My opinion of America

In my opinion, America is replaying events in a historical cycle. The picture that I took is that of a vacant house with an overgrown lawn and a for sale sign in the yard. In class we discussed how America today is similar to America in the 1920’s. There is mass consumption and materialism and hustling and bustling just like there was in the 1920’s; this is followed by a huge economic decline. Also, both times were post-war eras; in the 1920’s it was right after WWI and now we are almost in a post-war era following the Iraq/Afghanistan war that is going on right now. I did not have the ability to put in the see, think, wonder activity to my final on voicethread so I felt that I should now. In the picture I see lawn bags on a black driveway; I see a sad looking for sale sign in the corner of the lot. I see an overgrown lawn. I think the house has been vacant for a long time. I think that the house is in foreclosure. I think that there are lawn clippings in the bags that rest at the end of the driveway. I wonder how long this house will sit vacant. I wonder if this house was built for a family and now they are unable to afford the house. I wonder what will happen to this house.

Obama Appoints Supreme Court Justice

At the end of next month, Justice David Souter is set to retire; this gives President Obama a huge opportunity to appoint another supreme court justice. Yesterday, President Obama announced that he would like to appoint Judge Sonia Sotomayor to this position. Sotomayor is a Puerto Rican immigrant and would be the first hispanic judge appointed to the Supreme Court. With this nomination comes a lot of controversy about whether or not the U.S.A is ready for her and whether or not she is the right person to put on the Supreme Court. We were talking today about Sotomayor's life story and how it follows the very popular pattern of rising from the darkness into light. She was born in the housing projects in the Bronx, NY and neither her father or mother had a high level of education. She got a scholarship to Princeton and graduated top in her class; after which she continued on to Yale Law School and also graduated first in her class there. This is the classic redemptive arc that everyone loves to see in people who are public figures. The rest of the process looks like this: the U.S. House and Senate must approve her nomination prior to her being the confirmed replacement for Justice David Souter. My one question is about President Obama: Is this presidency going to be one of firsts only? President Obama is the first ever African-American president so was that just the beginning? What is your opinion?

The Flag: Reconsidered

So, as we all know our assignment for this week was to get a picture of an American flag and then analyze the choices that we made.  So, I looked all around for flags and what not and I discovered that it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.  Flags are not all around the country like they used to be; on my block there is a total of ONE and it is at my house.  I pulled in the driveway this afternoon to discover my dad putting up a brand new American flag and removing our old tattered one.  He also happened to be wearing a sweater with an American flag on it.  These sweaters were made by my Aunt while she was undergoing chemotherapy.  Every person in my family had one, that is, when I was 7 and we wore them on Memorial Day to the town parade (all 12 minutes of it) and on Fourth of July if it wasn't very warm.  We quickly out grew those sweaters and gave them away to charity.  I chose to take a picture of my dad in his sweater next to our American flag because it symbolizes family, pride for our country and it reminds me of when I was younger.  Looking for the perfect picture for this assignment was very difficult.  I found myself driving around and every time I saw an American flag I would pull over and take tons of pictures of it.  Over the course of about an hours drive I found a total of 6 flags.  I find that to be pathetic.  Our country is at war and we have the audacity to not put flags up.  Our country is in distress with all the violence, the economy, the war that we have been fighting since 9/11.  The troops are fighting to protect our country, I do not believe that this is a just war, but I do believe that we need to at least show them, even if we do not believe we should be at war, that we support what they are doing.  The flag that I chose and the way I wanted to display the picture is for them.  My family may not support this war and may not believe that what George Bush did was the right thing to do, but we do support the troops.  My great uncle fought in Vietnam and has told us that he is embarrassed at how little support we now give to our troops.  I do believe that they should come home, but while they are away we owe them that much.  We owe them our lives and to show them that we are grateful we should fly our flags.  If American's believe so much in their flag or have that much pride in our country then why are they not flying their American flags?  I wanted to show that we have support for our troops and I wanted to point out that even if we do not truly believe in what we are doing, it is good to show support for the country, by flying the flag or wearing a shirt with a flag on it. 

SWEET RELIEF!!

