SPED Does Not Mean Stupid

I have a little sister. She is ten years old and I love her to death. A few years back we all notice her grades started to decline and she began to struggle with homework. My parents went to her school and met with her teachers and they all made a group decision that my sister needed an I.E.P. (individualized Education Plan.) She was then evaluated with a multitude of tests and they pin-pointed the subjects that give her the toughest time. Now she is in fifth grade. Each day she is pulled out of her regular class during the times they have Language Arts and Math. She is brought to a classroom and is taught at a pace that is better suited for her. She's enrolled in Special Education classes.

At first she was fine at the thought of getting help in these subjects. She just thought of it as no big deal. But after her classmates found out she was in Special Education, that outlook on the whole situation rapidly turned south. Every day she came home and fought my parents on it. She constantly argued that she did not need to be there. She wanted to go back to the normal classroom and learn at the same speed as the other kids.

For a while I did not understand why she was suddenly fighting it. Till one day she came home and told my mom that someone called her stupid. Some obnoxious kid in her class told her she was stupid because she was in SPED classes. Of course this broke all of our hearts to hear this. I was outraged. Who does this kid think he is, making fun of my little sister?

I didn't understand why someone would make fun of someone for their style of learning. Then I thought back to when I was ten years old. First off, I had terrible sense of style and obviously no notion of what hair products were, but I remembered my best friend Sarah. There was a boy who made fun of her every time she got pulled out of class for Special Education classes. Of course kids are sometimes cruel and heartlessly mean to one another, but I wondered why it happened to Sarah as it did to my sister?

I thought about how I felt about Sarah when I was ten. I remember that I thought she was cooler than me, and I remember that I thought she was more outspoken than me. But one thing I don't remember is ever thinking she was smarter than me. Now that I think about it, I didn't think any of my friends in Special Education were smarter than me. In fact, I thought I was a lot smarter than them.

So reflecting now, why did I, like so many others, equate Special Education to stupidity? Now that I'm older I know the kids there learn the exact same things as average level students, just a little slower. In reality, kids in those classes could actually be smarter than me or any other student. I feel like students should know that no matter what level of learning you're at, you all learn the same material. I didn't know that in fifth grade. I didn't know that till freshman year of high school! If students were aware of this, maybe they would be less cruel to their classmates? Maybe, just maybe, judgment wouldn't be passed so quickly on these kids?

Too Fat to Workout?

If you take a look at American people, many of us are overweight or obese. People of a healthier size look at the bigger people and often have feelings of disgust and disappointment. I, being of these 'bigger' people have had my share of humiliation because of my size. Once when I was younger I had a boy who always called me a 'fat pig.'  Once a sales woman at a store saw me looking at a clothes rack and told me this store didn't carry plus sized clothes and maybe I should try a different store. Comments like these, though some people believe make people think about their weight and change, actually have a negative impact on overweight people, especially children and teens.

Overeating is not a choice. Well it is at first. At first you just do it because it feels good. You feel like food can't hurt you, it's your friend. Then it somewhat over takes your life. When you're happy, celebrate with food. When you're sad, eat some food. When you're bored, have a snack. It’s no big deal. But just like any addiction it's a huge deal. Drugs like alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, etc. have the same impact on people as overeating. Why do people do these things? Because it makes you feel good.

So what would you say about someone trying to change themselves? On a personal note, I have devoted myself to changing myself not to please others and fit the status queue, but rather better my health and feel good about how I look. To do this I've been changing my eating habits, cutting my portions, and a newly added key thing; working out. Yes, I got a gym membership.

You would think the sight of a plus sized girl working out at a gym would be inspiring? But instead I often get looks from other, and thinner, people in the gym. They look at me as if I'm some kind of sad excuse of a person. I once heard someone laugh at me while I was doing weight training. So what I'm still perplexed by is, why do thinner people in gyms feel they are better than bigger people? These people need to have a reality check because in retrospect I'm doing more work because I'm trying to change myself. They're just trying to keep themselves the same. Even the owners of the gym watched me for awhile when I first joined and attempted to baby me. They treated me like I had never worked out in my life.

