Stop the (Brain) Rot

11 Things To Do With Your Kids To Keep Their Brains From Rotting When They’re Not At School:

I kept thinking about this all morning, and couldn't get it off of my mind, so I made a list of things that parents can do to keep their kids of any age engaged in some sort of learning while they are not physically at school. I'm sure there are a LOT of other suggestions as well, but here's eleven that immediately came to mind. 

1. Read a book. Seriously, READ A BOOK. Maybe more than one. If you have more than one kid, have a competition to see who can read the most books out of the entire family. After your child finishes a book, ask them about it. How did it make them feel? What were their favorite and least favorite parts? Where and when did the book take place? What did they learn from reading it? There are tons of free online books, and you can always venture to your local public library to pick out a hard copy of something. You can also check the online library catalog and call ahead first to reserve a book so that it’s a quick trip in and out if you are concerned about being out in public spaces for too long. Amazon Kindle also has a free app for your phone or computer where in addition to books available for purchase, there is a decent catalog of free books you can download.

2. Go for a nature walk. Fresh air and exercise are both good for you, and you can turn a simple walk in the park into a nature walk by asking your kids to point out any plants or animals that catch their eyes. Take a picture of them and then try to identify the species when you get back home. Some parks even have identification signs set up around the area to help point out any native species that are commonly found there. If you want to take it a step further, have your kids create a food chain with the native plants and animals that you identified, talk about how organisms get energy, and discuss the circle of life.

3. Cook something together. Let your kids pick out a recipe (that you already have the ingredients for) and follow the directions together. Help them with any vocabulary words they might not know, and explain why the order or timing of some of the steps matters (e.g. bread dough needs time to rise because of the yeast producing air bubbles that will make the bread light and fluffy). Kids can practice fractions by measuring out ingredients with measuring spoons and cups. If the recipe calls for a cup and a half of something, give your kids a ¼ cup and ask them to figure out how many times they need to use it to have enough of the ingredient. You can talk about nutrition and what food groups the recipe uses. Bonus points if the recipe is a family recipe or a traditional dish where you can talk about its significance.

4. Get musical. If your kids play a musical instrument, have them practice it. If you want to make sure they are still learning new skills and techniques, hire a musician for private lessons. A lot of freelance musicians have had some of their gigs cancelled due to Coronavirus concerns, and many of them also offer private lessons. If your kids are in a music class at school, they definitely have warm ups and drills that they can practice at the very least.

5. Watch a movie. The catch is you have to talk to your kids about it afterwards. Ask them about the theme. Talk with them about the setting and any history related to it. Ask them about how the protagonists were able to problem solve. Talk about any important issues that are prevalent in the film. A great example is Frozen 2 (which Disney+ is going to make available for streaming this Sunday) and the environmental impacts of building a dam. If you don’t know where to get started, many teachers have already developed questions and activities to go with tons of movies, and some of them are available for free online.

6. Watch a TV show. See above and ask similar questions. If your kids are younger, show them some of the older PBS shows with an educational purpose like Reading Rainbow, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, or Wishbone. Older kids can watch other documentaries or series that explore the world, like travel or cooking shows.

7. Go a virtual tour. Travel and Leisure’s website has a list of 12 museums and galleries that offer virtual tours online. You can do a scavenger hunt for certain pieces of art at the Van Gogh museum, or browse through historical artifacts with the British Museum. Here’s the link to the Travel and Leisure article:
https://www.travelandleisure.com/…/museums-with-virtual-tou…

8. Plan your next vacation. With a lot of events, activities, and travel being cancelled, now is a great time to start planning for your next family vacation. Have your kids research important landmarks or historical monuments that they want to see some day. Maybe give them a challenge of finding the most interesting thing to do within an hour drive of your home. Some places such as State or National Parks may even still be open at this time, and might give you something else to do during this time. If you live in Texas, My Curly Adventures has a fantastic Texas travel series that shows you some places to go and things to do all within a day’s drive, so you and your kids can pick out somewhere to go or something to do next time you have a family vacation.

9. Practice Journaling. Writing and self-reflection are both incredibly powerful tools that kids need to develop, so why not have your kids spend a few minutes at the least each day journaling. Have them write about what they did and learned each day. Have them write about their dreams and goals for the future. They can write about the books, movies and TV shows they watched and how they felt about each of them. Like most of the other items on this list, there are a ton of resources and prompts available for journaling online.