Today, at 5:58 to be exact,  I completed my entire junior theme.  All of the packets have been put together, everything has been printed, and it is sitting in my back pack.  I am feeling very relieved after that.  It was very stressful for a week or so when I needed to get everything done because I knew I'd be busy for the days leading up to the day our rough draft was due and the weekend before our final draft was due.  I feel so great following this!  I am sure that I will feel even better tomorrow after I turn in the paper, but all I can say is THANK GOD IT IS FINISHED!! I enjoyed my topic and researching it, which made, it a lot easier to write.  I am just glad that it is finished. 

Most of Paper

Hey guys! So I have almost completed the draft of my paper and thought that maybe it'd be a good idea to post what I have done so far and have anyone read it.  Any constructive criticism is appreciated!

 “Poor Little Rich Kids”

            In 1983, American’s were stunned to learn that Karen Carpenter had been pronounced dead at a California hospital.  While being only 32 years old, she weighed only 108 pounds and her death was caused by cardiac arrest due to a strain placed upon her heart by anorexia (Young).   Karen Carpenter had suffered from anorexia for most of her life; her father, Richard Carpenter recalls that she was a “chubby teenager” (Young).  Not until she collapsed performing in Las Vegas and was told she was “35 pounds underweight” did she realize that she needed help (Young).  Even now in 2009, this is not an unusual scenario in the US; many celebrities have been treated for or watched for eating disorders.  While the media flashes the images of emaciated Mary Kate Olson or Lindsey Lohan young teenagers sit at home wishing they could look just like them.  The number of eating disorders diagnosed in the US has been consistently going up over the past few decades-particularly in affluent areas.  Why are eating disorders more prevalent in affluent areas in teenagers?  I believe that eating disorders are more prevalent in affluent area teenagers because of new diagnostic testing, pressure by the media to look like celebrities, pressure by men to be model skinny, and pressure by high-income parents to succeed.

            Over the past 50 years, the ability to diagnose eating disorders and other psychological disorders has increased which has lead to an apparent increase in the eating disorders being diagnosed.  In the 1970s people finally began to publicly discuss a mental disorder that had been around since the 1870s (Kahrs).  Over the past 40 years, the disease has been studied extensively in both the United States and Britain (Kahrs).  Now in the 21^st century, the ability to diagnose various mental disorders is so much greater.  In a phone interview with an eating disorder specialist, Dr. Jamie Gayle said that there is usually an underlying psychological disorder such as “bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders or other addictive behaviors” (Gayle).  Since technology has advanced over the past few decades, the ability to diagnose these disorders has improved, therefore the perceived number of cases has gone up.  Because of increased ability to diagnose psychological disorders, the number of people with eating disorders has increased.

            In this new age of technology, the media constantly alters women’s ideas about

how their bodies should look based on how celebrities bodies look.  Teenagers in affluent areas “ [know] a thing or two about dieting, fitness, and cosmetic surgery” and they learn these things from various media sources (Martin 95).  But what they do not know is that every photo is retouched: a process by which editors remove excess body fat they do not like, put in ripped abs and cover up any blemishes.  Vanity Fair, US Weekly, and People Magazine, regularly have articles about the latest celebrity diet fads and exactly how to get that look the celebrities have.   After watching the covers change week by week, it seems that these magazines virtually never place pictures of an average sized woman on the cover.  As L.A. Times reporter Emili Veslind points out in her article, “Fashion’s Invisible Woman”,  “The average American Woman is size 14.”   Instead what these magazines offer are images of “miraculously disappearing Nicole Richie” or the “once full-cheeked Lindsey Lohan” (Martin 144).   The media is manipulating the minds of young girls into believing that skinny is the way to be and that they should do whatever it takes to be that way.  A study done by Anne E. Becker M.D. in 1995 on people in Fiji, saw an increase in dieting between 1995 and 1998.  She interviewed some young teenagers in affluent areas of Fiji, and they cited “the appearance of the attractive actors on shows like ‘Beverley Hills 90210’ and ‘Melrose Place’ as the inspiration for the weight loss,” (Derenne & Beresin).  The pressure that the media places on young girls to be skinny and look like the celebrities causes young girls to develop eating disorders to fit the mold.

