New Things!

I know I just made a post, but I wanted to let you know that I have added something to my blog. Remember all those writing assignments I have been doing instead of this blog? Well, in case you would like to check them out, I have now organized them and added them to the blog! They are on the right sidebar under "My Education Websites/Blogs".

Please remember some of these websites have been around for a couple of years and my thoughts and ideas have changed.

Peace.

Well this is embarrassing...

I promised a new blog back in April 2015... oops! It is interesting how life can be so distracting.

I remember a long time ago I made a promise on this blog. I promised I would write more, and everyday. Well, I have to admit I do not write everyday, but I do most days. Many of the classes I have taken/are taking, I have to write a lot. It is a little draining to write that much for my classes and then for my own personal benefit. I see it like this; as long as I am writing, I am doing myself good.

Last semester my classes were Texts and Teaching, a Special Education class, Petrology (a subgroup of geology), and meteorology (weather). Between Texts and Teaching and Petrology I did quite a bit of writing. One of my favorite assignments from Texts and Teaching was a free writing assignment, meaning I could write about anything I wanted to. Normally I would hate this. When I am a student I hate having too many choices, it makes me anxious. I would rather just be told what to do (in that case). However! There was an idea I have had for a while and this was my chance to start it! I am very happy with how it turned out, but I will not be sharing it on here.

This semester I am taking Middle-Level Education, Science Methods, Philosophy of Education, and Astronomy. Astronomy is the only class that I will not have to do a significant amount of writing assignments, except that twenty page paper... Now I will not delve into all my classes, but I would like to highlight my favorite writing assignment this semester. In my Philosophy of Education class we each have a Thinking and Discussion Journal. Some students type on their lap top, but I prefer writing by hand. We use the journal mostly in class to reflect and collect our thoughts before jumping into a small group or class discussion. I am not sure how this works for other students, however I love it because I need more time to think out what I want to say. I like being prepared, because sometime I tend to ramble, which classmates might not like, plus no new points or ideas are coming to light.

Through my adventure of trying to write more, I have realized it has turned from writing more, to I just want to be more creative my all aspects of my life. As a child I can still recall my best friend and I playing a game where we combine aspects from The Little Mermaid, Harry Potter, Atlantus, Lord of the Rings, Teen Titans and later on we even fit in Pirates of the Caribbean. To be able to combine all those themes, books, and movies into one role playing game takes a lot of creativity! Then I went to middle and high school.  My purpose is not to knock education, especially because I am becoming a part of the community, however, the structures that have been put in place leave little room for students to express their creativity. Teachers have been forced into teaching to standards and tests. Now I want to use the students' creativity to help them learn. Science is all about learning by experimenting, that is how we know everything we know about the world today. Should students learn through that same method? Yes! Now, there are somethings I will not be able to teach in this way, but I have some great ideas for when I get there.

Moving away from education, but still talking about creativity, the Dungeon Master of my Dungeons and Dragons group has recently passed the honor onto me. I am loving it! It is a great chance for me to create my own world, which sounds easy at first, but there is a lot that goes into a world that I never thought of. For anyone that is trying to become more creative this is a great way to stretch and exercise your mind while having fun with friends.

Well, this is all I have for now, but there is something big just around the corner......

Hello, it's been a while.

New posts are coming soon! Probably a new blog look too. I have been super busy with school. Peace. :)

Hmm...

Hmm... This blog is starting to look like a ghost town.

I have always enjoyed reading and writing. Reading a lot more. It's way easier to read someone else's story than to come up with one on your own.

When I was in highschool I started writing a couple stories. They were inspired by other books I had been reading at the time. After I hit a couple writer's block I stopped. I could always come up with a grand scheme but I struggled with coming up with the details. A long while after I stopped I decided that I would never be a writer. I hated the stories I had created, so I deleted them. BIG MISTAKE. Word to the wise: no matter how crappy you think your writing is, don't delete it! Future you might actually like it.

When I re-realized how much I missed writing I started this blog. I vowed to myself to write at least once a week. That didn't work. I felt I did not have enough to talk about with the world. There's only so much I am willing to share.

So, I bought myself a journal. I thought if I had a place where I could write more personal things/hopes/dreams I would right more. I have had that journal for two years now and have written less than 20 entries.

Now, allow me to take a detour from this part (what I have to say next will relate).

As many of you may know this summer I have been the Director of the Maine Native-American Center in Bridgton, Me. I have been asked many times if there is a book I would recommend about the Wabanaki's history. I tell people that there is not a book I know of that is written to my satisfactory because most books written about us are not written by us, and therefore, can not accurately our perspective. To accurately tell our story you have to fully understand our culture and where we come from. Then, sometimes they ask me why I haven't yet. I jokingly tell them it's because I am still a student and blah blah blah.

With this job I have gained a lot of experiences and knowledge about the general public. I have had good feedback and I have had offensive things said to me. Usually the offensive stuff is from ignorance. I started to write down some of incidents that were happening to me and that happen to a lot of Native people. I think it is important for people to hear the stories and for me to explain why it's not okay to say these things to Native people. I also think the history of the Wabanaki show be taught/talked about more.

So, I think I'm starting a book.

Now, back to writing.

I am going to try and write Ever. Damn. Day.

Whether is is in my personal journal, this blog, or my 'maybe' book, I will write every day.

Schooooooooools out for the summah!

Well, I suppose it is about time I write some stuff.

The Spring Semester 2014 has come to an end and for my grades I received two A-’s, a B, and a B-. This makes my GPA a 3.04. It’s nice to see my hard work this semester paid off!

