What Would You Do?

thebeigegirl

“What Would You Do” – It’s my favorite American TV show.

The show is about exactly what its name states.

It sets up very dramatic situations, involves ordinary people in them, and watches their reactions to the dilemmas given, with the hidden cameras rolling.

It usually deals with serious social issues, and a lot of its episodes have unexpected touching results, in which people step up and take action without hesitation in order to do the right thing.

However, in this particular episode, the result surprised me in a quite different way.

It takes place at a family restaurant in Utah, where African-Americans take up only 0.05% of its population.

In this scenario, a white girl introduces her black boyfriend to her father. Unlike what she expects, the father rejects her boyfriend because of his race.

Photo Credit: http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhXRzRC5V9z2W581wF

As she rushes out of the restaurant with her boyfriend, an old lady sitting next to his table talks to the father. “I am with you,” She says. “I think they should stay with their own.”

A woman behind her, nodding in agreement, is brought to tears.

“I have a daughter,” She tells her story in a shaky voice. “She has a friend that’s black… I told her, “He’s fine to be your friend, you are never going to get involved with him…” They were just friends, but… I worried about that.”

Then, the old lady adds her racist comment: “A pretty girl like her would pick something like that.”

Photo Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UuEegi4Ojo

Trying not to get emotional about her cutting comments, dying inside, the actor keeps the conversation going, asking if he is wrong.

“I was very proud of you,” The old lady responds. “Because that’s a shock to anybody.”

When the reporter of the show, John Quiñones, shows up in the restaurant, explains her about the show, and interviews her, the old lady tells us about her strong belief.

“I’m sorry,” She says. “If you are white, you are white. If you are colored, you go with colored people. And keep it in your family. Don’t put it in somebody else’s.”

She ends her comments with another incomprehensible statement: “It’s alright if you are a Mexican person, they are still white people,” She explains. “But black people and white people, no. I’m sorry, it breaks my heart.”

Finally, Quiñones introduces the man who acted a black boyfriend to the old lady. As they shake their hands, the guy asks her for a hug.

To my surprise, as she gives him a hug, she says, “You know, but I just think we should stay with our own, don’t you?”

This Episode shocked me. I thought racism was dead in America.

As an international student in California, I never considered rejecting an interracial couple as an option.

I heard of the word, “colored people,” for the first time in my life when I was studying To Kill a Mockingbird in my English class. Also, I was surprised when I learned that the setting of the story was within less than a hundred years.

Some people might think that racism no longer exists in America. However, for a lot of people, racism is still a big issue in their lives. A big chunk of generations was taught to be racist in its youth.

Now, the real question is, how should we react to this issue?

The episode ends with an interview with the African-American actor.

Quiñones asks, “She even hugged you. How did that feel?”

“Very weird, but I believe in people,” the actor answers. “I wanted her to know that, no matter what she thought, I was still going to shake her hand and I was still going to hug her because that’s how I am.”

Homecoming

happyrose15
Photo Credit: reflector.uindy.edu

This past weekend many schools held their homecoming dances and games.

A time in the year when school show their spirit and during their dances the student body dresses up and post on Instagram how they got asked to this “magical” night, most likely to spark a flame of jealousy into their hundreds of followers.

Photo Credit: twitter.com

At OVS we don’t have homecoming, for a couple of reasons.

First, we don’t have
a football team making those ever so famous homecoming scenes, where the home team pulls through when their star player is injured and the water boy ends up making the game winning touch down – impossible for us to recreate.

Next, we are a school of less than 200 people so it makes little sense to have a dance where only twenty people who really want to be there.

Homecoming is a time when of the student body comes together as a community and shows their dedication to their school, but since OVS is already such a tight-knit community we don’t need a dance or a sports event to bring us together.

 

Gender Bias

paris22Leave a comment

There is a strong double standard in today’s culture.

For a woman, it is considered “improper” to show as little as show her bra strap. Yet, I see multiple men and boys sagging their pants, walking around shirtless, and more.

