I think I've had to rework my "Introduction" quite a few times...

...for class that is.


Last two years have been about finishing my BA...but something else happened in the course of those two years.  I had a growth spurt.  A mental and emotional growth spurt.  Now as I near the finish line, the introduction I so carefully handcrafted for the beginning of each class changes once more.  In fact, each time I wrote my class introduction I probably adjusted a sentence here and there, but those changes were not for vanity's sake.  I figured that if I was going to watch a natural progression of my personal development, these seemingly insignificant introductions would track my progress.  It's not like I have all the old ones archives somewhere - because I don't.  I just remember how I felt when i wrote each one and know that I felt I needed to make changed each time I had a growth spurt.  I know I was a bit more shy when I started, but I later cut the fat and ended up with the core of my being:

I'm a wife, mother, daughter, animal lover, gardener, baseball fan, musician, foodie (I love to cook), and amateur photographer.  I have 5 cats and a strange penchant for the weather.  

Then I garnered the strength to share my artisitc side:

Here's a link to some of my photos:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/stellastarlight/art

And then, I spewed:
 
I started college back in 1994.  My first love and major was music.  I studied jazz voice until I realized that did not want to teach music, which is what the music program primarily focused on.  Back then I was convinced that a college degree was only supposed to be practical. A degree in music just didn’t seem practical enough for me to spend 4 years studying for the purpose of gigging.  This led me to change my major to Psychology - a degree I felt I could "fall back on".   I made the mistake of giving up my passion for practicality, and in the end it got me nowhere. I threw myself into the workforce, earned enough credits to complete my AA, and basically quit school for an extended period of time.  I seriously thought that was it for me as far as school was concerned.  

Well that was blah - but true.  True because....well....these things actually happened, and true because it was a rather blah point in my life. Here's the worst part - I did it to myself. I MADE it blah.  I was a 20 year old who had forgotten how to have fun.  Isn't that just awful?  Here's the part that sucks, but then starts to recover at the end of the paragraph:

I continued working in a directionless workforce to make money to support a family.  I never looked at work as something I could enjoy or be passionate about.  Work was merely necessity in order to make an honest living.  However, I've always possessed strong work ethic.  I enjoyed working towards a goal either on my own or as part of a team, but I was never passionate about the work I did.  As a result, my frustration with a directionless future and the unnecessary, monumental amounts of stress in the workplace made me decide to go back to school to finish what I started. Since the environment has always been a genuine interest and concern of mine, and since I’m a nuts and bolts kind of gal, I came to the conclusion that pursuing my BA in something as well rounded as Environmental Studies was right for me.  

Yes!  Finally!  A turn around!  It took me a while to see why I had done what I done.  I started school again with a gut feeling.  I knew I would have to commit to this for at least two years, and with everything else I had going on I wasn't sure of I could hack it, but I took the plunge anyway.  Now here's where life takes an unexpected turn:

Interestingly enough, just after I started my online BA at Ashford last year the most wonderful thing happened - I was laid off.  I had never lost a job before.  I became a statistic during an economic decline.  Although I was initially saddened by the event, I realized that getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I find that I am busier now more than ever these days, and yet I have way more flexibility than ever before.  While I keep the accounting aspect of my husband's company in check, I balance family matters that include my 12 year old son, elderly mother, and elderly father in law, as well as managing a household while still finding the time to concentrate on my BA.  In other words, this layoff turned 100% of my attention to all of the things that are important to me and that will stay with me for the rest of my life.  There is no job in my 18 years in the workforce that has ever taken precedence over these important aspects.  I am truly happy that my life currently revolves around these areas of importance and self-development.

Funny how things work out? 

Holy CRAP!  It's like I finally woke up.  Now it hasn't been a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.  Being unemployed is stressful, caring for aging parents is difficult, being a mom always has its challenges, and keeping a marriage together through tough financial times is never easy - but the school thing?  Grueling, but a-okay.  In fact, it's the one thing that has kept me sane all this time.  This constant feeding of the brain really keeps you motivated and alive - and I am grateful for that.  So whenever you're feeling like you're going to lose it, feed your brain.  Starving your body of food and water can make you delirious.  What makes you think starving your brain won't?

Thank you for reading my bio.

Climate Change? Yeah. It Happens.

Climate Change - is it a true phenomenon or over-hyped science with no scientific merit?  My take on it?  Well.  It's hard to tell.  

I don’t know that we have enough recorded scientific data to really come to the conclusion that Climate Change is an over-hyped science or not.  In the late 1960s, Syukuro Manabe and Kirk Bryanthe developed the first general circulation climate model that combined both oceanic and atmospheric processes at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey. (NOAA, 2008)  This model would become a very influential tool for the simulation of Global warming. “Earlier knowledge of the oceanic and atmospheric circulation, and their interactions, was based purely on theory and observation” (NOAA, 2008).  