10. Play a game. No, not like a video game; a family board game. Have your kids take turns picking out a game to play together. It’s important that you play too so you can model how to win or lose respectfully, and how to behave when things might not be going your way. Bonus points if the game has some form of physical currency where your kids have to practice adding and subtracting. Cooperative games are also great for modeling how to work as a team.

11. Try learning a new language. Any other skill or hobby might work too, but learning a new language is especially important. There are lots of free online tools for language learning, and Duolingo is a free app that has a wide variety of languages to choose from, including some endangered languages. I'm currently learning German myself, but I also use Duolingo to practice my Spanish from time to time. If you've ever done some ancestry research, maybe have your kids try to learn a few words or phrases of a language your ancestors used to speak, and talk about your family history at the same time.

12. Here's a bonus: Do some actual schoolwork. Chances are your kid's school will be making some resources available online so it can be accessed from home. Go through it with them. Ask your kids to tell you what they've been learning about or have them explain the steps to solve a problem. It's OK if your kids are learning things that you don't know or don't remember, but showing an interest tells your kids that learning is important. You might even learn something yourself.

The Impact of Traveling with your Kids

Growing up there was a display that my dad had hanging up in our dining room full of flags from every country he’d ever traveled to. I remember him telling us about which new country he was getting to fly to, asking us what sort of souvenirs we’d like back, and then shortly after his return to the United States, a new flag would be added to this display. I don’t remember if I ever counted them all up or not, but it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway because the number was constantly increasing. Naturally, with a globetrotter such as my father, my siblings and I were afforded a luxury not often available to most children: the opportunity to travel.

When my sister and I were young, most of this traveling came in the form of a Spring Break road trip. One year we drove all the way to the Grand Canyon seeing amazing sights along the way such as Bandelier National Monument, the Four Corners Monument, the Petrified Forest National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, and Carlsbad Caverns. These were places I had heard about at school that I was then able to experience for myself, and they were informational encounters because the national parks were already set up to be educational in nature. I learned about what life was like for the Pueblo people who lived in cliff dwellings, I learned how the Colorado river eroded the Grand Canyon over millions of years, and I learned how stalactites and stalagmites are formed in underground caves. In Santa Fe I got to see the oldest known church in the continental US while trying elote and in Los Alamos I learned about the Manhattan Project at the Bradbury Science Museum.

Another year we drove to Washington DC where we spent literal days exploring just a few of the Smithsonian museums where I was able to see relics of American history. I saw Charles Lindbergh's “Spirit of St. Louis” and Amelia Earhart’s iconic red Lockheed Vega, learning about what they had accomplished during their lifetimes. I walked through a gallery of dresses belonging to past First Ladies of the United States, witnessing a timeline of women’s fashion from the late 1700’s through the 1990’s with every step. In Washington DC we also visited the Capitol Building where I saw the wondrous architecture of the rotunda full of its magnificent artwork. I saw placards on the ground indicating where famous politicians such as Abraham Lincoln once sat when they were there as senators or representatives. Honestly, I could go on and on about the incredible things I was able to observe for myself that deepened my appreciation for the world around me. Now sure, my parents probably did put up with a lot of backseat arguments during those long road trips, but it really was an amazing way to see much of the country and I don’t think that they have any regrets about taking us on these trips.

Our travels as a family were not just limited to domestic road trips, however. Shortly after 9/11 we took a family trip to England, a trip that fundamentally affected my whole life. I saw the changing of the guard outside of Buckingham Palace. We visited the Tower of London and got to see the Crown Jewels. We toured the Natural History museum where I got to see the Rosetta stone, Dinosaur fossils, and more. At the time, I’m not sure I even understood the magnitude of what I was witnessing, but that trip single-handedly turned me into an Anglophile and voracious reader of books about England’s monarchs. Upon reflection, I am sure this trip must have cost my parents quite a bit of money, but it created lasting family memories and a truly priceless experience for us all.

My next international traveling experience was much different from the first as we spent a whole week in Nicaragua. At the time, I was in my second year of studying Spanish, so this was an incredible opportunity to practice my listening and speaking through simple interactions such as buying an ice cream. I learned about Nicaragua’s history as we drove through one of the oldest existing colonial cities in the Americas and toured the National Museum housed in the former Presidential Palace. Aside from the stunning scenery and rich history of the country, this trip exposed me to extreme poverty. In the capitol, Managua, we daily drove past what I can only describe as a tent city with cardboard boxes and pieces of metal roofing being used instead of actual tents. At stop lights people would come to your car window to try to peddle something or start washing your windshield, hoping for a nice tip. When we drove out through some more rural areas of the country, I saw children being bathed in a bucket outside a tiny family home. It’s one thing to hear about this level of poverty on the news or at school and something entirely different to witness it firsthand. That trip made me a lot more grateful for what I had and much more sympathetic towards others.

