5V: Free Agent

“You can’t change the past. You can’t even change the future, in the sense that you can only change the present one moment at a time, stubbornly, until the future unwinds itself into the stories of our lives.”  

-Larry Wall

www.123rf.com 

We all contain the internal power to take control of our lives. We are not robots programmed to go about life unremarkably. We were given the gift of possibility. All for your goals are possible if you put enough time and agency into them. Having agency is having the ability to take action with initiative toward your ambitions. My inquiry class has been directly linked to this idea. In that course, we are constantly working on ways to ensure our future success. We are continuously introduced to new ideas on how we can change our habits in order to better ourselves. That information is extremely helpful, but if it is not applied to our lives, it may as well be a different language. We have to posses the agency to not only process that information, but to actually use it! We have the power to make the most of our lives, so why not tap into that resource and better ourselves?

http://cheezburger.com/4171258880

A couple of other words that I learned this week in my Sociology class were ostensive and etymological. 

Ostensive is defined as clearly demonstrative, but it is applied a little differently in regards to sociological critical thinking. In my textbook, it is a strategy used to define terms. Ostensive definitions are determined by physically defining a word by pointing or drawing. 

The definition of etymological is the derivation of a word. This word was used in my Critical Thinking course in the same manner which ostensive was used: to define specific terms. An etymological definition defines the word by the history of its use or origins. 

I did not know the meaning behind any of these three words before this week, but that is what education is about. We learn new things that we can apply to our lives. Expanding our knowledge of the world around us also broadens our horizons and opens new doors for us to explore. 





http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/quality-and-an-open-door/

5I: Jumping Into Action

Interested in going into the teaching field or simply love interacting with young kids? Consider the Jumpstart program.

http://www.jstart.org/our-work/success-stories

 

I recently got a job working for the Jumpstart program which is "a national early education organization that recruits and trains college students and community Corps members to serve preschool children in low-income neighborhoods. Our proven curriculum helps children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be ready for kindergarten, setting them on a path to close the achievement gap before it is too late."

 

Although I have not begun working in the field yet, I can already tell just by speaking to some of those who have been involved with the program for a while that it is going to be a great experience. I plan on getting a collaborative degree that allows me to teach elementary school or special education, so this will be very good practice for me for the future. If you are going into a similar major I suggest that you absolutely sign up, but you do not have to be a future teacher to join.

 

I recently spoke to the woman who runs that program at Southern, (I will provide you with her information at the end of this post), and she was encouraging those of us who are already signed up to spread the word and advocate for it. You can easily apply for a job on the website, jstart.org, and set up an interview in Davis Hall on campus. All of the schools we go to are located in New Haven, so if you own a car or a friend like me in the program to carpool with, have an opening in your schedule, and want to broaden your horizons with a great work experience, Jumpstart is the place to do it. (Plus you get over a thousand dollars after each semester is over that you can use toward your loans or tuition. Who wouldn't want an extra $1000?)

 

www.merchantcircle.com 

 

I took a little bit of time out of my day on Wednesday to hand out fliers for the program around campus. It is so important that these under-privileged kids obtain the essential skills they need to be successful in kindergarten to set the tone for the rest of their lives. I spoke to quite a few people who seemed interested, but Jumpstart is always looking for more volunteers! I may be passing out some more fliers this next week, so if you see me around please stop and ask me any questions you might have. This program is more than just a job, you are instilling a love of learning in the hearts of young kids. Make a difference with Jumpstart.

 

Contact information:

Amanda Gryzkewicz | Site Manager

Jumpstart | Alumna '06-'10

Office: 203.392.7590 | Fax: 203.392.5992

501 Crescent Street

Davis 112

New Haven, Connecticut 06515

jstart.org



5A: We Don't Need No Education

I am a quarter of the way through my first semester of college, and I have gone on roller coasters with less ups and downs.

photoblog.nbcnews.com 

 

These past four weeks at Southern have provided me with my fair share of successes and failures. I'm sure anyone who has been in my shoes before knows that getting into the swing of things in your first year of college is no walk in the park.

 

Thankfully, I have experienced a few successes so far this year. I have gotten As on my two Geography quizzes so far, I have a very good grade in my Inquiry class (thank you Professor Guarino), and I got a 100 on my first History exam that I took the other day. I will admit that none of these triumphs have come easily. I have put more hard work and effort into these few weeks than ever before on anything in my life. College is a completely different game than high school. I can no longer cruise along and still receive an A. I studied for hours for that history exam and for a good amount of time on those quizzes as well. Writing my blog posts every week probably takes up the most time from my schedule, but I always make sure I allot myself enough to get the job done well. It is all of these factors that will continue to push me toward success.

