Gay people have been fighting for the rights that all others have for quite some time. All over the world gays are persecuted, punished, and tormented all for being themselves. It is a terrible thing. This essay will be an attempt to explain the actions taken against homosexual people in recent years.
Let's start by talking about Matthew Shepard. Matthew was a good person, murdered cruelly just for being the person he was born as. Matthew was born on December 1, 1976. He was a 21 year old student attending the University of Wyoming. He was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998. Matthew was a very bright student who cared about many people and was very approachable. During his sophomore year of high school he transferred to The American School in Switzerland. After graduating from high school in 1995, Matthew attended Catawba College and then later Casper College before he moved to Denver. Matt became a first- year political science major at the University of Wyoming. There he was chosen as the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council. It seems he had a great future ahead of him. In February 1995 during a trip to Morocco, Matt was beaten and raped. This subsequently caused him to be withdrawn and experience depression and panic attacks. It was later said by one of his friends from school that the depression had caused him to experiment with drugs.
Sometime after midnight on October 7, 1998, Matthew met two men by the names of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie, Wyoming. The two men offered Matt a ride home. After admitting he was gay, Matt was robbed, tortured, pistol-whipped, tied to a fence in a remote area and left to die. Shepard was found 18 hours after the beating by Aaron Kreifels. When Shepard was discovered, he was in a coma. Matthew suffered fractures to the back of his head and in the front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage. The damage to his brain stem caused an inability in his body to regulate heart rate, body temperature, and other vital functions. Collectively the injuries were to severe for the doctors to operate successfully. Matt never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. During his time in a coma, candle light vigils were being held in his honor. Matthew Shepard was pronounced dead at 12:53 A.M. On October 12, 1998 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. The two men responsible for the terrible beating were arrested shortly after. The bloody gun used to hit Matthew as well as his shoes and wallet were found in their truck. Both of the men attempted to convince their girlfriends to provide alibis.
Henderson and McKinney both managed to avoid the death penalty but are serving out two life sentences each. All of this because he was gay.
After the incarceration of the two perpetrators, the “Anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, led by Fred Phelps, picketed Matthews funeral as well as the trial. They were displaying signs such as “Matt Shepard rots in HELL,” “AIDS Kills Fags DEAD,” and “God Hates Fags.” Fred Phelps even had the gall to attempt and get a city permit so that he may have a statue built. The monument would be a bronze plaque bearing Matthews picture and the words: “MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is an abomination.' Leviticus 18:22”
If protesters had done something like that to a normal person who cheated on his wife then died, there would not have been such an uproar. Even though the bible forbids cheating, stealing, disobeying parents, coveting, and pride. All of this because he was gay.
Marriage is a right that should be allowed to all people. But we are not allowed in most states to marry. I am fortunate enough to live in Massachusetts where I am not experiencing such bigotry as other gays around the country. There are many different religious arguments about the sanctity of marriage. I find that none of them truly have value. Statistically speaking in a census done in 2000-2004 demographic information showed that most of the gay couples that married were older and better educated than average newly wed couples, with more than 74% over 35 years old and 69% holding a college degree. That is pretty good when you think about it.
Homosexual people have been persecuted for quite a long time all over the world. During the Holocaust, Jewish people, Gypsies, and homosexuals were 3 of the biggest targeted groups. I know that I can't rightfully compare the murder of the Jews with the murder of gays but my point is that we are targeted. In countries in the middle east, it is punishable by death to perform sodomy or even be suspected of it.
In my own experience, I have been beaten, threatened, robbed, and overall hurt just because I am gay.
There has been a lot of talk about a “gay gene.” The first significant study was conducted by Simon LeVay. LeVay was looking for a possible biological role for homosexuality. In 1991, Dr. LeVay reported very subtle differences between the brains of heterosexual men and homosexual men. Simon measured a particular region of the brain (the interstitial nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus [say that ten times fast]). This experiment was performed on postmortem tissue of three distinct groups: women, men who were presumed to be heterosexual, and homosexual men.
It was reported by Levay that clusters of the neurons (INAH) in gay men were the same size as those in women. Both of these were significantly smaller than the clusters found in the heterosexual men. This difference was interpreted as strong evidence for a biological link to being gay. Many scientists have all tried variations of this experiment with varying results. But it is one step closer.
Science is slowly getting closer to finding a gay gene. And when the day comes that we shall be able to perfectly prove it, then I suppose we will have to fight a lot less for rights that all men and women should have equally.
I am a working student, I pay taxes, have a job, have a family that I love. But I am different because of my sexuality. That is not fair. Not in my eyes, my families eyes, or in any gods eyes. Man is fallible.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
My Personal Rant
The things on my mind
There are many things that are on my mind that I think about from time to time, most of them aggravate me, but some are just awesome. The first and foremost thing I have to complain about is Twilight. Twilight is the newest sensation among young teen girls (and sometimes older girls). The author Stephanie Meyer wrote a love story about a vampire and human, however she did not believe that what she was really doing was starting a cult. Everywhere I go, I see tons of overzealous fans, including members of my own family, who are OBSESSED with this “Edward Cullen”, and everything about the book. There were songs written by young girls, members of this twilight cult, about how Stephanie Meyer is the “vampire queen”. This would all just be borderline annoying if it was left at that, however, most of these overzealous fans try and recruit new members daily, including myself. I have probably been asked to read the book at least twenty times now, or had people say, “Why can’t you be more like Edward Cullen”. The part that aggravates me the most is probably that this author had the nerve to change hundreds of years of vampire and werewolf lore to fit her “cult” love story. When was the last time you saw a vampire GLITTER in the sun rather than burn to death? Or how about werewolves that just shape-shifted into a wolf rather than being a bloodthirsty wolf that walked on its hind legs? I will answer that question: NEVER. Twilight is probably one of the things I have the biggest distaste for in this world, surpassing even my dislike towards babies.
