Hey Y’all.

I Hope everybody had a great weekend and enjoyed their Halloween.

I really haven’t been up to a lot this week. I would describe this week thus far as “the calm before the storm”; because I have test and projects due at the end of the week. The end of my week and the beginning of my next week will be crazy so I’m going to enjoy it before it ends. I am looking forward to this weekend.

This weekend is the Search retreat!!!! I have heard so many great things about the retreat. As far as I know it is a retreat that involves a lot of soul searching and self reflection. I think with my hectic end of the week I will enjoy the retreat a lot. I know several of the leaders going on the retreat and they have assured me that I will love this weekend. This makes me very excited but there is also a lot of mystery to this retreat; this is because they (the leaders) have to keep things a secret for it to be a surprise for us attending the retreat. This just adds to my inquiry obviously…but I guess we will just have to wait till this weekend to find out.

I promised to let you guys know how midnight madness went this past weekend….IT WENT GREAT! I had such a great time. All of our dance teams put on a great performance and impressed the crowd with their performances. But I am obviously biased and am going to say that Urban Beats had the best performance, although Suburban Beats was pretty awesome!! I told you I would have a link to our performance and I do but it is only on Facebook. Sorry guys.

Random thought: In my Spanish class we are reading a novella that I recommend to anyone who speaks Spanish and likes novellas. It is titled “Falsas cronicas del sur” by Ana Lydia Vega. The book is written in mini vignettes and tells a very compelling story. I definitely recommend it.

It’s time for song of the week: “Fireflies” by Owl City!

Well have a good rest of the week.

Love,

Joshua Martinez

PS: Don't forget to smile! :)

Posted by Josh Martinez at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Y’all!

Hope y’all have been doing well since my last post. I know it has been a long time since my last post but now I’m back!

I was really sick last week. I had a really bad cold that I was not ready for. I was so pathetic and weak that I basically didn’t get out of my bed for a day and a half. Just picture lots of mucus and sweat…pretty I know. But now I’m feeling a lot better; still very flemmy but other than that ok. The only good thing about being sick was that I was able to catch up on my trashy reality TV. Most of it was just reruns of the TV show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Can I say that those women are all hot messes and I love it!

Since the last time I blogged I was fortunate enough to see a comedy group at school. They were from the Second City Comedy School in Chicago, Il. Lots of famous comedians such as Tina Fey, Chris Farley, and Steve Carell have come out of that school. They performed lots of skits that included several improv acts and singing numbers. Needless to say they were really funny and overall good comedic actors.

Another awesome experience I had earlier this week was having dinner with Father Rodolfo Cardenal S.J. He is a Jesuit from El Salvador and he was here at The U to give a discussion entitled "Martyrs of El Salvador." This was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the deaths of the Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador. The dinner was very insightful. He is very knowledgeable and a very nice person. The dinner also included some very important people on campus such as the president, Father Pilarz S.J., as well as other faculty and students. The conversations were very insightful and entertaining. I enjoyed this very much.

This week is Pink week supporting breast cancer. So everyone wear pink this week! I am
wearing my pink tomorrow because here on campus we’re having our Thinking Pink Rally!!!!

I cannot wait for tomorrow. And it is not because the World Series starts either. (Which I do not really route for either of the teams: 1. Because I’m from Texas and we obviously didn’t get this far and 2. Because I have friends that support both teams and they might kill me if I choose a side.) I’m excited because we have Midnight Madness. That is our big “pep rally” type of event to start the basketball season. At Midnight Madness several of our clubs perform including: our cheerleaders, our dance team, our one-time dance team suburban beats, and most importantly URBAN BEATS!!!!! This is going to be our first performance of the season. The team and I are really excited to perform! We have a really cool medley of songs and a pretty sick dance. I hope to have some kind of pictures or video for you guys next week.

Speaking of performing and music it is time for the song of the week. This week’s song is from a newcomer who is 13 years old. Her name is Dionne Bromfield and she is really talented and happens to be related to another talented artist, Amy Winehouse. The song is called “Mama
Said”. The song is a remake of the 60’s artist The Shirelles.