 

However, we all have slip ups that lead to our own personal failures. I am obviously no exception. My largest downfall so far actually occurred yesterday. I studied the night before and the morning of for my first Geography exam, but I wasn't sure what exactly to study. The way my professor teaches is a little unusual. His slides tell stories more than give direct facts. This ambiguity forced me to decide which details I deemed important enough to study. That was where I made my mistake. I instead should have studied every bit of information whether it seemed relevant or not because the majority of what I disregarded was on the test. I only studied about 75% of what was on the exam and I am extremely disappointed with myself and dreading the results.

 

http://memecrunch.com/meme/45V6/bad-grades/image.png

 

I had quite a few articles to read this week from calnewport.com with different  tips on how to make your college career the best it can be. The author provides us with blog posts that focus on studying, organization, paper writing, time management, test taking, etc. However, the post which I found the most eye opening and helpful was one called "A Definitive Guide to Acing Your Schedule". There is an idea mentioned in this article that I have never thought of before. He informs the reader that, "students' study habits are heavily influenced by their peers." He goes on to mention how you tend to take on the habits of those around you. I had never realized this before, but he is completely correct. When I am with friends who just want to socialize, I never get anything done. When I am by myself, I am extremely productive. I will definitely take this idea into consideration when I have an assignment due but want to spend time with my friends at the same time because it simply is not possible.

This post also mentions a different topic which the author claims to be a fool-proof method to acing all of your classes. He explains it in only two simple steps:

1. Setup a separate chat with your professor, your TA, and a student who took the same course in a previous semester.
2. In each chat session, ask the same question:
    If you were to write an advice guide about doing incredibly well in this class, what would the chapters be?

It is such an incredibly simple, yet brilliant idea! These are the three people who have the most knowledge on the subject, so who could possibly give better advice then them? It is an easy solution, but I have never heard of anyone doing this before. I truly believe that if anyone did this, he or she would have all of the necessary knowledge to pass even the most difficult of courses. Needless to say, I will be trying this method out in the future.

http://cheezburger.com/3027409920

I am trying to keep my goals small at this point by taking my schooling one day at a time. For example, today my goal is to get all of my homework done ahead of schedule so that I have none to do tomorrow. Next week one of my goals will be to study for my first Algebra exam. By accomplishing these smaller goals one step at a time and applying all of the new tips I've received from calnewport.com and my weekly time sheet, I will be slowly but surely trudging my way up the mountain to the pinnacle of success. 

5B: Good Old Father Time

Do you ever find that there simply is not enough time in the day to balance all of the aspects of your daily life? I was right there with you.

After tracking everything I did every hour of the past week, I have realized what I need to change in order to use my time as wisely as possible.

http://www.memehumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/time-flies-like-an-arrow-640x634.jpg

As a full-time student who commutes, has a part-time job, pets to care for, and a personal life to maintain, it can be extremely difficult to allot the right amount of time to each area of my life. The suggested amount of time which every college student should spend on studying and doing homework is 40 hours per week. Through my recording I realized that I only did about 23 hours this week. This number did not appear to be accurate because I honestly feel like all I do every day is homework. Then, I realized that I get half of my homework done every week while I'm at work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. (I am at work typing this blog post as we speak) While I was tracking my activities, I did not take into account the 16 hours a week I am at work (most of which are spent doing homework). I am employed at a real estate agency where I do a lot of computer-based work, and the weekends this time of year are very slow, so I take that opportunity to get a lot done for my classes. I felt much better after making that realization. On average I put hours in the high 30s toward doing homework/studying every week. Therefore, in that respect, I feel that I am right where I need to be in order to be successful.

 

http://miszjungchang.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

 

On the other hand, I calculated that I socialize or relax on my own for about 30 hours a week. This number was actually extremely surprising to me; this aspect of my daily life took up much more time than I had expected. I did not feel like I had that much down time in the past week, but it is definitely a good thing. I believe that we should try to balance out our schedules so that we spend an almost equal amount of time  getting the necessities done as we do relaxing. Maintaining that equilibrium in your life is the only way to keep yourself from going insane.

 

I do not typically have a huge issue with procrastination, however, that monster got to me a little bit this week. I admittedly procrastinated on my blog posts...

