Zen Pencils

This J.K. Rowling quote about the benefits of failure really spoke to me when I read it, especially after all of the recent stress about college decisions has begun to be the complete focus of everyone. Rowling said "it is impossible to live without failing at something."I believe this is true. I might not get into my top college or even my second choice, but that does not mean that I will not eventually succeed. I know that whatever path God chooses for me, it will be the one that I was meant to take. Instead of being stressed and letting college take over my entire life while I am still supposed to be enjoying my senior year of high school, I will let whatever happens happen, and be grateful for it.

He's Just Not That Into You...

Anna and Ben

Anna and Ben have a relationship that is completely against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Ben is a married man and is cheating on his wife with Anna. Anna is not in a committed relationship, but is participating in premarital sex. Although she loves Ben and believes that he is prepared to leave his wife for her, she is still not making a good decision. The relationship between the two is a prime example of what not to do. It is the complete opposite of the anything our textbook claims is good. People make mistakes, and both Anna and Ben learn from them in the end. Ben realizes that he is a terrible person after his wife kicks him out of the house and he is forced to live on his own. He did not realize how good his life was and how much he took it for granted until it was too late. Anna realized what she was doing was wrong on her own. After witnessing an interaction between Ben and his wife, she realized that the relationship she had with Ben was wrong and a huge mistake. She ended it with him and instead began to focus on her singing career. She realized that her life should not be dependent on men.

Gigi

Gigi is a character that is relatable to when we learned about soulmates and the so-called "perfect match" in our textbook. Gigi is a die hard romantic and is obsessed with finding someone that is right for her. She often throws herself at men she likes or completely ruins her chances with them by doing something embarrassing. Although Gigi tries hard to find her perfect match, she finds him in the most unexpected way. She has many rules about dating and claims to see signs. She ends up being in love with a man, Alex, who was originally her friend. She did not see the relationship coming at first and when she fell for him she ruined her chances. Alex fell in love with Gigi for the crazy person that she was, proving that sometimes people truly can have a perfect match, even if they find them in the most unexpected places.


Beth and Neil

Beth and Neil are in love and have been living together but are not married. According to the Catholic Church and its' teachings, in order to live together and be involved in a sexual relationship, the couple should be married. Neil is afraid to commit to marriage and goes against the proper teachings. In the end, they decide to get married. It takes Neil a while to realize that he should marry Beth because he did not realize that he had the perfect relationship. It took Beth breaking up with him to realize that he should take the chance to marry her because true love like that does not come around often.

Snow Day!

From the beginning of the TED talk, I was reminded of the beauty of nature in all aspects of my life. The close up slo-motion images of plants growing and blowing in the wind made me remember what a phenomenon the gift of life is. What really stuck with me was when Louie talked about how people usually respond "Oh My God" to his pieces. The way he split up the phrase and gave each word an individual meaning really spoke to me. He said that "Oh" means that it caught the viewer's attention and made them mindful. The "My" connects with something deep inside the soul and inner voice, and the "God" is about the personal journey to be inspired and feel connected we all go on. He really put his wonder about time to work to make something beautiful. The three meanings inside this one phrase really summed up the beauty of nature and the places it can take us. 

When the little blonde girl in the second clip of the talk said that we can develop more imagination by exploring. Sometimes in the hectic days we face, we are caught up in the hustle and bustle and never take the time to explore. Nature is all around us no matter what season, and a different type of beauty can always be found when we take the time to find it. Each day is an opportunity that we can either seize as a gift or ignore. I am going to begin to be grateful for each day in order to appreciate the beauty of nature and the awesomeness of everything around me. I need to treat each day as my last appreciating what I have, because I never know when it could all be taken away from me. 

A New Vision for the Church

There are many mixed reviews in response to the Pope's "Evangelii Gaudium" or "The Joy of the Gospel". Many, including myself, agree that this new change is necessary in the Church with the standards of our society rapidly changing every day. A lot of the Church's teachings are outdated and often do not apply to the society in which we live. In this document, the Pope explored many new ideas such as including women more in the Church so that they can become more involved even though they may not become priests. The change that the Pope is offering is expected to be received as joyful and expects everyone to be open to it, as it is clear that this is what the Church needs. These new teachings are hope-filled and should be embraced.

