My Mom Sings Her Heart Out!

Clarissa and I flew out to Pittsburgh to visit mom and dad, which in turn means we participate in their religious endeavors.  I was really excited when I heard my mom got a barbershop-like quartet together for the candlelight service at their local church.  My sister was unable to go to the service and stuck at home with an illness.  It wasn't the most enjoyable service for me personally as I and my wife were kind of sick that night as well.  With the exception of my sister, however, I decided it would be cool to record mom mom's performance so Micah could see it later.  So, here you are, my mom's quartet performance...

Nearer My God To Thee...Sound of the Rockies Christmas Show

Here's another great video from the Sound of the Rockies Christmas show.  It features Jim Clark (Lead of Storm Front, 2010 International Champions) and Chris Vaughn, (lead of the Gotcha!, 2004 International quartet champions) and Mike Davidson.  This just might be one of the best versions of Nearer My God To Thee I've ever had the privilege of hearing...and singing.

Hope Everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Holiday!

50 Christmas Movie Spoilers...Hooray For Cold Pricklies

Was Jesus born on this day?  I have no clue.  What I DO know however is that there are TONS of Christmas movies out there, most of which are pretty bad.  So I can think of no better way of making Christmas better for everyone by posting a video of 50 Christmas movie spoilers!  Yes, that's right, I'm deliberately ruining your Christmas for you and your families!  MMWWAAA HA HA HA HA!!!

Although, I guess families should be spending time with each other in other ways right?  Like talking, playing games, singing, etc etc.  So maybe it's better you know the endings of all these movies so your not tempted to watch them in the first place huh? ......I'm kidding, I watch movies at Christmas all the time, which I'm sure you'll see a few reviews for during the holidays at my other blogging site, The Heretics Blog.  (shameless plus, here I come!)

Oh well, enjoy this video.  I love the Fine Brothers spoiler videos, they are exceptionally hard to do and takes time to do well.  Thanks Fine Bros. for making this Christmas an awesome one!

Sound of the Rockies Christmas Show...Fun Fun Fun

One year later, my chorus again gives off another fantastic Christmas show...better than last year's.  But this year was different.  Typically any Barbershop show with both an afternoon and evening show do very well in the evening and fine for the afternoon.  However, this year gave us two sold out shows, both with very vibrant and enthusiastic audiences.

Now most of you who aren't familiar with the Sound of the Rockies, keep in mind this isn't your typical barbershop chorus.  We present a wide range of musical styles.  We even had a drummer and a world class harpist on the show on separate songs.  We also bring a level of quality in singing to the table that most chorus around the world can't deliver.

While I was unable to get any videos of the chorus actually singing anything, below I've provided some videos of Strom Front, the current International Quartet Champions, who sang a set on the show.  Storm Front is a quartet whose lead and baritone sing in the chorus, with the baritone Darin Drown as our director.  I will have a DVD of the entire show coming to me very soon and can provide copies for any who wish to have one.  Anyways, enjoy Storm Front singing two arrangements of some classic Christmas songs, Silver Bells and I wonder and I Wander.  Enjoy.....

Look at me! Look at me! I SHOT something! Take a picture of me with the dead animal!!!

I used to think nothing of it, most of my friends in my younger days loved to go deer hunting and I just passed it off as "the thing to do."  Never giving it a second thought, I typically thought it was rather neat to see picture of people I knew while propping up the head of a deer.  It was never my thing however.  If my Uncle wanted to go hunting, I typically stayed behind simply because I had no interest in taking the time to hunt.  And to be honest, I'm not against hunting.  We need food and that's one of the ways we get it.  However, a few years ago I discovered something about myself...I absolutely cannot stand photos of people smiling in the camera while holding up a dead deer.

It verges on the side of demented and vile for me.  Here we have a living creature who, I'm sure, unexpectedly took a bullet or an arrow to the side and suffered for a few minutes before dying.  Now, if you will, imagine the hunter coming up to the dead deer laying all cross eyed on the ground, calling his friend to come over with the camera, taking the deer by the antlers, and smiles while the companion snaps a shot.  Does no one else see how twisted this is?  Why do hunters feel taking a photo of themselves with a dead animal to be visually appealing?  It's sick and gross and I DO NOT support this sentiment that deer hunters seem to revel in.

