An American Studies Blog

Favorite blog post

2010-05-26T00:30:00.000-05:00

My favorite blog post this last quarter :( is...Tokenism in Shows and Maybe sports. This whole year our class has related one thing to another and while I was listening to Mr. Bolos on American Studies day and during class I was thinking if this relates to sports. Being a huge sports fan I tried to relate something that I love to something we have done in class.
Throughout this year in AiS we have learned that everything is a cycle and a construction and that's the same way I view my blog along with everything else. I feel like I have grown as a blogger and have used this blog for many more things then just our once a week blog. Within this class we have done so many awesome things and blogging is on the top of that list for me.

Tokenism in Shows and Maybe Sports

2010-05-25T10:48:00.001-05:00

During class the last couple days we have been talking about TV tokenism and how blacks and minorities in TV shows are just there to possibly make minorities feel better. Not only are minorities getting less screen time but they are also the "sidekicks" to white males. The examples that Mr. Bolos showed in class were really cool, and it was something that I did not notice before, and because of what Mr. Bolos did I can not watch a show without thinking about the race of the characters, and how minorities are ALWAYS treated worse and have less screen time. It is one of those things that you don't think about or notice before someone opens your mind to it, and it changes your TV watching experience FOREVER.

Now I'm going to try to make this relate to sports. I dont know if it does at all and is probably a huge stretch. First, lets look at hockey. About 97% of NHL players are white and teams with minorities don't play them much and they are usually not as good. For example Dustin Byfuglien of the Chicago Blackhawks is a great role player but they wanted to cut his ice time for the playoffs because they thought he would make a bigger impact with less ice time. Mr. Byfuglien has played great this post-season, and still not getting as many minutes. Other minority NHL players are not getting a lot of ice time not only due to the fact that there aren't a lot of them, but maybe because they are black.

Now lets look at the NBA. The NBA is an example of reverse tokenism. Minorities have taken over the sport of Basketball. There are so many more amazing African American players than White. Therefore the minorities are getting all of the playing time because they are so much better right? Even in the most black dominated sport teams still "have" to play white guys. So, maybe, teams are playing white guys for the same reason shows have black guys; to appeal to the audience. Yes, we all love watching LeBron, Kobe, and Durant, but we also love watching Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and David Lee. Are these white guys that good? yes they are really good, but maybe we think of them as amazing because they are white, and not by their talent level. Maybe. The more white guys that are on the court the funnier it looks. I remember I watching a NBA game with a couple friends and we were amazed to see a total of 5 white guys on the court. 50% of the guys playing were white, that's almost un-heard-of. So, just maybe reverse tokenism is alive in the NBA.

These are just two of the major sports and there are many more sports out there and if you have example of tokenism in sports or shows of course please feel free to share.

Playoffs

2010-04-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

This time of year is such a wonderful time for many reason, but for a sports fan there are three. First the weather is getting nice so the fresh air is for sure a plus. Its the only time of year with 2 playoffs going on at the same time. The NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs. Or you can say the Black mans game and the White mans game.

82% of the NBA is black making it the "blackest sport" in America

3.9% of active NHL players are black making it so white that hockey fans have trouble naming one good black player

Some of the best athletes are competing over the next couple weeks against athletes of the same color.

I was thinking what would be more impressive. A all white NBA team winning the NBA Finals or a Black man winning the NHL Stanley Cup MVP.

What do you think would be more impressive?

13 is the Magic Number

2010-04-21T13:33:00.000-05:00

In early January all 120 FBS Division 1 football programs signed their coaches. Many long-tenured coaches left their respective programs. For example Bobby Bowden of FSU and Mike Leach of Texas Tech to just name a few.

This year in hiring was unlike anyother. In 2010, black coaches made a historic stride forward. Six African-American coaches were hired this year to bring the number up to 13 total. This year alone doubled the amount of coaches. And brought it from around 3% to 10%. This number 13 may be unlucky to some, but for African Americans this is the most amount of Division 1 football coaches ever.

13 the number of head African American Coaches
107 the number of non African American coaches (nearly all are white)

A few years ago there were only 4 black coaches and before that 1 and before that 0. The start of black coaches making an impact at the college level hasn't happened yet, but has in other sports. The NFL and NBA have about 25% of their coaches African-American. Could the college ratio ever be so close the the professional? 25% of the college coaches would mean just about 30 coaches would be African American. Doesnt seem far off but the amount of time it took to get 13, so it may be a long time untill a quater of the coaches are African American.

Rooney...

2010-04-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

As I was researching my JT topic last night about African American Coaches, I came upon an article about this rule called the Rooney Rule. What is the Rooney Rule? The Rooney Rule is named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney and was established in 2003. With a goal towards balance minority candidates with other hires, the rule mandates that all coaching searches interview at least one minority candidate. As of 2009, there are almost four times as many African American head coaches in the NFL than there were prior to the rule. This rule applies only when a team conducts a search for a head coach. If a team decides to hire internally, they do not have to consider minority candidates. One example might be an interim head coach being promoted to head coach. A real-life example was Mike Martz’s promotion to head coach of the St. Louis Rams, as he was already on Dick Vermeil’s staff as offensive co-ordinator.

Our Bears coach Lovie Smith was the first African American to coach in the Super Bowl, playing Dungy and the Colts. Technically, Smith was the first African American to coach in the Super Bowl, as the Bears defeated the Saints for the NFC Championship just hours before the Colts defeated the Patriots for the AFC Championship.

What? who does it serve? Doesn’t this “rule” take away the accomplishments of black coaches? Doesn’t it make it appear as though they are being interviewed due to a "rule" by the NFL, and not due to the sacrifices they’ve made along the way that put them into positions to be hired in the first place?

There isn't a rule for this in College football...
There are so many more Division 1 football teams then the NFL (120) and yet there are about the same amount of coaches. Shouldn't a rule like this be placed in College too because colleges are the breading grounds for NFL players and coaches...