            Boys and men place pressure on women to be the “ideal standard of beauty” (Worsnop).  Finding a true love or soul mate is always on the minds of young women from the time puberty hits.  One of the main things that most women worry about is that “they will never be able to attract the hypercritical male sex” (Martin 184).  This idea of attracting the hypercritical male makes most women worry about their body so they begin to diet excessively to keep their idea of what size a man wants.  Courtney Martin interviewed many men, in her book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.  She found that none of the men lust for “women who spend the bulk of their free time obsessing over the size of their thighs” (Martin 187).  Why do women still believe that men want a skinny mate?  It is believed this stems from the 1950s when women were expected to be skinny and the perfect housewife.  Even though most men will not admit that they want this “ideal” woman as a mate they do still hold that idea on a pedestal.  The pressures placed on women by men to have the perfect figure causes young women and women to stress more about their weight.

Junior Theme Intro

So, it just occurred to me that maybe I should post my introduction online so that other people can read it and give me constructive feedback. Please read and give me feedback! I'd love to hear anything that you have to say! Body paragraphs will be posted soon! So here it is:

“Poor Little Rich Kids”
In 1983, American’s were stunned to learn that Karen Carpenter was pronounced dead at a California hospital. At only 32 years old, Carpenter was 5 foot 4 inches and a shocking 108 pounds; her death was caused by cardiac arrest due to a strain placed on her heart by anorexia (Young). Karen Carpenter had suffered from anorexia for most of her life; she was the daughter of a celebrity and she was a “chubby teenager” who was always being watched (Young). Not until she collapsed performing in Las Vegas and was told she was “35 pounds underweight” did she realize she needed help (Young). Something that used to be so uncommon is now a usual scenario in the US; many celebrities have been treated for or watched for eating disorders. While the media flashes the images of emaciated Mary Kate Olson or Lindsey Lohan young teenagers sit at home wishing they could look just like the celebrities. The number of eating disorders diagnosed in the US has been consistently going up over the past few decades-particularly in affluent areas. Why are eating disorders more prevalent in affluent areas in teenagers? I believe that eating disorders are more prevalent among affluent area teenagers because of low self-esteem, pressure by the media to look like the celebrities, increase in diagnosis of psychological disorders, and pressure by high-income parents to be perfect.

JR. Theme Update

I am sitting in class just thinking about everything that I still have to do on my junior theme but instead of stressing out and having a panic attack I am calm. I feel really good about the whole paper. I have completed my interview, read many of my sources, worked on my bibliography, and gotten my introduction almost finalized. I am feeling really great! After some technical difficulties, my interview went great! I was soo relieved to have completed it! I interviewed Dr. Jamie Gayle, who works at Insight which is an eating disorder clinic that operates on the North Shore. She was very helpful and gave me a ton of answers to many of the questions. She also gave me very helpful information and statistics. Infact, she also asked me to e-mail her my paper when I have a final draft! I was ecstatic that she wants to read the paper. I feel good about my paper. Not very stressed out, however, I am planning on working on my junior theme for most of this upcoming weekend. I just have a request, could we PLEASE be in the library some more! I'd love it if that was possible!

JR. THEME RELEAF

After the initial panic of junior theme and working on it and getting everything finished I seem to have a handle on everything that needs to get done. I am still feeling very rushed and pressured to move faster and get everything done but I have calmed down a bit. I have begun reading my book and many other sources and I also have an interview set up for Monday. I am still concerned however that it is going to be a race to the finish and that we are just going to be running, running, running until this paper is due. I don't have that much of a problem with it, it is more that I have other things that must be done and I am sort of seeing the whole, junior year kills you thing. I knew it was coming but I am having trouble adjusting the it all. I love high school and everything, but I CAN NOT WAIT for it to be the end of the school year and summer. Even though I am aware that summer, may not bring the same relief that it has brought in the past, I am totally ready for it to be the end of the school year to have all of this stress GONE!

HELP!! Junior Theme!!

