Excerpts from "This I Believe," Part 1

(Editor's Note: I can't italicize in post titles, but I obviously would have if I were allowed to do so.)

The first-year summer reading for the Stonehill Class of 2015 is a book called This I Believe. It is a collection of personal belief essays composed by many sorts of different people. According to the front cover, it includes "the personal philosophies of remarkable men and women." During the 1950's, This I Believe was a featured segment on National Public Radio. Now, their project consists of reading emailed essays and reading everyone's personal belief statement. The incoming freshmen to Stonehill will read this book, and during the fall semester, will draft a belief statement of their own. In this series of posts (which will occur at a completely arbitrary rate dependent on how often I read this book), I will include excerpts from This I Believe, as well as some personal thoughts on each quote. And more than likely, I'll put together my own personal belief statement after all's said and done. Who knows, maybe you'll even get a chance to see excerpts from that one too.

(Allison, Jay, and Dan Gediman. This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women. New York: This I Believe, 2006. Print.)

(Yes, I cited. I'm a big boy now...have to follow the law.)

- "You only have what you give...what is the point of having experience, knowledge, or talent if I don't give it away?...It is in giving that I connect with others, with the world, and with the divine."
These quotes will go chronologically throughout the book, and this comes from the third essay in the collection, titled "In Giving I Connect with Others." What I like about this quote is that it implies a give-and-take mechanism. If you give what you have, then by some means or another, you will receive something in return. Whether it is the joy of giving, or another gift given to you, you will be able to receive something, and something beautiful, at that. So don't be afraid to give. You will be given something in return.

- "It has more than once reminded me that skepticism about life and nature is most often expressed by those who take it for granted that belief is an indulgence of the superstitious."
I highlight this quote more so for its elegant grace in word selection, something of which I am an extreme proponent of. It's also interesting to think about - the people who question the structure of life and all that goes with it are also the people who think that belief and faith are just indulging to the superstitious, and that which one cannot control. So what does that say about the skeptics? They haven't indulged in the superstitious, but they've indulged in their own belief that life isn't what others believe. I could probably write an entire post about this, but I digress.

- "The fabric of my life is now woven with gratitude and humility. I have been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom that comes from facing one's worst fear and walking away whole. I believe there is strength in surrender."
I like this quote because it talks about acknowledging something in your life and letting it go. In this essay, a woman talked about her stagnant life after her husband's passing away. Facing her grief was the hardest thing she could ever do in her life, and it changed her for the better as a result. I admire that. It's extremely hard to lose people in your life, and I've been lucky that I haven't had to experience that as much as other people may have. But this idea of facing your fears and surrendering...it's not giving up. Absolutely not. It's opening up to yourself and others, and you will see what you're really made of, and that is where the strength and freedom comes from. It's hard to shape, but beautiful in its form.

I realized that if I were to have all the excerpts in one post, then it would be extremely long, and no one would make it to the end. So, putting my (very bleak) marketing skills to use, I'm going to end my reading for this sitting now, and leave you with these three excerpts, hoping that you crave more soon.

8 highs of Orientation

One activity we do at Orientation is a game called "One high, one low." And simply enough, you go around a circle telling the group about one high moment and one low moment of the last week or however long, or in our case, Orientation. So I figured, why not do eight of them?

- One of my students told me on the second day of the session that he appreciated the work my partner (the lovely Erin Kelly) and I did and thanked us, because he wasn't sure if anyone else had yet.

- During the evening activities (dance, bingo, movie, pizza in the dining commons), I was cleaning my water bottle in the bathroom, to which one student remarked to me. After we had a 12-second conversation about cleaning water bottles, he told me that all of the Peer Mentors were doing a great job with everything.

- All of the other Peer Mentors told fantastic stories about their personal highs for Orientation, and different things students said to them. It let me know that the entire team as a whole made an impact on the first-year students, and I think that we more than welcomed them into the Stonehill community!

- My partner was amazing. She's heard all of this and more already, but Erin made it so easy for me to be a successful Peer Mentor, both in what I was doing in terms of the group, and how I thought things were going.

- Welcoming families and students at 8 a.m. in the morning clad entirely in purple with sunglasses and a vuvuzela and pompom just screams enthusiasm. I had so much fun welcoming families that I kinda wished I could have done that all day long.

- All of the Peer Mentors cared about my well-being. I've been sick for the last week, and at some point during those last seven days, I'm pretty sure that every single member of the team has asked me how I was doing at least once. To know that they care about a part of their team helped me keep going all day when it was easy to just slack off and do nothing.