 

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.parentdish.co.uk/media/2011/06/embarrassed.jpg

 

Maybe if I had taken a little extra time writing them, instead of saving them for the last minute, my grade last week would have been better. Procrastination gets the best of us all from time to time, but this schedule of my day-to-day activities really helped me pinpoint exactly what I am procrastinating on. I will take this as a learning experience by using my free time more wisely, and hopefully this week will turn out better!

 

In the future weeks and semesters to come, I will try to make a strict schedule of when I need to get certain assignments done. This will help me to avoid procrastinating and instead become proactive. I feel that over all I am on a fairly good path so far this semester. I will start working on eliminating my distractions when work needs to be done, and from then on, the rest should be smooth sailing.

http://www.examiner.com/article/take-your-date-outdoors

4I: Gratification: A Dish Best Served Cold

There are a few different terms I would like to talk about today. The first is a topic I have touched upon quite a bit this week: Delayed Gratification.

http://d3fhkv6xpescls.cloudfront.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/delayed-gratification.jpg

What is "delayed gratification"? It is the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward and wait for a better one later. I have previously spoken about how this concept relates to situations like the marshmallow study, but how can we transfer this idea to make use of it in our personal lives? Everyone experiences his or her own wants. We live in an extreme consumer-based society where we see something that we want, and we have to have it. This habit becomes an issue as we progress because we no longer have our parents around to give us what we want. When we transition into adulthood, we realize that we now have to put in a significant amount of work and effort to receive the things that we desire. There is no one waiting to fulfill your every wish in the real world. If we want a promotion at our job, we cannot expect it immediately. We have to toil and prove ourselves worthy, and if we succeed, we will be rewarded somewhere down the line. Having a need for immediate gratification is similar to having a fixed mindset. We expect something to occur at the snap of our fingers, and when it doesn't we become frustrated. Changing our mindsets to encompass delayed gratification will give us more drive and motivation. When you have a foreseeable goal to work for, you work harder to achieve it.  If you delay your gratification, the reward will only be that much sweeter when you earn it.

Another term I encountered often this week is "procrastination". Of course this is not an uncommon word to anyone, but it is a disease which even the best of us succumb to at times. I don't know about everyone else, but I fairly regularly perform this action of putting off or delaying an activity for a later time. It is a terrible habit. When we wait until the last minute to get a task done, our to-do list piles up on us leading to a domino effect of anxiety and stress. Procrastination is also a cause of the final phrase I would like to discuss...

Ego depletion: This occurs when you completely exhaust your mental energy. It has no physical symptoms, but you tend to respond strongly to every struggle and feel immensely overwhelmed. This loss of will power and self-control comes from the previously mentioned effects of procrastination and can be cured in multiple ways such as improving your diet, being proactive, and working on your self-discipline.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/07/3-simple-ways-to-overcome-procrastination-cailen-ascher/

If you take anything from this post and apply it to your own life, let it be that delaying your gratification and working hard toward your greater goals will get you much further in life than if you procrastinate leaving you overwhelmed and your ego depleted. Take initiative because you only have one life, and you should do everything you can to make it a successful one. 

4B: Marshmallows Are Confusing

I have never spoken about marshmallows this much in my life, but I want to ask: Which side of the story do you believe?  

Does the marshmallow test really predict a child's future success?

Take a look at the two young girls above. They appear to be roughly the same age, but one is delaying her gratification by waiting to eat the marshmallow. They other is happily feeding her desires (and her stomach) by eating the marshmallow immediately. Does this mean that the young lady on the left will have above average SAT scores and a well-paying job some day while the girl on the right struggles with self-control for the rest of her life?

 

After reading the New Yorker article, "DON'T! The secret of self-control", I was convinced that the answer to the previous question was yes. As I have explained in an earlier blog post, Dr. Walter Mischel's experiment performed upon a large group of four year-olds seemed to prove that those who could wait 15 minutes to eat a marshmallow had more success later in life than those who could not. However, another article was brought to my attention shortly after reading the first. It was called "Just Let Them Eat The Marshmallow", written by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. This piece was also written in response to Mischel's marshmallow test as well as the previously mentioned New Yorker article. Bronson and Merryman bluntly state their opinion that, "Judging a kid's ability to delay gratification by whether they eat a marshmallow or not is a ridiculous way of predicting their future achievement."

 

 

Upon reading the second article, I began to doubt the experiment. The authors gave multiple reasons as to why the test was not reputable including: "It’s the easiest test in the world to fool. Parents can just promise their kid a pony if they don’t eat any marshmallows or cookies during the evaluation session." and "While 550 kids participated in the experiment, Mischel only tracked down SAT scores for 94 kids. The vast majority of those kids did not participate in the original, classic marshmallow task. Instead, their marshmallow was covered from view, or they were given a pretend scenario to distract themselves with. In these other conditions, if a kid could hold out for 15 minutes, it meant their SAT scores were much lower, not higher."
 