But it doesn't stop there does it?  Not only do pictures of happiness in shooting an animal permeate all through out the web, but trophies are made of the beast's heads!  The head is chopped off, the innards are taking out and replaced with stuffing, the head is mounted on a glistening piece of wood and then is mounted on the wall of someone's home or a restaurant.  It's bad enough that people find the head of a dead animal hanging on the wall of your home nice to look at, but restaurants tend to think that eating food while an animal's head hovers over you won't spoil your appetite.  Which it doesn't in most cases.

We, as a society, have become so desensitized to the act of killing animals that we no longer see the demented nature of making trophies out of our kills.  Do we think that just because we have this presumed dominion over the animals in the world that we can also make a mockery of them as well?  Why do we become so horrified by the whole notion of people killing people, but when it comes to killing animals, we think nothing of it and make it a point to show the world that we LOVE killing animals?

Maybe I'm just ignorant due to the fact that I didn't grow up with this need to kill things for the sport of it, but I still have absolute confidence that taking a photograph of yourself with your triumphant kill borderlines on the sick a twisted.  Sorry for all of you hunters who enjoy this type of thing but it just isn't my thing, I find it appalling.

If you're still having trouble with understanding this, here's some photos that might help you to understand my point of view.  You don;t have to agree with me, but I at least hope you get what I'm trying to say.

So do the big antlers compensate for something else?

Definitely something I want hanging around in my backyard

I'm so happy, I think I'll show this to my kids!

Not as good as yesterday, but still a good day

Look what I did today mommy!

Great Idea...Let's Get Ride Of Research!

It's true, the GOP is trying to put forth a plan that will eliminate sabbaticals for professor's in the state of Iowa.  Why?  Because according to Danny Homan, president of the largest state employee union, Professors should be in the classroom to teach, as there job "description" requires...

"They are being paid to not do what they were hired to do, and that's teach in the classroom," he said. "It's time that practice ends. We don't have the money."

Part of the problem with this statement is the mere fact that professors aren't simply being hired to teach, they are being hired to be a contributing member to their discipline.  The Sciences go out and discover new innovations and contribute that to the world on multiple occasions, writing is going through constant changes which require extensive amounts of research, and history profs. are constantly faced with the new discoveries found by archeologists that they must implement into the classroom. Mr. Homan wants us to believe that these profs should be in the classroom and teach.  But how a teacher one teach if they are unable to do what is necessary to stay up to date with their discipline?

Unlike most jobs where you learn everything you need to know in within the place you work, college professors have to go out on their own to research the ever-changing qualities and knowledge of their profession.  It's hard to grasp the audacity of the GOP in forcing a state-wide sabbatical cutting mandate for all Iowa, government funded universities when they obviously have no idea what good this time off from teaching can do for the educational standards within the classrooms.

"I'm sure they feel it has great symbolic value," said John Curtis, director of research and public policy for AAUP "But the loss, of course, is what the whole purpose of sabbatical is: to allow faculty members to do research, to engage in understanding new developments in their discipline and then to bring all of that back to their teaching."

Educational standards have been steadily declining within American's colleges and universities while they raise the standards of the athletic programs and popularity contests.  If the Republicans want to help decrease spending, but maintain and/or increase the the academic excellence of the students, start looking into cutting spending on other things and not the professors ability to better themselves as teachers.

My mother is a college professor and is actually the head of the English & Foreign Language Department.  From what I learned of her time spent on sabbatical, while still having a lot more free time than she had while teaching, she still utilized this opportunity to finish and publish her dissertation, which resulted claiming the title of Doctor Trapp.  This is what she was hired to do, teach and to contribute to her society and discipline!  And she is better for it.

I don't actually see this GOP plan being put into motion as many Iowa profs will move elsewhere so they can have this opportunity given to them.  But the fact that it's even being considered by Republicans just shows how much they value the education in general.

