Sunday, May 29, 2011

My Advice to High School Graduates and Soon-to-Be High School Graduates: Questions to Ask Yourself Upon Graduation from High School

Among the helpful questions that a teenage American citizen might want to ask himself upon graduating from high school are:

(1) Which of the books I read in high school that I currently own, or that I checked out from the library, would I like to someday purchase and add to my own personal permanent individual library---a personal library for myself I can draw upon and feel inspired by throughout my post-high school years.

(2) Which topics or authors or mini-subjects or subjects mentioned in passing one day in class or persons studied as part of an academic course of mine, intrigued me the most?

For example:
Did I particularly enjoy studying the Progressive Era of American history?

Was I particularly intrigued by the Great Depression during my American History course?

What might explain why my world-history teacher at my high school emphatically and repeatedly stated to my entire class that he himself habitually referred to one cited Protestant religious denomination in the United States as "the 'Businessman's Religion', since so many members of that religious denomination join a church with the primary intent of selling lots of life-insurance policies to other members of that congregation," as that part-time football coach at my high school and part-time world-history teacher there put it so vividly?

Which of the poems that I read in my English and American literature classes did I savor the most? Could I obtain a copy of each of the poems that I enjoyed the most and add that to my permanent personal library?

Was I particularly fascinated by my English Literature teacher's observation in front of my entire class that considerable doubt exists today as to whether William Shakespeare or Queen Elizabeth I or Christopher Marlowe was the actual author of the plays and poems currently attributed to Shakespeare?

(3) Did I keep a personal journal or personal diary during my high school years? If so, wouldn't it make sense for me to continue reflecting on my life by keeping a daily journal or diary?

If I didn't keep a diary or journal during my high school years, wouldn't this be a good time to start that thought-provoking leisuretime hobby or pastime for myself?

(4) Of the various schoolmates of mine and other teenage persons whom I encountered during my high school years, which individuals whom I never went to lunch or dinner with would I now like to invite to have a meal or snack and conversation with myself sometime this summer at a local restaurant or coffeehouse?

(5)Did I possibly over-emphasize competition in any way during my high school years? Aren't teamwork and a sense of mutually-beneficial pursuits and the honorable sharing of ideas and observations and creative mutual-consent dialogues with others also important?

(6)Did I allow my own competition with other students during my high school years to distract me in any way from any of my own personal goals or any of my own career-related or personal religious goals?

(7) Did I associate during my high school years with persons who are as law-abiding and honest and polite as myself?

(8) Do I recall any occasions in which schoolmates of mine (or other teenage persons whom I encountered) led me astray and possibly pressured me into doing something that was possibly illegal or violated the rules of my school district or school? If so, do I or should I currently associate with any of the young persons who led me astray?

(8)Of the various schoolmates of mine and other high-school-age youths, which individuals inspired in me a greater sense of calmness, tranquility, dignity, and self-confidence? Have I made a point of keeping up with some or several of those inspirational individuals?

(9) Is there any extracurricular group or extracurricular creative activity that I wanted to pursue in high school, but I was not able to during that period of my life? If so, would I like to pursue any of those creative pastimes starting this summer?

(10) Of the schoolmates of mine who were in a different grade level than my own, are there any persons whom I would like to keep up with?

(11) Of the various hobbies and pastimes that schoolmates of mine or other acquaintances of mine were pursuing, which hobbies or pastimes would I like to possibly add to my own leisuretime activities?

(12) Which schoolmates of mine and other teenage persons did I have the most conflicts with during my high school years? When that type of conflict arises for me in the future, will I respond to that future conflict for me in the same way that I did during my high school years?

(13) Was there any evidence of significantly illegal or unethical or injurious conduct by any schoolmate of mine or other youth that I chose not to share with the principal or vice principal of my high school? In the future, will I be willing to contact my local law-enforcement agency in order to report evidence of illegal activities of that type to the police?

(14) Which of the oral conversations of 30 minutes or longer that I enjoyed the most during my high school years featured a conversation partner whom I was not myself dating or seeking to date? Do I plan to possibly keep up with that individual whose strictly-platonic companionship I enjoyed?

(15) Are there any helpful practical skills (cooking skills, for instance) that I did not learn during my high school years, and that I might find the time to learn this summer?

(16) Is there any law-abiding and honorable skill or healthful creative activity or hobby that I wanted to learn or pursue during my high school years, but I chose not to pursue because I feared that it might undermine my reputation among some or many other high school students.

(17) What were my leading fears and anxieties during my high school years? Did I take any steps to overcome or alleviate each of those fears or anxieties?

(18) Who were my primary exercise partners during my high school years? Since exercise is crucial to human health and overall vitality, is there any way that I can befriend each of my primary exercise partners during my high school years whom I currently keep up with?

(19)Did I ever prepare a meal from scratch for any of my high school schoolmates whom I admired and liked? Have I considered pursuing a project of that type sometime this summer inside my parents' home (with prior permission from my parents, that is), it being a certainty that individuals who are treated to a homemade meal from a friend are often emotionally touched by that hospitality and creative generosity.

(20) Is there any cultural institution in my city or town, such as a museum or rare-books library or concert hall, that I have not yet visited, and I could invite a friend to accompany me on a visit to that thought-provoking place?

(21) During my high school years, did I consistently maintain a strong sense of my own personal values and priorities in how I evaluated or responded to other individuals?

(22) What percentage of my friends and acquaintances during my high school years were generally polite and obeyed the law and complied with the rules of my school campus? If that percentage was less than 60 percent, is there anything I could do to increase that percentage in my post-high school lifestyle?

(23) Was there any church sermon I heard and felt inspired by during my high school years that I would now like to obtain a copy of for my own personal individual library? If so, have I considered contacting the church I attended during my high school years in order to request a copy of the entire text of that sermon?

(24) After I identified possible career interests for myself during my high school years, did I ever attempt to introduce myself (with my parents' prior permission) to any of the honorable adult persons in my city or town who pursue that career? If so, did I pose any questions of my own to any of those adult persons in order to learn more about what it is like to actually pursue that type of career.

(25) Did I ever ask my church pastor or minister to introduce me to an honorable adult member of my family's religious congregation who is pursuing a career in a field that I myself might like to also pursue?

(26) What were the various nicknames that schoolmates of mine dubbed me during my high school years? Were all of those nicknames flattering to myself? If not, what can I do in the future to avoid acquiring an unfavorable public reputation of that type among schoolmates of mine at my post-secondary educational institution.

(27) During my high school years, could I have done more to discourage schoolmates of mine from greeting me with a nickname they had assigned me that I myself did not like?

(28) What percentage of my mutual-consent friends during my high school years frequently verbalized obscenities and profanity in my presence? In my post-high school life, would I like to reduce the percentage of my own friends who verbalize obscene or profane speech in my presence?

(29) Were there any pranks or fraudulent communications I participated in during my high school years that I now regret? If so, might this serve as a warning to me to refrain from ever participating in pranks during my post-high school years?

(30) Do I know of any schoolmate of mine who suffered a tragedy (such as a car accident) that he or she could have avoided or prevented? If so, might this also serve as a reminder to me that I need to diligently strive to avoid or prevent a tragedy of that type from victimizing myself in my own life?

(31) Did I develop any addictions during my high school years that I now believe to have harmed me or violated the law? If so, do I plan to overcome that addiction of mine at the earliest opportunity?

(32) Was I generally respectful of the privacy rights of others throughout my high school years? Also, did anyone violate my own privacy rights in a flagrant manner during my high school years?

(33) Have I considered establishing a personal educational videotapes library for myself that can play an invaluable role in my own lifelong education during my most-high school years?

(34) Did I remember to keep a copy of each and every course syllabus from my academic courses I pursued during my high school years? If so, wouldn't those syllabuses make a fine contribution to my permanent lifelong-education files in my own personal permanent library that I keep for myself?

(35) Which personal or career-related anecdotes from teachers or schoolmates of mine during my high school years intrigued me the most? Might this be a basis for factual research I could pursue starting this summer?

For example:
Did my first-rate Spanish teacher intrigue me one schoolday by recalling the very frightening experience she had herself endured several weeks before in which a male adult stranger at a street intersection had suddenly and unexpectedly forced his way into a motor vehicle she was driving? What had been my Spanish teacher's polite response to that stranger's allegedly criminal conduct victimizing herself? How would I myself respond if confronted with any comparable circumstance while I was driving a motor vehicle?

Also, what do crime-deterrence experts currently recommend as the most effective and law-abiding and honorable way to thwart a car-jacker?

(36) If I were to take a "true or false" test about my own conduct as a high school student, would I respond with "true" or "false" to the following statement: "He frequently gave in to peer pressure that urged him to pursue illegal and reckless activities"?

(37) If I plan to enroll in an institution of higher education in the fall that is situated outside of my city or town or metro area, have I visited a local public library to find up-to-date guidebooks to the city or town or metro area or state where my expected college is situated?

Wouldn't it make sense to learn as much as possible about that city or metro area or state (Lincoln and Nebraska, for instance, if I plan to attend the main campus of the University of Nebraska in the fall) several months before I move into my dorm room on that campus?

(38) Of the various persons I encountered during my high school years, which individuals were the most entertaining or witty or enjoyably humorous conversation partners for myself? Did any of those entertaining conversation partners also comment to me that they found me entertaining or witty or enjoyably humorous as well?

(39) Of my various schoolmates or classmates at my high school, which gentleman student and which lady student exceled the most at developing strictly-platonic and affectionate platonic (non-sexual, non-romantic) personal relationships with a wide range of female students as well as a wide range of male students? What was the "secret" to the admirable platonic-relationships success of that schoolmate or classmate of mine?

(40) Was there any occasion during my high school years in which I wanted to very emphatically say to a teacher of mine or a classmate or schoolmate of mine, "I disagree with you on that," but I chose not to speak up? Do I recall the occasion or two in which I most wanted to speak up and politely disagree with a teacher or classmate or schoolmate of mine, but I chose not to do so?

(41) Which of my schoolmates or teachers or guidance counselors or administrators at my high school offered me the best and wisest personal advice or career-related or academic advice? Am I currently a personal friend of that individual, and if not, would I possibly want to become friends with him or her?

(42) Did I celebrate my graduation from high school by attending a party where everyone obeyed the law and had fun at that party? If so, isn't that a fine way to start my post-high-school life?

