Honors Forum Presentation and Discussion

When the rest of the class voted to do our presentations over self-image, I was greatly disappointed. I had voted for a different topic, the name of which I have since forgotten. Yet, I decided that I would try to make the best of this project. My group decided to report on health and image. At first I was befuddled as to what I could possibly do my part over. Then Jill came up with the topic of plastic surgery.

The researching part went fine. I had my research long before our group met. Google searching through government websites is a wonderful thing. I learned a lot about plastic surgery, but I still don’t think that I want to have any. This is probably due to the fact that I also learned about the possible side-effects.

Our presentation wasn’t to be until the middle of November, so no one seemed too terribly worried about it. Consequently, we only met a few times before we presented. Though overall, I think it went fairly well, except for the part where we ran over the allotted time when presenting. I even hurried through my part of the presentation so that we wouldn’t run over. Oh well, I’m sure it turned out fine.

I think discussion also went well considering nobody wanted to really say much. Towards the end of class everyone seemed to wake up some and start talking, which was convenient, since all that not talking was starting to make me sleepy too. I do, however, think that things would have gone a bit smoother if our presentation and discussion had not been interrupted by Thanksgiving break. I think that people would have remembered our topic more, and perhaps even have been more willing to discuss it.

In the end, I suppose that discussing self-image was okay. It turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would, especially if one forgets that almost all of the groups over-lapped and repeated information. Though, I think that if I take this class again I would like to discuss something a bit more intellectual. Maybe even something with more available information so that the groups don’t overlap.

There are few things in this world that I have thus far come across that I absolutely cannot understand. Sure, I had some trouble in high school physics, but if I worked at it I could grasp the formulas and concepts long enough to do the homework and pass the test. But this, this I cannot understand - the mindset of a majority of people in this area.

Last night, my roommates actually cheered when they heard that Texas had banned gay marriage. They cheered! How ludicrous is that? I hung my head and my roommate was like, "What?" I told her that I am all for gay marriage. She asked, "Why?" (Sounded pretty pissy when she did too.) But my question is "Why not?" How can anyone justify denying rights to another? They say "It's not natural." How? How is it not natural? Gays and lesbians have been around as long as there has been a human population. Ancient Greeks considered homosexual love to be the purest sort of love. How is not natural for someone to find somebody to care about and to be cared about in return? Tell me, 'cause I just don't understand.

But what really gets me is when someone uses Christianity to justify this denial of rights. I truly can't believe that God would driscriminate against anyone for any reason. Everyone in my family (except for one cousin) is Christian. My parents have been Christian their whole lives, 50+ years. My mother is very active in our local church. Yet, despite this, my parents still understand that gays and lesbians deserve to have the same rights as anyone else. So you can't use religion as an excuse, it just won't work.

How in America, a country built on the protection of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," can rights be denied? How can we call ourselves a free country when we pass laws that deny human rights? How? How can rights be denied to anyone on the basis of sexual orientation, race, gender, religion, age, or any other basis?

Just because someone is gay or someone is lesbian does not mean that they aren't still a person. Same as me. Same as you. We're all just folk. We all deserve human rights.

Best Vehicle Ever

So, at the insistence of Dr. Kluthe, I am creating my first post. And it shall be about my newest acquisition: a 1962 Corvair Monza.

That's right, I now have a third Corvair. But this one's an early model. (For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about the body style of 1960-64 Corvairs is different from the body style of 1965-69 Corvairs. My other two Corvairs are a '65 Monza and a '67 Monza.)

It's Twilight Blue with a Twilight Blue interior. 1962 was actually the first year for that color, and not even the early model expert from my local Corvair club knew it existed that year. (The color name was changed to Azure Aqua in 1963.)

She has factory air-conditioning, an automatic transmission, tinted windows, and a padded dash. In May of 1962 she cost $2,950. As far as we know she was the most expensive Corvair when she was new out of all of the 9 Corvairs at our house.

So what if there's no floors, a fair amount of rust, and a bunch of dents. I think she's great! And I can't wait to restore her to exactly how she was when she rolled out of the factory in 1962.