2012 in Review

525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year?

In Joy - Incredible moments occurred from literally the beginning of 2012 to the end as I got to spend time with friends I had not seen regularly during much of 2011.  The random things we do like driving all of the way to Springfield to go to a small zoo and creation museum I will always remember fondly.  In addition, I met so many new great people over the summer when I interned for Project Transformation.  Although I was exhausted by the end of just about everyday, I knew my time had been well spent as I saw the joy in all of the children's faces as they opened their gift from us and the many donors who helped us buy three new books for each kid.          

In Strife -  Bitter disagreement over the future of our country marked much of 2012 due to the presidential election.  As had been said before by many other people, the 2012 election quickly turned not into a policy debate, but into rampant character assassinations allowed the election to turn into a popularity contest where the electorate wasn't voting for specific ideas or platforms but on who they liked better.  It's sad that in the world of politics today, the widely held belief is that the ends justifies the means as this allows a successful businessman and governor to be called a tax cheat, a racist, and a murderer.  May the new year bring a more meaningful debate on the substantial issues that matter and reconciliation between those who were in disagreement with one another.

In Sorrow - On one of my first mornings home for Christmas break, I had the TV turned to Fox News as they were just beginning to report on a possible shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.  As I continued to watch for the next couple of hours, the death toll continued to increase. This confirmed my belief that although we live in a culture of violence, it is greatly intensified by such availability of guns like the high capacity assault rifles used in the shooting.  As we mourn the loss of over 20 young children, I hope that others begin to realize that the second amendment does not guarantee the right for all people to have all types of guns.

Finally, we can measure the year in love.  I hope that all who took the time to read this experienced love in some way or another this past year and that 2013 will be once again a year filled with love.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Ryan Page

Final Days of Fall

It seems that every month just goes by faster and faster.  October and November were no different.

The changing colors of the leaves around campus set the stage for what was an amazing October.  My friends put on a fake 21st birthday party for me since many of us were gone last fall.  Reminiscent of my birthday celebration two years ago, a red velvet cake was baked for me topped with candles.  Soon after that, I went home for the first time this semester for fall break.  While I was home I got to go to the State Fair of Texas with my family where I of course consumed as many different fried foods as possible ranging from fried PB&J to fried cheesecake and also got one of the final glimpses of Big Tex before it burned down a few days later.  Also while I was home, I got to tour the newly constructed Lewisville High School.  Although still mildly in shock about my high school being torn down, it was good to see new facilities being built that will serve future generations of Fighting Farmers.  Soon after I got back to Fayetteville, it was time for my real birthday, my last one I will celebrate as an undergrad, and I was 22 for 22 in having another great birthday.

In what seemed like a blink of the eye, October had ended and it was November already.  The first weekend I went to Norfolk with my family to go to my dad's last Change of Command ceremony.  After almost 30 years of service to the Navy, he is now done with his final command post and will officially retire in the spring.  While in Virginia, I got to visit William and Mary Law School which is one of my top picks.  It was a gorgeous campus and I could easily see myself going there next fall.  November also brought about my church's Veteran's Day Concert that I performed in.  Despite Thanksgiving Break blindsiding me and many others because it fell so early this year,  I was able to go back home and spend time with the family. Although I will never forget last year's Mexican-themed Thanksgiving I celebrated with friends in London, it was nice to have a real Thanksgiving with my family.  Over Thanksgiving Break, I had some time to submit my first wave of law school applications to the following schools: Duke, UT, Houston, USC, UCLA, Georgia, William and Mary, and Arkansas.  I still have a few more that I'm trying to finish up and I will submit those shortly.

This fall I saw both great beginnings and beautiful endings. Wrapping things up here in Fayetteville and trying to set a new path for next fall has brought its own stresses, but successful planning now should allow me to reap benefits in the future.  Although I know I have seen my last fall here in Northwest Arkansas, a great winter and spring awaits.  

And There Went September

I can't believe that September went by so quickly and it is now October.  So many things happened over the past month and I was unable to write about everything so here I'll just summarize some of the highlights of the past month.

