Are we born creative?

I found the quotes that Mr.O'Connor had posted on his most recent blog extreamly interesting. As i was reading through them, i found the topic of inherited creativity to be a trending topic. One man said, "If we practice creativity we become more creative. It we practice routine we become robots." I love this quote because it is extremely insightful and, i feel, it is correct. People aren't born able to write amazing songs, or deep and lyrical poems. I think the people who become good at it, are so amazing at what they do because they have a passion for it. Like most skills, if you don't want to learn it, you won't. No matter how hard you work at it, you will never be as good as someone who pours their heart and soul into it. Another person had stated that, "Some people are just born creative." I completely disagree with this because creativity come to you when you work for it, or you have a deep need or passion to express yourself creatively. Do you think anyone can be creative or do you think that people are either born with it or born without it?

Perilous Times

When I think of civil liberties being taken away, I automatically think of out Perilous Times presentations and all the wars from years ago when people foolishly took away out civil rights. I recently read an article that confirmed the fact that our civil liberties are still unsafe. Sarah Palin hosted an event at Fort Braggs for a book signing. However, the US army plans on preventing the media from covering the event. Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum says that he is “worried that Palin's supporters might use the media to express political opinions from the sprawling military installation that serves as a base for some 35,000 soldiers.” I think that this is a clear violation of our right to free speech and freedom of the press. The Fort explains that they do not want the fort to become a place for a political platform. I do understand their reasoning to not want her to be making speeches and causing a big media rush but Palin had previously agreed she wasn't making a speech and wouldn't pose for pictures for the media. I felt it was a a clear example of our fears during war time creeping into our constitutional rights. I feel is she already agreed to not make it a political statement and only be there to sign her books, whats the point of not allowing the press to be present?



Do you feel this violates civil liberties?

Men More Likely to Leave Spouse with a Disease?

Today, I saw an interesting headline on MSNBC.com which stated, “Men more likely to leave spouse who has cancer”. I found this astonishing and as I read the article further, I found it very interesting the conclusion they made based off the fact that they found nearly 21 percent of the couples divorced when the woman was the patient compared to about 3 percent when man was ill. “The researchers suggest men are less able to commit, on the spot, to being caregivers to a sick partner, while women are better at assuming such home and family responsibilities.” I thought this was a great look inside what our gender roles are in this country. Women are assumed to be better care givers and are better at assuming “family responsibilities.” I wonder what exactly the author ment by responisiblities. I find it interesting that the reasearchers thought that it wasn’t just a tradition in our world that the woman is the caretaker but to go as far as to say it is a scientific explination. What I found even more astonishing is what Dr. Marc Chamberlain, director of the neuro-oncology program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance thought about the study; “Part of it is a sense of self-preservation. In men that seems to operate very highly and they don't feel this codependence, this requirement to nurture their significant other who has this life-threatening illness, but rather decide what's best for me is to find an alternative mate and abandon my fatally flawed spouse." I found this completely sexist in that he thinks men aren’t as dependant on a woman as she is on him. I think that in some cases, the man has a job and the woman stays with the kids, but in other families, it is the other way around. I think this way of thinking holds women back from being able to break away from the stereotype that they are needy and dependant on men.

Cruel and Unusual or Fair and Justifed?

I recently read an article that discussed the Supreme Courts discussion on “whether the Constitution's ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” should be applied in such cases” as the case from West Kensington Philadelphia where a 17 year old boy beat, raped and murdered a twelve year old neighbor.
The topics in their discussion will deal with whether or not it is constitutional to limit “a state's ability to impose incredibly tough sentences on either the young, or in some cases, the mentally retarded," stated Thomas Goldstein, a leading Washington attorney. They also are posing the question, should a minor be able to receive a life sentence with no parole?
In my opinion, I think that someone of that boys age knows right from wrong. He obviously knows its not right to abduct his twelve year old neighbor and beat, rape and kill her. I think he deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail because he took the life away from a little girl and he should give up his own life for the loss of hers. I think that a minor should be able to receive a life sentence because older teens such as 16 or 17 year olds are capable of thinking like an adult and shouldn't be babied in court after they have done something as horrible as murdering someone. However, I do not think those who have mental disabilities should have the same sentencing. I think a minor with a mental disability, in some cases, don't know what is right from wrong as a person the same age would.
Should a minor be able to receive a life sentence without parole? Do you think it is constitutional to do so?

