The Road Not Taken

The third stanza deals with our coping of a decision once it’s been made. Take line 13, “Oh, I kept the first for another day!” The exclamation point is important here because it portrays excitement and an interesting optimistic approach to the situation. This line is the narrator’s way of comforting his own uneasy feeling about the situation. The narrator has made his choice, but still has no idea what the consequence of it will be, and as a comforting thought he decides that he can always come back and try the other path in the future, thereby avoiding any consequences of having to stick with an uneducated choice. Clearly this is a comparison to problems we face in decision making every day. A decision is not so hard if you know you can always come back to try the alternative, however as the narrator knows, this is not always an option. If it were always an option than life would lose its unpredictable excitement, and the narrator acknowledges this in the following lines, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” The last two lines are that little voice inside us saying “you know your stuck with this decision, better make the best of it.” By not clearly showing regret, uncertainty, or excitement Frost speaks volumes on the human psyche.

Confucionism

Zhu Xi is given credit as the man who really gave way to the widest and most important spread of Confucianism. It is obvious that Confucianism was a widespread idea before the appearance of Zhu Xi, but it’s because of his huge push to really convert the Chinese way of thought in the direction of Confucianism that gave it its common notoriety even in today’s world. He met a lot of resistance during his lifetime, but years after his death (specifically in the Yuan dynasty) his efforts led to the over-whelming acceptance and enforcement of the books of Confucius. It is said that during the Song dynasty there was a renaissance-like movement, as well as education reform in the direction of Confucian teachings. To give the Confucian movement total credit for the appearance of this renaissance is not justifiable. However I believe that it is fair to say that Confucian thought certainly fueled the presence of this renaissance.
Confucian teachings focus on attributes such as filial piety, obedience, contributions to the group, and knowing one’s role in the society. These are not qualities that usually lead to a renaissance movement. For things like economics and culture to flourish you need emphasis on the individual. Culture is defined by expression, new and original ideas in areas like art and music usually come from individual achievement, people need to be able to free there minds and explore their deepest thoughts. If one is caught up in the frenzy of filial piety, civil obedience, and doing things for the good of the group it usually comes at a cost of their individuality and sense of creativity. On the other hand, Confucianism encourages the flourishing of intellectuals, and this is such a key ingredient to the recipe of a renaissance that it overshadows all the other drawbacks Confucianism might bring. The reason why Confucianism was not linked to a renaissance in earlier times was because the Chinese were still under dictators, who controlled everything. Military force was of the utmost importance in those times, and even Confucian thinking was closely watched by the over-bearing political powers. In those times Confucianism was exploited in a way, with huge emphasis on the obedience portion of it, and less emphasis on the free-thinking portion.

San Diego contd.

So after the bloody mary was put down it was time for the beach. We payed for our meals and made our way through the maze of tables and out onto the street. Whatever clouds covered the sun a few hours earlier were completely gone now, the sun was blazing and the breeze was beautiful. We walked passed tattoo shops and beach restaurants until we arrived at the roller coast and carnival area. I needed to be a tourist for a little while and I felt like dressing like one, so we stopped at a t-shirt stand to get some San Diego apparel. The owner of the shop was a smoking hot mexican girl in her mid twenties. She knew it and wasn't afraid to exploit it as she began flirting with us immediately. I picked out a black tshirt that had "SAN" in hot pink and "DIEGO" right under it in electric green.

"If this isn't touristy I don't know what is" I said as put it next to the register. The girl giggled and asked if that was my plan to meet San Diego women, act like a tourist. I smiled and told her she nailed it on the head, after all that was our plan.

After the tshirt stand we went over to a bar right on the shore call "Michael's", walking into the front doors the placed looked like...nothing. The floor and walls were black and there was no bar, no people and a stage with no band, just microphone stands. We looked around at the bouncer who just pointed to the stairs without saying a word. It was a completely different story upstairs, it wasnt a second floor as much as it was just the roof of the bar. The bar had a straw "tikki" styled roof and all the tables had huge straw umbrellas. We immediately opened up a tab and sat at a table overlooking the ocean.

At less than a hundred yards away, the ocean looked incredible. Both it and the beach were flooded with people surfing, fishing, jogging, playing volleyball, but mostly drinking and tanning. I might as well have been in Cancun on spring break. After 4 or 5 beers we decided to leave our tab open but run downstairs and charge the ocean. So we hopped off our stools and sprinted down the staircase, across the two lane pedestrian walk and over and around a maze of bodies. Diving into the ocean drunk was an odd feeling to say the least. The cold water didn't hit me for a few seconds and I barely noticed as i was pummeled by wave after wave. Whatever lowered sensibility i had from beign drunk seemed to channel itself into addrenaline. We wrestled around and rode waves until the dehydration was crippling, then we limped out of the ocean as if we had just finished the last leg of a triatholon, probably not the smartest move in hindsight. Then it was back to the open tab...

documentary

I thought the film did a very good job at staying balanced in it's representation of the townspeople vs. the film crews. I don't think any of us would argue that Hobert was justified in murder because he absolutely wasn't, but it is easy to get caught up in the shooting while ignoring the importance of the East Kentucky Poverty event as a whole. I thought that most of the interviewees had a very healthy viewpoint on the situation, especially O'Connor's daughter. It is important to see that this was a very unfortunate clash of culture and not just a shooting by a murderous lunatic. That being said, Hobert deserved to be convicted of first degree murder based on the evidence provided by the documentary. One of the most admirable parts of the documentary was the fact that O'Connor's daughter was able to have such a clear understanding of the situation, instead of showcasing blind rage towards Hobert. This event showed us the dangers that can be involved in documentary filmmaking, and certain arrogant filmmakers could learn a lesson here. One of the filmmakers being interviewed seemed to be surprised that the East Kentucky residents thought he was so much different than them, well, the truth is the documentors and the townfolk were worlds apart, thinking you have the capacity to understand another way of life without having LIVED it is both ignorant and dangerous.

