The history of Marti Gras is so fascinating; in fact, the word itself means Carnival Season. It begins on Fat Tuesday and ends the day before Ash Wednesday. It is said to be known in the past as a celebratory carnival before the lent season. The colors of Marti Gras are purple green and gold. These colors represent justice, faith and power. Marti Gras is sometimes called the Greatest Free Show on Earth. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to partake in a cultural, historical and carnival-like festivity.
Is the entertainment business too harsh? My cousin’s dream as a little girl was to be an actress. Ten years later, she starred in the The Last Airbender, playing the role of the water bender. As a main character she committed many hours to martial arts training and practicing her lines. However, this is not my topic of concern. I don’t know if its because this is hitting so close to home with my cousin newly entering the entertainment industry, but I am very am worried about the impact the media and the pressure has on child stars
In my honest opinion, I believe that the media is too harsh on their subjects. They expect an image of perfection for people in the spotlight, and if a person has one tiny flaw they blow it up with exaggeration and expose it to everyone. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, allowing the media to wait for one opportunity to turn a little mishap into the next big thing. I am nervous that this newfound media attention on my cousin will impact her in a negative way. For example, in the past the media criticized actress Hilary Duff for being fat when in fact she was not at all, a couple years later she admitted to having an eating disorder. This is just one out of the many examples of media attention having a negative impact on a person. With my cousin being in the media, I am very nervous that negative attacks on her will hurt her self-esteem long term along with impacting her in a negative way.
I believe that the media should focus on the good things people to do as oppose to the miniscule imperfections people have. The media loves to hate people and their ambition to find tiny imperfections will hurt the psyche of the individual permanently, leaving the question, is the entertainment business too harsh on their victims?
By the year 2005, over eighty percent of households owned a computer in the United States and this outstanding number has only gone upward since then. It is very rare to find someone who does not know how to operate a computer in the twenty-first century. As a college student, I have seen technology’s importance in students, social lives. One of the biggest forms of social communication among our generation is Facebook. It has taken prestige over the once widely used Myspace. Although, both sites virtually have the same purpose (connect with friends, share pictures, and express interests) why is it that Facebook has become more popular?
In the beginning years and birth of Facebook, Facebook was only eligible to only Harvard college students. Then it expanded to Ivy League students. Soon after, it launched a high school version. Its final expansion, anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail addresses. Although Facebook was safer than Myspace with more restrictions as to who could use it; has this phenomenon and caused Facebook to follow this same trend as more and more people are permitted to use it? If so, how safe are we?
I have used Facebook since my freshman year of high school. It became more and more popular within my school as the year went on. I believe that Facebook is a beneficial tool as it is safe and very efficient with connecting to people. One of the settings of Facebook, is you can decline and confirm a friend request and customize how much information is shared to certain people. If you do not know the person you can deny their request and they will not be able to access your information. If you accept a friend request because they are part of the same network as you ( your school) but don’t want them to see certain information of your pictures, you can control that too. All these privacy control settings lead me to believe that Facebook is a valid and safe social networking site. One just needs to be aware of who friends them and the information that they put out for everyone to see. Although this is the current state of Facebook, it is clear that Facebook keeps evolving and changing. Only time will tell how safe Facebook continues to be in the future.
This past weekend, my friend walked the runway at a fashion show event in Dallas. Although, I went solely to support her; I ended up gaining a lot more knowledge and sympathy than when I left. I soon learned that this fashion show also benefited the Suicide and Crisis Center; an organization focuses on preventing suicides. As we left the show to the dinner, a speaker got up and spoke about her experience with suicide. She is a suicide survivor; that does not mean she attempted suicide herself but that someone close to her has committed suicide. She went on, explaining that her husband had committed suicide almost ten years ago, he shot himself on their anniversary. She then went on to say that a few years after that her daughter, Hailey, had committed suicide when she was fourteen. She found her hung in the closet. Those details were more than graphic for me and there was not a dry eye in the room as she finished her story about her two loved ones who had committed suicide as a result of depression. This woman, however, was not looking for pity or sympathy, she told her story to get a point across. She said that the following years after the death of both her husband and her daughter, she went into a severe depression. As she began to notice these symptoms, she called the Suicide and Crisis Center for help. They helped her realize that the death of her husband and daughter were not her fault and helped her loose the pain and regret that had been dominating her life. She ended her speech by stating that it has taken her years to forgive herself and realize that it is not her fault. She was speaking on behalf of the center as she believes that the center can save lives of people who are a suicide risk as well as help beloved loved ones come to terms with their loss just as it did her. Suicide takes the lives of over 30,000 people a year. Although I do not know anyone personally who has attempted or committed suicide, I was so grateful to hear this story and to know that these topics are not going unrecognized.
