The End! (Or is it?)

This blog is assigned as kind of a conclusion to the semester. I am supposed to give my final thoughts on keeping a blog, advice to other students, etc. The thing is, I don't think I want this whole blog thing to end; I really enjoyed it!

I think that a blog is a very fun and interesting thing to keep, especially when you have a captive audience who is supposed to comment on your thoughts. I really enjoyed sharing my music, and spreading my political ideas around as well. I do think that students should keep a blog, and I definitely think they should comment on other student blogs as well, it's a wonderful set up.

I don't think I am going to let this blog end here, and I hope you all feel the same way. It's been a great semester, in part because of this blog. I hope that you all got as much enjoyment and information out of it as I did!

Back to the Grind (a.k.a. I was told to write this)

So, back to writing about topics mandated by my English teacher. That little angry rant was fun, but it's not really the purpose of this blog, now is it?

This assignment entails describing the town of Normal, IL. Rather, advertising it if it is worth advertising, which I really think it is. I really love this town, to be perfectly honest. I come from Champaign, and I must say that while I love my hometown to death, after eighteen years, I got a little sick of it. Normal feels like Champaign 2.0, really. Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, they are both double-cities that still aren't that big. There's plenty to do, but it's not a big city. The campus of ISU is similarly balanced. There are enough people here, and the campus is large enough, to be a significant place for socializing and a stand-alone area, without being U of I size, meaning unwalkable.

The town itself is really nice too, though I haven't been to downtown Bloomington much. It's nice that there are places just barely off campus that offer lots of entertainment for everyone who goes here. One of the most popular among these isn't really an entertainment spot, but a place to obtain entertainment for later: The Movie Fan. It has a great selection, including a good selection of gay and lesbian films, so much so that some friends of mine used to have a "Gay Films Friday" every Friday.

Right across the street is the Normal Theater, which is a restored retro theater that plays lots of independent films; at the beginning of my Freshman year, Hot Fuzz was playing as part of a series of foreign, independent films. Hot Fuzz is my favorite movie, so how could I miss out? Today through Sunday, they are playing Milk, which I sadly have yet to see and will probably miss on this showing.

There is also the wonderful ice cream shop, Emack & Bolio. It's ice cream, what more do you want from me?

Honestly, I haven't been all over yet, but I really love this town. There is sufficient entertainment to be had without having to drive or catch a bus anywhere, and the atmosphere here is just wonderful!

Unrelated Rant

This is completely unrelated to our blog assignments, I just really felt like ranting and venting, and I figured what better place to do this than a blog, right?

So, anyway, in the process of researching for my paper, I must read sources with views opposing mine.  This is sometimes informative, and very often frustrating.  Right now, I am incredibly frustrated, having read one specific article that really rubbed me the wrong way.  After reading, I have this to say:

Why is it that no one understands how cloning works?!  Geez, this is worse than the evolution discussion!

The writer of this article suffers from a viewpoint that I have witnessed before, but that I had erroneously assumed was not very widespread.  He seems to think that therapeutic cloning will involve creating an entire human being who will then be killed for the sake of medicine or medicinal research.  This is utterly idiotic.  Therapeutic cloning involves creating organs or specific tissue.  It's not like we create a whole human being with functioning organs, take the organs we need, and go "see ya!"

Why is this totally backwards view so prevalent among pro-lifers?  Why do they use such false analogies?  I understand thinking that abortion is wrong, and to an extent, why stem cell research using embryos is therefore bad, but defend it on more solid ground, people!  It's not that hard!  Rather than attacking scientists and the well-chosen words they use to describe their fields, stick to things you know, like religion.

This writer really does equate a cluster of cells that will, if in a womb, eventually grow into a human, to a fully formed human being!  Why is this so accepted?  He uses an utterly false analogy which I shall quote for you now:

"If I have a bad eye and you have a good one, can I forcibly take your good eye to make my bad one better?"

Well, no, but this is not in any way the same as taking cells from an unused embryo created by in vitro fertilization, one which will not be used and will be destroyed anyway, and creating a good new eye for me.  How is this in any way the same?  No, an embryo is not a fully formed or distinct human.  Hell, it's not even an independent life form!  Why is this so hard to understand?!

As a closing non-sequitur, I find it interesting that being pro-death penalty tends to accompany being pro-life.  I sarcastically surmise that activist pro-lifers really just want to keep everyone alive until birth so they can kill them later.