7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 1/18

Quote #1- Self-Pleasure

Sep 16, 2012

"Pleasure is essentially private, and the self is too small an object for perpetual 

enthusiasm"  

Whoa, so...This quote is telling me that I myself am not adequate enough to keep

myself happy. The self is too small of a container to hold a constant state of pleasure

(and to clarify, pleasure can be anything that we find pleasurable, not necessarily

something sexual).

This is what I get from this: eventually at some point in our lives we realize that 

pleasure is not enough. You've all heard about the Freud's ideas on the Id and the

Ego, right? The Id is our primitive and unconscious drive to fulfill innate urges and

desires. Naturally, as human beings, we like food, we like sex, we like happiness and

contentment, etc. But after a certain point, also as humans, is appeasing our Idenough to SATISFY? I don't think so. I think in the end we all end up looking

for more. We need meaning for things, we need something to look forward to, we

just need more beyond trivial self-pleasures. The quote above comes from

my Religious Studies textbook. According to some religions, a faith is the "more" we

look for. This is not the same for everyone, though.

What do you guys think this "more" entails of?

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 2/18

 

Quote #2 – Science vs. Religion?

Sep 28, 2012

"Science is explanatory, Religion is interpretive. The two are separate, they are

not in competition, they serve two different purposes." –Curtis Smith

I bet you're all thinking "HERE we go!" as the little person in your mind flings their

arms up in exasperation. Yes, this quote is about a topic that has almost been beaten

to death, but here is my take on it...

Basically, just what it says. RELIGION is something that is defined by the time &

place in which it was established. Let's ignore the biases and preconceived notions

we already have about these two subjects; without going into details of what 

HUMANS do in the name of religion (good or bad), I think most people can agree

that at its core religion is just a way for some people to get more meaning out of life.Many people consider science to be the antithesis of religion, but I say that's just 

poppycock (yea I giggled when I typed it too). Science is a way to explain and

explore our natural world, our natural surroundings, how things in the world work.

Religion is about exploration of the individual, human mind and

soul. Religion= internal/intrinsic, Science= external/extrinsic. They are both meant 

for two different things, stop confusing them people. Stop setting them into conflict 

with each other! You can put together a very convincing and very

solid argument about the horrible things that have happened in the past due to

religion. Absolutely, not arguing with you there...You can ALSO do the same thing

with science people...

So yes, people bombed buildings and raided and what-have-you in the name of 

religion...people have also done that & are given the TOOLS to do so because of 

science. But we don't hear such outraged responses to that as often do we? These

are things people do, do not persecute an entire idea because of the things people do

in their name. And do not pit two ideas against each other because the followers of 

one idea have massed biases against the other. That is all  

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 3/18

 

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 4/18

 

Quote #3: Ever seen the movie "For Colored Girls?"

Oct 4, 2012

Well, there's this one quote that struck me as soon as I heard it the first time Iwatched the movie. One of the main actresses (Thandie Newton) said it as her

character Tangie during one of the climactic scenes...

"Being alive and being a woman is all I got, but being colored is a metaphysical 

dilemma I haven't conquered yet " -Tangie

Anyone who's seen this movie knows what a MESS this character was. She was, as

the movie stresses, a colored girl going through worldly problems of her own. (To

make this blatant, she was a hoe bag. But she had her reasons, some deeper

problems gnawing on her psyche and what-not). Anyway, just the way she phrasedthis line caught my attention and touched a part of me that I thought had been

considered outdated since we supposedly "overcame" racism and sexism in the

United States. This quote makes me think about the mental and physical hardships

of women in a transformed, altered, and updated "men's world". This world has

been tailored towards men for hundreds of years, and we have only recently

modified this to cater to women's needs in this last 100. So, being a woman is, in and

of itself, a challenge to overcome in society, though it is a hidden,

muted challenge. Then she goes on the described being colored as another level of 

difficulty completely, "metaphysical dilemma". That's quite powerful wording if you

ask me. Metaphysical is defined as "concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as

existence, causality, or truth" (and we all know what dilemma means). It is as if 

being colored is another type of human altogether, a type infused with difficulties to

be overcome.

Sheesh, as if being born simply human isn't heavy enough. This movie brings to light 

the experience and mind of what it is like to be a colored girl/woman in the world

today. It brings to light many things people who AREN'T born as colored women

would have never even considered.

