Mom

     My mother has always been seen as very liberal and the person who always lets me do whatever I want. She is a very nice, sweet and easy going person but she does know how to lay down the law. To be honest, I think she has the perfect amount of rules in the house. In my opinion, I think that she is doing a wonderful job raising me and even though I do make mistakes, it does not mean that it was her fault. I am in total control of what I do and if i make one mistake, it does not mean that I as brought up the wrong way. When others say that they don't think that my mother raised me the right way because of her rules, it infuriates me because she actually raised me very well. When parents are too uptight and never let their kids out of the house, that's when you have to worry. The child is going to want to rebel. That is not always the case but usually it is what happens. I have no feelings of rebellion ever and I believe that is because my parents taught me right.  I know it is different for everyone, but if it works for your child, then raise them that way. Also my mom is always there for me when I need her and is so incredibly smart and loving. She is also the perfect amount of crazy and silly. She teaches me something new everyday. My mother is by far the person I look up to the most and I am so lucky to have someone like her in my life.

Thanksgiving Journey

Thanksgiving around the Hunerberg house is well, interesting to say the least. Every year I endulge myslef with about 5 meals of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn. But oh those magnificent buns. The soft, moist, delicate buns that show up in dozens on the table. I guess you could say that the buns are pretty much the center point of our thanksgiving meal. Everyone says that the turkey is supposed to be the center point, and yes it usually is, but in my opinion if not everyone eats the turkey, it should not be placed at the center.
"Hot Diggity Doo!" as my 5 year old cousin would say as he is getting served his pumpkin pie with a squirt of whipped cream. This is pretty much the saying that describes the people at my house on thanksgiving. Cousin Al sitting at the table stuffing his face with as much as he can get his hands on, can be heard from  a mile away. Uncle Paul getting out every last bit of his knowledge on the table. Sometimes I think he just sits at home the day before he sees us and studies an encyclopedia just so he can sound like the smartest person at the table. Then theres grandma, sitting at the head of the table fixed in on her meal. Not one word, one, comes out of her mouth at the table. Maybe its because she just wants to eat, or its possible she just cant hear us at all.
This year I decided that maybe i could make myself useful and help mom out in the kitchen. I am turning over a new leaf and this is the first step. My job was making the stuffing and it turned out to be a hit! All I had to do was cut up the celery and onions, sauté them, and mix them in with the stuffing mix. Thats all there is to it. I guess you could say that when it comes to the house cleaning and turkey, the roles in my house are sort of switched. So while I finish up my stuffing, mom slaves over the big turkey while my dad is using all of his energy to vacuum every single spot in the house. He is very OCD when it comes to cleaning. We all know that after dinner he will be passed out on the couch from using all of the energy he has left on cleaning. Oh, what do you know, he's sleeping as I write this blog. After having my 5 or 6 meals of thanksgiving I think its time for me to lay down and hit the hay. I have to say that this thanksgiving has been very nice and pretty normal.

Teenagers... Bleh

Everything you have heard about teenagers is basically true, we party hardy, fall in love, sleep all day, but really in the end, we just stink; we're messed up.I mean come on guys, take 5 minutes out of your day to actually take a shower. No one wants to smell the wet dog and leftover pizza stains on your clothing. Before you know it, you will have all the animals crawling after you like a dead rodent on the side of a road. Yep its that bad. Just do us all a favor and stay home. Cant I just go see a movie with my girls and not pass out from the people in there? Well maybe you just went through a break up or maybe you dont have enough stamina to get yourself off the couch every once in a while because your broke, fat, and you cant get a job, but like a good friend of mine would say "Get your sh*t together man!" If you keep this up, everyone will catch your drift, if you know what I mean ;)

Dont let this be you and do the right thing. Take a shower. If you cant help it, stay home.

Like, Whatever.

      Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University uses the book The Dumbest Generation to, shall we say "slam" the new generation. Pretty much he is saying that we are stupid kids who don't know how to use our time wisely and we are too caught up in the newest technology of our time to realize what is really happening in this world. Personally, and I think I speak for all of us teens that this book is a dis to all in this society. Its preposterous! Okay well maybe it is a little true, but to those who are the total opposite, and i know there are many out there, this book is just a way for Bauerlein to get his anger out at all of the no good, dirty rotten stinky kids that come into his classroom and disrespect him.  Bauerlein argues that teenagers these days don't have the common sense to do what is the most productive. He states that we are getting dumber because we don't read as much anymore and as said on the back cover of the book, "Cyberculture is turning us into a society of know-nothings", as in we always turn to the net to find our answers because supposedly we don't know anything anymore. As if we are supposed to know everything in the first place. Bauerlein cherry picks throughout the whole book; not every teenager falls into the "Dumbest Generation" stereotype. He uses facts and statistics to back up his argument, but you know what, I am not buying it Bauerlein, like, whatever. Just because he has a lot against the younger generation, doesn't mean he is right about us. He has to explore both sides of the argument. The only reason people liked this book and thought everything was a good point is because of his cherry picking.
        Apparently this book was a big hit? Maybe that's because it is targeted towards the older generation and since its not about them, they think its entertaining. What about the children? Huh? We are the next generation, and we are going to make a difference, you just wait and see. The parents could also very well be at fault for this whole scenario; they could have easily brought their kids up to love reading.

I found a perfect example of a passage from the book that makes a disrespectful remark to a young girl who was on a radio interview for the Survey of Literary Reading in America.

CALLER: I'm a high school student and yeah, I don't read and my friends don't read.
HOST: Why not?
CALLER: Because of all the boring stuff teachers assign.
HOST: Such as?
CALLER: Uh... that book about the guy [Pause] You know, that guy who was great.
HOST: Huh?
CALLER: The great guy.
HOST: You mean The Great Gatsby?
CALLER: Yeah. Who wants to read about him?

After stating this, Bauerlein says that he tried not to laugh when hearing this. How terrible can he get? This is a perfect example of cherry picking. I can agree that it is bad that she doesn't read what her teachers assign her but still, don't pick on this one girl, she has feelings too. Besides a lot can change in a person in a few years. Maybe she loves reading now. Its not fair to humiliate someone just to try and prove a point.

     On page 119 Bauerlein talks about laptops that are given to students in hope to make them more intellectual....
"By an overwhelming margin, seventh graders who received laptop computers say the computers have made schoolwork more fun, and 83% of the students say the laptops improve the quality of their work."
         Then he goes on to say that even though they have the laptops and they say they are learning more, their test scores say otherwise. I disagree with this statement because these kids are at least making an effort to try and do better. They even said that they enjoy doing their schoolwork; that doesn't sound dumb to me. That sounds like trying.

        On the other hand, I do agree with Bauerlein when he brings up the Jay Leno talk show. On person is asked how many stars are on the American flag. "Fifty two," she says. That is just sad. Everyone should know the amount of stars on the American Flag, it really is just common sense. The ignorance really is hard to believe.

        I also agree that the amount of people that read for fun these days has gone down the kitchen sink.
"We should consider, too, that reading is easier to carry out than all the other leisure activities included in ATUS except "Relaxing/thinking." it costs less than cable TV and video games, it doesn't require a membership fee, and you can still read in places where cellphones are restricted and friends don't congregate."
      This is a very true statement. If you think about it, reading doesn't take much at all. If you don't get one of the words that you read, all you have to do is grab a dictionary to see what it means, or you could be able to find out what it means through context. To buy a good book, it should only cost you about 15 dollars, which is cheaper than many other things, but there is always the library, you can get a library card for free, then you don't even have to pay for the books that you read.

To end this great rant, I am going to shove something else down your throat. If you haven't read the book The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein watch this video to get an idea of what it is like.

Heres a Link show some other reviews and comments on the book.....