This is a response to a facebook wall debate that started as a call to political activism in support of federal funding for Planned Parenthood and ended as a mudslinging debate about abortion and atheism. Upon further inspection, I'm happy to see that for the most part, people responded with well thought-out opinions, but there was some uncalled-for blatant disrespect for any opinion that doesn't agree with one's own. Abortion is an extremely controversial issue and I'm not trying to convince anyone either way, I am simply explaining my own beliefs.
In a perfect world, there would be no need for abortion. Everyone would practice safe sex (thanks to free access to a variety of forms of birth control which would work 100% of the time)in stable relationships capable of withstanding a crisis pregnancy. It goes without saying that the world we live in is far from perfect. The 'you made your bed, now lie in it' attitude that is present in anti-abortion arguments such as 'you shouldn't have had sex if you weren't prepared for the chance you could get pregnant' is unfair in my opinion. It only takes takes one time to get pregnant. One time does not make a woman some floozy who goes around having tons of casual sex and using abortion as her own only form of birth control. (Before you point me towards an example of women who behave like this, I'm sure you can find some. Unfortunately it is a sad part of human nature that people are selfish and lazy. You can neither change nor control everyone, and it's no reason to get rid of an organization that is otherwise useful to millions of other people in need.) No two people's situations are the same so even if one woman deals with an unplanned pregnancy one way, it doesn't mean her choice is what is best for the next woman. Again, in my opinion it is unfair to assume such things and then tell someone else what to do.
Now to bring religion into the mix. Clearly murder and adultery are sins. Now we're left with the debate of whether or not abortion constitutes murder. For the sake of simplicity, let's say it does. (Though I don't think it should legally be defined as murder, but that's a whole different debate.) (Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you...) So there we go. It's sin. Big surprise there. But we can't stop there. Divorce, lying, using the Lord's name in vain, having an impure thought about another person, all of these things are also sins. In case you haven't figured in out, we all sin. Everyday. And sin is sin. It has no magnitude. If you break one commandment, you are just as guilty as breaking them all. (James 2:10) This is what makes the story of Jesus so awesome. In the eyes of God, we're all sinners. No one is any more or less of a sinner than the next person. I am not capable of condemning someone to hell, nor am I in any position to judge. And neither are you. I don't believe a woman should have to be punished for the rest of her life for one mistake. Especially because this can have ill effects on the children and our society.
Abortion is not going to go away. If we drive it underground, it gets extremely dangerous for the women involved. There is no universal 'right decision'. This doesn't mean I think every unplanned pregnancy should end in abortion. I certainly do not think that and neither do the people at Planned Parenthood. I just think we are in no place to judge other people and do not have the right to take away resources they may need to live a fulfilling life.
As a Christian I don't consider it my responsibility to convince everyone I meet to think the same why as I do. You can point out bible verses to me about how we are supposed to stop people from sinning, and to that I call shenanigans. That's impossible. I strive to love and serve others. This means I will not judge you and tell you to act a certain 'right' way. I will be there for you if you need any thing. My only hope is that you do the same to me.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Back to School
Walking onto the Harrisburg HACC Campus was really weird. I didn't know what to expect. I'll admit I'm a bit of an academic snob so I failed to realize that for some people, this is it. It looks like a real college. I arrived via Rabbit Transit Express from York at 8:30 in the morning. It's a snowy morning and both York and Lebanon HACC campuses are closed today (In my defense I'm pretty sure at least the York Campus is just one building. I'll find out for sure on Friday.) so I wasn't even sure Harrisburg's would be open this early. Much to my surprise, there were people everywhere; hanging out with labtops in the lobby of the main building, hanging out in the gazebo in the courtyard. It's unmistakeably a college campus. I still found it weird that it was 8:30am and so many people were out and about. The library (my current location) is pretty full. You would only see a crowd like this at this hour of the morning during finals weeks at Lehigh. Well, come to think of it, I can't say that with any authority, because I was personally never in one of Lehigh's libraries from 8-9:30am. I was either in class or sleeping (or both!) so I could be wrong. I guess HACC students don't have the luxury of jumping out of bed and running across campus to class. The have to hang out here all day in the midst of going to class. And now I'm one of them. A line from another Avenue Q song comes to mind. The last line to this sucker:
"These kids are so much younger than me." (Which I would only say because, following the rhyme sequence, it has to rhyme with 'be'. Grammatically, it's an incorrect sentence and should be "younger than I". See, I told you, I'm a snob.)