After having our Junior Theme for about a week or so, we are supposed to have an idea for our book. I am not there yet. Every time that I here from someone saying that they are doing really well with their junior theme I feel ridiculous because I do not seem to be on the same page. IS anyone else feeling this way? I am also having trouble believing that our introduction is due next Monday! I am not feeling prepared at all!! HELP! Any Suggestions??

Junior Theme

Yesterday we got our junior theme assignment and it instantly overwhelmed me. I had no ideas as to what I was going to write about and I was completely speechless at the thought of writing this paper. After talking to a few people I came up with some ideas but I thought it'd be a good idea to post these ideas on the blog and see if you guys have any ideas. My first thought was something about eating disorders, perfection, and birth control, and mental illness. I really like the idea of doing something about eating disorders. Like, Why is American Society fixated with being skinny? Anyone have any thoughts?? Any help is appreciated!

Little Does Not Mean Less Than

I recently heard a very inspiring story of an athlete.  This is a girl who never thought she would ever be able to play basketball.  Her own sister was cut from many teams because she was too short, even though she was about 5'9" tall.  This girl, whose name I am choosing not to mention, was about 5'4" tall, half blind, partially deaf, and with one leg shorter than another, never believed that she would be able to play basketball competitively.  So, when a New York college called her and offered her a full-scholarship to play basketball, she was shocked and believed it was too good to be true.  She was wrong.  And now, almost a year later she is one of the best players that the team has and is loving every minute of it.  This story was meant to inspire everyone, and it did that to me.  I have to think that if I was put in this position, I would have quit or given up all hope.  But this girl, did not do that, she pushed through it all and is enjoying playing basketball with those girls who are almost a foot taller than she is.  I can not help to think that we are teaching kids to give up in a way.  If every sport, at some point is cut by height, no matter what the skill level of the players is, it is showing kids that height matters.  And in the world today, size does matter.  If you are too skinny, or too fat, too tall or too short people are always judging you and sometimes decide things based off the fact that you are built differently than the AVERAGE person who does that sport is.  I was just so inspired by this story that I thought of the way that our athletics are fielded and can not help but think that maybe, we need to give some of the irregularly sized for their sport athletes, a chance.  What do you think?

TIGHTER GUN CONTROL LAWS MUST COME!!

Over the weekend, another CPS student was innocently killed while riding home from a high school basketball game.  Gregory Robinson was on his way home with another relative and small children when he was shot and killed.  He is the 28th Chicago Public School student killed by gunfire this year alone!  This may be by cross-fire, they may not be the intended targets or they may be;  it could be related to gangs or drugs or they could just be innocent children who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Whatever the case may be, they were killed by GUNS!  Many times the guns are not legally obtained and they are not registered!  After having so many students lives claimed by gun fire I think that it is time for there to be tighter gun control laws.  While I also believe that criminals will be criminals and may always find a way to obtain a gun or kill someone, I still believe that the best way to reduce the number of casualties from gunfire is to have tighter gun control laws!  To have mandatory background checks on all people buying guns, make it impossible for them to obtain more than one gun at a time, and that if there is any criminal report of violence or any criminal past that they are unable to obtain the gun.  What do you think?  Should their be tighter gun control laws?

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE WORLD?!?!

Yesterday, a man in Alabama shot and killed 10 people before killing himself;  in Germany, a gunman shot and killed 15 people, teachers and students from a college, before killing himself.  What do these two cases have in common?  Both involve a white male and the killing of what appears to be unrelated victims;  the gunman, supposedly, had no specific people that they wanted to kill.  I have to wonder if this increase in violence and shooing deaths has anything to do with the horrible economic conditions?  My mom suggested that many of the acts of violence that are occurring has something to do with how horribly the economy is going.  More people, it seems to me, have been killed by gunfire and more robberies have occurred.  People would rather kill their families or other people and then themselves than ask for help?  or possibly even go to jail.  This is ridiculous!  Many people believe that the actions being seen now are just like some of the actions seen during the Great Depression.  The Depression was more limited to the men committing suicide and leaving behind their families but at the same time it is not quite as bad.  However, if the economy continues this way, I believe that possibly we could see even more crime occurring and even more murder-suicides or just murders.  What do you think?

