College Blog #11

First I want to apologize for the lateness of today's post. I was supposed to have posted this by last Friday (3/25), but due to a hectic week and lots of prepping for this post it took me till today to get it finished. I hope you all will read it with an open mind and act on my suggestions. What I am talking about in this blog post will affect every single one of us. Now's the time to get involved, not later. Thank you for your time, I hope you all have a great week. Now for the belated blog post.

The World Is Changing…

By Terrence Cain

So how was your spring break? Have a lot of fun? Well I hope you enjoyed your time off. Not much further and this semester will be over with. With that said there is something that needs to be addressed. I don’t mean to scare you but it is something that is important to every single one of you. It’s important to you, the student, and to the professors and other employees at Howard College as well as the other colleges, universities, and public schools in Texas.

As you all may know we are still in what I am sure will be referred to as the “Great Recession” in future history books. This “Great Recession” is why I, at the age of 28, am in college for the first time. I didn’t really think I needed better education past my time in a vocational school called American Commercial College, which honestly, was a big waste of time because all I learned was how to work a computer, and that was ten years ago. Technology has changed so much that my learning became obsolete.

Now what I am writing about today is the great importance of education and the possible reduction in state and federal funding. I know I sound like a parent, and for the record I am still childless, but what I am saying is the truth. Again, I am not trying to scare anyone, but I do feel that everyone needs to know the facts. Currently the state of Texas is facing the possibility of a [1]$27 billion dollar shortfall, although that number changes on a constant basis, that was caused by the recession that hit us in 2008 under the Bush administration. Again, these are the facts and I will have many footnotes posted throughout this blog piece so that you can look where the information has come from.

For months now; at the federal, state, and local levels, there has been talks about budget cuts to keep things running and to reduce the debt at all levels of the government. With that said; the politicians at every level of our government are making an egregious mistake by looking at making financial cuts to education. [2]Texas state representative, Ryan Guillen (D), is proposing a bill that would give public schools (K-12) Fridays off and one hour extra to the other days they would be attending, so as you can see things look dim for education in Texas.

Some colleges are looking at their budgets to see what they may have to cut in the future after a proposal of budget cuts, both state & federal, are passed. This could mean the loss of artistic expression, sports, and many other classes that could be lost to budget cuts to colleges in the state of Texas. I hope that they don’t have to make any cuts to their classes, but colleges may have no choice.

Executive artistic director for the New York live arts, Bill T. Jones, had this to say about art and education on March 11th on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher; “Art is as important as highways and hospitals. Art is the participation of ideas in the world. We take art for granted; art teaches us about things that we cannot see. Art teaches abstract thinking, it teaches teamwork, and it teaches people about things we cannot see. Art is something we cannot take for granted. Artists change communities for the better.” I couldn’t agree with him more, which is why education is so important. Without education we wouldn’t have places to go to learn abstract thinking, or play sports, or even just discover the world at large.

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst (R) had this to say at a legislative conference in New Braunfels, Texas; [3]“We can still fund education, the Foundation School Program . . . at the same appropriated level we’re funding right this second, actually higher.” Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D) said this about Lt. Governor Dewhurst and his comment made at the legislative conference in New Braunfels; “I've known the Lieutenant Governor to be able to work magic before and for the sake of Texas families, he’s my number one magician right now.” Well I hope she’s right on this one because we need our government working for us more now than ever before.

Now the reason I am bringing all of this up is that changes are coming soon and it’s important that our government hears us loud and clear. I think everyone, students and professors alike, need to take interest in what is going on in the world around them. [4]This issue has gotten so serious that there were even thousands who protested in Austin, Texas on March 12th over these proposed cuts to education, so you can see the seriousness of this issue.

I urge everyone to write to Governor Rick Perry (R), Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R), and every state Representative and Senator in the state of Texas to let them know that you want them to leave education alone. Let them know that any reduction in funding to colleges will be a disaster to your future and everyone else’s who is in college or thinking of going to college. If any drastic cuts are made to college funding, it will cause the state to lose money. I say this because people from out of state, and even the ones who live in Texas, will look for their higher education elsewhere and that means a great loss of money for restaurants, night clubs and bars, retail and even grocery stores.

