Locker DRAMA

Lately, there has been a lot of drama surrounding religion at my school, with a select group of students duct-taping posters to their lockers with bible verses on them. Not only have I heard over a dozen complaints from friends of mine personally, but a friend of mine had one put on her locker without her permission and wrote a post directed towards the young lady who supports the motion of taping posters to your locker. Personally, I don't really think it's a huge deal when done with permission, but some of the locker tapings occurred on random lockers, making the owner of the locker feel like a victim of some sort of religious rampage. 

(Side note: some people printed out Harry Potter quotes and posted them on their lockers to make fun of the recent bible verses being pasted on lockers.)

In regard for efficiency, I will give my friend’s blog the name of “Blog 1,” while the bible verse girl’s blog will be entitled “Jesus” Let’s begin.

After having a quick look-over of Jesus, I realized that the majority of it was centered around the person themselves – along the lines of “I’m a good human being who sets an even better example. Do what I do in life.” As you read through her posts on the blog, you realize bible verses threaded in here and there in the posts. If the owner of Jesus ever reads this, let me tell you – people don’t appreciate religion being stuffed down their throats, and neither does my friend, who owns Blog 1. I don’t think I need to stick up for her, though – she’s done that to a great extent through her own words.

Now let me inform you of something else. The constant quotations from the bible and references to religion get in the way of your credibility. A lot… No joke. People will see the constant quotations from the bible as  you having a skewed perception of reality – not a God-inspired stroke of genius. So there’s your credibility down the drain. And in blogging, you have three essentials:

- Credibility

- Content Quality

- Morale/Attitude

You've kinda already lost #1. I’m about to explain to you why you’re going to lose #2. Content quality on a blog is simply that – the quality of the content you produce. I understand that this blog is meant for the use of a class, but the issue is that you’re using it in other ways. That’s completely fine with the rest of society, as long as you do not incorporate content that would otherwise bash someone’s happiness or pride. There are no laws that say you can’t have an opinion about someone or blog about how wrong their choices are. You can feel free to do that. All I’m saying is that, in order to better your reputation as a blogger (and a human being), you might want to have a little decency and not bash people for doing what makes them happy. After all, we were taught in Sunday school to love all people equally, regardless of their choices in life, or how they look, or act? You’ve successfully contradicted yourself. Hypocrisy is a big minus when it comes to saying something intelligent.

- Credibility

- Content Quality

- Morale/Attitude

I think most would agree, through the above evidence, that your blog has a very biased morale, and a relatively self-centered attitude.

- Credibility

- Content Quality

- Morale/Attitude

#YOLO

Recently on twitter I've seen lots of people using the hashtag #yolo. It means "you only life once". Yolo isn't a celebrity quote or supporting any campaign, its simply an inspirational tag. The phrase is meant to encourage people to step outside what they normally do and try something new, because you only have one life and you should try new things etc. etc. etc. When I google searched the phrase, I found diverse examples of #yolo
Sometimes, it's used in a joking way, like the twitter account @yolojokes, which describes ridiculous situations and then ends with #yolo. I think yolo jokes are funny, kind of. Its not exactly what the phrase is supposed to be but more of a weird twist on it. I see a lot of people my age retweet these.
Por examplo:

One of the weirdest things I found when I searched google was "YOLO Restaurant - You Only Live Once". I didn't believe that someone opened up a restaurant called that. The tagline "you only live once" for a restaurant is actually kind of appealing, I could imagine a restaurant with lots of diverse weird options for you to try because... well... you only live once.
I took the phrase and applied it to my own life last night. It was storming, pretty badly. I was in my room listening to the rain and thought about how nice it would be to be out there and just run around in the storm. I immediately laughed off the idea because going out in the storm is something that people just don't do. Then I thought, that's what #yolo is all about, doing the thing that you wouldn't normally do for the sake of experience. I put on some slick sweatpants and an old sweatshirt and walked outside in the rain. It was bad and within a matter of seconds I was immediately soaked, but it was fun. The weather outside is so warm that I wasn't frozen, I felt refreshed. In fact, it was weirdly magical. I kind of made the connection between my spontaneous decision to go outside in the pouring rain and an insane person. It kind of seems like schizophrenic activity, but I promise I'm just trying to live in the moment. #YOLO.

