The Predictable Stuff
Name: Jeff
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Location: Chicago
Country of Birth : USA

Favorites
(with a brief description explaining why)

Author: Reading is my first love. I have read too many authors to name one and too few to even begin to choose. In case you must have an answer I'll throw three respectable authors out there that I can't stop reading. Douglas Adams, J.D. Salinger (note: I like Catcher in the Rye but it's my least favorite), and Robert Jordan.

Book (not written by favorite author):The Hyperion Saga by Dan Simmons he is the most talented author I've read in that he easily changes genres without taking away from the story but skillfully adding to it. Also, his drunken poet whose name I forget is my absolute favorite character.

Historical Figure: I have three Jesus(the man), Buddha(the man), and Gandhi. Jesus taught me it's ok to love a complete stranger. Buddha taught me that I should enjoy my emotions, but I mustn’t cling to them. Gandhi taught me that there is always a peaceful solution if you work hard enough for one.

Poet and Poem: Barter by Sara Teasdale. When I'm feeling depressed I always try and read this poem to remind myself that life still has loveliness to sell.

Movie: Good Will Hunting, I loved the story and I don't think it had a bad line.
Though I must say Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind would have beaten it if it didn't have the "Hollywood" ending that ruined the entire movie for me.

Album: I really think the era of the Album is pretty much over. I'm going to go with two singer/songwriters. Conner Oberst of Bright Eyes and Slug of Atmosphere. Both write intelligent personal relationship centered lyrics that anyone can relate to. They each have their own indie cult following and have both pretty much told all the record companies where they can go and started their own.(record company)

Famous Quote (and who said it): “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” ~Shakespeare

Any shred of confidence I have can be attributed to this. I honestly believe as long as I don't lie to myself I'll have no reason to lie to someone else, to doubt myself, or to change myself to become more acceptable or pleasing.

Voice Your Opinion
(make sure you can support your point of view)
Capital Punishment: "An eye for an eye just leads to more blindness."
I think we're blind enough as it is. I do not believe death is a deterrent because I feel anyone who commits crimes to warrant Capital Punishment doesn't really care if they're alive in the first place. I don't think it's our place to decide whether someone lives or dies and doing so makes us no better then those we condemn. I do admit though that I would have trouble arguing against it for rapists or child molesters, but in my opinion personal feelings (like revenge) should not get in the way of justice. I think as a society we need to prevent these people from ever acting again but I truly cannot understand calling ourselves civilized and demanding someone's blood at the same time.

Religion: Some food for thought. God and I had a conversation. He told me I must not concern myself with his existence, that the Bible is filled with falsehoods and mistranslations, he deeply regrets what came of sending his son here, and does not care if I go to church, marry those of my same sex, pray to him, or treat sex as something I don't fear. Instead he said he wants me to turn my attentions upon my neighbor and ask what can I do for him. Now am I a prophet, blasphemous, or just plain old crazy?

As for my own beliefs, I have none. I was raised as a Roman Catholic and I find it shocking how many people in my parish simply believe what they’re told with out questioning those beliefs and the reasons behind them. In fact questions are not allowed or simply given the “because someone said so”. I think I’m much too young to be that sure of anything. Though I do enjoy learning about religions and intelligent people with strong beliefs fascinate me.

I ask that you not mistake my lack of a faith with a lack of spirituality quite the opposite in fact. I don’t desire to be a good person because I’m afraid of some divinity punishing me after I die. I desire to be a good person because I truly want to be a good person. If that makes any sort of sense.

Time travel: I can’t see this happening. If I go back in time and un-make myself how in fact was I born to go back in time and un-make myself? There are just too many paradoxes. I love paradoxes I’d be happy discuss them, I figure myself somewhat as a time travel expert.

Cloning: I’m for it. I’m pretty much for any beneficial scientific advance. I understand the arguments against it but I figure once we define definitely what cloning is and could be that as long as we work out rules and regulations it will be for the most part a good thing.

