Trayvon Martin Case

To be completely honest, I do not know too much about the Trayvon Martin Case. I heard about it once on the radio when I was driving to school one day. The name "Trayvon Martin" just sounded familiar but I did not know anything about the actual case. After I did some research on the internet, I learned that Trayvon Martin was an African-American who was shot by George Zimmerman. George was the neighborhood watchman and he thought that Trayvon looked suspicious. He called the police and told them that he was going to follow him because he looked like he was up to something and the police said not to follow him. Zimmerman disregarded what the police told him, and he continued to follow him and shot him out of "self-defense" (according to George). No charges were pressed against Zimmerman which made the event very controversial.

I really think that the Trayvon Martin Case is very sad and I definitely see how it is a very controversial topic. It definitely would not be as talked about as it is now if there were actually charges pressed against George Zimmerman. In my opinion, it was clearly a racist issue. The explanation that he shot Trayvon "out of self-defense" was a justification of the real reason why he shot him. There was probably quite a bit of racial tension, and the shooter wanted to get a point across. This can be backed up by when Zimmerman called the police and completely disregarded what they said to him which was to not follow Trayvon anymore. If Zimmerman would have not had any racial tension with Trayvon, he would have just listened to the police in the first place and the whole shooting and controversy would not have even happened. The whole Trayvon Martin shooting incident definitely relates to the essential question of how are we, as individuals, "products" of our environments as well as the how are we, as individuals, tied to our own past? The first question relates to this case because of all the racism going on in the world right now, Zimmerman might have felt pressured to shoot Trayvon Martin because it is what other people were telling him to do. The second question relates to this topic because the shooter might have something happen in his past that made him want to get revenge on a person. He might have had an incident with an African-American person earlier in his life which then resulted in his shooting of Trayvon.

Garcia Girls Reflection

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent was a very powerful book. I took away multiple lessons that I can apply to my own life. The lesson that I feel is the most important is to always remember where you come from and no matter where you go in life, always remember your heritage. This is a very hard thing to do because (as seen in the novel) the Garcia Girls assimilited to American culture and pretty much disregarded and did not really care about their Hispanic heritage anymore. They were introduced to some very unusual American parts of life and they thought it was rather weird. In my opinion, it is precisely these events that should be a clue to not forget about their culture. After all, where you come from really defines who you are and your heritage is a HUGE part of your life. You can turn to parts of your heritage, such as religion to answer questions in life that you are unsure about. Your heritage shows you how to deal with things in life that you might be unable to handle. It is always good to have something to believe in as well. This whole lesson of never forgetting who you are can really benefit me down the road. I am positive that at some point in my life, I will be presented with the difficult situations and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents really showed me where I can turn to when these situations come up in my life. This whole book made me think about culture and it really made realize how important my background is to me. This book was a great read, and it was one of the more meaningful novels that I have ever read because it is not just a simple story. After you read it, there are many things that you can take away from the book. There is a story within the story. By that, I mean that the story is not just about the Garcia Girls, but it is about how you can apply what you learned from the novel to your own life.

The Big Tournament

March Madness. This is perhaps the most entertaining month of college basketball in the year. It is every single college basketball team's dream to play in the NCAA Tournament. Selection Sunday is when all of the teams gather together and watch to see if the selection committee chose their team to play for the National Championship. When a small school hears their team name being chosen for the big tournament, they are the happiest team in the world. They are not even thinking that they are going to be playing a probable one or two seed. The fact that they got into the tournament is satisfying enough. During this time of year, everyone fills out their brackets trying to pick the one team out of the 64 who they think will be the champion. Everyone really "gets into" their brackets and others just fill them out for fun. Personally, I just fill them out for fun with my friends, and even though I usually pick the wrong team to win it all, I still have an awesome time because it is quite nerve-racking to see which team will win, and which cinderella team will upset the one seed. People do anything they can to watch the games, and the best thing about them is that they are constantly on. If there is a game at 3:00 pm, there is probably going to be a game 3:15 pm. It is just a constant month of nonstop basketball. The kids on the team play with incredible heart and they leave everything on the court. I've never seen an athlete play as hard as these kids do for the 40 minutes that they are on the court. I like college basketball a lot more than the NBA for the reason that college students play harder and they have a reason to play, which is pride. They do not have to worry about money and get caught up in it like NBA players do. March Madness is the best time of the year.

http://www.todayspicks.net/handicapping-information/history-of-march-madness.php
http://coedmagazine.com/2011/03/18/10-greatest-march-madness-upsets-of-all-time-2/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/2012-ncaa-tournament-eight-potential-cinderella-teams_n_1339970.html

