This is from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I saw it again for the second time tonight, and this quote really stuck with me...
For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit... start whenever you want... you can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that stop you. I hope you feel things that you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
-Benjamin Button
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
New Dora
Dora the Explorer is a popular kids character on Nickelodeon. She is a small, somewhat plump little girl, but very cute little cartoon character. Well, just recently Nickelodeon and Viacom banned together and revamped the beloved character. Her new image will depute in October. Dora is a 10-year-old skinny a beautiful looking cartoon character.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about the new change. While I think that it is a good marketing idea to have Dora grow older and appeal to the older kids, I think that it takes away from the authenticity of the character. Before she did not look perfect and have perfect features. It was 'realistic' for a cartoon character. Now she looks flawless, much like a Barbie doll...which is not by mistake, Mattel designed the new character. I just think that we are sending the wrong message to our kids. We live in a society that is all about looking the best, being the skinniest, and beautiful. By changing Dora's image, we are feeding into those stereotypes and encouraging our kids to continue to think in that mindset. You'd think with all the stereotypical beautiful Barbie dolls, dress-up make-up, and commercials that a simple kids cartoon could steer kids into a different direction, but I guess that's not the case
I have a lot of mixed feelings about the new change. While I think that it is a good marketing idea to have Dora grow older and appeal to the older kids, I think that it takes away from the authenticity of the character. Before she did not look perfect and have perfect features. It was 'realistic' for a cartoon character. Now she looks flawless, much like a Barbie doll...which is not by mistake, Mattel designed the new character. I just think that we are sending the wrong message to our kids. We live in a society that is all about looking the best, being the skinniest, and beautiful. By changing Dora's image, we are feeding into those stereotypes and encouraging our kids to continue to think in that mindset. You'd think with all the stereotypical beautiful Barbie dolls, dress-up make-up, and commercials that a simple kids cartoon could steer kids into a different direction, but I guess that's not the case
Monday, March 23, 2009
As we are all aware, technology is advancing and we are becoming more and more social. It was just four years ago that I started Facebook and I cannot imagine my life without it...as weird as that sounds. It is such an awesome social network that keeps all of my friends in touch in a fast and easy way. Yes, I know that it loses the personal touch of a phone call or letter, and I am working on balancing all of that out.
As I blabber on...so I took a technology class last semester and my teacher talked about twitter. I sort of listened, but most of the time I was too concerned with the facebook screen in front of me :) Well, I caved in and am now a part of the twitter community. Everyone has been talking about it, mostly celebrities. So I figured I could check it out. It is basically like a mini facebook. You update your "status" and people converse with you according to what you say. Twitter deals a lot with the conversations you have with other people. I think it's very interesting and I have been willing to give it a shot. Not that I am very interesting or anything, I'm just curious on the type of conversations I can have.
As I blabber on...so I took a technology class last semester and my teacher talked about twitter. I sort of listened, but most of the time I was too concerned with the facebook screen in front of me :) Well, I caved in and am now a part of the twitter community. Everyone has been talking about it, mostly celebrities. So I figured I could check it out. It is basically like a mini facebook. You update your "status" and people converse with you according to what you say. Twitter deals a lot with the conversations you have with other people. I think it's very interesting and I have been willing to give it a shot. Not that I am very interesting or anything, I'm just curious on the type of conversations I can have.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Jai Ho
So I obsessed with this song! This is a spin-off version from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which I have yet to see. This version is sang by the Pussycat Dolls and I hope they sing this at the Britney Spears concert in April! Jai Ho translates to victory. I am sure that it has some relevance to the movie, but regardless I love it! Let me know what you think! :)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Learning from each other
So tonight I just got back from a get together to recognize the Pakistani students that had been staying at K-State for the past 7 weeks. These group of students have been living in Jardine and I have learned so much about them in such a short period of time. They are such a fun and entergetic group of guys.
Back in Janurary I was walking back to my apartment when I saw a man standing outside my building with luggage prompted up on his leg. He looked confused, but he was talking on the phone trying to figure things out. When he hung up, I asked if I could help him. He excitedly accepted the help and I walked him up to the apartment which he would be staying at. The man's name was Sarwar and he was a professor traveling with the group. He was so happy and anxious for the adventure ahead. We exchanged phone numbers and I hoped that we would run into one another again.
It was actually at a Jardine program where I meet most of the Pakistani students. They were full of so much energy. It was truly contagious. I introduced myself and no more than five minutes of exchanging names did they ask me to act for them. Act? Seriously of all people I could not act. So they took over the spotlight and did a compelling performance of one of the guys trying to marry a beautiful girl but his father would not let him. Honestly it was the funniest thing ever! They were so into their performance.
I left for the evening, but from what I heard from fellow co-workers was that I left way too early. After I left, the group of students performed traditional Pakistani dances. I was so disappointed I missed out, but we had a solution. A few other staff members and myself decided to pull together a quick Dance Party program. We wanted to have more time, space and music to learn the Pakistani dances. The three of us pulled together such a fun program. There were people from all over the world there, and of course the Pakistani students came too. We learned their dances and they attempted to learn "American Dancing" which was basically just repeating the corny moves that we were doing. It was such a fun night! We all had a blast.
