actual game because there was cheering, booing, and screaming defense. The writer of this blog claimed that, “If they get past the University of Tennessee, they might go undefeated.” All I know is that game is going to most likely the best game of the season, in my opinion. Some of my friends attempted to buy guest tickets previously in the week, but the line was so long it was outside wilder in the freezzing cold. It’s too bad that they didn’t get the tickets because they could have made some big profits off those tickets. I’m really proud to be going to a school that has such a good athletic team, because in high school we didn’t have any teams in any sport going for us. I was really hoping to go to the Memphis vs. Tennessee game, but I think the seats I pull off with a student ID wouldn’t be too good. Maybe this year I’ll just go back to radioshack and watch it, it’ll be just as interesting as a real basketball game.

Barack Obama

Inside the 55-40 blog, the first blog I saw was about Barack Obama. I’m not a one hundred percent Obama fan, but I do think he is a good candidate. I’m really politically neutral, I think politics are important but I really don’t feed off of them. Mainly, I think I am so neutral because I am nether a democrat or a republican; due to I think they both have good pros and bad cons. In this blog a statement is posed, Obama: would he be more like JFK? Or more like a Jimmy Carter. I was a bit confused by this because I thought both presidents were very popular with America’s people; I suppose it more along the two president’s views that Obama has in which the statement concerns. I’ve been impressed with Obama’s plans on education and our economy, because besides the war those are the two points America needs to work with the most. However, I was talking about him with some friends yesterday, and apparently he’s been really hard on Hilary Clinton. I hate when politician’s mud sling, I think it’s really low down and makes the canidate look like a teenage gossip girl. Tonight at the Hi-Tone in Mid-town there is a Barack Obama Rally, if the early evening is open to you guys rather you like Obama or not; I think you should go just to learn more what he’s doing. I think that way if you like him, you learn more about what he’s running toward; but also if you don’t like him, then you learned more views he has you disagree with.

Let it Snow?

In a blog Global Warming Hits Holy Land—with Snow, I was shocked and jealous by the news it contained. One I really like snow, I do not like winter but I love snow. I just remember at my Dad’s house we lived next to a golf course; and on snow days my friends and I would get cookie trays and sled on the hills. It was really fun, anyway back to the problem about global warming. When there is snow in the Middle East, something should tell society that we are doing something incredibly wrong. The ozone layer is important because it protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. It would be impossible for anything to survive without it, including humans! A lot of controversy is going on about whether global warming is just a big propaganda parade, but snowing in Jerusalem just doesn’t happen on a regular bases. I am taking an evolutionary anthropology class and I learned that there is constant change in our species and landscape; but weather doesn’t really drastically change like that. In the part one paper we had to write, I wrote about air pollution and it is a contributing factor to why our ozone is thinning. In Kentucky, a law was passed where they asked constructor to stop open burning, which is where you burn a mass amount of trees or waste. I feel like making things like that illegal can help very much, and that more actions should be taken.

Burbs are Boring

I was reading Smart City Memphis under the Memphis blogs. The particular blog I read was Indicators of Success: Kids in Cities. In the blog it mentioned that when a middle class family has a child, they should be prepared to live in the suburbs for the next eighteen years. I was raised in the suburb my entire life, and I found it to be very boring. After all my childhood friends moved away, there was not very much left to do. I found it especially boring when I was between the ages of thirteen and sixteen; the stage where you want to go places and don’t have a car. Unfortunatly, the suburbs don’t have a lot of fun or interesting things to do within walking distance. All that was really in the suburb when I was growing up was the Hollywood Theatre and a lot of fast food chains. I realize that there are positive to the suburbs like a safe environment and good school; which is very good for a middle class family. I know personally, that if I ever had a kid that I would like to raise them in a more interesting environment than the suburbs. I am thankful that I was able to live a safe life and get a decent education; yet I feel that if looked over properly and if we lived in certain areas of the city we could have been fine. I think it depends on the family and the situation they are in if they can handle a family in a big city or not. I do not believe that it should be assumed that middle class family should always have to live in the suburbs.

White Out Pens

I was really excited today because my friend Michael was coming to town to visit me. He lives in Olive Branch, Mississippi, which isn’t that far away; but with our busy time schedule we never get to see each other. So when we do get to hang out, it’s a really big deal. However, he ended up having to go to a family function and can’t come down like planned. I was really disappointed, because he was suppose to visit a week ago but I got the fabulous bronchitis and our plans were ruined. We both had planned to go to the café down the street from my apartments and have lunch. After wards, we were going to draw on my black folding chair with white out pens. I know this sounds pretty weird, but this is a fantastic way to spice up cheap boring furniture. If the piece of furniture is dark enough, all you do is draw or doodle on the piece with a white out pen . After it dries, you color over it with washable markers. The color will stick to the white out, but not the parts you don’t want painted. This looks really neat because of the contrast of the dark furniture, and the colors from the markers. It’s kind of the same concept of doodling with sharpies on furniture, but the colors are so much stronger and vibrant. I’ve only tried this once before on a dark blue storage box and it was really interesting to look at. Michael and I both really like to paint, and I thought that we both like to try this to see how it turn out on a folding chair. But, I guess that I’m going to have to wait another week.

