IMHO #2

One current news story that has been getting on my nerves is the controversy of President Obama’s birth certificate.

It should be important for Obama to show proof that he was born in the United States but we have better things to be worrying about for our country at this moment.

It is already Obama’s fourth year of presidency and this has been something that has been brought up from time to time again.

An article in Yahoo News by Rachel Hartman states, “A vast array of evidence attests to Obama's citizenship--including a certificate of live birth, signed affidavits from people who viewed Obama's long-form birth certificate, confirmation by Hawaiian officials, and independent investigations by news outlets”.

Some of the accusations news sources say are coming from racial hostilities.

In this day and age things like racial comments are getting outrageous and the fact that Donald Trump is trying to get Obama to release his birth certificate is based on racist accusations.

It is absurd to me that people view Obama as being “less American” because of his racial background.

The media is going on a frenzy right now focusing the attention in all the wrong places.

"We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do, we've got big problems to solve," Obama told reporters at the White House briefing room about an hour after the document was made public.

The real problem that is occurring in this country is the economic crisis we are in.

This country has a tendency to put attention in the media of matters that are pointless and take away attention to the important things we should be focusing on to get out of this horrible economic state.

We should be putting our time and energy into fixing the problems that we have that effect every single person that lives in this country.

Not only is the United States having problems of its own but there are many other wars and crises going on throughout the world.

If we are not helping ourselves we should at least be aware of our surroundings and help others who need it as well.

Words: 377

Links I used for this post:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110427/ts_yblog_theticket/birth-certificate-wont-end-race-related-attacks-on-the-president

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/obama_to_address_birth_certificate_ZMCI1YNYI52YtgDCwlvuRP

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html

Blog #10 Fish Out of Water

I attended the Lil’ Wayne I am Music Tour concert on Easter Sunday at the Oracle Area in Oakland, Calif.

Lil’ Wayne is one of the most famous rappers in the world and has continued to rise in popularity each year.

The tour included special guest appearances from Nicki Minaj, Travis Barker, Rick Ross and the Young Money crew.

All of these musical artist are pretty well known and played on the radio.

The concert started at six and lasted for four hours.

From the moment we stepped outside the car I felt like the one in a few being singled out as I walked into the arena with a few of my girlfriends.

We got constant glares from every angle of people staring at us up and down like we didn’t belong there.

We got to our section at the top of the arena and settled into our seats.

Once we sat down I felt a little more confortable singing along to some of the songs I knew.

Lil’ Wayne performed a number of songs from his different albums and mixtapes as the crowd cheered him on.

When Nicki Minaj came on stage she made a statement saying, “Where all my black people at?”

At that time during the concert my friends and I felt extremely awkward and out of place.

            It’s common for people of any ethnicity to listen to rap music but it’s a totally different story when actually attending a concert and feeling like the minority.

            For most of the night I felt a little uncomfortable due to the simple fact that I was one of the only white people there.

At least 95 percent of the people who attended the concert were not white.

            When we were leaving the concert the same thing happened as when we were walking in and a few people made a couple rude remarks to us.

            Although nothing dramatic happened that night I hated the feeling of uncomfortable stares and vibes coming from every direction.

            I hope that in the future things like rap concerts and events are more open and inviting to all different ethnicities.

Words: 372

Japanese Internment Memorial

The vignette I chose to describe was one of a family in tears because they were forced to lose everything.

The vignette consists of family standing in front of a pit of fire filled with all of they’re belongings that they have to leave behind.

The mother is covering her face because she is crying so hard and stand to look at all of the family’s beloved items.

The father is throwing a doll into the fire that belongs to their daughter.

The daughter is holding her father from behind and giving him a tight squeeze due to her sadness.

The background of this vignette is a car loaded up with only a few suitcases that they were allowed to bring and a house behind them.

In the fire pit there are items the family was forced to throw away to show that they were leaving their culture behind.

A symbol of this is the old Japanese flag burning in that fire.

This vignette caught my eye because of how sad I felt when I saw it.

The pain these people had to go through was horrible and through this vignette I really saw what they had gone through.

