Duckpond

The Duckpond of Gainesville is a beautiful place. 

Upon arrival, my friends and I were greeted by loud quacking. We were surrounded by a beautiful neighborhood with a pond right in the center of several houses. Of course, we responded to these animals by tossing bread to them- as we had seen some other girls doing as we arrived. There were white, brown and multicolored colored ducks. In addition, there were two beautiful black ducks with red beaks, one in the water, the other hidden away by the tree shade. 

After feeding the ducks, we all decided to explore the nice little neighborhood. The roads around the pond itself are confusing to navigate when in a car. Personally, I had a more difficult time locating different landmarks when I was in my car. Also, while enjoying the serenity of the pond, a woman in her late 40’s/early 50’s pulled up to my and companions and me asking for directions to a particular place we were unsure of. Unfortunately, we had told her that we were unfamiliar with the area and we were just visiting. The woman thanked us and continued on her search. One of my companions, Andre, convinced our group to walk around.  The more we walked, the more little quirks we noticed. For example, several of the houses had plaques on them with the year. It seemed as if each house had its own unique appearance. None of the houses were the same but none stood out too vapidly. The Fagan House was constructed in 1910 but renovated in 1982. The original owners of the house, the Fagan family, owned a downtown shoe store. The house itself sticks out because it is on the corner of the boulevard and has beautiful shades of blue and white that show off the house's own antiqueness. 

Based on my observations, most people in the area walk. They are able to go to the downtown area without relying on buses or automobile transportation. Seeing bicycles was also very common. One of the benefits of walking is avoiding having to find a parking spot. Also, the houses are less than 15 minutes of walking distance of the restaurants and little shopping areas. 

Despite the closeness of the restaurants and boutiques, a majority, if not all, of the houses had cars. This infers that the residents usually have to drive to a work place that is too far for walking. Additionally, many of the residents had a variety of beautiful plants.  Several houses my friends and I passed had fruit trees such as lemons and papayas. The fruit all seemed as if they were begging us to pick them, but that may have just been our hunger teasing us. 

Subsequently, we started walking toward the downtown area to find places to eat. On our way there, we found a park that had a few families in it. We had stopped at the park for awhile and began to absorb the scenery. There are several different structures for children to play on and it is a very safe environment out in the open. There is much shade from the trees in the park and there are also benches to rest. The children who came to the park were around 6-9 years old. The parents who accompanied them were in their late 20’s, early 30’s. The families all seemed content with the park but mainly kept to themselves and kept a close eye on their children. The park’s vibrants colors oddly enough didn’t contrast the the more calm colors of the surrounding houses. The laughter of the children seemed to echo through the relatively empty streets. 

The further we traveled, the more busy the streets became. As we continues, we began seeing buses, busy cars, and mopeds. We passed through an event that was occupying one of the streets. There were tables set up and little carts selling cheap hot dogs, chips and icees. Some of the tables set up were selling trinkets or jewelry and other tables were set up to promote politics. For example, one of the tables set up was to gain support for Bernie. As we reached the end of the street, we saw some people dancing and singing and just celebrating. There were people on the grass near them sitting on blankets eating foo for just watching and having a great time. Although the event was fun, we still hadn’t found anywhere to eat. 

Around the corner, my companions and I decided on a small pizzeria to eat called Big Lou’s. The outside tables were mostly full so we seated ourselves inside. Big Lou’s tables were wooden and seemed like it was a little old fashioned but still flourishing. The waiters were running around frantically serving guests. Everyone there offered amazing service and had a great attitude. The food was especially good and came in generous serving sizes. Although there are other places to go to eat, I look forward to returning to Big Lou’s and sitting outside with the other customers who were taking advantage of the great weather.

In conclusion, places as simple as the Duckpond can have their own uniqueness underlying the normality of everything. This place was more than just a nice little neighborhood. Sometimes, its hard to see the beauty in places or things as simple as a Duckpond. I believe the Duckpond of Gainesville is a beautiful place. It is full of character and has little quirks that add to its overall beauty. I look forward to returning there soon.

