Alfred the Turkey

Meet Alfred!

Jackie and I decided it would be fun to do something for Thanksgiving, so we decided upon making a turkey out of cupcakes. Yes, we named him Alfred. He was a ton of fun to make and will be quite delicious. :-)

Discrimination

While I was in my 'Teaching Special Education Students in the General Education Classroom' class last night, my professor brought up a really good point. We are all taught to discriminate - and whether we know it or not, we all discriminate - and the more we discriminate, the more we are praised. Here is an example.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, discriminate means "to distinguish by discerning or exposing differences." So this does not just apply to race or sex. I want this to be kept in mind.

So mom has a baby, and she thinks that she has the smartest baby in the whole entire world. (As most parents do). So, baby turns 9 months and hasn't started talking yet and the mom is sad since she has the 'smartest baby in the world.' Well one day, baby is sitting in the living room and a small, black thing walks in front of baby. Baby yells, "Kitty! Kitty!" The mom, being so proud of her "smart little baby" smiles and says, "Yes! What is it? Kitty? Keep going and saying its name!" The mom then goes into a basket and grabs a small ball. She holds it up in front of the baby and says, "Ball. Ball." After about 20 minutes of constent repetition, Mom's "smart litte baby" says ball. The mom is thrilled with how talented her child is.
Mom takes the baby to grandparents house. While at grandparent's house the baby is sitting in the living room and sees something small and black walk in front of him. The baby exclaims, "Kitty! Kitty!" Mom looks down at her child and shows a look of mortification on her face. Mom mis mortified. She runs over to baby and says, "Now smart baby, that's not a kitty. That's a doggy. Doggy." The baby looks at his mom and has a look of uncertainty on his face. He ponders how something that is small and black can have two different names. "Okay then, baby thinks. At mom's house it's called a kitty and at Grandma's house it's called a doggy."
Mom then takes her "smart little baby" for a ride in the car with the grandparents. When looking out the window, baby sees something that is small and black and yells, "Doggy! Doggy!" Again, mom is mortified that her "smart baby" said the wrong name for the animal. "No, baby! That's not a doggy. It's a cow." "Sheesh, thinks the baby. So small black animals have three different names for different places. At mom's it's a 'kitty,' at grandma's it's a 'doggy,' and in the car it's a 'cow.'

Point of this story - when we are growing up, we are taught the differences about objects, not the sameness of objects. When we read, p and d are essentially the same, we just have to switch it around, but as we teach our children to read we teach them the difference between the letters. Growing up, to learn, we must learn the differences between things. And that is the way human beings learn.

Now, I am not saying that we cannot help this because in fact, to learn, we must know the difference between objects. It would be hard to teach a child a pen and pencil by saying, "They both write." We need to know those differentiations to help us learn. However, because of this need to know differences in order to learn, we focus too much on the differences of people and things than sharing what we all have in common. As a society, we should also focus on what makes things the same.

A study done on college age students showed that on compare/contrast questions, students were likely to do significantly better on contrasting two or more objects than comparing them. To me, this is slightly frightening.

I guess this is important to me because of my dream to be a teacher. In the classroom, children benefit from learning about the sameness of people - seeing what students have in common with other students and their entire class. Sameness brings a class together, not differences. Yes, we all are different and we all recognize this; yet, finding out and celebrating what people have in common is what is truly amazing.

I think if more of the world used less discrimination in their lives and tried to find the commonality of people, places, and things - the world would probably be a better and safer place. Think of the things that people fight over: difference of religion, difference of government, difference of parenting styles, political parties, etc. People who usually share some sort of commonalities are less likely to fight. What is interesting is that most people do not spend the time to do this. People automatically look for the differences in other people and base decisions off of that.

Now, I am not saying that we should all be the same drones and everyone should have the same beliefs and values. I am saying that people should all accept and celebrate their differences, but celebrate the commonalities between people also. Look for something that you have in common with someone else. Chances are, if you try, you will find something in common. We all have something in common with everyone. It's just easier to see and accept the differences.

So, although the next time you meet someone you may be a different religion and different family life - remember that you both may love mint chocolate chip ice cream and going out dancing.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I wish I was LDS or joined the LDS church. I know it's crazy, but I feel that I would find a nice, decent man who cares about me and family. Who has values of family first and caring about the one he loves.

Sometimes I think this thought too much, and it scares me.