(43) Was I afraid of any of my classmates or schoolmates or teachers or administrators at my high school? If so, would there any benefit to myself from learning additional factual information about the classmate or schoolmate or teacher or administrator who had intimidated me --- or possibly even bullied me? Might that factual information help me in the future to maintain my composure and avoid feeling tormented by an acquaintance who intimidated me?

(44)Of all my personal relationships during my high school years, which personal relationship was the most mutually-beneficial and enjoyable to myself AND to the other person? What might explain why most of the other personal relationships of mine during my high school years seemed to lack that mutually-beneficial and mutually-enjoyable and mutually-respectful quality?

(45) Did sarcasm from myself and others possibly play too much of a role in my conversations and dialogues and E-mail notes and texting experiences during my high school years?

(46) In which specific ways do I myself now believe that I was among the very best students or very best human beings at my high school?

(47) Do I now regret having appeared to be embarrassed by, or displeased to be "seen with," either or both of my parents or any other cited relatives of mine when I went on outings or visited a public place with one or more of those relatives of mine during my high school years?

(48) Of the various pets that I owned or helped to take care of during my childhood, which pet was my favorite? Would I like to own or take care of or help take care of a pet of that type during my post-high school years as well?

(49)Which school year of my high school years do I now believe was my happiest and most creatively fulfilling? Was that my freshman year, my sophomore year, my junior year, or my senior year? What might account for that particular school year having been my happiest? Were there any hobbies or extracurricular activities I pursued that school year that I would like to again pursue during my post-high-school years?

(50) Is it possible that the hobbies or pastimes I pursued the most passionately during my high school years might also suggest a career-field interest for me?

For instance:
---If I enjoyed reading murder mystery novels during my high school years, does this possibly suggest that I might like to someday become a homicide detective for a law-enforcement agency?

--If I was delighted by readings of mine about aromatherapy during my high school years, should I consider pursuing an eventual career as the owner of a fragrant-plants botanical nursery that exclusively sells attractively-fragrant plants to amateur gardeners.

--If I particularly enjoyed collecting memorabilia from Europe during my high school years, might I someday enjoy pursuing a career as a scholar of European Studies?

(51) Have I asked any of my teachers or any of my clergymen from my high school years to please provide me with a suggested reading list that I could make use of throughout my post-high school life?

(52) Have I checked out any books from the library that explore the history of any particular favorite pastime or favorite hobby of mine?

(53) Have I checked out any books from the library that offer me additional factual information about each of my own favorite pastimes and hobbies?

(54) Are there any college scholarships that I did not apply for during my high school years, but that I might qualify for? Have I visited my local public library to consult data bases on college scholarship opportunities for myself?

(55) Of the magazines and newspapers on display in my high school library and local municipal public library, which magazines and newspapers would I most like to subscribe to during my post-high school years?

(56) Were there any topics or subjects or themes I wanted to explore further through a written research paper by myself during my high school years, but I chose other topics instead for my research papers? Might I want to pursue factual research this summer on any of the topics I particularly liked but did not pursue as a research paper theme?

(57) What were the various hobbies and pastimes of the famous or noteworthy persons whom I've admired the most during my high school years? Is it possible that in my own life, I might also enjoy pursuing some or several of the hobbies or pastimes that were pursued enthusiastically by famous or noteworthy persons whom I admired?

(58) In which state or states of the United States would I most like to reside permanently a decade or two after my graduation from high school? Have I pursued any factual research about the state or states that most appeal to me in that way?

(59) Of the various cities and towns that I have already visited in my first 18 years of life, which cities and towns are my all-time favorites? Have I considered writing to the Chamber of Commerce of each of those cities and towns and requesting free brochures about that city or town?

(60) Of my various classmates and schoolmates, which individuals struck me as being the most independent-minded and the last susceptible to peer pressure? Might it be helpful to me if I were to schedule a lunch meeting or tea-and-conversation meeting this summer with that admirably independent-minded friend or acquaintance? During that two-person meeting, wouldn't that be a grand opportunity for me to explore how he or she is able to maintain such a refreshingly independent-minded outlook?

(61) Of my various classmates and schoolmates during my high school years, which persons were the most respectful toward my own religious and political beliefs? Have I become personal friends with any of those respectful individuals?

(62) What do I now feel were the 10 biggest mistakes that I made during my high school years? In which ways do I plan to avoid making those same types of mistakes in my post-high-school years?

(63)Have I devoted any thought to which persons actually made phone calls to myself on their own initiative during my high school years? Doesn't it possibly indicate sincere interest in me as a human being when a classmate or schoolmate of mine decides on his own initiative to make a personal phone call to myself?

(64)Looking back on my high school years, how would I complete the following sentence: "The classmates and other schoolmates of mine who consistently had a cheerful and enthusiastic and optimistic and energizing emotional effect on me were______________"?

(65)Looking back on my high school years, how would I complete the following sentence: "The schoolmates of mine who would have voted to cite me as a graduating senior 'likely to succeed in life', include__________________________."

(66) Looking back on my high school years, which friends and acquaintances of mine generally smiled at me in a friendly and appreciative manner?

(67) Was I pleased or displeased by the choice or city or town or other destination chosen by my classsmates for our senior school trip? Which destination would I have myself chosen for our senior class's school trip, if I had been more persuasive with my classmtes? Does my personal preference on that possibly serve as a reminder to me that I might also enjoy living in that city or town or metro area?

(68) How would I complete the following sentence: "My lowest point, or absolute worst personal crisis, during my high school years occurred after I...."?

(69) Did I devote enough time during my high school years to studying the full range of career opportunities and career options? For instance, was I fully aware during my high school years that I have the option of pursuing a career of studying insects? Was I aware during my high school years that I have the option of pursuing a career as a full-time researcher?

(70) Of my various teachers during my high school years, which teacher, if any, did I most suspect of disliking me as a human being? How did I respond to any such perception by myself? For instance, did I ask one or both of my parents to meet with that teacher and explore with her or him why that teacher had a possible attitudinal bias against myself? Did I request a meeting with the chairman of that teacher's department in order to explore this major concern of mine with that department chairman? Did I request a meeting with a guidance counselor or vice principal or principal to explore why it was that the cited teacher appeared to exhibit animosity or antipathy toward myself?

(71) Which of my friends and acquaintances and teachers of mine during my high school years most conveyed to me their outlook that I'm a Very Important Person?

Which of my friends and acquaintances and teachers of mine conveyed to me the outlook that they regard me as NOT being an Important Person?

(72) Which friends and acquaintances of mine during my high school years on their own initiative volunteered to me their expectation or confidence that I will have a good or great future, or that they expect me to be very succcessful in my career pursuits or creative pursuits?

(73) In which of my classes in high school was I the least likely to raise my hand and pose a question when I had one?

In the future, how can I develop greater confidence about raising my hand during a class session and posing a question to the teacher when I have a question in my mind?

(74) Would it be helpful to me to jot down a list of each of the schoolmates of mine and adult acquaintances of mine whom I admire the most, and to then ask each of those persons to please provide me with an up-to-date copy of his personal resume? Might that collection of resumes from persons I admire help me to reflect on logical steps that I can take in my own life to achieve each of my own honorable and law-abiding and creative goals for myself?

(75) Might it help to inspire me in my post-high school years if I wrote to each of the famous persons of today whom I admire the most, and I requested an inscribed personal message to me and signed autograph and accompanying photograph of himself from each of those famous persons?

(76) To boost my self-confidence during my post-high school years, might it make sense for me to obtain recent factual information comparing the average salary levels of Americans who obtained a high school dilpoma or graduate equivalence degree, with the average salary levels of persons who never completed their high school education?

(77) Did any schoolmate of mine exhibit any tendency to spy on me or illegally videotape me or stalk me in any way or harass me or verbally abuse me at any time during my high school years? If so, might it be helpful for me to establish a personal computer file for myself inside my private residence that's entitled, "Former Acquaintances of Mine Who Might Violate My Privacy in My Post-High-School Years"----a factual file I could consult if I ever sense that I'm being victimized by an alleged possible stalker during my post-high-school years.

(78) Did I especially like my school's official motto during my high school years? If so, might it be inspirational to me in my post-high-school years if I were to type up my school motto in large-size letters, obtain a printout of that motto, and then tape that printout of my very impressive school motto to the front of my personal computer inside my residence?

(79) Of the various schoolmates of mine during my high school years, which individuals met me for the first time ever by approaching me on their own initiative and directly introducing themselves to me? Might that have been an indication of a higher or deeper level of personal interest in me on the part of that schoolmate, and if so, do I currently want to keep up with that individual?

(80) What were my leading non-romantic fantasies during my high school years? Did I fantasize, for instance, about myself competing professionally in singles tennis as a tennis player at the Wimbledon tennis tournament at London, England? Did I fantasize about someday becoming a professor at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey?

During my post-high-school years, do I want to myself pursue some element or aspect or portion of any of my leading fantasies from my years of secondary education?

For instance, could I simply write and mail a thoughtful and idealistic letter addressed to Queen Elizabeth II or the Prime Minister of The United Kingdom as an alternative to "serving aces" at the leading British-sponsored annual professional tennis tournament?

Another example might be: Shouldn't I devote more thought to identifying a specific academic field I enjoy in which I might someday become a professor or researcher or lecturer at a college or university, regardless of whether that post-secondary educational institution is Princeton University in New Jersey.

(81) Should I give more thought to the subjects, persons, themes, U.S. cities and states, and foreign nations that I chose to celebrate and highlight and promote and honor on my bulletin board and wall displays and desk inside my bedroom of my parents' home during my high school years?

Didn't it tell me something about my own affinities, for instance, that I kept separate decals of the Swedish flag and the Greek flag on permanent display near my desk in my bedroom during my high school years?

Didn't it also tell me something about my affinities during my high school years that I owned and displayed on my desk inside my bedroom a drinking glass I never drank from that featured the British flag design wrapped around the entire exterior of that drinking glass.

(82) Which traumatic experiences or unpleasant experiences of mine during my high school years might possibly undermine my devotion to a healthy sense of wholesome adventure in my post-high school years?

Was it painful for me, for instance, to be told by a female schoolmate of mine one day during my first-ever experience at riding on a sailboat that I had personally been blameworthy, through a cited mistake on my part, when the sailboat in which she and I were the only two passengers aboard that day had suddenly tipped over and plunged into the lake?