What does it mean to be "un-American"?

Last night I was watching an episode of the ABC hit show Boston Legal, when a character named Denny Crane, said, "You're either for the war or you are unamerican."  or something to that effect.  This reminded me of the Crucible and our discussion of the War in Iraq.  In the Crucible, there is a quote that says, "you are either with this court or against this court."  I have to say that I disagree with this thought because I do not believe that you are either for the war (in Iraq) or you are "unamerican".  What exactly does it mean to be "un-American"?  I absolutely support our troops, but I don't know that I support the war that is going on currently.  I want our troops to keep our country safe and I want them to protect us, but I do not believe that we should call people "un-Americna" for saying that our troops should come home or that we are not for the war that is going on.  Today, President Obama announced his time table for withdrawing troops from Iraq; this time table would be removing troops with all of them being out of Iraq by August 2010.  I think that it is interesting that President Obama has made a decision for how to handle the war in Iraq while only having been in office for a little over a month.  I would like to return to my original question however, What exactly does it mean to be "un-American"?

RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY FROM THE...illness?

I am pretty sure that everyone has been affected by the illness being passed around NT in some way or another.  And it sucks!  Over the past few weeks, NT has been experiencing an extreme case of a cold/flu bug that has been traveling from person to person and causing mass absences.  This illness is pretty much a cold with extreme symptoms such as a very sore throat, slight fever, and of course the stuffy/runny nose.  It seems as though throughout the 3 years I have been at NT, there has been some sort of epidemic every year.  Freshman year there was the whooping cough outbreak, sophomore year there was the norovirus and now this year the extreme cold.  I know that I have been affected by the illness, not once, not twice, but now almost 3 times!  This is ridiculous. I know when I went to the nurse they told me that it was an "upper respiratory viral infection" (in regular terms: a bad cold).  I also found out recently that between 100 and 200 people were sent home a few days last week to add to the already 300 people sick at home!! Ridiculous??  I think that it may be just slightly ridiculous that so many people are sick or have been sick over the past month or so.  What should be done about this?  I think that we should close the school for a day and have the school completely disinfected.  I think that it would be very beneficial to combat this illness.  There was a Chicago school that closed its doors this week for a day in order to disinfect the school because they had a flu virus going around.  Why don't we follow in their footsteps?  I think that if this cold or whatever it is doesn't go away soon, we may need to.  What should we do?  Should we disinfect the entire school?  Or is this just an exaggeration?

Blagojevich removed!! Blagojevich removed!!

Today, Thursday, January 29, 2009, Governor Rod. R. Blagojevich was removed from office around 4:45.  This should not come as a surprise to anyone considering if the Illinois HOR wasn't going to remove him from office they would not have passed the vote.  Another thing to add, he is unable to run for any other public office in the state of Illinois.  The vote was 59-0 for both of these things; I find it to be rather sad that no one believed in the governor or voted for him to remain in office.  That shows the intent of the senate to convict the, now former, governor.  This was a very historic conviction due to the fact that no other Illinois governor has been impeached and removed from office.  He was the "FIRST EVER" to quote Mr. O'Connor to be removed from the office of Governor.  Blagojevich never attended the trial nor did he put up a defense against the charges.  He merely showed up today to give a "pity speech" as I put it to, in a way, plead his case.  I think that this is a great day and the turn of a new era in the Illinois government.  The one thing, I believe, is crucial to turn this government around is that we need to believe that the new governor, Pat Quinn, can change the government and earn our trust.  We also need to give him time; do not expect for him to be able to change the government in a day.  The same trust that we are putting in President Obama, we must give to the new governor.  The phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day" certainly applies here.  Any opinions?

Being a Part of History

Tomorrow, January 20th, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into office as the 44th president of the United States of America and the first African-American president.  I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a part of history, by be able to attend a reception held at a law firm in along the Parade route.  I am extremely excited to be a part of history and I know that there are many people who are extremely jealous of my opportunity.  I am going to be a part of history.  That absolutely astounds me!!  Everyone that I have talked to has told me to take lots of pictures but I recently read about all the security restrictions and I am shocked by it all.  The restrictions include no bag larger than 8"x6", only certain size camera's are allowed, and the list goes on and on.  I am thinking that the history in the making will not only include swearing in the first African-American president, but probably the most people attending the inauguration, and possibly the most security restrictions too.  I will write more about history later, after it happens.

