So I thought I was a commentor, not a writer, but you guys are in luck I am here! Cheers to semester almost being over.

The other day in the commercial appeal, my mother pointed out that CBU is ranked 26th in the nation! How is that I am in school, thats ranked so high, but from my experience I would rank it lower on the list. CBU is not all bad, in fact from what I have heard the engineer department is great! For a school to be ranked so high, shouldn't it be great in many fields of study? Obviously schools are notorious for being dominantly great in different fields, so I guess that can be explained. The experience is a new one, I question transferring and I want to, but they say don't make hasty decisions when some other aspects of your life haven't went as planned. My parents are not for the transfer neither is anyone else, but honestly who would want to leave a school as great as CBU is being portrayed, apparently I do, and many others that made this new journey with me. I am not doing bad grade wise at CBU, average, not spectacular. I guess my conclusion is to just keeping trying. There must have been a reason I was placed here, this is probably along with attaining a degree, a life lesson to never give up or to understand as cliche' as it sounds when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It is crazy to think everyone in the class and world is going through their own journey, and just like me, CBU has been apart of it, who knows what the future holds but I am trying to be optimistic. Thats a little of my story now tell me about your experience at CBU?

My College Experience

My college experience so far here at Christian Brothers University has been a unique one for sure.  I like the school and all of the professors seem to be nice and very helpful.  The students seem to be friendly and I have made a lot of new friends in my short time here.  There have only been a couple of things that have went wrong this semester like my financial aid not going through and dropping all my classes. That was very stressful and then having a lot of my classes that I have already taken at Southwest were not excepted here so it is like I have to do double the work but I'm trying to overcome it all and wouldn't change a thing if I had to chance because everything I been thru has made me a better person.  I really enjoyed this Philosophy class I truly learned a lot, thank you Dr. J. I hope all you have a great upcoming semester and good luck to you all.

#Blacklivesmatter

               Thursday night I was able to go listen in on the Black Lives Matter seminar and I was glad that I attended to hear Dr.Johnson and Dr.Gross lectures. I believe that knowledge is power and when we know about things we things tend to become more effective. I think having group session like this is start to let people become aware of different events that happen in our communities as well as our country. It was good to hear Dr. Gross points out the statistics that clearly says that an African American male is more likely to become profiled, killed or incarcerated in America than any other race. I believe that police officers training isn't up to par when it comes to doing their job and protecting the community. Not all police officers are bad but most are. We pay this officers to not do their job and we need to honestly wake up. Too many lives are being lost on the streets and too many homes are being broken. I think that we should not focus on all of these politicians that are in office now but come together as a community because honestly that's where it starts. We need to educate our children and ourselves as well. A lot of people say that we don't learn a lot of black history and literature in school. Of course that may be right but we shouldn't wait til we get to school to learn. We should start learning things at home and not waiting to February to get some history. To me it seems like we're repeating history but in another era. What do you think??

Eye opener

                                       Today I saw this poem while view the internet and I wonder what are your thoughts. Please keep an open mind and your thoughts to positive good criticism.  This poem is written by Jabari Aslm.
                                                  It’s more than time we had that talk
about what to say and where to walk,
how to act and how to strive,
how to be upright and stay alive.
How to live and how to learn,
how to dig and be dug in return.
When to concede and when to risk,
how to handle stop and frisk:
Keep your hands where they can see
and don’t reach for your ID
until they request it quite clearly.
Speak politely and answer sincerely.
The law varies according to where you are,
whether you’re traveling by foot or driving a car.
It won’t help to be black and proud,
nor will you be safer in a crowd.
Keeping your speech calm and restrained,
ask if, in fact, you’re being detained.
If the answer is no, you’re free to go.
If the answer is yes, remained unfazed
to avoid being choked, shot or tased.
Give every cop your ear, but none your wit;
don’t tempt him to fold, spindle, mutilate, hit
or otherwise cause pain
to tendons, bones, muscles, brain.
These are things you need to know
if you want to safely come and go.
But still there is no guarantee
that you will make it home to me.
Despite all our care and labor,
you might frighten a cop or a neighbor
whose gun sends you to eternal sleep,
proving life’s unfair and talk is cheap.

When are we going to come together as a community and not a broken one? There are too many people not aware of this issue so maybe we should start informing more around us. What else can we do that can stop unfortunate events like these?

