Sunshine

Have you ever stopped and looked at the sunshine? How beautiful it is....how shiny and invigorating as it shines. Butterflies and ice cream. Pineapple and music. I love thinking about things that make me smile. Life is a beautiful and joyful thing. I love dancing in the soft summer rain and listening to Owl City. 

Sorry. That was kinda random but I'm in a whimsical mood today. I miss my debate friends and my summer is full of debate. I'm sitting with my Parliamentary partner on my couch just playing on facebook and reading some poems. I found this great one that I love that I wanted to share with you.

To Autumn by John Keats:

I
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
       To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
       For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

II
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
   Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
   Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
       Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
   Steady thy laden head across a brook;
   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
       Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

III
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
   Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
   And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
   Among the river sallows, borne aloft
       Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
       And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

I think it is so beautiful. Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't really written much. I'll try to do better.

Summer

Well, I have finished school for the year! Unfortunately, none of my debate team is going to Nationals so that means that speech and debate is over for the year too. We are having our end-of-the-year party on Saturday so we're all really excited! This summer will be incredibly busy for me. I am going to three different debate camps and hopefully working one more. I will also be attending a family camp and a church camp. I'm looking for a job too. I will also be trying to start a Bible Study with a few of my friends over the summer. So, to sum it all up, this summer will be busy yet full of opportunity. I would appreciate prayers as I go throughout this summer. It will probably be strenuous and full of a lot of trying situations. I am also trying to decide who my debate partner is going to be next year. I have several options but trying to pick the right one....the one that God wants me to partner with....will not be easy. So, I'm hoping I will know how to make the right decision with God's help! Thanks for reading! :)

Loneliness

Have you ever felt like you were the only person on this planet that cared....about anything? That everyone else seems to be chasing after things you haven't ever wanted? That you seem to be the only one that understood there may be more depth and more life and more....just well MORE to our existence than what everyone else wants? If so, you are not alone. Lately, as the debate season has come to a close for me, I have felt that I must now be isolated from the people that understood me. I'm not a frivolous empty headed person who is satisfied with the world. I don't like swallowing what other people hand to me on a platter. I like thinking and feeling and working passionately and with my whole being. I can't be shallow. Its impossible. And therefore, I am alone.

I am the only ME on this planet. I am the only me with my personality, name, and feelings. And because I am so unique, no one in my entire life has fully understood my passions and loves. Because of who I am, I am a dangerous combination who must be careful in everything I say and do. People are so shallow these days that no one seems to care about how things are perceived or even how actions can be taken the wrong way. Selfishness abounds and shallow love, even more. Only a few still hold on to those "outdated" beliefs that life was meant to be more than what I want. Life is meant to be something beautiful, to be enjoyed. And those of us who still cling to the old ways, the laws of chivalry, the laws of grace, of kindness, of selfless love, are outcasts. Even in my small world, I know that I am alone. Yet I choose to remain untainted by the world. I choose to remain who I am. I choose to remain loyal to what I believe life should be. Will you?

Reflections

Well, this is my *humble*opinion of the two colleges I have visited- Patrick Henry College and King’s College.

Lets start with King’s. King’s College is located in the heart of NYC. It is in the Empire State Building and has several hundred students. They offer three majors- politics philosophy and economics, media culture and the arts, and business management. Their academics program is very rigorous and focuses heavily on business, journalism, and film production. They have ample opportunity for internships in NYC in all three of those. I went to one class and it left me confused and bored. It was supposed to be a politics class, but the professor didn’t even talk about politics! He was discussing a book about Sparta they were reading. Towards the end of the class, he did start talking about different choices the king made and why they were good or bad but until then, I was incredibly confused. The professors are nice, energetic, and have a well-developed sense of humor. The college does not have normal housing. They have apartments of three instead of the usual dorms. Also, they do not have a meal plan, so you must buy your own groceries and make a meal plan. The people are nice, but very glamorous. If you are a fashion diva who wants to change the world…..King’s is the college for you! Most of them are from public schools and do not know how to speak, write, and read analytically and with a Christian worldview. King’s does not offer a lot of extra-curricular activities. They have a debate team (but there is limited space with a LOOOOONG waiting list) and a theatre club. That is all but there are ample opportunities throughout NYC to get involved. Most of the students I talked to liked King’s because it “treated them like they were adults” and because of the hard classes.

King’s has two major drawbacks that I saw. The first is the glamour. Because it is in NYC, it attracts a certain kind of person. A nice person, but a person who is not at all like me. It is definitely for people who like fashion, shopping, and living in a very shallow city. The second drawback that I think is incredibly serious is their lack of emphasis on spiritual growth. They do not have chapel, small groups, worship, or any kind of gathering to worship God. It would be very easy for a teenager to lose their faith in such an environment. King’s has an emphasis on academics, not spiritual growth. The students themselves pointed this out several times. Another drawback that is more personal is the emphasis on business and media. I want to go into politics and King’s does not deal with politics hardly at all. It is not the environment I am looking for.