Why is this painting so famous? Is it marilyn? Is it the colors, the four pictures of her? What makes this picture one of the most famous art pieces of all time?
This is the evidence of a crystal meth abuser. Drugs become the main focus in a person’s life.
ZPeople take drug for numerous reasons:
ZTo become more popular with their friends
ZTo “have a good time”
ZThey think it will give them pleasure
ZNumb the pain
However, drugs do not solve problems. They hide feelings, and make problems and feelings worse.
It makes me sad to think how little school pride our university has. In high school, sports were a very popular scene; everyone would look forward to going to the football games on Friday or the basketball games on Saturday. My friends and I would get so excited to dress up in our school colors and cheer on our teams. It saddens me to think that our school spirit at SMU is at an all time low. Thirty years ago there wasn’t an empty seat at the football games and now almost the entire place is cleared out by halftime. I know that we are not that good at football, but it is really about winning? Does our school spirit only come when the trophies start coming in? I believe that we should support our school no matter how good or bad we are. It is a statement of unity when we show our school pride. We should support our colleagues, teammates, students and university no matter what the outcome of the game is. in thirty years from now we wont remember going to the games, but we will however, forever remember the friends throughout college and the memories we had supporting our University.
I have attached an ESPN documentary trailer showing how far SMU used to go in order to have arguably the most school spirit in Texas. Also seen as the downfall to our school spirit.
Pony Excess 30 on 30: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtX-4fXOyk
Spring Break 2011 is coming around the corner and I am so excited to not only have a break from school but also be in the sun with my friends. This year my friends and I decided to go to Cabo in Mexico. Although, this tourist based city gets much attention from college students it also has gotten the attention of many parents. Mexico is not the safest place to be. There are drug lords, numerous people killed in the streets, poverty. It can be an all around unsafe place to be. There have been many alerts throughout the government warning Americans not to go to Mexico, not to cross the border. Although we are staying in an American hotel and planned to stay there I am still a little nervous to go. Cabo has been violence free, the media’s attention is focused on other areas of Mexico like Cancun. Cabo thus far has been safe. However, I know that I have to be extremely careful every moment I am in Cabo. How far are people willing to go to have fun? This also brings up anotheradvertising point. Do advertisers risk our safety to sell. Ads from Cancun look like paradise. The way they market Cabo is perfect for that college student looking to have fun in Cabo. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people, beautiful weather; the perfect place to be for a vacation.
Does this look unsafe to you?
However, you have to remember to make smart decisions.
It makes me sad to think how little school pride our university has. In high school, sports were a very popular scene; everyone would look forward to going to the football games on Friday or the basketball games on Saturday. My friends and I would get so excited to dress up in our school colors and cheer on our teams. It saddens me to think that our school spirit at SMU is at an all time low. Thirty years ago there wasn’t an empty seat at the football games and now almost the entire place is cleared out by halftime. I know that we are not that good at football, but it is really about winning? Does our school spirit only come when the trophies start coming in? I believe that we should support our school no matter how good or bad we are. It is a statement of unity when we show our school pride. We should support our colleagues, teammates, students and university no matter what the outcome of the game is. in thirty years from now we wont remember going to the games, but we will however, forever remember the friends throughout college and the memories we had supporting our University.
I have attached an ESPN documentary trailer showing how far SMU used to go in order to have arguably the most school spirit in Texas. Also seen as the downfall to our school spirit.