That second argument against the test's validity was truly shocking. The original results were so inaccurate that the actual results were exactly the opposite! Mishel did not track down the same kids from his original study. Those that he followed were in the control group that was given a distraction so that they would avoid eating the marshmallow. This means that we really have no way of knowing how the majority of the original children really turned out later in life. However, there was an attempt to replicate the experiment by the University of Connecticut’s Inge Marie-Eigst: "They tracked down 34 kids who’d done the classic task [except with cookies]...they did give the now-18-year-old teens a full IQ workup, and they also ran the teens through tests of 'executive function,' which is the brain’s system that governs self-control. Eigsti’s team found that how long they could avoid eating the cookie, when they were 4 year-olds, had zero correlation to IQ or self-control at age 18."

There is evidence vouching for both tests' conclusions, and we may never know what the direct correlation between a child's ability to wait for a marshmallow and his or her future success is. However, we cannot deny the fact that learning to maintain good self-control is a great skill to have in one's repertoire. The rest is up to interpretation. What do you think?

Pictures in this post borrowed from:
http://www.time4change.com/2010/04/30/can-you-say-no-to-something-today-to-get-what-you-want-tomorrow/
http://erinbow.com/blog/2012/02/
http://www.deviantart.com/?offset=10&view_mode=2&order=9&q=by%3AKuroiAkemi
http://tusb.stanford.edu/2010/01/why_bad_grades_happen_to_good.html

4I: I Am Not Very Bendy

"Surely if God had meant us to do yoga, he would have put our heads behind our knees."

-Rod Stewart

http://fitvillains.tumblr.com/post/36393395567/hahaha-this-was-so-me-i-love-yoga-now-but-i

 

Today I dipped my foot into unfamiliar waters. I participated in the free yoga class at the Fitness Center located in the SCSU Student Center. I had never taken an official yoga class in my life; this experience has brought me to the realization that I am the least flexible human being alive. Denise, the incredible instructor, demonstrated all of the poses with such ease and grace, and I could not even touch my toes. Despite the fact that a metal support beam is more pliable than I am, it was a fun, relaxing experience. All of the other students in the class were novices as well, so I did not feel alone in my lack of yoga prowess. We were instructed on how to alleviate our stress, and that is such an important skill to have with the pressure of college and work bearing on our shoulders. The hour long session was full of great exercises as well as a range of helpful stretches. I particularly enjoyed the relaxation poses toward the end of the class. We were able to close our eyes and meditate, and it left me feeling as revived as if I had taken a nap. 

 

 

 

I plan on returning to this class every Friday. The only way to get better at something is to practice, and I believe that with some more yoga in my life, I will get better slowly but surely. It will deplete some of the stress in my life and improve my over-all health.  Everyone should take this class. Come join me next Friday at 12:30. Don't be afraid of being embarrassed if you are not the most flexible person because I will be there, and you can't be any worse at yoga than me.

4A: The Waiting Game

They say that good things come to those who wait, but do we all have the capacity to be patient? Are we born with this ability or can we learn it as we grow and develop?

http://alisonstuart.blogspot.com/2013/04/writers-life-waiting-for-godknows-what.html

Delayed gratification is one's ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward and hold off for a better reward later. This form of extrinsic motivation never invokes the same reaction in everyone. As shown in the marshmallow study conducted by Dr. Walter Mischel, a group of children ages 4-6 who were given a marshmallow and were told they would be given two as a reward if they waited 15 minutes without eating the first one. Only 1/3 of the kids were able to wait. Those included in that 30% had a large amount of self-discipline. They were able to control their subconscious desire to take what they want immediately because they saw the future reward as worth the wait. You may be thinking that you would be able to pass this challenge and wait the 15 minutes, but to a young child with no concept of time who is left alone with a delicious treat for what feels like an eternity, the challenge is harder than you might think. However, I tried this experiment with my 7 year old sister and almost 4 year old brother using a spoonful of pink frosting (which they love more than marshmallows), and they were both able to wait the entire 15 minutes.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/02/article-1082430-025607E8000005DC-828_468x302.jpg

