Busy Days

I haven't had a full day off and I love it.
I left Vanderbilt Friday and returned home. Saturday, I went to a friend's birthday, Sunday I went to the park with some friends, Monday I stayed with a friend, today (Tuesday) I'm going to a baseball game.

Left to right: The best man, the groom (me), the bride,  the best woman. Yes, left to right.

Vandy was amazing! I was so sad to leave that I actually cried a little even though I generally pride myself on being the manly man of manliness. At the closing ceremony, they called me and another boy on stage to thank us for coming so many years. They gave me a card and a mug, which may not seem like much, but it almost brought me to tears because this has been a staple of my summer for five years and I always really love it. Then we had the dance later that night which was a lot of fun as always. The next day, everyone was so sad because we were all going home and nobody wanted to leave their friends who lived so far away. I got married. The wedding pictures are included in the blog. No, I didn't actually get married, but it was fun.

Our rings

My teacher gave me a glowing review which made my day. ^-^ My grandma was also very happy at the information. 

As for the rest of the week, I got to hold a chicken. Yes, out of everything, that is what sticks out the most to me. It was awesome, okay? I've never got to hold a bird that didn't attack me before so it made me super happy. Then my friend's brother informed me that it was for dinner in a few months. That kinda ruined the moment. 

My Class, The American Legal System

VSA, Sooth Side Unite!

Mural in downtown Nashville, Tennessee

Picture taken at a Nashville bus stop

If you read my last blog entry, you would know that I'm at Vanderbilt Summer Academy. This program has been amazing and a great experience with so many things to discover and I still have a little more than a week left.

Since I've been here, I've discovered calamari (fried squid tentacle, which is actually really good), Sweet Ceces, hipsters, and the amazing way that the government controls our entire life.
So, let me elaborate on a few of these things....
I've discovered hipsters, but I still don't understand them. From what I've been told, they try to act obscure and ahead of the game, but they're still really cool. I really can't tell them from regular people, but whatever.
The government thing was from my American Legal System class. This class makes me want to crawl into a corner and cry before the government does it for me. They really can control way too much, they can even make you buy things that you don't want to, not much unlike the Obama care.

You'll have to excuse me if I get absolutely carried away, there has been so much in the past week and a half that it's hard to know what I would want to talk about first.

I would have to say that the first thing should be how nice everyone is here. I'm never worried about being alone because all I have to do is walk outside my door to find a friend that would love to hang out.  As far as I know, everyone seems to get along and enjoy each other, which is so rare in such a large group of teenagers.

The program gives us a large amount of freedom, all the while still keeping us pretty safe. They only ask that we keep someone with us if we stray too far from the large group and they have blue emergency phones everywhere; in fact, this was one of the first things that they let us know.
Other than that, we get things called soft nights often where we can participate in a large variety of events or we can explore set parts of Nashville and shop until our heart's content.

We do keep busy though, even on the weekends.
Friday they threw a really nice dance that was loads of fun, they even had a board game room for people that didn't want to dance.
On Saturday, they took us to a baseball game but it was rained out. They payed for everything, the tickets, hot dog, coke, and five dollars to spend on whatever.
Sunday, they gave us a choice of where we wanted to go. We could pick from The Country Music Hall of Fame, some plantation, an art gallery, and Nashville Zoo. Whichever you chose, they payed for you to get in. I went to the zoo and it was absolutely amazing!
We were allowed to explore and go wherever we wanted so long as we kept to the group requirements.

Tuesday they payed for us to go out to eat with our proctor groups (groups of same gendered people on your floor and an adult that helps take care of you if you need anything). We went to Chinese and that's where I discovered calamari. It was really good, so was the actual dinner.

Rainbow after the ballgame

Vsa, Law School, and Hyper teenagers

I haven't been able to get on much because I'm on a trip to Vanderbilt Summer Academy, a summer program that has been a lot of fun so far. At first, I was really nervous that nobody would like me because I had made the snap decision to dye my hair rainbow. My grandma kept putting it down until I lost all confidence in it and was already more nervous than I was.