Heemstra Hall and the Lost Memories

The Northwestern College Alumni magazine was delivered to my apartment today and I found that Heemstra Hall was honored through an article that made an interesting discovery.  Apparently, as the NWC maintenance department was working through the demolition stages of the condemned dormitory, a time capsule was discovered amongst the rubble.  Only problem was, most of it's contents were destroyed.  The building was so old that it could no longer sustain much of the water damage due to the extensive amounts of snow and water Heemstra Hall had to endure for over half a century.  The capsule was unable to shield itself enough from water leakage and most of the documents suffered from sticky pages and smudged ink.

the contents of the capsule, for the most part, were luckily archived in the library's files as well so not much loss was taken.  But one document was a letter from former President Jacob Heemstra (who the dorm was named after) did not have a clone waiting in the library.  Sad to know we'll never know what he said exactly, but it is cool to hear a letter from Mr. Heemstra himself was waiting to be found by a future generation.

One book however, A Guide For Conduct, was found reminding everyone of the dorm's femininity.  Yes, for those who don't know, Heemstra Hall used to be a female dormitory, and the Guide for Conduct illustrates just what type of restrictions and freedoms the women of NWC had in the early to mid 1900's...

"In the Guide for Conduct, one learns women were required to be in their dorm by 7:30 on weeknights. They had to sign in and out, giving their destination and name of escort, and when leaving town, were given a card to return with the signature of their host or parent. Rooms were to be clean and ready for inspection anytime after 8 a.m."

I think any who lived in Heemstra Hall in it's last decade will never deny that the Dorm was to meet it's end at some point, what with the lack of fire escapes and it's rinkity building structure, but I don't think anyone could have prepared for the impact it had when the announcement was made that Heemstra Hall was condemned.  It truly was home for us who embraced the lifestyle and become apart of it's many oddities and unique features that made it stick out like a sore thumb.  When the image of it's first demolition stages finally hit Facebook, comments  were thrown out a dime a dozen....


"Hey look, there's still dishes and trash in the 3rd floor prayer room! :)"
"Was this before or after they demoed it? Seems about how I remember it."
"You can see the pee stains on the walls from when I was too lazy to walk to the bathroom."
"Oh the plethora of memories of D's and P's flocking around the halls."
"No more Nasketball! I'm sad and happy about this at the same time."

OK, ok, these comments seem to be on the satirical side, but make no mistake, the dorm's destruction came as a drastic blow to the junk for all who lived there.

Out of all the memories lingering up in this old noggin' of mine, Heemstra Hall will be one of the fondest memories of my lifetime.  "Nudity builds community" is the motto I can always live my life by.  I know what you're probably thinking, but don't take it the wrong way...at least for the most part.  Sure, we had our many, MANY de-clothed activities, such as the Freshman Shared Experience, Nasketball, community showers, Soapman, and Hi-Dic, (Yes, I broke the first rule, sorry guys) but the motto extends further than just the physical act of being naked.  It represents coming into the real world as yourself, not holding back because society dictates it or peer pressure demands it, just coming as yourself and allowing your imagination and diligence flow out to nourish the world.  To not leave this institute of education with a mere academic knowledge geared to get you a job, but to have obtained an education to better yourself and the world around you.  Thanks Heemstra, you guys made my educational experience that much better.

In honor of the now deceased Dorm, here is a picture parade for you're enjoyment.  Don't get TOO weirded out, ok?

The Sunday De-Press #1

Click on this link to listen to the broadcast ---> Godless America

My wife and I were cleaning up the apartment the other day in preparation for friends to come over.  I went out to grab some drinks (mostly for myself) and I when I came home, she had this broadcast playing on her Computer.  It's nothing more than an audio interview which causes us to ask questions about our "love" for Jesus and how we blindly adhere to a love for the Bible without truly understanding it's message. 

This is not a broadcast to make you feel good inside or to feel inspired to continue on with your Christian values; rather this piece of audio journalism will either cause you to question you own religious upbringing, or piss you off because you don't agree with it.  But for anyone who has never fully understood their own beliefs, and/or questioned the fact that most Christians truly don't understand what the Bible is talking about, this broadcast will hit right at home.

