Sorry I missed you…

I thought I should get going on my six blog posts for the semester. I write this poolside in Key Largo, FL. My husband and I needed to use up a Delta’s Vacation package we purchased at an auction last year- so here we are.

Don’t get jealous too quickly. Although we are in Florida the weather hasn’t been great. Our first two days we experienced torrential downpours, a sky full of thick clouds the third- with brief appearances from the sun, and today, as I sit by the pool, I am in jeans and a sweatshirt, and I am still chilly! But because we are native Minnesotans, we are trying to not complain and take in as much vitamin D as possible.

I am not a complete stranger to blogging. I have my own personal blog and follow a lot of others. However, there is a lot to learn about the different blogging platforms and how to maximize their potential. As we dive head first into our projects, and the blogging that comes along with it, I look forward to reading everyone else’s posts. After all, that is what I love about blogging. You can learn a lot (or a little) just by reading what someone else has to say.

Lowertown Ballpark

Spring is right around the corner so why not think baseball.  The recent bonding bill is being discussed at the State Capitol.  This bonding bill would support numerous public works projects but more notably, the proposed regional ballpark in Lowertown.  Currently, the Saint Paul Saints play right up the street from where we meet.  Midway Stadium has been the home of the Saints since 1994.  In 1995, a young high school kid got his first job at Midway (then Municipal Stadium) working for the City of Saint Paul's Parks and Recreation.  That kid called Midway his home away from home for several years with what he considered the best job in the world.

That kid was me.  I still stop in to Midway to check in with my former boss who was a mentor to me growing up.  Midway will always be a very special place to me.  However, age and large crowds have Midway Stadium wilting away.  The ballpark which at one time was the hottest ticket in town, is now an antiquated facility that has seen better days.  The proposed ballpark in Lowertown would be a welcomed change. 

This ballpark would not be owned by a millionaire team owner.  This ballpark would be a jewel that that citizens of Saint Paul could call their own.  This city owned ballpark would bring thousands into Lowertown for not only Saints games but high school and amateur ball as well. 

Nothing Good in War

Nothing Good Comes from War

     “I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance, People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction.” said Dalai Lama from Nobel Acceptance Speech in 1989. 

As we know, we are in the same world and we are all born equal. Moreover, nobody has the right to take another’s life. There are a lot of things that we have learned in the past such as World War I and World War II. Nothing good comes from war. World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945. During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the Allies of World War II conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. read more

There are a lot of people suffered from wars:

 

Ms.Akiko Takakura was 20 years old when the bomb fell.  
 She was in the bank of Hiroshima, 300 meters away from the hypocenter.

"I remember red, black and brown, but, but, nothing else.  Many people on the street were killed almost instantly.   The fingertips of those dead bodies caught fire and the fire gradually spread over their entire bodies from their fingers.   A light gray liquid dripped down their hands, scorching their  fingers."
read more

The atomic bombs were exploded over Japanese cities. The controversy has revolved. 
  

The United States military officials believed that such a massive demonstration of U.S. military power was the only reasonable way to force an unconditional Japanese surrender.  

 On the other side, the atomic bombings took many innocent lives. And many survivors have long suffered from the after-effects that should be the first and last to be used in combat. read more 

However, I think that the voices of testimonies are important to tell the world about world peace. Nothing good comes from war.

We cannot bring peace by anger. It is necessary to bring coolness, tolerance, and contentment. 

As we study in MDST 485, we discuss about "We first" instead of "I first".  The Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK Established in October 1967 as a bureau within the City of Hiroshima government. The overall the goals is to contribute to world peace and human happiness.

Spread Peace, not War

 

 

 

Apple factory piece

Don't know if the link to the radio monologue re: the Apple factory was ever posted, that we talked about in class.
it deserves a listen, check it out:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory

a little pre bed time ramble

I’m starting to enjoy reading ‘We First’, now that I think of Mainwaring as a communist in capitalist costume. He really tipped me over after quoting Slavoj Zizek. I’m not gonna pretend like I know who that is, but I looked him up because the quote had a Marxist ring to it. And bingo, he’s a communist. I had a moment of overwhelming revisionism as I thought backwards over Mainwaring’s repetitive message; transformative power to the people. I’m enjoying the read a bit more, but I’m still not gonna throw back a pint of kool-aid. I remain troubled by the notion that our collective power to make a better world resides in our collective selective wallets. In all his inspiring prose, there seems to be an underlying message of a kind of global Reaganomics, without a criticism of our standard of living. Simply put, I don’t think there’s enough water to raise everybody’s boat to our standard of living. Its our standard of living in the West that drives the exploitation of the rest of the planet and without some significant change to that expected opulence, not much is gonna change.

Is technology taking over our world?

Looking at how technology has evolved through the years from the time of the atari to the xbox and ps3 where there are games now that can be controlled without actually having a game controller! Technology is pretty amazing, but I think that is taking ourselves and make us dependent on it.

Take for example the cellphone. When you think of the word cellphone, it usually comes to our a mind, a device that is used to make phone calls while we are on the go, right? And that's how it used to be and still is, but is more complex now.

I work for T-Mobile and this last week I had a customer who was set into her old ways. We spent a lot of time talking about different devices , both smartphones and basic phones, and throughout the conversation she was telling me about her 30 year old son who was taught by a 6 year old on how to use the internet on a smart phone! If we actually think about that, that is just huge, because you can think "well what can a 6 year old teach me?" Now a days with technology, a kid can teach adults more than they can teach them. We also hear of kids and teens who hack into this super advanced computer systems in the matter of hours and days, but it would take the government to decipher a code weeks or months. Is just amazing what technology can do for us.

But also having advanced technology has its consequences, it has made our civilization, lazy and dependable on machiines, and I see it with cellphones, people assume that just because they have a smartphone, the phone is supposed to solve all of their problems, and we have become picky with our purchaes too. Before it didn't matter all of this stuff that a phone can do, before all we cared was for the phone to make phonecalls, now if the phone doesn't talk back to us when we give it an order, then the phone is no good.

I could go on and on about this topic, but I don't want to make it too long, let me know what you think.

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

Our last class put me in self-examination mode.  I too, struggle with the idea of adding to this blog.  I have no doubts my group members have the best of intentions, and I can go to them for guidance.  The same goes for all of my classmates.  My self-doubt is my enemy.  I'll do my best to concentrate on the positive possibilities of this class, to combat this .I don't want to see any of our work become a forgotten statistic.  Issues we are presented with are real, and they require resolution.

Pop stars grab our attention with the greatest of ease and the least amount of dignity.  Sex and pity sells, that's a given.  I want to be empathetic, and I want to be real.  The more I think about this, the less I know.  Matt said the other day, "things that scare us most, end up being, the coolest things we see.”  He's right, and I'm over thinking it.  I hope.