Speech Response: Legalization of Hemp

I think I probably choose to do my speech on the legalization of hemp mostly because I was raised to be very environmentally aware, and so topics about that advocate for the a cleaner environment have a lot of meaning to me.   The legalization of hemp is something that I read a lot about and heard a lot about up at the hemp shop in downtown Burlington.  I think that environmental topics are also very good for the reason that everybody can connect to them when they attend a really pristine campus.  We all watch the news and hear about global warming, and in many different ways through out my speech I showed by either needing less trees to be cut down, or just by reducing emission out puts in various ways could help prevent that.  And when you talk about something that your listener can connect to, its always much more interesting that a story about someone or something they've never heard of (a lesson learned from my friend who talks to much).

I decided to sort of build my speech around all the benefits that hemp can give us; including more recyclable and easier to grow paper source, addition to textile fabrics, low emission bio-fuel, food, and more.  Then after showing all the benefits of hemp I looked at why it is not legal (because of the THC in it) and proved that the reason it was not legal before, is no longer an issue because of the way the plants have been bred (low-THC hemp breeds).  I know that bio-fuels are looked at as a relatively better source of fuel for the environment than oil, so I put in the facts about how hemp grows one month faster (in four months) and creates ten tons of bio-fuel per acre; which is ten times more that corn can produce.

Composition Class Reflection

Composition did not seem like a very appealing class when I first signed up for it just because writing is not one of my strong suits academically.  But once the semester got started I figured it was just going to take more drafts even for the small weekly writes, and more visits to the writing center than I would have liked.

As far as the atmosphere of the class went I think it was very successfully set up and very helpful to me as a writer.  Blogging was a great way to work on writing because it became very accessible to work on save and comeback to, as well as turn in more simply when I was sick.  The Blogs were also cool because it allowed you to respond to our writing over the internet rather than on little pieces of paper we end up recycling or losing.  Having the option to look back on comments from past writings was really helpful on the bigger assignments to know what I needed to work on the most.  The speech was also a nice way to make us work on our writing skills in another way, as well as researching skills.

One thing that I think could have been improved about the class however was the strictness regarding the readings.  I feel like at least three or four times throughout the semester you had to change your class plan because everybody except like two of us didn’t read the assigned readings.  How to make them more strictly assigned I don’t know.

I would argue that I should get a solid A in this class, not only because I handed in every assignment on time and done well.  But also, because I put the time and effort in to come to class whenever I wasn't sick, and always had the readings done and the blogs listened to when I arrived (except for once).  However, the fact that I also got solid A's on all of the significant assignments in the class that I've seen my grade on is also a helpful.

Composition was clearly a valuable class for me to take.  Not only were the videos we watched, readings we read, and pod cast we listened to interesting.  But responding to or analyzing them will be helpful for people in almost any major as they continue both through college and into the real world.  As for the final exam band its Super Smash time!

Speech Topic: Legalization of Hemp

The legalization of the production of hemp in the United States and the positive affects it would have on our economy, the global food crisis, and cloth.  Hemp seeds can be used to help deal with the global food crisis and would creates large amounts of food for those who cannot afford it.  Hemp also creates a more durable longer lasting cloth.  Also the sale of Hemp is already legal in the United States but it is just the production of hemp that is not.  If we were to legalize the growth of Hemp which grows naturally in many of the climates of the United States we would be boosting our economy.  A bonus effect of growing hemp is that it naturally is a very bug resistant plant that is not fed on by very many insects at all, reducing the amount of pesticides that we use on our products significantly.

Farmer? I barely know ‘er!

Research Blog

As the industry continues to grow in every field, our planet tends to suffer the cost.  Although we may not be able to see it, large factory farms that now supply the gross majority of our food nationwide comes at a cost.  Compared to the ideal local organic farms that would treat the Earth the best, factory farms use pesticides, herbicides, and soil boosters that affect the planet a lot more than we realize.  These large industrial farms are also usually located far away from the cities and large urban areas they supply.  This makes transportation a high cost not only on our declining amount of fossil fuels, but also on the planet, which suffers immensely from the burning of fossil fuels.  Local organic farms should be preeminent rather than the large industrial farms that supply the majority of the food today.

