writer girl plus internet equals blog

October 2008 - Posts

• Fiction as Worthwhile Reading

   

  Few people would argue that reading, in general, is bad for your mind. However, I have encountered some people who seem to think that the value of reading is lessened by the type of reading you’re doing. Fiction is apparently less worthwhile reading than non-fiction, and even in the world of reading fiction, adult fiction is often considered far more worthy of our time.

  To which I say: ridiculous! I won’t go into why young adult fiction is great because there are plenty of others who have articulated that quite nicely. My point today is that we can learn a lot about the real world from fiction (no matter what the age of the intended audience is). This, of course, is not limited to the specifics that I want to point out; we can learn about anything in the real world from fiction. Fiction has often been a better teacher than all my years in school. It has given me ideas, knowledge, questions, and the means to find answers.

  Fiction can teach us to think. It can teach us new ideas, and it can teach us to question what we have been taught. Not that it is wrong, but to question, which is vital. To accept something blindly keeps our minds weak; to open our eyes and question makes us strong. This is a lesson I have learned from fiction.

  Fiction can teach us about how people interact, and how they think. People do all sorts of crazy things, and maybe we can’t walk up to them and ask them why, but, through reading stories about all kinds of people, we can try to figure it out ourselves. This sort of lesson is universal throughout fiction; we learn about people whether the book we are reading takes place at Hogwarts or in Sydney,  Australia. Even better, we learn about people whose backgrounds may differ from our own. We learn that we are all people, no matter where we come from.

  Fiction can teach us about far-off places we don’t get the chance to experience for ourselves. I’ve never been to Miami, Florida, for example. However, I’ve read several great books with Miami as an integral part of the story, so I’d like to think I know something about it. Last year, I went to New York City for the first time. I’d never been there, but it was still, in a way, familiar; I’ve read countless books set in New York. I recognized things I’d never seen!

  Fiction can teach us about history. Though I’ve taken several wonderful history courses, I’ve never had a class that went in-depth about the Holocaust and World War II (apparently, it’s never been important on the exam–don’t we love test-centered learning?). As awful as this part of history is, it is also important. It is important to understand what happened, to understand how awful it was, and to understand how it happened, so as to try to prevent history from repeating itself. Even though I never learned much about it at school, I know a lot about this period in history. Why? Because of the countless books I’ve read on it, most of them fiction (though, to be honest, some of it was non-fiction as well). Take any time period in history, and read some fiction set there; I guarantee you’ll learn loads.

  Fiction can teach us to express ourselves. We learn by example, and the example here is to be able to write our thoughts, to be articulate and use language to its fullest extent. We can express our ideas, and communicate with other people. From reading, no matter what book, we learn new tricks of language, new vocabulary, or, if it’s poorly written, what not to do.

  Fiction can teach us about possibilities. It teaches us to dream. Just because something has not happened to us does not mean it is out of reach. Fiction lets us touch these dreams, lets us hope they can become reality, and even lets them become like reality, if only for a few hours. I am sorry for anyone who does not read fiction because it is not “real;” I am sorry for anyone who has lost their imagination. 

  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:17 PM by jocelynp with no comments

• The Most Important Books To Me

   

  I have books that I immensely enjoyed, and am in continuing awe of the skill of their authors. I have books that fall into only one of those two categories (I appreciate how well done they are, or I loved reading them). I have books that I think everyone should read because everyone will love them. I have books that I appreciate because of what they have to say about society. And so on.

  This is why the question of “favorite” books is so difficult for me. I tend to mix it up, with books that I appreciate for different reasons. Today, I want to talk about another category: books that are personally, emotionally important to me for some reason or another. There are numerous books here, but today I want to talk about what I would say are, hands down, the most important books to me. And that would be the Harry Potter series.

  It might sound silly, but these books have been with me since I was a small child. Whenever my gaze happens to fall on the bit of my bookshelves that holds the seven volumes (plus Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them), I am enormously sad that there will be no more (The Tales of Beedle The Bard’s upcoming release does a bit to relieve that, though), but still happy in a nostalgic sort of way. To me, each book is not just linked to the wonderful stories inside, or to the characters that became friends (or dreadful enemies or incredible annoyances, depending on the character, the point is that they all became much more real to me than fictional characters)–these books are linked to parts of my life.