Well that is all for this week. Hope y’all have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!

Adios,

Joshua Martinez!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fall break is over….

NO!!!

Come back…

Just kidding.

Hope all of you had a great weekend, I know I did. Fall break was very much needed. Now that we’re back, it’s back to classes and studying. I have a test on Friday. It feels like I have a test every week…ugh. But I guess that is the life of a college student.

So over fall break I had several new experiences. The first new thing I did over break was go apple picking. It was fun. I had no idea that there are so many different kinds of apples. It was cool to actually pick our own apples. Which my friend and I later made into apple pies…well kind of. Our apple pies were not very edible but none-the-less apple pies. :)

I look good right...haha.

The second thing I did which I’ve never done before, was carve a pumpkin. That was SO much fun! It was fun to dig into the pumpkin “junk” and take out the seeds. We baked the seeds and ate them…so good. The best part was seeing the different designs in the pumpkins. I had lots of fun.

Song of the week: “Ignorance” by Paramore. Thanks to my new friend Sophia!

Until next time.

Peace Y’all.

Joshua Martinez!!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Y’all.

I hope everyone had an amazing week. I’m sorry my post is a little late. I had several midterms this week so I was doing some last minute studying all week. I feel like I did well on them. BUT now after a week midterms we’re on FALL BREAK!!!!!

I am so excited to just take some days off and not have to worry about class. I have some work to do but nothing too serious. Like you guys know I am from Texas so I didn’t get to home. It gets really expensive flying back and forth so instead I went home with a friend of mine, the best girl in the whole world. I am currently in Toms River, NJ. The drive from Scranton to Toms River was beautiful. It is so cool to see the different colors in all the trees. I know to many people that is normal for Fall, but at home we hardly see any color change. We are lucky to see leaves go from green to yellow and then brown; usually it’s just green to brown.

Sorry I don’t have much more to tell y’all but I was buried in notes this week. I hope to have more stories for you guys after fall break!!!

Song of the week:” Whine Up” by Kat DeLuna
That song is such a good song to dance to. If you need a song to get the party started…definitely play “Whine Up”!!!

Talk to Y’all soon

Joshua Martinez

Posted by Josh Martinez at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello again.

Hope y’all are doing well. Everything in Scranton is awesome. The weather is now starting to feel like fall. It has been pretty chilly here. It has been around 45 degrees. You can only imagine how bundled up I am. Before you judge, remember I’m from Texas and that’s like our winter weather. If the weather keeps dropping I may have to just borrow in my room 24/7. It’s been rainy too so that just adds to more shivering on my part.

It was raining on my retreat this weekend. Remember last time I told y’all I was going on the Art and Spirituality retreat? I had lots of fun. The retreat was more of a soul searching one. During the weekend we were told to pull from our internal feelings and thoughts and put that into our artwork. The retreat made us look deep into ourselves. One project that I found very therapeutic was creating our “journey sticks.” We went to a lake and each picked a stick that caught our eye. Later on in the retreat we debarked it and sanded it. After all that was done we painted them to represent the journey of our lives up to this point. It was amazing to see the differences in sticks. Not one person had the same stick. It was an activity that I felt allowed me to express myself the most. You guys should try it one time. Here is my stick:

This past weekend was also family weekend. I helped with registration for the event. It was cool to see everyone’s families on campus. That made me happy and sad. I was glad to see many of my friends had the chance to see their families and catch up. Being from Texas it’s hard for my family to come up. Although my family wasn’t able to come in person I know that they are always with me in spirit. The saying “Distance makes the heart grow founder”, is very true. If you’re reading my blog; love you Mom, Dad, Joe, and Jay!!!!!!!!! :)

Ok on a side note: I have been obsessed with the song “Video” by India Arie. The lyrics to the song are beautiful and inspiring. For those reasons and that I have been listening to that song repeatedly this week; it is my song of the week!!!!