 I know it's sometimes hard to wrap your mind around the thought that everyone of a category of people is not the same, but that's the truth. Stereotyping people is a terrible thing to do. Assuming every overweight person is a fat lump of lards that smooshes themselves between the arm of the couch and a pound of food all day is far from the truth.  It would be like assuming every girl likes frilly girly dresses or every American dad wears a suit to work and carries a briefcase.

The Ever Changing Gnomes

There is a type of gnome that many people don't know about. That is because they are constantly changing. They are like chameleons. They change to fit their surroundings so you don't notice them. If one is in a very cold and snowy place, then they will be white and bundled up in snow coats and snow boats. If they are living in a very hot and beach-like environment, then they may have on a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops on. This specific breed of gnomes is one of the most common types of gnomes. The reason no humans notice them is simply because, to humans, a gnome is a gnome. But in fact gnomes come in many different sizes and colors. Just like humans.

Gnomes Love Root Beer

Did you know the gnomes love root beer? Neither did I, till I started noticing my root beer disappearing from my refrigerator at a rapid pace. I wondered if someone in my family had suddenly developed an intense hankering for root beer, but I hadn't seen anyone drinking root beer lately. I watched the root beer bottle slowly decrease in volume for days in confusion. Who was drinking all this root beer? My question was answered when one night as I quietly descended the stairs to my kitchen for a bottle of water, I opened the fridge and found Mr. Gnome on the top shelf drinking the root beer! He looked at me with a wide eyed stare and then suddenly jumped down from the shelf and scuttled away. I guess it’s just a fact that gnomes love root beer.

St. Gnomey's Day

 In United States culture we celebrate many different days dedicated to Saints. St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. In gnome culture the most celebrated Saint is St. Gnomey. St. Gnomey is most well known for saving countless gnomes from the terror of dogs. St. Gnomey created the most ingenious potion that every gnome coats themselves in to protect them from dogs. Before St. Gnomey, dogs would snatch gnomes up and use them as chew toys. Now, the taste of the magic potion is absolutely retched to dogs. On St. Gnomey's Day, all the gnomes of the village gather together and celebrate in the grandest way. They have an eccentric feast of garden vegetables, fruits, herbs, and the most delicious dish in gnome culture, slow cooked grubs. They feast all day and dance all night to the music played on classic gnome instruments like the Fiddlehooper, Cardumker, and Serrentween. They celebrate for days in honor of St. Gnomey, the great savior of all gnomes.

The Mysterious Clicky Thing

Hello there! My name is Gregory Theodore Fredrickson Wesley Alexander Ragsdale Gnome the Third. But many people call me Mr. Gnome. I, Mr. Gnome decided to take it upon myself to adventure down from my perch in this messy bedroom and see what I could find. I travelled out of the very pink room and wandered down the stairs. There I found myself a room with the most hideously yellow shag carpet. While exploring down there I found the most majestic mystery I have ever stumbled upon! It was a black thing with many buttons. When I pressed the large red button, a large black box suddenly lit up with the sound of a click! I was amazed! I had never seen such a thing! I proceeded to press more buttons and found that the buttons made the picture of the black box change! Not only that, but the picture moved and talked, as if real people were inside the box! I enjoyed my afternoon playing with the mysterious clicky thing watching the black box change until the people came home and I went back to my perch. It was a marvelous afternoon.

iGnome.com

Did you know gnomes are very technologic creatures? They love to send tweets, write statuses, and even blog on Tumblr. But with all this technology at their little ceramic fingertips, who would have ever thought they'd get bored so fast? In fact, gnomes have very small attention spans. That is why you often will put a gnome in one spot of your yard, and it will end up in another spot all together. It is simply because they get bored quite easily. So in order to escape their boredom from Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Tumblr; they created a new social website only for gnomes. It’s called ignome.com. It is a place for gnomes to do whatever their little heart’s desire. They can chat, they can vlog, they can play games, they can do research on any out-of-the-box topic, look at funny pictures of animals, or whatever else gnomes do. It is similar to if Google, social networking, and YouTube had some kind of internet-hybrid-child and named it ignome.com. I tried to enter the website, but I was denied access due to the simple fact that I am not a gnome.

