Free writing

I don’t really know what to blog about so I’m just going to free write for a little and hope I get somewhere. Next weekend is fall break. I was supposed to go home and see my family, but my ride fell through. I’m going to feel really left out of the loop with my friends. They all went to fairly local schools and I was the only one to go far. It’s hard to go home for fall break because I live about 8 hours away. If my mom were to pick me up, it would be a 32 hour total drive for her to pick me up and drop me back off. I would only have 1 day to enjoy the fall break. So I’ll probably have to stay at Tech. That’s not a bad thing though.

            I have to plan out a way to get back to Philadelphia from Tech. So far I mapped out how I could get to Washington D.C. Hopefully, my mom will pick me up from there, because I wouldn’t make it to Washington D.C in time to catch the bus to Philadelphia. I feel bad making my mom drive so long to pick me up. I wish I could have just brought my own car down here. It would make getting back home so much easier.

            I’m kind of nervous to go back home. A lot changed when I was here. I broke up with my girlfriend, so I can’t see her anymore. My friends are going to be with their family for an amount of the time that I’ll be back. My family has gotten a little instable after my grandfather almost passed away in June. So things are going to be a lot more different than what I left them.

I like it at college because I get to control my life almost entirely. I get to control how and what I eat. I decide when I have to be home during the week and on the weekends. I don’t have my mom texting me all the time asking where I am and what time I am going to be home. I feel like I’m free from the outside world.

That’s not totally a good thing. I feel like at college we don’t know what is going on in the world. We’re oblivious to the news. Personally, I had no clue that the government was shut down. I know other people feel the way I do. I guess I’ll have to try to see what’s going on in the world outside of Virginia Tech.

Get to know me

I guess I never really wrote an introductory blog. So I’m going to do that now because I want everyone to know background so that they can look at what I post from my shoes. My names Matt VanPelt and I’m from Springfield, Pennsylvania. Springfield is a suburb about 15 minutes south of Philadelphia. In high school I went to Philadelphia almost every weekend. I guess I made myself become a “city slicker.”

People in Philadelphia don’t care about anyone other than themselves. I guess that’s how they survive. I know that I picked up that mentality. If I see a homeless man, I don’t even think about it. I’ve been asked for money so much that it doesn’t even phase me. I guess I stopped thinking of bums as people and more like a tree that was on the same corner everyday.

            I’ve carried that mentality to Virginia Tech. I’m used to seeing a homeless person and not feeling sorry for them. My friends who are from Southern Virginia are not used to seeing a homeless person. If we ever walk by a bum, I don’t care but they really do. They get all upset that he has no money. But I know that if I gave a homeless man money its not going to help him in the long run. I know that if I gave money to every homeless man in Philadelphia I’d be homeless too.

            Where I come, from cursing is a part of normal conversation. But if I curse when I’m talking normally people from the South think I’m angry. It’s just another word in my vocabulary. I know I don’t need to say the words, but it’s just a habit that I need to break. I probably should break it, but then when I go back home, ill pick it up again. So I really don’t know if I should even try to break it. Why should I try?

It’s part of who I am and where I come from. It’s my culture and that’s something that you should never change. My culture is one where you say “wallter” instead of water. My culture is one where you say “Philadolphia” instead of Philadelphia.

Maybe I have an accent to you but you have one to me. Maybe my culture is weird to you, but yours is also weird to me.

Negativity of News Stations

We all know what the news portrays war to be bad. News stations all over America portray war to be pointless killing on both sides. However, news watchers rarely think deeper about the information they absorb from the T.V. What some people don't know is that news stations are very biased in the way they tell their stories to the world. Nobody wants to watch a boring broadcaster talk about the underlying causes and effects of this war. People want to hear about the recent stories of death, because it's the most exciting. 

         Think about your local news station, do they show more stories of humility and kindness, or tragedy? Like most other people right now you’re probably thinking that they show more stories of tragedy, which is absolutely true.

         I think there is another factor that causes news stories to be more tragic. In this day and age people tend to be more aggressive and less likely to help those in need. We’re all so focused on making our own future; we forget to help those who lack the opportunities that we’ve had. Life isn’t always as good as it is to us.

         Now take that and factor that into the stories that a news station takes before airing them. Maybe news stations provide tragic stories because that’s what we give them. I think that maybe the viewers focus on the bad. We get so caught up in our own lives that we barely care about others.

