Today the news broke that a 22 year old American women Amanda Know was convicted of Murder in Italy where she was studying abroad. Amanda has been sentenced to twenty-six years in prison. The court could have given her life in prison, which is the stiffest punishment in Italy, but they lowered it from what prosecutors wanted it to be. Her family is going to continue to fight for her, but I think it will be a rough road ahead of them while they are fighting.
I can’t even come to terms thinking about if I was the one who was studying abroad then one accused of murder, then convicted of murdering a man in a foreign country. Here is a college student that is trying to graduate from college, but will probably never be able to finish her degree now.
When students first learn that they are going to study abroad most if not all of them are extremely excited that they are getting this opportunity to go to a foreign country. Many may have the excitement ware off when the time comes closer for them to leave there comfort zone from their college and home where their parents are at. This can be such a scary time, but a very exciting time at the same time.
When you go to a foreign country the medical system and judicial systems are different from what we have in the United States. Everyone knows this, but I have a friend that was studying abroad in Scotland and was injured which led him to have to have surgery on his arm. Tim and his friends were having a normal day in the country side of Scotland and they decided to rent mopeds to ride around. When they were riding around Tim fell off his moped and broke his arm so badly that his arm required surgery to repair it. Since he is a different country his health insurance was a big mess that he had to deal with and he only had his friends that went to school with him that he had only known for a little while. When we spoke with his mom she said that it is very hard to know that her son is in a different country, injured and she can’t do anything to help him. She could have flew to Scotland to be with him, but plane tickets are expensive and the economy is not helping with this either. She said it was one of the worst feelings she has ever had while being a mother knowing that her son is injured and there is nothing she can do about it since he is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. She just prayed for him to heal quickly and to enjoy the rest of his time abroad in Scotland.
When you are studying abroad there are always risks you are going to take and some will be good and some will be bad. It is never easy going away to school, let along going to a completely different country where you no nobody and have to make friends all over again. I do not know how students do this every single semester. I have thought about studying abroad and I really like the idea about it, but I do not think I could handle it personally. When you study abroad you are there for five months and most of the time the only contact you have with your family is scarce phone calls, emails, and snail mail. (mail sent through the post office or FedEx or UPS). Except with today’s technology you can have better conversations with your family through Skype or other online video messaging services. The only issue with video messaging is the time difference between the United States and countries in Europe and Asia.
A girl from my hometown is studying abroad as a junior this year in Taiwan. I do not know how she is doing it, but she is loving it and having a blast. I can understand studying abroad in Europe, but in Asia, I think it would be harder since the customs over there are very different from ours. Europe is similar to us, but we are not all the same. Customs can be a very sensitive subject in foreign countries and sometimes are not the easiest things to get use to, but since we would only be visiting for a little while, should the countries expect us to comply with all there customs and rituals they follow daily?
I think that we should not have to follow all there customs to the tee, but we should respect them enough to try and follow what they practice, even if it is eating something that we do not like, or worshiping a different way than we are use to. It is there life and we have a very different one from there’s, but we still need to respect them no matter what happens.
It is sad to see what happened to Amanda Knox in Italy, but it is a chance that anyone takes who studies abroad for a semester or year. Living in a different country, with different people can be hard on not only yourself, but also your family who is waiting for you to come home. Can you imagine if you were Amanda Knox’s parents when they received a phone call saying that their daughter is going to be tried for murder in a different country? I cannot even begin to think what they are going through and what they are going to have to go through in the next few months. It is going to be tough on them, but they will come through. If you have a strong family and strong relationships with each other you can make it through anything. The Knox family will survive this, it may not be easy but they will find away because they love their daughter and are going to support her no matter what, just like Tim’s mom did when he was injured in Scotland.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Gender Roles in Families
This week during thanksgiving break, I was at home looking over my notes for my Family Relationships class and started to think about gender roles in families, particularly my family. Every theory can say a family has to function a certain way, but does it really matter? In my opinion there is no set way of how a family has its gender roles set in their family. My parents are still married, but if you want traditional gender roles in a family where there is only one parent how can that happen? The parent has to fulfill both gender roles because they do not have a partner to help them. Even if you have a partner to help you or not, gender roles do not have to be traditional, they can fluctuate between both partners, like they do in my family. By having the gender roles being able to change between partners it will show children that you do not always have to do the same thing in your family and can help you when you grow up and have your own family
My family has modern views on how daily jobs in the house are split up among the four of us. I would say that the gender roles in our house are expected for the person that you would think is normally responsible, but not all the time do the gender roles stay that way. Our family does not have strict traditional gender roles or strict egalitarian roles either. It is in between the two depending what needs to be done and what all our family is doing on that particular day.
My mother most of the time is responsible for cooking dinner, cleaning the house, washing clothes, and making sure everything in the house is the way it should be. Even though she does most of these chores, my brother and I are still responsible for cleaning the house and washing clothes. My mother does the majority of this work, but we help out with it in some way. My dad on the other hand does most of the work outside of the house for example mowing the lawn, raking leaves and other yard jobs that need to be complete. He helps clean the house also and wash clothes, but his main responsibility is the jobs that require physical labor.
Even though we seem to have traditional gender roles, we do have different roles that we fulfill when we need to. During the holidays I know that the traditional roles are pretty much what we follow, but when it comes to raking leaves in the fall we all go outside and help my dad with that because it is a big job. Or in the spring when we have to spread mulch to plant new flowers traditional gender roles would say that only the man would do it, but we all go outside again and help because it is a long and hard day, especially if it was just one person doing all the work and our yard is not small so it makes it even harder for just one person to do it by themselves.
