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?