blogging for the better

As I prepare to continue my blog from last semester, I can't help but hope to gain more from this project this semester over last. Last semester I was a little lazy and not too energetic. This semester I hope to keep up my blog with interesting posts that spark interest and hopefully some comments. Oh goodness, comments. Thats another thing I have to work on. Commenting on other people's blogs with regularity. How will I learn to have an opinion (because lets face it I don't really have one on anything) and think critically?

According to an article from News in Science at abc.net.au/science/news, blogging should help me do both those things. Anne Bartlett-Bragg, who is a lecturer at the University of Technology in Sydney makes many wonderful points about blogging in the article. She says, among other things, that blogging makes students think critically. It also causes students who are normally shy and withdrawn to really engage themselves and make their opinion heard. Students also have to learn to take responsibility for what they post. Anyone can read the blog so it had better be correct. Receiving comments also helps students. It lets them know that someone is listening to what they have to say and has an opinion of their own on it. I know that whenever I get alot of comments, it really helps me keep blogging because I'm interested to see what others have to say.

All in all, I'm pretty optimistic about this semesters blog. I really hope to make this one a good one and maybe even keep it up after the year ends.

5-4-3-2 Give a Cheer for SMU

In response to MAM's post on school spirit (you can read her post at I commented the following-
"Our school definitely needs to work on our school spirit. It's not that our team is bad. There are teams from where I'm from that are really bad. They haven't won a game in years and still everyone goes to the games. People here go to the games but leave at halftime! If our fans and student body were more supportive maybe it would motivate our team to win. Then more people would go to our games. It's a never ending cycle i guess. The 'Stangs just need that first push."

Alot of people have commented on our school spirit or lack there of. The problem as I see it though is that the SMU Mustangs have nothing to win for. Our fans leave a lot to be desired in the stands. We boulevard like it's out second job, I'll give us that. But when it's time for the game, where do all those people go? Not into the stadium. The students that DO go to the game leave at halftime. How discouraging for our players.

I really do believe that if the SMU fans would just bite the bullet and stay for the whole game to cheer on the team, the 'Stangs might start to win a few. Then even more people will come to the games! We just need the student section to stay and give the SMU team something to win for.

Homesick at the Holidays

Nothing thrilled me more today then when I waltzed outside and felt the FABULOUS 70-something degree weather. However, as the day went on I realized that I miss the snow of the midwest. My friends have pictures on Facebook of them playing in the snow. As much as I said I wanted to get away from the cold Ohio weather, I just can't shake that homesick feeling. I miss the snow and ice, the hot cider and hot chocolate, fireplaces and big blankets.

I haven't been homesick really until today. I have had a little feeling of homesickness here and there but nothing too bad. I can't believe I actually miss the frigid temperatures and ice storms but I do. I look at the pictures of the cars covered in snow and I miss scraping off my car to go to school.

When I went home for Thanksgiving, I actually called SMU home. Where did that feeling of home go? Maybe it's that with finals, my "family" has disappeared. With finals looming, all my friends have gone into hiding in the library.

It's funny really. I left the midwest to get away from the cold weather and now I actually miss it. Maybe absence DOES make the heart grow fonder. I know that since I've been here, I have definitely grown fonder of the snow.

Only 2 weeks until Christmas break

Is Facebook really any better than Myspace?

I have followed every online website fad since grade school. In my town in junior high it was cool to have a site on expage.com. I had one. Then myspace.com. I had one of those as well. Now facebook. What started out as a cool was for college kids to find their friends that they had lost contact with has now become open to everyone and anyone. Facebook was supposed to be different than myspace. More private and pretty basic. First it was open to college kids. Anyone with a college email address could get one. Then it was open to high school. Then to everyone. Then there are the applications that are springing up everywhere you look. I happen to like a few of them but if I get one more notice saying that someone's werewolf just attacked my zombie (I don't even think I have a zombie to attack) I will scream. Facebook is becoming even more cluttered than myspace. Myspace was annoying with its advertisements and spam. But facebook has gotten out of control. I like the little applications like Pink Ribbon to support breast cancer, the Christmas application which tells me how many days until christmas, and of course I have to support my favorite football team, The OSU buckeyes. But these are small applications that go on the side.

