Thoughts On Being An American July 14, 2008
Posted by Will in random thoughts.Tags: random thoughts
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The United States of America recently celebrated its 232nd birthday, and three weekends ago I was questioning just how proud I am to be an American – it was a rather mixed moment.
I found myself saying the Pledge of Allegiance on the last weekend of June. I did it so much in elementary school, it’s kind of like picking up a bicycle after years of not riding it – you still remember how to do it just fine. It’s a good thing I could recite it so well too, because I actually went into autopilot about halfway through. As I was saying the words my mind started asking, “How do you feel being an American now?”
With the country’s worldwide popularity at one of its lowest points, combined with my feelings on the current administration of the country, I wasn’t exactly sure if I could say “I’m proud to be an American.” It’s just unfortunate that when the world thinks of America, they think of our President and/or his decisions. Or assuming that we all just sit here, thinking no one else is important, not bothering to think outside the country or learn another language. But it’s not our leadership that defines who I am as an American, it’s my decisions. And, of course, I am incredibly proud – and eternally grateful – of the freedoms I enjoy as an American. But beyond that, I can do my part to help the country, or I can build a business so I can help those in need in and out of America, and I can represent my views on what I think the country should do or wish the country would do.
I AM PROUD to have the men and women in our armed forces represent our country, and saddened at the same time that their loyalty and honor is attached to the poor decisions of our leadership. Those women and men, along with my fellow citizens that work to make a difference in this country and world, those leading a healthy and happy life, are who I am proud to stand up next to.
Dad’s Success July 12, 2008
Posted by Will in random thoughts.Tags: family, growing up
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Growing up I had an exceptional person that I could learn from and aspire to, my Father. Throughout my life I have watched him be one of the most collected minds I know, care deeply for family and friends and work hard at furthering his career for the sole purpose of taking care of his family. I have said many times that, some day, I hope to be half the man he is.
It’s never easy to see, as a kid, one of your parents go through a hard time, like unemployment – it’s kind of like watching a defeated Superman hanging up his cape after a long day. He has always been strong though, always finding a way to be happy and focused on his ultimate goals.
This never-ending drive to provide for his family and excel his career has paid off, and he is now leading a local search aggregate provider near Cincinnati. As a blogger and social media maven myself, it’s very cool to see him doing some great stuff online, as well as a recently featured post at WebProNews highlighting the company and its offerings.
If you run a newspaper, or any media company that relies on local community involvement, Planet Discover is definitely worth checking out.
Personal Blogging vs. Aggregate Blogging July 11, 2008
Posted by Will in random thoughts.Tags: blogging, random thoughts, social participation
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I’ve been participating in the social world of the Internet for a while now, but the act of blogging is still relatively new to me. I’m slowly working on getting Wide Angle Lenz on a customized design and making it my own, and have some pretty cool ideas for it moving forward, but I could be posting more regularly, figure out who I want on my blogroll, network it better, etc., etc.
Something I have been thinking about for the last couple of days was sparked by a Twitter post by @kevinrose
hmm, Pownce (notes/files/links), Digg (stories), Twitter (short updates), FriendFeed (aggregated comments), do I still need a blog?
It’s definitely a valid point. Why are some of us focused on the upkeep of our personal blog, when we could go on Twittering, Digging and Flickring all we do, all feeding into one place - our FriendFeed account. I would imagine this is what FriendFeed wants, all of us to start using it as our blog. Considering the 40+ places that the site aggregates, I certainly like how easy it is to set it up once to spit out the various places I leave a mark on the Internet. So instead of saying “You can find me at Twitter, del.icio.us, Flickr, and Facebook,” why not just say “Check out all I do online at FriendFeed.” There is also a new site out called Posterous that allows people to simply email content to one place, and a profile is created for you. I really like the design of the site, but it will not replace blogs.
Replacing personal blogs (not for a group, institution or business) won’t be happening until FriendFeed offers personalized profiles, because it’s that personal touch/design that adds so much to the reading experience sometimes. When it comes down to it, yeah, the content of the site is king, but if every single personal blog looks the same, it’s just going to get boring. There’s no doubt that FriendFeed will offer personalization - just like Twitter and Pownce do (the design options for Pownce, by the way, is awesome) - but until they do, I’m still going to be trying to roll out a completely unique site that express who I am, what I think and what I do.
What do you think? Would you use FriendFeed as your “blog” if it was personalized?
Post Flood 2008 Thoughts July 10, 2008
Posted by Will in random thoughts.Tags: random thoughts, Flood 2008
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I know the world has been inundated with Flood 2008 coverage, but I wanted to hop on the bandwagon for a minute and express some of my thoughts on the whole thing as my city frantically tries to pull itself together, knowing it’s not going to get the help it needs fast enough…
We all see natural disasters on TV or online, but this is the first one I have been able to walk up to. I spent a lot of my K-12 years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and nothing too major happens from a weather point of view. Blizzard here, tornado there, but nothing on the same scale as this flood. The day it was really bad, that Thursday, was a day of awe and shock. I know, cheesy right? But I get what it means now.
At the end of Thursday I was on the SW side of town and needed to get to my apartment, which was on the NE side of town. This is a good 15-minute drive normally, but it took an hour this time. My friends and I took Interstate 380, which goes right next to downtown Cedar Rapids. Heading towards the city was a very eerie feeling. The entire downtown area and surrounding communities were without power, the sky was full of low, dark thunderstorm clouds, there wasn’t any rain but lightning was going off all over the dark area of the city, and the water was up to the Dairy Queen logo on the sign for the interstate drivers.
