Sarah Palin

Out of the many government or political individuals, Sarah Palin stands out as an honest, hard-working, and enthusiastic individual. She is very intelligent and really does know what she is doing. From taking on tough issues to taking care of her kids, Sarah is able to somehow manage it all. Besides the fact that she is the youngest and the first female governor of Alaska, Sarah is continuing to make history. Sarah was already a vice presidential running mate, but unfortunately didn’t make it to the big office. She is a potential presidential nominee for 2012 and could also be a vice presidential candidate again. It is amazing how much potential she has, and Sarah does it all with a baby on her hips.Growing up in Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah came from a humble background. She has slowly worked her way up to her governor position, starting off as a Wasilla city council member. Sarah has ended up where she is because of her willingness to stand up and fight for the general welfare of people. I find it inspiring how she is concerned for the people and does what is best for them, unlike some political figures. An individual may not agree with her political views, but at least she is standing up for what she believes in. For certain, Sarah is a great asset to the Republican Party because of who she is. She certainly wouldn’t try to work out shady deals, like selling senate seats. Unlike some people, Sarah isn’t going to sell certain positions that will probably end up going to some crooked individual who works out money deals with even more people. Sarah has integrity and only wants what is best for Alaska and America. As long as she continues to be herself, she will always be an amazing person.

Black Holes

Black holes, technically, are still not proven to exist but there is an exploding amount of evidence that they do. They were first calculated mathematically in the late 1700s and, since then, are still being studied. Even though we can’t see them, we know that they do exist. In fact, they were first named “invisible stars,” since these calculations showed that they have an exceedingly massive and therefore light can’t escape from it. Black holes are formed from very large, old stars that explode into a supernova and then collapse. When they collapse, all that hydrogen and helium gas compresses back inward so forcefully that it forms a really massive “hole” of which nothing can escape.
Usually, we think that the bigger something is, the more powerful it will be, and this proves itself right in some situations. But that is not always not true and especially with black holes. Actually, the smaller the black hole is, the more massive and powerful they are. It is theorized that some black holes, which suck up whole galaxies and stars 10,000 times our own star’s size, are no bigger than the size of a potato chip. Black holes maybe very small but are certainly very influential. These are one of the qualities that build a person’s curiosity about these super massive holes. It leaves us all in awe how something so small can be so powerful that not even light can escape from it. It will guzzle up anything that comes near it. In the end, it leaves you to wonder where all that material ends up. Is it lost forever in a dimension or hole, or does it end up somewhere else in the universe?

Genealogy

I have always been interested in my own genealogy. For as long as I can remember, I have had a natural curiosity about history and the people in it. Genealogy is a great way to learn about both. It is even better knowing that you are related to those people that you find out about. I find that once you get started, it is hard to stop because you want to learn more and more about your family’s roots. Also, there are a lot of surprises and unknown facts to be found when studying your own genealogy.
Even though it may take a while, an individual always begins to unravel something about their past. With some ancestors, it may take days or months to find something other than their name, but with others, it may take no more than typing their name into a search engine and pressing enter. When you go deeper into the past, most of the time you only find their name, birthday, death date, and time of marriage. Sometimes you will get lucky and find a newspaper article of some sort on the person. Other times, you might find someone in your family who was famous or of “importance” when they were alive. Usually, it gets harder to find anyone beyond the 1600 or 1700 hundreds unless there was an influential individual in your family, or if one of your bloodlines is descended from royalty. But as it gets harder and harder to find more ancestors, the interest level builds more and more. There does come a time when you can no longer find anything on the internet. Once this happens, you have to travel to that country of your origins and rely on rumors or people to help you find cemetery sites that might contain your ancestors. Also, there might be churches that contain records of your ancestors. Overall, it is worth it because when you figure out who your greatest grandparents were, and what countries they came from, you begin to have a sense of well-being.

Maya Angelou and the "Caged Bird"

There is one author, in particular, who I find is inspirational. Her name is Maya Angelou, and I think she is inspirational because of a poem she wrote called “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” For a little background information, Maya was abused and raped when she was a little girl. This incident is what inspired her to write this poem.
The title alone has a lot of sadness built into it. In the poem, there is a free bird that gets to enjoy the basics in life and roam wherever it wants to. But also, there is a caged bird that is locked in a cage all the time and has clipped wings. All that bird does is sing and it sings for freedom. It is pretty obvious why the caged bird sings for freedom, but the fact that it sings is a sign of its sorrow and loneliness. Singing may also make the caged bird happier by releasing some of its emotion. The free bird is already happy so it doesn’t think much of singing to make it even happier. It could sing and maybe does sometimes but never in a meaningful way. Anyway, the free bird doesn’t need to sing to show off its happiness. Unlike the caged bird, it can ride through the wind or soak in the sun if it wanted to. Now, all the caged bird can do is sing. When that bird is locked in, it is usually limited to the things it can do, but it still dreams of being able to do more. Singing about its dream helps the caged bird and is what keeps it alive. It give the bird a kind of hope that maybe somewhere in the future things will work out and it will be free. Otherwise, without singing it would probably be physically and mentally dead.