Blogging about blogging

    I had my doubts about this experience. I previously saw blogging as a way for people to vent on the internet or to share recipes with fellow chefs or something like that. I was not excited about the idea at all. But after getting the first couple of blogs out of the way and reading others' works, I see blogging as an interesting and informative exercise, if done the right way. I think that it is a great way to convey information but unfortunately you can never be too sure on the validity of the information shared on a blog. It is also nice to hear others' opinions on certain matters but rants turn me off immediately. I don't think that after this class I will continue to blog but I do have a greater appreciation for it and for those who partake. I am glad that I got the opportunity to try something new and to get a new perspective on something that I had previously written off.

Why Does Santa Keep Swallowing Turkey Day?

    Christmas is easily one of my most favorite days of the year. I haven't really matured much since I turned five and I still get absolutely swept away by the magic of the season. I love every aspect of Christmas: the snowy days, the heightened sense of family, the secrets whispered in the halls about all the perfect gifts you purchased for your loved ones, the coziness of a fire in the fireplace with a cup of eggnog in your hand, the music, the baking, the memory making...I could rave on and on. But you know what other holiday I really love? Sorry, this is a trick question because the answer is all of them. And when a specific holiday steps on another holiday's toes, I get downright disgruntled and cranky about it. This seems to happen with a good many holidays but one of the worst cases in the United States of holiday neglect would be when Christmas overshadows Thanksgiving.
     It seems like earlier and earlier in the year Christmas products begin popping up like weeds in department stores. Alarmingly enough, this year I saw Santa stuff before Halloween was over. That is a full 2 months early...why in the world would we as Americans need that much preparation for a holiday? My family doesn't get around to putting up lights and decorations until a week before Christmas, if that. In addition to completely disregarding Thanksgiving, stores are now allowing Halloween to be overshadowed as well. These holidays are important days of celebration for various reasons, hence the title "holiday." Thanksgiving is an incredibly historically important holiday to our country. It is a time to celebrate our American heritage, to give thanks for anything that you were individually may be grateful for, to recall a time when life was so much more simple and hosting a feast between two very different peoples was the ultimate gesture of kindness and friendship, and a reminder to look to the future with that same mentality. Honestly, I feel like Christmas has gotten too big and it is so commercialized its sickening but that's another blog for another day. But I think that it is disrespectful to disregard a time honored tradition and a day that promotes family time and values. The idea of Black Friday right after Thanksgiving is bad enough but now stores are not even waiting until Thanksgiving is over and opening their doors for Black Friday at 8pm on that Thursday. I don't know how to fix this problem at all but I personally don't pay attention to Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. That means no Christmas music yet, no eggnog, no shopping, nothing. And maybe if people started putting the same constraints on themselves, we would be able to bring Thanksgiving back from its current obsolete state.

