Undecided

I'm doing my analysis on the Utah National Guard's youtube video behind the scenes footage of a shooting of a calender, which they have been heavily scrutinized and reprimanded for. Would the culture of the state that they created this footage in have anything to do with the widespread coverage of this event. How do people even know about this? YOUTUBE.

Or I'm doing my analysis on the Ebola outbreak and the U.S. sending military forces to help treat those affected in Africa, also touching on the debate of whether or the returning troops will have to face mandatory quarantine in Italy for twenty-one days. Should they just get to go home after deployment, shouldn't we trust their medical precautions while they are there. However, the last thing we need is for the public to be aware that the U.S. military brought Ebola back home.

Religion IOS8

The fact that this was our topic in class today is eery.
Stupid October.
(I hate halloween)

It was eery because I had just written my next Thearmysdaughter blogpost.
It still is living in my notes section of my iphone, I'm stumped on this post.
Explaining Thearmysdaughter page name is harder than I expected.

All because of religion.
Breaking down the why of the name kind of gets religious for me.
Daughter is instrumental in this project, it's a huge compliment to the Army. By putting daughter behind Army, the meaning goes beyond being a traditional (My dad's daughter) and nontraditional  (the community's daughter) daughter. I relate it to being a daughter of God. I take it very seriously, it molds the kind of daughter I am in other areas of my life.

How do I explain that without diving into religion. Is it the wrong move to incorporate God into my blog? Will that change my audience? People could build a wall. How do I get them to understand?

Can I even explain why I chose to name my blog that without telling them what being a daughter means to me?

I really hate even caring about what people think.
But that's part of being human, I have to see things from the other sides.
I have to try and understand.
Hesitating to share my religion is just not something I do. I'm surprised that I'm apprehensive, I'm public about being religious and LDS on twitter, facebook, and among my peers.
Religion on the internet is expanding quickly, is it the norm to add that to my blog? Or will it throw me into the hot seat?

That's a scary thought. I'm aware that any time I get into a religious debate or arguement, I'm going to lose. People's facts and evidence are going to trump my insisting that there's a "feeling".
Good for me, and good for them. That's what I have to say?

When we talked about our generation being more skeptical, I sank in my seat. TRUTH.
People might even be able to guess from my social media that I'm not a perfect Latter Day Saint. In fact, I've been inactive for the past six or seven years. With social media, you get to see way more, you get to see people who criticized you years ago, messing up or in bad situations now.

I'm skeptical because I play into watching and waiting for the next person to mess up.
When I was fifteen, I got kicked out of seminary in my new ward. I was on swim team and the team had yearbook photos, all of us had to wear our team shirt and a pair of jean shorts. I wore shorts to seminary and my Bishop asked me not to come back. I visited the town I lived in seven years ago this summer, and learned that the Bishop who publicily embarassed me had been excommunicated because of a long going affair with a younger woman in the ward. I immediately called my parents and told them, my dad said something like "Hallelujah, that jackass"........


We were pumped. Social media lets me glimpse at other people's lives, it has it's ups and downs.
In some ways it has shattered my character, preying on my flaws and occasional weak resistance to pride and relishing in other's failures. On the other hand, my life has been changed, I get to see people in a different way, and be excited for most of their accomplishments and acheivements.


Internet is affecting religion because how you react to what you intake and perceive is usually rooted in some type of religious teaching lesson or principle. Because religion is a culture.


Or maybe I'm just getting older and so skeptical is one of those things I'm starting to gain in old age.
And when we talked about Columbus briefly.
My mom is too cool.
I'm Native American, like... Certificate of Indian Blood registered, real deal kind. Scholarship reservation going I check that denomination when I apply for jobs, take a standardized test etc.
I always knew to be skeptical about history, because until I went to high school my mom would come into my class and teach about Native Americans (my tribe specifically) the week of Columbus Day.
I learned to appreciate and respect both sides of the story. Of course I've always leaned towards the Native American account of what happened, but I listened to Columbus's journey every time teachers taught it to me. So perhaps I've been steered towards being skeptical from the beginning with my mom educating me, I know to question and examine and decide for myself, I think.

So I don't blame other people for having doubts, and I don't blame myself for wondering if my blog is the right place to put religion. Ideally, I'd love to include it in my blog because I always try to live by the idea that I want to be really hard to offend... I want to try and understand as best I can.... so I'd be thrilled if that same kind of courtesy was present in my blog audience, like the fact that I am a Daughter of God wouldn't make what I'm saying less relevant..

Sink or Swim

The last line of my previous post was, "I believe in education. I just don't know what kind."

I haven't heard that new idea.
The inspiration and passion for the fight in education isn't there. Mostly because of the depth and range of the problems. There's too many.
I often fall back from projects because I feel like they're too big. I hate cleaning my room when it has reached hurricane level destruction. And it is tremendously easier to clean up a bathroom that has been somewhat maintained. When it has reached filth, I shy away. I feel like that is the same situation regarding school. I don't know what it will take for an idea to be produced that will be a part of the maintenance of the school system. The maintenance being the analogy of fixing and cleaning up as we go in order to reach a clean fresh workable system.