- For the second session's Playfair, I was near the front of the Peer Mentor tunnel for the first-year students to run through. And in the Sports Complex, it was just so loud hearing everyone screaming, cheering, chanting, and clapping that it almost seemed like I wasn't sick. I didn't have my mind on anything else for those 10 or 15 minutes, and I felt so alive during that moment.

- No one had a bad time at Orientation. All of the partners said that it was one of, if not the best Orientation experience they've had, and so far, that's true for me as well. It makes me warm and fuzzy inside to know that I was a small part of something so meaningful for someone.

There are certainly more highs of Orientation so far, and more specific examples, but I think that these eight are a good representation of the amazing time I had at Orientation, and now that I've already been through it once, I don't think there's anything preventing me from being more excited for next year's Orientation.

sessiOn 1

Man, am I already excited to do this again. The first session of Orientation ended about an hour ago, and as much as I'm looking forward to taking a break for a day and a half, I'm definitely ready to go back to work for Session 2. It was absolutely amazing to be a part of Orientation from the other side...I have a whole new appreciation for what Peer Mentors do. I advise anyone thinking about becoming a Peer Mentor or Orientation Leader to do it - not only because of the connections you make with the other Peer Mentors and your first-year students, but because you learn so much more about your college. Two of the presentations I attended in Session 1 were Community Expectations and Diversity, and let me say that I understand a lot more about the points they try and make after we've had meetings with them as Peer Mentors. It's really great to know what goes on behind the scenes around campus. But enough about that. Back to the Peer Mentors and first-year students and the connections you make. Having those connections is so worthwhile, especially when you know that you've made an impact in someone's life and the choices that they've made. Hopefully I can do the same for my students in the second session, and bring everyone together in the fall. Whatever happens though, I can't help but smile every time I think about Orientation and the Peer Mentor program right now. It's a good feeling :)

The energy one has to save after two 15-hour days

Whew.

Allow me to take a minute to let this all set in.

Each of my previous two days (Thursday and today) have started between 8 and 8:30 a.m. For the last month I've woken up at lunchtime. By lunchtime yesterday and today, I've had 4 sessions of trainings and meetings and spent a combined 7 hours in them. I've easily hit some "walls," only to mysteriously snap out of them. But here's the thing - despite having 12 hours of sleep in the last two nights, I always seem to find some energy somewhere inside me. And that's absolutely the result of going through the same thing with 60 other students, as well as a handful of administrators. Even in the time we don't have training and meeting with other administrators to prep for the incoming students, we're having fun together and bonding, like playing Orientation games (potential post coming up next week about 10 great games you don't only have to play at Orientation). This really is going to be an extremely memorable experience, and there's just about a full week left for us. I'm actually surprised I have any energy left to save because it seems like I've already spent it all. And yet...this weekend is going to seem like a breeze in comparison to these first two days. At least...I think so. I could be totally wrong. I might actually be wrong. Because I know I won't be able to sleep on Sunday night in anticipation for Monday morning (even if it is at 5 a.m.), as well as Wednesday night for Thursday morning. Damn...I just got shivers thinking about that. Or maybe because it's cold and raining and the window in my room is open. Or maybe it's something else! I have no idea. Either way...very good start to Orientation.

Orientation :)

You've probably noticed the new layout of the blog (and if you got here from Facebook, you probably read my status where I explicitly state that I have a new layout). Well, this is for Orientation! I'm currently sitting in my comparably bare room, four rooms down from where I lived my freshman year, waiting to go eat dinner with all the other Peer Mentors. It feels good that I don't have to refer to myself as a freshman anymore. Rising up the food chain! I also sound happier and more eccentric than I have in many of my other blog posts. Personal studies have shown that exuding happiness is strongly correlated with being very happy. I mean things have been going really well so far this summer, and I hope things can keep up not only in these warm months, but into the fall and throughout my sophomore campaign at Stonehill. I've already seen 90% of the people I want to see this summer, Camp Pequossette hasn't even started yet, hell Orientation itself hasn't even started - I'm excited for 5 days of training first! AND, don't even get me started on the Bruins. Actually, please do. Because I love talking about the Bruins this postseason. Sure, I've been more into them this year than in years past, and sure, it's mostly because they've been winning more this year. But it's also because they're so exciting to watch, and every player goes hard for the 30-40 seconds he's out on the ice. This is by no means the only time I'll be talking about the Bruins next week, but I just wanted to give them a shout out right now, because this team really is something that people have rallied around. Any time people can come together and support each other and support one team in a certain way, it's absolutely amazing to see and experience, and even more amazing to be a part of. And I might not just be talking about the Bruins anymore :)

Hello, first place. Good to see you.

I don't talk about the Red Sox nearly as often as I should. Nor do I have awesomely long posts anymore. Time for a change.