  The first three books remind me of the part of my life when I first stepped out of my shell a bit. I was very intensely shy as a child, and the time when I first made friends (rather than my mother making them for me) was around the same part of my life that I first discovered the Harry Potter series through my third grade teacher. And what did my friends and I do? We talked about Harry Potter and pretended we went to Hogwarts! This time in my life was my first step towards independence, towards being my own person, in lots of ways that I didn’t even begin to realize then. But now, when I look at those books, I am reminded of it, and of who I was then.

  And so on for books four through seven. These books mean a lot to me, as you can tell, to the point where, though I realize they’re far from perfect, and can even point out a few criticisms (one word: camping), I find it incredibly difficult to be objectively critical of the series. Except the epilogue, which was kind of awful.

  What is it for you? The author or book or series that you love so much, for some reason or another, that it is simply above and beyond feelings for any other book?

  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:16 PM by jocelynp with no comments

• The Value of the Internet

   

  If you know me, you know that I want to see the world. You know that I devote quite a bit of my time, energy, and money to getting to experience new places. I just wanted to share some thoughts & quotes about travel in general today.

  Idea #1:

  I see travel as the one of the most important ways of expanding human beings’ understanding of each other. Through travel we discover humility, love, friendship, passion and ourselves.

  -Kirsten Cargill

  I don’t actually know who this person is, but I love what she has to say (the quote came in one of my Why Go emails). I agree 100%. Understanding each other, and the world, is vitally important to humanity. There are things we simply cannot learn from books, things we must experience ourselves, in both a small, personal sense, and in a big picture sense.

  How can we ever expect to fix the big problems if we don’t understand each other on a personal level? How can we expect to fix international problems without an understanding of how these problems came to be? This sort of understanding includes culture and religion and history and politics–some things you can learn from books–and also a personal understanding of how people think, which is something that cannot fully be learned from a textbook.

  In support of that, I have another quote from Why Go:

  Travel is the key of the life time. I’ve never figured out anything without being there.

  –Jeffrey Sachs

  Yes! And thanks to these people for articulating my feelings so much better than I am able to. As much as I love to read about different parts of the world, to read about life, I know that it is really no substitute for the understanding that comes with experience.

  Idea #2:

  Is travel selfish? I’ve been accused of hypocrisy because I want to help people but I also want to travel. I don’t think that this is hypocritical. Certainly, there is a selfish way to travel. Staying in an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica, never leaving your poolside chair and trashy magazines, is selfish. But it is also not what I think of as genuine travel, because you could just as easily do it at home (except the weather wouldn’t be as nice for most of us). It is vacation. Which, I suppose, has its place, but it is not what I am talking about when I say "travel."

  Travel is about understanding the world. It’s about opening our eyes to what is really going on. It’s about experiences that make us better people, experiences that we’d never have at home. And with these experiences, with this understanding, we should get some feeling of social responsibility. We see things happening abroad that would never happen at home, and we should all make it part of our goals to help everyone have food, clean water, education, healthcare–the things that many of us take for granted.

  Of course, ignorant "help" can exacerbate a problem. To genuinely help, a thorough understanding of the situation is necessary. And this goes back to idea #1–this is not something you can learn from a textbook or television documentary.

  Idea #3:

  Is meeting an individual traveler the peace process in itself?

  –Susan Hack

  Peace is something else which must come from understanding and experience. Peace must also happen on an individual level as well as a larger-scale political level.

  Hate and prejudice come from ignorance. People hate whatever group (illegal Mexican immigrants, Muslims, whatever) because they fail to understand them as people. There is also ignorance of the situation–not understanding, for example, that radical Islamists do not represent the beliefs of the vast majority of Muslims–but I believe that a lot of it comes from a lack of experience and understanding of individuals.

