Beauty?

            I read the article “Young Woman’s Plastic Surgery Obsession” on ABC news’ website. This article talked about a 33-year-old girl who spent $83,000 on plastic surgery to ‘fix’ her whole body. She was tormented as a kid for having a large nose. She got nose surgery and loved the results. So, she continued on to get the rest of her body slimmed and shaped to be ‘perfect.’ The young woman, Neikie Reno, said, “I don't think that there's a limit, as long as you make yourself feel confident.” In my opinion, there are a lot of things wrong with this statement. By saying this, Reno is implying that in order to have self-confidence, we have to be adjusted surgically. This is the reason why so many young girls today are becoming anorexic and wearing heavy makeup; they feel the need to look ‘perfect.’

            Since we were little, girls have been exposed to this essence of beauty that the world expects of them. They were given Barbies, with skinny legs and big boobs and makeup and blond hair. Then, they were sat in front of the television where ads for makeup and diets were not edited out. As they get older, girls order magazines like Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Glamour and Cosmopolitan. The other magazines don’t sensor their entire magazine as much, as Seventeen magazines supposedly do. I have read Seventeen magazines for years and all I read in the health section is “love your body!” But then, they continue on by telling you what healthy foods to eat are and give you a full workout plan. How can I love my body when you’re telling me to work out every day and eat this instead of that? While they don’t have pictures showing girls pretty much naked like Cosmopolitan does, the other three magazines don’t edit out showy ads. These magazines make girls believe that they are supposed to act showy around guys as girls see these ads every day.

            Shows like Toddlers and Tiaras are perfect examples of what’s happening to our society today. Parents are living through their children and children are learning to like looking like someone else with the makeup and fake hair and fake teeth. The person who wins a pageant is based off of beauty. But is it really beauty? How can a three-year-old wearing ten pounds of makeup, a hot pink and bright orange sparkly dress, a pound of fake hair, fake eyelashes and spray tan be judged as beautiful? They’re not even themselves. So, whether you are getting $83,000 dollars in surgery, wearing makeup every day, or having your three-year-old spray-tanned, you are just proving the fact that something is very wrong with the perception of beauty today.

Truthfully I Was A Bad Guy...Well That's Inspiring

            Teens are mostly interested in themselves, however, that does not mean they always act in the best interest of themselves. This has to do directly with drugs. Teens care more about how people perceive them then how they perceive themselves and James Frey has shown this in his book A Million Little Pieces. I admit that the book was unbelievable—literally—but it gave the wrong message to drug users. After being interrogated, Frey was asked by Oprah why he lied like he did. He responded, “"’I was a bad guy…if I was gonna write a book that was true, and I was gonna write a book that was honest, then I was gonna have to write about myself in very, very negative ways’” (The Smoking Gun). This isn’t exactly something Frey should be telling to an audience that is mostly made up of recovery addicts.

            The problem that I have with this book is that Frey wrote it partially to inspire others and make them believe they can overcome their addictions he did. If he writes about himself in such negative and vulgar ways, how are they supposed to feel inspired? They will think that they need to look at themselves as bad people in order to move on. Frey also said, “I am an Alcoholic and I am a Drug Addict and I am a Criminal.” I get that Frey is coming to terms with who and what he is, but that doesn’t mean that he is all bad. He fails to be able to meet his own eyes in the mirror and that doesn’t help anyone reading the book. They will see the shame he has in himself and start to feel the same way.

An article on teen abuse on drugs titled “Teen Drug Use” by Jennifer Kerr in the Huffington Post said, “abuse of prescription medicine…rate went from 5 percent in 2008 to 9 percent last year, or about 1.5 million teens toking up…20 or more times a month.” This number cannot be ignored and is encouraged by people like James Frey. He exxaggerated the amount of drugs he used which made teenage users believe could use more without consequence. Frey almost faced death, but that is overshadowed by the fact that he survived. Teens look at that and think they can do the same, but the fact of the matter is they can’t.



