Boys and Reading

According to the Strib, boys don't read as much as girls.

The article focused on teachers trying to get boys to read more. Read it and let me know what your opinions are if you have any. I found it interesting for several reasons. One, I never read any books as a kid. I hated reading, to some extent I still do. But somehow I am able to read things at a normal level if not better. I don't know how this happened. It seems, at least for me, that learning and being able to read were very separated from the desire to read.

Another reason I found this interesting is that the Strib actually published an article about differences between boys and girls in school. It seems to me that our culture tends to tell us that gender plays no role in things such as this. Then the Strib went even further and sort of suggested that by incorporating sports etc. that it can encourage them to read. It's like something pulled straight out of the 50's!

Here are my theories, and you better leave yours.

I think boys in general are less interested in stories. It doesn't matter if it's about baseball, girls, bugs or guts. They just don't care about stories. Women like stories. There are lots of emotions in stories. Boys typically don't want anything to do with emotions.

Boys are adventurous. They like learning, it's just that a lot of what they want to learn about has nothing to do with whatever reading assignment they have in their bag.

If you gave a boys a bunch of chemicals, materials and an instruction manual on how to build a simple bomb, they without a doubt would (after their intuition failed) pick up the manual, read it, and then blow up some small animal that they learned how to trap from their boy scouts field manual.

So, to end this crappy blog, I will offer public school teachers my advice on how to get kids to read. Give them a constructive assignment that forces them to use their brain and somehow obtain relevant knowledge in order to proceed.

Or....tell them that they don't have to read, but if they don't they will grow up and most likely make much less than their reading counterparts. They will then wish they could read but won't have the motivation to learn. So, they better just learn to read now because if they don't they will be held back a year and all the older and bigger kids will think they are losers and probably kick the crap out of them at recess...while of course taunting them for being so stupid. Then they will be stupid, beat up, and on the road to poverty.

The End.

Amazon.com book reviewer of the year.

Mike A., if you haven't seen the blog of Jon Swift, I highly recommend it. Even though I don't know you so well I think for some reason you would like it. Colleen, maybe a little, Laura, not so much. Mom, I have no idea. And if you weren't mentioned, I'm sorry, maybe you should leave a comment once a month so I can better tailor my blogs to a specific audience.

Anyway, I stumbled onto this blogger site. And he has a blog dedicated to all his Amazon.com book comments (above link). He said he compiled them after Amazon started deleting them. I have actually been laughing out loud reading this, I never do that. Couple examples:

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
I think it's illegal to read this, January 19, 2006
I have not actually read this book and I believe, in fact, that it is illegal to read it, or soon will be.

Fight Back : Tackling Terrorism, Liddy Style by G. Gordon Liddy
2 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
Rational, commonsense ideas, February 17, 2006
I have not actually read this book but I'm sure Mr. Liddy has some rational, commonsense ideas for fighting terrorism. For example, one thing terrorists want to do is to instill fear and Mr. Liddy is an expert at that. To get over his fears he once cooked and ate a rat, climbed a tree in a thunderstorm and held his hand over an open flame until it burned his flesh. If all Americans followed Mr. Liddy's lead and did these simple things that anyone can do at home I don't think we would have to worry about terrorism anymore.

English teaching in Japan

My lessons were really nothing like this (warning, it's even awkward watching it by yourself).


Bad Case Of Diarrhea - Watch more free videos

Enjoy your job

No doubt, some of you are reading this as you suffer through work...or maybe even the dreaded job search. It's important to remember that no matter how difficult it seems, life could always be worse.

No caption necessary

Drums

I really like the drums. I can't play them but I wish I could. They are my favorite instrument. For this reason, bands like Tool are amongst my favorites even though I don't like much else about them. They have an awesome drummer. And what else could be cooler than taking an otherwise crappy song, adding drums to it, and making it cool?

