tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48879530419628005972024-03-13T13:18:06.252-07:00Ramblings of a Starving Creative Writer Ramblings of a starving author & bookwormM. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.comBlogger157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-70317503843682465882017-08-21T19:34:00.003-07:002017-08-21T19:34:50.177-07:00A Book from all Around the World I thought this was just awesome! I've always wanted to feel like a "well-rounded reader" and be well-versed about literature from around the world, and this list seems pretty comprehensive.<br />
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If anyone has any books they think should be added, please let me know in the comments section!<br />
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https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist/M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-90083400627209284022017-03-18T20:51:00.003-07:002017-03-18T21:04:26.664-07:00I REALLY wanted to love Disney's Live Action Beauty & the Beast...Truly I did. <br />
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But I couldn't. <br />
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Let me explain. I have adored Beauty & the Beast since I was 2 years old. Since it came out in 1991, I have been enamored with the music, animation, story & characters in that particular Disney classic. <br />
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I even have my original pillow case from the bedsheet set my mom bought me when I was 5 years old. I have watched the 1991 Beauty and the Beast probably well over a million times. So much so, that I have even the instrumental melodies and harmonies memorized, in addition to the lines of dialogue. If you say to me one phrase from the movie, I could tell you exactly what is going on in the scene, what each character was wearing at the time and what instruments are playing in the background. <br />
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Basically, I know my Beauty & the Beast stuff. I think I'm a pretty fair judge as to what is a good and what is a bad interpretation of the classic fairytale. And Disney did SUCH an amazing job on the animated version, that it was nominated for an Academy Award. Yeah, it was <b>that </b>good. <br />
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So when I found out that they were doing the live action version, featuring one of my favorite actresses, (Emma Watson) an actor I adore from Downton Abbey (Dan Stevens) and a fabulous actor from the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug & Five Armies (Luke Evans), I was absolutely beside myself with excitement. Though, I knew they would make some changes and additions to the original, I was hopeful. Emma physically & personality-wise was <i>perfect </i>for the role. Dan Stevens has the piercing blue eyes that the Beast has in addition to having a beautiful voice. Luke Evans has the ruggedness and gusto to bring to the role of Gaston. <br />
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I was thrilled to see it last night with my husband. And then... it started. And it didn't start the way I thought it would. <br />
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Now before I get into the things I had a problem with, I'll tell you the things that I thought they did spectacularly well. I thought Dan Stevens did a great job. I thought visually, the live action adaptation was stunning. The castle, the costumes were beautiful. I think personality wise and physically, (as I said before) Emma Watson was a perfect Belle, though she is no professional singer & there were a few moments she overacted. Those things I didn't mind, honestly. <br />
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Now here are the things I <i>did </i>have a problem with. <br />
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Instead of a narrator with a rich, mysterious voice speaking slowly and emphasizing words, it was someone who I felt like sped-read the whole opening and gave WAY more information than was necessary. Instead of a variation of the original's beautiful stain glass that tells us the story of how the prince was spoiled and then cursed by an enchantress, they make the opening scenes gaudy and change the prince's character to being a bit of a party animal, instead of him just being selfish and unkind. I wasn't expecting them to do the stain glass like the original, but I was hoping they'd do something like beautiful tapestries or impressionist paintings to depict the opening. You know, making it their own thing while paying homage to the original. <br />
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But no...<br />
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And then it all went downhill from there. <br />
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The dialogue was clunky, the editing atrocious and the new songs they wrote for the live-action adaptation didn't fit. I was expecting them to add in the songs from the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast like "If I Can't Love Her," and "Home." I was also expecting to have the song "Human Again," which was cut from the animated version for the sake of time & pacing. <br />
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I also felt like Luke Evans portrayal of Gaston wasn't rude enough. What I <i>loved</i> in the Broadway version of Beauty & the Beast is that the three babettes (the three dim-witted girls who fawn all over Gaston) are all sad that Gaston's going to marry Belle. But Gaston tells them basically, "don't worry girls. We can still have our fun together," with a little wink. WOW. He just became THAT much more of a swine. In the animated version, it seemed like he liked the attention the three girls gave him, but in the end he was obsessed with Belle. In the Broadway version, it <b>really</b> shows Gaston as a womanizer and a pig. I was looking forward to seeing more of that in the live action version. <br />
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Though Gaston had his awful moments, one of which punching Maurice in the face and leaving him for dead, I wanted more of his terrible-ness to be shown in front of Belle. I just felt like he should've really laid it on thick, because his behavior towards Belle just wasn't good enough for me. <br />
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Another thing that disappointed me was the subplot of "Where's Belle's mother? And how did she die?" This really served no purpose or usefulness in furthering the story at all, and was just a waste of time in the end.<br />
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In Robin McKinley's novel interpretation of Beauty and the Beast entitled, <u>Beauty</u>, the subplot was that Beauty <i>hates </i>her nickname because she doesn't think she's beautiful at all. She doesn't think she's <b>ugly </b>but she thinks she's plain and that nickname of 'Beauty' embarrasses her. So when she meets the Beast, there's a parallelism that happens. Beast <b>knows </b>he's not handsome and has no mirrors in his whole castle apart from one (which one do you think that would be?), and Beauty <b>believes </b>to not be a ravishing beauty. So at the end of the story when she finally sees herself in a mirror after Beast transforms, she realizes she <i>is </i>beautiful and sees the beauty that Beast saw in her the whole time, which Beauty learns to see the beauty in the Beast.<br />
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MUCH MUCH better subplot than "How did Belle's mother die?" You know, there's stuff that's called, "useless exposition," or "expository dialogue," that just bothers me. And the live action version of Beauty and the Beast was <b>chalked full </b>of useless expository dialogue. <br />
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For example, every body was making comments on how "why is it snowing at this Beast's castle when it's in the middle of June?" Um.. first off, in the animated version it was clearly autumn, so naturally when it transitions from leaves blowing off trees to snow on the ground at the Beast's castle, it's kind of logical that that would happen. <br />
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But let's say, for the sake of this reinterpretation that in the village where Belle and Maurice are at, it's June. Then they wind up at the Beast's castle and there's snow everywhere. Knowing that the castle and Beast are enchanted, wouldn't it make sense that the grounds of the castle would be enchanted as well? And that the evidence that they're all under a curse would be snow? You don't have to talk about "how strange it is that there's snow on the ground when it's June!" ๐๐ Um... the castle's enchanted.... duh. I don't need you to constantly remind me of that through stupid comments about the weather being different at the castle than in the village. <br />
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Now, you might say, "Why is that such a big deal?" Well, I guess it isn't. But I do take offense when directors or screenwriters think I'm stupid and can't read between the lines in the narrative. As a writer myself and a storyteller, you learn early on that your readers are smarter than you think and giving them a bunch of exposition that you can simply give subtle hints about is going to piss them off and make them feel like you don't think they're smart at all. <br />
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I could go on with other examples of things that bothered my like the transformation, that they could've REALLY gone all out for, but the camera pans away for half of it and then when the Beast is finally human, neither Belle nor he say anything.That's awkward. <br />
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You know what would've been nice? Having Belle and Beast share the same dialogue as in the original and then Belle telling him, "I don't even know your real name." and Beast replying something along the lines of, "It's been too long and I can't remember. You give me a new name." Or something like that. A little shout out to Robin McKinley's <u>Beauty</u>. <br />
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And then there's the enchantress that was hidden in town that randomly shows up at the end, but nobody sees or mentions the fact that "hey! That's the enchantress that cast the spell!" It's just a pointless thread in the movie that should've been cut. <br />
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And then there's the over emphasis on Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth and so forth instead of on Belle and Beast's friendship and love story. I'm sure that Disney felt that since they got so many big name cast members to play these minor roles, they needed to give them more screen time. But, here's the problem with that; it takes away from the WHOLE HEART-TUGGING main plot. When Beast dies, the camera pans over to all these minor characters turning into lifeless objects... well you kind of just sucked out all the emotionally charged feelings from the air, and turned it into a melodrama. Sorry, but in the animated feature, it was perfectly acceptable that the camera shifts over to where Lumiere, Mrs. Potts & Cogsworth see the last petal fall, and they're crying. Instead, they turned it into this long, overdramatic thing where I'm not feeling any sadness or grief over the Beast dying or Belle crying over his dead body. In the original, I WEPT at that part. In this one, I was bored. <br />
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If they wanted to have Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, the Wardrobe (etc) to be in the spotlight a little more, why did they not include the song, "Human Again," that Disney cut from the original animated film? <br />
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Basically, the dialogue was stilted, the additions unnecessary, and I really felt like they could've done a better job in picking the subplot of the movie being Belle's body image issues and in the end, realizing the beauty that she always had at the same moment of Beast's transformation. <br />
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Maybe I'm suffering from the Hindsight Syndrome of "I could've done it better!" after something has already been done. But the fact is that, movies like Batman vs Superman & Captain America Civil War had massive criticisms when they were actually, very good movies. The problem is people becoming lazy and not wanting to read between the lines in the narrative. A movie isn't just about being entertaining, unless it's Fast & the Furious, I guess. But I don't consider those to be "entertaining" so much as "brain heroin." <br />
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A movie should have 3 things: <br />
1. Make you feel uplifted--leaving you better than when you went in<br />
2. A place you've never been before <br />
3. A story with some substance <br />
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And the fact is that I felt like watching the Beauty and the Beast live action was like listening to a symphony by Mozart and every 5 minutes the orchestra hits the wrong note. It should be beautiful, inspiring, uplifting but they can't get the music in tune! <br />
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You're more than welcome to disagree with me. If you liked it or even loved it, that's fine. But after seeing it, I just can't get on the bandwagon. Fact is, Disney needs to STOP doing live action version of their classic movies. They have yet to do one that is satisfactory, and why would you do a remake when the originals are perfect? It makes no sense. They need to go back to doing more original stories with original music and classic hand-drawn animation. Not any of this 3D Frozen crap. That takes no talent whatsoever to do. <br />
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Feel free to leave love, or hate if that's how you roll! Maybe I'm just a picky son of a B. Or maybe I just expect better quality from a multi-billion dollar company that has access to hundreds of talented writers. I just wish this time around, I was one of them. <br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-22047213874260487572017-01-12T16:05:00.001-08:002017-01-12T16:08:54.180-08:00A Writer's Experience With Depression I decided to finally make this blog more focused on my writing again. The title after all is Ramblings of a Starving Creative Writer, so I figured I should probably post things in accordance to that. <br />
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Anyway, I wanted to write a little bit about my experience that I've had (and continue to have) with going through a depression as an aspiring author with several book projects being juggled all at once. <br />
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I mentioned on my facebook how I crashed into a mini depression as soon as I moved from the States to Canada. Long story short, my husband's Canadian and we needed to move back to Canada in order for us to be together and for him to get his Master's degree cheaply. <br />
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I went from working a full-time job at a global magazine, constantly reading and voraciously writing chapter after chapter in my adult mystery, adult ghost story and young adult fantasy novels. I was probably flying at my highest when it came to goals and accomplishing them. <br />
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Fast forward to August of 2016. About five months ago. Me and my husband make the move to Canada and I'm unable to work until I get permanent residency (which, let me tell you takes FOREVER). We lived with his parents for a month then moved in to our new place which we've been in since September. I thought that maybe my lack of motivation in writing was due to all the stress of a new environment, not having access to my own computer (since I did a lot of my writing on my work computer) as well as just the fact that it took us a while to unpack everything and get settled into our new place. <br />
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Well, October comes and goes. Then November. Then December. And my mood and way of life aren't changing. We moved to a small town an hour away from a big city. My husband has a car he needs to use for work, which leaves me without any means of transporting myself anywhere outside of this town of about 3,000 people. <br />
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Needless to say, I've had several meltdowns since about November. I had such a fire ignited within me to write and to read, and I have done a fair amount of reading but not like I did when I was in the States. I thought FOR SURE having the free time I have right now I'd have at least 2 books written by now and revising them and looking for an agent. <br />
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But no. Mostly it's just empty pages. It's a flashdrive I haven't picked up in months. It's chapters that are unwritten. It's a brain that used to be flooding with ideas that now can barely tell her fingers to type a sentence. In addition to the painful and crippling disappointment comes the shame and absolute and utter self-loathing. <br />
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I've spent the past few weeks trying to figure out what's wrong with me. I've searched YouTube videos and kindle books to try to find authors who struggle with depression and how they don't let it affect their writing. <br />
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What I found was comforting but I wanted <em>more</em>. With the new year, I decided that I desperately needed to change something. I wasted 4 months of what could have been solid writing, solid improvement, solid <em>progression</em>. <br />
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So I'm writing this blog post in the hopes that I can help other fellow writers who struggle with what I struggle with as well. Or really, <em>any </em>artist. Any musician, any designer, any poet, any photographer etc. who have struggled with depression. <br />
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I really do feel like we writers (or we artists/creative folk) are both blessed and cursed at the same time. We are blessed because we feel deeply and passionately about our craft--about telling stories. But we're cursed because of our deep seeded emotions, they can turn on us like a tidal wave, and it's excruciatingly difficult to overcome it. <br />
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I'm not fully back to my normal self yet. Far from it, in fact, though I've hidden it from almost all of my family members and friends until now. <br />
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But I will list a few things that have helped me just attempt to get back in the saddle again as far as my writing goes. <br />
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1. <u>Force yourself to just do it, no matter how little you end up accomplishing.</u> <br />
By celebrating these simple achievements, and by simply <em>writing</em> you'll at least not feel like a total failure. I wrote 204 words yesterday of an outline for my young adult fantasy novel. 204 words. For a bloody <strong>outline</strong>. But I did it. I wrote 204 words, which is 204 words more than I've written in over 3 months. And I felt slightly better about myself after the fact. And you will too if you just wrench yourself from your couch or your bed or wherever it is you spend the majority of your time instead of writing and just WRITE. Force yourself to until you get into the habit of it. Someone told me it takes 28 days of doing something to make it into a habit. I'm on day 2. How bout you? <br />
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2. <u>Don't beat yourself up about everything.</u> <br />
This is something I'm the Jedi master of. Seriously. It's a BAD JEDI MIND TRICK that gets me EVERY TIME. But there is a way to move past it. Part of it I mentioned in #1 which is celebrating small victories. If you can only get out 200 words, treat yourself. If it's 20 or 2, give yourself a pat on the bat, or allow yourself one episode of Netflix/Amazon prime, or buy yourself a smoothie or ANYTHING that gives yourself positive reinforcement. You know how they train dogs to do tricks by offering them food at the end? Well, it kinda works with us humans as well. If you give yourself a reward after you try and exert yourself, you will feel better about yourself and your life. Trust me, I'm trying to do that right now. Be kind to yourself. If you want to end up in the black hole where you're at right now, then listen to that douchey jerky voice telling you that you suck or you've failed. Tell that voice to shove it and promptly turn on the Force Theme by John Williams. Star Wars music has a way of empowering just about anyone, I've found. <br />
