Opinion on Peer Reviews

I really think the peer reviews are helpful. Not only is it interesting being able to read another person's work, but it's beneficial. By looking at ways to improve the person's paper, you also have your own paper in the back of your head, making mental notes of what to change when it comes to your own paper. I'm really glad we get to do this, although sometimes I feel embaressed to let someone read and critize my own work. But I guess that's the way it goes.

So Cold, Freezing Cold

This weather really is playing tricks with my head. One week it's warm and the next it's cold. And when it does get cold, it's not like a 'nice' cold, it's like Antartica cold. I don't know how much more of living in Michigan I can take! I miss this nice, warm beaches in Australia, surfing with my mates, being able to walk around without a jacket. It's like summer all year round. I don't mind the cold, but when it gets so cold that you don't even want to go outside, that's when it bothers me!

Like driving home from school with the ice and snow on the roads was terrible. It's so stressful because at any point your car can skid out of control. I don't even know how many cars I saw in the ditch or how many cars (on the freeway) moving all over the place. Hopefully everyone got home safe!

A Look at the Past

Progress on the analyzing of the Victorian house is going quite good. I'm learning so many new things that I didn't even know about my best friend's house, even though I've probably slept at her house 3 times a month since the 8th grade. I always knew about her house harbouring runaway slaves but I had never gone too much into detail with her. It's so interesting seeing where they used to hide them, except now it's patched up being that it's dangerous with her younger siblings.

Also, when I sat down with her mum and dad and talked to them about the history of the house, the brought out pamphlets and books written on the house and gave me dates of thse house (it was built in 1837). 1837! And I have slept there so many times and never actually thought about it. I feel guilty that I never considered it as a historical structure. Lastly, I was informed that Henry Ford used to stay at her house on his way up to his cottage. Henry Ford! I really do look at her house differently now. All this new information is so bizarre!

Disagreements on Coffeehouses

It seemed to me that a lot of people had different perceptions on coffeehouses in their own communities. I really didn't want to speak up so I figured I would go home tonight and write down my thoughts.

A lot of people thought that coffeehouses are just a social place to do unsociable things [going on the computer, reading, but I kind of disagree! Yes, it's okay to go to a coffeehouse to read or to be on your laptop, but there's more to it than just that! I've been to many coffeehouses around the world and I'm starting to think that maybe it depends on your culture or environment. To the coffeehouses that I have been to in different parts of the world, I have seen that it is a place for socializing. It is a place for sitting down, relaxing, and talking!

Take Australia's coffeehouses scenario: Gloria Jeans Coffeehouse on the strip, half a miles walk from the beach, in the heart of Cronulla (a hip beach town filled with surfers, surfer-bums, and professionals). Any time of the day (6 am - 10 pm) you will see the Coffeehouse filled with people! People sitting down, talking, drinking coffee, and in no rush to continue on with their day. Friends would sit outside with their pets, giving it a sense of a relaxed environment. It's not just Australia; New Orleans, Germany, and Chile are the same, just to name a few.

I guess all in all it depends on the culture and the environment, but for the most part coffeehouses are a socializing place, not JUST for unsociable things. Last but not least, coffeehouses aren't just a fad, they're here to stay!

A Coffeehouse Conversation

Marriott's article "Jiving with Java" was closely accurate to the coffeehouses in present-day, considering it was written in '95. Coffeehouses truly appeal to everyone who has taste buds! Even that, apart from the addiction to the caffeine, there's an addiction to the socialization. People get a kick out of going to a coffeehouse, not knowing what will happen during that visit. They go to coffeehouses to get a drink, to study, to read, to chat with a friend, to relax, or to just simply meet someone.

Coffeehouses, at least in my community, are the place to go when you want to meet up with a friend and talk or to do some homework. As lame as it sounds, most people probably see a coffeehouse "cooler than a library" but you can also get work done. I, personally don't go to a coffeehouse for homework because I get really distracted. But I do go if I want to read a magazine or a book, or simply to just meet up with friends and have a nice chat. It's such a relaxed atmosphere. I completely agreed with everything that Marriott said about coffeehouses.

COLORS of the world

A few months ago when I was in Australia, my cousin introduced me to a magazine. Not just any magazine though, but a "quarterly magazine that focuses on cultural topics from around the world." COLORS. Hands down, it's [my opinion] the best magazine! The second I picked them up I was taken over by interest; I read all three of them in a short matter of time. Every article in COLORS presents information to the reader and makes them think. It provides the reader with a look at the world, through different cultures, tackling one topic for each quartly magazine in different manners. Featured topics include Drugs (Iss. 62), Lust (Iss. 67), HIV/AIDS (Iss. 64), Photostudios (Iss. 58), Violence (Iss. 56), and Fat (Iss. 25), to name a few. Every topic provides an entire magazine worth of articles, each intriguing, each unique, set with vivid, colorful images that captivates the reader!

Issue 62, "Drugs," contained stories of "Coffee, A Social History," "Sacred Plants," "Body-Enhancing Drugs," "Fighting AIDS in Brazil," "Kicking the Habit on Mount Purgatory," and "Your Brain on Love" [just to show you how they tackle drugs as a broad subject, and not just as a recreational drug that we all would think of it as -- precisely why this magazine is so fascinating]. Although all the articles intrigue me, there was one that has stuck to me like glue. It's the shortest of the rest of the articles and it was found on the last page of this issue, Your Brain on Love.

Could a drug to deactivate hate be far behind? And could everyone in the world be convinced to take it simultaneously?

What do you think...

The Death of Wilbur Wright

Detroit Funk, being more interesting compared to Faded Detroit, showed unique funky pictures. One that got to me was The Death of Wilbur Wright, the Wilbur Wright School, that is. It was a mixture of the pictures and the words that moved me.

Seven pictures down, a picture of murals in what was of the school of performing arts is left, and dfunk writes:

The remaining school murals tell a sad tale of an institution that had once taught gifted children music, art and dance.

It's a pity this is what is left of the school.