The Book That Remains



"I know," he said, breaking our embrace. "Inshallah, we'll celebrate later. Right now, I'm going to run that blue kite for you," he said. He dropped the spool and took off running, the hem of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him. "Hassan!" I called. "Come back with it!" He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "For you a thousand times over!" he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph. This is a section from the book Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, that describes its entirety. This is a scene that depicts the two boys Hassan and Amir that had just won the community kite race (a huge event that had obtainable records set). Hassan, Amir's servant, (and secret friend) "runs" the kite for him. During the said kite races children would fly kites and attempt to cut down the kites of other children around the community. Once the last kite had fallen, children would run and follow it through the air with the intent of catching it when it hit the ground. This tradition was met with a tragedy that would soon forever change these boys and the remainder of their lives as well as the lives of those around them. This book is an amazing (but believable) tale of friendship, betrayal, warfare, and the divine respect that is earned developed, and maintained between two people through the most difficult of times. I would save this book for anyone in the post apocalyptic world because it shows so many true values. I was required to read this novel for my AP English class senior year and it is by far the absolute best book that has ever entered my mind and thoughts. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, but one should be ready to experience the hardships and mature tragedies that these characters endure throughout.



Movies....

I absolutely love cuddling up to watch a movie at any given time! My favorites are old movies, ones with Audrey Hepburn, and my absolute favorite is "Breakfast At Tiffany's." I was just going to write about this movie, but I have been dying to watch another favorite of mine, "Fried Green Tomatoes," so I will be discussing it instead.
"Fried Green Tomatoes" came out in 1991 and is a drama-comedy film based off of the novel by Fannie Flagg. The movie tells of a longtime struggle in a unhappy marriage with the help of an unexpected friend. Cathy Bates' character meets Jessica Tandy's character in a nursing home and what seems as a short visit turns into a daily stop for Cathy Bates. Tandy begins on a story of her friends life and keeps Bates more than interested in her tale. This tale sends Bates on a real discovery of herself and her marriage. Tandy never reveals her character of her tale and it is left as a mystery in the end.
I don't want to tell much of the plot because it is legitimately an amazing story of self discovery and new beginnings that I believe everyone should experience at least once.

Technology

Technology is part of almost every move we make today. People are constantly texting, surfing the web, and even simply talking on the phone. These innovations of the internet are nothing but good, but the way that we make use of this is not always in our best interest. We can use many different search engines in order to utilize our search and all of our results. We can ask questions on public sites and get feedback from other individuals with the same interests. We can find the weather and any other data and news with just a click, it is absolutely amazing. There is however a major downfall to the way we use this development, social networks. These can be amazing tools and they can also be really harmful to us. We can use these for accessing people who we might otherwise never talk to, or to relay information back and forth with other classmates and co workers. It is great until we obsess over it and are eventually addicted to the sites. It is an awful way to waste time and be much less productive than we would be without it.
Another complaint I hear mostly from my grandparents is how much time we spend texting rather than partaking in one on one socializing. I think it is very important that we put down our phones every once in awhile. I have fallen victim to this epidemic in the past, but now I don't rely on it near as much. I think speaking to a person is completely unavoidable and most important for people to partake in.
Technology and be helpful or harmful depending on how an individual makes use of the product.

If It Were Only A Dream...

In my Philosophy class we have been discussing Socrates and Descartes since the beginning of the term and until now I have been kind of bored with the matter. We began mid last week discovering what is and is not real based on these people's opinions and nothing could hold my attention better.
Have you ever had a dream and woke up believing that in the dream you had been fully awake? How do we know right now that we aren't merely taking part in that? Descartes believes that this goes unanswered; however, we must begin at the foundation to describe what may and may not be real. At the base, we must first know that we exist. Descartes believes that we can trust this because we doubt. Doubting being a form of thinking. Things that think is that which we, as humans, are broken down.
This thought process has thrown me since last week. I can only think what is and is not real. I have began to think, beyond the class what this might mean. I am constantly thinking and questioning what is and what is not. I am perplexed to say the least and can not seem to put down the book until I am sure of one thing; whether or not I am real and the life I live is real.
I do not think that my life is necessarily a dream, but I can't help but to question. I love to not know and don't get me wrong, I am interested in this topic, but I will not panic and think about this the rest of my life. I am curious to know the answer, but I truly won't ever reach a straightforward solution.

