A Class Divided

Today in my diversity class, we watched a movie about a teacher named Jane Elliot that divided her class by blue eyes and brown eyes to help teach them about racism. It was the day after Martin Luther King was shot, she wanted to teach her 3rd graders about what had happened and why. She divided the class by eye color, saying that blue-eyed people were better, and that brown-eyed people were dumb. She made brown-eyed people wear collars, and they weren't allowed the same privelages as the blue-eyed students. She was amazed at how fast these kids changed. That day, the blue-eyed people did better on their tests, and were teasing the brown-eyed kids. The brown-eyed kids had bad test scores, and one kid even punched his best friend since he called him "Brown Eyes."

The next day, she switched roles. She had brown-eyed kids be superior, and the blue-eyed kids lost their privelages. Same result. That day the kids that were treated like they were higher did better in everything, and the kids that were being put down tested badly.

The message of the whole thing was that it is unfair to treat people differently just because they look different. After it was all over, the students all felt closer, and all tested better for the rest of the year. The movie also had a reunion with all the students 14 years later. They all reflected on that lesson and how it had changed thier lives. They also said that there children would never learn racism from them becuase of what they went through in those two days.

The next section was the same woman doing it again as a seminar for a group of adults. In a lot of ways, it was even worse than with the kids. The people bought into it a lot faster, etc... Luckily, they said that they learned the same sorts of things.

It was really an interesting class. We had a little discussion afterwards about using generalizations to sum up an entire group. People were really careful not to attack the different genders, or even the different races, but when he asked a Mormon to say a generalization about non-Mormons the girl said that non-Mormons have a hard time understanding things. That really upset me. My teacher said that religion was going to be a different discussion because it caused some other people tp speak up too. He said that because the most common diversity locally is religion we are going to bring it up later in the class. We will see how it goes.

Killing Time

So, my Photo I class got out early again today, so I am trying to kill some time. I was on time for my Photographing Diversity class today. We talked about the surveys that we took on that website, and then went over the basic controls for cameras. You are supposed to have taken photography before so that he doesn't have to do that, but not everyone in my class has, so it was another review of things that I just learned last semester. I guess it is always good to brush up though, right? Anyways, it also turns out that I got the wrong book for the class, so I ran to the bookstore to get the right one. (Don't feel bad mom! The books have the EXACT same title and cover. I guess they are custom ordered for the chapters inside though, so I needed the one with my actual instructors name on it, and then didn't come in until Satruday, so they weren't there when you went for me anyway.)

Photo I was okay. I did learn a couple new things about my camera that I have been doing anyway, but at least now I know that I am doing them. One example is that I am supposed to be using a matrix setting of light on my camera, meaning that it is monitering the light from several points instead of just one. I already was, but now I know that is what setting my camera was on, and I know how to change it if I ever wanted to. That was about all the new things that I have learned so far today though. We are doing our next assignment in class on digital cameras though, so I will be learning some things there. I might even be able to pass some of it along to you Kjersti!!

I also got my first assingment in my Photographing Diversity class. I need to photograph the people that are inportant in my life. So, everyone, I am going to be taking pictures of all of you for the next two weeks! Okay?!?! (Most of you, since I won't be seeing Wesley or Allie in that time.)

Diversity, Photography and Intro to Writing

I got an AWESOME letter from Kjersti today, which reminded me that some of you like to follow along in my classes with me. I started school again on Wednesday. I was half an hour late for my first class because of the car accident on the freeway. (Danae, I heard that you got stuck in that too.) Anyways, my first class is called Photographing Diversity. It was kind of like a toned down version of Freedom Writers. He had us answer questions by standing up if the question applied to us, such as if we had ever discriminated against a person based on color, or sexual orientation, etc... It was neat. Also, we have to keep a response journal to the things that we discuss in class, but if anything is too personal, we just have to fold down the corner of the pages, and he won't read it. We also will be having class discussions, etc... The only downside I see to this class is that there are only going to be 4 photo assignments. :(

I had about a two hour break between classes since the first day always ends early. In that break I got my parking permit, paid my tuition, got some of my textbooks, got a Student ID card, and ate lunch. I still ended up early for my next class too! My second class for the day is Photography I. I actually knew most of everything that we had to take notes on for the class. Since I already took Intro to Photography, a lot of this class is going to be review for me.

