Blogging

As I'm writing my last blog, I think back over this semester and through this whole blog experience. When we were first assigned a creative blog, I was a little confused but still interested. It took me a while to just figure out the workings of the blog and how exactly to create one. Now it is like second nature. Blogs are a good way to express yourself and put your creative ideas out there for the world to see. Sometimes I enjoyed this blogging because I could express myself, but having to blog a lot at once can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe I will continue to blog in the future when I am inspired or get a creative idea. But for now I am done.

Kanye

Last night I went to the Kanye West Glow in the Dark concert with Rihanna, N.E.R.D, and Lupe Fiasco. It was definitely the concert event of the year. This wasn't just a concert where the headliner was amazing but all of the opening acts are huge names as well. Kanye is one of the best artists in the music industry right now and for his performance he did not disappoint. Thirty of my friends took a party bus to the concert and several other SMU kids were there too. It was such a great way to end the school year with all my friends.

Dinner in the Sky

The latest thing in high class dining is "Dinner in the Sky". Dinner in the Sky is available all throughout Europe and in South Africa. A crane suspends the table and people 160 feet above the ground to enjoy a six course meal served by a chef and 3 waiters. The table can hold 22 people for a "small" price of $38,000 for a fabulous meal and the once and a lifetime experience. This is such a cool idea and something that I'm sure everyone would love to do. Time to bust out that piggy bank for dinner.

Is Dove really so good?

This commercial added on YouTube by greenpeace.org is interesting because at first I thought it was going to be a different version of the Dove Self-Esteem Advertisements because they are modeled exactly the same. However, this ad is not pro-Dove at all. In the ad we watched in class with the beautiful little red-headed girl for Dove self-esteem, the advertisers and Dove are making Dove out to be a image conscious brand that has your best interest at heart. However, they are similar to other beauty companies in the fact that they are trying to get people's attention and still sell their product. This YouTube clip shows Indonesia rain forests being cut down to produce palm oil which goes into Dove products. This is a huge problem because the world is not being environmentally conscious about our depleting resources. Not only is this destroying the forests, but it is ruining the homes of animals in the rain forests. Basically this is changing the landscape of a nation and ruining these peoples' homeland. Something should be done to put a stop to it. In addition, I find it very interesting that greenpeace.org used this tactic of advertising to situate its cause against Dove.

World's Oldest Person Turns 115!!!!!

On Sunday Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, will turn 115. Edna was born on April 20, 1893, and is recognized by Guinness World Records for being the oldest person in the world. She is known as a supercentenarian, which are people who have made it passed the 110 age mark. Scientist use supercentenarian's DNA to study the secret to longevity. Edna has definitely had a life full of longevity considered she has outlived most of her family members. Her husband died in 1938 of a heart attack and her 2 sons have passed away as well. Edna has had brushes with death but has survived them all to tell about later. It is unbelievable to live 115 years and the fact that she is in fairly good health is amazing. Edna has lived through so much in her lifetime, and much of it we only hear about through the history books. 

PostSecret

These images are from PostSecret blog created by Frank Warren and I find them absolutely amazing and fascinating. Frank Warren has people mail in homemade postcard with a secret about themselves written on it as apart of an community art project. It is amazing to see what is on people's minds and see what secrets they have filling up inside of them.

Polygamy sect in Texas?

When news broke of this strange polygamy case in Texas, I was interested and a little creeped out all at the same time. After a 16-year-old girl called an abuse hotline claiming to being raped and beaten by her "spiritual husband" who is more than three times her age, police raided this polygamist sect's ranch in Eldorado, Texas, near San Angelo. Here at this ranch there were 53 girls aged 14-17, and 31 of the girls already have children or are pregnant. These girls are forced to "spiritually marry" older men when they are very young, and these older men have multiple wives. These girls have led a life of isolation and the large majority have never seen or heard of the outside world. When the police raided the ranch they took all of the women and children away. However, now the officials have taken the children away from their mothers and placed them in foster care. The women are outraged because they have never harmed there children, but the officials feel as if the women have placed their children in harms way by not standing up to the controlling men. I just cannot imagine the lives these people have led. These women and children look like they just stepped out of "Little House on the Prairie." They all wear long cotton dresses, boots, no makeup, and have long braided hair. They do not know any different, and they have lived like this for generations. I do not think it is right to take these children away from their mothers who love them and place them into the foster care system that could even be worse. I believe these mothers and children need to be together again just separated from the manipulative male forces in their lives. However, time will only tell what happens to these people.