            Although the organic symbol doesn't necessarily mean that the products are local ones, growing organic still has a positive effect on the environment when compared to non-organic farming.  Factory farms that operate outside of the organic classification use environmentally unfriendly pesticides, herbicides, and soil boosters in order to maintain their produce, and make sure that it can be grown effectively every year.  These herbicides and pesticides don’t differentiate between good plants  and insects, such as tomatoes and bees, and bad plants and insects, like invasive weed species and longhorn beetles.  As we genetically modify our planets to be herbicide resistant, we begin to spray more herbicides that have effects as they spread outside the fields on many important plants that are natural to these areas.  Another effect is that once some plants begin to recede from the increased use of herbicides, invasive species such as the Canada thistle tend to take their place and spread quicker, sometimes limiting plants that grow in less aggressively (Dangers of Genetic Engineering in Agriculture 1).  Dan Thompson, who has worked at his parent’s local organic family farm in Middlesex Vermont his entire life, sees no need for pesticides while farming. “Plants have been growing for millenniums without needing pesticides and chemicals.  They don't need them now.  It's important to us that people know exactly what is in the food they eat, and that they know that if they buy from us, there isn't going to be anything else in it,” Thompson says.  Dan's family has been growing and selling organic produce for over fifteen years without ever needing the assistance of these chemical concoctions and it pays off for the environment.

            Organic techniques such as those used by the organic farm Earthbound “obviate the use of more than a quarter of a million pounds of toxic chemical pesticides and almost 8.5 million pounds of synthetic fertilizers” (Shapin 2).  The flow off can be extremely harmful to the environment, as well as important bodies of water as proved in the mid-east area of the United States.  For instance, the EPA finds that once nitrogen based synthetic fertilizers are found in drinking water they can have potentially fatal health risks such as blue baby syndrome, gastric cancer, miscarriages, and lymphoma.  These nitrogen boosters also affect the reproductive ability of fish that live in affected waters, and of livestock grow and reproduction which and also lead to fatality (Jonas etal 3).  Nitrogen boosting, chemical doping, and soaking of plants is not a sustainable way to farm.  The major point being is that when you do semi-permanent or permanent damage, it is only going to take more to sustain, which eventually becomes unreasonable.

            What many people don't realize is that these pesticides and nitrogen boosting fertilizers harm the environment and don't just disappear overnight.  Recently we've seen that fertilizer, which we usually consider one of the more environmentally friendly parts of these larger farms when compared to their chemical habits, have been over filling the soil with nitrogen.  This nitrogen eventually flows down the Mississippi River which begins all the way up in the very northern most United States and flows all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico where it drains into the ocean.  When all of that nitrogen flows down the basin and eventually hits the Gulf of Mexico, it causes what we know as a dead zone.  Dead zones are essentially bodies of water with the same attributes as the Dead Sea in Europe. Nitrogen flows down the basin in the early spring before the soil can be rooted by the next year’s crop, and into the ocean at the mouth of the Mississippi.  The nitrogen then over feeds a rapidly growing algae that puts oxygen into the water, which then runs out of nitrogen and dies.  Once the algae die off, the excess oxygen is eaten up quickly by the microscopic organisms that eat the dead algae.  Then, with the majority of the important algae dead, the water's oxygen level drops.  Fish essentially drown in the now oxygen deprived water.  This probably may not seem as widespread as it is, but “[The] Mississippi River basin covers forty percent of the continental United States and is the largest producer of corn and soybean in the world (Ramanujan 1).”  Because of this, getting farms in this area to reduce their nitrogen fertilizer use seems nearly impossible because of the immense size of the area, and the density of corporate farms in that area.  The Gulf dead zone is just the start of the environmental damage that these large scale farms are causing with their environmentally unfriendly farming procedures.  

