Deep thoughts this week...

Warning: this post kind of makes me sound heartless and unfeeling, but I'm really not.

My sociology class and my geography class actually tied in together this week.  Pretty interesting stuff, actually--at least to me.

In geography, the professor was talking about the "maquiladoras," or assembly plants built by American companies on the Mexican side of the border.  In these plants (she was telling us about auto plants specifically), an auto worker makes about $10 a day.  A worker doing the same job in the U.S. would be getting paid about $200 a day.  So, understandably, the auto companies would build the plants in Mexico and hire Mexican workers--it saves the company money, they don't have to pay the same (if any) taxes, workman's comp. laws are different, etc., etc.  Also understandably, a Mexican worker with any skill would definitely see the advantage in coming across the river (which apparently is only about knee-deep at most) and getting a job here in the U.S.  (I should note that I am not at all opposed to immigration, I just think that people who want to live here need to do so legally--and I think that should actually pertain to any country in the world.)  Now, I would feel bad for the Mexicans making $10 a day, except for the fact that the professor then went on to say that, especially in interior Mexico, that's actually a pretty good wage.  To me, that means that they're living fairly well and are able to buy the things they need, which is good.

So, on to sociology.  Yesterday the professor was discussing how capitalism originated, and told us that a German sociologist named Max Weber did a study in communities across Europe, and what he found was that capitalism started up in communities that were primarily Protestant, rather than Catholic.  Basically, these Protestant communities believed in predetermination or predestination, and believed that if you were successful at an endeavor, that meant that that was a sign that you were following your calling.  And when people were a little bit successful, they tended to look around and see people who were more successful, and they wanted that, so they'd reinvest in their business, and if they were more successful themselves, then that was further evidence that they were following their calling.  And they'd look around and see people who were still more successful, so they'd reinvest, and become more successful themselves, and so on.   So capitalism, Weber found, stemmed from a religion.  

What I found interesting was that besides Mexico, a lot of the other countries that my geography professor talked about where wages are lower are primarily Catholic, or have had a great deal of Catholic influence.  Now, this is just my impression after a few weeks, and we've only really talked about North America, Central America, and the very beginning of South America, so I could be wrong.  She's also briefly mentioned a few places in Africa, but I seem to remember that there's a good bit of Catholic influence there, too.

And I find myself wondering at what point do we (the more successful countries) stop trying to take care of the rest of the world?  I mean, there are places that receive aid from richer nations in the form of money, food, and other goods, but the government officials don't distribute the materials fairly, so the majority of their own people still suffer.  And in some countries the governments are corrupt, and the people know it, but can't or won't do anything about it.  And then you have situations where a powerful country is asked to help a weaker one to set up a new government, and then the weaker country turns out to be worse off than before the powerful one helped (I'm thinking that's what happened when Saddam Hussein came to power, but I have to look that up to make sure).  Is there ever a time when the powerful countries--the ones with the money and the resources--should look at the weaker ones and say, "Sorry, you're on your own.  We've tried to help you but you refuse to help yourselves, so there's nothing more we can do"?  I definitely don't think the weaker countries should be taken advantage of, but I also don't think that they should always just be handed everything they need--I don't think it helps them, in the long run, to develop as a nation.  I think it makes them too dependent on outside help.

It's January again...

I really should start posting more often, otherwise, why have a blog? 

Most of you probably already know that I finished the fall semester at college with straight As, something I've never done before--yay me!  Spring semester started last Wednesday--I'm taking Intro to Sociology, Intro to Language, Intro to Astronomy (plus the lab), Geography of World Regions, and British Lit. I.  Most of them seem pretty interesting, though my geography professor might drive me insane--her political views are completely opposite of mine.

As far as resolutions...obviously I didn't fulfill mine about posting here more often, so I'm at least going to try for one a week, since I made a whopping TEN posts last year.  *sigh*  I didn't manage to lose the 20 pounds I wanted to, but I think I did manage to lose a few.  At least I didn't gain any, which is good.  :-)  One thing I've decided is that I'm going to cut waaaaaaaaaay back on the Mountain Dew--I was drinking a liter of the stuff almost every day, so I've decided to just drink one can of it a day, which gets rid of 3/4 of the calories (roughly).  So far, I've done really well with that. :-)  I'm also planning on taking Tex for walks again--I don't think I've done that since we moved here, because we've got a fenced yard, and we can just turn him loose out there.  I may wait until it warms up again, or at least until I get my coat fixed (walking in the cold wind with a coat that doesn't zip is NOT my idea of a good time).  Another thing I may do is take advantage of the fact that I'm paying to access all of the buildings at the college, and *actually* access the gym...lol  They have a pool there, too, but if I go there, it will probably be during the least busy times, at least until I get in better shape (wouldn't want to scare anyone off! lol)

I told Dave that this year I want to go driving to parts of Montana that we haven't been to before, and take pictures.  I keep seeing the beautiful pictures that Flora, Rowenna, Nettie, Sarah, and Acci post, and I realize that mine are kind of boring since there's nothing new to share.

