Final Paper

For my last paper I plan to write a play similar to the way Christopher Durang wrote "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls."  He wrote his play to mock The Glass Menagerie and I think I am going to write a play that mocks "The Doll House". I think that it will be interesting to make a play like Durang about the doll house because there are many characters with flaws that will be easy to exaggerate. I want to keep the same kind of plot with a few changes and exaggerate the characters personalities. In my paper about the play I write, I will explain what the similarities are between my play and the Doll House and how I changed the characters as Durang did to the Glass Menagerie. 

Think about it...

For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls is a complete mockery of The Glass Menagerie. If you had not read or seen The Glass Menagerie then this play would have seemed pretty stupid because all of the jokes are about the characters from the previous play. All of their flaws are exaggerated and instead of being sad it is turned into a comedy. There are many examples of this such as, Laura had a set of glass animals which she cherished, Lawrence has a set of swizzel sticks that he has named completely idiotic names. Laura has a serious illness while Lawrence has a serious case of hypochondria. Tom brings over a girl for Lawrence that is a very rude, partially deaf, lesbian and Laura's date is a handsome gentleman that she had a crush on in school. In the glass menagerie, Tom is very reluctant to leave amanda and Laura but he wants to pursue his own dreams. In this play, Tom is mean to his amanda and lawrence and very quick to leave them with little guilt. Although the Glass Menagerie is sad and causes the audience to feel sympathy for all three of the characters, this play makes a mockery of Lawrence and it is easier to laugh at him than feel sorry for him. Although he seems to have a mental illness that he truly cannot get over, it is hard to want to help him because he is so whiney and annoying in the play. Even his mother doesn't try to help him she only tries to find someone to take care of him so that she doesn't have to. I did find the play to be funny at some points and I could appreciate it because I have read the Glass Menagerie. I think it would be even better to see it performed to truly understand how ridiculous Lawrence is in the play.

Good Grief!

I read an article about how oncology nurses deal with the grief of watching their patients suffer and then die. This particular hospital has a grief counselor center representative come to the hospital once a month to hold a meeting during the nurses' lunch time and talk to them about healthy ways to grieve and how to leave work at work. The struggle with this is that many times the nurses cannot go to the meeting because they are busy helping their patient or if they do attend then their phone keeps ringing with doctors or patients' family members asking for information or giving instructions. The nurses have different ways of dealing with their grief. "The Good Grief Center, leaving work at work, talking amongst ourselves -all these things lighten the burden of sadness. But ultimately what helps me the most is remembering why I come to work at all." Every nurses has to find what works for her when it comes to mourning patients. Some nurses so to the funerals or visitations of their patients, others have a moment of silence for them and move on to help the next patient.  Nurses deal with these emotions during work everyday. "Dealing with work at work needs to happen, too, and as nurses we confront death, and our own grief, in specific ways. We make crass, unrepeatable jokes that people not in the know can find shocking. It’s a defense mechanism, and we recognize the humor for the release it is. Sometimes we cry and get angry, swear loudly, drink too much when we get home, and tease each other mercilessly on the floor." These nurses have a very tough job and often think about how easier to would be to switch to career that did not deal with pain and dying everyday but in the end they all love what they do and they love the patients that they are so fortunate to spend time with.

Busy April

This past weekend was pretty exciting. A lot of my friends came and stayed with my in wilmington to go to the third eye blind concert, which was amazing. It was by the battleship and its was so pretty with the lights on the water. They played all the good songs and everybody was drunk. I got beer spilled on me twice and my feet stepped on multiple times. Third eye blind said that they have not released an album in 5 years, however they are planning to release one soon. There was crowd surfing and outrageously disgusting port-a-johns, the classic concert setting. Saturday my sorority had a sisterhood retreat and after that I went to cape carteret to be home for the rest of the weekend. This week is greek week and is so busy. Every day there are events and every night there is talent show practice, on top of dance company rehearsal. I have two tests this week and a research paper to work on. This seems to start the business of April, where every weekend if filled with some event. April is always so hectic but i love it because it means school is almost over. There are about 4 more weeks of school left which will fly by. Im so ready for summertime and no class. 

