The New Heading Picture

Yes, that is me and my beautiful new Canon in my cozy (code word for “small”) apartment.

Pistachio

…it’s what I’m attempting to eat right now. Fairly difficult if one of the little buggers doesn’t have a crack in it’s shell because then it’s nearly impossible to crack open. Like I could really go for a nut-cracker dealy-bopper… or a chainsaw.

*shiver* just that word (see previous paragraph, last word) gives me the hee-bee-jee-bees. Reminds me of the time on Halloween when all us kids went to see in full-screen, full-volume, saturated-color… Texas Chainsaw Masacre. And less than two months later I was in Texas. Yeesh.

So that is about all for random ramblings tonight. I think I’m going to drink a ton of water (I’m dehydrated after those nuts) and crawl into my cozy, neglected bed.

Solution to Poverty

Oscar Lewis studied poor Mexican Americans in the Southwest United States. Out of this study he wrote The Culture of Poverty. The main points are as follows:

In poor groups, a culture will emerge that functions to keep the people in poverty.
This culture results in behaviors and a perspective on the part of the people that is not conducive to upward mobility in our society.
It can result in high rates of alcoholism, drug us, criminality, and violence. not all people do this, but There are higher incidents in these communities.
The culture that emerges inhibits upward economic mobilit.
Elements of this culture:

despair
hopelessness
fatalism
resignation
powerlessness
instant gratification

Willium Julius Wilson wrote that Affirmative Action, which says if equally qualified people apply for a job the minority person must be hired, will not solve the problems of poverty but solves the problems of minorities and women in the middle class. To help the poor we must have Affirmative Opportunity in which each person has the ability to get an education using a pay-what-you-can scale. It will be expensive, yes, but so is crime, drug use and so many other social problems.Many people agree Affirmative Opportunity is the way to help the poor but as Oscar Lewis pointed out, many of the truly poor people of the world are in a mindset that isn’t even conducive for education. Their culture has taught them resignation to their position in life; many are not even aware there is another way of life.

The government should treat education as if it is a job opportunity for the poor. For each poor person who becomes literate, there should be a monetary reward. For each poor person who completes grade school, there should be a monetary reward. For each poor person who completes middle school and high school, there should be a monetary reward. For the first [long-term] job, for saving money in the bank, for proving themselves as individuals who can take care of themselves out of poverty there should be a monetary reward.

This reward should be announced to all poor communities, offered to all poor people and should be a short-term offer. An individual can accept it (child-care should be provided free for parents) within a specific time frame, perhaps 5 – 10 years, and the individuals who accept it will be in the program.

The goal is to educate or socialize the majority of a community, ensuring the following generations will be taught education is helpful and good.

The goal is to break the chain of hopelessness and resignation within one generation of poverty stricken people.

The means is by money… the motivator of many.

Spring Semester

Aw man, I’m not so sure about that four-oh. It’s fairly strenuous to have 7 classes to be babysitting… that’s 19 credits. Not only do I have this English class that is taking a ton of time (see blog before this one) but I also have a Research class that is all about reading and reading and reading. Which I still have to do tonight. Ooook. I’m signing off.
See ya.

Stupid Rules

You wanna know what upsets me?  Here’s a hint: rough drafts.

See, my thing is that when I write, I write so that it is good enough to turn in.  I revise each sentence as I go and then I print off a copy, reread it after my eyes clear up from the 4 hours it takes to write something that good, and then I correct the punctuations or move whole paragraphs around.

What I do not do when I write is this:
talk about the subject =2 hours;
write the rough draft =1 hour;
have a few classmates critique my writing as I critique theirs =2 hours;
review their critiques of my paper, remember what I wrote about, and revise paper =3 hours;
have same classmates critique my writing as I critique theirs =2 hours;
review same classmates critiques of my paper, remember what I wrote about again, and revise paper for final draft =3 hours.

So your telling me that is the one true way to go through the writing process?!  Are we all robots now?  Do we all have the same brain functions, all organize our thoughts the same way, all write the same way?!?  NO!  The answer is NO.

If I am able to write an A paper in one session (which I have been able to do all my life, thank you very much) than I should be able to do that.  No points taken off for “not changing stuff from one draft to the next.”

Or perhaps this goes a little deeper… is the teach. a little nervous because he or she won’t be able to tell if a student should earn an A for effort (aka. rewriting three times)?

Ugh.  Whatever… so I’ll write the stupid paper three times… I’m determined to jump through whatever hoops to get my 4.0 this semester.  Sobeit.

License

I lost my drivers license about four weeks ago.  I don’t know what happened to it because I don’t even remember the last time I saw it.  Four weeks ago is just when I noticed it was missing.  I’m pretty sure some under-ager is enjoying a few blurry nights and (I hope) even more painful day-afters.  Ah well.  I just wish Minnesota didn’t make it so hard to renew lost drivers license.  The good thing is that cops will accept a student I.D. if you don’t have your license on you.