15 minute writting brainstorm

I am aware of the global environmental issues like ocean pollution, unclean air, ect. Although, I really don’t know the intense environmental issues Memphis faces. I’ve noticed things like litter, and the lack of leafy streets; but I am not aware of the statistics or the pounding issues we endure. I am hoping that when I research Memphis’s problems that I will be able to learn a lot about it , and continue to be involved with it after this English course.
I think mainly that I want to research how polluted out air is. I would like to learn how it is effecting Memphis’s citizens and our atmosphere. What I mean by our atmosphere
is Memphis’s plants, flowers and wildlife.
If our air cleanliness really isn’t a problem, then I would like to investigate the recourses Memphis mainly uses and how they are limited. However , I think that writing a paper on this would be difficult because I would be tempted more to write about the world than just the city.
If possible, now that I have been brain storming, I would like to report just on the cleanliness of Memphis. I’d like to write about how clean the streets are (like how much litter and debris linger), the cleanliness of our water, and the air. I’d like to take all three of these topics and apply to how all these factors contribute to Memphis’s people and environment.
When researching, I’d like to know when this became a problem . Knowing this history is the key to preventing it in the future. Also, I’d want to learn how long this has been a problem and what has been done to help improve the situation. I’d like to learn what the people and city officials can do to help; and what big steps needs to be taken. Also, I like to find out what the positive outcomes could be.

Afternoon Nap

Today I went to eat at El Porton with my boyfriend Alex. We are big fans of Mexican food because it’s cheap, fast, and you get free chips and salsa. After lunch I was extremely tired, and so I decided that a nap before work would be a novel idea. Usually after Mexican food I am wired from all the spicy flavors, however the cold weather is doing a fantastic job of wearing me out. I forget when I nap; I usually end up being trapped in my dreams. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but it is a very scary thing to trapped in a dream. When I’m trapped in my dreams, I aware that I am dreaming; but I am too tired to wake myself up and I don’t know how.
The first time I remember being trapped in a dream was about a year ago. I came home from class and took a nap. I don’t really remember what my dream was about, but I remember waking up from my dream and looking at my alarm clock. It was 11:46 and I tried to emerge from my bed, however I couldn’t budge. My body wasn’t in pain, but it was almost like I was an inanimate object and nature would not allow me to move. I became scared and at last I woke up again, in the same place. I tried to move again and with out fail my body would not allow it. This happened another time then finally I was free from my dream, and woke up immediately getting out of my bed. I realized that this dream really did scare me because it got me out of bed without pressing snooze about ten times.
In my dream today the farthest back I remember was my best friend Jacey and I were driving in a mall parking lot, and laughing hysterically about something. I don’t remember what we were laughing about, but it was so funny we were crying. Suddenly, Jacey stopped laughing and said, “Stop the car. Stop the car!” The natural response I responded with was simply, “Why?” I looked at Jacey’s serious scared face, and I became very worried. Then suddenly an entire family runs up to my car and beats on it, and so I slowed down my car to a stop. I gradually rolled down my window and saw a little girl who had run up next to my car. Mostly, I was impressed that a small little girl was able to run up to car accelerating at 30 miles an hour or so. I saw in my rear view mirror that woman running up to my car, she came up next to my car and screamed with tears in her eyes, “You ran over my mother!”
I started to cry. Questions ran through my head as I got out of my car to see the victim. How has I not see her before I hit her? I just murdered a human being? Unexpectedly I woke up in a chair at Barnes and Nobles waiting for Jacey to meet me, and all I remember being really happy I didn’t have to deal with the murder of pedestrian. I saw my boyfriend’s phone next to my purse, and thought, “Oh silly Alex, left his phone at a bookstore again.” I picked it up and realized it was different than the phone Alex owned, however I knew it had to be his. I started observing features in the phone and after every blink his phone would morph into a different shape. It seemed like the phone changed into something like a microscope, but when I looked inside I was looking inside a see kaleidoscope.
Shortly after that I, had seem to “wake up” again. Although this time, I realized that I was trapped in a strange sequence of dreams. I don’t remember much else in my “dreams,” the only thing I can remember was thinking, “I need to get ready for work!” Finally, I really woke up to reality, and not just another dream. This time I slowly rolled out of bed, and yearned for my dreams about finally getting a pony. Dreams are a weird thing, it’s almost like I am living in a parallel universe. I live almost a complete other life when I dream, but big chunks are taken out in this life so it’s like I live in sequences. Honestly, I really do not know the world I would rather live in.