Fortunately for my brain, I haven't been forced by some radio somewhere to hear this song over and over again. I didn't even realize the first time I heard it that Soulja Boy was some form of ebonics or something for Soldier Boy. I thought it had something to do with Soul and maybe Ja Rule. Who knows. Anyway. Turn it up and enjoy.

PS, I always kind of feel like an internet letdown when I see a youtube video that has been seen 6 million times before I've seen it. Oh well.

Howler monkeys

I was scrolling through my old blogs from my Central America trip and I read about how howler monkeys were my new fav animal. I have told people this before but I of course can't reproduce the sound they make. They are soooo cool. I can't imagine what I would have thought had I heard them while I was alone and didn't know what they were. Turn up the sound and enjoy!

PS, this video is from Tikal, a place that I visited...that's cool I guess

Accidental racism

Lopez spills beans on baby

Now to me, just by the definition, there is no such thing as accidental racism. I just thought this headline was hilarious and I can't think of a better way of describing it.

We don't need no water

As of Tuesday, 18 of 23 wildfires in Southern California were completely under control, and the remainder were at least 70 percent contained, according to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fires are blamed for 14 deaths and charred more than 508,000 acres, destroying about 1,600 homes.

Instead of trying to control the fires...why don't they just let them burn? It seems like it is just a matter of time before all dead wood just burns, so why hold out until it all happens at once? And Buckweed? What is that? Sounds pretty useless. It just seems so weird that California has basically been on fire as long as I can remember. Maybe if they would stop using all this energy on preventing it, and at the same time harness all this potential energy...then they would have more energy *thank you* and thus less energy shortage problems.

And we put in zillions of dollars into anti-terrorist stuff securing this securing that etc. But an 8 year old kid can do all this damage, and by accident to. He should get a medal, I mean really, just think of all the damage he could do with just a little bad intent.

And out of curiosity, does anyone know if there are any other regions in the world that just happen to be perpetually burning (and no sarcasm)? Maybe some day I'll google it.

Last fire blog ever, promise.
Mark

Dating Services

I will be honest, I only thought of one of my friends when I saw this. I won't say who she is. I will only say...Colleen, if you ever find yourself on a date with one of these guys...just call me.

Politics in sports

Sorry that I always have to rip on the Strib. Well, actually this is more ripping on the UofM and I guess the Strib for bothering to publish it....then on me for bothering to blog about it. And since I am at Century now I can't access the story because I can't remember my password/username. Why do they make people log in to read the story? That is dumb. You have to become a member...but don't worry, it's free!!!! Well what's the point of that? I imagine it has something to do with the Patriot Act. Anyway, on to what inspired this in the first place.

U won't reconsider sports ban over 'Fighting Sioux'
A University of Minnesota policy discouraging the school's athletic teams from competing against the University of North Dakota in any sport except hockey will stand. Updated Oct. 10, 2007

So what they are saying is that the UofM, a DivI school, will not compete in any sports against ND, a DivII school, except for it's hockey program which is in DivI.

In similar news, my former HS has recently declared that it's football team will under no circumstances compete against ANY teams from the NFL, nor will it play against the Jr High powder puff team.

There should be a separation of sport and state. And what is so offensive about the Fighting Sioux? Is it because of the Sioux, fighting, or both? Well I will read the story tonight and maybe update/edit this post.

What do you look forward to?

I was recently, ok, 20 minutes ago, pondering what I look forward to. I look forward to a lot of things. Unfortunately, all these things are 5 years down the road. That is depressing. It probably explains why I can't seem to drag myself out of bed at 10:30am on a Thursday. I decided it is time I get some things in my life that I look forward to each day. I figured I would ask my two blog readers what they look forward to everyday. So what do you look forward to everyday? And don't say "Mark's next depressing blog." Ok, ready, go!

My tuition

Relatively speaking, my tuition is pretty cheap. Two days ago, in my prosthetics class we had a guest speaker. She inspired this blog. My frustration may have partially stemmed from the fact that I just wanted to do my work and not have to listen to her. But as she spoke, I began to disagree with everything she said more and more.

