The Thanksgiving That Was

Since we did not have class last week, I am going to write about my Thanksgiving break and other random stuff. I would say that I had an excellent break. I went home early Wednesday afternoon and carpooled with a friend from high school that goes here. Her class got out at 11:10 so I picked her up at 12:00 at her apartment. Thankfully she is a talker so she kept me awake on the ride home. There was so much traffic on I-45! It is understandable since everybody was leaving for vacation but the highway was super crowded. I don’t like driving on crowded highways since the opportunities for accidents increase so much. It also increases the driving time since there was so much traffic. It didn’t rain at all during the drive. Which was good because rain and Thanksgiving traffic don’t seem to mix well.
My friend who rode with me was excited to see me since we hadn’t hung out in awhile. She was one of my best friends in high school but I haven’t gotten to see her much in high school. She is at A&M to study to be a vet. Understandably, that takes up a good portion of her time while in College Station. We were very close in high school and we have a good amount of stories to tell from those days. She always feels the need to update me on the status of the girlfriend I had in high school. This is weird because my ex is a nice girl but we don’t talk at all and haven’t talked in years. But thanks to my friend, I know all about how her college life is going.
My friend mentioned one of the best memories we had in high school and it made me reminisce about it. During our senior year, we participated in an organization called We the People. It was sponsored by the State Bar of Texas and focused on spreading Constitutional awareness in high school students through competitions modeled after trials. It was one of the most high pressure activities I have ever done. Teachers at our high school handpicked some students to participate in the competition. For whatever reason, I was chosen. We had to memorize tons of important Supreme Court cases and their significance. It was grueling. I spent many hours before and after school looking over cases and practicing making speeches before mock panels of judges. The actual competition was very much like a panel before Congress. A small portion of our team, usually 4 members, would go before a panel of judges and other people knowledgeable about law and answer their Constitutional questions using cases in an oral presentation. It was hardcore.
Like I previously mentioned, I spent many hours poring over the material for the competition to make sure that I thoroughly knew it. Any break during the day, I would look at my notes. I remember the mock trial we had at my high school one day to prepare us for the difficult competition. My teacher brought in a lawyer friend who went through a mock presentation with us. He was very hard on us. Looking back, I think the difficult nature of the preparation allowed us to be ready for the competition.
Finally, the day came. Our whole team, around 15 students, piled onto a yellow school bus with our two teachers/coaches and one assistant principal for the school. We traveled down to Austin in style! Not really, but we did incessantly quiz each other and read notes. It was fun at the same time though. (By the way I am writing one long blog instead of two!) My team also joked around a lot and took naps. It seemed to take forever to get to Austin for the competition but 4 hours was a long time to drive for a college student.
At long last, we arrived at our hotel. It was the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. The school district had given us a large amount of spending money for this trip it seemed! It was right in the middle of Austin and not too far from the Capitol building. After waiting awhile for the teachers to get our rooms ready, we all got our room keys and took our suitcases up to our rooms. Then we all loaded back onto the bus and went to go eat at Chili’s. It was paid for by the school district as well. This was all crazy stuff for a guy who only played jv sports and had never really experienced this.
After eating, we traversed the short distance back to our hotel and went straight to studying. We probably studied four to five hours that night. It was exhausting but we knew we needed to know the cases back and forth to do well the next day. Mr. Bowser, our AP, even helped us study though he knew nothing about the material. I could tell our two teachers were very worried about the next day’s competition but they were excited about it as well. Around midnight, the teachers told us that we should go to bed to make sure we were rested for tomorrow. Well, my group decided that this wouldn’t do for us. We were determined to do well at the competition. So, after we had been checked into our rooms, me and my roommate ducked out of our room and went down the stairwell to the girls room two floors below. It was a bold move for sure. I usually don’t do something so stupid like that. But we went and reviewed some cases with the two girls in our team for about 30 more minutes before heading back to our rooms to get some sleep.
The next day was competition day. There were two rounds in the competition. There was a first round and then a second round in which only the top three teams participated. It was intense. There were probably 20 schools there from all around the state. The stakes were big because the winner of Texas got to go to nationals which were held in Washington D.C. later that year. We were all nervous because our high school had never been to this competition and we weren’t sure what to do. However, all of our hard work paid off and we ended up advancing to the 2nd round of the competition. Sadly, we won third place because one of our team members did not know the Alaskan “Bong Hits for Jesus” case that made a buzz in c. 2005. We were all ecstatic though! In our first year of competing, we had beat out most of the state of Texas to win third place.
This blog was a total tangent but my Thanksgiving was excellent. I loved spending 5 days with my family and getting to see a couple of my good friends from back home. I can’t wait for Christmas break. There will be two hectic weeks before that is eminent but it will be here soon enough. This week is extremely busy between work, tests, presentations, and everything else that is going on in life!! However, I get an extremely long weekend and that will be nice. Although, I am sure I will have tons of work to do during the weekend.

Unfortunately I missed English class on Wednesday because I was not feeling well. So I’m going to just write about random stuff. This week has been uneventful for the most part. I have hung with friends, studied (a little!), and worked a couple of shifts at my new job.
One of the best parts of my week was working the new job. I am really enjoying it. The major reason I like the job is the people. My two shifts this week was awesome! I got to work with my friend Blake for two of the shifts and my friend Chris for half a one shift. I am starting to be able to make drinks better. There are a ton of drinks to memorize!! It is crazy. My guess is that there are around 20-25 different drinks to know how to make. I think within 2 weeks I will be able to make all of them well. That is my goal for now.
It is an interesting timeline of how I became an employee of Muldoon’s Coffee House. I met the aforementioned Blake in my weightlifting class last semester. We became good friends quickly and hung out outside of class a couple of times. I decided to visit him at his job (Muldoon’s) once. While visiting him, Blake introduced me to Chris, who owns Muldoon’s. I am not sure how I became such good friends with Chris as well, but I do remember the time that Chris and I went out to lunch. It was a good talk and because of the subject of that conversation, I decided to get baptized that night at Alumni Fountain. I had many friends, including Chris and Blake, come to see me get baptized. I think this was the beginning of our friendship. I came down to College Station for one weekend last summer to hang out with them. So coming into this semester, my friendships with Chris and Blake were solidified.
This semester, Chris overheard me talking to a friend about the troubles I was having with working at Chick-Fil-A. He immediately offered me a job at Muldoon’s and said the offer was always open. I prayed about leaving Chick-Fil-A and finally decided to leave about 2 weeks ago. Muldoon’s has been working out perfectly so far. This week, I worked Thursday and Friday morning. Working that early allowed me to have a relaxing Friday night and actually get to go to the football game on Saturday! Yes! Unfortunately, this is only my 2nd football game this year but at least I am making the best game! Texas A&M has broken the record for most student tickets sold for a football game nationwide. Which proves yet again that the aggies are the best ever.
I am really hoping that we beat Nebraska today. It is going to be really loud at Kyle Field! Capacity at Kyle is 83,000 people and we are expected to have around 88,000 to 90,000 today. That is a ton of people!
I have been feeling really burdened lately for my brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe who are facing horrible persecution for believing in Christ. Besides the more obvious events that receive a little media attention such as the church bombing in Iraq, there are many more events that don’t get any attention at all. I read one story last week of a Christian in Iran who was arrested for simply believing in Christ. He is being held for no reason in a prison. Hindu extremists in India prevent my brothers and sisters from receiving even the basic necessities of life. It is so sad. I have it so easy as a Christ-follower in America. I only get made fun of and slandered. In other nations, the government or other religions will do horrible things to believers. It is crazy how much they hate us but Jesus predicted it. They don’t like to see the truth spread but the more they try to extinguish Christianity, the stronger it comes back.

