TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

                                        LIFE LESSONS

Mitch and Morrie's most important lessons came at a time when Morrie's life had become affected by ALS, (Lou Gehrig's Disease). In the final weeks of his life, Morrie took Mitch out of the mainstream evils of media  and attempted to deflate Mitch's materialistic driven ego. During the fourteen weeks with each other, they embark on a journey together unveiling the cloak of deceit that lead to the false beliefs that the world has led the nature of man to be sucked into believing through social media. By initiating open communication and being in the moment Morrie shares how important it is to not be distracted from the person who is directly in front of you when communicating. As the Tuesdays continued with Morrie, Mitch realizes what an empty shell his life has become, and begins to feel and see how Morrie's process of detaching from the noxious worldly thoughts helping free Morrie of self and experience "one with life". In order to be free, Morrie tells Mitch that he baths in emotion in order to have the experience and be able to release it at the same time. I sum up this book in two words, "LIVE LOVE".

WILD CARD # 3 ON "THE ECONOMY"

                                               DOES THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS?

 The economy is a ball of confusion, and the only difference between a good economy and the economy we are living in is this, In theory, a rolling stone gathers no moss. Suppose the "stone" represented the working class, and the "moss" represented  interest accruing debt. The  rolling stone movement pushes forward, keeping the corporate and industrial wheel churning. This takes money from the Federal Reserve Bank, like borrowing from Peter to pay Paul with a promise for a brighter tomorrow. would be all well and good if this generation, and the next several generations were to benefit from the borrowing being done today, but unfortunately the interest alone is choking the life out of each working person's dream of getting ahead or even owning a piece of the American dream. This rolling stone is gathering moss as the debt ceiling keeps on climbing.  Who's fooling who?  Due to the error of our ways, the wars we are paying for vs. the cost of good help and the much needed programs being cut only to satisfy some corporate agenda tells me by no means are we ever going to be rid of the madness and illusion fed to us every time we turn on the t.v.. At best we use temporary band-aids, and when it's use is up and it's purpose is served, it is only replaced by another band-aid. In the mean time buy, buy, buy and spend to your hearts satisfaction! It will take nothing short of a miracle to remedy.

The Outsiders

     S.E. Hinton, the author of  "The Outsiders" was first published in the United States of America by the Viking Press in 1967. The book copyright S.E. Hinton, 1967 and renewed S.E. Hinton, 1995.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Viking Edition of "The Outsiders".

Hinton began writing this novel when she was  in her mid-teens and a sophomore in high school.

    The setting is in the 1960s, Tulsa, Oklahoma and portrays a group of underprivileged youth  labeled "Greasers"( long-haired, slicked back, and  upper-class rich kids from the wealthy side of town. Together they struggle to survive at the cost of fear, pride, and

prejudice. Struggling for identity and a piece of turf, the Greasers mix and mingle with the Socs (short for Socials) girl friends.  The story has a winding and twisting chain of events with suspense.

 The two groups engage in gang fighting and Ponyboy ends up killing a Soc for fear of his friend being killed which creates a domino effect of bad karma for both the groups. 

     The story is a story that most anyone can identify with because the day to day life of  poverty stricken youth vs. (handed on a silver platter) wealth is an ongoing  reality that we all can relate to on some level. I think  the book is valuable and teaches us that there is really no difference in life's struggle for survival.

    "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold." is a quote that means nothing in life that's innocent ever stays that way and the quote is used to reflect Ponyboy's beginning of growing up.

    The movie was just another movie about life's struggle through the eyes of economic differences.

This story reminded me of exactly what I experienced as a youth growing up and when I think about it, nothing has really changed in the struggle for equality.

6 Types of social media

                                     There are 6 types of social media.

1.   Social Networks - Services that allow you to connect with other people of similar interests and background.  Usually they consist of a profile, various ways to interact with other users, ability to setup groups, etc. The most popular are Facebook and LinkedIn.

2.  Bookmarking Sites - Services that allow you to save, organize, and manage links to other websites and resources around the internet.  Most allow you to “tag” your links to make them easy to search and share.  The most popular are Delicious and StumbleUpon.

3.  Social News - Services that allow people to post various news items or links to outside articles and then allows its users to vote on the items.  The voting is the core social aspect as the items that get the most votes are displayed the most prominently.  The community decides which news items get seen by more people.  The most popular are Digg and Reddit.

4. Media Sharing - Services that allow you to upload and share various media such as pictures and video. Most services have additional social features such as profiles, commenting, etc.  The most popular are YouTube and Flickr.

5.  Microblogging - Services that focus on short updates that are pushed out to anyone subscribed to receive the updates.  The most popular is Twitter.

6. Blog Comments and Forums - Online forums allow members to hold conversations by posting messages. Blog comments are similar except they are attached to blogs and usually the discussion centers around the topic of the blog post.  There are many popular blogs and forums.  And even though there are the 6 different types of social media, there can be overlapping amongst the various services.  Like Facebook has microblogging features with their “status update”.  Also, Flickr and YouTube have comment systems similar to blogs.

WILD CARD #2

            DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR, DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?                                  

The social media has pounded into our minds, the belief that people have a need for new and improved gadgets, upgrades and material things. People are outgrowing this world, and it is causing harm to the environment. Each person has basic needs like food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. The Corporate world is ringing up the register providing us with our needs each and every day, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year! I think you get the message. The basis of this advertising is greed and power, and we say to ourselves, " I've got to have that!", " I need this or that" Why?  Because Corporate America has not just found a way to capitalize on our needs, but to force feed us the idea that we need more and more and more. The social media has been telling the people of the world only the things they want us to hear (things in their best interest). I'm disappointed that people are not fully aware or even care whats happening from day to day in their community, let alone around the world. But, what if everybody, everywhere,  didn't spend monetary funds for 1, 2, or even 3 days. I think it would be a good form of discipline not to feed the EGO and not pay attention to the built-in media hooks we are plagued with from the Corporate world.

Man vs. Machine?

 
















                                   VISUAL ANALYSIS      OF      TWO ADVERTISEMENTS

The product in these two ads is selling seats for a airplane flight. They are both different in their own way but literally give the same message.  "We personally think of you".

In the American Airlines ad, they are using two business men speaking face to face. The photo is more relaxed and reassuring as eye contact is made during their discussion. Flying A.A. to get you safely to your business meeting shows ease of transition to make the meeting for both men.

The Southwest airline gives the impression that they are the only airline for the traveler. The one airline you can call your own just like your  (personal) cellphone, (personal) laptop and (personal) airline. Personalizing your total air travel experience, but leaving out the human factor of communication.

This brings up the fact that we, as a evolving society, are relying more on internet, electronics and video phone and are loosing the inter-relationship e once relied on.

POEM FOR CLASS CREDIT

 TIMELESS

Star filled sky
Shaded by
Morning light.

At the break of dawn
Yellow, orange and red glow
Like sparking embers
Of a dying fire.

In minds eye are
Healing hues of
Green and blue
Calm tamed spirit.

Twilight tones of
Harvest moon
Distant is the day as
Sun melts away.

A forgotten memory
Time out of mind
A captured  moment
In the sound of silence.