If there is anything else I almost dislike as much as Twilight, it’s newborn babies. They cry, they scream, they poop in their diaper, and at the same time, they seem to have this effect on women. There are certain qualities there separate men from woman, and I believe babies to be one of the finer lines. For example, if I had 100 dollars every time a woman asked me if I thought a baby was cute, I would be rich by now. I am a MAN; I do not find babies cute IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. In my personal opinion, newborn babies look like ugly aliens. I do not want to hold them either, so do not even ask me. And it does not even matter how many times you ask me or if you try to give me “c’mon just admit he is cute for a baby”, my resolve stands true: babies are ugly and I do not like them or find them attractive in any way. I do however find babies of animals to be cute, like baby kittens, puppies, rabbits, or cute fuzzy animals, BUT NOT NEWBORN HUMAN BABIES. And thus ends my thoughts on babies, which leads to my next thought, which is about the poses people make on face book.
If you have a face book account, then you can probably understand where I am coming from when I explain this to you. Ever seen or had a friend on face book that adds about ten to twenty new pictures every single day? Or better yet, do you have a friend that is a girl that adds about ten to twenty pictures every day that ALL LOOK THE SAME. It seems to be a trend with face book, girls looking for a lot of attention, posting pictures of themselves in questionable clothing making the same facial expression in every single damned picture. This face is none other than the “kissy” face. The “kissy” face is where the girl sticks here chin out as far as she can, and makes a face as if she is protruding her lips out as if to kiss someone, usually followed by holding the peace sign with her fingers. I don’t know who thought this pose was sexy or cute at one time, but there are girls out there who just repeat this over and over and OVER AND OVER. I really do feel bad for most of these girls, because they are probably self-conscious about themselves. And with that I end my thoughts on face book, and begin my thoughts on a positive matter: my really cool friend.
My friend Cliff is a really cool guy, and that’s just about all there is to say. He is a natural badass with handlebars. You can’t even comprehend how cool this guy is, because he is extremely good at video games, especially Call of Duty modern warfare 2. There are rumors about Cliff that he is so cool and badass that he can get in trouble and then get off with very minor consequences because of how awesome he is. Everyone wants to be his friend and play video games with him so that they can only hope to learn his ways of being a master, which will never happen because no one can be better than him. Overall, Cliff is probably the coolest person you will ever meet in your entire life, and anyone would be a fool to try and surpass him. And with my final thoughts on my badass friend Cliff, I end my rant on topics for the day.
There are many things that are on my mind that I think about from time to time, most of them aggravate me, but some are just awesome. The first and foremost thing I have to complain about is Twilight. Twilight is the newest sensation among young teen girls (and sometimes older girls). The author Stephanie Meyer wrote a love story about a vampire and human, however she did not believe that what she was really doing was starting a cult. Everywhere I go, I see tons of overzealous fans, including members of my own family, who are OBSESSED with this “Edward Cullen”, and everything about the book. There were songs written by young girls, members of this twilight cult, about how Stephanie Meyer is the “vampire queen”. This would all just be borderline annoying if it was left at that, however, most of these overzealous fans try and recruit new members daily, including myself. I have probably been asked to read the book at least twenty times now, or had people say, “Why can’t you be more like Edward Cullen”. The part that aggravates me the most is probably that this author had the nerve to change hundreds of years of vampire and werewolf lore to fit her “cult” love story. When was the last time you saw a vampire GLITTER in the sun rather than burn to death? Or how about werewolves that just shape-shifted into a wolf rather than being a bloodthirsty wolf that walked on its hind legs? I will answer that question: NEVER. Twilight is probably one of the things I have the biggest distaste for in this world, surpassing even my dislike towards babies.
If there is anything else I almost dislike as much as Twilight, it’s newborn babies. They cry, they scream, they poop in their diaper, and at the same time, they seem to have this effect on women. There are certain qualities there separate men from woman, and I believe babies to be one of the finer lines. For example, if I had 100 dollars every time a woman asked me if I thought a baby was cute, I would be rich by now. I am a MAN; I do not find babies cute IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. In my personal opinion, newborn babies look like ugly aliens. I do not want to hold them either, so do not even ask me. And it does not even matter how many times you ask me or if you try to give me “c’mon just admit he is cute for a baby”, my resolve stands true: babies are ugly and I do not like them or find them attractive in any way. I do however find babies of animals to be cute, like baby kittens, puppies, rabbits, or cute fuzzy animals, BUT NOT NEWBORN HUMAN BABIES. And thus ends my thoughts on babies, which leads to my next thought, which is about the poses people make on face book.