Easy Solution for Marriage

In the constitution of the United States, the very first amendment in fact, it is stated clearly that there should be a firm separation between Church and State. There are an unlimited number of reasons why this is a necessary state of affairs, but of course, for reasons beyond any thinking person's grasp, our country fails miserably in upholding this simple rule. The 10 commandments are still being etched into stone at public schools while senators and presidents still make it very clear which religions agenda they will be pushing. And much of the resistance facing gay marriage comes from "christian politics", how can the church possibly weasel its way into political issues is beyond me. There is a very simple solution, erase the ambiguity between the state and churches role in recognizing marriage. Now if there are social objections to gay marriage, fine, those can be dealt with. But it is overwhelmingly obvious that the main conflict here is the Christians vs the Gays.

The way marriage should work here in the US is very simple, there should be two completely separate "marriage" ceremonies. Any given couple should be consummated separately by the church and state. If a couple wishes to have a christian marriage in Arizona there should be no law against it, but there is no reason that the State of Arizona should recognize it. The same couple can be spiritually satisfied that under the eyes of God they are merged as one family and their marriage is religiously mandated, however to be recognized by the state there should be a completely separate "ceremony" or "event". If the couple does not complete the state ceremony, then legally they are not married. States will have their own marital laws, and if they conflict with the religious ones than the state wins. If a given religion allows a man to marry his 8 year old daughter that's fine, but the state of Arizona doesn't have to allow it, that man is free to move to an area that allows that type of thing. Moral and Ethical codes have to outweigh Religious ones. Religion is helpful to billions around the world but it is a poison to any efforts in advancing government and social norms.

Clamming

After completing a rigorous summer minor program at the University i was allows a 10 day break at the end of August, I used this break to go back home to Long Island NY and catch up with some people who i hadn't seen since Christmas. On my first full day back I went clamming with my friends Mikey and Jay, I had never been clamming all my years living on the shore and I'm glad i didn't let any more time pass by before trying it.

It was 10 AM and we took Jay's boat out from the dock behind his house. After making our way through the channel behind his house (5 MPH speed limit) we reached the mouth of the bay and he opened the engine up. Mikey and I sat in the front of the boat and held on to our Heinikens for dear life, the boat was bouncing over waves and with the wind blasting past our ears attempting any conversation was just a waste of time.

We reached our destination directly under the Robert Moses Causeway Bridge and anchored the boat. Even though we were a few hundred yards offshore the water was only chest deep so we put Dave Matthews in the boats cd player, grabbed a bucket and a few beers and hopped in the luke warm water.

Clamming is a little awkward at first, while walking around the murky water you have to dig in the mud-like sand with your feet and feel for the clams. At first it feels kind of nasty, especially when you hit a patch of seaweed but once you find your first clam all you think about is getting the next one. We basked in the sunlight all afternoon drinking and clamming, catching about 100 clams in all. Once dusk came we hopped back on the boat and shot back to my friends house.

That night we shucked all the clams and cut them into little pieces, saving the shells. One trip to Walbaum's and we had bacon bits, paremsean, garlic, butter, pepper and bread crumbs. We threw all the ingredients in a giant bowl, then threw the clams in, mixed it all around and redistributed the new concoction back into the open shells. Then they were tossed in the over, the exact recipe we used is a little fuzzy because we werent exactly sober, but our homemade baked clams could have won us a spot on Top Chef, thats for sure.

Scene from script idea

EXT - BAGHDAD - DAYTIME

We are outside of an Iraqi village/market, camera is pulled back in a wide shot above the city. It's high noon and the sun is blinding, a slow zoom begins as the camera swoops down to the ground and enters the perimeter of the village through an alley.

The street is barren, mostly quiet save for a few sounds from far away (market chatter). As the camera creeps down street you can see a 3 story building at the end (abandoned looking).

After a while (while camera is still creeping down the street) a camel spider emerges from the bottom of the screen, it is now being followed by the camera in a close-up. On the right side of the road you see a group of soldiers (out of focus) sitting on crates right outside of one of the many beat up shacks. The spider starts to approach the group, stopping every now and then for cautions sake, camera follows the spider until it is a few feet from a crate which one of the soldiers is sitting on, then stops. By the sound of it the 3 soldiers are playing cards, constant cursing and bickering etc. A card flutters off the table into view of the camera and as a soldiers hand appears to pick it up he screams and falls off the crate.

Geoff(soldier that fell):
FUCK!, fuck dude fuck kill that thing cmon(trails off muttering curses)

Rich(2nd soldier)[smiling but reaching for gun]:
oh my god

G [brushing himself off]:
no, stop dude you know i dont fuck around with fuckin insects like that

Matt (3rd soldier) [crying with laughter]:
it's not an insect dick...he's Rich's spotter

Geoff and Rich both smile and exchange some hesitant looks, Matt's laugh is incredibly contagious and he had a habit of breaking tension like this.

G [calming down a little bit]:
you better gimme that that 20 back

R [giggling]:
fuck off Geoff, not if my boys got anything to say about it [pointing to spider, cracks up again]

Geoff is smiling, but looking for a way out of the situation as if backed into a corner by the spider.

G:
Bay (nickname for Matt) cmon dude...

M [sarcastically points to himself, raises eyebrows]:
He wasn't looking at my cards

Geoff picks the crate up, musters up all is courage and starts to look for an opening to attack the spider. Starts to approach the spider but decides to just throw the crate at it, it misses and the spider scurries towards the door of the shack as the luietenant is walking out.

Luietenant [startled, steps on spider]:
Shit.