All of the trips and experiences I just described took place before I entered High School, and there were many more that I left out for the sake of time. I probably learned just as much about history and science from traveling with my family as I did in elementary school and to this day those are the subjects I’m most passionate about. I don’t mention these things to brag about how awesome my childhood was but to emphasize how great of an impact an educational vacation can have on a kid. If you’re a parent, I would encourage you to take your kids on at least 3 trips while they’re young: one trip that showcases the beauty and wonder of nature, another that is historically or culturally relevant to you, and lastly a trip that is new and genuinely exciting for you so that your kids can see how you respond to learning and trying new things.

Now, at 26 years old, I’ve been to 36 US states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and internationally, I’ve had the opportunity to see parts of England, Mexico, Nicaragua, Canada, Honduras, Belize, Panama, Columbia, and all three of the former Netherlands Antilles. I suppose one day I should count up all of my dad’s flags so I know how many countries I need to visit in order to beat his record. This should be easy enough to accomplish as there are several more countries in existence now than when he started traveling, but even so, I think I’ll take my time and savor each experience; learning and growing each step of the way.

Until we truly value human life, nothing will change...

The content of this post has been weighing on my heart and mind for a long time now. I avoid "getting political" because people take things too personally and become alienated from you as soon as they think you don't agree with them. Every single time I've dared to post something even remotely political on my social media accounts, I immediately lose "friends" and "followers." Think about that for a minute. Shouldn't "friends" and "followers" be supportive or at the very least civil and open to dialogue should they disagree with me?

I also rarely post about politics because it's hard to find any one source that accurately and concisely reflects my personal views. The idea that any individual person's political ideology is fully red or fully blue is ludicrous to me.

Despite my hesitance to "get political," this afternoon I sat down and wrote several pages in my journal and immediately knew that I needed to share them. Before I continue, I have a request: If you disagree with me, tell me (kindly) why. What I have to share is my best understanding of the issue after careful contemplation, so please, if you feel I have missed something of great importance, do not be angry, but offer your insight civilly.


This past Thursday and Friday, I found myself once again assuring my students and myself that we are as safe and prepared as we can possibly be should the unthinkable happen as it's happened in Florida, at Sandy Hook, at Virginia Tech, at Columbine, and countless other schools, theaters, and concerts. Can anyone be prepared for a psycho with a underdeveloped prefrontal cortex toting a semi-automatic weapon through the halls, eliminating any and everyone who crosses his path?

One half of society immediately points the finger at guns and gun control (or lack thereof) while the other side of the fence finds anything else to blame (society itself, mental illness, victims who should have reported the signs that everyone noticed but no one bothered to sufficiently report). Before we know it, the gun control debate has fired up again, quickly overshadowing the tragedy that reignited it. So who or what is to blame and what, if anything, can be done about it?

Liberals, as I mentioned earlier, will immediately blame guns and those who refuse to tighten gun control. They use other countries where guns are mostly illegal and gun violence is nearly nonexistent to bolster their argument. In the face of tragedy and grief, who wouldn't agree with these arguments? But, it is necessary to look closer. The specific gun used in this instance, the AR-15, has been around since 1963, and we Americans have consistently protected and defended our right to arm ourselves, so guns have always been around. It's illogical to blame a recent spike in violence with something that has been ever-present in American society. As to the European argument, of course there will be less gun violence when even most police don't carry them, but that hardly means Europe is a violent crime-free utopia. If you bother to research it, you would find that from January 2017 to September 2017 there were 37,443 recorded knife crimes in the UK and London alone had 80 people stabbed to death in 2017. Just as interesting, the UK reports that these violent knife crimes rose by 21 percent in a 12 month period and London stabbings are at their highest level in 6 years. (You want sources? Of course you do. Here they are: The Sun - Knife Crime Statistics, Evening Standard - Rise in London Stabbings sends UK knife crime rate to six-year high, BBC - Nine Charts on the Rise of knife crime in England and Wales, The Guardian - Police data shows crime rising at increasing rate in England and Wales) If it's just about guns, then why are violent crime rates (especially those committed by youths) increasing in places without them?

