Houston, we are nine days away from the end of classes and the beginning of finals and- wait, what?!
*insert shocked-looking smiley here*
And by the way, this is the last regular post you will see for a while. Why? Because we of the Providence Fall 2011 Writing For The Media class are done with blogging after today!
*happy dance*
Today is obviously November 30th. NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month (where the more insane of us attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in a month) has closed and been won. No, I did not attempt NaNo this year- I'm a college student. I have no time! (And, alas, no writing muse.)
I do have friends who attempted it, though. I'll just avoid them for a little bit until their sanity recovers from mass-writing without editing.
Also, today ends No-Shave November/Movember, where the guys (and some of the girls, not including myself) refrain from shaving their beards/mustaches/legs- some to raise support for cancer research, others because everyone else is doing it. I'm not sure who's happier about this: my boyfriend (who is ecstatic about not having to deal with his beard anymore) or me (who is excited to finally see him without the beard).
In other news, we are two weeks until the assorted Provians are allowed to leave school and go home for Christmas. And we are just over two weeks until I finally grow out of being a teenager and turn 20.
Yes, I'm still nineteen. So what?
Prov's Festival of Christmas Praise is going down this weekend. 'Tis a two-day event, where people will pack into the university chapel to hear the Providence University Choir sing their hearts out with songs of, well, Christmas praise. If you're in the area, come down to hear us (And hopefully you won't hear the goof I made this morning during rehearsal when I started singing one song on the tenor line instead of the alto line. Whoops...).
And that wraps up the mandatory posting for this blog. I may come back to this later with random tidbits of information that you may find fascinating, or amusing, or infuriating, or perplexing, or just facepalm-worthy.
Peace.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
On second thought, maybe I'll just go with an Android...
Before the death of the late Steve Jobs, Apple was (and, for the most part, still is) well-known for good quality products which are in high demand throughout the world. Those who can afford Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads show them off with pride, usually getting envy from those without (unless those without are like my kid brother and avid fans of Windows).
Passengers on a recent flight in Australia, however, probably are thinking of converting to non-Apple-related products, after one passenger's iPhone spontaneously combusted shortly after landing in Sydney.
According to the report, the phone began to randomly release large amounts of dense smoke and began to glow red. A flight attendant managed to extinguish the phone before any serious damage to passengers or the plane was sustained.
It's possible that the customized back panel of the phone, which was a version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs' profile released after his death earlier this year, had something to do with the phone's malfunction. Australian authorities are investigating the cause as to the phone's combustion.
And I have now decided to not upgrade my cell phone to an iPhone. Android, anyone?
Link: http://www.bgr.com/2011/11/28/apple-iphone-spontaneously-combusts-aboard-flight-in-australia/
Passengers on a recent flight in Australia, however, probably are thinking of converting to non-Apple-related products, after one passenger's iPhone spontaneously combusted shortly after landing in Sydney.
According to the report, the phone began to randomly release large amounts of dense smoke and began to glow red. A flight attendant managed to extinguish the phone before any serious damage to passengers or the plane was sustained.
It's possible that the customized back panel of the phone, which was a version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs' profile released after his death earlier this year, had something to do with the phone's malfunction. Australian authorities are investigating the cause as to the phone's combustion.
And I have now decided to not upgrade my cell phone to an iPhone. Android, anyone?
Link: http://www.bgr.com/2011/11/28/apple-iphone-spontaneously-combusts-aboard-flight-in-australia/
Monday, November 28, 2011
I am disappoint.
The story of my Saturday:
- Fell asleep around 3 AM after watching Star Trek and text-ranting to a friend.
- Woke up at 7 from another friend texting me. Was unable to go back to sleep.
- Turned on computer at 9 anyway to prep for beta-testing The Old Republic.
- Opened game launcher at 10:00 CST, when the test was to start.
- Dealt with fifteen minutes of trying to log in. Finally was able to get in (thank you, swtor.com, for taking so long to tell me that I needed account security questions before I could sign in).
