I'd be blue

I just happen to think that blue is a spectacular color. I mean, think about it, all of the fabulous things of the world are blue. The sky, the ocean, jeans, cotton candy; all blue. On two separate occasions I have had conversations about ICEEs. They tell me that they love them, but they will only eat the clear cherry ones so that their mouths don't turn funny colors. And I retort something to the effect of 'are you kidding? I only eat the blue ones because they turn my mouth funny colors!'

You know that song that's like, "I'm blue, da-ba-de-da-ba-die"? Well, now I'm not depressed or on blue overload yet, so I guess I can't fully relate to his ailment and I have a skewed view, but I think that if I were him, it would be good. Blue is a good, soothing color to be surrounded by. I mean, I would feel better if the song was "I'm green" because that's my favorite color, but I guess blue will work too.

So, in closing I would just urge you to look at all of the fun blue things around you, and I will leave you with this gem that I found on youtube:

Damn prejudice sucks

I was talking with the kids at work the other day and they asked me if I believed in God. I thought about their question for a little bit, and then I answered no. This wasn't that big of a deal, or so I thought, because really, what right do my underage-drinking, drug-doing, school-dropping-out-of coworkers have to judge me on, but boy was I wrong!
As soon as I said this, they all looked at me as if they were about to throw up, as if to say damn you suck. "You don't believe in God?" one of them asked me in disgust.
"Uh nope," I answered. "Do you?"
Of course they were all devout Christians, or so they claimed (although I'm not sure that you can still be 'devout' while still engaging in many of the seven deadly sins, but whatever).
I asked them what difference it made, and they all kind of shrugged their shoulders. However, I wasn't about to make this some sort of reverse crusade because 'oh I'm so oppressed' or anything. Because, in truth, if I had told them that I was Jewish they would have had the same puky reaction as well. Really, all it comes down to, is that even though I liked to assume that everyone in the world is as accepting as I am, or at least mildly tolerant, they're really not.
The day after, one of those 'devout Christians' asked me another perplexing question. "Would you date a black guy?" he inquired.
"Of course I would," I replied. "Would you date a black girl?"
Once again, he looked at me in disgust. "I would date Rihanna," he replied, "but she's the only one."
Now, it was me who almost vomited all over him. "What are you talking about?" I snapped. "Are you serious?" I posed this question with a heavy twinge of disgust in my mouth, and he stared ahead, stupidly.
I guess this came as a shock to me because it seems so backward that people can preach such tolerance and then turn around and be such a but hole. Now, I'm not going to try and get all preachy, but seriously, if you don't see what's wrong with racism then there's something wrong with you.
The next week, an African American family came into work. They were polite as could be, but some of my coworkers were still jerks to them. When my manager, who happens to be one of the bigots, instructed me to help them, the lady looked at me, perturbed. "Good, that man was so rude!" she exclaimed
I was embarrassed for everyone in the situation. I apologized profusely and proceeded in my most polite manner. When the family had gone, my manager came back to talk to me, as if what he had just done was forgivable in some way. As he stepped into my view, I turned my head at him and stuck up my middle finger, then walked away.

Phil the moth

There is a moth that shares my bedroom with me. His name is Phil. He doesn't bother me as much as a lot of the other bugs I have found in that room, so I let him stay.
I found a spider in the corner of my room once, I screamed and then scooped it up to take it outside. Sometimes flies get trapped in between my screen and my window pane too. They are the worst because they make that disgusting buzzing noise. A ladybug once crawled across my pillow, I threw away the pillow case with the insect in it.
There have been other moths too. I think I killed Phil's brother the other day with an old magazine, but it doesn't look like Phil minded. Maybe they were rivaling siblings or something, I wouldn't doubt that Phil was the quarterback super stud to his brother's nerdy audio-visual club president.

Phil has been in my room for a few weeks now, or at least I think it has been the same moth, even though he doesn't have many distinguishing features. I thought that moths were only supposed to live a day or two, so Phil must be the equivalent of 184 in human years.

I'm really surprised that he's still even alive, because he keeps flying into the light bulb in my lamp. It's kind of like how they are attracted to flames, and will fly at it even if it dies in the process. Except for I don't have any open flames in my room, so there isn't really a threat of him burning up in a flame. If he did, I would be really sad too.

So, I think that as long as Phil doesn't bring his friends with him to infest my room, we won't have a problem and he can remain my pet moth. But when that day does come, Phil and his buddies may find themselves victim to the wrath of a Time Magazine.

This is my blog

Guess what? This blog is sort of about nothing. I mean it started with me and my interest in politics, but my blatant lack of knowledge. However, now that the presidential election is over, I sort of have nothing left to write about. I suppose from there I have moved onto social problems.
There's really not much to say about that, but oh well. I suppose I have been talking about high school and the different cliques and strange groups of people that reside in it. And into all of this I think that I have woven some sort of lesson in manners.
Manners are really important. Everyone should know about them because if you don't have proper manners you will be seen as a hillbilly or country bumpkin or jerk. I grew up with my crazy parents trying to force proper manners down my throat and I really hated it when I was a little kid. However, now that I am older I see the importance of having good manners, so I guess I will try and cram them down the throats of my collective three readers as well.
So, with that said, happy reading and I hope you enjoy my blog!

