Freshman Year Reflection .

Before high school I was a little up tight. I was like the girl who was called a " goodie goodie two shoes." I was responsible, well-mannered, smart, and caring. I was only concerned about my education and everything fell into place after that. I was very family oriented so I spent a lot of time with my family and a couple friends as well. I don't mean to sound cocky but you could really say I was perfect and my life was as well. Now I would describe myself as fun, adventurous, kind, selfish, and easy going. In high school I think I loosened up a little bit more. I think in high school I became a little more self-absorbed. In high school I developed a mentality that I was the only person that I had in this world and that I have to look out for myself and no one else. For example before when my one of my friends or family needed help or assistance with something I would help them. But I stopped that because in the end they wouldn't do the same for me. And I guess you could say it was no more Mr. Nice girl. In high school I went through a dramatic change. My parents got a divorce and now I live with my father. The reason they are no longer together is because my mother cheated on my father. This change was very hurtful towards me. It made me look at life differently. This affected me in a bad way. I hated the fact that the families were split up mainly because I hate change! I felt as though my mother was being extremely selfish. My mother showed me a side of her that I'd never seen before. The whole thing didn’t make any sense to me. A two-parent household was all I knew of. I grew up in a family of 5 so that was just what I was used to. Now I live in an apartment with me and my father who is actually currently engaged to another woman. I mean can you believe divorced and marrying again all in 1 year! The whole situation is confusing. Oh and don't forget about parent and family members making you choose sides. It was all a horrible nightmare. This situation made me careless. I figured if everybody’s going to do what they want to do then why can't I? I began to only care about myself and I became heartless. 

A Shooting kills a Son and Leaves A Father Wounded

The article I am writing about is entitled "Shooting leaves son dead, father wounded in NE Philadelphia." The article I am writing about can be found on http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120521_Shooting_leaves_son_dead__father_wounded_in_NE_Philadelphia.html. The police are investigating a shooting that left a son dead and the father wounded. A argument is said to be the reason of the killings. The son was 26 years old and the father was 50 years old.  The killing happened on 1200 block of Adam street. The shooting took place right in front of the son's house. The older man was shot once in his left arm. And the son was shot three times. Both the father and the son were taken to Temple University Hospital. The son Edwin Pagan died at 11:30 p.m. The father was an off duty corrections officer, and his wounds were more minor than the sons and he was treated and let out of the hospital. The investigators said the father was drunk when they came. Witnesses said they saw the father shooting in the air with a gun, but unfortunately the witnesses didn't see or know who shot the two men. The police really couldn't put all their focus and attention on the case because they are still in the middle of solving other homicides. I think this is a very sad and unfortunate thing that happened to these men. Even though I don't know what Edwin did to get shot and I don't know what the argument was about I still feel like it didn't have to reach this point. I think the story is very bland. It doesn't have any detail about what really happened. I mean I think the story is missing a lot of information. I hope when the detectives investigate the case they can find out more facts about what happened the day of the shooting and prior to that.

Getting Angry Can Be A Good Thing :  )

The article "Getting Angry Can Be a Good Thing" was about a woman who used her anger in a positive way. She actually used her anger as an advantage and she didn't let it be a disadvantage to her. Cecilia Munzo got offended when a close friend to her said if the U.S. would go into war with Latin America her family would be put in an internment camp. She was upset and outraged at this statement. She was born in America but her parents were not they chose to live in America. Her parents are immigrants but she is not. What made Cecilia so upset was the fact that she and her family wanted to be treated equally like they were Americans. And she felt as though she wasn't the only one going through this. So she decided to do something about this. Cecilia is Vice President of the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza. She worked to promote immigration rights to help poverty and discrimination of Hispanic Americans according to the article. I do think in this case that her anger worker in her favor. I feel as though her anger motivated her to help herself and her fellow Hispanics. Even though this anger kept her determined it also discouraged her. Cecilia felt that what she did was great but she couldn't help but think about the people she didn't get a chance to help. Cecilia felt like her work was never done that they were still people who needed her. And for all her great succuess she couldn't help but think about short comings. In my opinion I think she should be very proud of her work. You are only one person and you can only do so much. My advice to her when she gets discouraged is to be thankful for the people that you did help and for that she should rest well at night.