Click on this link to listen to the broadcast ---> Godless America

For me, it's a perfect representation of my brain's thought process when it comes to this matter.  I've always wondered about the writers of the Bible and many of the claims made within.  Were these people actually prophets?  Was Jesus the real son of God or was he just a crazy person who yelled and screamed at people?  Why is the passage of Sodom and Gomorrah used as evidence that homosexuality is wrong and NOT used to show how sexual child abuse is an evil thing? 

It asks a lot of good questions.  You may or may not agree with a lot of what is said in this broadcast, but it certainly makes you think about how you've utilized the Bible most of your life.

Click on this link to listen to the broadcast ---> Godless America
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And finally...boy, I sure hope to hire this guy to get me through my emotional trauma!  I understand what he might be getting at, that he isn't the ultimate solution and in the end it's up to you to fix your own problems, but it's still a funny way of wording your advertisement; almost sounds as if he doesn't have confidence in himself to do his job.  And the ad is actually pretty cheaply made, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it's been a year since my "Remember, Remember the month of November" posting and I've been doing a really bad job at consistently updating this blog.  But here I am, and it's Thanksgiving...what could be better.

I love Thanksgiving because it marks the beginning of the Christmas season...or at least it feels like it does.  Once November hits, I began feeling Christmasie more and more as the days fumble through.  But now is the time for thanks. What am I thankful for?

I am thankful for...
* Having a great job that is really helping Clarissa and myself get caught up on our debts and payments.
* Having a family that always seems to be ready for us to come and visit them
* Being able to maintain friendships despite not keeping contact with them as well as I would like too
* Being able to read.  My books and comic books keep my imagination flowing into a world that only the mind's eye can see.
* having the ability to go to the movie theater.  It's one of my passions and I'm thankful we have talent in the world that can produce films.
* Singing with a world renowned chorus that sings exceptionally well and being an internationally champion thanks to the 52Eighty.
* And My wife, who supports me and loves me despite my flaws and inability to remember things.  She is the greatest part of my life and I am blessed to have her in it.

I think Clarissa and I are finally in a place where we can start looking towards the future and doing things that will help us to maintain sanity.  With my new job, we can get my car paid off much quicker and put a serious dent in our student loans.  But once my car is paid off, month by month we can save more for opportunities that may arise in the future.

I want to be able to contribute money to NPR, we listen to it all the time, might as well support them.  I want to go on another overseas trip with Clarissa, to Budapest and show her where I used to live and rediscover the amazing places that I have forgotten about.  I want to do things with her as a couple again, like finding a church choir that we both are apart of.  I feel that with this job, we are both able to put ourselves in a good place financially so we can make use of our time together and not always have to worry about every single bill that comes along and worry if we will be forced to skip out on a bill due to an empty bank account.  I'm thankful for Clarissa moving me out to Colorado where so many opportunities arose for the both of us.

And as a way of making this an even happier day, here is the latest edition to the Trapp family household.  say hello to our humidifier, Mr. Elephant.....

My Next CD Project Is Now Underway!

Yes, my third CD is finally in the works.  You have some time to wait, however, as no recording has taken place yet, but soon...probably this weekend or the next the will Trapp track Recording Studio open back up for business.

This Cd will consist of a much more mature selection of music that brings together a wide variety of Acapella arrangements; ranging from good old barbershop, Jazz, Blues, to some up beat songs with a lot of snap to them.

Three of the songs on the album will feature some guest artists.  Clarissa and I will be swinging out to "Java Jive" that was made famous by the Manhattan Transfer.  The song I'll be tackling first in the recording studio will actually be with the exceptionally talented Wendy Jans on the song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square."  And the third gust appearance song will be one of my own arrangements, "Tis Midnight and on Olives Brow," with Eric Dalbey (Lead of the 2006 International barbershop quartet champions) singing the top two parts.

Here's a sample list of some of the songs you'll hear on the album...

You Don't, You Won't
Moondance
Goodbye World Goodbye
Aquarius

Plus!  as a special treat, I will be including performance recordings from when both of the choruses I sing with competed on the international stage.

