Editing: As Easy as 1-2-3?

August 13, 2009

“Aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.*” Looks like a mess doesn’t it? (Unless of course, you can read it.) Supposedly everyone can read it, but I have heard there are some people out there who can’t. However, whether you can read it or not- I am sure everyone has had a chance to see it before now since this is one of the most popular forwarded emails. I know I have received it at least half a dozen times.

The thing about this messed up paragraph is that the last line holds so much truth. “This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole.” When we write and type, we all make mistakes. It is especially easy when typing on the computer. There can be some letters mixed up like “jsut” for “just”, or a letter can be forgotten like “othr” for “other”, or a letter could be replaced with another letter by mistake like “fell” for “feel.” But if you are typing in Microsoft Word, you expect that it will catch your mistakes before you proofread and edit. However, that squiggly red line doesn’t appear under a word that isn’t misspelled. It wouldn’t appear under “fell” because that is a correct spelling. Microsoft Word doesn’t know what you meat to say, and really it doesn’t care as long as the grammar is correct.

Here is a perfect example. As I was typing, I forgot the “n” in “meant” and it became “meat”, which Microsoft did not catch because of the correct spelling, because the program does not read my document to know what was really supposed to be said.

Therefore, if I (the writer) were to edit this myself, I may not catch the word “meat” either because I know what it was supposed to say and therefore may just skim over it because it has mostly all the right letters. And perhaps maybe my editor won’t catch it in the first read either. THAT IS OKAY! But some people just find nit-picking a habit. They always correct people’s grammar and pronunciation and… it is annoying. I do it too- to a degree.

When we read our work, we do not read each letter of a word. If I were to start reading the last line I just wrote, I would not read it like this, saying each individual letter: “W-h-e-n w-e r-e-a-d…” Instead, I would read each word as a whole: “When we read…”

There are sometimes when a writers writing must be perfect and flawless such as when they are a professional. Journalists for CNN, NY Times and anywhere that is even local should never have mistakes or obvious ones anyway. But for people who use a site like CNN for the iReport! to post their works, and they are not paid professional writers, are they not allowed a simple mistake or two? Are they supposed to have their “works” edited professionally just to post it as a reader submitted article that may or may not be read by others? Some people like editors say that everyone’s writings should be edited before posting.

So, whose side are you on?

Binghamton Visitors: What Did You Pack?

August 6, 2009

In some place of the United States, people still have their summer clothes hanging in their closets and have their winter clothes tucked away in a tub or box in storage somewhere until the weather starts changing to fall. In some places, winter never really happens and summer sticks around year long. In other places… well, places like Binghamton, N.Y., we should always have both summer and winter clothes on hand everyday… just in case.

This year has been no exception. The weather is in one way never predictable here. You never know what temperature it is going to be until the day arrives… and most generally looking at the weather forecast never helps. On the other hand, the weather is always predictable here. You can always expect the weather to change at any given moment. So far, we haven’t had a summer per say. The climate of 70 degrees has stuck around for quite awhile now, and there have been some chilly nights. At one point, if you have kept your furnace on this year into summer, there is a good chance it may have kicked on one or two nights in July. Then there are days that are 80 some degrees but feels like 100 degrees and the sweat drips off of you the moment your foot touches the pavement.

It is now early August and the weather at this moment is 68 degrees at noon time. Last night it was cool. No reason for a fan or air conditioning. The breeze blew through the windows quite well and kept everything comfortable. But that wasn’t the case on the night before, where every fan running just wasn’t enough, and the air did have to be put on.

For those of us who live here, and those who grew up here, we know not to get attached to weather for too long; because in any moment… it could be different. Welcome to the city of two seasons. For the people visiting, what did you pack?

God is No Longer in the Miracle Business

August 3, 2009

My mom always tells me to pray for everything, and Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Of course, I always feel like something’s are too small to bring to him. My mom on the other hand finds nothing too small of a deal to take to God. Every time I tell her that I have lost something, whether it is a pen, the remote…ANYTHING… she tells me automatically to pray for it. One time, I forgot where I hid my daughter’s bag of crayons in the house after I took them from her for a punishment. With my mom on the phone, she tried to help me think of all the places they could be. In a short silence I heard her whisper and mumble something, when suddenly I found them in the one

For information about Gardasil, go to: www.gardasil.com. Or have the talk with your doctor about it.

place I never thought I even put them… her closet. When I told my mom I found them she said, I just prayed God would show you where they were!

