RE: "what it takes" to be american by terry

So, +Theresa Kuei  over at The Peaceful Osmanthus wrote a very interesting blog post about a largely debatable topic, and here is my response. All the below stuff is my opinion, although I do reference one other site.

~~~

Firstly, why does everyone say 'the States' when they move abroad? >:( Personally, I think that 'U.S.' is SO much more ear-friendly (that's not a real thing). By the way, the correct capitalization is 'the States', not 'the states'. But whatever, that's not really the point.

Well, I saw this issue on a Grammar Girl article once. She referred to U.S. citizens as 'Americans,' and that sparked a HUGE debate. Click here for her "response article."

Butt, I will say that there's really no substitute for "a word to mean citizens of U.S.A." And note that I said "a word" so don't tell me "U.S. citizens". Honestly, I also assume that "Americans" (in its U.S. usage) could also refer to people who not necessarily are citizens, but who identify as "Americans"-- i.e., a person "from" or "of" the U.S.A.

Ex: illegal immigrants, especially their children (who are still alien, nonetheless). The children, who have probably never visited the country of their heritage, identify as "American" (U.S. usage). But, they may not be citizens. So, in that sense, "Americans" can mean MORE than "citizens of U.S.A." It may just mean "people of U.S.A.", for this particular usage (the so-called "U.S. usage").

In common usage, "Americans" refers to people "of" the United States of America, (and I use the term "of" loosely) but Latin Americans and Canadians, Mexicans, etc., probably DO identify as "Americans" (continental usage). I support the usage of "Americans" in dealing exclusively with U.S. people, but I also agree that it can be used otherwise, making it somewhat confusing. Butt what we have got to understand here is that the full name of USA is "United States of America," and that "America" is actually IN ITS NAME. So, that's why I support using it. There simply is no alternative, and also, it's technically an abbreviation, soo.... yup.

<3 sorry for very long article <3

HAIIIIII-kus

This morning I thought
things would somehow be the same
but they were different

Today I thought that
things would somehow be different
but they stayed the same

Which one was your day?

xx

HAI THERE.

:))

I realized that this blog has no theme, but that's okay, because it's mainly a place where I randomly say things that I want to say to the world and that's okay :)

Actually, there is a theme somewhere and it's probably diy which includes all those prompts and things from 'ye olden days' of this blog because that lets you DO IT YOURSELF and also yeah.

MERPP.

Whut.

HIIIIIIIIIIIIII

So the Pocahontas thing was a success. I mean Success. With a capital S.

Yeah, pictures soon. Not now. I don't have them yet :3

And the dress itself looks really itty bitty but then when i wear it it's long enough so...............

hi.

Mani Saturday!! (10/26)

Okay so "Mani Saturday" is a weird moniker, but stick with me :)

I LEARNED HOW TO DO ACRYLIC PAINT NAIL DESIGNS!!!!!!!!!!!

This is amazing as I LOVE acrylics..... LOVE.

I have so many CraftSmart paints that nobody knows about (haha, now you know <3).

So I finally decided to use what I learned in this video:

[boyfriend does my nails]

to do my own toenails!! <3

Now, as none of you know, (lol) I can't paint my nails because of my nailbiting problem that annoyingly still exists although I cured about 85% of it.

But............ toenails are fair game and so I did my left foot toenails for this post!! <3

MATERIALS:

1. All Materials needed

2. New "Elsia" nail polish in 001(clear): see here. I got it from Watson's and it was (a little) expensive but there was a sale so :3

3. Emnono nail polish, used as a base coat but it's just regular nail polish. Emnono is a no-name brand, lol. I got it from AliceBox which is our local girls' store (for lack of better name........ 0.o.......... basically it sells hair accessories and cute bracelets and rings and socks and bags and trendy clothing upstairs)

4, 5. "Ivory" and "Bright Red" craftsmart acrylic paints. <33 love.

Before topcoat:

After topcoat:

Um, YAY! I know that it doesn't look like there's much difference, but the second one definitely is shinier (see those highlights?) and also, IT DIDN'T BLEED!~!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!


bye!

Knitting: reddish-coral scarf

Some people who know me well know that I absolutely adore EVERYTHING crafty. Well, recently I've been knitting quite a bit...............


I MADE THIS V BEAUTIFUL (not to be narcissist, but I already am, so...) RED-CORAL scarf for my grandmother, I am SO proud of it <3

here's a pig pic :D

Isn't it pretty?! The flower is a ribbon thing that I learned how to make at a tour of a very fun ribbon factory!~

Well the very pretty and digitally enhanced one is the top picture <3

Um, so, some writing, yeah?

Yeah, I haven't been sharing a lot of writing on here. *Sigh*. Oh well. Here's my entry for this competition, hosted by SmileyFaceGirl......

Times had been tough for forever, or so it seemed to Carmel. Every day, she would look out the window for a sign of a pink lantern, which signaled her parents’ homecoming from their voyage out to sea. But for now, the children would have to manage the little house by the sea by themselves. 

Carmel shivered in the cold December air as she scanned the horizon desperately. The dark clouds warned of a thunderstorm, so she ran inside. Her younger sister, Rosie, was already closing the windows and locking them securely. When the thunder boomed, baby Millie started crying. Carmel rocked her baby sister, keeping her eyes on the door, waiting for her older brother Frederick to come home from his job at the market.

There was a sharp knock on the door. In her anxiety, Carmel forgot to look through the peephole before opening the door, but it turned out to be Mr. June, who was Frederick’s boss. “There’s been an accident;” he said grimly, “Frederick’s been taken to the hospital.”

Carmel’s hands flew up to her mouth. “What happened?” Rosie asked shyly.

“It wasn’t his fault,” Mr. June said quickly. “It was slippery, the car couldn’t see well—“

Carmel felt sick, but she tried to be strong. “We have to go see him straightaway!” she exclaimed, bundling Millie into the stroller. Then the three girls followed Mr. June to the hospital through the rain coming down.

The thunderstorm had left so many casualties. Fisherman had drowned at sea. There was no hope of finding the pink lantern tonight, but Carmel couldn’t help but feel upset at leaving the house. What if the signal came while she was away?

When they reached the hospital, there was a long line of people waiting to visit their loved ones. Carmel recognized Leila, whose husband was a fisherman. She was weeping and praying, her mouth making the shape of “I love you”, but no sound was coming out.

Carmel, pushing the stroller and holding Rosie’s little hand, followed Mr. June into the glaringly lit, crowded hospital.