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 5/18

Quote #5: Mean What You Say

Oct 19, 2012

"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to

please, or worse, to avoid trouble." -Mahatma Gandhi

This has always been one of my favorite quotes. Now, we all know Gandhi was a

brilliant, wise, and gentle man. Any quote written down by him is bound to teach

some essential life lesson spoken in a stoic voice with underlying meaning about 

character and life and happiness and peace and butterflies and bunnies...(ok cut the

butterflies and bunnies out, that was my mind running rampant at 1:55 a.m.) But,

you get the idea. THIS QUOTE IN PARTICULAR has nothing to do with butterflies

NOR bunnies! This quote is about your conviction, your confidence, your true and

sincere belief. Saying "yes" or anything of the sort just to please others when deep

down you are really screaming "no!", well that's just cowardice. I get that some

people like to appease others, or want to avoid conflict, or what-have-you, but you

should never EVER let those reasons overpower your free will. You should speak 

your thoughts and feelings with POWER, with CONVICTION, with dignified rigidness

against those trying to break down your confidence in order to get what they want 

out of you. It may be against your common actions (to appease others, avoid conflict,

etc.), but later on you will feel better knowing that that person got a piece of the

REAL you, and you won't have those feelings of self-disappointment. Am I right?

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 6/18

 

Quote #6: Who are you to judge?

Nov 2, 2012

"One may eat a cake with icing either straight or sidewise. It will taste sweet either way. As one can ascend to the top of a house by means of a ladder or a bamboo or a

staircase or a rope, so diverse are the ways and means to approach God, and every 

religion in the world shows one of these ways"  

-Ramakrishna 

I will argue that whatever higher power there may be (people have just given it 

different names and qualities. Let's use God or "he" as universal for now), he has

made different religions to suit different aspirations, times, countries, customs, &

belief tendencies. I've learned a great deal in my religious studies class and one of those things i've learned is that EVERY religion is defined by the TIME and PLACE in

which is arose. Yes, there are many religions seemingly so completely different from

one another, and yes humans twist and turn and edit their religion based on what 

they think or want to do. But I believe that the core of each religion is based on the

same basic principle: to be consolation to us. There are many ways in which this

may manifest, but it's all the same in my eyes. How you reach God is not important,

it's why you choose to do so. I don't think people should persecute ANY religion.

Each one at it's core has purely good intentions, no matter how they show it. You

wouldn't judge a person because they like chocolate cake and you prefer vanilla,

why do the same with religion?

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 7/18

Quote #7: We’re All Amateurs At Life 

Nov 30, 2012

"Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it." -Christopher Morley

What does this quote make you think about?

Well, for me, it says that we are all inadequate at life. And...I agree. Living life for us

is like learning a language from our infancy on, we get plenty of lessons on how to

do so, and by a certain age we are convinced that we are fluent. When in reality we

flaunt our occupation of living life like we're pro's, but many people never really feel

like they have lived by the time they die. Of course there are many exceptions, many

people feel happy with their lives, but I feel like the majority spends their life

striving for the perfect dialect & never really master this "foreign language". I expect 

that people will have opposing opinions and argue otherwise, but for my part I give

lots of credit to this quote. It allows for recognition of the flaws of man & the waywe live. It's getting recorded in my imaginary book of "Realest Quotes". :)

Passion Place #2 -Fjordlands National Park OF WONDROUS MAGICAL BEAUTY

Jan 5, 2013

Ok so the "OF WONDROUS MAGICAL BEAUTY" isn't actually a part of the title, I

added it. But with good reason! Feast your eyes...

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 8/18

 

SO maybe I’m a little bit of a nature freak, but I don't see how anyone can simplyignore all of the beauty that nature has to offer us. If I could visit every beautiful,

natural place on this planet I would. But since I can't, I’ve narrowed it down and

good ole' Fjordlands National Parkaroo made my master list :) This place lies in the

South Islands of New Zealand and Rudyard Kipling declared it the 8th wonder of the

world :) It has some of the clearest waters & most astonishing mountains and

meadows I’ve ever seen. This is a place that I can go to and sit down on a large

blanket with a nice picnic basket and a camera to just RELAX & capture the moment.

Or, I could take a canoe out into those crystal mirroring waters & feel the cool

freshwater breeze running through my hair. Doesn't that just sound great?