Was it also painful to me to be told by that female schoolmate of mine during that accident in which we each ended up in the water, that she was angry with me that day because a favorite very expensive imported suntan lotion of hers that she herself owned had fallen into the lake, and might be lost forever, as a result of that sailboat accident?

(83) Was there any topic or theme or mini-topic or skill I attempted to learn during my high school years, but I did not, in fact, learn?

Wouldn't this summer be a good time to learn more about that topic or develop that skill that somehow eluded me during my high school years?

(84) Did I ever attempt to identify the style of architecture or styles of architecture of the school campus where I attended high school?

Would this summer offer me a fine opportunity for pursuing additional factual research about the style or styles of architecture of my high school campus? Also, wouldn't that factual research serve as a handy guide for me whenever I encounter similar styles of architecture in my post-high school years?

(85) Of the various teachers and staff members and administrators at my high school campus who inspired admiration from me, did any of those educators also inspire me to reflect on whether I might someday like to pursue a career similar to or very similar to their own career?

(86) Which figures from my American History and World History studies during my high school years intrigued me the most? If I found Charlemagne to be particularly fascinating, have I considered consulting an online Wikipedia encyclopedia this summer for additional factual information about Charlemagne?

(87) Were there any pep rallies during my high school years that I did not attend, but that would have given me a nice opportunity to express enthusiastic support for classmates of mine or schoolmates of mine and athletic coaches or academic coaches at my high school?

(88) Did I learn something about hyberbole and the role of propaganda and demagoguery in American popular culture from the very emphatic banners posted inside my high school campus during football weeks that declared an ardent desire to "annihilate" or "destroy" or "demolish" or "pummel" or "pulverize" or "scalp" an opposing athletic squad that Friday night?

(88) Was I ever surprised to observe at varsity athletic contests I attended during my high school years that the students and athletes and coaches and parents affiliated with opposing high school squads were remarkably similar to those of my own high school?

(89) Of the extra-credit creative projects I pursued on my own initiative during my high school years, which creative projects did I enjoy the most?

(90) Did my high school years teach me anything about the role of false rumors or fraudulent communications in modern society?

Was I myself ever cited by name in any false rumors, and did any of those false rumors being spread by schoolmates of mine ever hurt my feelings or harm me in any other way?

(91) Did I ever attempt to have a one-to-one conversation with any administrator at my high school in order to learn more about the challenges that that vice principal or principal faced?

(92) Did I develop a dislike of my own toward any of the teachers or staff members or administrators at my high school?

If so, what did I dislike about that teacher or staff member or administrator? Did I ever have any specific factual evidence indicating that that teacher or staff member or administrator had wronged myself or anyone else? Did I attempt to discuss that concern of mine with a supervisor of that teacher, that staff member, or that administrator (the principal, for instance, if I sensed that a vice principal had wronged me or some other student), or possibly with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

(93) Did I feel uncomfortable with or dislike any teacher or staff member or administrator at my high school campus primarily because he or she was significantly older in age than the majority of other teachers or staff membrs or administrators?

If so, was it fair of me to dislike a teacher or staff member or administrator based on that individual's age per se? Couldn't I have thought it admirable that someone in his 60s, for instance, was pursuing a career aimed at helping teenage persons like myself? Couldn't I have seen it as impressive that this individual in his 60s was still alive and fully ambulatory, and still intellectually vital?

(94) Of the various older-than-average teachers or faculty members or administrators at my high school, did I ever consider interviewing any of them with prior permission from themselves for an audiotaped oral-history project?

For instance, might I have interviewed one of my older teachers about what her own life had been like during the 1950s or the Vietnam War era?

(95) Was there any student organization at my high school that I generally liked, but that I chose not to join because the president of that organization was a schoolmate or classmate of mine whom I felt uncomfortable with?

In the future, might there be some alternative way to respond when I'm interested in possibly joining a student grup, but I learn that the president of that group --- or the faculty adviser of that group, for that matter---- is someone I personally do not feel comfortable with?

(96) Which of my classmates or schoolmates did I myself befriend in the most tangibly helpful or generous manner during my high school years? Does my generosity toward that individual possibly indicate that I might make a good prospective long-term or lifelong personal friend for that individual?

(97) Which of my schoolmates did the most to introduce me to new acquaintances for myself who were, in fact, honorable and polite?

(98) During my high school years, do I recall the occasions when I felt the greatest personal pride toward either or both of my parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles?

(99) In which subjects of mine during my high school years did I daydream the most frequently---so much so that I failed to adequately concentrate on that subject during class sessions? Were any of my daydreams related to that subject of the course in any way? In the future, how do I plan to achieve a focus on the class subject when I note a tendency toward daydreaming on my part?

(100) If I daydreamed a lot during my class sessions during my high school years, might it help me this summer to pursue some factual research about recent social-science studies on daydreaming by high school students that occurred during class at their high school? For instance, have any recent studies offered any factual information about how a high school student can direct his personal attention toward the cited subject during his class session?

(101) During my high school years, did I ever approach a teacher of mine immediaately after class in order to praise that teacher for having given an especially interesting and thought-provoking and first-rate oral presentation before my class that day?

If not, was I possibly afraid that a classmate of mine would accuse me of attempting to "curry favor with" the teacher or "trying to get an unfair advantage in competition with classmates by bribing the teacher with praise"?

(102) Was there any "favorite teacher" of mine at my high school whom my parents and I all particularly admired or loved or liked, and whom my parents would be willing to invite to attend a four-person breakfast meeting or lunch meeting or dinner meeting and conversation with myself and my parents this summer inside a restaurant or coffehouse?

(103)Did any of my parents tell me about a particularly impressive career-related or personal or religious accomplishment of their own during my high school years, but I failed to ask follow-up questions to learn more about that accomplishment?

If so, might this summer after my graduation from high school give me a wonderful opportunity to ask either or both of my parents for more details about the accomplishments of theirs that I had been particularly impressed by?

(104) During my high school years, did I pay enough attention to the circumstances in which either or both of my parents appeared to be the happiest or the most elated or delighted or cheerfully confident inside my family home--or away from our family home, for that matter?

Did I attempt to learn more about why my parents appeared to be more cheerful and laughed more or smiled more, for instance, on those particular occasions during my high school years?

(105) Did I attempt to politely discuss with either of my parents the observations or personal impressions they had shared with me about cited teachers of mine or cited administrators of mine or cited schoolmates of mine at my high school?

Did my parents' observations about any of those acquaintances of mine or friends of mine offer me any helpful insights?

(106) Which types of tests or exams that I took during my high school years did I dread the most?

In the future, is there any way I could reduce my prior "dread and apprehension" toward a test or exam of that type when I am asked to take that type of test at a post-secondary educational institution or a workplace?

(107) Did I develop any dislike of any subjects at my high school that was, in fact, primarily based on my own personal antipathy toward the teacher of that course? Under those circumstances, was it truly fair of me to conclude that the subject of that class was inherently grim and unpleasant?

Have I considered the possibility that some faculty member at some college or university I attend in my future might conceivably present the same subject in a style that delighted me throughout?

(108)Which class subject or course did I fear the most during my high school years?

Should I regard that fear of mine as a basis for "no further study of that subject"? Or, instead, should I look upon that fear of mine as an opportunity to atempt to "tackle" that "feared" subject at some future date, even if I might actually be taking mere baby steps toward eventual greater confidence with that subject that might require many years of additional perseverance on my part?

(109) Did I consistently find that I raised my hand in class more often, and I spoke up in class more often, in the high school classes of mine in which I sat close to the front of the classroom?

If so, might this possibly suggest to me the value of my attempting to sit as close as possible to the front of the classroom in the future classes I take during my post-high school years?

(110) Did I chose a college for myself for my future studies based on a demand or request from one of my parents?

Or, instead, did I chose a college for myself for my post-high school years that was based on my own strong personal admiration of and enthusiasm toward that college? If I chose a college based on parental advice, rather than my own preference, could this awareness of mine possibly undermine my level of enjoyment of that college if I actually attend any classes there?

(111) Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on specific aspects of my background? If so, what is the deadline for me to apply for any of those college scholarships?

If I can't meet the deadline for applying for that scholarship this year, could I still qualify for that scholarship if I applied for it next year before the cited annual deadline? Could I qualify for a new scholarship for myself that I'd receive beginning my sophomore year of college?