            Organic alone is not a solution to cleanse the environment.  When you're traveling long distances in order to deliver food there is ultimately a large cost in the fueling of the delivery vehicles.  By buying food from local farmers you can be sure that you’re not only supporting your neighbors, but that you’re cutting down on carbon emissions due to the transporting of produce.

            Growing locally also benefits the local community in many ways.  Locally grown food helps to keep money amongst the people rather than feeding it to executives who head the large industrial farms.  Dan Thompson summed up the benefits of the local aspect of farming by saying, “The community is an important aspect to what we do.  When someone buys produce at the grocery store, chances are they have no idea where it came from.  When someone buys from us, they know it came from just down the road.  They're our neighbors and they know they can trust us (Daniel Thompson).”   The local aspect when farming locally is no longer disconnected like it is when you produce food for thousands of people.  You can't really care about all of them the way you care about friends and neighbors in your local town.  When you're buying your food from someone you trust who you know is eating the same food that you’re eating and really cares about the food they're growing.  It's a different feeling.  He later concluded that “Local farming helps local economies.  When someone buys produce at a farmers' market, the money is going right in the pocket of the farmer that grew it.  The money then may be spent at another vendor's stand, and the money stays in the community rather than ending up at some large mass produce company (Daniel Thompson).”

            Factory farming is not sustainable and is a major factor in the pollution of the planet.  The only argument for factory farming is that local organic farming does not solve the global food crisis.  However, before we worry about a global crisis for food, maybe we should think about the greater long-term effects.  Factory farming is far from solving the crisis, and as much as it seems like an important issue for the future, the crisis will only be worse if we continue farming this way.

            Local organic farming is the natural way to get food and is the only sustainable way for food to be produced.  By buying local organic produce we can help to support our local communities while cutting down on the environmental harm that we ultimately cause to our planet.  If change doesn’t take place soon conditions could continue to deteriorate and the harm that we do to our food and our Earth will continue to do harm back to us.  These fatalities that have begun to emerge could soon be an epidemic of damaged foods and contaminated land and water.

Bibliography

            Jonas, Jill, Audrey Eldrich, and Neil Dubrovsky. "Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Series." Enviormental Protection Agency, 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 2 May 2011. <http://water.epa.gov/learn/training/wacademy/upload/2011_03_29_slides.pdf>

Kimbrell, Andrew. Fatal Harvest : the Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Washington, 2002.

Ramanujan, Krishna. "Dead Zones in Gulf Caused, in Part, by Farm Drainage." Physorg.com. 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.

Shapin, Steven. "Organic Food and Farming Has Drawbacks." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. 15 May 2006. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.

Thompson, Daniel. Telephone interview. 18 Apr. 2011.

"Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont." NOFA Vermont. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.

"2010 Statistics on Certified Organic Agriculture in Vermont." Http://nofavt.org. 31 Dec. 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.

"Dangers of Genetic Engineering in Agriculture." Dangers of Genetic Engineering Campaign for Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food. Web. 02 May 2011.

Islamic Reform Not What It Seems

We've all heard the talk about the anti-American's in the Middle East.  The Jihad, and other irrational Muslims who supposedly are a "threat" to our western life style.  But how true is this view really?  Is it these Muslims groups and individuals who are being irrational?  Or the all mighty United States who believe that no matter where we are, in our country or theirs, that we are in complete control.

The Muslim extremist groups increased in numbers shortly after the cold war when the supposed "Green Peril" was gaining in power.  The Green Peril was basically the term for the quickly rising anti-American groups based off of their background of being Islamic, and the Islamic color green.  

It is important to remember as the article we read pointed out many times, these are not uneducated people like many people see at first.  Some of the largest reform pushers are extremely well respected intellectual Muslims.  The view we see is only that fed to us by large corrupt media sources.  But the truth is that many brilliant minds ponder on how Islam can reform without being over powered by Western lifestyles.  But also not become a pawn of these radical Muslims of feed of the uniting Muslim groups.

