The "Don't Say Gay" Bill

I haven't written a rant about an article in awhile, have I? Fortunately for all of you, this one is pretty short.


In case you didn't go to read it, the title should be enough: "Tennessee Senate Panel Approves School Gay Ban Bill," also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.
It basically prevents any discussion of any sexuality other than heterosexuality from taking place in Tennessee classrooms in which the students are 8th grade or younger. It doesn't matter whether it's in the context of sex-ed or not, and apparently not even the kids are allowed to talk about it on their own.


The bill makes me angry, of course, as does some of the phrasing in the article itself (teachers can't teach anything that's not in the Board of Education's "family life curriculum."), but when I think about it...
We never discussed non-heterosexuality in class up until high school. I don't think there's any laws preventing it, but it didn't happen. And even in high school, it wasn't in health class. It was always in English, either in the context of a speech on a controversial topic or that of current events, when there was the series of suicides last year.
Then again, heterosexuality was never really discussed in health class either. It was all "yay abstinence! Oh, and there's this thing called birth control, but we don't need to tell you much about that, since you should all BE ABSTINENT!!!!"


The article itself is pretty impartial, which is a relief. However, I have to disagree when the head of the office who created the bill claims that it's "neutral. We should leave it to families to decide when it is appropriate to talk with children about sexuality – specifically before the eighth grade."


Then they should ban all discussion of sexuality in school before the eighth grade if they really want to be neutral.


Here's how my schools did it: 5th grade was "There's this thing called puberty. Here is what happens during it. Here are some diagrams." Not much sexuality there, really. It was all focused on understanding what is/was about to be happening to the individual students-- not how it relates to others.
For middle school, see my summary of abstinence-oriented education above, which is also basically "sexuality is bad," which in my opinion isn't the best message to be giving.


My schools' policies on the matter are flawed, yes, but that bill is even more so. Sex-ed (or any other type of discussion regarding sexuality) shouldn't be a matter of heterosexuality vs. other. It should be a matter of sexuality in general. More like "Hey kids, you're sexual beings. It's a very complicated issue, but here are some healthy, safe, and respectful ways to handle it."


I don't care whether a kid is gay or straight or anywhere in-between: sexuality is difficult enough to cope with regardless of the kind, and each and every student needs to be able to have the information, acceptance, and emotional support that he or she deserves (and each student deserves an equal amount.)


I'm not saying "hey, being straight is tough too so stop focusing on everyone else so much." I'm saying "sexuality of any/every kind is something that needs to be given its due in school (or at the very least the opportunity to be discussed, even if it isn't a mandatory part of the curriculum), because the point of school is to educate kids in a safe, supportive environment."

Welcome To April

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." - Ansel Adams. I love that.


Back in December I wrote a post that was rather cruel towards the spirit of Christmas. I regretted this post hours after I put it up, and possibly took it down afterwards. However, I meant what I said at the time, and I wasn't happy.


But the feelings depicted in that post are nothing compared to the hatred I have for April 1st, and I hate it for a few reasons.

1. There is usually a span of 30 seconds where I fall for a given joke/prank/lie, during which I am either very excited, very angry, very confused, or any combination of the above. Then I remember the date and just feel kind of stupid. This is not fun.
2. It's the one day of the year when it's considered perfectly acceptable to tell lies just to see other people's reactions. This is usually considered manipulative and other derogatory adjectives I would rather not use. But for some reason it's considered to be okay today. I tend not to think that some socially-frowned-on things should be suddenly accepted just because everyone's doing it at once. Halloween doesn't count, because you just leave your lights off if you don't want kids asking for candy so hopefully no one will bother you.
3. You can't trust anything anyone says. If it's a personal thing ("I'm pregnant!") chances are it's a lie (and if it's not, they just have to learn to pick better days to announce such things), but when it comes to news they're reporting ("Warner Brothers pushed back the Harry Potter date AGAIN!") there's really no knowing, and then you have to go look it up before saying anything (yes, Hannah, I had to do this.) You figure it's most likely a joke, but if Person In Question is reacting just the way they would if it were true...you don't know.

But today is also a couple other things. It's the start of Script Frenzy, for one. So, readers: are you participating in that, what's your script about, and how's it coming?


Today is also the first day of BEDA (Blog Every Day in April). I'm not officially participating in this event either, mainly because it isn't that impressive of a feat for me since I blog almost every day anyway, so I'm not going to bother committing to it. However, I'm glad some people do, because it means there are lots more lovely posts waiting for me in my Google Reader every day.


And speaking of BEDA, and my last post, and the interview with Alan Lastufka...here's the link to Alan's first BEDA post which is basically his take on the same thing Kenny and I have been talking about, although I don't think he reads either of us.

In Which I Administer Some Medicine

Dear Joss Whedon,


I love you.


Sincerely,


Elf Army


There's my emotion-driven Random Thought. Now on to the actual post.


When I walk over to my grandma's after school, I usually get her mail for her. Today that mail contained a newsletter thingy from the church I technically belong to (notice the technically-- if you've been around here long enough, you know what that means, and if you haven't, you're probably smart enough to figure it out). 
The back of this newsletter read something like "This Sunday, Dr. (Name) will be coming with his presentation Understanding Islam: What Makes Muslims Tick." Dr. Name has apparently published a couple books detailing the best ways to "administer Christ to Muslims."


