The Picture That Makes You Really Think

On American Studies Day, i went to see Mr. Maury talk about his photography. Mr. Maury talked about how he has traveled around the world to take pictures because that is what he loves to do and he wanted to get some good pictures. He showed some pictures of September 11th and how when he got the call that there was an attack, he drove all the way up to New York so that he could take the pictures. Some of the pictures that he showed us, were similar to other pictures that i have seen in magazines and articles. But when he started going into the pictures that he took in Africa, it really made me look at the screen and think. He took pictures of the starving children in Africa and the little boys with the big bellies. We saw this one picture of a four year old in Africa who had the face of a 75 year old man and his ribs were poking out. This really made me sad and realize how fortunate we are to live in the North Shore. We are really sheltered here in the North Shore and we don't see or experience many things that are going on in the world right now like the hunger and lack of clean water in Africa. Then when he started to show us pictures from South Africa, my eyes began to tear up and my stomach dropped. Although i wasn't there to see what was going on in the pictures, the pictures told their own sad stories. My friend is from South Africa and he said that he has seen the little boys with the big bellies who are starving and bloated with water. I don't know what i would do if i saw them every day on the streets starving. We live in such a sheltered and nice community where we are fortunate for many things. 

The one picture that probably stuck in my mind was the picture of the black people in South Africa burning a black immigrant on the ground. This immigrant was on the ground on his hands and knees in flames. This made my stomach sink and made me feel sick to my stomach. It was just a horrible picture to look at and it was amazing to think that people would actually do that to other people. Although it was a picture that i did not want to see, it showed me that things are happening around the world and we should be aware of them.

Did anyone else see this presentation?

What picture stood out most to you and why did it stand out the most?

D.A.R.E FLAG

Drug Abuse Resistance Education

My camera seems to not be loading my pictures onto my computer? So i have to picture to put up right now, but as soon as i get it working, i will load my pic up here. 

We have been talking about the American Flag in class for the past few days and how it can be posted on many different things. My picture is one of a shirt that i received in 4th grade from the D.A.R.E program, which is the program for anti-drugs. They gave us shirts that had a big American flag on the front of it and the letters D.A.R.E below it. I thought that this was an original idea to show the American flag because i received it from an anti-drug program. I was looking around my house for things that i could take pictures and i actually saw the American Flag in more places then i would have expected. It was kind of cool to look around and notice how many flags we have on objects or even the flag itself. I never really have noticed them before, but now that i am looking, there are a lot in our house. 

The American Flag can be anywhere and everywhere. I don't think that a lot of people notice them all too often because they are used to just seeing them everywhere so they don't really notice them when they see it in their house. (That was the case for me) 

Have you seen a lot more flags around now that you have you mind on them?

Alright. Onto my 5th blog post for junior theme! VERY SHORT!

QUICK UPDATE!

Well, i think i feel a little bit more relieved now. I have been working on my interview questions for a coach at LSU and i have come up with some good ones. Today in the library Ms. Eich helped me edit my questions and they are sounding better already! i am just nervous for the interview. I am not good on the phone and i am going to be embarrassed when i am asking him questions about my topic. The guy that i chose seems to be a really nice guy and he seems like he will help me a lot.
I wrote an intro and got it edited by Mr. O'Connor and I think it is sounding ok. I will post it soon, i just want to do the corrections that Mr. O'Connor told me to do. then i will post it and please comment and give me some advice. I'm feeling a bit more confident now and i think i can write more of the paper this weekend.

Number 4 For Junior Theme
Eating Disorders and Athletes

I have found a lot of information lately from sources online and from many good books that i have gotten from the library, but i dont know where to put all of this information in my paper. I tried to come up with a start to my paper over the weekend, but it didnt work for me. My thesis is not fully put together and i need help on trying to put everything i want in the statement and that is one of my problems. I have ideas on the main ideas i want to say in each body paragraph, but i have no idea how i want to start them. Im feeling a bit lost is what i guess im trying to say. I have some good information, i just dont know how to get put it into my essay?

Here is my start to my thesis and what i want to say in my essay...

