Month: February 2009

Posted in Politics

Politics with Aardvarki: Our Flagging Education Standards

Posted on by Aardvarki

So, it’s the second blog and I’m already off on the wrong foot. In case anyone noticed, it’s a Tuesday, and this blog is supposed to be on Monday. I could make up a lame excuse about it being president’s day yesterday, but that would be a crock of s**t. I forgot, okay? Sorry. I’ll try to be more punctual, but it’s more like “Monday (give or take a day)–Politics with Aardvarki.” Anyhoo…

Today’s topic: Nationalizing Standards for Education
Today’s article: Randi Weingarten, The Case for National Standards.

This article is actually an editorial, so I’m not going to summarize it, because there is no use summarizing opinion when I’m going to be giving an opinion that is similar to the opinion given in the article. There are, however, one or two statistics I’ll pepper in.

With all the hum-drum about the new president, the economy, the failing war, and all the other crap that’s floating around in the big ‘ole toilet bowl we dub “America,” the little soiled piece of toilet tissue settling at the bottom named “education” sometimes get lost in the quagmire. (I took that metaphor way too far, didn’t I? Anyhoo…) And because of this, it is depressing, but not really surprising to realize that we have some of the lowest nationalized test scores in the developed world, especially when compared to certain European countries and Japan. And this really is pathetic, when you think about it: the “land of opportunity” isn’t even giving the average child the opportunity of receiving a decent education. Now, there may be parts of the US that are doing OK. Take, for example, Massachusetts. Children in the state recently scored fifth in the world in an international mathematics assessment – but only after adopting rigorous standards in mathematics and science. And this shows that it’s not “kids these days” that are at fault, but state standards when it comes to learning. And when individual states fail to rise to the occasion, there is a call for a national standard: and NCLB doesn’t cut it. Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to propose a locked curriculum—or even standards for every subject (creating standards for electives, such as physical education and computers, or advanced classes that only a small percentage of a school takes, or classes not common in most schools, would be time-consuming, costly, and not significantly beneficial). Teachers would be still able to tailor lessons to their particular styles, but there still should be concepts that are taught across the board. And hopefully, if we have rigorous nationalized educational standards, we will be able to compete on a global scale, give our children the education they deserve, and keep states from slacking on standards.

Posted in Books

Traits of an Excellent Writer

Posted on by Bri

So I was gonna do a YouTube video instead of a blog today, but now I can’t, because I’m sobbing my eyes out and sniffling.

Steve Kluger really got me this time. His book, My Most Excellent Year, was, to put it simply, excellent. Even the tenth time reading it I laugh. For my birthday, I got an Amazon gift card, so I bought Larry and the Meaning of Life by Janet Tashjian, and The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger. I finished Larry and loved it, and then I finished Kluger’s book today.

Set in post-Depression WW2 era, the book is written in a series of news articles, telegraphs, and letters. I’m terrible at book reviews, but I’ll give you a list of things you’ll find in this story: young love, baseball, war, friendship, absent fathers, Jewish culture, and witty, clever writing. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest this book to everyone. I think anyone can enjoy this book, because it’s so well written.

When I went to tell my mom I finished the book, since we swap books a lot, she was surprised to find me crying. I’d been reading it around the house for the past two days and laughing almost the entire time. Steve Kluger is truly an author I’m glad to have found.

Posted in Movies

Pacing and Length in Movies

Posted on by Godfather

What I don’t understand about some people, is their short attention spans when it comes to movies. Sometimes, they aren’t meant to be fast paced like EVERY OTHER HOLLYWOOD MOVIE. Same goes for long ones, where most go “It’s three hours? That sounds boring”. But What I’ve found, is sometimes these are the best types, and that deviation lets you fully explore the movie’s scope. So first, let’s talk pacing.

So for each of these explanations, I’ll be using two more recent movies to show good and bad examples of these properties. 10,000 B.C. and Benjamin Button (which I’ll use again) are both excellent examples of this. 10,000 B.C. is what people dread when it comes to boring movies. With all the cliches they try to throw at you, and the horribly done action make this seem like it goes on forever. Don’t forget the play by numbers action script, and we have a wanna be epic that just goes ON AND ON. Its the type that we just wish it could speed up, and move faster than a slug. More examples of this are The Last Legion, License to Wed, and The Astronaut Farmer. Then, we have Benjamin Button, which is the story of a man who ages in reverse. It’s slow, but if you can appreciate what its about, then that just lets you think of how Benjamin is about life as a whole. But this one has a reason for the pacing, it spans 70 years, and those really don’t go by too quickly, so this gives the sense that we did watch his whole life. Some of these are Assassination of Jesse James, The Wrestler, and Apocalypse Now.