The Madness that is March

2010-04-07T13:41:00.001-05:00

March Madness concluded on Monday night with one of the most exciting games ever. This game consisted of two opposite teams. One of the teams: Duke, a power house program that is in the top 10 almost every year and championships are routine. The other team Butler. Butler who???? exactly a team that has never gone to the elite 8 before and certainly never a national championship.
Everyone isn't a Duke fan wanted Butler. You could say the Nation was pulling for Butler. But the Dream would end short of a Championship. On Monday night they lost to Duke with the score of 61-59. Butler missed two game winning shots, but everyone thought that it was an amazing game.
Duke who was basically up the entire game, every time they would pull ahead with a 6 or 8 point lead, the bulldogs of Butler would come right back with some quick baskets of their own.
If Butler would have won the game they would have been the first mid-major to win it since UNLV in 1990. But many would consider that team anything but midmajor. They were 35-5 and had three players go in the first round of the Daft. And I bet you didnt know this but that won 103-73 over Duke. And that game gives UNLV the largest margin of victory in a Championship game. And they were a midmajor.

But this year was more then Butler going to the finals it was about all the upsets that happened in March and early April there were 21 upsets (I think) which seems like a lot and is a lot. And not only were there upsets, but some were huge!! March and Early April is the best time in sports, You have the NCAA Tourny, The Masters on CBS, opening day, the near end of basketball and hockey regular season. Its the closest thing the sports has to perfect. So March and early bring more madness then any other time of the year

favorite blog post...

2010-03-24T15:48:00.000-05:00

Over the past 3 quaters I have been blogging about a bunch of different topics. When we started to talk about advertising it really interested me because some family members work in the undustry and I am one of those people that is brain washed by advertising. It is also pretty cool to look into advertising and go behind the scenes.
So may favorite blog post is Advertising, Advertising, Advertising... which is about advertising today, and hoe big of a role it plays in our society today. Also a possible Junior Theme topic...

Midmajors...

2010-03-23T13:34:00.001-05:00

All Basketball fans know what the Big 6 is. It is the Six Major conferences in college basketball (and basically all sports too). The Six Majors are the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Pac-10, and the Big East. The NCAA Mens Tournament is suppose to consist of the 64 best teams in the country, but it usually consists of all the Conference Winners along with most at-large bids going to the Big 6. This year the sweet sixteen consists of 11 different conferences and 5 teams who are considered mid-majors. The teams are Northern Iowa, Butler, Xavier, Cornell, and St. Mary's (California).
Many ESPN and CBS analysts give these teams the MidMajor label because history doesnt have them as big time teams. Last year the NCAA committee invited only 4 at large midmajor teams. This year the committee doubled that number to 8 and it has paid off with 5 going to the Sweet Sixteen.
If a teen from the Big 6 (power conferences) go a few games above .500 then they will most likely get a invitation to the Big Dance. For the MidMajors they have to win the Conference or get second or third at worst. And they even have a harder time impressing the Committee because they can't schedule great teams, because the power teams are afraid of losing to this "MidMajors" Many dislike the thought of having MidMajor teams that dont have large fan bases make it far in the dance, and others love the fact that their are some amazing upsets throughout March.
Some teams like Xavier who makes the tournament very often along with Butler shouldn't have the "Midmajor" label, but when asked, they don't mind it because they dont wanna be the team that everyone picks, and they want to be under the radar. But some other teams hate the MidMajor label and want people like us to stop using it to describe their players and conferences. They think that it is disrespectful of the league.
What do you think about the MidMajor label and what it brings to the table?

Advertising Slogan Quiz

2010-03-17T13:23:00.000-05:00

Advertising plays a huge role in our lives today. Everywhere we look there are advertisements. No matter what you do you cant avoid them.

Below are Slogans of Companies that are among the most well-known around the world today.
Can you name the Brand / Company from their Slogan?Note: They Start of Easy (maybe) and get Harder the father you get (maybe). The answers are in the first Comment Below

1. Just Do it.
2.Taste The Rainbow
3. I'm Loving It!
4.That Was Easy
5.Can You Hear me Now? Good.
6.It Gives You Wings
7.Eat Fresh
8. Obey Your Thirst
9. Zoom Zoom
10.Priceless
11.We Try Harder
12.Melts in your Mouth not your hands
13. Impossible is Nothing
14.Possibilities
15.Double Your Pleasure, Double your Fun
16.The Ultimate Driving Machine
17.Whats in your wallet?
18.Its in the Game
19.Think Outside the Bun
20.Come Hungry. Leave Happy
21. Buy it. Sell it. Love it.
22.Real. American. Jeans.
23.Let Your Fingers do the Walking
24.Stick Together
25. The Every Pain Reliever
26. Quality you can Taste.
27. Life if Full of surprises
28.Betcha Cant eat just one
29. Made from the best stuff on Earth
30.When you care enough to send the very best

If you can get all 30 of these I will be very impresses. Let me know your score, and be honest. If you do get all of them, either you've been taken over by advertising or, you've been taken over by advertising

Advertising, Advertising, Advertising...

2010-03-17T08:28:00.001-05:00

On average you will see about 6000 marketing messages, or ads, today alone. That means you will see about 2,190,000 marketing messages a YEAR. Believe it or not your looking at a couple right now. Look away from you're computer screen and you see a couple more, a label on a bottle, logo on your t-shirt, and even a poster on the wall. So if you think advertising and marketing messages are not a huge part of your life, then your wrong and you better re-think that. Just do the math (its right above). Its something that is out of the consumers control.

Why do companies advertise? Companies advertise every possible place, because there are consumers that are looking to buy everywhere. The more and more you see the Nike swoosh and the Just Do It! slogan, the more likely you are to buy a Nike product. When companies advertise it makes us the consumer think about buying a product. Believe it or not, me and you fall under this umbrella too. The way the companies see it is that Out of Sight is Out of Mind if you don't see the ads, your not as likely to buy the specific product. They make accessories seem like necessities.
outsell Inc. recently published a report putting out some numbers. Estimated budget for advertising and marketing in the USA 2008: $412,400,000,000 (yep, about 412 billion dollar). Thats a lot of money.