After another two hour break, I went to my Intro to Writing class. My teacher was a little weird and my class was REALLY full. It also wasn't anything like what I was looking forward to. I just want another class like my AP Lit class from high school. I wanted the assigned reading, and essays written about what we had read. Not so much reading out of a text books about the different kinds of essays and then writing them. Oh well. I am sure my essay writing can use some improvements. The best thing for me about this class was actually the getting to know people part of it. I usually hate these, but I actually interviewed a really nice guy in my class. I also learned some really interesting things about my fellow students. One woman was actually a refugee from Rwanda. I thought that was really neat. Another girl in my class helps children that are deaf and blind, etc...

My homework for the week is to go to www.understandingprejudice.com and taking the top two surveys and then the bottom one about finding Hidden Biases. Then, we are supposed to go back and do them again at the end of the class to see how our opinions have changed. For my Photo I class, I am supposed to bring in a picture that inspires me to want to be a photographer. It is supposed to be something professionally done, not something that I, or someone I know, has taken. And then I have to read the first chapter in my Intro to Writing class and write a question without answering it. More as it comes... Love you all!

Copy Cat

5 Things I was Doing 10 Years Ago
1. My best friends were Cyndi and Wendy. We danced in the talent show and created the club the Snoty Sailor Spice Girls.
2. I was notorious for how much I read. Someone bet me that I couldn't finish the Enchanted Forest Chronicles in one week, so I did.
3. I lost friends, and had to learn how to deal with being a non-Mormom in a Mormon community.
4. I caught up with Geoffrey's bully and made it clear that if he wanted to pick on my brother he would have to go through me first.
5. I started taking ice skating lessons and stopped taking piano lessons. I also was playing the Cello in the school orchestra, and spending my recesses helping in the Special Ed class.

5 Things On My To-Do List Today
1. Get the safety and admissions done on my car so I can get it re-registered!!
2. Pay my school tuition that is due on the 30th.
3. Find out where my classes are going to be, getting a parking pass and find out what books I will need since I start school on Wednesday.
4. Go to the grocery store to get more milk, cereal and things to eat at work. I also need to get some new work pants and maybe a new outfit to wear on the first day of school.
5. Write my friends on their missions and finish the audio tapes that I have started for them.

5 Snacks I Enjoy
1. LiveWire Mt. Dew. I am addicted.
2. Chips and Queso
3. Ice cream and ice cream cakes. :)
4. Warm Delights by Betty Crocker
5. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

5 Songs I Know the Lyrics To
I know the lyrics to most songs by Britney Spears, Evanescence and Avril Lavigne, but other ones that I know are:
1. "If Everyone Cared" by Nickelback
2. "World on Fire" by Sarah McLachlan
3. "Beg" by Lisbeth Scott
4. "Breathe Me" by Sia
5. "Fallen Flowers" by Steve McDonald and Holly Smith

5 Things I Would Do If I were A Millionaire
1. Finish school
2. Create my own business taking wedding pictures and making wedding cakes.
3. Help my mom get her hotel, and the coffee shop my sisters want to run.
4. Travel the world
5. Get an assortment of nice cameras, both film and digital, to be able to take the perfect picture no matter the circumstances. I also would want a nice computer to be able to store all my pictures on, etc...

5 Bad Habits
1. I buy movies. And buy more movies. And then buy some more movies. I buy movies if I am in a bad mood, or if I know I like them and it is the first day that they have come out. I have to have movies NOW but then might not watch them for months.
2. I am addicted to LiveWire Mt. Dew and get a caffeine headache if I go too long without drinking it.
3. I am always on the computer checking e-mails, blogs, MySpace and Facebook hoping for contact with people that I haven't seen in a while.
4. I will stay up WAY too late watching Alias, LOST or any of my other T.V. addictions with Kjersti, Jay and Geoffrey.
5. I love being dependable, but sometimes that means a lot of sacrifice on my personal time to help take care of work issues.

