'Spirit of Concord' has been established!

I'm so excited- SO excited. I had explained that my dream was to begin a charity in Ethiopia and soon spread it to other countries in need; now it's finally happening! My AP history teacher had me run through my ideas and has told me that next year, I'll be presenting my charity to the National/History Honors Society and to her new AP World History students! All that's left is the legal work which seems endless and impossible, but at least now i know that this is going somewhere. I'll be in Ethiopia this summer (highlight of the past 2 years, since i had last been there) and i'll basically be documenting everything while i'm there for my own art/photography and also for the charity work. I guess that should make it 'legit'... anyways, I also promised my former teacher that I'd check up on her foundation while i'm in South Africa (she built a school in her family's name). My summer is pretty much going to be spent in Africa for about 2 months or so, with Italy in between! Oh, and a note, I'll be setting up a website and possibly a blog for 'Spirit of Concord' very soon. Be psyched ya'll.

What I See When I Close My Eyes

href="http://www.hemmy.net/images/arts/ricefieldart00.jpg">
href="http://endangerededen.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/rio-de-janeiro-favela-da-rocinha-slum-photo-by-n-cabana.jpg">

None of this is supposed to be a political statement or anything, it's just what I'd call beauty. I know most people would consider this to be the more uncommon depiction of it, but this is what it is to me, I guess.

Grades Are Not My Label

I feel like venting my frustration right about now because I've just realized that I have wasted about 5 years of my life studying irreleveant things. Yes, in school. It's almost like school is my one common enemy, but truth to the matter, school is a waste of time. It burns you, defeats you, kicks you when you're down, paddles you, LABELS you. You become a no one when your grades are low but you become a well respected youngster when your grades are good. What the hell is that? Is society trying to tell us that those who make bad grades are 'low-life slackers', as once said? I'll have you know, Forbes Magazine does not think so, as I skimmed through it to the last page full of quotes admired by Forbes himself, "The world is made up of C students." I couldn't have said it better myself, actually.
Tell me; what's wrong with being average? Why do people judge us by the grades we make? Why do kids with 4.2 GPA's do so well in school but if I were to ask them 'what do you think of the arab-Israeli conflict', they wouldn't even know about the country of Palestine? I do not understand!

I'll break my situation down:

A= Excellent (By foreign parents' standards, the only acceptable grade)
B= You were so damn close!
C= Um, are you asking to be deported?
D= You've been disowned and/or shunned.
F= Why are you still alive?

So now if someone were to ask me about my GPA and I were to tell them that I have a 3.9 they would look to me in admiration and respect. If I were to go to the same people and tell them I had a 2.6 GPA, I'd be a failure, not worthy of anything, and I'd belong in community college for not trying and being a disgrace.

My question is: Why are grades so important? Why is school so important?
Answer: You can become someone without school and make it big. Without school, you might have a harder time, but that's it. Why is our intellect meausred in letters? The same letters that can either make us or break us? Am i stupid if I make a D in a class? No. It means I'm not interested and I cannot be forced into wanting to learn about crazy quations that science lunatics made up in their basements for fun.
Which brings this along; Why the hell am i learning about some math problem that is SO irrelevant? I mean, when you think about it, some weirdo decided to play around with numbers and told us that it will produce the correct amount of whatever is needed for a solution.
Really?
REALLY?

Anyways, all in all, grades are not my label. Making a bad grade does not make me dumb or irresponsible. It makes me worthy of something better and more interesting other than chemistry or mathematics. Unfortunately, the best years of my life when I actually have the energy to do EVERYTHING, I'm spending those days in school. I could be doing something that'll actually benefit me, like traveling around the world, but instead, I'm locked up in a facility with others by law. I hate some laws.

Oh well... I need to be 'ze mozt sook-cessful pear-son in ze worlid' and follow in the so called footsteps of my family and be a worthy relative/daughter/friend/person in general... and apparently, that'll only happen if I make the good grades that will label me.

Where I'm Mentally Living

I'll say this now, I've never been to South America (unless my parents have something to hide about my childhood). I've never been but I've had every intention of going as soon as possible- desperately. My dream right now is to be in Brazil- a place I'd like to call home- living out the dream I've always had. You know how in movies, the suspect to a crime always runs off to 'Rio'? Ok- my intentions are not to run off to Rio in order to escape becoming a convict... though that's what every crime movie seems to think of most non-Brazilian residents there. I want to live where homes look like this;

But men look like Marlon Teixeria.
This all sounds crazy... like Fantasy Football, except this has beautiful countries and male models in substitute for american football teams. This may also sound like a dream, but I'm determined to make it a reality one of these days. It's funny though, because day and night, all I've thought about is being in Brazil, traveling in Argentina, making Colombian friends, sailing near the coasts of Chile, learning in Venezuela, and becoming someone in Peru. So this isn't a fantasy, seeing as how this has all been planned out. Once my torture sentence in a facility called school is over, I plan on living it up away from what I am familiar with. I want my life to be an oxymoron with no boundaries.
I'm not going to be one of those tourists who wear cargo pants, takes pictures of EVERYTHING, and hopes to seem so cool and cultured just because they're surrounded by native children (that all annoys me like crazy). I'm going to wear whatever everyone else is wearing in order to blend in. I'm going to learn how to effing speak Portuguese. I'll get jumped into an Amazon Tribe, if that's what it takes. As long as where I'm mentally living soon becomes where I'm physically living.

