Award for best movie

A new start is something special and important. It's like a new life. When I finally decided to go to college and stop working, it was a big step, but on the first day everything became real. Unbelievable that I already passed one semester, because it still feels like I've just started. Last Tuesday was the big day for 140 new students at our college which is still expanding. That's very cool because you really learn a lot, meet interesting people, can go to various events, and the lecturers work in several media companies, so they haven't their knowledge from books only but mostly from life.

As I already wrote about on this blog, I did a radio contribution about the gothic scene, for which we did an interview with a shop assistant of a gothic shop, how she started to get interested in that scene, and which stereotypes still exists and which ones are true or false. This was really interesting, and honestly I never thought this much about a scene, but it all gave me a new point of view on it.

We also did a video contribution about Trigema, which is a very huge and popular German textile company. They produce clothes like t-shirts and pants in Germany and deliver it worldwide. The head of the company is Wolfgang Grupp who says that people need work for earning money. Without having money, they couldn't buy anything, and when nothing can be bought there won't be a working place. So it's important to him to give people work who live next to the company and don't outsource the production only to save money. He really takes care of his co-workers, because he says that he simply needs them. He knows that without them he would be nothing and also the company. Everyone is part of the family. And that's why he also invites his about 1,200 employees to his birthday parties or makes big events for the staff. He also honors some of his employees when they did something extraordinary or are in the company for a long time, like 10 years or even longer.

Chris, me, Jess, and Wolfgang Grupp

I think it's a good thing and I know not every boss is like that. He also has not his own office, he works directly with his employees in the same room and he hopes that one day his two kids will take over the company. The parents should be the role model for their kids, and they should look up to them, so he says. When we met him for doing that short film about him, his vision, and Trigema, we could recognize that he does not only say that, he really does it. He is nice, friendly, and caring. You can feel his ambition, his passion that he has for the work he's doing, and he likes to share his success.

It's indeed a good think when you get honored for the things you do. I mean you do it because you enjoy it. Work should not only be for the money, you should feel happy to have that job. And it is a motivation when even once a year the employees get rewarded. Why only actors or singers? I'm really happy that the college I go to gave my group and me an award for the best movie. I don't wanna brag about that, I mean it's neither an Emmy nor a Oscar or anything compared to that, but it makes us all very happy. It is simply great when your work gets noticed. So thanks!!!!

It's just the beginning, and I can't wait for the next semesters. It's like our professor who run the college said on Tuesday to the freshmen:  we do not only plan events, we live events. Exams are events, and every lecture is. Life is an event, you can't predict it exactly but you can plan it as best as you can to make it as close to your dreams and imaginations as possible. Grab for the stars, because the sky is not the limit.
So I wish the newbies all the best for their student days. You can really learn a lot. And even though I don't earn money anymore, I do not regret it that I stopped working. Because meeting so many great and inspiring people, and making lots of experiences can't be bought with any money. What you learn is not just knowledge, it's more precious than anything else, and it will never lose its worth - like money.

So, if you understand German, you can watch here the short film we did about Wolfgang Grupp and Trigema.

Is life a child's play? A girl's talk

Two 15 year old girls sitting at one table. Binah is from Africa and Lucy from America. They meet each other the very first time and have a conversation.

Binah: You have such a good life. You can go to school and learn. And after school you can work, you can earn your own money.
Lucy: Yes, but we have to get up early in the morning. And believe me, school isn’t a walk in the park. You have to learn a lot, people expect too much knowledge these days.
Binah: But it’s great to know so many things.
Lucy: When you need it in your life, sure it’s a good thing. But most things we learn at school is not useful. I mean why do I have to know what happened hundreds of years ago?
Binah: You know something about your ancestors, what they did is part of why your country is what it is, acts like it does in some situations, and have its laws to protect its people. I’d be happy if I would have the chance to know something about my past, that of my family or country. Why haven’t we developed like you Americans? Why are we still so poor?
Lucy: We aren’t rich either. I mean, when I switch on the TV I see these glamorous high school girls, wearing Gucci or Prada or whatever. I can’t afford these things. And I guess I won’t get a car for my 16th birthday.
Binah: Why do you need a car, or these Gucci or Prada, whatever this is? You have food. You can go and buy something to eat and drink, as much and whenever you like. And you have a safe home, you have your own bed.
Lucy: Yes, but that’s normal. Rich are people who live in villas, having a pool, a big park, lots of cars. What you see when you watch TV. Everyone wants to go to Hollywood and have that beautiful life.
Binah: I’ve never heard of Hollywood. And I don’t even have a TV.
Lucy: So you sit on your computer? Or chat with your friends using your smartphone?
Binah: My what? I have none of these things. I wish I’d have a computer to chat with people all over the world, but I can’t.
Lucy: Seriously? But what do you do the whole day?
Binah: I take care of my younger brothers and sisters, I help my mom to clean the house, to cook. I help farming fruits and vegetables. I am working the whole day. I can only eat what we harvest. We try to sell some of them, but it’s not very much.

I’ll stop here and let you think about how the conversation could go on. What do you think, when is a person rich? What makes a person rich? I think we mostly don’t recognize what we have because we think it’s normal. I don’t think that we have to go to Africa to meet someone who have less than we have. When I first watched the sitcom ‘2 Broke Girls’ it lets me realize how fast we can be broke. In one city, like New York, do not only live people like Carrie Bradshaw. There are also people like Max Black. When she was the first time in Caroline’s former room, even the bath tub was something special, not to mention the turning shoe cabinet. But for Caroline it wasn’t special at all, as she grew up with things like that.