Now, we have the lengthy ones. Most of my favorite movies are those that exceed 2 hours, and this is because most long movies have a larger meaning that couldn’t fit into the usual one and a half hours. These examples will be Australia and, again, Benjamin Button. Australia could have been much better, if they had kept to one storyline. From the beginning to the half-way point, its all about Kidman and Jackman’s blooming love, which was, actually pretty enjoyable. These scenes were funny, dramatic, and the usual chick-flick. But then, when it could have just ended, they had to start the movie up again just as we were winding down, and make it go on for another 1 and a half hours or so. From then on, most of the audience wasn’t very happy, and when the ending came, everyone winded up in the same exact spot, leaving us wondering why they couldn’t have just left it as it was. Some other bad examples are the last two Pirates of the Caribbean, and Star Wars Attack of the Clones. Then again, Benjamin Button needed these 3 hours, and could have used more if you asked me. This is a whole man’s life, and to get all the struggles, and moments of it was to keep it going. I’m fine with a short movie for a film that spans 10 days, but one that goes at least 70 years has got to have this length to capture most of the time periods. And unlike Australia, it doesn’t just tack on scenes to make it seem epic, it didn’t need to. From what I’ve seen, most movies that are over two and a half hours are excellent, and here are just a few. Once Upon a Time in America (4 hours), The Godfather (3 hours), Lord of the Rings Return of the King (3 and a half hours), and Braveheart (3 hours).

Posted in Teenage Life

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y that’s our ______ battle cry!!

Posted on by Rachel

So I think Pep Assemblies are the closest thing on earth to hell.
I was ok with them being banned. I really was. I see no good reason why we should all be forced into a large, crowded, hot old gym and be forced to make fools of ourselves.
This particular pep assembly featured a dance-off between juniors and seniors. First of all, this is asking for trouble. Teenagers are terrible dancers! I was prepared to plug my ears and shut my eyes and maybe think about Jason Mraz, since it helps Bri so much.
The six juniors who participated surprised me by actually choreographing something that didn’t feature anything you might see at a typical school dance. It was a little awkward but compared to the horror that followed, they should’ve been on So You Think You Can Dance (not that that says much).
The seniors made me ashamed to be alive. There were about six boys, and, true to form, the shirts came off about fifteen seconds in. I stared in appalled horror as they proceeded to put on the worse display of “What Senior Boys Think About 24/7” that I’ve ever seen.
Really? Do I have to go to school with these people? Why am I forced to go watch their basketball games? They are apes wearing clothing (up to the waist, anyway).
Oh, and i should mention that the principal was gone during this. Which is a shame, because if he’d seen the senior dance, he might’ve banned pep assemblies.

THEN, before I could recover, they made us do a CHEER CONTEST!!!! Have you ever experienced being in a place so noisy that all the noise blends into silence? First of all, they pick the fastest and wordiest cheer in our school’s arsenal, so that you couldn’t tell what the heck they were saying. I didn’t bother cheering. Why should I, when there are so many other people wanting to act like idiots? They make up for my absence. The seniors won. They have to redeem themselves somehow, and i guess they can only do this by proving they can make the most noise.

Then they did another stupid contest that involved a lot of cheating, but who cares?

After all of this, I’m not even sure what we were supposed to be pepped about.
I’ll admit. I’m a cynical low-life. I’ve never participated in the cheer contest. I’ve never volunteered to stick my face in a pie. I’ve never danced to soulja boy crank that in front of hundreds of people. I am not a peppy person.
This is how I show pride in my school. I try to get good grades. I don’t get in fights. I don’t clog up the hallway. I don’t make too much noise or create disturbance. I don’t spill my drinks on the floor. I don’t write vulgar things in the bathroom. I don’t make fun of teachers. I don’t randomly pound my fist into a locker.
Pep Assemblies do not work for me. I can find my own way of fitting in at my school. Everyone else is free to yell and haze and mosh and run around with their shirts off if that’s what works for them, but I sort of find more fulfillment at least striving for maturity.

