**Opens old forgotten box**

~Cccrreeeaaaakkkkkk~

**Writes name Kylee in dirt and dust that has settled on the blog**

**Blows giant cloud of dust off of blog**

"Wow! I forgot I had this old thing! HA! I wonder how long it's been in here. Gotta be like 8 months!"

"Sorry little buddy! I promise I won't let that happen again."

Aside: "Probably..."

Sorry folks. In case you missed the memo, working 50+ hours a week has been all the rage this past year. #trending

My jobs have included/currently include:

• Tutoring 6th-12th grade in English/History (with a little psychology and environmental studies and crime & punishment thrown in there for good measure)
• Tutoring private students in....whatever it is they lack (manners, being a not garbage person, homework, etc)
• Lacrosse coach
• Working as a residential coach at a residential treatment center (RTC) for teens
• Working as an administrative assistant for said RTC
• Working as a CNA in a memory care unit

"Why the heck would you work so much?", you ask scornfully.

"Well, you judgmental jerk. Thanks for asking."

I have been working so much because lovely Christopher is going to school so much. (Christopher X 2+ more years of school) + (Kylee - school) = Kylee + work = 50+ hours/wk

Duh. Its simple math really. idiots.

JK, but seriously. I have been working a lot. At one point I had two 16 hour days a row each week. So it was pretty fun. 

BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT I QUIT ALL MY JOBS AND I AM DOING NOTHING NOW. No, that is a lie. I quit all but the employment at the RTC. 

I will still probably pick up a shift a week or so at the memory care because I want to keep my certification alive, but for now its the one employer life for me.

The way my schedule looks for September on is only working 3 days a week (its a full time job however).

"Uhh, Kylee? You do know there are 7 days in a week, right? What are you going to do with the other 4?"

"EVERYTHING!!! Clean, bake, sew, draw, color, reacquaint myself with the person I married, listen to books on tape, laundry, look for a place to live, shower more, foster dogs, Pin, paint my nails, blog, make stuff I don't need! Duh."

I am sad to have given up those other jobs because I really loved them, but the inconsistency and schedule was causing me to stress bald. (real thing...look it up)

So, I am going to be a new person. I will work less and like more. 

P.E. Class Evaluation

Here is what I wrote for the PE course evaluation in the section where it said how could the course be improved:

"It is a pointless class that I learned nothing in. Also, the Placeout exam is totally bogus. I doubt even a professor in the Kinesiology and Health dept could pass with anything more than an 80. It is definitely tailored so that students will not pass it or if they do pass it, they get so low a score that it would be better for them to just complete the labs. I find that completely nonsensical. I studied for the exam and passed, but the best I could have received a mid-80 in the class. Why even offer the exam if it is designed for students to fail? Then they have to do all of those pointless labs which do not teach anyone anything. I'm 90% sure that most people make up all of the information on those labs anyway. It is a totally pointless class. 

Also, I play for a club team here at UW, but since I wasn't playing during the summer (it has to be concurrent) it didn't count towards the activity. I think that is silly. I have played for the last 4 semesters and I plan on playing next year. Why is that not good enough? Why does it not count if I am not playing during the class? I find this whole PE credit to be a waste of my time, energy, and frustration. It is pointless and I am glad to be done with it. By the way, did I mention it was pointless and the Placeout exam is fraudulent?"

Here is what I wrote in the section where it asked what was good about the class:

"It was easy"

The Perfect vs My Perfect

I was sitting somewhere last night and a thought struck me. It was a thought about the perfect and my perfect. Because those aren't the same.

Some years ago I had my perfect. It wasn't perfect for anyone else...I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't have been as happy with what what going on in my life (I mean hello? Who wants this?) but it was my version of perfect. I was so happy.

Fast forward a year or two and I had the perfect. It was picturesque. Doing above average in school, taking summer classes and working. Killing it in lacrosse. Return missionary boyfriend who I read conference talks with every week. Wonderful friends. Going to wedding showers and baby showers for those friends. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed myself and I was mostly happy with my life and friends and whatnot. But it wasn't my perfect. I thought it was what I wanted out of life and in some ways it was...but in the most important ways it was just the perfect and not my perfect.

My point is that the perfect, the ideal is not and could never be my perfect, my ideal. Mine is usually a much more difficult road than the perfect. 

And that is why I am strong.

