Early Admissions

This week, many seniors hear back from a variety of colleges that they applied early for. A New York Times Blog called "The Choice" posted an interesting article about the increase of early application acceptants. I thought it was interesting to read that many schools increased their acceptance numbers early, meaning many more incoming students will be willing to pay tuition early. What happened to the bad economy? I also wondered what the pro's and con's are for early admission since all of us will be going through it next year. My sister applied early decision two years ago and got in. The rest of her senior year she was able to relax and have fun, but still maintain her grades. I really can't think of any con's besides the fact that some early decision schools make an acceptance that is binding. I know that it's kinda early to think about, but it is good to start looking at options! What do you think you will do next year? Do you think applying early is a good idea?

Who's Your Mommy?

I came across an interesting article today about a married couple who were unable to conceive a child. They used both an egg and sperm donor and also a surrogate mother. The strange thing was, she did all of this online. She picked the egg and sperm donors off one website, and the surrogate mother from another. Last July, the twins were born, but they only stayed with the couple who "purchased" them for one month. The police showed up at their Michigan home and took the babies away from them and returned them to the surrogate mother, the one who cared for them for the whole nine months. Turns out, the surrogate mother found out that the adoptive mother had a mental illness and she got a court order to retrieve the babies. The surrogate mom did not want anything bad to happen to the children over the years, so now she is their gaurdian. What about the adoptive mother and father, will they get their money back? I don't think that this is fair, I believe that having a mental illness is not enough to take children away from their mother. Her husband could take care of them if she ever had a relapse. What do you think?

Read the whole article here.

How do YOU Blog?

After reading Mr. O’Connor’s blog on creativity, I found myself thinking about my creative ability and others creativity. Actually, I did not know what to blog about so I am blogging about my lack of creativity this week. A lot of the time I find myself stuck on finding interesting blog topics. I search desperately on news websites and try to get a lead from an article. When I don’t find an interesting article, I try to search in my brain for clever blog topics. Usually it takes a while for it to come up. But other times I know exactly what I’m going to write about. Why? Do you ever seem creative at one point and unimaginative at other points? How do you find blogging topics?

Image via: http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/tonyblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/blog_logo.jpg

Procrastination Station

Last Saturday I shuttled myself off to the library in hopes of finishing all of my weekend homework early. I was very proud of myself because I felt very studious. But somehow, I ended up on Facebook. The whole point of my visit to the library was to not get distracted. So why did I log in??? That’s the one question I have been struggling with throughout high school. Don't get me wrong, Facebook is great, I’m on it everyday. It’s nice to have conversations with your friends and a site to post pictures. However, I think it is always a big time waster. I continue to stuggle with procrastinating and I just log on to Facebook to browse around. I got disappointed with myself because I did not finish all of my homework at the library. If I continue to spend all my precious free time on Facebook, I don't think I will ever learn self-discipline . Do all of you struggle with this too? Is facebook your friend or your foe? I hope to only log on every once in a while now!

Food Fight = Arrested

I read an interesting article today about 25 kids from Chicago who got arrested for a food fight. Wait, a food fight, really? I didn’t think it was possible for a food fight to turn into a criminal offense. The article also states that the kids were suspended from school for two days. This seems like the better punishment. It seems ridiculous for 11-15 year olds to get arrested for a classic prank like a food fight, but it’s true! The charges were for reckless conduct. I thought that the article would report on injuries or how the food fight got seriously out of hand, but nothing else was reported in the article. With all the recent violence in schools in Chicago, it seems like having a couple officers in the school would help. Also, it got me thinking of their records for the future. Having this episode is ultimately going to hurt them finding jobs in the future.  But was this arrest really necessary, was the so-called ‘reckless conduct’ a reason to throw kids in jail? Does the punishment fit the crime that these kids did?

(image via http://teezaday.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/food_image.jpg)

Follow George!

As we've been discussing the Con-Con in class, the idea of following George Washington's actions came up a lot. Many people looked up to him as the most powerful man in America and approved whatever he approved. People worshiped him! And apparently, we should all still follow his example! I was walking through the New Trier library the other day and posted on a bulletin board was this poster. We've all seen the "cover your cough, stop the spread of germs" poster, but I've never seen the George Washington inspired one. It's a remake of his famous portrait by Gilbert Stuart. I thought it was interesting to see our founding father on a national CDC campaign. I wondered why the CDC decided to make this poster with George Washington instead, maybe, Barack Obama. But on the other hand I said to myself, 'hey, if George covers his cough, I'll cover mine', which is the main goal of the CDC. What do you think about the poster? (Sorry for the picture quality. I took it on my phone.)

