Spring Break

Over spring break, Sara went home to visit her family, friends, and to work. Sara has a new baby brother, Markus, who was baptised on the first Sunday of spring break. She was very excited when her mother had asked her to be the godmother of Markus.
Sara's good friend Katie, who lives in the dorm next to hers, came over to her house on Monday, and they had a lot of fun. On Tuesday, Katie helped Sara babysit Markus. When Markus's dad got home, Sara and Katie went to the best Chinese restaurant by Sara's house. The restaurant was Mongolian Barbecue in Stillwater. One of Sara's favorites! After some more hanging out, Sara took Katie home and spent the rest of the night with her family.
On Wednesday, Sara went to work. She works at the Famous Footwear in Woodbury, but that day she worked at the one in Eagan. It was an interesting experience. On Wednesday night, Sara met two of her good friends from work at Applebee's for a late dinner. She was very glad to see them, and they spent about two hours talking.
On Friday, Sara went to the Minnesota Swarm lacrosse game at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. She didn't know much about lacrosse, but now loves it! She can't wait to go to another game. She went with her boyfriend, Pat, and his family. It was a great night.
Saturday afternoon, Sara met another friend from work for lunch, and also talked with her for a very long time. Then, she went over to her cousin's house, and had dinner with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. After dinner, her aunt taught her how to knit socks, and Sara worked on that pretty much the rest of the night. Sadly, that night Sara got the flu and is still trying to get it out of her system today. She had to miss her classes on Monday because of it, and just wants to feel better.
Besides getting sick, Sara had a pretty good spring break. She enjoyed catching up with friends and spending time with her family.

Women and the Media

I am writing my argumentative synthesis paper on how the way the media portrays women affects real women. The models and actresses we see in ads and commercials are artificially created images. They retouch the real photos until they look completely different. When women see those images they think they have to look like that. When they can't get that look, they feel bad about themselves. This is a main cause of eating disorders in America.
I am going to argue that we need to do something to stop these images from being shown so that we can stop making women hate themselves. One person cannot achieve this on their own. It is going to take a huge effort by many people to change this issue.

Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

In "A Modest Proposal", Swift gives his solution for the famine problem that was facing Ireland at the time. His proposal is that after being fed by their mothers for a year, children should become useful members of the society by either providing food or clothing. To do this, he suggests that the poor people's children should be fattened up and eaten by people of the community. He also says that their skin could be used for ladies' gloves or summer boots for men. However, he does say that it would be cruel to kill 12-14 year old children.

I cannot believe that this was the best solution he could think of. What really gets me is that he doesn't think its cruel to kill and eat infants, but with older children it would be. I do not see how that is any different. In the essay he also says that his solution would reduce the number of abortions. I guess that may be true because its not like the women will have to raise them anyway. Although, I do not see how killing them for food a year later is any different.

Environmental Video

I enjoyed the video we watched on Monday. I think it showed some valuable ways of improving the environment. There were some things that I thought were a little far fetched, but all in all I thought it was well-done.
I really liked that the group in the video biked the whole distance from Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles, California. It shows that if people were not so lazy, we could really cut down on how much we use our automobiles. Plus, it is a way to get ourselves healthy and fit along with the environment. I wish I was in such good shape that I could bike long distances like that.
This video really made me want to try to eat more organic foods and eat healthier, as well as exercise. I don't know if I could eat all of the things the group ate, but I think it would be good for me to try make healthier decisions for myself. One thing that added humor, but I think was a little far fetched was when they were saying that there is blood and puss in milk. I do understand that cows get injected with many things that are unhealthy for them, but I don't know about there being actual blood and puss in milk. Especially with all the processing they do to milk before it gets to the shelf for us to buy.
I really think that it is important that we all start to care more about the environment. With all the potential issues we may face in our lifetimes, I would say we need to act fast. It disappoints me that none of our political figures are really doing anything about these issues. Even Al Gore, who is so into global warming and got a Nobel Peace Prize for it, is not really doing anything. The only thing I know of that he has actually done is make a movie about it and make money in the process. This is not the solution to the problems, however, it is good to raise awareness about it.
Cleaning up the environment is not something one person or even a group of people can accomplish. Everyone has to do their part and give a little. Because it is little things that people do everyday that add to the problem. Everyone needs to become aware of what they can personally do to improve the environment, and then be willing to work towards it.

My Name

My parents did not really have any particular reason for making my first name Sara. They just liked the name I think. The name Sara means "princess". I think that's kind of cool. According to babynames.com, the origin of my name is Hebrew. I did not know this, and I do not have any Hebrew backround in my family (that I know of at least). It also said that my name is number 72 on the U.S. Social Security Administration's ranking. I'm guessing the ranking is based on how many babies are named Sara, but I am not positive.
My middle name is the same as my mom's middle name. I will probably continue this and make my daughter's middle name this as well (if I have one). Even though Marie is a very common middle name, it is kind of cool to have something like that in the family, especially since my first name has no connection with my family. I'm not named after anyone.
I would have rather had a different name, but I'm not sure what. Probably something longer so that I could have had a nickname. But I really wish my parents would have named me something that had family value. My baby brother that was just born was named after my grandpa that died about two years ago. I wish I had been named after someone too.

Below Zero Weather

I hate being cold. I am probably one of the biggest freeze-babies ever. So, on really cold days it is an accomplishment for me to get outside at all. All I want to do on these days is sit inside wrapped up in a blanket and watch a movie. I also want to do this on rainy days.
When it is below zero, I wear my warm boots, big sweatshirt, sweatpants, a big coat, and mittens. Sometimes I will even wear leggings under my sweatpants. Even with all these clothes on, the cold still manages to get to me. I almost always crave a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate.
On those really cold days, my friends and I usually spend all our time inside the dorm. It is nice because my boyfriend lives in the McElroy dorm and I live in Crawford. So, I do not have to go outside to see him or to go to dinner. My friend Ryan is the only one of us that has a car, and we never use it when it is really cold. It is not worth it since it will not be warm until we get to wherever we are going. So, we usually just hang out in one of our rooms, watch t.v. or a movie, and avoid going outside as much as possible.
As big of a freeze-baby as I am, it is way too hot in my dorm room at night. My roommate and I always sleep with the window open, even when it is below zero. This causes my throat to get very dry and sore, but I cannot stand to be hot at night. I like to snuggle up in my blankets comfortably. I am glad that it has gotten a bit warmer so that I can sleep comfortably and not have to worry about getting sick.
I wish the winters here were more mild so that I would not have to deal with the below zero days. However, I will not be moving out of Minnesota any time soon. So, I better learn to stick it out.

My Favorite Place

I have traveled quite a bit. Most of my travels however, have been within the United States. My favorite place I've ever been is San Diego, California. My mom, aunt, cousin, and I went on a cruise my junior year of high school. We flew out to Los Angeles to get on the ship. From there we went to San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensanada, Mexico. I really enjoyed Los Angeles as well, but there was something about San Diego that immediately made me love it.
San Diego has got to be one of the cleanest cities I have been to. Walking around downtown there was not a lot of trash on the ground, and it was just an all around inviting place. My favorite part of San Diego is Old Town. I absolutely love Mexican food, and there is a restaurant in Old Town that has the best.
I wished I could have stayed in San Diego longer, but unfortunately with the cruise I was on we only got to spend a few hours there. I hope that one day I can return to that beautiful city.