William Carlos Williams

I want to write poetry like William Carlos Williams does:

The Red Wheelbarrow:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

It will mean things and people will be baffled **shoutout to my 8th graders** by what it is.

Superstition

So I learned in my Anthropology of Religion class about superstition and why it is even a thing.

It isn't that it actually has a physical effect on the universe or whatever. Like throwing salt over your shoulder after you've spilt it doesn't change some force of nature from wreaking havoc on your being.

INSTEAD...the power in superstitions comes from the psychological changes it creates in a persons being. That person feels safer for throwing the salt over their shoulder and so they ARE safer.

When everything else is out of their control, the superstition gives them an explanation for WHY things happened. People can handle things better if they think they know WHY said thing happened.

Lindsay came home today and asked to see my ring **spoiler alert** **I'll get to that later**. I showed it to her and she asked if she could put it on. Then she quickly said, "wait, isn't that bad luck or something?"

I am going somewhere with this, I promise.

So the superstition is that maybe if someone else tries on your engagement/wedding ring, that brings bad luck upon the couple. I thought about that and thought about how it would be sort of a comforting thing.........STAY WITH ME. THIS WILL SOUND AWFUL BUT IT WAS AN EXPLANATION THAT MADE THE SUPERSTITION THING MAKE A LOTTA SENSE TO ME.

OK....so if something awful ever happened and Christopher and I were not together forever and a day for whatever reason, it would be a comforting thing to be able to look back and say, it is because I let Lindsay try my ring on. Like he dies of Ebola or something...the explanation that he was exposed to it and the virus did this that and the other would not be a good enough explanation. WHY was he the exposed one? **Thinks back to when I let someone try my ring on** That is why. It would be weirdly comforting.

Practically speaking, I know that it is ridiculous to find comfort in that. But THAT is the power of superstitions.

There is an anthropological piece by Evans-Pritchard (THERE IS A VIDEO THAT YOU CAN TAKE A GANDER AT) that tells how the Azande explain things like this.

Say a person stubs their toe on a path they've walked 10, 208 times without stubbing their toe. They claim it is witchcraft or magic that made them stub their toe that particular time. It is how the explain it. Or a granary collapses on a person and kills them when 203,734 people have sat under that same granary 120,421 times. Witchcraft. That is why that particular person was smooshed by the granary.

It is the same with superstitions. I might write more about this and like knocking on wood....

NOTE TO SELF: I did everything I could (knocked on wood) and so there was nothing else I could do to fix what happened. I can be ok with it...

Gratitude

Do you ever take a step back and just look at your life? At your past and present and just realize how thankful you are? For the most random things?

That is happening to me right now. I mean today sucked...first day back from spring break - kill me now - maybe that is why this gratitude is hitting me so hard right now.

• I am thankful I am in Laramie, Wyoming
• I am thankful I am studying anthropology
• I am thankful this is my last full semester of undergrad
• I am thankful for my family and the crazies they are
• I am thankful for past relationships that are no longer - they "growed" me real good and without them I wouldn't be who I am now or have what I have now
• I am thankful that those from my past are happy and growing too because even though it didn't last with us, someone deserved to have them and they deserved someone who made them happy and whole
• I am thankful for my past. Period.
• I am thankful for my now - that I can be a freak with him and not worry because I know he can accept me the way I am even though those from my past couldn't do that without reservations

• I am thankful for new friends who I feel like I have known all my life even though it has only been a very short time
• I am thankful that I have no idea what to do with myself but don't care
• I am thankful that plans change - and people change too
• I am thankful for the glory of sports

• I am thankful I get summer this year for the first time since Summer 2011
• I am thankful that it is my job and I get paid to share my talents
• I am thankful I could have a dog that left such a huge gaping hole in my life when he died

• I am thankful I could become a flaming redhead because I love being a redhead #redhairdon'tcare
• I am thankful for the opportunity to create even if it is something as stupid as a snapchat drawing

Check it. What are you guys thankful for?

"Death is not the passage of a line without thickness"

I am in a death class and my dog just died so here ya go....

1. “Death is not the passage of a line without thickness. Rather death is visualized as part of along transformative process.” Discuss.

            “It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do.” These words spoken by Miracle Max about Wesley in the movie The Princess Bride (Reiner 1987) may seem outrageous and a little ridiculous, but they do indeed illustrate a truth about death. Very few things, if any, are discrete in the existence of humans. From skin color to languages to clothing styles there are frequent continuums. Death is the same way. Death is not an isolated event that happens in an instant. It is a process, a transition from one state to another. Both culturally and biologically, death occurs over time. The span of time between life and death serves a number of functions: to provide closure to the bereaved, to heal the wounds of society that death has created, and to provide safe passage for the deceased to the afterlife.

