Like many people, I enjoy having a pet (even if it's just a plant). It gives me someone to care for and interact with. My pet of choice would probably be a people-friendly feline. Unfortunately, I'm very allergic to cats and don't have a living situation that would fit with keeping a furry pet. The next best option, I think, is having an aquarium.
I know that Betta Fish are popular and I have friends that keep them as pets, but I really don't understand the allure. They just seem so boring to me. Maybe people are lazy or just don't want to deal with a more expensive tank that requires a filter and other maintenance. But I think if you're going to go for fish, it's much more worth the effort to make an investment in fresh water fish that actually have some life to them.I've had fish before, but I recently acquired a new aquarium and stocked it with the essentials: gravel, fake and real plants, rocks, decor items with hiding places, and of course, finned friends. I have 3 Pineapple Swordtails (2 females and a male) and 5 Danios. My fish don't have big fluffy tails or aggressive tendencies. They seem to coexist happily in my 10 gallon tank, hide in the "broken pots" tank decor and among the plants, and gobble up the flakes I feed them daily.
Maybe I'm just amused by the simple things in life, but I could sit and watch my fish for hours and not get bored. It seems that they never swim the same path twice, and I can pick out the differences between the personalities of the danios and swordtails. It has struck me how amazing something as seemingly simple as an aquarium is really a complex balance of organisms and chemicals.
I guess my point is that I don't understand why people bother with seemingly lifeless Betta fish, but more importantly, I think we should stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Marveling at life's seemingly simple things, like the fish in my aquarium, can give us perspective on how life is truly complex and beautiful.
Wine glasses are for much more than drinking grape flavored alcohol. I was recently in a creative mood, but not wanting to spend a lot of money on indulging my urge to make something. I came up with this project. Pictured below.
Wine glasses from a thrift store, with votive and tea light candles and decorator gravel found at a discount store came together to create what I think is a beautiful centerpiece or decorative element, even when the candles aren't lit. This post (or my little project, for that matter) is not profound or deep or terribly insightful, but I just wanted to share. It's fun to create something, rewarding. Even if it's only a couple wine glasses that found a new purpose.
T'is the season for graduation ceremonies. Around the country graduate candidates are putting on traditional regalia, listening to the wisdom of scholars before them, and celebrating with friends and family.Personally, I think the outfits worn by graduates look at least a little out of place in modern society. It seems a bit silly to be wearing an over-sized robe and a hat that is essentially a square stuck to your head with a tassel that smacks you in the face everytime you turn to talk to someone. Of course, there are other traditional elements of academic regalia including hoods, cords, stoles, pins, and more that are applicable to different occasions and distinctions.
Academic dress, though it seems strange today has both a historical tradition and a modern purpose. The program given out at my university’s graduation reads, “The wearing of caps, gowns, and hoods at college and university occasions dates back to the formation of universities in Europe, beginning around the 12th century. The ordinary dress of the scholar, whether student or teacher, as the dress of clerics, Historians suggest that gowns and hoods were the simplest and most effective method of staying warm in the unheated, stone buildings that housed medieval scholars.” Whatever the origin of traditional academic dress, today we still don caps and gowns for special occasions. People like tradition, doing what has done before them. By wearing clothes that are not everyday attire, we help give rituals such as graduation ceremonies the feel of being a very special occasion.
On a side note, personally, I do not like the common self-impressed nature of academic ceremonies, especially graduations. It should indeed be a celebration of the accomplishments of the graduates, but shouldn’t be taken quite so seriously. It seems to be the faculty and speakers not the graduates who may need to “lighten up.”
I think that graduation regalia is important and meaningful, but not to be taken too seriously. It is a bitter-sweet occasion marking the end of an academic career, but one that merits wearing a baggy robe and a silly hat.American Council on Education: Academic Dress
When most Americans today hear the word “clown,” if they’re lucky they think of Ronald McDonald or Bozo. If not, images of demented and horrifically disturbing clown characterizations such as those in the movie It come to mind. Many people claim to be terrified by clowns, even though they don’t even know the official name for their irrational fear. There’s also the connotation created by local party clowns who may be untrained and unwanted at a children’s birthday party.
What has twisted the image of a clown into commercialism and fright?
Clowning has a long history and tradition, but in recent decades the image of a clown has morphed and been warped. Clowns such as Emmett Kelly and Lou Jacobs are a bygone breed. They were clowns of the great tent-circuses known as “mud shows.” However, these are not the clowns that today’s public recognizes.
Modern clowns wear less make up that does not hide their faces, but simply accentuates and exaggerates their features. They engage their audience in a way that pokes fun, but are not seeking to be threatening or humiliating to the spectators. In my view, truly good clowning uplifts people. The clown is the butt of the joke and makes their audience triumphant through the clown’s bumbling failures and successes. A clown pokes fun at humanity and general and rather than claiming victims who become the object of laugher, invites the spectators to laugh at themselves.
Good clowning can certainly be an art, though a vastly underrated one. Circus giants such as Ringling Bros. and Cirque du Soleil are continuing the clown tradition, but adapting it to the needs of their productions. Small outfits such as Vermont youth circus, Circus Smirkus are bringing young people into the artform.
The public paradigm about clowns may be a difficult one to change, but if shows such as the Greatest Show on Earth continue to monitor and craft the interaction the clown performers have with the public, ideas may change, even if it’s only one person at a time.