After the initial shock of "whoa, this is like real college" I read the syllabi for two of my classes online and was reminded of where I am. With remarks like "quotes should not take up the whole page" in instructions for one page responses that will be due and later examples of the type of sentences NOT to write, my professor's frustration with prior students' performances is palpable. The other syllabus for the online class is filled with threats of deducting points if your posts are indicative of a lackluster effort. A post doesn't count if it only repeats another student's point and doesn't add anything new to discussion, you lose points if it looks like most of your posts are posted "at the last minute simply to meet the deadline rather than engaging in meaningful discussions" (that sentence is in bold and underlined) as well as for poor grammar and spelling (bold and italic). I've never felt so talked down to in a course syllabus. But then I look around me and see the guy next to me singing along obnoxiously to whatever is coming through his headphones (remember we're in a library) and the guy across from me aggressively scratching his junk and then I understand why they include these things.
"These kids are so much younger than me." (Which I would only say because, following the rhyme sequence, it has to rhyme with 'be'. Grammatically, it's an incorrect sentence and should be "younger than I". See, I told you, I'm a snob.)
After the initial shock of "whoa, this is like real college" I read the syllabi for two of my classes online and was reminded of where I am. With remarks like "quotes should not take up the whole page" in instructions for one page responses that will be due and later examples of the type of sentences NOT to write, my professor's frustration with prior students' performances is palpable. The other syllabus for the online class is filled with threats of deducting points if your posts are indicative of a lackluster effort. A post doesn't count if it only repeats another student's point and doesn't add anything new to discussion, you lose points if it looks like most of your posts are posted "at the last minute simply to meet the deadline rather than engaging in meaningful discussions" (that sentence is in bold and underlined) as well as for poor grammar and spelling (bold and italic). I've never felt so talked down to in a course syllabus. But then I look around me and see the guy next to me singing along obnoxiously to whatever is coming through his headphones (remember we're in a library) and the guy across from me aggressively scratching his junk and then I understand why they include these things.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Tales from the classroom
Last month I was teaching first graders family words. To get across the idea of Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins, I decided to use this picture:
The first thing I did was ask the kids to find me. Now, granted, I only teach two classes of first graders, so the sample size isn't that large, but still, in both classes this was their first guess:
My Uncle Jim. Evidently I look similar to a 50 year old man with a full beard and mustache who's like six and half feet tall. Good to know. The final product looked something like this:
And they still didn't figure out what Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins meant without the Czech teacher in the room saying it in Czech (which is technically illegal).
And finally, check out this little gem my co-worker Bryan and I made:
(I tried to embed it, but it didn't work. So you have to click here)
Merry Christmas!
The first thing I did was ask the kids to find me. Now, granted, I only teach two classes of first graders, so the sample size isn't that large, but still, in both classes this was their first guess:
My Uncle Jim. Evidently I look similar to a 50 year old man with a full beard and mustache who's like six and half feet tall. Good to know. The final product looked something like this:
And they still didn't figure out what Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins meant without the Czech teacher in the room saying it in Czech (which is technically illegal).
And finally, check out this little gem my co-worker Bryan and I made:
(I tried to embed it, but it didn't work. So you have to click here)
Merry Christmas!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
multi-media news report
These last few weeks have been quite tumultuous. I'm going to attempt to sum them up with video.
Me at my job:
">
Most of my conversations:
So then I started thinking:
And finally:
So if you're having troubling understanding the cryptic message, I'm coming home at Christmas time, and staying for the foreseeable future.