Eating disorders are prominent in the sport of gymnastics because...
1. pressure from coaches
2. stress of competition
3. gymnastics has grown in the media/society
4. judges and the skimpy clothing
5. elite gymnasts

These are the main ideas that i want to talk about in my essay, i just dont know how to make it into a thesis or part of my introductions because i dont just want to list them out.

Anyone have any suggestions for me?

Alright,

I am a bit stuck...

I really don't even know where to start for my introduction. I have a lot of good information and i am still looking for more, but i just don't know how to start my first paragraph. I don't know what information to use in it, and i don't have a grabber either. I just feel a bit stuck. I need to find more information on y topic and that is what i am doing, but i don't know what information i need to use in my introduction. 

I have no idea where to start....

Does anyone have any ideas on where to start?

Has anyone else written theirs and can help me start mine?

Anorexia~Junior Theme

Ok well i have been having a bit of a problem. I have been working on my junior theme in school and at home and i have gotten a bit of information that will help me write the paper, but i am worried that i am not going to get it done in time. I have heard from my other friends that they have to get a certain thing of notes in time, and we don't really have that and that is what is making me nervous. It may be because we just started junior theme and stuff, but it is making me nervous. 

I have printed out a few articles and have gotten some good notes on a few things, but i am nervous that i am not going to have enough notes or not finish in time. I don't really know, i just am a bit confused and i don't know when i am supposed to have all my notes or like my book read and stuff. 

I also am not sure if my topic is the best topic, but it is one that interests me and i like it, i am just not sure if i can find enough information on it. I am doing anorexia and how it is different in the upper-class people and the lower-class people. But i also want to add in a paragraph about how sports can affect it and how environment can also effect it, i just cant find very good evidence for any of these. I am going to read the book Price of Privilege and i think that will give me some good info on upper-class teens. I need help...

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Is anyone feeling the same way?

Does anyone have an better ideas for me to do with anorexia?

Junior Theme?!?

When i heard that we were starting junior theme on Monday, my heart started to beat faster and faster. I had heard rumors about junior theme from all my friends and siblings that it was a horrible thing and you had to do a lot of work for it. So i was nervous when we were told that we were starting it. But when i heard that it had to be a 4 to 6 page essay and on a topic that you want, i was pretty excited. I told my dad about this and he said that it would be fun for me because my brother, who is now a freshman in college, had to do his junior theme on a topic he didnt want to and he did nto like it.

So i started out with a few ideas and i narrowed it down to two. I wanted to do something on OCD or something on eating disorders. Then when i thought about it, i couldnt really do the topic on OCD because i would have a hard time relating that back to something in history. So i decided to go with the eating disorder topic. I went to see my teacher and he said that i could research eating disorders because i could look at the rates in the upper classes and the lower classes. I thought that this was a good idea and i decided to go with this.

So i was thinking about a "why" question to come up for this topic and i came up with,

Why are the rates for eating disorders different between the upper class and the lower class?

I think that this is a good question, but i am not sure if it is exactly what they are looking for. I looked at the book, The Price of Privilege in the library and i think that it would be a good book to choose because it is a story about upper classman teenagers who struggle with eating disorders.

I think this is a good start, and i am excited to do some research now.

Do you think that my "why"question can improve?

Do you have any other suggestions for books that i could read?

Slumdog Millionaire

I am sure that a lot of you have seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire and thought that it was a great movie. Well i saw it last weekend and i thought that it was an amazing movie and the filming was great. When i was watching it, some of the scenes were a bit disturbing because we see them do things to children in India that we do not see or hear about here in America. When i asked other people how they liked the movie, they said that it was really good and it showed America how bad things can be in the slums of India. 

The Rolling Stone magazine gave the movie a great review and described it as "a family film of shocking brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse, a fantasy of wealth fuels by crashing poverty." I though that these words were very interesting and actually captured the movie pretty well. I liked the way that the author of this article compared positive words to negative words to describe the movie. This movie gave some people positive feelings and some people negative feelings and the way that the author of the article used both positive words and negative words to describe the movie, really shows how others can view the movie differently.

Rolling Stones Article

Out of a 100 point scale where 100 means the best movie, there were 10 critics that gave Slumdog Millionaire a perfect score saying that the movie was "a globalized masterpiece, a breathless film, and exciting film, and heartbreaking at some parts also. 

