Imagine a blue so deep and endless that her eyes couldn't help but drown in it. Sand so fine that her toes felt sinful digging in to it. In the eyes of the overlooking palm trees she and her friends are one of thousands of visitors unknowingly drinking up the beach's beauty and slowly stealing it away for themselves. But on a day like today even the selfish crabs wouldn't dream of hording this beauty for themselves. Even the wind couldn't help but to be immersed in the relaxing lazyness of this beach as it slowly floats from person to person as just enough of a breeze to keep the visitors cool under the glowing sun. And under the smiling sun as small as the microscopic flea that naps under a shady grain of sand her and her 2 closest friends walk the beach surrounded by the laughter and weekend gossip that constantly consumes them, as the rising and falling waves devour then spit-out the sand in the tide's on going struggle for domination. Her name is Leah and she too has an ongoing struggle.
To be cont'd..
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Updated essential questions..Part 2
Some important question that dawned on me during the writing of this post:
Does being a stand out person, especially good at one thing make you any better of a person then one who is behind the scenes who is good at just a normal job?
what will really come in as important in my life and how will I know how to prepare?
should i be focusing on geometry which is a made up math that may never serve me, getting out int he reall world and getting a job, studying for the SAT, learning about nature, gathering connections to different people to serve me later?
If I am not actively helping stop a problem either with friends or dealing with environmental health am I really just as bad as those who are worsening it?
I guess you could say my brain has been on hyper speed lately. The last few weeks have been incredibly full and hectic and one of the results of that is evident in my being behind in this blog. As I hadn't posted in a while as of a few days ago I had gone a bit a stray from my essential questions and observations to the world around me. I think that part of that was actually do to the breadth of new knowledge I have been presented in english class lately. All thing's considered it's really starting to blow my mind about the gazillions of pieces of information all around me that I am so oblivious to. Like the chimpanzee-human communication studies, affect of technology on education, expansion of people in the world; http://mrwatsonsclasspages.blogspot.com/ etc. All this imformation on top of the two words I'm supposed to master this week being contamacious, and impute have led me to a new essential questions to add to the list. Will I be happier/ more fulfilled as a person who knows a lot about a few things or knows at least a few things about alot. I used to think that I would eventually be placed in the first category but when It dawned on me about all of the knowledge and advances in the world that I know absolutely nothing about, I decided that slowly I'd like to ease myself into the second category. I think that this will even help address a few other of my previous essential questions like how should I live in this world? and How can I be most beneficial to the world as a whole while still living my life to the fullest? I truly think that knowledge is power and the more I and everyone else have the more helpful we can be to our world as a whole. It's also pretty darn cool all the technological advances our world is making everday and if I want to be a part of them I have to start by knowing about them.
Does being a stand out person, especially good at one thing make you any better of a person then one who is behind the scenes who is good at just a normal job?
what will really come in as important in my life and how will I know how to prepare?
should i be focusing on geometry which is a made up math that may never serve me, getting out int he reall world and getting a job, studying for the SAT, learning about nature, gathering connections to different people to serve me later?
If I am not actively helping stop a problem either with friends or dealing with environmental health am I really just as bad as those who are worsening it?
I guess you could say my brain has been on hyper speed lately. The last few weeks have been incredibly full and hectic and one of the results of that is evident in my being behind in this blog. As I hadn't posted in a while as of a few days ago I had gone a bit a stray from my essential questions and observations to the world around me. I think that part of that was actually do to the breadth of new knowledge I have been presented in english class lately. All thing's considered it's really starting to blow my mind about the gazillions of pieces of information all around me that I am so oblivious to. Like the chimpanzee-human communication studies, affect of technology on education, expansion of people in the world; http://mrwatsonsclasspages.blogspot.com/ etc. All this imformation on top of the two words I'm supposed to master this week being contamacious, and impute have led me to a new essential questions to add to the list. Will I be happier/ more fulfilled as a person who knows a lot about a few things or knows at least a few things about alot. I used to think that I would eventually be placed in the first category but when It dawned on me about all of the knowledge and advances in the world that I know absolutely nothing about, I decided that slowly I'd like to ease myself into the second category. I think that this will even help address a few other of my previous essential questions like how should I live in this world? and How can I be most beneficial to the world as a whole while still living my life to the fullest? I truly think that knowledge is power and the more I and everyone else have the more helpful we can be to our world as a whole. It's also pretty darn cool all the technological advances our world is making everday and if I want to be a part of them I have to start by knowing about them.