In April of 2008, I was diagnosed with the human papillomavirus, widely known by its initials, HPV. I am sure we have all heard the well-known commercial for GARDASIL. “GARDASIL is the only cervical cancer vaccine that helps protect against 4 types of human papillomavirus (HPV): 2 types that cause 70% of cervical cancer cases, and 2 more types that cause 90% of genital warts cases. GARDASIL is for girls and young women ages 9 to 26.” A Pap test is used to detect abnormal cells which may develop into cancer.

I was not happy. I was scared that mine would turn into cancer. I always have the worst of luck. My doctor told me that he would do another pap in three months to see if they were still there. In August of 2008, I had my repeat pap and the cells were still abnormal. So he said we would wait one more time until February and then if they were still there, we would do something about it.

I was confused as to why we were doing all the waiting, but after awhile it slipped my mind that I even had it. I was feeling fine and going about my normal routine every day. For weeks on end I was having someone at my church pray for me for a something else I had going on in my life at the time, and I was so caught up in praying for that, that in almost a year, I never once thought of having them pray for my HPV to go away.

The week I had my pap I remembered I sat in the waiting room thinking I didn’t really want to know the results when they would come in. However, I knew that I would have to find them out. Soon I heard, “Ashley?” I knew it was time to get this over with. I was told I would have the results that next Tuesday so as I was getting ready to find out the results, I went up that Sunday and had my HPV prayed for. I prayed that it was gone and if it weren’t that it wasn’t turning into cancer.

Finally, Tuesday came. I was getting more scared now with what my outcome would be. That fateful call came on time, and the words were so unbelievable, “Ashley, you are fine. You’re abnormal cells are gone.” I wanted to call everyone and tell them the good news. I was relieved.

Although, it wasn’t until the following Sunday when I realized what had happened. I went almost a year without bring this HPV problem to God. I brought all my other troubles and burdens to Him, except this. But the week I brought it to Him, I was freed of those cells. This was the biggest miracle that I had experienced and realized right away that the prayer had worked.

Pastor Brandon Samuel once said, “People tend to think that God is no longer in the miracle business, like He made the world and then went on vacation. He hasn’t. There is no vacation or sleep for God. He is still doing miracles every day.”

Well, if I hadn’t experienced a miracle and realized it, I don’t think I would have believed it. He IS still in the miracle business.

Will the Big Brother Houseguests WAKE UP?

July 31, 2009

People, people, people... Come on! Is your head in the game?

You had your chance to get Ronnie out, and you didn’t- what a shame!

It is week three in the Big Brother house. By now everyone in the audience and in America is squirming in their seats. You are either a huge fan of Ronnie’s, or you hate him. The geekiest, dorkiest, make friends with all, smartest and dumbest person in the house has broken the mold. He thought he had a great plan… did he initialize it too soon? He was found out to be the rat by week two! How does that happen? He wasn’t careful enough when playing both sides of the house. He made everyone hate him and set himself up for eviction. Except, like I said… it is week three, going on four, and Ronnie is still in the BB house.

What happened? Jessie happened, “He didn’t lie to me.” This was the reason he gave when he explained in the diary room why he wasn’t gunning to get Ronnie out of the house. But no one said it better than Casey in his speech before the eviction voting began, “Ronnie, the manipulative uh... Dorkapotamus, with the God complex. Jessie, the self absorbed, ego maniac with a personality and IQ of, ironically enough, a banana. You have a choice. Go into the diary room, you can do what they tell you to do and vote me out and continue to be mindless sheep herded down toward your OWN eviction OR you can use the anonymity of the Diary Room and vote to keep me here.”

As we all know, it was the master-mind Jessie who has evicted all three members currently watching as the Big Brother saga plays out in the comfort of their own homes now. First to go was Braden, the surfer from California who takes pride in his appearance and thinks of himself as lovable. He tried to play the loveable card in the house and tried to lay-low, but that got him booted. Week two, Laura, the 21-year-old bikini model and youngest in the house was evicted after Ronnie saw that she was the only one that was putting two and two together to figure out that he was the “rat” that was playing all side of the house. And of course, Casey, the fifth grade teacher by day and DJ by night and the oldest one in the house was sent packing in week three as a result of Jessie turning on everyone and deciding to keep the “rat” Ronnie in the house.

Big Brother 11 Houseguests: Braden (evicted week 1), Casey (evicted week 3), Chima, Jeff, Jordan, Kevin, Laura (evicted week 2), Lydia, Michele, Natalie, Ronnie, Russell, Jessie.

