jenna tynan's blog

Alright so I read this article called "sport as Religion" by Michael Novak and I have to tell you I find it a little apalling but interesting at the same time. Here's how the essay goes.  The writer sort of defines religion as a social institution in which people gather and they have objects and traditions that they hold sacred.  Now, I consider religion a little bit more than that, but anyway back on topic.  So this guy says that based on his definition of religion, he links sports to religion.  Read More »

Alright so around college, people tell us about these various days of celebration.  First, there's national pirates day, then national pie day, and even national mushroom day.  Now I'm not saying that pirates, pies, and mushrooms aren't important aspects of our life, but I think that there should be a national blogging day.

I looked for it on the internet, but I couldn't find a national blogging day.  There are many reasons why I believe we should have it.  First of all, I believe that blogging is the new way to make global changes.  A large percentage of people use blogs to communicate.  I know that I communicate with a lot of my professors via blogging instead of traditional emails and such.  I remember how music had a lot of social impact during the Vietnam days, and I believe that blogging now plays the same role in society today with the issues in North Korea and the Middle East.  Read More »

I’ve just got to tell you this funny thing someone said to me.  It might not be really that funny, but over the past few weeks with hospital visits, prelims, and papers, I guess anything will really make me laugh.

So here’s the background, I was checking back with my diving coach after my little accident and telling him when I would be able to get back on the boards, when the conversation seemed to move toward academics and prelims.  If you guys aren’t sure what those are (you probably are quite well acquainted with these) they are big test that can count between 20 and 30 percent of your grade.  Well I was talking about how poorly I thought I did when a senior came up to me and told me his philosophy:  If you score better than you’re age, you did alright.  Now I don’t really take that as my own personal philosophy, but it made me feel better after my performance to know I wasn’t alone in prelim anxiety.  Read More »

Alright, so I’m guessing because of all of your progressive attitudes, that most of you are in or have taken an AP class at one time or another.  I have to tell you that I was quite an AP junky myself.  I took eleven AP classes total and seven in my senior year.  At the end of my senior year, a girl came up to me and told me that I was close-minded for taking so many AP classes and not taking appreciation of crown-molding or something like that.  Now I’m not disrespecting the arts.  I love going to art museums, ballets, and concerts, but a lot of students seem to have this negative outlook on AP and IB classes.  Their argument is that the teacher doesn’t really allow you to learn the subject but just teaches for the test.  Read More »

I'm sure that most of us have seen a television show when someone gets into a car crash or hit on the head with a frying pan and gets amnesia.  They can't remember anyone's name and keeps asking: Where am I?  Well, this is not the type of amnesia that I'm talking about.  The type of Amnesia I'm talking about is called infantile amnesia.

Alright, I've only done a little bit of reading on it, so if anyone's a specialist and has something to add, feel free to blog or comment.  I just thought the whole concept was so interesting that I had to share it with everyone.  For most of us, unless you have something really special about you, we really don't remember much before the age of three.  This what's referred to as infantile amnesia.  The main reason we don't remember anything is because most of our exploration of our environment is strictly through sensory means (you know taste, smell, touch, sight, sound).  Because these sensations only stay with us a few moments, there's really no way of remembering it very well.  Read More »

Hey everyone, It's Jenna.  I've been out for a few days because I've been sitting at my computer hours a day doing a paper and now that it's done, I really got to think about how much I missed progressiveu.  I know that this is going to sound pretty corny, but I wanted to say thank you to all my fellow bloggers  for many reasons.

First of all, blogging is therapeautic.  When I have something that really worries me or ticks me off, I can blog about it and get advice from all of you.  Second of all, blogging gives me and outlet to really think.  I don't know about you but in school, sometimes there's so much stuff that I just have to go on auto-pilot and not really think but absorb.  Going on progressiveu is like going to a discussion forum when you can talk about anything.  Everyone has differing opinions and is not affraid to express them.  Now, when so many people just want to fit in, that's a hard thing to come by.  Read More »

Allright, I don't have all the details, but if you do or you know a quick reference, feel free to comment.  So, I heard in one of the most enlightening classes of my life, economics, that nurses are in a strange position.

Now nurses are seen to have a managerial position in the medical field.  Originally, I thought, wow, that's a good thing.  Doesn't that mean that they get higher pay and more prestige?  Well, not exactly.  Now that they have a more "white collar" description to their job status, that means that they cannot form unions.  So with all the benefits that come with a higher status, there's the cost of less collective benefits from unions.  This could actually cause a reduction in wage and worse treatment.  Read More »

As everyone knows, we'll be celebrating Columbus day in a few days and I just wanted to give a little information why it really is a day for celebration.  Allright, so a lot of people have disproven the fact that Columbus was the first person to discover the new world when he sailed the ocean blue in 1492, but I think he's pretty cool anyway. 

First of all, I believe that he exhibits dedication.  When his own Italian monarchy told him that they would not fund his voyage, he didn't give up and went to Spain.  That shows some true resiliency, don't you think.  Read More »