Sat Practice Essay
We were given 25 minutes to write an essay in response to a topic that was given to us. The question was; Do newspapers, magazines, radio, movies, the internet, and other media determine what is important to most people?
Newspapers, television, magazines, radio, movies,, the internet and the endless types of media we are exposed to daily play a large part in influencing what is important to most people but don't necessarily dtermine it.
It is not uncommon to hear about the media poisoning the minds of people evrywhere by instilling in them the nedd to be skinny, ot the want to party, smoke, and wear desighner labels. But to say that the media dtermines what is important to the masses is an oversimplification. The media plays off of trends which are determines by the masses of people. They find ingenious ways to market products, brands, and people, for example, using what they know to be true about what is currently popular. They couldn't make people want to be skinny and wear brand names if the want and importance for those thngs wasn't already there. The reason this topic connot be answered by a simple yes or no is because the effect of the media on people and people on the media works somewhat like a circle or chain reaction. Advertisements, news articles, and movies could not be profitable if they weren't being well recieved by most people. That's where advertisement strategy comes in. And consequently s reaction is triggered because people are influenced further by the advertisements, articles, and moves they're surrounded by. Incredibly skinny people wouldn't be placed all over ads if people didn't want to like them,, and people wouldn't want to look like that if they weren't bombarded with advertisements of very skinny people in a glamorous light all the time.
Another reason there's no black and whitet yes or no answer to the ongoing media questions and struggles, is that the masses of people are really made of of many individuals. And what's important to each individual person cannot be determined by anyone or anything but them. There can be heavy influences on the decisions, morals, and what's important to them, such as the media that surrounds them but that by no means is there only influence. Family, traditions, religion, and personal experiences are all other factors that help to determine what's important to a person and in addition to the media they all aid in contributing to what's important to a person.
Newspapers, television, magazines, radio, movies,, the internet and the endless types of media we are exposed to daily play a large part in influencing what is important to most people but don't necessarily dtermine it.
It is not uncommon to hear about the media poisoning the minds of people evrywhere by instilling in them the nedd to be skinny, ot the want to party, smoke, and wear desighner labels. But to say that the media dtermines what is important to the masses is an oversimplification. The media plays off of trends which are determines by the masses of people. They find ingenious ways to market products, brands, and people, for example, using what they know to be true about what is currently popular. They couldn't make people want to be skinny and wear brand names if the want and importance for those thngs wasn't already there. The reason this topic connot be answered by a simple yes or no is because the effect of the media on people and people on the media works somewhat like a circle or chain reaction. Advertisements, news articles, and movies could not be profitable if they weren't being well recieved by most people. That's where advertisement strategy comes in. And consequently s reaction is triggered because people are influenced further by the advertisements, articles, and moves they're surrounded by. Incredibly skinny people wouldn't be placed all over ads if people didn't want to like them,, and people wouldn't want to look like that if they weren't bombarded with advertisements of very skinny people in a glamorous light all the time.
Another reason there's no black and whitet yes or no answer to the ongoing media questions and struggles, is that the masses of people are really made of of many individuals. And what's important to each individual person cannot be determined by anyone or anything but them. There can be heavy influences on the decisions, morals, and what's important to them, such as the media that surrounds them but that by no means is there only influence. Family, traditions, religion, and personal experiences are all other factors that help to determine what's important to a person and in addition to the media they all aid in contributing to what's important to a person.
Monday, February 26, 2007
NPR This I believe's
Sweet Friday: This women believes in the power of tradition. In this essay a middle aged woman talks about her increasingly difficult life as a mom of five and struggling with a divorce. She talks about the power of tradition as sort of a glue that she believes can hold her family together. Her kids nad her every friday after school and work have a sort of desert feast that they work together to prepare and eat as a family. I think what this woman is doing is incredibly smart. She's keying oin something that many people don't realize but I think tradition is an extremely powerful thing. It's based on what makes family such a close and important thing which is history. History and habit in the past I think leads to a similar future. This is probably why that saying "past behavior is the best map for future behavior," rings true so often, and why bad habits, especially, are so hard to break.
I Always Have a Choice: Catherine Royce believes that no matter what, she always has a choice. This woman has spent her entire life being active but has recently been diagnosed with a disease that deteriorates every one of her muscles and will eventually kill her. But because she is a trooper and fighter she has learned that she always has a choice and instead of giving up and letting the disease take over she has made the choice to find other ways of communication and has opened herself up to the idea of letting others into her life and letting others help her. Although this essay was short it was very touching and rang true to me. Things in life will definetly never be easy and sometimes there may seem like there is no way out or any options unless you recognize that you always have a choice whether it is going against peer pressure, standing up for your beliefs or doing something the hard way, there is always a choice.