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3. <u>Change up your routine/scenery</u><br />
This is something I'm trying to do now. Because of my husband's schedule, there are random times during the day where he's at home and distracting me. Though I love him and love spending time with him, I just can't write when he's in the house. I need complete and utter solitude in order to do that. I tried writing at home when he's not there, and it sort of worked, but having to use his work laptop can sometimes be problematic. Especially when he has to use it. So I go to the library. It's only a few blocks away from my house, and even in the cold, pathetic wasteland of a winter we're having right now, it's not so bad to walk to. I'm only technically allowed an hour on the library computers, but I'm kind of friends with the library staff so they let me work a little longer than that if it's not busy. Changing things up a bit will greatly help stimulate your creative juices. Though I'm not a fan of the sloppy, bulky keyboard, I'm at least able to be in an environment that I'm not too relaxed in, or tempted to turn on the T.V. or distracted by a spouse. <br />
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4. <u>Make sure your sleep schedule isn't whacked</u><br />
Going to bed at midnight and getting up at 10 or 11 in the morning is fun for a day or two, but then it really starts to make you feel like a zombie. Especially if you're struggling with depression. I'm still working on this but going to bed by 10 and getting up around 8 or 9 will definitely help you a) have more hours in the day where you can get a lot more done and b) help your mind to be more sharp and focused. When I'm not on a sleeping schedule like I was when I was working full-time, I don't get hardly anything done. So make sure you're going to bed at a decent hour and eating healthy at least 3 times a day. The simple things are what helps your mental health, trust me.<br />
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So far that's all I've tried doing to help me in my depression to continue working towards finishing one of my books. If you have any suggestions or additions that you'd like to see on this blog post, please comment below. I'm still struggling with this so I absolutely welcome others' experiences, whether they're yours or someone you know. <br />
<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-42849512663885920902016-07-22T10:18:00.002-07:002016-07-22T10:21:00.830-07:00Make America Sane Again So, I know I've certainly been very vocal about politics lately. To be honest, it's been hard lately <i>not </i>to be.<br />
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I'm sure that people are getting sick of it, but you know what, I'm frankly getting sick of the same old things people have been posting about as well which is why I've decided to write a little blog about it.<br />
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I've already expressed concerns about the GOP candidates. Hilary Clinton is dishonest, elitist, self-entitled & self-serving while Donald Trump is a racist, outrageous, inflammatory failed businessman. I could not, in good conscious, vote for either one. It would be, and I may sound like I'm overreacting and perhaps I am, voting between <b>two evils</b>.<br />
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I've said this before & I'll say it again, that when you vote for the lesser of two evils, <b>you are still voting for evil</b>.<br />
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However, when you vote for a good candidate, even if they have <u>no</u> chance of winning, this country will be blessed for it because it means that we are still exercising our liberty to vote for good.<br />
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Which is where I will introduce Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, and the man that I will be voting for in the presidential election.<br />
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Though I may not agree with everything on his platform, I certainly agree with him on the most pressing matters like education, term limits for Senators, and changing our strategy in fighting ISIS (because Obama is certainly failing on <i>that </i>front as well as others).<br />
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The reason why I'm talking about this so much is because I want Gary Johnson to be in the presidential debates. Right now, he is polling 11% and needs to be at least 15% in order to participate.<br />
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I know, it seems quite banal to endorse a presidential candidate, and it seems like I may be suffering from "hero worship," but honestly it's more of an act of desperation. I <i>don't </i>want Trump to be president. I <i>don't </i>want Hilary to be president. I want change, but I don't want <b>radical </b>change.<br />
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We haven't had a Libertarian president, but I think it's about time we see if it's a good option. And it's only 4 years, so if you don't like his policies, you can vote as many Hilarys and Donalds as you want.<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-13596189190549477862016-06-17T10:24:00.002-07:002016-06-17T10:43:34.373-07:00Retirement plans <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/01/pf/expert/retirement-savings/" target="_blank">http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/01/pf/expert/retirement-savings/</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.navyfederal.org/retirement/beginning-to-save/checklist.php" target="_blank">https://www.navyfederal.org/retirement/beginning-to-save/checklist.php</a>M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-48514515276281993162016-05-10T11:46:00.000-07:002016-05-10T11:46:35.417-07:00Writing Tools <a href="http://queryshark.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Query Shark</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.writingexcuses.com/" target="_blank">Podcasts about Writing </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://misssnark.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">First Pages to Query Letters </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://writerunboxed.com/" target="_blank">The Craft and Business of Fiction </a><br />
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<a href="https://chmcfarland.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Caitlyn McFarland Writer </a>M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-90732462657456042222016-04-28T14:40:00.000-07:002016-04-28T14:56:44.580-07:00Future Travel Writing Workshops <a href="http://www.murphywriting.com/writing-getaways/get-away-to-write-scotland-writing-retreat.html" target="_blank">Scotland Writing Getaway</a><br />
<a href="http://www.murphywriting.com/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.murphywriting.com/index.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.thecreativewritersworkshop.com/?p=study-abroad-ireland" target="_blank">Study Abroad in Ireland</a><br />
<a href="http://www.thecreativewritersworkshop.com/?p=writing-retreats-workshops" target="_blank">Ireland Workshop</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.icelandwritersretreat.com/" target="_blank">Iceland Writers Retreat </a><br />
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<a href="http://www.awakeintheworld.com/" target="_blank">Swiss Alps Yoga and Writing Retreat </a><br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-75592996717928861392016-04-07T15:42:00.001-07:002016-04-07T15:52:24.779-07:00Rejoicing In Spite of the GOP CandidatesI know many are probably raising their eyebrows a bit at the title, I promise I'll try to make this post as unbiased as possible with as little political diatribes as I can muster. This is actually supposed to be an uplifting, spiritual post and I hope that those who support any of the GOP candidates will bear with me until the end for the punchline of this blog post.<br />
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I have nothing personal against Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. If you endorse any or all of them, that's just fine. This post isn't meant to make you change your mind or persuade you in voting for or against anyone in particular and it's <i>certainly </i>not meant to insult or offend anyone, though I'm sure I'll already be doing that inadvertently anyway, because to have an opinion means to offend <i>someone </i>at some point in time.<br />
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Anyway, to get to the point. I have long been worried about the future of this country of which I am a part of. The education system is abominable (see No Child Left Behind & Common Core), as we are number 24 on the PISA assessment in math and reading (a global education rankings test) leaving us behind countries like Australia and Canada. Our foreign relations policies are atrocious, and don't even get me started on these small interest groups on college campuses asking for "safe spaces" (sorry, is the 1st Amendment still in force today? Or did I miss a meeting?) or Black Lives Matter (If you want to get people involved in a cause that is against racism, shouldn't you at least make the title of your group more ethnically inclusive?).<br />
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But I digress. The current candidates in the GOP running is kind of the straw that's broken the camel's back for me lately. Like I said before, I'm not going to be rude or judgmental of Trump, Sanders or Clinton, but I will say what concerns me about <i>all </i>of them.<br />
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1. Trump<br />
His entire campaign has been steeped in controversy and frankly, verbal violence against loads of people (see Serge Kovaleski, Megyn Kelly and Ted Cruz to name a few). I am not a fan of celebrity worshiping nor am I a fan of political party worship (see every single daggum celebrity in Hollywood or the music industry who are incredibly vocal about the Democratic party but immediately ostracizes and demonizes others who belong to a different political party) and this issue with Trump (and Sanders & Clinton) is no different. People get caught up with his idioms and catchphrases like "Make America Great Again," that they are blind to some deep flaws and foibles in his character. I'm not saying that the President of the United States needs to be perfect, but I am saying that the President needs to hold some standard of dignity and grace. Though I don't agree with Obama's politics, and I have criticized several of his policies, President Obama does hold some dignity and has strived for peaceable dialogue, even though I may not agree with his dialogue, I haven't heard anything truly inflammatory like I hear on a regular basis from Trump. Whether or not he'll be a good president if he gets elected, I don't know. He may surprise us yet. But my concerns with him are numerous in regards to him saying anything and everything that comes to his mind without thinking about the consequences they might bring and the fact that everything that comes to his mind is derogatory and sometimes hateful.<br />
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2. Sanders<br />
This may come as a surprise to some people, since I've been rather quiet on the political discourse on Facebook, that I don't support Bernie Sanders. I've never felt "the bern" as his supporters have coined the phrase. If you like him, that's fine. I'm not saying I <i>don't </i>like him. He's certainly deserving of respect and common decency like all the other candidates. What I am saying is, he wouldn't be a good choice at all. I don't agree with his politics, and here's just one example why:<br />
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Free college--Let me explain something here. I don't remember much from my Economics class I took my senior year of high school, but I do remember this: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Meaning, when people promise you free stuff, it is never truly <i>free</i>. If celebrities are a part of a fundraising campaign like omaze.com, and they promise you an all-expenses paid weekend to the premiere of such-and-such movie, you <b>have </b>to donate <i>something </i>to their campaign in order for you to even be considered as winning. If, on a smaller scale, the monopoly game is happening at McDonalds, even if you get a free small french fry on your large Diet Coke, you still had to pay for the Diet Coke. Does that make sense? The fact is, free college would never work. Not in a million years. It is a socialist dream that will die as quickly as it is put into place. Canada has a constitutional monarchy and has implemented socialist programs into their government, like free health care and subsidized universities. Note that I said <i>subsidized </i>not free. Canada is much more socialist than we are and you still have to pay tuition each year. If free college would be put into effect, it would bankrupt the country.<br />
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There are other reasons why I'm not feeling "the Bern" and never will but this blog post is already too long. Fact is, Bernie Sanders is a nice guy and I actually do appreciate him wanting parental leave but if he were to get into office, he would increase the power of the federal government by 40%. <b>40%</b>. Since when has governmental involvement been a good thing? Since never. It's already screwed up our education and health system when it should've been protecting us from ISIS and terrorism which is it's number 1 priority (our safety). The federal government shouldn't be a micro-managing nanny, but apparently no one else is bothered by that except me.<br />
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3. Clinton<br />
I don't think I need to go into detail why I'm not feeling "the Hill," but if I need to defend why I'm not a fan, I'll just give you a few words. Benghazi. Email Scandal. Clinton Foundation. Hillary Clinton may not be steeped in controversial hate speech like Trump, but she is steeped in fraud charges and is currently under investigation by the FBI. You're more than entitled to vote for her, but I personally don't think she's honest and couldn't trust her with my vote let alone my tax dollars.<br />
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So this brings me to my original point for writing this blog post as something that's more positive than negative. As you can tell, I've been thinking about these 3 candidates a lot and it's been eating away at me for weeks and weeks. I've prayed a lot and studied a lot and hoped that I could get some kind of answer as to what I should do about all of this, how to process it all and how to combat the shadiness (GOP candidates) to the evil (ISIS) that has been happening.<br />
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Today, I finally got my answer. I was singing in a meeting today the hymn, "Now Let Us Rejoice." I've always liked the song, but there are definitely some other favorites that come before it. But today, for reasons mentioned above, the lyrics struck me in a way that brought tears to my eyes. The last verse says:<br />
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In faith we'll rely on the arm of Jehovah<br />
To guide through these last days of trouble and gloom<br />
And after the scourges and harvest are over<br />
We'll rise with the just when the Savior doth come<br />
Then all that was promised, the Saints will be given<br />
And they will be crowned with the angels of heav'n<br />
And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden<br />
And Christ and His people will ever be one<br />
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The part that really got me was <i>In faith we'll rely on the arm of Jehovah to guide through these last days of trouble and gloom</i>. And though to some the days aren't that troublesome or gloomy, to me recently they certainly have been. As I worry about the refugee crisis, ISIS, the education system, the corruption that always happens when men and women thirst for power, internal unrest with the American people, it's clear to me that these days are <u>full</u> of trouble and gloom. But, having said that and it being the title of the song I chose, <i>now let us rejoice in the day of salvation</i>.<br />
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We can still rejoice, even in spite of everything going on. That's not to say we can get complacent with the things that go on in this country and around the world, we still have much work to do to combat the evil and inhumanity in the world. But we can still "<i>rely on the arm of Jehovah</i>" and know that He will guide us "<i>through these last days of trouble and gloom</i>."<br />
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I know that God loves us, that He loves you and me and yes Trump, Sanders and Clinton (obviously). We are all His children and I know He won't leave us alone. And though secret combinations and Gadianton Robbers will arise in our own days, Heavenly Father is on our side and the Savior Jesus Christ, and they will not abandon us to our foes.<br />
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Hopefully I didn't hurt anyones feelings who truly like any of the above people mentioned, I'm simply trying to say that there are much better individuals than these. And to remind those who say they're going to choose the "lesser of the two evils," you are still choosing evil.<br />
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To quote Ezra Taft Benson, "<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "open sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.8px;">If you vote for the lesser of two evils you are still voting for evil and you will be judged for it. You should always vote for the best possible candidate, whether they have a chance of winning or not, and then, even if the worst possible candidate wins, the Lord will bless our country more because more people were willing to stand up for what is right." </span><br />
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That is all, thanks for reading :)<br />
xoxo<br />
Megatron<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-67172509436916739542015-09-03T09:31:00.001-07:002015-09-03T09:31:47.015-07:00The Monstrosity that is the Music IndustryI already knew the music industry was in a downward spiral since... well... forever but especially since the 90s. But after just a few pictures an one video about this past VMAs (Video Music Awards) I am completely <i>appalled</i> and <b>disgusted</b>.<br />
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What the freak is this crap that these people are pumping out? From Miley Cyrus's flagrantly slutty behavior <i>and </i>outfit <i>and </i>performance to some of the most inappropriate music videos by Nick Jonas and heaven only knows the name of the other idiots with a recording studio....<br />
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<b>What. the. hell. </b><br />
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I'm sorry, but that is warranted right now. Do these people think that they're making music or making porn videos with a soundtrack? I'm not usually one who pays much attention to Pink, but what she said about the VMAs was actually spot on:<br />
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<i>I felt sad because music is supposed to inspire. It saved my life. This trash won't save any kid's life. In a world that is even scarier and with lives still worth saving, who will stand up and have soul? Disenfranchised to say the least. Let down by my industry and peers [...] [it was] gross and embarrassing and hard for this pop star to believe. </i><br />
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And for once, I'm surprised to say I find myself agreeing with Pink. Music <i>can </i>be fun and I certainly have had my share of Andy Grammar, the Beach Boys, Blink-182 and Parachute. I am all for the upbeat, funny music that I love.<br />
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However, along with the fun videos and fun music there needs to be some substance somewhere. Especially when musicians and others in a state of power have the means and the influence to <b>change the world for the better. </b><br />
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Lindsey Stirling has incorporated many positive uplifting things in her music videos, calling attention to poor kids with little means who want to be musicians, helping others realize that they should pursue their talents and dreams and so forth while still being fun and positive.<br />
