Read my lists!!!
They are great.

TreeLiFe... + obsessions

Leather
KEWL

GRIZZLY BEAR .....

Jon and kate plus 8 SCandALLllll

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com

Lefashionnnnn

Grieves

The Picador in Iowa city welcomed Mac Lathal and Grieves with a crowd no larger then twenty people on Wednesday May 13th. Despite the small audience the show was most definitely worth it. Grieves and his DJ Budo performed music from their new CD 88 Keys and Counting along with songs from their first album Irreversible. Grieves is a hip hop rapper from Seattle who is just looking for people to appreciate his music.

At his show Grieves came on stage with a smile on his face and his apple computer set up behind him plugged into the huge speakers. Budo had a key board set up behind him and they were ready to go. Imagining myself in his shoes i have tremendous respect for the two on stage. Think of how frightening it would be to stand up there in front of 20 people and perform. In the middle of the show Budo played a solo on his trumpet and the crowd went crazy.

Iowa City is the only place where Grieves had been twice so far!! He has tour with Atmosphere and if that ever happens again i will go anywhere to see them.

Lollapalooza

So freakin excited...

First of all Atmosphere will be there and Lykke Li! Those are probably the two shows i am most excited about. But also i can't wait for The killers, Coheed and Cambria, Arctic Monkeys, Ben Folds, Snoop Dogg, and Rise Against. August 7th-9th i am going to be in heaven.

And the record begins with a song of rebellion

Graduation.....
SONGS
Set your goals-To Be Continued
Rise Against-Broken English
Modest Mouse-The World At Large
Atmosphere-Lovelife
Weezer-Best Friend
Rancid-Journey To The End Of The East Bay
Four Years Strong-Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die
The Ataris-In This Diary
Third Eye Blind-Jumper

The important thing is not to stop questioning.-Albert Einstein

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.-Aristotle

And we'll collect the moments one by one...


Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.-Ralph Waldo Emerson

New Release!

Rise Against came out with a new CD: Appeal to Reason.

Has been criticized for some of the songs being boring but the songs that are good are REALLY good.

The ones i like the best.....

Kotov Syndrome

Entertainment

Hero of War

Listen and enjoy.

The People's Court

Seeing Set Your Goals live changed my life. Front row, getting pushed into the people around me, singing the words as loud as possible while gazing at the band performing their art, it made me feel like everything was right. New Found Glory was pretty great too.

New CD comes out July 21st and i couldn't be more excited.

Also coming back to Des Moines with Four Years Strong (also great).

Photography

It's your chance to get one of your pictures in Monster Children Magazine! All you have to do is take a picture at exactly 3pm on Saturday, April 25th. Then write a fifty word essay describing the picture and send it here! It will be put in their monthly photo issue.

Monster Children is an art magazine. Very cool.

Inhaling Chocolate?!

This is a new product that was invented by a Harvard Professor. The idea is that you inhale the chocolate therefor eliminating the calories.

"[it's]a mix of culinary art and aerosol science" says the inventor David Edwards

It's a terrific way to curb an apatite or to accompany a cup of coffee according to the website. This product will not be released until later this month. You actually consume so little chocolate and that's what allows it to reduce the calorie intake to about one per spray. They will be sold in Paris, Chicago, London, and Tokyo. Inhaling one of these revolutionary chocolate tubes is called "whiffing".

I think it would be cool to try one just to see what it is like but i think it is kind of a stupid idea. Why should you want to inhale food? It doesn't even sound appetizing. But i guess i should try it before a say anything bad.

Buy One!

Away We Go

I saw a preview for this movie when i went to the movie Adventureland. Its release date is June 19th. The movie was about a young couple that was about to have a baby. They travel the U.S. to find the perfect home and along the way they revive their relationship and see different family members and friends. The genre is a comedy slash drama. I am very excited to go see this movie.
Directed by Sam Mendes who won an Academy Award for American Beauty.

