Corinne’s Blog

As summer approaches, so does the beginning of senior year. Senior year is exciting, but also equally frightening. Senior year marks the last year of high school and shows just how close the beginning of something big and new really is. But senior year also marks the end of a time when you don’t have many cares, when you live at home and don’t have to pay for rent, or food, or make sure your own clothes are clean.

I am excited for senior year because I am excited to be free from the pettiness of high school. I want to experience new things, and meet new people. I want to be a part of the “real world” as some call it, and live on my own. I want to be independent. But with that excitement also comes anxieties. I live a comfortable live at home with my parents and my sisters. I don’t have to worry about how much my utilities bill is going to cost this month, or decide between buying food or school supplies, or even worry about cleaning most of the time. Also, adjusting to the different learning atmosphere of college will be tough at first.

Though it sometimes feels like my fears of being a senior and therefore almost being out of high school might outweigh my excitement, I know that college is probably going to be one of the best times of my life and I am going to learn a lot that will help me once I am out of school once and for all. And out of school is where I really want to be.

A class called Life 101 would be a valuable addition to the required curriculum for high school students, and college students for that matter. Most people when transitioning from high school to college, or from college to a life with a full-time to job, are ill-prepared for such a transition. The class would teach a student how to interact with people in a way that is productive, how to be polite and proper manners, and general safety. Many people today do not know how to positively interact with others, from parents, to friends to teacher, relationships today seem to be more destructive than anything. A class that taught about human interactions would help to lessen the amount of conflicts between people, and therefore lessen crime rates. Another subject that the class would cover would be politeness and manners. Most people today are rude, whether it is intentional or not. This also corresponds with the human interactions part of the class. The manners and politeness part of the class would go over how to eat politely, and general manners. Last, the Life 101 class would teach safety. The world has become a very dangerous place. Of course there has always been crime in world, but it seems that lately there are increasing reports of murders, rapes, and domestic violence among other crimes. Knowing how to stay safe is an important part of living successfully and happily. All of these subjects encompassed in a class would very much help people to become more functional members of society, and help prepare them for what life is really about.

“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner

In his essay Lars Eighner give a depiction of his life as a Dumpster diver, and how it has affected him and his view on life. Dumpster diving is when a person will sometimes literally dive into a Dumpster to salvage items such as food, clothing, and other necessities because they either cannot pay for them or do not wish to. To Eighner, Dumpster diving started out as something that he had to do to survive. It was something that he was ashamed of. But as his time as a Dumpster diver continues he starts to become more skilled in the art of Dumpster diving, and comes to be more appreciative of it and even enjoy it.

In the last paragraphs of Eighner’s essay he starts to become more reflective about his time as a Dumpster diver. He compares his living situation to that of wealthy people. Both he and the wealthy are likely to discard what they possess with little to no thought about it, but the main difference that Eighner cites is why each of them throw out their possessions. Eighner throws away his possessions because he knows that possessions aren’t they key to happiness, whereas the wealthy are inclined to toss their items because they want the newest, shiniest, most expensive edition of the item they are throwing out. Eighner shows that he isn’t part of the rat race to have the very best possessions, because that’s not what life is all about.

I have a friend, and he will always tell me how bored he is because he can’t seem to find anything to do. Not on school night, or weekends, or ever. He is always bored. I try and give him suggestions of things he could do, and I invite him to do things with me and my friends, but no matter what he is always bored. I don’t see how this is possible. There are so many things to do! How could someone ever be bored? So I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two types of people in the world: people that can have fun, and those that can’t. For example, my sister Abby and I can go almost anywhere and have a good time. We make going to the grocery store a battle against imaginary foes, and we turn runs into secret missions, we make up ridiculous yoga routines when we’re waiting in lines. There are no limits to the things we could come up with to have fun. Whereas my aforementioned friend could go to the grocery store, go on a run, and wait in a line and be bored the whole time. My sister and I got a book titled “How To Be An Explorer Of The World: A Portable Life Museum.” This book pretty much is our attitude towards life and having fun put into book-form. It shows that there is something to do at anytime, even if you have nothing with you. I think that boredom, like all other emotions, is a choice, and why would anyone choose to be bored?

Do people reveal too much about their personal lives online? Yes. Users of social networking sites, myself among them, seem extremely inclined to tell all of their friends everything that is going on in their lives by posting bulletins or other publicly viewed messages. I think that a lot of this has to do with people who crave the attention of their peers, and who think that by posting their entire life minute-by-minute on Facebook or MySpace they will somehow manage to get some much-wanted attention. I think that people are more inclined to do this on sites like these because of the detachment from reality. It is a lot easier to reveal something personal about yourself when you are not actually saying in to someone else face-to-face, because a computer screen and keyboard are easier to fool that a real person.

Most of the time I feel that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are just tools created to make stalking people easier, because there are so many foolish people that are so trusting in humanity, or just stupid enough, to post personal information on their various pages like their phone numbers, addresses, ages, and much more.  There are countless stories about people who meet someone over the internet who turns out to be some sort of murderous creep. 

Now, I don’t just want to bring out all the bad points of social networking sites. I mean, I really like using my Facebook profile to show my friends pictures, and keep in touch with my family and friends; but people really should be more careful about what they decide to let the world know via the internet. There are some personal things that the whole wide world just does not need to know about, they’re called secrets, and let’s keep them that way.

“On Being A Cripple” by Nancy Mairs

Nancy Mairs, in her essay “On Being A Cripple,” writes about her life with multiple sclerosis. Mairs voluntarily calls herself a “cripple” instead of “handicapped” or “disabled.” She does this because the term “cripple” most often thought of as rude or not politically correct. For Mairs, calling herself a cripple seems like the more honest thing to do, because the connotations associated with the word “cripple” are more closely related to her condition that those associated with “handicapped” or “disabled” or any other more polite expression. 

