Invisible Children
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under Uncategorized
There is a war going on in Northern Uganda that is unknown to the public. This invisible war makes the children not only the victims, but the weapons. Joseph Kony and his rebels have killed, hurt, and broken down many. The government won’t do anything to help, but you can. In the spring of 2003, three filmmakers visited Africa to find a story. Once there, they explored and brought out an even bigger idea than they imagined. “Invisible Children: Rough Cut” was produced to explain and demonstrate the tragedies of night commuting and child soldiers. Now, the once idea and later film, is a non profit organization with many volunteers and even more helping hands. If you want to do your share of helping, you can go onto the website located below and click on the donate, shop, share, or help now sections. Also, be sure to read about their work and the history of this war, also located on the website. Please take just a few minutes of your life to go onto this site and help this brave and selfless organization anyway you can. You won’t regret raising for a great cause.
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/
I also wanted to add real quick that even though I knew about Invisible Children long before I met them at my school, I wasn’t nearly as motivated to help. Sure, I followed them on twitter and read about their projects, but when I saw they were going to have a presentation at my high school, I got really excited for some reason. They showed me their film about their cause, reasons, and work, and I fell in love with them. They have opened my eyes a little bit more towards the world and its affairs. They have taught me to be grateful every time I go to eat a hot meal, or watch tv on a soft coach, or to go to sleep in a warm bed. I am even more grateful for life than I was before, and I support their cause 100%, trying to help anyway I can. Even though I have no money yet to donate to them, seeing as though I am a teenager with no job, I still spread the word and share their links on social networking sites. And for all they have taught me, I thank Invisible Children. I hope this organization can continue for a long time.
Where do I start?
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under Uncategorized
It’s been a while, again. Well, to start everything off, I guess I should mention that I am currently at a new school, NorthEast. Merissa’s so mean, calling it the school for weirdos, but I like it. Unlike Creek, it’s diverse and most of the people there are pretty friendly. I feel like I actually belong there and I don’t have the feeling like I should be somewhere else when I go to school every day. This didn’t affect my decisions in going, but there are also a lot of cute guys there, which I found out early upon entering. 
Me going there was actually a pretty spontaneous decision. Creek sent me a letter in early August saying that now that they’ve gone down to a D, I had the choice to transfer to another high school with a C average or higher. The schools were Coral Springs, (wasn’t going to a snobby white school) Deerfield, (was going to go there but it’s just like creek, maybe worse since they have shootings) and NorthEast. I remembered NorthEast coming to my middle school and it not being all that bad, so I asked one of my friends who goes there about it (she was another reason I went there). I only heard good stuff about the school from everybody so I decided to apply and was so nervous when I waited for the letter back. I pestered my dad to check the mail almost every day and got worried since the letter was late. But finally, I received it and NorthEast had accepted me! I only had to go to the school to sign papers and get my bus routes and that was that. It was so easy to transfer I wondered why I didn’t do it before. Nonetheless, I don’t regret my year at Coconut Creek one bit. I got to meet some interesting people and make some memories that’ll be sure to last a while. I only hope to make even more memories 10x as good at NorthEast that’ll last even in my old age. 
Next topic, I’ve been thinking more about what I want to do with my life, career wise. When I was younger, I wanted to be so many things, all of them either unrealistic or not good enough. I wanted to be a chef, but that job didn’t pay enough money according to my grandma so I won’t become one for her wishes. I also wanted to be an artist but nobody knows about your work until you’re dead so I couldn’t do that. Being a veterinarian crossed my mind but I couldn’t put down any animals, no matter how much suffering they faced while alive. Being an author or poet never leaves my mind once but the thing is I can’t keep up with that stuff. I hardly write on this blog as it is, how am I going to make a whole story? Speaking of being an author, being a mangaka (creator of manga, Japanese comics) is another thing I’m interested but that job is really demanding and secluded so I don’t know if I could do it. I tried to convince myself I wanted to be a doctor also just because both of my sisters want to go in the medical field but I’m not so sure I want to spend the rest of my life around medicine, illnesses, hospital beds, chemicals, and death.