One other way we split up the roles in our family is fixing dinner. This is the one way that I would say we are strictly traditional in our house. I have grown up with my mom coming home from school and always fixing dinner. My dad has done it occasionally when my mom would be late or could not make it home in time for dinner. This role has been passed down from my grandparents and will probably be passes down to me and maybe my brother. It does not say anywhere that the wife is responsible for fixing a hot dinner every night, but from many years ago when men worked and women stayed home with the children it was always the wife’s job to have a hot meal ready when their husband came home. In today’s world most women are working because of different reasons and so does my mom, but she always finds a way to fix dinner for us. I know that this will probably be passed on to me since I enjoy cooking and I also view this a responsibility of the wife, but it doesn’t mean that I will not allow my husband to fix dinner when I get married. I feel that my brother who lives by himself now and is going to school will fix dinner for his wife and family a lot whenever he gets married since he is responsible for fixing his own dinner now. If he does not fix his own dinner than he will not eat that night since he is not living at home anymore.
Gender roles in my family have been a positive influence on me. Learning how to cook, clean and complete household chores when I was growing up will help me later in life when I am living on my own and have a family. I also know that they have influenced my brother positively also because the way he lives and takes care of himself while he is living by himself in a city far away from home. I know others how have not had to do the chores while we grew up that is going to hurt them when they are living on their own. Knowing how to cook and clean is an important part of living on your own, by showing others that you can take care of yourself and a family when you get ready to have one. Even if your family has egalitarian or traditional gender roles, it is still important for young boys and girls to learn certain traits while growing up to help them later in life. I know that I will use what I have learned from my parents everyday when I have my own family or own house, just as my brother is doing now. Seeing him being successful, and living on his own shows me that I can do it someday also.
My family has modern views on how daily jobs in the house are split up among the four of us. I would say that the gender roles in our house are expected for the person that you would think is normally responsible, but not all the time do the gender roles stay that way. Our family does not have strict traditional gender roles or strict egalitarian roles either. It is in between the two depending what needs to be done and what all our family is doing on that particular day.
My mother most of the time is responsible for cooking dinner, cleaning the house, washing clothes, and making sure everything in the house is the way it should be. Even though she does most of these chores, my brother and I are still responsible for cleaning the house and washing clothes. My mother does the majority of this work, but we help out with it in some way. My dad on the other hand does most of the work outside of the house for example mowing the lawn, raking leaves and other yard jobs that need to be complete. He helps clean the house also and wash clothes, but his main responsibility is the jobs that require physical labor.
Even though we seem to have traditional gender roles, we do have different roles that we fulfill when we need to. During the holidays I know that the traditional roles are pretty much what we follow, but when it comes to raking leaves in the fall we all go outside and help my dad with that because it is a big job. Or in the spring when we have to spread mulch to plant new flowers traditional gender roles would say that only the man would do it, but we all go outside again and help because it is a long and hard day, especially if it was just one person doing all the work and our yard is not small so it makes it even harder for just one person to do it by themselves.
One other way we split up the roles in our family is fixing dinner. This is the one way that I would say we are strictly traditional in our house. I have grown up with my mom coming home from school and always fixing dinner. My dad has done it occasionally when my mom would be late or could not make it home in time for dinner. This role has been passed down from my grandparents and will probably be passes down to me and maybe my brother. It does not say anywhere that the wife is responsible for fixing a hot dinner every night, but from many years ago when men worked and women stayed home with the children it was always the wife’s job to have a hot meal ready when their husband came home. In today’s world most women are working because of different reasons and so does my mom, but she always finds a way to fix dinner for us. I know that this will probably be passed on to me since I enjoy cooking and I also view this a responsibility of the wife, but it doesn’t mean that I will not allow my husband to fix dinner when I get married. I feel that my brother who lives by himself now and is going to school will fix dinner for his wife and family a lot whenever he gets married since he is responsible for fixing his own dinner now. If he does not fix his own dinner than he will not eat that night since he is not living at home anymore.
Gender roles in my family have been a positive influence on me. Learning how to cook, clean and complete household chores when I was growing up will help me later in life when I am living on my own and have a family. I also know that they have influenced my brother positively also because the way he lives and takes care of himself while he is living by himself in a city far away from home. I know others how have not had to do the chores while we grew up that is going to hurt them when they are living on their own. Knowing how to cook and clean is an important part of living on your own, by showing others that you can take care of yourself and a family when you get ready to have one. Even if your family has egalitarian or traditional gender roles, it is still important for young boys and girls to learn certain traits while growing up to help them later in life. I know that I will use what I have learned from my parents everyday when I have my own family or own house, just as my brother is doing now. Seeing him being successful, and living on his own shows me that I can do it someday also.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Oh There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
Every year we always come back to the same week before Thanksgiving. When this week comes, students start to countdown the days until Thanksgiving, then after that the countdown begins for Christmas Break. I personally figured out when Thanksgiving was and when my Christmas break was back in September. Being in college this year has definitely made me realize how truly excited I am to be going home and spending time with my family.
When it comes to this time of year, you hear everyone starting to talk about their plans for the holiday season. I was home the weekend of November 7th and I was already asking what our family was going to do for Christmas. I know that it would not have changed since last year, but since I am gone to college now I wanted to make sure everything was the same. We always do the same thing each year. Get the Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, decorate the house, bake cookies, have family and friends over for Christmas Eve Dinner, open presents Christmas morning and spend the day with my family. It is a good way to spend the holidays, but are we truly remembering why we are celebrating Christmas? Christmas is not about gifts, or who can put up the biggest decorations and lights outside of their house, or who gets the best presents that morning. Christmas is about celebrating our Saviors Birth.
In today’s world everyone seems to be consumed by their possessions when it comes time for Christmas. Sometimes we can see people try to outdo other for Thanksgiving, but is it really in the spirit of Thanksgiving to see who can prepare the biggest meal? I do not think we should try and outdo each other for the holidays. This time of year is meant to be spent with the people you love, even if all you do is eat a meal together or watch a football game, you are still spending time if the ones you love.