That's all.  It's still going to be a while but I did want to announce the news to all who are interested.  Let me know if you want a copy.

Oh, and I'm throwing away the "Jimmy Trapp Quartet" name and call my one man quartet something else.  I need help with a name though, got any ideas?

Weekend With The In-Laws

Yes, after a long hiatus from not seeing my in-laws, they decided to make the 12 hour trek across the boring state of Nebraska to see what life is like in the foothills of Colorado.  And while we do live right next door to Estes Park, and only a hop, skip, and jump further away from the Rocky Mountain National Park, the trip into the mountains itself is no mere stroll in the park; you have to drive around numerous curvy roads that, if you don;t watch it, will burn up your brakes, as well as take time to make lots of stops to observe the gorgeous views that the mountains provides for you.

I had to work on the first two days they were here, which meant I missed out on some fun outings in the beginning.  But we did end up going to a town festival of sorts that resembled the Des Moines Arts Festival; the street was packed with stands where people were selling art, foods, and showing off their musical talent.  I discovered a local art agency that goes out and searches for local artists to display their works for all to see.  It might be something I'll look into next year.

I have to admit, having Isaac around is a blast; he is so overly opinionated that it's funny!  He becomes so argumentative that sometimes it seems he's just establishing his ground for the mere sake of doing so.  We got into a very lengthy debate about what makes a film a "guy" movie verses a "girl" movie.  There was never any clear definition on his part of what defines the girl and guy films, but Clarissa and I both came to the conclusion that we will never actually know what type of movie he likes.

All in all, the weekend was fun.  How many people out there can say they REALLY enjoy having their in laws around?  I'd say not too many.  I feel very lucky to have a family I married into with whom I can laugh and have fun with.

And for your amusement, here's a few photos from our trip to the Rocky Mountains....

The Difference Between The Humanities...And Everything Else.

Most of the jobs I've held in the past have paid very little and demanded more of my time than my paycheck justified.  Working in the schools systems, I was constantly met with stupid children who took their stupidity out on teachers who merely try to educate them.  I have been hit at, kicked, punched, sexually advanced by minors, broken up fights, dealt with mind games from children, and fought with administration about how they treat their "classified" employees.  My pay as a substitute teacher was $125 per day, and my hourly rate as a paraprofessional was close to $11 per hour.  I had to deal with my team arguing and discussing how to handle certain situations and student IEP plans without that information ever being relaid to me effectively, and then finding myself in situations where that information would have been handy.

The only person that seemed to have her head on straight with my team was my boss, Sara Thompson.  She took her job by the neck and shook it like a dog, not allowing the frustrations of teaching children with behavior disorders to take her over.  She always made sure I knew about changes in IEP's and always kept in the loop about what was going on.  The other two, while I still liked them, always seemed put off by me and kept me secluded from the activities of the students in the BD program.  Plus, if I was trying to help one of our students calm down, and Sigrid walked in, she would interject and take over the situation, destroying any hope I had of establishing myself with the student.  By the beginning of the second semester I was so burned out by certain individuals and how they treated me, I completely gave up caring what they thought and decided to just go about helping the students in my own way despite what the "Behavior Model" said.  I knew this would potentially lead to my removal, but to be honest...I didn't care.  So many times I thought to myself, "Why the fuck am I doing this?  Everyone is pissed at each other everyday and nothing ever seems to go according to plan."


A few days ago I realized something.  My current job, of which I've been employed for just under two months now, is paying me $41,000 per year with numerous opportunities for receiving overtime.  I begin my job at home and END at home, meaning I don't have to leave at 7:00, or even 6:30 to beat the hectic morning Denver traffic on I-25 to get to work.  The company has given me a company truck which I use to drive from job assignment to job assignment, and gas and maintenance on the vehicle is paid for by them.  I receive full benefits, a "Touch Pro" Sprint cell phone that I use for both personal and work related ramblings that also allows me access to the Internet, texting, and a plethora of other features.  My job has me working through a ticket system, which means I only go out on jobs if and when I receive a job ticket; I almost always do, but there have been days where NO job tickets came my way.  In essence, I still get paid my salary even if I didn't do a lick of work.  But even when I do have to work, most of my time is spent driving to get to a cell site, and a lot of the time it's on a beautiful day in the mountains.  I do have a supervisor, but never do I have someone hovering over me making sure I'm working.  Basically, if I don't have anything to do, I don't have to try and FIND something to do.  This new job is amazing!  It has it's downsides, but never in my life have I been as stress free with a job as this one.

