E-Portfolio Blog Post

Over this past year, I have received an education on many fronts. Obviously, beginning my journey to receive an undergraduate degree in History at The Pennsylvania State University is something that has been both exciting and satisfying for me both personally and academically. Learning to interact with people with vastly different backgrounds and interests has been challenging but worthwhile. Classes such as LA 101H(Blogging) and Political Science(Contributing to a course Wiki) have exacting because of the emphasis on utilizing technology to make the educational experience more interactive and engaging. The difference between my high school and college experience has been remarkable.

 Previous to attending college, I was a member of the U.S. Air Force for 4 1/2 years, with much of the last year being deployed to Afghanistan. I guess it can be said that was an education in and of itself. As an airman who's primary occupation was to be a liaison for the U.S. Army in order to integrate air assets with ground forces, I was forced to utilize what I had previously been trained in a dynamic and complex situation, as well as make on-the-fly adjustments to the realities of a constantly changing environment (Trying to communicate effectively with the Army, U.S. and foreign air forces, and effectively engaging with ordinary Afghans is not something that is gone over in Basic or Advanced training!).

With this background in mind, I believe the content of my portfolio offers a unique perspective on a variety of issues that are currently being debated in our society. While much of the material contained in this portfolio discusses military matters (the war in Afghanistan, suicide in the U.S. military), I also give my thoughts on the 2012 election as well as underlying themes that are present in American society. 


Link: Matt Brandon's E-Portfolio

I Wish My Teams Won Championships!!!

As a sports fan, I love watching the intense competition that each game brings. Of course I have my preferences and like to watch some sports more than others, but I think the fact that I can watch any sport means that I like watching two teams or individuals competing more than the sports themselves. This tends to work best when the teams you like-- in my case, the Redskins, Nationals, Captials, and Wizards, who are all D.C. sports teams-- do well. Unfortunately for me, all of the teams I like haven't been good in years, or always seem to choke when they make the playoffs. It kills me when I see a city like Boston, who has had multiple championship winners in multiple sports, do so much better for such a long time, while my teams are constantly in the cellar of the standings perennially.

Exhibit #1: The Washington Redskins. Its a shame how such a proud franchise has been ruined by the worst owner ever to own a professional sports team. I remember watching Super Bowl XXVI in 1991 when the Redskins beat the Buffalo Bills to win their 3rd Super Bowl in a decade. Since that moment, they have been the sports team that I will always follow. Since then it has been all downhill. They have been to the playoffs three times in the past 20 years, and have won a grand total of two playoff games in that time span. On top of that, the owner likes to do nice things like sue season ticket holders who couldnt pay their bill during the recession and ban signs that are critical of both the team and the owner.

The Nationals are considered to be a team to watch this year, but during a three year stretch of 2007-2009 they lost 300 games. They were the laughing stock of baseball, and even had the word "Nationals" on their jersey's misspelled "Natinals". Oy.

The Wizards...well what can one say about the Wizards. They are terrible and have been ever since Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittendon brought guns into the locker room. Since then they have drafted John Wall, who hopefully will not have his development as a player retarded because of the lack of support that is around him.

The Capitals are the lone team the past few years that have been contenders in their respective sport. They won the President's trophy for being the best team during the regular season in hockey the past few years, but they can never seem to go the distance and win the Stanley Cup.

Maybe some day my teams will be as good as the one's in Boston. Until then I will be watching the regular season and then watching someone else win during the playoffs. Such as life being a Washington, D.C. sports fan. 

Ozzie Guillen

This week's post comes from the world of sports. Last week, Ozzie Guillen, the manager of the Miami Marlins, told Time magazine that he "loved" and "respected" Fidel Castro, who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2011. These comments caused an uproar in the Cuban-American community of South Florida, even resulting in protests outside of the new Marlins stadium, which is located in the "Little Havana" section of Miami. Coinciding with the opening of the new stadium is a big push to attract new fans for a franchise that has traditionally had little support for the local community. On Tuesday, Guillen was suspended by the Marlins for 5 games because of the "seriousness of the comments attributed to Guillen." Major League Baseball supported the Marlins decision, with commissioner Bud Selig calling the remarks "offensive" and saying that "they have no place in our game."

Jeez, so much for that little thing called free speech. Now I am not saying that the Marlins or Major League Baseball should be unable to suspend Guillen. They are the one's who write the checks, so it's their decision on how to handle an employee that made questionable comments. Nor am I questioning the rights of Cuban-American's in the Miami area to speak out and protest comments that they find offensive. But since when did anybody care about the comments of the Marlin's manager? I understand that he is Latino, but this uproar over his "insensitive" comments strikes me as a bit overblown. I don't remember nearly this much controversy when Guillen was managing the White Sox and called Jay Mariotti(who really is a true asshole) a "fag."

Even more than this, do we really want to live in a society where nobody says anything offensive? A place where no one says anything that may hurt someone else's "feelings"? That place sounds incredibly boring and I don't think I would want to live there. I'm not saying that you should turn to the person next to you and scream profanities in their face because you can, but speech that goes against the grain and challenges the status quo is a healthy part of any democracy.

Sources:
-ESPN story
-CSM story

The Internet

In my opinion, the internet was and is the really big innovation of this generation. It has revolutionized the way we communicate, view media, and retrieve information. I remember the first time my family got an internet connection was in the late 1990's/early 2000's. It was a dial-up connection that, by today's standards, is slow as hell. Websites a decade ago were pretty primitive, mostly just reading and a few pictures, nothing like the interactive sites that we see nowadays. 

I consider my generation to be the first one to really understand and utilize the internet. In the last 10 years we have seen the rise of Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia. A search engine like Google completely revolutionized how we find information. Need a quick answer to a question you don't know? Google it. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites have completely changed the way we communicate with each other, letting us both share and view the day to day lives of our friends, acquaintances, and family members. YouTube gave everyone the ability to watch professional videos and post video's of things they are interested in or of just stuff that is going on in their personal lives. Wikipedia, the de facto source of information for most college and high school students, markedly changed the way we informally learn by combining formal news sources with the personal input of Wikipedia users. I think that the internet can largely be considered a democratizing movement, where traditional mediums that were long restricted to certain professionals were suddenly opened to give everyone a voice (i.e. blogging).

The rise of laptops, tablets, and smartphones is the next step in the internet revolution. Instead of having to go to a computer lab, or your home computer, you can literally take the internet and all of your information with you wherever you want to go. Most smartphones and tablet's are basically micro-computers that have all of the capabilities of laptops and desktops, but have the distinct advantage of super-portability.