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Sara Bareilles has since rereleased her song, "Brave" in honor of the documentary about Linda Vasquez called "Brave Heart" which calls to attention about bullying.<br />
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Katie Melua wrote the song, "Spider's Web" about the Iraq war and donated all the proceeds of that single to the charity, Save the Children after the civil war and tsunami that took place there.<br />
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Amy Lee of Evanescence donated all proceeds of her single "Together Again" to help with the Haiti earthquakes that happened not to mention depicting in her music videos time and time again the shallowness and emptiness of the music industry and pop culture. ex. Everybody's Fool and Going Under.<br />
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I'm sure there are others that I've overlooked. But <i>that </i>is what I believe music <b>should do. </b>Yes, it is to entertain, like movies, books and TV, but it should also call to attention real issues that are going on. Stephen King said, "Fiction is the truth inside of the lie."<br />
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That should be said for <i>all </i>forms of "fiction." Music, music videos, movies, TV shows, books etc. But all I can see is that the music industry is producing a "lie inside of the lie." There's no truth in any of the crap they've pumped out.<br />
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Let me just give a brief example by listing the titles and or lyrics to some of the songs nominated:<br />
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Arctic Monkeys-Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High-- well, not much room for the imagination <i>there </i>as part of the lyrics describing a person who only calls/texts them when they're high. I'm assuming he's <b>not </b>implying that they're "high on life" but rather that they're actually high on drugs. Exhibit A.<br />
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Nicki Minaj-Anaconda-- I'm not gonna go into the lyrics since the title speaks for itself. Needless to say it's disgustingly overtly sexual, anti-feminist, disrespectful to both men AND women, and just plain <i>stupid</i>. Exhibit B.<br />
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The Weekend-Earned It-- UGH. This music video SUCKS. It's full of sex! Not to mention this was featured on the Fifty Shades of Gray soundtrack. Nuff' said. Exhibit C.<br />
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I could go on but if the actual music videos being shown weren't bad enough, it was the <i>performances </i>that were absolutely despicable, banal, hedonistic, abhorrent, cheap and straight up <b>gross</b>.<br />
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And <i>these people </i>are the ones shaping the impressionable young minds of the millennials and future generations? With their empty lyrics and their crappy hooks?<br />
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I'm disgusted by both the <b>music industry </b>and the <b>musicians </b>who take part in this desensitization to morals who are encouraging lack of responsibility for actions and lack of respect to men and women. <br />
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Maybe I'm too opinionated for my own good. Maybe I just need to not take everything so seriously and look for things that are wrong around me. But I can't help it. If I see something I don't like or don't agree with, I have to say something.<br />
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I've always been repulsed by the music industry and by the music that is produced in the genres of pop, hip-hop and rap, really even extending to my genres I love like rock. But I'm even more so recently just with the conduct and music that were displayed there.<br />
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And that is my rant. It will most likely go unnoticed along with the other things I've blogged about. I blog about positive things and it gets ignored. I blog about controversial stuff, and all of a sudden <i>everyone </i>has an opinion.<br />
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Whatever.<br />
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At least it's out there, and I feel better getting it off my chest.M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-47746686039418679232015-08-18T10:59:00.000-07:002015-11-23T13:36:47.937-08:00The Death of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Resurrection of Creativity So I guess this blog has been less about my adventures in writing and reading and more about my opinions on life and hot topics of today.<br />
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I'm fine with that, but I guess I should probably separate blogging for writing and reading only and another blog where I can actually state opinions on a wide variety of topics.<br />
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To jump right into it, I've been increasingly more concerned that many Americans are becoming more and more concerned about certain types of flags being flown from the South, lions being killed in other countries, and celebrities getting their iclouds hacked than <i>real </i>and incredibly <i>crucial </i>subjects that are directly affecting us as a culture, as a society, and as a country.<br />
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In reading many articles from the Huffington Post, the Smithsonian Magazine, and watching TED talks, I've become increasingly concerned about the decline, or better yet, failing of our public school systems, and even some of our colleges.<br />
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I call for a revolution, and I call for it right <b>now</b>.<br />
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Here are the things I do not agree with as far as education goes, and some of the reasons for why education needs to be changeed. Later, I'll actually write down a list of my ideas I've gleaned from Sir Ken Robinson, who's written books and assisted school districts & other school systems in reforming education, as well as from Finland's education system that has been in the top five ranked best education systems in the <i>world</i>.<br />
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But first, I'll tell you my reasons for why I want a revolution in our education. And I'll start with two stories to show you from my own experiences in middle school for a sampling of what is wrong with the way we educate.<br />
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1. I was 12 years old, in my sixth grade sex ed class, with an atrocious P.E. teacher. Hard-nosed, narrow-minded, monotonous woman, but I didn't really think much of her until a particular day when we were discussing, with wonderful detailed pictures, the effects of gonorrhea and chlamydia. I was even <i>more </i>grateful that this class occurred just before lunch! Anyway, I was blissfully ignoring this woman who was talking about all manner of disgusting things. Because I had already been taught about sex from my parents, I figured the lesson didn't apply to me and had my nose buried in a library book. It was a wonderful mystery book entitled <i>The Doll in the Garden </i>by Mary Dawning Hahn. As I was reading, I noticed that it was eerily quiet around me, but I was so enthralled in the characters I hardly notice if there's a mushroom cloud outside my window, let alone if a teacher is staring daggers at me. Which this teacher was. I finally realized what was going on when a <i>classmate </i>poked me in the side to get my attention. This "teacher" said nothing. Just stared at me till I closed my book. She didn't gracefully come over to my desk, whisper in my ear for other classmates not to hear, that I should refrain from reading till the end of class. She didn't wait till the end of class to pull me aside privately to let me know that though reading is admirable, there's a time and a place for it like Miss Stacey did with Anne Shirley in <i>Anne of Green Gables</i>. Oh no! She treated me as if I had just committed a criminal offense. For reading a library book. In the middle of a nauseating sex ed class. Now I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with sex ed and I'm not saying that me reading during a class is at all admissible. What I <i>am </i>saying is that when a good student who never gets into any fights or has never seen the inside of detention is found <b>reading a book </b>in the middle of a class that is <b>obviously uncomfortable</b> a little slack would be appreciated. Not to mention the fact that I'm sure if I were a teacher, I would <i>kill </i>for those types of "behavioral problems" of reading a book in class instead of paying attention as opposed to throwing paper airplanes, fighting, talking over me, or pulling pranks. Please. This teacher had no idea how to handle a classroom situation of the like, and would rather that I stare at the effects of crabs on a projector, than increase my vocabulary and broaden my intellectual horizons and as a result, strengthen my self-awareness, self-confidence and self-worth that is needed in situations that could PREVENT me from making bad choices like irresponsibly sleeping with a guy I don't know. I speak for myself, obviously. The point is, (sorry this became more of a rant), where are our priorities? On education or indoctrination? On lesson plans or learning?<br />
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2.) This is a more positive story (though sad when you think about it). I was 14 in the same middle school, in the eighth grade. I had found a marvelous English teacher whose name I can't recall, but I will never forget her. She engrossed me in every lesson, and I waited with baited breath to learn from her and to do her assignments. She was a fantastic teacher, very young and knew how to relate to us. She had started the lesson of that day by asking how many of us (in the class) knew what the Holocaust was. I was the only person who raised my hand. In a class of 20 students. Needless to say, my teacher tried to hide her mortified look unsuccessfully as she proceeded to teach an impromptu lesson about the Holocaust and World War II to a bunch of teenagers who should've been taught that long ago. She saw the need to educate the class on the Holocaust & World War II and instead of sticking to her lesson plan, taught us according to our needs. THAT is a teacher who deserves a major award. And a bonus.<br />
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So what do these two experiences have to do with each other? Other than the fact that they happened while I was in middle school? First off, from the first story, I believe that the education system has become too industrialized. It's preparing children to be factory workers and farmers! That's why they have summers off, so they can work in the fields to plant crops. That's why children have to march from classroom to classroom when the bell rings because that's what happens in a factory. That's why they have close to eight hour school days! We have an assembly line mentality that we have to feed children through K-12 as fast as possible and treat them all <b>exactly </b>the same way, forgetting that every child is different, and every child learns differently.<br />
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This has to stop.<br />
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Not only is it debilitating, it's destructive. Children get into their minds that if they don't meet the status quo of standardized tests or the narrow incredibly selective path of careers and education, that they are stupid and somehow abnormal in a bad way. I believe that this leads to behavioral problems and even in later years, criminal activity.<br />
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Children who are told that they must learn to take a test are far less likely to excel and find their talents and abilities than children who are simply encouraged to learn.<br />
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Aptitude tests, ACT/SATs, etc prove only a minuscule portion of a child's intelligence. And yet we use these tests to determine what direction their lives will take and if they are "smart" or "clever."<br />
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Another alarming thing I've found disturbing, apart from the streamlining children in education, is the fact that there is a hierarchy of subjects in schools. Mathematics, science and literature are at the top of the list, whereas the arts, music, dance and theater are at the bottom of the rung. Education is more about conformity and less about diversity. It is more about dumping information into the brains of children, instead of letting them explore and develop their talents. Many people go through school not finding what they're good at because they don't excel at the things that society or that schools believe to be "important" and therefore never figure out where their talents lie.<br />
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Why? We, as a society, are craving, and more so <i>need</i>, children nowadays to become the next Van Goghs, the next Shakespeares, the next Einsteins, the next Mozarts. How can we do this? How can we have children become creators of masterpieces and innovators when we are deliberately stripping them of their possibilities and opportunities through our old-modeled education systems?<br />
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The education system was invented in the 19th century to accompany the Industrialist Age. It is literally two centuries old. It is outdated. How is it that we have made incredible leaps and bounds in technology and medicine, when we have <i>not </i>made a single step in the advancement and transformation of education? How? How is that possible?<br />
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Another observation I've made in regards to education in correlation to its quality, is the stark divergence between wealthy school and poorer schools. Now, I don't believe that everything in this country should be free, and I'm very much of the mindset that socialism will not work in this country as it can in countries like Canada, the UK and others. However, I do strongly believe that education should be <b>one </b>of the things that should be free and equal to everyone and that there should not be a disparity between the quality of education in poor and rich areas.<br />
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If our children are the future, should we not give <u style="font-weight: bold;">all</u> of them equal opportunities to succeed? How many Beethovens, Reagans, Rembrandts, Hawkings and Dickens are we overlooking simply because they are born or raised in disadvantaged circumstances? Why is it schools are better in richer areas than in poorer areas? Why? How on earth is that in our best interest?<br />
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I believe that not only should the federal government keep their noses OUT of our school systems (as far as policies go). The only "help" the federal government should give to schooling is money. Equal money to all schools regardless of location, rank or poverty level. Sound a little hippie-dippie socialist? Sure it does. But I'd MUCH rather the feds give money (and LOTS OF IT) to K-12 schools than free healthcare, including free abortions. I'd trade that all day everyday, especially if it means that children will be educated better to become BETTER doctors. See what I did there?<br />
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I believe that teachers should be given additional training in Masters degrees, if they have not already received one, and collaborate with other teachers in how to improve their teaching methods.<br />
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How often do good teachers know what their students need, but are unable or greatly restricted in helping them because of the red-tape bureaucratic bull crap that they have to put up with inflicted by our beloved federal government? And why are lawmakers, who are NOT teachers, making important policy changes on education when they themselves are not the ones to enforce them in the classrooms and will never see its far reaching effects?<br />
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Francis of Assisi said, "Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance." Emma Goldman said, "The most violent element in society is ignorance." So what is the cure to violence in society. <u style="font-weight: bold;">Knowledge</u>. And I have a plan as to how to rectify our education system.<br />
<br />
I have a proposed plan on how to completely redefine education. It may seem crazy, but if we're to believe that children are the future, and that in the long-term we'll cut down costs of prisons and rehab centers that most of these children in poverty will face because of the bleakness of their own future, I believe we should do <u style="font-weight: bold;">and</u> pay as much as it takes to make our education system incredible.<br />
<br />
I also propose that we should do an experiment, if lawmakers and politicians think it won't work nationwide, we should try it in a state that is a.) ranked the lowest on test scores/aptitude tests, b.) a state that is generally a "low income" state c.) have parents & communities how are genuinely concerned about the education of their children and d.) have qualified teachers teaching all 9 subjects listed below.<br />
<br />
Here is my proposal:<br />
<br />
1.) I believe first off that <i>every </i>child should be given not only access to a free lunch but a free breakfast. That every child be required to be at school at 7:45 Monday-Thursday to get a juice/milk, fruit, cereal or breakfast sandwich.<br />
<br />
Researching on child hunger in conjunction with performance in school it's <i>no wonder </i>that kids do poorly in classes before lunch because roughly 51% of them come from low-income households who don't feed them breakfast! Almost <i>every </i>poor child comes to school hungry. How can we expect them to pay attention and absorb the information given to them if they're starving? And if you don't believe me, just look at a few of the websites below.<br />
<br />
If we want children to do well in school and pay attention, then we need to make sure they start off their day right, with a healthy full breakfast. Yeah, it's again gonna cost us money, but dammit we've been spending too much money on dumb crap anyway. Why don't we actually spend our tax dollars on our education system. On the children and young adults in our country, who will end up making our country better anyway?<br />
<br />
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/04/public-schools-breakfast_n_6794012.html<br />
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/04/21/3429174/feeding-america-hungry-kids/<br />
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/05/public-school-dinners-pantries/70389176/<br />
<br />
2.) We need to a.) make every subject equal including the arts & humanities as well as the science & mathematics b.) make school days be only 3 hours & 45 minute or 4 hour days with 45 minute classes each instead of 7-8 hour days and c.) have two rotating schedules like a Monday/Wednesday class schedule and a Tuesday/Thursday schedule with Friday, Saturday and Sundays off of school.<br />
<br />
For example:<br />
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1. Reading<o:p></o:p></div>
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1. Social Studies<o:p></o:p></div>
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1. Reading<o:p></o:p></div>
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1. Social Studies<o:p></o:p></div>
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OFF<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Math<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Dance<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Math<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Dance<o:p></o:p></div>
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OFF<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. Music<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. <o:p></o:p>Art</div>
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3. Music<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. Art<o:p></o:p></div>
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OFF<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. Theater<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. P.E.<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. Theater<o:p></o:p></div>
