Partner Projects

I'm a people person. I love being with people and talking with people. But I can't stand group/partner school projects.

The simple fact is, no two minds are exactly alike, and with a group project, there is no possible way to have every contributing member be 100% satisfied with their final project. On top of that, if grades are supposed to reflect each person's work and skill level, how can a group project fairly judge that? I always feel that group projects are simply awkward and annoying. Maybe it's just because I like things done my way, but I think that everybody has a little bit of that feeling in them.

Do you all find group grades ethical? Fair? Do you find yourself wishing teachers had more or less group projects/papers?

Bad Decisions Make Good Stories

For anybody who knows my basement, they know that my dad loves to plaster the wall with tons of signs, quotes, and posters. I actually love it. Today with I was down there, two stuck out to me and made me smile:

"If you obey all the rules, you'll miss all the fun"
"BAD decisions make GOOD stories"

Not exactly life quotes you'd expect a father to be surrounding his kids with, but I love them. So often, I see people who are so caught up with rules and doing the right thing and being perfect that they forget to NOT care once in a while and have fun... with this stressful, stressful first tri for most of us DipCans, I just wanted to share these reminders to let loose and go crazy once in a while! Rule breaking (in moderation) is, in my opinion, the only way to stay sane and keep life interesting :)

Lying by Omission

Is lying by omission really lying?

Of course, it we were debating the ethics of it, I believe many people would argue that purposefully leaving out certain information isn't right. However, can it really be considered lying if what you are saying is still true? For example, if someone were to tell their parents that they was going to a friend's house on a Saturday night, but didn't tell them that from the friend's house they were going somewhere different, is that actually a lie? I've never been a fan of the term "lying by omission", I feel this idea should just be described as "deceiving", because no actually lying is involved! This is just a pet peeve of mine.

Mayor Elections

In Champlin lately, with elections nearing, I've noticed signs left and right campaigning for at least three different candidates for mayor. I find this a little silly, considering mayor is such a small job/responsibility compared to say a State Rep. or President, yet their signs are so much more prevalent.

Anyways, as I'll be able to vote this year, I began thinking about who I would vote for Champlin mayor. I'm attracted to each of three candidates differently. For one candidate, I know friends at school who are related to him and campaigning for him, and I want to vote for this candidate because I like the friends promoting him. For a second candidate, I know his brother as an old soccer coach, and he showed up campaigning at my door and took the time to meet me. For a third candidate, I have no personal connections but I'm just intrigued by his name (Seriously though, Payer for Mayor?! How fun is that to say?!).

Especially upon writing this post, I'm realizing how mundane and insignificant these reasons are for voting for mayor. Shouldn't I be wondering about their policies and their plans for my city? Heck, I don't even know what parties these three candidates are representing. I feel that I would never choose a President simply based on his cool name or any personal connections, but maybe because I don't see how much influence a mayor can really have on my life, I'm letting these insignificant details influence my vote.

Sensory Perception

     This is a random thought, but I think about it sometimes and just get weirded out by it. Why is it that most of our human senses - touch, hearing, sight - are pretty universal (for example, unless a disease heeds one's ability, everybody sees red as red, hears the same noises) but the sense of taste and smell vary so dramatically? I'm sure it's all about associations with memories or something, but some people simply like things or don't like things right off the bat. Why do I hate nuts, but my brother loves them, and we've been raised eating the same meals with very similar experiences? Why do I love the smell of gasoline, when my mom feels nauseous when she smells it? As a "way of knowing", sensory perception is strange in that it's largely universal to all people, but there are so many subtle differences that could make all the difference in perception of a certain situation!

Good Stories

     I'm still really struggling with my personal narrative. It's about a moment that I will remember forever, and something that truely did change my viewpoints in a pretty significant way. However, I am discovering that it doesn't make for a very good story for an audience, and I'm finding it very difficult to make it into a good, readable story.
     Is it possible that the best stories, the most important histories of each of us, don't always make the best narratives for the public? Although this moment I'm writing about for the narrative was important to me, I'm really wishing I had chosen something perhaps less meaningful to me, but easier to write about.

"Royalty?"

