5 things Parents Should Never say to their Kids

"I don't care." "Act your age!" "Say you're sorry!" "Don't you get it?" "I'm going to leave without you!" Studies show children's actions have a lot to do with how they are raised. Parents should take a little more time and plan ahead while raising their children. If I ever have children, I will remember this blog.

Hunting and Gathering

When Larry came into class and talked about hunting and gathering in his village, I thought of my own. Unalakleet is a rich country. There is the river, ocean, tundra, cliffs, and sky. Before I was born, there was a musk-ox farm that was maintained for years. The giant animals grazed on grass around the tundra, but it ran out. People over hunted them and they were no longer around the Unalakleet. In the past 5 years, there has been sitings of musk-ox right out of town. Residents of my hometown have decided not to hunt the animals until there are more. As for the river, we used to thrive with King Salmon. Now, that is scarce. I feel it will take years before the fish population returns to normal-if it ever does. In the early, 21st century, the moose population declined. For nearly five years, no moose were allowed to be hunted. In the past 2 years, people have been able to hunt, however there is a limit. Not over harvesting seems to be forgotten and animals are not being respected. I feel this is why they have disappeared. To take only what is needed is an important rule and I am happy that Fish and Game helps regulate that.

Overpopulation and Food

Not too long ago, I found this HUGE strawberry. The small strawberry next to it is a regular sized one. Eating the beast scared me because I wondered what was injected into it to make it so big. Maybe nothing was and mutation was the problem? -Most likely not. It is cliche to say the world is overpopulated, but that is the truth. I have read several articles that talk about how food is wasted. There is not enough natural resources to sustain the current human population... therefore, there are growth hormones. Food is processed and there are many additives. Knowing this fact, makes me cautious of the food I eat.

Blahhh-uuggg

This will be my blog of venting. It is personal, and in this case I would agree with Daniel Quinn that systems always fail...Excuse me if I interpret this wrong but systems really are lame. I feel like they have failed me instead of worked with me. First of all, our whole life is run by something. There is so much control over us. The stronger the system, the better the programs and the more power there is. What am I getting at?! Well, UW. At this moment, I am annoyed with the Office of Student Fiscal Services and Office of Financial aid. All semester, I have been between two schools figuring out what to do. I transferred back to Alaska because of expenses and to be closer to family. Also, my grades there were slipping. After graduation from High School, I was confident and felt I knew what was going on. My ego was broad. I was accepted into a fairly well school, I had scholarships, and I was leaving Alaska! I knew little. After arriving in Washington for the first time, I had the whole city life and 40,000 student body population to adjust to. There no longer was a small town feel and I was lost. I was gungho to succeed though, so I made friends and stepped totally out of my comfort zone. I tried my best but everything was too much. I had the hardest decision to make. EVER! I chose to transfer back to UAA. Doing this was giving up in my eyes. I hated it and that started showing in my emotions and confusion. I needed to stop dwelling and being hard on myself because I was getting no where. I didn't give up, I just took a different route because some plan didn't fall through. Stillll... I am adjusting and getting situated here. Because I registered for one class at UW and did not withdraw correctly, I was charged a few thousand dollars. I would pay that, but first I would need my financial aid money. In order to receive it, I needed to be officially admitted to UAA. but first I needed my Official Transcript... and to get that I needed to pay my bill. Pffff! I was not aware of what was going on until my account was locked and I received notices a month after they were postmarked. I wrote 2 letters of petition and talked to who I could, but I was too late on taking action apparently. Everything was rejected. It was announced to me last week I would not receive any of my grants because the semester would end and by the time paperwork 3 weeks would pass. This was ooberly irritating, but I was able to luckily find a way. Again my plans have changed and working this summer will make up for everything. I was super frustrated with everything and felt like dropping out of school, but after sleep and moral support, I am now chilled out. This whole learning experience is humbling.

Shawshank Redemption story

This is not the Youtube video I wanted to share, but the narration of it is what I wanted most. The movie this is from is Shawshank Redemption
Brooks was an old man who spent 50 years in prison. When he was set out of parole, he got a job at a halfway house bagging groceries. Because of his age, he was not really good at this job. He was institutionalized and did not know how to deal when he got out. The world changed. I imagine before he went to prison people would wave at each other while passing on the street, when he came out....that was not happening. That is happening everywhere-no body trusts anybody and people have become tunnel visioned. I assume because of all the change in the world and not knowing how to interact with the newer society, Brooks felt helpless. In the end he killed himself. I wonder ad would bet that is why suicide rates are high-people are lonesome.
For the world to be saved, individuals need to build relationships. This may happen from noticing one another, interaction and knowing how to communicate instead of things being so fast and in a hurry. Nobody could survive on their own.

Swing Life Away

I like this song but I really don't know how it would relate to the book Ishmael because the purpose of the book is to make us think about how we could save the world. The lyrics are awesome and I think this song is easy to understand. We have control of our lives for the most part, the only thing is people need to understand what is around us. Easier said than done. We are lazy and tend to just swing at life. "The winters so cold, summer is over too soon."--Super true in Alaska. 
This past winter I was in a depressed-ish mood and would listen to this song....kind of emo, but it helped. I was reading Ishmael and this song gave me hope I guess you can say, so did the book. I wanted to be happy and do positive things and thankfully the mix of this song and the book helped me get out of the weird slump. I want my "swing in life" to aim towards goodness and well being.

Whisper From the Wood

This picture of the mask in not the mask from our fast write, however it is sort of similar. "I am a mask that belongs to a young Native Dancer. His uncle is a shaman and he was the individual who carved me from a piece of driftwood. My shape is simple because my owner is still learning to dance. I am not supposed to be a mask that is a collector's item. Now, my original owner is gone and grown into a man. He most likely has forgotten about me. I was supposed to be burnt like my other mask ancestors traditionally were. Now, I am trapped between two worlds being displayed on a wall." That was my fast write. After sharing what the mask spoke to us, I felt dingy making the guess I did. The mask that was shown to the class is from Belize. I should have guessed that from the writing on the back of the it. I did not know people about the ancestor relationship between people in Belize and the Mayans.