Nora Helmer

I think that Nora is a very complex person. She seems innocent and happy but it turns out that she is just the opposite. She is deceiving to her husband but in a way she is deceiving him so that he will not have to deal with the debt himself. She is scared of what will happen if he found out and does not want him to be ashamed that he had to use borrowed money. She allows her husband to call her pet names and talk to her like a child but tries to prove to Kristine that she is not a simple minded housewife like Torvald treats her. She is intelligent and capable of taking care of herself in the business world but is very pampered by her maids and husband. Nora has a good heart but has many flaws. She spends hardly any time with her children, lies to her husband about petty things such as eating candy, and she is obsessed with money. Just as many other people, she longs for security and to pay off her debt so that she will not have to worry anymore. She is very insecure with her huge debt and potential blackmail with Krogstad. She is definitely not someone that I would want to hang out with because she is so tricky and seems to have a charisma that easily fools people. 

Weekend

Last weekend was very fun and quite eventful. Friday I got my hair cut and colored which cost way more than I thought it would. Then my friend from high school in kinston came to wilmington and we went to one of our friend's house to celebrate him turning 21. There was a ton of people from kinston who I hadn't seen in a long time and it was really fun seeing everybody again. We all went down town to the cellar, which was really nice. And we met Peyton from One Tree Hill, everybody was freaking out but since I don't watch one tree hill I didn't get too excited about it but I did get my picture taken with her and promise to start watching it from season 1 this summer. Although the night later turned into drama, I still had a great time, probably due to the 7 or 8 yeager bombs consumed earlier. Saturday I went to the movies with my Big and saw He's just not that into you. It was so good and very funny. I loved it. Saturday night I went out with some of my friends and had an amazing time. Sunday I slept in for the first time in forever! Then I went to decorate my pledge class's rocking chair for Tri-Sigma. We all went out to eat then went to chapter. The SGA president candidates came to our meeting and talked to us. It was pretty funny listening to them try to win our votes. So at some point this week I'm going to vote for one of them. Although this past weekend was really fun, I know that this weekend is going to be even more amazing. My boyfriend is coming to WIlmington to hear Third Eye Blind with me Friday night, which should be pretty spectacular. Then saturday, after my sorority's sisterhood retreat, we're going to my home in cape carteret so I can see my family because I won't be able to go home for a few weeks after this weekend. Any way, Im in Biology so I should probably go take notes....

beauty

Today I wanted to write about the question: Is beauty more important than character?  I believe that the answer is no. It is ridiculous how much emphasis the world puts on being beautiful and looking perfect. People take drastic measures to perfect their body and make themselves look good. I don't mean that you shouldn't take care of yourself, I think everyone should try to look their best by putting on make-up or fixing their hair, but that doesn't mean going to get plastic surgery on your face because you don't like your nose, getting liposuction on your thighs because you don't like them, or getting a face lift at 60 because you have wrinkles. Your supposed to have wrinkles at 60, that's what is naturally supposed to happen. And getting liposuction will not do any good if you don't exercise and diet because you will gain it all back. You could have just gone on a diet and gone to the gym to lose it, and you would have saved thousands of dollars plus have put yourself through a lot less pain. Everyone should eat a healthy diet and exercise, but when you go to drastic extremes like surgery or starving yourself just to look good, that is when it is a problem. I saw in the news yesterday that a model in her 20's died a couple days ago from malnutrition. She was anorexic and weighed 88 pounds. That is completely absurd. Life isn't about seeing how little you can weigh. Everyone's body has a natural weight that it stays at if they eat right and exercise so you have to accept your weight and concentrate on being healthy, not on making sure all your ribs show in your bikini this summer. Although it is proven that people who are more attractive are more accepted by society, get better jobs, and are perceived as nicer than an average person, beauty does not compare to character. When you get old or if you get injured it doesn't matter how beautiful or skinny you were, all you have is your character.