I also think it is important to help out your community during the holidays because there are so many people in today’s world who need help with money and food to spend their Thanksgiving Day or Christmas day with their families. One way we always help out our community is by getting up Thanksgiving morning and participating in a 5k race/walk for the rescue mission downtown. The theme for the event is “Move your feet so others can eat”. This event has only been going on the past few years and each year more and more people are coming out to walk and run to help others out. This year there is no reason why I shouldn’t get up Thanksgiving morning and go walk to help others out. I am going to have the entire week off and I can sleep in then, so we should all be able to give up one morning, even if it is a holiday to go help out the less fortunate especially with today’s economy and the number of people who have lost their jobs this year. This holiday season is going to be really hard on some people and if I can help them by getting out of bed one morning and walk around downtown for 3.2 miles, then I am going to help them.
Now this year is the time we need to really think about others and how it is better to give than receive. Not only for families who have lost their jobs in this economy, but for soldiers who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and can’t come home for the holidays. It is very hard not only for the soldiers but for their families who are back home waiting for them to return. I know that it is especially hard for the parents and spouses because my neighbor is currently station in Afghanistan and is in the middle of all the fighting which makes it even harder for his parents to get into the holiday spirit when they are concerned with their son’s safety and how we is doing. You know it is not a good situation when the showers consist of one bottle of water and a baby wipe each day. There is not telling how long we are going to have troops overseas fighting, but during the holidays, we need to remember them by sending them packages and cards to let them know we are thinking about them. I know that it means a lot to the soldiers that are serving.
Along with soldiers who are already deployed during the holiday’s you also have to think about families who have family members who are getting ready to deploy right after the holidays end. The holidays could be the last time they spend with their son or daughter who is getting ready to deploy. You never know what is going to happen so you have to be thankful for everything you have and every minute you get to spend with the ones you love. I know that this Christmas and Thanksgiving is going to be difficult for me and my family and friends due to my neighbor deploying in January. He is only a year older than me and it is going to be difficult because we have spent every Christmas and Thanksgiving together since we were born.
During the next few weeks, we need to take time and remember what we are truly thankful for and take time to give back to our community. Just think, if it was your family who lost jobs or had a son or daughter who is getting ready to deploy or is already deployed, you would want people to think about your child and family during the holidays when we are suppose to be happy and spending time with the ones we love. No matter how you celebrate the holiday’s we just need to remember that this may not be the best holiday season a family has experienced and need to be supportive during the difficult movements and the happy ones too.
When it comes to this time of year, you hear everyone starting to talk about their plans for the holiday season. I was home the weekend of November 7th and I was already asking what our family was going to do for Christmas. I know that it would not have changed since last year, but since I am gone to college now I wanted to make sure everything was the same. We always do the same thing each year. Get the Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, decorate the house, bake cookies, have family and friends over for Christmas Eve Dinner, open presents Christmas morning and spend the day with my family. It is a good way to spend the holidays, but are we truly remembering why we are celebrating Christmas? Christmas is not about gifts, or who can put up the biggest decorations and lights outside of their house, or who gets the best presents that morning. Christmas is about celebrating our Saviors Birth.
In today’s world everyone seems to be consumed by their possessions when it comes time for Christmas. Sometimes we can see people try to outdo other for Thanksgiving, but is it really in the spirit of Thanksgiving to see who can prepare the biggest meal? I do not think we should try and outdo each other for the holidays. This time of year is meant to be spent with the people you love, even if all you do is eat a meal together or watch a football game, you are still spending time if the ones you love.
I also think it is important to help out your community during the holidays because there are so many people in today’s world who need help with money and food to spend their Thanksgiving Day or Christmas day with their families. One way we always help out our community is by getting up Thanksgiving morning and participating in a 5k race/walk for the rescue mission downtown. The theme for the event is “Move your feet so others can eat”. This event has only been going on the past few years and each year more and more people are coming out to walk and run to help others out. This year there is no reason why I shouldn’t get up Thanksgiving morning and go walk to help others out. I am going to have the entire week off and I can sleep in then, so we should all be able to give up one morning, even if it is a holiday to go help out the less fortunate especially with today’s economy and the number of people who have lost their jobs this year. This holiday season is going to be really hard on some people and if I can help them by getting out of bed one morning and walk around downtown for 3.2 miles, then I am going to help them.
Now this year is the time we need to really think about others and how it is better to give than receive. Not only for families who have lost their jobs in this economy, but for soldiers who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and can’t come home for the holidays. It is very hard not only for the soldiers but for their families who are back home waiting for them to return. I know that it is especially hard for the parents and spouses because my neighbor is currently station in Afghanistan and is in the middle of all the fighting which makes it even harder for his parents to get into the holiday spirit when they are concerned with their son’s safety and how we is doing. You know it is not a good situation when the showers consist of one bottle of water and a baby wipe each day. There is not telling how long we are going to have troops overseas fighting, but during the holidays, we need to remember them by sending them packages and cards to let them know we are thinking about them. I know that it means a lot to the soldiers that are serving.
Along with soldiers who are already deployed during the holiday’s you also have to think about families who have family members who are getting ready to deploy right after the holidays end. The holidays could be the last time they spend with their son or daughter who is getting ready to deploy. You never know what is going to happen so you have to be thankful for everything you have and every minute you get to spend with the ones you love. I know that this Christmas and Thanksgiving is going to be difficult for me and my family and friends due to my neighbor deploying in January. He is only a year older than me and it is going to be difficult because we have spent every Christmas and Thanksgiving together since we were born.
During the next few weeks, we need to take time and remember what we are truly thankful for and take time to give back to our community. Just think, if it was your family who lost jobs or had a son or daughter who is getting ready to deploy or is already deployed, you would want people to think about your child and family during the holidays when we are suppose to be happy and spending time with the ones we love. No matter how you celebrate the holiday’s we just need to remember that this may not be the best holiday season a family has experienced and need to be supportive during the difficult movements and the happy ones too.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Reilgion Forgories
Martin Luther a well known philosopher states that as humans we have the right to believe in what we chose. The United States does not force a certain religion on to us which we have to follow. Since we are free to choose the religion we want to follow and be involved with, we can see how Bart D. Ehrman is using Luther’s perspective by stating that the New Testament has forgeries in it.
