Fallen Angel

Cruising altitude.

Darkness covers the sky,

the city below just an ant farm,

decorated with Christmas lights.

I fly as if I’d been born with these wings,

these pearly white propellers of flight.

Barrel rolls and dives and turns,

making even the most exhilarating roller coaster jealous.

How am I so lucky

To receive this gift of flight?

Hovering above my leg ridden companions,

Soaring through the air with the best of them.

But like a gambler out of luck,

This joy ride soon came to an end.

My coveted wings vanished,

Inexplicably,

Inevitably,

The ants got bigger,

The lights,

brighter.

I’d probably still be falling,

if it weren’t for the ground below.

I opened my eyes

to the sound of my own screaming.

Man wasn’t meant to fly.

Susan Bordo Blog

Rohlinger, Deanna A. "Eroticizing Men: Cultural Influences on Advertising and Male Objectification" Sex Roles. Vol 46. Nos 3/4. 2002

In the article, Eroticizing Men: Cutural Influences on Advertising and Male Objectification describes how men have slowly become portrayed in sexual contexts in advertisements. Before, it was just women who were the subjects of such ads, and now, as the buying power of the homosexual community is being recognized, men are being portrayed the same way. This article provides the evidence of the increase of such ads, evidence that Susan Bordo could use to prove her point even more about the increase in male objectivity in today's advertisements.

DFW "Address to Kenyon College"

“JJ, how do you stay so calm? How do you not let things piss you off?” A friend asks of my reserved demeanor in reaction to a penalty called on me during a football game.

                “Well, think about the situation and ask yourself, what can you do about it? You know, how can you react? And how will the situation respond to your reaction?” It’s hard, but for the most part, that is how I think. In that specific circumstance, reacting, or complaining about the call would have done absolutely nothing. I have never seen a ref change his mind on a call because of what a player or coach says to him. It would have been a waste of time and energy on both of our parts. I would not have gained anything from the encounter, and so I just walked away.

                I’m driving on the highway with a buddy of mine and a car swerves in front of me from my right hand side. I slam on my brakes and brace for impact, but it never comes. The car speeds ahead without incidence. My friend reaches over and honks the horn. He looks at me and asks, “Why didn’t you do anything?” My response, “I pressed the brakes, what else could I have done to change anything?” We continue driving, eventually passing the “wrongdoer.” My friend raises his middle finger to the driver: to each his own.

I haven’t always been this way; in fact, when I was younger I was quite the troublemaker, reacting to things immediately and usually in a way that was followed by serious repercussion. My “default setting” seemed to be just a little more primal than most my age. Without going through too much detail, one day my mother got through to me (or maybe it was the leather belt?), and I decided to change, to change the way I acted by thinking before I acted, disciplining myself, and making myself aware of both how myself and others were affected by the choices I made. It’s almost cliché but now I approach anger with laughter, toughness with kindness, and hate with love.

It’s a tough process. It’s a process that takes time, a process that takes patience, a process that I’ve been working on for a long time. It has almost become second-nature, but I’m not going to lie, I do slip up every now and then. Sometimes I do revert back to my “default setting”, but when I do, I make note of it. I look back at the circumstances and ask myself how my reaction could’ve been different and if I could’ve somehow guided the situation into a better outcome. It’s a process that isn’t used enough in today’s world.

In today’s world, it’s pretty tough to pull this off because there are so many times that you’re put in a situation where you’re not given time to think; sometimes you’re not even given the option to think. “Give me the first word that comes to your head.” I’m sure everyone has been in situation where they were asked what happened. What went wrong? And their response has been, “I don’t know, I just kind of acted, I wasn’t really thinking.” Pause.

Take the time to think for a second, you might be surprised by the outcome.

Acrophobia

I Inhale deeply.

Exhale.

My breath visible,

ghostly.

I glance up at the sky,

clear.

The whitest flakes of snow

float softly down from above,

disappearing below my numb feet.

Goosebumps and a shiver,

Is it from the fear or from the cold?

Voices.

I can’t discern the shouts from below.

My name?

Are they beckoning me?

Trying to stop me?

I’ve already come this far.

I take one more deep breath.

The cold air hurts my lungs.

My eyelids shut out my surroundings.

I leap forward.

Icy air rushes past me,

freezing my body,

time,

everlasting.

.           .           .

Splash.

Icy waters swallow my body whole.

My head breaks the surface.

With one final deep breath,

I inhale accomplishment,

exhale fear.

The "Banking" Concept of Education

The “Banking” concept of education is, as I have interpreted, sit down, be quiet, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know. Students go to class, listen to their instructor for an hour, and they’re on to the next “teacher,” someone to fill them up with knowledge that they do not quite understand. But somehow it’s okay because they know all the information they need to know to do well on next week’s exam. What about life?

I mean, our goal as human beings is ultimately to succeed at life and be happy, right? Whether that means making six figures, having a Mercedes-Benz and a big house or becoming a grade school teacher because you just love kids, we all aim to be happy. And while we are taught that if you do well in school, you will succeed, I cannot count how many times people have told me, “once I got to the workforce, they told me to forget everything I learned, it’s no use here.” We are taught to take exams, to spit back information by bubbling in fifty little circles on a piece of paper. But we as people do not just walk around regurgitating information we learned for a test. Rather, we apply, we adapt, we are constantly taking in information from our environment and we use that information to affect that environment. It’s a lot different than just filling out a scantron.

In my time spent here at the University of Florida, I have got to say that my most interesting classes, and the ones I learned the most from, have been the ones where I have had my hands in the curriculum: my labs. To this day I can take a random person, gather information about them, perform some baseline exercise tests, and design and administer a workout plan for them, because in my Exercise Prescription class, we spent hours doing hands-on simulations, experience that prepared me for real life situations, not a test. Until our professors and instructors start preparing us accordingly, life will be our best teacher.

C.S.J.

We greeted with a handshake,

unsure if more was appropriate.

It felt as if I were gripping sandpaper.

I had always said I’d find him someday,

but this is not what I had imagined.

I remember welcoming hugs,

and hearty laughter.

I remember being tossed into the air,

knowing with all my heart he’d catch me.

I remember the tickle monster,

who was relentless with his attack,

always bringing me to the brink of wetting myself.

I remember thinking this is who I want to be when I grow up.

But now,

His choice of cologne?

Whiskey.

His full head of thick black hair,

now receding

with the grays beating out the blacks for territorial dominance.

His once infectious smile,

now infected.

White, black, white, white, black.

He did always like to play the piano.

I should have left him lost,

is this what I’m destined to become?