- The launcher started downloading a video of some sort. Being that I'm living off Prov Internet, I expected it to take a while.
- Game crashed twice. Eventually uninstalled and re-installed the game. This involved me deleting Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast, a few OpenOffice documents and uninstalling Portal 2 (which I'll now have to spend another three days re-downloading from Steam. Humph.)
- Two hours later and the video was about half-downloaded.
- Lurked on The Old Republic forums and fed the jealous nerd-monster within me with all the awesome accounts of what was going on inside the beta.
- Gave up on downloading and playing around this point.
So, long story short, technology hates me and I didn't get to play The Old Republic. But now I'm considering buying the game anyway, because it's evidently rather excellent.
After I get a laptop that will actually be guaranteed to PLAY the game. (And Knights of the Old Republic, and Battle for Middle-earth II, and possibly The Force Unleashed.)
*le sigh* *nerd-sulk*
- Fell asleep around 3 AM after watching Star Trek and text-ranting to a friend.
- Woke up at 7 from another friend texting me. Was unable to go back to sleep.
- Turned on computer at 9 anyway to prep for beta-testing The Old Republic.
- Opened game launcher at 10:00 CST, when the test was to start.
- Dealt with fifteen minutes of trying to log in. Finally was able to get in (thank you, swtor.com, for taking so long to tell me that I needed account security questions before I could sign in).
- The launcher started downloading a video of some sort. Being that I'm living off Prov Internet, I expected it to take a while.
- Game crashed twice. Eventually uninstalled and re-installed the game. This involved me deleting Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast, a few OpenOffice documents and uninstalling Portal 2 (which I'll now have to spend another three days re-downloading from Steam. Humph.)
- Two hours later and the video was about half-downloaded.
- Lurked on The Old Republic forums and fed the jealous nerd-monster within me with all the awesome accounts of what was going on inside the beta.
- Gave up on downloading and playing around this point.
So, long story short, technology hates me and I didn't get to play The Old Republic. But now I'm considering buying the game anyway, because it's evidently rather excellent.
After I get a laptop that will actually be guaranteed to PLAY the game. (And Knights of the Old Republic, and Battle for Middle-earth II, and possibly The Force Unleashed.)
*le sigh* *nerd-sulk*
Friday, November 25, 2011
.... There are no words...
Black Friday. It is a day that makes customers giddy, store clerks cringe, and store corporation managers gleeful over the sales to be had. It falls the Friday of the American Thanksgiving, and for the average shopper, roughly translates into "OMG SALES!!1!".
Anyway. People are known to line up from as early as midnight in front of store doors so as to get good deals on early Christmas shopping items, such as very cheap dolls, Wii games or electronics. While the stores do their best to keep the shopping somewhat calm, people are known to get vicious when fighting over discounted TVs, Barbies, Lego kits or sweaters.
How vicious, you ask? This year alone there have been two reported shooting outside of two seperate Wal-Mart locations in the States, namely in Northern California and South Carolina. Also, in a third Wal-Mart in Los Angeles, twenty shoppers (including children) became victims of another female shopper's pepper spray attack.
Even more sickening is that the customers who avoided the worst of the pepper spray didn't bother trying to help the victims or to catch the woman who attacked them. Instead, they could see sales beyond the downed customers and wanted to get the new Wii games for 70% off NOW, DAMMIT, and bugger the person who is clawing at my foot and crying because of some pepper spray in their eyes.
Disgusting.
Only in America...
Anyway. People are known to line up from as early as midnight in front of store doors so as to get good deals on early Christmas shopping items, such as very cheap dolls, Wii games or electronics. While the stores do their best to keep the shopping somewhat calm, people are known to get vicious when fighting over discounted TVs, Barbies, Lego kits or sweaters.
How vicious, you ask? This year alone there have been two reported shooting outside of two seperate Wal-Mart locations in the States, namely in Northern California and South Carolina. Also, in a third Wal-Mart in Los Angeles, twenty shoppers (including children) became victims of another female shopper's pepper spray attack.