The Romney 47% Tapes: A couple of weeks ago, a liberal website published secretly and illegally recorded videotapes of Mitt Romney saying some unflattering things about 47% of Americans.  While I think it was unfortunate that he said those statements, I think he does have a point that the Democrats (and somewhat the Republicans) prosper the most by making their constituents feel like victims whether through economic or market forces or through government action.  By perpetuating myths about victimization, both political parties take away from the people who are actually victims of hatred and bigotry due to their ethnicity or sexual orientation.  Creating false victim statuses for people groups who do not deserve them does nothing to cure the inequality that we see today in America.

The Collapse of the Razorback Football Team: Much has been written and said about this topic as I and just about every other Hog fan in Arkansas and around the country are beyond disappointed in how the season is playing out.  I could say that our football team should be embarrassed or ashamed of how they have performed so far, but I'm sure the already are.  It's truly unfortunate that such a disaster has ensued because Jeff Long showed integrity and made the right decision in firing former head coach Bobby Petrino.  It has become obvious that John L Smith was not the right coach to replace Petrino, but there is much blame to go around.  I think it's okay for a fan to be critical as there are many college football programs where criticism is strictly forbidden which causes them to live in a fantasyland where they think their football team is the best in the nation when in actuality they're typically only mediocre at best.  Although it might be okay to criticize the efforts of the football team and the athletic department, we should never allow that criticism to become demeaning or mean-spirited as that will do nothing to turn around the season and will only spread ill-will among the Razorback Nation. 

As I march towards graduation, there is still much to do as I am still in the midst of law school applications, grad school applications, and much more.  Life continues to go on here in Fayetteville as I experience more lasts whether it be my last Bikes, Blues, and BBQ or the beginning of my last fall here, and I'm enjoying my time here as much as I can.

A New School Year

And so senior year has begun.  Classes are in full swing and I think I've finally gotten my Student Ambassador script down about how great the "You of A" is as I begin my second week of tours.

It doesn't seem that long ago that I drove up to Arkansas to move in before Early Week for marching band, nor does it seem like it was almost ten years ago that I made my first trip to Fayetteville when my brother took his first tour of campus.  It was on that first drive to Arkansas that I not only noticed the beauty of the mountainous Ozarks, but also all of the highway construction that lasted literally from Lewisville to Fayetteville.  Whether it was the expansion of SH 121 into a toll road or the repaving of I-40 and US 69 that run through Oklahoma (which I swear to God that they had been repaving the same part of US 69 ever since Eric started going here), my entire trek was filled with road construction.  Although it would at times provide some sort of excitement through the monotony that is driving through Oklahoma, most of the time it was just a pain that made an already long drive even longer.  

As the years went on though, more and more of these roads would be completed. SH 121 (Now Sam Rayburn Tollway) was finished my sophomore year and on my drive up a few weeks ago all of the other construction projects through Oklahoma and Arkansas were also complete.  These long term projects have finally come to a close as my own long term project, graduating from college, starts to come to a close.  It's too early for me to start moving the metaphorical construction cones and warning signs as I still have one more year left, but as I do prepare myself for the long goodbye that is Senior Year, I do hope that it's filled with many unforgettable moments and few regrets.  

Jeremy Ryan Page           

A Look Back

A few weeks ago, I went to Six Flags and a few of my fellow interns convinced me to go onto the Superman: Tower of Power ride which looking back is analogous to my summer at Project Transformation.  Before I got onto the ride, I had concerns about whether it would be a good idea or not for me to do this.  I wasn't sure if it was the best use of my time as there were so many other rides I might have liked better or maybe would have been a better fit for me.  Although I had these fears, I still moved forward in line knowing deep down that I should do it.  Instead of starting out slow, the ride almost immediately blasts you 300 feet into the air.  This shocking push was reminiscent of the first weeks of PT where I along with the other interns were bombarded with 12 hour days of training where we learned everything from how to complete component sheets to how to treat spiders up children's noses.