Pony Excess 30 on 30: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtX-4fXOyk
Is anyone else going crazy over this weather!? Not only is it the most spontaneous and crazy weather I have ever experienced, but the freezing cold weather has been driving me crazy for the past week! Don’t get me wrong, I was estatic for our little vacation with a four day snow day, but I am not good at this whole cold weather deal. I am from Florida and the coldest it gets is 60 degrees, and on those days I see people walking out in their ski jackets. In Dallas, the people would be wearing shorts and T-shirts, which is still foreign to me.
If you saw me trying to make sense of the cold weather, it would be a very funny site. I don’t know what to wear in cold weather, it doesn’t help that I have very limited “warm” clothes; I don’t know how to drive in the snow and ice; I fall on my face more frequently than most, having a face full of snow; and my expressions as I am walking to class are priceless. If you can visualize all these sights I am sure you can imagine how a smile would come to your face. No hard feelings, I am the first one to make fun of myself. I guess that can be a good quality and a bad quality in someone
SMU needs to close down school. I know that school is important, however, safety ALWAYS comes first. It baffles me how SMU can keep school open when every other school in Dallas county is closed. My friend saw two car accidents on her way driving to school. SMU is taking a lot of risk keeping the school open. They never know what they are going to get…. angry phone calls from parents, or even law suits. I have a very strong feeling that students should boycott class to send a message to the school…WE ARE NOT WILLING TO RISK OUR LIVES FOR A LECTURE. To me that is a pretty reasonable statement. Although I am very bitter about this subject, I can only hope for the weather to get better as the week goes on. Who knows, maybe tomorrow it will be 50 degrees with not a cloud in the sky.
A song that is deeply moving and emotional for me is The World’s Greatest by R. Kelly. In order for a piece to be deeply moving, you have to have a connection to the song. When I hear this song, I am deeply moved. I can connect to this song in a way that words cannot describe. Although the melody is soft and meek sounding, it is very intense and filled with passion, making the song much more powerful. It is truly inspiring because it sends the message to never give up on your goals and most importantly yourself. Believing in yourself is listening to your heart and never letting anyone put you or your dreams down. The power of will and determination will conquer all the obstacles and negativity in your life, allowing you to accomplish your dreams. This song inspires you to try harder when you are down and be the best you can. This song gives you hope and confidence, which is even seen through the music itself. There is an idiophone that sounds like the sun rising or light passing through, signifying that you can be the best After putting my emotions into words, I finally realized how much it relates to my life. I associate with a very emotional past experience. I was once a competitive gymnast with a dream to go to the Olympics. When I hear this song, I visualize the endless days at the gym, and the hard practices that made me want to give it all up but most importantly my determination and hard work that made me get so far in my career. Although I was a ranked national gymnast training at a close to Olympic level, there were people who still did not believe in me. Unfortunately I had to quit due to back and wrist injuries, but looking back, when I would be down on myself because I couldn’t take the pressure anymore, wanted to give up, or people didn’t believe in me, I would listen to this song and it would always make me reflect on my life’s goals and give me inspiration to work even harder and believe in myself. Now, when I hear this song it reminds me of this past experience. This song gave me hope and the confidence I needed to try my hardest and believe in myself when I thought I couldn’t do it anymore. It gave me courage to believe that I could be the best, even the world’s greatest.
