Education for All, and for All A Good Life

Welcome to the blog article with the cheesiest title of all time. 

Also, welcome to a blog article written by an author who doesn't quite know her blog voice yet.

And without further ado:

Education.

One of American society's favorite ambiguous words.

Why do we all think education is so important?

So that we can get good jobs?

So that we know a lot of stuff?

So that we can hang that diploma on the wall and say "yeah, I graduated magna cum laude from ______ University"?

So that...?

I think education is important because it builds people who know what it means to build people. At the risk of sounding cliché, education builds minds and, as an extension of that, souls. Education, in the true spirit of the word, helps us achieve "the good life" that we always seek.

Education builds minds on multiple levels. Education builds minds by increasing an individual's depth and breadth of knowledge (ie; accumulating facts and information about various subjects). This is good on both a practical level, and on the level of entertainment. Reading comprehension skills, for example, help us in our every day lives. Reading books is also fun. This same bi-partial logic can be applied to any area of learning: art, music, math, science, etc. Education builds minds also by strengthening an individual's capacity to think critically, analytically, deeply, and often. These sorts of thinking skills are great across the board. On a practical note, these methods and habits of thinking foster individuals better-equipped to vote or make any major decision. When we can think critically about issues, we can make better-informed judgements and vote or choose with intention. 

These same thinking skills provide the basis for a lifetime of learning. They ensure that learning does not cease when that diploma reaches the student's hand. When a person can think deeply about things, he or she tends to do so frequently, and thinking deeply and frequently generally enriches a life. The more we think about the world we live in, the more we understand our lives and how to make them good. 

Furthermore, critical thinking skills tend toward introspection. So when a person thinks deeply about anything, inevitably he or she will begin thinking deeply about him/herself. Introspection is important because to truly live in the best way possible, which is what we all subconsciously (at least) strive for, requires a knowledge of self and what is best for the self. Beyond being utilitarian, introspection is beautiful, because it teaches you that even though you are one individual human being with a very specific and complex life, you are one of millions upon millions, and therefore a part of something bigger. In that way, the more you know about yourself, the more you know about the humans that populate this strange and vast world. And the best part of all of this is that the more we learn, the more we want to learn, and the more we realize just how much there is to learn, so the cycle is self-perpetuating—in a very good way.

Beyond the tangible—the most apparent—effects of education, education builds souls. 

What is a soul? 

I don't know, really. 

Certainly not that translucent, sort of glow-ey, whit-ish blobular human-esque shape that so frequently appears in children's popular culture. Probably a soul is not something tangible. Probably, it's more internal, something within ourselves that we all have but can't really place. I can't find my soul, or touch it, or even describe it, but I know it's there. Some people and groups identify it as some sort of "inner energy". I can't tell you where or how my soul is but I know it's there somewhere and somehow. Education in relation to the soul incorporates lots of very old ideas about stuff like morality and virtues and divinity, into theology, science, the universe.... Wow, that escalated quickly. The point is, we don't really understand it but we've tried to—through lots of education. Ancient philosophers like Plato and Aristotle and many many more tried to figure out what the soul is and how to make it the best it can be, and how knowing about it contributes to "the good life". And these philosophers wrote hundreds of pages in books about the issue. Today, we still study those pages, searching for insight that may possibly point us toward a glimmer of an answer. And as we do so, we fine-tune our understanding of the soul, as much as is possible for a person. Now, this goes back to the introspection: as we try to understand our souls, we inevitably try to figure out how to order them correctly, and ultimately how to get ourselves on the path to "the good life". And thinking deeply about anything contributes to the order within our souls. Now, please don't ask me what exactly "the good life" is; I am still trying to understand that. That's part of what learning and education do—seek to understand the Good.

All this to say, education is so much more than a career-path. It's more than a lecture hall headed by a professor. That's a part of it, and careers are great. I love careers. I can't wait to have one. But beyond that I love the True, and the Good, and the Beautiful, and I want to seek these things throughout the rest of my life, by means of everything else I do. And I can say with a great deal of certainty that I will have the opportunity to seek these things throughout the rest of my life.