April flowers

Instead of blogging earlier this morning, I was looking online for prom dresses. Yes I'm going to prom as a freshman in college. My boyfriend is one month younger than me and therefore he is a senior in high school this year. I went to prom my sophmore, jr., and sr. year so this will be my 4th time. I'm excited though because I get to hang out with all of my old friends and see everybody again. Prom dresses are sooo expensive so I'm trying to find one online that isn't $600 dollars. Not only do I get to go to prom again, but also the day before prom is my sorority's formal dance. So my boyfriend will come to wilmington friday and we'll go to formal, then we'll go to the high school he goes to in Kinston on Saturday to go to prom. Sounds like a weekend full of getting dressed up and going out to eat and taking pictures and drinking and dancing, probably in that order. Thankfully, the only person at formal that will be at prom is my boyfriend so I'll most likely wear the same dress. But I still have to get my hair done twice, go to the tanning bed, and get my nails painted. I guess its good to cram it all in one weekend so I don't have time to mess up my nails between the dances. I have a horrible habit of biting my nails but im trying to stop because thats how you get sick. I'm most excited about getting my wrist thing at prom with the flowers...i cant remember what its called...but i love them. And of course im more excited about spending the weekend with my boyfriend because thats something I rarely get to do.

Post-Spring Break

Unfortunately, spring break is over and its back to 8 a.m. classes and studying hard. I had a great time this past week being back at home. I hung out with lots of friends from my home town and got to see my boyfriend much more than usual. I danced in a dance competition Saturday in Durham and our group won a platinum metal for our dance. We also won several awards for it, so that was lots of fun. But the highlight of my spring break was going to Onslow Hospital to observe a CRNA in surgery. A CRNA is a certified registered nurse anesthetist and in NC they are allowed to administer drugs and be in total control of the patients' anesthesia during the operation. I had to be at the hospital at 7:00 thursday morning to change into scrubs and be in the operating room by 7:30 when they started. I watched three different surgeries and stood with the CRNA the whole time to watch what they were doing. He explained everything he used and why he used it, which was really cool. I learned so much about surgery and anesthesia. Then I went on a tour of the hospital and the Cath Lab. That was really neat but my favorite was the surgery. Hopefully, in a few years I will be a CRNA.

Outline for short fiction Essay

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony” both deal with a gruesome tradition that is seemingly unnecessary and unjustifiable. Compare these two traditions, paying particular attention to the language and imagery used to describe each. 

Title: In a Trap of Tradition

Introduction:

• Explain how tradition can be a trap to society
• Many similar traits between the village in "The Lottery" and the Penal Colony.
• There are also several differences among the two

Body:

1st- Similar traits

• Gruesome and and unnecessary punishment
• Neither character receives adequate punishment, in both cases the torture is much worse than it should be
• Many people gather around to participate at some point in the story
• Both tools of torture are described in great detail
• There is at least one person who strongly agrees with the concept of the tradition
• There are at least a couple of people who completely disagree with the tradition
• None of the citizens of the colony or village try to stop the tradition
• imagery used to describe the way the citizens of the community react to the tradition
• Neither victim was allowed a chance to tell why they should not be tortured
• Both victims are used as a sacrifice of some sort, an example for others.

2nd- Differences 

• The character in the penal colony has committed a crime, whereas the woman of the village has not done anything wrong. 
• In the village there is still very much support for the lottery, whereas in the Penal Colony there is no support other than the officer conducting the execution. 
• In the penal Colony, the explorer decides that this tradition is unjust and is the reason that the officer puts an end to the torture machine.
• The conductor of torture kills himself in the end because he wants to receive justice for unjustly killing people, whereas in the village the conductor of the lottery does not feel that he is being unjust and does not kill himself.
• The description and imagery used "In the Penal Colony" is much more graphic and detailed than in "The Lottery"
• the victim of the lottery knew the outcome of her winning and what to expect, however the prisoner of the penal colony had no idea what was going on and did not understand his punishment.