Broadcasting A World Of Whiteness : )

This article Broadcasting a World of Whiteness is about a HBO television show called "girls" that has an all-white cast. The show has no diversity and that's what the article is concerned about. The fact that the show has all white people and they tend to say racy comments. A comment a girl made on the show was "I want to have children with many different men of different races". Then the discussion arose that not enough televisions shows have all races and why is that? Some shows have all black cast and some have all white and some shows are diverse. But the question is that why aren't all shows diverse. I really do agree with this because sometimes when you see a show you only see one color. But I really don't have a problem with watching a show that I like no matter the cast or not. The reason why there is no diversity on network television (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX ) is because that's not cable. They try to reach their audience which is like old people and people in their 40's and on. Mostly all black people have cable. I do agree that television isn't diverse enough. Like I can turn on the TV and see a show with one race. But honestly I like that because I think people of the same race interact the best with each other and to me that makes a good show. I think a producer should pick their cast because it is there show. And they have to pick a cast that they think will get viewers. Even though I think they should pick a cast that is good but they should also have how many viewers the show might get in mind. But this topic really isn't something that affects me I just watch what I like.

Gun Fashion : )

There is new fashion out now and it is has something to do with guns! Many labels and stores are making clothes that are gun friendly. When I say gun friendly I mean they are making clothes that allow you to put weapons in them. Stores are making jackets that allow you to put guns, knifes, and flashlights in them and jeans that let you put gins in them as well as shirts. Many people didn't like how they looked when they put guns in their clothing. So designers decided to make people who carry guns look stylish while doing it. Many people who carry weapons say the clothes are convenient and helpful. Since many states are letting people carry weapons with a licensed and permits there are a lot of people that carry weapons. So making clothes for weapons is a great way and idea to make money. The clothes also make it easier for you to grab your weapon out. This is a great perk to carrying guns in stylish clothing. Another plus to the clothes is that you cannot even tell when someone is carrying a weapon. Like if you see someone walking down the street in regular clothing you can't even tell if there strapped or not. I think this is a good idea and way of making money from the millions of people that carry weapons. I think this clothing manufacturing will continue to grow rapidly. I do think Americans should be allowed to carry guns under circumstances. I think gun laws are too permissive because anybody can carry a gun. But even with the law many teens are carrying many guns and weapons without licensed and to me that's looked over. I don't think that if more people carry guns it would be less crime. We live in a society where a lot of people do not care! So the more violence the better to some people. No one is afraid of anyone and many pedestrians are carrying guns looking for a fight. I guess the lesson is stay strapped in style.

Health Fair : )

Yesterday, April 13, 2012 there was a health fair at Parkway West. The health fair was all day. The seniors came around to classes and presented their senior projects with a speaker. The senior that came to my class was Matisse and his topic was drug abuse. He basically showed how drug abuse affects the world, others, and the person with the addiction. He showed how most teens smoke weed. And that when you smoke weed for woman it is harder to have children and to reproduce. And for men it is harder for you to get erections. More and more people are dying because of drug addictions. And it is making a bid impact on the world. Only because we are losing many people addictions. A speaker came along with a presenter and his name was Lester Mike Goodman and he worked for dhs. He just spoke about the bad affects of drugs even though it was okay at one time it still doesn't make him good. He said that the decisions you make would always affect you no matter what. And that the choices you make now will decide whether you get a job or not. He also made it clear to make our future the best! They also had a fair in the auditorium where they gave out pamphlets on healthy habits in food, sex, and pregnancy. They gave out fruit, condoms, and informative papers. There was a table about stopping abortion, which I totally agree with. And there was a table about fathers and protected sex. The whole fair was for a good reason and it was helpful and informative.