Blog Post 7

A work of art that I have recently enjoyed is the new tv series The River. Basically, what this show is about is a man named Emmet Cole and his camera crew travel to a river to try and discover a source of magic. Yes he is a little bit crazy. He leaves his family behind in order to pursue his dreams. Myteriously, he dissapears and aftert months of searching for his body, it is not found and he is pronounced dead. His family does not think this and they travel to the river to try and find him with the daughter of one of Emmet's camermen who also went missing. A camera crew comes with them as well. When they get to the river, they find out that Emmet was not crazy. There is magic in the river, dangerous and haunted magic. The show is about their journey to find Emmet. When they get to the river, they find the abandoned ship that Emmet and his crew were on, and they get the ship's motor to work and they travel the river on the ship, which is called The Magus. Essentially, the crew is alone because they cannot really come into contact with any other human beings since they are pretty much in the middle of no where. It is honestly a great television show and I complteley reccomend it to anybody who likes horror stories and/or thrillers/suspense. There are great inner conflicts within the main story such as that Emmet and his wife were separated and we find out that his wife left Emmet, not the other way around which is what his son, Lincoln thought. Along their journey they find one of Emmet's crew members and he is cursed and it is just a great story. Also, the daughter of the camerman who disapeared found her dad on another boat but he was a ghost. It literally keeps me on edge the entire time because you do not expect anything that comes next.  This, in my opinion, is what makes a great tv show: an unpredictable plot. I cannot wait until Tuesday night at 9 o'clock to tune into ABC and see what mysterious thing is going to happen next. Also the story isn't solely about this. it teaches the values of a strong family, and sticking together which is what also makes a great tv show: a great plot and at the same time, a message is sent to the viewers. I really cannot wait to see if the crew finally finds Emmet. Everybody should watch this show.

Blog Day 6

1. The best food item that can be found in this area is 100%, definitely the pizza around here. There are so many restaurants that you can just walk into and get the best slice of pizza ever. For example, I could go a minute down the road to Palermo's Pizza. I look forward to everytime I go there because, there pizza is absolutely perfect. The sauce, the cheese, the crust, the everything, is perfect. Also, everytime you go there you get a little magnet and if you get a certain number then you get a free pizza which is the best. I could eat their pizza all day everyday. Then, I could go across the street to Carmine's which is almost as perfect as Palermo's but it is still fantastic. There, the pizza slices are huge and completely satisfying. In Ambler, there are so many little pizza places that you would not expect to be anything special, but their pizza is absolutely delicious. I do not know what it is, but there is something about this area that says "we have the best pizza around." It is not even just one great pizza place in the area; there are so many that you could go to hungry and leave just realizing you had the best slice of pizza in your whole life. The pizza in this area is the best!

2. A famous person whom I can't stand is LeBron James. Ok, we all know that your the greatest thing ever since sliced bread, now STOP BEING SO COCKY. Why can't you just be like Derrick Rose who goes on the basketball court, does his thing, and leaves. You guys are both the same except for the fact Derrick doesn't throw his powder in the air before every game like an obnoxious person who needs to do that to make people notice him. Yes, I will admit that you are an amazing basketball player and drop about 30 points a game and probably average around 10 rebounds a game, but you do not have to be so obnoxious about it. I really can't stand people who are good at a particular sport, know they are good, and need to make their image publicly noticeable just to satisfy themselves. I am not denying the fact that LeBron is a fantastic basketball player, because he is. Just the way he goes about that image really gets on my nerves. Some people say that if you are "that good" at something you have the right to brag but I do not think this is true at all. No matter how good you are at something, it is always rude to brag. LeBron James is the prime example of a bragging obnoxious famous person.

3. Hey, you girls out there, take some advice from a guy, WE ARE NOT ALL BAD PEOPLE. Every single girl thinks that guys are selfish people who don't care about anybody but themselves. We have important things to say too and if you would just give us a chance, maybe we could help you out with your problems. Some of us just don't want to help you out with whatever you are going through only because you will stop bothering us or just so you would like us. Some people actually care about you and want to help. This isn't going to happen if you just let your emotions out on us and don't listen to what we have to say. I really can't stand when girls don't even give guys a chance to talk. Like what are you doing? Do you just want to be all sad for the rest of your life? If you took the time to appreciate that someone actually wants to help you, then maybe you wouldn't have all these problems that you complain about on Twitter and Facebook. NO ONE ONES WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT ON THESE WEBSITES SO JUST DON'T POST ANYTHING. Maybe if you realized that some guys actually cared, then you wouldn't have all these problems.

