Travs1429's Blog

At The Smithville Methodist Church

travs1429 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:47:46 +0000

This poem by Stephen Dunn was about a girl who was getting involved with a church. This girl was singing songs praising the lord which was bothering the narrator. He was not a firm believer in the lord and it bothered him that this girl was putting such praise in a man that he was not confident in. He decided that they needed to have a talk. This was very hard for the narrator to come to because he didn’t want to kill the little girls spirits. He described the trips in the car where she was sining the songs with joy and even coming to her feet when Jesus was mentioned. The narrator even goes as far to saying that Jesus was dead to him. By the end of the poem, the narrator could not bring himself to try and pass his views on to the girl. In my opinion, this was a good choice. Obviously, little kids tend to take the same view point as those they look up to. It would be unfair to the little girl if her faith was crushed by someone else’s opinion. That’s right Bill Maher, your movie should not be seen by young children . My prediction is something must have happened in the narrator’s life that made him stop believing. I think if people used as much energy looking for a reason to believe, instead of looking at all the reasons not to believe, it would help tremendously. As a firm believer myself, which you already know by reading previous posts, it is exciting to see that young kids are connecting to songs of the lord. These are great teachings for kids who are too young to realize the depth of many pieces of literature. I remember when I was a kid in sunday school. I always loved when it was time to sing. Watching all the kids stand up and shout was always amusing to me. I remember the days when it was “cool” to go to church. Then, you reach middle school /high school and the only thing cool about church is the kids who don’t go. When I was in 8th grade I used to skip church and walk across the street to the Diner and eat breakfast. All the kids thought I was so cool. Looking back at it, I was just a dumb kid. I could have been feeding myself passages of the lord, but instead I chose to stuff my face with pancakes. I am very thankful that I was pushed towards church when I was young. I think that separates me from a lot of people. If your not exposed young, it will be much harder to join a church later on down the road. I plan on brining my children to church when the time comes. I know it is not always the most exciting thing to do, but in the long run it is much worth it.

Religulous

travs1429 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:05:21 +0000

Religulous is a documentary done by Bill Maher, a very controversial comedian, focussing on religion. Bill Maher does not believe in any religion and is very skeptical about any sort of God. Throughout the film, Maher interviews various religious figures and asks them their opinions on religion. Maher proceeds to turn everything they say around and makes it seem as if what he is saying is right. In this documentary Maher looks for answers that no one could possible know. He compares biblical stories to fairy tales and questions the reality of the bible. He pokes fun at followers of religions, and searches for those with extremist tactics( such as the messiah who claims there is no sin). What Maher doesn’t do is interview any mainstream religious follower such as myself. He doesn’t step foot in one everyday Christian or Lutheran church to look for his explanations. He instead interviews people such as week smoking and materialistic, ex singing pastors. Although I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ, I am not offended by any comments made by Maher. Rather, I feel bad for anyone who doesn’t have Christ in their life. Personally, I think Maher is a moron who uses humor as a way to lear people into believing what he believes. It is upsetting to me that he thinks it is a luxury to not depend on a God, but instead be content without one. I personally believe that my happiness is created by God. Ever since my relationship with the Lord has gotten better, I have seen an improvement in my life. No one can convince me that there is no God. I honestly think Maher is a little messed up in the head to begin with. He uses all this time and energy to prove that there is no God, when he could have used it in hopes of finding God. Everyone will wonder why is there evil in the world if God has as much power as he says he has. That is just one thing we have to leave in God’s hands and understand everything he does, he does for a reason. As a follower I have accepted his son as my savior and put my trust in him to do what is right. This doesn’t mean everything in my life will be perfect, but it does mean when something goes wrong God is always there to pick me back up. It saddens me to know that there people like Maher out there who are not open enough to realize that some things are too powerful to be explained, but just by believing you can reap the benefits. He tried to show all the bad parts about religion such as muslims killing people over criticism of their God. He does not show the power that religion as when people work together to do something positive. People like Maher need to be prayed for the most. I hope one day he and others that share his beliefs will accept Jesus Christ and see the difference it makes in their life.

PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN

travs1429 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:38:10 +0000

This essay was about a female writer. She claims women were successful in writing before other occupations because of the low cost of materials. She said the first thing she bought with the money she received was a Persian cat. She then goes on to explain about this phantom she often encounters known as the Angel of the House. She hated this phantom and claimed she took her creativity away. She ended up killing this phantom. She said if she had to go to court she would have said it was self defense. She continued on to tell about as she started to make more money, she wanted more things. One of the things she wants is a motor car. She talks about how men still make it hard for women to succeed in jobs and how the opposite sex will always be a threat. I never really thought about the fact that woman became successful writers because of limited resources. This is just an opinion of course, but I think it is very possible. If women were denied certain rights, and were not treated fairly in a normal work setting, writing could be used as an escape or even more as a tool to move up in the world. I think this “phantom” she experiences is something we all encounter throughout our lives. To me, it sounds like it is some sort of mental block that is making her second guess her herself. I think we all go through this at some point and time. When she talks about killing the phantom, I took it as gaining confidence and moving on from her fears. Women have came a long way in terms of job opportunity’s. Just over the past year, we had a woman run for president of the United States, which would have never happened even twenty years ago. We now have women running their own businesses, and playing important rolls in big companies. Unfortunately, some still look at woman as being inferior in the work place. It is a shame, but there will always be sexism, racism, and other kinds of hatred in work environments. It is appealing to see that many men now are realizing that they often times need women to succeed. Take John McCain who appointed a female running mate over all of the males who he could have chosen. This just shows you how far we have come. Woman now are not only great writers, they are doctors, politicians, lawyers, and much more. By the looks of things, it seems as if women are just going to keep on moving up the ladder. In todays world, it is a major offense if you discriminate on an employee because of sex. Even things like sexual harassment have become major issues and many work facility’s have a zero tolerance for such behavior.

A&P

travs1429 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:04:44 +0000

This short story was very odd to me. The narrator was a clerk at a local grocery store. He noticed three attractive girls walking into the store. He went on to describe physical characteristics of each one. These girls were all three wearing two-piece bathing suits. He noticed that one was the leader of the group. He continued to watch these girls walk around the store. He was very observant. The clerk was so caught up in watching these girls he accidently rang up the same box of crackers twice for an elderly lady which caused tension. Finally, when the girls got to his register he became nervous. He started to ring up the girls items when the manager walked in. The manager walked over to the girls, and told them that they were not dressed appropriate for the grocery store. The girls were very embarrassed by this. This store clerk took offense to this and told the manager he quit. The clerk was hopeful that the girls were there watching him come to their defense, but when he turned around they were gone. The manager was a friend of the family and told the clerk he would regret his decision. I’m still not positive what the purpose of this article was. It really wasn’t very entertaining or informative. If I had to take a guess, one point of this short story was trying to impress girls doesn’t always work. This clerk put his job on the line for these girls, and didn’t get any recognition from them. Obviously, it was not worth it. Maybe another point of this article was to show the different sides of the way people are treated due to the way they are dressed. On one hand, some people will pay you more attention and try to give you special treatment because of a certain quality in your appearance. On the other hand, some people do not like when people show skin and do not want to see it. Who knows. . This story does make me think of the grocery store and all the wonderful food. Not to mention all the different kinds of people you see at the grocery store. Talk about diverse. Just go into the Miejer across from WSU, you will see about every ethnicity known to man. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any girls in bathing suits come into the grocery store. At the Kroger in my hometown there is actually a sign that says no shoes, no shirt, no service. These girls would have been out of luck. Maybe its a good rule. It could distract many shoppers.

