Meta-Post

After reviewing my previous blogs, I have come across many areas that I could improve, and areas that I feel I have improved on. I noticed that I tend to stick with writing about what we discuss in class, but in entries like "GLBT Supporters" and "What Do People Remember You By?" I stray from the curriculum and just write my thoughts on an idea I had that week. However, I do not think this is a bad thing. I think it's good to be able to just write my own individual thoughts on anything I want every once in awhile. I also noticed that my blogs tend to mention or make political figures and standpoints the subject of my post. For example, in "Lies," I focus the majority of my entry on dishonest politicians like Rod Blagojevich. This is interesting, because I do not think of myself as someone who thinks about political actions very often, or someone who even cares that much.
I could also be clearer and more specific in some of my posts. In "Do We Care About Justin Bieber?," I cite an article about celebrity Justin Bieber throwing a water balloon at a state trooper. I then proceed to say, "Kids where I live do stuff like this all the time. Now, if Justin Bieber does it, it makes headlines?" These sentences are very vague as to what Justin Bieber did specifically. The words "it" and "stuff" definitely set bells off in my head as being hazy.
I have also, in my late entries, failed to add other web addresses or research to my ideas. I'm prone to just stating my opinion on a subject and giving examples without adding professional analysis to back up my views. In my post "GLBT Supporters," I merely state my opinion and did no back-up research to support it. There are no hyperlinks to other websites with  evidence supporting my claim.
I believe my best post so far has been "Racial Resentment." It includes a rare personal experience, other studies that validate my claim, and, in my opinion, causes the reader to think about the issue at hand. It ends with a question that encourages the reader to keep thinking after they are done reading.


My Best Post: Racial Resentment

GLBT Supporters

Last week at school, we had a day contributing to the support for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders where many agreed to wear purple to school to draw attention to the issue. This has been a constant conflict that a lot of students see everyday at school. However, I feel many students want to show support for the GLBT cause, but some will not associate with it for fear of being mistaken for a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person. They know how quick to judge others are, so they become nervous to identify with a belief that they actually support. This was the reason my friend at school gave for not wearing purple when she, in fact, does stand for gay rights. Admittedly, I have seen a person wearing a shirt supporting GLBT rights, and quickly assumed they were gay without actually knowing if they are. This should not stop someone from defending gays. If this stops a person from encouraging gay rights and standing up against anti-gay violence, they should think about how a GLBT feels. They need support from not just gays, but from straight people also. For example, the majority of political figures in America is straight, and if these leaders don't sympathize with gays, then they will never gain the right to marriage.

Having said this, I think it is selfish to not stand behind this issue if you are a supporter of GLBT just because you think others will mistakingly judge you for being gay.

Do What You Love, Love What You Do

In American Studies this week, we watched a trailer for a film called Race to Nowhere. It is a documentary about the pressures that children and young adults feel from their parents, peers, and teachers do to exceptional in school. Kids are taught that school is the most important thing, that your grades will get you into a good college, and you will therefore live happily with a job that pays well and be able to support yourself and a family.
However, I do not agree with this method of teaching, or even living. I think it is satisfying to be smart in school by your own standard, but by no means do I think grades are the most important aspect of a person growing up. It may seem so, considering the environment we live in, but I think someone who is really good at playing guitar, someone who is a great athlete, or someone that has an outstanding personality is just as important as someone who gets very good grades, and it can get you just as far in life. Parents and peers like to brag about their/their kid's grades, but the most important thing to me is being happy with what you do in your life, which does not always involve grades.

What Do People Remember You By?

What do people remember you by? Some might say that people only remember the mistakes made by a person, and the amount of good deeds done by them is negligible. For example, who is going to look back on George Bush and remember that it was he who kept America safe after 9/11, and caused the U.S. not to get attacked again by terrorists? I think most people will see it as a failed presidency. Even as I search for a picture of George Bush to add to this article, I am having a hard time finding a picture that doesn't mock him. I'm not arguing that it was a successful presidency, but what he did was very positive for our nation with airport security.
In another scenario, while I was talking to my grandmother about her job as a teacher, she told me that when she sees students that she has previously taught, she always remembers the ones who misbehaved, and not the good kids. Seeing myself as one of the "good kids," this came as quite a shock to me. Being a good kid was something that I thought should be memorable enough, but apparently not.

Having said this, what do you think makes someone memorable?

Racial Resentment

This week in class, we discussed different racial attitudes in present day. One of these ideas was that black Americans continued to have resentment towards whites because of their mistreatment for hundreds of years. It was hard to believe that blacks were still mad about everything that happened with the slavery, segregation, and civil rights even though all of those situations had been corrected. It was especially inconceivable because many blacks have not even lived through the circumstances that they are angry about. So, to me, it seemed unreasonable to believe this.
I forgot about the topic until I was taking the train home one night. A young black man, probably in his twenties, was talking on the phone very loudly, swearing and basically yelling. In the seat behind him sat an older white woman and her grand daughter, who both heard this man speaking but tried to ignore it. After the black man failed to realize how obnoxious he was being, the old white woman decided to speak up and said calmly, "Excuse me, could you keep it down and stop swearing? My grand daughter is sitting right here and she can hear every word you're saying." Immediately after hearing this, the black man went off on a rant about how he will do what he wants without her permission, and said things like "Your people don't own me anymore," and "I'm a free, black American." This experience really changed my perspective on what we had talked about in class. It was obvious to me now that a percentage of black people felt that way about whites. However, it still confused me why they felt that way.
According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia), the African American race is the most impoverished race in America with 24.7%. Non-hispanic whites are the least impoverished with 8.6%. This is a very distinguished difference in wealth between two races. It would not be surprising to me if this isn't a coincidence. A line can be drawn from the poorness of blacks today to the oppressing of blacks for centuries. Do you think blacks have resentment towards whites because of this, or are they angry because of what their ancestors had to go through because of the white man?

Do We Care About Justin Bieber?

This week in class, a student brought up a point about news on the internet. She stated that it's pathetic that a majority of the news we receive is about celebrities, instead of more important current events.  As a result of this, I went on the popular news site, msnbc.com, and found stories on Kate Gosselin, Britney Spears, and Oprah Winfrey. One particular story that caught my eye was on teen singer Justin Bieber, who apparently pelted a water balloon at a state trooper while fooling around back stage. The link for the story is here: Justin Bieber.
My first thought after reading this article was: "Why do I care?" Kids where I live do stuff like this all the time. Now, if Justin Bieber does it, it makes headlines? That's not right. I would say it's wasting space on the website. I would rather be more educated on what's happening in the world right now, instead of being stuck inside the shallow, superficial world of celebrities. On the other hand, some people find it entertaining and funny to hear all about the whereabouts of celebrities. Is it necessary for celebrity news to be all over the media?

Lies

This week in class we briefly discussed the concept of lying and reasons why we lie. It got me thinking whether it was really ever OK to lie. What if you were protecting yourself or others? Then again, the reason why you most likely might be protecting them is because of an even bigger lie. This thought reminded me of a movie I saw recently called "The Invention of Lying." A summary and some pictures from the movie are (click ->) here. Basically, the movie takes place in a world where everybody tells the truth. I believe this could never happen because trust is too big of an issue in the world. Even the leaders of our country, like Rod Blagojevich, have compromised the confidence this nation has put in them. Perhaps it is necessary that politicians lie because the public doesn't want to hear the truth. There is a lot of pressure on politicians these days to have clean images, and we only want to hear what we want to hear these days. Why not just keep everybody happy? Tell me what you think.