Fighting for the PINK

Author: TheDragonflyTamer PINK How would you react when you come home from school and see your mom crying in the car? Imagine walking up to the window, and she tells you "I have breast cancer". I would imagine that it would feel horrible. This happened to the author. The article begins when the author lists all the small bedtime rituals that she shared with her mother. Small things like playing with her mother's hair. The small, beautiful things in life that you remember most. She remembered the day as an unusually warm day, and saw her mother waiting in her car and crying. She walked up to the car and the words "I have breast cancer" came out of her mouth. The author describes the expression on her mother's face in precise detail. The author made the reader feel like you were there, experiencing the pain and the heartache. This opened a brand new door for me, as a reader I would not expect to feel so involved in such a personal story. It's absolutely brilliant writing. The author sounds a bit mad about the condition that her mother was in. The author ends the article with the meaning of "pink". It went from "raise awareness for breast cancer" to "pray for my mom". This was an absolutely beautiful article and was very well written.

Boys, books and awkward assemblies

All girls schools- uncensored Author: Sanah Imran An inside look on the crazy fanatics of an all girl school, including all the inside information on what goes on at lunches and in class. The first thing that was brought up was the boy issue, yes there are absolutely no boys.This is mentioned to be a good thing as girls do not have to worry about what they wear or how they look. Who do they have to impress? Most girls do not know the same boys, as they only have chance to see them outside of school or at socials. Besides you get used to not having boys around. It gives you the chance to focus on school, and not on what boy stared at you when. One of the main purposes of an all girls school is to keep girls focused, and this has helped dramatically. Statistics show that girls in an all girl school are most likely to become engineers or architects. This is amazing! Going to an all girl school can be very rewarding, you build different kind of relationships than you usually would in a different environment. You build sisterly bonds that will not be broken easily. In an all girls learning environment girls are not afraid to express themselves, they can grow as a person and be themselves without worrying about who is watching. They can ask stupid questions without getting laughed at, aas most girls were probably thinking the same thing!! I loved this article but I think more information could have been given about the school itself.

An inside look of the teenage mind

What's Wrong With The Teenage Mind? An inside look on what goes through the modern teenagers' mind, and an explanation behind their reasoning in certain situations. "How does the boy who can thoughtfully explain the reasons never to drink and drive end up in a drunken crash?". The article captivates the readers attention by starting off with this brilliant question. Two things come to mind when one thinks about this question. 1- is this due to peer pressure, and if it is what can be done to prevent it? 2- Can this be an influence of hormones, and if so can it be controlled? Studies show that puberty is now kicking in at an earlier age, why? Can this be cause by all the growth hormones in food? Even though puberty is kicking in at an earlier age, it is mentioned that teen take on adult roles later than normal too. This is still the first page of the article, and the author has brought up so many valid points. The most important part in the article was that they stated that there are two different neural and psychological systems that mainly turn kids into adults. Over an extremely long period of time this has been changing, the question is were people expecting the change to be this big? The topic of emotion and motivation is brought up, and it's connected with puberty and the biological and chemical changes that go with it. Puberty is linked with the part of the brain that responds to rewards. A bit ironic, since as teenagers we would do almost anything to recognition and an award. It is stated that teen aren't reckless because they underestimate the risks they take, but rather overestimate the rewards they might get. The rewards part of the teenage brain is much more active than in any other persons' brain. Developmental psychologist Laurence Steinberg at Temple University suggests that what teenagers want most of all is social rewards. After studies were done it was shown that the reward part of the teens' brains lighted up more, when they thought another teen was watching. "From an evolutionary point of view, this all makes perfect sense." Now it comes to the second crucial part, the control part of the brain. This is usually the part that the teenagers have no control over (pun intended). "You come to make better decisions by making not-so-good decisions and them correcting them." This is not a new concept. Almost all generations grew up knowing this, or figuring it out eventually. In this part of the article the author talks about the past, and the hunter and gatherer system. The author comes to the conclusion that in contemporary society this has changed dramatically. "Puberty arrives earlier, and the motivational system kicks in earlier." Kids of today have very little experience in the fields they will be encountering in the future. An example is child care, the babysitting phenomenon is going away. This also includes cooking, children are not taught to make proper meal. There are too many other quicker options available for kids to even give cooking a second thought. The experience of actually achieving a real goal in real time in the actual real world is delayed. This delays the growth of the control system. Does this mean that the new generation is stupider? In fact this does not mean these teens are stupider than the ones before. Yet there are different ways of being smart. being school smart does not necessarily make you street smart. The current generation is currently being raised to be school smart. This leads to them being the current generation to be directionless in the future. Two crucial points are mentioned. Experience shapes the brain and development plays a crucial role in explaining human nature. "The good news in short, is that we don't have to just accept the development patterns of adolescent brains. We can actually shape and change them."