Although my eyes were closed out of fear during the ascent, once we reached the stop and paused, I could see the beauty of Dallas and Fort Worth like I've never seen before.  That great feeling I experienced at the top of the Superman ride I felt so many times during the summer.  Whether it was trash can pranks, interpretive dancing to Colors of the Wind, membership in the Finer Things Club, the sleepover with the St. Mark's Sharks ("THIS IS IT!"), the PB&J clique at Adventure Week, or just the special moments I experienced everyday at Chapel Hill with the best team ever was what made this summer so great.

After you go through a couple of free falls, you realize that the ride is about to be finished a lot sooner than you think it should be.  You realize that although the beginning seemed so long, the ride was brief.  When you get off, you look up and realize where you were those past few minutes and understand for the first time the heights you achieved.  Project Transformation was not without its free falls, but looking back it was such a spectacular summer that stretched me in so many ways and allowed me to reach new heights.

Lots of changes happened this summer that reminded me that even though I was in the PT bubble, life was still going on elsewhere in the world.  Whether it be a pastor transition, TV shows ending, a high school  getting demolished, or new relationships formed, I realize that these are but the first of many changes that  will happen in the upcoming year as I enter into my last year of college.

-Jeremy Ryan Page

Not Much Longer To Go

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with so much happening as the final weeks of Project Transformation start to happen.  Week 6 at Chapel Hill, we did Disney Week!  It was a low-key week, but everyday was a fun theme that related to a different Disney movie (although doing an interpretive dance to Colors of the Wind ended up not making the cut).  On Monday, the theme was Jungle Book and we did lots of jungle themed activities.  The theme for Tuesday was The Lion King and we did African safari themed activities and we got to watch a movie in its entirety in the afternoon, and the kids even got to enjoy a bag of freshly popped pocorn .  I had not seen The Lion King in a while, but watching again reaffirmed my position that it's one of the best Disney movies ever.  On Wednesday, we did Aladdin theme and they got to make magic carpets and do other fun activities.  On Thursday, to end the week, we did a Pixar theme and after (another) scheduling problem, we got to watch The Incredibles in the afternoon.  During Week 6 at Chapel Hill, our reading volunteers came from arch-nemesis Trietsch UMC of Flower Mound so I decided to entertain myself (and annoy my team) by wearing a FUMC Lewisville shirt every day that week just so they knew which church had an intern there and which didn't.

In a complete turnaround from week 6, week 7 at Chapel Hill was action packed with a really exciting theme: Olympics/Around the World.  Every day we talked about a different continent and a sport that's popular there with Monday being about Europe and basketball (that one was a stretch), Tuesday being about Asia and Taekwondo, and Wednesday was about South America and soccer. Also on Tuesday, we had a visit from the Fire Department of Farmers Branch and so the kids were really excited about that.  And to cap it all off, we had Family Fun Night on Thursday.  It was a great night and similar to how the Olympics spotlight talent from great athletes from all over the world, we put on a talent show to spotlight the kids from Chapel Hill.  Lots of families came and I was quite impressed that these kids could have so much talent at such a young age.

Outside of programming, I have been doing lots of stuff to keep me from getting bored.  Last Saturday, I went to Six Flags Over Texas with a bunch of people from PT.  It was a great day with great weather (for most of the day) and it wasn't too crowded.  I overcame my fears of riding Superman (with a little help from Hannah Escalante) and finally did it.  I held onto dear life the entire time as well as closed my eyes for some of it, but all in all it really wasn't that bad.  The next day on Sunday, I went back to Six Flags Over Jesus aka Highland Park UMC.  After the worship service, I got a tour of the facilities that included fun facts about the 14,000 members and the 36 million dollar expansion.  Unlike last time I went to Highland Park UMC, I didn't almost get hit by a Porsche in the parking lot, so I'm going to call it a good day.

Although there's only one more week of programming and then Adventure Week, there's still so much left to do.  It will be a crazy couple of weeks, but I know it'll be definitely worth it!

Week 5 at Project Transformation!

I can't believe that it's already July, time just goes by so quickly here at PT!  I wasn't really as exhausted this week as I have been in the past, maybe because I'm finally getting used to the schedule, but more than likely it's because we had a nice holiday during the middle of the week.