Committees. They wanted us to join committees. Apparently, the more members of our little orthotics/prosthetics club that are on these committees, the more leverage we have. The example was that if we have a problem with parking we should join the parking committee to lobby for more parking or something. I don't know nor do I care about parking. Really...walking from the back of the parking lot to your classroom isn't the biggest problem in school. Unfortunately they do not seem to have a committee with the purpose of eliminating pointless committees.

The tutoring center came next. Every kid knows they have a tutoring center. It's advertised all over the place. Why do they need to take the time to go around to each class explaining all the benefits of it. If you need help and are unaware that there is a tutoring center, then you have problems. And why is it even necessary to have a tutoring center in the first place. Why not eliminate the whole thing, eliminate the lady's job who told me about it and lower my tuition by $2. Maybe I wrote about this before, but there is a scholarship here for kids who did poorly in HS. Eliminate this. Stop letting kids into college with a 1.7 HS GPA and I would have to assume that the tutoring center would just disappear on its own. Ironically enough, there is no tutor for prosthetics...well there are tutors I guess, I call them classmates. Why she had to give her spiel in this class is even more befuddling.

Am I calling every person that's ever used the tutoring center an idiot? No. The option is there so if you need it then take it and you are smarter for doing so. But I think by forcing kids to use their text books, outside materials, form study groups and (ahhhhhghgh) go to class, they would only be strengthening their academic abilities.

I have used the tutoring center before. I can't say it was my last resort. I used it as a freshman at UMD for math because I didn't go to class. I also used it for my writing class. I just had them proofread my papers (journalism majors are good for something I guess). I used it once here for chem. Basically the only reason I ever used it was because it was easier to go there and have someone explain it than to read the book.

And yes, there is a diversity committee. I am thinking that by joining I will be increasing my chances at one of the diversity scholarships. The problem is that I am too lazy.

Colo. school bans tag on its playground

Thu Aug 30, 7:44 AM ET
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.

"It causes a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.

Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other, she said.

Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn't object.

In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles.

These things just baffle and to be honest kind of anger me. Here are a few more headlines/links from googling "school bans."

School Bans Talking at Lunch
School bans pigs stories
School Bans Hugging
Catholic School Bans Pro-life Speaker
School bans 'wrong race' hairstyle
School bans Christmas,but OK with Halloween
High school bans blogging
Va. middle school bans touching
School bans girl's 'virgin' ring
School bans Mother's Day cards
School Bans Sack Lunches, Baked Goods
Plano school bans Christmas Colors
L.I. School Bans Deaf Boy's 'Helper' Dog


Ok, that's all I have the patience to look up. I can see a kid complaining from something tag related. If someone is picking on you I guess it is natural and acceptable to complain. But I have a problem with parents complaining to teachers about tag related problems as well as schools solving these problems by banning tag. If someone were getting picked on during math class would it make sense to just ban math? Of course not. Although it might sound harsh to some, sometimes parents just need to tell their kids to get over it. Getting picked on or whatever is part of being in elementary, middle and high school (life in general I guess). Learning to handle it when they're young will just make it easier to handle when they are an adult and there is no authority figure to turn to...because it will still happen. If you start whining about it it will just get worse.

Well, there are tons of pages that came up. In short they mostly deal with T-shirts, ipods, anything related to Christianity, Harry Potter, myspace and more than a few dealing with what kind of food kids can bring in.

I remember my dad talking about how when he was a kid everyone played with knives at recess.

Post Peru Post

I just read an old portion of my blog from back when I was in Japan. I enjoyed the memories. Because of that I now feel obligated to write about my Peru trip. Well, I am going to give the headlines and hope I will still know what happened when I read this in 2 years. So Future Mark, I hope you understand this, and if you don't...I'm sorry. And for others who may be interested...you can ask me someday if you want.