5 Favorite Toys
1. My Camera
2. My Cell Phone
3. My Mom's Computer
4. My Car
5. My DVD Player.

4 Jobs I've Had
1. Ice Cream Scooper, Cake Decorator, Shift Leader/ makeshift Manager at Baskin Robbins
2. Ticket and concessions seller at Century 16
3. Various babysitting jobs for neighbors and family members
4. House cleaner/gardiner for Margie Weed

4 Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
First off, this REALLY isn't fair since I have over 500 movies and I can only pick 4 movies!!
1. Dangerous Beauty
2. Anne of Green Gables
3. Lord of the Rings
4. V for Vendetta

4 Places I've Lived
1. Bountiful, UT
2. North Salt Lake, UT
3. Baskin Robbins and
4. Baskin Robbins

4 Shows I Enjoy
1. Alias
2. LOST
3. America's Next Top Model
4. Xena


4 Places I've Been On Vacation
1. New York City, New York.
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
4. Orlando, Florida

4 Favorite Restaurants
1. Olive Garden
2. Red Lobster
3. P.F. Changs
4. Training Table

Dentist

One of my teeth has been hurting me lately, and it has been over a year since I last went to the dentist. I have had three root canals already, and this tooth is starting to feel like those others. To check to see if I was right, I got a piece of ice and put it on my tooth. If your teeth are alive, this really hurts them. However, my tooth doesn't respond to ice at all. Since Kjersti had a dentist appointment with Dr. Hazen, I decided to go and see him too. I originally went in to make an appointment to get a root canal done, or at least fill the cavity before it got to the point of needing a root canal. Dr. Hazen had just finished with a patient, so he took me right in back and gave me an x-ray and found nothing wrong with my tooth. As we were waiting for the second picture to be developed, he was just looking at my teeth and couldn't see anything wrong with them. He did the ice test on me, and I still can't feel the ice. The second x-ray came back and... nothing. No cavity. He did find a canker sore way down on my lower gums, so he gave me a softer tooth brush to help fix that, but otherwise, he can't find anything wrong with me. I have a full check-up scheduled in a couple of weeks and I am supposed to let him know if anything becomes worse.

I heard someone crying... maybe it was me.

I was invited to go to the play the Secret Garden tonight. It was fantastic! I loved the movie, I loved the ballot, and this is the first time that I have seen the play. I really, really enjoyed it. The singing was amazing, and I loved how they added in the people in the frames. There weren't any dancing doors and no one played the sparrow like in the ballot, but it was very well done. They had a revolving/elevating floor and the theater looked like an amphitheater. Anyways, it was cool, and I would recommend it to anyone that would want to go see it! The little girl actress that played Mary was amazing too. I think that my next step should be to read the Secret Garden book. Then I will know what the real version is since all the others are variations of the same story. Oh, and the title of my blog is my favorite song from the play... in case you guys didn't recognize it.

"Felicitations On Your Grand Match"

Tasha and Nathan got married on Saturday! Here are some of the pictures I took of their wedding:
















And then Geoffrey was kind enough to come along with me and also take some pictures:

Getting Ready for Tasha's Wedding

Again, these pictures were taken by Torrie. She also helped me do my hair and picked out the outfit for me to wear up to the temple. My pictures will come later!

V for Vendetta

I love this speech. So I am going to share it with all of you!

"Viola! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However the valorous visitation of the by-gone vexation, stands viviified and has vowed to vanquish these vanal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition."

Last Girl's Night for Tasha

So, even though I had been really worried about it, the party I threw for Tasha turned out great. I got my apartment all cleaned up and looking like I live there, got the food, the cake, and had people over. We watched movies, munched on candy and ice cream cake, talked and took pictures. I had a lot of fun and thought that the whole thing went really smoothly. I had a good time.








(Torrie is actually the one that took all of these picture. I stole them from her until I can get the film developed from my camera.)

Creating a Masterpiece

I have made some delicious cakes:


Party cakes:


Elegant Cakes:






But, I think that the best cake I have ever made is the one that I made for Tasha's Last Girl's Night Party that I am going to be throwing for her at my apartment tomorrow night. Here is Tasha's cake:

Tasha's Announcement

I took two of these pictures!! :) I took the big one, and the one on top of the three smaller ones.

The Kami Dance

This is for Kjersti: