TED talks: A Great Story

I think that I've always loved to tell stories. I was an only child until I was 8 years old, when my little brother was born. So for those first 8 years of my life, I had to be creative about how I'd keep myself entertained and not bug my mom every 10 minutes with my whining, "I'm boooooreedddd." (Her response? "Hi, Board, I'm nail! It'd drive me crazy).

I have memories of talking to myself, playing House and Store, and eventually having some imaginary friends. I remember after I saw Harriet the Spy I pulled out my raincoat and notebook and tried to spy on my neighbors in the adjacent apartment buildings.

I came across this TED talk from their Facebook page.. and while the speaker, Andrew Stanton seems to be promoting his new film, it does relate to great story-telling. As a person who wants to write and tell stories to make a living, I found this to be very inspirational and helpful in my endeavor! Watch & let me know what you think.

prop. 8 declared unconstitutional (duh)!

via

photo of the day

A group of UC Davis students were pepper sprayed on Friday after being asked to leave and remove their tents from campus. After 3 minutes, the students didn't leave.. because they had a right to be there, they were assembling peacefully, the campus was open, etc.. 

This disgusts me. 

just some free speech, y'all

There are a number of things going on in my world right now and they are really pissing me off. Where should I start?

My education


As a student of the California State University system, I am affected by the strike that is going to occur tomorrow. The faculty, and most-likely students from different universities, are striking in order to make a point about Chancellor Charles Reed who has been in his position for over ten years. His salary increases, while those of the faculty decrease, and tuition rises year after year.

This leads me to my frustration with the state of California.

Today, there was a California State University Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach regarding tuition. The board voted to increase tuition 9% by 2012. 

This means that next fall, tuition will have increased $500, or just under $6000 per year. Are you serious? The CSU system is in place so that everyone can receive an education at a reasonable cost. How do those board members think that this is okay? Oh, probably because most of this money is going straight into their pockets. 

I have about a year and a half left of school, probably more since it's difficult to get into the classes I need because of budget cuts........... so at least $12,000 more to add to my debts. Wonderful. 

AND THEN!

I found this video on the guardian... an animation showing how the wealth is distributed in the United States. It is super informative, and might even make you more likely to go out and protest with the Occupy Wall Street people. I know it does, for me. 

You can get the data behind the research here, too. 

*Side note: In case you were wondering, if you videotape a police officer making an arrest or doing whatever, you are protected by your Constitutional rights. So, if you're at Occupy getting arrested, record away, even if the officer is screaming at you to stop. 

And finally, today, I am very pissed off at the United States government as a whole. 

It's been brought to my attention that there is an Internet piracy bill, Stop Internet Piracy, or SOPA, being discussed in Congress. This bill would block sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, basically sites that you and I go on daily. 

This bill has a high chance of being passed because of financial backers with corporate interests in both the House and Senate. (hellllllo, 99%!)

According to the Washington Post, many Silicon Valley companies agree that piracy is a problem, but this legislature just goes too far. Not only does this infringe on our right to free speech, but it makes us JUST LIKE China, Iran, and Syria! Censorship should never be in the cards for the United States, and this is a step in the wrong direction. 

Below is an infographic I got off of mashable explaining what the SOPA means to you and me: 

So what's next?

I think the best answer that I can come up with is to stay involved. Stay informed. Put the word out to the rest of you guys of what is going on. Get your news from multiple sources. If you don't like something, change it.And always question what is told to you. 

photo of the day

courtesy of moveon.org

Occupy Wall Street

This is the February 7, 2011 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.  The cover story examines the extremely high unemployment rates in various countries for the Millennialls, or Generation Y. (Were you born in the mid-80s or later? Are you in your 20s now? You're a Millennial). 

I originally saw this cover photo on tumblr & thought that it might have been an issue from the 80s. Good ol' Google proved me wrong, though. 

About eight months later, Occupy Wall Street was born. I couldn't be more proud that this is happening. This is our revolution.