When I was a little girl my mom quickly noticed that I was very active and liked to jump around and dance around the house. It was then that she decided to enroll me in mommy-and me classes. Most girls do it when they are young, it is a place for kids to have fun; where they can exercise and it definitely involves a little bit of gymnastics. These classes were always the highlight of my day. When I was four, after a suggestion from one of the teachers, my mom began taking me to gymnastics lessons. I fell in love with the sport after the first day. I started competing at age four; little did I know that it would become part of my heart, part of my life. Gymanstics would define me as a person. Every year I would compete in competions all over the state, each year moving up a level. I competed until I was 16 years old, at a level 9 competition level. Although I loved the sport, I will tell you it was not easy. I would practice every day, Monday through Saturday for four to six hours a day. While my friends were going to the mall, and birthday parties I was at the gym training. I knew that competing at such a high level, came with a price. However I often wondered if the price was too much? I never got to hang out with my friends unless it was school and did not have the luxury of relaxing and just hanging out with friends and family. I would wake up at 6am, get ready for school, go to school till 3, and then go straight to gymnastics where I would train from 4 till 9 at night. And then after all that I would have to go home and do homework. There were some days when I just wanted to quit and give it all up so I could have somewhat of a normal life. However, every weekend I would go and compete and saluting the judges, performing with people yelling my names and standing up on the podium with a first place trophy---that was what I lived for and made me remember how much I loved the sport and how close it was to my heart. Unfortunately, I had to quit because of back and wrist injuries. At the time I was honestly relieved. I was ecstatic to have the luxury of hanging out with friends on the weekend, coming home and just lounging around and watching T.V., going to parties….it seemed like life was just going be so much easier. I didn’t have to worry about my next routine and I certainly didn’t have to worry about the pressure of it all. For the first few months I was so happy, I was finally able to “have a life.” I was bitter about having to quit and wouldn’t let my parent mention the words gymnastics. However, after years and years of a bittersweet feeling, I was finally able to let go of the anger and appreciate what I accomplished. Although I don’t regret quitting gymnastics, watching videos of me performing and seeing the determination and love for the sport in my eyes makes me wish I could go back in time and do it all over again. It makes me really miss the sport. I realize that I would give up going to parties and having a social life to compete again, which is something I thought I would never say.
When it comes to something you love, is their a price that comes at too high a cost?
I could not refrain from talking about Justin Bieber. I know so cheesy, but over the weekend I saw the Justin Bieber, Never Say Never movie, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Not only is it highly entertaining but it such an inspirational story. Every child in America saw Justin grow up in this movie. Throughout the movie, you feel connected to him as you see home videos, to first row seats at his concert. Justin Bieber is an idol to many young people out there. He is the story of a child who had a dream and was determined to make his wish come true. He worked so hard to accomplish what he has now. He teaches you that the power of will and determination can make anything happen. I am now a huge fan of his and the movie just makes you fall in love with him. The movie received a standing ovation from the audience, which I think is a very rare occurrence these days. Although he is one of the most famous child stars these days, making millions of dollars a year, his discovery is very ironic. On a side note, he was discovered by his video postings on you tube. With that being said, his manager pointed out a very interesting point. He said that his fans are beyond loyal to him because they feel so connected and attached to him. They feel like they discovered him first before he was famous. They feel as if they own them as if he is their property. The movie goes deep into his life and shows the world how he was discovered. This brings up such a fantastic realization. It is fascinating to think that social networking and the Internet can have such a profound effect on the people in today’s society. It can literally turn a no body into one of the biggest names in Hollywood, and Justin Bieber proves that. Although some may say that his discovery was luck, I beg to differ. He was determined to make it, he posted videos, sang in competitions, perform in the streets or local coffee shops for people. He was bound to be discovered, the only question was when? Despite the mockery and negative comments about him, he is truly a role model for children and even adults. He is a very strong and determined human being and truly loves the career path he has chosen? I recommend everyone to go see the movie. Do you have that Bieber Fever? If you don’t now, you will after seeing the movie.