When I first got here, I felt weird because despite this being my fourth year, I didn't recognize anybody. I went to my floor and began to unpack with my dad and grandma. I had not met my room mate yet as she was not here yet so I got to pick the things that I wanted, the bed, closet, and furniture.
My parents left before she got here so I curled up in bed with a novel and hoped for the best.

She got here eventually and she was really sweet, in fact, I'm using her lap top now to update my blog. However, when we met our group that we're supposed to stay with, I figured that I was doomed. They liked Glee, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift...
I like Pokemon, Trigun, and H.I.M.

Luckily, we don't have to stay with out group. I sat with them the first day at dinner and then wandered off to read on my own. Apparently my worries were needless, my hair seemed to make me a super star. People have been coming up to me every few minutes that I'm in public and complimenting it. I even had a random girl come up and tell me that I'm awesome for no reason.
Not only this, but I've made so many friends that I hardly know who to hang out with.

It's really nice to fit in so well by just being myself, this kids, is why you take that saying seriously.

Oh, the food and classes are fantastic as well and, they're taking us to see The Dark Knight Rises!!!!

Grissom Goes Monochrome

Grissom is one of the few schools that has a Gay, Straight Alliance (GSA). This alliance didn't prevent prejudiced from seeping into one of it's very own classrooms, however.
Despite student efforts to make Grissom a safe place to come out, one of their own teachers would cross them with his beliefs.

When I first came across this story, it was in the form of a Facebook note that was written by someone other than the girl that had been bullied by her teacher. The note spoke of how she was talking to a friend and the teacher intruded on the conversation and then used his position to force the class to listen to his religious views on homosexuality. Once she asked him to stop, he continued, informing her that she was in the wrong.
This story became even more bothersome when I learned that the school board all but dismissed the story, almost showing students and parents that it is okay to bully in Huntsville City Schools.

The student, Taylor, that was at the bunt end of this prejudice was more than willing to share her story and answer a few questions.

Me: "What exactly did you say to start the teacher's rant?"

Taylor: "I was talking with a friend and I mentioned that I wanted to move to San Francisco and then someone else jumped in and said 'did you know that's a huge gay community?' and I said "that's the point.'"

Me: "How did the teacher get involved in the conversation?"

Taylor: "He jumped in on his own and started talking about how he disagreed."

Me: "How did he disagree?"

Taylor: "He said it was gross and he it should be illegal. I had told him 'you have your opinions and i have mine, let's not have this conversation. There's no need to argue' and he kept his rant going on about how the bible says it's a sin and how it's Adam and Eve."



Of course this story has been shared widely on Facebook like any story that makes it onto the booming social site. That being said, I've collect a small compilation of comments made in reference to the story and how the people feel about it taking place. (All quotes have been used with permission and none have been edited.)

"You'd be ashamed of the JROTC if you read the article this person wrote." - Amena Tenshi in reference to the original note on Facebook

"I am a Army Veteran and I am disgusted by the Rotc Instructors conduct. When you wear the Army uniform everyone is army green, not: male or female, gay or straight, black or white apparently this instructor needs to be retrained or discharged. Conduct unbecoming is the smallest charge that he should be held accountable for. Standing up Army Strong is what the student did and her classmates should learn from this." Writes Terry Vescio Boucher





Even though the story isn't widespread, the emotions are strong and there has been no negative feedback as of yet.


If you would like to help make a change with this, please write an email, letter, or call the following



Dr. E. Casey Wardynski

Superintendent, Huntsville City Schools

200 White Street

Huntsville, AL 35801

superintendent @hsv.k12.al.us





Colonel Leo M. Impavido

Commander, 6th Brigade

US Army Cadet Commander

246 Blanton Road, Bldg 1031

Hunter Army Airfield, GA 31409

fax 912-315-7800

The bottom is NOT the teacher, so please be polite when addressing him. The bottom address is the address of the regional commander for the JROTC army. Since this teacher is a part of JROTC as opposed to just a teacher, this is not only a matter of Huntsville City Schools but the entire JROTC board.

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