Confusingly Simplistic

Grin-Worthy Moment

Maybe you saw my post about how Byron (the only male on the Kitten’s Dance Team {known school-wide for their gaudy makeup and provocative dances}) was being hated upon for being on the dance team. Here’s something that made me smile.

Yesterday was the first football game of the season and before the game began, all the marching band/Kittens were hanging out under the stands, the only area with shade in 105 degree weather. (-.-)

I was with a few of my friends, just being quiet and getting ready for the game, while also people watching. And guess what I see! Byron is surrounded by a small group of 5 or 6 band people, both guys and girls. One in particular was Pedro, who’s a really cool dude. Anyway, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, so I just watched for a bit. It was awesome to see how positive they were to him. It was obvious they were talking about Byron being a Kitten and I’m sure the fact that he’s openly gay come up. (Duh.)

It was just nice to see how people were encouraging rather than discouraging.  

Personal Freedom

I’m used to school having to make rules based on the worst of the kids that go there. It makes sense and while I don’t like it, I accept it.

But this is completely wrong.

Myself and about 30-ish other people have been eating lunch outside the band hall for over a year. And before we began eating there, other students would spend lunch time outside, in that area. We all sit on the sidewalk, eating and talking. Some students play Frisbee. We are not overly loud, we do not leave trash behind, we do not graffiti, we do not break rules, we do not violate the code of conduct in any way. People have been eating out there for YEARS. 

As of today, anyone who eats out there will be receiving immediate ISS.

We all collectively hate eating in the cafeteria for numerous reasons. We have not broken rules. Why are we being punished for something we did not do?

Tomorrow I (and others) will be scheduling an appointment to speak with Mr. Bullock or Mr. James, one of the two head principals. Please wish us luck in trying to regain our 30 minutes of personal freedom.

Differences

On Tumblr, there are a lot of posts that circulate, saying that “everyone is beautiful”, “weight doesn’t define you”, “big is beautiful too”, “don’t hate someone because they’re big or small” and so on. These posts get thousands and thousands of notes, so a bunch of people believe this, right?

Apparently I’m the only one who thinks differently.

I’m not saying that people aren’t beautiful. I think that people can be incredibly beautiful, I believe that weight shouldn’t define you and I agree that all sizes are attractive in their own way. Hell, I’m bigger than a lot of people, both with height and weight, but I KNOW I can be as sexy as any one else.

But there’s a line that people cross.

I don’t think it’s attractive when someone is obese. I know, there are a lot of medical issues that can cause weight gain and make it difficult or near impossible to lose weight. And my heart goes out to those who suffer from those conditions.

But those medical problems do not affect everyone who is morbidly overweight. There are in fact people who eat and eat and eat and never exercise. People who weight 300 pounds or more because they do not take care of themselves. 

And to me, that is not attractive. It’s unhealthy and needs to be taken care of. 

Scars

Razor blades. Knives. Thumb tacks. Scissors. Pencil sharpener blades. 

Knees. Shoulders. Thighs. Arms. Stomach. Feet. Neck.

Depression. Bipolar disorder. OCD. General anxiety. Manic-depressive. 

Females. Males.

Every human can be a victim of self-harm.

Society recoils in horror, thinking that this “craziness”, this “sadness” can be caught. They react in anger or stupidity, laughing or lashing out. They are scared and choose to ostracize rather than help. 

Society sees a person with scars and stares. They do not even try to understand. They think it a weakness.

I wish less people hurt themselves. I wish more people loved themselves.

But I do not see scars as a weakness. I see it as a strength - a sign of a battle that has been won. A battle every ex-self-injurer should be proud of winning.

What should I talk about next?

Social Sex

I’M KINDA JUST RAMBLING ON THIS POST, TRYING TO SEE IF I CAN MAKE A POINT OR TWO. BE WARNED!

In the media, sex is glorified. Commercials use insinuation, provocative dancing or speech or even blatant scenarios to sell their produce - and it works. People like sex. They like to see it. But how did we come to using sex as a means for glorification? 

Use your imagination and picture life 50 years ago. Was television using sex in commercials and shows? Were songs singing explicitly about personal business? Simple answer - no. Come Fly With Me (Frank Sinatra) and Singin’ In The Rain dominated the charts, both simple and sweet; classics for their timelessness. Will people look back 50 years from now and remember our generation for songs depicting in overzealous detail private affairs? I certainly not.

One simple phrase sums it up: SEX SELLS. 

But let me take this in a different direction…Maybe…

Perhaps 2011 is so filled with provocativeness as a way to rebel against the “boring” times of old. But perhaps people are more drawn to sex because, rather than PROgressing with the years, we are REgressing. After all, cavemen’s lives were rather centered around eat, sleep, sex, stay alive, FIRE. It seems as though, with time, the general population is becoming more simplistic about their wants and desires, despite the onslaught of new technology and progression in design.

THANKS FOR READING MY RAMBLE, IF YOU ACTUALLY DID :)

Kymberly Wimberly

I know this is “old news.” But it’s still good to talk about.

Don’t judge her by her silly-sounding name. Miss Wimberly is actually quite intelligent.

In her four years at high school, Wimberly has done outstanding things. In her junior year, she gave birth to her daughter, but didn’t let that stop her. Rather than taking the usual path and dropping out of school, she persevered and earned a 4.09 GPA, the highest of her class. 

Impressive, right?

She was awarded the Valedictorian position, a role that requires she speak at her class graduation. However, soon after being given that title, unease drifted through the community. People thought it would represent the school in a negative way if the valedictorian was a teenage mother.

So the school changed things. They awarded another girl co-valedictorian, basing this on the fact that she took more classes. Even though her GPA was lower. NOT FAIR!!