The pushing force behind the Green Peril was actually the growing need amongst the Muslim people worldwide to speak up for other Muslims that could not speak up.  Much like the Jihad they began to form as a peaceful group, but soon became violent based due to a preaching of poorly representing leaders.  The distinguishing point between many of the Muslim groups may not be clear based off of their goals.  But the majority of these groups start only looking for some freedom amongst themselves.  An ironic goal seeing as they fight against the overpowering Western views, and yet one of the most defining points of Western culture is the widespread freedom and equality without concern within those Western Countries.

Our invasive behavior in the Middle East, and over controlling actions are what many of the Muslim "extremist" as we call them, fight against.  The United States has too hard of a time letting people decided their beliefs, and governmental form for themselves.  Its a sad irony that we are the country that above all others stands for freedom and equality, and yet we cannot let other countries be free to decide how they want to be governed, and to let their actions be the deciding factor in their change.  Equal in our country, but less important if you live in another one is the true American motto based off the execution of our actions. 

War on Terror, or just others?

Although the United States may have labeled their latest war for oil the the "War on Terror", it begs the question who are we so afraid of? It seems the United States is just afraid of everyone different than our predominantly Americanized Presidents and other members of the U.S. Government we select. But even if we don't fear them, is the rest of the world getting fed up with our meat-head approach to policing over them?

The United States sets up military bases all over the world in order to maintain its complete military power over other countries such as it has for China and North Korea to ensure it maintains control over the farthest corners of the world. But the United States fails to think about the fact that maybe those nations don't want the influence of the United States in their country.

Although O'Keefe tries to make the point that the United States tries very hard to make these military complexes on foreign soil have the least effect as possible it still begs the question should they even be there. We try not to get too many, and keep the ones we have relatively low key in order to avoid getting any publicity from the people of the home countries but that does not mean they are okay with us having them. In my opinion the United States only keeps them low key in order to have these military bases, not because they actually care about the civilians of the countries.



If the people were actually given enough control in order to make changes in their countries and weren't already faced with more serious issues at hand how many of these countries people would actually be okay with the United States military bases on their soil? New Zealand for one already spoke up against these “temporary bases” that have were at one point stopping points for large U.S. vessels during the cold war. If China were to build a military base somewhere in the United States, the civilians would speak out against it.

The United States may believe that they can treat others however they want, and roam around the world pretending that they control everything, but it does not mean that we actually do. Eventually the other countries of the world are going to get fed up with America, like we are already seeing with our reputation diminishing with each war and act of terrorism that we commit around the world. And as we spend all our money now attempting to take control of oil reserves and diminish cultures that our leaders disagree with, we slowly begin to lose the economic advantage that the United States has always had. Without our economic advantage over other countries we may no longer be the super power that we are now.

Gasland, the less commendable view of Natural Gas in the United States

The movie Gasland by Josh Fox, proves undoubtedly that the techniques and methods for drilling, known as hydro-fracturing are extremely environmentally unfriendly. Although many of the camera views attempt to appeal to the viewers emotions it remains true that behind these shots are well researched facts that have caused this undesirable outcome.

The author uses shots that go from a blurry unknown into very emotional pictures, such as sickly people who are wearing gas masks just to breath. Although this is merely showing the outcome of the money hungry mongrels who could careless about the environment and their neighbors, it is also a powerful appeal to emotion. We all care about our neighbors and country men, and although some big corporation workers may have pushed those feelings deep away in order to make a quick buck. Seeing fellow human beings sickly and bent over with gas-masks on; such as if they were thirty years older and had been tortured in some third world conditions tends to be worry some. We work to improve living conditions in other countries to get them up to our living standards with food and water, yet in our own country the living conditions are becoming more dangerous than Chernobyl. Not because of some catastrophic accident, but because fully aware people are willing to risk the safety of millions of people for their own personal gain.

Fox also uses the image of dead animals to hit on that emotional reaction viewers get when they see cute animals such as rabbits and birds dead from our actions. Because the animals had been kept frozen in the woman's freezer they maintained a very live like appearance which I think helped make the emotional connection that the animals really were alive at some point and in fact died because that stream that they used to get there water from became toxic with natural gas and chemicals from the drilling process.