March Madness according to my 9-year old brother

My 9 year old brother, Cole, knows a lot about basketball. I come from a family that is basically basketball 24/7. My dad played for Kennedy in 1984 when they won state, he started every single game. He got a lot of scholarships and could've played for Iowa, but chose the University of Illinois. After playing basketball for a year there, he decided he wanted to go to Coe College and played basketball and football simultaneously. Now he's an assistant coach for Kennedy's mens basketball team. So basketball is basically his life. I played a lot of basketball when I was younger but never really kept going with it. My Dad has influenced my brother a lot. I'm really proud of my brother because he's really very smart. He uses a lot of his knowledge for sports statistics and playing in general. Last year my brother entered his bracket into my Mom's office tournament and won the entire thing, beating out 200+ adults. He won $150 by predicting the final four and the overall champion. So I decided to ask him about a couple games. The following is my attempt to capture his rambling as best as possible.


North Carolina vs Creighton

"North Carolina, easily. They're my favorite team. Harrison Barnes will do the job for North Carolina on offense and John Henson will do the job for North Carolina on defense, they're the best players. Doug McDermott is Creighton's best player because he plays the post really well. He... umm... gets really big and scores... he does this power dribble and he scores! North Carolina has better uniforms because they're blue camouflage but that's only like one of their five uniforms. John Henson from North Carolina will do sweet dunks and if you're asking about 3 point shots.... Reggie Bullock when he gets the ball he isn't afraid to shoot it. Creighton could only win if Harrison Barnes gets hurt."

Kentucky vs Indiana


"Oh wow Kentucky is gonna beat 'em by like 500 points. They have Anthony Davis and he's gonna block all the shots and the point guard Miller is going to get every 3 pointer he shoots. Indiana is a good team but they just can't beat Kentucky. Nobody but North Carolina could beat Kentucky. Kentucky has sweet uniforms solid royal blue with white numbers! I only kinda like Indiana's uniforms but they look saggy. Jordan Holes is Indiana's best player because of his ball handling. Cody Zeller is a really good post because he rebounds really good, his brother is Tyler Zeller and he plays for North Carolina. Kentucky has an advantage because they're a little closer to Louisville.


He got bored and distracted after that and walked away.

Documenting my attempts to cure my sore throat.

This whole week, the lining of the inside of my throat has slowly been disintegrating. Or, at least, that's what it feels like. It's an absolutely awful feeling, I could best describe it as if someone took a knife, plunged it into your throat, carved off the first five layer of skin until it bleeds, takes the knife out, replaces it with sandpaper, and rubs all over where your throat touches together when you swallow. Basically I am in constant pain and when I swallow I feel like a part of me just died. Unfortunately, my body's natural reaction is to swallow constantly. I looked this up; your brain things a foreign object or infection is in your throat so it keeps swallowing to make the saliva cover it and protect the area. This has to be wrong because it hurts so very bad. On top of this constant pain, I have to sing a lot. I have two choir classes every day on top of voice lessons. So I was slowly killing myself. Saturday we had a show choir competition in Lacrosse and I didn't speak once until we performed. We won, so I guess that's what you call sacrifice. Currently, my ability to make sound is at a zero. I need something to cure myself.

google images never lets me down. 

