Eve Ensler- Embrace Your Inner Girl

"Being a girl is so powerful that we've had to train every one not to be that." -Eve Ensler
I completely agree with that statement because I know that I have shoved my girl cells somewhere deep inside my body so they are hard to get to. Around your friends if you are crying, you are considered a wimp. If you are a boy and are very close with your inner girl, you are considered gay. It's no wonder we have been trained to push our inner girl away. We are judged so much based on how we act and if we use our inner girl, it is considered wrong. How can that be? I believe that your inner girl is one of the best parts about humans. If I see a guy crying, my respect for him increases because I know he's not afraid to show that he has a little girl inside of himself.

I think that a lot of our problems would go away if we all embraced our inner girl. If we would have put ourselves in the shoes of someone from another race, we wouldn't feel the same. Instead we would feel bad for that person and want to make their lives better by working towards getting rid of racism. Or if some parents stopped to think about how their children feel when they are getting beaten. If they had that pain inflicted on them, they would stop doing it to their children. If only the big door inside of us holding our girls cells flew wide open, the world would be a better place.

I LOVE BEING A GIRL!  What could be better? I know that I can be emotional, but I'm okay with that. I like how I can tell what you are feeling. I love that as a girl in American I have endless possibilities. I love that when I am in touch with my feelings, they make me stronger. I love knowing that beating a boy at anything in life gives me a sense of pride, and losing to one doesn't affect me at all. I love that I can embrace life head on without having anything to hold me back. I love that I will learn from my mistakes and laugh about them later on. I love being a girl. Why try to hide your inner girl, when you can flaunt it?

Ann Cooper- School Lunches

I agree with Ann when she says that we can't feed our kids this junk. Not only does healthy food fill me up more, but it makes me feel better about myself because I know that I'm taking care of my body. It would really help if the schools started serving healthier lunches because sometimes when you are browsing the selection, you look at some food and think, "What is that?" In a lunch line there shouldn't be confusion as to what something is. If it's healthy, you can probably figure it out because it looks like it's supposed to. Why shouldn't cafeteria food be delicous and nutricious? Also, eating locally grown food would make us eat healthier and help the environment a lot. Think of how much gas we use to get food to our schools. At my grandparents house we were planting tomato seeds and lettuce seeds and it got me inspired to make a "victory garden" in my backyard this summer because when you pick the fruits and vegetables they look amazing. And when food looks good, you want to eat it, therefore making you eat healthier.

"We have to make kids understand that their food choices make a big difference."-Ann Cooper
Ann makes a huge point because when kids are more informed, they are more likely to make the right decision. So if kids think that what they eat doesn't affect their body in a negative way then they will most likely eat a ton of junk food because it tastes good. But if someone taught them about the positive impact that eating healthy has on all parts of thier bodies then they might be motivated to eat better. This year for Lent I gave up soda, and I tried not to drink it on Sundays too. After about a week I realized that my body felt amazing because I wasn't filling it with sugar but water. So even after Lent was over I continued to lay off the soft drinks because I had figured out how great it was to feel great. Maybe kids just need to try healthier food compared to the manufactured crap that they are eating now to convert themselves.

Ann adresses the fact that not a lot of kids know how to cook which is not okay. If kids learn how to cook, then they know what ingredients are in their food. Plus cooking would motivate kids to eat more nutritional meals instead of the "grab and go" meals. I found that when I take the time in the morning to make myself a good breakfast and sit down to eat it I'm a lot more alert in class and I don't get hungry really early. On test days I get up a little earlier in the morning so that I have time to make myself some eggs and toast. That breakfast is a lot more nutritional than just grabbing a Pop Tart on my way out the door then not even eating half of it. Like people always say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Benjamen Wallace-The Price of Happiness

Does price determine our happiness? According to Benjamen Wallace, sometimes it does. Wallace told his audience about a study done on wine and price. People took three bottles of the same wine and put different prices on each of them. Then the taste-testers sampled the wine and all of them said that they liked the most expensive one the most. While this was going on, scientists were also taking MRI's of the test-tasters brains and not only did they say they enjoyed the more expensive wine better, they were actually enjoying the most expensive wine more than the others. So does price determine happiness?

I think that price doesn't determine happiness in a lot of cases but it depends on the person. We all have our simple pleasures in life like riding a bike or reading a book that don't require money. Some people get bored with the simple pleasures and have to go to the extreme like partying on a fancy yacht.

I think that the people who have to go to extremes to be happy are replacing love for money. In Charles Dickens' book, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge had plenty of money to buy whatever he wanted but he was lonely, grouchy old man. Whereas, Tiny Tim could barely walk and his family had almost no money however, he was one of the happiest boys alive. So why is it that Tiny Tim was so happy?

For some people buying random junk or treasures temporarily fill the hole in their hearts that love usually occupates. Trophy wifes are on a lot of the "Houswifes of ..." shows because they are bored and unloved so they fill that hole in their heart with attention from the TV shows and buying really expensive things. People of not such a big income can get all the love and attention they need at home with their family.

Dave Eggers

As Dave Eggers said, helping one kid, leads to helping a numerous amount of kids, which helps the schools that they go to which helps the neighborhoods which helps the communities which helps the cities which eventually leads to helping the world. When Dave realized that he had the ability to help these kids with their English and reading homework, he seemed to get really excited. From then on he did everything he could to get kids to go to his after school study center. He even created a pirate shop.