Although it seems like the movie affects people very emotionally the film was based almost completely around the facts of Natural Gas fracting. He named off hundreds of chemicals that were used in the fracting process and the affects they had on both the environment and on humans. There is of course the proof that normal tap water coming from peoples faucets was flammable enough to the point where it could be lit on fire while flowing out of the faucet. The affects of many of the chemicals were loss of smell, permanent lung damage, prolonged exposure led to cancer, and some such as arsenic and lead just poisoned the body themselves.

Fox's Gasland brought to the surface a the monstrosity behind the large oil and gas companies that were doing this and silencing the people. Although this movie brings out something that should be extremely important to the people, I guarantee a very small number of people have seen this movie and heard what it has to say. Fox didn't only bring a topic to the light, but he explored the topic first hand on film and found evidence everywhere he searched to prove that the oil and gas companies were in the wrong.   

The Society in South Park

South Park may use potty humor, but South Park takes intuitive looks into the ridiculous societal issues in the United States and the many issues that arrive with the way that our government is run.  South Park is a perfect example of how open society works.  And as David Valleau Curtis and Gerald Erion point out the South Park potty mouth may be one selling point for the show, but there still is a lot of potency underneath the bad language and childish jokes that gives the show another level for viewers to see when watching

The characters of South Park episode after episode end up on opposite sides of exaggerated popular issues in the united states.  These situations exaggerated and poke fun at controversial issues by making both sides look absurd.  By bringing the issues out in open for the public to scrutinize, South Park actually allows for the public to assess issues for themselves by viewing them in different settings in order to form their own opinions.  



Erion and Curtis argument that South Park is benefit to "open society" and doesn't silence extremist is hard to argue against.  After their explanation of what Karl Popper defined as open and closed society, it is easy in any one episode to see how South Park allows open society with "rational reflection" upon the topics brought up in the episodes.

Take for instance the episode where the boy scouts don't allow the current troop leader stay in place because he is a homosexual.  Although it seems like a ridiculous situation that may not have a greater relevance, but if you think about it, that episode brings up the issue of how many organizations and groups have felt that homosexuals don't belong in their groups.  This is an issue that pops up all the time, one great example would be that many churches that spoke out against gay marriage when California pushed to legalize the right in past years.

South Park however also looks at such social events such as the largely popular World of Warcraft and how it shapes our society.  Once again taking a comical point of view making all the main characters gain notable amounts of weight and break out to fit the most stereotypical overweight gamer, they actually look at society and question it.  And look at other issues that may or may not be related to the over played video-game.



South Parks commentary it plays on the social fads and governmental issues is one way that people are given a chance to examine their social environment.  Open society is what allows America and many other countries people to continue to analyze the government and society they live in, rather than allowing their society to be shaped completely by others.

Currency Corruption

The recession hit George's family hard. George helped around the family farm every summer in order to make some money for his pocket, but organic food was expensive, and even in Vermont the need for it was not a booming market due to how expensive organics are. This year his dad told him that money was short, and that there was not enough work for him at the family farm.

George was not overly upset and applied for jobs in and around Montpelier, eventually getting the morning register job in the Montpelier Shaw's. Because George was getting a job outside of the family farm, he assumed that his summer would be open to hang with all his friends on the weekends. But when the first Saturday came George had to work at the farmers market in Montpelier.

It didn't seem fair that he would have to work for no money on his weekends as an eighteen year old, but his parents didn't seem to care. It wasn't just the first week either, every Saturday morning bright and early George would leave or many times he would leave his friends houses the night before, usually before it even struck midnight just to be home and well rested for the market the next day.

The recession had hurt George's family financially, but somehow him being told to get a job outside of the family business only meant more work for him, and less pay. During his last summer with many of his high school friends he had known for a better majority of his life George worked the hours of two jobs.

George now attends Northeastern College in Boston and because of the way there engineering program works will have his last summer home this coming summer. For his last summer he already knows he will have to get another job outside of the family. George's summer will probably consist of the overload of essentially two jobs much like his last summer.