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4. P.E.<o:p></o:p></div>
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OFF<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. Writing<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. Science<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. Writing<o:p></o:p></div>
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5. Science <o:p></o:p></div>
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OFF<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
Before first class of the day, 7:45- Breakfast for all students<br />
First class of the day starting at 8:00<br />
Each class period is 45 minutes long<br />
Between 3rd and 4th class periods are lunch breaks which last 30 minutes long<br />
Each class period will have a 5 minute break period for students to study or sit quietly or rest at the end (40 minute instruction time)<br />
Each class subject may be switched with others on different days according to the needs of the students and teachers (for example: Art and Math may be swapped with each other, Dance for Music, Science with Writing etc. this is simply a rough example for scheduled classes but may be modified.)<br />
Each teacher will teach his/her own subject (no coaches also teaching Math or Social Studies teachers teaching English etc. a coach is a coach of P.E., a Music teacher <i>only </i>teaches Music etc.)<br />
Reading & Writing will be split into to two different subjects due to the fact that some students excel at reading, while struggling with writing and vice versa. Reading and writing are two separate disciplines and should not be fused as one subject.<br />
School ends at 12:00 noon every day, Monday-Thursday. From noon till 4:00PM, students still are required to be at school (unless a parent or guardian decides to pick them up) and attend extra-curricular activities and clubs. If students do not want to participate in extra-curricular activities, they are required to do homework in the cafeteria from noon to 4:00PM.<br />
Examples of extracurricular activities/clubs are: Astronomy Club, Debate Team, Art Club, Band, Poet's Society, Football, Choir, Basketball, Photography Club, Dance, Film Club, Graphic Design Club, Computer Science Club, Spanish Club, Math Team, Baseball, Engineering Society, Orchestra, Lacrosse, Humanities Club, Archaeology Club etc.<br />
After noon every day, teachers may choose to prepare lesson plans for following day.<br />
Teachers should be allowed to construct their own lesson plans and choose their own text books.<br />
There should be 1 teacher for every 7 students.<br />
Classes should have mixed-ability students, not students grouped together according to age, whatever skill level a child is at depends on what types of classes they should take. (for example, a student who excels at Reading & Writing should be in an advanced Reading & Writing class but if the same student performs poorly in Math, the student should be placed in a Math class according to his/her skill level, not age group)<br />
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To end, I will simply share a quote by Bill Richardson & Elbert Hubbard.<br />
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"Ignorance has always been the weapon of tyrants; enlightenment the salvation of the free." "The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition, and incompetence."<br />
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If this country is going to be free and <b>stay </b>free, we need to educate our children and young people better. If we keep on going the way our education system has been in this country, our government <i>will </i>turn to tyranny, because future generations will be uneducated. They will not have the proper tools needed to fight evil and battle injustices. They will succumb to false doctrines and ideals that will lead them to turn to terrorism, radical groups, crime and ignorance.<br />
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Let us start <i>now </i>to change the education system using some of the things I've researched above.<br />
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If we do so, we will have a brighter future. And more importantly, our children will be blessed with knowledge and wisdom that they will need to battle enemies both at home and abroad.<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-62528341721435622792015-07-22T12:25:00.003-07:002015-07-22T12:33:24.250-07:00The Politically Correct/Easily Offended EpidemicOkay, so I don't think the majority of people, myself included, really <i>try </i>to offend others. Me personally, I don't enjoy arguments or contention. I'd rather avoid them altogether.<br />
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However, it is <b>physically impossible </b>to go through this life without offending <u>someone</u> unless you literally don't say or do anything but even then there's no guarantee because really awful, douchey jerks can say that they're offended by your existence.<br />
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Anyway, it's really becoming an issue for me and I honestly think there needs to be more people talking about how our culture and this generation is using the term "politically correct" or "tolerance" as substitute words for "easily offended."<br />
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Seriously, this country's <b>first amendment </b>guarantees the right to free speech and freedom of religion. Yet, somehow that's only applicable unless you don't offend anyone with your opinions, thoughts, or beliefs?<br />
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I'm not referring to freedom of participating and promoting incredibly degrading and obviously offensive things like pornography and slander. Because to be honest, pornography <i>is </i>offensive and everyone <i>should </i>be offended by it. But that's not what I'm talking about. (Yet ironically people are more offended by very innocent comments MUCH MORE than pornography. Oh the hypocrisy. Also, by the way, pornography isn't just nudey pictures of people. I don't think the Sistine Chapel is pornographic. 50 Shades of Grey on the other hand, is.)<br />
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I'm talking about the fact that people get offended by some of the stupidest things I've ever heard and are <u>constantly</u> judging and criticizing things others say. If I were to say something along the lines of "Motherhood is the most revered and honored calling a woman will ever have," or "no one can replace the role of a mother" I will suddenly get a long list of hate comments from trollers saying I'm "anti-feminist" or something along those lines.<br />
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If I say something about how amazing husbands and fathers are, and how important their contribution to society is, I'm suddenly reviled as being a "patriarchal misogynistic."<br />
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If I say something patriotic about how wonderful the United States of America is and how my father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for this country, I'm suddenly "xenophobic" and an "ultranationalist."<br />
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Man, so much for freedom of speech, am I right?<br />
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I'm just so freaking sick of this garbage. <i>Anyone </i>who is looking to be offended by someone or something <b>will find a way to be offended</b>.<br />
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And no amount of tip-toeing, mamby pamby, "there there," walking-on-eggshells-while-we-try-to-find-another-way-of-saying-something is going to stop these types of people from getting offended. Period. End of story.<br />
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I think we, as a society, have taken ourselves <i>far </i>too seriously. However, I am certainly not <u>promoting</u> vicious attacks and comments directed at any sort of group of people based on race, religion, sexual orientation, sexual preference, ethnicity, social status, gender, or age or any of the other categories we as humans have elected to create for ourselves. That is never okay and never acceptable.<br />
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What I <i>am </i>saying is just stop complaining so freaking much! Look at your life! I can promise you it's not nearly as bad as you might think it is. Not to mention the fact that the more we "passa mao sobre da cabeca da pessoa" as the Brazilian's say it, or "patting them on the head and saying 'there there'" the more they will feed off of that attention! There are far too many "bleeding martyrs" lately claiming they're offended by so-in-so and saying they're being discriminated against by this and that.<br />
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<b>SHUT UP! </b><br />
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If the term "one nation under God" or "in God we trust" offends you so much, you can leave. As in leave this country. Aint nobody asking you to stay here! Here's the door, don't let it hit you on the way out. Fact is, the country was founded <b>because of religious freedom</b> and it just so happened that all if not most of our Founding Fathers <b>believed in God or a Higher Being</b>. Ugh. Quit your <i>complaining </i>already jeez.<br />
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If other things like only have the spaces for "Male" and "Female" on a doctor's medical sheet offend you, or if someone makes a comment on how important families and fathers and mothers are, or how that statue depicts a white man with two Native Americans, or just plain old doesn't agree with your opinion on something, GET OVER YOURSELF. Seriously.<br />
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You <i>can </i>and you <i>do </i>choose to by offended by someone or something. That is a fact. It is also <i>your </i>choice to get over it and move on and stop making a lawsuit and law out of everything. If we keep going the path we're going onto now, it'll be illegal to have a men's and women's bathroom! Because that's "sex discrimination."<br />
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Please. Just stop before you embarrass yourself.<br />
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We are all imperfect people in an imperfect world. Sooner or later someone is going to say or do something that is imperfect. Yes, it's frustrating but I know for a fact you've also done something that's offended <i>someone </i>at some point in time and space in the past or you <i>will </i>do something to offend <i>someone</i> in the future.<br />
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To add a bit of humor to this blog post, I've found a few youtube videos I think will illustrate my point even further.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/soYCleSN808/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/soYCleSN808?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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The Most Politically Correct Doll Ever</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hgT5TO42PUY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hgT5TO42PUY?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Political Correctness at College</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rqevO_zrxsA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rqevO_zrxsA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
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Forgive the brief language, but the first part is spot on</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nytkzah78eU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nytkzah78eU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Night before a Non-denominational Holiday</div>
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-48674700692886087892015-07-14T08:45:00.002-07:002015-07-14T09:00:43.877-07:00Prelude: A Thousand Years I figured I'd better write a blog post about a certain handsome Canadian who has opted to be my husband December 29th of this year :)<br />
<br />
Some of you don't know the story of where we began and might think something along the lines of, "Well <i>that </i>was quick."<br />
<br />
Honestly it really wasn't. The story of me and Ian began five years ago at BYU-Idaho...<br />
<br />
I signed up for my first film seminar class and my first screenwriting class in the winter of 2010. I walked into the film seminar class and was vaguely aware of a cute guy with glasses and perfectly swooped hair. The teacher started his schpeal on movies and began to ridicule <i>Jurassic Park </i>and its ending with the T. Rex who saves the day. Well, I wasn't going to stand for that so I raised my hand and made a snarky comment defending the epicness of <i>Jurassic Park </i>and decided that this teacher was kind of an idiot, so I got up soon after speaking my mind and left the class. I wasn't going to put up with a teacher who had no respect for <i>Jurassic Park </i>and early Speilberg movies! So I snuck out, thinking no one noticed my absence.<br />
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Little did I know, that the guy with glasses and perfectly swooped hair <b>did </b>notice me and my absence and had wanted to talk to me after the class ended.<br />
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Fast forward a few days later when I walked into the screenwriting class that same week. It was a nighttime class starting around 7:00 and ending at about 9:30 once a week. As I walked in the classroom, I scanned the room for any attractive guys I could sit next too, when my eyes landed on that same adorably boyish guy with glasses and swooped hair. I made my way over to him, sat in the desk right next to him and I think said something like "Is this the screenwriting class?" To which he responded something along the lines of "I hope so."<br />
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Since then, our screenwriting teacher, Sister Gilbert, put us in every collaborating group for the rest of the semester. But as luck would have it, every time we tried to plan a critique group session during the week, me and Ian were the <i>only </i>ones who showed up. I had thought that maybe it was on purpose and that Ian was trying to hit on me/ask me out but I was surprised to realize he <i>genuinely </i>wanted to talk about screenwriting and movies. This made me even more interested in him because of how genuine and unassuming he was.<br />
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Soon our collaboration group get togethers would be <i>less </i>about movies and scripts and <i>more </i>about life in general; what we liked and didn't like, failed relationships, our aspirations for the future and so on and so forth.<br />
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But, obviously, we didn't date right away. Ian was interested in someone and to be honest, I was still pretty young and immature. In spite of us dating other people, for whatever reason, we still remained close friends and we <i>always </i>ended up talking for hours and hours on end, whether it was on the phone or via facebook.<br />
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Fast forward to 2013.<br />
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I decided that, through impressions at church and personal prayers, that Heavenly Father wanted me to go on a mission. I told <i>no one </i>I was going other than my mom and my bishop for the longest time. </div>
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The only other person I told was Ian. </div>
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The night I told him that I was going on a mission was the night he told me that he loved me. Needless to say, I was shocked and a little annoyed but he backed up his thought by telling me that the Lord <i>needed </i>me right now. And that I belonged to Heavenly Father for the next 18 months. </div>
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Our friendship deepened more as I drew closer to my return to Georgia before my mission in Brazil and we "dated" in the weeks that followed until then. However I knew that he was a good-looking guy and doubted that he'd "wait" for me for a year and a half. You could maybe call that pessimism but I just call that realism. I wasn't going to get my hopes up on a guy that I'd been in love with for the past three years. Yet in my heart of hearts I <i>always </i>felt drawn to him and he was and still is quite literally my best friend. </div>
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I left on my mission August 21st and for the first four months of my mission I heard sporadically from Ian. I wasn't too bothered by this, mostly because I assumed he was dating other people but I enjoyed when I did get the occasional email from him.</div>
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Soon, into my fifth month I started hearing from him more often, and then I would get an email in my inbox <i>every week</i>. I won't share the specifics of the emails and letters here, mostly because they are special but suffices to say that he told me he was waiting for me and that I had all the qualities he wanted in a future wife. </div>
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Still, I was dubious. Not that I doubted <i>him</i> so much as I doubted the many attractive girls who <b>were</b> in Utah and filled his social/family therapy classes. But every email for the next year strengthened my faith that maybe he was serious. Many of my missionary companions were more convinced than I that I would marry him as soon as I got off the plane. </div>
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A few days after I was released as a missionary at the end of February, I had my first phone call from Ian. Even though I was incredibly skittish and strange being a newly returned missionary, he was very patient and understanding as I tried to figure out if he was <i>really </i>who I wanted to date and marry. The only issue was, I was in Georgia without much funds, and he was in Utah finishing up his undergrad. </div>
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From about March to April we essentially dated long distance. As much as I <b>tried </b>convincing myself and him that we needed to date in the same state and date for a <i>while </i>before things got serious, it came to a point where I didn't <u>want</u> to wait anymore. With each FaceTime call it grew harder and harder to not be talking with him and to be so far away from him. </div>
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<i>Finally</i>, I got a job interview for the dream job of mine (the Liahona magazine) and didn't tell Ian I was flying out for it. He just assumed they were phone interviews. With the help of one of my best girl friends, Stacey, I flew in and stayed at her place and she drove me to my interviews. That night, after my interviews were done, Stacey drove me to his house and we waited for him to get home off of his internship. When I saw him rounding the corner to go up the stairs to his apartment I yelled his name and nearly scared the crap out of him. When he realized who I was, I'll never forget the look on his face as long as I live. It was like a man who'd been denied water for days and had finally gotten a waterfall. </div>