Bart D. Ehrman has done research for years on the New Testament trying to prove that several of the books in the New Testament are forgeries. He claims that 1st Peter and 1st Timothy were written by Paul or someone claiming to be Paul, then later goes on to discuss that Paul would have not written the letters, thus revealing that the Gospel of Peter is written in the first person claiming to be written by Paul.
If the United State was a country that had a set type of religion for the entire country, Ehrman would not be allowed to express his views of the New Testament. Many people in the United States follow different religions and have been expressing different views for different religions. Most of the religions that have different beliefs and are trying to escape the “norm” of their religion do not have substantial evidence to prove their case. Ehrman has several different ways he can prove that there are New Testament forgeries.
One way he proves this is by studying the ancient Roman World and other documents from that time period. During the Roman World, forgery was widespread and was common among documents. During that time period people did not have nice laptops like we do today to record everything that happens, which then caused the events of what happened to be written down by someone who knew how to write or to be passed down from generation to generation by orally.
Ehrman discussed 1st and 2nd Peter with Peter allegedly writing 13 letters to followers of Jesus. Many scholars think that Peter wrote about 6 of the letters but are unsure of the other 7. Since they do not think Peter wrote the letters, Ehrman believes that someone else wrote them and put Peter’s name to them. Since they do not believe Peter wrote them they would be considered forged. 1st and 2nd Peter is not the only books in the New Testament to be considered forged. Ehrman also believes that the letter to James from peter is also forged. He believes this because in the letter he speaks of a missionary to Gentiles or Non-Jews who preaches a “lawless Gospel” which does not make sense considering Peter is a Jew. If this is a forgery in the New Testament, we then cannot tell who the author is, but someone that claims to be Peter.
Ehrman also states that this practice of forgery was condemned during this time period, but people still participated in it. Going back to Luther’s statement, if the people wanted to worship their own way, they could have chosen not to believe in what they were being told.
There is no clear way for anyone to know if there are truly forgeries in the New Testament or in the Bible in general. Scholars, like Ehrman can study the ancient documents from the Roman World and they can also apply theories like Luther’s to the New Testament and the Bible, but we can only apply their theories so many ways before that form of religion turns into another form. Even if there are forgeries in the Bible or the New Testament, people still read the Bible and follow their religion faithfully. By following Luther’s statement, Ehrman and other scholars have had the opportunity to present the material that they feel is false and not written by who it claims to be. If our country did not have freedom of religion Ehrman and other scholars would have to find a different way to present what they have found.
Even with Ehrman having his methods of proving that the New Testament has forgeries, how do we truly know if the New Testament is forged? There will never be a way to know for sure if the New Testament is forged because we were not there when it was written. Many people can try to prove that it was forged with different theories, but there theory will not be right.
With different theories about religion being claimed it would be hard for everyone to pick just one to believe in. With different theories, there are even more theories because of the different form of religions. With different forms of theories there can be different forms of forgeries with different religions. Baptist could view these theories differently than people who are catholic compared to people who are Jewish.
Since many of the religions use the Bible as their primary text they could all interpret in different ways, leading scholars to have different viewpoints. As Erhman claims that Paul has forgeries, we do not know that God wanted it to be that way. He could have wanted Paul to have had his letters to be forged for a reason we have yet to discover, and that we may never discover in this lifetime. There are many things in our lifetime that we may not discover until we have passed on and are on the other side with God.
No matter what people believe about the Bible, everyone will always have their own view about their religion. Scholars are not going to be able to change people’s views and will always try to change them. Viewpoints are hard to change without substantial evidence and Erhman doesn’t seem to be a reliable evidence from what he claims to be right. Scholars will continue to share their viewpoints and will always have an opinion. It is up to us to decide what we want to believe in and nobody but ourselves can change our viewpoint.
Bart D. Ehrman has done research for years on the New Testament trying to prove that several of the books in the New Testament are forgeries. He claims that 1st Peter and 1st Timothy were written by Paul or someone claiming to be Paul, then later goes on to discuss that Paul would have not written the letters, thus revealing that the Gospel of Peter is written in the first person claiming to be written by Paul.
If the United State was a country that had a set type of religion for the entire country, Ehrman would not be allowed to express his views of the New Testament. Many people in the United States follow different religions and have been expressing different views for different religions. Most of the religions that have different beliefs and are trying to escape the “norm” of their religion do not have substantial evidence to prove their case. Ehrman has several different ways he can prove that there are New Testament forgeries.
One way he proves this is by studying the ancient Roman World and other documents from that time period. During the Roman World, forgery was widespread and was common among documents. During that time period people did not have nice laptops like we do today to record everything that happens, which then caused the events of what happened to be written down by someone who knew how to write or to be passed down from generation to generation by orally.
Ehrman discussed 1st and 2nd Peter with Peter allegedly writing 13 letters to followers of Jesus. Many scholars think that Peter wrote about 6 of the letters but are unsure of the other 7. Since they do not think Peter wrote the letters, Ehrman believes that someone else wrote them and put Peter’s name to them. Since they do not believe Peter wrote them they would be considered forged. 1st and 2nd Peter is not the only books in the New Testament to be considered forged. Ehrman also believes that the letter to James from peter is also forged. He believes this because in the letter he speaks of a missionary to Gentiles or Non-Jews who preaches a “lawless Gospel” which does not make sense considering Peter is a Jew. If this is a forgery in the New Testament, we then cannot tell who the author is, but someone that claims to be Peter.
Ehrman also states that this practice of forgery was condemned during this time period, but people still participated in it. Going back to Luther’s statement, if the people wanted to worship their own way, they could have chosen not to believe in what they were being told.
There is no clear way for anyone to know if there are truly forgeries in the New Testament or in the Bible in general. Scholars, like Ehrman can study the ancient documents from the Roman World and they can also apply theories like Luther’s to the New Testament and the Bible, but we can only apply their theories so many ways before that form of religion turns into another form. Even if there are forgeries in the Bible or the New Testament, people still read the Bible and follow their religion faithfully. By following Luther’s statement, Ehrman and other scholars have had the opportunity to present the material that they feel is false and not written by who it claims to be. If our country did not have freedom of religion Ehrman and other scholars would have to find a different way to present what they have found.