Teen pregnancy and how the media is influencing it Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Authors: Anita Chandra Steven C. Martino Rebecca L. Collin Marc N. Elliott Sandra H. Berry David E. Kanouse Angela Miu In this article a three year survey was done to see what is the most common cause for teen pregnancy and also if the media can be blamed, all authors came to one conclusion. With more and more cases every year, people are going out of their way to find the cause for teen pregnancy. Can Television be blamed? Television can be blamed for a lot, but can we blame television for the high teen pregnancy? Pediatricians say yes we can. More sexual content is being put up on television every year. This has been known to shape sexual attitudes and behavior under teens. Two sides are brought up in the article : exposure to televised sexual content predicted subsequent pregnancy for girls or responsibility for pregnancy for boys? After a three year survey was done the results came back. It was due to the sexual content that is being televised daily. 90% of teen were exposed to television with high sexual contents. This is the group in which teen pregnancy was much more common. The United States has the highest amount of teen pregnancies under industrialized countries. 20% of the sexually active young people (ages 15-19) fall pregnant. Teen pregnancy has a major influence on the young parents. Usually it is the mother that has to drop out of school to take care of the child. It is said that to reduce the pregnancy rates sexual content on television and media portrayal should be limited. Will this really help reduce pregnancy? According to the article this will decrease teen pregnancy by huge amounts. It is also discussed that if parents were to be more active in the life of their child, it would help. This has been tried so many times, yet the rates are still increasing? This is another form of proof that the media is influencing it. The fact that teens do it out of pure rebellion is not completely out of the picture, but television can promote rebellion.

If these walls could talk..... What would they say?

A vision of students today 

Director: Michael Wesch 

Main Idea: An inside look on what students have to say, and what they think is affecting our learning most. 

The video begins with the inside look of a college lecture hall, to create an environment. Out of boredom student write small words of advice on walls and on chairs. The camera moves on to show messages on chairs such as: “If students learn what they do… What are they learning sitting here?” and “of course walls and desks cannot talk… But students can.” A document called A Vision of Students Today was created, and the question “What is it like being a student today?” was asked. 200 collaborators were added to this document, and a total of 367 edits were made to this document. After the document was complete the students surveyed themselves. All this was done to bring us a message. The classes are so big that teachers can’t remember the names of students. Is learning easier when you have a more personal connection with the lecturer? Most people will agree and say it is easier than being lectured by a person that can’t even remember your name. The students show messages that leave questions floating around aimlessly in your mind. Such as:” I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me... Only 26% relevant to my life.” Are all the subjects that are being taught really necessary for all kids? Is the field the student wishes to go in to taken into consideration? Textbooks are being purchased at insanely high prices and not being used. If this is to be expected, why are these textbooks still on the list of items to be bought? It is mentioned that more attention will be given to Facebook and e-mail (in today’s world it would be texting). This can be blamed only on the students. Students will be in major debt after graduation. How do you start you career knowing you have to use your first paychecks to pay your debt? This makes it harder to get ahead in your career. How can learning be made fun again, without using technology?A vision of students today Director: Michael Wesch Main Idea: An inside look on what students have to say, and what they think is affecting our learning most. The video begins with the inside look of a college lecture hall, to create an environment. Out of boredom student write small words of advice on walls and on chairs. The camera moves on to show messages on chairs such as: “If students learn what they do… What are they learning sitting here?” and “of course walls and desks cannot talk… But students can.” A document called A Vision of Students Today was created, and the question “What is it like being a student today?” was asked. 200 collaborators were added to this document, and a total of 367 edits were made to this document. After the document was complete the students surveyed themselves. All this was done to bring us a message. The classes are so big that teachers can’t remember the names of students. Is learning easier when you have a more personal connection with the lecturer? Most people will agree and say it is easier than being lectured by a person that can’t even remember your name. The students show messages that leave questions floating around aimlessly in your mind. Such as:” I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me... Only 26% relevant to my life.” Are all the subjects that are being taught really necessary for all kids? Is the field the student wishes to go in to taken into consideration? Textbooks are being purchased at insanely high prices and not being used. If this is to be expected, why are these textbooks still on the list of items to be bought? It is mentioned that more attention will be given to Facebook and e-mail (in today’s world it would be texting). This can be blamed only on the students. Students will be in major debt after graduation. How do you start you career knowing you have to use your first paychecks to pay your debt? This makes it harder to get ahead in your career. How can learning be made fun again, without using technology?