Another Monday and another English class! I was tired that day because I had driven up from Dallas that morning. Nevertheless, I successfully attended English class.
In class we went over examples of how to write a rhetorical analysis. I’m afraid that my rough draft that I had written over the weekend is not going to fit within the rhetorical analysis framework! Aaaaah! I hope it is but I will rewrite my paper if I need to. I guess that is the price I have to pay for doing my work on schedule! ;)
One of the more interesting parts of class yesterday happened both before and after class. When I walked up the group of my classmates talking before class, I was instantly wished a few belated happy birthdays. I was surprised people knew but you can thank Facebook for that. That was not the interesting part though. Somebody asked me if I was hungover from my birthday on Sunday. I answered no because I’m not 21 yet so I don’t drink. They then asked me if I drink at all and I said no. The ball started rolling downhill from there. A couple people were astounded that I don’t drink and a couple of peeps started cracking jokes at me. The big phrase they were throwing around was that I was a “straight edge”. I definitely had to look that one up on urbandictionary.com because I had never heard that slang before. After class, as I walked with two of my classmates to the other side of campus, they kept slinging the jokes. After awhile, they said they were kidding but the tone of derision in their jokes said otherwise.
It has been awhile since I have been made fun. Especially being made fun of for being a Christian. They may say that they were just joking. But honestly they were singling me out for being different. It made me think a lot about some things yesterday. Jesus said that his followers will be persecuted for their belief in him. I see it in the media a lot. Now some people do some real boneheaded things that have nothing to do at all with Christ or the Gospel. But I have seen some articles and stories that are posted just because the media wants to suppress Christianity. The truth makes them uncomfortable. It is rare though for me to see a dislike for Christianity on my level.
What Jesus tells me to do in this situation is simple but not easy to do. He tells me to love them. To do good to them. To bless them when they curse me. Simple but hard to do. Its at times like these that I understand a little what my Savior went through to bring me out of my dead life. He went through a ton more than I have but it still hurts to get made fun of. Their jokes also made me realize their spiritual deadness even more. They don’t get my life. The Bible says their eyes are blinded to the Truth. That the Gospel smells like death to them. My friends who don’t know Jesus will never understand why I live like I do unless God opens their spiritual eyes. They will think I’m weird. That I’m old fashioned. I wish they could see the life that Christ has given me. How I’m no longer empty and depressed. How I am more loved and accepted than I have ever been. Alas, they only see that I don’t drink and ostracize me. I wish they could see why I don’t drink. It’s because Jesus willingly gave his perfect life on the cross for me that I might receive the life that was fully his. So if he tells me that if I love him, I will obey his commands, then if he tells me not to get drunk then I will joyfully stay sober. Because his love is the best thing that has ever happened to this loser kid. I don’t think my classmates will ever read this blog. If you do, I forgive you.

I'm 20!

We didn’t get much done in class on Wednesday. It was the most distracted I have ever seen the class! However, despite the antics of the class, we got started on a rough draft of a rhetorical analysis of the Bad Romance video. It helped me write out my rough draft of my paper. I have never done a rhetorical analysis of a piece of art but it was not as difficult as I expected.
I did my rough draft on the music video for “Hurt”, a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song by Johnny Cash. It is probably my favorite music video of all time. I saw it for the first time when I was a senior in high school. I was the only senior in my speech class that semester. It was a little awkward at times. But I remember that we were looking at various music videos to illustrate something. The teacher introduced the Johnny Cash video with a short history of him. Then she played the video. And I immediately loved it. And felt like crying. The video hit a string in my heart. I love the video because I relate to it immensely. The first time I saw it I was struggling with depression because I felt like nothing in life was worth doing since it wouldn’t matter when I died. I wrote my rough draft on the theme in the video that life was transient. Much of the video contrasts the gaiety of the young with the solemnity of the ancient. I had forgotten about the video until before this semester. I watched it again and I think I enjoy the video even more now. I had never really realized the clips of Jesus being crucified at the end of “Hurt”. Those clips made an even deeper connection with me. I am past the depression now and, like Johnny, I have found a way out of the nothingness of life through Jesus. I haven’t been through as much in my life as Johnny but I feel like we can relate.
I wish there were more artists like Johnny Cash today. Sure there are some great artists out there and some great lyricists. But Johnny stood for something. You may not agree with his love of Jesus and how he was vocal about it at times but even people who weren’t Christians were drawn to Johnny. It was more than his voice. It was his honesty and familiarity. He felt like one of the audience members to the kids back in the day.
Most artists I have seen in concert feel distant and detached from the artist. We all sing along and get excited to see them in concert. But for whatever reason, artists don’t relate to my generation. I’m sure there are some that I haven’t discovered yet. We need artists like that though.
I went home this weekend for my birthday. It was pretty awesome. I love hanging with my family. We also celebrated my sister signing her national letter of intent for college. I am super proud of her because she has put in countless hours at the gym since middle school to get where she is now. I hope that she has a great college experience and enjoys playing basketball in college. She is graduating next June! Time really does fly. I can still remember my college graduation like it was yesterday. It was only a year and a half ago but it doesn’t seem that long ago.
It can be funny how different yet similar siblings are. I graduated number 6 in my class and I don’t think my sister is that high but she is probably top 30. I played sports too but she is way better than I ever was. We are complete opposites in some ways but really alike in some ways. I am more of an introvert while she is more extroverted.
1 and a half weeks to Thanksgiving break. I will be signing up for classes for next semester in two weeks. That is when you know that the semester is almost over.

New Job, New Age

                Monday’s class was the recipient of the famous Lady Gaga presentation by Ms. Wheeler. The presentation consisted of a rhetorical analysis of Gaga’s Bad Romance music video. Ms. Wheeler presented her case that the video was a statement by Lady Gaga for disability rights. Major scenes from the video were analyzed and observed to back up points from Ms. Wheeler’s point of view. It was a very good presentation and although we will probably never know the true meaning of the video, the view that it was protesting the dehumanization of people with disabilities was very intriguing.

            I took the video to be about something different and I guess that is the interesting point about analyzing art. Although it may be the more obvious take on the video, I garnered from the video that Gaga was making her views known about sex slavery, objectification of women, and “free love”.

            I did my rhetorical analysis proposal on a song by Lecrae. The song “Killa”  is probably my favorite track from 2010. But I’m not sure if I can, or want to, pull enough analysis from it to reach the word count necessary for the final paper. I might do my analysis on Johhny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails. The video made for his cover was excellent and I think I could do a good analysis on it. The wheels are turning in my head so we will see!

            The semester is almost over. Thanksgiving break is almost here and after that, a couple of finals and then I am done with this semester. Life goes by so fast as you get older. There never seems to be enough time in each day and the weeks fly by. I wonder how life will feel once I am out of college.  I am sure it will be much different. But time will still leave me standing still gaping at how life has gone by. I have yet to see any of my friends graduate. That will come next year. I can already think of several people who will be receiving their diplomas by next Christmas. Scary. I am not too far away from that.