Just Like Pastrami: This essay is by a man who grew up surrounded by his father's jewish delicatessan and has found pastrami as a perfect metaphor for life which he believes is best enjoyed when "marbled and savored for it's rich cmplexity,". I think this man has an ingenous point in the fact that no matter how much we can attempt to sepereate work from play or our school and outside lives, we can never truly seperate the because they all affect each other through us. The best and most practical way to live a good life, I agree, is to accept it for the blend of work, play and relationships that it's made up of and incorporate them all together.
I Always Have a Choice: Catherine Royce believes that no matter what, she always has a choice. This woman has spent her entire life being active but has recently been diagnosed with a disease that deteriorates every one of her muscles and will eventually kill her. But because she is a trooper and fighter she has learned that she always has a choice and instead of giving up and letting the disease take over she has made the choice to find other ways of communication and has opened herself up to the idea of letting others into her life and letting others help her. Although this essay was short it was very touching and rang true to me. Things in life will definetly never be easy and sometimes there may seem like there is no way out or any options unless you recognize that you always have a choice whether it is going against peer pressure, standing up for your beliefs or doing something the hard way, there is always a choice.
Just Like Pastrami: This essay is by a man who grew up surrounded by his father's jewish delicatessan and has found pastrami as a perfect metaphor for life which he believes is best enjoyed when "marbled and savored for it's rich cmplexity,". I think this man has an ingenous point in the fact that no matter how much we can attempt to sepereate work from play or our school and outside lives, we can never truly seperate the because they all affect each other through us. The best and most practical way to live a good life, I agree, is to accept it for the blend of work, play and relationships that it's made up of and incorporate them all together.
I Believe In Acai Bowls...(paper)
I believe in Acai bowls, and if your talking to a real stickler for pronunciation they'll tell you how much they love a-sah-ee bowls. These bowls come in all different shapes and sizes with varying ingredients, toppings, granolas and garnishes, but at the core of every one of them is the antioxidant rich Brazilian superfruit that's quickly becoming popular all over the country. This deep purplish red fruit is acai. Every person likes an Acai bowl for a different reason, and for me it's not just about the incredibly tasty and satisfying thick smoothie-like substance filled with blended acai, fruits, apple juice, and topped with granola, bananas, and anything from coconut and seasonal berries to honey and yogurt, but it's about the metaphorical filling it holds as well.
Every place and person makes their bowl a bit different but usually it is the blended acai smoothie taking up 2/3 of the bowl and the top is layers of the standard banana's and granola usually with honey, coconut and seasonal fruits. Although the layout probably sounds quite appealing, to some, the mixed up bowl full of chunky purple stuff may not look the most appetizing. Fortunately, upon sampling, all pre-conceived notions are dropped and the taster is instantly converted to a raving acai bowl lover. This example is much like the popular saying "don't judge a book by its cover," because you truly never know what you might get. There are endless ways to make a great acai bowl and the key is in the balance of acai and the other added in ingredients. Too many extras and the acai's flavor gets drowned out, similar to a person's life, I believe that to a good extent, like granola, bananas and seasonal fruit, sport's, hobby's, friend's and school enhance a persons life but when to much is added in to the mix of one persons life or even acai bowl the core gets drowned out. Luckily, acai bowl are forgiving, and for some reason or another they almost always turn out great. As there are endless ways to make an acai bowl there are just as many ways to eat one. For me, in the beginning, I like to go vertically layer by layer to sort of sample my options, as in life I like get a feel for things at first, but soon after I dive right in and mix everything together. I believe that in life everything we learn and experience, like and dislike is mixed together all the time and the best way to experience it is to go head on into the mix.
Unfortunately there is one down side, besides the purple residue and acai bowl can leave on the eater's mouth, and it's the trouble of acquiring it. Acai bowls aren't free and as a popular saying suggests "nothing in life is free," Even if you make your own you had to buy the acai and put your time and effort into making it, and if not, you had to go out and buy it and maybe wait in line for over 20 minutes. But somehow it's worth it, and when you finally dig into your bowl you feel a sense of satisfaction and fullness for at least a moment because you've worked for it. No Acai bowl no matter where you go or what you put in it will be the same as the last or next one you'll have. That's why it's important to enjoy it while your eating and savor the full and complete feeling you get after finishing it. It's so important to cherish what you have while you have it and live for the moment because you never know what's coming in the future. That's how I live my life, for the now, for the acai bowl I'm eating right now, in a mix that I'm happy with because it's mine and I've worked hard for it. I believe in Acai bowls.