Lets move on to PHC. PHC is located in a small town in Virginia right outside of DC. It has a few hundred students and is only slightly smaller than King’s. They offer several politics majors, a literature major, a strategic intelligence major, and (most recently) a music major. They too have a very rigorous academic program. However, the two classes I visited were interesting and left me wanting more. Even though I came in the middle and wasn’t quite sure where the class had been, I still understood most of it and left intrigued. The professors are kind, intelligent, interesting and VERY willing to help you at any time. PHC has spacious dorms (not very large but spacious nonetheless) that normally have three people in them. They have a normal meal plan as well which is not as bad as other colleges. The food always contains a wide variety and is surprisingly delicious! All of the people at PHC are like me or very close. We have the same interests and ideas. 80% of the people who go to PHC are homeschooled which makes for a very different and not unpleasant experience. They have similar focus and I do not feel like an abnormal “nerdy” homeschooler. PHC offers a multitude of extra-curricular activities. They offer worship team, a variety of sports, theatre, different music options, tutoring, newspaper staff, different jobs around campus, debate and speech, moot court, mock trial, and more. All of the students I talked to said they went to Patrick Henry because “God told me that was where I was supposed to go” and because “Patrick Henry helps us change the world even while we are in college”.

The only drawback that I heard from students and that I saw was that it is indeed a very small college. Everyone knows everything that is happening in your life. That’s hard when you really don’t want people interfering. However, PHC has such a great environment and such a great emphasis on spiritual growth and developing relationships before academics that I feel it is the right college for me. All the faculty said that they were giving us the opportunity to change the world in college. We become world movers even while we are still young and that is what I have wanted to do. I feel like I can go to PHC as myself and be immediately accepted and feel at home. Unfortunately, if I went to King’s, I would feel like I had to change myself to be like the people around me. I would need to become a “city girl” to fit in. I would also probably lose my faith because of the environment I would be in. The faculty at King’s made the point that they were EQUIPPING students to become world changers when they go out on their own. This is not what I am looking for. I want to change the world NOW.

In conclusion, King’s is a great school. I would recommend looking at it and making sure it wasn’t for you, but if you are anything like me (nerd who would like to change the world in the area of politics) then I would sincerely discourage going to King’s.

Well i am in Virginia right now. Currently, at this moment, I am heading back from visiting Patrick Henry College. Its an amazing college with wonderful people. I will blog more details later! Thank you all for your prayers. :D

College

"It was the best of times....it was the worst of times...."

Charles Dickens could have only been talking about one thing. Something that pervades every junior and senior's life. That's right! The search for college. Unfortunately, this is a long and perilous journey that is fraught with people who would like to take your money just so they can instill their opinions into your heads for the rest of your life. Sounds like a good investment to me! not. Well I will be heading out in two weeks to check out two colleges, King's College in New York City and Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia. I've already decided PHC is where I want to go but the parents say I have to look at some others. Its kinda scary, thinking I'll be at college in less than a year and a half.....But I'm ready!

Watch out world! Here comes me.

Stupidity

Well, I have decided that I am an idiot! I have made an idiot out of myself in front of pretty much every brilliant person I know....

First, at the Houston Warm-Up, I was talking to a brilliant debater whom I respect greatly. Well, it was late and I was pretty much sleep-deprived. There was a break in the conversation and I hate silence so I decided to tell him that I liked his three-point pocket handkerchief. Of course, me being the smart person I am, I couldn't remember the name. So I said, "I like your pocket thingy!". Brilliant I know (but wait it gets better). I then proceeded to say, "It looks like the Rocky Mountains!". Oh yes, incredibly smart sounding! hahaha well he looked at me weird and said "thank you". Oh wow......well, I also made an idiot out of myself again at the tournament last weekend.

I was talking to another incredibly brilliant debater who asked me how I was doing. I said "nice!" with a perfectly straight face and asked him how he was doing. It wasn't until AFTER we had finished our conversation that I realized I had just told a nationally ranked debater that I was nice today.....wow.

So yes, I don't know why exactly, but I insist on acting like a ditz in front of all the smart people in the world! :P Maybe, eventually I will learn how to talk coherently to an intelligent person! Maybe I can also convince these two guys that I'm really not as dumb as I act. haha well I hope this made you laugh.....it sure did make my friends laugh! Now GO and make your own hilarious mistakes!