Is it really worth it to put forth 412 billion dollars for people to see 2.19 million messages a year? I dont know, What do you think?

Life without Freezers??

2010-03-16T13:44:00.000-05:00

Imagine going to the market every day to get your food for the day. We are just so busy now a days that we couldn't fit it in, so we would starve without them right?
The Freezer and frozen food started to become a huge deal in the late 1920s. General Foods bought Charlie Birdseye's rights and patents in 1929. At the beginning the freezer was a hard thing to sell. This was because no one had ever seen one before 1929, and know what knew what to do it, and how to prepare food. They began to show "how to" videos and programs to teach people how to use the freezer. The freezer was not something that the average family wouldn't have. Many would say that if they had a freezer that it was a privilege not a necessity.
Advertising had a huge role in the success of the freezer. Without advertising the freezer may not have evolved into what it is today. Now when you walk into someones kitchen you notice the freezer and refriderator right away. This is because of advertising. It played a huge rold in the evolution of the freezer along with many other inventions later to come.
Does advertising play a huge role in the success in the product? Maybe... What do you think?

The Art of the Handshake

2010-03-11T13:22:00.001-06:00

The Handshake is usually the first thing you do when you meet someone. No one wants to extend their hand and receive a "dead fish" Thats the worst way to start off the rendezvous with someone. The most common "shake" is called the original handshake. Once finishing the original handshake, people add modifiers which are like; touching chest’s, snapping fingers, one arm around the back, touching knuckles, rubbing elbows, high fives, shaking each others feet, parking the car, and some more hand gestures.
Here are the Six things you Must do to complete the Original Handshake
1. There should be 2-4 feet of distance between you and the target and all your fingers should be touching each other. Your thumb and index finger should create a 90 degree angle and your hand should be pointed slightly down to the floor.
2. Thisnext part is very key to the handshake and this is the part that many fail to do correctly. The first part of your hand to make contact is the webbing on your thumb, and it should contact the target’s webbing on their thumb.
3. Once you have made first contact, you then should slightly point your hand further twards the ground and wrap your fingers around the target’s palm.
4. Now the Grip: a good handshake grip should apply enough pressure so that someone would have a problem prying your hands apart if they tried.
5. This is when the “shake” in the handshake happens, the shake is the Super Bowl of the handshake so make it a good one. With a stiff wrist, move the target’s hand/ arm up and down 2 or 3 times, this should last about 3 to 4 seconds.
6. The first time you meet someone you should stick with the Original, no use in trying to add in a modifier if you do not know that person well. Usually modifiers are used amongst friends, once you are amongst one’s friends and have witnessed a modified greeting, you may attempt to reproduce that greeting.
If you do this you will never give or receive a "dead fish"

New Surveillance Cameras

2010-03-09T20:40:00.000-06:00

The current surveillance cameras are pretty big and way to easy to spot for criminals. The criminals know the cameras way to well, and now know where their range ends, and they do some damage where the cameras can't see them. But soon all this will come to an end, with the new and improved cameras that are harder to spot with a much wider range.
They expect in 3-5 years that the new wave of cameras will be so small and have such great vision that there will be no way to hide from the police cameras. Someone apposing this plan had this to say, "They use federal money so they've never had to argue for these things in a budget. They've never had to answer the question of whether these things work in reducing crime," Stating that they never really looked into how well the cameras actaully work. These cameras should and could reduce crime in the roughest neighborhoods around the Chicago area. They are looking into putting in camreas in more schools, and this small "invisible" cameras in many more public places.
Some think that these cameras will work for a little, but the overall goal wont be reached. What do you think about the new camera purposal?

Womens Basketball in the News????

2010-03-09T08:34:00.000-06:00

Over the past week, two of the biggest womens basketball stories got some national press. I am a huge fan of Sports Center, and watch it religiously, and there has never been two important womens basketball stories in the same week.
1. UCONNs womens team breaks their own record of most games won in a row with 71. Im guessing no one even knew that.
2. Baylor's Brittney Griner punched another girl in the face during their game last week. Griner is a 6 foot 8 inch freshmen women, who is basically a man playing in a womens league.

What one of these stories is bigger? You would think the UCONNs womens team with 71 wins, maybe, or Griner who is the greatest womens basketball player basically ever to live.

For the first time that I know of, two womens stories on the same Sports Center, thats unreal.
I think its kind of funny to think that the only time that a womens basketball story is in the news is if records are broken, or the best player does something stupid. In mens sports everygame of the pervious day or week is talked about on the news, but not womens sports.
The Griner punch is something that will be talked about for the rest of the season and the rest of her career. If that happened in a mens game, yes they would be suspended, but it wouldnt be talked about for years to come. When Ron Artest and the Pacers got in a fight with the Pistons, not a lot of people remember that and it was a flat out brawl.
What do you think about the UCONN womens basketball team and Brittney Griner punch?

What light have you Turned on?

2010-03-01T17:32:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the lights or have turned on a light? Not your typically 60 or 120 watt bulb, but the light that drives you.
Im guessing the light that you have turned on the Green Light, of course.
After starting to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we have began to talk about the green light. What Drives you? was the main focus of this discussion. I was thinking to myself, what drives me, and it took awhile for me to find what actaully drives me.
My Green Light: My green light is one that is consantly on, not always thinking about the future, but live in the moment. You don't want to miss out on opportunities that may come up because your thinking to far ahead. You have to live in the moment, and expect the unexpected. Many times I get caught up in my day-to-day life and forget about the big picture. And on the other hand i get caught up thinking way to much about my future that I cant enjoy whats in front of me. My green light is to live in the now while still keeping in mind my future.

Whats your Green Light?