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 9/18

Passion Place #3: the 'Mazing Meteora Rock Formations

Jan 30, 2013

In the Greek peninsula you will find a dandy little placed called the Meteora Rock 

Formations. These fog-shrouded steep peaks of Meteora take my breath away.

Why? Maybe I’m just weird because I totally dig fog, and these formations arealways shrouded in the lovely mysterious mist. Like, I love fog. And I love beautiful

places (obviously), so these formations make my list of places I absolutely must visit 

some day.

Another cool little fun fact about this place is that nuns and monks have been living

in these peaks for centuries, making these breathtaking vistas with its peaks and

caverns actual monasteries. Hermits have scaled these peaks since the 10th century.

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 10/18

Also, according to legend, "St. Athanasios Meteorites rode an eagle to the top in the

1300s to found Great Meteoron, the largest of the region's six secluded

monasteries".

These monasteries remain active to this day, though they are very isolated andsecluded. Until 1925, visitors could only reach one of the monasteries with rope

ladders and baskets, but today it has a 140-step staircase hewn into the rock. A

 staircase I plan to climb some day! 

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 11/18

Civic Issue: So You're Telling Me There's No More Sports?

Jan 31, 2013

My title above is exactly what my response was when I heard that funding had been

drastically cut to education, and totally cut from sports in my home city of 

Harrisburg, PA. Now, our sports are currently hanging on for dear life, but with thebudget cuts i'm not sure how much longer they'll last.

Let me provide a brief run-down of the budget cutting timeline in Harrisburg over

the last couple years. First, the district cut out music and art classes from all classes

and it became an after school, extracurricular thing. Then, they cut funding from

that all together. Next came some more budget cuts for education funding (mind

you, the school district of HBG has always been in pretty bad shape and kind of 

poor), and the most recent change is more budget cuts and cut funding

from sports. After cutting funding for most other extracurricular activities, sports

was the only thing the students in our district looked forward to. We've always had

pride in our mighty Cougars, and when the Corbett Administration continued

cutting budgets (for education, schools, and for ALL sports), our entire student 

population became outraged. Even kinder garden is cut from the system. You can

read more about it in this link below (it's a rather short and entertaining article in

my opinion)

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/06/harrisburg_school_budget_

cuts.html

Now, it doesn't really make sense to cut education from an already suffering school

district does it? Despite this obvious fact, the Corbett Administration continues with

their plans and it is infuriating everyone in Harrisburg who cares enough to pay

attention. Many parents took their kids out of the district and moved or tried to

move to a better school district. Also, I do not know for fact if there is any real

correlation between budget cuts for extracurricular activities and street violence,

BUT I will just point out that street violence among minors has risen

CONSIDERABLY in the past few years, with a

shooting occurring sometimes multiple times a month. In a city like Harrisburg,

students can't afford to have etracurriculars taken from them; things that kept them

busy and out of trouble at lease a little. I feel that it is very critical civic issue in the

state of Pennsylvania to have it's capital in such poor shape, and to worsen it insteadof trying to make it better.

FunFact: I personally know the people in these photos and I was at this event,

just not in the pictures!

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 12/18

 

our Nitanny Lion also attended this event  

These next few photos are of students and faculty boycotting the capital

downtown (where my highschool is) 

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 13/18

 

Other articles used: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/07/penn-j26.html 

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 14/18

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/08/poor_schools_hit_hardest_

by_bu.html 

Passionly Passionate about this South African Spring Meadow (#7)

Mar 15, 2013

Encompassing around 170,000 square miles (a few thousand miles larger than the

state of California, think about that later on when you're done reading. It becomes a

stunning mind's image), my passion place is located across the borders of Namibia

and (predominantly) South Africa. Now, I specified spring meadow

because Namaqualand, South Africa isn't usually like ...THIS.

For most of the year Namaqualand looks like most of the desert regions, dry and

desolate. But , in spring it bursts with floral awesomeness & becomes something

completely mesmerizing. Hundreds of thousands of daisies bloom and renew the

parched, empty land into a place resembling a floral Candy Land :D

Here are some more lovely images, & there are plenty more on Google if you want to

see more of the colorful wonder of South Africa.

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 15/18

 

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 16/18

 

Civic Issue: Does Spanking=Abuse?

