With SATs only a couple days away, only one question has constantly tainted my mind.
Where do I want to go to college?
These last several months I thought I was certain that NYU was the only school for me. I would apply early decision, and then I’d wait to see whether I’d be accepted to the university of my dreams. There, I’d immerse myself into the greatest city in the world. I’d study journalism or political science on a pre-law track. I’d study in artsy coffee shops with a group of my best friends during early mornings, and I’d go to Times Square during late nights. I couldn’t imagine a better city to spend the next several years of my life.
It’s been my dream since I was a little girl.
But the more I thought about it, was that really what I wanted? Yes… Well, maybe. I thought so.
I thought I was ready to leave all my friends and family on the west coast.
I thought I was ready to leave my horses behind while I blindly chased my dreams in the biggest city in the world. I never wanted anything more in my life. My horse would be waiting for me when I came back. He’d understand. I have dreams I need to follow.
But was I ready to go from the small towns I’ve known my whole life to the crowded, noise deafening streets of NYC? I dream about it every night. I dream about never being bored; never running out of exciting ways to spend my nights, even in the most minimalistic ways.
Was I ready to move from a small, rural school with only 120 students, to a large university with over 20,000 students? Yes. I want to walk onto my campus and see a new face I’ve never seen before. I want to meet a new person with a completely different life than mine, and I want to learn from them. I want to be in a place so large I can meet a new person everyday, where I can learn a new thing about a new topic from a new person everyday. I want to be another face in the crowd, but I also want the outlet where I can become a memorable face in that same crowd I merely pass through.
But was I ready to give up everything I’ve known my whole life? The only thing I’ve known my whole life? I don’t know.
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I thought I knew. I always liked being the one in my friend group who could proudly say I had my whole future planned out, but now I don’t know. I can’t tell if I’m willing to settle for FaceTiming my friends instead of seeing them face to face. How could I possibly give up horseback riding for months at a time? The one passion that has made me excited for the end of the day. The passion I have put hours of tears, sweat, and money into in return for infinite feelings of happiness and an invaluable bond with another animal.
I thought I had the answers to all the questions I’m asking myself right now, but I realized I don’t, and there’s still so many questions that I haven’t even started comprehending yet.
What I do know is that I’m ready for college. As much as I love OVS for shaping me into the person I am today, I’m ready for a new chapter in my life. I may only be a junior, but I’m ready to go out on my own and find out my purpose in this world. Maybe I’ll find out NYU won’t be the school for me, or maybe I’ll find out that there’s no better match, but I’ll find that out sooner or later.
I know who the love of my life is. But I haven’t met him yet.
I know that he will love music and maybe play the guitar and we’ll both know how to speak Spanish. He will want to travel the world and he will care about conserving resources and the environment.
He’ll be intelligent and insightful and probably a democrat.
My parents will love him and he will get along with my brothers.
When I ask him to go on a road trip at 2 P.M. on a Saturday he will pack a bag and we’ll be driving by 3. He’ll like being outside. He’ll be good at climbing trees.
image via pinterest.com
We will have long discussions about the fate of the world and we’ll never get bored. He’ll know exactly what to say and exactly what not to say.
He will love the beach and will make me laugh until I cry.
We will listen to each other. He will dance with me in the living room, even if there’s no music.
I don’t know his name and I don’t know exactly what he looks like.
But I know he’s out there. I just hope he finds me, and that I’m the one he’s looking for.
The audience hushes as the red, velvet curtains slowly open. There is only a single, shining light poised on a girl. Her tight ringlets framing her face fall out of her rigid ballerina bun. Her soft, lilac dress glistens in the beam. Her big, green eyes glitter.
With a fast, sharp note from a hidden violin, the girl raises, kicking her leg straight in the air, while rotating her pointed foot, still on the ground. Her pointe shoes move in a flurry, fluttering left and right across the stage.