Huffington Post Article Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/teen-drug-use_n_1470151.html

"How Far Some Parents Go To Get a Job...For Thier Kids"

            I just read the article, “How Far Some Parents Go To Get a Job…For Their Kids” on the USA Today website. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. College Graduates apparently can find jobs after they get out of college, but are still having their parents pay for their phone, food, and electricity bills. And even worse, 1 in 50 graduates is relying on their parents to pay all their living expenses. One girl’s mother said, “The idea of living at home repulses her because of my cooking and her father's rules, both great incentives to finding her own way in the world.” So, begs the question, if college grads are so ready to be free from their parents, why are they still relying on them for basic every-day needs?

            However, some parents don’t want to have to pay these bills. Instead, they are treating college graduates, with degrees and plenty of experience, as children as they walk them to the door for high-paying job interviews. According to the article, 1 in 10 graduate’s parents take them to their job interviews. It is ridiculous; the lengths parents go to in order to get a job for their kid. “Three percent of recent college grads say their parents have actually sat in with them during interviews, and one percent claim Mom or Dad wrote their thank you notes afterwards.” When I wanted to apply for jobs, I looked up each business’s phone number and called asking how to apply. I then had my mom drive me to the store—I didn’t have my license yet—and walked into the store alone and asked one of the workers for a job application and stuck up a conversation with them. I filled out the application alone and went back inside to turn it in alone, asking questions about when I would hear back, etc. When I got called in for an interview, I picked out what I was wearing myself and went into the interview alone. Never in a million years would I have allowed either one of my parents to walk through that door with me and had they, I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten the job.

            After I read this article, I asked my boss if she ever had a parent come into an interview. She said no and that if anyone ever did, I wouldn’t have to be worried about them joining us. She did tell me how parents call in some workers sick and that it really annoys her. If I ever get sick, the first thing I ever do is call or text my boss to tell her in case I won’t be able to make it to work. Unless I am on my death bead, my mother will not be calling my boss. Sadly, I can’t say that for the rest of America and, not to mention, our future bosses.

New Evidence that was Witheld in the Trayvon Martin Case

A new article came out today titled, “Run-ins with pitbull reportedly led Zimmerman, wife to get guns” on Fox News was about the case regarding Trayvon Martin’s death. Originally when I read about this incident, I sided with Trayvon, as all the evidence pointed to Zimmerman as a killer and not acting out of self-defense. New evidence has been brought to the table, such as a picture of the back of Zimmerman’s head after the attack. His head is bloody and they are not self-inflicted wounds.

This is a photo of Zimmerman's head moments after the fight

           This evidence, according to Florida law, was allowed to be withheld from the judge when they signed the affidavid for Zimmerman’s arrest. However, I think that it is very important in deciding the guilt of Zimmerman in the case. These wounds prove that Zimmerman was wounded during the struggle. However, that does not mean that these wounds are attack wounds, as they could have been self-defense wounds made by Trayvon. The clear issue at hand in this case is the evidence and the amount of time that this case has been going on for.

Other evidence, specifically pictures, has also been withheld from the case. I think that this shows the corruption of the judicial system. All evidence should be shown because all sides need to be considered in a court case. Had this picture been presented as evidence, Zimmerman may not have been given a bond. While I do find Zimmerman to be guilty, the issue of internal affairs in politics and in the court rooms needs to be fixed.

THE DEMONS MADE ME DO IT

           James Frey’s twisted re-telling of “life events” in his book A Million Little Pieces, partially took place in his hometown of St. Joseph, Michigan. Several police officers and locals who knew Frey are saying that many parts of the book were not factual. However, even after several investigations and news reports, only 2,000 out of the millions of buyers asked for and received full refunds from the publisher. It doesn’t necessarily bother me that Frey exaggerated events, as a memoir is told in the way one remembers specific events. The part that bothers me is that he completely exaggerated how much drugs he used. According to several doctors, there would have been no possible way Frey would’ve been alive after consuming all he had. It isn’t humanly possible. So, I can’t understand why he would exaggerate how much he used when, without exaggeration, the amazing story he had would’ve been enough.