"I'm at the starting line of the rest of my life, as ready as I've ever been."

So seeing as how we are about to enter our second semester of junior year, I felt it was necessary to talk about how close we are to being on our own.  On Friday I got my PSAT results, along with a letter about how the post high school counseling office is going to function.  I read the letter and I was shocked to learn that we are honestly so close to going to college.  I mean, I know that we are juniors and what not and that it is just around the corner, but hearing about talking to your Post High School Counselor is going to start really soon, scared me!  I couldn't help but ask myself, where did the good old days of nap time and book reports go?  When did I trade those late night talking session for late night cramming sessions?  We are going into our second semester of junior year in a little bit more than a week and that means that we are closer than ever to being seniors and having to make those huge decisions about college.  At least for me, I feel extremely anxious and nervous about the entire process.  I don't know if it is just me feeling that way or if others are too but I feel like it sort of snuck up on us.  To think about the fact that in a little over a year, we will be about a semester away from GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL is very intimidating.  So I found myself listening to this song called, "Ready, Set, Don't go" by Billy Ray Cyrus.  A lyric caught my eye, "I'm at the starting line of the rest of my life, as ready as I've ever been."  To me, that line sums up completely where we are in our lives.  We must now begin making all these decisions and thinking about the rest of our lives.  And I do feel that I am as ready as I have ever been to make those decisions, just because of the amazing progress in school that I have made and with everything.  I am nervous but I am excited too!  Because I believe, that even though it is very close to happening, we are ready to begin the rest of our lives.  And I know that if I fall and need help, my parents will be there for me.  Anyone else feeling the anxiety of graduation and what not?

Mr. Burris goes to Washington

After talking about "Tokenism" on dramas on TV during class, I became more critical of tokenism in real life.  My parents brought up tokenism in the Senate, mostly surrounding the appointment of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama's senate seat.  Today was the day that all the newly elected officials in the Senate were set to be sworn in.  Roland Burris was expected to be one of them; he was not sworn in because Jesse White, the secretary of state in Illinois, has not signed off on his appointment.  At least that is the reason that the Senate is claiming for not swearing him in.  But my dad asked if the Senate should swear him in just because he is african american?  I do not believe that they should make their decision based off his race and whether or not he is a minority.  Blagojevich, however, did make Burris a token in the Senate.  He replaced an african american with another african american just because of the race.  He made the decision based off the fact that Burris was african american and no based off the fact that he may have been qualified.  That is my honest opinion of what he did and why he did it.  I do not disagree that he should appoint someone, but the fact that one of the reasons he chose Burris is because he is african american just disgusts me.  I would have thought that in the government, there was not tokenism, or at least hoped but I am wrong.  And I can't believe that it is not only in TV show, but it is also in the US government.  What do you think?  Do you think that Blagojevich did this to make Burris a token?  Do you think that he did it because Burris is African American?

NEW SENATOR APPOINTED!!

On December 30, 2008, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich nominated Roland Burris to replace President Elect Barack Obama in the US senate.  This came after many pleas from the Illinois senate for the governor to not appoint a replacement right now due to all the scandal surrounding him.  The governor did not listen, which I believe is a complete mistake.  I think that he is not in any position to appoint someone to a seat that he has been accused of trying to sell.  I do not disagree with his choice, I merely think that it wasn't the best time for him to appoint someone.  On the other hand, I believe that he wanted for someone to fill the seat and to prove that he is capable of doing something right.  I am still not in agreement with his appointing someone to the seat at this point in time.  The senate is attempting to find some way for Burris to not be appointed to the seat that has been vacated by the president elect, however it appears that those ideas are slim.  There is one thing that may help to prevent his appointment, the fact that the Secretary of State must sign off on the appointment and currently Jesse White, the Illinois Secretary of State, has not done that.  That doesn't really mean anything right now, but it could some day.  What do you think of the appointment?