Power in Groups

       Last night I went to the forum that Dr. J and another professor along with NAACP hosted at CBU. It was a forum speaking about why black lives matters, giving the circumstances that has been going on lately in Ferguson and New York just to name a couple of cities. Now I know what you guys are thinking, why talk about this again and again, but I want to bring attention to something that really stuck with me last night. What I am referring to is the power that lies within a community, meaning that when people come together for a greater purpose we can really make an impact in the community and possibly encourage other to make their own movements.
         Cities all around country had been on strikes and making their voices heard. When a group of people that believe in the same movement come together to broadcast what they are trying to do, it is truly amazing. Right now the movements are about how unfair the justice system is but it does not always have to be about something so serious. Maybe a group of students decide to come together to let their school officials know that the classes offered at their college are not what they expected. The problems can range from different cases, but the most important thing to realize is that there is power in organized strikes. I’m not saying lets all get together and overthrow everything we do not like, but that could be a possibility if we wanted. When people come together and try to get a point across to others it usually works. These are the people the change the world and the people that make communities better. Do you guys see when I am going with this? How many people can agree that there is a great power that lies in groups of people that come together for a greater good?

My College Experience

For my post, since Catfishing is all posted out, I’d like to write about the college experience from my perspective.

                I grew up in a small town in Missouri and went to a public research university in Illinois called Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). My major is Biomedical Sciences and I hope to someday go on to medical school. The student population at SIUC is some 15,000. So, naturally, coming from a small town I was extremely overwhelmed. There were more people in one of my lecture classes than my entire high school. I know what most of you are thinking, isn’t that something you knew before you enrolled? Yes, I did. I thought I could handle it, my fault entirely. All the billboards claiming student-faculty ratio is 13:1 are quite misleading. My very first advisor ever told me that based on a C on my high school transcript, I should probably think of a plan B to medical school. Anyway, I finished up two years at SIUC (I did take a year off to pay back some of my ever growing student loans), and moved to Memphis and started attending CBU.

                CBU as a university, is much better for me than SIUC was. It’s much smaller, which is good for me. Coming from a Catholic elementary school, I like seeing crosses in all the classrooms. I feel a sense of unity among the students, which, again, is also good for me. I keep saying “for me” because I realize everyone’s ideas of the “perfect” university differs. With all those good things being said, I have to say that since being here, I no longer get excited to go to class. Which is strange for me because I LOVE to learn. Everything is interesting to me. My dad has always said that I will be a professional student when I grow up. I sincerely enjoy learning from someone who likes to teach (I have to make that distinction because I do NOT like to learn from someone who can’t be bothered). For some reason, I’ve lost my spark for learning.

Have I thought about quitting? Of course I have. Other than school, I have a great full time job that I love and could dedicate more time to. I guess I don’t quit because I’m hopeful that something or someone will ignite that spark for learning again. Until then, I’ll keep my head down and finish my degree out.

I would love to hear other thoughts and feelings about the college experience from everyone else. Do you have a similar story? Does anyone feel the same way?

 

**Disclaimer

                -After I reread my post, it sounded awfully negative. Please don’t take it that way. I genuinely do like CBU and to learn, it’s just not as exciting as it used to be.

internet dating

I have had many friends or people I have known who tell me they are 'dating' a guy or girl they met online and I always ask them the same thing, have you ever actually met this person in real life? The usual answer I get is no, but then they will add on something sweet like but here is a picture of them, or but they are so sweet, or my favorite we have skyped before. Call me old fashioned but I think you should actually know a person before you date them, I mean in the real world. Just because you hang out on that one internet website or something does not mean you have met this person. For all you know it could be an obese guy that never showers pretending to be that pretty little blonde girl in your little photo. Just because someone on the internet says something by no means means it is true.

Fake Profiles

As we have been watching Catfish in class I couldn't help be examine my personal life when it comes to making friendships via Internet, specially now a days when the internet  forms a great part of our daily lives. Most of our time and efforts are now spent behind the screen of a computer, smart phones, and for some of us our wrist watches. Technology has become a part of our life and we cannot help to make or maintain relationships through some sort of social network. When it comes to friends and family it can be a great way to maintain communication. However with the ever growing technological advances it is inevitable to encounter the negative side of a social network. This includes encountering pedophiles, sex offenders, bullies, etc. In the show we get a good example of the downside of social networking; it turns out that Meg was only a fake profile being used by Abby's mom. Now the good thing about this situation is that Angela was not really a harmful person, yet this situation reveals that it is so easy for an individual to pretend to be someone who he/she is not.