Once

Once is an Irish musical film that takes place in Dublin. It got great reviews and won some awards including best foreign film. This movie is a love story different from most.

The two main characters are an Irish man who performs his music on the streets of Dublin and a Czech immigrant who sells flowers on the streets of Dublin. Neither of them are named in this film, in the credits they are listed as "Guy" and "Girl". The girl is lured in by the guys music and despite his withdrawal she persists with questions about his music. Eventually she finds out that he fixes vacuum cleaners and says hers needs to be fixed. The next day she comes to his spot with her broken vacuum cleaner.

They go to lunch and she tells him that she too is a musician. They go to the local music store and she plays piano for him. They sing and play a song together and it's perfect. (The sound track to this movie is amazing.) After more getting to know each other she takes him to her apartment where he finds out she had has a toddler and lives with her mom. She also has a husband who lives back in Czech Republic, who she seems to dislike. While the guy has a girlfriend who left him and moved to England. They record an album together because the girl wants him to move to London and promote his music. The story ends with all of these things fighting against them being together.

Burn After Reading

A movie by the Coen Brothers. Enough said.

Burn After Reading is a movie that is more and more shocking every step of the way. The whole movie is the climax. Frances McDormand plays Linda Litzki,a recurring character in Coen Brother movies, for good reason. Osbourn Cox gets fired from the CIA and decided to write a memoir. He leaves the CD that his it is saved on at the fitness club where Linda Litzki and Chad (Brad Pitt) work. They find the CD and decide to turn it into cash. These leads to an unbelievable series of events.

The movie has similar plot twists and themes as Fargo and The Big Lebowski, also written by the Coen Brothers. It is really fun to watch all three of these movies and to point out the similarities. They have some of the same actors which is interesting to see them in different roles. These movies take you on a chaotic adventure that you end up feeling apart of. You want to goofy characters to succeed and get out of their predicament.

I really liked this movie but there are some people who hated it. My advice would be if you are going to watch it go into it with an open mind. In Coen Brother movies anything could happen.

I love you Beth Cooper

This book was written by a former Simpson writer and the writing definitely reflects this with its sort of TV show feel. It is written as if in real time. One page will be like two minutes in real life and it's great because not many book are like that. I truly feel like you could make this book into a thirty minute show and not miss out on one part of the book. Actual i just checked and it is a movie. Crazy, i need to watch that.

Will basically the book is a bout a nerdy valedictorian who has been in love with the same girl his whole high school career. He decides that during his speech at graduation it would be a good idea to confess his love for this popular cheerleader in front of everyone. This leads to a comical series of events that you would never expect. The cover of the book shows the various stages of appearance Denis (the nerdy valedictorian) will go through during his adventurous night.

The book is really great because the way it is written is so unique. Larry Doyle uses such a vivid explanatory style that you can see everything going on as if you were watching it. He describes things in a way that you would never think to describe them yourself. He says things that you only think in your head and it's really hard to explain so you just have to read the book.

The cover was illustrated by: Evan Dorkin.

Adventurland

Jesse Eisenberg plays James Brennan beautifully in the movie Adventurland depicting a college graduate broke and living at home. To save money for grad school he gets a job at the local theme park, Adventureland, where he meets Arlene, played by Kelsey Ford. James is an innocent kid who thought his two week relationship with a girl was true love, while Arlene far from innocent. The movie follows them through a rough but hilarious scenario that seems corny but still heart warming.

The movie has sort of a Juno feel where the characters are much older then they look. They look like they are in high school but through out the move they drink at bars and smoke weed, to add to the roller coaster of events of course. I don't know if this was intentional, the young looking characters or not. It kind of confused me in Juno also. I wish Ellen Paige was in the movie though that would have been great. Way off track here but overall the movie was very satisfactory.

My two favorite side characters were definitely the theme park managers. They add to the comedic atmosphere in every scene they are in.

