Blogging Around 2

Kristina’s blog: A Tribute to Aristotle: Get Organized

-Kristina’s blog was about the overwhelming task of organizing a big mess of clothes, which is something I have had to do many times. 
 

Comment:

I can totally relate to your clothing organization process. Until last year, I didn’t keep my clothes organized at all. Sometimes I would do big clean ups, only to slowly mess it all up again. One day, I just got sick of it and organized my clothes once and for all. Since then I have kept them pretty neat and in their place, but it does take effort.  It feels great and my room looks a lot better!

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Ashley’s blog: Connection

-This blog post was about her dad's recognition and appreciation of beauty and aesthetics. 

Comment:

It sounds like your Dad has a positive way of thinking. I think it is important to see and look for the beauty that is out in nature and in life in general. I think it’s cool that he observes the forest in all the different seasons, because he doesn't let the weather stop him from observing its beauty, unlike other people who only go outside when it is nice out. I think it’s a lot easier to be happy and content if you notice the beautiful things that life has to offer.

Get Organized: my collage picture binder

                I love creating collages out of cut magazine pictures. Because I collage so often and do a variety of projects, varying in size,theme, and surface, I have made a binder with pocket dividers in it to hold and keep all of my pictures organized. I divide my pictures up into different categories including cut outs of: eyes, animals, fashion, letters / words, random (pictures that don’t fit anywhere else), small, flowers / plants, scenery, patterns, and many more. When making a “random” collage, I chose a few pictures from each category in my binder so that a variety of pictures is included.  When I’m making a themed collage, everything is easy to find and I know just where to look for the pictures I need for that project.  Recently I have been finding / adding a lot of new magazine pictures and doing minimal organizing, so this was the perfect thing to organize. 

                In preparation for this major organization process, I bought a wider and sturdier binder than I was using before. As I transferred the binder dividers (that have pockets which hold the pictures), one by one and I noted which categories of pictures needed organizing / editing, and which were okay. For a few categories of pictures, I took out all of the pictures and decided to keep them where they were, move them, or remove (usually if it too cut up or damaged). Next, I decided that certain categories should be eliminated from the binder and by the time  was done new categories took their place. Lastly, I went through my pile of unorganized pictures that were starting to pile up in the back and put them in the correct categories in my new organized binder. 

                 Now, my pictures binder is more organized than ever before.  Although it had most of the same categories before, it was not half as organized as it is now. Surprisingly, I didn’t find myself bored while organizing my binder; in fact the process was a pretty pleasant one. Now that I’m done, I feel accomplished to have tackled the task of organizing this thing and I feel relieved that it is so much easier to find the pictures that I need.

                From now on I want my binder to be organized and I will put time into keeping it that way. I was into organizing things before, but this process made me realize that by taking even a short amount of time and patience, you can turn an almost mess into something very organized and nice looking. It also made me realize that my bookshelf could use some organizing, even though it isn't "messy" yet.  I now thing that organizing should be done before something becomes a mess, instead of after the fact because it’s always so much harder and takes so much longer if you wait to do so. As of recently I have been more organized than I had been earlier in my life. As a result, my room is cleaner, my school work / supplies are neater, and I feel like I generally forget / lose fewer things than before. Now that I have realized how simply keeping things organized can make life so much easier, I will try to not let my things get messy in the future.

An Inconvenient Truth: society’s implied inferiority of women

Although women have come a long way in terms of being treated equal in society, I think we still have a somewhat long way to go. And that really disappoints me. I swear; nothing makes me more upset than when I see evidence of implied male gender superiority. I use the term "implied inferiority / superiority" because I believe and I KNOW that both genders are completely equal. But unfortunately, society has created gender roles, stereotypes, and expectations that severely limit women. I find it inconveniently true that throughout history (and even in today’s world) women have been considered inferior to men. 

It's impossible to pin point exactly when the first examples of implied male superiority occurred, but I was able to track this idea back to about the year 300 B.C., while reading Sophie’s World. Aristotle lived from 384 to 322 B.C. , and during his lifetime he came to be a very influential philosopher. Unfortunately, he had an extremely unfair view on women. Aristotle believed that women were an unfinished or flawed version of man, which implies that women are the inferior gender. He also believed that a child only inherits traits from their father, which is ridiculous and scientifically incorrect. It is proven that a baby has both of its parents’ characteristics. Unlike what Aristotle believed, both genders are equally important in the reproduction and raising- children process. The worst part of Aristotle’s incorrect belief is that the church adapted and carried on a similar view of women too. Because the church is still such an influential institutions, examples of sexism against women STILL occur regularly in society. 

Now that I am more conscious of the implied inferiority of women, the first question I have is: why? Also: how could that be an accepted belief? I know that women are just as “smart” and just as capable of doing everything that men can do. It frustrates me that there are so many examples of society believing the opposite. It is unfair and extremely unproductive for society to hold women on a lower level than men. A woman is just as likely as a man to come up with a cure for a disease or make an important scientific discovery, yet for much of history women were not allowed to have input in many male dominated fields. And that is truly tragic. How much more could have humans discovered if women had been allowed to contribute more ideas in the course of history?! 

Today, on top of being considered somewhat inferior, an unfair amount of responsibilities now lay on many women’s shoulders. For example, it was mentioned in my psychology textbook that typically, if both spouses work and have children that the mother will still be expected to handle most if not all of the child- raising responsibilities. I mean, come on how unfair is that? Parenting, housework (such as cooking and cleaning), and even financial responsibilities should be split fairly among both partners, especially if both spouses work outside of the home, which is a reality for many people in the modern world.

