Poem of the Week

I know already posted one earlier this week but hey, I'm feeling generous.



What I'd Rather Do Than Tell Someone I Love Them

1) Blast music from my room at 3 am while sharing stories with a friend I've only recently met
2) Write a poem about my future by the light of the moon
3) Watch the Parent Trap and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with my mother on a Sunday afternoon
4) Read Ariel, listen to the Beatles and learn to waltz
5) Convert from Catholic to Baptist 
6) Reminisce about gym class in middle school
7) Wonder why the moon revolves around the Earth and then Google it
8) Sing Ain't No Sunshine on a sunny day with my guitar on my front lawn
9) Eat an apple, swim three miles, eat an apple
10) Date someone my parents hate so that when we break up they can be proud of me
11) Make a phone call to the only boy I've ever loved and let him know that I'm moving on 
12) Start a journal dedicated to Anne Frank
13) Convert back to Catholicism and go to confession 
14) Attend my middle school reunion
15) Sew into a quilt the words I never said to the Prima Donna who used to be my best friend
16) Re-read my middle school yearbook 
17) Watch my brother get beat up and that night egg the kid's car and slash his tires
18) Throw away any valentine I ever received
19) Wear a pair of jeans that make my butt look big
20) Try to remember what I learned in Biology
21) Try to remember sleepovers
22) Try to remember my first friend, first kiss, first dip in the pool, first feeling that felt like the rain forest
23) Try to remember the girl that died when she was 14 walking home from school
24) Re-visit middle school 
25) Dare to think about high school
26)Plan out my future while erasing the past
27) Take 3 more steps
28) 2 more
29) 1 more 
30) Tell anyone I knew in middle school that I miss them 
31) I miss them 
32) Wave goodbye
33) Take 4 steps backwards 
34) Hello

TV Shows that I'm Obsessed With

I have a problem with becoming obsessed over tv shows. Especially during the summer when I have a lot of free time. So in case anyone needs some new shows to check out, here's my list!

(By channel for your convenience)

Fox:
American Idol
Bones
Glee
Ellen

CW:
Supernatural
Vampire Diaries
The Originals
America's Next Top Model
Smallville
Veronica Mars
The Secret Circle
The Tomorrow People
Star-Crossed

A&E:
Duck Dynasty (sadly- my family's fault)
Criminal Minds

TLC:
Cupcake Wars
Four Weddings
Gypsy Sisters
Long Island Medium
My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding
Say Yes to the Dress
Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta
Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids
Toddlers and Tiaras
What Not to Wear (Secretly my goal in life is to take over this show)

MTV:
Snooki & JWOWW
Catfish (my newest obsession)
Girl Code
Teen Wolf
Awkward
Faking It

ABC:
Once Upon a Time
Dancing With the Stars (Team Derek!)

ABC Family:
Pretty Little Liars
The Fosters
Boy Meets World (So pumped for Girl Meets World on Disney!)
Greek (when it was on)

Disney:
Austin & Ally (only because I love Ross Lynch)

USA:
NCIS
Fairly Legal

Other Shows:
Ghost Adventures
Tanked
Fish Tank Kings
The Big Bang Theory
A Haunting
The Glee Project


I have a life, I swear.

Blast from the Past

Stumbled upon this little thing while cleaning my room; a poem from when I thought I would try out slam poetry. Eh.


I'm built like that
Built like forty foot gates
Made of iron, keeping in, 
Built like bronze plates and glass slates
I lived twenty years and a day
Saw nothing but gray skies
Lived off seeds and solitude
That's why I was built 
For long days and cold nights
Built for fortresses and low incomes
I traveled bareback
Lost time and conscience
Days only brought reconnaissance 
That's why I was built for the ground
Built for the earth
I ate tweed and sang mist
Carried the heavy weight of hope
Formed calluses on my feet from iron-clad gravity
I sparred with daylight
Fenced with desire
Ground my hands into stone
And when I'd finished living
I tore off a layer of pent up anguish
Condensed sweat and pain
And threw away days of dirt, mud, and past
For I was built like that

Books and Politics (do with this what you will)

So this is partially a book review and partially a political rant.

I know I already did the death penalty post, so I'll try not to go overboard, but it plays a big role in this book so of course I've got to yet again share my beliefs.