Protest in Huanaco
Protest in Pucallpa
8 Hour bus ride to Huaraz with horrible movies blaring.
Bingo on the bus
Cool hostels...one for 3 bucks. The last person before me signed in months before I did.
Ice climbing, hiking, rock climbing.
Nasty bug bites
Spending a week in central Lima...booooring.

Pucallpa...
Playing with all these kids.
Learning espanol...or trying
The police closing down all the streets so cars can race on the main street.
Going to the races only to see nothing but dust for two hours and going home.
Some nice old lady convincing me to hang out with her son.
Hanging out with her son and 10 or so of his super gay friends and listening to them talk about fashion and asking me if I were OK being there.
Motocross and heat
Volleyball
Catching the cell phone thief after he took pics of himself with my cam phone.
Kids using my Ipod and messing with every possible option that it has.
Me getting pissed about it.
Lobo suffering in the heat.

Back from Peru

I am back from Peru. It was awesome. I start school on Monday which means classes from 7:30 to 5 with a break from 9-1 and plenty of time to blog about nothing. During my time in Peru I had all these things I needed to get out of me. Of course I can't remember any of them now. A few I can think of are

Airlines. I think I complain about these after every trip, but I'm not sure. I know I spend hours thinking about complaining about them.

Legalism.

Stupid warnings/additional info on consumer products. I see one as I type this. From the DVD main menu "Subtitles (for the hearing impaired)"

Thoughts

These are just a few random thoughts that ran through my head today:

It is amazing how much coverage is given to Paris Hilton by the TV news. I just turned on the TV for a couple secs and was watching Nancy Grace. I don't normally watch her and I only really know of her name because people always make fun of her. To sum up the few seconds of what I saw:

Paris Hilton went to court
Her hair didn't look very good
They reported on how simple her clothes were
And they said she looked sad


I went to Applebees with my fam in the late evening. The sun was setting and shining in the eyes of everyone facing that direction. It was at an angle so that it came through the window one booth over. Everyone asked the waiter if he could shut the shades in the appropriate booth, he then did so. I just find it odd that no one simply asks the people sitting one booth over if they can just shut the shades. My mother, being the caring person she is, wanted to shut our shade because the light was shining in the eyes of the people behind me. I decided it would be a good idea not to because I think they should ask us...or the waiter. I'm just mean like that. The waiter has plenty of other things to do. Simply flagging him down is more work than just asking the other patrons. Yet people often take this route anyway. This may or may not be a cultural thing, but I find it odd either way.

While this is a very simple example I think it sums up the habits of a lot of people in general. People often go way out of their way to get someone else to take care of a problem. In this case it may be very simple and may just seem like the polite thing to do (and maybe it is). But I think often times it just creates more conflict (although it wouldn't apply in the above example). For instance, if the person in the neighboring apartment unit is watching TV at a volume that is keeping you up and you are fed up enough to do something about it then calling security may seem like a reasonable and normal approach. They will probably turn it down as I am sure they are unaware that they are being obnoxious. But then they are just going to view you as that person that called security for such a simple thing. It is one of those things that seems like the best course of action because you don't have to talk to the perps. Obviously (at least I hope) you wouldn't know the person watching TV too loud if you call security. If you go ask them to turn down the TV, well you now have the opportunity to meet your neighbors. I think this kind of behavior is something that a lot of people do, yet when they are on the receiving end, then they are wondering why the person just didn't say something. Although I can't recall a specific experience, the length of this blog tells me that there are a few stored in my memory somewhere.

Anyway, in case you skipped the body of this blog or my examples confuse you, in short it says that you should try and take care of simple inconveniences directly and that people should stop caring about Paris Hilton's clothes. And FYI, I think girls are more attractive when they wear simple clothes.

Oh, and I went to visit my relatives today and found out that my little cousin has been sleeping outside in random places in the woods since April 1st. I think that's awesome. He just finished 7th grade. We (cousin, dad, mom and myself) spent about 15 minutes trying to catch one of his chickens that has been on the loose for two days. Hilarity ensued. Oh how I love the Stillwater countryside.