There are a number of things I find wrong with that, and I find them to be very, very wrong. Seriously, the more I think about it, the angrier I get.


So this guy's job, basically, is to show the church members exactly why Muslims are evil/bad/wrong? Nice. Very nice.


Thing That Is Wrong Number One: Inter-faith education should be about similarities in theology, not differences. Teaching the differences only increases prejudice and ill-feeling, while most religions have way more in common than their followers tend to believe, and this misconception only fuels the emphasis on differences.


Thing That Is Wrong Number Two: "What makes Muslims tick" ? Really? Last I checked, any given Muslim is first and foremost a human being. I highly doubt what makes them tick is terribly different from what makes any other person tick. Implying that there's some Secret Muslim Motivator once again only fosters suspicion and prejudice. Also, it's rude.


Thing That Is Wrong Number Three: "administer Christ to Muslims"? That...that makes it sound like a disease. Angerangerangeranger. This is not helping anything.


Thing That Is Wrong Number Four: I'm generally against religious evangelism (I won't tell you your theology is objectively wrong-- only that I disagree, and that your intolerance most certainly is wrong), so the idea of writing entire books on tactics seriously rubs me the wrong way.


I'm sure there are other things to be added to the list, but those are the ones sticking out to me right now. Like my dad said regarding rock4ever95's post that I linked to, there are many much-more serious problems to be dealing with in the world than intolerance. If people would get over their differences, we could focus on the more pressing issues. Plus, intolerance is something that needs to be addressed in and of itself. Intolerance, not Islam, is the disease that needs curing. (And blogging is an actual helpful tool by which to do that, Teacher Of Mine Who Thinks Blogging Is Useless, thank you.)


(Also: feedback on the interview? Were the questions good? Do you want to see more interviews on here in the future? I seriously wasn't just fishing for views, despite what I may joke about. I may stalk my stats page obsessively, but I'm like Alan in that I only post/sell what I myself would want to read/buy. Or at least that's what I try to do.)


Random Personal Tidbit For Those Of You Who Are Remotely Interested: our band is headed off to Festival tomorrow, and one of our pieces is the final movement of a Lord of the Rings symphony, entitled "Hobbits." Party to follow. Should be fun.

Rant Under Guise of Fiction

Today in Civics my teacher was still out sick, so we watched a movie about how horrible Walmart is for America. This after watching one that may as well have been called How Bush Screwed Up The Country yesterday (ha-- this one particularly vocal Republican guy in my class was not happy).
One woman in the video said "I may as well have my social security check mailed directly to Walmart, since I buy everything there anyway." This bothered me significantly more than it should have, and I was bored, so I wrote a rant poorly-disguised as a dystopian monologue. I don't share much of my fiction on here-- despite talking about it constantly-- so I figured I'd let you read it.

"Rant Under Guise of Fiction"


By Me (or possibly indirectly by rock4ever95- you'll have to ask him if he's perfected his Jedi mind tricks yet.)


Someone once told me that people used to pay taxes to the government.
You'd have to file them and report them, and if you didn't, they could lock you up.
I don't know if I believe that, though. I mean, what would be the point? And how would they enforce it? It's not like anyone actually listens to the politicians anymore. It's the Center that makes all of the decisions; it's the Center that gets all of our money.
You'd think that some corrupt higher-ups decided one day, "Hey, let's take over the world and plunge everyone else into poverty so that if they leave us, they die." No one would want to put their very lives into the banks of one huge company that was faceless but for that grinning yellow mask, right?
Except they did.
One day, some brilliant citizen said "Hey, why don't we send our paychecks directly to the Center, since we buy everything there anyway?"
Yeah, that sounds like a fantastic idea.
But people lapped it up. "Wow," they said, "That's a great idea! We don't want to be responsible for our own money anymore!"
Petitions were signed. Meetings were held behind closed doors. Pep rallies were held behind open doors.
There was singing.
There was chanting.
There were T-shirts.
All in the name of efficiency and simplicity, the American worker ceased to have a say in his own finances-- as long as he was forced to do what he would have done anyway, what was the problem?
The Center got paid for the work I did, and I and everyone else were rewarded with various forms of free mass-produced plastic-- in the color of our choice!
So maybe I do believe we used to pay taxes to the government, but only because there's no way that people this stupid could have made it this far without someone else to spend their money for them.


And the sad thing is, there really were pep rallies and singing and chanting and T-shirts in the video. About Walmart. I wish I could take credit for that part, since I think it's particularly funny, but I'm not making it up.

Re-Segregation in Schools

"Wherever you are - be all there." - Jim Elliot


"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." - Francis Bacon, 1625 


Children, I want you all to put on your clean dresses and freshly-pressed suits, because we're going to have a very important visitor arriving here on this blog rather soon. I will be going away for a little bit so that I won't be cluttering up the house while she is here. I want you all to be on your very best behavior. If you do as I ask, I will bake you a special treat.


Who is this visitor, you ask? She is an agent who has expressed interest in The Clockwork Experiment. I may or may not actually stop posting (most likely not-- I could never leave you dear ones for very long, could I? I mean, take a look at the archives on the right). However, the special treat is not a lie, unlike the cake. (Portal reference, anyone?) At least, it's solid truth for those of you in my writing group-- assuming I remember to bake it, that is.