For instance:
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for with some college or university that would be based on my being a direct descendant of a famous Pilgrim from the Mayflower?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for that would be based on my being a native of Lincoln, Nebraska?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been born in Lancaster County, Nebraska?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been born in Nebraska?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having previously resided in the U.S. state of Nebraska?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been born on April 27, or based on astrologers' evaluation of me as being a Cuspal-Type Taurus?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been born on the same day of the year as United States President and former Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having born inside Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my being the son of a university professor?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my being the son of a botany professor or botany researcher?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my father's membership in various professional organizations, which apparently included the American Association of University Professors and the Botanical Society of America?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my being the son of a full-time professional tax examiner for the U.S. Government's Internal Revenue Service in Austin?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having English or Scottish or German ancestry?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been a member of the National Honor Society at my high school?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been Salutatorian of my graduating class at my high school graduation ceremony?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my pursuit of Spanish as a foreign language that I studied during my high school years?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been a graduate of Eanes Elementary School? Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been a graduate of
O. Henry Junior High School of Austin Independent School District?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having attended a multi-week debate workshop at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having been President of my high school's debate club during my senior year of high school?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having worked as a grocery sacker at Big Bear grocery store near Lake Austin Boulevard one summer?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my being the son of a female adult member of the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my father, Dr. Calvin McMillan, having discovered a new botanical plant in New Caledonia that was named after himself?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my being the grandson of an Iowa farmer?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having resided inside the city of Westlake Hills, Texas, throughout my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having resided in Travis County, Texas, throughout all of my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having resided inside the U.S. state of Texas throughout all of my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having graduated from a public high school of Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my choosing to join an alumni association for graduates of Stephen F. Austin High School of Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my father having ever been an elder of the Mormon Church?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my mother having previously been employed as a former full-time employee of the University of California's botanical herbarium in Berkeley, California?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my mother having previously served as President of the Austin League of Women Voters?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my mother's membership in a faculty women's club affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having won a first-place award from the Austin-area chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for a history paper about Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, that I wrote during my fifth-grade year of elementary school?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having won a previous award from a local historical society during my high school years for a historical research paper I wrote about 'The Southern Intelligencer' general-circulation newspaper that was based in Austin, Texas, during the 19th Century?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having written and delivered an oratory speech I earned a first place award for at a local Optimist club event, a speech of mine that fervently opposed widespread prevarication and mendacity and the verbalization of deliberate lies by Americans in modern society?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having never once smoked or ingested any tobacco product at any time during my high school years or before then?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having never once violated the law by myself ever consuming any drinking alcohol at any time during my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having never once consumed any marijuana or any other illicit drug on any occasion during my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having consistently used clean and non-profane, non-obscene language in all my conversations with others and in all my letters to other persons and all my other writings, for that matter, throughout all of my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having never once physically assaulted or hit or struck or physically beaten or pinched or grabbed or pounced on or physically molested or verbally threatened to harm any schoolmate of mine at Stephen F. Austin High School on any occasion during my high school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my fervent opposition to pranks and criminal mischief throughout my high schoool years, accompanied by my own personal refusal to ever participate in any pranks or criminal mischief at any time during my high school years.
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having never been arrested and charged with any crime of any type at any time during my entire youth?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having resided in Berkeley, California, for one year of my elementary-school years?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my being the grandson of a butcher-shop owner in Murray, Utah?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my father having worked in a butcher shop in Murray, Utah, in the 1930s?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for bssed on my father being a member of the University of Utah Alumni Association?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my mother being a member of the University of Iowa Alumni Association?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my maternal grandfather's surname having been "Gardner"?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my maternal grandmother's maiden name having been "Siegling"?
---Are there any college scholarhips I might qualify for based on my paternal grandmother's maiden name having been "Pugh"?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my surname being "McMillan"?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on the fact that my father was born at Murray, Utah?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on the fact that each of my parents had endured and survived the Great Depression financial crisis in the United States during the 1930s?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my father having served in the United States Army during World War II?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on the fact that my mother was born at or near West Branch, Iowa, and inside Johnson County, Iowa?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my mother having been a member of the United Methodist Church in Iowa throughout her youth?
---Are there any college scholarhips I might qualify for based on a hobby or pastime of mine such as helping to raise a miniature French poodle, raising bobwhite quail as pets of mine, writing letters to friends and relatives, my cited interest in government, or my interest in humor-writing?
--Are there any college scholarhips I might qualify for that are for law-abiding and clean-talking and tobacco-free non-Christians?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having a fine attendance record at Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas?
---Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having either never, or only rarely, been cited for tardiness at Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for that are for former members of the Pan American Student Forum student group promoting cultural understanding and dialogue with Latin American nations?
--Are there any college scholarships I might qualify for based on my having collected postage stamps issued and printed by the European nation of Greece for several years of my childhood?

(112) Of the various hobbies and pastimes I pursued during my high school years, did any of those activities for myself offer me what felt to be a truly creative means of self-expression?

(113) Of the various authors and other famous persons no longer living whom I learned about during my high school years, which individual would I most want to have a dialogue with through a "seance session" in which I somehow was able to pose questions to that dead person? Which questions would I want to pose to that individual, and is there any way for me to obtain the answers to my questions through additional biographical research about that individual whom I was intrigued by?

(114) Have I made a point of re-reading all of my diary entries and personal journal entries that I wrote during my high school years? What new insights do I glean about myself, and about others, through a review of those diaries and journals of mine? Also, which journal topics or journal themes do I find to be the useful to me now, with the benefit of hindsight?

(115) Did I make a point during my high school years of asking each of the friends and acquaintances and relatives of mine whom I admire the most to please share with me their birthdate? If so, might that information offer me the marvelous opportunity to send friendly Happy Birthday greeting cards to each of those individuals on an annual basis?

(116) Of the various schoolmates and teachers and administrators of mine at my high school who are not related to me, which individuals most reminded me of one of my relatives? Do I currently keep up with that individual not related to me?

(117) In my conversations with schoolmates of mine during my high school years, which newspaper or magazine that I read on a frequent basis was the publication I was most likely to quote from or refer to in those conversations with other teenage persons? Might I want to subscribe to that publication during my post-high school years?

(118)Have I attempted to find out which newspapers or magazines offer special subscription discounts to individuals who are recent graduates of a high school?

(119) Of the various movies and television shows I watched during my leisuretime in my high school years, which movies and television shows most profoundly influenced my own view of the world or my own philosophy of life?

(120) In which ways did my own "philosophy toward living" change over the course of my high school years?

(121) Did I experience any of the so-called "senior slumps" during my final year of high school? If so, what might I do to avoid experiencing an emotional letdown during my senior year of college, if I plan to attend college in the foreseeable future?

(122) Of the various authors I read in my literature classes during my high school years, which authors appeared to best describe my own living conditions, my own life, and my own self-identity?

(123) Were there any questions I posed to my teacher during my high school years for which I now believe that the answer my teacher offered me was not satisfactory? If so, might this present a grand opportunity for me to pursue some factual research aimed at finding the answer to that question on my own?

(124) Of my various high-school teachers, which teacher offered me the best personal advice on how to protect my own personal safety? For instance, was I particularly impressed by the emphatic statement to my entire class from my high school Advanced Social Studies teacher, Bernie Owen, that it would make good sense for myself and my classmates to each always ride in a motor vehicle large enough in size to protect oneself from being injured in the event of a collision with another motor vehicle?

(125) Did any of my high school teachers invite me to visit inside that teacher's home during my high school years in a context that my parents also agreed to? If so, did it surprise me to note inside the home of my high school English teacher Mrs. Georgianna Sims, that during her leisuretime she subscribed to "Reader's Digest" magazine and owned numerous volumes of "Reader's Digest" digested novels inside her home in north Austin?
Looking back, might that observation inside Mrs. Sims's home have presented me with a grand opportunity to ask my English teacher how she would reconcile her own cited adoration of great literature with extensive editing and condensation of fictional works of literature on the part of "Reader's Digest" editors?

(126) Did I ever meet a college professor or university professor in person for the first time during my high school years? Looking back, shouldn't I have posed some questions to one such university professor, Professor Bulhof, himself a Dutch-born professor employed at the University of Texas at Austin and the father of a debate-squad colleague of mine at my high school, about Professor Bulhof's career in teaching and research?
Shouldn't I have asked Professor Bulfhof to please tell me which aspects of his career as a university professor gave him the greatest enjoyment and emotional fulfillment, a question that might have succeeded in eliciting a smile or a friendly facial expression, at least, from Professor Bulholf?

For that matter, shouldn't I have posed questions to Professor McDonald Smith Sr., during visits of mine to his and his own family's home in Austin, about what might account for the depth of his own cited passion for Italian art and Italian culture? What made Italian art and culture so very, very distinctive and special, in the view of Professor Smith?

(127) During my high school years, did I myself ever directly observe any adult person (if any) whom I myself suspected of being allegedly or possibly capable of committing the sex crime of pederasty? What warning signs (if any) did I observe that prompted me to not trust that adult person?

(128) Did any of my schoolmates during my high school years ever confide to me that a relative or friend or schoolmate or neighbor of theirs had committed suicide?
Did that very sad story prompt me to reflect on ways to instill in myself and others a consistently strong will to live, regardless of whether one's own living conditions were, in fact, grim, during any particular period of one's life?

(129) Did I avail myself of opportunities for posing polite and philosophical-minded questions to parents of my schoolmate acquaintances?

For example:
Did I ever think to pose a polite question to the mother of one of my schoolmates who (that particular mother) always greeted myself and other guests visiting their family's home with a portrait of a nude woman---a portrait hanging inside the living room that immediately faced anyone, including myself, upon entry into the foyer of that married woman's family home in west Austin?

Should my polite question to that mother of a schoolmate of mine have been: "What does this sketch of a nude woman, a work of art that you obviously like quite a bit, signify for yourself as a mother and as a married woman and as an admirer of art? For instance, do you see this work of art that you proudly display in your family's living room as somehow conveying the vulnerability that all human beings experience when we feel as if we are somehow 'naked', an 'Emperor Without Clothes,' so to speak, at a time or in a context when we ourselves have no desire to be observed by anyone else as naked and having no clothes on our own body?"

(130) Have I reflected on each of the "new places" and "new hangout spots" and "new meeting places" I feel comfortable with today that various schoolmates of mine introduced me to or drove me to during my high school years?

Do I currently keep up with any of the schoolmates of mine who introduced me to new places for myself that I liked quite a bit?

(131) Of the various schoolmates of mine whom I got along with the best, did all or nearly all of them have certain personality traits or personal values or other traits that are very important to me? For instance, were each of the classmates of mine whom I got along with the best consistently constructive in their style of communication with myself and others?


(132) Of my various schoolmates at my high school, which individual do I believe would probably make the finest roommate for me in a strictly-platonic personal involvement for me during my college years?

Which personality traits and personal values are particularly striking in that individual from my high school years?

Should these insights I've gleaned from reflection possibly help me as I search for a new roommate for myself at the post-secondary school I'll myself be attending after my graduation from high school?

(133)Which of my teachers at my high school do I think about the most often in a favorable context during my post-high school years? Have I considered writing and mailing a thank-you note to that former teacher of mine?

(134) Do I continue to be haunted, even today as I begin my post-high-school years, by a real-life personal story from a high school teacher of mine that she had shared with myself and my classmates during a classroom lecture from herself one schoolday?

Do I myself still vividly recall, for instance, the poignant real-life story told by Mrs. Huie, an English teacher of mine at Stephen F. Austin High School of Austin Independent School District, about the day in which Mrs. Huie fell unconscious inside her and her husband's home in Austin, Texas?

Was I impressed by Mrs. Huie's cited recollection in front of our entire English class one schoolday that her stepson, Brian, a schoolmate of mine at Stephen F. Austin High School, had been the first to discover Mrs. Huie lying on the floor their family's home in Austin?

What about Mrs. Huie's additional oral statement in her detailed anecdote in front of our entire English class at Austin High---an oral statement she offered with shocked but good-natured incredulity in her tone of voice and facial expression---that her teenage stepson Brian had done nothing to aid Mrs. Huie as she lay unconscious on the cited day?

