blogblogblog

8000 years ago, there was a huge tsunami that was taller than a 10 story building. “if the same tsunami struck today, Southern Italy would be inundated within the first 15 minutes. In one hour, the waves would reach Greece’s western coasts. After an hour and a half, the city of Benghazi in Northern Africa would be hit. At the three and a half hour mark, the waves would have traversed the entire Mediterranean to reach the coasts of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.” This volcano which triggered the tsunami with an avalanch is still active today. How scary would that be if history repeated itself, especially since the coasts are so populated. It’s weird to think that no one really has control over things and any day at any moment nature can strike. It’s pointless to think about really and it would just make everyone nutty, but even so things like that must have contributed to how we are today. The article talks about how a tribe abbruptly left and now all we have are their traces. I think it would be cool have someone years from now find our ruins and anylize how we use to live.  Our names wouldn’t mean anything, but our culture would be some important artifact that would be written in text books. That kindof makes me feel bad for not really caring about history and people in our world how died years ago for causes and actual importance. I wonder if I will ever meet someone who will die for something great

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15971504/

“For decades it was an industrial complex, this summer it was a big pile of dirt, and now with steel framing going up rapidly, residents are finally getting a real look at what Bay State Commons will look like. “

This is the opening line in the Westborough News article about the new Commons that is costing the town loads of money and ruckus.  The “downtown village” will have stores and restaurants such as Roche Bros. grocery store, Linens ’n Things, Ted’s Montana Grill, Ann Taylor, Hallmark Store, and Panera Bread. Westborough is a small town with nice people and a rotary. Our tourist attraction was the big moldy cow in front of a farm. Now that this plaza is moving in, our town had to put up a stop light because the amount of traffic is going to double at least. I hate when land is torn apart to “make something better”. Our town is slowly becoming a highly developed and densely populated area where the houses are becoming larger and running on paths in the woods is becoming limited. The world is overpopulated and it never really affected me until it became noticeable in my own town. I wonder how the rest of my town feels about this. I bet all the town business hates it as much as I do.

This book so far is about the poorer class in society. The author, Barbara Ehrenreich, believes she should live the life of poverty to fully understand what their lives are like.  She attepmts to live off minimumwage and finds it difficult to afford food and shelterbased on her budget. Although it is very hard and causes some sacrafice, through pushing herself to manage her money she learns a lot about the lower class as well as herself. What surprised me was that she had this idea of living the life of someone poor but she herself didn’t want to. She goes on to say that she would never really let herself fall into poverty and that she is in a way above it. This is ironic since that was the whole point she wanted to make, and she wouldn’t even really try it. I have heard people say that before they die they want to have lived on the streets to really experience life, but I think this might just be an exaggerated idea, simular to Barbara Enrenrich. Poverty is a scary idea and it is sad but wherever you go poverty is looked down upon. I think it is interesting that the author had this idea, but I also think she is too wrapped in her own world to fully accept it and she is afraid of what people will say.

This story by Wesley Shumar is about how colleges are displaying their brochures as advertisements rather than informative tools. Back in the day college brochures looked more like bibles with small text, headings, and no pictures. Now in today’s society where we know people are driven towards pictures and colors, as well as fun and enjoyable things the brochures look more like catalogs. The colleges want more money and more applications, and they all want to be desirous and look the best.

I think it is lame that colleges are being portrayed as something more than what they are. Yes college is a social experience but the main idea behind it and the reason you are paying so much money is for the education. In college searches you can search by most attractive campus, best food, most work, etc. These things are what some people base the next four years of life on and it is because colleges have found every way possible to grab our attention.

hunger as ideology -by susan bordo 

This story is about the different roles genders obtain because of the media. Ordinary does not exist in the media, only thin and “pretty” people are desired and that is what becomes portrayed as normal in society. People strive to become these fake and impossible people that are most likely not healthy themselves. Woman in particular are told through advertising and tv that they should eat less even to an obsessive point. They don’t take into account your genetics, your health, your height, your muscles and athletics; only the fact that you are female and need to be thin and weigh this much and have these big of curves. The article states that people believe it is only ok for woman to indulge in food when they are pregnant or have come near starvation. Weird how America seems to be obese or anorexic..

