Day of the Dead

On Halloween, I went to the Day of the Dead spanish celebration. For Spanish 201, we could make a mexican dish and come to the celebration. For my two dishes I bought churros and emanpadas. Ms. Finney always does a wonderful job decorating and making everything fun. The Day of the Dead is a celebration in Mexico and many other countries where they believe that the loved ones that had passed away come back for this special. The celebration is very up beat and is truly a celebration of life. The decorations are beautiful and are very colorful. To prepare for the celebration we made sugar skulls and decorated them with icing. I wish in the United States that death not so dreadful but rather a celebration of life!

Mondays

Today I drove thirty minutes, walked all the way to class to find out that class was cancelled. Mondays are hard enough to get out of bed and to find out that class was cancelled and I could have stayed in bed! Although class was cancelled I am glad that I can write my blog for the week and work on my paper, that I have yet to start. Its so hard for me to work on a paper that is due at the end of the semester because I have so many things that are due before that. I know I should stick with the schedule but its really difficult. If I would have known class was cancelled at home than I would have not been as productive as I was. I really hope this week goes by fast, I'm ready for a break already. Only seven more weeks in till Winter Break!

Bullying

Last week in the news, there was a girl named Rebecca Sedwick she was bullied so bad that she jumped from a three story tall cement plant structure. She was only 12 years old.  She changed school to flee from the bullying but it continued on the internet. The girls who bullied her were 12 and 14 years old which honestly blows my mind. How could these two girls be so hateful and harassing to Rebecca to lead her to kill herself? The two juveniles are being charged with aggravated stalking which honestly I believe they should. The 14 year old girl had the audacity to post on Facebook “yes I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself but I don’t give a ___”. It’s one thing for this 14 year old girl to bully a fellow classmate but to write that on her Facebook she has no remorse! My question is where were the parents of the children who were bullying her? If the bullying was so bad that Rebecca had to change schools I am sure that the bullies’ parents knew about. I am in disbelief on how bullying caused a 12 year old to commit suicide she had her whole life ahead of her! When these girls are charged I hope it makes a statement to all of the bullies out there.

Sex Ed

The next paper I am writing about is sex education in school. Personally I think that sex education in school is important. Some students’ parents do not talk about sex or anything like that because it is awkward. Sex education is also important because during the class there they talk about not having sex and birth control methods if someone is having sex. The question is when is the right time to have sex education in school? Depending on the age and maturity I think that determines when the right time is. In Chicago, they were talking about starting sex education in kindergarten. They would teach about the body parts and stuff like that. In America, I think sex is made into this big deal. While in other countries they do not make it a big deal and is talked about in everyday life. Just like alcohol in other countries, kids drink wine, and when they turn the age where they can buy alcohol it is not a big deal because they have been doing it their whole life. I believe people need to stop not talking about things and just get it out in the open.

"Listen to many, speak to few"

"Listen to many, speak to few" -William Shakespeare

This week during class we talked about an article about a boy that really wanted to be a girl. Topics like this are hard to talk about because they are so debatable and make many people hostile. I honesty had no opinion about it because I think people will say they will do something but when he or she is actually put in the situation it might change. One thing I noticed when watching people discuss, or more like argue, about the topic was some people get very angry and say stuff like “I’m about to go off.” Personally I love hearing everyone’s’ opinion on what he or she might do if they had a kid that wanted to be the opposite sex. Hearing both sides makes me realize views that I have never thought of before. Listening and observing other people’s views truly makes someone intelligent, or at least more aware. When someone blocks out different views it makes them look quite ignorant.

The Other Side of Immigration

Last week Lindsey, Tyler and I went to see the movie “The Other Side of Immigration”.  The whole movie was in Spanish and there were English subtitles. Families were talking about how hard it is for their loved ones to go to the United States and not know when they are coming home. Farmers in Mexico have stated that they cannot compete with the farmers in the United States. Citizens of Mexico said that Mexico’s economy depends on the United States’ economy. In the end, Mexico stated that they were working with United States to come up with a program where immigrants can work for six months in the United States and go home for six months. This will not leave the immigrant’s family wondering when their loved one will be home.

Personally, I thought the movie was very informative. I do not believe in immigrants coming to the United States to work. There are so many United States citizens that do not have a job and cannot because all the jobs are occupied. I find it very frustrating that Mexico’s economy depends on the money that is sent from the United States. I believe that Mexico should make their own economy sufficient.

 

Guest Speaker

Today, I had the pleasure to listen to Dave Saunders who is the Chief Idea Officer of Madison+Main. Mr. Saunders graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University. Madison+Main is a company who did the Richard Bland commercial and is based in Richmond, VA. Listening to Mr. Saunders talk was truly enjoyable. I learned that there are three types of business: 1) The ones you love 2) The ones you hate 3) The ones you don’t know about. Richard Bland right now is considered a number three. That is why Madison+Main is trying a new approach and is trying to make Richard Bland known with the commercials and new website. Also Richard Bland is a people based business, if you look on the internet there are pictures of students all over the website. The pictures are of real students and are not actors. Another business that is considered a people business is Chick-fil-A. Whenever you say thank you at Chick-fil-A they always say “My pleasure”. I’m glad I attended the speach especially because I want to major in business.  

Difference between Living or Dying

Gun control is a big topic in the news right now because of all the shootings. Personally, my feelings are strong about gun control. The second amendment states “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” I believe that there should be harsher laws for someone to obtain a gun. If someone has a mental health problem or has gotten in trouble with the law then of course he or she should not be able to have a gun. I think the media has a negative effect on people’s opinions toward gun control. The media rarely airs a story on how a gun saved someone’s life. For example, a woman rushed to the aid of her neighbor’s daughter, after hearing her screams, a man was ripping the young girl’s clothes off. She said, with a gun in hand, to the man “Stay put or I’ll shoot.”  This woman prevented a 12 year old girl from being raped. People never think what if someone had a gun could this have been prevented? A gun may be the difference between living or dying, being raped or not, or even saving someone or watching them die.

 

Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/02/02/10-stories-that-prove-guns-save-lives-n1503549/page/full

"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth"

 

In class we were talking about the writing guidelines and paper topics. The point of the Writing Guidelines is to get people writing.  You ask yourself many questions and it gets you to write down thoughts and ideas. It allows you to get everything out of your mind and on to paper. I will definitely use the writing guidelines when writing my paper. When I am at a dead end I will ask myself some of the questions to get me going again.

 

The research paper I am most passionate about is Crime and Punishment. I feel like if the government had a harsher system that there would be less crime. If people knew they could not get away with things they would not do it. Any criminal would say “I didn’t think I was going to get caught.” The saying “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is my motto for crime. If someone was proven guilty of a crime, or confessed, whatever crime he or she committed should have harsher consequences. Criminals have so much leeway on the crimes they have committed. Harsher consequences equals less crime.  

Intro Post

 

My name is Anna Smith, this is my second year at Bland and I will be graduating in the spring. I intend to go to William and Mary and major in business, then continue onto law school. Last English class, we had to decide on three paper subjects which was difficult to do because there are always a couple of people who are stubborn and don’t want to agree. I’m used to a democracy; it has worked so far in America so why can’t we use it in class? Some of the paper subjects interests me, while some I have no desire to write about. The one that interest me the most is the Crime and Punishment, I could go on all day about do I think the death penalty should be used and how often it should be used. The topic gender, I honestly have no idea what I would write about. English is not my subject, I would much rather be doing 100 math problems, rather than writing a blog. I honestly don’t know what the point of blogging is. I think people use blogging to just complain, at least the ones I have read so far. I hope I get better at this.

Anna Smith