http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0
By now, most of the U.S. population has the seen the video for which we provided the link above, but it's just so...intriguing.
News then had it that Rebecca was getting tons of death threats over her song. People demanded it be removed from YouTube and that she stop singing, period. Death threats? Seriously? Come on, guys, her voice is pretty decent. And if you don't like the song, don't listen to it. That's all it takes.
The lyrics seemed pretty straightforward, so we're not sure why there was this huge movement to know the meaning behind the lyrics. Um...there is no meaning. It's a description of her day. What did you want her to say?
Seven AM, wakin' up in the mornin'
Cuz Seven is lucky, according to my religion
Gotta eat my cereal, made mostly of corn an'
Everybody's rushing, blurring up my vision
Mornings like this are pretty much tradition.
Gotta catch the bus, else I can't get to school
But here come my friends in car that's cool.
I'll stop now. Rebecca's story would've been way too long if she went into the detail I did.
Back to Farmington:
I had one of those nights during which I woke up at least once during every hour. I hadn't finished my homework the night before; all four of us had to cram some things in that night, largely because we had always been so busy working on establishing connections, checking out possible venues for the fairs, attending meetings with public officials. I happened to have one question left, but at 11:30 PM, I couldn't do it. Now 11:30 PM is not late in our book. That's pretty typical, and I've rarely ever gone to bed that early during the school year or even during summer school. But after my full day in the ER and the other homework I had done once I got home and took that shower, I couldn't let myself give a sloppy answer to Question 4. I went to bed at about 11:45 PM and set my alarm for 4 AM. I even requested that my mother call my phone at that time to be sure I was up. As I said, though, I woke up at 12:38, 1:27, 2:49, 3:36, and finally 4 AM. My mind was definitely clearer, however, as was my gut. Hunger pangs hit me immediately, prompting me to devour a protein bar while reading over my work. Homework checked and the notorious Question 4 answered (it ended up not being so bad), I still managed to eat a full breakfast, showered and dressed, printed my individual assignment and our group assignment using S's printer, and took a 15-minute nap.
I heard S getting ready all the while, too, and eventually Z showed up at our door, ready to print out his own homework. The three of us journeyed in my car to Mr. Darnell's office, where we met J and our community coordinator and class instructor from Albuquerque at 9 AM. Until about 12:20 PM, we discussed as a group our goals for the community, the progress we had made thus far, and the plans we still needed to sort out. We took time also to analyze rates of unemployment, high school/college graduation, and poverty for different ethnic groups both in New Mexico and the nation as a whole.
The most startling discovery to me was that a high graduation rate means absolutely nothing. Example:
In 2009, a data-collection study was conducted on 11th grade students in different school districts of New Mexico. All juniors took a statewide test that revealed the percentages of students who are proficient in Reading, Math, and Science. In one city with two high schools:
High School A High School B
Reading Proficient and Above 54.4 33.3
Math Proficient and Above 23.7 14.3
Science Proficient and Above 26.6 9.5
Graduation Rate 65.5 92.3
You think that's scary? Take a look at this:
High School A High School B
Reading Proficient and Above 42.1 29.4
Math Proficient and Above 24.5 0
Science Proficient and Above 35.7 5.9
Graduation Rate 74.1 76.4
All of this information was compiled by the New Mexico Public Education Department. If you'd like to see more data or know the URLs to this data, feel free to e-mail us at missionfarmington@gmail.com.
Obviously, not all of the schools in NM have the same standards. I'm lucky to have graduated from an awesome high school that gave me everything I needed and more to be successful. I don't have the statistics on-hand for my school, but I know that the teachers there prepared me well for college, and I am grateful to have been their disciple.
After all businesses and government offices had closed at 5 pm, we celebrated Friday and the end of our productive first week with a movie called "Super 8" and a dairy treat. The movie was great up until the ending, when it started getting too similar to "The Goonies" and less original. It became rushed, as though J.J. Abrams got tired of filming, and was like, "Okay, everyone, let's hurry and finish this up. It's taking too long." He assumed everything would make sense, but it really didn't. Some people missed the video during the end credits, desperate to leave for some odd reason. If you go see it, and I recommend that you do, make sure you stick around for the end credit surprise. Which is no longer a surprise...*cough cough*.
I do have to say that there was a significant amount of swearing in the film--unexpected because the main characters are all kids, so just be aware of that. One F-bomb and the remaining curses are pretty routine. As far as my dairy treat goes, I don't think I want to consume any sugar for the next few days. Nor will I be flippant about my consumption of saturated fat.
We spent a good 3 hours having a lively discussion about religion when we got back to the hotel, more specifically about the stories in the Bible, the Koran, and the Gita, as well as the remarkable number of similarities between them all. Cool stuff.
We have officially made our public advertisements, as well as flyers and invitations for local businesses/organizations. Farmington, be sure to check your e-mails.
We have officially made our public advertisements, as well as flyers and invitations for local businesses/organizations. Farmington, be sure to check your e-mails.
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