Sunday, November 18, 2012
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.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
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.....
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.....
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Halloween Funky Foods
Why do we celebrate Halloween? Why do we like eating things that are scary looking? You would think that if it looked scary and we didn't know what it was, that we wouldn't want to eat it, but there is something about this day. Halloween takes our fears away and makes us do things we normally wouldn't. For instance, this....
How gross is that? It actually looks like this persons skin was burnt off, and those teeth? Come on now? Now we know that this is actually ham wrapped around a fake skull but it looks completely real! Personally i would not eat this because it looks too real but there are many people out there that would not mind.
Dont worry, for those out there that are like me and you see something like that above you get sick to your stomach, there are actually some Halloween foods out there that we can tell what they are and they do look edible.
Thats much better. I can actually tell what these foods are made of and they are just so cute that i need to eat them anyway. Obviously the top ones are little piggies in a blanket except they are made into little mummies. The ones below are little taco monsters, and come on, who doesn't like tacos? Then on the bottom, there are little gravestone pudding cups. The tombstone is a sugar cookie, the dirt is Oreo crumbs, and the mud is the chocolate pudding. Not only do these look cute, they look delicious, and because we know what they are made of we are okay with eating them.
Other Halloween things to ponder......
Why?
How gross is that? It actually looks like this persons skin was burnt off, and those teeth? Come on now? Now we know that this is actually ham wrapped around a fake skull but it looks completely real! Personally i would not eat this because it looks too real but there are many people out there that would not mind.
Dont worry, for those out there that are like me and you see something like that above you get sick to your stomach, there are actually some Halloween foods out there that we can tell what they are and they do look edible.
Thats much better. I can actually tell what these foods are made of and they are just so cute that i need to eat them anyway. Obviously the top ones are little piggies in a blanket except they are made into little mummies. The ones below are little taco monsters, and come on, who doesn't like tacos? Then on the bottom, there are little gravestone pudding cups. The tombstone is a sugar cookie, the dirt is Oreo crumbs, and the mud is the chocolate pudding. Not only do these look cute, they look delicious, and because we know what they are made of we are okay with eating them.
But what makes us want to eat things that are so cute and fit with the theme?
My theory is that we eat this stuff simply because everyone else is doing it. It is a fun way to eat also. By making our foods into something that they usually are, more people are going to want to eat it because it is out of the norm for food. It gives us something fun to do in our normal boring lives. Other Halloween things to ponder......
Why?
- Why do we feel the need to scare people?
- Why does scaring people give us so much satisfaction and why is it humorous?
- Why do we eat the foods that we do on Halloween
- Why do we eat things that do not look appetizing on Halloween?
- How much Halloween food do you eat on the holiday?
- How do you scare people?
- How much does it take for you to get scared?
- What kind of Halloween foods have you made on the holiday before?
- Whats the weirdest Halloween food you have ever eaten?
- Whats the best thing you have ever been for Halloween?
- What is the best way you have ever scared someone?
- What is the scariest thing you have ever been for Halloween?
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz_htyaQQkQ&safe=active
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Bittersweet
Whats Halloween really about??? Well ask me now and you will get a completely different answer from when i was 5.
Princesses, disney characters, withces, and crayons? That was the premature stage of my life. I have now moved on to animals. The past few years, i dont know what it is, but the feeling of transforming myself into the most beautiful creatures has captured my inner being. Maybe its what i am meant to be. Maybe in another lifetime i will enter the world as an amazingly graceful bald eagle spreading my wings for all to see. Who knows, maybe i will be a skunk. Either way, i will feel complete.
Every year I would wait for that one day, when I would get to dress up as someone else and get buckets upon buckets full of sweet treats for it. Fine with me! Picking out my costume was always so easy for me. It was simple. Just match my brother! He was Darth Mal, I was princess leah, he was a wearwolf, i was a witch, he was the beast, and i was the beauty. Perfect, no work involved and we were a hit every year. As shown below, supposedly being inatimate objects was the thing? We thought being a crayon was the most original idea yet! Little did we know that 2 other groups were crayons in the neighborhood we went trick-or-treating in. Talk about crushed hopes and dreams.
Halloween now? Its like a whole new world. You dont pick out your comstume until you find out what everyone else is being. If your caught with the same costume as someone else, your in deep do do, and of course everyone is trying to have the most original yet. Trick or treating is not even in the picture anymore. Its all about the parties. Whose going where, who was invited to that one? One big party is definitly in our favor and of course we can have our own candy at the party!
