Neon Ramblings

I struggled greatly with finding a third issue involving water to write about for this series.  My theme has been water – I wrote about the plastic oceans and about water conservation around the world, so what was I to write next?  I asked my teammates at the end of practice what I should write, one looked at me shocked, “Sammi, sailing…it involves water, write about it.”

Why hadn’t I thought of that?  During the spring, I spend my time in the harbor with my teammates in our two plus hour practices and four plus hour race days.  Now I know some of you will be reading this, thinking “Are you joking? Sammi, you sit on the water pulling rope, that is not challenging.” BUT before you dare think that to yourself, hear me out.

Mr. Hurd often says, “Sailing is a three dimensional, multi-variable sport.  Not only do you 
have to have communication and harmony with the other person in the 
boat, but you playing field is constantly changing in all three 
dimensions as the weather changes.  No other sport is like that.”  Having all of those factors ever changing clearly makes this sport a challenge.  Not only that, but it takes tremendous mental focus to sail well.  You must focus on sailing smart and how best to maneuver the course the best way possible.

In days of heavy wind, there is no way you can say that sailing does not take athletic ability.  It takes all your strength to keep the sails trimmed in and to continue hiking the boat flat.  A flat boat is a fast boat, so it is vital that both skipper and crew hike to level the boat out.  On the other hand, sailing in light air takes total mental focus.  A wondering mind while racing in very little wind can mean a horrible loss.  Every time you move, you shift the boat: therefore, think carefully about every altering motion you make.

When it comes down to the water, it’s ever changing.  Sometimes its choppy, sometimes its smooth.  Occasionally, you must deal with currents.  Knowing about currents that run through racecourses can be the key to winning a race.  If you are aware of a current you can use it to your advantage – by having it increase your boat speed.

I am sure that a few of you still will say that sailing is not a sport, but I know that if you believe that, then you clearly are not understand it for what it is.  If that is so, then stop by the waterfront next time Tabor has a race.  Watch from the shore and try to understand the complexity laying out before you.  Unless you know something about racing, you will be completely lost, however if you look closely at the Tabor team out on the water, you’ll see, we mean business. We take ourselves seriously and wish that you would too.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I said goodbye to my dad in Boston at four AM when I left for Costa Rica.  My three flights went by slowly, I stopped in Myrtle Beach and then again in Fort Lauderdale before finally beginning the journey to Costa Rica itself.  Landing in San Jose, I didn’t realize that I was in for a big surprise when I finally reached the final destination of Isla Chira – a small island on the Pacific cost of Costa Rica.

When the Tabor group arrived on the island, we were introduced to our host families.  Eliza Kennedy and I were partnered to live in the same house, the home of Nieves and Julio Medina-Alvarez and their two sons – Yeikel and Neifred.  It was in that house that I learned how different some parts of the world are about water conservation.

Here in the United States, people aren’t that concerned about saving water.  Sure there are pushes for people to turn off the water while they brush their teeth and take shorter showers, but it isn’t that important to our society as a whole.  On Isla Chira, however, it is radically different.

The shower at the Medina-Alvarez home was a little different then the ones we are used to here in the United States.  A big blue bucket would fill with water from the green and white-stripped water hose that attached to the sink.  Inside of the bucket was a small plastic bowl that was used to dump water onto oneself in order to wash.  This was VERY different from what it is like here in the United States.

Some families on the island live like this solely because they can.  Many of the island houses have typical showers; such as you would see in your own homes.  The homes that choose to have the bucket-shower do so because they know it is better for the environment to do so.

While I don’t expect bucket-showers to pop up all over the United States, I think the concept of them is one that should become more prominent in society.  Just because we have a seemingly unlimited amount of water to our disposal doesn’t mean that we need to use it all.  I truly believe that if we as a county took water conservation more seriously, we would be more prepared for the future of the world.

When I was younger, I could look through a kaleidoscope for hours.  Simply by rotating the tube, little plastic shapes would fall into place before my eyes making different patterns.  A red chunk of plastic here, a green chunk to the left of it and a purple chunk somewhere else – all meshing together to create some form of art.  Tiny chunks of colored plastic made ever-changing art, just for me. Nobody else in the world would see the same kaleidoscope art as me.

The Atlantic Ocean is a giant kaleidoscope.  Only this time, instead of looking at it with childhood wonderment, I look at a kaleidoscope of debris ruining my world.  The colorful chunks of plastic are no longer joining together to create a pretty picture.  The build up of plastic in the Atlantic Ocean is a growing problem in the world today.  The plastic flows through waterways all over the world and then dumps into the Atlantic Ocean in-between Miami, Florida and Bermuda.

Hunks of Poland Spring water bottles mix with shredded Shaw’s bags and chips of yellow baseball bats.  As the plastic swirls around the ocean pretending that it is a beautiful kaleidoscope, it is actually harming our home planet.  The horrible kaleidoscope is affecting an increasing number of marine animals.  Not only are fish, sea turtles and other marine organisms eating the plastic, but the sea birds are eating the plastic as well.

A bird does not know the difference between a jellyfish and a bobbing clear plastic bag.  While a human would be able to distinguish that the plastic in the ocean is blatantly not supposed to be there – the animals have no such luck.  They assume that everything in the ocean is meant to be there and so they can eat the large “jellyfish” if they so desire.

I don’t know what we can do as a society to get rid of the horrifying kaleidoscope that we created, but I do know how we can slow down the rate at which plastic flows through the ocean.  REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE.  Instead of using plastic bags at the grocery store, bring your own.  Recycle plastic water bottles after you use them, or better yet don’t buy them in the first place.  Find a Nalgene, use that – they are everywhere! Research is being done in the Atlantic as I write this, so although I do not have a solution for this right now, I am hoping that with research we can find away to rid the ocean of the kaleidoscope.