            One article quoted Frey saying that the “Demons” that drove him to do drugs also made him lie in his book. I do not believe that for a second. Frey is basically claiming that he’s insane. But, no one who is actually insane would ever admit that they are. This shows how people are claiming they are “mentally ill” to get out of things. One law that drives me insane—no pun intended—is that people who are determined “mentally retarded” and “didn’t know what they were doing at the time” can get out of murder. It’s the same thing as Frey; they are using an actual illness to try and cover up for their mistakes. In my opinion, if someone is so mentally ill to the point where they are incapable of taking responsibility for their actions, they are dangerous and need to be locked up. The same goes for Frey. Frey lied and was well aware that he was lying, just as he was well aware that he was doing drugs.

The other thing that strikes me as odd in the book is his infatuation with a character named Lilly. If other parts of his book had been deemed untrue, how can we believe that there was a girl named Lilly who fell for Frey, with a huge scar across his face, yellowy-black bags under his eyes, and could barely get up without throwing up? It’s strange that the girl he was in love with basically didn’t exist before entering the rehabilitation center, has a dead grandmother as her only family member ever mentioned, and committed suicide as soon as she left the building. How do we know that she ever was real? While according to Frey’s Demon claim he could’ve imagined her, it is clear that he easily could’ve made her up like he did the rest of his book. Psychologically, this book cannot be defended. Frey wrote every word and the issue of people claiming this or that to cover up the truth can no longer be supported. The millions of readers who read and fell in love with this book are evidence of that.

Brides + Feeding Tubes = Not Good

            I just read the article “The K-E Diet: Brides-to-Be Using Feeding Tubes to Rapidly Shed Pounds” by Yunji De Nies. Being nice, I am completely disgusted. I do not think that women should use a feeding tube in order to loose weight before their wedding. Doing this is completely contradictory to the event in which they are doing it for. Marriage is the devotion from one person to another, saying they will love you forever no matter what. Marriage is about loving someone for who they are and women shouldn’t want to change their bodies for someone who loves them just the way they are.

            As a teenage girl, I am constantly exposed to a world obsessed with body and facial image. People no longer accept anything less than perfect and they expect it from everyone. Every month I get five magazines; Seventeen, Self, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Glamour. I read through them page for page and, as every girl does, wishes I was the Victoria’s Secret model in it. While Seventeen does a good job of making things such as “love your body” pages and specials on stars and what flaws they have that they love, they still have the ads of half-naked women photo-shopped posing with perfume bottles or makeup. We see the perfect bodies, perfect faces and look and the mirror and don’t get why we don’t look like that. It sounds stupid, but when you have pages and pages of girls looking perfect right in front of you, you start to believe that it’s how everyone else wants you to look, too.

            I believe that this constant exposure to fake advertisement of what our bodies should look like is what causes women to do things such as use feeding tubes to lose weight. Especially for the one person in the world who is supposed to love you no matter what you look like. It is that mindset that is causing girls to feel like objects, like their marriages are only for spectators and that true love is the talk of fantasies and not of real life.

Frey = Fraud

            Stories have been a part of our lives since birth. Whether we watched TV shows or were read stories in bed, we have always been told stories. We learned to tell stories through writing and drawing. Some of these stories were about pets or siblings, while others were about dragons or princesses. Rarely was there a difference between telling a true story and a made up one, because at a young age both were thought to be true.

I read the book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Frey’s infamous book has been read by millions. It was chosen by Oprah Winfrey to be part of her book club. It was an inspiration to all people, until Frey was discovered a fraud. The stories he told were exaggerated, some not even true. This was exposed six years ago, yet still people read the book fully aware that the author is a fraud, and believe every word. According to Anthony Quinones, the reason for this is, “facts tell, stories sell. It is easier to share life experiences because they come from within.” Books that touch people deep down have the most power, whether or not they are true. However, that does not mean that selling a memior filled with lies is the correct thing to do, because it’s not.

The Smoking Gun reported that Frey told Winfrey, "’I was a bad guy…if I was gonna write a book that was true, and I was gonna write a book that was honest, then I was gonna have to write about myself in very, very negative ways.’” However, Oprah wasn’t so fond of this method of writing and was clearly offended when she questioned him in an interview. The issue at hand is the ability for people to lie and have no guilt about it, and to get away with it so easily. At some points in her interview, Winfrey said that it was the publisher’s fault for publishing it as a memior. When the publisher was asked if she had read the book and answered yes, Winfrey didn’t understand how she didn’t know that it was lies. But we all read it, and never questioned it at all, so why would the publisher question it? In this way, even Winfrey shows bias in defending Frey and blaming someone else. The fact of the matter is that Frey knowingly lied to millions of people and whether it was out of self-pity or for sales, that fact remains.