Talking to George about how my pockets where nearly empty of the money I had made over the summer he told me how he was nearly broke himself. The only difference is because my family wasn't struggling financially I went out every night over the summer. And many days I would go straight from one friends to work and then to the next friends house without even going home, sometimes for entire weeks till my parents ordered me home.

Because of this financial crash partially caused by the actions of the banks giving loans without sufficient financial information about there clients, many families such as George's have gone through similar experience of increased work hours and stricter standards of living.   

Tosh.Awesome

Earlier this evening Daniel Tosh, most well known for Tosh.0, aired his new television show Daniel Tosh: Happy Thoughts on Comedy Central.  Tosh is well known for his extremely crude humor hitting on topics such as the child who was beheaded at Six Flags and of course his many jokes directed toward women, African Americans, and the Latino populations.

Happy Thoughts pushed the line between funny and just plain going to far, but for those who are not easily offended like myself Tosh proved that he was one of the funniest comedians out there.  Tosh quickly switched from one joke to the next, never pushing the limit of your attention span keeping his listeners entertained throughout.

Some of Tosh's better material were the jokes about the national anthem in America, the Mormon Church, and how he hates his girlfriend.  The national anthem is a one hit wonder that nobody wants to listen to Tosh pointed out, and if "his" country were to have a national anthem it would be thirty-nine minutes long just so if they ever won a gold medal the bronze and silver winners would have to sit there.  Tosh's Mormon Church joke pointed out that they spent thousands of dollars on adds so that gay marriage would not pass in California and it only worked because parents in California did not wanna actually talk to there kids.  And my personal favorite, the many jokes where Tosh pointed out his dislike for his girlfriend and joked about cheating on her because he believes that "you can't appreciate an eight unless you've been with a four."

I personally enjoyed the crude humor and national points of political argument that Tosh brought forth in his new show.  I'm looking forward to watching Tosh's new show every week and hope that it continues to keep its quality of humor, crude humor.



"My show's about bringing the troops home. That's the message. It's not obvious, but it's there. Bring the troops home tomorrow, and continue the war here. Because we owe it to our troops to let them sleep in their own beds with their families, wake up in the morning, have delicious breakfast, and drive to war. They can do it in Nebraska; we don't need that horrible state. That can be our field. Some of you are like, "Oh, that's not nice! Then, we wouldn't have any corn!" My SUV doesn't run on corn. Ethanol's a dream, and a dumb one." -Daniel Tosh

Ghost in our Mind

A Personal Essay

“I took it from my brothers room,” Charlie exclaimed. “This is supposed to be the best of the best, the scariest of all the films!” He was holding the movie box for the Exorcist, what was said to be the scariest film of the time.

“I dunno about this, cant we watch something else? I don't really like horror movies.” I replied. “Remember the story your parents were telling us? The one about the builder who committed suicide while building your house? My parents said the story was true. They said it was in the paper. That he hit himself repeatedly with the back side of a hammer until he bled out in the basement. Maybe its bad karma.”

“Stop being such a wimp, its just a movie,” Charlie replied. Making it very clear that my eleven year old man hood was at stake with watching this movie. ”I know, lets watch it in the basement! That will make it really scary.” Clearly my plea had not helping with the situation. The only thing worse then watching a horror film I did not want to watch was to watch it in a basement that we had spent our youth making ghost stories up about.

“If we watch this in the basement then I do not want to hear anything about this later. No matter what man,” I said as I made a safety net to make sure whatever happened did not end up becoming lunch time talk at school on Monday amongst our friends.

He popped in the tape and the VHS clicked on. I couldn't help but glance behind me, checking the dark corners of the room even before the film got on its way. Goosebumps went up and down my spine as the movie progressed; there would not be any sleep for me tonight. Each and every sequence of the movie made me a little more nervous that some two foot tall creepy pale girl would emerge from the shadows. As I sat there checking corners of the room constantly, I began to feel my hands start to sweat. I wanted to close my eyes so bad, but somehow the film was too captivating, it would not allow me to do so. As the movie came to an end Charlie and I looked at each other. “On three we run upstairs,” he whispered.