Critic's Review

What did you think of the movie?

Do you think it was right to show what they do to children in India?

Were you satisfied on the impact the movie left you with?

Would you recommend it to other people to see?

Anybody Remember Timothy Treadwell?

I was watching Headline Attacks on Animal Planet and Timothy Treadwell appeared on the screen and i was in the room with my mom and told her that i watched a movie about him. I remember watching the movie with him in it and thinking that he was crazy to be living in the wild with bears. But then, they brought up more bear attacks and there were so many people that they said died because of bear attacks. I would think that anyone who loved bears would like to be around them and learn how they live and stuff like Timothy, but wouldn't people see that he died at the end of the movie and maybe be turned off of their passion? I would think so, but i guess not because there were so many other people who were around bears and unfortunately died. But what does this say about a person? It says that they are determined people who do not want to stop doing what they love and put their minds to. This reminds me of someone and that someone is Huckleberry Finn. Huck is someone who puts his mind to something and wants to stick with it. He goes through many different journeys and plans just to get Jim free because that is what he put his mind to. Huck kind of relates to Timothy Treadwell because they are both determined people who will go through anything to get to their final result. 

Do you think that Timothy and Huck relate to each other?

Can you think of anyone else that can relate to Huck?

A Pill That Can Erase a Bad Memory? 

NO WAY?

Scientists said that they may have discovered a pill that could erase someone's bad memories that they have had in the past? Could this be possible? They said that they could take an existing blood-pressure pill and it can be used to weaken or erase bad memories in people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Colleagues from the University of Amsterdam decided to show a picture of spiders with mild shock to some test subjects that would create a bad or scary memory. Then they gave half the people one type of drug, and half the people another type of drug. One group that was given the drug Propranolol, had a decreased fear response to the spider pictures after 24 hours and the fear response did not return. So the colleagues suggested that the fear was all gone.

There was not much else on the idea of these memory-erasing pills, but this is what i have discovered so far. But here are some questions to think about.

By erasing someone's bad memories, does it make the person less human?

Should everyone have to have bad memories?

By erasing these memories, is t morally right?

Would you want your bad memories to be erased?

Plane After Plane After Plane

What is happening with all of these plane accidents? Last week i wrote a blog on the plane crash that happened in Buffalo, New York, and now when i was looking at the news online, there was not another crash, but 50 people were injured on a plane now. On a Northwest Airlines flight from the Philippines to Tokyo, there was a lot of turbulence in the plane from the weather. Four passengers were actually hospitalized for their injuries, and one person had a bad neck injury. 46 other passengers including people from the crew were lightly injured from the turbulence. The bad turbulence began to happen when they were about 30 minutes from the airport and descending down. The people that were in their seats without a belt on were sent upwards to the ceiling from the turbulence. When the plane landed safely on the ground in Tokyo, there were ambulances there to help them and one person left on a stretcher and another left in a wheelchair and a few other people were wheeled on gurneys when they entered the hospital.
Why are all of these planes having problems with their passengers? There have been many plane problems and it worries me a little because i am going on vacation soon on a plane.
Of course the pilots are being careful when they are flying, but i feel like a lot of the pilots or the people in charge of the planes are not taking the right precautions before they take off from the ground.

What do you think poeple are going to do when they here there was anther problem with a plane? Do you think that the flight attendents are going to want to quit their jobs? Are airline businesses going to lose money from all of this? And do you think that there should be a better job on checking weather and the status of the plane before taking off?

Click LINK to see the article.

Through the Roof

What is going on? There have been two plane crashes that i have heard of lately and it is a little bit scary. It kind of makes me a bit scared to travel because of these plane crashes. We all know about the one that happened in the Hudson River in New York, but luckily everyone was safe. The new crash that recently happened was in a suburb of Buffalo, New York and crashed into a house on February 12th. There were only 49 people on the plane and all 49 of them happened to pass away with this tragic event. The news said that this was the nation's first deadly continental plane crash in 2 and a half years! How could this happen?