         I can’t remember the last time I saw a news story that wasn’t about someone being shot or in an accident. Of course I’m from Philadelphia and those things tend to happen a lot more than they should, but still. At least every one in five stories should be about something good. Something uplifting to make people feel better. Especially in cities where people are poor and crime rates are high. Maybe if they here about the woman who got her life together after years of drug addiction, that maybe they might be inspired.

         Maybe news stations should be concerned with uplifting the local community and improve life. News stations should bring people together not just because someone died, but because there is something good happening in the world. Maybe I’m the only one that feels like the world is just to negative. I think that we need to change. And the first step to this change would be to change how we view the world. In a world so technology driven, it is obvious the target should be news providers. 

Nature Vs. Nurture

When it comes to the argument of Nature or Nurture, Science has said that it is nature that decides everything about a human. I agree that nature will determine a person's physical characteristics but I disagree when psychologists say all people's thoughts will be determined by their genetic make up. I think that it is nurture that composes a person's thoughts, morals, and values. People constantly change their perspectives on certain issues. These people change their views based on what information is given to them by their environment. For instance, a person's political belief is formed by information and events that occurred throughout their life. 

I believe that each person has a different affinity for the gathering of information and the formulation of a perspective. By this I mean that some people are more likely to change their views than other people are. We all know that one person who is just so indecisive that they can never pick a side of a topic and stick with it. I think that this part of their values and beliefs is biologically related. I feel that biology builds that foundation of what we will build throughout are life.

There are some parts of ourselves that is dictated by genes, which we inherited from our parents. In biology we all learned that we get eye color and hair color from our parents. But the question is: Do genes dictate our personality? This question has no definite answer at the moment.

The way I like to think about it is that if a child is always mad, he probably had bad childhood experiences that gave him something to be mad about. But I guess the question then becomes, was he given an angry personality by his parents and it only comes out when bad things happen?

The only study psychologists have done to try to figure out is to take identical twins that were separated at birth and compare them to each other. Identical twins come from the same fertilized egg, so they’re technically clones. However, once that egg divides and two separate cells are created, minor differences can arise during development of the fetus. So where do we draw the line for minor differences and nature? Is the difference between identical twin’s personalities caused by development after separation of the egg or its environment?

For that question, there is no answer. I don’t think we will ever truly know the real answer to nature vs. nurture. I guess the best thing we can do, is give an educated guess.

Let me know how you guys/girls feel about the debate of Nature Vs. Nurture!

Roommate Vent #1

Dear Roommate,

I don't know what the social norms are in your house, but in my house it is not okay to be within one foot of anyone's face when they wake up. I am not saying you're ugly. It's just that I would rather not wake up to your face. I honestly have no clue why you were at the foot of my bed, but it was very disturbing to roll over and see your beady little eyes. Furthermore, it is not socially acceptable to turn the light on when someone trying to sleep. I do not care how dark it is in this room, use your phone as a light and find your way to the bed. In the case that you find you have to turn the light on, please do not leave it on for 45 minutes as you loudly open and shut drawers. Also, if you have to leave the room at night, do not leave the light on and the door open. I cannot count the number of times you have left the door completely open when I am trying to sleep. Not only does it put my possessions in danger, it makes me very uncomfortable that a stranger may enter the room. 

What annoys me the most is that you ask me what your homework is. I am not your mother and I really do not care how you do in school. In terms of academic performance, I am the only person I care about. I will not let you borrow my lab notebook because you were to busy hanging out with people to actually do your own homework. I do feel bad that you do not have time management skills, but if I gave you my work, all I’d be doing is enabling you.

You lost your keys and Hokie Passport on the bus. That is a tragedy and I do feel bad for your inconvenience. However, I will not let it become my inconvenience. I will not leave dinner with my friends just so I can let you into the dorm. There is a reason we have Resident Advisors. If you can’t get into your dorm, ask them to let you in, not me. Losing your keys and Hokie Passport means that you can no longer enter the room if it is locked. I consider that a blessing. To your request to leave the door unlocked, I reject it. Leaving the door unlocked puts my possessions at risk of being stolen. I bought this computer with my own money, which I worked all year for. If my laptop gets stolen because of your forgetfulness, I will make you buy me another one. I do not care if you suffer because you lost your keys, but I will not suffer with you.

Have fun trying to get in.