Conclusion:

• There are many similarities and differences in the way the the people in these stories deal with their old traditions. 
• In both cases it shows that tradition can trap people and causes them to keep unnecessary laws that harm others for no reason.
• It is important to constantly reevaluate the laws and regulations, especially those dealing with death or torture.

spring break

It's so crazy that it is already march and there are only 4 more days of school before spring break! Most people go to tropical islands on spring break, relax, and work on their tan. However, my spring is not going to be as ordinary. Don't get me wrong, I will be relaxing on the beach and working on my tan, but that will be at my home in cape carteret. The out of the ordinary thing I get to do is go into the operating room for surgery. Thankful I will not be the one being operated on. I am going to shadow a CRNA which is a certified registered nurse anesthetist. This is what I think I want to do as my career so next week I am going to see everything they have to do. I'm really excited to go and watch a real surgery up close. Hospitals and operating rooms specifically have always fascinated me. I think that part of this is because I have never been admitted to the actual hospital, only to the emergency room. So I have no horrible experiences of being sick in the hospital, which is why I think its so neat.  My slight obsession with hospitals is fueled every thursday by greys anatomy. Hopeful, one day I'll be working in a huge hospital, and maybe being a CRNA, who knows....

Topic for Paper 2

I plan to write my paper on the following prompt Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony” both deal with a gruesome tradition that is seemingly unnecessary and unjustifiable. Compare these two traditions, paying particular attention to the language and imagery used to describe each.

I had read "The lottery" before and reading it the second time made it more interesting and I picked up on a lot of the symbols in the story. I realized how significant the story is to modern society. It is a reminder to constantly try to look at the things we routinely do and see if have any true purpose and if there is any benefit from doing them. I haven't read "In the Penal Colony" yet but I'm taking a chance and hoping that I can understand it as good as I did "The Lottery." The language and imagery in "The Lottery" are very powerful to the effect of the story and the lack of foreshadowing until the end makes the story very surprising. Hopeful "In the Penal Colony" will be as interesting as this story was. 

Snowshoe

This week has been super busy because I'm trying to catch up from not being in class last week. I had an amazing time at Snowshoe. I taught by boyfriend how to snowboard and by the end of the weekend he was better than me. I went to a tubing hill which was really fun and hilarious. None of us got hurt while we skiing/snowboarding so that's always a plus. It was a really long drive though. We left about 8:00 am and got to snowshoe about 8:00 pm. It was a very scenic route though which was very enjoyable. It was so fun to be in the snow and eat snow cream. We took our little rat terrier named Lilly and she was so cute. Deer would come up to our back door in the condo and we would feed them but as soon as Lilly saw she would run out in the snow and stand there barking even though she was shaking because it was so cold. Overall it was a really great trip and I can't wait to go back again next year.

Also, last night I watched Obama give his first speech and it was amazing! There is so much hope in him and he has a lot of people depending on him. I hope that all of his plans will work out and I can't wait to start hearing about the good things happening because of him. 

Random fact about today: I saw two car accidents! I was on the way to tutor and a guy on a bicycle was hit by a car. It was awful! Then on the way home a SUV hit a dump truck. Crazy drivers.

Stranded

Im still using the website to help with writing prompts when I can't figure out what to blog about. So the one I got this time is... If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, what items would you want in your pockets?

First of all I would bring a Solar powered flashlight because I hate the dark. I would freak out if I had to be alone in the dark on an island, of course the moon would probably be bright since there wouldn't be any other lights around but just in case it was cloudy, I would have to have a flashlight. Secondly, I would want matches- I can’t start a fire with wood, I wasn’t a boy scout. If I could bring my boyfriend with me then he might be able to do all that campfire survival stuff but I wouldn't. I don't really know why I would need a fire because I couldn't kill an animal, especially by myself with on weapon so I wouldn't need a fire to cook. I guess just for warmth if it was cold. A Satellite powered Phone would be essential because you can get signal with them anywhere and I could hopeful get someone to come find me. I don't think I would like being on a desert island, stranded, and alone so a phone would be pretty important. A knife would be important too. I guess to use for cutting fruits and to at least try to protect myself. Chap stick would be nice to have because I hate chapped lips, but I'm pretty sure that chapped lips would be the least of my worries if I was stranded. Finally, a Water Bottle so I wouldn’t get dehydrated of course.

