TED Presentations

This year's TED project was an interesting one. At first, I started out somewhat excited for this year's TED presentations because it seemed like there had been many alterations to last year's project. However, only about a week into the project, I found myself running into some of the same problems as last year. The juniors and seniors in my group had no idea what was going on (partly due to the teachers not being as committed to the project as our sophomore teachers) and therefore had little motivation to participate. Then, we all ran into the problem that the amount of our homework in some classes was not decreased in order to allow us time to work on the presentation; we had to do our regular amount of homework AND fit in TED time. In the end, everyone in my group worked really hard and I thought it was great work. Although the project was really stressful, I ended up somewhat liking the TED presentations. It was really cool to have all 4 grades of the Academy together; I never actually realized how many kids were in the Academy (about 110!). I also really liked some of the other groups' presentations and it was cool to learn about many other interesting topics. I also really appreciated having everything on a google site. It made gathering and organizing information about the topic much easier for our group! I thought the day of the TED presentations was run very well. Most people stuck to their time limit and all of the technology worked! Although the TED presentations were a LOT of work and stress, I liked the presentation day and meeting other Academy kids.

Captured Thought: It's Not All About You

Lately, I've been really stressed. Between volleyball, schoolwork, church, and homecoming, I've barely been home. I didn't even realize it until a few days ago when my thirteen year old brother said, "Emily, how come I never see you anymore? You're never home." I almost said "I'm always here!", but stopped short. The truth was, I hadn't really seen David in about a week. When I WAS home, I was usually stressed, crabby, doing homework, and talking on the phone trying to figure out homecoming plans. I had been so busy running from activity to activity that I hadn't had time to actually talk to my brother and find out how he was doing. Then, two days later, one of my friends said she missed me and said she felt like we never saw each other anymore. I said I was sorry and that my schedule would be better once volleyball ended this weekend. That made it better with her, but I realized something from talking with her and my brother. What you do doesn't just affect you. It affects all the people involved in your life. Now I know that seems obvious, but it's something I (and probably others) don't always take into account. When I'm eating dinner at someone else's house or out, my family is having dinner without me. They can feel my absence, and are (probably) wishing they could talk with me about my day. When I skip my brother's concert in order to do the homework I could have done over the weekend (but didn't), he knows it and is disappointedI'm not at his concert. When I ask my mom for a ride to somewhere, I forget that she has to drive back home (while I'm already having fun). Her car ride is double the time of mine. I think this thought has been brewing in my mind for a while, but it all became clear when my brother asked me where I have been. The point is, you affect others. It's not all about you and what you want to do. Remember that when you choose to go out for that third night in a row, your family is feeling your absence (again) and is affected. We have to remember that even though all of us are busy (and overscheduled), we have to make sure that our actions don't continue to negatively affect the people who are closest to us. I'm making it a goal this week to say "no" to one thing with my friends and use that time to be with my brother and family. This is because I know that my busy schedule has not only affected me, but has affected the people I love most.

iMedia: The Pressure on Girls

I just got my favorite magazines for November 2008 in the mail; Seventeen and Cosmogirl! I'm not going to lie, I love reading them. They're full of advice for high school girls, on everything from hair and boys to family. However, lately, I have been wondering if these magazines (and the media) are putting too much of an emphasis on how to make our bodies/appearances look "sexy" and less of an emphasis on who we are as people. Yes, these magazines do have articles about the upcoming election, family problems, how to manage stress from your life, and other topics girls worry about. But, if you look at the picture of the cover of the Cosmogirl! above, you'll see three large headlines on the left-hand side: 50 Ways to Get Sexy Hair!, 10 Secrets to Perfect Skin, & 5 Moves to a Hotter Body. On the right hand side, we see headlines for articles about boy advice and the star of this month's issue, Blake Lively. Now I'm not saying that these articles are bad, because I know that I personally love to read them. It just strikes me personally because I have been thinking about the pressure on girls lately to have that perfect physical appearance. In the media, everything has to be "hot" or "sexy". Sure, we all like to look good (who doesn't?), but has the media taken the image of a girl beyond realistic expectations? I know that I used to think that real girls actually looked like the girls on the cover of magazines. It made me feel pressured to look like them; skinny, pretty, and always happy. Now I know that they spend hours in the photo shoot, taking many pictures just to find that "look". They have make-up artists and are air-brushed. However, even though many girls know these things, many of us still feel pressured to have that look.
Everyone knows that anorexia affects many teens. Girls of all ages are starving themselves (or binging) in order to look skinny or to fit into that perfect dress for the dance. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with trying to get inshape before the dance or trying to lose weight. As long as it's done healthily. Is the media really promoting weight loss healthily?
Let's be honest here. No one can achieve that perfect look without make-up artists and hair stylists working on them. But what does it matter? Shouldn't girls be embraced for who they are outside AND inside? I know that sounds cliche, but if you think about it, it's true. No one will ever think they look perfect. Everyone has that one part of their body they don't like. So why spend so much time (and sometimes money) on trying to look perfect. Get ready for your night out and look pretty. But after that, don't worry about it. Chances are, people will remember more about your attitude that night and if you had fun rather than what you looked like.
I used to be really affected by these types of magazine covers. I would try to look perfect. It didn't happen. It doesn't happen for anybody. As the media reaches younger and younger age groups of girls, I just hope the girls are strong enough to resist the hundreds of pictures the media pushes on us and see what I've learned: any girl can be beautiful and you don't need to be perfect. You just need to be yourself.