At the bottom of this post I will give you some links that you can click on to go to where you can contact members of the Texas Government to and voice your concerns of budget cuts to education. It is your right as citizens of the state of Texas, and as American Citizens as well, to voice your concerns about anything your local, state, and federal government does; so I urge every single one of you to do so. We are truly in control of what our government does, so get involved and let the people know how important your education is to you and how it would ruin your future if they made any cuts to education.

Even at the federal level there are proposals being made for the [5]possible reduction of or even total defunding of Pell Grants which makes it possible for people like me to go to college who wouldn’t get the chance to go otherwise. Cutting education out of any budget is just not the way to go. There are better ways, I assure you.

I know all of this information is scary and it leaves this thought in your mind; “What are we going to do?” As I said, go to the links below and contact the politicians in our state and let them know that education is the key to growth in revenue. The more people who graduate college means businesses will thrive because they can fill their open positions with those who trained for them.

Now I know what you’re thinking; “How is that true with unemployment being so high?” Well unemployment numbers have been steadily dropping over the last several months so things are getting better. The national unemployment level is currently at 8.9% as of February 2011, and is expected to drop yet again this month, so it is very important to keep funding for colleges at the level they are right now. Even with gas prices souring employment is gaining ground right here in West Texas.

Well that’s it for this week! Welcome back from Spring Break, everyone, I hope you all have a great remainder of this semester and I hope that you all will be back next semester as well! This is Howard College’s Blogging Machine, over and out!

Peace - Terrence

http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/

http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/Members.htm <<<Lt. Gov. Dewhurst can be contacted on this link as well>>>

[1] http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=14239253

[2] http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=14198673

[3] http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7491769.html

[4] http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=558256

[5]http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/01/30/defunding-the-department-of-education-an-in-depth-look-at-the-damages/

College Blog #10

 

See ya in two weeks folks! I’ll be back with another, and very important post, on March 25^th, so stay tuned! Adios, au revoir, paalam, afscheid, lebewohl, さようなら, Adeus, Orevwa, Sbohem, وداعا, Näkemiin…in other words goodbye and farewell...for now that is. Don’t forget, daylight savings time changes this weekend. So change your clocks forward.

Peace - Terrence

College Blog #9

It’s That Time of The Season

By Terrence Cain

Well another week has passed and the spring weather is making class attendance a lot more fun, that’s for sure. This week was kind of a slow week for classes, in other words, not a whole lot of eventful things took place this week. Last night I finished up my second creative writing story. I don’t like it as much as I did my first one, but I still feel it’s pretty good. Only time will tell if it passes the muster in class with all the other creative writers in my class.

In my history class we’re pushing on through the 1930s and the Great Depression. It’s kind of a humbling feeling to be studying that era and living in what almost became the second Great Depression. It really puts things in perspective as to how close our country came to being in another depression. I don’t see that happening with unemployment being at 8.9% for the month of February and 222,000 private sector jobs being added that was just announced in the news this morning. That definitely has put a stride in my step because I know that if the unemployment keeps dropping like it is it will be that much easier to find work once I finish college in 2014. Yes, I do plan on getting my bachelors. It’s the only way I can become a journalist since there is no associates’ degree available in journalism.

Math is the ever elusive struggle in my life. It’s not that I don’t understand it; it’s the fact of trying to remember everything and to get everything put in the right perspective because math as we all know is a very complex subject. I’m not stressing though. I will conquer it one way or another.

My Business computer class is going quite well. We’re working on the Excel section which is probably the simplest thing ever invented in computer software, that is. You just have to know what you’re doing is all. That’s pretty much been my week at Howard College.

There are a few really unique things coming up that I think everyone needs to catch if they can. On March 8th a presentation on NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston will be showcased at Howard College’s Hall Center. The presentation is called Democratization of Information in an Age of Terror. Dina has won awards for her journalism and for her books, such as 2001’s A Death in Texas. At NPR Dina is a correspondent covering the FBI at both home and abroad. If you’re not busy on Tuesday, March 8th, come check her out at the Hall Center. The presentation starts at 6 pm.

Another person of great importance that will have a presentation showcase at Howard College is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Her presentation is called the Democratization of Information and Human Rights. She has fought for the rights of people around the world. She is originally from Mogadishu, Somalia but now lives state side in Virginia Beach, Virginia (according to her Face Book Page). She has fought against mutilation of females in Africa, the Middle East, and the world over. She has written numerous books, one of which I believe is available at the Howard College Library, called Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations. It’s a really good book that I recommend to everyone. If you have the chance to hear her speak on March 28th, please go see her presentation. Ayaan’s presentation starts at 6 pm at the Hall Center as well. Unfortunately neither Dina nor Ayaan will be there physically, but their presentations are worth the time to go see.