How is this possible?  This job pays SIGNIFICANTLY better and the job I busted my ass at paid me shit.  Can someone say "oxymoron?"  But this is the truth of the matter.  Many of the jobs I've had have kept me in the humanities field where I worked closely with the development and prosperity of people and children.  I now work in a field where all I do is make sure cell phones maintain coverage and drive around a lot.  This is the difference between careers in the humanities vs. everything else.  The values of modern society are basically telling us that paying teachers more is not an appropriate way of spending district and city wide funds funds, but when it comes to out cell phones, pay the technicians and switch operators anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 per year.  I'm not complaining about my job, I love it.  I will never look for another job for as long as I can help it.  But the standard of education is so low in comparison to keeping a cell phone up and working.  It's sad and somewhat frustrating.

It's people like my last boss, Sara Thompson, who deserves more than what she was handed.  I applaud her and her natural ability to teach and her love for it despite the flack she gets in return.  It's people like her who need to multiply the most if we are to have any more people with the same drive and ambition.  I can only hope one day, someone will put their foot down and make sure teachers get the paycheck that they deserve for putting up with the many hardships that come with humanities.

I Hate Working

I discovered last week that my position will not be renewed for next year.  The assistant principle pulled me into his office explaining the situation and how there will not be enough kids in the program to justify having me on board for the next school year.  This really did come as a shock to me as I was told not 3 weeks ago that I was secure in my position and there wouldn't be any issues as far as that is concerned.  But last minute changes were made on the District's end of things which forced them to make some decisions beyond their control.  So the hunt in on once again for a full time job.

It is a relief to me in a way though, I was getting rather tired of the kids I deal with on a day to day basis.  But the sad truth of it all is I never quite grasped the behavior model that was to be utilized by the SPED teachers and myself.  Now there is about 60% of the behavior modeling system that I completely disagree with as a Sociologist, but the other 40% that I took no issue with never stuck in my brain.  I constantly found myself reverting to old habits which have always worked for me in the past and have helped to build relationships with the students I've been around.  The Behavior Modeling system didn't allow me the opportunities for that type of relationship building that I have successfully built into my subbing career in the least.  I have a sneaking suspicion that my inability, or unwillingness, to perform the aspects I disagreed with played a major part in the decision of my non-renewal.

However, if I were to look back on the whole experience of this school year, I would have to say I was excluded more than I was included.  My boss, Sarah, did her best to keep me updated and "in the know" with each of the students on her case load, but even she neglected to keep me informed of everything.  I was only included in one meeting which was at the beginning of the year.  After that, things constantly occurred that I never knew about until a week or two after.  I can't count on my two hands how many times we've had kids bump up and down in levels and how many times our kids had different IEP goal changes that were never relayed to me.  But worst of all, I found myself constantly interrupted by the two teachers I work with when I was processing with a student on their behavior.  While I still was used by both teachers in dealing with students, I equally felt belittled and constantly disregarded during behavior interventions.  I think that conditioning might have had something to do with my inability to use the behavior model effectively. 

While it sucks that I have to find a new job, I'm actually quite relieved that I don't have to do this again.  When you have two very qualified teachers who are so driven and motivated, it's really hard to do anything for them as they are always striving to do the very best in what they do.  I certainly hope the Para they find for the next school year is the match they are looking for within their team.

Pondering The Future

It's very difficult to suddenly realize a career choice might be way to much for you.  Today was one of those days.  It wasn't even a very bad day necessarily, just a tad bit on the slow side.  In all of the lag that went throughout my day, I found myself contemplating on the future of this type of career choice.