Conservatives, on the other hand, readily blame mental illness and victims for not reporting odd and suspicious behaviors before it was too late. This is a dangerous way of thinking. Yes, serious mental illnesses can be a commonality found between some perpetrators of these heinous acts, but this vague label creates an additional stigma for those with commonplace mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, or eating disorders. My stomach also churned this week when some leaders seemed to blame the very students who had been under attack for not reporting the signs or their suspicions. Victim blaming is really something we need to grow beyond these days. Unless the victim was also an instigator (e.g. someone saying derogatory comments who gets punched), is is NEVER the victim's fault.

In a science experiment, you have independent variables (things you change), dependent variables (results from your changes), and controls (things that stay the same). If the dependent variable is a rise in mass shootings, then you have to look to what has changed since the increase started, not what has remained the same. If you do, you will find that it's not victims, mental illness, or guns that have changed. It's my personal belief that a lack of empathy and genuine value of others is what's behind this alarming trend. The pervasiveness of social media in our society drives a wedge between people because we're no longer forming and cultivating true human connection. There are countless studies and articles about how social media has completely changed human interaction. When people are reduced to a digital presence, it's easy to devalue them, and we've seen countless times throughout history what happens when the intrinsic worth of a human being is whittled down to nothing. (Why do you think so many bullied students are taking their own lives now more than ever? Bullies have ALWAYS been around, but when it happens through a screen instead of face-to-face it's easier to become even more vile and vicious because they no longer see their victim as a real person.)

This doesn't mean we shouldn't be more vigilant, or aware of our surroundings. This doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to speak out if we notice something amiss. This doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything about guns getting in the wrong hands. Just as you wouldn't allow people under a certain age to drive, smoke or drink alcohol, it should be extremely difficult if not impossible for minors and those with SEVERE mental illnesses from obtaining guns, but it isn't. I don't claim have the answers to the gun control debate, but I do know we need to encourage face-to-face human connection and teach students empathy for their fellow man and woman.

Easy enough, right?

In the meantime, as a teacher, I will be making sure my students know why we shouldn't open the locked school doors, even for our friends, refining my personal plan of action should I be faced with a similar situation, and encouraging my students to understand and really connect with each other without allowing a screen to get in the way.

Adventures in Teaching: If I Had a Dollar...

If I Had a Dollar…

There are some phrases and questions every teacher has come to expect regularly if not even daily or hourly. I often make the joke, “If I had a dollar for every time someone said/asked me that, I’d be rich enough to retire.” Here are some of those sayings that all teachers will recognize:

• “Will this be on the test?” (While wearing an incredulous look) ...Yes. 

• “Miss!” Usually responded with an equally emphatic, “Yes?”

• “Can we write on this?” No, I made a million and one copies of this just for fun. 

• “Do I need to keep this?” Probably. You know, if you want to pass.

• “Do you have a pencil?” Nope. All out. You “borrowed” the last one yesterday.

• “What time is it?” This one is especially fun to hear when there’s a clock on the wall right in front of them that they probably don’t know how to read.

• “You never said that.” Chances are I did. Repeatedly. For several days now. You probably just weren’t listening…

• “There’s a test today!?” It’s only posted on the board in red marker 5 times. I’ve only been telling you about it for the past week and a half. I’ve only given you two copies of the review that you’ve managed to lose again. I’ve only sent out 3 remind messages about it in the past 36 hours. I only spent the last five minutes of class yesterday begging you all to study. So yes, there’s a test today. Of course there’s the other, “Is there a test today?” that comes literally 2 days after the last test, asked by a student who probably already took it, but has the attention span of a fruit fly.

• “Do you want to share your food?” Sometimes this is said as their hand is already reaching for a spoon/fork/bite. The closest I’ve ever come to hitting one of my students was when someone tried to eat the rest of my half-eaten lunch that I didn’t have enough time to finish before they got there. Teenagers are both piranhas and scavengers. If you feed them, they’ll keep asking for more food until you’re more bankrupt than you already are. 

• “What can I do to fix my grade?” This usually comes the week that grades are due and not a moment before. I like to point out the obvious options: Tardis, DeLorean, Time Turner...

