Fear of the Unknown

The depths of unknown. In no way do we know the the extreme what is roaming the bottoms of a mucky lake. We’ve never been down there ourselves. But we do know, in almost all of these lakes, sits a snapping turtle waiting on its next prey.

As a kid, I was always told, “The snapping turtle will either die, take your foot off, or you’re going down with it.” This incited my overwhelming fear of these awful creatures. I see them swimming in the lake, and it immediately buzzkills my trip. Going into the water is a thought of the past after this.

The sheer size of such a creature is incredible. You see their spiked back and their sharp teeth. They can weigh up to 50 pounds, but from my estimations I was always thinking about 100. This type of monster could do some damage like no other. People always say, “It’s probably more scared of you than you are of it.” The problem with that statement is that it knows where I am, but I cannot see where it is.

Don’t get me wrong, I love swimming in lakes--even more than swimming in pools at times. But when the thought of a snapping turtle enters my mind, it’s unbearable. My day of swimming might as well be over.

The biggest part of this fear is the feeling of uncertainty. We do not know what is beneath us, and at times we do not want to know. This mystery traumatizes the brain more than actually seeing the snapping turtle. Anything could be under there at any time, yet we swim on with a sense of ignorance to this fact.

The fear of the unknown trumps all else.

If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke has been around for a while now. It was a catchy song, and every time I listen to it, I still catch myself thinking, "Hey, hey hey" throughout the day. There is a culture to the video that is parallel with some of the worst rap songs today. It was incredibly graphic and more or less, awkward. I found a lot of these people must have felt awkward in their situation. They're all just dancing around half naked, it had to have been uncomfortable for some of them.

The song lyrics were borderline wrong. There were a lot of lyrics that came close to crossing the line, but I don't think they ever truly did. It surely could have, but they held back. Some of the lyrics come across to women as "It's OK to be bad." This made it a more sexual song to some. When listened to on the radio, which I did probably 100 times, listeners likely cannot comprehend the meaning of this song. Once they hear the controversy, they start looking for it hard, and that's where they seem to find inappropriate things. The rape culture was not evident, but to some women, there was clear disrespect.

Some people say that pop musicians have a responsibility for the message they portray. I don't necessarily believe in this. First, we are all protected by free speech. Nothing should be censored or banned in the first place as long as it doesn't threaten somebody's life. And Blurred Lines doesn't. Pop musicians have their own morals, and they should be able to follow that, right or wrong. Perhaps their morals don't line up with yours, that's unfortunate. They be best way to protest is by boycotting.  By not buying their works, you're essentially putting them out of business. People should be able to filter their music by themselves from what they want to listen to. Pop Musicians should feel responsible for what they're putting out in the world, but if people keep listening, then there is no reason for them to stop this type of music.

Oppression of Women and Many More

Reading the articles "The Great Lawsuit" and "If Men Could Menstruate" brought two very similar viewpoints to the table in two very different ways. Gloria Steinem who wrote the second article seemed to rant. Once she brought up the point about men menstruating, she went on about how it would suddenly be enviable and a precious event. Her rant, although taken into very unlikely extremes at times held much substance. What men do is often looked on as the most glorious right. Men have a certain power in our society which can date back to basically the earth's existence.

Margaret Fuller, the author of "The Great Lawsuit", talked about how the only way we could reach true equality is with a full spiritual awakening. This goes not only for Man vs. Woman, but for Black vs. White, Rich vs. Poor, and Western World vs. Eastern World. I have often said on my blogs that people act this way and treat each other these ways because that is how it has always been. Many people won't even stand up for themselves because they know no other way. When the events of society unfold, people may question why we do something a certain way. When your only answer is, "I don't know, that's just how it has always been." You know that it's time for a change. Things don't need to stay the same just to make us feel comfortable. Stooping down to levels of intolerance and inequality is nothing to envy.

Although these articles revolved around women, it is relatable to all points of our life. It is obvious that men have oppressed women for years. It is still going on today with the equal pay problems. Women with very similiar jobs to men make significantly less than them. We obviously haven't moved on as a society from the 1960's. We can still change though. There is no sense in dwelling on our wrongdoings when we can still move on and do what we know we have to do.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

This blooming of technology in the past 10 years has been incredible. The magnitude of what society has done with it is remarkable. Sometimes, I find myself wishing it had all never happened though. Trust me, I enjoy my usage of Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook. At the same time, I miss the simplicity of life that I knew for only a few short years. I would simply play outside all day without a worry in the world. I hope for my kids' sake, technology stays stagnant, even though I know it will keep moving forward. I want my kids to have their first toy be a baseball glove or a football, not a cell phone. I want them to be active and have the type of childhood I once enjoyed. These are my fears of what society could become.

I have been affected by this epidemic that these modern day conveniences have caused. The author talked about how reading an in depth prose used to be easy and he would breeze right through it, but now, he drifts after a mere couple pages. The internet is right at our fingertips with the answers to nearly all of our questions. It is scary that we may be losing our ability to think on our own. He says that Google sees information as a commodity, a resource. He said Google is trying to build an artificial intelligence. People's intelligence may be lacking, because why learn when all this information is a few seconds away.

I enjoy all the conveniences the internet has to offer. Having always lived in an era of technology though, I haven't realized how much it may have affected my ability to think on my own.

