Katie's blog

Superbowl Commercials 2011

       I personally did not watch the Super Bowl because I am not a really big football fan.  But I did see some of the commercials.  One that I really liked was the Chrysler commercial.  This commercial showed how Detroit has suffered a lot since the car industry has taken a hit and many people have lost jobs.  This commercial is telling everyone that Detroit is tough and is a strong city that will continue doing what it does.  The commercial, to me, is showing what American is really about, which is hard working people trying to provide for their families and not living extravagant lives. They still show this commercial, but it is edited for time, a lot and I think that they should.  Another commercial that I really liked was a commercial by Bridgstone.  This commercial had a driver avoid hitting a beaver and then a few months later the beaver chops down a tree to prevent the driver from getting his car washed away by a flood. This commercial was cutie and funny because the guy did not kill the little beaver and then at the end the beaver like air fist bumps the driver.   The other commercial is one that I did not like.  This commercial was for the Android.  The commercial started out sketchy because it was like this dirty part of some downtown city with all these creepy people around.  Then we see how these people sewed on two severed human thumbs onto a robot.  This really grossed me out because the thumbs would randomly twitch and it was just awful and traumatizing. 

College Admissions

            In this article, the author offers ideas about how students should take classes that challenge them rather than give them an easy A.  This article goes on to say that many kids are nervous and anxious when it comes to getting college acceptance letters.  Many kids have their top schools and want to get into them.  This stress is also on the parents because parents want what is best for their kids yet have to worry about paying for top schools and tutors to get into these schools.  Parents start this stress when kids are little and try to get them into the best pre-schools and elementary schools.  Then parents pay for expensive tutors and camps to help kids with school and SAT’s scores.  It is stuff like this that affects kids getting into colleges.  All colleges really look at is grades and test scores without really looking at the level of the class.  There could be a person who took hard classes and yet did not get A’s while someone took less challenging classes and got A’s and as a result colleges can not make that distinction.  Because of this kids that are hard workers and smart do not get into these colleges.   Also colleges look at past schools to see if the person went to the best schools as a child.  Sometimes this is impossible for people because they can not afford the best schools and yet the person that wants to go to an Ivy League school because they are smart and hard workers.  Colleges need to look at the level of the class and if that person took challenging class compared to easy classes.  Colleges need to also look at extra circular actives such as volunteer work, sports, or the arts to look at quality rather than the quality of extra things a person is involved in.  If colleges use this as a way to pick kids for their college then they will pick good hard working kids that will be great successes in life.

CNN Hero

            Roy Foster is a veteran who started an organization, with another veteran, called the nonprofit Faith*Hope*Love*Charity.   This charity helps veterans who are homeless and have no work after serving our country.  Foster was born in rural Georgia and entered into the army right after high school.  During his six years in the military Foster experimented with drugs and alcohol and by the time he left the army in 1980 Foster was a full blown alcoholic.  Foster then spent the next ten years batting his addiction and at sometimes was homeless.  Struggled for sobriety, Foster found it hard to find programs that offered support to veterans or provided the help that he needed.   By the early 1990’s Foster became sober and became a substance abuse counselor.  Still, Foster saw how veterans were falling through the cracks and realized that something needed to be done.  Foster along with another veteran started the Faith*Hope*Love*Charity and after six years Faith*Hope*Love*Charity created Stand Down.  This organization offers addiction support and counseling, food, clothing, a place to sleep, and transportation to the VA hospital for additional medical and mental health care.  This gives veterans a chance to start over after serving our country.  Roy Foster is a hero because he is helping the men that fight for our country and are ignored by the country.  After returning from war and being discharged the army and our country do little to help those who come home.  These men and women risk their lives to protect us and our country and once they return home many of them have physical injuries or PTSD.  This charity allows for them to receive help and shelter so they can restart their lives after returning from war.  Roy Foster has done a good thing to help our soldiers and promoting awareness for returning soldiers that suffer physically and emotionally.  Without Foster’s help many of these solders would have died from addiction or from being homeless.  Foster has saved many lives with his program and as a result is a great hero. 

finance

    I feel that a course like this could be very helpful to students at school.  This is helpful because many kids do not know how to use things like retirement funds or mortgages and this course could give them an idea and teach them how to do it.  If kids leave school not knowing how to do these things then they will never be able to when they are older.  If we teach this to kids at a young age then they can use a credit card and checking accounts at a young age and know how to use it responsibly.  Also if they can learn about mortgages and retirement funds then kids can start to think about their future and make choices that could affect themselves in a positive way.  Also with the recession young people need to learn all they can about finance now and this would be a great way to get them started with the information they need to know.  Also this can teach young people how to take care of their finances and how to prepare for the future.  Many young people leave high school with no idea of how the real world works. This class would give them the first chance to really experience real life and what they will deal with in the future.  If we do not do this then kids will never know what they are doing and may never learn how to do these very important this that could really affect their lives. 