Even once we got upstairs, I could still hear all the creaks. The sounds that built suspense kept playing through my ears as I closed my eyes. I could hear the sounds of creaking floor boards, sometimes leading to horror and other times building up to nothing as the directors messed with our minds. The disgusting image of the young girl vomiting profusely, like some sort of broken faucet releasing the grimiest substances you would expect to find deep in a landfill of rotting waste kept replaying in my mind.

The hairs on my arms stood on end, we had gotten upstairs but Charlie wanted nothing more then to go back down. We loaded up two Nerf guns and made our decent into his basement. It seemed like there were people watching from every shadow, mocking us. Charlie decided it would be best to build a tent in the middle of the room with the blanket on the coach and hold fort. I agreed but at the same time could feel my eyes watering; I glanced behind me and nearly scream as one of his cats walked down the stairs casually.

As the night progressed, my eyes didn't even get tired - they just constantly darted from one corner of the room to the next searching. I looked over to see Charlie wide awake just looking forward intently focused with his Nerf gun still in his hands, as if the Nerf gun could protect him from supernatural forces. I wiped my sweaty hands on my pants and looked out the basement exit. It was starting to get light out, another hour or two and everything would be okay. Somehow the light meant everything was okay, that nothing could touch us.

As the sun came up we both lay down to go to sleep. There was a new connection between us though, an understanding of that we could out do fear together. Charlie and I are still good friends today, eight years after we watched the movie and the connections we made during event such as watching the exorcist are really what build our friendship. And even though we did end up talking about our adventure in school Monday it was more of a victory story.

PSU as a party school

Although Plymouth State my not be the number one party school like Penn State we do have many of the same problems with partying around our campus.  As a student here I have been witness to Friday classes that nobody comes to.  I've seen the kids who get drunk and urinate in public, and I've seen ones get arrested for doing so.

However i also disagree with the community and schools response to Plymouth making the party list.  I've heard from both teachers and from students that there were less kids running around the streets all loud, and less kids being loud and causing problems in the streets in past years before the police began enforcing more strictly.

By the police kicking students out of houses and frats they are just putting the kids drunk and stoned on the streets looking for other parties, which usually means walking all over the town on foot being loud and annoying. How is this helping the situation for the residents of Plymouth or making it any safer for the students?  Putting a large number of young people on the streets drunk, stoned, or both is not exactly safe.  It splits up groups who are looking out for each other, and walking around on the streets at night in that condition isn't exactly safe on its own.

The first week of school after quickly throwing on a nice shirt and a light jacket I headed out for the night with my new group of friends.  As freshman who had barely met each other, many of which were yet to meet more then a select few upper class man getting into a party was more than a challenge.  So as many freshman at many schools across the country do, we headed to the nearest frat.  Once we entered we realized there were actually well over a hundred kids packed into every room of the first two stories of the frat and shortly after packing into the frat the police arrived.

After the police kicked the contents of the building out we found a long train of students heading across campus and across residential areas to the local pizza places; PHOP and Latenight.  Even then, before i realized how much of an effect the parade of college students who nightly headed across campus back and forth between parties and restaurants had on the community, i saw that the police were being ineffective.

I am not sure if there really is a correct response to irresponsible drinking, under aged drinking or the things that are caused by them; but the steps being taken currently are ineffective and if anything making matters worse the students and no better for the community.  What happened that first week i continue to hear stories about happening every single night of the weekend, and even on many Thursday nights.  Students on the streets is no safer or better for the students then the under aged drinking or house parties that continue to go on to spite the attempts to tame them.

Looking at the future today

I wake up to the same sight as always, a shoddy white night table by the side of my bed with a small round clock perched on it ringing like an army of squealing mice. I hit the top of the clock to silence it. The routine of waking up every morning to go to the same place and do the same thing has already damped my spirit. I feel as though I've been tied down and latched in a place that I only meant to be for a short while. Sure work pays well, and its not to bad hours; but when will I be young enough to travel again and really enjoy it? To do all the things I dreamed of in my innocent youth?

