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.