Wimberly was upset, obviously. She knew the rumors of the real reason the school had changed their decision and requested that she go before the school board to challenge their decision. She was allowed to - but only AFTER graduation!

So now Wimberly is suing the school, on grounds of discrimination because she’s black. 

It’s obvious that the school took away her valedictorian title because they did not want her to represent the school. Personally, I see her high school journey as something to celebrate, not hide. Here is a girl who has worked hard her whole life, only earning a single B the entirety of high school, who becomes a teenage mother, but doesn’t lose focus of school. Incredibly commendable.

In a lot of cases where people sue because of discrimination, I laugh, because it’s just so stupid. But here, I agree. And I really hope she wins. 

New School Policy

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS A POLICY I AM DISCUSSING ON A PERSONAL LEVEL. I AM MAKING NO GENERALIZATIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING OTHER SCHOOLS OR ADMINISTRATION.

Temple High School, located in Temple, Texas, will be starting the 2011-2012 school year on August 22, in a mere 4 days. (!!!) With the beginning of the year comes a new school-wide policy, cracking down even harder on all students. 

Here is a quick break down of how this school operates. Beginning at 8:30, students have roughly 55 minute classes, which are comprised of the 4 core classes (English, History, Mathematics and Science) and 3 electives (ranging from a foreign language to a music class to auto-shop to debate). There are two lunches into which the 2,000+ students are sorted. Each class is separated by a 6 minute “passing period”; withing this time, all students are expected to go to their next class, use the restroom, socialize and get the wiggles out. School ends at 4 o’clock and the students are free to go about the rest of their day.

Up till now, the policy of THS administration regarding hall passes has been that they are allowed under circumstances such as needing to use the bathroom, needing to see the nurse, needing to see the counselors or other faculty. It has also been permissible for students who have finished their work for the day to go to the library or (in the case of music students) go to the band hall to practice. 

Not any more.

The administration has come out with a new policy, stating that NO HALL PASSES ARE TO BE ISSUED. None. Of course, as Mr. Medina, head band director, so astutely put it, “If you just decapitated yourself and are gushing blood, you can see the nurse. If you just crapped in your pants, I’ll probably let you go to the bathroom.” But no longer are students allowed to leave.

Now, I understand the reasoning behind this, and the reasoning is sound indeed. Students who leave the classroom are not learning. Many students who leave to take care of business dawdle and waste time, graffiti the bathrooms and walls, never come back, find their friends or girl/boyfriends and hang out (there have been incidents involving sexual activity), get into physical confrontations and so on. It can, and most likely has, become an issue of safety, health and education for the students who leave for no real purpose.

So rather than punish the students who are breaking rules, the faculty of the High School are punishing all of the students. But that’s the way it’s always been, so no problem, right?

Wrong.

This is yet another way in which school systems punish the good for the behavior of the bad. 

In the classrooms, many students obviously do not want to be there and respond to this forced action by disturbing class; talking, getting up under various excuses, yelling, throwing things, moving slowly on purpose, repeating actions various times, attempting to engage teachers in conversation, texting, defying the rules and so on. This has become “normal” behavior to see in classrooms. So the teachers’ reaction? Spend class time fussing and nagging and griping at the students to “pay attention”, “focus”, “stop talking/texting/etc.” Some teachers spend the entire class repeating this rhetoric. By doing so, no teaching gets done whatsoever. In fact, by responding in such a fashion, teachers are really rewarding students for distracting and inappropriate behavior by giving them time and attention, the two things they are hoping for. 

I’m sure you can see that by this happening, the “good” students (those who show up with their supplies, willing and eager to work and learn, not talking/texting/distracting from class) are over-looking and forgotten about. 

All the faculty hears about is the bad, so they lay down newer and stricter rules, prohibiting this and that, making the teachers’ jobs harder in having to enforce new policies, making it harder for any learning to take place.

In this long spiel, my point is this: it is disheartening to see that schools are becoming a teenage daycare rather than a place of learning, thanks to the children that act out and the adults that coddle them.

Think Abraham Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator”, known, respected and honored for his release of the slaves? Think again.

“I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races. I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with White people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between white and black races which I believe will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality….and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent of upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued.”

Abraham Lincoln was a racist. It has been said by historians that “he used the “N” word in reference to blacks as much as a modern day gangster.” In fact, it has been recorded by many White House personnel that they believed he was consumed by his hatred towards blacks.

And the Emancipation Proclamation? The esteemed speech actually did nothing. While the wording is indeed high quality, with numerous aspects making it unique, it freed no one. As it were, there were exceptions to the states that were covered by this freedom declaration - all “rebel states.” Now, keep in mind that this is a Union President speaking to the Confederates. In the Union’s eyes, all of the Confederate states were “rebel states” so therefore, the freeing of slaves applied only to the states in which slavery was already illegal.

What truly freed slaves was the 13 Amendment to the Constitution, to which President Lincoln was dragged kicking and screaming.

Gay Malaysian Pastor’s Wedding Plans Stir Anger Among Home Country

Gay Malaysian Pastor’s Wedding Plans Stir Anger Among Home Country

So, in Malaysia, a country dominantly Muslim, to even speak of homosexuality is “taboo.” A pastor from this country (Rev. Ouyang Wen Feng), who is currently an American citizen, having lived in New York since 1998, is planning on marrying his partner at the end of this month, and traveling to Malaysia afterwards for a wedding banquet. Government officials are currently outraged over the breach of social norm, going so far as to say that the union between the Reverend and his partner would “harm Malaysian society.” The government continued on to say the government needs to “act to block him.” 

That a man who has done good and only wishes to celebrate his wedding in the country he grew up in is being so forcibly rejected is appalling. 

To y’all who are the first to follow this blog(!!!):

What issues would you like to see discussed?