Race, Tragedy and Outrage

                 This week I read an article titled “Race, Tragedy and Outrage Collide After a Shot in Florida” in the NY Times by Dan Barry. The article is about how a 28-year-old Hispanic man, George Zimmerman, shot and killed a 17-year-old black boy, Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch man in a housing development in Sanford, Florida. Trayvon’s father was in a relationship with juvenile detention officer Brandy Green. Green lived at the housing development and Trayvon and his father, Tracy Martin, would often stay at Green’s house. The night of the brutal murder, Trayvon was on his way back to the house with a packet of Skittles for Green’s 14-year-old son, Chad, when he was attacked. Trayvon had no history of violence and the night of the murder stayed home with Chad while Green and Martin went out for dinner.

                George Zimmerman was known to “show flashes of violence,” according to court records. When Zimmerman’s ex-fiancé testified, she told them how he had “smacked her.” One of his black schoolmates recalls when he tripped in middle school and Zimmerman said, “’Do you know how to walk, or did you trip over your lip?’” The student, Anthony Woodson, said that Zimmerman was bilingual and was clearly “comfortable in a multicultural world.” Teontae Amie is a 17-year-old African American who said that “’When you see him, (Zimmerman) you think automatically that he might try something.’” Clearly, Zimmerman had a history of being racist and was “always in the middle of things.” On the night of Sunday, February 26 Zimmerman saw a boy through the rain with black skin and in a gray hoodie and assumed that he could not possibly be up to any good.

                While there had been several burglaries in the past, Zimmerman had no right or reason to follow a 17-year-old boy with Skittles in his hand and his girlfriend on his phone. Zimmerman’s phone call to the police consisted of sentences like this; “there’s a real suspicious guy…up to no good…on drugs or something…he looks black.” So Zimmerman could tell from a distance and in the dark night with rain pouring down that a black boy with his hood up was on drugs and up to no good. He was walking close to the complexes and had his hood up because it was raining outside and he didn’t want to get wet, just like any normal person wouldn’t. When talking on the phone to the police, Zimmerman said this about the innocent black boy; “these assholes, they always get away.”

                When Zimmerman told the police he was following the boy on foot, the dispatcher told him that he didn’t need to do that. Zimmerman hung up the phone after agreeing to meet an officer in a specific spot. He then continued to follow Trayvon, against what the police told him. Trayvon’s girlfriend was on the phone with him the entire time. Trayvon had told her he felt like someone was watching him and then she heard shuffling and the phone was hung up. Zimmerman attacked Trayvon and while he had him lying face down in the grass, shot him in the back of the head. The only weapon Trayvon had was a bag of skittles for a 14-year-old boy waiting in the home he was welcome in.

                As soon as the police arrived, Zimmerman cried self-defense. Zimmerman knew to do this because he was studying at the Seminole County’s Community Law Enforcement Academy. He was well aware of the Stand Your Ground law and that since he was allowed to carry a weapon as the neighborhood watch. If you ask me, Zimmerman had a pretty well-devised plan.

Sexual Harassment and Date Rape on Campus

                I read the article “Family criticizes Notre Dame in 2^nd sex attack case” in the Chicago Tribune. After reading the article, I have to admit that I do not know whether or not I would say the accused was guilty, but I can confidently say that the university did nothing to help figure it out. The second victim told the police that she had been heavily under the influence of alcohol on the night of the attack, and while she said she was a virgin and would not have consented, it is quite possible that she did consent because she was so drunk. At the same time, I do not believe she would go to the hospital for tests or go to the police if she had no reason to.

                Unlike many other cases, the victim was able to provide a test and her clothes from the night of the attack. However, this amount of evidence was apparently not enough for the police to go forward with the case, even after telling the victim they would do so. I think that this is where the true issue of the case lies; in Notre Dame University police department’s inability to take the case seriously. It should not matter who the student is. And if they are an important person to the school, a football player in this case, they should be investigated even more as they are a strong representative of their school when they put on their jersey. The fault is not with the girl in this case, but with the police. Because they did not fully investigate, they will never know if she was actually raped or not. It is unfortunate that there is a possible threat on campus because the police did not take a case seriously.

