Cross Country

Today I went to state cross country in Ft. Dodge with one of my best friends from high school. I ran cross country from my sophomore year and on while I was in high school. I was never that great, just average on JV, but there were other reasons for my participating than how good I was. However, as I watched the races today, I kept thinking why on earth do people do this to themselves?? There are some people that would argue that running is fun, but I think a majority would agree that running isn't fun. It's painful and tiring and frankly kind of boring. Yet, here are these kids (and I was one of them) that ran just to run. Why?? If you ever have watched a Cross Country race, especially a highly competitive one like the state meet, it is very common to see runners simply collapse to the ground either during the race or after they cross the finish line. Their bodies are at the limit and they simply can't do anymore. It's painful just to watch, and I scream in my mind for them to stop. They keep going even if they have to crawl just to finish. It is absolutely insane but having done it myself I was able to come up with at least part of an answer to the why questions. There really is something exhilarating about finishing a race, especially when you weren't sure if you could do it. A long-distance runner really does need to have a mental toughness, and some people just don't have that. For me I can think of three or four reasons why I did cross country. First of all for that feeling you get when you finish a race. Races are grueling and tough mentally but nothing compares to that sense of accomplishment you get when you cross the line. When I think about it, it's sometimes hard to realize that I just ran 3.1 miles without stopping or quitting. While that may seem small compared to marathon runners or other longer race distances, it really is something not everyone could do. Another reason is the physical shape cross country gets you in. I can say without a doubt that the best shape I've ever been in has been during the fall of my Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years. It's a great part of cross country, and I really wish I had the discipline to keep it up. (I definitely don't) Another reason would be being a part of a team. I know experiences differ from person to person, but my experiences with my cross country team were some of the best I've had. We really did become like a family, and everyone encouraged everybody else. It was amazing to see some of the best runners cheering and screaming for the kids who were at the bottom of the JV. It showed that it wasn't about your place or points but really about competing against yourself, doing something you didn't think you could, and proving yourself wrong. (Team meals were another definite perk of cross country that I LOVED! :)) I think there has to be a tiny bit of insanity within a person who runs cross country. I mean you're running just to run...that's it! I'm proud to have been a part of that insanity for three short years, and I will never forget those experiences, feelings, and memories for the rest of my life.

State of Fear

A few days ago I started the novel State of Fear. Initially I was skeptical because a book on global warming really didn't sound that interesting to me. I do think that global warming is an issue that needs to be relavent in everyone's mind, but reading a 700 plus page book about it wasn't appealing. I was surprised however because the novel pulled me in within the first couple of chapters. I find science very interesting, but reading about complex scientific ideas can get tedious, however the beginning presented readers with a mystery instead of boring you to death with a bunch of scientific explanations or theories. So much is happening at the beginning and it's hard to see how it all ties together, but I'm sure I'll eventually start to fit the pieces together. I really like when books have a bunch of seemingly random events that eventually all fit together and you see that each one was important to the story. I love that aha moment that occurs when you finally understand where the author is heading. I can tell State of Fear is going to be one of those books. Switching gears a little bit, I'm interested to see where Crichton stands on global warming and how he presents his views through a fictional novel. I do believe strongly that protecting the environment should be a priority for the global community as a whole. I think it's terrible that people don't think it's something to worry about because we will be long gone before anything significant happens. I'm not well-informed on all of the aspects of global warming, so I hope to become more informed through this book and through watching An Inconvienent Truth. I think before I really decide where I stand it's important that I become more informed so that I'm not making an ignorant decision. From what I do know, I do think that we are seeing a definite shift in the Earth's climate. Whether that is because of human influences or just general trends that occur over time, I haven't decided what I believe. I hope that all of this provides me with enough information to make an informed decision on a topic I think is very important to society right now.