Well before I sign out for this week I just wanted to leave you with these lyrics:

“When I look in the mirror the only one there is me
Every freckle on my face is where i'ts supposed to be
And I know our creator didn't make no mistakes on me
My feet, my thighs, my lips, my eyes; Im lovin what I see”

"Video" by India Arie

Have a good rest of the week.

Joshua Martinez!!!!

Posted by Josh Martinez at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey Y'all,

I hope everyone had a great week. I hope that everyone who took the time to read my first blog enjoyed it...I know I enjoyed writing it. I have a lot to tell you about since the last time I blogged so here we go...

Last week I told you guys that I had four tests! I thought I was going to die!! I had to buckle down and split my time wisely in order to study for all four. The worst part about them was that I had two on Thursday and two on Friday. I know it sounds like it's not that bad, but the trick was that I had them back-to-back on both days. So there was no breathing room in between my tests to regroup and get refocused. I just had to dive in and hope that my studying paid off. I feel confident that I did well. I haven't found out how I did on all my test...but I'm keep my fingers crossed.

After those two stressful days I could not wait for the weekend to come. On Saturday I went hiking at Rickets Glenn which is about an hour away from Scranton. I went with a couple of my friends and we had a blast. Before I continue let me tell you that I am NOT an outdoorsy person AT ALL! The week leading up to hike I was complaining and making jokes about how I was going to need them to carry me along the trail; basically I was wining the whole week. Shockingly though I enjoyed every second of it. The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. It is definitely something I would enjoy doing again.

The next day I had Urban Beats practice and that was fun. Thus far we have learned dances to the songs: "Down" by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne, "La La La" by LMFAO, and "City is Mine" by Drake. If you haven't listened to these songs you should, they are catchy and are good to dance to. I'm still getting completely used to dancing hip-hop; I might not be the best but I'm having a lot of fun. When we have our first show I will try to post a video...we will see if I can learn how to do that.

So yesterday I had the opportunity to be a part of a good cause. I got the chance to go to New York City with Cancertacular, a local nonprofit agency that helps families that have children with cancer. With September being national Childhood Cancer Awareness month, we went to be a part of the audience of Good Morning America. It was such a good trip. We got to meet Robin Roberts and Christian Slater. If you want to know more about Cancertacular or how you can help here a link to their website, http://cancertacular.org.

This weekend I will be going on a retreat. It is the Art and Spirituality retreat. I can't wait.One of the great things about the University of Scranton is that it offers many great retreats for its students. This is the first retreat I will be going on so I am looking forward to it!

Random Thought: So I have had Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams" song stuck in my head all week. I really like that song. So I think I might just post a random song that I like every week. Thought?

Well guys I don't know what else to tell y'all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great week!

Joshua Martinez

PS: Feel free to leave me some feedback. I would love to hear from y'all.

PPS: Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Posted by Josh Martinez at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey Y'all!!!!!

My name is Joshua Martinez and I'm a sophomore communications major from Dallas, TX. I know what you're thinking...what is a kid from Texas doing in Scranton, PA? I used to ask myself that question too BUT it's my LOVE for this school that keeps me here. The University of Scranton is definitely my home away from home. I have been back for about five weeks now and each week has brought something completely different. My first week I was a leader on F.I.R.S.T which is a week long retreat where incoming freshman do service in the Scranton community. I was a leader and was able to work with lots of great people, but more importanly make a difference in the city. The next week school started, and that's always a whirlwind of an experience! Looking for classes, catching up with friends, meeting new professors, but no matter what I'm up to...I'm always having a good time!

Now were in week four of school...and I have FOUR test this week...I guess that is the schools way of saying, "welcome back."...haha. So now is where long hours of studying and living in the library become part of my usual schedule. Besides being a student I am also a member of the Urban Beats Dance Crew! For those of you who don't know what that is; it is a club on campus where we dance to hip-hop music at several events on campus. We had tryouts last week...and I guess I was urban enough to make it...lol. We have practice tonight. I will let y'all know how it goes next week.

Peace out,

Joshua Martinez

Ps: I'm new to this whole blogging thing...promise to have more to tell y'all next week.

Posted by Josh Martinez at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)