                In the article, “At colleges plagued with date rape, why ‘no’ still means ‘yes,’ a woman described her frustration with schools and society today. 37 years ago, she attended Princeton where she was raped by the captain of the rugby team. She never spoke or wrote about it until she heard what happened at the Princeton “She Roars” conference. The male a cappella group serenaded one of the girl singers, then unzipped their pants and hip-thrusted at her on stage in front of everyone. The woman who had been raped so many years ago could not believe that colleges still had this atmosphere after all the strides woman have made and at a conference commending the successful women who graduated from their school.

                As a girl in high school looking forward to going to college next year, I am slightly concerned about the intentions of college boys but not really surprised. At our age and at this time, this behavior isn’t unexpected. Half of the music we listen to is about sex and pushing women around, even female singers sing about wanting to get pushed around. It’s normal for the movies we watch to have an intense sex scene. The notion of sexuality is everywhere in our world and it is encouraged in our culture, just look at some girls’ prom dresses. It’s a tradition that has become the time to make your body as good as possible with as little fabric as possible. While I do not think it is right, these sexual advances are a part of our culture. Rape is one thing and is never understandable, but college boys thrusting their hips on stage are just a part of what has become the norm.

Racism still exists...even at pools

            Today I read the article “Ruling over controversial pool sign stands.” In Columbus, Ohio, a pool landlord put up a sign saying “Public Swimming Pool” then under it reading “White Only.” The landlord claimed that “a black girl’s hair products clouded an apartment complex’s swimming pool.” When I first read this article I was simply disgusted. After everything this country has been through, we do not need these racist people walking around. They bring up problems that were starting to be diminished before I was even born. I cannot even imagine what it must have been like for that teenage girl to walk up to the pool of her parents’ apartment complex and read a sign that said she wasn’t allowed in because of her skin color. I know I would not have it for a second.

            Jamie Hein is the white landlord of the complex and the court found that she “violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act.” Hein’s defense was that “she posted it because the girl used chemicals in her hair that would make the pool ‘cloudy.’” In my opinion, this was a drastic and unnecessary way to deal with a girl using hair products that clouded a pool, if that was even the case. Hein said “I was trying to protect my assets.” Hein could’ve gone to either the girl or her parents and told them that her hair products were affecting the pool and asked her to either wash her hair out before she went in the pool or use a swim cap or anything other than posting a sign that attacked the girl’s skin rather than her hair.

            Michael Gunn, the girl’s father, was disgusted by the sign. He said “his daughter was saddened months later to learn the reason they moved from the apartment complex ‘was in a way related to the color of her skin.’” Hein’s actions were not right and could not be justified in any way. I believe that it was right for the court to find this woman guilty. She was completely wrong and she had other options for dealing with the ‘problem’ at hand, which shows that her actions were not to ‘protect her assets,’ but to protect her pool from an innocent teenage girl.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-panel-sticks-white-only-pool-sign-ruling-151624022.html

Bumper Stickers Can Be Racist - Photo

This is the photo of the car with the bumper sticker on it that was posted online.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/don-t-nig-purveyor-paula-smith-says-bumper-185405237.html

Bumper Stickers Can Be Racist

            I just read the article “’Don’t Re-Nig’ purveyor Paula Smith says bumper sticker isn’t racist.” To say the least, I was shocked when I read this and very offended. There is an image of a car with the bumper sticker that reads ‘Don’t Re-Nig In 2012.’ Obviously, the person who created this sticker is very racist and the person with the sticker on their car isn’t afraid to show their racism. Racism isn’t a question in this conflict, however, Paula Smith, creator of the bumper sticker argues otherwise. She is from Hinesville, Georgia and “insists that neither she nor the sicker are racist.”

            Ms. Smith has an online website that sells controversial stickers and other items in perusal of Obama. When Ms. Smith was interviewed by Roger Friedman, she claimed that the “N-Word” is not defined as racist in the dictionary. But Friedman found on dictionary.com that the “N-Word” is defined as “’probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense.’”