The article I chose to write about is called "Woman charged with faking cancer for wedding." The article can be found on 6abc Action News http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/national_world&id=8615017. The article was released on April 10, 2012. A woman who was getting married pretend to have cancer and she pretended to be dying. All because she wanted to have a upscale and fancy wedding, wedding reception, and honeymoon. Jessica Vega was indicted with grand larceny and scheme to defraud. Jessica was received, given, and accepted thousand of dollars in donated services and goods after claiming in 2010 that she was dying of leukemia according to Action News. The newspaper had a story of vega's wedding in a published newspaper. Jessica Vega had gotten married too Michael O'Connell in the may of 2010 and the newly weds spent there honeymoon in Aruba. And than after four months Michael told the newspaper about Jessica faking her disease. The married couple ended up getting a divorce over the situation. Michael moved to Virginia and then Jessica came later  and they have two children. Jessica had a trial and she pleaded not guilty. She is now being held in the county jail and her bail is set a $ 10,000. Honestly if I was getting married I would never pull a stunt like this. Only because cancer is a serious illness that people struggle with everyday and it has no cure. And to me that is not something that you play around with or joke about having so that you can have a expensive wedding reception and honeymoon. Personally I think that is very low to do. Jessica and her husband was wrong because he knew and she did it! I do think she deserves to be in jail for life.

My topic for my blogger is Trayvon Martin. The article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trayvon_Martin is about a boy named Trayvon Martin who was killed for no reason at all. Trayvon is the most talked about right now in the news. People have had walks to get justice for Trayvon Martin downtown. The police are not arresting Trayvon's killer and the parents are outraged and so are people. Heres his story, Trayvon was walking home from the store he had bought a bag of skittles and a arizona. Well While he was on his way home a man followed him and killed him. Trayvon's shooting took place on February 26, 2012. A 28 year old man names George Zimmeman killed Trayvon and he is latin american and white. Trayvon had been walking to his dads girlfriends house from 7eleven when he was being followed by Zimmerman. Zimmerman called the police before he shot Martin sying he witnessed some suspicious behavior. Soon after that he fatally shot Martin. Zimmerman said he had reacted in self defense. The police did not arrest Zimmerman because they said on March 12 that they did not find evidence to contradict his assertion of self-defense.The circumstances of Martin's death reached national and international news. Many  people, from civil rights leaders to public officials including Reverend Al Sharpton, President Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi have made public comments or released statements about the shooting. People said he ws just on his way home and the man shot Trayvon just because they were racist. I beleive that racism still occurs today and others don't. But that's only because people don't bring racism to a front police try to sweep it under the rug. I truly believe if this was a white boy and a black man who had killed them that the man would have been arrested. Now that can't happen because Zimmerman is in hiding. And if they do try to arrest him they would have to find him first. All this could of been avoided if justice was served when it had to be. 

The article my blog will be about and is called is "For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Of Marriage." The article discuss reasons why women are having children without being married. Some reasons are women have birth control so they are having more sex because they are on the pill. Some people think it is the way they were raised and what they had to look up too. More women work so they don't need a man to support them so they aren't really forced to marry. Back then women were more pressured to marry a man if they were having their child. The government came up with a program called welfare and it gives out food stamps. Women feel that the person they are going to marry will be the love of their live and there soulmate. They look for the person that is just the one for them so some women don't feel like they should marry their baby's daddy. I do agree with the reasons that the liberals and the conservatives have came up with. I think less people are marrying before they have kids because it is something that is a value to them and there morals are different from the ones back then. I think it is a bad thing that women are having kids without being married because to me that is nasty. My parents raised me to believe that the first thing you should do is get married even before sex. This trend is a very bad thing and it isn't a good example for our generation. My parents are currently married at the moment but they are now going through a divorce. I'm glad my parents were married while they were raising me because it helped me to be a better child but more importantly a better person. They taught me values, morals, and respect. And i loved that they did that for me. I would love to get married in the future that is a very important goal for me. I want to raise a beautiful family. I want to be married before I have any children at all. I wanty to wait til after I am married to have children because that is the traditional way. And it is the right way to me.

