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.