Didn't Mrs. Huie in that same oral statement in front of my entire English class that schoolday also recall for us that her stepson Brian had responded to her own medical crisis by pursuing his routine leisuretime activities as if Brian had not observed anything out of the ordinary?

Was I particularly moved by Mrs. Huie's oral statement during that same classroom presentation of hers in our high school English class that medical doctors in Austin, Texas, later determined that Mrs. Huie had fallen unconscious inside her and her husband's home on the cited day because of a brain tumor in her body that was "the size of a golf ball," she recalled to us students in front of our entire class, a brain tumor that required prompt medical removal through surgery, she indicated to our entire class.

Was I also greatly impressed by the primary point of Mrs. Huie's story that each of us high school students attending her class that day were reminded by her to please call "911" and seek immediate medical help for anyone they observe lying unconscious on the floor of their family's home?

Saturday, May 28, 2011

My Advice to High School Students Graduating Soon and Recent High School Graduates

As a former high school graduate myself, I would like to offer some advice to high school students on the verge of graduating from high school as well as to recent high-school graduates:

(1) Keep in mind that throughout your entire life, your years of attending high school will remain among the most influential and vividly recalled years of your entire life.
Over the course of your post-high school life, you will be having many thousands of nocturnal dreams during your sleep about your high school years. And during your conscious hours, you will have many "sudden recollections" about high school teachers of yours and high school classmates or schoolmates of yours, and about circumstances you experienced during your high school years.

(2) Take and obtain copies of as many photographs as you can of yourself and each of the persons from your high school years whom you admired the most, liked the most, loved the most, or felt the most inspired by.
Those "featured" individuals whose photographs you could include in your permanent personal scrapbook might include teachers of yours, a principal or vice principal, a parent of a schoolmate of yours who was also a parent whom you particularly admired or felt inspired by, a member of the janitorial staff of your high school, an attendance clerk or secretary at your high school, a teacher aide or volunteer from your school district or city who worked at or visited your high school.

Adding to your permanent lifelong scrapbook as many photographs as possible relating to your high school years will serve as a very tangible reminder to you throughout your life that you achieved this truly great milestone in your own life, and that you enjoyed many of the schoolmates, teachers, admnistrators, staff members, and parents whom you interacted with during that period.

(3) Obtain the full legal name, including the middle name, of each person from your high school years whom you admired the most. That information will make it much easier for you to later pursue a Google search in order to look up a former high school friend or high school acquaintance whom you admired and liked or loved.
You might also want to ask each of the schoolmates of yours whom you admired the most to please give you the full legal name and phone number of their parents. If you lose touch with that schoolmate of yours, you could always contact their mother or father and ask that individual to please give you a current E-mail address or current mailing address for that former schoolmate of yours.

(4) Exchange your E-mail address with many of the honorable schoolmates, and several of the teachers and other adult staff members or administrators, from your high school years. Those E-mail addresses will help you to keep in touch with and maintain a friendly mutually-constructive dialogue with persons you feel an affinity toward.

(5) Pursue some research to identify which hobbies and pastimes you would most like to pursue during your post-high school years. For instance, whcih of the lifelong-sports that you can pursue throughout your entire adult life appeal to you the most? Do you plan to enroll in a beginner's class in any of the lifelong sports you admire but have not learned yet?

Also, you might want to reflect on each of the hobbies and pastimes of friends and relatives and teachers and acquaintances of yours --- cooking particular dishes, for instance --- that appeal to you the most.

Did your Spanish teacher have a favorite recipe for cooking gazpacho that you liked so much you might want to ask her to please share her gazpacho recipe with you?
If so, you could add gazpacho to the list of dishes you enjoy preparing as a leisurtime hobby. This summer, you could practice preparing gazpacho during your leisuretime until you feel confident about making gazpacho from scratch. Gazpacho is perfectly suited to the summertime heat, since it is a cool-temperature traditional Spanish soup. It is also a soup that's very healthful for you and anyone you choose to share your gazpacho creations with.

Do you remember any out-of-the-ordinary hobby, such as fragrant-plant gardening featuring plants such as jasmines and gardenias and honeysuckles and roses, that a friend or neighbor or relative of yours pursues, and that you might like to pursue in your own leisuretime as well?

(6) Consider asking some teachers of yours or administrators at your current or former high school to please provide you with a signed and dated written letter of recommendation.

Another possibility: Contact several teachers of yours and administrators and some parents or members of the clergy who each had a high estimation of yourself and your capabilities. Ask each of those adult persons whether they would be willing to provide you with a favorable character reference if they were to be contacted by a prospective employer for yourself or prospective post-secondary educational institution for yourself.

(7) Give some thought to which of the adult persons you encountered during your high school years appeared to exhibit the greatest capacity for mutually-respectful, polite, law-abiding, privacy-respectful, strictly-mutual-consent friendship or friendly acquaintanceship with yourself. Some or several of those adult persons might make for good and honorable personal friends and mentors and professional associates for yourself in your post-high school life.

(8) Give some thought to the subjects you did not study during your high school years, but that you now believe you will have a need for in your post-high school years. For instance, did you not take any course in home economics, but you sense that you could save many thousands of dollars over the course of your life if you knew how to cook for yourself and pursue homemaking inside your apartment or home? It makes good financial sense, and it will also boost your self-confidence, if you consider enrolling in a cooking class or home economics class in the near future, such as through a local community college or during your years of attending a four-year college. Otherwise, you could take some time this summer to ask a female relative of yours you admire and like to please teach you how to become more successful at cooking and homemaking and personal budgeting.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Need for an Austin Aromatherapy Festival and Austin Aromatherapy Symposium

Austin, Texas, might make a fine site for an annual Aromatherapy Festival and an annual Aromatherapy Symposium and Workshop.
Austinites emphasize their devotion to healthful living, and to innovative, progressive lifestyle options.
It would not surprise me, in fact, if there already is an Austin Aromatherapy Association non-profit civic group. And possibly that civic group is already sponsoring an aromatherapy-theme cultural event in our capital city along the Colorado River.
All of this serves as a reminder of the additional need for factual research to find out what the Austin Aromatherapy Scene currently entails---and which of the current civic groups in Austin are promoting aromatherapy.
The proposed annual Austin Aromatherapy Festival and Symposium and Workshop tradition for our capital city might also feature public speeches by famous persons who have publicly endorsed aromatherapy. Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz reportedly is among the celebrities who advocate and practice aromatherapy, and she might welcome an invitation to give a public speech at a civic event of that type in Austin, Texas.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Urgent Need for United Nations Estimates on Human Beings Without Any Citizenship Status

I have been dismayed by the apparent failure of the Obama Administration thus far to assert as one of its top priorities the urgent need for the issuance and promulgation of a semiannual United Nations report that estimates, by country of residence, the number of persons throughout the world who are without any officially acknowledged citizenship status in ANY country.

The proposed report could also include statistics, by country, on the estimated number of persons throughout the world who are without any citizenship status in the nation where they currently reside. In that portion of the UN report, distinctions could be made between illegal aliens living in a cited country and those individuals who are legally residing in that country but currently without official citizenship status in that nation.

Of that latter group of individuals, the estimated percentage who have citizenship status in a country other than the one where they're residing, and who are not currently seeking to achieve citizenship in the country where they reside, could be provided.

Many thousands of Palestinians currently are denied the legal right of citizenship status in Israel or any other country, which is occurring in deplorable violation of those Palestinians' own human rights.

It is also noteworthy that individuals who are denied citizenship status in any nation of the world will be less likely to conduct themselves in a law-abiding and honorable manner. The involuntary amomie to which they are subjected by one or more nations severely undermines those persons' own ability to feel the full satisfaction of contributing toward the civic life and cultural life of the nation where they reside.

It also seems to me that there are many other people throughout the world, including refugees living in a new country, who are currently without any citizenship status in any nation or in the nation where they reside. A semiannual United Nations report would help to publicize those other shocking cases of persons deprived of the dignity of enjoying official citizenship status in any nation.

A Golden Opportunity for Great Britain: Help Ireland Develop Wind Power, Recycling, Environmental Protection Technologies

Queen Elizabeth II's courageous visit to Ireland this week has presented Great Britain with a golden opportunity to convert the Irish into lasting and true friends of the British.

Great Britain can do that in part by offering technical assistance and loans on behalf of the development of wind power technology and other renewable-energy technology throughout Ireland.

The financial savings that Irish homeowners and Irish business owners and the Irish government will incur from installation of successful renewable-energy technology throughout Ireland, will put a delighted twinkle in the eyes of all the Irish people.

That delighted twinkle and accompanying heartfelt expression of gratitude from the Irish will help to put an end to the unflattering reputation for violent volatility and nasty abrasiveness that has long plagued the Irish.

For too long, people throughout the world have referred to the "Land of Eire" as, instead, the "Land of Ire"----a European nation where vehement eruptions of viciousness from the citizenry were dismayingly frequent. (Even the Irish professions of national affability, as exemplified by the seemingly convivial jig, were regarded by many as parenthetical to the prevailing militance and misanthropy that marred the Irish record. "It seems that the Irish people, when actually sober, are more likely to be throwing hand grenades at their cited enemies than exhibiting true and sincere affability toward other human beings!", concluded many observers of Ireland.)

Great Britain can also "convert" the Irish into true and lasting friends of the British people by providing technical assistance to Ireland on behalf of installing recycling technology and recycling services, as well as improved environmental protection technology and services, throughout that republic.

Someday, perhaps in the year 2015, a future President of Ireland will be publicly declaring in a televised address directed at British as well as Irish audiences: "When I refer today to the good luck of us Irish, I'm often referring to how very, very fortunate we Irish are to have such very fine and peace-loving and generous neighbors as the British! With help from the very benevolent British assistance we've received, we Irish have achieved many urgently-needed improvements in our country that have greatly enhanced our standard of living throughout all of Ireland!

"I am convinced, in fact, that the finest and most powerfully benevolent and truest Leprauchans in the entire cultural history of Ireland have been in the form of very human and generous 21st Century visitors here who represent our best friend in the entire world---those very fine British people of today!"

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Congratulations to the Queen: Elizabeth II's Historic visit to Ireland Fosters a Bold New Course in British-Irish Relations

Queen Elizabeth II of The United Kingdom deserves high praise for finding the courage and moral vision to pay an official visit to Ireland this week.

