The Great Waffle

Where do you stand on the social ladder? Who is above you, who is below you, and why? What characteristics gives someone status, and invisible podium on which to stand? Strength, wit, or charm... perhaps a combination? 


If you look at the extremes... it's easier to tell. A drug addict leashed to a cocaine addiction traveling down the road of destitute poverty is obviously lower in social status than say... Mark Zuckerburg. But, when you get closer to the lines, things become blurred. Where does an NFL tightend line up to a NASA engineer? I don't think you can really compare the two. The tightend has qualities that the engineer couldn't dream to posses in his lifetime and visa versa. 


Things get even more complicated when you start talking about groups like say... a class room.


These are all people here for the same thing, to study and learn. We all, however, come with different experiences and mindsets. Some of us are alpha personalities, some of us are beta's, and others are a mix. Some of us have higher IQs than others. Some of us do sports others do video games. Some are big others are little.


So who gets the big voice? And who remains silent? Is anyone outcast and is that right? There's never an official announcement of who deserves all respect and who should be ignored. These are the dynamics of social creatures. We mix a bunch of variables from physical strength to moral sets to determine where we stand. Like the wolfs, like the chimps, we too have stratified our system. Perhaps all were NOT meant to be equal...


No one, absolutely no one, is above the Great Waffle.

Waffle-Talk

Again, imma mutt. I was born in Libertyville, IL, but I've lived in Raleigh, NC since I was one-and-a-half years old. My parents were both born and raised in Chicago, IL.

Many people have problems telling exactly where I'm from. Most Northerners can tell I'm from the South. The strength of my "Southern accent" varies depending on my social setting. Many southerns pick up on the subtle Northern influence on my speech from my parents.

When I'm around people with a thicker southern accent, I unconsciously talk more southern. Yes Ma'am, yes sir, dropping the "g" off of words n' such. I don't really see this as being chameleon.... it's just another part of who I am. I was raised around people who used "ma'am" and "sir" to show respect and as a kid I picked it up.

When I'm around Northerners my Southern accent fades a bit, at least the more identifying aspects of it. However, "y'all" tends to stick with me. I'm rather fond of that word for some reason.

I like the way I talk. A lot. I believe the way I speak is unique to me. It feels like a good mix between stereotypical educated speech, and interesting character. 

Sometimes I feel like a bit of an oddball because of the way I speak. I don't really feel like I fit into a specific "dialect." But then again, I've never been much of a conformist.

Because I've studied a lot of languages, I've picked up an even greater understanding of dialects outside of American colloquialisms.

Dialects are not unique to America. My first German teacher spoke with a Southern German accent. My second German teacher had a very harsh Northern German accent. They spoke very differently. I kind of miss hearing the southern German accent. My first German teacher was the first teacher I ever thought was hot. Sie war SEHR schon (there's an umlaut over the "o" but I can't type it in).

I'm really tired and too lazy to relate this to waffles right now. Sorry :(

Literacy, The BIG Picture

Header Postscript: You should read this (: I know it's long. Sorry :(

Literate- adjective, educated, cultured (merriam-webster.com).

Literate, literacy, whatever...  it's a funny word. No verb form, as mentioned by Lindquist's essay. What does it  really mean?

Complicated words are fun because they open opportunities to be clever. My favorite meaning of literacy is more often used in the negative. "He's political illiterate." "She's socially illiterate." What this really means is that  he doesn't understand politics and she is a socially awkward penguin. Literacy can  mean that someone has substantial knowledge in a certain area (or in the case of "illiterate," having a lack thereof).

But how does one gain this kind of "literacy?" Let's start with the obvious answer: reading books. Great place to start, a set of immortal thoughts preserved on a dead tree. There's a scene from some movie I can't remember about an alien who breezes through a thick book in a matter of seconds and remembers everything. Imagine if all we had to do to become literate, in anything, was to speed through books like this alien. The world would be full of a lot less dumb illiterate people.

