Comment

I posted a comment on Samantha Brooke's blog about ADD and ADHD, to see it clickhere

Drinking on Campus

There have been many issues concerning drinking on the SMU campus this year. There was a Task Force put together to give President Turned suggestions on what should be done to keep the drinking to a minimum and how to make drinking safer. President Turner recently decided which of these recommendations he will keep and which to be dismissed. He turned down having an on campus pub and to have parties on campus that will serve beer to people of age. I completely agree with this decision. Having a pub on campus is absolutely ridicules. People already complain about the public not taking SMU seriously and not holding its academics in high enough regard. Having a pub on campus would only further these opinions.
President Turner approved a mandatory attendance policy, increased classes on Fridays, limiting the number of courses a student can drop, every class having two hours of work for every hour spent in class, and all lower-division courses having finals. I do not believe that all of these recommendations will help. I know that I go out every Thursday when I have classes on Fridays. It is the business school that mainly does not have classes on Fridays and that lets the kids get jobs or internships that many of them wouldn’t have time to get. Teachers should be able to decide to give a lot of work or to have a final no matter what. It should not be up to the administration, rather the teachers.
Another approved recommendation was to not allow fraternities to have bus parties on the weekdays and limit them to only the weekends. Well, fraternities are not going to stop having parties on the weeknights so not having busses will only increase the drunk driving and therefore make it even more unsafe. While many of President Turner’s approvals will help the drinking problem on our campus some of them will only backlash so I just hope that the administration is prepared to deal with what comes from all of the changes. They have dealt with this problem very well and I think they will be able to deal with anything else us students throw at them.

To read the article from the Daily Campus click here

New Boarding Passes

I left a comment on new boarding passes here

Its all foreign to me

I am part of the many students that have chosen to peruse a degree form the Meadows School of the Arts and therefore have a language requirement that must be filled. Now let me tell you this is my third time taking beginning Spanish, let me repeat, THIRD TIME! And I still dot understand anything that is going on. I have learned the same things, studied for weeks for tests, and tried out different tutors but nothing seems to work. I do not have a language brain. Some of us were built to learn languages. Take my dad for example he has studied French and Latin and can also speak fluent Spanish just from living in southern California and having many patients that speak Spanish come into his office. He is wired to learn foreign languages. I on the other hand am not. That is why I do not agree with having a language requirement, sure it is great to expand your mind and learn about a different culture, but not if that means I am going to get a bad grade. I would be completely fine with a bad grade if I didn’t try, but I have put countless hours into a beginning Spanish class that I will most likely be lucky if I make a C in. I know that the requirement will most likely never change but I just wish some consideration would be given to students like me that it really is almost impossible for.

SMU, too easy?

It was last Thursday I believe that there was an article in the Daily Campus about how students are choosing to leave SMU after the first year because it is not challenging enough. I'm not sure who these students are that think SMU is too easy but I would love to meet them because they must be geniuses. This has been the most academically challenging year I have had so far and I am only expecting it to get harder as I get more involved in my major. I believe that college is the challenge you make for yourself. If you are not being challenged enough in your major then why not try another one? Or how about double majoring? SMU is a great academic institution and I feel proud to be getting a degree form such a great school. If you can get into a better school after your freshman year then by all means go for it but I don’t appreciate SMU being put down. I have talked to many of my friends who believe that SMU is a challenge, even the ones in the honors programs. We would not be ranked so highly and our alumni would not be so successful if SMU did not prepare them correctly. I feel to privileged to be here at SMU and I hope all of you do as well.

Here is the article from the DAILY CAMPUS

Is TV addicting?

I posted a comment here about Television..

Drinking Age

I left a comment on Powerade's blog about underage drinking. check it out..

Cry it out

As I was reading Finding Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, many interesting thoughts came to my mind. Most people would say it is bad to cry and they would rather not, it shows weakness and just makes us feel bad. I disagree with this probably more than anyone else out there.
Crying to me is one of the best things you can do. I believe you can see clearly after the rain, or in this case after the tears. Yes you may feel weak at first giving in to your weaknesses and just letting it out but it truly is a feeling of relief. My friends and I have talked about this concept a lot. They always ask me why I think crying is so helpful and how I find time to cry. It is a personal thing for sure. I feel so much better after I cry, I try not to cry in public because although I like feeling weak and giving in to my emotions sometimes I don't think others should know this about me because then it makes me seem like I am lesser of a person. Which is not the case at all.
I am happier after I cry. It is a feeling of relief that washes over me because I know that now I can conquer whatever was bugging me or hurting me before. Now I am in control of the situation and feel stronger. I think everyone should try it. Do you feel frustrated, or helpless, or maybe discouraged, stressed out? Then let it all out, shed a few tears, I promise you'll feel better!

No Time for Happiness

It seems as if people are wasting too much of their time trying to be happy that they are really missing out on opportunities to actually be happy. Instead of reading self-help books they could be doing something that makes them smile, like playing a sport, walking their dog, or dancing. People these days seemed too consumed with everything that is going on in their lives that they miss out on the little things in life. I truly believe it is the little things that make you happy and make the next day worth living. You need to learn to appreciate things at face value and not always try to look to the deeper meaning. Sometimes things are just the way they are. Schumaker states "happiness now reigns supreme over noble priorities such as love, health, family, God, wisdom, and honesty" (12). This seems to be contradictory because all of things help make someone happy. At least personally I would not be happy without those other priorities. That is what I think people don’t understand. They cannot just be happy; the things of life contribute to their happiness. You cant just wake up one morning and be happy. You need to take simple everyday steps in order to fulfill yourself and feel happy. Joseph Heller is quoted on page 13 stating, "The idea of always being blissfully happy is scary". I completely agree with this statement. I would not want to feel completely happy all the time. It would provide no room for growth and no way to gauge when I actually am truly happy. You need ups and downs to make you realize what behaviors bring about happiness in yourself and what behaviors do not fulfill you and change the ones that do not make you happy. By doing this you will naturally be happier and you can do it all on your own, without self-help books or someone guiding you along the way. Happiness is a personal journey that one must go at alone. What makes one person happy may not do the same for the next.

What is Happiness?

Happiness means so many different things to so many different people. I feel blessed to believe I am so happy and with so much ease. In todays culture it seems to be much harder to make people happy. Everyone is so consumed with the culture and never having enough that they get wrapped up in never thinking they have enough. When in reality people should be counting their blessings every single day just for being alive and healthy. The culture that we live in today is geared towards making everything easier or faster. Everyone wants to find the fastest track to happiness when sometimes, as cliche as it sounds, you really need to stop and smell the roses. I believe I am happy because I do take time out of my day to reflect and appreciate all the greatness and beauty around me. I know it is hard to do in this fast paced world but take my word for it, there are major benefits. The simple things in life are often the most rewarding.

Web Logging

Blogging to me is much like a teenagers diary, only know it is open to the public and ready for commentary. It is true feelings and belifs on what Andrew Olmsted called "virtual paper". Writing in your own blog gives you the freedom to say whatever comes to your mind, or to just respond to other peoples free flowing thoughts. It is not about how interesting you are as a person but what new ideas you can bring to the table of blogging. It is a community within the boundries of the internet with no real connection but at the same time you feel as if you have known the blogger for years, getting into the deepest darkest part of their mind and truely discovering what they are all about. Andrew Olmsted had it figured out. He knew how to pull of the heartstrings of his readers and to show them what he was all about. He didnt care who agreed or disagreed as long as they respected his opinion. And that is what blogging is all about.