            The Olo Ngaju people of Indonesia have an extreme display of dying and passing from life to death. The nature of their funerary practices illustrates the thickness of the line that separates life and death. Robert Hertz writes, “it is not the custom to take the body to its final burial place; this move can only be made after a more or less long period of time” (1960: 29). Before that can happen, a series of temporary burial places and practices occur so that the deceased may experience safe passage to the next world. This long wait is partly so that the family and community can gather the materials and goods for the feast, partly because “the right thing to do is to wait for the corpse to have completely decomposed till only the bones remain” (1960:31), and partly because “death itself goes on till the performance of the last rites” (1960:50). In order to say the final farewell to the deceased, that individual must become skeletonized and the final feast must be performed, otherwise “the fear inspired by the proximity of death” will remain in the community (1960:50). “Death must be given its due” in the form of time and rituals “if it is not to continue its ravages within the group” (1960:51).

            Just as the body is not immediately laid to rest, the Olo Ngaju believe that the spirit of the individual “stays on earth in the proximity of the body, wandering in the forest or frequenting the places it inhabited while it was alive” (1960:34). This is because the soul does not immediately have a firm grasp on its place in the afterlife. It is only after the completion of the second funeral and a special ceremony that it will continue on to the “land of the dead” and hold a secure place there (1960:34). The series of funerals and celebrations are performed until the deceased’s soul can “provide for itself and taste fully the joys that the land of the dead have to offer” (1960:35-6). Thus even after biological death, the presence is still felt and very much alive in the community. It is only after the months and sometimes years of rituals and celebrations that the individual truly “dies” in the community.  This cultural behavior suggests something primordial we all sense about death and departure from among the living.

            Cultural death is not the only aspect of death that expands across long spaces of time. Even while the legal definition of death includes brain death, there are cases where that does not mean saying good-bye and burying the person in the ground. It is easy to think of death as happening in an instant when the individual stops breathing or their brain ceases to function but that is not the case. Those occurrences are not always the point at which they die and loved ones say good-bye. The thickness of this particular part of the line can be observed in beating-heart cadavers and brain dead patients.

             Mary Roach explores the concept of living “dead” patients who are kept alive for their organs in her book Stiff (2003). While at a hospital researching for the book, Roach meets H: “H is unique in that she is both a dead person and a patient on the way to surgery. She is what’s known as a “beating-heart cadaver”, alive and well everywhere but her brain… H the person is certifiably dead. But H the organs and tissues is very much alive” (Roach 2003:167-8). Despite parts of her being dead, she has not been drawn into the irreversible process of death because the doctors are keeping her organs and tissues alive for others in need. Before the advent of artificial respirators and the “use of patients who had what they determined was irreversible brain damage as a source of human organs” (Locke 1996:580) H could be both living and dead until nature took its course and she lost her grasp on life to become “all dead” as Miracle Max says. Now, even with the definition of death they have a foot in each door so that others might benefit from the life that remains.

            Roach also discusses the claims that even after the organs are harvested some part of the donor remains alive in the recipients. “If the heart of a brain-dead heart donor does contain something loftier than tissue and blood, some vestige of spirit, then one could imagine that this vestige might travel along with the heart and set up housekeeping in the person who receives it” (Roach 2003:189). There are accounts of recipients experiencing “some sort of contact with the consciousness” of the donor (Roach 2003:189). Is the donor truly alive in that person although they are clearly dead and buried or cremated?  Can a person be both living and dead?  Does survival of the organ associated with romance and sentiment (the heart) beyond the death of the donor raise a fundamental contradiction of the definition of death? It becomes difficult for families to decide to donate their deceased’s organs when there is not a defined point of death (Roach 2003:188) and when there is a possibility that part of their loved one may continue to live on with the donated organs. If they agree to allow the doctors to harvest organs are they, the family, responsible for the actual death? Will their loved one still exist, affecting the feelings and emotions of the recipient? Once again the definition of death raises troubling questions.