Why don't we put this scenario into a more adult perspective? Let's say that your boss made you an offer of either a $100 bonus up front, or an extra $1000 if you work overtime every day for the next month. Which would you choose? Would you be able to stick to your guns for an entire month for that extra $1000? It all depends on your personal level of self-discipline. The debate of nature vs. nurture tends to come into play here. Some believe that your ability to delay gratification is an innate quality you are born with. Others believe that it is taught by your parents. I happen to think it is a mixture of both. I am sure that some kids are naturally born with more patience than others, but everyone can learn to be more self-disciplined. Parents can tell their children that they don't get any cookies until after they eat their dinner. A statement as simple as that is teaching the kids to delay their gratification; this is a skill that some psychologists believe to be the key to success. 

http://www.moneymakingmodes.com/best-ways-to-make-money-online/

Something that is worth the wait that many people can relate to is receiving your driver's license. We wait at least 16 years and then have to study, take multiple tests, and pay up for that little piece of plastic with our picture on it, but all that time and effort becomes worth it when you feel the freedom of taking your first drive on your own. This experience is viewed as a right of passage for American teenagers transitioning into the responsibility of adulthood. Despite this idea and those like it, other countries tend to perceive Americans as lacking patience. It is true that today we live in a world of instant gratification. If we want to talk to someone we can call them on our cell phones and contact them within seconds. If there is information we want to know, our smartphones have Internet connections where we can find answers to our questions almost immediately. We have constant access to technology waiting to deliver us whatever we need. It is understandable how citizens of other countries could view us as spoiled and unable to wait, and maybe they are right. The truth is that we as a country have done this to ourselves. We keep creating more and more unnecessary gadgets that are meant to make our lives easier, and we become dependent on them to function. It is not my intention to preach about how terrible technology is. I have an iPhone and a tablet (which I'm using to write this blog). I simply believe that we are more focused on these things than on learning to be self-sufficient. Technology is only going to become more advanced as time goes on, and that is why we need to put more emphasis on teaching the next generations about delayed gratification and self-discipline to prevent our great-grandchildren from becoming mindless zombies who couldn't survive without their devices.

We all need to remember that patience is still a virtue even in this fast-paced world we live in because as science writer John Tierney, the co-author of the book Willpower, explains, "In the short term, self-control is a limited resource. But over the long term, it can act more like a muscle." Our society has to start exercising our self-control muscles and realize that gratification tastes much sweeter when we've waited for it.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2013-03-14/latest-news/psych-prof-puts-new-wrinkle-marshmallow-test

3V: Motivating the Masses

Everyone has daily tasks that need to get done whether he or she wants to do them or not. Sometimes we are forced to get off of our couches (despite how comfortable they are) and get to work. This is where motivation comes into play.

http://www.startupbros.com/killing-the-7-motivation-murderers/

 

The three words I would like to talk about today are motivation, intrinsic, and extrinsic. These three words are closely related. We can be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.

1. Motivation: I would define the word "motivation" as the driving force behind one's actions. This is what forces us to fulfill our responsibilities. Motivation makes us work to achieve our daily tasks (whether we want to or not). This compulsion can come from within us or the people and environment around us. Without it, no one would be able to accomplish their goals, prosper, or even be able to keep a job.  As Lou Holtz, retired American football coach, and active sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker, once said, “Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” Everyone takes motivation from somewhere to get out of bed and make accomplishments in the real world.
2. Intrinsic: The definition of this word is belonging to something by its very nature. Therefore, intrinsic motivation comes from within oneself naturally. You may be motivated to exercise regularly because of your innate, internal desire to be fit and in good health. As children, most of us were intrinsically driven to learn to ride a bike. We did not wish to learn in order to reap some external benefit. We simply thought it would be a fun experience. Intrinsic motivation tends to run a fairly long course. When our inspiration to achieve something comes from inside of us, we are more likely to stick to the task at hand because we honestly want to do it and enjoy the challenge.
3. Extrinsic: This word means to be outside of something; not essential or inherent. Extrinsic motivation is what provokes us to accomplish our more mundane business. One who works in sales could be motivated to sell the most goods because there is a contest in which the highest seller wins a vacation. A student could also be extrinsically motivated to work hard in school by the prospect of obtaining all A's on his or her report card. Of course extrinsic motivators can also be negative. A child can be extrinsically motivated by its mother to stop yelling otherwise she will take its favorite toy away. However, extrinsic motivators often wear off after a period of time. Once the vacation has been won or the report card is mailed home we stop being motivated by those things. Although last month the sales employees may have worked harder than ever before to win the prize, this month their productivity will take a rapid decline because there is no longer a force motivating them.