The dirties

So the way I see it there are two types of people; dirties and cleanies. And the dirties, they scare me a ton. And the problem is that I bet if all the dirties in the school banded together they could overtake it. Like seriously, there are like a gillion of them compared to our scant numbers of normal kids.
First, however, it is probably pertinent that I define what a dirty is: those weird kids (though certainly not limited to this stereotype) that sit under the stairs or stand by the front doors. The ones that practically make babies in the hallways or are just plain gross. They always seem inherently tough to me and like they are involved in many things that they shouldn't be doing. The cleanies (yes I realize that this is not an actual word) on the other hand, are everyone else; not weird or gross.
This is why I don't make fun of the dirties to their faces, because there is no doubt in my mind that they could take me in a fight, I would die for sure. And furthermore, while it is pretty hard not to recognize who is a dirty and who is not, we probably shouldn't discriminate against them (while it is perfectly natural to be afraid of them).
I wonder if dirties are limited, though, simply to high school, or if I am going to have to cower in fear of them for my entire life. Do they exist in college, in the world of work? Because, if there's anything worse than a scary, weird teenager, it's a scary, weird adult. I don't know if I can handle a band of dirties taking over all of the free world, (because if the proportions of school to real life are correct, then it is going to be a frightening existence).
Surely, however, by the time that most kids reach adulthood, they have hammered out all of their strange and creepy behaviors and are able to be fully functional, not dirty, adults. I guess, though, it remains to be seen whether or not I will have to deal with these types of people in later life. I certainly hope not, because if I couldn't take them in a fight now, it is definite that I couldn't take them in a fight when I am old and frail (aka after age 30 or so).

Experiencing the magic of snow

If school brought the same joy to me that snow days do (though by the very nature of both, they can never be equivocal) then I think I would like it.
Snow days are the most delightful part of life, I do believe; I can think of nothing negative about them. Although it forces me to shovel and spend more than an ounce of time with my family, and they always mean that my driveway is too icy to leave, I truly love snow days. Maybe it's the lack of school or the fact that snow is my favorite form of precipitation, but I elate every time our lovely superintendent decides to make my day.
I was recently talking with some of my friends, and they mentioned how they did not enjoy snow. (Yet somehow they still enjoy snow days, pretty hypocritical if you ask me.) I was shocked and taken aback, for what kind of person can't find anything to enjoy about snow? Thus, for their benefit and the benefit of anyone else who has, up to this point, been wasted on snow's beauty, I complied a list of reasons why I love snow:

1. Snow blankets the world in a new color. Most of the time things are green or brown, but snow covers everything to make it a glistening, glittery white.

2. Snow forces us to slow down. We can't drive as fast (unless you really want a reason to hate snow) and so we are forced to enjoy nature, which is not a bad deal if you ask me.

3. Sledding. Need I say more? It's fun even when you're as old as me.

4. An unexpected day off filled with hot chocolate and no school!

5. Snow means Christmas, the best time of the year. Shopping and singing, and listening to delightful carols. Watching Frosty the Snowman and the Grinch (even though I have actually never seen that movie). Twinkle lights illuminating cities and evergreens in every department store are the icing on the cake. (Oh, but don't let me leave out the other great holidays that are during the winter too: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and sometimes Ede.)

6. Snow is inherently peaceful. It doesn't make noise but is still beautiful to watch.

And so, for those of you who haven't yet been exposed to the splendor of snow, let me invite you to sit around the fire,

turn up the tunes,

make a cup of hot cocoa,
and enjoy!

Why you don't cry at school

Trudging up the stairs to my locker at 6:55 this morning, I was confronted by a disturbing sight: a girl crying beneath my feet. Just sitting beneath the stairs at that unearthly hour, weeping her eyes out. Okay, now I might not be the most emotional of all people, but I think that this is a red flag in your life; when you have found something to upset you within minutes of entering school. I mean, who is ever even awake enough to form coherent thoughts let alone complex emotions before 7:00?
So needless to say, I was very troubled by this sight, not because I was inherently worried about her well being (though curious as I may have been) or because she was creepy under the stairs (as I find all kids that hang out beneath peoples' feet), but because of the simple fact that she was crying underneath the stairs at 6:55 in the morning (seriously, do you even understand how preposterous that seems?)! Mostly, I always think it's a little weird when I see people showing overwhelming emotion at school or just in public in general anyway. Seriously, I mean why can't people save that stuff for home (or better yet, just bottle it all up until you explode)?

It's just like in the case of PDAs, gross! PDAs are definitely not a-okay. They bother me a ton because although there is no chance that I want two dirties making out and getting their nasty all over my locker, on a regular basis what am I met with in the halls but dirt balls making babies. Yeah, that's probably something they could save for another place too.
I guess what I'm saying is that in the realm of manners and composure that people in civilized society are supposed to have, we're pretty crappy. Just think, what would Miss Manners think of us now? Like really, why can't we all just pretend to be happy and normal, at least for the hours that we choose to be in public? And maybe even then we can choose to button it up and just sit in a stoic fashion.
However, to the contrary, I do enjoy poking a great deal of fun at the kids that are over-emotional. So, I suppose if you are equipped to take harsh criticism from kids at school (as I assume that the girl that had already found something to upset her during her first few minutes at school is certainly not) go ahead and cry, scream, make out, elate, whatever; go ahead and be a weirdo.