So the book that I just finished is called Change of Heart and it's by one of my favorite authors Jodi Picoult. The plotline of the book is that main character Shay Bourne has been convicted of murder and is on death row. While in prison, he finds out that the daughter of the man that he killed is having heart failure and will likely die, and he decides that he wants to donate his heart to her. This poses a problem because lethal injection is designed to stop the heart, so heart transplant would not be an option.
So Shay gets an attorney who makes it her job to fight for his cause, and also a spiritual adviser, because they choose to use a religious defense to argue his case.

There are some heavy religious elements to this story. I'll try not to spoil them because I want everyone to go out and read this. Basically, random miracles start occurring within the prison and the prisoners accredit them to Shay. Picoult draws a lot of parallels from Shay to Jesus, and also manages to critique Christianity with her theme of the gnostic gospels.

You would think that being a Christian, I would be highly offended by this idea, but I'm not at all. Who's to say what kind of person Jesus would or wouldn't be? I like to think that God doesn't stereotype. Also, many Christians are against believing in the gnostic gospels, but if you know the story behind them then I'm not sure how you would. Basically they are gospels that were excluded from the Bible, and well you can read the book to learn the rest.

The book is great. However what offends me is that the case is so reliant on religion, and I am a firm believer in the fact that religion does not belong in the courtroom. I found it a bit ridiculous that not once did Shay's attorney in court mention the fact that he would be saving a girl's life! No, she just used the religious argument to apply to state law. I understand that the law needed to be included, but with my experience in court I can be sure as hell that the attorney would focus on the fact that a little girl would be dying otherwise.

I especially love that in the beginning, Jodi brings up an important flaw in the criminal justice system: jury selection. This has been the focus of so many papers that I have written and I promise I wont rant, but the system is messed up. Its not 'justice' to let 12 people with no legal background have the final say in legal matters. The law is about what the law says, not what society thinks, and personally I don't support the current jury system. That being said, Jodi seemed to agree when writing from the stance of one of the jurors. He said that, "Coming into court felt like being a tourist in a foreign country who is expected to speak the language." That's the thing, jurors don't know the law, yet they have to make decisions based on this world that they aren't a part of. He says "it's a strange thing, putting justice into the hands of twelve strangers." AMEN.

Finally, let me just do a quick death penalty summary. In a previous post I explained why I disagree with it. Another reason was brought up in this story. No matter how many people say that lethal injection is quick and painless, they're wrong.

First of all, in case you don't watch the news, a couple weeks ago there was a disaster in which a death row inmate was supposed to be executed by lethal injection, and it was injected wrong or something and the death lasted for 40 minutes and the inmate eventually died not of lethal injection but of heart attack. It was gross.

But the criminal justice system says that this is a very rare exception because lethal injection is simple. SAYS WHO? The only reason that they can say this with confidence is because no one has ever come back to tell them otherwise.
I know some will argue that death penalty should hurt because the person deserves it. Well I don't like you so shut up.
Our legal system guards against cruel and unusual punishment, so for those of you who think lethal injection applies to that, here's a piece from Change of Heart.

"Lethal injection was supposed to be like putting a dog to sleep- a drowsiness came over you and you just never woke up. It was a cocktail of three drugs: sodium pentathol- a sedative, pavulon- a muscle paralyzer, and potassium chloride which stops the heart. Sodium pentathol is ultra short acting which means that you could recover quickly from its effects, so the subject may have feeling in the nerves but be sedated enough to be unable to communicate or move. The British medical journal 'Lancet' published a 2005 study of the toxicology reports of 49 inmates executed inmates in four US states; 43 had levels of anesthesia lower than required for surgery, and 21 had levels that would indicate awareness. Anesthesiologists says that if a person were conscious at the time potassium chloride was administered, it would feel like boiling oil in the veins. An inmate might feel as if he were being burned alive from the inside, but be unable to move or speak because of the muscle paralysis and sedation."
(I have a slight conspiracy that the government intends for it to be like this, but I would hate to think that this happens to people who were wrongly convicted.)

So there you go.

Why I hate Judge Judy

For all you court tv lovers, sorry, but coming from a legal perspective, this show is a waste of time and money.

My parents are obsessed with watching Judge Judy because it's entertaining to them, but the fact of the matter is that it's fake! She's a real judge and these are real cases, but don't fool yourselves, this is not what real court is like.

I have spent a good amount of time working in the court system, so this isn't coming from the perspective of the average person. Here's the thing. This show is nothing like the real thing. The judge does not yell at people in the middle of their statements or call them names or accuse them of lying. That's not even legal.