But not everyone can say with certainty, the way I can, that they will have the opportunity to seek higher education in the way I've discussed. There are people who are passionate about learning and seeking the truth, like me, but who cannot do so. They don't have the opportunity to engage with great books and ideas and learn how to take those things and think about them always. I want to be the voice for these people, and speak out with them as they fight for what they know they need. They need to learn and they love to learn. They do so to the extent they can, but too often, that extent is limited. 

Everyone has a right to education, and to everyone who feels restricted from that right: I will fight for you.

In Honor of Greatness

Today marks the 205th birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

I have long admired this man, for he has assuredly earned his place in history—and when I studied American History last school year, my admiration was fortified. I would like to take a moment to say a few words in his honor.

I admire Abraham Lincoln for his passion. He believed in preserving the Union—unified America—and he did everything in his power to carry out this conviction.

I admire Abraham Lincoln for his resourcefulness and tact. He was elected during one of America's most tumultuous periods, and he still managed to pull us through. He firmly believed in following the laws even if you disagree with them—and he was true to our constitution while still careful to keep America together. He did what needed to be done to prevent the fall of the USA while still being faithful to the USA.

I admire Abraham Lincoln for his actions. The American Civil War did not begin as a war about slavery, but as a war about secession. Abraham Lincoln was willing to do anything, as long as it was justifiable, to prevent secession of the Confederacy. He knew that if the South broke off, a chain reaction would likely begin which would rent the foundation of the Land of the Free and therefore sever America's very freedom. By the end of the war, however, slavery had been abolished by law. The Emancipation Proclamation was the first stretch of pavement on the road to the end of slavery. We walk this very same road today, thanks to this noble deed of Mr. Lincoln's presidency.

I admire Abraham Lincoln for his brevity. If "brevity is the soul of wit", as William Shakespeare has eloquently outlined, then Mr. Lincoln was certainly a witty man—or at least a clever one. How many men can stir the hearts of a crowd with so few words as we find in the Gettysburg Address? Genius on parchment, I tell you.

I admire Abraham Lincoln for his wisdom. He knew the law, he knew morality, he knew business, and he got it all done.

I admire Abraham Lincoln for his dimension. His character was riddled with obscurities and secrets and passions and pains. He governed a country which was self-destructing with finesse, while simultaneously facing personal struggle in his life. He was gaunt yet magnanimous. He had many facets to his enigma.

Lincoln saved America from becoming a tattered mass of disunited countries which would likely fall into continuous war. He lifted our patria* out of civil war. He helped to free the slaves. It has been said that great men are rarely boring, and this great man does not prove that saying wrong.

Thank you, Abraham Lincoln, for loving America; thank you for helping America become what we call "America" today.

*Patria: a Latin word for fatherland/homeland

My Corner of the World: Urban Recollections

I've grown up in a place where...

...Summer feels like this.

...Good food is never far away.

...There's a Circle K on every corner,
and one within walking distance from my house.

...Comics stores an other odd shops live right across the street from my neighborhood. (I'm not complaining; the custom framing store, the tiny deli, and the local music store are all fascinating.)

...The public transport system looks this cool...almost. Plus, there's lots of opportunities to meet weird and fun new people, and see the city.

...Sculptures and public art fixtures abound, some more...interesting...than others.

...I get to pick my school, even though this one's about a billion miles away from my perch. I'm so lucky to have an education at all, let alone different options to suit my own desires.

(The Melrose District, in Uptown Phoenix. One of my favorite sections of vintage shops.) 

...Cool places hide among the grunge. If you keep an acute watch as you drive around Uptown Phoenix, you can find a lot of really cool, small local places—like vintage and resale shops! My favorite. This is part of the Melrose District, where there are, among other things, many vintage shops. I love these parts of Phoenix! So much character in such a shabby little place.

(Retro Ranch, a vintage store uptown in the Melrose District.)

(One of my all-time favorite vintage shops. Again, Melrose District. I have other haunts outside of this area but that's for another story, another day...)

