A Part Apart

On November 9, 2014, I published a post called "Into the Wild" that described my metaphorical attachment to the perpetual motion and consistency of a river.  Although consistency remains a top value in my life, there are certain statements in this post I would now dispute or readdress. "Such is the ultimate from my perspective," I wrote, "stillness not in a pause to appreciate the present, but traveling ripples that are grounded without thought in the now."  Today, I agree that a pause for appreciation is unrealistic and not ideal.  Motion continues to entrance me; I connect with movement in both its physical and figurative manifestations.  Nonetheless, appreciating the present does not indicate a vacuum of thought.  Instead, thoughts and emotions are inevitable.  The self controls neither feelings nor the words that motivate, discourage, compel, trample, and run through one's head.  Today, I continue through my actions to model the movement of a riv...

For my parents - When I type "parent" into my laptop search engine, then press enter, "parent connection login" will pop up, asking me for the username and password that conceals my grades.  If I type "parent" into the search bar above my cell phone texts, the most recent message is "…your parents would have texted you if you'd gotten the (ACT) letter?" However, these indications are in fact the opposite of my perception of parents.  I have never felt my parents' excessive involvement in my schoolwork or pressure from them to do well on standardized tests.  Rather, school is the place where I am tested without my parents.  It is the building of separation.  It is the place where I alone am in control of the outcome; consequently, school is a place of happiness for me.  In both myself and my peers, I have noticed that there is often increased happiness when a child is away from parents.  This is not a result of dislike for parents, as is...