Destiny

Oedipius Rex is a twisted story about a boy who kills his father and marries his mother despite being told his future. The entire story revolves around prophecy. This story brings up the question: can you change your destiny?

When you look at the story of Oedipus, the whole reason he was given the opportunity to kill his true father is because he left his home, Corinth, to avoid killing his father.  At that moment he planned to leave and choose his own life by denying his destiny. As you progress through the story, Oedipus is faced with another choice. He meets strangers while he is traveling to Phebes (his original hometown). During this encounter, he is infuriated and rashly murders all the strangers except for one who escaped. Unknowingly, Oedipus continues on his travels and marries the Queen of Phebes. Together they have several sons and daughters. Soon, Oedipus finds out that he was truly the one who killed his father. 

At first, he denies this truth and further investigates. Despite everything he had done, Oedipus continues to search for answers. He reveals his past murder to the queen, who then realizes the  horrific truth, and continues his search for understanding. Once he discovers the truth, Oedipus tears his own eyes out and exiles himself.

Referring back to the question (can you change your destiny?), is it possible that if no one knew the prophecy that the whole situation could have been avoided? If the King of Phebes had not known the prophecy, he would not have any need to order his servant to kill his son. Again, if Oedipus had not heard the same prophecy, he would not have left Corinth. Therefore, this would have avoid the entire story of Oedipus, because he would not have encountered his real father. 

In our lives, can we change our own destiny? Personally, I believe the only true destiny that we can count on and truly anticipate is death. Since the beginning of life, people has been creating their own destinies or at least putting twist on them. Jesus for example, was supposed to be the Messiah born into riches and of high class with lots of wealth. Jesus was supposed to come in as this great power with and bring a lot of religion changes. Surprisingly enough, he came in through a lower class family. He was born in a manger and suffered a horrid death. Despite what the pharisees expected, the Messiah did come and die but just not how they expected and Jesus did choose the lifestyle of a lower class citizen. 

In conclusion, destiny can be altered but the final outcome cannot be changed. 

Service Learning Project

On September 19, 2015, I participated in the 2015 Gator Plunge. I volunteered with Alachua County Animal Services for 4 wonderful hours. Alachua County Animal Services promotes adoption, sheltering, and rescuing of animals with all sorts of backgrounds. They serve the community by encouraging the safety of the public and animals.

Furthermore, the Alachua County Animal Services are partnered with Puppy Hill Farm Animal Rescue, Pet Harbour, Paws on Parole, and other organizations in order to promote the welfare of animals. On their website, Alachua County Animal Services shows statistics from 2001 through 2011 on their animal intake, return to owners, adoptions, and euthanasias.  According to the Alachua County Animal Services website, their mission is to promote public safety for the welfare of citizens and animals. Their goals include increasing the awareness of their presence and their mission. The Alachua County Animal Services encourage the adoption mostly of dogs and cats. They serve the human and animal population through their inexpensive adoption opportunities. Not only do they prepare the animals for a new home, but they also spay/neuter, microchip, basic veterinary care, rabies vaccinations, and shelter for lost animals.

On arrival, we were introduced to the volunteer supervisor, Hilary Hynes. She explained to us that Alachua County Animal Services takes in as many animals as possible and has several dogs transferred to the Paws on Paroles program for training. Many of the dogs that participate in this program find new homes quickly by getting adopted by the inmates who trained them. Mrs. Hynes continued on to explain how they are always accepting new volunteers to help out with the animals. Next she informed the group on a few basic rules for everyone to follow. Subsequently, Mrs. Hynes handed us over to Lola, one of the volunteers, who gave us a tour of the facility. We were given time to take some of the animals out of the cages and give them time out in the open yards. Many of the dogs were extremely excited to explore the yards, play with chew toys, and have time to interact with people and other dogs. There were a few dogs who were more timid but still eager to explore the yards. 