Now, I could write a post in all capital letters about how exciting that is (and believe me, it's easily exciting enough to write one in THE LARGEST FONT SIZE), but I have more interesting things to be discussing, so let us move on to those.


Wow, this is coming out really formal other than the parenthesized parts, isn't it? I'll have to make up for it some other time.


As some of you may or may not know, my county's school system was mocked on the Colbert Report last night.  
I was not offended.
On the contrary, I was thoroughly amused, in a "Oh God, that's so true. Our school board sucks" kind of way.
As a friend of mine posted on Facebook, "When your county is the on the Colbert Report, you feel a mixture of pride and deep, deep shame."


It's heart-breaking to know that the school board is essentially re-segregating our schools with full knowledge of their actions. Worse yet is to see the parents, teachers, students, and even non-parent people who care pleading with them to keep the current policies at the open hearings. 
They claim that they're doing it to make it easier on parents-- so they don't have to drive their kids as far in the mornings-- and so that certain students won't have to sit on the bus for close to an hour twice a day.
However, many students with long transportation times clearly stated that they didn't mind. They understood the importance of socio-economic (and for the most part, therefore racial) diversity, and they were willing to give up a few hours of sleep each week in favor of that.


Let's see... "democracy." Literal definition: ruled by the people.
We elect those we wish to make the decisions for us, because we believe them to represent our values. They're supposed to do what we want, even if it's only so we'll elect them for another term.
I don't see the school board representing our values. I'm sure there are those who agree with them, but where are they? Not at that hearing. If they aren't making themselves heard, why should the school board do what they might want?


Hey...wasn't there that thing back when hippies were around called the Civil Rights Something-or-other? What was that thing about, again? I don't seem to recall.

TED Complaints

“Hank, at the end of this year I started to think that a lot of life is about doing things that don’t suck with people who don’t suck.” - John Green


"Biography is different from Geography. Geography is about maps, while biography deals with chaps." - Edmund Clerihew Bentley (that's the first quote from my new Quote Book- the first section is all about biography.)


As you know, I've been watching a lot of TED videos recently. I have enjoyed all of them.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSd2nmoKNA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1KJAXM3xYA


It makes me sad when videos such as the two above-- almost always videos with female speakers-- get lots of comments to the tune of "@#$% this $%&#. All of the TED Woman talks suck except for like, one."


I'm assuming that when it first started out, TED was mostly about science, and had a lot of male speakers. Since then, they have expanded. There are talks on literature and spirituality. There are talks about social interaction and understanding each other (like the two I've linked to above). Why is it so bad that the lectures are encompassing MORE content? They aren't badly written, and the content is sound, researched stuff. Yet they are hated all the same, because they belong to different categories.


I mean, so what if she uses terms such as The Warrior and The Mystic? She's compartmentalizing different portions of herself so as to be better-understood. If you have a problem with her New Age-y language, translate it into something else. Warrior and Mystic are archetypes that the human image-oriented mind can understand.


The guy viewers complain that there's TEDWoman, but making TEDMan would be sexist. Fair point, but perhaps they created the TEDWoman conference because some women didn't feel welcome at the regular event due to people like this.


I'm sorry. It just makes me really mad. 


Science isn't the only thing that matters. Even if you're not religious yourself, spirituality matters to others, and others affect you, which means that spirituality ought to matter to you as well. Living in harmony with each other matters, even if it sounds fruity.


Also, I really think that "each other" should be made into one word, but all of my spell checkers flip out when I try to write "eachother."
Those two words in that order are used as their own separate word, and they should be spelled as such. 


Also Also: Hi to all of the readers from the Netherlands and Ukraine! Google Stat has informed me that views from your area are growing. I assume that means you're not spam-bots.


IMPORTANT ALSO: Sometimes I post lyrics I've written on here, but I finally actually got around to making a video of one of my songs (yes, it's a wizard rock song). The video/audio quality isn't terribly good (as my camera sucks at video-- the iSight is debatably better), but here's the link to that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMJ0z-v1W9I

"Growing Up Digitally"

“Every year, many many stupid people graduate from college. And if they can do it, so can you.” — John Green


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


The thing I hate most about that article is that it brings up many good points that are applicable to many people, so that I can't really rant about it and feel justified. It may not apply to me (for the most part), but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its merits.


More after the jump... Note: Very long post. Beware. I will most certainly not be offended if you don't feel like reading all of it. Just read the article I linked to and form your own opinions.

Christmas Cheer, Lack Thereof

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." - H. L. Mencken


If you're in a fantastic Christmas mood, don't read this post. It will only depress you. Also, it's just a big rant so I won't hold it against you if you don't read it.


I have very little Christmas spirit. I haven't for about 5 years.
I don't want to be one of those "Christmas is so commercial wah wah wah" people, but I sort of am. I'm not even one of the ones who say "Put the Christ back into Christmas!" No, I don't think that's the problem. Secular Christmas can mean something to those above the age of 9-10. It just doesn't. Not to me.
Christmas is either about presents, family, decorations, or (according to South Park) ham. 