            Clearly according to the dictionary and any normal human being, the N-Word is offensive and should not be a part of anti-Obama campaigning. After being disproved by this definition, Ms. Smith continued to argue in her interview, saying “that President Obama is ‘not even black,’ but rather, ‘a mixture of race.’” In my opinion, I think Ms. Paula Smith should go ask President Obama face-to-face whether or not he finds the word offensive. I would then have her hold up her white arm to his and see if she would then still tell the world that he is not black.

            Ms. Smith continued to dig herself a deeper hole when she said that the N-Word is not ‘offensive’ or ‘derogatory,’ but then said that “she herself does not even use the word.” So its not offensive, but you don’t use the word? And you don’t use the word but you decided to create a website that uses the word that all of America and other countries can access? And you decided to put on that website a bumper sticker that uses the word that can be purchased by any person in the world? And you say you don’t use the N-Word is that correct? Makes no sense to me.

            More important than Ms. Smiths’ contradicting statements is my and the world’s belief that the N-Word should not be used. No excuse for using the word or justification can be made; it is simply wrong to use it and it is not worth it to argue otherwise.

Affirmative Action

          Today I read Tim Wise’s response to the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy. While I agree with some of Wise’s points, such as the simple fact that whites have privileges, I strongly disagree with some of his other opinions. Wise believes that in order to ‘repay’ the ‘debts’ of past white supremacy; we must give blacks the upper-hand in life. This includes putting a high value on race is college admissions, jobs and education, such that people of different races should be valued and treated as better than whites. I am not saying that whites should be of higher value than blacks by any means because they shouldn’t, but rather that whites and blacks should be viewed as equals. It is interesting to me that Wise does not see the contradiction he creates in several of his arguments; he is preaching that racism should end, but then is saying that blacks should be treated with more privileges than whites. While I agree that whites need to ‘pay’ for the past ‘debts,’ I do not believe that black supremacy is the way to go about it.

            If a student comes to a teacher asking for help with math because they can’t focus because of their situation at home, obviously the teacher should help them. But a teacher should not go out of their way to help a black kid because they assumed that because they’re black, they need extra help. However that is what Tim Wise is arguing. Originally, his argument was that teachers are racist and automatically assume a kid is doing badly because their racial, and therefore cultural, influences are causing them to. Then Wise fully contradicts himself by saying that teachers should not be colorblind and that students’ color “says a lot about the kinds of challenges they are likely to face.” Ultimately, it seems that Wise’s point was that privileges towards whites should end, but privileges towards black need to begin, and that sounds like racism all over again to me.

After also reading the article “Appeals court to hear affirmative action challenge” in the San Francisco Chronicle, I have come to the conclusion that race should not be considered in academic decisions. It is not right or constitutional to base someone’s acceptance into college because of their race. Considering race as a plus or minus is racism in it of itself. If the courts were to lift the ban that has been in place against affirmative action since 1996 and students put their race on their college application and then were not accepted, they would think it is racism when it isn’t. Race should not be “[considered] in admissions decisions to promote campus diversity.” Campus diversity should be based off of life experiences explained in applicants essays; not based off the color of someone’s skin. If people really want the end of racism, then we must start thinking on the basis of equality and not repenting for past actions. One of Tim Wise’s main arguments was that we have to ‘repay’ the ‘debts’ of the past, but he never said how. And in my opinion, giving privilege to people based on race isn’t repaying any kind of debt, but instead carrying racism into the future.

Bald Barbie Dolls? I say YES

            By the time I was twelve years old, I owned not only several Barbies, but Barbie houses, accessories, pets and friends…and at least one Ken doll. It seemed then that Barbies were all girls talked about and we wanted to be just like them. After reading the article “After cancer hit, women lobbied for a bald Barbie” (Yahoo!News) I can say I wish I had had a bald Barbie when I was little. Toys and women in the media are considered role models to young girls, and these role models effects on these girls is a major issue today. Young girls are more exposed to profanities and revealing shows now than ever before. Those things are being portrayed in their toys, such as Barbies, who have sported “thigh-high pink boots” and crop-tops exposing their belly buttons. While these Barbies may be making a fashion statement for older girls, seven year olds should not think a teeny-tiny t-shirt and booty shorts are the right thing to wear at that age.