I hate Judge Judy. It's simple. I can't believe she ever made it through law school because she does not understand how to practice the law. She has her decisions made up before the trial, she doesn't let people explain their side, she basically sides with whoever she likes better. She assumes that she doesn't need the answers because she already knows them, and when she doesn't get the answer she is looking for, she calls the plaintiff/defendant stupid for not knowing exactly what she wants.

It's just a disgrace to the legal system. Lawyers out there, please tell me what you feel about this. Personally it makes me sick to watch her show. It gives people a false image of the courtroom, one that I am personally offended by. Her courtroom has no rules or morals and I just want people to know that this is not how the law actually works.

I would hope that someone who went through law school would have the integrity to carry it out properly, but I guess when you get paid as much as Taylor Swift, that money causes you to focus less on your actual job, and more on the attention you're getting.

Get off the stand Judy. I think your moods would be more suited for a lame reality tv series. Ever been to the shore?

Weekday Poetry

What I wish I could be

Wise,

to answer with the conviction

that I've got nothing to hide

Strong enough to keep

my enemies out

and my friends in

Able to tell the Truth

when I'm all out of lies

Cunning enough to see past

charades and not fear them

Brave like my mother

Brave like my sister

Brave like the fathers of my generation

Brave like the hearts

that aren't Brave enough

to stop beating

God's Not Dead

So tonight I saw God's Not Dead. Now I'm a Christian, so I was obviously inclined to see the movie. But here's the thing, I've always been a Christian, I just haven't always been that dedicated to it. It's really pop culture that has gotten me to keep up with my faith, and I think this is a great thing. In today's world we are so connected to movies and music and the internet; it's so much easier to connect to someone through one of these than through a straightforward conversation.

Movies like To Save a Life and Facing the Giants have really made me stick with my faith, especially because I'm such a movie lover. I especially love them because they are geared towards my generation. We all know how stubborn the older generations are. It's so hard to get them to change their minds about anything. Just look at the motivators behind the Gay Rights movement, it's the younger generations that are pushing it.

Anyway, the movie is about a boy who takes intro philosophy in college and his professor agrees that everyone can skip the religion unit if they will all agree that God does not exist. The boy refuses, and his professor makes him debate in front of the class that God does exist, and will pass the class only if the students vote in his favor. I really loved this because it was similar to my intro philosophy course. They argue religion and science, but it's all about belief. There is no morality without God, there is no universe without God. The boy even uses majorly accepted scientific beliefs to prove the existence of God which in many areas of science truly are accepted.

One of my first posts was about Pascal's Wager, which is a religious argument based on mathematics that I learned in my philosophy 100 course. Go check it out.

So for those of you who are not movie lovers (those of you who are, watch those movies!), but are  intellectually inclined, here are some arguments.

A common argument is the Ontological argument. It states that if you believe a god is necessary for the creation of the universe, then you must believe that God exists. Atheists argue that there is no support for this argument because it says if God is necessary, then he is real. But necessity is subjective; there is no logic. However in the movie, the professor brings up an argument by Stephen Hawking where he stated that gravity proves that the universe didn't need to be created, so it wasn't. But this is the same argument! The idea of necessity has no scientific basis.

Another strong argument, perhaps also Stephen Hawking? Maybe Newton? I don't know, I don't do science. Anyway, the argument made in the movie, which is often the Cosmological argument, if God created the universe, then someone must have created God. The Cosmological argument, based on the mathematical logic equation, says that everything that began to exist has a cause, and since the universe began to exist, the universe must have a cause. Of course the critique is that there is no proof that the universe began, and didn't always just exist. In the movie, the professor quoted whatever scientist who said that if God created then universe, then someone must have created God, and Christians do not believe that God was created. However Josh, the main character, responded, well the if you say that the universe created you, then who created the universe?

Anyway, not trying to share arguments that have a side. I believe in God because I was raised that way, because of Pascal's Wager, because of what I feel in my heart, because of the Long Island Medium, and well, you get the picture.

But seriously, it's worth the time to look into. And hey, it's almost summer, which means lots of you probably have lax schedules, so take some of that free time and do some research. You never know what you might get out of it.

I'm not trying to force anyone into Christianity. But Luke 12:48 says "For unto him which so much is given, as much will be required of him." This quote is used in the movie to convince Josh that for all that God has given him, it is his duty to do God's work, and I agree. So here's my way of spreading the word. Amen y'all.

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."  -Voltaire