Maybe that inspiration isn't there because the whole system needs to be dumped. No revamps just complete revolution. It is possible that many small consistent changes are not the answer or the way. Maybe that's why no ideas have sparked for me.


In my previous post, I wrote something along the lines of I used to know that I could be anything I wanted, and that confidence is long gone. Why do you have to help someone find their niche (build a personality) AND shatter their confidence on the way. Professor Young talked about his son changing his demeanor, and also experiencing a drastic confidence shift after attending school at a young age. Could this be more prevalent than we have acknowledged? If the answer is starting small, start with that. Monitor confidence. Boost it in a constructive way. Don't over trophy every kid but let them know that if they aren't comfortable in front of a class room speaking, it doesn't mean they don't have a" room working" personality, it doesn't mean that they don't belong on debate team and at the head of some corporation, it means that they WORK on it. If they want to be good at it, they have every chance to work on it and try. Don't let them sink at it the first time they try, help them tone and build swimming muscles to get them to where they want to be.

If the answer is huge, absolute reworking all at once, then I hope somebody has their thinking cap on cause I've got nothing.

"We don't need no education..."

The video we watched in class today was stirring.
Hopefully for everyone.
Can you think of an individual that the education system has failed?

I mean that pun intended.
Failed, and failed. The letter kind, and the regular kind.
How about all of us?
At one point or another we have all failed something, school, a quiz, a paper, a presentation..

Easily, I'll name five hundred people that public education has failed.

Don't ask me to name them because I will.

Here are a few of my key thoughts as we watched that video.

I have a deaf older sister who went to mainstream school her entire life. I'm not a stranger to adovocating for students that don't fit the norm education is trying to produce. Is it even possible to argue for someone who needs a place and a fair opportunity in a system that is already corrupt, a system that doesn't have a place for her because she isn't the same as everyone else. In fact even if she focused everything she's got into trying to be what the school system wants, she won't achieve it. She's never going to be like anybody else. So instead of applauding and appreciating that, the school system says " oh gosh, how are we going to make this work"

I have the same kind of frustration for students on the spectrum, diagnosed/undiagnosed with any shape or form of condition or disease. (- I'm trying to be politically correct with terms I'm not learned on so please excuse my twisted way around that sentence) Instead of throwing pills their way, spend some money. Create an opportunity for them to thrive, there has to be a way. It's easier to let people slip through the cracks than face things head on. Sad isn't it, it's easier to forget about someone than to care about them. Weird when one of our basic HUMAN instincts is supposed to be caring and helping.

School is about money.
Wishing it wasn't won't do any good, neither will pretending it isn't.
The cirriculum is usually based out of a textbook that comes with a hefty price tag.
Then you get graded on it.

And you know what else?

Some of the most vile bullies I've ever encountered have been teachers or school administraters.
After I've bitched and griped I usually find myself giving them the benefit of the doubt.
They are a product of the school system, they are the successes.
I'm not. Clearly. Thank sweet goodness for that.
I believe they've fallen victim to the stupidity that we are lawfully required to participate in (school).
They tell you how to act, how to behave, and how to be successful. Then they adamently shake their heads when you don't conform,
disagree or don't measure up.

They blame it on lazy generations that don't care and require structure.
No, it's the content. It's the personalities and the deliverence.
It's the dumb goals, and heartless nonsense policies.
I think in school it is important to recognize when you are the problem, or at least when you're participating in the problem.

I know when I'm being a poor student, I know when I'm giving less than my best. I know when I'm my problem. The terra nova or the FCAT don't know me and they'll never know my brain. When are the folks in charge going to get it?

It's interesting, Sweden believes in supervised play until a child turns eight years old.
They dress up and have tea parties and scream and sing, until they are eight.
No book reports, reading assessments, placements tests, gifted programs...
What were ya'll doing at eight years old?
I was learning cursive and long division.
Hmm, isn't Sweden named the happiest country in the world?
Could that be connected?

My advice to those Swedes? Hold on to that, cherish it and play til the cows come home.
I chuckled to myself when we started class with Professor Young's childhood.
I had a similar upbringing, forts, banged up elbows and knees, catching tadpoles and digging massively big holes. I played in quick sand, and ran around the block during hurricanes. Back then, I really knew I could do anything, that confidence is long gone.

I want to be a mother one day.
Now I'm forward thinking asking myself, am I going to be hung up on my kiddo knowing how to distinguish between colors on my ipad and recite the alphabet or am I hoping my little one has had like forty five splinters from trying to hop a fence? Do I want my kids to have grass stained blue jeans or a pristine score on some educational iPad app?

Am I going to be disappointed in my kids not getting an high A on their assignments.
Am I going to anxiously await their Terra Nova scores in the mail.
Gosh I hope not.

The video kind of led me on a tangent
I believe in education. I just don't know what kind.