Party

Potentially my final blogpost!

Should we have a party of some sort before winter break this year? I like Anna's Secret Santa proposal and I wish I could escalate this into a full-on gathering.

I will miss this blog. I love the feeling of getting feedback on my posts and I love it when people make good comments. There have been so many topics discussed this year! I wish I could sort through all of them and compile a Best-Of compilation. I can see it now: Dipcans '13: Their Greatest Hits.

But should we have a party considering 2nd tri's relative resting time??????

PS: I wonder how many people who skip out on the BAAs are going to see The Hobbit the day it comes out, which is the same day. Choose your loyalties, people :P.

Rob the Prez-O-Dent

A blog post named after (and inspired by) a quirky Rock Band 2 track (yes I love this game, don't judge).

With the Arab Spring within recent memory and the Occupy movement still hanging on for dear life, protest has been an important part of world events the last couple of years. Protests, however, range from simply handing out flyers to firebombing an embassy.

First of all, I want to know why violent protesting is more common in foreign countries, especially developing countries. What's stopping Americans from doing this more often? Not that I condone it but why?

Second, at what point does the protest become unethical? One can protest by breaking a law, but the law itself may be unethical. For example, the aforementioned song regards a disgruntled country hick who commits an armed robbery on the White House to protest the decadence of politicians and high taxes. This is of course highly illegal and would result in good things for one person only. But a Robin Hood figure is considered more heroic.

Thirdly, what causes oppression or suppression (can't recall the difference)? Is this because a government is so paranoid that any opposition is deemed a deadly threat? I am reminded of the Sophie Scholl story and how the Nazis were such, er, Nazis.

Gonna Steal the TOK Prompt and Not Care

Which proposed way of knowing do you think would be best: intuition, memory, or imagination?

Personally they are all pretty arguable but I like imagination because it is the source of sooooooo much cultural background.

Intuition is odd because there's no explanation for it. It's almost psychic. Memory is also a good thing to remember (lol) when discussing TOK but is it really a WOK or just a storage method?

Talking Book

On a whim for my presentation, I searched Microsoft Powerpoint's clip-art reserve for "knowledge." Virtually every picture that appeared featured a book of some sort (along with sometimes an owl). This is quite contrary to the many ways of knowing that we are aware of. Specifically, it leaves out THREE ways of knowing. What would be a better image for knowledge, considering IB's 4 Ways of Knowing?

Is it just me or did it get difficult in here?

One more thought for now.

Why did we ever get the impression that having the EE done would make things easier?? Now we have the WT2 and the FOA in English, the TOK final and presentation, the History IA, and for IB musicians a composition piece and another listening packet.

Ain't no rest for the wicked (awesome), I suppose.

Awesome Teachers

More talking about teachers at the termination of the trimester!

What makes teachers "awesome"? Does it depend on their audience? Are there teachers with no redeeming factors? The answer to the last question is likely yes, but it's more a political/economic issue and another story.

But seriously, I think teachers are like anything else that can be reviewed, such as a movie, album, or restaurant. Each teacher has a different tone, a different genre - er, subject, a different aim/angle on their subject, and a different intended audience.

I think some teachers are the cream of the crop. They not only teach the high level classes, but they are invigorating, cheerful, and have a distinctive character that generally includes a good sense of humor. Above all, they teach their intended students well.

When I say intended students, I mean that AP Calculus teachers will likely teach differently than Geometry teachers because they deal with different kinds of people. Their sense of humor and character may also be portrayed differently in order to appeal to that crowd.

I think the English dept. at our school has some of the most interesting, funny teachers overall, but there are gems in hidden places. By this I mean teachers that not many people have but are still exciting and likable. For example, not many high-level students know the math teacher Mr. Peterson, unless they are in Math League, because he mostly teaches lower-level math and IB Math SL. The same could be said for Ms. Mork :), because not many people have CIS English and even fewer have TOK II.

What teachers in our school do you think are amazing? And what features of other teachers (no names) turn you off?

