Blog 9

  Growing up, I was always taught to listen to all the adults in my life, namely, my teachers. My mother always made a point to make sure that I was respectful, considerate, and a good student in all of my classes throughout my years in school. Fast forward to being a Senior in high school, I can remember every teacher I have ever had, specific conversations and things I like or disliked about them, but most of all, what they taught me about life.
   I used to live in Morristown, New Jersey until after second grade. The school I went to was small, very diverse in kids, had no air conditioning (I had the seat by the fan, so I was happy), and had my first grade teacher, Mrs. Semel. I remember having some pretty funny moments in her class, like the time she brought a box turtle into class in a bucket or that she always smelled like carrots, or that she went out of her way to yank my pony tail. But she knew upon meeting me that I was very much my own person. After the first day of school, she called my mother to tell her exactly that. She said, normally, when one student raises their hand to go to the bathroom, 22 other hands raise to ask to do the same. She said that I was different, because I said I didn't have to go to the bathroom, so why should I raise my hand. Her words exactly were, "She marches to the beat of her own drum."
   Students often have a love/hate relationship with school. Some love it and enjoy every minuet of it and others are itching to move up, on , and out. School, really, is the biggest socializing agent in a persons life. It teaches you how to learn, how to be around other people, respect higher authority, time management, and a host of other values. I sound like a broken record because I have honestly loved school and would be a totally different person without it. Mrs.Semel had the right idea; in all of my 18 years, I have been a very independent person who enjoys not always doing what everyone else enjoys.
   After moving from New Jersey, my family vowed to stay in touch with as many people as possible, one being Mrs. Semel. I remember going back to visit and we would go to her house or go out to breakfast. But more often than not, life tends to get in the way of keeping up with old friends. We would call on Mrs. Semel's birthday because it was only a few days away from mine and catch up but that eventually stopped. When I got into college, I was so excited and wanted to share this excitement with everyone I came in contact with and asked my mother to give Mrs. Semel a call because she had always been apart of the big things in my life. Mrs. Semel passed away last August, three months before I got into college. When I had her, she was 72 and she lived to be 83; I honestly thought she was going to live forever just so I could tell her all about the big things in my life. Even though she is no longer physically here, the lessons she taught me will stay with me the rest of my life.

Beware of the Bathroom Counter.

   Our bathroom counters are very scary places. Or really, they just say a lot about us and what we value. How organized is your counter? Are things strewn about, make up and hair all around the counter? On the surface, we have our essentials, things that we keep apart of our daily routine. In my bathroom, I share it with my sister and on our counter we have a little organizer for our toothbrushes, make up, hair product, and other things we consider necessities. Outside of that, there's Q-tips in a small box in the corner, mouth wash, a magnified mirror, lotion, make up remover, cleanser and the occasional bobby pin or hair thing. For us to be able to walk out the door in the morning, we feel the need to use all of the items listed above. We keep everything organized to a degree so then getting ready is a breeze. We know exactly what we need and it's all laid out in front of us.
   The bathroom counter is just the surface of us. What's in our medicine cabinets and under cabinets says even more about us. What do we hide from sight? What don't we want other people to see? If I had a guest coming over, the first thing I would clean is the bathroom. No one wants to see tampons or various ointments and meds laying out. In the case of those items, some things are better left out of site, out of mind.
   Materially and non-materially speaking, Americans value looks and appearances (give or take). On the surface, we can paint any picture we want with all of the product and make-up we want (the bathroom counter) but dig a little deeper and you will find the unseen (under cabinets)