Even more sickening is that the customers who avoided the worst of the pepper spray didn't bother trying to help the victims or to catch the woman who attacked them. Instead, they could see sales beyond the downed customers and wanted to get the new Wii games for 70% off NOW, DAMMIT, and bugger the person who is clawing at my foot and crying because of some pepper spray in their eyes.
Disgusting.
Only in America...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
There is only one way this can go...
Since you have found this little blog in the corner of cyberspace, I'm assuming that you've heard of the Occupy Wall Street movement, no? Yes. If not, go look it up on Google.
Also, if you have Internet access to see this blog, you've more than likely seen reports of Occupy protesters being kicked out of their protest areas by police. This is not just Occupy protesters in New York City- the anti-protest measures are popping up all over the United States and elsewhere around the world. Berkley, San Francisco and Seattle are all listed as Occupy movements being countered by police. In some instances the police have brought out pepper spray to get protesters to cooperate.
This was the case for Occupy Seattle last week. More shocking than the six arrests made one night was the pepper-spraying of a priest, a pregnant woman and an 84-year-old woman, who happened to be standing beside and observing the protest march when she was sprayed by police. This comes after word of New York police evicting Occupy protesters from Zucotti Park.
I don't foresee a peaceful ending to the Occupy movement occuring anytime soon. There is indeed only one way that this can end: Badly.
Link: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Elderly-woman-priest-pepper-sprayed-during-2271197.php
Also, if you have Internet access to see this blog, you've more than likely seen reports of Occupy protesters being kicked out of their protest areas by police. This is not just Occupy protesters in New York City- the anti-protest measures are popping up all over the United States and elsewhere around the world. Berkley, San Francisco and Seattle are all listed as Occupy movements being countered by police. In some instances the police have brought out pepper spray to get protesters to cooperate.
This was the case for Occupy Seattle last week. More shocking than the six arrests made one night was the pepper-spraying of a priest, a pregnant woman and an 84-year-old woman, who happened to be standing beside and observing the protest march when she was sprayed by police. This comes after word of New York police evicting Occupy protesters from Zucotti Park.
I don't foresee a peaceful ending to the Occupy movement occuring anytime soon. There is indeed only one way that this can end: Badly.
Link: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Elderly-woman-priest-pepper-sprayed-during-2271197.php
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
It's beginning to look a lot like Chri- Wait, what?
It's late November here in Manitoba. As those who have been in Manitoba know, by this point in the year we're usually plowing our way through snow at least a foot deep and are producing the parkas and toques in anticipation of the winter ahead. Sledding is happening, snowball fights are happening, and fingers are at risk for frostbite.
Well, usually.
So far, we in Otterburne have had a staggering total of only a few centimetres of snow. Even more shocking? Today was +5 C. That means that students were frolicking outside in spring-like temperatures, enjoying the scents of the ground being moistened by the melting snow and the sounds of slush under their feet, instead of the normal crunching of snow. Tomorrow's supposed to be even warmer, with a high of +7.
Global warming? Maybe.
Complaints? Nope!
We know the inevitable will happen, and that we'll be bundling up against -40 temperatures sooner than we'd like. But for now, we'll savour the pseudo-spring that we've been blessed with.
Well, usually.
So far, we in Otterburne have had a staggering total of only a few centimetres of snow. Even more shocking? Today was +5 C. That means that students were frolicking outside in spring-like temperatures, enjoying the scents of the ground being moistened by the melting snow and the sounds of slush under their feet, instead of the normal crunching of snow. Tomorrow's supposed to be even warmer, with a high of +7.
Global warming? Maybe.
Complaints? Nope!
We know the inevitable will happen, and that we'll be bundling up against -40 temperatures sooner than we'd like. But for now, we'll savour the pseudo-spring that we've been blessed with.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Adding to the geek status...
The new project from LucasArts and BioWare is entering another beta phase this weekend. Geeks from across the world (myself included) are logging into the hosting website for the new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic to apply for beta-testing status for the weekend.
