Tried and True

 

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/17477297690/my-28-most-tried-and-true-writing-prompts

Monday: The old homeless man. He is wearing baggy dirty sweatpants and a over sized sweatshirt that has multiple holes in it. People who pass by him make a conscious effort to avoid contact with him.

Tuesday: A very nice young lady. You can see that she tries to look good for the day and you are attracted to her. But, once you get closer to her you realize that she is sort of annoying and soon you are looking for any excuse to leave her side.

Wednesday: Wednesday is the sort of overweight man that you can't help but be friends with. He is pretty slow and sometimes he can just get on your nerves but most of the time when you hang out with him you have a good time and leave happy.

Thursday: Thursday is the girl who you are really good friends with but that's all. You really want to further you relationship with her but the feeling is not mutual and you just end up bummed out. She is a real tease.

Friday: Friday is your best friend. Whenever you are with him you feel so good. You love Fridays company so much that you are always thinking about hanging out with him. He is your best friend and you never get sick of being with him.

TU Tuesday - Commencement Speech

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/
 2nd speech: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/23/nelsonmandela

It is very special when you can connect with something, especially something a famous person has said. In this case I made a connection with a speech by J.K. Rowling. In 2008 Rowling made the commencement speech at Harvard and during her speech she said: "Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it." I could not agree with this quote more. Today there is so much pressure on kids to succeed. As a kid I experience this myself, not from my parents but from many other sources. Today it is a common belief that if you fail at something you are screwing up your life and that you won't amount to something. But as Rowling says: "Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me." This helps to prove that failing is an important part of maturing. In a way everyone should fail at something just so they understand how terrible it is and gain more determination to not fail. Rowling goes on to say: "Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged." This speaks so much to me. To me it shows that it is OK to fail, that an extremely successful author failed and she is still what she is today. It helps to show that failing is OK and that is a normal part of life. A quote from Rowling speech that really puts this into perspective for me is; "You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." I feel that this is the most moving quote and really brings the whole meaning to life.

Another speech that helps to show the power of failing is Nelson Mandela's speech in 1964. "I came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable; it would be unrealistic to continue preaching peace and non-violence. This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle. I can only say that I felt morally obliged to do what I did." Though this quote is talking about the use of violence it still is very powerful. It shows that Mandela failed many times and even though he failed he still kept fighting. Many people would have just backed down but with Mandela it made his drive even stronger. This helps to show the power of failing. It can ignite a determination in you that you never though was possible.

In this blog I am not saying that I think kids should go to school and just fail classes and receive no repercussions for it. What I am saying in this blog is that I feel that there shouldn't be so much pressure on kids to succeed all the time. Kids shouldn't have to live under the shadow of failing all the time and when they do fail; they can use it as a motivational tool to succeed even better than before. 

12: How Schools Could Use Social Media

12 How Schools Could Use Social Media:

For a few years now I have been a part of the social media scene. A couple of year ago a joined Facebook and last year I joined Twitter. From my years of experience I have come to favor Twitter much more over Facebook but they both have features that I find very interesting and useful. For school use I feel that both of these services could be very useful but I feel like Twitter could be extremely useful.  With Facebook I find it harder to picture what schools could use it for. Teachers could definitely take advantage of the page feature and make class pages where they could converse with students and tell them the homework if they forgot. But that is about all I can think of for Facebook. With Twitter I feel like it could be very useful. Teachers could make Twitters and have their students follow them. This would be just a simpler version of the Facebook idea. The students can then ask the teachers about homework and other questions that they have. If the students have private questions for the teachers than they could just direct message them and keep it secret. With this use though, problems can occur. That is why all the social media use could be regulated by the school. The teachers would give over their passwords for easy access by the school. That way if something bad happens on the sites than the school can easily get proof. I feel like the use of social media will soon come to schools all over and will play a huge role in schools. With GHS already using Google apps which are basically a form of social media I can see the use of Facebook and Twitter coming soon.

Love to Know Slideshow

If you were stranded far away from home and only had $20 in your wallet, what would you do?

                  Photo from: http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:Free_Writing_Prompts~4

My car has just broken down in the middle of nowhere. I decided that it would be a good idea to use my cell phone's GPS to see where I was but that only caused my phone to die, effectively stranding me with no forms of communication. Before my phone had died I had noticed that there was a town fairly close to where I was so I headed off in that direction. Once I got to the town I headed to the local diner. There I pulled out my wallet hoping that I had enough money for food. It turned out that I only had $20. I made the decision not to buy any food and to just get change and use the phone to call someone to pick me up. I then got change and dialed up my best friend. It took a few rings but he eventually picked up and I explained to him my situation. He seemed angry but he reluctantly agreed to come pick me up.  Around an hour later I was being driven home, very happy that I was going home but also very hungry!

Creative Contest III

The first chapter has only began

Philosophy Blog

  Communism: In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels co wrote the book, The Communist Manifesto. This book lead to the upstart of Communism around the world and helped to create a political system that is still around today. The main part of Communism is to obtain a classless society where everybody is equal. In a Communist society there is common ownership and means of production, meaning that everything is shared. In theory I think that Communism is a fantastic idea. I feel like if all things work than it has the potential to be the beast political and social system to date. But there is a large problem with Communism. It never works. In reality Communism is a great idea but what Marx and Engels didn't understand is that people are greedy. It is impossible for humans to have a classless society where everything is shared because we are not wired that way. As humans we have the desire to hoard things and keep them for ourselves. In theory you should have a classless society but in reality you end up with an absolute ruler and usually horrible living conditions. So I would have to say that I do agree with Communism in theory but in reality it is a horrible non functioning idea.

TU Tuesday - Classified

Bally pinball. Used but in excellent condition. One small wear spot to right of magic trunk.
 http://timesunion.kaango.com/ad-pinball-theater-of-magic/20534922

On Monday, April 30 my life was changed forever. When I woke up on that fateful day it seemed just like any other day. I woke up as usual to the birds chirping and slowly dragged myself downstairs and into the kitchen to make breakfast. Then when making the coffee I noticed something strange in the living room, a pinball machine. I figured that Dave must have purchased it the night before and brought it home. I slowly approached the machine and inspected it. The machine was a pinball machine and the theme was magic. All over the machine there were pictures of magic things such as trunks and rabbits coming out of hats. After inspecting the machine it seemed in very good condition except for "One small wear spot to right of magic trunk." After inspecting the machine for a little longer I went back to the kitchen to finish making my breakfast. An hour later Dave woke up and I questioned him about the machine. Dave said the last night he had purchased it after a night of drinking and he admitted to not remembering most of the night. Dave said the man he bought it from had said that it was "Used but in excellent condition." After our conversation we shrugged it off and went on our own way. Then about an hour later I was watching TV and suddenly the machine turned on and started playing it eerie music. I walked over to the machine only to find it wasn't even plugged in. Frightened I went to get Dave to show him but by the time we got back to the living room it had turned off. This occurrence repeated several times throughout the day and by the night time I was practically crying of fear. That night was the most unrest full night of my life; I couldn't sleep because I kept on hearing the music. The next morning I took matters into my own hands and went online and wrote up a classified ad for it. This brings me to where I am today, waiting and hoping that someone will come and take the pinball machine away from me and take the curses as well.