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He hugged me and didn't kiss me (though he was worried about making Stacey uncomfortable) and for the next few days we just enjoyed being with each other for the first time in a long time. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First weekend with Ian after mish<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />And so after weeks of waiting to see if I got the job, I was finally able to move officially out to Utah, and better yet, be out there for Ian's graduation from BYU! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmye91atnQQHP8HIYwOjjhPhyphenhyphen5DukZ3UP7YI5Ojoj9hB2hw4s-QI2iS5QDfRkZVYqYNgQ8d8LPh8g9z7p_tyaNcYDbfOorMpp8eKBgh_rH3eAQW6b-G9NymPtN1GRl9i5x0o7UARKkVNs/s1600/11713897_10153002753737957_2203118269848923331_o-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HfAGjtNwAmWjMWb-z_-W3bw893Xtgzgb6G7mPp249UZpV7ZAQfvqvMQ6spUMP3nnsF_hwsW3LvD1QKt2uG5ZCWsGKlWtFzMbsDu27kZRgMbRPlq9bWL24mkmyafLzJeDEvH6al564g4/s1600/11206465_10153008250734317_6454784526661612218_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HfAGjtNwAmWjMWb-z_-W3bw893Xtgzgb6G7mPp249UZpV7ZAQfvqvMQ6spUMP3nnsF_hwsW3LvD1QKt2uG5ZCWsGKlWtFzMbsDu27kZRgMbRPlq9bWL24mkmyafLzJeDEvH6al564g4/s320/11206465_10153008250734317_6454784526661612218_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<br /><br />I was able to meet his wonderful family and we were <b>finally </b>geographically together to date.<br /><br />Which leads us to now! After a few months of getting to know each other, our quirks, weaknesses, idiosyncrasies, pet peeves, and worst moments we decided to make it official.<br /><br />He flew out with me to Georgia to meet my family and ask permission from my mom to marry me, and <i>also </i>ask permission to get a certain priceless family heirloom to put on my finger.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmye91atnQQHP8HIYwOjjhPhyphenhyphen5DukZ3UP7YI5Ojoj9hB2hw4s-QI2iS5QDfRkZVYqYNgQ8d8LPh8g9z7p_tyaNcYDbfOorMpp8eKBgh_rH3eAQW6b-G9NymPtN1GRl9i5x0o7UARKkVNs/s1600/11713897_10153002753737957_2203118269848923331_o-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmye91atnQQHP8HIYwOjjhPhyphenhyphen5DukZ3UP7YI5Ojoj9hB2hw4s-QI2iS5QDfRkZVYqYNgQ8d8LPh8g9z7p_tyaNcYDbfOorMpp8eKBgh_rH3eAQW6b-G9NymPtN1GRl9i5x0o7UARKkVNs/s320/11713897_10153002753737957_2203118269848923331_o-2.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Swan House, Atlanta GA </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It must've went well because he claims he loves my family, even after putting up with all <i>their </i>quirks that I love, and they didn't maul him like they said they would so the week after the Georgia trip, we took my mom/great grandma's ring to get resized and shined up and he </span><span style="font-size: small;">proposed Sunday July 12.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">And so now we've come full circle! After five years and several set backs, we're getting married in the Payson Utah temple for time and all eternity on December 29th, 2015. Though I have to admit, eloping is sounding better and better by the hour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Even though I <i>hate </i>the Twilight franchise and the Twilight movies, the one thing I do like that is related to them is Christina Perri's <i>A Thousand Years </i>song. For the past five years, every conversation I've had with Ian, whether it be on the phone, via facebook or email, that song has always come on the radio or my iPod that's on shuffle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Ironically enough, the lyrics fit our story almost perfectly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Darling don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>I'll love you for a thousand more</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>And all along I believed I would find you</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Time has brought your heart to me</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>I have loved you for a thousand years</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>I'll love you for a thousand more </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">After years and years of fruitless dates, endless array of tool-bags, and horrible disappointments, I've finally found someone who knows even the darkest and dustiest corners of my soul. Who <i>likes it </i>when I get feisty and fierce about something, who loves everything from The Muppets to Mystery Science Theater to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to Horatio Hornblower and everything in between, who wants to write a screenplay together with me, who wants me to publish my book, who wants me to continue playing to violin, who thinks I have a beautiful singing voice, who thinks I'm beautiful even with sparse eyebrows and huge owl glasses, who whispers the sweetest, kindest things to me when we're cuddling watching a movie, who makes me dinner <b>every single night</b>, who isn't offended or put off by my sense of humor or my intense love of books, who will actually encourage me to go in a store if I see something I like and try it on, who wants me to go to Grad school and accomplish all of my dreams, who I can have a deep Gospel discussion with, who wants to travel with me to places I've picked out, who respects me enough to want me to be modest in my swimsuits and skirts, who wants to play video games with me, who is incredibly spiritual and very in tune with the Spirit in every aspect of his life, who understands my love of Harry Potter, who is incredibly quick to forgive and deeply loyal, who loves Beauty and the Beast as much as I do, and so much more!<br /><br />So this has turned into a novel, but to close up I have to say, I can't wait to marry my best guy friend. I can't wait to be able to fall asleep by his side and wake up to him every morning. Here's to eternity, babe! I get you <b>forever</b>. Muwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaa! ;)<br /><br /></span></td></tr>
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M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-59222401696040572982015-06-30T09:21:00.006-07:002015-06-30T09:35:42.823-07:00The Far-Reaching Effects of Gay MarriageI don't pretend to be a political activist or a political know-it-all. I leave that to those who've majored in Political Science and Law. I do, however, know just enough about politics to make me dangerous.<br />
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Having said that, for those in this country who are rejoicing over the Supreme Court's decision this past week, all I have to say is that we have no idea what we've just done to ourselves.<br />
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I have never said or done anything to persecute or bully those with same-sex attraction. I've had friends who've chosen that path and I've never told any of them, or others that they're "going to hell" or that "God doesn't love" them. God loves all his children. Gay or straight or bi-sexual. He doesn't like when they <i>break </i>His commandments. But He still loves them. Period end of story. So let's set aside <i>that </i>argument for a while and just talk about politics. We can get into the religion end of it later.<br />
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The thing that bothers me the most, and the issue that I actually cried about on Sunday with my loving and understanding boyfriend who isn't American and tries to understand how much patriotism is deeply rooted within me, is the fact that the federal government, and specifically the judicial branch blatantly overstepped their boundaries. The judicial branch interprets the law. The legislative branch makes the laws. And the presidential branch enforces the law. Each of the three branches does <b>not </b>do what the other one does because that is exactly why this nation formed itself in the first place. We don't like it when members of the government have too much power! Because when they <i>do</i>, the power goes to their heads and they think they can run our lives for us. They can tax us more and take away our human and <i>religious</i> rights. That frankly frightens the living daylights out of us Americans after what we went through with the British hundreds of years ago.<br />
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As Justice Clarence Thomas (one of the Four Justices who voted against the gay-marriage act) says that liberty "has long been understood as individual freedom <i>from </i>government action, not as a right <i>to </i>a particular governmental entitlement." He also goes on to lament that the Supreme Court's decision on the definition of marriage into the Constitution goes "beyond the reach of the normal democratic process for the entire nation." He argues that that this decision will threaten religious liberty by creating an unavoidable collision between same-sex couples and religious organizations. "In our society, marriage is not simply a governmental institution; it is a religious institution as well. Today's decision might change the former, but it cannot change the latter. It appears all but inevitable that the two will come into conflict, particularly as individuals and churches are confronted with demands to participate in and endorse civil marriages with same-sex couples."<br />
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Samuel Alito (another judge who voted against the same-sex marriage act) says it even better. "At present, no one-including social scientists, philosophers, and historians- can predict with any certainty what the long-term ramifications of widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage will be. And judges are certainly not equipped to make such an assessment." Now here's the kicker, "Even enthusiastic supporters of same-sex marriage should worry about the scope of power that today's majority claims. Today's decision shows that decades of attempts to restrain this Court's abuse of its authority have failed." You can find the link to that article <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/domesticpolicy/marriage-same-sex-gay-supreme-court-dissent-20150626" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
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So the fact that the Supreme Court completely ignored their duties as specifically stated in the Constitution and went ahead and did Congress's job too! They are now legislating! Doing what Congress <i>should </i>have been doing! That's NOT RIGHT. For more information on how the Court undermined the democratic process, here's that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-supreme-courts-blow-to-democracy/2015/06/29/9331faa6-1e7b-11e5-aeb9-a411a84c9d55_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop_b" target="_blank">link.</a><br />
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Not to mention the fact that who the hell asked for the <i>federal government </i>to make more decisions <b>for </b>us? First it was the deregulation of the banks, then it was the No Child Left Behind Act, then it was forcing people to get healthcare through Obamacare, and now it's gay marriage?! Has no one else seen a pattern in the dictatorial attitude that has been going on for the past decade and a half??? Why has the federal government deliberately ignored the States rights in having a say in these issues? Why has the federal government not left it up to each individual State to decide FOR THEMSELVES about education, healthcare and marriage?<br />
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<i>That </i>is was pisses me off more than anything else. It's the fact that <b>many </b>Americans have become lazy. Yeah, that's right. LAZY. Comfortable in letting their rights slip through their fingers and more confident in the federal government making decisions for them, then letting us <i>choose for ourselves</i>.<br />
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I have many pet peeves. However, one of them that should be deeply intrenched in all of us, is when someone tries to take away our agency. Especially our <i>moral </i>agency.<br />
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Now, let's lay that aside and talk about the effects on children. According to the American College of Pediatricians, same-sex marriages are actually detrimental for a child's emotional <a href="http://www.acpeds.org/same-sex-marriage-detrimental-to-children-2" target="_blank">needs.</a><br />
No matter <i>what </i>your opinion on same-sex marriage is, for or against, a child needs a mother and a father. There are things that a mother provides in the home that no "father" or "man" can provide. Same thing with a father. There are certain specific attributes and characteristics that no woman can replicate. Every son or daughter needs a mother AND a father. If they have two fathers or two mothers, the child is lacking something that they need for their development. It's the same argument with divorce too! It's not just a same-sex issue. It's the same thing if the child were being raised in a single-parent home. I can attest to that somewhat because from 12 years of age onward I was raised by my widowed mother. Although I was lucky enough to have had both a mother AND a father in my home until that time.<br />
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If you want more information on this, here's the <a href="http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/parenting-issues/defending-traditional-marriage" target="_blank">link.</a><br />
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Lastly we can step into the religious sphere. This country has always had a belief in God and religion. Although the founding fathers were from different religious backgrounds, you cannot deny that they <i>were</i> men of God. Part of the reason why this country was founded was exactly because the Church of England didn't allow citizens from other religious sects exercise their religious beliefs freely. Obviously, there were other factors involved, but this has gone way back since the Pilgrims set foot in the north of the American continent.<br />
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I will not be told what I should and should not believe. Nor will I stand being ridiculed for holding on to my own standards and religious beliefs. You could argue that homosexuality is a religious belief as there are still debates happening on whether or not homosexuality is biologically related or socially conditioned or both. But that's a different subject.<br />
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I'm infuriated with the fact that Obama has essentially said that Americans with religious beliefs against gay marriage should get over it. Saying phrases like "real change is possible" in the hearts of others, and "shifts in hearts and minds are possible" and my personal favorite, those who believe in gay marriage should "reach back and help others join them." <i>Reach back and help others join them?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Excuse me?</i><br />
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I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be persuasive. Each time there is a debate/argument there is always the hope that the other side will see our point of view and agree with us. My disgust is not founded on that point.<br />
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What it <i>is </i>founded upon is the fact that our dearly beloved president believes that religious members of society should basically quibble and change their point of views in order to become more politically correct. He is referring the idea of religious followers changing their religious beliefs to accept gay marriage. I do <i>not </i>accept gay marriage. I do not think down upon or belittle gays or lesbians or bis, but I'm not changing what I believe in order to become socially acceptable. The same argument can be said for homosexuals long ago who felt the same way. "I was born this way." "I can't change who I am." "Just accept it." Well, if they can stick to their guns and hold their ground, then dammit, <b>so can I. </b>I can't <i>change </i>God's laws. I can only try to live them to the best of my ability. As long as I'm not being hateful and violent "in the name of religion" that a lot of people do, then I will do my best to share my beliefs in a kind and firm way. Just accept it!<br />
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Obama has absolutely no right in telling those who have religious beliefs to "change." Homosexuality is not pleasing in the eyes of God in pretty much <i>every </i>religion in the world. Islam, Judaism and a lot of Christianity. Obviously, there are sects of each of these religions that believe otherwise but the Bible, the Torah and the Koran state that homosexuality is not acceptable in the eyes of God or Adonai or Allah. That being said, since none of us are perfect and it's also a sin for heterosexuals to have sex beyond the bounds that God has set, sexual sin is still sexual sin, whether its heterosexuals or homosexuals. And I know that God loves the sinner, but not the sin. Just as I loved my grandmother who was a chain-smoker. I loved her and still love her with all my heart. I hated the fact that she smoked.<br />
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It all boils down to this: Though I do not condone and though I strongly oppose same-sex marriage, it is not because I "hate gay people" or "fear gay people." I do not condone it because it is against my religious beliefs and, as far as I know, the Supreme Court hasn't butchered the 1st Amendment, so I <i>and my Church </i>have the right to oppose the institution of gay marriage and support the institution of traditional marriage free of trollers, persecutors and lawsuits.<br />
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Now that you've came to the end of my lengthy soapbox on this past weekend's issue, I'll just conclude it by saying that I know that truth does not change. And that sometimes the truth hurts and is a hard pill for individuals to swallow sometimes. But there will come a day when the "truth will set you free," and we will all see the effects of what has been done here. I love everyone, though I sometimes have a very ferocious temper with road rage and philosophy majors, and this also extends to those who aren't apart of my religion, aren't religious at all, or simply are neutral. That love also extends to those from whatever sexual orientation with which you participate in. I still love ya. And even more importantly, God loves you. And He loves your agency, which is why He would never force anyone to do anything they didn't freely want to do.<br />
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So the same should be said for all of us. No one should make anyone believe or not believe in something. So the question lies... where does freedom <i>from</i> religion end and freedom <i>of</i> religion begin?<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-10788818437948981232015-06-26T10:25:00.000-07:002015-06-26T10:25:07.096-07:00Love & MarriageMy thoughts and opinions are not to diminish or ridicule others who don't think as I do. However because everyone has been exercising their constitutional right in regards to "what defines a marriage" and since I am currently thinking more profoundly about that topic today, I feel as if I should share what I believe and think.<br />
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I cannot by any means say what I want without offending <i>someone</i>. But then again, you live a fruitless, empty half-life if you offend <i>no one</i>.<br />
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So to amicably and fearlessly share what my opinions are, specifically on marriage, I'll just rely on everyone to direct themselves to the link below. It is a very well-explained and well-written piece on the topic. Though to forewarn others, it's quite long so I'd advise all who are curious to please read to the end of essay for the full effect.<br />
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As I've said before, if you think differently than I do, then that's obviously more than fine. I would ask that "trollers" or those who adamantly have a different opinion than I do not viciously attack me for exercising the exact same constitutional right that you have been given yourself.<br />
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I stand by what is said in the article below and encourage all on their quest for truth to afterwards pray and ask God if it's true or not. If it's not true, you'll know it. It it is true, you'll also know it. But you won't know it until you do.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/the-divine-institution-of-marriage" target="_blank">Marriage is Not of This World </a><br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-12547539905639016652015-05-06T12:35:00.000-07:002015-05-06T12:52:34.106-07:00Motherhood: Divine, Selfless, Eternal So, recently I have been disturbed by the increasing number of incredibly ignorant, false and inaccurate statements/articles that are being put on the social media respecting the logical reasons to be "child-free" and how having children is somehow remotely tied to destroying the planet.<br />
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I will be using gospel-related arguments for my case, not because I'm "religious" but because it's truth. God and the gospel in fact <i>are </i>truth. Hate to break it to you. Light is truth. Love is truth. And these concepts are from God. As is the family and its divine role in our happiness.<br />
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First off, in saying that not having children (when you are perfectly, physically, financially capable of having children) is somehow a higher way of living life, is just preposterous. And frankly, incredibly selfish.<br />
