Suicide

Recently my best friend tried to kill herself.  I think the scariest part about it is that I was there with her when she tried it.  I remember the rest of the night I held her tight to me and I kept murmuring over and over how much I loved her. She expressed to me how she had been depressed for quite some time and as I thought back over the past weeks all the warning signs were there.  The mood swings, the depression, the loss of interest, the isolation.  Over and over I kept blaming myself for letting it get this bad. How did I not know and I was the closest one to her? Behind closed doors I couldn’t stop crying – I didn’t know what to do.  I ended up calling my mom and telling her what happened. She gave me advice I’ll never forget.  She said that at that moment it was not about me.   This was a cry for help and I needed to be strong for her, but most importantly I could not keep this to myself.  When I got off the phone with her I made sure my friend was with friends I trusted and then I went to visit counseling services.  The person I spoke with was very friendly and told me I did the right thing by telling someone.  I was certain she would hate me for giving them her name, however she wasn’t. I realized that she was not strong enough to go get help on her own and I like to think this is why I was placed in her life.  Suicidal thoughts may be out of her head for now, but we are far from over this crisis.  I wrote this to say that you never know how important you are in someone’s life and to never let your fears get in the way of getting someone help.  Below is the suicide prevention hotline and a website to help you recognize warning signs.

1-800-273-TALK (8255)

http://afsp.org/about-suicide/risk-factors-and-warning-signs/

Weird things that frighten you?

Thinking back on our personal narrative assignment about a frightening situation and I started thinking about how weird a couple of my fears are. I understand that as a child there are a lot of things that scare us and everyone seems to understand. However, what's the grand rule that tells me at what age I have to stop being afraid of the dark? I have many fears, some of which I have developed as I have matured. I'm deathly afraid of snakes, and natural disasters. The thought of being in the middle of a hurricane with a snake around my leg, makes me cringe. Of course this is almost the type of thing that is supposed to make someone uncomfortable but I also have a fear of those large statues that tower over me, just think if they were to fall of magically come to life and not see me standing under them, that'd be the end of me. I however am not afraid of the dark, or spiders but I am afraid of situations I can't control. My questions to you guys are: Are my fears as weird as I'm making them seem? What are some of your fears, and have they always been terrifying to you?

Do People Still Talk on the Phone?

Being a bit of a traditionalist, I prefer to talk on the phone. To call and share my thoughts vocally. To be able to hear the sound of my friend or family members voice. To hear their mood. Talking on the phone takes so much guess work out of the equation compared to texting. Don't get me wrong, I do text, but I try to refrain from having any serious conversations via the keyboard. Now people use emojis to convey emotion. How are men and women supposed to learn about the exasperated sigh, or sorrow tone or even genuine laughter?  I grew up during a time when guys had to work up the courage to call a girls house phone and HOPE she answered and not her mother or father. Or if a parent did answer, the young man in pursuit of my conversation, had to politely and respectfully request permission to speak with me, and it had better not been past 9:00! Nowadays,  a guy gets a girls number and all he has to do is send a text....WHERE IS THE COURAGE? WHERE ARE HIS BALLS? Probably sitting under his iPhone, waiting for the girl to reply back, "hey". I miss those days. That truly separated the timid and the weak from the gutsy. Or even the romantic back and forth, "You hang up!" "No, YOU hang up first" exchanges. DO PEOPLE STILL TALK ON THE PHONE?

Movie series

     With the new movie Batman vs Superman continuing the marvel series of movies, an interesting question is what one of the best movie series created? Most movie series are based off books in which fans love. However if the movie doesn't follow what the book had plan then, there are problems which the fans have. In most cases a series of movies tend to run off the book to either cut time or just because the director didn't think that scene from the book was important. With that being said its difficult for people to have a series of movies which they enjoy because it happens so often that the director doesn't add a scene which you personally wanted. Also sometimes for the director if the first movie was good , it's difficult to keep that same success for the next movie. Personally my favorite movie series is Star Wars because it keep the important scenes from the book in the movie. It doesn't follow the book entirely however; it does a good job with trying to follow the story. Also while making the movie the people involve take their time and do not rush the process, allowing the movie to be great. Despite this what is your favorite movie series?

