Why nobody needs Spanish...

Let me begin by saying both that I am a foreign language teacher, and this has nothing to do with xenophobia, racism, prejudice, or anything like that. This is a message to young people and parents everywhere and has everything to do with freedom.

What is it that students always hear when beginning to study a foreign language? They will instantly be told: "You don't need German, you'll never use French, Latin is a dead language, Japanese is too complicated." The one thing they are always told is "You should learn Spanish" or "You need to learn Spanish." In reality, Spanish is no more useful than any other language.

I grew up in Southern California. An area of one of the highest Hispanic populations in the country. Arguably, Southern California might be the place where Spanish would be the most necessary to learn. Suffice to say, apart from restaurant Menus and the dialogue of Speedy Gonzales, I never learned one word of Spanish. This has not impeded my ability to function in society whatsoever. I have never once experienced a scenario in which I was unable to achieve my goals because of my lack of Spanish.

Now, I am not saying that no one should learn Spanish, or that there is a language more important than Spanish. What I am saying is that young people should stand up for themselves, and actually choose a language that they want to study. If a student wants to learn Spanish, fantastic. The study of any language will improve a person's problem solving and critical thinking abilities, as well as providing a better understanding of English. The true crime is that there are students who don't want to learn Spanish, but they are told it is required, they are told it is a necessity, and many schools do not offer an alternative.

The usefulness of a language is all dictated by the learner. You will decide when or where you will use a language. If you want to travel in South America and work for an oil company in Colombia, Spanish will of course be the best to learn. If you want to work in the fashion industry, perhaps French would be the most useful. Are you an engineering student? It would probably be best to learn German or Mandarin. Would you like to work for the CIA? Arabic or Urdu will provide the most opportunities. This leads me back to say, nobody needs Spanish.  It is not a requirement in life.

Think about what you want to do with your life, and stand up for yourself. Study what you want to study and don't let people discourage you from that. Any foreign language is only as useful as you make it. Are you working in an emergency room in East L.A.? German might not help you there. Do you want to work as an investment banker? You probably won't need Spanish. Please study a foreign language, study multiple languages, but study what you want to study. Don't always listen to your teachers and parents. Do what you want to do and find a language you will need. Be it Spanish or not.      

How "Breaking Bad" should end... spoiler alert... kind of...

Breaking Bad is a fantastic show. The difference between "good" shows and "great" shows are the characters.

All of the characters have so much depth to them, that watching is gut wrenching and confusing all at the same time. While we can empathize with many of the situations, and think we know what will happen next, we still are never quite sure what the characters are going to do. It's that uncertainty that has left so many people wondering how everything will end. Walt needs to be punished... or does he? Is he going to be held to the standard of our traditional laws and be punished for breaking them, or is what he's doing not a problem because he is (or was) doing everything for his family? If Walt gets caught and goes to prison, it's rather anticlimactic. If the cancer comes back and kills Walt, it's not a problem because he had accepted that fate years earlier. There are many different possibilities of where this might go, but this is where it should go. Let's count down. Just so you know... there will be blood.

Runners up:
- Skyler kills Walt. She's had enough and she feels this is the only way to save her family. She takes the kids and moves to Canada.

- Walt goes on a vengeful, meth fueled, murderous rampage killing everyone who has wronged him or his family.

- Walt gets away with everything. The family moves to Fiji and lives on the beach for the rest of their lives. Jesse marries a supermodel and owns a cattle ranch in Wyoming. Badger and Skinny Pete are his ranch hands. Wouldn't that be some shit?


#3 Jesse kills Walt

In true Menendez brothers fashion, Jesse finds out about all of the terrible things Walt has done to his loved ones, he snaps, and blows Walt away. Since Jesse is estranged from his own father, he yearns for Walt's approval and strives for opportunities to build a personal relationship with him. What all did Walt do to Jesse? Walt let his girlfriend die, poisoned his other girlfriend's kid, killed Mike and lied to him about it, and he's just been an overall prick who's only nice to Jesse when it helps him. After killing Walt, Jesse takes all his money and sets up a college fund for Mike's granddaughter and Walt's daughter and gives the rest away to charity. Jesse moves to Tibet and becomes a Buddhist Monk. 