I think that when people willingly accepts a typically insulting or rude label they are just being more honest with themselves, they are accepting that the term is something that others will think about them and call them when their backs are turned. So by accepting the term or label, the person is suggesting to others that he or she is fine with being referred to by that, he or she knows that it is something that applies to him or her. Mairs knows that her peers will call her a cripple, but by calling herself a cripple she is making the effect of their words less painful, because she already accepted it. The other people who have come to terms with their various labels, like Gates, Eighner, and Hurston, have obviously felt the sting of the words that they later chose to embrace, which is why they chose to accept them. What is gained from doing this is making the pain of social labels subside, and making a more positive situation from it.

For spring break my family and I went to Vail, Colorado for three days and then to Moab, Utah for four days. My dad called our trip the “I-70 Adventure” since all of our destinations were on I-70. We had a lot of fun on our trip, but things really didn’t go according to plan. When we got to Vail, we were expecting snow and good, cold weather for skiing. But when we got there it was 50 degrees and I was not even chilly wearing a skirt. So that put a little damper on our first day of skiing, where the snow was crusty and melting. Luckily, the next day Vail was hit with a massive snow storm that coated all of the slopes with at least a foot of fresh powder. After getting to ski in fresh, knee-deep powder for a day and a half, we had to end our time in Vail and hit the road for Moab. Now, Moab is in the desert and traditionally a very warm place, even in the winter. So we all packed our shorts and t-shirts ready for some warm weather when we got there. However, when we got to Moab it was 40 degrees and windy: not exactly what we were expecting. So we made the best of the bad weather, even when it started snowing out of the blue.

What all of this taught me was that it really is beneficial to just go with the flow and be flexible. Sure, the bad weather threw off some of our plans, but it was out of our control. One of my sisters is really really inflexible. If plans change last minute, or something doesn’t go according to plan she gets really bent out of shape. So seeing how the turn of the weather made her lose her cool really made it clear to me that that is not how I want to live my life, because life is unpredictable and it doesn’t follow any plan like some people would like it to. So just go with the flow.

President Obama has really been making me upset lately. I admit that I was not entirely excited when he took office, but I was thinking that he was at least competent enough to get things done. He looked promising, although he is too far left for my political taste. Obama surrounded himself with other good, competent politicians, so I was a little hopeful that his presidency wouldn’t be a disaster. But now, after having been in office for about three months, I am not longer as optimistic as I once was. In one of his first major bills, Obama has allowed many millions of dollars go to the pet-projects of Senators and Representatives: pork-barrel spending, which he said that he was going to get rid of. I guess not. Also, Obama has managed to offend many people by making a snide comment about the Special Olympics. Not to mention the comment he made about how Americans are stupid and ignorant at the G-20 convention in London, which also upset many Americans and made the US seem very weak. Now, I know that it is President Obama’s first time in office, and that the learning curve is very steep. But come on. Let’s at least do what we say we’re going to do and not just fall right back into the habits we said we were going to put an end to. And also, Obama needs to be aware that now that he’s the President of the United States of America someone will always hear what he says and be ready to take it the wrong way. So let’s smarten up Obama, please.

This piece is in the style of the narrator from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which is an elaborate limited third person point of view.

Life for an adolescent attending a public high school can be an excruciatingly complex place full of girls with shrill voices, boys with too much testosterone, and teachers with overzealous egos. To a mature adult high school seems a petty thing; however, in the eyes of those young adolescents attending said institution, it is their world, their galaxy, their universe. In a high school setting, with hormones running amok and emotions running high, day to day dramatics are an inevitable part of life, whether a person wishes to be involved or not. Girls bicker over boys, clothes, and whether other girls are admissible for association. Boys boast their brawn, always trying to prove, though more to themselves than to anyone else, which of them is the top dog, and therefore, most deserving of the respect of his peers. It is bizarre to contemplate that these mere four years in the educational system have such a profound effect on the lives of those pupils who frequent it.

Gifted education has always been a particular point of interest to me since I went to Stargate Charter School, which is a school designed for students with an IQ of 130 or higher. Not that I am a genius or a prodigy, but I do supposedly, (my parents have never actually told me what my IQ is), have an above average IQ. I never went to a regular public school until I started high school, so I never experienced what some brighter kids may have experienced as far as being trapped in a boring education. I am grateful for that, because I do believe that if I had attended a regular public school that didn’t challenge me enough I would have grown to resent school and my peers.

It is my belief that educating extremely intelligent kids should be taken as seriously as the “special” education of below average students and handicapped students. The intelligently above average children should be able to skip grades in regular public schools, if that is what works best for their family and living situations. Skipping grades is, as the article in Time Magazine stated, virtually cost-free; and, more importantly, it allows these intelligent individuals to receive the education they deserve while staying in a social environment. However, this situation might become slightly precarious when a student needs to jump three or more grades to be adequately challenged. Students need to be educated in a way that is academically, socially, and emotionally appropriate for them. Some students might be emotionally and socially developed enough to skip grades in their neighborhood school. But the answer for others might be a special school like the Davidson Academy that allows for students to stay with students closer to their own age so that they can emotionally and socially mature while still receiving a good education.

In my opinion, what it comes down to is the resources provided for the intelligently gifted students needs to be equal to those made available for the “special” needs students; because those brilliant children still have special needs: they just aren’t the type of special needs that most Americans are used to thinking about. These extremely bright students need to be nurtured so that they have all the opportunities possible to flourish.