Well that is it for me for this week. Spring break is coming up after next week, so I hope everyone will play it safe and come back in one piece on March 21st. This is the Howard College Blogging Machine, over and out!

Peace - Terrence

College Blog #8

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

By Terrence Cain

This week has been one wild ride after another for me. First I find out from my roommate that the course we were on has changed and that I will not have to move, which I am very very happy about. Then on Tuesday I ended up missing classes because my dog got bit by a spider that decided to make its way into my home the night before. The spider ended up making her very sick and I even had to take her to the vet to get her meds to reduce the swelling on her nose. I sat with her throughout the entire day keeping a watch over her to make sure she was ok. I am happy to report she is doing fine now and the swelling has gone away.

Another thing that came up this week was that we had exams. First was in my Business Computer class, second was my Mass Media class and third was my Algebra class with Prof. Buske. Anyone who knows me knows I hate taking tests.

Ever since I was a little boy I have loathed tests, and I have always had a hard time trying to retain a great share of knowledge, so as I have gotten older my memory retaining abilities have gotten worse. It doesn’t help either that I haven’t been in any educational system in ten years.

Thankfully in my Mass Media class it was an open book test. I think I did ok in the Mass Media and Business Computers tests, Algebra…well that’s another thing. It is one subject I’ve never been very good at and I don’t ever see myself getting better at it. I consider it to be my “kryptonite” in all the subjects they make you take to get your education.

Anyway, this week was just one hectic day after another for me. On a good note I was able to take pictures of the project we had for Mass Media. Basically we had to create an ad for a specific group of people that the product was targeted towards. We had to make shampoo ads and my group’s specific target was “Elementary Boys”, so my group chose to do Spider-Man. I did all the printing and coloring and laid out the idea on paper. I’ll share the pictures at the bottom of this week’s blog. Also, pay no attention to the date in the bottom corner. I just didn’t set the date when I turned the camera on.

Today the baseball team for Howard College will be playing Odessa College at 1 p.m. here in Big Spring and again tomorrow in Odessa. Hopefully Howard will win both games. Enjoy your weekend everyone! This is the Howard College Blogging Machine over & out!

Peace – Terrence

College Blog #7

SPRING IS HERE!

By Terrence Cain

The groundhog has kept its promise and given us an early spring, and I personally say thank you for that! This week has been a pretty good one for me. Again, my US History class with Prof. Tune was just great! The class became so lively on Tuesday that Prof. Tune had to ask us to stop asking questions about the time period he was teaching us so that he could get back to his lesson plan.

Prof. Tune wasn’t offended by our disruption; he just wanted to make sure we learned all he had to teach us for this semester. There was just so much we all wanted to know about America in the first fifty years of the twentieth century. We also wanted to know about all the happenings in Europe during World War I & II, so it got pretty deep in Prof. Tune’s class this week.

My Creative Writing class went pretty well this week. Thursday was so nice that we had our class outside where we basked in the beautiful weather as we shared ideas about our short stories we’re coming up with for our next assignment.

Well there’s not much else to say here this week. I don’t have pictures for my Mass Media project yet, but I will next week for sure. Till next week, this is your Howard College blogging machine, over & out!

Peace - Terrence

College Blog #6

Changes…

By Terrence Cain

This week has been very hectic for me. I found out this week that my roommate for the last two and a half years may be moving to San Angelo to take care of his ailing grandmother, so now I have to make the hard choice of possibly moving as well. I’m in the process right now of looking into getting a dorm room at Howard College and working on getting all the financial things taken care of so that the transition is smooth and stress free, if that is what the final decision is to be when it comes to that ultimate decision.

I will also have to find a place to live in-between semesters, if he decides to make the move. This means I am going to have to go back to my hometown of Odessa (most likely) to stay with my parents. It’s not a choice I am happy with having to make (going back to Odessa that is) but it is what it is. It’s not that I don’t love my parents, I do, I just don’t want to leave Big Spring this way. I love this town and I consider this place my true home. OK, enough with the personal issues going on in my life.