Twiggy

Lesley Hornby, also known as Twiggy, was arguably one of the world's first super models. She was nicknamed Twiggy because she was so skinny and she was said to have started the trend of today's prototypical models, tall and skinny. She got offered a modeling contract at age sixteen, she was only 90 pounds. Twiggy's career took of and she was named the face of '66.

Today Twiggy isn't completely out of the lime light. She was a judge in the hit TV show Americas Next Top Model, where she advised young girls on succeeding in the modeling industry. Twiggy got a lot of criticism for being so skinny and sort of got blamed for aiding the weight problem some teenage girls face. I think this is an unfair accusation because you can't blame someone for having a desirable figure.

I look at Twiggy as a role model because i think she had an amazing life. She was a shy young girl that got thrown into the American eye. Everyone idolized her and she was just an ordinary girl in her own eyes. She wasn't afraid to be different, she was immensely different then the trend in the early sixties.

Wreck This Journal

Keri Smith is the creator of Wreck This Journal. It is a creative outlet for anyone who wants to express themselves or just wreck something. Each page has different directions on it to do to the journal. The first page says to doodle on the cover of the journal and the copyright page. Some pages tell you to write things like: make a grocery list, write the same word over and over, and record in detail an insignificant event. Each person will interpret these pages differently and think of their own creative way to fill them out.

I received this journal as a present form my friend for Christmas. I really like the idea of it and i think it is a great way to get away from everything. it's sort of like a journal where you write down all your worries and problems and get them out in the open, but it's different. You don't actually come out and say these things you can display them through how you "wreck" the journal. I remember when i got to a page that said write the same word over and over i wrote purpose. That day i was very stressed about college and i couldn't decide what i wanted to do with my life. It's a way to get things out of your head and onto paper because it helps to externalize your feelings sometimes.

The journal also has pages that say things like document your dinner on this page and one collect fruit stickers on this page and one say collect stamps on this page. The fruit sticker one was fun because i am a cashier at Hyvee so i day i just stole every one's fruit stickers as i was checking them out. i collected them all on a piece of paper then transferred them to my journal. Also another page i am looking forward to doing is the one that says place a picture of yourself here that you hate. Now scribble all over it.

The back of the journal looks like a letter and has a place for an address and a return address. One of the pages says tape this journal shut and mail it to yourself. I think that when i am all done with my journal i am going to mail it to someone else. I am excited for this day but i still have a lot to do.

Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation

Written By Charles Barber, Comfortably Numb is a book about how pharmaceutical companies are taking over the world. It gives his perspective on the increasing mental health issue in the United States and the various reasons it is happening. Charles Barber is a talented author who also wrote Songs From the Black Chair, which is a memoir about his own experience with mental illness. He writes a blog for the Huffington Post.

The use of psychoactive drugs in the U.S. has been rising dramatically which has contributed to a nice profit for the pharmaceutical industry. This wasn't by accident. These companies make this medicating readily available to everyone. They blur the line between mental illness and everyday problems with their advertisements that promise a quick fix. These drugs are the second most advertised product in America exposing millions of people to this unrealistic quick fix. It is illegal to advertise drugs in other countries which would explain why the united states has a much bigger problem with over medication then other counties.

"Comfortably Numb chronicles the extraordinary psychopharmaceuticalization of everyday life that has arisen in recent years and appears to be growing apace. Charles Barber marks out the inconvenient truths on our path to emotional climate change but also offers alternatives to readers who wish to avoid pharmageddon."— David Healy, author of Let Them Eat Prozac

Also pharmaceutical companies bribe psychiatrists to promote their drug so they can maximize their profit. There have been reports of companies paying doctors to write false information about their competitors drugs and even same articles in prestigious journals with unknown authors. These are called ghostwriters whom pharmaceutical companies pay to write an article with completely false information about different medications. A good psychiatrist knows to take what they read in these journals with tremendous doubt.