Even with Ehrman having his methods of proving that the New Testament has forgeries, how do we truly know if the New Testament is forged? There will never be a way to know for sure if the New Testament is forged because we were not there when it was written. Many people can try to prove that it was forged with different theories, but there theory will not be right.
With different theories about religion being claimed it would be hard for everyone to pick just one to believe in. With different theories, there are even more theories because of the different form of religions. With different forms of theories there can be different forms of forgeries with different religions. Baptist could view these theories differently than people who are catholic compared to people who are Jewish.
Since many of the religions use the Bible as their primary text they could all interpret in different ways, leading scholars to have different viewpoints. As Erhman claims that Paul has forgeries, we do not know that God wanted it to be that way. He could have wanted Paul to have had his letters to be forged for a reason we have yet to discover, and that we may never discover in this lifetime. There are many things in our lifetime that we may not discover until we have passed on and are on the other side with God.
No matter what people believe about the Bible, everyone will always have their own view about their religion. Scholars are not going to be able to change people’s views and will always try to change them. Viewpoints are hard to change without substantial evidence and Erhman doesn’t seem to be a reliable evidence from what he claims to be right. Scholars will continue to share their viewpoints and will always have an opinion. It is up to us to decide what we want to believe in and nobody but ourselves can change our viewpoint.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Facebook: Good or Bad?
Facebook has become one of the world’s largest social networking cites on the internet and keeps growing every day. The website use to be open only to college students, but then started growing until high school students and everyday people could become a member. Today there are over three million people who have accounts on facebook.
Since Facebook is open to everyone now, is Facebook safe and a good place to have your personal information online? There are so many people we do not know who are also on Facebook and with the technology today, people can easily access your information even if it is set to private, which many people probably do not think about when they upload pictures and other information to the website. Is your profile truly only visible to friends when it says it is?
If you are not sure if your profile is safe would you want your thirteen year old child to have an account? I would not want my child too. MySpace use to be the social networking when I was in middle school and it has the same concept in a different format, but still allows people ages 13 and older to have an account. Even if their parents monitor what they are doing on MySpace and facebook and who they are friends with, it is still a scary place for them to have a profile. There are a lot of older men who like to have profiles and claim to be younger boys and girls that try to become there friend and then want to meet in person. This is a situation that nobody wants to be in, but is even scarier for a young boy or girl who is only 13 years old. Which is why you should not have profile until you know you can handle the responsibility that comes with it. Having an account on Facebook, you have to be responsible for your actions. Where this is inappropriate statuses or pictures that are not appropriate or even ones that show you breaking the law. A lot of high school and young college students like to post pictures of them drinking, which can lead to other people seeing them and reporting you to different people.
I think that your profile is only visible to friends, but then again technology keeps changing and people are learning how to hack into others profiles and steal information and pictures and even stalk someone. Many people in today’s society refer to people as “Creepers”. The term Creeper is a slang term that has just become popular in the past few years. When most people refer to that they are talking about someone who looks at your profile on Facebook or is always watching you and doesn’t say anything.
Many people do use facebook and most of the people wouldn’t be considered creepers. Facebook is an excellent way to keep in touch with friends and family. Since graduating from high school, facebook has been the only communication I have had with some of my friends since they go to other schools and it is hard to talk on the phone or video chat over Skype. If we didn’t have facebook I truly wonder how we would stay in contact with friends that go to other schools.
I know it has been done in the past before computers were invented and Facebook and Skype were ever imagined, but still how do we all rely on one website to feel like we are important to see one little notification pop up in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Most people don’t sit at their computers all day staring at facebook just waiting for something to happen, but what if there are people who do? Will facebook make them have social issues when they become younger or during their life right then. It is one thing if you are doing work and leave facebook open, because many students do that because they are talking with friends on facebook chat. I know this cannot be healthy for them, but what can we do about it? We cannot make them get off of facebook and do work, or instead of sitting there going outside and getting fresh air or working out. In our parents generation facebook and computers did not exist and it was a whole different world to them. I sometimes wonder if all the computers, facebook accounts, iPods, cell phones, blackberries and other items that are like this were taken away from my generation if we would be able to survive without them? I really think my generation would not be able to handle it.
Another item that we take for granted is Microsoft Word. As I sit here and type this blog about facebook and what the world would be like without it, I started to think what our world would be like without the other technological devices we have and Microsoft word is one that almost every college student uses daily. We forget how much simpler life is when we have the privilege to type papers and not have to hand write them. It is really sad to see that my generation does not know how to write in cursive. I learned this when we took the SAT’s last fall and spring because when you take the SAT’s or ACT’s you have to write in cursive a statement saying you did not cheat and then sign your name. You would have been surprised to see how many students agreed with one another that they do not remember how to write in cursive. This is a simple task that we learned back in elementary school, but since we do everything on the computer now, we have no need for cursive except for rare occasions. Which makes us less appreciative of what we have in our world now and how we need to appreciate the little things in life. No matter what we decide to put on facebook, or what technology we use, we still need to remember what is important to us and not let anyone influence what we believe in.
Since Facebook is open to everyone now, is Facebook safe and a good place to have your personal information online? There are so many people we do not know who are also on Facebook and with the technology today, people can easily access your information even if it is set to private, which many people probably do not think about when they upload pictures and other information to the website. Is your profile truly only visible to friends when it says it is?
If you are not sure if your profile is safe would you want your thirteen year old child to have an account? I would not want my child too. MySpace use to be the social networking when I was in middle school and it has the same concept in a different format, but still allows people ages 13 and older to have an account. Even if their parents monitor what they are doing on MySpace and facebook and who they are friends with, it is still a scary place for them to have a profile. There are a lot of older men who like to have profiles and claim to be younger boys and girls that try to become there friend and then want to meet in person. This is a situation that nobody wants to be in, but is even scarier for a young boy or girl who is only 13 years old. Which is why you should not have profile until you know you can handle the responsibility that comes with it. Having an account on Facebook, you have to be responsible for your actions. Where this is inappropriate statuses or pictures that are not appropriate or even ones that show you breaking the law. A lot of high school and young college students like to post pictures of them drinking, which can lead to other people seeing them and reporting you to different people.
