One of the Greats

         Tonight is Oscar Sunday, the 84^th award ceremony where all of the movie greats gather together to acknowledge each other for their amazing accomplishments. Billy Crystol hosted the Academy Awards this year and I can honestly say he was not my favorite host. When they were announcing “Best Female in a Lead Role” I sprinted into the living room. I knew that I wanted either Viola Davis for her work in The Help or Meryl Streep for her work in The Iron Lady to win. I absolutely love Meryl Streep and was thrilled when she won.

          My favorite role of hers would be a tie between her role in The Devil Wears Prada and Julie and Julia. Both equally amazing roles, but both completely different roles. In her role in The Devil Wears Prada , she plays the editor in chief of one of the world's top fashion magazines. She is basically the “Dragon Lady” and works side by side with Princess Diaries actress, Anne Hatheway. These two are a great pair and play off of each other so well. She encompasses this character that you absolutely want to hate. She is so so mean, but you have to love her because she is Meryl.

          In her role in Julie and Julia , she plays the infamous chef Julia Child. This role is super funny and quirky. In this film, she works side by side with Amy McAdams, who she also works with in the film, Doubt which is a completely different role. Meryl Streep and Amy McAdams are a really great acting duo. I love watching acting pairs who are in different films together, especially these two because in Doubt , they play a two nuns who are very serious and in Julie and Julia , they don't exactly work in the same scenes, but Meryl character acts as the inspiration for Amy's, and throughout the movie you see the similarities that the two have in each other.

Though I haven't seen The Iron Lady , I intend to. From what I have heard she encompasses a serious character, but also includes her subtle sense of humor. Meryl Streep is just an amazingly versatile actress and is my role model. I hope that someday I can be an amazing actress like her.

POS! (Parent Over Shoulder)

Have you ever felt like your parents are always getting into your business and want to know everything that is going on? Or maybe they do everything for you and solve all of your problems. Whichever one it may be, it could potentially change the way you live your life. Helicopter parenting is negatively affecting the way kids grow up.

Helicopter parenting has very few positive impacts on children. A research done showed that kids with helicopter parents were more engaged in learning and were more satisfied with their college. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, a social historian, who thinks helicopter parenting is ok states, “Over-parenting, is not letting our kids take the consequences of their actions, swooping down to rescue them, and the result would be a spoiled brat. But helicopter parenting is entirely different, and I think it is a positive style of child-rearing.”

Contrary to that opinion, Susan Newman, the author of Nobody’s Baby Now: Reinventing Your Adult Relationship With Your Mother and Father,  indicated, “When parents are making decisions for their children all the time and protecting them, when they get out on their own they don’t know a thing about disappointment.” This is a very true statement about many parents out there. They are afraid of watching their children fail so they are overprotective.

With parents being over protective, children have a lack of exposure to the real world. When children have a lack of exposure, they are unable to develop the skills needed as an adult. When a child is in a situation of making a decision, parents should allow the child to try and deal with it themselves before stepping in and helping.  Parents step in to help make decision because they can’t stand to see their child in pain, by doing this their child is unable to develop the necessary social skills needed. Parents think they are helping their kids; consequently their children will grow up and won’t be mentally and physically tough enough to survive in the real world.

Furthermore, a study at Wollongong University in Australia showed that not only did over parenting affect a child’s emotional and social development it could potentially affect their physical health. Problems may include weight gain, underdeveloped motor skills, and lack of emotion.

Children of helicopter parents have also been shown to be more “stuck up,” meaning they feel like they are better than everyone else. Parents have been found doing their kids projects, homework assignments and even writing college essays. Parents say they do this for their kids because they are embarrassed of their previous failures and want to show how good their kids really are. With parents doing this for their children the child may grow up thinking nothing is ever their fault because instead of making their child face challenging situations, they make it disappear instead of allowing the child to learn and grow from it.

Reducing the amount of parenting you do may be a difficult thing to change but in the long run you are helping your child out. When helping a child make independent decisions don’t always provide your input because that will make them think differently. Also when they are making more superior decisions take a step back and allow them to understand the consequences and how their decisions help determine the way they live their life and not yours. One of the biggest things you can do as a parent is to allow your child to make mistakes. Remember everybody makes mistakes, with making mistakes; it creates learning experiences for both you and your kids. Ally Birgitte declares, “It's not about accomplishments, but about relationships. Just like our children are valued for who they are, not what they do, we as parents need to realize that it also works the same for our children. They love us, not for what we do, but for who we are – their parents.”