We know that the plane that landed in the Hudson River had birds that got stuck in the propeller, but this didn't happen this time, but there was still a crash, and this was also a Continental Commuter Plane. Ice buildup on the wings of the plane have caused horrible crashed before. Some other pilots that were not on that plane said that they were having trouble because they were seeing that ice was building up on the wings of the plane. No one knows exactly why the plane crash, but they are guessing that is has to do with the ice build up on the wings. One person who was in the house was unfortunately killed. The people who lived in the houses neat by got out safely with a few minor injuries.

What i found ironic when i was reading this article, was that one of the woman on the plane who died, her husband was killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Isn't that sad and ironic?

This is crazy and i am sure that many people are scared to fly again after all of these crashes. Do you think that the plane company who owns the plane that crashed is going to lose a lot of money and passengers because of this deadly accident?

Article: Check this out.

Correct vs. Incorrect

BLACK VS. AFRICAN AMERICAN

Today in class we were talking about Race and where it comes from and what the definition is for it. Everyone wrote down their own definition on a sheet of paper and it was very interesting to see how many people thought Race had to do with so many things. When i think about Race, i think about skin color and where the people originally come from. But as we had a discussion in class, other people said that Race had to do with a person's heritage, ethnicity, cultural identity, and physical features. Everyone is brought up in a different way and is taught about Race differently. When i was young and innocent, i just assumed people were either black or white. But now as i have matured and grown up, there are a lot of different components to Race other than just being black or white.

But the thing that comes to my mind when i talk about Race is the correct way to describe a person from Africa. Do you call them Black or African American. Some people in the class were calling them black, while others were calling them African American. I have always said black but i never want to offend anyone. So i looked it up on the Internet to see which was the correct name to call them. Some of the sites said that the blacks don't really care what they are called, but some of them, do prefer to be called black. ~SITE~ So which word do i use? Is it up to me to decide because blacks don't necessarily prefer a certain word? What do you think?

How's Your News?

Today i was watching a show on MTV called "How's Your News?" and it is a new show about a group of people in their 20's who have disabilities and are meeting famous people and interviewing them. When i first turned this on, i was wondering if the media put this show on to make fun of the people, or to show the world that even if you have a disability, you can do whatever you put your mind to. I think that it is a good show  for the public to watch because if someone with a disability is watching, then they could know that whatever they want to do, if they put their mind to it, then can do it and succeed. But some of the people that the people who have disabilities interviews made fun of them on the streets of California. I don't think that the show should have aired that part because it's making fun of the people on the show. I think they should cut out the interviews where the people make fun of them and keep the good interviews with the bands and the celebrities. 

Do you think this is just another show to get MTV more money and more viewers? Or Do you think that this show has purpose? Do you think that its just another show for people to watch and make fun of?

Looking Towards Our New Future

How long will it take for the economy to go back up again? This is one of the questions that i think about everday. I was talking to my dad the other day and we were talking about the economy. (Something that we really dont talk about often.) And i asked him how it was doing because i dont really listen to the news or anything. And he said that it was not doing well. He said that in the past, people said that if like the stocks went down like 20% it would be a bad thing and bad for people all around. But my dad said that the stocks have gone down about 40 to 50% and i was shocked. That was a big number and i didnt know what to think. Obama is not the president of the United States and he is going to hopefully birng us out of this bad economy, but who knows how long it will take?

Everyone here living in the North Shore is fortunate to have enough money to stay where they are and not have to move. But what about some of the other people in the world who are not as fortunate as we are? Are these people becoming homeless? This is something that we all have to think about. Even though some of us might be worrying about the economy, there are some poeple that might be forced to move out of their house.

Hopefully the economy will be better soon, but who knows when that will be? I know that everyone is worried right now and doesnt know when it will be better, but is there anything anyone else can do about it in the meantime?

Wasting Water

Have you ever thought about water becoming a scarce resource? I sure have not. I have always thought that water is something that we have plenty of and that there is no thought to it becoming a scarce resource. For the past few years i have been better about my water and the way i use it because my mom said that it was bad to waste water. So when i would brush my teeth, i turnethe water off, i try to take shorter showers, and if i don't finish a water bottle, i use the rest to give to my dog instead of pouring it down the drain. 

Recently, my dad has decided to go totally green and not order any water bottles at all. This has some part to do with the water wasting, and also some part to do with the world and keeping it clean. My dad used to buy water bottles and that would be the only kind of water that we drank, but think about all of those plastic/glass bottles going into the land fill? My dad decided that we were only going to drink tap water. Although some people may think tap water tastes different, it is really the same thing and it helps keep our environment clean. 