Recently, I did figure out that if I was to go into the medical field, I would become an oncologist possibly. This is a doctor who studies cancer tumors and tries to find cures for them. They also care for patients during therapy and solve ethical questions about cancer care. Ever since I was young, I’ve been intrigued by the disease that is cancer. When I was little, I thought there was no cure for cancer. I wasn’t aware that there were many forms and some are cured today while others are still shrouded in mystery. I think because this disease seemed so formidable to me, it’s power made me always wonder about it. The fact that it may be years until a cure is found for all forms and that many people may die in those years scares me. And ever since my grandma died this summer in June due to cerebral tumors, I’ve felt that cancer has been a small part of my life. I know that this illness can be hereditary sometimes and I’m worried that one day, I too may get it. Someone can not smoke/drink a day in their life, eat healthy food only, and exercise daily, but they can’t escape a disease like cancer that spreads and eventually eats you. Maybe I will become an oncologist, I don’t know.
If I did become an oncologist, I’d want to be a humanitarian also. I want to be involved with the world somehow. I’ve always been obsessed with culture, whether pop or folk. I want to travel the world and learn more about all of the different languages, food, clothing, events, anything that’ll open my eyes about another fellow culture. When Invisible Children visited my school today, they made me realize, “what am I doing with my life?” I complain about getting too much homework, when children in Less Developed Countries would love to get that same homework. We abuse what we assume comes automatically. Education, a home, a family, technology, freedom, just life in general. And I don’t want to abuse my life anymore. I want to live it to the fullest and appreciate every single day I get to see. The Invisible Children Project will be in my next post by the way so you can know more about it and see how you can help.
What are some other things that have happened lately? Well, I finally don’t sport thick eyebrows anymore and Merissa’s hair is permed. Daddy and Lisa are married now and Bobby lives with Cari and Emanuel for the moment. Yamuliet’s 2nd birthday party is coming up and my biological parents are getting religious on me which is making me not want to explore the topic of religion, the exact opposite of what they want me to do. I don’t mind hearing about it, I just don’t like it shoved down my throat. A lot of other stuff has happened too but some of it’s so mundane, I can’t put all of it on here. I’m sorry for abandoning you for like a month blog, but I’ll try to put up my second post that originally meant to be put up today, tomorrow. My eyes are hurting from being on the computer too long so goodnight (or good morning) world for now.
**Peace and Love to the World**
Summons by Robert Francis
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under Poems
Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me till
I'm half as wide awake as you
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb.
Not only tell me but persuade me.
You know I'm not too hard persuaded.
Tags: Poems, Robert Francis, Summons
The Hallyu Wave, Kpop over Jpop, and Asian dramas.
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under Uncategorized
Today I’ll be addressing the rise of Korean culture this year. So I’ll sort of be talking in third-person and formally, hope nobody who reads this minds.
The Hallyu, or Korean wave, is the uprising of Korean culture internationally. The main income producers are music and dramas. Their music is given to audiences around the world through big video sharing sites such as You Tube, and the dramas are given through websites that hold other similar items like anime or tv shows and support the ideas. There are other ways that the culture can be spread too, such as food and clothing, thought those aren’t as popular. Korea has gotten big over the past year. Now, it’s not uncommon to see a Kpop (Korean Pop music) video on YouTube’s featured music and it also shouldn’t be out of the ordinary to hear any of their dramas being spoken about by fans. Popular ones being “Boys Before Flowers”, “You Are Beautiful”, “Secret Garden”, “Coffee Prince” and “You’ve Fallen For Me”. More recent ones that are growing quickly in popularity are “City Hunter” and “Heart Strings”. It seems that Japan is only staying strong in the anime/manga section (Japanese cartoons and comics) and declining music and drama wise.