Teachers Outside of School

We are all aware by now that teachers are people, too. As awkward as it might be to run into Ms. Mork at the movies, or (in the case of some poor unsuspecting students last year) Mr. Anderson on vacation, why do we view teachers so differently from the rest of adults? This is especially the case with elementary school teachers, who have to give themselves a G-rated filter for 40 hours per week. I once saw my former kindergarten teacher during the summer at a restaurant, drinking beer, and thought it unusual but not out of the question. I mean, can you picture your teachers at a bar or in a casino, or even in less "scandalous" places like at the mall or in line at the DMV? Teaching is definitely a unique (you heard me, unique) job, because children/teenagers are your job and much of your life. It's also hard to remember that teachers are often parents and that parenting priorities are higher. As Kronzer said once, "I love my students, but I love my children more."

What are your thoughts on teachers? Why should this profession subliminally mark them differently from other adults?

Eye Contact

Why do some people value eye contact so much, while others shy away? Is there really a correlation between lying and avoiding eye contact? I don't like the feeling of people prying into my mind, so I usually avoid direct eye contact, although I know if someone else did this, it would be awkward and annoying. What's your stance on eye contact?
PS Tell me if someone already posted something like this, I feel an eerie sense of deja vecu (what most people really mean when they say deja vu).

Awkward

The other members of my family got into an argument today but I wasn't involved at all. Nonetheless, I have felt awkward all day because everyone else has been arguing with each other at some point to some extent (LOL again), but I am not involved.
Maybe stress involving others affects me, but it shouldn't, should it?
I don't want to be one to withhold all the stress around me but when others are being mean I feel like I should step in. Then again, I feel like I would risk getting in trouble myself and feel like a whiner.
Most of the time I just ignore others at home so I don't have to accidentally get in trouble for saying something wrong, but then my parents are annoyed that I spend so much time alone.
I even feel guilty sharing this! Is that wrong?
Just a bit of watered-down venting. Though advice would be nice.

Lyrical Madness! (Be There Or Be Square)

I hear so many generic love songs on both mainstream radio and more underground places, I like it when people write about something that has nothing to do with romance or the lack thereof. Even songs about family are more interesting. Of course, some songs are just inane excuses to sing nonsense, but even that's fun. I already went over some songs that annoyed me: here are some profound ones to think on:

"Forget your lust for the rich man's gold/All that you need is in your soul" - Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Simple Man"

"Who controls the present now controls the past" - Rage Against the Machine, "Testify"

"Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all" - Neutral Milk Hotel, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"

What do you think of these thoughts? Any profound lyrics of yours to share? Anyone?

Talk About an Anticlimax...

I just submitted the final extended essay to turnitin.com, and I expected to feel relieved.

Instead, I feel guilty that I did not put as much effort as I should have into the paper and that it is worse than I  could have imagined.

Maybe I'm just worn out and pessimistic again, but this was seriously a mental tax that was not worth the pain compared to the poor results I will get.

All I can say is: lesson learned. I hope that anything I do like this in college will be much better planned-out.

What lessons did you learn?

Puerto Rico

Another quickie for the quota! Well, not really, I learned something interesting this morning. Puerto Rico held a referendum on Election Day asking how many citizens would want to become the 51st state in the union. The referendum passed and is now being submitted as a bill to congress, which will vote on it. If it passes we will have 51 states.

What effects, positive and negative, might Puerto Rico have on the USA if it becomes a state? I'm thinking that there will be even more Spanish on materials in America and our economy will be bolstered by about 0.5%. If we don't let it be a state, nothing will change except for the majority of Puerto Ricans being sad.

The World's Hardest Job

You know what I'm talking about. The President of the United States of America must have the most difficult job in the world. Not because of important decisions, per se, but the lack thereof. Mostly Congress has the control over what goes on in our nation, and often the two branches don't get along, especially in the past few years.
Worst of all, the president gets flak for stuff he had nothing to do with. When the embassy in Libya was attacked because of extremist reactionaries, he was blamed for not doing anything. When the economy went sour, he was blamed for not doing anything. If he wanted to veto something Congress would overturn it anyway. Congress have the final say, and the president gets way too much criticism.
Do you think that the president should be held responsible for everything in the country? Or what things should he be responsible for? Do we as citizens even know the rights and responsibilities of the president and the executive branch?

Whining

Having finished the Extended Essay first draft, I realize that I put a lot of work into a paper only half as long as I had envisioned it. Also, I think I have too much filler.

Maybe other people have thought the same as I have, whether they disdain the essay or not: Why is there such a focus in IB on being analytic? I suppose it's better than taking things as you see them without thinking about them at all, but not everything can be as deep as we want it to be with the resources that we have, both physically and mentally.