Tom Brokaw, the Original Silver Fox

Just look at this man, what's not to love?

From a very early age, I can remember sitting at the kitchen table watching the Today show. Even if it was just background noise, the news was always on in my house. In the evenings, NBC Nightly News was the Carlos house news program of choice, even if there were a million things going on, soccer practice, homework, or dishes to clean, the news was always on.

Whenever my mom was tired and stressed from a long day her go to freak out would be "Everyone stop! I am watching the news!" Usually with a glass of wine in her hand, Elizabeth would plop her self down in our red leather chair and relax for an hour of quality time with Tom Brokaw. Every night at 6:30pm, this was her routine. Every once and a while life would get in the way and her quality time with Tom was stolen from her and her stress was projected onto my father, sisters, and I.

I think I first started watching the news because it made me feel grown up. Every time I sat with my parents in the living room, I felt older, wiser, and included in adult activities. Even if I was too young to process what was being said by Tom or Katie, (obviously we are on a first name basis) I would sit there trying to soak up anything I could. Although my first few years with Matt, Katie, and Tom may have been more of a blur, I could always tell when something important was going on because of the mood change within my parents. A "shush" or an intense focus was enough to tell me that something important was about to be said and I did not want to miss out.

Each story brought tragedy, joy, tears, or excitement to my home every morning and evening. By just sitting and hearing the stories so often I'm sure I both consciously and subconsciously picked up on various worldly knowledge. Having the DOW and NASDAQ reports read to me today still makes me scratch my head, but by having listened to them every night, I know what they are for and at precisely what time these said reports will be read. Learning what the UN Assembly was and how it shaped international politics was something that I am currently studying and probably received my base knowledge from these news programs.

The one pivotal moment for me, however, came from when I was living in Memphis Tennesse in the Summer of 2005 and was the devestating effects of hurrican Katrina. Hearing the news delivered by Brian Williams, on that first night was an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The following days were also ones that my family and I were glued to the television watching and waitng to hear more updates. Never before had I felt the absolute need to be connected and hear what was going on in a situation that did not involve me personally.

Although Tom Brokaw can do no wrong...this is pretty funny

The news allows you to take yourself out of the equation but still feel the emotional connection to those individuals whose story is being told. To this day I still love turning on the news and getting the same statisfaction my mother did when I was a child. Being able to sit back and hear the news is one of the fine pleasures in life I look forward to every evening and one that my mother has instilled onto me.

Maybe this is where my obsession of Anchorman comes from...?

A day in the life of Snorlax

Snorah, Snores, and Snorlax are a few of my many aliases.

In real life, I am Norah Carlos.

I junior at UVM from the great state of Virginia.

First and foremost, my life is a huge joke.

Case and point, below.

Just hanging out in Central Park...in a tiger suit.

normal, right?

This photo comes from my most recent adventure as an Student Intern at Greenpeace USA.

This summer, I spent 5 weeks living in Washington, DC attempting to be a real person. The life of an actual adult was the scariest/most exciting/strangest experience to date. While at Greenpeace, I learned how to organize, canvas, phonebank, and how to articulate our environment's most pressing issues to the public along with 18 other student activists from across the country.

So where does the tiger suit come in? The campaign I worked on was against the world's three largest toy companies, Hasbro, Mattel, and Disney. All three of these companies use paper products in their packaging that comes from deforested rainforest such as the Paradise Forest in Indonesia. Not only does this mean irrefutable harm to priceless forests, but also loss of habitat to the Sumatran tiger, orangutan, and indigenous peoples.

NOT COOL ASIA PULP AND PAPER.

This summer was an amazing experience, and one that I will always remember, but it's nice to be back in the great state of Vermont. At UVM I am currently majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration and minor in Policy. After being in DC, I know that effective legislation is one of the most effective ways in order to bring about change. Although I am less than thrilled about current policies today, I hope that I will be able to in act the change, or lack there of for the future.

Although I seem to have a pretty good goal for my future, it's a long way away. Until then, I plan on making many mistakes, learning from them, and hopefully figuring out what I am going to do with myself until then.

For now, here's a real life Snorlax in its happiest state, slumber.

photo cred: NIGHTLOTUSCOSPLAY: COSTUME GALLERY