I think that your profile is only visible to friends, but then again technology keeps changing and people are learning how to hack into others profiles and steal information and pictures and even stalk someone. Many people in today’s society refer to people as “Creepers”. The term Creeper is a slang term that has just become popular in the past few years. When most people refer to that they are talking about someone who looks at your profile on Facebook or is always watching you and doesn’t say anything.
Many people do use facebook and most of the people wouldn’t be considered creepers. Facebook is an excellent way to keep in touch with friends and family. Since graduating from high school, facebook has been the only communication I have had with some of my friends since they go to other schools and it is hard to talk on the phone or video chat over Skype. If we didn’t have facebook I truly wonder how we would stay in contact with friends that go to other schools.
I know it has been done in the past before computers were invented and Facebook and Skype were ever imagined, but still how do we all rely on one website to feel like we are important to see one little notification pop up in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Most people don’t sit at their computers all day staring at facebook just waiting for something to happen, but what if there are people who do? Will facebook make them have social issues when they become younger or during their life right then. It is one thing if you are doing work and leave facebook open, because many students do that because they are talking with friends on facebook chat. I know this cannot be healthy for them, but what can we do about it? We cannot make them get off of facebook and do work, or instead of sitting there going outside and getting fresh air or working out. In our parents generation facebook and computers did not exist and it was a whole different world to them. I sometimes wonder if all the computers, facebook accounts, iPods, cell phones, blackberries and other items that are like this were taken away from my generation if we would be able to survive without them? I really think my generation would not be able to handle it.
Another item that we take for granted is Microsoft Word. As I sit here and type this blog about facebook and what the world would be like without it, I started to think what our world would be like without the other technological devices we have and Microsoft word is one that almost every college student uses daily. We forget how much simpler life is when we have the privilege to type papers and not have to hand write them. It is really sad to see that my generation does not know how to write in cursive. I learned this when we took the SAT’s last fall and spring because when you take the SAT’s or ACT’s you have to write in cursive a statement saying you did not cheat and then sign your name. You would have been surprised to see how many students agreed with one another that they do not remember how to write in cursive. This is a simple task that we learned back in elementary school, but since we do everything on the computer now, we have no need for cursive except for rare occasions. Which makes us less appreciative of what we have in our world now and how we need to appreciate the little things in life. No matter what we decide to put on facebook, or what technology we use, we still need to remember what is important to us and not let anyone influence what we believe in.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Balloon Boy and Hokie Football
October 15, 2009 seemed to be a normal day for everyone until that afternoon when Falcon Heene was believed to be floating high in the clouds in a homemade balloon made by his family. In the end the boy was not in the balloon which floated high in the sky for about two and a half hours before finally landing in California a far cry from where it started in Colorado. The boy was eventually found hiding in his home and everyone was safe in the end. I know this can be scary for anyone, but his boy had the whole country paying attention to him and his family for a short amount of time today , but you have to consider several different things when you thing about this incident. The first one is why did the parents want to make this balloon? Why didn’t the parents know where their son was? And how do you not make sure your child is not in the balloon?
I don’t know all the answers because I am not his mother, and the rest of the world only knows what the newspapers and other news websites report for us to read. Now authorities believe that the whole even was a hoax and are going file charges against the family. The whole situation is really dumb because there is no need for that family to create a homemade balloon for no reason.
In the days sense the actual launching of the balloon many sites are reported that the whole even was not real and they just did it to get attention and they did. On yahoo.com I saw where the father pitched an idea to TLC trying to get a reality show out of the incident, one that would be similar to “Jon and Kate plus 8”. The network passes on the show idea, but if you thought your child was in the balloon, wouldn’t you as parent want to make sure that your child is safe before trying to get a reality show out of it. Now that this has been reported the entire event seems to be even more of a hoax, considering the family just wanted to land a reality show just for the money.
No matter what happens with a family, trying to fake something like this can never turn out to be good. I would never in a million years put my children in this situation. If the family needs money, there are alternative options than to fake that your son is floating away in the sky. No matter what the situation is, endangering you children whether it is by sending up in a balloon to float around in the sky or using them to land a reality TV show, it is always going to have a bad ending.
Virginia Tech Football
Virginia Tech was ranked fourth in the nation until Saturday night when the nineteenth ranked team in the nation Georgia Tech beat them with a score of 28-23. Virginia Tech has played really well in some games, and not so well during other games. If Virginia Tech had won, they would have stood a good chance at staying ranked fourth in the nation, but with their loss this weekend, Tech moved down into the number 15 spot in the AP poll. Virginia Tech has played decent teams this season, but in the Atlantic Coast Conference there is no guarantee who is going to show up at the game and win. Just because a team is ranked higher than the other, does not always mean the higher ranked team will win. You can look at Virginia Tech this weekend to see that.
As a student at Virginia Tech, we are suppose to support our team and I do support Virginia Tech, but is Virginia Tech really a national Championship team? The way the Hokies play certain games, you would think that they have never played football before. Then for other games, they look like the team has been playing together for years. I will always support the Hokies, but if you truly watch them play then you can see that they have good games, and then they have downright ugly games.
Virginia Tech can be a national championship team if they play every game like the Miami game. Tech has to have a consistent offense and defense to prove to the country that they can be contenders for the national championship. In my opinion, tech needs to play harder teams in different conferences to open the season up with and prove to everyone that they can handle teams from the Southern eastern conference. Tech played Alabama this year at the beginning of the season and lost to them, but it was a game that the team could come back from Atlanta and improve on what they did wrong. Then after that game the team prevailed and came to win every other game until this past weekend. Every Hokie fan this weekend knew that if Tech did not do well, it would be bad news for Tech and where they will be ranked the following week. The fans were right because Tech sank 11 spots after their five point loss to Georgia Tech.