Jessie has made his mark in the house. With Natalie and Lydia vying for his attention (are they looking for a showmance or do they really care for Jessie?), Ronnie playing him like a violin, Russell beginning to turn on him, Jeff, Jordan and Michele still not his fans since day one and Chima who doesn’t really know what is going on, Jessie has a target on his back with some houseguests. Especially while donning a cowboy hat and sunglasses and reciting his limerick speech for a replacement nominee: “Move your feet, you got a new seat. Casey, hop in there buddy,”

Who will win the next HOH and maybe set the house into a new balance by getting the rat or the self-absorbed maniac out of the house? Who will be chosen by America to hold the new power the Coup D’etat, and will they use to the best of their abilities? Find out as Big Brother continues throughout the summer every Tuesday at 9p.m. and every Sunday and Thursday at 8p.m.

Poem for 2009 Summer Beauty Pageant

For the pageants, there is an "About Me" section that the contestant is to fill out, however, since Tarrah is so young, they ask that the parent writes something. I of course, choose to write a cute poem:

I may not be too old,

I may not be too tall.

But take a look at this grace,

I have yet to fall.

I strive to be a doctor,

Of course when I am older than two.

Maybe someday you will be my patient,

Tell me that is okay with you.

I went to Florida in March,

That was my most interesting experience to date.

If you haven’t been there yet-

GO NOW! Don’t wait.

I met Mickey and his pals,

And became a princess in the castle.

But I can’t wear this frilly dress all time,

It isn’t worth the hassle.

I have been here before

Maybe you can remember when.

I loved it then,

And thought I should do it again.

So here is a twirl

And a smile for you.

Hope you like this,

It’s the least my mother could do….

You know, since I can’t write.

When Women are Cows

July 27, 2009

Most girls dream about their weddings when they are young; playing dress-up, marrying Barbie and Ken and even doodling wedding bells. Most boys on the other hand- don’t.

There is a saying I often hear: “Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free?” Now obviously this line isn’t really about any cow being bought or any free milk. It is figure-of-speech. While we can figure out that the “cow” is a symbol for a human, and the “buying of the cow” is represented for marriage, I always thought the “milk” was a depiction of sex.

However, my aunt gave me some great insight to the “milk” being other things, and this whole figure-of-speech doesn’t have to do with anything sexual at all.”Milk” Could be anything. Such as: laundry, cleaning, cooking, dishes, taking care of a child… etc. I never thought about it like that. But whatever the “cow” is doing that the other one doesn’t have to then the service is free without having to “buy” it through marriage. (Lost yet?)

Then I thought about it more. Who is this line usually said to? Who is the “cow,” the girl or the boy? Well when I catch myself saying it, it is usually directed at the girl… making her the “cow.” (Ironically enough if a guy ever called a girl a cow he would be smacked so hard his head would turn a million times.) Most of the time nevertheless, in a relationship, it is a girl who is ready for marriage when the boy isn’t. Making it seem he will never marry because… the “milk” or services (if you will) of any kind are free; therefore not having to fulfill a girl’s dream wedding with the upward cost of thousands and thousands of dollars… or even the cheapest way to shoe their undying love for one another through a cheap wedding down at the good old justice of the peace.

Of course, it is not always this way. There are good shares of boys who can easily be the “cow.” Like when the man brings home the “bacon” (a.k.a. money) and he is not married but living with his significant other and the girl doesn’t find the need to marry because he is bring home the money for free.

This whole cow thing seems to be a ritual to portray a girl too. In 2001, “Someone like You” starring Ashley Judd brought up the idea of the “New-Cow Theory.” Basically saying that men leave women and never come back because all they really want is “New Cow."

And with the fact that a man may be slapped or even get an earful for ever thinking about comparing a girl to a cow, there seem to be many lines or theories that do compare us to those spotted creatures.

Fawcett vs. Jackson: Who Died First?

July 15, 2009

Who died first? Was it Farrah Fawcett, the beautiful blonde bombshell with to-die-for hair and a contagious smile that we all know from Charlie’s Angels who had been battling cancer for the past three years? Or was it Michael Jackson, the pop icon that become the King of pop and whom people fell in love with at his very early age when he was singing ABC?

Then again, does it really matter who passed away before whom on that fateful Thursday on June 25, 2009? We lost two icons that day. Whether or not Jackson went before Fawcett, or she died before him (as previously thought), do we really need to know? There is no reason for us to have to know the exact moment a celeb dies. If it is 8 am or noon, that doesn’t matter to us, the fans. The families may want to know, but do we need to read about? Do we care if the claims were one minute or one hour off?

A person dying is not a race. It is not like there is a finish line. If we find out which person went first, do they get a medal? No, so we, the people, do not need to know these specifics.

Please, just let them rest… it has been over month. Whoever died before whom doesn’t matter… they are dead either way.