I want to be a Barbie doll

Source

Author: Anonymous  

We live in a world where the scale is our worst enemy and food is to be avoided at all costs. Teenage girls and boys are both influenced by the media. From thigh gaps to six-packs, it's a big problem under teens and tweens. With weight problems starting as early as age 6. Is this subject being focused on enough? Most of the looks that are sought after are next to impossible to achieve. Girls are posting pictures on Tumblr and Instagram with hashtags such as : #thighgapproject (Thigh Gap Project) and #iamsofat (I am so fat).
We are becoming obsessed with our image. Everyday millions of people all over the world drop the "S" bomb. Skinny. According to Google the definition of skinny is :" of a person or part of their body) very thin.

thin, scrawny, scraggy, bony, angular, rawboned, hollow-cheeked,gaunt, as thin as a rake, skin-and-bones, stick-like, emaciated, skeletal, pinched, undernourished, underfed The question that comes to mind is : Why do you want to be defined as these things? The word mentioned are seen as bad, but when they are put under the word Skinny society sees it as acceptable. The article talks about a young 13 year old named Mary Streech that developed an eating disorder in seventh grade. Only 4 years later she decided to go for treatment, only to discover that she was one of the oldest patients at the center! Leaving treatment Miss Streech found multiple non-profit organizations and websites that promote a positive body image. Another question is : Where is this coming from?. Teenage girls search for rapid weight loss tips on the internet daily. And people also post comments on Twitter about their own bodies, expecting only a select group of people are seeing the post. They are wrong. It is there for the entire world to see. A question the author asks is : Where do you draw the line? The NEDA is working with multiple social networks and websites to try and stop the frenzy. Yet, this is not stopping people. 17 year old Alice Wilder The NEDA is working with multiple social networks and websites to try and stop the frenzy. Yet, this is not stopping people. 17 year old Alice Wilder said. "It's OK to like yourself. That's actually really brave, if you're a teen girl." This is a motto to live by as a girl, because it is very true. Why has society made it an issue to like yourself? Why is it bad to think you are beautiful? Miss Wilder works closely with SPARK, a group dedicated to empowering teen girls. We live in a society where girls and boys flip through magazines and wish they looked like the models. Times have changed dramatically, going back in time women were encouraged to gain weight! Marilyn Monroe is famous for being one of the most beautiful women of all time, and she did not have a gap between her thighs. What changed?

Why is being different bad?

Director: Mr. Lee Hirsch 
Main idea: The effect that bullying has had on multiple families, and to create an awareness of  bullying.

In this film Mr. Hirsch shows us the stories of real life bully victims, and in some cases the parents had to tell the story as their children had committed suicide due to bullying. This movie is about creating awareness of an on going struggle.

The first question that comes to mind as a viewer is "Why is it so bad to be different?". Bullying is a struggle that we have been fighting for a very long time, all people have been bullied at some stage. Mr. Hirsch is taking the subject on  from a personal point of view in his movie Bully. The angle of the shots show a sort of intensity, to make the viewer see every angle of the person talking's face. The heart wrenching stories of kids that have been pushed to the edge, for example . She was pushed so far that she felt pulling out a gun to threaten kids would be the solution. She ended up in a juvenile center with 45 criminal charges to her name, including attempted murder. Why does it have to go to the point of feeling you have to threaten people to be heard or even be pushed to the point of suicide?

Mr. Hirsch made a point of not just listening to the stories, but also of filming some of the bullying taking place. He makes the viewer feel more part of the victims life and situation. He does an in depth look at the victims life, their history of bullying and in some cases a little family history is included as well. He shows how easily kids are being judged. In the case of Alex he is called names, for example "fish lips". He did not tell his parents. And the producers of the movie had to show clips of Alex being bullied, to his parents.Why are children scared to tell their parents? Tyler Long committed suicide. His parents told his story. They said that: "... he walked with a target on his back." They started an anti-bullying campaign called Stand for the Silent.

This movie raises a lot of questions. Question that should be answered by school officials and parents of bully's.

Stand for the Silent