If we put in the same amount of energy and passion into our everyday lives as he did into his study center, I believe that not only will our lives be better, but the entire world will be a better place to live. If a bunch of people were passionate about recycling and put in recycling bins in every public place, the amount of garbage people create could probably be reduced by a startling amount. Or if people from all around the world put in a ton of passion and time into creating trying to create world peace, it might actually happen. It can't just be one person or one country trying to have world peace, it has to be all the countries working together.

Another thing that can be taken away from this video is it takes one person to light a spark. Dave showed some other after school study centers during his TED Talk that took after his own. One example was having a superhero shop in front of the study center instead of a pirate shop. This just goes to show that if you start out doing something by yourself, other people will see you and want to join because you are making the world a better place.

Clay Shirky

In this TED talk, Clay Shirky starts by telling a story to his audience to get their attention. His story is about how a job too big for one person turned into a site called Ushahidi. His story teaches us that when people work together, on something small, it can become a huge succeess. Also, the person who started the blog about Kenya learned a lot more about what was going on through the stories that people had told under her comments. Daniel Pink explains this in the chapter Story in his book A Whole New Mind. According to Pink, people learn better through stories rather than boring old facts. Building facts into a story makes the information more fun to learn and easier to remember because one fact leads to the next. For instance, last year in English class when we were reading the book Night, written by a holocaust survivor, I learned about the cruel and unusual tortures of the Nazis which made me angry but interested in the book. The detailed stories that the author told helped me learn the facts that were on the final test for that book.

Clay Shirky says that we are building a better, more cooperative world by using resources such as Wikepidea and Ushahidi. Wouldn't cell phones fall under that category? If they do, then why do a lot of people just think of them as distractions? With the new smart phones people can do things easier and faster all in the palm of their hand. Why wouldn't cell phones be considered a gift? The truth is that cell phones can be a distraction, however, they are also very helpful. If your phone has internet on it, you have easy access to information anywhere in the country, (maybe not in the middle of nowhere). By using our cell phones, multi-tasking becomes a part of our daily lives, therefore building a better more cooperative world.

"The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act." -Clay Shirky
Those so-called "stupid creative acts" are helping Americans transistion from a left-brained society into a right-brained one. That creative act is taking a step towards using our right side of our brains more so that eventually those creative acts won't be so stupid anymore.

When the experiment on the day-care centers was tried it was surprising to hear that the number of late pick-ups increased when a fine was established. I think that the respect for the day-care workers dropped when a fine was established because the parents figured that the fine would make up for the loss of respect. So technically what the experiment shows is that people think money will fix everything.

Dan Pink-Drive

After listening to Dan Pink, I don't understand why people who are getting paid to figure out a problem, do it with more errors and take more time than those who aren't getting a reward. For most people, that extra pay should be motivation to do a better job. Will curiosity get humans farther than rewards? If rewards narrow our focus instead of broadening it, then why do we even have rewards at all? Is it because humans are selfish and want something good to come out of all their hard work? Or is it because humans are just plain lazy? Most people would say that completing a challenge is pointless unless they get something out of it. Probably half of the time, I would be one of those people. If I put in the effort, I expect to get a positive outcome in return. This can be shown in school. Some people spend an entire week studying for a test, however, when the test is returned to them, they get a bad grade. When that happens, people get discouraged and don't want to do all that work just to get another bad outcome. Some of the time, when I am interested in a certain topic, I go in depth with it, making me learn more about the subject. When I'm not thinking about the test, but just wanting to learn about something, I tend to get a better grade on that test, than I would if I had studied for a week. The theory of the higher the reward, the poorer the performance can also be shown through exercise. If someone is working out just to eat that chocolate cake sitting in front of them, they make no progress. After eating that chocolate cake, your workout becomes worthless. But when people workout just because they want to, with no reward with the exception of self satisfaction, they make progress. Without the chocolate cake after a workout, that person takes a step to becoming a healthier person. Dan Pink's philosophy that the higher the reward, the poorer the performance can be reflected in every aspect of someone's life.

Robert Ballard-exploring the oceans

When Mr. Ballard was talking about the ocean and all that still has to be discovered, you could tell he was passionate about it. The excitement of it all was bursting out of him like he was a little kid on Christmas morning. The amount of discovering still to be done on our own planet is amazing and you can tell that Robert Ballard can't wait for kids to get interested in this as much as they are interested in space. He was talking about the deep ocean and his robotic machine with such energy that anyone can see that he looks forward to going to work every day even though it takes him a while to get down to the deep ocean. Ballard was right when he was saying how none of this is in our textbooks because in Biology class, my teacher had just figured out about the thermal vents on the ocean floor and everyone could tell she was having the time of her life learning something new. In science, new things are constantly being discovered which means that there is a world of possibilities out there. Hearing about how the Black Sea doesn't have any oxygen in it, and how the bodies and artifacts down there are perfectly preserved just makes me want to learn more and see those precious objects. The way Robert Ballard talked about the ocean only leaves me wanting to hear more.

Sir Ken Robinson

After watching Sir Ken Robinson do a TED talk, I noticed that he always had the crowd's attention. This was not only because the topic he was talking about is interesting, but because he made them laugh. The jokes he told went along with his topic so that people could understand it better. Instead of making the crowd confused with big words, he used examples to make it easier. I completely agree that teachers don't know what they are educating kids for especially in the science department because everyday something new is discovered. It's kind of scary to think about the amount of schooling someone has to go through just to major in their "dream" and once they graduate, they might not even have a job. People who are hiring aren't just looking for the person with the best grades, they are looking for someone with multiple appealing characteristics. Right now, all teachers can do is try to prepare students for the future, even thought it might not be what the kids need.