I'm going through a hard time at the moment - sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard without Birk. I know I'm going to be all right, and I'll find the man that sweeps me off my feet. But, it's hard when you lose the person you were ready to spend the rest of your life with. You feel empty; the world seems different and unknown. It'll be okay.

Just ranting.

It's interesting to see who true friends are. I definitely have found out who they are the past couple of weeks. You know who you are - and I'm eternally grateful and love you.

Grocery List

Jackie, Nate, Lau, and I went to slam poetry last night. It was one of the most inspiring, beautiful, funny, and amazing shows I have ever been to in my entire life. The way that the men performing, the poets, poured out their hearts and souls into the form of poetry was breathtaking. One of the poets, Derrick Brown, I related to the most. His words are beautiful - words never seemed so real.

I think I am going to write more. It really is a beautiful way to express oneself.

I decided to buy a few of the books of prose and poetry by Derrick and Buddy. I was going through the books last night with Nate and Jackie and this poem by Derrick I thought was particularly enlightening. I hope you think so too.

Grocery List by Derrick Brown

Be more forgiving.
Substitute "goodbye" for "I like your face."
Spend two nights a week not drinking to forget.
Listen to your body.
Listen to someone else's body.
Get limber.
Don't dog yourself to feel humble. It never works.
Lift others up onto your back until you are sore.
Write for yourself a movie that doesn't end.
Eat a churro slowly.
Kiss your mother on the cheek and don't miss.
Remember that now is barely now. It will soon be back then. Stop.
Finish everything.
Get milk.

I emphasized the third to last one because it's so true. Life is precious - every moment should be cherished for what it is.

New Beginnings

Birk and I broke up. Although I am hurt and saddened by this I know that this means the sky's the limit. I can do anything now - I think I'll try defying gravity; no one can hold me down.

All I can say is I have the greatest, most supportive friends anyone could ask for.

And I'm excited for the new beginnings that are in front of me.

What I Learned From Noah's Ark

My roommate Jackie had this on her blog page, and I thought that it was pretty neat and oh so true. :-)


Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah’s Ark.

One: Don’t miss the boat.
Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four: Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five: Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six: Build your future on high ground.
Seven: For safety sake, travel in pairs.
Eight: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine: When you’re stressed, float a while.
Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

School

This semester I am taking the least amount of classes I have ever taken (besides in England), yet this is going to be the hardest, most ridiculous semester of my entire life.

Tutoring and practicum 4 times a week, which means 4 lesson plans per week. Lesson plans are so annoying to write. The amount of time and creativity that comes in creating a beneficial lesson is absolutely ridiculous. Writing artifact analysis', reflections, designing lessons, writing up lesson plans all takes a lot of work.

I guess in order to be a good teacher and be prepared, I must have a hard haul.

District 9

This past weekend I went to go see District 9. If you haven't heard about it, it's a story that take place almost thirty years ago (early 80's) in S. Africa and aliens have accidentally landed on Earth. Mankind has kept these aliens on Earth spending millions of dollars to detain and conduct tests on them, when in reality they just want to go back to their own planet. It was seriously like a concentration camp for aliens. Basically, this movie shows the true nature of humanity and how evil we, as humans, can truly be. In a time when S. Africa was so impoverished, the government would rather spend money detaining and holding the aliens hostage, conducting experiments, and focuses their attention on the aliens than help their own people. It was quite an eye opening experience. If you haven't seen a preview, here is a link to one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PDlMggROA.

Everyone should go see it.

After this movie I got to thinking about the main human character and his actions during the entire movie - being on one side than the other (I can't say much more or it'll ruin the movie). I think this movie really got me thinking about how the human race (or certain people within the human race) thinks we are better than everyone else and we have the right to do what we want to people/things that are different than us. As long as it makes us more powerful, we will do anything to anyone - and we only think of ourselves. Just like the main character. And then those who try to do something right get taken down by those greedy people in power.

The first half of this movie made me sick to my stomach, and I actually cried in some parts. Although the aliens were animated, their emotions and appearance seemed so real - it was very well done.

Go see it. It's very eye opening.

Work Weeks Around the World

A good friend of mine posted this on her blog. I thought it was quite interesting and wanted to share with everyone.






Can I please move to the Netherlands? :-)

Competitive

I've always known I was a competitive person. I've played sports most of my life from soccer, cross country, track/field, and just going out with my friends to play a game of tennis. Even in board games I am pretty competitive - I just hate to lose. I love getting into the game/sport that I am playing and totally immerse myself into it.

