TED

I have to give thanks to my friend Forrest for introducing me to TED, a nonprofit dedicated to ideas worth spreading. Its goal is to inspire, influence, and create collaborations between all sorts of people from different walks of life. TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design. But it is oh so much more. Its encompasses other ideas too. The two videos above, are just two of the hundreds of videos available, and two of my personal favorite. TED is brilliant, it really makes you think and learn a lot from people who you normally would not be exposed too. Also, I have to commend the creators of the TED website, they have included this translation project. People translate videos into subtitles in English and other languages too. This is great for people like me, those who are hard of hearing or deaf, who other wise might not be able to enjoy the video because we wouldn't be able to comprehend what is being said. So really, hop on over to this genius organizations website, and just spend a few hours engrossed in the videos. If you don't come away learning something new, well, then we've got a problem!
Jem

Candlelight

This video has certainly taken the viral world by storm over the last few days. The moment my sister sent me the link to it, I couldn't stop replaying it. Candlelight is such a catchy parody of the song Dynamite sung by Yeshiva Universities acappella group, The Maccabeats. Its been stuck in my head these last few days. Finally we have another song to play, besides Adam Sandler's Hanukkah Song! I've also been listening to Matisyahu's song, One Day. Its so beautiful and has such a powerful message, its hope is that one day we will live in a world filled with peace. Now thats a message I think everyone can get behind. So, Happy Hanukkah to my fellow Jew's and a Happy Holiday season everyone!
Jem

Taking Center Stage

Vogue. The cast of Billy Elliot posing along side a model.

Look at the gorgeous gown she's wearing! 

 Wendy's explanation of grace is exactly

how I view it. It is so much more then physical

but a mental state as well. 

Source unknown. I love the sense of poise and

whimsy captured in this photograph. 

 Ballerina Project (check out its Tumblr

and Facebook page). This is such an

amazing project- ballerina's are photographed

all around NYC. This tumblr is where I've

continuously found much of my inspiration. 

It seems that my blog has fallen to the wayside for much of these last few months. I love blogging but school work always comes first. Luckily, I have a free day today, so I figured I would get typing. I've recently become obsessed with dance. I was a dancer for twelve years, specializing in Modern Dance, and recently I've fallen in love with it once again. Searching the inter-web for photographs of girls dancing has taken over much of my free time. I am constantly searching for inspiration and I seem to find it in people dancing, especially ballet. Growing up, one of my dreams was to be a prima ballerina and dance with a company. Alas, such dreams never came to fruition but I still find so much inspiration from such dancers. Their is so much grace, humility, strength and power to be found in such photographs.
Jem

Hearing With The Heart

Today I found this post on my tumblr feed and was enraged so I figured I would comment on it. I have mentioned several times that I am hard of hearing, I have many friends who are deaf/ and hard of hearing, and I have lived with this unique quality since I was quite young. So it upsets me when people make ignorant comments pertaining to the deaf/hard of hearing world, even if they don't mean to be rude. I wrote this for all of my friends, for myself, and for the community as a whole. Also, technically I may not be deaf but sometimes I prefer to label myself as deaf. 

my convoluted mind: Sometimes, I wish I was deaf.

juliareyes:

So I wouldn’t hear you screaming about things bs things that could be fixed easily. I hate waking up in the middle of the night, only to hear you complaining about a small matter. I hate hearing her cry over you. I pity you because I know you’ll never learn. I wish to not hear you…

Sometimes I think people are completely ignorant. You can wish you were deaf but have you ever stopped and wondered what its like to actually be deaf? No? Clearly not. Just because we cannot hear does not mean that we don’t listen. I understand that what you mean to say is that you wish you had the ability not to listen to what is being said but still… this was ignorance at its best. I can’t tell you how many times I have herd people tell me, “you are so lucky you can’t hear,” what makes you think I can’t? I just hear in a different way then other people do. I hear though reading peoples facial expressions, lip reading, oral language (term meaning spoken word), and sign language. I may not always hear with my ears but I sure as hell hear with my heart.

Jem 

Inconsistent

I feel like such a horrible blogger, I really do, for being away for so long. Its just that freshman year  of college has been very overwhelming; making new friends and school work have taken up so much of my time lately.

Also, I will admit that I am having an internal battle over having a blog. As a journalism major, I keep getting mixed signals- should I or shouldn't I have a blog? Its rather confusing however don't fret for the moment I have decided to keep my blog! Its not that I don't love blogging- because don't get me wrong- I do but its still a very big commitment. However, at the moment, it is still something that I am very committed in investing my time. Although, just as a warning it may be a bit more infrequent, then it used to be. So please bare with me while I get all sorted out!
Jem

Keep Calm....

I am in love with this shirt! For those of you who aren't in the know its a reference to one of the best musicals ever- A Very Potter Musical. I seriously need to get my hands on this tee, it would be totally awesome to wear it to the release of the first part of the seventh movie. I have no doubt that many people would get this reference, I mean its gonna be totally awesome! Also, yes, the man modeling this shirt is Darren Criss who plays Harry Potter in AVPM; doesn't he look mighty fine?
Jem

Whats Up Hockey Puck?

I would just to take a moment to talk about how awesome my college is and then I will get back to my normal proceedings. Today I had a new experience which once again reinforces how bloody brilliant college is. I went to my first hockey game. Yes, I will admit it, I was a hockey virgin. I've watched the sport on television during the Olympics but never actually attended a game before (which is slightly odd considering I grew up near one of the best teams on the west coast). Hockey always seemed like it was an interesting sport to watch live and I have to say it didn't disappoint.
I stupidly made one mistake when I went; I didn't wear my school shirt! Honestly, I always believed that people never really wore their teams colors however I was very, very mistaken. The crowd was a sea of orange and brown and then their was me; in grey and blue. All I have to say is, I'm super glad I didn't wear the other schools colors; purple and gold (Yuck! Those were my high school's colors!).
Hockey is in my opinion so much better to watch then Football. I never understood Football. However, with Hockey I actually picked up the game really fast and was soon cheering "YOU SUCK!" to the other team! Okay, so if you haven't noticed already, but my school is a huge Hockey school. So huge that we don't even have a Football team. We are also labeled as a "nerd school" so it doesn't seem like the two should go together but somehow they work. To prove how nerdy of a school we are, our team comes out onto the rank to the tune of the imperial march (the theme song from Star Wars)! How great is that?
So basically, all I am trying to say is.... Hockey is amazing. Also my college is amazing.
Jem
P.S. If you were wondering, my team did win. In fact we crushed the other team. So who says nerds can't be athletic too?