The article I am writing about is called "Teacher apologizes for calling student a b-word. The article http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8569859 is about a teacher who called a student out of her name. He called her a b. A math teacher named Mr. Lewis who works at Pencader Charter School in New Castle used profanity to show his frustration with a student. There were two videos made by the student. The student that recorded the videos is named Joey St. Pierre and he was suspended for 10 days for recording it. Mr. Lewis says he didn't give his consent to be recorded, but St. Pierre's mother claims her son did nothing wrong. One video was deleted and one was saved. On the second video the teacher didn't seem very apologetic for his actions in front of the class. Lewis said “I don't care. Makes no difference to me. I don't back down and I don't make excuses for my actions." Mr. Lewis said "If Mrs. Lewis or Mrs. Frazier came to me and said 'did I call her a b-----? I'll say yeah. I said she acts like spoiled b---- and she does." The mother was very upset and disturbed with the teacher’s choice of words. She said "That's abuse. You don't curse at a child because you are having a bad day. You got into the educational profession to teach and instruct." The student said she was only asking the teacher for help in math when he snapped on her. But Mr. Lewis sat down with the news and apologized. He claimed that he is not a monster and is far from that! He does not want what happen to effect or determine his 41 years of teaching. I think that the teacher was wrong on many levels. And I think that he needs to be fired immediately. I don't think that his actions should be excused or over looked because he was out of line. A lot of teachers use profanity and there is no consequence. This is a big issue and I think that this should be looked into. I do understand that some students do get out of control and are hard to handle, but what he did was just unacceptable.

New Post : )

The article "Facebook Is Using You" is about social companies and networks using your personal information to there advantage. The main points of Lori Andrews article is that your information is not private no matter where you put it.  The companies use the little things that you may write or search and determine what advertisement to send you. Facebook makes most of it's money from advertisements. Facebook made $3.2 billion dollars in advertisements. Google made 36.2 billion dollars in advertisements in 2011. The advertisements you get are not by coincidence but they actually have been chosen for you! Something's people write on is used against them in the court system. No matter what you put in the search box or on a social network once it's online it's not private anymore. A law called the do not track law. The law will make sure the information you decide to share on the internet is private if that is your wishes. I agree with the law. I think people's private business should remain private. I don't understand why companies and networks are allowed to harass people with advertisements that they don't wish to have. I am learning to be more mindful of what I put on social networks because I don't want to be taken advantage of or people to misunderstand what I write. I wouldn't what the wrong person to see what I wrote. I know that some of the stuff I may write will affect me. Even though people just get on social networks to have fun and to connect with friends. Nonetheless I still enjoy getting on twitter and some other networks : ) 

The article that I am writing about is titled NJ teen, with cancer, asking Taylor Swift to prom. A senior that attends Sterling High School has asked Taylor Swift to prom.The prom is on June 1st which happens to be Kevin McGuire's birthday. Kevin McGuire who is 18 years old is diagnosed with leukemia. He is now being treated at Children's hospital because he had a relapse. Kevin is losing hair and doesn't believe anybody will want to go to school with a bold boy. His big sister Tori asked him "I said what if I got Taylor Swift to go to the prom with you? He reacted in a suprised way. His sister added "His eyes lit up for the first time since he was diagnosed." So Kevin's sister set up a facebook paged  called "Taylor Swift take Kevin McGuire To Prom! And 17,000 people accepted the page, and by the time the story was on Action News it had 50,000. Team Kevin was also a trending topic on twitter on wednesday night. Kevin wants Taylor to go because he says she is "Someone who's confident, someone who will make me have a good time and not feel like a sick kid," Kevin said. Kevin would love for her to attend with him. I think she should go because he is sick and his sister is trying really hard to get Taylor as his date. I think as her fan it would be a really nice thing for her to do : )