I believe that almost every female today in our country has been unsatisfied with their physical appearance. It is really sad but it works two ways. Some might manage their weight for themselves, but for the most part it is for everyone else. Maybe a boy, maybe their friends, maybe their family but it seems like people are not content because others are always judging. People want to be noticed in a positive way, and how on earth could they if the first thing you notice about a person is what they look like. I wonder how much we would all weigh if we all went blind. I think it is really neat that the company, Dove, used real people in their ads. All different sized people, with different ethnicity’s and different styles were used in their commercials and posters. The majority looks like those models, so why not use something we can relate to rather than strive for? Today’s society will take a long time to fix, and I’m glad someone is starting now. 

From November 9 to the 19 there is a free street festival in Santo Domingo of the Domincan Republic. It is a festival held every year where cultures of different countries celebrate their customs with dance performances, street performers, music, experimental performances, etc.  It is an exciting time for everyone, because everyone is invited.

I think it would be so cool to go and see the festivals because the culture there is so lively and exciting in general, so i would imagine it is extreamly fun when there is an event going on. The music is so upbeat and the dancing is like nothing you would find here in the US. I think that when places have these festivals, even like Lark Fest, it is a great time for the community to get together and take time off to enjoy life. It’s funny how you will always remember the fun times, but it’s easy to forget to have fun. Everyone is busy and running around but then you go to a street festival and it’s okay if someone bumps into you. I think they help us to be more understanding and considerate, even if it seems like it’s a wild freeforall. We need more things like this in life to celebrate communities comming together to have fun. My favorite festival is earth day in Boston. My dad always takes us, and we always meet the most interesting people. Everyone is pro earth and just genuinly nice. People definatly are effected by these displays, and that to me is important.

In National Geographic studies are showing that way before us, there were single celled organisms that may have used the atmosphere as food. Titan, Saturn’s giant moon, is surrounded by orange smog made from methane and carbon dioxide which was stimulated by sunlight. They thought previously that the carbon dioxide would reduce the reaction when in fact the results were the opposite. This atmosphere created a chemical stew that could have given these organisms energy.   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061106-earth-titan.html

I think this is nutty. Little organisms feeding off the atmosphere and later developed into larger organisms, which eventually became today’s world.  It is so hard to visualize this making it seem impossible to me. I guess if other planets had water and certain elements earth has they too could start their own little world of microorganisms. The article said that because earth has been around for billions of years and saturns moon has only been around for a few hundreds of millions, the organisms could not yet evolve. Also, it is only warm enough to be unfrozen at certain times of year etc. Still, where are they comming from? I hope they find out more because that would be so cool if other life forms started on other planets. I hope they do before we get there because if we are not on other planets naturally, I feel like we shouldn’t be there for long periods of time. I believe we will mess up and destroy other planets and moons if we try and build there. 

This story by Julie Lindquist is about what she hears and observes in the bar she works at. The way people talk, what they talk about, and their social class are the main topics covered and talked about. One character, Jack, is a prime example to the author of a working class man. He is hard working, is frusterated with society and the country, and is obsessed with Ross Perot. He goes off on these “performances” about him where he describes why he would be good for the country with all the politics backing him up. He is an example of the working class because he puts himself out there for people to see. He wants people to listen to him and believes in hard work and taking out what you put in. He is proud that he is of the working class because it is productive and honest work. Although the thesis of the story did not strike me as something I would ask myself, it was interesting to hear what Julie Lindquist observed in her daily routine and the observations she made based on them.

Nelson de la Rosa, who is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s smallest man (about 1.5 feet tall), was denied space in the Dominican Man Museum. It goes on to say how there is not the correct conditions in terms of temperature nor is that what the museum is for. The director suggested that they build Nelson de la Rosa his own private museum where not only his corpse can be on display, but also his belongings etc.

I thought this article was really funny because my sister and I use to read the Worlds Guinness Book of Records all the time and always want to beat some record so we could be in it. She use to tease me that she would get in for pogosticking and I would get in for the smallest person. I hope they build la Rosa his own museum, because I think that would be really intersting and fun to go see.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=19035

 This story is about Dave and his family. They were black and went through a lot of problems and changes. His brother Robby ran into a lot of trouble with the police and then committed murder. Dave started writing a book when he would go and visit his little brother in jail where Robby would describe to him all his stories about drugs and how a bad road can take your life spiraling down a path. He told him about his life on the streets, and how it all started in high school where they would steal cars and do other stupid things that brought him closer to the killing.
This story was interesting because it was one of those cases where the family did not get close until they were forced apart. They had taken each other for granted and then when Robby got in trouble Dave was there for him and they became close. It makes you think about the people in jail and what their life might have been like before.