Music wise, Kpop seems to be doing better than Jpop because they appeal to a wider audience and are more realistic and professional. While Japanese people stick with their liking for cutesy things, Koreans are fearlessly testing the water for new things. Here’s a short article that explains the possible reasons for their decline a little more in detail: http://www.blogofasia.com/why-kpop-is-outselling-jpop-sorry-japan.html
Onto the dramas, it seems that’s another thing Koreans are able to produce just a little better than the Japanese. There are many types of dramas all done by different ethnicity. There can be action, romance, comedy, and horror dramas that are made by the Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans, Japanese, or Vietnamese. However, it seems the most popular dramas are romantic comedies and sometimes action. It also seems that a lot of the popular dramas just so happen to be Korean. They are also very realistic, cute, and funny.
Many people assume that Kpop is rising over Jpop or their dramas are doing so well because of the fact that Kpop features more “pretty” or “handsome people”. This is not always the case, as it’s addressed in the article link I put up above, usually it’s because Koreans dare to go the extra mile while some Japanese stuff is repeating the same mundane ideas over. With some stuff such as dramas, it may be the beauty that attracts the audience, but it’s the acting and plot that keeps them.
I’ll be honest, recently I checked out a new Japanese drama based on one of my favorite manga/anime “Ouran High School Host Club”. I couldn’t even get through the first half of the first episode. There were many reasons, but one is because the character design was way off. The hair colors weren’t very similar and to be honest, the main guy characters were all supposed to be very handsome and they didn’t strike me as handsome. I know that seems to be very superficial, but if you character design requires it, is it really mean? Another thing was that anime isn’t very good plot for a drama. It’s too random and too much stuff weird stuff happens for normal people to be able to act out. That’s my personal opinion though. To me, it’s be weird to watch real life people do what they do in that anime. However, Korean drams seem to be realistic with their plots and ideas and cast people that can play the part pretty well.
Maybe it’s true, maybe a big reason for Korea’s success is because of their good looks that sometime surpass Japan’s. That’s not something that can be pinned only on Korea though. Every day, you see ads, and aren’t most of the people on ads good looking, if not beautiful? All companies cast people that are pleasing to the eye, and that’s because it reels people in. That isn’t really a good excuse to use for Japan’s plummeting in music and drama sales compared to Korea’s rise, since every country does that. However, it’s not as if Korea sponsors beautiful people that have no other talent. Most of the people in the business whether music or drama, are excellent singers, dancers, and actors/actresses. I think last year was a great year for Korea and this year will prove to be an even better one yet. Korea-FIGHTING!~
*Peace and Love to the World*
Tags: Asian Culture, Asian Dramas, Hallyu Wave, Jpop, Kpop
James Franco is my inspiration. (James Franco appreciation post)
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under Uncategorized
Or at least one of my biggest. I know most girls would be like “I know, he’s so cute!!!” *Squeals* But that’s not why he inspires me. And if someone inspires you only because of their good looks then that’s not really an inspiration, more like lust. I’m not trying to make myself seem better or lie to you by saying his good looks isn’t what attracted me. Of course, it’s a bonus. But people see you first when they meet you, so your face is the first impression they have of you.Therefore, even the most modest person can’t say that’s not the first thing they noticed. He inspires me because he has overcome so many borders that other people never even think of attempting. So many people assume that they have to have one career only when he’s taken up many just to try it. His curiosity for everything and his deterministic attitude toward it drives him to become better at things.
He is an actor/producer/photographer/writer/artist/student and I’m sure I might have missed some occupations there. When I was younger I always hated when teachers asked the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I never fully knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and teachers never said you could do more than one thing at once. All they said was that you change your jobs several times in life. James Franco has changed his careers probably more than several times in his life and yet he still continues most of them to this day. I just want to do one project and move onto the next like he has. I don’t want to be tied down with only one job because to me that’s a little boring unless that said job REALLY interests me. But I have a short attention span so that’s not likely to happen often.