If you have a face book account, then you can probably understand where I am coming from when I explain this to you. Ever seen or had a friend on face book that adds about ten to twenty new pictures every single day? Or better yet, do you have a friend that is a girl that adds about ten to twenty pictures every day that ALL LOOK THE SAME. It seems to be a trend with face book, girls looking for a lot of attention, posting pictures of themselves in questionable clothing making the same facial expression in every single damned picture. This face is none other than the “kissy” face. The “kissy” face is where the girl sticks here chin out as far as she can, and makes a face as if she is protruding her lips out as if to kiss someone, usually followed by holding the peace sign with her fingers. I don’t know who thought this pose was sexy or cute at one time, but there are girls out there who just repeat this over and over and OVER AND OVER. I really do feel bad for most of these girls, because they are probably self-conscious about themselves. And with that I end my thoughts on face book, and begin my thoughts on a positive matter: my really cool friend.
My friend Cliff is a really cool guy, and that’s just about all there is to say. He is a natural badass with handlebars. You can’t even comprehend how cool this guy is, because he is extremely good at video games, especially Call of Duty modern warfare 2. There are rumors about Cliff that he is so cool and badass that he can get in trouble and then get off with very minor consequences because of how awesome he is. Everyone wants to be his friend and play video games with him so that they can only hope to learn his ways of being a master, which will never happen because no one can be better than him. Overall, Cliff is probably the coolest person you will ever meet in your entire life, and anyone would be a fool to try and surpass him. And with my final thoughts on my badass friend Cliff, I end my rant on topics for the day.
Water boarding
Water boarding is a form of torture which was used by our own government up until very recently. The people are in favor of it staying legal like to play it down to make it sound mild. Some of the arguments that these people make are: that it’s not torture because the subject doesn’t want to die after being subjected to it they only feel like they almost died. Another argument is that it is just simulated drowning that there really isn’t any physical harm being done. Finally the most ridiculous argument is that what we are doing with water boarding can’t compare to what they are doing over in Iraq to our soldiers, they cut our heads off and we just splash some water on their faces.
Not one of these arguments holds any water they are full of holes. Back to the first argument just because the person subjected to water boarding doesn’t want to die after having undergone it does not make water boarding and less tame the point is that they felt as though they were about to die and that is cruel and unusual. As for it being simulated drowning that is completely false it isn’t simulated it is drowning only slow and deliberate drowning. Finally simply because our enemies do something like cutting our troops heads off does that mean that we should lower ourselves to using torture? I think not.
Water boarding is a very simple torture and there are a few ways that it can be done. The subject is laid face up on the table sometimes with the table slanted so that their head is lower than the rest of their body in order to facilitate the water in going up the subject’s nose. The subject is bound tightly in order for them to feel completely helpless. In most of the procedures a towel or cloth is placed over the face, which is then slowly drenched in the nose and mouth area with water. This causes them to breath in a substantial amount of water with each panicked breath that they take. Other times a piece of seran wrap is placed over the subject’s mouth and then water is poured directly into the subject’s nose. Most people don’t last longer than fifteen seconds to a minute and a half at the most. Everyone who has had it demonstrated to them with themselves as the subject have concluded that it is indeed torture. A great example would be Christopher Hitchens a writer for Vanity Fair magazine he volunteered to have it performed on him and there is a video of it on YouTube. In his testimonial Hitchens describes the experience very vividly saying that trying to hold his breath didn’t help and then once he took a breath he was done.
After watching Christopher Hitchens’ demonstration of water boarding I can say with great confidence that water boarding is torture. Water boarding is horrible and it is scary that there are people who have to undergo this for endless hours. Like Christopher Hitchens says in the video what happens if you don’t have anything to tell them?
Works Cited
Surowidjojo, Arya. “Watch Christopher Hitchens get Water boarded(Vanity Fair).” Vanity Fair Magazine. YouTube, 2 July, 2008. Web. 2 Dec. 2009.
Not one of these arguments holds any water they are full of holes. Back to the first argument just because the person subjected to water boarding doesn’t want to die after having undergone it does not make water boarding and less tame the point is that they felt as though they were about to die and that is cruel and unusual. As for it being simulated drowning that is completely false it isn’t simulated it is drowning only slow and deliberate drowning. Finally simply because our enemies do something like cutting our troops heads off does that mean that we should lower ourselves to using torture? I think not.
Water boarding is a very simple torture and there are a few ways that it can be done. The subject is laid face up on the table sometimes with the table slanted so that their head is lower than the rest of their body in order to facilitate the water in going up the subject’s nose. The subject is bound tightly in order for them to feel completely helpless. In most of the procedures a towel or cloth is placed over the face, which is then slowly drenched in the nose and mouth area with water. This causes them to breath in a substantial amount of water with each panicked breath that they take. Other times a piece of seran wrap is placed over the subject’s mouth and then water is poured directly into the subject’s nose. Most people don’t last longer than fifteen seconds to a minute and a half at the most. Everyone who has had it demonstrated to them with themselves as the subject have concluded that it is indeed torture. A great example would be Christopher Hitchens a writer for Vanity Fair magazine he volunteered to have it performed on him and there is a video of it on YouTube. In his testimonial Hitchens describes the experience very vividly saying that trying to hold his breath didn’t help and then once he took a breath he was done.
