My 4th of July Weekend

Celebrating Independence Day: The 4th of July in Ames, Iowa was in definite contrast to how I celebrate it in my hometown St. Louis, Mo. I expected the day to be really boring and dragged, especially since forty out of fifty students that live on the same floor as me went home for the holiday. I spent my holiday with my newfound friends, Shaynetta best know as Shay and Jared. We had a great time. It was nothing like being at home with my family but our day was spent well.
First, we left our rooms too late and to go to lunch, so we missed the parade. Instead, we walked around a park and enjoyed the view of children laughing and jumping on inflatable floats and a local band singing old tunes on stage.
I noticed most people were not wearing the traditional red, white, and blue colors to celebrate the holiday. That made me question, are we no longer proud to be Americans and why are we out here? Are we all here only to socialize and eat free bar-be-que? I came to the conclusion that some Americans are not completely proud of their nation and its' ways. I too, am associated with that group. I definitely am not pleased with the nations' status or progress but I still celebrate the fact that I am an American and I celebrate Independence Day by wearing red, white, and blue and eating bar-be-que and chips. Hold the watermelon because I hate those.
After the park outing, Shay, Jared, and I went to the mall. I found a really cool pair of shoes but I didn't leave the dorm with money so I had to go back another day to purchase them. We spent an hour or two at the mall then we headed back to the dorms. A few hours later Jared came banging on my door so we could get some free BBQ. The three of us, plus a few other APEX students went to the picnic, ate BBQ, danced a little, played football, and headed back home. We did our homework for a while then we headed back out to watch the fireworks at ten. The fireworks exhibition at Stuart Smith Park was exciting and afterwards we ordered To-Go platters from Long John Silvers.
The day was well spent but it could have been topped off with a night/ morning of dancing at one of the local clubs. Unfortunately, that did not happen because both Jared and Shay are underage. So I ended my night babysitting, but all is well because they are both pretty cool people to hang out with.

Controversy and Identity: Who We Are as Americans

Last weeks’ class was very engaging. We began with a discussion about the story “Lottery”, which in itself was interesting. The tone of the story was mellow at the beginning. The story is very slow and progressive with a suspensful and one may say unpredictable climax to end with. The reading was based on the ritual of stoning a person to death in New York every summer on June 27th beginning at 10am in a small village.
Most of us students wondered why the people in the story celebrated this day like a holiday. The characters in the story did not even know why they did it. Joseph revealed out a great point that relates to most people now. Most people do not know why they praise who they praise. For example, a young christian child may not know why he or she praises God. If you ask him/her, their answer would probably be “because my mother said I was and I go to this church because my mom told me I had too.” People do things and go places because someone else asked or told them it was the right way to go. So the people in the story can’t be blamed for continuing what may be seen as a tradition in there eyes.

It was astonishing to see how we went from a class disussion about the reading to controversial issues within our own nation. I have always questioned why America feels the need to get involved with every other nation and their issues but not control the issues we have here at home: the poor, uninsured, unemployed, the homeless and hungry, etc. If the government is going to get involved with unnessary matters, they could at least be to benefit the people in need and who seek help. Also, we have to make certain that the aid we provide goes to those ppl and not dilomatic or dictating ties.