One of the dogs I saw in the cages caught my eye. Not only was this dog out of place because of her breed (Pekingese, whereas the other dogs were pitiful, american bulldogs, or mutts) but also because of her lack of energy. Wendy, the Pekingese, had extremely long hair and was not a puppy like her fellow canine orphans. Her black hair was covering her face and matting on her body. I immediately decided to take her out into one of the yards to give her some fresh air. Once we took her out, she started limping and Lola and I noticed how bad her hair condition appeared. Her white paws had a nuance of yellow and were turned out and she had knots on her ear, stomach, and all over her body. When Mrs. Hynes saw the condition of the Pekingese, she was delighted that I offered to help give Wendy a bath. I was allowed to help Lola groom Wendy by assisting her with a refreshing bath, quick hair cut and removal of all of her matted knots. 

After Wendy was cleaned up, she looked much healthier and happier. Her mobility was increased because there were no matted knots to cause her pain. Also after her grooming, one of the female workers decided that Wendy needed a foster  home. Wendy is currently residing in a foster home but she is still available for adoption. She is just one of the many animals in a foster home who is one step away from being adopted.

The root of the issue being addressed by Alachua County Animal Services is the problem of stray animals with untreated health problems without owners. This not only leaves a window open for these animals to reproduce, but also spread whatever diseases they have. The Alachua County Animal Services has shown a increase in their adoptions of dogs and cats. For example, the number of dog adoptions in 2001 was 1,071 and the number of cat adoptions in 2001 was 887. Since then the average number of dogs adopted has increased to 1,500 and the average number of cats has increased to 1,200. If Alachua County Animal Services and their partners are able to continue this increase of adoptions, there will be fewer occupied kennels and less stray animals wandering around.

In summary, by promoting adoption from places such as Alachua County Animal Services, this allows them to open up more kennels to take in more animals and reduce the amount of stray animals. Also, by encouraging donations, people can provide funding for more neuters and spays to reduce the rate of reproduction. These generous donations also pay for basic treatment for these animals including rabies treatments. This will allow the amount of strays animals  to reproduce at a slower rate therefore the future population of stray animals will decrease. Ultimately, the Alachua County Animal Services is making a huge impact on the animal and human society. 

Latino American History

On September 24, I attended a screening and discussion of the documentary, Latino Americans, 500 Years of History Episode 1: Foreigners in their Own Land (1565-1880) at Santa Fe College. This event was lead by Dr Bill Little. He is a professor of Romance Languages and Latin American Literature and has a rich background involving Latin American history. He has taught at California University, West Point, and currently teaches Latin American Studies at Santa Fe College. He has studied abroad in countries including Spain and Mexico.

When it comes to culture, Dr. Little has a lot to say. He believes culture is powerful and we cannot avoid it.  According to Professor Little “It precedes us accompanies us, and pushes us forward.” Culture helps us cope with the present and helps us create the future. In terms of Spanish culture, Dr. Little suggests that we are the foreigners to their land who have made them feel like foreigners in their own land. He elaborates on this idea by giving examples of Spanish missions that occurred between 1565 and 1823. Dr. Little mentions the missions in New Mexico and Texas but he gives a little more detail about the missions in Florida and California. He informs everyone about how the missions in Florida were scattered without any true pattern. In California, the missions were founded all along the coast. Professor Little jumps back to New Mexico and states that it is a bilingual state. He continues to elaborate on this fact by promoting multilingual skills. He suggests that learning more than one language is extremely human. By this, he is explaining how people have branched from one common language to several different languages and from those languages, hundreds of languages have resulted. The human desire to communicate is astonishing. Due to the variances in language, translators have come about to reconnect and allow easier communication. Overtime, Spanish, and English have combined to form a sort of in-between style of communication known as Spanglish.

Back to Latin culture, the first European language spoken in the New World was Spanish. The British, French, and Russians all came after the Spanish branched out in the New World. Along with every single Latin American, the Latinos from the PBS showing were robbed of their property because of racism. Once colonists and other Europeans began coming to the “New World”, the Spanish government decided to send out more people on missions. They spread all throughout Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Unfortunately, after Mexico won its independence from Spain, the Mexico American War had a huge loss for Mexico. Mexico had to surrender half of its territory to the foreigners who were expanding and robbing them of their hard earned land.