If I were to pursue a career in teaching I find myself constantly asking myself the question, "Can I honestly do this knowing most of my lessons will be thrown out the the back door of student's minds as boring and irrelevant in their owns lives?"  On a daily basis I am in classes where the majority of those students care very little about what they are being taught and allowing those educational opportunities to pass over them like an air ball during a Basketball game.  The value of receiving a good education no longer exists within the youth of today.  Values are now placed on increasing the amount technology one has in order to stay entertained at all times, or to at least be entertained at the touch of a button.

I understand how they feel, it sucks to be forced to stay in a building requiring you to use your academic and problem solving skills for seven hours out of every day.  I went through it for twelve years, and then even more so during college.  seventeen years of my life have been spent in school, learning and applying my knowledge to paper.  And if I go back to school to earn my teacher's certification, that will be exactly 20 years of my life spent inside the walls of academia.  It's not a fun ride and I hated almost every minute of it for all my years in school, but I at least gave it my best.  Sure, there were many times where my behavior wasn't the best, but I always tried to do well in school.  Today, kids could give a flying fuck about what their grades come out be or if they will pass or fail.  Their self worth is no longer based on an educational standard.

Do I really want to continue down a career path that I know will be even worse condition once I get a teaching job?  The past couple of days have been filled with contemplation  about this very thing and I'm becoming more and more hesitant in pursuing this goal.  I don't want to do what it takes to be a college professor, but I'm not sure I want to put up with the absolute idiocy that will come along with teaching children under the age of sixteen.

Studying = Failing.....

So I was in a Writing/English 8th grade class today and one student decided to write what seemed to be a mathematical equation.  If you can explain this to me, I would be much obliged because I don't get it!

No Study = Fail

Study = No fail

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No Study + Study = Fail + No Fail

(No + 1) study = (No+1) fail

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Study = Fail

This is a pretty common theme with middle schoolers these days; they try to give logical arguments to teachers why studying is a bad thing.  In the first five minutes the teacher decided to indulge the class and allow them to prove to him why this equation could be true.  A plethora of arguments were thrown out there, most of which consisted of ridiculous claims and poor use of the English language.  However, one student did say something which made some sense...

"Teachers give us so much homework and we become too tired to finish it.  I think teachers think that we just do homework all the time and not get tired."

While this argument makes sense, Students these days whine and complain about having way too much homework to do.  At the middle school I work at, most students have two daily classes, mainly English and Math, while having two periods that only run every other day.  The homework in the "every other day" classes are due on the day of class, which means they have homework due on Thursday, and have 5 days to complete the homework due for the following Tuesday.  These classes consist of Geography and/or History.  However, on the days they don't have those two academic courses, they have either art, band, technology, or computer class, depending on what the student wanted to take for that specific quarter.  These electives typically have little or no homework as everything is done in class.  So, to be honest, they only have homework in their two daily classes that is due everyday...if that.

However, homework in these two everyday classes consist of worksheets that are no more than 10 to 15 problems and/or questions.  Yeah, they get writing assignments, but the English teachers typically only ask for no more than two paragraphs (4 - 8 sentences per paragraph) for each assignment.  For the most part, teachers will give examples to help guide their students in the writing process when working at home and most likely allow them to start the assignment before the period is over.  Needless to say, this is NOT A LOT and it is NOT DEMANDING!

In the English class I was in today, the 8th graders were learning about Pathos, Logos, and Ethos.  After explaining these concepts with examples and instructions, the teacher allowed the students to grab some magazines and look for ads using one of these three rhetorical concepts.  You'd think they would be all about looking through magazines and ripping up pages, but no!  Every single students complained because it was "too much work" and they "didn't get it."  Conversations are great with these kids as they seem to enjoy talking about issues like abortion and how "people who have abortions should receive the death penalty", but when you ask them to think on their own, everything goes to Hell.  It's sad and disheartening, but so very true.

Is The True Or What?

So if you think there is truth in this picture, raise your hand.  It's true isn't it?  So many people are relying more and more on film, TV, and other electronic media to inform us because we don't want to research and read for ourselves.  More and more books are being made into films, historical knowledge is being passed down to insufficient informational programs like we see on the History Channel, and actors and actresses have become a new line of instructors.  It's become so bad that teachers are constantly having to reteach concepts that have been bastardized in our youths head from main stream media.  Thanks you Hollywood!  I love you, but I don't think you realize what your doing to our nations future.

