Pretend this is a sidebar...? Help Union students! Help 'em!
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
12:43 PM - Report Home 21 - Echoes of the Past
Pretend this is a sidebar...? Help Union students! Help 'em!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
1:29 PM - Pudd'nhead Wilson
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear. - Mark Twain
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Monday, February 18, 2008
9:43 AM - Beautiful Dreamer Serenade
Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd a way!
Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng,
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea
Mermaids are chaunting with wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer awake unto me!
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Friday, February 15, 2008
11:32 AM - The Problem, The Solution are Internal
The recent influx of university shootings is truly lamentable, but is it surprising?
Students, how many days a week do you walk across campus listening to music, ear buds or ear phones blocking out the world? It's a proven fact that technology creates feelings of increased individualism and isolation. How many more people would you speak to every day if you weren't closed off to the world? It seems to me that the technology that forms a protective covering for so many young people may be the very problem. Do these electronic devices create a false sense of comfort as you traverse a campus riddled with peers that you will never meet but in passing while they actually create a literally deadly situation?
The student populations of American universities, especially those of large institutions, need to take this problem into their own hands. The source comes from among our ranks; so must come the change. Reach out to someone. Anyone. The power of human interaction needs to be restored among our generation. Being brought up in the information age is going to help us change the world for the better, but our readiness to accept technology, sometimes as a replacement for physical correspondence, can and will destroy our humanity if we don't keep the powers and capabilities of these technologies in check.
Virgina Tech. NIU. I'm not saying that ipods and ear phones caused the tragic events that have unfolded this past year, but I am saying that the power to halt them rests in the hearts and minds of the very population affected.
That's you. That's me. Take off the ear phones. Say hello to a stranger. You truly never know how far such a simple act of compassion can reach.
::EDIT::
Use the link below to help out some of the students affected by the tornado that hit Union University. Anything helps. Donations are processed through PayPal. Contact Blake Stannard for more information.
Students, how many days a week do you walk across campus listening to music, ear buds or ear phones blocking out the world? It's a proven fact that technology creates feelings of increased individualism and isolation. How many more people would you speak to every day if you weren't closed off to the world? It seems to me that the technology that forms a protective covering for so many young people may be the very problem. Do these electronic devices create a false sense of comfort as you traverse a campus riddled with peers that you will never meet but in passing while they actually create a literally deadly situation?
The student populations of American universities, especially those of large institutions, need to take this problem into their own hands. The source comes from among our ranks; so must come the change. Reach out to someone. Anyone. The power of human interaction needs to be restored among our generation. Being brought up in the information age is going to help us change the world for the better, but our readiness to accept technology, sometimes as a replacement for physical correspondence, can and will destroy our humanity if we don't keep the powers and capabilities of these technologies in check.
Virgina Tech. NIU. I'm not saying that ipods and ear phones caused the tragic events that have unfolded this past year, but I am saying that the power to halt them rests in the hearts and minds of the very population affected.
That's you. That's me. Take off the ear phones. Say hello to a stranger. You truly never know how far such a simple act of compassion can reach.
::EDIT::
Use the link below to help out some of the students affected by the tornado that hit Union University. Anything helps. Donations are processed through PayPal. Contact Blake Stannard for more information.
| Link
Sunday, February 10, 2008
3:34 PM - All That Is Glorious Around Us
From Radiance by Barbara Crooker
All That Is Glorious Around Us
(title of an exhibit on The Hudson River School)
is not, for me, these grand vistas, sublime peaks, mist-filled
overlooks, towering clouds, but doing errands on a day
of driving rain, staying dry inside the silver skin of the car,
160,000 miles, still running just fine. Or later,
sitting in a café warmed by the steam
from white chicken chili, two cups of dark coffee,
watching the red and gold leaves race down the street,
confetti from autumn's bright parade. And I think
of how my mother struggles to breathe, how few good days
she has now, how we never think about the glories
of breath, oxygen cascading down our throats to the lungs,
simple as the journey of water over a rock. It is the nature
of stone / to be satisfied / writes Mary Oliver, It is the nature
of water / to want to be somewhere else, rushing down
a rocky tor or high escarpment, the panoramic landscape
boundless behind it. But everything glorious is around
us already: black and blue graffiti shining in the rain's
bright glaze, the small rainbows of oil on the pavement,
where the last car to park has left its mark on the glistening
street, this radiant world.
All That Is Glorious Around Us
(title of an exhibit on The Hudson River School)
is not, for me, these grand vistas, sublime peaks, mist-filled
overlooks, towering clouds, but doing errands on a day
of driving rain, staying dry inside the silver skin of the car,
160,000 miles, still running just fine. Or later,
sitting in a café warmed by the steam
from white chicken chili, two cups of dark coffee,
watching the red and gold leaves race down the street,
confetti from autumn's bright parade. And I think
of how my mother struggles to breathe, how few good days
she has now, how we never think about the glories
of breath, oxygen cascading down our throats to the lungs,
simple as the journey of water over a rock. It is the nature
of stone / to be satisfied / writes Mary Oliver, It is the nature
of water / to want to be somewhere else, rushing down
a rocky tor or high escarpment, the panoramic landscape
boundless behind it. But everything glorious is around
us already: black and blue graffiti shining in the rain's
bright glaze, the small rainbows of oil on the pavement,
where the last car to park has left its mark on the glistening
street, this radiant world.
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008
1:02 PM - No More Room for Denial
Climate change: got evidence?
Storms are going to keep getting worse the longer we wait to take decisive action to reduce our impact on the natural environment. We're visitors. We're renting. This planet may be the only home we've ever known, but we are far from the first to know it as such.
There are a lot of really easy ways to help reduce carbon emissions. Just QUIT BUYING INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS. If you don't know what an incandescent bulb is, it's the only kind you've ever used. Next time you go shopping buy compact fluorescent bulbs instead. They cost a bit more, but they last a LOT longer. Most last for multiple years and use a lot less energy, meaning that a lot less coal has to be burned to power them, meaning a lot less carbon dioxide will get released into the atmosphere, meaning that our children and ourselves get to keep on living on this planet.
There are other ways to help that don't require big lifestyle changes. Turning your thermostat down a few degrees than normal in the winter and up a few degrees than normal in the summer helps tremendously, as does recycling and avoiding products with lots of excess packaging.
And I don't mean to sound preachy. This is just something that must be done for humanity. No one is perfect. No one can make the changes that need to be made right away. But we all need to start changing today. If we don't there might not be a chance to preserve the Earth as we know it. If we don't make these changes soon, the planet is going to make its own. This fact is already evident. And what we will find if we continue down this path is that the agenda of Mother Earth won't include us.
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Tuesday, February 5, 2008
11:59 AM - VOTE!
The future can be so much brighter.
"In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope."
::Edit::
This is a really cool questionnaire. 14 questions used to calculate which candidate you most agree with.
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Saturday, February 2, 2008
4:39 PM - Bush Knows Best
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