The problem is these companies promote these drugs and neglect telling people the much saver and better alternatives. People have an unrealistic expectation and vision of these drugs, they are a magical cure. Other routes that people could take is going through therapy or even just good old aerobic exercise which has been proven to reduce stress and make you a healthier person. Just talking to someone and having a strong social support system can also help tremendously. You have to try to help yourself before you resort to relying on a foreign substance to mask your symptoms and risk side effects.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This movie is about relationships. Almost everyone has went through the misery of a breakup and that is what the idea of this movie is based on. Breakups can be a really hard part in a persons life and they usually always are accompanied by drama, broken hearts, and sad memories. In this movie they invented a way to erase the memories from your brain. They erase all of the memories that have to do with the person that you broke up with. You won't remember them at all, not even meeting them. This is a very interesting concept.

At the beginning of the movie Joel and Clementine meet each other on a train. Joel is shy and sad while Clementine is friendly talkative. They end up liking each other but they don't know that they both have a forgotten past. The movie flashes back and forth between their old relationship and new one while in the process of telling the story of Joel getting Clementine erased from his memory. All of this is confusing at first but the cool part is it's all intricately and thoughtfully interwoven into a story that you'll never forget.

While Joel is getting his memory erased he somehow is conscious of what is going on and wants it to stop. He changed is mind while his brain was flashing back to all of this old memories. This movie is definitely interesting and worth watching.

Actors etc.

Taking the Stage

Taking the stage is a new reality show on MTV. I know what you are thinking, not another stupid reality show! But seriously this one is different. It's not your typical scripted lame dating show that is usually featured on MTV. This one is actually interesting and real. You never know what is scripted these days so i have no idea if it is reality but i still like the show and all of the kids on it. This show is about about students at the school of Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. You have to addition to get into the school and afterwards students go to persue their dream in all areas of the performing buisness.

The show follows five very talented students and shows how they are working toward their dream.


Mia is a singer-song writter who i fell in love with the first time i heard her sing. She has an amazing vioce and she plays the quitar. She is incredibly driven to be famous and her goal in life is to be signed by the time she is eighteen. The first episode was about their school's talent show and the judges were actually people from the entertainment industry. Mia was in the talent show playing a song that she wrote with her band in the background. She got first place in the talent show and i was so happy. Also i like how she is not afraid to perform and she goes and plays shows wherever they will let her. She has a very funky style and she seems so confident. She can sing, play guitar, write songs, and even dance, she can do whatever she sets her mind to.



Another person i liked right away was Jasmine. She is a very talented dancer and loves ballet. Her goal is to make it to Juilliard which is a performing arts school in New York. She says she wants to be the best profesional dancer of her generation. She can also dance hip hop and it a very pretty girl. In the first episode she meets Tyler, a new student and they instantly hit it off. Tyler is a hip hop dancer and comes to the school to become a more well rounded dancer. He is in Jasmine's ballet class and he asks her for help. He finds out that there is a hip hop group at the school and Jasmine tells him to come to their practice and check it out. When he does Malike, the leader of the group gets angry. Tyler decides he wants to make his own hip hop group because that wasn't his style.

The show is mainly filmed at their school and shows what goes on. One day they had a dance off in the cafeteria. I don't know it this really happened in real life but if it did that would be crazy. I guess it was kind of corny but it still showed off their really good dancing skills. At the talent show Tyler's dance group won over Malik's and that made him very mad. They kind of have a battle of who is better through out the show.

The series just started but i am very excited to follow along. The reason i like this show so much is becasue it's not your typical reality show. I like the content and just the idea of the show. It shows kids who are motivated and very talented. It gives other kids inspiration for their dreams and it's just interesting to watch other people on their journey to fame.

Requiem For a Dream

Requiem For a Dream is a movie infused with addiction and self illusion, drugs and prescription pills, and lives all headed on a downward spiral. The movie follows a mother, her son, his drug dealer and his girlfriend through their chaotic and dreadful lives. The movie depicts these four people caught in the cycle and exposes the means that people go through to feed their habit.