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There are some who seemed to have fooled themselves to believing that over-population somehow exists and that we will somehow be doing our said "children" and the world a favor by not having kids because they'd be born into a place with lesser resources and a lower standard of living. Okay, over-population is a <u>myth</u> people. That's like saying that lack of deforestation will somehow magically bring unicorns back into this world. So is saying that having children will somehow make it to where we won't be able to live comfortably on the earth any more, and we'd all be starving to death wallowing in disease and chaos. This is just complete and utter <b>rubbish</b>. I repeat, <b>THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS OVER-POPULATION</b>.<br />
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Science is completely against you on this one, babe. How is it that over-population is a myth? First off, in order for us to be able to overpopulate, it would mean that each man and woman would have to create more than 2 children. Let me rephrase that, each man and woman ON THE ENTIRE PLANET, would have to have at least 3 children or more. Following this line of logic, it would also mean that the children would have to grow up to ALSO create more than 3 children. And it would mean that this children would have to survive disease, famine, wars, car accidents, plane accidents, etc etc etc. Because of the increase in poverty in under-developed countries, the increase in drug abuse and violence, wars, diseases, people who DON'T procreate in the first place, accidental deaths, people who CAN'T procreate, famine etc etc etc, there is no WAY on this earth that this place could ever be over-populated. And if it would be, we still have Canada. It's quite gorgeously roomy up there. Case closed, people.<br />
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There is also the argument that the desire to have children is selfish because we only want to do so to continue the human race. Yeah. Cause that's a <i>bad </i>thing. *insert snarky comment here*<br />
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But I can also say, unsarcastically, that that is simply also not completely true. There is absolutely no great moment of fulfillment than that of seeing a child, <i>your child</i>, succeed at something. There is also no greater bond in this world than that between a mother/father and her/his son/daughter. I have heard many women say that losing a brother, sister, spouse was hard, but losing a child was the worst. Does that SOUND like a selfish desire to save us from human extinction? Or does that sound like a beautiful relationship between a mother and her child? It has very little to do with continuing the human race. It has largely to do with the fact that there is no greater miracle or power on the face of the earth that can compare with the miracle and power of creating human life. It's beautiful power, not natural selection.<br />
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Secondly, instead of thinking that you're going to magically cure the earth by not reproducing, I don't think our problem is too many people at all. It's too many <b>bad </b>and <b>stupid </b>people. So here's a reality check for ya, humans are NOT the problem. How about you spend more time raising good, honorable, wholesome people with morals and teach your kids about how to take care of the world as opposed to just denying them the right to live in it? The only hope for our future is the youth of the world. It's teenagers, it's the young people. Ya want a better world? Ya wanna save the earth?<br />
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RAISE. GOOD. CHILDREN. Which takes time and energy, but then again, everything that's worth anything takes time AND energy.<br />
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Going into the spiritual aspects of this argument, which is definitely the strongest part of this debate, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said,<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;">"I thank the Father that His Only Begotten Son did not say in defiant protest at Calvary, โMy body is my own!โ I stand in admiration of women today who resist the fashion of </span><a class="no-link-style" href="http://www.lds.org/topics/abortion?lang=eng" style="border: none !important; color: #2f393a; line-height: 30.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">abortion</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;">, by refusing to make the sacred womb a tomb! </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;">When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting </span><a class="no-link-style" href="http://www.mormon.org/values/family" style="border: none !important; color: #2f393a; line-height: 30.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">family</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;"> will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;">"</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;">God trusts women so much that He lets them bear and care for His spirit children. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;">We salute you, sisters, for the joy that is yours as you rejoice in a babyโs first smile and as you listen with eager ear to a childโs first day at school which bespeaks a special selflessness. Women, more quickly than others, will understand the possible dangers when the word </span><i style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">self</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;"> is militantly placed before other words like </span><i style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fulfillment.</i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; line-height: 30.600000381469727px;"> You rock a sobbing child without wondering if todayโs world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms."</span></span></div>
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And that is exactly the closing statements of my argument. I do not believe that the world will get any better without children in it. I believe the contrary. I know for a fact that the only chance this world has is by shaping the ideals, beliefs, standards and minds of young children. They are our future. There is no greater work, no greater priority than this. No amount of worldly accomplishment can compensate for failure in the home. I am not yet a mother, and I'm not even sure if I <i>can </i>be. The worst insult a woman can receive is that of wanting a child, and physically not being able to <b>have </b>one, and then seeing women who have children or <b>can </b>have children and squander it.<br />
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If you don't want to have kids for whatever "<strike>un</strike>selfish" stupid reason, theres thousands of women in the world who are perfectly happy to accept your uterus.<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-84100056601922153292013-08-13T12:45:00.003-07:002013-08-13T12:45:49.111-07:00Moment of Clarity This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a YSA (Young Single Adult) conference for the southeast region. The speakers included David A Bednar, Sheri Dew & Brad Wilcox.<br />
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The firesides & workshops that were given were splendid & I did have the pleasure of meeting a handful of new friends that accepted me & enjoyed befriending me.<br />
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However, there was one specific part of this conference that was... disappointing. And it won't come as a surprise to any of you when I reveal what it is.<br />
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I do not pretend to be incredibly enthusiastic in attending the <i>dance </i>that is almost a requirement for any gathering of young people between the ages of 14 and 30. Although, of course as any female can attest, the opportunity to dance to a slow song is something so entrenched within us that we can hardly contain ourselves. And as Jane Austen astutely put it, "to be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love." We're suckers for romance, what can I say?<br />
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But for some reason, this particular dance was even more depressing than others. So I kept on asking myself why that was?<br />
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This dance I did attend with my few friends was perhaps the first one I've been to in years. The last time I did attend a dance of this persuasion, I must've been in high school or early college and still not quite comfortable in my own skin; afraid of letting my true colors show & was downright <i>shy</i>. I would stand in the corner, maybe bob my head back and forth to beats, or just find a group of kids talking among themselves and situate myself in a certain way so that it would be easy for them to reach out and include me.<br />
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But this dance, I decided to let all caution to the wind & just do whatever came to me. I decided to let my guard down & just have fun with it.<br />
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Now to be clear, I'm <u>not</u> a dancer. I'm quite terrible at it actually, and I've never had a talent for graceful movements, even in regards to walking or running let alone when it's set to music. But, here's the thing:<br />
I don't dance because I'm <i>good</i> at it, <b>I dance because I know it'll make other people around me laugh</b>. I embarrass myself with wild, flailing movements to make others feel comfortable doing the same.<br />
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And yet, while I was at this activity, I was asked to dance by one guy. <u>One</u>. Whereas before, I would be asked to dance at least every slow song, which is usually five or six times, depending on the occasion. Not only that, but I would have gotten the attention of several guys, who would inevitably turn out to be new friends or even romantic suitors.<br />
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Yet, this dance was a particular disappointment. At least comparatively speaking to the old days when I would give a coy, coquettish smile with a trace of tell-tale blush on my cheeks. I would pretend to be docile and mysterious which would inevitably capture the fancy of quite a few men in the room. (course it wouldn't last long, but that's not the point.)<br />
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Contrasting my old tactics to my new one, of simply being myself & not caring what other people thought of me, I reached a sad moment of clarity as I drove home afterwards.<br />
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<i>Not many people, men especially, like or even tolerate my true, natural, unbridled self. </i><br />
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Wow. That's a difficult pill to swallow. Now, I'm sure that my friends will of course disagree with me on this point & I can certainly see why. But thinking back to the time I spent in Idaho, Utah and now Georgia, it's quite clear to me that I am <b>not </b>a typical girl.<br />
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I am not only an a-typical girl, but I'm not your average <b>Mormon girl </b>either.<br />
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Taylor Swift is not my favorite singer. <i>Seven Brides for Seven Brothers</i> or <i>The Singles Ward</i> are not my favorite movies. Downeast Outfitters is not my favorite clothing store. I don't say "Oh my heck," or colloquials such as "Totes adorbs" or "froyo." I do not have platinum blonde hair & I don't get eyelash extensions. <i>Twilight </i>and <i>Gossip Girl </i>are not my favorite books. I did not major in Elementary Education or Marriage & Family Studies at BYU-Idaho & I could never in good conscious watch <i>Glee</i> or <i>One Tree Hill</i> or <i>Vampire Diaries</i>.<br />
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I have naturally mousy brown hair. I look terrible without makeup on. I can't remember the last time I got a manicure. I have watched Schindler's List, Die Hard & the Hangover. I have listened to music from Breaking Benjamin to John Denver and everything in between. I swear more often than I would care to admit & I sometimes make dirty jokes. I want to be more than just a housewife & a homemaker--I want a career & my own aspirations. I do not have a direct lineage that dates back to Joseph Smith or Brigham Young and my family's favorite Christmas movie is Chevy Chase's <i>Christmas Vacation</i>.<br />
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I am an anomaly when it comes to Mormons and especially Mormon <u>girls</u>.<br />
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And I'm not really saying this to get attention or to complain. I'm quite proud of the fact that I'm not normal even for a "peculiar people." This just means that the man who I end up with, whether in this life or the next, will be just as strange and just as abnormal as I am. I believe it's a requirement for him to be able to put up with my shenanigans.<br />
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However, it does get a bit disconcerting and oftentimes can lead to loneliness when I am sometimes surrounded by men who are looking for a brand of Mormon women. When I'm surrounded by men who want a girl solely to keep house for them and bare children because that's all that they're good for. To come in contact with men who want trophy wives that enjoy nothing more than stroking their ego after they come home from work every night.<br />
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I'm not saying any of this to bash on marriage & family. Nor am I trying to pigeon-hole every Mormon girl that I've been acquainted with. I'd, of course, like to be a wife and a mom someday. & I, of course, know plenty of girls that don't fit the standard I've painted earlier.<br />
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All I'm saying is, that it seems to me that the majority of men I've met in my Mormon culture, aside from a few I've known & dated, have an image in their mind of what their future wife looks & acts like. And usually, I don't fit that archetype.<br />
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I never have & I don't believe I ever will. <br />
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And yet at this dance, it dawned on me that perhaps the reason why I had so many relationships in so little amount of time was because I <i>did </i>hid behind a carefully placed facade. And that they ended all too quickly because the alleged "boyfriend" began to see through it & didn't like what he saw.<br />
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He would see that at times I was short-tempered, sometimes irreverent, obnoxious, slightly volatile, irrational, rash & childish. He would see how eager I was to please, to prevent him from leaving me as so many other men had in my past. He would see me as a broken doll, far beyond repair. He would see the things I enjoyed, such as the Muppets & Beauty & the Beast, and was bemused as to why I was in my twenties & still watching silly, puerile shows. And he would see how sensitive I was, crying at certain scenes in movies and even ranting & raving about characters in a book that were completely fictional and would think how ridiculous and crazy I was for letting things affect me the way that they do.<br />
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Well, it's rather obvious that they weren't for me anyway. & although I'm not proud of my defects, if I could accept theirs, it was only logical that they should accept mine as well.<br />
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So at the end of this rather lengthy blog post, what's the point? So what?<br />
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Well, I know I'm not alone in being strange & weird. I've noticed that I'm attracted to the "black sheep" or the "rejects" or even the individuals who have a past or a story that's unlike my own. People who are different almost to the point of being outsiders.<br />
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I know that I have sometimes dated & surrounded myself with men who did not accept me for who I am, and were either scared off or put off by my personality.<br />
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And I also know that perhaps now, at the ripe age of 24, I'm finally comfortable with who I am.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqijy1IqTcx9NHvr-FCaqoR4I_BcG5cn9lGYisSF-ojI1qWAscYa6HIeJ3z4LnP6jFqjI4mISanFSg4svxVxqjC30nV6axcJG68FZ94BKZlafBI-5oXp0XPk5Bx51tVu83itwDFuhnWog/s1600/5e4f809cf21dbed7e4149fbca3c3e646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqijy1IqTcx9NHvr-FCaqoR4I_BcG5cn9lGYisSF-ojI1qWAscYa6HIeJ3z4LnP6jFqjI4mISanFSg4svxVxqjC30nV6axcJG68FZ94BKZlafBI-5oXp0XPk5Bx51tVu83itwDFuhnWog/s320/5e4f809cf21dbed7e4149fbca3c3e646.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-87424737357566569282013-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:002013-08-08T12:32:19.977-07:00I weep for the future.... Okay, if it's not one thing, it's twelve, as my mother would say.<br />
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If my sister's situation in Kuwait wasn't enough to shred my soul, with some asshole vigilante destroying innocent dogs like a slaughterhouse, then this was just the icing on the cake of a glorious inhumane day.<br />
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I shouldn't let the ignorance and vacillation of others affect me the way that they do... yet, sadly they do.<br />
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I don't usually pass judgment on people. In regards to race, religion, background, disability, language, culture & certainly sexual preference, I am <i>very </i>easy going & have prided myself in loving everyone equally.<br />
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<b>Except </b>for douchebags.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTJ_7ASX7NpwQki2JL-cvNL5dXNcUSk6rRAAgruCN1-IibbMe57t6lH6foADZspCgvudapK3euZvvMsS7zNL6OcdeXRUgwHIcAE8hx8bCyyfPlza-cbAcPfQn7-P9W7dpi0tEGhPGhwY/s1600/ughhh.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTJ_7ASX7NpwQki2JL-cvNL5dXNcUSk6rRAAgruCN1-IibbMe57t6lH6foADZspCgvudapK3euZvvMsS7zNL6OcdeXRUgwHIcAE8hx8bCyyfPlza-cbAcPfQn7-P9W7dpi0tEGhPGhwY/s1600/ughhh.gif" /></a></div>
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Allow me to explain. There are really few things in the world that "gets my goat." I don't care what your views are on politics, I don't care what your career path is, I don't care what your religion is or your opinions on lima beans are. I really couldn't care <i>less</i>.<br />
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Some topics that would stir contention & anarchy in a debate really don't move me either way. You may find me at the back of the room with my feet propped up holding a bowl of popcorn and grinning from ear to ear as I fantasize about the next episode of Sherlock or what I might eat for dinner later. Sushi or Mexican? hmmm....<br />
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However, some of the few things that <i>do </i>affect me are things that you wouldn't think were that serious of a matter. For example, books. Specifically children's/teenage literature.<br />
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Now, why on earth is this such a big deal to you Megan? Oh, let me extrapolate!<br />
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Not only has children's literature influenced my early reading, so much so that my mother was forced to get me a library card because every time she'd buy me a book I would finish it in a single night, it has become a very vital part of my soul from day one. If I'm not reading <i>something </i>on a daily basis, I go into a form of imaginative paralysis and mental atrophy.<br />
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I firmly believe that the books you read as a child become a part of your identity in a way that no other form of reading ever does later in life. (Thank you Meg Ryan from <i>You've Got Mail</i>!) So many books and authors have shaped my character: from Roald Dahl to J.K. Rowling, to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes to Marianne Curley, to L.M. Montegomery to C.S. Lewis to Robin McKinnley & so on & so on it goes. <br />
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Children's literature has been so much a facet in my life, and a passionate, fiery, all consuming love (much more so than pretty much all of my <b>actual</b> relationships) that I have dedicated myself in <i>writing </i>children's and young adult literature. It has been my lifelong dream to publish books that will empower & broaden the minds of the future of our society. When I write a story, I write it thinking about my incredible nieces & nephews, who've been my inspiration & source of consolation in an ever growing awful world.<br />
