Today Seton Hill celebrated Martin Luther King Junior's (MLK) Birthday. I know I know. It's a little bit late, but due to J-Term it was postponed so that a number of students could attend. The presentation was incredibly moving to say the least.
Marsha Pratt opening the ceremony with a few words stating that the presentation was being done in cooperation with the Theater Department here on campus, and many speakers as well. Pratt introduced Carol Calloway, Special Assistant to the President for Minority & Diversity Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg, and Rabbi Sara Perman as the MCs for the presentation.
The opening by the theater department was amazing. I loved the beginning where they all came out and sang while inserting quotes from leaders of peace throughout the years including MLK. Throughout the beginning I had goosebumps and was close to tears until an soloist came onto stage. Her name escapes me at the moment, but she was SPECTACULAR! She delievered her song with such emotion that she gave my goosebumps goosebumps. The song was delievered in a powerful, heart and soul kind of way. The standing ovation she was received was well deserved and I think more should have stood. She was followed by a set of interpretative dancing that was well worth watching. One particular part that stands out in my mind is when Steve Clemens lifted Kaity Shields above his head. The dance definetly showed unity and the differences among people.
The theater department was followed by an introduction of Cindy Boland and Marilyn Fox of the Campus Ministry Department. The two showed us that there needs to be unity among everyone and they put together a very impressive slide show of projects done around the world and even in our own small campus community. With quotes from important figures they showed how our leaders have tried to promote unity among us and tried to inspire us to make the most of our lives by including the people around us. They finished up their portion of the presentation by asking the students present to come up with ways that we can help each other around campus and in our community. Students and faculty alike presented ideas like having general curtosy to the world, sharing a simple smile, and to have the courage to speak you opinion, but while speaking that opinion recognize that others have opinions as well and respecting those opinions as deeply as your own.
The presentation brought the people present together in such a way that I did not know was possible. I am proud to know that I live in a world that is making leaps and bounds above everything that happened in the past. I am proud that even though there are those who still have the mentality of the past that they are few and far between. I understand that we still have a long way to go, but I also know that we are moving toward a future where prejudice (I hope) will just be a memory of a dirty past always getting cleaned. I believe the presenters when they say that it is up to our generation and the generations following us to make the changes and sticking to those changes. We need to help our younger brothers and sisters, cousins, and friends to see that through them they can make a difference no matter how small a task.
I grew up learning that a simple smile can change the direction of a person's day. I will never forget when I smiled at an older gentleman in a store, who looked so sour and tired he was going to fall over. His reaction was confusion at first and then a smile replaced the frown he was carring. A few days later he died, but he died with a smile telling his family, who later contacted mine, that he could die knowing there was hope for the world because a little girl of nine smiled at him.
And so I close with a plea to my readers. Remember those around you. Help them in any way you can. The smallest and simplest of gestures are remember just as much as the large...
RIP MLK...You will forever be remembered.
Tiffany
It's amazing what a little change to one's appearance does to the self-esteem...
When I woke this morning I was a blonde and now as I head off to bed I am a brunette. I felt the need to change something about myself. I'm not sure why but I did. I hadn't planned on the change occuring until Friday, but decided that if I didn't do it soon it wouldn't get done. I hope you all like it...
For one weekend (unless the Steelers beat the Pats this weekend) Black has replaced Red in the school colors. Just about every where you looked you could find someone dressed in the colors of the Iron Curtain. Hopefully all goes well this weekend and we can, for just one more weekend, wear black with pride!
If you look close enough the Griffin is wearing a Steelers bandana!
(PS: Thanks Mike and Dr. Jerz for your help!)
A dream is the wish you heart makes when you're fast asleep.
Walt Disney used these words in his song, "Wish Upon A Star," but have you ever truly thought about the dreams you never remember?
While talking with an aquaintance this evening he asked me a question. "If you could be on character from any type of media...books, games, movies, ect...who would you be and why?" The question threw me off balance because it had nothing to do with what we were originally talking about. I simply wasn't expecting it.
I answered him saying, "Eowyn, from LOTR, because she is strong and charismatic. Among other things of course."
He responded with, "Good! Now, if you could take Middle Earth (ME) and switch it with the real world, would you?"