Manifesto: Part Two

Apparently, I misunderstood the assignment of writing my own manifesto. Most of the time, I tend to over analyze things and I successfully managed to do that with this assignment. I noticed by reading the other manifestos, that they were more about the person’s beliefs more than strictly just a problem. Therefore this time around I will try to redeem myself and do the manifesto about me and what I believe. :)

Here we go, I believe more than anything in the world that everyone should be happy. Everyone should have the equal opportunity to enjoy life with their loved ones and be able to achieve what they dream. Unfortunately, this is very hard to do in this world because of war and other unjust activities that take place; such as families being ripped apart, poverty, ect. In this situation, it is one of those things where we must depend on the little things to try to improve the circumstances. So I try my best to be grateful and happy for what I have, and I think other people should try to do the same. This would create a more positive attitude and would possibly inspire other people to be grateful for what they have too.
My dream is one day to travel the world and find the little things that make the world a little place. The idea is based around activities people do to make the world a better place. In the news today, mostly all you see is tragic events that take place in our community or around the world. I would like to find the good hiding in little places and share it with other people. My motive is to show people that the little things can make a big difference, and that anyone in the world can make it a better place if they try.
I believe that Jesus Christ did walk the earth and performed miracles. I however do not consider Jesus as a religion. Jesus is my Christ and Savior and I am proud to talk about him and what he has done for me and you. I do not agree with everything the bible says, but I am still reading it and trying to completely understand what god is telling me. I think that if you are willing to accept Christ as your lord and savior then you have made a wise choice, but I understand that not everyone will and I don’t believe in shoving the word of god down their throat.
I believe in being free. I believe in free love, free thought, and free feelings. I believe that if people could release tension and just realize there is a free person inside them that they would enjoy life more. I feel that people should be kind to everyone and have an open mind so they can think about important matter in different ways. Also, I belive that people should be open with their feelings. What I mean by this is when situations like how you feel about people come up; if you have a problem with someone then you should passively talk to them about your feelings. The same goes for if you have feelings for a person, you should tell them and if they have feelings for you too then both of you can be happy together.
I think that the arts should be respected, no matter how great or not so great that piece of art is. Anything someone pours their heart into is worth being respected. Many people who aren’t into art usually don’t respect the talent and time put into that piece. I’m not into most sports, yet I respect the time and practice athletes put into the sport. For that reason, I respect the sport they play. Along with this belief, I also think that people should respect other people in general.
As you can tell from the last attempted manifesto, I really care about the environment. I believe god gave us a beautiful world to live in; and by trashing it and tearing down our environment it’s insulting to god. More than anything, I just fear that the future of our environment is in danger. At the rate we are going we are going to run out of natural recourses and have no one to blame but ourselves. I think we all have a duty to clean up our trash, and give back to the environment. We can do this, as you’ve read in the previous manifesto, by simply planting flowers and trees.
Well, hopefully this is more along the lines of the manifesto we were suppose to write, and if not then manifesto part three will be coming soon!

Green City Manifesto

Ashli Blow
English 1020
Wendy Sumner
January, 22 2008

I began my research for the term manifesto by asking a friend, “What is a manifesto?” He turned to me and automatically responded with, “like The Communist Manifesto?” I continued to ask a few of my other friends what they thought a manifesto was, and without fail each of them answered with The Communist Manifesto. Apparently, The Communist Manifesto is a document that reflects an attempt to explain the goals of communism. It argues that class struggles, or the exploitation of one class by another, are the motivating force behind all historical developments (Spark Notes 1). This well known manifesto published in February 1848 begins with: A spectre is haunting Europe -- the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies ( Hayes 1-2). The opening statment to this document was very powerful, and lured me in to read more about what this manifesto involved and advised.
Due to reading The Communist Manifesto, I realized that a manifesto is more than just a document of ideas and rules; manifestos are documents written to announce reasoning or demands from a person or a group(Computer Hope 1).Deeper in my research I came across The Hacker Manifesto, written by Lloyd Blakenship in January 1986, which states that hackers choose to hack because it is a way for them to learn, and because they are often frustrated and bored in school(Wikipedia 1). This manifesto is written far more casually than The Communist Manifesto which is organized in four sections discussing theories and relationships between the communist and other parties( Sparks Notes 1 ). The Hacker Manifesto doesn’t have much formal organization, but is written like what you find on a facebook or myspace blog. Despite the organizational structure; both manifestos are informative, establish a well developed idea, and successfully leave some sort of impact on the reader. In my manifesto, my structure will meet in the middle of being organized and casual. Also, I hope to have as established and strong as the other manifestos I have read.