I'm still refusing to pay for the game itself, unless it's either much cheaper than I think it is, or it goes the way of Lord of the Rings Online and becomes free to play, excluding expansion packs. But my inner Star Wars fangirl refuses to bypass the chance to play The Old Republic for free with the excuse of looking for bugs.
Hopefully my Notebook (which won't play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but will play Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy) will be able to support The Old Republic. If not, I shall be rather disappointed.
Part of me is worried that this new endeavour from LucasArts is going to be another disappointing money-making scheme from George Lucas (*cough* Very much like the "upgrades" to the Blu-Ray movies. Han shot first and Ewoks don't blink, dammit!). But I'm hopeful that it will be well worth the effort into playing and beta-ing- and possibly playing, if I decide I love the game that much. I would prefer if the game was free to play like Lord of the Rings Online (or at least free until a certain level, such as World of Warcraft), but I suppose the people working behind the scenes to design the Jedi characters deserve paycheques.
As long as the graphics are better than the Jedi Knight, and the story has a better ending than Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which, although gameplay and graphics are much better than its precurser Knights of the Old Republic, had a very lacking, abrupt ending to the storyline. Thank you, Lucas, for rushing production of that game.), and my computer will support it, I'll be happy.
Also, if Darth Revan or the Jedi Exile or the Mandalorian Wars are mentioned, I'll be ecstatic. (Hey, it's only a thousand years after the events of the KOTOR series, and still three thousand years pre-Darth Vader! It's plausible!)
If nobody hears from me this weekend, you know why.
I'm still refusing to pay for the game itself, unless it's either much cheaper than I think it is, or it goes the way of Lord of the Rings Online and becomes free to play, excluding expansion packs. But my inner Star Wars fangirl refuses to bypass the chance to play The Old Republic for free with the excuse of looking for bugs.
Hopefully my Notebook (which won't play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but will play Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy) will be able to support The Old Republic. If not, I shall be rather disappointed.
Part of me is worried that this new endeavour from LucasArts is going to be another disappointing money-making scheme from George Lucas (*cough* Very much like the "upgrades" to the Blu-Ray movies. Han shot first and Ewoks don't blink, dammit!). But I'm hopeful that it will be well worth the effort into playing and beta-ing- and possibly playing, if I decide I love the game that much. I would prefer if the game was free to play like Lord of the Rings Online (or at least free until a certain level, such as World of Warcraft), but I suppose the people working behind the scenes to design the Jedi characters deserve paycheques.
As long as the graphics are better than the Jedi Knight, and the story has a better ending than Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which, although gameplay and graphics are much better than its precurser Knights of the Old Republic, had a very lacking, abrupt ending to the storyline. Thank you, Lucas, for rushing production of that game.), and my computer will support it, I'll be happy.
Also, if Darth Revan or the Jedi Exile or the Mandalorian Wars are mentioned, I'll be ecstatic. (Hey, it's only a thousand years after the events of the KOTOR series, and still three thousand years pre-Darth Vader! It's plausible!)
If nobody hears from me this weekend, you know why.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Some people really shouldn't have children...
A couple in New Jersey has lost custody of their fourth baby, seventeen hours after he was born. The older three children have all been in foster care for some time now.
Why, do you ask, would the NJ authorities take away four small children from their parents?
The answer stems back to the third child's name. Really, who in their right mind would name their child Adolf Hitler [insert last name here- in this case, Campbell]- and then claim to not be neo-Nazis?!
Heath and Deborah Campbell are protesting their lack of custody over their children- two daughters named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Himler Jeannie Campbell, Adolf Hitler Campbell and their new baby brother, Hons Campbell, claiming that the state has "kidnapped" the children for no legitimate reason. According to the parents, the children were perfectly healthy and fine. The parents also claim that they are not neo-Nazi supporters.
Perhaps not. But what kind of a future are you setting your kid up for if you name him after the most loathed dictator and murderer in the last century? How is that not a form of child abuse?