An Advance?

The recent death of Osama Bin Laden has struck the interests and hearts of many (almost all) Americans. Whether an individual is celebrating or mourning the loss of this man, all are affected by the news. Monday morning I listened to the radio on my way home from school. It was like any other day, mostly conversation by the hosts rather than music. But then I realized the topics were all political. I decided to listen to each to hear what they had to say.
On 99.1 all the callers that phoned in seemed indefinitely overjoyed and ecstatic with the news. Soldiers were calling in, telling their stories of Iraq, and their satisfaction with the termination of this man. Families of soldiers who were killed in the war called in and stated, "This is what we (and our relatives) fought for, and we can not be happier with the results."Some cheered and some wept with joy.
I then listened to 102.9, this was a whole other world. One lady called in and argued, "We are acting just like them now, like a third world country, we are celebrating a death. This is what they did after the suicide bombers, celebrated the death of Americans, we are no better." This shocked me, I do not agree with this statement at all and I changed the radio station.
Next I turned to 97.9 and 94.5, these had mixed opinions and I was content listening to them for the rest of my trip. I have mixed opinions about the death. I can't say that I am overly joyed, but I am not mourning in the least.

The World of Facebook

I am fortunately and unfortunately a Facebook user. I was very reluctant to join the network and give up my Myspace account, but once I did (and got accustomed to the new site) I was very happy and excited for the new advances. Like anything else that technology develops, some people fall victim to addiction and Facebooking is no exception. I see time after time kids start on a page of notes for a class and quickly revert to Facebook in another window. Constantly reading status updates, wall posts, starting IM conversations, until the class flies right past them and they don't consume a single piece of information. I am sad to say that in my first quarter this did happen to me, however, I now am very aware of the horrible impact this kind of networking can have on an individual in these circumstances. We pay good money for these classes, so why sit on Facebook when we can do that after the class and any other time?
Because the other window open on my screen is Facebook, I can tell you that I have 610 friends. Considering I only have maybe 20 friends that I constantly speak to and maybe 20 more that are family, this amount is just ridiculous and excessive. I just can't seem to get rid of the people I don't talk to, not sure why but it isn't harming me any. I have also been warned many MANY times by my mother that it is important that I avoid posting vulgar or questionable material on my page because of future job opportunities. I am also in a sorority, and it is very important for Nationals and for our chapter that we show just how classy and reserved we are. I think it is very inappropriate and I do believe that people look down on those who use Facebook in a crude manner.
I am not concerned with companies who search Facebook profiles in order to gain personal information about a potential employee. I say this simply because my profile is clean and I have always been aware of the effects that this behavior can have on an individual. If and when I ever have my own business, I will most likely use this approach. Not as my only qualifier, but it will play a part in my choosing of my employees, mostly because what you post on Facebook shows what you want the world to think about you. 
I will end on a positive. Businesses and television stations that have entered the world of Facebook are joining what can only be described as an advance in media coverage. They are getting the word out to not only viewers, television owners, and other businesses they work with, but the entire world. Facebook can either be a positive or a detrimental advantage made in the fast paced world of technology.

Thinking About My Future

My major is now accounting. I am one of the most indecisive people that I have ever met, it is good and bad depending on the topic. Asking a person like me, "what do you want to do for the rest of your life?" is not a way to become my friend. I HATE THIS QUESTION. I have, in my three quarters of college, changed my major, and career choice six times. However, this time I think I have nailed it. I am extremely organized and completely OCD about money, time, and every other resource I am limited with. Possessing these qualities allow me into the business world with ease.
On top of the business world I have really dug deep into research deciding where I want to go career wise with this major. Always being interested in language, I started to think international business. Soon after, I only wanted that title to take a language. Finally I decided to minor in Italian. Going off this, I began looking to study abroad in Italy during the last two years of my stay at Wright State.
Tying it all together, I would love to own my own private business. I want to live in Italy for awhile to get my inspiration, and eventually manage and own a winery. A winery filled with all Italian imported wine. In love with my Italian heritage this will easily satisfy that piece of me as well as be a wonderful job for finance purposes.

