JJ's World Views

Tag: College

  • How to Curb the Obscenity of Wealth

    How to Curb the Obscenity of Wealth

    Kids born into wealth will never know what it is like to serve something bigger than themselves.  While kids born into poverty see the only way out is to serve our armed forces.  The poor uneducated children fight for what they believe is a noble cause only later to find out that, they are fighting for the wealthy’s privilege.   The people above have never known what it is like to give their lives for anything but themselves.  They have never had to risk anything yet, they are some of the most wealth individuals in the country nay the world today.  Why should these people be so entitled?  Why should they not be obligated to serve our country? I can tell you one thing, I am not in favor of a royalty like they have in England.  In fact I think it should be done away with completely.  But I do have respect for the royal family at least they served in the military.  That is more than I can say about these people.

    We send our brave men and women overseas to fight wars that we have no reason being in.  In fact, the U.S. does more harm than good sending our troops over there.  It is so confusing that we are never sure if we are targeting the soldiers or civilians, this creates more people who hate the U.S.  I love our troops I just wish that the Executive and Legislative branches would plan things out better and define what victory meant.  I also so think that maybe, we should bring back the draft or make it mandatory that everyone at the age of 18 does some kind of service to the country.  These would all be low level positions either in the Military or in the civil service; like Americorps or Peace Corps.  This way everyone can get out of their bubbles from a relatively young age.  For that matter the wealthy kids should have the same schooling as the poor kids.  This way we all start off on equal footing.

    I also believe in order to end inequality we need an inheritance tax.  Why should the wealthy be able to horde money throughout generations?  An inheritance tax is like a tree that dies and gets decomposed so that new life can start fresh.  I am not saying take everything from the kids, I mean if they can not make a five million last or expand on it then they are really not that bright to begin with.  Most people do not even get that much when their family members die.  I also think that there should be higher percentage of taxes on extreme luxury goods.  Say vehicles up to $25,000 are taxed at a 7% rate and every $25,000 it increases by 7%.  So, on a car that costs $25,000 a person would pay $1,250 in taxes, on a car that costs $50,000 a person would pay $5,250 in taxes.  This would continue on up the scale.  Where would all this money go you might ask well back the public in the form of small business grants, college institutions, Universal Healthcare, upgrading infrastructure, creating a basic income, and so much more.  These taxes give everyone equality of opportunity, not outcome.  These are just a couple of taxes to help level the playing field and make sure that no one is left in poverty.

    Once we expand our economic base to everyone in our country, we can truly start to help make this a better world for all.  This can be done through cultural tourism.  The more people are exposed to new cultures and people, the less likely they are to fear them.  We would be able to learn from each other and build upon our foundation that is set forth.  This would create less animus among peoples all around the world and help to finally bring some peace in the future.

    It is kind of funny how this turned out I was going to rail against the mega rich, instead it helped me to come up with ideas to help build a better world.

  • First Week of Summer Semester

    Today is my first day of summer semester at Normandale Community College.  I have one class now, which is Introduction to Creative Writing.  I have another College First Aid and CPR starting in July.  Looking over the syllabus Creative Writing seems like it will be a bit daunting for me.  Time management is something I do need to work on, this class is definitely going to push me to do better.  I will not have this class hurt my GPA, I have yet to get anything less than a B, so far. I will just have to go at this class a bit harder than the others.  This instructor is asking us to open up and push my limits.  This is going to be hard for me, even though on my blog here I am fairly open, I hold myself back.   It has been kind of drilled into me “you have to watch everything you say.  You may offend someone.”  Especially since I want to become a teacher.  So, I never really let loose.

    I am always the nice guy, the safe guy.   I do not not want to hurt people’s feelings, therefore I stifle myself.  If I tell a story I don’t want some people getting angry or embarrassed because I share how I remember event.  So, I change their names, of course I do that if I can not remember their names as well, I am horrible with names.

    In the first week we have to come up with three options for a creative nonfiction piece.  I was finally able to come up the third this afternoon.   The first one is of my time down at Camp Roberts, California.  This story takes place in the central desert in California, right smack dab in between San Francisco and L.A..  This was basically a coming of age story where I am finding myself, filled with alcohol, sex and an orange Chevy Nova.