Most people today, including myself, don’t give it much thought when this happens. It’s normal for a guy to be able to show most of his body, while a woman is reprimanded or judged for showing a strap on their shoulder. 

CBS wrote a very interesting article about the dress codes in work places, and the “dress codes” seem to transition into people’s personal lives too.

There also seems to be an uproar when a woman asserts herself in her career and lays down the law, and she may be called some less than polite words.

I’m not calling anyone out here, or placing blame. But, the expectation for how men present themselves is, in some cases, much lower than the expectation for women.

Gender Inequality

Of course, this double standard goes both ways. Men aren’t expected to be emotional or sensitive, and in some cultures, are judged for it.

Men are also though of as “weak” if he is a stay at home dad, does the laundry, or cooks dinner because it is thought to be a woman’s role.

Why should the public be able to judge two different genders completely differently, on the same subject, and have it be thought of as OK?

Reunited at Last

hubbabubba98

There once was a little Korean girl living in an orphanage and an American soldier who was stationed in South Korea.

This soldier fell in love with this little girl and decided that she was meant to be a part of his family back home.

The little girl excited to start a new life didn’t understand that she would be leaving her home and her three older siblings for a new life.

Photo Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/

The little girl returned back to the United States with the solider, ready to meet her new family. She became the fifth member of this new family, leaving her past behind.

She wasn’t necessarily welcomed with open arms to her new family. Her new mother was unsure about the adoption and her new brother and sister also adopted, acted as if she was the only adopted one due to her ethnicity.

As she got older, her childhood memorize faded and she made new ones. Over the years she became incredibly close with her new father. When she was nine he passed away, leaving her alone with her mother and two siblings.

The girl, not so little anymore, grew up into an amazing young woman. She graduated college, danced professionally, got a good job, married and eventually had two daughters of her own.

Photo Credit: http://img4.wikia.nocookie.ne

Years had passed since her second daughter had been born when she received a letter in the mail from Holt Adoption Agency. This letter was from the agency that was responsible for her adoption, saying that her Korean family was looking for her.

A month later she flew to Korea to meet her family.

It is now 2015 and her family is visiting her in America for the second time.

Urban Exploration

instalockerLeave a comment
Photo credit to startribune.com

Just the other day I was browsing some dank memes on Reddit.

I got really bored so I went to “reddit.com/r/random/” which directs the user to a random subreddit.

After three attempts I finally stumbled upon a decent-looking subreddit that I had never even heard of: /r/urbanexploration.

I spent the rest of my evening on that subreddit. The subreddit is dedicated to exploring ruins in urban areas. It’s all about people’s findings of abandoned monuments frozen in time.

Spanning from secret basement doorways that lead to a massive tunnel system that were likely used by Al Capone, to old Yugoslavian monuments from the 1960s.

Photo credit to Michael Mehrhoff

The subreddit is mostly crap, but every few posts is an amazing story. The stories are really just a bunch of captioned pictures in the order of their findings.

My favorite was the post titled “Bad Ass Bunker.” The album is a series of 31 pictures with detailed captions.

The person who explored the bunker was visiting his old friend in northern Germany, which was formerly GDR.

They found a massive bunker. Some of it was already explored and had been tagged by teens. But the further and deeper they went, the more they found.

Eventually, the bunker was flooded and they had to turn back.

Photo credit to Johnny Joo

Urban explorers find a thrill in going through these abandoned buildings. Some even travel around the world.

They love it because the building tells a story and they get to be the ones to figure it out. Like what is this place, who was here, why was it abandoned?

Urban explorers are each like a modern-day Indiana Jones. Some of the explorers are photographers that actually take photos of abandoned places for a living.

Photo credit to Daniel Barter

For those who want to get started, the subreddit is a great place to get advice and learn of new locations.

Keep in mind, in most cases breaking into abandoned places is trespassing, and a lot of people on the subreddit have been arrested.