NASA

Ok, for real, this is my last video entry.

More stupid videos

This one is just weird. Either there is some trickery going on or this kid has way too much time on his hands, or both.


Kung Fu laces WTF - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

This one is interesting. Catching a thief and then parading him around town. Good idea, but they should have zapped him too.




This one was pretty popular I guess. Because of it's cuteness. However, it isn't really little kids fighting. They are playing. Duh.



Pee Wee Hockey Brawl - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search


And a couple funny ones for Colleen. Note: if I ever find a video that I think is funnier than motomamma I will let you know beforehand. Otherwise expect mostly lame crap like these:



I guess the home shopping network or whatever is live. I hate that channel

Awesome!!

Someone else also just discovered that if you google "wiffle ball bounciness" without the parenthesis, I come up at #10.

I hope you like pain!

Colleen, I am only posting this blog because you requested it.

Sometimes children seem really innocent because they look cute. But it is always important to remember that children use their cuteness to get away with evil. Girls do this too.




These next two are both from the same people and to be honest I only kinda laughed the second time on each. Semi-funny, semi-stupid. Oh well.
Mormons


Car insurance




Soccer video



And you all know that I'm obsessed with martial arts and I know that none of you would want to watch martial arts videos. So I thought we could compromise a little. Ninja Auditions:

We haven't even left Nebraska yet!

Fast forward to about the 2 min mark. The Fred Phelps Church or whatever.



This one passed the "did it make me laugh the 2nd time" test. I have no idea why it's so funny. It's so stupid but I was laughing. It's from the whiskey people.

I get a loan, finally

Well after 3 months of dealing with unconcerned administrative staff, I finally got approved for a loan. This seems like something that should take a couple days. Oh well, I guess I will start filling out paperwork until I run into the next roadblock. Also, when I sat down on the comp I turned on MSN. I never do this. I get this random message from a random person. This is our conversation:


rizeliemrah_16@hotmail.com says: awe
Mark says: awesome?
rizeliemrah_16@hotmail.com says: fuck
Mark says:?
Mark says:who is this?
.... says:my name is emrah
Mark says:and you're from madagascar?
.... says:yes
Mark says:That's awesome, I love that movie
Mark says:what are you doing today?
.... says:I visited with my girlfriend

And what would a blog update be without a video

Racism...what, you wanted a cookie?

Sometimes I think our society has overdone it a little. We are kind of at that ultra sensitive point where if someone says something that deals with race it is often times considered racist even if it is not. But, a member of whatever minority can say whatever it wants about its own race, no matter how offensive, and it is not considered racist. It makes for great comedy too.

The first two are of our good friend Chris Rock (no relation to Chris Hill...I don't think). They are full of obscenities so you probably shouldn't watch them at work or if you are with your mother. You may have seen them both already as they are fairly popular on the video sites.

The second is of some kid on youtube. I think it's pretty work safe but I forgot already. Enjoy.

Supersize me

Well, if you ever saw the above movie you may find this funny. Or if you haven't seen it but you know the premise you still may find it funny. Or possibly you did or didn't see it and you will not find it funny. Basically, I found it funny so I thought I would post it (assuming I can figure out how). Anyway, I was thinking since I am no longer living in interesting places doing interesting things maybe I would just fill my blog with interesting videos. It seems like a good idea but it's probably just a phase. Vamos a ver.

pwnzing boxen

"w00t" was originally an trunicated expression common among players of Dungeons and Dragons tabletop role-playing game for "Wow, loot!" Thus the term passed into the net-culture where it thrived in video game communities and lost its original meaning and is used simply as a term of excitement.
"I defeated the dark sorcerer! Woot!"
"woot! i r teh flagmastar!" (Think Tribes)
"Woot, I pwnzed this dude's boxen!'

I am not completely sure, but I am almost sure that I have at one point of my life said "wOOt."