Sorry. I try, but I really just can’t stand teenagers sometimes.

Posted in Blog

Nine O’Clock Niblets

Posted on by Bri

I was going for a clever alliteration, but it just sounds creepy. Darn. So as I frantically print out information for our debate scrimmage with the high school across the valley tomorrow (yeah man that’s what I do with MY Valentines Day. Woo. Can I get a N-E-R-D???) since I left our box at school (we left it. WE. Stupid Bart), I’m thinking a lot. Job outsourcing can only hold so much of my rapidly declining attention span.

What have I been thinking about? Well, in between daydreaming about Jason Mraz and Chris Hardwick, I’ve been thinking about happiness. I’ve not always been the happiest person. In 7th grade I wrote my color poem about the color black, and I believe there was a quote in it that said my heart was black and the world is black and whatnot. Thankfully, I have moved past that phase and now I’m just depressed on the inside. (I may look happy kids but I’m CRYING ON THE INSIDE) Not really. But these past few months have not been the best few in my life, but at the same time, they’ve been the most enlightening.

To keep my mind off my emotional difficulties, I channel all of my emotional energy into Jason Mraz. I read his blogs over and over. I listen to his music no matter what I’m doing. I cyber-stalk him. (My spellcheck does not like the word “cyber”. However, it seems to think that “cyberpunk” is a viable, sensible choice to replace it with) Whatever. It keeps my imagination busy, so my non-emotional portion of the brain (a very small portion) can focus on things like school and debate and such. I’ve become emotionally numb to everything else. Bart doesn’t want to hang out at lunch and I have to go eat my bread and cheese in my Forensics classroom? Meh. I’ve got Jason Mraz on my iPod. The guy I like has a girlfriend? I find a new Jason Mraz interview on YouTube. See what I mean? It’s all about prioritizing. It’s probably not the healthiest way to deal with my problems, but at least I’m dealing with them. At this phase of my life, I don’t think I really want to complicate things with a relationship unless I am 100% committed, and I don’t know if I trust anyone enough to do that. And in realizing that, guess what? I’m happy! It snowed today, and I’d left my jacket in my locker, so I had to walk to some of my classes outside, but I didn’t care! I spun in circles and caught snowflakes on my tongue. I don’t remember when the last time I did that genuinely was. Also, it’s Friday the 13th, and I haven’t ruined anyone’s life! (I hope that doesn’t inx me, I’ve still got a couple hours) Friday the 13th has not been good to people I know. Sorry.

And then I reached a new level of spiritual enlightenment in Forensics yesterday when I was in an exceptionally homicidal mood. Stupid sophomores wouldn’t shut up. Anyways. To calm down, I wrote down my happy place in my journal. This happy place is my escape from reality (and no, it doesn’t involve Jason Mraz. At least not the PG happy place) (I’m totally kidding) (kind of). I would suggest writing down a happy place to anyone. I look at it now when I’m angry or annoyed and it calms me. I’ve decided to share this tidbit of my insanity with all of you, and I invite you to post your own happy places in the comments!

I’m in a coffee shop in Italy. It’s warm inside, but outside it’s a bit chilly. I’m sitting at a small table in the window wearing comfy jeans and a warm, auburn sweater, looking out at a cobblestone sidewalk and the reds, oranges, and golds of fallen leaves. It’s sunny, and I’ve yet to see someone walk by without a smile. Inside, I’m sipping a late, rich and warm. It slides down my throat smoothly, without burning me, and it travels down my chest, leaving me feeling light and tingly. There is a small notebook in front of me, open to a blank page, and a dark orange pen is uncapped on top of it. There is an empty, dark red chair opposite of me, the same kind that I’m sitting in, but it doesn’t bother me. I bask in the absolute silence.

So this blog is mostly rambling. Sorry. I’m in a weird mood.

Posted in Teenage Life

Technology Lies

Posted on by Adventure Captain Pants

Ever since it’s debut in my household, my cellphone’s tomfoolery has become well known among family members for doing things like setting my alarm off on weekends to wake my dad up, completely ignoring calls from my friends and family, and once in a blue moon, it will fail to go off entirely, leaving me scrambling to get dressed and ready for school. However, today it has finally crossed the line.