A minute later, her feet finally meet in a plié, as she bows and scurries off the stage. I am the first to stand up and cheer for the girl, my daughter. I meet her smiling face in the hallway, after the performance, bringing her into a warm embrace and handing her an outrageous bouquet of white roses. My eyes well up at the sight of her. I snap a picture to remember this moment.
My pride and joy. My little girl. My partner in crime. My little ball of sunshine.
Photo Credit: pinterest.com
I cannot see into the future, see what job I’ll have, see where I’ll call home. My crystal ball is currently out of order. However, I’ve never seen my life without a child, without a family. I can’t see all the holidays, filled with scrumptious meals and plenty of presents, without a husband and daughter; the winter days with warm sugar cookies fresh out of the oven; crudely-drawn crayon masterpieces covering the fridge and the Polaroids of every little moment lining the hallways.
I dream of my son asking someone to go to prom, my daughter’s soccer team going to play-offs. I can see my son going on tippy-toes to shove a bundle of Christmas cards into the mail, snow falling on his button nose, turning his skin pink. I want to help my daughter learn to walk in heels, laughing as she trips over her own feet.
I see this future as I write letters to my future children, as I jot down names in my phone. I see it in the pride in my uncle’s eyes as he saw his daughter graduate college. I see my future in the plethora of Facebook posts from my aunt.
So, I don’t know what my future holds, nor do I want to. Maybe I’ll score a job as an astronaut or an author, but I do know that what I want, more than anything, is a family of my own that I can celebrate the news with.
I collect memories in my head like a child picks up change off the pavement.
A visual: Boy walks home on the sidewalk, making sure to hop over every crack in the pavement. He spots a penny, examines it between two pinched fingers and deems the coin a lucky charm, then stuffs it into a pocket for safekeeping.
Photo Credit: FiveCentNickel.com
Change, what a funny thing it is.
I often find myself reminiscing on the past. In some ways I guess that could be a good thing, looking back on old memories. Mostly though it just makes me sad.
Photos, journals, memories, they all hit you with this bittersweet nostalgia. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, just to relive a particular day.
Over the past few years I’ve made connections with different people, some of whom I’ve come to genuinely care about and love. Sometimes I look at some of them and wonder if in ten years I’ll still remember their face, name, or the reason why I was friends with them. It sucks, but the fact is that for a lot of them I probably won’t.
Maybe I’m afraid of change. The more I think about the past the more it makes me dread the future. I wish it wouldn’t go by so fast. I don’t want more of my friends to graduate. I don’t want to get older. But they will; I will.
I can’t control time, no one can. So I guess all I can do is take it in while I can. The good, the bad, and everything in between.
A memory: Last night I was eating dinner with four friends. I hold an imaginary camera out in front of my face and pose, making fun of the boy sitting at the end of the table. “Hey,” he says, “you have to squint your eyes more if you want it to be accurate.” A hand smacks down on top of the table, legs kick out in front of chairs, a forefinger pushed against pursed lips reprimands us for the eruption of shrieks and giggles. We laugh so hard that our stomachs ache and tears spill out of our eyes.
I hope that I’ll remember that moment, even though it’s sort of insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But, hey, it’s the little things that count, right?
In that moment I realized that I have some wonderful, genuine people in my life, and I’m so lucky to be able to call them my best friends.
A piece of advice (for myself and whoever might be reading this): Keep picking up all the pennies you find, even if they don’t seem lucky. Everyone can use a little spare change.
Last weekend I saw a psychic, because for one, she was having a $15 special, (which has been in effect for about as long as I can remember) and also out of pure curiosity. So, my best friend Leila and I walked into the little yellow house with a psychic sign out front.
When we walked in, there was quite a bit of commotion. A little boy had a chihuahua on a leash, the chihuahua was jumping up our legs, and the psychic brought a shirt to a mysterious man in the bathroom.
