Freedoms

You have the freedom to say what you want,

Articulating every passing idea and thought.

Don’t hold your tongue and censor your voice,

Speech is a right, not just a choice.

You have the freedom to believe what you choose,

Dabbling in the teachings of Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha too.

Practice your religion through actions and prayers,

To tell you you’re wrong would not be fair.

You have the freedom to write to your hearts content.

As long as it’s truthful, it’s time well spent.

Inform the public in black and white,

After all, it is your right.

You have the freedom to have an opinion

And change the rules of your dominion.

If you know something’s wrong, tell us about it.

Don’t be timid, scream and shout it.

You have the freedom to assemble your countrymen

And protest the issues that matter to them.

It’s a democracy, and you know it,

Take hold of your rights and vote for it.

"That's What They Call Progress, Dear"

Source: Photos Public Domain

        It amazes me how today’s world is so different from the world I grew up in. So many little things I remember from growing up don’t even exist anymore.

            Most of the changes that I actually notice are in technology. When I sit at home helping my little brother with the Internet, I tell him that, when I was his age, we had just started getting Internet. When I grew up, I learned to use DOS mode computers, where you had to type in computer code on a black screen in order to call up programs. Those programs can’t even compare to those of today. I didn’t even have Microsoft Word until fourth grade. At that time, I thought the Internet and all these cool programs for Windows were amazing. I could never imagine technology would improve so much, especially in my lifetime.

           

Now, DSL high-speed Internet connections are almost a necessity and not so much a luxury anymore. Places like McDonald’s and Baker’s Square even offer free Wifi for people to use on their smart phones and laptops, another creation that I never imagined when I was little.

            Does anyone remember phone cards? My grandmother has always been very benevolent, and on many different occasions throughout the year, she would dote upon my cousins and I. In my eyes, the definition of being one of the big kids in the family was receiving a phone card from my grandmother on such occasions. My older cousins, who were in junior high and high school, would use them as money to make calls on payphones. From my point of view, this meant that they were old enough to be away from their parents and out socializing with the need to use a public phone.  I remember I couldn’t wait to be grown-up enough to receive a phone card, mostly because I felt that would make me a member of the clique that was five of my six older cousins. However, by the time I reached that age group, I already had a cell phone, because of which I’ve suffered multiple “when I was your age” stories from my older cousins.

           

            What about payphones? Whenever I see one, I'm, OMG I haven’t seen one of those in years! Payphones used to be everywhere. I remember going to the airport and seeing rows and rows of them. Now, I can hardly find any. My high school used to have some for students to use to call their parents or employers at lunch, but by the time I was a junior in high school, they were gone. Now if you’re out and about, you better hope you have enough phone minutes or battery life, because there’s not backup option beyond asking someone if you can use their cell phone.

            Also along those same lines is collect calling. I have never placed or received a collect call, and I wonder if those even exist anymore. I would assume that if you’re calling from a landline or cell phone anywhere in the continental U.S., your call is already paid for (or will be paid for when the bill comes). My older cousins used collect calling though. My cousin Andy told me that “the way” to do it was to say your name was “HeyMomPickMeUp,” so that your parents knew soccer practice was over without having to accept the charges. Nowadays, I’m thinking kids only know about collect calls from that one episode of Robot Chicken, in which Darth Vader calls Emperor Palpatine after the first Death Star blew up.

            I’m totally grateful that the world has progressed so much, at least technology-wise. As I type this to you, I can’t even imagine what new inventions will come next. That’s part of the excitement of the future, and “that’s what they call progress, dear.”

            There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow

            Shining at the end of every day

            There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow

            And tomorrow is just a dream away

           

Man has a dream, and that’s the start

            He follows his dream with mind and heart

            And when it becomes a reality

            It’s a dream come true for you and me

           

So there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow

            Shining at the end of every day

            There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow

            Just a dream away.

Source: Meet the Robinsons

What day is it, and in what month?

Credit: ppdigital of everystockphoto

     Do you know what today is? Do you really? 
     The Gregorian Calendar, the most commonly used calendar in the USA as well as in the Western world, has 12 months. Though the Gregorian Calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, six of them (January, February, March, April, May and June) are named for pagan gods and goddesses, and two (July and August) are named for Roman caesars. The last four months are named after numbers-- numbers that don't match the months.
       This realization first dawned on me in one of my foreign language classes. Using my basic knowledge of Latin from high school geometry, I was comparing Latin numbers to polygons and other groupings. Think about it. When a mother is pregnant with septuplets, she has seven little babies kicking around inside of her. An octopus has eight tentacles. A novena is prayed for nine days. When you haven't seen your friend in a decade, you haven't seen him or her in ten years. You get the point.