This week's theme at Chapel Hill was Time Travel!  We built this amazing time machine and every day we had fun characters from the past come out of it and explain what era they were from.  On Monday, it was prehistoric day.  They made paper plate dinosaurs in arts and crafts and went on a dinosaur literacy dig that afternoon among other fun activities.  On Tuesday, we did Medieval plus some Founding Fathers to try to incorporate Independence Day into the week.  We got a visit from the Statue of Liberty and Betsy Ross that morning and then they built castles in arts and crafts.  That afternoon, we had all of the kids sign a Declaration of Independence and then we all sang patriotic songs together.  The girls then had a tea party and the boys did finger jousting.  We had Wednesday off for the holiday and then on Thursday we did the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  The kids made tie-dye in arts and crafts and later on made boom boxes in the afternoon.

Outside of camp, I had lots to do to keep me busy!  On Monday, I got my LSAT score.  Although it wasn't quite what I was hoping for, I find that very few people will have sympathy for me for getting a 163.  Tuesday night we had off, and so I got to go with some friends to JumpStreet in Plano.  Who would have though a giant warehouse of trampolines would be so much fun?  On Wednesday, I went home and my family went sailing on our sailboat in Lake Grapevine and later that evening we were able to watch the Flower Mound fireworks show from Parkway Elementary which is right next to my house.  Thursday night was the Coffee House here at PT and I was able to see some amazing performances from my fellow interns.  This weekend I will be seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the new Wyly Theatre in the Arts District. Also, I will be speaking on Sunday at my home church in Lewisville so I'm excited by that as well.  Next week, there should be once again lots to keep my busy and of course I will keep everyone updated by this blog.

Half Way Though Project Transformation

What an exciting week it has been here at Project Transformation!  Although things haven't been nearly as hectic as last week, busyness was the name of the game as this summer continues to fly by at an incredible pace.

This week's theme was the four elements: Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire.  Monday's theme was Earth and the entire team wore earth tones that included but were not limited to browns, greens, and tans.  Theresa and I rocked the rec rotation for the week and we began the week with a game called Stuck in the Mud that may or may not have been freeze tag with a different name.  For the afternoon enrichment I planned, I channeled my inner liberal hippie and led Recycling Jeopardy. Although I probably should have looked over some of the questions for their content, it went pretty great.  Tuesday's theme was Wind and the whole team wore white because wind is also white, right? For rec, we played Ghostbusters which was a big hit with all of the kids.  Wednesday's theme was Water and everybody on the team wore blue.  In rec, we played a game called Squirt Bottle Tag that Theresa and I made up where the kids ran around squirting water at each other.  I wasn't sure how it would work out, but I am quite happy with how it turned out as it also was a big hit.  Thursday's theme was Fire and although we were supposed to have firemen and a fire truck come out, due to things out of our control, they did not.  Fortunately, our team was flexible and willing to forgive and forget (except for me, of course).  It also was a fiery day on the political scene as the Affordable Care Act was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court and Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of court by Congress.  Obviously, Congress and the Supreme Court knew our day was about fire and planned accordingly.

Outside of PT, I've had an amazing week as well.  The Coldplay concert was absolutely fantastic.  Also, the people at Holy Covenant were super great to me when I spoke to them about Project Transformation this past Sunday.  I'm stoked for another great weekend that includes seeing a midnight showing of Goonies at the Inwood Theatre as well as a day at the lake in Sherman with my fellow interns.  

Three Transforming Weeks of Program

These last few weeks have really flown by!  Although it really does seem like just yesterday that I was moving into SMU, I have now been here for four weeks and have completed three weeks of day camp at Chapel Hill UMC.  The constant tiredness I feel each day has prevented me from writing a blog post as often as I would like, but I will try to sum up each week now.

