A Picture is Worth…

So anyone who knows me personally is aware of my love for photography. Over the past year or so I’ve managed to purchase a Canon Rebel EOS xsi for myself, along with a macro lens, and some other goodies. For Christmas/my birthday, my lovely friends chipped in to get me a Lensbaby Muse, which I’m absolutely in love with. I love the entire idea of envisioning a photo in your mind and snapping the shot, whether it turns out exactly how you intended or not. I’m just an amateur, weekend photographer, though slowly but surely I’m learning new things about the craft. I’m pretty much lost as far as Photoshop is concerned, aside from simple tools so nothing I take is retouched or played with yet. Check out some of my favorite shots I’ve taken so far. Of course I appreciate any feedback, constructive criticism, etc.

Tags: california, canon, canon rebel, fall, golden gate bridge, lensbaby, lensbaby muse, macro, photography, Spring, summer, winter, zoo

Random Acts of Senseless Violence

Phoebe Prince. A name that many people in this country would not know of had she still been alive and not bullied to the point of committing suicide this past January. For anyone reading this that is not aware of Phoebe’s story, I’ll do my best to summarize the events that took place.

According to District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, Phoebe Prince’s ultimate suicide was the culmination of incessant bullying that occurred over a span of 3 months. Allegedly the catalyst for the bullying had been sparked by a relationship that Phoebe had ended with a male classmate just 6 weeks before the last day of extreme bullying that led to her suicide. Apparently the 9 students that have been/will be indicted in this incident, were not happy about the relationship and decided to make Phoebe’s life a living hell in order to make it impossible for her to remain a student at South Hadley.

On the day of her suicide, one male student and two female students had been the main bullyers. As Phoebe studied in the school’s library, she was verbally assaulted by these teenagers in front of other classmates and faculty members. She later hung herself in a stairway of the apartment that her family lived in.

But it seems that the bullying that took place that day was merely the breaking point for Phoebe. After reading the basic indictments that came out regarding this case, its clear to see that Phoebe was repeatedly assaulted, verbally and physically, and it is truly flabbergasting that this all went on for so long without anyone coming forward to stop it or report it.

The indictments are as follows:

3 girls were charged with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury; assault by means of a dangerous weapon

3 other girls were charged with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, of which 2 of these girls were also charged with stalking.

A 17 year old and 18 year old were charged with statutory rape, with the 17 year old also being charged with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment, and disturbance of a school assembly.

A separate individual of the age of 17 was charged with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment, as well as disturbance of a school assembly.

Statutory rape? Harassment, stalking, and violating civil rights which resulted in bodily injury? Are you kidding me? All of this went on and not one person stepped up to report it until after Phoebe was already dead. I tend to not get heated about issues unless they really deserve the energy but this situation has me appalled. Students and faculty members watched at least some of this bullying and serious harm take place. Not only should these teenagers be held accountable for their actions, but faculty members who witnessed anything should also be held accountable.

How have we arrived at this point in our country, as well as the world, where kids are bullying kids to death? How are these monsters made? If a trivial high school relationship between a girl and boy can spark such hatred from a group of kids that they resort to these types of tactics then all I can say is that not only do we need an overhaul of our health care system and student loan system, we need to reevaluate our schools and who we have teaching these kids and overseeing their day to day to actions. Even though there is no feasible way to tackle it, it would also help to evaluate how parents are raising their children as well. There had to be some parenting factor lacking from these kids’ lives who tortured Phoebe day after day for 3 months. When I was growing up my momma and the rest of my immediate family knew what was going on in my school life and social life. If I was acting a little off in school, my teachers or counselors were on top of that. I was also lucky enough to be sent to private school for all 13 years of my educational life before college.

Maybe that is the answer. Small schools where kids can’t fall through the traps or hide what they are doing? I’m not sure but something has to be done. Just last night I watched a news segment on a 2nd grader who tried to commit suicide after being bullied for months at school. The school’s response was to have him sign a contract stating that he would not try to commit suicide. The child is dyslexic. Hmm… let’s think about this. A no suicide contract is probably not going to stop a child from killing him/herself if they really want to. If the child cannot accurately read the contract, and therefore he cannot attach a certain meaning to it, the odds of it actually working are very slim. Maybe the best thing to do is to have the child get into an intensive psychotherapy program to address the real issues and try to make him see why suicide is not the right path. Maybe the kids bullying him should also be put into therapy because, well, they are the ones resorting to bullying this 2nd grader to the point of wishing to end his life. As I was getting ready for work this morning, I was watching CNN and they ran a segment about this very topic. One of the newscasters had a great idea: Why not have the bullies sign a no bullying contract? Why hasn’t the school district thought of this already?