Life...again

It's funny how fast life goes by and while some days seem to drag by, one minute you look around and you realize everything has changed. The other day I was just hanging out in my dorm room when I randomly started thinking about what the heck I was doing here. I'm supposed to be in Pella with my family and friends. How did I get to this point with all of these new people and new experiences in such a short time. It was an irrational train of thought, but it really made me realize how fast my life has changed. I've had to grow up a lot in this past month and a half, and even though I didn't think I was necessarily ready, I surprised myself at how well I adjusted in a short time. I really love it here and most of the changes have been good ones. It's just crazy to think about how drastically everything changed. This week was one of the best ones since I've been here. I'm really settling into a routine, and I'm having so much fun with all of my friends. This weekend was a blast and included random trips to dominos, pizza hut, olive garden, sleeping in until 11, going to the football game, and hopefully going to Paranormal Activity 2 tonight! Life is going really well right now and it's a combination of a lot of things. My friends are great(Amy I know you're reading this so you're the best! :)), classes are going well, and Wartburg is just a fun place to be. Again sorry these are late...3 days until fall break!!!!!! Can' wait!!! :)

Social Change Wheel

Sorry, sorry, sorry this is late! So I was looking at the social change wheel, and I kept thinking to myself about how lame it is that I fall into the easiest area of the wheel. Socially responsible daily behavior and direct servitude were the areas I thought I fell between. While looking at the examples for each of these, you can see that they require the least amount of change on a personal level and don't require too much effort to do. The problem is a lot of the other areas require some perform of political motivation, and frankly while I have my own personal politics, it isn't the most important thing in my life. And I don't really feel strongly enough about it for it to really movitvate me. There are some other areas though, like the community ones. The problem with those is that I've left my community that I've spent most of my life in, and I know there are ways to get involved with Waverly and Wartburg but it's a lot more difficult because I don't know the city as well. To me service is important and it's an aspect of my life that I would like to be more prevalent. Part of that desire stems from my faith and part of it is my desire to help others. That desire is what made me want to be a doctor, which in my mind is a profession in which you serve others. I think that it's time to start getting involved though now, and that is going to be one of my goals for the rest of my time in college. I really believe that one person can make a difference, and I won't to start getting more involved in changing the world!

Bowling Alone

As I read this piece on the state of America's civic involvement, I found myself wondering if I completely bought into what Putnam was saying. I agree that society is changing in major ways especially in areas of community involvement and the decline of certain communal organizations. To me I think this represents a shift in the values of society, and I think it's meant to grow and change as life changes. Being the science nerd that I am, I really liked his statement on comparing it to the first law of therodynamics. The involvement is just redistributed, not destroyed or created. In my opinion this is what happens, and I know he wasn't even using this as his arguement. He was stating how other people might argue, but I agreed with it. I think that the organizations and ways people are going to get involved will change and that doesn't mean the end of democracy. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but I didn't really see enough evidence to prove to me that the democratic system will collapse in America because of these changing trends. There was one issue I agreed with however and that was dealing with voting participation. It's important to have a society that is informed on the issues of the political spectrum so that they make informed decisions on which leader they want to lead the country. However today's issues have become much more complicated than they were in the past. A lot of debated issues require some background knowledge in science or another area and that frankly is just to much work for some people. Why would you want to learn about the processes behind stem cell research and then decide who to vote for after you formulate an opinion on whether you think it's right or wrong. This is a major issue in my opinion because it does represent somewhat of a threat to democracy. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out over the next few decades.

My Week

I'm glad to say that this week was a much better week than the last one! I had a lot of fun with my friends and also got my homework done, which is a good thing too. This weekend I was able to go home again and see two of my best friends who were home for fall break. It was so great to see them, and it really was like nothing had changed between us. It wasn't awkward or difficult to make conversation, and we had to say goodbye again much too soon. It was really nice seeing them though and a great end to the week. These little weekend trips home go by so fast, but they're really nice to just get a break from it all. I can get caught up on my sleep and have a sense of privacy and my own space. I only have one more weekend that I plan on coming home for besides Thanksgiving and that will be for my sister's confirmation. It'll be nice because I know there will be one more time I'll be home before Thanksgiving, but I'm also ready to spend some weekends on campus too since I've only been around for two legitimate ones. As I think about it more and more I really made the right choice in the college I chose. I never would have been able to come home like I do if I had gone to Xavier, and I would have missed out on a lot of things. I'm starting to realize that Wartburg was a great choice and not just because of the distance from home too. God was definitely pointing me down the right path, and although I was so mad and upset when I first decided to go to Wartburg, it's worked out so well. I love it, and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Anyway, there are some random tangents in this blog, but that's the path my mind traveled as I wrote it. Here's hoping for another good week of Homecoming!