After watching Christopher Hitchens’ demonstration of water boarding I can say with great confidence that water boarding is torture. Water boarding is horrible and it is scary that there are people who have to undergo this for endless hours. Like Christopher Hitchens says in the video what happens if you don’t have anything to tell them?
Works Cited
Surowidjojo, Arya. “Watch Christopher Hitchens get Water boarded(Vanity Fair).” Vanity Fair Magazine. YouTube, 2 July, 2008. Web. 2 Dec. 2009.
Monday, December 14, 2009
A Parable: Pleasures in a Parking Lot
During the night, a student went to his car and turned on all the lights and fans. He used them to allow him to study in a quiet place, comfortably and efficiently. He made much progress, and with his knowledge he could pass his History exam with his highest grade yet. However, when he went to turn his car on so that he might go find food, he could not. Stranded in the middle of a parking lot for a week and four days, he eventually ran out of trail mix and water, and subsequently died.
In his notebook, the following words were found: "I neglected the important things, and spent all I had on my pleasures instead."
by Joshua Antunes
Is Race Created or Real?
Culture and ethnicity are real; however race is a synthetic manufactured concept. Therefore it is not real. Race is not based on biological stock of facts, it was created. “Some argue that although race is a valid taxonomic concept in other species, it cannot be applied to humans. Many scientists have argued that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, have many exceptions, have many gradations, and that the numbers of races delineated vary according to the culture making the racial distinctions; thus they reject the notion that any definition of race pertaining to humans can have taxonomic rigor and validity.”[1]So we know race is not real, but it is still used to describe people due to social, political, and the culture of using it overtime. For this very reason, all race related issues are manufactured and can’t be trusted. For ever race related issue there has been a political or social issue going with it.
“Race is a political structure that uses social dynamics for its strengths.”[2] The most tragic use of race for political reason was in Germany, where the Nazi’s used race as the reason to kill millions of people. Not all political powers however use race as a means to describe people, some even went as far as to ban the use of race to describe people. “In many countries, such as France, the state is legally banned from maintaining data based on race, which often makes the police issue wanted notices to the public that include labels like "dark skin complexion", etc”1 The United States have been behind on the removing of race but they did outlaw racial profiling saying it is unconstitutional and violates civil rights.
“The word "race", along with many of the ideas now associated with the term, were first coined during the age of exploration, a time of European imperialism, exploration, technological superiority and colonization. As Europeans encountered people from different parts of the world, they speculated about the physical, social, and cultural differences among various human groups. The rise of the Atlantic slave trade, which gradually displaced an earlier trade in slaves from throughout the world, created a further incentive to categorize human groups to justify the subordination of African slaves.”1 Race is nothing but a concept created for the benefit of the people in the Age of Discovery. It was used to put certain people down and make reasoning for doing what they did to slaves.
Therefore race is not real it is a manufactured concept created in order to benefit certain people. Behind every racial issue there is a political or social force driving it, like in the Age of Discovery they used race as a reason for it to be okay doe slavery or the Nazis using race as he reason for the holocaust. Some countries are already doing the right thing by banning the use of race to describe people, even scientist say “race definitions are imprecise.”1 So the real question is knowing that race is manufactured, why do the political powers drive society to insist race is real?
[1] Wikipedia ( www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28classification_of_human_beings%29#Political_and_practical_uses
[2] Professor Mwalim/(MJ Peters)
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Collective Unconcious
By: Kassandra Moskovis
The concept of collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology (Jungian psychology) and was ideally noted by Carl Jung, a Swiss Psychiatrist. The theory of collective unconscious is a part of the unconscious mind, shared by a society, humanity, and all life forms, that is the product of ancestral experience and contains such concepts as science, religion, and morality. It was distinguished from the personal subconscious of each person. The concept contains archetypes which are mental predispositions with no relation to experience. These archetypes are spontaneously arisen in the mind and in time of crisis, the collective unconscious lets them out to reveal truth that is hidden from one’s consciousness. Our unconscious mind is not accessible and contains our repressed thoughts, feelings, and memories and also contains the Id, which is the part of our mind completely out of awareness. I do believe this concept is valid because we know to do, say, and feel certain things without being taught or told to do so. We just do it because they are instincts: complex behaviors that have fixed patterns throughout different species and are not learned.
Carl Jung had a knack for making sense of the unconscious through symbols. Symbols such as mud cloth patterns, the Celtic gold braid, the medical symbol, the symbol of department of sanitation, and a DNA strand all relate back to the collective unconscious because they give us meaning without directly stating it. We look at these symbols and whether we’ve seen them before or not we immediately have some knowledge as to what they mean or where they originated from. Not only is the recognition of symbols and myths tied in with this theory but experiences such as; love at first sight, déjà vu, dreams, fantasies, and fairy tales also show the effects of this “psychic inheritance”. It is a type of knowledge that we are born with but never exactly conscious of which further leads to an influence on the way we act and the experiences we run into.