A main point in the document is the discussion of the option for the poor and vulnerable. He states that the poor must not be forgotten, and that everyone deserves a chance. God has a special place for the poor in his heart, so we must also have a place for them. In "Evangelii Gaudium", the Pope does not expect everyone to immediately be open to all of its ideas, but to be willing to try to accept them. The Pope also encourages everyone to be ethical with their spending. In regards to the chaos of Black Friday and our extensive money spending during the holiday season, the Pope calls upon us to remember the poor and give back to them during the holidays. God loved the poor and we must also. Forgetting about them is not what our beliefs are about. We must practice solidarity and give back to them in order to enact these new teachings. We must not only enact these new teachings, but work to end the overall cycle of poverty. By doing this, we will have a deeper relationship with God that is strengthened by our personal experience.

Perspectives On Marriage

The marriages of my parents and grandparents are both very traditional. While I do respect and appreciate their love that they have for each other, i tend to take a more modern perspective on marriage. I do not see marriage as being submissive to my husband and acting as a typical housewife that was seen in earlier generations. Marriage is about having respect and equality with the person that I will choose to spend the rest of my life with. As well as the aspect of equality, my grandparents marriage is very serious and focused on their children. I want to marry someone who I am deeply in love with who shares the same interests and ideas as me. I want to be able to have serious conversations about important topics and voice my opinions freely. At the same time, I also want to be able to sit back and joke around with my husband without feeling any restraint. Marriage is not only about the partnership, but also about the friendship, care, and love one must show for their spouse. 

In ancient cultures, marriage was often arranged and never true. In the present, women and men have the opportunity to explore dating and try out what they like and dislike before committing to a marriage. Old stories were often told regarding a man and a woman who were matched together out of convenience for the two families or a matter of money. The husband and wife never actually loved each other but were forced to stay together because of the wishes of their families. Another story often heard about marriages of the past is simply about procreation. People used to marry only for the purpose of having as many children as possible in order to keep the family name going for as long as possible. They never had sex to show love for each other but just to have children. Marriage today is about both of those aspects of sex. The Catholic Church has changed its definition on marriage to be more about just procreation. Now it is about a deep love and understanding for the person that you choose to spend the rest of your life with. 

"Gray Rape": A new form of date rape?

With the increasing regularity of casual hookups in our culture, the lines between consent and rape are becoming blurred, giving name to the term "gray rape." Alcohol blurs these lines even further, creating fuzzy memories of the night before. The mix of alcohol and sex creates the question of whether or not the person claiming to have been raped actually was. The article states that women go after sex just as much as men do these days. Casual sex makes it even easier for women to be put in uncomfortable situations with men of the opposite sex.

While it is true that women may say and do things while intoxicated that they would not do when they were sober, it does not mean that they still would wish to give consent to a man attempting to have sex with them. No matter what answer they give, they are not in the right frame of mind to decide whether or not they wish to be having sex. The term rape is being reexamined.

While gray rape is becoming an increasingly common subject of discussion in our culture, the vulnerability and weakness of women who claim to be raped is being ignored and replaced with the idea that a woman "wanted it". With the increase in casual sex in our culture, women who are victims are being increasingly ignored, promoting silence from rape victims who were actually put in bad positions.

Some Say Love...

A relationship is built off of trust. It cannot exist without this. Besides this main component, there are many other things to a relationship. It must have love, care, friendship, and common interests to name a few. The person in the relationship must also put the other person before themselves. In Beyonce's Love On Top, she talks about the man she loves finally putting her first. It is important to have a deep and trusting relationship that puts the other first. Love should also be about being willing to do whatever it takes to make the relationship work if you truly want it to, as illustrated in Ain't No Mountain High Enough. In a relationship, it is also important to give constant reminders to the other person that you are in love with them, whether it is a big or small reminder. This is best demonstrated in Have I Told You Lately by Rod Stewart. When you are a committed relationship, you should love that person no matter what, like Celine Dion sings in My Heart Will Go On. Love can make us do crazy things. We can try very hard to get the attention of a person we love. In Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls, the singer of the song just wants the person he loves to know who he is, because he is deeply in love with her. Everyone in these songs is on a quest for their soul mate. I believe that everyone does have a soul mate, but we do not always find them. There is also people who can come into your life and still be the one. Soulmate is more of an unrealistic term, but the people who do find theirs are lucky.