Ellen Burstyn plays the lonely mom who lives alone in her apartment. She is mesmerized by television and watches the same infomercial over and over. When she gets a call saying she will be on television she becomes excited and it gives her a reason to wake up in the morning. She decides she wants to lose weight so she can fit in the same red dress she wore to her son's graduation. She goes to the doctor and gets prescription diet pills which she becomes addicted to. Her life gets consumed by this medication and she becomes one of many addicts.

Jared Leto plays her son who is addicted to heroin and his girlfriend is addicted to cocaine along with his best Friend. All of these characters live the most horrible lives. Everything is centered around when they will shoot up next and who they will buy their next sack from. The movie shows all these character's lives on a downward spiral as a result of their addiction

An intense(like the circus) part of the movie is at the end when all the characters seem to hit their low point at the same time. They flash from scene to scene showing the dramatic affects the drugs are having on their lives and what it has lead them to. This part of the movie makes you sick but you can't stop watching in horror. The ending brings the whole movie together and really gets the point across. This movie is a great movie portraying how addicts really live, even though people might not know about it.

Overview

Blogging

Blogging is an unconventional way, classroom wise, of sharing our opinions and practicing our writting. I agree that it is a creative and a great idea. However, just the fact that it is all through the computer, with no actual tangible assignments to turn in, makes it so easy to put off and put off until you evenually convince yourself that it's too late to do at all.

A positive aspects of blogging is that you can bring in so much more then just your own ideas. You can link articles and videos and websites that illustrate something further and help to clarify your point, or maybe even refute it. Also, my favorite feature is the pictures, they adds life to your ideas and add a scapegoat from boredom. The attachments that you can add to your website are also fun. They allow you to personalize your space for people to analyze and critique.

After writing a post my feelings could go either way. I could be very proud of my latest creation and be excited to share it with the world. Or, if i didn't put forth all my effort i could hate it and not want anyone to read it. This is a bad feeling and often deters me from posting. The fact that anyone can see my work is exciting yet terrifying at the same time. Blogging goes way beyond just writing your opinions for practice in your AP class. It is linked to the outside world and is open for criticism. Maybe i am just looking too far into it but that often inhibits my motivation to blog. Like i said though, when i am very proud of my writing then it feels good to display. Maybe it's an esteem issue.

Blogging has the potential to be fun. It is a step in a positive direction for our technology advancing schools.

I Don't Want to Be Crazy

PUSH, the publisher of this book, is dedicated to new authors and getting their voices out. Some of the books are fiction some non fiction and some are a mix of the two. The goal is for the stories to sound real and for the reader to believe what they are reading. PUSH is always looking for new writers and encourages anybody to submit their own work. They are having a 2009 PUSH novel writing contest. These are to rules and regulations. These books are heartbreaking, interesting, insightful, and very easy to relate to.

I Don't Want to Be Crazy is one of the books that I have read from this publisher. It is a poetry memoir written by Samantha Schultz. In this book she takes you on a journey that you feel like you are taking yourself. You become Samantha and experience her words as if they were your own. She tells the story of her terrifying panic attacks that never seem to go away. Her life resolves around the question of when is the next one coming. The way Schultz tells her story leaves the reader feeling her anxiety and relief and happiness.

The story starts with Samantha excited and getting ready to move on to college. She is ready to start a new life all on her own. When Schultz gets to college everything goes great for awhile. Until she is in the middle of a lecture something starts to happen. She feels like her hands are shaking uncontrollably. She looks around to see if anyone notices but no one does. Then she thinks she is going crazy. She gets really hot and her heart is beating fast. She feels like on the inside she is going crazy but has to keep her outside composed. She leaves the lecture hall and doesn't go back. This happens several times within the next few days and Samantha decides to go to the school psychiatrist. She gets prescribed medication but still lives with the fear of another attack happening.

