Perspective

This is a thing.

It's a beautiful thing, worthy of your attention, that might do you some good to watch.

So please, take this thing and share it with someone important who might need it

Enjoy it.
Nikola Strange.

May 1st is voting day for Google for Doodle!

I did enter, yet I have no idea how the hell the system works!

Do they warn you beforehand? Are ALL of the thousand + votes up for the public to vote upon? I don't know. I really don't.

But in the end, I really don't CARE.
I just want people to vote.

I want to hold the hands of every person who submitted and tense up excitedly at the desperation to see who is on top! I want to clap for the winners and drool over all the amazing artwork.

I want to laugh like an idiot for ever believing I could win.

But mostly, I want to win.

I want that miracle at the end of the movies where the underdog wins, and we're always our own tragic underdog because we have no one else to really cheer on. Not in all cases.


I don't have a picture of mine, because I was finished and didn't think twice about it, so I have no example.

• Essentially, it's a little Mexican kid with short hair--I don't blame you if you confuse her for a boy. It happened by my own mother--smiling up at the skies as the two "OO"s.
• The first G is the earth, the second a little white dashed line.
• The L is NASA'S new Rocket
• and the E. ..  . .is Mars.

This year's theme was "the best day ever" and I chose the day we land on Mars!

Thank you, Hank Green, for convincing me it was a damn awesome idea! Also, for making great music. You need a song about the curiosity rover--look at me, addressing Hank Green, as though he's ever going to read this! Aren't I cute?

When all is said and done, I just want you all to vote, whether it be for me or someone else.

All the entries need the support of the world to feel special, and I'll live vicariously through the best entrees.

Best wishes (and with all the love I can muster)

Nikola Strange

Understanding the Sequester (and why I love the Vlogbrothers)

 So after a myriad of terribly unclear news coverage, some (unsurprisingly extensive and time-consuming) studies on United States Government and Politics in AP US Gov't, and some . . . .spirited debate with individuals ranging from teachers to fellow students, I've found no greater video clearly explaining the origins of the Sequester, its' importance, and its' long-term effects as well as this one.

I would go so far as to say John and Hank Green are sort of like diluted Richard Feymans (was that rude? That felt rude): they make the same complex topics you've been brow-beaten with your entire life easy to understand, without dumbing down the subject matter. . . .And they still seem to have a lot of fun with it. Hell, it almost feels like their explanations for things just roll off their tongues, mostly on their main channel since you don't see all the cool animations or studios (even though it's absurd to assume they have some sort of genie or magic eight ball implanting knowledge in their minds. . . well, internet, but it's not insta--you get the idea, no ones!).

Back to the point: I feel this video is too important to miss out on for any American citizen and citizen of the world, because economies are global and this Sequester thing is seriously killing the brain cells of millions trying to wrap their heads around it: Similar things have been passed before including the Graham-Rudman-Hollings act (or however it is it's called/spelled) and PayGo, so why didn't those work? The answer's given to you in any US Government class, and in this video: loopholes, like refusing to cut things that actually add up to our national debt. Why would Congress to this? Simple: they like their jobs. And voters like their benefits. Yet despite how simple the answers are, no one can really comprehend them since we're always bombarded with heavy images and loaded diction even in seemingly objective environments (just ask any of my AP Gov't teacher's students. We're hashtaging quotes under "rocketship to 20".)

More importantly, I feel since there are virtually no holistic, objective viewpoints on these types of topics, there's a lack of digessiveness. The topic itself needs to be viewed from a more detached and statistic heavy (and slightly image-saturated) environment for the sake of having it be more digestible to the American public as opposed to being blown up to the size and force of a nuclear bomb falling from the sky in slow, ACME-esque style. We need to see the Sequester and other issues as they are: stupid plans with stupid results future generations will be facepalming at from the comfort of their school desks (like every other major catastrophe in our short but *for lack of better words* impressive history as a nation . . . . . or the history of humanity, which is short in comparison to the rest of the universe).

I am sincerely hoping you all are taking notes or watching and re-watching this video over and over again. Share it with your family. Share it with your friends, or on your own blog or with a teacher: this knowledge--this clarity--has to spread, and unfortunately because the main goal of the media is to make a profit, we have to spread it the old-fashioned way: pestering your acquaintances until they watch and/or give a damn.

This is ridiculously important and will affect everyone's lives to an extent, so arm yourselves with knowledge! As the Doctor said, "Books (or in this case infovideos) are the best weapons in the world!"

With Love,

Nikola Strange