Healthy? Unhealthy? I like to think being competitive is healthy - it's what pushes us forward to make us want to do better, to succeed. Without a healthy dose of competition and being competitive it helps people accomplish dreams they would have never thought possible - without it, we would sit and wait for something to happen. I will admit though that some people go to great lengths to win, will backstab friends, and only focus on the prize - alienating themselves. This is definitely not okay, and I am definitely like this. Sometimes, not being the best is humbling and rewarding.

I am writing about this because this past weekend I went to two weddings on the same day with my friend Chris. At the first wedding, I caught the bouquet. At the second, I did not. But, what's funny is how into catching the bouquet I got. I was determined, and competitive, to get that bouquet. I do not believe in the whole, "If you catch the bouquet, you are the next to get married" deal, because if that was the case I would be long married, however I think it's fun how all the girls get into it. With this in mind, I thought I would share a picture on me being competitive and all the girls trying to catch the bouquet (but I get it!)!

My friends and I laugh at this picture because it just shows how competitive I get! I have the look of determination!!!

Packing and Moving

I hate packing/moving with a passion. Not only packing for small trips, but to pack up my entire life to more from one place to the next is one of my biggest dislikes of all time. What's worse is that in the past 4 years I have had to move essentially every 3-6 months (with one exception). Here is a list of all the places I have lived since moving to Reno in the Fall 2005:

1.) Fall '05: White Pine dorm
2.) Winter '05-'06: Las Vegas home/Phi Delta Theta fraternity house
3.) Spring '06: White Pine dorm
4.) Summer '06: Jenn Boyd and Ashley Connor's couch
6.) Fall '06: Tri Delta
7.) Winter '06-'07: Birk's basement
8.) Spring '07: Tri Delta/Birk's house
9.) Summer '07-Spring '08: Birk's and my house
10.) Summer '08: Justin's house/Las Vegas home
11.) Fall '08: Falmer/Paddock Field dorm, Brighton, UK
12.) Winter '08-'09: Las Vegas home
13.) Spring - Summer '09: Kelci's house
14.) Summer - Winter '09: Jackie's apartment

Holy smokes! I know I've lived in a ton of places since leaving Vegas, but this is ridiculous. I guess that's the life of a college student though. It will be nice to one day have a stable home that I will always be able to come to and not worry about moving.

Tonight, I'm packing up my room at Kelci's house and tomorrow moving into Jackie's apartment. It was fun while it lasted at Kelci's, but it's also time to move on. I'm excited for the adventures that Jackie and me will have. :-) We tend to have a pretty good time together.

My Goal

On December 6, 2009, I hope to be a part of the madness in this picture. My goal for the coming months is to participate in my first ever marathon - the Sacramento International Marathon. Scary? I think so. I'm actually terrified of running a marathon. I remember after I completed my half-marathon in May 2007 I couldn't imagine completing another 13.1 miles. I was in so much pain after the first 13.1 miles. Yet, something inside me keeping burning, keeps telling me that I can do it. I think it would be an amazing accomplishment in my life. It is an accomplishment that I can tell my children I've done.

I've talked to many people who have completed marathons about what to expect and how I can train to my fullest potential. The number one thing everyone tells me? It hurts. It's crazy how athletes compete knowing the pain that is going to ensue upon them. But, I guess that's kinda the glory in being active - pain makes you feel alive, and pain makes you feel like you accomplished something great. I'm currently signed up for marathon training class this upcoming fall semester. I'm excited and terrified.

This experience will be good for me to go through. I know the glory and accomplishment I feel after I complete my marathon will be unbelievable and incredible. I just need to stick to the goal at hand. Luckily, I have the support of my friends and family and they help me make anything possible.

Wish me luck!!

Blogging

So, I thought I might as well start a blog since many of my friends/family have done so. I'm hoping that it will give those people a chance whom I rarely see to have a glimpse into my life - what I'm doing, where I'm headed, updates on school, life, etc. I don't consider myself a good writer in any sense, but hopefully I will become one by the end of this 'experiment.' I think this blog will be a good way for me to express myself and thougtfully reflect on life; which is something I could do more of and be better at. As an elementary education major, one major component of learning and knowing how students have actively learned is through reflection - I figure I might as well be an active participant in something that I will one day have my students participate in. I hope that this blogging thing works out and I attain the goals I wish to get from it!