aspiringecologistblog

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Small Acknowledgements

As we approach the end of the quarter, I feel obligated to thank and acknowledge a couple of people who helped me this quarter. I have many friends to thank for cheering me up and supporting me through hard times. 

Some of these friends include: Tyler, Linda, Chainy, Morgan, Faith, Samantha, Eduardo, Chris, and Elizabeth (Liz).  

I am also thankful for my family members for supporting me and being proud as I venture into college. I am also thankful for my boyfriend, Dakota, who has always been by my side and I love dearly. 

Each and every one of these people  have helped me so much that I feel that even this acknowledgement post will not be enough. Thank you all so much I hope you continue to be your wonderful selves and know that I care about each and everyone of you greatly. 

- Me

There are no such thing as quarters in the forest so, I will not be parted from those who I take care of and take care of me in this vast greenery. But, I will still thank and acknowledge some who have done well for our forest.  First and foremost I would like to thank myself. I have greatly helped the forest in all ways (I cannot list all of the ways here because this post would become to long). I think that is all who I would want to thank. 

- Forest Creature

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Good Luck on Finals Week!

I know all of you are going to do great. We are so close to spring break let’s give this our best shot! - Me

Wahaha, what the human said. Every time its finals week around this college I find there are less people invading my forest to party. Good on them! Do things other than party and keep up the animals!!! - Forest Creature

[aspiringecologistblog]

Poetry: A Written Word of Given Words (Pt 1)

Locate where in my eyes you can see my soul, my essence, my entire being. Notice how they can be full of

Love, yet seemingly devoid of other emotion. A cycle of confusion

where one thing chases another, where I try so hard to love the world, but it takes every chance to crush me.

Teeth of bitterness and cruelty gnash and gnaw at me until it thinks it has won, but in my

eyes you can see it is far from over.

It may have knocked me down, and left me hurt, but it won’t

take the love from my soul and fuel me in the end

to keep pushing on. The last thing I 

want is to lose. The last thing I need is the knowledge that it’s over. I want, so

much to say that I have won. And there is so

little that the world can do to take that away from me. I am the one that gets to

say when I have lost or won. 

I am the one that gets to show everyone that the love within my eyes is still there. 

I am the one that gets to show the fire burning bright, and the emotion returning with a vengeance. 

I am the one that gets to tell people that I am not the only one. 

You are the one that gets to choose what you do with how you feel and when you have lost or won 

[aspiringecologistblog]

Acknowledgement

I wanna say thank you to my friends. Vanessa helped me figure out my major, Morgan listens to my rants and is the best rogue, Faith gave me meds when I was sick and is best at support playing, Chainy provides the best singing I’ve heard in a while for a great distracting bard, Liz is the best battle cleric that you could ask for, Angel is the God of all knowledge in the universe and is the best druid. I don’t know what I would do without them. It’s the only way I’ve survived thus far.

My sister did alot for me as well. Idk what I’d do without Melo. And all the programs that helped me apply to colleges.

[aspiringecologistblog]

Social Fiction Conference

Hello All, sorry for the late post about the Social Fiction Conference. I was working for most of that day and I worked on homework most of Sunday.

The two people in the photo with the Social Fiction Conference banner are my friends cosplayed as Steven Universe from the cartoon Steven Universe and Link from Legend of Zelda. The other one is the set up for Cookies and Cosplay on Friday.

But my experience planning the social fiction conference was certainly a memorable one. I had fun making the signs, posters, getting together spreadsheets for donations, and helping students with tech issues when need be. 

I also for the two-day conference was Wonder Woman on Friday and On Saturday sported an extremely fashionable dragon onesie.

I was unable to go to any presentations due to me working the whole two days, but I did enjoy working with students in helping plan their presentations.

The Social Fiction Conference was a conference that spoke about racism in fantasy as well as other issues within the community encompassing science fiction and fiction, and I enjoyed it.

-Mod Linda

There isn’t any RACISM in fantasy. Everything is fake. It’s all fake news. And dragon onesies are DUMB. The only things in season are the Ivanka Trump clothing lines and TRUMP brand ties.