Looking at this memorial gave me a better picture of what the Japanese internment camps were like and I hope that things like this never happen again in this country.

Words: 230

Japanese Internment

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is a racist tragedy that has occurred in this countries history and I believe something like this could repeat itself in the future.

In 1942 over 120,000 Japanese people were forced to pack their suitcases and lose everything they have ever owned during the duration of the war.

Most of the internment camps were located on the West Coast of the nation.

The conditions they lived in were not appropriate or acceptable for any person to be keeping their families in.

The U.S. acted against information they had been researching for over five years.

It is ridiculous that Japanese Americans were segregated and oppressed but there was no camps set up for German Americans or any other ethnicities of people participating in the war.

There was absolutely no reason for the U.S. to put Japanese Americans in internment.

In 1988 Congress sent out a formal apology to Japanese Americans that was not even close to what those people deserved.

I hope that after that war issues like this would never happen again in this country, but I can’t say they wouldn’t for sure.

It is scary to me that there are still a lot of people in this nation who don’t really know about the Japanese Internment.

I think the idea that it isn’t common knowledge expresses the fact that that school systems in this country want you to forget about negative aspects that have happened our history.

Although I do believe that our country has come far in many ways, there are still existing problems with our government that lead me to believe it’s possible for things like this to happen again.

After the tragedies of September 11^th happened I think the country went into a state of shock and there were racist actions and crimes committed all over the nation.

I think people in this country never want to think about the realities of war but I do believe something of this nature could happen again.

The war we are involved in right now and the turbulent status of other countries around the world makes it seem as though something in history could repeat itself.

Words: 367

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-American_internment

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967270-2,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253824,00.html

Feature Story Prep

Facts:
-Full-time employment may impair student performance. For example, 55 percent of those students working 35 or more hours per week report that work has a negative effect on their studies. Students working full-time also reported the following liabilities: 40 percent report that work limits their class schedule; 36 percent report it reduces their class choices; 30 percent report it limits the number of classes they take; and 26 percent report it limits access to the library.
-Students who work full-time are also more likely to drop out of school.
-Since full-time work appears to have negative effects on student enrollment rates and perhaps also on academic performance, it is therefore of particular concern that full-time work among full-time college students has risen sharply over the past 15 years. For these students, the research suggests that, if possible, it may be prudent to find other ways of financing college so they can complete their degrees, maintain their academic performance levels, and thereby reap the long-term benefits of a college education.
-Part-time student employment may have beneficial effects: for example, an on-campus research position may spark a student's interest in further academic programs or provide important work experience that will improve future labor market prospects. Working part-time as a student generally appears to supplant only non-productive activities, such as watching television. In addition, students who work fewer than 10 hours per week have slightly higher GPAs than other similar students.


Possible Interviews:
Theresa Makism: Third year college student, full-time worker, full-time student, sorority member holding positions, grades higher than 2.5, pays for everything on her own.
Contact information: (408) 375-6922


Sandhya Kodippily: Third year college student, full-time worker, full-time student, sorority member holding positions, grades higher than 2.5, pays for everything on her own.
Contact information: (408) 887-8536


Kristina Gehret: Third year college student, doesn't work, parents still pay for everything.
Contact information: (818) 307-3562


Other Articles:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/08/work
http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2009/01/19/how-to-work-full-time-college-full-time-student/
http://www.financialnewsline.com/finance/despite-poor-economy-college-enrollment-numbers-increase/
http://www.nineronline.com/opinion/holding-a-job-for-full-time-college-students-1.2470171
http://www.miller-mccune.com/education/full-time-students-part-time-education-16764


Outline:

-I want to focus the paper on full-time students that are also full-time workers and how they are able to manage their time to do all of these things at once.

-Most of the attention will be on full-time workers but I want to interview maybe one or two people who are part-time workers or don't work at all and see some of the differences between those who work a lot at those who do not.

-I also want to focus on grades between workers and non-workers


Ideas for possible sidebars:
-Time-management skills
-The types of jobs people get in college
-What college students do who do not work
-The benefits of having a job in college
-Getting involved on campus