Blog Day 5

1. In my opinion, Sofia is the character that stands out to me the most when it comes to the person who has been shaped the most in the story based on the events she has experienced. I think that Sofia does not know who she is anymore. So many things have happened that got her in trouble, like the numerous sexual experiences which she has encountered. These get her in an immense amount of trouble with Carlos because he is strictly basing his life off of Dominacan culture and not taking the American culture aspect of life into account, when Sofia is. Carlos does not understand how Sofia is reacting with the whole "American experience." She is constantly doing "bad things" and getting in trouble for them which therefore is responsible for Sofia now knowing what she wants. If she makes a decision based off of what she wants, then she gets in trouble with her dad and if she does what her dad wants then she is not satisfying herself. This is a major self conflict. She is not moving forward nor backward. She is simply staying in the same position because this identity conflict is not letting her get anywhere in life. These numerous sexual experiences have encapsulated Sofia's identity.

2. Something positive that has happened in the story thus far is in the chapter "Snow" when Yolanda's teacher, Sister Zoe, said that Yolanda has a beautiful name and then she insisted for the rest of the class to learn how to pronounce her name. This is definitely a person to society connection because it is now society that is respecting Yolanda's name and thus respecting her culture. This is a great change from all of the negative things that have been happening in this story. Society is filled with people who are ethnocentric and do not expect other peoples' culture all together. The fact that a teacher is not ethnocentric is greatly positive. Then, Sister Zoe tells the whole class to learn how to pronounce Yolanda's name which shows how Sister Zoe does not only repsect different cultures herself, she wants the people around her to do the same. This is positive because it could be something that other people see as "weird." It is nice to see other people respecting others because a lot of people cannot do this. This really is a significant part of the plot. Yolanda must have felt really good that someone is repsecting her name and her culture.

3. I feel like the subject of race and culture has a tremendous amount to do with the Jeremy Lin story. It was very interesting to read about how the author (of this article) sees the whole Linsanity story unfolding and it was also interesting to see how race played a role in his childhood. I think that the national media is giving so much attention to Jeremy Lin just because he is excelling at the game of basketball as an Asian. Nobody ever really heard of Jeremy Lin when he played for Golden State but now that he is on the Knicks (a more popular city in my opinion) and is exceeding his expectations as an NBA player considering the fact that he is Asian which contributes to the fact why his story is so popular. There are great NBA players that do exactly what he does, and at a more intense level in my opinion. Some of these players are LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose. Why is Jeremy Lin's story of his journey about how he got here more popular then these other players? The answer is because he is Asian. Society needs to realize that this does not matter. Although, there are not too many Asians in the NBA, they are capable of doing the exact same things that other NBA stars can do.

Blog Day 4

MIA Article: This article provided an interesting take on the appearance on MIA. I found it very interesting that after she goes on the Superbowl (after not being completely mainstream) and she flips the bird and everyone gets all "hype" about this and questions if this is the definition of selling out. In her music video Bad Girls, she did not really do anything that was too controversial and then all of a sudden she does this surprising action at the Superbowl and then gets all of this attention and now people are starting to ask questions about her. This article pretty much states facts as it tells what happened to MIA and what people look at her as, with a little bit of the author's opinion. What really interests me is that she is getting all of this attention now, because of that ONE thing that she did. Other mainstream do all of these obscene gestures too and it's just "normal" for them because they are more mainstream. If someone considers her as selling out, you have to look at the other singers that do the same thing as well. It's not just MIA, solely because she did it at the Superbowl.

Jeremy Lin Article: This article was very interesting to me in particular out of all of the articles. Linsanity. It is sweeping the nation. I agree with pretty much everything this aritcle has to say about Jeremy Lin. I think that he is revolutionizing the game of basketball with his style of play. It was really interesting how this article actualy defined exactly why Jeremy Lin is so fun to watch. The diversity of his skills contribute to why he has been putting up sensational number in the games he has played so far. I think that Lin is so popular due to the fact that he is Asian. It is true that many NBA players such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Love put up spectacular numbers as well but there is no where near as much excitment as much as there is with Lin. I also think this is due to the fact that he came out of Harvard as well and there were not really expectations of him. Since he is performing at a level that no one ever thought he could compete at, he is becoming very popular. I am really excited for Jeremy Lin and I cannot wait to watch more of his games.

Valentine's Day Article: This article is very interesting and it brings up some really interesting points about the connection between Valentine's Day/love/marriage and the economy. The article also brought up some very interesting facts about how statistics show that in society today, the more wealthy people are the ones that are having weddings and people of the lower classes are starting not to have as many weddings. This is probably because they cannot afford it and it is really a shame that this is the case. I believe that any couple who is in love and wants to marry should be able to do so regardless of their economic situation. Then, the article mentioned facts about how nowadays, people are starting to marry for love and not for other reasons such as to secure finacial secuirty. I think this is great. Even though it is important to have financial and social secuirty, it is much more important that a couple wants to spend the rest of their lives with each other in a marriage. This article opened my eyes up to how major businesses look at Valentine's Day; through an economic lens. Companies make a substantial amount of money on this day by selling items such as chocolate, flowers, and jewerly.