Racism in Shows

2010-02-10T20:49:00.000-06:00

Today in Class, Mr. Bolos brought up for a minute or so the difference of Black men and White men in TV shows.
He said that one of his friends brought up the fact that all black men are always dressed nicer then the white males during TV.
Not really noticing it before Mr. Bolos said, but then after he was told thats all he could notice, was how well-dressed black males were.
This very same thing happened to me today. When Mr. Bolos said that I began thinking about if its really true or not. And I was thinking of shows that I watch and its TRUE! For example, the two shows that first came to mind were House and 24. Two of my favorite shows that I watch religiously. In House, the doctor Gregory House has a team of doctors that he always works with, and it consists of 3 men and 1 women. One of the men happens to be African American. Whose name is Dr. Eric Foreman. Throughout the show they wear their doctors coat, but underneath they dont all dress the same. Foreman always has a button down with a tie, while the others dont. Sometimes the others wear that but, Foreman always is dressed up. The other example is that of 24, which is a crim fighting/solving show. In this show the head of CTU is am African American man who always its dressed nice as well, and his employees are all much more casual. His name is Brian Hastings, and he like Foreman is always dressed nicer then his fellow white male co-workers.
I think that these types of things dont happen on accident, the producers make a choice on what the actors wear, and its not a coincidence that all black males are dressed better. If this a form of racism on the screen. Do Americans have this picture of Blacks as people that are bad unless they are dressed professionally?
If you have any more examples of this or any thoughts please comment.

Racism in Sports

2010-02-09T18:03:00.001-06:00

Look at the Previous post as well, they go together
The games that we play today are virtually the same games we played ninety years ago with a few exceptions. The first difference is the equipment we play with. The second difference is the skill level of the players. The third and possibly most important difference is integration of the games. If you take away the new equipment, and the players skill levels you still have the same game with the same basic principle. However, if you take away the integration of the game you would take away a whole other dimension that people of different race have brought to the game we play. Golfers would still be driven balls without tees. Players like Hank Aaron, Tiger Woods, and Muhammad Ali would never have rewritten the record books. Most importantly, however, these players of other races would still be playing in the dark never being recognized for the greatness of their athletic ability.

There may be no other type of racism that is more publicized than racism in sports. Sports are a staple in the United States. Sports could quite possibly be the one thing more Americans have in common than anything else. But why in this day and age is racism in sports more abundant than ever?

In my opinion, racism in sports may not be quite as abundant as we think.

Nothing has become more bias and more "evil" than the American media. Since when did it become more important to report that Alex Rodriguez was spotted having dinner with a strange woman than it is to give us his stats and his performance in the very thing that made him famous?

Take a step back and think for one second. What made America care more about Britney's shaved head or Angelina's pregnant stomach? The media. Media coverage has become focused on negative and uncivil acts more now than it ever has. You can easily open your local sports page and find your daily dose of scores and stats, but somewhere else in there you will find a scandal or a report on something an athlete did wrong. It's the way our society has gone.

But where does racism fit in? Let's first touch on the NFL. No story stands out more when it comes to racism in the NFL than Donovan McNabb's comments regarding a black quarterback vs. a white quarterback.

McNabb expressed that a black quarterback is examined in more depth and under a less forgiving microscope. Not only black quaterbacks but also blacks around all the different leagues.

What do you guys think about racism in sports today?

Racism Today?

2010-02-09T17:38:00.000-06:00

After our class discussion about Race and Racism I couldnt do anything else but blog about it. Racism is something that we don't always talk about any more. Does that mean it doesn't exsist? No, racism is still very much alive today as it was 40+ years ago. Sorry to everyone that thought the war on Racism was over, but its not. Racism today is not as dangerous as it once was, but that does not mean that it doesn't hurt people just as much.
African Americans today are still going through the hardships they were going through for hundreds of years. Managers and interviewers are not suppose to discriminate and hand out jobs because of color, but they still do. There are no ways to regulate if a boss is doing so. Although our country has come very far, we still have a long way to go. Our country has created a stereotype that all successful people are white males. In almost all Canons humans have made there aren't any women, and certainly no African Americans. Why is this? This is because we have created this picture in our minds that white men are the ones on top of everything. In the work place and on the streets.
Black men and women had no respect at all over 30 years ago and still to this day that don't have nearly the same amount as whites. For our country to become the best we can be we have to invite and allow any one and everyone to reach their full potential. Without African Americans and Whites working together there is a whole umbrella of new ideas thats still closed even today.

If you have any thoughts about this cartoon or Race today please let us know

The New Pro Bowl

2010-02-01T10:53:00.001-06:00

     For the first time 86 of the NFLs best came together last night (one week before the Super Bowl) in Miami. The Pro-Bowl was held at Dolphin Stadium which is also the host to this year’s Super Bowl. This is not Miami’s first Pro-Bowl game; the last one held there was in 1975 when the site rotated annually.
     It's not a new topic to have the game moved up to take place between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. The NFL has discussed it multiple times in recent years, and Commissioner Roger Goodell told the press last month that having the game before the Super Bowl would avoid a "somewhat anticlimactic" ending to the season. In the past the Pro-Bowl would not get a lot of press because it is after the season is over and no one is interested in watching a "joke of a game". Now having it before the Super Bowl, the press can focus on the game and all football fans are still focused on the NFL and the hype leading up to the big game. The downside of having it before the Super Bowl is that 40% of the players originally voted in did not play due to injury and all players from the Colts and Saints didn't play either due to preparation for the Super Bowl.
     Many would say that the Pro-Bowl doesn't attract a lot of fans due to the Super Bowl players not playing. Even though the best player (Peyton Manning) along with some other All-Stars did not play, you still have 86 amazing football players that are all on the field at the same time. This game consists of the best athletes in the game today, and it’s a game where all the players get together and have some fun with the game of football.
Last night’s game was one of the better pro-bowls not only because of the amazing timing, but with the new rules in place it allowed the QBs to air the ball out for some huge plays. These plays are the reason why people watch the game. The new rules are: no motion, no trips wide, no blitzes, no press/bump coverage, no 5-6 cb sets, must be in 4-3 defense, intentional grounding not called, and no videotaping the coaches on the sideline. Although these rules don’t allow the defenses to make huge hits and huge plays, it allows the offense to go to work. All fans love to see the ball thrown a million times and a very high scoring game. The new rules allow for more excitement on the field.

