Thanksgiving Nightmare

What's the first thing you do after you gobble up that turkey dinner? At least in my house, we prepare for the day after thanksgiving, which is possibly one of the most important days of the whole year - shopping wise. Black Friday, as its called, is the day following thanksgiving. Black Friday is traditionally the beginning of the christmas shopping season. It is known to be the busiest shopping day of the whole year, because such great sales and promotional deals are offered. Stores open at 3 or 4 am, as lines of hundreds of people build throughout the night. The sales are unbeatable and a once a year deal, thus making this day very special. 

Yet what do you get when hundreds of people stand in lines, outside in the bitter cold, in the wee hours of the morning? Chaos is for sure. In past cases, violence has ensued. People become so eager to complete their shopping goals, that they take extreme action. For example, in 2006 a man from Virginia was cited for assault. In 2008 in New York, a man was trampled to death! This year, a man was arrested because he threatened to use his handgun, that he casually brought to the store with him. People can get crazy when it comes to saving their buck. 

I do understand why people will go to such lengths, I too find it significant to save some money and get some great deals. Yet, I draw a line. I have never/will never wait in lines at 4 am, rather I will pursue Black Friday in more "normal" hours. For those people who get a little crazy when it comes to sales all I have to say is - chill out, its Thanksgiving. Health, happiness, and family are way more important than ten dollars off of a cashmere sweater.

The Meaning of Time

This week, we learned about the Quasi War. I found it fascinating to learn about Federalists and Republicans. Federalists believed in a strong central government, more laws, harsher taxes, etc. Republicans believed in "power to the people," free speech, free press etc. In modern day, (generally) a Republican believes in limited central government, strong national defense, and is a fiscal conservative.

It is interesting how this political term evolved and changed over time. And to very different beliefs I might add! When thinking deeper about the idea of meanings changing over time, I came across the words pejoration and amelioration. I wondered about other words either degrading or enhancing in meaning over time...can you think of any?

Define: Smart

What does "smart" mean? Are you smart if you get A's on tests or are you smart if you stay away from drugs? I believe the both answers fit perfect examples of "smart".


There are two types of smart. One being street-smart, the other being book-smart. When I thesaurused (is that a word? Hah) street smart, words like "common sense," "wisdom," "know-how," and "acumen" came up. Thus, street smart means a person who has an all around knack or intellect of knowledge. Not necessarily textbook knowledge, more like random daily life information. As Urban Dictionary says, a street smart person is one who knows "what every type of person has to deal with daily and understands all groups of people and how to act around them and different situations."


On the other side of the spectrum is book-smart, which as Urban Dictionary defines it as, "someone who is intelligent and very well educated academically." Pretty self explanatory. An example of a book smart person is an A student, in all AP classes, who is very good at memorization, test taking, note taking etc. 


Its interesting to compare and contrast both aspects of smart, and maybe which category you, yourself, fit in. Do you agree with these definitions? Is there a third definition of smart?

Bored? I think not...

Random but entertaining. Just browsing through some websites, found some interesting stories. Have fun!

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/business/media/16apple.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/science/16conversation.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

• http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/11/15/smartphone.viral.video.mashable/index.html?hpt=C2

• http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20442139,00.html

FOUND: Right or Wrong?

This week was Litfest, and I was lucky enough to go see 4 wonderful writers preform Thursday Night, at the Northfield Campus. The last speaker, Davy Rothbart, is the head of an organization called "Found Magazine." Basically they tell people to send in letters they find in unique places. One story he shared with us was about a letter found in a cemetery, hanging from a balloon that got caught in at tree. A lady climbed the tree, retrieved the letter, and sent it to Found. The letter was written by a recently suicidal boy to his dead mother. He wrote about this girl he thought he loved, and how he missed his mom so much. It was truly a touching and heartwarming story.

Yet, after I hearing this story, I was a little irritated. That letter wasn't for my eyes to read. Nor to be posted online for millions of viewers to see. Although it is extremely touching, and it did have a huge affect on me, I still believe that some things should remain confidential. Especially something as personal as that.

Although one may get a few laughs or tears from the letters sent it, I still am against the organization. Not in a strongly-rooted anti-Found way. Rather, I believe that they should censor the letters they receive. I felt weird and wrong hearing this letter....because it wasn't  written to me. Maybe that balloon was meant for heaven...? Not for "Found."