gma002's blog

The Penny is on its Death Bed and I Think I’ll be Fine

First off, a million thanks go out to Jacque for choosing a topic that’s actually interesting and relevant to our lives!  The American penny has lost most of its value over the years.  Actually, according to this YouTube video, it costs 1.7 cents just to make a penny.  Much of America is convinced that it’s time to lay our old friend to rest.

I’m feeling a cause-and-effect vibe today, so bear with me as I crank out a bullet-pointed list to explain how I feel about the death of the penny.

What Will Happen if We Get Rid of the Penny

• Our wallets will weigh a lot less.  Once we finally ditch those little things, we’ll be left with a few nickels, dimes and quarters.  I am not opposed to this idea at all.  Less pennies in my wallet=less weight=more room for me to put other random stuff in my purse.
• The old ladies and foreigners who like to give exact change will lose their math skills.  Sorry, Granny, but you were taking forever to dig out all that change anyway.  The line will move much faster now, so we can all get on with the rest of our lives.
• My dad’s collection of pressed pennies will slowly come to an end.  The die-hard collectors are few and far between, but they’re out there.  Perhaps some sort of therapy will be necessary.
• Everyone will forget about Abraham Lincoln.  No one will forget about Abraham Lincoln, unless they didn’t even know who he was in the first place.  Let’s think about this for a minute.  This guy is, arguably, the most famous president in American history.  Aside from the fact that his face will always be on the $5 bill (which extreme penny-lovers seem to ignore), I’m pretty sure getting rid of the penny would not erase him from textbooks, official historical documents, and oh yeah…the Internet.  Also, eliminating a piece of currency does not simply make an entire society forget about a major historical figure.  So that argument is dead.
• People won’t make as many wishes at public fountains.  Without pennies to throw in there, we’ll have to resort to nickels and dimes.  But knowing how frugal many people are these days, I would imagine that most moms won’t be giving out coins to their kids as freely anymore.  I guess we’ll just have to rely on eyelashes, wishbones and shooting stars.  Oh well.

Friends, the penny is on its death bed.  And I think we’ll all be just fine.

Questions:

What do you think will happen if we get rid of the penny?

Do you think the penny is really necessary in American society anymore?

Let’s Talk MORE about Sexism.

This week’s reading (for Kitty Green, my US History professor!) was about sexism in the political world.  It mainly focused on Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in the 2008 presidential campaign.  The reading talked about how there are different ways that women are portrayed in the political world…and none of them really turn out to be positive.

Ok.  When we had another reading about sexism and gender roles last semester, I gave an opinion that almost no one seemed to agree with.  In fact, some of my peers were pretty upset!  So I’m going to try to be as polite as possible…here goes nothing!

I do not think sexism is acceptable in society.  At all.  It happens all the time, but that doesn’t make it right.  I think sexism stems from traditional gender roles and twists them into something that somehow makes men superior to women.  Let me just get this out there: men are not superior to women.  I believe that we were all created equal, regardless of gender.  That being said, I don’t think men and women are biologically made to have the same roles in society.  We were meant to do different things.  I won’t get into too much detail, because I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.  But I do think the point needs to get across that no matter how much feminists fight, men and women are not the same.  In general (not in all circumstances, but in general), there are things that men are better at than women.  Likewise, there are things that women are better at than men.  So why try to fight nature?  I am not at all opposed to traditional gender roles.  But when sexism comes in, that’s where the line should be drawn.

Do you think women can do anything men can do, and vice versa?

Going Green: Electric Cars

This week’s reading was all about electric cars and how they might not be as “green” as everyone seems to think.  Apparently the battery isn’t super environmentally friendly.