iPad

2010-01-27T21:31:00.000-06:00

As we all have heard Apple has came out with its newest item the iPad. And yes your probably thinking what else could Apple make? This new item is just what everyone has been looking for. You know when you are on the couch and wanna grab the paper of the kitchen counter or get up and go to the computer, but your just to lazy to do it. Everyone has that happen to them, so Apple thought, why should anyone have to think like that any more. The iPad is what those types of people need. Its a 9.7 inch computer with no buttons. Its the same look as an iPhone but instead it is very similar to just a laptop without the folding up and the keyboard. It does everything an iPhone does expect the phone part. It has access to all the apps and runs just like the phone.
Why get this? This Pad can do everything from being a computer to a simple picture frame. This is the most simple and smallest and lightest computer ever. You can watch your movies on a larger screen and use it as a camera and make all the adjustments on the run.
The people having issues with this are going to be all of the book companies and newspapers are going to take a bigger hit. Why would you ever buy a book if you have access to every book in the palm of your hands. Why ever get a newspaper if you have everyone at the slide of a finger. Not only do you have that but its smaller and lighter then newspapers, and books.

What I see Coming!!
The iPad could be the future of classrooms. I could very easily see New Trier buying a iPad for every student, and in that iPad, is installed every text book and all the reading materials for everyclass. Not only is the investment worth it but then students wouldnt have to worry about all of the books they have to buy and have on them at all times. It could very easily replace the entire backpack. The iPad opens so many possibilities for everyone.The iPad could change the next generation. Let me know your thoughts.

The Cat in the Hat

2010-01-08T12:04:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite childrens book is The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. The Cat brings a cheerful, exotic chaos to a household of two young children one rainy day while their mother leaves them unattended. Bringing with him two creatures appropriately named Thing One and Thing Two, the Cat performs all sorts of wacky tricks. And to make up for the chaos he has caused, he cleans up the house on his way out, disappearing seconds before the mother arrives. There are a few things that are very interesting to me 1. The mom leaves the kids at home alone and a weirdo comes into their house and she didn't lock the door. 2. Another possibility is that the cat has a striped hat. Perhaps this is symbolic of the striped suits that are commonly worn by prisoners. In other words, they were making the cat out to be a real psycho.
He then makes the children do things that they're uncomfortable with, telling them that it's "fun" even though they obviously don't enjoy it. They're worried the entire time that their mother will find out because of the mess he's causing.
At the end, they tell him to please go away and take his things with him, because their mom is coming home. He covers up his wrongdoings and leaves, just as the mother arrives. Then, the narrator asks "Would you tell your parents if it happened to you?" That's the part thats really creepy.
I have come to believe that this story is actually about poor parenting and/or a instance of abuse. Of course, it might just be a completely innocent children's story.
What do you think the meaning behind this book is?

Dubai Topping the World

2010-01-06T13:43:00.000-06:00

Dubai is the new home to the tallest building in the world. Burj Khalifa is the name of the newest building in Dubai. Even though the economy is down the buildings are going up into the sky. The new building Burj is 2 x the size of the Empire State Building which is in New York City. Burj Khalifa is the work of the grand old Chicago architectural firm of Skidmore Owings and Merrill. This building is 165 stories. Standing 2,717 ft above the ground. The previous building that held that status was the Taipei 101 Tower which is only 101 stories. Standing 1,670 ft tall. Burj is not just the new tallest building in the world but has set new benchmarks and has set new definitions to the word skyscraper. It has broken seven world records: 1. The tallest Building in the World. 2. Tallest free-standing structure in the world. 3. Highest number of stories of any structure. 4. Highest occupied floor in the world. 5. Highest outdoor observation deck. 6. Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world. 7. Tallest service elevator in the world. The design of the building is similar to that of the Sears Tower now the Willis Tower. As the base is much wider than the top and it gradually gets skinnier and skinnier. Due to the massive height of Burj on a windy day the building can sway from 6-8 feet.
Some say that eventually there will be a building over a mile high. Its crazy to think about but buildings with this kind of height is not that far away.

Jay Jay is Here to Stay

2010-01-04T13:28:00.002-06:00

Jay Cutler, the starting QB for the Chicago Bears finished the season with 2 amazing games. The last two games he had 8 TDs and only 1 INT. Cutler not having his best season with 26 ints. The most of his career. Many people from Chicago had it with Jay and wanted him out of Chicago. Many wished that we still had Kyle Orton. But getting Jay Cutler was the best decision the Bears franchise has made since winning the Super Bowl in 85'. Cutler played like a MVP the last 2 weeks. Finishing the season with 27 TDs also the most in his career. His stated before the Vikings game that he wanted to finish the season with more TDs then INTS. And he did just that. On Monday Night Football against the Vikings, Cutler put up stella numbers with 4TDs and 1 Int with a 39 yard TD pass in OT to lead the Bears with a W and again against the Lions with 4TDs and 0 Ints. These two performances is the exact reason why Jay Cutler is the right choice for Chicago. With no receivers and a pair of decent tight ends we need a top end quarterback and he is that top end quarterback.

Holidays Bring out the Best in People

2009-12-31T09:47:00.000-06:00

The holidays bring out the beat in people...usually. This holiday season has brought some good and some bad. Why around the holidays? Holidays are fun and suppose to be jolly. But many bad things have happened over this holiday season. Is this because it’s the last one of the decade and people want to leave with a bang? Probably not. Lets start in sports. Brett Favre and his coach are in a fight. Mike Leach (Texas Tech head coach) gets fired one day before he was suppose to get his bonus because he locked a kid in a shed for multiple hours. Wide Receiver Chris Henry got killed. The only undefeated team (the Colts) lost. Hometown Chicago Bulls Coach is about to get the boot. Urban Meyer (Florida head football coach) has to step down because of health issues. Tiger Woods (the worlds greatest golfer) having more problems with his mistresses and his family. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fight still hasn’t been set. All these bad things that’s happening in today’s sports news. There’s also some good as well. But why all the drama around this years holiday. And lets no forget about the most serious of them all a terrorist attack gone bad and potential terrorists could be anywhere. And a suicide bomber killed eight American civilians, most of them C.I.A. officers, at a remote base in Afghanistan. And many other bad things have happened this holiday season. C’mon why can't we all just enjoy the holidays?