Haiti

        The earthquake was one of the worst disasters seen by the world in years.  Hundreds of people were killed and the recovery and clean up efforts reached into the million of dollars.  After the disaster, many people began to send money to organizations like to Red Cross to help aid the recovery efforts.  America did it’s best to help Haiti but still other people wondered if this was the right decision and whether or not we should continue to help them.  Many people wondered why we were helping Haiti now instead of before the earthquake. If America does get involved with Haiti now and try to help its future the consequences could be devastating and make the US suffer.  If the US helps now than we will feel the need to help every nation suffering from horrible conditions.  If we do this we will then risk our economy and put us into more debt.  It is not our obligation as a nation to help other nations.  Not many other nations help because they see and understand this.  We felt the need when it can to Iraq and Iran.  We felt the need to spread democracy which ultimately plunged us into a war for almost 10 years without change to their government.  We should not focus on Haiti with their future since our future in American is unknown.  In American we are suffered a recession with millions of Americans out of work.  Also many people live in poor housing projects and low income housing that are on the boarder line of being condemned.  If we do not help Haiti, their way of life will continue the way that it has. Although it is nice to try to help Haiti, especially during the country’s time of need, we can help Haiti yet we should stay out of its uncertain future since our own future is unknown.      

           

Growing Up Scripted

I agree with Doyle.  Doyle says, “The problem is that adolescents imagine adulthood as an extension of their own experience, and most see themselves as overworked, overregulated, and overstressed.” (Doyle).  Someday I will have to go to work, come home, take care of my kids, make dinner, and then house work.  This craziness and stress is similar to what I deal with on some days. I feel that he is right in what he is saying since today many kids stress over things more than they ever used to. Years ago kids were able to have more free time compared to life now.  Today many kids have work, homework, or extra circular activates that they devote their times.  In the old days, kids had less homework and were able to spend more time having fun.  Today homework time for kids has risen and that makes it hard for kids to have fun.  This, as Doyle says, leads to kids being diagnosed with many personality disorders.  “They are far more likely to be diagnosed with a psychological malady of the stress, depression, or attention-deficit variety and to be medicated.” (Doyle).  These are problems that full grown adults should be dealing with, not teenagers.  Doyle also points out how different life in the 1970’s is compared to today’s world through his experiments. “In middle and high school, I never felt too burdened by homework to read extensively for pleasure, and I played two varsity sports. I applied to two colleges and paid my own way through the state school that accepted me.” (Doyle).  This seems foreign to kids in today’s world.  Now, kids spend hours doing homework and might to limit their extra activates depending on how much homework they get.  Kids also leave college with debt compared to what Doyle dealt with when he went to college.  When I go to college I hope to leave with little to no debt but in today’s world it’s hard to say if that is possible.  I think thought the author’s ideas on how we can change things to make kids lives a lot easier is a great idea.          “I like to believe we could change direction. For starters, we could repeal the No Child Left Behind Act, offer free public education through college, eliminate most standardized tests, reconfigure town planning to make neighborhoods accessible to bicycles and pedestrians, and slash homework requirements. Doing so would be freeing.” (Doyle). If we follow these tips presented by Doyle then we can relieve stress on kids and allow them to have fun with their childhood and teen years before they enter the adult world.

Inventions

            I think that the best invention is the solar shingle.  This is because this can allow us to use the sun as a way to get energy.  This can allow us to lessen our carbon foot print and lessen the pollution that is released into the world.  These shingles can also be used for similar uses besides just on houses.  In a recent car commercial for the Toyota Prius, an idea was introduced that the solar panel ventilate system on the car could be used on medical tents after natural disasters to ventilate tents.  Since this is used to ventilate the tents this technology could possibly be used to power the tents.  These solar panels can also be used on buildings that use a lot of energy.  This could be schools, apartment buildings, hospitals, and large office buildings.   This could cut down on pollution and still allow the buildings to be in operation and to be in use.  Since the cost is 10% to 15% the regular cost and quicker to install it can be used by most homes and is ideal for offices.  If this technology is mastered we can use this for cars as well to eliminate gas exhaust.  This would be ideal for such things as trucks or larger cars that require a lot of gasoline.  This new roofing system allows for people to have a roof while also helping the environment.  In today’s world with global warming and the fear of losing natural resources, this is a great way to help the environment while living comfortably. 