Don’t Blame Hip-Hop

travs1429 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:23:04 +0000

Many people believe hip hop music is to blame to many of different social issues. But how much can really be pinned on hip hop. Sexism has became a huge issue that hip hop has been given blame for. Many do not believe you can soley blame hip hop for this. Everyone is always looking for someone to blame, so maybe hip hop just got in the way. People such as Oprah Winfrey adressed the way hip hop artists adress women. The problem is, hip hop is not the only place this is occuring. These problems exist in every community, race, and religion. What many people are trying to do is open the eyes of those who want to point the finger at hip hop. This is not something that has just occurred over night. Even since the days of NWA , one of the originating rap groups, people have blamed this rap culture for various problems. Some people even believe things such as the L.A. riots were the cause of groups such as NWA who were outspoken about their views on the police force. The freedom of speech definitely comes to play along with censorship. Is rapping about running from the cops as bad as yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre? Russel Simmons, the “head-honcho” of hip hip, said he was going to take a stand and do something about the lyrical content that is being put onto records. To some , it seems as if Simmons is turning his back on an industry he helped create. Who knows, maybe he was just saying that to shut the media up. It has to be a hassle after a while. I have very mixed opinions about this topic. I am not sure of the correct answer. I am very interested to research this topic and hopefully come up with a conclusion of my own. I see both sides of the argument which I think will make it easy to write an informative, non-biased paper. Hopefully I will get the hang of this better than the text analysis.

“Anderson Cooper was the host of a segment arguing that hip-hop culture had popularized an anti-snitching ethos that was undermining the police and allowing criminals to operate with relative impunity.”—- this is just a point I wanted to make sure to keep for my paper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/arts/music/25hiph.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

THE TELL-TALE HEART

travs1429 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:22:46 +0000

This is a very interesting short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. In the piece Poe is actually describing his plot to kill a man. His victim was an elderly man. Poe states that the old man had never done anything to upset him or wronged him, but there was something about his eye that made him furious. He compares the old man’s eye to a vulture’s eye. For a week straight, Poe sneaks into the old man’s room, very cautiously. Poe soon becomes frustrated because the man never wakes up. Poe cannot find the anger inside of him to kill the man without seeing his eye. Finally, on the eight night Poe makes enough sound to wake the man. The man gets up out of bed and stands still in horror. Neither one of them moved for an hour. Poe then angled his lantern just right so a ray of light could shine off the mans eye. After the thought of getting caught started to run threw his mind, Poe quickly went through with the killing. Poe gets a little graphic after the killing, talking about removing the head, legs, and arms off the old man’s body. He then removes the blood covered wood planks from the floor and replaces them with new ones so he has no chance of getting caught. Later on, three police officers knock at Poe’s door claiming they got complains about a shriek. At first Poe plays it cool, but guilt starts to kick in. He started to sweat and turn pale and finally he just broke down and admitted to the murder. I think the purpose of this piece was to show that when you do something your not suppose to, it is hard to live with. There was no evidence that Poe killed the old man, but he was paranoid because he knew he did something wrong. Is breaking the rules worth the consequences? Probably something you should think about before you make some decisions. Even something as simple as cheating in school; is it worth always being nervous going to a certain class because there is that chance you may get in trouble? Guilt is something that no one wants to live with. I know when I was a kid and I lied to my parents my guilt always got to me and I ended up ratting myself out. It’s not a good feeling to be constantly paranoid about something. I could never imagine the horrendous feeling that would come with the guilt of killing someone, constantly watching over your shoulder. I would not be able to sleep. That sick feeling you get in your stomach when you are nervous is the worst. That is why I always try to think things through that may have negative consequences. There have been many criminals that have credited guilt as to why they turned them selves in.