Ok, I’ve said my peace. This whole topic has me so frustrated because kids like this 2nd grader should not even be aware of what suicide is or how to commit it, let alone have the desire to. Phoebe Prince should still be alive, and would be alive if teenagers could look outside of themselves and realize that high school is a mere 4 years out of your entire life. You may be a big shot for those 4 years but once you are out of high school no one cares. And if you were a geek or nerd in high school, you should be proud of yourself because those are the kids who stay true to themselves and don’t get caught up in gossip, bullying their peers, binge drinking, etc. Let your freak flag fly! It is what makes you different and valuable. And if you see bullying in your school, speak out and tell someone. Its better to be safe than sorry. I bet that the family of Phoebe Prince wish that at least one person had come forward before the bullying of their daughter escalated to her suicide.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/30/massachusetts.bullying.suicide/index.html?hpt=T1

Tags: 2nd grade, Elizabeth Scheibel, guidance counselors, harassment, Massachusetts, no suicide contract, Phoebe Prince, private school, public school, school bullying, school systems, South Hadley, teachers, violence

Crack pie and cereal milk

Last night I ventured into NYC with Marisa to see Alicia Keys at Madison Square Garden. I’ve been a huge fan ever since she came on the scene with Fallin in 2001 so dropping some money to see her at the Garden was a no brainer. We dropped a little extra money on dinner before the show and we headed over to Momofuku for dessert to check out some Crack Pie and see what all the hype is about. Marisa had mentioned the new craze surrounding this thing called Crack Pie so after reading a bit about it we decided it was only right to try it out.

The location is pretty much where all our other favorite food spots are. Max Brenner is a few blocks away. S’Mac, which has some crazy mac and cheese, is literally right around the corner. A neat little burger place called Stand 4 is also right around the block. So the location had us thinking that we wouldn’t be let down. We walk into the small, dimly lit bakery and we were greeted by two pleasant workers from behind the counter. Obviously we ordered two pieces of Crack Pie and then a shake to wash it down with. I think we were just trying to consume as many empty calories as possible. They have ice cream that tastes like cereal milk and I enjoy drinking the milk that is leftover from my cereal so I ordered the cereal milk shake. This was setting up to be a pretty delicious dessert.

Hmmm… to say we were let down is an understatement. Maybe for people who are on crack, crack pie is enjoyable. I found it to be extremely too sweet but not flavorful enough at the same time. It’s almost as if you are eating a batter of some sort that is not completely finished. There’s just something missing. Also, it has a sticky consistency that isn’t pleasant. I’m sure some people love this stuff. Afterall, Anderson Cooper raves about it. For me I just don’t get it but everyone has their own taste! As for the cereal milk shake… let’s just say that Marisa and I tasted it and said, “Oooo it tastes exactly like cereal milk! How do they do that?” After another sip of it we ended up saying, “Ewww it tastes exactly like cereal milk.”

We learned a few lessons from this dessert experience. A. A lot of hype can be misleading and disappointing. B. Crack pie may only be tasty to crackheads… or Anderson Cooper. C. Cereal milk is best left inside a cereal bowl and not used in a milkshake.

So there you have it, kids. My first food review. To be fair I will add the recipe for said crack pie, just in case anyone wishes to test it out on their own. Let me know your thoughts if you have had crack pie and/or make it on your own. Cheers!

xoxo Cara

Recipe from LA Times

Servings: Makes 2 pies (6 to 8 servings each)

Note: Adapted from Momofuku. This pie calls for 2 (10-inch) pie tins. You can substitute 9-inch pie tins, but note that the pies will require additional baking time, about 5 minutes, due to the increased thickness of the filling.

Cookie for crust

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces) flour

Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar

3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar

1 egg

Scant 1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) rolled oats

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.

5. With the mixer running, beat in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until fully combined. Stir in the oats until incorporated.

6. Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

Crust

Crumbled cookie for crust

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine the crumbled cookie, butter, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until evenly combined and blended (a little of the mixture clumped between your fingers should hold together). Divide the crust between 2 (10-inch) pie tins. Press the crust into each shell to form a thin, even layer along the bottom and sides of the tins. Set the prepared crusts aside while you prepare the filling.

Filling

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar

3/4 cup plus a scant 3 tablespoons (7 ounces) light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon (3/4 ounce) milk powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

Tags: Alicia Keys, Anderson Cooper, cereal milk, crack pie, Momofuku, NYC, recipes, restaurants

Friday morning thoughts

I wish that I could write something so profound that anyone reading my blog today would have their lives irreversibly changed. Unfortunately, it is Friday and my brain is a little fried, or maybe I’m just not inspired to write anything outside of the mundane. So rather than try to force it, I will now proceed to spit out some random thoughts that have been stirring in my brain recently.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how annoying Facebook is lately. I feel like it is only there for all of us to either over share information with people or keep tabs on people who we will most likely never talk to. Why do we feel the need to be friends with over 600 people? This doesn’t translate into real life. Maybe in real life you have more acquaintances than real friends, but still, 600? Me don’t think so. Facebook is kind of like a popularity contest for people who have low self-esteem. Agree? Disagree? I’m leaning more toward liking Twitter because not everyone’s lives are broadcast on the site; it’s more informative than anything. At least to me.

