Group Formation

The first clip called Coach Carter- Push Ups + Suicides, Demonstrates the norming of the group. I believe this is the case because the group has already met each other, found a balance and is now acting on the Norm that they must work together as a team not individuals.

The second clip: Your Free (Aladdin), demonstrates the Mourning(Adjourning) phase. I believe this is the case because as a group they have just completed their task of defeating the evil guy and are now happily married and the Genie is free.

The third clip: Attitude Reflects Leadership (Remember the Titans) demonstrates the storming phase. The reason that I believe this is because of how the two groups are arguing. The Team captain saying that the black man needs to listen to instructions but then it is turned around on him and it is pointed out how the black kids are never blocked. This definitely a group stretching its boundaries and trying to find a norm.

The Last clip: Escape from the Fish Tank (Finding Nemo) demonstrates the performing phase. The reason for this is quite simple. The group of fish work together to save Nemo form the trash can. Using there own unique skills to save him.

The clip I found is from Parent Trap (1998). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtOWbraVo4w This is were the twins first meet. I believe this demonstrates the beginning of forming a group with a common goal. Plus it sets up how they will interact with each other for the rest of the time they know each other.

VERY IMPORTANT

Hey Everyone,

I am sure that you guys have gone on facebook and seen this video but if you haven't you absolutely must.

http://www.upworthy.com/this-kid-just-died-what-he-left-behind-is-wondtacular-rip?g=2

A few warnings:
YOU WILL CRY
You will gain a new perspective
You will share the link if you haven't yet

Communication

Communication, that is a word we hear a lot as college students. Teachers say "You must communicate", or an adviser tells you how much employers look for people with "communication skills". They all tell us that communication is key to success but no one ever explains good communication to us. This is my attempt to clear the confusion on communication.

In my mind there are three different varieties of communication everyone needs to understand. The first is peers(friends). Now this is very important that you understand when you talk to your friends you can be informal and use slang. This makes communication "faster" but never ever use it on the next two varieties or they receiver will just be confused. The second is family, now this may feel like it should be the same as peers but its not. For example in high school you probably used cuss words with your friends all the time. Now imagine your parents face if they heard you cussing, do you see that expression well maybe you should make sure you don't talk to them with cuss words and slang. The third is higher ups, now what I mean is teachers, or bosses. For this one it is always better to be respectful  to them and do your best to speak in the most "clean" way possible.

Now when you are leading and trying to effectively communicate you have to keep a few things in mind. First we will keeps this generalized for individuals and groups. The most important thing to ever do while communicating is to match your body language to what you are saying. Basically if you believe in it look excited etc. Another very important thing is speaking concisely, people hate having their time wasted. So to make sure the crowd does not grow to hate you simply speak efficiently. Do not use filler words such as: um, like, or ahh. Thirdly you have to remember to use emotions. People respond well to emotions, basically they try to mirror you so if you are excited about the topic they will get excited to. Also I know from personal experience I hate it when someone talks in monotone so just don't.

Keep these things in mind and hopefully you will become a better communicator.

Hello Everyone,

So This Week we seem to be lacking in a topic sooooo I am going to write on life.

Now thats a pretty broad topic and I am sure that no one really wants to start talking about this broad of a topic but Im feeling it. Plus its not like anyone's going to read this since you all probably saw there was no topic and immediately started doing other stuff (facebook, instagram, reddit, 9gag, etc). ANYWAYS to me life is something that just can't be tangibly defined. Just look at the world around us. IT IS BEAUTIFUL every where you look you can see the majesty of trees, the amazingly cute squirrels, and the flowers all in bloom. Isn't that life? Im pretty sure Hallmark would say so. Any of their cards would have pictures of spring and cute animals but I wonder why are there no pictures of the Winter or Fall to symbolize life? In my view they should be shown to everyone cause if I learned one thing in college so far its that life is the ups and downs.

Sadly, you can't just always be on the 'upside' of life there is always a fall. And in my view it is actually that fall that defines life. Mainly for two reasons. The first is that without the Fall in life how would anyone ever see the goodness, the beauty? You need to experience the bad to feel the good. For example lets take two kids and give them a ball on a sunny day in a park. Lets say they are both 12, the first child grabs the ball and begins to play with it, laughing and having a good time. The second sees the ball and starts asking for a gameboy, psp, or tv; not even noticing the day around them. Now the first child was raised in a family that experienced some financial set backs so the kid never got the videogames and learned to play and enjoy the world. While the second always got what they asked for and never experienced any negative things.

Now I could see you saying WOAH there that is a horrible example and maybe it is so lets take the same kids but fast forward say 9 years. If all else was equal we find both of them at their senior year of college each one at the same school. The first has a 3.0, a job lined up and participated in multiple organizations. The second scrapped by w/ a 2.3 and didn't really do much in college but got a job at his Daddy's firm. Who has experienced more life?? In my view the first child because he had the downs to make him seize the ups.

Now I know what I wrote has a lot of ramblings but I just felt it was what I should write. I also realize I wrote a really controversial thing. Now I would like to note that I am not saying just because someone is well of they will not experience life, I am just saying that it is harder for them to find life. If life is defined as the Falls we experience.

 Just remember this Tundra has just as much life as the rainforest.

Tunnel of Oppression

Before you start this I am just going to warn you it is not a short read. Have a good day.

     As I reflect on what I truly believe in it is really hard for me to actually find something. I know what I believe is right and wrong but I don't think those count as something I truly believe in. In fact as I mule this over the one thing I keep thinking of is how formative college is for our ideas and beliefs. Every thing we experience pushes us one way or the other on issues. Each moment is game changer and without each of them we would not be the same.