            Beating-heart cadavers and brain dead patients present a dilemma concerning the blurred lines surrounding death. “The confusion people feel over beating-heart cadavers reflects centuries of confusion over how, exactly, to define death, to pin-point the precise moment when the spirit—the soul, the chi, whatever you wish to call it—has ceased to exist and all that remains is a corpse” (Roach 2003:170). Margaret Locke also studied when death truly occurs with the technological advances of the day. If “a patient who is brain dead usually appears as though sleeping, the body is warm, skin color is normal, hair and nails continue to grow, [and] babies have been delivered from brain dead pregnant women” (Locke 1996:588) are they still “dead”? How can we call someone dead when they are still growing? Isn’t that a contradiction? Heart transplant surgeon Mehmet Oz says, “There’s no question that the heart without a brain is of no value. But life and death is not a binary system…In between life and death is a state of near-death, pseudo-life. And most people don’t want what’s in between” (Roach 2003:188-9). These individuals dwell in both the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. They have a foot in each door. Just how thick is that line between life and death? Far wider than we initially imagined.

            In similar circumstances as H, Jahi McMath is brain dead and on life support. Marlise Muñoz was brain dead but on life support until the end of January of this year. Thirteen-year-old Jahi is clinically and legally considered dead, but her parents have decided to keep her on life support (Huxtable 2014). Marlise was 33-years old and pregnant. Her doctors were legally “required to provide life-sustaining treatment” despite her family’s wishes that she be removed from life support (Huxtable 2014). How is it that Jahi’s doctors see her as dead but her family sees her as alive? How is it that Marlise’s doctors insisted she be alive while her family viewed her as dead? These cases show that even in the scientific age, something as seemingly “clean” as death is actually complicated and undefined.

          Anthropologists’ goal is to define and describe aspects of human culture. From the beginning, anthropology has attempted to explain the differences and similarities among humans. Death may not have received the attention that kinship, subsistence, or language have, but anthropologists have nonetheless devoted time to understand death. Death and dying is universal, but as has been shown, is not treated or defined the same between cultures or even people. Rather than neatly classifying death and dying, anthropologists have worked to understand the significance of the ways people treat and react to death. Anthropologists have used their tools like cultural relativism and participant observations to determine the meaning of death and the function of death rituals in the surviving community.

            For the family and loved ones of the deceased it is important that both biological and cultural death take place completely so that they can move on. Cultural death may happen when an individual is brain dead. Biological death occurs when the individual’s organs do not work and are not supported by machines. Only when these two deaths come together is an individual truly “dead”. Without both, they are only “mostly dead”. Some cultures readily acknowledge the different stages of death. Some choose to acknowledge and value the transition as in the case of the Olo Ngaju. Others have the view that death happens in an instant and there is nothing confusing or undefined about it. Whether there is an exact moment between the lungs ceasing, the heart not beating, the brain not sending signals and the burial where an individual truly “dies”, we may never know. But it is clearly important to experience both a cultural and a biological death before the wound in society can heal, we can say our final farewells and death can truly leave the living alone.

References:

Hertz, Robert

            1960 A contribution to the collective representation of death. In Death and the Right             Hand. London: Cohen and West

Huxtable, R.

            2014 McMath and Muñoz cases challenge definition of death. New Scientist. 15 January.

Lock, Margaret

1996 Death in Technological Time: Locating the End of Meaningful Life. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, News Series. 1996: 4(10):575–600.

Roach, Mary

            2003 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. New                         York, New York

Reiner, Rob, dir.

            1987 The Princess Bride. 98 min. Act III Communications.

Suzuki, Hikaru

            2000 Chapter Three: The Phase of Negated Death. In The Price of Death: The Funeral I            ndustry in Contemporary Japan. Pp. 60 - 90. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

College was not "fun"

You know what?

Until this, my senior year, I never would have used the word "fun" to describe college. It more just "was".

Like, "Yeah. I am in college. I'm studying anthropology. Its cool. I love my classes. Everything else is alright. Could be better, could be worse."

Now it goes more like this, "Yeah. I am in college. I am an anthropology major and I love it! And I freaking love my life. I basically have a 24 hour party 7 days a week. It is so much fun. Holy crap."