What will I be doing this summer?

Firstly, within the next week Nathan and I will be moving into a new apartment with my best friend Lauren. The apartment is closer to school, nicer, and the neighbors are not as noisy. We are very excited and can not wait to be all moved in! Plus we will be living right done the hall from more great friends!

Secondly, I have moved on from being a pizza/sandwich maker at a convince store and I am now the Director at the recently opened Maine Native-American Center in Bridgeton! Our goal is to provide accurate information to the public (it is a tourist town) and displacing misconceptions. For example, today a customer thought we still lived off the land like the old days and that we lived in gated communities. Riiiiiiight. Well, now it is my job to tells these people the truth!

Also, an older lady used the world “skaw” without knowing the true meaning. She assumed it just meant female. Her face was priceless when I told her that it means whore. I rather doubt she will be using that word ever again.

Everyone should come check it out!

Living with friends and having an awesome new job is going to make this summer fly by! 

Funny Life

It always seems that I write long posts and then take way to long before I write another post. Well I can not promise that I will, but I will try to write more often.

This second semester at UMF is going very well. I like three of my class and there other is calculus... The class that I like are all Geology classes. I finally feel like I know I am on the right track for a major. I never knew it, but I really like learning about how the earth works, how rocks form, and all that good stuff. I guess other people could have guessed that.

Recently  Nathan and I have decided to move in with a group of friends. Long story short, we broke the group up into two groups of three and we live right down the hall from each other. It makes me happy to know I have such good friends and I will be living with them. :)

Lastly, I have left my job being a deli person at the superstate to be a director of the Wabanaki Center in Bridgton. It's a bit far of a drive but I am very excited to be giving such a big chance at something that I hope will turn out to be great.

I think that pretty much sums up my life for the past month or so. School, personal, and work. Check, check, and check. 

Peace and enjoy this spaceship Nathan and I made with Legos.

Holiday Shmoliday

I realized I have not written a post for a while. Well, Lauren creating a post reminded me. It is quite amusing so go check it out by clicking on her name!     ^^^^

In my realization I remembered that I never posted any pictures from Halloween or Thanksgiving. Here they are:

This is our gang's costume theme for Halloween.

We were characters from Despicable Me. :)

This is right before we stuffed our faces with Thanksgiving food!

My parents, my Gram, Nathan and I.

Nathan and I do not have room for a real xmas tree, 

so we bought this little one for our apartment.

All of our ornaments are too big for it 

so I came up with a way they can still be a part of the action.

These are the ones that hang off the wall behind the tree.

This is one of three little reindeer ornaments my Gram gave me at Thanksgiving.

As you can see he is very happy in his new home.

Also he has a little penguin earring hang off from his antler,

who would not be happy for that? :P

As you can probably tell I like to show my life through pictures. I feel that they can say more than I can in just typing. They say a picture is worth a thousands words and I agree! Pictures also help me to remember important events, big or small, that happen in my life. I wish that I took more pictures because I love doing it, but life is so busy! This has been a busy semester for me and I know it will only be busier next semester. That is why I am looking forward to a month off for xmas vacation! Whooo!

I am hoping I will use my relaxation time wisely by going outside and not staying on the couch the whole time. :P

Speaking of xmas... I am still working on the list of stuff I need to make/buy/decided what to give people. I was going to say "what to get people" but then I thought "That isn't really the point is it?" There is a big difference between "getting" someone something or "giving" someone something. *Caution* This is where I may get deep....

I am now going to break down the difference between "get" and "give". 

get |get|

verb ( gets, getting ; past got |gät|; past participle got or gotten |ˈgätn| )

1 [ with obj. ] come to have or hold (something); receive: I got the impression that she wasn't happy.

• experience, suffer, or be afflicted with (something bad): I got a sudden pain in my left eye.

• receive as a punishment or penalty: I'll get the sack if things go wrong.

• contract (a disease or ailment): I might be getting the flu.

give |giv|

verb ( past gave |gāv|; past participle given |ˈgivən| )

1 [ with two objs. ] freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone); hand over to: they gave her water to drink | the check given to the jeweler proved worthless | [ with obj. ] : he gave the papers back.

• bestow (love, affection, or other emotional support): his parents gave him the encouragement he needed to succeed | (as adj.giving) : he was very giving and supportive.

I did not include everything that the dictionary said but as you can see "get" just seem purely negative, and while "give" can have some negative components it can be positive as well. Getting someone something implies no thought, while giving someone something requires thought.

I would like to highlight one part of "give" and that is: bestow (love, affection, or other emotional support).

I think this is very important difference to keep in mind this time of year. Especially for me who is no longer a child and naive to all the negative aspects of what the holiday season tries to hide. The part I am most talking about is having to get people things. Why do we feel this way? Why do most of us groan at the thought of this time of year? This is the time where we are suppose to spend time with our family, strive for world peace, and give to those who need most the simple thing just to survive. The reason why we groan at all this is because during the rest of the year we spend time burning the bridges that are suppose to be there to support us and help us through tough times.

So this xmas try to give people you care about things that have meaning. This does not have to be something of physical value. Sentimental is what we should strive for when giving gifts. Experiences that will last a life time. Something that will bring a smile when thought about. I know this may require more thought that just getting something, but isn't that what this time of the year is about? Thinking about people you care for and showing that you really just want them to be happy?

I know this is different from what I usually write about and it is just food for thought. One thing just kind of snowballed into another and so on. I hope you have very happy holidays, and know that I love you. :) Yes you, the person reading this.