  When we connect on an individual level with people different from ourselves, we are dispelling our prejudices, conscious or not, against other people. It is much easier to hate an ambiguous ethnic or religious group than it is to hate a person. Travel allows us to step outside of our comfort zones and connect with so many different people from different places, different faiths, and different cultures–connections we would not make at home. Of course, the internet makes more connections possible, but it still lacks the immediate realism of a face-to-face connection.

  The Final Idea:

  There is no substitute for actual experiences. Travel is a collection of experiences that lead to understanding that is impossible from the comfort of home. Travel is a series of connections that allow for even more unique understanding. Understanding is the key to solving our problems, on a personal level and on a global level. Thus, travel is a necessity.

  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:15 PM by jocelynp with no comments

• Thoughts on Travel

   

  If you know me, you know that I want to see the world. You know that I devote quite a bit of my time, energy, and money to getting to experience new places. I just wanted to share some thoughts & quotes about travel in general today.

  Idea #1:

  I see travel as the one of the most important ways of expanding human beings’ understanding of each other. Through travel we discover humility, love, friendship, passion and ourselves.

  -Kirsten Cargill

  I don’t actually know who this person is, but I love what she has to say (the quote came in one of my Why Go emails). I agree 100%. Understanding each other, and the world, is vitally important to humanity. There are things we simply cannot learn from books, things we must experience ourselves, in both a small, personal sense, and in a big picture sense.

  How can we ever expect to fix the big problems if we don’t understand each other on a personal level? How can we expect to fix international problems without an understanding of how these problems came to be? This sort of understanding includes culture and religion and history and politics–some things you can learn from books–and also a personal understanding of how people think, which is something that cannot fully be learned from a textbook.

  In support of that, I have another quote from Why Go:

  Travel is the key of the life time. I’ve never figured out anything without being there.

  –Jeffrey Sachs

  Yes! And thanks to these people for articulating my feelings so much better than I am able to. As much as I love to read about different parts of the world, to read about life, I know that it is really no substitute for the understanding that comes with experience.

  Idea #2:

  Is travel selfish? I’ve been accused of hypocrisy because I want to help people but I also want to travel. I don’t think that this is hypocritical. Certainly, there is a selfish way to travel. Staying in an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica, never leaving your poolside chair and trashy magazines, is selfish. But it is also not what I think of as genuine travel, because you could just as easily do it at home (except the weather wouldn’t be as nice for most of us). It is vacation. Which, I suppose, has its place, but it is not what I am talking about when I say "travel."

  Travel is about understanding the world. It’s about opening our eyes to what is really going on. It’s about experiences that make us better people, experiences that we’d never have at home. And with these experiences, with this understanding, we should get some feeling of social responsibility. We see things happening abroad that would never happen at home, and we should all make it part of our goals to help everyone have food, clean water, education, healthcare–the things that many of us take for granted.

  Of course, ignorant "help" can exacerbate a problem. To genuinely help, a thorough understanding of the situation is necessary. And this goes back to idea #1–this is not something you can learn from a textbook or television documentary.

  Idea #3:

  Is meeting an individual traveler the peace process in itself?

  –Susan Hack

  Peace is something else which must come from understanding and experience. Peace must also happen on an individual level as well as a larger-scale political level.

  Hate and prejudice come from ignorance. People hate whatever group (illegal Mexican immigrants, Muslims, whatever) because they fail to understand them as people. There is also ignorance of the situation–not understanding, for example, that radical Islamists do not represent the beliefs of the vast majority of Muslims–but I believe that a lot of it comes from a lack of experience and understanding of individuals.

  When we connect on an individual level with people different from ourselves, we are dispelling our prejudices, conscious or not, against other people. It is much easier to hate an ambiguous ethnic or religious group than it is to hate a person. Travel allows us to step outside of our comfort zones and connect with so many different people from different places, different faiths, and different cultures–connections we would not make at home. Of course, the internet makes more connections possible, but it still lacks the immediate realism of a face-to-face connection.

  The Final Idea:

  There is no substitute for actual experiences. Travel is a collection of experiences that lead to understanding that is impossible from the comfort of home. Travel is a series of connections that allow for even more unique understanding. Understanding is the key to solving our problems, on a personal level and on a global level. Thus, travel is a necessity.

