City living versus country living

I can honestly say I have had the luxury of living in both areas.  I grew up living in the city limits in a suburban neighborhood.  Approximately eight years ago, my family moved us out to the county.  Both areas gave me plenty of opportunities to make friends and to experience different things, so I have a certain amount of memories and affection for both.

Let me begin with the basic necessities.  No, I am not talking about food or water.  I am thinking on a grander scale here.  I am talking about cable television and Internet access!  In the city, cable television and Internet were readily available in virtually every neighborhood.  When my family moved out of the city limits and to the county, our television options were quickly limited to over-the-air or satellite.  Do not get me wrong, satellite television is a very viable option to cable.  Many city dwellers even prefer it to cable for its programming, but my personal experience was a lost signal whenever it rained or taking a broom to wipe the snow off of the dish when it snowed.  Plus, I remember my dad complaining about the $5 charge for each receiver needed.  

In the city, the Internet access is usually bundled with your cable access.  The cable company offers great speeds and generally decent reliability.  In the county, we were faced again with two options that did not quite compare.  Our first option was to get our Internet access from the satellite provider.  We quickly found out the big upfront expense and the lower speeds.  The other option at the time was a local Internet Service Provider that focused on the rural communities.  Again, there was a large installation fee but not as expensive as the satellite provider.  Also, the speeds were not up to par with the cable company.  Lastly, the quality was not quite there.  Luckily in recent years the cable company had expanded its range to us and we were able to get their services, but I will have to give the thumbs up to the city for this round.

As I mentioned, we were living in a tight suburban neighborhood before moving to the county.  It was the typical neighborhood where the houses were no more than twenty feet apart.  So close that if the neighbors were playing their music too loud you could hear it.  We had a decent size yard but you can only get so much yard space on a quarter size lot.  When we moved to the county, we also gained a bigger yard!  We had room for a basketball goal, and I had room to ride my bike since the road was not constantly congested with traffic.  We also had neighbors in our new place, but we were not “on top of each other” as it seemed in the suburban neighborhood. 

The frog's home and singing ground

At night, common sounds from the city neighborhood were of cars traveling by the nearby street with the occasional siren of a police car or fire truck.  Out in the county, the sounds were very different.  Our first week in the county home, we were treated to the cries of a coyote and the bellowing of frogs in the nearby pond.  I quickly began to enjoy these night sounds over anything heard in the city.  Therefore, round two will go to the country.

In the city, we were usually no more than fifteen minutes away from the grocery store, a gas station, the mall, or a movie theater.  When we moved, it was obvious that these drives would be longer.  But it was quickly apparent that although the trip was longer in distance that it did not mean it was that much longer in drive time.  It seemed that the city traffic would almost always add a delay to the trip.  In the county, we would often take back roads to get to these places with fewer traffic lights and fewer cars.  This would make the trips just as fast or close to it as in the city.  Driving to relatives or friends was not a longer trip either for the same reasons.  Over the years, grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants have been built with easier access from our county home, so driving into town was no longer needed.  So this final round goes to the country.

This gal here will head-butt you for food.

I do realize that there are other factors when comparing city and country residences.  One apparent one is public transportation.  This would be a big issue for a city dweller dependent on public transit, but in my experience it was never utilized so not discussed.  The luxuries of the big city are beginning to expand out but the hustle and bustle of the city can be avoided.  Even the local Internet Service Provider I mentioned earlier is now a major player in the area since their service has improved vastly over the past years.  I am currently pursuing a degree in marketing from Indiana University and would love to use my skills help smaller organizations like that local ISP or similar ones like Blaze Wifi expand out to more rural communities when I graduate.

The sights, sounds, and even the smell of the cow farm where I work have become sentimental to me. So therefore we have a winner!  Country, or county as we call it here, living it is!   

 Special thanks to BlazeWiFi for allowing me to submit this essay for your scholarship program!

               

The Rabbit's Fur

Riley Draper

AP English

8/6/2013        

            Throughout the novel Sophie’s World there are many different ideas and theories that were introduced by various philosophers. Many of their teachings were very interesting and some were fairly impressive considering the time period many of them lived in. I think the philosopher I agreed with the most overall was Plato. His teachings seemed to the most influential and understandable to me personally. Also, I think Plato is one of the better philosophers because he laid somewhat of a foundation for future philosophers by creating an academy for philosophy and other subjects. He also introduced some new ideas that changed philosophy throughout his time teaching.

            A large majority of western philosophy trails back to Plato’s philosophy. Like I stated before he created the first academy where philosophy was taught and many of his pupils, like Aristotle, became great philosophers as well. He thought that women had the same capability of thinking as men and he believed that our soul is linked with a world of ideas. He stated that when something is born physically they lose all their intelligence and regain it throughout their lives. Plato taught during what was known as the natural philosophers era, where other philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle lived, so I would have to say this era philosophy would be the one I agree the most with.