Dating: What's the Point?

In our culture today, dating is almost always seen as a casual experience. Most relationships come out of "hook ups", if a relationship even results at all. "Anti daters" believe that dating is just a practice for divorce. I do not agree with this. Although sometimes people are not in a relationship for the right reasons, a relationship is still beneficial. After dating a couple people, a girl or boy starts to realize what they really want in a relationship. This then helps them for the future. Instead of practicing for divorce, they are practicing for a long and beneficial marriage. Along with finding what they want in another, dating helps young people to discover themselves. When dating a person, you should be comfortable with who you are and not act differently. A person needs the experience of dating in order to realize this. Although dating is beneficial, it is hard to attain a relationship that will help us to experience these things. With the constant pressure to conform to the norm in society, people everywhere are "hooking up" and missing out on what could truly form into a special bond.

Mission Statement

In order to have a mission statement, I must be able to live out all of the promises and goals stated in it. My mission statement is to put a smile on faces. Whatever my future career is, although I do not know what it is yet, I hope to bring joy to others through it. No one is perfect, and neither am I. I realize that I will make mistakes in life, but I will promise to learn from those mistakes as life goes on. When I am older I will be successful. In my mind, success is not having money in power, it is living a life that is somehow beneficial to others and to be happy while doing it. Wherever my future takes me, I promise that I will try my best to spread the important lessons I have learned from others onto new people. When I am older, I want to look back on my life in a positive way. I want to have success and change the lives of others.

Miss Representation

From both watching Miss Representation and reading the article, it is apparent that our society is subjected to increasing sexualization. As the years go by, the clothes that women wear and the way that they act in order to impress men has become more alarming. Although it is a sad reality, I can say that as a teenage girl I feel the pressure to go along with these trends. As women, we are pressured to conform to what is now the norm in order to please others. It has become a constant competition among everywhere.

In my everyday life, I constantly look at pictures of beautiful women in magazines, on the internet, and on the television. I can not help but feel unattractive and constantly find myself comparing what I look like to these images. Women everywhere feel compelled to work to have the same body type, beautiful skin, and scandalous clothes as these women. Men expect all women to look like this and as these stereotypes have changed, there standards have increased dramatically.

If women are constantly trying to impress men, it will affect how they dress not only socially, but also in everyday life. If the only way that women can get attention is to dress inappropriately, then their importance in the workplace will begin to decrease, and they will become even more objectified. After having the experience of reading this article and watching this movie, I feel less inclined to dress like these celebrity women and more inclined to be myself. I realize that the women who look like this are often either unhappy or it is not their real appearance. I now appreciate myself and my friends and love myself for not what I look like but how confident I feel.

Sources of My Identity

When i first walked into the hallways of Mount Saint Joseph Academy, I had no idea what to expect. I was afraid to start a new school with none of my old friends from my grade school. I feared that everyone would already have their friends and that no one would want to take time out of their day to get to know me. I became increasingly anxious as the first day of school approached. But I was wrong. The Mount has shaped me as the person I am today. I cannot imagine myself attending any other school. My experience there has shaped me to become a confident and caring person. The amount of opportunities I have received here make me realize how extremely blessed I am to attend such a place. The people I have met here are the kind of people one would hope to remember for the rest of their lives.

Another thing that has shaped the person I am today is my family. They act as a support system for me. Whenever I need advice or guidance, my parents and siblings are there for me. I am fortunate enough to have siblings that I am so close with. My brother and sister are two of my best friends. My parents have provided me with a loving and caring environment that has affected me positively. Their values and standards have helped put my life on the right track. Without my family, I would not feel as loved and supported as I am. 

Finally, sports have shaped me. Soccer and lacrosse have given me important leadership and teamwork skills. I have learned to work together with others and realized that sometimes in order to achieve a goal you need the help of others because doing something alone is not always an option. Along with the skills I have developed, I also have formed great friendships with my teammates. I learn something new and different from each one of them. From being around such amazing people I am able to help myself become a better person. Without sports, I would not be as confident and open to ideas as I am today.