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So when someone says that they "<i>hate </i>kid's books" or "books targeted at <i>children</i>" it shouldn't be of any surprise when I become mortally offended by that kind of remark. A part of my soul dies inside.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDs-0xuOWt5Yw6lNb6PtE5Jdi6OUJGl4hBfI6qTc1XLh-3zqs8PCVy7IKKHHU_8qtyRsRi-OocSqO92Bl1NabtxptqYWJy46rX0KGhyphenhyphennaBqCYR7acxobFUDtFlsoLKMr51WzMPvzYbFwU/s1600/109.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDs-0xuOWt5Yw6lNb6PtE5Jdi6OUJGl4hBfI6qTc1XLh-3zqs8PCVy7IKKHHU_8qtyRsRi-OocSqO92Bl1NabtxptqYWJy46rX0KGhyphenhyphennaBqCYR7acxobFUDtFlsoLKMr51WzMPvzYbFwU/s1600/109.gif" /></a></div>
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Going back to what I said at the beginning of this blog post, I'm not privy to judging or being biased towards others on any of the more important basics or fundamentals of a person. If you're Muslim, if you're of African descent, if you've classified yourself as being a homosexual, if you're suffering from the crippling effects of a mental or physical disability, if you're a Democrat or Republican, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be more prone to love & trust you from the very first meeting.<br />
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<i>But </i>if <u>anyone</u>, regardless of background or identity or political affiliation, says those words to me, I'm pretty much gonna shun your from my social circle forever until you give me a handwritten & signed apology in addition to a list of children's books you've read & <i>liked</i>. (with a brief synopsis of each book highlighting the themes & what you've learned)<br />
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Now that seems a bit unreasonable, doesn't it Megan? Just because someone has an opinion, just because someone isn't a voracious reader or has a different perspective on children's books than you, that's no reason to judge them? Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?<br />
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And to that argument, I would simply say: yes. Yes I <i>know </i>it's extreme. Yes, as a matter of fact, I <i>am </i>overreacting. It <i>is </i>very unreasonable.<br />
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Inevitably, most of the time I start feeling like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuwrOgJIHt9TDdllk7nrDetZmYLy9N0-DE-M5m0Sog6gvBZXb9ytEkk0v74l6cBn6Tf5zV_G-i90RWfD22LSkCK2xE7IFpISeVMnj9bKtJptkesXLkhOw6BZRKLqH0ClApdAnQ8-PyPM/s1600/syVKTCC.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuwrOgJIHt9TDdllk7nrDetZmYLy9N0-DE-M5m0Sog6gvBZXb9ytEkk0v74l6cBn6Tf5zV_G-i90RWfD22LSkCK2xE7IFpISeVMnj9bKtJptkesXLkhOw6BZRKLqH0ClApdAnQ8-PyPM/s1600/syVKTCC.gif" /></a></div>
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But here's my reasoning:<br />
1.) You have just insulted the very fabric of my soul. You have belittled the virtues of a genre that I've clung to in times of trial & affliction. You have demolished & desecrated a sacred place that I would escape to in times of trouble and despair.<br />
2.) I'm a woman. I can be as unreasonable and as irrational as I'd like to be. I have a uterus. And cleavage. I win.<br />
3.) I really don't care. At some point in my life, pre-college, I was very sensitive about offending others & confrontation. But the only delightful thing about getting older, is the less damns you give.<br />
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:)<br />
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So if you want to completely obliterate my good opinion of you, please, do insult the one thing I hold dear & the only occupation I've found happiness in.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6TjSUo6p11md1Chaw5Z6oXxqOwL956ModJ0HhLMQCDfsu3-65IJXK544kAdMVrX4nx84LnAq9tjYKYe-rpnOo79Qmu0p4U1jyRVB9ghZQt-n3QYPaBrbinAjNkZnKtOaNi9Uarxgm1A/s1600/tumblr_m4zu04wK5t1r7032do1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6TjSUo6p11md1Chaw5Z6oXxqOwL956ModJ0HhLMQCDfsu3-65IJXK544kAdMVrX4nx84LnAq9tjYKYe-rpnOo79Qmu0p4U1jyRVB9ghZQt-n3QYPaBrbinAjNkZnKtOaNi9Uarxgm1A/s320/tumblr_m4zu04wK5t1r7032do1_500.gif" height="175" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjN8Bv_h6c3e93jUku8bhby_8LTbsLOS-auB6vaiHz1BlpXV3mi0cEg3PzAiIKU6qhKCTaSCeb6KDCdn7BECJWbik1Nv0dnn0R0xSHmS3NxV3TvBTtBNo30FZkoZ2VB6PQQLzchCqrCQ/s1600/tumblr_m4zsnnHJ3F1r7032do1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjN8Bv_h6c3e93jUku8bhby_8LTbsLOS-auB6vaiHz1BlpXV3mi0cEg3PzAiIKU6qhKCTaSCeb6KDCdn7BECJWbik1Nv0dnn0R0xSHmS3NxV3TvBTtBNo30FZkoZ2VB6PQQLzchCqrCQ/s320/tumblr_m4zsnnHJ3F1r7032do1_500.gif" height="215" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-79662554128903973142013-08-01T13:12:00.000-07:002013-08-03T15:54:09.779-07:00My Life as a Writer told in GIFsYes, I'm going to do it. This past year as a writer has been a series of ups & downs, or high rises & pot holes. And here to explain my story perfectly, is a collection of animated gifs I've come across over the year.<br />
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So it kind of started after I got a BRILLIANT idea, and with me feeling like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlsihu4yqCeHDF_M-gDJfOOos0m8essLZfvTyJSb41xmn3-LGdI1ViAWr5RfUgOGRxIh6hp_NtdVMpwwPThgkRzEqGlSc19ZnkAlepTLCRxTlbb7Or6tG7MC52kOjAqnNMxLgGGhPmPHM/s1600/83333489.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlsihu4yqCeHDF_M-gDJfOOos0m8essLZfvTyJSb41xmn3-LGdI1ViAWr5RfUgOGRxIh6hp_NtdVMpwwPThgkRzEqGlSc19ZnkAlepTLCRxTlbb7Or6tG7MC52kOjAqnNMxLgGGhPmPHM/s1600/83333489.gif" /></a></div>
and pretty much after every single chapter review in my writing group I'd walk out of there like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PDtBILcE6n95rmpdPXnqDDV8-bkkLLhlAllirk4lREAf5mThwTwRkbEZqPeIUmACR8rvH1E0kcWrwqNc-GA0nNvY05wqdKp2_ViZdoKOIVBAKn1cQhoDKsY9wk8sboqejefZZPVpVdc/s1600/tumblr_lq08wbhgXJ1qlq05h.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PDtBILcE6n95rmpdPXnqDDV8-bkkLLhlAllirk4lREAf5mThwTwRkbEZqPeIUmACR8rvH1E0kcWrwqNc-GA0nNvY05wqdKp2_ViZdoKOIVBAKn1cQhoDKsY9wk8sboqejefZZPVpVdc/s320/tumblr_lq08wbhgXJ1qlq05h.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
And then looking over it the next day, it would end kind of like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwJju0kvNSrYKhiLYl-Rn91GmGvc0YF6HPgWUutfvJZFC1Fnx51A9mjZw8CKkyUltFmvqsbKUMP5DfnZmhyphenhyphenOA5jsNlNj0Xk0n7UOu7VC_Ns28zPER3U4R-XYnX3qwHFz6cA-KQjS35JI/s1600/tumblr_lq06kso0xw1qlq05h.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwJju0kvNSrYKhiLYl-Rn91GmGvc0YF6HPgWUutfvJZFC1Fnx51A9mjZw8CKkyUltFmvqsbKUMP5DfnZmhyphenhyphenOA5jsNlNj0Xk0n7UOu7VC_Ns28zPER3U4R-XYnX3qwHFz6cA-KQjS35JI/s1600/tumblr_lq06kso0xw1qlq05h.gif" /></a></div>
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And then I'd go back to the drawing board to fix it looking a lot like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtV5kF1mV04kn-1KQkgZGZUcOZplvVzpL1d3KkuCAzGc8xem2kHJCkiqI15pagoUiydcy9mTGm3y3icvnFIUOds2jjN_cFnRhsHTKxzBKXlitmRukbqRQCFfI0GCRii5PRThRoxsgjds/s1600/tumblr_lz61vyTPNg1qlq05h.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtV5kF1mV04kn-1KQkgZGZUcOZplvVzpL1d3KkuCAzGc8xem2kHJCkiqI15pagoUiydcy9mTGm3y3icvnFIUOds2jjN_cFnRhsHTKxzBKXlitmRukbqRQCFfI0GCRii5PRThRoxsgjds/s320/tumblr_lz61vyTPNg1qlq05h.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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But then I'd get good reviews either in class or in my writing group & start looking like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0H54zG3NB9ClJuTVG16bfVhxvD2tbTlWQGux6Xy5yNu1HFHENQqvo79Tw6R2kwAz-hi5w6A4S285f0Q2XSjFQMqJDqBk-WnqQkGqkGu8dFYmUP9XhcaDRJqtMJ9qF8OgTK8xmshpSkM/s1600/83333490.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0H54zG3NB9ClJuTVG16bfVhxvD2tbTlWQGux6Xy5yNu1HFHENQqvo79Tw6R2kwAz-hi5w6A4S285f0Q2XSjFQMqJDqBk-WnqQkGqkGu8dFYmUP9XhcaDRJqtMJ9qF8OgTK8xmshpSkM/s320/83333490.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pretty much every day my mother would ask me the same question:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZUVUzp0taV28AU_YaV10MS2MQ6izp_L7ei6Tqg9js25Xyx-Up40RWssLW-9T4T_fcSOlSZN9_CjTfFRUurBCvhvPAWHsVyeWR5bJ0u8eN3Wl7l4lX0xf9hpE6DTWHHKhBtM3ZlfemS0/s1600/anigif_enhanced-buzz-22135-1370029054-13.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZUVUzp0taV28AU_YaV10MS2MQ6izp_L7ei6Tqg9js25Xyx-Up40RWssLW-9T4T_fcSOlSZN9_CjTfFRUurBCvhvPAWHsVyeWR5bJ0u8eN3Wl7l4lX0xf9hpE6DTWHHKhBtM3ZlfemS0/s320/anigif_enhanced-buzz-22135-1370029054-13.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then I'd come across a former classmate or friend or teacher who's having minor success & say something like:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95AB3SC7d0djINNEhJNYCdCAvTm7KwFdnwGN1dS2M2o2ofMwRdep-lzmIq5VCZ0pTp_nItwvVvKnN6BjbStAgZy4RKKC4uDHEeAT1MNd_C0-CEkD9S6kmuJCnrnPs7T0mXe_N5Vk8MaU/s1600/tumblr_m6nyrfktKa1rvygdxo1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95AB3SC7d0djINNEhJNYCdCAvTm7KwFdnwGN1dS2M2o2ofMwRdep-lzmIq5VCZ0pTp_nItwvVvKnN6BjbStAgZy4RKKC4uDHEeAT1MNd_C0-CEkD9S6kmuJCnrnPs7T0mXe_N5Vk8MaU/s1600/tumblr_m6nyrfktKa1rvygdxo1_250.gif" /></a></div>
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And then after my last & FINAL draft I start to realize I have to edit all 40,000 words of what I wrote and it turns into something like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EfL4c7gL7RIIFedL1JudcBopcRBHDjzYfQyi4CNRreZF79bvOFlxMmG1pa4YHr1Xg8CC6JHrYxuW5zfNd2sk5YyDnh7xEXEP2jbWdQMZ_-Hr5dSLz4VjvUe7MpwdDdaI-Co-d9djd_M/s1600/anigif_enhanced-buzz-9086-1374580853-20.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EfL4c7gL7RIIFedL1JudcBopcRBHDjzYfQyi4CNRreZF79bvOFlxMmG1pa4YHr1Xg8CC6JHrYxuW5zfNd2sk5YyDnh7xEXEP2jbWdQMZ_-Hr5dSLz4VjvUe7MpwdDdaI-Co-d9djd_M/s320/anigif_enhanced-buzz-9086-1374580853-20.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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and this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMNEHRbV9cja96G4ijx0yPVCSobx-Y2eV1sZHfXp7CGIO4mn6gjDU7FooDAWDprimhyphenhyphenxvwJeMv7J5zdrMHgLAn6Zm58H2mI_sA8xs7-zk-0nOz6pDNNFu_cfhAbFcRHRY9Z8tnmytcIw/s1600/anigif_enhanced-buzz-30299-1373600199-22.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMNEHRbV9cja96G4ijx0yPVCSobx-Y2eV1sZHfXp7CGIO4mn6gjDU7FooDAWDprimhyphenhyphenxvwJeMv7J5zdrMHgLAn6Zm58H2mI_sA8xs7-zk-0nOz6pDNNFu_cfhAbFcRHRY9Z8tnmytcIw/s320/anigif_enhanced-buzz-30299-1373600199-22.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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and some of this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAjzQ1d4udiJ0tBwhMz3wQcanz2KN63H2LBViKn5lFZo-AMSuVI2f-AyBFxY6ey6uvo1DvQMscAujq8HLkwvMlW2nBbJdLg65UDmR_WgUV8_ARhfcyLIfNfh1NisEX7HjGeIW65rUlKTE/s1600/83333495.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAjzQ1d4udiJ0tBwhMz3wQcanz2KN63H2LBViKn5lFZo-AMSuVI2f-AyBFxY6ey6uvo1DvQMscAujq8HLkwvMlW2nBbJdLg65UDmR_WgUV8_ARhfcyLIfNfh1NisEX7HjGeIW65rUlKTE/s320/83333495.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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and a bit of this too:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoitiqTCEcmPOyxVXBiDWqusFL2CdZBuMkvLqhr_qExiVqXz2Dt1oxPBZLNHtLAw4Dc64anKa0TAMM74sq-Lvkh4d5mFhZ4XqAGs7MpXi62vjudQvdD8FRy0lxhzdsRqch64ZOJKqe3Hs/s1600/anigif_enhanced-buzz-2494-1373604456-12.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoitiqTCEcmPOyxVXBiDWqusFL2CdZBuMkvLqhr_qExiVqXz2Dt1oxPBZLNHtLAw4Dc64anKa0TAMM74sq-Lvkh4d5mFhZ4XqAGs7MpXi62vjudQvdD8FRy0lxhzdsRqch64ZOJKqe3Hs/s1600/anigif_enhanced-buzz-2494-1373604456-12.gif" /></a></div>
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but then I get a lil confidence boost & start feeling like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguz20e1VfbDRFlof8V16CLd6MQQxfNjo0YNyN-5vaSjVsPrQ0vMWMBhyphenhyphenCDCblP3pPj9nvPGbysJl9cVnQhGurNn7NeJeAIhAjKWU2IVUc9dawEHHnv_9xk7CRfq2RhLMJjCMZQnu8Atyo/s1600/83333515.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguz20e1VfbDRFlof8V16CLd6MQQxfNjo0YNyN-5vaSjVsPrQ0vMWMBhyphenhyphenCDCblP3pPj9nvPGbysJl9cVnQhGurNn7NeJeAIhAjKWU2IVUc9dawEHHnv_9xk7CRfq2RhLMJjCMZQnu8Atyo/s1600/83333515.gif" /></a></div>
<div>
and then I start sending out query letters and get no response, making me think this:</div>
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a<span style="text-align: center;">nd some of this:</span><br />
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<div>
but eventually I'm sure I'll start feeling like the badass that I am, which is something like:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQHhJST0REbHZa00O9ujhwVEmNKv7cMw-H26DjfbH-IC8jq_12BLXrRXBRKk73N4fzClajqmy8geNbb6Df7MO3r0CKiT-XMehzLUzlf8_Xb90cCg54Nk-rtPTJPLNyyK3OdVVN296jk4/s1600/tumblr_lq084gBYo61qlq05h.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQHhJST0REbHZa00O9ujhwVEmNKv7cMw-H26DjfbH-IC8jq_12BLXrRXBRKk73N4fzClajqmy8geNbb6Df7MO3r0CKiT-XMehzLUzlf8_Xb90cCg54Nk-rtPTJPLNyyK3OdVVN296jk4/s1600/tumblr_lq084gBYo61qlq05h.gif" /></a></div>
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and I'll probably say something like this to my haters:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Qi8QRQeLph2YXEhuLdZU7DU0SvBL6VlOQ1-l7yfPXFvUM8gz2rVfKUUZ_KLATRV3UHYaGProDru3rl8s3cSEMDxwf7eK7-bhK6Zejg1Ajd1Bvctmq8I7IpnPjz9nRSqHP2-cnkdBKfs/s1600/tumblr_inline_mhr4jtAb911qz4rgp.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Qi8QRQeLph2YXEhuLdZU7DU0SvBL6VlOQ1-l7yfPXFvUM8gz2rVfKUUZ_KLATRV3UHYaGProDru3rl8s3cSEMDxwf7eK7-bhK6Zejg1Ajd1Bvctmq8I7IpnPjz9nRSqHP2-cnkdBKfs/s320/tumblr_inline_mhr4jtAb911qz4rgp.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
because once the royalty checks start coming in I'll be feeling like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1paLMZH34tU2KeM9qGiF1hIRsqE4qFCM2gjJ3L0ewINCvnFAS-xror7K92dX1J_d1VNzkuWnr4QDJlVCQvVux5vMHiAPHRSSVfptRGracLhXhmSzmKG6BtqIxXLZNGnMdIkbPxfKFtW0/s1600/tumblr_mlez5wBXif1qkr0wto1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1paLMZH34tU2KeM9qGiF1hIRsqE4qFCM2gjJ3L0ewINCvnFAS-xror7K92dX1J_d1VNzkuWnr4QDJlVCQvVux5vMHiAPHRSSVfptRGracLhXhmSzmKG6BtqIxXLZNGnMdIkbPxfKFtW0/s320/tumblr_mlez5wBXif1qkr0wto1_500.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
so here's to the first of many books! and the first of many successes I have yet to have! :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
xox</div>
<div>
Mega Mega</div>
M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-2339305937953658422013-07-15T07:11:00.005-07:002013-07-15T07:11:47.144-07:00Brave So, as all of you know, I'm a <i>huge </i>proponent of music. And every time I find a new song that speaks to my soul, I just have to share it with the world.<br />
<br />
That being said, Sara Bareilles has been an artist that I've gradually come to love & admire. Her songs are written well, both lyrically & musically, and as soon as I heard her single for this next album I was instantly in <b>love</b>.<br />
<br />
The song is entitled <i>Brave</i> and it is slowly becoming my anthem for this year. I know from personal experience just how hard it is to stand up for yourself, to speak up when there's something you see that isn't right, or even to just go out and do something you've always wanted to do, but could never summon the courage. Well, this song is for all of you :)<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/QUQsqBqxoR4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>You can be amazing </i><br />
<i>You can turn a word into a weapon or a drug</i><br />
<i>You can be the outcast</i><br />
<i>Or be the backlash of somebody's lack of love</i><br />
<i>Or you can start speaking up </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do</i><br />
<i>When the settle 'neath your skin</i><br />
<i>Kept on the inside & no sunlight</i><br />
<i>Sometimes the shadow wins</i><br />
<i>But I wonder what would happen if you</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Say what you wanna say</i><br />
<i>And let the words fall out</i><br />
<i>Honestly I wanna see you be brave</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>With what you wanna say</i><br />
<i>And let the words fall out</i><br />
<i>Honestly I wanna see you be brave</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I just wanna see you</i><br />
<i>I just wanna see you</i><br />
<i>I just wanna see you</i><br />
<i>I wanna see you be brave</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I just wanna see you</i><br />
<i>I just wanna see you</i><br />
<i>I just wanna see you</i><br />
<i>I wanna see you be brave</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Everybody's been there, everybody's been stared down</i><br />
<i>By the enemy </i><br />
<i>Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing</i><br />
<i>Bow down to the mighty</i><br />
<i>Don't run, stop holding your tongue</i><br />
<i>Maybe there's a way out of the cage where you live</i><br />
<i>Maybe one of these days you can let the light in</i><br />
<i>Show me how big your brave is</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Say what you wanna say</i><br />
<i>And let the words fall out</i><br />
<i>Honestly I wanna see you be brave</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>With what you wanna say</i><br />
<i>And let the words fall out</i><br />
<i>Honestly I wanna see you be brave</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Innocence, your history of silence</i><br />
<i>Won't do you any good</i><br />
<i>Did you think it would?</i><br />
<i>Let your words be anything but empty</i><br />
<i>Why don't you tell them the truth? </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-16725574275689841792013-06-28T13:19:00.003-07:002013-07-01T19:16:10.311-07:00Life Goals as of 2013Learn Portuguese like a native<br />
Learn Spanish like a native<br />
Learn French like a native<br />
Learn Dutch<br />
Learn Arabic<br />
Improve my photography through workshops/classes<br />
Improve my writing through writing groups<br />
Get a Master's Degree<br />
Travel to every country on my <a href="http://starvingcreativewriter.blogspot.com/2013/06/countries-of-world-wish-list_28.html" target="_blank">wish list</a><br />
Finish & publish my <a href="http://starvingcreativewriter.blogspot.com/p/siren.html" target="_blank">book</a>(s)<br />
Read at least one book a week (52 books a year)<br />
Take voice lessons<br />
Write one song a month<br />
Keep an updated journal<br />
Take at least one photograph a day<br />
Walk as often as possible<br />
Buy as little as possible<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-77829869411035527942013-06-28T13:07:00.000-07:002013-06-29T11:48:42.838-07:00Countries of the World Wish List 1. Ireland<br />
2. The UK/Scotland<br />
3. Iceland<br />
4. New Zealand<br />
5. Spain<br />
6. Portugal<br />
7. France<br />
8. Italy<br />
9. Greece<br />
10. Denmark<br />
11. Belgium<br />
12. Czech Republic<br />
13. Holland<br />
14. Germany<br />
15. Austria<br />
16. Sweden<br />
17. Norway<br />
18. Switzerland<br />
19. Liechtenstein<br />
20. Poland<br />
21. Croatia<br />
22. Slovenia<br />
23. Turkey<br />
24. Jordan<br />
25. Egypt<br />
26. Israel<br />
27. Hungary<br />
28. South Africa<br />
29. Thailand<br />
30. Australia<br />
<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-43037969002153633692013-06-07T21:11:00.002-07:002013-06-17T18:16:25.077-07:00Selling Yourself (& Your Mission) Short This is going to be quite a strongly worded rant, that I probably should apologize for in advance, but I'm not going to. I refuse.<br />
<br />
I guarantee you I'm going to offend one or many of you, but at this point, this is something that's been weighing on my mind for some time now, ESPECIALLY in regards to the young men in the Church. And I have to get this out in black & white so I can at least clear my mind of the anger, frustration and disappointment when it comes to many returned missionaries.<br />
<br />
Now, I realize that this may or may not apply to everyone. And I will say that yes, I do understand that many RM's face unparalleled hardships when they return home that were maybe not as grievous as they were before they went out to preach the Gospel.<br />
<br />
And I do realize that a few men in my acquaintance have chosen not to serve missions, and are faithful in keeping their temple covenants and worthy of the Priesthood which they administer. OR, are men who have served missions and are still perfectly active in the Church. These are men that I value more than anything, men who I admire and look up to always. Let me ease your conscious when I say, I am not aiming this at you. You have done splendidly so far, and I hope and pray that you keep on enduring to the end like you have always done.<br />
<br />
