How I Fell Out of Love With Learning

Recently in my english class we read the article “How I Fell Out of Love With the Internet,” by Avery Erwin. Erwin used an interesting command technique in his writing that was like a step by step list. It made you feel as though you were completing the steps as you read the article.

After reading and discussing the article, my teacher challenged us to write our own version of the article. Below starts my version entitled “How I Fell Out of Love With Learning.”

How I Fell Out of Love With Learning

Just the Beginning: Go to your first day of Kindergarten. Say goodbye to your parents. Meet your teacher. Look at all the shapes and colors around the room and become mesmerized by them. Find the cubby with your name on it and store your things there. Sit where you were directed to have a seat. Admire your name tag sitting on your desk. Become excited that today you will learn something new.

Over the next year learn the alphabet, and how to write your name. Become familiar with vowels and the infinite combinations of numbers you can make. Summer comes along and you feel a sense of disappointment. You like your class and your teacher, but you still find yourself excited to come back next year.

Third Grade: Learn to write in cursive! Go on your first field trip to the Liberty Science Center! Complete your first project. Learn the Multiplication tables and have your first spelling quiz! Continue to enjoy school!

You’re growing up: Start changing classes! Get your first assignment to complete over the weekend. Write your first five paragraph essay. Think that you have too much going on and feel stress for the first time, but know that it gets much harder than this. Look at your report card and see that you have just received your first letter grade. Realize it’s time to go to middle school soon.

Sixth: Move to the middle school hallway and decorate your first locker with photos, a mirror, and a carpet. Get pushed around in the halls by the big kids. Learn the pattern of the bells so you know when to switch classes.

The End of Part One: Its your last first day of middle school! Begin to count down the days until high school. 180 school days later: Congratulations! You have graduated from middle school! Don’t get too excited, high school is almost here!

Being the Little Fish Again: Hear upperclassman in the halls whisper, “Classic Freshman.” Know that it’s not personal and you will find yourself saying the same things next year. Find yourself occasionally wishing you could go back to the place you thought you would never miss: middle school. Pick your schedule for next year. Feel the pressure from your peers to challenge yourself and take as many difficult classes as you can.

The Infamous Junior Year: It’s time to create a schedule that you are told “Should look good to colleges.” Fill that schedule with AP and Honors classes. Find yourself realizing you are studying for the grade rather than a love for the class itself. Get bombarded by assignments from all of your classes and realize they are all due tomorrow. Get a bad grade on a test and convince yourself it means you won’t get into college. Speaking of college, “Do you know where you want to go and what you want to study?” This is what you will be asked by every person you meet this year. Become stresses. Crumple the paper, cry into your pillow, and count down the days until summer. Just remember that the workload will let up soon. Its more about when the work will get done than the fun in learning it. You have fallen out of love with learning. 

Works Cited

Erwin, Avery. “How I Fell Out of Love with the Internet.” ConsenSys Media, ConsenSys Media, 14 Feb. 2019, media.consensys.net/how-i-fell-out-of-love-with-the-internet-1a8d3f9dc0c3.

 

A Tasty Treat

It’s 98 degrees outside and you are sitting in the blazing hot sun. What could be better than some ice cream to cool you down! In their seven hundred and sixteenth episode of the podcast “How Stuff Works,” Josh Clark and Charles Bryant discussed “How Ice Cream Works.” 

Over the course of the podcast, the two hosts discussed the origins of ice cream, how it is made, different recipes, and most importantly how ice cream has evolved over time. Some highlights of these points include that ice cream dates back to 2nd Century B.C. In general, they described ice cream as a Colloid that undergoes a specific manufacturing process that by adding or editing different steps of the process, you get different forms of ice cream like frozen yogurt or sorbet. There have also been efforts over the years to make ice cream healthier. One last highlight they mentioned was that ice cream has made its way around the world as is consumed by many countries and was very prominent in a few wars. They even mentioned you can even make five minute ice cream (which I definitely plan on trying)!

 

One exchange that I found very interesting while listening to the podcast episode was…

“Chuck: Nostradamus episode. That’s right. She was big on it. She was the wife of Henry II. And back then, though, it was, you know, in the 1500s and the 16^th century it was only, like, for royalty because ice was-

Josh: Yeah.