A Magic Satchel

I noticed that this gnome has a black satchel. I wonder what he carries in this satchel. There are so many possibilities that could be that mysterious bag. There could be magical dust from his pixie friends that flutter around dreams of small children. He could be carrying tools crafted by the profoundly skilled hands of the trolls lurking in the highest peaks of the mountain tops. Maybe he's got the most precious gems found in the deepest of all the mines, they shine in a miraculous way when exposed to sunlight. Could he be carrying magic seeds that grow healing plants that will settle an upset stomach or heal a broken bone? Perhaps all he is really carrying is the memories of places and people come and gone? I suppose his bag will forever remain a bag of secrets to human eyes.

How Old is Too Old?

One thing in our culture that is a very hot topic is age differences in relationships. So the question that occurs with so many couples often ask is, how old is too old? There is so many crazy equations out in the world for calculating how much of an age gap should be in a relationship. But in reality, it's up to the discretion of the couple to decide this. Of course, there are many questions you can consider before coming upon your own answer.

First off you have to consider, how uncomfortable you may feel being the younger or older person in the relationship? Sometimes people have a hard time dating someone older or younger. Often partners cannot look past the age difference and end up viewing their significant other as higher or lower in authority.

That's another question you need to think about. Will there be a higher power in the relationship? Sometimes the older person in the relationship may unintentionally look down upon the other and end up controlling the relationship. For some people this is an okay situation. But for some people, the power must be shared or only slightly different.

Something else to consider is maturity. Age differences can bring about different levels of maturity. It's safe to assume someone who is twenty-five is going to be much more mature than someone who is sixteen. So you have to consider how well you can relate to your partner. If you find your partner's level of maturity does not mesh well with yours, then you might want to reevaluate your relationship.

You must also consider how society will view your relationship, and do you care? For some society can pound sand. For many others, the judgment that may be passed upon them is a big factor in the age gaps in their relationships. Go back in history and you will see at one point it was deemed socially acceptable to have large age differences in relationships. In fact, it almost seemed odd to marry someone of your age. Now it’s quite the opposite. So you have to think, do I want to be criticized about this? If you don't, great. If you do, then maybe you shouldn't date someone older or younger than you. The jist of it is, no one can decide if your relationship should have an age gap except for you. You have to decide for yourself, how old is too old?

The American Dream: Rushing at Three in the Morning and Neglecting Your Family Life?

Imagine if you woke up each day and instead of your family saying good morning you received a text. "Good Morning Hunny. There are pancakes in the freezer for you for breakfast. I hope you slept well. See you tonight!" Well the truth is this is actually the case for so many Americans. The fact of the matter is America has gotten so busy. If you went back to say, the 1950's a typical weekday started off at about seven o'clock with the father drinking a cup of coffee reading the morning paper while the mother made pancakes or omelets and the children waiting anxiously for their breakfast. Come back to 2011 and look at a typical family. Everyone is usually awake around five or six o'clock. The parents are usually gone off to work or rushing out the door by the time their children wake up. Breakfast consists of pop tarts or cereal. So why is there such a difference? Well like I said earlier, America has become far too busy.
What has caused this? The answer is quite simple, our ability to access information and each other and every waking hour. No matter the time of day, you can get some kind of information on someone via Facebook. Our access to multitudes of information on the internet has caused an intense craving for productivity. It's far too easy to complete a project now in a few hours that would take a few days or weeks in the 1950's or 60's. Therefore people cannot grasp the concept that others are not like information and can't be, nor should be accessed at any time of day.
A typical work day used to start at about eight or nine o'clock. Now it can start as early as three or four. People need to take a serious look at their priorities and understand that family life and personal care is far more important than pleasing your boss at all hours of the night. If an employer feels the need to exhaust you and use you for every possible thing, they may need to evaluate their lives as well.

Gnomes Have Feelings Too

I feel bad for gnomes. They are left outside to bear the harsh weather we face from inside of our warm and cozy homes. The snowy winters, the rainy springs, the windy falls. They are often forgotten about too. They are put outside in a garden or on a lawn as a decoration and then soon forgotten about. How often do you think about the little man on in your front yard? I think gnomes get lonely out there, all alone. Though their exterior is hard and sturdy, I think their inside is soft and mushy and full of emotion and pain.

Where Do Gnomes Come From?

