Race Card Being Played Amongst Obama supporters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-african-american-supporters-shouldnt-play-the-race-card/2011/10/18/gIQA12m9uL_story.html

This is a very interesting op-ed article. The writer, Kathleen Parker, talks about how some supporters of Obama are simply ignoring the issues/problems occuring and following African American media leaders cries to vote black. Parker is very passionate about how dumb of an idea voting on racial solidarity is and gives her very strong opinion throughout the piece.

I think Kathleen Parker does a great job at writing a persuasive piece that is featured in the Washington Post. Parker adds in quotes throughout the piece to strongly back up her argument. One of her quotes that gets you on her side is, "Let’s not even deal with the facts right now. Let’s deal with just our blackness and pride — and loyalty,” Joyner wrote on his own personal blog. “We have the chance to re-elect the first African-American president, and that’s what we ought to be doing. And I’m not afraid or ashamed to say that as black people, we should do it because he’s a black man.” I personally get upset when I reach this quote because instead of using their minds, people are only using their eyes.

Ferocious Discourses At Play

The film, Sound of Fury, has two very passionate discourses working against each other throughout the entire movie. Even though these dicourses that are pitted against one another are part of the same family, it doesn't seem like either group can relate to each other.

The parents of Heather, who are both deaf, decide (after some pondering) that they don't want their daughter to get a coclear implant. Heather's aunt and uncle have decided that they want their young son to receive the coclear implant. There is plenty of bickering between these people, especially the parents of Heather's father and the parents of Heather's aunt.

Both sets of parents are very passionate about how they feel when the topic of coclear implants comes up. They are on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. I still can't comprehend Heather's parents' decision to not have her daughter receive a coclear implant. To me it seems like abuse, no joke. How can you turn down a chance for your child to hear? Heather will grow up surrounded by the deaf community, but she will eventually realize that all of the opportunities for a deaf individual don't come close to the opportunities for a person who can hear normally.

Slip n' Slides

It was my sister's family birthday party when the unfortunate incident occurred. Since my sister's birthday takes place during the summer all of the kids attending the party always go outside and have a big water fight. We were having a blast with the "water war", but eventually got bored and were looking for something new to do. My parents had the great idea of getting some tarps from the garage and staking them down on the hill to the side of our house.

We all took turns sliding down the slip n' slide and were having a blast...but then the inevitable happened. Most of the tarps were brand new and didn't have any real damage, but one of the tarps had a very minor hole in it about the size of a 50 cent coin. Let's just say I'm not the luckiest person I know. I slid down the slip n' slide head first, water spraying up in my face, a smile starting to form. My hands were leading the way and all of a sudden I heard a ripping sound and felt a slight jolt in my left hand. When I came to a sliding stop I automatically knew something was wrong.

The slight jolt I had felt just seconds before had now turned into a deep, searing pain that was unbearable. I looked down at my left hand and saw something extremely disturbing. My pinky finger was sticking directly out - horizontally. There was a 90 degree angle between the ring finger and pinky finger on my hand. Once I saw this I started shouting in pain and disgust. A couple people at the party wanted to try to "pop" it back into place. Instead of this splendid option, my dad drove me to the emergency room where they would numb it and put it back into place before placing a cast on it. To this day when I see a slip n' slide I always think back to that July afternoon.

Jesus Walks

The United States is going through some rough times. A war and recession are starting to dim people's hopes of America every thriving like it once did. During this dark time I feel like there is really only one main idea that keeps shining through - people's beliefs. No matter how difficult of a time an individual is having they will stand right by their beliefs no matter what the circumstances.
I feel that Jesus Walks by Kanye West is a perfect example of this. West isn't afraid to make a hip-hop song about Jesus. This excerpt from the song, "So here go my single dawg radio needs this, They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus. That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes, but if I talk about God my record won't get played, Huh?" is a lyrical piece of genius and really questions some of the common problems with music and culture in our time.
West incorporates biblical lines like, "I walk through the valley where the shadow of death is", which is taken from 23rd psalm in the Bible; "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me". This song sparked some outrage in people who didn't want to hear a highly religious rap song air on the radio and television, but the single was too popular and kept spreading like a wild fire (West would eventually win three Grammy awards in 2005, in large part to Jesus Walks). Not only was the song played over and over on the radio but even made it's first televised music video appearance on MTV.
In a global time of economic recessions and outbreaks of violence, people look at songs for inspiration to keep on pushing through difficult times. I feel as though Jesus Walks is not only one of West's most complete songs, but it will also act as inspiration for generations to come. I'll end this blog with one of my favorite parts of the song, "We rappers are role models we rap we don't think, I ain't here to argue about his facial features, Or here to convert atheists into believers, I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers, The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus."