            I start my new job on Thursday and end my old one on the same day. It is the end of an era in a way. I am leaving my old job at Chick-Fil-A to start a new job at Muldoon’s Coffee House. In a way, my leaving Chick-Fil-A is symbolic. Before this semester started, I thought that my future career might be there. Midway through the semester, I am not so sure about that happening. This Chick-Fil-A is much different from my other one back home but the damage done by the College Station store might be too much to recover from. This new job has me excited. My good friend Chris owns Muldoon’s Coffee Shop and he invited me to come work for him. I don’t know anything about coffee but I will by this week’s end! I am hoping the environment will be better at my new job.

            This coming weekend, I will be heading home for the first time in over a month. There are two occasions for this trip. One, my sister is signing her commitment letter for college on Thursday and two, my birthday is this upcoming Sunday. Being able to hang out with my family will be amazing. Hopefully my sister stays around so I can actually see her!

            This week is full of symbolism. I turn 20 on Sunday so I will no longer be considered one of those pesky teenagers that annoy America to death! 20 is a weird birthday. It’s cool no longer being a teenager (I guess). But then now I am old. Ugh. And I’m not legal yet. So I’m kinda in this weird transition period- both age-wise and in life.  I see my junior friends and can’t imagine myself being them. Yet I will be a junior by hours next semester. Yikes!

            It is weird because I used to be so scared of getting older. I was filled with regret about decisions I did or did not make in my life. Now, after having met Jesus, I don’t feel any fear or loathing about the days passing by. Getting older is just a chance to experience the love of Christ in a new way with different people. If I make a decision I regret, Jesus will still be constantly loving me no matter what.

So the second writing project begins. We have received the rubric for our third writing project. It is a rhetorical analysis project on a topic of our choosing.

In class we talked about the article we had to read for homework. The article was about words and their meanings. The author went in depth on the history of freak shows and how they affected the people involved in the shows. I had never read on the history of the shows and I found it interesting and horrifying at the same time. It was incredibly sad how people with disabilities were exploited and used as objects to make money off of. It is also convicting about how little life has changed since then.

Listening to the discussion in class made me think of a couple of people with disabilities I have known in my life. Two of them, I have known from work back home. My Chick-fil-A has employed at least two people with mental disabilities that I know of. They were some of the coolest people I have ever known.

The first guy’s name was Brandon and he was a mid-thirties black male. I loved talking to him because he was funny although I didn’t understand much of what he said. He was an extremely hard worker and was really friendly to most people. I am not sure how we became friends but he liked talking to me and I was really excited to see him whenever we worked together. I believe that Brandon had some kind of mental disability as he still lived with his parents. Unfortunately, Brandon was not treated well by his stepmother. On multiple occasions, he told me of fights he had with his stepmother. He said that she even threw him out of the house one time. I haven’t talked with Brandon in a while because his dad and stepmother divorced over her treatment of Brandon. Brandon and his dad moved to another city about 30 minutes away from where he was before. Sometimes he messages me on facebook to say hi. He always tells me to not put shampoo on the steering wheel and to listen to the Tom Joyner radio show. He is a fun guy and I miss seeing him at work.

The other individual with a disability that I met was a guy my age named Kenny. Kenny was also a black individual but closer to my age than Brandon. I was told Kenny may have autism but I have never found out for sure. Kenny also really likes me and I think he is a cool guy to talk to. Kenny always rides his bike to work, even when it is really cold outside. Kenny loves OU football and tornadoes. He wants to be a storm chaser one day. I hope he gets to do it! He gets really excited when it starts to storm outside and he always says he hopes the storm creates a tornado. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Kenny in quite a while because he suddenly went on leave at work to live in Oklahoma for awhile. But I hope that he makes it back to the Dallas area by the time I work during Christmas break.

I think it is awesome how my store owner back home has no problem with hiring people with disabilities to work at the store. I have not worked with anyone with a disability at all at my store down here. This may be because no one with a disability has applied. But if I ever own a business, I want to help people with disabilities with my business to the utmost of my ability.

I am surprised that I have not found any more chances to become friends with people who have disabilities. I know a couple people in college who have disabilities but I have not met that many. I am not sure why this is. Maybe they aren’t allowed into college or they don’t apply to college. But there should be more of them who should be allowed to come to places Texas A&M.

I have to write my proposal for the rhetorical analysis paper over the weekend and I am not sure what I am going to do yet. I am thinking of doing either a song by my favorite artist or a documentary I just saw.

Election

Class yesterday was spent talking about the papers that we wrote over the weekend. It was an in depth discussion of two articles written about the cultural use of the word “retard”.  There were about two or three people who seemed to really understand rhetorical strategy and how to analyze it. It is cool to hear their opinions and how they are developing their opinions. But I think the other people in the class should have a chance to talk about what they wrote as well. I would say that 80% of the class barely says anything at all. They need to speak up! Two or three people who are more vocal than the rest of the class shouldn’t dominate the conversation.

It is election time. Everybody seems to be talking about the election and whose party is going to get elected. I haven’t voted and I don’t think I will. I don’t know anything about any of the candidates and I feel like I shouldn’t vote unless I am educated about what is going on. People on facebook are ranting about how their party is going to win this election and what not. It gets pretty annoying. My parents are pretty staunch Republicans but I have turned out to be pretty neutral when it comes to politics. It makes me sad to see people put so much hope in political candidates, parties, and our government in general. Candidates will fail, parties will let down, and the government is unable to fix anything.

So why do we rant so much about our parties and their goals? There has been tremendous change in America due to politics and our government. Yet, things are still broken. We have gotten better. But new problems are springing up like weeds. Some old problems, like racism, are just lurking beneath the surface now. Still, Americans place their hopes and fears in the hands of a candidate or party every two years. And life still ends up hurting us. I’m all for voting. We are blessed to live in a land where we can voice our opinions through elections. I personally think democracy works better than a dictatorship. I am just not going to put my hope in some political party’s campaign for change in my life.

It was awesome to see President Obama get elected two years ago. Getting to see the first black president get elected was a unique moment in my life. But has Obama really enacted that much change in our lives? I understand that I am young and taxes and whatnot are not a major worry in my life yet. It is just that with every President major life change will not come. We are going to have problems in this world until Jesus comes back. Even if a President or Congress enacted “sweeping” changes where everybody in America was rich, successful, healthy, or whatever else voters desire, we cannot escape the fact that we have major flaws as humans since our break with God. Politics cannot fix the chasm that sin has brought into our lives.

I am not sure if I will ever vote. My parents will get onto me about voting if I don’t. If I don’t vote, I don’t think it will affect me at all. My hope isn’t based on parties and politics anyway. They can’t save me and never will be able to. I hope Christ opens the eyes of my peers and contemporaries to see this truth. Because it seems with each election, Americans put politics on a higher pedestal than before. If you say you will run to Canada or Mexico if your party loses power, I think it is time you have a heart check. Because what you really want from politics is the fulfillment of your desire to be included on the winning side of things. You can’t bear the thought of the opposite party taking power and running things differently.

It is now officially fall in Texas. It’s about time! I think I said something like this in one of my blogs a few weeks ago. But then the weather became warmer so I had to change my stance. It is official now. I hope.