The book goes through Samantha's life and talks about how she copes with these attacks. She talks about the guys she hooks up with and all of the friends she makes in college. The story follows her all the way through her college career and then afterwards also. I loved the way this book was written and it was very easy to read. I couldn't put it down and i didn't unless i absolutely had to (because i had to walk to my next class).

Here are some titles of other books published by PUSH
Kissing the Rain - Kevin Brooks

Martyn Pig - Kevin Brooks
The Dating Diaries - Kristen Kemp

I Will Survive - Kristen Kemp
Cut - Patricia McCormick

Crashing - Chris Wooding

Kerosene - Chris Wooding

Pure Sunshine - Brian James

You Remind Me of You - Eireann Corrigan

The Wackness

This is a Drama film that is about a drug dealing teenager who is socially outcasted and lacking in confidence. The unique part about this movie is that it was made in 2008 but it takes place in 1994. Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) roams the streets of new york, streaming with Hip Hop, selling marijuana from an ice cream cart. He exchanges drugs for therapy session with Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley) who is a therapist who seems to have more problems of his own then his patients.

Luke thinks he is depressed and asks Dr. Squires to prescibe him antidepressants. He tells Luke that it's because of his lack of relationships and he needs to "get with" a girl. Luke has never had a girlfriend until, he developes a crush on Dr. Squires step daughter. They spend the whole summer together because all of her friends are out of town. Stephanie tells Luke that he is depressed because he looks at the "wackness" in life while she looks at the "dopeness". Luke tells her that he loves her and then she leaves him.

Now he is even more depressed and Dr. Squires and him become closer friends. They start hanging out and going to bars together. They teach each other things and loath in their own misery together. The ending is a great way to conclude the movie and leaves the viewer feeling full filled.

Whenever i mentioned this movie to my friends they always look at me funny because of the title. However, The Wackness is the perfect title for this movie. It accentuates it's vintage aspects and the theme the movie follows. You can't judge a book by its cover. This movie has been very successful with viewers and won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Overview

Gender

There are a lot more gender similarities then there are differences however it doesn't seem that way because everyone seems to focus on the differences. Intelligence variation in males verse females is minor and are in a wide variety of subjects. Males are better at some things while females are better at others. The subjects you would probably have guessed. Females excel in English while males are better at solving math problems.
These petty differences don't tell you much because like i said before you have to focus more on the individual then anything else. Honestly i don't like it when people stereotype and point out the differences of people. Just because it's an average everyone is not average! This kind of stuff leads to employers choosing employees based on race and gender. Facts show that males have a better aptitude for math so if this is publicized, like these kinds of findings usually are, then most jobs dealing with mathematical computation will go to a male.
Gender differences are prevalent but not reliable enough to base anything on. They are interesting however not important. The same with ethnicity differences. Like i have said and will always say it's all about the individual.

Ethnicity

Do people of different ethnicity have different levels of intelligence? Studies show that yes they do. The average IQ score for an Americans is 100. This score is obtained by finding the mental age from an intelligence tests and dividing that by their actual age then multiplying that by 100. The average score for Americans is 100 so that means their mental age is typically the same as their actual age. African Americans have an average IQ of 85. The same gap has occurred in other cultures as well.
Intelligence can be attributed to heredity and environment. Researchers think that the gap could come from peoples different experiences as a racial group. Which lead to different genes and maybe even different intelligences. But also we know that environment is definitely a factor. Deaf children who miss out on the culture of the American language score lower on the test then hearing children do. Environment plays a larger role in group differences then it does in individual difference. One way to prove that environment is a factor is by looking at Asian children compared to American. Asians score a higher average on math tests then Americans do. This is probably due to the fact that they are in school 30 % more days then Americans and spend much more time on math.
However, even though statistics prove that some ethnic groups score higher then others you have to take into account the individual. You can't stereotype and assume that just because someone is a certain race they are not as smart. Once people start to get to college the intelligence gap regresses because the environment is so similar for everyone there. The most important thing is to take the individual into account and not the race they come from.