This year all of my friends went as the pink ladies from grease, with their lips blood red, their hair pushed up to the sky and their boobs sprung up to their noses! :p Me, being the outcast that i am (nah just kidding) was a peacock. I thought, why not, its senior year, and i am going to go all out. My hair is probably the best part and it only took me, what, 2 hours? I didnt want to be a pink lady, so i mixed it up a bit and made my own peacock costume. Everyone loved it except the fact that i kept hitting their faces with my tail feathers. It was so worth it. Mwahahaha!
It's a bittersweet feeling to know that halloween is changing as every year passes, knowing that we are not going to be with our close friends that we have now forever and knowing that our youth is passing us by. Moving on is a must and will help us grow, its part of the process that helps us become who we are.
Princesses, disney characters, withces, and crayons? That was the premature stage of my life. I have now moved on to animals. The past few years, i dont know what it is, but the feeling of transforming myself into the most beautiful creatures has captured my inner being. Maybe its what i am meant to be. Maybe in another lifetime i will enter the world as an amazingly graceful bald eagle spreading my wings for all to see. Who knows, maybe i will be a skunk. Either way, i will feel complete.
Every year I would wait for that one day, when I would get to dress up as someone else and get buckets upon buckets full of sweet treats for it. Fine with me! Picking out my costume was always so easy for me. It was simple. Just match my brother! He was Darth Mal, I was princess leah, he was a wearwolf, i was a witch, he was the beast, and i was the beauty. Perfect, no work involved and we were a hit every year. As shown below, supposedly being inatimate objects was the thing? We thought being a crayon was the most original idea yet! Little did we know that 2 other groups were crayons in the neighborhood we went trick-or-treating in. Talk about crushed hopes and dreams.
Halloween now? Its like a whole new world. You dont pick out your comstume until you find out what everyone else is being. If your caught with the same costume as someone else, your in deep do do, and of course everyone is trying to have the most original yet. Trick or treating is not even in the picture anymore. Its all about the parties. Whose going where, who was invited to that one? One big party is definitly in our favor and of course we can have our own candy at the party!
This year all of my friends went as the pink ladies from grease, with their lips blood red, their hair pushed up to the sky and their boobs sprung up to their noses! :p Me, being the outcast that i am (nah just kidding) was a peacock. I thought, why not, its senior year, and i am going to go all out. My hair is probably the best part and it only took me, what, 2 hours? I didnt want to be a pink lady, so i mixed it up a bit and made my own peacock costume. Everyone loved it except the fact that i kept hitting their faces with my tail feathers. It was so worth it. Mwahahaha!
It's a bittersweet feeling to know that halloween is changing as every year passes, knowing that we are not going to be with our close friends that we have now forever and knowing that our youth is passing us by. Moving on is a must and will help us grow, its part of the process that helps us become who we are.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Frying or Trying?
This weekend, MEA of course, has been pretty amazing I must say. Four days off of school? Sure i will take it! Although my favorite part about breaks is the sleeping, I still don't manage to get enough of it. I mean i am a teenager so I guess its normal right? Instead of sleeping I always find myself staying up late thinking, just laying in bed, but then i get tired of thinking, so I slither over to the computer so I can fry my brain a little. As if I haven't fried it enough from watching TV all day. Yeah I know this isn't really a good way to spend my free time, but I think that the senior slide is starting to kick in. It cant already, I need to work hard! I need to reach my high goals or else I will be extremely dissapointed in myself. I really should be doing homework or college apps, or reading a little for fun. Maybe my brain really is frying! Nah, I just need to get back into the game!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Speech Analysis
Awesome Funny High School Graduation Speech......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APdSHPBPLLY
I chose this speech to show because well, i thought it was just great. This reminds me of my school so much. First of all, there are a lot of kids at my school, many of them which are hilarious. The boy giving this speech in the video I feel is one of those kids who doesnt have to try hard to be funny. To me, thats the funniest person to get to know.
I think that it is funny because the fact that he messes up a lot and always makes little filler noises makes it more entertaining. The fact that it is so informal is so awesome! He makes me feel like I could get up in front of people and give a graduation speech. He makes it look so easy! Even when he messes up, he admits to it. This kid must really know what he is doing becuase everything he says turns out to be funny, even though it may not be. He uses his facial expressions to his advantage a lot of the time.
Whenever he says something that is meant to be funny, he keeps such a straight face the whole time. For some reason, this is something that appeals to many people. Its very funny, but we dont really know why. It would be so hard for me to keep a straight face throughout the whole speech if I was telling jokes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APdSHPBPLLY
I chose this speech to show because well, i thought it was just great. This reminds me of my school so much. First of all, there are a lot of kids at my school, many of them which are hilarious. The boy giving this speech in the video I feel is one of those kids who doesnt have to try hard to be funny. To me, thats the funniest person to get to know.
