Racism

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081027/ap_on_el_pr/skinhead_plot

I have tried to stay away from talking about politics, but this story has forced me too. Racism, as anyone with a brain knows, is still alive and thriving in the South and Appalachia. Anyone who has been hearing about the comments of audience members at McCain rallies should be a little unsettled. There are people that do not like Barack Obama simply because he is black. This is no reason to dislike someone. Tolerance and acceptance has been beaten into me since I learned that Thanksgiving was a lie. I easily accepted people not because it was beaten into me, but because they were human. I am fortunate enough to be an intellectually gifted person, and I am not bragging, I am just stating a fact. I grew emotional and mentally faster than people my physical age. Because of this rapid mental growth, I was able to realize things that some adults don't realize until late in their life. I have not once in my life felt like I hated someone. I have always been a friendly and loving person. I forgave people for the way they treated me and tried to overcome my human nature, something I have been defining since an early age. This story saddens me because these people are cursed with ignorance and hate. They are unable to realize that skin color means nothing, differences in ideology mean nothing. Racism is a horrible thing, and no matter how hard people try, they cannot get rid of it. It is part of human nature to hate what is different from you, and only intellectually gifted people are able to overcome this ignorance and stupidity. It's a sad truth. I wish I could rid the world of such horrible thoughts, but it is near, if not, impossible to do so.

Return Home

I have returned to my home. It was a nice trip back to Euclid, but it was also strange. Being back there felt like a dream, as I believe I have stated before. It was nice to see Simone, and I can't wait for this weekend, since she's coming down! But it was strange to see how drastically people had changed. I find it interesting how people think that going to college instantly makes you mature and smarter than everyone else. I find it even more interesting how much these "mature" people make stupid decisions. I don't want to preach from my soap box, I am just stating my observations, but it just makes me a little sad. I liked people for who they were, and their new selves are not as likeable. I am not worried that they might read this. If they become offended, I will apologise, but I will not take back what I said. I am their friend, and I will be honest with them. If they don't like that, then they must not consider me a friend. I apologise to everyone for being so cynical.

Back in Town

Greetings from the good ol' Euclid, Ohio. I arrived back in my hometown late last night for a weekend of reminiscing. Actually, I just came to see my high school's fall play, Twelve Angry Jurors. Justin's mother was kind enough to drive all the way to Athens, and then drive us all the way back to Euclid. As we passed OU on the freeway, I muttered under my breath, "Goodbye Home." It sounds cheesy, but I really feel at home there. I felt like I was going to wake up from a wonderful dream and never be able to fall back asleep and dream it again. Then at some point I felt that I was in a dream. Returning home felt very surreal. Seeing people who I had only talked to through the magic of the internet was so refreshing. But it felt really surreal when I saw how some people had really changed. Nevertheless, it's nice to be back at my house, but I really miss my home. I can't wait for next weekend when Simone is coming down for Halloween! Hurray!

Lack of Blog

I apologize for my lack of posts, but it's very hard to write when I have homework everynight and then I go to sleep. The Post has slowly been consuming my life more, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but yesterday I was pretty much at the Post from 12:00 to 10:30. Even right now I am sitting at the Post on my laptop. I have 87 photos to choose from. I have to whittle those down to a few good ones. That is very hard because I have already gone through two purges where I deleted the lackluster ones. Arrrgh. I'm slowly losing my mind! Well, at least I have this weekend to look forward to. I will be returning to Euclid to see the high school's Fall Play. Expect a review from me Saturday or Sunday night.

Busy as Bee

I've been busy doing a lot of stuff and homework, so I haven't really been able to post on this lately. I apologize because I have a lot of interesting stories to tell my readers. Stay tuned for more.

Ben Folds, Missy Higgins, and Some Problems

Now, I'm really exhausted, so I will post more later today. I saw Ben Folds. He was awesome. Missy Higgins was pretty good too, but I missed about half of her show because of some complications. As you all know, well if you read my blog regularly, I just got my Rebel XTi. Now, I have been taking it everywhere with me, so I decided to bring it with me to the concert. I was shooting Missy Higgins and I got about 30 good shots before someone came up to me and asked if I had a press pass. I said no, so I had to follow her to the lobby where I was told I could not take pictures. Now I was a little upset, but I returned to my seat and did not take any more photos. Not soon after, another staff person told me I couldn't take pictures, and I was like I already was told this and I'm not going to. But then she was like we still need to talk to you, so she brought me back out to the lobby. There I was questioned by several people. I was told I could not have a professional grade camera unless I had a press pass. I did not have a press pass because I was not shooting as a member of the press. I was shooting as an individual who loves to take photos, not pictures. I was told that I could not be let back to my seat until I had returned my camera to my dorm. I also had to delete all the photos on my memory card. Now, I was very angry, so I called David because he has a digital SLR. Luckily he was still nearby at RTV, so I just dropped my camera off there, but not after missing like ten minutes of Missy Higgins. I was very mad, but the worst part was that the guy who interogated me said that they didn't care about point-and-shoot cameras, only professional because I might do something evil with good looking photos. Is it a crime to like quality and do something that I enjoy without receiving any benefit other than personal enjoyment? Apparently because they didn't care about the people with their little rectangles that use a flash. I feel like my rights have been a little trampled on by the label or company that said I couldn't take photos at their client's concert. I will write them an angry letter. But some good came out of this evening, I got my artwork and Ben Folds DVD signed. I will take photos of them and upload them tomorrow, but right now I'm going to sleep.

BEN FOLDS!!!!!!!

I GET TO SEE BEN FOLDS TONIGHT! WOOOO! I COULD BARELY SLEEP LAST NIGHT THINKING ABOUT THE CONCERT. I DID NOT WIN THE BACKSTAGE PASS, WHICH HAS DEEPLY SADDENED ME, BUT I WILL REMAIN UNDETERRED IN MY EFFORTS TO GET HIM TO SIGN MY AMAZING MIKE TAYLOR ORIGINAL AND MY BEN FOLDS FIVE DVD. I WILL JUMP ON STAGE AND BEG HIM TO SIGN IT. I'M DESPERATE ENOUGH TO DO IT, AND SINCE I DON'T LIKE TO LIVE WITH REGRETS, IT'S VERY LIKELY I WILL DO IT. LOOK FOR ME ON THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK NEWS WHEN THE POLICE ARE DRAGGING ME OFF STAGE AND THROWING ME INTO A POLICE CAR.

My New Camera

I finally got my new Canon Rebel XTi Digital SLR yesterday. It is awesome! I also finished my PolSci midterm pretty fast because it was easy. Here's a photo of a film photograph I took with my new camera. There wasn't much light in my dorm room, and I'm just getting the hang of Photoshop now that I have a DSLR.

Uneventful

I had a very uneventful week. I have had a cold since I woke up Saturday and took photos for David. I went to class, did stuff with friends, and slept. I have not found out yet if I won a backstage pass to Ben Folds. All the people who I bought the raffle tickets from were rooting for me and even asked the guy who was going to pull the winner if they could just give it to me since I bought 42 tickets. I really hope I won, but since I haven't been e-mailed yet, I'm pretty sure I didn't. The winner was pulled at noon, so if I haven't been informed yet, there is a pretty good chance I didn't win. Oh well..........