Presents:
I don't mind people wanting to give me stuff. I just hate when people feel obligated to give me stuff. So you're my relative. You barely see me. You don't know me. So don't bother.
Then there's the idea of the Christmas list. When you're writing to Santa, sure. But when your mom just says "email me your Christmas list," well, I'm getting what I want instead of random stuff I'll never use, but the magic and the fun is gone.
That's why my dad never asks for our lists. He figures he knows us well enough to buy stuff we'll like, and we'll still be surprised. That is what Christmas should be. Finding the perfect gifts for your loved ones and then surprising them. That's why I'm most excited for whatever it is Emily ordered me from ThinkGeek. I know she'll have found something I love, and I know she's not buying it out of obligation, and I have no idea what it is. Hey, I found some Christmas joy there. SCORE ONE for Dad, and SCORE TWO for Emily.


Family:
Meet Obligation once more. There's a difference between getting together because it's Christmas and you have to, or because it's Christmas and you're normally too busy to see each other and wish you got together more often so christmas gives you motivation to make the time.
But is it Christmas, or the stuff surrounding it? Dad didn't want me to go up to NY with my cousins on Sunday because he wants us to spend time together as a family. That's nothing to do with the holiday-- it's just that we don't have school and he and Mom don't have work.
I'd love to spend some time with my friends--the family of my own choosing-- but where are most of them? Away, seeing relatives, or I don't bother to ask because the holidays are supposed to be with family and I don't want to tear them away from that because it would be...I don't know, rude or something.
SCORE THREE for this afternoon, SCORE FOUR for all of our neighbors coming to church when they usually don't to hear my sister sing, and lack of score for any hanging out I do with friends because it won't be because of Christmas--just the lack of school.


Decorations:
I hate Christmas cards. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.
That being said, I know they mean a lot to some people, and when I receive them from those people, I feel no animosity. Also, I love the "Christmas letters" that update the recipients about the goings-on of the family and their kids. But the ones that just have a cute little saying or a Bible verse and a picture on them? They're pointless.
Lights on a tree and on the mantlepiece? All right. Candles in the windows? Gorgeous. Luminaries? Love them. But some people...go overboard. It's like when we see a car with a fish or cross sticker on the back and my dad yells "OH YEAH? WELL I AM WAY MORE CHRISTIAN THAN YOU!" which is funny because he's totally not. Those houses are practically shouting "We like Christmas more than you! Nah nah nah nah nah!" Whoville grosses me out. 
Also, I hate all of the modern Christmas music they play on the radio. Partially because of the style, and partially because it's on the radio. Let's have some CDs playing, please. 
(Speaking of Christmas music, this is a Christmas song that I love)
SCORE FIVE for my neighbors and my ex-neighbors, who have candles in their windows. SCORE SIX for my dad's cousin, who sent us a Christmas letter.




Ham:
Yum.


Basically, what I want is for us to observe Christmas traditions not because that's just what you do, but because it means something to us. 
I am about to write a Christmas letter on behalf of my family, because my mom didn't see the point.
And I'm sorry that I haven't made all of you anything for whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year except for a pessimistic rant. Some present that is.
I said most of this to my dad earlier, and he said, "Well, if Christmas isn't doing it for you, we could do some pagan rituals."
So we talked about pagan solstice rituals for awhile.


My total score of Christmas cheer was a 6. Not the greatest, but higher than 0, which is where I was at when I started this post.


Enjoy yourselves, and make this holiday worthwhile for you.

Lame

"True change takes place in the imagination." - Thomas Moore


I have not played World of Warcraft since maybe the beginning of middle school, and I only stopped then because we sold our accounts to me cousins. 
Every now and then, one of my sisters will download a 10-day free trial just to play a bit. This time, two expansions since I last played, I made a new character on one of their computers to play for a bit.


See the title of the post.


There used to be challenges. You had to work for stuff. You'd have to climb all the way to the top of an enormous tree to get your spells. You'd have to walk across the entire area to turn in your quest.


But now? Oh no. By the time I finished killing a moonsaber, another one would have already re-spawned. I didn't even have to move. Quest givers were positioned at the exact location of where the quest took place. Barber shops allow you to change your appearance if you don't like it. More ports and gryffon points eliminate travel by foot. Night elves can be mages (you don't have to deal with the disadvantages of a certain race). Hunters start out with their pets instead of having to wait until level 10. You can get a mount at level 20 instead of 40.
LAME.


There aren't any challenges! Everything is just handed to you now! The game isn't fun anymore! I worked my butt off when I was 10 to get to level 40! Getting a mount was a big deal! It cost almost 100 gold! Now, we sold the accounts shortly after I made level 38 so I didn't actually make it there, but I was putting forth effort.


What's the point of playing if I get instant gratification and don't have a goal to work towards? 


On a mostly unrelated note: Hannah, REALLY? Did Stephenie Meyer REALLY only write to 5 agents and then get a $75,000 ADVANCE? For her first book? That's...incredibly aggravating.


My dad says that I should write a parody book involving vampires, werewolves, a boarding school that children start at age 11 that teaches magic and ONLY accepts kids into their school IF AND ONLY IF they are children of the Greek gods.
I told him that was a fantastic idea but I didn't think I'd be much good at writing parody fiction.


I was supposed to go get my permit today. Then my dad forgot and slept the entire morning and my mom was feeling miserable because of her acid-reflux medication that she's still getting used to and didn't feel up to taking me to the DMV. So hopefully I'll go tomorrow.