The Queen's journey to Ireland this week marks the first occasion in either 90 years or 100 years (news media accounts on the Internet offer conflicting information on this point) that a ruling British monarch has paid an official visit to Ireland.

The Queen, in her mid-80s, is proving to be a "Late Bloomer" in the finest sense of that term.

Queen Elizabeth in the year 2011 is hitting her stride as the Reigning Monarch by pursuing a bold new course for Great Britain. Her innovative style as exemplified this week is helping to promote greater harmony in 21st Century relations between The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

My own "Congratulations to the Queen" is accompanied by my continuing hope that Her Majesty's innovative style this week will continue in another context as well.

As an American citizen of English and Scottish (and German) ancestry, and as the founder of a new religion with very strict membership-eligibility requirements, I remain very hopeful that Queen Elizabeth II will choose to send me a written reply letter on Her Behalf.

That eagerly-awaited reply letter to me from the Queen in England will be in response to the lengthy "Questions for the Queen" letter of more than 50 pages that I had mailed to the Queen by U.S. Postal Service in 2010, I believe it was.

The text of my "Questions for the Queen" Blog from August 9, 2009 (which I later printed out and and mailed to the Queen in England) can be found through a Google search, including at this blogsite.

In that "Questions for the Queen" letter that I had mailed to the Queen several months ago, and for which I have not yet received any Royal response, I politely urged Her Majesty to please consider granting an official Royal Oral History Interview.

That Royal Oral History Interview of the Queen could be videotaped for the sake of posterity, and could feature a variety of politely thought-provoking questions relating to Queen Elizabeth II's multi-decade reign and life.

My hope is that if Queen Elizabeth II through a proposed Royal Oral History Interview chooses to respond to some of the questions that I had posed to the Queen, her Royal Response during that videotaped interview will provide an invaluable addition to the National Archives of The United Kingdom.

That Royal Oral History or Royal Written Response to Questions for the Queen will serve as a very fine inspiration to millions of British citizens of the present and future, as well as to British Studies scholars and admirers of the Royal Family throughout the world.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Top Priority on Whom to Lend Money To: Those You're on Speaking Terms With Who Lent You Money In the Past

I would like to respectfully recommend that anyone and everyone who has ever borrowed money from others at any time should create a computer file listing of the names and addresses and phone numbers of each of those very kind benefactors.

That list will help to remind you to repay each of those generous individuals in full as soon as is humanly possible.

Just as important, that list will also provide you with a list of names of the individuals whom you should feel honorbound to lend money to in the future----in the event that they themselves ever ask you in the future if they may borrow money from yourself.

One exception to that policy, of course, would be individuals who lent you money in the past and whom you later choose to reject and exclude from your own life after you repay that individual in full.

Also, it would not be wise or prudent to lend money to any individual who previously lent you money (no matter how generous he or she was toward you in that way), but who later verbalized to you a permanent rejection of yourself.

Monday, May 16, 2011

A Question that Austin City Council Needs to Ask: Are Staffing Levels for the Austin Police Department's Sex-Crimes Division Currently Adequate?

One of the incisive questions that Austin City Council members should be asking is simply this:

Are there currently an adequate number of detectives and other police officers and support-staff members employed in the Sex-Crimes Division of the Austin Police Department?

I sense that the answer to that question is probably "no."

However, I myself have not seen or heard any recent local news media account addressing this very important question for the City of Austin and the people of Austin.

Another important question that the Austin City Council should be asking is the following:

In what percentage of the cases in which the Austin Police Department formally charges someone with having allegedly committed a sex crime is the criminal-law suspect actually convicted of that felony crime in a court of law?

It seems likely that increased staffing for the Sex-Crimes Division of the Austin Police Department could help to foster an increase in the conviction rate on individuals who get formally charged with having allegedly committed a sex crime in Austin.

At present, unfortunately, many Austin residents are completely unaware that there is, in fact, a Sex Crimes Division of the Austin Police Department. The phone number for APD's Sex Crimes Division is: (512) 974-5230.

Any and all Austin residents who have ANY evidence of any possible or alleged sex crime that they have observed, or that they suspect to have allegedly occurred, are each urged to immediately contact APD's Sex Crimes Division and share that "hunch" or "impression" or "factual information" or "suspicion" or "crime tip" with that nobly crime-fighting section of our municipal law-enforcement agency.

Recycling Philanthropy: Which Affluent Americans and Foundations Contribute the Most Toward that Cause?

I have never once heard about or witnessed a 21st Century White House ceremony in Washington, D.C., that exclusively honors and promotes the American philanthropists and American philanthropic organizations that have contributed the most toward research relating to and development and expansion and improvement of recycling services in this country.

For all those who praise U.S. President Barack Obama for his bold "new" style of leadership, it remains painfully apparent to many of us that the "new direction" Obama has presided over for our country has not, in fact, been bold enough or innovative enough.

Ours is a country where a nationwide poll of Americans that asks them to identify the leading philanthropists of recycling of today would provide massive evidence of woeful nationwide ignorance about that crucial definer of our nation's level of vitality and healthfulness.

For all the talk about the "rights of the unborn" that anti-abortion activists are sponsoring in this country, almost never do we hear an even more profound public discussion about the human right of younger generations and future generations of Americans to all enjoy full access to recycled aluminum products, recycled paper products, recycled plastic products, recycled glass products, and any other recycled products, that can and should all be found inside the United States of today.

Plea to Employers: Your Civic Duty to Offer Paid Time Off to Employees for Crime Reporting They Pursue Off Duty (or During Lunch Break)

If I were an employer, I would insist on offering up to two weeks of paid leave time per year to any and all of my employees, part-time or full-time, who during their lunch break or off-duty hours had witnessed a possible crime or possible evidence of crime (a suspicious vehicle, for instance) and who courageously and vigilantly called a law-enforcement agency to report that incident.

Employees of mine would also be expected to promptly contact their workplace and explain in advance that because they are in the midst of reporting possible evidence of crime to a law-enforcement agency, they expect to themselves be late for work or late returning to work that day.

In this way, I could ensure that the company I owned contributed significantly toward crime prevention and apprehension and prosecution of criminals in the city or metro area where my business was situated.

I would also, of course, provide paid leave of absence to any employee of mine who had been asked to testify in a court of law on behalf of the prosecuting attorney for a criminal-law courtroom trial.

It seems obvious that vigilant employees who seek to courageously uphold law-abiding conduct by all American citizens and all visitors to the United States should be generously rewarded in this way.

In fact, as owner of a company of my own I would also insist on offering an annual "Vigilant Crime-Fighting Employee of the Year Award" and generous $1,000 financial reward to the employee of mine whose report or reports to a law-enforcement agency had contributed the most toward crime deterrence in the most recent 12-month period.

As an employer, I would also make it very clear to all of my employees that I refused to let any of my employees during working hours inside their workplace ever criticize a coworker or a work supervisor for "being a NARC"---someone, in other words, who in a very law-abiding and honorable and very nobly and courageously manner seeks to deter crime in our city and metro area and state and nation and world.






Sunday, May 15, 2011

20 Reasons Why You Should Include Nondrinkers (Teetotalers) In Your Next Party-Invitation List

Those hosting social parties or dinner parties where alcohol will be consumed by most of the invited guests can greatly benefit from including civil and law-aiding, non-stalking, privacy-respectful nondrinkers (teetotalers) in their next party invitation list.

The nondrinker on your party list as an invited guest at your next social party offers you the following advantages over your alcohol-consuming party guests:

(1) The nondrinker is less likely to embarrass yourself by making a lewd or crassly vulgar comment.

(2) The sober nondrinker is more likely to provide a reliable and calm and factually detailed as well as accurate 911 emergency phone call report to the local police department if the social party turns into a brawl or fist-fight for which a criminal-law complaint is needed.

(3) The nondrinker is far less likely to physically force himself on or rape or attempt to rape or sexually assault any other party guest at your party.

(4) The nondrinker can save you lots of money. He will never pursue any conduct that compels you to leave the party site in the middle of your party in order to purchase additional bottles of alcohol that you can then offer your alcohol-crazed guests.

(5) The sober nondrinker is more likely to add variety to the conversation topics at your party. He will do that because the nondrinker is far less likely at your party to talk about any of the following "most frequently discussed topics" of alcohol-party conversations:

Sex organs and who most recently elicited a stiffening or itchy sensation in one's own cited sex organ; the last occasion in which the male speaker can recall having "gotten laid" and what might account for his cited "drought" in that way; the asserted length of one's own male organ; female breast sizes; memorable orgasms; which female orifice offered the very "best fit" during the sex act that the male speaker has himself encountered thus far in his own romantic life; which women are most likely to say "yes" to any man who wants to go "all the way" with her; why the male speaker often compares himself to either Don Juan or Casanova, and he is not sure which of the two is the most like himself though he plans to read biographies on each in order to be completely sure on that point; masturbation and favorite masturbation fantasies; the cited name of the one Hollywood star whom the male party guest would most like to have a "hot date" with and "go all the way with", though he probably would not want her as a girlfriend or spouse, the male speaker hastens to add; X-rated movies and porno movie stars; X-rated party jokes; coitus interruptus experiences of his that the male party guest now regards as having been fine material for wonderfully entertaining anecdotes he can share with everyone in elaborate detail, this clearly being a naughty topic of keen interest to everyone; the male speaker's all-time favorite experience inside a whorehouse or house of prostitution; everything you always wanted to know about sex and sexuality, but were presumably afraid to ask; romantic trysts, sexual "conquests", one-night stands, illicit affairs, and recent gleeful sex orgies he has attended, etc.

(4) The nondrinker can help protect the personal safety of your other party guests. He can do that by kindly agreeing to serve as a sober "designated driver" for guests of yours who consume alcohol at your party.

(5) The nondrinker is far less likely to grab or slap or embrace or pinch or physically strike or pounce on yourself or any of your other party guests.

(6) The nondrinker is far more likely to volunteer to help you clean up after your social party has ended.

(7) The nondrinker is more likely to successfully perform cardiopulmonary rescuscitation on any party guest who falls unconscious or suffers a heart attack during your party.

(8) The sober nondrinker is more likely to help promptly clean up any vomit that any of your alcohol-consuming guests leave in your bathroom or hallway leading to your bathroom.

(9) The nondrinker is less likely to bring marijuana with him or any other illicit drug with him to your party. This is so because a significantly lower percentage of the nondrinkers consume marijuana or some other illicit drug.