Here’s what I think.  No new invention that anyone comes up with is ever going to be completely harmless to the environment.  Someone will always find some problem with everything.  It’s the same way everything is in life, in general–nothing is ever going to be perfect.  I’m not saying this in a negative light, I just see it as a fact.  Reading some of the comments on the second article, I respect people’s knowledge for the topic, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little.  I think these people need to to step back, look at the bigger picture and realize that no car is ever going to be a perfect fit for the environment.  The truth is, cars aren’t natural.  Roads aren’t natural.  Most types of transportation are probably going to “harm” the environment in one way or another.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about saving the planet, preserving our environment, etc.  But at the end of the day, I think each person needs to decide what type of transportation is best for himself.  If an electric car isn’t green enough for you, then by all means, break out the horse and buggy.  Personally, I’ll by flying to class tomorrow on my magic carpet.

Questions:

Do you think the perfect environmentally friendly car will ever exist?

If it’s not through electric cars, then what’s the best way to reduce our carbon footprints?

Ben Talks Virtues.

Alright, friends.  For as uninformed as I generally am, I’ve actually run into this little beauty twice before in my educational history.  Good old Ben Franklin gives us his take on a 13-point formula to living a moral life.  And apparently it’s kind of a big deal, as this is the third time I’ve had to read it in school.

Now, I’m not about to give my opinion on religion here, because that’s not something I’m comfortable doing by means of the Internet.  However, I will say that I find it amusing that Franklin decided to document his daily moral life in a chart.  I mean, who does that?!  I think if I tried Franklin’s method, I would start to feel so bad about myself that I’d probably go hide under a rock and start a new life among the ants.  I would feel like such a terrible person!  But props to the guy for doing that.

And am I the only one who got a little chuckle out of the fact that his idea of humility was imitating “Jesus and Socrates?”  I’m not saying that the idea itself is laughable, by any means.  Those are just two people that I don’t often see paired up.  But, then again, that might be due to the fact that I’m a pretty uninformed person.

Anyway, I think we should at least applaud Franklin for dreaming up something that is still being discussed almost 224 after he died.  Cheers to you, Ben.

Beating the Odds

This week’s reading was about whether randomness is truly random, and how odds never give a definite prediction.  Even if the same event happens over and over, the opposite event still has a chance of happening.

I have a perfect example for this.  As many of you know, I am a huge high school hockey fan.  This past weekend happened to be the Minnesota State Tournament.  There was one team, Duluth East, that was pretty much expected to win the championship because they had only lost one game early in the season.  Ever since then, they had been on an enormous winning streak.  Duluth East went into the first game of the tournament, and everyone–probably even fans of the opposing team–was expecting them to win.  But you know what happened?  THEY LOST!  Was it random?  Maybe.  While their record was impressive, it didn’t mean that they were going to win that game.  Of course they went on to win the consolation bracket, but that’s beside the point.  Everyone thought the team that played Duluth East in the first game of the tournament had no chance.  But this just goes to show that no outcome is impossible, even when the odds are against you.

Questions:

How can you tell if something is random or part of a pattern?

Examples of beating the odds?

Honors: The Heinz Dilemma

Pre-reading…

The classic Heinz Dilemma.  Surprisingly, I’ve heard this one before!  To be honest, I’m not exactly sure where I stand morally on this one.  I wish I could say that stealing is wrong, and that’s that.  It’s part of my Christian beliefs.  And while I know that this is true, I have to admit that stealing would be tempting in this situation.  However, I acknowledge that this scenario really isn’t very realistic or applicable to my life, so I’ll probably never have to make that decision myself.  In that case, I have to say that Heinz shouldn’t have stolen the drug for his wife, because stealing is a sin, and it’s morally wrong.

Post-reading…

Oh goodness.  How predictable am I?!  My answer looks almost identical to the girl’s in the reading.  It basically says that when it comes to morals, men rely on math and logic, while women consider communication.  That definitely makes sense to me.  I’ve been watching that difference for years with my parents.  They balance each other out nicely when they have to make decisions, because they come from two different ways of thinking.
The only thing that bothered me about this reading was that it seemed to insult the way many women look at moral dilemmas.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with looking at it from a relational approach, as long as you’re able to see things from another perspective.  I think that’s why men and women work so well together.  Just like my parents, they compliment each other.