The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

The first line of this piece was in a way, sickening. The fact that Richard felt he needed to learn how to "live as a Negro." Growing up as a white kid in a white town, I only ever had to learn how to be a kid. As ignorant as that sounds, it's the truth for about 90 percent of the kids in AP Composition. We all just fit in where we grew up and we never really looked past that. This article opened the eyes of all of us and there is no denying it.
Throughout this story, it was apparent how much black people tolerated in these Jim Crow days. They tried to thrive and better themselves so they could be like the white people. When Richard was at his first job, he was treated pretty well for a black teenager. Once he felt comfortable in his job, he wanted to learn more and climb the ladder that has become called the "American Dream." People are denied their rights to climb the ladder day in, and day out, for various reasons. Nobody deserved to be denied this right the way Richard was. He was beaten and scarred for life after this incident. He never fully recovered from this traumatic event and never fully tried leaping up the ladder again. Richard continued to test boundaries when he hopped from job to job, but he either would get ran out of the job, or he would run away from it out of fear for his own safety. It's a tragedy that he couldn't follow some sort of dream.
When Richard was given a ride with the group of white boys on the outside of their car, he was hit in the face with that empty whiskey bottle. His elbows and shins were bleeding, and he was clearly dazed. It was clear that the white boys felt pity for him and felt that what they had done was wrong.
The problem with that was that everybody kept acting this way because that is the way it had always been. They knew no other way because that's how they were raised. These actions seems so primitive to us as we sit here looking back on some of the darkest times in our history. Just as we are being raised to be plugged into a wall at all times, they were raised to feel superior to black people. Obviously these are of two very different levels of severity, but they have the same concept. As wrong as it was, it took some major courage for people to stand up and end this misjustices. Though it took time, people came to their senses as best as they could, and things started changing.

Talk of the Towns

On a day where we celebrate the independence of this great country of ours, I came across these heart wrenching stories about a day where the security of our country had been compromised. It's a day that none of us will ever forget, and these essays, themselves, bring back vivid memories that my four year old self can accurately recall. I can still remember my mom picking me up from my babysitters, crying. At the time, I could not understand the severity of what happened that day. This is one of my first, clearest memories of my early childhood, and I have know no life in which our country hasn't still been fighting the fight for what happened early that Tuesday morning.

John Updike's article spoke to me. We remember our freedom today and all of those who fought to protect it. There is nothing more valuable to our nation than our freedom. Updike says, "Risk is a price of freedom." We must continue to move forward from these attacks. There is never going to be a day that we forget these attacks, but honoring all the soldiers, firefighters, and first responders by maintaining our freedom is the most distinguished way to honor them. The way America bounced back from that dreadful day was enviable. We are strong enough, and we have been able to as we saw in the Boston Bombings. The vast illustrations of that day and the day after showed the shambles this event could have left our country in, but it didn't.

Susan Sontag had a very different attitude than Updike. She talks about how afraid the US was and still may be. There is no hiding from the fact that terrorists may be fearless. Those that are willing to die just to kill others are the meaning of the word coward and there isn't anything scarier than an attack by a kamikaze, because they have nothing to lose. Our leaders were giving us false hope and false security. They told us everything would be OK, when nothing would be OK.

These two articles brought two different views. America bounced back from this incident, but it may have just been lying to itself that it wasn't afraid, when in retrospect, we all were scared out of our minds.

Jordan Mazzara: Life

I would first like to thank you for taking the time to learn more about my life.

I want you to know that you are welcome at my blog anytime. I am kind of new at the whole "blog life," so move forward slowly and be kind with your comments, but I can take criticism. Enjoy!

I am Jordan Mazzara and I will be a senior in the fall of 2014. It's pretty crazy to think about. Time really does fly by as cliche as that is. There are many things that you may know about me, and many things that may strike you as a surprise. Get ready, because here comes my life.

When I was 2 years old, I tried rollerblading for my first time. I was almost 3 so it wasn't to far-fetched to be trying rollerblading for my first time. I was decent, a natural I would say. Unfortunately, I ended up twisting my leg around and broke my tibia and fibia right in half. It was a rough day for me. Maybe it was a warning sign, but i'm going into my 14th year of hockey next year and I wouldn't trade it for the world. To add to this, I am a goalie. It's a job that nobody really can understand.

To add to this, I play golf. Golf is my leisurely sport. I play it competitively, but it is so much more laid back than my hockey. I take hockey much more seriously than golf, even though I will likely be playing golf much longer than I will hockey (I won't be able to take pucks being shot at my head much longer).

I am also actively engaged in DECA, our business and marketing club here in McFarland. I am a DECA Chapter Officer and have recently competed at the International Competition in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a great experience, and I loved the city. People are so nice in the south, and the food is great. I really wish we had Chick-fil-a in Madison.

I am currently employed at the one and only, Ken's Meats and Deli. It's really a great place to work because I always am working with people and doing my best to help them.

I am looking forward to heading up north this summer on my yearly trip to Hayward, Wisconsin. We go fishing, boating, and just hang out. It's a great way to escape from the plug-in and be out in nature.

After high school, I have many options that I am looking into. I'm still not entirely sure what I want to do with my life, but I am thinking Criminal Justice or Business. I am looking at a few colleges, two of which I have gone on campus visits to: UW-Eau Claire and UW-Madison. I really like both of the schools.

Going into the homestretch is going to be interesting. I am excited to fulfill the rest of my summer, and then enjoy one of the best years of my life. I hope AP Composition will be a nice compliment to this school year and I am looking forward to developing writing skills that could be useful in whatever I do in my life.