Allow me to talk about some reasons why this Red Sox team really does have the potential to win a World Series. I took a quick glance at the standings on the MLB homepage, and a few differences between the Sox and the Yankees popped up to me. The intangible records, those being games that go into extra innings, and 1-run games. The Red Sox are 3-2 in extras and 9-7 in 1-run games, while New York is 3-4 and 7-10, respectively. So that's a combined 12-9 record for Boston, which is 3.5 games better than the Yankees' record. After watching the series this week, the Red Sox have proved that they can dominate games, and pound a team away. But they have also shown that they can do what they need to to win close games. Remember that stretch where we went 13-2 in May? Seven of those wins were by 2 runs or fewer, including a 5-4 victory in the Bronx, a 1-0 win against the Tigers, and taking 2 out of 3 from the Indians, who had the best record in the AL at that point.

Funny I mention that whole best record thing, because the Red Sox have it now (are are only half a game behind Philadelphia and 1 game back of the Cardinals for the best record in baseball). And we all thought we were done after a 2-10 start. We've played .680 baseball (34-16) since then, which is insane. We just needed everyone to play together for a little while and start clicking on all cylinders. Case in point: Carl Crawford. Sure, Adrian Gonzalez has been this team's best player, but he's been consistently there in 2011. Crawford, as you very well may remember, batted an abysmal .155 in April with 5 extra-base hits (0 triples) and 6 RBI. His May? He batted .304 with 3 homers, 3 triples, and 15 RBI. April has traditionally been his worst month, anyway. The best news is that his best month is June, so I'm not worried at all (Sound familiar? @jonlester).

Alright, so we proved the Red Sox can win the AL East, but we already knew (and probably expected) they could entering this season. Then we end up with home-field in the ALDS, and we'll end up facing Cleveland or Texas, with an outside shot at Detroit. (Sorry Minnesota, but you're already too far behind for your annual second-half push to mean anything in the AL Central.) And none of those teams can match up with us. Cleveland got the better of us in April, but we've already said that April doesn't matter. The playoffs don't start in the month after April. They start in the month after September, which is when you would like to be playing your best baseball (see: Colorado Rockies, 2007).

But I digress. As I believe I have been this entire time. This wasn't even as long a post as I probably intended. In all reality, I probably just wanted to give myself an excuse to peruse MLB.com and Baseball-Reference, which is literally the greatest baseball site ever. In all seriousness though, we got this. Between pitching, hitting, and defense, we're going to be in every game, and at their best, our pitching/hitting/defense beats any other team's pitching/hitting/defense.

Get used to hearing Dirty Water, everyone. It's gonna be ringing throughout Boston until late October.

Special unspoken without sound

I was just reading my blog post about missing something, and I came to a realization. I was right. It is a nice feeling to have what you have missed.

Self-philosophy

Last weekend I went up to Lake Winnipesaukee with a few of my friends from Stonehill, and I happened to wake up (accidentally (although I suppose when one happens to do something, it's often accidental)) at 5 in the morning. I grew excited because that meant the sun was rising, so I went outside on the docks and watched the sun come up. And as I saw the sun rise, I recalled that the Earth revolves around the sun, and that the Earth was moving, not the sun. So then I began wondering...if the Earth and the other 7 or 8 planets (depending on when you were born, you probably still consider Pluto a planet) revolve around the sun, which is a star, then what revolves around other stars? There are gazillions of stars out there (alright, it's closer to a thousand trillion (10^12) in our galaxy)...so it would follow that there are plenty of stars to go around where there has to be another planet with sustainable life on it. So when someone asks you if there is life on other planets, don't limit yourself to the 7 or 8 planets you're familiar with. Broaden your search to include the 10^12 stars per galaxy in the 10^12 galaxies there are. It's mathematically probable that there is life on other planets.

Wonders of the English language

Despite my fascination with words and the ability to express whatever I'm thinking with words in the English language, there are some things that I don't understand. My particular area of intrigue concerns past participles - mainly, why some past participles are allowed to be words...the biggest pet peeve I have is the word "dived." Apparently it's an acceptable word to signify the past tense of "dive," but come on. It just sounds like you have an elementary school education if you're going around telling people you dived into the pool. It's comparable to "runned" or "swimmed." It just sounds like it really shouldn't be a word. Then there are the past participles for which multiple exist - leaped/leapt, dreamed/dreamt, and sang/sung. Why can't things just be simple?

But, as much as things don't make sense and they should be a different way, sometimes things are funny when they don't make sense. Take for example a couple of ironies of the English language...one cannot claim modesty and retain it at the same time (that is to say, you can't say "I'm modest" without shedding modesty for that sentence). Similarly, one cannot call someone else condescending without appearing condescending themselves. I think that's really cool, the way those work out.

