Favorite Blog

My favorite blog this year was definitely the one on the Civil Rights Data Collection Survey. It was not inly interesting to write on this subject but it allowed me to voice my opinion on something that was directly impacting my life. At first I had a hard time trying to get out exactly what I wanted to say on the subject. This blog tok m e the longest to write and to finally post the final draft because I wanted to make sure I expressed what I felt was important. I enjoyed writing this as well as further researching the topic since, again, it was directly impacting me. I usually write about current issues that are in the news or I see happening around me but I rarely find myself at the center of the issue. But when I can manage to write a blog about an issue that I myself am struggling with makes it all the more enjoyable and interesting to write about.

Immigration

In my spanish class, we have been studying immigration. Topped with this was the intersting presentation made by Maria Finitzo at AIS Day. A major issue today is the new law that was passed in Arizona which permits law inforcment to ask suspected legal immigrants for their papers without any evidence, other than their appearance, that they are illegal. It has been interesting for me to be exposed to both sides of the argument. On one hand, Arizona has been hit with soaring crime rates from the drug traders and criminals that have come from Mexico. On the other hand, you have the fathers and mothers desperate to find a better life for themselves and their children in a country where it seems possible to find that new life. In all the discussions and things I have learned about immigration this year, I am stilled puzzled with one question: Why does it take so long to become legal in our country? It seems like if the system allowed for these families to become legal more easily would slow down the illegal immigrants from crossing the boarder and allow Boarder partrol to focus more on the people coming here and comminting crimes instead of trying to make a better life.

What do you think would improve immigration in the United States? Why is it so difficult and take so many years to become legal in this country?

Multiracial

My mom recently received an email from the superintendent regarding a civil rights data collection survey from the US Department of Education our school must fill out. One part of this survey requires the school to report the races of all the students. The email informed my mother that her daughter (me) has reported herself as biracial based on the school records. However, the survey does not offer this option. Which leaves me forced to answer the question: what race am I? I have never identified myself with one race or the other (black or white). If I choose white, I'm neglecting the fact my father is a black man and vice-versa. I found it interesting that the Department of Education found it fitting to call their survey a "civil rights" survey when they force students like me to make a decision on which race they are over the other. I was born both races, and I am proud to be both, as anyone should be of their own race. Why is it that the Department of Education has, for forty years, decided to ignore the more than 6 million Americans who identify as multiracial. (Census Scope)?
The legal definition of the phrase "Civil Rights" is defined as many things, 'including the  "freedom from discrimination." To further clarify, the dictionary defines discrimination as "making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit". In my opinion, the Civil Rights Data Collection survey is doing just this.

Not only can you not choose more than one, but there are only 5 options:

·         White

·         Black

·         American Indian/Alaska Native

·         Asian/Pacific Islander

·         Hispanic

Middle Eastern? Not an option.  But I guess they could just be Asian for this survey, right? 

Multiracial? Not an option.  Just choose one, it doesn't matter, right?

Do you think the civil rights survey is discriminatory? Why do you think they leave out multiracial as an option? Why do they only have five options and do not include an 'other' option for people to write in their race?

Junior Theme Blog #2

Now that I'm pretty far into my research and reading, I've realized how interested I am in my topic, which is hip hop music. I actually am enjoying researching and learning more about it. Some difficulties I have had is getting my ideas together and putting my research materials with my ideas. I have a lot of research material that I know will help at least one of my arguments but it becomes a little overwhelming to try to figure out where I want to use a research article in my paper. All the articles I have found have so much good information but, as I said, its hard to organize it all and link my arguments and thoughts with each article.


Another thing I was having trouble with was getting my bibliography together. I usually procrastinate on doing them and find myself trying to get back to links I used and things I wrote down to remind myself of a reference. But this time, I have been taking the time to put in every article I find valuable into my noodle tools account. Even if I'm not sure if i will use it, I still am putting it in there. This has helped a lot because sometimes, I will be looking over my bibliography and see a source I forgot about and realize I can use it in the paragraph I'm writing.

Starting the Junior Theme

When we started junior theme, I knew right away that I wanted to research something about music. I think the hardest part for me was trying to think of an acceptable 'why' question to research. At first, I was trying to focus on woman's struggle in the music idustry, but since this is a problem in all indsutries, I could only do this if I focused on buisness in general. Then I tried to focus on censourship in music but found it hard to make a why question relating to that theme and I realized I wasn't as interested in it as I thought I would be.
Then one day, I was looking through the music section in the library and came across a really interesting book called "The Hip Hop Wars" which discusses the conflicts and controversies surrounding the hip hop industry. As I began to read, I found that I was extremely interested in what the author had to say on this topic. I then came up with the question , 'Why is hip hop music mainstream and why has the media constructed it the way they have."
Right now I'm struggling with the wording of my question since it is kind of a long and wordy question at the moment. But besides for that, I think the most difficult thing so far with finding a theme was phrasing the question in a 'why' form.

Are You Middle Class?

In class a few weeks ago, we took a poll of the class to see which class we thought our families were in. In an article from US News, they break down the average "middle class' family and answer the question, "how to gauge your middle class status.
I think it is interesting to see that what this author believes are the marking points for a middle class family. Everything from your income to your free time is factored into the calculation. In our class, we discussed the middle class and many of us thought that there were gray areas in figuring your class level. However in this article, there seems to be set distinctions.

In my opinion, I think that there are many grey areas, however, the bench marks that the author of this article present seem to be realistic and broad enough to cover most families that fall under 'middle class' status.

Do you think that the specific numbers and statistics that the article brought up are reasonable to gauge class status or is class something based on opinion and not the numbers? Does this article change your idea of what class your family is?

 

Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports

I was recently skimming through an article about why the United States isn't as interesting in soccer as many other countries in the world are. The article was interesting but what stood out to me was a comment made by a reader. They discussed the usage of performance enhancing drugs in the soccer league. The commenter brought up national soccer player Lional Messi and discussed his alleged drug use. They concluded , "We wouldn't have the world's best player if it wasn't for these kinds of drugs."

I think this statement is interesting because it seems to show how people view pro athletes. I'm not sure how an athlete can be considered the best when he or she is taking drugs to reach the level they are at. In my opinion, if an athlete is using drugs, they are in no way the "best player" since they are enhancing their performance the easy way. No work is necessary to become the best when you have an unfair advantage by taking drugs to enhance your game. I think it is more admirable to reach a level of athleticism on your own, without the use of illegal drugs. However, many athletes decide to use them anyway. Wikipedia states that "in 2009, nearly 1 in 10 retired NFL players polled in a confidential survey said they had used now-banned anabolic steroids while still playing"

Why do you think athletes take these drugs? Do you think there should be more pressure on them to not take drugs or is the pressure to be the best too high to stop them? What is your take on athletes like Micheal Phelps or Barry Bonds taking drugs and still being thought of as great athletes?