My blaring alarm clock wakes me out of a deep sleep. Groggily, I roll over and get out of bed. I take a quick shower and throw on my leggings, and a baggy t-shirt; a Michael Jackson inspired leather jacket, some leg warmers and my favorite converses. Styling my hair takes forever, however. The bigger, the better! Some blue eye shadow, pink blush, and fuchsia lipstick finish up my morning routine. While walking to class, my friends and I tell stories from the night before while Cyndi Lauper’s new song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” plays from my new and totally rad walkman. In class, my teacher talks about the current President, Ronald Regan, The Cold War, and other current events. After class gets out, my friends and I head back to my dorm to get all dressed up for a night on the town, a new techno club is our destination for the evening! After a while of primping, we all hop in my friend’s DeLorean and we’re on our way!

The Skunk Ape Tutorial

The Skunk Ape tutorial was helpful. It was very easy to follow and had quiz questions to test your knowledge. Truthfully I expected the tutorial to be much less helpful and much more boring. Although I knew most of what it was trying to teach us, it was a good source to refresh my memory. The first research paper I remember writing was in fifth grade, so many of the things mentioned and taught in the tutorial seemed very elementary. I feel as though everyone should know how to do all of this before they reach college level. For people who don’t already know all of this information, I can see how it would be a very good source for them. It was easy, well laid out and clear. Learning how to use the Library system and database was a useful tool however. All schools and libraries are different so I think that part of the tutorial was very helpful. I wish I would have been taught how to use the system in the first few weeks of Comp.1. Personally, I try to avoid the library at all costs, but knowing how to use the system will definitely ease the anxiety I have when it comes to the library experience.

The Blind Side

The Blind Side is the perfect movie for anyone looking for a heart-warming inspirational film. In the beginning of the trailer, the Tuohy family is shown in their wealthy everyday lives. Soon after, the music changes to a slow and solemn song. This gives the audience a sense of what emotion is coming next. Parts of Michael Oher’s story are revealed, but not enough to give everything away. They show Michael’s character walking through his home in the slums and in the private school where he clearly does not belong. The trailer shows how each person changes throughout the film. It shows bits and pieces of Michael’s “rags to riches” life, and the people who made it possible. Throughout the course of the trailer, the music becomes happier as well as more and more triumphant following very much in line with the scenes being shown. This movie would be very appealing to a middle aged audience. It has such an inspirational message and is a true story. The lessons such as the importance of family, generosity and the idea that anything is possible will bring tears of joy to your eyes.

500 days of Summer

500 days of Summer is a story of a guy who gets his heart broken and the girl who broke it. The haphazard storyline was hard to follow. The male lead, Tom, falls desperately in love with a girl, Summer, who thinks that relationships shouldn’t exist and that love itself doesn’t exist at all. In the end their roles switch when Summer finds love, while Tom is left broken-hearted. Every scene was a different day in their relationship, but the days never went in order. Therefore, day 327 was before day 4, but after day 426 and so on and so forth. The lack of flow and chronological order made the movie incredibly hard to follow. Since I was unable to follow the story line for most of the movie, I was confused; then, discouragingly I gave up and was extremely bored. It definitely felt like 500 days that’s for sure!

Less Privacy Is Good for Us (and You) #1

Throughout the course of this essay the controversial topic of privacy is exposed. The first point brought up by Amitai Etzoni was on the topic of HIV testing in pregnant women. Many pregnant women don’t even know that they have HIV. If a mother is unaware that she has HIV, the mother and baby cannot be treated. If all mothers are tested during pregnancy, many babies would be saved. I think that the life of a child is more important than the privacy of the mother. In Etzoni’s essay he states, “To save the lives of their children they must be tested at delivery and tested even if this entails a violation of mothers’ privacy.” I couldn’t agree with him more. Biometrics is the next topic discussed. Biometrics would be a good way to keep track of the citizens in the United States. It is scary to think that people working with children cannot be background tested and could be sex offenders and child abusers. However with this new technology, privacy would be severely jeopardized. Drug testing has been given to certain workers in certain occupations. Pilots and train engineers are among this group. These workers are being tested because their jobs take the lives of many into their hands. The worker’s privacy is not taken into account, but many lives are possibly being saved as a result. I think this is a great idea. Any occupation that deals with the safety or lives of other should be drug tested on a regular basis. Privacy is a good thing, but once again, if it jeopardizes the lives of others, precautions should be taken to insure those lives are safe.

Immokalee

Immokalee; a population 19,763 town of tomatoes and casinos. Sounds to me like a strange combination, but it looks like it’s working! Over the years, Immokalee has grown a tremendous amount. It started out as an agriculture town and has grown with the help of a Seminole casino. These are the two communities that were represented in the video. The community of Immokalee embodies the ideas of both the “old” and the “new” America. The old America is represented by the farm and agriculture side of town. The farmers have been there since the beginning and like the old, simple way of life. The “new” America is represented by the Seminole casino area and its surroundings. This will bring business and money to Immokalee as well as tourism and population. It is interesting to me how two totally different environments can make up one community. It is truly unique. I think that Immokalee has a bright future up ahead. The agriculture industry will only grow as long as there is demand, and the casino will only get more recognized and busy! In ten years, I don’t expect Immokalee to have grown an outlandish amount, but it will change, that’s for sure! I think that it will keep to the main simplistic roots for a while. However, It will definitely become more populated as more jobs are created and both of the major industries represented in this article will grow. I am from Wellington, Florida. It is in the far western part of Palm Beach County. Wellington used to be like Immokalee. We were a very small area full of horse farms for equestrian shows, a two lane highway, and one McDonalds (that came shortly before I did). Over the past twenty years Wellington has grown a tremendous amount! We have a huge mall, major highways, and every restaurant you could imagine. I see a lot of “old” Wellington in Immokalee. They will grow to be a major travel destination and place to live, give it a few years and it will get there!

"A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One?"

In response to Anna Quidlen's "A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One?"

“What is the point of a nation in which Arab cabbies chauffeur Jewish passengers through the streets of New York--and in which Jewish cabbies chauffeur Arab passengers, too, and yet speak in theory of hatred, one for the other? What is the point of a nation in which one part seems to be always on the verge of fisticuffs with another, blacks and whites, gays and straights, left and right, Pole and Chinese and Puerto Rican and Slovenian? Other countries with such divisions have in fact divided into new nations with new names, but not this one, impossibly interwoven even in its hostilities.” Anna Quindlen makes this very interesting statement in her essay “A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One?” This quote from the passage brings up a very good point. The United States of America, known as the “melting pot” is filled with the many different peoples of the world. This quote happens to bring into retrospect the fact that despite the fact that our country was based on “equality”, stereotypes and conflict still exist between the groups. As Quindlen does talk about the separation between the races, she does speak of the unity that comes with our troubles, such as the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Despite our differences, on that day in our history, people all around the country came together. Yes, the terrorist act was devastating, but it also brought some much needed unity.

I think this article had a lot of unfortunate truth to it. Sadly, our country does have its segregation. However, this issue has gotten better over the years. The clearly drawn lines drawn between the races have been well erased. Our country was very much unified on 9/11. It was incredibly sad, yes, but our country bonded over it. I also liked how Quindlen talked about the difference between generations and the Ma and Pa stores that used to be owed by Italians, Jewish, or European are now owned by Korean, Latin American, or Iraqi. What’s the difference?! In our generation some people make it a big deal, when in reality, it is what our country was created on.