In the Hands of Time and Weather

        We all know the feeling of going outside after a long winter and being instantly uplifted when we realize that the temperatures are no longer utterly hypothermic. We take off our coats and long pants when it reaches the neighborhood of fifty degrees. Around the same temperature in the summer months, we begin to batten down the winter hatches, clothe ourself a in the thickest of wools, and accept out imminent necessary hibernation.

        The same happens year in and year out and each year, we act surprised at the SO unexpected temperature change. However, we continue to react like clockwork in the very way described by Joan Didion in "Los Angeles Notebooks" where the people seem to be disoriented every time the Santa Ana wind comes. With the weather each year come the same emotions and action.

        These reactions are the very things that make weather and seasons of any importance to humans. Although it may not affect us in any massive way, looking at weather from this viewpoint just adds another dimension to our lives. Without it, we'd all move through the seasons and years very monotonously on the same average level of emotion. Now wouldn't that be boring?

Not Just the Flamingo

       

          I agree one hundred percent with what Jennifer Price says in "The Pink Plastic Flamingo: A Natural History." The fact that Americans extinguished the flamingo, decided "Hey, I really wish those cool birds were still here," stuck fake ones in the ground, and pretended like everything was hunky dory does show a superficiality in Americans. However, I don't feel like this piece was too terribly insightful. Now, don't get me wrong. This lack of deep judgment is not the fault of Price herself. It is the fault of the very Americans she is writing about. The level of superficiality in America is so deep that an analysis like that of Price could be reached through an observance of any given item in the American economy. Not just the flamingo.
         Take the wood shutters.

 

         These ligneous planks can prove the point of superficiality just as easily as the plastic flamingo. Some producing company out there chopped down a tree, the producers of our life gas, just so they could make a couple of boards with stars cut in them to sell to some person or family could put them on their house because all the other houses have them. If they're anything like the shutters on my house, they down even come away from the house to shut over the windows, making them even more pointless and superficial. Not just the flamingo.

         My point here was not to rant about shutters. I just wanted to show the ease with which one can show the superficiality of America through many, many things. Not just the flamingo.

I Want some Students

       I am, and have been for almost twelve years, a student. I go to school and listen to the teachers so, by definition, I am a student.
       While preparing to write my weekly blog, which was assigned by my teacher to her students, I realized that I want some students of my own. Why do I want some students?
       I very seldom get to tell someone to do something and they do it.  I want some students so I can have an outlet to use unlimited power. I want some students so I can have someone who I can tell to do something and have their single, solitary job be to listen to me and follow my instructions. I want some a student so I can constantly be surrounded by people who either respect me or suffer the consequences for their lack of respect. I want some students so I can have someone laugh at my jokes, even if they don't think that they're funny. I want some students so I can have someone listen to whatever I want to talk about. I want some students for appreciation. I want some students for respect. I want some students for power. My goodness, who wouldn't want some students?

The Shifting of the Tide of the Napkins

I've grown up in a situation incredibly similar to that of Brad Manning in "Arm Wrestling with my Father." I've been nothing but competitive with my dad in every single situation of my life, even in those that don't call for any competition at all. One minute we would just be sitting on the couch, and the next we'd be seeing who could throw the napkin that he'd rolled up through the ring that the other had made with their hands. My dad, as a good dad should, beat me at every single competition we ever did. However, as of late, I've gotten quicker and more skilled, and he's gotten older. This has led to me beginning to beat him at almost everything we do. He's always told me that this would happen and, unlike what you might expect, that he wanted it to happen. He's told me that he loves me and wants me to succeed so much that if it means losing, he's fine with it. This is how my father has let me know he loves me because, unlike Manning and his dad, my father and I have a physical relationship, as well as verbal. This, I believe, is the better way to deal with relationships because I will never have to feel like my father doesn't know that I love him back. He knows I love him, I know he loves me, and nothing is going to change that.