If you deal at work...

I think I work with drug dealers, and by think I mean know.
Now I want to start this blog off with a disclaimer, so here it is: I don't know what a drug dealer looks like and I don't do drugs, and until very recently I didn't know that they were real (which sounds really dumb, but by real I mean that I didn't know that they were around in places besides inner-city crack dens). Illegal drugs are wrong and bad and I am above the influence because they are gross and because I don't want to screw up my life doing something shady. But anyway, this isn't going to be some sort of preaching session.
With that said, yeah I know druggies, which is the scariest thing of my life. I mean, I refuse to talk to them about drugs and when they ask me if I smoke I make some sort of sarcastic response (per the one that I give anyone who asks such an absurd question) and by doing this I give them some sort of normalcy in my mind.
So the problem comes in with the fact that I don't totally abhor them. I mean, they don't look like movie druggies and I don't really know the symptoms of a person on a drug binge, but from what I can tell they aren't under the influence when they come to work, so why should I dislike them? They're pretty neat people normally and the other regular (aka non drug dealer/user) people that I work with don't seem to mind these guys' obvious occupational and character flaws, so why should I? I mean, just because Nancy Regan's mantra obviously didn't rub off on them, should I condemn them and myself to a miserable work atmosphere?
At the same time though, they creep me out. They constantly seem dirty to me and I become hopelessly awkward whenever I think of their outside of work activities. Really though, in the back of my mind I think that I am just waiting to watch a monster drug raid upon the company, because that would probably make my life complete.
For now, although I want to hang on until March, which is when one of the guys promised to take me and this other girl to a rave (don't worry I wouldn't actually go to a rave at my young and impressionable age), it would probably serve me well to scrap that environment, shucks. Isn't that always how it works though; a few idiots ruin the credibility of everyone else, or in this case a whole company.

If school weren't so funny we would all drop out

School is boring, there I said it. I am sick of every facet of it; the homework, the lectures, the wasted hours spent staring off into space and above all the learning. And quite frankly, when this term rolled around, I seriously considered dropping a hefty portion of my classes and moving out of the AP program in many areas. (But of course I didn't have the guts and could see the many negative long-term implications that may come with it, so I refrained.)
But this is they way school has been since (I dare say) the day I entered high school; I stopped caring and school started sucking. So to pass the time, I have started observing people around Kennedy (and boy are there some funny ones!) and my sweet, innocent demeanor turned to one of a snide, sarcastic, jaded gal.
Essentially, this has made high school a much more interesting place and revealed one of my many talents, making fun of people. For example, as of late, my friend Nix and I have begun looking for people around the school that look like characters from Winnie the Pooh. We already have Pooh and Piglet, as well as our AP Chem sub from Friday cast as the mole.
Besides this, I like making fun of many other people in the school (under the pretense, of course, that the small fraction of people who know that I exist at Kennedy make fun of me as well). Through this observation of my surroundings, I think that I have become a more aware person. I have begun to surround myself with more diverse types of people, simply because they entertain me and I have honed my sarcastic wit.
But seriously, the people I am surrounded with on a daily basis make me pee my pants with laughter. You've got my third hour, which is full of the funniest characters I have ever met; my fifth hour, which is home to like 18 kids, two of which (and a teacher) that stare at me for 60 minutes, a group of druggies who share frightening stories, the kids that sit diagonal from me who spend the whole time discussing Dungeons and Dragons and none of us could tell you what has happened the whole year; and finally there is my sixth hour, where nobody knows what is going on but we do talk about the most random of subjects. And then, best of all, there are the random kids that you see in the hallway, they are inevitably the weirdest, just because you only ever catch snippets of their conversations. Really, the only reason that I will myself to get up in the morning anymore and actually go to school are the magical people I share Kennedy with.

Why women shouldn't be in the workforce

Last night my parents started talking to me about where I wanted to go to college, and I did not like the conversation one bit. I really don't know what I want to do or where I want to go when I grow up. But both of them went to four year schools and so of course they have their respective opinions. And although I know it is probably what is expected of me to go to college and have a career, I don't know if that's what I want. Furthermore, in thinking about it, I'm not even sure that I think that women should become professionals.
Sure we're all crazy feminists today that think that we have some sort of right and calling to be doctors and lawyers and do whatever men can do, but seriously, why? Women have rarely been the traditional bread-winner in families over the course of history, why on earth should we see it as our divine right at this point in time?
Shouldn't our place more be, and as June Cleaver-esque and '50s deranged as this may sound, in the home. Now I'm not saying that we all have to conform to these standards; certainly there have been many women in history that were geniuses and we would have been lost without, but I am not one of them.

