Get with the times

During my class today a man, whose name I cannot remember, gave a presentation on how the I-pad and the Kindle were going ruin books and the publishing industry. This is not the first time I heard how the digital age would be the end of books and literature, as we know it. But, I remember when the internet was going to ruin the music industry and the movie industry. Yet movies and musicians still make millions of dollars. This goes back even further than the Internet, there was a time when people cried about how television would ruin radio, when VCR’s came out, Universal Studios went before the supreme court, claiming that if people could record movies at home, then they would no longer go too movies in theaters. Did any of these things happen? No, all it did was force the industries to change and adapt to new innovations. I feel that if anything, the Internet will improve literature; the Internet allows authors to self publish fairly cheaply and easily. It’s what happened to the music industry, when the Internet came around music did not end, the only thing that ended were a number of record companies. Now, if a band wants to be popular and make money they release their music on the internet, which brings people to their live shows. I feel that this same change is coming to publishing. If an author can produce good content then people will buy it. I feel that saying that the internet is going to ruin an industry would be like someone complaining that the light bulb would ruin the torch industry, or that the car would ruin the horse industry. It’s the future and you must adapt.

Self Improvment

This is one of my favorite photos, first because it is such an interesting idea for a photo and also because it reminds me that I must always be challenging myself in order to improve. In any aspect in life it is important to always be pushing the limits of what you think yourself capable. I feel that this is very important in life, a person should always be challenging themselves in some aspect of their life. Whether mentally or physically, I feel that the only way that people grow is by making themselves go outside of their comfort zones. This is also a reminder that I am my own worst enemy, and that when something is going wrong in my life I should look to see what I am doing wrong. It is easy for me to blame other people when things are not going my way, but ultimately I know that I must look to my self to improve my situation.

Hunting

It was still dark out and a light dusting of snow began falling when we arrived at the. Phil parked his truck and we both climbed out, and I unpacked and began loading my shotgun. I was twelve and excited, it was only my third hunt and the first two had been uneventful. “I gotta take a piss, you should to if you haven’t already,” said Phil in his thick New England accent that seemed so out of place in the small Maryland town. Phil was my dad’s friend and since my dad didn’t hunt he would take me hunting with a few times a week. Phil finished peeing and gave the ok to head out to the blind. A blind, essentially, is a wooden shed that is covered with grass and reeds to camouflage it from the animals being hunted, geese in this case. When we got to the blind, Phil opened the door and grabbed a plastic decoy goose in each hand and told me to do the same. “The idea is that we make it look like there are geese feeding here in this field, which will attract real geese to land and we shoot them as they come in.” Phil explained to me. Already knowing this, I just nodded. After the decoys were setup all that was left to do get into the blind and wait. The waiting is actually the part I like most about hunting. As strange as it sounds it is the closest thing to meditation that I have ever experienced. You become so totally focused and in tune with the environment that no thought passes through your mind and time is nonexistent. Though I am not sure, after three hours Phil told me to get ready and began blowing into his goose call. I tensed seeing a group of four geese circling back towards our decoys. Once he could see that they were definitely coming to our field Phil dropped his call and turned to me, “I’m gonna give you first crack at them so just wait till I tell you to fire. Wait, wait, ok go.” I put the gun to my shoulder and fired at the third goose in line. It was like being underwater, the boom of my shotgun sounded muffled and dull, the geese’s wings flapped sluggishly, looking as if they were trying to swim through a pool of molasses. After firing my last shot normality returned and I saw that I had hit a goose. All I felt was proud as I walked out to claim my prize. As I picked it up the goose suddenly came to life and began flapping and flailing around. I was so surprised that I almost dropped it, I looked at Phil’s jowly face for instruction even though I knew what I had to do even though I did not want to do it. Holding the bird up by its head, I whipped it around in a hard circle, breaking its neck. As I stood there holding my goose and waiting for Phil, I could feeling heat pour over my hand, I looked down at them expecting them to be covered in blood only to see the warmth was coming from the gooses feathers.