Green City Manifesto

Introduction:

In any busy city regardless of size, the extent of scenery is limited to buildings, statues, and street. Sometimes, a person can catch a dandelion emerging between the cracks of sidewalk and that dandelion will be considered a flower. Unfortunately, a dandelion is just a weed, and in cities there are rarely any flowers or trees to be seen.

Even in small undeveloped towns and suburban areas this has become a problem. Once construction has taken place, the new living areas are vast spaces and foliage is limited to a small amount of newly planted trees.

Homeowner’s gardens should not be the only vegetation in our community’s environment. Constructors and city officials should also be responsible to dedicate areas in the community to flora and trees.

Proposal:

Cities should have a mandatory amount of flowers and trees per mile to be planted and tended to. Although, many would argue there is enough greenery and plants in the rural and suburban area; we have to consider the rate our society is cutting down trees. At the fast pace that strip malls and more housing is sprouting up, soon their wont be any room for natural vegetation at all.

It is an unreasonable request to ask to stop building houses and expanding our shopping centers, because as America continues to grow so must our economy. However, just because our nation’s economy is growing does that mean our natural environment must die? Our society is engulfing Mother Nature’s original design by pounding land with housing and buildings, but as we remodel our land can we not return what we destroyed?

As humanity plants themselves on nature’s land and continues to tear down trees to make additional roads, we should replenish the sides of streets with trees and greenery. When medians are constructed, the community’s leaders should take it upon themselves to flourish it with some sort of flowers like dianthuses or pansies.

Trees are vital to life; they cleanse the air, provide shade, and a cool environment (Tree Count 1). One of the greener city streets is found in Manhattan, New York averaged 49.4 trees per mile of sidewalk (Tree Count 1). If every city could plant half the amount of trees Manhattan has; not only would a bit of our natural habitat be restored, but we could conserve more energy. Studies have shown that if trees are planted in a certain location around homes, they can conserve energy (Garden Tips 1).

In our society does everything around have to be beneficial to us? Flowers or shrubs might not shade area, but they’re not harmful. Then why is it cities you rarely see flowers unless in a flower shop?

Therefore depending on the size, parks should be required to have a certain amount of flowers and shrubbery planted. This would bring back some vegetation that society has replaced with another mall or office building.

When constructing office buildings, shopping centers, or any other public location; a certain amount of space outside of the entrance or in parking lots should be dedicated to flora and trees. To our benefit, this would add property value and benefit the environment.

New suburban housing divisions should also be required to have a certain amount of foliage. More foliage should be required in these areas because there is more space available to plant flower, shrubs, and trees.

Schools in the community should also be considered in the community’s responsibility to increase vegetation. Young children and other students should be in an environment with an abundant amount of trees and flora, therefore in the future they are inspired to continue flourishing our environment with foliage.

Resolution:

With a greener environment, our society would benefit from creating more resources and enjoying a better atmosphere. Although we have not made yet, with out proper actions a lot of damage can be done to our environment if we do not act on it. Our society is on the way to living in a world with out trees and flora. It is an aspect we are taking advantage and won’t realize how much we appreciated it until it’s gone.

By simply adding a few more trees to our streets we can remember what America was before we began building cities and massive communities. We live in a beautiful country, and we can make it more beautiful with a little effort.

Our society can benefit from helping the environment, therefore for many years to come trees and flora can be seen by many generations of people. Our cities can be more than smoke and debris, we a little greenery it can be a healthy environment for humanity to live in.

Work Cited

Spark Notes. The Communist Manifesto.
(n.d.) From Spark Notes.
Web Site: http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/communist/summary.html

Brian j. Hayes.The Communist Manifesto Summary and Qoutes.
May 2000, from age-of-the-sage transmitting wisdom through the ages.
Web Site: www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/communist_manifesto.html - 25k -

Manifesto.
(n.d.), from Computer Hope
Web Site: http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/m/manifest.htm

Wikipedia. Hacker Manifesto.
Last Modified January 2008. From Wikipedia.
Web Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_Manifesto

New York Tree Count.
(n.d.), From New York Govermeny Parks
Web Site: www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/trees_greenstreets/treescount/treecount_summary.php - 23k -

Garden Tips.
(n.d.), From Life Tips
Web Site: http://garden.lifetips.com/faq/10310/0/do-trees-help-conserve-energy/index.html