New Perspectives

So I've been reading a book that changed my perspective.

One Day, All Children by Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America.

Woah. I cannot even imagine starting from scratch a teaching corps that is be essential in the educational reform aims of this country. From scratch. No money, which means no people to help you because you can't pay them, and no one to understand your ideals because it's a new idea that hasn't even been tested--a pure hypothesis. 

One year a senior thesis, the next an actual corps comprised of 500 live bodies. Sheer genius.

This program is now so competitive that it's harder to make it to the corps than it is to get into Harvard. The good thing: you're not competing with anyone. If every applicant is qualified, everyone will get in.

Anyways what I got from this book:

1.) Do something extraordinary. So I've changed my concentration to Pre-Vet. I realized the stresses that surround the medical world. I'll work with people and with animals. My mother was very apprehensive about this decision. But when I asked my Mom when I am happiest the most she knew the answer. When I am with my dog. 

2.) I was volunteering at Johnston High the other day when a girl was reading through her government notes. She came across the section "Devolution in Oregon." She called me over and

 asked, "What is Oregon (which she pronounced origin)? I googled it and it told me something about the Pacific." I was baffled! A senior not knowing one of the 50 states of the United States! This is what the book was talking about--the rift between  education of the higher income sector and the lower income side. It made me realize the impact the work of TFA is doing for this country. It makes me want to join the corps. 

Audrey Hooks an alumni from TFA came in and talked to us about her experience at a school in Houston. She told us about her class and how it was hard for her to "come up with an incentive to make John do his homework or to get Greta to multiply," and I really really want my own class now.

Ok done with the book talk and onto a fun thing!

Art of the Day....corny I know

but I love art

The Pieta by Michelangelo

mmmm....

I stood in front of this piece of art and tears literally streaked down my face. So beautiful. The contours. The limp body of Jesus spread across the lap of his devoted and loving mother. Her face is etched with grief over the loss of her beloved son. Imagine carving that out of a single block of marble with nothing but a chisel and an idea of what the finished product is going to look like in your mind. He was a genius. Socially awkward and condescending but a genius nonetheless. The creases in her gown are in the right places, the weight of his body is weighing down on her in all the right places--such natural and elegant drapery. It all seems so tangible. This is the piece that first alerted me of my attraction and affinity to art and architecture. It probably would have had a greater effect if it wasn't behind a sheet of bullet-proof glass. Some madman came into the cathedral many years ago and started chipping away at it with a chisel...weirdo

the end.