But there are websites that can be found on the subreddit that help avoid this issue.

Have you tried it?

thericemuncherLeave a comment

Some people believe that horseback riding is easy, that all you do is sit on the horse and it works for you.

Let me tell you from experience that horseback riding is not an easy thing to do.

Now, before I continue on why horseback riding is so difficult – let me explain my interest.

As a junior, I decided to try something different.

So I enrolled in my schools equestrian program; specifically the Western riding program.

Being that there was just one other male in equestrian before I joined – many students thought that it was a more feminine sport.

Now, let me prove that thought wrong.

First of all, riding is based on the idea that a rider, who weighs no more than 300 pounds, is trusting his 1000 plus pounds of pure mass to carry him.

Granted, most riders do trust their horses – accidents happen and riders fall. It’s basically guaranteed in horseback riding.

Photo Credit: “www.dauphinhorsemanship.com”

It also requires skill and patience. According to The Top Tens, horseback riding is definitely one of the hardest sports.

Like most sports, horseback riding can’t just be learned form a video or from books. Where horseback riding differs from other sports is that the rider needs to feel and understand every movement the horse makes underneath him.

If you’re riding Western like I am then the rider has to control his horse with the shift of body weight, leg positioning, and precise touches to the reigns. One wrong move and you can end up on the ground.

Photo Credit: “static1.squarespace.com”

There are so many details to horseback riding, not including all the other styles, that I just can’t get into it in this blog.

Point being, don’t judge a sport by what is looks like, find out for yourself and you might just enjoy it.

 

 

Tim Burton

beetlejus

Tim Burton has always been my favorite director. 

From the first time I saw Nightmare Before Christmas I knew I loved his style.   Burton’s dark and quirky genre of film has attracted many fans, including me, over the years.

The thing that always appealed to me about his work, is that no matter how dark the colors and the characters may be, the movie always seems so bright. 

Take Edward Scissorhands, for example. This movie terrified me the first time I saw it, 7-year-old me would cling to my mother at the sight of a transformed Johnny Depp.

As I got older, I began to look past the frightening front of this movie to the much deeper meaning found in it. 

Edward Scissorhands was much more than a bizarre story about a man with scissors for hands.  It was about isolation and self discovery, and I learned so much from it. 

Movies have always been a constant in my life. 

Whenever I was sad, angry or just felt alone, the eccentric and beautiful characters of Tim Burton would fill me with laughter and joy. 

I related to his characters so deeply – so much they’ve almost became apart of me.

In my life, I’ve always been considered an outsider, I’ve done my own thing and been happy while doing it. 

When I started high school things began to change.  If you weren’t like every other girl in the school you were suddenly weird. 

Not fitting in is an age-old story, especially for teenage girls, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.  I was different, and I knew that, except suddenly it didn’t feel so great.

 Naturally, I turned the imagination of Tim Burton.  His characters are almost always outsiders, look at Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice or Sally from Nightmare before Christmas. 

These two outsiders both have huge hearts and make a difference to the people around them.  That’s what I strive to be. 

While I know I’ll probably never be a Tim Burton character (though Tim if you’re reading this, call me), I know, no matter how weird or different I may be, I can make a difference.

And that’s what I’ve learned from Tim Burton.

https://d2fzf9bbqh0om5.cloudfront.net/var/www/apps/rebelsmarket/production/current/public/system/blog/post_pictures/data/content/1000.jpg
Photo Credit to: http://www.d2fzf9bbqh0om5.cloudfront.net

 

Power Outage

raining17Leave a comment

It’s interesting how a slight parting from your routine can make such a large impact on your daily lifestyle.

There was construction work being done on Sunday, and the power was out on the OVS Upper Campus from 8-4.

I can probably speak for the all the boarders and say that it was less than convenient – who doesn’t love a lazy Sunday morning, laying in bed and watching a movie.

But as the day went on, there was a tangible change of atmosphere, as students came together and learned how to overcome the change.