I would have to have to have pretty big pockets if I was going to carry all of this stuff and I don't know how useful any of it would be but its fun to think about the what ifs. 

14 children and one crazy mom

There's a lot of controversy in the news about the woman who had octuplets when she already has six children. She is divorced and unemployed yet a doctor still agreed to implant embryos knowing that she could have 8 more children when she already received welfare for the six that she had. This is so appalling to me. Why would you want to bring 8 more children into this world when you cannot even support the 6 that you have? It is so unfair to the children to have to share the small amount of money she has with so many others. She seems to have some kind of psychological problem. First of all, what woman in her right mind would want to attempt to take care of 14 children by herself with no job? Secondly, what kind of selfish person says that they had their children to make up for the isolation they felt as a child? It is absolutely crazy and I cannot believe that a doctor would agree to the procedure. This website has a great variety of opinions about the situation. I think that she should give them up to adoption because she is not going to be able to give them to love and attention that they deserve. She has even said that she wishes life would go back to the way it was before she had them. And she plans on going back to school soon. How does she think that she can take care of 14 kids ( 8 of them newborns) and attend school to get her masters? This is a sad example of how crazy some people are and how little the medical employees and government does to try to prevent things like this from happening. 

twenty-five

1. I'm going to snowshoe in 6 days and i'm going to teach drew how to snowboard
2. I have an unbiologically related twin sister and people call her Kristen a lot but she just goes along with it.
3. My passion is dance and I cannot imagine my life without it so I still dance twice a week.
4. I'm working really hard to get into nursing school.
5. I thought that I wanted to be a professional dance teacher but now I realize dance is something I do for myself and if it was my career it would lose some of its meaning.
6. My face recently decided to start doing this weird thing where it turns bright red and gets really hot at random times...I googled it and the results said its because I'm too stressed and my nervous system is overreacting.
7. The beach reminds me of all the good things in life and I never want to live farther than a few minutes from it. 
8. I have a fish named fishie, and he is invincible. One time he fell off my dresser and his bowl turned upside down so all the stones fell on top of him but he survived.
9. I have a cat named lucky who sleeps on my pillow and another one named smokey who is scared of basically everything.
10. I have an addiction to chocolate and it is the only thing that calms me down when I'm really upset.
11. I hate reversing my car and im always scared there's a little kid behind me that I'm going to run over. That's really my only phobia. 
12. I believe that soul mates aren't just the people you fall in love with and get married to. I believe that they are also the people who become your best friends.
13. I know its cliche but i adore anything pink.
14. I am easily hurt.
15. When I first meet people I am very shy but once I get to know them they "can't get me to shut up."
16. I've known since I was 13 that I want a tattoo with Jason's initials and a cross but I'm too scared to get it.
17. My mom recently remarried and we moved to cape carteret. It is one of the best things that has ever happened in my life.
18. When I was a little girl, I ate carrots and green peppers after school as a snack. (my mom always told me that the carrots would make me have perfect vision but I'm blind without my contacts)
19. I'm really happy that i joined tri-sigma.
20. I carry a bottle of water with me everywhere. its my security blanket.
21. Every time I look at the stars I think about how beautiful life is. 
22. I love to surf even though I'm not very good at all. 
23. I'm still reading the first twlight book.
24. I worry much more than a normal person does. 
25. Peace signs make me smile.

Busy week

I'm having a writer's block and I can't really think of interesting things to write about. I have a really busy week so I guess I can write about that. Tonight I have dance company tryouts for dances in the spring show. I have to do a solo but its only 32 counts so its pretty short. Im not really nervous because I love dance and it usually doesn't make me worry. Tuesday I have to go to the doctor and I have to babysit. I also have a spanish test Tuesday. Wednesday I have dance and I have to babysit. Thursday I have to sit at the Candy gram table for my sorority, and I have a psychology test, and I have to do my study hour in the library. Friday I have a biology re-take test and then I am going home to see my boyfriend for valentine's day. I also have to pack this week because next tuesday I am leaving to go on a trip to snowshoe, west virginia with my parents and my boyfriend. I am so excited because I only get to snowboard once a year and this time I get to teach my boyfriend how.  This week is busy but it should pretty good. 