The validity of Carl Jung’s belief of the collective unconscious has been proven through a countless amount of examples. Is it not true that when you hear a smoke detector go off you immediately leave your house? Or when you go to a public restroom, you enter the door with the symbol of the female or the male based upon which sex you inherit? These instincts were never taught, they were simply picked up over time through our everyday encounters. Our unconscious mind provides us with feelings, skills, perceptions, thoughts, habits, reactions, phobias, pleasures, and many other mental phenomena that we manifest, however, are unaware of at the time they occur. Whether people recognize it or not, we use this theory of the collective unconscious every single day. It is not something we can control or shut off, it is stuck with us forever. Carl Jung, although thought to be mentally ill due to his accusations, was a very smart man. His theory is still alive today due its legitimacy. Next time you go to turn the light off before hopping into bed at night or turn the water off when you’re about to get out of the shower, take a minute to think to yourself, was I taught to do that or did I just do it because of my unconscious mind?
The concept of collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology (Jungian psychology) and was ideally noted by Carl Jung, a Swiss Psychiatrist. The theory of collective unconscious is a part of the unconscious mind, shared by a society, humanity, and all life forms, that is the product of ancestral experience and contains such concepts as science, religion, and morality. It was distinguished from the personal subconscious of each person. The concept contains archetypes which are mental predispositions with no relation to experience. These archetypes are spontaneously arisen in the mind and in time of crisis, the collective unconscious lets them out to reveal truth that is hidden from one’s consciousness. Our unconscious mind is not accessible and contains our repressed thoughts, feelings, and memories and also contains the Id, which is the part of our mind completely out of awareness. I do believe this concept is valid because we know to do, say, and feel certain things without being taught or told to do so. We just do it because they are instincts: complex behaviors that have fixed patterns throughout different species and are not learned.
Carl Jung had a knack for making sense of the unconscious through symbols. Symbols such as mud cloth patterns, the Celtic gold braid, the medical symbol, the symbol of department of sanitation, and a DNA strand all relate back to the collective unconscious because they give us meaning without directly stating it. We look at these symbols and whether we’ve seen them before or not we immediately have some knowledge as to what they mean or where they originated from. Not only is the recognition of symbols and myths tied in with this theory but experiences such as; love at first sight, déjà vu, dreams, fantasies, and fairy tales also show the effects of this “psychic inheritance”. It is a type of knowledge that we are born with but never exactly conscious of which further leads to an influence on the way we act and the experiences we run into.
The validity of Carl Jung’s belief of the collective unconscious has been proven through a countless amount of examples. Is it not true that when you hear a smoke detector go off you immediately leave your house? Or when you go to a public restroom, you enter the door with the symbol of the female or the male based upon which sex you inherit? These instincts were never taught, they were simply picked up over time through our everyday encounters. Our unconscious mind provides us with feelings, skills, perceptions, thoughts, habits, reactions, phobias, pleasures, and many other mental phenomena that we manifest, however, are unaware of at the time they occur. Whether people recognize it or not, we use this theory of the collective unconscious every single day. It is not something we can control or shut off, it is stuck with us forever. Carl Jung, although thought to be mentally ill due to his accusations, was a very smart man. His theory is still alive today due its legitimacy. Next time you go to turn the light off before hopping into bed at night or turn the water off when you’re about to get out of the shower, take a minute to think to yourself, was I taught to do that or did I just do it because of my unconscious mind?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Looks Matter
Looks Matter
Back in the day people were not so worried about what they look like. They dressed comfortably and how they wanted to, did not always worry about what their hair or makeup looks like, just having fun is all they care about. Now the media is putting pressure on people saying they have to look a certain way. They have to be thin, their hair has to be a certain way, your teeth have to be bright white, and you can not have any acne. I think this is ridiculous because the TV shows and media today is making younger kids especially believe all this stuff and not let them be their own person.
There is a video that shows what photo shopping can really do to people which makes people get the wrong idea. They took a women the age of 30, light brown hair, acne, no the whitest teeth, weighed about 180 pounds and had some wrinkles. They photo shopped her to make her look like she was 22, blonde highlights, bright white teeth, flawless skin, and her cheeks were so perked up, she did not even look like herself. So they put this girl on a bulletin board like for an add for a makeup magazine. This girl does not even look like herself and this is giving teenage girls the wrong idea and think they have to be so skinny and wear certain types of clothes. All this stuff is making some girls go to the extreme such as being sick with an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia. These end up killing some girls because they want to fit in so bad with everyone else, they have to keep themselves skinny just to be in with the crowd. To tell you the truth half the stuff you see is not real. The technology nowadays is so advanced that the media can do anything they want to make things look so “perfect.” I would not even call it perfect I would call it all fake. People can look how ever they want and people should not care what they look like no matter how big or skinny.
Another problem is these modeling shows such as America’s Next Top Model. They have never had any plus size girls on that show. They had one and she got kicked off right away because she was 20 pounds to big. She was not even obese just a little chunky. All these girls weigh 120. pounds and have the best bodies in the world. Every person can not look like them. Even the dolls they have out now for younger girls are a little so revealing. They are all skinny and have really short and skimpy clothes on. All girls when they are younger want to play dress up and dress like they dolls they see. Now they are dressing in these small clothes and putting on tons of makeup and just looking trashy. This world needs to change and go back to the way it was just not too long ago. Did you know there are 3 times as more strippers now than there was 40 years ago? That is so ridiculous. If these young children keep watching the media and seeing what they see on the streets, some are going to end up in big trouble and some of them may even wind up dead.