     This week I found out I was nominated for Homecoming Royalty. All week people have been coming up to me and saying things like "Congratulations," or "Nice job!" regarding my nomination.
     Why? What does it even mean to be "royalty"? It seems as if choosing homecoming kings/queens has been a tradition for years, but what does it stand for? It has almost nothing to do with achievements, or character, or academics, or anything related to school. It's just a matter of enough people writing your name down as a nomination, and then getting enough votes. I find myself in quite an awkward position... although I accept and appreciate congratulations, I don't understand what I did to deserve them. And now I have to get all fancied-up and display myself in front of the entire school. In an interview for the Rebel Report, each royalty member (sort of a vain label, isn't it?!) is asked to answer, "Why should people vote for you?" Holy awkwardness. How can I answer that, when I don't know what people are voting for in the first place? Although I'm honored to be in this position, the whole purpose is slightly lost on me.

Twitter Posts

     I don't know how many of you use Twitter, but I'm a self-diagnosed addict. It's not that I tweet all the time, but I DO read tweets all the time. Especially when I'm trying to put off doing homework, I update my TwitterFeed on my phone constantly to see what others are saying.
   
    What I was noticing today is what people actually tweet about. What's their purpose? Some are easy to see - this tweet is informative, this tweet is a person venting on Twitter because they're annoyed with something, this tweet is just super generic and searching for lots of "favorites" or "retweets" (those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, this is similar to a "Like" on Facebook). If I look at my TwitterFeed now, this is what I see (I won't mention names):
  
     "So glad I have a close guy friend I can tell everything to #bestadvice"
     "'Is that your sister in left field... naked?' #lol #bestline"
     "I can't do the #10PeopleImGladIMet trend because I'm glad to have met everybody in my life :)"
     "You need a serious reality check."
     "CP DANCE TEAM, TEXT ME BEFORE TOMORROW MORNING #URGENT"
     "The music in transformers is way to f*****g epic"

     Sorry for the language, but I felt I should keep it true to what I see.

     Why do so many people at our school feel the need to share every thought, every frustration, every funny moment to the public? I'm a bit of a hypocrite, because I find myself doing it too, but I have yet to discover the purpose of this media. We teenagers are really weird.

IB = Kinder People?

     I've been bothered lately with the concept of people being "better" or "worse" than others, especially within the school setting. We're constantly being compared, not only by our peers but by our test scores, grades, and other measurements. Is a person with a 35 on their ACT necessarily "smarter" than a person with a 22? We seem to think so. Is a person with more followers on Twitter more "popular" than a person with only a few? Some would argue that this is true as well.
     It's so hard to evaluate people, situations, personalities, and intelligence objectively. We all judge and compare based on our previous experiences and knowledge, usually without even realizing it. Nobody can claim that they don't judge or compare people - no matter what we like to think, it happens instinctively. This is a big reason why I like the IB program so much. We are constantly forced to view situations differently, take objective approaches, and think outside the box. It's kind of a crazy thought, but is it possible that us IB students subconsciously learn to "judge" others less and see other possible point of views as we study other subject matters in this same way?

If a tree falls in the woods, but nobody hears it...

     Today after school, I was baking cupcakes and my brother was in the living room. I began ranting to him about something, and he just responded with "yeah" or "okay" once in a while to show that he was listening. All the same, I could tell he didn't really care.
     I kept going on about this topic (something about my school day), and after a while was confused why my brother wasn't answering my questions. When I looked over, I saw he had left the living room. A second later, I saw him on the way to a friend's house outside. I had been talking to myself for who knows how long.
     But here's the thing - was I talking "to myself"? I had believed up until the end that I was conversing with my brother, and I could even argue that I had "credible evidence" that he was listening due to the fact that a couple minutes before, he was present and responding.  However, I got so caught up in my own story that I hadn't noticed when he left.  I feel like this happens to a lot of us - we get so caught up in our own lives, that we don't realize when something about our world or our perceived truth has changed. It just took that small converstaion (apparently with myself) to kind of throw off my confidence in knowing what's going on around me, and wonder what I'm missing!

