Blog Feed

When you cross a border, you cross a geographic boundary. While interviewing my mother, I learned that there is much more to it then I thought though. You face many struggles and moral decisions as well as new boundaries.

Saturday night I realized that one of the beads on my nose ring popped off. It was late, so I decided to just put it aside and fix it tomorrow. However, the next morning, the entire ring had fallen out, so I kind of panicked. 

I attempted to put the ring back in myself, but I guess it closed up a little and it hurt, so I decided I didn't want to mess with it and went to the place I got it pierced at originally. 

I decided while I was there I might as well get a bigger ring, because I've wanted a bigger one for ages. 

I didn't realize that meant they would have to stretch my piercing, and I guess I wasn't prepared for it. 

The girl put a taper in my nose and started pushing, I was just sitting there thinking ...this hurts... why does this... the piercing itself didn't even hurt... this hurts WOW THIS HURTS 

I started tearing up, and accidentally said "crying is for the weak" out loud. Now everyone there (well my two friends had come with me) witnessed how badass I am and they can't even deny it. 

Christine walked to the supermarket to buy an avocado. She had to stop several times on the way there in order to tie her shoelaces. This did not bother her, however, as the weather was, as she would say, "positively delightful!"

When she got to the store, Christine bought her avocado. On her walk home, her shoes became untied again. She screamed a scream of anger, threw her shoes to the sidewalk, and walked away. Like a boss.

But man was that avocado ripe.

Having more brothers and sisters effect you lifestyles vs. not having lots of brothers and sisters.

This long week has been great. I was surprised that we didn't have school yesterday all because we had like three inches of snow. Then again that is the Philadelphia school system.

I woke up yesterday extra early in the morning to get ready and to make it on time ( I had saturday school this week; I was not trying to be late) I was fully dressed and ready to go to school. While I'm heading out my little brother starts complaining about how there is snow on the ground and he didn't want to go to school. I start to argue with him until he finally makes e go on FaceBook to check if anyone else was going to school. (It's a shame really that I didn't just turn the news on.) None the less I pull out my laptop and at seven in the morning there is a never ending feed flow  from SLAers in particular; some happy and upset about there not being school. I was a it discouraged because I had put so much effort into getting ready that particular day; But i put on my PJ's and sat on my couch.

What's in a school? How about tradition? As said by my best friend and interviewee "High school is a whole different world." Grade school may seem like no big deal but coming from a Catholic grade school based entirely on tradition, this was my story about crossing the boundary by leaving my neighborhood and my peers. This is a story about my parents decision to break the social norm and *gasp* send me to public school *gasp times two*--downtown. 

Musical Breakdown
First Day of my Life- Bright Eyes
Polite Dance Song- The Bird and the Bee
The Book of Matches- Gentleman Auction House
Stranger- Dr. Dog

In this podcast I interviewed my cousin Brandon Carter about his cell phone being taken away from him. He talks about the toll it took on him and his social life, and why parents everywhere should make rules regarding cell phones very clear. Enjoy!

Music - Jingle Bell Rock (Instrumental), Happy Ending (Avril Lavigne), Happy Ending (Guitar Solo)

On the theme of crossing boundaries I interviewed my dad on how his process of going to college was different then most and how it affected him.

This is the journey of my uncle who grew up in a christian home and after some soul searching later on in his life, he converted to Islam. Listen as he describes how and why he converted to Islam and the backlash he faced from his family. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to move up a class? My mom is an example of one of these people. Listen to hear her story.

  I interview my uncle about the war he was apart of  when he was younger.

In this podcast, I interview my friend Haley Van Schaick and Kelly Kunik, both whom are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. For those of you who don't know what diabetes is, listen to the interview, where I explain exactly what it is. This podcast is about living with diabetes and doing things that differently to try to be a normal person, but still having to live with a disease.

For this podcast, I interview my cousin Kimberly and she explained to me how she handled being misunderstood as well as doubted. In addition, she expressed her emotions through the process as well as how she overcame the obstacle she faced. Hope you enjoy!

Here I interviewed my father about his growing pains as a child. We discussed these hardships on a deep and personal level. Looking at the person he is today, nobody would ever suspect that he grew up in fear. 

What can you say about the law? You love it, but at the same time, you hate it. It keeps you safe, it keeps order, but also restricts the things you're allowed to do. In this podcast, I talk about a time when I was just being an idiot and broke the law. I also interview my mom about a time when one of her friends got into big trouble with the law.

When is the last time you have been in some type of wilderness? How would it be to live for a day without tall buildings, stores and cars? In this interview, I talk to my friend, Bernicia Guercio and my uncle, Andrew Stewart about their experiences with the wilderness and how it compares to their city-life.

This is a podcast of a son interviewing his mother about her humble beginnings and how she still went to a great college and led a successful life.

We all have that person that we like a as teenager. But have you every considered if you could spend the rest of you life with them in a successful and long lasting marriage? Tune in to this Crossing Boundaries podcast by Symone Smith.

For my podcast, I interviewed my aunt and uncle about what things they've had to face, and what people thought about them because they were in an interracial marriage. I also interviewed my mom and grandma about how they felt about the marriage.

In English, we were doing a project about how people on a daily basis cross boundaries. Whether it means crossing boundaries in race, age, religion, etc. For my podcast I decided to interview my Aunt Linda who lives in Hollywood, South Carolina. When she was in high school she disobeyed her parents and forged her signature so that she can have the opportunity to go to an all Caucasian school.

Here I interview Winston Wright (SuperDukeWellington). We talk about how when people first see Winston they would even began to suspect he was this great rapper. 

All music in interview by SuperDukeWellington. 

My project was about cultural boundaries. I interviewed my mom about how life in the military changed not only her view of the world, but also how experiencing other cultures has opened her mind.

This podcast tells the story of a man named Richard Landis, and how he broke free of the social norm as a kid by deciding to pursue a higher education. 


Music by El Ten Eleven, and Josh Ritter 

Frigid
Song Credit: Omarion - Ice Box