• “Will turning this in improve my grade?” I really don’t know why they can’t figure this one out themselves. Let’s see, you currently have three daily grades turned in out of twelve… You know, no. I’ve crunched the numbers and I’ve come to the conclusion that turning in work for an actual grade (as opposed to a zero) will definitely lower your grade. Hearing this question makes me wonder how these kids will manage not to flip the burgers onto their faces instead of the grill.

• "What's my grade in this class right now?" Let me consult my crystal ball. If only there was a magical website where you could check your grade and a list of all the assignments for this class on your own. Oh wait...

• “Did I miss anything yesterday?” No, since you were gone I decided there was no point in having class so we just colored all day long.

• “Can I go to the bathroom.” Usually I’m asked this as soon as the student walks in the door because they didn’t think there would be enough time to go and they don’t want to be counted tardy. Chances are if they just went to the bathroom on their way to class instead of slowly walking to class, asking me to go, and taking 2 minutes to set their stuff down inside the classroom before actually going to the bathroom, they wouldn't have been tardy to begin with.

• “I wasn’t talking!” or “Miss, it wasn’t me.” Teacher’s Definition of Talking: Your mouth is moving and there is any kind of sound coming out. This includes talking to yourself, talking to somebody else, whispering, singing, or sound effects. My eyes and my ears don’t lie.

• “Can today be a free day?” No. Just no.

Adventures in Teaching: What I Wish I'd Learned in Student Teaching

Last August, I started a journey with about 140 fourteen and fifteen year olds in my 9th grade Biology classroom(s). We started by studying the characteristics of  life, pushed through genetics and protein synthesis, and scrutinized the intricacies of plant and animal systems all before conquering the state-mandated STAAR test. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring Semester exams for my kiddos, which means I am nearing the end of my year-long journey as a first time teacher.

The 140 fourteen and fifteen year olds has now whittled down to about 125 (Don't worry, nothing bad happened - class sizes were balanced eventually and some students moved) now fifteen and sixteen year olds. As I reflect on this whirlwind of a year, I've come up with a list of things that I wish student teaching had taught me. Without further ado, let's begin.

1. The first day of school is a nightmare. Having student taught only during the Spring semester, I was spared the horror of the first day of school, and was not at all prepared for what that day brought. I'd been preparing for it for several days. My syllabus was all ready to go and I had 150 copies of it made, just in case. I reviewed my plans for the first day about five times the night before and at least 2 or 3 the morning of, but I still wasn't really ready. There wasn't exactly a whole lot of training that covered what to do on the first day, but I thought I had it all figured out. I would welcome them, have a get-to-know you activity, go over the syllabus, and last but not least, review the lab safety guidelines. I was not prepared for the 43 students who showed up to my fourth period class when there were only 27 desks and 6 lab stools. I was not prepared to learn all of the new names and nicknames all while figuring out how to distinguish between Jalen, Jaylon, and Jaylen (who were all in the same class, of course). There really isn't any way to fully simulate the first day of school. You never know what is going to come at you, so my advice to next year's first year teachers: be prepared for anything and everything to go wrong, because it just might.

2. Floating isn't as fun as it sounds. I'm a science teacher, so last summer when I was all excited about my first teaching job and buying classroom supplies, it never once crossed my mind that I wouldn't have a classroom of my own. I had heard of floating, of course, but they wouldn't do something like that to a science teacher, would they? Turns out, they would. Really, I'm not sure why we would want to call something so inconvenient a light and fun word like "floating." I think "carpetbagging" or "migrant teaching" are more accurate terms, but I digress. I was devastated when I learned that I wouldn't have my own classroom because I had spent the better part of the summer dreaming about what it would look like and how I would set it up. Once I came to terms with that disappointment, I started doing my own research on what floating was really like to try and prepare myself for the unique challenges I would face as a floating teacher. I knew from the get go that organization was going to be difficult because I would be storing papers in two different rooms and constantly hauling supplies back and forth. In my next blog post, I'll share some of the ways that I tried to stay organized. (Spoiler alert: not everything I tried actually worked). In the end, the biggest challenge was not having my own space in the school. A lot of teachers' classrooms are essentially a mini home away from home and without my own, I felt a little homeless and like I was less a part of the school than the other teachers who had their own rooms. My biggest tip for any first-time floaters out there is to try and find an unused space and make it your own. Maybe see if the school has a seldom-used conference room or office that you can make use of on your off period. Set up a space where you can be productive and get some work done outside of a classroom.

