Education And Things That Are Overlooked

I've often been criticized for voicing my opinion on going to a public school. I don't see why people should bash a good conversation about education. It's terribly important and seems to be a neglected subject. Perhaps it is because I'm a current student at a school and my opinion must mean that I'm either complaining or whining. But I'm not. I have a genuine concern for how the school system works and how students' attitudes influence their education.
When I go to school every day, I try not to care how I look or dress. I don't want it to distract me from my work. However, it seems as though very few people (next to none) think the same way as I do. I see people almost obsessed with how they look or appear to the opposite sex. I don't go to school to show off or look pretty, I'm going there learn and absorb myself into the textbooks and lectures. People, this is high school. If you are even a semi-normal person you shouldn't be looking for a mate when you're in your teens. Why spend the time dressing yourself up when you could be spending that time learning? Well, because people want attention. They want compliments. They want to feel like someone cares about them or that their "beauty" is good enough to be praised. They are constantly distracted. By phones, by friends, by people whom they don't like and must talk about, by everything but their schoolwork. The system is ruined because these kids can't concentrate on their work and don't care enough about their future to work hard in the present so that their future can come to be.
The people who have their lockers next to mine complain a lot about their classes and teachers and all the stupid work they have to do.
I pity them.
Their education isn't important enough to them to take charge and learn.
Instead, they must talk and complain relentlessly. They don't seem to have a passion for anything besides talking and gossip. How can these people be the future of our world? If we think that the leaders of our countries are terrible, what are they going to be like when we grow up?

I'm quite lucky to go to a top rated high school and learn from passionate teachers. However, I can't say that I'm happy going there, regardless of the stuff I learn. If I learned one-on-one with the teachers, I can say that I'd understand so much more. And that is saying something because I learn a lot each day I attend. A good portion of the students don't care about the work. They talk incessantly and don't listen. I wish there could be a class for only people who genuinely cared. Oh, but there is supposed to be. It's called an AP or Honors class. Except that isn't how the classes are. People are always chattering about their awful weeks or amazing trips to faraway places. School isn't a place for dedicated learning anymore, it has changed into a social palace. Why should you go to school instead of being homeschooled? Because you need to make friends and be sociable! One of the things I get asked the most and also makes me the most angry is this:
"But what about your social life? You need to make friends and be around people!"
I usually answer that I do extracurricular activities and I do indeed see people doing those. They shrug and mention how they could never be homeschooled. I politely smile and walk away. What I'd love to say is that I can't handle that many people at school and I wouldn't learn anything in that environment. But I know they wouldn't understand. How do I know that? Because I've said that before. And it turns out that every single person (besides one) has said that they don't understand.

When I was fully homeschooled, my mother took aside one day per week and devoted it to art. We learned about composers and their styles, music theory, painting and painters, drawing, handwork, writers, photographers, and such. We learned how to use the right side of our brains to develop creativity and let go of our critical thinking when we drew. While I didn't always like the lessons, I always learned a lot. Music was always important in my family. All of us were enrolled in music lessons on the instrument of our choice. I chose violin. I loved listening to all the classical composers as a young child, and just after I turned seven I started lessons. I thrived. I listened to classical music all the time. I couldn't stand the typical music that was played on the radio. It had to be classical. I have fond memories of waking up on Saturday mornings to NPR playing downstairs. My dad would turn on the radio and the beautiful notes would fly up to my bedroom. I remember eating breakfast and listening to the news on NPR. That was my life. Classical music is still my ultimate relaxation music. I close my eyes and fall into this weird state where my whole body stays absolutely still. My breathing slows and I instantly calm down.
Yesterday our track team had a Saturday practice. My coach put on classical music over the sound system. I got a little nostalgic; it reminded me of my childhood. While only one person commented on the choice, I could see that most people wanted some other music. It didn't really bother me, because it is fine for people to have other preferences, but I couldn't help but wonder if they just weren't ever exposed to classical music, or if they always listened to what was popular. I'm not saying that everyone has to love classical, but like its name says, it is classic. Everyone should study it and try to appreciate it.
I think music is something missing in our school system. Yes, there are music classes, but if someone wanted to be a world class musician, they'd have to take private lessons at a expensive institute. Trust me, I know. Good quality music lessons cost good money, and not everyone can afford that. There are so many talented people who don't live in an area where they can get that kind of education. See what I mean?
Music is a gateway to the unseen. It has the ability to heal wounds and tear people apart. A world without music is unthinkable. I don't know if I could live in such a world. A major part of my life has been and will be dedicated to music. I've invested so much time into it. I've poured my heart and soul into it. It's been my helping hand when I can't get up. I'm not sure where I'd be now if it weren't for music and the amazing teachers and conductors, not to mention the composers who made this beautiful world for us to enjoy.
And it's not just music. It's art. Books, knitting, drawing, painting, and dancing.
I know I've mentioned how most people my age don't have a hobby. It is one of the most aggravating things to hear about. I can see how sports can be considered a hobby, but it can't be your life. You'll burn yourself out and will lose your passion for with what you consumed your life. You'll be lost. I know that feeling. You need something to ground you, to help you move on when things fall apart. Yes, running is something you can do almost anywhere and is a fantastic stress reliever, but what happens when you get injured and can't run? When you're stuck on the couch because you overdid it? Things start to go downhill fast when you don't have anything to keep you in line.
I desperately want people of all ages to have a hobby. Something that can calm them down. It instills a passion and appreciation for art. If I didn't knit or draw, I wouldn't have such a deep appreciation for people who enrich the lives of us all. I wouldn't care about the earth because I wouldn't have spent all this time learning about it and straining my eyes to see the details. I can't imagine how awful my life would be if art hadn't been impressed into it over my childhood.
Art is the key to my world. Without art, my world would be lost. I would be lost.
And on that note, I'll take my leave.