Reports indicate a history of violence within the Campbell home, which serve as the ulterior motive for removing the children from the home. The Campbell parents will be in court today to determine if they will be able to keep Hons in their custody.
Legally, the children will be able to change their names once they're 18 without parental consent. I really hope the state makes an exception for Adolf, though- because as soon as he starts learning about World War II and the Holocaust...
The story: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/parents-adolf-hitler-lose-custody-newborn-020633900.html?fb_action_ids=10150368328961666&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline
Why, do you ask, would the NJ authorities take away four small children from their parents?
The answer stems back to the third child's name. Really, who in their right mind would name their child Adolf Hitler [insert last name here- in this case, Campbell]- and then claim to not be neo-Nazis?!
Heath and Deborah Campbell are protesting their lack of custody over their children- two daughters named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Himler Jeannie Campbell, Adolf Hitler Campbell and their new baby brother, Hons Campbell, claiming that the state has "kidnapped" the children for no legitimate reason. According to the parents, the children were perfectly healthy and fine. The parents also claim that they are not neo-Nazi supporters.
Perhaps not. But what kind of a future are you setting your kid up for if you name him after the most loathed dictator and murderer in the last century? How is that not a form of child abuse?
Reports indicate a history of violence within the Campbell home, which serve as the ulterior motive for removing the children from the home. The Campbell parents will be in court today to determine if they will be able to keep Hons in their custody.
Legally, the children will be able to change their names once they're 18 without parental consent. I really hope the state makes an exception for Adolf, though- because as soon as he starts learning about World War II and the Holocaust...
The story: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/parents-adolf-hitler-lose-custody-newborn-020633900.html?fb_action_ids=10150368328961666&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
How Geeks Are Formed
Those who know AJ beyond "casual acquaintance" would describe her as a "hard-core" nerd. The average observer would see a short, brown-haired girl in her standard dark jeans and a black hoodie, sitting off in the corner with her laptop, her sketchpad or a fantasy novel of some description. The people who have known AJ for longer than a couple of years know this is a normal activity for her, and have since learned to just not disturb her when she's in the midst of some fantasy world.
At some point in AJ's life, she was probably a normal, non-geeky human girl- but that was before she started school and discovered that most potent of loves, a greater addiction than drugs: reading. By grade four, she had finished the Chronicles of Narnia and was reading Frank Peretti's novels. In grade six, she set out to read the entire Jedi Apprentice series. By grade seven, she had discovered her mother's collection of books by Ted Dekker. In an effort to keep her own books to herself and also prevent premature mental scarring from thriller novels (neither of which were a success), AJ's mother handed her a copy of The Hobbit, and followed up with the Lord of the Rings books just after AJ turned twelve. That decided AJ's fate as a Tolkien obsessant for the next several years: by the time grade seven was finished, AJ had read through The Silmarillion and still couldn't understand why most adults wouldn't read it.
By this point, she was also convinced that she was Half-Elven and aimed to be able to read and speak Elvish. Fluently. As of the time of writing, she has learned some basic terminology, including the translations for "my son/daughter", "love" "well met, my friend", and "go kiss an orc".
She remained a slightly-insane Tolkien nerd for the next four years, sprinkling her Middle-earth readings with other assorted fantasy novels (including Redwall, The Wheel of Time, and The Inheritance Cycle), until that fateful day in grade twelve when she stumbled upon the fanfiction writings of fellow Lord of the Rings fangirls who had crushes on Legolas and dreamed of being a non-canonical 10th Walker in the Fellowship. From there, any semblance of AJ's sanity was gone, as she started to write her own fanfiction stories. Then she found the Star Wars fanfiction archives, and all hope was lost.