The New York Times recently ran an article about Tufts University and their application options.  At Tufts, along with essay questions and the standard sports supplements, applicants can submit more creative pieces to express who they truly are.  One of these options is creating something out of a simple 8’x11’ white piece of paper.  Another option, and the focus of the article, is a one-minute video.

This addition to the Tufts application is optional, but I believe it gives people a unique output to show the school what makes them an individual and sets them apart from the other applicants.  I think it is important for people be proud of the characteristics that make them one of a kind.  It is these distinct qualities that define who we are, and so it is a good call by Tufts for making it easy for applicants to show them.

In the article, there are links to a few of the videos that were submitted by perspective students.  I watched a few videos and every one minute clip showed incite into the applicant’s life.  They were all fascinating in there own way.  One of the videos I watched called “In My Shoes” began with the quote “You never truly know someone until you’ve walked a mile in her shoes.”  The applicant showed pictures of the shoes she wore during her Bat Mitzvah, meeting Hillary Clinton and on a trip to Europe.  She ended in asking what kind of shoes she would fill at Tufts.

This idea here is simple, but it spoke to me.  Being a senior in high school, I know pretty much who I am as a person.  But the question of who I will become through going to college is unanswered.  We all have big challenges to face and decisions to make in the years to come.  Next year, our whole class is going to experience new things.  Some of us know where we are going to college, while others have yet to decide.

I have decided that I will not be starting college in the fall of 2010 and instead will be doing the English Speaking Union, ESU.  While spending time in a foreign county I will certainly have different shoes to fill.  I will no longer be going to school at my home and will have to adjust greatly to this change.  I have no idea what kind of shoes I will be wearing next year or what kind of lessons I will learn in them but I cannot wait to find out.

The Olympics have begun!  Now although I like the Summer Olympics more then the Winter Olympics, it is always exciting to see the best athletes in the world come together and compete against each other.  Over eighty countries have sent their finest competitors to Vancouver in the hopes of getting as many gold metals as possible. 

I sat watching the Opening Ceremonies in my living room with the whole of the Muther family.  The athletes wandered in awe-struck by their surroundings, while my brothers and I sat in awe of the true wonder that is the Olympic games.  While watching, the announcers spoke about how for many of the athletes the opening ceremony would be the only time they were seen on TV.

Isn’t that remarkable?  These men and women train for years and years, make it all the way to the Olympics and are only shown on television for a few seconds?  Now I understand that there is simply not enough time to show a biography on every single athlete, but I wished there was some way to tell the world about who the athletes really are.  I thought for a second; there is some place I can learn about the athletes-the Internet.

Here is what I found out.  Twenty-two of the athletes were born in 1992.  I was born in 1992; a majority of the senior class was born in 1992.  The 1992 athletes in the Olympics are competing against each other, as well as people thirty years older then themselves.  I couldn’t imagine representing the United States at this age.  It is a real honor for them to wear red white and blue as they wander about the Olympic Village and at their events.

A few days later I walked into Heath common room, only to find Jane Lee and Kathy Chung watching the Olympics with intense focus.  I asked them what was going on and heard a jumble of “it is horrible,” and “this is a tragedy.”  Now I had no idea what they were talking about, until they turned opened up TiVo and showed me the Short Track Speed Skating.

I watched as two members of the Korean team fell and had their dreams of winning the silver and bronze metals washed away.  I laughed, I couldn’t help but laugh.  This was the completely wrong thing to do.  Kathy and Jane exploded with anger telling me that this was an improper response to what had happened. I understood that the situation was not funny, but the fall-the fall was funny.

I quieted my laughter and listened to them speak about their sadness for the loss.  I understood what they were saying; it is sad to loose.  The Olympics are great, they give people something to watch as a nation, as a world.  Pride for ones country swells inside and is sometimes crushed in close races.  Although there are upsetting moments, the experience as a whole is worth it.

            I hate newspapers.  Everything inside of them always seems to be about death and destruction.  In my limited spare time as a busy high school senior, I don’t want to hear about sad things.  I think of myself as a pretty upbeat, happy person and I don’t want to read upsetting news articles.  But today, I turned on my computer, clicked on Safari and opened Yahoo.  “Giant Squid Invade California”

This is simply not true, squid do not invade states.  It just doesn’t happen.  Ever, period, end of story.   I continue to read the article and am told about the twenty to forty pound giant squid that have recently found their way to Newport Beach, California.

Now, in all honesty, I have no interest what so ever in squid.  There is something about them that I find to be incredibly eerie.  Whenever you see them on television their beady eyes seem to pop out of their misshapen heads.  The article says that men went out to the water in hopes of catching the squid, which tried to “crawl around and blow ink on everybody.” In reading those words my mind is instantly thrown into Pirates of the Caribbean.

The ship is being ripped apart by the kraken.  You know the part that I am talking about. The boat begins to crumble under the weight of the giant verdant monster.  Massive eyes stalk the crewmembers as they attempt to scramble away from the tentacles.  The men scream in terror as they cling to the sides of the ship like barnacles, in the hopes that they would not be torn loose and thrown into the sea.

The computer screen shinning brightly in my face brings me back to the real world.  I begin reading the news once again and learn a few fast facts about the squid.  Apparently, four hundred squid were caught off the coast of Newport Beach in the three days before the article was written.  Some of the squid were even sixty pounds. Ew.

I actually read a news article, something that hasn’t happened since seventh grade history when we did current events every month.  Who knew that giant squid in California would make me read the news?  It wasn’t a sad story; I didn’t want to cry.  I simply learned about something going on in the world.  I guess you could say that I have begun taking baby steps toward reading the news.  In doing so, I will become a more informed citizen of not only the United States, but the world as well.