If I had my choice between living a boring life stuck inside a cubicle or stuck at home baking, I would certainly choose the latter. Plus, we have this crazy view of life that's like, you are only smart and successful if you go to college and get a good job. Well, I think that there are plenty of other ways that women can prove that they are smart other than classical education.
And all this weird probably sounds strange coming from a girl, but I think that I am rightfully justified in my views. I don't think that women's mental capacities are any less than men's or that we are sub-par, because we aren't. But I do think that women are classically reared to be different than men; qualities that will make them more feeble and weak in the work force. I mean think about it, Miss Manners has engrained in me and many other ladies, ever since an early age, that manners and grace are what are important in life, none of which will come in particularly handy when negotiating a big deal in the board room.
And while we may see it as societal advancement to be able to say that oodles of women are employed in the workforce, who's standards are those? Why can't people think this issue through and redefine those standards. In other cultures, women successfully never leave the home and it's working pretty well for them (obviously with the exception of a few). So, with that having been said, maybe I won't go to college; maybe I will just become an mascara model.

Gambling on anonymity

So, I'm the feature editor for my school newspaper, which is all fun and good. The only tricky thing with my section is my insistence on choosing controversial topics, but hey what are you gonna do? Anyway, for our upcoming issue, it was suggested to me that I report on kids who gamble (it's illegal to gamble the way they're doing it, mind you) at my school.

Alright, so of course I jumped on this opportunity. However, being a gal who knows absolutely nothing about gambling, I was able to find someone a bit more knowledgeable than myself (at least in the basics of playing cards) to write the story.

We secured sources and looked at the law in preparation for this spread. And while it is quite obvious that if everyone is careful about what they say, nobody could get into serious trouble, (but if we were stupid or careless, this could be considered a serious misdemeanor.) So, of course I don't want to see any of these people get hurt, and although I oppose their decision to go against the law, I chose to use anonymity for the sources.

"So, what's the problem?" you're probably asking. Well, the thing that infuriated me enough to write a whole post about it happened when I went to talk with the athletic director of our school about what would happen if an athlete were caught gambling.

It started out innocently enough, he listened intently to my spiel about the story and my question, and then he turned on me. He insisted, no demanded would probably be a more accurate word, that I keep the sources anonymous. (Why? Probably because he didn't want the suspension of one of his players due to their illegal activities to hamper our sports season.)

Are you kidding me? Now, after his stern lecture about how getting people in trouble would be bad, I didn't even want to tell him that I planned to keep the sources anonymous, so I just didn't. But really, wouldn't you think that a good, honest athletic director would be more concerned with the fact that his athletes are blatantly braking the law on a regular basis than whether they get caught for breaking the law? And furthermore, I think that in rebuttal to his comment to me I should have told him how I felt; how if people are dumb enough to break the law and then talk to a newspaper about it, they should probably know what's coming to them (because when we contacted the sources, we didn't specifically guarantee them their anonymity), but instead I was silent.

But I guess what I'm getting at is this: isn't this one of those double standard things? People aren't supposed to break the laws, but because these people are successful athletes (like the gods of this athletic director's pathetic life or something) it's only applicable as long as they don't get caught. Yeah, that's just stupid.

Nice try (still-a-senator) McCain

In life, there are always disappointments, and John McCain suffered the most public and difficult of them all; losing a presidential election.
Handling it gracefully, like the true gentleman I'm sure he his, however, Senator McCain delivered a remarkable concession speech at the Phoenix Biltmore Hotel. He commended the democratic process and thanked his supporters, his running mate, Governor Palin, and above all his family.
But, the most profound piece of his speech, was his response to the boos from the crowd. It was to these that he called upon all Americans, whether republican or democrat, to come together as a people in support behind our new President Elect, Barack Obama. And now, a quote from his concession speech:

"Tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.
And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history, we make history."

It is said that when people speak from the heart, it often comes out well. Thus, I believe that by John McCain's beautiful delivery of this speech, that it was from the pit of his soul.

And so, it is with that speech, that I thank John McCain for running in this race, providing a formidable opponent to Barack Obama, and providing a wonderful voice for the Republican Party ideals.
He has been a great servant to our country and has provided us as Americans with many of the freedoms that we perpetually take for granted. I think that Barack Obama said it best in his acceptance speech at Grant Park, Chicago:

"I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead."

Yes, Senator McCain, thank you for all that you have helped us to accomplish and for aiding us to be the flourishing society that we are today. Your service will forever be indebted.