At some point along the way, she was introduced to online forums dedicated to riffing bad fanfiction in Mystery Science Theatre 3000-style, and became a notorious sporker. On these forums, she found geeks as insane as she was- including geeks obsessed with the British television series Doctor Who, fellow nerds who read William Shakespeare's plays for enjoyment, and even other fangirls who admitted to playing video games such as Battle for Middle-earth and Age of Empires. Through these online nerds, AJ learned of the Histories of Middle-earth, the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and just how enjoyable online written crossover roleplay games are. Even if the games are so insane as to assume Obi-Wan Kenobi and Atton Rand are half-brothers, with one being the son of Darken Rahl, the other the son of Don John, or to think of other such ideas such as Qui-Gon Jinn being the grandson of Maglor Feanorion, Anakin Skywalker being the son of Balian of Ibelin, or Neo Anderson being the son of the Witch-King of Angmar (affectionately known as "Tim").
In university, she was introduced to people in person who played KOTOR and watched TV shows such as Big Bang Theory, Supernatural, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, further cementing her identity as a nerd. Her nerd-status only increased when her friends introduced her to the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, and convinced her to start a mono-white playing deck. Between that and her recent addiction to George RR Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, it's no small wonder as to why she's perpetually broke now.
AJ treasures the family and friends who allowed her to admit she's a geek to anyone who would ask, despite the facepalms of her parents and the laughter of her friends and brothers. She still maintains that she could be a worse geek- she could be playing World of Warcraft or be fluent in Klingon as well as Elvish, and she still has a social life. But regardless of the degree of geekery that she claims she hasn't fallen to yet, she will be always thought of as a geek by those around her.
At some point in AJ's life, she was probably a normal, non-geeky human girl- but that was before she started school and discovered that most potent of loves, a greater addiction than drugs: reading. By grade four, she had finished the Chronicles of Narnia and was reading Frank Peretti's novels. In grade six, she set out to read the entire Jedi Apprentice series. By grade seven, she had discovered her mother's collection of books by Ted Dekker. In an effort to keep her own books to herself and also prevent premature mental scarring from thriller novels (neither of which were a success), AJ's mother handed her a copy of The Hobbit, and followed up with the Lord of the Rings books just after AJ turned twelve. That decided AJ's fate as a Tolkien obsessant for the next several years: by the time grade seven was finished, AJ had read through The Silmarillion and still couldn't understand why most adults wouldn't read it.
By this point, she was also convinced that she was Half-Elven and aimed to be able to read and speak Elvish. Fluently. As of the time of writing, she has learned some basic terminology, including the translations for "my son/daughter", "love" "well met, my friend", and "go kiss an orc".
She remained a slightly-insane Tolkien nerd for the next four years, sprinkling her Middle-earth readings with other assorted fantasy novels (including Redwall, The Wheel of Time, and The Inheritance Cycle), until that fateful day in grade twelve when she stumbled upon the fanfiction writings of fellow Lord of the Rings fangirls who had crushes on Legolas and dreamed of being a non-canonical 10th Walker in the Fellowship. From there, any semblance of AJ's sanity was gone, as she started to write her own fanfiction stories. Then she found the Star Wars fanfiction archives, and all hope was lost.
At some point along the way, she was introduced to online forums dedicated to riffing bad fanfiction in Mystery Science Theatre 3000-style, and became a notorious sporker. On these forums, she found geeks as insane as she was- including geeks obsessed with the British television series Doctor Who, fellow nerds who read William Shakespeare's plays for enjoyment, and even other fangirls who admitted to playing video games such as Battle for Middle-earth and Age of Empires. Through these online nerds, AJ learned of the Histories of Middle-earth, the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and just how enjoyable online written crossover roleplay games are. Even if the games are so insane as to assume Obi-Wan Kenobi and Atton Rand are half-brothers, with one being the son of Darken Rahl, the other the son of Don John, or to think of other such ideas such as Qui-Gon Jinn being the grandson of Maglor Feanorion, Anakin Skywalker being the son of Balian of Ibelin, or Neo Anderson being the son of the Witch-King of Angmar (affectionately known as "Tim").
In university, she was introduced to people in person who played KOTOR and watched TV shows such as Big Bang Theory, Supernatural, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, further cementing her identity as a nerd. Her nerd-status only increased when her friends introduced her to the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, and convinced her to start a mono-white playing deck. Between that and her recent addiction to George RR Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, it's no small wonder as to why she's perpetually broke now.