During the PBS video, the lives of proud Latinos, who were wronged by Americans, were discussed. Each of them profited from their Latin missions but once Americans moved in, their lives were shattered. Many of them lost their wealth or power status due to Americans. One of the people in the film was a Latina who originally gained two ranches from Mexico and was able to purchase a third. When the Americans colonists invaded, she was forced to abandon her property and live in poverty. Several of the other Latinos in the video had similar experiences. All of them involved some sort of mistreatment from the American mostly due to racism. Each situation shared similarities but the most prominent similarity was the fact that they were treated like foreigners in their own land. Their Latino hospitality was abused and they suffered for welcoming these American aliens.

Personally, I feel that Latin American history is the root of American history. We cheated them out of what was truly theirs to begin with. Not only were they judged racially, even thought they were the original owners of the land, but they were also kicked out of much territory. They should be the ones kicking us out of their land. Latinos were nothing but hospitable to their fellow human beings, who in turn made the Latinos subject to racism. I find all of this an outrage! I think the least we can do is put forth a little more effort to bridge the gap between the American and Latino communities.

Conclusively, Latin American culture should be more welcome in the United States. Professor Little supports and encourages more understanding and unity between the American and Latino culture. Rather than having such a great social gap between Americans and Latinos, more unity would provide for a stronger society and create a greater bond between people despite their cultural background. 

Thinking about a Good Life...What is the Purpose of Life?

According to several philosophical speaker such as Alan Watts, there is no true meaning to life. He  portrays people who realize this either choose to believe in something to comfort themselves. They may believe in a religion or scientific explanations and proclaim life has a meaning or they may choose the other option and commit suicide. 

Interestingly enough, Alan Watts believe that although life has no meaning, we should still live passionately. He encourages living a life full of experiences and passion. Watts encourages passionate living despite its lack of purpose. If you live a life full of passion then you have lived a good life according to Alan Watts.

In my opinion, life has no purpose....but, I have a reason for this belief. I am a Christian who is an average person. I attend church often and go to youth group on Wednesdays. I participate in volunteering activities and I also went on a mission trip during the Summer of 2015. You may be thinking that my belief on the meaning of life contradicts my religious beliefs. Hear me out. The God I believe in (in my religion) is a perfect being who created right from wrong. Also, I believe he made many things that could start an entirely new discussion on philosophy but I would like to focus on the fact that he made freedom. The freedom to choose right an wrong. The freedom to choose our favorite things. The freedom to choose what college to go to. The freedom to choose the purpose for our life. 

We can choose anything to be the purpose of our life. Some people believe making a mark on the world is the purpose of life. Others believe it's all about experiences and doing as much as you can. There are also the other people who recognize there is no purpose of life and they don't really live passionately. These people go through there day to day life always waiting for something to excite their spirit fully but they don't quite find it. 

Personally, the purpose of my life is to serve and be a willing companion of God. This is what I have chosen as the purpose of my life. He has given us all of these choices because he is a god of freedom. I have chosen my purpose to match what He wants for me and everyone else. Some people turn away from religion in general and strive after passion or money. I have a passion for God so I have made him the purpose of my life. To me the purpose of life is choosing and living for God.

What are the humanities and why should we study them?

What you might think: 

Of the three people I interviewed, I got the same mixture as the people who were interview in the New Hampshire Humanities video. The first person I interviewed was a 20 year old male. He is a future diplomat who is pursuing a major in International Relations and is a current sophomore in college. His exact response was “I think humanities are the study of people and cultures and I think we should study them because it is important to know about other countries and cultures.” This was the best response out of the three. The other two people were caught off guard by the question. The next person is a 15 year old sophomore in high school. She is still in high school and is unsure of the profession she wants to enter. Her response was “What does it mean? Are you talking about classes…or…what does it mean?”. The last person had a similar response. He said “What are what? What do you mean…what are they?” The last responder is a 18 year old freshman in college. He is a male student pursuing a major in Pharmacy so he can become a Pharmacist. The majority of people are unsure how to answer this question because they aren't familiar with the term "humanities".