I think if I were to say it naturally it would come out "wootwoot." Like a sick owl I guess. I have no idea what pwnzed or boxen mean.

And no offense to any smokers that read this, but the smoking sections just aren't enough. The problem is that after you are finished smoking you still stink. Things for smokers should be the opposite of handicap things. They should have to park in the back. Sit in a really small bathroom stall. Walk up really steep steps with no railings. This rant was brought to you buy the stinky guy that just sat down 2 comps away from me and I am seriously considering pwnzing his boxen.

And now that I've ranted I just want to say that I know most smokers don't smell any worse than I do and if a smoker ever needs help from me I will gladly offer it.

Century College

I am just sitting in the Century College computer lab. It's really quiet except the lab attendant is having a really casual conversation with someone on the phone and he has been on for about ten minutes. Also, I have found a site where I can watch all the clips from Chappelle's Show so that takes care of the noise.

I think I can get an A in Anatomy/phys without actually learning anything. But I will probably just get a B without learning anything because either will get me where I want to go.

I forgot to put in my contacts today. I hate wearing glasses.

Today is the start of the MN boys HS state hockey tourney. Probably the best hockey to watch short of the Olympics.

I am trying to plan a summer trip to Peru. It is still in the daydreaming phase but hopefully will turn into something.

Also, I hate the post office and think you should use UPS for every package.

Recycling

I used to feel bad because I never recycled. Now I recycle and I feel bad because I do. Somewhere over the past couple months I seem to have developed a distaste for the whole concept. I guess not really the concept itself, but sort of what goes along with it. I will throw it out in short because I don't feel like typing:

I have to pay to recycle. I also have to clean and separate everything.
I don't have a problem with the later, but why do I have to pay when I am essentially giving someone resources? Is it more expensive to have paper recycled than to cut down some tree and make it? I should have to pay for garbage pick-up and I should get paid for recycling. I assume the recycling industry is getting paid to pick it up and paid to get rid of it. On to the consumer side of things. I hate it when products are advertised as "made from recycled material" and then they're just as expensive or even more expensive than the regular product. They are trying to guilt-trip people into buying their product, all the while they are simply getting a huge deal on the manufacturing end. Now when I recycle instead of feeling all righteous like usual, I just feel like I am being suckered into some assembly line without even knowing it.

For the record, I still recycle, I am just not very enthusiastic about it. I am that way about a lot of things.

And Century college has free printer use. They just got a new one, it prints really fast. I wish they had one with the option of punching holes in it for the binder. That would save me about 10 seconds a day and I would probably be more enthusiastic about printing.

Naptime.
Mark

The Leg Bounce

It's cold here. And I have been very busy but things should cool down pretty soon...unless I get a job. I've noticed that I have been a little more irritable as of late, I attribute it to being extra busy, but that is probably not the case. It may be the cold. If someone else is irritable I just assume it's because they have a rotten personality.

This morning in A&P lecture the guy two seats down kept doing the leg bounce thing. I am sure there is a name for this, when you sit there and use your calf muscle to bounce your leg up and down really fast. It was shaking the entire table. My seat is connected to the table, thus I was shaking too. After about 20 minutes of leg bounciness I tapped him on the shoulder and let him know that he was shaking the whole table. He apologized and then he stopped. He proceeded to tell me how tired he was - apparently that has some connection to the leg bounce. Five minutes later it started again, but it stopped, then it started again and stopped. It went on like this for the rest of lecture. I kind of felt bad because I assumed that every time he realized he was doing it he felt kind of bad. I wanted to ask the physiology instructor why this kid kept shaking my chair.