    The second was about the crazy relationship between me and my ex-wife Liz.  It would go through how we met the issues we had with her family.  The add issue of being a stepfather and dealing with the father of my step daughter.  Also, the good times with the parks we went to and the way we tried to make due in a lower middle class lifestyle.

    The third is the is The Morels and Ethics of an Atheist.  This one will be a sort of build off of Me and Religion. This piece explains my personal moral and ethical beliefs and how I came up with them.  This helps my goal show people that Atheists are the same as everyone else we just do not need to believe in a god to be a good person.  Next assignment is due on the 6th.  I should not have a problem getting it done.

    Peace Be With You

  • Normandale TRIO SSS End Of Year Celebration

    Tonight was the end of year Celebrations for TRIO SSS at Normandale Community College.  TRIO SSS is for people who are first generation, persons with disabilities and low income students, if you were wondering.  This was our second annual banquet to celebrate the accomplishments of all the awesome people in the program.  We started with dinner and good conversation with our peers.  I just happened to be sitting next to the President of the school Joyce Ester.  She showed us the new motor scooter she had bought, it looked pretty cool, It looked more like a motorcycle than a scooter though.

    After dinner the ceremony  started another one of my friends Dee Parker was one of the speakers.  Dee is another really inspirational people who moved up here from New Orleans after Katrina.  We went through the Academic recognitions for the semester.  The categories are as follows:

    Roaring Red: 3.0 – 3.49

    Roaring Lion: 3.5- 3.99

    Lion’s Club: 4.0

    I happened to be in the Roaring Lion category for a 3.73 GPA for the semester.  My goal with the VA is to keep a 2.5 or better, My personal goal is to keep a 3.0.  I just keep on surpassing it.  In the fall I was admitted to Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society for 2 year colleges.

    The Next Speaker was Ushna Altaf a really funny and crazy Pakistani woman who is full of life and loves to crack jokes with everyone, this was her last semester at Normandale and she will be missed.

    Next we had a musical performance of John Lennon’s”Imagine” sung by Sam Dylia.  Even though I have the words to this song memorized, I do not think I could get up and sing it in front of a group of people and he should be commended for  the job he did.

    The awards came up directly after the performance, this is where I was filled with shock and amazement. The first three awards were the partner, Champion and Game awards These were given to faculty and staff.  Then we got to the Most Active scholar which was won by Ushna Utaf, her fellow nominees were Yuanyuan Cui and Jackson Code.  The next was the most Persistent Scholar which was won by Jenny Steck.  Her fellow nominees were Chamab Nhel, Dee Parker and Amber Branch.  The Last of the awards was Scholar of the Year won by yours truly JJ ODonnell with my fellow Nominees Amber Branch and Ella Komianvi.  This was a shock to me, I knew I had been nominated for the award but I never thought I would win.  In fact I was actually rooting for Amber or Ella, both of these women are strong, good students and have fought through their share of adversity.  This is not to say I have not; I just thought that one of them should be the winner.  Amber I know the most about she was my peer mentor and is my friend and just a kick ass chick.  Ella I know in passing from when I worked in the diversity center, she was always so cool and very courteous.  She is also the President of the BSA (Black Student Alliance) and participate in numerous other groups and activities.   I was just honored to be nominated.  I was not looking for anything else.

    The last performance was by Joe Charley who spoke a riveting poem about being more than just what people see and encouraging people to dive deeper to get to know others of different races and cultures.  It was astounding.

    The Keynote Speaker was President Ester who kept her speech short and to the point.  She was also still reeling from the previous speaker.

    The closing words were spoken by the Head of Normandale’s chapter of TRIO Frederick MacDonald-Denis, coincidentally he is my advisor till mine gets back from paternity leave, James.

    All in All this was a very interesting night for me.  It was a shock to my system I am glad to share some of it with you all.

    Peace Be With you all.

  • Day 4

    Well today was the end of my first week of school.  I had Intro to Cinema and History of World Civilization 2.  After my classes I had a meeting with my TRIO SSS (Student Support Services) advisor.