            On the other hand, Barbie dolls have been “crushing stereotypes and showing little girls that they can be whatever they want to be” for over fifty years. One of the women pushing for these dolls to be made is Rebecca Sypin, whose “12-year-old daughter, Kin Inich, lost her hair this year in her own battle with leukemia.” For this young girl, who has been battling a disease to the point where she lost her hair, to see her own body and, more importantly, bald head on that of a Barbie doll would mean the world. It is important for these young girls, who feel so vulnerable, to know that they’re not alone. And a Barbie doll will do just that. Also, girls who haven’t had cancer can be made aware of it by the dolls. Therefore, if a young girl ever comes across a bald girl her age, she won’t be shocked or scared. She’ll say, “Hey, you look just like my Barbie doll,” which is about the best compliment any girl can get.

If I Were A Poor Black Kid....

            I just read the article “If I Were A Poor Black Kid” by Gene Marks (http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2011/12/12/if-i-was-a-poor-black-kid/) and I agree with some of what he said, but also disagree. Marks’s outlook on a poor black kid’s opportunities is very positive, but my question is if that is truly how it is? Marks did make the comment that most kids from inner city schools don’t know how to use the internet as a resource to help with their grades because of insufficient parenting or teachers. However, Marks failed to acknowledge the fact that in order to get to some of the places that offer computer services, a ‘young black kid’ might have to walk a long distance or take the bus alone. And as a nine year old kid trying to get to the library to read a book not provided at the school, or use the internet for help with math, walking to a library by her or himself in the inner city isn’t the safest situation. So, while I agree with Marks that opportunities are present, those opportunities aren’t as easily attainable as Marks leads us to believe. Another thing that greatly bothered me about Marks’s article is that how is being a poor black kid in the inner city any different than being a poor white kid in the inner city with equal disadvantages? It’s not.

            After becoming slightly agitated with Mr. Gene Marks, I read an article in response to his “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” spiel by Jenée Desmond-Harris (http://www.theroot.com/buzz/if-i-were-poor-black-kid-pushback). He was also befuddled by Marks’s need to affiliate a poor kid in the inner city with dark skin, and backed up my opinion that it’s not as easy as Marks wants to believe it is. He said how Marks “presented some now-infamous ideas for how he would personally rise to success if he suddenly found himself young, African American and poverty-stricken.” The response is generally sarcastic towards Marks and his ingorance to the reality of inner city schooling. Desmond-Harris made the point a kid who could barely access a computer would have no idea how to “’become an expert at Google Scholar’ and regularly peruse the CIA World Factbook….[and] get himself into a top school, and [then] ‘succeed.’” Altogether, while he made some good suggestions for a poor kid in the inner city who is familiar with using the inernet, Mark’s article was completely ignorant and did not consider the reality in the inner city.

Wrongful Convictions

         In 1994, a woman was found raped and murdered in Chicago. The police did not find any suspects for four months when they came looking for Terrill Swift. The police had Swift sign a piece of paper that they told him stated he was innocent of the crime, but was actually a false confession. After spending his life in jail since 1995, Swift was let out in January 2011. New evidence was presented with new technology that allowed the police to connect DNA from blood on the crime scene to a serial rapist and murderer. After around just one month of being let out of jail, Terrill Swift came to my school.

         The first thing that struck me about Swift was the way he talked and presented himself. I anticipated being faced with someone who looked like they had only been out of jail for a month; not very good clothes, not aware of social queues, nervous and maybe even emotional. But Terrill swift was none of those things; he was well presented, he spoke of his life with a steady voice, never hesitating to share what was going through his head when everything was going on. It surprised me that he laughed at the appropriate times and while he didn’t take his story lightly, he shared it without editing it which is sometimes the hardest thing to do.

