Thoughts on "Teaching the Facebook Generation"

I think that its a good thing that students and teachers are banned from being friends on facebook for obviously the same reasons of restraining off school hours student and teacher realationships. However, I don't believe social networking sites should be blocked. They should be allowed because students are going to find a way around the blocks in the school system anyways. Plus students can use thier phones anyways to access facebook so it won't matter anyways. Plus you can use facebook or other sites for school purposes too. It makes sense to block such sites for elementary school and middle school but high schoolers should be allowed to access these sites.

Artist

I got a request/suggestion from my principal, Mr.Larkin, to upload my artwork onto my blog. I wasn't planning on it, but why not, since art is a big part of my life. I'm currently taking Portfolio at BHS(kind of like AP Art since Mr. Ratkevich is merciless and I don't know if there are any art courses you can take after it in its field). The most recent project/homework assignment topic was "Who are you?" and we could use any medium we desired. After a week of having the concept of using clothes as a way to express this I came up with stylized sketches of clothes in my wardrobe.


(Insert Picture Here:)


First things first, its pronounced "M.-E. Collection" vs "me collection". It's supposed to stand for something(don't know what yet XD) and spells "me"(but not pronounced) if you use the initials only. I think of myself as different because just when people think they know me, I sporadically change. I find myself to be like an actor on the stage of the world (hence the blue and green stage that the characters are standing on). I can't be just one character. Its just no fun. Although my character does change I put the word ME on every face not only to brand my creations but to symbolize that the  there are some fundementals of me don't change even when there is a change in character. I believe its those fundimentals is what the people around me, love about me, no matter who I sporadically change into. The character change doesn't necessarily mean I'm a cameleon blending in with those around me. I'm too sporadic to stay constant in that manner. Some people find it annoying but its just no fun staying one way.

Character 1: Punk/Rock - I LOVE love love heavy metal. Chop Suey by the System of a Down. It has been my number 1 favorite song since 8th grade. The phrase "I cry, When angels deserve to die" just gets to me everytime. So to represent this part of me, I took out whatever rockish clothes I had, took picture's of my friend in rockish clothes as well for reference, combined them and made the first stylized picture in the "M.E. Collection"

Character 2: HipHop - I love dancing hiphop even though I think it looks weird. It just feels good when dancing hiphop. I listen to a great amount of Korean hip-hop. Of course, I also listen to American hip-hop, as well as Russian, Singaporian, and etc.

Character 3: Nerd - I guess I am a bit nerdy and socially akward. I read in my spare time and I'm president of Robotix Club. I probably would be a hardcore gamer too but my parents won't let me own any kind of game consoul. I used to be severly addicted to Runescape though. Now its just a pass time hobby. Yes, I know, I'm old school.

Character 4: Bollywood/Indian - Both my parents are indian and I grew up as a first generation American from my family. I'm not a "FOB" but I still am greatly attached to certain aspects of the indian culture. My parents are both from Gujurat. The dress is a 'chanya chori' from india explaining the dress on the character.

Character 5: Trendy - It represents my extreme interest in fashion. Yes, I'm pretty much addicted to fashion. Its not my side I like to freely advertise. I may not look like it from the way I dress but if you know me well than you know that I spend more than half of my days looking into it. Unlike most teen girls, I don't exactly go by brandnames. I do go by designers because its like picking an artist you really like. Artists have different styles of doing things and if you like a certain style than you keep yourself updated about them and their art work. To explain why I have so many teen brand named clothing, is because most of the people around me buy my clothes so why not wear it to school as long as its comfortable.