I think that it is funny because the fact that he messes up a lot and always makes little filler noises makes it more entertaining. The fact that it is so informal is so awesome! He makes me feel like I could get up in front of people and give a graduation speech. He makes it look so easy! Even when he messes up, he admits to it. This kid must really know what he is doing becuase everything he says turns out to be funny, even though it may not be. He uses his facial expressions to his advantage a lot of the time.
Whenever he says something that is meant to be funny, he keeps such a straight face the whole time. For some reason, this is something that appeals to many people. Its very funny, but we dont really know why. It would be so hard for me to keep a straight face throughout the whole speech if I was telling jokes.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Today, at your local library... :P
Usually when people write based off of an observation they go to a fun, hoppin' busy place where they hope to find the most action. But me, i chose the library! Original Huh? ;) Not so hoppin' but pretty busy! Hope you find my blog post interesting! :)
Victim #1
This poor mother. I cant believe what she has to go through. I cant even imagine what her kid is like at home if he acts like this in public. Kicking, screaming, scratching!
"Mom you said i could get a toy! You said i could get a toy," over and over like a broken robot. There was no end. His mother just stood there ignoring and taking in his hits as if she were his punching bag! She had no control over him.
This troubled boy has had a rough day. It probably consisted of sugar on top of sugar which caused him to miss his afternoon nap. Thus, causing him to spiral into a out of control frenzy at the store. What has gotten into kids these days? Surely I wasn't like that at all! ;) After his mother told him that he could get a toy at the store just to get him to cooperate, he was thrilled. Little did he know, he wasn't going to be getting the new Lego he was promised.
Victim #2
At the library everyday this little kid sits. Maybe 11, maybe 12 years old. Not even old enough to drive, yet he manages to make his way to the library everyday after school. Maybe he walks to school, or gets a ride from a friend. Either way it doesn't matter, this kid definitely eats his Wheaties for breakfast. First of all, he is quite the multitasker. He can read, be on the computer, listen to music, and do his homework all at the same time! Quite frankly I am jealous. I wonder what he would do if he was interupted.... is he the type of guy who needs his privacy and space? Or is he easy going and would like some company? Judging by the way he does his work, I feel like he doesn't want to be bothered at all.
Victim #3
Run run run! I see a little kid with his mother at the library looking for books. He grabs a book and scampers off to see his mother. I can tell he is not much of a talker. Together the mother and son read the first page of the book. The little boy closes the book and goes to grab a new one. I guess one page is enough. This little boy, we will call him Will (he looks like a Will), seems to be very impatient with many things. If he cant sit down and read one whole story, i cant imagine what he can sit through during the day. I believe he can watch the first five minutes of bob the builder. The theme song in the beginning tends to bore him just as he was bored with the rest of the books he read. Its either he is impatient or he has a short attention span and needs to keep moving at all times.
Victim #1
This poor mother. I cant believe what she has to go through. I cant even imagine what her kid is like at home if he acts like this in public. Kicking, screaming, scratching!
"Mom you said i could get a toy! You said i could get a toy," over and over like a broken robot. There was no end. His mother just stood there ignoring and taking in his hits as if she were his punching bag! She had no control over him.
This troubled boy has had a rough day. It probably consisted of sugar on top of sugar which caused him to miss his afternoon nap. Thus, causing him to spiral into a out of control frenzy at the store. What has gotten into kids these days? Surely I wasn't like that at all! ;) After his mother told him that he could get a toy at the store just to get him to cooperate, he was thrilled. Little did he know, he wasn't going to be getting the new Lego he was promised.
Victim #2
At the library everyday this little kid sits. Maybe 11, maybe 12 years old. Not even old enough to drive, yet he manages to make his way to the library everyday after school. Maybe he walks to school, or gets a ride from a friend. Either way it doesn't matter, this kid definitely eats his Wheaties for breakfast. First of all, he is quite the multitasker. He can read, be on the computer, listen to music, and do his homework all at the same time! Quite frankly I am jealous. I wonder what he would do if he was interupted.... is he the type of guy who needs his privacy and space? Or is he easy going and would like some company? Judging by the way he does his work, I feel like he doesn't want to be bothered at all.
Victim #3
Run run run! I see a little kid with his mother at the library looking for books. He grabs a book and scampers off to see his mother. I can tell he is not much of a talker. Together the mother and son read the first page of the book. The little boy closes the book and goes to grab a new one. I guess one page is enough. This little boy, we will call him Will (he looks like a Will), seems to be very impatient with many things. If he cant sit down and read one whole story, i cant imagine what he can sit through during the day. I believe he can watch the first five minutes of bob the builder. The theme song in the beginning tends to bore him just as he was bored with the rest of the books he read. Its either he is impatient or he has a short attention span and needs to keep moving at all times.
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