Monday, December 26, 2011

How I Write (Lacking Creativity)

I was thinking about leaving this blog post blank to get across the point that I don't write.

When I was younger I loved to write. I was in creative writing classes in summer school. As I got older, my interest shifted to visual story telling: painting.

I suppose my inability to write is because all of my intelligence lies within my eyes and ears. I am a visual and auditory learner. I also have an extreme case of ADD, and cannot sit down and read something to save my life. As a result of my reading habits being almost non-existent, I do not have the natural flowing skills of a writer.

I guess the way I write is just getting all my thoughts down on paper; no organization required. My favorite writing I've done has been the entries in my notebook (I guess you could call it a diary, but I didn't want to sound like a bad Britney Spears song.) I am the queen of making lists, and I wish I could just make lists for the rest of my life, none of this analytical-paragraph-organized-paper crap. I often have writer's block, and it causes me to have extreme frustration, which turns into extreme procrastination, which ends with extreme stress.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

FEAR: It's my middle name

Hello, my name is Bridget Fear Schwefel. That's right, fear is my middle name. Ever since I was a young girl, I've passed through numerous fears. I'd be lying if I said these fears were rational and that I wasn't embarrased by them. I hope you're comfortable right now, because I have a long interesting piece of reading I'm about to dish out to you. Here are the fears I've been succumbed to over the years:

Dogs (and animals in general) : From ages 4-12 I was deathly afraid of dogs. Everytime I was insight of a dog, I immediately thought that it was going to kill me.

Large Mascot Costumes: I couldn't go to Disney World until I was 8. Mickey Mouse freaked me out. Don't even get me started on Bucky Badger. Let's just say I've been to very few badger games.

Volleyballs: I honestly was one of the only girls who didn't do volleyball in middle school. Reason being; I was afraid of the ball. The thought of a leather ball coming towards my face full speed just freaks me out. So as a result; I duck and run away when ever I see that ball coming towards my face.

Vomit: Emetophobia. Yep, I looked it up. I went to C.H. Bird Elementary and I'm pretty sure that whatever they were serving us there was contaminated because they're was always a kid throwing up. The noise is what really gets to me. When I was in 6th grade, me and my friend went to our town's summer festival. We went on the Tilt-a-Whirl. You can probably assume how this story ends.

Falling: In 10th grade, I fell backwards off of a railing 3 feet tall. That doesn't seem so bad at all, but it really hurt, not to mention I cracked my head open.

Staples: See above.

Blood: This isn't really a fear. It just grosses me out.

Being Trapped: Last Halloween, I went to the Haunted Forest. I thought I'd be okay. I was just going to close my eyes the entire time. I realized that that was not going to work after I ran into a tree and hit my head. At that moment I started breathing rapidly and bawling my eyes out. I had an anxiety attack. There a no turning back and the only way I could get out would be to forge ahead. This haunted forest felt like it was a mile long. A mile full of crying and screaming and not being able to see. This fear is derived from claustrophobia I believe. I really hate crowds, and morphsuits.

Dying Alone/Too Young: I think many people have a fear of death. A silly fear actually, once you're dead, you have no emotions. I believe these people actually have the fear of not living life to the fullest. I have many goals and many dreams, and the thought of my life ending before any of those were accomplished makes me nervous. I am also afraid of never finding my soulmate and never having kids. I do not want to be an old cat lady who dies in her apartment and no one finds her body for a week. That's my number one fear.

Cultural Trends: Shades

This cultural artifact is not life changing or absolutely necessary for survival, but it something that's always nice to own. Sunglasses have been a simple thing part of American culture for years, but have changed year by year. Do you remember the 90's? The size of sunglasses were the size of what regular lense glasses were. Year by year, the size of sunglasses have gotten bigger and bigger. They can be found on almost anyone, but I believe the most you see would be on the faces of celebrities. There are infinite combinations of colors, shapes, and sizes.

Let's not forget sunglasses #1 purpose: to shield eyes from the sun. But is that the main reason people buy sunglasses? If that we're the case, every person would have only have one pair. Try finding a person that only has one pair. I guarantee you probably won't find one. Sunglasses have become a staple fashion item (even though most of the time, they just make you look like a bug.) 

Sunglasses are supposed to be protection for your eyes, but could it be argued that they are protection from people? When you want to be mysterious in disguise, sunglasses may be your tool to keep you hidden. Sunglasses are also a mechanism to give you "swagg." Do you ever see people wearing sunglasses at night? Normal people think, why on earth is that person wearing sunglasses? How can they see? It's what the cool kids do I guess.

When you analyze something, it opens your mind to a whole new perspective. It turns 2D thoughts into 3D. Sunglasses can be protection mechanisms, disguise mechanisms, or swagg mechanisms.

Political Dimensions of Language

We all love Barack Obama's enchanting voice that he uses in all of his speeches. His speeches contain different subject matter, but they're are all connected in some way. As tradition serves, all presidents give speeches about similar subject matter. History changes though. Barack Obama uses the word nation a lot, which makes sense...because we live in a nation. I found it interesting that every single president from 1973 until president has used the word America the most. I wonder why in years prior they didn't use the word.

George W. Bush used the word freedom 27 times. I believe it was because he sent so many troops to Iraq and the word freedom was his way of convincing the nation that we were okay. We're we really okay though?