9 am Sunday Morning. I wake up, still in a lot of pain. My first idea is to go to the medicine cabinet and see what I can do to fix myself. I see towards the back of the cabinet the words "cold & sore throat relief". I grab the bottle excitedly and down a lot of it. Normally I would be grossed out with what I assumed was cough medicine but the upside to having such a constant pain is that you don't really notice the taste of anything. I looked at the bottle to see exactly what it was. NYQUIL. Oh god no. If you don't know already, nyquil is basically a drug of its own. I've seen lots of things on the news about kids abusing nyquil and cough syrup because enough can make you have some hallucinations. I just drank about 3/4 of a bottle in desperation. I went and sat on the couch and waited for it to hit me. About 15 minutes later nothing had happened. Maybe 3/4 of a bottle isn't really that much. I laughed it off. I looked from the door to the tv and noticed my vision wasn't really working normally. I closed my eyes for what I thought would be a second to make it stop.


12 pm. I wake up very confused. With a sore throat.

I hate nyquil.

"Gorgeous Weather"

Are you feeling happier than usual? Does everything seem more carefree recently? You aren't alone, most people this time of year do too. Why exactly, is this happening? It just might by the weather. There are many different explanations to how weather effects our mood.
One such example is Seasonal Affective Disorder (also known as SAD). This usually relates to people who experience normal moods during the year and slip into mild bouts of depression in the winter. This disorder was first considered a myth until studies found that while 1.4% of people in the state of Florida report depression during the winter, over 9% of people in New Hampshire and other northern states report depression specifically during the winter. I know that while I don't get legitimately depressed when it's colder, it does effect my mood to some degree. When it's cold, people usually are focused on getting warm, making every other task they have to focus on very frustrating. Seasonal Affective Disorder establishes a link between weather and mood. I decided to write about this because the recent beautiful weather has really had a profound affect on me.

I googled "gorgeous weather" (I heard Joe Winters use that phrase) and this is what I got. How lame am  I?

This Sunday, when I usually dread doing the bulk of my homework, I flew through my assignments early in the  afternoon and had the rest of the day to relax, as Sunday should be. I was confused, I usually don't have that kind of motivation and have to force myself to get the work done. Then I noticed that I wasn't constantly cold. In fact, it was beautiful enough to go outside without a coat or jacket. I've always associated the spring and summer with great times, and I was starting to feel nostalgic. Weather really can affect mood.
I think when I'm older, I'll move somewhere warm so my productivity is always very high.

Brooms standing by themselves: physics or witchcraft?

A common trend I've been seeing on the internet is lots of pictures of brooms standing up by themselves. At first I thought it was just a trick; that people would hold the broom up and get a picture of it in the air. I was confused as to why people would think this is cool. But then I saw a comment explaining exactly what it is: that some sort of planetary alignment. I tried for quite a while to see if I could get it, but the broom kept falling over. After I did a little research (which for this generation means searching on google) I read that only a broom with a flat bottom will stand, and that is only at certain times of the day.

not my kitchen, just a random google picture. gotta site your sources yo.

UPDATE: In the middle of writing this post I tried to stand up a broom again. It worked. The broom seemed lifeless, then I felt a little kick when I let it go and it stayed stationary for a long time. When I walked to close to it, it fell over. Apparently, the brooms standing up by themselves have something to do with luck and finding the center of gravity, and less to do with "planetary alignment". Using planetary alignment as an explanation for something just makes you sounds like a crazy person.




PS I changed my background and color scheme.
More springtime-ish. I mean, its brighter.

#KONY2012

The most popular hashtag on twitter for the past couple days has been #KONY2012. What exactly does that mean? I overheard a girl in the hallway the other day

"Wait.. so who is that Kony guy? Is he...ummm....likeeeee... running for president?"