It was only 35 years ago that Syukuro Manabe calculated that the Earth's average temperature should rise a few degrees if the level of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere doubled. (Broccoli, 2010)  In the following 10 years, this theory was confirmed by increasingly realistic models, which led most experts to find the predictions of overall global warming plausible. (Broccoli, 2010)  Yet these plausible predictions have yet to be confirmed.  Even though these great minds created the first general circulation climate model that have instrumental in addressing Climate Change, changes in the Earth's climate over time are a very normal and "Earthly" phenomenon.  “Reports of rapid disintegration of Greenland’s ice ignore the fact that the region was warmer than it is now for several decades in the early 20th century, before humans could have had much influence on climate” (Michaels, 2006).  There is no doubt humans have been adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, more than the Earth’s natural processes normally supply, but other evidence supports that Climate Change is a normal planetary process.  It is also difficult to deny that the Industrial Revolution brought upon a significant increase in carbon dioxide production.  “Human activity–now primarily fossil fuel combustion– has increased carbon dioxide concentrations from °280 to 355 mL/L since 1800; the increase is unique, at least in the past 160,000 years, and several lines of evidence demonstrate unequivocally that it is human caused” (Vitousek,1994). 


I think all the evidence for or against Climate Change have yet to be link together.  I think they are all pieces to a very complex puzzle that had yet to be fully figured out, but I do not think that any of the evidence or findings should be dismissed.  In the great scheme of things, preserve and conserve is the name of the game regardless of any possible catastrophic event.  Why does everything have to be a management by crisis ordeal anyway?  As a precaution, I think we should avoid emitting excess greenhouse gases to avoid throwing off the balance of yet another planetary process, but I really don’t think the sky is falling…not just yet. 

NOAA. (2008, May 22). The first climate model. Retrieved from http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/breakthroughs/climate_model/welcome.html#model

Broccoli, A.J. (2010, December 15). Syukuro manabe receives 2010 william bowie medal. Eos, Retrieved from http://www.agu.org/about/honors/union/bowie/manabe_syukuro.shtml

Michaels, P.J. (2006). Is the Sky really falling? a review of recent global warming scare stories. Policy Analysis, 576. Retrieved from http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6622%3Cbr%20/%3E

Vitousek, P.M. (1994). Beyond global warming: ecology and global change. Ecology, 75(7), Retrieved from http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.2307/1941591

Observe Your Natural Surroundings, Find Your "Place"

The relationship between people and the world they live in is a give and take relationship, which is similar to the relationships most people have with one another. The world we live in gives us the resources to create a life for ourselves. It gives us a means for mental stimulation as we observe it daily and still learn new things about it, much to our pleasant surprise. The world around us also gives us special places of self reflection and inner peace. In return, we care for the world around us and preserve the things that it gives us. I look at the natural world as an extended part of my family. It is a complex entity of many layers, very much like a human being. The care taker in me is concerned for its well being, but this is not a new-found concept. “Indigenous people view both themselves and nature as part of an extended ecological family that shares ancestry and origins. It is an awareness that life in any environment is viable only when humans view the life surrounding them as kin. The kin, or relatives, include all the natural elements of an ecosystem” (Salmón, 2000). Man is equal to nature in this context, but not more powerful. The world around us has too many undiscovered mysteries and that alone gives it greater power over humankind.

Race, class, and ethnicity have played a role in the human relationships throughout history. Native American tribes are perfect examples of this as much their history is associated with spiritual beliefs that held great respect for the natural world. Today, race, class, and ethnicity have rendered themselves irrelevant. The importance of sustainability is recognized by households of all races and creeds. “Green” practices are discussed on the radio, on TV, on the internet, and at your local grocer, just to name a few. Sustainable goods and services are part of an emerging market that will continue to grow and reach out to consumers of all classes as well. This approach seems very much on the surface, but the cooperation and interest of the general populous in “green” practices shows that people really do have the capacity to care for the world around them. People have the capacity to give back what they have taken, while many carry the desire to protect and preserve and treat the natural world as kin. I think this relationship is more natural than our technologically driven world has led us to believe. Our concern and admiration for the world around is evident when we are awed by a beautiful sunset, or marveled by the strength of a storm passing through, or intrigued by the behavior of another species in the natural world. We have always been connected to the world we live in through our endless curiosity, and that is what will continue to bring us closer to fully understanding it one layer at a time.

But how can we get beyond a superficial relationship with the Earth?

By observing your natural surroundings, particularity the behaviors of other species, you'll be able to see behaviors that you have in common with other species, and that alone enables you to connect to them. While observing another species, your senses are registering external stimuli like the distinct smells of your surroundings, the sounds, the light filtering through the leaves, the moisture in the air touching your skin - all of these factors tap into your emotions and create a memory of your observation. This memory will always be triggered by the smells, sounds, lighting, and feel of that "place" you encountered, and will therefore trigger the same emotions that were triggered when you first encountered this "place".

I think getting people to really pay attention to their senses when they are trying to connect with the natural environment is a great way for them to appreciate and understand any of the history behind a particular place. It becomes a multi-dimensional understanding as opposed to one dimensional, and only by delving deeper can you really make an impression on humankind that will encourage them to care about the world in a way they never knew they could.


Salmón, E. (2000). Kincentric ecology: indigenous perceptions of the human-nature relationship. Ecological Applications, 10(5)

Double Digits Until When?!?!?!?!

I have never been unemployed. Never fired from any job. I know being laid off is different from being fired but still - I've never been let go from a job. I have always been the one to leave so this is a whole new experience for me. It's like I've become a casualty of the declining economy and I am not too fond of being a casualty.

Anyway, it's articles like the one I posted the link to below that perturbs me to no end. Makes me wonder if I am going to have to settle for that $12 an hour job I've been trying to avoid. You know - the $12 an hour job with a list of requirements and duties a mile long that you know is not worth the aggravation?


www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/28/1601233/floridas-economy-slowly-recovering.html


Hello!!!! Is there anybody out there??? When I send my resume to a prospective employer it feels like it's going out into cyberspace, along with countless of other resumes, straight to a virtual resume graveyard. This online job applying comes complete with "do not contact job poster" or "no phone calls please" messages right on the ad, and I can totally see why. Sometimes you wonder of any of these job postings are legitimate.

The problem here is that 12.3% unemployment rate in the State of Florida. That means there are at least - at least - one million Floridians out of work with only a couple thousand jobs to go around. So the rat race has gotten even bigger but there still isn't enough cheese. 12.3% is higher than the national average. According to the article I linked here, the recovery process is going to take two years just to get that 12.3% down to 9.2%. I'm hoping it won't take me that long to land another job but the fact is Florida is not recovering as quickly as the rest of the country. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I don't come from a family line of stay at home moms. I'm a working gal and I need a job for my sanity just as much as I need a job for income.

Aside from there not being enough work, employers are having a hard time getting through their hiring processes because of the overwhelming responses to any position they advertise. They are arranging things like "10 minute meets" and phone interviews so they can narrow it down to 4 to 7 candidates from the 140+ applications they receive for a given position. In turn, it takes them a month to get back to the applicants they are interested in. This makes things even more discouraging for job hunters as patience is not readily available when you're worried about paying your rent and putting food on your table.

But I tend to find a silver lining in most things. As difficult as this has been for me, this is a whole new experience that I get to learn from. I get to see just what kind of survivor I am really am - if I am anything like my father who fought keep a roof over our heads until the day he died. No matter what he always managed to make ends meet. Where there's a will there's a way and I've certainly never lacked the will. I'll find a way even if I have to pour the asphalt myself.

Twelve More Bars to Go: My Life in Terms of a Chord Progression

In life, we often create tension only to find ways to resolve it. Sometimes tension is created for us and may present itself to us unexpectedly through life changes. But no matter how the tension manifests, there is a need to resolve it. It is part of our maturing process which leads to a deeper level of understanding, and with each tension and resolution cycle we become more layered as individuals. We add depth to our lives and personalities. In a twelve bar blues, the most popular and basic blues chord progression in music, there is tension and resolution. There are only three chords in a twelve bar blues which are referred to as the I (one), the IV (four), and the V (five), or the first, fourth, and fifth notes followed on a musical scale. These three chords are played over 12 bars of music in such a way that they build tension, peak, resolve, and then turn the tune around and start over only to rebuild new tension in a new set of 12 bars. Each set of 12 bars represents a new life experience, each with their own building, peaking, and resolving of tension – which is interestingly how I’ve seen my life unfold over the last 35 years.

And yet my 12 bar blues continues to be written. Although each phase of my life has already created many sets of 12 bars, I still have much to write about, sing about, photograph, laugh about, and learn. There is still tension to be created or stumbled upon and then resolved. Change seems to be the only constant and if there is one thing that I have realized is that just when you think you have it all figured out something comes along and shows you that you can be enlightened again and again. I can write yet another melody over another set of 12 bars and sing a completely different tune. It is the same set of chords but just a different way of presenting them. That is the beauty of this chord progression, and the beauty of life. Its flexibility accommodates to the infinite amount of songs that can be written over it, so no matter what new techniques or lessons you learn throughout your life there will always be a 12 bar blues that can carry your tune…and I find great comfort in that.