The $15 special gave me two questions to ask the psychic, and the answers she gave me were startlingly accurate regarding what was happening in my life. On top of that, Leila and I gave her no background information whatsoever. She did not know our names, or anything about us. The answers she gave Leila were a bit suspicious in her opinion, but every answer the psychic gave us was detailed and full of confidence. I’m still not sure if there are legitimate psychics, but this experience was quite interesting.
Following Trump’s win in last night’s presidential election, about half of the country is in complete distress. Now, most women, people of color, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and other oppressed people are starting to fear for themselves and their futures with the reality of a completely Republican-controlled government. But, those minorities didn’t take a complete step back. Five strong, capable women were voted into various positions, all of whom are hopefully the first of many.
Photo Credit: www.latimes.com
Kamala Harris was elected as California’s Senate representative. Along with that, she has been Attorney General of her state since 2011. She is the second black woman to ever be in the US Senate and the first ever woman to be California’s Attorney General. This comes as a huge accomplishment, especially because both her parents were immigrants – originally from Jamaica and India.
Photo Credit: latino.foxnews.com
Former Attorney General of Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto became the United States’ first ever Latina Senator. She is representing Nevada in the Senate. This wasn’t a small feat: as the granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant, she had a tough battle defeating her opponent, Republican Joe Heck.
Ilhan Omar became the nation’s first Somali-American lawmaker, when she was elected as a State Representative for Minnesota. She is a fantastic role model for young East African girls, who she actively empowers, working as the director of Women Organizing Women Network. Her win is a bright sign for all her fellow refugees as she symbolizes hope for women who want to be in politics.
Kate Brown made a wave of change as the United States’ first openly LGBT governor, when she became Oregon’s 38th Governor. She is an activist not only for LGBT rights, but she also wants to see reform in gun control, women’s rights, and clean energy. In a speech she made about a month ago, she opened up about why she was running. “If I can be a role model for one young person that decides that their life is worth living because there’s someone like them in the world, it’s worth it,” she said.
Last, but certainly not least, Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq war, became Illinois’s new Senator. Born in Bangkok, this former Hawaiian resident defeated Republican Mark Kirk. Her choice to join the army was probably influenced by her former marine father, Frank Duckworth. Her win marks almost the 12th year since she lost both her legs in a plane crash when fighting in the Iraq war.
So, no matter how you feel about the outcome of this election, I think these women deserve some recognition. Their successes show that even when women are put down, ridiculed, or deemed weak and undeserving, we still prevail. I’m glad that these women (and other women) will be representing who I could be, if I work hard and believe in my capabilities. These women are the future of our nation.
Over the course of 200,000 years, Homo Sapiens have managed to disintegrate every other Sapien including Neanderthals who lived on the Earth 20 million years, but does anyone weep for the Neanderthal?
New technologies and discoveries have been opened to humanity, allowing mass agriculture to large machines that run off of electricity. We harvest electricity from intricate devices that we’ve developed to harness the world and even the sun. This is all considered human progress, but where could the next frontier be?
Last year a new technology has allowed us to push forward humanity further than ever before, to the extent of even seeming science fiction.
Crispr, simply explained, is a DNA archive saved in each cell that is more easily programmable due to its powerful protein Cas-9 which edits DNA. Before the discovery of Crispr, genetic engineering required years to perform and very deep pockets. Now it’s 99% cheaper and only takes a few weeks in an ordinary lab.
Soon new generations of Crispr will be innovated and gene modifying will become even cheaper allowing people in ordinary labs to genetically enhance anything. So sooner or later it will have an effect on everyone. For instance genetically modified food already exists but now it’ll be far easier to create new strains of crops larger and more resistant to drought. Starvation will become less of a problem even in developing countries whom get their hands on these new strains of wheat or rice.
Entire new menus will be created over the next few decades including new tastes and healthy food just as delicious as ice cream. Mutating animals through selective breeding has been ongoing for thousands of years, far before agriculture. Attempting to change their DNA has been attempted for the last fifty years but now it’s cheaper and easier to do.