Pain

"If you feel my pain, then you understand my pain, and then I don't feel so alone."


Translation: If I feel terrible on the inside, and I make you feel terrible on the inside, then I feel a connection with you and that perverse emotional intimacy makes me feel better.


I was writing a rant today on a topic that I won't disclose (mainly because it's so unimportant that I am embarrassed that it warranted a rant, but hey, I'm a teenage girl) in my online journal, and I looked back over at what I had typed while my fingers were flying across the keyboard without regard to my brain, and that quote up there stared back at me.


And I thought that it was rather profound, in the profoundest way that something can be when it has been said hundreds if not thousands of times before. I love when sentences cut straight to the crux of a matter. That's what writing is for, I think: to unearth truth. There is my truth, and probably the truth of every other person who has said some less-than-nice things when upset.


What makes it more profound, though, is that I came up with that of my own accord. I learned it through experience, as opposed to reading it somewhere or hearing it spoken in 3rd person as a proverb. When something is learned through experience (and if the experience is interpreted correctly), it pretty much has to be true. There are exceptions. I can think of many. But none of the "somethings" I'm talking about (emotional somethings) are in there.


On to the online journal, which I have probably mentioned before. This site is called Penzu. It's like a blog, except entirely private unless you choose to share and looks more like paper than like a text box. The formatting options are non-existent until you upgrade to Pro (which, of course, costs money), but it's a great place for people who type faster than they write to get their thoughts out. It's where I go when I don't want something on here and I don't feel like writing it in a physical journal. So mine consists of rants, sappy poetry that will never ever EVER see the light of day, and...that's about it.
When it comes to journaling, I really prefer the act of interring my thoughts into a notebook rather than a screen, which results in the only online things being stuff I want to share (here) and overly emotional things that are completely embarrassing to read even a few minutes after they're written.
I have 5 or 6 active physical journals.  Perhaps I'm old-fashioned after all. 

Review: Kids vs. Grownups

“I would totally go live on Mars and stop worrying about America and Iran, but unfortunately I’m no good at terraforming.” - John Green


I intended to write many more words this month than I did last year (~56,000). In reality, I have ended up at about 52K. In my defense, my cousins are visiting.


Tonight, with said cousins, we played a game called Kids vs. Grown-ups, in which the kids answer questions grown-ups should know the answers to, and vice versa.
All I can say is, the kids it was designed for must be pretty dang stupid.


Not to say that some of the adult questions weren't idiotic either. (Ex: What is the square root of 144?)
So maybe my family isn't average. Us kids are smarter than most of our age (and I'm not bragging- we + cousins have the scores with which to back it up), and our parents are involved in our lives and are interested in some things (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings) outside of us. So the HP and LotR questions can maybe be excused, despite the fact that kids "8 and older" are too young to have been allowed to watch Lord of the Rings at the time of its release. Heck, I was too young, and I'm the one who watched some PG-13 movies at age 5 with my dad next to me to hold my hand during the scary parts and to tell me which words I wasn't allowed to say. (Then again, even when I hadn't actually read The Hobbit, I still knew the storyline upside down and backwards. And again, I have the documentation to prove it.)


That's not all I dislike about the game, however. The questions were poorly phrased, and some of the given answers weren't even correct. For one thing, the square root of 144 is not 12. It is technically plus or minus 12. But let's say I excuse that. Galileo still wasn't the first one to "notice" that the earth wasn't the center of the solar system. It's Copernicus who is credited for that (although I'm pretty sure the Mayans and quite possibly some other civilizations knew by some means before he did).
Also, Picasso didn't put "eyes and noses in the wrong places." He drew his portraits from the perspective he speculated to be the 4th spatial dimension. But that one can be excused as well.


But all in all, I'm having a great break. I've missed this branch of the family, despite that I've been playing The Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion alone in my room for many more hours per day than I should be while the others literally launch people off of giant crossbows into cities and try to hit as many things as possible and then get run over as much as possible after landing on the ground on the PS3 in Pain (Utterly hilarious). Sorry about the excessive use of prepositional phrases, there. I know its a bit awkward to read.

Are Students Less Independent?

"I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." - Albert Einstein


WARNING: RANT TO FOLLOW.


Go read this: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/10/11/have-college-freshmen-changed/students-are-different-now 
...and then come back, okay? Thank you.


This article pisses me off. Take a look at those links on the left.

The Real Einstein

Today was our seminar on Lord of the Flies. While I love seminars, it's annoying when I'm on the outer circle and can't say anything. There were certain topics I wanted to talk about that our circle never got to when we were on the inside. There was a "hot seat," but my entire circle used it too much and the hot seat went out of commission for awhile because the people who were supposed to be talking didn't have a chance to get a word in.
When they got to talking about how things would have been different if there were girls on the island and how when reading you forget that they're all under twelve, I wanted to abandon Lord of the Flies right then and there and move on to discussing Ender's Game. But only two people in that circle had read it (I asked), so that discussion went nowhere.
My other problem with seminars is that I think out my point, but then when I'm actually saying it I leave out important bits and it comes across entirely differently than I intended. This is why I loved the forum-based discussions we had on Blackboard last year. It's why I prefer blogging to vlogging.