Can't Do Everything

       Some people have one extreme passion that they dedicate their life to, like a sport or an art or a hobby. I admire these people, but I know I'm not like this. I, and I know many others, like to do everything, but during high school especially I've learned that you really can't do it all.
       I've always been interested in doing everything and anything - every instrument, every sport, every party, every class, every show, every hobby. If time was unlimited, I would probably be in over half the clubs/teams at CP. This isn't too much of a problem in itself, but it becomes complicated when I also want to dedicate myself 100% to everything as well. Since 8th grade, I've learned that I really have to pick and choose what I can do so that I'll have enough time and energy to devote myself to my activities. Slowly I've had to sacrifice activities that I love so that other aspects of my life could survive. I've found this extremely difficult, especially quitting volleyball this fall.
       What's the perfect balance? I realize this is a huge question and varies intensely between individuals, but at what point do we have to decide that giving up something you love to make time for other parts of your life is the right thing to do? Although I'm happy with the decisions I've made and passions I've dedicated myself to, I always have that nagging "what if?" on the back of my mind wondering how things would be if I had chosen other routes. How I wish there was time for everything.
    

When did super fans become Superfans?

     I love volleyball, and I love football. Watching both of these sports is a blast for me; cheering for players that I know and a team that I love is what makes me love watching these sports at Champlin Park even more. If I cheer for a team, that makes me a fan, right? And if I attend nearly every single game, home or away, and dress up and scream my lungs out, that makes me a pretty super fan, right?
     That's not enough, not according to the way that CPHS has been functioning lately. Maybe it's been the trend forever, but especially the last couple years I've noticed so much extra emphasis on labeling SUPERFANS for school sports, not simply by cheering, but by buying gear and extra expectations. Sure, anybody can be a football fan, but want to be a SUPERfan? Then find a player, pay $25 for a fancy jersey, $40 for a sweatshirt, and make your chosen player baked goods for every. Single. Game. Total estimated cost for the season? About $80.
     What is this? Am I the only one frustrated? To be considered a real fan of a high school sport, why does it involve throwing so much money around and putting labels on it? I feel that being a super fan is a matter of love and dedication, not of labor, connections, and money. I feel that connotation and associations of "super fan" have become so much more intense - is this, instead of strengthening Rebel spirit, isolating "non-super" fans and taking away integrity of the fan section? How do the connotations and expectations of "super fan" change over time and team, and what drives this change?

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Maybe a silly topic, but it's been on my mind after last night's football game!

Music and Knowledge: Same song, different views

 

     Today when I got home from school, I found a happy surprise sitting on my kitchen table. This past summer I spent a week at All State band camp, and today the CD of my band's recording session had been delivered to my house. This triggered a rush of memories and emotions from camp for me, and I immediately popped it in the kitchen CD player. I blasted the volume and sat on the counter top for 40 minutes listening to the songs that I had spent almost 50 hours preparing over the summer, and all I could do was listen intently until the CD had finished.
     While I was sitting and listening, my younger brother walked downstairs and stared at me. He asked, "do you need to listen to that for homework?" When I told him I just wanted to listen, he shook his head. "How boring. You can't even hear yourself with the entire band playing."
     A minute later my mom walked in. When she heard the song playing, she immediately smiled. "This is like a Christmas song, I noticed it right away at the concert." She then walked away humming her version of the song. It was completely wrong - a mix of the real melody, and "Carol of the Bells".
     This took a lot of explaining to get the the knowledge issue and I apologize, but my brother and mom's reactions got me thinking. Here we three were, listening to the exact same song, but having completely different reactions to it. For my brother, he immediately identified it as boring band music and didn't see why anyone would choose to listen to it, especially since my flute sound was buried with 60 other musicians' sounds. The same song must have triggered some memory of my mom's, and her limited exposure to the song left room for her imagination to create a spin-off of the melody all together. She listened with an untrained ear, while visions of sugarplums danced in her head.
     While I listened to the song, it was an entirely engaging process. After all the the hours of practice and intensive rehearsal, I knew the song inside out, and no melody, harmony, or ornamentation was lost to me. I heard the mistakes as well - mushy entrances, an early horn - and while I listened to parts that I remembered from rehearsal, the main melody was almost lost to me. The song provoked so many memories and emotions as well - there is no feeling like sitting in the middle of all that sound happening, and contributing to it all at the same time.
      The sounds coming out of the CD player were the same bits of data for all three of us, however, our experiences caused us all to hear and respond to the music in different ways. When somebody says they "know" a song, what does that really mean? Is my mom "wrong" for humming the melody differently from what I played, or am I wrong for defining the music only by the exact way it was written?
      Holy cow, I never expected to write more than a couple paragraphs on this. I apologize for ranting. But once I starting thinking about it, it just got stranger and stranger to me!