I accept nothing less than this sort of reception:
Me at my job:
">
Most of my conversations:
So then I started thinking:
And finally:
So if you're having troubling understanding the cryptic message, I'm coming home at Christmas time, and staying for the foreseeable future.
I accept nothing less than this sort of reception:
Monday, November 8, 2010
My linguistically finest moment so far
The foreign police in Prague is known for being the one place where no one speaks English, long lines, and unpleasant employees.
Needless to say, when I had to change my address, it wasn't exactly something I was looking forward too. Especially after hearing horror story from two other fellow American's recently. One girl waited in line for 5 hours without actually getting anything accomplished. And they both said they had to go all the way to this office on the edge of Prague, early in the morning. Apparently, they just changed the old policy where everyone goes to the main office (nice building, long hours) to a new one where the section of Prague in which you live dictates which office you go to. But both of these ladies live in Prague 3, and I live in Prague 7. So I thought I would try my luck and venture to the main office after work today.
It just so happens that I lucked out and my new place of residence dis qualify me to change my address at the main office (the one with long hours, and therefore, no lines).
I did it all by myself and entirely in Czech. It was very pleasant, and took me about 15 minutes. There wasn't even any angry pointing, frustrated gesticulating, or eye-rolling. I was swelling with pride.
The meeting with my landlord to get him to sign the change of address form was also a very pleasant experience. I was expecting a crotchety old man who didn't speak a word of English (I was told he didn't speak English). Instead, I was met with a sweet, smiling old man who kept saying any random English word he thought of. At least he was trying. I had a Czech woman from work on stand-by to call on the phone because I thought it would be complicated stuff, and we wouldn't be able to understand each other thereby triggering the aforementioned frustrated gesticulating. But as it turns out, he spoke German. So the transaction was completed (not that quickly, he is a rather old man and moves quite slowly) in a mixture of Czech and German. With the occasional 'glasses' and 'cousin' thrown in there.
Needless to say, when I had to change my address, it wasn't exactly something I was looking forward too. Especially after hearing horror story from two other fellow American's recently. One girl waited in line for 5 hours without actually getting anything accomplished. And they both said they had to go all the way to this office on the edge of Prague, early in the morning. Apparently, they just changed the old policy where everyone goes to the main office (nice building, long hours) to a new one where the section of Prague in which you live dictates which office you go to. But both of these ladies live in Prague 3, and I live in Prague 7. So I thought I would try my luck and venture to the main office after work today.
It just so happens that I lucked out and my new place of residence dis qualify me to change my address at the main office (the one with long hours, and therefore, no lines).
I did it all by myself and entirely in Czech. It was very pleasant, and took me about 15 minutes. There wasn't even any angry pointing, frustrated gesticulating, or eye-rolling. I was swelling with pride.
The meeting with my landlord to get him to sign the change of address form was also a very pleasant experience. I was expecting a crotchety old man who didn't speak a word of English (I was told he didn't speak English). Instead, I was met with a sweet, smiling old man who kept saying any random English word he thought of. At least he was trying. I had a Czech woman from work on stand-by to call on the phone because I thought it would be complicated stuff, and we wouldn't be able to understand each other thereby triggering the aforementioned frustrated gesticulating. But as it turns out, he spoke German. So the transaction was completed (not that quickly, he is a rather old man and moves quite slowly) in a mixture of Czech and German. With the occasional 'glasses' and 'cousin' thrown in there.
Monday, October 18, 2010
We're off to see Wizard
Watching the Wizard of Oz with someone who has never seen it, nor heard too much about it before is a really awesome experience. This American classic is filled with famous quotes that almost any one who was born and raised in the United States has heard of. But it’s not the same in Central Europe. I don’t know why movies like the 3-D one with the blue people the name of which I can’t think of right now make it across seas, but the Wizard of Oz didn’t. I’d like to share some of the comments that came from the particular Czech person I was watching this great film with.
During the opening credits, he saw the word "Munchkins":
CM: What are munchkins? Is it like something you munch?
M: They're little people.