So Many Bowl Games...

2009-12-31T09:19:00.000-06:00

Thirty-four bowl games come on that’s a lot of football. Even the biggest of football fans don’t watch them all. Over this break I have watched many bowl games that I wouldn’t normally watch because of all the down time I have. I don’t know if you have watched any of them yet, but for all of the bowls that have already been played the stadiums are about half way full. This is because no one wants to watch the Independence Bowl and the Roadys Humanitarian Bowl. This is because these games don’t mean anything to the fans, and to the nation. On the other hand these games are what make college football so great today. If there weren't 34 bowl games that means 68 teams play and if they cut that number of bowls then the number of teams has to go to. This wouldn’t affect the well-known schools but for schools like SMU, Bowling Green, Idaho, Troy, and Central Florida wouldn’t make it to these games. For those teams the bad bowl games are like national championships for them, winning the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl is just as big as Texas winning the National Championship. Those teams just have their goals set lower then going undefeated. So college football needs all of the bowl games and many people want to lessen the number of bowls, but I say we add another 5 bowl games to give 10 more teams that aren’t as good as a Florida, Texas, Ohio State a chance. Teams like Notre Dame could possibly make a bowl game.

Are any Coaches Loyal to their Teams?

2009-12-31T09:03:00.000-06:00

Just the other day Brian Kelly signed a contract to be the coach for Notre Dame starting next season. Kelly leading his former team Cincinnati to an undefeated season 12-0 with a Big East title. Along what that great season they earned the right to play in a BCS bowl game v. the Florida Gators. But Kelly had different things on his mind this week, not thinking about the blue and orange Florida Gators but the Gold, Blue and Green fighting Irish. By signing this contract with Notre Dame will he coach the bowl game? The answer is no. He is going to ditch his team that he has been the coach since 2006. He has brought the Bearcats out of the dark and into the national spotlight. He’s leaving to join a team that has been peril for the past 10-15 years. If you were a player for a team that has gone unbeaten for a whole season and you have the biggest game of your life coming up, and your coach decides to ditch you. How would you feel? Twenty years ago this was very uncommon, but now today everything is about the money. NO coach has any school pride and often coach at a school to get a different job. If you have any thoughts about modern day coaches let me know.

The Man Among Men: Tiger Woods

2009-12-07T22:06:00.001-06:00

Being in a family of all golfers and myself included we have been the biggest fans of Tiger, from when we first saw him on the golf course in 1996. I don't think me or the rest of my family will ever stop being fans of his. We all have heard about what has happened to Tiger Woods in the past couple weeks. One of today's major athletes, one that has one of the cleanest images in sports, just got caught. The day after Thanksgiving was not only Black Friday for the shoppers but also for golf fans around the world. Tiger Woods, the very first billion dollar athlete, was caught. Caught cheeting at that. He was caught cheating with not only one women but with as many as three. But how can one of the biggest names in sports get caught doing something like this? Not only were golf fans upset, but anyone who respected the game of golf and Tiger Woods were shaking their heads at the newly polyamarous Woods. Early in the morning on black friday Tiger Woods got in a car crash, not with a car but with a tree. You may ask yourself how something like this could happen. Well there are many different stories circulating, but the truth is that Tiger and his wife were experiencing a domestic dispute and she tried to attack him. After Tiger ran out of the house and got into his car his wife chases him outside with a golf club (probably Nike). He in a moment of panic, crashed his car into a tree in his driveway. The next day cops came to Tigers door, and Tiger and his wife refused to talk to the cops, and anyone for that matter, concerning the crash.
Should you have the right to deny talking to a cop after something that serious has happened?
If your Tiger Woods maybe. But what I'm tired of is this being all over the news since it happened. The more and more its on the news the more and more embarrassing it is, not only to Tiger and his family but to the game of golf. By now everyone is familiar with all the facts so why keep telling us again and again.I think its time to leave Tiger and his family alone and let them figure things out like all other regular american families would have the right to do. If this happened to anyone else people would move on, but in this case when you hear the name Tiger your not gonna think of "the" Tiger, instead you will think of "the cheetah"

Yes We Can They Say

2009-11-29T18:32:00.005-06:00

Over this Thanksgiving break my brothers friend showed our family this music video featuring will.i.am, john legend, herbie hancock, nicole scherzinger, scarlett johansson, kate walsh, and others, singing along with the Yes We Can speech by Barack Obama.

If you do a quick youtube search of any government candidates' name you will see hundreds of unoffical supporter-created songs, love poems and false campaign ads. But only one of those was created in a professional Los Angeles recording studio, spearheaded by the Black-Eyed Peas’ will.i.am and involved the participation of 30 famous musicians and actors.

On the song’s Web site, YesWeCanSong.com , will.i.am says he was inspired to make the video after hearing President Obama’s modest speech after finishing second in New Hampshire. The black-and-white video is a mix of singing and speaking the words to Obama’s New Hampshire speech simultaneously over Obama’s own voice. It’s set to a simple guitar melody and considering the amount of pop stars involved, probably wouldn’t seem too odd if it was on the radio.
They said that they wanted it on national television but to get 4 minutes and 30 seconds of air time would have been impossible, but through the internet millions of people have seen the video. Many still havent seen this video but to the millions of people that have seen it have said that it is very inspiring and that it puts all other celebrity ads to shame.
This is a very simple video that shows how music artists can influence many people and show their support for others through their voices. I'm not saying that people voted for Obama because of the stars that supported him, but it doesn't hurt Obama that many were behind him.

Click here to see the video YesWeCanSong.com

This video has not only inspired me but the millions of others who have seen it as well.

Please let me know what you think.

