I Know This Means Something

Well let's see...one thing that I know that truly means something...
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving passed by ever so quickly, I know that my family means something. Cheesy yes, true? Also yes.
I know that not everyone can agree with me, sometimes family doesn't mean that much to them, but mine does to me. My aunts, uncles and cousins have been there for me and loved me even though I rarely get to see them (they live in the cornfields of Iowa). Each time we have some sort of a get together, they always remind me of how much I am apart of that family, even if I am about 200 miles away from them.
I went through the typical teenager phase of not caring so much, but this past year has really shown me the wonders and pay-offs of being outgoing and embracing my family. I actually cared about an aunt's birthday and bought her a gift. She was a bit MIA because she was on depression medication and she was just out of it. But they redid her perscription makeup and now she's as lively as she used to be, if not more.
She got a new hairstyle, and got her ears repierced (a plus for me, I bought her a pair of earrings and hadn't even realized she didn't wear any before that week).
But I strayed too far, I know family matters. It does.
Hopefully when I go to Iowa State or University of Iowa I'll be able to see them more and actually be involved in their lives.
If I feel this much love now, I'm excited to see what happens when I'm a measley few miles away.

Student I am Thankful For

Well here goes all my cheese cards.
I remember doing this same blog sophomore year; I had a whole list of people I was thankful for.
Now I feel it was because I didn't want to disappoint any of my friends who were in the class. It's a little easier this year though.
I'm thankful for Artem and Balz...Matthew. I'm sure that made you smile a little since it's of all people, those 2. But you know what, I am thankful for them.
They've made this year very interesting as well as eye opening. In a class other than Philosophy (or any other class not taught by McCarthy), you don't get to share your perspective on certain topics that have been questioned for many many years. This year presented this opportunity and really opended my eyes to views that were either very similar to mine or just the plain opposite.

I'm thanking Artem for never backing down. I'm sure he's the person who points out all the white hair (but cute) elephants in the room that no one dares to. Most of the time you don't hear many people question what the teacher says, but Artem does, and surely Matthew has the Balz...ekas to also question certain parts of the current conversations.

Yes I'm clever, I know.

They both show me a different perspective of my life after they hear my stories or problems. Overall, they also just liven up my classes.

A Direction the Class Needs

In all honesty, I don't think our class needs much of a direction. We are leading ourselves in a good direction all on our own. As Mr. McCarthy has said, we're more active than most of the other classes. I don't have too much to say about it other than...
MORE OF YOU NEED TO SPEAK UP!
There's nothing to be afraid of. It's a philosophy class, there aren't any right or wrong answers, UNLESS it's about a specific aspect about a book, then you need to read...
I've already begun reading Man's Search for Meaning, and I'm not sure how much I'll like it just yet, but I really liked The Stranger. I could just really relate to Mersault -- being an oddball just because you don't care, hell I don't care! But I guess I have a little more gusto and opinion and every-day things that come into play.
I like 5th period, it's one of the only classes I look forward to that won't judge my answers. What a confidence boost! You should contribute too, it's not a big deal.
You know who you are!

Voltaire and Camus would vote for...

NEITHER.
Duh.

Anyway, I don't know anything about politics to be honest. I don't really even know what the difference is between democrats and republicans. All I see from these two are debates and wastes of millions of money supporting themselves. I was just thinking why they can't just be in some broadcasting station campaigning but then I thought about it some more…it’s because they get paid and get to be popular through a live show. In terms of Camus, it’s a stranger coming to talk about what they’ll do to represent millions and billions of strangers – now that is a live show.

Would a satirist really vote at all? Voltaire would most likely just write another novel about the ridiculousness of the government and the millions spent on self-promotion. Would an absurdist vote? At most it is as meaningless to Camus as most other things are.

I heard either in a video from class, or/and some other places around media – why can’t the two parties work together. After all, they seem to say that they want what America wants, however they’re on opposing sides. OBVIOUSLY they have different viewpoints on certain topics, but isn’t that what checks and balances are for? Draw up some sort of document on both sides, Republican and Democrat, compare, compromise, vote. Instead they have to make commercials to slur and demean each other. It’s absurdity. It’s a show.

“Democrats are generally more liberal. They believe in a larger federal government, and often implement tax plans to try to help the less privileged. They tend to believe the government must look for the greater good above the individual person in terms of welfare and do what is necessary to make the populace more "equal". They assert that the values our country holds must evolve over time, and, therefore, tend to support such controversial choices as Pro Choice and gay marriage.

Republicans are generally more conservative. They believe that the answers do not lay with the government generally, but rather with the people. They want less government interference and tend to believe more strongly in property rights and less strongly in well-fare rights, holding economic equity above equality. Many republicans are religious and tend to hold to the morals characterizing the Founding Fathers, which results in general disapproval of abortions and, for some, gay marriage.” 

They both seem awful and biased to me. Behind door 1, equality but less self-supporting freedom, and door 2 you get a little more freedom and more self-support HOWEVER, you have to live like Scarlet Letter times.

I'm not sure who these 2 would vote for, but what I know is that, until there is a person like...Gandhi. More spirituality but not of the overbearing pushy religious sort. No offense - really. Let's not make these 2 great novelists vote for a mistake in our society.