The article I read "I'm a criminal and so are you" is about criminals. A woman named Michelle Alexander believes she and everyone else in this world are criminals. She says that ad least once in someone's life they will break the law and that will make them a criminal. This makes people criminals but they don't look at themselves as criminals. The only difference between a criminal behind bars and people living is that the people living have not yet been caught. In the article it says" You're still a criminal, no better than many of those who've been branded felons for life." Michelle feels that people who have been to jail are treated unfairly. Sometimes they can't get a job, food stamps, and sometimes they can't vote in some states. They are just as equal to us. There is no difference between felons and citizens but yet they are still treated wrong once they are free. I do agree with this way of thinking to a certain extent. I think some people deserve to be in jail because they have committed more serious crimes than others. Some people's crimes are more severe than others and they deserve to be put behind bars. But I also feel that people really need to examine the things they do because they are breaking laws everyday. And they are just as wrong as people who are in prison for their crimes. I do think I am a criminal because I have committed one crime in my life. But do I think I need to be punished for that, no. On the other hand I am still a law abiding teenager.

The article Photoshopped or Not? A Tool to Tell is about celebrities who have there pictures photoshopped. These pictures are seen in magazines, buildboards, and the internet. The pictures of these celebrities are not accurate. The pictures are retouched and buffed. The retouching can be removing a pimple, adding or removing weight, a stray hair put in place, removing blemishes or wrinkles, and more. Feminist leaders in France, Britain, and Norway want digitally altered photos to be labeled. So that people will be able to know which photos have been altered. The American Medical Association adopted a policy that " discourage the altering of photographs in a manner that could promote unrealistic expectations of appropiate body image." A student in computer science is coming up with a tool that can basically show you on a scale of 1 to 5 how much the picture has been changed. Photoshopping pictures can cause many eating disorders and anxiety in women. Only beacause they have a mind set that the weight they see these celebrities have they need to have it also. And they will be willing to do anything to get this body type. I think the image celebrities have does influence some eating disorders and low self esteem. People who don't have that body will probably have less confident and struggle with self esteem. I agree with the scale. I think people need to see how much a photo has been altered because the picture is otherwise fake. It is a good idea because you won't have young women thinking they need have a certain weight. Especially when what they are trying to live up to isn't even real or true. 

This article that was read for this blog post was about the horrible working conditions for people who make apple products. We all love apple products they are fun easy and convenient. But what apple doesn't talk about is the making of them. In the article it says "the workers assembling iPones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocated and documents published by companies themselves." This is what the article is mainly about. In many of the plants are explosions because the workers work with hazardous chemicals. The workers are paid low income and they have tight space. The apartments are very small and in one case a three bedroom apartment fit up to ad least 20 people. The living environments are very crowded. Inspectors come to check out the plants and report back to apple what they've found. Apple claims they try to make changes and corrections but that is untrue. The companies care more about making the money than making the improvements to the plants. In a recent explosion a man named Mr.Lai Xiadong died. Th workers were working with aluminum dust and an explosion happens. Aluminum dust seems to be many of the cases of explosions. Even though the only thing it takes to keep from explosions happen when using aluminum dust is air ventilation. He was in the hospital for two days and then he died. His family couldn't even recognize them. The plants are unfair and unsafe to workers and people and companies do not care! Change and corrections need to be made immediately...

The main idea of this article is a anthropologist who studies the ways teens interact with each other on the internet. She is a doctor who has her phd in what she studies. This article says that Dr.Boyd believes that teens getting on the internet is healthy. Dr.Boyd also says that "Chilren's ability to roam has basically been destroyed." School, teachers, an parents do not want students to get on the internet or social networks. And Dr.Boyd is trying to stress that it is good for teens. Teens only get on the internet to talk, flirt, and humor. Sometimes children may bully but parents don't take the time to see what goes on. Dr.Boyd claims that "We need to give our kids the freedom to explore and experience things online that might actually help them, she added. Dr.Boyd says that the internet was her saving grace. She also often reached out to adults online. Many of whom acted as de facto counselors and mentors. She thinks that teens talking to adults online is beneficial. Even though adult may think there are many perverts but the world is much safer today. I do agree with Dr.Boyd I think that the internet is fun place for teens. It gives them a chance to talk to people they don't know and people that they do. I do think that internet can sometimes be harmful because you are talking to strangers. But overall I don't see anything wrong with teens chating on facebook or tweeting each other.