(10) The nondrinker is more likely to later recall for you what happened at your party. By contrast, most of the other party guests will be waking up the next morning with hangovers and unable to recall for you what anyone said or did at your party.

(11) The nondrinker is more likely to take first-rate in-focus photographs of the other party guests, should you wish to have some designated guest at your party take numerous photographs there that you can then add to your personal scrapbook or your personal online website.

(12) The sober nondrinker is less likely to make any racist-sounding comment or verbalize a racist-sounding "joke" that would offend or enrage or infuriate another party guest at your party.

(13) The sober nondrinker is less likely to ask you if he can "pass out" on or stay overnight on one of your beds or sofas or couches in your private residence.

()4) The sober nondrinker is less likely to force you to call a taxi service to drive him home in your role as party host.

(15) The sober nondrinker is less likely to put you in the awkward position of feeling "like a baby-sitter, since everyone around me here at my party is acting up like a mischievous child!"

(16) The sober nondrinker is less likely to put you in the awkward position of wondering whether the motif for your Polynesian-theme party should have instead been "50 Ways to Get a Hangover."

(17) The sober nondrinker is less likely to put you in the awkward position of having to ask him during your party whether he has considered joining an Alcoholics Anonymous group?

(18) The sober nondrinker is less likely to fault you at your party for not offering any wine that was produced by bare-footed monks in France.

(19) The sober nondrinker is less likely to strip naked and pursue a delirious spree of streaking at your party site.

(20) The sober nondrinker is less likely to approach other party guests at your party and ask them to please show him each of their most intimate tattoos that are situated below their waistline.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

A Moral Crusade for Store Customers: Ask Store Manager to Verify Age of Someone Buying Alcohol Who Appears to be Under Age 21

Texan consumers while shopping inside a store can help to prevent the flagrantly illicit consumption of alcohol by persons under age 21.

Texan consumers can do that by immediately locating a store manager whenever those Texan consumers observe someone who appears to be under age 21 placing an alcoholic beverage into his own shopping cart.

Texan consumers can also help out by immediately locating a store manager whenever those vigilant Texans observe a youthful-looking customer attempting to purchase an alcoholic beverage at a check-out counter inside that store.

The store manager can insist that the youthful-looking customer please present that store manager with a valid identification card indicating that the young-looking customer is, in fact, age 21 or older.

It is a flagrant violation of the law in Texas for any store clerk inside a supermarket or other other retail store in Texas to sell any alcoholic beverage to any customer who is under age 21. It is also a flagrant violation of the law in Texas for any person under age 21 to himself purchase an alcoholic beverage inside a store in Texas.

A staff member for the Austin Police Department municipal law-enforcement agency did inform me on the phone today that the law requires that signs be posted inside each store selling alcohol which clearly state that store clerks are required by law to ask for an identification card from any customer seeking to purchase alcohol or beer who appears to be age 35 or younger.

That same Austin Police Department (APD) staff member also told me today on the telephone that if a store clerk provides the explanation to a vigilant middle-aged customer that a youthful-looking customer purchasing alcohol there "is a regular customer of mine, so I don't need to ask him for his identification," that store clerk is required by law to have the ability to then prove that that store clerk previously checked a driver's license identification card for that very same customer on a prior occasion, the APD staff member informed me.

My own concern about this type of "he's a regular customer, so we've already verified his age" explanation that I've myself been told this week by two different store clerks in Austin is that the cited customer may NOT be the individual for whom that store clerk said he has previously checked that customer's identification card. It is very common for an underage younger brother or cousin of someone to strongly resemble that relative of his who's age 21 or older. Also, many of the youthful-looking gentlemen of Austin who appear to be age 35 or younger bear a striking resemblance to one another---even though they are completely different persons, one being a minor and the other being age 21 or older.

Texans seeking to help prevent under-age consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors are urged to contact the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) in Austin for additional information.

The phone numbers that vigilant Texans can use for contacting the State of Texas law-enforcement agency in Austin to report concerns about possible violations of the law of this type are:

-----Main Switchboard Number for the TABC state agency: (512) 206-3333.

-----Complaint Line for TABC: 1-888-843-8222 (888-THE-TABC).

-----TABC Enforcement Division: (512) 206-3400 or (512) 206-3449.

Vigilant Texans are particularly encouraged to contact the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission state agency if those Texans observe repeated incidents in which any particular supermarket or other retail store in Texas appears to be selling alcoholic beverages to persons under age 21 on a frequent basis.


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Welcome to the Chef's Table!

Welcome to the Chef's Table!
I would like to read blogs from your Chef that explore such topics as:
---His own previous trips to Italy, and the various ways in which those trips of his to Italy inspired in your Chef new ideas and new techniques and greater respect for the Italians' style of cookery.
----Is your Chef a current member of an Italian Cookery Academy, or some such organization solely dedicated to promoting excellence in Italian cookery?
---Which of your entrees are the spiciest, and which of the spiciest dishes you offer are your Chef's favorites?
---Which regions of Italy or islands of Italy are highlighted the most extensively in your menu?
---Which of your menu items might be described as a Cardiologist's Favorites, and I pose this question because I've read the Italian diet at its best protects Italians from contracting heart disease.
---Which sauces do you offer your customers, in addition to Alfredo sauce and Marinara sauce?
---Which of your menu items would you recommend the most to a tomato-sauce-lover or a customer who craves the taste of tomatoes, at least.
---Which of your dishes takes the most time for your Chef to prepare, and why?
---Does your Chef support the offering of whole-wheat pasta on your menu, even if it might involve an extra charge for customers requesting whole-wheat pasta in their entree or side dish?
---What sets Italian cuisine apart from the other Great European cuisines, such as Greek Cuisine, French cuisine, etc.
---Which of your menu items or combinations of menu items does your Chef most recommend to married couples seeking to celebrate their Wedding Anniversary?
---Which of the special orders or special requests from your customers does your Chef personally admire the most as a clever innovation upon the current menu options?
---What makes the Artisan bread that your restaurant offers special?
---Does your Chef ever use or recommend any alternative dipping sauces for bread other than the combination of the Balsamic dressing and olive oil?
---In which way does your Chef believe that Italian cuisine is particularly superior? Would that be in the genre of appetizers, entrees, side dishes, breads, or desserts?
---Does your Chef ever have the opportunity to brainstorm creatively for Maggiano's by sending suggestions and ideas of his own to your corporate headquarters or to your first-rate General Manager inside your restaurant?
---What is the most difficult or challenging aspect of cooking meals Italian-style?
---Since your child customers and teenage customers are not legally permitted to drink wine, and some of your adult customers are teetotalers, does your chef have any suggestions about which non-alcoholic beverages on your menu most successfully complement and highlight the Italian menu offerings?
---Would you please tell me more about the namesake of your restaurant, and what their own all-time favorite Italian dishes were or are?

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Questions that American Society Should Be Asking on Behalf of Deterring Terrorism and Related Violence

The initial euphoria expressed by many Americans after the death of a world-infamous Arab terrorist has been naive and ill-advised.

For American society to achieve a lasting peace and a lasting harmony with the rest of the world, our federal government must first strive to make our nation as morally defensible and admirable as possible. Our nation's political and cultural leadership can achieve that crucial goal by diligently and comprehensively addressing each of the following questions:

---Are there any ways in which the United States Government or American society does, in fact, inflict any form of defacto or government-endorsed "state terrorism" on any foreign citizens or any foreign nations (or on any American citizens, for that matter)?

---Does the United States Government this century ever act in an unjustifiably unilateral manner in initiating military invasions of other nations?

--In which ways do American society and the U.S. Government significantly wrong any persons born in a foreign nation or any foreign nation?

--Does the United States Government currently wrong the residents of Puerto Rico, who are each currently denied their citizenship right to be represented in the United States Congress as well as many other citizenship rights that are routinely granted to other American citizens.

--Does the United States of America champion a principled approach to human rights issues featuring full support for the legal and human right of each and every person on this planet to be classified as a citizen of some country or foreign nation, or, if need be, of a United Nations Protectorate territory, it being the case at present that millions of human beings who are born Palestinian in ancestry, for instance, are themselves denied the legal and human right of citizenship in any nation of the world or in a United Nations Protectorate, because of an outrageous violation of and contempt for their own human rights.

---Are there any ways in which American society has acquired global infamy for somehow "sponsoring" or "permitting" or "authorizing" or "approving" any form of anonymous communications or illegal communications or injurious communications featuring verbalized death threats being inflicted on persons who are being subjected to those anonymous communications against their wishes?

---Does the United States Government currently provide technical assistance on contraception-education programs and vasectomy-surgeon training programs in foreign nations, it being flagrantly obvious that American society currently plays a role in unwanted pregnancies in other nations that result from sexual promiscuity and non-marital sex between single teenage persons, with many hypersexual Hollywood movies and X-rated movies produced in the United States appearing to exalt frequent and anonymous promiscuous sex with a wide variety of sex partners.

---Has American society subjected any current resident of the United States or any current citizen of the United States to any form of defacto or actual involuntary public nudism or defacto or actual involuntary public nudity in any context that occurred against the wishes of that individual?

---Has the United States Government failed in any way to fully acknowledge the legal right of any single adult person in the United States to himself or herself enjoy the option and legal right at all times of himself leading a completely celibate and single adult lifestyle on a 24-hour-a-day and year-round basis?

---Has the United States Government fully protected the legal and human right of any and all current residents or citizens of the United States to not themselves be subjected to any type of "pre-arranged marriage" to another person or other persons?

---Has the United States Government sponsored or permitted more extensive violations of the privacy rights and intellectual-property legal rights of any cited current resident of the United States or any cited current citizen of the United States than has virtually any other country in the entire world in regard to any of the persons residing in that foreign country.

---Is the United States Government currently permitting any business entity or non-profit group or government-sponsored institution or "educational services" institution or media company or individual or group of individuals to deprive any current resident of the United States or any current citizen of the United States of having full and immediate and readily-obtainable access to fully reliable and honest and accurate news and factual information services, including fully reliable, honest, and authoritative medical information services for himself in regard to his own medical health, on a year-round and lifelong basis inside the USA?