So my point is to help these people and tell them what they see is not what they get. Everything is not real. You do not need to be skinny and look a certain way just to fit in everywhere. You need to be your own person. Find a way to express yourself and be unique because that is the best thing you can do to make people notice you. Not trying to fit in with everyone else. Be your own self.
Back in the day people were not so worried about what they look like. They dressed comfortably and how they wanted to, did not always worry about what their hair or makeup looks like, just having fun is all they care about. Now the media is putting pressure on people saying they have to look a certain way. They have to be thin, their hair has to be a certain way, your teeth have to be bright white, and you can not have any acne. I think this is ridiculous because the TV shows and media today is making younger kids especially believe all this stuff and not let them be their own person.
There is a video that shows what photo shopping can really do to people which makes people get the wrong idea. They took a women the age of 30, light brown hair, acne, no the whitest teeth, weighed about 180 pounds and had some wrinkles. They photo shopped her to make her look like she was 22, blonde highlights, bright white teeth, flawless skin, and her cheeks were so perked up, she did not even look like herself. So they put this girl on a bulletin board like for an add for a makeup magazine. This girl does not even look like herself and this is giving teenage girls the wrong idea and think they have to be so skinny and wear certain types of clothes. All this stuff is making some girls go to the extreme such as being sick with an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia. These end up killing some girls because they want to fit in so bad with everyone else, they have to keep themselves skinny just to be in with the crowd. To tell you the truth half the stuff you see is not real. The technology nowadays is so advanced that the media can do anything they want to make things look so “perfect.” I would not even call it perfect I would call it all fake. People can look how ever they want and people should not care what they look like no matter how big or skinny.
Another problem is these modeling shows such as America’s Next Top Model. They have never had any plus size girls on that show. They had one and she got kicked off right away because she was 20 pounds to big. She was not even obese just a little chunky. All these girls weigh 120. pounds and have the best bodies in the world. Every person can not look like them. Even the dolls they have out now for younger girls are a little so revealing. They are all skinny and have really short and skimpy clothes on. All girls when they are younger want to play dress up and dress like they dolls they see. Now they are dressing in these small clothes and putting on tons of makeup and just looking trashy. This world needs to change and go back to the way it was just not too long ago. Did you know there are 3 times as more strippers now than there was 40 years ago? That is so ridiculous. If these young children keep watching the media and seeing what they see on the streets, some are going to end up in big trouble and some of them may even wind up dead.
So my point is to help these people and tell them what they see is not what they get. Everything is not real. You do not need to be skinny and look a certain way just to fit in everywhere. You need to be your own person. Find a way to express yourself and be unique because that is the best thing you can do to make people notice you. Not trying to fit in with everyone else. Be your own self.
The Unanswered
Why do we act so selfishly, as a whole population?
What makes me so much better than you? Him? Her?
Do the rules not apply to the ones who are above law?
Is there an above the law?
Why can cops break laws that we get punished for?
Is there really a heaven? A hell? An in-between?
Will we know where we are when we die?
Who we are?
Who are we?
Is there reincarnation?
The infinite cycle of life and death.
Is it just over, when it’s all said and done?
Should we live life where we are now?
Or simply plan ahead and hope there is something to hope for?
Is there hope for a better tomorrow?
Does the future hold all the hopes and dreams we wish for?
Why do we pray for things so unreachable?
As children we wished and hope to be adults;
So that all our dreams could come true.
Have our dreams really come true?
Do we just accept the life we live, on principle?
Do we do what we do, because it is what we think we are supposed to do?
Shouldn’t we live to love life, not just accept it?
Like reincarnation we are stuck in a never ending cycle of joy, happiness, pain and
suffering.
Will there be an ultimate time, where nothing goes wrong?
Everything just seems perfect, for maybe a minute.
What is a minute though?
Who decided?
What is time? Is it possible to live without it?
Why are we categorized by years lived?
Aren’t I just as smart as someone twice my age?
Why am I judged based on my age?
Just because I’m nineteen doesn’t mean I don’t know what I am doing.
I make choices like him, and her.
I am forever changing, while constantly staying the same.
I know how to love, to be loved and give it.
I have seen and felt pain, death has looked me in the eyes.
But still I am too young to understand.
Too young, much too young.
What is too young?
Without error, will we ever learn?
Is there a heaven? A hell? An in-between?
Will I see the daylight of the next day?
What is tomorrow, but the hopes and dreams of children?
Children have it all, no responsibility
No bills, they just live for the moment.
What is a moment?
How do we categorize time that is well spent?
Is it the same as wasted time?
Shouldn’t there be a double standard?
Why are the good times, just like the bad times?
Shouldn’t pain and unhappiness be categorized differently?
Today there is more suffering than there is happiness.
Why is there so much hunger and wasted food in the world?
Why do people not care, when the problem is not in front of their eyes?
Shouldn’t we stand up to fight this war?
This war on hunger, pain and suffering?
Too much pain, too much suffering.
Is there a heaven? A hell? An in-between?
Why don’t we all work together to find happiness?
The happiness we all yearn for.
Is the hope and dream of happiness,
Too much, too hard to come true?
Isn’t it possible to have it all?