Blog Day 3

Gender Roles

What is expected of men and women in America in 2012 is much different then what was expected of them a 20 years ago. Before, men were prominently the "face" of the family. They provided the family income while the woman was perceived to stay at home and "do the chores." Today in 2012, that is not true at all. Women are now police officers, professional wrestlers, and important figures in business companies. There is not really a set definition of what women and men are "supposed" to do, relative to gender. Women can do what men do, and men can what women do. There is no limit. Although this is true, in 2012 the other gender is perceived very differently by the other. My opinion is that still, today, men think of women as staying home and caring for their children and just doing the housework. Women think of men as the people that are making the money to keep the family thriving and to put food on the table. There are many stereotypes which are associated with being a man and woman in 2012. Some of these are that men are associated with going to work, coming home and eating dinner, then watching sports all night only to wake up in the morning and do the same exact routine again. Men are thought of as people that are relatively disgusting slobs and they do not care about their appearance. Women are thought of as quite the opposite. In 2012, stereotypically, when the word "woman" comes up a picture of someone who just cooks, cleans, and cares for the kids appears in the brain. Women are the people that care about what they look like and they care about what they eat. They are not pictured are people that have important jobs when in reality, that is not true at all.

Carlos would answer the first question, which was about if this person was more impressive than Albert Einstein, in the way that Einstein is more impressive. Carlos being a more realistic person and a doctor as well, knows the importantance of "real world discoveries" which is exactly what Albert Einstein provided for the world, and not a person doing magic even if it is real magic. Carlos is the type of person that does not joke around and does not like little magic tricks and would rather be more serious. He would much rather like to see Einstein and think Einstein is more impressive than the real magician is.

Blog Post 2

1. This person is not more impressive than Albert Einstein. It might be true that this person is legitimately magical but I beleive that Albert Einstein has a more magical power: to use real world methods to solve real problems. Einstein is using outstanding capabilites with his brain with contribute to society and this magaician is just entertaining people.

2. Yes, I would swallow the pill because my soulmate's life would be far more important than how I hear music. I would not see myself making a big sacrifice,I would see myself doing something because the "punishment" to me is not bad at all and it saves my soulmate a great deal of pain. It is a very small price to pay for my soulmate.

3. I would write about the scientific discoveries rather than about the president. That story is a lot more interesting then about the President possibly getting cancer. The public would enjoy the story about the captured legends more than the President especially since there is a possibility that he may not even have the cancer.

4. I would give the wizard about 50 dollars because that is not too much money and it still makes me more attractive. Even if I am not completely satisified with how attractive I am, I'm still more attractice than I was before and that is perfectly fine with me.

5. No you do not watch it. It is enivitable that you will start liking Canadian Football at some point so if you do not care for it now, then why would you start watching it? You should watch the shows that you actually like now so you can experience everything and not confine yourself to one show.

6. My excuse would be that I was running from a dog that was going to attack me. I was running so fast that I was not looking where I was going and I was just concentrating from escaping from the dog so I would not get injured. I just so happened to "trip" over my friend's ribcage while I was runing.

7. I would be most interested in the bootleg version of my life because my acutal friends are in the movie. I would be way more interested in hearing what they have to say about me than how professional actors depict them. I would also like to see what my friends have to say about me that I did not know about before.

Blog Post 1

What I notice from reading the first couple pages of the novel is that there are many people within the Garcia family. It seems like they are very connected to each other and enjoy each other's presence. It also seems like they are very used to a set manner in which to live. It is like a routine that they follow everyday. After reading the back of the novel it seems like this is going to all disappear. The lifestyle that they were used to in the Dominican Republic is going to be drastically altered when they have to go to New York. I think that the Garcia girls are going to try to forget their culture and assimilate into the new Ameican culture, but it just will not work. As hard as they try to "Americanize" themselves they will always have a Spanish cultural element in their life. By observing the cover of this novel, I can see that girl is wearing a short skirt. This could symbolize the change of lifestyle that the girls are going to encounter when they come to America. They will start to wear American clothes and start "acting" like Americans. After observing the family tree, I can see that the Garcia girls have a rather large family. This can relate to the story because when they come to American, they might not be as close to their family as they were in the Dominican Republic. This is a big change in the girls' lives and it is probably going to affect them greatly. I feel like as if they will miss there family but they will cover that up and not let it show because they are trying to do everything they can to be American and if that means to forget what they left in the Dominican Republic, then that is what they are going to have to do.