Today's also "Einstein Day," but since hardly anyone knows much about what Einstein actually did, it turned into more of a "Nerd Day." I heard that they only called it "Einstein Day" because "Nerd Day" would have been offensive. I actually find "Einstein" more offensive, because everyone's representing false interpretations of him. Most people are wearing glasses with tape on them. I have a number of problems with this.
1. Einstein didn't wear glasses, except maybe for reading. I'm not sure.
2. Not all nerds wear glasses.
3. Those of us who do often get contacts.
4. People with glasses TAKE CARE OF THEM. We never allow them to get to the point where tape is needed.

Someone brought a toy lightsaber. Someone wore a shirt with Pi on it. These, while nice things to do, aren't related to Einstein.
Some people have shirts from a nearby planetarium with Einstein's head made out of stars with a quote from him. These are very cool. I wish I had one. Unfortunately, I don't, so I turned an old shirt of mine inside out and wrote on it "Space- it's just a matter of Time." That actually is related to Einstein's work.

Also, my Facebook status now reads "If only Einstein had lived another 20 years, he would  have discovered that the Unified Theory of Everything is quite simple: 42." Ha. Geek humor.

More School Rants

Written 9/13/2010


WARNING: THIS POST IS LABELED "JUST IGNORE ME."


Wow, in just one day (meaning the 12th/13th of September 24 hours preceding right now), the amount of views I've gotten from Brazil has increased by 16, making it the 6th most-viewing country of all time. Hi, Brazilians, be ye people or scanner bots.


On to the English journal, which starts with a list:


"What do you not like about your school?"

• I wish it started at 8 instead of 7:20
• I wish we (the school) had the money to continue offering some of the cooler yet less-mainstream classes (such as Honors Shakespeare, Creative Writing 2, and some of the AP classes that have been discontinued.)
• I wish it was easier to get a schedule change, and that I'd get first pick of classes (I know that's an unfair request, but the rest have been pretty feasible, so I think I'm entitled to one.)

Now about the middle school (because I have more rant material now.)


According to Sarah, they've stopped playing "thumbs up, thumbs down" in Guided Study. Apparently 6th graders can now be trusted to know that stealing is wrong. Yes, I'm bitter.
Instead, they've progressed to doing the following list:

1. Check your agenda (for homework assignments and such)
2. Organize your binder
3. Make up any quizzes/tests/what-have-you
4. Read your AR book

**derisive noise** And they say they're supposed to be getting kids ready for high school. We don't even have time to hole-punch pieces of paper during the day. Any make-up stuff is done during lunch.
They may as well not call it homework anymore, if they get a freaking HALF AN HOUR to work on it at the BEGINNING of school. Why bother doing it at home when you can do it then? And that's not even counting the 15 minute minimum some teachers provide at the end of the class period for the kids to work on their homework THEN. 
AR books...I'm biased. I read for pleasure, and I read fast. So do both of my sisters. But for the kids who don't do that, it becomes homework or something to do after you finish a quiz early, and therefore there shouldn't be provided time for it. Homework is assigned to do AT HOME. The point of AR is to get kids to read without being explicitly told "you are going to read now."


My sister's goal this year is to get at least 1000% (yes, a thousand) of her AR goal this year. She hasn't been saving up on books to test on like I did in 8th grade (I did all of the Harry Potter and Inheritance books at once and beat 1000% in one quarter). I have full confidence that she will make it. She'd make it even without guided study, but still. It's sad that she has the time during school to do that.


They are going to school to be taught. How about we see some teaching get done, please.

It's Not Like You

What is the evolutionary benefit of crying? (I just looked it up and everything I saw said that it strengthens emotional bonds between people). So what's the benefit of crying alone when everyone available to comfort you are the causes of your tears?


Anyways.


I hate it when people say "It's not like you" in relation to a behavior. Yes, if people are acting out of sorts, there's probably a problem. Whether or not they know what that problem is is a different story. So there's some merit to saying it, because you have noticed an irregular behavior and are concerned.
What I hate way more is the smaller things, like dressing up a little nicer than you normally do, or wearing a slightly different kind of clothes than you normally do, or not being in the mood for what's normally your favorite food.
That's probably due to my being a teenager. Isn't that what this decade of my life is supposed to be about? Figuring out who I am? And if that's what I'm supposed to be doing, then people shouldn't point out the little things. So I'm trying something new. 
"It's not like you." How do you know what is and isn't like me? I don't even always know what is and isn't like me, so how on Earth can you?
"It's not like you. What's wrong?" You're implying there's something wrong with what I'm doing. You're implying that you want me to stop. You're implying that you don't like the idea that this new thing I'm doing may or may not be me. I'm still talking about the little things.
What about moods? So I'm rather irritable on a given day. "That's not like you." Why am I not allowed to be irritable? Have I broken out of my character outline and you're trying to stuff me back in it? Does it frighten your subconscious that I'm breaking out of the mold you've created for me? So I'm not often this irritable for this long. Keyword: often. It happens sometimes. 
As long as it's not to a dangerous degree or length of time (like depression), there's nothing wrong with me exhibiting an emotion I don't usually exhibit for a little while. 
I am me. This is what you get. What "me" is, well, I'm still sort of figuring that out, but for the moment, as long as (as I said) there's nothing serious or dangerous going on...I suppose you should be prepared for anything. Just because I'm not living in a cocoon doesn't mean these 10-odd years aren't a time of some serious metamorphosing. 
That's the great thing- when "me" is in constant flux, I am everything within that spectrum of flux. I am an electron: you can never simultaneously know both my location and my velocity, but you can figure out my wave equation- you can figure out the area where I might be, and as long as I'm in that cloud, there's probably nothing to worry about.