Also, when i have been at school, i see people throwing away their water bottle when it was half full! Can you believe this! That is a total waste of water! Someone could use that water to put in their animal's water bowl, or put in a plant so that it can grow, but teenagers don't think of these things so they throw out the bottle whether its empty or not. This needs to definitely change!

How much water o you waste?

Number 44!

The inauguration of the 44th president of the United States happened on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009. This was a very big day in history because it the was first time ever to have a biracial president. On this day many people were excited and happy, but also many other people we very nervous for what was going to happen next.


Unfortunately, we had to be in school this day, but the school made the auditorium and the scrounge a place for people to go so that they could watch the inauguration. This day was one of the biggest days in history and Obama, our president now, had to make a very important speech. Luckily i was able to go to the auditorium during 3rd period because i had that period free. I got to see some of the old presidents walk in, and Obama and his family walk in also. Then i was able to watch a priest from California say a prayer. But the bell rang and it was time for me to go to math class. It was too bad that our math class didn't go to the auditorium to watch Obama's speech because it was a very important speech for him and a big turning point in our history and i wasn't able to watch it because i had to be in class.


Do you think that this was unfair to the people that had to be in class but wanted to see the inauguration of Obama, the first biracial president of the United States? I believe that this was unfair that not all of is could see his speech because we had to be in class. We have fit many people into the auditorium before and i think that we could have put some people in there and set up chairs and stuff in the scrounge so classes could go there too. I think that everyone during 4th period should have been able to see Obama's huge speech to the world. I was sad that i missed it and i wish i could have watched it live. What do you think about how some classes did not go to watch Obama's speech? Do you think that it was unfair if the teachers kept them in the classroom?

Need a Doc Quick?

Have you ever needed to go to the doctor, but never made an appointment? There's a solution now. Walgreens has made it easier to get in to see a doctor. They have put an office in and when you need to see the doctor because you are sick, or because u need a vaccination, they made it possible for you to do so.
For the past week i have been sick and we didn't know what i was sick with. So we went into Walgreens and signed in on their computer and we waited about 10 minutes until the doctor is ready. There is one doctor and one office and you sign your name in and wait your turn. Then you go in the office and the doctor asks you questions and evaluated me to see what was wrong. This was so convenient because we didn't have an appointment at my other doctor so coming here was just as good, and let me say that they seemed better than my normal doctor. This surprised me! I was reading what else they did at this doctors place and they can give you vaccinations, and even a check up if you need one for a good price.
I think that this was a great way to reach out to people that need to see a doctor because they are sick, and they cant get into their own doctor. So Walgreens has made it possible for you to get help right when you need it. The other thing is that the doctor that checks you out can also prescribe you medicine. So when i needed medicine because i was sick, she wrote me a prescription and we picked it up right outside at the pharmacy.
Have you ever seen one of these care clinics at a Walgreens? And do you think that it is a good idea to have?

Lightning Strike

Last night was a scary night for me and my family. We didn't hear any rain or anything until we heard a huge bang and a crash!!!!! We didn't know what it was, but suddenly our alarm went off randomly and all of the power shut off and i woke up. My mom came into my room and i asked her what happened and she didn't know. So the police came because out alarm went off and they said that the lightning hit our house!!! How scary is that?! i was pretty scared. The police looked at the top of our house and saw that we had some kind of lightning rod at the top and that all the electricity probably went to the ground, but luckily no one was standing on the ground when it happened. Then we started to smell something like gas. So we called the fire department and they came over and checked out the house and said that the generator was just letting off exhaust and that was the smell. then we all went back to bed and my little brother never even woke up. Then today we turned on the outside lights and they were making a weird noise and they started to spark. This was scary so my mom said don't put on the lights outside. She said she was going to call the electrician in the morning and they could fix it. 

Don't you think that they should have some kind of emergency electrician on duty somewhere to come when something like this happens? Because if we kept the lights on, they could maybe start a fire or something. I think that there should be an emergency electrician place so they could come and fix it. What do you think? Would you be scared if this happened to you?