http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9952
i mean, it seems like i have been learning the same things in history over and over again for the past 7 years or so. and i learn math i will never use. and the only writing i have been doing recently is literary analysis - which i suppose is a good thing to be able to do, but... there are other kinds of writing out there. why can't i be learning things i'm really interested in?

really. i would enjoy school if i could just learn things i felt were more relevant to my future. or simply my interests. i would bury myself in books about environmentalism, politics, art, german, modern literature, social change... so many things! but no - instead, i find myself not being able to dig into these things because i have to work on school assignments. my education is preventing my education. (isn't there a quote about that somewhere? by wilde or twain or somebody?)

in fact, i was thinking the other day - the structure of society is very limiting in itself. our lives are planned out and dictated by school, work, etc. - i essentially have to take four years of high school. four years of college. maybe two years of graduate school to get a master's degree. then i will get a job and pay off debts until the day i die.

i suppose it's all really because of money... in theory, i could quit high school now and never go to college and work some crap job for the rest of my life. maybe marry and have kids and live in a small house in a 'bad neighborhood' and struggle to pay the mortgage and buy school supplies. eat macaroni and cheese three times a week and buy all of the family's clothes at wal-mart and never have the time or energy to read another book. spend my evenings watching sitcoms and the local news, trying to forget about the bills from the dentist and pediatrician and insurance company. and end up wishing i had followed society's plan after all...

but why does it have to be like that? why can't a person have the freedom to make a decent living without spending thousands of dollars on an education? why can't a person marry young and have children young and still have the chance at a pleasant future? why are there so many restrictions?

(those are more just rhetorical questions than anything else, by the way. i realize there are logical explanations and reasons for all of this. and that it depends on a huge complicated web of factors and traditions and numbers, etc. but i can't help but be frustrated and ask...)

hmmm.

[wow. i just read that, and i don't think it makes any sense. but i'll post it anyway :)] ]]> Sun, 13 Jul 2003 15:40:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9952 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9617
for all you out there who don't know (which is practically all of you), i have been in germany for 3 months. as a foreign exchange student. and tomorrow i fly back home... *sigh* It is so strange to think of myself back there. I feel like i was just starting to belong here - a part of the picture instead of a spectator. and now i'm leaving. so weird...

i think i've really been taking germany for granted. not appreciating how much i will miss it when i'm back home. i mean, there are just so many people that i will miss - my host family, some friends... :( then again, i miss my family and friends in america too... grrrr. if only i could have both lives at once :)

well, i should get back to packing. all of these piles need to be transferred into my suitcases...

-sophie
]]> Wed, 25 Jun 2003 06:44:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9617 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9357
umm...

ooohh, i love 'The Scientist' by Coldplay... could listen to it fifty times and want to hear it again :) it's so sad, but in a beautiful way...twists my heart every time.

have also been listening to Sarah McLachlan a lot lately - especially 'Witness'. my favorite part:

And when we're done soul-searching
And we carried the weight
And died for a cause
Is misery made beautiful
Right before eyes?
Will mercy be revealed
Or blind us where we stand?

makes you think...

but yeah. i really do have nothing to talk about, so i'll stop my babbling :)

-sophie


]]> Fri, 06 Jun 2003 10:38:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9357 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9225
- ink erasers
- dandelions
- saving ladybugs from certain death in my room
- jelly belly recipes :)
- lip balm so yummy you lick it off as soon as you put it
on
- silly putty
- chai tea
- "studying" with friends
- discovering a new favorite book and making everyone you
know read it

there's just so many... i think this will be an ever-continuing update!

]]> Fri, 30 May 2003 05:22:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9225 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9201
now, this may be quite obvious to everyone else, but it's a new thought for me (so bear with me, here :)). america is supposedly a representative democracy. in which case the elected officials in our government represent the people.

so why is it that so many people are unhappy with the government? why is it that laws are seen as restrictions instead of... how would one phrase it... protective guidelines?

is it because people don't vote? or because the government is corrupt? or both? or is it the structure of our government?

random question that i must ask before i can continue with above thought process: why is it that everybody has a different opinion? (well, obviously not everyone has a different opinion. but why are there so many different ones?) everybody wants the world to be a happy, healthy, safe place. don't they? so why is it so hard to agree on how to get there?

anyway. government. it seems to me that government should be something created by the population, something that is constantly changing according to the will of the majority. and why doesn't that happen in... the u.s., for example? (sorry, but america is the country i know best. :)) it seems like what happens is politicians trick the population into thinking that they should be elected, and then go against the will of the people for 2-4 years, or however long their term is. and everybody complains while they're in office, and then only 30% or something even bothers to vote at the next election. (it's probably not 30%. i can't remember what the right number is... something low though. something pathetic.) so, the whole system is stupid...

how could it be changed? why are people so uninterested in the way their lives are run? why are politicians interested in obtaining a position when they don't even want to serve their people?

maybe it's because everything is so big. people think their vote doesn't matter; people think the national government doesn't care what their opinion is. (which is actually kind of true. i mean, as Prez Dubya said himself, 'I'm not going to base foreign policy on popular opinion.' - or something like that. hello?! the entire government is based on popular opinion!!! but anywho...)

so maybe the problem could be solved by changing the structure of the government. or not even really changing the structure, but emphasizing local government more than national government. if things are localized, people will feel more in charge of what's happening in the government. things should start from the bottom up, or in other words from little town governments all the way up to national government, instead of vice versa.

or maybe the population should have more control over the president while he's in office. i mean, right now we can't do anything after he's (it's always a he!) elected, can we? (not an expert on the u.s. constitution... sad. we learned about it in eighth grade, but i have a pathetic memory. good thing i have american government next year. :)) we just sit there for four years while he breaks campaign pledges and ruins the environment and starts unwanted wars...