We had a sub in class yesterday. Which was really different. I think that was the first sub I have ever had in college. It felt like high school all over again because the sub knew nothing about what we had to cover. But she was treated respectfully unlike in high school.

            So apparently I was one of the four people who had actually read the reading for the class. Which made it really awkward when we had to talk about the reading in class. People were saying that the online library wouldn’t let them access the book but I never had a problem. So who knows?

            We also turned in our papers in class. Two papers down and two to go!

            Well we are halfway through the semester and almost to November! It is kinda crazy to think about it. College has gone by too quick. It seems like I moved into my dorm yesterday. But here I am a year later and almost done with the first semester of sophomore year.

            I am half excited for November and half not looking forward to it. You see, my birthday is in November, which means I will no longer be a teenager. I will be turning 20, which equals that I am old. Noooooo! I also think that being alive another year has been a blessing and more than I deserve. I hope that I can make it home for my birthday. Last year my parents surprised me and came to College Station for my birthday. That was the greatest gift I got last year. Seeing them was so awesome.

            My sister has officially committed to a college to play basketball. And it’s all the way in Massachusetts! Which is crazy! I am so happy for her that she will get a full ride scholarship to play a sport she loves. Massachusetts is so far away though. Once she starts there, I won’t get to see her very much. College athletes have to stay at their college pretty much year round to practice and take classes. I am going to miss her! Her coach there says that she will try to schedule a game in Texas every year so hopefully I can see her play every now and then.

            I think it will be a culture shock for her when she first arrives in Massachusetts because we have both grown up in Texas our whole lives. The Northeast is very different from the South. She should enjoy college up there though. Winters will be a shock for her though! I can’t even imagine the amount of snow they get up there. Snow is pretty abnormal down here. When we do get, it only amounts to a small amount that melts within a day at most.

            Speaking of snow, I am ready for winter. It has been too hot and humid for too many months. I want sweatshirt weather! Although I’m sure I will be yearning for summer in the middle of December when it is incredibly cold and I can’t feel my hands. Oh well, that is how it goes here in Texas!

            Last year I really didn’t like the cold. My car was parked in West Campus while my dorm was in the Commons. So I had a five-minute bike ride or a 10-minute walk to my car every time I had to go somewhere. I usually could not feel my hands by the time I reached my garage. It was not fun at all. This year I am wondering how cold our winter will be. I will be prepared this year! I don’t want my hands to freeze off this year. I noticed a large amount of birds on West Campus yesterday so I am expecting colder weather soon since those birds were probably migrating. I better get my winter stuff ready.

            Although I wouldn’t mind some nice fall weather before winter hit. We will see!

Roberts and Rahul

In class last Wednesday we talked about the article we read. It was about a student who had polio and successfully attended University of California-Berkeley. It was an interesting article and it covered an area of our history I have never learned about.

In the article, it talked about the difficulties Roberts faced in going to the university. I can’t imagine a world without the changes in our infrastructure that the Americans with Disabilities Act brought about. As far back as I can remember there have been curb cuts and other amenities for people who have a disability. I never knew that was a time in modern America where people with a disability couldn’t move in our cities in towns as they wished.

Our society definitely is not interested in serving people with disabilities. One quote from class reading for Oct. 25^th really struck me. The reading stated, “we all have disabilities” (or something close to that). I totally agree with this. Nobody is “normal” in our world. Everybody has something broken about him or her, though it may not be physical. But we all want to put on this air that we are perfect and nothing is wrong with us at all. It’s just not true.

I believe everyone knows that something has gone terribly wrong with us. But people don’t want to give up the false impression that everything is ok. So we hide our faults behind a curtain of flawless confidence. And we ignore people with disabilities. We know life wasn’t supposed to be like this. We weren’t supposed to be flawed. But we sinned and creation was cursed.

I’m as guilty as the rest. I haven’t known that many people who have a physical or mental disability. I’m sure I have judged or stared at some in the past. I’m broken and dirty and messed up. So I’ll ask forgiveness from Jesus and press on in life knowing that Jesus deeply loves everyone, including people with disabilities. I don’t think you can read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life without being struck by his tenderness towards the people society didn’t care about. The lepers, people with physical disabilities, and others who didn’t fit in to the Jewish culture of the day were all accepted by Jesus.

So although I am messed up, I will press on and seek to love my neighbor, including those with disabilities who I run across in my life. We are all disabled spiritually before Jesus. And his heart breaks for the disability that sin has wrought in our lives. I will disagree with our American culture that subversively spreads the message that people with disabilities are subhuman. Not true at all. They are just as much made in the image of God as everybody else.

I finally finished my final draft of my English paper. I think it is a pretty good paper over all. It was harder to write this paper than the first writing project because this one had to fit a pattern. I think the first paper was more interesting. This one was still a good introspective paper about how we connect to a global culture.

I had a funny moment last night when Rahul from class spotted me at work. He looked a little surprised which was funny. I now know that he likes Cherry Coke. And spicy chicken sandwiches. Which will be good for future bribes. Not really but it was still good to see him at work. He is a pretty funny guy and I’m sure that he will make a joke about it on Monday. But don’t worry Rahul, I will come prepared.

England and What Not

I read two rough drafts in class today, Marilea’s and Hammad’s. They were excellently written papers. Definitely better than mine! Marilea’s paper was about her heritage of being Lutheran. Hammad’s was centered on his international background and how it has formed him as a person. Papers like those are easier to write as a student and easier to read as a peer editor. I like hearing people’s stories. They are much more interesting than an academic paper.

Hammad’s story was unique because he is an international student from Saudi Arabia. I think that is so cool! His paper was intriguing to me because of how different his life has been from my experience as an American. His three places were his hometown in Saudi Arabia; Beirut, Lebanon; and College Station, USA.

His paper made me wish to have more international experience. I have been to three nations outside of America. They are Canada, Mexico, and Belize. My grandparents live in Canada so I have been there 3 or 4 times in my life. Canada is really similar to America. They have British backgrounds which is readily apparent. Although it is awesome that in Canada the 2^nd language is French instead of English! I think it would have been cool to learn French instead of Spanish in school!

I have been to Mexico a total of 3 times. Two times for a mission trip in middle school and once for a cruise with my family. I really enjoy Mexico and I wouldn’t mind living there at all. I think Spanish is a beautiful language and I hope to be fluent in it one day. I am not exactly sure why I am so attracted to Mexico and Latin America in general. I have been for most of my life. When I was younger, I read many books about missionaries to Latin America and wanted to follow their path there. I enjoy the life in Mexico. In some places it is very similar to Western culture but in other places it is very different. The culture in Mexico has a long history and as a result has a very important place among Mexicans. Their festivals and celebrations are very different than the traditions we have here in America. I have a friend who went to Mexico City for language school instead of going to college her first semester. I think that is awesome. I would highly enjoy doing that.

Reading these papers whose topics are tied into the greater international culture makes me want to travel. After much consideration, I think Europe is my number one choice of places to go to. The history there would be amazing to see. To narrow it down, I really want to visit England. They have such a more colorful history than America and I think their accents are funny. One of the things I would want to do in England would be to see a “football” game there. I would want to see if it would be comparable to an aggie football game here. Probably not but it would be worth a try.

