Oh no...

          Around May 2014, I have had serious nausea and reflex symptoms. My mother took me to my primary pediatrician after noticing my extreme weight lose. He asked me my symptoms and declared that I had an acid reflex problem and I was soon put on the new medication Nexum. Since then, I had lost more weight and the symptoms began to change and I was never fully cured of my temporary reflex. I couldn't go out longer than a couple hours without getting sick and I wouldn't be able to laugh without feeling like something was going to come back up. I had acquired strange balance issued and it was time to get a full workup. My doctor issued a blood test, urine test, optometry visit, head and neck visit, gastroenterology visit, ultra sound,  vision field test, and an audiology visit. The most important was the gastroenterology visit.

          When seeing the gastroenterologist, I explained my issues such as difficultly swallowing and eating less then I should. She issued many testes such as a endoscopy and a MRI. One of my biggest fears is to have an endoscopy, due to the fact that Id be gagging.

          An endoscopy is a procedure where a small camera is put in the mouth of the patient down the throat and esophagus into the stomach and down to the beginning of the small intestine. Of course I was extremely terrified by the sounds of the procedure but I was "well taken care of" and the doctor reassured me that I would be under general anesthesia. During the procedure, she would take cell sized samples of my stomach and throat to test for any diseases such as cancer of celiac ( a wheat and gluten disease) which may lead to some bleeding, which is usually unlikely. My fear was somewhat at ease however I know I will be shaking on the day of the procedure. Hopefully, this procedure will find the cause of my nausea and I will soon be cured.  I know will the love and care from family and friends, I will be fine.

The Horror of Black Friday

                  For weeks and weeks before Thanksgiving, the average person hears up to 3 Black Friday Sales commercials either on the radio, TV , or even in the newspaper. This is ridiculous. People trample over each other, get into fights, and steal for their Black Friday items. Every year, new incidences come up on the news about how someone was arrested or how someone was in a serious injury. But is it really worth it?
                    Since 1924, the traditional "seasonal holiday shopping" was sparked after many American families ate their Thanksgiving meal and watched the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. According to BlackFriday.Com, the term "black" came from the reference "to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit". Ever since then, store owners witnessed the beauty of Black Friday and began to bring up sale commercials weeks before Thanksgiving.
                    The "traditional" way to open the stores on Black Friday is at Mid-night after Thanksgiving day, however, many stores have realized the other side of the crazy teenagers and customers, the mothers.Mothers of young children generally don't have time to go out at midnight just to catch the sales, so stores such as JCPenny , BedBath&Beyond, and Target open up early around 8pm. Their slogan as "why wait until midnight" to attract those who have work the next morning, babysitters who cant stay past 10 and people who honestly don't want to wait until midnight in the cold.
                    Black Friday isn't just a tradition in The US, Canada also has a "Black Friday which they call "Boxing Day". Boxing day, however, is the day after Christmas instead of Thanksgiving. There are pros and cons to this date because many people go black Friday shopping in order to buy presents for people to give on Christmas but why trample over people in greed right after you name the 10 things you're grateful for? The pros and cons with after Christmas are the great sales for unwanted items that can be used in the future however, you can not buy them for that years Christmas to give away.
                   There is nothing wrong with going black Friday shopping but I think people should be more considerate of what they buy and how they get it. For example, after dinner and saying your thanks, go to the store to buy clothes and gifts for others, not for yourself.

Since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with the works of Hayao Miyazaki, a famous Japanese film director, animator, producer, and screenwriter. Miyazaki’s works were first introduced to me by my mother. She would show the Japanese tapes of the 1988 hit, Totoro, I was in love. My grandmother also introduced a picture book called Kiki’s Delivery Service, based on the film. Since then, many other films have been produced, including my favorite, Spirited Away. Spirited Away is about a girl who crosses a mysterious tunnel with her parents and over time must learn how to believe in herself in order to turn her parents back to humans. Miyazaki’s works have greatly influenced many people around the globe.

Hayao Miyazaki was born on January 5th, 1941 in a town called Akebono-cho in Bunkyō, Japan. His love for anime was sparked in his third year in junior high, by the anime film The Tale of the White Serpent, written by Taiji Yabushita. His first hit film was in The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979, Miyazaki was 38 at the time. Since then, he has directed many more movies including Castle in the Sky, Ponyo, and Howls Moving Castle.