         I found it very interesting when someone asked the question of what was the most difficult thing to adjust to when he got out of jail and he answered with communication. While he had mentioned the struggle at first of finding a job, he did not name it as his biggest difficulty. I saw what a great person he truly is that something like communication, which we take advantage of every day, was so important to him. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the idea of walking out of jail into a world completely different from the one I remembered. While he was in jail, the cell phone industry boomed, digital cameras went to a whole new level, TVs in HD emerged, the entire world of technology became something Swift never could’ve imagined it to be, and he missed all of it. That was the part that bothered me most about what happened to him; everything he missed. He missed the college experience, the ability to get a job without having to explain himself, to start a family. While he was able to go to college in jail and he can start a family now, his wrongful conviction robbed him of his time to live life.

Racism: The IAT Test

I just took the Race IAT test to see if I have any bias, and it turned out that I have a slight preference to black people. I am white and this result surprised me mostly because I have only personally known four black people in my lifetime and the rest have been white. However, I do not believe that this test truly tested if we are racist or not. I think the test was based off of reflexes and how quickly you can hit the space bar when you see specific words or faces. I do not believe that I am biased in any way towards people based on their race. I cannot say that I do not have thoughts regarding stereotypes, but I would never deprive someone of equal opportunity because of their race. 

In my opinion, there are people who are racist and there are people who are prejudiced. I believe that all people are slightly prejudiced because we all grow up in different areas and cultures that influence how we think about a certain race or religion or ethnicity. Prejudice is when you are biased or think certain thoughts about someone subconsciously. It’s those thoughts you have when you first see a person and we all have them. To me, being racist is when you go out of your way to offend another race, religion or ethnicity. When your thoughts are directed at people based on the color of their skin or prayer book in their hand. And most especially someone is racist when they base their words and actions on something we can’t really control; our race or ethnicity. 

           Some people believe that by admitting to the fact that we are prejudiced will help stop discrimination in the world. But I disagree because the fact of the matter is that no matter whether or not we admit that we are prejudiced, we’re still going to have those same thoughts about people. Admitting it won’t make it go away. I do not believe that prejudice is a problem because everyone has it about everyone else. Racism is the problem and in order to target that, we need to just keep doing what we’re doing; we are learning to accept people for who they are. It has been a slow process, but it’s not something that can be rushed. We can’t stop stereotypes from surfacing or prejudices from being in our minds, but we can change who we interact with and how we do so.

No Cupcakes Allowed...Yea That Might Be the New Sign Posted at Airports

I found an article about airport security recently that shares the story of a woman who wanted to take a cupcake--yes a cupcake--on an airplane and was not allowed to. According to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent, the woman attempted to bring the cupcake in a "jar filled with icing" onto the plane in her carry-on bag. The woman was stopped as the amount of jelly inside her cupcake exceeded the limits of 'gel' allowed on a plane (According to: http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/01/cupcakegate.html).

As much as I would like to poke fun at this, I do agree with the agent's decision in confiscating the cupcake because they were acting in the best interest of the people. Aside from the cupcake issue, airport security has been adjusted drastically post-nine-eleven. I believe that it is truly an issue of convenience vs. safety, and in my opinion, if I have to wait in line for an hour with a screaming baby behind me in order to ensure my safety, I will do it. So much of our society is based off of fast, fast, fast. Fast talking (texting), fast travel (cars going 120 mph with a speed limit of 55), fast food (Mcdonalds, etc.). We are used to fast and we get anxious when things don't go as quickly and smoothly as we planned. But if it meant saving your life, wouldn't you be willing to slow things down a bit?

I presented this issue to my class today, and one of my colleagues told me a story about how she had a little pedicure kit in her carry on that she didn’t realize had a Swiss-army switchblade in it. When she got to her hotel and was doing her nails, she realized it was in there. This was after having gone through security. My teacher then went on to tell the class that he had gotten through security with an actual switchblade knife in his carry on. No one stopped him and it was not detected in his bag whatsoever. My class seemed to support the argument of the agent from the cupcake article, saying that security should be increased because of average people getting through undetected.

So while security lines can be inconvenient, especially when it’s been forty-five minutes and the baby with new parents behind you won’t stop crying, it is important to remember that security is not there to piss us off; it is there to protect us. And, just a word of advice, if you want security to go as fast as possible, take precautions because you’re not just making the line longer for yourself. Moral to the story; if you really want a cupcake, just eat it before you get to the airport.