 

Think of a task you should accomplish today even if it seems horribly monotonous. Will you motivate yourself intrinsically or extrinsically to get it done? No option is better or worse than the other. Simply use whatever force is more powerful to you personally, and just get it done.

 

http://www.careerealism.com/tips-creating-workplace-motivation/

 





3I: Let's Get Physical

The most exercise I get on a daily basis is walking to the kitchen to get a snack, but for all of you gym junkies out there, here's some info about Southern's Fitness Center.

http://creativity-online.com/work/kia-totally-transformed/32425

Want to avoid the dreaded "freshman 15"? The Fitness Center, located on the second floor of the Adante Student Center, has equipment and classes that will satisfy all of your exercise needs. For a mere $60 per semester (classes included), everything in this gym is at your disposal.

Hours:

Monday-Thursday 7am-10pm
Friday 7am-8pm
Saturday 9:30am-4:30pm
Sunday 2pm-7pm

The SCSU Fitness Center is equipped with 7 elliptical machines, 2 stair steppers, 4 bikes, 9 treadmills, plus 22 various other machines. There is also a cycling room where you can take a cycling class Monday-Thursday that has 12 bikes. There are also a number of free-weights available.

 

 

If you are the type of person who enjoys more organized exercise as opposed to creating your own work-out routine, there are many group classes offered that would be perfect for you. Some great looking classes include Total Body/Toning, Boot Camp, Yoga, Piloxing (a mixture of Pilates and boxing), cycling, Zumba, Kick Express, Lunch Crunch, and Ab Lab to name a few. Signs-ups for any class start 15 minutes before that class starts at the front desk. I personally am very interested in taking the Vinyasa Yoga class on Friday which is free to all students! The Fitness Center is a great resource for all students to stay healthy and in shape.

The room number for the center is ASC 204, their contact information is 203-392-8971 and fitness@southernct.edu if you have any questions, or you can go to southernct.edu/fitness center.

3B: For the Love of Rabbits

Being a mother is a difficult, yet rewarding experience that I would not give up for the world. One of my favorite activities that I always find time for in my busy schedule is playing with my fur babies. 

 

 

In the picture above are my adorable bunnies, Gizmo (left) and Thumper. Thumper and I locked eyes from across the pet store in the Westfield Mall last December and I was instantly in love. I had never had a pet that was entirely my responsibility to care for before I took that little white fluff-ball home almost a year ago. He has so much energy and everything he does makes me laugh, but after a few months I began to wonder if he was lonely in his cage when I was not home, (I'm sure you can guess where this story is leading). When a family friend informed me that she was giving away her year old rabbit I couldn't volunteer to adopt him fast enough, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Gizmo is fully grown weighing a little over 2 lbs, and he is the sweetest thing you could imagine. Even though he is older, I still see him as a baby compared to Thumper who may grow to weigh as much as 10 lbs.
 

Having these boys in my life has forced me to become more mature. I took both of them in out of impulse and did not quite think through the responsibility that comes with being the sole provider for two living creatures. Twice a day they each need to be fed a vegetable, pellets, and hay to give them a healthy, well-rounded diet. Also, they need to be let out of their cages often to stretch their legs and participate in some exercise, and their cages need to be kept clean. Their fur needs to be groomed fairly often as well. These are things that have to be done, but I do not find it hard to make time for them. Seeing their eight tiny legs hop around on the floor can make me happy no matter what I am going through. You have to have a heart made of stone for it not to melt when they happily jump around or lick your nose. Seeing how care-free and sweet they are makes you forget your own worries for a while; if I were to write a book on how to alleviate stress, the first tip would be play with an adorable animal for an hour.
 

 

 

Caring for them is not easy, but finding time to give them what they need is because you know that they love you and trust you to be there for them. I believe that being a provider for another life, whether it is your biological child, an animal, or a sibling, can help you improve yourself in other aspects of life as well. In my own personal life, this experience will prepare me for many future situations. I plan on being a special education teacher someday, and I will have to be responsible for the well-being of my students. When their parents bring them to school, they expect that their children will be treated well and given everything they need to flourish. I am already learning how to change my thinking and put others needs before my own desires. If I want to go away for the weekend, I need to make sure someone will be available to feed my rabbits or I'll have to stay home. I imagine the same sort of situations will occur when I am a teacher and a real mother.