By far, the anime movie Princess Mononoke , is the biggest movie in Hayao Miyazaki’s career. Princess Mononoke was released 1997 when he was 56 years old. A boy named Ashitaka is fighting for his village when a boar-god disguised as a demon gives Ashitaka a demon mark on his arm. He later finds out that mark will soon kill him if he doesn’t find a cure. On the search for a cure, Ashitaka arrives in a forest filled with animal gods and watches as his village is constantly being destroyed. San, a girl raised by wolf gods communicates with spirits to help Mono bring down these villages however, Ashitaki tries to bring peace and co-exist with the creatures.

Unfortunatly, with Miyazaki’s older age and declining health, his last film was released in 2013 called The Wind Rises. Many people, including myself, cherish this last film as a gift of his works. Luckily, his son, Goro Miyazaki has decided to take over his father’s business. I cannot wait to see the films he produces in the future!

Sand

          "We are going to learn about sand for the next couple weeks!" Mr. Pearson exclaimed. In my head I thought, "Oh this should be... interesting", sand was not a topic that interested me. I kept thinking, "What's so interesting about sand?" , the thought ran through my mind for days. On the first day of the sand lessons, we walked into class where there was a big bucket of sand. He said "grab a bag of sand!" and we all followed his directions and obtained bags of sands. He gave us about 5 to 10 minutes to "play" with the sand and observe its features. We were told to read our first text, number one of seven. It was a PDF on a report of the different types of sand in the Huangshan mountains of China and how the sand had originally got there. The report on sand was a drag. It was not interesting, however it did provide interesting facts and information.

           As we moved further into the lesson, sand became interesting. "How can sand become interesting?" one might ask, well the answer is simple, perspective. We discussed what contributed to different perspectives and how people saw sand. The author of Sand: A Journey through Science and the Imagination, Michael Welland, argued that sand is no longer a mere object, but one that has come alive and shaped the environment and who humans now are. He referenced the time period where armies would put sand in balloons to maintain a certain altitude for the balloon and the bomb would be inside it. Thus, connecting sand and human actions.

            Our last couple readings all have been about the art and beauty of sand. John C.Van Dyke, a historian and naturalist, discusses the figural state of the desserts and its inhabitants through an artistic yet scientific lens and point of view. He argues that the desert is not what it seems; there is much more than what someone can witness with their bare eyes. He shatters the claims that the dessert is dead by comparing the liveliness of the city and desert, claiming that they are identical. The Mandala, a Hindu or Buddhist graphic symbol of the universe, is claimed to be a very spiritual and important piece of art which can consist of thousands of grains of different colored sand. Sand can be used and viewed in many different ways.

              Sand can be viewed as a boring piece of land or it can be viewed as a majestic living thing. Sand helped me realize the other things in life that I considered boring to now be lively and beautiful . Its all about ones perspective.

Response to Community Post #1- Diversity at Google

Response to Community Post #1- Diversity at Google


New York Times' article "Exposing Hidden Bias at Google" by Farhad Manjoo discuses a very controversial topic that many people have taken an interest in.  The topic of diversity and/or racism in the work place. According to the article, 70% of Google's workforce are men, and out of the 36 executives, only 3 are woman. Does this mean google is a sexually bias against woman? Well, it not just google whose workforce is unbalanced. According a chart in the article Apple's workforce consists 70% mal, Facebook 69%, Twitter 70% and yahoo 62%. This sparks an immediate question to reader, does almost every major social media and internet company hire a majority of men? Lets explore that Question.

According to the National Bureau of Economic research, women are outnumbering men as time goes by when it comes to graduating college. The report states that "In 2003, there were 1.35 females for every male who graduated from a four-year college and 1.3 females for every male undergraduate. That contrasts with 1960, when there were 1.6 males for every female graduating from a U.S. four-year college and 1.55 males for every female undergraduate" (http://www.nber.org/digest/jan07/w12139.html). So, are companies like google purposely hiring males even though women are increasing their college graduate rates?

Although google claims to be making efforts to, google employee Mr.Bock read the New York Times article and began to wonder if there really was racism and sexists at google. He conducted many tests and learned something new. Most people were not aware that they were racist or sexist, it was unconsciously coming out. As employees began to evaluate a female worker, Mr. Bock reminded them that they were all men and they should be cautious. Later, she was promoted (NYTimes: Exposing Hidden Biases at Google to Improve Diversity) So maybe google is making a change. We will just have to wait and see.