The article teaching kids is about teens breaking up with each other on facebook. Some people think it;s a healthy way of moving on from your ex. Some people on the other hand find it stupid and immature. Roberto claimed who proclaimed with a bit too much gusto that " racing to update your relationship status after a break up is healthy behavior. " I do agree with Roberto. Even though when a bisexual 15- year old confessed in a morning session that she learned that her girlfriend of two years dumped her only when she changed her relationship status to single. I thought that was dumb and unfair for her to find out that way. Personally I will never break up with someone over a computer. That is very stupid to me. If I was to break up with someone it would ether be in person, over a phone call, or a text. Ad least the whole world doesn't have to see only the person I am breaking up with unless they share the information with someone else. In today's generation a lot of teens end their relationships over electronics. I really don't agree with that way or style of breaking up with someone. When I read this article I understood where some people were coming from because many of my friends have gone through this. And even then I didn't understand breaking up with someone over the computer. I do not support breaking up with someone over a social network!

Teachers in Neshmany go on strike. The teachers in neshamny go on strike because they have been working without a contract for 3 years. The teachers haven't received any increase in their pay since 2008 even though they do not have to pay health insurance. In the article it says, " The board wants them to pick up 15 percent of their costs, the union has countered with up to 8 percent." The teachers just want a fair deal. One teachers stated, "We'd like to be in the classrooms teaching," said Charlene Dixon. "Where the economy is, I think they need to be grateful to have a job. Everybody would like to have more, but at some point we have to say when is enough," taxpayer Trish Klein said. Both sides are urging Neshaminy residents to push for a settlement. Personally I feel as though the teachers have a right to protest. If something in their life or their job isn't the way they want they have the right to fight for their rights. I don't think it's fair for the teachers to have to work without a contract for three years and enough was enough. But the real people suffering out of this dispute are the students. The students at Neshaminy have to get 180 days of instructional time by June 14. 9,000 students are out school right now. The whole situation is really selfish on both parties because the children need to learn. But at the same time if the teachers feel they need to protest that is their choice and their right.

Earthquake in 2011

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia has been felt across the area with people experiencing shaking buildings and slight tremors. The earthquake was centered near Louisa, Va., which is northwest of Richmond and about 230 miles southwest of Philadelphia. There were also two aftershocks in Virginia, both below a 3-magnitude. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was half a mile deep. Reports were coming in throughout Tuesday afternoon and evening of minor damage in the area. During the earthquake I was sitting one the couch with my dad. And my mother was sitting right across from me. And in the living room were my two god sisters and my biological sister and her friend. I felt the earth shake but when I first felt it I was unsure of what it was. My mom assured me that is was an earthquake. Nothing was damaged in my house. When the earthquake happened I wasn’t scared. I really didn’t have time to be scared because it happened so fast. This was the first earthquake I had ever experienced. I am just glad that I was at home. Philadelphia really never experiences earthquakes. It is very rare for us to have earthquakes. Most people living in California have at one time or another experienced an earthquake. Earthquakes are the Earth's natural means of releasing stress. When the Earth's plates move against each other, stress is put on the lithosphere. When this stress is great enough, the lithosphere breaks or shifts. Imagine holding a pencil horizontally. If you were to apply a force to both ends of the pencil by pushing down on them, you would see the pencil bend. After enough force was applied, the pencil would break in the middle, releasing the stress you have put on it. The Earth's crust acts in the same way. As the plates move they put forces on themselves and each other. When the force is large enough, the crust is forced to break. When the break occurs, the stress is released as energy which moves through the Earth in the form of waves, which we feel and call an earthquake.