Chuck: You know, they didn’t have freezers and they didn’t have ice machines.

Josh: You needed a guy to go run up to the mountain and bring it down.

Chuck: [LAUGHS] Exactly.

Josh: Yeah. No, it was a big deal to have ice.

Chuck: Yeah.

Josh: You’re super rich. So apparently by about the 17^th century, there was at least one café in Paris-I think it was the first café in Paris-that started selling ice cream to the public, in 1660.

Chuck: Nice.

Josh: They basically made it egalitarian, and from that point on, ice cream was a definite luxury item, but you didn’t have to be royalty to obtain it,” (00:08:19-00:09:20).

What I found most interesting about this was that today we can buy a gallon of ice cream for $5.99 in the freezer section of the grocery store whereas in the 1500s it required labor and effort to retrieve ice. Not to mention that it was extremely inconvenient in the middle of the summer when no ice was around from winter weather.

Our ability to have things like ice cream at the tips of our fingers can be attributed to advances made in technology and society. Advancements make our lives more convenient and allows us to put in less effort to complete everyday tasks.  Therefore, they are very useful, but I realized that advancements also take away the excitement to obtain some objects in some cases. For example, ice cream it is no longer considered much of a luxury item and it is a common item on the average person’s shopping list, as well as a staple item for getting through a breakup. So, I don’t get too exited when I buy ice cream and don’t see it as much of a special treat since its commonly around.

Over time things change and that is natural, but we also don’t give much thought to the fact that simple things we sometimes take for granted weren’t always this accessible.  For instance, as I take that gallon of ice cream out of the fridge we don’t give a second thought to the fact that it wasn’t always this easy, available, and cheap. And I defiantly  don’t think about someone climbing to get ice in ninety degree weather, and then lugging it back home to make ice cream thousands of years ago. I thought this was just as interesting concept to think about.

One more realization I had was that as things become more accessible to us, we then work to get another thing within our reach. I believe this is what keeps us continuously  wanting more and the reason as to why we are never satisfied. Since we can keep working to get more and more things accessible to us, we will continue to try in order to have as many things as possible within our reach. We will never be satisfied and will continue working because it is physically impossible to have everything. Therefore, I think this is a major factor of motivation in our society today.

Overall, I realized many unexpected things from learning about how ice cream works and I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast. If you have any free time, I would suggest listening!

AND keep in mind that one thing that hasn’t changed is that ice cream is still just as delicious and refreshing to eat!

Works Cited

Stafford, Gemma. “6 Ice Cream Flavors: Homemade Ice Cream.” Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking, 7 May 2015, http://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BBB64-Ice-Cream-Party-Thumbnail-FINAL.jpg.

Clark, Josh, and Charles Bryant. “How Ice Cream Works.” How Stuff Works, 5 Feb. 2015, www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-ice-cream-works-transcript.htm.

Important Takeaways

This week I had the opportunity to watch the film “Succstress” made by a former Northern Highlands Student. The film covered topics, but two that stuck out to me were dealing with the stresses of high school and the competition within the school.

Many techniques to reduce stress were introduced in the video. One that stuck out was tapping. This is when you tap on different points on your body to allow you to access the body’s energy and sends signals to the part of the brain that controls stress. In the few days since I have watched the video, I have begun to use these techniques when I am stressed or taking a test. Im not sure that it has actually reduced the stress, but I do feel that it helps because it takes my mind off of what I was stressed about. It’s a good distraction.

The video also talked a lot about goals of students and whether their motivation is intrinsic (wanting to do well for themselves) or extrinsic (wanting to do well for a reward or good grade). A lot of the time I do take a class because I am generally interested in the course and the curriculum that will be taught.  However, I find that I will pick a class I’m interested in, but it will be from a list of AP classes. In other words, at least some of the motivation is intrinsic, but I am also in it for the reward. In order to stop this, I think that the relationship between peers in school needs to change. One common question in school when a test gets handed back is “What did you get,” or after scheduling everyone asks “How many AP classes are you taking?” It is a constant competition to have the better grade or be taking more harder classes. One way to stop the competition to do better on a test could be to have more whole class projects. If everyone had to work together and would receive the same grade, then students would be working together rather than working to beat each other,

These were some of the takeaways I had from the “Succstress” video and I urge you all to go and watch it!