Mr. President

If I may, a quote from our President Elect, Barack Obama:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

Hearing the acceptance speech at the Chicago Grant Park, I began to tear up. It took me back, 21 months to my high school gymnasium, where I hear Barack Obama speak on his first stop after declaring his candidacy. It took me back to the caucuses, where I watched people flock with a newfound political vigor. It took me back to sitting in the nose bleed seats in the U.S. Cellular Center, watching Oprah and Obama rally up the crowd.
My first experience watching Obama speak was the one that made me believe that he would be our next President of the United States. He had this power, it seemed, to make me feel something that I had not yet experienced; pride for my country.
I think that this is true with many Americans too, that's why Obama-fever was so contagious. He promised change, something that we all knew we needed, but something that had been promised by so many leaders before his time it had made us numb. However, you could tell that he was different; the passion he spoke with and his courage of conviction were infectious.
Many people think that Barack Obama was elected simply because he was black, but that isn't true. While his race may have played a part, his ability to speak from the heart and touch peoples' lives were really the factors that made him the best choice. His differences from past presidents opened our eyes as Americans, and truly proved how far we have come as a nation; forty years ago, it was legal in some states to kill a person because of the color of their skin, now look at us.
If anyone truly deserves this position, I believe, and I think that it has been shown that the American public believes, it is Barack Obama. This historic election has touched people from all parts of the globe, as it should, hopefully teaching us all a lesson in tollerance, hope, and above all, change. Barack Obama said it best in his speech at Chicago's Grant Park:


And so I leave you with a simple phrase: "Yes we can."

Kudos for a real ad

The election has been going on for what seems like forever now, and the backstabbing and cat fights have escalated to unbearable proportions. What gets me the most are the commercials that the candidates are running; negative smear ads that make this seem more like a high school student body president between two popular girls. But, in the wake of the last eight months or so of negative ads, there was a break. I recently saw an ad that actually made me sit up and take notice, (no not because it included a funny caricature of the opposing candidate or questioned their credentials, but because it didn't elude to anything negative.) Thus, I give my kudos to Barack Obama for running the first real ad seen in this election in a long time. Take a look:



Props to Obama for actually laying out what his ideas are in a nice, concise format, and for not mentioning John McCain once. Because, really isn't that what an election is supposed to be about; people presenting their ideas in an orderly format and letting the people choose based off of that? It shouldn't be people basing their ideas off of what dirt can be found on one candidate, I mean because quite honestly as long as we don't have a serial killer running for office, I don't really care about their past. Before I go any further on this post though, a disclaimer will be put in order: keep in mind that McCain may have run similarly upright ads, this was just the first one I that flashed across my television screen, and so this is not an attack on the Republican Party in the least. And keep in mind that this ad is certainly not typical political advertising, the vast majority that I have seen are attacks, and this goes for both parties, on the opposite candidate. Now I digress though, on with my praises. I like the way that Obama sets out his policies in two minutes of filming and although he really tells you nothing about how he's going to do anything (which ultimately leads to questions as to whether he even knows, but that's not important now,) he leaves you with the feeling that you know exactly how our country will take shape over the next four years if he is elected into office. Thus, in the end I must say that I admire this ad and wish that I had seen more like it over the past few months. However, now that November 4th is less than a week away, I am more relieved that the ads will soon be over.

Bullying is a joke

Jay McGraw, the son of trusted TV psychologist Dr. Phil, informed me of something earth-shattering this afternoon. Did you know that over 50 percent of kids are bullied in schools today? What, you say you didn't know that? Well, guess what neither did I.
Now this could be because we all have our heads buried in the sand or because we just don't care, or (and this is a big or) this statistic could seem incredibly big because it's wrong! Yeah, that's right I said it, this is wrong; I mean think about it, 50 percent, really?

The focus of the October 28 episode of Dr. Phil was cyber bullying and while I admit that I learned a little bit about how crappy some peoples lives are and how crazy some people are, the whole show was just really a joke to me.

Now, I will admit that I haven't really dealt with bullying much in my life and maybe I'm just blissfully ignorant, but the whole show seemed ridiculous.

Dr. Phil kept trying to push what a problem this issue is in America, and to do that he brought on his son, (the weird one that he drags out whenever he needs a hip, fresh point of view because he knows that he can't connect with teens the way his good-looking son can.) And while I wouldn't have minded listening to Jay McGraw yammer on about how much of a problem bullying is and his new book, Jay McGraw's Life Strategies for Dealing with Bullies, which releases today by the way, it got to a point where the show was so kooky I couldn't even handle it.

The truth is that very few people are bullied in a severe sense of the word, and there really aren't that many extreme bullies in the world. Yeah, we're all jerks sometimes and we all say things that we don't necessarily mean, but that doesn't constitute us as bullies. Honestly, I can think of only a handful of experiences from my 12 years of schooling that could qualify as bullying, and even then it wasn't severe in the least.

Now, this is not to say that I don't acknowledge that there are kids out there who are bullied relentlessly by mean-spirited people for no apparent reason. But seriously, that's rare to say the least. We all have our own cliques in high school and while you might vaguely murmur about how one is weird, they're doing the same thing back to you, and if you're phased by this in the least, then maybe you don't have the guts it takes to make it in the real world.

Here's just what I think it comes down to: we over dramatize things today. We find a few severe cases of bullying and we plaster them over shows like Dr. Phil to make problems seem worse than they are. And if we're manipulating ideas and views, isn't that just perpetuating the problem?

Will Obama's "change" platform be hindered by issues of racial tension?