Why I Write

travs1429 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:06:38 +0000

The title of this piece is a subject that hits very close to home for me. Ever since I was young, I always loved to write. With my mom being a teacher, she always had me writing sentences after we finished eating dinner. Middle school I started writing my own personal entries. To me, writing is the only real way to escape from everything going on. I never wanted to talk to anyone about how i felt, I always wanted to write it down. For some reason I always wanted to keep all my emotions to myself. It always felt so much better when I was able to release all my thoughts. Some people still think its “weird” that I like to keep everything to myself, but in reality writing something down is the only real way I can express myself. I feel like the only way someone can really get to know me is if they read the things I’ve written. What I love most about writing is no matter what mood your in, writing can always enhance how your feeling. My favorite time to write is when I’m feeling down. No matter the situation, writing can always put things into proportion for me and get me feeling better. Often time writing takes away from my school work. When I try to read or study, I am in my own world and just start writing for my own personal enjoyment. I truly believe I would get so much more accomplished during the days if I wasn’t so caught up in writing. When I got to high school my love for writing just increased. I would sit in class and write instead of listening to what the teacher had to say. Sometimes I wonder if its wrong to write so much. It is hard to even get through this free write without working on another writing project. I always thought being a sports writer would be a sweet job. The best of both worlds right? If only I could incorporate music with that profession- it would be perfect. The weird thing about my love for writing is I’m not even that good at it. Usually that would be very discouraging for me. Like basketball for instance. I loved basketball all my life, but it got to the point where I just had to face that I wasn’t that good and it killed me. Like the author, I also like to write about politics. I am very opinionated when it comes to politics. Lets leave it at that to avoid any argument. In college, I am trying to find a balance between school and writing. Hopefully I will find a happy medium.

The Man At the Gate

travs1429 — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Just by first reading the title I thought this piece was really going to be a depressing, lonely piece about a man who spent his life to himself. I guess I wasn’t too far off, but after reading on I really thought this piece demonstrated a theme of helplessness. When it talked about Coleridge being incapable of movement I pictured someone who could not provide for them self, instead of literally not being able to move their limbs. I thought of someone who is lost in the world and doesn’t know how to get back on the right foot. I think being helpless is one of the worst possible feelings. It just feels like everything is out of your control no matter hard you try. Helplessness also makes me picture a kid who has been taught something over and over but still can’t comprehend the answer even though he gives it his all. It is just a very sad and gloomy thing. This piece also made me think of someone being trapped. When it refers to being behind bars I didn’t necessarily think of prison bars. I was leaning more towards the thought ” is anyone really free”? In my opinion, we are all somehow “behind bars” in society . Everyone has their own restraints. Also, many times due to government control it sometimes seems like we are all trapped. Personally, I feel trapped paying into social security when there is a good chance I won’t see any of the money. The problem is , there is no way out of it, just like other taxes. Many times I feel trapped when it comes t0 school. At some points, I just get so frustrated with an assignment or a concept that isn’t making sense that I feel like I have my back against the wall. This is most true when it comes to math (my least favorite subject). One of the most aggravating things to me is not being able to succeed at something. Considering neither the thought of being trapped or a feeling of helplessness are too appealing, I would have to say this piece gave me negative but realistic vibes.

Why am I at WSU?

travs1429 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:26:02 +0000

There are various reasons that I ended up at Wright State University. I have always wanted to maximize my knowledege to the furthest degree. Going to college was never really debatable for me. I always knew high school would not be the end of my education. I was in no rush to get into the work force. I figured I might as well enjoy being a kid as long as possible. Even though college comes with much of its own work and stress, the perks of the “job” are veryworth it. I love the classroom atmosphere where there are people just like me trying to better themselves. I also love meeting new people wherever I go. I have made numerous friends in classes, sports, and other WSUevents. Getting my own place and living with someone other than my parents was also a great learning experience. Even though it is critical to hit the books hard in college, there are times when you need to relax and have fun. WSU was my college of choice mainly because of location. It allowed me to get out of my small hometown of Springfield, Ohio, but still left me close enough where I can come home to visit my family at any time. Also, when I visited Wright State I loved the modern feel of the campus. I also was brought on by the diverse selection of students. Name any genre or stereotype of people, and Wright State probably has them. Obviously college is not for everyone, but for me it was the right choice. Unfortunately, I am not in school for what I really want to do. My main love is music, and I have always wanted to go to school for music production. I guess I just didn’t think this was a realistic goal, so I took the safe route and went to school for business. Hopefully I will be able to end up in a music related business profession. I have also always had a love for writing, which goes hand in hand with the music dreams.

Travis Stewart

Business Major

Hometown: Springfield, Ohio