"I've been everywhere, man. I've crossed the deserts bare, man. I've breathed the mountain air, man. Of travel I've had my share, man, I've been everywhere." - Johnny Cash, I've Been Everywhere No, I haven't actually been to Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, and all of those other places that the song talks about (with the exception of Buffalo and Toronto -- I actually have visited those places). More's the pity; I wish I traveled that frequently and widely. I have crossed the deserts bare and breathed the mountain air, though. As soon as you saw the title and/or read the quote, you probably realized what this was going to be about: backpacking. Backpacking with my boy scout troop, I've done those things and others besides. I know that I've done many moral compass entries about backpacking already, and there's more to come; it'll take the whole year for me to exhaust my supply of BSA Troop 680 stories. Here's another one. (click below to read more)
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"There's always a chance to get restarted to a new world, new life, scarred but smarter." - Drivin' N' Cryin', Scarred but Smarter I make myself look like an idiot all the time. Nearly everyone does at some point in their life. I'm human, I make mistakes -- and making mistakes isn't necessarily a bad thing if you learn from them. That's the trick. Some people say in life that there are no second chances. I think that there are more second chances in life than you could possibly count, if you know where to look. You encounter many of them every day. When I make a minor mistake, I can many times get a second chance, and when I do I try to learn from my mistake from before. In this way, I can avoid making the bigger mistakes later on that I can't have a second chance on. (click below to read more)
"We don't need no education. . . . No dark sarcasm in the classroom. . . . Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!" - Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall Part II If Bruce Springsteen is my favorite music artist, Pink Floyd is a close second. This quote is from one of the band's most famous songs. I actually like school, but this tie in very closely with the first experience from school with Scout, the narrator from To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Her first experience starts off bad, with her teacher, Miss Caroline, becoming annoyed at the fact that Scout is already literate. Miss Caroline tells Scout to stop reading at home, which she would hate to do. It is Miss Caroline's turn to have her day ruined when Burris Ewell, the son of Mr. Ewell, the main antagonist in the book, insults her deeply and walks out of the classroom while Miss Caroline cries on her desk, her feelings wounded. Scout simply sits by while this happens; she can't do anything about it. It doesn't serve to improve her day any, though. All in all, Scout has a miserable first day of school, and the rest of her time in school isn't any better.
"He climbed cathedral mountains; he saw silver clouds below. He saw everything, as far as you can see." - John Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountain High Been there, done that. It's really cold at 14,000 feet elevation above sea level. Seriously, though, I have climbed a 14,000-foot mountain before: Pico Blanca; it's not the most fun experience while you're going up, or easy on your knees going down, but it is something that everyone, at some point in their lives, should do. It doesn't have to be on that scale - not everyone can climb a 14,000-foot mountain for various reasons - but everyone needs to have the opportunity to do something that they would have looked at before and said, "I could never do that." Summitting Pico Blanca was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I think that I saw silver clouds below, and I definitely saw everything as far as you could see. (click below to read more)
I like music. I love music. I even play the piano. You know that I've done a few song quotes before. This week, because I'm feeling lyrical, all of my posts will be song quotes! I'm also posting videos above of the songs with their lyrics. Awesome, right?
My first quote is from a song that I like called Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor. The quote is, "Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past. You must fight just to keep them alive." I've had dreams before of making robots, which is something that I've been obsessed with since I was a little kid. I now know that artificial intelligence probably won't be created in my lifetime, and I've moved on to a slightly more realistic pursuit. My goal now is to get a doctorate's degree in particle physics and work in a physics laboratory. I've had this dream for over a year, which is for me a long time, and currently I'm fighting to keep that dream alive, and to keep on that path, partially because I don't know what else I could successfully make a living at and partially because I really like physics. I want to go on to do something important in that field. Ah, books. You've got to love them. Whether you're a sci-fi geek, fascinated by fantasy, a history buff, love to learn from non-fiction, or just love a good romance, drama, or mystery novel, there's something for everyone. Everyone necessarily has their own favorite genre or genres. But, is that set in stone? I used to love science fiction and fantasy books, because they always seemed to have the most action in them. I like books with adventure, fast-paced plot, and maybe a bit of drama. I wouldn't read anything besides sci-fi or fantasy, because I loved the action. (click below to read more)
Due to the fact that I did not learn about the Civil War in 8th grade, my mom forced me to watch a 10-hour documentary on it by Ken Burns. It was called, creatively, The Civil War. I actually ended up enjoying the documentary, contrary to expectations, and it made an impression on me as one of the most horrific things I have ever watched. It was not gory, it was not particularly violent since it the only videos in it were interviews; it had facts, though, that said that the American Civil War was one of the most horrific wars that we have ever been through -- it is a close second after World War II. The reason that this was so horrific was because the fighting was so bloody (the third picture on the slideshow is the cross-section of a clay block shot by a black powder rifle; that's why people lost entire limbs in the Civil War), because of the sheer ferocity of the fighting, and because styles of warfare were changing. (click below to read more)
I found this picture, and it really stood out to me because I, too, take martial arts classes. I recognized the silhouette's form; it is doing a kick called mawashi-geri, or roundhouse kick. Karate is a stunning example for me of attitude and perseverance. When I see someone who is at a level above me, I first take the time to think, Wow! That's amazing. Then, instead of thinking that I'll never be that good and becoming discouraged, I think, Someday, that's going to be me. (click below to read more)
Here's another great quote from Bruce Springsteen: “I can sing very comfortably from my vantage point because a lot of the music was about a loss of innocence, there's innocence contained in you but there's also innocence in the process of being lost.” -Bruce Springsteen I said before that Bruce Springsteen's songs have very defeatist lyrics. In reality, that's not always true. His lyrics are always poetic and powerful, but they do not have to be defeatist. In fact, there are some uplifting quotes, and some quotes about cleansing oneself, and certainly about innocence. For example, one of my favorite songs by him is called Long Walk Home. It is about a break-up, and recovering from the loss; the song comes full-circle, and the lyrics are beautiful. A good line from his song is, "Well, everybody has a neighbor, everybody has a friend, everybody has a reason to begin again." (click below to read more)
“The release date is just one day, but the record is forever.” -Bruce Springsteen Last week, I had a quote from one of my dad's favorite music artists, the Rolling Stones. This week, I've got a quote or two from my favorite artist, Bruce Springsteen. I was trying to find a quote from his music that I liked, but unfortunately almost all of them are extremely defeatist, so I just googled quotes by him. I found this one, and really liked it for a couple of reasons. One of those reasons was symbolism: it specifically talks about music lasting and being remembered for as long as people listen to it, but it can also refer to making lasting memories. This brings me to my second reason: how many times have I done something just for the experience of doing it? (click below to read more)
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Author My name is Peter Fisher. I am a freshman at High Tech High North County, and this page is for the Moral Compass project that we are currently working on in my Humanities class. Archives
April 2014
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