CM: But do you think the name has something to do with munch.
Me: They're people.
CM: Maybe they got the term from something related to munching. Makes eating noises/motions
Me: losing patience I don't know where the term 'Munchkin' comes from, just watch the movie.
(According to Wikianswers, it appears to be a made-up term made popular by the Wizard of Oz)
We had to stop to turn on the captions because they speak really quickly. Even to me it sounded like they were speaking faster than other movies. But then again it's probably because I had just heard relatively the same dialog done countless times at community theater speed.
When Dorothy started singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”:
Czech Man: pssh, That’s not her real voice.
Me: Um, yes it is.
CM: No way, it’s like a woman’s voice
M: Yeah, I know. And she’s only like 15 or 17 or something like that. (I just looked it up, she was 16 when it was made)
The greatest reaction was definitely when the Munchkins first came out:
CM: Whoa! Are those people?!?!
Me: See, those are the Munchkins.
CM: How did they find so many?
Me: America's a big country.
In the middle of the Lolly Pop Guild's performance:
CM: uncontrollable laughter, stop then pause This is kind of creepy.
Then we eventually just settled in to watching the movie, only to be interrupted by me constantly saying:
Me: This is a famous quote! (I really can't count the number of times I said that).
and
Me: Ooo, that's my part! (referring to the underscoring) (I played in the pit this summer.)
My friend enjoyed the movie so much, we went back and played all of the songs again. It was interesting for me to watch with the captions because there's a lot of song lyrics especially that I would otherwise miss. He's also really interested in the original story by L. Frank Baum. Luckily for us, we just found the story amongst in his Grandmother's books. It was a Russian version that was translated back into 6th grade level English, but the story should be intact.
During the opening credits, he saw the word "Munchkins":
CM: What are munchkins? Is it like something you munch?
M: They're little people.
CM: But do you think the name has something to do with munch.
Me: They're people.
CM: Maybe they got the term from something related to munching. Makes eating noises/motions
Me: losing patience I don't know where the term 'Munchkin' comes from, just watch the movie.
(According to Wikianswers, it appears to be a made-up term made popular by the Wizard of Oz)
We had to stop to turn on the captions because they speak really quickly. Even to me it sounded like they were speaking faster than other movies. But then again it's probably because I had just heard relatively the same dialog done countless times at community theater speed.
When Dorothy started singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”:
Czech Man: pssh, That’s not her real voice.
Me: Um, yes it is.
CM: No way, it’s like a woman’s voice
M: Yeah, I know. And she’s only like 15 or 17 or something like that. (I just looked it up, she was 16 when it was made)
The greatest reaction was definitely when the Munchkins first came out:
CM: Whoa! Are those people?!?!
Me: See, those are the Munchkins.
CM: How did they find so many?
Me: America's a big country.
In the middle of the Lolly Pop Guild's performance:
CM: uncontrollable laughter, stop then pause This is kind of creepy.
Then we eventually just settled in to watching the movie, only to be interrupted by me constantly saying:
Me: This is a famous quote! (I really can't count the number of times I said that).
and
Me: Ooo, that's my part! (referring to the underscoring) (I played in the pit this summer.)
My friend enjoyed the movie so much, we went back and played all of the songs again. It was interesting for me to watch with the captions because there's a lot of song lyrics especially that I would otherwise miss. He's also really interested in the original story by L. Frank Baum. Luckily for us, we just found the story amongst in his Grandmother's books. It was a Russian version that was translated back into 6th grade level English, but the story should be intact.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
City Living
City living has it's pros and cons. You have great a public transportation system (well, at least in European cities), things are open late, you can get everywhere without a car, and you can find plenty of things to get involved in. And then there are the cons: People. Lots of them. The metros, trams, and buses are crowded. The trams and buses get stuck in traffic, so you may as well be driving. At least then you would have your own personal space...and you'd be sitting down...and there wouldn't be a screaming baby...I digress.