As (maybe) mentioned in a previous post (or maybe on my Rocks & Twigs & Things sister blog), I made a goal to be more social this year and I am pretty sure that that is happening and that is why I am having so much fun all the time.
**Now I really do not mind being by myself - in fact I love it. I prefer it most of the time, but right now this whole social thing is working**

Anyway. I have had more fun in the month and a half ish of this semester than I had in the previous two years combined.
Someone finally got me to Country Swing Club this year and that is a beautiful thing. It is a good time and I love it. It is fun.
I also am tutoring for athletics now and I love my football players. They are hilarious and entertaining (and sometimes even focus on doing their school work :) and I love the few hours a week I spend helping them keep up their grades. They are FUN.
Another thing that is making life so fun. I am living in the moment. Very little forethought into my life these days. For example, yesterday. I had watched conference in the morning, Joseph came over in between session and we (aka he) had lunch (when I was supposed to be doing homework!) and then we watched the second session at Cassie's. Afterwards we three had a very long and philosophical conversation about God (when I was supposed to be doing homework!) We left Cassie's and instead of going home and doing homework like I knew I seriously should have....I went grocery shopping with Joseph (...again...). We shopped and then as he dropped me off afterwards at like 10 to 6:00, I got a text from mi amiga Kim. She said she had tickets to this Diwali Night here at UW. The tickets were to the dinner starting at 7:30 but the cultural part was going on from 5:00 onward. So I hurried and texted Zane to see if he was going to priesthood or if he wanted to go to Diwali Night with me. He was in so I took the tickets and we had an awesome time at Diwali Night. I REALLY SHOULD HAVE DONE HOMEWORK. I REALLY NEEDED TO DO HOMEWORK.

I was on the phone with my mom this week and she said to me, "You have been yawning a lot lately." So I kind of explained how I had been of the attitude "What the hey? I am in college! I am young! Let's have some fun!" I then told her how I thought I was done with that lifestyle since I was so bloody tired. She basically chastised me for being such an old lady all the time and that I really needed to act my age and keep making poor life decisions because I wouldn't always be able to do so with so little consequence.

But I have continued on the live in the moment lifestyle where between going to bed or doing homework and going to hang out with Joseph or go to Diwali Night or Shari's for game night with the girls, I choose the non-sleeping & non-homework route. And life has been fun. College is finally fun.

Now it isn't all sunshine and daisies since I am pretty sure my grades are taking a hit. But I sure can hear my mom saying, "It is about damn time."




AND RED SOX ARE KILLIN IT

Summer school....so close

Summer school ends this week. As soon as I turn in my finals online. UGH



SO CLOSE


On a completely unrelated note.....something is on the horizon. I can feel something big brewing.


And this summer has been completely awesome. So awesome. Rough and unexpected, but awesome.


Options for my life in the next few years:

1. Fourth year of undergrad + study abroad + minor
2. One more semester of undergrad that I use to study abroad
3. GRAD SCHOOL (masters in public health somewhere in Utah - Westminster? U of U?)
4. Be done with school and move to small town america to work in a diner near a beach
5. Find myself a rich guy... *wink wink*


ok so I don't really want 5 to be a legit option...but hey, if life hands you lemons....right?

Learning Gender

Here is a paper I just wrote for my Women's Studies Class....I havent really edited it. I just whipped it out this morning.

I thought and thought and thought about the moment I learned gender. That moment where I realized I was a girl and so had different expectations for life than if I were a boy. I thought about my childhood and growing up.  I thought about my first years at school. I thought about my friends; were they boys or were they girls? I thought about the activities I enjoyed when I was younger; were they girls’ activities or boys’ activities? I could not come up with anything. I drew a blank as to when I realized I was a girl and what that meant for my identity. I seriously considered creating a fictitious experience. Something striking and profound, yet still believable. BUT, I decided to use the truth. I still may not know what being female is supposed to mean.

            Growing up I would classify myself as a tomboy. You would be hard pressed to see me in anything other than my brother’s hand-me-down basketball shorts and an old t-shirt that once may have been a girl’s, but was now so dirty you’d think it was a boy’s. I didn’t have female friends in my neighborhood until I was about 10. There were a couple girls when I was really young, but they moved away early. I spent 75% of my time with my brother and his three neighborhood friends. I did (or watched) everything they did. Climbing fences, skateboarding, tennis, digging holes to China in the backyard, videogames, fireworks, fires and all other things that cause parents to claim, “boys will be boys”.

            I knew my brother did not like me hanging around all the time but never did it cross my mind that he didn’t want me there because I was a girl. I always knew he didn’t want me there because I was a whole 21 months younger than him. I was younger, smaller, less coordinated and less capable than he or his friends. Still, I attempted everything they did fearlessly, trying to earn my spot. I don’t believe I was acting like a boy. I was acting like myself. I was doing things that made me happy.