3. It is OK to send kids to the office. The entire semester I was student teaching, I think my mentor sent one or two kids to the office. When I asked her about it, she said that she just doesn't call the office to come get kids often because she doesn't want to be the teacher that the principals all roll their eyes at and ignore whenever she calls the office. This made sense to me, so I pocketed this advice and decided that I would do everything in my power to handle all discipline myself. Needless to say, my first few months did not go well. For some reason, students don't seem to take discipline from a teacher as seriously as discipline from a principal. One day, one of my mentors observed one of my classes and afterwards they asked why I didn't send three specific students to the office for their behavior. I didn't have a good answer for that. Somewhere along the way, I had convinced myself that not being able to handle discipline myself meant that I wasn't a good teacher. After all, good teachers never have to deal with major disciplinary issues, right? (Cue sarcastic laughter). After that point in time, I started sending disruptive students out into the hallway and handing out office referrals left and right. For some time, it worked, but later on I noticed that the students who were constantly getting written up were either resentful (even if their behavior was 100% inexcusable and they knew it) or they no longer cared, leading to further discipline issues. (Side note: I personally feel like discipline is a constantly changing arena because the students are evolving faster than we are at the moment, so punishments that might have been effective a few years ago are no longer compelling enough to incite behavior changes.)  The takeaway from this section is this: don't feel like you have to do everything on your own, especially discipline. Principals and SROs are on campus for several reasons, one of which is to deal with student discipline, so don't think that you can't reach out to them for help in handling issues with a student.

4. High school fights are real. They do happen, sometimes in class, and the students will laugh at you if you "overreact." Apparently white people take fighting too seriously, or so my kids tell me when they laugh at how I reacted to the two fights that happened in my first period class this year. I was taught a few things in my teaching program about fights, namely don't get in between the two kids or try to break them up because there's a good chance you will get hit. I kept this advice in mind when I became sandwiched between two of my students with their fists balled up and rage blinding their eyes. In addition to this, I did learn a few other valuable lessons from experiencing these fights first hand. When there is only one student who is clearly unhinged, send the calmer student out into the hall while you try to calm the first student, because there's a chance the calm one might actually listen to you as opposed to the one who has already decided to hit someone. Secondly, I learned that if fights are a common occurrence in a specific class, talk to 2 or 3 students you trust in the class and instruct them all to go straight to an SRO or a Principal because there's not enough time to fiddle with the phone when two kids are punching each other in the face.

5. You will be exposed to some of your students' serious issues. The first week of school back in August, I had a student in the SPED program tell me that he had a knife and was going to kill himself. Needless to say, I was not expecting to hear something like this so early in the year. All I could do was keep a calm face as I was freaking out on the inside and when I got into my car that afternoon I started crying. Some of your students may have rough issues at home or a difficult past, and they bring that baggage with them to school everyday. One of my students' mother put her up for adoption as a high school freshmen while another lives with an old friend of his mother's because his parents are out of the picture. Some students have major health problems ranging from broken bones to diabetes, mental health issues, and even cancer. Your heart aches for these kids all while reminding you just how grateful you should be for your own imperfect life.



I'm sure I could probably keep on going, and maybe I will in a future post, but I think this pretty much sums up a lot of my experience from this past year. Now I get to look forward to a whole new set of challenges I'm sure that I'll face in year two.

Leave me a comment if you've faced some of these same issues or if you have any heads ups for what I can expect for next year as a second-year teacher.

Star Wars Episode VII Review: The Force Awakens Spoilers

So this little movie came out almost two weeks ago on my birthday. Not sure if you've heard about it. (Just kidding, who hasn't heard about it.)

STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS!

I've now seen it twice, and I've decided that I really shouldn't see movies more than once in theaters, because the second time always ruins it for me. But, Star Wars is, well, Star Wars, so it was bound to be different, right?

       WRONG!

I guess I'll go ahead and offer a second SPOILER ALERT, just in case you missed the one in the title. (Seriously, who reads a movie review expecting no spoilers?)

Upon my second viewing of THE FORCE AWAKENS, there were just a couple of things I noticed that bothered me. I'm probably over analyzing and being hyper critical, but indulge me.

1. Poe's Jacket - So we were all a little surprised to see the return of Poe Dameron when the Resistance arrived at the now ruins of Maz' cantina. His explanation of waking up after landing a great distance from the crash site was acceptable until I remembered the jacket. You know what jacket I'm talking about; the one Poe was wearing on Jakku and Finn later recovered from the crash site. Have you figured out the problem yet?