Moreover, if a person of bad intentions was to create a fake profile the outcome would have probably been completely different. It could have probably ended up in rape, murder, or who knows what.  As I mentioned before, this show has made me examine the risks of social networking and how dangerous it can be even when it comes to talking to people that you know. Just as Angela used pictures from people she actually knew, anyone I know could also be using my pictures for whatever intentions or purposes. What is y'alls feedback on this situation? would you talk to someone you've never met?

Internet Friends

I think the internet is mankind's greatest invention. It just absolutely blows my mind at the things we can do with it. I am never here for people who try to demonize it or that always groans about how we have "forgotten how to 'actually' talk to people." Technology is amazing, and what we've gained is so so worth whatever we've supposedly lost. I think it's a bit like complaining that we've forgotten how to start a fire since we started using electricity.

Social media especially is one incredibly powerful tool that we have created. I know the word "slacktivism" gets thrown around like it's so awful, but you know what, at least they know. Getting the information is one huge battle to win. Ferguson was talked about on twitter before it was picked up by the "real news." It makes one hell of a difference. We have a way to communicate, to organize, to get together. We no longer need to TV stations to validate our cause. We can talk back.

So when it comes to getting "catfished", well, that's where any good tool can get used incorrectly. Does it suck? Yeah, probably. There's no way of really, truly knowing what is real on the other side of the screen. That's a bit terrifying (especially since growing up we were all told that the person on the side was most definitely a pedophile), but I don't know. I personally love talking to people online. I do it anonymously, and usually in forums where there's a topic to talk about. Maybe tons of people are lying to me all the time, but it's easier for me to be completely honest with strangers than it is with people I have to see every day. Either way, I always feel like I learn a lot from them. I get to see a lot of different points of views, and it just amazes me that I could literally be talking to someone from halfway around the world. Maybe they're secretly a creeper, true, but I'm talking to anotehr human being that I would never in a million years would've talked to without the internet or social media. That's pretty damn incredible.

Lying is pointless

Lying is a pretty illogical thing to do. There is a chance the lie can stop after the first one. There is also the chance that it won't. You will likely have to keep making up lies to cover your original one. You will always have to be a few steps ahead of the person you are lying to in order to keep them from finding out. In the end you are just putting undue stress on yourself for something that is likely not worth the effort. Then what happens when the truth comes out? The more lies you have to tell the closer you will be to getting caught. You will likely make a mistake, such as leaving evidence of your deceit, thinking people won't check up on you. Perhaps you forget lies you told someone and say something that contradicts an earlier statement. Maybe the lies just get so elaborate that the person calls your bluff and you crack under pressure. What do you think will happen when a person realizes you are untruthful? Even if they take pity on you like the main character in Catfish, it's a good chance that the whole thing will still ruin your relationship. After the relationship is ruined you will have done all of this for nothing. 

The documentary is a great example. You meet little girl who is a child prodigy painter, with an older brother who plays in a band, a father, and a cool and extremely attractive mother. Then there is the attractive older sister who who writes music, paints, flies to the moon, and owns a horse farm. Now you have a 20 something photographer from New York who is naive enough to believe such a blatant tall tale for six months. When he meets the family he finds a 40 year old women and her husband who both know who he is, but look totally different from what he has come to know. There he meets two handicapped sons, a little girl who rarely paints at all, and finds the attractive daughter, who he has fallen for, to be a drunk who has no idea he exists. The whole thing was just a big lie by a house wife who even had her daughter in on the scheme. She did all of this just so she could paint his picture. If that's what she wanted to do, what was everything else for? 

Date cautiously

The movie Catfish caught America by surprise in 2010. Although there were many people experiencing similar circumstances, it wasn’t something people spoke about openly. I believe that people are attracted physically first and then comes the chemistry. The problem with that is that people are naïve and compulsive. They are Naïve because they always think the best of people especially when they are attracted to them.  They seem to be focused only on the physical appearance or the positive characteristics of that person and ignore all negative ones. I believe that the Internet is not an adequate way to seek companionship because of the impersonal nature.  It facilitates an easy way for dishonest people to mislead others. If you do decide to date online, you should use the upmost caution. Always consider everything you are told a lie until proven other wise. It might not be most positive outlook on things but it is the safest, unless you want to end up with your own “Angela”.  Dating is something that should be taken seriously, performed honestly and executed respectfully because the person you date might be the person you marry someday and the father or mother of your children. I am not talking to the people who already know these things but to the people who find it amusing to Catfish.  Just because that person might not the most attractive in the world, it still doesn’t give them the right to lie and deceive. There is someone out there for everybody; they just have to be patient.