            When I finally did find a female friend my age we did all sorts of things that I would not assign to one gender or another. We rollerbladed, biked, swam, played Mario, dug to China, rode horses, played basketball in the driveway, made our own 11 year old business cards with stickers and markers, made those beaded lizards, and many other activities. I have never been big into playing with dolls or dress up. I enjoy doing arts & crafts (a stereotypical female activity – just look at Pinterest), sewing, and babies. I also love longboarding, playing sports, fishing, playing videogames and setting off fireworks. Until now I have not assigned these likes or dislikes to a male or female category. They have always just been me. I never learned gender I suppose. I learned Kylee. Whatever Kylee was or liked.

            I understand that I had a freedom to be like a boy, whereas boys do not have the freedom to be like girls. As it says in Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions, girls will proudly raise their hands when asked if they identified as tomboys in their youth. When asked if they were sissies in their youth, very few guys proudly raise their hand and claim that. (Shaw and Lee 105). I was able to participate in activities that I liked even if traditionally they were boys activities. I could l enjoy skateboarding and fireworks without criticism or mocking. If a young boy enjoys playing with dolls or doing arts & crafts, he gets beat up by others, called gay and weak. These things are girls’ activities and so they are less.

            While it is absolutely hilarious, If Men Could Menstruate by Gloria Steinem proves a point in the assigning of gender roles and expectations (Shaw and Lee 238). The point is that activities and things associated with men are more desirable, more prestigious, and more valuable. If men could menstruate, “menstruation would become an enviable, boast worthy, masculine event” (Shaw and Lee 238). If men suddenly all enjoyed knitting, instead of Super Bowl Sunday, there would be Knitting in November celebration with beer and chips. This proves the point that gender is what we make it. The things associated with each gender are ranked, but when reappropriated that ranking changes. This can be a positive change or a negative change. As it is put in The Social Construction of Gender, “wherever a task is done by women it is considered easy, and where it is done by men it is considered difficult” (Shaw and Lee 127). This includes menstruation.

            I think it a fascinating construction. I still cannot seem to grasp why we insist on places people and activities and identities into little boxes labeled “Men” & “Women”. It seems to me that these restrictions and assignments only limit our abilities to be 3-dimensional, fluid, and flexible. Why can’t a girl play baseball with the boys without enduring comments and criticism? Why do the boys on her team have to be told that a girl throws better than them to motivate them? I have been fortunate to learn Kylee and not gender, but I feel that I am one of very few.

This man may be the reason I pass summer school

If are a student, either formally in classes or just in life, LOOK UP

KHAN ACADEMY



He's great. I am so grateful to him. His Chemistry videos are AMAZAZING

Check out his other subjects. He knows his stuffssss

Slacking

I apologize to my readers...if they care...for not being on top of it.


Remember this?

Well I wasn't in summer school then so I thought all would be great.

NOW THAT I AM IN IT I AM DYING.

Golly...it is kicking my butt.

But Public Speaking ends this week and then Chem and PE go for another two weeks and my two online classes start BUT!


Somewhere in there I will remember that I have a life and get back to it.
Which may mean that I might post sommore things.



By the way, Cassie and I are on a Heroes kick right now. Not sure if its that good, but two seasons in and starting the third one this week, we are addicted.

Speech #4

Here is part (I lost the complete draft in the depths of the computers on campus) of my 4th speech.

General Purpose: To persuade

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, the audience will agree that school uniforms are better than free dress or dress codes for 3 reasons.

Central Idea/Proposition of value: School uniforms are better than free dress/dress codes

Organizational Pattern: Topical

Introduction: Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Educators have long debated the rules and regulations around clothing and attire of students. Should they enforce a uniform code or let the students wear what they please? I wore a uniform from the time I was in school at age 4 to the time I graduated high school at age 17, with the exception of one year. Using my own personal knowledge and the opinions and experience of educators today I am going to tell you three reasons why school uniforms are better than free dress or dress codes.

Signpost: To begin we will look at the equalizing power of uniforms.