Feb 28, 2013

I'm sure you've all heard about this topic at one point or another. In the last (I want to say decade), society has taken it upon themselves to criticize one of the age-old

ways of disciplining a child: spanking.

Now, as a black and white mixed child, I was brought up between two different 

worlds. My moms side of the family. They have a typically white, time-out giving,

lecture giving, passive parenting style- and then there's my dads side of the family.

Down South- you already know how it went down. They had the stereotypically

black, no-BS, whoopin' delivering, go-get-a-switch-so-I-can-wear-that-a**-out type

parenting style. Here's what I have to say from personal experience, a good whack 

on the behind is GOOD for discipline, HEALTHY even in SMALL quantities and forthe right situations. Almost EVERY child (including me) knew that we could do

whatever we wanted with a stereotypically white/passive parent, yet we were on

our utmost best behavior anywhere near a black/aggressive parent. The problem

occurs when the spanking becomes a beating, harder and excessive. This has

become so much of a concern in the last few year that there are even groups of 

people dedicated to spreading the word about "Child Abuse" & urging it's

abolishment. check out this website:

http://www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=athome-

main&gclid=CNiDhsnX2rUCFalQOgodcGAAsw

Other then that, however, I’ve seen a larger majority of websites arguing that 

spanking is nowhere near abuse unless it gets out of control on the parents side.

Most websites i've come across have the same answer. Is spanking child abuse?

A: No. Though a lot of people these days try and make it seem like it is. To me, this is

just a matter of opinion and it's the business of the family and the family ONLY of 

how they choose to discipline their child. I don't believe the government or any type

of authority should come into a home and tell a parent how to raise their children

(though I want to make it clear that I mean this only with safe and stable

households. If there is an issue of actual abuse, then it's a different matter). What do

you guys think?

The responses people made to this question are particularly interesting on these two

websites, if you only want to browse one or two links i've provided i'd suggest these. 

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 17/18

http://thestir.cafemom.com/other/150284/spanking_child_abuse_are_not 

http://www.sodahead.com/living/do-you-consider-spanking-child-

abuse/question-3390257/

Some other links: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/when-is-

spanking-child-abuse/

http://family-law.lawyers.com/child-abuse-and-neglect/Spare-the-Rod-Is-

Spanking-Child-Abuse.html

Civic Issue: Spanking vs. Abuse continued… 

Apr 18, 2012

So I came across this nifty website: http://kidjacked.com/legal/spanking_law.asp

It gives the specific spanking laws for each state. However there is something that 

i've noticed after skimming a few of them, and that is that they are all very vagueand broad. Most of the laws include words like "reasonable and appropriate" when

describing ways in which to physically discipline your child. I, for one, don't think 

this is good enough. The extent to which one parent believes is "reasonable and

appropriate" can COMPLETELY differ from another parents. Say you have a parent 

who has a child that shoplifts and this parent punishes them by smacks on the hand.

Now say you have another parent with another child who commits the same act of 

shoplifting, but what they consider "reasonable and appropriate" is 50 whooping’s 

on the bare behind of a child with a paddle. Heck, in some countries the penalty for

stealing is cutting off the person’s hand! Now, places like Arkansas and Florida (and

some others) are more detailed in explaining what is appropriate/moderate

punishment and what is not. These states give details that specify the limits oninjury of a child due to physical punishment like "willful acts that produce the

 following specific injuries: sprains, dislocations, or cartilage damage; bone or skull 

 fractures; brain or spinal cord damage; intracranial hemorrhage or injury to other 

internal organs; asphyxiation, suffocation, or drowning; injury resulting from the use

of a deadly weapon; burns or scalding; cuts, lacerations, punctures, or bites;

 permanent or temporary disfigurement; or permanent or temporary loss or 

impairment of a body part or function."-Florida Spanking Law  

7/30/2019 Blogs-Briana White

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/blogs-briana-white 18/18

What I am emphasizing for this blog post is what the majority of the states are using

to define their laws. If you take a moment to scroll down the page of the website I’ve 

provided you can see that most of the laws for the states are rather short and

underdeveloped. Then again, it is arguable that something like spanking vs. abuse is

a touchy subject because the line between spanking and abuse can be

misinterpreted very differently across peoples and cultures. What do you guysthink? Should there be one general, yet detailed and specifically outlined law on

spanking for the entire country rather than the separated state laws?