oh! i have another random question: why is it that the UN isn't punishing the US for totally going against what they wanted? i mean, come on! punish us somehow! the US deserves to get a slap across the face (a peaceful one, mind you) for being so... i don't know... impudent. people have gotten so nationalistic it's sick and wrong... we seriously need a scolding.

but. i'm getting off topic.

where was i? (goodness, this update is so long. i'm sorry, for all of you who have made it this far. i'm almost, done, i promise. :))

so - in conclusion :) - i really think we need some sort of governmental reform, at least in the US. some kind of revival of local government, or a reminder to people that government affects everyone's lives, and that everyone should therefore vote. and pay attention to what's going on, at least locally.

because if government was less governing, negative, and destructive and more creative, protective and representative, it would be so cool....

okay. i'm finished.]]> Wed, 28 May 2003 10:18:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9201 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9174
- toe socks
- banana cream pie (yumm......)
- crazy childhood memories
- sudden bouts of rain that surprise you in the middle of
long walks
- getting mail
- fingerpainting
- baffling family members by asking for index cards for my
birthday every year
- cookie dough
- making up secret languages
- strange family traditions
- making lists for everything (kind of like this...)

and that's all for now. i know it's really short, but it will be continued...

(p.s. please comment on your favorite teensy things!)
]]> Tue, 27 May 2003 10:24:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9174 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9139
serpentine by ani difranco

pavlov hits me with bad news
every time i answer the phone
so i play and i sing and i just let it ring
all day when i'm home
a defacto choice of macro
or microcosmic melancholy
but, baby, any way you like it
i'm thinkin i could just as soon use
the time alone

yes, the goons have gone global
and the CEOs are shredding files
and the democrins and the republicrats
are flashing their toothy smiles
and uncle tom is posing for a photo op
with the oval office clan
and uncle sam is rigging cockfights
in the promised land
and that knife you stuck in my back is still there
it pinches a little when i sigh and moan
and these days i'm thinkin i could just as soon use
the time alone

cuz all the wrong people have the power
of suggestion
and the freedom of the press is meaningless
if nobody asks a question
i mean, causation by definition
is such a complex compilation of factors
that to even try to say why
is to oversimplify
but that's a far cry, isn't it dear?
from acting like you're the only one there
unrepentantly self-centered and unfair
enter all suckers entering for the scoop
exit mr. eye contact
who took his flirt and flew the coop...

and the music industry is pimping girl power
sniping off their sharpshooter singles from their
styrofoam towers,
and hip hop is tied up in the back room
with a logo stuffed in its mouth
cuz the master's tools will never dismantle the master's
house
but then
i'm getting away from myself
as i get closer and closer to home
and these days i'm thinkin
i could just as soon use
the time alone

an i must admit
today my inner pessimist
seems to have got the best of me
we start out sugared up on kool-aid and manifest destiny
and we memorize all the presidents' names
like little trained monkeys
and then we're spit into the world
so many spinny-eyed tv junkies
incapable of unravelling the military industrial mystery
preemptively pacified with history book history
an i've been around the world now
and i can see this about america
the mind control is steep here, man
the myopia is deep here

and behold
those that try to expose the reality
who really try to realize democracy
are shot with rubber bullets and gassed off the streets
while the global power brokers are kept clean and discreet
behind a wall
behind a moat
and that is all
that's all she wrote

an my heart beats an sss o o o sss
cuz folks just couldn't care care care less less less
as long as every day is superbowl sunday...

and "big government should not stand between a man and his
money"
cuz "what's good for business is good for the country."

our children still take that lie like communion
the same old line the confederacy used on the union

conjugate liberty
into libertarian
and medicate it
associate it
with deregulation
privatization
we won't even know we're slaves
on a corporate plantation
somebody say hallelujah!
somebody say damnation!
cuz the profit system follows the path of least resistance
and the past of least resistance is what makes the river
crooked
makes it serpentine
capitalism is the devil's wet dream
so just give me my judy garland drugs
and let me get back to work
cuz the empire state building
is the tallest building in new york
and i always get the feeling
you just liked to hear it fall

off your tongue

but i remember my name

in your mouth
and i don't think i was done
hearing it close to my ear
on a whisper's way to a moan
but pavlov hits me with more bad news every time i answer
the phone
so i play and i sing and i just let it ring all day when
i'm at home...]]> Sun, 25 May 2003 09:51:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9139 http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9086
idealism:

i personally believe that in order to achieve something great, each individual needs to believe that that something can happen, and act accordingly. in other words (and more specifically), to drastically change this world for the better, each person needs to believe that 1)they personally can make a difference, and 2)through cooperation and organization, even a bigger difference can be made. then, in addition to believing these things, each person needs to show their beliefs by acting upon them. if a majority of the people in the world did this, well... our world would be wonderful! and it starts with each individual person.

also, i think that we overestimate the power of those supposedly 'in power'. take george bush for example. george bush is just a person. he may be famous, and he may be the president of the us, and he may be wealthy. but he is just one person, which means that he is just one vote. the same as me. every citizen of the usa has just as much power within the us as george bush. and since there are more citizens than there are george bushes... well, it's not hard to figure out what i'm trying to say here. change is at our fingertips.

in non-democratic countries, change can be more difficult, of course. but that's what organization is for. that's what communities like TIG are for - for getting outside help when necessary.
....

i think i just lost myself in my whole spiel. forgot where i was going with that. :) but anyway, i'm really excited about having discovered TIG, and I hope that we manage to make a positive difference like i know we can...

and that's all for now.

]]> Thu, 22 May 2003 12:20:00 EDT http://sopiemay.tigblog.org/post/9086