treatment ideas

Go-Carthage

They’ve almost reached the end. It’s mid-May and they’re finishing up their last task at boot camp Carthage. All of their hard work and late-night studying will finally pay off. It’s another busy day as Carthage students march to their classes along the sparkling lakeside. Seniors are preparing for their greatest moment of achievement—graduation. They remember their past semesters of training and being pushed to take full course loads. They learned to complete tasks on time, and how to seek excellence and self-discipline. They were trained to seek truth, build strength, and inspire service as a community. This year’s seniors have been prepared for their futures.

History Makers

Carthage senior, Amanda, is walking down the sidewalk on her way to class. It is mid-May; the sun is shining and the sparkling lake blows a cool breeze across the campus. As Amanda continues to walk, she looks at the few students walking toward her, and then looks over to the car driving by. She then starts to look over toward the Abraham Lincoln statue and—wait, he’s not there. Amanda looks confused but continues walking to class.

This year at Carthage, history makers and Carthage alumni have made a special visit to speak with the graduating seniors. Not only have they come to pour forth their advice and encouragement, but some will be able to share some of their own experiences they’ve had at Carthage. They’ve made their marks in history and they’re prepared to offer their support to the seniors who shall become history makers themselves. Carthage alumni are on campus and ready to meet and learn about the seniors and all they’ve experienced as college students. They hope to pour forth their wisdom and encouragement to the graduates as they are about to enter a new avenue of their lives. Also, Abraham Lincoln is available to speak with the seniors outside the Straz building.

obama wants longer school years

A few days ago, as I was logging in my email, I stumbled across an article on Yahoo news about Obama wanting longer school years because the American students are not excelling in math and science, as he compares us with other countries. "Whether jobs are created here, high-end jobs that support families and support the future of the American people, is going to depend on whether or not we can do something about these schools," he said. I definitely do not agree with longer schooling. I don't see how keeping kids in school longer would bring forth a positive impact on America. I believe the homes have a big influence on whether learning is valued. And with so many single parents out there (coming from a family like that myself), there seems to be more of a focus to make money and supply a home and food for one's children. I've seen a major difference with homeschooling, for example. I know of a family with happily married parents, and the mother stays home with her kids all day and gives them each a quality education. For fun, the kids read! They go to the library, they keep up with the news, and they visit museums. When I think of America as a whole, I see a lack of care for learning. Learning is something that should happen whether one is in school or not. In my opinion, people in general are lazy. Most are overweight. So much time is spent watching television and/or playing video games. My siblings are in high school and it is hard enough to keep them in school. I don't see how making them stay in school longer would give them a quality education. Learning should be a lifestyle.

yuck--bugs

It was mentioned in a New York Times article entitled, "Move Over, Bedubugs: Stinkbugs Have Landed," that brown Stinkbugs have been found in large masses in the Mid. Atlantic states. Crops are being damaged and homes are being taken over by the shield-back bugs. People are having a tough time trying to get rid of them because they continue to reproduce and they are not being killed naturally by any other insects/animals. It was said that much money is poured into research to try and find a solution for getting rid of the bugs for good. The stinkbugs have not been known to hurt anyone or bring about any health issues, but they are hurting crops and people will possibly need to raise their prices next year to make up for what they've lost so far.

After reading the article, I thought how amazing this little bug is. It is so tiny, yet it stinks like a skunk and is currently taking over people's homes and orchards. It reminds me of a plague you'd read from the Bible. It's creepy, especially since they've been found in 15 of the states already. Supposedly, they've arrived from Asia and a certian Asian wasp is known to kill their eggs and decrease their population. It'd be dangerous for researchers to bring the wasps here to get rid of these pesky bugs, so I'm interested to know how this situation will be taken care of.

9.25.10

After class on Wednesday, I felt a bit overwhelmed because of the assignment I was given on having to write a treatment for the commencement film. So I have spent the last few days just thinking about ideas throughout the day before I start to write the treatment. Sometimes I have to do that, otherwise I will stress myself out when I sit in front of a blank word document for an hour because I cannot think of anything to write about. I remember writing treatments in Digital Cinema and I always got points taken off because I added too many unnecessary details. It's hard for me to write a story that is straight to the point without adding in little details. I can't even do that when I talk.

I do know that even though this assignment will be tough, I will benefit from it in the longrun. I want to prove to myself that I can do it. The class wouldn't be worth it if it weren't a challenge.

Moving on to media in the New York Times, I have been reading several articles over the past three weeks. I just haven't been writing about them. The one's I found to be most interesting were of: Michelle Obama and her wanting the public schools to provide healthy meals for students because the obesity that's on the rise; genetically engineered salmon; and a major vehicle crash leaving 6 people dead (including a pastor and his wife of a small church).

With Michelle Obama and her idea of having healthy foods provided in public schools sounds like a great idea, but honestly I don't think it will make much of a difference if the kids aren't eating healthy at home before school, after school and on the weekends. I believe it'd make more of a difference if parents were involved with the health of their children. With the amount of single parents in our country today, just making sure they can provide food for their children can be more of a focus than worrying about whether it's healthy. More health classes provided for students from an early age might also help.

The article on the genetically engineered salmon kind of grossed me out. The article was written on the 20th and covered the debate on whether the fish should be labeled that it was gentically engineered or not. The author of the article said that it would be the "first genetically engineered animal to enter the American food supply." If God gives animals the ability to naturally grow on their own, why would I want to eat it if it had been altered by a human?

I also read an article on a group of church members who suddenly lost their lives/became critically injured on a short trip to visit another church's anniversary celebration. The pastor and his wife were two who died, leaving their small hometown church of about 50 people devistated. Another woman who died on the van was the pastor's sister--mother of the pastor of the church they were going to visit. The wheel on the 10+ year old van popped off while in motion, causing the van to flip over a few times and land on its roof. What I thought was most interesting in the article was the last sentence when someone said they did not understand why this terrible thing would happen, and that even through the shock and sadness, God had a plan.

9.16.10

This past summer, I visited rateyourprofessor.com for the first time. I searched for a professor I had last semester who I can't believe is even allowed to be a teacher. It turned out that 95% of his comments were negative--and there were more comments on him than I'd seen from the handful of the other teachers I looked up. I began to wonder if he, or any other teachers, ever go to this website and see how they are being rated. It made me wonder how the comments would make them feel. Would they be able to push past it and not let it bother them? or would they be impacted by it?

Then, some weeks later, I was wandering around Netflix and found the movie Stricken because I was curious to see if my teacher's movie made it on there. I read the feedback from several viewers and most of the comments were negative. It made me wonder if Paul Chilsen had been impacted by the negative comments he'd recieved by others who had viewed this movie. In person he seems like a cool, professional strong-minded person, but it still made me wonder if it could have effected him in any way.

I then had a long conversation with my Uncle Gary last Tuesday about critics. We switched from topic to topic, covering about 20 within three hours. Boy, that time went by so quickly. We ended up covering the topic on how critics impact directors, actors and actresses. We wondered if they would be able to brush off anything negative said about them or not? He told me to watch the movie Heckler. I haven't done so yet.

I just thought it was interesting how at three different times throughout the summer I have been wondering about the effects of criticism.