I was really confused at this point. I didn't know what to say. There are characteristics of ME that I would like to see in the real world, but it did get me to thinking. Would I switch it? Then I thought "The only consequence would be losing the people you care about and yourself because you and the rest of the world wouldn't remember who you were before in order to fit into the new world that was created.
The answer I gave him was basically "No. Although I would desperately want to."
You see in the brief 30 seconds or so that it took me to think about it and answer him my mind simply reeled. Think about the better place we would live in. No pollution, people that come together to take care of an enemy, and in the end a world of peace. However, then I thought, What about the people that would be lost in the process? People would have to change to fit their new roles. That wasn't a thought that I could live with. I mean really, with all the turmoil in the world, it may sound a little selfish, but I care for everyone in my life in their own respective ways. I have spent 20 years trying to become the person that I am today. I care very deeply for thost that have helped me along the way and I wouldn't give them up for the world. I know I wear my heart on my sleeve, but I can't help it. Could you, in good conscious, wish that a world change so completely that it would bear no resemblance of the world we live in today?
I also started thinking. Isn't it possible that we have created for ourselves a world in which we can have all that we want. Where you might ask? I say it is in our dreams.
Think about it. Even though this is a crazy theory, I believe that when our bodies go to sleep our mind travels elsewhere in order to keep our souls active until we sleep with God. We go to a place that we can't remember in order to live the adcentures that we can't live in real life. And we can't remember so that we can still live our lives as we want to without regretting the things that we lost when the sun rose in the morning. Those days you wake up feeling on top of the world are the days that follow nights in which amazing and spectacular things occurred in your dream world. Then, those days that you wake up feeling like you really don't want to get out of bed are the days that followed nights in which hardship surfaced in your dreams. Probably feeding off of the day you had before going to sleep.
You may be asking yourself, "Does she have a theory on the dreams we remember, too?" Well, these I'm not so sure about. Are they a message of some kind or are they just pieces that weren't swept away fast enough? I would be wonderful if there were more of those dreams we remember...more of the good dreams at least.
I don't know. Maybe I have finally gone off the deep end in my thinking. Too long by myself in Farrell. And yet...I'm curious...
What do you think?
Man were the Steelers given a gift. They in no way deserved to win that game today. There were so many mistakes that I couldn't help but want to walk away from the game and yet I was glued to the tv. Sitting on pins and needles for three and a half hours is in no way fun. I am very happy that they won the game, but they, as I have already stated, were given a gift. So for now I will be like all the other fans and say...
Here we go Steelers...Here We Go....Pittsburgh's Going to the Superbowl......
(We Hope)
Tiff
Edit So the Steelers will be playing the New England Patriots next Sunday at home for the AFC Championship. I really hope that we don't have a repeat of what happened a couple years ago. I think that I would cry.
Ok. So I just got back from Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store. It amazes me as to how stores capitalize on up coming events so early. Today when I walked into either store there were -huge- displays for Valentine's Day more than a month in advance.
It depresses me sometimes when I see stores do this. I get so hyped up for the event that I'm incredibly disappointed when the holiday actually comes. Christmas is a good example of this. In 2004 Wal-Mart had up their Christmas display immediately following Halloween. Not to mention Halloween was commercialized in August! OH! And let's not forget that Thanksgiving never really gets the recognition that it deserves. This one in particular angers me greatly seeing as my birthday is either immediately before, on, or immediately after Thanksgiving. I also get depressed when I see the Christmas stuff come out so early because I feel like no one really cares all that much about November.
Then you have the holidays that somewhere along the lines have lost their meanings because of commercialization. I commented on this last year when I decided to actually look up the history of Valentine's Day. I don't think kids really understand what they are missing out on. There are amazing lessons to be learned by children if they would just pay attention to what happened before they were even thought of.
I give a lot of credit to historians and what they do. Without them where would we be? I love the quote by George Santayana:
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Everytime I think about how much more of our history is lost with each passing holiday I feel saddened inside. Oh sure we have the patriotic holidays that are supported by everyone. I mean people get out of school for most patriotic holidays. For example classes are cancelled in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 17th, and most schools don't even open until after Labor Day. My question is what about the holidays that are just overlooked for their secular meaning instead of why they are celebrated in the first place.