You Can Sing like the Professionals!

Today I was introduced to Natalie Weiss’ YouTube channel. She is a performer, voice teacher, and she teaches master classes. She is very well known for her YouTube web series “Breaking Down the Riffs.” In each episode she has a different guest join her and she teaches them a riff from a popular song. For those of you who don’t know, a riff is an improvisation of vocal notes that a singer makes often at the end of a song.

I watched the video featuring Ben Platt learning to do Beyonce’s riff from the end of her song “Bootylicious.” To start, Weiss played the original recording to show her audience what Platt would learn by the end of the eleven minute video. The riff she chose seemed to be very complicated at first with all its half and whole step changes and many different notes. Weiss however made it quite simple. She removed the words and broke the riff down into eight different parts. When she removed the words, she replaced them with key words that would help to learn the sequence of the riff. For example, when there was a full step in the music (a whole note change), she had Platt sing  “whole step” to the notes of the whole step. She also would teach one part at a time and then review from the beginning to put it together each time and get repetition. After teaching each part, she added back in the real words and it came together very nicely.

As I was watching the video I thought about how impossible the riff seemed to learn, but once it was over I found myself knowing about half of the riff. Weiss broke it down and repeated each part so many times that it was even possible for a non- professional to learn along with her and her guest. In addition to this, she also did a short clip at the end with just her where she did the riff slowly one more time for viewers who were trying to learn.

I would encourage you all to check out her YouTube series “Breaking Down the Riffs.” It is a lot of fun and it will have you singing for hours!

Works Cited

Weiss, Natalie. “Breaking Down The Riffs w/ Natalie Weiss – ‘Bootylicious’ with Ben Platt (Ep.30).” YouTube, YouTube, 13 May 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC9E6ZKRpXc&list=PLTMTIX_bS2BqrI9UERO8VnN-5KLYl683p&index=33&t=29s.

Making a Procrastinator Efficient

When it comes to doing chores and homework, I can be quite the procrastinator. It can often take me far longer than it should to prepare for a test or complete a worksheet.

Lately, I have been trying to find new ways to make my work get done faster.

I found that the root of my procrastination seemed to originate with my phone. Every time my phone would light up, I naturally would glance over at it to see who had texted me. Just glancing at it would take my focus away and I would have to re-find the spot where I had left off what I was doing. When I would pick it up it would also get distracted scrolling through Instagram or reading group chats. The time passes much quicker when your on your phone and before I knew it a whole forty five minutes had passed and I had gotten nothing done. After a while I got frustrated with being up later than I needed to be because I had wasted away the whole afternoon. I started putting my phone face down and out of my reach. This way I didn’t see it light up all the time. Also, I am less likely to get up to check my phone rather than if it was within reaching distance.

I also went into the settings on my phone and turned all notifications on silent so that my phone didn’t even vibrate. This way I wouldn’t know when I had gotten a notification.

I also found it useful to make a small to-do list with allotted times to do everything. This helped to get things done faster because I wasn’t constantly switching from one thing to the next trying to get it all done at once.

This is an example of the to-do lists I have made.

These were just some strategies I used to help me be more productive. If you have any ideas comment them below!

Let’s Tech Talk About It!

Recently, in my English class, we held a “Tech Talk”. It was similar to a TED talk but centered around the theme of technology to go along with the current book we are reading, 1984 by George Orwell.

In 1984, the use of technology to monitor people’s lives is constantly referenced. The Party goes to extremes to make sure they always have eyes on their people. In Chapter five on page 62 Orwell states “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide.” The technology of the Party was extremely advanced and was very invasive. 

The Party uses the information as a control mechanism. Therefore, they are using the information for selfish reasons. To them, its not about helping the community, but rather creating a complete totalitarian government. However, if used properly, a surveillance system has potential benefits. For example, preventing acts of terrorism.