        So, did you also notice those Latin prefixes in the names of the months? September, October, November and December. However, these months are the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth months of the year, respectively, although their prefixes suggest otherwise. What gives?
       Well, according to Lawrence A. Crowl, these months were originally the seventh through tenth months of the calendar. The original Roman calendar had ten months, starting with March and ending with December. On this system, the numbers all line up, making September the seventh month, October the eighth month, and so on. Around 700 B.C., Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, added January and February to the calendar, creating the twelve-month system we follow today.
          I guess Undecember and Duodecember just don't have the same ring to them.
     

You Dropped Your Pocket

Source: Gillespie Galleries

        I love pants with pockets. It's one of my simple joys in life. Seriously, wearing pants with pockets just makes my day better, because they just make for such convenient living.
       At any given moment, my pants pockets usually hold two of my life's necessities -- my cellphone and my chapstick. I can tuck them in my pockets and keep them safe and handy. When my phone rings or my lips feel dry...BAM! I whip 'em out like a ninja.
       As much as I love looking pretty, I sometimes dislike dressing up, because none of my dress pants, dresses or skirts have pockets. Then what do I do with my stuff? I'll have my stuff shoved in my purse, buried beneath my wallet, hand sanitizer, and other goods a gal needs for going out. When my phone rings, I turn into that nightmare of a purse organizer commercial, racing the ringtone and digging around to find my phone, cursing and swearing the whole way through. Or better yet, if I don't have pockets, my phone's not even near me, and I miss all those wonderful Merry Christmas texts from those friends you think of only in your mass holiday texts (not that they're not appreciated :-D). Even more horrifying is when my lips are achingly dry. I lick my lips and reach for my pocket, only to realize their is no pocket (insert dramatic girl scream)!!! Bummer. The lack of chapstick availability of course only makes the dry lips instantly worse and sends me running across the room for my purse.
       It's times like these that I remember the simple joy pockets bring to my life. They're handy-dandy, and I don't show them enough love. Say what you want about your comfy sweat pants or classy skirts; I just want my jeans with pockets to get me through my day. 
     

The Eight-Day Vegetarian

Source: Cafe Press

         Today, Ash Wednesday, is the official start of Lent for Roman Catholics around the world, as well as members of a few other Christian denominations. For many Roman Catholics, Lent is a time to focus on prayer, fasting and almsgiving, often times giving up a vice or other favored object or activity for the 40-day period.
        One of the main regulations of Lent requires that all Roman Catholics ages 14 and older abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays during Lent. (Holy Saturday is also suggested as a non-meat day, but not required by current tradition.) However, according to St. Anthony Messenger magazine, this does not include fish, eggs, milk products, animal fat or "meat juices and liquid foods made from meat. Thus, such foods as chicken broth, consomme, soups cooked or flavored with meat, meat gravies or sauces, as well as seasonings or condiments made from animal fat are not forbidden. So it is permissible to use margarine and lard. Even bacon drippings which contain little bits of meat may be poured over lettuce as seasoning." Knowing all of these exceptions, I wonder, what's the point?
        Once practiced every Friday, the abstinence from meat tradition is meant to be a form of spiritual discipline to help us recognize that our faith in Jesus is more important than three meals with meat each week. I also believe it connects to the suffering Our Lord experienced when he gave his life for humanity. If he could die on the cross, I can skip meat for a few days each year.
       If religion is not a good enough reason for your to be a vegetarian for eight days each year, maybe the environment can convince you. According to Professor Susan Thistle, the professor of my Food, Politics, and Society course, reducing your meat consumption to an average of 2 ounces per day will greatly reduce your ecological footprint. Raising livestock, except when done in strictly sustainable and organic ways, results in major energy loss. In regards to the food exchange, one estimate states that 700 calories of animal feed (mostly corn, in most industrial cases) produces only 100 calories of beef, resulting in a loss of 600 calories in the conversion process. In addition, energy is spent processing, packaging and transporting the meat from the factories to stores, and waste from industrial farms raising livestock in mass quantities stockpiles and destroys natural resources, including fresh water and marine life.
       But fear not, meat lovers, for there is a good side to eating meat. Eating meat has a sustainable function in the agricultural world. Most crops can only grow on arable land, and quantities of this precious property are declining. In places where our fruits, veggies, and wheat can't be grown, farmers can raise livestock in order to feed the world and put non-arable land to good use. Therefore, having a small amount of meat in your diet is better for the planet than having no meat at all, because a diet with meat allows for more productive global land use. Michael Pollan, a famous author and food expert, even advised the Obama Family in his article Farmer in Chief to set the example and institute a weekly meat-free day at the White House, thus incorporating some meat but mostly grains, fruits, and vegetables in the White House menu.    
       The United States is currently the leading consumer of meat in the world, while some countries, like Ecuador, survive on little to no meat. I am very thankful that I live in a country with a meat-oriented food culture and that I can afford such tasty dishes. However, going vegetarian for a few days a year is well worth the effort. It's an act of self-discipline, an act of health, an act of faith, and an act of love.