down with the Capitol

It is time. Before the fade ends, I would like to say my piece about The Hunger Games. There has been a lot said about this and I figured that since I read the books and since they are so popular, it would be a good topic to write about.

Honestly, I love these books. They are intense, thrilling, and even thought provoking. I found myself thinking to myself "What would I do in this situation?"It's hard to know. Honestly, I wish I could say "I would refuse to kill the other kids! That's barbaric!" But what if the government had you under their control? What if they would kill everyone you knew for refusing to obey?

This book inspires thought into the minds and I just want to point out of few take-aways I got from the book.

Obviously, this book is criticizing a big controlling government. It has similar qualities to a communist government in the control of power through fear. I wish I could sit down with the author and discuss what she had in mind when she created The Capitol. The contrast of how lowly the civilians live and how highly the government lives reminds me of the stories I've heard about government and even the government has similarities to the government system in the book Animal Farm. The people are starving and working as hard as they can, while the upper class have more than they need and do little to nothing.

To me, this book says so much about mankind. It shows how evil man can be, how people can train to kill or kill to survive. It shows the corruption of the world, and what makes the main characters so special is how they tried overcome the corruption, "fool the Capitol." Even though they had to participate, all of the main character's motives were against the Capitol.

I want to ask you this question, and I would love to hear your responses...

Why is The Hunger Games popular among the people?

Is it just the thrilling plot and dynamic characters? Or is there something deeper in the plot that gets to people?

analyzing society

Before you read this, I would strongly encourage you to listen to these songs without reading how I feel below and come up with your own answer. Analyze the lyrics of the song and the composition of the video (meaning why they filmed this or that or used this location or stood or danced like that). These are my own opinions and I am subject to be wrong. Coming up with your own idea would be better for you. I don't want to feed you my opinion, but challenge you to come up with your own. With that said, I hope I encourage you to think outside of your normal thinking. 

What does this video and song say about society?

And what does this video and song say about society?

These songs are by no means similar, in case you couldn't tell. One Direction is a boy band from the UK popular among teenage girls. Arcade Fire is a controversial indie band popular among "hipsters." I am a hipster, even though some things that hipsters do I do not agree with, so I favor Arcade Fire. 

Here are my thoughts on the videos:

The first video is based off a false reality. No wonder why teenage girls like this band so much. For teenagers, a false reality where you can image this undying worship of a boyfriend/girlfriend and it be okay. Honestly, if my relationship were like the One Direction song, I'd probably end it. That kind of relationship is just unhealthy and will destroy both people in the relationship. The first video shows how much our society runs off the idea of needing to be loved. Our society idolizes this worship. I don't want my husband to complete me. I want him to push me to be better and a more whole person. I don't want to be fully dependent on him because I know he will fail me. I do not like the way society views love and how highly it is prioritized.

The second video is a criticism of society. When I watched this video for the first time, my first reaction was "This is exactly how I feel about society!" Society is portrayed as dead clones who just follow the movement of society. Comparing these two videos is like comparing fire and water. The second video is actually criticizing the first video. Arcade Fire typically has very critical lyrics about society. If you like this song, I would highly suggest analyzing the song "The Suburbs". This song has provoked so much thought for me. There is so much I could say about this song, but I'll leave the rest to your imagination. 

What is friendship?

Friendship:
the state of being a friend;  association as friends


Friend: 
a person attached to another by feelings of affection orpersonal regard.
a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter
a person who is on good terms with another; a person whois not hostile:


But what is friendship? I'm not talking about friendship in the sense of "We just have to be around each other, so we talk." I'm talking about honest friendship. What does that look like? Is friendship good times and laughing with each other? Is friendship going out to eat and talking endlessly to one another about good times and bad times? Is friendship a shoulder to cry on when you're upset and a person to rejoice when you're happy?
The definition the dictionary gave is true, but is very limited. Friendship is two-sided. Many of us tend to think of friendship of what it gives to us, but what can we give to it. Friendship is real and you have the freedom to be honest with one another. Not only will you be comforted, but you will comfort and it won't even bother you. In fact, you'll be happy to be the comforter no matter what your personality is like. Each friendship is different, so it's hard to say what friendship looks like for every person.

What then is the basis of friendship?
Love. Unconditional love. Broken, human unconditional love. Since we are human, it is hard for us to truly have unconditional love. Sometimes we fail, but the deeper the friendship, the harder it is not to love this person. The only way we can even get close (and I use the term "close" loosely) to truly unconditional love is by a relationship with the truly unconditional lover of humanity.

happy march! happy spring!

It's a new month, and I know I'm a couple of days behind, but oh well. It's spring (for some)! As I sit here listening to a really happy song ("The Girl" by City and Colour), I am getting so excited for life. I'm ready for the change of season, ready to see some green over white, ready to go dance in the rays of the sun on my bare arms... but that will be a while until I can do that up here.

The days are getting warmer and longer. Spring has always been an optimistic time of year for me, and I hope you can find joy in it too, even if you are a winter person. If you are a winter person, you probably live in the south somewhere.

On the last day of February we got about 18 inches of snow, just when I was getting excited about the snow melting away. Well, it's still really white outside, but I do have to say that the snow is beautiful. I'm just ready for warmth!

What excites me most about spring is the ability to be outdoors more. I love sitting outside with a journal or sketchbook and music in my ears, the ability to just sit comfortably and look at the beauty around me. I live in a beautiful part of the world, surrounded by trees and wildlife. There's a lake nearby with a beautiful dock that I love to sit on and ponder life. Some of the best thinking I have is outdoors.

Here's my question to you, how can you enjoy the change of seasons?