Horrible

As i was driving home today i recieved a text message that stunned me. Just a couple blocks from my house a man killed his wife, son, and then killed himself. i never thought anything like this would happen so close to where i live and i feel so sad for the family and relatives of these people. i dont understand how a father could do that to the rest of his family. the mom and son had the house as a safe haven and i would believe they never felt in danger at their house, and yet the father took that away from them. i thought that my neighborhood and area around where i live nothing would ever happen like this. i send out my prayers and sympathy for the relatives and friends of this family.

Clint Eastwood

Who, in this day and age, is like a cowboy according to mythology? one name came to mind and that was clint eastwood. he is tough, does not look like he has any emotion on his face and he is always the "cowboy type" in his movies.I always thought growing up that cowboys were the indian killing, unemotional, tough guys. i believe that is what alot of people thought too. during class on friday we read an article about what cowboys really were like. it said that they were sensitive, did not kill indians, and just drove cattle. the first actual cowboys were also mexican and african american unlike the white cowboy that is portrayed today. but how did these cattle driving cowboys get changed to what they are viewed as today?

Welcome Mr.President

I only got to watch a little bit of the ingauguration but what i saw was very powerfull. to see an african american president walk out after white president really shows the change that is happening to the country before Obama even takes the office. As usual Obama's speech was well written and well spoken, i especially liked the part where he said "we have to get up and dust ourselves off". this is true, after Bush we really do have to rebound, forget the past and move forward. The inauguration was nearly perfect except for the exception of the oath mess up where "execute" and "faithfully" were mixed up. although it was a day for hope, celebration, and change when Bush came out he was boooed and people were singing "na na na na hey hey hey goodbye" i feel like this should not have happened because the day was for Obama and Biden not to criticize Bush. i also only watched a little bit of the inaugural balls but i thought it was funny when Obama was dancing at the first party and there was a circle of secret service people around him dancing as well.

Inauguration Celebration

Over the weekend i watched the Presidential Inauguration concert, and it was amazing. there were so many awesome famous people that gave speeches and sang patriotic songs. and also there were so many people that were in front of the Lincoln Memorial. it amazes me that for the actual inauguration there wiil be even more people there. the whole concert just made me feel good. and it seemed the same for the audience who started channting "Obama" over and over again. it was very powerful to see that many people doing a chant for one person. there were a couple of things that i laughed about during the concert. during some of the performances Obama was standing up clapping and dancing, he seemed very loose and comfortable, it was very funny to me. also another thing i thought was funny was when beyonce came on stage one of Obama's daughters started taking pictures of her(this was after she seemed very bored the whole time before). it was as if the girl would never see beyonce again even though her dad is the president. if she wanted she could hang out with beyonce let alone just take pictures of her. but over all i thought the concert was a very compelling experience to watch and i am very excited to watch the actual inauguration that is coming up.

Finals Finals Finals

I think i stand for everyone when i say that finals week is the worst week of the entire school year. Finals are just off of break so people are still trying to get back to the mode where they go to bed before 2am. And the winter does not help, it just makes things much more gloomy. During junior year students really work hard to get a good score on the ACT, and the thought of studying for the ACT and finals just makes you want to quit school(not that i would want to do that). And it also does not help that New Trier is a hard school. my mom was talking to a New Trier alum that had just gotten a teahcing job at another school and he said that college was a breeze compared to NT. That statement always gives you a warm feeling inside doesnt it?

Happy New Year!

It is now the year 2009 and it should be a good one. Whether it is a new president in office or the superbowl i am excited to see what happens. And along with the new year comes resolutions. People always say they are going to acheive their resolution, and it never happens. For instance lets say a person's resolution is to do better in school. They come to school fresh off of break put their papers into new binders, organize the desk they should be doing their homework at night but never do and go into see their teachers more often. This happens for about a week and then it is bye bye to the resolution. They get home from school one day and sit down to do their homework at the desk they cleaned and of course they say to themselves, whatever i can do this later tonight. When later that night comes they say again, whatever i can just do it tomorrow during a free period. And just like that they are back to their normal selves. I think that new years resolutions are very hard to keep and i applaud that people that do follow through on them. But for me i have decided to take this year off on a resolution, i want to keep my mind free and not be worried if i break my resolution.

Tokenism

After all the talk about tokenism in modern day dramas it really made me think critically about how this was going on. during class we were asked the question if anyone knew a TV show that had an african american person as the main character. frankly i could not. the closest thing i could think of was in the tv series Friday Night Lights. For each episode of the show it seems that there is a new main character. one episode it is the white coach or the white quarterback and another episode it is a african american runningback. this is the only show that i have seen someone african american take the role of main character for some episodes. i feel that this is wrong, the fact that people even think about how many diffent races are on shows makes me angry. everyone is an equal person and when it comes to picking a role for a network drama they should just pick the people that have the best talent. i have always wondered, what if there was a tv that featured a cast of african americans, would there need to be the token white person? This discussion in class stirred up another thing inside for me. i watch my fair share of TV and i have noticed there are never any red haired people. everyone either has brown, blonde, or black hair. never orange. i feel as a person of the red haired community there should be more red haired people on TV. Along with my question before about the token white person i also would like to ask if there should be a token red head.