Every place and person makes their bowl a bit different but usually it is the blended acai smoothie taking up 2/3 of the bowl and the top is layers of the standard banana's and granola usually with honey, coconut and seasonal fruits. Although the layout probably sounds quite appealing, to some, the mixed up bowl full of chunky purple stuff may not look the most appetizing. Fortunately, upon sampling, all pre-conceived notions are dropped and the taster is instantly converted to a raving acai bowl lover. This example is much like the popular saying "don't judge a book by its cover," because you truly never know what you might get. There are endless ways to make a great acai bowl and the key is in the balance of acai and the other added in ingredients. Too many extras and the acai's flavor gets drowned out, similar to a person's life, I believe that to a good extent, like granola, bananas and seasonal fruit, sport's, hobby's, friend's and school enhance a persons life but when to much is added in to the mix of one persons life or even acai bowl the core gets drowned out. Luckily, acai bowl are forgiving, and for some reason or another they almost always turn out great. As there are endless ways to make an acai bowl there are just as many ways to eat one. For me, in the beginning, I like to go vertically layer by layer to sort of sample my options, as in life I like get a feel for things at first, but soon after I dive right in and mix everything together. I believe that in life everything we learn and experience, like and dislike is mixed together all the time and the best way to experience it is to go head on into the mix.
Unfortunately there is one down side, besides the purple residue and acai bowl can leave on the eater's mouth, and it's the trouble of acquiring it. Acai bowls aren't free and as a popular saying suggests "nothing in life is free," Even if you make your own you had to buy the acai and put your time and effort into making it, and if not, you had to go out and buy it and maybe wait in line for over 20 minutes. But somehow it's worth it, and when you finally dig into your bowl you feel a sense of satisfaction and fullness for at least a moment because you've worked for it. No Acai bowl no matter where you go or what you put in it will be the same as the last or next one you'll have. That's why it's important to enjoy it while your eating and savor the full and complete feeling you get after finishing it. It's so important to cherish what you have while you have it and live for the moment because you never know what's coming in the future. That's how I live my life, for the now, for the acai bowl I'm eating right now, in a mix that I'm happy with because it's mine and I've worked hard for it. I believe in Acai bowls.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
This I believe (draft)
I believe in many things and there are a lot of things in my life that I enjoy
and although they are not the most metaphorical they are as follows:
food- not just one in particular like the salami example but all sorts of foods, I believe in different types of ethnic foods and the balance of the different types of foods in my life is like the different types of people in my life, I think a plethora of different types foods and different course (breakfast, desert, snacks, cookies!) are as important as a balance of school, work, play, time with friends and etc. when a person balances the activitys in their life evrrything runs smoothly like within ones body when a good mix of foods fruits and vegetables is being eaten then the body runs smoothly.
excercise-i think excercise eis important not only to maintain ones appearance but because in excercising you are making time to do something for youorself. I think it builds confidence...hmm
the holidays
clothes
make-up
accessories-accessories can be anything from bracelets, earrings, necklace, bags, clothes, embellishment of any kind. someone buys and wears an accessory to embellish and improve how they look on the outside. This parallels the things we do in life that are to improve our inside whethre it be our intelligence, our health, our happiness...
dancing
and although they are not the most metaphorical they are as follows:
food- not just one in particular like the salami example but all sorts of foods, I believe in different types of ethnic foods and the balance of the different types of foods in my life is like the different types of people in my life, I think a plethora of different types foods and different course (breakfast, desert, snacks, cookies!) are as important as a balance of school, work, play, time with friends and etc. when a person balances the activitys in their life evrrything runs smoothly like within ones body when a good mix of foods fruits and vegetables is being eaten then the body runs smoothly.
excercise-i think excercise eis important not only to maintain ones appearance but because in excercising you are making time to do something for youorself. I think it builds confidence...hmm
the holidays
clothes
make-up
accessories-accessories can be anything from bracelets, earrings, necklace, bags, clothes, embellishment of any kind. someone buys and wears an accessory to embellish and improve how they look on the outside. This parallels the things we do in life that are to improve our inside whethre it be our intelligence, our health, our happiness...
dancing
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