If you ask me, I think:

The humanities are a vague subject that touch most, if not all, aspects of human life. According to Stanford Humanities Center, the humanities “can be described as the study of how people process and document the human experience.” I find this definition the most suitable and vaguely accurate summary of the humanities. The humanities is a study of many groupings that each have innumerable sub-groupings. Several examples of the humanities given by the Minnesota Humanities council include civics, literature, language, history, religion, ethics, archaeology, and philosophy. Each of these subgroups have been recorded in different ways thus expanding the definition of humanities.
 
These have been recorded through visual arts, written stories, and many other ways. Each of these recordings is based off of some sort of interpretation. For example, art is often interpreted in several different ways but each interpretation shares the same origin. In the same way people observe art, they study the humanities. Each interpretation is different but all the interpretations share the same origin. Exploring these ideas allows a variety of new ideas to form. R. Howard Bloch scrutinized the humanities and recognized the various styles of interpretation. Not only does he feel that the humanities have been taken for granted, but Bloch also feels that the humanities have had an enormous effect on “the way we behave in love, in our social arrangements, in the economic marketplace, and in the public sphere.” I agree with this statement because of how they are the core of humanity. The was we socialize and connect with one another is another part of humanities that is hard to define and can still be interpreted in many different ways.
 
Alongside the interpretation and socialization aspects of the humanities, David Belong offers another similar idea. He suggests that “the humanities are at the core of a Liberal Arts education because they are about understanding how people are active creators.” This new definition is separating people from their known habits of tradition and proposing the idea that the humanities are the study of creativity. Not only does this lead into the idea that the humanities is the study of creating but it also infers the study of choices people make. The humanities can be seen in all aspects of  human life because they are answering the question “What Does it Mean to be Human?” Even science cannot go unaffected by the humanities. The humanities cause skepticism, doubt, and uncertainty which all provoke research and continual observations. Without doubt, there is no need to research or question so much of science is based off the same skepticism found in the humanities.
 
Generally speaking, the humanities are a broad spectrum of groupings that all surround the question of “What Does it Mean to be Human?” Each grouping and sub-grouping may seem unrelated when glanced at, but with a closer look, its obvious that the humanities are at the core of each group. In a way, the humanities are the trunk with its branches being groups such as philosophy, art, literature and many others. The humanities are the study of interpretation, socialization, and creativity.

What is a good life?

What is a good life? A good life is a life filled with joy. A few months ago, the University of Florida admission essay topic was to describe the good life. I responded with “To me, living the good life means being successful.” Now that I really think about this response and scrutinize it, I realize that just because someone is successful, doesn’t mean they are happy. Dictionary.com defines success as “the accomplishment of one’s goal” and “the attainment of death, position, honors, or the like.” When you look further into this response you begin to question the reasons of accomplishing the goal. If success does not make happiness, then is it really the good life?

The Dalai Lama’s belief on what the meaning of life is has redefined my notion of a good life. He states “The meaning of life is happiness.” Despite this classic statement, the Dalai Lama was able to make a point and change my response. Not only is this response simple but it is also logical. Doing what makes you happy gives you the freedom to do whatever you feel the urge to do. This does not limit you to only doing what it takes to achieve your goal. Your ability to be happy becomes an extremely broad range. Happiness is found in many places but I do not believe that living the good life means being happy.

In contrast, people who are willing to mistakenly suggest that success is what fills them with happiness, are being deceived. Living a good life does not mean being happy. Present day culture portrays being happy and having joy as interchangeable terms. People fail to realize they happiness is only temporary. Joy, according to Christianity, is a lengthy feeling of euphoria. I believe that living the good life is living joy filled life. According to Christian belief, the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Leszek Kolakowski states “the true God of the Christians, Jesus Christ, was not happy in any recognizable sense.” This does not necessarily rule out joy. Furthermore, the Bible constantly gives examples of Christians feeling joy. This joy seems to offer more pleasure than being happy. Jesus was able to prove that joy lasts through the tough times because it is not the same as happiness.

This being said, my notion of a good life is not happiness. There will be times when age, suffering, and death cause me to not be happy. There are innumerable reasons to not be happy. Being happy while being conscious of the poverty, struggles, and problem of this world is naive. There is no reason that people should not strive for a good life. A good life is life filled with joy.