I think that's all for my rambly post today.  I'll try to come up with something better next time!  :-)

Rest in peace, Grandma...

My grandma died this morning.

And I'm sad because she was a woman I loved dearly, even though I only got to see her for a few days every three years or so, between moves.  But those were always good days.

And I'm sad because she was a woman that I didn't get to know well enough, and now I won't have the chance.  The last time I saw her was in 1998, while I was pregnant.  My older kids all at least got to meet her, but Heather never will.  And that's a shame.

I never got to ask my grandma to tell me stories about what my mom and aunts and uncles were like growing up, or what it was like raising her family alone, or even what the world was like then.  And my mom doesn't seem to like to talk about it much.

I do know that Grandma was a neat lady.  She loved her family, and was always happy to see me. I've been told she was stubborn, which means that all the rest of us come by it honestly.  She always had strawberries in her freezer.  She'd gone up on the mountain and picked them herself, then she'd soak them overnight in sugar and water and then freeze them in pint- and quart-sized containers.  Every time I saw her, those strawberries were the first thing I asked for, and she always had some.  She also dipped snuff, and had a spittoon close by her chair.  She had a plastic cup in it so she could just toss the cup instead of having to wash the spittoon.

I loved the smell of her house.  I can't even describe it, I just know that it was a good smell.  And I remember she used to have an antelope head on the wall, and a fox skin in a closet.  And I remember the first time I saw her teeth in a glass in the bathroom, and was surprised that Grandma could take her teeth out... And she had this old Singer sewing machine, the treadle kind, and I always thought that was so cool, but I never saw her use it.  My grandma used to make beautiful quilts--she pieced them by hand, and then quilted them by hand, too--she never used a machine to do it.  Before moving here in 1990, Grandma showed me how to applique some pieces for a quilt she was working on, and I did all the pieces for one square while we were staying there.  Then for Christmas that year, she sent me the finished quilt, and she'd put my square in one of the corners so I'd know which one I'd done.  I remember contests in her yard between my cousins and me, to see how far we could spit watermelon seeds.  I remember one year I threw a boomerang, and it ended up on her roof...I never did get that boomerang back.

I'm so sad for the lost opportunities.  I wanted so much to visit with her again, and never had the money to go visit.  And now I'll never have that chance again.

Myrtle Huskins Griffith
November 17, 1918-December 12, 2010
Grandma, I love you.

A Christmas Mystery

It looked like a normal day in the Gingerbread neighborhood at first.

But wait!  Something appears to be wrong!  What's that Snowman hiding??  And there are Gummi Bears everywhere!  What's going on here??

It looks like something terrible has happened!  There are signs of a struggle everywhere!

 Oh no!  There's a dead Gingerbread Man!  Why is the Snowman hiding the body??

The Gingerbread Man was beheaded, and his hand was cut off!  Who would do such a thing?

And someone has put a Gummi Bear over the front door like some kind of sick Christmas wreath/decoration!  (Not to mention the one decorating the top of the Christmas tree!)

And there are two dead Gummi Bears in the yard!

Notice the "Santa Bear" stuck in the chimney.  Victim?  Or murderer?

And this one!  Why would a green Gummi Bear wear a green fez?  No self-respecting Bear would wear a fez that matches its own coloring!  Unless it has something to hide. . .

Those orange Gummi Bears on the top of the roof. . .are they sleeping?  Or dead??

And what about the Bear at the end of the sidewalk?  He's playing with a ball, like nothing unusual has happened.  I think he Knows Something, but he's not talking.  None of them are.

I'm starting to feel like Scrooge...

No, not Scrooge McDuck, Ebenezer Scrooge.  (Though Scrooge McDuck has some pretty nifty spats, and lots of cool gadgets...but we're not talking about Ducktales here.)

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Dave's folks' place this year, and it was okay.  Everyone got together and we had good food.  But I kinda just wanted to be at home having a somewhat less crazy day.  (And now I kinda feel bad about saying that because at least some of my family is going to read this and have their feelings hurt, which isn't what I mean at all.)  I think for Christmas we're planning on just doing a quiet day at home, which is good.


But the thing is, I'm not really looking forward to Christmas, and I haven't for several years now.  I'm not working, so we don't have any extra money to buy presents.  And I know it's not about presents, but it kinda is.  And it seems like such a hassle to go and get out the decorations, but at least they're not out in the garage this year, which is good, because I don't think I could get in to the garage at the moment, since someone has decided that Billings, MT needs to have a ton of snow dumped on it.  Ugh.