...This is everyone's reaction to the first days of winter/cool weather. After the initial cooler days, though, it quickly becomes "too cold" for most of us intolerant Phoenicians.

...Record stores are within reach. 10 minutes' walk, 6-8 minutes' bike ride (depending on cross-walk lights). The brighter side of local Phoenix shops. Once I get past the small deli and the dingy DQ, I reach this lovely place, along with select others nearby.

...Local shops thrive. This is another which can be discovered after the small deli (named "Cheese 'n' Stuff...mmmm...?). Frances Vintage ("A modern boutique with vintage charm") is another of my favorite detours, though it's a dangerous one. I really have to watch my wallet in there—the shelf displays tend to get a bit feisty.

...Palm trees are hard to miss, everywhere you go. I've sort of developed a taste for these abundant specimens over the years. They make excellent silhouettes against the sunrise and sunset.

Which brings me to my next point...

...Sunrise and sunset looks like this. And so much more. Every day it's almost more incredible than the last day. I am never not breath-taken by the sunrises or sunsets I see here. Sure, it's partially due to the pollution, but...I'll take what I can get. It's the little things.

...This alone allows me to survive summer. The QT frozen drinks do the job when I'm melting away into nothingness in the summer heat.









I don't think Phoenix is ugly. I know it's not Paris or New York or some greatly acclaimed and gorgeous city, but it's my home, and it has its hidden perks. I especially love discovering new and exciting places among the many buildings. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: beauty exists everywhere, you just have to want to find it. Every day I look around and discover some new, if small, detail to marvel at.

Nerd Alert: My Only Ego

Here are several nerdy pictures which light up my life. 

1. Cheesy Sci-Fi: 80's Sci-Fi: "Back to the Future" is one of my favorite 80's movies. (The first one is the best.) Michael J. Fox is hilarious in it, and there's a decent amount of nerdy humor or at least science-y stuff. For even more hilarious and dated political humor, I'd recommend "Family Ties" (also with Michael J. Fox). 

2. Science: Speaking of science, kind of, this one is mildly funny. I just imagine the scenario in my own kindergarten school... Humor is sometimes cruel, but humorous nonetheless. :) 

3. Biology: Last in the science category, here's my favorite science meme I've yet encountered.  Allow me to re-state the glory depicted here. "Heterozygoats: Just allele uneven."

4. Literature+Nostalgia: This...I can't even express. I love Edgar Allen Poe, and I love Winnie the Pooh, so the fusion is doubly alluring. Furthermore, the whole concept of Pooh Bear as a guilty murderer of a creepy old man/gloomy old donkey is endlessly absurd. And Pooh is wearing a suit—again, out of character and ridiculously absurd. I love every detail. (Notice Eeyore's tail hanging on the wall...)

5. Math: I made this one. Pretty proud. 

6. Math again: Similar to the previous one, but nonetheless different enough to warrant a new laugh. Not to mention the slight implications that the number 6 is delusional (having imaginary friends..). Strangely enough, 6 is my lucky number. Hmm...