Growing Up Without Television

If we could unplug all the televisions in America, our children would grow up in a completely different world. While allowing your child to watch TV for hours on end can be directly related to weight issues in younger ages. Some shows can be educational and even helpful for children in lower grades or even infants and toddlers that do not yet attend school. Moderation here is the key. By monitoring what the children watch, and how often they watch the shows we can more or less improve their personalities and minds. I believe the kids that watch shows that teach manners and other social behaviors have a good foundation and have it easier when they enter schooling. I know that I learned almost all my social mannerisms as well as how to properly brush my teeth and other tasks from Barney and Baby Bop. As an only child with two parents that work full-time, I did get some (but not all) of my cooking and cleaning skills from shows. These shows often portrayed aroutine "clean up time" which put a fun song to an ordinarily boring chore. However, I do believe that if the televisions were taken away, more kids would play outside, something that is lacking in our society today. Kids channels such as Nickelodeon and Disney are constantly running commercials that outright say, get outside and play. If the advertising on those channels can say this, I must assume that it is a problem that they would like to fix (also going along with moderation in the child's life).In saying this, the child's health would most likely improve with the loss of the TV. I can only give my opinion, and based on the television shows I watched, I do believe that children should be allowed (in moderation) towatch shows that will ultimately begin to shape them at an age that only allows a few options for brain stimulation.

Rhetorical Situation

This is a piece done by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I chose this artwork first, because I love things that are black and white figuratively and literally. And secondly, it draws my attention and gives me questions that cannot be answered. It is done in pencil which is interesting to me because he uses shading and fading to capture the image in a most unique way. He emphasizes on her face and the veil in the back, but not the front. He allows the veil to fade out so the viewers may see the woman's face and also fades toward the bottom of the piece, putting less emphasis on her body. Obviously the artist found the woman appealing and portrayed her that way in the painting while leaving it somewhat of a mystery.  The woman appears to be looking into the distance and she has a smirk on her face; however, the audience does not have the ability to know what is making her smile. I believe that he knew the woman and he portrayed her in a very attractive manner. He made her look very dainty and sophisticated while keeping her appealing and classy to all types of viewers. No one would look at this piece and assume the woman was lower class and would even go as far as assuming she lived a very fair, maybe even wealthy lifestyle. artist may have painted this to catch this woman in the essence of the moment, but I do not see a specific reason why (other than personal) that he would have wanted to create this piece.

Why I Decided Wright State Was Right For Me

Wright State University was the last application I filled out, simply because I was dead set on attending Miami University with my best friend. My plans completely changed the night my deposit was due to Miami; something just didn't feel right. It was a little late to put down a deposit on the other schools I had applied to so I decided to go to Wright State for a year to see how I liked it, and if all else failed I was perfectly fine with transferring for my sophomore year. The things that became appealing to me about the campus and the University were all things that would have drawn me to the college had I done the research that I completed for the other colleges that had accepted me.
I began recruitment in the fall for Kappa Delta, as I had always been interested in joining a sorority. This has been one of my best decisions in college. Coming from a small town, and trying to adapt to this huge campus was a major change for me, one that I wasn't sure was possible. It was like starting over and it was hard enough worrying about school, but now I had to try and make friends as well. It was so nice to find these girls with which I had so much in common. They took me in as their sister and it has been a blessing ever since. I also love the size of the classes and how comfortable I seem to be in a lecture setting, while still having some classes with very few. The campus is very nice and feels safe to me, something I was very concerned about at first. I love many things about Wright State, but mostly I love the effort that I have seen from every one of my professors to do their absolute best to pass every student.    Them giving so much time and energy into making the courses possible means a lot to me and I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with each of them.
As my freshman year continued at Wright State, things began to fall together and soon I decided this was the college for me and I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. I guess to say the least, I didn't choose Wright State from the beginning, but all the opportunities it has proven to have for me the past three quarters make me extremely happy that I did end up choosing this University.