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Curran, T. (2018, November) Thomas Curran: Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse [VIdeo File] Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_curran_our_dangerous_obsession_with_perfectionism_is_getting_worse

Tuck, J. (2018, June 25) I’ve Quit Writing Personal Essays About Quitting Things: A Personal Essay. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/ive-quit-writing-personal-essays-about-quitting-things-a-personal-essay

Ryan, B. (2019, May 12) These Days, It’s Not About the Polar Bears. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/12/climate/climate-solutions-polar-bears.html

Garcia, V. (2019, May 14) Jesse Watters: Dems talk up ‘global warming hysteria’ because it ‘makes them feel like they are saving the world’. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/jesse-watters-dems-global-warming-bill-nye

Monchaux, T. (2019, May 13) Notre Dame and the Paradoxes of Historical Preservation.  Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/notre-dame-and-the-paradoxes-of-historical-preservation

Klayman, A. (2018) Take Your Pills. United States: Netflix

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This TED Talk bring attention to how obsessed society is with the idea of perfection. Thomas Curran does a great job of talking about how much our society can be obsessed with perfectionism and is even proud to say this is what they strive for. He talks about how dangerous this can become and the issues that can follow if people become too involved with their idea of perfection. This is very important to my life because I have dealt with the issues of striving for perfection and the downfalls that can come with it. I have gotten better but I used to not want to turn anything in if I wasn’t proud of the outcome. I would have episodes of being so upset because the work I was doing wasn’t perfect and I was harming my own image of myself. I have become better with realizing not everything is going to be perfect and it isn’t something to be ashamed of or to beat myself up over. I think a lot of people need to realize this as well, and I believe that if we all dropped the idea of perfection we would be much happier and wouldn’t have as many self image issues as society has as a whole.

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This painting is the night sky behind a small village. It uses a lot of blues, yellows, and browns to create a depth and further demonstrate the whimsical sky and town. The background is lighter in comparison to the town that makes up the foreground. The stars are created by the swirls of color that are repeated in yellow throughout. The title, Starry Night, contributes to the meaning by contributing to the feeling of nighttime as a whole. The different strokes of yellow and blue come together to create a really well blended background that makes up the sky. The Different houses at different points create a dark foreground that seem to be just in front of everything that makes up the beautiful sky. The painting as a whole really gives a sense of wonder to a simple town. The background takes it from feeling ultra realisitc in comparison to the houses that it is behind. It has a much lighter feeling with the large stars and strokes in the background, giving it a more whimsical and almost fairytale like feeling that it would not have had with a simple and realistic background.

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In his May 13th, 2019, editorial, “Jesse Watters: Dems talk up ‘global warming hysteria’ because ‘it makes them feel like they are saving the world’” published to Fox News, Victor Garcia discusses the statements made by Jesse Watters in regards to the democratic stance on combating climate change. Garcia describes what was stated by Watters and his claim that the democratic party is simply rallying behind the fight to save the environment to feel like they are accomplishing something, and to make up for the fact that they are causing the problems. Garcia touches on the beliefs of the republican party in order to show the side that some people affiliated with this political party are on. This is published on a well known news site, intended for a large audience, but mostly one composed of those leaning to the right who have more conservative views. This shows the stance that some throughout the country have in regards to the fight against climate change.

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In his May 12, 2019, article, “These Days, It’s Not About the Polar Bears”, published in The New York Times, Benjamin Ryan explains that the new tactic being used is the appeal to how people can personally improve the environment, moving away from the use of fear and statistics. Ryan uses the evidence gathered from those working to improve the planet, talking about how they are straying from the initial hope to scare people into caring about the ecosystem. He describes how people are more prone to put effort towards improving the planet if they know of ways it personally affects them and ways they can help individually. Ryan discusses these new tactics in order to bring attention to the news ways organizations are trying to motivate individuals to become involved in working to improve the environment. Due to the fact that this article is published in The New York Times, it has a wide audience but is mostly targeted at those concerned with the movement for combating climate change. Many people throughout the country and across the globe are concerned with the growing issue of climate change and global warming, and this gives people more of an idea of how people are working against it.

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This issue of the Notre Dame connects to many people on a global scale. This building was an international symbol for beauty and history. In the aftermath, many people from all over the world were expressing their condolences to France as whole. Everyone was coming together to share how much they loved this one single place. With so many issues going on and the different views of so many, it showed a global connection of all people. It showed that even out of destruction and tragedy, that people can come together despite so many issues going on outside of this.

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When it concerns the rebuilding of the Notre Dame, I am slightly conflicted. On one hand, I agree with those who want to restore it to its former state. I believe a large amount of history was lost when the fire struck the cathedral, and the hundreds of years through which the Notre Dame lasted were lost. However, no matter how it is built back up, it will not go through the many years of history that the Notre Dame had previously been around to experience. Part of me stands with those who want to add some of what makes up our culture today. I understand the want to restore it to its former glory, but we have an opportunity to create something that blends that past with the present. We cannot regain the history that was lost in the fire, but we can create a new addition between old and new. I also am conflicted with how people are proposing they fund the rebuilding of the Notre Dame. Many wealthy beings have offered to donate money for it, raising 1 billion dollars for this cause. While I am glad people are coming together to support a common cause, this money could be donated to help the poor in France, or the growing climate issue the entire world is facing. I believe this entire situation is bittersweet, and that no matter how you look at it, there is always something else to be considered.