James Franco is an amazing actor and every movie he’s been in I’ve loved. I may not have seen all of his projects but I intend to because (almost) nothing he does is ever half assed. Which is another thing I like about him. He puts his all into it unlike other actors/actresses. Not to say that he is the best actor out there but he’s certainly one of the most skilled and even though he does have a lot of attention, I don’t think he gets enough compared to other celebrities. I’m also not complaining that he never gets any attention because I don’t think he’d want all that much really.
It should also be obvious that he is extremely intellectual and intelligent. The man went back to school to get his master’s degree when he’s like, in his 30s! That doesn’t necessarily explain why he’s smart though. If you search up interviews and watch his responses, you’ll see that he always takes some time to answer the questions and when he does he gives a detailed and lengthy explanation that’s probably more than what you asked for. He’s almost always tired though because he has to handle all of his tasks he’s doing at the time and it’s hard to set which are your priorities and which aren’t.
It greatly bothers me when people who barely know who James Franco is or have never seen his movies think that he has an attitude and is just some attention loving prick who knows he’s as handsome as every one says. I’ll see some comments that say on youtube under an interview that say “He’s so full of himself and thinks he’s so great cuz he knows he’s hot”. Okay, so maybe he does know he’s handsome. What’s wrong with self confidence? Sorry he’s not self self conscious and thinks everyone’s out to get him. And he’s not full of himself, he’s actually very modest. And no, I’m not protecting him just because I like him. Another thing, what’s up with everyone asking all these stupid questions like “is he gay?” Ummm…just because he’s been in a couple of gay roles doesn’t mean he’s gay. What’s so wrong with being comfortable enough with your sexuality to kiss another man? And if he is, so what? Is that going to change your opinion of him? Maybe he is, or maybe he’s bi, or maybe he’s actually straight. I myself don’t know. Either way, he’s a great actor and if that makes you not like him or changes your view of him in any way negative then you’re not a true fan.
In short, James Franco is an amazing, and incredibly smart being who creates/produces some of the best work out there in this decade that shouldn’t go unnoticed. And let it be known that he is a cat lover which is very sexy.
Okay, I am soooooo sorry for any of my followers who’s dash I messed up with this extremely long post. I just felt like posting this now and I didn’t want to forget about it since I have horrible memory. Alright, if anyone, even one person read any of this, thank you but you don’t have to. It’s really just for me to post for myself.
Tags: Inspiration, James Franco
What comes after the apology…
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under My Mind.....
That feeling of weakness after you apologized thinking they will turn it down. That empty space where you feel like it’s not “fine” after they said it was. That moment of regret when you realized you did something stupid and wish you could turn it back.
But you can’t.
You just want everything to stay the same but you know it won’t be. At least for now. It sucks when you realize that maybe not all of it, but a big chunk of it was your fault. And when you ask them if everything’s all right, you feel you’re just annoying them even more. You feel horrible and then you feel like if you could sleep for hours and when you woke up everything would stay the same, you would.
It’s one of the worst feelings; what comes after the apology. That’s why no one wants to be the first one to do it.
Tags: Apologies
Anna and my conversation on people changing.
Posted by Whitney Graham | Filed under Uncategorized
Just a little extra something today that I thought was pretty neat. I actually made a somewhat smart and coherent thought today and Anna actually agreed! I love when we can agree on things since we’re always clashing. :l Weird, huh? Best friends clashing.
IM Chat
Me: “Oh, I just mean that everyone changes over time. Gradually. Even if we don’t notice. At least that’s what I think. I think that eventually, we see those changes but that’s after it’s long been made and done. And we usually see it after we change too. Idk, I’m just trying to be a poet here but I think there’s some type of truth in there.”
Anna: “very true actually”
Tags: Changing
