Short Stories: Reflection Time

Stories. What is the average favorite length? There are plenty to choose from: Novella, Novel, Series, Short Story, etc. Short story would not be my "flavor" or "poison", but it has to be done. Writing a short story is a very complex task. You would think it would be: write something choppy and to the point and ta-da, but it is not. It has to have a certain type of timeline and everything in order to be successful.

For me, the simplest part of writing a short story is creating the character that you will be portraying. It is simple and I can make it as complex and detailed as I please. The idea behind my characters is that I want them not to be perfect, but imperfect. I think they are more realistic if they have faults. I find perfection in imperfection. It really is the best way to describe beauty for me.

The most difficult part of creating a short story is that it has to be short. It can not be extensive or at least a little bit of a novella. It must be short. Max number: 1000 words. That is it! Gah! I can not take that hard fact of class projects. It is probably the most frustrating thing about anything I do. The problem about that is that I like to write. I like to write a lot. 

The main character of my "short story" is Miss. Kilah O'Donnell. She's a bit tiny, with a height of 5'4" and measurements of 30"26"32", she is a bit minuscule to many of her Scottish family members. Her luscious long hair is straight as newly printed paper dollars and as blue as the midnight sky. Often times, she wears it in two evenly spaced low pigtails down her back. She stands at a leaning angle to the left and stares at many people with her large almond shaped eyes. She does not speak. They all look at her oddly because of her eyes. One is a bright ocean blue, while the other is a  soft, pale purple. She watches everything, but speaks to hardly a soul. She is light on her feet and moves as if she were graced with the ability to float across the land. Kilah looks to others like a sort of ghost. Quiet and she comes and goes like the wind.

 

To conclude, the idea behind the writing of the story is very simple. Love is not always for the feint of heart. Some were meant to falll in love, but not to be together. The battle is not always won, but lost so often. It is an imperfect world. Not everything works out, not everything even gets the chance to start the bud of the blossoms of love.

4th Quarter CC#1: Is it OK for Parents to Monitor Their Kids Online?

In a debate-based article by Betsy Landers and Jeffrey Nadel in UpFront called "Is it OK for Parents to Monitor Their Kids Online", the authors defend their stances on "Yes" and "No". While Betsy is determined to sway you to her side of "Yes", Jeffrey is on the kids' side of "No".

Beginning out her side of the article "Yes", Betsy, the President of the National PTA, starts out sounding reasonable by stating, "Technology can open up new worlds to young people and provide them with rich learning expieriences, but it can also expose them to significant risks." So, I started off reading her side with a small nod. Yes, that is very true. The internet can be extremley dangerous. That is completley true. Give her a minute, though, she gets a little out of bounds. Somewhere in the middle, Betsy goes all out stalker on kids by saying, "You can't compare reading a child's journal to accessing his or her conversations online.. Internet.. should not be treated the same as a diary or private letters." Now,, when reading "accessing.. conversations" and "private letters", something tells me that she would think and notice her contradiction. A conversation online that was not told to anyone outside of the conversation or openly discussed on, say, a Facebook status, is, in fact, private. Seeing as it is a conversation, it is also a letter. Making it a "private letter" only meant to be read by the ones actually engaged in that conversation. Therefore, she is accessing the child's "private letters" online. She said herself that this is wrong, excuse me, miss, practice what you preach.

Smartly, Jeffrey starts out his long piece of work with the knowledge of a parents feelings by saying, "It is understandable that parents worry about their kids." He is right. It is very understood, mostly, by everyone around that parents worry about their kids. It is quite alright for them to do so; however, it is also possible to cross the imaginary line of protecting your child. Parents like Betsy are good at crossing that line. Now, leaning into the kid's brain, Jeffrey interjects, "Spying on young people is not only an invasion of their privacy, it also denies them the respect and dignity to which all people are entitled." Yes. He is someone who does understand that just because we are young people, that does not mean we are not people. We are very much equal to those that are older than us. Many older people tend to forget that.

Traditionally, the people ina debate would choose their own words of which to use, but today, I will be doing that for them. First up to the stand, Betsy Landers, ladies and gentlemen. Betsy thinks for a moment and speaks, "Parents who are monitoring their children's activities via technology are not crossing that line into invasion of privacy; they are cyber-savvy and protecting their kids." What she does not know is that by doing what she does, she is only betraying our trust. It is not a good habit to have. Lucky for Jeffrey, he know that. He knows just what to say, "Young people, who have grown up using computers and the Web, are actually better equipped in most cases than their parents to avoid the pitfalls of technology and recognize potiential threats." Oh, Jeffrey, how you manage to woo the crowd everytime, I may never know. How right is this man? Most of the time, what he is saying is true. Yes, there are those children kept under a rock, but the rest are free to learn before the parent even thinks to do so. It is often obvious when you hear them talk about it which is better equipped for the virtual world.

One connection I can make is to myself. My dad monitored my things like that for quite a while, I stopped telling him things a long time ago. It probably would not have happened so much, had he been able to trust me. Jeffrey knows what I am saying, "It's ironic-- and unfortunate-- that many parents who decide to spy on their children online do so out of fear that their sons and daughters don't trust them; they worry that if something does go wrong, their children may not feel comfortable coming to them... They push their children further away..." What did I tell you? He knows exactly what I mean when I write all of this.

Yes, it is okay for parents to worry and check out the news feed on Facebook or check what sites we are looking at, but is it really necassary to track our conversations? No, it is not. If we have something to tell you and we even think you need to know, even if we do not want you too, do not worry. we will tell you.