Before its too late...

The writing prompt that came up this time was List 10 things you want to accomplish before it’s too late… I couldn’t think of ten things at the moment so I decided to list 6 that I want to do and 4 that I have done...

1. Become a Registered Nurse- I want to graduate from UNCW and an RN and work in a hospital to help people who are sick. 2. Get Married- I want to have a beautiful wedding with all of my friends and family there to celebrate. 3. Have children- I want to have 2 or 3 children, I don’t care what gender they are as long as they are healthy, but I would like to have at least 1 girl and 1 boy. 4. Save a life- I want to save someone’s life whether it be in a medical sense or just by being there for someone when they need me. 5. Go back to Jamaica on a Mission Trip- I went in 2005 and had a great time but I can’t wait to go back again. It is such a great experience to help people who really need it. You gain as much from the experience as you give. 6. Hike up a glacier mountain- I want to be able to see the glaciers before they all melt away. The things I have already accomplished...1.Shared my testimony in front of 7,000 people 2. Met my soul mate 3. I've had the lead role of a theatrical dance performance 4. Accepted into UNCW.

Five things

I was having a hard time trying to think of something to blog about so I googled writing topics and found this amazing website that gives you tons of prompts for writing. My topic is "You can only keep five things you have. What will they be?" Several things came to my mind immediately.

 1. My 2 cats, Lucky and Smokey, because they are adorable and I have had them for about 8 years so I'm pretty attached to them. I'm going to include them as 1 item because they are always together so I can't separate them.

2. The bracelet that my brother gave me on thirteenth birthday. He passed away that night and the bracelet means so much to me because it is the last present he gave me. I don't wear it very often because I'm scared something will happen to it and I would be devastated if I ever lost it.

3. My laptop because it has all my pictures, all my notes, all my music. 

4. The picture of my brother, Jason, that sits on my dresser. I look at it everyday and it reminds me of how much we are alike.

5. The ring my grandmother gave me a couple of years ago. It was given to her in 1931 when she was 12 years old. Now it is 78 years old and I hardly ever take it off. It means so much to me because it represents the strength and grace of my grandmother. She will be 90 in a couple of weeks and she is an amazing woman.

These five things are very precious to me and I can not imagine ever having to let go of them. 

Always something to do...

I've been super  busy lately and all I do when I'm not busy is think about what I have to do. I like being busy though and most of the stuff that I'm busy with is stuff I like. Such as dance, which I have 4 hours a week, and babysitting, which I do about 7 hours a week. I also tutor once a week at an elementary school and I'm in a sorority so those take up time but I love both of them. I'm also really busy with school which I don't enjoy so much, but it's mandatory if I plan on being a nurse. Speaking of nursing, I just found out the other day that Cape Carteret Hospital is going to pay for my Junior and Senior year of college and nursing school if I promise to work at the Hospital for 2 years. I was really excited because that saves me a lot of money and I have a promised job waiting for me. Now I just have to work hard to keep my grades up and hopefully I will get into nursing school next year when I apply. Also I have been busy planning a trip to snowshoe, west virginia in a couple of weeks to go snowboarding for 5 days. I've been going to snowshoe every year since I was 5 and I skied for 10 years. Then I learned how to snowboard and this year I'm going to teach my boyfriend how to snowboard, which should be pretty interesting... and funny. Anyway I should probably go study for my math test friday because like I said, I need to have good grades for nursing school. 

It's about the Journey...