      Going back to what I believe is right or wrong because I think that is where I can truly find what I can say I believe in. As I went through the tunnel of oppression I truthfully could not fully face what it was saying to me. Maybe its just cause I want to see the best everywhere and when you see the worst it is so hard to accept. In the beginning when it started with alcohol and how people do push each other to literally the brink of death I remembered those times in the bathroom puking my guts out wondering what the fuck was wrong with me. Personally I don't believe alcohol is something evil in fact I believe that sometimes it can help foster a community. The real problem is how college is portrayed to us kids in it; and yes I mean kids none of us are really ready for "the real world". Every movie you watch that has college in it you see kids getting plastered to the brink of passing out yet it is made to look fun or in conversations with people we are expected to have these crazy drunken stories to tell all those friends back home. Maybe if people stopped thinking of college as just 4 drunken years there would not be these horrible deaths.

      Moving on to the problems with slavery. I remember back in kindergarten in Sunday School when we learned about Joseph and how he was sold into slavery. That was my first introduction to it. Since then I have learned how horrible it is, the way it makes people dehumanized. In fact I wonder how can it still be going on anywhere in the world. I just don't know what I can do to stop this. I feel powerless an truthfully I really don't like feeling powerless. Then of course I walked to the section on LGBQT, I think thats right. For me I have luckily grown up in a very liberal family where there is nothing wrong with LGBQT people in fact they are just people, no different from me. Basically I just don't understand why people commit hate crimes against them. Quite a few of my friends are gay or lesbian and I just don't see them being any different from me. That's probably why I don't understand the view of them being unnatural or devil's children.

      That is my reflection on the Tunnel of Oppression. Personally I still feel like I really don't know what I really believe in. Maybe I am just having a college belief crisis who knows. I would love to think I have the right beliefs but who really knows what is right. I hope in the future people can really be accepting to everyone no matter who, what, or where they come from. I am sorry if this just read as a college student rambling.

Just A College Guy
--Alex Weseloh

MBTI

So after taking the Meyers-Brigg again it confirmed what I was told in high school, I am an INFP. As I have gone over the "portrait" of an INFP, I am once again shocked by how well the description fits me. As an INFP I get my energy from recharging on my own. I like to think its like making my own little world in which I can sit back and enjoy the show. As a kid I was a huge reader, I would find a book that I liked and bury myself in it until my parents demanded that I stop reading and do something else like play with my brother. Of course when I finally pulled myself away I would always feel content and ready for the rest of the day. Basically for me reading those books was how I created a bubble to rest from the world. One of the other parts of the "portrait" of an INFP is how it says that we are generally good listeners and put people at ease. I know for a fact that this is definitely me. I've always been someone my friends will tell things to and have always done my best to listen to them and help them in any way I can. The last thing I want to talk about is the part where it says that "they are idealists and perfectionist, who drive themselves in their quest in achieving their goals they have identified for themselves." Personally I now for a fact that I am an idealist I always am hoping for the best of all possible worlds to be now. But as I get older and experience more of the world I seem to be losing that part of me a bit by bit. It seems that I am becoming more of realist and I hope that I never go to far down that path because I love being an idealist. Now for the part where the portrait says perfectionist. As I think of myself I know that I am definitely not a perfectionist even in the goals I set for myself. I might be harder on myself then others but I don't expect perfection in my goals, in fact I always think there is going to be room for improvement. 


I completely agree with the quote: "When we put people in boxes where they can only be one or another, we miss the opportunity to see people as diverse as they are" I hold to two major beliefs about people. The first is that no one is the same as anyone else. Basically people may have the same MBTI type but a person is there MBTI plus the sum of their experiences and memories, and no two people have the same experiences or memories. The second belief is that due to the first we are all constantly changing and therefore should never be put into categories or "boxes". The one problem with humans is that we like to put everything into categories; in other words to organize the chaos. For example just look at how we name and classify animals, plants and other organisms; or even books in a library. And when things don't fit into the places we make for them we feel challenged and threatened. So I guess I am saying that society pushes us into classifying things into place. Though I feel that as we go farther into the future there is more potential for us humans to become less focused on the boxes and more at looking at the diversity. 

Rugby

Well this time I decided I am going to write on Rugby, since our 15's season just ended. Let's see I joined Rugby at the beginning of this school year cause I felt that I needed to be involved in school somehow and it sounded like fun. As first quarter progressed we had practice just 2x a week. And I began to get to know a lot of the guys. At first I wasn't sure that they could be completed trustworthy but as time went I realized that they were all great guys and I had no clue what a community it would become. Then came winter quarter the hardest quarter yet. Practice bumped up to four times a week plus games on Saturdays. Suddenly I began to feel the strain of playing so much and being bruised all of the time. As the season came to a close I felt so glad that it was coming to the end. And now that its over I'm so glad that I get a break but Im going to miss playing.

About Me

Hola,

So, my name is Alex Weseloh. Let's see what should I post? hmmmm. How bout I just start with some things about me. I am a local guy, born and raised in the Bay Area (Sunnyvale if you wanted to know the city). I went to Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, ran Cross Country and Track while I was there. I can play the Saxophone, though its been a few months since I last played. Did Tae Kwon Do for about 12 years. ummm Oh, I am playing Rugby here at Santa Clara, its a load of fun. My favorite type of music is Country; though I'll listen to almost anything. Oh I am an Anthropology Major and no, I don't know what I am going to do when I graduate so don't ask. My favorite color is Green and I can't wait for the movie Man of Steel to come out. Well that is some stuff about me. Hope you are all having a wonderful, sunny weekend.

See You Wednesday,

Alex Weseloh