If you're ready to throw up on some racist, white trash hillbillies, watch this:



Yeah, that's right, you just heard all that! Now go ahead and tell me that there aren't crazies in America. It's amazing how two minutes of video, accidentally downloaded to this blog I might add, got me so worked up. But, in all reality I am still simply dumbfounded that people are so ignorant and stupid. Who are these country bumpkins anyway? I mean, honestly, if this is the cream of the crop out there in Ohio, it's a disturbingly redneck existence; a time-warped world where racial conflicts run rampant and you can cut the tension with a knife.
In all seriousness though, I will go ahead and admit that I have never been fully exposed to the horrors of racism; as a upper-middle class, white gal growing up in Iowa with pretty tolerant surroundings, the issue of race hasn't presented itself a lot. I have never discriminated against people because of their skin color, ethnicity or religion just because I was never taught to do that. And up until a few minutes ago, I was pretty sure that racism a dead issue, the kind history teachers drag out to make an important point on Martin Luther King Jr. Day or to explain modern genocide, but not as an actual issue of America today. Now, after watching 20 hillbillies from Ohio, I have been forced to reevaluate everything that I have ever thought about the subject.
While it's evident that fear, the kind of weary post 9/11 leeriness that lingers in the minds of many adults today, is a prominent feature in politics, rarely has it reached so far. And with the mix of racial and gender differences in the most recent election, this fear, which began to slowly slip from our minds as the years went on, has been reawakened with a vengeance.
Now, to be cautious in today's world, where most adults have a decidedly jaded view of society that contrasts starkly with my idealistic outlook, is completely understandable. We want to be given the facts and to stay one step ahead of scanners, to sense fraud and foresee troubles; to essentially know the future. But, is there a point where this reaches absurdity?
Did I honestly just hear not one but a handful of men and women assume that Obama has terrorist affiliations?!? What kind of evidence to they honestly have, the fact that he has a strange name? dark skin? an ethnic friend? And although there is no doubt in my mind that the people who made these accusations should be castrated so as not to perpetuate the stupid in the gene pool, what about the rest of the people who preliminarily jumped to conclusions, the ones who subscribe to the Wall Street Journal rather than 'Coon Hunting Monthly? What should we do with them, the ones that are supposed to be our best and brightest? I honestly don't know.
I remember having a conversation with someone about Barack Obama once, after I declared my support for his candidacy. They commented that America simply couldn't have a black president. Now this wasn't because they were racist or afraid of Barack's bogus "terrorist affiliation" reports, but because they didn't think that America could handle it. "He will get assassinated," I was cryptically informed by this person. I sluffed off this comment as crazy; people, I thought, were not psychopaths. We all just want the candidate that will do the best job for the country and his skin color isn't what forces him to hit the war button. But now, after watching that video, I don't know what to think anymore.

Change isn't as enchanting

As the election drags on and I have been bombarded with images of Barack Obama and John McCain for the past two years or so, I have begun to grow weary, and what's worse, critical.

The image of Obama used to symbolize what is great about our democratic system to me, the fact that normal people, (or at least people with t

he ability to make themselves seem average,) could be eligible for the highest position in the country. That, after so many years of failure, an fresh face could take the country by storm with his new, radical thinking.

Yeah, I was one of the crazies at the Obama rallies who waved their sign and listened intently as he spoke. I proudly advocated my support for him to my parents and defended him with vim and vigor whenever they put any doubt upon him.

However, now that the election is nearing what seems to be it's thousandth week, I have really started to look critically at Obama, and what I found is quite troubling. Really, my emerging problem with the fellow, is that although I really like him, he doesn't seem to have actual action plans. I mean, we can mindlessly yell "Change!" as many times as we want, but that doesn't mean that it's going to do anything.

But don't get me wrong, if the election was today, and I was 18, I would still check the box for Barack Obama, undoubtedly. And, when it comes down to votes, I think that's what the democratic campaign is banking on; the fact that Americans won't get sick of Obama by November 4, (I mean give them a few more months and they would all be ready to swing to the right.) That's probably why the people of the democratic party are such strong advocates for early voting.

This is not to say, however, that as my love for Barack Obama has faded that I have begun to advocate John McCain in any way. Nope, he's still pretty boring in my eyes too; and when he croaks I would not want to be left with Sara Palin as our president, because she actually seems really stupid. Maybe, we should all just take the path of writing in Mickey Mouse as our candidate and we could have a much simpler existence as a nation, because both of our candidates are beginning to suck.

So here's the plan: dress the candidates up in super hero costumes and make them more interesting, that's the winning strategy!

We're all 'Smurfs on Ice'

Stumbling in upon a usual Torch work session is a lot like watching a magic trick; even if you pay close attention to the slew of scatter-brained events, you will never know how everything all comes together.