Classroom Comfort Rant

Classroom chairs in this school are too hard and unforgiving. I’m a big dude, so I need something a little more comfortable than flat plastic to sit on. Where is the cushion to these chair/desk combos? As one student pointed out the other day, it seems like A&T has dropped the ball on student comfort in the form of a clock tower. College cost a lot of money and I would expect our chairs to bigger and more comfortable than they are now. If the school can afford a big-ass clock tower, why can’t they help out big-ass students by providing comfy places to sit? I’ve only had one class where they let you sit in office chairs and it was awesome. I could actually sit and learn without focusing on the uncomfortableness of the chairs. I’m only asking for a half inch of some kind of support. Sitting on plastic for hours isn’t a fun time. Imagine you were at a movie theater and you paid 15 bucks to see “Insert awesome movie title here”. Now, as you walk into the theater, you see rows of desk/chair combos like the ones in our English class. Sounds like a horror movie, doesn’t it? Must be very satisfying to spend 15 bucks on a movie only to have to sit through the whole thing in a terrible chair. That’s how I feel about our classes. We/grants/loans/scholarships pay for our schooling, so why would we want to be learning in a place that supplies only the finest of wooden planks for us to sit on? Don’t get me wrong, I like learning here, it’s just that it could be a whole lot better if they had nicer places to park our behinds as we learn. What do you guys think? Does this school need to supply us with read-end support?




EDIT: oops, the clock tower didn't come from tuition money. (Thanks, Kayla Joseph for making this clear on a different blog post.) Insert whatever you think money was wasted on in place of the clock tower.

Lost At Sea

I watch as the chopper passes by
Can you tell that I'm drowning
Or do you just not want see

As I call out for help
People don't seem to hear
And it's not long before sink to an all time low

Now I reach out my hand
Hoping that someone will save me
But again I'm all alone in this unknown sea

As I sink to the bottom I see a ship pass by
I relax my body so that I appear to be dead
Now as the last of my oxygen leaves my body as I face my life's end

I'm saved by the boat that I'd seen
But as I awake all I can see is the storm approach
As the last rays of sunshine fade into darkness

The storm now rocks the ship
As I hold on dear life
Uncertain of what may happen next

Then I began to feel the ship tip
And when it flips over
I'm again back to square one

Alone in this unknown sea

Waiting to be saved

Or should I save myself

I wrote this poem when I was in a really bad place and it made me feel better to write this. I have learned that even when you feel like you are alone in this world, someone will always be there. If you ever feel alone that you should always find solitude in a place that makes you comfortable and brings happy memories. Please feel free to tell me how you feel about it personally or if you can connect in any way. 

Violence at Campaign Rallies

This election seems to have our country showing its craziest of colors. I am not a big fan of politics, but I do not believe I have ever seen anyone protest possible presidential candidates before. When Donald Trump began to run for president was the first time I have ever seen this, and the protests are not always silent and peaceful. The may start off that way but tend to turn violent once supporters antagonize them and vice versa. This happened recently on March 9th in Fayetteville, NC and again on March 12th in Chicago, both at Donald Trump rallies. In Fayetteville, at the Crown Coliseum there were protesters being escorted out, while supporter booed them out of the door.  As they were being escorted out a protester held up his middle finger to the booing crowd, which almost immediately after got his punched in the face by a supporter. The protester was then retained and removed from the coliseum. In Chicago, before the rally could start, the supporters, demonstrators, and protesters already had high tension. Shortly after Trump arrived in Chicago the deemed the rally unsafe and postponed it, this caused an uproar at the University of Illinois. Protesters and supporters began to fight while the non-violent protesters and supporters were shouting their favorable candidate.

Questions to Ponder
How do I you feel about the way people respond to Trump?
Is there a better way to express you feelings without it leading to violence in this situation?

Links:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/03/16/deputies-suspended-following-failures-to-act-at-trump-rally-in-north-carolina/

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/11/politics/donald-trump-chicago-protests/

What things have you gained from your college experience thus far?

