When will the shooting massacres stop? This is the question that comes to mind after each shooting comes across the media. After the 1996 school shooting, their becoming more common and each shooter idolizes the ones that came before. And today, I’m sad to say that another hostage situation that turned into a killing spree of a total of 13 (plus the killer- 14). In schools, it’s easier to spot the signs of a potential shooter because it’s more secluded. However, how can you suspect a shooter when the whole world is available? I find it horrific that anyone would want to take another person’s life, let alone several people’s lives. But no one knows what is on others minds and what everyone else is capable of, which can make it impossible to know what’s going to happen.
Today, a gunman invaded an immigration service center in Birmingham, New York, killing thirteen and critically wounding four, after shooting himself. There were thirty- seven survivors; the motivation of the shooter is a mystery. “Binghamton officials said the assailant apparently had ties to the center, which helps immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement and other issues.” The shooting took place 13 days before the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting. Is it a coincidence that all of these shootings seem to occur in spring or a few months either before or after?
The shooting was a horrible event that we hope won’t happen again, but realistically, there’s just a matter of time until another strikes. We can only pray for the lives lost in the massacre and hope that the future of America and the rest of the world, can start to clear from all violent shootings.
For more information, the following link is avaliable:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/nyregion/04hostage.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion
Friday, April 3, 2009
Teenage Girls Stand by Their Man
When it comes to relationships, there’s constantly he said, she said rumors. With the portrayal of the perfect couple, and the love for each other undeniable to everyone else, sometimes there are secrets that go on behind closed doors. Chris Brown and Rihanna seemed like an unlikely couple, but when they got together the fans were thrilled and so was the couple. Things were pretty hot and heavy for a while…until that is, both artists were supposed to perform at an award show, and both suspiciously cancelled. The next day word spread that Brown violently beat Rihanna, pictures quickly spread across all media, leaving fans in shock. Of course it didn’t take time for fans to start commenting on the matter, and with an interview with the New York Times, two high school girls shared their thoughts on the matter.
Once I read this article, I have to say that I was dumbfounded. I was getting so angry while reading this, because it just seemed so unbelievable that any person would respond in this situation, in this matter. One of the girls commented on the matter, even after she saw the picture of Rihanna’s bloodies and bruised face, “She probably made him mad for him to react like that,” the other ninth grader said. “You know, like, bring it on?”
Okay, this is not right, even if the two had been having an argument that still is no right for Chris to violently abuse Rihanna. First of: it’s illegal, and second, it’s wrong. In the article it says that the girls admitted the Brown overreacted. But would you just label: punching, biting and choking as overreacting? His response after Rihanna read a text message to Brown from another woman. The ninth grade girls said that Brown shouldn’t get punished, “So he shouldn’t get into trouble if she doesn’t feel that way,” one girl said. “She probably feels bad that it was her fault, so she took him back.” Surprisingly, with all of the different debates on the issue, more teenagers are supporting Brown than Rihanna. But the matter is a lot more serious than people are making it; they think the abuse is not a big deal. But isn’t it?
I would think it is, but others, sadly, don’t agree. One girl had said, “Yeah, men hit women, and women hit men. It was blown out of proportion because they’re celebrities… my best friend got hit by her boyfriend, and I don’t see people making a big deal about it.” “Everyone blames Rihanna for this, right?” she said. “She deserves it for being so jealous?” Some students nodded.
This matter just makes me speechless on how people don’t care between the difference of right and wrong, I think that people just need to take a look and figure out what’s really important, and what matter’s in life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/fashion/19brown.html?pagewanted=1&fta=y
Once I read this article, I have to say that I was dumbfounded. I was getting so angry while reading this, because it just seemed so unbelievable that any person would respond in this situation, in this matter. One of the girls commented on the matter, even after she saw the picture of Rihanna’s bloodies and bruised face, “She probably made him mad for him to react like that,” the other ninth grader said. “You know, like, bring it on?”
Okay, this is not right, even if the two had been having an argument that still is no right for Chris to violently abuse Rihanna. First of: it’s illegal, and second, it’s wrong. In the article it says that the girls admitted the Brown overreacted. But would you just label: punching, biting and choking as overreacting? His response after Rihanna read a text message to Brown from another woman. The ninth grade girls said that Brown shouldn’t get punished, “So he shouldn’t get into trouble if she doesn’t feel that way,” one girl said. “She probably feels bad that it was her fault, so she took him back.” Surprisingly, with all of the different debates on the issue, more teenagers are supporting Brown than Rihanna. But the matter is a lot more serious than people are making it; they think the abuse is not a big deal. But isn’t it?