Character 6: Business/Tomboy/Conductor - I'm also very into classical music. I don't believe I could be a great classical music conductor ever but I love picking apart the different instruments in classical music pieces. It's like I can see the notes being played. Its much like reading a poem with expression. Its also a business suit because some how I'm a natural at it and somehow always end up being involved in the business end of things. I always think I can do better or I can take this further (competitive side comes out XD). Lastly, the character is wearing what you'd more likely find a man wearing because I am a huge huge huge tomboy. I think it just has to do with my straight-forward-ness about things and the fact that I like to "roll out of bed in the morning, throw on what I want and go"

"Ah, My leggings won't stay up!" Solution

I used to hate wearing leggings because they would never stay in place! always slipping down because the elastic wouldn't hold up. It made me avoid them for a long period of time. But then I found a way to solve this problem.

Its funny because technically my mom and dad came up with the solution. When I was little, I was a off the walls all the time! And my skirts always used to fall down. So my dad brought different elastic string to put in my skirts. We tried them and eventually found the right elastic and viola, my skirts stayed in place.

I find that flat elastics don't hold up so well, and eventually begin to loose their elasticity. However, with ROUND elastics won't loose their elasticity for many many years. It will also keep your clothes up 10 x better. I never have to tug at my leggings anymore because they stay up so well. It really re-assuring and now I wear leggings more often. I made instructions using a pair of Cambodian leggings I just got that I want to wear to dinner tonight:

How to make your leggings stay up:


1) Get your materials: round elastic from a local craft store, scissors, safety pin, thread and needle, and of course leggings. (Its best if you use leggings made of a non-wrinkly material)

2) Find the back of your leggings

 
3) Locate the elastic and cut a little slit on the inside of the elastic part of the leggings. You can try to take out the already given elastic in the leggings or just leave it.

4) Take your round elastic and put a safety pin on the end of it

5) Take your safety pin with the attached round elastic and push it through the slit you cut earlier. Push the safety pin through  all around until you reach the slit again. Make a removable knot on the end.

6) Wear your leggings backwards (tag in the front) and remove the knot you made, adjust how tight you want the elastic to be, and tie a triple or quadruple knot. You want to make sure the elastic isn't too tight nor too loose. If its too tight, it'll dig into your skin and leave a mark. If its too loose than it'll slip down. Now sew the slit that you made in the back close. Wear your slip proof leggings out, work them, and your done!

Banning Cellphones

Should cellphones be banned in school?

Personally, I don't mind either way. I don't know if middleschool and elementary school children are mature enough to handle having so much easy access to distractions in their hands. But with the schools leaning twords integreating computers, laptops, and ipads, I don't think it matters. Kids have to eventually learn to work with all these distractions. Its just a matter of what age do you want to begin dealing with this. And like learning, for each kid it'll be a different age. So I personally don't care since I won't have a cellphone til college which is a decision both my parents and I agree on. I find a cellphone too distracting for my highschool life and will probably find it more useful in college.

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Snow, Shovel, and now "E-Class"?

Boy, oh boy, New England's got it hard this year! The snow just keeps on falling! and with the snow falling so hard this year, its quite obvious the snow days are racking up. Sure, I love the snow and the days off that i don't have to make up being a senior but it's gotten to the point where I feel as though I'm slowly being buried alive. I'll hopefully get a picture up at some point.

So in web 2.0 we were required to make a blog on a tweet off of #bhschat.  This one caught my attention right away: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/technology/school-district-turns-snow-day.html

So of course school becomes one of the many concerns with all the snowfall. Snow days for me used to mean sleeping in late, shoveling snow, and then eating heaps of warm food when I got back inside my house. However, with technology beginning to be incorporated into school, its no longer sleep, shovel, eat, and relax. It's now sleep, shovel, eat, and homework. Yes, homework on snow days. Thank-you, internet. Like a double edged sword, although a part of me is upset, I can't deny that its a tremendous help since my teachers don't have to rush their learning material. Plus, atleast right now, teachers are a bit understanding and don't give as much work on snowdays (mostly just review, research, or study old material). Good luck to the future students since the way things are going, teachers won't be so merciful. Not to be pessimistic. But the bright side is that kids probably won't be having to make up snowdays when the weather gets better.