--Has the United States Government courageously opposed the infliction of religious propaganda or anti-religious propaganda or atheist propaganda on any current resident of the United States or citizen of the United States in any context that violates the privacy rights of that American resident or American citizen, with the so-called "deprogramming" activities involving the kidnapping of American residents or American citizens often involving a violation of the human rights and privacy rights of the individuals held hostage in that type of context.

--Does the United States Government currently permit the censorship or attempted censorship of any law-abiding and privacy-respectful adult citizen of the United States, any such censoriousness that is currently occurring in the United States being a flagrant form of repressive violation of the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion legal rights of that individual.

---Does the United States Government fully honor the legal and human right of any adult American citizen to himself NOT himself be a member of any religious denomination or religious group other than the one he directly agrees to as being his own religious group or religious organization.

---Is the United States Government currently permitting any business entity or non-profit group or individual or group of individuals or government-sponsored entity anywhere in this country to inflict continuous, year-round noise pollution on any law-abiding citizen of the United States in a context that's flagrantly violative of his own privacy rights and his own legal and human rights, such as his asserted legal and human right to fully protect his own hearing capacity and medical health.

---Is the United States Government currently permitting the illegal and very sinister and injurious infliction of noise pollution as a weapon being used to punish or harm the medical health and personal safety and financial earnings capacity of any current citizen of the United States whose own political or religious beliefs or personal beliefs or law-abiding conduct differ from those of any or many members or officers of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Libertarian Party, the Socialist Party, or any other political group or religious group or civic group or non-profit group found in the United States.

---Is the United States Government currently permitting or sponsoring the alleged religious persecution or political persecution or economic persecution of any law-abiding American citizen whose political and religious beliefs and priorities and whose current choice of city or state of residence for himself, for instance, are somehow opposed by others.

---Is the United States Government permitting the illegal infliction of any illegal or unethical "thought-control" projects or "thought-control" experiments or the infliction of any illegal or unethical "brainwashing" attempts on any current American citizen?

---Is the United States Government currently permitting reprehensibly punitive and injurious and illegal vigilante activities (such as flagrantly illegal actions by any religious or political group or individual or media company or media entity to stalk and harass or slander or verbally abuse someone whose political or religious or personal beliefs differ dramatically from their or his own beliefs) that are reportedly occurring anywhere in the United States?

---Is the United States Government currently permitting any cases of flagrantly and outrageously illegal and violent lynchings of any law-abiding American citizens or law-abiding visitors to the United States.

--Is it truly necessary and justifiable for the United States Government to deploy American military troops overseas in each and every year of the 21st Century?

--Has the United States Government conducted a conscientious review of our nation's current policies in regard to the sale of military arms to foreign nations?

--Has the U.S. Government adequately studied the implications of the very sobering fact that each and every occasion in which U.S. Armed Forces kill or shoot at a foreign citizen overseas, will trigger several decades of intense hatred of the United States and American society by hundreds or thousands or millions of foreign citizens?

--Shouldn't it pose a concern to the U.S. Government that millions or billions of people throughout the world look upon the United States of America as "the hated enemy"?

---Has the United States of America as host country for The United Nations in New York City, New York, pursued any actions that undermined the legal authority or potential strength of The United Nations, including in regard to any military actions that The United Nations might ever have a need to pursue.

--In which ways does American society significantly offend or alienate any foreign nation in a context in which that foreign nation has a legitimate grievance against the United States or against American society?

---Why hasn't the United States Congress approved the official bipartisan goal for the United States of our nation striving to become the number one industrialized nation in the world for comprehensive commitment to environmental protection?

--Are there any multinational corporations headquartered in the United States of America that pursue business practices and other conduct in or relating to foreign nations that undermine American society's moral credibility with those foreign nations?

---Are there any multinational corporations headquartered in the USA that inside foreign countries where they are situated fail to fully participate in comprehensive recycling of any and all recyclable items (paper products) they use or consume and would otherwise discard or throw away, or that fail to adequately protect the environmental quality in each of the geographical areas of foreign countries where those U.S.-identified corporations are themselves situated.

--Are there any ways in which any corporation operating inside the United States or operating in U.S.-governed territory or waters inflicts water pollution or noise pollution or air pollution or any other form of environmental destructiveness on Canada or Mexico or Siberia or any other foreign nation?

--Is American society relying excessively on raw materials in foreign nations for use by American-financed manufacturing plants? Doesn't any such over-reliance underscore the urgent need for American society to significantly increase recycling of raw materials that can already be found inside the United States?

--Why doesn't American society currently have a nationwide recycling program that is truly comprehensive in nature, and that is mandated by the United States Government for all citizens and residents and employers of the United States to participate in fully, regardless of where in the United States they reside.

--Should the United States Government provide financial incentives or impose legal requirements for all businesses operating in the United States to each participate in recycling of recyclable items that are currently being discarded as trash by those businesses, including paper products, glass products, aluminum products, plastic products, etc.

---Is American society through an official American Anti-Deforestation Policy striving in a diligent manner to prevent deforestation of much of this planet?

--Why hasn't the U.S. Congress this century officially ratified a crucial recent international treaty that was aimed at halting any further depletion of the ozone layer?


---Has the United States Government incurred a major legal liability and moral responsibility from the Global Warming Effect for which many observers say that American society is primarily blameworthy for that global environmental disaster.

---Are any of the multinational corporations headquartered in the U.S. themselves guilty of unconscionable exploitation of any of the foreign citizens who are employed by that multinational corporation? In which ways does any such exploitation of foreign labor by U.S.-identified multinational corporations play a role in the global crisis of foreign citizens in foreign countries developing a sharp antipathy or intense hatred toward American society and the United States?

--Why hasn't the U.S. Government formally and officially established the nationwide goal of the United States of America becoming the most energy-efficient and fossil-fuel-conserving industrialized nation in the entire world?

---Why hasn't the U.S. Government formally and officially established the nationwide goal of the United States of America becoming the leading nation in the world for research and development and deployment of renewable energy sources?


---Why doesn't the U.S. Government currently have the official national goal of American society striving to generously share recycling technology and environmental-protection technology and renewable-energy technology with as many foreign nations as possible?

--Why does the United States of America continue to export a larger number of gratuitously-violent media productions, including in the form of Hollywood movies and video games, than possibly any other nation in the world?

--Why does the United States of America continue to export a larger number of profanity-filled media productions, including Hollywood movies and videotapes of "popular" music group performances, to foreign nations than does any other nation in the world?

--Does the United States of America have an adequate nationwide policy for preventing the deplorably illicit "export" from the United States of marijuana or any other illicit drug to Canada or any other foreign nation, it being a certainty that any and all illicit-drug trafficking that originates in the United States and enters a foreign country in an illicit manner is a form of defacto terrorism that American society inflicts on foreign nations.

---Why hasn't the United States Government imposed new prohibitions on any and all travel to foreign nations by American citizens who are either HIV-positive or who have AIDS, it being a certainty that many foreign citizens understandably blame citedly promiscuous and irresponsible Americans for the unconscionable spread to foreign nations of the HIV virus and of the often-fatal AIDS.

---Why hasn't the United States Government established an adequate AIDS-prevention program that, among other things, requires any and all persons in the USA who test positive for the HIV-virus to each promptly register that alarming medical information about themselves with the United States Government.

---Should the United States Government assume a leadership role in AIDS prevention by classifying the infection of another person with the HIV virus as a federal offense and felony crime for which the individual charged with infecting another human being with the HIV Virus should be prosecuted in federal court.

---Why shouldn't the United States Congress help to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS by approving a new federal law that orders the closing anywhere and everywhere in this country of any and all commercial sex parlors and other establishments, including the so-called "gay bathhouses," where anonymous sex frequently occurs in a public place.

--Why doesn't the United States Government encourage land-conserving, compact development of existing municipalities in this country by imposing a five-year ban on any future intrusion into wilderness land or farmland or agricultural cropland or ranchland that would have occurred for the purpose of real-estate development.

--Why doesn't the U.S. Government assign very high priority to establishment by the U.S. Congress of a nationwide criminal-recidivism prevention program, it being painfully apparent to any observer of the United States of today that the vast majority of all Americans who are convicted of a felony crime will, upon release from prison, eventually commit yet another felony crime.

---Why doesn't the United States Congress approve a new federal law declaring a zero-tolerance policy toward either homicide or attempted homicide by requiring the imposition of a court-ordered death penalty that would be imposed on any person convicted in the United States of either having attempted to commit homicide or having committed homicide.

---Why hasn't the United States Congress assigned high priority to approving a comprehensive network of treatment programs in the United States that provide affordable treatment services to individuals who are currently addicted to either alcohol or tobacco or illicit drugs or having their body tattooed.

---Why hasn't the United States Government adequately acknowledged the shameful legal fact that our nation with millions of illicit-drug addicts and many millions of alcohol-addicted citizens and illegal aliens is a nation where many of those U.S. citizens on either cited basis pose a danger to themselves as well as a potential danger to citizens of foreign countries.

---Should the United States Congress seek to protect the medical health and personal safety of citizens of foreign nations by imposing an immediate ban on the exportation from the USA to any foreign country of any tobacco product or any alcohol product other than wine or beer.

---Should the United States Congress seek to protect the medical health and personal safety of citizens of foreign nations by imposing an immediate ban on the exportation from the USA to any foreign country of any marijuana peraphernalia or any other illicit-drug paraphernalia.


---Should the United States Congress approve a new law that classifies any and all terroristic threats of violence occurring inside the United States of America as a federal offense and felony crime?

---Should the United States Congress approve a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that imposes a court-ordered death penalty on any person convicted of the unconscionable and heinous crime of either attempted homicide or homicide in a context in which either type of outrageous violent crime occurs in the United States or on territory (Puerto Rico, for instance) that is owned by the United States.


---Has the United States Congress approved a new federal law aimed at deterring the unconscionable crime of stalking, such as might occur if Congress were to classify any and all cases of stalking of any current resident of the United States or any current citizen of the United States as a federal offense and felony crime, the crime of stalking often occurring in a context in which the intrinsically sinister stalker resides in a U.S. state other than the one where his intended victim resides.

---Has the United States Government pursued any actions to strengthen the legal right of any American citizen to decide for himself in which city or town or county or state of the United States he agrees to reside, any policy to the contrary by American society being an example of the deplorably repressive policies that are pursued by communist countries or socialist countries exhibiting a contempt for the right of individuals to set their own course in life and decide for themselves where they agree to reside.