We introduced a television series called Person of Interest, which centers around the operation of a large surveillance machine to prevent all types of crimes. Based on the article we had the class read, highly advanced surveillance is not far off from being a reality. So, my partner and I asked the class how we can prevent information from technologies like these from getting into the wrong hands. We had the class discuss in small groups and then share with the class. A member of one group suggested to, “Make a finger scanning system. It’s really the only practical way to prevent the information getting into the wrong hands because something like a password could easily get out” in which another student chimed in, “Oh yeah! Like Disney!” The class agreed that this seemed to be the best solution if there were also additional ways to reinforce the security of the finger print system.

Having the class split into smaller groups and then share after discussing with their group was something that worked really well. We seemed to get more responses and more of a conversation going than when the question was posed to the whole class and individuals were asked to speak out. People seem much more willing to share once they have discussed their ideas with another persons because it allows them to make their thought more coherent.

One criticism I have of our presentation was that there a bit too much dead space. In order to have prevented this, my partner and I should have created some more detailed follow up questions to prompt more responses from our classmates. Aside from this one downfall, the presentation went smoothly and the class seemed to be interested in the advanced technology that the show focused on.

This article is an interview of the producer of Person of Interest, Johnathan Nolan, about where he got his inspiration for the show. What he said was that it was mainly based on real research that has been going on. A way we could have made our presentation stronger would have been to do some more in detail research about the advancements being made in creating a high surveillance machine. We did some research regarding this, but didn’t dive into all the specifics. For example, we could have talked about things like the Amazon Alexa. Since Alexa is always recording waiting for her name to be called, she could potentially help to solve crimes if authorities were allowed to access her stored recordings and listen to the footage from the specific time that a crime was committed. Maybe she could even help to detect clues that a crime will happen before it does, just as the machine does in the show.

Adding new information from other sources also would have helped make our article more reliable. Our article was an opinion from an interview, so finding examples of how a technology like the machine is becoming a reality would have helped give our source and the words of the producer more credibility.

Overall, I felt that our presentation went smoothly and I was happy with the outcome of responses we got.

Works Cited

McCarthy, Erin. “The Creepy Spy Tech of Person of Interest.” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 15 Feb. 2018, http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a7249/the-creepy-surveillance-tech-of-person-of-interest-6499803/. This article is an interview of the producer of Person of Interest, Johnathan Nolan, about where he got his inspiration for the show. What he said was that it was mainly based on real research that has been going on. It was very helpful in realizing that a type of surveillance system like this is not too far away.

Nolan, Johnathan. “Ghosts.” Person of Interest, season One, episode Two, 2011. This show centers around the creation of a machine that is used to detect acts of crime. Throughout the show lives of innocents are saved as a result of the machine giving out the social security numbers of people who might be involved in these terrible crimes.

Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: a Novel. Signet Classics, 2017. This book highlights the role of a society that is watched all the time. It clearly shows the dangers of people with too much power getting their hands on valuable information.

Behind the Scenes

Since it’s the week of the musical, I thought I would blog about how a show takes shape!

So, it all starts in early Spring. The students enrolled in theater at Northern Highlands are given the task of reading new and old musicals. We then report back if we liked it or not and if it might be a good fit for the talent we currently have at our school.  Next comes the decision by our dedicated Director and Producer and the show is announced sometime in May.

Auditions happen right after Thanksgiving; so, if you’re motivated you’ve got 6 months to prepare. Auditions are stressful! The cast is announced on about December 1st. During the month of December we meet several times to read through the script, familiarize ourselves with the plot, characters, relationships, etc., and develop our characters.  What does that mean? That means delving deep into why our character acts and reacts the way they do in every situation, developing a back story for our character – what made us the way we are, and deciding what emotions should be coming through in each scene.

Up next is learning the lyrics, and harmonies to each song. Some of us are singing the melody, while others are singing harmony – not easy. At the same time we are learning the choreography to all the songs – also not easy, especially if you don’t have a background in dance! While all of this is going on, we are memorizing our lines at home.

Now it’s time for blocking – learning where everyone is supposed to be on stage during the entire two hour show and how we all interact with each other. I feel for our director.  This part of the process is a bit like herding cats.

Okay, are you still with me?  Now let’s put it all together – singing while dancing while smiling, acting with emotion, being where you need to be at all times, and did I mention making sure you have the correct props at the ready. Oh, and don’t forget, eventually you have to do ALL this with a live audience watching you!