I would think it is, but others, sadly, don’t agree. One girl had said, “Yeah, men hit women, and women hit men. It was blown out of proportion because they’re celebrities… my best friend got hit by her boyfriend, and I don’t see people making a big deal about it.” “Everyone blames Rihanna for this, right?” she said. “She deserves it for being so jealous?” Some students nodded.
This matter just makes me speechless on how people don’t care between the difference of right and wrong, I think that people just need to take a look and figure out what’s really important, and what matter’s in life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/fashion/19brown.html?pagewanted=1&fta=y
Paying in Full as the Ticket Into Colleges
The article “Paying in Full as the Ticket into Colleges,” is about the struggles that all high school seniors and their families are coming too, when applying to college. The colleges are now not only taking into consideration of how intellectual a student is, and how many clubs and community service hours they partake in, but also, how wealthy the student is.
With the low economy, colleges are willing to accept students that are on the waiting list or have transferred, rather than the highly academic applicants with a brilliant resume, just because they can’t afford to pay all expenses. In the article it states, “Colleges say they are not backing away from their desire to serve less affluent students; if anything, they say, taking more students who can afford to pay full price or close to it allows them to better afford those who cannot. But they say the inevitable result is that needier students will be shifted down to the less expensive and less prestigious institutions.”
Surprisingly, it also mentions in the article that students who do not apply for financial aid will also have a better chance of getting in. “This year, many of these colleges say they are more inclined to accept students who do not apply for aid, or whom they judge to be less needy based on other factors, like ZIP code or parents’ background…they shine a little brighter.” Also, colleges are even accepting more students early, so that they have security when December comes along. I found this article very interesting and I have to say that I was stunned at how colleges were going about this.
The main idea that stuck out was when it says, “Institutions that have pledged to admit students regardless of need are finding ways to increase the number of those who pay the full cost in ways that allow the colleges to maintain the claim of being need-blind — taking more students from the transfer or waiting lists, for instance, or admitting more foreign students who pay full tuition.”
The fact that Universities are willing to accept the applicants who can afford all of the expenses without applying for aid or any scholarships, even if they don’t have the greatest test scores or enough after school activities. This author does a great job at explaining details and weaving in quotes. Also, she did a great job of keeping the reader’s attention, it’s a matter that I’m very interested in and I learned a lot in the end.
For more information, the article is on the New York Times website.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/education/31college.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hpw
With the low economy, colleges are willing to accept students that are on the waiting list or have transferred, rather than the highly academic applicants with a brilliant resume, just because they can’t afford to pay all expenses. In the article it states, “Colleges say they are not backing away from their desire to serve less affluent students; if anything, they say, taking more students who can afford to pay full price or close to it allows them to better afford those who cannot. But they say the inevitable result is that needier students will be shifted down to the less expensive and less prestigious institutions.”
Surprisingly, it also mentions in the article that students who do not apply for financial aid will also have a better chance of getting in. “This year, many of these colleges say they are more inclined to accept students who do not apply for aid, or whom they judge to be less needy based on other factors, like ZIP code or parents’ background…they shine a little brighter.” Also, colleges are even accepting more students early, so that they have security when December comes along. I found this article very interesting and I have to say that I was stunned at how colleges were going about this.
The main idea that stuck out was when it says, “Institutions that have pledged to admit students regardless of need are finding ways to increase the number of those who pay the full cost in ways that allow the colleges to maintain the claim of being need-blind — taking more students from the transfer or waiting lists, for instance, or admitting more foreign students who pay full tuition.”
The fact that Universities are willing to accept the applicants who can afford all of the expenses without applying for aid or any scholarships, even if they don’t have the greatest test scores or enough after school activities. This author does a great job at explaining details and weaving in quotes. Also, she did a great job of keeping the reader’s attention, it’s a matter that I’m very interested in and I learned a lot in the end.