I'm amused that this turned from a rather emo-teen semi-rant to some quantum mechanics metaphors. Which kind of proves my point.


I think I'll change this blog's subtitle to "a teenager and her literary works...and the other stuff inside her head." Because lately that's been the majority of what I'm posting (although I really should send out some more queries).


QUESTION: Is it okay to sacrifice some minor grammatical conventions (such as using sentence fragments or changing tense for a sentence or two) during an essay in favor of emotional effect?
I'm thinking not so much in this case, since the purpose of my "Ignorance" essay is to prepare for the Sophomore Writing Test in the spring where conventions are a REALLY BIG THING, but what about in general? Most novels have loads of sentence fragments when it comes to narration (and, of course, dialogue). It's how people speak  and think.

"Guided Study" and other Rantful Things

I hated middle school. But you know that from the post that will be posted in less than an hour that by the time you read this will have been posted at least yesterday. I'm writing this on the 2nd.
Mom figured she would wait and see if 7th grade would be better than 6th grade. It wasn't, but she remained optimistic and waited another year. Halfway through 8th grade (and Nicole was in 6th grade), she started complaining to the principal about some issues.
Now I'm going to complain about (some of) them. Because things have only gotten worse since I left.


Her main concern was movies being shown in class. Not documentaries or other informative things. Movies like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe or even Bedtime Stories  and Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa.
Nicole watched all of these and more in 6th grade. I watched different ones, but the point remains the same.
What is the excuse for this? "It's based on an AR book." AR is Accelerated Reader. Each student has AR levels that they're supposed to read within and a point goal for each quarter. You read AR books, take tests on them, and receive points. (I happened to be the AR champion all 3 years. I think. Maybe it was only 2.)


It's based on an AR book????? SO?!?! Sometimes they'd read the book in class, like LWW. But did they do any assignments afterwards comparing them? No. They just watched the movies.
Most of the movie-watching took place a) on Fridays and b) during the several weeks after EOGs (End of Grade tests) were over.


First of all, I would like to say that high school makes way more sense in that our exams are the LAST week of school. 
The 6th graders often go outside for "recess" (although they don't call it that) for almost an hour almost every Friday.


I though middle school wasn't supposed to have recess.


Those kids are going to school for those weeks after testing. They are supposed to be LEARNING. Okay, in 8th grade we did stuff. We had a poetry slam, for one thing. In Geometry, we had our exam the last week of school because it was a high school course, so we were working right up until the end (and yes, I skipped a few days of school after the exam, due to my being at the beach. Arrest me. We weren't going to be doing anything after that.)


I don't care what they say. Madagascar 2 isn't educational. WALL-E, which we watched in 8th grade...okay. Maybe. It's about climate change and the importance of living as opposed to surviving (a sentiment which I love).


Then there's this new thing they started this year called "Guided Study." What has Sarah (6th grade) been doing in GS? Playing a game called "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down" where the teacher says "Sarah steals Amy's money. Thumbs up or thumbs down?"
Come on. They aren't three. If they steal money, they're doing it with full knowledge that they shouldn't. Otherwise they have a mental condition or had a very interesting upbringing.
And Nicole? She's been reading for half an hour every morning during Guided Study. Reading's great, yes, but that's ridiculous. I'm lucky if I get fifteen minutes of reading in during the school day, and that's INCLUDING lunch. Not that I always read at lunch. (I didn't at all last year, but that's because I was sitting with friends, as opposed to now, when I'm sitting with people I'm friendly with.)


Then there was the band issues, which have been fixed because a new director was hired at that school.


Then there's the PBS system. It has something to do with good behavior. The kids get tickets for "exhibiting character traits." Supposedly.
Sarah has EIGHTEEN of them already, and we've only been in school for a week and a day. Want to know how? From answering questions correctly in Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down. And also in regular class.
BEHAVIOR tickets are NOT about KNOWING ANSWERS. They're about BEING A GOOD PERSON.


This is the part where I mention how much I love my school.


(Mists of Avalon, while still refusing to become shorter, is still very, very good. I've been using my calculator to figure out what percentage of the way done with it so I don't feel daunted by the length. I'm nearly 17% complete, and that number will be going up later tonight.)

That Thing Called The Internet

I'm going to the doctor for a check-up in about 20 minutes. Except I know pretty much what she's going to say. "You're pretty healthy, but you should probably exercise more even though you're thin because that's healthy for you and don't spend so much time on the computer/ TV/ video games."
That's what she tells me every time I go to see her.


So I was ranting about that last part this morning.


During the school year (excluding November), I very rarely go over 2 hours (the recommended maximum) during the week. If I do, it means I didn't watch something on TV the day before that I usually do, so I had to watch it on Hulu. So it evens out. (Apparently even-ing out is NOT OKAY.) Weekends are usually more.
November, well, every free moment I have is spent with my laptop.