Cleveland Fans are in Perilous Times

2009-11-16T13:48:00.001-06:00

The Cleveland Browns: terrible.
They have gone from bad to worse to worst. The Browns have only had 2 winning seasons in the last ten years. And are currently 1-7 this year. And arguably the worst team in the league. And are close to last if not last in every category possible. The highest they have been ranked this year was 28th out of the 32 team league. Many would say that they are awful. Many fans dont enjoy their team any more and cheer against them now. Here are some stats that back up that they are the worst.
1. They have not scored more than 20 points since the last game of last season thats 8 games.
2. Since the beginning of the 2008 season, the Browns have had ONE game where a QB threw for 250 yards.
3. Since the beginning of the 2008 season, the Browns have not had a 100-yard rusher. That’s 19 games without Cleveland RB eclipsing the century mark
4. Since week 11 of the 2008 season, the Browns have scored 10 points or more just four times.
Quitting seems possible for them Browns. The worst team in the NFL: probably
The fans are getting worse and worse. Perilous times is a understatement for them. If their team wins more then 4 games a season its an alright year. At the end of this year it will most likely be another new coach. Maybe what the Browns really need is a new home. Ever think of that? A city where no where cares and a team that can't get worse...Every season is a war being fought with the Browns and they lose each and every year. When you think of Perilous times in sports you got to think the Cleveland Browns.
If you know of a worse team or you have anything to say please comment below.

Being a Trevian

2009-11-04T10:57:00.000-06:00

Being a student at New Trier is not like being one at any other school around. Going through four years of high school here is not considered typical. Ya we have classes, extracurriculars, sport teams, and social lives to balance everything out. We have a student body of over 4,000 and yet we have NO spirit and support for our teams. New Treir is the only school that winning a state championship is normal. This past week our field hockey team won the title and i bet more then 70% of the students didn't know. Of the people that knew a few of them actaully thought it was cool. We are the most divided school around we have more "cliques" then any other school around. Its not that they dont get along with eachother but theres one thing that every "clique" has in common and that is that no one cares about our schools sports. At anyother school if their teams make it to the state championship the whole community would know about it and at the end of the year everyone would remember. At New Trier at the end of the year if you ask majority of the students "What teams played in and/or won the state championship?" many of them would not know. Maybe we are good at a lot of sports but theres no reason why you shouldnt know about the sucess. At New Trier if your not first your last!
Along with sports, grades work the same at our school. We recently got our first quater grades, and majority of the students are getting upset at "B's" in AP classes. This may seem ridiculas to most but that looks pathetic to the straight A student. Students aren't the only ones getting upset, their parents are also involved. For some if you come home with a B you are grounded or punished. But isnt a B above average? Yes but our parents have influenced us to believe that an A is the only way.Would we be as competitive without the pressure from our parents? What would we be like if our parents didnt pressure us as much?

The Fear of H1N1

2009-10-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

I was watching the news the other night and the section about the H1N1 flu. The vaccines have recently come to the public of Illinois. And an amazing amount of people showed up to receive the vaccine. Many more people showed up then they has supply. Parents with young children and really scared and want their child or children to get the shot as soon as possible because it is more dangerous to the youth of the country. So how are the states going to control the spread of the vaccine and how to distribute it. But many states are far from figuring out how they'll distribute the 251 million doses headed their way. There are a number of children with this type of flu and there are some results and stats of this here.
Should people be as scared as they are right now?
I think that they shouldn't be freakin' out because this is just another flu that is more harmful to children then the elderly. Millions of people get the flu every year and yes a fair amount of them die but the only thing you can do is get the vaccine. Once you get that there is little that you can do.
My advice to young parents is to try to get the vaccine as quickly as possible.
Although H1N1 is very contagious, it is no more dangerous then the seasonal flu.
Please let me know your thoughts about the H1N1 flu.

Is the Constitution a Living Document Today?

2009-10-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

“Living” documents – putting into use documents written hundreds, even thousands of years ago.

So many people have heard of and used the phrase “living document”. To define it for those who may not be familiar with the term, a living document (as defined by Wikipedia) is “a document which may be continually edited and updated by either a limited or unrestricted group”. An example of a document that should be represented as a living document is the United States Constitution. Our Constitution we would think is the idea of a “living document” but it is not at all because the Constitution itself cannot be altered. At all. The text within the Constitution is the same as when it was written by the colonies in the late 1700’s. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have not been edited, but reinterpreted. And depending on the Justices and the make up of the Supreme Court, it has been reinterpreted by many people over the 200+ years of US History. It's considered by many to be a living document. I, personally, believe that it kind of has to be a living document. We have shown that it cannot be interpreted based only on the words written in Constitution because it was left some what vague in certain areas. For example: The rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are guaranteed and are very important, but you are going to have arguments on what those words mean. Some others are also vague and the meanings of them have to be interpreted in order for them to apply to the population today.
So is it really a "living document" or not?
Please let us all know how you feel.

Is the Solution to Health Care that Easy?

2009-10-19T12:02:00.000-05:00

Steven A. Burd is the president of Safeway. Safeway is on e of the largest grocers in the world. Steven A. Burd has established Safeway as the company with the ideal health care system for their employees. According to Mr. Burd that there are two things that the health care reform must do 1) It must secure coverage for all Americans, and 2) it must dramatically lower the cost of health care. Health-care spending has outpaced the rise in all other consumer spending by nearly a factor of three since 1980. At Safeway they believe that well designed health care reform, utilizing the market, can ultimately reduce our nation's health-care bill by 40%. The key to achieving these savings is health care plans that reward healthy behavior. As a self insured employer, Safeway designed just such a plan in 2005 and has made continuous improvements each year. During this four year period, Safeway has kept their per capita health care costs flat, while most American companies' costs have increased 38% over the same four years. As much as they would like to take credit for being a health care innovator, Safeway has done nothing more than borrow from the well tested automobile insurance model. Every employee has to take a test based on four main groups which are tobacco usage, healthy weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. And if their tests get better then they get rewarded and if their tests get worse then their premium goes up.
Burd was planning on going to the White House and present his case to Obama. He believes that this would be a logical way to fix the health care crisis and this would help the health care debt and decrease it by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Many people are talking about Burds way of insuring his employees and that he should go to the White House and do something about because his way could work.
Do you think that this is a good way to have the heakth care system? Please let me know what you think.