Questions:
What does this say about gender roles and who would make a better leader?
Are these just stereotypes, or do all women and all men think the same way?

Honors: What’s Not to Love about Iowa

This week, Gene Ambroson had us read a nifty little (or not so little) article about life in Iowa.  It was mainly about the upcoming Presidential election and life in rural America.

This was quite an interesting read for me, as I spent the first 18 years of my life in suburban America.  It really is a big difference.  Where I’m from, everyone is obsessed with high school hockey, the same way that everyone in Iowa is obsessed with college football.  The culture is just different here.

I realize that’s not really what this article was about, but honestly, I know nothing about politics.  I’m really not following the 2012 election.  All I know is that, as a Minnesotan, I was raised to make fun of Iowa.  However, living here for the past five months has given me a greater appreciation for this lovely corn-filled state.

Questions:

• What sets Iowa apart from the rest of the country?
• Ok, seriously.  What’s up with the crazy obsession over college football here?  I’d really like to know, for my own peace of mind.

Honors: Music and Politics

Honors is back!!!  Every attempt will be made to not offend my classmates this semester.  🙂

This week, we read “Roots ‘n’ Rap” and “Until the Next Revolution,” an article by David Little.  “Roots ‘n’ Rap” was a little confusing to me.  It was all about Calypso music and how it has evolved over time.  I don’t really know what Calypso is, though, so I couldn’t really relate to the article very well.  Little’s article was about whether art should be discussed in politics.  He gives various different answers, but it comes down to this: art–music and all–is political, whether it tries to be or not.

So here’s what I think.  Honestly, I really don’t care about politics.  I know that sounds ignorant, and maybe it is, but that’s irrelevant right now.  If there are politics is laced into the music I listen to, it’s not a problem for me!  If I like the way the song sounds, and the lyrics aren’t degrading and offensive as far as I can tell, then I don’t care if it has a political message.  Other people are free to care.  But I do not.

And that’s really all I have to say!

I’m supposed to come up with a couple questions, I think, so here we go!

• Do all genres of music have political messages?  Or are there some that stay away from that area?
• Is it possible that we read too far into some lyrics, and give them political messages when the artist didn’t even intend for them to be political at all?

Occupy Wall Street

To be honest, I’m really not an expert on this whole Occupy Wall Street thing.  All I know is that it’s about the gap between the rich and the poor, and that it’s becoming a pretty big deal, so people are protesting.

I wish I could say that I have a solid opinion on this topic, but I really don’t.  I rarely watch the news because I don’t really watch TV in my room.  (I’ve never really been into the news anyway.)  Also, I don’t feel like the protests are really affecting me.  Actually, I’m sure they don’t, considering I didn’t even know about them until just a little while ago.  And no matter how large the gap between the rich and the poor is, I think I’ll still be a broke college student for quite a few years.

In other words, this would be a great topic to sway me to one side on!  I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say about it.  🙂

The Arts in Schools

This week, we read about how schools with strong arts programs make great schools.  The arts help explain what science can’t, and they tap into the spiritual side of things.

To be honest, this reading was a bit too High School Musical for me.  While I was reading it, I kept hearing Mrs. Darbus say, “Proximity to the arts is cleansing for the soul.”  I’m certainly not making fun of or disagreeing with the points made in the reading.  But, of course, I just have to make fun of it.

That being said, I do think it’s really important to have strong arts programs in schools.  When I look back on my years in high school, I really don’t think I could’ve survived without my band program.  I would’ve gone insane!  When all my other classes were science and math and memorizing and defining, band was so much different.  It was so much more freeing and ambiguous, and that was much needed.  It’s the same way in college, too.  If it weren’t for being in band, I’d go crazy trying to use the same learning style in all my classes.  I truly understand the importance of keeping the arts in schools, and I’d advocate for that any day.