But I don't think that should count. I'm not consuming media for fun (like watching TV or playing StarCraft, etc.) I'm creating media that I hope will one day make me money. Even if it's not something I plan on publishing, it's still helpful to my writing skills and it's still creating. My dad sits in front of a computer (or two) all day for work, and he's never told that that's bad for him (not the computer part, anyway. Apparently the sitting part is.) Despite the fact that I'm doing it willingly and not getting paid, it's still work (at least in my mind.)


Then there's other stuff I do online, like blogging. I'm interacting with all of you. I'm expanding my mental horizons by reading/watching on YouTube other people's thoughts, and sharing mine. This is mentally/intellectually stimulating and healthy. Yes, there are plenty of soul-consumingly-pointless YouTube videos out there, as well as those made only for laughs, but there's also well-thought-out interesting material.

So if I keep my screen-related non-reciprocal consumption down around where it's supposed to be, what's the problem?


The Internet has evolved from where it started, and some people (like my doctor and family) aren't as much aware of the fact as I'd like them to be. Unless I'm delusional and live in a strange sub-pocket of the greater thing. Which I doubt.

Driver's Ed

Well, today would have been better spent if I'd stayed home, and considering that I was at school, that's kind of sad.
Today was my first day of Driver's Ed. And it was horribly boring. The only good bits were the breaks and lunch.
We literally did nothing at all except for register for a program that we're not even going to use for the first two hours. After so much emphasis on "we only have 30 hours, so we need to cram as much in as possible."
The class started at 8. It was at least 8:15 before any of the teachers said a word to us.

I could have written a story, or edited, or written a song, or made a YouTube video, or read more of For The Win, or watched the World Cup, or Wimbledon, or Torchwood: Children of Earth "Day Five"...but no. I sat in a desk for six hours and "learned" a bunch of things that I mostly already vaguely, subconsciously knew.
Now I know the stuff consciously, which is good, but the class was at far too slow of a pace.
I told my dad that, and he said "Welcome to the adult world."

Couldn't he and Mom taught me that same stuff in far less time? Yes.

The fun part was that afterwards, Mom took me over to the elementary school parking lot and had me drive around a bit to practice turning and stopping and starting. I did all right up until she told me to park. I was pretty crooked, but I blamed it on the lines moving while we were inside talking to the office people about next year.

(Actually, I did see some of the US vs. Algeria match. We were eating lunch and this massive cheer came from the front office so we looked in and saw that we'd just scored.)

Emily called yesterday because she was in the car and bored, and we talked about Clockwork a bit so I've changed a few little things. There's also something sort of minorly important at the end that I switched around (unrelated to our conversation), but I won't say until you've all actually gotten to that part.

For those of you who don't know anything about the current Wimbledon match...the current set (the 5th set) has more games in it than the longest previously-held match. There've been almost 120 games, and they just stopped for the night.

TV Channels & Anecdotes & Jokes

You may or may not know that all of the cable channels just got re-numbered.

So while I was waiting for soccer to start (I ended up not watching much of it, but that's another story), I was flipping through the little cheat-sheet thing they sent us that says what channel is which number.
I figured I'd look for BBC America, since although I watch Doctor Who online, sometimes I watch the old episodes Saturday nights @ 9.
BBCAM used to be channel 116, or 235 HD.
Now all we get is BBC On Demand (on which, funnily enough, the first thing that comes up to be demanded is the most recent 5 episodes of Doctor Who).
So we get porn channels (they were listed on the brochure), but not BBC America. This aggravates me.
My dad insists that we must get it somewhere, but I looked over the entire thing...and it's not there.
So I'm just stuck with Netflix Streaming and that other site. Which is fine, but annoying. Where am I supposed to get the Confidentials from? They're the one making-of series I actually enjoy. **grumbles**

I haven't watched the latest episode yet, speaking of which, as my grandparents are here and they've been looking at pictures from their trip to Ireland on the big TV (which is hooked up to the MacMini, which is how we watch the episodes).

At my cousin's graduation party last night, there was a life-size cardboard cutout of Jacob Black waiting in the front hall. Scared the crap out of me. Apparently my other cousin's boyfriend bought it just to creep her out. He's been appearing in random places in the house (like in the dark at the top of the stairs) all week.
Finally he was bothering everyone so much that we turned him around so he was facing their piano room, upon which my cousins' aunt on their dad's side screamed "NOT THERE! I'M SLEEPING IN THERE!!!"
HA.

Another story:
While my grandparents were in Ireland, they were going to visit the Blarney Stone and kiss it, and their bus driver said "Don't kiss it. They whiz on it." A little while later, he said "Only joking. They don't whiz on it."
After they were back in the bus, he said "So how many people kissed the Blarney Stone?" People raised their hands. "They really do whiz on it."

There's no knowing whether or not something like that's true, is there?

Joke:

A man joins a monastery in which the monks don't talk at all, except for once a year when they go to see the Abbot. A week or two later, that time of year comes around. The Abbot says "So how's it going for you here?" The man says "The bedrooms are cold." The Abbot nods, and the man leaves and returns to his prayers. A year later, the Abbot says "So how's it going for you here?" The man says "The food sucks." The Abbot nods, and the man leaves and returns to his prayers. After the man's second year there, the Abbot says "So how's it going for you here?" The man says "I quit." The Abbot snorts and says "Good riddance! Every time you open your mouth, you're bitching and moaning!"

I hope this post made you laugh.