Social Networking Rebuttle to Luis

In Luis' blog he writes how social newtworking websites, such as Facebook are benificial. In his post he mentions that it can help people learn about current events going on in the world, ask for help from friends, and Facebook's ultimate goal: to "unite the world." I do agree with his statement that social networking is good for staying in contact with friends, however there are some ways Luis could improve his debate. It would be helpful to include important quotes from these websites he placed links to because sometimes people may not want to read all of the three articles he used as his recorces. Also, another way he could improve his debate is by including some of his personal experiences with Facebook and other social networking sites. For example, I would write about how Facebook helps me stay in contact with a lot of old friends. I am friends with many people from middle school and Facebook is one of the ways that helps me stay in contact with them if i don't have their phone numbers. Also, I've even reconnected with a lot of people from elementry school. Even though you may not talk to everyone of your friends that you have on Facebook, it's still interesting to see how other people are doing and I also find in kind of interesting when I find out that two of my friends from different places know each other. Another reason why I agree with Luis and believe that social networking sites are benificial is because it is also a good way to plan events to meet up with multiple people, as he stated. Some of my friends post invitations and date reminders for parties or get togethers they may have and in my opinion, it is a lot simpler and easier  to post a group invitation of Facebook istead of going to every person personally and giving out a paper invitation. Also, i think this is a good way to make sure that people don't feel left out because you do have the possibility of fmaking you're events private.

For the most part I do agree with Luis and his views on the pros of social networking just for a few different reasons, but mostly for the same.

The Color Purple

In the book "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker, Celie is a young girl who deals with many complications in her life. Her mother dies, she's had two children by her own father and she gets married off to a guy who loves her sister. This book is written as a diary/ a series of letters written to God. In my opinion i think that the reason Celie writes to God is because she feels like he is the only one she can confide in. Also, at the very beginning of the book, there is a quote from her father that says, "You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy." I'm pretty sure he was referring to the fact that he rapes Celie and I I'm sure that this had a major effect on why Celie titles each entry with "Dear God". Because her father told her this and she fears her Dad she probably had it stuck in her mind that the only one she could tell everything to is God. I also think Celie writes these letters to God because, although her mother already passed away, she doesn't really have anyone else to confide in her feelings. When she moves in with Mr._____ he isn't really a loving husband because he isn't really in love with her. Unfortunately he beats her repeatedly and she feels obligated to do everything he tells her to do because she is afraid of him. Also, Celie isn't really allowed to see her sister anymore according to Mr.____ and she was the one person she was closest to. Because she now just lives with Mr. ____ and his children, there isn't really anyone Celie can really talk to about her feelings and tell every single thing to. This is another reason i think she writes to God.

Should Young Stars Have to Be "Good" Role Models for Their Young Viewers

I chose to write about this question because it kind of made me think of another blog post I did in the past on Disney Channel and their stars. However, that time I was talking about the success of their stars' careers and now this topic is focusing on young stars in general and if they should be entitled to being a role model for their viewers.

In my opinion I think that they should be a good examples to the kids who watch their show if they are really young, but only to a certain extent. I think that if an actor is on Disney channel or Nickelodeon or some other kids TV channel, and they're around the age of 13-15 or 16 they should act their age and try to send a good message to their young viewers who may or may not look up to them. However, I really believe that when these actors hit the ages of 16-18 and older, they shouldn't constantly be attacked for doing certain things that kids 4 years younger than them shouldn't be doing.

For example, it seems like Miley Cyrus has been getting attacked by the media a lot lately for doing certain things that "aren't appropriate" in their eyes. Her new music videos are said to be too "inappropriate" and I agree that it is a big change from when she was on Hannah Montana singing about ice cream, but she's a lot older now. She started that show when she was 13 and it's been around four or five years since then. There's also a video of her smoking from a bong and everyone seems to be freaking out about that too. I mean it's not a great thing for her to be doing but come on, she's 18 and isn't even on Disney anymore! It's completely normal for people her age to party and experiment. I don't even think she was doing any hard core drugs.

In this article, it talks about how some parents need to understand that Miley Cyrus is growing up and isn't going to be a kids' TV star her whole life. It also mentions how stars like Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilara.

America has to get over the fact that Miley Cyrus won't be a teenager her whole life as the Disney star blossoms into young adulthood...

Cyrus is not alone in dealing with the double standard, as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears also ran into the impossible "don't grow up" demand as their careers matured

There are some people who are her age and were on kids shows who aren't doing that stuff, but not everyone can be a perfect goody too shoes. What comes into my mind when I think this is Selena Gomez. It doesn't seen like she's made any mistakes and shes staying true to her squeaky clean Disney Girl image, which isn't a bad thing, it's just that not everyone can be this way and some people want to grow up.

What I'm saying is that young actors should be good role models for their viewers when they are at a certain age. They should act their age and shouldn't be going out partying and smoking when they're 14, but when they hit their late teen years they shouldn't be criticized so much for growing up and doing what many other kids their age are doing.

I Want To Move :(

Not that I really have anything against Alameda or the Bay, but I really want to move. I don't know when this stated, but lately I've just really been having the feeling that I want to pack up and move somewhere totally different. Not that I wouldn't want to stay in California, but maybe southern California... I don't know, a place with a beach seems nice. My cousin that lives in Hawaii really wants to move here and I can understand why. Pretty much our whole family lives here and she's been there all her life which I guess is why she's wanting to leave Hawaii, but the life style there just seems so nice. I guess she sees living here the same way. Not Alameda, but living really close to San Francisco is also what she likes about living here. But, like when I look at her pictures on Facebook it just seems like it would be so cool to just live there and go surfing and hang out at the beach after school.