Then there's the even darker side of cities. Don't get me wrong, I know these things happen everywhere, but increasing the population density increases the chances of witnessing them. I'm talking about things like: some guy puking on the tram; some guy puking on the metro; the beginnings of a bar fight out in the street; the end product of a bar fight painting the streets with drops blood; a car to car collision; and, most recently, a car-pedestrian collision. That last one I saw this past week while waiting for my bus to go to work in the morning. It was frightening. Especially since the pedestrian was a little boy. He was okay, though he for sure has a broken leg. The look on the mother's face was the most heart-breaking.
But all-in-all I do like living in a city. Though I don't know if I will choose it long-term. Time will tell. My dear friend can current holder of the title "the person Maggie spends most of her free-time with" hates Prague. He works here, and so occasionally crashes in the city during the week if he has to get to an early meeting the next morning, or a band he likes is playing at some bar, but otherwise he commutes every day to a small village near the city of Plzen.
This small town is where I spend most of my weekends providing nice balance and escape from the city. The village is called Rokycany, and it just recently celebrated 900 years since the first recorded mention of the town. To commemorate, they had this festival over the weekend. My friend had to go to Prague for a bit of work, so I wandered the festival alone for a couple of hours. It consisted of a couple rows of stands where people sell mostly homemade things or food and two stages; a main stage and a side stage. Rokycany has a sister town in Germany, so the side stage was devoted entirely to German acts. Seeing as I am WAY more comfortable with German rather than Czech. I stationed myself by this stage. It was nice to hear people speaking German around me again. Though I discovered later that the beer was 10 crowns more by this stage. I suppose to Germans it's the difference between 1 euro and 1.50 (either way, dirt cheap) but for someone earning Czech wages, that's a big difference. Anyway, while there I saw two acts; a jazz band, which was pretty good, and a singing duo. It was a man and a woman who sang all sorts of songs along with a CD. It was pretty much like a karaoke show, and just as hilarious, especially when they attempted to sing in English, "burnz burnz burnz, ze rink of fire, ze rink of fire." Classic.
Then there's the even darker side of cities. Don't get me wrong, I know these things happen everywhere, but increasing the population density increases the chances of witnessing them. I'm talking about things like: some guy puking on the tram; some guy puking on the metro; the beginnings of a bar fight out in the street; the end product of a bar fight painting the streets with drops blood; a car to car collision; and, most recently, a car-pedestrian collision. That last one I saw this past week while waiting for my bus to go to work in the morning. It was frightening. Especially since the pedestrian was a little boy. He was okay, though he for sure has a broken leg. The look on the mother's face was the most heart-breaking.
But all-in-all I do like living in a city. Though I don't know if I will choose it long-term. Time will tell. My dear friend can current holder of the title "the person Maggie spends most of her free-time with" hates Prague. He works here, and so occasionally crashes in the city during the week if he has to get to an early meeting the next morning, or a band he likes is playing at some bar, but otherwise he commutes every day to a small village near the city of Plzen.
This small town is where I spend most of my weekends providing nice balance and escape from the city. The village is called Rokycany, and it just recently celebrated 900 years since the first recorded mention of the town. To commemorate, they had this festival over the weekend. My friend had to go to Prague for a bit of work, so I wandered the festival alone for a couple of hours. It consisted of a couple rows of stands where people sell mostly homemade things or food and two stages; a main stage and a side stage. Rokycany has a sister town in Germany, so the side stage was devoted entirely to German acts. Seeing as I am WAY more comfortable with German rather than Czech. I stationed myself by this stage. It was nice to hear people speaking German around me again. Though I discovered later that the beer was 10 crowns more by this stage. I suppose to Germans it's the difference between 1 euro and 1.50 (either way, dirt cheap) but for someone earning Czech wages, that's a big difference. Anyway, while there I saw two acts; a jazz band, which was pretty good, and a singing duo. It was a man and a woman who sang all sorts of songs along with a CD. It was pretty much like a karaoke show, and just as hilarious, especially when they attempted to sing in English, "burnz burnz burnz, ze rink of fire, ze rink of fire." Classic.
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