"Sorting People"

I just took the "Racial Sorter" that was posted on the side of anamericanstudies.com.  I have to admit, I thought I was going to get them all correct. But actually I got maybe half of them wrong. I also found it quite interesting that there was a game like this, I would think some people may find it offensive because some people don't like to be categorized. I then searched that website for more information about race and 'sorting'. I found the US Government's correct definitions for different types of race. It listed all the different types of race and gave an in depth definition. For example, the definition for American Indian was, "a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community recognition". I couldn't help but ask if people actually use any of these definitions when using self-identification. Why does the government even have these definitions if laws passed in 1970 said that citizens could choose their own classification? Do these definitions come in handy when people are 'sorting' themselves or are they there to actually categorize people?

Help or Hurt?

Last Friday, President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Usually this award is given to individuals who have accomplished something extraordinary. Though I understand that he was given this award based on  "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" (Nobelprize.org), I can't help but wonder what he actually has accomplished. Searching the web, I found many articles saying the same thing. They all pretty much ask if this is a good or bad thing. What do you think about Obama winning the prize? Is it too soon in his presidency or will he be even more respected as a president now? President Obama said he was very surprised and humbled by his Nobel Peace Prize. I think Americans can all agree that we now expect Obama to achieve something great!
(Image via Win McNamee/Getty)

Friendly Service

My mom sent me a video link this morning from the Today show. It was a short segment featuring our local grocery store, the Grand! Every time I go to pick up grocery's there, I always get a, "Hello there! How are ya today?". Somehow, the Today show got a hold of it! This clip really put me in a good mood and it got me wondering, how does a simple hello put a smile on my face? If people would take just a second to give a smile and a wave, just think how brighter your day could be. Flashing a smile or saying have a nice day only takes a second, but the effects last so much longer. I think that this would create a better reputation for Americans as well. We, as Americans, should look up to the Grand Foods Center and learn from their friendly example! Take a look at the video below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Hey, Matt Lauer even says he wants to travel here just to shop at the friendly Grand!

Super Memory

             As I was browsing my web homepage (it's Yahoo!) I spotted a featured article titled "People with Super Memory". Since we have been discussing memory in class quite a lot, I thought I would benefit from it. In fact, the article was fascinating. It was about four individuals who are confirmed with a condition called ‘super memory’. All of these people can tell you what happened on a random date and most can remember everything in their life starting at a young age. Most of the people have written books about their condition and one man is in talks of a production. But I have to wonder, would this positively or negatively affect their life? I can see it being helpful at some points in their life but most times it must be problematic. Would you like to have a ‘super memory’? It’s interesting to think about what it would be like if you did! (Image via Yahoo)

Digital IS Better!

       It seems like the whole country has gone digital in the past few years. Personally, I always thought the idea of receiving paper snail mail rather than e-mail has a nice sincere touch to it. Not only have personal letters gone digital but now it seems that bills and invoices will be coming in your e-mail inbox! For example, T-Mobile has decided to “go green”. This “paperless billing” started a while back but they are now charging an extra $1.50 to your bill if you receive it in the mail. If you decide not to receive your invoice in the mail, you will get your bill online. The results are what shocked me most (in a positive way). T-Mobile said that if all 16.5 million costumers went digital they would save an annual savings of 10.8 million pounds of paper, which is saving about 13,500 trees!
       This only furthered my questioning, what if all mail went digital? Do you think this could ever work? I know, this is a big statement, but think about how many trees we could save with having only online magazines, catalogs, and greeting cards!

President Obama Expects Great Things

       When we discussed President Obama's speech about staying in school on Friday it was hard to imagine what exactly he was going to say. As I was looking for something to blog about, the New York Times posted an article that said the White House posted the President's prepared remarks. Curious, I clicked the link and read his planned speech. There was one line that struck me most. He said,  "We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country”.
       Okay, so you are telling me that if one person drops out of school there will be a major concern in our country? Is this even realistic? If the number of drop-outs were particularly large, I get his point. But I don't think that if there is one less accountant, flight attendant, or security guard in our country it would make such a difference. Not all of us are going to solve “the most difficult problems” and go into politics. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the whole idea behind President Obama’s speech, but I just wish he could be a little more realistic.
    The rest of Obama's planned speech can be read here.

Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man?

The Walt Disney Company is one of the most well known and beloved companies here in America. Today, Disney expanded its family. The company purchased Marvel Entertainment Inc, home of Spider-Man, the incredible Hulk, and X-men. And it was not cheap. It cost Disney a whopping $4 billion. This may seem like a good move because Disney only attracts a certain range of people. Disney shows like Hannah Montana and bands like the Jonas Brothers only attract the teenage girl crowd. Now with Marvel included, Disney hopes to bring in the male audience more. The company now owns a catalog of 5,000 Marvel characters. Will this be enough to bring in the male age range of 8-18? Yes most likely it will. Movies like Iron Man certainly was attractive to that age range. Disney hopes to broaden their audience but what will happen to the kid-friendly attitude Disney currently has? Will the violent structure of Marvel put a dent in Disney's magical label? Could Disney lose an audience by promoting some racy content? On the other hand, will Marvel lose any audience by becoming 'Disneyfied'? This merge will be interesting to see when it occurs.