Keeping Up

As an attempt to keep my "personal" blog a little more alive, I have a goal which I'm calling the "twice a week thing" where I post two times each week.  Hence the name "Twice a week thing."  (wink)  I became so enthralled with my comic book and movie blog that I began to neglect this one.  Well no more my friends!  Random Incoherent Jargon is back in business!

As a celebration of this "born again" status of my blog, I would like to reminisce on my very first post, "I Believe In Nothing."  It caused a lot of turmoil within the family.  Apparently my Aunt had read it and became immediately offended by the entire post and began to tell the entire family about it.  The news had traveled all the way up to my grandmother who became so upset that she cried over it, coming to the conclusion that I "hate them."  My sister had gone to visit them in East Texas where they spent a good chunk of time talking about the post since Granny apparently needed to talk about with her.  I heard so much news about the post from my mother, my sister and my father that everyone in the family has been talking about with everyone else and was incredibly upset by it, concluding that I'm ashamed of them and my post was uncalled for and unloving.  All of this was being said to everyone...except me.

Now I understand completely, It's hard to talk to your loved ones about such heated topics, especially when it's within your own family.  But why they felt the need to talk about it with everyone else, but not me is beyond my imagination.  My aunt did make some comments about it on Facebook a few times, but she never tried to call or even send me a message attempting to dialog with me about the post.  I attempted to call my grandparents and my aunt but the phone was never picked up, and I never received any calls back.  If they had tried to contact me, I might have been able to clear up any confusion on their part as to the implications of the post and how wasn't an attack on the family, nor was it me portraying any type of embarrassment of them. I think they read certain phrases and decided they knew what it was trying to say when in fact they got it completely wrong.

However, I do need to clarify that I am not sorry that I wrote it.  If there's one thing I took away from growing up with this family, it's this...None of them will hold anything back!  We all speak our minds, and we do it ever so abruptly and without mercy.  We don't worry about what people think of our opinions, whether they be individual or collective, just so long as we are heard!  What prompted the specific blog that apparently caused such a fuss within the family was seeing so many of my Church of Christ friends on Facebook making Facebook statuses and/or comments that talked about the "other" religions (that are Christian none the less) and how their belief structures are wrong.  Sociology has been one of the best things in my life, but has also caused a lot of frustrations, especially when it's with my own family after seeing such cultural insensitivity and an unwillingness to understand a religious society and portraying a very false image of God in general.

Growing up in the Church of Christ, I was never truly exposed to other Christian belief systems, nor were most other Church of Christ goers.  Yet week after week, they would go to church where they would sit and agree with sermons which focused on how the Church of Christ has it right, and everyone else is wrong.  Topical sermons like "Are instruments in worship godly?" or "Who are the people of God?" or (and this is a real sermon which I heard at the Church of Christ in Crane Texas) the very abrupt sermon "Why God hates people outside the Church of Christ."  Going to college and becoming someone who studies cultures, these anti-cultural focuses within church hurt me more than enriched my understanding of Christianity and it's history.

I find it silly as well seeing as how the Church of Christ hates on everyone else, but the other Christian churches could care less.  It's as if it's assumed within the Church of Christ that it's voice echoes throughout the world, being heard by millions, even though the Church of Christ is truly only predominant within the south, a part of the U.S. the majority of Americans have little respect for anyways...especially Texas.  My point is, the typical Church of Christ has a very conceited aura about them, as if they have this monopoly on what the "truth" is and they are the hope and future for all those outside their church walls.  I would argue that the Church of Christ has one of the most (if not THE most) culturally insensitive belief systems I've ever encountered.  I can't be apart of that church ever again because it goes against my sociological education and moral convictions.  I don't think it's an evil church, I just disagree with almost all of its teachings and practices. I'm especially against they way it attacks other religious sects without considering the fact that they themselves are sinning by condoning such behavior within their church.