Poe was wearing his jacket during their escape from the First Order, so how does Poe land far away from the crash site while his jacket is found hanging from the Tie fighter? Yes, I am probably nit-picking, and this is the least of my issues, but come on!

2. What happens to Maz? - Yes, her castle/cantina was destroyed, but last we see her, she is climbing out of the rubble alongside Han, Chewie and Finn. We don't see her joining the Resistance, so was she killed in the last moments of that battle or did she live to fight another day somewhere else?

3. Kylo Ren's face - Yes, his face. It's revealed to us that Kylo Ren is the son of Princess Leia and Han Solo, so why did they pick Adam Driver who looks nothing like either Harrison Ford or Carrie Fisher? I enjoyed his performance, he made a great antagonist, but seriously, couldn't they have found someone with similar looking facial features at least? If this is what Han and Leia's son looks like to those in charge of casting, I'm concerned what young Han Solo is going to look like.

4. Kylo Ren's obsession with Darth Vader - I wonder just how much Luke, Leia, and Han told him about his grandfather when he was younger. You know, I bet they didn't mention him much because they were concerned about what he would do if he knew the truth. Why do grown ups always do that? "Oh, this information about his/her relative is awful, I'd hate for them to know the truth."
"I have a solution: let's not tell them."

How often does this work? Never, because the kid always finds out somehow and makes a bigger deal out of it since his/her parents didn't trust them enough with the truth and/or the truth they find out is sightly off. Instead of telling little Kylo Ren that his grandfather was on the dark side until he turned just before he died, they probably didn't say much about him at all, so he got his information from somewhere else (likely Snoke), and this distorted information gave him the fuel he needed to create a glorified image of his grandfather to idolize.

5. Who is Lor San Tekka? - You might not know who that is, because I'm not sure his name was ever said (and if it was, sorry, I missed it), but he's the man who gives Poe the map at the beginning of the film and is soon killed off by Kylo Ren. The first time I saw the movie, I wasn't sure if we were supposed to know who he was already (since the title sequence said he was an old friend of Leia's), so I consulted my resident Star Wars expert.

My brother, I consulted my brother. He just shook his head. "No idea!" So we have this older gentleman who at the very least sympathizes with the Resistance and the Jedi, lives in Jakku (or as I like to call it, the middle of no where), and hints that he knew Leia before she was "General Organa." We also know there's some backstory between him and Kylo Ren because he knows who he is, and Kylo Ren comments on how old Lor San Tekka has become. Perhaps this will be answered in the films to come, or perhaps this question will remained unanswered til the end of time.

6. R2D2's pouting and C3PO's missing arm - So when Han, Chewie, BB8 and Finn arrive at the Resistance base, C3PO explains to BB8 that R2D2 has been in "low power mode" ever since Master Luke left. I get it, he's feeling lonely and depressed, but then he miraculously comes back out of low power mode as soon as Rey shows up at the base after they've blown up the First Order's Star Killer, and reveals that he has the rest of the map to finding Luke. How helpful! NOT! Come on R2D2, get your life together! You're in low power mode because Luke is gone, but you have 90% of the map to finding him. Why doesn't he wake back up when BB8 brings the rest of the map? I'll tell you why: because that would have made sense! If R2D2 had got up out of his funk earlier, they could have sent someone to go find Luke while they were trying to destroy the Star Killer, and Luke could have helped them out somehow, that is if he's not as useless as his pouty droid.

And it wasn't just the map R2D2 was holding on to. I didn't notice this until a friend pointed it out later, but C3PO was missing an arm when we first see him, and after R2D2 wakes back up we see C3PO with his arm back. That little droid knew exactly where C3PO's arm was and didn't say anything, probably for years. Some friend you are, R2D2!

I'm just going to reconcile myself with it but assuming it had something to do with Rey being Force-sensitive and her presence with the light saber somehow waking R2D2 out of his funk.

Alright, enough of my griping, here's some of my favorite parts:

1. That scene when Kylo Ren is having another temper tantrum after Rey's escaped and those two Storm-troopers stop and turn around. You know those guys have probably seen many of those tantrums before and they know that they don't want to be anywhere near him right then.

