Lesbians, inspiration and work ethics

Each work one does has a purpose. Some works were made to be bring profits. Others to earn and build reputation. But there are projects that were thought of, and made for, the satisfaction of passions. This is the sort of a case I am going to present in this article, and it is perhaps my dearest story evolving around one of my projects and what, thanks to a sweet young couple, I found out about work.

"Innocence lost" or talking about a fallacy?

Impurity by yuumei on deviantart

Some ideals and concepts are so deep engraved on our brain from an early age, that many times we fail to see what's in front of us. Take the above picture for example: When I saw the stunningly white dress the girl wore, I immediately linked it with virginity and the blood with the loss of it. The title also was connected in a similar way to my thoughts. Well, after reading the description of the creator, the idea she wanted to put across was something totally different. It had to do with the beauty of the dress and the ugliness of the crime commited to obtain it (the murder of the swan).

Yet what was it that lead me to such conclusions? Most probably my upbringing. That connects purity with virginity as well as the cultural connotations in West associated with these colours. But is it really like the conservatives claim to be? And were there a time when we were pure-hearted? A time of innocence?

The universal patient : Schooling

Blowing Bubbles by AquaSixio on deviantart

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep. ~W.H. Auden

I believe you have NEVER EVER seen a student fall asleep in the classroom, because teachers are educated and trained individuals who really love their job and know how to make the lesson interesting... Aside from joking, what I saw in my visit at schools in the (greek) classrooms during my training last week (A' phase training where we watch teaching and write down our impressions and try to learn how to make a lesson plan) was frustrating for many reasons. Not because I didn't know that schooling hasn't changed basically much since last century, although there are so many new teaching methods out there, but because I realised that teachers as human beings with feelings and thoughts haven't changed and because it dawned on me how much we idealize our own teachers from our childhood...

So, on this post I'm going to talk about

• my one-week experience in schools, my feelings and thoughts on it,
• the difference between schooling and education
• what education should be. what education is and how it can be changed (content, goals, methods)
• and of course about teachers, students and parents, since they are the ones mainly involved, even though there are 'outside restrictions' -don't forget that education in schools is an institution designed by a state and confined by laws and politics.

Naturally, some people know better than me, so I'll let them speak in my place through quotes and videos.

AKROSS CON- a russian AMV contest

Feel Alive by Yuumei on deviantart

AMVs have become popular and that's not without reason. Some may insist that this kind of 'product' is not anything very creative, since it uses material already produced by other people. But if we accept written works that are based on other books (e.g. critics by a professor B on a scientific issue addressed by a professor A), why can't we accept videos that are based on other videos and give a different point of view? Seferis, a Nobel awarded Greek (for literature), had written "Our words are many people's children"...

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

"Desiderata" (Latin for "desired things", plural of desideratum) is an inspirational prose poem about attaining happiness in life. See video and listen to audio after the jump.

Conversations - Beauty, morals and racism

From the previous post about Chinese beauty arose a very interesting conversation. We are both happy that we can discuss about everything and challenge each other to think. Intellectual ‘battles’ are always interesting. So, there certainly will come out more in the future.

The crazy water

There once was a king and he ruled a kind kingdom,
with happy and willing people.
One night, the king descented into a prophet's dream
and thus he saw the dreadful future:
in just a few days, it'd rain hard
but the water would make the people crazy
doin' things they would never expect.

The king woke up drowned in his sweat and heavy breath
and told his best friend an advisor of what he knew
"What you've witnessed is true my lord" he told the anxious king
"and here is what we must do. We will save all the sane water for a few days
and when all sanity is lost, we'll keep driking only from the good water
to keep this kingdom in justice and happiness".
And so they did.

When the people went insane, justice kept on the kingdom thanks to the king and his advisor
But soon the people were mad and angry against them
for for them madness was reason and reason was madness.
Soon both the king and his friend took the toughest decision
To drink the crazy water, to loose their minds, be one with the nutheads.
And so they did".

Don't you have the feeling that people, each and everyone of them, have actually tried the mad water ever since they were born? And that they keep updating on their dose of it?

Isn't it a pure sign of madness teaching kids at schools to be proud of their grandfather's horrible acts and prejustice, and then wonder why violence is a theme very popular to younglings, especially the male ones?

Isn't it an absolute sign of idiocity and hypocrisy to give one or two (or even 50 or 100) euro for children in Haiti, then buy products of the brands we all know they use children to produce their commodities, so we actually finance the hunger and pain those people feel? Even worse, the same people who make comments like "I may be a racist, but when I see a hungry child my heart is full of love for it" seem to become the very symbols of the majority of people. Am I the only one feeling embarassment to be a human when I listen to such things?

Isn't an act of nutheads to feel insulted of people protesting for their rights and needs?

Isn't it a sign of a madman to use dangerous words, the meaning of which he or she does not know, to show off?

The meaning of this post is not that I am the definition of a smart, rightful person and the rest of you are a pile of wasted crap. It's not a demand to change the world or to wake up people. There's nothing sophisticated behind it. It's only a way to say something I never listen anyone saying : you can be a bastard in every aspect in your life and it'll be ok, but, for goodness sake, just be a little honest to your self on how things are (and most probably have always been). It's the very least that can be done.

What makes the world beautiful?

by nighty on devianart

This blog is named after Kino no Tabi's motto, so for the first post we thought it natural to begin with our world views and what we find beautiful in this world.