My One Week of Twitter!

My one week of Twitter! What an experience! I have never been interested in Twitter so when we were told that we had to create an account, https://twitter.com/KizzieRyerson  I started crying inside. (: (Not really though!) Thinking to myself, “Great, I so do not want to do this and I have no idea where to begin.”  

              My first day on Twitter was so scary. It reminded me of my first day of high school, the one where you feel so small and lost with all of these big kids swarming about you. Looking back and thinking about how much you miss being the “big” kids of the middle school. Except in this situation it is more like, “Man, I would much rather be face booking, then tweeting… I feel so alone and lost!” Eventually, I began to make my way through Twitter though. That day, I began to follow a few celebrities that I admire including: Blake Lively, Whittney Eveport, Eva Longoria, and Katy Perry. As well as some fashion magazines like Harpers Bazaarus, Teen Vogue, and In Style. My favorite, so far, is BreakingNews! I love hearing the latest news and weather and following them on Twitter is more convenient then having to sit down and watch television.

              The articles about Twitter helped me tremendously with creating my account and increasing my knowledge about what to do with it. The blog that helped me the most throughout the creation of my twitter account was 25 Reasons Why Someone Should Join Twitter, (http://www.balkhis.com/twitter/25-reasons-why-someone-should-join-twitter/.) This article helped me to understand more about Twitter, including what I can do with it and who I can interact with.  The College Students Guide: Twitter 101 (http://www.commcognition.com/blog/college-students-guide-twitter-101/) did not benefit me at all. After reading it, I got the feeling that I was being talked to like I was ten years old.

              I think using Twitter will benefit me in many ways. Not only is it helping me connect with my friends and others easier and faster, but it is connecting me to things and people that I am very interested in as well. In conclusion, after my one week of Twitter experience, I plan to continue using it. In hopes that it takes me somewhere fabulous!  

Diversity Blog!

Hooray for another blog post! This one is based on a diversity event that I attended entitled “Traveling Mercies in Afghanistan, Kenya Haiti and Mexico.” The speaker Aldo Magazzeni expressed what he has done to help many communities. Aldo Magazzeni has spent ten years organizing volunteer community service projects which consisted of building wells and water systems around the world through his nonprofit company called Traveling Mercies.  Expressing in his speech that “I am where I am today because of my experiences.”

Mr. Magazzeni was born in Italy and having a poor family is what gave him the urge to help others. His work as an activist came about from mountain climbing, which introduced him to small communities. In order to pay for the needed supplies to help these communities, Aldo Magazzeni raised money and sold his BMW! He first started working in Philadelphia with juveniles and gangs in hopes to decrease violence.

 Since beginning his “Road to Activism” he has installed fourteen systems in both rural, and inner cities between 2003 and 2009. A water system in Kenya supplied 1,000 orphans, 800 of which are HIV positive. This well also supplied 500 acres of farm land with water. Water systems were installed in day care centers, safe shelters for women and children, schools, and men and women jails in Afghanistan. As well as installing water catchers for school buildings in Mexico. All of these resulted in the creation of his business: Champion Fasteners Inc.

In conclusion, Aldo Magazzeni left me with many inspirational words. “I want world peace rather than just giving money to big agencies,” was one of my favorite statements and I am sure we can all agree with it. I hope that when I begin to grow “old” I will have a strong passion for wanting to serve my community, and others as well, in order to make things for them better!

- Kizzie Ryerson

Blog 2: Mistakes Are A Fact Of Life

"Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts." Nikki Giovanni. We have all made mistakes, some are small and insignificant, while others will never be forgotten.  My blog is not necessarily about one particular moment in my life that portrayed me doing my best, but it was a few particular choices in the past few years of my life that helped me to become the “best” I could be. These were the moments where I learned from mistakes and began to understand who I am and what I want out of life.

              At the end of my sophomore year, I had a lot going for myself. Little by little I let all of that slip through my fingers though. By the end of summer my best friend and I had gotten ourselves into trouble with the law and life continued to get harder and harder as I tried to rebel against my mother. One month into school I had gotten myself into more trouble. This second offense was one that could have been avoided if I would have literally just lied and said that I had not done it. Who would have known that lying could benefit in a situation like that?! For these two offenses I would receive the consequences of community service, sitting out half of the football season for cheerleading, and was removed from the dance team. The fact that my mother was the coach for each of these teams, made everything worse.

              After establishing a rule contract that expressed all of the things I had to or could not do for three months a.k.a. being grounded plus a million other things, made my mother and I’s relationship very sour. Hanging out with friends or anything of that sort was not allowed, so to sum it up, I went to school, practices, and came straight home until school the next morning. A short time later, I grew tired and eventually gave into my mom and did everything she wanted. Gaining her trust back was all I wanted.

              Over that next year reality had struck me hard. Not only had I felt hostility from my mom but from my peers at school as well. My bad choices had taken over my life and they turned me into someone that I was not. Eventually, I grew tired of this treatment as well, and changed my ways. I made new friends around school and opened myself up to new experiences. From these mistakes I learned that doing something that will result in trouble is never worth what will be lost, not only when it comes to being involved and active but when it comes to other people’s attitudes toward myself. My mom’s trust is so important to me, and when I realized this, I did everything in my power to get it back.

              In conclusion, I feel that this story shows me at my best because of who I became after learning from my mistakes. Typically, dancers who have gotten kicked off the team are never allowed to try out again. Due to how I dealt with getting in trouble and how I continued to support the team truly showed that I learned from my mistakes, which allowed me to become a member of the team again my senior year. I found new friends who would not get me into trouble, and put a large amount of focus on the most important part of high school which were my grades and going to college. Luckily, I made it here!!! (: Some of us will make hundreds of mistakes but it is whether or not we learn our lesson after they have been made that counts!

-Kizzie Ryerson