2. Kylo Ren's real name - You might have missed this one (but you probably didn't), when Han cries out to his son, he uses his real name, Ben. Calls to mind another Ben from the original series (Old Ben Kenobi, anyone?) So is it Ben Solo or Ben Organa? The world may never know.

3. Light saber dream sequence - I just loved the beauty of this scene, when Rey touches Luke's light saber and suddenly sees all these visions. We see a cloaked Luke Skywalker reaching out to R2D2 (connects light saber to it's past owner), a young Rey crying for her family to come back (future owner of saber?), and a clip of the duel to come between Rey and Kylo Ren. All the feels... right there.

4. Han Solo's death - Yes, I was in tears. Why would they do that to Han? I also saw it coming as soon as Kylo Ren said he knew what he needed to do and asked his father to help him. So, what was to like about this scene? A lot, actually. I love how it mimics that famous scene between Vader and Luke when the truth is revealed. I love how we see another side of the normally tame Wookie as he lashes out at the Stormtroopers in his grief and doesn't miss a shot. But most of all, I love how Han Solo reaches out and caresses his son's face as he is impaled by his light saber. When you look at Han's eyes in that moment they are filled with shock and sadness, yes, but also love. He loves his son and does what he can to show it in those last moments of his life. Based on what we know about Han Solo, I bet he wasn't the most sentimental father, so it's no wonder he blames himself for his son turning to the dark side. I think deep down Han knew what was coming too, but he still chose to make that effort and try to bring his son home because he loves Leia and their son to death.

5. Poe and Finn's instant connection - These two became brothers the minute they got on that Tie fighter. Poe clearly respects Finn for being such a risk taker and deciding for himself what was right, and Finn has someone cheering him on and celebrating him for being himself, which is something he surely didn't have as a Storm-trooper. And that brings me to #6...

6. Finn - How does a Stormtrooper become aware of the concepts of right and wrong if he's programmed to do as he's told from birth? You know what, Finn is so cool, I don't even care! He pretty much single-handedly plans his and Poe's escape and he quickly learns to fire a wide assortment of weapons aside from a blaster. He's meant to be comic relief, but I think everything about him is just so tragic and beautiful. First of all, he says he was taken from his family to become a Storm-trooper and was never given a name, if that doesn't make you want to cry, you have no heart. Finn reveals so much about the true darkness of the First Order and how he can still put on a smile and make jokes after all he's been through is eyeopening and shows his resilience and heart. Plus, he's the first Storm-trooper I've ever seen to be competent with a blaster, so I think that speaks for itself.

7. Rey - She's a solo female scavenger, expert pilot on a variety of aircraft (even though the first time she leaves the planet is on the Millennium Falcon), skilled communicator with various species and droids (how is it that Stormtroopers aren't trained to understand droids or languages other than English?), and she's for all intents and purposes the "chosen one" of this film as Luke's light saber calls to her. Rey is who I aspire to be when I grow up: eager to learn, has an incredible work ethic, and deeply longing to connect with others and find a place of belonging. Plus, she doesn't need a man to hold her hand!

P.S. I hope all of my ramblings make sense. In my defense, I am writing this at 2 AM because I can't go to sleep until I get all of this out.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU ALL!

Sink or Swim: Why I Don't Like Swimming...

Today I had a revelation: I really don't like swimming.

It's not because swimming isn't fun, because it can be. It's also not because I don't like public swimming pools (even though they are pretty gross if you stop to think about it). My dislike pretty much boils down to two main reasons...

1. I wear glasses. Unless you wear glasses yourself, you might not realize what this means. Wearing glasses means I either can't dunk my head under the water or I take my glasses off and am essentially blind. It doesn't make much of a difference if you're playing Marco Polo, but otherwise it pretty much sucks.

2. Swimsuits are awful. This actually has nothing to do with having body image issues; it's just a fact. First you have to find a suit in your size (which is hard enough) and then you have to hope it meets your expectations for modesty (which they usually don't) and then if you're large chested like me, you have to hope it'll provide enough support. If it doesn't (and they usually don't) then you have two options: 1) buy the suit and wear a heavy duty sports bra with it, or 2) forget that suit and try your luck ordering an expensive suit that is supposedly sized to fit you. Otherwise the consequences include, but are not limited to: droop, inappropriate cleavage, and the dreaded bounce.

In the end, I find that swimming is usually not worth the hassle. So unless I'm at a pool party, I'll probably pass on taking a dip.

Am I just weird or do other people dislike swimming as well? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!