For more information, the article is on the New York Times website.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/education/31college.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hpw
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Big Test Before College? The Financial Aid Form
The New York Times article: “The Big Test Before College? The Financial Aid Form,” is mainly about how teenagers that are taking the steps to applying for college are re- thinking their decision after seeing the Financial Aid Form.
Student Financial Aid Services Inc created the form in 1992 “to simplify applying for college.” The form is thought of an intimidation factor with its over one hundred questions, scaring off families “who are most in need.” In fact, some people have even been paying for professional help with the form called “Fafsa.” Families are reaching out in desperation, with the numbers of people increasing daily, their sought out to fill out the form. With this, they do what they have to paying the money, which costs around $80 to $100.
The form is changing constantly, and is leading on the families to think that it will help. “Critics say that even when all those questions are answered, the form does a poor job of assessing financial worth, both because it excludes assets like cars, boats, the family home and some family businesses, and because it does not factor in the high cost of living in areas like New York.”
Families should at least be receiving a substantial form that will help with their teenagers’ futures, especially since they’re paying all of this money, even when they are struggling along the way.
President Barack Obama promised for the form to become eliminated for good, however, until that time comes, all we can do is wait. The problem with creating a new form and making it simpler is that colleges and universities might create another form, so that they can get more information.
“The financial aid community wants precision, and a formula that accurately assesses ability to pay, so there’s resistance to any approach that’s simpler but less precise,” said Mark Kantrowitz, president of finaid.org, a financial aid site. To along with this, “There’s also a very real concern that if you discard the questions the states, or certain institutions, wanted answered, they’ll create their own financial aid forms, putting us right back where we were before the Fafsa.”
I think that the form should be free or a decent price, to remember that the economy is low, and people are struggling with paying for things. This is especially when it is so important like college, no student should not be given the chance to go to college. And when the student wants to go and they can’t afford it, with Financial Aid Forms, they’re going to opt out of it and say that they’ll go when they can afford it, but never end up going.
They also shouldn’t be making the forms hard to understand, and should include all of the necessary information. I think that paying to fill out the Financial Aid Form is disappointing and I hope that when it’s my time to have to deal with this, most of the problems that are happening now will be gone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/education/22fafsa.html?_r=2&hp
Student Financial Aid Services Inc created the form in 1992 “to simplify applying for college.” The form is thought of an intimidation factor with its over one hundred questions, scaring off families “who are most in need.” In fact, some people have even been paying for professional help with the form called “Fafsa.” Families are reaching out in desperation, with the numbers of people increasing daily, their sought out to fill out the form. With this, they do what they have to paying the money, which costs around $80 to $100.
The form is changing constantly, and is leading on the families to think that it will help. “Critics say that even when all those questions are answered, the form does a poor job of assessing financial worth, both because it excludes assets like cars, boats, the family home and some family businesses, and because it does not factor in the high cost of living in areas like New York.”
Families should at least be receiving a substantial form that will help with their teenagers’ futures, especially since they’re paying all of this money, even when they are struggling along the way.
President Barack Obama promised for the form to become eliminated for good, however, until that time comes, all we can do is wait. The problem with creating a new form and making it simpler is that colleges and universities might create another form, so that they can get more information.
“The financial aid community wants precision, and a formula that accurately assesses ability to pay, so there’s resistance to any approach that’s simpler but less precise,” said Mark Kantrowitz, president of finaid.org, a financial aid site. To along with this, “There’s also a very real concern that if you discard the questions the states, or certain institutions, wanted answered, they’ll create their own financial aid forms, putting us right back where we were before the Fafsa.”
I think that the form should be free or a decent price, to remember that the economy is low, and people are struggling with paying for things. This is especially when it is so important like college, no student should not be given the chance to go to college. And when the student wants to go and they can’t afford it, with Financial Aid Forms, they’re going to opt out of it and say that they’ll go when they can afford it, but never end up going.
They also shouldn’t be making the forms hard to understand, and should include all of the necessary information. I think that paying to fill out the Financial Aid Form is disappointing and I hope that when it’s my time to have to deal with this, most of the problems that are happening now will be gone.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/education/22fafsa.html?_r=2&hp
Friday, January 2, 2009
A Sister Copes With Her Brother’s Autism
The article “A Sister Copes With Her Brother’s Autism,” was found on the New York Times website, under the following link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/a-sister-copes-with-her-brothers-autism/?em. The article is about how a child that suffers from special needs affects the other members of their family. This article is based on a report found on the National Public Radio, titled: Coping With an Autistic Brother: A Teenager’s Take. This article focuses on a specific family, a fifteen year old named Marissa Skillings, “whose eleven year old brother Andrew, has Asperger’s syndrome which is a form of autism.”
