Ought to have changed, but has not.

Write about something "That ought to have changed, but have not."
America needs to change the process of adoption. Many people decide to adopt over seas because even though it is as expensive as adopting in the U.S. it takes it takes a lot less time and a lot less paper work. I understand that the government must make sure that kids are not going to wacko parents out there and therefore it is necessary to have a strict screening process for passing the adoption eligibility test but it should not cost ten thousand dollars just to start the process. The entire adoption process in America is a joke and it makes me sick. No wonder many pregnant women choose to have an abortion. A child that grows up in foster care most of the time grows up to be a delinquent and a malcontent. The place I used to work had foster parents qualifying for financial aid to be a part of our organization. I would put them in the computer system and find that one female would be fostering let us say 7 kids. The government gives a load of money monthly to foster parents per kid as to offset the financial burden. All to often the seen was a foster mom who would come in wearing Gucci shades and rockin’ expensive Loui Vaton (I dunno how to spell that) but they only paid 10 dollars a month for membership. I am not one to judge but it seems like maybe those government funds are not going to the kids after all. We need to make a massive reform because I know that the process does not do justice to parents, people who want to be parents and most of all children who need parents or role models as some would say.

Feared and Admired

Write about someone you both fear and admire.

I fear my ghostly friend Jon. Jon is a cool ghost. He is the kind of ghost you would want on your side if you are in a pinch. I both fear and admire Jon. Even though he knows that he is doomed to walk the face of the Earth in limbo for the rest of eternity he is cool about it. Jon will never get to go to heaven and be with his friends that he was with when he was living. I asked Jon how he died and apparently an American wear wolf in Paris killed him. Jon tells me that he will never get to rest until the curse of the wolf is broken but unfortunately that will never happen because they stopped making silver bullets a long time ago. I admire the fact that even though it was his friend that killed him he does not hold any grudges. On the other hand I fear Jon sometimes. I know that he could kill me with relative ease. I never now when he may be watching me and that kind of freaks me out. He assures me that he stays within his bounds and would never want to watch me anyway because he does not play for the European team (if you know what I mean). All in all he is someone that I both fear and admire but I do admire him more than I fear him. (SIKE)

Importance of Role models

Explain why role models are important to young people.
A great man once said that we must teach our young ones and whenever possible not use words. By this statement he meant that were are to lead by example. There was another man who traveled to the village that the first man was born in. When he came upon the gate of the village he noticed a very old village person standing there (whether or not he was an Indian, police officer, bicker or a construction worker I’m not sure). The man said to the villager, "Is this where the great man was born?"
The old man thought for awhile and then answered, "No. No great men were ever born here only babies." The moral of the story is that no one is born great. We learn from others. There was an experiment done with children and a Bo Bo doll (the kind with sand at the base so that when you hit it, it just comes right back up). A few children were sat in the room and were exposed to a grown man hitting the doll repeatedly. After this they were taken from the room. The other group did not see the example (model) behavior. Later on they put the children in the room with the doll alone and noticed that the children who witnessed it being hit were much more violent towards the doll than the children who did not witness it. We all learn by example and that means that we need a good example to follow. Role models do not have to be live people. We can read about people like Aticus Finch in the book, "To Kill a Mocking Bird." Many Christians use Jesus as their perfect role model.

Necessary Rebelion

Describe an act of rebellion in your life that you felt was necessary.
When I was younger than I am now I through myself into the study of theology. I stove to learn everything I could about the Bible and about all the other religions. I went to church for a long time at a place that had a very, very small congregation (the pastor’s family and I). The pastor was a brilliant theologian and was conservative in some beliefs and ultra conservative in others (almost so much so that they appeared to be liberal). I decided to try a new church when the thought to maybe do ministry came to mind. I was a church for a while that had just gotten a new pastor. All in all he was a nice guy but we disagreed on a few things here and there. This man would have and altar call and tell us to bow our heads and close our eyes (pastors often do this to make sure that any salvation wanting soul would not have to be too timid to come up) so that he could call people seeking salvation of prayer up to speak with him. A few people went up and as soon as they stopped coming he told us to open our eyes and gaze upon who had come. After this he asked the person to speak in front of the entire congregation about what he/she had just asked for prayer for! This was wrong. Things must be done in private and when the person themselves decide then it is time to make a profession of faith. I brought it to his attention and he smiled and patted me on the back and said, "So when are you going to get baptized and become a full member of the church?" I could not believe how he had just brushed me off. He went on to tell me that if I never got baptized then God would never let me take part in the ministry. I argued heatedly with him until I saw that there was no convincing him otherwise. I left the church and never came back. As it turns out youth stopped showing up left and right and the congregation eventually voted the old man out. They must have seen what I saw so early on.

Definiton of an educated person

Give your definition of an educated person.
Education is defined by Webster’s as: the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, and character. Person is defined as: a human being. If we put these things together we happen to find an educated person. A person may be educated in many different realms. We cannot narrow this term only to book smarts. If a person is a skilled athlete they are educated in the game they play. Athletes spend a lot of time figuring out how to read an opponent, techniques and rules. Book smart people can quote books and argue politics, theology, philosophy and many other things. If I had to make a choice of who was more of an educated person I would say neither one. Perhaps we should say "well rounded educated person." I once new a foot ball player who was probably the smartest teenager I ever knew. He possessed social skills, book smarts and sports talent. I suppose all you really need is one of those things but he possessed all three. One thing he did not possess however was drive. So then I say that we must not fall into the pit of IQ tests and standardized jibber jabber. To test a person’s true "educated-ness" we must go deeper and really get to know the person. Some believe that it takes only a dummy to see a smart person but it takes a smart person to see a genius. Going back to the 3rd blog, we can say that maybe some people think on such a higher level that we think they are stupid and should just shuffle along but we are the ones mistaken. Galileo was banished for what he believed but that was only because people were to ignorant to expose them selves to new schools of thought.

