No, it's not high school.....

Tall school. Big school. Large school. HUGE school.

High just doesn't cover it.

I found that out on Wednesday when my peers and I (haha) went over to the high school for a "Sophomore Orientation" tour and introduction (a.k.a. Let's All Stare At The Tiny People). Sure, I've been to Davis before, but never during school hours. It's amazing how much of a difference having students in the halls and classrooms makes.

I felt small again. I felt like a sevvie. I felt like they were all staring at me, thinking, "Oh, great, more tiny people. Let's stare at them until they feel even more self-conscious."

(not done, but it's late.... i'm going to bed... I'll finish this later when I'm awake...)

In A Moody Mood....

Sometimes I really wonder why I go through all the trouble with guys. I mean, are they really worth all the anxiety? One day, a guy can act like they would like nothing better than to talk to you, like you're the only person in the world. The next day they act like you're the last person on the planet that they want to spend two minutes with, even just chatting on Facebook. And it's driving me crazy.

And they say girls are confusing! Take a look in the mirror! Sometimes I can't believe how blunt I am with my thoughts and feelings and you still manage to turn away and brush it off. Are you actually doing this to me on purpose, or can you really be so very oblivious to my feelings that you haven't noticed how much it hurts?

Actually, I hate it when ANYONE is oblivious. "I state the obvious for the benefit of the oblivious" (--unknown) is a good way of describing how I often feel. Some of my closest friends, including my cousin, can be quite oblivious to just how serious some things can be to me. I trust my cousin with almost everything. Like this thing about guys. I was trying to explain to him what's been going on and just how painful it's been to watch this guy ignore me for the last two weeks, but, even though we have these discussion all the time, he just didn't seem to understand me. I almost expected him to tell me I was overreacting. And maybe I am. But it hurts, and I want it to stop.

You probably want me to stop now. Then again, you're still reading this, so it can't be that bad. Maybe you just feel bad so you're listening to me go on and on in nothing more than pity. Either way, it's late, and I'm going to stop now.

G'night, whoever is still reading....

"Streams of Hope"

Have you ever dreamed of swimming in an orange, green, white, or even purple river? Sounds pretty awesome, right? Wrong. That is what the extremely polluted Nashua River that travelled through Massachusetts and New Hampshire looked like for a long time, until someone decided to take a stand.

In the 1960’s, this 56 mile long river was so polluted from dyes in the wastewater that it would turn colors! The color changing was so unpredictable that locals would even place bets on what color the river would be the next day. The fumes from the river alone were so toxic that children had to be rushed to the hospital for tetanus shots when they got too close. Marion Stoddard, a local to the area, decided to make a difference. She sent samples of the water to officials and made a proposal—they were going to clean the water to the point where everyone could swim in the river. People laughed and told her to be realistic, but she persisted and, with the help of many others, found ways to clean up their river. Mill treatment plants were built along the river, mill owners began to treat their waste properly, and locals monitored the quality of the water. Today, the river is just how Marion Stoddard wanted: clean enough to swim in.

I think it is awesome that Marion Stoddard did this for her community. She set a really good example of how we all need to be more careful with how we treat our environment, and how one person can make all the difference. I think that water supply is extremely important, and pollution like this could have seriously hurt their community.

In this article, it said that the fumes caused paint on nearby buildings to blacken. This couldn’t have looked very nice, but, in addition to its unsightly appearance, the fumes were very dangerous to everyone’s health. As I mentioned before, children were often rushed to the doctor to get a shot when they got too near the water. Environmental authorities classified the Nashua as “unfit for sewage disposal”. If it weren’t for Marion’s involvement, who knows how long the river would have stayed polluted? Its quality could have gotten even worse!

I think we all need to be a little more involved in the quality of local water. We use water for almost everything we do, and without it we would be in serious trouble. I’m glad that someone had the courage to stand up for their community to bring a problem to everyone’s attention and stick to their ideas. Water is recycled constantly, so let’s not ruin the only water we’ve got!