Besides England, Germany would be my second choice of a place to visit. My grandmother is German and I would really like to see how life is in Germany. I would like to visit the town she is from and see what it is like. I think I still have distant relatives there so I would want to visit them. Of course like any sane person, I want to drive on the Autobahn. That would be fun. Dangerous. But very fun. I think it would be cool to learn German and then visit Germany. Visiting a nation is always more enjoyable if you can communicate with the locals.

Hopefully one day I will get the opportunity to visit these nations. It would be an amazing experience! Until then, I have a lot of work to do on learning languages and getting through college.

Columbus Day

So today was Columbus Day during English class. Most of our discussion centered around that topic and its repercussions in our times. I didn’t even know it was Columbus day till yesterday when my parents told me that my sister had school off today. I didn’t even know Columbus Day was worthy of no school. Except for us poor aTm students. I was surprised Ms.Wheeler made a big deal about the day. I have never heard anyone even analyze the day and why we celebrate it. I think it would be interesting to hear the background of Columbus Day and why we celebrate it in the first place. I don’t see why it is a holiday. Columbus doesn’t have anything to do with America.

“tomorrow our nation celebrates the life and "accompishments" of the man responsible for the mass murder, rape, and forced dislocation of many natives. he was also a heroin addict and aided in the spread of syphilis between the continents. America, what exactly are we teaching our children? Or, rather, what are we not teaching them?” I saw this quote as a facebook status after I got back from class and I feel it is in agreement with the mood of class. I know that much of the history that has been fed to me is slanted and biased on many levels but sometimes you don’t realize it until later in life. I’m pretty sure that if Christopher Columbus was alive today he would be as vilified as Paris Hilton (well hopefully he wouldn’t be a hero at the least). America looks at him as a model man because he fits America’s agenda. Ourselves.

This is just another example of how we put people on a pedestal to further ourselves. Even our heroes have secret sins that too often are covered up. Our history could truly be told like it occurred if we accepted that people are flawed beings in need of a Savior. Because then we wouldn’t have a need to cover up the Holocaust so we could feel better about ourselves. We would be free to tell the stories of all the rape and pillaging that American soldiers have done that isn’t found in our textbooks at all. If we continue to think we have to cover up our mistakes so we will look “perfect”, then it will continue to come back and bite us.

After thinking today about Columbus Day, I don’t think we have a legitimate reason to celebrate it. Unless mass genocide is the fashion. Why don’t we have a day for the Native Americans who got their land and often their lives taken? I say we rename Columbus Day “the day that Native Americans were brutally destroyed by white westerners Day”. Let’s see you take off school now. Honestly, Columbus Day must have been somebody’s excuse for taking off a day of work in October. There is no reason for it at all. As far as I know Germany doesn’t have a Holocaust Day. So sorry Mr. Columbus, I don’t think your holiday means anything.

Honestly, most of our holidays seem kinda random and pointless anyway. St. Patrick’s Day? Beer and wearing green. Halloween? Candy and costumes. Christmas? Easter is WAY more important which makes Christmas an excuse for businesses to make a profit. Even Valentine’s Day seems pointless to me. (Don’t kill me ladies I didn’t mean it!)

I would be perfectly fine with changing Columbus Day to Native American Day and having school off then. J Maybe by the time my children are in school! But I think it is definitely a good thing to evaluate the cultural traditions we have and the reasons behind them. If we did then we might reconsider our hypocritical stance on our history.

Isaac's Storm

Class was a discussion about how we are connected to the global culture at large in some way. Isaac’s Storm was used to illustrate this. In a way, the hurricane at Galveston was connected to global happenings. It most likely had its start close to Africa and affected several international nations or citizens of those nations.

This makes me think of how I am connected globally to people I may never have met. I have lived in Texas all my life. However, I have been outside the United States several times. I buy products everyday from other countries. I have friends who are immigrants to the U.S. from other countries. I even attend a university that has at least one international branch.

So everyday I have contact with someone or something that originated outside of my nation. We seem to have more outside contact than any generation before us. My first thought is that this phenomenon first started 200 years ago as sea trade and colonization was in its full swing. But I think nations have always been part of the global community at large. The amount of contact has exploded, however, in the information age. Anyone can access news, blogs, websites, etc. from other countries in a few clicks of the internet. It is really amazing if you think about it.

For example, I have a friend who is studying abroad in Italy this semester. I cannot call him. But thanks to technology, I can facebook him at any time or skype him occasionally. It is insane how we can keep in touch with distant friends. We are apart of a global culture.

Yet it seems that we are more individualistic than ever. I don’t think there will ever be anything close to a “global” nation. Some people seem to think so. But it seems that all of this available interaction with the world mostly causes us to withdraw further into our own nation’s protective culture circle. Millions are enslaved each year yet we don’t take the time to help even though tons of resources are available to us.

Part of the problem for our seeming withdrawal from a deeper interaction with the world is in my opinion from differences in culture or pride. Take for example the case of Google in China. It was a big news story earlier this year about how Google pulled its business out of China because the Chinese government was hacking Google’s databases to obtain information on Chinese bloggers. I think this is a main example of culture differences. In America, if the government attempted to control private life in such a manner, there would be an out roar. So Google being an American company, pulled out of China.

I am not sure of what I am going to write my paper on. I am thinking that I may write it on one of my favorite music artists. So far I don’t have any other ideas. I want to write a creative one but it will be hard to connect my favorite artist with the global culture. It should be an interesting project though.

Isaac’s Storm was a poorly written book in my opinion. I didn’t like it very much. The author spent way too much time on the build up to the hurricane. His prose was boring and nothing special. We talked in class about how the book was very biased toward Isaac Cline. I would like to read another book written from another perspective on the disaster that struck Galveston.

Still, it was nice to read a book about a disaster that I have heard about but I have never found out the details. I am glad this is the only book that we will have to read this year.

The Day There Was No Class

So here goes a random blog entry because we didn’t have English class yesterday! Hello one and all.  So as previously mentioned we didn’t have English class yesterday. This taught me an excellent life lesson. Always. Check. Your. Email. Before. You. Go. To. Class. I had the wonderful privilege of showing up for class when it was canceled. Which wasn’t so bad except it took an hour out of my day driving to campus and walking to class. But hey, I’m actually fine with it. It was a beautiful day outside and I really don’t mind that I showed up to a canceled class. It is actually pretty funny.  So now I am going to write my blog about whatever the heck I can think up since we didn’t have class.

            Well, I found an interesting article on CNN last week that made me sick. The article was about recent findings that stated despicable things about U.S. scientific experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s. Basically, Americans intentionally infected Guatemalans with STDs in order to study the affects of the diseases on humans. Disgusting. I don’t understand how we as a country have disregarded human rights on so many levels. But yet you will not read about this case in history books and you probably never will. As a country, we love to portray this image that we are the bright shining model for the rest of the world. Sorry but not true Lady America. We need to stop covering up our wrong doings and pretending like we are a moral example for the world. At least President Obama apologized to Guatemala for the human rights violations that occurred. What really pissed me off though was the types of Guatemalans that were intentionally infected. They were prisoners, prostitutes and other “lower” class people. I am pretty sure the American scientists just wanted to experiment on the “trash” of society somewhere other than here. I would be severely mad if I found out this happened here in America. But this takes it to a whole new level when we interfere with the citizens of another sovereign nation.