She discusses the challenges of living with a brother suffering with autism such as: it taking a toll on her relationship with her parents, she gets a lack of attention, and avoids time at home. “I come home and deal with it when I have to, and when I don’t have to deal with it, I make sure I don’t,” she said. However, with all of the hardships that her brother’s autism causes, she also discusses how much she cares about him. “She and her brother tell the story of the time a neighborhood boy picked on Andrew. She chased the bully down the street, cornered the boy and slapped him.” This makes me think about how siblings take care of each other.
I know that if my older brother suffered from autism or even if he didn’t suffer from a disability, that I would be very protective and am protective of him. Older siblings will fight for their younger ones in most cases; they feel that they have a responsibility as a sibling to deal with. Everyone knows how mean kids can be, and I know as a sister, I wouldn’t want my sibling to deal with that and if I found out about it, I would make sure that it ended. I would do everything in my power to stop the harassment that my sibling was suffering from, because it’s not right. In the book, “Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys,” by Kate Brian, there are seven brothers, and of the seven brothers one of them suffers from the same type of autism as the young boy in the article. In the book, it discusses how the family is affected by it, and how the young boy deals with it himself.
In the article it states, “He talks nonstop; talking and talking and talking. He’ll tell anybody information about any animal whether they want to hear it or not. People can tell Andrew has a disability…. When he gets nervous he moves his hands back and forth.” And like in the book, the brother talks nonstop and the information that he focuses on now is about the New York Yankees. He knows all there is to know about them, and just talks about fact, scores, and the history of the great and historic baseball team. Living with a sibling that suffers from autism must be difficult. What would you do in the situation? Do you think that you could handle what it takes? How far would you go to protect a sibling?
She discusses the challenges of living with a brother suffering with autism such as: it taking a toll on her relationship with her parents, she gets a lack of attention, and avoids time at home. “I come home and deal with it when I have to, and when I don’t have to deal with it, I make sure I don’t,” she said. However, with all of the hardships that her brother’s autism causes, she also discusses how much she cares about him. “She and her brother tell the story of the time a neighborhood boy picked on Andrew. She chased the bully down the street, cornered the boy and slapped him.” This makes me think about how siblings take care of each other.
I know that if my older brother suffered from autism or even if he didn’t suffer from a disability, that I would be very protective and am protective of him. Older siblings will fight for their younger ones in most cases; they feel that they have a responsibility as a sibling to deal with. Everyone knows how mean kids can be, and I know as a sister, I wouldn’t want my sibling to deal with that and if I found out about it, I would make sure that it ended. I would do everything in my power to stop the harassment that my sibling was suffering from, because it’s not right. In the book, “Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys,” by Kate Brian, there are seven brothers, and of the seven brothers one of them suffers from the same type of autism as the young boy in the article. In the book, it discusses how the family is affected by it, and how the young boy deals with it himself.
In the article it states, “He talks nonstop; talking and talking and talking. He’ll tell anybody information about any animal whether they want to hear it or not. People can tell Andrew has a disability…. When he gets nervous he moves his hands back and forth.” And like in the book, the brother talks nonstop and the information that he focuses on now is about the New York Yankees. He knows all there is to know about them, and just talks about fact, scores, and the history of the great and historic baseball team. Living with a sibling that suffers from autism must be difficult. What would you do in the situation? Do you think that you could handle what it takes? How far would you go to protect a sibling?
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama Team Weighs What To Take On First
After winning the 2008 presidential election, Barak Obama and his advisors are planning on what they should take care of right away. " We don't have a second to lose, says Obama."
His first priority would be an economic recovery program to get the nation’s business system back on track and people back to work. But advisers said the question was whether they could tackle health care, climate change and energy dependence at once or needed to stagger these initiatives over time."
Obama is not waiting for anything and is planning on moving forward with all of his plans as soon as possible, however some are thinking that Obama is taking on too much and somethings are just out of his hands to deal with.