However, I wouldn't want to live in Hawaii because I would definitely get sick of the weather there. I don't mind it being hot, but I think everyday would just be too much for me. But I wouldn't mind living in SoCal, even though some people there can be kind of irritating and fake.. but not everyone is like that, you get those people everywhere.  I don't know i've also been seeing all these pictures of people who live in Australia and other places and it just looks so fun! Seriously I am so jealous of those people who can like ride their bikes or skateboards with their friends to the beach. I mean you can do that now, but kids don't really do that because the beach is too freezing to actually be active and have fun there. Not saying that I'd want to move anywhere as far as Australia or anything, but change is good and I really feel like I need change right now.

Unfortunately I know that this is not going to happen anytime soon as long as I am controlled by my parents. But this is one of the reasons I am looking forward to college because then I can go to school somewhere far away. I can't wait until I'm old enough to drive somewhere and make my own decisions on where I live. O well. a couple more years...

RE: What is emo/scene

Earlier this week I came across Lhadze's blog on her views on what being emo/scene really is. In her post she says,

"Most real scene kids wear Gloomy Bear, Hello Kitty, Invader Grim, Metal band shirts. They wear anything from skirts, shorts and fishnets to skinnes or just leggings ripped....Cause all you people who say "I'm Scene" your all posers. Scene kids have the hair. Yes you heard me. The crazy hair. teased, dyed, curly on the bottom.  Bows, flowers, anythign you want as  long it represents you! I mean go with the craziness...We don't care what people think."

So, I don't mean this in a bad way AT ALL, but honestly I think this whole battle on who's really scene and who's not is getting kinda old. I mean I don't think it's really that big of a deal if someone wants to be scene. Lhadze writes in her post some, what seem like guidelines on how to be scene. It's really cool how she can feel so comfortable with herself to have this kind of style and not care what people say about the way she looks, but I don't think it's that serious if someone else wants to be scene too.

I can understand if someone is constantly copying everything you do, that would annoy me too, but I don't think it's right to just automatically say that everyone who says "I'm Scene", is a poser. I mean in that case someone else can just come along and say you're a poser.

It's just my opinion, but I think that people should just care about what they do and not what someone else is... unless they're biting off of certain specific things you do. However, if someone wants to dress or do their hair a certain way, I say just let them be. In a few years you'll realize getting so worked up about it is just a bit silly.

Does it Matter Where You Go to College?

Out of all 7 of the debate responses, the one that I found the most persuasive was "Graduate School Matters More" by David W. Brenemen. The reason that I found this one to be more persuasive compared to some of the other responses was because he makes the point that I personally think is the answer to this question, "Does it matter where you go to college?". Brenemen basically says that what school you go to in the begining can have different effects on different people because not everyone learns the same or thinks the same. What really matters is what you do in graduate school.

"An equally bright but more reticent student, one who is not sure about his or her future path, may get lost or overlooked in such a setting, and have a less than ideal experience...The quality of graduate or professional school will matter more in the long run to a student’s success in life than the ranking of the undergraduate college."

 These two points really made me agree with Brenemen because he points out how some students don't know exactly what they want to major in when they first get to college. Undergraduate school is good for the student to try new things and determine what they want to study when they arrive at graduate school. This is where things will matter for your future jobs.

The response that I found least persuasive was "Merit and Race" by Luis Fuentes-Rohwer. In his argument he states,

"Attendance at elite colleges and universities has a positive effect on the likelihood that a student will graduate; on future earnings; on the likelihood that a student will attend graduate school; and even to lower divorce rates and better health."

Maybe his statements might have persuaded me more if he would have at least included where he got this information and statistics from. First of all, the idea that going to Harvard, for example will help you stay healthy and not get a divorce compared to if you went to a less prestigious school  is absolutely ridiculous to me. I have cousins who have gone to UC schools and they aren't having heart attacks and getting sick all the time. I actually think that Rohwer's quote here just sounds really dumb. He couldn't even prove the information with statistics. For me if you give me information I'd like to have proof of where you got it from and this is the reason why I found this response the most non persuasive.

People Change

While i was on the Internet, I came across a quote on one of my friends blogs  (not from ASTI). It said, "People change. They end up having nothing to say to each other, even if they were best friends the year before."

This quote really stood out to me because recently me and one of my really close friends from middle school have become very distant. It seems like this first all began towards the middle of summer. Me and this friend were supposed to go visit our old school with a couple of other people since they started back a lot earlier than us. I was really excited to see her and other people that I missed and we both planned on meeting each other there. I caught the bus all the way to my old school since we both had agreed on meeting each other there. However, when i called to see if she got there yet, she told me that she was stuck in traffic and she would me there in about ten minutes. I figured that i'd just wait for her, but a couple minutes later she called me and said that she got in a car accident and wasn't going to be there for another hour. I told her that I would just stay and wait for her downtown in San Francisco and she agreed to meet me there. When she called back she told me that she was about to get off of Bart. This confused me because I thought she was in a car accident... I didn't ask her and i just figured I'd ask her about it when I saw her.

To my surprise, when she came and met me she was with two of her other friends that I'd never met before. I was kind of confused... so she was in traffic, got in a car accident, and caught Bart to the city ... with these people? It didn't seem to make sense, but I didn't really feel comfortable asking her in front of those people. Anyways, the rest of the time was really awkward because they were talking about things they'd done together and i felt like a major fourth wheel.

Now, I haven't talked to this friend in a really long time. I miss her, but she doesn't really seem to care. It's kind of sad because she was one of my closest friends in middle school and now we never talk. Just like the quote said "[People] end up having nothing to say to each other, even if they were best friends the year before."