            This incident just is another example of how if you put your trust in something other than Jesus it will fail you. America is some people’s savior. They think that their ideas about government or civic duty will change everything in existence and life will be fine. Yeah right. But our nation is continually bombarded with subterfuge that the Democrats or Republicans will save America and we need to put our hope in their platform. It just doesn’t work. The government’s job is to keep order not save people from their lives.

            I honestly don’t care about politics that much. It doesn’t make that much difference in my life for the most part. However, living in the South I understand that most people are conservative Republicans. By definition that means they do not like President Obama. Not like may be too nice of a term. Regardless, I have heard many Christians bashing Obama. They really don’t have anything to back up their view other than Obama is aligned with the Democratic party. I think more Christians need to read this quote Obama made last week about why he is a Christian. “It was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead -- being my brother's and sister's keeper, treating others as they would treat me," he said. "And I think also understanding that, you know, that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings -- that we're sinful and we're flawed and we make mistakes, and that we ... achieve salvation through the grace of God." (Yahoo News, 9/18/10) That is pretty much the Gospel in a nutshell. We are flawed and we need God to save us. I wish people would stop bashing other people without knowing their background. Tough love may be needed but it is love nonetheless.

Location. Or who i am.

Class discussion today was good, if a little off topic at times. But I feel that I learn more from class discussions than from lectures. We are all participants in the learning process and it keeps me interested. I can learn from 20 people instead of just 1 person, the teacher. The teacher only has one view and background while we have 20x that in one classroom. Our discussions on location have been very enlightening.

            Last class we talked more about our similar location as being students at Texas A&M University. Being an aggie comes with many preconceptions. We are portrayed as spirited fans of our university. Many people look at us as a pseudo cult. One of my high school teachers who graduated from A&M, told me that I was in the aggie cult now! I was a little weirded out at first. I enjoy the traditions but I am not that hard core of an aggie. I like the traditions and sports here but it is not the highlight of my A&M experience. It is definitely the people here. After the first year, I have found some friends who will probably be the best men in my wedding. There are a couple of guys who will stick with me for life. That is way more important than traditions or sports any day.

            So being an aggie, I get stereotypes thrown at me all the time. Even my parents throw aggie jokes at me. Such as that aggies are dumb. Most people think that being an aggie I am threatened with entrance to the Corp if my grades drop. I laugh at their misconceptions.

            The main topic of class was how our location impacts who we are. I feel this is true to some extent. My life would probably look very different if my house was located even a mile away from its current locations. It is crazy to think of all the possibilities that can happen. Being an aggie, my location impacts me in the people I hang out with, the friends I have, and the story I am currently telling with my life.

            I am from Plano, Texas and I think my story would be radically different if I was even from neighboring cities, such as Allen or Mckinney. It is interesting to think of one’s story and how location has been an integral part of it. Even if I had gone to a different high school in the same town, it would have led to my life telling a different story. I may have gone to a different college. I know my friends would have been different and I most likely would not have been able to play sports or been part of the activities I participated in. I don’t really think about alternative situations like this a lot because there is no point. Christ is in control of my life and I don’t need to worry about where I am going or where I could have been. I am where He wants me to be and that is good enough for me.

But my location does not shape my identity in everyway. I am a follower of Jesus first and an aggie second. Before Jesus changed my life, I was always afraid of changing locations or going where my location did not give me a secure identity. But now, I am loved my Heavenly Father wherever I am. My location does not affect who I am. The locations of this world will let us down. They are never permanent. If I put my most treasured identity as that of an aggie, it will destroy me. There will come a time when people will not care that I am an aggie. Many of classmates will be hurt emotionally when they leave college because they have placed their self worth in being an aggie or in some identity connected with this campus. So location can be a huge influence in people’s identities but the most important location someone can have is being located in Christ’s love because it will not change.

           

             

hello. this is a blog.

English class occurred as usual in Blocker 106. Which correlates with the main point of class that location is an important part of stories. Facebook was the main discussion feature of the day. It is interesting to hear how facebook affects all of us. Almost everybody in class joined in the discussion of how facebook as a location changes our stories.

            One of the best points of class was how people act different on facebook than real life. I agree with this statement. Facebook for some people is simply a place to take your image and mold it to how you would like it to be. For example, I have a friend who is constantly updating his status and profile pic on facebook. I love them dearly as a friend. But seeing her have a different profile pic every week is a little strange. It seems to me that she dearly wants attention and can’t settle down. So facebook as a location is part of her story of wanting attention.

            I deleted my facebook last summer and only recently got it back. The reason I deleted it is because I didn’t feel like I was being honest enough on facebook and spent too much time on it. It was nice in some regards to not have a facebook over the summer. I did not have to check it often. However, it was also difficult to not have a facebook though. Most of my college friends live fairly far away from me. Although I had the ability to call or text them, I did not keep in touch with them in the same I could have if I had a facebook. So facebook as a location in my life exists as a tool to keep in touch with my friends.

            One of the reasons I love facebook is because I enjoy the opportunity to get my thoughts out of my brain and out into the public. Most of the time, I use facebook as an outlet for what is on my mind. I like posting song lyrics, Bible verses, or what I am learning in my walk with Christ. Facebook is a pseudo blog for me. I don’t always get to tell people the deep things I am pondering and I use facebook for that purpose.

            I am interested to see if we continue this conversation on facebook and how it changes our stories. I think my life would have been a little different up to this point if I did not have a facebook in high school and leading up to now. There would have been many events I would have missed because I wouldn’t have been invited on facebook. Because I missed those events, I probably would not have met some of my friends and that would change things greatly. One of my closest friends I met solely through facebook. Without facebook, it is highly unlikely that I would have become friends with him.

            I also got to present my project in class. It wasn’t a very long presentation but I covered all the basics. As I expected, my Dutch pancake was very moldy. But Ms. Wheeler said she had a piece and I didn’t expect that. I didn’t try it because I wasn’t sure if it was edible. Guess it was though! I really liked Colton’s (?) project. He had a Corps’ shoe from his days spent in there. He explained how it represented him including how the metal plate on the heel was reminiscent of the plate in his arm now.

            People are really creative and this project shows it. Many people blew me away with their theorizing on their project. I think the next project will show the class more about their classmates. Some of the stories from the first writing project will probably show up on people’s maps. I am looking forward to doing it.

Presentation Day

Class seemed to go by really short today because many of the people had interesting projects and great stories to share. I would have never guessed some that some of the people had been through so much! It took a lot of bravery to share what they shared. I appreciate that they shared the amount that they did because they could have kept their stories short but we wouldn’t have learned about them to the extent that we did. I don’t know my classmate’s name but he shared a poignant story about two car wrecks in his life that have had a huge impact on his view of the world. You could tell his creation meant a great deal to him and he put a lot of thought into it. Bo also had a great story. I had read his paper already so I knew what it was about. His explanation of his OCD was interesting and extremely helpful to understand what it is like to be afflicted with its symptoms.

I also enjoyed Hammad’s presentation. He is a funny guy and one of the friends I am gaining in the class. His jersey was very creative and shared a great story about his love of soccer. The two international students in our class are very intriguing to me. I think they are cool people. It is fun to hear their stories of where they are from and how different they think Texas is. Their projects reflect how unique they are while still retaining a part of our shared cultures.