AJ treasures the family and friends who allowed her to admit she's a geek to anyone who would ask, despite the facepalms of her parents and the laughter of her friends and brothers. She still maintains that she could be a worse geek- she could be playing World of Warcraft or be fluent in Klingon as well as Elvish, and she still has a social life. But regardless of the degree of geekery that she claims she hasn't fallen to yet, she will be always thought of as a geek by those around her.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The good die young...
A ten-year-old Illinois girl committed suicide on Friday, after allegedly enduring oppresive torment from bullies at her school.
Ashlynn Conner, a fifth-grade honours student from Georgetown, Illinois, was found hanging in a closet in her home, after complaining to her mother for several days about insults and hateful comments directed at her by her peers in her class.
Her mother, Stacy, told ABC reporters that her daughter had been called "fat", "ugly" and even "slut" by classmates, which made Ashlynn come to dread school in the weeks before her death.
The school, Georgetown Ridge Farm Elementary, says they have a strict anti-bullying policy in place to prevent incidents like this. However, as someone who was bullied enough in elementary school at age eight to drop out and homeschool for four years, I know from past experience that bullies don't care about school policies. If they do not like someone at the school, they will strive to make his or her life miserable, and to heck with the consequences- I'd like to think that they don't expect something like this to happen though.
Rest in peace, Ashlynn.
Link to ABC News' story: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/was-a-10-year-old-honor-student-bullied-to-death/
No one sits with him, he doesn't fit in
But you feel like you do when you make fun of him
'Cos you want to belong, do you go along
'Cos his pain is the price paid for you to belong?
It's not like you hate him or want him to die
But maybe he goes home and thinks suicide
Or he comes back to school with a gun at his side
Any kindness from you might've saved his life...
-"Hero"- Superchick
Ashlynn Conner, a fifth-grade honours student from Georgetown, Illinois, was found hanging in a closet in her home, after complaining to her mother for several days about insults and hateful comments directed at her by her peers in her class.
Her mother, Stacy, told ABC reporters that her daughter had been called "fat", "ugly" and even "slut" by classmates, which made Ashlynn come to dread school in the weeks before her death.
The school, Georgetown Ridge Farm Elementary, says they have a strict anti-bullying policy in place to prevent incidents like this. However, as someone who was bullied enough in elementary school at age eight to drop out and homeschool for four years, I know from past experience that bullies don't care about school policies. If they do not like someone at the school, they will strive to make his or her life miserable, and to heck with the consequences- I'd like to think that they don't expect something like this to happen though.
Rest in peace, Ashlynn.
Link to ABC News' story: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/was-a-10-year-old-honor-student-bullied-to-death/
No one sits with him, he doesn't fit in
But you feel like you do when you make fun of him
'Cos you want to belong, do you go along
'Cos his pain is the price paid for you to belong?
It's not like you hate him or want him to die
But maybe he goes home and thinks suicide
Or he comes back to school with a gun at his side
Any kindness from you might've saved his life...
-"Hero"- Superchick
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Temple Shalom: The Experience
The
average Gentile passer-by in Winnipeg, Manitoba might not notice the
building across from the strip mall on Grant Avenue. The structure
that houses Temple Shalom is a fairly-ordinary looking building,
distinguished from its neighbours only by the large image of a
menorah painted onto the circular window just above and beside the
door. Even on the inside, the synagogue looks much the same as the
foyer of an average city church- on November 11th, 2011,
just after seven o'clock in the evening, it's very quiet.
A few congregational leaders are talking on the second floor, up a short flight of stairs from the doorway and coatroom. They are welcoming of their Christian visitors and invite them to sit and talk while awaiting more members of the congregation before the service begins at 7:30 PM.
The decor is slightly different, though- instead of the images of Christ on the crucifix that would adorn the walls of most churches, there are paintings of rabbis from times past, and two old-looking copies of the Torah held securely within glass display cases. Hebrew writing covers plaques and art pieces around the synagogue.