My venting session today, my <u>throw-down</u> if you will is towards the men (and possibly some women, though they are rarer to find than the men) who served a full, honorable mission, made sacred covenants in the temple, sacrificed two years of their life willingly, performed & saw miracles on a weekly, if not daily basis, and not ONE YEAR after they return from their 24 months, decide to go inactive. Completely inactive. Like the last 21+ years of their life never happened.<br />
<br />
They turn their backs on the Church, and forget about the 2 years they spent preaching, proselyting, tract-ing, etc. etc. Not only do they go <i>completely </i>astray, but they begin living a lifestyle and developing habits that they TOLD THEIR INVESTIGATORS AND CONVERTS NOT TO DO!<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, but I have little to no sympathy of this epidemic. None whatsoever. I have had at <b>least </b>five guys in my social circle follow this exact same pattern. <u>FIVE.</u> Five too many.<br />
<br />
Forgive me for going Jeffrey R. Holland on you S.O.B.'s, but that is COMPLETELY unacceptable. Reprehensible. <b>Despicable. </b>Yeah, I said it. I'll say it again. <i>UNACCEPTABLE</i>.<br />
<br />
And you know what? I've found that a possible contributing factor among these men, is the fact that they are in their mid to late twenties and still unmarried. All of these guys are single and either dated a little and never got anywhere, or got their heart broken by some chick they thought was "the one."<br />
<br />
Oh B.F.D.! Seriously. Big EFFING deal. If that's what got you so butt hurt to begin with, then maybe that just goes to show your real maturity level & the fact that maybe you have some growing up to do before you find her. Oh, and by the way, you're NOT going to find the mother of your future children and loving eternal companion in a <b>BAR</b>. or at a <b>RAVE, </b>or <b>STRIP CLUB </b>or wherever the hell you're hanging out, being a douche bag.<br />
<br />
Wake up Sunshine, ain't gonna happen.<br />
<br />
That being said, I'll also add that how can you look one of YOUR converts in the eye, a person you prayed for every day on the mission, a person you baptized & confirmed, a person you maybe even attended their sealing & marriage in the temple a year later? How can you look them in the eye & admit to them that the Gospel "is just not for me," or "it's too hard," or "I'm just figuring out who I am," or whatever B.S. excuse it is you're making up because you're simply too lazy to get your ass back in a pew?<br />
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OR, how can you look your companion in the eye? Your mission president? The people who were with you every step of the way, saw the good days & bad days, the light & dark sides of you and yet stuck by you every step of the way?<br />
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To give you an example about how wrong you are, let me just tell you that my brother served an honorable mission 2 months after my father's passing. While he was on his mission, my grandmother died unexpectedly. After he returned home, he was married and then divorced 4 years later. Yet he is STILL active in the Church, still attends his meetings, still honors his Priesthood, still attends the temple & still magnifies his callings. Doesn't he have more of an excuse than you do to quit? Doesn't he have more pull to throw in the towel & say "It's too hard" or "It's not fair" or "Why is it always me?"<br />
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Well he hasn't. And he won't. Because of one thing & one thing only:<br />
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Out of all of the people in Chile that he converted, the most important person he did convert was himself.<br />
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Elder Holland put it perfectly when he said this:<br />
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"How can any missionary could go do what we're asking you to do, and come home and not be faithful to that very doctrine and those very covenants and those very principles and those very ordinances, something is manifestly wrong. [...] We need to convert you and then you figure out how to convert investigators."<br />
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"When I said leave you nets, it was forever. When I asked you to follow me, it was forever. When I asked you to be an apostle, it was forever. When I asked you to be a missionary it was forever! When I asked you to see this through to the end, it's because it's not over till it's over. Now forget your nets, and forget the fish and jettison your boats and throw your oars away and <i>feed my sheep</i>. We're in this till the end. And that's the day Peter strode into eternity. [...] and the issue is for all time and all eternity. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love Him? You need to decide tonight whether you're on a course that's committed to the idea that you really love God. You really do love the Savior. And if you do, then your call is to feed His sheep forever. Now can you understand why you must never and can never come back? It will never be the same. Peter you can't go home! You can't go back to fish, you can't go back to Galilee. You can't go back to boats. It's over. It is a new life, a new day, a new time. This commission marks that hour in your life. You CANNOT go back. And if you do you will break my heart and the heart of God himself. If you turn your back on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which you have pledged your life to teach. I'm here at 47 years and counting. I pray that it is never ever over for me. And I pray that it is never ever over for you. And if you are ever tempted on your mission or after to leave this faith or commit a transgression or to walk away from the covenants you've made, not assuming we're perfect & knowing we're gonna make mistakes, but your course needs to stay true. You can't go back. You've left your nets. And you're gonna feed sheep. You're going to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ for time and eternity."<br />
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Lastly, to leave on a bit of a higher note, I'll just share this:<br />
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<img src="http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/736x/2c/e4/e9/2ce4e9500573cd650b182cb893610be6.jpg" /><br />
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If you have strayed, if you did know of a surety that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, if you had a testimony, it's not too late. It's never too late. And as Jeffrey R Holland said, it's not over till it's over.<br />
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Come back. Leave your nets. Feed His sheep. & do it forever.<br />
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<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-20823253934635234462013-06-02T16:00:00.001-07:002013-06-02T16:00:52.461-07:00Of Baskin Robbins & Harry Potter... It goes without saying that I <i>seriously </i>have the <b>cutest</b> nieces & nephews on the <u>planet.</u><br />
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So every time I get a chance to hang out with them, I not only jump, but LEAP at the chance. Suffice it to say, I was ecstatic when I was told I could go home early yesterday 2 hours before my shift was up to spoil my nephews: Nathan, Connor & Cole, rotten with double scoops of Baskin Robbins, fruit gushers, pirate booty and Harry Potter 7 part 2.<br />
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And I enjoyed every minute of it! My <i>sobrinhos </i>and books are the only things in the world I don't mind blowing cash on. Well, that and food :)<br />
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At the end of our adventures at the Atlanta History Center, throwing rocks and petting the baying sheep, we went home to watch the last half of Harry Potter 7. Even Nathan, who isn't as big of a HP fan as Connor & Cole, was enthralled as Hogwarts started getting blown to smithereens, wizards starting dying, giants were getting cut in half. So much so, that when my brother and sister-in-law showed up Cole actually started bawling saying he didn't wanna go home!<br />
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Who has two thumbs and is the best aunt in the freaking world? THIS GIRL!<br />
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By the way, have I mentioned that Nathan wants a German Shepherd when he grows up & Connor & Cole love Harry Potter? These kids have the BEST taste! And who did they learn it from... oh right, ME!<br />
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*Sigh* I'm really gonna miss these kids for a year & a half... really.<br />
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xoxo<br />
Megatron<br />
<br />M. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-34976993166365807572013-05-21T10:47:00.001-07:002013-05-31T08:12:35.724-07:00Dealbreakers So, it's been a while since I've blogged about dating, or <i>men </i>in general, but recently I've thought a lot about the kind of guys I've dated in the past, and MANY of them have come with <b>deal-breakers</b> or <u>red flags</u>.<br />
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Many of my friends, guys in particular, have asked me what my "type" was & I've always said I didn't have one which translated to "I date anything male that moves." A gross misapprehension I assure you. However, I have been known to date a variety of douche bags, though I will say my taste in men has gotten better over time.<br />
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Since I'm happily single (and plan on being so at least for the next 2 years), and hormones & loneliness are not clouding my judgement, I've decided to make a list of things that are absolute DEAL BREAKERS for me. No exceptions. No leeway. No amendments or retractions.<br />
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That way, I can come back here and see the things that are essential for my happiness, and if said man does not fulfill all of them, he's on the next train back home. Now, when I say deal breakers, I'm not talking about superficial, idiotic deal breakers like <b>Must have a six pack at all times </b>or <b>Looks exactly like Edward Cullen </b>or <b>Is making six figures by the time he graduates from college</b>. These are things that mean a lot to me, and things that I absolutely CANNOT live without, and to be honest, things that are really not hard at all to meet. These standards aren't exactly Yale or Oxford worthy...<br />
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Here they are, a few simple, unadulterated, bare necessities of life:<br />
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-He HAS to love reading & be willing/excited to read to our kids. He doesn't need to be a voracious reader, like me, but he at least has to have a list of his favorite books, and books he wants to read in future. If I EVER hear anyone, male or female say they "hate reading"... I may end up throwing the 7th Harry Potter book straight to their gonads.<br />
-He HAS to have dreams & ambitions. If he doesn't care about anything, if he's indifferent about a career or a passion in life...no deal. (However, I have been enamored with many a man who wish to choose music or film or the arts as a viable career, knowing full well that it will take a while to make it a lucrative lifestyle, or will end up making no money at all. This is something I'm completely fine with and actually prefer in a lot of ways. He doesn't need to make a ton of money so long as he's EXCITED about what he's doing or planning on doing in future.)<br />
-He HAS <b>HAS </b><u>HAS</u> to love/desire/want to travel. If he's dead set against flying or if he wants to live & die in the same place he's grown up and always been, no dice. Sorry champ. I'm disgusted with complacency. & I've been bitten by the travel bug. There is no cure except to travel MORE.<br />
-He CANNOT be obsessed with money or materialistic. I love a good Ferrari or Aston Martin same as the next bloke, but if it takes the place of family or husbandry duties, that's a BIG problem. One I will <b>never </b>put up with. ever.<br />
-He HAS to have an incontrovertible sense of humor. If he doesn't make me laugh, it won't make it past the first date.<br />
-He HAS to be tolerant of the following guilty pleasures:<br />
<b>the Muppets</b><br />
<b>Harry Potter</b><br />
<b>Jane Austen</b><br />
<b>Mystery Science Theater/Rifftrax </b><br />
He doesn't have to LOVE them all, he doesn't even have to LIKE them, just be able to stand them, and not bash on them. I don't think that's too much to ask, considering the fact that I despise football, but if the man likes football, I'm not gonna diss on it or try to talk him out of it. Door swings both ways bro.<br />
-He HAS to like/be tolerant of animals--dogs specifically, considering the fact that my #1 dream is owning a German Shepherd and naming him Optimus Prime...<br />
-He HAS to love music. He has to have favorite bands, musicians, songs etc. Soundtracks, melodies, lyrics are things that I always refer to and quote on a daily basis. Ya gots to keep up.<br />
-He HAS to be an appreciator of movies. My love of movies borders on obsessive, so he has to be able to talk to me about them more than just "It was good." or "I dunno, I'd prolly own it" -_-<br />
-He HAS to motivate me to exercise and eat healthy. I can't be the only one concerned with keeping us both healthy and lookin good.<br />
-He HAS to be a man's man in many manly ways. I'm not sayin he needs to build me a cabin and kill & skin my food for me, but he has to have skills in one of the following areas such as:<br />
mechanics<br />
technology<br />
cars<br />
plumbing<br />
building<br />
repair<br />
etc<br />
-He HAS to respect/honor the U.S. military. Considering the fact that nearly 4 generations of the men in my family have served in the armed forces, including my pops, I'd say that's a big 10-4 good buddy.<br />
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And that's pretty much it. If I think of anything else, I'll certainly add it to the list.<br />
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Now that doesn't seem too unreasonable, does it?<br />
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ahhh Jim... the standards of love and romance will be forever altered because of you.<br />
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xo<br />
MegatronM. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4887953041962800597.post-66925172436691323312013-05-09T07:23:00.001-07:002013-05-10T07:15:28.538-07:00I'm Not Gonna Write You An Essay<i>Cause you asked for it, cause you need one. </i><br />
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I understand that in this ever-changing, fast-paced technology-science-based world, many things have become obsolete and archaic. The written word in black & white on paper, is being replaced by e-books; phone calls and house calls are being replaced by text messaging; CDs and cassette tapes are being replaced by MP3s and iPods; maps are being replaced by GPS's and smart phones; dictionaries & common sense are being replaced by spellcheck etc. etc etc. <br />
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And, usually, these changes are necessary. There's no doubt that correspondence with other humans has become faster, more efficient, and less expensive. <em>However</em>, I believe there is a caveat to this "modern" electronic-forward world we're living in. <br />
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It's come to my attention that schools are considering eliminating handwriting/cursive classes from the elementary/middle school/high school curriculum. (If you're dubious, simply google 'teaching handwriting' and you'll come up with a bunch of articles discussing this matter.) <br />
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This not only infuriates me, considering the fact that American primary schools <strong><u>suck</u></strong> in every subject and that not 40 years ago children in the fourth grade were reading <em>Silars Marner</em> by George Eliot & now they're reading <em>Diary of A Wimpy Kid</em>, but this also frightens me about the future of my children's quality of education <strong>in addition to </strong>the education of the future leaders of this country & the world. <br />
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Now I understand how this can be seen as trivial and frivolous rather than worrisome, but if you don't feel as I do that this is a grave and alarming mistake, I'll simply point out a few reasons against removing the handwriting segments of education from the school systems. <br />
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1.) There's a book titled <em>Try to Feel it My Way </em>by Suzette Elgin. This book discusses the different learners in our cultures and how certain people communicate, specifically men and women who are <em>touch </em>dominant learners/communicators. Now of course there are visual learners, audio learners and kinesthetic learners.About 10% of the human population are of the latter, which may seem like a minimal amount, but I believe that it's much more than you would think. Myself, I believe I'm a combination learner, both visual and kinesthetic. It honestly depends on the situation. But I do remember the subjects and concepts that stuck with me the most were the things depicted in a movie, a picture, a photograph, etc. <u>in addition to</u> writing it out. <br />
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Let me give an example, when I am preparing to give a talk, a discussion, a lecture, or even trying to come up with an appropriate way to break up with a guy, I <strong>have </strong>to write it <em>out! </em>Whatever it is! Not only do I have to write it down, I have to SEE it written down. Both my hands and my eyes are soaking that information up, making it twice as easy to recall it to remembrance when the time comes. <br />
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Now, what does this have to do with handwriting/cursive classes? Think about it. Yes, there is something to be said for typing on a computer or texting on an iPhone, but <em>writing </em>includes the kinesthetic touch dominant learners. As well as the visual learners. Kinesthetic learners are able to actually physically write out everything, while visual learners see it written. Sorry, how is handwriting antiquated? If that's not a strong enough argument, feel free to see the next one.<br />
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2.) If students don't know how to <em>write</em> in cursive, they'll certainly not know how to <em>read </em>it as well. For example: If a student is reading the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, or even their mother's diary after she's passed away, how on earth are they going to be able to read and understand what it is they're writing? Now, I know this is kind of hitting this topic below the belt, but I'm serious! I understand some documents, like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, is already typed out but there are ALWAYS going to be records, scripts, speeches, diaries and more that are going to be handwritten as well as written in cursive. <br />
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3.) There are still things in this day and age that require good handwriting, and even cursive. People still write checks, people still write Thank You cards, people still write in Birthday cards, Baby shower cards, Wedding cards etc, people still write in Wedding guest books, people still sign their name, people still write notes, people still write their names on name tags, people still write in multiple games, doctors still write diagnoses, etc etc etc etc. I could go on! <br />
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So if that's the case, it would be disastrous for children to no longer learn the art of handwriting and cursive. If only to just encapsulate their learning and retain their creativity. Sir Francis Bacon once said:<br />
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<img alt="#AUTHORHOUSE WRITING INSPIRATION Today we celebrate Sir Francis Baconโs birthday with some of his philosophizing" src="http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/550x/1f/44/ea/1f44eaf219fe62b6fda56dc2298ab374.jpg" /><br />
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If we want our children and the people of this country to be full, ready and <b>exact, </b>we need to keep the subjects of writing and cursive in our schools.<br />
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And I'm gonna leave it at that.<br />
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xox<br />
MegatronM. Seitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251810704328385460noreply@blogger.com0