Like I said initially, being a rabbit mother is difficult, so I can only imagine that being the mom of my own  human child will be much harder. However, I have a good feeling that the experiences I'm gaining by nurturing these creatures will help make the transition into taking care of real kids, (whether they are my own or my students), a little bit easier.

http://pearlsofprofundity.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/bugs-bunny-thats-all-folks.jpg

3A: To Think or Not To Think

The Great William Shakespeare:

Master author of ground-breaking poems and plays that are still read and revered to this day, but how can we relate Shakespeare to our daily lives almost 400 years after his death? That is the question. 

http://theater-words.com/category/shakespeare/

I want to examine a specific quote written by Mr. Shakespeare, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so." This line from the infamous play, Hamlet, came from a conversation between the Prince of Denmark himself, and one of his courtiers, Rosencrantz. Hamlet is describing his disdain for the land of Denmark calling it a prison, but Rosencrantz disagrees. The two men's differing opinions lead Hamlet to respond with the previously mentioned quote. What the prince meant by his response was that nothing is definitely good or bad in itself. Everything is relative to what the individual thinks about it. What one person viewed as horrible and prison-like was a perfectly fine place to call home by someone else's standards.

This is an idea that every person who has ever lived can appreciate. As humans, none of us have minds that think the exact same way. When faced with a challenge, we choose to approach it with a certain mindset. If you are the type of person who believes that intelligence is a predisposed trait you are born with and cannot be augmented, you have a fixed mindset. If you believe in the love of learning and enjoy challenges that will help you develop your intelligence, you have a growth mindset. Which mindset do you have?

http://2ndskiesforex.com/strategies-for-forex-trading/forex-articles/developing-a-successful-forex-trading-mindset-pt-1/

Let's make up a realistic scenario that I am sure most people have gone through: You are sitting in math class as the teacher is explaining a foreign idea. You are then asked to do a certain number of questions from your textbook, but as you attempt the first problem you realize that you are unsure of how to execute it. What do you do? 

Person A who has a fixed mindset would become frustrated and discouraged at the fact that they are not innately smart enough to solve this problem on his or her first try. The fear of being deemed as "stupid" would hold them back from attempting the challenge and lead them to give up. 

On the other hand, person B who has a growth mindset would welcome the challenge with open arms. They know that just because they do not understand how to solve the equation right away does not mean that they cannot figure it out eventually.

If you are most like person A, it is not too late to change your negative thinking. You can fix your fixed mindset. You can recapture the elementary state of mind when you valued learning and challenges. It is not until around middle school age that we begin to surrender to difficult tasks and lose our love of education. You can learn to cope with disappointing performances on tests, in sports, or in any area of your life by planning new strategies and putting in more effort next time. You have to put yourself in charge of your own learning because no one can change your mindset except for you. 

The factor that goes hand in hand with mindset is motivation. This is the driving force behind  the accomplishment of the challenging tasks we face every day. As described in "Motivation, the Elusive Drive", written by Kevin Washburn, "Motivation is elusive. In part because motivation is idiosyncratic. We all assign different levels of significance and meaning to different things." Whether we are extrinsically motivated by some type of reward, or intrinsically motivated by our own will-power, motivation is the key to accomplish all of our goals whether they are short-term or more far off and evasive.

I have a difficult math class pretty soon, so I am going to put my growth mindset thinking cap on, get in tune with my intrinsic motivation and try my best. If I don't do well, it's alright because there is always next time, and as Shakespeare would say, "All's well that ends well."

http://fjwestcott.com/photo-lighting-tips/testimonials/testimonials-big-thumbs-up

2V: College Initiation

Kali's Top 3 Words of Week 2 at SCSU 

The purpose of a college education goes much deeper than simply learning the necessary skills pertaining to a certain job. Higher education is about broadening your horizons in all fields. I began college with the common idea that I would be learning the specifics of my future career, but upon my arrival I recognized that Southern does not operate that way. The professors here make sure that the students are well-rounded individuals with knowledge in a broad range of subjects outside of their chosen fields of study.; it is not a trade school that throws you right into the working world only teaching the essentials of the job at hand. I read a New York Times article this past week called "The Learning Knights of Bell Telephone" (which I actually wrote about in a previous blog post), that gave a great perspective on this subject. The author, Wes Davis, mentions an article published in Harper's Magazine where sociologist E. Digby Baltzell explains that, "A well-trained man knows how to answer questions, they reasoned; an educated man knows what questions are worth asking." Simply being trained on how to perform well in one situation does not properly prepare you for real life. A truly educated person can use the broad knowledge they've gained to problem solve and conjure new ideas.

All of my classes at SCSU are different. I ingest new knowledge in each individual classroom. I am going to talk about a few words that I came across this week in my various classes that appear unrelated, but they all have one commonality: learning more about them will augment my intelligence and make me a more worldly, accepting individual.