-Mod The Sentient Peanut

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Debates from Class

Monsters University:

First and foremost was a presentation, by some of my peers, on the film Monsters University. Monsters University, the prequel to the older movie Monsters INC.,  follows the adventures of Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan as they meet each other in college and both get kicked out of the scaring program. The two monsters then formulate a team to compete in the Scaring Games that, if they won, would allow them to return to the scaring program. The debate topic rose near the end of the movie when Sullivan cheated to allow Mike Wazowski achieve a record breaking scream and win the game for them.  

The question was whether it was right for Sullivan to cheat in the end to help them win the games. My opinion on the matter was that it was fine to cheat because they were the only team in the Scare Games that had something to win or lose for. The other teams were mean to them as well and they needed to get into the scare program. It was a wonderful presentation that discussed the ethics in a very non-realistic world.” 

-Me

Cheating is a horrible thing to do. You disrespect your opponents in battle that way I did not think it was okay for this monster creature titled “Sullivan” to cheat. He should’ve play the game the way it was meant to be played. There are no crutches for anyone in real life and if that small green monster titled “Mike” would not have been able to scare the robot enough then he didn’t deserve to win.

-Forest Creature

The Hunger Games:

The second presentation in the class was about the very well known book and movie series, The Hunger Games. Written by Suzanne Collins, the story is set in a dystopia  where children are selected as tributes to fight to the death in an arena. There are 12 districts where the tributes are selected at random and Katniss and Peeta are chosen from District 12. They were fighting in the arena when the Game-master announced that there could be 2 winners if they were from the same district. Upholding those rules Peeta and Katniss managed to survive till the end. But, there was a change in the end of the games where the Game-master only allowed there to be one winner once more. Then Katniss and Peeta formulated a plan to commit suicide with  poisonous berries so there would not be a winner and thus breaking tradition. This forced the Game-master to allow there to be two winners.    

The debate topic was whether or not it was a good idea to break the tradition of having one winner every time the games began. I believe that breaking tradition every once in a while is good. Times are constantly changing and certain traditions may not seem as rational as they did in the past. Some change and rebellion is good for a society to grow. I also enjoyed this debate because it allowed me to reminisce about the days I would pour over this novel series in a different light. - Me

Tradition is key my fellow followers. It has kept our forest from becoming more chaos than it already is. We are use to constants. After Spring there will be Summer not Winter! That would cause too much of an imbalance. The same would happen if we started changing all the traditions around. 

- Forest Creature

Black Mirror: Arkangel

The third presentation in our class was about the Netflix Series: Black Mirror. The presentation featured one of it’s episodes called Arkangel. The episode was about an overprotective mother who implemented a technology, Arkangel, into her daughter at a young age that allowed her to see what her daughter sees and monitor her vitals. Later in the episode Arkangel becomes illegal and her daughter is a teenager at this time. Her mother was frantic when her daughter had went out with her friends and boyfriend and wanted to know what she was doing. The mother then decided to use the technology and watches her daughter have sex with her boyfriend and notices that she becomes pregnant. She then sneaks contraceptives into her daughters drink causing her daughter to find out later that she had still been watching her and lash out running away after. 

The debate topic was on whether or not the mother should’ve been watching or even implemented Arkangel on her child. I believe that such technology should not be allowed because it is an invasion of privacy and will harm both parent and child using it. The parent will become to attached to their child and will never learn to let them “fly” as most parents do when their kids move away for college or other reasons. The child will never want to explore and will never make mistakes if their parent is always watching over them. This will become unhealthy because they would never be exposed to the harshness of the real world. I very much enjoyed this debate because I have recently gotten into Black Mirror and discussing some of the episodes in class made class time a bit more enjoyable. - Me

I believe that the mother did absolutely nothing wrong. It is natural for mothers to want to protect their young in the wild and that mother was doing exactly that. -Forest Creature

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 

The final presentation in class was on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In the story a new defense of the dark arts professor was appointed named Dolores Umbridge. She was hated by the students because she taught out of textbooks and didn’t allow for the use of magic in her class. She was also known to have severe punishments for students who did not follow the rules that were very uncommon before she showed up. Umbridge also created new more stricter rules for Hogwarts that the parents endorsed but the students didn’t. This caused a rebellion lead by Harry Potter called Dumbledore’s Army. In the end Umbridge is kidnapped and Dumbledore had disappeared. 