            Before I read this book I did occasionally think about questions that were general unanswered like “Where does the world come from?”, and “What are my goals in life?”, so I think I would classify myself as around the middle of the rabbit’s fur back then. After reading Sophie’s World I definitely feel like I should start thinking and questioning everything more so I now I think I am getting closer to the top of the rabbit’s fur everyday.

The Red-Tinted Glass

Riley Draper

AP English

8/3/2013

            The “red-tinted glass” experiment in the Kant chapter was when Alberto had Sophie see the world through glasses that made everything a shade of red. The purpose of the experiment was to change the way you perceive the world by experiencing as different forms of the same color. Kant believed that certain things controlled our perspective of the world and color is just one example. There are multiple ways that this concept can still be applied to current everyday lives.

            Everyone has there own way of perceiving and evaluating certain things. For example, if you mentioned football to some people they would just see it as a simple pastime, but whenever someone mentions football to me I start to listen more and become more interested in the subject being discussed. I put a large amount of time, interest, and effort into football so it has become worth more to me than many of my other past experiences in life. If you brought up football to someone who has only played soccer their entire life they would likely rather discuss soccer or do soccer-related activities than football. So I believe past experiences definitely change everyone’s perspective on certain things and how much they care about them.

            Another way our perspective is change throughout daily life is through variety and uniqueness. Much like when Sophie looked through the red-tinted glasses in the “Kant” chapter I think everybody would look at everyday objects differently if they had different colors. If everything was the same color everything would seem less diverse and blander. Also, certain colors seem to be connected with certain actions in some scenarios. For example, when we think of a stop sign we usually think of the color red. So if the stop sign was green instead of red I would perceive it differently because I have become so used to stop signs generally being red.

            There are many different factors that have an effect on our perspective of the world around us. Our own personal thoughts and decisions decide how we see the world and no two people probably see the world exactly alike. Everyone has their own personal views on everything and that is what makes everyone themselves and gives them there unique personality.

The Effects of Religion

Riley Draper

AP English

7/31/2013

            In the Middle Ages, Christianity became a great influence on philosophers of the time.  For example, two philosophers that incorporated Christianity into their teachers were St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.  These two philosophers adopted Plato and Aristotle’s philosophies but added their religious belief systems to them. Basically, their goal seemed to be to combine reason and religion successfully.

            St. Augustine was a Christian follower of Plato’s teachings.  He combined Christian beliefs with Plato’s beliefs into his own teachings.  He pointed out that there are limits to how far reason can explain religious questions and that religion was needed to fill the gaps.  He adopted the belief from the Christian views that evil was “the absence of God” and that you could reach salvation through the church. 

St. Thomas Aquinas tried to show that reason and faith can co-exist and don’t always cause conflict.  Aquinas believed that certain truths could be attained through both faith and reason. God could be found through a path of reason and also through a path of faith.  If the follower truly wanted to find God, then either would work.

            The result of these two philosophers is that they were able to gain followers from the camp of reason as well as the religious followers.  They wanted to show that the two could co-exist and that reason would not be a threat to religion, nor would religion threaten reason.  Knowledge and faith could almost be symbiotic.  Their teachings would create a larger Christian following, but also could give each party the ability to justify their own personal beliefs through reason or faith without the internal conflict or the judgment of society. They, in a way revolutionized philosophy and started a movement where religion would become more acceptable throughout the world.

Who Am I?

Riley Draper

AP English

7/25/2013

            In Sophie’s World, Sophie receives a letter that asks the questions “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?”  Initially, Sophie didn’t really know where to begin with her response and I found myself in the same situation.  I would have to say if I were asked by a stranger “Who are you?”, I would start with the basics of my name and age.  I am Riley Draper, and I am sixteen years old.  That would be the most basic answer.  Obviously, there is much more to this question that the inquirer wants to know. 

            To go a little further, I live in a family of four.  I’m a student and a football player at North High School.  To be honest, only being sixteen years old doesn’t give me a lot of experience on things.  I don’t know a lot about life, yet I think do know a lot about certain aspects of it.  What I know is relative to my age I guess. There is no wrong or correct way to answer this question and I think no one truly knows one hundred percent who exactly they are. I think all my past experiences have shaped me to be who I am today. Whether it be football or something school related, I think I have been challenged mentally and physically multiple times throughout my life and I think that has influenced me to be the person I am right now. What does all of this mean?  It means that even at sixteen, I’m a confident person in some ways and that in others I am still inexperienced and unsure of my abilities.

            The other question, “Where does the world come from?” is also something I am unsure about. There are generally two ways that I see people answer this question. The more scientific answer that the world was created from an explosion, or “big bang”, and the religious answer that states that God created this world. Much like the question “Who are you?” there is no definite answer. I personally believe that God created this world mainly because my family raised me that way. At the same time, I cannot fully be sure that God created this world or where God comes from in the first place. There will most likely never be a proven answer to this question but it is a very mysterious subject.

            You could spend countless hours trying to answer both of these questions and you still would not be able to find an undoubtedly correct answer. I am satisfied with what I know right now and I am just grateful to be given the opportunities I have been.