Main Point 1: Uniforms act as social equalizers (Eppinger 2009)

               I.     Uniforms level the playing field for lower socioeconomic status (Eppinger 2009, Boutelle 2008)

a.     It is a common argument in the uniform debate that schools should be a safe place without worry about differences in status whether socially, economically, etc. (Bodine 2003).

b.     "What if the uniforms disappeared tomorrow?" Gulden asks. Differences between "our needy kids and fairly well-to do kids might become magnified and polarize the campus," creating resentment and tension. "Life has enough hurdles for families and kids; I don't think one of them should be here at school. There's that stigma of 'my socioeconomic status.' Kids 5, 6, 7 years old shouldn't have to deal with that." (Boutelle 2008).

             II.     Uniforms lessen comparisons based on material goods and place more emphasis on academic abilities.

a.     Some believe that uniforms take away the students individuality since it is most obviously expressed in the clothing that is worn. This clothing usually sparks envy and competition because so and so is wearing name brand while this person is wearing Walmart or Target.

b.     The creativity that is “being stifled” can be more appropriately expressed “academically and artistically… Uniforms allow children the right to distinguish themselves by the deeds they’ve done, not the duds they wear.” (Boutelle 2009)

Signpost: Now that we have seen the equalizing effects of the uniform, we will turn to the effects on school performance.

Main Point 2: Uniforms improve the “school climate” (Eppinger 2009)

               I.     Students are often distracted more by what they wear/how they look than their studies (Eppinger 2009)

a.     Viewed as work clothing rather than play clothing (Eppinger 2009, Boutelle 2008, Yeung 2009)

b.     Distractions over immodest clothing reduced or eliminated (Boutelle 2008)

             II.     Tardies are reduced when students wear uniforms

a.     There is no stress over dressing in the mornings because your administrators have decided what you will wear everyday (Eppinger 2009)

b.     This reducing the time needed to dress in the morning and so students are less frequently late to their morning classes

Signpost: Remembering the equalizing power and the effects on performance that uniforms have, we will next move on to the influence on crime in schools.

Main Point 3: Uniforms reduce crime in schools.

               I.     Theft/violence over expensive clothing is reduced (Eppinger (2009)

a.     In his 1996 State of the Union Address, Bill Clinton challenged schools ''to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship. And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms." (Boutelle 2008)

             II.     Gang clothing/signs are eliminated (Eppinger 2009, Boutelle 2008)

a.     In inner city schools, much of the conflict, violence, and crime occur due to gang affiliations. Wearing the wrong color can get you into trouble in certain neighborhoods

b.     By implementing uniforms, these risks are reduced

Signpost: To close lets review the three reasons we discussed today.

Conclusion: The three reasons uniforms are better than free dress are: 1. Uniforms are social equalizers, 2. Uniforms improve the school climate, and 3. Uniforms decrease crime in schools. ______?

Public Speaking Speech

I have 4-5 minutes to inform my class about something.

Here is what I have decided:

The Curse of the Great Bambino

General Purpose: To Inform

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to describe the 3 main facets of the history of the curse.

Central Idea: There are three main phases of time of the curse of the Great Bambino; when it began, the failed attempts at breaking it, and breaking it.

Organizational Pattern: Spatial

Intro: Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Celtics and the Lakers. Real Madrid and Barcelona. Colorado State University and University of Wyoming. There are hundreds of sports rivalries, and each has its own unique history and significance. As sports fans we all know these rivalries make games worth watching. One of the most famous sports rivalries between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees began almost a century ago when Harry Frazee traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees and the curse began. I was in 6^th grade when the curse was broken. At that point I had been a baseball fan my whole life. I grew up watching baseball and loved it with a passion. My dad taught me how to be a Red Sox fan and his dad taught him how to be a Red Sox fan. Today, I will discuss three significant phases of the curse: when it began, the failed attempts at breaking it, and when the curse was broken.

Signpost: To begin, we will go back nearly a century to 1918.

Body:

1          In 1918 the Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series (Waterman & Springer, 1999).

a.     Babe Ruth pitched 17 scoreless innings for the Red Sox that series  (Celebrate Boston)

b.     In 1919, the Red Sox manager sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees to pay off a debt on Fenway Park (NBCSports, 2004). This began the curse.

c.      After this, Red Sox did not win another World Series until 2004

d.     Yankees went on to win 26 World Series

Signpost: Now that we know when the curse began we will follow the Red Sox in their subsequent World Series appearances

                   The Red Sox made it to the World Series 4 times between 1918 and 2003

a.     They made it in ’46, ’67, ’75, and ’86 and each time something terrible happened and they lost (Celebrate Boston)

b.     Each time the curse was to blame. It could not be broken

c.      Red Sox were doomed by the curse to be a losing team

d.     Meanwhile, the Yankees became an empire that ruled Major League Baseball

Signpost: We now have seen the 4 failed attempts at breaking the curse. Lets move on to when they actually did break it.