Everyday people are faced with millions of decisions. Some of them are very small and seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But some decisions are life changing. Some decisions determine your future. They can determine whether you will live a life of happiness or regret. So how do you make big decisions? What do people consider when everything is on the line? What are their priorities? Personally, when I have to make a life-altering decision, I pray. I ask God to help me decide and to show me what he wants me to choose. Sometimes I feel like the answer is made very clear and other times it feels like he might not be telling me anything. "More than anything else, I believe that it's our decisions, not the conditions of our live, that determine our destiny" stated Anthony Robbins. As if that weren't intimidating enough listen to this quote. "Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices" stated Alfred Montapert. I choose to believe more in this quote because it seems more optimistic and accepting of the decisions that we have to make about life. “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. Life is about the journey, not the destination” stated Alfred D'Souza. Sometimes its hard to see past the obstacles and decisions that we are faced with daily, but if we can't then life will pass us by. It is important to relax and believe that everything will work out in the end. Everything happens for a reason and although choices can make life stressful, we have to see past the difficulty and enjoy life.

Post Secret

Five years ago Post Secret was invented by a guy named Frank. He put out post cards with directions to write a secret on them then mail them anonymously to his address. He was overwhelmed and excited when thousands of post cards began to pour in with horrifying, interesting, funny, tragic, and inspirational secrets on them. People began to use post cards as a way to let go of their regrets or fears and move on to the future. He decided to share the post cards with the world and has created four books full of post card with secrets on them. Every Sunday on the post secret website there are new secrets posted. Frank visited UNCW last semester and told everyone his story about post secret and I decided to join the other thousands of people to send a post card with a secret on it to him. The directions are as follows "You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a hope, regret, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Create your 4-by-6-inch postcards out of any mailable material. If you want to share two or more secrets, use multiple postcards. Put your complete secret and image on one side of the postcard." I always look forward to reading more secrets on sundays and often read through some of the books he was compiled. I encourage every one to send in a secret. It is a great feeling to get whatever it is off of your mind and out of your heart forever. 

The amazing Robert Frost

Robert frost is a well-known poet. He has written many amazing poems and said countless quotes that are inspirational to many people. These are some quotes by Robert Frost. There is even a Robert Frost Foundation and a museum. These websites show many of his poems and tell about his life. I found all of these websites to be very helpful in learning more about Frost and his poetry. I really like studying poetry and figuring out what the poet is writing about so I enjoyed reading some of Frost's poems. 

 

Stereotyping

Stereotyping is a part of American culture. It is a common way of easily classifying people by their appearance, accent, or personality. Stereotypes are not always negative but they tend to be that way because they are usually a judgement of a person. As a child I was often stereotyped as the quiet, smart girl because I was placed in advanced classes and hardly ever spoke up in class. I had lots of friends that I would talk to after school or during lunch but in class I was too timid to say anything. Because of the stereotype, I became more and more shy in class and doubted myself even when I knew the answer to a question the teacher had asked. Instead of trying to break out of the stereotype that people had placed me into, I merely hid behind it. Today it is like a habit to not speak up in class, because I have never gained enough confidence when it comes to talking in front of other students. 

In high school I was stereotyped as a rich, smart, white girl because I went to a low-income predominately black school. There were 30 white people in my senior class out of 300, so most of the black students thought that we were all rich and snobby. However, I am neither of the two.  It was a stereotype that we were placed into and even though it was unfair it was no where near as insulting as the stereotype that the community placed on the predominate race at my school. Recently, in my home town, there has been discussion of changing the lines of where children go to school so that the high schools will be evenly distributed. The other two high schools are over-populated and crowded, while the school I went to is failing because of bad grades and a high drop-out rate. A discussion board was placed on the county website for people to write their opinion about the redistricting. The comments are astounding and insulting. Many people said that they are scared for their children to go to my high school because they are scared they will be beaten up by gangs or killed. They stated that they had rather their child drop out and get their G.E.D. than go to my school. Many parents said that they moved twenty miles from the city so that their child would not have to go to my school and the thought of them having to go anyway infuriated them. The horrible stereotype placed on the students at my high school was that they were  gangsters who shot people everyday and would hurt anybody they came across. This was not true and most of the people I met in high school were very nice people. It was sickening how many parents made them sound like horrible mobsters. Stereotyping can be a terrible thing because not only can it cause people to create an image of themselves that they carry for a long time but it can also tear a community apart. 