The word magic is actually thrown around a lot during a Torch work session, mainly because nobody knows the proper terminology for how they did anything, but that's okay. Unlike a magic trick, however, the Torch editors do not hold all the secrets to executing a perfect trick, in fact we are often surprised that anything comes out in a cohesive manner. A well-oiled machine, we are not. Let me break it down:

While there are, I admit, a few people who can whip out a page in two hours be able to call it spectacular, or who are quality Nazis, the rest of us not so much. Amid loud music and funny stories, Elise is running through the hallways in a lion suit or pulling out our super-secret "Just Like Dads" or saying quotes we all can enjoy, ("Do you know that beer called 'Smurf on Ice'??" Megan is ad libbing High School Musical scenes (portraying both Troy and Gabriella), Alex is waving his phone through the air in the hopes that his texts might go through or telling me to put a "how gay are you" quiz on my page and Reid is threatening to drop someone's grade or telling a hilariously inappropriate story or honing his backup dancer skills or just generally being my favorite person of life. Nobody knows where Ben is or what's going on his page, (but when he does dane to show up he always brings fun hats and the best music selection, so that makes up for everything), Cassie has been done with photos for two hours so she just sits back and laughs at us suckers and Ashley makes a delightfully homicidal comment. I generally just wander around the room and talk in spurts with everyone, while generally making fun of people along the way, because it's what I do best. (These situations, mind you, are only a glimpse into about an hour of last work session, but generally it's just magic.)

But seriously, I love the people in Torch and work sessions until late at night would not be bearable without them. GL, on the other hand, must be dumbfounded by our stupidity at times; the fact that the majority of us laugh at nothing and have stupid inside jokes must make his skin crawl. But even with all of our goofing off, I'm sure that he still adores the majority of us, because who wouldn't enjoy a fun lot such as ourselves. I mean, don't get me wrong, we definitely do work hard and fun generally comes out of it, even if we spend hours griping about how much work we have left to do. Ultimately, Torch is just magic; who knows how we do what we do? (Evidently we don't even know.) But it always turns out the same: a lot of really neat people hang out and somehow make greatness. That, when it's all said and done, is what's really neat to me, that a few kids can sit down and create a whole newspaper from scratch (award-winning by the way), without being to serious and boring about it.

Buttons and bows

Politics are a tricky thing and the line between right and wrong often melts into a murky shade of gray. We are supposed to learn about candidates and endorse the one that we most agree with, ultimately culminating in our vote for them. But on the other hand, we're not supposed to let people know our views, for fear that we might slant them.
Yeah, I think that it's all just dumb. Recently I read an article from The New York Times called "Buttons and Bows" that enraged me. It talked about how teachers, no actually professors (who teach adults mind you) were banned from wearing political endorsement buttons on school campuses. Furthermore they were not allowed, in some cases, to have political bumper stickers on their cars because administrators felt that they might run the risk of influencing students towards one party or the other.
Okay now stop, if I'm the only one that this sounds completely stupid to, then there is a problem. Never mind that this is a flagrant abridgement of the First Amendment, (yeah guys, that's the important one!) but it's just ridiculous in general.
My first problem with this little situation is obvious; if administrators sincerely believe that a professor would ever be so important to me that I would throw my vote away (which is anonymous anyway) on a candidate that I didn't support just because I wanted to conform with them, then they are stupid. Honestly, if I were dumb or impressionable enough to be conforming on the basis of a bumper sticker, I probably shouldn't be voting in the first place. Secondly, even if these 'buttons and bows' were influential on my psyche, in a truly well-balanced campus, I would be equally bombarded with messages.
Yeah, maybe that's the real reason for this problem; campuses attempting to cover up how biased their faculty is. And even if they were an openly one-sided school, like a private Christian school would more presumptively be right-wing, they wouldn't care about the influential messages because practically everyone is voting for John McCain anyway, and if they're not the pressure isn't going to be pushed upon them in the way of harassing promotional buttons.
So, really what this comes down to is stupidity and nit-picking; people at some loser universities have nothing better to do than regulate insignificant rules and make up consequences. If I were a professor at one of these schools, I would wear 26 buttons just to be cute, of course half endorsing Barack Obama and the other half plastered with McCain's face, just to annoy my superiors. I mean really, what repercussions would really result from this ridiculous infraction? They would take away two dollars worth in merchandise from an adult? I don't think so.

I am Homer Simpson

How do you formulate informed opinions? I know, that's a silly question; by being informed, right? It seems simple enough that by the simple act of watching the news, going to school and asking about the world would give us basis for forming cohesive thought. Why is it then that I, one of the most politically, economically and globally inquisitive person (from my age bracket mind you) that I know, find myself at a total loss for independent thought?
It's an absurd realization that although I have no trouble voicing my opinions on fashion and movies, when it comes down to what really counts, my years of absorbing Charles Gibson's riveting stories and avidly reading The New York Times and The Washington Post have left me virtually as smart as Homer Simpson.
What are my views on politics: if I hear the words Obama or McCain one more time I might scream; on the economy: the bailout bores me; and on foreign policy: I've given up hope of ever understanding war strategies. On a whole, I have never had to present my ideas in a cohesive form, or even really formulate any ideas for myself, they were always just kind of there for me.
So, who is to blame in my opinion blunder? NPR for always spoon-feeding me my opinions? My teachers for transforming AP courses into fact regurgitation sessions? My parents for never engaging me in opinion-based conversation? Or myself for never taking the initiative to think through the important issues of today?
Really though, the saddest part about this information, is that I am not alone. No, I am not just a deadbeat of society, quite to the contrary I am one of the masses simply conforming with the norm. In this sense, it probably shouldn't bother me, because I have always seen fitting in and being average in a positive light, but honestly it digs at my conscience. I guess what I'm saying here is that I realize that as a people, Americans are morons and I don't want to amass among the total stupidity of our culture; not learning is not okay and sitting blankly at this blog screen for large chunks of time because I have nothing to write about is not alright. From this moment on, I commit to learning and staying as far away from my Homer Simpson parody as possible, because although the world could use more doughnut-obsessed, dim-witted fat men for entertainment value, in the realm of knowledge they provide nothing.

