Tag Archives: happening now

Dear Mr. President,

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Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on the election and all. I was rooting for you. I voted for you. My county in Michigan voted for you by a little over 500 votes. They voted “Democrat” for the first time since the 1950s. Well done.

I am glad that you are doing well. I think that most of your ideas are great, and I know you have many people hard at work around the clock to make America a better place.

That being said, I respectfully disagree with your recent idea of reforming “teacher-pay” in schools. This idea is included in your most recent strategies to overhaul and improve the education system in the United States.

Having “merit-pay” sounds logical, but in reality, this will only further schism the teachers of America. I believe that at this time of devastating loss in the US, the last thing we need is competition in our educators. They should be a haven for our students, a group dedicated to bringing the children of today into the future.

As I sit and look out my window, at the school where I work, I see students at recess. I see their teachers chatting and laughing with each other, and I wonder what the world would be like if those teachers were focused more and more on grades and test scores. I wonder what it’d look like if we evaluated fourth graders on their math, science, and English scores. They may know clauses, algebra, and chemistry, but would they know where Darfur is? Would they know that the Amazon River is in Brazil? Would they know how to paint, how to sing, what a trumpet was?

Paying teachers because they are great teachers is an excellent idea. Getting rid of teachers that are not great communicators and/or educators can be tough, but must be done. This country is full of educators who give their lives to teach students. We owe it to teachers to treat them fairly, but treat them as a team–not a group of individuals striving to be the best.

Striving to be the best was what got us into the mortgage crisis in the first place. Companies were striving to get more customers, go lower, give out the most money. Look what that has brought us: Heartache for the masses, and headache for the government.

We need to remember that the school system in America is not looking to be a part of the free market. Keeping teachers united by realizing that each student, class, teacher, and school is different will keep them a united force.

Test scores may not mean anything at an inner city, overcrowded schools. Taking money away from schools for lower performance on tests will simply give the message that their schools are unwanted and unnecessary. These schools, however, are the ones that will need the most money and the most help, and the best teachers.

There are problems in the school systems. There are ways to fix them, and we need to act quickly. But sometimes what looks good on paper doesn’t look good in practice. Ask a few teachers what they think, but I’m sure most of them will agree with me.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Jennie

Stephen Hawking.

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universe1

One day my co-worker’s grandson said, “This is my drawing of the universe. We are the dot.” That dot, my friends, refers to our galaxy within the universe. Big stuff.

Last night when I saw Stephen Hawking, he spoke about why we should go into space. He mentioned a multitude of reasons, but one of them was because we might have to go to space. Because we are ruining the planet. Which is fair. He also mentioned that we have to remember that intelligent life might be out there, but it is highly probable that other planets have not develop as intelligent life as we have.

I find this hard to believe. I find it hard to believe that no where in this entire vast universe are there anything nearly as smart as humans. I find it hard to believe that there is no “Earth” in the multitude of other galaxies that swirl around us. I feel as though somewhere out there we are surpassed. I feel like we kill each other and ourselves and cause pain and strife and think the only things that are important are man-made. Like…whenever I get into a long discussion about the economy or money, I am always like…”But we made it up. We made UP economy and money. We could have a world without those things because we did.”

Granted, everyone states the reason we have man made things in the first place is because we’re so intelligent. But I’d like to think maybe somewhere out there, way out in the universe, there might be some species that has figured this stuff out. That has figured out how to get rid of poverty and violence. I feel like maybe it’s our destiny to find those people or those things and be BFF.

I was watching this program on the sun, and it basically said the sun is slowly expanding and eventually will kill all things on Earth. Granted, this will be in a while, so I am sure I’ll get to see all the movies on my Netflix queue and still get those cute sandals I want, but it’s happening none the less. I am also sure it’s not going to happen between now and the time the new Third Eye Blind CD comes out, but maybe it’ll happen when my great-grandchildren (to infinity) are young and waiting for the latest who-knows-what-technology latest version comes out.

So the sun is expanding. We’re ruining the planet. We’re going to go to space to see if there is intelligence, and because we have to. We could have space stations on Mars, the Moon, Titan (if Saturn doesn’t mind), and who knows what other planets. Maybe I can have Pluto to myself.

All I have to say is that I hope that these other planets that may or may not have intelligent life on them have grass or something like it. And a sun that is as warm as ours. And a beach with water to swim in. I’ll make my own hat, and I’ll be good to go.

If so, sign me up for Trip 1. I’m doing my part, Stephen. I’m going bravely where no wo(man) has gone before.

Intelligent-space-life, here I come.

And I got to admit, you've got my attention…

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Alright, I’m sorry. It’s been a busy week here in Admissions land, and I can’t seem to find a free second to update! I apologize. Here’s something shiny and pretty to look at while I continue to ignore my own life and focus on my job!

solar_eclipse

Did you know there was a solar eclipse? Look here…

Dream Post: 1

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I’ve been having these dreams that are kind of crazy, and so I’ve decided to start keeping track of them. Here goes.

weird_dream1

Last night, I had a dream:

I was in my house (like my parent’s house) and there was a plane flying very low over the house. It came in for a crash landing in our backyard, and in the distance the highway appeared (even though there is no highway in our backyard.) I felt nervous, but the plane landed OK, so I was hopeful that the person was OK. I went out to the backyard, with my phone so I could call 911. So then, this old deranged man gets out of the plane, and starts shooting at my brother and I with a gun that shoots like a machine gun but is more like a rifle. (I obviously don’t know that much about guns.) So I freak out and start dodging behind trees. My parents come out and they are also dodging bullets, and I am trying to talk to 911, but they are not picking up, and also when they DO pick up, they are in India–because the calls are being outsourced. So I am like, “OK well can I talk to someone in the US?” and then I get disconnected. Meanwhile, night falls and my dad has locked the deranged old man in the computer room behind a table. I am still ON HOLD with 911, and when I finally get through to someone, magically there is a party raging at my house. (Like, what?) And so I am yelling that I am trying to get an ambulance out to my house to get this man (apparently he needed an ambulance) and they ambulance gets lost on the way out, so 911 and I are trying to map where the ambulance is. Then, the road in front of my house turns into a four-lane BUSY road (it is only two lanes, and NEVER busy) and the ambulance starts doing turns and doughnuts to get to my house, like they are having fun and don’t care that I need them to get this man. Meanwhile, this man wakes up, and is trying to get out from under the table. And the party is still raging on, and my parents are NOT concerned.

Then I woke up. WHAT?! And this isn’t even as weird as the time I had a dream regarding people who were representing different species of dogs.

Where does this come from? I think the following items contributed to the dream:

1. Jeff got his car stuck in the sand this weekend at the beach, and we had to call AAA to tow it, and I had no service on my phone while I was trying to call him. Meanwhile, every time I called I got put through to Michigan, where my cell phone’s number is from, instead of California, where we live.

2. I was reading “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman last night, which starts in India and discusses outsourcing.

3. I saw Slumdog Millionaire this weekend, which was set in India.

4. I called 911 this week when I saw a motorcycle accident, and I was put on hold.

5. I watched the tail end of The Matrix the other day.

6. The airplane crash into the Hudson river last week.

So great, I have a reason for parts of THIS dream. Hopefully the rest of them are that clear….