Stairway to Heaven

Over the past two years I have become addicted to watching Grey's anatomy every Thursday night. The episode this past week was very interesting and also very sad. There are several different situations happening throughout the show to keep it fast paced and intense. One of the scenarios is about a little boy named Jackson who needed organs. He has been in the hospital for a long time and one of the doctors, Miranda, is particularly close to him and his mother. It was heartbreaking to watch Jackson struggle to stay alive throughout the episode while his mother and Miranda do everything they can to help him. 

The second scenario is about a prison inmate on death-row who is condemned to be executed in five days. He has brain problems and wants to die in the hospital instead of in the prison, therefore, he bangs his head against his bed after brain surgery to kill himself. As he is doing this he tells the main character, Meredith Grey, that he wants to donate his organs t Jackson because he is a match. The prisoner says that he wants to do one good thing before he dies so he begs Meredith not to page the other doctors because he knows they will save him and Jackson will not get organs in time. However, Meredith eventually finds out that the prisoner was not trying to save Jackson, his intention was to manipulate Meredith by getting in trouble for not calling a doctor when he hit his head. He only wanted to watch her destroy her career. Thankfully, Dr. Shepherd, the brain surgeon, rushed in just in time to take him to surgery. 

During the surgery Miranda runs into the operating room and begs Dr. Shepherd not to continue surgery.  "This man is trying to kill himself. God forgive me, I need you to let him," Miranda persists. The controversy is that the prisoner who he is doing surgery on will be executed in 5 days, however, his organs could be transplanted into Jackson who is just an innocent boy, but will die in a few hours without new organs. After a few long second, Miranda decides that she cannot let the prisoner die because of the oath to save lives that she took as a doctor. Eventually Jackson receives organs which were donated by a man who has been in a coma for a couple of days. The man's wife had to make the extremely tough decision of cutting of the machines and letting him go. By doing this she saved Jackson's life. As the prisoner is about to be transported back to the prison to be executed, he says the Meredith, "It would  be good to have a friendly place in the crowd, when they kill me." Meredith goes to the execution in order to show the prisoner that people can be compassionate and there is good in the world. Watching him be killed was very hard for her and caused her to emotionally break down. 

The third scenario is about a doctor named Izzie who has recently been seeing her dead fiance, Denny, everywhere. She carries on conversations with him, kisses him, argues with him, and a number of other things. At first she thinks that she is so lucky to be able to see her fiance again and still have her current boyfriend, Alex. However, soon Denny becomes annoying and Izzie cannot concentrate on work. She yells at him and begs him to leave but he just keeps saying "I'm here for you." Eventually she realized that "I'm here for you" means that he is here to take her to heaven. "I'm sick," Izzie says, and yells at him for not telling her right away. "I can go now, because you know," Denny says. "But it's your choice. You get to choose." She tells Denny to go, asking what he's waiting for. "This," he says, and kisses her goodbye. I'm not sure what is wrong with Izzie but I think it is something with her brain. This scenario was created because Izzie is leaving the show so in the next sometime this season she will probably die from her sickness, which will be devastating. 

I love watching Grey's Anatomy not only for the entertainment of the characters but also for the medical aspect.

Ballet and Surfer Blogs

One of the blogs that I found was about thoughts on dancing, teaching, and watching ballet. The bloggers wrote about ballets they had seen such as Swan Lake and La Bayadere. They wrote about techniques that they had tried in class with their students and new ideas to help students understand the principles of ballet. They also talked about the changes and culture of ballet.  I really enjoyed this blog because I have been taking ballet for 16 years and it is one the things that I am most passionate about. 

The second blog I read is called The Coastal Surf and Ski Blog. This site had many pictures and videos of surfers. It talked about many different kinds of boards and places to surf. It talks about new kinds of wave pools and tips for surfing. This site shows the culture of surfing and the joy behind it. I liked this blog because I like to surf and it was really cool to see the pictures and read the stories of people who professionally surf.