            Always remember that you aren’t always going to be there for your kids, allow them to experience failure and make their own decisions or they will never make it in the real world. Sometimes you may need to take a step back and think if what you are doing is affecting your child’s future. Allow your kids to have a life, because being a helicopter parent negatively affects the development of your child which will negatively impact their future.

Play Review: "Harvey"

                   This past weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to be involved with the show, “Harvey”, at my high school. I am going to take some time in this post to talk a little bit about the show. Here is a brief storyline from the author, Mary Chase, “When Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend Harvey, a six and a half foot rabbit, to guests at a dinner party, his sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter, Myrtle Mae, and their family, from future embarrassment. Problems arise, however, when Veta herself is mistakenly assumed to be on the fringe of lunacy when she explains to doctors that years of living with Elwood's hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also! The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn't so bad after all.” It is truly a phenomenal piece of literature! For more on my thoughts about the script see my post, “Book Review: ‘Harvey’”.

                Elwood P. Dowd is a very hard role to capture. He encompasses this very soft and easy-going attitude throughout the show. In our interpretation of this show, Elwood was played by, Shane Neilsen. Shane is arguably one of the greatest actors to grace the stage at Kennedy High School. This role was leaps and bounds different than any of the other roles he has had in his time at Kennedy. In his role as Elwood, we got to see the more seriously and softer side of Shane, versus his usual goofy self.

                Kylie Hanschman played the role of Veta Louise Simmons, Elwood’s sister. Kylie has acted most prominently in Playtime Poppy children’s shows, so, like Shane, this was a very different stage for her. She far exceeded any expectations that everyone had. Veta is, in my opinion, the most important role in this show. She is also the hardest to play. Kylie perfected the right amount of quirkiness and calmness that was needed to give of the right impression of Veta. I was thoroughly impressed with her performance.

                The entire cast performed very well and made the audience smile. I would like to extend a huge “Thank you!” to the entire cast, directors, and crew for making this a truly amazing experience.

Two Sides to Every Story: Part 2

               Our scholarship system, that is set up to aide students with finances for college, is a prime example of this modern racism. According to the Census Bureau in 2010 the number of white Americans who were below the poverty line was 243,013 and the number of black Americans, 38,965. Given the amount of white Americans that fall below the poverty line in this statistic, one would think that a special scholarship would be available to help those who are students with college finances. Now, white students can apply for a general financial aid scholarship, but that is available to all students. After researching on various scholarship websites, I found that the amount of college scholarships, specifically, available for minorities is countless. If you go and search for a scholarship specifically for a white student, you won’t find one. These scholarship stipulations are something that needs to be re-evaluated. Originally when these scholarships were made, it was to ensure that the public knew that schools were making the effort to make their schools more diverse, but the diversity of our schools isn’t so much a problem anymore. In this day and age, getting a college education is something that people strive for. It is an opportunity that should be available to everyone, which is why scholarships are available. If it isn't right for people to single out others, why is it okay to make a scholarship unavailable directly for one race of people, singling them out?

            Several times I have been in class or in the halls and have been verbally and emotionally harassed by black people and the teacher does nothing about it. A time that sticks out the most is when I was walking through the hall and was thrown and yelled at for “intentionally” ignoring the fact that someone, a black student, was right next to me. This student continued to call me names regarding my race. I didn’t respond to it and kept walking. Why? If I had said something back, stood up for myself, I would’ve ended up in trouble, or have been yelled at again by that same person. Even writing this I am scared for what the response will be.
            A huge controversy in our society is the use of the “N” word. I don’t believe that it, or any derogatory term, should be used, ever. What some people don’t understand is that for a white person to be called a “Cracker” or “Vanilla Latte” is just as offensive as any derogatory term used towards black people.
               Racism is something that unfortunately is a part of our culture. Regardless of where you are in this country, there will be a minority, and that minority will be treated even the slightest bit differently than the dominant race of the area. It is something that we should try to eliminate from our everyday life. A modern racism exists towards white Americans today, similar to the racism that black Americans faced in the past. Every person is unique and different in their own way. As a society, we need to break away from this detrimental stigma, created so long ago, and start to see people for their uniqueness, not the color of their skin.

"Two Sides to Evey Story: Part 1"

Unless you've been living under a rock for basically your entire life, you know what racism is. Most prominently in the U.S., as students, you learn about racism towards black people. I feel that as a country, we focus too much on how badly the black population has been treated in the past, that we don’t realize a modern racism occurring in front of our eyes. So, I pose the question, can there be racism towards white people? Absolutely. This modern racism is not by any means as awful as the “Separate but equal” or Jim Crow eras that the black population went through in the past, but is the action of treating a person different based on the color of their skin. A modern racism exists towards white Americans today, similar to the racism that black Americans faced in the past.