Blogging Around

This first comment is my comment in regards to Melanie V's blog: 360 Degrees: Chocolate. She blogs about her love for chocolate; one of the similarities between us! However, her blog goes beyond the love for chocolate, and into how chocolate affects people and their lives.

"Melanie,
I really liked your blog about chocolate. Maybe that's just because I'm a chocolate-aholic myself, but I also thought you brought up some really interesting ideas. Chocolate does influence many different people (as well as groups of people) in all kind of different ways. I especially liked your question about what people would give each other on Valentine's Day. Chocolate is a classic gift on Valentine's Day (or really any holiday...think chocolate santas!) because so many people like it. What would people give on Valentine's Day if they couldn't give chocolate? Twizzlers? Some other kind of candy? I would be disappointed if chocolate was replaced with...let's say, Starburst. Chocolate just has that specific taste and satisfaction. Great idea for the blog!"

This next comment is in regards to a more serious blog than the chocolate blog. It is in response to Kyle A's blog regarding weapons in the world. He talks about how weapons affect our world. I had been thinking about weapons in the world just a few days ago, and found myself agreeing with much of his blog. He starts of relating this topic to the movie Iron Man which I thought was a good way to start off a serious topic.

"Kyle,
I thought that this blog about weapons was very interesting. I had just been thinking about this the other day! Nuclear weapons are CONSTANTLY in the news/media because they are affecting politics greatly. Presidential candidates are having to answer questions about nuclear weapons and how their relationships will be with countries who are in possession of them. On one hand, I'm scared that Iran and some of these countries with dictators have the power to blow up countries, and I'm glad we are working with them to reduce or eliminate their production. However, on the other hand, I wonder why we (the U.S.A.)think we have the power to decide who is allowed to have nuclear weapons and who isn't. We have nuclear weapons, so why wouldn't we expect for other countries to follow our example? I know the answer is that we are allowed to have nuclear weapons because we have a (somewhat) stable government, and these other countries do not. I just wonder how we are viewed by other countries when we tell them that WE are allowed the weapons, but THEY'RE not. I think that that probably makes them pretty mad. I, personally, am a little scared with all of this nuclear weapon production. Hopefully, the governments of countries will start to work out treaties. Until then, let's just hope Iran doesn't decide to bomb us off the map!"

360 Degrees: The Academy

I am curious about how people, outside of the Academy, view the Academy. How do people who applied for Academy but were not accepted view the Academy? Do they have a negative view regarding it because they were not accepted? I am also curious about the people's view of the Academy who got into Academy, but decided to decline their acceptance. Maybe they think that Academy would not offer them the chance to meet as many new people? What I've seen is if a person asks a group of people "who is in Academy here?", these people say that they were accepted but decided not to do it. Do they feel good about themselves because they proved that they were able to get in? I also wonder about the perspective of the Academy from the teachers not involved in it. Do they think the Academy teachers think they're better than the outside of Academy teachers? How does the general student body view the Academy? Do they see the Academy as a group of elitists, stuck-up kids? Do they see the Academy as "social suicide"? I'd like to think that if they examined the group of kids in Academy, they would see that there are many different types of people. We have athletes, musicians, singers, mathematicians, actors/actresses, class presidents/representatives, and many more. I would like to think that people would wait to establish their view of the Academy until they fully understand the Academy and what type of people are involved in it. Many people do not really understand what the Academy is about and what is required to be in it. I have had many people come up and ask me why I'm in their math class and aren't I supposed to be in Academy? I tell them that Academy is only for Social Studies, a foreign language, and English. They just look at me dazed and I have no idea what their view of Academy is. However, I know that people will not wait to understand something before they create their own view/opinions about it. That's why there are so many different view of the Glenbrook Academy of International Studies.