I kind of sort of really can’t wait for spring. I’m completely over the cold weather, to the point where I’ve decided to stop wearing coats when I’m outside. It is kind of like I’m willing spring to hurry up and get here. Hopefully it is listening to me. I can’t wait to wear flip-flops and drive around with my windows rolled down blasting some good tunes. Both of those things can either happen separately or simultaneously.

Sarah Palin. Yes, she is fodder for some of the most amazing SNL skits in the past years. I’m grateful that she came along if only due to the fact that she brings comic relief to an albeit bleak political arena. On the other hand I just don’t understand how people could actually consider her a viable candidate to run the country, hypothetically speaking if she ran for office of course. She just says some of the most unintelligent crap that makes her sound more like a reality show contestant trying to hold onto their 15 minutes of fame, rather than an established political player who ran alongside John McCain. I really believe that she was a main reason why he lost the race. In my opinion if he had picked a stronger running mate who could inject some youth, and perhaps innovative thinking into the campaign, he could have won the presidency. Now Palin has turned into some cartoon character who has become the unofficial leader of the Tea Party Movement. Really? I just don’t get it. Help me understand, people!

In other news, I hope ABC and Cablevision can come to an agreement in the next few days. I don’t really watch ABC, or much television at all, but my mom loves Dancing With The Stars and she would be so upset if she couldn’t watch it cause we ain’t changing providers just for one station.

Tags: ABC, Cablevision, Dancing with the Stars, Facebook, mccain, Palin, Spring, Twitter

A Violent Act

 

As I lay in bed the other night flipping through the channels I came across CSI NY. I admit that I am like the millions of other people who watch shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, and the various Law and Order installments. For some reason as I was watching Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes try to find the perpetrator behind the latest vicious crime, I started to think about why it is that we love shows like this. It can be argued that media imitates real life events. On the other hand, it can also be argued that at times real life can imitate media and shows like these crime investigation dramas. I tend to believe that the relationship between media and real life is reciprocal. When you see “ripped from the headlines” in a commercial for Law and Order SVU it is obvious that the creative minds behind the show were inspired by real life events. The SVU episode based on the teen pregnancy pact was highly interesting… and highly based in real life events. The flip side to this is that I’m sure that some crazy folks out there take inspiration from the violence that they’ve seen on these shows and then try to create it in real life.

All of this has me wondering why we watch these types of shows when our real lives are just as messed up and violent. And then after Criminal Minds ends and the credits roll then you stay tuned in to your local news and hear about the violent crimes that are happening in your neighborhood, your state, or your country. Is our nation that messed up that we can’t get enough of violence? Haven’t we filled our quota for violent murders and crimes? I just think that it’s sort of depressing to think that when I was growing up my friends and I were watching shows like The Wonder Years, Full House, Family Matters and Step by Step, and now today’s youth have already begun to watch these crime show dramas. It’s like a vicious cycle that we can’t get away from. Of course you can change the channel but what will you watch? The Home Shopping Network?

I’d like to hear other people’s thoughts on this topic so feel free to converse. Happy Monday!

Tags: crime, CSI, Gary Sinise, Law and Order SVU, Mariska Hargitay, violence

Insights taken from Taylor Swift

Oh, hi there! Thanks for stopping in to check up on this silly outdated blog of mine. It has been quite some time since I’ve actually visited this place so bare with me here. I know that my past entries have revolved around education and social work but I’d rather blurt out random thoughts I’ve been having and see if anyone else in cyberworld is feeling the same way.

I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift a lot recently and I wish she was making music back when I was a teenager. I think she’s a great role model for young adults these days and her lyrics are completely relevant to almost anyone who listens. I love her current single “Fifteen” because even though she’s talking about high school, I think the lyrics can fit anyone’s current situation. For instance, I’m almost 25 and I know that things I think are important today will not be as important 10 years from now. I may think I’ll never find “Mr. Right” and 5 years from now I might be telling myself I was silly for thinking that. Taylor Swift is saying she didn’t know who she was supposed to be at 15, but I think a lot of people at 25 still don’t know who they are supposed to be. Maybe that’s the key to life though… Maybe life is all about figuring that out as we go along and once we’ve finally figured it out then our time is up. That sounds a little dramatic but you probably understand what I’m saying here. You know… the journey is the destination. That sort of thing…

I think at one point or another during the past few years I’ve felt like I’ve been going through a quarter life crisis. I even purchased literature on the topic, which is kind of funny to me now because I think that people just attach names and labels to things so that they can feel connected to something. If I say that I’m going through a quarter life crisis and then go out and find books about the topic, that means that other people are going through the same thing. But don’t we all go through periods of transitions at different times in our lives? And why do we need labels, names, and definitions for such things that are so common to everyone? My biggest question is: how do you call turmoil at a certain age a midlife crisis? The word entails that you know how long your life will be and thus you can pinpoint the mid point of your life. But we do not know how long our lives will be so can’t we just say that we’re having an emotional crisis rather than getting all crazy and looking too deep into things?

Those are my ramblings for today. Hopefully everything made sense. If not, blame the massive amounts of food that I consumed over the Thanksgiving holiday and the food coma that followed.