So when is a person actually rich? Does it only depend on money, or can a person with lots of good friends also be rich? I guess sometimes we should more appreciate the things we have instead of complaining about others who have more. No matter if they have more money or more friends. Things could be worse.

Criminal minds: Teenage life

It may sound like the name of a new crime show, but it’s not. It’s actually real, unfortunately. You maybe know the show Criminal Minds and maybe you also ask yourself while watching the show, what brings some people to have such mean thoughts. Something has to be wrong in their head, not from the beginning of course. Something that happened to them in their past, that changed the way they see things.

Yesterday I heard and tweeted about the so called Facebook murder. A 15-year old girl who paid money to a 14-year old boy to kill her friend because she wrote on Facebook that the girl had intercourse with several boys. I wrote lately about the risks of the internet and most of all the social network sites, and so I thought I should write about this, too. 

be careful what you put on the internet

What that one girl wrote and published for everyone on Facebook should have been kept private. No one should care about someone else’s sexual life. That shouldn’t be discussed in public. If it’s the person herself who publishes some of her private life, well, it’s her thing, but in my mind, no one has to write about another person’s private life. It’s all on them with whom, how and what ever they do behind closed doors - as long as both want that, it’s okay. I know the girl was only 15 and so very young, but I don't wanna discuss this here either.
I just ask myself is something like that already a reason to kill that person who wrote something like that about you?

Certainly not. In my mind there is no reason at all to take someone’s life, or hire someone to do that. I don’t understand what brings people to do that? Has that girl not seen any other solution? Maybe she could have talked to her, asked her why she did that, asked for an apology. Why didn’t she do that? Why did she pay someone to....? Did she want to show everyone her power like no one writes such stuff about me, or you see what will happen? What’s in her mind, that let her had such thoughts and really hired someone to kill her own friend? And why did the boy do that? To impress the girl?

So many questions are still unanswered. It all sounds like an episode of Criminal Minds, but it’s real. It started on the internet, maybe the other girl felt safe as she only saw her computer in front of her while typing the words. The internet makes so much possible but it also changed our life. What we write and what we do, is saved - FOREVER. And even when we think that no one would ever read what we once wrote or only the people who should know, well, it’s not true. There’s no cache for our real life, but for our virtual one. So maybe you write someone, someone else you’d not considered of reads it and might get it wrong. 

You can reach more people in less time, even if you didn’t mean it in a negative way, you always have to be careful what you put on the internet. And we shouldn’t pay that much attention what people wrote about us. Some things can hurt us, but the people who are really important to us know the truth. You can’t be liked by everyone, but that makes a 'real' person. Who knows about her good and bad sides, and has the bad one’s under control. People should know how to handle the internet correctly, kids should learn that in school. Not everyone or everything on the internet is good and true. I think when the kids would be prepared, something like that might not had happened.

What makes a good parent?

Last Saturday I celebrated my 24th birthday. And it was the first time I spent it with Ella, the cute little daughter of my best friend. Of course I have already seen her before, but on my last birthday, my friend Krissy was still pregnant. I was shopping with her not just once, to buy all the baby stuff. It's simply amazing that the little girl will already turn 1 year next month. Time is really rushing by. I never felt like that when I was a child - back then a year seemed to be endless.

kids need to be loved....

Ella was wished, but later. My friend wanted to go to college first and after that she wanted to have a baby. She felt too young and not really ready, but after she figured out she was pregnant, she knew that she wanted the child. I read so many discussions about when a life actually starts and for me an unborn baby is already alive, because he or she lives. And when you feel your baby moving in you, it is already a part of you that you don't wanna miss anymore. I think it doesn't depend on someone's age to get the fear doing something wrong. I think when you feel too young or say you first need to earn enough money to allow your child the best possible childhood, you are already caring, and that makes a good parent.

I heard so many people who said that they could never raise an adopted kid or have a foster child. Because they wouldn't feel connected to them. One friend of my mom also said, that she doesn't know about the parents and so doesn't know what the child will once be like. But seriously, do you know that about your own child? And isn't it the education, the way you raise your child, the way he or she becomes? I think DNA is just a base. It's like the stage in a theater and the education is the play.

...and wanna show their love

My aunt has three foster children and she loves them all like they would be her own kids. The parents of two of the kids, who are actual brother and sister, don't care about their kids. They haven't given them much food, so they were totally scraggy and are still much smaller than they are supposed to be. My aunt gave this kids a new chance to live. When they were asked if they wanna go back to their parents they said no. These days they don't even wanna have contact like telephone calls or writing  letters. I guess that is really sad, and why shouldn't there be a person who help these innocent kids? Don't they have a right to live?

I have often asked myself what actually makes a good parent? A good parent takes care of his or her child, gives him or her a place to live and share his or her love. Love is what keeps us alive. If a mom doesn't feel ready and think she couldn't raise the baby and give it a good childhood - whatever the reason for that would be - and so she gives away her baby, I think that makes a good mom. Better than keeping the baby and let him or her suffer by not giving them anything to eat and drink. Someone who has the chance to raise a baby, and give this given-away baby a new chance to live and a new home, isn't that a good mom, too?

I also think that gay people can be good parents. It might be a little bit strange for most people, because it's simply not that common yet, but as long as they are caring. Why not? After I have seen Neil Patrick Harris on Kelly Ripa last month I believe that he and David are good fathers. They really love their twins and spending time with them. They can't have their own children, and I know that there are lots of couples, not only gay couples, who can't have own kids either, so an adoption is the only possible way for them to raise a baby.

DNA is not the only connection. The biggest connection is love. Everyone has love to give. And wouldn't it be a good feeling if you would know you helped a person? This little girl or boy wouldn't be able to live without you, or not that well? Wouldn't it be as you would have given this person a life? What makes a good parent for you?