#2 Walt dies for Jesse

 Should Walt be forgiven? How does he earn forgiveness? If his conscience does finally come into play and he sees what he has become and what he has done to his family and friends, he must redeem himself in some way. He can't just apologize. He must offer himself up for the ultimate good. Some random drug lords are going to kill Jesse, but Walt pulls a Bruce Willis "Armageddon", throws Jesse back into the spaceship and sacrifices himself (you know you cried). Bruce is saving the world and his nobility makes up for being a lousy father. Walt would be making up for being a lousy father (literally and figuratively) and saving the world from his "Blue Crystal". Jesse takes his money and opens an orphanage for kids with drug addict parents.    


#1 Everybody dies

The writers take a page from "Hamlet" and kill everyone... except for Walt. Walt must be punished for what he has done. He can't just go to jail. That would be far too simple, not to mention disappointing. He can't just die because he has no problem with his own mortality. My solution: rival dealers kill his family. It is the ultimate irony. The thing he was doing to help his family, ultimately destroys his family. Walt doesn't recognize any emotional pain he's inflicting on his family as being any kind of detriment, so physical harm must be done. After his family dies, Walt is sentenced to prison where he must live a Promethean existence, having his liver eaten out by his own guilt every single day. Jesse comes to terms with his own guilt, moves to Vermont, and opens a Maple Syrup business. 

 No matter what happens, we know that Walt is going to have to kill Hank. Everyone is expendable, but if something happens to Jesse, I'm going to be pissed. 

What's terrifying about "The Walking Dead" and the Zombie Apocalypse

As Season 4 of The Walking Dead approaches, I've realized a few things. Zombies are pretty cool. As far as monsters are concerned, they are obviously the easiest ones to dispatch. Assuming they aren't the Usain Bolt / 28 Days Later zombies. Everybody loves seeing Daryl being super badass.

Everybody thinks: "Yup, that's gonna be me. Everybody else is dead, but I'm going to live in the forest (even though I don't have any survival skills, and I live in Burbank), I'm going to have an awesome weapon that I will be able to use expertly (even though I never train with it), and I'm going to be the leader of a group (even though my friends are even more inept than I). No, you're dead. Your friends are dead. I'm probably going to be dead (unless my doomsday prepper friends save me. Seriously). But death isn't what's scary about the Zombie Apocalypse. What's scary about the "ZA" is the fact that so many people are fascinated by it.

By openly admitting your enthusiasm about the ZA, you are acknowledging the fact that you are, essentially, a "caveman." You want life to be as basic as possible where you only have to worry about food, shelter, and defending yourself. No credit cards, no electric bill, no mortgage. When I want something, I take it. I want a Chipotle quesorito (if you don't know what it is, ask for it next time... you're welcome), I will smash the front door open, walk behind the counter and take it. Do you need supplies? Guess what, go to Home Depot and take it. Is there another group of survivors that has food and clean water? Let's go over there like a troop of chimps, smash them with clubs, and take it.

Yep. That's you. That's me. That's all of us. Whether you know it or not, when you see somebody with a cool car, nice shoes, or an attractive significant other, there is a little part of your brain that tells you to take a brick, smash the person's skull, and take it. We as humans/animals have been doing this for thousands of years. It's only been the last 400-500 years that we've been suppressing this instinct.

The Zombie Apocalypse is terrifying. Not because we might be eaten alive by the undead, but instead because it allows us to embrace this horrible monster inside of us. If you think hacking zombies to pieces is cool, then that means the next time you are standing in line amongst mindless idiots at the DMV, whether you know it or not, you really want to take out a samurai sword and start chopping off heads. Thankfully, we don't do that. We empathize with one another, we share ethical beliefs that taking a life is one of the most vile things a person could do. With zombies, however, there is no life to take. I can embrace my bloodlust without remorse. This visage of a human has no family, has no emotion, and therefore, I can blow it's head off without worry of reprisal from other humans or even whatever God I believe in.

I'm not condemning ZA fans or Walking Dead groupies. I think Walking Dead is awesome. I think Resident Evil is great. I too am a fan of the ZA concept, the only difference... I know why.      

 

Why am I doing this?

I never thought I would start a blog. 99% of bloggers are idiots talking about the most mundane things without contributing anything at all to society.  In fact, they are usually a detriment to society. After reading most blogs all I can think is...

Then, there is that 1% of people who use skillful writing and superior intellect to inform others, unite people to a common cause, or bring a unique perspective to light. I am definitely part of that 99%. There is nothing inspirational or fantastic about what I am writing. I am simply annoyed by everything and I have an opinion on everything.