The Mysterious World

I don’t think I would be able to step back and watch these kids struggle without lending them a hand. I understand that as a journalist, like Sonja Nazario was obligated to observe and expose the real story. However, I would not have the heart to watch a little boy struggle when I could easily help him. The pictures that she showed us were really touching. There were kids who had lost their legs and there were some with no arms. That is just devastating; these young children go through so much just to reunite with their parents who had left them. Many people think they’re crazy for doing it, and they tell them to go home and that they’re going to die, but the children don’t let that stop them. Also I think it took Sonja Nazario a lot of courage to retrace Enrique’s tracks because she had to go through some of the danger he had gone through. She mentioned that a thug tried to grab her and she had nightmares about being beaten, robbed, and raped. I am not that brave!! It was nice hearing from her and I understood a lot of what she was talking about because I actually read the book! Yay I have my exams tomorrow oh no goodbye forever.

EVERYONE IS SICK. I’m fairly certain, at least. I had made it this long without getting sick but apparently this is the end of my healthy road. Granted, I’m not actually THAT sick; it could be a lot worse. Just a cold, complete with the works: tired, headache, runny nose, and sore throat. Needless to say, I’ve been taking as many immune booster supplements and Emergen-C packs as I can get my hands on. I was debating signing up for the room-service from the caf anyways though, just for kicks.

Go Twins.

I hope you all made it to Sonja Nazario’s talk last night. I thought it was great. She was so passionate and I appreciated the fact that she had taken the trouble to find out some things about Minnesota’s experience with immigration issues even though she’s from California and is speaking at schools all over the country.

The last question and her response has really left me thinking. The issue of having to step back and observe things as a journalist so that you are telling the real story, unadulterated, not a story that you personally got involved in and altered, is an ethical dilemma for that profession that is pretty profound. While Nazario observed Enrique struggling to raise money to buy a phone card so he could call relatives and get his mother’s number – she had a cell phone in her pocket. She could have loaned it to him, and realized all that time how she could have made his life easier. Of course, had she given it to him, we wouldn’t realize through her recounting of his story how difficult it is for kids like Enrique to tackle even the simplest of needs when they have no money. It’s quite a gripping and thought-provoking ethical issue. What do you think?

I must say, the past few days the wind has been pretty incredible!  It’s so powerful!  Yesterday, I was getting my friend from across the hall for the rootbeer float party in Pittman, and I heard howling through the cracks of my door.  I decided to investigate.  As I turned the key and started to open the door I could feel the pressure of the wind.  Clearly, my roommate had left the windows open.  When I got in the room, three picture frames toppled over, my empty waterbottle flew across the room, and my closet door blew wide open!  Needless to say the windows are now shut.

I don’t know how many of you have under gone surgery but its not fun. This is actually my 3th time having some type of surgery on my face. You are probably wondering why, so heres my story. When I was a sophomore in HS I was at basketball tryouts. I dove for a ball and one of my teammates did also. He landed on my head. I jumped up only to see 4 of my teeth fall to the floor. I had just gotten my braces off so I was pretty upset. THEN, on my way to the ER, my mom fainted behind the wheel because of the blood. We crashed into a fence. I had to have a nose surgery, mouth surgery, several root canals and many other procedures. Now im home recovering from just another surgery. I didn’t have much else to talk about so I thought this would be a good story to tell.

Hey all. So the weekend is FINALLY here… even though the weeks have been going by pretty quickly. I have an insane amount of homework and studying to do with 2 tests coming up this week, but I still plan to enjoy my weekend! I just got back from the football game, which we lost.   But at least the team that beat us is one of the best! It’s hard to lose to St. John’s, though, because my sister went to St. Ben’s. Ah well, maybe next time! Plus we’ll beat them in hockey . I am once again sitting in the library, trying to focus. I found that I do well on the third floor, because I like the quiet, and not being able to talk helps me get more done! But so far I haven’t really done anything productive… time to get on that. See you soon.

So I went to my high school homecoming football game last night and we won!!  It was so good to see friends and catch up.  It was very different being alumni there.  It just wasn’t the same!  It didn’t feel as exciting as I remember it being.  That made me a little sad  But, i’m over it now.  I am looking forward to Gustavus’s homecoming and all the things that are going on that weekend!  It will hopefully  be more exciting than last night! Haha

This post at a blog about psychology and reading points out that people often “read into” what you’re reading (no pun intended, but it’s not a bad pun, come to think of it). Reporters love to list what the president is taking for vacation reading. Bill Clinton loved crime fiction; George Bush read mostly history; Barak Obama took two works of crime fiction to Martha’s Vinyard – George Pelecanos’s The Way Home and Richard Price’s Lush Life. The post goes on to talk about a bookstore that has started  a dating service by matching people who like similar books.

The bookstore dating service began when a friend of the owner spotted two books lying together behind the counter and immediately exclaimed, “‘tell me those are for the same guy, and please tell me he’s single!” When I was young, I remember being endlessly curious about the people who had taken a book out of the library before me. I would always pick the circulation card from of its snug manila pocket and peek at the previous borrowers. When was the book taken out last? What did the person’s signature look like? This is one of the things I miss about circulation cards, that fragile tie to the strangers who share our love of certain books.

There are now laws that keep what you’re reading private, and I wouldn’t have discovered my husband of thirty plus years based on reading tastes.  On the other hand, I have read the two crime fiction novels the president took on vacation and loved them both, so maybe if we weren’t both already married . . .

Of course this dating service wouldn’t work well for most college students since you’re too busy reading what you’re told to read to have much room for choice. You’d end up having to date people in your classes.

Well another week at Gustavus has past and it all keeps getting better and better! I love meeting tons of new people! I started gymnastics conditioning this week and so far it’s been pretty hard.  I’m really sore today But I’m so excited to start practicing! My best friend is also on her way up here right now, so I get to see her in about an hour! My roommate and some of my friends all went home for the weekend but i live to far away to just go home for the weekend! I do miss my dog though!!! I think everyone misses their pets! Everyone says they love rain but I don’t feel the same way.  I hate rain, for me it just sets this mood for the day.  I just feel happier when it’s sunny! Rain, Rain, Go Away!! I had my first chemistry test of the year, I’ll let you know how it went when I see what I got on it! I hope everyone has a good weekend!

This weekend I am going home for Homecoming!!! This should be very exciting because I get to watch some of my senior guys beat Roseville and become 4-0.  Also, I get to see my parents and siblings and i’m very happy to see them because I get texts and calls almost everyday from them saying they miss me.  My first couple of weeks at GAC have been good.  Not to much homework and have met some good people, thats really all you can ask for haha.  Finishing this final draft on time is going to be difficult because I have Biology and Sociology homework, but hopefully, I can get it turned in on time! Hope everyone has a great weekend, I know I will