What I Do When I've got a Low Patience

So basically, the title breaks it down pretty well. It's spring break- right now, and it's been going on since last friday and will end right after Easter. Most people are out of town, in some tropical place, most likely not thinking about school. Where am I? I'm at home. I'm the most exciting person you will ever meet in your lifetime. I keep wondering to myself, 'what's holding me back from going some place this year?' It's not school because to be honest, I don't give a crap about holiday assignments- and that is EXACTLY why I've got a low patience. My crazy AP World History teacher thinks it's OK to assign 3 essays and 2 chapters over spring break. No ma'am, IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT. I've already got things to do. If she doesn't have a life, it doesn't mean she should drag her students down with her! I have a friend in Cancun right now- at this moment, who is probably on a beach or on a boat or on a horse, i don't know- but one thing for sure is that she is definitely not lugging around a humongous history textbook as she builds her imaginary sandcastle. I really do hope that my teacher realizes that no one is putting in a 100% effort over break. The woman is actually crazy though, that's obvious. Mrs. L***y is like a literal mood swing to me. One day, I just wanna be BFF's with her (that was sarcasm at it's extreme), and other days, I want aliens to abduct her and never bring her back (I had worser scenarios in my head but it felt weird typing them out so I stuck with the alien story). Point is, spring break is almost over and I haven't touched any schoolwork AT ALL. Right now I should be doing those 2 chapters, but here I am instead. I'm dreaming of going back to Monaco, where everything is just... chill. Maybe going back to Tuscany, Italy- people there have a longer life span because they have nothing to worry about; no politics to interfere with their farm-ful lives, no taxes, no pollution, no health risks, all they do is eat the food they grow and make, drink wine, farm/trade, and have huge get togethers. Then they sleep and the cycle starts again. I wish my life was like that, where I wouldn't have a care in the world, maybe I wouldn't even have school to stress over. Everything I'm doing now, is for college (minus writing this). College drives people insane, unless they know how to just not care. But by 'not caring', where will you be?
So this all is what I do when I've got a low patience. When I'm frustrated or bored. I just write it out (but not here because I doubt anyone's interested in how much I dislike school related things). Tchao for now...

Amreeka

Imagine 'America' being said by a heavily accented new comer... once you've established that, you'll notice that 'Amreeka' is the exact way 'America' would be said with an accent. In this case, an Arab accent. If you look above, the movie poster is for a film (that has already been out and gone since september) called "Amreeka". I never got the chance to share this amazing indie film that has captured the hearts of all viewers... and as pathetic as this will sound, I haven't even seen it yet. I'm just basing it on the trailer, previews, and reviews. Point is... look around the world today. Observe the world's inhabitants. Observe their lives and/or struggles. You'll notice that many of these struggles arise once you've been labeled 'foreigner' or 'immigrant' or even 'F.O.B'. Who actually wants to be called that? Intentionally? These days, being a FOB or immigrant is the worst thing. People immediately assume you've jumped a border or swam across an invisible line. No. In most cases, the act is done legally. Cherien Dabis thinks so too. Amreeka tells the story of a Palestinian mother and son who flee from Gaza for a better life in America (as promised in movies, media, etc). Everything seems ok for the time being... they have a roof over their heads with their American- Palestinian relatives in a middle of no where town in the U.S. True troubles start when the mother is in search of a job and her son is trying to fit in for a normal school life, where he is bullied for pretty much being an arab at a time when America's war in the middle east was heavy. Their relatives themselves are going through interesting phases upon their family's arrival. "We live in America now- we're not in Palestine!" "If you live in this house, you live in Palestine!" Sorry, I just had to throw in that passionate quote from the movie. It shows a youngsters point of view on being an arab living in America. It seems the youth is losing touch with culture and heritage... that needs to change.

My Indian Venezuelan Sonu

Devendra Banhart... a beautiful person who only means good. He thinks he's Indian even though he's Venezuelan. Gotta love him anyways. His music is fantasimo. I could say i'm in love with him but that's a little weird seeing as how we have never met in this life (and he's dating Portman). But I can still imagine and create. So... this is Devendra- learn to love him.