"Why on the rich kids get good schools?"

I recently read an article that was about a man who opened a school in which the goal was to send 100% of its students to college afterwards. They mainly focused on minorities from bad neighborhoods to give them the opportunity to have a learning environment similar to that of a school such as New Trier. I found it interesting when he posed the question, “why only the rich kids get good schools?” It got me thinking about the constitution and what it says about the right to equal opportunities. I think that this article proves that many poor kids do not get that right. They are deprived of a stable educational environment in which they are encouraged to work hard and get into college like we are in Winnekta. A stunning report states that after graduation, 53 percent of poor high school students are ready for college, while 86 percent of wealthy graduates are prepared. This study proves that the kids from poor families don't have the same opportunity as kids from wealthy families to get into college and have a good education.


This poses the questions, how do we change our educational systems to create the same opportunities for everyone? Why is it that poor kids have to work so much harder than a kid born into a privileged life? And lastly, is the right to equal opportunities a granted right in the US?

I've Got My Eye on You

In class today, we discussed the never ending topic of privacy on the internet. Do we really have any privacy once we log onto sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Gmail? Intrigued, I decided to do some further research. But of course, before I delve into my homework mode, I always check my emails and I found a message from my friend who suggested a band she likes. Being the procrastinator I am, I decided to check it out before I started my work. I listened to a few songs on iTunes and found myself logging into Facebook. Right when I logged on, I noticed an ad that stood out to me. It was an ad for the band I had just looked up. I have never listened, talked or heard of their music before today and I was stunned that this ad happened to appear right after I had been searching for them online. Disturbed, I began my research of Facebook Ads. What I found was pretty disturbing; “We continually strive to build core featured that enhance our users' experience on Facebook, which include Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads was built to transform traditional marketing into messages that are tailored to each individual user based on who they are and how they interact and affiliate with their friends, family, brands, music artists, and businesses they care about.”

I thought to myself, “How can they possibly know who I am and how I interact with my family and friends without going through my messages?” Is this a constitutional way to treat their users or is what Facebook is doing just another sacrifice users have to make when logging on to a social networking site?

Firefighters vs. Celebrities

The heroic acts of a firefighter or police person may not seem comparable to actors, singers and models in Hollywood. However, when I was looking through an entertainment magazine, I was shocked to see that Hiedie Montag of the Hills earns $100,000 per episode. I immediately went to the computer and looked up the average salary of a firefighter. The average hourly wage of a firefighter is a little over 18$ and hour. A fire chief makes between 70 and 80 thousand dollars a year in Chicago (Wiki Answers). Compared to actress Jennifer Aniston, a fire chief makes less than 1% of her 27 million dollars. If you compare their hourly wages, Jennifer would rake in $3,080 an hour if she worked 24 hours a day 7 days a week while the chief would only make $9.13 working the same hours. What these numbers are saying is that we feel running into a fire to save people is a less valuable job than acting in a movie for other people's enjoyment. I don't believe we all feel this way but I wonder why the paying system isn't changed. Why does Tyler Perry make 125 Million dollars in one year while the starting salary for a Chicago police officer is $43,104. (Wikipedia) I think that this difference isn't due to the fact that we value an actress more than a firefighter, I think it comes down to people not realizing how much the police and firefighters do for them. They only praise them when it directly effects their lives, which may not be very often while most people watch television or go see movies a lot. I think people take these people for granted and don't realize what their lives would be like without them.