Do we have to cheat to make our dreams come true?
Are my dreams better than yours? Hers? His?
Am I above the laws of happiness?
Can I be?
Who decides?
Too confusing, much too confusing.
Why can cops break the laws we get punished for?
Is there an above the law?
Do the rules not apply to the ones who are above the law?
What makes me so much better than you? Him? Her?
Why do we act so selfishly, as a whole population?
Why are there so many questions?
When there are so few answers?
This is for all the unanswered.
Copyright 2009, Jillian Webber
What makes me so much better than you? Him? Her?
Do the rules not apply to the ones who are above law?
Is there an above the law?
Why can cops break laws that we get punished for?
Is there really a heaven? A hell? An in-between?
Will we know where we are when we die?
Who we are?
Who are we?
Is there reincarnation?
The infinite cycle of life and death.
Is it just over, when it’s all said and done?
Should we live life where we are now?
Or simply plan ahead and hope there is something to hope for?
Is there hope for a better tomorrow?
Does the future hold all the hopes and dreams we wish for?
Why do we pray for things so unreachable?
As children we wished and hope to be adults;
So that all our dreams could come true.
Have our dreams really come true?
Do we just accept the life we live, on principle?
Do we do what we do, because it is what we think we are supposed to do?
Shouldn’t we live to love life, not just accept it?
Like reincarnation we are stuck in a never ending cycle of joy, happiness, pain and
suffering.
Will there be an ultimate time, where nothing goes wrong?
Everything just seems perfect, for maybe a minute.
What is a minute though?
Who decided?
What is time? Is it possible to live without it?
Why are we categorized by years lived?
Aren’t I just as smart as someone twice my age?
Why am I judged based on my age?
Just because I’m nineteen doesn’t mean I don’t know what I am doing.
I make choices like him, and her.
I am forever changing, while constantly staying the same.
I know how to love, to be loved and give it.
I have seen and felt pain, death has looked me in the eyes.
But still I am too young to understand.
Too young, much too young.
What is too young?
Without error, will we ever learn?
Is there a heaven? A hell? An in-between?
Will I see the daylight of the next day?
What is tomorrow, but the hopes and dreams of children?
Children have it all, no responsibility
No bills, they just live for the moment.
What is a moment?
How do we categorize time that is well spent?
Is it the same as wasted time?
Shouldn’t there be a double standard?
Why are the good times, just like the bad times?
Shouldn’t pain and unhappiness be categorized differently?
Today there is more suffering than there is happiness.
Why is there so much hunger and wasted food in the world?
Why do people not care, when the problem is not in front of their eyes?
Shouldn’t we stand up to fight this war?
This war on hunger, pain and suffering?
Too much pain, too much suffering.
Is there a heaven? A hell? An in-between?
Why don’t we all work together to find happiness?
The happiness we all yearn for.
Is the hope and dream of happiness,
Too much, too hard to come true?
Isn’t it possible to have it all?
Do we have to cheat to make our dreams come true?
Are my dreams better than yours? Hers? His?
Am I above the laws of happiness?
Can I be?
Who decides?
Too confusing, much too confusing.
Why can cops break the laws we get punished for?
Is there an above the law?
Do the rules not apply to the ones who are above the law?
What makes me so much better than you? Him? Her?
Why do we act so selfishly, as a whole population?
Why are there so many questions?
When there are so few answers?
This is for all the unanswered.
Copyright 2009, Jillian Webber
The Vices of Virtues: A Fable
There was a dog named Erudito, who was the leader of a large pack of dogs, 30 strong. He knew the best places to hunt, had composed treaties with rival packs, and maintained peace within his own lands. All rolled over for Eruditio in his plentiful land named after himself.
There was a she dog of low rank named Sapientia. She belonged to a lowly pack of the land Vero, who was headed by a dog of the same name.
These two lands were as far apart as any other land, and the plains of Mutatio separated them. The land of Vero was many thousands of feet higher than Eruditio, and the plains of Mutatio had to slope up from Eruditio to meet Vero. It was harder to travel from Eruditio to Vero than from Vero to Eruditio because of this.
The land of Vero was difficult to live in. Clouds with rain could not raise themselves up the plains of Mutatio. Thus, Vero was a dry, cold, windy place to live in. How the pack of Vero survived was a mystery to many surrounding packs.
The two packs and their leaders Vero and Eruditio were tolerant of each other for hundreds of thousands of years.
One day, though, Sapientia came to Eruditio, and warned him that there would be a huge earthquake, which would flatten the plains of Mutatio, and force the clouds with rain up to Vero. Sapientia knew that Eruditio and his followers would only listen to reason, so she presented him with logic and facts. Eruditio scoffed, saying he already knew there was to be an earthquake. He said it would be folly to go to a land which would soon be separated from all, and would be without water or food. He reasoned through his theories of science that the clouds would never rise, since it went against his science. Sapientia tried to explain how her theories, given to her by Vero, were more filled in and reasonable than his, and how science actually did show that the clouds could rise, but Eruditio would not listen. After all, what did this she dog know that he hadn't long taught?