            Growing up in a very diverse environment, I learned at a young age that everyone should be accepted for who they are on the inside, not for what they look like. It causes frustration when questions of whether or not white people understand the hardships that black people in our history had to face such as slavery, segregation in schools and other public places, come up in conversations. Everyone who has attended public school in the past decade has done some type of research regarding black history during K-12 schooling. I have not only done extensive research on black history, specifically in slavery and civil rights, but I also hold an award for advocacy of black history. My research has included interviews with several people who faced the hardship first hand. For someone of the black decent, or anyone for that matter, to question the knowledge that I have, cuts very deep.

How to Be Me...Part 2

Fourth Hour:

©       Here is where being me gets a smidgelet confusing. Depending on the day, you will sprint from the South side of the building to the North side of the building to retrieve your lunch and then try to beat the traffic back up to the Chemistry room to eat lunch with your best friend, Sadie (whom you refer to as Staci, don’t ask why, it is just the way it is), and then sit in A.P. Chem. This class is fun because of the teacher, but you don’t always pay attention, which makes it a bit difficult. Are you really going to pay 100% attention to a class that you sit next to your best friend in? Yeah, didn’t think so.

©       If it is a different kind of day, you will nonchalantly mosey your way to the North side of the building to sing your heart out next to E. Coker and Miss Marie in Concert Choir. This is one of your favorite classes.

o   If you are in concert choir, you will eat during D lunch and you will eat it in the choir room. Most likely you will start out sitting by yourself and then Joebear, or Janey, or someone will allude to the fact that you are always by yourself. This comment will make you move to join a circle of sorts, but you will remain seated on the ground because it is easier to eat for you and you feel awkward eating out of your lap.

Fifth Hour:

©       Goody! You have made it to fifth hour! This is A.P. Lang with Mizzay. There are a multitude of things that could happen in this class. It is super fun, because it is with like a ton of fun people…especially Ky. It is inevitable that you will probably get in an argument of sorts with Mizzay. The argument will be harmless, most likely over something unimportant.

o   If it is a Friday, you will sit in the classroom and read while everyone else blogs.

o   You may have a class discussion over something that you probably didn’t take notes over, but you grasp on pretty quickly, so it comes off as if you know exactly what you are talking about.

Sixth Hour:

©       If it is a day where you had A.P. Chem during fourth hour, then you will have Happiness class. If you had Concert Choir, then you will have A.P. Chem and your normal routine during A.P. Chem will ensue.

Afternoon:

©       Unless it is a Friday, you will have some sort of rehearsal after school. If it is a Friday and you are in a show, you will have a rehearsal. This rehearsal after school will carry on to another rehearsal and you won’t get home until 9:00.

Evening:

©       Once all of your rehearsals are over, you will go home and get some sleep.

So, you see, it is hard work to be me. I am always busy and I always have something going on. The most important thing to remember when being me is to always have a smile on your face and just be happy. If you are trying to be me, you should probably stop because I never try to be someone I am not. I think that everyone should embrace their individuality and just be themselves.

How to Be Me...Part 1

                I know you readers are sitting there thinking to yourself, “How could I ever achieve the level of awesomeness that Bailey possesses?” Sound like you? Yes? Well, weep no more my friends because this blog will answer all of your questions. This blog will walk you step by step through my everyday routine and you, yes you, can be just like me.

Morning:

©       To really embrace all that being me encompasses, you need to wake up to the song, “Early Bird”, sung by Shirley Temple and press the snooze button at least twice. If you are feeling a bit frivolous, you will sleep until 6:10 and then get up to shower and get dressed.

©       After you are dressed, most likely in something very comfortable, yet cute with your own personal twist, you can get into your car and drive to Kennedy.

©       Once you have parked proceed into the building and on to your Zero Hour class.

©       After Zero hour is done, you get to go home!!!! Only for an hour, though.

©       While you are at home, you can eat a nice hearty bowl of brown sugar oatmeal mixed with raisins, and ice cold apples. Oh, it is sooo good! Eat your oatmeal and catch up on your television shows you missed out on.

©       At precisely 8:45, leave the house and go back to school.

©       You will most likely park in the North lot, unless Carl is there, in which case you will still park in the North lot and then sneakily walk to the building, pretending to be a senior.

Second Hour:

©       This hour is with Coach White, a.k.a. my favorite teacher. This is U.S. History, a.k.a. my favorite class. You will spend the entire hour discussing something historically interesting in U.S. history.

Third Hour:

©       Third hour is French III. This class is fun because you basically correct homework the whole time and then get assigned a new homework assignment with five minutes left in class. It is French, though, so you love it now.