Week 1:  We're All Famous! was the theme.  The kids made some exciting crafts like cameras as they learned more about each other and realized that they were all special and important to God for who they were and not for being a celebrity.  This was a crazy week as I had to get used to the daily schedule and how the long the work day was.  Getting to know each kid seemed overwhelming at first as I was confronted with 90 elementary kids, but this challenge also got easier with time.  For team bonding, the Chapel Hill team went to BJ's to get a party platter pizooki that was literally humongous, but of course we finished it because we are undefeated.

Week 2: Under the Sea was the theme.  The kids got to experience lots of fun water-themed activities like painting sea shells and I also led them in singing Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid.  It was a shorter week for me as I was lucky enough to take the LSAT that Monday.  For some reason, I kept thinking of (Warning: Full House analogy) when DJ was so stressed out about taking the SAT, her family reassured her by saying that it was only a test.  Although the LSAT does have far-reaching consequences, constantly thinking that it was just a test kept me calm for much of the days and hours before taking the test.  On Friday, we got to have a water day for all of the kids.  With the help of the second coolest Methodist church from Lewisville, Vista Ridge UMC, we put on a water day the kids will never forget (Once again, Chapel Hill = undefeated).

Week 3:  Wild and Wacky was the theme. Every day we had a different wild and wacky theme with Dr. Seuss Monday, Mad Scientist Tuesday, Backwards Wednesday, and Carnival Thursday.  It was literally a wild and wacky week that included a news crew, youth helping lead activities, sick team members, rotten watermelons, and family fun night.  I am very grateful for THE coolest Methodist church in Lewisville, FUMC Lewisville, for coming out and helping cook and serve dinner for over 100 kids and their families.  It was so much fun for all involved and was a great success!

The weeks keep flying by with so much happening!  Life keeping trucking along as I prepare to speak at Holy Covenant UMC on Sunday.  With so much happening, it's hard to take a pause and look back at what was, but as I do, I am once again grateful for this experience and I can't wait to see what comes next this summer.

The Transformation Begins

My first week as an intern at Project Transformation is now finished and I would be lying if I did not say that it was extremely tiring. It all began last Saturday as I packed up and left my house and drove down to Southern Methodist University (SMU) for move-in.  Driving on to campus brought back some memories of my visits to SMU while I was in high school when I thought I would be going here.  I instantly recalled how ridiculously nice the campus was and I realized how fortunate I was that I was going to be able to live here for an entire summer.   So I pull up in front of the Lambda Chi house for check-in, and boy was everybody excited to see me and all of the other new interns.  Although everybody shouting at me in joy was a bit overwhelming at times, I truly felt welcomed.

Once I moved into my room, I met my roommate and suite-mates: Brandon, Josh, and Timmy.  They're all super cool people and I am very lucky to be able to live and share a bedroom/bathroom with them for the entire summer.  Next on the schedule was the first session of training at this little old church right off of campus, Highland Park UMC, where on my way I met even more great people including Erin/Air-n.

Also, I should definitely mention my amazing team at Chapel Hill.  We are also blessed to have THE best site church, Chapel Hill UMC in Farmers Branch.  During the ropes course at Group Dynamix, we won every single game that we played.  This amazing team also just won yesterday a competition on which team had the best presentation and best plans for the first week of camp.  I am truly excited about the prospect of this summer, and although I know it will be tiring at times, it will be a summer that I never forget.

-Jeremy

P.S.  I am really glad I am actually allowed to blog about my internship this summer as opposed to last year when I may or may not have worked for a certain female senator from Texas.

A Year in Review

Another school year in the books,and what an exciting one it has been.  My junior year of college involved living a crazy and busy life in Washington, D.C. last summer,  London this past fall, and finally back to Razorback Country in Fayetteville during this most recent semester.  As I think back on these great experiences over the past year, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to take them as most people never get to study abroad or have an internship in Washington, D.C.  The classes I took challenged me to reach new heights of knowledge and to better understand the world around me, at least politically and economically (which is all that matters, right?).

It's weird to think that I just finished my junior year as it seems just like yesterday that I was at orientation being told that my major had been phased out.  Time continues to march on apparently and now as I prepare to spend this summer in Dallas working for Project Transformation leading summer camps that serve underprivileged children and youth, I am excited by the prospects of spending my summer meeting new people and serving the poor.  I am also looking forward to my senior year of college.  It will be one of new experiences, but at the same time obnoxious sentimentalism (mainly from me) as the final chapter of my (undergraduate) college experience is written.