The Green Movement: Time to get with it, America

    I am a big supporter of the Green Movement. I have been since I was a little tyke and Earth Day won my heart with baby seal pictures. As I grew older and realized how important the movement was, I jumped on board with actions like recycling and turning off lights when I left the room. In this way, I thought I was making a big enough impact. And honestly, I was in comparison to many Americans. But then I traveled to Spain in the summer of 2013 and I discovered that the United States is super behind in their efforts to reduce energy and the environmental movement.
    Much like the United States, Spain's economy and unemployment rate recently dipped to an all time low, the lowest it has been since the days of Franco. To combat this dip, Spain had to act fast and in a constructive way. One of the ideas that was proposed to alleviate the effects felt on the economy and job market in Spain was the adoption of some green energy methods in order to save money on importing energy, energy consumption rates, and in order to provide jobs, at least on a short term basis for the country's transition. Spain's government decided to hop on the green movement train as much as possible. So the country underwent some small but pivotal alterations, alterations that I believe would work really well in America.
   One of the alterations that the Spaniards made to change their energy consumption was in their electrical fixtures within establishments. The government created an ordinance in which businesses were told to implement timers and motion detectors for the light switches within the bathrooms and other rooms not constantly in use in a building. The timers would typically be set to turn off the lights in a room after two minutes without detecting movement. Granted, it was pretty annoying when the lights went off when you would be in the bathroom and you had to wiggle around and act like a fool to get the motion detector to see you. But after awhile, you began to get used to the interruption. I was in Spain for only 10 days and was able to adapt to this fairly quickly so I predict this would also be fairly easy for other Americans to adjust to the timed lights in bathroom or in rooms that were not used very much.
    Another constructive change that Spain has made in their businesses and daily lives to be more energy efficient is to change all businesses' restrooms to have automated water supplies. All toilets were supplied with automated flushers so that the same amount of water was used each time for each flush. A few businesses had a different flush setting for liquid waste and for solid waste, which cut down on the amount of water used for liquid wastes. All places we visited, in areas of poverty and in areas of good fortune, had automatic faucets and automatic paper towel dispensers or high efficiency blowers. These changes allowed for energy to be more efficiently used and for materials (like paper towels or water) to be easily wasted.
    A third alteration that Spain's businesses made to be more energy efficient and economical was shown in large hotels. In America, typically when a person first enters a hotel room, the first thing they do is turn on the light and then go about their merry way. Often times when a resident of a hotel leaves their room, they leave at least one light on. This is obviously a large waste of energy, especially when multiple lights are left on when a resident exits the room and the room is no longer in use. To combat this waste of electricity and resources, the large scale hotels in Spain have developed a light switch that can only be turned on when the resident sticks their key in the switch. When the key is removed, the lights are immediately switched off. This means whenever the resident leaves the room, since they have to remove their key from the switch to get back in, the lights will shut off in the room and remain off until the resident returns. I think that this system could work very well in America, not just for large scale hotels but also for small scale hotels, office buildings, and dormitories.
    The Spaniards also have windmills everywhere to harness the energy coming from the constant wind sweeping over the flat farmlands of the country. While we already have a good many windmills in the US, we can always have more. The Spanish have introduced some hydroelectric power and some solar power throughout the country. The economy in Spain is steadily improving and one of the primary reasons for this is the country's embrace for conservation of energy and resources. I think that America would benefit greatly from adopting these same changes into our society. Maybe the first step to this sort of initiative could be started from Wittenberg University. Our sustainability project task force could consider and creatively incorporate these changes into our daily routines as students. This could bring a lot of positive PR to Wittenberg and save us a good chunk of change in the long run.

Common Cents

    A penny for your thoughts. It seems like that's all you can get with a penny these days. But does that necessarily mean that the coin is worthless? For several years now, there has been talk of discontinuing the penny for good. Critics of the single cent coin cite several reasons in support for the discontinuation. I, on the other hand, would like to advocate for the penny and can counter with some alternate arguments. 

    Some claim that the penny has gone out of style, that no one ever uses the coin, usually they get tossed to the side, thrown away, ditched in the parking lot, etc. I'll be the first to admit it, I definitely used to do the same thing...used to. Then I discovered the true value of the penny. 

    A penny is truly an American's vest friend. On a very general basis, pennies add up. I have a change bucket that accumulates all of my spare change whenever I break a dollar and it was the smartest decision of my life. Folks, it only takes four quarters to make a dollar and 100 pennies to make a buck. Ok, yes 100 pennies sounds like a lot. But it really isn't, especially when it gradually accumulates over a period of time. There is no greater feeling in the world when you decide to cash in your change at the bank for some cold hard cash. And those pennies really do add up fast. 

    A penny can bail you out of a lot of desperate situations. Think back to a time where maybe you didn't quite have enough cash for an item you were purchasing and were saved by the "Take a penny, leave a penny" tray at the counter. Or take a second to recall when you didn't quite have enough for that Double Big Mac with cheese and had to go cushion diving in your car for a few pennies to pay your outstanding balance. Or maybe you got caught at a surprise toll stop and once again were saved from being stuck by a few copper coins. Consider all those times when you were young, found a penny on the sidewalk, and sang that little rhyme to yourself ("See a penny, pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck") while sticking it in your shoe. Some of us also might have a lucky penny that has been carried around through good times and bad and clutched firmly in times of dire need. 

    If those reasons don't convince you, put yourself in the shoes of someone down on their luck financially. For a person in that situation, every penny literally counts and can be the difference between a hot meal and dry feet or an empty belly and leaky boots. A few coins in a cup can make someone's life a little better for at least a small period of time and that, my friends, is power. 

    In addition, the penny is an important piece of America's historical heritage. It is a tribute to President and civil rights leader Abraham Lincoln. It is a celebration of the rich minerals, like copper, that the United States is graced with. It is a symbol of the American dream, a symbol of capitalism, and a symbol of saving to build oneself up from nothing. It is a memory of the old days when a penny could get you very far and a reminder that the coin is more important than ever now that the economy is still in remission. 

    So the next time you pass by that lonely penny on the sidewalk, give ole Abe a smile and recall the penny's true value, both as a monetary coin, a symbol of the American dream, and a historical reminder.