Now comes the stage crew. They have to learn to change the sets throughout the entire production. They move furniture, props, close and open curtains, operate the spotlights, microphones, lighting, backgrounds and special effects. Honestly, without them the show does not go on! We have a tech rehearsal a week before opening night. For 5 hours we stand on stage in all the spots we will stand during the show and the lighting cues are entered into the lighting system.

Next we add hair, makeup, microphones and costumes – no easy feat. That also includes costume changes. Sometimes you have 10 minutes and other times you have 10 seconds so you might be wearing two outfits layered on top of one another – very hot!

Oh, almost forgot another crucial element to the show – the orchestra! We have sung with the full orchestra only one time prior to dress rehearsals. The orchestra arrives the week of the show for three full dress rehearsals from 5-9 at night.  By Wednesday night we hope all the kinks are worked out. Then finally the curtain goes up and it’s time to show off what we have worked on for months. Enjoy the show!

When I first took an interest in theater, my Dad thought I would be missing out on being part of a team playing field hockey or soccer or lacrosse. After seeing the first production, he realized that a cast and crew and orchestra are a team. They depend upon one another to be successful, maybe even more than a sports team. The cast and crew becomes a family for about 4 months. Show week is a little bittersweet.  It’s an exciting time to finally perform what we’ve worked so hard to create, but it’s sad when the last curtain falls.

 

 

The Mystery of the Girl with the Dark Hair

If you have not read the novel 1984, by George Orwell, you may not want to read this post because it discusses some aspects of the plot.

While reading the first few chapters of 1984, the character referred to as The Girl with the Dark Hair came up in mention and in person a few times. Her character brings a lot of mystery to the story line and her purpose is unclear. I have come up with a couple different theories as to what her role in the novel may be.

The first theory is that she is tempting  Winston and may cause the both of them to get into trouble with the Party. This temptation is shown in the form of a dream where the she “tore off her clothes and flung them disdainfully aside… but it aroused no desire in him” (Orwell 31).  Instead the dream suggests to Winston that “Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement of the arm” (Orwell 61). The element that it aroused no desire in him makes it seemingly less likely that he will have an affair with her. Instead, her presence in the novel seems to not be directly related to her, but instead is a symbol representing the strong temptation Winston has to rebel against the party for a multitude of reasons. For example, he disagrees with the Party’s tactics to control its citizens and he often finds himself fighting for consciousness, and is also found committing thought crime through writing in his journal (Orwell 15 and 19). Therefore, the girl may just be trying to expand his hatred for the Party and push him to rebel against them (potentially with her help).

Another theory is that she is trying to tempt him to rebel, but then will turn on him and will report him to the Party. This theory originated from the fact that she not only tempts him but is also constantly watching him. Winston asks “Why was she watching him? Why did she keep following him about?” (Orwell 61). It seems as though she may be following him waiting for him to make a move so that she can catch him.

If you are just starting the book and have any other theories of what the Girl’s role in the novel may be, comment down below!

 

Works Cited

Orwell, George. “1984: a Novel.” 1984: a Novel, by George Orwell and Erich Fromm, Signet Classics, 2015, pp. 15–61.

 

Shopping for Podcasts

In my English class we have been listening to podcasts as independent reading. For the first semester, I chose to listen to Serial, which is a podcast investigating criminal cases. I found it very interesting and would have loved to keep listening, but as the second semester starts, its time to find a new podcast series to listen to.

Originally when we were first picking podcasts we did a bit of exploring and listened to the first fifteen minutes of a few different podcasts. I had listened to many that I liked, but found Serial to be the most interesting at the time. When I found out that I had to pick a new podcast series I went back to the ones that I had originally looked at a few months ago. Stuff You Should Know, a podcast series produced by Stuff Media, had originally caught my eye, but I had ignored it at first because I’m a crime junkie and chose Serial. I listened to the episode, “Does the Five Second Rule Work” which was hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant. Soon after beginning the episode I remembered how intriguing the series was. Therefore, I decided that I would chose Stuff You Should Know as my second independent podcast choice.