I'm hoping that I'll get more into the Christmas spirit soon.  I can't seem to remember what exactly it is that I like about this time of year, though.  I've only got a couple of weeks left of school for the semester (and I have another research paper that I'm really supposed to be working on right now...), followed by a month off.  (I'm really looking forward to that!)  Maybe then it'll start to get better.

Anyway...yeah, I'm not feeling very Christmas-y.  I've got Christmas music playing in the background, but it doesn't seem to be helping yet.

Things I have learned so far...

Believe it or not, I have actually learned some things this semester!

I have learned that in MLA format for papers, there is now only one space between the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next.  What's up with that?!  When in the world did that change, and why?  (Note that I do not follow that rule here. lol)

I have learned that Alexander Hamilton got us out of helping France during their Revolutionary War on a technicality!  I kid you not.  Apparently, when France signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance with us in 1778, they signed them with the colonies, not with the United States, therefore, we were no longer bound by those treaties.  Nice, huh?  Sheesh.

I have learned (today!) that Krishna, even though he teaches that people should control themselves and their desires, apparently was himself a rather lusty god, who not only had multiple arms but multiple, well, bits of male genitalia, which he could use independently of each other.  One of my classmates (a friend of Rachele's, actually) posed the question of whether or not Krishna was like Stitch (they're both blue, after all), and could retract or extend his arms and male bits at will.  This, naturally, put me into a giggling fit for the remainder of class today...lol

I have been learning that the "global warming catastrophe" is crap.  Dave's been going on about this for a year or so, and when my Research Writing professor asked us to come up with a topic for our research paper, that was, naturally, the first thing that came to mind.  Then I started doing research.  There are actually a LOT of papers on the subject.  And the thing is, climate skeptics don't deny that the planet is getting warmer--what they deny is that this is necessarily man-made, or catastrophic.  The paper I'm currently reading shows that as recently as the 12th century, temperatures in China were as much as 1C higher than they are at present.  Not only that, but some evidence is suggesting that currently, much of the planet is greener (as in more plants, not the green-saving-energy kind of way) than it has been previously.

And I've also learned that I'm really not fond of writing essays or taking tests, though my grades so far seem to show that I'm fairly decent at both--so far, I have almost all As!  How's that for awesome?

Next week I go to meet with my advisor (a different lady this time, as my previous one is dealing with the English majors with the teaching option), and so I am trying to figure out which classes I want to take.  I know I want to take Intro to Astronomy (with the lab!), and I'm thinking of taking Intro to Sociology.  There's a Geography class that sounds interesting as well, though that may wait until next semester.  Then I want to take two of my required English courses, so I'm thinking of going with Intro to Language (which is evidently a linguistics class and fairly difficult, oh joy.) and Literary Criticism.  Those four classes will give me 13 credits, and I can't decide if I want to take another class or not.  Meh, I'll figure it out.

Oh, and on a somewhat related note: Heather is doing phenomenally well back in public school--she has As and Bs in her classes, and she hasn't gotten in trouble for anything other than not turning in assignments right at the beginning of the year, which has gotten taken care of now.  Hooray!

So...now that I have updated everyone, I should probably get back to my homework...lol  Have a good one, and I'll talk to y'all later! :-)

What in the world have I gotten myself into???

So, some of y'all know that I'm back in college, after a hiatus of fifteen years.  And it's pretty cool so far, even though Heather says it's weird to hear me talking about having homework...lol  And I'm enjoying my classes, and feeling like I'm learning something, so that's all good.

But I'm having a hard time staying focused (the lure of the internet is strong! lol), and it's not always easy keeping up with the homework assignments.  And it's only the third week of classes!!  And I keep thinking that I should be working, too...but then I think, "But when would I do my homework?  And when would I sleep?  Or do laundry?  Or clean?"  And I think to myself that I haven't written papers in years, and things have changed.  After all, I'd never even heard of APA or MLA formats until recently!  How in the world can I possibly do this?

And the only answer I can come up with is, "Because I need to.  I need to do something with my life so that if I'm working in retail when I'm 65, it's because I want to, not because I have to."  And I love to read, and finding mistakes in what I'm reading drives me absolutely bonkers, so being an editor actually makes sense.  I just hope no one ever wants me to write anything meaningful, because I'm not that great a writer myself.  I can edit wonderfully, but being eloquent on paper?  (Or, y'know, on a computer screen...) Not so much.

I hope that I can do well in school, and that I'll be able to keep up with my classes.  I suppose a good start would be getting off of here, and getting back to my World Lit essay... ;-)

Talk to y'all later!