Unfortunately, I did not get to present my project. Which is bad because my creation is edible and I do not know if it will last until Monday. It is a little disappointing I didn’t get to present today. I loved hearing everyone else’s stories but some of them took a long time. So we will see how it goes on Monday. There were probably 10 to 13 other people who didn’t get to present. I’m sure that everything will work out though.

I am glad that the first writing project is out of the way though. ¼ of the way done! This project didn’t even seem like an English project, which was nice. I am wondering what the next project will be about though.

Michael’s (?) project was well done too. He had a cool poster where he placed pictures and contradicting words on it to illustrate major events in his life. He was in the military and served in Iraq. So he incorporated that into his project with pictures and maps of Iraq. He brings a different perspective to class, which is appreciated.

Everyone listened during the presentations, which was very respectful I think. It would be great if everyone had the chance to share more of their stories with their classmates. Texas A&M needs a class where the only thing that happens is people share their stories. I would definitely take that class. It would be sweet to learn about my classmates. Because I barely know the names of most of my classmates, let alone get to know them. I feel like I have a bond with some of the people in my English class because I know some of their stories. So if I every become the president of some university, you can count on a Share Your Story class being mandatory for all students!

I really want to ask some of my classmates’ questions about their stories. I want to know more details about their experiences. I also want some of the shy people to share more! They have great things to say if only they would get out there and say them. Some of the presentations by the more reserved classmates were really good! It is good that everyone gets to share so those people can share their stories too. Hopefully there are more good stories next class when the rest of the people get to share.

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010

Yesterday’s class was deep. Someone in my group correctly guessed that the “monster” question had to do with Ms. Wheeler’s disability research. It made me think more deeply about the moral dilemma of what to do with the “monsters.” It is interesting how people’s true sides come out during a discussion like the one we had. Some people say crazy things. Many off the wall statements were solely for shock value. People still had good things to say that were well thought out.

I was interested by Ms.Wheeler’s talk on her experience with her sister and how it affected her personally. I definitely have had not much life experience in this area. I do not know very many disabled people personally (if I know any at all). It is heartbreaking to hear of the atrocities committed against people simply because they have disabilities.  Many of things are easily preventable if people simply accepted that disabled people are people too.

The main thing running through my mind during class was how the answer to the mentioned dilemmas is simple but not popular. Jesus is the cure to the world’s problems. Without Christ there is no basis for advocating treating people with respect. I cannot see how someone can advocate treating disabled people better without having their basis grounded in Christ. Without Christ, the only foreseeable end is hopelessness. In Christ, human beings have their worth as created, loved beings, regardless of their physical or mental capabilities.  In a postmodern culture, where truth is relative, there is no rhyme or reason for being respectful of people’s differences and to me the logical conclusion is that people will lose their worth as beings created in God’s image.

Class also made me ponder why people would do and say such things to disabled people. I would classify some of the things as pure evil. I think it just goes to show how depraved we really are. We as humans are capable of some completely evil things. Me included. I am fully capable of treating someone as subhuman just as humans have done in the past. Most of the time, I think most of us are scared of the evil we know we are capable of so we hide in our illusions that everything is fine. But while that happens, other people are getting their rights taken away. What would happen if we all stopped letting these atrocities happen right beside us every day?

There are many different opinions in class on this subject and it would be great to have a discussion on this.

I was amazed that my group came to a consensus fairly quickly on the monster dilemma. I thought that we wouldn’t be in agreement when time ran out. Only one person disagreed with what the group thought which was a miracle. Coming up with a definition of a “monster” was way harder though. We honestly didn’t come up with a real team definition. I feel that we almost all disagreed on it. Everybody just has a different background and history and because of that they would come up with a different definition of a monster. I personally wanted to go with something more along the lines of an animal but the group did not agree. Which is ok as long as the group agreed on something.

Last class gave me a broader view on the issues surrounding our neighbors with disabilities. The most I hear about this in school is usually the Americans with Disabilities Act. But nothing more is mentioned. I will be keeping an eye out to see what kind of abuses I can see in my life and how I can change this epidemic through my life.

The Day of Peer Edit

In class peer review day was a joy to attend. I think most professors could learn a thing or two from Ms. Wheeler. I really enjoy English class because of how different learning styles are incorporated into the class. It isn’t all lecture and note taking. Usually I do not like having peers review my papers in classes but it was a good time today. Some of the stuff they said to me was hard to take but I swallowed my pride and respectfully considered what they said. I believe I will have a better writing project after the day.

            One person who was reviewing my paper took a different viewpoint than mine. Honestly, at first I did not agree with what they said. However, after a while I could see where they were coming from. So I will at least look at what they suggested I change about my paper and I might end up changing it. This incident humbled me because I realized I tend to think that the way I do things is right. Even though I spent a good amount of time on my rough draft, I need to humble myself and accept criticism. It will help me in the long run.

            The whole peer editing part was tedious. I’m sure everyone will have a more complete final product because of it but people were definitely sighing during class.

The two papers I edited were good papers. I enjoyed reading them although one of them was a little incoherent. But with a little work the author will get a good grade.  Underlining everything was annoying and it is hard to find people’s main points. It is most likely because this paper was not a research or commentary style paper.

            Along those lines, I really like this assignment because it is outside the box. I expected this class to be boring and accordingly have boring assignments. Well having an introspective writing project along with being allowed to create something is very interesting. I like writing about myself. I don’t get to talk about myself that much. So getting an introspective paper assigned is a plus. Presentations on the project should be very interesting next Wednesday.

            Having music being played during class is awesome. It makes class that much better. Plus the fact that students get to call out songs is out of this world. It just blows my mind that a teacher would be that cool and nice to us. It is very unusual to say the least. I love doing work and listening to music so having the music playing helped me do a better job on my peer reviews.

            I am enjoying making friends in the class. I got to talk with Bo for about 45 minutes before class today and he is a very cool kid. Because we talked so long, I got to peer edit his paper. We talked about his OCD before class and how it was the topic of my paper. Then when I read his paper I felt that I understood his condition more. Unfortunately I did not get to proof read Rahul’s paper. I hope that he has a great presentation next week.

            For my object, I am going to cook a Dutch pancake, which is a traditional German breakfast food. I have not cooked one yet. Hopefully I don’t have any problems with it. I feel that I made a pretty good connection with my object and the story about myself. I usually am not artistic and this is definitely a win for Nate. Now the fun part will be cooking it then hauling it across campus a week from today.

            I have found what I hope to be my seat for the rest of the year. The back left corner if your are facing the back wall. Marilea sits over there, as well as Hammad and Rahul. They are all fun to talk to. I like asking them how their days are going. Its looks like this might be my favorite class of the semester.

9/13

Today in class I learned the importance of taking into account the unexpected that occurs in life. I had done my rough draft on Sunday and thought I had my idea for my writing project 1 solidified. However, seeing the past projects in class changed my mind. I needed to make something that had a deeper meaning than the one I had planned. So midway through class I mentally changed the subject of my paper. Which means I will have to write a new rough draft but I am happy with that.

Originally I was going to do my story on a weekend trip to Houston I had with a good friend Zac back in 2009.  Along with telling that story, I was going to create a photo collage of memories from the weekend But after seeing the example projects, a photo collage seems a little elementary and shallow. It probably would have been an ok grade but I felt that I needed to create something with more depth.  When Raul mentioned that he had been all over the world, it occurred to me that I have a unique heritage. My Indian grandpa met and married my grandma, who is German, in Canada. I have a dark skin complexion because of this and people have trouble guessing my ethnicity. For my creation, I want to mix an Indian recipe or spice with a German recipe to illustrate my heritage.