“We can’t afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle class families," says Obama.
I'm very impressed and thankful that Obama is already putting his ideas into action. The U.S. needs a change and has problems that need to be taken care of as soon as possible. I think that Obama is strategizing on everything that he knows needs to be taken care of and to achieve, then Obama will settle on taking taking care of things one at a time. Which will stettle the debacle of Obama taking on too much. This will also be an organzied way of handling problems.
This article also gave me alot of insight on what Obama is planning for the future of the United States. And what changes to expect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/us/politics/09promises.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
His first priority would be an economic recovery program to get the nation’s business system back on track and people back to work. But advisers said the question was whether they could tackle health care, climate change and energy dependence at once or needed to stagger these initiatives over time."
Obama is not waiting for anything and is planning on moving forward with all of his plans as soon as possible, however some are thinking that Obama is taking on too much and somethings are just out of his hands to deal with.
“We can’t afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle class families," says Obama.
I'm very impressed and thankful that Obama is already putting his ideas into action. The U.S. needs a change and has problems that need to be taken care of as soon as possible. I think that Obama is strategizing on everything that he knows needs to be taken care of and to achieve, then Obama will settle on taking taking care of things one at a time. Which will stettle the debacle of Obama taking on too much. This will also be an organzied way of handling problems.
This article also gave me alot of insight on what Obama is planning for the future of the United States. And what changes to expect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/us/politics/09promises.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Friday, October 10, 2008
No Age Told 'No Obama Shirt' During Late Night TV Performance
The article that I chose was about how a rock band called No Age, had a performance on "The Late Show With Craig Ferguson" and had been almost ruined due to political censorship. This is because, band member Randy Randall (guitarist) wore a Barack Obama shirt.
"I felt it was important to voice my choice for presidential candidate, Barack Obama, seeing as the episode would air eight days before election day. Dean [Spunt] and I decided that it would be better to take advantage of the stage we had at our disposal ... Access to affordable health care is an issue very near to my heart for many personal reasons and I am sure that many of you can relate. I have lost and stood by as many of my close family members have battled with terrible illnesses. I have myself gone through traumatic hospitalizations only to come out the other side alive but horribly in debt," says Randall.
The band ended up performing after Randall wrote 'Free Health Care' on his shirt and somehow "obscured the Obama image."
So, at the end of the article it had some great questions that I think are very important.
Should artists, actors and anyone else on television/radio be allowed to publicly support their candidate of choice? Did No Age do the right thing or should they have not performed at all?
My opinion on this issue is that, at concerts bands should be able to voice their opinions and wear what they want, but the whole concert should not be about politics. From my own experience at a Goo Goo Dolls concert in 2000, the band commented on politics dealing with President Bush and freely voiced their own opinions on the matter. Some of the audience members got offended and most were angry for politics being brought up at the concert.
I think that the band should be able to wear what they want in support of whatever they want. They can also be able to express their own feelings on the matter, however, it should be held to a point on where to draw the line on what they say.
"I felt it was important to voice my choice for presidential candidate, Barack Obama, seeing as the episode would air eight days before election day. Dean [Spunt] and I decided that it would be better to take advantage of the stage we had at our disposal ... Access to affordable health care is an issue very near to my heart for many personal reasons and I am sure that many of you can relate. I have lost and stood by as many of my close family members have battled with terrible illnesses. I have myself gone through traumatic hospitalizations only to come out the other side alive but horribly in debt," says Randall.
The band ended up performing after Randall wrote 'Free Health Care' on his shirt and somehow "obscured the Obama image."
So, at the end of the article it had some great questions that I think are very important.
Should artists, actors and anyone else on television/radio be allowed to publicly support their candidate of choice? Did No Age do the right thing or should they have not performed at all?
My opinion on this issue is that, at concerts bands should be able to voice their opinions and wear what they want, but the whole concert should not be about politics. From my own experience at a Goo Goo Dolls concert in 2000, the band commented on politics dealing with President Bush and freely voiced their own opinions on the matter. Some of the audience members got offended and most were angry for politics being brought up at the concert.
I think that the band should be able to wear what they want in support of whatever they want. They can also be able to express their own feelings on the matter, however, it should be held to a point on where to draw the line on what they say.
http://www.buzznet.com/musicnews/no-age-told-no-obama-j3147391/
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