7. Math again again: Wait, more 6's... IT'S A SIGN.
But really, this is hilarious. I love it. The root of all evil. 

~~~

Now to depart from the humor, and to hopefully inject some form of straightforward and serious meaning into this post, here is a perfect dictation of my sentiments on a daily basis. I love reading. I love learning. I love quiet time to ponder philosophy. I love discovering my own awareness of my existence. I love thinking. I love living life to the fullest—which to me, means thinking a lot.

And to top this all off, here's my semi-new-found conviction. People ask me why I love school and reading and writing. Here's my answer: Because it opens up opportunities, not only looking into the future, but right now. It offers happiness and knowledge and a sense of fulfillment in my own comprehensive 'life'. When people tell me that my desired career (I want to be an author) is imprudent because it won't make a lot of money, I sort of laugh inwardly. I don't really care. That's not my main goal. My purpose as I have thus far uncovered it seems to be to occupy my mind with extensive thought. So, here I am. 

Creatures

These are the 4 cutest animal pictures I know of. Fuzzy things really make me squeal. And then I want to hug them...which in reality is probably a bad idea, but that's what imagination is for.

This is my favorite animal picture of all time. I react all over again every time I see it. Something about it is just so adorable to me—I'm not sure exactly what. Maybe it's the interaction between mother and child. *squeal!*

Kiwi Birds have been my favorite animals since fourth grade, and my obsession is relentless. Round and fuzzy...the ideal cute. Just look at this picture long and hard and you'll see that it becomes cuter and cuter as you look at it longer.
My dream is to go to New Zealand, where Kiwis live, and see some in real life. Some day...

Wallabys, a more recent favorite, are the most adorable marsupials out there (closely followed by koalas). I never really knew exactly what these were until I went to the zoo one time, when they had wallabys. The way they jump is hilariously cute. Plus, just look at that face...!

So I know these aren't live creatures, but they are sheep made out of phones, and that's just about the most perfect thing I've eve seen. I am so obsessed with this picture—it's sort of a problem. Hopefully I can chill out before they put me away.

Just in case the past four pictures were too much cute to handle safely, here's something to bring you back to reality. Look at that hideous monster. Cat-lovers, here's your new best friend.

For the Beauty of the Earth

Lately, as of some undetermined day in 2013, I have become infatuated with the wonders around me. The world is full of beautiful things—you just have to know where to look. I live in a city and sometimes it's discouraging to see the mark humans have on the beauty of nature, but I've learned to see some scenes as enhanced by the human touch. This may not always be the case, but nonetheless, there is plenty of beauty around, as long as I'm ready to see it.

I find myself to be a rather Romantic person. I am nostalgic and I appreciate an impromptu rendezvous with beauty. I am thrilled with nature's splendor and I wish I could find the camera and the words to do these scenes justice.

Alas, due to human flaw, I fall terribly and unforgivably short, but at least I can hope to find myself in the midst of shortcoming. 

All of these photos are unfiltered and either very mildly edited or not edited at all. So enjoy my phone camera Au Naturel.

This picture is from Mexico, near Rocky Point. I took it last spring (2013) when my friend came with my family to a condo in Mexico for Spring Break. I love watching sea-foam as it is rushed up onto the shore and then left behind when the water recedes—then dissipates so quickly into the sand.

 I'm not really sure where this one's from but something about these bright flowers is so charming. Whenever I see wildflowers I think of summer and immediately a whole swarm of memories is triggered...warm weather, friends, relaxation, reading, old trips and rendezvous...and I get lost in reverie and then everyone around is staring and I'm probably standing in the middle of the sidewalk... Oh the plight of a hopeless Romantic.

I love the blue flowers hiding in the back. Blue is a nice color—not too flashy but hardly boring.

One of the first weeks of summer vacation, 2013, my friend invited me to stay in her neighbor's cabin in Pine Top with her. Well of course I couldn't say 'no' to cooler weather, chill time, gorgeous scenery and lakes to swim in. So we took about a....I-don't-remember-how-long trip and I wasn't disappointed in any of my expectations. The drive up was gorgeous and the weather upon arrival was fantastic—especially compared to the blazing heat of summer in Phoenix! I captured this moment as we sped by on the freeway. I guess the little industrial huddle perched amongst the barely-surviving grasses was too alluring not to photograph. Also, the hills in the background immediately grabbed my attention. I have a weird thing for hills. I don't know, I just like them—inexplicably. The whole time I was in Pine Top, the skies were perfectly blue and the clouds were just gorgeous. I love seeing this scenery because living in the city, we don't get a lot of clear (smog free) skies and boundless open-ness. P.S.—bonus advantage of going to Pine Top: I finished reading Les Mis which I had been working on for a while. 