Emotional-Detecting Ability

A very different type of intelligence is the ability to detect other people's emotions. There are some people who can pick up on a persons cues and know right away that their is something wrong. Some people are more sensitive to this type of ability while others wouldn't notice at all. Typically women are better at detecting these types of things then men probably because of their motherly instincts.
The way that researchers have studies people to find their emotional detection abilities is through an experiment. They show them a couple second clip and replace the original words with distorted ones. The person is asked whether the person in the clip was lecturing someone or talking about their deceased grandparents. The answers vary from person to person.
I think this is an important ability to have because you have to be sensitive toward a persons emotion if you are trying to make any type of relationship work. If you can't even tell if something is wrong then the person will feel unnoticed and rejected. I feel like everyone has a little ability to be able to detect how a person is feeling if they try. It is all about paying attention and keeping an open relationship with a person.

Creativity

What is the difference between creativity and intelligence?



I believe that intelligence and creativity are two completely different concepts. Creativity is processed in a completely separate area of the brain and means something totally different. Creativity is being able to think outside of the box to make something that is amazing. People who are creative don't care what other people think and just go with there intuition.
People who are intelligent can be creative but people who are creative don't have to be what our society calls "intelligent".
Studies that have been done on exceptionally creative scientists, inventors, and engineers show that they all have a few traits in common. They are usually intrinsically motivated and are their own toughest critic. They know a lot of information and try to obtain a lot of knowledge. They have the ability to try new things and see things in different ways; they don't have a problem with fixation. They are persistent and don't give up after the first fifty tries. Also they like to work and groups and be supported by their colleagues or friends.
If you don't have all of these traits that doesn't mean you aren't creative. It comes in many different packages and forms waiting to be explored. Creativity isn't a tangible thing that either you have or you don't. It is something that you have to embrace and explore.

Tracking

Tracking is dividing students up into separate classes with others who share their level of aptitude scores. The reasons for doing this is because some people believe that the truly gifted children are being held back by the others. They think that they would benefit to be in classes with people of the same intelligence.

The Chamber Council on Adolescents Development believes that tracking is "one of the most divisive and damaging school practices in existence." I completely agree with them. To me it sounds a little too much like the segregation we worked so hard to get away from. I believe if our schools were separated bye intelligence levels then some students would begin to feel dumb and would develop a lower self esteem. Also at our school if a student is a lot smarter then the kids in their grade and is not getting anything out of their classes then they cab be moved up a grade. I think this is a lot better solution to students not being challenged then separating them is.

However, things similar to tracking happen at our school a lot more then we would think.We have AP classes which are advanced placement classes and are designed for students who want to be challenged. Then we have directive studies classes which are for students that need a little extra help on their school work. You could consider this a little bit like tracking because it does separate students by intelligence. The one important difference though is that students can't be forced to take these classes.

Standardized Tests

In order for a test to be valid it must follow three rules. It has to be standardized, reliable, and valid. If a test reaches this criteria then it should yield accurate results. The results may be accurate but what are they really telling us?

I don't think that standardized tests in school are completely fair. First of all different people are good at different things. In my previous post i talked about the theories of different intelligences. Standardized tests are only displaying a persons ability in one intelligence. If someone is better at memorizing and recalling things then the test will show that they are smarter. But are they? I don't believe so. Maybe another person is creatively intelligent or emotionally intelligent, but these test do not show that. I don't think our society should base students intelligence solely on standardized tests.

The tests that are most ridiculous are the ACTs and SATs. These are aptitude tests that determine what colleges you can get into. An aptitude test is supposed to predict a persons future performance, so the ACT is suppose to predict how well you will do in college. These test are not even that accurate on predicting a students future college grades. Studies show that the results correlate closely with early grades, but as the year progresses the correlation severely regresses. Also i don't agree with the way that they give the tests; they are all timed and multiple choice. Timed tests always make me even more nervous and unable to concentrate. I don't understand the necessity of timing the tests because not everyone can process things as fast as other people. They treat the tests as if everyone is the same.