Today I looked at my little gnome and wondered where he came from? Where was his home? Does he have family there? Do they miss him? I knew Mr. Gnome could not answer me directly so I decided to use the best tool available for inquiring answers to odd questions, Google! Well first I found out while searching that gnomes live underground and prefer fertile ground. Hence why they are commonly found in gardens. Their name comes from "genomos" which is Latin for "earth-dweller." The first known gnomes were found in the work of a Swiss man named Paracelsus sometime in the 16th century. He used gnomes as another word for pygmies which are another mythical creature that represents the four elements. So in all technicalities I suppose gnomes are from Switzerland. But since there is no definite answer as to where gnomes are from, I'm just going to say gnomes are from the imagination; because that is where everything usual and mystical begins.

Fin-Gnomely Day At Work

Today the gnome travelled to work with me afterschool without telling me. He climbed into my work bag and spent the day there. He was hoping to take a great adventure throughout the halls of my school, but found that my work bag is enclosed in my locker the entire day. The afternoon came around and he was lifted into the air and hoisted on my shoulder. We rode the bus all the way to Ace Hardware. While I was putting my headset on, he slipped out of my bag and proceeded on an adventure. He travelled around the plumbing and slide down tubing like a fire pole. He dumped out our buckets of nails and screws when he tried scaling the side of them. He dared to venture near the dreaded mouse trap display, managing only to set one off. He constructed a castle of paint cans, and confused the heck of out a floor worker named Butch when he got the joy of cleaning it up. The gnome wandered throughout our store for an entire five hours. He began to grow tired at eight o'clock, so he stumbled into my bag just before I picked it up and headed home.

I Wonder What He'd Say...

As I sit and examine this gnome I have, I am immediately drawn to the question mark on his hat. It is big and bold, as to send a giant question to the world. His strange hat makes you think of all the questions this gnome could answer if he was asked. Who are you? Where are you going? Why do you not look directly at me? There are just so many questions that this tight lipped little gnome could answer. He is a contradition all together. He is quiet and to himself, yet he speaks loudly with his question mark hat.  I wonder why this gnome is alone. He looks like a cheerful fellow, yet his eyes do not look directly at you when he faces you. Is this to suggest his social discomfort? Or is he sad and does not want to show it? This little gnome seems so simple, yet he is so complex. He holds many secrets and many adventures he does not share. He is a silent informant, always seeing; yet never speaking. Holding it all in like a sponge. He is a brave hearted little adventurer, yet a bashful fellow. I wonder what he'd say to me if he could speak?

"Attention Passengers We Are Experiencing Turbulance Due to Sagging Pants"

I was on Yahoo poking around looking for something interesting that has happened lately to write another response too when I stumbled upon one article I found humorous, confusing, and a bit flabbergasting. The article was titled "Green Day Singer: Sagging Pants Cost Airline Seat." Reading this as a teenager who lives around too many people with their underwear hanging out, I had to read on. The article states that the lead singing of the band Green Day, Billie Jo Armstrong, boarded an Oakland-to-Burbank flight when a flight attendant approached him and asked him to pull his pants up higher. When he told her he was just trying to get to his seat, he and a companion were tossed off the flight.
So I obviously found this somewhat entertaining. I mean, who wouldn't? Some guy gets thrown off a plane for having his pants too low? Too Funny. But then I got thinking and realized, isn’t this violation of freedom of speech? Though many people detest the sagging pants look, it is a symbol of a culture and a generation. As much as I don't like to admit it, when we're forty or fifty and our kids are watching "I Love 2010" on MTV or VH1 one topic that people will definitely remember from our teenage years will be the sagging pants trend. So why does the Airline have the right to throw this guy off their planes because they don't like how he looks? I wonder if a cross dresser would get thrown off for not wearing male clothing or if a woman with multiple piercings would get thrown off for wearing an insanely large amount of body jewelry?
Though they could suggest showing your underwear is deemed inappropriate, I could easily counter that opinion with the fact that some people think showing your midriff or showing too much of your legs is inappropriate. The airline company has no right to throw Billie Joe off the flight. If this is allowed to slide without any consequences, what will happen next? Will woman have to wear floor length skirts and turtle necks on airplanes? Will men have to wear a professional suit every flight? They truth of the matter is, the only one who could tell Billie Joe he can't be in public with his pants so low is himself. Only he can decide what is appropriate for himself to wear, not a flight attendant.

Here is the link to the article if anyone is interested: http://news.yahoo.com/green-day-singer-sagging-pants-cost-airline-seat-000002019.html