Since it was Pine Top there were quite a few pine trees. (GASP.) There was this hammock out back and I was overwhelmed while laying there under the bright but not blazing sun. The blue sky, the intricate silhouettes of the trees, the bright sunlight.... I think I already mentioned my hopeless Romanticism. What can I say, it's all unbelievably beautiful. 

The skies in Pine Top were so blue. I really could have cried. (This photo is unfiltered!)

Left: There's nothing like a good iPhone picture of a ghetto building with some birds on it—and I mean that with the least possible sarcasm. There were hundreds of birds on top of this building, on the wires, on the wall and the fence, on the street, in the air, on the air-conditioning fixtures...as soon as we drove up to take a picture, many of them hastily departed. But this picture still displays the whimsy of the birds perched along the wire and the fence. 





Right: This adorable mushroom, which I found in Oregon last summer (2013) on a walk with Sophia, was just so...adorable. It was about 1.5 inches tall and I loved the way it was nestled into the grass. Plus, the cap was sort of rosy but not abnormal or weird or Creepy-Disney-Fairy-Movie-Pinky-Wierd. So much cute in such a small little organism.






I should begin by saying that sometime during 2013 I developed a deep love of the sky. I'm not really sure how it began, probably it was in Pine Top. There's something about the way I feel when I gaze into the open sky. The clouds have dimension, yet the sit in something we can't see or feel. But then the sky looks blue, yet unlike water, you can't reach in and touch the blue. It's just there, all around, but not immediately perceivable by any sense other than sight. How mysterious. How fascinating. How truly endearing and lovable and ponder-worthy. This is the thought process which occupies all of my time driving around to Seminary at 6:15 am, and driving to school at 7:45 am, and staring out the window during math class...er...while I pay very close attention to the lesson of course.......anyway, my point is, the sky looks different every time I look at it, but still there's something eternal about it. I can always count on the sky as the theatre for my sunrises. I can always look to the sky and expect beauty in some form, and comfort in another. The sky always holds me down, anchors me to Earth, yet pulls me gently from reality into some waking dream. It's rather grotesque—if grotesque can simultaneously be wonderful—how lost I can get in the sky.

And there I went on a poetic ramble. I'll have to stop before something weird happens. I'll save the rest of my Romantic Garble for another day...

The crisp edge of this sunrise-rays was sort of awe-inspiring. A beacon over the city's morning.

This may be the most beautiful sunrise I've ever beheld—and I watch the sunrise every day en route to Seminary. The colors alone were other-worldly, and on top of the mere vividness of the spectacle, there was dramatic textural contrast and a marvelous splay of shape and depth...I think Heaven opened up and leaked out a little that day.

This is another of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen. This was actually taken a little later than technically "sunrise" (you can tell by the position of the sun) but nonetheless, I was immediately emotionally paralyzed by the visible rays. Once I stopped, turned, and beheld these glorious rays of sun, which always make me feel a certain Happy when I see them, I had a moment to take the rest of it in: The gentle gradient from gold to silver-blue; The uneven yet mysteriously balanced sprinkling of clouds; The way the clouds thin as the blue becomes more saturated (which reinforces the perfect gradient); The momentarily troubling but quickly endearing palm trees right over the face of the sun; The nuanced edges of clouds lit by the brilliant rays...I'll stop. 

This day, I was riding in the car on the way to who cares where and the skies just kept being perfectly lovely. The clouds were snowy white and precariously puffed, and the sky was as blue as I've seen it in a long while. This particular photo features two Phoenix things which I (being the nostalgic human I am) am sure to miss when I leave: 1) the palm trees lined up along the edge of the road, eager to block my sky (I don't mind too much..) and 2) the edges of the Light Rail station. The Light Rail stations all have interesting shapes and patterns within them such that when they appear against an illuminated background, well, immediate eye candy.

It's a rare day in Phoenix when it rains during the daylight—and an even rarer day when a rainbow appears. This one was little but nonetheless potent enough to brighten my day as I pulled into school. I love the way the purple is so subtle as to almost be lost in the gray clouds. I like to be kind of like that purple stripe—there, in the world, and just present enough to be acknowledged, but not so flamboyant as perhaps orange or yellow as to be the first one to draw the eye of another. 

What would a post about nature and beauty be without my kitty? It certainly wouldn't be quite as cute. Hi, Biscus!

I conclude that this world contains too much beauty for us to even appreciate. And this is all within my own sphere—imagine the adventures waiting just beyond the edge. I am standing here, on the edge of a mental cliff, looking down into endless bliss in natural beauty.