I don't think there is anything we can do to fix this problem in society, at least not in the near future. Reforming would take a very long time because this is all our society knows and it's what we base our lives on. However, my friend Aubrey brought this idea to the table. In China their school system is set up completely different then ours. They have a primary education that all children attend. Then they have a secondary education which is divided into academic or vocational. If students want they can start training for medium level skilled workers in vocational school and they start training for their future jobs as a child, or they can go on to further their general education. I think this is a big benefit because different people are good at different things and they can excel in what they are good at. China is way ahead of us and already has everything figured out.

Warning!

I'm going off topic for the next few posts in order to share my views on societies definition of intelligence. We talk about intelligence as if we agree upon what it means. However, we don't.

"Psychologist debate weather we should define it as an inherent cognitive capacity, an achieved level of intellectual performance, or an ascribes quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder."-David G. Meyers

The fundamental question is whether intelligence is a general ability or several specific abilities. Robert Sternberg believes that we have multiple intelligences. He organized them into three general categories.
Analytical: found from intelligence tests
Creative: ability to generate novel ideas
Practical: "street smarts"

However, even though everyone is different and has different abilities society continues to only take into account our analytical intelligence. It would be difficult to measure other types of intelligence because of the convenience of standardized tests. If we wanted to change our way of thinking it would call for MAJOR reform. My next six post will be about my opinion on topics that deal with the different aspects of life that are based on societies definition of intelligence.

Feast of Love

This movie is about the almost mystical, enthralling, and sometimes painful aspects of Love. It captures the marval exchanges that take place between two people truely in love, that nobody really notices, and puts it on display. This movie will make you take a look at your own life and wonder...

Morgan Freeman plays an astute old man who knows exactly what is happening underneath the surface and just lets it all unfold. Greg Kinnear plays a conventionally mindless man who thinks he is in love but really has no clue. His wife, played by Selma Blair, doesn't relize her disinterest toward her husband untill she discovers her true love. However, he is so unobservant he doesn't even know what is going on right in front of his face. The movie include alot of intertwined love stories that all seem to connect in an intricate way.

The movie looks at love as it is simply an aspect of life. All of the relationships in this movie are affected in numerous ways and the reactions follow. Harry (Morgan Freeman) has been married to his wife for many years but their son dies and they have to cope with a different type of love lost. Bradley (Greg Kinnear) beleives in the power of beauty and true love. He is good at falling in love, but usually with the wrong women. Chloe and Oscar fall in love at first sight but have to deal with circumstances that are fighting against them.

The movie sound very dramatic and soap opera ish but it is much, much more. The forshadowing helps bring out the reality of the movie and shows the aspects of life that most people just look over. This movie brings these aspects out in the open for everyone to notice and think about.

Step Brtohers

Will Ferrell and and John C. Reilly team up to be a hilarious duo. They worked together in the movie Talladega Nights, which i wouldn't give as positive of a review however Step Brothers seems to be different. Step Brothers is a hilarious comedy that i was surprised to actually like. Usually i don't go for the dumb witted comic like movies that our society thrives on. However, this one seems to be different, it's just too funny to dislike.
The thing i like most about this movie, sadly, is their wardrobe. Every single shirt that they are wearing is hilarious and great. i honestly want to buy every single one of them.
This movie is about a thirty-nine year old and a forty year old who still live with their parents, who just happen to fall in love. Now these two men have to live together and go through comedic tales that make you laugh out loud. The two eventually learn a lesson from each other and figure out that they have to actually grow up. Of course this lesson can't be learned without many attempts to sabotage their parents wedding.
This is the kind of movie you watch if you want a good laugh but not if you are in serious movie watching mode. Like if you want to grovel at the amazing quality of a movie and how intricately it was made, then don't watch this one. It's definitely a circumstantial movie, that you have to be in the mood to for. It's not one of my top favorites but it's still a funny movie.