Tonight, at the final get together, it was so touching to hear these gentlemen speak. They were so grateful of their time at K-State, thanking everyone that came to support them. There is so much turmoil over in their country, yet they are going back tomorrow with a mission. They want to be the driving force that leads to change in their country. They want to make lives better and education a priority. Many of them had funny stories about their time here. It was so moving at the end of the speeches one gentlemen said that "It is easy to talk to people, but it is hard to form relationships, but that is what we have all done. We have formed relationships with each other and that is sometimes very difficult." I was so proud at the end to live in a country that is able to give all kinds of opportunities that are somewhat unimaginable in the home countries. Yes, America can be a little messed up now and then, but it is nice to see the good that we do as well.
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. I not only continue to learn about the world but continue to learn about myself as well. I wish the Pakistani men the best of luck in their future and I thank them for the time that we have spent together.
Can't we all just get along...
Back in Janurary I was walking back to my apartment when I saw a man standing outside my building with luggage prompted up on his leg. He looked confused, but he was talking on the phone trying to figure things out. When he hung up, I asked if I could help him. He excitedly accepted the help and I walked him up to the apartment which he would be staying at. The man's name was Sarwar and he was a professor traveling with the group. He was so happy and anxious for the adventure ahead. We exchanged phone numbers and I hoped that we would run into one another again.
It was actually at a Jardine program where I meet most of the Pakistani students. They were full of so much energy. It was truly contagious. I introduced myself and no more than five minutes of exchanging names did they ask me to act for them. Act? Seriously of all people I could not act. So they took over the spotlight and did a compelling performance of one of the guys trying to marry a beautiful girl but his father would not let him. Honestly it was the funniest thing ever! They were so into their performance.
I left for the evening, but from what I heard from fellow co-workers was that I left way too early. After I left, the group of students performed traditional Pakistani dances. I was so disappointed I missed out, but we had a solution. A few other staff members and myself decided to pull together a quick Dance Party program. We wanted to have more time, space and music to learn the Pakistani dances. The three of us pulled together such a fun program. There were people from all over the world there, and of course the Pakistani students came too. We learned their dances and they attempted to learn "American Dancing" which was basically just repeating the corny moves that we were doing. It was such a fun night! We all had a blast.
Tonight, at the final get together, it was so touching to hear these gentlemen speak. They were so grateful of their time at K-State, thanking everyone that came to support them. There is so much turmoil over in their country, yet they are going back tomorrow with a mission. They want to be the driving force that leads to change in their country. They want to make lives better and education a priority. Many of them had funny stories about their time here. It was so moving at the end of the speeches one gentlemen said that "It is easy to talk to people, but it is hard to form relationships, but that is what we have all done. We have formed relationships with each other and that is sometimes very difficult." I was so proud at the end to live in a country that is able to give all kinds of opportunities that are somewhat unimaginable in the home countries. Yes, America can be a little messed up now and then, but it is nice to see the good that we do as well.
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. I not only continue to learn about the world but continue to learn about myself as well. I wish the Pakistani men the best of luck in their future and I thank them for the time that we have spent together.
Can't we all just get along...
Monday, March 2, 2009
To Mexico or not to Mexico...
Well as I am sure many of you know I was planning on taking a trip to Mexico this summer to work in the schools for three weeks. I was so excited for the experience, not only to immerse myself in a culture much different from my own, but also just to get out of the country for more than a few days. I was ready and excited for all that was ahead. I was ready and willing to empty my pocketbook for the experience of a lifetime. It wasn't until I went home this weekend, when things started to change a bit. There were all kinds of headlines flooding CNN and the local news stations about the drug violence in Mexico. 1600 killings have been attributed to the drug violence in this year alone. My mom cautioned me of the danger that could be ahead, but I wanted to suppress any anxiety that I was having and pretend it wouldn't affect us. But when words like beheading and public slayings start popping up in news articles it kind of makes you a bit weary. I am not sure whether or not the trip is still a go. A friend of mine informed me that it's looking like a slim chance at this point. I am so bummed that this trip that I had been looking forward to, for about a year now, probably won't happen because people are greedy and mean and stupid. I know that there is probably a lot more to the situation in Mexico than I can understand, but seriously, why do people always have to resort to violence? Have we not learned that violence doesn't solve anything? Apparently not...we have a long way to go
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Awesome Dancing Skills...not so much
On the long nine-hour drive to Chicago we took this winter Will and I listened to the Britney Spears song Circus too many times to count. After listening to it over and over again we decided to make up a dance to it. We contemplated about going to her concert for a couple weeks and we decided to splurge and get tickets to our concert April 2. Needless to say we are both pretty excited to show off our awesome dancing skills at the concert! Ha...that's a joke! :)
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