I'm almost thirty years old now and I feel as though I'm the old man reflecting to grandchildren and great-grandchildren of my childhood. Weren't we all told to celebrate life at one point? To live life to the fullest and to chase our dreams. I know I never had a dream of waking up everyday to crunch numbers in some twenty-story office building with large tinted windows, if anything I feel as though I'm in a nightmare. I think its time to take leave from work for awhile, I think its time to take a break from the hassles of life that bound and gag my dreams and shove me into a world I don't enjoy. I stumble down the squeaky aged wood steps. In the kitchen my laptop is already open, waiting for me to make my next move. I pop open a window and head to a site I had seen advertised on the web the night before.

Its all come down to a call to action. How soon should I schedule my leave? how long should I leave for? And more importantly where should I go? I continuously click on page after page of resorts all over the world. The clocks ticking makes me nervous, I should be getting ready for work.

As the steam from the showers raises my brain for the dead like the Frankenstein monster I begin to ponder my choice again. Are my friends from college in the same position? Have they been waking up every morning thinking the same thing but not done anything about it? I'm going to call them, make this our road trip after college. I haven't seen some of them in almost two years now but there is still that key website that has made it through all the changes.

When I finish my shower I log in, “you have 56 new notifications”, social networking has lost its big attraction. Nobody I want to talk to, what a surprise. I click to my friend Drew's wall. I start off the message with a “YOOOOO” followed by a couple of inside jokes. I finally set it in motion, that's enough for one day. I grab my keys off the hook and wander out the door.  The day is brighter, everything seems better in an unexplainable way.  Everything seems different.

The Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburg Steelers went head to head today in the forty-fifth annual Super Bowl.  The outcome, the Green Bay Packers taking home the trophy and of course the Super Bowl rings running in a close win over the Steelers thirty-one to twenty-eight.  The game started off in favor of the Packers when they took their second interception into the Steelers end zone to put them up fourteen to three in the first half.  The key to the game from the beginning was the zone defenders on the Packers who were able to get in front of the Steelers receivers and intercept the ball.  It was so key in this game over past games because of the tight defense played by the Steelers.  The Steelers defense held off the Packers offense the entire game by playing tight on players and pushing as hard as they could to the arm of the Packers quarterback in order to prevent the offensive push.  Going into the game the Packers finished off their season eleven and one, while the Steelers only finished their season off twelve and two.  Going into the game the Steelers had two defensive injuries on their team while the Packers had two offensive injuries.  As for the players that stepped into those positions as the mid game footage showed they were told they were gonna need to step up for the game, and on both teams you could see those players stepping it up, and playing there A game.  Although the Patriots did not make it into this years Super Bowl it still affected there fans quite a bit.  As i was told many times during the game if the Steelers won this Super Bowl they would have as many Super Bowl wins this century as the Patriots.  Which Patriot fans did not want to happen.  One of my friends even went as far to say as the only reason many Patriot fans would ever vote for the Green Bay Packers would be to keep the Patriots on top which came true.  Although the half time show was less than enjoyable this years Super Bowl was a close one, and was enjoyable to watch no matter which team came out on top.  And as always the Super Bowl commercials never fail to please.  Personal favorites for the Super Bowl commercials go to the Sleepy's commercial which was unbelievably obviously sexual. And to the commercial for the Hyundai commercial that had the optical illusions circling around the screen.  As for the half time show I think Fergie needs to cut down on the drugs or take a vacation or something because her singing was beyond terrible.  Black eyed peas were not on there game as a band either.  Slash coming through the floor into the performance was unexpected and pretty cool.  Usher's performance was also very good but it looked like he may be lip-sinking in the beginning which always makes live performance seem worse.  Watching him carefully I'm pretty sure at one point his lips are not even moving at all.  I hope that I'm wrong but that would be a very disappointing thing to have come out later on.  All in all super bowl never fails to spice up a Sunday and entertain the millions of people who attend and watch it online and on television.