Are Grades Any Good?

2009-10-13T16:23:00.003-05:00

Throughout our class today we discussed grades, and how grades aren't the most important thing in a class. If you are learning and trying your best then the grade shouldn't decide your future.

Every parent wants to boast that his or her child is “a straight A student,” “at the top of her class,” or “on the honor roll.” What generally determines this? Grades of course. Report cards are the first means of measuring a child’s progress through school. Doing “well” in school is measured by a series of letters on a piece of paper: A is great, B is ok, C not so great, and D or F? You’re grounded! Some parents reward children for good grades adding additional value to each letter.

Are those letters that meaningful?

Studies have shown that there are three main effects of giving students grades First, their interest in the learning the material is lost. Second, they come to prefer easier tasks. Not because they’re lazy, but because they’re rational, and are focused on the grade and not weather they like the material or not. After all, if the point is to get an A, your odds are better if you avoid taking risks. Third, students tend to think in a more grade oriented, and forget what they learn when grades are involved. Students who are lucky enough to be in classes where they don’t get letter or number grades are more likely to want to continue learning the material, more likely to want to challenge themselves, and more likely to think deeply.

In our class: An American Studies I'm not sure how the grades work yet, but from what we have had so far our teachers unlike many others at our school (New Trier) are not focused and concerned about our grades. The two teachers are interested in us learning the material and wanting to See, Think, and Wonder about everything that we talk about.

I believe that having a class like this is an advantage because at New Trier every student is always worrying about their grade and other people’s grades. No one really cares about what they are learning anymore all we care about are the letters on the pieces of paper. And being at a high school that is so competitive and very grade oriented it is hard to enjoy what you are learning. It is safe to say already that I have learned more in this class so far then possibly all of my other classed combined.

Why have grades? Do they help or hurt the students?

Please let me know what you See, Think, and Wonder...

Olympics: a Test of Athletes or Politcal Power

2009-10-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

As we all know Chicago is not the host for the 2016 Olympic games. :( We all are so sad and bummed that our city is not going to be the home to thousands of athletes in the summer of 2016. Why didn't we get it? It seemed like all Americans were shocked to see Chicago get knocked out first. Weather of not if you wanted the games here it would have meant so much to only the city but our country. But I feel like us the Chicagoans took being a option to host the games for granted.
The fact that the President of the United States Barack Obama is from Chicago we all thought that we would for sure get it. Was his speech to authoritative? to listen to his speech click. Did we really think that we would get to host the games just because the president is from our city. What about South America they have never had the games and they wanted to give them a shot.
Rather then seeing that and thinking that its a good we assumed that the whole world was out to get us. And that politics get in the way of an event that is not meant to be political but it is suppose to consist of athletes representing their country.
If Obama didnt represent Chicago and Michael Jordan did instead would we have gotten the Games? Most likely not, the voters wouldn't have change who they voted for. Maybe one of the best athletes of all time would help our cause. Now we can look forward to another race for the games maybe the 2020 or 2024 games.

Out of Work and Out of the Search

2009-09-08T10:49:00.000-05:00

Millions were left out of last months count and many counts before that. Millions are not counted in the unemployment rate. This happens every month more and more people are not counted in the total number. Why is this? Well its mainly because these millions of people that are not being counted for have stopped looking for jobs let only any work. This does not mean that many Americans don't want job but it is that they have been looking for so long and have failed over and over again that the recession is wearing and beating them up. It man seem like we are a bunch of lazy Men and Women but really we are just looking too hard and have no where to turn.
Some halting their job search because of pure frustration and others because it makes more sense too. By stopping they can become stay at home moms or dads and many more people are going back to school to enhance their degree. By doing this they will look better for employers and maybe the recession will slow down by the time schools over.
Here's one way to look at it. So in High school there's the hottest girl and she keeps getting asked to go on dates with numerous amount of guys and says "No" and at some point you stop asking her out because it get to the point where its like why bother? Its just like that in the Job Market today so many people have been told no so many times that they don't even bother anymore.
So is there a right choice here? Go back to school or stay at home with the family? or could you keep looking for that job because you neven know what door may be opened?

iPhone Changing Labels?

2009-09-01T13:54:00.001-05:00

As I was watching the news they had a quick segment about the iPhone and as I was getting up I heard that the exclusive deal that apple has with AT&T is coming to an end within the year. This is both good and bad news. Good for all of the other phone carriers so maybe they can get the iPhone and also bad for AT&T because the iPhone has been one of the best things that has happen as of late. If other cell phone carriers get a hold of the iPhone we will all be likely to see the sales in iPhones go through the roof. No one knows for sure when the deal is to come to an end but people speculate that maybe it will before the end of 2011. Seems like a long time but for monster companies such as Apple a year is not a lengthy as we may think. But ending its exclusive deal with Apple could result in big trouble for AT&T. First, the iPhone has helped AT&T claim new customers. About 40 percent of AT&T's 10 million iPhone customers switched to AT&T from another carrier, according to the company.
Customers have complained often about the poor performance of the the iPhone. And this has had a negative effect on the company's reputation. When users experience problems with the iPhone, they blame AT&T not apple. Even with all of the complaints nothing major has happened because AT&T is the only provider so if you don't like it then you can't have the iPhone. But if others carriers such as Verizon pick up the phone then you will most likely see many users swith to Verizon because of their problems with AT&T along with many Verizon users getting the new iPhone.
This is not only a huge deal in the United States but all over the world over 50 countries carry the iPhone and over 20 million of them have been sold. What would AT&T be like without the iPhone? No one will be able to tell if that happens. And what if other carriers get a hold of it? What will happen no one knows for sure, but we can all say a lot more iPhones will be sold if exclusive relationship between AT&T and Apple comes to an end.

DUMMY POST fun

2009-08-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

My name is jimmy and am going to blog