Finally, the beginnings the earthquake began, so that Sapientia, and others who joined her, had to return to Vero, sad that only a few had decided to follow them. The plains of Mutatio collapsed, the clouds rose to the land of Vero, and the land of Eruditio wasted away miserably for all of history in chaos and brutality.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Summer Reading
In my sophomore year of high school, we had to present our summer reading project so our English class. Over the summer, I had read Isaac Asimov’s I Robot. I got up in front of my class and my first words were “The movie is completely wrong.” I looked out at my class and saw the faces of three of my classmates drop in shock. I continued my presentation, which went well, and later sat and watched the rest. One of the shocked classmates got up and went to present his poster and thoughts on the book. The problem was that he had not read the book; he had watched the movie and got his information from that. Whether or not it is intentional, summer reading lists containing novels with movie adaptations trick students into not reading.
It is my opinion that the summer reading list is an English teacher’s tool to help weed out the students that will work hard in their classes that particular year. They add books to the list, like I Robot, that have been adapted into movies, trying to get students to pick them and take the easy way out and make fools of themselves when they find the book is much different from the movie. They also make it hard on students who choose books with movie adaptations that are accurate to the story, almost not believing that the student read the book.
This has happened many times to me in the past. I have received reading lists from schools that contain many books that I considered boring and a few that were made into movies. Many times I picked the book that was made into the movie, not to take the easy way out, but because I thought it may be interesting if Hollywood would make a movie about it. And every time, I actually read the book, so as to not get tricked like many others. In the case of I Robot, only the basic premise of the story remains the same in the movie. Any student who picked it and watched the movie only was in trouble before they knew it. This was the same with Jurassic Park. The movie was already in production before Michael Crichton was done writing the book. This caused major differences between the book and movie, a situation I believe the English teachers were well aware of.
Sometimes it’s not as simple as that. Sometimes the movie adaptation is accurate to the book itself, so much so that the teachers do not believe that the student really read the book just by listening to their speech. This is the case with books such as The Da Vinci Code. The movie was accurate on the important points of the book for the most part, and the presentations of our projects are meant to hit the important parts. Only minute differences occur in the film adaptation. Another case of this is with The Lord of the Rings. Although much of the story was taken out of the film versions, the parts that were left were true to the books. It is difficult for a student to prove they have actually done the work with these types of books.
There are a number of ways to overcome situations like these so you do not end up like the students in my previous classes. One such way is to avoid these books all together. This will insure that you must read the book and the temptation of taking the easy way out is non-existent. Another way is to always read the book, whether it has a movie adaptation or not. By doing this, you can make sure you have all the facts of both, and can even compare and contrast the movie to prove that you did your work. If the film version is accurate, one could pick out the most obscure fact about the book that was not in the movie and mention it. This proves you read the book and that anyone second guessing you did not.
English teachers use the summer reading project to pinpoint which students may slack in their class. They add books that have been turned into movies to the list to trick the students into basing their grade on a film that is not accurate. It becomes hard for these students to prove that they did the work when it seems the teachers are so set on not believing them. This has happened to me many times, but works to your advantage if you know how to stop their tricks.
It is my opinion that the summer reading list is an English teacher’s tool to help weed out the students that will work hard in their classes that particular year. They add books to the list, like I Robot, that have been adapted into movies, trying to get students to pick them and take the easy way out and make fools of themselves when they find the book is much different from the movie. They also make it hard on students who choose books with movie adaptations that are accurate to the story, almost not believing that the student read the book.
This has happened many times to me in the past. I have received reading lists from schools that contain many books that I considered boring and a few that were made into movies. Many times I picked the book that was made into the movie, not to take the easy way out, but because I thought it may be interesting if Hollywood would make a movie about it. And every time, I actually read the book, so as to not get tricked like many others. In the case of I Robot, only the basic premise of the story remains the same in the movie. Any student who picked it and watched the movie only was in trouble before they knew it. This was the same with Jurassic Park. The movie was already in production before Michael Crichton was done writing the book. This caused major differences between the book and movie, a situation I believe the English teachers were well aware of.
Sometimes it’s not as simple as that. Sometimes the movie adaptation is accurate to the book itself, so much so that the teachers do not believe that the student really read the book just by listening to their speech. This is the case with books such as The Da Vinci Code. The movie was accurate on the important points of the book for the most part, and the presentations of our projects are meant to hit the important parts. Only minute differences occur in the film adaptation. Another case of this is with The Lord of the Rings. Although much of the story was taken out of the film versions, the parts that were left were true to the books. It is difficult for a student to prove they have actually done the work with these types of books.
There are a number of ways to overcome situations like these so you do not end up like the students in my previous classes. One such way is to avoid these books all together. This will insure that you must read the book and the temptation of taking the easy way out is non-existent. Another way is to always read the book, whether it has a movie adaptation or not. By doing this, you can make sure you have all the facts of both, and can even compare and contrast the movie to prove that you did your work. If the film version is accurate, one could pick out the most obscure fact about the book that was not in the movie and mention it. This proves you read the book and that anyone second guessing you did not.
English teachers use the summer reading project to pinpoint which students may slack in their class. They add books that have been turned into movies to the list to trick the students into basing their grade on a film that is not accurate. It becomes hard for these students to prove that they did the work when it seems the teachers are so set on not believing them. This has happened to me many times, but works to your advantage if you know how to stop their tricks.
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