    In Cinema we were learning about its technical history from the Zoeatrope to George Melies “A Trip to the Moon”.  It was interesting to see how they first attempted to colorize film.  It must have been painstaking painting each frame, even if it was a 13 minute film.  It is remarkable to see how far we have come in such a short period of time ( in the grand scheme of things).  I also started the readings tonight going through the influences of the different countries that had an effect on the industry from the late 19th century to 1947 is where I stopped for the night.  This cover things like the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson in Edison’s labs (411 Barsam and Monaham).  Going into the Silent Period (214), The German Expressionists (418) and many more.

    This afternoon I had History in which we watched a video (narrated by the late Leonard Nimoy)and discussed the Black plague, and he answered questions on the syllabus.  The video was something that I had seen before on the History channel so most of the information was not too new to me.  Like I knew they used Bodies of the dead as a form of biological warfare of the time and that doctors of the time were some of the most vulnerable do to the closeness of working with those who had the plague.  What I had missed the first time I had watched the video was the Flagellants ( an extremist Christian sect) that had started to gain traction do to the Catholic Church own ignorance and unwillingness to hear any ideas other than those in the Bible.  I started my reading for this class today as well.  The reading are on some of the creation myths of the world.  I have gone through the Iroquois, which is more of a matriarchal view of the world and the Japanese which from what I read started out quite nice then became very patriarchal.  At least that is how I saw it.  I will be rereading it to get a better understanding of them both.

    After history I went to see my TRIO advisor.  I like going to talk to him we always have interesting conversations.  For those who do not know Trio is an organization that help first generation college students and students with disabilities navigate through college life.  They help you set up your schedules, filling out financial aid forms and help to keep you on track in school.  Some of the most prominent people who have been part of this program through the years (not at Normandale Community college where I go they just started theirs last year) are Oprah Winfrey and Angela Bassett.  This Program has been around since the 60’s and is federally funded.  If you are in college and they have this program check to see if you qualify it is extremely helpful.  Me and James (my advisor) talked about how my classes are going so far, some of my financial aid and a little about this blog.  it was a short meeting but it is the first week and he is swamped with the new semester and people on his team. He did ask me if I “If I thought that I would have any problems with the number of classes or the classes themselves.” I dont really think I will of course while writing this blog my self doubt started creeping up again.  This happened before this time I feel I have the support I need to concur it.  beside I always feel like this until the end of the semester.  By then I have seen where I am at and know what I need to do to get the grades I need and want.  Hell right now I am waiting to get my invitation to Phi Theta Kappa our Honor Society. Over the past 2 semester I earned a 3.53 GPA in my college level courses.  If you add in my remedial courses it is a 3.68 GPA.  So, as long as I keep doing what I am doing I should have another good semester.

    Works Cited

    Barsam, Richard Meran., and Dave Monahan. “10/Film History.” Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. 411+. Print.

  • Day 2

    Today was another pretty good day at school.  The only issue I had was the parking, but oh well.  My Intro to Cinema was pretty cool, the professor is laid back and I realized another purpose for it.  This class other than helping me meet my transfer curriculum for school; is also going to be helping me to improve my conversational skills.  This is something I feel I really need.  Especially since I am pretty much a shut in, other than work and school, I don’t really do much other than that.  Whenever, I try to speak to people it always seems to come out wrong. Although, that has been changing over the past year or so.  I am starting to feel more confident in myself slowly.  When I can finally look at myself for more than 10 seconds in a mirror I will say I am confident enough.

    I also had History of World Civilization 2 today.  Once again my professor is a unique individual. The first part of class he told us about himself and then had us all get walk around and introduce each ourselves.  That was fun.

    In both classes I tried to make sure I stood out in class in a good way of course.  I sat in front of the class made sure to ask questions and/ or comment on questions brought up.

    I went to talk to my history professor from last semester Jack just to say “Hi” and ended up bumping into my Interpersonal Communication professor Brad.  I did not even recognize him he had lost so much weight.  He is a pretty cool guy, I liked that class.  Then after he left for lunch I talk to Jack.  He asked me about my course load and the professor I have for World Civ 2.  He said it will be interesting to see how I do being introduced to another teaching style for history.  I have a feeling I will do pretty well, but I do not want to get too over confident.  Then I will make mistakes and big ones.  I know myself all to well.