Another week

Well...this blog is a little bit late, but I was so busy during the week that I didn't really have the time or the Internet access. For my second blog of this past week I didn't really have a lot to talk about, but one thing I've been thinking about is how much I love college. I was so apprehensive for college to start all throughout the summer, but I've had so much fun with it so far. Has it been incredibly stressful at times? Yes it has been incredibly stressful at certain points, but all of the balancing college forces us to do is really making me grow up. I love the freedom, and the responsibility that comes with it makes me appreciate the freedom that much more. I have a lot of free time now, but I have to make sure I use that time to have fun but still get my work done. I think I've done pretty well with it so far, this past week being the exception and hopefully I won't encounter circumstances like that again. One of the biggest parts I was nervous about, was the social aspect. I'm a pretty shy and quiet person and sometimes it makes it hard for me to meet new people. I've been blessed that I immediately got along with my roommate, and he introduced me to his friend too. It was so nice to have a few people right off the back that I enjoyed hanging around and doing things with. Since then, I've met a great group of friends that I'm really lucky to have met. They're all great people and won't encourage me to make bad choices, which was one of my original goals. It was so nice that one of my biggest worries about college wasn't a big deal at all. The homework was another worry, and it is pretty stressful. Like I said before though, if I manage my time, I can get it done. As I get ready to start another week, I look forward to a nice normal week because just about anything will be better than last week. I'm excited to go home next weekend and see a couple of my friends and I'm sure the week will fly by. Sorry about it being a little late!

Schwartz

As I struggled to make it through this stressful and emotionally draining week, the last thing I really wanted to do was read a 20-plus page essay in my IS reader. However when I finally forced myself to start reading the Schwartz piece, I felt myself being drawn into it and really thinking about what Schwartz was trying to say. I found that I really liked what he thought about the education system and how school was going from play to work. Everything made so much sense, and I felt it was really relevent to me, which always makes things easier to read. It's crazy how much emphasis society puts on getting good grades and systems of punishments and rewards. Ask any kid in school today and I bet they would tell you that if they don't see a value or reward for doing something, they won't do it. Who wants to learn just to learn anymore? It's all about getting more step ahead, and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what the point of an education is. People don't want to learn to understand the world better; they want to learn so that they can go to college and get a good job that makes a lot of money. And I'm definitely not saying that those aren't my goals either. I felt like I related very well to the performace goal types. I think I have some characteristics of both because I'm the type of kid that read books on astronomy, geography, and Greek mythology because I found them interesting. However, I strive for good grades, and I like the praise and acceptance that comes with those good grades. Why should I take a more challenging path when I can take an easier route with the same results? I definitely see myself as someone with performace goals, and I really felt disappointed in myself. The problem is that it's been so ingrained in me that I don't see how I'm ever going to change that about myself. All in all it was a very interesting piece that really made me think about my education and reasons for studying and striving for good grades. After a rough week, I definitely hope that next week is a lot better. I'm sure it will be and I get to see some of my best friends next weekend, which I'm super pumped for!!

Stories

As I read "Harrison Bergeron" this week for class, I found myself thinking about what it would be like to live in that type of a world. I had already read the story before, so I could focus more on what was behind the story than the actual plot itself. Even though it's a science fiction short story, it has kind of underlying horror to it. With all of the equality movements going on in the 60's, it's definitely a parody of those fights for complete equality. The story scares me in more ways then one, and even though I know our world will (hopefully) never be like that, it still made me think about what it would be like. There really are conflicting messages out there. On one hand people are telling you to do your best at everything you do and how you perform determines your worth as a person. While other people tell you everyone is equal, and one individual isn't any better than those around them. I'm not saying I agree with either one of these messages exactly, but it is interesting to think about. We promote equality but yet people are determined by their successes and their failures. I think Harrison Bergeron, for its time, was somewhat of a warning that people are unequal. Should everyone have an equal opportunity to succeed? Yes, in my opinion, but at the same time people will take advantage of the strengths they have over other people. It's important that we don't get to the point where we try to "handicap" those strengths whether it's physically like in "Harrison Bergeron" (not likely) or more likely, societal attitude towards inequality. Ok, that's my rant for the day. It was a tough week, but this weekend has been great. Next week will be tough too, but I'll make it through!