It’s a weird feeling to look at what is happening to communities, historic centers, theatres, and downtown buildings you drive by almost daily, and feel the desire to just stare in awe and complete fascination as the water engulfs it all. Then you remember this is a horrible, horrible thing and the guilt kicks in, and the hopelessness for the city rumbles at the bottom of your stomach.
Buildings are collapsing and the city is talking about leveling the entire 100-year flood plan, which would be hundreds (if not thousands) of structures. My heart goes out to those that are directly effected by the waters of the flood and hope that our city – and all the other effected regions – get the attention that is necessary to get this city back on its feet and people back in homes.
My microphone didn’t work when I went downtown to film and interview, but I will be getting that prepped with some music and put it up as soon as possible. Check out my Flickr photostream for photos taken from my phone.
Thank you to everyone that has done something to assist with the recovery. Every little bit helps.
In Support of Reading (and Competent Teachers) June 3, 2008
Posted by Will in random thoughts.Tags: life, reading, teaching
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In my current state of unemployment I am working for the non-profit group Waypoint Services as a before- and after-school daycare substitute. This program consists of a head “teacher” and assistant watching over kids, kindergarten through fifth grade, for a couple hours on each side of the school day. When one is unavailable they call a sub with the hours available. That’s where I come in, and until the end of the school year I’ll be at the same elementary school every morning and afternoon.
Last week was my first time at this particular school, and the first week of my fortnight there. On my second day I overheard the “teacher” reprimanding a seven-year-old girl for reading too much in front of half the class. That’s right, got in trouble for showing interest and reading longer than expected. I didn’t jump in, guns a blazin’, trying to rashly figure out why this was happening. Instead, after the seven-year-old was finished being embarrassed by the adult, I attempted to ask if there was a reading program that Waypoint was encouraging that I was unaware of, or whatever reason might make up for what just happened – and I asked as we are both surrounded by the entire class. What did happen, though, made it worse. The sorry excuse for a teacher told me little Elizabeth was a part of a reading program hosted by the Cedar Rapids Kernals, which is dependant on minutes read, and that there was no way she (the enthusiastic seven-year-old Elizabeth) could have read 90 minutes because she “is a really bad reader.” Saying this for the entire class to hear. (I soon found out that this “teacher” has had a nasty habit of making fun of this little girl already)
I looked over and Elizabeth is sitting at her table, Harry Potter and the Sourcerer’s Stone in hand bookmarked at page 90, with her head down in embarrassment.
How unacceptable can you get? We need to be encouraging reading. Be it poetry, novels, comics, manga, or pop-up books, parents and teachers have a responsibility to encourage reading. If your child, or a child you are taking care of, likes to read, and is found reading, SUPPORT THEM. Don’t you dare sarcastically tell them they’re bad at it, fueling other kids to make fun of her too. Help them embrace it and let them make the decision of whether they’re going to be a lifelong reader. Find ways to support literature and language development, like the popular vocabulary quizzing Free Rice.
When I went over to her and praised her for reading what she had, she shyly looked up at me and smiled, and I saw her swell with pride just a little bit.
Time Travel with Christopher Lloyd May 7, 2008
Posted by Will in random thoughts.Tags: life, thoughts
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The last two nights I watched Back to the Future parts II and III with some friends. This sparked some good debate and discussion on the theory of time travel, pioneering filmmaking techniques and, of course, how badass the Delorean is.
I never knew before this week, but the technique of an actor performing two different characters in the same scene was pioneered in the Back to the Future trilogy. Having a majority of the times I’ve seen these films be while I was growing up, I didn’t know that. It was really cool to watch the films again having a bit more knowledge about filmmaking. Looking more closely now, I can see when a blue screen is used to get Michael J. Fox in the scene multiple times - slight differences in lighting.
By the way, I had no idea that Michael J. Fox played his future daughter in Back to the Future II. Growing up I never once questioned the character’s masculinity, but watching the film again I can totally see that it’s Fox trying to act feminine. It’s pretty funny.
The topic of how awesome Christopher Lloyd is came up, and that we wish we had the chance to see him on screen more often. I don’t think I’ve seen him in a role I didn’t enjoy watching – to a certain extent, his role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit scared the shit out of me as a kid. So not even two hours after talking about this with my friends I watch episode 14 of the West Wing’s sixth season and the guest star is Christopher Lloyd. His role is great too! He plays a very eloquent, intelligent professor and constitutional writer. It was great to see him throughout the episode, and made me wish even more that we had the chance to see him on the big screen more often. He’s obviously keeping busy with productions (as you can see on his IMDB profile) but I’d love to see him in some more mainstream projects.
We discussed the theory of time travel and where we would want to go too. It’s hard for me to decide where I would want to go; there are so many time periods that would be awesome to see. The Renaissance, Medieval and the Industrial Revolution eras are the first to come to mind. I can’t help but think about all the preparations that would have to be done in order to go though. You can’t risk catching a disease from those times, so do you take a bunch of antibiotics beforehand or bring a bunch with? Then there’s protecting yourself if people are hostile to you, and the dressing to fit. On top of all that there’s making sure you don’t screw up the whole space-time continuum thing – kind of a big deal.
If you could go anywhere in time where would you go?