The sanctuary of this Reformed Jewish synagogue bears a striking similarity to an average church, however- there are pews facing the front of the room, and musical instruments on the stage, including three acoustic guitars and an electric piano. A large glass structure resembling the Ark of the Covenant stands against the wall, with the Ten Commandments etched into the glass in Hebrew.
The service itself is different from a standard Christian church service as well. Whether this is a normal Jewish tradition or one slightly altered for the Remembrance Day service, there is no “sermon”. Instead, there are musical performances from people of the congregation, in both English and Hebrew. There is no reading of the Torah in Hebrew tonight, however- instead, for the sake of the occasion, anti-war songs written by Bob Dylan and John Lennon are performed for the audience instead. It is not something that a visitor would expect, not even from a Reformed Jewish synagogue (which is comparatively more liberal than other Jewish traditions such as Orthodox Judaism), but it does seem to suit the anti-war theme of the service. A female rabbi leads the service, and in fact leads most of the singing. After the two-hour service, the visitors are invited downstairs to join in the traditional Sabbath meal with the rest of the congregation- a light snack consisting of tea, cookies, bread (including haballah) and fruit.
It is an interesting, and very informative experience, for the non-Jewish visitors of this synagogue, and rather enjoyable, minor culture-shock not withstanding. It was very different from the church services that the Christian visitors were accustomed to- and being that Judaism, while being the parent of Christianity, is still a different religion, that is understandable. But even though half the service was in Hebrew and not all of the rituals of the service made sense to the Christians attending the service for educational purposes, there were still close similarities to Christian services, such as the structure of the service and the congregational singing with instrumental accompaniment (something I suspect would never happen in an Orthodox synagogue). On the whole, this was a very enjoyable and eye-opening experience for a Christian studying Judaism.
A few congregational leaders are talking on the second floor, up a short flight of stairs from the doorway and coatroom. They are welcoming of their Christian visitors and invite them to sit and talk while awaiting more members of the congregation before the service begins at 7:30 PM.
The decor is slightly different, though- instead of the images of Christ on the crucifix that would adorn the walls of most churches, there are paintings of rabbis from times past, and two old-looking copies of the Torah held securely within glass display cases. Hebrew writing covers plaques and art pieces around the synagogue.
The sanctuary of this Reformed Jewish synagogue bears a striking similarity to an average church, however- there are pews facing the front of the room, and musical instruments on the stage, including three acoustic guitars and an electric piano. A large glass structure resembling the Ark of the Covenant stands against the wall, with the Ten Commandments etched into the glass in Hebrew.
The service itself is different from a standard Christian church service as well. Whether this is a normal Jewish tradition or one slightly altered for the Remembrance Day service, there is no “sermon”. Instead, there are musical performances from people of the congregation, in both English and Hebrew. There is no reading of the Torah in Hebrew tonight, however- instead, for the sake of the occasion, anti-war songs written by Bob Dylan and John Lennon are performed for the audience instead. It is not something that a visitor would expect, not even from a Reformed Jewish synagogue (which is comparatively more liberal than other Jewish traditions such as Orthodox Judaism), but it does seem to suit the anti-war theme of the service. A female rabbi leads the service, and in fact leads most of the singing. After the two-hour service, the visitors are invited downstairs to join in the traditional Sabbath meal with the rest of the congregation- a light snack consisting of tea, cookies, bread (including haballah) and fruit.
It is an interesting, and very informative experience, for the non-Jewish visitors of this synagogue, and rather enjoyable, minor culture-shock not withstanding. It was very different from the church services that the Christian visitors were accustomed to- and being that Judaism, while being the parent of Christianity, is still a different religion, that is understandable. But even though half the service was in Hebrew and not all of the rituals of the service made sense to the Christians attending the service for educational purposes, there were still close similarities to Christian services, such as the structure of the service and the congregational singing with instrumental accompaniment (something I suspect would never happen in an Orthodox synagogue). On the whole, this was a very enjoyable and eye-opening experience for a Christian studying Judaism.
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