Adventures and New Things

Over the past week, I've done quite a lot of new things. I went out to the lake and grabbed a few new birds, tried new foods, and played with my new camera lens.
My adventures started out on Friday morning at 10:38. It was a balmy 3 degrees out, but I wasn't going to let that stop me, so I walked out the door wearing extra layers and headed towards the lake. Once I reached the lake and I saw that it was frozen over and covered in a thick layer of snow, I wondered how stupid I was. What birds would be out in this kind of weather? As it turns out, woodpeckers. I found a Hairy (new!) and 2 Red-Shafted Northern Flickers (also new, but I've gotten a yellow-shafted before). I also got some Oregon variety Juncos, Eurasian Collared-Doves (super common in our area), house finches, 2 house sparrows, a handful of Rock Pigeons, and a robin. (That last one was a little surprising, but apparently they are common year round. You learn something new everyday!) I was so caught up with my finds that I was almost late for class, but luckily I got in there just in time. That was my excursion of the week. Oh, and here are a few photos, too.

Red-Shafted Northern Flicker

This is from a different day, but tucked in between the branches in a Eurasian Collared-Dove

With my 200mm lens this is as close as I could get on the first blue jay that I've seen this winter.

And onto the next part of my post: New foods.
For the past 3 weeks I've been keeping an extensive food diary because I haven't been feeling up to par. Upon analyzing the results, it appears as if I'm gluten intolerant. Great. I'm not exactly pleased with this, but if eliminating gluten makes me feel better, then I'll do it. I'm already dairy, egg, and meat free, so adding another restriction shouldn't be terribly difficult because I've become proficient at reading labels, but it means that I can't eat all the things my family eats. Today I ventured into making GF pancakes, which were a wild success among... me. I ate all but two, which were eaten by curious family members.

The batter cooking

Stacked. Not eating them as soon as they came off the griddle was tough.

I'm excited about trying new recipes now that I'm gluten free. Or at least on a gluten free trial. Tomorrow I'll be making a breakfast smoothie and some rice crackers for a post-workout snack. And that's a wrap for tonight! Be happy and be kind to the earth. 

Not-So-Smart Moves and Drawing Things

Upon realizing who I am and what I want to do, I've entered into the nature world in the extreme. If you haven't read my previous post, then I'll restate something. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to go all the way, headfirst. When I say I've entered in the extreme, I mean that I've divulged myself into piles of information to learn and memorize. Since it is deep winter here, memorizing plants and taking notes on them is a bit unpractical. Instead, I ordered a new camera lens (I call it my "baby") and started memorizing and learning about birds. After all, birds and plants are so interconnected that it's hard to know about one without learning about the other.

Upon yesterday's adventures, I've created a list of things that might seem smart but in reality are not so planned out in the long run.