  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:14 PM by jocelynp with no comments

• bienvenue dans notre pays

  I wrote about a trip I took last year to Morocco. It was one of my many ideas for college essays, but all the advice I read says not to write about your trip abroad because the topic is far too common. So I took part of that, changed it a bit, and submitted it to Teen Ink, where you can now read it on the ‘Teen Ink Raw’ section of the website. I hope they accept it for the magazine, but, either way, you can read it here,  and I’d appreciate feedback (constructive criticism allowed!) if you have any.
  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:13 PM by jocelynp with 2 comment(s)

• The Purpose of School

   

  I’ve been in the same public school system since my first day of Kindergarten, when I was dragged into the classroom kicking and screaming. I’m now a high school senior eagerly counting the days to graduation. (131 school days, not counting weekends and holidays.)

  I don’t think school has taught me much.

  That isn’t to say that I don’t know much; I know plenty. Of course, there’s loads more that I don’t know, but isn’t that true for everyone?

  However, with the exception of a very small handful of classes, what I have learned has not been in class.

  Perhaps some of it has been a result of class; I peruse my textbooks on my own. I don’t necessarily read the required parts at the required times, though. I read what interests me.

  I have learned through reading books on my own. Some are what you might call educational. Most are not. I successfully wrote an essay on last year’s AP World History exam (on which I received a 5) using information I’d gotten from fiction.

  I have learned through the internet. Just by reading blogs, doing google searches to answer whatever questions occur to me, you know, just general messing around on the internet, I have learned about topics from technology to unschooling.

  Which is what I’m about to discuss. I first discovered unschooling, I believe, from Lisa Chellman’s review of Brian Mandabach’s wonderful book …Or Not.

  From there, I did my own research into the topic, using books and the internet, and I only wish I’d discovered it earlier in my school career. It seems a bit pointless in my final stretch to wish I’d been unschooled, but I do.

  I am curious. I learn on my own. I only wish I could have that much control over my education! I believe in education. I just don’t believe in school. Though I’ve had two classes which are the exception to this rule, school is not about education. School is about test scores. School is about doing as you’re told. School is about not thinking outside the box. School is about conformity.

  No, not in all cases–if you’re a teacher reading this and disagreeing, maybe your classroom doesn’t follow these rules. This is a generalization.

  In any case, I would love to learn on my own. I would love to have the time to explore all the topics that interest me, rather than memorizing formulas for my chemistry class. Is chemistry important? Yes. But I already knew some of how it worked, just not the technicalities of it. And I figure that, if I had never taken the class, I’d still learn what I need to.

  When I have a need or a desire to learn something, I find answers to my questions (of which I have a lot). I think that most people (were they never brainwashed by typical schooling) would be the same.

  In general, I do not believe that school has served me well. I used to beg my mother to homeschool me almost daily. She always said I needed socialization. I firmly believe that there are other ways to get that besides going to school. School is not necessary for education or socialization. It’s more of a hindrance to the former. Natural curiosity would serve us well enough, if only our parents would believe that!

  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:12 PM by jocelynp with no comments

• Back From The Dead

   I know I've been neglecting this blog. I find the wordpress software to be a lot more user-friendly, so I've been blogging plenty on my two wordpress blogs, my personal blog and my book blog. Check them both out! But, for the moment, I'll repost some of those posts here. First up, food for a thought from Mark Twain:

  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” - Mark Twain

  Good advice, and a wakeup call. I’m a senior in high school, and I’ve got some big decisions to make. Making the “safe” decision or the most “reasonable” decision could be a way of not living life, and something I’ll regret in twenty years. I don’t want to have made the safe decision twenty years from now. I want to have made the crazy-passionate-life-loving decision. I want to have stories to tell, and I want to still be living a life I love. The daily grind is not for me. Everyone says that. You can say it, or you can live it, and I want to live the life I want to live. I don’t want to end up in a life that was there. I want to make great things happen.

   

  Posted Oct 28 2008, 07:08 PM by jocelynp with no comments