I hope that while everyone is out buying their Valentine's Day cards they at least ask themselves why they are even celebrating the day in the first place.
So the theater department is using my room here on campus as a set for some sort of film. I think that it has to deal with room mate conflicts or something of that nature. It was funny because when Dr. Robin asked me to come to her office for a few minutes I automatically thought that I had done something wrong. Guilty conscious much.
Anyway. I was coming back from lunch today only to discover that my apartment door was wide open and there were a bunch of people in my room. I was surprised because I didn't think that there were that many people in this thing. They were all very nice and very happy to see that I didn't care that they were using my room. They all seemed to think that I didn't know anything about it. It really doesn't bother me and they really aren't making many changes to the room itself and the changes they are making are minor. For example they brought their own pillows and stuffed animals and even some lights. I'm glad that I was able to help them. I wonder if I will get to see the movie when they are finished. Who knows.
Well that's all for now from the J-Term deserted sophomore.
I'll write again soon!
Last night I was sitting in my room doing some homework for next week when this knock is at my door. I had been expecting my parents so I was a little bit confused. I went to the door to see who it was seeing as my parents usually just walk in and here was Amanda! I couldn't believe it. I was so shocked that I jumped into the hallway and gave her a huge hug. I was so happy to see her.
It's funny how you miss your friends over a short amount of time. I have mentioned this before, but it really is hard to say good bye to the people that you have spent three months out of the year getting to know and growing up with people. This is what I felt like this year and Amanda was one of the people that helped me to realize this. I felt like I was seeing my sister again after the longest time last night. We talked for a while and caught up on what has happened over the last couple of weeks since school let out. I showed her pics of my trip to Philly and she showed me the new clothes she bought last night in a last given effort to stay sane until the school year starts again. It was really nice to see her.
We also talked about how much we both adored Seton Hill. It's weird because while we are at home we can't imagine being without the "hallowed halls of academia" as Amanda put it. Then once class starts you grow tired of it, but when there is a break and you sit at home you can't wait to get back. I don't know what it is about The Hill that draws me here, but I can't help but love it.
Oh well!
I hope you all are having a wonderful break and are resting up for a new semester!
Tiffany
I know that by now you have all realized I have had some assistance with my blog by our dear Karissa. Isn't she amazing? She has taken something that was once drab and made it into a beautiful dream. All I have to say for it now is...well is wow.
Karissa it looks great! I don't know what I would do without you!
Okay, this is Karissa temporarily hacking into Tiffany's blog to do some -major- style overhauling... so far so good, but I have a LOT of things left to do...
Tiffany (and anyone else that would like to!), tell me what you think, and I'll be sure to keep it in mind when I get to tweaking some more.
Until then, lunch calls...
EDIT 1/5/05: I worked to get a few things straightened out, and it seems to have been successful. I hope all the text is visible now.Oh, and this is a blockquote. I had to test one out just to make sure it's readable and aesthetically pleasing :)
So I arrived on campus today to find the upper parking lot pretty much filled. I was completely surprised. I hadn't realized that there were going to be that many people on campus for J-Term then I found out that there was some kind of camp happening on campus. If you wanted to see a pretty good imitation to a desert SHU came pretty close at around 5. There were a total of maybe 10 or 12 cars in all of the lots combined. As I head off to bed this evening I can't help but think to myself that even though I am making headway in my educational career I have also doomed myself to a lot of boring hours no matter how much time I spend with you friends from here in the Greensburg area.
And so the semester begins...
And so begins yet another year in the life of Tiffany Brattina. First let me wish you all a very Happy New Year! Secondly let me also say how fast 2004 flew by. Spring Semester of last year brought with it all new experiances for me such as Habitat for Humanity. It also taught me how to manage my time better. Then there was Summer which just seemed to take off from the incredible camping trip with Jen to my trip to Croatia I couldn't believe that it was time to start school already. Then the semester flew by. I think with all the work that I had for my classes I just lost track of time. There was also all the stuff to do for the Setonian. Plus I still can't believe that I made Dean's List with all that was going on.
And so...here is wishing everyone a Happy New Year!