These girls never gave up their dreams and they became Olympic Champions.The best advice I was ever given is to never give up trying. Throughout my childhood my dad has taught me to have the motto: to never give up trying. I know that this is so cliché; there has been numerous songs written over this and many movies that work with this challenge. However, I truly have tried to live by this motto and even if I fail, I try and try again….and if I still fail at least I did so knowing I tried and there are no regrets. One experience comes to mind. It was a very long time ago and I still remember this day like it was yesterday. As you know, I used to be a competitive gymnast. I was very young for my level and unable to wear grips (used for the bars) because my hands were too small. Although I loved the sport as a whole, I hated the uneven bars! Every day in practice was a challenge for me. My hands were always blistered because they were so small and I just didn’t enjoy like I did floor, beam and vault. However, as I entered level seven I had a fear of doing giants. Giants are done on the top bar; you do a handstand and go around the bar in a handstand position. I remember practicing for hours at a time with rips in my hands and each time I would peel off the bars and fall. I would practice and practice with my coach getting the technique down to a tee, but I had a mental block on these giants accompanied with my physical disadvantage of my hands not being able to fit around the bars. Every competition I would salute the judges and after weeks of practicing could not get a giant. I would peel off the bars everytime. I remember crying in practice and competitions because I thought I could never get giants. I remember telling my dad how hard I would try in practice to accomplish my goal and it seemed I could never do it. My dad told me never to give up and to keep trying my hardest. It was one of the last competitions before state championships. My coach was very unsure if I could make it because my bars score would always make my all around score low. The week before I practiced and practiced and practiced with my coach and still every time I attempted to do a giant I would peel of the bars. Competitoion day came and it was warm up round on the uneven bars. Practiced my giants- same old story. Then it came to perform my routine for the judges. I saluted the judges and jumped to the high bar, hoping for the best. I finished my routine after completing two giants and a dismount. When I landed my dismount I could not believe what had just happened. My coach and friends all ran to me and my coach hugged me and put me in his arms. It was honestly one of the best feelings. I still remember how I felt that day. I felt so accomplished and happy. I knew my hard work had paid off. My dad said he had never seen me smile like that in his life. it was an out of this world feeling that can not be described with words. It was then that I realized that I accomplished my goal because I had never given up on myself and was determined to nail these giants. Looking back on this experience only reminds me to never give up on something and to never have regrets.
After I pasted my mind map onto the wall of the our class, I took a step back to look at the work I have completed and was amazed to see the amount of words I had written on the page. I felt a sense of self-accomplishment. I am going to admit, when the assignment was given to us I was not looking forward to doing it at all because after looking at the artistic ability of some of the examples I thought it was going to be near impossible for me considering the fact that I am artistically challenged really, or so I thought. However, as I sat down and word after word kept popping into my head I gained confidence and putting color and artistic elements onto the 11x17 inch paper, the words came to life. For the first time I thought that I was being artistic, even creative. After completing my project, I went back over my work following the arrows of each word as they led to the next. I was amazed to see how my brain works and how each word made me think of something completely different. It was very rewarding to me to see my brain process on a sheet of paper and see how my ideas sprang from one thing to the next. Even though this MindMap was an assignment I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. It has been a long time since I have actually enjoyed doing a project for school. My MindMap not only showed me how my brain works and the process it goes through; but it also showed me that I can be artistic and that I have a lot of ability to think out of the box and be creative if I want to. I still remember a quote from class; it has always stuck with me because prior to this class I thought that I was the least creative person there was. “Creativity is not the exception it is the rule.” For the first time I actually know what this means and can obtain it to my own life. I believe in this quote. I know I have not reached my maximum potential of creativeness, however I know that I am on the road to becoming the creative person I want to be.
Hi my name is Kelly McCloskey and I am a student at Southern Methodist University. I have younger two younger brothers and a younger sister. I grew up in Florida and attended a small private school. However, these are just facts about me, they do not define who I am. Sometime I ask myself what events in my life have shaped me as a person. I mean I thought a lot about this when I was applying for colleges with all those self-expressive essays. However, being forced to think about it happened to be one the best elements of my college process. I realized that there are many experiences in your life that make you chose one thing over another but there are only a few defining experiences that shape you are as a person and make you, you and unique for the rest of your life. Personally, I believe that my career as a gymnast made me the person I am today. When I was a little girl I wanted to become a gymnast and be just like the girls in the Olympics. I started competing at four and had to quit my career at 15 due to back and wrist injuries. I was training to be a level nine gymnast which meant practice 6 days a week, four or five hours a day, and a certain meal schedule. Let me just say it wasn’t easy. However, I kept going at it because it was the sport I loved to do. I loved competing and feeling the satisfaction of winning. When all my friends were getting ready for the school dance I was at the gym practicing my floor routine over and over. I had such determination because I knew that when I competed I wanted to blow everyone away. There was something about competition that got my heart beating fast. After I would salute the judges and hear the clapping and cheering of my name, it was like nothing else mattered and I was on cloud nine. It is really hard to put into words what competing felt like and meant to me. But when I would stand on that podium my whole body would just be filled with excitement, happiness and chills. However, I was the youngest competitor at States and Regionals in my level year after year, which definitely took a toll on me. My hands were too little to wear grips on the uneven bars making my hands continuously rip and be blistered. My growth plates had not fully set in because I was so young and the impact of tumbling caused them horrific pain. Eventually my doctor forced me to quit because of my wrist and back injuries. He said that if I didn’t quit I would have problems and even permanent damage when I was older. That was the end of my career. Although I was heartbroken, I felt like my dreams had been crushed and all my hard work went to shit, looking back I am not sad at all. I realized that it made me become the person I am today. I am very driven and determined. If I put my mind to something I make it my goal to accomplish it. I am a very strong and independent person and a drive for competition. I owe so much of that to gymnastics.