The Dreamer May Die: but never dies the Dream. (Has anyone seen Waking Life? It’s a movie for every dreamer and some of the monologues will just blow you away.)

Mental Health Care: As far as institutions I know nothing and have no desire to know anything but if you feel there is something I should really know about them please tell me.
As far as anti-depressants being given out like candy. I think it’s rather sad, I’m sure a few people really do have a chemical in-balance in their brain and you have to guess and test which chemical it actually is. But, for me a nice Hershey’s chocolate candy bar is more effective. I’m not qualified to give my opinion (I won’t let that stop me) but I’ve found that most people that cut or don’t give a damn about life do so because certain people in their life don’t give a damn about them (or don’t act like they do which is just as important) and the best way to deal with it is to talk about it either with that person and/or people who will be supporting and understanding (friends, family, or even a stranger on the internet.)

President Bush: I don’t hate Osama bin Laden and I don’t hate Sadam. I hate George Bush. The Patriot Act is the most disgusting piece of legislation ever made known to me. I find it laughable no one ever looked at a tall building and said Kamikaze to themselves. I can’t stand the fact that I can’t go to the mall, a sporting event, or downtown with out thinking the word terrorist. The fact that the administration might have let September 11 happen doesn’t surprise, I suggested it last year to a few of my friends. Bush went from having every single god damned country backing us to having our allies backing away from us. Bush’s lack of concern for the environment and the media’s refusal to question him sickens me. I hate Bush. I have many more reasons if you desire them.

Euthanasia: As long as the person who desires this is of sound mind when determining that they no longer wish to live and they alone can determine this I see no problem with it. Why should we force someone to live when they have no desire to?

My grandfather passed away a few years ago, about 6 months before he died he had a heart attack. I couldn’t even look at him after that it made him so weak. He had trouble holding the most basic of conversations. On top of that he now required weekly dialysis treatments, because of these health complications they had to sell their house which his father and brothers supposedly built from a Sears catalog(I’m not 100% confident on this). I never want my family to go through something like that, it’s awful.

Aliens/Extra Terrestrials: I don’t have a doubt that they exist in some fashion. Maybe they’ll show us just how intelligent we really are.

More in Depth
(you need substance here. One- or two-sentence answers are not enough)

In your opinion, what's the single most important technological advancement of the last thousand years?
I could take this all the way back to the wheel but since I have no idea of how things were before the wheel I don’t think I can really understand the importance of it. To me the most important technological advancement I’ve seen in my lifetime and probably the past few lifetimes is the mass consumerization of the internet. The internet in some form has existed since the 70s or earlier (I’m not sure) but it was only in the mid 90s that it became available to the average person. Information is now literally at your fingertips, world wide communities, news, weather, sports scores and shopping wherever you want it and we haven’t even cracked the surface.

If you could "take back" a single historic event, what would it be? How do you think the world would be different? Again I’m going to stay within the realm of my relatively short life time and say September 11. All those people wouldn’t have died, we wouldn’t have gone to war, the patriot act would never have been passed(I hope), the media wouldn’t be so lenient on Bush(We tried to impeach a president for lying to us because of his sex life, Bush lies to us on a matter of National Security and it’s not his fault?) It also looks like we’re fighting another drug war or pseudo war which scares the hell out of all the parents and allows are government to pass laws we might otherwise question. Does anyone have any idea what margin of victory we have for either the drug war or the war on terror?

Why do you want to become a member of this community? What do you think it offers you and what can you bring to us? I hope to start attending college this winter but with my writing skills as awful as they currently are I don’t have much confidence in my ability to do so. I’m hoping that having discussions and arguments (without the annoying I’m right and your wrong no matter what you say! Even if some people can fancy it up a bit) that I care about with people much more intelligent then I am will do something to improve my writing ability.

I think what I can bring to the community is an eager mind and as I hope I might have gotten across with my historical figures, I try to approach every situation and person with mentality of “What can I learn from this event/person?” I bring the concerns and views of a desensitized American teenager to the community and one of the most open minds your likely to find at my age.