Politics are pointless

Why do people even pay attention to politics? I mean really they're dumb. We're all so wrapped up in the latest presidential debate or the last government scandal; isn't this just counterproductive?

What got me thinking about this was my third hour class. I have to spend an hour each day, which any other time of the year would be mildly enjoyable, in a virtual hell. I constantly have to be surrounded by politically over-opinionated people; barking about foreign policy and economics. Really, it kind of makes me sick to my stomach and I think that if I hear the words Obama or McCain one more time I might scream.

Guess what? I don't want to discuss their differing policies or debate which will be the best next commander in chief. I would really just like to sit back and hear the sound of silence, but no, I'm subjected to the completely obnoxious voices of stupid people bickering about something that none of them really have any influence over.

Plus, and here's the kicker, my class isn't polarized in the least; they are all Obama supporters! Yeah, so even though they shouldn't be debating about anything, but rather commending each other on their fine choices of a candidate in a session of "You're great," "No, you're great." But no, it's just a lot of bickering and nitpicking about absolutely nothing!

Really, I know that this seems ludicrous, but let me paint you a picture of what will happen today in third hour; a pretty much accurate representation of every day. We begin the class with a hello and pleasantries and get most of the class business out of the way, which is fine, but then my teacher asks one fateful question; "So, who watched the debate last night?" he asks. Suddenly hands shoot up and one girl in an Obama T-shirt starts talking about how McCain is such a loser and smirked during the whole thing and that's why he lost. Another gal clad in Young Democrats' Club garb, the most irritating of them all, turns to me, because of course I am sitting next to her, and she begins to yell at the top of her lungs to nobody in particular, "Obama is a formidable candidate for presidency because of his economic..." all the while trying to educate the whole class on Barack's policies. The teacher, having realized his mistake holds his head in his hands and wonders silently why everyone is so crazy, but aloud voices that it saddens him that we don't have opposing views. By now the entire class is all in a tizzy and continue to recount and rehash the debate for the next 30 minutes. I, during all of this discussion, just turn around to the other few sane people in the class and make the motion that I want to drop dead instead of hearing this for another day, they concur, because really, nobody is talking about anything.

So, here's what I think it comes down to, people are dumb and arrogant, and this is not just limited to my third hour class. They are as bad as the politicians that they abhor in that they feel the need to impose their beliefs on everyone, even if they clearly don't care. So really, just stop, because any other situation reminiscent of my third hour will undoubtedly make me go crazy.

Should the commander in chief wear lipstick?

As a girl, and one ambitious to achieve dreams more numerous than getting married and having babies, I often find myself at odds on the issue of women in politics. While there's no doubt that we, as a gender, should someday have a vital role above first lady, when that time should come is still up in the air to me.
I think that the gender controversies in this election demonstrate perfectly the fact that America is not ready for a woman commander in chief. But it's not the bigot hillbillies that I have found to demonstrate this thought, it is more the crazy women of America (and I say that in the most supportive way.)
As a gal from a family of six (five of us of the double X chromosomes), I was subjected to a lot of excitement when Hillary announced her candidacy. My mom and older sister were overwhelmingly excited about the whole affair and became political groupies. I on the other hand, chose a candidate that contradicted their choice.
One day, in discussion of our beliefs, I asked my mom why she wanted Hillary to win, do you know what she said? Because she's a woman! I was appalled; really she had little political basis for her opinion, just the fact that Hillary could wear lipstick was enough for her.
No I don't mean to make a spectacle out of my mom, because she has a right to her own opinion, and in all fairness, she may have had valid thoughts that were not expressed to me, but really the thought that naive women of America could elect our president based on her gender makes me sick to my stomach.And now, Clinton is out and Palin is in, so what does that mean? Will gung-ho feminists pounce at the opportunity to put a female into office despite the fact that she is totally ill-prepared for the job? They argue that these female candidates have valid points and good morals and whatnot, but really, our two have kind of been duds on the spectrum of political abilities; we have Hilary Clinton who selfishly tried to piggyback off of her husband's success and Palin who has no experience with anything.
I think that if we really want to make history for the ladies, we should make sure that it's not a historical blunder; let's wait until a female with some political ability comes around, and moreover let's wait until the women of America aren't so stupid and anxious to pounce upon the first candidate to come knocking.

My blog is great

So definitely this blog is pretty much amazing. Woah, I know it's great. Except for I don't have much more to say about it then that, but it's still pretty neat...just because it is. But yay, amazing post number two is done!! and so great!