Childhood Toys

When I was growing up I had a lot of toys but my absolute favorites were my stuff animals.  My two favorite ones were my stuffed bear and stuffed Dumbo. When I was three my family took me to the mall and there was a display of bears from this jeans company.  The bears wore a pair of overalls form the company and had their logo on the overalls.  I saw the bears and wanted one but my mom really didn’t want to buy it for me, so my grandpa said that he would but it for me.  I still have that bear and sometimes when I am upset or miss my grandpa, who died when I was seven, I hug the bear and remember him and it sometimes makes me fell better.  I got the stuffed Dumbo at the Disney Store when I was about 10.  It’s important to me because when I was little my mom would sing the theme “Baby Mine” form the movie Dumbo when I was sick or just upset.  Also the relationship in the movie between mother and child was like similar to my mother and me.  I still have that Dumbo and still sleep with it every night.  Since I got that stuffed Dumbo I started to collect them and now I currently have 4 Dumbo’s and will keep collecting. I also have an elephant charm on my Pandora bracelet I honor of my love for the movie ad stuffed toy. These stuffed toys are very important to me because when I am sad or upset I hold them and they make me feel better, especially the teddy bear.  After my grandfather died I could not touch the bear for years because of the grief I felt after his death, but soon I was able to get past that.  Now I hug the bear when I feel bad or miss him because it makes me feel better and bring me back when he was alive and when I was a little kid. 

Athletes

I think that if colleges started accepting students to their school just based on athletic talent is disgusting.  The whole purpose on going to college is to better your education so that someday you can get a good job.  If students are going to a college based on athletics then they are just taking up spots that they do not truly deserve.  These spots should be given to people with good grades, who have worked long and hard to get into the college they want to go to.  In high school there are always rules, along the line that a certain GPA or set of grades should be met in order to participate in sports or to stay on the team.  Why should this change when entering college.  If we start letting people into college based on just sports than we miss the whole point of college and college loses some of its importance in life.  If we let people into to college who do not deserve to go to that college then we hurt them.  These people will have horrible grades and will have noting to fall back on if their sports career fails.  If we let them cheat in college then we are taking away the importance of education and, in a way, insulting the students who are smart and work hard.  If someone who did not do sports cheated then they would be reprimanded or expelled for their actions.  But athletes would not suffer consequences because they are more important on the field then the class room.  If this does become a trend, accept students based on sports, than what is the point for students who do not play sports?  How fair is it that they are denied an education just because they do not play football? And if this does happen then people who go to Harvard, Brown, or Yale will not be there because they are smart or are gifted, but just because they know how to throw a football very well. 

Teachers

Throughout my many years of schooling, there have been teachers that have inspired me and others who have done the complete opposite.  Although I know that teaching is not easy, some teachers have an easier time connecting with their students.  This is usually because they are passionate about what they teach or really enjoy teaching.   Still if I had to give two character traits that are helpful they would be to understand what kids are going through and to be passionate about what they teach.  If teachers understand that kids have after school activates or have lives after school then they will know not to give huge amounts of work that people probably will not do.  Kids will then just do work to get it done rather than do it and learn from it, this is a waste because no one is learning from it.  Also if teachers know what you are dealing with then they will be easier to talk to and truly understand your problems.  Teachers who have a passion or love for what they have then they make the class topic more interesting and also sets the mood for the class.  If a teacher has a love for the subject then that excitement and love for the subject is sometimes transferred to the students and makes them interested in the topic.  One topic that is bad is when teaches really do not enjoy teaching or hate what they teach.  This then again sets the mood in the class room of dread and annoyance.  Also another characteristic that is bad is when teachers do not give students some brakes or help them with some type of extra work or accept late work.  These teachers need to realize that kids have other classes and after schools activities and because of this some work can not be done.  Although school is important, sometimes there is to much work to be done in one night.  When the teachers do not accept late work it can bring down the grade and the student then has problems with that class. But, if they accept late work then the grade stays ok and there is stress taken off the student.  This also shows that the teacher is compassionate and cares about the well being of the student and their grades.