Technology

Technology has changed our lives completely. A major part for the good but also for the bad. The documentary Catfish is an example of it. It proven to us that we can not trust anyone anymore. Trust for the most part is becoming rare. A lot of people are afraid and imagine that society has become polluted because of the technology we have. The problem is not the technology the problem is the people. Immediately suspected that something wasn't right but apparently the main character din't realize it; right away I knew something was wrong. His situation was not fictional because that is happening everyday around the world. There are people out there wanting to cause harm to another person via internet. If you don't think twice of the things you see and find on internet than your life will become very complicated. We need to wake up.

We need first of all ignore all of the stupids ideas we find in Facebook or any other social network because they are for the most part inaccurately. Yet, a majority of people get influenced very easily. An example is someone posting a picture of a baby with cancer or any other fatal disease and begging for a likes because apparently that is the solution. So, there we have millions of people giving it a Like because that is how is going to get cure. In the other hand, Facebook relationships. People are not meeting there love of their life in a screen. If relationships tend to be complicated when the couple knows each other person in real life, imagine how complicated will be to have a relationship with someone who may not even exist. But some people are too innocent and fall for it as it was shown in Catfish.  It din't took me more than 5-10 minutes into the movie to realize that something din't square. 

The other problem is; why have we become dependent on social networks. Facebook was not even created for what has become today. It was created to interchange factual and important knowledge that could help a student at a university. Who cares about if you are hungry?? Or that you have the best relationship in the world?? Some people need to change how they use technology. Scientist, Engineers, and Mathematicians, with less than 1 GB computer were able to send the first person to the moon, imagine what they could of done with the technology we have today.    

Liars & Hope

Lying is an interesting thing- from a really young age, the majority of people I've met have had the same experience of lying to get out of stuff, or trying to lie to get something, or any number of reasons. Once the human mind wraps itself around this idea that we can manipulate other people using what we say or don't say, I think at that point we decide to try to use it to our advantage. Some people never fall out of this pattern- others merely "grow out of it", and realize that the truth tends to make being sociable easier and more acceptable.
But the morality of lying probably doesn't need to be explained. We generally value the truth, and lying to somebody to manipulate them is wrong. But why do we insist that lying is such a terrible thing to do most of the time, and yet something acceptable to do at others times? We've talked a lot about using our comprehension of circumstances to decide what is best at the time- that we should lie when we know it could save someone's life, for instance- but how often is that the case? It's an odd sort of slippery slope, and I wonder how people who have compulsive instincts to lie about things feel. Perhaps they're a big part of the problem, in that we can excuse ourselves or others for lying because "we / they can't help it".
I guess my point is that I can't really ever tell when its a good time to lie to somebody and to tell them the truth in my own life. I bat around the idea that the truth is extremely important, and being honest with people is vital. At the same time, some things should be left alone, like letting someone believe a lie and letting them find out for themselves (as long as it isn't hurting them right now to believe it), because the truth can be cruel sometimes. Sparing people from a harsh reality can give them hope or faith, and destroying that can be a terrible detriment to their faith and personal well being, at least emotionally.
Agree or disagree, that's what I think about lying for the most part. What're your thoughts? Is it okay to spare someone a harsh reality, or is honesty so important that the truth takes precedent over their hope or faith?
-Brian C. Rodgers.

Cyber lover

This week in class we watched a video called, "Catfish" which a guy named Nev Shulman basically summarized his experienced through chatting with a woman named Megan online that he barely knew . Even though he did not fully know Megan he was in a relationship with her for months and began to fall in love with her. How can that be possible? How can we can decide after months of conversing with a stranger online that we know very little about to fall in love with them? So Nev decides to travel and go meet her and is surprised that he gets catfished at the end of his journey. Catfish is when someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances. Do you think catfishing someone is morally right? What are some examples that catfishing is morally wrong? Which philosopher would agree/disagree of your choice would choose from this scenario?