My Writing Process

My writing process is unique, but so is everyone's. I have always enjoyed writing, but only when it is something that I enjoy to write about. If it's something that I'm not interested in, most likely my writing will reflect this and not be interesting either. I like to be organized as a writer, but write about whatever I want. In other words, I like to have a loose format to the papers I write but I'm not afraid to break out of the mold of a "typical student writer". I write what I want to say even though it might upset some people. You shouldn't try to be fake when you write, and that's why I try to write with feeling and thought instead of strictly thought.

I get really frustrated when I don't know what to write about and find myself getting distracted by television, my phone, or Facebook. I need to work on not getting so frustrated and pushing through the writers block that I have grown accustomed to getting when I don't want to write a certain paper or piece. My writing process needs a little work, but even the best writers of all time didn't write perfect papers and books. As long as I can keep getting better as a writer then I will be happy.

Presidents and their words

I thought this was a very thought provoking activity. I found it very interesting how as the history of our nation unfolded Presidents used different words more often than others. The most used words in the most recent word cloud, President Obama's, weren't that surprising - nation, America, and people. All three of these words go hand-in-hand with Obama's idea of "change WE can all believe in". Depending on what the president stands for and what the country is going through at the time the words can change quite a bit. For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt's two most used words were peace and learn. This makes sense since it was during World War II and Roosevelt was hoping for it to end as soon as possible. I also was very intrigued at the fact that in 1845 James Know Polk used the word government an astounding 50 times. If you compare the 50 uses of the word government with the entire Franklin D. Roosevelt speech that I was previously talking about, those 50 uses of government would make up nearly 10 percent of the total FDR 1945 inaugural address. That was just one of the many interesting things I noticed when looking at all of these word clouds.

Shooting Stars

The book I chose was Shooting Stars by Lebron James and Buzz Bissinger (author of Friday Night Lights). I had originally chosen a book titled McMafia. It was a book that circled around crime history and its impact on the global economy. I got about thirty pages in and fell asleep for two and half hours...I think that was my clue to try something else. So the next day I went back to the library and went to a non-fiction category that was a bit more intriguing to me, sports. I immediately came across this book, Shooting Stars, and after reading what it was about I was hooked.

The book starts off describing Lebron James's childhood and then branches off from there talking about his close friends that would eventually makeup the famous Fab Five. The Fab Five was a group of basketball players that were known around the nation as one of the best high school basketball teams in the United States. Lebron James along with Little Dru, Sian, Willie, and Romeo became national champions to cap off their senior year, but this book dives deep into what obstacles they had to face to get to that point. Each player came from a very distinct background. Whether is was the "fatherless and broke" Lebron James, or the "world's against me" Romeo, this team had a wide variety of characters who came up in tough backgrounds. Somehow though, the Fab Five, were able to set aside their difficulties and play some of the most graceful, passionate, as-close-to-perfect basketball any high school basketball team has ever played.

After finishing this book I have a new found respect for Lebron James. He is one of the world's greatest athletes, but also one of the world's most hated. Shooting Stars really shows a side of Lebron that is hardly ever flaunted by the media. The professional, selfless, driven individual who achieved greatness on and off the court in a number of different ways. I recommend Shooting Stars to really any reader who enjoys a brilliant story. You might find it a little more enjoyable if you love sports, but either way it will hopefully be a good read. It might not be at the highest reading level, but it's not so simple that it feels like just another dumb sports story. I would tell you more about the overall achievements, controversies, and stories of the Lebron James and his teammates, but that would just ruin the book for those of you eager to read the book.