As I take a look back over my college experience thus far, I realized that I'm not the same person that I was in high school. College has taught me to be my own cheerleader and to stay motivated through thick and thin. I’ve gained a sense of who I am since I've been away from home and how to differentiate my strengths from my weaknesses. I've learnt how to adapt to new environments and lifestyles and become more open minded to different people and their beliefs. Being in college is teaching me how to change my studying habits as well, because last fall semester I was a crammer, who didn’t take the time to study or review notes. But, this semester I’m finding new ways to study. When I start to study I take breaks, and let the information settle into my brain, and then after a few minutes I continue studying more notes while also incorporating the previous one also. And finally, college is teaching me how to get out of my comfort zone and experience new opportunities.

Unnessary attractions? Wasted money? Does our campus focus on the wrong things?

Finding ways to pay your tuition is already a tough task to accomplish. The idea of tuition being potentially raised is an idea that I do not agree with. Our campus is spending money we get donated and things I feel like are unnecessary.  I feel like our campus spends the money we do get back on unnecessary things i.e. the clock tower instead of using it for a good purpose. Using 2 million dollars to build a clock tower instead of splitting that up between the different departments we have on campus and using it towards scholarships just baffles me.  That money should be going back to the students as far as scholarships or grants. Why not use the money the alumni's donate for students who are struggling or need help trying to pay for the amount of college tuition we have to pay now? Am I the only one that feels like this?   

Texting & Driving

TEXTING AND DRIVING

 

Why is it so important that people shouldn’t text and drive? Do you text and drive? How do you feel about texting and driving? Over the past few years, many people have been reported losing their lives because of texting and driving. In fact, most of the deaths are caused by teens and the number is steadily increasing. Is texting and driving that important? No. I was once guilty of this act until I became aware of the dangers that it can cause and have been causing. I have personally had a scarce with texting and driving. I can remember driving down the road one day and hearing my phone buzz. My first reaction was to look down and see who texted me. I glanced the road to see if any cars was around before responding to the text. While attempting to respond to the message, within 5 seconds I had ended up on the other side of the road in a matter of seconds. That day, I realized that texting and driving wasn’t that important and it is dangerous. I never want to be the cause of someone losing their lives or being injured because of my selfish behavior. The process for me to stop texting and driving wasn’t easy. I had to make a concise decision. Now a days, there are different methods and apps that can be used to prevent this. On my phone, I have a mobile app called “Drive Mode”. When I put my phone on drive mode, it instantly send all calls to voicemail and doesn’t allow me to get any text. You don’t have to text and drive!!!

High School into College

I have finally come to a realization that my high school did not prepare me for college. My teachers in high school always told me, "I am preparing you for college." I am sorry to say, but none of my teachers told me college would be like this. Every time I turn around I have some form of test, quiz, or both. This starts to become frustrating when you cannot honestly prepare for your quiz or test like you really need or want because you have so much work to get done in your other classes. Then you will walk into class and the professor starts off by saying, "Clear your desk." When is there ever any time to study especially if you have a job or playing sports? The semester is much shorter than expected. When the semester starts, if you blink it is over. Sometimes it is difficult to remember and learn everything with six different classes in one semester. Now I understand why the professor always say, "Study when you can." this makes much more sense to me now. I still love college though. I am not complaining about it, but my teachers did not prepare me as well I thought they were doing. Also, everyone have different studying methods. I always thought mine would be with the music blasting, television on, and texting. I had to realize I need to be in a relax type of environment. I can focus in any kind of environment, but the best would be with music at a decent level with the lights on. What is your type of environment? What helps you study and actually grab the assignment so you can remember what the professor is saying. Did your college really prepare you for college? Are you able to actually sit down and study what you need to know or try to cram everything in at once?

Does anyone else find it scary how close Donald Trump is too the White House? Personally I don't know anyone who supports trump but he definitely has the numbers and statistics showing that he has a large following. It's sad to say or think but at the pace he is winning I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up as our president.

If you don't support Trump, or his views and what he stands for its your civic duty to vote. If you don't vote then you can't complain about the way the country will be ran the next four years.
Yes this years political candidates aren't the best but personally I'm voting for anyone but Donald Trump for this years presidential race.