This genetic door that has been opened will help the fight against diseases or defects as we develop genes in mosquitoes to deny and attack malaria or create white blood cells that are more efficient in killing cancer cells. Yet with all the shining promise, there’s a much more controversial side to this, such as genetically modifying humans.
Many believe that Darwinism has died and Idiocracy will rule the earth, however this isn’t as true as perceived. Already we have selective breeding of sorts where doctors may scan pregnant women and show that their children has down syndrome or other youth disorders. Many women decide to terminate the pregnancy. Research in Britain has shown a 30% dip in down syndrome cases. This is slowly eradicating the gene to extinction.
This genetic engineering may allow parents options to choose how their children look and how intelligent they are. Letting human course run its natural path will no longer will occur as modified humans are born and inevitably pass on their genes in the population. Then there is cloning, where in sixty years it may be possible to have an army of genetically modified super soldiers. This not only hits the heart and minds of science fiction lovers, but now is truly a controversy that humanity will be debating for the rest of its existence.
Blurred lines on what is morally right and wrong haunt the idea of genetic engineering, especially in the polarized U.S. However, no matter what laws are set, humans will start adopting body modifications with or without governmental permission. Allowing a disconnect between the government and genetic research can be hazardous for everyone. So keeping a keen eye on this research may be the only road to take.
This door which humanities shoved their foot into no longer can shut. Just as inventing nuclear weapons, you can’t simply delete it. People may think “okay, let’s ban human genetic modification and cloning- it’s too dangerous.”
That’s easy to believe, but look at in another perspective. Why would you impede human progress? Let’s say with mass production in one hundred years you’ll be able to buy super sight for an easy sale of 100 dollars(no inflation). There are now no diseases and the average human life expectancies triples; people may now even look younger as scientists fight against the side effects of aging. The average human has an IQ of 135 due to wide-spread designer babies and personal preference mutation.
With genetic engineering, mankind pushes the boundaries of nature. Humans may truly create species and bring back dead ones such as the wooly mammoth. Life is truly limitless in the hands of scientists for the very first time. Humanity does gods work for him, so what’s to say we’re not gods ourselves?
Everyday, humans will have mods to themselves, anything they want or can imagine. While some will always resist this practically necessary change, slowly and over generations everyone in future existence will be changed. So, an interesting question to ask oneself is in five hundred years, will anyone weep for the ‘traditional’ Homo Sapien?
South Park is possibly the single most offensive and insensitive show on Earth. The show also has a knack of predicting the future.
Picture Credit: “www.hulu.com”
South Park was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and revolves around four boys – Eric Cartman, Kenny McCormick, Stan Marsh, and Kyle Broflovski as they embark on numerous bizarre adventures in a small town in Colorado. The animated comedy satirizes and portrays sensitive topics in the most crude manner possible.
Somehow during the story making process the producers of the show manage to predict the future.
In episode two of the twelfth season (aired March 19, 2008) the boys are involved in the sacrifice of Britney Spears in order to better the corn harvest. The episode chooses Britney Spears’ downward spiral for its entire story. At the end, once they have killed Britney there is a broadcast that determines the next target. The target presented was a then 15 year old Miley Cyrus. How we wish South Park did not predict this one.
Picture Credit: “vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net”
In episode one of the sixth season (aired March 6 2002). Jared is giving a speech about how eating Subway has helped him lose weight. The four boys go to talk to him and convince him to tell the truth that Subway doesn’t help him lose weight, that he has aides that help him stay in shape. Jared announces that he has aides but the townspeople mistook it for the disease AIDS. Obviously they did not take this news well and Jared lost his job. He then comes up with idea that will regain his popularity, he creates the “Aides for Everyone” campaign and announces he wants to give every kid aides. The townspeople again mistake him for wanting to transmit the STI to their children.
This is no coincidence or luck, South Park can predict the future people.
OVS Journalism Blog 
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