Sadly, we can't just breeze through books, and we don't have all powerful memories. In fact, even with the multitude of media sources (e.g. T.V.'s, videos, interviews..) we STILL have trouble becoming the ALL literates. We can't possibly become literate in every subject. Somehow literacy escapes us, somehow, somewhere.

The best we can do is focus our time and refine our learning "tool-box," in hopes that we are literate. Skrew the  standardized tests. Not that they're not important... they're just not the point.

The point is... a lot of people-

-too many people,

Think literacy is about being able to read something and then know what it meant. They are dangerously over simplifying. They are missing the big picture.

We need to start addressing, globally, the important piece of what it means to be literate.... and how we can get there faster.

Time's running out... resources aren't infinite... and we need to learn quickly...

...for the sake of cultured civilizations that have learned to craft waffles...

Big Waffles

Since middle school I've always been pretty skinny, fit, but skinny.

I don't mind being thin. Longer life statistics, I can fit through doors and do a lot of pull ups. Being thin helps make me a competitive cross-country runner and pretty good at track.

But, maybe for the same reasons girls want to be just a little skinnier, I have wanted to be just a little bigger... and no, certainty  not that way, just ask my girlfriend (; (I'd make a joke here but I don't want Julie to get mad at me again!).

UNCC Charlotte is helping me reach my fitness goals. For me, "Freshman 15" is a good thing. Since I began eating here I've put on roughly 8 pounds... finally reaching 150 lbs for the first time in my life. Here, I hit the gym almost every day. While I don't spend as much time pumping iron as some of the meat-heads there, I try to make each trip worth it. I've worked my practice 2 mile pace down to 6:40 and soon I hope to have it down under 6:30... maybe even push 6:00. I use the free weights a lot, because the machines are almost always in use. UNCC should really look into expanding their gym. I'm happy to see so many people trying to lead a healthy lifestyle and that should be encouraged.

Sometimes I have to give myself some encouragement. I've almost always had a six-pack, and since highschool, decent pecks... something carried over from my swimming career. My arms are another story. I'm going to have to focus a lot on arms as well as my back to get to where I want to be physically. If all goes well I'll be at 160 lbs in a couple months, which is where I want to be.

To some, my weight goals may sound superficial or it may seem I don't appreciate what I have, but I do appreciate what I have and to me this is just another goal.

To some this may sound vain, and maybe it is... but self-improvement is a lot about vanity. Of course, this is a lot more than just about vanity, it's also about being mentally and physically healthy. See it how you want.

A Big Waffle

Also, part of my diet includes eating lots of Waffles.

Sunday Waffles

Willkommen (welcome),

A brief introduction. My name is Jeremy and my nickname is Milo. I am a twenty-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I'm an ethnic mutt and proud of it; being part Filipino, Austrian, and Russian, among other nationalities, is pretty cool and coincidentally plays into my major, International Business. I want to go to law school, specializing in International Business Law. NYU Law would be ideal. I want to help businesses expand globally. World peace will not be won through political summits or hippies, but through the creation of long lasting trans-culture business relationships.

I like to talk a lot, but I also like to listen. I like numbers, but I like to be artistic. I have strong opinions, but I value open mindedness.

... I guess you could say I can be kind of a contradiction.

I run, swim, hike, fix computers, read, hang out, think, meditate, jam out alone in my bathroom, nap, watch T.V., love, and write. These are the first things that came to mind right now, so I suppose these verbs are important.

I have the best family and friends, hands down. While I may seem self-centered at times, I consider myself a loyal friend to the end. I'd take a bullet for each one of them.

My religious beliefs are as such, straight from my Facebook profile:

Seriously, I don't care if you believe you came from an omnipotent cat, an extraterrestrial walrus or an extremely evolved monkey. I care about whether you're good to the people around you. -Me 

Plain and simple. Be a good person, or your doing it wrong. My father was raised Jewish, my mom is Roman Catholic, my sister is Lutheran... and guess what? I love them all and respect their beliefs.

My political beliefs are as such, striaght from my Facebook profile:

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. -My dad

Fact of life.

Also, I used to make waffles every Sunday with my dad.

Thanks for reading!