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This movie talks about the issues surrounding the issues around adderall and the amount of abuse that comes from this drug. It discusses the over use in competitive culture schools, competitive jobs, and sports. It shines a light on the different areas in people’s lives in which they are using these add or adhd drugs in order to improve performance. It did a really good job of bringing attention to the heavy use of these prescriptions in many different areas. It does a really good job of taking first hand accounts of those who know about what this stimulant does. From people who have studied at highly competitive schools and have seen how prominent these drugs are to aid people in studying or taking exams, or people who have worked in the pharmacy industry and watched people be overprescribed. This documentary does really well in touching a multitude of issues that come with this drug and the overuse of it. It tackles the different ways it is abused and the different reasoning for why people have gotten into these types of drugs. It really brings attention to the high competitive culture that so many people are familiar with. This culture can present itself in college, high school ,jobs, sports, or really any aspect of life. It can drive people to want to do anything in order to achieve being the absolute best and coming out on top. These drugs can give people an extra edge to achieve this. This documentary shows the issues surrounding people who actually deal with having ADD or ADHD. They have to deal with the stigma that comes with these drugs while actually needing them in order to function on a day to day basis. Some people even have to go as far to get lock boxes for when they go to college because people will take it from them. These people have to actually take these medications in order to get through daily tasks, while others are taking them to get the best possible outcomes of everything they do. This documentary also bring attention to the false ideas that people have of stimulants. They show that these drugs actually do not make you smarter or able to retain anything better, and stimulants do not actually improve cognition. Contrary to popular misconception, these prescriptions simply help people to endure less interesting tasks for longer and create a better state of focus. “Take Your Pills” gives people a chance to show how these stimulants have affected their lives or the people around them. WIth testimonies from a wide range of people, from professional athletes, college students, people who suffer from ADD/ADHD, doctors, psychology professionals, as well as normal people who simply have a story to tell involving adderall or medications like it. This documentary does a fantastic job of showing so many sides of this discussion. An hour and a half talking about prescription drugs seemed like it was going to drag on and be boring, but it was able to keep my attention by talking about so many variations of the topic of stimulant drugs. This documentary was really great and discussed a topic you don’t hear about very often.

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I connect personally with this text because I have quit many activities, hobbies, etc. And I also have my experience in quitting quitting those same things. I’ve “quit” social media for periods at at a time, only to return and become just as involved in it as before. I’ve attempted to quit eating dairy as well as meat. I’m actually in the beginnings of trying to quit eating both right now. I have tried to quit many things, and have succeeded at quitting quitting these things. I think many people around the world also deal with this same thing. I hear of people “quitting” social media all the time, and they almost always eventually return just to talk about how it was while they quit it. Many people will quit bad habits and then go to talk about how much their lives have improved since quitting. I think many people can connect with the fact that people will quit a habit, hobby, activity, or lifestyle, only to go and seek validation for their efforts online or with people they have in their life.

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I really enjoyed the irony and constant contradictions found throughout this essay. Jake Tuck, a self acclaimed writer of personal essay focused on the subject of quitting various things, talks about how he has quit writing personal essays about quitting things. This essay talks about the different activities, hobbies, and lifestyles he has quit and proceeded to write about. He contradicts himself in many different ways. Saying he has quit writing these essays, and how inevitably he will “fall off the wagon”, and consequently quit quitting writing. He talks about starting hobbies for the sole purpose of quitting them, and how he hasn't been able to quit certain ones. The entire essay is full of irony and statements that go against the one preceding it. It has a certain tone that keeps the audience figuring out what exactly Tuck means, and parallelism of each activity that he begins and quits.

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Notre-Dame and the Paradoxes of Historical Preservation

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Notre-Dame and the Paradoxes of Historical Preservation

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"I’ve Quit Writing Personal Essays About Quitting Things: A Personal Essay"

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"I’ve Quit Writing Personal Essays About Quitting Things: A Personal Essay"

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Chosen Universal Truth: Nothing Lasts Forever

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Chosen Universal Truth: Nothing Lasts Forever

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This universal truth, while being somewhat cliche, does really apply to my life. Sometimes I can get really wrapped up into something to where it fully consumes my life. Whether it’s a person, a feeling, or just a random fixation. I have to remind myself that whatever I’m going though or dealing with will not last forever. This can be a positive or negative depending on what is going on. I have to remind myself when something is going really well to cherish it, because it will not last forever and one day I will miss whatever is such a light in my life at that moment. On the other hand, I have to remind myself that nothing lasts forever when I’m dealing with a really dark or negative issue. In order to be able to push myself and get through this, I have to remember that it will end eventually and that it will get better. I think that this is something everyone should take and apply to their lives. If you forget that everything eventually has an end, you might lose sight of other aspects of your life that are important. If someone becomes too caught up in a negative time of their life, they might spend more time involved with it rather than trying to better the situation. In hindsight, you realize that this moment or issue was only a small part of your life, but when you are in the midst of it, it can feel like an eternity that you are never going to escape. Nothing lasts forever, and in my life this helps me cherish what I have, and look forward to what is coming.

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In the world today there are many instances of people not taking time to know others and judging them based on what they have simply viewed from their outward appearance. In today's society, people are quick to judge those who seem different than them, leaving them very little chance to ever love these people. They predetermine what they think about a person before taking any time to really get to know them. These people stick to only what they know and never really come to love those of other cultures, areas, or backgrounds.

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In many books, a common theme is loving others and learning about them, before you judge anything about them or their lifestyle. This is a theme that is present in hundreds of books and novels, where it is shown that if you judge others based on the surface that you know about them, you lose out on the chance you have to love and connect with them.

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In my own life, I often try to avoid judging anyone, because I have no real insight on why anyone does what they do. If I am spending all of my time judging the people around me, then I wont have any opportunity to get to know them and to love them for who they are.

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“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
--Mother Teresa
In this quote, Mother Teresa states that if you spend all of your time judging those around you, you will miss out on the opportunity you have to love these people and learn about them

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TED Talk: Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse

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TED Talk: Our dangerous obsession with perfectionism is getting worse

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Thomas Curran

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Issue: Climate Change