The general idea of basic facebook is genius though. You join the networks you want to be a part of and can then view all the people in that network. For example, I joined the network for my high school. I can now see everyone who goes to my high school and the year they graduate. I think it's a great way to keep up with everyone from high school. You can also do the same for college, summer camp, grade school...the list is endless. There are groups that help you find people too. I also like the idea of the events. It's a great way to let everyone whats going on without wasting paper. Plus, you can go into the event and change it if a problem arises and it alerts everyone.

I guess my point is that although Facebook is changing and becoming slightly annoying with the zombies, werewolves, speed racers, and pirates, its still a fantastic way to keep in touch with people who you have lost touch with.

Texting and Driving

I'm guilty of it as I'm sure many of you are. Texting while driving. Whether its just a quick "hey" or a lengthy detailed account of your day, texting while driving is VERY dangerous. A 38 year old man was texting while driving in Oregon and ran smack into a train. Mind you, he was drunk as well, but still. Texting while driving and you hit a train? Isn't a train kind of hard to miss? The man survived and I sure hope he learned his lesson.

Texting while driving has become so popular that some states are considering making laws against it. Lawmakers in Washington are really pushing for a national ban of texting and driving especially after a 5 car pile up caused by a man texting and driving.

However, they are not just talking about banning text messaging while driving. They are also talking about banning cell phone use entirely while driving. While many surveys show that drivers that are talking on the phone are slower to react, I don't think a ban on cell phone use while driving will do much. It will be difficult to enforce with the new ear pieces that it seems like everyone has. You can't really tell if someone is on the phone, singing in the car, or talking to themself. I don't think a ban on cell phone use all together while driving will do much but waste tax payers money as law enforcement fumbles around trying to find ways to detect cell phones.

Sports fans a little to enthusiastic?

It's not uncommon to have 2 rival schools have tons of fans who attended neither school. Ohio State Univeristy and University of Michigan for example. I attend SMU but if you bother me during this game Be prepared to face my wrath. Another such rivalry is apparently the OU (Oklahoma University) Sooners and the Texas Long Horns. I was unaware of this until my brother emailed me a link to an article on the Sports Illustrated website. The article was entitled "Rivalry gone bad" and then the subtitle read "Longhorns fan nearly castrated in bloody bar scuffle". Now for the sake of those with a weak stomach I won't go into too much detail but 60 stitches later, the man is pressing charges.

In Oklahoma, this has been a hot topic on the radio stations. Many Sooner fans have called in to say that they believe that the Texas fan got what he deserved! I think that this is ridiculous! No one deserves what that poor man had happen to him! Neither man attended either school. Worse yet, they are grown men! I think America needs to be reminded that football is just a sport. It's just a game! And while it does provide alot of opportunities for alot of young men, the older fans need to remind themselves that it's just a game. The young men may have scholarships to play to help pay for school but most of the fans have to go back to the real world the next day and go to work. That may be difficult for the man who was nearly castrated.

I guess I am just appalled that something like this would happen over something so trivial as a football game. Most people don't get this excited over political or religious issues but football, well I guess thats a whole different ball game.

"The streets are flowing with blood"

In Baghdad, volunteers are picking up the dead. They give the dead a proper burial to maintain their dignity as they move to the afterlife. They wash them in sand and wrap them in cloth. Then they bury them, 2 to a grave. The bodies are photographed and entered into a computer so that one day they may be claimed. However, for many, they are too mangled, too burned, too disfigured to be recognized even by their own families.

No one should have to face that fate. Innocent men, women, and children are suffering because of this war. Their loved ones cannot identify them because the bodies are so mangled. There can never be a closing for the rest of the family because they do not know if their son or daughter is dead or alive. They may never know. I cannot believe that the American government has let this go on for so long. This is a democracy so shouldn't our voices be heard? Or are our voices muffled by the sound of preparations for war and the war already at hand?

Sheik Jamal al-Sudani, one of the leaders of the volunteer groups for burying the dead, told CNN"I only think about one thing: That one day, I will face the same fate as these people have faced, and will there be someone to take care of me and bury me, too?"

At the rate we're going, I think that that is a very prevalant question indeed.