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 |  Are hash tags still cool? |
| After recovering from a small bout of depression, I'm back again to talk about first world problems, make fun of my ridiculousness, and find a place where I can just be me. |
| Tells us about a issue or cause that you feel most strongly about. Also any ideas you may have to improve the situation. "And I want us to think tonight about the love we all share for those Americans, our brothers and sisters, who are going through difficult times, whose days are never easy, nights are always long, and whose work never seems done." -Ann Romney I once went to a meeting where people who have a prior record with the law discussed problems with their reintegration back into society.These people told stories of how they reformed, and felt guilty over the mistakes they made in their pasts. Mistakes that were costing them the ability to support their families. Mistakes that were making them want to return to their criminal ways because not abiding by the law was MUCH MUCH easier than having to contend with another employer who didn’t care how hard working they were because they had a record. You could see in the bags beneath their eyes, the intensity of their voices, and shaking bodies how truly hard they were attempting to reform themselves. Why are the recidivism rates so high? You only had to listen to them for 5 minutes to understand why the jails are crowding over. The easiest thing in the world is to see situations in black and white. I mean thinking things like These Criminals Made a Mistake And They’ll Have to Pay For it, I didn’t make a mistake, and I shouldn’t have to pay for their mistakes. Life should be fair, yes, but we need to face the facts. Life is in NO WAY fair. Some children are born with silver spoons. Some children are born with disabilities. Some children are born smart. Some children are born dumb, and some children are born forgotten. How dumb does it sound to stand pro-life and not help those in need? How dumb is it to complain about crime or something of yours being stolen when you don’t want to invest money in making those who steal not need to resort to crime in the first place? In order to solve the problem of recidivism, more money and manpower needs to be invested in programs that help the poor, disenfranchised, and those re-entering into society. |
| I know it's to late to enter the unofficial blog challenge for Feb., but I'm stealing the prompts. Prompt for Monday 2/18: Most people listen to music. It also seems that there are songs that instantly pull memories from the dark recesses of our brain to its forefront. Pick 2 or 3 songs that have this effect on you and tell us about the memories they invoke. Bombs over Baghdad-Outkast (B.O.B) This song looks like mixed-tapes and smells like Cherry Pepsi. It reminds me of being a kid and dancing like a spazz. When this song came out my friend and I sat by the radio drinking cherry pepsi and waiting so we could record it on our mixed-tape. Once we finally had it on tape, we did all of our dance routines as fast as we could. My mom always said we looked like we were having seizures. We were so silly and so stupid and nothing mattered. I sware, if this song ever comes on in a night-club someone might have to restrain me to keep me from dancing on triple speed. Jesus of Suburbia- Green Day I discovered Green Day at a turning point in my life. I remember buying the American Idiot CD and listening to it over and over again. Every word of Jesus of Suburbia hit so close to home that I felt like Billie Joe Armstrong was speaking directly to me. For the first time, I remember understanding music as something completely personal. Yet, when I hear the 9-minute song now it reminds me of a low-point in my life. This was the summer where everything changed on me. I was moving from home and going to college, both my parents had recently gotten re-married, and my mom gave birth to my baby brother. At the same time, I couldn't stand both of my step-parents and I was having a hard time adjusting to college life I remember being over-whelmed by it all. Mostly, I remember being depressed. Being depressed is a highly personal time when absolutely no one understands you. And even if someone did understand you, you wouldn’t listen because you’re so depressed that no one could possibly understand you. I remember this song becoming the soundtrack of my life as I tried and mostly failed to keep it together. I read a lot of Elizabeth Wurtzell and Sylvia Path, wrote a lot of depressing personally focused poetry, and I cried and cried and cried to Jesus of Suburbia. Up until this CD, my life had been this perfect little bubble where I perfectly kept it together. This depression lasted about 10 years. I haven’t listened to this song in months. I try not to listen to this song. I’ve got too many sad memories associated with it. But, when I think of songs with memories. Every word of this song has a memory: waiting at a bus stop burying my journal in the dirt, flipping out over the phone talking to my mom, having straight-up panic attacks, and a whole lot of other memories I don’t feel like digging up. My Favorite Part of the song: I read the graffiti In the bathroom stall Like the holy scriptures of the shopping mall And so it seemed to confess It didn't say much But it only confirmed that The center of the earth Is the end of the world And I could really care less Dare you to move- Switchfoot In the way that Jesus of Suburbia brings up bad personal memories. Dare you to move means a lot to me because it brought me hope. In fact, I discovered Dare you to move around the same time as Jesus of Suburbia. When I was at the lowest of the low, this song would seem to play so randomly. But, my favorite memory of this song is when Switch foot played at my college for Island party. It was a time when I was with all of my friends as Jon Foreman crowd-surfed his way up to the stage. I remember feeling like I was in the exact right place, at right moment, and I belonged. This song made me hope that maybe there was something more for me. It made me hope that life wasn’t some hopeless monotonous thing. Mostly, it made me grow up and get over the fact that my life wasn’t how it was supposed to be, but exactly how it was going to be. My favorite part of the song: Tension is here Between who you are and who you could be |
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Independence is so important. There's no better feeling than knowing that you can do something for yourself without assistance.