Waiting for a light to come on

Have you ever not been able to have something for a period of time? Have you ever imagined what it was like to have that again? You can conceive of it, and imagine an almost exact physical replica of it, but it's never actually as close as the real thing. You can picture its shape, and texture, and what it feels like to have it again. And yet...it seems so far away. But you hold on to your mental representations, and your pseudo-physical constructions, because that's what can get you through not having it. Oh, but once you finally do have that back in your possession...all of the mental representations are shed, the constructions destroyed, and the only thing on your mind is what you have yet again. It's a nice feeling.

So much for the Freshman 15

I don't care how much food I ate at the end of spring semester this year...if I gained any weight then, it's gone by now. I've been home for three weeks as of today, and I've averaged about 1.8 meals a day, I'd say. Which is primarily attributed to waking up between 11 am and noon, not eating until 12:30 or so, and holding myself over until dinner, whenever/whatever that may be. And breakfast usually consists of cereal, Aunt Jemima eggs/bacon/hash brown patty, or toast, because I can't make food. And even if I could, I wouldn't want to. I've fallen into a pretty bad habit of only eating food that I don't have to make. Guess that's what college has done to me, I suppose. And snacks always consist of a cheesestick, Cape Cod Chips, or a yogurt. Although yesterday I found peaches in the fridge, so I'll at least have that deliciousness to look forward to at the end of this blog post.

I've ultimately arrived at the conclusion that I'm going to be meager until my metabolism fails disastrously. The good thing about that inevitability in the future is that I'll be just enough slightly underweight where worst case, I figure I'll be just enough slightly overweight. Either that, or end up like Ben Stiller at the end of Dodgeball.

10 grammar mistakes we can all improve upon

And by grammar, I mean using words the wrong way. Which probably makes me look hypocritical right now. (Note to self...don't be hypocritical until after you've gotten your point across. Now no one will keep reading.) In loose (foreshadowing!) order of how much I don't like it (with the last few not even being that big of a deal):

1. your/you're. Like...come on. Just reread what you wrote and think about whether or not it makes sense.

Helpful link: http://www.wikihow.com/Use-You%27re-and-Your

2. breath/breathe. The former is a noun, the latter is a verb. People don't noun. People verb. (Editor's Note: Isn't it cool that all parts of speech are nouns? Ironic.)

3. affect/effect. Things affect, and things have an effect on other things. "Affect" is a transitive verb, and "effect" is a noun.

4. loose/lose. Perhaps they need a new course in elementary school..."How to discern adjectives and verbs."

5. it's/its. I can understand that in the Facebook chat-ridden world we now operate in, apostrophes often take a backseat to one of the following: laziness, the radical belief that apostrophes shouldn't exist, or ineptitude. "It's" is the contraction for "it is" or "it has." It is not possessive. Its is, however. Confusing, non? Just remember that this, like many of these mistakes, follow two simple rules. A is this, B is that.

6. then/than. The most common mistake I see with this is when people use "then" to compare two things. Which is not what "then" is used for. I haven't seen "than" used incorrectly, so if you use it, you're probably right. But that's not necessarily the case for "then."

7. "quote".. Excusing my need to have everything in order (Note to self: #8), I'm referring to when people misplace the period in/around/[preposition] a quote. It just looks ugly. Same goes for commas inside the quote, too. My one exception to this rule is when songs or poems are involved. Because when the period is in the quote, to me, it looks like that's part of the title, which I don't think is fair to the title. But that's just me.

8. lists not being organized. An example of what would make this list is if I didn't have a period after one of the numbers (ex. 6 then/than.), or if there wasn't a period at the end of whatever grammar mistake I'm talking about (ex. 6. then/than). Things that are organized are aesthetically pleasing. And this isn't even just to do for me...think about how it would look if an interviewer or professor saw this careless mistake.

9. apostrophes used in plurals. When you make something plural, no apostrophes are involved. If you were to include an apostrophe, it would become possessive. When I was on Google searching for grammar mistakes, I came across a picture of a Pizza Hut sign that read "Attention to Our Customer's:" ...Attention to your customer's what? Why do you only have one customer, Pizza Hut? Maybe because you have poor grammar.

10. capitalization. This is an error also made in the Pizza Hut sign...why is "Our" capitalized? There's no need for that. Proper nouns are capitalized - not pronouns and nouns of common importance.

Bonus: definitely. There is no 'a' in "definitely." That is all.

So there are some things to be aware of when you're typing or writing, or using words wherever. And be aware...you may do it more often than you think.