The debates topic was whether or not it should’ve been allowed for Umbridge to inflict cruel punishments towards the students and if she should’ve changed her teaching habits to better accommodate the students.  I believe that she should not have been so cruel but could’ve still enforced her policies differently. She shouldn’t have banned the use of games and whatnot but could’ve still kept her strict policies. 

WAAAAHAHA! You need order in a school that’s what they’re all about. If there aren’t strict then there is no point to them and the kiddos will never learn! -Forest Creature

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Music and Rain

As my time in college grows more stressful I’ve found that listening to the rain hit the windows or the music genre,lofi, can really relax me when things are getting tense. So I found a video on YouTube that plays both lofi and the sound of rain. I’m using this now to study for my finals and relax. 

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hVtzmNX3H8

Enjoy! 

-Me

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Thoughts from Both Bloggers

Rainy days always put me to sleep. Being bundled up in a warm blanket while hearing the rain hit the roof and windows puts me at peace. If I’m not asleep I’m drinking something warm and watching the forest become a damp wonderland from a nearby window.

-Me

Unlike our sleepy college friend, rain is a moment of chaos and rejoice in the forest. I always watch the forest creatures scatter to take cover in the rain. Even some of the small creatures become terrified when they hear the crashing of thunder and the bright light of lightning. The tall redwoods rejoice from the rain and the brooks and streams gurgle with happiness. 

- Forest Dweller

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From the Perspective of a Forest Dweller

Things That Have an Unclean Feeling:

The concrete floors covered with dust

The bustling of crowds mixed with occasional pushing and bumping into strangers

The thick smog that hangs over city dwellers minds

The gritty and rusty gears from an abandoned factory

The thought of wooden planks next to fully grown trees

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Howl’s Moving Castle Debate

 Sophie’s Ideas to Convince the Forever Dramatic Howl:

1) I am a utilitarian at heart and knowing that both Calcifer and Howl would suffer, if the curse is not broken, I believed that it was right for me to intervene. 

2) I love Howl and I don’t want him to suffer because I only stood around and watched him transform into a monster. 

3) Howl was just a boy when he had been cursed. He didn’t know any better and was a sorcerer in training. He shouldn’t suffer for the rest of his life because of a mistake in his youth. 

4) I was also doing it for myself in the beginning. I hated being old and I had nothing to lose when Calcifer offered to break my curse if I broke theirs. I know the suffering someone can go through because of a curse and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, even the Witch of the Waste. 

[aspiringecologistblog]

Poetry

Locate the pot of tea that warms my soul and wakes me up

Love the feeling of the hot bitterness run down my throat

where it reminds me that pain is essential for living my 

teeth gnash at the buttery goods sent my way for fattening purposes as

eyes hungrily watch my devour their dreams of ever being skinny

it won’t take long until they forget about me and 

take on another skinny soul

to torment and mock about their weight all

I want is a pot of tea the warmth and bitterness that brings

much joy to my heart and to add the 

little spoonfuls of honey and 

say, “Good morning.”

- Me

[aspiringecologistblog]

SFC Conference was AMAZING!

I personally went to the cosplay and cookies and got to see some amazing cosplay from Link from Legend of Zelda to Wonderwoman! It was super fun to meet up with my friends and see what amazing cosplays they came up with. 

- Me 

HAHA! Those aren’t your friends coming up with the cosplays! That was actually Wonderwoman and Link you saw! Silly mortal friend thinks it was just cosplay!

- Forest Dweller 

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Wael Ghonim’s Sparks Egypt Uprising

Ghonim’s powerful messages on his anonymous Facebook page shaped the future of protesting against the injustices in the Egyptian government. Social media played an important role on what occurred and Ghonim was very brave for leading this movement.

- Me 

As a forest dweller, I believe that the use of ‘social media’ didn’t play such a big role as “Me” would say. In the forest if there was disputes we don’t need social media to convey our concerns. We just bite their heads off! HAHA! If you don’t like the government just go up against them! Bite their heads off!

- Forest Dweller