1. Initiative: I would define this word as the primary step one takes toward a goal. This could be in relation to anything. You could take the initiative in making new friends, or starting a new book that seems challenging, etc. This past week in my Inquiry class directly related to initiative. Every article/blog we read last week (including the one mentioned above) involved the positive effects of taking an initiative. The articles contained topics such as hunting for a professor who will be the most helpful, making sure your professors know who you are, getting involved in politics, thinking about your life as a whole instead of solely on your prospective job, finding your passions, etc. One cannot begin to do any of those things without first initiating them. You have to step out of the realm of what is expected of you and venture off into new territory.
2.  Sociocentrism: This is a word I had yet to hear in my life time until my previous Social Issues class. In summation, this word is defined as group-centered thinking. This term relates to those who side with whatever choice would best benefit his or her particular group (e.g. race, religious group, class, etc.).The concept of sociocentrism can also be affiliated to the trials and tribulations faced by the average college student. This theory is linked to the age old decision of whether you choose to be a leader or a follower. The purpose of college is truly to determine who you are. Will you faithfully follow the herd even if they are leading you off a cliff, or will you do what is necessary for your own personal success? The decision may be difficult, but it is an inevitable component of life which we all have to address at some point. Are you sociocentric, egocentric, or somewhere in between?

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/r/m/rmp5006/otsots/2005_07_08-12_45.html

3. Inequality: Of course this a word that most have heard. I encountered this word most recently in my Geography and Conflict course. Inequality is an issue that people have been facing for centuries, so its importance remains despite how often we hear it. The definition of this word given to me by my professor was, "Inequality exists because those in control actively defend their advantages." This idea has held true throughout history. The group that feels superior (whether deservedly or not), retains its self-imposed 'rights' to a higher class lifestyle while the group deemed unworthy suffers. This may seem like a big concept that some people have trouble seeing the connection to in their personal lives, but we see glimmers of inequality every day. Every person I meet has a different background. No two families raise their children exactly the same, and we forget that because we tend to focus on our own situation much more often than we think of another person's. We have to remind ourselves that there are many people out there who are more or less privileged than we are. I try to never take for granted the fact that I am physically able to go to college. My Social Issues teacher informed the class that only 20% of the United States population can attend a college. Inequality has constantly surrounded human being since the dawn of time. We naturally create barriers to separate ourselves whether it be by race, class, religion, wealth, etc. Before you judge someone for whatever reason, just try to remember that everyone's life behind closed doors is different. 

http://wspucla.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/thursday-take-off-how-do-you-express-your-individuality/

Words can band us together, tear us apart, empower us, or crush our spirits. Think before you speak because you never know what kind of inequality the person next to you has endured. As I said before, college is about finding out who you are meant to be, so take the initiative in your life to choose to be a sociocentric follower or an individual.  

(Top 2 pictures taken from www.southernct.edu)

2I: The Art of Pretending I Know Anything About Art

They say that art imitates life, so why aren't museums full of paintings of people texting?

http://www.everyjoe.com/2007/03/07/technology/cell-phone-art-and-the-mobile-phone-at-baltimore/

As I was strolling through the SCSU campus earlier this week, I decided to sit on a bench in front of Morrill Hall to wait for a friend to get out of class. As I perched, I was silently taking in my surroundings when I noticed a dark, looming structure in my peripheral vision. It was a very abstract sculpture. It was almost black in color, and it was ominous with tall, thin columns rising up from a raised, rectangular base. The front of the piece was an inclined ramp with two spheres sitting on opposite ends. I am no true art fanatic, but I was admittedly taken aback by this sculpture.

 

 

 

On the side of this dark structure was an engraved plaque which read,

 

"Serie Metafisica XVIII



Herk Van Tongeren

1983"

 

Herk Van Tongeren was an American artist who specialized in bronze sculptures based on the history and philosophy of other cultures. Here is a link to Van Tongeren's obituary in the New York Times:

 





http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/09/obituaries/herk-van-tongeren-sculptor.html

 

Also, here is a link to his biography from the Smithsonian American Art Museum if you would like to read more about this artist:

 

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=5123

 

The following are some samples of his other sculptures:

 

 



 

 

This piece of artwork simply looked so out of place. Sitting in an open field of grass in between Engleman and Morrill, it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. The sculpture did not lie directly in my path between the two buildings, so it took me almost two weeks to even notice its existence. That just represents how we become so fixated on our beaten paths that we rarely take the time to stop and look around.