I feel that I always learn something new in class. Seeing the past projects was really interesting. People can be so creative. However, that is usually not I. But I enjoyed how people took a part of them and transferred it to their creation. Some of the creations were not the best art I have seen. But the owners are probably super proud of it and it means something special to them. Even if I can’t make an emotional or aesthetic connection to it.  The ones that are unique are the ones that are remembered not the ones that are neat and beautiful.

English class has never been my favorite class. I am not naturally creative. I’m pretty cut and dry when it comes to art. I appreciate good art, especially music, but I can’t create it. This project is good for me. I don’t have to be super creative. All I have to do is use my life experiences or stories and connect those to whom I am using the bridge of something I create.  This is better for me because I am pretty good at making connections between whom I am and my life experiences.

This class is different from most of my classes because I get to learn about my classmates. Usually I will learn my classmates’ names and nothing more. However, in English class I get to learn about people’s backgrounds and feelings. During discussion we get to discover that the people around us are very unique and come from varying backgrounds. Two people in the class are international students and are the first international students I have met at A&M.  They have very different experiences from most of the other students, who are Texas born and raised. It just goes to show that life in America isn’t the only way to live life. Hammad is one of the international students. He is from Saudi Arabia. He is a very cool kid and he speaks English very well. So far that is one of the big things I have learned through class. The English language is now spoken worldwide. It is crazy to think that our language and culture has spread like that. It feels that we are over domineering as an American people and our imperialistic tendencies are spread further than we think. I hope our generation realizes this before it is too late.  Talking with Hammad has given me a unique perspective. I hope that this class continues to give me insight on cultural issues like this and how interesting the people around me are.

Stories

I found our class discussion on stories intriguing because I have semi recently read a book about how we as humans are stories and we should pay attention to the stories that we are living.  The name of the book is A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and the author, Donald Miller, wrote about his view that we all should consider how to live better stories. The book illustrates this through autobiographical stories from Donald’s life. Donald states that all good stories have a conflict where the main character wants to achieve or obtain some goal.  Personally, I find that the main idea of the book, that we are living stories, parallels the excerpts from King’s book that we read.  I was thinking of how these theories relate to my life. It made me think of some of the stories that I have told with my life. Some of the stories bring back a smile and a fuzzy memory. Others make me wince and feel regretful.

Freshman year feels like it was a bunch of stories that intertwined to create one big memory. Most of the memories involve my friends and I laughing. To the point of insanity. One particular story led to the big story of my 2^nd semester. This story occurs in the wonderful month of November on a normal weekday. I came back from class to discover my roommate Daniel and my friend Ziggy with tear soaked shirts. After a few quick inquiries, I found that they had uncovered the worst smell known to man. Apparently our suitemate had forgotten about a cookie tin full of muffins that his mother had given him back in August. And we were right in the middle of November. Ziggy had inadvertently opened the cookie tin and found out the hard way what happens when 3 months of interrupted decomposition is let loose on the nostrils. Needless to say, the stench was unbearable. A few minutes later, I arrived in the room and was told that it was absolutely necessary that I smell the toxic muffins. Several seconds later, there was a college freshman on the ground gagging.

Fortunately the story does not end there. While Ziggy was in the bathroom, I decided it would be hilarious to place the opened muffin tin in the bathroom and lock him in.  Screams ensued from the bathroom. Poor Ziggy couldn’t breathe the smell was so bad. So needing to salvage my reputation as a good friend, I attempted to put the cover back on the moldy muffins. However, I couldn’t get any closer than three feet without involuntarily gagging and retreating away. For 15 minutes we all attempted to dispose of the muffins while retaining our lunch. But the attempts were to no avail. By this time I was 40 feet down the hall from our room gagging on the floor because the smell was so bad. By that time, we were making quite a commotion and our RA came to our room. Being two years older than us and more mature, she quickly took the situation and remedied it by kicking the offensive muffin tin down to the hall trash can. Although the smell lingered in our room for several hours and half of a can of Febreeze had to be used to make our quarters livable again.

The story still makes me laugh today and I slightly gag when I smell Febreeze because it reminds me of that day. But this small, seemingly insignificant story played a large part in the 2^nd half of my freshman year story. Because of the muffin incident, I became better friends with Ziggy and joined his fraternity in the spring semester. I met some of my closest friends through the fraternity. That is why I like this story because it reminds me of my small stories will become parts of my big stories.

About Me

I suppose if I really wanted to let a person know about me I could spout some meaningless statistics. Like I am a 6’1 Caucasian male born and raised in Texas. I graduated number 6 in my high school class. I attend Texas A&M and am currently in my sophomore year.  Almost a junior by hours, I continue on my plan to obtain a degree in Finance from the Mays Business School. But the statistics are a mere shell of who I really am.

My name is Nate Mital and I am extremely blessed to be alive and attending Texas A&M. When I am not at school, I live with my parents in Plano, a Dallas suburb. I absolutely love my little sister and wish I didn’t have to go to school so far away from her. She is a senior in high school and recently committed to Southern Miss to play basketball.  That made me so proud and I am excited that Southern Miss plays the University of Houston every year so I can see her play. My parents are hard working people who are very active in my life. My dad graduated from Louisiana State University with a double major and currently works for the cellphone division of Samsung. My creative mom, a Texas Tech graduate, is starting her first year as a school teacher in the Frisco, Texas school district. Now that I am in college I love spending time with them and wish that I had spent more time with them when I was younger. But they are very enjoyable to talk with when I get the chance!

I guess since this is a blog about me I should actually talk about me. Well, my name is Nate. I enjoy listening to good music and working out. I recently have gotten into folk music and hardcore music at the same time. I know. It’s strange. But by far my favorite genre of music is Christian rap. My favorite artist, Lecrae, is coming out with his fourth album on the 28^th of this month. I am pretty sure I am a fan of Christian rap because I got tired of the meaningless lyrics of mainstream artists. They all sound alike. For the most part it’s the same message with different beats. In the same vein of entertainment, I do not enjoy movies that much. Now there are some exceptions to this statement. But most Hollywood movies are poorly filmed, acted, and have shallow stories, in my opinion. However, every now and then a movie like Inception comes out and gives me hope for the industry.

In regards to my friends, I feel that I have some great friends here and when I can hang with them I look forward to it. I am a introvert so I can spend much time reading books or spending time alone which isn’t bad but I have to balance that with social time. I was in a small Christian fraternity last semester but decided about midway through pledgeship that I was definitely not a frat boy. So this semester I will be branching out in different directions in regards to organizations.

I also have an inner nerd that doesn’t come out to play very much. Nonetheless, I enjoy playing video games and reading books. I recently read an 800 page book about 19^th century English magic. Which automatically qualifies me as a nerd in front of my jock friends. They laugh at me because I like to read but it hasn’t stopped me from reading for 16 years so I think I will be good the rest of my life. I used to read many books about history and classic books such as the Count of Montechristo. Now, I read different stuff but I enjoy books about life and people’s experiences. It is hard to say what my favorite book ever is but I have read the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia too many times to count. Seriously its probably more than ten times for the CoN.

I hope after reading this you feel like you can understand and relate to me a little better!