No. Joseph Kony isn't a candidate for the 2012 election. Kony 2012 is a campaign calling for his arrest, however. The goal of the project is to make Kony famous, because he is currently unknown.
This is the video that has been becoming immensely popular in the past week. It currently has over 32 million views, when I first watched it on Sunday it only had about 100,000.
hi

The campaign is organized by Invisible Children inc, which began working in Uganda to help children effected by the war there. "Invisible Children" are the victims of the war and the LRA, a violent rebel group in Central Africa (led by Joseph Kony). Children are taken from their homes, given guns and forced to kill their parents by the troops to sever their ties to home and make them into hardened soldiers. Currently, the LRA has abducted 30,000 children from Uganda. Children that escape live in constant fear that they will be killed if they encounter the LRA again. The film is the starting point to the campaign, which has been spread like wildfire and brought unbelievable attention to it. This is really a great example of the kind of power social media sites like twitter and facebook have over the world. A project like this could never be as successful without help from the internet.
Invisible Children, inc has gotten some scrutiny, though. Its hard to argue against an organization trying to stop child suffering in a third world country. I don't really understand why someone would try to keep people from supporting something like this, other than a need to be on the other side of the issue. I saw a youtube comment when I first watched the Kony 2012 video:

"Kony 2012 is run by Invisible Children, an organization that pockets 75% of its donations. Think this money is going to stop Kony?? You're WRONG. Let's just hope that instead of donating to Invisible Children, people raise awareness on their own." -BIGBenY

Invisible Children, inc, responded to these criticisms (I've seen many elsewhere questioning how much of their profits go to the actual cause) on their tumblr. They published a detailed account of their spending report and outlined exactly how their money is going to each individual cause.

I respect the organization because of their honesty and immediate response to anyone who questions them. They want to maintain their reputation because they believe in the cause so strongly. I chose to support the cause by purchasing a bracelet from their website.

Kennedy is having a night where KONY 2012 posters will be posted all over Cedar Rapids. On Friday, April 20th, we will cover the entire town with posters promoting the campaign.

The importance of napping.

When we were all in preschool, naps were part of our daily schedule. For me, nap time was a little after recess to calm us down. I haven't really noticed it until now, but I hardly ever felt tired back then. My bedtime was always 8:30, but I usually stayed awake long after that. Now, I get to bed as early as possible because I'll start fading out around 9:30. Why cant I stay awake at night? In the world of unending assignments and late night practices, my time after 9:00 is invaluable, but not useful. I've had to resort to getting all my work done between right after school and whenever my practice starts, which is not a large window. Once practice is over, I drop everything at my door and pass out. I wake up every morning at 5:30 so I can get ready properly for 0 hour, but it isn't easy. I'm usually miserably tired during the school day, which doesn't make it easy. I've tried coffee, but it isn't going to fix the problem. There needs to be a solution. 

Naps. The answer is naps. I discovered this one day after school where I was literally so exhausted I needed to take a nap right after I got home from school. I told myself I would just have to suck it up and do my homework later that night, for the sake of my mental health. 

3:03 pm. Pass out on my couch.

5:47 pm. Wake up. I'm confused and a little dizzy, but after that wears off I realize I feel like its about 12 in the afternoon. This is amazing! I hadn't taken a nap in so long, I forgot how useful they are. I went to practice that night and returned home with plenty of energy to do my homework competently. Magic!

Why does this work so well? When we go to sleep at night, the deep sleep we enter that helps us rejuvenate is known as REM sleep. We get a couple solid hours of it at night, and mine is abruptly interrupted every morning at 5:29 (I set all of my alarms 1 minute before the regular time I would wake up. I don't really know why.) That's why its so hard to get up; you've been jolted out of REM sleep. When you take a nap (not a traditional 10 minute snooze, I'm talking over an hour) you get some valuable REM sleep that energizes you enough to make it through the rest of the day. There's a reason we often sleep when we're sick: its a lot easier for you body to heal itself when you are asleep then awake. A nap today can help you tomorrow, too. Because you wont be tired when you go to bed, you wont feel robbed of sleep when you wake up. I noticed immediately it is much easier to get up at the dreaded time of 5:29 am when you snuck in an extra hour and a half of sleep less than 12 hours before. 

Getting enough rest is crucial to your physical and mental health, so a nap might be just what you need to feel better.