A freshman at SMU, left me eager to start my journey of the next four years of my life but also gave me butterflies in my stomach. I came to school not knowing a single person and although this campus is not considered to be a large school, to me it was. I came from a school with 400 students in total. I knew everyone and had a great friend group. However, when I came here I had no idea what to expect. My parents always told me not to worry because “everyone was in the same boat.” But upon arriving I felt alone and scared. I was forced to depend on myself and make an effort to make new friends. Although it has never been a struggle of mine to do so, I will admit it was very nerve-racking. I met a few girls on my hall that seemed very nice and we all decided to get dinner together and then go out. These girls seemed just like me, shared the same interests as me. Naturally I was very excited that I had already met a group of girls like them in such a short period of time. As the weeks went by I got closer and closer to these girls. I was so excited and told my parents that I couldn’t ask for better friends. However, my one friend had a roommate who she did not get along with. She was always complaining to me about the annoying things she did, whether it was trying on all her clothes or never helping to clean up the room. Upon hearing all these complaints I gradually became bias, siding with my one friend. I found her roommate to be extremely annoying as well and grew distaste for her. Although I had never met her, I never had intention of meeting her and even avoided her at some places. As fall became winter and I took my last exam I said goodbye to my friends and couldn’t wait to be back with them in a month. After we came back to school I was so excited to see my friends! I couldn’t wait to start the semester off right! However, there was one problem…my friends roommate was in two of my classes. I couldn’t believe this happened and they were very small classes to make matters worse. My roommate had moved out of her room so I didn’t have to hear the complaints about her but I still had no intentions of meeting her. I didn’t want to meet her! I thought if my friend didn’t get along with her then I for sure wont! However, weeks went by and we gradually starting talking. I remember thinking how cool she is and how much alike we were. We starting hanging out more and more and eventually I came to consider her one of my friends. This fall we have gotten even closer and she is one of my best friends! I am so upset that I didn’t take the opportunity to meet her and get to know her myself first semester because I would have realized how awesome she was and we could have been friends a lot earlier in the year. I am so glad for those two classes because without them I would probably never know what a great friend I was missing! I realized I was wrong when I judged her based off of what people know rather than making my own opinion.
Creativity. How does one measure creativity? Although there are many variations of the definition of creativity; I believe creativity is bringing an idea into existence, which has never come to light. It is pushing the boundaries of imagination and is an outlet for expression. No matter it is expressing yourself through clothing or artwork, everyone can be creative in their own way. Someone once said, that creativity is the rule to every human being not the exception. To me, this really impacted the way I viewed my creativity skills because my whole life I have thought that I am not a creative human being. I am artistically challenged, barely being able to draw stick figures and wearing a uniform all of my life. Moreover, unfortunately I do not take an interest in art work from the past or present. However, the readings have helped me see how I can be creative in my own way. If I push myself through my comfort zones, I can take my skills to a whole new level. Thinking of the word creativity made me think of Walt Disney. To me he is considered to be one of the most creative human beings to have ever lived. He dedicated his life to a world of imagination that still remains one of the most magical places on earth, also known as Disney Land. Although in his time he was criticized and mocked for his imagination and his “weirdness” we now owe him our childhoods. Every child grows up watching Disney films or wanted to experience the magical land. Walt Disney came up with a haven for children’s creative dreams. He came up with something that had never existed before. Walt Disney’s creativity and expression led him to be considered weird by the mass majority. I am excited for this class, as I am excited to expand my horizons. I will learn to forget to shape my mind to conformity and learn to express myself through imaginative thought.
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