No matter what who Virginia Tech plays people are always going to say that they will never be contenders for a national championship, but nobody will ever know that for sure. Just because other schools in different conferences have won many national championships. Tech will eventually win a national championship, but we will never know when. Every team has there up and downs, or up and down seasons. No matter what a team does a true fan will support them through there up and downs. Virginia Tech may not win a National championship this year, but they will have a successful rest of the season to go along with the other wins in during the first half of the season. The only way to improve the rest of the season is to see where you have difficulty and Virginia Tech has learned where they are having difficulty and will be able to improve for the next game during practice and the rest of the season will hopefully be as successful as the first half without any more losses.
I don’t know all the answers because I am not his mother, and the rest of the world only knows what the newspapers and other news websites report for us to read. Now authorities believe that the whole even was a hoax and are going file charges against the family. The whole situation is really dumb because there is no need for that family to create a homemade balloon for no reason.
In the days sense the actual launching of the balloon many sites are reported that the whole even was not real and they just did it to get attention and they did. On yahoo.com I saw where the father pitched an idea to TLC trying to get a reality show out of the incident, one that would be similar to “Jon and Kate plus 8”. The network passes on the show idea, but if you thought your child was in the balloon, wouldn’t you as parent want to make sure that your child is safe before trying to get a reality show out of it. Now that this has been reported the entire event seems to be even more of a hoax, considering the family just wanted to land a reality show just for the money.
No matter what happens with a family, trying to fake something like this can never turn out to be good. I would never in a million years put my children in this situation. If the family needs money, there are alternative options than to fake that your son is floating away in the sky. No matter what the situation is, endangering you children whether it is by sending up in a balloon to float around in the sky or using them to land a reality TV show, it is always going to have a bad ending.
Virginia Tech Football
Virginia Tech was ranked fourth in the nation until Saturday night when the nineteenth ranked team in the nation Georgia Tech beat them with a score of 28-23. Virginia Tech has played really well in some games, and not so well during other games. If Virginia Tech had won, they would have stood a good chance at staying ranked fourth in the nation, but with their loss this weekend, Tech moved down into the number 15 spot in the AP poll. Virginia Tech has played decent teams this season, but in the Atlantic Coast Conference there is no guarantee who is going to show up at the game and win. Just because a team is ranked higher than the other, does not always mean the higher ranked team will win. You can look at Virginia Tech this weekend to see that.
As a student at Virginia Tech, we are suppose to support our team and I do support Virginia Tech, but is Virginia Tech really a national Championship team? The way the Hokies play certain games, you would think that they have never played football before. Then for other games, they look like the team has been playing together for years. I will always support the Hokies, but if you truly watch them play then you can see that they have good games, and then they have downright ugly games.
Virginia Tech can be a national championship team if they play every game like the Miami game. Tech has to have a consistent offense and defense to prove to the country that they can be contenders for the national championship. In my opinion, tech needs to play harder teams in different conferences to open the season up with and prove to everyone that they can handle teams from the Southern eastern conference. Tech played Alabama this year at the beginning of the season and lost to them, but it was a game that the team could come back from Atlanta and improve on what they did wrong. Then after that game the team prevailed and came to win every other game until this past weekend. Every Hokie fan this weekend knew that if Tech did not do well, it would be bad news for Tech and where they will be ranked the following week. The fans were right because Tech sank 11 spots after their five point loss to Georgia Tech.
No matter what who Virginia Tech plays people are always going to say that they will never be contenders for a national championship, but nobody will ever know that for sure. Just because other schools in different conferences have won many national championships. Tech will eventually win a national championship, but we will never know when. Every team has there up and downs, or up and down seasons. No matter what a team does a true fan will support them through there up and downs. Virginia Tech may not win a National championship this year, but they will have a successful rest of the season to go along with the other wins in during the first half of the season. The only way to improve the rest of the season is to see where you have difficulty and Virginia Tech has learned where they are having difficulty and will be able to improve for the next game during practice and the rest of the season will hopefully be as successful as the first half without any more losses.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Miley Cyrus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxUr2ggLlhI&feature=related- VMA Performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSeHd7Ht1cE Miley’s performance on Good Morning America
Have you ever looked up to a singer and admired them so much until, one day they perform somewhere and blow you away with how they perform in a way that is unthinkable for them? Miley Cyrus is one performer that has disappointed not only me but many girls that are younger with her most recent performance at the Video Music Awards.
The Video Music Awards (VMA’s) is hosted by MTV in New York City each year. During the awards show, many artists are asked to perform live in front of the other guest. This past year is mostly known for the Kanye West and Taylor Swift incident, but many people also saw Miley Cyrus perform her latest single hit “Party in the USA”.
I did not personally see the performance live on TV when the award show aired, but I did have the opportunity to watch on the internet with the help of YouTube. In the link above you can see the performance and how, to me it seems that she is trying to portray a different image than everyone sees her as.
Miley Cyrus is known for her show, Hannah Montana which airs on Disney Channel and for her movie that is based off of her TV show, the Hannah Montana movie. If you have not seen her show, it is portraying a girl who lives a double life; she is the normal high school girl during the day, and then at night she becomes the teen pop sensation, Hannah Montana.
Most Disney shows are the same and have the same values instilled into each show. The Hannah Montana show is a family oriented show, and I thought that Miley Cyrus would have kept her performances in the same mind set, even though she is getting older. I know that she is trying to attract the older crowd, but she still has a lot of little girls that look up to her, especially after her movie just came out.
In her performance during the VMA’s, Miley’s performance did not impress me, and it did not impress many other people. I understand that she wants to move forward with her career towards a different age group, but I thought she could have done it a different way during her VMA performance.