3             In 2004 the Red Sox won the World Series

a.     The Red Sox came back from a 3 game deficit against the Yankees in the League Championship Series to make it to the World Series for the 5^th time since 1918

b.     The Red Sox beat the Cardinals in 4 World Series games and the curse was broken after 86 years

c.      Show Youtube Clip beginning at 2:44:16(MLBClassics, 2010)

Signpost: To wrap it up, lets review the three phases of the curse.

Conclusion: We have talked about when the curse began in 1919, how the Red Sox tried to overcome it in their World Series appearances and when they actually did break the curse in 2004 against the Cardinals. So next time you are watching a game between rivals you can think on and maybe dig into the history and significance of that rivalry. You might find out something like the history we discussed today.

Here is the whole 3 hours in case you've got nothing going on today

I feel it! I found it! I smell it!

Summer, that is.

When I got up this morning at 7:03 as usual, I felt it!

The sunshine was coming through my window and I smelled the smell of summer. What is the smell of summer you ask? Well it is freedom, happiness, warmth, dirt. WOW I got so excited.

I also heard summer. It was like *chirp* *crow*, and a combination of this:

and this:

Does that not just jazz you up for life?!?!?

I need to finalize my last take home exam, turn it in and then I AM FREE FOR SUMMER.


(For a week and a half.....and then I start summer school haha)

Man life is looking pretty much peachy (Hence Peach at the beginning and this peach....)

Now some things for y'all to do this summer:

40-websites-that-will-make-you-cleverer-right-now <--- TRUE STORY

Kind of a fun one

And this will make you smile

Summer schooling, had me a blast. Summer schooling, happened so fast.

I am taking summer classes and then fall classes. So if I do indeed graduate next spring I will have been in school for 8 consecutive semesters (Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Summer 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014). Ayyyaaaaaaahhhhh. Thats a lotta schooling.

Anyway. Here are the classes I am taking this summer here in Laradise:

CHEM 1020: General Chemistry- First semester of a one-year introductory series. Provides broad coverage of chemistry principles with inorganic and organic systems applications.

*I am indifferent to this class. I have only had one year of chem in my life. That was sohpmore year and if you were to ask me what I remember, I would tell you that Hydrogen and Oxygen are a part of the periodic table of elements. So its probably a good thing I am taking it again. And I really hope its easier cause I am taking it in the summer*

COJO 1010: Public Speaking - Beginning public speaking course. Emphasizes message construction, performance and critique in public communication settings. Includes speech preparation, listening, audience analysis, critical thinking, language/nonverbal behavior and various speaking formats.

*Eh, I feel like since I am Mormon and have been speaking in Sacrament meetings since I was 12, a relief society teacher and have been teaching for the past several months, and a tutor, I will probably do pretty well with this one...*

RELI 2225: History of Christianity - Traces Christianity from its beginnings to late 20th century.

*I am so jazzed about taking this class. It should be awesome. I considered minoring in Religion and possibly Nutrition so this class helps me out there if I end up staying another year and doing that....*

WMST 1080: Introduction to Women's Studies - An introduction to key issues in women's studies. A topical examination of women's participation in, and relationship to, institutions of society, such as family and school, as well as processed and activities, such as work, art, literature and politics in historical and cross-cultural analysis.

*Aahhhhhh women's studies. Why do you even exist? So stupid. Too bad this fulfills two credits I need. Oh well, its a prereq for another class or two that I actually want to take as a Medical Anthropologist*

PEAC 1001: Physical Activity and Your Health - Designed to help students gain an understanding of the impact of physical activity or inactivity has on their health. Students gain the knowledge, skills and experience that enable them to make informed decisions about their own health as it relates to their quality of life and longevity.

*I'm an athlete, I know how being active helps you in basically all aspects of your life. But again, its a requirement and at least its an independent study*


Thats 14 credits. A whole semester's worth. Last summer I only did 7. But its broken up, so I am taking 8 here in laramie for the first half and then 6 credits online at home in UTAH. It should be grrrreeatttt.

And I will have my beautiful longboard Jasper to carry me around during those wonderful days of summery sunshine.