Women also experience injustice in the work place. According to a Times article I found online, women on average only make about 77 cents on a men’s dollar, according to information from the latest census. Another trend that negatively affects women is that educated women tend to take lower-paying, traditionally female-held positions such as teachers and nurses, while equally educated men will often take higher paying positions such as doctors and lawyers. The article states that it true that women are often (but not always) discriminated against in the workplace. 

I am determined to live my life ignoring the implied gender roles and expectations that exist in society as much as possible. I know for fact that both genders are equal; despite what society implies, and that is all that matters to me. I hope that in the future, society can exist without any inequality between the genders. Whether this type of equality is possible or not, I do not know, but I can only hope that it could be a reality that I am able to see when I’m older. I would love to see a woman be elected president. I don’t want them to be just any woman, but a woman that is just as qualified and as intelligent as any  of the 44 men who have  been elected president. And I know that there are (and always have been) qualified women out there; they just haven’t been given a fair opportunity due to implied male superiority. 

Sources 

Fitzpatrick, Laura. "Why Do Women Still Earn Less Than Men?" www.time.com.Time U.S., 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. 

<http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1983185,00.html>.

Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994. Print.

Best of the Week: Starlings

           When Mr. Allen showed us the video of the Starlings, I was truly amazed that birds could fly in the way that they do. These birds have such precision in their movements, it seems like it is planned. I love when nature surprises us with things that are beautiful and unexplainable, such as the Starlings’ synchronized movements.  

          So the question that this phenomenon brings up is: why do Starlings put on this mysterious show when flying in large flocks? Thankfully, we don’t have to rely on our made-up myths to answer this question. It was figured out by European scientists that Starlings use their synchronized routines when they are in danger. The quick and unpredictable movements that the birds make keep each Starling in the flock safe from predators.

          Another puzzling element of the Starlings’ routine is how the birds are able to fly in all directions without ever bumping into one another. The scientific explanation behind this mysterious ability is coordination. It turns out each individual Starling tracks seven others in its flock, which allows each bird in the flock to stay coordinated. 

          Although this is not proven, I believe that Starlings’ flying habits are evidence that Starlings are very socially enabled birds. Although we often only think of humans as being social creatures, I think some, if not most animals are able to communicate about as much as humans do. 

           I have seen my dogs communicate on many occasions. Since there are 3 of them, they act like a lot like a  pack. So, when one starts to bark, the other two will start too. It’s as if one will find the “predator” (be it a mailman or a squirrel) and calls the others for back up. Also, if one of my dogs hears another dog bark in the neighborhood, they will bark at that dog. Even though my dog and the other dog cannot see each other, they are still able to communicate. Although birds may not communicate as obviously as dogs do, it is evident that the have very strong communication abilities, because in order to fly in the way that the Starlings do, communication and exact coordination is necessary.  

Metacognition: My Thinking while Working on Assignments

When I start any big project or essay my first thought process is the dread of starting the thing. When I have a lot of time for a big assignment I tend to wait at least a few days to really start. In these few days I sometimes do some preliminary planning or at least think the assignment, but at this point all plans are in my head or non-existent. Sometimes I wait to start because I’m legitimately too busy, and other times it is purely procrastination. This is a habit of delaying the start of big assignments mine that is unproductive for me and I should cut out this stage all together. Thankfully, I have gotten better since my freshman year, when I was the start-a-day-or-two-before-its-due kind of student. It was always very stressful no-break or fun kind of work that would usually take the whole day.  As of recently, I have realized that once I finally start something, and brainstorm what I will do, I realize that it won’t be as hard or time consuming as I had thought. And then I work better and get over the “ugh” of having to do it. 

Once I officially start an assignment, I usually think about: how long it will take me, when I will be able to work on it, and when I should do it. Since my senior year has started, I have been getting better at planning out the time that it will take to finish my assignments. I am the kind of person who hates doing the entirety of a project the day before it’s due, because that situation is always way too stressful and the work never comes out the best that it can be. I like doing projects and papers with several, or at least a few days before the due date so that I can do a little each day. I have barely stressed out with schoolwork at all this school year because of how I have been planning out my time. I used to be so bad in terms of procrastination and I’m glad I have been improving my time management skills, because I know they will be helpful in college and in life.  

Before I actually hands-on work on any assignment, I like to come up with an on-paper plan. For papers, I always have some sort of outline and for projects I draw sketches or take notes on my ideas about the project. I find it very helpful to put my thoughts and ideas somewhere where I can see, organize, and edit them as I go on. While I’m working I often come up with more ideas, and it’s easy to just jot or draw them into the plan that I already have.  

When I actually start working on my project or paper I only work for short periods of time. I break the work up into smaller, stress-free parts.  So I usually don’t work on one assignment for more than an hour and half at a time, because to be honest my attention span doesn’t last much longer than that. This method also stops me from getting frustrated by having to work for hours on end. When I do have to work for a few hours I will take short breaks. When I work on something, I like to be comfortable, usually with music or TV to listen to as I work. Most of the time I work while sitting on my couch or bed. But I like my desk too sometimes.  I keep it relaxed while still being productive. As I work, I try to add creativity to my assignments. For example, in my Mindbook and other projects I try to add colors, borders, and other decorations so that my work is visually appealing. In my papers and other formal writing, I go over and edit my work for grammar, but also for flow, vocabulary and sentence / paragraph structure so that it is “pretty” too. I willingly put time and effort into my work to make good quality work.

My attitude and thoughts about school and grades has completely changed this year. Except surprisingly, not in the “senioritis” kind of way. Now that high school grades are supposed to be less important to me as a senior, I am actually getting better grades than I have ever. I think I am doing so well because all of my classes genuinely interest me and I want to do well in them for myself. Now that I am doing the work for reasons other than a good GPA, I feel liberated. I am more motivated than ever, and it doesn’t feel like work so much anymore. And that’s pretty much the biggest relief I’ve ever experienced.