This week at school was really cool for me. In my Mass Media class this week we were given the task of creating a commercial for television, and one for radio as well. We have to make two advertisements for a fake shampoo company. We were all divided up into teams of four, but since several students didn’t attend class on Wednesday it has become a team of three for many of the groups, mine was one of them. I think our ads are going to be pretty cool and next week I will tell you more about them and how they went. If I can, I will even try to take and share pictures of the story board we have to create for the television commercial.

Another cool class this week was my US History class with Prof. Tommy Tune. We watched videos this week about the turn of the century and the invention of motion pictures. We discussed the early days of silent films and World War I. The only thing that bothered me was seeing film of soldiers who came back from the war with missing body parts being replaced with a prosthetic and shell shock victims who couldn’t control their own nervous systems and were shaking out of control. That was hard to watch, but the rest of the class was really cool to be a part of. I really do enjoy my US History class with Prof. Tune, and I know that there are people who don’t like his class for one reason or another, but I do.

And for those who don’t like Prof. Tune’s class; or history in general, I feel sorry for because they are missing out on an opportunity to learn and grow as people and to see where we came from and may be going. As the old saying goes, if we don’t learn from our past we’re doomed to repeat it. Another reason I like Prof. Tune’s class is because he has a great deal of knowledge about our nation’s history and makes the class feel like it’s OK to engage in a conversation while he is teaching us. He doesn’t get all weirded out or accuses you of disrupting his class. He enjoys deep thinking as I do.

And this is the craziest part of it all. Prof. Tune is a very conservative type of person, everyone probably knows that about him, what people may not know about me is that I am quite liberal, and with those differences we still manage to get along and have a great deal of respect for one another. Now if only the rest of the world could do that we’d be much better for it. I think I engage in his class the most because I am a person who is very intrigued by history and I feel I learn more by being able to talk and ask questions about the things he is teaching us in his class.

There are a few things I want to bring to everyone’s attention today. If you love sports, you will want to know that Howard College’s softball team will not be playing in Lubbock tonight. That game was canceled. However, Saturday’s game here in Big Spring will take place against the Lubbock Christian JV team. Our softball team has only lost one game this year, their first against Temple College, so it looks like Howard should win this Saturday, well I hope so anyway.

Another thing I think people should know is that the American Sign Language Flex Course begins on February 15th in the SWCID building. If you wish to attend you need to go sign up for the course. Kathy Weldon will be the instructor. There is a limit of 20 students for this course that is almost two hours long on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. Well that is all from yours truly for the week. I hope you all have a great weekend! This is the Howard College Blogging Machine, over and out!

Peace – Terrence

College Blog #5

The Winter Of Discontent

By Terrence Cain

 This week has been one of the weirdest weeks I have ever seen in weather patterns. Monday was a nice and breezy 72 degrees outside, my kind of weather. Tuesday started this nasty freezing cold weather trend that has been hitting the rest of the nation since December of last year. It was 11 degrees outside and the roads were slick, which caused Howard College to shut down for safety reasons. So I missed one day’s classes, “No big deal. We’ll make it up,” I say to myself.

Day two of continued freezing cold temperatures and icy icy roads. This is not good, but school is open so I guess I better go. Nope! Car won’t start. Great! How am I going to get to school? I couldn’t. Not only that, but the pipes were frozen so no water either. Even better! Wednesday was a bad day. I wound up contacting my professors and letting them know I couldn’t make it to their classes. I hate when I miss classes I am supposed to be attending. Soon after, my glasses broke. What the…? Can Wednesday get any worse?! Oh yes, indeed, I got a nasty headache to boot and had a math test to do online that I had to get done before midnight.

So I repaired my glasses the best I could, I took a couple of Aleve and took a nap on the couch. I woke up around seven or so. I went ahead and took my math test, made an 84 (yippee!), and finished up my short story for my creative writing class as and turned that in as well. Thankfully on Thursday I was able to find my battery charger and got my car started and made it to Thursday’s classes. This week has just been strange, somewhat stressful, and put a lot of things out of whack for me and a lot of others as well. Hopefully this is the last of the crazy freezing cold temperatures for this winter season.

Apparently the groundhog was working in our favor this year because according to the news we’re going to have an early spring. I sure hope so because otherwise that groundhog is going to be getting a letter of discontent from yours truly, lol! This is Howard College’s blogging machine, over and out!

Peace - Terrence