After watching the video, I was surprised how her performance was set up. The VMA’s are mostly for older teens, and young adults, children can still watch the performances, whether they are live, or online on YouTube. During her performance Miley climbs on top of a cart that has a metal pole attached to it, which at first reminded me of a stripper pole, and many people that I have talked to about the video. After she climbs on to the cart she proceeds to dance on the pole and slid down it. It seemed as if she was trying to include some form of sexuality into her performance, which does not seem to be the same image she has on her TV show and in her movie.
In her performance, it seems that Miley is trying to say it is okay for children to look up to her, to act that way and try to be sexual, even if they are only seven or eight years old. Her performance may not persuade younger girls, or boys to follow her, but it will be more effective on the older teens and young adults.
In her performance Miley is making a statement that she is not some teen pop sensation that can only create songs and performances that little girls. This performance made it clear that Miley is growing up and changing the way she performs and who she wants her audience to be. She may have enjoyed performing, mostly for little children, but as time goes on everyone needs a change in pace and Miley’s first change was this performance. If you compare this performance to others, we can clearly see a difference as to who she wants the audience to be. If you compare her VMA performances this past fall to her performance on Good Morning American in August. She may have had different stage, but there still was the sexuality that was in the performance from the VMA’s. One thing that was different there was no pole in the Good morning America show. Could she not have had it because this performance was going to be on National TV, which many Americans watch as they get ready for work, and did not want to have to explain why it was put into her dance routine for the performance? We will probably never know if she had always planned to have the pole in the dance routine from the beginning or just for the Video Music Awards.
Miley Cyrus has the respect of so many people, it would be sad for her to lose it over one performance form the Video Music Awards from her younger fans who look up to her, but then it can also increase the amount people like her. Older teens probably liked the performance because she performed the way they like to see people dance. No matter what Miley does, people are always going to support her, and there are always going to be people who cannot stand her and the way she acts. It is like this for every singer, performer, and actor, but it comes with the job, so they have to learn how to deal with the negative criticism and the positive comments people give them in support of what they are doing.
Miley’s Video Music Award performance, may not have been the best idea, or it could be the best performance she has had, but it is not up to one person to decide what they think about her. We each have own opinions and have the right to support someone or not to support them and they only way you can form your opinion in a fair way is to give the person equal opportunities, and have an open mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSeHd7Ht1cE Miley’s performance on Good Morning America
Have you ever looked up to a singer and admired them so much until, one day they perform somewhere and blow you away with how they perform in a way that is unthinkable for them? Miley Cyrus is one performer that has disappointed not only me but many girls that are younger with her most recent performance at the Video Music Awards.
The Video Music Awards (VMA’s) is hosted by MTV in New York City each year. During the awards show, many artists are asked to perform live in front of the other guest. This past year is mostly known for the Kanye West and Taylor Swift incident, but many people also saw Miley Cyrus perform her latest single hit “Party in the USA”.
I did not personally see the performance live on TV when the award show aired, but I did have the opportunity to watch on the internet with the help of YouTube. In the link above you can see the performance and how, to me it seems that she is trying to portray a different image than everyone sees her as.
Miley Cyrus is known for her show, Hannah Montana which airs on Disney Channel and for her movie that is based off of her TV show, the Hannah Montana movie. If you have not seen her show, it is portraying a girl who lives a double life; she is the normal high school girl during the day, and then at night she becomes the teen pop sensation, Hannah Montana.
Most Disney shows are the same and have the same values instilled into each show. The Hannah Montana show is a family oriented show, and I thought that Miley Cyrus would have kept her performances in the same mind set, even though she is getting older. I know that she is trying to attract the older crowd, but she still has a lot of little girls that look up to her, especially after her movie just came out.
In her performance during the VMA’s, Miley’s performance did not impress me, and it did not impress many other people. I understand that she wants to move forward with her career towards a different age group, but I thought she could have done it a different way during her VMA performance.
After watching the video, I was surprised how her performance was set up. The VMA’s are mostly for older teens, and young adults, children can still watch the performances, whether they are live, or online on YouTube. During her performance Miley climbs on top of a cart that has a metal pole attached to it, which at first reminded me of a stripper pole, and many people that I have talked to about the video. After she climbs on to the cart she proceeds to dance on the pole and slid down it. It seemed as if she was trying to include some form of sexuality into her performance, which does not seem to be the same image she has on her TV show and in her movie.
In her performance, it seems that Miley is trying to say it is okay for children to look up to her, to act that way and try to be sexual, even if they are only seven or eight years old. Her performance may not persuade younger girls, or boys to follow her, but it will be more effective on the older teens and young adults.
In her performance Miley is making a statement that she is not some teen pop sensation that can only create songs and performances that little girls. This performance made it clear that Miley is growing up and changing the way she performs and who she wants her audience to be. She may have enjoyed performing, mostly for little children, but as time goes on everyone needs a change in pace and Miley’s first change was this performance. If you compare this performance to others, we can clearly see a difference as to who she wants the audience to be. If you compare her VMA performances this past fall to her performance on Good Morning American in August. She may have had different stage, but there still was the sexuality that was in the performance from the VMA’s. One thing that was different there was no pole in the Good morning America show. Could she not have had it because this performance was going to be on National TV, which many Americans watch as they get ready for work, and did not want to have to explain why it was put into her dance routine for the performance? We will probably never know if she had always planned to have the pole in the dance routine from the beginning or just for the Video Music Awards.
Miley Cyrus has the respect of so many people, it would be sad for her to lose it over one performance form the Video Music Awards from her younger fans who look up to her, but then it can also increase the amount people like her. Older teens probably liked the performance because she performed the way they like to see people dance. No matter what Miley does, people are always going to support her, and there are always going to be people who cannot stand her and the way she acts. It is like this for every singer, performer, and actor, but it comes with the job, so they have to learn how to deal with the negative criticism and the positive comments people give them in support of what they are doing.
Miley’s Video Music Award performance, may not have been the best idea, or it could be the best performance she has had, but it is not up to one person to decide what they think about her. We each have own opinions and have the right to support someone or not to support them and they only way you can form your opinion in a fair way is to give the person equal opportunities, and have an open mind.
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