Again, I have caught up. I’d like to thank Borders for allowing me to sip their lovely coffee and take up an entire table to get my creative juices flowing, bra shopping and debate for giving me inspiration for some lengthy, meaningful blogs after a drought of several weeks, and my iPhone for organizing all my thoughts.
Moving on. Since Eugenia seems to be something that I’ll be continuing, I’d better explain some things about it.
First, the title, Eugenia, follows the same pattern as the title “Religulous” (a combination of “religion” and “ridiculous”) (Nice one, Bill Maher. *sarcasm*). It is the combination of Eugenics, which is essentially selective breeding, and Utopia, which is essentially an ideal community with a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. (Thanks, Wikipedia!) I think the implications of the title plays pretty well into the idea of the book as a whole.
See, in government, my friends and I discuss eugenics quite a lot, since a lot of ridiculous political opinions come from generations of brainwashing. Of course, our conversations are mostly joking (“Let’s breed out all the republicans!”), but they got me thinking. My brain wheels started really turning when we started discussing IQ tests in psychology. The kids who got high scores decided that the test was a clear indication of intelligence (and, evidently, worth in society), and the kids who got low scores just slumped and muttered things like “low predictability”.
Finally, everything started coming together in my head. As someone whose IQ is fairly average on some tests and almost genius level on others, I would be a fairly good person to keep in the reproductive cycle. But what if someone, or a group of someones, decided that I wasn’t good enough based on those scores? What if world leaders decided to remove all other variables in the “worth” equation and started executing people whose IQ scores were too low to provide for society?
That’s where Eugenia came in. Usually it seems cliche when authors make their main character a writer, but in this case I thought it would work. What if someone, a creative someone with an average IQ, were to escape execution and then try to reintegrate herself into society, thus proving that there are many facets to someone’s worth? Meet Meg Carroway, a name that is also a combination of several young-adult heroines and the narrator of the Great Gatsby.
The next few installments (parts 7-9 more than likely) will be rough, and I apologize for that in advance. There’s just some necessary exposition that needs to happen before I can get to the meat of the story. Ok. Done with Eugenia. Now, onto “updates”.
Update #1: After this weekend, I will have next to no excuse to stray from a regular posting schedule. Once debate is out of the way, I’ll have weekends again (but still no social life), and I can post things on time.
Update #2: Hopefully soon, I will start integrating Google Ads into the site. As you all know, I’ve been hoping to start making money off of this blog that I put a ridiculous amount of time into, and now that I’m 18, I am going to start taking these steps.
Update #3: My political blog, which you can find HERE, is updated almost as regularly as Bri’s Own World, and it offers something a bit more intellectually stimulating. I’m going to try to start mentioning it more, because I post some cool stuff over there. If nothing else, it will keep you somewhat up to date with the political climate. (I might be tackling healthcare soon, once I get my thoughts together on it)
Update #4: I’m going to start doing reviews again. My Almost Like Being in Love and Geography of Bliss reviews have gone over well, and so I’m thinking of changing mondays to REVIEW days. Now that, again, debate is over, I can start reading for pleasure again, and reviewing things will force me to continue branching out and thinking critically about the things that I’m reading. Also, debate being over means that I’m not arguing as much, which means my very loud opinion is heard even less, so I need a productive channel for my *always correct* opinions.
Update #5: Now that I’m in my final quarter of my senior year of high school, my school’s newspaper has all of the senior staff write “senior commentaries” about our experiences and advice. I will more than likely post this, and I promise that it will be less negative than my valedictorian speech. So look out for that.
Update #6 (GEEZ I know I have a lot to talk about): My twitter is updated frequently, and I like to think of it as a mini-blog. It’s in the sidebar of this site, but a lot of people haven’t been taking advantage of it. Even when I’m behind on posting real blogs, I’m twittering away. (translation: PAY ATTENTION TO MEE!)
Update #7: I’ll probably be straying from what the schedule is supposed to be, because sometimes I have things to say that don’t fit within their parameters, but I promise that everything will be on time, and most of the time it will not be crappy.
WHEW! I think that’s all. Well, if you’re still reading, thank you for continuing to support the site, and I hope that you’ll stay up-to-date for the remainder of this crazy project. (160 days left! Dang)
Love and kisses and other sappy things,
Bri
New things I’m obsessed with that I think you should check out (I’m too lazy to link. Look them up yourself)
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (I’ll review this next monday)
I Think You Know- Julia Nunes (NEW CD!)
Cycles- Cartel (Semi-NEW CD!)
OK Go’s new music video
GO GO GO CHECK THEM OUT!
(fin.)