This is the first lecture hall class I have had in a few years. I remember what I hate about them (besides the leg bouncers). I find it annoying that all the kids start sitting at the outside of the row and then work their way in. Then the people who show up 5 minutes before class (me) have to squeeze past all these fat kids with their coats and backpacks on the chairs while they try and scoot in and give me that disgusted "why didn't you show up 20 minutes ago" look. Then I give them my disgusted "why don't you mind your own business and scoot in or I'll hit your head with my butt as I pass by" look. Then of course other kids show up 10 minutes into class and have to crawl over all these people. It reminds me of getting off an airplane which I was planning on writing a blog about while I sat there on my way back from N.O. thinking about how the airplane exit has to be one of the most inefficient things ever. But then we just have to wait for our baggage so it doesn't really matter. I imagine that my next flight anywhere will be followed by a long rant.

New Orleans

Well I have spent the past month gutting houses/sitting around here in New Orleans. I've met a lot of really cool people...even if some have annoyed the crap out of me. So some thoughts on post-Katrina N.O. Well they kind of depend on my mood, so here goes:

Good Mood
It's awesome to have a chance to help out people who really need it. Out of the 15 or so houses that I've worked on I've only had the opportunity to meet/work with 3 of the homeowners. They were all really grateful and definitely in need of some help. One disabled veteran, one older lady and... ok, only two. The other family I met was while I was delivering Christmas presents to their house. They are the grandparents but are taking care of the 3 kids because their daughter is "on drugs." The grandfather was on disability and he also just broke his hand. The baby has sickle cell anemia and the only money they get is from the grandfather's disability money. The grandmother was also sent to the hospital after she was trampled in the Superdome.

Bad Mood
It has been 17 months or so since Katrina. Why haven't these people gutted their houses yet? Sure, there are disabled and elderly. But that can't be all of N.O. This place is a dump. It looks like the flood waters went down a month ago. I read a newspaper from about 6 months after the hurricane and it said that about %25 of the gutting was done by undocumented workers. Another huge portion seems to come from out of town volunteers. Apparently the actual residents are busy doing drugs and shooting each other. I think a good portion of the people here have become dependent on aid - or even the hope of it. People are constantly coming by the office here asking for stuff. Basically every business here is hiring. Why don't they just get a job and then pay for some people to do their stuff. If someone without citizenship or the ability to speak English can come over here and make a $100 a day then why can't this city's residents? I think my bitterness about the whole thing comes from putting myself in their shoes. I can't convince myself that if my family were living here we would have done anything other than just wait until the house dries up and then gut it ourselves. I think an able-bodied family of 4 could take care of their house in ten days or so...depending on the size and how much crap they have. The city has been taking care of everyone's garbage, but this service will apparently be ending soon. All people have to do is drag it out of their house and dump it on the street. Easy. People need to suck it up. They always use this term in sports but sadly it doesn't get much use in real life. Maybe if my family had lived here we all would have just sat on the steps of businesses that were hiring and asked for handouts from customers. People seem to have this mentality that since they didn't cause the hurricane, why should they have to clean up its mess?

So on a bit of a tangent, I couldn't care less about the whole Mex border/immigration issue. But a lot of people do. I think a good solution would be a trade-off. Instead of spending the whole time trying to keep Latinos out, we should just have a special road where kids serve lemonade and a big "WELCOME" sign hangs over everything. Then the Latinos can just get some documents and lemonade and come in. The big "BIENVENIDOS" sign, which would be facing the other direction but in roughly the same spot would welcome all of Mexico's new citizens (they can have lemonade too). Then we will get buses and load up all the bums and people who've proven that they just can't make it in such a capitalistic environment. Basically what I am trying to say is that the undocumented workers here are doing a zillion times more work than the actual residents of N.O. I guess what really irks me is just that so many people seem to be sitting around waiting for some charity to rescue them when they are completely capable of taking care of themselves...including their fam and home. House gutting is not something that requires a degree of any kind...a hammer and a broom will get you a long way. And yes, I am living in a charity so if there are some hard-working residents...I didn't have the chance to see them!

I have had a ton of random N.O. related blogs in my head but typing this up is just making me angry so I am going to stop now. I hope you all had a good Christmas.