Against the Grain?

Thoreau defended the right of an individual to be out of step with the rest of society when he said "Perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." In what ways do you consider yourself to be in this category? What are the pleasures and pains associated with it?
Some might say that ignorance is bliss while others would say that ignorance is hell. What we need to know first is, "What is ignorance?" Is ignorance anything that is not the normal? I know from my psychology classes that ‘abnormal behavior’ is defined differently because it’s definition is set by culture and time. So what if I where to march to the beat of my own drummer? It is only a menace to society if it disruptive to righteous practices. If everyone decided not to steal it would not be considered ‘individual’ of someone to steal it would be wrong. Now let us say that I am a Cardinals fan from Chicago. Some people might not like me, some might even hate me, but it is not wrong to a Cardinals fan. However we all fall short. If a cubs fan sat next to me at game 7 of a series I would probably not care much for that person. I happen to like to listen to rock, hip hop and r and b. Some of my Caucasian friends give me strange looks when they see me jammin’ to some old school hip hop and my Neo-Nubian (black) friends give me strange looks if I’m rockin’ out to some Metallica. I am individual in this sense. I am also individual in the way God made me. There are others like me but none are me. Jesus Christ went against the norms of the Jewish and ancient society and look at the status to which he is know. We divide time by his death! When you smooth a piece of wood sometimes you go against the grain, maybe we should welcome this more often. People fear what they do not know. Mind you that when I say all these things I don’t mean to say that we should just throw caution to the wind. Some things are sacred and some things are absolute truths it is our job to protect them.

Opposition is indispensable

"Opposition is indispensable. People will always learn more from those who disagree with them from those who share their views."
I do not believe that we learn more from people who disagree fully with us. We learn more from those who only slightly disagree with us. I know that if I have an argument with someone I tend to get completely turned off to what they are trying to say to me if their viewpoint is the opposite than mine. An example of this is if I was having an argument with a person about Christianity and they believe that Jesus did not exist then I would not learn much from them because I believe that he did exist. It is very seldom that a person will just completely change their views of the world based on subjective evidence sometimes even if presented with objective evidence. I learn from those who merely have modified views of my same viewpoint. My uncle and I used to have conversations about philosophy and things of that nature. For the most part we had similar viewpoints but every once and awhile we would agree on a means but not an end or an end but not a means. Since he is older and has more schooling I found that I learned a lot from him and many of my views were "redirected" in certain way. I have an aunt with whom I disagree with much of her philosophical views and even though I love her I learn little from her except some things about conflicting world-views. It is hard to make an entire 180.

The American Family

The American family has been called a dying institution. What are your views on this subject?
It used to be in the old days that families had to stick together to make it in this world. Families stuck together during puritan times in order to survive. They ate together, farmed together, hunted together, made close together and did many other things together. Indian families lived together and even lived with grandparents and great grandparents and so on in the same dwelling. In the days of the revolutionary war families were split apart but not by there own will. In the fifties there were pictures and images of the ideal family all over. Take for intense the show ‘Leave it to Beaver,’ in that show we see all the norms of the American family although some are slightly enhanced for our viewing pleasure. As time rolled on and familiar family roles were challenged the institution of the American family started to fall apart. Divorce has severely crippled the platonic family. Kids are sometimes given the choice of being with Mom or Dad at young ages. This can mess up any child mentally and emotionally. People can either choose to succumb to what has come of the American family of they can choose to rise above. My father’s parents divorced and both remarried. Needles to say my father’s side of the family is somewhat fractured but I believe that this made my Dad even more determined to stick out the ruff times. My mother had a large family and her parents stayed married. This gave her a correct model for family-hood. Some people however may react differently to things. Some are predisposed to divorce and take the easy way out. We must all remember the vows of marriage and take them seriously. It is for better or for worse. Many only seem to her the words "for better" and neglect the others.

Suasage and Beer reflection and Themes of two of the three stories read in class

Write a blog giving your reaction to the story "Sausage and Beer." Did thinking about your own experience in life help your interest in the story? If so, how? Have you ever felt what the boy in the story felt, whether it is having a strange family member or perhaps having a parent take you somewhere for a learning experience? How does the author, Minot, make his character interesting to the reader?
I have a step cousin with down sindrome and that somewhat helps me keep perscpective on the boy's uncle. My father took me camping and showed me that sometimes being out in the wilderness and just being all that is man instead off needing tv and games can be very helpfull to ones growth. (and he gave me beer)

The theme for August Heat is to keep your eyes open and your sences sharp because you never know who might have your number.
The theme for Sausage and Beer is to let trust your parents guidence and wait for some of lifes lessons

character

My favorite character in a book would probably be King David. King David was known as a man after God's own heart. Oh, I just realized I have to talk about a fiction character, scratch that. My favorite fiction character is Captian underpants. He was a chubby, bald, white guy who walked around getting the bad guys in nothing but a cape and a pair of tighty whities. Unfortunately he is a flat character and only the people around him are dynamic. Whenever he saves the day everyone else learns a lesson but he just remains good ol' Captian Underpants.

suspence

Suspence can be created in a story by creative use of foreshadowing. Lay down clues that can leave the reader not only in suspence but guessing the ending. Being predictable ruins the feel of suspence. Throw a few curves in. It also helps to be realistic. The reader needs to be able to relate to make them feel like it's either happening to them of they are right there in the mix.

My first blog on this page

Hello Jello, I would like to thank you all for coming over to my blog. Don't step on it because it is hard to get off your shoes. If you do step on it you might be able to get it off with a stick and a lil hard work. Thank you again.