Photo Credit: parisapartment.files.wordpress.com

I, for one, spent more time with friends than I would otherwise. A group of friends and I ordered some pizza and sat around talking and laughing.

Fast forward a few hours when I went into the girls dorm lounge. Instead of seeing the five or so that usually hang out there, at least 20 people were there – talking, playing board games and spending time outside.

Photo Credit: http://www.cliparthut.com

Sunday happened to be a rare rainy day, and due to the drought, Californians tend to get pretty excited whenever the sky opens up.

It was pouring, and there were kids dancing in the rain, listening to music and throwing water at each other. While the excitement stemmed from the water, this would be much less likely to happen if video games or movies were options.

Just from the lack of power, kids began spending more time together, playing games and doing more activities together. A simple change of lifestyle spurred new customs, and a whole new vibe on campus.

American Airlines Craziness

mushuoo

Two major events have struck American Airlines this week. Lets recap:

Photo Credit: upload.wikimedia.org 

Today, October 5th, at 7:10 am American Airlines flight 550 landed in New York mid-flight for the last reason anyone would expect: the pilot passed away mid-flight, the name of the pilot and cause has not been announced.

During the flight, the pilot became unresponsive, at which point the co-pilot took over and was able to safely land the plane in Syracuse, its original destination was Boston.

This unfortunate event was completely unforeseen, thank goodness the co-pilot was proactive and able to get all 147 passengers to ground safely.

Next event. American Airlines flight 31 departed from Los Angeles with a full house, Hawaii bound.

Little known fact that the Airbus A321s was not certified to fly over the Pacific Ocean. This aircraft was no correctly equipped to fly over the Pacific.

Luckily, the aircraft made it safely to Hawaii. The plane was later flown back to LAX with the minimum amount of crew on board.

Thankfully both of these incidents left no passengers harmed… just a bit shaken.

Conformity: the Social Evil?

thebeigegirl

All of us can easily find an example of conformity in our lives.

However, it is depicted as destructive and discouraging most of the time. Why does it have such a negative connotation?

After World War 2, when the men came back from the army and had become accustomed to community solidarity and conformity, a heavy social atmosphere was created, in which non-conformists were often treated as social outcasts.

However, such an unstable social atmosphere, which eventually built the limit to individual creativity and freedom, was soon criticized, and conformity was considered as a factor of it.

Published in 1948, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson gives an extreme example of an indoctrination. In “The Lottery,” as an old custom, a town annually holds a lottery, of which the winner receives a brutal death by his close neighbors and families.

However, no one knows the purpose of the murder or questions it.

Illustrating the townspeople’s insensitivity to the tradition’s cruelty and irrationality under conformity pressure, Jackson shows the perils of people being conformists without thinking critically about the consequences.

As individuality and freedom have been highly respected in the 21st century, in 2015, conformity does not oppress people as much.

Rather, unlike its general impression, it might have some positive influence on people while they do not recognize it.

Conformity can reduce the new kinds of social pressure. For example, a lot of teenagers distress themselves thinking about how to express themselves as outstanding individuals.

They worry about their looks constantly, and those of who are not able to follow the trends often feel very insecure about themselves. Wearing uniforms, which is viewed as a form of conformity these days, can change the pressure to a sense of fitting in.

Photo Credit: https://drafthouse.com/movies/mean-girls-quote-along/austin

Conformity can create a culture. Since humans are highly socialized animals, they constantly build their cultures as they interact with each other.

Today, information floods, and things change fast. New technologies are developed every day, and unfamiliar trends spread all over the globe in one day.

Therefore, people who cannot catch up with the fast-changing trends might feel lost in society.

Then, conformity can function as a standard; it offers people opportunities to stay in the majority without particularly standing out.

It is true that conformity created a great social pressure in the past. However, as our society has changed a lot, it is important look at it from a different viewpoint.

Conformity can have some good effects on our society unlike its negative impression.