1.) Sleepytime tea at dinner time when you have a boat-load of school work and other work that needs to be finished before the night is out
2.) Creating note cards for the 285 most common birds of North America
3.) Drawing the bird onto the aforementioned note cards (See some pictures of my drawings below)
4.) Trying to memorize all of the bird calls while still trying to remember 5/285 birds
5.) Watching a favorite TV show when you should be doing other things
6.) Attempting to bird whilst driving around without a notebook and camera
7.) Not knitting for days on end
8.) Playing ping pong

While most of these don't make any sense, they are all relevant to my life at the moment. Let's start backwards.

8.) I played ping pong at a Super Bowl party and re-injured my hamstring. While it was fun in the beginning, I wasn't so happy with the end results, i.e. pain.
7.) I haven't knit since Friday night, or possibly Saturday afternoon. It's slowly driving me nuts. I'm currently on a drawing kick, but that will soon pass and I'll be back to knitting. I'm also avoiding knitting because everything that I want to make I'd have to buy yarn for, which is a problem when funds run out.
6.) Instead of knitting in the car, I'm now sticking my head out the window (Yeah, not in the winter, but you get the idea) looking around frantically for birds. Of course, the majority of birds stay away from busy roads so I'm not sure why I'm wasting my time, but it's fun anyway. I can't see any birds far off without my camera and I can't record anything anyway without a notebook, so I'm doubly wasting my time. Oh well.
5.) While Downton Abbey might be extremely interesting and cliff-hanger-y, I really shouldn't be watching 2 episodes of it in one night when I have tons and tons of homework that is due the next day, regardless of the fact that today is a late start day.
4.) Yeah. I've always loved mornings filled with birdsong, even though I didn't venture to learn what birds I was hearing. Now that I'm interested, I'm trying to tackle this as well. Great idea? Probably, but maybe I should give it a little more time.
3.) I think I've finished 11 drawings. That is 11/285. Smart? Nah, probably not. Fun? Heck yes. And while I draw I cement in my mind the different colors and patterns of the birds that I am drawing.
2.) I've gotten decently far on these, actually. I might be around 45/285. And I'm running out of note cards. And these are only the most common birds in North America. It'd probably just be smarter to buy a field guide.
1.) This one is slightly less relevant than the others, but seriously. I had been tired all day and then adding warm, slightly sweet fluids while the snow fell and the sun went down with the added sleepy-time-ness nearly did me in. I curled up on the couch and nearly stayed there all night, but I managed to drag myself up to bed before that all unfolded. It tasted pretty delicious, though.

Now that I've finished that list, let me go on.
I started the notecards because that is how I learn. Doing and listening. So if I want to learn something, the best thing is to write the information down, talk it out loud and write it down over again. So note cards seem like the logical choice, no? That is what I thought, so I started. Oh, and remember when I mentioned buying a field guide? I'm not 100% convinced that it'd help a whole lot. Like I said, I learn by doing and listening. As for listening, that will come in handy when I start to learn the different calls. I do pride myself in having keen ears. With a little time, I can differentiate footfalls of different people, whinnies of horses, and calls of different animals. (That is, the differences between 3 sheeps' calls and 2 roosters' voices)
I love drawing, too. I used to draw exclusively horses, but after time, there are only so many different horses of North American that one can draw, and since horses are quite large animals, it's hard to get into deep detail with their faces unless you draw them onto massive surfaces. Thus, I've ventured into birds. My first attempts where pitiful, as were my first attempts at drawing horses. After drawing a few random birds and not knowing their ID's I had to learn more. That's when I got curious about different bird species. Visiting my grandparents over Christmas helped as well, as my grandfather is interested in birds, mostly just photographing the ones that come to his feeders. Watching the birds flock to the seed and heated water bath in the frigid temps though the window helped ignite my interests as well. It's where I first recorded, photographed, and drew the sightings of the day.
Anyhow, here are 3 of the note card drawings I've done. Yes, they are all done of 3"x5" cards. Yes, I know that I'm crazy. See if you can ID them from my artist's hand.

I still have yet to take out my "baby" (uh, my new camera lens) for his debut at the lake. With all the snow that has presented itself and my injury, I've been erring on the cautious side of things. Perhaps I can get out before the weekend arrives.
Have a good day and be kind to the earth!