In the episode, the line between a germaphobe and a non germaphobe is discussed and is said to be drawn by the five second rule: your willingness to pick something up off the floor and eat it. It seemingly all depends on what the food is, how long it has been there, and the location of where it was dropped. It was then discussed that when dropping a food, the longer it is on the ground the more bacteria jumps onto it, even if it is there for under five seconds. They gave ways to make the five second rule more effective. For example, taking of your shoes inside because it decreases the amount of bacteria on the floor of the house. Besides the content of the episode, I love the humor that the two bring to the conversation. They banter back and fourth and make commentary related to their personal lives which makes the episodes much more fun to listen to. 

As I dive further into learning about stuff I should know, I hope to enjoy the series more and more!

https://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/does-the-five-second-rule-work.htm

A Fork in the Road

This past week in my English class we got the chance to view the Black Mirror episode, Bandersnatch. The episode sent my class and me on an emotional roller coaster of making choices and seeing the consequences. There was some shouting, cheering, and grunts of frustration to say the least, but overall we had fun watching the episode.

The main message and meaning behind this episode was based around making choices, and having control over yourself and the choices you make. Throughout the episode we saw Stefan go about his life having his decisions made for him by an outside power: us. We watched him slowly lose more and more control over his actions and how he would handle his emotions. In a review of the Black Mirror episode by LibrarianShipWreck, the author poses the question, “What if the point of Bandersnatch is not that Stefan is living in an episode of Black Mirror, but to warn the viewer that they are also living in an episode of Black Mirror? (” In our lives today, we constantly let outside sources like media and peers influence how we make decisions which can be detrimental or cause our lives to go a different way that they would have without that outside influence. “Bandersnatch” highlights this influence in a drastic way when it rewinds back to before a major decision was made and gives the chance to choose again. This forces us to think about how we can learn from our choices in order to make the right decision the next time.

Personally, I was constantly going from being confused to having my mind be blown by a turn in the plot. I was especially surprised every time the plot would go back and restart.  Also, since we watched the episode as a class, the decisions were made collectively and didn’t always go the way I wanted. Because I didn’t have control all the time, I was able to see what it was like to be in Stefan’s shoes. Therefore, for this reason I enjoyed watching in a group.

In our curriculum this year, we are learning about modernism and postmodernism. Bandersnatch has a lot of elements that directly relate to MoPo. For example, tenets of modernism such as fragmentation and non-chronological narration are both present in the episode. Fragmentation is used when the plot breaks and it is up to the reader to fill in the blanks and figure out what happened. For example, when Colin jumps from the balcony, the screen changes and it is up to the reader to decide if it was real, fake, and if hes really dead. Non- linear narration is also used but in a more indirect way. The plot is sequential, but skips around a lot so it is almost non- linear, but not quite. Still the element of the plot being non- linear is present in the episode. The use of irony for the purpose of a joke, satire, was another characteristic of modernism present in the episode. In one of the endings, Stefan had killed his father and was cutting up the body. The scene then quickly flashes to Stefan at therapy where he was telling his therapist how great everything was. This was very ironic and resulted in a laugh from the audience. These are only a few of the modern/postmodernism characteristics that the creators cleverly wove into Bandersnatch.

I enjoyed watching and reading critiques of Bandersnatch, especially a critique from The New York Times by Aisha Harris, Margaret Lyons and Maureen Ryan. I hope you will consider reading it and enjoy it as much as I did! 

Here is the link if you are interested!

Works Cited

“Choose Very Carefully: a Review of Black Mirror – Bandersnatch.” LibrarianShipwreck, 10 Jan. 2019, librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2019/01/10/choose-very-carefully-a-review-of-black-mirror-bandersnatch/?fbclid=IwAR0xoWFEB5jMN_BxS0XI9uotX3wmV0vxVjh3I8CRuWbf2i9wvBviYDtZDcA.

Harris, Aisha, et al. “‘Bandersnatch’ Has Many Paths, but Do Any of Them Add Up to Anything?” The New York Times, 4 Jan. 2019, http://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/arts/television/bandersnatch-black-mirror-netflix.html.

 

Image Link:

https://activerain.com/blogsview/4933500/decisions-have-consequences