Turtles & Disasters

Save the turtles. Save the polar bears. Save the rainforest. Save the desert. Don't forget the bees. Don't get me wrong. But recent events have me thinking. What about the people?

How does this relate? Well not directly I will admit. Indeed, recent events revolve around the oil spill disaster in the Gulf. Here's the connection. The Gulf. While current disasters are occurring, the world has moved on and abandoned those still in need of help and support.

Survivors of Hurricane Katrina are still scattered, New Orleans still in need of rebuilding. I'm sure enough people are back to make it a city again, but how much are they accomplishing by themselves. The straggling numbers of volunteers helping rebuild . . . how much can they do without more support from the rest of the country.

As a person who's been to New Orleans to help rebuild, I won't hide the fact that I'm itching to get back. New Orleans is a beautiful, vibrant place full of wonderful people (and great food), but it needs help.

I'm sure it isn't just New Orleans either. What's going on in Haiti? How are the survivors of Hurricane Ike? The tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004? What is being done for the flood victims in Nashville, Tennessee back in May? (a disaster not largely publicized, hidden if you like).

I guess the real question I'm posing here is this: Does the world move on too quickly and forget about those still in need? Are we just looking for the next big disaster area who is in need of aid? And finally, do we actually remember the past disaster zones that we've left partially rebuilt?

Food for thought.





Shiny

What is Truth?

Okay, I just finished reading this book, right? The story is told from the perspective of one of the characters and it takes a while for the character to be identified as male or female, it just never said. Before the gender of the character was established I had got it into my head that this character was female. Then what do I come across in the book, "something something . . . too much for an old MAN." I had a moment of great confusion at this point. I was certain this old man had been an old woman. But, I decided I had probably missed something somewhere earlier in the book. However, I get to the end of the book and low and behold, there is a plot twist and the old man really was an old woman!!! I was right! But, it got me thinking about two things.

1) If you believe something and then are shown it is really something else and then you change your mind (see example above) and you put all belief in that is it still true? Or is it a false truth?

2) Who says what is really true and what isn't?


Well, in my humble opinion, I will attempt to give a go at these questions.

Answer for number 1: Gut instinct? That's what I had when I was reading the book. So, did I really change my mind when the book mentioned that the character was an old man? I don't really think I did. Throughout the book I kept thinking "I swear this is an old woman!" I was right. But, do people really change their minds if someone tells them something they thought was wrong? Or do they agree that they were wrong to make the other person stop going on about it? Does some stubborn little part of our mind hold on to whatever we believed and keep us from fully changing our minds? And if so, do we just continue to believe our own truths? Basically I'm not really able to answer this question.

Answer for number 2: If I said the sky was purple and not blue who's to say I'm not right? Isn't reality and truth all perception and interpretation? Scary thought I think.

So, in reality, I haven't really answered these two questions. More like just posed more questions. Oops.






Monolithic

Inspiration and Organization

It is a strange thing to be inspired. It happens like opportunity . . . not always at the most convienient time or place. For instance, I sometimes become inspired as I'm laying in bed trying my hardest to fall asleep. I have been woken up at five in the morning and couldn't fall back to sleep because of inspiration. Random ideas in the shower, while driving, in class, whenever I don't have paper handy. Inspiration occurs whenever the hell it wants to. It certainly keeps you on your toes. And who knows what inspires us? I'm not sure anyone does. It seems to me that you become inspired because you've stopped thinking about being inspired. Its like when you are trying really hard to remember something. You know that you know it, but no matter how hard you try you can't remember. You then move on in the conversation and eventually you will (sometimes comically) blurt out the answer and everyone will look at you funny because it makes no sense in the current conversation. It's like that kind of moment. The 'ah-ha' moment if you will.

As a writer I try to keep paper and a pen handy, and if not paper all the time, at least a pen. (Skin in times of need is just as good as paper, especially the back of one's hand).

I'm a pretty tidy and organized person. I keep my DVD's in alphabetical order and my books on the shelf are in alphabetical order (or as much as they can be since they're stacked and crammed onto the shelves.) I've pretty much got a place for everything and I put things in the same places everytime so that I won't lose them (a creature of habit to be sure). The only exception really to this is my desk. No matter how hard I try it usually is stacked with papers and books, pens and pencils hide everywhere. I've come to accept it and it just seems to be me. If I clean it off and organize everything it just looks strange and I let it go back to how it was in no time at all. I think desks are supposed to be messy. At least mine is supposed to be messy.


Juxtaposition (<-- such a good word)

The Beginning -- A place to start

Should I have started something like this a while ago? Perhaps. But, everything has its time. The thing is, I'm not sure if it would have been the same if I would have started this earlier. This. What is my definition of this. . . Ramblings I suppose. What happens in my life. Another meaning. Poetic anything and nothing. Space. . . I think I like . . . Ramblings. Makes more sense.

So, this is a spot for my ramblings.

I keep telling people who ask, "Oh yeah, I'm keeping busy. Same old, Same old."
Except, the same old same old is actually kind of boring. It happens, doesn't it? Things that are done in repeat too much become dull or boring. We need new experiences. Stories to tell. People to laugh with.

The same old has become spending too much time online. Not enough reading or writing. Productive online activities are at a minimum at the moment. Although I'm not watching as many television shows as I was earlier this term. My sleeping schedule is slowly (and I mean slowly) correcting itself. It was a bit off for a bit. My fault but that's the past.

They kept telling me before I came to England, "Studying abroad will help you discover parts of yourself." Or something to that effect. Really, it's been showing me things about the States and I've been learning more about my parents. I suppose you could say I'm realizing how much like my parents I am. That's a type of learning. And it isn't a bad thing, to be like your parents. Well, maybe it is, but not in my case.

So, the reason I'm starting this blog (to finally get to the point) is that I have about 2 and a half months left in England. This means that I won't continue the Study Abroad blog since I won't be abroad anymore. A sad thought to be sure. So this blog can be thought of as Part II of my blogging-ness. A continuation of what I've begun in Does England Have Cheerios? . Except, possibly less structured in this half. Not that I created a structure for Part I but it just kind of formed itself into one. I hope this blog gets more exciting. But, the beginning usually begins kind of slow before the plot picks up.

At the moment I'm reading The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. It's for a class, but it isn't that bad. She is a Chinese-American writer. I find Chinese literature interesting, so it isn't too bad, it's just the context that I am reading it in. It's for class which just sets up the mindset of not wanting to read it. It's strange to not want to read something but like what it is you're reading. I also read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I really enjoyed reading this book by Dave Eggers. I would recommend it to people.



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