Guys, this is my LAST post as a junior!  -Just a preview for next year.
-Jeremy

In Defense of Planned Parenthood

Actually... this will be a defense of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and its supporters.  Instead of rehashing the events, I decided I would go over a couple of points that we have all learned from this situation.

1.  Once an organization donates money to Planned Parenthood, they will have to continue to donate money to Planned Parenthood every year forever and ever.  If they do not, liberals will vilify them as promoting a war against women.  Because Planned Parenthood is the darling of the left, they do not want to see any funding cut from it.  Susan G. Komen, as a private charity, has the right to donate their money to whoever they want.  The Komen Foundation exists to eradicate breast cancer and to support those who have it.  They give to other organizations that support this mission.  However, Planned Parenthood provides so little breast cancer services that it doesn't even do mammograms.  They do little more than just referring patients to doctors.  Why Susan G. Komen ever gave Planned Parenthood money is beyond me as the two organizations' goals are so different.

2.  When it comes down to it, we should expect liberals to take the side of an organization that supports the destruction of life over an organization whose main mission is to save lives.  It is not enough for liberals that the Komen Foundation has invested billions of dollars in breast cancer research over the past three decades, but they must now also use their own donations to help fund an organization that does pretty much nothing in the form of breast cancer services.  Because of what Planned Parenthood provides, liberals will do just about anything to ensure their future success even if it means demonizing an organization like the Komen Foundation which has done so much good work for women in the past.  Somehow, the Susan G. Komen Foundation whose main goal it to stop breast cancer is the villain while the organization that destroys life every day of the week by providing abortions is the innocent victim.

With that being said, abortion is a perfectly legal operation and the likelihood of Roe v Wade being overturned is slim.  This does not mean, however, that we should be required to support organizations that provide these services and that if one doesn't support places like Planned Parenthood, it makes us anti-women.  Although it is much easier to resort to name-calling when discussing politics, it usually just means that a specific side cannot argue on the merits of their side and must use it as a last resort as liberals did in this situation.

-Jeremy

The NFL's Fair Share

In honor of the Super Bowl, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the NFL.

Nobody will debate whether or not the NFL is successful financially, but is it too successful?  The NFL makes billions of dollars a year in ticket sales, TV licensing, memorabilia, etc.  However, the other professional sports leagues like the MLB and the NBA can't come anywhere close to that type of revenue.  Because of this, I think it is time for the NFL to start paying their fair share.  Because everyone knows that people who become successful do it at the expense of the less fortunate, the NFL clearly has gained success unfairly.  The average NFL team is worth close to $1 billion dollars while the average MLB team is worth $475 million and the average NBA team is worth $375 million.  This means that the average football team is worth more than a baseball team and a basketball team combined.  The inequality is stunning.

So what to do to fix this terrible injustice?  First, we should add a tax on all of NFL's earning that will be redistributed to the less successful professional sport leagues to ensure a more equal playing field (no pun intended) between the different leagues.  Second, we should make sure to vilify the NFL for their success because I'm sure they gained such financial strength at the expense of the poorer leagues, and of course the other leagues should not be blamed for their lack of success.  They're just doing the best with what they were given.  Finally, we should organize a large movement attacking the NFL for their success.  We could stage protests around the country at different NFL stadiums and call it something like Occupy NFL.  During these protests, we could create riots, break laws, attack police officers, etc.  Although our message wouldn't be entirely clear, we could get a lot of attention because that's all that really matters.

Does this sound stupid?  Good, it should.  Vilifying the people who have become successful and forcing them to bare the brunt of massive entitlement programs for the unsuccessful is ridiculous.  We should applaud people and groups like the NFL who live out the American Dream by creating wealth not just for themselves but for the thousands of people that they or their company employs.  Class warfare will not solve America's deficit or debt problems, it will only tear apart the nation.

-Jeremy