You see, when I set my alarm to five-thirty in the morning last Monday, I expected it to go off at five-thirty in the morning. And it did, the first four days. But today, by some happy miracle, it decided that two thirty in the morning was a much better time for me to wake up. Half asleep and feeling sick, I got up, took a shower, cooked breakfast, and thinking I was late, began sprinting around the house trying to get everything in my backpack. Positive I was late, I shouted a hurried, curse-ladden farewell to my family before running out the door, hoping to FSM that I wouldn’t miss my bus.

I then spent the next twenty minutes at my bus stop in near-blizzard conditions, texting Bri idiotic questions about when our bus might be arriving. Only the auto-text feature on my phone apparently likes “cup” better than “bus” so my texts came out to something like “We are taking the cup today, yeah?” and ” Did the cup already come?”.

Taking pity upon her idiot neighbor, Bri responded kindly by informing me that “It’s three in the morning”. The next few minutes was marked by laughter that probably sounded maniacal to my sleeping neighbors and the overwelming urge to cry.

That, my friends, is how you end up writing blogs at 4:34 in the morning.

Posted in Issues

I know, I know, I’m obsessed

Posted on by Bri

First off, how do you all like the new logo? I like it, but I think I need a different color for the background, instead of orange. Thoughts?

So I just though I’d share this little tid bit of Jason Mraz with everyone. I found his blog last night and got really excited. But shhh. It’s (mostly) healthy.

“My mom sings in the Choir [in her church] and I volunteered my time to sit in at a later service and do the same. If I believe in any God at all, my God exists in music. I know this because music makes me happy and that’s the point of having a God. God isn’t responsible for Wal-Mart or for the War on terror; therefore, I don’t blame God. I believe those things happen by people who forget to look up and see what God is. They kind of ruin it for the rest of us. But then again, maybe their God gives them riches and power and that makes them happy, so who am I to judge?”
-Jason Mraz, 2007

Posted in Music

Grammy THIS, Coldplay

Posted on by Bri

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m still smarting over the Grammys. Jason Mraz was nominated for three awards and walked away with 0. “I’m Yours” should have gotten song of the year, NOT “Viva La Vida”. It’s an ok song, yeah, but it’s not anywhere near Jason’s musical masterpiece. This development in his fantastic career is troubling. Stupid Coldplay. I’m slightly less upset about John Mayer beating him out for “Best Male Pop Vocals” with “Say”, but still. Jason’s voice was better, although I’m glad that if anyone won, it was John. (I love how I refer to them by their first names, like we’re buds) (On the other hand, Jason and I are going to get married some day, so it’s ok)

Highlights:

Record of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Kraus: Please Read the Letter

Best New Artist: Adele

Best Rock Album: Coldplay, Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends

Song of the Year: Coldplay, Viva La Vida (Hate is pouring from my soul)

Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female): Adele, Chasing Pavements

Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male): John Mayer, Say

Best Rock/Pop Performance by Duo/Group with Vocals: Coldplay, Viva La Vida

Best Pop Collaboration: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Rich Woman

Album of the Year: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand

And now, for the amazingness of Jason… for whom I screamed every time the camera showed him. I thought he was still on tour and he wasn’t going to make it. Although he didn’t perform, he was there! My mom thought I was crazy…

jason

EDIT: John Mayer is a good guy.

Posted in Sports

A-Rod

Posted on by Scarface

So my second favorite baseball player admitted to using steroids yesterday… shoot. If you’ve never heard of Alex Rodriguez, he’s widely considered the most talented player in all of baseball, not to mention the highest paid position player.

He publicly apologized unlike nearly everyone else, and takes all the blame for his actions. He claims to have been clean since 2004, which I choose to believe. However, no one seems to agree on whether to trust him or not. In an interview in 2007 he sternly renounced using any kind of performance enhancing drug, and now he admits to using them…

His reasons for taking the drugs as well as lying are admittedly understandable in my eyes, however there are no excuses for doing such a thing. He has all the talent in the world and is easily on pace to break the Home Run record and numerous others, which he probably would be in line to break even if he hadn’t taken the drugs, he’s that good. Also, his stats don’t seem to peak at any time period, so it’s hard to be sure how much steroids could really have helped him. A-Rod had it paved, but the pressure to take performance enhancing drugs and to be the greatest ever can sometimes be too much.

I acknowledge Alex for at least seemingly being truthful, good luck to him in the future.

This is Scarface signing off.